Over the weekend we celebrated Octoberfest with some friends…yes, yes.. a tab bit late…but eh whatever. We raise our “steins” to our favorite German flavors like sausage, pretzels, warm German potato salad, German Beer Cheese, rotkohl, apfelkuchen and yes, beer. Prost!
Another summer slow cooker meal coming at ‘cha. Scrumdiddlyumptious slow cooker salisbury steak! Say THAT 5 times fast…. Whew!
Salisbury steak makes me think back to the Kid cuisine frozen meals from childhood. Do you remember those? The brownies….mini corn on the cob…You might be rolling your eyes at the mention of a frozen meal, but hey let’s be real here, we were 90s kids growing up in America, we ate them occasionally, along with Gushers, DunkAroos, Sunny Delight, and Fruit By The Foot. Talk about things that rocked our jean jacket and jellies off and was total bliss in the eyes of a 90s kid! Blast from the past, huh?
Whatever would make me want to recreate a frozen meal you ask? Possibly nostalgia? Possibly part curiosity of the taste as an adult? I’m really not sure? Whatever the case, I’m salivating thinking back on the smells that wafted through our home when these little guys were simmering away in the slow cooker. Mmmmm just imagine the combination of beef, mushrooms, onions and that au jus mix magic!
We served the salisbury with a nice fresh head of locally grown broccoli, herbed stuffing, and sous vide black truffle pomme purée. It seriously turned from a good ‘ol central Pennsylvania go to frozen dinner classic to a simply gorgeous meal with minimal effort (….minus the black truffle pomme purée).
You guys…. It was GOOD! Sooooo good! I swear all that was missing was a sisterly fight over what we were watching next, Rocko’s Modern Life or The Fresh Prince….
Enjoy the blast from the past!
Slow Cooker Salisbury Steak
Recipe source slightly altered from Here
Ingredients:
1.39lbs Lean ground beef
1 (1 ounce) Envelope dry onion soup mix
4 Tbls Italian seasoned bread crumbs
2 Tbls Lactose free milk
2 Tbls All-purpose flour
1 Tbls Safflower oil
1 (10.75 ounce) Can of condensed cream of chicken soup (low sodium)
1/2 of Packet dry au jus mix
3/4 Cup Better than chicken bouillon broth
Hand full of mushrooms, sliced
Pepper to taste
Directions:
In a large bowl, mix together the ground beef, onion soup mix, bread crumbs, and milk using your hands. Shape into 8 patties.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
Dredge the patties in flour just to coat, and quickly brown on both sides in the hot skillet.
Place browned patties into the slow cooker stacking alternately like a pyramid.
In a medium bowl, mix together the cream of chicken soup, au jus mix, and chicken broth. Throw in chopped mushrooms.
Pour mixture over the meat. Cook on the Low setting for 4 or 5 hours, until ground beef is well done.
I’m going to let you in on a wee little fantasy of mine, well… If you know me really well… maybe it’s not such a little secret. Sooo one of my BIGGEST dreams is to own my own little café. Obviously this little fantasy is on hold until the day comes that we finally choose a town to plant our roots in.
Right now I have a silly little hobby while my dream is on hold, it consists of visiting café and coffee shops in the local area, as well as when we travel, collecting ideas that helping me create my café vision board. It’s so much fun!
If you close your eyes for a moment I’ll give you a brief tour around my café. Here we go…..As you approach the café from the street you will first see the all glass bi-fold doors that let natural light into the café. Once you step inside will see that the café has a very clean look and feel to it. Bright white walls, black modern track lighting above for the ability to illuminate where needed if we move tables, a few green plants in terra-cotta pots, a large black menu board with white removable lettering for menu changes, a simple counter with refrigerated glass display for the baked goodies, an epoxy finished floor….you get the idea…(I’ve had just a little time to think about these things ha ha ha) Nothing outlandish, just simple, keeping it very simple. Okay, open your eyes. You can keep reading onward now.
I also envision this little bumblebee buzzing around and helping us with our customers.
Outside of serving a good cup of coffee in the café, I would serve a rotation of seasonal handmade breads, pound cakes, muffins, pies, and cakes, again super simple but delicious!
I know that fantasies are just that, a fantasy… and this fantasy will probably never really take off, buttttt sometimes it’s super fun to imagine and pretend that it just might. So right now I’m practice baking and testing baked goodies in our own kitchen listening to jazz, sharing the outcomes with you all and these little moments don’t make it seem as far-fetched, or altogether downright silly.
