What Are You Eating Today?

[gmbteach]

I made a pot roast in my instant pot (not one of the name brand ones but works the same). I love that thing.

What I loved more was the gravy that came out of it. I got eccentric with the juice seasonings. Beef broth with lots of garlic, fresh ground pepper, a little seasoned salt, lots of Worcester sauce, and one of those small bottles of sauvignon blanc wine. After cooking the roast, the juice went into a pan for making the gravy, boiling and mixing in lots of beef gravy mix you get from any grocery store. Holy shit was it good. And enough left over to freeze a couple cups worth for later use.

I know it's not good for you but damn. No matter, I'll probably never be able to recreate it again.

That’s generally the way. Unless you right down exactly what you put in it, it’s hard to get it perfect!

 

[Rhea]

An old 70s recipe for us today.
Chicken (real for him, fake for me) dredged in flour and browned, then baked in a sauce of
- Cream of asparagus soup
- 1 tsp of vegetable boullion
- White wine
- Blue cheese
And fresh asparagus laid on top for the last 30 mins.

Hearty.

 

[Treedbear]

Yesterday we had salmon. She garnished with mustard, breadcrumbs and a few other ingredients. It was soooooo good I ate it skin and all just like a grizzly. The fillets were individually frozen which made things very easy, just defrost for a day in the fridge.

I'm probably killing the planet but buying a bag of frozen, wild-caught filets from Walmart is the cheapest option with salmon.

I picked up two 1-pound packs and have been trying some recipes. ... tasted very fishy. I was hoping that wouldn't be the case but I kind of expected that with frozen salmon. So I looked up what to do on the web. The usual remedy is to soak salmon in milk for an hour or so. Others say this didn't work but try soaking in salt/sugar solution and then dry rub with the same and wait an hour for liquid to ooze out. I tried the second one but still tasted fishy, even with quite a bit of lemon. ...

So I tried soaking one salmon fillet in some half-and-half (no milk in fridge) and it worked great! Hardly any fishy-ness! It wasn't like fresh though. It soaked up the milk like sponge. So I figured the only thing to do was dredge in bread crumbs and fry it with some salt, pepper, and onions. But it definitely tasted like salmon. A lot more flavor than my go-to swai or tilapia. Served along with a side of green beans and okra plus some rice with Japanese adzuki beans (from a can). I saw these on a Japanese cuisine show and wanted to compare them to the "small red beans" I used to add to my chili. They cost a lot more though. The chili is also coming along. The roasted poblanos didn't work out. If anything they detracted from the taste of the dried chili powders I've been using. But the beans worked well. They add some texture and flavor that goes well with corn tostados.

 

[gmbteach]

An old 70s recipe for us today.
Chicken (real for him, fake for me) dredged in flour and browned, then baked in a sauce of
- Cream of asparagus soup
- 1 tsp of vegetable boullion
- White wine
- Blue cheese
And fresh asparagus laid on top for the last 30 mins.

Hearty.

Yum! Except for the blue cheese.

 

[southernhybrid]

I made a pot roast in my instant pot (not one of the name brand ones but works the same). I love that thing.

What I loved more was the gravy that came out of it. I got eccentric with the juice seasonings. Beef broth with lots of garlic, fresh ground pepper, a little seasoned salt, lots of Worcester sauce, and one of those small bottles of sauvignon blanc wine. After cooking the roast, the juice went into a pan for making the gravy, boiling and mixing in lots of beef gravy mix you get from any grocery store. Holy shit was it good. And enough left over to freeze a couple cups worth for later use.

I know it's not good for you but damn. No matter, I'll probably never be able to recreate it again.

I think men must love those Instant Pots more than women, because my husband loves his, but other than organic baby back ribs, I've not liked anything else he's made in it. But, it may be that although I am not a vegan, I often prefer vegan food, and most of what he's made in the Instant Pot is red meat. I would eat most of my meals vegan but my GI tract and my poor iron absorption of non heme foods prevents it. I guess I was meant to be an omnivore. I think most of us do better as omnivores. I just limit my meat to small portions, no more than once a day.

Anyway, it was our anniversary on Friday and I was promised coconut shrimp but we didn't have enough shrimp to make it, so now that we've been to the grocery store, I will get my coconut shrimp with an orange apricot sauce tonight. It's my favorite thing in the world.

For lunch I had one of Amy's frozen vegan dinners. I love those things, but there are only a few of them that I can tolerate. Does anyone else like the Amy's vegan dinners?

 

[gmbteach]

I made a pot roast in my instant pot (not one of the name brand ones but works the same). I love that thing.

