One Pot Burrito Bowls

Another quick and easy recipe to get us through the week. This One Pot Burrito Bowls recipe was found on I Heart Naptime.

Ingredients
From the pantry (or market)

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/3 cup salsa
• 1 cup Uncle Ben's brown rice
• 1 vegetable bouillon
• 1 tbsp taco seasoning
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• salt & pepper to taste

Fresh (kind of) from the market

• 1 small red bell pepper (about 1/2 cup diced)
• 1 small sweet onion (about 1/2 cup diced)
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can corn, drained
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 2 jalepenos
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Heat olive oil in large pan over medium heat.
2. Saute onions and red bell peppers.
3. Add ground beef and cook until brown.
4. Stir in salsa, black beans, corn, tomatoes, jalepenos, taco seasoning, and chili powder.
5. Pour in 2 cups water and add bouillon and then bring to a light boil.
6. Cover pan and reduce heat to low.
7. Cook for an additional 20-25 minutes, or until the rice is all the way cooked.

I don't know if it's because the dish was so quick to make or if I am craving meat and everything tastes good, but I really liked this recipe and would definitely make it again. We also served it with the extra cabbage from yesterday's Pork Stir Fry recipe.

One-Pot Beef Stroganoff with Egg Noodles Recipe

This One-Pot Beef Stroganoff with Egg Noodles is a pretty quick recipe for a week night.

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 8 ounces (225g) brown mushrooms, stems trimmed and sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 medium onion, small dice
• 2 medium garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 pound (450g) ground beef
• 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 2 bouillons beef stock and 4 cups water
• 1 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp ground pepper
• 4 servings egg noodles (recipe called for 8 ounces, but we used the serving size on the package)
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1 tbsp finely chopped parsley

Instructions:

1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add mushrooms, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring rarely, until browned - about 5 minutes. (Chop and dice onions and garlic during this time)

2. Transfer mushrooms to a medium bowl and set aside.

3. Reduce heat to medium and add butter. When butter has melted add the onion and garlic, season with salt and pepper, and cook , stirring occasionally, until softened - about 4-8 minutes. (Start boiling water for the beef bouillons).

4. Add the beef, season with salt and pepper, and break the meat into smeller pieces with a wooden spoon. Cook, stirring occasionally, until it's just cooked through and no longer pink - about 6-8 minutes. (Measure out flour and paprika)

5. Sprinkle in the flour and paprika, stir to coat the meat, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the raw flavour has cooked off the flour - about 1 to 2 minutes. (Measure out wine)

6. Add the wine and cook, stirring occasionally and scraping up any browned bits that have accumulated on the bottom of the pot, until almost evaporated - about 1 to 2 minutes.

7. Add the broth, measured salt, and measured pepper and stir to combine. Increase the heat to medium high and bring to a simmer. (This shouldn't take long as your stock is already hot)

8. Add noodles and reserved mushrooms along with their accumulated juices and stir to combine. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the noodles are just cooked through - about 6 to 8 minutes. (Check cooking instructions on egg noodle package)

9. Remove from the heat and stir in sour cream (our package was about 1 cup, so we just scooped out 3/4 of it - you can measure it out before if you prefer).

10 Sprinkle with parsley and serve.

Rajio

We thought we'd branch out to a different Japanese restaurant, so we stopped by Rajio on our way home.

What I like about some of these authentically Japanese run restaurants are their specials and fabulous service.

First, we had some salad, on the house.

Then we tried their "special" sashimi, which included two each seven types of sashimi. I thought the little mixes (those sashimi in the cups) were something different from other places, and very tasty in the seaweed they provide on the side.

Then we had their "special" beef udon. The sauce was the right amount of sweet and savoury. The beef was so tender and so perfectly cooked, you barely had to chew it.

Last, we had their "special" Kushikatsu (deep fried vegetables and seafood). They ran out of negitoro, so they replaced it with shrimp. What I liked about their service was that they came out and told us they ran out and would like to replace it and if it were okay with us before they served it. My favourite was the zucchini wrapped with bacon before it was battered and deep fried.

Recommend. Will return.

Beef and Kidney Bean Wrap

Another recipe inspired by Kalyn's Kitchen. We had some left overs from before so we used it in this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp peanut oil
• 400 g ground beef
• 1 cup kidney beans
• 4 tbsp of the fish rub from yesterday's dinner
• 1 leek
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp sriracha sauce
• 1 tbsp water
• zest from 1 lime
• juice from 1 lime
• 1 head iceberg lettuce

Steps:

1. Always start the rice first (if you're eating with rice). We added some frozen vegetables in 5 minutes before the rice was done.

2. Wash and chop up the vegetables.

3. Cook the beef, beans and fish rub in the oil on medium heat until the beef is brown. While the beef is cooking, mix the fish sauce, srirachi sauce, water, zest and lime juice. Mix it into the beef, then add the leek and cilantro. Cook for a few minutes.

4. The original recipe only has a beef filling. We added rice and topped with srirachi.

This was a really good dish. The mixture of cilantro and lime juice gives it such a complex taste. Originally, we thought it wouldn't be enough. After adding the beans and beef, it was more than enough for two people to have dinner and lunch the next day.