Hey, anyone got any good suggestions to use up strawberries?
I usually hull them, slice into quarters/sixths, and dump in a bowl. Then I sprinkle granulated sugar over them and a little water, stir to coat the strawberries, and let them sit covered in the fridge for 2-3 hours. The sugar seems to help draw out some of the berry juice making a very light syrup. Then I serve them spooned over sliced poundcake (either from a box mix or frozen premade). That's how my grandma taught my mom to make them.
Just put together a green salad and toss the strawberries in.
I've seen them served that way with pralines mixed in, but never tried it.
You can do the same with a green slaad, I can't say the results will be the same.
That might work too. You'd probably get farther with a coffee & kahlua and a couple raspberry-filled donuts (lightly dusted with granulated or caster sugar, not icing or powdered sugar) though.
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Just came back from another camping trip. This one was in a car instead of a canoe, so I had a lot of luxuries I could bring with. This included packing charcoal and heavy cookware.
I only cooked one breakfast (technically I cooked breakfast twice, but the second was food provided by others and for like 30 people). Roasted potatoes and scrambled eggs. Potatoes were just on a skillet with some seasoning until done. Set aside, then made some JustEgg (I love this stuff) with garlic and goat cheese (cheddar).
I tried making MinuteRice a couple times. It went okay. I can see why it wouldn't be recommended for normal use. It had a strange texture. It worked much better though, and is a lot more forgiving when not in my home kitchen. It was better when I could swamp it with lots of flavor, and not good as a central part of the dish. We packed some prepackaged Indian food and that was the best meal with the MinuteRice.
Irontruth, I'm glad the minuterice served its purpose; I agree it will work much better mixed up with stuff. Cheese is great.
I'm going camping soon, and am in charge of one meal. The challenge: one of the three of us has severe food trigger migraines, and can't eat onions, nuts, dairy, and chocolate, among other things. She also can't have anything with nitrates. I was originally going to do nitrate free hot dogs but the ones I know of have onion powder for flavor so that's out the door, and most precooked sausages also have onion. (She can have garlic and other alliums, just not onions). Any suggestions?
Hooboy.
May be time to go vegan for the weekend. Or craftaterian. That's a pretty big dietary restriction.
What else is on that list?
Meat and eggs are not a problem, and some beans and bean products are, so going vegan would make things worse.
The trigger to avoid is tyromine, which is in the foods I listed above plus anything aged or fermented (no booze, no sauerkraut).
I want to do something that's easy on a camp fire pit and/or can stove. Maybe an egg rice bowl or something (though she can't do spy sauce). She is also bringing a lot of her own food so I don't have to worry about feeding her this whole time, but I do need to think about the one meal.
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What about some sort of hoagies? You can leave off the cheese & onions for hers, and most delimeat can be gotten nitrate-free. My brother & I used to get toasted hoagies from a mom & pop hole-in-the-wall deli; maybe you could assemble the hoagies in advance, packing separately the stuff that'll soggy the rolls, and wrap them in foil for toasting over the less-hot side of a campfire or grill?
Or maybe some type of beef or pork ribs that you can ovenbake at home, then cut into portions wrapped in foil to be warmed through on the fire? Where I'm at, the supermarkets all have ribs on sale for the holiday, and you could mix your own simple dry rub that leaves out the onion powder. Maybe have with some rice and/or potatoes that you season & boil/roast at home, then put in foil pouches for warmup?
Boston butt/picnic pork roast also seems to be on sale, so maybe just slow cook a roast at home and turn into pulled pork with your own blend of seasonings for a dry rub? I imagine most commercial BBQ sauces have some onion powder hidden in them though.
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Thanks so much Amby.
I chatted with my friend and she suggested burgers might be an option since the campground is not far from a grocery store (so we don't have to worry about raw meat not being adequately cooled by the cooler), and at Mom's Organic Market I found some nitrate and onion free hot dogs that may be possible for her to eat. I've been obsessed with doing some "me cook on fire at camp" so I'm kind of fixated on grilling/fire-roasting something (I'm going to accompany whatever grilled meat with vegetables that we buy at a farmstand we pass on the way on skewers), but... your excellent suggestions I am sharing with the group, as my friend said she might want to do something stewed for her meal. She also has a solar oven so she might be able to do the slowcooking at camp (though doing it before and packing in a cooler also makes a lot of sense). I also like the hoagie idea, including toasting them on the fire pit.
