DoughSeeDough

a balanced plate with room for dessert


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Zha Jiang Mien

I’m not really sure what happened. I grew up living, breathing, speaking, and eating Chinese. Now here I am at 25, barely able to string together a sentence in Mandarin. My Chinese cooking is even more pathetic. I’ve tried countless times to watch and learn from my mom. The Wonder Woman who can throw together 6 dishes with ease, and in under an hour, too. It’s impressive (and kind of scary).

Unfortunately for me, she seems to invent most of her recipes or just has them stored in the depths of her brain. I tried to recreate a dish that I grew up with, zha jian mien, a sort of Chinese bolognese. This is my take on the classic Chinese dish. I’m not sure it even tastes close to what it’s supposed to, but Mike and I enjoyed it very much!

zha jiang mien

Zha Jiang Mein (Chinese Bolognese)

1 pound Chinese noodles (I used Shan Dong noodles)
1 pound ground pork
1 large yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon hot soybean paste
2 tablespoons black bean sauce
1 pound extra firm or baked tofu, cubed
1 cup frozen peas
1 medium seedless cucumber, julienned
Black vinegar or rice wine vinegar, optional

  1. Cook pasta according to package directions. 
  2. While pasta is cooking, heat a large pan over medium-high heat. Add pork and cook for 3 – 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in onions and garlic and cook until onions are translucent and pork is cooked through.
  3. Reduce heat to medium and add in hoisin sauce, soy sauce, black bean sauce, and soybean paste. Stir until well combined.
  4. Gently mix in tofu and frozen peas. Cook until heated through, stirring frequently.
  5. Portion out 1 1/2 cups of noodles into bowls and top with 1/2 cup of meat sauce. Garnish with cucumber and a splash of vinegar, if desired.


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Apple Pie Bread

Life is so strange. I work in food service and my days are filled with food, menu planning, nutrition… the list goes on and on. Yet, I never have time to cook. I’ve been living on school food and whatever I scrape up from the fridge at home. I was ready to live this life of school salads and random dinners for a couple months. When I started this job in July, I was told that everything would calm down by October at the latest.

Hmm. Last time I checked, it’s January, and work is still crazy. I have been dutifully taking pictures of the new dishes that I make. Unfortunately, it’s been so long since I took the pictures that I honestly cannot remember what the dish was, let alone what was in it! So, I guess I will start with one of the more recent things I’ve made: apple pie bread. I know, I know. I don’t have a lot of time to cook, so I use my precious time making things like… bread? Here’s what happened:

Cravings are a funny thing. I never seem to crave food that I have in the house. Or even food that is easily accessible to me. It’s always something that I can’t have. In this case, it was apple pie bread. More specifically, it was apple pie bread from Breadsmith. The craving hit on a Saturday night. By Sunday I was getting a bit cranky because I didn’t have any. I got ready to make the short drive over to Breadsmith and popped onto their website to make sure they had it.

Boom.

My world crashed around me. They don’t have apple pie bread on Sundays. They have it almost every other day of the week. But not Sundays. I almost launched my iPad across the room in frustration. I stewed for a few minutes before deciding to make the dang thing myself.

Now, fair warning: this is not a replica of Breadsmith’s bread. It is really good though. Honestly. Mike and I inhaled half the loaf in about 15 minutes. The rest of it was gone before Wednesday.

IMG_4233

Apple Pie Bread

For the filling:
3 apples, peeled and diced (about 3 cups)
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 2 teaspoons water

For the dough:
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup butter
3 1/2 cups flour
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup water
1 egg

For the streusel:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup flour
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/3 cup chopped pecans

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×5 loaf pan and set aside.
  2. Combine filling ingredient in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. 
  3. Heat milk and butter in a small saucepan until butter is melted.
  4. Whisk  together flour, yeast, salt, and brown sugar in a large bowl. Add in water, egg, milk and butter. With the dough hook on your stand mixer, combine all ingredients until dough comes together.
  5. Remove dough from bowl and place on a well floured surface. Knead for 5 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic. If dough is very sticky, add additional flour 1 tablespoon at a time, until dough is no longer sticking to the counter or your hands.
  6. Roll dough out into a 1/4 inch thick rectangle. Spread filling over the dough evenly, reserving 1/3 cup of the filling.
  7. Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough into 4×5″ rectangles. With the loaf pan on it’s side, stack the pieces on top of each other. Set the pan down and, if needed, spread the dough gently to distribute through the pan evenly.
  8. Sprinkle the remaining 1/3 cup of apple filling on top of the dough.
  9. Combine streusel ingredients together in a bowl until well combined and crumbly. Sprinkle over dough.
  10. Bake for 55 – 60 minutes, or until bread is golden brown.
  11. Let cool in pan on wire rack for 20 minutes before running a knife along the edges to loosen. Enjoy!!


