Welcome back to Cooking with Geenah!

Disclaimer: I definitely posted this a little later than I should’ve (lol). The week that I’m referring to is the second week of January.

This past week felt a bit difficult, but I was able to make the most of it.

On Monday, I made chili oil noodles with bulgogi marinated beef and a soy marinated egg. The noodles I used were the Squiggly noodles with soy and sesame sauce from Trader Joe’s. I added a small amount of chili oil as well as a small amount of low sodium soy sauce, along with the sauce packet that was already included. All together, it was filling, and satisfying but it had the potential to be more. I definitely should’ve used more soy sauce and chili oil for the noodles, and a regular soft boiled egg would’ve made the dish much better. The beef was amazing, ’nuff said.

On Tuesday, work was more hectic than I expected it to be, so we made due with some quesadillas. I usually try to add some type of filling along with the cheese (i.e. pork belly, pancetta, chicken, etc), but I was just happy that I remembered to eat that day. You can never go wrong with a plain cheese quesadilla.

On Wednesday, I made a salad with roasted carrots, peppers, and sweet potatoes, along with grilled onions and parmesan cheese on spring mix. As a side, I made pork belly “musubis” but they didn’t hold together as well as I hoped they would. I also should’ve left the pork in the marinade for longer. I was in a time crunch and only did a 2 -hour marinade when I usually let it sit overnight. The salad was good but I definitely should’ve incorporated more raw components and something to give it a crunchy element.

On Thursday, I tried a new vegetable fried rice recipe but something I did, not exactly sure what, made it nearly inedible. I think my hand got a little too heavy with the white pepper because I couldn’t get past the sneaking spice that was clearing my entire sinuses. I took this one as an L and ordered me and my partner some tacos. Food for the body and food for the soul after such a traumatic plate of rice.

On Friday, I felt like hot garbage so, for the first time this whole month, I gave myself a much needed break from cooking any food that day. Though I really wanted to complete my goal of cooking every dinner this month, I recognize that I need to listen to my body when it tells me to stop, or it my body will stop itself for me.

On Saturday, I made a nice big tray of the smashed potatoes that I loved from last week. I read online, that some people preferred using smaller red potatoes so I wanted to see if there would be a difference. I cooked them for a little longer at a lower temperature and seasoned them with just salt and olive oil. It was a bit crispier but honestly, the difference wasn’t that grand. Either potato will work just fine!

On Sunday, I finally felt like a proper meal. I made baked teriyaki chicken thighs with a side of sautéed green beans over white rice. I had the chicken thighs marinate in a mixture of teriyaki marinade and soy sauce overnight and it was worth the wait. The chicken was tender, juicy and flavorful. The meal was warm, satisfying, and a great way to end a hectic week.

So, as I stated in the beginning, this week was rough, but looking back at it, everything felt a lot worse in the moment. Almost every day this week, I felt like something would go wrong or I would have little to no energy to do the things that I wanted to do. I was tired and a bit grumpy, but I got through it. At the end of the day, the journey may not always be pretty, but I’m happy that I can make it my own.

Thank you so much if you read this all the way through! Your support means the world to me.

See you next time!