Mushroom Pasta

Easy peasy weeknight meal!

Do it in this order so things can be ready at the same time:

1. boil water for pasta
2. brown sliced mushrooms some pancetta (or other bacon type meat) and diced garlic in frying pan for sauce
3. dump pasta (I used farfelle, or bowtie, but any will do)
4. add dried shallots to mushrooms
5. heat up frozen spinach that you'll toss in the sauce
6. mix cream with the mushrooms/onion sauce, toss in spinach

after sauce complete, allow to cool briefly
mix pasta with sauce, add some parmesean or other cheese if preferred on top
top with some more shallots, done!

Pantry tip-I bought some fried shallots in a jar and it's come in so handy. I stopped having to dice and brown onions every time I cook. The shallots add a bit of crunch too. I started putting it into my spinach dip. love!

Using scraps- Fried Rice!

Remember how mom and dad used to make us special order fried rice? Well this time I made it at home using left over ingredients from other meals!

I used:

Two bowls of white rice

half a bag of frozen peas and carrots

half a large onion

3 eggs

Some leftover broccoli from last night's dinner

leftover ham from xams!!! 

All in all this made enough food for three meals!!  And for first meal, I will be pairing it with some steamed chinese veggies and tea eggs. YUM. 

Long Weekend Foodie Musings

I had a long weekend off! Amazing as it rarely happens.
I went out to eat twice, got groceries once, and mussed up dinner twice.

The meals cooked:
clam chowder
mapa tofu (a quick and easy staple, this time with fresh mushrooms!)
corn and potato chowder (I'm in a hurry to use up some potatoes about to pass their prime)

Thanks to lots of soup cooking I have enough food for several lunch meals.
I get to use up almost all my onions (still have one left) and it's high time I stop by the Smart and Final to make a pantry restock happen.
I find that since I haven't been making as much chili or tomato sauce that I haven't had the need to stock up on so many big stock ups.

Onward, budget eating! (this weekend was not that wallet friendly thanks to a lovely birthday splurge).

Clam Chowder and TJ's grocery shopping

It's been a while since I've had a weekend off and at home (sometimes I work, other weekends I'm out of town) So I finally got around to making a big grocery run!

At TJ's$110

3 boxes of honey nut cheerios
3 pkg of frozen burritos (chile verde, chicken)
2 frozen chopped spinach (perfect for dip)
1frozen cream cheese cake
3 pkg cream cheese (see above)
2 frozen steamer clams
2 canned clams
1 pancetta (for pasta)
2 deli meats (for p to snack on)
1 greek yogurt
1 bag oranges
1 bag clementines
2 pkg granola bars
1 dozen eggs
1 qt halfandhalf
green bell peppers
baby carrots
celery
avocados
mushrooms
ground turkey
english muffins
french baguette
white grape juice
bananas

And then I went home, cleaned out the fridge (it had been at least 2 weeks since it'd been properly cleaned out)

And made clam chowder the quick and easy way (using the clams, celery, halfnhalf, french bread from today)

Pantry items: potatoes, onions, salt and pepper, oil

brown 1 onion, and 3 celery stalks in some olive oil
while browning, dice 8 potatoes into small cubes
put the potatoes with some cold water into the pot with the browning onion
boil once and allow potatoes to cook til tender (season with salt and pepper)
drain 2 cans of clams and separate from juice
add in half and half, clam juice

add in the clams diced before serving.

eat with french bread!

Best eggplant ever!

I use chinese eggplant. I have never used the american kind, it may work.

diced garlic (pre peeled garlic-best thing ever, saves me loads of time!) and onion
tossed and browned it in vegetable oil
meanwhile, slice eggplant on diagnonal to increase cooking surface
toss into browning onions
toss in sugar, salt, white pepper, oyster sauce, basil, and some diced thai peppers (or anything with some heat if you like it that way)
add in some rice vinegar

cover until everything is almost cooked through and the eggplant is soft
the turn up the heat and fry a bit more, add some corn starch to thicken the sauce
last thing-add some diced green onion for some color

eat over rice!(I added some sausage to mine cuz I had it on hand)

Winter Soup

Another simple soup for cold winter nights!

parboiled bones for soup base with garlic, ginger, onion
daikon cubed
winter melon cubed
shitaki mushrooms

Cook for 1-2 hours until all the flavors meld.
Delish!

Chinese Market Run For Chinese New Year

$120
striped bass
Dungeness crabs x2
2 spring onion
pre-peeled garlic (this is so awesome, definitely gonna buy this when i cook a lot again)
ginger
daikon
winter melon
eggplants
2 x bok choy
fried shallots
chicken bouillon
canned mushrooms
fermented beancurd
mapa tofu sauce
2 sesame ball pkg
hoisin sauce
oyster sauce

In the spirit of Chinese New Years.....

......I made dumplings!!!! Ok, I am cheating because I made these last weekend, but close enough right? Also, had a random craving for some beef, hence the second picture. And I forgot to take pictures of the finished product bc I got hungry and needed to eat it LOL.

More Weekday Dip!

Spinach dip:

frozen spinach (must cook, or else risk E. coli!) I heat in microwave, then bake for a hot dip, if making cold dip, then cook spinach thoroughly!

cream cheese

shredded cheese (i have colby and monterey) and parmesean sprinkled on top


 extra hot peppers (I had some thai peppers on hand)

veggie soup mix from Knorr's

mash up all together

bake at 400 degrees for 20-25min until all melted and hot!

Cut up: celery sticks, carrot sticks, bell pepper slices to eat a healthy snack!

bake potato wedges too!

Summary of January Spending

Wow!  I cannot believe it is already February!  Last month sure flew by and I managed to only go over my monthly food budget by $95!   I spent a total of $595 in the month of January on dining out, groceries and snacks and take out.  Below are some pictures of my home cooking during the month.  February is already not a good start for me (spent $250 in the last 5 days!). After passing my exam and neglecting my social life last month, I can no longer stay at home and be a hermit!  So, this means that Feb is a month full of dining out, wine and drinks, hanging out with the bf, who will be visiting me for a wk!  It will be a fun but expensive month!