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CSA Week 9 & 10

“Wake up in the morning feelin’ like P. Diddy. Grab my glasses, I’m out the door, I’m gonna hit this city.”

I always play this song as I’m walking out the door for my early morning runs. I had this song on full blast when I realized that it was downpouring. Noooooo!!! Then I panicked a bit because I realized that our office windows our open and we’re in the basement. Then I stopped caring because I kind of hate that office and there was nothing I could do about it at this point since I was 20 minutes away.

So, here I sit. I finally have time to blog. You know how they say time flies when you’re having fun? Time is definitely flying in my world, but I wouldn’t call it fun. Don’t get me wrong – I love my job and I am so grateful that this opportunity basically fell into my lap, but I’m exhausted at this point and I can’t wait for life to slow down a bit. I’ve been told that October will be the magic month. So, until then I will be working 12 hour days and doing nothing outside of work except for sleeping and running.

Yup, just work, sleep, run. You may have noticed that I’ve left one kind of important (to me) thing – cooking. I’ve chosen running over cooking. I’m not sure how we’ve lived on so little food so far, but we’ve managed. Mike has cooked a few times, but our meals have mostly been CSA or garden veggies tossed together in some strange stir fry.

At first our CSA boxes have been mostly green veggies. Now, they’re getting a little more color! So check out what we’ve been getting!

CSA Week 9

  • Yellow squash
  • Yellow wax beans
  • Basil
  • Tomatoes
  • Corn
  • Cucumbers
  • Green bell peppers
  • Mushrooms (I think Mike accidentally took these from my parents’ share – oops)

This was last week’s CSA. I guess I’m a little late posting it, but I wanted to share anyway! Like I said before, most of this food was used up in stir fries. I think we’re going to boil corn and freeze it. We have corn coming out of our ears at this point!

CSA Week 10

  • Green bell peppers
  • Yellow wax beans
  • Yellow squash
  • Cucumbers
  • Baby cantaloupe
  • Yellow grape tomatoes

I’m loving the yellow in our baskets! I’m a little bummed that we got a cute little cantaloupe because I can’t eat it!!! I don’t know what’s going on with my body, but the last two times I’ve had it in the past few months it’s made my throat/mouth/ears unbearably itchy.

I’m sure the grape tomatoes will be gone in an instant – I love snacking on them. The beans, squash and peppers will probably get tossed in a stir fry, and I will definitely be making some more spinach dip to go with all the cucumbers we have!


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Spinach Dip

As many of you know, we have been getting a TON of cucumbers. As much as I love cucumbers dipped in Sriracha hummus, there’s only so much I can eat before I start getting tired of it! Thank goodness for Heather over at In Her Chucks who introduced me to her spinach dip recipe!

I was a little skeptical at first because of the ingredients in it; I don’t think I’ve ever purchased a powdered soup or dressing before. I decided I would give it a try because I was just that sick of hummus. Turns out, it was a great decision!  Mike and I ate it for dinner on Sunday night with some cucumbers and it was the perfect light dinner after a day of beer-drinkin’ and burger-eatin’.

Spinach Dip
slightly adapted from In Her Chucks

1 10 oz box of frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed very dry
2 1/2 tablespoons of Knorr Leek Recipe Mix
2 1/2 cups plain nonfat Greek yogurt
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sliced green onion
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 tsp dried dill
  1. Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.
  2. Serve immediately with cut up vegetables or refrigerate until serving.


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CSA Week 8

It’s funny how much my life has changed in the last week. I went from having all sorts of free time to read, watch tv, cook, bake, and lounge around to working 10+ hours a day. I’m looking forward to October when things (hopefully) slow down.

