Crock Pot on Hold

It's been a REALLY busy week.  Last week we started renovating a rental unit, then on to cleaning it for the new tenant.  College students and recent grads are NOT clean people.  Yuck!

Anyway, due to all the hours we've been putting it, we've not had time to use the crock pot much since Friday!  We have quite a few recipes we want to try, including a healthy, very low carb chicken adobo recipe.

We've got another busy weekend ahead, so no crock pot meals until probably next weekend.  We did mostly takeout this past week.  If you're into healthy pizzas, Whole Foods sells pizza by the pound.  It was ok, not the kind we like :-)  There always seems to be a line for the pizzas.  You can by it by the slice or you can buy three pounds which is a whole pizza shaped like a skateboard versus a round pizza.

We also had pasta from La Pizza Rina.  Will be posting a review of La Pizza Rina since it's one of our usual pizza takeout places.

Dining Out: Pho One in Honolulu

Lemon Beef Salad w/Jellyfish

We're not very experienced eaters of Vietnamese food, but we do enjoy chicken Pho and lemongrass chicken.  Recently we made friends with a young gal who's parents are from Vietnam...she is fluent in Vietnamese.  Great gal, very nice and intelligent...oh and generous.  I always tell her she has an old soul, wise beyond her years.

Pork Plate

Our friend offered to share her culture via tradiational Vietnamese cuisine at Pho One in Honolulu (near Ala Moana Shopping Center).  We couldn't refuse!  She knows the owners of the restaurants and knows they make their own chicken and beef stocks from scratch, clean the vegetables one by one and by hand, etc.

Special Beef Pho

We asked her to do the ordering and we got some fabulous dishes:  Lemon Beef salad with Jellyfish, Beef Phở and a dish that wasn't on the menu, Bò lá lốt...more on this dish later.  She also ordered a dish with broken rice (small grains of jasmine rice), pork chops, shredded pork and Vietnamese pork meatloaf.  The Vietnamese steam their meatloaf making it light and fluffy and looks more like a piece of dessert (pretty)....it was very tasty.

Bo La Lot

First came the Lemon Beef salad with Jellyfish.  Very tasty dressing, the lettuce fresh and the onions mild.  The beef is served rare.  The male half of this couple doesn't get excited about food, but he claims this is the best salad he's had in a long time.  Next came our Beef Phở...it was one of the better bowls of Pho we've had, but we could've done without the tendons, tripe and whatever other piece of beef was in there.  This Pho is served with raw thin slices of meat also...our friend asked the waiter to have that meat served on the side so we could put the beef in when it arrived at our table...so the meat doesn't overcook...it was a great idea.

Rolling Bo La Lot

The last dish is the female half of this couple's favorite dish...Bò lá lốt, the meat portion is beef rolled in a pepper leaf.  At Pho One, they serve all the ingredients on a pizza pan, you roll the ingredients in rice paper yourself.  The tray comes with very fresh ingredients and it was recommended to us to lay down half a leaf of lettuce as the base (on the rice paper which you dip quickly into warm water), followed by the rest of the ingredients in whichever order you prefer.  The rest of the ingredients were: bun (noodles, cake form), the meat portion, pickled vegetables, basil and mint (leaves only).  Roll like a burrito tucking ingredients in so the rice paper isn't loose.  Dip the roll into the fish sauce holding it close to the top or else after you take a bite, everything tends to fall out of it.

It was quite an experience...but a great one.  We were too full to try the three layer Vietnamese ice dessert..next time we think we'll just to the salad and Bò lá lốt.

Crock Pot "Mexican" Chicken For Two

RECIPE RATING:
HE SAID: Very good.
SHE SAID: Yum!

Years ago before the female half of this couple's cousin married her first husband, he introduced our family to this easy but yummy recipe.  Simple...simple enough for a teenager to make and easy on the pocketbook too.  We believe it was his own recipe.  He made it with sliced canned mushrooms, sliced black olives and shredded cheese melted on the top (baked).  We this without the mushrooms and olives since the male half of this couple doesn't care for them.

Before (forgot to take a  pic of the finished product)

For the salsa part of the recipe, it's really to taste.  Depends on how spicy you like your salsa, if you like it chunky or smooth...we've also made this with homemade salsa.  We normally serve this dish on rice...mmmm, but you can serve with tortilla chips if you prefer.  The amount of sauce you make also depends on how much you like the sauce.  If you're not into sauce, you may want to make just enough to cover the chicken...if you love sauce, make extra sauce for dipping.  The sauce tastes great as leftovers too!

