So what are you cooking

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7eight9
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by 7eight9 »

Fire chicken with cheese (Cheese buldak: 치즈불닭)

I don't remember where I first read about this dish, but I thought it sounded real good. I had it in Tokyo and it met my expectations.
Most of the ingredients are ones that you can find at your local grocery (even Kroger carries Gochujang where I live). If you can't find mochi rice cakes you could substitute diced golden potatoes, udon noodles (cut up) or even penne or rigatoni.

This recipe is good and simple --- https://omnivorescookbook.com/korean-fire-chicken/
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Spirit Rider
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by Spirit Rider »

With the exception of the last two posts, this thread has almost gone comatose for the last two months. I guess everybody has been outside, cooked themselves out or into a prolonged food coma. Only recently starting to dabble in moving out of my comfort zone, I started to experiment with making dishes from my history. In the spirit of the food coma reference, I remembered this pulled pork stuffed cornbread from my navy days in the south.

45 years ago I was stationed at Dam Neck Naval Base, 5 miles south of Virginia Beach and close to the NC border. Most of the guys would head into VA Beach to spend all their money on wine, women and song, but a few of us found this hole in the wall diner just across the border (not that we didn't spend most of our money on beer, babes and rock & roll). The diner regulars were a little cold to us "Yankees" (we were all from the North) at first, but a after a few visits we were part of the "family". The Husband, wife and daughter served the most inexpensive and best comfort food ever.

I'm diabetic so I made a low sugar BBQ sauce for the pulled pork and used 1/2 the sugar for the cornbread. Instead of making them as muffins as is fashion now, I made them the way I remembered from the diner in a small bread loaf pan. A layer of cornbread batter, a layer of pulled pork and a top layer of cornbread batter. Then I made a mayo/sugar free coleslaw (more of a colesalad) with red cabbage, carrots, garlic, Jalapeños, cilantro, olive oil and ACV. Break open the pulled pork onto the coleslaw and dribble with the BBQ sauce.

Heaven and my blood glucose was even < 200 four hours later. Maybe a bit high, but we won't tell the DR. Sometimes, you just have to live a little and go off the regimen once in a while.
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Doom&Gloom
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by Doom&Gloom »

^^^
Good grief! That sounds great!
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Skeeter1
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by Skeeter1 »

So the other night I prepared langostino's in a red wine reduction.
I started with Ghee (clarified butter) in a saucepan. While that was warming up, I finely sliced one shallot and chopped finely 3 garlic cloves. I then added those ingredients into the sauce pan and sauteed them gently. I grabbed a bottle of previously opened pinot noir wine and put about 4-6 ounces of wine in the mixture. As if that was not enough, I added a couple of pats of Irish butter for flavor.
As the mixture bounced around happily and reached a temperature around 165 degrees, I added about a 3/4's of a pound of langostino's into the party. A minute or two later after stirring continuously, the meal was ready and the wifey loved it. Mission accomplished.
I have some of the sauce left over which I will use somehow in the future.
michaeljc70
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by michaeljc70 »

This summer we've really made a lot of "salads". We don't love a lot of lettuce and we don't like heavy mayo type salads. Last nights was grilled Yukon gold potatoes halved (par cooked), grilled yellow/orange bell pepper, halved cherry tomatoes with a dressing of whole grain mustard, extra virgin olive oil, capers with a little of the brine and lemon juice. It was really delicious considering it didn't have the shallot/garlic/onion/herbs I typically put in these salads.

Generally, I pick a grain or pasta as the base. These can be farro, rice, freekah, orzo, couscous, etc. Then I add a combination of grilled and non-cooked veggies (well, I know tomato is a fruit). These can be cherry tomatoes, asparagus, grilled corn, cucumber, bell pepper, etc. The dressing is your typical acid + olive oil sometimes with a shallot, garlic and/or fresh herbs. Sometimes I add in cheese like blue cheese or feta. Most of these variations are good cold or room temp the next day.

We typically eat these with a grilled meat.
InMyDreams
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by InMyDreams »

Tomatoes are on.
Gazpacho -
Tomatoes, onion, garlic, EVOO, sherry vinegar, slice of sourdough, salt if using - into the blender.
If you can, let it mellow overnight or longer.
Serve cold with garnish as desired: croutons, chopped cukes, peppers, onions
I've also been putting a freshly diced (finely) tomato to the bottom of the bowl before adding the gazpacho.

