Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude. Denis Waitley, Author of “Raising Confident Kids“
In the course of four weeks we will have accomplished (among other things…)-
One Freshman leaving for college.
One Freshman starting High School.
One High School Senior moved into our home.
Four visiting groups of family and friends.
One hotel stay in Anaheim for VidCon and Disneyland.
Countless trips to the Salvation Army/Goodwill drop off as three teens swapped rooms to make space for each other.
The cramming in of a few new things that I didn’t have time to write posts about. Boo.
I’m pooped, my kids are cooked, and we are all keyed up for so many new things happening in our lives in our near future. My cup overfloweth, my gratitude is reaching heights I’ve never experienced and I am beyond thankful that my uneventful, humble life is one of the greatest gift to be treasured.
The Husband went fishing this weekend, and his share of the catch was more than 50 pounds of the tuna they caught. My freezer is full to overflowing, I’m contacting all the neighbors, and searching the web for ahi recipes.
Tonight we tried a different recipe for Poke, and we all loved it. Poke is a Hawaiian dish using fresh fish- usually ahi (yellow fin tuna), and often is mixed with seaweed, chopped sweet or green onion and different sauces, like soy sauce. Poke is often compared to ceviche… but I really like poke better. There is something about the soy sauce and sesame flavors that rock this dish.
Tonight we tried a simple recipe of ahi, Sriracha mayonnaise, tobiko (flying fish roe… the tiny orange eggs you find at the sushi bar), and sliced green onion. I think it could have used a shot of soy sauce and few drops of sesame oil, but this was really great!
This is the recipe The Husband found on which we based our concoction-
Spicy Ahi Poke… photo from TwoRedBowls.com
Click the photo to link to the recipe from TwoRedBowls.com where the blogger has a great explanation of what poke is. Besides dee-lish.
Now… what to do with the other 48 pounds of fish. Suggestions, please!!
About four years ago I heard a great interview on the radio. The most energetic and interesting guy was being interviewed about his newly published book concerning his memories as a Vatican City Swiss Guard. Everyone involved with the interview was enjoying themselves so much and the questions and answers were so interesting that I had to buy the book.
Widmer shares his memories of John Paul II and the examples of leadership he learned during his time serving the pope many already refer to as “John Paul The Great.”
Here’s a good recommendation: want some Japanese noodles that can stand sitting in your freezer and still taste great? Try this bag if you have a Japanese market nearby- we usually go to our nearby Mitsuwa Japanese market Anyone here read Japanese? Looks like the brand name is “Myojo,” and there is a rooster up near the top, too… just under one pound for the two packets each of noodles and sauce in this bag. I think I might have spent $5 on this? I love noodles with sauce from anywhere in the world and these were great.
1/2 cup of water, 1 tablespoon of peanut oil, let the noodles steam and defrost. Stir in sauce packets and lunch is ready.
I pulled these out of the freezer where they have sat for at least four months, heated them in a skillet with a little oil and water, added the sauce packet they came with and in the same amount of time it took to boil my edamame and slice up a peach, lunch was made. It served two of us with enough left over for The Husband’s lunch tomorrow.
Even better when topped with toasted sesame seeds, yum. I added chopped chicken and a little teriyaki sauce to the leftovers to make them into a more substantial lunch for the man.
Click to link for purchasing info for Okami Chinese Chicken Salad Kit
A couple stores around here sell a chicken salad kit by Okami with all you need for a delicious meal in one box, minus the lettuce. The sliced almonds, two kinds of crispy noodles, cooked chicken strips, (there used to be orange segments, too), and the best part- a really good salad dressing with Asian flavors. One store sells a double package that we can never finish (Costco) and the other store is out of my way.
But I love this salad…
The only solution: make my own. I figured I could do a better job on the chicken, too, and reduce some of the unnecessary junk found in the dressing, too. Lucky me, The Food Network came through with a dressing that after a few tweaks, was really close to the Okami kit. The special ingredient is tahini- the sesame paste you put in your hummus. The original recipe that inspired some of the ingredients and amount can be found here, on FoodNetwork.com, my changes included the soy sauce and honey, and using a combination of toasted sesame oil and peanut oil- all sesame would be quite overpowering, if it is a toasted oil.
Asian Salad Dressing
3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 small clove of garlic, crushed
pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
1 tablespoon tahini paste
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1/3 cup peanut oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
Whisk all ingredients together, that’s it! Drizzle about two tablespoons over 3 cups of salad greens. Suggested salad should include chopped chicken, Mandarin orange segments, toasted sliced almonds, and fried chow mein noodles or won ton strips.
And yes, the chicken was a lot better than the salad kit. I just took boneless breasts, sprinkled them with onion and garlic powders, salt and pepper, and grilled them for about four minutes per side. May take three minutes per side, don’t overcook.
KEY STEP: let the chicken rest for 15 minutes, and you will end up with the juiciest and most tender boneless white meat you’ve ever cooked.
Go make this, save money, get more real foods into your happy mouth and enjoy this soon.
branching out... on a limb 