Sweet Pea Journey

Family, Friendship, Food, Fun and Everything in Between!

Tagged: Super quick and easy

Cooking

Struggle Feast

Yep, you are right! Struggle and feast do not go together. We are struggling, in the sense of packing, moving, unpacking, selling unwanted things, cleaning up, purchasing, coordinating services, deliveries.. we are combining 2 households, while working full time jobs.

It’s never easy, like my biggest struggle right now is, all my seasonings are somewhere in who knows which box that have not been moved over to the new address yet. All I got are some pots and pans, my instant pot and my trusty old slow cooker.

I got a freezer full of meats and nick nacks and my regular stuff in the fridge.. I am put to a true test to cook with what I have on hand. So, I made this pot roast with pickled jalapenos, olives and veggies, to top off our bowl of instant pot rice.

Ingredients:

  • 2 lb of chuck roast, still frozen
  • about 1 cup of pickled sliced jalapeno peppers, with about 1/2 cup of juice
  • 1 cup of pickled sliced jalapeno peppers, with about 1/2 cup of juice
  • 1/2 cup of juice
  • 1 cup of sliced green olives with juiceabout
  • 1 lb of brussel sprouts
  • 1 tomato
  • about 1 tsp salt

Method:

When I woke up in the morning, I put the frozen piece of roast into the slow cooker, dumped the jalapeno peppers and olives with juices on top. I put the slow cooker on low for 8 hours and moved on with my day.

When I came home from work in the evening, slow cooker already finished the cooking process and is on warm. I used 2 forks pulled apart the beef, it’s super tender at this point.

I used a pairing knife, halved the brussel sprouts, since I didn’t bring my cutting boards… and cut the tomato into pieces and drop them directly into the slow cooker. I put it on high for another 40 minutes.

In the mean time, I cooked rice in my instant pot, took no time at all.

Dinner is served, wasn’t really struggling at dinner time afterall.

Cooking

Super flavorful Edamame

This is an all-time family favorite, as an appetizer or a snack. It’s high in protein, fiber, great to keep little ones busy and build healthy-eating habits, and improve hand-eye coordination. Yep, sometimes, the little soy beans are hard to catch!

Ingredients:

  • 1 bag of frozen or fresh (if you can find them) edamame in shells.
  • 1 tsp salt, or more to taste
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 2 star anise
  • 1 small handful (about 1 TBSP) Sichuan pepper corn, if you don’t have these, use black pepper corns. White ones are too mild for this recipe

Method:

Add the seasoning to a medium pot of water and bring it to a boil. You want to add the seasonings first so that they have a bit longer time to release the flavor into the boiling water.

Add the bag of edamame into the pot, and follow the directions to cook, or boil them for a good 5 minutes.

Kill the heat, leave the edamame in the cooking water with lid on to naturally cool down, this is important as well, so the soy beans have a chance to absorb all the flavors.

Use a slotted spoon, fish out all the edamame onto the plate, I don’t stress about the seasonings come onto the plate, but if you do, by all means, take them out, or before you put them into the pot, use a little cheese cloth pouch to enclose all the seasonings for easier removal at the end.

I let my daughter taste a couple Sichuan pepper corns when she was eating the edamame, she was excited to learn that they give a nice numbing sensation in her mouth. Kids learn to appreciate every little ingredients in their food and this helps them to learn new things and try new ideas rather than stick to what they know.

Cooking

Marinated Chicken Thighs

Super universal, ridiculously easy and fast, amazingly flavorful. Serve it as part of a main dish, and use leftovers in endless options.

Ingredients:

4 skinless boneless chicken thighs

1 cup of soy sauce

1/4 cup of honey

5 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Method:

Put all ingredients into a large ziploc bag, massage to combine well. Leave on counter top for 20 minutes while preparing the rest of the meal.

Pre-heat a heavy bottom pan, oil the pan to prevent chicken from sticking. Grill chicken on medium high heat on both sides for 5 minutes per side. Serve and enjoy!