Yum.

Uses up a lot of tomatoes at once, and also stale bread.
Mudpuppy
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by Mudpuppy »

I've made one further iteration on my very Americanized butter chicken recipe, essentially eliminated the marinade step because I forgot to marinade the chicken and I really wanted it for dinner the other night. I still need to dial up the heat a little bit, so I'll use more curry powder the next time, but it was so much quicker and simpler this way that I'll probably skip the marinade going forward. I need to order more chicken thighs for the next batch though.
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Orbuculum Nongata
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by Orbuculum Nongata »

I just smoked a rack of cherry/post oak beef short ribs which we served with fresh sweet corn and black diamond watermelon.
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LadyGeek
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by LadyGeek »

I was wondering what to do with my homegrown tomatoes and cucumbers that I just harvested from my garden. Thanks to the previous ideas, I just made a marinated cucumber, tomato, and onion salad.

The marinade is an Italian dressing mix made with extra-virgin olive oil and apple-cider vinegar (what I have on the shelf).

The online recipes use water, vinegar, and vegetable oil for the marinade, but I couldn't bring myself to using vegetable oil as a marinade. I also left out the sugar.
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Mudpuppy
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by Mudpuppy »

A few nights ago, I decided to switch to working on an oven-baked chicken fajita recipe, since I'm finally happy with my quick butter chicken recipe and I had the bottle of ancho chili powder left from that culinary experiment. Surprisingly, the first attempt at the fajitas was a pretty good blend of flavors and ease of cooking. I don't think I'll need to do much different the next time, except move to a larger casserole dish as it barely all fit in the one I used.

I went for the lazy route with pre-sliced bell peppers, onions, zucchini, and yellow squash from the grocery store. I tossed that with a pound of cut chicken, a couple tablespoons of olive oil (just eyeballed it instead of measuring), a couple tablespoons TEAspoons of ancho, a heaping teaspoon of hot paprika, and a little bit of powdered garlic and onion. I put it all in a casserole dish in the oven at 400F for about 45-50 minutes, and stirred once midway just to keep everything evenly coated in the juices. It was a nice fajita flavor, and it's easy enough to punch up the heat with more ancho or a dash of cayenne the next time.

Edit: Just noticed I made the old tablespoons vs teaspoons typo.... which is not what you want to do with chili pepper.
Last edited by Mudpuppy on Fri Sep 11, 2020 8:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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LadyGeek
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by LadyGeek »

I had a strong hankering for mushrooms, but wanted meatloaf. I ended up with Mushroom Meatloaf with Mushroom Gravy.

You need to watch the video, as the cooking time is closer to 1:15 (1 hour + 15 minutes). I went by temperature, 160 deg F, which took about 1:10.

- My meat was ground beef sirloin
- For "finely chopped" mushrooms, I used the food processor.
- The chef used a loaf pan. That means bread loaf pan and it fit just fine in my toaster oven.

- The chef also cautions about taking it out of the pan. Since I used a bread pan, I had gotten into the habit of turning the pan upside down and whacking it onto a cutting board. Without thinking, I did the same for the meatloaf. Oops. I now I had a lumpy pile of meatloaf on my cutting board. :D

As for the gravy (sauce), I didn't trust using 1.5 lb. of mushrooms for so little stock. It might have worked, but I went with Chef John's Mushroom Gravy It's simple and uses 32 oz. of beef stock - what I had on-hand. I boiled down the liquid until it was somewhat thick.

The meatloaf by itself was OK. What made this dish was the homemade mushroom gravy.

I also made a mac-n-cheese side dish, adding diced onions when I mixed it with the cheese sauce.
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wallygator
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by wallygator »

Too Funny had a hankering for meatloaf and haven't made it in 10 years.

Tried this and it was amazing. Never imagined in a crock pot you could do meat loaf. It was like butter and the sauce was delish.

https://www.thechunkychef.com/the-best- ... -meatloaf/

Good luck,

Wally
vested1
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by vested1 »

I do most of the cooking but lately we've been in a rut with the same 10 dinners or so. We signed up for Hello Fresh a month ago, which sends ingredients of 3 meals of our choice each week (2 servings). It works out to about $10 a serving delivered and the meals have been good to excellent. The bonus is that we keep the recipes, so we'll eventually cancel the service and simply make them ourselves.