I present to you the summer sinful frosted zucchini brownie recipe. Enjoy and try to refrain from eating the entire sheet pan in one sitting.
Summer Sinful Frosted Zucchini Brownies
Ingredients:
Brownie Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Safflower Oil
1/2 Cup Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Chips 60%
2 Tbls Unsweetened cocoa powder (Hershey or Ghirardelli)
1 Cup Granulated sugar
1 Egg
1 Egg yolk
1 Tsp Vanilla extract
1 Cup grated zucchini, squeeze out the moisture!
1/4 Tsp Baking soda
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 Cup all purpose flour
Frosting Ingredients:
1/4 Cup Salted butter (4 Tablespoons if using stick)
2 Tbls Unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 Cup Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips 60%
2 Tbls Lactose free milk, regular cow milk would work as well
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla extract
1 1/2 Cups Powdered sugar
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
With lightly sprayed parchment paper, line a quarter sheet baking pan.
In medium saucepan on stove, over medium to low heat, melt safflower oil, chocolate chips, and cocoa together.
Remove mixture from heat and stir in the sugar, eggs, vanilla and zucchini.
Next stir in the remaining dry ingredients and then pour into prepared quarter pan.
Spread mixture out evenly and pop into oven about 20-25 minutes, or until tester comes out clean when inserted in the middle of brownies.
(**Important that the frosting is hot to pour easily over brownies.) Prepare the frosting ingredients in a pot on stove for the frosting so you can make immediately make once brownies are done, but don’t start until brownies come out of oven.
As soon as the brownies are done baking and come out if the oven, head to your pre-prepperd pot and melt the butter, cocoa powder, chocolate chips and milk together and simmer gently, keep stirring so it doesn’t burn.
Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and powdered sugar. Pour the hot frosting over brownies. Spread frosting evenly.
Try to resist….. Let brownies cool at least 5 minutes before cutting into pieces and devouring! (Keep in the refrigerator or your pretend cooled Café glass display ;).
While the rain pitter pattered all weekend off and on, I decided it was the perfect time to whip up something fun. The humidity and the heat index are rather high these past few days making it almost unbearable to even step outside. If you know me, you know that I start bouncing off the walls being cooped up inside. Mr. B jokes and says I need walks…. All jokes aside…. I do! I love getting outside and breathing in new air, taking in the greenery, etc.
But ‘Eh don’t worry things are going to be A-okay. Why you ask? Because despite what’s going on outdoors, or even your life metaphorical storm, there is always be dessert!! Yes…. to semi maintain my sanity ENTER this gigantic coconut cream pie! Eek best part is it didn’t even require turning on a hot oven! (Shushhhhh never-mind the fact that I bought a pre-made pie crust …sorry grandma… mother nature made me do it).
Mr. B happily gobbled away at his slice and declared his love for it, and even though I wasn’t big on coconut most of my life, things have certainly changed and I admit….I loved this coconut cream pie too!
I don’t really know why, but sometimes I shy away from the thought of baking something I’ve never tried before, but then other times I jump straight in with the determination that I’m making this (whatever baked goodie) TONIGHT. I’m typically really satisfied with the end result after I do bake so I’m not sure why I ever have those sort of silly moments. Do you ever feel that way with cooking or baking?
^Toasty coconut flakes
I’ll admit this pie was incredibly simple, it was the first coconut cream pie I’ve attempted. Gasp.. I know… But remember coconut and I weren’t always so peachy keen. So glad these taste buds of mine have evolved as I continue to taste my way around the world.
Recipe found HERE. Enjoy!
Thursday evening I prepared THIS meal with Bumblebee.
Okayyyy it’s pretty obvious that she realllly can’t jump in and assist me just yet, BUT I feel that she does truly enjoy hearing and watching us bounce around our kitchen space chattering and singing to her in silly little voices and making funny facial expressions. Most of the time she sits smiling watching us, or chews on her Very Hungry Caterpillar or hands (hehehe).
We try to explain what we’re making and the importance of fresh healthy ingredients.
We want her to grow up knowing how to cook and not be afraid or shy away from wild ingredients like foie gras, pink peppercorns, Korean or Thai peppers, or even smoked sea salt. (wait…are those ingredients considered wild??)
Together we’re striving to impress upon her the importance of good locally grown food, pairing a nice glass of wine with a meal, taking and making time with family and friends as we do Thursday evenings to relax, enjoy and eat together. Most of all to savor this short sweet life we’re all so blessed to live.
