Mexican Pasta

A lot of the same ingredients as the Minestrone Soup but in different amounts and with some spiciness.

Ingredients:

• vegetable oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 leeks, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• salt and pepper
• 1 jalapeno, chopped
• 1 cup of tomato sauce
• 2 cups of pasta, mostly cooked (it will finish cooking in the sauce)
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
•  Parmesan cheese (or Cotija cheese if you can get it)

Directions:
1) Heat the oil in a pot.
2) Add the onion and cook until it is translucent, about 3 minutes.
3) Add the leeks and carrots until they soften a bit, about 3 minutes.  Add the salt and pepper.





4) Add the jalapeno, pasta, and tomato sauce and bring to a boil.
5) Allow to cook until the pasta is cooked and carrots soften.
6) Serve with cilantro and Parmesan.

Minestrone Soup

A good soup for when the weather is just starting to get cold. Even better when reheated!

Ingredients:

• vegetable oil
• 2 medium onions, diced
• 2 leeks, diced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 potato, diced
• 1 can of beans (I used kidney because it was all I could find)
• 1/2 a cup of parsley, chopped
• 1 bag of spinach, chopped
• marinara sauce
• water or vegetable stock
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup of cooked pasta

Directions:

1) Heat 4 TBSP oil in a pot.
2) Add the onions and let sweat until they become soft (you may need to add more oil to prevent burning).







3) Add the leeks, carrot, potato, salt and pepper and cook for a few mores minutes, until they begin to soften.








4) Add the beans, parsley and spinach until the spinach wilts.








5) Add the stock or water (to cover), and add half as much marinara sauce.
6) Simmer until the vegetables are soft.
7) Add the Parmesan cheese and pasta and cook until the cheese has mostly dissolved and the pasta is warmed.

 So much soup...

Crusty Potato Fingers

The ingredients sound odd, but it was great, especially with lemon juice on top.

Ingredients:

• 2 potatoes, peeled and cut lengthways into strips
• water
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 jalapeno, chopped
• 1/2 inch of ginger, chopped
• salt
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 TBSP corn starch or corn flour
• crushed corn flakes
• oil

Directions:

1)  Heat water and boil the sliced potatoes near to the point where you can puncture them with a fork.
2) Remove from the water and let drain. 
3) Mix the onion, green pepper, garlic and salt. Their directions say to a paste, but I'm not sure how to turn a onion into a paste without a blender, masher or something similar.
4) Add the flour, corn starch and 2 TBSP water.
5) Heat oil in a pan.
6) Dip the potato in the onion and flour mixture, then the corn flakes, then place in the oil.

7) Flip when it is starting to brown on one side if necessary.







8) Remove from oil and place on a paper towel to drain the oil.
9) Serve with sauces, or just lemon juice which had the perfect amount of acid.

 look at the crisp!

Creamed Spinach

Not the prettyist thing I've ever made, but delicious because it's cheese and spinach. Be great for Thanksgiving.

Ingredients:

• 2 TBSP olive oil
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped
• 1/2 an onion, chopped
• 1 bag of spinach, washed
• 1/4 stick of butter
• 2 TBSP flour
• 2 cups of milk
• 1 tube of Kraft Parmesan cheese (or the equivalent)
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1) Heat the olive oil in a pot (not a pan).
2) Add the garlic, and let cook for about 30 seconds, before it browns.
3) Add the onion until it softens.






4) Add the spinach and put the cover on the pot for about 3 minutes.
5) Remove the contents of the pot and place into a strainer or colander.
6) Add the butter until it melts.





7) Add the flour to make a roux.









8) Add the spinach mixture so the roux covers it.









9) Add the milk, Parmesan, salt and pepper.

