Miso-Ramen with Roasted Veggies

Lately, I have been craving Ramen! There is just something about those tasty rice noodles in a broth, that is satisfyingly delicious -- especially during high stress periods in your life. When I came across this super tasty looking Miso-Ramen recipe by The Bojon Gourmet, I had to try it. I followed this recipe to the letter and was not disappointed in the slightest! Holy cow, it had lots of good flavor and a variety of texture, I couldn't stop eating it! You had the saltiness from the Miso broth that was enhanced with boiled seaweed and shiitake mushrooms; the sweet soft texture of the roasted sweet potatoes; the crunch and a slight bitterness from the broccolini; topped off with the soft chew from the noodles, tofu, and boiled egg... Talk about delicious (in a sing-song voice). I devoured this and instantly regretted having to save some for tomorrow's lunch.

A good heads up, this recipe does take some time. I think I clocked it to one and a half hours, maybe almost two. There is lots of boiling water to consider along with some oven activity, so be sure to read through the recipe to get the timing right. I sure didn't and found myself having to reheat different components. Regardless, you will be satisfied with the finished product! I will certainly make this again! 

Thank you, The Bojon Gourmet! 

Chicken and Sun-Dried Tomato Burgers

This last week has been quite hectic! Having taken a six-month break from work and trying to get back in the game has left me emotionally and physically exhausted. In the end, dinner certainly suffered. I only cooked two dinners out of the whole week! Man, but was I craving something fresh and also tasty by the end of the week. So, I put together a Chicken and Sun-Dried Tomato burger, adapted from America's Test Kitchen, Sunday night. Boy did that help end the week right!

The best part about it is, I used fresh basil from my own indoor garden! I just bought the cute little basil plant last week at my local grocery store. The basil comes from a local nursery that has organic plants! I was so excited when I found it and even more so when I added them as a topping for these tasty burgers.

Chicken and Sun-Dried Tomato Burgers

Ingredients

• 5 hamburger buns
• 1/3 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, plus 1 tablespoon packing oil
• 1/4 of a red onion, minced
• 1 pound ground chicken
• 1/2 cub (2 ounces) crumbled goat cheese
• Large basil leaves
• 1 tomato, sliced thin
• Red onion, sliced thin
• Artichoke hearts, drained and quartered 
• 2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
•  2 tablespoons of olive oil

Instructions

1. Tear 1 hamburger bun into pieces. In a large, mash bread and 2 tablespoons water into a paste using fork. Chop sun-dried tomatoes coarsely and add to bowl, along with the minced red onion. 
2. Add chicken, goat cheese, 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt and 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper to bowl. Knead mixture with your hands until ingredients are uniformly distributed. Divide mixture into 4 portions. Form each portion into a loose ball and lightly pat ball into a patty. 
3. Heat the packing oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until oil shimmers. Place patties into skillet and cook until lightly browned. Flip patty and continue cooking until second side is lightly browned. 
4. In a small bowl, whisk the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and a pinch of kosher salt together to make a light balsamic vinaigrette. 
5. Cut hamburger buns in half. Brush on the balsamic vinaigrette on one side of each bun set. 
6. Place chicken patty on balsamic vinaigrette side, top with fresh basil, slices of red onion, tomato, and artichoke hearts. Enjoy! 

Meatballs in a French Sauce

Food and exercise go together for me. Some people exercise to eat whatever they want. Some exercise to look good, so their diet also goes with whatever helps them achieve their goals. Me, I typically let my body dictate what I'm going to eat and how much I'll eat. The large catalyst to this body-listening habit is determined by how much I exercise and what exercises I do. If I focus a lot of my attention on yoga, I typically crave more fresh fruits and veggies with light meat (e.g. fish and chicken). If I'm focusing on strength training and cardio, I find myself looking at more starchy foods and a lot of heavier meat (e.g. pork and beef). If I don't exercise at all, I typically go for lots and lots of sweet foods -- which has now become a sign that I should get off the couch and walk around the block.

Feel the burn! Love the burn! Be one with the burn! 

So this week was super exciting in the exercise department! I finally got a rowing machine centrally located in my garage! Woop woop! SUPER excited. I love rowing! I feel like rowing is the ultimate strength and cardio training in one exercise. This baby was my pleasure and pain all through my senior year of high school, as I was part of the rowing team. And to boot, my awesome younger sister threw in some kettle bells to keep the rowing machine company. My sister was able to get a good deal on this gently used rower. We split the cost and now we have our own little gym revving to go.

And once that burn has settled in, add a little pain with it.

So, how did we celebrate this new addition to our lives, you ask? Well, we did the only thing that made sense, we built a workout centered around the rower and the KBs. Since this is a food blog, I won't go into great detail over out workout, BUT I will mention that we totally kicked our own butts.

Meatballs and pasta with a simple green salad

After our ass-kicking workout, we made a delicious meatballs and pasta dish, from The Little Paris Kitchen by Rachel Khoo. I modified it a little bit to accommodate for flavor and more veg and paired it with just a simple greens salad, as there was lots of flavor going on with the meatballs. I think next time I might skip the pasta portion of the dish and just put the meatballs on the bed of greens. I'm not a huge fan of pasta. I think it is because if grew up on rice being a staple in every meal, but that's just crazy ol' me. So, I guess that's up to you.

I was re-named Pertrisha. I guess the girl taking my order heared more R's in my name.

Of course to top of a great meal we had to get dessert. So we went to a food truck rally not far from my house and got some amazing french toast from the Matterhorn. My sister and I split the Northface, which consisted of french toast, sliced strawberries and bananas, and topped with a large ice cream scoop of whipped cream and coconut syrup. Oh my god! That coconut syrup was so tasty! what can't coconut make better? And of course, vanilla custard and strawberry-colata Italian ice was just a gimme. Meals just end well with ice cream.

Meals just end better with ice cream. Nom nom nom!

Meatballs in a French Sauce

Ingredients

For the sauce: 

• 1 sweet onion , finely chopped
• 1 carrot, finely chopped
• 1 stick of celery, finely chopped
• 1 oz smoked bacon, cubed
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups beef stock
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 3/4 cups red wine (I found Pinot Noir works best for cooking)
• 4 sprigs of thyme
• 2 bay leaves
•  2 tbsp cornichons, finely chopped 
• 2 tbsp capers, finely chopped
• Salt and pepper 

For the meatballs:

• 1/2 pound of ground sausage
• 1/2 pound ground beef
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Instructions

1. Fry the onion, carrot, celery and bacon in a 12-inch non-stick skillet on medium heat until onions are golden. Remove the vegetables and bacon from the pan and set aside in a bowl. 
2. Add the butter to the now empty skillet. Melt the butter, then sprinkle in the flour, stirring until flour is incorporated with butter. Continue stirring occasionally until the flour-butter mixture turns almost a Coca-Cola brown. 
3. Turn the heat down to low and slowly pour in the beef stock, whisking continually to incorporate the butter at the bottom of the pan. Add the tomato paste and the wine, whisk until tomato past is fully incorporated. 
4. Add the fried vegetables and bacon back into the skillet, along with the thyme, bay leaves, cornichons, and capers. Salt and pepper to taste. Bring the sauce to a gentle simmer and allow to warm for 15 minutes.
5. In the mean time, heat olive oil on a cast iron skillet on medium heat. Fry the meatballs for about 5 minutes or until cooked through. 
6. Add the meatballs into sauce. Continue cooking until the meatballs are heated through. 
7. Remove the thyme sprigs and bay leaves. 
8. Arrange a nice bed of salad greens onto a plate. Top with the meatballs and some sauce.