Gold for us, or, Brainless Crowdpleasers

As promised, here is our family's list of BCPs. Note that it includes some take-out, eat-out, and frozen options. It's not limited to just what we can prepare from scratch; it's a list of what we can have for dinner that should mostly please everyone at the table. A lot of them are similar - permutations of each other - and that's okay. In fact, that's part of why this works.

I didn't do the exact math, but I think it's about 75% Asian, the reason for which I expounded upon in my previous post.

This is close to the order in which I originally brainstormed them, so you'll see funny associations and a lot of things grouped together because one thing made me think of another.

Nice to know I had Noona's approval on my list

It seemed weird to write all of them out, but I think that's the beauty of it. Having this list is gold for us, even if it doesn't look like much to anyone else.

1. Pork egg omelette
2. Costco rotisserie chicken and rice
3. Spring rolls (usually with rotisserie chicken)
4. Rotisserie chicken pho
5. Bún bowls w/ rotisserie chicken or steak (are you sensing a pattern here? ;P)
6. Thit kho / braised pork belly (Viet-Chinese blend)
7. Kalbi
8. Bulgogi that my MIL marinates, freezes, and brings over
9. Fried pompano from Evergreen Market
10. Cabbage Patch Soup
11. Pizza, homemade
12. Pizza, from Costco
13. Oxtail soup with noodles or rice, or turned into pho with the addition of fish sauce and rice noodles (we love any of these options with kale boiled in the broth at the last minute and removed)
14. Pho Asia take out or eat-in
15. Xuxu (chayote) soup
16. Canh with ground pork meatballs and opo squash or cabbage
17. Hamburgers
18. Homemade Hamburger Helper (I modify this with oregano instead of rosemary, and with minced garlic; also I use a lot more pasta water, and don't always use the full amount of chicken stock)
19. Pasta with bulk Italian sausage, spinach, artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes
20. Sheet pan chicken
21. Fried rice
22. Green bean and egg with rice
23. Dumplings (frozen), noodles, and vegetable in chicken broth
24. Cauliflower alfredo fettucine
25. Vietnamese chicken curry
26. Golden curry with chicken thighs
27. Sunday Night Stew
28. Pot roast
29. Corned beef and cabbage
30. Chile verde for tacos or rice bowls
31. BBQ beef brisket
32. Whole chicken soup with ginger and garlic
33. Chicken or pork meatball porridge with Chinese fried donut, cilantro/ginger/green onion
34. Ginger fried rice
35. Take-out sullungtang or soondubu
36. Ground pork sauce over thin spaghetti or Shandong noodles (I posted on something similar once, and have since learned a better marinade for the meat, so I might update that)
37. Ham and green beans
38. Ginger chicken - plain or with celery, bell pepper, or whatever other vegetable needs to be used up (a cross between Viet ga kho gung and Chinese ginger chicken)
39. Steamed spare ribs in black bean sauce
40. Yakisoba or japchae
41. Israeli couscous with chicken, zucchini, and tomato (I made this once with orzo and it was a hit, although also a confusing mind trip because orzo is rice-shaped.)
42. Spaghetti with the marinara on the side
43. Beef, vegetable, macaroni soup (like minestrone)

Pork egg omelette  (#1 on this list and for good reason) is my shorthand for what some may call coin-purse egg omelettes. This post on Woks of Life has good pictures of what they look like when you make them the "real" way - they really look like coin purses of egg filled with ground pork inside, and you can make them smaller to make them kid-sized. 

My mom made them this way growing up, but I do a simplified version that works for us, and is faster. It doesn't look nearly as pretty, hence the lack of pictures here, but it tastes the same to me.

You basically marinate ground pork in what my mom would call "the standard marinade" (the ingredients of which would remain a mystery to me until I got into my 30s - maybe she was waiting for me to reach Mom Status before she revealed to me these secrets??), saute the meat, then, pour beaten eggs over it.

I use my spatula to cut the "omelette" into fourths, and then carefully flip over each quarter and let them cook until set. You can add green onions if you're feeling fancy, and then serve over rice. 

This is a basic weeknight meal that usually goes over well with kids because it's not meat that requires intensive chewing. ;)

Pork Egg Omelette

Marinate 16-20 oz ground pork in salt (~1/2 t), a couple rounds of soy sauce, a swirl of sesame oil, 1-2 t corn starch, ~1/4 cup water, and couple of good shakes of ground white pepper. I usually mix this up with a fork.

Heat up a skillet over medium high heat. Add a swirl of oil, and brown all the meat. While the meat is browning, crack 3-4 eggs into a bowl, add a splash of water and beat with a fork. (Ultimately I will do this twice, so maybe you might just want to start with 6-8? For some reason, I do each batch separately.) I bet that a dash of shiaoxing wine in the egg mixture would be awesome.

When the meat is browned, remove half of it to a plate. Spread out the other half in the pan. Pour the beaten egg mixture (or half of it, if you've beat the full amount) over the ground pork and let cook until you think it's ready to cut into four pieces and flip them over. 

Repeat the process with the other half of the meat. Serve with green onions (which could have also gone into the egg), rice, and extra soy sauce for those who wish.

Emi's drawing of multi-colored fried eggs, with crocheted "chicky" on the side

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I'll gradually work on adding more recipes for these BCPS, but feel free to comment if you'd like me to bump up a certain recipe in the queue. 

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Also, this list seems heavily fall/winter influenced. I wonder if I'll add/update when spring and summer come around.

...which, at this rate, doesn't seem like will ever arrive.

But until then, we'll keep enjoying Kayla's snow cream (milk, sugar, and vanilla poured over snow).