The general gist of our plan is to have simple but hearty breakfasts (eggs, overnight oats, granola, etc.), one substantial hot meal (lunch or dinner depending on our plans that day), and then the third meal be more cold/a la carte/fend-for-yourself (peanut/sunflower butter sandwiches, snack bars, etc.). Were I by myself I'd probably just do a lot of cold meals of nonperishable goods and/or things that can be cooked with boiled water like cup noodles (I have a Solo stove good for heating water), and one bigger, hot meal by the fire for something special. I'm concerned we're overcomplicating it a bit but as long as we have fun that's what counts, right?
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Glad to be of some help, DQ!
Dang, I didn't even think of cup noodles or ramen. And maybe some sheets of puff pastry cut into squares, folded over diagonally, stuffed with fruit preserves, & crimped closed for quick "turnovers."
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My petsit couple flew off to a mini-vacation up north, so I've been running over in the early mornings to feed the cats their breakfasts and related stuff. So on the way back home Friday, I picked up a couple racks of St. Louis ribs for dinner tonight. They're almost done now, I just have to brush another coat of bbq sauce on them and broil a few minutes to set the glaze. Then while they are resting for 10 minutes, I'll stick in the garlic toast. And we'll have it with the batch of Mom's potato salad.
Hope everyone else has a good 4th, and you're pets (and loved ones) aren't unsettled by the fireworks.
(Eww, typos & wonky sentence structure in last comment, guess migraine halo was affecting me more than I thought.)
Ribs (from 2 racks about 3lbs each pre-cooked) and potato salad went well. Had rolls instead of garlic toast for last night's leftovers, but they fell after rising so they weren't nice and floofy.
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Tonight is baked bruschetta chicken from a recipe I bodged together, with sides of butter noodles for Dad and white rice for me. Also nuking up a pouch of frozen creamed spinach and finishing off the last of the fallen rolls from Monday. Tomorrow will likely be leftovers from tonight, Dad may eat the last remaining ribs instead.
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The hard part of doing meat on a campfire is how to actually suspend the meat over the fire. Some campgrounds have grates, but for example I was at a state park in Nevada a few weeks ago, and the grate was so high above the fire I couldn't get the water to boil (I eventually just put my pot directly on the coals for about 2-3 minutes).
That said, an semi-easy thing to do is potatoes. Wrap them in foil, put a little fat on the skin, and tuck them in near the base of the fire. I'd do a couple extra, just in case one gets burned. If all survive, use the extras for a breakfast skillet. And of course, with potatoes you can just do whatever your favorite thing to do with potatoes is after their cooked. You can also cut and season them prior to cooking if preferred.
I've been doing a lot of brussel sprouts lately. They've been fine (the gf loves them), but I've not been happy. I haven't managed to get them crispy. I think I have to get just a bit higher heat.
Mark: That dinner sounded great! I've been meaning to try Kenji's 3-ingredient mac & cheese, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Dad's not keen on stovetop mac, and I'm hesitant to open a 12 oz can of evaporated milk without knowing in advance how I plan to use the rest of it up.
Irontruth: I forgot about campfire baked potatoes. Yep, they're great and usually pretty easy. I wish Dad ate brussel sprouts.
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Monday night was country-fried steak patties (from frozen), mashed potatoes, country bacon gravy (from a mix), buttered corn (frozen), and the last of another dozen Hawaiian rolls. Went well, and Dad will eat the leftover county gravy warmed up on toast with his breakfasts. I made three patties, so he also had the leftover patty for lunch Tuesday.
Strawberries were only 99¢/lb Friday, so I picked up a couple pints and a pack of those little spongecake dessert cups to serve them on. Finally got around to slicing up the strawberries Monday, and a quarter of them had already gone iffy or obviously bad. The ones I kept were very good though, and Dad is enjoying them.
Tuesday night was a 3lb. braised pork shoulder roast seasoned with just salt & pepper, olive oil, a large onion cut into eighths, and garlic cloves stuffed in knife-made pockets. Made gravy from the roast juices (almost 2-1/2 cups!) and a pouch of pork gravy mix, and served it with the leftover mashed and corn from Monday.
Probably have leftover pork roast tonight, and then chicken alfredo & pasta Thursday night.
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We found hot dogs and brats my friend could eat, and had those and grilled squash and shallots that were undercooked because we got late getting the cooking fire started and it wasn't hot enough (which was not my doing). I realized belatedly I should have put some oil on the veggies which would have helped too. The brats were effing amazing (as were the dogs, but the grilled brats were really good).
