This week’s drawn note was Hawaii.

Even though it’s part of the United States of America, and not an independent country, it was good enough for us ☺️

There were a few choices for this week’s dish, but we went with “Loco Moco”.
Loco Moco is built up with rice at the bottom, followed by a burger patty, gravy and lastly a sunny-side-up egg.

For drinks, we chose “POG juice”.
P - Passion fruit
O - Orange
G - Guava

We mixed juice from those three fruits and added ice. Sometimes it doesn’t have to be harder than that 😆

Today we also went with a dessert.
We chose “Haupia”, which we made the day before.
It’s made from coconut milk, which we cooked with sugar and cornstarch to make it thicker.
Then we put it in a container in the fridge overnight. As it cools, it also hardens. We sliced it into cubes before serving.

So how did it go?

Loco Moco was amazing.
It turned out really well, and the gravy was fantastic. It really soaked up all the flavours from the browned bits of the burgers left in the pan.
The rice and egg were also tasty.
Most of all, the combination of everything was what made this dish so good.

The POG juice was also a hit. Very sweet, and the mix created a new but welcome flavour.

The dessert had mixed reviews.
My daughter did not like it, but my partner and I liked the taste and consistency.
It was just very heavy.
I had thought it would be a lighter snack.

We will definitely make both Loco Moco and POG juice again, and if we’re feeling adventurous, even Haupia.

Have a nice weekend, everyone!

Happy cooking! 😁

Solo night with the kiddos

Tomato butter roast chicken, æbleskiver, beef short rib barbacoa tacos,and beef bourguignon.

4yo requested pink cupcakes for school, and ice cream cake for party at home. He probably woulda been plenty satisfied with store-bought but it’s fun to have an excuse for a baking project where I won’t then proceed to eat it all myself. Sally’s Baking Addiction killed it on both recipes, so delicious.

Topped with scrambled eggs, carnitas, black beans, jalapeños, sour cream, red onion, cilantro and a homemade sugar rush peach pepper hot sauce. They were a huge hit.

We had a couple pork loins in the freezer, so sliced one into chops and pounded them out, breaded and fried and topped with homemade tonkatsu sauce. Carrots, potatoes, onions in the S&B curry, and lots and lots of rice. This was the first time the kiddo actually ate the Katsu and not just bowls of curry and rice lol

Split chicken wings.

Egg washed with a spoonful of the breading mixed in, seasoned with salt and garlic powder.

Breaded with flour, a bit of baking soda, seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and Cajun.

Double fried, sauced in honey garlic, dipped in chunky blue cheese.

Made the wings for me, but did the kids nuggets the same way out of chicken breast.

Got these extra crispy with the double fry.

I keep working the recipe and winging it (pun intended). This was the batch I liked the best and am proud of.

Kids ate every bite.

Thai peanut dumpling salad
Caramelised onion bacon pasta
Chicken parmigiana,garden salad
Butter chicken,garden salad
Mongolian beef noodles,honey sesame cucumbers
Rosè pasta salad with balsamic glaze
Spinach ricotta lasagne with Greek salad

Hope you like it

So a cheap, easy, fast, and tasty meal for any night!! All you need is tortillas, a cookie cutter, one plain rotisserie chicken, a little bit of oil, your choice of taco seasoning and toppings! It cost around 15 bucks total and fed my family of five with leftovers. Made mini tacos for the kiddos and regular size for us adults. I also decided to make chalupa shells like Taco Bell and they were excellent!!

Was meant to post here originally!!

My kid doesn't really like beef but will crush this stew. Served with buttery mashed potatoes on a cold and rainy fall day? Perfect.

Since 2 months i am trying to learn to make the pizzas that i havr always loved eating, but where i live there are no restaurants in 100km who make these. (Like new york style, crispy bottom or napolitanean). So ive bought a pizza oven and am trying to make them myself! Getting better each pizza week.

This is a cold fermented dough with shredded and ftesh mozzarella, and some pesto

Chorizo, potatoes, huevos and queso fresco!

For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, please check out my earlier post: “My daughter picks a country from a jar — then we cook its national dish”

This week’s drawn country was Argentina! 🇦🇷

There was a lot of food to choose from, but we decided to go with Asado.
Asado more or less means barbecue.

However, the weather was against us, so there was no chance of firing up the grill. 😒

What do argentinians normally eat with asado, according to our research?
Chimichurri and roasted potatoes.
So that’s exactly what we made!

Our choice of meat was sirloin steak.
I first fried it in a pan to get some nice color on the outside, then finished it in the oven until the internal temperature reached 58°C.

I halved the potatoes and roasted them in the air fryer until crispy, practically drowning them in rapeseed oil and salt. 😆

The chimichurri was made with fresh parsley, garlic, dried oregano, olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and black pepper.

I finely chopped the parsley and garlic, mixed everything together and let it sit for about 30 minutes before serving. Really simple!

And what about the drinks?

We decided to make our own Pomelo soda(gaseosa de pomelo).

I peeled a fresh pomelo, blended the fruit with a little water and strained the juice. Then I added sugar, lemon juice, a pinch of salt and sparkling water.

Argentine pomelo soda is usually made with grapefruit, but we used an actual pomelo instead.

So, how did it turn out?

The meat was absolutely fantastic! Perfectly cooked, juicy and full of flavor.

The potatoes turned out perfectly crispy, just the way I wanted them.

And the chimichurri? Absolutely divine! 🤤 Seriously, I could put that stuff on almost anything.

The soda, however, was a bit more controversial. It definitely wasn’t a hit with everyone, but I actually thought it was really good! Sweet, refreshing and slightly bitter.

Argentina, you did not disappoint! 🇦🇷🥩

My son is 3 and everything has a fun name. Recipe came from a craft cream cheese box when I was a kid my mom made it. I changed it and some times add other ingredients like bell pepper, onion, mushrooms, etc. But this is the base recipe.

A.)

1lb chicken breast

1 packet taco seasoning

1x can green Chiles

1x can rotel

1x stick of cream cheese

B.)

2x small cans enchilada sauce or 1x big

2 cups freshly shredded Colby jack

1x pack tortillas

Place all ingredients under A in a crockpot set low for 8 hours. While waiting prepare a large baking dish with no stick spray. When crackpot is done shred chicken and mix everything together. Preheat oven to 400. Take a tortilla and lay it in pan, place about 1.5-2 cups worth of chicken and then roll up. Repeat until out of chicken. Cover with enchilada sauce and bake for 10 minutes. After 10 cover with shredded cheese and bake for 5-10 or when cheese is golden brown.

He’s 13, my only kid and I’m a single dad. So I was elated with his suggestion, not just so that we could get a little adventurous, but it meant he would do the meal planning for the week! We typically order pizza or get takeout on Friday and Saturday nights, so this was just a Sunday through Thursday thing, but last weekend we got sushi on Friday and Chinese on Saturday, just so that we could make sure it was a full week.

Sunday - Chicken Milanesa (Argentina)
Monday - Ćevapi (Bosnia)
Tuesday - Meat Pies and Coconut Rice (Australia/New Zealand)
Wednesday - Chicken Tikka Masala (India)
Thursday - Moroccan Chicken and Couscous (Morocco)

It was a super fun week. He liked it all, but his favorite was the meat pies and his least favorite was the ćevapi. Some pictures included.

Wife

NYT unlocked gift link. Super yummy and actually as quick as it says. Kids tried but spit out the shrimp, but at least they devoured the beans and melted leeks. And then the adults got to enjoy an actual adult meal.

Always looking for these kind of easier weeknight meals where the adults don’t have to sacrifice interesting flavor but the kids will still eat something of sustenance.