Kissa’s TV Guide: The Comeback of Fall TV – Stuff we Like

Guys! This is my favorite time of year. The weather is starting to get cooler, there’s a cool breeze in the air, the end of year holidays are just around the corner, and fall TV is making it’s way back into our prime time lives! Yaaaasss!

As you guys know, I’m quite the TV binger. I love a good TV series – drama, comedy, action..just no thrillers. 😛 I also love me a good Netflix or Hulu exclusive series, but that’s for another day. 🙂 So for those of you out there wondering, here are the shows I’m really excited for this season with their premier dates (in alphabetical order)…

  1. Arrow – October 5: I personally am just emotionally invested already in this show. It hasn’t been great, but it hasn’t been bad. The beginning seasons were much better. But with the crossovers they do with The Flash and just having watched it from the beginning I can’t help but keep it on the top of my list.
  2. Bob’s Burgers – September 25: This is another one of my favorites. Charlie and I always tease that this show may or may not be the story of our soon to be lives lol!
  3. Bones – Midseason Premier Date TBD: Oh Bones. Bones, Bones, Bones. I so enjoyed watching this show. It’s funny, full of suspense, a little bit of forensics, a little bit of serial killers, and a lot of personality. This season is their last and while season 11 was mediocre at best the season finale made me SO excited for season 12!!
  4. Brooklyn Nine-Nine – September 20: Man, this show is so funny. It was my favorite show from last season. That’s all I need to say. Just watch it.
  5. The Flash – October 4: I love this show! It’s a little confusing right now because of…wait…I won’t spoil it for you. But it’s a little confusing. But it’s good!
  6. Gotham – September 19: I didn’t think I would like Gotham. TBH, I thought it would be weird that the story didn’t revolve around Bruce Wayne. But turns out he’s my least favorite character on the show lol. This is a good one, very dark and exciting.
  7. Superstore – September 22: This show is pretty good! Very relatable, versatile cast, and really funny. I’m excited where season 2 will go for them.

And if you’re even more curious, here’s my list of Silver Medal shows:

  1. The 100 – Midseason premier TBD: I have to be honest, I really liked this show and it got annoying for me at the beginning of last season so I stopped watching. I heard from friends it got better as time went along so I guess I’ll give it another try.
  2. The Big Bang Theory – September 19: It’s a classic case of the “it used to be really funny and now it’s just ok.” I’m emotionally attached so I’ll watch.
  3. DC’s Legends of Tomorrow: October 13: This show is a struggle for me. I really want to like it but it hasn’t done much for me. I became attached to some of the characters because of their stints on The Arrow and The Flash, and I saw more character relate-ability as their character development progressed on the show. But it hasn’t pulled me in yet. Trying to give it one more season before it’s off my list.
  4. New Girl – September 20: This used to be one of my top shows to watch. It’s the classic silver medal story. Started off really good, not it’s ok but I’m emotionally invested in their story.
  5. Once Upon a Time – September 25: The only reason this is in my silver medal category is because it’s kind of a roller coaster season to season. It’s good, then it’s bleh, then it’s good, then it’s bleh. Last season – pretty good!

So, who’s watching these shows with me? And what shows do you watch that you’re excited for this season?

xoxo,

Kissa

Stuffed Chicken Breast Recipe – Stuff We Eat

If you guys know me, I came off of a low carb diet a little over a year ago. A low carb diet worked well for me because I’m a carnivore. I could do without sweets and starches most of the time and replace them with vegetables and salads. The only thing I don’t really like is chicken. Especially chicken breast. Bleh!

I’m now starting to measure my macronutrients as a whole. And from what I hear, chicken breast is your friend. Let’s say that for me chicken breast is more like that popular saying “keeping your friends close and your enemies closer.” I’ll eat chicken breast, I guess lol, but it’s got to be juicy and interesting!

So here I am trying to make chicken breast interesting by stuffing garlic, spinach, and cheese in it! 🙂


Ingredients:

  • 3 chicken breasts
  • 2 tbs. olive oil
  • 2 tbs. garlic, minced
  • 1 bag of spinach
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
  • Baker’s twine
  • 1 small can Cream of Mushroom soup

Prep:

  1. Grate your mozzarella cheese. I prefer to grate my own cheese because the pre-bagged stuff tends to have powders in it to keep it from melting together and creating condensation in the bag.
  2. Sautée your garlic and spinach in some olive oil until spinach is wilted.
  3. Mix 1 can of cream of mushroom with 3/4 cup water.

