Gosh this thread makes me hungry! hahaha
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Gosh this thread makes me hungry! hahaha
Make some tamales with that masa.
Sunday was my first try at chilaquiles. My oh my, LOVED them. I fried corn tortilla strips for them (another first), used enchilada sauce, and served with a couple fried eggs on top. Unfortunately, DH just liked them, didn't LOVE! them like I did, so I won't be fixing them once a week like I might want to otherwise. :)
Monday was minestrone w/Italian bread sticks, yesterday was hot shredded beef sandwiches and a relish plate, and today was chicken yakisoba. Tomorrow is furniture shopping (yuk!) so will have lunch out.
Had a really good dinner last night. Broiled salmon, roasted cauliflower and sweet onions with lemon juice and garlic, and mashed sweet potatoes with a little butter. Yum!
I made Chik'n Veggie Barley soup yesterday while home for snow (still home...) I have eaten about 1/2 already. It includes the following:
carrots
celery
onion
red pepper
corn
lima beans
green beans
peas
tomatoes
cabbage
barley
soy chik'n
veggie bullion
herbs (Italian mix)
garlic
crushed red pepper
Mushroom bourguignon. It's delicious and is great for the vegetarian/meat-eating couple, because the mushrooms taste so meaty. My meat-and-potatoes DH loves it.
I took a vacation day from work and styed home to cook and freeze food and listen to the radio. I made:
* 6 stuffed peppers
* Two nights worth of
--noodle soup with ham
-- beef and tomato topping for spaghetti or rice
--chicken curry
--shreded pork/beans for taco fillings.
I am cleaning out the pantry and the big freezer. We are completely out of dried beans and have precious little pasta. I used up all of the coconut milk, all of the pineapple, and much of the frozen peppers from our garden as well as the cherry tomatoes that we froze.
We have entirely too much Arboro rice so I will have to figure out a way to use it up; I did use some of it for stuffing peppers. We have bags and bags of frozen sweet corn, donated by my father-in-law last summer. I think that will have to go into next winter.
Friday was hamburger sandwiches (needed to finish up a loaf of bread) along with some leftover broccoli-n-cheese-sauce. Today bacon and pancakes for brunch; gonna make tacquitos for this evening. Tomorrow is my first try at Mongolian Beef, along with rice and bacon-spinach salad. And the weather is supposed to be downright warmish tomorrow, so DH is wanting to grill. We'll have whatever he grills Monday along with squash medley and more bacon-spinach salad.
Lin, grilling sounds wonderful, but our grill is under about a foot of snow right now...
Last night's dinner was a slow-cooked beef salsa casera -- some chuck cooked with a can of salsa casera, some diced tomatoes, and onions. It was supposed to be served on sprouted-grain tortillas, but they became science experiments, so it was served on those thin-slice bread things instead.
The night before that was what is purported to be the (Seinfeld) Soup Nazi's Chicken Chili, though the texture is much closer to soup. Still tasty and a great way to stretch a pound of chicken breast.
I think tonight's dinner will be some sort of okonomiyaki or egg fu yung; we've got lots of dribs and drabs we need to get out of the 'fridge.
I was about to set out the last 4 slices of oldish bread for the chickens this morning, when I thought "croutons!" Why waste it on the chickens when we might enjoy it on our bacon-spinach salad? And so I did and they turned out very good. The chickens only got the crust(s).
Sorry about your grill being buried Steve. Not to gloat (:)) but I have a batch of slow-grilled fat ribs (country-style ribs, they call them) making my kitchen smell heavenly right now, and ready to finish in the oven tomorrow with some bbq sauce for our main meal. And DH is finishing the coals with a big smoked sausage we had in the freezer needing used - will freeze it for future use. It did him good to get outside and enjoying some fresh air, warmer weather, and his grill - he's in a much better humor tonight.
Sometimes life just smells delicious.