What I loved more was the gravy that came out of it. I got eccentric with the juice seasonings. Beef broth with lots of garlic, fresh ground pepper, a little seasoned salt, lots of Worcester sauce, and one of those small bottles of sauvignon blanc wine. After cooking the roast, the juice went into a pan for making the gravy, boiling and mixing in lots of beef gravy mix you get from any grocery store. Holy shit was it good. And enough left over to freeze a couple cups worth for later use.

I know it's not good for you but damn. No matter, I'll probably never be able to recreate it again.

I think men must love those Instant Pots more than women, because my husband loves his, but other than organic baby back ribs, I've not liked anything else he's made in it. But, it may be that although I am not a vegan, I often prefer vegan food, and most of what he's made in the Instant Pot is red meat. I would eat most of my meals vegan but my GI tract and my poor iron absorption of non heme foods prevents it. I guess I was meant to be an omnivore. I think most of us do better as omnivores. I just limit my meat to small portions, no more than once a day.

Anyway, it was our anniversary on Friday and I was promised coconut shrimp but we didn't have enough shrimp to make it, so now that we've been to the grocery store, I will get my coconut shrimp with an orange apricot sauce tonight. It's my favorite thing in the world.

For lunch I had one of Amy's frozen vegan dinners. I love those things, but there are only a few of them that I can tolerate. Does anyone else like the Amy's vegan dinners?

I, also, try to eat meat only once a day. I recently swapped red meat for salmon, snapper or Barra fillets. The only red meat I get now is ross5 pork in a Saturday, bog sauce, or occasional steak if I am out of fish. When we are out I might order a steak. I love chicken, but don’t eat it often now either.

I hear you on the frozen meal front. There are some I love, others not so. I stopped buying them due to cost. It was easier and cheaper to knock up a few salads at a time, and easier to store too.

I have taken to buying frozen mixed veg, and if my salad goes funny (once my avo went mouldy), I can put 200g in a bowl and nuke them and lunch is done!

 

[southernhybrid]

We used to eat fresh salmon at least once a week, but the fish counter isn't open at the time we've been going to the grocery store, so we haven't had it in months. We buy frozen shrimp and Ahi tuna. I confess that we spend most of our income on food these days but we're fortunate not to have a mortgage or any other debt, so what the heck. You can't take it with you, so we might as well eat good food as long as we can afford it.

 

[rousseau]

Cooked two dishes today. The first was my standard chili. Nothing much changed but I did try blanching the garlic completely as one would do in a pasta sauce. The recipe calls for the garlic to touch the pan, but the chili itself has a 45 minute cooking time, so instead of throwing the garlic in with the vegetables I added it with the crushed tomato and let the chili cook it. Still haven't tried it but I imagine the garlic will pull through nicely.

While the chili was cooking I did the prep work for a Minestrone Soup from The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. Unfortunately I didn't realize it had a three hour cooking time until after I started it so I was a bit rushed to have it ready for dinner. Definitely the first trial, but it turned out well.

 

[Rhea]

For lunch I had one of Amy's frozen vegan dinners. I love those things, but there are only a few of them that I can tolerate. Does anyone else like the Amy's vegan dinners?

I like to pot pies, the broccoli the best. And I’ve had the tofu scramble which I liked. I find for me the food has to be HOT and then it is delicious. Once it cools down it loses some of its appeal.

 

[Treedbear]

Dinner was another chili trial, this time with "small red beans". I soaked them for 7 hours and they were still hard. The canned adzuki beans tasted better and of course had better texture. They have a bit of natural sweetness to them, but whether that's worth the higher price is questionable.

Also got to test out a new equipment purchase. I needed something to chop up the roasted veggies for another chili recipe called Chili Verde con Cerdo (green chili with pork) that I got from Americas Test Kitchen. They toss the veg in a food processor, which I don't have, although I've considered getting one. What I ended up doing is researching hand-held immersion blenders. As always they all have horror stories in the Amazon reviews. But, again, ATK came through with a segment comparing them and their top choice was a Braun MultiQuick 5 because it had good ergonomics and effective speed settings. The one they tested just had normal and turbo, but during my search I discovered they also had a Multiquick 5 Vario that has a speed adjust dial on the end. The Amazon reviews are very reassuring, and BB&B had it for $56 with their coupon. The local store had one left so I picked it up yesterday. I'm very impressed I must say. Not only did it make quick work of the roasted veg, I also used it to blend some salad dressing. The head attachment cleans up quick by just rinsing it, running it in some soapy solution and rinse again. Replacement parts are on-line. I plan to keep it hanging next to my cutting board and see no further need to spend big bucks plus counter space on a food processor.



Chili Verde con Cerdo -
~4 pounds pork loin (or pork butt), trimmed of excess fat. Render the fat in a Dutch oven with some water and then remove the rendered bits. Salt the meat and place in fridge for an hour or so. Roast 2.5 pounds tomatillos, 5 halved poblanos, 1 large quartered onion, entire bulb of separated garlic cloves, and a halved jalapeno under the broiler. When well charred remove the pepper skins and seeds and puree to a salsa consistency.

