Vichyssoise (leek and potato soup)

This was a beautiful pot of soup. Shared with friends...verdict: creamy!

Nice lookin' potatoes.

Chopped up and soaking in cold water.

A big bunch of leeks - sometimes I get lucky in Korea and score some useful ingredients for a good price. I think these were around $1.40.

Close-up...

Onions and garlic - I wanted to make my own broth, because my neighbor is a vegetarian, so I didn't use chicken stock, as most people do when they make vichyssoise. 

Leeks all chopped up and ready to go. I use a lot of the green parts as well; though the soup doesn't look as white, they add a great deal of flavor, and I don't feel guilty for wasting food.

On the way to a nice broth - browning onions and garlic in a big mess of melted butter.

The finished product. I missed a few steps with the camera, but you can use your imagination to fill in the details.

Christmas Dinner, Gangnam Style!

My holiday challenge this year was making Christmas dinner for 5 people using, as usual, only a toaster oven and my trusty two-burner stove. I opted for a fairly simple menu of marinated pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes, steamed veggies, and gravy. It turned out great!

The finished product! Not a great photo - I apologize - there was a lot of confusion with all the guests and whatnot. Dinner was delicious, and everyone felt fat and happy by the end of the night.

Chicken and Veggie Enchiladas

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I made enchiladas for my neighbor's Thanksgiving party. She is a vegetarian, so some of them only had zucchini and mushrooms in them.

These I sauteed, with a little taco seasoning sprinkled on the zucchini, which I left pretty firm, so the veggie ones would have some texture inside.

Of course, I had to respect the meat-eaters at the party (and have something for myself to eat), so I made some with chicken too.

The secret to good chicken enchiladas is pulling the chicken apart with two forks while it's frying. You just keep flipping it over and pulling off as much as you can of the cooked meat.

This technique gives you a pile of stringy chicken that really accepts flavor well - in this case, I used taco spice mix.

The strands of chicken are also a lot easier to work with when it comes time to roll them.

All of the ingredients, ready to be made into enchiladas.

Chicken enchilada in the process of being rolled.

Inside the veggie version.

All rolled and ready to go in the oven.

Lookin' golden brown!

Look at those beauties! Almost a shame I covered 'em in sauce and cheese.

Chicken Stir-Fry

A plate of deliciousness!

I love to start a meal with fresh ingredients! For this stir-fry, I used peppers, onion, garlic, mushrooms, carrot, and bean sprouts. All of these things are readily available in Korea, and don't cost very much.

Veggies look beautiful when they're chopped up and mixed together. They say that the more colorful your food is, the better it is for your body (this doesn't apply to cotton candy).

I left the garlic cloves whole, and sauteed them for about a minute before adding the chicken to the olive oil in the bottom of my wok-like frying pan.

Stirring...

And frying...

All the way to the table!

German Style Pork Schnitzels

They're always best with a little spritz of lemon!

Gotta have sides...tonight I chose to make baked potatoes...

...carrots...

...and broccoli!

 Beautiful pork chops getting ready to be schnitzeled (sp?).

Bread crumbs and a beaten egg; standard fare for turning a simple piece of pork (or any other meat, for that matter) into a breaded chunk of heaven.

 My little beauties, ready for the pan.

Halfway done, and they're smelling fantastic. I fried them in a mixture of butter and garlic-infused bacon fat that I had leftover from my meatballs with bacon-wrapped garlic centers.

Browned to perfection - now it's time to plate these babies, and enjoy a delicious feast!

The finished product - a meal fit for a king!

Roasted Jalapeño Salsa

Sizzlin' Salsa!

Jalapeño peppers, after roasting in my trusty toaster oven fro 30 minutes.

A nice big bunch of fresh cilantro - it took me hours of searching to find it, but when I did, it was surprisingly cheap!

Garlic and onions...do you see a pattern in my recipes?

This mix looked so beautiful on the stove, I didn't want to put it in the blender.


But I did...

Nice big pan o' salsa - the perfect balance of heat and flavor!

Delicious Butternut Squash Soup

Beautiful chunks of squash - I just love the color!

Squash all diced up.

In the pan with a generous amount of garlic, onions, and olive oil.

For spices, I kept it simple; a little cumin and turmeric, and some salt.

I don't even like soup that much, but this stuff was amazing!