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For the northern beans and ham, dried beans or canned? Sounds tasty.The great northern beans are pretty thin-skinned, so I don't even need to presoak them. I just dump a cup of dried beans into a pot with 4 cups of water, a cup of low-sodium chicken stock, 4 oz of diced ham, a large diced yellow onion, and some kosher salt and black pepper. Lid it up and bring it to a boil, then drop it to a rapid simmer for 45 minutes, then stir thoroughly, and drop to a regular simmer. Check back every 35-45 minutes or so, stirring with every check, and adding a 1/3 to 1/2 cup of water or so as needed to replace from evaporation. The beans are typically done in 3 hours.
Awesome. I've been wanting to eat more grains and legumes and doing stuff like cooking a big(ish, relative to what I can eat in a few days without going crazy) pot of beans and another of rice (or whatnot) and then recycling them into different meals through the week. (So could be rice and beans alone, but could also put them in soups or chili or whatever.) I usually eat canned beans so I am never quite sure what to do with dried or what kind of dried to get.
Speaking of I did make some canned black beans with onions, garlic, and adobo; rice seasoned with some sazon; and TJ's frozen chicken mole. Topped some of that with fresh chopped tomatoes. I underseasoned the rice but it balanced out with the salt in the frozen chicken.
I used up the leftover beans tonight in nachos I made for dinner. What, I am too an adult and I can eat what I want for dinner.
I need to finally stop by my local Trader Joe's. It's been open over a year now, but that shopping center across town is a pain to get into and out of trafficwise. (While I'm over there, I also need to find time to finally visit the Sprouts that's been open 7-8 months now.)
For tonight's dinner, I've already got a big batch of chuck short ribs slow-braising since 11am. We still have a little salad left over; Dad enjoys it, but he eats only tiny portions of it because the doctor's keep harping on his vitamin K levels (which is really dumb, because he's been doing a stellar job of keeping to his INR/clotting factor targets while sticking rigidly to his diet restrictions). I need to start peeling & cubing potatoes for mashed whipped potatoes, but my energy is already waning. Ugh, fine, I'll start prepping them in an hour then.
At least I got yesterday's center-cut pork chops split up and in the freezer. And I finally remembered to give the cats their "tuna stuffing" (slightly stale slice of bread torn up with canned tuna juice poured over the top) that's been in the fridge three days.
For tonight's dinner, I've already got a big batch of chuck short ribs slow-braising since 11am. We still have a little salad left over; Dad enjoys it, but he eats only tiny portions of it because the doctor's keep harping on his vitamin K levels (which is really dumb, because he's been doing a stellar job of keeping to his INR/clotting factor targets while sticking rigidly to his diet restrictions). I need to start peeling & cubing potatoes for mashed whipped potatoes, but my energy is already waning. Ugh, fine, I'll start prepping them in an hour then.
Leftovers tonight. Didn't have any citrus juice for a marinade, so the beef ribs were just seasoned with Montreal chicken seasoning, then braised in reduced beef stock with chopped onion, some Worcestershire sauce, and a little balsamic glaze. Pretty good, but it might be missing something and I don't know what. Thickened the cooking liquid with cornstarch and served with whipped russets.
Sister told Dad this afternoon he's invited to belated Father's Day dinner tomorrow at their place for beef roast. If she'd given me a heads up, I wouldn't have made beef ribs, but oh well. I wasn't invited tomorrow, so I'll scrounge something here, maybe chicken ramen & grilled cheese.
I need to finally stop by my local Trader Joe's. It's been open over a year now, but that shopping center across town is a pain to get into and out of trafficwise.
I don't know what it is, but it seems like part of the Trader Joe's brand is to be located in the worst, most dangerous parking lots in a given region. Both Trader Joe's in my area are like this, including one that moved from one awful shopping plaza to another. But I've also seen this in other areas, from Pennsylvania to Minneapolis/St Paul. It's bizarre.
Hot dogs on Thursday, Pizza on Friday (the bases were supposed to be made with excess sourdough starter, but it went off, so they had to be shop-bought), Hamod with kibbeh today. The kibbeh (meatball-stuffed meatballs, in this iteration) were a bit of a pain in the neck to make, but worth it; the soup was very easy, and the combination of lemon, mint, and potatoes make it a very good soup for heatwaves, which is not a phrase you hear very often.
Dinner Monday was just cheeseburgers and potato chips, and Tuesday was frozen turkey pot pies with (from frozen) biscuits. Dinner last night (Wednesday) was lightly-fried spam, boxed Guinness (original version) mac & cheese, and potato chips again. The Guinness mac & cheese was very good for a one box mac & cheese kit, without the prominent harshness found in other brands of boxed cheddar mac & cheese and had a nice subtle umami boost, though if you'd not seen the box you probably wouldn't identify as Guinness or even beer-y. While I do like it, it was $2.99 on special, so it'll be normally out of the budget range for me to pick up in the future.
Got a late start defrosting the chicken for dinner tonight, so it'll just be something stupidly simple. I'll season the chicken in Montreal chicken seasoning blend, brown it, then finish it slow braising in the oven. I'll make a small batch of rice for me in the rice cooker, and oven-bake a russet potato for Dad.
I was instead going to make some version of arroz con pollo for the first time, but I found too many numerous different regional varieties to choose from, so I need time to review and bodge together a recipe for a first attempt. Dad hates strongly dislikes rice, so the only time Mom made chicken & rice while we kids were growing up was to cook up leftover chicken parts (backbone & bones in a cheesecloth to be discarded, plus skin, gizzards, liver, etc for consumption) with rice for our housecats to stretch out their dry kibble. And that was only seasoned with salt and carrots or peas, as stuff like garlic and onion is toxic to cats.
...Dinner last night (Wednesday) was lightly-fried spam, boxed Guinness (original version) mac & cheese, and potato chips again. The Guinness mac & cheese was very good for a one box mac & cheese kit, without the prominent harshness found in other brands of boxed cheddar mac & cheese and had a nice subtle umami boost, though if you'd not seen the box you probably wouldn't identify as Guinness or even beer-y. While I do like it, it was $2.99 on special, so it'll be normally out of the budget range for me to pick up in the future.
Oops, tried to edit this, but site was briefly down. I forgot that I also hard-boiled some eggs with dinner. Dad likes them, even though I didn't devil them, and when he comes in from puttering around outside in this heat he often prefers something cold/cooling for a light lunch.
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Now I will forever have an image in my mind of Freehold busting through a door wearing both a Wisconsin Cheese hat and a red inquisition hat.
...I can do BOTH?!
What I wouldn't give for a Trader Joe's that magically is connected to all other Trader Joes so we could all meet and shop together.
What I wouldn't give for a Trader Joe's that magically is connected to all other Trader Joes so we could all meet and shop together.
Callahan's Crosstime Trader Joes?