Katsudon

This is a Japanese dish, a rice bowl. My husband told me the other day that this was his favorite thing when living in Japan. I was thrilled to make something for him that was his "favorite". He pretty much loves everything and doesn't often request a dish. Also, I currently have a guest living with me from Japan. He is just here for a month, so I was nervous about whether or not this was going to taste American-Japanese, or authentic. Yuske told me it tasted just like his mothers! That made my day. I will warn you, this is not a healthy dish. It's Japanese comfort food, and we all loved it!

This dish is usually made with pork, but we did the chicken version. Also, it's best when each bowl is served individually. I was nervous about this too. I thought it would take forever, but it actually went pretty smooth. Some prep work ahead of time helped. I will give you the recipe for 1, so if you are serving more, you will just repeat the process. So, here we go:

For the chicken:
1 chicken breast
1 beaten egg mixed with 1 tbs flour
more flour for dredging
panko bread crumbs
oil for frying (enough to come up a few inches in your pan)

Pound the chicken a little to thin it out. Maybe 1/2 inch or so.

Heat oil.

Dredge the chicken in the flour, then dip it in the egg mixture. Let the excess fall off and then coat in the Panko bread crumbs. (these are Japanese bread crumbs and are much crispier) Drop in your oil and let it cook. Once it gets golden brown on one side, flip it over until the other side is the same. Set aside and slice.

For the sauce:

1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon granulated Dashi (Japanese Soup Stock-found at your local asian/oriental market)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon mirin
1 teaspoon sugar
1 to 2 oz sliced onion, about a handful
1 lightly beaten egg
1 bowl of prepared rice

Combine the water, dashi, soy sauce, mirin, sugar and onion in a small pan. When it begins to boil, add the chicken.






Then pour the egg on top and around the chicken. Cover and cook for about 90 seconds until the egg is just set.
Then slide the contents of the pan onto the rice (which you've already put in the bowl).






And there you have it!

Okay, so here's how I made it easier on myself:

First I prepared all the sauces. I took 5 bowls and put the sauce ingredients with the onions into each one.

Next, I did all the chicken. It took about 2 beaten eggs mixed with 1 1/2 tbs of flour. I did fry them 2 at a time so the pan did not get crowded. I put some flour for dredging on one plate and the panko on another and added more if I needed to.

Once I had all the chicken done and set aside, I started on each bowl. As the sauce was heating up, I beat 1 egg. When the sauce was boiling, I added the chicken and the egg. Then cover it and put some rice in a bowl. By this time, your dish was about done and you could top off your rice.

I just had my family begin eating so no one's got cold. And we still ate together as a family.

This is definitely a more involved dish. I would love to know if you try it!

A huge shout out to mamaloli. This is where I found an awesome recipe, and she was kind enough to answer all of my questions. She's got lots of great dishes on her site too.

Fresh Salsa

I love summer time, and I love summer eating! All the fresh fruits and vegetables....YUM! Here is a fresh salsa recipe I got from my friend Jayne. Jayne is just an amazing woman and she gave me some of her salsa the other day and I had to get the recipe. The way I made salsa is real similar, but I just couldn't figure out what was missing. Now I know! Which I guess just gives me peace of mind. But I just had to share her recipe. It rocks!! And if there's one thing I could eat everyday for the rest of my life it's chips and salsa... or mexican food in general. I hope you enjoy it!

4 cups tomatoes (about 8-10)
2 cups green pepper (about 2)
1-2 jalepenos, depending on the heat level you want. removing ribs and seeds makes it milder**
3/4 cup onion
1 head of garlic (not 1 clove...the whole head)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 bunch cilantro
1 tbs cumin
2 tbs brown sugar

Place all ingredients, roughly chopped, in a food processor. Process until desired consistency is reached. I do mine about 30 seconds or less and pulse a few times. If you don't have a food processor, finely chop all your vegetables and mix everything together.