This dinner was almost too good for words! Seriously! It was SO simple and has to be one of the best weeknight meals that’s been served at our table. Oh boy, the gravy was so savory! The meat literally melts in your mouth and also makes your entire home smell all homey and delicious!
Slow cooker Balsamic Rosemary Beef Chuck Roast
(Should serve 4 comfortably with other sides of course)
Ingredients:
4 lb Beef Chuck Roast
1/2 Tsp Better than Bouillon Beef Base
4 oz Hot water
1/2 Cup Balsamic vinegar
2 Fresh rosemary sprigs
2 Bay leaves
1/2 Yellow onion, cut in half
Salt and black pepper to taste
2 Large cloves of garlic, minced
Gravy:
All purpose flour to get a thick gravy consistency
2 Tbls Balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste (you’ll need it if you’re salt and pepper hounds like we are)
Instructions:
Slice the chuck roast meat into nice stew-like cuts.
In slow cooker combine the sliced meat, beef stock, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, rosemary sprigs, bay leaves, onion and minced garlic and stir/ mix by hands to coat everything nicely.
Cover slow cooker and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours, or if in a pinch on high for 4-6 hours. (The goal is to slow cook the meat until it melts in your mouth)
Once meat is cooked, use tongs to remove the meat into a separate bowl. Remove and discard the rosemary sprigs and the bay leaves.
In another separate bowl, add flour and slowly mix in about 2 1/2 Cups of the cooking liquid from the slow cooker until it’s smooth. (Be cautious because hot liquid and flour like to make lumpy gravy).
Next microwave until the flour mixture thickens, it’s about 1 minute. Once it’s a nice thick looking paste, whisk that into the remaining slow cooker liquid to create the gravy.
Taste and adjust any seasonings / add in another 2 Tbls of balsamic vinegar if desired, or needed for more flavor.
Return beef back to the slow cooker and stir to coat everything.
This pairs wonderfully with baked potatoes or rice. Don’t forget a nice tall glass of red too!
We served with baked potatoes, creamed spinach, freshly baked homemade pesto pine nut bread and garden salads. Mmmm!
Whooooo lives in a pineapple under the seaaaa??! Hahah sorry couldn’t resist. Did I get that song stuck in your head too?
Crab cakes. Right. Back on topic.
Crab cakes transport me right to the summers at beach with my dad and stepmom. Some of the best memories I have are those days we spent endlessly soaking in the sun, listening to the ocean waves crash on the beach. Ahhhh…. I can practically smell the sea-salt in the air!
Unfortunately I haven’t been able to join them on summer vacations these past few years while we’ve been living in Korea. I have offered the nice “tropical” beaches of Korea to them for a change-up… But… Still no dice. I wonder why?? Lol!
Anywho these memories call for margaritas and homemade crab cakes! Gosh I just love crab cakes! (Fun fact about me: I used to eat broiled crab cakes almost every Friday night, with a side of macaroni and cheese, when I worked at a Social Club during college.)
I went through our Paprika app (by the way have you guys tried that app?! It’s awesome to keep those recipes all organized, and helps you build grocery list. Plus the Mr. and I can access on ALL of our electronics!) and found a crab cake recipe a friend passed onto me sometime ago. I’m not certain where it came from, but I did slightly adjust it to more of our taste.
Let’s get cooking!
Crabby Patties:
1 pound lump crab meat drained
1/4 cup diced red bell pepper
1/4 cup diced green bell pepper
1 white onion, chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs, plus additional for dredging
1/4 cup lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
2 1/2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 teaspoons mustard powder
1 teaspoon Blacken by Old Bay
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Lemon wedges, for garnish
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
For the crab cakes, combine crab meat, bell peppers, and onions in a large bowl. Add all of the remaining ingredients and mix gently until well-combined. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, scoop crab mixture and form patties with your hands. Dredge the cakes in panko breadcrumbs until completely covered. Place the cakes on a sheet-pan chill until ready to cook.
Bake the crab cakes at 350 for 25 minutes. You want the internal temperature to reach 165F.
Continuing on with our new year quest for meal prepping and planning, consuming better foods and striving for less food waste, we’re glad you found your way back into our kitchen and home again for our food recap.
There’s just something very meditative about weekly food preparation, perhaps it’s my OCD coming out? Seriously…coming home after a long week of work and preparing/ menu planning for next weeks round of breakfast, lunches and dinners has a calming and relaxing end result when you really let yourself enjoy it. It also helps that the Mr. supports and recognizes the importance of it too. (I have express and give my pure gratitude to this man too! Feeling under the weather this week, he cooked almost all of the deliciousness for us shown below).
