what's for dinner in 2014?

[SteveinMN]

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.

[Blackdog Lin]

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?

[SteveinMN]

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.

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.

[onlinemoniker]

The idea is a riff on the ol' slab o' meat (sorry, vegetarians) and sauce in a slow cooker.

You don't have to apologize to we veggies and vegans. We all have our own lives to live!

[redfox]

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.

Ooo! Sounds delish! Thanks.

[Blackdog Lin]

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.

[Blackdog Lin]

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.....

[JaneV2.0]

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.

[SteveinMN]

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.)

Love it, 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.

[Blackdog Lin]

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.