Fresh Thai Spring Rolls

There is nothing more tasty that fresh spring rolls.  Oh how I love them and they were just one more thing that I never ate much because I didn't know how to make them.  Yeah that and the fact that I can't get half the ingredients at home.  San Diego on the other hand has tons of Asian Markets and I was able to get a few pantry staples. 

Hold onto your hats because this is a long post.  I'll try and arrange it in simple, logical steps.  First you make a sauce, then you get your veggies/protein (if using) ready, then assemble your rolls



For the sauce you need.... soy sauce, rice vinegar, fish sauce and sugar (oops forgot that in the picture)

 In a small bowl add 2 Tbl soy sauce

 1 Tbl Rice Vinegar

 1 Tbl Fish Sauce

 1 tsp sugar

 Give that a mix until the sugar is dissolved

 Grab some bean threads.  There are 3 "bundles" in the pack.  I only used 1.

Put them in a bowl and cover them with hot water until they're soft.

 like this

 Next your filling.  I used some thinly sliced precooked chicken, bean sprouts, grated carrot, chopped green onion, cilantro and basil.  My little prep bowls hold 1 cup.  Spring Rolls are very forgiving and you can pretty much put anything in them you want.  Have fun.

 If  you're the sort of person that needs measurements..... add 1 cup bean sprouts to the bowl with the bean threads

 3/4 cup thinly sliced cooked chicken.  Mine is boiled but you could use roasted.

 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

 1 cup grated carrot

 1 cup chopped green onion

 Mix the filling and pour the sauce over it

 Mix it all together.  You really want everything incorporated otherwise you'll get some rolls with mainly bean sprouts and some with mainly basil, etc.  You get the picture.

 Now get a bowl of hot water and place a rice paper wrapper in it to soften.  Sorry I forgot to take a picture of what I used.  The package will say "Fresh Spring Roll Wrappers" or something to that affect.

 Place your softened wrapper on a clean surface.  Put in some filling.  How much depends on how full you want your roll to be.  You do want to put it toward the bottom (the end closest to you).

 Fold the bottom and edges in tightly and roll to the top.  You may need to use a little water to seal them.  Now if only TGIM hadn't gobbled them up as I was rolling them I could have had a picture for you.

 Manage to get one on your plate before they're all gone.  Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.  Mine is Sweet Chili Sauce and you'd totally be able to see if if I hadn't used a red plate. 

Egg Drop Soup

Hey my two readers, did you miss me?  We snuck down to San Diego for the weekend to visit the grandparents so I didn't do much or any cooking for a few days.  It was nice.  One of the main reasons I cook so much at home is there is a definite lack of good restaurants in my town.  Plus, living 15-20 miles away from said restaurants, it's a commitment to go to one.  While there are a few restaurants that we like to go to, there is not a good Chinese one.  TGIM wanted some Asian food recently so I decided to give it a try.  Since I knew he'd be starving when he walked in the door (and he had to stop at the store for a key ingredient so dinner wasn't going to be ready when he got home) I decided to make up a pot of Egg Drop Soup.  Had I know how ridiculously easy it was I would have been making this all the time.



 Here's what you need.... chicken or veggie stock, soy sauce, corn starch, some green onion, eggs, ginger and totally optional but I had some on hand, mushrooms.

 First, put your stock in the pot.  Save about 1/2 cup for later.  Then add your minced ginger.

 Rough chop a few mushrooms.  I only used about 4.

 Add them to the pot

 Then your chopped green onions

 and about a Tbl of Soy Sauce.

 With that 1/2 cup of reserved stock add a Tbl of corn starch.  This will thicken the soup a little.

 Mix it up until the corn starch is dissolved

 Add it to the soup and then bring the soup to a boil.

 While you're waiting for the soup to boil, add an egg or two into a dish.  Then sideways beat it up.  Or don't do it sideways and wonder why every time you take pictures of the process, one turns on its side and there's no way in blogger to rotate a picture.

 After the soup is boiling, reduce the heat to a simmer.  Slowly pour in the egg mixture while stirring the soup.  The egg naturally spreads into these lovely ribbons.  If I was an octopus, I could have taken pictures while I was pouring and stirring, but I'm not so you're going to have to figure it out on your own. 

Add a little extra green onion for a garnish and serve it immediately.

TGIM thought it was better than any restaurant soup he's had.  I almost agreed.  I thought it needed some salt.  Then I realized that I did use homemade stock with no salt and reduced sodium soy sauce.  That was probably why it needed some.  I added a teeny bit and it was perfect.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

There are about 50 million spaghetti and meatballs recipes on the internet.  Google it and see.  Not only are there differing opinions of what the meatball should contain, there are several schools of though on how you should cook them.  Some bake the meatballs, some simmer them all day in sauce, some saute them and add them later in the process.  Seriously, the first time I made them I sat at the computer for over an hour looking at recipes.  I've now made them several times and this is how my family prefers them. Of course, don't blindly follow me.... you can sit for hours looking at recipes if you really want.