I can’t even explain the exhaustion that this job has brought on. Partially my fault: I choose to wake up at 4:00 so I can run before work 🙂 I have to fit in marathon training regardless of my work schedule! I’ve already paid the entry fee and I’ve already spent countless hours training. Part of me is really worried I won’t be ready, but I’m going to try! And don’t get me wrong – I’m so incredibly thankful for not only having a job, but for having a job that I enjoy. I just wish that the enjoyment wasn’t so tiring!

Now, onto a late CSA post. I can’t believe it’s been 8 weeks since we received our first bag!

CSA Week 8

  • Corn
  • Baby watermelon
  • Cucumbers
  • Beets
  • Odd-shaped bell peppers

As for my plan for them… well, I would like to think I will be cooking all sorts of nice dishes, but reality is right now I throw together whatever food I have into a dish that is edible but not always aesthetically pleasing.

  • Corn: I think I might make the corn salad again! This time with a jalapeno or two (or three) thrown in there.
  • Watermelon: this sucker is so small I think I can inhale it in one bite.
  • Cucumbers: our fridge is overflowing with cucumbers. I need to make some pickles. I have no idea what else I’m going to do with them all!
  • Beets: I had planned on making a beet salad with the beets we got last week, but they ended up in a beet cake instead. So, I think I’ll be making the beet salad this week!
  • Bell peppers: these babies were used up the night we got ’em!


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Corn, Avocado, and Tomato Salad

It was Blogger’s Choice for today’s recipe swap. I was assigned to Amy’s Kitchen Creations. I saw the chicken pot pies and had my heart set on making them. Then, time got away from me and I realized that there was no way I would ever have the time to prepare that dish in time for the swap reveal!

Thank goodness she has so many recipes to choose from! I came upon the corn, avocado, and tomato salad and knew that it would be perfect. I had a ton of corn to use up from the CSA and we had a bunch of ripe cherry tomatoes that were begging to be used in our garden!

I loved how easy this was to make! I ended up doubling the recipe because I had so much corn to use up. Now, I have a bunch of delicious leftovers to get me through the next few days 🙂

Corn, Avocado, and Tomato Salad
slightly adapted from Amy’s Kitchen Creations

11 ears corn, cooked and kernels cut off
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
2 avocados, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 cup red onion, diced
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 lime, zested
2 limes, juiced
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
salt and pepper, to taste

  1. Combine the corn, tomatoes, avocado, and onion in a large glass bowl.
  2. In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, lime zest, lime juice, cilantro, salt, and pepper.
  3. Pour dressing over vegetables and toss gently to combine.

 


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CSA Week 7

It’s that time again! This post will be short and sweet. I’ve worked 11 hours today and have a couple more to squeeze in before I head to bed and work another 12+ hours. Working my new job + my old job is kind of exhausting. I’m looking forward to being on a normal-ish schedule again.

CSA Week 7

  • Cucumbers
  • Yellow squash
  • Pattypan squash
  • Beets
  • Banana peppers
  • Bell peppers

I don’t have a menu planned out quite yet – I’m guessing Mike and I will be eating a lot of stir fry type meals for a while as I get settled in and work calms down. I’ll gladly accept any suggestions for quick and easy meals that use one of the CSA items!

I do have some bonus pictures to share, though! Mike and I went through our garden last night to pick the ripe cherry tomatoes before the storms hit. We discovered some huge summer squash lurking in our garden. We planted the squash and completely forgot about them. Mike had walked over to that side of the garden and saw one huge squash . We discovered 3 more fairly large ones and then two smaller ones. We left the little ones on the vine to grow a bit more.

I’m so excited that we finally have stuff to harvest from our garden!!


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Vacation Recap!

So, the last couple weeks have been absolutely amazing. It all started with passing the RD exam. After passing the exam, I was excited to be able to finally clear my mind and have some fun. Mike and I left Monday to head down to Chicago before flying out to Myrtle Beach on Tuesday. Before we left Monday, I received another wonderful surprise – a job offer! Needless to say, vacation was truly wonderful because I was relaxed and finally employed.

We met up with my dad, stepmom, brother, and step-grandma (?? not sure what to call her). It was a pretty amazing week. We spent a lot of time eating, drinking, swimming, and laying out in the sun. It was my kind of vacation! I remembered to document a few things during the week.

On Monday night, Mike and I ate at Chodang Tofu. It was a small restaurant close to our hotel. Mike had bi bim bap and I decided to give the kimchi and beef tofu soup a try. I was so happy with my dish. It came out boiling hot (literally) and it was actually spicy enough for me!

