Jenn Dolari @dolari@driveinsaturday.org

"The story you about to see is a fib. But it's short."

I haven't had a lot of downtime recently, but I was able to get in some light building time in this week's Creator Jam. Was nice to just sit and create for a little while. Even if most had been pre-fabbed before.

This Week's Meals, Thit Heo Tau (2/2)

I have a love hate relationship with this cookbook. It has some really good recipes, and some are just plain wierd. Others have ingredients I'm not going to find in this hemisphere.

But this meal came out pretty well, despite me not being able to find the ham needed for the recipe AND the ham I got being pre-sliced. I skipped most of the ham cooking instructions, since it was already cooked, but...

..it actually came out really well. The ham was sweet-and-salty, the sauce, though, oh that was so good despite having so few ingredients! It was really subtle, but also sweet-and-salty in a way that compliments the pork really well.

If I'd had rice, it would have been awesome, but I have to watch the carbs. If you end up having to buy pre-cooked ham, just skip the ham cooking instructions.

Title: Thit Heo Tau
Yield: 7 servings
Category: Entree
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Rating: 4/5 stars
Source: Asia: The Beautiful Cookbook

---
Ingredients
---
1 1/2 pounds ham
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 cup cold water
2 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
3/4 tsp white pepper
2 cups coconut milk

---
Instructions
---

1 - Pour boiling water over the pork skin, then pat dry.
2 - Place skin side down in a saucepan and enough cold water to cover.
3 - Bring to a boil, then reduce hear to medium low and simmer gently
for 45 minutes, turning several times.
4 - Discard the water, and set the meat aside, draining well.
5 - Cut into thick slices and then into strips 2 inches (5
centimeters) wide.
6 - Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
7 - Reduce the heat and simmer until the syrup is sticky.
8 - Pass the pork slices through the syrup to coat each piece then
return to the saucepan.
9 - Sprinkle with the fish sauce and pepper.
10 - pour the coconut link slowly down the side of the saucepan.
11 - Cover and bring almost to a boil, then simmer over medium heat
until the power is tender and the sauce is thick and creamy.
12 - Serve with white rice.

---
Nutritional Information
---

*Nutritional information reflects amount per serving.*
CALORIES 387
TOTAL FAT (g) 30
Saturated Fat (g) 19
CHOLESTEROL (mg) 71
SODIUM (mg) 552
TOTAL CARBOHYDRATE (g) 6
Dietary Fiber (g) 1
Sugars (g) 5
PROTEIN (g) 19

Makes 4-6 servings normally.

#thisweeksmeals #cooking

This Week's Meals: Dad's Hot and Sour Soup (!/2)

This is the third time I've made this dish. The first time, it came out really bad, and almost sweet. Seeing that I wasn't able to adjust it, I gave up on it.

The second time, it came out sweet again, but I decided I wasn't going to stop until I fixed it, and it turned out if I put about three times the spices than the recipe called for, it tasted like I remembered from the restaurants.

This was the first time I made it with the extra ingredients from scratch and it's perfect. Hot, sour, salty, the only thing missing are some bamboo shoots. Which I might add next time I make this!

Title: Dad's Hot & Sour Soup
Yield: 4 servings
Category: Soup
Cuisine: Chinese
Rating: 5/5 stars
Source: Made With Lau
Website: https://www.madewithlau.com/recipes/hot-sour-soup

---
Ingredients
---
2 whole tomatoes
2 oz carrot
2 oz seafood mushroom
2 oz king mushroom
3 whole shiitake mushrooms
1/4 ounce dried wood ear mushroom
2 whole eggs
1 oz red bell pepper
2 whole green onions
2 whole dried chili peppers (optional)
14 oz tofu
5 cups water [soup base]
6 tbsp vinegar
3 tsp white pepper
3 tsp salt
3 tbsp sugar
6 tbsp light soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce
3 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp water [slurry]
3 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp cooking oil