Fellow camper did indeed do campfire sweet and white potatoes (in a much better fire) which were yummy. She also made foil packet dinners with ground beef patties and a variety of veggies.
Overall a successful camping trip and I learned a bit how to cook over the fire better, if learning some by my mistakes. My friend who was in charge of providing most of the camp kitchen gear also reflected that it was time to get a proper camp stove given our trials and tribulations getting the fire hot enough.
Last night, still being tired from camping, made a simple dinner of Trader Joe's turkey meatballs (seared a little), jarred tomato sauce (which simmered and heated the meatballs through), and spaghetti. I have rolls from camp I need to use up, just a little bit of sauce and meatballs, and some mozzarella cheese I need to use up, so I expect lunch today will be a meatball sandwich.
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Probably have leftover pork roast tonight, and then chicken alfredo & pasta Thursday night.
Dad decided he wanted leftovers Thursday again (?!, ok I guess), so we had that. I've learned that if I recline anywhere after 5:30PM or so, I'll quickly fall asleep, so I'm trying to mindful not to do that so I can still eat leftovers with Dad (instead of waking up after midnight and hungry).
Was going to make baked chicken alfredo & pasta Friday, but I was wiped after the my work commute and hitting 4 5 places on the way back. Instead I just butterflied the boneless skinless chicken breasts, brined them in (dill) pickle juice a half hour each side, then grilled them on the outdoors gas grill. I didn't bother adding any seasonings or brushing on any sauce while they were grilling... and they were still quite good, subtlety salty & tangy and plenty juicy. Had them with garlic toast and potato chips.
Dad is having dinner tonight with my brother & his wife, and they'll be planning out their camping trip (with two of my cousins and their spouses) in September. I'm stay here tonight, don't know what I'm having for dinner.
Me.
You could have me for dinner.
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Tonight... venison.
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Me.
You could have me for dinner.
I can't have you for dinner. I'm saving you for last to inject with a slaad egg.
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Just had tacos (pouch mild seasoning, premade shells) for dinner tonight. I can make taco seasoning from scratch and have some nice soft, toasted tortillas instead, but Dad is a creature of habit; I'll stick with what he'll eat.
I've put it off long enough: tomorrow is beans & ham and cornbread for Dad. I'll have leftover tacos.
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Cole, how are you doing the venison? Always curious about how to cook leaner meats well.
Tonight... was cereal (frosted mini wheats covered in hemp milk to be precise). Big loooong editing day (editing narrative reports in Excel sheets and no, I cannot control the fact that the reports have to be in the form of the worst possible format for a report), had an idea I would come home and make beans and rice and guacamole (or at least sliced avocado) and that's not really hard to do, but somehow I couldn't brain it when I got home. I did make the extra effort to put blueberries on the cereal. That counts for something, right? I even washed the blueberries.
In other news I've decided I don't really like hemp milk much. (I do not eat a dairy free diet but I find limiting my dairy intake helps my chronic sinusitus not be so annoying. Part of what I didn't like about the hemp milk is it seems to be somewhat mucus inducing which is one of the qualities of cow's milk I am trying to avoid).
I don't have much milk (or eat ice cream) anymore because of my now limited lactose tolerance, but I haven't found any milk substitutes that really hit that same spot. I haven't tried hemp milk though, none of my local supermarkets carry it.
I'm thinking I'll probably make some caesar pasta salad for lunch. They had the boxed mix on sale for buy-one-get-one-free, and I've got a not-terrible tomato to chop up in it. They also had pouches of fake crab (surimi pollack) BOGOF, so I'll try that mixed in too. Nothing exciting, but if I don't prep easy stuff for my lunches, I won't bother to eat, and that messes with my moods & digestion.
Cole, how are you doing the venison? Always curious about how to cook leaner meats well.
Tonight... was cereal (frosted mini wheats covered in hemp milk to be precise). Big loooong editing day (editing narrative reports in Excel sheets and no, I cannot control the fact that the reports have to be in the form of the worst possible format for a report), had an idea I would come home and make beans and rice and guacamole (or at least sliced avocado) and that's not really hard to do, but somehow I couldn't brain it when I got home. I did make the extra effort to put blueberries on the cereal. That counts for something, right? I even washed the blueberries.
That counts.
