Pho Ga (Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup)

Well I did it! At least I think I did....I attempted Pho. After discovering this little Restaurant In Vernon, BC, I  became inspired to try my own Pho at home. It wasn't as good...Ha, but it tasted great and was fun to do!

I didn't follow any recipe in particular, I more just searched and found 2 or 3 I thought sounded good and came up with what I thought would be good.

Here is a link to one site I used, Click Here, I essentially quadrupled the recipe to make a 20 qt stock pot, I was serving 10 adults and numerous kids. I used all the stock ingredients listed and added coriander seeds as well. I also just used 7 chicken legs with backs attached instead of a whole chicken.

For the stock I didn't char the onion or the ginger like almost all of the sites say to do....But I started with those in water and the chicken, I lightly toasted all the spices and placed in cheesecloth and popped it into the broth. I brought to a boil and simmerd for 1 hr, I then removed all the chicken pieces and set in a bowl to cool, keep broth on a low simmer. Once the chicken was cool to handle, I removed all the meat, and added all the bones back to the broth. I simmered the broth, adding more of this and that, mainly salt...for 2 hrs. Through out the process I skimmed off any foam, and removed all the bones, spice bag, onion and ginger before serving.

I used thin rice vermicelli noodles. I cooked to package instruction. I kept in a bowl until serving time. Then came the fun part! Assembly! In each bowl I added the cooked noodles, a few pieces of chicken, a few cut up green onions and some cilantro.

 I then ladled the hot broth and served with suggested side options (bean sprouts, cilantro, lime, green onion, basil, jalapeno)

All the pictures of the Pho were the next day supper with Just the family, I added broccoli to the stock and peppers to the bowl before serving.

It was delicious, the kids had a blast using chopsticks and it was fairly easy to do! I think it will become one of the meals on the Munk family rotation!

Go Pho!

Cory

Pepperoni Pizza Log

Who doesn't like pizza? I mean, there is no limit or end of possibilities when it comes to pizza toppings. Simple or Complex, tons of flavors or one or 2. Pizza is one of those meals that is good anytime of the day! In my house, there is no fighting the kids to eat pizza, its like breathing!

My inspiration for this meal came from click here . I didn't use her idea of bread dough, instead I found a quick pizza dough recipe. Find your own pizza dough, or use this quick recipe for a good tasting, fast dough.

Pizza dough:

2 tbsp active dry yeast
2 cups warm water
2 tsp sugar
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp salt
5 cups flour

Add the yeast and sugar to the warm water in a large mixing bowl. Once yeast starts to bubble, add remaining ingredients. Mix until combined, dump onto a floured surface, kneed until soft and not to sticky. Took me about 4 mins. Put back in bowl, cover and let rise till double in size, approx 30 mins. Then you can divide the dough into 2, using a greased cookie sheet or pizza pan, push dough out into a rectangle shape.

 Add the toppings that you desire, marinara? olive oil? Italian dressing? I used marinara, pepperoni and mozzarella. Layer out, and then roll from one end into a log, seam side should be placed down, I picked up the log and then rolled in corn meal, then put back on the pan. Bake at 400 for 30 mins. Remove, slice and serve. The dough was excellent, and it was a neat way to eat it!

Enjoy!!!

Cory