Sick at Home Edition: Lazy pho

Okay, it's actually Saturday, but I've been feeling like crap all week and I've decided that the only thing that could fight off this flu/cold is bowls and bowls of hot, spicy pho (rhymes with "whuh?".

Traditional pho takes almost 20 hours and a whole bunch of ingredients that I can't deal with right now, like beef thigh bones, carrots and other stuff to make the broth. Being of compromised health, I decided to cut out the whole broth thing (sacrilege, I know) and just buy it.

This recipe makes a lot of broth. Cook the noodles and beef as you need to throughout the day.

Ingredients
1 carton/900mL beef broth (I used President's Choice organics brand)
1 sirloin steak
1 serving vermicelli (you can buy packs that have them portioned into servings. It's pretty great)
1 small onion
1 hot pepper (or more, or less)
2 star anise
1" piece of ginger, peeled
5 cloves
3" stick of cinnamon
5 black peppercorns
a few splashes of fish sauce
1 lime
Fresh basil (or mint, if you don't have basil)

Note: I was really arbitrary about the spices. Don't worry about being too exact.


Let's do it!
First, bring the broth to a boil and add the star anise, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, peppercorns and fish sauce. Lower to a simmer and cook, covered,  for at least 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, soak the vermicelli as per package directions.

After 20 minutes of simmering, taste and adjust flavour. If this is purchased beef broth, it's probably going to be pretty salty already, so lay off the salt. Add the onions and hot pepper a this point if you prefer your onions soft and your broth spicy.

Slice the beef thinly. I only used half the steak for my lunch and am saving the rest for dinner.

 

Turn the heat up to a low boil and add the vermicelli. Stir until cooked, a few minutes. Scoop the noodles into a bowl, and add the beef. Boil until cooked to your liking (I like mine rare). Place that into the bowl and top with broth, basil/mint and a squeeze of lime. Enjoy!

Note: I have omitted the raw bean sprouts that usually come with pho because I just don't like them.

Fajita-rama

Note, the white things are leftover brown rice thrown in.

Fajitas are always a winner in our house, due to the husband's fondness for wraps. They're also pretty easy to make. Here's a recipe I made yesterday that yields about 4-5 servings.

Ingredients

3 large red peppers, seeded and sliced into strips

1 large green pepper, seeded and sliced into strips

2 medium red onions, peeled and sliced into strips

2 chicken thighs, deboned and sliced into strips

1 cup diced smoked sausage

3 tablespoons or more of Tex-Mex seasoning mix (recipe to follow)

Tex-Mex seasoning mix:

1 part paprika

2 parts cumin

1 part cayenne

1 part oregano

2 parts garlic powder

Put it all in a jar with a tight fitting lid. I like to keep a batch of this in the kitchen to quickly throw together tacos, fajitas or chili.

Let's do it!

Put the meat in a container with a tablespoon of Tex Mex powder. Mix well and let marinate while you're cooking the veggies.

Heat a large pot/wok to medium high and add enough oil to lightly coat the bottom. 

Throw in the veggies and saute, stirring until really soft. This took an agonizing amount of time because I started with low heat. Don't make my mistake. Start high and keep stirring! I also threw the bones in with the veggies for added flavour.

When the veggies are soft, throw in 2 tablespoons of seasoning and stir until well mixed. Add the meat and cook until cooked, maybe another 10 minutes. At this point, taste and adjust for salt and seasoning. Add hot peppers if you like it spicy.

Lunch it up!

I pack the fajita mix in a tight-fitting container and put a couple of tortillas in a ziploc bag. To eat, heat them up separately. The tortillas take about 10 seconds, the filling will take about two minutes, since it's got meat in it.

Optional: If you're a fancy pants, bring along some sprigs of parsley, a couple wedges of lime and an avocado (cut it up at work to reduce grossness)

Enjoy!

