#quarantine eats

Enchilada update! The WORST pics (lolol) but they were yummy!! Much better than fine! Definitely good, maybe even GREAT?! Ken went back for seconds and so did I, and I am very much looking forward to leftovers for a weird savory breakfast tomorrow.

A few weekend eats: leftover pizza and brussels, then a vegan “turkey” recipe I’m testing for a friend plus broccoli and stovetop stuffing (the bestttt).

Lately weekend mornings have been spent watching mountain biking - yesterday we watched the women’s xc world championships and today was the downhill world champs so we watched a little of both the men’s and women’s races. I tried to study while watching but lolol nope.

Friday I talked to a friend of mine who is a patent attorney (I can’t remember if I already wrote that here? Oh well) and it was a really interesting conversation, and I’m still not sure if I want to go to law school but I’m glad I’m taking the LSAT. Realistically since I’m feeling uncertain I’ll probably wait a year and not try to start next fall, but at least the test will be out of the way if I do later feel more certain and decide to go down that road.

Sauce #3 - White Wine Sauce.  My roommate Jessie is the queen of this sauce. She, like me, doesn't use a lot of measurements, and just throws garlic, white wine (chardonnay or Pino Grigio), shallots, tomatoes, and some olive oil into a pan, and it comes out delicious! Over the last 2 years, I’ve come to really enjoy  shrimp and like using it as an alternative to chicken, but was apprehensive for a while about cooking it because I didn’t want it to come out over done.  Tip: cook on a medium flame in for 3-4 minutes on each side, or until pink. Especially in this recipe, it’s good to cover and simmer the shrimp in the sauce for it to absorb the liquid. We also marinated the shrimp in a little olive oil and smoked paprika for a little extra kick.

Recipe (for reference): https://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-shrimp-pasta-with-tomatoes-recipes-from-the-kitchn-206500

I’ve been eager to make my own stir-fry/teriyaki sauce for a bit of time now. Never did I think it would be so quick and easy to put together, and stay well in the fridge for a month or 2 later. This sauce is so simple, even non-adventurous cooks could put it together in less than 10 minutes. Low Sodium Soy Sauce (the regular is too salty), brown sugar, freshly minced garlic, minced ginger, and water come together to make a flavorful sauce for rice or marinade for chicken, salmon or shrimp. Side note: this was my first recipe where I used fresh ginger. I definitely recommend buying the smallest piece of ginger you can find, unless you use it in other dishes, but it does stay in the fridge well in a plastic bag for a few weeks. 

Put all the ingredients in a sauce pan on a low flame until the brown sugar is completely dissolved.  The recipe below adds an optional slurry to make the sauce thicker, but I find if you’re adding it to rice, it doesn’t need to be that thick at all as the rice absorbs it quite well. Once it’s all dissolved, you can pour it over rice and veggies (like I did in the photo), and you’re done! So flavorful, and as close in taste to your local Chinese take-out :)

a continuation of this post, which was starting to get too long.