Specialty

Since I have the palate of a child and I imagine a number of you who read this blog may have children, I feel it only fair to share recipes for meals that I like.

This is a recipe I learned from my uncle who's from Minnesota where I'm told they have things like "dishes" and "bars". This, I believe, would be considered a dish. It's my uncle's specialty, so we just call it "specialty". Real creative with the name, I know.


Here's what you need:

• Approximately 10 oz Pasta (I prefer rotini or elbow macaroni)
• 5 oz can of Chicken
• 1 can (10 3/4 oz) Cream of Chicken condensed soup
• 1 can of equal size of chicken broth
• 8 oz slice Mozzarella Cheese
• Poultry seasoning

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Cook pasta
3. While the pasta is cooking, mix soup and broth in medium saucepan. Add enough poultry seasoning to give mixture slightly green hue.
4. Drain chicken and place in 9x9 glass dish.
5. When the pasta is done, add pasta and soup mixture to the dish. (Note: you may not need all of the soup mixture)
6. Stir so that all components are mixed together.
   
7. Place slices of mozzarella on top, covering the other ingredients.
8. Bake in oven 15-20 minutes or until cheese is brown.

Serves 5-6.

I tried mixing vegetables in once. It was not a success. Serve veggies on the side; I'd recommend preparing them while waiting for the dish to bake.

Ways to make it less unhealthy:

• Whole wheat pasta
• Low-fat and/or low-sodium soup
• Skim mozzarella
• ...If you're a health-nut, you probably already know! :)

I hope you enjoy!

American Fried Rice

First year of medical school, Mr. lived with two of his classmates. Both really chill, nice guys, they are also both Chinese-American. Why does that matter? Because they taught Mr. how to cook Fried Rice. Toward the end of first year as I was about to move in, all three boys made dinner, and I - one of the pickiest eaters ever - tried fried rice for the first time. It was fine and probably made wonderfully, but when it came my turn to make it, I put my own (bland Americana) twist on it.

I call it American Fried Rice.


It's a pretty balanced dish and really inexpensive to make, so here's what you need:

• Vegetable Oil (or whatever oil you prefer)
• 3 cups of rice (day-old works best, but you can make it fresh as well)
• 3 hot dogs, cut into 1/2" cubes
• 1/2 cup? (I eyeball it...) of frozen peas
• 1/2 cup (again, eyeball) of frozen corn
• (any other veggies you want to include)
• 3 eggs
• Salt/pepper and any other seasoning you'd like
  

Here's how you do it:

1. If not using day-old rice, cook rice.
2. Scramble eggs with salt and pepper in separate bowl and set aside.
3. Chop hot dogs into 1/2" cubes (or smaller)
4. Pour a little bit of oil in a large pan over medium heat and move pan to coat with a thin layer of oil.
5. Cook hot dogs
6. Add corn, peas & any other veggies to the pan to cook for roughly 5 minutes.
7. Add rice to the pan, and stir all ingredients together.
8. Add eggs to the pan and stir so that everything is mixed well
9. Continue to fry until the egg mixture is coating all of the rice and is no longer raw.
10. Turn off heat and serve!

As a main dish, this makes about 4 servings. As a side dish, I imagine it makes about 8 servings.

If you have picky kids, this recipe might be worth a shot! :) I do, after all, have the palate of a 5 year-old...

I'm Dreaming of a White...Dinner...

So, while I cook something almost every night, I try to cook something that is neither pasta, rice, nor frozen pizza at least once each week. Actually, I lied, as often my 'special' dish will be a combination of ground beef and pasta.
...Moving on...
So last night I started out planning a meal that I hoped to be feasible in a tiny New York kitchen after my long day of work followed by my long commute that was also well-balanced.

I ended up with this:

Yes kids, that's chicken (white) for protein, mashed potatoes (white) for starch, and zucchini (white with green skin) for the vegetable. Who says meals should be colorful anyway?

Monochromatic color scheme aside, I think I did a decent job on a budget, no less!

The meal, which fed us both for dinner and me for lunch (yum) cost $8 + seasoning (small amounts of butter, milk, lemon pepper, flour, salt & pepper).

What you need:
1 lb Chicken
2 lbs Potatoes (more if you really like potatoes like me)
1 Zucchini
1/4 c. Flour
1 Tbsp Lemon Pepper
1/3 c. Milk
Butter
Salt/Pepper

How to prepare (in very simplistic terms):

• Boil water in a medium or large pot
• Peal potatoes and chop into 1/2" cubes (or whatever size you prefer)
• Place potatoes in boiling water, set timer for 20 minutes
• Mix flour and lemon pepper in bowl.
• Coat chicken in lemon pepper mixture. (Note: there will be mixture left over, so if you want to save to use again, use a spoon to drizzle the mixture over the chicken)
• Place a small amount of butter in a large skillet over low heat (the thicker the pieces of chicken, the lower the heat).
• Place chicken in skillet.
• While chicken is cooking, chop the zucchini into slices and place on microwave-safe dish.
• Use your discretion in determining when to turn the chicken over. For thin slices, it may only need 2 minutes on each side; thicker slices may need 5+ minutes per side.
• After the timer rings, buzzes, whatever, drain the potatoes
• Add milk, butter and salt to potatoes and mash. Using a significant amount of butter makes them extra yummy...but it also makes them extra fatty. Season as desired.
• Place zucchini in the microwave for roughly 40 seconds, butter lightly and season with salt & pepper.

And, serve. See? Super easy. And cheap. Yet, real food.