Seasonal – Page 2 – morestomach

dark molasses pear bread

Published on October 16, 2017October 15, 2017 by Lan | MoreStomach10 Comments

a little over a month ago,
while going about my business on a thing called Work,
a work much entrenched in judging resumes,
i realized that i needed to work on mine.
it had been a rather disappointing summer,
career-wise,
and rather than harp about it,
i decided to do something about it.

tl;dr; i applied for a job,
i started said job last week.

happy autumn,friends.

dark molasses pear bread
adapted from epicurious

*note: i’ve been sitting on this recipe for years, playing around with ingredients, adding and subtracting here and there, following the recipe exactly to not at all. it’s delicious with tea, or an after dinner treat.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup + 2 TBL olive oil
1/4 cup coffee
1/2 cup packed brown sugar (actually, i don’t pack it in too hard, sweetness level up to you)
1/2 cup molasses
3 large eggs
1/4 cup grated peeled ginger, or if you’re lazy, minced as fine as you can manage
1 Bosc pear, diced
sprinkle of cocoa powder, about 1/4 – 1/2 a tsp

preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. grease loaf pan, set aside.

mix together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, and salt in a small mixing bowl, set aside

add the coffee with olive oil, set aside.

using a stand mixer, beat the brown sugar with molasses. add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well. throw in the dry mixture until just combined. next add in the liquid with ginger.

pour into prepared loaf pan.

in bowl, add the pear pieces, sprinkle with cocoa powder. scatter the pieces over the batter. (the cocoa powder should help a little from keeping the pieces from sinking to the bottom of the pan. it works sometimes.)

bake for 35-40 minutes. cool.

serve sliced with a spot of tea.

BAM!

4 years ago: carrot bread
3 years ago: three bean chili
2 years ago: apparently i didn’t do shit.
1 year ago: lemongrass chicken & rice soup

spicy korean chicken stew

Published on September 18, 2017September 16, 2017 by Lan | MoreStomach6 Comments

for about 24 hours 2 weekends ago
the temps dipped,
and for that amount of time
i made two comfort dishes that usually make appearances
around january.
obviously, it was a season fake out,
and my kitchen inclination was also a fraud.

this stew is technically not authentic.
i tried it once at a korean restaurant
and it was much too spicy for my taste buds,
and unfortunately, for my stomach.
i tempered the spice by omitting the korean pepper flakes
and adding the ssamjang.
fraudulent dish or not,
it was still very good.

spicy korean chicken stew – dak-bokkeum-tang
adapted from beyond kimchee
serves 4-6

*note: this is a stew, and if it weren’t for the fact that i was going to style to take pix, i would’ve thrown it all together and called it rustic. the veggie cutting can be rough & un-fancy.

package of chopped up chicken meat, i had a mix of bone in, skin on drumsticks and bone out/skin off thighs, about 3-4 lbs total
3-4 medium carrots
1 onion, chopped
3-4 medium potatoes, cleaned and chopped
2-3 cups kelp stock or chicken stock is fine

for the seasoning paste:
2 tablespoons Korean chili paste Gochujang, i used this
1 TBL Korean Seasoned Soybean Paste Ssamjang, i used this
4 TBL soy sauce
1 TBL oyster sauce
1 TBL maple syrup
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp pureed ginger
2 TBL rice wine

for garnish:
2 green scallions, chopped

in a stew pot, make the seasoning paste. taste if you need more spice, etc. add the chicken pieces and mix to coat. set aside on stove.

in a medium sauce pan add a piece of kombu or kelp or seaweed to 2-3 cups of water. bring to a gentle boil. cover and simmer on low for about 15-20 minutes.

strain the kombu/kelp/seaweed out and pour the remaining liquid into stew pot with chicken. you’re aiming to barely cover the chicken, if needed add more water or you may not need all the stock.

turn heat to medium hot and simmer for about 10 minutes.

add in the onion and carrots, submerging the pieces and allow to simmer for additional 10 minutes.

last add in the potatoes and cook for about 15 – 20 minutes.

the sauce will thicken as it reduces. at this point, everything is cooked through and tender, how much sauce you want is up to you.

garnish with chopped green scallions, serve with steamed rice.

BAM!

