Dragon Noodles and Green Beans

Every meal has its time and place. From overly complicated and fancy at holidays, a savory and heart warming during the cold winter months, to a simple and quick get to the table. Today was simple with Spicy Dragon Noodles and fresh picked Green Beans.

Modifications Made:

Noodles: Sauce ingredients were scaled to cover a one pound box of thin spaghetti instead of 4 ounces lo mein with exception to the red pepper flakes. Only a half teaspoon of red pepper flakes were used as this sauce still had sriracha heat, too.

Green Beans: Red pepper flakes were reduced from a half teaspoon to quarter as I wanted to enjoy the freshness of the garden grown beans without my mouth being completely on fire.

Scaled for Likability: Great

Cilantro, was the winning ingredient! Who knew? The more Asian recipes read and videos watched, the more I have come to realize cilantro is not just a Mexican ingredient. Of course, if I am being honest, I like cilantro to begin with and have a tendency to be heavy handed when cooking with fresh cilantro. But still, even I have never once been tempted to use it Asian food. Well from this further, if the recipe calls for cilantro, then cilantro will be added.

Quick, simple, fire breathing noodles with cilantro. The heat was good and was felt more on the lips than in the mouth. The sauce was just enough to cover but not enough to drown. Thin noodles worked in a pinch but I can see where a large flat, thin noodle would have been better for more sauce coverage. Whole wheat noodles would have also worked wonderfully with this sauce and egg combination. Omitting the scrambled egg and serving a whole fried egg on top (sunny side up or hard) would have been just as good, too.

Spicy noodles paired with slightly spicy green beans was the perfect combination. The noodles were bland in color with just a splash of bright green from the cilantro and green onions. Served alongside bright, fresh green beans and the entire plate was visually and orally appealing. If fresh tomatoes had been available, a few slices of thick hardy tomatoes would have rounded out the meal. Soft, fire noodles, crunchy, spicy green beans, tender, sweet tomatoes. That is if you enjoy fresh tomatoes.

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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