Lainey-Style Beefaroni

Sometimes I crave the garbage-food of my youth (okay... early 20s). The problem is, since I'm allergic to dairy, I can't just pick up a can of Chef Boyardee and go to town on it. No, I have to MAKE it. So what is normally a 3 minute convenience food for many becomes an hour-long process0 for me, just to satisfy that one little craving.

Enter, Lainey-Style Beefaroni. All the gooey goodness/badness, none of the dairy, and somewhat less preservatives.

Ingredients
Tomato sauce
1/2 lb. ground beef
1/2 package Daiya mozzarella shreds
4 cups or so of cooked Kraft Dinner macaroni noodles, substitute with good pasta if you want.
Bread crumbs

Let's do it!
Brown the ground beef in a skillet and drain. Add to the tomato sauce and simmer while making the pasta.

A note on the pasta: The reason why I have KD macaroni in the house is because my friend came over, planning on dropping off a bunch of food at the grocery store in the donation box. The grocery store didn't have a donation box for some reason, so he ended up leaving it at my house. I noticed that the KD was past its expiry date, meaning they probably wouldn't take it. So I threw out all the seasoning packs and put all the noodles into a plastic container to cook myself. I use these noodles every time I want some garbagey pasta.

Put the pasta in an oven-proof dish with most of the Daiya and the meat sauce. Mix well.

Top with a thin layer of breadcrumbs and the rest of the Daiya.

Place in the oven (or toaster oven) on broil for about 20 minutes. You don't NEED to do this, but I like having some crispy portions to the otherwise soft mess that is this dish.

This isn't nearly as garbagey as the canned stuff, but the processed taste of the Daiya cheese mixed with the beef and tomato sauce hits the right spot for me.

Bean Salad. WITH BARLEY!

I love barley but I never make it. Heck, unless it's in a soup, I never eat it. Today I decided to go into my first foray into making barley as a major part of a meal.

Enter: Bean and Barley Salad

This salad is crunchy, chewy (in a good way) and filling. It's also incredibly cheap. All these ingredients cost maybe $15, and you wont be using nearly all of it for this recipe. The most expensive ingredients, the vinegar and oil will last for MONTHS.

Ingredients
1 can of mixed beans
1 cup of cooked barley (cook according to the package)
1/2 cucumber diced
2 tbsp diced red onion
1 handful of chopped cilantro
big handful of grape tomatoes, cut in half
balsamic vinaigrette
lemon
salt and pepper
baby spinach
Optional: whatever other veggies you might like... hot peppers, olives, maybe a green apple?

Let's do it!
Throw the beans, barley, and veggies (except spinach) plus maybe about 2 tbsp of vinaigrette and a squeeze of lemon into a leak-proof container. Give it a taste. Season with a dash of salt, and more lemon, pepper and vinaigrette as needed. In an effort to use less salt, try adding more balsamic or lemon instead. What you're looking for is a nice, full flavour, without destroying your kidneys. Let this marinate in the fridge. Shake it up every couple of hours to really let the flavours meld. Or eat it right away, whatever.

If you've never made balsamic vinaigrette before, it's very simple. 1:1 ratio of balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Put in a jar and shake. Because my coworkers don't steal food, I have a bottle of both balsamic and olive oil in the cupboard. I put them in a jar and shake before pouring over my salads. Yes, you're also supposed to add some mustard, chopped garlic and salt, but I don't always do it and it ends up just fine. I tend to put a little more balsamic than olive oil, but only because I love sour flavours.

Lunch it up!
If you're going to eat your lunch within maybe 4 hours, you can throw your spinach in a container, then top with the bean salad and some more dressing. The dressing will season the spinach without making it too soggy. If you love your spinach crunchy, package it in a separate container. If you can, bring some vinaigrette in a jar so you can season it to taste when you get to work. I tend to drench my salads in dressing, particularly balsamic vinaigrette, thus my salad-dressing supplies at work.

There you have it, a healthy lunch that combines whole grains, protein, dark greens and vitamin C! This recipe will yield about 4 servings, which makes it a great thing to make on a Sunday night and eat throughout the week.