We had blackened barramundi with mango salsa, rice, and baked green beans last night. Tonight it's Tuscan pork sausage and pepper spaghetti.
csm
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by csm »

LadyGeek wrote: Fri Sep 11, 2020 7:14 pm I had a strong hankering for mushrooms, but wanted meatloaf. I ended up with Mushroom Meatloaf with Mushroom Gravy.
That looks excellent. I like mushrooms and use them in a lot of recipes, but I haven't made meatloaf in maybe 20 years, just never think about it. I think I'll try this with one of the packages of grass-fed ground beef I recently got from Butcher Box.
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by LadyGeek »

^^^ After eating mushroom meatloaf for a few days (leftovers...), I'm less than impressed. I love both, but maybe not combined into a single recipe.

I've never been disappointed with simplicity. A basic meatloaf recipe made with good quality ingredients will taste just fine.
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InMyDreams
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by InMyDreams »

InMyDreams wrote: Wed Sep 30, 2020 3:44 pm OK, that ketchup recipe didn't turn out.

Anyone have a successful recipe that they can share?
LadyGeek wrote: Wed Sep 30, 2020 6:05 pm I recommend asking your question here: So what are you cooking
So, does anyone else have a ketchup recipe they like? I based my efforts on this one from Eating Well

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipe/266213 ... -tomatoes/

but I don't have Romas, and I had more like 4.5 pounds of tomatoes to process.

It's better now that it's cooled, but it stll ain't right.
Thegame14
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by Thegame14 »

Very easy buy always a HUGE hit, LASAGNA, get the large noodles, large can or puree two small cans of paste plus one can of water for each, then add in salt, pepper, Italian spices, and some ground beef, salt, pepper, pinch of sugar and red pepper flakes, let it simmer for at least 4 hourn. Then take 8-16 ounces of shredded Mozzarella, I use part skim, a large can of ricotta, also part skim mix them with two eggs and pepper.

then in tray, sauce on bottom, layer of noodles, layer of ricotta/moz mixture, noodles, layer of meat sauce, repeat, then top layer is meat sauce and then Parmesan cheese sprinkled liberally on top. Bake at 375 for 45minutes-1 hour
nptit
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by nptit »

homemade tortilla, pumpkin bread, potato bread, spring roll, homemade pasta, dumpling, buns, sushi, bagel, pizza and etc. We tried to eat less processed food and tried to make food at home as much as possible
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by LadyGeek »

Baked monkfish in the toaster oven with sliced lemon. After the fish was done, I topped it with a chopped olive paste (green olives, garlic, olive oil).

Cheesy polenta. The recipe called for parmesan, but I bought the wrong cheese and used pecorino romano instead. Not bad, the cheese wasn't that strong.
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Orbuculum Nongata
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by Orbuculum Nongata »

LadyGeek wrote: Mon Sep 14, 2020 12:22 pm A basic meatloaf recipe made with good quality ingredients will taste just fine.
+1
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shariq1989
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by shariq1989 »

Mushroom tofu stir fry
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LadyGeek
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by LadyGeek »

Stir fry of beef tenderloin tips and onions over black rice.
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by LadyGeek »

Tuna casserole.
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7eight9
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by 7eight9 »

Cream stew. Similar to chicken pot pie without the pie.

An idea simmering for centuries: Japanese 'white stew'
When a Japanese person hears the word “stew,” the dish they’re likely to think of is a concoction of stewed vegetables and chicken (occasionally pork or seafood) in a creamy white sauce. Called “cream stew” or “white stew” this is a typical yōshoku dish: one with ingredients that have European-Western roots, but which is uniquely Japanese.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2015/ ... hite-stew/

Midnight Diner (Netflix) Season 2 Episode 6 --- the featured dish is cream stew.
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7eight9
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by 7eight9 »

