Lime Beef and Shiitake Mushrooms

Hello, everybody! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! By now you're probably all tired of mashed potatoes, turkey and stuffing so this dish might be a welcome change. It's fairly simple, but like the last post, has a few ingredients that aren't in the cabinet.

 So, I was watching Japanese cooking tutorials on youtube again. Seriously, there's everything on youtube. I'm a hands-on type of learner so I really like looking of 3D tours, TED talks, sketching techniques, etc. Watching someone cook is probably the best way to learn, no matter how great the recipe and instructions, so don't be afraid. Youtube is your friend!

 Now, I wanted another seasonal dish that was simple, quick and didn't take a genius. I watched about ten videos before I realized that ginger,cilantro, lemongrass and chili pepper was a common combination. How odd! I can see cilantro and peppers, or ginger and lemongrass, but all four? So, I went looking in my grocery store and surprise... it's so common, I found it in this super handy little squeeze tube. It lasts forever in the fridge, is already chopped and ready. Nifty!

 So, shiitake mushrooms are also called "winter mushrooms" and are consumed in large quantities in Russia. (File this under things you never needed to know, but are glad you do.) Because they can be grown and eaten fresh even under limited amounts of light, they make good winter staples in countries where the growing season is short.

 The mushrooms are a good source of Vitamin D2 and are a great source of Vitamin B5 (400% of your daily needs). For people who suffer from the winter "blahs", mushrooms can help fight off the brain fog that happens when they don't get enough sunshine.

 You can use any kind of cream (heavy cream, light, half and half, etc.) but this was on sale, so hey. Crema Casera, it is!

 Ok, in a skillet or cast iron pot, put in 2 TBS of the ginger, cilantro, chili pepper and lemon grass mix. (How easy is that??) A tbs of olive oil and a few ounces of chopped red onion. (I usually use sweet onions but this recipe called for red, so that's what I got. I'm glad I did. The flavors are pretty intense and I don't think you'd be able to taste the sweet onion under all the mushroom, herbs, beef.)
                                                    
There's that dried garlic again! I'm really starting to like this stuff. I usually use fresh minced, but I think I'll start keeping this on hand, too.

 After sauteeing the onion for a little while over medium-high heat, put in the shiitakes, stem side down.

 After about four minutes, roll them over and let the tops soften. The video I watched added a few tablespoon of water and it seemed like this helped keep everything from burning. This wasn't a long step. Just about 6-8 minutes, tops.

 As the shiitake are cooking, put another 2 TBS of the herbs in a hot pan, plus half a squeezed lime. Mix thoroughly.

 Add a few ounces of cubed beef. I used some beef I withheld from the stew I'd made the day before. The dish is mostly mushroom, not beef, so keep the proportions in mind. I thin American usually cook heavy on the meat, and add a few other ingredients. This was definitely a mushroom dish, with some beef. Cook over high heat until browned. Add half a cup of the cream to the beef as soon as it's cooked through. Stir well, but don't let it boil because the lime can curdle the cream.

 The video I watched had noodle as a base, but we'd just used all our stir fry noodles so I cooked some white rice. Ladle a bit of the beef mixture on top. Select a few of the shiitake mushrooms and some of the red onion. I nibbled an edge to make sure they didn't need any more salt, and the combination of the herbs really gave it a great flavor. You can salt them if you want, but I didn't think it needed anything else.

And finally a bit of the dried garlic as a topper. I also had sesame seeds, so I tried that, too, but maybe I'm just a garlic fan, I preferred the bit of crunchy garlic to the sesame seeds.
 I'd give this dish about 8/10. It was easy, but I used two pans and hey, sometimes that's one pan too many, haha. Definite points for a great combination of flavors, those vitamins we need in winter, and NOT being pizza.
Take care everybody and I'll see you next week!

Easy Fried Rice

Hello, everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I've got a super easy dish for those nights when you need to go grocery shopping but don't have time. But first... the weather has changed!
                                             
Which was tough when we got up at 4AM to help out with the hot air balloon festival. They moved it from May to October and I was NOT ready for 1) the dark and 2) the cold. Nothing like trying to find the tabs and straps in the pitch darkness!
                                              
When the sun finally rose, it didn't really warm things up. Crunchy field grass.
                                 
But my kids were troopers (I was the one whining, as usual) and here they are waving off Mr. Tick Tock. (Yeah, we know he's sort of creepy looking but the school kids just love to see him flying over their schools.)
                                     
They also had tethered rides for kids who could come before school. Here are our friend Ingrid and Rorique and Bill giving little rides to the kids. After helping inflate, the volunteers help act as "balast", pulling the balloon down and weighing down the basket so people can get off and on. Maybe the only time when a few extra pounds works in your favor!
                                           
Oh, and we celebrated Halloween early because our old friend Mindy came to visit from Montana! Here are Edward (skeleto man) and Ana (as our dear Miss Jane Austen) getting ready to run through the corn maze.
                                         
So, I've been running toward a deadline so I'm not putting as much thought into cooking as I usually do (which isn't much, hahaha). I've just been grabbing items from the pantry and throwing them together. This is what we made a few nights ago and it was delicious! I realized that although I've posted about quick shrimp stir fry, healthy low carb egg rolls, California sushi,  , I hadn't posted anything about fried rice, which we eat pretty often. Missy posted about fried rice  but hers looks way nicer so... don't follow the link!

 So, I didn't take pictures of every step, which is BAD, BAD, BAD blogging! But I'll explain what's happening in this shot. We chopped carrots and celery into teeny tiny pieces and sauteed them for about five minutes with a TBS of oil. Then we scrambled three eggs into the veggie mix.

 This is the rice I made for the stir fry and I am VERY proud to say for once, I did not make sticky rice! Hooray!

 Add four cups of rice to the veggie mix and fry on medium high with 2 TBS of oil. Turn lightly and carefully with a spatula because it's really easy to make a big pan of mush at this point. (Don't ask me how I know.)
Oh, here's one of our sweet new kittens! They are so playful and into everything, we really have to watch out for them under foot. The other night I was removing a pan of chicken from the oven and one of the kittens puts its paws right on the inside of the door! Poor kitten. All it was thinking was the delicious smells, not the 400F heat. It didn't seem to be hurt but scared me to death, so now we're extra careful when we're cooking.

She's my new editor... So hard to please. So critical! All she wants is stories about tuna and tummy rubs. *sigh*

 Add two packets of fried rice seasoning an gently combine. I told you this was easy!

 Someone has come to inspect dinner... Here we added chopped chicken.

 One more shot of the sumach in the yard. SO pretty. I want to bring it inside!

Until next time!