Add to Dutch oven -
1 tsp Mexican oregano, 1 tsp cumin, 1/8 tsp cinnamon, pinch of ground cloves and cook ~30 sec until they bloom. Add pureed veg, 1 bay leaf, 2 tsp sugar, 1 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp salt, and all the pork. Cover and place in 320F oven for 1.5 to 2 hours until pork is fork tender.

Actually I made half the about recipe. Turned out pretty good. Not superb but it will be OK with a side of rice. A little too much salt and not enough heat. But it was easy enough. Or maybe I just don't like chili verde.

 

[Treedbear]

Learning to like the chili verde. I re-heated a portion for dinner tonight along with rice. Sensing that something was lacking I tried topping it with fresh chopped cilantro. That was actually part of the original ATK recipe, but I've never been a cilantro fan. But I'd bought some anyway. In my opinion it's what makes this recipe work! And it's best if sprinkled on fresh rather than stirring in prior to re-heating so it maintains it's pungency. Also tried it along with a corn tostado and I think that's the way to go instead of the rice. Actually it was very good and I'll be making it again, but this time I'll leave in the jalapeno seeds for a little kick. And I should really cut back on the salt. The recipe called for 1 tsp. plus 3 more to season the pork before it goes into the fridge. Considering that I only got 3 portions out of a half-recipe that's over my dietary budget.

 

[Keith&Co.]

Stew, and savory buns from the official D&D cookbook.

The buns are like cinnamon rolls, but the filling is minced mushrooms, shallots, parmesan. The bread pretty basic dou[TWEET][/TWEET]gh, mixed with shredded gruyere.

Stew of beef broth, stew meat, onions, carrots, potatoes, ale. Ale shows up in a lot of the recipes in this book, esp. the section of Dwarf cooking.

 

[Angry Floof]

Made a pot of chicken and rice soup but somehow way oversalted it. I've made a million soups and stews and made a lot of mistakes but never oversalted. If anything, I under-salt bc salt can be added later to preference or diet need. No idea what I was thinking. So I set it to simmer and condense down and then added unsalted broth and water, twice. That seems to have done the trick and no worse for wear other than mushy overcooked carrots, which, who cares.

The buns are like cinnamon rolls, but the filling is minced mushrooms, shallots, parmesan. The bread pretty basic dough, mixed with shredded gruyere.

I must have this cookbook!

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

Making sourdough bread tomorrow so had to feed the starter. This means I also I got to make a stovetop breadcake with almond butter and maple syrup from the old starter. Kinda like a giant pancake only chewy like sourdough bread.

 

[gmbteach]

Made a pot of chicken and rice soup but somehow way oversalted it. I've made a million soups and stews and made a lot of mistakes but never oversalted. If anything, I under-salt bc salt can be added later to preference or diet need. No idea what I was thinking. So I set it to simmer and condense down and then added unsalted broth and water, twice. That seems to have done the trick and no worse for wear other than mushy overcooked carrots, which, who cares.

The buns are like cinnamon rolls, but the filling is minced mushrooms, shallots, parmesan. The bread pretty basic dough, mixed with shredded gruyere.

View attachment 31468

I must have this cookbook!

To correct over salting, chuck in a couple of peeled potatoes.

 

[Treedbear]

Yesterday we had salmon. She garnished with mustard, breadcrumbs and a few other ingredients. It was soooooo good I ate it skin and all just like a grizzly. The fillets were individually frozen which made things very easy, just defrost for a day in the fridge.

I'm probably killing the planet but buying a bag of frozen, wild-caught filets from Walmart is the cheapest option with salmon.

I picked up two 1-pound packs and have been trying some recipes. ... tasted very fishy. I was hoping that wouldn't be the case but I kind of expected that with frozen salmon. So I looked up what to do on the web. The usual remedy is to soak salmon in milk for an hour or so. Others say this didn't work but try soaking in salt/sugar solution and then dry rub with the same and wait an hour for liquid to ooze out. I tried the second one but still tasted fishy, even with quite a bit of lemon. ...

So I tried soaking one salmon fillet in some half-and-half (no milk in fridge) and it worked great! Hardly any fishy-ness! It wasn't like fresh though. It soaked up the milk like sponge. So I figured the only thing to do was dredge in bread crumbs and fry it with some salt, pepper, and onions. But it definitely tasted like salmon. A lot more flavor than my go-to swai or tilapia. ...

