flailing in my kitchen v3

How can I be sad when I have breakfast, lunch, and dinner?
Showing posts filed under: broccoli

Braised tofu and broccoli

I've spent the past five days mostly at home, mostly not doing much, and it's really getting to me. Well today it finally feels like I'm getting over this cold. I saw this video for braised tofu a couple of weeks ago, and I've been wanting to make it. It's honestly a bit involved, especially since I also decided to make the broccoli, but I feel like I need to make a pretty dish after this dreary weekend.

An overhead shot of a plate of braised tofu, a plate of steamed broccoli, and a plate with rice, broccoli, and tofu
Thank goodness the sun is out today ☀️

There were a lot of steps to this, so it took a while, but honestly, I was pretty relaxed the whole time, even when my dad called me in the middle of my cooking session to ask me about trying to use TurboTax. (I hate TurboTax by the way. But it seems that everyone in my family insists on using it)

Anyway, the end product was very tasty and very pretty! Even though it's just garnish, I made sure to buy sesame seeds and scallions just for this dish. I don't even really like sesame seeds, but I gotta admit they do give a nice pop.

The plate of braised tofu and broccoli, captured from the side
I wanted to get a couple different angles of this

A closeup of a piece of tofu being held up by a pair of chopsticks
Mmmmm, tofu

If I ever make this again, I'd probably use a little less cornstarch and I'd use less chili flakes. I do seem to keep making things too spicy for me 🥵

Filed under: tofu broccoli

Teriyaki chicken and stir fried broccoli

In order to use up the rest of that piece of ginger, I decided to make some teriyaki chicken and broccoli. Trying a Made with Lau recipe always feels like I'm cooking on expert mode, but the results area always really great so I figured it would be good on a Friday night where I have more time. In order to prepare, I made sure to watch the youtube video the night before and take notes in my journal.

Some steamy stir fried broccoli in a wok, right after I finished cooking it
Right after I finished cooking the broccoli!

And yes, it was time consuming. I still feel like stir fries are some of the hardest things for me to make. I had to wash the broccoli in a special way, cut it up, and blanch it before I got to the actual stir frying part. I ended up using so many pots and pans (especially because I also needed one for the chicken).

But it was really tasty so I think it was worth it.

A closeup of the stir fried broccoli in a dish

A closeup of the cooked teriyaki chicken, with the broccoli and my journal in the background
You can see my notes in the background!

I thought that cooking the chicken would be easier, and I guess it was a little easier, but I still struggled to give it a nice dark brown color. If I make it again, I think I'll marinate it in a bag instead and make sure to jostle the chicken around more so the marinade really gets into all of the pieces of chicken.

I also thought about doing the whole, cooking two things at once, but I am not at that level, so I actually finished cooking the chicken before I started cooking the broccoli, which meant having to microwave the chicken right before eating it. It's okay, still tasted good.

An overhead shot of the plates of chicken and broccoli sitting on my counter

Chicken, broccoli, and rice on a plate

And I'm trying to embrace my new philosphy of living life as inefficiently as possible so it's okay that dinner takes me a while to make.

Filed under: chicken broccoli

Some American food

To round out the past week, I made some American dishes. I had some leftover broccoli and leftover shells from the hummus pasta, so I decided to make some mac n cheese. I've made this broccoli shells and cheese recipe before, so I knew it would taste good! (I also followed the recipe exactly)

A close up of the broccoli shells and cheese

I was having a really busy Wednesday. I went into the office that day, and then I also went for a quick run after work. By the time I had even started cooking, it was almost 9pm. But I really wanted some comfort food, so I was making that mac n cheese.

A bowl of the broccoli shells and cheese, taken from the side

And even though it was late, it was very chill, and I didn't flail at all! Just a good, comforting, late dinner of some macaroni shells and cheese.


I made more American food the next night. I've had this bottle of Worcestershire sauce (that's really hard to spell) that's been sitting in my fridge for probably way too long, so I wanted to use it up. I was browsing through recipes that use this (that also wouldn't require me to buy more sauces I didn't have), and I came across slow cooker steak tips and mushrooms. Honestly? The picture kind of reminded me of dog food >.>

But it uses sauces and vineger that I already have, and it still looks like it tastes good, so I put this on my list of things to make. I also figured this would pair well with my mac and cheese!

Well, since this required slow cooking, I prepared it Thursday night, so I could finish it off Friday morning. It was after 10pm when I started prepping, and man, was cutting up the beef super annoying. Not chill at all. I really, really, really should get a better knife. And maybe I should buy beef from somewhere other than Aldi. I was exhausted just from cutting the meat and I was regretting even deciding to make this in the first place. And then I remembered that I was supposed to brown the beef on the stovetop! (It didn't brown. Not at all. I should have just skipped that step)

But I did it. I got everything in the slow cooker.

Steak tips, broccoli, and rice

And the next morning, I had...something that kind of looked like beef stew, actually. It wasn't terrible. I also still had a head of broccoli, so I roasted that with some steak seasoning and chili powder, and I had a very dinner-like breakfast.

A side view of the steak tips, broccoli, and rice

Oh, yeah I actually did eat this with one serving of mac and cheese the next day, but I never took a picture. I think it paired better with rice anyway.

Filed under: mac n cheese broccoli beef

Scallops and Broccoli

I've had scallops sitting in my freezer for way too long (since you know, I impulse buy seafood) and I finally cooked them.

Of course I'm still too cheap to buy the whole scallops, and instead go for the bag that has the smaller pieces. I saw Baked Scallops on Skinnytaste, which was super easy to make.

And like every other meal, I need to have vegetables. I looked for a quick broccoli recipe and I saw Sheet Pan Roasted Broccoli on Damn Delicious. I was paying very close attention to my broccoli this time, so I wouldn't overcook it! I cut my broccoli into pretty small pieces, and 12 minutes was plenty of time in the oven. In fact, I might need to cook it for even less next time.

We cooked one pound of scallops and about 3/4 of a pound of broccoli, and there definitely was not enough food to have leftovers.


Meatloaf, Broccoli, and Sweet Potatoes

I'm trying really hard this month to cook using the food I have and to not go to the grocery store almost every day. Yes that's right, I go to the grocery store almost every day. I found Sheet Pan BBQ Meatloaf Dinner from Budget Bytes, and I already had everything in my kitchen so I avoided a trip to the store yesterday!

The recipe said to roast the broccoli for 35 minutes, and we roasted it for 20 and that was way too long. Also I need to make sure that I cook the meatloaf and the broccoli in a separate pan next time. Broccoli with meat juices does not taste right.

I also forgot to flip the sweet potatoes halfway through, so they all just got really dark on one side.

The lighting is really nice by the window.

I actually still have more broccoli and sweet potatoes, so I'll need to find more recipes that use them.


Hi! I like to cook, and I like to blog. This is where I dump out all my thoughts about food.

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