June is for Dads

Happy Father’s Day to all my fellow Dads this month. Do you know when a joke officially becomes a Dad joke? When it becomes apparent! I’ve been a parent for 26 years now and my 2nd kid graduated college last month. This is a milestone! Not only for my daughter who is getting ready to start adulting, but for me having fulfilled my goal of getting both kids through college. Woo hoo!

To celebrate, I made some stuff that I like for Father’s Day. June also happens to be National Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Month, and I love a good veggie stir fry, so I made Yasai Itame. This is the best thing for eating healthy and balancing out the guilty desserts that I’ll be showing you later in this post. I used a recipe from Just One Cookbook (link below).

Start with the protein (pork is the classic choice) and the veggies that take the longest to cook first.

Add the rest—I have snow peas, cabbage and bean sprouts that I added to the onions and carrots. You really don’t need a wok, but crank up your electric griddle on high if you’re using one. It cooked quickly enough, and the large surface area of the griddle helped to evaporate the water from the vegetables fast enough to prevent them from going limp. Pour in the sauce and it’s done in a flash.

This is cheap eats—the best kind when you’re putting two kids through college. Really, the most expensive ingredient here is the meat, and that’s not all that much. I like to eat mine with white rice and a side of miso soup. By the way, do you know what PacMan® uses to make stir-fry? A wok, a wok, a wok, a wok…

Since it’s also grilling season, I took out my Zojirushi electric grill and tried chicken as an alternative to steak or shrimp. It came out good and tender, but a couple of things I learned—the marinade was probably too sugary which caused a lot of smoke, and the temperature has to be low and gradual because…well, it’s chicken.

Indoor grilling should become more of a thing though, in my opinion. It’s not as much hassle as preparing a charcoal grill, and I like it because you can do it anytime of the year.

And now for the desserts I promised. I worked real hard on this Honey Brick Toast, so pay attention—ha! This was popular a few years back, but I hate following trends so here I am right now. To me it’s timeless anyhow, and it’s the perfect way to build a crazy dessert using the basic white bread course on your breadmaker. What did one bread slice say to the other slice when they saw butter on the table? “Uh oh! We are toast.”

Bake your bread loaf first and cut out the cavity in the middle. Here’s how to do it in steps: 1. Cut the side walls but stop your knife about half-inch from the bottom. 2. Cut a slot about half-inch from the bottom but don’t go all the way to the edge. 3. Dig out the block of bread. 4. Cut the block into equally sized cubes.

Generously butter everything and toast in your toaster oven—if you don’t have one, you have indeed been depriving yourself. Check out this one from Zojirushi.

Load all the cubes into your brick and drizzle with honey.

Warning! This dessert requires a knife, fork and zero guilty conscience in order to eat.

Since we’re on a roll now and we love our Dad bods, my last one (mercifully) is this amazing looking fresh Plum & Peach Galette. Remember, it’s National Fresh Fruit and Vegetable month. Just get some ready made pie crust at the market and bake. Sprinkle powdered or crystal sugar if you like; there are plenty of ways to do it online.

Before I sign off, I want to wish my daughter all the luck in the world as she moves on with this next phase of her life. You know what they say about the bond between fathers and daughters? It’s all true.

One last one, I promise–What did baby corn say to momma corn? “Where’s popcorn?”

 
 
Products used in this post: Indoor Electric Grill EB-DLC10, Gourmet Sizzler® Electric Griddle EA-BDC10, Home Bakery Maestro® Breadmaker BB-SSC10, Micom Toaster Oven ET-ZLC30

Yasai Itame: Just One Cookbook

Please note that these recipes were not tested by Zojirushi America.

All images by Bert Tanimoto ©2023