Udon Noodle Soup with Vegetables - serves 4

In case you haven't noticed, I love food.  One of my favorite things to do, other than cook, is to visit ethnic grocery stores, maybe meet some people that speak English and learn how to cook different types of foods.  A couple of weeks ago, we dined at Jeng Chi (jengchirestaurant.com), located in Richardson, on Greenville Ave., between Spring Valley and Beltline.  People, let me tell you... if you love Chinese food without all the MSG and soy sauce, you have to eat here.  As my husband would say, "it's like being a cowboy in Indian country" when I tell you it is an Asian hotspot.  We often have to go with my Taiwanese girlfriend just so she can order for us.  That and the fact my kids love to mimic her and try to take on the language themselves.  There's nothing there that isn't good and it's as fresh as you can get as well as BYOB.  The strip center is lined with restaurants as well as an ice cream shop and grocery store.  Have you ever been to an Asian grocery store?  I was warned the first time I entered that I would encounter a stiff fist of fish slamming into my face.  After about 10 paces into the store, it hit.  I might as well been slapped by the tail of a red fish it was so strong.  This store is a foodie's dream.  Fresh vegetables, handmade noodles and fish swimming in tanks for customers to pick out, have butchered and take home.  Now there are rather odd things in the store as well, not something I would like to take home and put on the dinner table, but if you're someone who likes chicken hearts, feet and sea cucumbers, this place is for you.  My kids have grown to love this place as it's taught them to embrace the different cultures within our city.  I highly recommend a trip here, if not Jeng Chi to test out your inner Confucius.

Ingredients

1 pound ground pork or turkey
1 tbs minced garlic
1 tbs sesame oil, plus more for drizzling
8oz shitake mushrooms, stems removed and sliced
1 small head of bok choy, washed and sliced
1 red bell pepper, diced
 5 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1/2 cup teriyaki sauce (get the authentic, thick kind)
1 pound fresh, Udon noodles

Directions

In a large sauce pot, heat sesame oil until shimmering.  Add garlic, stirring for 30 seconds, then add meat and brown until cooked through, crumbling as you cook.  Remove meat from pan and set aside.  Add a drizzle of oil and add vegetables, stirring to coat.  Cook for 3-4 minutes.  Add vegetable broth and teriyaki sauce, stirring to incorporate.  Bring to a simmer then add Udon noodles, cooking according to package directions. Add meat to soup, stirring to mix.  Ladle into bowls and serve.

Southern Living's Strawberry Mousse Cake - serves, well, I wouldn't know....

It's official.  I will never attempt to bake again.  The picture you see above is what the cake should have looked like.  What I concocted was something different.  Oh, what plans I had to bake this wonderful cake for Easter!  I even traveled with a friend to a dilapidated farmhouse outside of Dallas looking for only the freshest ingredients.  We arrived only to my friend being scolded by the lady farmer/owner for not knowing how hard it was to get organic farmers to come sell at her farm. (We knew the reason, but obviously she did not.  The place was pretty scary.)  Not to be discouraged, we headed for the Farmers Market where my sweet Anna, who never lets me down, sold me some goods.  I then went and purchased organic strawberries, 3 pints worth, per the recipe directions along with organic eggs.  Arriving home, I began my quest for the Southern Living look-a-like Strawberry Mousse Cake.  I would not fail.  Well, that's exactly what I did.  After 3 LONG hours of mixing, chilling, stirring, waiting, chilling, stirring, waiting, I did EXACTLY what the recipe called for.  I layered each tier, adding mousse in between each, then applying the icing.  What happened you ask?  The (cuss word) tiers started sliding out from the cake plate.  My fingers where dripping with icing all the while I'm trying to slide the (cuss word) cakes back into place.  My daughter is looking at me (she was supposed to help) asking "Mom, why are you gritting your teeth?".  This is one of those moments where I could be a good mom or a bad mom.  "Go outside".  My next thought was to quickly put the (cuss word) cake into the fridge where hopefully the (cuss word) icing and mousse would harden enough to stay put.  Good idea, right?  This is a four tiered cake, just to give you an idea that has about 4-5 cups of strawberry mousse and icing.  After 30 minutes, I stand before the fridge hoping that my idea was in fact genius, when I opened the door.  Not only did my idea not work, but one of the tiers had completely rocketed itself to the other side of my fridge splattering about 2-3 cups of mousse and (cuss word) icing ALL OVER THE INSIDE OF THE FRIDGE.  I sat there stunned.  A few tears came.  It was then that I made the realization that although I can prepare an amazing meal, baking cakes is not something I can do.  I said it.  I can not do it.  So instead of throwing a tantrum like the last time, I called my daughter and 4 of her friends to the fridge, handed them forks and told them to dig in.  Yes, in the fridge.  One kid thought I was the coolest mom ever for letting him do it. My daughter thought I was high.  They all commented on how good it was, which it should have been for all that went in it. And if it wasn't, they weren't going to tell me if they knew what was good for them. My husband later came home with me waiting on the porch, bees hovering above as they likened to the smell of sugar that coated me head to toe, beer in hand.  "Honey, next time I get the novel idea to bake, please (cuss word) tell me I can't."  End of story.  If you you'd like the recipe, let me know because I'd like to to see the finished result.  In fact, I'll hire you to bake for me.

