Bulgogi- Korean BBQ

Ten years ago my husbands first duty station was South Korea (Fiance at the time).  I went to visit him for my 21st birthday and fell in love (we were already in LOVE but I fell in LoVe with Korea)!  The market's were fantastic, the people were wonderful and the food was amazing!  My favorite was BULGOGI or Korean BBQ.  You can cook the thinly sliced meat at the table, eat it with many different toppings such as Kimchi and wrap it in lettuce leaves.  When I got home after my week long adventure I told my mom about it and of course word spread like wild fire in my family of chefs and people who like to eat and soon my Grandma had found a recipe of her own. I still use the original recipe the only thing I change is I double the sauce and I've also modified the rice so I can use brown rice.

My family loves this recipe especially my husband since it reminds him of his tour in Korea.  We may be heading back over there as a family so I guess it's a good thing that the boys love it too!!  I even picked up some sushi today and the boys really enjoyed that. I am so lucky to have two little boys who will eat or at least try just about anything!

BULGOGI
(has been modified from the original recipe)

1/2 cup Low Sodium Soy Sauce
3 Tbsp Sugar
1-2 tsp Asian Sesame Oil
3 gloves Minced Garlic
2 tsp Minced Ginger
3 Green Onions Chopped
3 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds
1 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
1lb (or a little over) steak, I used Top Round you can use Flank
One head Boston or Bibb lettuce


Put the steak in the freezer while you prep the sauce and the rice it will be easier to get a thin slice.
In a ziplock bag mix soy, sugar, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, and 1/3 of the green onions, zip and mix with fingers.  Prep rice.


COCONUT RICE (WHITE)

2 cups long grain rice or basmati
1 Tbsp butter
1 cup water
1 14 oz can coconut milk
1 cinnamon stick
1/4 salt

Rinse rice in a sieve under cold water.  Heat butter in a 2-3 quart saucepan on med-high. Add rice and cook until opaque.  Add remainder of ingredients and bring to boil. Stir, cover and reduce heat to low simmer for 20 min.  Remove cinnamon stick and fluff with fork.

COCONUT RICE (BROWN)

1 Cup brown basmati rice

1 Tbsp coconut oil (you can use butter or olive oil)
1 14oz can coconut milk (I used light)
1/3 cup water

1 cinnamon stick

1/4 salt

Rinse rice in a sieve under cold water.  Heat oil in a 2-3 quart saucepan on med-high. Add rice and cook until opaque.  Add remainder of ingredients and bring to boil. Stir, cover and reduce heat to low simmer for 40 min.  Remove cinnamon stick and fluff with fork. Brown rice needs much more liquid and time to cook so be sure to use the proper recipe-this one works for me.

PREP DONE!

If your going to make the brown rice let it cook for 10-15 min before slicing your meat, it only needs to marinate for 15-20 min and takes only a couple min to cook.  

Oops I almost forgot! Cut the stem out of the bottom of your lettuce, rinse and let it air dry.

Once your marinade is made and your rice is cooking slice your meat against the grain as thin as you can

As you slice add if to your marinade.  Once it's all sliced mix it up and refrigerate for 15 min.  Clean up, have a glass of wine, phone a friend...tick tock...ok

Heat a large skillet or WOK on Med-High add a little Veg Oil, add the meat a little at a time so that it sears not boils.  When it gets to Med Rare remove to a dish and add the next batch, it will continue to cook so don't over cook! Once all your meat is cooked sprinkle on your toasted sesame seeds.

OPTION: Once all your meat is cooked you can pour in your sauce and cook it until it boils then add it to your meat.

Normally we buy Kimchi from the commissary but this time we got some homemade kimchi from one of the instructors at Austen's HAPMUDO studio.  Her mom is Korean and she makes it all the time! It was de-lish!

O.K. Now you need to know HOW to eat it!!  Well this is how WE eat it!

Grab a leaf of lettuce, add some coconut rice, then add your beef, then your desired toppings.  I chose Kimchi, green onions, and sometimes Siracha. 

Assorted Toppings:

Kimchi, Siracha, Franks Red Hot Chili sauce (the boys like this one), green onions.

The boys were happy to have these little chopstick helpers!
I've had them forever from PF Chang's They used them for their Sushi!

 Here are the original recipes from my mom/grandma.  As you can see from all the splotches they have been used a lot!  I don't even need them anymore I've made it so much!! I'm not sure where the original came from but it's a great recipe even though I've modified it to fit our tastes.

I hope you enjoy! Thanks for stoping by!

Jess

Is it Spring Yet?

