My cornbread had started to go a bit stale, so I decided to turn it into bread pudding. This comes out quite a bit different than "normal" bread pudding since it's not being made with a glutinous, yeasted bread. I still quite like it though. Especially with the berries in. I think I'd probably try reducing the milk a tiny bit next time. But other than that, I'm pretty happy with it. (Following recipe reflects suggested change.)

Cornbread Bread Pudding

Adapted from This Is How I Cook

Ingredients

• 4 large eggs, beaten
• 1 1/2 c. whole (3.25%) milk
• 1 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 1/2 c. maple syrup
• 3/4 tsp. vanilla extract
• ~400g stale cornbread, cubed (4-5 c.)
• 1 c. frozen blueberries or mixed berries
• 1/4 c. brown sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 150°C (300°F) and grease a casserole dish.
2. Combine eggs, milk, cream, maple syrup, and vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, combine cornbread and berries and transfer them to the prepared casserole dish.
4. Pour the custard over the cornbread and berries.
5. Sprinkle brown sugar over top.
6. Bake at 150°C (300°F) for ~60 minutes.
7. Serve warm.

I actually woke up early enough this morning to have the wherewithal to make breakfast. (Usually that falls to TF during the week.) I figured that since we had some leftover rice in the fridge, I'd give these rice pancakes a go. They're a bit fragile and tricky to flip, but I'm happy with how they came out overall. I had mine with a bit of scallion-soy sauce, TF had hers with ssamjang, while the Kidlet opted for plain, unadulterated pancakes (though I suspect she would've taken some ketchup on them if we'd offered).

Rice Pancakes

Slightly adapted from Aaron & Claire

Ingredients

• 2-4 slices of bacon or veggie bacon
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1-2 green onions, chopped
• 1 carrot, grated
• 1 c. cooked rice
• 2-3 eggs
• 1 tsp. chicken or vegetable stock concentrate
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1-2 fresh red chilies, sliced on the bias (optional)

Directions

1. Cook the bacon.
2. While the bacon in cooking, chop/grate your veggies and combine them in a bowl.
3. Chop the bacon and add it to the bowl along with the rice, eggs, stock concentrate, and pepper and mix well.
4. Heat a bit of oil in a pan and spoon in some of the rice mix.
5. Flatten the mixture into a pancake. If using chilies, press a few slices into the top of the pancake.
6. Cook until the underside is lightly browned.
7. Carefully flip the pancake and brown the other side.
8. Remove cooked pancake from the pan and repeat with remaining rice mix. (You can cook 2-4 at a time depending on the size of your pan and pancakes.)
9. Serve with your favourite sauce: soy sauce, ssamjang, sriracha, hoisin, ketchup, mayo, etc.

Cabbage-Lentil Minestrone with Cheese Tortellini

After a couple days we were down to half a pot of soup again, so I decided to make a few more modifications to turn it into yet another new soup. This time I wanted to take it in more of a minestrone direction. More veggies, some extra tomato paste, and a package of cheese tortellini did the trick quite nicely. I really like this version! And I've really enjoyed seeing how many times I can keep building on and adding to the original lentil-cabbage soup as well.

Cabbage-Lentil Minestrone

Ingredients

• 1/2 recipe of Smoky Chickpea, Cabbage, and Lentil Soup
• 1-2 c. vegetable broth
• 1 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 c. cooked kidney or cannellini beans
• Parmesan rind
• 1 (400g) package cheese tortellini
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1-2 carrots, chopped
• 2-3 ribs celery, chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 c. water (optional)
• 1-2 small zucchinis (courgettes), chopped
• 450g green beans, chopped
• 1/4-1/2 tsp. red chile flakes
• salt and pepper to taste¹

Directions

1. Add broth, tomato paste, oregano, bay leaf, kidney/cannellini beans, and Parmesan rind to soup, cover, and bring to a simmer.
2. In a separate pot, cook tortellini until al dente, drain, and rinse/shock with cold water.
3. Add tortellini to soup.
4. Heat olive oil over medium heat.
5. Add onion and cook for 2-3 minutes.
6. Add carrot and celery and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
7. Add garlic and cook for another minute or so.
8. Add zucchini and cook for 3-4 minutes.
9. If necessary, deglaze pan with water.
10. Add green beans, cover, and cook for 1-2 minutes.
11. Add vegetable mixture to soup.
12. Add chile flakes, salt, and pepper and mix well.
13. Simmer for 20-30 minutes.