The biggest thing for me is the meat.  You gotta get good stuff.  TGIM and I recently purchased 1/4 side of beef.  It's 100% grass fed, no hormones, humanely treated and all magically delicious.  In fact, TGIM went to the farm to pick it up and he thought the cows looked happy in the pasture.  Little did they know soon they were going to make someone very happy.  Again I'll save the whys of grass fed for another post.

 Here's what you need..... ground beef, seasonings, an egg or two, and panko flakes.  Personally, I do not want meatloaf in a ball in my spaghetti.  I really want the flavors of the meat to shine so I use just a few seasonings.  In fact, my favorite is Watkin's brand Garlic Peppercorn blend.  It's the perfect blend of garlic, pepper corns, salt, oregano and parsley.  If you need to acquire some, you can here. (Side note, this is not a paid advertisement, lol!)  I guess you need some pasta sauce too.  Here's the recipe for Garden Fresh Marinara sauce

put all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  I used 2 pounds of ground beef and 1/2 cup panko flakes

My yummy Watkin's Garlic Peppercorns

roll them into balls.  These are golf ball sized.  That's what my boy likes and I try and be a good momma.

Put them in a hot, oiled cast iron skillet.  Don't crowd them or they'll cook funky.

brown them on all sides.  It only takes a few minutes

then put them in the sauce you made and simmer them for about 30 minutes to finish cooking.

I'm assuming you can boil your own pasta, just add your meatballs and sauce to your pasta and Voila!  Super easy and yummy Spaghetti and Meatballs.  Yes, sadly that is cheese from a green container.  This is my boy's plate and he doesn't appreciate the subtle nuances of fresh grated Parmesan.  Oh that and I was plum out of it.

10 Grain Bread

Yesterday we had buns, today sandwich bread.  Over the last few years, we've (what I really mean is I and TGIM pretty much has to go along with it because I run the kitchen) gone through our own "food revolution."  Love ya Jamie!  We try not to eat processed foods, foods with ingredients I can't pronounce.  Love you too Michael Pollan.  The hows and whys I'll save for a different post. 

We used to get the whole grain bread from Costco and we'd get 4+ loaves per trip and that wouldn't last long enough until the next trip.  Costco is even further that the regular grocery store, over an hour away.  With gas (and time) costing so much, we only make the trek down the mountain when we "need" to. 

For my birthday last year Mr. M went big and got me a beautiful, wonderful, magnificent Kitchenaid Mixer.  One thing you have to know about my normally thrifty husband is that when he decides to invest in a tool (and you better belive a mixer in my kitchen is a tool) he goes big.  We lucked out and found the Professional 600 series on sale for only $10 more that the "normal" one.  Yeah, for $10 you better believe I'm getting the ginormous one.  I got it home and immediately started playing.  I had grand ideas of bread baking so I got started and failed.  Seriously after the first 5 attempts at bread making I gave up and my beautiful mixer sat neglected on my counter.  The thing is so big it wouldn't fit into any of my cabinets and it stared at me and I swear it laughed at me. 

As I was reading some of my favorite food blogs I came across a book by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois, Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day.  Several of them mentioned the book so I ordered it from Amazon.  It has changed my life!  With this book, and their 2nd book, Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, it's so stinking easy to have fresh baked bread there is no need (I seriously was almost punny and said "knead") to buy bread.

Here's one of my favorite breads from the "Healthy" book, 10 Grain Bread.  This recipe makes about four 1-pound loaves.  If you want a hearty sandwich size loaf, then use about 1/3 of the dough. 

The ingredients.... 2 cups  ten-grain cereal (Bob's Red Mill is what they recommend), 3 cups wheat flour, 2 cups white flour, 1.5 Tbl yeast, 1/4 cup vital wheat gluten, 1 Tbl salt and 3.5 cups lukewarm water

Put all the dry ingredients in a 5 quart bowl.  I used my mixer bowl because it's 6 quarts

I didn't take pictures of adding all the ingredients individually, I'm sure you're smart enough to add 2 cups of flour without a picture. 

Either whisk them together or give it a few turns with the paddle attachment of your mixer.  See how the cereal is incorporated into the flours.

pour in 3.5 cups of lukewarm water

without kneading mix it all together.  You might need to wet your hands to get the last little bits if you're not using a mixer.

Mix it until it looks like this.  It's going to be fairly wet.  Don't worry, it's supposed to be that way.

Plop it into your 6 quart container and cover (not airtight).  Let it rise for about 2 hours

until it looks like this.  At this point, you can bake a loaf of bread or toss the container in your fridge for use in the next 10 days.



When you're ready to bake a loaf, pull off a hunk and form it into the loaf (you can do a free form one too) and put it into your loaf pan.  Cover and let rise for 1 hour 40 minutes.  (only 40 if you're using fresh, unrefrigerated dough)

Preheat the oven to 450.  Make some slits on top of the bread with a serrated knife.  You can brush with water and add more of the cereal if you'd like.  Bake for about 30-35 minutes until brown and firm.

Let cool before slicing.