4 years ago: chicken masala
3 years ago: quinoa sushi rolls
2 years ago: vietnamese seafood noodle soup
1 year ago: crunchy quinoa salad with miso-tahini dressing

bento love

Published on September 5, 2017September 3, 2017 by Lan | MoreStomach6 Comments

autumn is in the air —
i vacillate between
excitement for
mustard yellows & crunchy leaves
and
utter dread for
dreary cold temps.
today marks the first day of school
for most kids in MD,
which means traffic is up,
the campus is packed,
and the kids in my building
aren’t seemingly training for the
gymnastics olympic team at 1pm.

in favor of transparency here,
i’ve been in a food rut.
i’m not my usual excited self on market day,
most evening dinners have been veggies on toast,
i’m spotty with the breakfast thing
and while i still pack our lunches 4/5 days,
more often than not,
it’s PB&Honey sandwiches
or pasta salad.
just punch me with all this food blogger burnout already.

enter the bento.
i tinkered with it a little last summer,
then lost interest
and for reasons beyond me
picked up the interest again.
i like the portion control,
and honestly,
how pretty it looks.
if that’ll get me out of my slump,
i’ll take it.

resources & inspiration: (these are not affiliate or sponsored links)
glass bento containers
sushi maker
bentoparty
shisodelicious

summer kefir scones – 2 ways

Published on August 23, 2017August 22, 2017 by Lan | MoreStomach6 Comments

this post was created in partnership with Green Valley Organics.

during the work week
i’m an early bird,
typically up before the alarm dings.
it’s unusual indeed for it to go off,
and when it does happen,
it’s a sign i slept really well,
and the day can be considered a victory
before it even starts.

we attempted to view the eclipse on monday,
there we were,
dw & i with our shoddy recalled goggles
that we purchased weeks ago,
standing under a heavy blanket of grey clouds,
it was like Mordor,
and then right as 2:42pm was imminent
the clouds opened
and we were rained on.
not so victorious,
but hilarious regardless.

summer is winding down,
our zucchini stash is ridiculous
and every time i bite into a peach
i’m reminded that august is going away
and september is right behind it.
i’ve stashed a few peaches
and shredded zucchini in the freezer,
to make some breakfast scones in winter,
when it’s bleak and i require
some kind, any kind, of pick-me-up.
these summer scones:
victory indeed.

this post is sponsored by green valley organics. all thoughts and opinions are my own. the first time i discovered this product, i damn near cried. dairy can be in my diet again without any adverse impact. basically, they’re making my dairy dreams come true. thanks so much for supporting the sponsors that keep morestomachblog up+running, toot-free.

Lemon Zucchini Scones or Peach Lavender Scones
makes 8 each

1 1/2 cups spelt flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg (nix if making peach lavender scones)
1/2 tsp salt
2 TBL butter, cold and cubed
1/2 cup plain, whole milk kefir
3 TBL maple syrup
zest of one lemon (1 TBL dried lavender)
1 cup shredded zucchini, wringed/squeezed dry as much as possible (or cubed peach slices)

preheat the oven to 375°F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

in a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.

cut in the butter with a fork until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.

pour in the kefir and maple syrup. add in the zucchini and lemon zest. (or peaches and dried lavender)

dump the mixture onto lightly floured counter top. shape into a disk and cut into 8 segments.

transfer to prepared baking sheet. bake for 18-20 minutes, or until lightly golden.

cool on pan for a few minutes and then transfer to wire rack to fully cool.

cover well. i usually keep them in large pyrex container, in the fridge. when i’m ready to eat, i toast them just a smidge in the toaster oven for some added warmth and crunch.

BAM!

4 years ago: vietnamese pickled carrots & daikon
3 years ago: blueberry swirl muffins
2 years ago: summer salsa
1 year ago: homemade chocolate covered popsicles

pickled jalapenos

Published on August 9, 2017August 8, 2017 by Lan | MoreStomach2 Comments

i read a meme recently
that basically said
the month of August
is like a long Sunday night
for teachers/educators.
while i am not a teacher
this rings such truth for me.
i feel a sort of melancholy that
the summer is half over,
never mind that it’s over a month out.

summers of late
have me pickling,
which leaves our fridge littered
with random jars of experiments.
we tend to have purges
of the most random soured/salted/sweetened
vegs piled high on toast,
the essence of summer in messy, briny bites
during the dark of all other months
where temps don’t go further than 40F.

pickled jalapenos
adapted from gimme delicious food

*note: the first time we made this we deseeded the jalapenos and followed the recipe exactly. it was delicious, but the 2nd time we made this i only deseeded half the peppers and i used a rice vinegar instead, because we ran out of the white stuff. still delicious. it has a spice kick to it but that doesn’t deter me from snacking on them. they would be great chopped up and added to tuna or chicken salads, or topped on hot dogs.

1 cup rice vinegar
1 cup water
2 cloves garlic, smashed & rough chopped
3 TBL sugar
1 TBL salt
7-8 jalapeno peppers, thinly sliced, deseeded

wash and slice jalapeno peppers, aim for thin, but it’s up to you. you wanna be careful, the spiciness can stay on your finger tips for awhile, so don’t rub your eyes or other parts of your body. deseed if you want. set aside.

mix all the ingredients in a saucepan. bring to a boil and add the slices. mix it up, make sure all the slices are sufficiently dunked.

carefully transfer the contents of the saucepan to a mason jar. i used a quart jar.

allow to cool before lidding.

BAM!