Korean Ground Beef with Korean Spinach

Ever in my attempts to try global meals, I have narrowed my searches to specific titles such as Brazilian desserts, Australian breakfasts, Vietnamese Noodle Soup, Peruvian dinners. Narrowing to a specific region with a specific ingredient is how Ground Beef Bulgogi was discovered. Not wanting just a meat and carb dinner, Sigeumchi Namul was a top result when searching Korean vegetables.

Modifications Made:

Ground Beef Bulgogi - Fearing a repeat of BLAH sweet dish, sugar was reduced to one tablespoon and one teaspoon of hoisin sauce replaced one tablespoon of plum sauce.

Sigeumchi Namul - What was really cooked was geundae namul. Geundae is Korean for chard and Namul is Korean for seasoned vegetable dish. Per the recipe suggestions, the chard was "simply seasoned with salt along with some minced garlic, sesame oil and sesame seeds."

Scaled for Likability:

Bulgogi - No, Thank You

Good grief, another sweet meal. The only reason this was not scratched to the chicken bin was because the sugar had been reduced and the rice offset the sugar content. In theory this simple dish sounds fabulous, if it had less sugar. One could make this entire dish with just the sugar from the mirin alone.

Namul - Good
So nice to have found a stir fry veggie with very little oil and no sugar. It was a sad state there was so little to go around.

Papas a La Mexicana (Ranchera)

It is a crying shame that there are six hens and not a egg in sight. What am I supposed to do with homemade ranchero sauce? Thankfully with a few quick searches of the internet a recipe from my hometown newspaper was discovered: Papas Ranchera . Not once in the thirty years I lived in my hometown did I ever eat at a local food joint serving papas rancheras. No time like the present to remedy this cultural dish. Because this recipe is hidden behind a paywall (grrr...) I have included it here for you: Servings: 4-6 Ingredients: 1 pound potatoes, diced 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1/2 large onion 1 1/2 medium tomatoes 3 jalapenos 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup juice from canned tomatoes Instructions: Fry potatoes in vegetable oil until lightly browned (about 4-6 minutes). Saute onions, tomatoes, jalapenos until soft. Add garlic powder and salt. Add tomato juice until vegetables are covered (may need to add water). Bring to a boil and then add po...

Better Than Campbell's Old Fashion Vegetable Soup

Went to the store with the hopes of gathering fresh produce for soup. With more than 45 people in line for two packages of any meat product and the produce section containing only avocado, orange, and most randomly, strawberries, I settled upon canned soup. Well not canned soup since that section was still void of food, too. Instead soup made from canned goods as the canned vegetable section had been mostly restocked. Soups like this 15 Minute Vegetable Soup are ideal in dire food situations such as current times. Modifications Made: Plain petite diced tomatoes omitted, frozen carrots instead of canned, green beans and corn undrained, peas omitted (gross, nasty little pods), one cup celery, three cups diced potatoes, one can tomato sauce, two beef and two pollo de tomate bouillon cubes, six cups water. Once onions were softened, carrots/celery/potatoes/juice of green beans and corn, sauce, bouillon cubes, water were added and allowed to simmer until carrots almos...

Sour Cream & Chive Scalloped Potatoes

Can't believe the Month of the Potato is over. There are so many more potato recipes saved. Guess I will have to work them into another month. Last week's scalloped potatoes were one of the best new recipes during the month of potatoes. With today being the last day in the Month of Potatoes, I decided to go out with a bang by cooking another batch of scalloped potatoes but this time sour cream and chive. The Best Scalloped Potatoes , or so they said. Modifications Made: Recipe was reduced by half. Mayo was omitted and one entire package of chives were chopped and added to sauce before pouring onto layers. Scaled for Likability: Good Betty Crocker Sour Cream and Chive Box Scalloped Potatoes were the standard for this recipe. These were a family favorite for years but have long since been discounted. Bummer. Trying to replicate this seemed easy enough. Alas, it was not. These had a nice texture but were too oily from the cheese ...

Eating Waffles

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