Bob Blumer's 5-Minute Turkey Dinner

(Yes, I wear pearls to work. But no makeup. I like to keep them guessing.)

I haven't posted much since I've been too busy to make anything different. I've been sticking with all the basics, or going out.

In an effort to save some time, I tried a recipe online that worked pretty well, Bob Blumer's 5-Minute Turkey Dinner. I paired it with some brown rice and sauteed veggies and it was a great lunch. The gravy part didn't work out very well for me, as I didn't have marsala, or any other wine, in the house. Just beer, which though refreshing, does not make a great gravy.

Garlic aioli.. semi lazy style

I still have some corned beef left from this post, so it's sandwich time. But not any ordinary sandwich.. my supremely lazy take on Vietnamese subs (in the future, non-lazy Vietnamese subs. I promise.) The star of this sandwich is the garlic aioli, which gives it an intensely savoury flavour, plus a delicious smell that makes you want to rip into your sandwich even though you're sitting in the dentist's waiting room (I didn't).

Garlic Aioli
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp grainy dijon mustard (I use the President's Choice brand)
2 heaping tbsp mayonnaise - do not cheap out here, Miracle Whip and "Mayonnaise-style dressing" do NOT count.

Let's do it!
Peel the garlic and chop it finely. Transfer it to a mortar and pestle (I don't know which one is the bowl) and go to town with it. Mash it up really well. You want it to be a paste. Mix the garlic paste with the rest of the ingredients in a sealable container. I have no idea how long this keeps for, we usually use it up pretty quickly.


Sandwiches!
Some thinly sliced cucumber
Sliced canned corned beef
Fresh basil
Garlic aioli
Vietnamese sub bun (different from regular buns as it uses rice and wheat flour)

Let's do it!
I don't need to tell you how to do this, do I? Okay fine.

Cut the bun in half lengthwise and spread a thin layer of the aioli on both halves. Cucumber on the bottom, corned beef in the middle and basil on top. Now you have a garlicy, savoury and crunchy sandwich! Roll it up in some parchment paper and secure with a rubber band. Now you're good to go.

Fried Vermicelli with Canned Corned Beef

Canned corned beef. The food of my childhood. It's comforting, easy, and cheap. If I see it on sale, I usually buy a couple of tins because I really like having it around.

Ingredients
1/2 pack thin vermicelli, cooked according to directions, drained and rinsed with cold water
1/2 can corned beef, cubed
1 large shallot, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small carrot, grated

1/8 cup fish sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp turmeric
squirt of Sriracha (a mild hot pepper sauce with a rooster on it. Found in Asian grocery stores, or in the International aisle of conventional grocery stores)
2 drops sesame oil

A handful of chopped, fresh Thai basil


Let's do it!

Cook and rinse the vermicelli. I used Y&Y brand, the green one. Let it drain in the sink while you do everything else. You want it to be pretty dry. Take some kitchen scissors (or regular, clean scissors) and snip the noodles until they're all roughly 2 inches long at the maximum.

Mix all the sauces, turmeric and sugar together until the sugar is dissolved. Set aside.

Heat some oil in a wok to medium heat. Fry the garlic for about 30 seconds, then add the shallots. When things start to turn colour, add the corned beef and carrots. Stir fry until the corned beef is soft and comes apart easily.

Dump in the noodles and turn up the heat to high. Stir quickly until everything is mixed well. Add the sauce mixture and keep frying. If the noodles are drained enough, it shouldn't stick. Keep frying until it's all dry and you hear a crackling noise. Stir in basil. Taste test, and adjust the flavour to your liking.

You can stop stirring every once in a bit if you want crunchy parts, but this is where I get lazy and just throw it into a lunch container.

Diagnosis... delicious! I've never made this before and I looooooved it. I might put some more turmeric so the colour is brighter, and add some chopped up chili peppers in it, since I like things hot, but I'm definitely making this again. Here's hoping the husband likes it, too.