Ground Turkey Shepherd's Pie with Roasted Garlic Cauliflower Mash

I was at Costco and bought a bag of cauliflower florets.  I decided to make a pseudo Shepherd's pie which is one of my favorite comfort foods.  I remember reading somewhere that nutritional yeast helps the texture and flavor of cauliflower mash, so I added some of that.

Winter Salad with Bulgur, Radicchio, and Toasted Almonds

Well I've made plenty of summer salads, but don't recall ever doing a winter one.  It's certainly wintery outside...Brr...... I saw this and it became dinner tonight with my little tweaks.

Japchae (Korean Sweet Potato Noodles Stirfry)

This is my favorite Korean dish that I've tried so far, and when I saw this recipe, I knew I had to make it.  That was this morning, and today was the day!  Lucky for me, I have a Korean market across the street from my office so I found the noodles quite easily.

I added some black vinegar, because I like it.  I also added some jumbo prawns  tossed in a bit of soy and pepper.

I threw them in the last few minutes of cooking. I added some zucchini as I had one.  I made my own edits to her recipe as below.  I prepared all my Mise en Place first as a stir-fry really requires that you do, since once you start, everything goes quickly.

STIR-FRY INGREDIENTS:

• 400 grams dangmyeon ( mine were Nongshim Miga Glass Noodle)
• 2 tablespoons avocado oil 
• 1 small white onion, thinly sliced
• 8 shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced, stems removed 
• 1 red bell pepper, insides removed,  thinly sliced
• 1 large carrot,  julienned
• 1 zucchini, julienned
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 5 ounce container organic container baby spinach
• 1 lb jumbo prawns (U12)
• Toasted sesame seeds, for garnish
• Sliced green onions, for garnish
• Sriracha sauce, for garnish, to taste

SAUCE INGREDIENTS:

• 4 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce 
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons Chinese black vinegar

STEAK INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 lb top sirloin. sliced thinly, against the grain
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• Kosher salt and freshly-cracked black pepper

To Make The Noodles:  In a large bowl, add hot tap water. Add noodles in for 20 mins to soak.  Drain.  After 20 mins, when the noodles are soft, cut them in half and sprinkle some sesame oil to prevent sticking. Set aside.

To Make The Sauce: Whisk until mixed well.

To Prep The Steak: Toss the steak with soy sauce, and pepper.  Let marinate for 5 minutes.

To Make The Stir-Fry: Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large frying pan on high heat.  Add the steak and sauté  until cooked through.  Move steak to plate and  set aside.

Because I didn't cook my noodles, I sauteed them next for 5 minutes with a bit of the sauce, just to make sure they would be cooked at the end.  I took them out and put aside.

Lower heat in pan to medium-high.  Add the remaining oil and the onion, and stir-fry for a couple of minutes.  Add the mushrooms, bell pepper, carrot and garlic cloves, and season with S&P.  Continue sautéing until the veggies are tender crisp.

Stir in the spinach, prawns and noodles.  Continue cooking until the spinach has wilted.

Remove pan from heat.  Add the steak and sauce and combine everything.  Taste.  I added a bit more soy, vinegar and then some Sriracha, as I wanted some heat.

Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and green onions.  I have to say, for a first time try at it, this was delicious!  We both dug right in and devoured it.  My mishap was overcooking the prawns and beef a little, but other than that it was a home run.  The noodles were the star of the show as they should have been.

Baby Kale & Goat Cheese Chicken Lasagna

I created this recipe from food I had in the house.  It sort of ended up like a quasi-Mexican lasagna.  I just took my time and prepared/assembled it over a lazy, chilly Sunday afternoon.

Curried Coconut Mussels

I got these mussels at Costco.  I only have bought them once before, a few years ago as it is 2 packs of 3 lbs each.  I had to cook/eat them all and it was just too much as my son doesn't like them.

Roasted Carrot,Tomato & Onion Soup

I saw this recipe pop up on social media and it looked good.  I was still thinking about it at lunch so decided to make it for dinner tonight.  I made some adjustments to suit myself and what I did is below.

Salted Dark Chocolate Tart

This tart looked easy to make, and my son is really into "salted chocolate",  especially dark chocolate.  So I thought I could surprise him with a rare after dinner dessert.  It's "Family Day" here in British Columbia, so this is a stat holiday and I made this in celebration of my family - which is my son.  💕 I also took him out for "dim sum" for brunch, as it is a splurge that rarely happens anymore with our work schedules.  I liked that this had no dairy and used almonds for the crust - healthier and gluten-free.  My pictures will never be close to the ones in the recipe.  Hers are always amazing.  Her recipes are great in the ones I've tried so far too.  Anyway, my "point and click" cheapo camera will never be in the same league as those shots!  I don't do this for a living though either...

Baked Sockeye Salmon with Pistachios and Garlic Cilantro Sauce

I had a wild sockeye salmon filet in the freezer that I took out.  I was looking for ideas and found this recipe and it looked great.  It's tricky with my son, because I would use fresh dill on the salmon every time but he dislikes it so much that I had to find an alternative.  I put my own spin on it and make a couple tweaks...I was very jealous of her cast iron baking dish though, I must say...

Baked Tortellini with Pork Tenderloin

This wasn't what I planned for dinner, at all.  It turned out I forgot a few ingredients for the dish I was hoping to make but because it was Superbowl Sunday (Fly-Eagles-Fly!), I didn't want to send my son to the grocery store.  When I went shopping on Friday it was crazy everywhere, line ups down the aisles.  Junk food galore was on sale at each store and people were buying it up like crazy.  I could only imagine how horrible shopping today would be.  So, I found ingredients I had to use up and an idea was born.  This is another one where I'll never make it again but it was a good way to rid the fridge of expiring food.

Sweet & Sour Pineapple Pork Spareribs

I barely see "sweet n sour" cut ribs anymore, but I saw them today.