The Freezer is Full of Venison, Sauteed Corn - serves 4 with Leftovers

I know what some of you are thinking as I've already been asked several times, "are you still doing your blog", "when are you going to post another recipe?", "are you cooking anymore?".  And the answers were, "been busy", "been busy", "been busy cooking".  I'm sorry to those I left hanging after my last post opting to challenge myself to clean out and cook everything in my freezer so that I could hope for some venison.  Well, it came, all 135 pounds of it after it had been field dressed by my husband.  He didn't want my readers to think he couldn't fulfill the dream so he delivered.  The only thing that instead of taking it to Kuby's to have them butcher it, he brought it home to me, legs practically coming out of the cooler she came home in.  This deer was so big, especially her behind.  She definitely had "junk in her trunk" if you know what I mean and it actually made me feel a lot better about mine.  My poor neighbors must have thought I was someone out of Texas Chainsaw Massacre the way I was slaying away, white apron covered in deer goo.  It was back-breaking labor that I have just now been able to sit up straight.  But, with that came about 65+ pounds of deer meat, vacuum sealed and put in the freezer. Some women watch sports and that makes men crazy.  I butcher deer and watch sports and my husband just beams from ear to ear.  At any rate, I was so sick of looking at all this meat I opted to go vegetarian.  At least for this post.

Ingredients

2 tbs olive oil
2 onions, chopped
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 tbs ground cumin
2 tsp chili powder
4 Italian zucchini, sliced 1/4' thick
2 bags frozen corn (fresh in the summer!)
1/2 tbs fresh, chopped oregano
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
Cilantro, chopped (optional)
Queso Fresco (optional)

Directions

Heat oil over medium heat in a medium sized pan.  Add onions and saute until translucent, almost turning brown.  Add garlic and saute 30 seconds.  Add cumin, chili powder and stir to incorporate.  Saute for about 2 minutes.  Add zucchini, stir and cook for 5 minutes.  Add corn and mix well, cooking 3-4 minutes.  Stir in oregano, salt and pepper and simmer additional 3 minutes.  Remove from heat and add cilantro and sprinkle with queso fresco and serve.

Chili Rubbed Mahi Mahi with Brown Rice and Beans - serves 4

My husband says he's a hunter.  Well, I've been waiting for him to get invited to go deer hunting (he's been asked a couple of times but due to work, he's unable to go.  Which this is an official "shout-out" to all my friends to please continue to ask their husbands to call Tim.  If it gets him out of the house for 1 - however many days, I'm just a happier person.) so that I can restock my freezer.  This weekend, I decided to go through both my freezer and pantry, challenging myself to use everything before I went to the store.  If I can clean out the freezer, then I will have more room for venison.  At least that's my hope.  I realized one thing...  I have only 2 pounds of venison left but ample amounts of rice and  dried beans.  Good grief. I could feed a third world country. I'm either losing my memory or I've become obsessive over both.  So, last night I fixed dinner using both, plus some Mahi Mahi I had recently frozen.  Everything turned out great except I had leftover beans.  To freeze or not to freeze?  Next recipe forthcoming.