Spaghetti all'Assassina

The dish to die for. Never heard of it before. Youtuber Pasta Grammar (https://www.pastagrammar.com/) cooked it. That was our introduction to it.
Their rendition inspired me to try. My pasta came out a bit more broken (smaller pan - stainless vs. cast iron - plus I broke it in half to start). Overall I would cook it again. A really tasty (if albeit a bit time consuming (think making risotto only with pasta) dish.
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ROIGuy
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by ROIGuy »

I make a purple potato hash, you can also use sweet potatoes. I cut up a couple large potatoes and cook them in an iron skillet with coconut oil on the bottom. After the potatoes soften a little (5-7 minutes) I sprinkle Turmeric and Garlic powder on them (generously), and stir up the potatoes. Then I add a large cut up pepper (usually red, orange or yellow), some cut up onions (sweet or red) and some fresh garlic cloves chopped up). Cover up to keep the steam in and stir occasionally. It's great with eggs or egg whites in the morning.
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by LadyGeek »

Stir fry of sliced mushrooms, onions, and Italian sausage (already cooked) over rice.

I wanted more mushroom flavor and stirred in a can of Campbell's Golden Mushroom soup. It wasn't the flavor I was looking for, but it works.
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Skeeter1
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by Skeeter1 »

Nice. DW and I have rediscovered the joy and simplicity of crock pot cooking. It is only the two of us so we adjust the portions to 4 servings which is two meals so that we do not get burnt out.

Last night we made "crack" chicken with a pound of chicken breasts, 16oz. of cream cheese and 8oz. of chedder cheese. After 6 hours on a low setting the breasts shredded beautifully and we continued to cook it for one more hour. During that time, I slow fried 8 strips of bacon to a golden brown until most of the fat was gone, but not the flavor and let it cool. Then i finely sliced up 4 scallions for an additional garnish. The bacon crumbled without having to cut it up because of the low and slow frying process.

We portioned out a small bowl each and added the crisp bacon and scallions on top. Very yummy and satisfying.

We follow a keto type meal plan, so while this is perfect for us, it maybe a bit rich for others, but maybe nice treat in those winter months.
We also made a great jambalaya this week and a Chinese chicken recipe.

We leave the remaining portion to cool in the refrigerator while still in the crock pot. This allows for no cleanup of the pot that night and an easy way to reheat the following day by placing the crock back in and putting on a warm setting for a few hours.
Easy, brezzy and yummy. Enjoy :happy
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LadyGeek
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by LadyGeek »

Thanks! I never heard of crack chicken. I also like crock pot cooking, but took a hiatus during the warm weather. That will change this week. Crack chicken is first on my list.
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Skeeter1
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by Skeeter1 »

I believe the term "crack" is a play on words to indicate that once you try it that you will be 'addicted".This is the recipe that we used.

https://diethood.com/slow-cooker-crack-chicken/

Beware it is quite rich, but it only takes a little..lol..

Enjoy.
Mudpuppy
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by Mudpuppy »

My batch of chicken cacciatore that I made Friday night came out super-tasty, but as is the bane of amateur cooks everywhere, I'm not quite sure what I did differently this time. Variables that I do know: I added a little more olive oil and I opened a new jar of dried basil. I suspect it was both combined, as this dried basil had a great smell, but the great taste was a little more towards the olive oil side of things. Perhaps I need to make basil-infused olive oil for this recipe in the future.
TresBelle65
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by TresBelle65 »

Hangtown fry

Cioppino
jello_nailer
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by jello_nailer »

Parmesan and Panko Crusted Baked Tilapia, Saffron Basmati Rice, and Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta.

^+1 for the Chicken Cacciatore, jeez I love that stuff when it's made right.
7eight9
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by 7eight9 »

Osso Buco. Beef shanks were $2.29/# at Cardenas Market today so I couldn't resist. Ate it with egg noodles. Tomorrow with mashed potatoes. Polenta or risotto would be more appropriate.
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Ktndlx
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by Ktndlx »

Sarma (Cabbage rolls). Have not made them in years. They were the perfect meal for a cold, rainy day. A bit labor intensive and enough to feed army but freeze well and can be used to make an awesome soup.
Wannaretireearly
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by Wannaretireearly »

