Alissa Nguyen

LEVEL 2 KIMCHI Lol idk what to call THIS version of kimchi since I make it 3 different ways. This way is considered “easy” but not that easy. I have a kimchi version that is even EASIER than this. INGREDIENTS: 5 lbs napa cabbage 1 cup kosher salt 1 cup water PORRIDGE 1.5 cups water 1/4 cups rice flour 5 TBSP sugar PASTE: 1/2 cup fish sauce 1 1/4 cup gochurgau 1 TBSP minced ginger 1/2 cup minced garlic 1 small onion (or 1/2 of a large onion) ADDITIONAL INGREDIENTS 5 scallion, cut 1 inch 5 carrots, julienned INSTRUCTIONS 1. Cut Napa cabbage into quarters the long way. Then cut into bite size pieces. Sprinkle with 1 cup of kosher salt and 1 cup of water. Mix well. Allow this to sit for 1 hour mixing every 15 minutes. After 1 hours, rinse and drain throughly (3 or 4 times) under cold water. On the last round, squeeze out all the water. 2. MAKE YOUR PORRIDGE: in a pot, bring water and rice flour over some heat. Bring to boil until it becomes thick. Once it thickens, add sugar. Turn off heat and allow to cool completely. 3. While you wait for your porridge to cool, prepare your veggies (carrots and scallion) 4. Combine all of your ingredients listed under “PASTE” and blend well. 5. Now you can combine everything… combine your PORRIDGE, PASTE and veggies. Once this is well combined, add it into your Napa cabbage. 6. Enjoy immediately or refrigerate until cold before eating.

#AD When I heard A MINECRAFT MOVIE will be in theaters on April 4th, I just had to make Tot Waffles Grilled Cheese towers. I simplified things by using Grown in Idaho® Super Crispy Tots. I love how easy these are to cook with the options to air fry or bake! They come out super crispy and super delicious. Check your local freezer aisle for Grown in Idaho® fries and tots - and be sure to enter the sweepstakes! 🥔 No purchase necessary. Open to legal residents of 50 US States & DC, must be 18 or older. Sweeps ends at 11:59 pm CT on 4/28/2025. Enter at http://www.growninidahosweeps.com/  & see rules and info on free entry. Void where prohibited. A MINECRAFT MOVIE© 2025 WBEI and Legendary. 🥔 #GrowninIdahoInspired #MinecraftMovie @A Minecraft Movie INGREDIENTS 1/2 bag of Grown in Idaho® Super Crispy Tots (14 oz) 6 slices of cheddar cheese cooking oil spray of choice 1/2 cup bacon bites INSTRUCTIONS: 1. OVEN: Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper. arrange and even layer of Grown in Idaho® tots onto baking sheet and bake at 425F for 15-20 minutes, flipping or shaking halfway through. AIRFRYER: Air-fry at 360F for 9-10 minutes shaking halfway through ‌ 1. grease waffle maker with cooking spray 2. add 10-12 cooked tots with no gaps between them to the hot waffle maker. Close the lid and let the waffle tots cook for 4-5 minutes or until golden brown. 3. carefully remove the crispy waffle and repeat with your second one 4. once your second waffle tot is cooked, add 2 slices of cheese + a spoonful of bacon bits. Place the first cooked waffle tot over it and close the waffle maker. Cook for 1 more minute or until cheese is melted. Serve hot and enjoy!

KOREAN LETTUCE SALAD DRESSING 1/4 of an onion (thinly sliced) 2 TBSP soy sauce 1 tsp fish sauce (or salt) 1 tsp sugar 1 TBSP distilled white vinegar 2 TBSP Korean pepper flakes (gochugaru) 1 TBSP sesame oil 1 TBSP toasted sesame seeds A drizzle of honey (~2 tsp) 2 cloves of garlic (minced) - Mix this all together - Combine with lettuce right before eating - Do not combine ahead of time - Good for 1 head of lettuce

Ofc pho noodles would’ve been better but this was surprisingly pretty good. It was filling but light??? If that makes any sense… the cabbage had a nice crunch to it which was a plus!

