I’m so thankful to have the chance to live in an environment which allows me to try new food from all over the world.  However, choices of fresh seafood are so limited here in east Tennessee…and that makes me miss my home country even more.

Finding frozen cod, which is easily available here, changed my attitude toward cooking dramatically though.  Just add a small amount into a soy sauce based soup to get a traditional restaurant quality flavor.  I had no idea how to produce such an elegant taste before and perhaps not the right way…anyway, what I want to say is ever since I started using this high protein, low fat, vitamin-rich white fish, it has become one of the items that I always have in stock in my freezer.  It’s not an exaggeration to say that I have eaten more cod in the past year than I did in my entire life in Japan.

Cod goes well with so many different sauces and types of cooking because of its mild flavor.  This time, I prepared it with a creamy sauce, still guilt-free because of the fish’s health benefits.  Its delicate flaky texture is perfect for embracing the flavorful sauce.

Cod with Brussels Sprouts
& Lemony Anchovy Butter Sauce

I enjoy making table coverings on occasion.  The blue and brown plaid table covering is the one I made for Valentine’s day.  My first choice of color for this event was pink but my two guys would have felt out of place…so I coordinated everything on the table in a blue and brown scheme with some touch of tan, white and gold.  I also made an extra cloth of the same color combination in polka dot to lay on top by shifting 45 degrees.  Now that spring has come and all the pretty pastel color fabrics are out there, I can’t wait to make some springy happy table items:)

Don’t you think Brussels Spouts are too pretty to be true?  It’s one of the vegetables I could never imagine liking when I first ate one a long time ago, but it’s always amazed me how people’s tastes change over the years and also the ways things are cooked.

So juicy and moist…love, love, love it!
The tangy lemon makes the sauce light and the hint of anchovy gives depth to the flavor.

Accompanied by fusilli coated with pesto, fresh vegetable salad and a bowl of soup.
Thick slices of a loaf of home-baked bread made this meal complete…

I can pretty safely say that I had never had cheese cooked as a sauce growing up.
When we were still living in Japan, I asked my husband, my boyfriend back then, what kind of food he used to like as a kid.  One of the answers was Macaroni & Cheese.  I simply could not picture how melted cheese could coat macaroni nicely without curdling or getting partially lumpy or chewy.  Moving to the States, I was so thrilled to finally try Macaroni & Cheese.  Yes, that one, the one that comes in a dark blue box with a picture of vivid orange macaroni.  I don’t deny that at that moment I did not know how to react, but after a few scoops, I loved it.  I still believe that orange powder that comes in a packet has something that’s mentally addicting.

With the love for instant Mac & Cheese growing in me, I started making my home style Mac & Cheese.  Observing tons of great food bloggers’ and food web sites’ recipes, and of course with errors and corrections, this is so far the best one of mine.

I put it in home made deep dish pizza and topped it off with Basic Italian Tomato Sauce.

Mac & Bleu Cheese (Filling/Topping for Pizza)

This stuffed pizza was a big hit in my family and has become one of our favorite combinations right away.  I put chipotle TABASCO on my slice.  I’m not a big fan of original TABASCO but this chipotle one is a completely different classification of hot sauce in my opinion.  Its smoky fume and mild spiciness adds a fantastic but not over-powering kick to this delicious meal.

Everybody loves Pizza, right?  Pizza is one of the foods that each individual has an opinion on which kind of crust, sauce, cheese and toppings to put together.  When I was little, pizza was just starting to be introduced to my home town in Japan.  (There was a bigger delay for small towns like mine before new things came finally reach from big towns at that time.)   My mom put tomato sauce out of a jar and shredded cheese onto sliced French bread then toasted it.  That’s it, really.  I thought it was the best food that exists on earth 🙂  Thankfully, my choices of food have tremendously broadened since then, but Pizza still ranks as one of my favorites.