---
Instructions
---
1 - Wash all the vegetables
2 - Rehydrate the dried woodear mushrooms in warm water for 10
minutes.
3 - Cut away the roots of the seafood mushrooms and cut the stems in
half.
4 - Cut the king oyster mushrooms into little strips.
5 - Cut the shiitake mushrooms into this slices.
6 - Cut the woodear mushrooms into thin slices.
7 - Cut the tofu into thin strips.
8 - Cut the carrots into thin strips.
9 - Cut the red bell pepper into thin strips.
10 - Mince the green onions.
11 - Dice the tomatoes into small cubes.
12 - In a bowl, mix together cornstarch and water with a spoon until
it becomes an even slurry.
13 - In another bowl, crack eggs and mix well.
14 - Begin boiling the water, so it's ready later.
15 - Set the stove to its highest heat setting, and start to heat up
the wok.
16 - Add a little bit of corn oil (1 tbsp)​, as well as our dried
chili peppers (2 piece).
17 - Heat and toss the chilies around the oil for about 1 minute as
our wok heats up.
18 - Cook the diced tomatoes for 30-60 seconds, then add our boiling
water.
19 - Next, we'll add white pepper and stir for 15-30 seconds.
20 - Add salt, sugar, light soy sauce, and dark soy sauce​. Stir for
15-30 seconds.
21 - And finally, we'll add our tofu, mushrooms, and vegetables (with
the exception of green onion). Stir gently for 5-10 seconds.
22 - Remove the dried chili peppers.
23 - Cover the wok with a lid.
24 - Once boiling, since the cornstarch has probably settled, mix it
up again with a spoon, and slowly pour in the cornstarch over the
course of 50-60 seconds. Stir constantly.
25 - Beat the eggs again, and slowly pour in the eggs all around the
wok, over the course of 20-30 seconds.
26 - Add vinegar to the wok, as well as sesame oil.
27 - Turn off the heat and transfer the soup into a bowl.
28 - Garnish with the minced green onions.

---
Notes
---
Makes 4 servings at ~400 calories per serving.
Calories 363
Total Fat 17g
Total Carbohydrate 30g
Protein 21g

#thisweeksmeals #cooking

Ollalie State Park

Met this fine person on the hike. Works in the aerospace industry, wife and three kids and follows a low sodium diet.

Twin Falls

The cherry blossoms and dog woods are starting to come out....

YOU HAVE REACHED YOUR DESTINATION

You can tell that whoever decided this was a good packaging idea did NOT come from a trucker family. Cause...well...if you know, you know.

Storms on the horizon.

This Week's Meals (2/2): Campfire Hobo Dinner

So. This has a wierd origin story. I was watching an episode of Mythbusters, when, during the making of a firepit, Jamie started making what he called a "Campfire Hobo Dinner." After some researching I found out what it was and what it consisted of, and it is FANTASTIC.

Might have to do with the HUGE knob of butter you put in it, but that's beside the point.

This was a fun little meal to assemble, and I can see that cooking it on a real firepit would be a lot of fun. It's doable in an oven, and comes out great. I think I'd go lighter on the carrots, just because when you cook carrots, they get sweet, and I don't like sweet carrots.

Title: Campfire Hobo Dinner
Yield: 3 servings
Cooking Time: 50 minutes
Category: Entree
Cuisine: American
Source: food.com
Website: https://www.food.com/recipe/campfire-hobo-dinner-247841

---
Ingredients
---
1/2 pound smoked sausage (sliced)
1 cup potato (sliced)
1 cup carrot (sliced)
1/2 cup onion (sliced)
4 tsp butter
garlic powder (to taste)
salt (to taste)
pepper (to taste)
cooking spray
4 sheets aluminum foil (18 inches square)

---
Instructions
---

1 - Spray 18-inch square of aluminum foil with cooking spray.
2 - Place equal portions of the meat in center of foil.
3 - Place equal portions of the vegetables on top of meat.
4 - Season with equal portions butter
5 - Season with salt, garlic powder and pepper to taste.
6 - Fold top and sides of foil several times to seal food.

THREE WAYS TO COOK: Always place seam side up when cooking. You may
want to double wrap if cooking on a campfire or grill.
•CAMPFIRE: Place on hot coals near the edge of your campfire and
allow to cook 25-30 minutes, or until meat is done.
•GRILL: Place on medium/hot grill for 40 minutes; rotate 1/2 way
through cook time.
•OVEN: Preheat oven to 350°F Place on cookie sheet or cooking
stone; bake for 30 to 45 minutes, or until meat is done.

