Sweet Pea Journey

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

Tagged: weeknight dinner

Cooking

Bison Picadillo

All I had to say was WOW. This dish was way better than I expected. Frankly I did not expect both of my kids tear up this dish over rice. Give it a try, it is quick and easy enough for a week night dinner. And yes, I had jalapeno, onions and tomatoes in this dish normally kids would shy away from.

Ingredients:

1 package of ground bison meat

1 large russet potato

1 jalopeno

2 Roma tomatoes

1 medium size yellow onion

3 cloves of garlic

1 tsp salt

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp smoked paprika

2 beef bullion cubes

Method:

In a large nonstick pan, brown bison meat over medium heat, break up any lumps with a wooden spoon, for about 8 minutes. Be patient. If the meat seems watery, the liquid will evaporate as the meat is browning. In the mean time, peel and mince the garlic, dice the yellow onion. Seed the jalapeno pepper and mince, dice the tomatoes, peel and dice the potato.

Add garlic and onions into the browned meat, cook for about 3 minutes until garlic and onions are softened. Add diced potato and jalapeno pepper. Add about 2 cups of water and beef bullion cubes. Lid on and let the potatoes cook through, about 5 minutes. Ensure the water is not fully evaporated during the 5 minutes. Add more water as needed to ensure the potatoes are cooked through and tender. Add tomatoes and cook for another 2 minutes. Add all seasonings and stir thoroughly to combine and let the flavor develop.

Serve over rice, inside of a home made tortilla, inside of a savory version naan bread, or simply spoon from the pot, anyone would love this dish!

Cooking

Drumsticks and 40 Cloves – Made in the Oven

Another recipe for the same classic dish. This one was done in the oven, so mainly hands-free cooking of a delicious fall-off-the-bone crowd-pleaser, what’s not to love? All you need is a large oven proof pan and lid.

Ingredients:

Chicken drum sticks, I made a huge batch, a whole family pack, 11 drumsticks in that pack

1 bundle of thyme, I had some nice wilted ones in my flower pot, yep, I haven’t been keeping up with the watering…

1 bundle of Thai basil, not traditional ingredient for this dish but adds a nice mild earthy flavor

A ton of garlic cloves. I honestly did not remember how many cloves I peeled, probably 5 heads worth. I was watching cooking channel and peeling garlic, gotta say, it was kinda therapeutic.

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Liberally salt and pepper the drumsticks on one side. Oven pre-heating at 400F.

Large oven safe pan with a thin layer of oil on medium high heat.

Carefully put drumsticks into the pan, seasoned side down, and liberally season the other side.

Brown all sides of the drumsticks, take your time, be patient. This golden brown color will carry over to the final cooked drumsticks. Brown them in batches if needed to.

Sprinkle all the garlic cloves, thyme bundle and Thai basil all over the top of the chicken drumsticks.

Drizzle the top of the whole dish with a couple rounds of olive oil. Cover with an oven proof lid.

Bake at 400F for about 20 minutes and lower heat to 350F. Bake for another 40 minutes.

You won’t believe how tender these drumsticks turn out, and how sweet and soft the garlic cloves would be. Enjoy as an appetizer, or over some simple cilantro lime rice and asparagus and bell pepper stir-fry…

Cooking

Hometown Chicken – The Best E.V.E.R

I know you are sick and tired of bland and tough skinless boneless chicken breast as your protein. But you don’t really know what to do with this healthy option besides pan fry and baked.

It is your lucky day today, because this recipe really will change your view of this lean cut of chicken.

Ingredient:

3 chicken breasts, skinless, boneless

Amazing hometown sauce

Method:

The chicken breast will stay juicy and tender, thanks to the method of poaching.

Poaching is nothing fancy, but low heat slow cook. All you need to do is to put 3 pieces of chicken breasts into a pot of cold water, bring it to just shy of a boil, and lower heat to low. Make sure there is barely any visible bubbles from the pot, water is barely to the boiling point. 20 minutes later, kill the heat, let the chicken breasts slightly cool in the water before slicing. That’s all to the secret. I had some asparagus stem left over from another dish, so I threw these into the pot as well for the hint of freshness taste. Also I poached 5 breasts, only used 3 for this dish, the other 2 were saved for another fabulous recipe.

Arrange the sliced chicken breast nice and neat onto a platter, top with amazing hometown sauce. I promise you, everyone will be so amazed and asking for the recipe! Only you and I know how easy this dish really is.

A little ninja tip: when you take the chicken slices, grab as much of the topping as you could, you will LOVE it!

Cooking

Egg Drop Noodle Soup

Yep, this is an awesome weekend breakfast, or weeknight dinner option for kids.

Ingredients:

Noodles, I used our home made fresh noodles, you can use shell pasta, spaghetti, any noodle would be fine.

3 eggs, beaten

2 tbsp corn starch, this is the secret how Chinese restaurant can make their egg drop soup so thick, and your attempt at home is so watery. No, it’s not the amount of eggs.

Method:

Boil noodle in a pot of water, as direction on package, till al dente. Drain some water out, leave in as much liquid as you wish for your final egg drop noodle soup.

Dissolve corn starch in about 1/4 cup of cold water – this is crucial. You have to dissolve the corn starch in cold water before adding to the pot. Otherwise it may form slime like streaks, so nasty. After dissolving the corn starch in cold water, slowly pour corn starch liquid into pot of noodles and boiling water. Stir the soup and watch the liquid in the pot thicken up slightly. Slowly pour your beaten eggs into the pot, stir the soup so the eggs will distribute evenly in the soup.

Taste and season your egg drop noodle soup as needed, drizzle in a bit of sesame oil if desired. Enjoy!

And I had one extra hard boiled egg, so I put it in my bowl 🙂

Cooking

Super Greens with Garlic

Doesn’t anything sounds delicious with garlic? Nothing beats this wonderful super power greens with garlic!

I have super green kale and spinach in my fridge. I bought these in bulk. I use these in meals and smoothies too. This is a great way to get some vegetables in my kids. Anyway, smoothie is another blog, another day.

Here we go. First thing first, break out your biggest pan or wok, you will need the big guy this time.

Ingredients:

4 large cloves of garlic roughly chopped, more if you like it more garlicky

1 tablespoon cooking oil

4 cups of baby spinach

4 cups of kale

1/2 cup water

Salt, pepper, 1 tsp chicken bouillon powder

 

Method

Heat oil in a pan or wok on medium high heat. Add garlic and cook till fragrant, about 20 seconds.

Grab kale and dump into pan. It may seem way too much kale, but don’t worry, it will wilt to about a quarter of the size. I filled it all the way to the top of my wok.

Sprinkle half of the salt on top to help kale wilt. Add water into wok, lid on after mixing salt and kale. Leave it for a couple of minutes, and let the direct heat and steam do double the work. Lower the heat to medium to medium low if you are worried about burning the pan. After the lid comes off, this is how much kale will wilt.

 

Go in with the spinach, again, I filled the wok all the way to the top.

Add the rest of the salt. No need for the lid this time. Just stir the green goodness around, spinach wilts in no time.

Add chicken bouillon, and pepper, dish up and enjoy!