Lin, that grill is a cr@ppy Walmart-version Charbr0il. Secretly I'm hoping that maybe it will die some winter and we'll have to revert to the Weber I used to have. That grill is horrible to use even in the middle of summer. But it would be nice for it to even be an option.
The 'fridge cleanout came up mostly canned-tomato and onion leftovers. I sauteed the onions with some garlic and olive oil, cooked down the tomatoes and added some basil and oregano, put it all together and made homemade spaghetti sauce. A little sundried-tomato breaded frozen fish and dinner was served. And the refrigerator has much more space.
Well yesterday I cooked with my mom, and just to make you jealous it was linguine in a clam cream sauce (clams, half and half made into a white sauce, wine, fresh picked oregano, block Parmesan etc.). With a fresh salad: romaine lettuce, shredded cheddar cheese, topped with already made 3 bean salad (a version with green beans, yellow green beans and garbanzos in a vinaigrette).
But I can't really make you jealous today. I've mostly just been eating this laziness: 1/3 lb ground beef, onions, garlic sauteed in olive oil with a can of pinto beans, chili powder, onion powder, epazote, hot sauce - topped with a bit of sour cream and avocado.
ANM, nothing wrong with good lazy food! :)
I am going to jump in here because I'm pretty proud of what I made for dinner yesterday. We have several farm-raised rabbits in the freezer. I took one out, thawed it, then pressure cooked it (20 min!). It was SO tender at that point. I took all the meat and chopped it up, set it aside. Chopped up some potato, carrot, celery, onion, and half a rutabaga and saute'ed them. I added in the rabbit and 6 chopped fresh mushrooms and a cup of frozen peas. Added all that into a baking pan, made a quick gravy from the juices left in the pressure cooker, poured it over. I had some pie crust in the freezer which I had thawed out while making this dish. Rolled it out, placed it on the mixture, baked at 450 for 15 min. OMG, it was SO good!!! And I just came up with it all in my head -- no recipe!
ETA: Oh! And I also canned 5 half-pints of mango chutney yesterday. Bought a carton of mangos really cheap at Costco.
Rabbit pot pie! That's just the most awesomely homey-sounding dinner ever. Very cool.....
Wow, Kay! The get-it-going vibe was strong yesterday!
On Monday I made "Cassoulet". It had skinned, deboned chicken thighs, kielbasa, tomatoes, onions, northern white beans. DH loved it so much he wanted to have it again on Tuesday. There wasn't much left, so I just cut the chicken into smaller pieces and added more tomatoes, onions, kielbasa, and beans, and he was again, happy as a clam.
Can't decide about tonight's meal.........either Tortellini soup that's in the freezer or hamburgers with a salad. Sure wish I hadn't fired the cook. haha
Nicaraguan stew. You buy onions, yuca, plantains, calabaza, chayotes, malanga/sweet potatoes, green peppers, some corn on the cob broken in half, and some beef on the bone. I seared the meat in some oil on all sides, then added some onions and cooked until translucent. Then add a lot of water, some yuca, plantains, the calabaza, the sweet potatoes. Cook them awhile. Add some garlic and salt. Add the chayotes and the peppers and cool a little while longer. Then add the corn and turn off covered. Sprinkle some fresh cilantro on top just before serving. It takes a few hours to cook on low. The only pricey ingredient is the beef. Yum.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ApatheticNoMore
I started seeing this around several years ago. I bought some. (plant). But I'm having a hard time figuring it out. It doesn't taste like anything to me.
It doesn't have very much flavor after awhile (especially just a spice you buy after awhile). It's supposed to help with the gas in beans, I don't know if that's true or not. It basically grows wild here, the better flavor is definitely when I've picked it fresh and let it become dried (just let it sit around) and crumpled the leaves into beans - that has some flavor, I like it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tiam
Last night: leftover beef salsa casera.
Night before and tonight: a stew of chicken thighs, butternut squash, tomatoes, onions, garlic, and quinoa. Hearty food for cold weather.
