Chicken Wanton Soup

So today's meal was based on a need. I have a sick little girl and a little boy who says he feels "weird". Out of need I made chicken soup. But added to my typical recipe chicken wantons. To make my chicken soup I start with lots of water. I add chicken breasts to that. I let the breasts boil whole for about four hours. Then I add onions, garlic, salt and pepper. I then taste the outcome. At times I need to add a bit of chicken broth to finish off the flavors. I add the wantons just before serving. I also add alphabet noodles just for fun for the kids. I have to admit I cheated on wantons today. I used store bought ones. Forgive me for that. But with two kids who are not feeling well what can you expect.

I also made an  apple pie from scratch today. I did not top it with crust. I instead made a crumble topping. And just because Jasmine is sick I made some raspberry jello for her.

SO I have not been totally lazy today, even though I cheated on one part of dinner, the wantons.

Arabic food

 

Steamed Veggies need I say more. They are a mixture of mix vegetables that have cracked pepper and garlic salt on them.

 

Mushroom garlic couscous. This is basic couscous with cut up mini white mushrooms and fresh minced garlic. I made the couscous first then added the mushrooms and garlic that I had cooked separately.

 

Falafel. This is a vegetable based, deep fried patties. Basically it is chick peas boiled, mashed, and add lots of things to this. Let it sit for the flavors to marinate. Then shape them into patties and deep fry them. Flipping once after just one minute. Take them out and drain them. I let them cool just a bit before I served them.

 

Lastly, Tambouli or wheat salad. This is wheat that is not boiled to soften, instead I added warm water to it then let it sit for two hours covered. I added crushed mint to this and diced tomatoes. I also added a few other seasonings, lemon juice and olive oil.

Ok so this was my first attempt at all of these items. The vegetables were the best thing on the menu today. The falafel was crunchy, but not that good. I was hungry and ate three of them, but not great all the same. I did not like the couscous. Adding the mushrooms and garlic made for a weird tasting dish. Normally I like mushrooms and garlic, not this time though. The tambouli was plain gross. The wheat came out chewy. The seasonings, were off, VERY off. The tomatoes made for a very weird texture, mixed with the chewy wheat. Not good mixture. 

Before I try any of these again I need to get someone who has made them before show me how. Following a recipe with this did not work at all.  The flavors were all off. The textures were off. The consistencies were off. 

Actually, there was nothing in today's meal that was right. I even managed to mess up making the juice. It was strawberry cranberry juice from a mix. I just had to add water and that came out bad. Ugh It was not my day

Ribs

 

Ribs were a tasty treat. Boiled with seasonings until they were ready to fall off the bone. Then, drenched in home made barbecue sauce. Sweet but a bit of a spice. I used a white wine vinegar instead of basic vinegar. I also used a bit extra molasses. The recipe did not call for cayenne pepper, but I chose to add that also. I wanted it to have a little kick. It was a good choice. The outcome was very good sauce.

 

I made some long grain rice also. I used olive oil and Vegeta I also used chicken broth instead of water while steaming it. End result Very good choice in changes.

 

Green beans is a vegetable of choice here in our house. I changed it up a bit this time also. I added grilled garlic to them as I was blanching. I blanched much faster and at a higher temp than normal. I wanted the garlic to infuse with the beans, thus the changes in blanching.

 

I made emulsified heavy cream for a topping on the beans. I cooked it while mixing continuously. I added just a bit of butter then beat it as butter started to melt. I then whipped it until it was a smooth consistency and began to thicken and change color. I then added just a bit of pepper and salt.

End result of all this work. A wonderful Meal. We all really enjoyed this meal. I had my sister in law and brother in law over for this meal. It was really good. Glad I put in the work for this. I will be making this again.

beef stroganoff

Picture did not get taken today. I was too hungry and food smelled too good.

Now that we got that out of the way. I made beef stroganoff. I began by looking online for a recipe. I thought many sounded good, but none perfect. So as I have been  doing lately, I made my own recipe. I began with ground beef instead of shredded beef. I browned it with no seasoning, I know I am hearing gasps all over the cyber world right now. After the beef was browned I drained the drippings off. Drippings I have learned is just a nice word for fat. Well, with the drippings gone, I added half and half. Brought that to a boil, added lots of seasonings, until I liked the flavor. Then I added some sour cream and just a touch of heavy cream. Again boiled it and and added angel hair pasta. I covered it and cooked it for about three minutes.

The beef has sucked up much of the cream and flavors. The pasta is now infused with the flavor also.

Stroganoff always looks a little iffy to me. It never looks tasty, but based just on looks I would have been SO very wrong. It was delicious. Both kids took seconds and Rougeh did also. We loved this meal and it was so easy.

Another thing I will make again.

Yah for successes.

Beer boiled chicken, onion rings, green beans and cheesy potatoes.

I started by marinating the chicken in beer. Then added to that ginger that was coarsely chopped and some seasonings. After an hour and a half I poured the whole mixture into a deep skillet and cooked it on low, covered for ten minutes. The beer was boiling by this point and the chicken boiled in the beer and cooked. I uncovered it and flipped the chicken. The beer boiled away and all that was left was a thick sauce with ginger. Finish cooking the chicken and server with the sauce poured over it.

The onion rings are thinly sliced onions then pulled apart. Dipped in bread crumbs and baked.

The potatoes were boiled, mashed. I added cream and cheese until it was a creamy texture. The whipped it some more until it is all very smooth.

The green beans were blanched in chicken broth and just a bit of white wine. Then they were topped with Hollindase sauce. I can never spell that word right, and depending on where you look it up online it is spelled differently also. So various entries will have it spelled various ways until I find one I stick with, sorry.

All in all very good meal, chicken was very moist. Potatoes were tasty, green beans a fling success. For dessert there was peach jello.

Meatballs and sauce

Yesterday was my attempt at home made meatballs. I started with ground beef, added spices and marinated it for two hours. I then rolled them into balls. I think I made the balls too big. They were about 2 inch balls. I boiled them then once they floated, I grilled them.

While I was doing that I made mushroom garlic tomato sauce. I cut up mushrooms into small pieces. Added cilantro, garlic, tomato paste, and chicken bullion. I let that marinate for about two hours also, before I cooked it. Well I guess I should give credit where credit is due. Rougeh cooked it. He cooked it on simmer for an hour and a half stirring every 15 minutes. The sauce thickened and mushrooms softened. The sauce was really, really good.

I added the cooked meatballs to the cooked sauce. I served this over spaghetti. It was all very good. Rougeh took the leftovers to work. Score.