Niku-Jaga

Prepare the vegetables:

1 carrot (cut into rolling wedges)
2-3 potatoes (cut into large pieces)
1 onion (sliced thickly)

Heat 2 t vegetable oil in a frying pan. When heated, stir fry:

300-400 grams thinly-sliced beef

When meat turns browish, add:

carrots, and cook for a while. Then add:

onions and potatoes

Stir fry until potatoes start to cook on the outside.

Add:

1 1/3 t konbu dashi

1 C water

Stir. Then add:

1/4 C sake
1/4 C sugar
(1 package shirataki noodles, drained and rinsed)

Place an OK to use on food paper towel on the surface, cover, and simmer for about 10 minutes. Move the paper towel to add:

1/4 C soy sauce

Mix it in gently. Replace the paper towel. Cover and simmer for another 10 minutes or so.

The paper towel should absorb any scum from the surface. Turn off the fire, remove the paper towel, and gently mix so all ingredients can have their turn to soak in the broth. Cover and let the niku-jaga rest for about 10-20 minutes before serving. Reheat if necessary.

Serve with rice.

Rice Stuffing for Roast Fowl

Cook:

3-6 slices bacon

Mince and set aside.

Sauté in 1½ T butter:

½ minced onion
3 minced shiitake mushrooms (or whatever mushrooms you have)

Add:

⅛ t sage
¾ t salt
¼ t ground pepper

Mix all of the above into:

Cooked rice (measure 2 C raw rice)
½-1 C Japanese dry bread crumbs (Panko)

Finally, mix in:

½-¾ C milk or chicken broth

Fill the cavities of your bird no more than ¾ full, as the stuffing will expand. 

To bake the stuffing that didn't fit in the bird -

Place it on a piece of parchment paper, place the chicken neck in the center, and wrap it up. Cover the whole thing with foil. Place beside the bird in your oven and bake for an hour or more, depending on the size of your stuffing package. My oven is small, so I divide the stuffing into two smaller packets with ½ chicken neck in each and bake them for 1½ hours. The stuffing is moist and infused with flavor from the chicken.

Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Grilled cheese with flax-seed bread.

Slice 2 pieces of bread about 1 cm thick.
Butter what will be the outside of the sandwich. 
Heat frying pan over a low flame.
Place one piece of bread, buttered side down, on the heated pan.
Place your choice of cheese on that piece of bread. (Be careful not to drop any cheese on the pan.) Then put the other slice of bread on top of the cheese, buttered side up.
Cook slowly (slowly is the key) until browned on the bottom. Turn it over carefully and brown the other side.
Voila! A grilled cheese sandwich!

Cranberry Sauce

Soak in a pan overnight or for an hour or so:

1-1½ C dried cranberries
freshly squeezed orange juice to just cover
(a dash of red wine, maybe 1 T)

Before cooking, add:

a small amount of sugar, about 1 t 
a pinch of salt

Simmer over a very low fire for about 15-20 minutes, or until the liquid reduces and the sauce thickens slightly. Cover and set aside until you're ready to serve.

Fried Rice

Heat in a frying pan:

1 T oil (olive, or a mix of olive)

Stir fry:

½-1 minced onion
2-5 cloves of minced garlic
200 gm minced chicken

When the chicken is almost completely cooked, add:

1 finely grated carrot
2-3 chopped shiitake mushrooms
1-2 C minced vegetables, such as cabbage, spinach, broccoli stalks, red peppers, etc. (Add the vegetables that take longer to cook first. Think about adding a variety of colors. If you need more color, add some green onions at the very end, after you mix in the rice.)

When vegetables are cooked, push them towards the edges of the pan, make a well in the center and cook:

2-3 scrambled eggs (mixed with ¼ t salt and ½ t sugar)
Add and mix in:

2-3 C cooked rice

Season with:

Salt and pepper
1 t sesame oil 

If you are making more than this amount, you can just mix the cooked vegetables and meat with the cooked rice in a large mixing bowl. No need to cook the rice together with the vegetables in a frying pan.

Whole Grain Crepes

Place in blender and blend until smooth:

1½ C milk

3-4 eggs

2-2½ T grape seed oil

1 t vanilla
2 T honey

½ C raw oatmeal (old fashioned - or whatever you have)

1 C whole wheat flour (or ½ C whole wheat + ½ C white)
1 t baking powder
1 T flax seeds
1 T chia seeds
¼ t salt

Pour it into a mixing bowl and stir it before making each pancake. The batter will be kind of thin, but it will thicken up as time passes due to the chia and flax.

Heat frying pan, and set fire to medium/low. If you have a non-stick pan, don't use any oil on the pan. If you don't have a non-stick pan, pour a tiny bit of oil on the pan and spread it very thinly with a folded paper towel. Do this before making each pancake.

