What did I cook this weekend.....

That's some tasty looking fried rice! What cut of pork? Looks like it might be ham or maybe lean belly?
Regards, GF.

 

No pics, but I did a chicken/smoked turkey soup last night. I had a roasted chicken carcass and a smoked turkey bone simmering all day to make stock. Smokiness of the turkey bone definitely made it into the final product.

 

Made a little tofu stirfry last night and topped it with a few Aidell's teriyaki-pineapple chicken meatballs. SWMBO had hers without meat and kids opted for just rice and meatballs. Everybody was happy!

 

Made this saucy pilaf yesterday for dinner. Didn't have any meat for it, but collards would've been perfect in it. We got a restaurant-size can of Angela Mi crushed tomatoes from the food bank that was more like a coarse puree with small chunks of tomato in it. Added 2TBSP of red pepper, 1tsp black pepper, sea salt & garlic butter paste from those small jars to simmer a bit. Then added about 2-3lbs of potatoes in a small dice with onions & a 1lb bag of brown rice. Then added cumin, two cans of blue lake green beans & two cans of corn. Stirred/simmered till done. It came out with this bright, tangy flavor. It would've matched perfectly with some burly cut collard greens if I had any. I gotta make this one again to go with bbq!

I'm wondering if that brand of crushed tomatoes had anything to do with that bright, slightly tangy flavor combining with the added ingredients? I could taste the flavor of the red pepper with just a little heat at the back of the throat. Kinda like adding a bit of vinegar without using any.

 

Had an unexpected snowstorm last night. Not a LOT of snow, but a lot of wind. Miserable.

So I made Chicken Corn Chowder.

 

That's just mouthwateringly goreous!! Well done!

 

It was smoked pork loin that I had in the freezer...

Was far too lazy to make traditional char siu.

 

No more cooking coming out of my kitchen for a while because yesterday I tore out the functional part of my kitchen. Here we go to a kitchen overhaul.
May God have mercy on my soul.

 

We gutted our kitchen about 9 years ago, right down to the studs and joists. Said yes to every possible trim and knob and feature. $$$! But it was worth it, we spend a lot of time in that kitchen.

We handed the keys to 3 different contractors and took the family on a vacation to San Francisco during the construction, so we missed a lot of it. What a surprise when we returned

Yep, good luck.

 

Good luck! Post up some pictures.

 

Hope it goes smoothly & quickly for you Melana. At least you've still got your grill.
Regards, GF.

 

Thanks guys. I'll post some pics soon.

 

Well, being my birthday today, wife is making me a pork center loin with some kinda sauce & lemon meringue pie. Hopefully with Seafoaming my car's intake/combustion chambers yesterday cleaned out enough carbon to pass e-check today as well. Last chance for that.

 

Happy birthday!

 

You know you're going to have to pull that head!


I got a couple of large chicken breasts. Leftovers from when I made chicken corn chowder, and now I have to use them up. What can I make?

I don't want it to be really time consuming because I have stuff to do, but something interesting would be nice.

Maybe chicken fajitas?

 

Chicken cacciatore? A little effort up front but then it just simmers. Seems like good food for the cold snap too.

 

Good luck with the car. Mmm mm! to the lemon meringue pie. And cheers and beers for the birthday!

 

Happy B-Day!
Regards, GF.

 

Over the weekend I made homemade cottage cheese for SessionableGoodness and his nanny-share buddies (does that count?)

For those with teeth I just whipped up a little salad, some ricearoni chicken rice and a simple seared and roasted pork loin (just spiced up with a little adobo, salt and pepper.

Nothing worth taking a picture of, but did its job nicely.

 

Just found out she's slow cooking it in some kind of southern bbq sauce. I had 9 ESB's left to put in the fridge a few days ago for later. Son called last night to cancel coming over with more beers. I hope I'll be celebrating the passing of that damn test later as well. At 59, I'm reminded of the Kinks "death of a clown". The old fortune teller lies dead on the floor, nobody needs fortunes told anymore. So let's all drink to the death of a clown, so won't someone help me to break up this crown...

 

I don't know. I'm not a big fan of wine in my recipes. I'd like to try it, but it doesn' seem like a bit of work for tonight. I' have things to do and wouldn't even want to cook if I didn't have chicken to use up.

In fact I have a whole chicken I have to get in a brine to be ready for a beer can chicken. My wife is not a fan and I hope brining will help it have more flavor and be more juicy for her.

She wanted chicken strips stuffed with jalenpenos and other goodies, and deep fried with batter, but we don't have a deep fryer anymore. I *could* use a pan full of oil, but then I'm back to spending a lot of time babysitting the cooking.

