Tonkatsu (Japanese Breaded Pork)

Tonkatsu is one of my favorite childhood Japanese dishes.  =)

Ingredients

• 4 slices pork loin or tenderloin, each about 1/2-inch thick and 5 ounces
• Salt, freshly ground black pepper, garlic
• Flour for dredging
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 cups panko (bread crumbs)
• Vegetable oil for pan frying
• Shredded Napa cabbage, for serving
• Lemon wedges, for garnish
• Tonkatsu sauce, for dipping (you can find it at any grocery store in the asian food aisle)

Directions

Slash the fat rimming one side of the loin cutlet to keep the meat from curling when deepfried. Pound to flatten to about 1/4 inch. Salt,  pepper and garlic both sides of each cutlet. Dredge each in flour, then dip into beaten eggs and press into bread crumbs to coat both sides.

Heat a large skillet with about 1/2 inch of oil until hot. Lay 1 or 2 cutlets in the hot oil. Deep-fry until golden brown, about 5 to 7 minutes, turning them once or twice. Drain the cutlets on paper towels and cut the pork into bite-size strips that can be eaten with chopsticks.

Arrange the pork on a platter lined with the shredded cabbage, and garnish with lemon wedges. Serve the sauce on the side for dipping, or pour it over the pork and cabbage.

Oyako Donburi

I grew up eating this dish and I love it!  Thankfully my kids and husband love it too.  I found this recipe on allrecipes.com.  The only thing that I change with this recipe when I make it is adding more sugar to make it a little sweeter.  I would do a taste test of the broth once you've added all the ingredients...if the soy sauce flavor tastes too strong to you, I would add a little bit more sugar.  


This is a popular (at least in Hawaii) Japanese dish which is often served at restaurants  in individual bowls. Oyako means mother and child, hence the main ingredients, chicken and eggs.

Prep Time: 20 Minutes
Cook Time: 20 Minutes
Ready In: 40 Minutes
Yields: 4 servings

INGREDIENTS:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3/4 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into strips
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
1 cup chicken broth
6 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked until soft, then sliced into strips
1 carrot, julienned
2 tablespoons white sugar
4 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped green onions
5 eggs, beaten

DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Saute chicken strips and onion until the chicken is cooked through, about 5 to 7 minutes. Drain off as much liquid as possible.
2. Stir in the chicken broth, and simmer for 2 minutes. Add the mushrooms and carrot, and let simmer for a few minutes before stirring in the sugar, soy sauce and salt. Simmer for 3 more minutes. Sprinkle in half of the green onions, stirring gently. Pour beaten eggs over the chicken mixture, and simmer until the eggs are cooked through, about 10 minutes. Serve over Japanese sticky rice.

Creamed Corn Casserole

I used to scrapbook with a group of ladies that I met on meetup.com.  One of the ladies made this creamed corn casserole for us to munch on while scrapbooking and I fell in love with it.  I like to make it as a side dish if I'm having a salad for dinner. This particular recipe didn't call for eggs...but I have made another variation that called for 2 eggs.


INGREDIENTS:

   * 1 (8 ounce) container sour cream
   * 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
   * 1 (15 ounce) can creamed corn
   * 1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn (draine
   * 1 (8.5 ounce) package corn bread mix

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F .
  2. In a mixing bowl, stir together the sour cream, butter, creamed corn, corn nibblets and corn muffin mix.
  3. Pour into a 1 quart casserole dish and bake for 40 minutes.

Cheri's Spicy Buffalo Wraps

My friend Cheri made this for us when we stayed in her in-laws cabin a few years ago.  It's so easy and delicious!  

Ingredients:

bag of either breaded chicken tenders or breaded buffallo tenders

spicy ranch dressing (you can also use regular ranch)

grated cheddar cheese

red leaf lettuce

multi grain tortillas (i like using the spinach tortillas)

(I have also added other stuff like tomatoes and avocado)

Directions:

Cook the chicken tenders as directed and warm up the tortillas. After chicken tenders are done cut them up into quarters. Take the tortilla and spread spicy ranch dressing on it, add all the other ingredients, but make sure you leave enough room to roll it into a wrap.  Enjoy!

