Zucchini Pancakes

Daily dose of vegetables? Check! Absolutely delicious? Check!

Ingredients:

1. 2 medium or large zucchini

2. 2 eggs, beaten

3. 1 cup all-purpose flour 

4.  Water, by tablespoons

5. 1/2 - 1 cup of your favorite cheese

6. Green onion, chopped (if desired)

7. Sausage, sliced (if desired)

8. 2 tbs. ranch dressing 

9. Salt, pepper to taste

10. 1-2 tbs. butter

Directions:

1. Shred zucchini, or chop into small bits.

2. Mix zucchini, egg, cheese, green onion, sausage, ranch dressing, salt, and pepper. Add flour depending on how many pancakes you wish to make. 

3. Add water to reach desired consistency. It should not be sticky enough so that it won't fall apart, but it likely won't look like actual pancake batter, which is often liquidy and can be "spooned" out. This batter will need some patting flat in the pan.

4. Fry pancakes on both sides until browned and crispy using a skillet, 1/4 tbs. of butter. About 3-5 minutes on each side.

Enjoy!

Ellie

Eggplant Parmesan

Sorry for the late post! Hope Thanksgiving was wonderful. Here is the promised eggplant recipe!

Ingredients:

1. 1 American eggplant

2. Cheese, shredded or cut slices, of your choice

3. Bread crumbs, seasoned

4. 2 eggs, whisked

5. Pasta / tomato sauce

6. Minced garlic, pepper, salt as desired

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare 1-2 baking trays by layering with tin foil, if desired.

2. Cut eggplant into 1/2-inch thick slices. Make sure there is an even number of slices.

2. Coat each slice in egg, then in bread crumbs.

3. Put 1 coated eggplant slice on baking tray. Top with some cheese. Top cheese with minced garlic, salt, and other desired seasonings.

4. Spread some pasta sauce over first eggplant slice. Top with 2nd coated eggplant slice. Top with cheese and more pasta sauce.

5. Make another 2-layered eggplant "tower." Repeat for all slices.

6. Bake for ~30 minutes, until cheese is bubbly and eggplant is at desired softness (test with fork).

Enjoy!

Ellie

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

My roommates and I ordered Thai food the other night and so I'm still working on those leftovers along with the lasagna I made last time. :P Sorry! But don't worry, I'll be back in a few days with a new dish -- probably Eggplant Parmesan.

Here's a cute eggplant for you guys to look at in the meantime... :) My friend found it at a local farmer's market and doesn't have the heart to eat it.

Penguin Eggplant!

Enjoy break!

Ellie

Lasagna

It has been a while since I've posted; a bunch of things at school have suddenly come up, in addition to my roommate's birthday! Hopefully this lasagna recipe will make up for my missing posts :)

Ingredients:

1. 1 box lasagna noodles

2. ~1 lb. ground pork, turkey, beef, or chicken

3. 2-4 cups variety of cheeses (shredded, cut into slices, or crumbled)

4. 3-4 cups spaghetti sauce (I like tomato + roasted garlic)

5. 1 or 2 zucchini (or other left-over vegetables), sliced thinly

6. Minced garlic, as desired

7. Salt to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F

2. Heat garlic and vegetable/cooking oil in skilled on medium to med-high heat for 1 min. Add and cook meat until no longer pink. Add spaghetti sauce and lower heat. Simmer while mixing. Add salt to taste.

3. Short-cut noodle preparation: Cover bottom of a 8x8 pan (or larger, if you want to make a bigger lasagna) with 1 layer of uncooked noodles, slightly overlapping.  *The sauces and heat from oven will help cook the noodles, though the final product may be slightly tougher than the long version: boil and drain noodles before using.

4. Put 1/2 of meat sauce over noodles and cover with 1/3 of cheese and neatly-spread zucchini slices

5. Repeat noodle, meat, cheese, and zucchini layers

6. Last (top - 3rd or 4th) layer should be noodle. Cover with cheese.

7. Cover top with foil, bake for 30-40 min. Remove foil and bake another 10 min. or until noodles are fork-tender.

8. Set aside 10 min. before cutting and serving. 

Enjoy!

Ellie

Kimbap!

I love eating sushi and kimbap, even when it's 30F outside and snow is lining the sidewalks! Not only is kimbap simple to make, but it's good for lunches and a lot can be made at once. Delicious!

Anyway, just some background: kimbap (or gimbap) is a Korean dish of steamed white rice, usually seasoned with sesame oil, rolled with other ingredients in a layer of dried seaweed. It is very similar to some types of Japanese sushi, except Japanese sushi rice is typically seasoned with vinegar. Sushi also features raw seafood, while kimbap is typically made with cooked ingredients.

Ingredients:

1. Dried seaweed (1 package)

2. Filling (egg, cucumber, Spam, kimchi, imitation crab meat, danmuji - yellow, pickled radish), sliced

3. Seasoning (soy sauce, kimchi, Sriracha sauce)

4. 2-3 cups, or however much you want, sticky rice (or combined with brown rice)

5. 1/4 tbs. sesame oil

6. 1/2 - 1 tsp. salt

7. 1/2 - 1 tsp sugar

5. Bamboo rolling mat (optional)

Directions:

1.Cook rice in either a rice cooker,or in a pot on the stove

     *If cooking rice on stove: wash rice, add # cups of rice + 1.5 cups water to a pot, bring to a boil without lid and without stirring. When dimples appear on top of the rice, tightly put lid on pot. Turn heat down to low and let cook for ~20 min. No peeking! Remove from heat and let sit for ~5 min. 

