Simple Mushroom Rice Dish

Last night, I made some mushroom rice, the recipe of which I found here. I just substituted some ingredients with ones that I had on hand. I used half a regular onion instead of the green kind and basil instead of parsley (I'm not sure if basil is really a substitute for parsley, but I decided to go on a whim). I later sprinkled my own serving with parmesan cheese, as recommended in one of the comments.

Broccoli Milanese As My German Translated It

I have been trying to feed my daughter more greens, but she won't accept them unless they've been juiced or puréed and then mixed with something like eggs so she can't tell that they're there. Anyway, knowing the above doesn't stop me from trying to feed them to her in a form otherwise. Yesterday, I made us some fries and broccoli milanese for lunch. I first came across the idea of broccoli milanese here ("In Lombardy, florets are dipped in egg, cheese and breadcrumbs and fried in butter to create broccoli Milanese."). I thought that certainly seemed a tasty way of serving broccoli. However, when I googled for a more specific recipe, the ones I found were this, which is kind of far from what my original source described, and this, which is in German. Would you believe I ended up following the German recipe? No, I don't speak German, but I can guess what most of the words meant having been exposed to German talk while a member of the UP-Deutscher Verein in college. Also, there was Google Translate. At the end of the day, the verdict was 50-50. I loved it while Marguerite simply picked at the cheesy breading. I think it's mostly a texture problem with her because taste-wise she really doesn't seem to have an issue with veggies.

Nutrijell Strawberry Jelly

I was about to grab the usual gelatin brand when I noticed this packet. NutriJell is from Indonesia and has the Halal mark. I normally think (without knowing anything about it, lol) that Halal is better than not Halal, but I thought I'd try it anyway since it also boasts of being enriched with fiber, vitamins, calcium, and prebiotics.

Basically, you just mix the powder with sugar, add water, boil, add fruity acid, and pour into mold. It sets quickly and it seems to be more dense than the usual gelatin. Color-wise, it's more of that orange color, but I think it's because I used brown sugar. Taste-wise, my daughter prefers it to Jello, but maybe I just messed up the Jello somehow, lol.

Sesame Cream Dory

Another lovely fish I've encountered is the cream dory. I got about four slabs from the freezer and proceeded to follow a sautéed sesame fish recipe I got from a book called "Easy Meals in Minutes" (Time Life Books, 1997, Alexandria, VA, p.223 - or however you're supposed to cite; this is one other reason why I won't take a gig from a term paper mill). Here's the modified version:

Ingredients:
1/4 C flour-------------------------------------- 1 egg
1 t salt------------------------------------------- 1 T milk
1/4 t pepper------------------------------------ 2 T butter
four fish steaks (about 2 lbs total)------- 2 T vegetable oil
2/3 C breading
1/4 C sesame seeds

In a bowl, combine flour, salt, and pepper. Dredge fish lightly in this. In another bowl, combine breading and sesame seeds. In a third bowl, beat the egg with milk. Dip fish into the egg mixture, then into the breading mixture, coating the fish completely.

In a large skillet, melt butter in oil over medium high heat. When butter and oil are hot but not smoking, add the fish and cook them until golden brown, about 5 mins on each side.

Mojos

Had a cup of gravy left over from last night, so I decided to make some mojo potatoes (it was either that or chicken and since we didn't have chicken...). They were a semi success because while they tasted good, they didn't look very attractive. I used two potatoes for this, sliced them into chips, coated them with a mixture of flour, salt, garlic powder, and black pepper, dipped them in beaten egg, and then coated them with breadcrumbs. Fried them in oil until the coating turned brown. I had to use my phone again for this picture because by that time, Marguerite had already taken three chips and if I had taken the trouble of getting the big camera, she might have already demolished the entire plate.

Leftover Morning

What? Another grainy picture? Now, it's just a case of being too lazy to get out the camera. So, today is leftover morning. I made some fried rice using some oil, 2 cloves of garlic, a fourth of a large onion, a small chip from a chicken broth cube, a handful of mixed vegetables, canned tuna, leftover rice and soy sauce. No clear recipe here because I just started tossing in the ingredients, very haphazardly, I might add, but in the order that I listed them down here. Would you believe it turned out edible?

Graham Cream Fruit Dessert

This is something I usually make when I get a craving for cake and there isn't a "real" cake handy. I don't know what it's called (although the closest thing I found on the web would be this easy crema de fruta recipe), but my Mom and my sister have been making it forever sans the fruits (although sometimes they would put in ripe mangoes). Basically you just layer a container with graham crackers, slather a cream and condensed milk mixture (up to you just how you proportion them, more condensed milk if you like it really sweet, of course) on top, add fruits (in my case, I used strawberries and bananas - my usual preference, even with smoothies):

Add another layer of graham crackers, repeating the process:

You just keep on doing it over until you run out of something, lol. The top should be the cream and milk mixture though. Dust with crushed graham crackers for the heck of it. Obviously this is a very flexible recipe. :)

Chill or freeze for a couple of hours so the cream won't be runny when you serve it.

Obviously, I'm temporarily back to my camera phone since Husband took off with the Nikon to take pictures at his friend's gig.