---

¹ I was using home-made broth with almost no salt in it, so I added ~1/2 tsp. of coarse sea salt to my soup. You may need more or less depending on your taste and the broth you use. ^Back

We ate about half the lentil-cabbage soup for dinner the night I made it. I decided to try to turn the leftovers into a new soup. After dinner, I added a few more ingredients to turn it into this smoky chickpea, cabbage, and lentil soup.

The recipe below follows what I actually did. If you don't want to build this soup from a pre-existing soup, you can follow the link to the recipe I used for direction/inspiration to make this soup directly.

Smoky Chickpea, Cabbage, and Lentil Soup

Adapted from The First Mess

Ingredients

• 1/2 recipe Cabbage-Lentil Soup
• 1/4 tsp. hot paprika
• 1/4 tsp. smoked paprika
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 2 c. cooked chickpeas
• 1 c. chopped kale
• 1 tsp. dark soy sauce
• 3-4 drops liquid smoke
• bones from beef rib roast¹ (optional)

Directions

1. Add all ingredients to soup and mix well.
2. Cover and simmer for at least 20 minutes.
3. Serve with salad and garlic toast.

---

¹ A few months ago I disassembled a rib roast for a recipe. I used the meat, but didn't need the bones so I tossed them in the freezer in the hopes of finding a use for them later. I don't think this soup particularly needed the meat added to it, but I had it available and it needed to be used up. It certainly didn't hurt, I just don't think it necessarily added much. If you've got some bones or scraps of meat that seem like they'd go well in soup, toss them in², but don't sweat it if you don't. ^Back
2 If the bones have already been cooked (leftover after cooking a roast or similar), just toss them straight in. If the bones are raw (as mine were), slather them with a bit of olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and roast for an hour or so before adding them to the soup. ^Back

I had some squash filling left over after making the ravioli the other day, so the Kidlet and I decided to turn it into a quiche. I seasoned the custard with salt, pepper, and lemon thyme and then added some extra kale and a layer of balsamic caramelized onions on top of the squash. I finished it off with a little grated Cheddar. I'm pretty happy with how it came out, but I do regret not adding a few sautéed onions. I think it would've been nice to have the mushrooms in there to give a distinct textural element in addition to a bit of extra umami. Next time...

Squash & Caramelized Onion Quiche

Adapted from King Arthur Flour

Ingredients

Crust

• ~200g shortcrust pastry
• 4 large egg whites

Custard

• 3 large eggs
• 1 c. milk
• 1/2 tsp. fresh lemon thyme
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground

Filling

• 227g cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 2 Tbsp. water
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
• 1 c. Squash ravioli filling
• 2 onions, halved and sliced
• 1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 c. chopped kale
• 1/2 c. shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions

Crust

1. Roll out the pastry and place it in a 23cm (9") pie plate.
2. Line with parchment paper and fill with pie weights, beans, rice, or sugar.
3. Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 15-20 minutes.
4. Remove parchment paper and pie weights, prick crust with fork and brush with some of the egg whites. Reserve the remaining egg whites for the custard.
5. Return to oven and bake for another 5-8 minutes.
6. Remove from oven and set aside.

Custard

1. Whisk eggs with egg whites and milk.
2. Mix in thyme, salt, and pepper. Set aside.

Filling

1. Cook mushrooms with water over medium heat. Cover and continue cooking until mushrooms soften.
2. Uncover, add 1 Tbsp. of oil, and season with salt and pepper if desired. Continue cooking until desired done-ness. Set aside.
3. Heat remaining 1 Tbsp. of oil over medium-low heat.
4. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for at least 20 minutes.
5. Add balsamic vinegar and cook for another minute or two.

Assembly

1. Place squash mixture in bottom of pie shell. Do not press or pack it in, there should be room for custard to flow between the pieces of filling.
2. Layer mushrooms over squash.
3. Layer the kale over the mushrooms.
4. Layer the onion over the kale.
5. Pour the custard into the pie shell. You may not need it all. Do not overfill!
6. Sprinkle cheese on top.
7. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 35-45 minutes.