Mudpuppy wrote: Sat Jun 13, 2020 12:10 pm I tried making butter chicken for the first time the other night. The heat level was correct, but it was rather bland. I think the red pepper powder I used had more heat than flavor. I'll need to look for a different variety for next time. I also had only powdered ginger on hand instead of fresh, and that likely made a difference. It's all lessons to file away for the next batch.
Here's a great n easy butter chicken recipe. Delicious & quick in the instapot:
https://twosleevers.com/instant-pot-butter-chicken/

For something a bit more adventurous, we tried a whole tandoori chicken in the instapot this week. Was good!
https://ministryofcurry.com/instant-pot ... i-chicken/
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Mudpuppy
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by Mudpuppy »

Wannaretireearly wrote: Sun Dec 13, 2020 11:40 pm
Mudpuppy wrote: Sat Jun 13, 2020 12:10 pm I tried making butter chicken for the first time the other night. The heat level was correct, but it was rather bland. I think the red pepper powder I used had more heat than flavor. I'll need to look for a different variety for next time. I also had only powdered ginger on hand instead of fresh, and that likely made a difference. It's all lessons to file away for the next batch.
Here's a great n easy butter chicken recipe. Delicious & quick in the instapot:
https://twosleevers.com/instant-pot-butter-chicken/

For something a bit more adventurous, we tried a whole tandoori chicken in the instapot this week. Was good!
https://ministryofcurry.com/instant-pot ... i-chicken/
Thanks for the recipes. My local store had Hungarian Hot Paprika on curbside pickup a while back, and I've found that's a great paprika to use to bring out both the heat and flavor. I'm using it for both butter chicken and oven-roasted chicken "fajitas" (not truly fajitas without the grilling, but same basic ingredients). I've already gone through one small bottle.

I guess I should find some Hungarian dishes to try, but that will have to wait until Q1 when work quiets down a little bit. Working 10-12 hour days, plus half days on the weekend doesn't leave much time for culinary experiments.
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by InMyDreams »

Wannaretireearly wrote: Sun Dec 13, 2020 11:40 pm For something a bit more adventurous, we tried a whole tandoori chicken in the instapot this week. Was good!
https://ministryofcurry.com/instant-pot ... i-chicken/
Well, the idea of tandoori chicken (or naan) in an instant pot seems ... oxymoronic? Yes, I imagine it tastes good, but a tandoor is a specific type of clay oven.

The hole in the ground in the upper left hand corner is a tandoor
http://www.motimahalgroup.com/gallery.php

The chicken is put on spits and lowered into the oven (wood fired) to roast, and the naan is put along the oven walls to cook.

Ahh, the good ol' days.

Moti Mahal provided food for the India Paviliion in the 1964 World's Fair
more about tandoor ovens
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandoori_chicken
with pix at bottom
Wannaretireearly
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by Wannaretireearly »

InMyDreams wrote: Mon Dec 14, 2020 3:53 pm
Wannaretireearly wrote: Sun Dec 13, 2020 11:40 pm For something a bit more adventurous, we tried a whole tandoori chicken in the instapot this week. Was good!
https://ministryofcurry.com/instant-pot ... i-chicken/
Well, the idea of tandoori chicken (or naan) in an instant pot seems ... oxymoronic? Yes, I imagine it tastes good, but a tandoor is a specific type of clay oven.

The hole in the ground in the upper left hand corner is a tandoor
http://www.motimahalgroup.com/gallery.php

The chicken is put on spits and lowered into the oven (wood fired) to roast, and the naan is put along the oven walls to cook.

Ahh, the good ol' days.

Moti Mahal provided food for the India Paviliion in the 1964 World's Fair
more about tandoor ovens
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandoori_chicken
with pix at bottom
Yep, know what a tandoor is. Wish I had one. Best I can do is my weber grill. If you have an instapot I'd encourage you to try the recipes. Very quick and surprisingly good results. Especially for the butter chicken recipe
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TierArtz
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by TierArtz »

I bought a Yoder Smoker pellet grill. In the last couple of weeks I used it to make:
Smoked spatchcocked turkey ($5.50 on sale)
Huge batch of smoked/grilled chicken drumsticks and quarters ($16.00 on sale)
Smoked wild pig - loin and ham (free, minus the road-trip to Texas and one .300 Win Mag round).

All were very tasty!
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tooluser
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by tooluser »

tooluser wrote: Fri Jun 19, 2020 8:48 pm Since my initial foray into dehydrated food, I have had another breakfast Mountain House. The first one was "Biscuits and Gravy", which I do not recommend.

