Barrack’s Cooking: Chicken Enchilada Casserole

I planned on doing very little this Labor Day weekend, and still I feel that the first day of this four-day has kept me busy, yet somehow unproductive. It feels like all I’ve done this morning and throughout the day is pick up the place, cook some stuff (mostly Jack’s baby food), take care of the little one, and pick up some more. But I still feel like I got nothing done. Hopefully the rest of you have gotten a more productive (or at least relaxing) start to your Holiday weekend.

Well, I did manage to break out the slow cooker today.

 

Caprese Galette

It has been yet another busy week, and Laura has been doing most of the cooking. In fact, the only new item I have to share of my own doing is today’s recipe.

Fortunately, though, Laura has been putting together some pretty damn tasty meals and she’s been taking pictures as she goes, so I’ll still be able to share those in days to come!

A few weekends ago, we had some good friends over for dinner. I knew they were a little adventurous in their tastes and were open to me putting together any kind of menu, so I decided on an Italian-Hawaiian fusion three course dinner. However, the only course I ended up documenting was the appetizer, which was more Italian influenced than anything else.

 

Date Night! Tsukuneya Robata Grill

Last Saturday, Laura and I were incredibly fortunate to have a good friend of ours offer to take care of Jack so that we could go have a night out. We hadn’t been out in quite a while for a date night, not since Laura’s 2nd trimester. Probably the Signal Corps Ball, actually. So, I took my friend up on her offer.

There is a Japanese restaurant down near Chinatown that we have been wanting to check out pretty much since we got to Hawaii. From what I could tell, it wasn’t like any other Japanese restaurant we’d ever been too. We have been fortunate in Hawaii because there is an abundance of authentic Asian food, including Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, and Korean. Not so much Chinese, though. When I say Japanese, I mean more than just hibachi, sushi, and Japanese steak houses. There are noodle houses everywhere, yakitori restaurants where you grill your own prepared food, and restaurants specializing in ononomiyaki. And then there is the restaurant we went to.

 

iPhone Update: Dinner and a night cap

During the weekdays, dinner tends to be simple and easy at our house. And after all the baked treats I’ve been consuming as of late, I think it’s time to go back to the high protein diet, saving my carb consumption for just dinner time.

Well, Japanese style noodle dishes are somewhat of a staple for us, as they are both simple to prepare and generally healthy. This iteration is no different.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of chicken broth
• 4 tablespoons of white miso
• 2 chicken thighs, roasted at 400 degrees F for 25 minutes, cooled, and pulled apart
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 eggs, hardboiled and halved
• 1/2 carrot, thinly sliced on a bias
• 1/2 cup thin sliced cabbage
• 1/3 cup frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed of liquid
• 1 package of fresh ramen or yakisoba noodles. If using dried noodles, pre cook them and discard seasoning packet
• 1 scallion, sliced thin

Directions:

1. whisk together broth, miso, and soy sauce and bring to a boil
2. Divide noodles in half and place in two large soup bowls.
3. Divide all ingredients in half and neatly arrange in bowls over noodles.
4. Ladle hot broth in each bowl. Garnish with scallion.

Later in the night? Hot cocoa! Now I have a use for the leftover marshmallow! Kind of defeats the point of a healthy dinner though 😉

Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa
• 4 Tablespoons of sugar
• 2 cups of milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine in a sauce pot, whisk together, and heat!

 

Chicken?

I’ve been saying this for a while now, but here is proof in a picture. We all know that processed foods are bad. But that doesn’t stop many of us from eating them, because we still think in our minds, “it can’t be that bad, right?”

Well, here it is. Want to know how chicken nuggets are made? Or those weird, round and breaded chicken patties (you know chickens aren’t round, right?) This is how it starts.

Think of this….