Weekly dish

I ate pretty well last week. Made a few of my favorite meals and tried a new dish, too.

I made what I call "Sammarco Soup." I went to my friends' house for Thanksgiving and they made this AWESOME pumpkin soup. It might actually be acorn squash, but in Korea, everything in that family of vegetables is considered a 호박 (ho-bak) or "pumpkin." As with pretty much every meal, ingredient portions can be adjusted based on tastes.

1/2 chopped onions (caramelized really well with extra virgin oo)

1/2 acorn squash (steamed, skin removed)

enough milk to make it soupy

Throw it all in a blender, then into a pot to let simmer for a few minutes. Add a little pepper and salt if you like... and BAM: a healthy, really filling meal!

Also tried something new. Baked chicken, green beans, and sweet potato. It was really good! I baked the chicken with a little e.v.o.o. and pepper for about 15 minutes. Thankfully, I was really lucky to find frozen green beans online. They're not native to Korea, so they don't even show up seasonally. I've been stalking all the foreign food sites and they finally appeared a few weeks ago :) Last, I boiled a sweet potato. It was good, but next time I'll remove the skin... something about it was a little too bitter this time. 

A few substitutions I made were: with the beans- instead of butter and salt, I used a little balsamic - dressing; and with the sweet potato- instead of butter I used a little milk and parmesan cheese.

My last meal was an adjustment on an old favorite: chicken parm. I liked 1/2 of the lunch the school was providing, so I grabbed the salad and melon from the cafeteria to round out the meal.

chicken- baked in a foil packet with sauce for about 15 minutes

tri-color pasta, boiled and then baked with a little bit of  grated parm on top

After I cooked the pasta, I cut the pieces in 1/2... something about doing that makes it seem like I'm eating more, but really its still the same amount). I also didn't add any salt until I went to eat it the next day. I find that leftovers always need a little salt, and waiting to salt the meal until right before I eat it, tastes the same as it would if I added salt while cooking and then added more later.