I can proudly say that I’m the least pickiest eater.  I would be happy to eat just about anything I am served with a couple little exceptions (reptiles, bugs, etc.), but you can easily pursue everyday life without worrying about having those on your plate.  As to pizza crust, I enjoy all types of style and flavor.  However, the crust my family eats at home most often is deep dish crust which is adapted from Gino’s East Pizza Crust Recipe.  I sometimes have the temptation to give it a twist here and there to make it something we can call our own, but we are very satisfied with this original recipe and afraid of messing it up with our “creativity”.  Maybe after a little more adaptation and some practice, we will be ready to try our version of crust… just maybe…

Basic Italian Tomato Sauce

Fresh tomatoes waiting to be flavorful……mmm, yum.

Deep Dish Pizza Crust

We got this crust recipe from another food blog Damn Good Food.
We’ve been spoiled by this delicious recipe for so long and cooked it a countless number of times.  I wonder if it’s from the cornmeal, because the dough is far less sticky and very easy to handle.  I love how Chicago style pizza puts cheese before the sauce instead of sprinkling on the top.  This way I don’t have to battle with the crusty cheese peeling off from the slice after a bite.
Go check it out for his fabulous Gino’s East Pizza Crust!

Mac & Bleu Cheese Filling/Topping

… to be continued …

Although going to the neighborhood grocery store and wandering around for some fun food is one of my favorite hobbies, having to run for just a few ingredients to make a planed meal complete was the last thing I wanted to do after a relaxing Sunday afternoon.

Luckily I had a bag of imitation crab meat in the freezer which I kept for cooking with octopus to make something called “DAVY JONES” from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean and an instant mash potato mix in the pantry.  Since we also had leftover Mac & Cheese deep dish pizza in the freezer from the other night, I decided to make croquettes for a side dish.

Although croquettes seem to be considered a time consuming and labor intensive dish,
they are actually very versatile in terms of ingredients.  You can also make a bunch of them ahead of time and refrigerate them.  Just fry them when you’re ready.

Zucchini and Crab Croquettes

Here’s the instant mash potato mix I used for today’s recipe.  It works as a perfect binder and also much healthier than adding cream sauce made of butter, flour and milk.  And off course, it’s EASY!

I’ve used this with a different flavor for gnocchi before and that worked wonderfully, too.

I tried my first bite with mint chutney.  I guess it wasn’t the most wonderful sauce to go with this crabby dish or maybe it was just me, lol…

I would suggest tartar sauce or your favorite tomato sauce.

By the way, my family looooves green olives that come in a jar.  One day when we were shopping in a then newly opened grocery store known for their generous variety of sample foods, my son shouted excitedly “Daddy! These green olives have green pimentos!!”  Without giving us even a second to take a look, he threw one in to his mouth.  We instantly found out what these ‘green pimentos’ were.  Chopped jalapeno was a bit too much for a boy who thinks pepperoni slices are already beyond his limit.  As you can imagine he did everything he could to cool down his poor mouth, jumping around with his hands flapping like a bird learning to fly, breathing in and out with tears in his eyes.

I’ve never seen pimentos being used in any other food than in green olives.  Very possible that I just haven’t had a chance to see it in different ways or have passed without recognizing them.  As we were laughing at today’s table talking about the episode, our son was again amazed by how a pimento fits perfectly in this little green ball.  Then my husband concluded “Yep, they are made for each other.”  What a sweet way to put it.   I still don’t know what a pimento is (the ingredients on the label on a jar just says ‘pimento’) but it doesn’t matter after hearing this.  Hey, they are made for each other, what else is more important?  Just eat them!  Enjoy them!

Bon Appetit!

Here’s the Mac & Cheese deep dish pizza I mentioned earlier.
My husband and I have been working on coming up with several pizza recipes to call our own.  Everything is made from scratch from the crust to the sauce.  We have been successful with our very first basic pizza and this is the second one in which we challenged ourselves with slightly more adventurous toppings.  Just stay with me cause I’m already excited about sharing our pizza stories.

Have a nice one!