2. Fluff rice and lay out on a large plate, cutting board, or large flat container

3. Add sesame oil, salt, and sugar in a bowl. Mix. Pour over rice and gently mix into rice while fanning rice. Try not to break the rice grains while mixing! Fanning is easier if you have someone helping you.

4. Lay 1 sheet of seaweed over rolling mat. Spread rice (thin layer) on 3/4 of the sheet. Dab a few specks of rice on the edge of the empty 1/4 side.

5. Put fillings on the edge of the 3/4 rice square, farthest from the empty 1/4 side.

6. Roll (tightly!)

7. Cut into pieces using a sharp, cold, slightly wet knife.

8. Season and enjoy!

Bon appetit,

Ellie

Breakfast and Dinner

Met the guys of The Jubilee Project (!!!!) on Friday; they were just as amazing in real-life as in their videos. I'm definitely a "Jubileever" now! :D

They've definitely renewed the hope I have in a school club I'm in -- we're a branch of an international non-profit organization that does public health and medical volunteer work abroad. It's been so difficult making some members who are going on our trips passionate and enthusiastic about volunteering; everyone's been so caught up with either the "traveling" and "vacation" aspect of the volunteer trip, or in school work that even fundraising for part of their trip (so they don't have to pay all of it out of pocket) has been hard! 

Anyway, after an eventful night, I woke up on Saturday and decided to make a very simple breakfast. Then, tonight I followed that with a super simple Pear and Zucchini Medley as a side-dish for dinner. See below!

Breakfast

Ingredients:
1. As many slices of bread you want (thick slices; french bread; artisan bread, etc. -- not sure if pre-sliced white bread would work as well)
2. Butter, softened
3. Breakfast sausage
4. Toppings (ie. garlic powder, cheddar/swiss cheese, powdered sugar)

Directions:
1. Turn oven to 350F
2. Lightly butter one, or both sides of bread on baking tray
3. Sprinkle with toppings of your choice
4. Place breakfast sausage on baking tray next to bread
5. Bake for about 15 minutes, turning sausages at the 8 or 10 minute mark (or until sausages are done!)

Tips:
1. If you're hoping to save $$, buy bread from the on-sale "expires today!" section. I also have a friend who lives near a bakery and she goes "bread dumpster diving" after hours (unfortunately, I don't live near a bakery)!
2. Slice and freeze bread if it's about to go bad or become stale to retain whatever moisture there is left.

 

Pear and Zucchini Medley

Ingredients:
1. 1-2 zucchini, depending on size and how much you want to make, in slices
2. 1 pear (don't remember what it was called! but it was green and pretty hard)

3. Seasoning
4. 1/3 tbs. vegetable / cooking oil

Directions:
1. On a medium-sized pan/skillet over medium heat, stir-fry pears and zucchini slices. Season as desired.

Enjoy!

Ellie

Thai-style Curry

Like curry? Like spicy food? If you answered in any positive way, then this version of Thai-style Green Curry is just for you! On the spiciness-scale (with 1 being the least spicy and 10 being the most spicy), I would rank Maesri - Thai Masaman Red Curry around a 3 or a 4, while the Green Curry falls at around an 6 or 7. It looks mild, but is pretty hot (especially if you use more than one tablespoon's worth)! Have any of you tried Yellow Curry or Panang Curry? I'm interested in how those taste!

Green Curry

Red Curry

Ingredients:

1. As much green onion as you want

2. 1 package (4 pieces) of chicken thighs (I prefer bone-in, with skin)

3. 1 potato, diced into cubes (size up to you; I like 1-inch cubes)

4. 1-2 tbs. sugar (add according to your taste preference)

5. 1/2 tbs. white vinegar or lemon juice

6. 1.5 tbs. vegetable/cooking oil

7. 1 tbs. curry paste (this time I used Green, but this brand has many others!)

8. 1 can (13.5 fl oz., or 400mL) coconut milk (I like to use Chaudoc Coconut Milk)

9. Salt, pepper as desired

10. [Optional] Add carrots, cabbage, peppers, tomato, onion, etc. if you'd like

Directions:

1. Slice green onions, set aside.

2. Boil potato cubes on medium-high heat while trimming chicken thighs of excess fat. Cut chicken into cubes or chunks, if desired. A sharp knife helps!

3. Drain potatoes, but keep in same pot. Potatoes may still be hard.

4. Add vegetable oil, green onion, and chicken cubes to potatoes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add optional ingredients. "Stir fry" on medium-high heat until chicken is barely pink. Potatoes should be much softer, even mushy, now.

5. Turn heat to medium. Add curry paste, coconut milk, vinegar, sugar, more salt and pepper if desired. Mix.

6. Let boil for ~20-30min. with stirring, or until desired consistency reached.

Spoon the curry over rice, and enjoy!

Ellie

*Note: Potato helps to thicken the curry, otherwise curry is more soup-like. Flour, cornstarch, or another substitute could possibly work as well. If the curry is too spicy, adding more coconut milk or water can help dilute it.