Spur of the Moment Meals

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Since the boys are out of school now, they aren't spending a lot of time here at the house - they're visiting with their mother and grandmother now that they're free from homework and school. For me, that means I don't cook - I'm happy with cereal, oatmeal, tuna fish and sandwiches. Johnny eats out on the road during the day while he's working, and he's content to have something light in the evenings, too.

But today it happened that we were both hungry. That's why I always keep a few staples around for throwing together a quick meal. I usually have a few 1/2 kilos of ground beef in the freezer, various noodles, beans, tomato paste and sauces... like I said, basics. So here's what I did when we decided we wanted something to eat.

Beefy Ramen - serves 4

Ingredients:
1/2 K (1lb) ground beef
2 packets of Ramen noodle Oriental flavor
2 Italian tomatoes, de-seeded and cut up into small pieces
1/2 a large onion, cut lengthwise in strips
1 pack of Maggi Sofrito, or your favorite stir fry or teriyaki sauce.

First, I put the Sofrito in my frying pan and start warming it up.
Add the sliced onions and the ground beef, stir it all up and cook it until the beef is browned through.
Add about 3-4 cups of water, bring it to a boil. The water doesn't need to be deep, just enough to get all of your noodles into.
Add in your Ramen noodles, the seasoning packs and the tomato.
As the noodles start to cook, break them apart so they can cook evenly.
Cover and let cook 3-5 minutes.

You can serve as is, I did and it was fine.
If you'd prefer a thicker sauce, you can thicken it with a little cornstarch or flour.

Johnny LOVED this - I was kind of surprised, it was so different from anything he usually eats.

If you're in the US and would like to try some Sofrito, it's available here - LatinProducts.com. If you're in Peru, it's available at Wong, Plaza Vea, etc in the seasoning aisle. It's really great for doing a quick stir-fry.

Seco de Carne - Peruvian Beef Stew

Image by chez pim via Flickr

I'm gonna cheat here today.

I was checking out the search phrases that have brought people here, and it seems that about 99% of the people who find my blog on Google find it after doing a search for seco de pollo or Peruvian chicken stew, or some variation of that.

So - for all of y'all that have shown up here and tried my recipe for seco de pollo - thanks, and I hope it was delicious!

And I'm going to give you an extra bonus on that today - If you like the seco de pollo, you can do seco de carne also. It's the same recipe - just substitute stew beef for the chicken! My boys prefer it to the chicken, actually.

So - click on the linkie here and go to the seco de pollo recipe - and instead of browning chicken, lightly flour some stew beef and brown it. Then follow all the rest of the directions just like they're written. It's yummy!

I couldn't find a picture of any seco de carne, so I put a picture of some pretty Peruvian purple potatoes. I'll cook up some stew this week or next and put up a picture of it.

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