Bread and Butter Pudding

I love bread pudding but, until today, I'd never actually made it myself. It turns out that your basic bread pudding is super easy to make! I'll definitely be making some tweaks and trying different flavour combinations but, as a first attempt, this made for a perfectly acceptable (if somewhat bland) pudding.

Basic Bread and Butter Pudding

Slightly adapted from Edmonds Cookery Book

Ingredients

• 2-4 Tbsp. salted butter, softened¹
• 6-8 thick slices stale bread²
• 2-4 Tbsp. jam (optional)
• 2-4 Tbsp. currants or raisins³
• 1/4-1/2 c. sugar⁴
• 1 Tbsp. lemon zest
• 4 large eggs
• 2 c. whole (3.25%) milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract (optional)

Directions

1. Butter the bread¹.
2. Spread (or toss) with jam, if using.
3. If the bread isn't already in small pieces, cut into triangles.
4. Combine currants (or raisins), sugar, and lemon zest.
5. Arrange buttered bread in an ovenproof dish sprinkling in the sugar mixture along the way.
6. Beat the eggs with the milk and vanilla (if using).
7. Pour the egg mixture over the bread and let stand for 30 minutes, periodically pressing the bread down into the liquid.
8. Sprinkle top with more sugar if desired.
9. Bake at 325°F (160°C) for 1 hour.

---

¹ In theory you're supposed to butter the slices of bread. In practice, I didn't have slices, I had bits and pieces of crusts and heels. So, rather than trying to spread soft butter on them, I tossed them with some melted butter. It seemed to work pretty well. Although I did have to use more than the 2 Tbsp. called for in the original recipe. ^Back
2 As noted above, I didn't have slices, I had random scraps and chunks of bread. I measured out ~6 cups (with a lot of air space) for this recipe. ^Back
3 The currants were nice, but I would've preferred a) a lot more of them and b) if they'd actually been raisins. ^Back
4 With only a quarter cup of sugar, this pudding was treading the line between sweet and savoury. Possibly this was down to the fact that I was using whole wheat bread. Maybe with white bread 1/4 c. would be enough. I also didn't use jam. If I had, then obviously that would've brought some sweetness to the table, so I might've been able to get away with the smaller amount of sugar. If you're using whole wheat bread and/or you're skipping the jam, I recommend upping the sugar to 1/2 c. to make sure it comes out sweet enough. ^Back

Hearty Vegetable Soup

Ended up deciding to make this soup after contemplating potential applications of celery. The celery certainly doesn't take centre stage here, but it uses a few ribs and makes a really tasty, hearty soup, so I'm pretty happy with that.

I based the soup off of a recipe I found here, but I ended up improvising a bit on some of the ingredients. In theory it was supposed to have carrots, celery, onion, green and yellow split peas, green lentils, butternut squash, celery root, potato, olive oil, and kale. In practice... I didn't have any green split peas, so I just used all yellow split peas. I had green lentils, but I've really been enjoying my French lentils lately, so I swapped some of them in. I thought I had some cubed butternut squash in the fridge, but I guess I'd had it in the fridge for a little longer than I'd realized because it had gone kind of sad and mushy. But I ended up uncovering some forgotten sweet potato fries in the freezer, so I ended up chopping them into little cubes and tossing those in in place of the missing squash. And I knew I didn't have any celery root or potato but, rather than trying to run out and grab some at the last minute, I decided to just toss in a bit of brown rice, some extra celery, and a bit of celery seed to make up for the missing components. Seeing as the sweet potato fries had a bit of oil added to them, I ended up deciding to skip on the extra olive oil added at the end. And, since we'd already used up all our kale in the kale extravaganza, I tossed a bunch of frozen spinach into the pot instead. And then, because we still had a serving or so of the lovely spicy kale and beans, I figured I might as well throw those in too. So... yeah, definitely not "recipe as written", but it's still following the same general idea. And it was really flavourful and tasty!

