Short Rib and Bok Choy Soup

I've seen the words 'lazy day' and 'Cozy Sunday' a lot in blogs and magazine articles lately. It is fall afterall, and I can honestly say I'm in desperate need of a lazy cozy weekend!  I feel like there's always something that has to be done, people to see, events to attend. Since weekends are our only time to spend together as a family, I'm feeling the pinch, along with my family, because I'm taking a 13 week Pro Chef Series which meets every Saturday and Sunday from 8:30am-12:30 but usually I don't get home until after 1pm. I get home and I'm hot, tired, and smelling of each week's culinary ingredient. Last Sunday, was pork class. I got home and my oldest son said, "What sinks like horrible food?" 

Yes...he's been a real shit lately. He not happy that I'm gone every weekend until the afternoon. I get it. And it is true, I do smell like chicken, beef, garlic, onions, grilling, oil, pork...you name it! Just wait until Fish and Shellfish class. But seriously after 4 hours of cooking, my clothes, my hair, skin, and even my bra stinks like food and dare I admit, a hint of sweat. It's a ton of work and A LOT of fun and most importantly, I LOVE IT! I'm learning so much and the food has been out-of-this-world delicious! Don't worry, I'll blog some of Chef Teri's amazing recipes and share some cool techniques I've learned along the way. :)

But that brings me back to Lazy. Cozy. Sunday. I need one and my family needs one. I have no class the weekend after Thanksgiving so I'm scheduling my Lazy Cozy Weekend with my family. Just me, my husband and my boys. Nothing to do. Nowhere to be. 

I'll turn off my phone, wear PJ's all day, make a big pot of soup, watch old movies, nerf guns, and play twister with the kids. Hey...who knows, maybe we'll go for a long walk or a bike ride...or maybe not...we're supposed to be LAZY right? Of course, the cozy part is completely dependent on SoCal weather. :)

Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's a delicious soup for your next lazy weekend!

Short Rib and Bok Choy Soup

Recipe slightly adapted from Three Beans on a String

Serves 8

2 pound short ribs, with or without bones

6 cloves garlic, sliced
1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
1 medium yellow onion, sliced
1 Roma tomato, quartered
1 t. Chinese Five Spice
1 Habanero chile, halved and seeded
1/2 cup rice wine or sherry
1/2 cup soy sauce
12 cups chicken broth
1 lb. baby bok choy, sliced in 1-inch strips
10 baby bella mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup bean sprouts
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup green onions, chopped

In a large stockpot, cover the short ribs with water and bring to a boil. Immediately turn off the heat and remove the beef and set aside. Discard water and wash the stock pot. This helps make a clearer broth. Return the par-boiled short ribs to the clean stockpot and add garlic, ginger, onion, tomato, five spice, Habanero chile, rice wine, soy sauce and chicken broth. Bring the pot to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 3 hours or until meat is tender. Remove from heat and allow the soup to sit for an additional hour. Next, remove the beef from the pot and pour the broth through a sieve to strain out the vegetables while collecting the broth in another clean stock pot. Add beef back to the strained broth.
Skim any fat from the surface of the broth. (I refrigerated the soup overnight and removed the hardened fat from the surface)

Bring the soup back up to a boil and then add the mushrooms and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the Bok Choy and blanch for another 2 minutes.
Ladle into bowls and top soup with bean sprouts, green onions and cilantro.

Other Soup recipes to try:
   Rustic Minestrone                  Chicken Pot Pie Soup              Spicy Beef Stew

Roasted Asian Slaw with Creamy Sesame Dressing

Every once in a while, I'll have an idea for a Halloween dish and after I make it, it ends up being so beautiful and so delicious that I am hard pressed to give it a festive Halloween name. This deconstructed Asian slaw is one of those dishes. It started solidly as a Halloween Salad featuring shaved broccoli stems as the main component of the salad which I intended to name, Shaved Vertebrae Salad. However, as I played around with the idea of a deconstructed Asian-inspired coleslaw, my Shaved Vertebrae Salad became this Roasted Asian Slaw with Creamy Sesame Dressing. 

Instead of having all raw veggies like most slaws, I decided to roast the cabbage and red bell peppers. Lightly roasting cabbage adds sweetness and yet it still maintains the crunchiness expected with a slaw. I kept the broccoli stems crunchy which added a wonderful flavor and texture all on their own. Roasted Red peppers top the salad along with a sweet almond and ramen noodle brittle and an incredible Creamy Sesame Dressing...Yum-O! I could totally do shots of this dressing, it's so good!  So looking at this fancy pants salad...I know what you're thinking... How do I eat it?  Answer: With a knife and fork. Use a knife to cut cabbage into quarters and mix with dressing. Add lots and lots of brittle and dig in...Enjoy!

WANT TO MAKE IT FOR HALLOWEEN?
This salad can be made into a most impressive Blood Clot Salad for Halloween.  The vivid blood-red roasted peppers mimic arteries that make up a monstrous blood clot...yuck! The broccoli stems are sliced at an angle so that they look like cross-sections of vertebrae. And the showstopper of course is the red cabbage when roasted, turns a gorgeously sinister mix of deep purple which makes me think of zombie brains. Top the whole thing off with dried worms and a yummy dressing this salad is perfect for Halloween. What's not to love...Blood clots, Brain cross-sections, vertebrae and worms! Have fun with it and Happy Halloween!  

