Kogi Wagon

I tried to jump on the Kogi bandwagon, I really did. Kogi is the name for the Korean BBQ Taco Truck fusion that's been sweeping the LA foodscape. I got some Friends of Food together and we searched it out at lunchtime. It wasn't too far away. The Truck was parked at its home base at the Alibi Room in Culver City. The line didn't look that long. So we waited. In the span of about 20 minutes, only 5-10 customers had been served. There was no way we could make it near the front of the line before our lunch hour was up. So we cut our losses and went to a Philly cheese steak/terriaki bowl restaurant in the neighborhood. My Philly was very greasy and the terriaki was not recommended by Friend of Food. It wasn't blog worthy at all. So in the end, we were close enough to smell the Kogi, but unlike in horseshoes and hand grenades, close wasn't good enough.

Monsto Box

At my daughter's day care, a video was made of the kids learning at play. There was a little girl who built a monster out of felt. When she had finished her creation she began to pick it apart saying, "Go away two yellow eyes, " as she put the felt pieces in her pocket, "Go away hair, go away mouth, and don't come back until I say so!"


This is the Food version of that monster so that my children can eat their fears away. "Go away green bean hair. Go away two big orange eyes with blackberry pupils. Go away tomato nose, go away American cheese teeth. Go away stubbly baby corn upper lip. Go away kiwi neck. Go away bumpy chin made of wheat bread. And don't come back!"

Easy, Inexpensive, Low Point, Low Calorie, Healthy Meal

The slow cooked Chicken and Salsa recipe worked, I think...

I made a classic slow cook mistake, associated with my particular crockpot. I will try and upload a picture later, but if you look below in the last post, you may notice that the knob on my slow cooker is missing. We are still able to use the cooker, but the controls don't quite match up with the text on the pot. The dish looked great at the end of the day, however instead of switching it to warm while I waited for my husband to come home, I switched it to high by accident. An hour later, when I checked on it, the food was dried out and overcooked. The dish was still edible, but not as good as it might have been. As easy as it was, I will surely make it again and do better next time.

Here is the whole recipe as I made it:

Cut up some chicken,
put it in the slow cook pot
Cover with salsa (I used a fresh made type)
Add 3 cloves of peeled garlic
Cut up a yellow pepper and add it to the cooker
Stir.

Cook all day on low.

Serve over rice.

The Verdict: Very Easy, Low Calorie, Healthy Slow Cook Meal Number Three

It worked! Sure, it could have been better with more effort, but this dish worked as it was. There was approval every member of the family. What was it? Easy Slow Cooker Chicken Enchiladas.

Here is the recipe. Cut up about a pound of chicken. Put it in the slow cooker. Cover with enchilada sauce. Cook all day on low. When you are ready to eat, wrap some of the mixture in a tortilla. Cover with more of the mixture. That's it!

Here is the enchilada sauce I used. I got it at Costco, three for $5.39, I used one which is $1.79.

I got the chicken at Costco, too. 12 breasts for about $19, I used 2 which cost about $3.17.

The Tortillas I used were La Tortilla Factory Low Carb, High Fiber Tortillas 16 for $5.69 of which we used 6, which is $2.13

$7.09 cents for dinner for a family of 4. We even had a bit left over.

We did add rice and a couple of garlic cloves to our meal which may have added a dollar to the entire cost. This meal could have cost even less if I wasn't also watching my calories. Those La Tortilla Factory Tortillas are comparatively costly. Also, I used chicken breasts, when dark meat would have worked just as well and probably would have tasted better. It was another choice made for the calorie output.

Here is some nutritional information for this recipe as served(4 servings total):

Chicken breast 120 calories, 3 Weight Watchers Points

Enchilada Sauce 48 calories, 1 Weight Watchers Point

La Tortilla Factory Low Carb High Fiber Tortillas, 80 calories, 1 Weight Watchers Point (split 1 and 1/2 per person = 120 cals, 1.5 points)

288 calories per serving

5.5 Weight Watchers Points per serving

The verdict stands! Dinner for less than $2 a person, for less than 300 calories, for less than 6 Weight Watchers Points, for less than 10 minutes prep time, what more could a working Mother of Twins want? ...Maybe someone to clean up, this enchilada sauce is messy! Thank goodness for Husband of Food.

Very Easy, Low Calorie, Healthy Slow Cook Meals

Is this too good to be true? I learned of a couple of very easy slow cooker meals this weekend that seem unbelievable.

The first one. Are you ready? Get your crock pot out.
Add chicken and salsa.
If you're feeling adventurous, add some veggies to the pot.
Cook all day (on low).

That's it. Does it work? People swear by it. Someone said they learned about it from Ellen. That Ellen... she makes everything easy.

The second one.
Put chicken in the slow cooker and add Trader Joes Indian Simmer Sauce.
Cook all day.

Again, that's it. I can't wait to try this one.

The third one... well, I'm making it tonight.
We'll see how it comes out and then I'll give you the recipe.

Once Upon A Bento

Once Upon a time, there were two princesses who needed new lunchboxes. They went to a mini magical kingdom where mice were worshiped and penguin walking was encouraged. The beautiful princesses picked two very princessey bento type boxes.

Should I worry about the pink and purple hued ultra-feminine depiction of what women are expected to be shown on these boxes? Do I think that the vision of a stylized, idealized, princess figure has seeped into their conciousness and will warp them forever like the poison found in certain apples? Nah, they had just watched Sleeping Beauty on laserdisk (Yes, I said laserdisk) and they were feeling the princess theme.

I indulged their storied visions by making a magical lunch including:

An Almond Butter and Strawberry Jelly Horse Shaped Sandwich, because every princess needs a horse,

Magic Beans with unmagical Mushrooms (peas and mushrooms) because you never know when you need to grow a beanstalk,

Fruits: Cuties because the Princesses are cute and a Red Ripe Strawberry because they are also sweet,

Cheddar Bunnies because small woodland creatures tend to follow Princesses,

Gerber Stars, because every Princess deserves a little sparkle.