OPEN CAREFULLY!

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Notes
---

Makes 3 servings at ~400 calories per serving
Calories 358
Total Fat 23g
Total Carbohydrates 15g
Protein 12g
Makes 4 servings normally

#thisweeksmeals #cooking

This Week's Meals (1/2): Taiwanese Three Cups Mushrooms.

This is a variation of last week's Three Cups Chicken, and honeslty, not as good. And probably not helped by the fact that I think I have sesame COOKING oil, and not sesame FLAVOR oil.

The Three Cups chicken from last week had some good flavor, if a little light. This is very heavy soy flavor. I think the main difference being the chicken used Shaoxing Wine, and this used Sake. What we ended up here with was a very heavy soy sauce flavor.

The mushrooms, though - tasty and flavor soaked. Just very soy saucy.

I'm likely going to remake these dishes with proper toastes sesame oil in the future. But as it stands, they're not bad. They can only get better.

Title: Taiwanese Three Cups Mushrooms
Yield: 2 servings
Category: Entree
Cuisine: Asian/Chinese
Source: Asian Vegan Eats
Website: https://asianveganeats.wordpress.com/2012/10/22/taiwanese-three-cups-mushrooms/

---
Ingredients
---
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 inches ginger (thinly sliced)
5 cloves garlic (halved)
3 whole king oyster mushrooms (cut into bite sized pieces)
10 oz oyster mushrooms
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice wine
1/2 cup water
1 cup whole Thai basil leaves
1 whole red chili pepper

---
Instructions
---

1 - Heat up the vegetable oil and sesame oil in a wok on medium high heat.
2 - When the oil is hot, add the ginger and garlic. Cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
3 - Add mushrooms. Saute until slightly softened, about 3 minutes.
4 - Add the soy sauce, rice wine and water.
5 - Turn the heat to high. Continue simmeringr the mushrooms in the sauce until the sauce reduces down about 3/4s.
6 - Turn off the heat.
7 - Add basil leaves and red chili pepper (if using it). Mix well. The
heat of the food will wilt the basil leaves.
8 - Serve with a BIG BOWL of rice. Enjoy!

---
Notes
---

Make 2 servings at ~37.5g of carbs
Normally makes 4 servings.

---
Nutritional Information
---

*Nutritional information reflects amount per serving.*
CALORIES 329
TOTAL FAT (g) 12
Saturated Fat (g) 2
CHOLESTEROL (mg) 0
SODIUM (mg) 2060
TOTAL CARBOHYDRATE (g) 34
Dietary Fiber (g) 9
Sugars (g) 6
PROTEIN (g) 16

This is totally the chutney they had at my first Indian place. The onion was minced finer than I did it, and it was a bit more watery, but the flavor is exactly the same.

Yum. :)

Happy Holi

I don't usually mess with text scammers but I couldn't resist.

This Week's Meals 2/2: Three Cup Chicken

Oh, man, this is good. I've had this flavor combination under many different names, but now that I know how to make this, I'm going to make it more often. It's a very good sweet-n-salty nutty flavor, and the basil gives it a nice twang. I just wish I'd had some fried rice to go with this.

Title: Three Cup Chicken
Yield: 6 servings
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Category: Entree
Cuisine: Asian/Chinese
Source: Jo Cooks
Website: https://www.jocooks.com/recipes/three-cup-chicken

---
Ingredients
---
2 pounds chicken thighs
1 tbsp baking soda
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil (chicken)
1 tbsp fresh ginger (minced)
8 cloves garlic (halved)
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp water
1 bunch Thai basil leaves
1/3 cup shaoxing wine
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil (Sauce)

---
Instructions
---

1 - Toss the chicken pieces together with the baking soda and set
aside for 10 minutes.
2 - Rinse the chicken with water to wash away the baking soda. Pat dry
the chicken with paper towels.
3 - In a small bowl, mix the shaoxing wine, soy sauce, dark soy sauce
and brown sugar.
4 - Add the chicken's sesame oil to a wok and heat over high medium-
high heat.
5 - Add the garlic and ginger and cook for about a minute until
aromatic.
6 - Add in the chicken and toss. Stir fry the chicken for about 4
minutes or until no longer pink and starts to lightly brown.
7 - Pour the sauce over the chicken and reduce the heat to medium.
Cover with a lid and cook for 10 minutes.
8 - Make a slurry with the cornstarch and water and add to the wok and
stir. The sauce should thicken almost immediately.
9 - Drizzle the remaining tbsp of sesame oil over the chicken.
10 - Add the basil leaves and stir well with the chicken. Serve
immediately over cooked rice.