Packratona!: your exotic stew sounds entirely interesting and delicious. I wish I could - but alas, the ingredients are not available out here in ..... small-town flyover country. :)
Steve: I am starting to suspect that you cook much the same way I do, but you are able to give your creations wonderful ethnic descriptive names. I am jealous of this. Please tell me what beef (okay, got it) salsa (easy enough) casera (what is it?! I don't have a clue!) is. Tell me the truth: you threw some leftovers together and knew enough to give it the proper descriptive name, didn't you?
:)
Yes, Lin, I think you and I cook very much alike, if posting history is anything to go by.:)Quote:
Originally Posted by Blackdog Lin
Actually, these were "firstovers", but it's a simple recipe -- beef chuck in a slow cooker with some onions and ... salsa casera (which translates to "homestyle salsa" though it came from a good brand). The idea is a riff on the ol' slab o' meat (sorry, vegetarians) and sauce in a slow cooker. My mom's favorite variation of this was beef and a bottle of French dressing. I also like making pinto beans in the slow cooker with a large jar of medium salsa. Quick and easy and reasonably healthful if made ahead and the fat skimmed.
You don't have to apologize to we veggies and vegans. We all have our own lives to live!Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveinMN
Ooo! Sounds delish! Thanks.Quote:
Originally Posted by Packratona!
Steve: thanks for the explanation, though you kind of ruined it for me. I mean, Beef Salsa Casera just sounds ethnic and homemade and practically gourmet. Like you should have spent 1 1/2 hours in prep work on it.
I have GOT to start coming up with better names for my concoctions. :)
Back on topic, Friday was Creamy Black Bean Soup, which turned out to be a total surprise. I liked it, but DH loved it - he cleaned out the saucepan. And it was totally healthy - the creaminess just came from taking the hand-blender to half the soup before adding the rest of the beans, no dairy necessary for creaminess. Gonna remember this trick for other creamy soups.....
Tonight was Han-Seng Garlic Meatballs in sweet sauce with pineapple. It turned out very very good served over rice.
(Steve - that was for you. There is no such thing - but it was so fun coming up with a name for it. A pack of our homemade meatballs out of the freezer, put on top of 1/2 an onion saute'd in olive oil, the rest of this morning's pineapple rings that we had for brunch, and a cup of store-bought bbq sauce that was languishing in the fridge.)
Hee Hee. Sorry, having fun with this. Probably the 2nd glass of wine.....
Salad with romaine and baby kale, heirloom tomatoes, blanched broccoli, sweet onions, cucumber, and dressing made with homemade mayonnaise, Daisy (tm) :-D sour cream, anchovies, green onions, garlic, tarragon, and parsley.
Love it, Lin! :+1:Quote:
Originally Posted by Blackdog Lin
I have to say that I don't usually come up with the names of the dishes I cook. I may riff heavily on a recipe, but I usually start with a recipe. The only meal I cook regularly for which I wing it almost all the time is my "Musgovian Chicken Soup" -- and even for that I borrowed the term "Musgovian" from an Internet cooking group of which I've been part for a couple of decades.
Jane, am so jealous of your salad with heirloom tomatoes! In our neck of the woods, in the winter, the grocery tomatoes are just.....tasteless. Tomatoes only in the theoretical sense. :) We are forced to use canned (either our own home-canned or store-bought) or do without.
This week: Monday was "kitchen-sink" beef stir-fry over rice. DH devoured it. Today (his day to cook) tator tot casserole along with a bowl of marinated veggies. Tomorrow will be oven-fried chicken and macaroni salad. And Thursday (again his day to cook) he can utilize the chicken leftovers, and the rice leftovers, for sweet garlic chicken over rice. Think I'll throw some more veggies in the marinade/dressing from today to go with it. And a jar of pickled beets.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveinMN
I love homemade pintos. It's one thing I don't try and do fat free. It's so delicious with a slice of bacon simmering with it, and I confess to the "real" thing, a little lard. SOooo Delicious. Worth the fat splurge. I also don't subscribe to the thought that Lard is any worse than any other fat since I use it so seldom. I don't add much fat to anything, but when I do, I'm going for real and I'm going for taste.