Cooking:

  1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
  2. Butterfly your chicken breast. Be careful not to cut it all the way through!
  3. Place sautéed spinach, garlic, and cheese in the center. Save some cheese for the end!
  4. Roll your chicken breasts and tie with bakers twine in 3 places. Note: I like to use baker’s twine instead of toothpicks because it holds it together better and you can easily snip the twine off when you’re done cooking
  5. In an oven safe pan (i.e. Cast Iron) sear your chicken breasts on all sides.
  6. Add your cream of mushroom to deglaze the pan.
  7. Put entire pan in the oven and bake for 35 mins or until chicken is fully cooked. Turn off oven.
  8. Add remaining cheese to the top of each piece of chicken and leave in oven for 5 mins to melt cheese.
  9. Cut and remove twine.

Enjoy with some brown rice, quinoa, whole wheat French bread, your choice! Happy eating! 🙂

Xoxo,

Kissa

Poke Bowl Recipe – Stuff we Eat and Stuff we Make

Guys, I love me some raw fish. When I first went to Hawaii I was 15 years old and I had this what I called “raw fish salad” and I fell in love! Poke has always been something I really look forward to when I go to the island. In recent years a lot of poke places have popped up here in the mainland (even we at Ninong’s serve up our own version of poke), but none of them that I’ve tried can measure up to the poke I have in Hawaii. Sorry guys! It has to do with the freshness of the fish, the ingredients they have there, etc. 

Poke bowls seem to be more of a trend here than it is in Hawaii. They usually just sell poke by the pound and the sides separately as well, but hey, when on the mainland we do as the mainlanders do. 🙂 Poke bowls usually consist of some starch like white/brown rice or quinoa, some kind of side like seaweed salad/edamame/kale, and of course – poke!

If I’m ever in the mood for poke, which is pretty much all the time, I like to make my own at home. So I thought I’d share my recipe with you 🙂


Ingredients for poke:

  • Ahi tuna – 1 lb.
  • Low sodium soy sauce – 1/4 cup
  • Roasted sesame seed – 1 tbs
  • Wasabi paste – 1/2 tbs
  • Sesame oil – 2 tbs
  • Green onion – 1 stalk, diced; set some aside for garnish
  • Ginger – 1 tbs, grated
  • Wakame (hydrated seaweed/kelp) – 1 small bunch, chopped
  • Furikake, optional
  • Tobiko or smelt egg, optional

Before we begin, I’d like to mention a couple things. If you’re able to find shoyu soy sauce I highly recommend using it for your poke. It has a unique taste compared to your common soy sauce that is sold here on the mainland and is less salty. Wakame usually comes dry at your local Asian market. Rehydrate it with some luke warm water for about 2-3 minutes. If you don’t plan on eating your poke immediately (I don’t see how you can resist, but you know..whatever lol) you can put it in dry and let it hydrate with the poke. Ok, now that we’re done with that here we go.

  1. Mix soy sauce, sesame seed, wasabi, sesame oil, and ginger in a bowl.
  2. Chop your ahi tuna into 1/2″ cubes.
  3. Add tuna, green onion, and wakame to same bowl and mix until tuna is evenly coated.

Step 1, done! This poke will make 2-3 servings depending on how much poke you like to eat.

Now onto our garlic edamame. It’s really easy!

Ingredients for garlic edamame:

  • Edamame (shelled) – 1 cup
  • Garlic – 2 tbs, minced
  • Olive oil – 1/2 tbs (honestly, you can eyeball this. It’s just to get your garlic golden brown)
  1. Add garlic and olive oil to a hot pan on medium/low heat.
  2. When the garlic gets a little sticky (not yet brown) and add edamame.
  3. Cook edamame until desired texture is met (about 2-3 mins, maybe 4 if frozen) and make sure edamame is coated evenly with garlic. Set aside to let cool for plating.

Step 2, done! This edamame will also yield 2-3 servings.


Assembling your poke bowl

  1. Add your favorite starch to the bottom of your bowl. If you’re on a low carb diet, I suggest some zoodles. They’re really good with the poke! I like to add quinoa.
  2. On top of your starch fill half your bowl with your edamame and the other half with poke.
  3. Finish off your bowl with some furikake (seaweed seasoning), masago or tobiko (fish roe), and the last of your green onion.
  4. One thing I really want to mention is everything in your poke bowl shouldn’t be too hot. Yes, even your rice/starch. This is because if it’s too hot it will cook your tuna and no one wants that!

Enjoy foodies!

Xoxo,

Kissa