Adventures of a healthy-ish pseudo-foodie

Future goal: A photo of actual plated food, out of the pan. I've finally learned in quarantine how to make enough different kinds of banchan that I don't crave going to Korean restaurants anymore. I like meals of just banchan and rice, and this one is warm/filling enough to help it feel like a real meal. There are carrots in the above photo, but I didn't like the carrots in it, so I removed them from the recipe.  I followed  this recipe  from Future Dish, and they have a much better photo on their page than I do. It also looks like I used a different kind of fish cake than I was supposed to, but that's what we get with hurried pandemic shopping. The Recipe: 125 grams fish cake (odeng), sliced 1/4 medium onion, sliced thin 1 green onion, sliced 1 clove garlic, minced 1/8 c water 1 tb soy sauce 1/2 tb honey 1/2 tsp mirin sesame seeds for garnish Heat a bit of vegetable oil in a pan over medium heat Add fish cake and garlic, and stir to coat evenly. Cook until fish cake is...

  With the precious last bits of green onion from the garden I prefer shrimp in one of two ways: Completely simple and unadorned (with dipping sauce), or coated in sweet stickiness. This is the latter. I worked from  this recipe . It's easy and delicious. Tonight, I also mixed a bit of the reduced sauce into some mayonnaise (well, Veganaise) to make a creamy dipping sauce for zucchini fries, and it was the perfect side dish. The Recipe: (from  Simply Recipes ): 1 lb shrimp 1 tb olive oil 3 green onions, sliced 1 tb toasted sesame seeds Sauce ingredients: 1/4 c soy sauce 2 tb rice vinegar 2 tsp brown sugar 2 tb olive oil 1 tsp sesame oil 3 cloves garlic, minced or grated 1 tb ginger root, grated Whisk together the sauce ingredients. Pour it over the shrimp and marinate in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Heat 1 tb olive oil in a pan. Add marinated shrimp but not the sauce yet. Saute shrimp for a few minutes per side, until cooked through. Remove the shrimp and add th...

The close-up photo was prettiest, but imagine a bowl of rice next to this. My new food obsession is doenjang jigae. I love the zucchini in it, and I love that you just eat it with a bowl of rice to make it into a filling meal, as opposed to something like miso ramen which relies on noodles (my least favorite part). So I started looking into making it at home, but I got stuck on two things. One, the best recipes seem to involve using anchovies to make the broth, and I'm just not into doing that at home. And two, would I REALLY go through a tub of doenjang before it goes bad, especially when I already have miso in the fridge at all times? So I decided to go with a hybrid. It's miso soup (dashi and miso paste), but I cook zucchini, garlic/onion, and other veggies in it, and we eat it with rice. I also add some gochujang, but it's easy to leave that out and make a mild version. I sometimes just add that to my bowl if I'm the only one who wants spice. The ...

Crispy. Pinch of Yum  succeeds again! I don't think I've found a recipe there that I didn't love. In this case, I was won over by the beautiful photo in the  original recipe . It convinced me to make this with the slaw, even though I'm not normally a slaw person. It took willpower while shopping, and again while cooking, to not just replace it with a bed of spinach. It turns out the slaw is brilliant. Normally, I serve salmon-cake-type-things with some kind of yogurt-lemon-garlic sauce on top. Here, the yogurt-lemon-garlic sauce is underneath, together with the cabbage. And the saucy cabbage provides the perfect watery, tangy, crunch of freshness to cut through the salmon cakes. I get it now. The original recipe serves it with more yogurt and herbs on top, but I skipped that step. Less photogenic but still delicious. The Recipe: (from Pinch of Yum) (serves 2 adults and a toddler) Salmon Cakes: 2 small filets of salmon, cooked and crumbled ...

Way prettier crust than I could make myself. I had convinced myself that frittatas were just as good as quiche, but then I found myself with some extra frozen pie crusts (I had bought backup before making the Thanksgiving pie), so I decided to make quiche. And, yes, it's better than a frittata. I worked from  this SimplyRecipes recipe . I substituted almond milk for the milk and cream, and I used red onion this time because I didn't have shallot, but I'll use shallot when I have it. I skipped their step of sauteeing the onion/shallot first, and it was fine. The only other change I made is that I had way more egg filling than would fit in one crust, and since I happened to have two frozen crusts, I spread it out into the two. It was almost enough to fill both. So I've adjusted the recipe to have just two more eggs and fill the two crusts. It's easy enough to freeze an extra quiche. (I read that the best reheating instructions are to heat it at 350, from f...