^Homemade buttermilk scones served with a nice cuppa vanilla honey rooibos tea.
^ Homemade oven baked chicken kiev, with a side of crispy curried carrots and sun-dried tomato and feta spread served on top of homemade rye bread.
^ No bake 5 minute brownie from Minimalist baker. Slowly trying to curb my crazy sweet tooth, plus I’ve been itching to use up my cacao powder Healthworks Raw Certified Organic Cacao Powder, 1 lb
^ Spicy Japchae, jabchae, chapchae, chop chae, or chap chae (Korean: 잡채) (glass noodles, peppers, sesame seeds, onions and veggie-meat) and Maneul Jangajji (chili paste and pickled garlic scapes). Served with a side of korean purple rice.
Lots of pickling, preserving and burning our mouths this past week! Mr. B Made some garlic scapes Korean style. If you don’t know, garlic scapes are the green parts of the garlic, do NOT throw these away, instead make Maneul Jangajji!
Maneul Jangajji
12 hrs total (11.5 soaking)
Directions:
Pepper mixture:
1 cup dried pepper flakes (ideally Korean peppers)
1 cup Gochujang (Korean red pepper paste)
3 Tbs white vinegar
2 Tbs fish sauce (or to taste)
6 garlic cloves minced
3 Tbs brown sugar
1/2 cup hot water (may have to add slightly more if scapes are very well-drained)
The intent is to have a thick paste with a consistency of cream spreadable peanut butter or very slightly watered down.
Scapes:
cut off whiter tougher parts of scapes and trim to 3″. Boiled salted water. Pour over scapes in an insulated bowl (glass/ceramic etc) and leave sit (make sure to cover with a plate) for 11-12 hours or longer until they start to yellow. Drain and cover with pepper mixture (easiest to do with gloved hands).
These can be eaten immediately or saved if packed in the mixture for several months in fridge.
(Best compliment ever was when Our Korean foodie friend was over eating dinner with us and said that this was better than her moms! Mr. B’s Korea cook level awesomeness was achieved!)
^ Spaghetti and our homemade meatballs! You know.. Plenty of garlic and basil, you know, a nice dose of nerve-steadying herbs.
^ Shared a meal with our dear friend over our ground beef patties seasoned with our own special blend of spices. The burgers had oyster mushrooms, red onions with torched sharp cheddar cheese, fried egg and foie gras flavored with homemade BBQ sauce and horseradish mayo. The buns were coated with foie gras oil and toasted in the pan for finishing. Annie’s White cheddar Mac and cheese and salads on the side (you know, keeping it classy).
^ Homemade almond biscotti from America’s Test Kitchen (Household favorite!)
^ A delicious mediterranean steak salad!
And last but not least…. freezer meal prep for the unknown weeks that are to come. Chuck steaks ground, seasoned and formed into 1/2 lb burgers. Not pictured, because someone fell asleep on the job, vegetable beef stew and slow cooker pork BBQ with homemade BBQ sauce.
Click, Ship & treat yourself
Welcome back to our kitchen! Pull up a chair at our kitchen island and get comfy. Outside of our mini Mardi Gras feast and unbeetable Valentine cake, we’re sharing the recap of what we whipped up in our kitchen over the past week. We’ve got some exciting nostalgic dishes we’ve made a bit more modern to share with you!
Drumroll please..we tested out four more family recipes from Mr. B’s grandparents handwritten cookbook that dates back to 1949! It’s so special thinking about and picturing Howard and Rose cooking these very recipes together back then in their kitchen, perhaps doing the same exact things were doing in the present day.
^
This super crunchy coconut granola! It’s been perking up our morning Greek yogurt and fruit routine. Try it! Next time I’m thinking I’ll use coconut extract instead of vanilla.
^
Chicken Marsala with homemade garlic bread and garden salads.
^
Seared tuna, a fairly regular staple at our table, was served as the main dish alongside of diced oven roasted rutabaga.
^
The first family recipe tested was parsley curried corn. Originally we prepared as directed straight from the recipe, but in the end slightly altered it to more of our taste. SPICE! Yeah, we had to kick it up a notch and make it a bit more modern with the addition of hot madras curry powder. This dish was absolutely delicious and is a new favorite for sure.
^
The second B family recipe tested was, pork tenderloin in cream sauce. Again, after preparing as originally directed, we modernized and altered by seasoning to our taste, it just didn’t have the pizazz we were after. We ended up adding green peppercorns and chopped onions.