Trader Joe's Stove Top Creamy Tuna Mac

This is definitely not the healthiest recipe to make...but it's SOOOOO good!  Trader Joe's was giving away samples one day, and the sample alone was not enough so I bought the ingredients to make at home.  


Ingredients:
2 boxes Shells & White Cheddar Macaroni and Cheese
1 cup frozen peas
4 TBSP butter
1 cup half & half
1 tub Onion & Chive Cream Cheese
2 cans White Tuna in Olive Oil, drained
Crushed potato chips


Directions:
Cook Mac & Cheese according to package directions; add peas for the last 2 minutes of cooking.
Drain (don't add sauce to pasta)
In a skillet, melt butter; add cheese packet (from mac & cheese), half & half and cream cheese; stir until smooth.
Add macaroni with peas and tuna; heat
Serve with crushed potato chips on top

Chocolate Haystacks

Love these!  There are a variation of recipes out there for this...but this is my favorite.  The peanuts and marshmallows definitely make it a real treat!  I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. 

Ingredients

• 1 cup BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chunks
• 1 cup butterscotch chips
• 2 cups chow mein noodles
• 2 cups JET-PUFFED Miniature Marshmallows
• 1/2 cup PLANTERS Salted Peanuts

Directions

1. Microwave chocolate chunks and butterscotch chips in medium microwavable bowl on HIGH 2 to 3 minutes or until almost melted, stirring after 1-1/2 minutes. Stir until completely melted.
2. Add remaining ingredients; stir until evenly coated.
3. Drop teaspoonfuls of the chocolate mixture onto large sheet of wax paper. Refrigerate at least 1 hour or until firm.

Boston Market Sweet Potato Casserole

I love, love, love Boston Market Sweet Potatoes...and last Thanksgiving I offered to make the sweet potato dish since our friend Sarit (who normally makes this dish) moved to the East Coast.  I was on a mission to find a recipe similar to Boston Market's Sweet Potato Casserole and I stumbled on a website called Top Secret Recipes.  I have to say they came pretty close to what I was looking for and they were super delicious!

Top Secret Recipes
version of
Boston Market®
Sweet Potato Casserole 
by Todd Wilbur 


Sure, this often requested clone from Boston Market may be considered a side dish, but it seems more like dessert. The brown sugar, cream, marshmallows and oatmeal streusel gives this casserole a taste similar to sweet potato pie, yet the dish goes great alongside meals as varied as low-key chicken dinners or festive holiday banquets. And the great part is, if you're planning to use this for entertaining, you can make everything but the streusel a day ahead so you won't be stressed at crunch time. Just cover the filled baking dish and pop it in the fridge. Take it out a few hours before you plan to bake it so the casserole can come close to room temperature, then you simply make your streusel and pop the whole thing in the oven.
 

Ingredients:
6 cups mashed sweet potatoes (5 to 6 potatoes-see step #1)
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups mini marshmallows

Oatmeal Streusel:

1/4 cup rolled oats
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons cold butter

Directions:

1. Rub a little vegetable oil on the skin of each sweet potato and bake them in a preheated 400 degree oven for 60 to 70 minutes or until they are tender. When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, scrape out the insides and use an electric mixer on high speed to beat the potatoes until they are mashed and smooth. Measure exactly 6 cups of the mashed sweet potato into a large bowl.
2. Add 3/4 cup brown sugar, heavy cream, melted butter, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, and salt into the sweet potatoes and mix well with the beater until all the ingredients are incorporated. Pour this mixture into an 8x8-inch baking dish.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
4. Make the oatmeal streusel by grinding the rolled oats to a fine flour using a food processor. A blender will also work. 
5. Combine the oat flour with 2 tablespoons brown sugar, all-purpose flour, and 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon in a small bowl. Cut the cold butter into the dry mixture using a pastry knife or a fork. You should have a crumbly mixture with pea-size bits. Sprinkle this oatmeal streusel over the sweet potato mixture and pop it into the oven for 70 to 80 minutes or until the top begins to brown slightly.
6. When you remove the casserole from the oven immediately spread the marshmallows over the top. Let this sit for about 10 minutes. The heat from the casserole will melt the marshmallows, and then it's ready to serve.