I'm going to start off by saying I think Phil the ground hog is a Big Fat LIAR!  Or maybe we are just ignorant for trusting a furry animal to tell us when spring will start??  Technically the first day of Spring is still a few weeks away...March 20th... but I have just been cold to the bone this winter and have been able to warm up!  Tomorrow we are expecting SNOWQUESTRATION (Who comes up with this stuff??)!!! BRRR So the local TV News station has come up with a "BREAD-O-METER". You know because everyone runs out and gets bread, water, milk, and gas as soon as the first sign of a snowflake!

http://www.wusa9.com/

Although we are wearing our jammies inside out and backwards tonight in hopes of our one and only good snow this year we are ready for some fun and sun outside!!  I have already started getting ready for the gardening this year!  Ok...not too much!  I have tried one of my pinterest ideas and it worked! Did you know you can regrow Celery and Romaine lettuce as well as a few other veggies from their ends?  I'm going to try a few more now that I know this works!! Last year we were working on a pineapple and it was working and then...I forgot to dig it up and put it in a pot before winter. I haven't checked on it but it's probably dead.  We may get lucky though and it may come back strong- too optimistic?

The original post "5 Foods You Can Grow From Leftovers" was found here at Gardenswag

     Celery                                   Romain Lettuce

It's only been about 4-5 days and we already have little leaf shoots!  I put toothpicks the little bottoms and set them in glass cups with water about a centimeter up the bottom. You want to make sure they have clean water so I've changed out the water out every other day to avoid mildewy water.  They've been on my counter in the kitchen which really doesn't get much if any sunlight so I'm surprised we even have any leaves!  

Next I would like to try Ginger, Green Onions and Garlic!

I think our garden needs a little TLC first! I haven't even been out to our Community Garden yet...only ran past while trying to avoid eye contact.

Our little garden looks so sad right now...hopefully
in a few months it will be full of veggies!

One thing that IS doing well is our compost!  I'm a little surprised since it's winter that our compost is breaking things down so well but I didn't put too much in this winter in fears that it would just freeze.  It has been pretty mild though.  I did buy a new juicer which breaks down the veggies and fruits into itty bitty pulp which is great for the compost and I think will make our garden very happy this year!

This is one of our compost bins. 

We have two compost bins.  Nothing fancy just some bins that used to be used for recycling but I found took up too much room.  I poked some holes at the bottom for air circulation and drainage.  Add some soil, dead leaves (they could both use some more), leftover veggie and fruit scraps, egg shells, coffee grounds, shredded newspaper, and the boys like to toss in some earthworms!  DO NOT ADD: meat, bread, fats or oils, old charcoal, pesticides, plastics or anything else you wouldn't want to touch your food!  Compost piles should not smell or attract pests or animals...ours doesn't!  They shouldn't be overly wet if they are too wet you need to add some more dry material like dried leaves or newspaper.  I never need to add water to mine it pulls it from the ground/rain water that gets in through the sides. I leave the lids on all the time and stir the pile when we add new material.  When it is warm out the compost will break down faster.  When your ready just add it into your soil.  I like to work one bin at a time only adding scraps to one bin while the other one is "ready".  That way you don't have big chunks of fruit and veggies in your garden attracts pests.

I hope that even if you don't like to garden you at least try something small like growing some celery or romaine lettuce from your scraps! Not only is it fun, especially if you have kiddos, but it will save you a couple bucks too!

Happy Gardening! 

Jess

Ranch Revamped!

We are ranch dip junkies in our house!  I have put Ranch dressing on everything since I was little.  It was how I was "tricked" into eating veggies when I was a kid.  Even the light version though has a TON of calories and I don't think I ever eat just 2 tbsp- do you?  For example Hidden Valley Light Ranch has 80 Calories and 7 grams of fat. Definitely better than the full fat version but WE can do better!!

Enter Greek Yogurt...and dried Ranch Dip. I use Hidden Valley Ranch because that's what we like.  I get the jar because we make it often and it saves money instead of buying the individual packets.  I haven't tried making my own yet but I've seen a lot of recipes on Pinterest.

Hidden Valley Ranch Seasoning and Fage 2% Greek Yogurt

Now for the recipe:

Ranch Revamped

1 Cup Greek Yogurt (I prefer 2% Fage)

3 Tbsp Ranch Seasoning or 1 Packet

1-2 Tbsp Fat Free Milk 

Combine Yogurt and Ranch Seasoning in a bowl mix until smooth.  Add one Tbsp of milk and mix.  If you would like it thinner add more milk.  You can add more milk if you would like to use it as a salad dressing!

1 Cup of Greek 2% Yogurt 170 Calories 4.5 g fat plus 23g of protein!!

Seasoning is only 5 Calories

2 Tbsp of dip is aprox 22 Calories, .5 g of fat, 3 g of protein (there are 16 tablespoons in a cup)

Now I'm not saying eat the whole cup in one sitting because that would be a good amount of sodium but don't you feel better about eating this dip?

       vs  

 Let me know what you think!


**I am in no way associated with the companies featured in this post.  All opinions and ideas are my own.