A New Favorite Vegetarian Meal

Missy Tippens

I thought I'd quickly share this, a new food we've come to love.

Ramen!

The place we discovered near our house is Mizumi Ramen. There are multiple options on type of broth. The ones I love are the soy sauce based and miso based. I get the vegetable broth, and it comes with the ramen noodles (of course), spinach, corn, bean sprouts, green onion, and fried potato cakes on top. It's sooo good and very filling! And wonderfully warming on a cold night.

Here's a photo of my bowl from Tuesday night.

Others in our family have gotten chicken broth, and they also have pork. There are many options!

We're blessed to live in Gwinnett County, Georgia, one of the most diverse counties in the country--which means we have many authentic restaurant choices. We love trying new things all the time.

I hope you'll keep an eye out for ramen restaurants near you! 

www.missytippens.com

Easy shiitake mushroom and lime beef over rice

Hello, everybody! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! By now you're probably all tired of mashed potatoes, turkey and stuffing so this dish might be a welcome change. It's fairly simple, but like the last post, has a few ingredients that aren't in the cabinet.

 So, I was watching Japanese cooking tutorials on youtube again. Seriously, there's everything on youtube. I'm a hands-on type of learner so I really like looking of 3D tours, TED talks, sketching techniques, etc. Watching someone cook is probably the best way to learn, no matter how great the recipe and instructions, so don't be afraid. Youtube is your friend!

 Now, I wanted another seasonal dish that was simple, quick and didn't take a genius. I watched about ten videos before I realized that ginger,cilantro, lemongrass and chili pepper was a common combination. How odd! I can see cilantro and peppers, or ginger and lemongrass, but all four? So, I went looking in my grocery store and surprise... it's so common, I found it in this super handy little squeeze tube. It lasts forever in the fridge, is already chopped and ready. Nifty!

 So, shiitake mushrooms are also called "winter mushrooms" and are consumed in large quantities in Russia. (File this under things you never needed to know, but are glad you do.) Because they can be grown and eaten fresh even under limited amounts of light, they make good winter staples in countries where the growing season is short.

 The mushrooms are a good source of Vitamin D2 and are a great source of Vitamin B5 (400% of your daily needs). For people who suffer from the winter "blahs", mushrooms can help fight off the brain fog that happens when they don't get enough sunshine.

 You can use any kind of cream (heavy cream, light, half and half, etc.) but this was on sale, so hey. Crema Casera, it is!

 Ok, in a skillet or cast iron pot, put in 2 TBS of the ginger, cilantro, chili pepper and lemon grass mix. (How easy is that??) A tbs of olive oil and a few ounces of chopped red onion. (I usually use sweet onions but this recipe called for red, so that's what I got. I'm glad I did. The flavors are pretty intense and I don't think you'd be able to taste the sweet onion under all the mushroom, herbs, beef.)
                                                    
There's that dried garlic again! I'm really starting to like this stuff. I usually use fresh minced, but I think I'll start keeping this on hand, too.

 After sauteeing the onion for a little while over medium-high heat, put in the shiitakes, stem side down.

 After about four minutes, roll them over and let the tops soften. The video I watched added a few tablespoon of water and it seemed like this helped keep everything from burning. This wasn't a long step. Just about 6-8 minutes, tops.

 As the shiitake are cooking, put another 2 TBS of the herbs in a hot pan, plus half a squeezed lime. Mix thoroughly.

 Add a few ounces of cubed beef. I used some beef I withheld from the stew I'd made the day before. The dish is mostly mushroom, not beef, so keep the proportions in mind. I thin American usually cook heavy on the meat, and add a few other ingredients. This was definitely a mushroom dish, with some beef. Cook over high heat until browned. Add half a cup of the cream to the beef as soon as it's cooked through. Stir well, but don't let it boil because the lime can curdle the cream.

 The video I watched had noodle as a base, but we'd just used all our stir fry noodles so I cooked some white rice. Ladle a bit of the beef mixture on top. Select a few of the shiitake mushrooms and some of the red onion. I nibbled an edge to make sure they didn't need any more salt, and the combination of the herbs really gave it a great flavor. You can salt them if you want, but I didn't think it needed anything else.