Makes 6-8 servings

Chicken Cabbage Salad

My friend Siara brought this to our Easter Potluck this year, and I fell in love with it!  It's so delicious!


Salad:
1 Rotisserie chicken
2 bags tri-colored shredded cabbage (or cole slaw cabbage without dressing)
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1/2 c. toasted slivered almonds
1 TBS toasted sesame seeds
2 pkg. Ramen noodles, crunched up

Dressing:
1 c. vegetable oil
6 TBS apple cider vinegar
4 TBS sugar
2 pkg. of seasoning from Ramen noodles
salt and pepper

Make the dressing in advance and refrigerate.
De-chicken the Rotisserie chicken, and combine along with other salad ingredients. 
Add dressing and toss just before serving. 
Enjoy!

Crock Pot Chicken with Black Beans and Cream Cheese

I wanted an easy crock pot dish to make and stumbled across this recipe on recipezaar.com.  It had a lot of great reviews, so I figured why not give it a shot.  I was amazed at how delicious it was!  I didn't use frozen chicken like the recipe says to and it came out just fine.  I usually shred all the chicken and roll it up in tortillas, but it also tastes great as a dip with tortilla chips. I've given this recipe to all my friends and they all love it!  It's definitely a recipe to keep on hand when you know you're going to have a busy day and don't have time to make dinner.

Ingredients

• 4 -5 boneless chicken breasts
• 1 (15 1/2 ounce) cans black beans
• 1 (15 ounce) cans corn
• 1 (15 ounce) jars salsa , any kind
• 1 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese

Directions

1. Take 4-5 frozen, yes, frozen, boneless chicken breasts put into crock pot.
2. Add 1 can of black beans, drained, 1 jar of salsa, 1 can of corn drained.
3. Keep in crock pot on high for about 4-5 hours or until chicken is cooked.
4. Add 1 package of cream cheese (just throw it on top!) and let sit for about 1/2 hour.
5. All done and enjoy!

Oreo Balls

I love trying new recipes...but I will only try them if they were recommended by a friend, or if they got high reviews on allrecipes.com or recipezaar.com.  I believe I found this recipe on recipezaar as I was looking for a sweet treat to take to a potluck. They were a big hit and I definitely recommend this for chocolate lovers!

Ingredients
1 package regular size Oreo cookies, crushed

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 package white almond bark  (i just used semi-sweet chocolate chips)
1 package chocolate almond bark (I just used white chocolate chips)

Directions1. Using a  hand held mixer, mix Oreos and cream cheese together.
2. Roll into walnut size balls.
3. Chill for an hour. (stick them in the freezer for about 10 minutes...it's faster)
4. Melt approximately 3/4 package of white almond bark.
5. Stick a toothpick in an Oreo ball and dip it in the melted white almond bark.
6. Allow to harden on wax paper.
7. Takes about 15 min.
8. While waiting, melt about 1/4 package of chocolate almond bark.
9. When Oreo balls are no longer sticky to the touch, decorate with drizzles of chocolate and white almond bark. I added food coloring to the white bark to make them more festive.
10. I just use a sandwich bag with a tiny hole cut in one corner to drizzle the almond bark

Monkey Munch or Puppy Chow

My former neighbor brought this over last year to share with us...actually I think she brought it over to share with my son Ethan...but once I tasted this yummy treat I couldn't get enough of it.  I'm not sure why there are name variations to this recipe...but I like to call it Werewolf Kibble (I made it as a favor for a New Moon party).