Try it with my Midnight Sushi with Wasabi Skulls.

Roasted Asian Slaw with Creamy Sesame Dressing (Blood Clot Salad)

Serves 6


1 large Red Cabbage, sliced into six ~1/4" slices, core removed
1 T canola oil + 1 T Toasted Sesame oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper (to taste)
3-4 broccoli stems, peeled and sliced very thin (~3 cups)
1/2 cup roasted red pepper, cut into thin strips 
Creamy Sesame Dressing (below)
Candied Almond Ramen Noodles (below)
toasted black sesame seeds (garnish)
cilantro leaves (garnish)



Creamy Sesame Dressing (recipe from Cuisine at Home)

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
2 T seasoned rice wine vinegar
1 T toasted sesame oil
1 T soy sauce
1/2 T sugar
2 T fresh ginger, grated
Pinch of cayenne (optional)

Combine ingredients in a mini food processor and emulsify. Refrigerate until ready to use. 

Roast Cabbage
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place slices of red cabbage on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. In a small bowl, mix oil and minced garlic and brush mixture over cabbage slices. Salt and pepper to taste and roast in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Prepare broccoli stems:
Cut off the small broccoli leaves from the stem and set aside for use in your salad. Using a vegetable peeler, peel rough outer stem. Using a mandoline or a sharp knife, cut very thin slices of broccoli stem. Tip: I found it easier when using the mandoline, to not cut off the florets from the broccoli crown. Instead, hold the crown of florets as you shave the broccoli stems. It makes for easily handling without the chance of slicing your fingers. Especially, since my mandoline blade was not very sharp.

Candied Almond Ramen Noodles
1-2 packages of ramen noodles, dried and broken up
1 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar

In a small skillet, melt butter on medium heat. Add sliced almonds and cook until lightly browned (~2 minutes). Add sugar and stir until melted and combined. Add ramen noodles and mix until coated. Set aside to cool. 

Assemble Salad:
Spoon about 2-3 T of Creamy Sesame Dressing onto plate. Lay roasted cabbage round in center of dressing using a spatula to keep the cabbage together. Add about 1/2 cup of shaved broccoli stems and leaves to top of cabbage. Top broccoli stems with about 1-2 T roasted red peppers. Add a generous amount of Candied Almond Ramen Noodles. Garnish with black sesame seeds and cilantro leaves.

Halloween Trunk or Treat Trophies

I volunteered to make the trophies for my son's Trunk or Treat event at his elementary school this year and I can honestly say these were really hard to give away. I think they turned out so adorable and they were so much fun to make, that I really miss them! Luckily, I took these pictures so I can remember them always! ;)
All kidding aside, Pinterest has tons of cute trophy ideas using these mini dollar store skeletons so I wanted to try to make some of my own. The event being a Trunk or Treat, I wanted the skeletons to be in cars of some kind. I went looking for small toys that I could use but all of which were the wrong scale and too expensive. That's when I turned to my crafting stash. I rummaged through and found two wooden coffins from many years ago and that's when it hit me to make little coffin cars. I bought two new coffins that were both different and added wooden wheels, spray painted the whole thing silver and added some rhinestone headlights.  From there, I added accents which created the themes of each coffin car using odds and ends that I had lying around. I broke out my scrapbook paper, stickers, buttons and other supplies to make the rosettes, and added the cute brads to the labels.
The jack-o-lantern is an eraser I bought from a Book Fair last year. The mini skull and crossbones were part of a bracelet that I cut up and spray painted silver...Anyway, take a look around and I hope these inspire you to make your own! Happy Halloween!

SCARIEST TRUNK

ALL-AROUND FAVORITE TRUNK

KID'S CHOICE TRUNK

More Halloween Craft Ideas:

Halloween Angels

Haunted Halloween Village with light-up Pumpkins

 Halloween-inspired Artwork Using Old Dictionary Pages

Boneyard Bonfire Halloween Prop

Here's a really simple Halloween prop that comes together easily with a ton of WOW factor! I made it for my son's trunk or treat event at school but I think it looks so much better in full darkness in the front yard!  I added my pose-able skeleton kicking back around the bonfire roasting a rat skeleton like a marshmallow. The wind blew the plastic flames around so it really looked like a roaring fire! Check out the how to below. Enjoy!

BONEYARD BONFIRE

Materials

Tomato Cage
2-3 strings of Orange lights 
1 small string of white lights
Foam core board
Yellow plastic wrap
lots of skulls and bones 
7-9 small tree branches
glue gun
tape
1 can expanding foam (*optional)

Step 1: Invert and wrap a tomato cage with orange lights.

Step 2: Wrap tomato cage with yellow plastic wrap. Wrap 2-3 times and secure with tape.