Pretty colors. In our last CSA box of the year, we had broccolini, red peppers, and shallots, which screamed stir-fry to me. I'm on a constant mission to make a shrimp dish as delicious as the one at  Pho Grand , so I searched for Vietnamese recipes and found  this one by The Spruce Eats . My modifications: I made it less spicy for toddler (which didn't matter because he decided that night that shrimp is gross), I added a bit of sweetness to the sauce which I saw in another recipe, I stir-fried the shallots before anything else to try to fry them a little bit (because I dream about the fried shallot garnish at Pho Grand but I wasn't willing to go to the effort of frying them in a separate pot), and I increased the amount of sauce. It's fresh, it's easy, the shrimp is delicious, and it's so healthy with stock as the base for the sauce. The Recipe: (adapted from The Spruce Eats) 1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined 1.5 tb brown sugar 3 cloves ga...

With mashed potatoes and collard greens, because the CSA box said so. I previously made  this seafood creole , which was delicious, but I wanted a simpler alternative. This one is less soupy and more just like a delicious sauce on the shrimp, which we would prefer most of the time. It also has a brighter, fresher flavor. They are both keepers, but right now I prefer this one. I worked from  this recipe from Ready Set Eat . My only changes were halving the quantities (we still had plenty) and simplifying the tomato situation to just use 12 oz of freshly pureed tomatoes instead of whole tomatoes and tomato paste. I also removed the jalapenos because of the toddler, but he thought it was too spicy anyway, so I'd say those are optional in the future. The Recipe: (Adapted from  Ready Set Eat ) 1 tb vegetable oil 1/2 onion, chopped 1 bell pepper, chopped 2 ribs celery, chopped 1 clove garlic, minced 1 tb creole seasoning 1/2 lb shrimp, peeled and ...

THAT SAUCE. I've been making a lot of seafood since we started getting our CSA boxes. Mostly we've been eating solely vegetable-based meals, but when some non-vegetable protein is required, it seems like the best way to honor the amazing vegetables is to pair them with some really fresh seafood. For this meal, I knew I would be making green beans , and I was thinking of Asian-style sticky green beans, so crispy Asian-style shrimp was a good balance to the texture of the green beans. I like this recipe because it's baked, not fried, and because the sauce is SO delicious. How can one go wrong with honey and butter and soy sauce? I followed the recipe exactly, except that I halved the quantities and slightly increased the amount of panko (because it wasn't enough to cover all of the shrimp). I also simplified the corn starch step and it worked out just fine. The Recipe (serves 3): (from  Creme de la Crumb ) 3/4 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined  1 eg...

Beautiful butteriness I've been craving seafood etouffee since leaving Bloomington, and my access to  Yats , in 2005. A few weeks ago, I made  this seafood creole  in an attempt to fulfill my craving with less butter and time, but it didn't do the trick. So on a long weekend with husband around to watch baby, I finally made some etouffee. Emeril's recipe  was the obvious choice, and I pretty much followed it exactly. My only changes were SLIGHTLY less butter (like a tablespoon less, because just that little bit made me feel better), a fresh tomato instead of canned, and veggie stock instead of shrimp stock, just because I already had some ready to go. Oh, and I used Chachere's seasoning instead of making Emeril's essence, because again, it was already ready. So delicious. I love the amount of spice, and the amount of richness in the sauce was just right. If every day could be a Yats meal, I would have served it with garlic bread on the side, but I deci...

Unphotogenic steamy picture of an actually delicious and beautiful meal. I set out to make some kind of seafood etouffee ( Yats  style), but every time I look up etouffee recipes, I am discouraged by the amount of time and butter they require. But then I found  this recipe for seafood creole , and it sounded worth trying. I followed the recipe fairly exactly, except for a few simplifications. It's very similar to  cioppino , except requires more ordinary ingredients (no clam juice or red wine required, though red wine is great to drink with it) and it tastes good over rice, as an alternative to dipping crusty bread into the broth. Not that there's anything wrong with that. And it's spicier, or at least spicy in a different way. I like it. I made it with pacific snapper and shrimp, and it was great. Scallops would also be good, and crawfish would be perfect if I could find good crawfish here. The Recipe: 3/4 tsp oregano 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp pepper ...