Hearty Vegetable Soup

Adapted from Life Made Simple

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 yellow onion, diced

3 ribs celery, diced

1 large carrot, grated

~1/3 c. garlic paste (I didn't really measure it)

10 c. chicken (or vegetable) stock

herbs de provence¹

40 grinds black pepper

1/4 tsp. hot paprika (might up this to 1/2 tsp. next time)

1/2 tsp. dried rosemary
1/4 tsp. celery seed

2 tsp. red wine vinegar

1 c. yellow split peas

1 c. French lentils

2 c. diced sweet potato fries (or squash or just regular sweet potatoes)

1 c. long-grain brown rice (although I think I'd reduce this to 1/2 c. next time)

8 frozen spinach discs² (~2 Tbsp. each)
leftover kale and beans (optional)

1/4 c. fresh flat-leaf parsley

1/4 grated Parmesan

1. Heat oil over medium heat.

2. Add onion and let cook for a minute or two.

3. Add celery and allow to cook for another two minutes.

4. Toss in grated carrot and garlic paste and allow to cook and sizzle for a minute.

5. Pour in chicken stock.

6. Season with herbs de provence, black pepper, paprika, rosemary, celery seed, and vinegar.

7. Bring to a boil and add split peas and lentils.

8. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes.

9. Add sweet potato, rice³, and frozen spinach and simmer for an additional 30 minutes.

10. Stir in parsley and Parmesan and (if using) the leftover kale and beans (or whatever other miscellaneous leftover veggies you might have).

11. Serve with garlic toast and extra cheese.

---

¹ Original recipe calls for 1 Tbsp. herbs de provence. I don't have pre-mixed herbs de provence, so I just eyeballed it. I think I put in 1 bay leaf, ~1 tsp. fresh parsley, maybe 1/2 tsp. each of {marjoram, basil, rosemary, and savory}, and ~1/4 tsp. {thyme, fennel seeds, and oregano}. And I would've put in ~1/4 tsp. tarragon if I'd had any. I guess that works out to a bit more than a Tbsp. Oh well, it was delicious and I certainly didn't mind a bit of extra seasoning. It smelled amazing while it was cooking!
² If using fresh spinach, I recommend using a full, lightly packed, 2 c. The frozen spinach is packed very densely, so 8 discs (1 c. equivalent) seemed like enough. Fresh spinach, even lightly packed, will not be nearly so dense. Also, if you plan on using fresh spinach, I would add it at the same time as the parsley and Parmesan since it just needs to be warmed rather than thawed.
³ If you put in the full cup of rice, you may need to add more water part-way through cooking. I found I needed to add ~3 c. This is why I said I'd go with only 1/2 c. of rice next time.

Stuffing with Bacon (and Mushrooms)

I love homemade stuffing, but I've never really made it before. I mean, my mom showed me how she did hers once when I was a kid, but I don't remember enough to re-create it. I decided to give it a go this year. I pretty much just grabbed the first recipe I found and rolled with it since i was in a bit of a hurry. It did come out tasty, if somewhat drier than I'd prefer. And I think it'd definitely benefit from the addition of mushrooms next time!

Stuffing
Adapted from allrecipes.com
1 lb. bacon
1/2 c. unsalted butter
1 onion, chopped
7 ribs celery, chopped
227g cremini mushrooms, sliced
2 Tbsp. poultry seasoning (recipe below)
2 loaves day-old bread, cubed OR 1 bag of "stuffing croutons"
4 c. chicken stock
1 c. milk (optional)
2 eggs, beaten

Poultry Seasoning
8 parts fresh sage
3 parts dried thyme
2 parts dried marjoram
2 parts dried rosemary
4 parts dried parsley
1 part black pepper
1 part ground nutmeg (optional)

1. Cook bacon, drain on paper towel lined plate and cut into bite-sized pieces.
2. Add butter to pan with bacon drippings and melt.
3. Cook onion, celery, and mushrooms in butter-dripping mixture over medium heat until softened.
4. Stir in poultry seasoning and bacon pieces.
5. In a very large bowl, combine bread and onion-bacon mixture.
6. Add chicken stock. If stuffing is still too try for your liking add an additional cup of stock or a cup of milk.
7. Stir in eggs.
8. Pour into roast pan and bake at 400F until desired doneness. (I baked mine in two batches; 30 minutes each.)

Basil-Apricot Chicken Salad

This was so good! Although I think it could've used even more basil. Still, very tasty and extremely easy! Thank you once again, Cook's Country.