Amby, I can't guarantee you will like it, but keep an eye out for "Not Milk" if you haven't seen it. It's a pea protein based "milk" mixed with some fruit juices and other stuff and it has the most milk-like color and texture such that it blends well with coffee, etc. and has enough protein to serve both nutritionally and culinarily as a decent milk substitute. I wouldn't say it tastes like milk exactly but its taste is decent and it does a great job as a cereal topper, etc. I don't remember the price but IIRC it is better than the price of many other plant based milks, though still notably pricier than non-organic cow's milk. Whole Foods has it and I've started seeing it elsewhere. (Unfortunately, trader Joe's,does not have it but just started carrying the hemp hence my deciding to,try that.)
While I like the taste of, say, almond milk better, it works better for more applications and is more nutritious (and is environmentally friendlier). (Particularly it annoys me that most plant milks are too low in protein or taste weird if higher in milk.)
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Chicken thighs, marinaded in Greek yoghurt, several powders (Madras curry, chili, garlic, and onion), and poppy seeds, then cooked in a single pot with onions, regular garlic, chopped tomatoes, rice, (garden) peas, tomato puree, sesame seeds, pepper, and Universal Seasoning. It worked pretty well, and there's enough left for tomorrow, too.
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Cole, how are you doing the venison? Always curious about how to cook leaner meats well.
I have two basic go-tos...
I either make a brown (or red wine) demiglace to add a little, well, fat back into the mixture...
Or I marinate the venison with garlic, red wine, and olive oil, then quickly cook it in a pan with even more olive oil.
Both work.
On the note of leaner meats, during my time in Kobuk, I got damned good at caribou stir-fry.
...it has the most milk-like color and texture such that it blends well with coffee, etc. and has enough protein to serve both nutritionally and culinarily as a decent milk substitute.
My speedbump for a non-dairy milk seems to be texture, oddly enough. I've tried a couple nut milks and the texture was too watery, and that was a huge turnoff even though the taste was fine/good.
I still get dairy though cheese, which I can digest normally unless I gorge myself on it. My non-dairy milk consumption would just be as a beverage or on cereal; I'd still cook/bake with regular milk, and I prefer non-dairy powder creamer in my coffee.
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Dinner last night was shredded beef (top round) in au jus, with baked "glazed" yams & hawaiian rolls. I was going to make shredded bbq beef, but so much beef juice cooked out of the roast I was afraid to attempt to bbq it up; the only liquids I used were a tablespoon of olive oil and 2 oz of chicken stock to a 2-1/4 lb roast. Flavor was great, but still tastes like it was missing some subtle background flavor; I want to say it's missing a "potato-y" flavor, except I've cooked potatoes in the juices around beef roast and that doesn't do it.
Yams were from scratch and turned out ok, but they would have been better (or at least closer to what my tastebuds expect) with an actual glaze. But I'm not paying the premium for the national canned brand just for a can that is half yam glaze/juice.
Dad's heading out to my brother & his wife's again this afternoon and staying for dinner, so I'm off the hook tonight.
Thursday dinner was chicken & pasta alfredo, with corn on the cob & garlic toast. I should have made (frozen) creamed spinach instead.
Friday was leftover alfredo.
Saturday dinner was (reduced sodium) spam and baked beans from a can. Plenty of beans left over...
...so I'll warm it up tonight. Tonight we're having slow-baked pork spare ribs and (frozen) buttered corn. The ribs were on sale for $1.99/lb, so I got two 4 lb slabs, and only making one tonight. Ribs are usual method, just generously coated with a mix of spices all over, sealed in foil on a rimmed baking sheet, and baked low & slow. I just flipped them over 20 minutes ago, baste the current topside in BBQ sauce, raise the temp, and re-covered them to bake further. In about 45 minutes, I'll flip them again, baste that top in BBQ, raise the temp further, re-cover in foil, and bake another 55-60 minutes. Then for the last 5-7 minutes or so, I broil them uncovered to get a gooey BBQ "crust."
There will be enough leftovers for tomorrows dinner, which is good because I must stop at two Walmarts and two Targets along the long work commute. If the commute doesn't suck, I may make a salad if I'm not feeling drained.
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Hope everyone is doing OK, or if not OK then at least not crappily.
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Ribs dinner (& leftovers) went well.