Have to thank TGGMoogley again for the tip on Walmart salmon. Made it again tonight along with rice and broccoli plus sautéed onion and zucchini. I mean, the salmon tasted really good! Almost like it was grilled with a little Worcestershire. But I just used salt and black pepper and it was sooo tasty. Very savory and absolutely no fishy taste after I soaked for 1 hr. in half and half and then coated with plain old store bought bread crumbs. It didn't even take much of the H&H. I just cut open the plastic envelope, added a little H&H, used a clothes pin to clip it to the inside of a sauce pan, and filled the pan with water to force the extra air out of the bag. Easy and fried up quick in a cast iron skillet.

 

[rousseau]

Today I made a large amount of coleslaw from cabbage leftover from the soup last weekend. Half in the freezer, half in the fridge. I'm realizing that the dressing for coleslaw is pretty forgiving, I quickly threw together mayo, Dijon mustard, and white vinegar and it turned out well.

For dinner I threw together a little tomato sauce / shrimp concoction. A few cloves of garlic, red pepper flakes, and the shrimp directly on the pan for two minutes, then added a small amount of bottled tomato sauce and simmered for eight minutes. We topped it with grated parmesan also left over from last weekend.

After making a few tomato sauces from scratch over the summer I'm appreciating bottled sauce more and more, so much easier. But I've started thinking of them as a base and adding seasoning, rather than treating them as the sauce for our meals.

 

[rousseau]

So I tried soaking one salmon fillet in some half-and-half (no milk in fridge) and it worked great! Hardly any fishy-ness! It wasn't like fresh though. It soaked up the milk like sponge. So I figured the only thing to do was dredge in bread crumbs and fry it with some salt, pepper, and onions. But it definitely tasted like salmon. A lot more flavor than my go-to swai or tilapia. ...

Have to thank TGGMoogley again for the tip on Walmart salmon. Made it again tonight along with rice and broccoli plus sautéed onion and zucchini. I mean, the salmon tasted really good! Almost like it was grilled with a little Worcestershire. But I just used salt and black pepper and it was sooo tasty. Very savory and absolutely no fishy taste after I soaked for 1 hr. in half and half and then coated with plain old store bought bread crumbs. It didn't even take much of the H&H. I just cut open the plastic envelope, added a little H&H, used a clothes pin to clip it to the inside of a sauce pan, and filled the pan with water to force the extra air out of the bag. Easy and fried up quick in a cast iron skillet.

View attachment 31547

For whatever reason we've started enjoying most of our fish without much seasoning, or anything really. We bake salmon in our toaster oven at 375 for about 10 - 15 minutes and eat as is, maybe a little dipping sauce. If you keep an eye on it I find baking retains the moisture of salmon a little better than pan-frying. I aim for a pale, translucent pink in the middle.

 

[Treedbear]

Today I made a large amount of coleslaw from cabbage leftover from the soup last weekend. Half in the freezer, half in the fridge. I'm realizing that the dressing for coleslaw is pretty forgiving, I quickly threw together mayo, Dijon mustard, and white vinegar and it turned out well.

For dinner I threw together a little tomato sauce / shrimp concoction. A few cloves of garlic, red pepper flakes, and the shrimp directly on the pan for two minutes, then added a small amount of bottled tomato sauce and simmered for eight minutes. We topped it with grated parmesan also left over from last weekend.

After making a few tomato sauces from scratch over the summer I'm appreciating bottled sauce more and more, so much easier. But I've started thinking of them as a base and adding seasoning, rather than treating them as the sauce for our meals.

FWIW I find hummus gives the same effect as mayo and adds a touch of sesame flavor. I usually have a big salad with dinner, and I like a creamy dressing so I started using low-fat mayo along with the vinegar, olive oil, garlic, and herbs. My cholesterol was up a bit last month and so I was looking to cut out the mayo. Also discovered it's great on bread or toast instead of margarine, especially the roasted garlic variety.

...
For whatever reason we've started enjoying most of our fish without much seasoning, or anything really. We bake salmon in our toaster oven at 375 for about 10 - 15 minutes and eat as is, maybe a little dipping sauce. If you keep an eye on it I find baking retains the moisture of salmon a little better than pan-frying. I aim for a pale, translucent pink in the middle.

Yeah, I usually over-cook when I pan fry fish, but somehow it turned out moist, although not pink, this time. (These fillets are pretty thin and usually less than 1/3 pound each.) But it might have been due to all the half & half it absorbed. Tasted great. I'm thinking that switching from a non-stick aluminum pan to a cast iron skillet might have had something to do with that.

I've been looking into replacing my old cookware with induction compatible which means multi-clad stainless steel and/or cast iron. Good multi-clad is expensive, and cast iron requires lots of care. But if done right it's supposed to be virtually non-stick.

 

[gmbteach]

Roast pork again today. Was going to make it yesterday, but plans went astray and I needed to cook the salmon yesterday instead.

In the meantime, I used up some very ripe bananas.



A bit dry, I think, because I cooked them for 21-22 minutes and not 20. I forgot to set a timer for a minute or so.