Taste of Home

You might remember from my adventures in Dubai that I had a few misadventures trying to cook there. So far, I am happy to report, cooking is much easier here. I'm on my own for lunch most days and I don't really like to go out. If I don't have leftovers, I like to have something easy for lunch. In Dubai, I tried several versions of ramen noodles, never really finding the perfect one.

On our first trip to the grocery store, when I was still very ill, we found my favorite brand of bouillon cubes. I wanted chicken bouillon because that's one of my comfort foods. At the time, our only option was to buy a package large enough that it might well last us into the next decade. The cubes we bought were made in Egypt, but I can't tell a difference from what I get in the States.

In addition to the cubes, I found some packaged soups made by the same company. I decided to try a couple when I was sick. These have quickly become my lunchtime staple. Now, I'll just have to find them at home!

For our weekend lunches, one of our favorite things to do at home is make up a cheese and charcuterie plate. We don't have a serving platter here, so we have to make do with a couple of dinner plates. But we were able to find a nice selection - just as good as home! We even found the same kind of crackers I get at home, and Atkins crackers for Craig (he doesn't like them as well as the wide variety of low carb crackers we've found at Whole Foods, but he's making them work).

Whenever Craig returns from an international trip, he craves Mexican food. I love making "taco bowls" at home, because we can customize them to our tastes. Craig's are always more spicy. I cook hamburger with taco seasonings and we put it over a bed of lettuce. We add tomatoes, avocados, onions, green onions, cheese and sour cream. Craig will add jalapeños and serranos. We've actually had this meal several times here already.

Toppings for our taco bowls (ignore the Nado's sauce I had out
for some reason), you can even see that we've found most of
our usual brands.

Another of Craig's favorites at home is something we call "pressed chicken". I sous vide chicken thighs and fry them in a cast iron skillet using a cast iron bacon press to flatten them. Then, I make a pan sauce with red wine and mushrooms. Craig will typically make cauliflower mash in the food processor. I don't have a sous vide, a food processor, or even a cast iron pan here. But I was able to fry chicken and make a pan sauce that we enjoyed over roasted cauliflower.  (For some reason, we didn't take a picture.)

Finally, I decided to make beef stroganoff from scratch, for the first time. After looking at some recipes on Pinterest, I plunged in. Midway through, I did wonder if trying this for the first time here was my best idea. But it turned out amazing! We enjoyed this over roasted cauliflower as well.

This is Craig's - you can see the black pepper on it.