The original recipe calls for the chicken to be baked in a 9x13 pan at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour (until chicken is cooked, but not overcooked).  Using the crock pot made the chicken softer, but the sauce runnier.  We probably won't be making this in the crock pot again since the thicker sauce is easier to dip.  If you don't mind the runnier sauce (it doesn't taste bad, just hard to dip) and you're just pouring the sauce over the rice, the crock pot way is a bit tastier and as mentioned, the chicken is very tender.

It was another very busy day, dinner had to wait until 9:30PM, so we forgot to take a pic of the finished product!  Will definitely post one when we have leftovers.

RECIPE:

Prep Time: 10-15 minutes
Cook Time: 6- 8 hours on low
2-4 qt crock pot (depending on how much sauce you want)

6 - 8 pieces boneless, skinless chicken thighs (cut in half or whole)
2 small cans or 1 large can cream of mushroom soup (again, depends on how much sauce you want)
1-2 cups of salsa (your choice, depends on texture and spice you desire)
1 small can sliced mushrooms, drained (optional)
1 small can diced black olives, drained (optional)
shredded Mexican blend cheese (optional)

Rinse and pat dry chicken.  Place chicken pieces in crock pot.  In a bowl, mix cream of mushroom soup until smooth and creamy.  Add in as much salsa as you wish (we usually use at least 3/4s of a jar of salsa or more).  Mix in mushrooms and olives.  Pour sauce over chicken, be sure sauce covers chicken.  Cover and cook for 7-8 hours on low.  Sprinkle cheese on chicken just before serving...melt the cheese.  Serve over rice or with tortilla chips for dipping...or both!

Enjoy...we always do!

Dining Out: Yohei Sushi in Honolulu

If you're looking for a Japanese restaurant that's pretty close to being something you'd find in Japan, Yohei Sushi is a great choice.  Yohei's in the Kapalama/Kokea area along the canal across Honolulu Community College.  It's a small restaurant with a sushi bar.  The sushi bar is popular...their sushi is very good.

Sapporo Beer at Yohei Sushi

The other night we spent over an hour looking for items for a renovation at Home Depot and we were both famished.  After running through the restaurant choices in the area, the male half of this couple decided to treat me to some "fancy" sushi.  That's how the female half of this couple refers to high quality sushi made with top grade fish...as compared to the smaller fast foot type sushi places that use previously frozen fish.

This place is definitely not cheap, but you'll never have anything that doesn't taste fresh.  We decided to do sushi at a table since the sushi bar was full on a Wednesday night!  We were so hungry, we only took a picture of the beer!

We tried the hamachi kama (broiled and served with grated radish and ponzu sauce), negitoro maki, salmon nigiri, natto handroll, scallop/mayo nigiri and hamachi nigiri...everything was excellent. The female half of this couple's been to this restaurant many times and has had the sashimi/tempura teishoku and the zuke done (ahi and cucumber on rice) - both excellent dishes.

Once in a while, this place is a great treat!

Crock Pot Fish Provencal for Two

RECIPE RATING:
HE SAID: Good.
SHE SAID: Good sauce, needs more wine and better fish.

Before.  Forgot to take an "after" shot.

This dish tasted great...but we need a break from tomato sauce.  We had some crushed tomatoes leftover from the weekend before, so we decided to make this dish.  As mentioned before, the closest market to our house doesn't have the greatest selection of fresh fish...often times we end up buying "previously frozen".  Sometimes that works out great and other times, it's just ok.

It was a busy and humid Sunday...we were running late on getting the fish into the crock pot which meant a late dinner.   We were both starving and ready to watch the movie "Blood Into Wine" that we forgot to take a photo of the finished dish!  By the way, if you're a Tool fan, the movie "Blood Into Wine" is a documentary on Maynard Keenan's vineyard...pretty interesting if you're a fan of Tool or a fan of wine.

We'll definitely make this again when we're ready for a tomato sauce dish again...and when we can get our hands on some firm fresh fish fillets.