And finally a bit of the dried garlic as a topper. I also had sesame seeds, so I tried that, too, but maybe I'm just a garlic fan, I preferred the bit of crunchy garlic to the sesame seeds.
 I'd give this dish about 8/10. It was easy, but I used two pans and hey, sometimes that's one pan too many, haha. Definite points for a great combination of flavors, those vitamins we need in winter, and NOT being pizza.
Take care everybody and I'll see you next week!

Quick Shrimp Stir Fry with Annetto and Garlic

Hello, everybody!! I hope everybody's keeping warm.
We had a little snow, and then freezing rain. We've only had one minor accident and four hours stuck in a pile up as hubby commuted to work... with no real injuries out of all the cars involved so we're off to a good start here in Eastern Oregon.

But, my husband took this picture and posted it on facebook with the comment "Ya comenzaron los estragos con el mal tiempo." Boy, howdy, yes.... But my comment was, "WHY ARE YOU OUT OF THE CAR??" First rule in a pile up (especially in the dark, on a windy road) is do not exit the vehicle! 

Posts like this shorten my lifespan. He also told me that the woman who sidelined him was turned around the opposite direction and sliding sideways (after clipping a semi) before she and hubby made contact. That was also information I didn't need. Can we hear it for some "lalalalalala"-ing? (Poor woman. She was fine. And I hope she drives a little slower next time.)

 So, anyway, moving on! This dish doesn't need a lot of ingredients, but what it does need is probably not something you keep in the cabinet (if you're like me). I saw something like this on youtube when I was researching Japanese cooking (my next book is set in Kyoto). I needed something that was simple, savory, and something it didn't take a genius to make.
Yaki Soba noodles from the refrigerated Asian foods section. I saw this in three different stores in our area, and it was always near the tofu, near the fresh produce. (Sauce is MSG free and seems pretty normal, not high salt or anything.)

 Ok, technically not Japanese, but this was how annatto powder appears in my grocery store. Some people can find it in the spice aisle in the usual little containers. (You can click the link and read up on it.) I learned that a lot of Hispanic food also uses annatto. It gives a warm, nutty flavor that's hard to define, but absolutely essential to some dishes, especially simple ones. (This was a revelation and I think I'll have to re-try several dishes I could never get quite right, because I think this might have been the missing ingredient.)

 Dried garlic. You can use fresh, but the recipe I saw on youtube was flaked garlic, and since this packet was $1.29, I figured I'd use it.

 Heat several tablespoons of olive oil and add a teaspoon of garlic and a teaspoon of the annatto powder.

 Stir over medium high heat until mixed together. From what I could tell on the video, you can add salt or not. I decided not to, since I knew the noodles would have flavoring.  Add about ten large, cooked, tail-on shrimp. The oil is already hot so this won't take long. We don't want to overcook the shrimp.

 Add in some thin slices of bell pepper and a bit of green onion. The garlic and annatto are delicate so we don't want to overwhelm them. I had some snow peas so I threw those in and stirred on high for about 3-4 minutes.

 The Yaki Soba noodles take about 3 minutes in the microwave. Think Top Ramen but not fried and dried. They're fresh, but have been sealed and then refrigerated. The "sauce" packet was already added here and it's also a delicate flavor, which smelled delicious but also wasn't too salty or too strong-smelling.

 If you use the entire Yaki Soba  package, there will be three large bowls of noodles or you can cook the noodle packages one at a time, saving the other for the next day for lunch. This was a great dish for those dinners when the kids wanted pizza and I didn't, or I cooked something that everyone loves but hubby. It took less than five minutes and there was enough left over for his lunch in the AM.

Over all, I'd give this recipe 9/10. Easy, fast, great flavor, looks delicious. The only thing that keeps it from a 10, is that you need all the specific ingredients before-hand. But it's definitely worth the effort and I'll be making it again. 

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, everybody!