Citrus Tofu with Onions and Peppers

Another one from my phone ap. Theirs was adapted from Bon Appetit and mine was greatly adapted from theirs because I don't have an oven.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped (I could not find cilantro so I used 'hot greens')
• 2/3 cup lime juice
• 1/4 cup garlic, chopped
• 3 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin, divided
• 3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika, divided
• salt and pepper
• 1 block of tofu, cut into slices
• 4 TBSP olive oil
• 1 TBSP honey
• 1 onion, cut into rounds
• 2 red bell peppers, cut into slices
• rice

Directions:

1) Mix the cilantro, lime juice, garlic and 3 teaspoons cumin, 1/2 teaspoon paprika, salt and pepper.








2) Pour half the mixture over the tofu and stir. The tofu may fall apart.








3) Toss the onion and red bell pepper with 2 TBSP olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, 1/4 teaspoon paprika and salt and pepper.






4) Saute the onion and red bell pepper. You may need to add more olive oil to keep it from burning as opposed to charring.







5) Cook the tofu in a pan.









6) Add 2 tablespoons and honey with the remaining cilantro and lime mixture and mix.
7) Serve the onion and red bell pepper with the tofu and the rice.

Eat Your Greens Stir Fry

I keep seeing things online that tell me to eat more green vegetables, so here it goes.

Ingredients:

• 2 TBSP vegetable oil 
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 green bell peppers, chopped
• 1 jalapeno, chopped
• 1/2 a cucumber, chopped
• 1/2 an onion, chopped
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 a head of cabbage, chopped
• 8 green onions, chopped
• 2 TBSP soy sauce
• rice

Directions:

1) Heat the oil in a large pan.
2) Add the garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes.
3) Add the bell peppers, jalapenos, cucumber, onion, salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes.






4) Add the cabbage, half of the green onions and soy sauce and cook until the cabbage is wilted.
5) Serve on top of rice with the rest of the green onions on top.

Leftover veggie fried rice

Have vegetables left over from making the stock here? You should, unless you used veggies that were going to go bad in a day anyway. Make more fried rice!

Ingredients:

• vegetable oil
• 2 cloves chopped garlic
• 1 tsp chopped ginger
• 1 cup cooked vegetables, leftover from stock (carrots, mushrooms, onion, leeks, tomatoes)
• 2 cups of cooked rice
• 2 TBSP soy sauce
• 1 TBSP sesame oil
• salt and pepper

Directions:
1) Heat the oil in a pan.
2) Add the garlic and ginger for 2 minutes or so.
3) Add the vegetables and cook until heated through, about 5 minutes.
4) Add the rice, soy sauce and sesame oil and cook until heated through, about 5 minutes.
5) Add salt and pepper if necessary.

See photos of the fried rice if you need to!

Ramen Noodle Soup

I followed this recipe for the soup, and made a few changes due to liking green onions more than ginger. I thought it would be a bit difficult to find vegetable stock in Korea, so I made some following this recipe, loosely. It seems like you can throw any vegetables into water to make broth.

Ingredients:

• Stock
• water to cover
• vegetables
• carrot
• mushroom
• onion
• leeks
• pepper
• Noodle Soup
• stock
• 2 TBSP soy sauce
• 1 TBSP sesame oil
• 2 TBSP fresh ginger
• 4 green onions
• 3 TBSP vegetable oil
• 1 block of tofu
• 1 package of Ramen noodles
• 2 cups of spinach

Directions:

1) Chop the vegetables for the stock and place them in a pot.
2) Cover with water.
3) Bring to a boil.






4) Add the pepper and stir. Cook for 1 hour.
5) Strain the vegetables out and put the liquid back into the pot.







6) Add the soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, and green onions and bring back to a boil.
7) While it is boiling, heat the oil in a pan.







8) Add the tofu and cook for about 4-5 minutes on each side, until it is brown.







9) Add the Ramen to the stock and cook for 8-10 minutes, until cooked through.








10) Add the spinach and cook for 2-3 minutes until wilted.









11) Add the tofu and cook for 2-3 minutes until heated.