Ingredients

4 6oz filets Mahi Mahi
1 tsp (each) Kosher salt, pepper, chili powder
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
3 garlic cloves, smashed
1 small onion, diced
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 bay leaf
1 jalapeno, slit cut down length of pepper
1/2 cup water
2 cups brown rice, cooked to package directions
1 avocado, diced
1/4 cup queso fresco
Lime for garnish


Directions

Season Mahi Mahi with spice mix, coating both sides.  Heat a medium skillet for about 1 minute.  Place fish in pan and sear, about 3 minutes, then flip.  Sear for additional 2-3 minutes and remove from skillet.  Let sit for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, place beans in medium saucepan.  Add onion, garlic, bay leaf, cumin and jalapeno.  Add 1/2 cup water and mix well over medium heat.  Simmer for about 15 minutes.

Spoon rice on plate and top with beans and fish.  Garnish with avocado, queso fresco and a squeeze of lime.

*I used dried beans, soaked/brined over night, then slow cooked using the ingredients above.

Nana's Koogle - serves 4 with leftovers

Today marks the anniversary that my beloved grandmother, Nana, passed away.  I thought about posting a Christmas or New Year's recipe, but figured January 5th would be a good way to start off the year.  Nana was my best friend.  A day doesn't go by that I don't think of her.  Each day that I cook I wonder what she would think of my final product.  I can only imagine what she would have thought over my cheesecakes that nearly burned down my house.  I have such fond memories of her.  She is one of the reasons I began to have a passion for cooking as well as learning to drive sitting on phone books.  She was, without a doubt, one of the best cooks on the planet.  I only wish I could bake like she did.  As a little girl, I would help in the kitchen, any way I could, just to be near her.  We cried over onions and coughed over pillows of powdered sugar all the while making every moment together count. I spent endless summers working at her grocery store learning to make cheese balls, packaging meat and playing in the freezer.  She would work for hours on end and then come home and prepare an amazing meal.  Just being outside with the smells of wonderful Jewish cooking would permeate the neighborhood.  I can remember when I prepared my first Cornish game hens, which she loved, using an elaborate recipe.  I cooked all day and once we sat down for dinner, she couldn't stop with the compliments.  She even did so after pulling out the plastic bag in the carcass that was filled with the neck, liver and gizzards.  That's a true grandmother.  That was my Nana.  With every chop of my knife and every meal that I serve, she's there.  Always. And I never forget to remove that plastic bag.

Ingredients


1 12 oz package of extra wide noodles, cooked to package instructions
2 tbs butter
1 cup cottage cheese
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp pepper
1 1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 375.  Grease, with Pam, a 9x13 baking dish.  Add 2 tbs butter and place in oven to melt.  Meanwhile, mix cottage cheese, eggs, milk, pepper and salt in a medium bowl.  Add prepared noodles combine, mixing well.  Remove baking dish from oven (with gloves!) and add noodle mixture.  Place back into oven, uncovered, and bake for 45 minutes.  Serve hot.  Great with a salad, pot roast or roasted chicken.

Beets with Goat Cheese and Microgreen Salad - serves 4

Wow!  Two days in a row!  Well, yes.  And, don't get to comfy because I may be disappearing again, but only until after the holidays.

I had a friend of mine ask me today what would be a good and different salad to serve for holiday gatherings using seasonal vegetables.  Lucky for her, I had concocted one of my favorites for a client just recently.  She was in a rut, and wanted to break away from the traditional "blah" of typical salads and wanted hers to "jump off the plate".  If you're a fan of beets, which are fabulous when roasted, this is the salad is for you.  Now, I know what you're thinking... these beets aren't what your mother used to make.  They aren't boiled and they aren't pickled.  When paired with goat cheese they are simply wonderful.  And, as you can see, quite festive.  Layer as stacks and side them up with this simple salad, using microgreens (available at Central Market, Whole Foods or any specialty grocer) and toss with walnuts and pears, also in season.  Drizzle with olive oil, sea salt and fresh lemon juice and yes, your salad with not only "jump off the plate" but your taste buds will be singing with joy.

