Leeks, Eggs and Bacon

I really love this dish. It’s quick enough for a weeknight and usually just the perfect amount of food.

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 Leeks, Eggs and Bacon
This is one of our most favorite reset dinners. There are only so many nights in a row we can indulge in rich meals before J and I begin craving simple, vegetable-heavy dishes. While this dish is at its peak in spring, if you can find leeks year round, don't be afraid to try it out of season.
Cuisines French
Servings
Ingredients
Cuisines French
Servings
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Cut each leek lengthwise into halves and then cut each half into half circles. Soak leeks in a large bowl of cool water to allow any dirt to settle to the bottom. The best way we've found to do this is using a salad spinner.
  2. In a saute pan, melt the butter over medium heat.
  3. Add the leeks to the skillet.
  4. Cook the leeks, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. It's best to let them brown a bit on the bottoms. Sprinkle with thyme and cook one minute more.
  5. Add stock, reduce heat to medium-low.
  6. Braise the leeks At this point you can choose to either cover the leeks or leave them uncovered. Uncovered the flavor concentrates a bit more but covered there is more broth to sop up with bread. Cook for about 10 more minutes or until the leeks are very tender.
  7. Season with salt and pepper and serve. We like to serve it with some french bread, crumble cooked bacon and hard-boiled eggs.
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Japanese hibachi style fried rice

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 Japanese hibachi style fried rice
After a recent trip to our local Hibachi grill, we realized that copying the food at home wouldn’t be that difficult. So after a quick internet search, we found exactly what we were looking for the fried rice recipe.
Cuisines Asian
Servings
people
Ingredients
Cuisines Asian
Servings
people
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. The Rice: Cook rice according to package directions.
  2. Put in bowl and place in refrigerator to cool while getting the rest of the ingredients together.
  3. Eggs: Scramble the eggs in a small pan over medium heat. Separate the scrambled chunks of egg into small pea-size bits while cooking.
  4. When rice has cooled to near room temperature, add peas, shredded carrot, scrambled egg and diced onion to the bowl.
  5. Dump the bowl of rice into the pan with the eggs.
  6. Slowly add soy sauce plus a dash of salt and pepper. Mix to combine.
  7. Cook rice for 6-8 minutes over heat, stirring often. (We actually only cooked it for about another 5. This will depend on the Wok you are using and how hot your stovetop gets.)
  8. Serve immediately.
Recipe Notes

My opinion: I love this rice. It's simple and filling enough to eat as a meal by itself.

Leeks, Eggs and Bacon

This is one of our most favorite reset dinners. There are only so many nights in a row we can indulge in rich meals before J and I begin craving simple, vegetable-heavy dishes. While this dish is at its peak in spring, if you can find leeks year round, don’t be afraid to try it out of season. The original recipe is from Genius Kitchen and is one my mom sent me years ago. We make it so often, I’ve forgotten to document our changes until this week!

Yum

Print Recipe
 Leeks, Eggs and Bacon
light, easy dinner to reset your palate after indulging in rich meals. Perfect for spring or any other time of year you can find leeks.
Courses Main Dish
Cuisines French
Prep Time 10 minnutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings
people
Ingredients
Courses Main Dish
Cuisines French
Prep Time 10 minnutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings
people
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Cut each leek lengthwise into halves and then cut each half into half circles. Soak leeks in a large bowl of cool water to allow any dirt to settle to the bottom. The best way we’ve found to do this is using a salad spinner. In a saute pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the leeks to the skillet. Cook the leeks, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. It’s best to let them brown a bit on the bottoms. Sprinkle with thyme and cook one minute more. Add stock, reduce heat to medium-low. Braise the leeks At this point you can choose to either cover the leeks or leave them uncovered. Uncovered the flavor concentrates a bit more but covered there is more broth to sop up with bread. Cook for about 10 more minutes or until the leeks are very tender. Season with salt and pepper and serve. We like to serve it with some french bread, bacon and hard-boiled eggs.
  2. In a saute pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the leeks to the skillet. Sprinkle with thyme and cook one minute more. Cook the leeks, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. It’s best to let them brown a bit on the bottoms.
  3. Add stock, reduce heat to medium-low. Braise the leeks At this point you can choose to either cover the leeks or leave them uncovered. Uncovered the flavor concentrates a bit more but covered there is more broth to sop up with bread.
  4. Cook for about 10 more minutes or until the leeks are very tender. Season with salt and pepper and serve. We like to serve it with some french bread, bacon and hard-boiled eggs.

Butternut Squash Soup

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 Butternut Squash Soup
We love love love love love this perfectly fall soup (even the toddler!)
Servings
people
Ingredients
Servings
people
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Coat squash in olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Roast squash in the oven at 425 for about 45 minutes.
  2. Peel the squash and set aside.
  3. In a soup pot, heat up 1 tablespoon olive oil until shimmering over medium heat. Add the chopped shallot, onion and salt. Cook, stirring often until the shallot and onions have softened and are starting to turn golden about 4-5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, stirring frequently. DON'T LET THE GARLIC BURN.
  4. Add the reserved butternut squash, maple syrup, nutmeg and a few shakes of ground black pepper, plus half the butter.
  5. Pour in the broth and using your favorite stick blender, blend until smooth. Add the butter and blend again.
Instant Pot Directions
  1. On medium saute heat 1 tablespoon olive oil until shimmering. Add the chopped shallot, onion and salt. Cook, stirring often until the shallot and onions have softened and are starting to turn golden about 4-5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, stirring frequently. DON'T LET THE GARLIC BURN. Add the reserved butternut squash, maple syrup, nutmeg and a few shakes of ground black pepper, plus half the butter. Pour in the broth.
  2. Add the broth and CANCEL the saute function. Turn on Pressure cook. Set time for 10 minutes. Turn steam value to seal. When cooking time is done, let NATURAL release for 10-15 minutes. If the release valve hasn't depressed after 10-15 minutes, SLOWLY turn the release valve to venting. NOTE: if you get liquid coming up through the valve wait 2 to 3 minutes and try again.
  3. Remove the lid when the pressure has released. Using your favorite stick blender, blend until smooth. Add the butter and blend again. Serve.

Yum

Portuguese filet of Swai

 

J and I have been trying to eat more fish. Since one of my most favorites, seared tuna, is out at least until Baby Girl Tyler arrives in November, we’ve had to get creative. Last night, J found this super easy and really delicious Portuguese recipe from Food.com. We didn’t have any sole filets on hand, so we swapped out Swai (not sure what Swai is, check out this link from Consumer Reports) and it was wonderful. Since we didn’t want to figure out how to divide an egg yolk, we just made the full sauce recipe. Which turned out to be a great idea because the sauce was equally delicious over brown rice!

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 Portuguese filet of Swai
Servings
Ingredients
Servings
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Arrange fillet in broiler pan and sprinkle with a little lemon juice and dot with butter.
  2. Broil until fish begins to brown.
  3. While the fish is broiling, combine the remaining lemon juice, sherry, soy sauce, parsley, and egg yolk. Mix well.
  4. When the fish has browned, spoon the sauce mixture over fish and return to broiler until sauce begins to bubble.
  5. If you end up with more sauce than fish, like we did, add the sauce to a pan and heat on medium until bubbling. This ended up being perfect because the sauce on the fish soaked in.

My opinion:
With a side of brown rice and broccoli, this was a super light and tasty dish. In total, it took longer to cook the brown rice than to make the fish from start to finish. Next time, we’ll add more fresh parsley at the end.