ND Food & Travel Posts

I returned home, and want to highlight both some interesting foods from the trip. But also it's a recipe post so I can feature some foods I made right after I returned to my home kitchen.
Instagram was pumping out lots of home recipe inspiration, but then I shared some absurd croissants and now my feed is all franken-croissants. Croffles are a major hit around Japan/Malaysia/Indonesia, and I ate a crookie in Vancouver... maybe it's having a moment?

Meals

Elote Mac

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C26AYDVg1xT/?igsh=aWR5cHV1NTQ2b2h1 / https://saucedupfoods.com/easy-mexican-street-corn-elote-inspired-mac-and-cheese/

I did a stovetop version, with mozzarella and gouda. Maybe the grated cheese was elevating this enough, but I really liked the combo.

Kañiwa Soup

https://vibrantwellnessjournal.com/2019/12/01/how-to-cook-with-kaniwa/

My first recipe using kañiwa. It's described as "baby quinoa" but it's more like poppy seeds which taste like quinoa. I put 1/2 cup of kañiwa and 1/2 cup of quinoa into my rice cooker (which has a brown rice/quinoa setting) and then started preparing some veggies. I decided that they call for too much tumeric and greens, and could use a jalapeño.

This was good, but I notice that I haven't taken it back out of the fridge yet =\

Korean Wing Inspired Cauliflower

https://www.feedtheswimmers.com/blog/2020/7/2/rzsvtndc07w622qrx1tmqmhybza85o

Uses your rice vinegar, sesame oil, sambal, gochujang, multiple times in the oven, etc.

Mine came out more like a caramel crunch cauliflower and not veggie buffalo wings. I used Sriracha gochujang and the flour barely stuck to the florets, so maybe I did it wrong.

Shakshuka with Israeli/pearl couscous

https://www.livinginsugar.com/2018/08/shakshuka-with-israeli-couscous/

Finally used my jar of premade shakshuka sauce to make a half recipe. Cook couscous inside the tomato sauce and then add eggs, pretty simple.

Stuffed Shells

https://www.dinneratthezoo.com/stuffed-shells-recipe/

Yum. A little tricky timing between draining the shells, cooling them, and then stuffing them right before the oven heats up.

Tuna Melt

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1021806-tuna-melt

The New York Times tuna melt with red onion, cornichon/gherkin pickles, whole grain mustard, and a slice of cheddar. I don't buy bread often and impulse-bought a loaf of "croissant toast" at Whole Foods - this was tasty and meant I didn't need to add butter to the pan. Maybe the franken-croissant posts got to me.

Asides

I got Bored Cow cultivated milk, seeds for purple tomato, and natto, but I didn't try any of it yet. Watching Julia (the Hulu series about Julia Child).