A few randoms, II

I am so ready for the weather to be anything other than what it is now. The rain, snow, hail, and cold are getting to be quite tiresome. 

This past Monday afternoon, Theo pointed out the window and shouted, "Appa! I found the blueness!" He was referring to the first patch of brightness we'd seen for a while. 

Hashtag Seattle kid.

I have zero motivation to write anything, so I figure it is a good day for dumping all the stuff I've been collecting.

It's cool to see people continue to talk about reading goals more than two months after the new year. Is it just me or are a lot of people talking about how they want to read more?

Related to that, I think David came up with this helpful motivation to read more: the number of pages you read per day is roughly equivalent to the number of books you'll finish in a year. (This is based on the assumption that a book is 365 pages long, and most books are less than that. So you actually read more.) Isn't that amazing?

I loved this article on giving your (older) kids a way out.

This post made me think about the difference between self-care and "me time."

Pre-ordered and am so excited for one of my favorite blogger's first book!

Crushing on these cute earrings.

I've been doing something lately (most often in my morning pages) called "writing to my intuition". At first, it seemed kinda woo-woo to me, but I've gotten over it and have found it super helpful. I stumbled on the concept through Jess Lively (you can also read a powerful letter re: world events / news in the show notes of this episode, you don't have to listen to the podcast). My default mode is to operate from fear, striving, and anxiety. This exercise helps me (re-)parent myself from a place of faith, maturity, and peace. The message I need to hear over and over again is "all is well" or that "all will be well." I'm not ready to share examples on the blog yet but if you're curious, you can email me and I can share it with you. This is also a good reference of questions to ask when you're feeling stuck.

A beautifully written essay on motherhood.

Pickles! The Koreans and Taiwanese are all over this already, but I'm always excited when I remember how easy and delicious it is to use pickles in your food. I love kimchi but dislike the way it stinks up the fridge. Enter: regular ol' pickles. (Kosher/dill always. Never bread and butter.)

Eating these pickles with my breakfast sausage one morning reminded me of Taiwanese ground pork sauce with pickles and inspired me to make some with rice noodles earlier this week. Chinese peasant food for the win!

I didn't use a recipe but just made it up as I went. It turned out great and we devoured it. I know 16 oz of rice noodles looks like a lot (and side bar: this is totally what I think is weird about so many pad thai recipes that talk about only using like 4 oz of rice noodles. Huh?!) but this is so good that you'll want to make that much.

Ground pork sauce with pickles over rice noodles

1 16 oz package dried rice noodles (I used banh pho noodles)
1 lb ground pork (ground beef would be okay too)

2-3 gloves garlic, minced

1 T red miso paste

2-3 T soy sauce

1-2 cups chicken broth 

1 T corn starch, or 1/2 T potato starch, dissolved in a couple tablespoons of water

1/3 cup chopped pickles

chopped green onions

sesame oil, shaoxing wine, and white pepper to taste

Soak rice noodles in a pan of cold water. 

Heat up 1 T oil in a wok, then add garlic, ground pork, and miso paste. Stir fry until pork is mostly cooked. Add 1.5 cup chicken broth and soy sauce. Pour in starch slurry and bring to a boil to make gravy, and add more chicken broth if desired. Add a little shaoxing wine and/or sesame oil (both optional). White pepper is probably not optional.

Keep the sauce warm on low and bring your noodles to a boil. When they are almost done, drain them and add to the sauce. Add more broth if needed (we like it brothy, but it's totally personal choice), stir in green onions and pickles (or serve on side), and serve with extra white pepper. Picked jalepenos or thai chiles are also recommended here.

We had soup with mustard greens on the side, but if you wanted to put a green in the noodles, I'd recommend baby spinach wilted in the gravy before you add the noodles.

Did just that

A couple of weeks ago Chelsey had Theo and me over for noodle soup with dumplings and vegetables. I commented on how delicious it was and she said that they have it often, as an easy lunch - maybe every weekend. So I suggested that we should have a dumpling party sometime. And last Friday, we did just that.

I had made dumplings before and found it to be relatively easy, moving along quickly especially when you have friends to help. But because our friend Kelli was sick and not able to make it, our ratio of only two moms to three kids had the effective impact of being more difficult than trying to make dumplings by oneself, without any kids.

I should grant that we had one very good helper:

I think she helped make more than she ate ;)

Despite the kids running around us, it was super fun, and my only regret was not preparing the whole 5 pounds of meat I had purchased, and only mixing up filling with 4 pounds. (We might have as well done more work while we were at it, especially now that we have a deep freezer. More on that to come.)

On the other hand, this one definitely ate more than he helped produce.

Also, funny enough, the day before the party my mother-in-law called to tell me she was mailing me six bags of freshly made kimichi. She asked if I would be home in the morning to receive the package. Why, yes! 

As you can tell, we ate while we worked. As David always says, "Do not muzzle an ox..."

My dear mother-in-law included frozen oxtails in the package, "to keep the kimchi cold." Uh-mazing! We definitely started the oxtails in the slow cooker that night and drank soup/pho all day long on Saturday.

Well friends, you can tell we are having way too much fun around here. BUT, I need your suggestions on what other kind of "food preparation party" I could have with other (mom) friends. Leave a comment and let me know your ideas!



P.S. Stephie, this reminded me of "Shanghai, take a bao." You're so clever.

P.P.S. Sharon, I'm trying to figure out how to work you into this. Really, I am.

P.P.S. Barta, this reminded me of Din Tai Fung, Josh, and "delivering a consistent product."