I did a little grocery shopping Monday after all because some stuff was on sale. This afternoon, I cut down the 3-1/2 lb chuck roast into two smaller roasts, stab/stuffed them with half a head of garlic cloves each, and froze them up for later. I also used the 2 lbs of ground chuck to make into salisbury steak patties with a modified recipe; after mixing in the breadcrumbs, caramelized onions, and other ingredients, it worked out to exactly 9 1/3 lb patties. So I'm making 3 patties for dinner tonight, plus gravy & mashed, and heating up green beans from a can (+ salt & pepper, 1 tsp beef base, & 1 tbsp butter).
There'll be a patty leftover tonight in case Dad wants it for lunch tomorrow. I'll probably fix chicken some way tomorrow night for dinner.
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Beginning phase one of a project tomorrow, there are a lot of phases but the most important one is building a fire breathing dragon pebble mosaic. Which is probably a month away.
As far as food goes I've been going with peanut butter and jelly, natural Cheetos, grapes and a banana three a week and then a ham or chicken sandwich with thin sliced provolone and a bit of olive oil mayonnaise and lettuce to go with the Cheetos and fruit.
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Beginning phase one of a project tomorrow, there are a lot of phases but the most important one is building a fire breathing dragon pebble mosaic. Which is probably a month away.
Now I need to know the Dothraki translation for "Shaver of Bears, Fun Uncle of Dragons".
As far as food goes I've been going with peanut butter and jelly, natural Cheetos, grapes and a banana three a week and then a ham or chicken sandwich with thin sliced provolone and a bit of olive oil mayonnaise and lettuce to go with the Cheetos and fruit.
For dinner or for your lunches? I imagine cool meals are probably more enjoyable with WI temps in the 90s(F) before factoring in humidity. I wish Dad liked cooler dinner meals; I've got a nice loaf of authentic Cuban bread in the freezer that would make an excellent Italian-Cuban sub/hoagie for dinner.
Tonight's dinner was chicken baked in an oven bag and a basic salad. Mom used to make it regularly; it comes in a divided pouch with a paprika-blend seasoning on one side and an oven cooking bag in the other. Last time I made it, they'd changed the seasoning and it tasted off, but I thought it might be me for using boneless skinless chicken breasts instead of a regular 8-10pc cut up whole chicken. I bodged together a mix of seasonings tonight (paprika, a packet of ranch dressing powder, garlic powder, celery salt, poultry seasoning, dried oregano, and black pepper), stuck in a oven bag that Mom had squirreled away, and it came out really close to how Mom used to make it. Win!
Tomorrow is probably leftovers. Friday I'm thinking homemade pizza.
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Been busy/tired a lot and not getting fancy with food much. Probably best meal I made was for my dad the other week, ham steak, mashed potatoes, lima beans, and sliced cucumber in a mix of salt/sugar/vinegar.
Oh, and someone gave me a little eggplant, so I did make homemade baba ghanoush for lunch today since I was working from home. Sliced the eggplant in half, rubbed it with olive oil and salted it and laid it face up on a tray. Also took a half a clove of garlic, cut off the root end and wrapped it in foil. Put eggplant and garlic in oven (just used toaster oven because it was too hot to use real oven, set on convection setting) at @400 for 20 minutes. Scooped eggplant out (next time I will peel before roasting) and squeezed garlic into bowl, and mixed with juice of half a lemon and a couple tablespoons of tahini. Added salt and smoked paprika and blended with immersion blender. Served on toast. Suuuuuper yum. And not bad for you either. I think you are also supposed to add EVOO but I forgot, that would have tasted good in it too.
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Oh, and someone gave me a little eggplant, so I did make homemade baba ghanoush for lunch today since I was working from home. Sliced the eggplant in half, rubbed it with olive oil and salted it and laid it face up on a tray. Also took a half a clove of garlic, cut off the root end and wrapped it in foil. Put eggplant and garlic in oven (just used toaster oven because it was too hot to use real oven, set on convection setting) at @400 for 20 minutes. Scooped eggplant out (next time I will peel before roasting) and squeezed garlic into bowl, and mixed with juice of half a lemon and a couple tablespoons of tahini. Added salt and smoked paprika and blended with immersion blender. Served on toast. Suuuuuper yum. And not bad for you either. I think you are also supposed to add EVOO but I forgot, that would have tasted good in it too.
That sounds really, really good. I wonder how that'd tasted with caramelized onions blended in, and maybe a little fresh parm (real parm, not the shaker stuff) on top?
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I want to crash in through DQs window and bring her some of these empanadas.