Pour or scoop about 2-3 T of batter on the hot pan, and tilt the pan so the batter spreads to a big circle. Flip when bubbles come up all over it and it's browned on the bottom. 

Here are some ideas for fillings:

Any combination of cut strawberries, blueberries, banana slices, kiwi slices, peach slices, mango slices, and Greek yogurt or whipped cream.

Apple sauce, a slight sprinkle of cinnamon, yogurt.

Jam and yogurt.

Mexican Wraps

Marinate in a plastic bag for 30 minutes:

2 chicken breasts, cut into strips against the grain
1 onion, sliced into crescents
2 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
1 t taco seasoning*
½ t cumin
(¼ t basil)
(¼ t cinnamon)
1 t olive oil

*If you don't have taco seasoning, increase your cumin to 1 t and add ½ t chili powder.

Stir-fry gently until chicken is cooked.

Slice and grill or steam:

1 red or yellow pepper

Slice:

1 avocado
(1 tomato)
Natural cheese

Wash and pat dry:

3 leaves of leaf lettuce

Place a large frying pan over a very low flame. Heat about 30 seconds on each side:

5-6 large tortillas

After you flip the tortilla, place 1 slice of cheese on it, off-center (so that it will be in the right place for wrapping). This will slightly melt the cheese. It's especially helpful if your cheese is crumbly, as mine often is. When each tortilla is done, place them on a clean, dry counter or on plates.

When all the tortillas are cooked, fill them with your ingredients by placing on top of the cheese:

3-4 slices of chicken with onions
2-3 slices of avocado
3-4 slices of red pepper
(1-2 tomato slices)
½-1 lettuce leaf

Wrap the bottom of the tortilla a third way up over the filling, then fold the sides in and pin closed with a tooth pick. Serve with salsa, chips, and/or (if you're like us) hummus.

Applesauce

Apples
Fresh lemon juice
(Cinnamon)

Wash, (peel if you want to), and core apples. Chop them into cubes or slice them. Put in a heavy pot, squeeze on lemon juice to keep the color, and, if you want, add a sprinkling of cinnamon. Mix the cut apples around a bit to coat them with the lemon juice. Cover and cook over a very low flame until the apples soften. 

Keep in a container in the fridge. If you won't be eating it all soon, freeze some.

Tomato Nabe

This is a great winter meal, and can be cooked on a hot plate at the table, if you like. Serve with pasta or rice.
Place in a nabe pot (or other deep, wide heavy pot) and heat:

2 (400 gm) cans chopped tomatoes - blend in blender to make smooth
1½-2 cans water
2 chicken bouillon cubes
3-4 cloves garlic - sliced or whole
½ t basil
¼ t oregano
1 bay leaf

As this is heating, add:

1 potato - cleaned and chopped into about 3 cm pieces
1 carrot - peeled and cut into about 5 cm sticks
¾ onion - sliced
3-4 shiitake mushrooms (or other mushrooms)
Salt and pepper

Simmer. 

Now, to make the cabbage rolls.

Steam until soft:

3-4 large cabbage leaves

Prepare the filling for the leaves by mixing:

200 gm minced chicken
½ C Japanese bread crumbs (panko)
¼ onion - minced

Cut out the hard center from the steamed cabbage leaves, and cut them into quarters (or a manageable size). Put 1-3 T of filling on a leaf (depending on the size of your leaf and what you want to do), roll up, secure it closed with a toothpick. Repeat until you've used up your leaves. If you have extra filling, make those into about 3 cm meatballs.

Add the cabbage rolls (and meatballs) to the pot. Also add:

4-8 sausages
(½ block tofu - cut into quarters)

When carrots are soft and meat is cooked, serve. Top with:

Grated cheese

Tofu with Chicken and Vegetables

2 dried shiitake mushrooms, sliced (soak for 30 minutes or more to reconstitute) 
OR fresh shiitake or shimeji mushrooms
300 gm tofu - rinsed, drained, and mashed with a fork
1 t vegetable oil (grape seed, canola, whatever)
150 gm minced chicken (more or less)
1 T minced ginger
(1 clove garlic - minced)
2 T cooking sake
1 carrot, shaved (I use a peeler)
½ T light brown sugar
1 T soy sauce (either usukuchi or regular soy sauce)
1 egg
(8-10 snow pea pods)
¼ C chopped green onions (negi)

Heat oil in a frying pan, and sauté the minced chicken with the ginger (and garlic). Add mushrooms, carrots, and sake. Stir for about 1 minute until the carrots begin to soften. Reduce the heat, add tofu and and cook until heated through. 

Mix egg with sugar and soy sauce. Pour over tofu and chicken and stir until just cooked. (If you're adding snow pea pods, add them when the egg is about half-cooked. They cook very quickly.) Serve over rice. Top with green onions.