Iron Chef March.........kinda, sorta.....

Okay, so my iron chef challenge for the month got a little wacky. I started out with a very specific ingredient/recipe and then my days just didn't pan out the way I planned, so I ended up counting two different things I made as this month's challenge. But I didn't really take the right pictures either, so we will have to muddle through this one together.

Part One:

Ingredient: Lamb
Recipe: Irish Lamb Stew

I made this for St. Patty's day. While I have eaten lamb before, I have definitely never bought it or cooked it myself. So I got a recipe off the Internet and went with it. Unfortunately, early tasting revealed it didn't have enough flavor. So this is the recipe that actually got followed:

3/4 pound cubed lamb
carrots
potatoes
onion
one can beef stock
tons of salt
pepper
tons of thyme
3 packets of beef flavored Ramen seasoning



After the ramen seasoning went in, it turned out pretty good. Even the kids ate it and we also had enough leftovers for Jacob's lunch the next day. It went good with the Irish Soda bread I made, in which I somehow halved the recipe, yet doubled the sugar. I am such a good baker! :)

AND, the best part of all, was that for dessert I finally made the Oriental Coconut Jello I picked up in the Asian food store on the island of Oahu in 2006. I guess subconsciously I like to make my own expired food.

Yup, it was time to finally try it. We dyed it green, of course, and I am going to have to get someone with Asian jello knowledge (Maggie?) to tell me if ALL oriental jello comes out in a ridiculously hard, crumbly brick or if it was just my packet being 3 years old. I was really hoping for a smooth and creamy texture but it was more like eating hard wax. But at least the cool whip on top was right on the money!

Cindy took this picture. I think it looks incredibly artsy. Nice work, trainee.





Part Two:

I was craving fish tacos the other day, so I found an interesting recipe and ended up having to buy some adobo peppers in chipotle sauce. And since I have never ever cooked with actual "Chipotle" stuff (even though every food in the whole entire wide world now comes in chipotle flavor), that was a new one for me.

Here is the recipe: Fish Tacos with Honey-Cumin Cilantro Slaw and Chipotle Mayo

This was 5 stars all the way! Kinda spicy, but totally delicious :)

Hopefully I will be back on track for April. Which would be great because then it would count as Iron Chef April as well as another Underwhelming Feat of Amazement :)