Korean Rice Bowl (from Family Circle Magazine)

Hello everyone!  I recently made this for my family.  I already had most of the ingredients on-hand.  All I had to buy were a zucchini and the shiitake caps.  I thought I had sushi rice, but I was out so I used regular white quick rice and it substituted just fine.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups sushi rice
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon peeled, minced fresh ginger
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons chili-garlic paste (such as Sriracha)
• 1 zucchini, cut into matchsticks
• 2 cups shiitake mushroom caps (1/4 pound), thinly sliced
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1 pound ground beef
• 4 large eggs (optional)

Directions

1. Prepare rice: Combine 2 cups water and rice in a medium, lidded saucepan. Bring to a soft boil. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat, 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand 10 minutes. (if using another type of rice, just follow the directions on the package.)
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, blend rice vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, cornstarch, sesame oil and chili-garlic sauce. Set aside.
3. Coat a large nonstick skillet with nonstick cooking spray. Add vegetables and 3 tablespoons water. Cook over medium-high heat for 4 minutes, or until just softened. Remove to a bowl and keep warm.
4. Crumble beef into same skillet. Cook 5 minutes, breaking apart with a spoon. Add sauce mixture and cook 2 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, in a second skillet, fry eggs, if using: Coat skillet with nonstick spray; heat over medium to medium-high heat. Crack 2 eggs into skillet. Cook 1 minute, then flip. Cook 1 more minute. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with remaining 2 eggs. Place a mound of rice into 4 bowls. Top each with 1/2 cup meat mixture and 1/3 cup vegetables. Finish each with a fried egg, if using.


*Wal-Mart was out of Shiitake mushrooms, so I used Portabella and they worked great.  I also discovered I was out of cornstarch, so I used about 1 tbs of flour.

Here are my lovely ingredients:

For the sauce.  FYI:  Siracha is hot, so beware.

Ground beef and rice, I was feeding 2 people so I only used 1/3 of the beef.

Beautiful veggies.

Time to put it all together.

A food stylist I am not.

Ok, so, I was not impressed with the sauce.  It was a little sour.  Next time I would only use about half of the rice vinegar and maybe more of the soy sauce.  Also, I used a generous 2 tsp of Siracha.  Now I'm not a wimp when it comes to spicy food, but my nose started running.  Sorry for that visual.  I'm not really sure what the sauce needed, but it was missing something.  If you try it, let me know what it needs or what you did to tweak it.  I may research some authentic Korean recipes and see what spices and condiments are used most and go from there.

Well, thanks for stopping by,

Natosha

Upcycled Boy Hat

So, I love Cheri's projects involving making something new from something old.  You can find her post on how to make the oringinal Upcycled Boy Hat from old t-shirt here on her blog I Am Momma Hear Me Roar.

Cheri gives excellent instructions.  I am terrible at sewing and I figured it out.  I borrowed my mom's sewing machine, grabbed some of my son's outgrown shirts and went to town.  I have to admit it took me at least one and a half hours to make this.  In my defense, I had to change a bobbin and deal with my almost 2 year-old son at the same time.  I didn't take pictures of it step-by-step because you can go to Cheri's page and get all that.

I couldn't get the flaps right and I only used one layer of fabric.  I ended up cutting the flaps off of the second (brown) hat.  The red hat is one I hand-sewed before I went and borrowed the sewing machine.  I have to say I was impressed with myself, meaning it actually looked like a hat.  Except the ear flaps are really wrong, I plan on cutting those off too.  I'm gonna try making more hats soon.  I think I'll use some of Jax's old fleece baby blankets to line a few.  I have a really cute monkey pattern blankie that would be adorable.

Sorry the photos are not the best, my son didn't wan to cooperate.  Anyway, here they are:

As you can see, the flaps are WAY too small.

I used a thinner t-shirt material and it is a wee bit too tight.

I used a thicker knit for this one.

I hand-stiched a pawprint cut from the same shirt.

They are not even close to Cheri's original, but hey, I do not pretend to be a seamstress.  I do think that with a little practice I can do a better job. 

Until tomorrow,

Natosha

Halloween Fun

Growing up, my mother always decorated and celebrated all the holidays.  So I, naturally, get very excited when Fall arrives and the holidays are creeping closer.  And speaking of creepy creeping, Halloween is drawing near.  It's never too early to start planning your decorating or party.  At my house, the Halloween decorations go up on October 1st so we have a full month to enjoy them.

Here is some Halloween fun I found on Etsy.

This is a cool piece of art for your haunted manse.



by APageInTime

 
 This ornament is indeed very cute.


Made by verycute and found here.



 These shoes make me wish Jax was a baby again.

Handmade leather baby shoes by bornbespoke can be found here.

Next, some jewelry for the holiday.

by onceuponasugartree



by macymo

by LynnAquaheart

by BrunetteDoll

Now here are some cute holders for all the loot the kids bring home:



by lizziejeans

by LittleChicBoutique


 

by Dotted Designs

And here are some fun blogs to get you jumpstarted on all things Halloween:

A Nostalgic Halloween

 Fright Catalog.com:  Halloween Blog


A Glittered Halloween (awesome list of Halloween blogs)


My Ghoul Friday (seriously fun stuff)


Well, that's it for today! 

Happy Haunting,

Natosha