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Sweet, but you might dislodge her AC, so maybe just buzz the door there Freehold DM?
Insufficiently Kool-Aid Man, methinks :P
I fear I must soon bid adieu to eating like a human being for an indeterminate amount of time.
My sister will be "temporarily" moving in, and in her presence, a kitchen forever resembles a disaster area.
So until August 14, I'm going to try to do it up proper :P
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I tend to do weekday lunches in a batch, and today, it was curried chickpeas. One part cider vinegar to two parts water after all the constituent parts were cooked topped it off quite well.
Today's tea was shredded onion and Greek sheep/goat's cheese called.. Manoustra?.. on sourdough. I thought I made too much, but still ate it all, so it must have been alright.
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That sounds really, really good. I wonder how that'd tasted with caramelized onions blended in, and maybe a little fresh parm (real parm, not the shaker stuff) on top?
Tasty, I expect, but as it's already rich to begin with I'd add some more lemon and maybe some chopped parsley to add some brightness again all the savory flavor.
Sweet, but you might dislodge her AC, so maybe just buzz the door there Freehold DM?
*take empanadas, enjoys them, scrapes Freehold off iron fire escape gate while shooting away the birds*
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Stupid fire escape thinks it's so tough...
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*hands Freehold frozen bag of peas* Wow my phone's autocorrect really hates birds. I just wanted to shoo them. (It tried to make that one into "shop.")
At conference at eating college campus institutional food. (Instiurinal, autocorrect? That isn't even a word. WTF? Otoh maybe my phone is also familiar with Sodexho.) Not to be ungrateful, but looking forward to even my laziest home cooking.
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That sounds really, really good. I wonder how that'd tasted with caramelized onions blended in, and maybe a little fresh parm (real parm, not the shaker stuff) on top?Tasty, I expect, but as it's already rich to begin with I'd add some more lemon and maybe some chopped parsley to add some brightness again all the savory flavor.
Apparently onions in baba ghanoush is a thing in some varieties, so I'm not completely off base. I just really like caramelized onions. Not as much as my unholy craving for garlic, but it's up there.
Friday's work commute and stops wiped me out, so I grabbed a 16" take & bake meat lovers pizza on the way home. I had to doctor it up some, but the finished version came out good. Dad suggested we have the leftovers again last night, so we did.
2) grate on some parm
3) sprinkle on some Italian seasoning blend
4) lightly drizzle on some olive oil
5) grate up an 8oz block of mozzarella on it
6) replace meat toppings onto pizza, starting with pepperoni along the circumference, which makes sure pepperoni turns into little grease cups and helps protect cheese from over-browning
7) bake
8) burn roof of mouth not waiting for it to cool
Tonight I'm making hamburgers on the grill, having it with potato chips. Monday will be something easy, probably pork chops or chicken someway.
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Beginning phase one of a project tomorrow, there are a lot of phases but the most important one is building a fire breathing dragon pebble mosaic. Which is probably a month away.Now I need to know the Dothraki translation for "Shaver of Bears, Fun Uncle of Dragons".
As far as food goes I've been going with peanut butter and jelly, natural Cheetos, grapes and a banana three a week and then a ham or chicken sandwich with thin sliced provolone and a bit of olive oil mayonnaise and lettuce to go with the Cheetos and fruit.For dinner or for your lunches? I imagine cool meals are probably more enjoyable with WI temps in the 90s(F) before factoring in humidity. I wish Dad liked cooler dinner meals; I've got a nice loaf of authentic Cuban bread in the freezer that would make an excellent Italian-Cuban sub/hoagie for dinner.
Tonight's dinner was chicken baked in an oven bag and a basic salad. Mom used to make it regularly; it comes in a divided pouch with a paprika-blend seasoning on one side and an oven cooking bag in the other. Last time I made it, they'd changed the seasoning and it tasted off, but I thought it might be me for using boneless skinless chicken breasts instead of a regular 8-10pc cut up whole chicken. I bodged together a mix of seasonings tonight (paprika, a packet of ranch dressing powder, garlic powder, celery salt, poultry seasoning, dried oregano, and black pepper), stuck in a oven bag that Mom had squirreled away, and it came out really close to how Mom used to make it. Win!
Tomorrow is probably leftovers. Friday I'm thinking homemade pizza.
For dinner and lunch, though not every night obviously but we tend towards meals with less emphasis on cooking in the summer. Tacos, sandwiches, salads and whatnot. It helps that the grocery store near us has boar's head.