We hopped on the plane the next morning. Nothing exciting on the plane ride – we just consumed a lot of alcohol 😉

The next few days were filled with lots of food – some great, some good, and some just okay. Here’s a quick recap of some of the restaurants we dined at.

Mr. Fish: this place was packed. We waited around forever for a table. We started off the meal with a fried green tomato tower that was surprisingly delicious and some calamari that was really disappointing. I ordered some crab cakes (okay) and Mike got boom boom shrimp (good).

Hamburger Joe’s: they had a cute little truck outside their shop. The food here was good and cheap. I got a cheeseburger with onion rings and all the adults shared a pitcher of beer. The inside of the restaurant was lined with dollar bills. I have no idea why. 

 

Croaker’s at the Pier: a tiny restaurant overlooking the ocean. I ordered grilled shrimp. Mike had some fried flounder which I apparently forgot to take a picture of…

Pier 14: we spent a morning on the boardwalk and ended up at this restaurant. This ended up being one of my favorites meals of the entire trip! I had my first raw oyster and I couldn’t get enough of them! I ordered a delicious blackened grouper salad and Mike had a blackened grouper reuben. Oh. My. Goodness. The reuben was so good. I don’t even have words to explain. So, go to Pier 14 and order it so you can see (taste?) for yourself!

I would say that it was a pretty successful vacation. I was even well-behaved and managed to fit in a few runs as well. I wasn’t prepared for the horrible heat and humidity and had to cut my 15 mile run on Saturday down to a 10 miler. That’s good enough for vacation 🙂

We flew back home on Monday and I started work on Tuesday.  I’m sitting here now after a long first day at work typing this up. I’m ready to crawl into bed so I can wake up early, run, work, and work again. Whew!


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CSA Week 6

This post is about a week late… oops! We received week 6 while we were at Myrtle Beach. I had my mom snap a few pics so I could show off what we’d received. I meant to post while we were gone, but it slipped my mind. We only had the iPad with us and I didn’t want to be bothered with figuring out how to post from it.

CSA Week 6

  • Peaches
  • Corn
  • Pattypan squash
  • Cucumbers
  • Bell peppers
  • Banana peppers

We let them eat what they wanted since we were going to be gone. We’ll collect whatever they didn’t eat tonight. I’m hoping the banana peppers are still there!

Stay tuned for a recap of our vacation week!


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Grilled Veggie Kabobs with Lime Chimichurri

Mike and I were hustlin’ to use up all the produce we had in our fridge before we left. These veggie kabobs were absolutely perfect for the occasion! The added bonus was that we were able to finally use the grill! With our weird work hours, we can go days without eat dinner together. Mike and his grilling puppy, Ripley, set to work:

The kabobs gettin’ their grill on

Ripley the Grill Dog watching intently.

We ended up with a ton of leftovers. I munched on those over the next day over some steamed rice without the chimichurri. The original recipe called for 6 cloves of garlic in the sauce. I only used 4, and the garlic taste was still pretty strong. Next time, I’ll probably use 2 cloves or just skip the sauce altogether and just drizzle the kabobs with plain lime juice.


Grilled Veggie Kabobs with Lime Chimichurri

for the kabobs:
3 patty pan squash, halved and sliced into 1/2-inch pieces
2 red onions, quartered
2 bell peppers, cut in 2-inch pieces
1 pound cremini mushrooms, halved if large
1/2 tablespoon chipotle chili powder
salt and pepper, to taste

for thechimichurri:
4 garlic cloves
3 dried bay leaves
6 teaspoons lime juice
1 fresh poblano pepper, chopped
2 fresh serrano chilis, chopped
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/3 cup Italian flat-leaf parsley
1/4 cup oregano
1/2 cup basil
1/3 cup olive oi

  1. Combine veggies in a large dish. Sprinkle with chili powder, salt, and pepper and toss to coat evenly. Let sit for 30 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile, make chimichurri. Combine all ingredients except for olive oil in a food processor. Blend until smooth. Slowly add in olive oil until well combined.
  3. Thread vegetables onto skewers* leaving a little space between each item. Grill over medium heat until slightly charred on all sides. Serve immediately with sauce.
*Use metal or bamboo skewers. If using bamboo ones, don’t forget to soak them in water for a good 30 minutes or so!

recipe adapted from Runner’s World