Not so scary Ghoul-ash

so i watch alot of food network, and when i see something tasty, i like to try it out. but the recipes kinda freak me out sometimes so i normally tweak it a little bit. heres my take on paula deens goulash recipe

Ingredients

2 lb lean ground beef

1 lrg onion, chopped

3 cups water

1 can tomato sauce (29-ounce)

2 cans diced tomatoes (15-ounce)

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp Italian seasoning

3 bay leaves

black pepper

garlic powder

salt

3 cups dried elbow macaroni

1. In a Dutch oven or a large stock pot, saute the ground beef over medium-high heat, until no pink remains. Break up meat while sauteing; spoon off any grease.

2. Add the onions to the pot and saute until they are tender about 5 minutes.

3. Add 3 cups water, along with the tomato sauce, tomatoes, garlic, Italian seasoning, bay leaves, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Stir well. Place a lid on the pot and allow this to cook for 20-25 minutes.

4. Add the elbow macaroni, stir well, return the lid to the pot, and simmer for about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat, remove the bay leaves and allow the mixture to sit about 15 minutes more before serving.

paula deen's original recipe calls for soy sauce and a lot of salt but i read a lot of complaints about it being too salty so i just added it to taste. turned out very tasty. then her recipe said to let the pasta simmer in the water for 20 minutes, then let it sit for another 30, but the pasta would have gotten too mushy so i pulled it earlier. (the simmering for 10 min is really cooking the pasta, and then the resting part is just the pasta soaking up the goulash juices, yum)

but it was a success! i'm on a roll....

* http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/bobbys-goulash-recipe2/index.html

Okonomi-yaki!

Okonomi-yaki

pretty straight forward... but i made it from a premix! i dunno where to find mountain yam ...:(

to the premix, i added:

cabbage

green onions

zucchini

tempura flakes

bacon!

finished with kewpi mayo and okonomi-yaki sauce

it was alright. aha dunno if i'll make it again

yum lasagna

i made a lasagna! serves eight, takes a very long time to make. so this is a leisurely weekend food for sure, but it keeps for a long time so i packed some for leftovers for the rest of the week! oh just a tip, make it in one of those big disposable aluminum foil pans so you can get all the benefits of the many many layers this recipe makes

- adapted from tyler florence's ultimate lasagna

Ingredients

1 lb dried lasagna noodles

Extra-virgin olive oil

1½ lb ground beef

1½ lb ground Italian sausage

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, sliced

2 tbsp chopped fresh basil

¼ cup finely chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley

1 tbsp chopped oregano leaves

1 cup red wine

2 cans tomatoes (28-ounce) (recommended: San Marzano crushed)

3 tbsp heavy cream

3 tbsp sugar

1 qrt ricotta cheese (1 container)

1 eggs, lightly beaten

½ cup grated Parmesan

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 lb mozzarella cheese, shredded

Grated Parmesan and mozzarella, for topping

Method

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Cook the lasagna noodles in plenty of boiling salted water until pliable and barely tender, about 10 minutes. Stir with a wooden spoon to prevent sticking. Drain the noodles thoroughly and coat with olive oil to keep them moist and easy to work with.

3. Coat a large skillet with olive oil, add beef and sausage and brown until no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Drain meat.

4.In a food processor, combine the onion, garlic, basil, parsley, and oregano. Process until pureed, add to the pan with the ground meat and stir to combine. Stir in the flour. Add the wine and cook until it has reduced by half. Stir in the tomatoes and add the heavy cream and the sugar.

5. In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta and the parmesan. Stir in the eggs and season with salt and pepper.

6. To assemble the lasagna: Coat the bottom of a deep 13 by 9-inch pan with olive oil. Arrange 4 noodles lengthwise in a slightly overlapping layer on the sauce. Then, line each end of the pan with a lasagna noodle. This forms a collar that holds in the corners. Dollop 1/2 of the ricotta mixture over the pasta, spread to the edges with a spatula. Spread 1/2 of the meat mixture over the ricotta. Sprinkle 1/2 of the mozzarella on top of the ricotta. Top with a ladle full of sauce, spread evenly. Repeat with the next layer of noodles, ricotta, sauce, and cheeses. Top last layer with noodles, sauce, shredded mozzarella and Parmesan.

7. Tap the pan to force out air bubbles. Bake for 1 hour. Remove from oven. Let lasagna rest for 30 minutes so the noodles will settle and cut easily. Cut into 2-inch squares and serve.

success! the lasagna was a success, i'd definatly do it again

* http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/the-ultimate-lasagna-recipe/index.html

The ones from the sea, not on your arms

so for my dad's 55th birthday me and loan wanted to make something to bring to his birthday dinner so we decided we would make a dish with our new friend - mussels!

and seeing that my mom and dad are picky eaters and refuse to eat anything we make, we decided to do a test run on the mussels for our dinner the day before so if it was a success we could make it on saturday. (and if it was a failure, not make it saturday)

Steamed Mussels with Leeks Garlic Thyme White Wine and Butter

* 3 pounds mussels
* Extra-virgin olive oil
* 4 tablespoons butter
* 2 leeks, white parts only, finely chopped
* 4 garlic cloves, minced
* 1/4 bunch fresh thyme
* 1 cup white wine
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Rinse the mussels under cold running water while scrubbing with a vegetable brush.
Remove the stringy mussel beards with your thumb and index finger as you wash them.
Discard any mussels with broken shells.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a large pot over medium heat.
Add the leeks, garlic, and thyme and cook until the vegetables cook down to a pulp, about 5 minutes.

Add the mussels and give everything a good toss.
Add the white wine.
Cover and steam over medium-high heat, until the mussels open.<>
Stir occasionally so that all the mussels are in contact with the heat.
Add the remaining 3 tablespoons butter and a drizzle of olive oil to the sauce remaining in the pot and swirl to incorporate.

Season with salt and pepper.
Sprinkle with the parsley and serve immediately
Adapted from http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/steamed-mussels-with-leeks-garlic-thyme-white-wine-and-butter-recipe/index.html

so. we over cooked the mussels. and added the flat leaf parsley in with the leeks (oops) but all in all i think it was an alright dish. it was an interesting experience and my mom took a bite of a mussel but didn't get to mop up the juices with the crusty french bread which i thought was the best part, but she ate one! and didn't spit it out, or say she could make it better, so success! but not enough to make us determined to share it with our dad for his birthday.

note to self for next mussel dish -

- more butter (yum)

- count on 1/3 of the mussels we buy to be dead

- don't over cook the mussels

so over all this meal was a ...

fail?

( question mark because it was alright, just not something i could eat every day for the rest of my life)

- Vien

- Not Vien

hello there blog world

aha. i have joined the world of blogging.

i have recently realized that i need to eat real food - hence the title - and leave behind my bad instant food habit and journey into the world of preparing meals, and not just heating them up. so yes, this will be a food blog. an AMAZING food blog about the trials and tribulations i will encounter as i progress from eating a packet of .35 ramen to... anything that isn't ramen. anything.