We also vary what we use as bread for the sandwiches. We've been using naan a lot this year.
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I made my own broth for the first time a couple weeks ago. I made ribs, saved the bones and some of the trimmed fat. I made a ramen broth with lots of aromatics: star anise, cardamom, cloves, ginger, garlic, szechuan peppercorn (I don't have any white peppercorn, so just wanted something else unusual). It turned out really good, and I was super happy with it.
Tonight I made a mushroom broth for the girlfriend, ramen again. I only cheated with one can of pre-made veggie broth, but I added about 6 more cups of water. Mushrooms, some dried kelp (dashi), and all the above aromatics. It worked really well again. I have enough broth leftover for one big meal, or two smaller ones.
I tried poaching eggs in the shell, but they were under done. I tried the ratio of boiling water and adding a cup of cold water, then letting it sit for 5 minutes. I might have had the time wrong as well.
We had chicken with jollof rice last night (made by my other half - I washed up afterwards)
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TUNA MELT! TUNA MELT! TUNA MELT! TUNA MELT!TUNA MELT! TUNA MELT! TUNA MELT! TUNA MELT! TUNA MELT! TUNA MELT! TUNA MELT!
That sounds really, really good. I wonder how that'd tasted with caramelized onions blended in, and maybe a little fresh parm (real parm, not the shaker stuff) on top?Tasty, I expect, but as it's already rich to begin with I'd add some more lemon and maybe some chopped parsley to add some brightness again all the savory flavor.Apparently onions in baba ghanoush is a thing in some varieties, so I'm not completely off base. I just really like caramelized onions. Not as much as my unholy craving for garlic, but it's up there.
Friday's work commute and stops wiped me out, so I grabbed a 16" take & bake meat lovers pizza on the way home. I had to doctor it up some, but the finished version came out good. Dad suggested we have the leftovers again last night, so we did.
** spoiler omitted **
Tonight I'm making hamburgers on the grill, having it with potato chips. Monday will be something easy, probably pork chops or chicken someway.
I made my own broth for the first time a couple weeks ago. I made ribs, saved the bones and some of the trimmed fat. I made a ramen broth with lots of aromatics: star anise, cardamom, cloves, ginger, garlic, szechuan peppercorn (I don't have any white peppercorn, so just wanted something else unusual). It turned out really good, and I was super happy with it.
Tonight I made a mushroom broth for the girlfriend, ramen again. I only cheated with one can of pre-made veggie broth, but I added about 6 more cups of water. Mushrooms, some dried kelp (dashi), and all the above aromatics. It worked really well again. I have enough broth leftover for one big meal, or two smaller ones.
I tried poaching eggs in the shell, but they were under done. I tried the ratio of boiling water and adding a cup of cold water, then letting it sit for 5 minutes. I might have had the time wrong as well.
Broth sounds awesome.
Not sure what exact poached egg method you were trying (apart from keeping them in the shell, presumably half the shell to keep them from floating around, otherwise you're just making a soft boiled egg), but I've never heard of adding cold water right after the boiling water--that seems like it would definitely make the water too cold for them to cook through. Usually one brings water to a full boil and then either turns the water off or lowers very low after adding the eggs. I've heard of storing poached eggs in cold water after they are fully cooked through, which helps them firm up and allows you to reheat/reuse them later (within a day if refrigerated).
My general preference for making poached eggs is ATK's: put the (de-shelled) egg in a fine mesh strainer to strain off the stringiest, loosest part of the white. Boil water, add a small amount of vinegar, stir, and add egg. Take off heat, should cook in 3-5 minutes.
My preferred method of making poached eggs is to cheat and make coddled eggs instead using a specialized pan like this. (Sorry for the Bezoar link, but it seemed fastest way to show instead of tell.) Mine only has two cups, and it turns out a perfect egg/eggs in just under three minutes.
Sounds weird, but sure, I'd try your balls.
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Tonight's dinner was just baked pork loin chops, carrots (frozen) in honey butter sauce, and applesauce (jarred).
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Unsweetened peppermint leaves, garlic, and onion would be great on lamb. Sort of Greekish.
Made sesame noodles tonight. Cellophane noodles, chopped scallions, tahini, sesame seeds toasted in frying pan, gloop or two of soy sauce, gloop or two of rice vinegar, and dash of sambal oelek (chili paste).
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I use specialized silicone cups to make poached eggs.