The second was "Breakfast Skillet", which was pretty good. Not as good as a fresh sausage, eggs, and potatoes scramble, but serviceable. It had texture and flavor and no bad aftertaste. If you had a little salsa for it you would likely be happy.

Things are looking up.
Update as many of us have returned into hunker-down mode, though now with some light at the end of the tunnel.
It took me a long time, but I finally made it through all five Mountain House flavors that I have on hand.
This was not a pleasant task. I'd much rather eat fresh food, but in an emergency they would all suffice.

First two are reviewed above. Both are breakfast foods.
Biscuits and Gravy - 3 out of 10. No vegetables. Off flavors.
Breakfast Skillet - 8 out of 10. Some visible vegetables.
Chili Mac with Beef - 6 out of 10. Odd macaroni texture, tomato is a vegetable, tiny beef specks.
Beef Stroganoff with Noodles - 7 out of 10. Good flavor but not great. The most meaty of the bunch.
Rice and Chicken - 9 out of 10. Truly excellent chicken flavor, downright yummy, though with very little chicken in it. Decrement for having only a few tiny specks of vegetables in it.

All of them need some vegetables to feel like a complete meal and to add some life. Even canned vegetables would help. Dehydrated vegetables seperately reconstituted could make any of them a much more pleasant experience. Maybe some salsa would suffice.

Most of them also need more meat/protein/something to stick to the ribs. Quite a few calories per package, yet you may be hungry an hour or two later. High in sodium, but that's expected for packaged foods.
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LadyGeek
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by LadyGeek »

^^^ Mountain House was one of the brands I ate when I went backpacking. The lack of vegetables is because they're intended to provide calories (energy) to keep you going out on the trail. Vegetables don't pack as much punch and take up space. After a hard day's walk, those meals tasted very good.
Skeeter1 wrote: Sun Dec 13, 2020 9:37 am I believe the term "crack" is a play on words to indicate that once you try it that you will be 'addicted".This is the recipe that we used.

https://diethood.com/slow-cooker-crack-chicken/

Beware it is quite rich, but it only takes a little..lol..

Enjoy.
I enjoyed. I followed your recipe and mixed it with rotelle (spiral) pasta for a complete meal. It came out a bit watery, as I used more chicken stock to cover the chicken while it was cooking. I'll be eating this over the next several days.

I couldn't find ranch dressing seasoning in the store and substituted garlic powder (as noted in the recipe, was out of the other spices).

The leftover chopped bacon and green onions went into a breakfast omelette (and a few slices of my homemade chia bread toast).
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StevieG72
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by StevieG72 »

I am using Every Plate a company owned by Hello Fresh for a variety in my life. In the past I had ordered 3 meals twice a month, lately I have been ordering 3 meals weekly. I enjoy the variety and have learned from the repetition enough to switch things up a bit if I want to tweak a recipe.

Every Plate is cheaper than Hello Fresh. The only difference that I have noticed is they do not seperate items for each meal the way Hello Fresh does, and the produce appears to be not quite as fresh.

I had a surprise delivery one week when I was not expecting any deliveries, I recieved 2 boxes. One from Hello Fresh and one from Every Plate. You have to stay on top of the delivery schedule and pause or skip weeks you do not want anything. The tricky part is you can only skip so many weeks in advance, and if you forget to check in and choose a meal or skip the week they will ship you a random selection.

I too may try the Crack Chicken, sounds yummy and simple too. I made some chili in the crock pot Monday that turned out to be a huge win. Spent a long day at the hospital, did not need to cook when I got home. I may be using the crock pot more often this winter.
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Mudpuppy
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Re: So what are you cooking

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Mudpuppy wrote: Sun Sep 06, 2020 5:57 pm I went for the lazy route with pre-sliced bell peppers, onions, zucchini, and yellow squash from the grocery store. I tossed that with a pound of cut chicken, a couple tablespoons of olive oil (just eyeballed it instead of measuring), a couple tablespoons TEAspoons of ancho, a heaping teaspoon of hot paprika, and a little bit of powdered garlic and onion. I put it all in a casserole dish in the oven at 400F for about 45-50 minutes, and stirred once midway just to keep everything evenly coated in the juices. It was a nice fajita flavor, and it's easy enough to punch up the heat with more ancho or a dash of cayenne the next time.