Ingredients
9 cups Chex cereal (any kind)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted (6oz.)
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter, melted
1/4 cup butter, melted
1-2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions
1. Measure cereal in large bowl.
2. Set aside.
3. Microwave chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter for 1 minute on high.
4. Stir.
5. Cook for 30 seconds longer or until smooth.
6. Add vanilla.
7. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until coated.
8. Pour mixture into large Ziploc bag and add powdered sugar.
9. Shake until well coated.
10. Spread on waxed paper to cool.
11. Store in Ziploc bags or large sealed bowl.
12. Recipe Note: It helps to add cereal mixture a little at a time if you only have small bags. 

Chicken Mirabella

About a year or so after I had Ethan, one of the mom’s in the North Orange County playgroup set up a mom’s night out at Dream Dinners.  It was a free event…the manager explained to us how it worked, and then let us make one dinner to take home for free.  Easy enough?  Well, not if you fall in love with one of their dishes!  I brought home the Chicken Mirabella that night, and fell in love with it!  I went again…this time purchasing 6 dinners…and made one of my dinners the Chicken Mirabella again.  I was hoping I could steal the recipe by trying to “remember” it this time around…but unfortunately it didn’t work out….I was too stressed out trying to put all the dinners together.  It was so overwhelming for me!  Oh..and yes I know that Dream Dinners has a cookbook, but I asked a few people on the chatboards about the book and they said they were disappointingly not the same recipes that they offer in their stores. 

Anyway….I told another mom in my Mommy Matters playgroup about Dream Dinners and she went and got her free dinner (chicken mirabella).  And lucky for me…she memorized the recipe enough to do a search on the internet…and found one that came unbelievably close to the one we made at Dream Dinners!  Thanks Marix!!!!

Chicken Mirabella

Ingredients:
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup pitted prunes, halved
8 small green olives
2 tablespoons capers, with liquid
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste
1 (3 pound) whole chicken, skin removed and cut into pieces (I use chicken thighs)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

Directions:
In a medium bowl combine the garlic, prunes, olives, capers, olive oil, vinegar, bay leaves, oregano, salt and pepper. Mix well. Spread mixture in the bottom of a 10×15 inch baking dish. Add the chicken pieces, stir and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

When ready to prepare, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove dish from refrigerator. Sprinkle brown sugar on top and pour white wine all around chicken.

Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, spooning juices over chicken several times as it is baking. Serve on a platter, pouring juices over the top, and garnish with fresh parsley.

Curry Chicken Sandwiches

 It has a lot of ingredients, but it’s really super easy to make and tastes wonderful with fresh homemade bread.

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 lb skinless boneless chicken breast
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup plain yogurt
5 teaspoons curry powder
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 medium red onion, chopped (1 cup)
1 tart apple, cored and chopped
1/2 cup toasted pecans, coarsely chopped

Directions:

Bring 4 cups water to a simmer with chicken broth in a 2-to 3-quart saucepan. Add chicken and simmer, uncovered, 6 minutes.

Removed pan from heat and cover, then let stand until chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes.  Transfer chicken to a plate and cool 10 minutes.  Chop into 1/2 -inch pieces.

While chicken is cooling, whisk together mayonnaise, yogurt, curry, lime juice, honey, ginger, salt, and pepper in a large bowl.

Add chicken, onion, apple, and pecans and stir gently to combine.

Makes 6 servings

Simply Oishi

I'm creating this blog mostly for my own personal use.  I wanted a place online where I could keep all my recipes organized (I'm mostly organizing them right now, so I'll slowly be adding pictures later on).  Plus I thought it could be a journal for all my culinary adventures.  I am always seeking out new and delicious recipes to cook for my family. I couldn't think of a fun creative name for my blog...so I chose Simply Oishi, which translates into Simply Delicious.