Today's Special: Wow No Red Meat Again!

Open-Faced Sandwiches with Ricotta, Arugula, and Fried Egg - New Recipe. I wasn't sure I'd like this as I'm not a big fan of fried eggs. But, not only did I like this... I loved it! I actually used fresh spinach instead of arugula, but otherwise made this as written. This technique for making fried eggs made them turn out perfectly and I didn't have to mess with flipping them over and accidentally breaking the yolks. This recipe made me realize that I do in fact like fried eggs (so long as they're not touching any maple syrup!).

White Chili with Chicken- Repeat. This doesn't really taste like a classic chili at all, but it's good anyway. It has a very fresh taste from the cilantro and lime and is a great healthy meal.

Ramen Shrimp Pouch- New Recipe. This is a recipe I stumbled upon from Alton Brown on Good Eats. I used a couple new ingredients with this one... mirin and dried mushrooms. Mirin is kind of a sugary rice wine and the black wormy looking things in the picture are the mushrooms (or "black fungus" as labeled on the package :D ). Anyway, I thought this turned out pretty good and it was simple to make. It took probably about 10 minutes longer to cook than it said in the recipe (the noodles weren't cooked through yet and the mushrooms were still dry). Aside from that it all went smoothly. I thought the broth for the soup was good, though a bit sweet for my tastes... I think it's from the 1/2 cup of mirin. I'd probably cut that back next time to about 1/4 cup and up the veggie broth. Seth and I both added a bit of Thai garlic chili paste and extra soy sauce to our individual bowls just for some added spice and flavor. This was good "as written" though and a fun experiment.

Meat & Grain Burgers with Shrimp Louie Pasta Salad: New Recipe. So I thought these burgers sounded kind of weird but they looked delicious and I had a whole bunch of bulgur to use up so I thought I'd give it a try. I also branched out and tried using ground turkey instead of beef. I thought these turned out really well and weren't weird at all. I was a bit worried after I made the patties because they seemed kind of mushy, but the texture was just fine after they were cooked. I'd probably stick with using regular hamburger next time just because beef has a lot more flavor to it, but turkey wasn't bad by any means (these were actually better then next day).

As for the shrimp salad, it was exactly what I was looking for... a basic pasta shrimp salad. It was good right after I made it, but even better the next day after all the flavors had a chance to blend and the pasta was completely chilled. I'm a sucker for a pasta salad, especially ones like this that remind me of all the potlucks from my childhood. Definitely a keeper. Oh yeah, I substituted celery for the red peppers.