Food, Glorious Food

I have several food-related things to blog about. First and foremost, the amazing Christmas present from my parents that I am so excited about, heehee! Get ready for it...it is...

A Food Rotation System!!

Do you like how I planted some of Dane's toys on the shelves so he would look like he's reaching for a can?
For those of you who may not be familiar with it, it is a shelf with special tracks allowing cans to roll from the top to the bottom, so the first cans in are the first cans out. It automatically rotates your supply so the oldest things get used first. This particular model will reportedly hold 278 cans. Wow, I can't even tell you how happy I am to have this. Our apartment has many good features, but pantry space is not one of them. All of our food resided on a couple of shelves above the washer and dryer. But not anymore! This rotation system fits perfectly in the closet of the third bedroom, next to our #10 cans of other food storage sundries and my filing cabinet. As you can see, the shelves are still quite empty as I wait for a good case lot sale, but that is more than I could fit on our pantry before. But not anymore! Look at all the food we can store! I used to make excuses for not doing my food storage because of lack of space and the fact that we're not in a permanent home. But not anymore! Good three-month supply, here we come. The shelves even came with little magnets to label each row! Yes, I really am that excited. Thanks so much Jiichan and Baachan!!
Next, Dane is starting to insist on feeding himself with a spoon sometimes. It doesn't work unless he's eating something that will stick to the spoon, like yogurt, and then of course he makes a mess, but it is fun anyway.

And then this next picture captures a mess created from Dane feeding himself with his hands, which he has done for a long time, but the meltiness of a chocolate covered Oreo was still too much for him.

Joel wanted me to change the picture to sepia to make Dane look like a vampire. Weirdo.
Next, here is a yummy-looking recipe that I am going to try tonight, so I thought I'd throw it out there for all to enjoy. It is from Martha Stewart on the Today Show. I rarely follow recipes to the T, sometimes because I don't like certain ingredients, usually because I don't have certain ingredients. For instance, I will not be using the shiitake in this recipe because I don't like them, and I will probably use white rice instead of brown because that is what I have. I like experimenting with food anyway.

Asian Stuffed Cabbage

INGREDIENTS

• 8 ounces ground beef sirloin

• 4 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, caps coarsely chopped

• 1/2 cup cooked brown rice

• 4 garlic cloves, minced

• 1 tablespoon finely grated peeled fresh ginger

• 2 scallions, thinly sliced

• 1 tablespoon soy sauce

• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 head Napa cabbage

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400º.

In a large bowl, combine: ground beef sirloin, shiitake mushrooms, brown rice, garlic cloves, ginger, scallions, soy sauce, sesame oil, red pepper flakes, salt

Remove 8 large outer leaves from cabbage (if leaves are less than 5 inches wide, overlap 2 leaves, side by side). With a rolling pin, roll each leaf until the stem end is pliable.

Dividing among leaves, mound meat mixture toward upturned stem end. Starting from filled end, holding sides in as you work, tightly roll each leaf into a bundle.

Arrange cabbage rolls, seam-side down, in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Pour 1 cup water over rolls; cover dish tightly with aluminum foil. Bake until an instant-read thermometer registers 160º when in­serted into a roll, 30 to 35 minutes. Serve drizzled with juices and sprinkled with red pepper, if desired.

Per serving: 183 calories; 15 g protein; 6 g fat; 17 g carb; 4 g fiber.

My final food story of the day is a bit of a horror story. See, before I left for Oklahoma, I stocked up our fridge, freezer, and pantry with easy foods that just needed to be heated up so Joel wouldn't waste away just eating Cheerios for every meal. See what a devoted wife I am? I typically get good foods, like California Pizza Kitchen frozen pizzas and Hormel refrigerated entrees. However, this particular time, I also included a Banquet Cheesy Ham and Hashbrowns meal.

I know, it doesn't look that great, but Joel likes hashbrowns, so I went ahead and bought it. Well, since it required actually adding water and putting the can of cheese sauce (with ham inside!) together with the bag of hashbrowns, Joel never ate this one while I was gone. One day, I was having a rough day with Dane having a double ear infection and being resistant to antibiotics (which is a whole other story), so I thought I'd pull the Homestyle Bake out for an easy dinner. Easy, it was. Gross, it also was. The cheese sauce was like basketball game nacho cheese. The ham was some substance we could not identify, but it surely was not ham. There was far more cheese than hashbrown, and the the crumbly stuff on top was also unidentifiable. As I opened up the can of cheese sauce, Dane was pulling on my leg, and I thought I smelled a dirty diaper. Oh, wait, it was the can of cheese sauce. I should have abandoned it there. But, alas, I did not. Joel and I were both brave and tried some of it, but the rest went in the trash, needless to say. Beware the cheesy ham and hashbrowns.
The thing is, I knew when I bought it that it would be gross. I knew. So why did I buy it? Joel suggested that I had a subconcsious desire to get something really gross so Joel would be reminded of how I usually make him good food, and he would be eternally grateful. I guess we'll never know.