^
We paired the pork tenderloin with garden sweet peas, sautéed mushrooms in a pepper sauce and puréed sweet potatoes seasoned with maple, butter, pepper. D-licious!
^
Oven roasted eggplant halves stuffed with zucchini, yellow squash, spicy Italian sausage, onion, and gorgonzola cheese. Like spaghetti, these were even better served as leftover for lunch, the flavors just popped even more!
^
The stuffed eggplants were served with a side of roasted garlic butter mushrooms sprinkled liberally with salt and cracked black pepper. These little guys were like a vegetarian alternative to Escargot! The mushrooms gave the texture and the butter, garlic, salt and cracked black pepper brought the taste. Plus who doesn’t like the fact that the caps hold in all that buttery goodness? It’s all about those vehicles for butter 😉
The third family recipe tested was “Boston Baked Beans” and “BBQed Chicken”.
^
The Boston baked beans used dried beans and minimal ingredients which consisted of molasses, sugar, salt and a bit of pepper and home cured bacon. The Flavor was fantastic!
^
The BBQed chicken was a chicken quartered and the sauce was from scratch. The sauce simmered away for quite a bit of time on the stove, then it covered the chicken and was baked. This recipe was delicious with a delightful blend we were not accustomed to. Oh! the chicken came out super moist too!
^
Then there was a quick last-minute dessert created. Inspired by our recent trip to Manimal in Itaewon, Mr. B halved bananas and drizzled them with homemade caramel and then topped it all off with fresh vanilla whipped cream. Boom! Front runner to the Bananimal!
Alright folks, we will meet you back in our kitchen again soon!
There are certain times throughout the year that I get very nostalgic about my childhood. So much so, I find myself shortly afterwards in our kitchen baking or making it simply to have a taste of the past. Make no mistakes, I enjoy adulthood and eagerly look forward to the future, but you know those days or moments when they hit you…
Today for me it’s homemade strawberry shortcake. Oh yes, a delicious family recipe that I covet, passed down generation to generation, butter, Crisco and all. No sharsies with this one folks. I know what you are thinking… Mmmm isn’t it sort of out of season to be longing for shortcake? Yes and no. I guess the great and not so great fact about the US is that at any time of the year you can get your hands on imported fruits and vegetables. I try not to be that gal, strive to purchase as much locally, plus we’re currently located in South Korea where local strawberries are divided into two growing seasons, summer and winter.
If you recall on a past blog post in the summer-ish we visited a nearby greenhouse and picked our own. With our winter berries we weren’t as adventures, we simply visit our local vegetable stand and purchase one or two containers a week. (They are that good!)
I enjoy learning more and more about anything that surrounds the topic of food. I found it very interesting when chatting up some Korean friends and locals that, the winter berries grown here are Maeyang strawberries, a cross and byproduct of two other strains of strawberries. I am told that these winter beauties yield a higher sugar content, because they are said to breath less at night, so unlike its sister summer berry, it loses far less nutrition, thus losing less of their precious sugar. I can absolutely attest to that! No need to sprinkle a dash of sugar on these little sweeties. Oh and the smell of the berries, imagine the best perfume in all the world!
During my childhood summers we’d always enjoy a nice size slice of shortcake topped with fresh local strawberries, sometimes cool-whip topping, but almost always soaked in a bowl of milk. This cake would accompany a bowl of parsley potatoes. That was it. Nothing more, nothing less. Recently Skyping with my grandparents we had a good laugh because Mr. B couldn’t wrap this mind around the fact that there wasn’t any protein, and the fact that was the entire meal. Hahaha! I suppose it might sound odd to those out there reading this post too, but I confess those dinners as simple as they were, were the very best. My great-grandmother coined the statement that you had to have the salty with the sweet. The saltiness of the parsley potatoes and the sweetness of the strawberries. This was a grandmother that knew her foodie stuff, she’d rather enjoy her dessert served before any meal. I certainly belong to the correct bloodline.
While we didn’t serve parsley potatoes tonight with our strawberry shortcake (party-pooper Mr. B), we did enjoy an outstanding marinated grilled chicken with corn barley salad from Iowa girl eats. The link is here and we didn’t change a thing. We used our fresh corn on the cob that we shucked and froze when it was available. We know you’ll enjoy this hearty easy dish during the weeknight too!
So now it’s your turn to share your childhood meal nostalgia with us. Do you re-visit the past with any sorts of odd meals? We’d love to hear!