Ingredients

4 beets, stem/greens removed & washed
6oz goat cheese
1 pkg microgreens (there are all kinds, arugula, kale, radish...just choose)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 pear, diced
Juice of 1 lemon
Olive oil and sea salt for drizzling/seasoning

Preheat oven to 400.  Individually wrap the beets in foil and bake in oven for about 30-45 minutes or until soft.  Remove from oven and unwrap.  Let cool and peel skin from beets. (Be careful... juice will stain!)  Slice beets about 1/4 in thick.  Making a stack, smear goat cheese between each layer.  For salad:  toss greens with walnuts and pear.  Toss with lemon juice, salt and olive oil.  Mound salad next to beet towers and serve.

A "Make Me Realize How Thankful I Am" Thanksgiving Cheesecake

Yes, I know what you're thinking.  "What the hay is this?", you ask.  Well, I know I've been absent for awhile so let's catch up.  Life has been nuts.  I wrote of it in October and it's only gotten busier.  Family activities aside, my business has been doing great and has kept me running.  Literally.  So, when not one, but two families (not including my own) hired me to cater their Thanksgiving dinner, I ran even faster.  Up two days before the big day, I was smooth sailing.  I was to deliver on Wednesday and head to the in-laws after (that's a whole new post).  Tuesday was final prep work and "make the cheesecakes day".  I had everything to make them and was using my dearly, beloved grandmother's recipe that is by far the best cheesecake in the world.  Men swooned over it, women envied her and her grand-kids always requested it when they visited. So, I was going to make it.  Have I mentioned how much I hate baking?  Well, I followed the instructions to a "T" and 22 minutes into baking time (it's supposed to cook for an hour), I have smoke bellowing out of my oven.  This is what I pull out.  (See pic above) My oven practically caught on fire.  I was so utterly exhausted that right there, in the middle of my kitchen, I had a knock-yourself-out temper tantrum.  It was so bad I scared the cat out of our den, upstairs and into our daughters bedroom where she didn't come out until the following day.  Not one, but TWO cheesecakes destroyed.  I had to make these today so they could set for tomorrow.  What was I going to do?  (Thankful #1)I called my superman husband and between him and his dad, they bought me a new oven.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get it installed until the following AFTERNOON.  Let me assure you that I had cried all my makeup off and grew about 42 more gray hairs. (Thankful #2) My girlfriends, 7 to be exact, took me to dinner that evening and assured me that it would be ok to purchase a cheesecake from Central Market, even though I wasn't too happy about it. I really had no choice.  The next day, 8am, I'm standing at the bakery counter at CM and the baker tells me that "WE DON'T HAVE CHEESECAKES".  I asked him for a towel and I started crying in it.  I mean like, c-r-y-i-n-g.  That's when I heard my grandmother's (and my mother's) voice say, "honey, you can do this! Now wipe those tears and move your tukas!" So, that's what I did.  The poor baker even helped me load the items in my cart (Thankful #2 1/2).  (Thankful #3) My neighbor, Lord bless her, let me use her ovens to not only bake my cheesecakes, but to cater these meals. (Maybe I should take over a cheesecake?)  (Thankful #4) My clients loved everything.  (Thankful #5) I miss Nana, and yes, she would have been oh, so proud, even though I went all mashuga on her. (Thankful #6) My mom told me so. To end, it all worked out.  The moral, I still hate baking.

Voila. 

Ingredients

2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 stick butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
4 eggs
3/4 cups sugar
2 heaping tbs flour
pinch of salt
4 large packages of Philadelphia cream cheese, softened
1 cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla
Juice of 2 lemons

Preheat oven to 300.  Mix the first 4 ingredients, in a medium bowl, well, to create the crust.  Grease a Springform pan with butter and add crumb mixture.  Press on bottom and along the sides of pan. 

Using a mixer, beat eggs until light yellow, adding sugar slowly.  Break cheese in pieces and add while beating.  Add milk slowly to mixture and beat well.  Add remaining ingredients, mixing well to incorporate.  Pour in prepared pan.  (You can add additional crumbs on top if you'd like, but I did a fruit compote.)

Bake for 1 hour. DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN.  Turn off the oven, still not opening, and leave in oven until oven is cool.  Transfer to refrigerator and let set, 8 hours or overnight.