RECIPE:

Prep Time: 10-15 minutes
Cook Time: 3 hours on low
2 qt. crock pot

3-4 cod, snapper or another white firm fish fillets (depending on the size and how much you like to eat)
1 medium red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T. olive oil
1 1/2 c. crushed tomatoes, plus 1 T. Italian seasoning or 1 1/2 c. Italian style diced tomatoes
1 T. capers, drained
1 T. dried basil (use fresh if you can)
8 pimiento stuffed olives, slices
1 T. lemon juice
1 t. dried oregano, crushed
1/2 t. dried thyme, crushes (use fresh if you can)
1/2 c. white wine
salt and pepper to taste
angel hair pasta

Rinse fish and pat dry.  Place fish into crock pot.  Add dry ingredients first (except pasta), top off with wet ingredients (we gave it a stir).  Cover and cook for 3 hours on low or until fish is cooked (at least 2.5 hours).  We served this on angel hair pasta.

Enjoy...we sure did!

Crock Pot "Skyline" Cincinnati Chili (Take 2 and for two!)

RECIPE RATING:
HE SAID:  Pretty close to Skyline, could use more spice.
SHE SAID:  Not spicy enough, but nice texture.

Finished product - forgot the cheese!

This was our second try at making "Skyline" Cincinnati Chili in our crock pot.  While the texture was a lot closer to Skyline's, we must have not used enough chili powder.  The spices are almost the same as our first recipe, just different amounts.  The main difference between the two recipes we've tried is the boiling versus browning of the ground meat.  After reading quite a few reviews posted by other home cooks, you get the Skyline texture by boiling the ground meat.

This time we also forgot to sprinkle on the shredded cheddar cheese even though we bought it just for this meal!   We halved the recipe which made enough for one meal and one leftover meal for the two of us.  We also decided to use Multi-grain Angel Hair Pasta which was a nice change from regular spaghetti.

Ground turkey

We will definitely try making "Skyline" chili again, with a slightly different recipe, but keeping the "boiling" part in and adding more chili powder and cayenne pepper.

RECIPE:

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time:  At least 8 hours on low.
2 qt crock pot

(Double the recipe to feed 4-6 people)

1/4 c. red onion, chopped
1 1/2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
1 lb. ground turkey (can use chicken or beef also)
1/8 c. chili powder (will increase to 1/4 c next time)
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground cumin
1/8 t. ground allspice
1/8 t. ground cloves
1/2 bay leaf
1 T. + 1 t. cocoa powder

Ready to cook!

1 - 10 oz. can beef broth
1 - 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 T. cider vinegar
1/8 t. ground cayenne (probably will try 1/4 t. next time)
shredded cheddar cheese (optional)
angel hair pasta (your choice of pasta)

Put ground turkey into crock pot.  Break up the turkey a bit.  Put all other ingredients in except for the cheese and pasta..give it a mix since you have a utensil from breaking up the turkey.  Cover and cook for  at least 8 hours on low.  Try not to cook on high...it just won't taste right.  Serve over pasta with shredded cheddar cheese.

Enjoy..we sure did!

Dining Out: Mix Cafe in Honolulu

The male half of this couple doesn't like spending a lot of money on food unless it's really, really good and a good sized portion.  The other week the female half of this couple decided to grab sandwiches from Mix Cafe on Alakea Street in Downtown Honolulu since the male half has never been there.  Grabbed a chicken sandwich and a steak sandwich...both are REALLY good.  As the female half waited for the owner to heat up the sandwiches, the voice of the male half popped into her mind...she heard him telling her about the $8 sandwich he just had from a new place on South Street and how bad it was and very little food for that much money.  Oh no!  The sandwiches we were waiting for at Mix Cafe are between $7.50 and $8.50...yikes.  Well, it comes with a salad and the sandwich is big and did we mention it's delicious.

Normally, the male half doesn't get excited about food (except for his mother's home cooking), so when she asked "how was the sandwich?", she expected to hear "good" but heard "very good, where did you get it from!"  Wow, the female half almost fell out of her chair.

Today we had to run downtown again and guess what the male half wants to eat tonight...sandwiches from Mix Cafe :-)

So far, we haven't had anything bad from this place.  They have two locations, so if you don't want to bother with parking downtown, park in one of the nearby municipal lots near the Beretania Street location. You won't regret spending the $8 or so on a sandwich.

We've never been to the Beretania location, but we believe they have a larger menu there.  The Alakea location seems to only have sandwiches which are all laid out on the counter for you to choose from, desserts and drinks.  Google Mix Cafe in Honolulu and check out the photos from Yelpers.  Mmm!