Potato-cauliflower soup: 1/2 cauliflower, 1 potato, 1 carrot, 1 onion, fresh dill, salt, pepper, bay leaf, 2 TB cream. Blend it. Topped with cheddar cheese.
This evening it is going to be left-over slow-cookered black lentil and kidney bean dahl (sort of a thick spicy Indian stew. Use coconut milk instead of cream) and pita, with a beer to wash it down. I had veggies for lunch so I justify the lack at dinner.
Yesterday was chicken breasts with sweet potato souffle and salad with balsamic viniagrette dressing.
Today's lunch, leftover chicken made into chicken salad sandwiches.
Tonight' dinner, clam chowder (celery, onion, clams, salt and pepper, fresh thyme, rosemary, and oregano from kitchen windowsill, and milk) plus fresh baked bread.
Tonight I made salmon in parchment paper. I put a little olive oil on the salmon filets and on the paper. Then I added salt, pepper, garlic powder, lemon slices, dill weed, and capers and then closed the paper up tight. Only took about 15 minutes in a 400F oven. Was very good. Also had green beans and couscous with tomatoes. And clementines for desert.
Tonight I'm making a Trader Joe's recipe using their Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Soup in the carton. Saute chopped onion and garlic; add a paste of flour, chili power, cumin, salt, pepper and water; add soup, rinsed kidney beans (2 cans); rinsed black beans (2 cans); and I add a can of drained corn. Bring to a boil and simmer. I serve with a little grated cheese and dollup of sour cream. I can eat this all week - either for lunch or dinner. So good!!!
Made Becker lamb patties from joy of cooking and proceeded to devour a half a pound of lamb (the total I made) in one sitting (so much for it being enough for 2 days) and then was hungry enough for a very small bowl of potato-cauliflower soup (which was all I had for dinner yesterday and the day before - at least that one potato and few veggies made into soup is going to last me forever and a day as it's fairly watery).
that is a good soup - even plain.Quote:
Tonight I'm making a Trader Joe's recipe using their Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Soup in the carton.
I need to try that.Quote:
Tonight I made salmon in parchment paper. I put a little olive oil on the salmon filets and on the paper. Then I added salt, pepper, garlic powder, lemon slices, dill weed, and capers and then closed the paper up tight.
Still enjoying everyone's menus. Salmon in parchment paper: would t'were that we could get a filet of truly good fresh salmon here in small-town flyover country!!! It sounds wondermous.
As for this household: Monday was spaghetti w/meatballs and garlic toast. Today was pinto bean soup and crackers - perfect for our frozen surroundings (though it's melting quickly, thank goodness). Both meals utilized pantry items and freezer leftovers that were needing used. Tomorrow, well I asked DH how he wanted his pork roast, the one partially grilled and put away in the freezer and needing to get used - and after discussing many possibilities we decided on pork carnitas soft tacos - I didn't tell him I really don't know how to cook pork carnitas, but it's something I think I can wing well enough and I have the rest of the potential ingredients in the house - without having to go to the store. Something different anyway.
All the talk about Kale soups got me inspired. I made a Kale/potato/cauliflower soup, in the slow cooker that came out delicious. I went to add some dairy and didn't have any. I buy milk and cream much more rarely than ever before. I really like the "dinosaur" kale a lot better, but the regular grocery stores only sell the tougher kind. I got this at the organic grocers. And they had the most fabulous lettuces!
Pork carnitas soft tacos rock. Carnitas meat, Mexican rice, lettuce, shredded cheese, salsa, and a sour cream sauce which was simply sour cream thinned with the carnitas broth, all wrapped up in warmed flour tortillas. Oh my. So good (and ok, between the pork roast and the rice I made WAY too much) that we're just having it all again tomorrow. 'Cause it's DH's day to cook, and the meals he cooks best are reheated leftovers..... :)