Week 13.......

This week I was in the mood for Japanese. I am a big sushi roll fan. I made some the other day with crab. They came out great. The only problem was that I forgot to buy wasabi.
The rest of my menu for the week included a Korean style BBQ beef (that's the one in the pic that my dog is eyeballing), chicken fied rice, turkey and shredded zucchini burgers (which was really good for being a healthy burger option), chicken madeira (I stole the idea from the Cheesecake Factory), and "skinny" tuna casserole from skinnytaste.com.

 I bought a octopus the other day. There may be some cool pics to come! I'm nervous because I've never cooked octopus before. We'll see how it turns out.....

Week 12..........

I made some good stuff this week. I have been paying closer attention to calories. Starting on the top left, I made baked chicken with barbecue sauce, bacon, cheddar, with a side of grilled zucchini; the next one is cheeseburger casserole made with ground turkey (it was surprisingly good!); then I had to do a demonstration speech so I made stuffed jalapeno peppers; then more baked chicken, this time with tomato and fresh mozzarella; and lastly, a healthy version of chicken parmigiana with wheat pasta.
I want to make some Japanese this weekend. Maybe even some "burg-ushi".

By the way, I'm still perfecting my food calendar. I'll let ya know when it's done. Bon Appetit!

Week 11.........

I've noticed that the majority of our class blog about health and diet. I always keep calories in mind when I cook. Most of the time I don’t try and hold back on ingredients, I just try to eat appropriate serving sizes.

I have decided to pay closer attention to calories. So, I downloaded a great app, MyFitnessPal. You can track everything you eat and track your calories each day. I thought it would be too much of a hassle, but it’s really not! It only takes a few minutes each day.

I found a website/blog for healthy eating. It’s skinnytaste.com. I cooked two of their recipes today (see pic below), zucchini tots and Salisbury steak. I used ground turkey mixed with 88/12 ground beef for the steak. The recipes on that website are like healthy versions of “comfort” food. They use little or no oil to cook with and lean cuts of meat. I highly recommend it!

I cooked Turkish food this week, too. I made lula kebab with garlic and lemon yogurt sauce. I have been to Turkey three times and have had this dish many times. I have to say, this is the first time I cooked it myself and it came out great!

The other pics below are of baked Frank's hot sauce chicken fingers with bacon jalapeno's and asparagus; and the bottom one is my first turkey burger with grilled tomato (it was surprisingly good). 

I’m still working on my food calendar. By the time we have our presentation I should have a good plan to present to everyone.

Week 10, Food calendar......

Ok, I have kinda figured out what I would like to track each month on a food calendar. My goals would be to waste less food, incorporate more vegetables (which are usually the foods that I throw away), plan meals (but not every meal), and track costs.

Anyways, I will keep track of my meals for the rest of the semester and come up with a calendar that I can hopefully use in the future.

I didn't get many food pics this week. I did take one of a nice steak with grilled zucchini from a couple nights ago. Here it is...

Week 9, not much.......

This week has been pretty busy. We went out to eat a few times. We were out and it ended up just being faster. I did make a caramelized chicken with rice, but it wasn't the best and I won't be making it again.
I'm still working on a food calendar. It's a lot of trial and error. I'm trying to figure out if it's possible to stick to a weeks worth of meals or if I can go longer than that.
I did manage to help out with some renovations at home. I saw a great shelf online made from wood and plumbing pipe. The only problem was that it cost $500! So, my husband and I decided to make one ourselves (see below). It cost less than 20% of the original and it's actually a lot bigger than the one I saw online. The best part is it only took about two days. It would have been much quicker but we had to wait overnight after we stained the wood.
Anyways, I'll get back to cooking this week........

Week 8, Kinda American........

 For the past couple of weeks I've been trying to plan meals for the week ahead. It's been working out, but I think it's best if I actually make a calendar. I think that way it would be easier to stick to.
So, here are a few things that I made over the last two weeks.
I make pizza fairly often. I love it and I know restaurant pizza is loaded with calories I make my own at home. It only costs a couple of dollars that way, and it's sooooo much better for you. All in moderation, right? I also had a burger with grilled potatoes. The only part I didn't make from scratch (this time) was the hamburger bun. Lastly, I made chicken fajitas. I like to make way too much of the chicken so we can eat them for lunch all week.
One thing that I will try in the coming weeks is to make extra of our favorite foods. I like leftovers, so this way it will be easy to fix lunches.

Week 7, Nothing Specific..........

This week was very busy. I've had three midterms to study for. I've been talking about starting a food calendar and after this week, I am definitely going to start! The problem is that really good food can sometimes take time. Since I didn't really have free time to look for a recipe and plan a big meal, I made some of my go-to dishes. These are my twenty minute meals. You can see in the pics below that a few of the things I made this week were, baked chicken and potatoes, grilled chicken with pasta, and a ground beef cutlet with rice. 

I know that last week in class we were talking about a goal for our blogs. I think that what I will try to work towards is getting a schedule together for meals and see what happens in the process. I'm hoping that by scheduling my meals I would be able to save the time and headache of trying to figure out what to eat at the last minute, and hopefully I can do it healthy and inexpensive. We'll see......