With toasted sesame seeds. The tub of miso in my fridge has given me reason to try more miso recipes, and it is becoming apparent that I will from now on always keep a tub of miso in my fridge. I could not decide whether I wanted to try miso-glazed eggplant, salmon, or mushrooms. So I made the first two for dinner and made the mushrooms for lunch the next day. Upon reading many recipes via Pinterest, I decided to take the easiest possible route: a 2-ingredient glaze and a cooking method that creates the fewest dirty pans and dishes. I imagine some of the other methods create better texture, but we enjoyed this. The Recipe: 1/4 c white miso 3 tb mirin salmon, eggplant, mushrooms, and/or other things white rice, for serving toasted sesame seeds, for serving cucumber salad (marinated in rice vinegar with a touch of salt and sugar), for serving Mix miso and mirin. Score the top of whatever you will be glazing, if it's sturdy enough to handle scorin...

Garrrrlicccccc. This is SO EASY. And it tastes really good. And yeah, there's some butter in it, but overall it's a pretty healthy meal. I found  this recipe  on Pinterest while searching for ways to use up lemons, because I had a few leftover. We've had it twice already this week, and I foresee making it many more times. The Recipe: 2 tilapia fillets (or more; there is enough sauce for at least 4 fillets) 2 tb butter 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 small lemon salt and pepper rice and veggies for serving (I like jasmine rice with lemon zest, and greens sauteed in the pan that had the sauce) Melt butter in a pan (recommended tip: use a big enough pan for your veggies, so you can sautee them in the remnants of the sauce while the fish bakes) Add garlic and sautee for 1 minute, being careful not to burn the garlic Add the juice of the lemon and turn off the heat Place tilapia filets in a shallow baking dish that has been prepared with cooking spray. Sprinkle ...

Pretty, right? When there's only one salmon filet left, we get to do decadent things like include half of a salmon filet with a stir-fry that already has tempeh in it. Both were good, though I think I prefer seafood with these flavors. I think next time I'll try shrimp. I really like this sauce because there's no oil in it! I don't think I've ever had such a delicious stir-fry sauce that wasn't oil-based. There is some sugar, but you really don't need a lot if your mangos are sweet. I work from  this recipe . Aside from subbing whatever proteins and vegetables look good that day, I haven't made any changes. Yum. The Recipe (makes enough sauce for about 4 servings): 2 fresh mangos, or  2c frozen mango chunks 1-2 tsp chili-garlic sauce (or chopped chilis and garlic) 1 tb rice vinegar 3 tb soy sauce 1 tb fish sauce 1 tsp lime juice 2 tb brown sugar (more or less to taste) 1/2 c cilantro, plus more for garnish protein and veggies for sti...

Cheese. Since casseroles are often meaty and not often healthy, I don't make many of them. However, tuna noodle casserole is the perfect post-partum meal to have in the freezer. Aside from the obvious benefits of casseroles post-baby (easy to make, freezes well, cheap and quick to make in large quantities), I had been avoiding tuna during pregnancy for its mercury content and I was eager to start eating it again. This isn't the most healthy way to indulge in tuna, but it is delicious and easy, and I lightened it up as much as possible. I used  this recipe  as my guide, but I sauteed the onions, added other veggies, and seasoned the veggies. I also have no idea whether I followed their quantities of each ingredient, because I just did what looked right. The Recipe: 1 box whole wheat noodles (I used rotini) 3 cans tuna, drained 1 onion, chopped 1 bag frozen peas 1 can cream of mushroom soup 1 c milk (I used almond milk) 6 tb cheddar cheese, shredde...

I tried to angle the bread so you couldn't tell I took a bite first. This is a great healthy summer-ish recipe that's still rich enough to be satisfying. It's hard to NOT create something satisfying when guacamole is involved, but the salmon is really good too. And a chunk of yummy bread on the side helps. I've been on an avocado kick, so it was only a matter of time before I combined it with salmon. I usually like to pan-fry my salmon, but I tried broiling it because that was more conducive to taking care of a baby at the same time, and it was delicious! I still like the crispiness that you get in a pan, but I'll take this for how easy it was. I used Tony Chachere's blend (it's the only spice blend I bother keeping in the pantry), and it was perfect. No need to figure out how to balance cajun spices from scratch here. The Recipe (serves 2): 1/2 lb salmon (I like skinless to go over salad) 1 tb Tony Chachere's cajun seasoning (or ...