Basil-Apricot Chicken Salad
Slightly adapted from Cook's Country August/September 2015
3/4 c. mayonnaise
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 shallot, minced
1/4-1/2 c. fresh basil, chopped
1/2 c. dried apricots, chopped
1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 (900g) rotisserie chicken
1 head red or green leaf lettuce

1. Combine everything but chicken and lettuce in a large bowl.
2. Separate the skin and the bones from the meat of the chicken. Shred the meat and add it to the bowl. Stir to combine.
3. Put a few lettuce leaves on each plate. Spoon some of the chicken mixture onto the lettuce. Drizzle with a little olive oil if desired. (I didn't feel it needed the extra oil.)

Chicken Noodle Casserole

This is another Cook's Country "recipe makeover". This did come out nice and tasty, but it was also fairly time-consuming and labour-intensive. For me, the poor deliciousness:effort ratio means that this isn't one I'm likely to make again. If I ever do make it again though, I'd probably make a few changes. The recipe below reflects the "what I'd do next time" version rather than what I actually did this time.

Chicken Noodle Casserole
Adapted from Cook's Country June/July 2015
8 oz. wide egg noodles
1 Tbsp. + 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
1 Tbsp. oil
1 red bell pepper, chopped
227g cremini mushrooms, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 rib of celery, chopped (optional)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 1/2 tsp. fresh thyme, minced
3 Tbsp. cornstarch
3 c. chicken broth
1 (12 oz.) can 2% evaporated milk
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 1/2 c. frozen peas
1 tsp. pepper
200g light cheddar, grated
20 reduced-fat Ritz Crackers, crushed

1. Boil pasta in 2L of water and 1 Tbsp. salt until molto al dente. Drain and run under cold water until pasta is cool to the touch. Set aside.
2. Cook bell pepper, onion, carrots, celery, and garlic in oil with 1/4 ts. salt until beginning to brown. Stir in thyme and cook for an additional minute or so. Set aside.
3. Whisk cornstarch with 3 Tbsp. broth.
4. Combine evaporated milk and remaining broth and bring to a boil over high heat. Add chicken and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook until chicken registers 155F (about 10 minutes). Transfer chicken to plate.
5. Whisk cornstarch mixture into sauce, bring to a boil, and cook until thickened. (This should only take a minute or so.) Remove from heat.
6. Shred chicken and stir back into sauce. Add sautéed veggies and noodles. Add frozen peas, 3/4 tsp. salt and 1 tsp. pepper. Stir to combine. (In the original recipe, the grated cheese was added as soon as the sauce came off the heat to create a cheese sauce base for the casserole. TF and I found that the cheese flavour didn't really come through at all that way though. I think a cheese topping/crust would make the flavour a bit more distinct, so I'll try it that way next time.)
7. Toss cheese with crushed crackers. Top the casserole with the cracker mixture.
8. Bake at 425F for 15 minutes.
9. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Chicken Chili

There was still some delicious fajita filling (with bonus extra tomatoes and corn) after making our quesadillas, so I decided to turn it into chili!

Chicken Chili
Quesadilla filling
1 tin kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp. ketchup
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder (optional)
Cheddar cheese, grated (optional)
sour cream (optional)

1. Combine everything in a pot and simmer for at least 20 minutes.
2. Garnish with grated cheese and/or sour cream as desired. Serve with a piece of crusty bread.

Chicken Quesadillas

So, it turns out that leftover fajita filling actually makes for pretty excellent quesadillas!

Chicken Quesadilla
Chicken Fajita filling
1 (14 oz.) tin diced tomatoes
1 c. frozen corn
1 Tbsp. dehydrated onion
1/4 c. chopped cilantro
cheddar cheese, grated
refried beans
soft tortillas
sour cream, optional

1. Add tomatoes, corn, onion, and cilantro to your fajita filling and heat until warmed through.
2. Spread a tortilla with refried beans and top with a layer of chicken mixture.
3. Cover with a layer of grated cheese and a second tortilla.
4. Toast (in toaster oven) or bake until filling is hot and cheese is melted.
5. Serve with sour cream.

Pancit Bihon

I know I've been posting a lot of Goons with Spoons recipes lately, but that's because there's an awful lot of delicious in that forum/wiki. This recipe is courtesy of the "Pilipino Pood" thread and can also be found on the GwS wiki.