I enrolled my 6 year old into Kumon . His instructor said on average, we start to see results around 6 months. I asked his instructor.. what happens if we don’t see any results in 6 months? She looked me dead in the eyes and said “you will see results in 6 months” I said…. SAY NO MORE. Sign us up lol

Now if it’s 3v1… then the odd one out is common denominator and he/she need to figure it out with their siblings!

Yo my baby turned 3🥹

Maybe I could’ve been a better mom and rotated their heads more when they slept to prevent this? Or carry them more? Or not be in labor for so long? Or maybe I’m their mom so I notice every little thing about them. Regardless, I’m glad services like this exist to make their heads perfect!

KKAKDUGI - KOREAN RADISH I learned this from my friend who is going thru a messy divorce: once you know your worth, nothing phases you! 2 lbs korean radish 1 TBSP kosher salt 2 TBSP sugar 1 TBSP minced garlic 1 tsp minced ginger 2 TBSP chopped scallion (~2 scallion) 1 TBSP fish sauce 1/3 cup gochugaru (korean red pepper flakes) 2-3 TBSP of the liquid from the radish 1. Peel Korean radish. Cut into cubes. Give it a nice rinse and pat dry. Sprinkle with 1 TBSP kosher salt and 2 TBSP sugar. Combine well and let this sit for 30 mins. After 30 mins, drain the radish of the liquid. Set liquid aside. 2. In a mixing bowl, combine: minced garlic, minced ginger, chopped scallion, fish sauce, gochugaru and 2-3 TBSP of the reserved liquid from your radish. Combine this paste with ur radish and taste test. You can enjoy this immediately or refrigerate until it gets cold to eat.

KOREAN BRAISED RIBS (GALBI JJIM) INGREDIENTS 4 beef (short) ribs (about 4lbs total) 2-3 carrots, cut large chunks 1/2 of a radish or daikon, cut large chunks MARINADE 1 apple 1 yellow onion (sweet onion preferred) 1 cup Maggi seasoning or soy sauce 1/2 cup rice wine, cooking wine or water Sweetener of choice* 2 TBSP minced garlic *omit is ok, I’ve made this without sugar and it was still so delicious! I used about 1 tsp of stevia INSTRUCTIONS 1. Soak beef ribs in water just until you’re done prepping the rest of your ingredients. Drain ribs and rinse under cold water 2. MAKE YOUR MARINADE: in a blender, add all of your ingredient listed under MARINADE and blend til smooth. 3. Then pour over ur ribs and allow to marinate until you’re done prepping your veggies 4. Place ribs and sauce into an instant pot and pressure cook for 10-12 minutes. After 10-12 minutes of pressure add your carrots & daikon but make sure it is submerged in your sauce. Cook for another 10-15 minutes or until your carrots are fork tender. 5. This is good with rice but my husband ate it with shredded cabbage and it was really good especially with the sauce drizzled all over it!

We’ll work on actually eating it next time. He went from “eww” and not wanting anything to do with it to actually cracking it open & scooping it out… baby steps lol