Ok, I may have forgotten to take a picture of this meal until after we'd finished eating it. To be updated next time I make it... and there WILL be a next time. If only clams were cheaper, we would eat this all the time. So good, so easy, pretty healthy. I followed  this recipe  and didn't make any changes, and I don't think I'll be making any changes in the future. The only better way I've ever made clams is steamed in sake, but this is the way to go when you have leftover white wine in the house. Especially if you're pregnant and can't just drink the wine. The Recipe (serves 2): 3 lbs steamer clams 1 c white wine 1/2 c parsley, chopped 2 tb butter 6 cloves garlic, chopped drizzle olive oil crusty bread for serving Saute garlic in olive oil over medium-high heat for 1 minute. Add wine and bring to a boil. Add clams, cover, and steam until clams start to open, about 5 minutes. Add butter and cover again until clams are c...

If it looks like there's a lot of pesto caked onto those gnocchi, that's because there is. I ended up with a spare jar of artichoke hearts recently, and Pinterest pointed me to  this pesto recipe  as a solution. If we didn't love  spinach-avocado pesto  quite so much, I'd say this recipe would become a new favorite. But when life hands you lemons and artichoke, this is a delicious way to use them. The lemon I got was gigantic. In fact, I almost broke into it a few times over the course of the week, thinking it was a navel orange. Somehow it didn't occur to me that maybe I should only put half of it in this pesto; I was just excited about how much juice was coming out of this thing. As a result, our dinner was VERY lemony. I'd fix that next time. As a side note to this recipe, this is my favorite way of preparing shrimp. I got it from Ina Garten and I rarely do it any other way - it's easy and delicious. Olive oil, salt, pepper, bake at 400 for ...

It kind of looks like ice cream on top. I promise it's not. From the next installment in Amy's- Pinch-Of-Yum -Fan-Blog, I present Fish Taco Bowls. My only real deviation from  the original recipe  was using pickled jalapenos instead of a bell pepper, and I'll definitely do that again next time. And there will be a next time. The Recipe: (Serves 2) 2 tilapia filets 1 tsp chili powder 1 tsp cumin salt, to taste 2 c cooked rice (I use a mix of black and brown) 2 tb olive oil 3/4 c corn 2 tb pickled jalapeno slices, chopped 1 garlic clove, chopped 1/4 red onion, chopped 1 avocado, chopped 4 tb green salsa 3 tb sour cream Mix chili powder, cumin, and about 1/2 tsp salt. Pat onto tilapia filets and let marinate while preparing vegetables. In a skillet with olive oil over high heat, add onions, corn, jalapenos, and garlic (in that order, so the garlic sits on top and doesn't burn). Sprinkle with salt and let sit until the onions and ...

Jess added more bacon after I photographed his sandwich with this respectable amount. Sad story: We recently went to  Cornucopia , prepared to order our usual matching Crab Salad BLT's, and the menu looked suspiciously different. I opened it, which we never do, because we always order the same thing. I went straight to the sandwich section, with a sinking feeling in my stomach, and my fears were confirmed: No more Crab Salad BLT. So, I have taken matters into my own hands. And I dare say, except for the lack of delicious crispy french fries and thoroughly buttered bread, my version is at least as good as the original inspiration. I strongly recommend splurging on good crab for this sandwich. Fresh crab is expensive and sometimes hard to come by, but it really makes the difference in this sandwich.  This sandwich showcased my very first ripe tomato of the season, as well as home-grown lettuce, shallots, and parsley. Now if only I could start raising dungeness...

Can you spot the purple rice? I've been cooking my way through the excellent blog  Pinch of Yum , and yet again, it's led us to a super delicious and healthy dinner. I might need to turn my blog into a Pinch of Yum fan site. This sweet and sour sauce tastes just like I wanted it to... a fresher version of the sweet and sour sauce you'd get at a Chinese restaurant. And who needs fried fish? I mean, I guess now that I think about it, fried fish here would have been kind of amazing. But I'll stop thinking about it, because this pan-seared version was great too. I'm excited to keep making this with vegetables from the garden throughout the summer. All I grew in tonight's version was the kale, but my zucchini and bell peppers will be here soon enough. Update: Sometimes you cook for people and they do unintended things with the leftovers. My dad put his leftover fish on a pumpernickel bagel. He claimed this was a good idea. The Recip...