 

It's got wine, but Chicken Marsala is so easy. Besides the chicken, there's only 3 other ingredients:

Heavy cream
Marsala wine (no other kind!)
Mushrooms (LOTS of mushrooms).

Here's the recipe. I make a LOT more sauce than it calls for, and a LOT more mushrooms (it always looks like way too much, but they shrink so much in the pan).

http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/59/Chicken-Mushroom-Marsala

 

Yeah! I'll just pop down to my wine cellar and choose a nice Marsala from my abundant selection of fine wines...


Ok, sarcasm aside, I believe I made a chicken marsala once and did not care for it. Not sure though. It looks good, but then I don't' have marsala on hand anyway, so...

 

What if I just run home at lunch, slice it up, pop it in the slow cooker, and pour a bunch of BBQ sauce on top??

Pulled Chicken Sandwiches!

 

Made THIS last weekend, awesome chicken is all I can say.

 

Last night's dinner was Ricotta Buttermilk Hotcakes with Blueberry Compote! They were almost too fluffy! I of course, fell asleep right after we ate them, so am only now posting

 

Nothing special, but with hams on sale I grabbed a big one and basted it with honey, brown sugar and spices, then cranked up the broiler for a nice sweet crunch. It was a shame to trim off all that nice fat cap, but it just doesn't work as well with the glaze.

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Happy Birthday Union!

Homer - I love to put chicken breasts in the crockpot and throw in a jar of salsa. Red or green, whichever you like. Let it cook til you can shred them.

If you're feeling really industrious, after it's cooked and shredded you can add some sour cream and/or cheese to it. I like that dang Tostitos Salsa con Queso cheese sauce in a jar - adds nice flavor and creaminess.

 

Oh that sounds good! I ended up going home and throwing chucks into the slow cooker so it can cook until I get home. If I had seen you post before i left for lunch I would have done it with salsa. But then we don't have any right now either...

So I guess it's BBQ tonight.

I also got the whole chicken in a bag with brine. That can soak until tomorrow I guess. It was on sale for being the due date 2 days ago, so I had to get it going somehow!

 

Thanks temptd2. Gonna see how ESB goes with pork centerloin & southern style bbq sauce later.

 

I made some kind of hippie vegan salad thing. A Thai Quinoa something my wife found on Pinterest. What I want do for my wife! Thank god she brought home T-bones to go with it! Lol. (It's really pretty good)
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1427849565.896329.jpg

 

The pork loin cooked in that southern bbq sauce was interestingly counterpointed by the malty/bready ESB. I could taste both, but they seemed to go well together. Dang, I thought I was gunna bust!

 

Hey Union, think that would work with a rye IPA?
Regards, GF.

 

If your rye IPA has enough rye flavor, I think it'd go quite well in a German sort of way. Since ESB's typically have only a little balanced hop flavor (EKG in mine), The extra hops could well give a bit more counterpoint to the flavors. Like herbs & spices used in/on the meat.

 

LOL! I love quinoa AND Thai flavors - share the recipe purty please?

Hey as long as you have some MEAT to go with it, vegan isn't all bad.

 

Well said!!

At your request:

Thai Veggie Quinoa Bowls - Vicky Berman
Ingredients:
• ½ cup broccoli, finely diced
• ½ cup quinoa, cooked according to package directions
• ½ small red onion, diced
• ¼ cup grated carrots handful cilantro, chopped
• ¼ cup chopped green onions
• 2 tablespoons peanuts, chopped
For the Dressing:
• 1 lime, zest and juice
• 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
• 1 tablespoon gluten free tamari
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 inch piece of ginger, minced
Instructions:
1. In a large bowl toss cooked quinoa, broccoli, red onion, carots, cilantro, green onions and peanuts together. Mix until combined.
2. In a small bowl combine dressing ingredients. 3. Pour dressing over quinoa and mix until combined.

 

Curried pork chops, green beans, and a beer.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1428019491.161688.jpg

 

Travis, thanks for the recipe - that sounds really good! I'll probably add some chiffonade of Thai basil to it, and maybe a little splash of fish sauce. Never met a recipe I didn't think I could improve - which doesn't ALWAYS work out to the positive! LOL!

 

Chipotle Lime Tequila Shrimp and Orange Soy Glazed Scallops

I whipped up a marinade for the shrimp (tequila, lime, chipotle, cilantro, oil, garlic, etc, etc) and a glaze for the scallops (orange juice, soy, butter, etc, etc)

I knew they were done because my Maibock was empty. One of the skewers was for the Rudy's Sauce.



Yum



Cheers!

 

Mom wasn't home, so I made spaghetti and meatballs for my 17-yr old and me. Mom doesn't eat pasta.

Meatballs are veal & pork, sauce is standard plum tomato basil sauce, spaghetti is squid ink. Lots of leftover meatballs BTW