**I reccommend using gloves when working with jalepenos. Even after washing your hands there is residue that is left behind and if you get that in your mouth you'll be burning for hours!

Peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

Makes about 16 cookies

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup creamy peanut butter
½ cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
½ cup rolled oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

3. On medium speed, cream together the butter, peanut butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and beat to combine. On low speed, gradually add the flour until just combined. Stir in the oats, and then the chocolate chips.

4. drop dough onto prepared baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 -12 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly golden.

Turkey Wraps

These are a great lunch, or a nice main course when it's too hot to cook!
I used left over turkey meat from one that that we roasted.

Turkey cut into bite size pieces
2 stalkes celery chopped
1 apple chopped
1/2 cup mayonnaise
squirt of dijon mustard
2 tsp thyme
salt and pepper to taste
handful of craisins
Tortilla shells (whole wheat are great too!)

Combine all the ingredients except tortillas. Mix well. You may want to adjust the amount of mayo or mustard depending on your tastes. Wrap it up and enjoy!

best banana bread ever!

1 1/2 cup flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup mashed bananas (about 3 bananas)
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce (you can use cooking oil)

Preheat oven to 350. IN first bowl combine dry ingredients and make well.
In 2nd bowl combine wet ingredients. Pour into the well of the first bowl
Stir just until moist and pour into greased pan. Bake 50-55 min.

This is my favorite banana bread recipe!! I hope you enjoy it too.

Roasted Salsa

This is my new favorite salsa recipe. It's roasted so it has a nice smoky flavor to it, not overpowering, just right. Plus roasting the veggies really brings out the flavor. Since it's not quite yet tomato season I'm loving it!

5-6 tomatoes
1 onion 

4-6 cloves garlic crushed
2 jalepenos
1 green pepper
1-2 tbs lime juice
handful of cilantro
3 Tbs white vinegar

2 tbs brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste

First, half or quarter the onion, tomatoes, and peppers, depending on the size. If you want milder salsa, remove the seeds and ribs of the jalepenos. If you want more heat, leave them in and even add a couple more. I usually go mild because I have little ones.

Place the veggies (except garlic) on a baking sheet.



Then place them under the broiler until they begin to char. It could take anywhere from 7-13 minutes, just keep an eye on them.




After they cool, place them in a food processor or blender along with the lime juice, vinegar, sugar, garlic and cilantro. Process until it looks like salsa. :-) It takes my food processor under a minute.

Add salt and pepper to taste, and enjoy! I think I'll add garlic next time too, but this was really delicious!





This would also be great on top of grilled chicken. I would love to hear from you on what you think? Do you have a favorite salsa recipe? Please share!

April fools dinner

I found these fun ideas on the Family fun magazine website.  


First I told the kids we were having cupcakes for dinner.  They actually believed me even though we had been playing April fools pranks already that day.

Cupcakes for dinner?

They were actually meatloaf cupcakes.  

Before praying, my son snuck a swipe of 'frosting' and said, "hey, how come this frosting tastes like potatoes?"  My daughter told me later in the evening that she did not like potato frosting.  

Then I told them we were having Chicken nuggets with peas and carrots for dessert.

mmmmm! They were pleasantly surprised to find out their veggies were candy.

There's a couple ideas on the family fun website for the chicken, but I used Nutty Putty, which is in one of my kids cook books.  It makes a great dough that they can play with or use cookie cutters on, decorate and eat.  The recipe follows.  For the peas and carrots I used those flavored tootsie roll things, I don't know the name, they're in the bulk aisle by all the bulk candy.

Nutty Putty:

1 cup creamy peanut butter

3 tbs honey

1 cup nonfat dry milk

Just mix it together and have fun!  I halved the recipe and it made me about 9 'nuggets'.

For the 'cupcakes', use your favorite meatloaf recipe and put it in foil baking cups about 3/4 full.  After baking them, topped with mashed potatoes colored with food coloring.  

Did you do anything for April fools day?  I would love to hear about it!