BUN BO HUE   BROTH 2 onions 5 lbs pork bones (or beef bones) 8 oz frozen (minced) lemongrass* 10 liters of water 2 TBSP salt 4 TBSP fish sauce 2 TBSP shrimp paste 2 TBSP sugar 2 tsp msg 2 TBSP chicken bouillon 0.7 oz tamarind soup base powder (1/2 a bag) *I used frozen minced lemongrass because its what I had. If you are able too, use fresh lemongrass stalk. You need 10-15 stalks. Discard the leafy ends of the lemongrass and use only the thick stem part. Make sure you bruise your lemongrass before use. To bruise, take the spine of your knife and beat your lemongrass (this helps release flavor)   FOOD COLORING 1 cup oil of choice (I used Chosen’s Avocado Oil) 6 oz annatto seeds 4 TBSP minced shallots 4 TBSP minced garlic 4 TBSP minced lemongrass   SPICY SATE   TOPPINGS Noodles Meat of choice* Scallion Cilantro Onions Herbs *I used thinly sliced beef and beef balls because that’s what I had but other popular meat topping choices include: cha lua (Vietnamese ham), shrimp balls, beef shank/ brisket   INSTRUCTIONS 1.     BROTH: In a large pot, add: onions, (blanched) pork bones, lemongrass and 10 liters of water. Bring to a boil. -       Once boiling, season with: salt, fish sauce, shrimp paste, sugar, MSG, chicken bouillon and tamarind powder. -       Bring this back to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for AT LEAST 3 HOURS. After simmer, pour your broth through a fine strainer. You can discard everything in your strainer so all that is left is your broth -       Taste test your broth and adjust to preference. -       Note: I reserved my pork bone and picked the meat off the bones. This part out the meat is very tender and my kids loved it! -       Now that you have JUST your broth, add your FOOD COLORING (instructions to make FOOD COLORING BELOW)   2.     FOOD COLORING: first, you need to make red oil. In a pot, add 1 cup of oil of choice and 6 oz annatto seeds. Bring this over some heat. -       Once oil starts to bubble, immediately turn off heat and pour through a fine strainer. USE ONLY ½ OF YOUR OIL.. save the other ½ for your SPICY SATE. -       Now that you have ½ cup of red annatto seed oil, add minced shallots, minced garlic and minced lemongrass. Cook this just until it starts to get aromatic and then turn off heat. Pour this into your BROTH once you’ve strained your BROTH.   3.     Your broth is done, assemble yourself a bowl. Go to part 2 if you want to see how I made SPICY SATE

LOMO SALTADO—- MARINADE 1.5 lbs beef, thinly sliced or cubed 3 cloves minced garlic 1.5 TBSP soy sauce ADDITIONAL INGREDIENTS 1 large purple onion, cut into chunks/ squares 8 cloves minced garlic 5 roma tomatoes, cut into wedges French fries SAUCE: 1.5 TBSP aji Amarillo Paste 6 TBSP low sodium soy sauce 1.5 TBSP red wine vinegar 1.5 TBSP oyster sauce 2 tsp corn starch 1.5 TBSP aji Amarillo Paste 1. Thinly slice your beef and marinate with the ingredients listed under “MARINADE” (marinate for at least 10 mins) 2. After 10 minutes, give your beef a quick sear, remove from heat and set aside. 3. Mix all the ingredients under SAUCE and set aside. 4. In the same skillet or new one, heat up some oil and sauté purple onion for 1 minute then add 8 cloves of minced garlic and sauté for another minute. 5. Then add your seared beef, cooked french fries, roma tomatoes and your SAUCE that you mixed together from step number 3. NOTE: - How much French fries you add depends on how much you want in your dish. I did 28oz. - You can keep your french fries on the side… you do not have to mix it in with your beef and veggies. If you do this, you do not need to add in that much sauce

For those who missed it, my husband is pre diabetic so I’m making changes to the way I cook. When I eat with him, I eat the same as him which means low carb.

My Darth Vader machine going off in the background🤪

My 6 year old LIKES donating and bringing packages into the classroom/ for his clas grade. We are very lucky to be in a position where we can donate so we do so whenever there’s a list posted which is often cause schools are underfunded!

Not me geeking over some eggs lol

Tapatio is still ok right?? Or do I need to do the Valentina?

Does your school do this? lol

Replying to @Alissa Nguyen ANOTHER SAUCE/ GREEN SAUCE 1/2 cup Mayo 2 cups cilantro (or huacatay if you can find it) 1 or 2 jalapeño (or Serrano peppers, de seed if you don’t want it spicy) 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese (or cotija cheese) The juice from 1/2 a lime 2 cloves garlic 1/4 tsp salt Drizzle of olive oil - blend this all together. Measurements can’t be adjusted