Step 3: Place wrapped cage on black foam board. Attach small branches (I used old plastic branches from an old floral arrangement) to foam board with a hot glue gun. (Socks wanted to chew these so badly...)

Step 4: Begin placing your larger bones, skulls, pelvises and rib cages. Hot glue to foam board and to the bones around it.

Step 5: Continue to layer skulls and bones, taking care to leave room between pieces so that the light can show through.

Step 6: Spray expanding foam to bottom of the bonfire to mimic embers and then spray in some of the cracks to help bind the skulls and bones together. Take care not to spray too much or you will not get the glow you want. I over-sprayed and had to remove the excess foam to get better glowing. (*Note: I may not use it all for my next bonfire, it glows best without it.)

Step 7: Add the small string of white lights to the top of the bonfire and add more yellow plastic wrap to create more flames. Filling the top, like you would a gift bag with tissue paper and secure it with tape. Randomly cut plastic into large strips so that you can have free movement of the plastic when in the wind. If using this prop indoors, place a fan behind it to blow the plastic flames around.
The best part is when the bonfire is outdoors, the wind blows the plastic wrap so the illusion is complete as the flames bounce on the wind. The wrinkling sound of the moving plastic mimics a cracking fire. It's just awesome!

Happy Haunting!

Franken-Peppers (Stuffed Peppers with Potatoes and Chorizo)

Only 23 days left until Halloween and I have a confession to make. I was done with my Halloween recipes for this year. In fact, I'd already moved the recipes that I didn't get to this year, to my list of ideas for next year. I even went so far as to take down my dining room decorations (eek!) so I could begin planning my Thanksgiving table and decorations. So when I found myself home last week and made these little monsters, I was surprised that they came together so easily and that they turned out so creepy-cute and yummy! 
So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that I may still have a few more Halloween recipes in me to share before the big day, Oct 31st!

The beauty of this idea is that these peppers can be stuffed with basically anything. Go traditional with ground beef and rice, or make breakfast with scrambled eggs and ham, or even add taco meat, beans, cheese, and salsa for a delicious taco salad over a bed cabbage. How about Indian spiced lentils and tandoori chicken...Yum! Change up the green pepper to orange peppers and carve out some jack-o-lanterns like these. The possibilities are endlessly delicious and fun!

Bell peppers are one of my favorite ingredients and I use them in many of my recipes. But, I know not everyone likes bell peppers, including my kiddos. Not to worry. The best part about this dish and all it's variations, is that it'll save you from having to pick these little buggers out of your kid's food. Just eat the filling and leave the pepper behind! At least that's how I'll sell this dish to my kids.
All kiddo-ing aside, these will make a great addition to a festive Halloween dinner as the perfect side dish or as a stunning main dish. Personally, I like the idea of these delicious potatoes getting so much attention with such a fun presentation because, side dishes are often better than the main course. Happy Halloween!

Franken-peppers (Stuffed Peppers with Potatoes, Chorizo and Onions)

Serves 4

2 T canola oil
6 medium potatoes, peeled, medium dice
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T smoked paprika
1 t. cumin
salt and pepper (to taste)
8 oz. Chorizo (I used Soy Chorizo)
green onions, chopped
cilantro leaves  
Spicy Tomato Sauce, or substitute with prepared Enchilada Sauce
4 Green Bell Peppers, carved
Pepper Jack Cheese, shredded

Spicy Tomato Sauce
1/2 cup vegetable broth
3 T tomato paste 
1/2 T apple cider vinegar
1 T honey
1 t. cumin
1 t. smoked paprika
salt and pepper (to taste)
red chili flakes (to taste)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a large skillet, add canola oil, potatoes, onions and garlic, cumin and smoked paprika and cook over medium heat until potatoes are mostly done, about 10 minutes. It's okay if they are not completely cooked as they will finish cooking in the oven. Add chorizo and heat until hot. Remove from heat. Salt and pepper to taste. Add green onions and cilantro. Set aside.
 An a small saucepan, add all ingredients for the Spicy Tomato Sauce and heat over medium heat until hot, about 5 minutes. Taste and add additional spices as needed to taste. 

Cut Bell Peppers tops off with a paring knife in a zig-zag pattern to make Frankenstein's hairline. Carefully remove top and remove remaining ribs from inside the bell pepper with your fingers or scrape with a spoon. Cut off seeds from the top and set aside.

Using a large diameter straw, push straw through the fleshy inside of the pepper to create Frankenstein's eyes, using your finger on the shiny outside as resistance, to help cut through the exterior. 

Cut out eyebrows, nose and mouth with the paring knife and add scars with the tip of the blade.

Assembly: 
Baste the inside of bell peppers generously with the spicy tomato sauce. Fill each bell pepper with potato chorizo mixture and replace the tops. Place stuffed peppers in a shallow casserole dish sprayed with cooking spray. Cook peppers for 30-35 minutes. 

Remove peppers from oven and add shredded Pepper Jack Cheese to tops of peppers and return to the oven. Bake an additional 10 minutes or place under the broiler to melt cheese. Remove from oven and serve. 

For other Halloween recipes to try, click here. 

Spider Caviar

Nightcrawlers con Funghi