Week 6, Italian.......

This week I made an Italian meatball soup. It's made with water, potato, onion, green onion, carrot, rice, and meatballs. I made the meatballs with egg, breadcrumbs, and parmesan cheese. I just cooked the meatballs in the soup, not the oven. This soup is really healthy, easy, and fast to make.
One thing that I noticed in Italy is that a meal consists of many courses. Since I made noodles last week, I decided to make more of an Italian starter rather than pasta. When most people think of Italian food they just  think of pasta and pizza, but there are so many more types of dishes that are native to Italy. When I was there a few years ago, I ate mussels, risotto, and lots of fresh mozzarella with different olive oils, just to name a few. Of course, I ate tons of pasta and pizza, but I tried to eat some different things as well.
Here's a pic of my soup. If you're looking for a healthy, low-carb dish, this soup fits the bill.

Week 5, Chinese........

This week I made a Chinese dish called lagman. This dish is made with handmade noodles. The noodles are thicker than spaghetti and really delicious. Along with the noodles, it has beef, bell pepper, cabbage, onion, tomato, garlic, cilantro, cumin, and coriander. I also used this dish for my instructions, so if you want the recipe you can check it out on the discussion board.

Lagman is one of my favorite foods. It's popular in China, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and all across central Asia. So when I'm in Central Asia, it's always the first thing I want to eat. 

Anyways, check out the recipe. It's a really great, home-cooked meal, that most anyone would enjoy.

Week 4, Russian, Again........

This week I made beef stroganoff.  It's another Russian dish.  I decided to make this because I hadn't had it in a long time and I was in the mood for it.
Beef stroganoff is cooked with beef, mushrooms, sour cream, onion, flour, and butter.  Even though it's not in most recipes, I like to cook the mushrooms in Marsala or Madeira wine.  The wine gives this dish a great sweet flavor.
The dish reminds me of my childhood.  It was a staple dish for me growing up.  Here is a pic of the finished product........

Week 3, Russian.....

This week I made my version of comfort food.  I made Russian ravioli.  In Russian, we call them "pelmeny".  
They're handmade.  First you make the dough, then fill them with practically anything you choose.  I usually put a mixture of beef and pork inside, but you can even make them with fruit.  Usually when people make these, they make six pounds or more.  It's always good to have "extra" hands to make these.  When I make them, I make enough for a few months and end up freezing a large bag.  Every time I need to eat in a hurry I just throw them in boiling water for five minutes and they're done!

This week.... Indian.....

This week I made my favorite Indian dish, Chicken Tikka Masala. I actually got the recipe from Food Network and it was by Guy Fieri. The ingredients and recipe can be found here. The recipe looks a little complex, with all the different spices, but I assure you it's not. I like to use chicken thighs instead of a whole chicken, just so I can skip the skin. I've actually made it about ten times now.  There's so many flavors going on and it's just awesome. You can find the spices at any local Indian grocer, and they're almost always cheaper than any big grocery store.

I decided to make this dish because I really enjoy Indian cuisine. I worked with my husband in Iraq for three years and I got the chance to eat authentic Indian food quite often. We had many friends from India and Sri Lanka that would cook curries, dahl (spiced lentils), and masalas, every night.
At first, I hated the thought of curry, which is similar to masala. I don't like curry powder, so I never really tried the dish named after it. But, once I tried the authentic version, I was hooked! The only problem was that the food that our friends would make would be SOOO hot that it would make you cry. So, after we told them it was a bit too hot, they started making less spicy batches just for us.

Anyways, I highly recommend that you try this dish.  You will not be disappointed!

Week 1, Korean.......

This my first entry and for week one I chose to make my favorite Korean dish.  It is called Samgyupsol.  It's pork belly that's usually made without adding much more than sesame oil and garlic.  I found a recipe that included red pepper paste, which is one of my favorite ingredients, so I used that.  In the picture, the bowl on the left is the pork, the bowl on the right is kimchi.  If you don't already know, kimchi is cabbage packed with spices and then fermented.  I didn't make the kimchi; I bought it at an awesome Korean grocer in Matthews called Pepero.  The way that you would normally eat this would be to take a lettuce leaf, put some rice, pork, and kimchi on the leaf, and roll it up like a taco.  Trust me, it's excellent.  Here it is..............

The reason I chose Korean food was because I lived there for two years.  It's definitely my favorite type of food.  All across Asia, and especially Korea, the spices that are used in the dishes would make anyone cry.  I can't tell you how many times I have been in tears while eating there!  
Anyways, I'm thinking about Indian this weekend?  Not sure yet.  I'll let you know!

Weekly Food Adventure

Hello! My name is Irina. I am from Kyrgyzstan and I Love Food!!! I grew up cooking because we didn't go out to eat too often. I guess I've always loved to cook. 
I have had the opportunity to travel all over the world. Along my travels, I have tried many authentic dishes. So, over the next few months I plan to attempt a weekly food adventure through different countries that I have traveled to.