---
Notes
---

Makes 6 servings at ~400 calories per serving

---
Nutritional Information
---

*Nutritional information reflects amount per serving.*
CALORIES 417
TOTAL FAT (g) 28
Saturated Fat (g) 8
CHOLESTEROL (mg) 127
SODIUM (mg) 1498
TOTAL CARBOHYDRATE (g) 6
Dietary Fiber (g) 0
Sugars (g) 2
PROTEIN (g) 28

#thisweeksmeals #cooking

This Week's Meals 1/2: Pastiera di Maccheroni

This is essentially pasta pot pie, and it's a handful to cook. BUT, pretty darn good. My only complaint was the lack of salt in the pastry dough. With all the cheeses, salami and the salted pasta, I didn't think the lack of salt was going to be an issue. But while the insides are pretty good, if you get a big bite of crust it's super bland. I'd suggest adding some salt to the dough.

Title: Pastiera di Maccheroni
Yield: 21 servings
Category: Entree
Cuisine: Italian
Source: Blog di cucina GialloZafferano
Website: https://blog.giallozafferano.it/dolcemela/pastiera-di-maccheroni-ricetta-della-tradizione-pasquale-campana/

---
Ingredients
---
500 g bucatini pasta
8 whole eggs [pasta]
150 g Napoli salami (diced)
100 g lard [pasta]
100 g pecorino cheese (grated)
100 g parmesan (grated)
1/2 tsp pepper
salt (to taste) [pasta]
500 g flour
150 g lard [pastry]
2 whole eggs [pastry]
salt (to taste) [pastry]
milk (if needed)

---
Instructions
---

Pasta:
1 - Cook the pasta a few hours in advance, basically the pasta needs
to rest once cooked, it needs to, as we say, “clump together”.
2 - Al dente bucatini do not need to be drained completely. Do this,
when you drain them, recover some water. Put the pasta in a bowl, add
the two ladles of water, cover and let it cool.

Dough:
1 - When preparing the pastiera, beat the eggs with the grated cheeses
and pepper.
2 - Add everything to the pasta and mix with your hands so that the
eggs are well distributed.
3 - At this point add the pieces of salami and a spoonful of lard and
mix again before transferring the mixture into the pan well greased
with lard.
4 - Spread a few flakes of lard on the dough and cook in a preheated
oven at 190-200° C for approximately 40-45 minutes, until the
bucatini on the surface appear golden and crispy.

Pastry:
1 - Knead all the ingredients indicated on a pastry board, adding a
little water or milk, until you obtain a smooth and not too hard
dough.
2 - After letting it rest for half an hour, roll it out with a rolling
pin and use it to cover a mold well greased with lard or butter.
3 - Pour the bucatini prepared as described above into the mold.
4 - Cover everything with strips of shortcrust pastry arranged in the
shape of a St. Andrew's cross.
5 - Sprinkle a few flakes of lard or butter and bake in a preheated
oven at 190°C for 40-50 minutes. Make sure to check, it must be nice
and golden, not burnt like mine!!!

---
Notes
---

Makes 21 servings at ~37.5g carbs per serving
Normally makes 6 servings

Calories: 382
Total Fat: 18g
Total Carbohydrate: 37g
Protein: 12g

Macaroni pastiera can be stored in the fridge for 3-4 days. It can be
reheated in a traditional oven or in the microwave or (the one without the “pittolo”) it can be cut into 1 cm slices and fried in a pan
with a drizzle of oil. This last option is an absolute must-try, fry
the slices well, until a crust has formed on both sides and then enjoy without regrets, we'll think about the diet later.

#thisweeksmeals #Cooking

Hands up if you remember this....

Once you remove all the packaging, the Hungry Man meals look just like Kid Cuisines.