Reality Dinner, Day 8

The DDH returned from Houston tonight.

I tried to go buy some mussels that were on sale to make a delicious, special welcome-home dinner.

The grocery store, of course, was out of those mussels. So I decided to try this microwave mussel dinner, because I had my heart set on mussels.

Blech. It was gross. Way too salty, and sort of fishy, and generally not nearly as tasty as they looked.

Looked good, smelled good, tasted gross.

I was keenly disappointed, but I guess that's what I get for purchasing prepared frozen food. It's more expensive and never really that good.

The saving grace of the meal: warm crusty bread dipped in herby lemony olive oil.

Olive oil, herbes de provence, and lemon juice to taste.

I could eat that and only that all day long....

Reality Dinners, Day 1

Do you want to know a secret?

Are you sure?

I don't make fantabulous home-cooked meals every day.

I don't! Do you?

I like to post my favorite recipes, the fancy things I make and the delicious successes, because hey, we all like to brag a bit.

But this blog is called Reality Chef, not Sitcom Chef. Some days I make a dinner completely from scratch with produce I've grown myself, followed by a fancy dessert. Other days I rely on canned and convenience foods, cheats and mixes. Yet other days we just scrounge for leftovers or pull something from the freezer, and way too often we eat out.

Sort of the way, I imagine, that you all eat.

The point is, you don't have to make a grown-yourself, from-scratch, four-course meal every night in order to save money and eat more healthfully. You can make quick from-scratch meals some nights, and semi-from-scratch meals other nights, and sometimes you will still eat Steakhouse Burgers from Carl's Jr. and that's okay.

In the spirit of forcing this little blog to live up to its name, from now until Easter I will post at least a quick pic of every dinner I eat.

Sometimes I'll be sharing a (totally awesome, obvs) recipe. Sometimes it will just be a snapshot of some takeout. I might collate the posts so there's not one every day, depending on my schedule.

But for Lent, basically, you'll get to see this chef's really-real Reality.

Guten Appetit.

So what did I eat last night?

The wet dog-food looking stuff is pulled pork from the DDH's law school graduation party last May. I made two giant crockpots of the stuff and froze the leftovers in quart size ziploc bags. Over the last year, those little bags of pre-cooked pork have been my go-to desperation dinners. Sometimes I actually cook them up into a new dish; last night, the DDH reheated it with some barbecue sauce and that was that.

The DDH was off yesterday for President's Day. He went to Sam's Club and picked up the white stuff in the back of the plate, which is jalapeno artichoke dip. It was okay, though surprisingly spicy. I wasn't a huge fan, but he seemed to like it.

I was, however, a good girl and ate my dip with celery. The DDH? Tortilla chips.

Technically it was a half home-cooked meal--I did make that pulled pork, even though it was almost a year ago. The Internets suggest that making double of a dish and freezing the extra is a Good Idea, but this is the only time I've really done it. Guess I'll have to do it again when I run out. ;-)

It was just one of those days: work, meetings, running all over the place. At least we ate something, and I like to think it was marginally better for us than fast food. Certainly it was cheaper (though I refrained from asking how much he paid for the dip).

So there's Reality, Day 1: Frozen leftovers and store-bought dip.

Shrimp and Pasta Stir-fry

I picked up some bok choy at the farmer's market on Saturday, so today I had to do something with it. Usually, this means a stir-fry. What a stir-fry usually seems to mean, is chicken and rice. I wanted to do something a bit different today--not to mention faster, considering pasta takes about ten minutes to cook and rice takes thirty or forty.

I cooked some liguine according to package directions:

Drained it, and set it aside:

Meanwhile, I heated a bit of sesame oil in a large pan:

Added diced onion and garlic:

And cooked:

 
until brown.

I then added some shrimp (kindly shelled by the Darling Devoted Husband):

and cut in half, since they were big little guys.

 Next, I added white wine vinegar:

oyster sauce and bottled ginger:

and soy sauce:

 Then, the bok choy:

Covered:

 and cooked for three minutes or so, until the bok choy was wilted and the shrimp were cooked.

I then added the pasta and thought I'd be done:

Unfortunately, it was pretty bland--the pasta and watery bok choy had diluted the flavor cooked into the shrimp.

So I heated a spoonful of honey until liquid:

Added some oyster sauce:

Another dollop of bottled ginger:

And some more soy sauce:

 Whisked it together with a fork, and drizzled it over the stir fry:

This worked perfectly, and the sauce itself (I licked the cup) was amazing. It would make a great dipping sauce for potstickers.

This would be great with broccoli, snow peas, water chestnuts, bamboo, mushrooms--any vegetable you can make work in an Asian context. Chicken or beef could be substituted for the shrimp, or you could leave out the meat (and the oyster sauce) to make it vegetarian.

Enjoy!