I've been in a noodle-y sort of mood lately, so something using rice vermicelli was quite appealing. And, it even calls for carrots, which is great, because I have a bunch in the fridge that need to be used up!

The recipe as written has you making chicken stock from scratch. However, I had a bunch of delicious, wonderful pork stock left over from my adventures with sisig. So, I opted to use that as my liquid and go from there.

Pancit Bihon
4 chicken thighs
salt and pepper
oil
4 c. pork stock
~1/2 tsp. celery seed
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
3 small carrots, peeled and julienned
1 pkg. Chinese sausage, sliced into coins
3 heads Shanghai bok choy, shredded
2 Tbsp. dark soy sauce
1 Tbsp. fish sauce
1 (225g) pkg. rice vermicelli
3 green onions, chopped
1 lime, cut into wedges

1. Apply salt and pepper to the chicken thighs. Heat up a pot or wok with a bit of oil and sear the chicken. (I used skinless, boneless thighs because I already had some pork stock on hand. Skin-on, bone-in will be better if you're starting with water instead of stock.)
2. Add the stock (or water) to the pot/wok, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until chicken is done.
3. Empty the pot/wok, reserving both chicken and stock. Shred the chicken.
4. Brown the garlic, adding a little oil to the pot/wok as necessary.
5. Add the onion and sauté until tender and starting to brown.
6. Add the sausage and carrot and cook until carrot reaches desired done-ness.
7. Add the bok choy and cook for a minute or two until it wilts.
8. Remove everything from the pot/wok and set aside.
9. Return the stock to the pot/wok, add the soy sauce and fish sauce, and bring to a boil. Add the noodles.
10. Make sure noodles are submerged in stock, then dump all the reserved items (shredded chicken, garlic, onion, sausage, carrot, and bok choy) in on top of them.
11. Once the noodles are soft enough to stir without breaking, stir everything together. Continue to cook until all the stock is absorbed.

12. Serve garnished with green onions and squeeze a little lime juice on top (or calamansi if you can find it). Yum!

This recipe is pretty flexible. You can include fish or seafood if that's your thing. (The original suggests half a pound of shrimp.) You can make it with pork instead of chicken if you want. You can use pre-made stock or make it from scratch. Change up the veg. Whatever you want!

The original recipe suggested using one small head of napa cabbage, but I didn't want to go out and buy more cabbage when I had a bunch of bok choy on hand, so I used that instead. Likewise, I didn't want to get a whole celery just to use the one rib called for in this dish, so I just added a few celery seeds to my stock and called it a day!

If you're starting with water and making your stock from scratch, you'll probably want to include a few more seasonings while boiling the chicken. (And also use skin-on, bone-in chicken.) I'd recommend adding a bay leaf or two and a few black peppercorns as well as a touch of extra salt for a start. Feel free to add in whatever else sounds tasty from there! Garlic, onion, parsley, cilantro? My stock just had salt, pepper, bay leaves, citrus (probably mandarin orange) juice, and pork (neck bones, ears, and belly) for its initial cooking and then the added chicken and celery seed today and it seemed to come out plenty tasty! I do think a bit of garlic (or even just garlic powder) in the stock would've been a nice touch though.

I really like how this turned out with the dark soy in the stock and the lime juice drizzled over it to serve. The hit of sourness from the lime is a really quite nice. I would be curious to try a variation that skips the lime and just adds a double quantity of toyomansi to the stock though. I would also love to try it with actual calamansi but, so far, I have been unable to find it here, so toyomansi is the closest I can get for now!

I love how flexible, delicious, and satisfying this dish is! It requires a fair amount of chopping but, other than that, is actually pretty easy. Now that I think about it, it occurs to me that most of the prep work could be eliminated if you're willing to use pre-made stock or broth and toss in a bag of coleslaw mix in place of the shredded cabbage/bok choy and carrot. Then all you need to do is mince the garlic and chop the onion and scallions (and sausage if you're using it). And, if you're not making the stock from scratch, you're free to throw in leftover chicken (or whatever other meat) instead of cooking it from raw. This could reasonably be made into a tasty, low-effort, weekday dinner!