Edit: Just noticed I made the old tablespoons vs teaspoons typo.... which is not what you want to do with chili pepper.
I tried the non-lazy route for this oven-baked chicken fajita recipe last night. I bought whole bell peppers, quartered them up, tossed them in the olive oil and spice mixture, then roasted them on a baking sheet on the bottom rack. Meanwhile, I had the casserole dish with the chicken, onions, and squash tossed in the oil and spice mixture on the second rack. The onions and squash were also bought whole and I diced them up, rather than buying pre-sliced.

I used the same temperature and time. About mid-way through, I took out the bell peppers and turned them over, plus I stirred up the chicken, onion, and squash mix in the casserole dish to make sure they were getting evenly cooked. I did stagger the starting times, putting the bell peppers in 15 minutes earlier so the bell peppers were done before the casserole dish. That gave time to cool, peel, and slice the bell peppers. I didn't quite get the timing right, as I underestimated how long the bell peppers would take to peel and slice. A 30 minute staggered starting time would have been better.

While the taste was much better this way, as the bell peppers were properly roasted, I'm not sure the taste justifies all the extra prep that went into it. With the lazy way, I just had to chop up the chicken. With the non-lazy way, I had to prep everything: chicken, onions, squash, and bell peppers. The extra prep time took well over an hour and my back was complaining loudly by the end of it. My back is still not happy today, although today is mostly the old shoulder injury doing the yelling.

If I do use the non-lazy way in the future, I'm thinking I should just have a bell pepper roasting day where I roast up several meals worth of peppers. The bell pepper prep was the vast majority of the extra prep time. I read that roasted bell peppers freeze well, so I could roast and peel the quartered peppers, then freeze them for use in the recipe later. That would spread out the prep over multiple days, so perhaps my back would not be so unhappy.
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by LadyGeek »

Beef stew in the crock pot.

The recipes I've found, including the one I used, use 2 lbs. of beef chuck. Be sure to use a large crock pot (6 qt size). I added celery and peas to the recipe.
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Artful Dodger
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by Artful Dodger »

I put together a mixed greens salad with chopped walnuts, slivered almonds, macadamia nuts, orange slices, apple slices, strawberries, and blackberries.

I'm mostly watching my wife and daughters. They are doing some serious work making Christmas tree raviolis with red and green dough. The color of the dough comes from frozen spinach and fresh beets.

Earlier today, they made some sourdough bread - super good.
TresBelle65
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by TresBelle65 »

Roasted chicken with an apricot glaze

Key Lime Pie
InMyDreams
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by InMyDreams »

Mushroom Chicken Sausage Spaghetti sauce, which can be used in lasagna as well.

I wish I could take all the credit for this, but I know that the big reasons for its success is the quality ingredients. Sorry, but this ingredient list is just approximations

1 jar Rao's Marinara (great quality, and it's the flavor base)
3 Cup home made tomato sauce (quality again, made from my great tomato harvest of 2020)
6 roasted tomatoes (again, 2020 tomato harvest and home roasted then frozen - a suggestion from another BHer), cut into strips.
2 links garlic chicken sausage, local store's product, casing removed
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
12 (?) crimini mushrooms, sliced

EVOO

Saute onions to translucent in EVOO, adding garlic towards the end. Set aside and saute sausage till brown - set aside. Saute mushrooms.

Add all ingredients together simmer. Serve on - pasta, in lasagna, by itself. OMG - it's good.

Last night my hand grabbed the Rao's Arrabiata instead of Marinara. Still great.

You can be more fancy and add herbs (oregano?). I added basil as a garnish. No need to add salt in my opinion (it's in the Rao's and the sausage), but your tastes may want it.
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Re: So what are you cooking

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Mudpuppy wrote: Sun Dec 13, 2020 1:56 pm My batch of chicken cacciatore that I made Friday night came out super-tasty, but as is the bane of amateur cooks everywhere, I'm not quite sure what I did differently this time. Variables that I do know: I added a little more olive oil and I opened a new jar of dried basil. I suspect it was both combined, as this dried basil had a great smell, but the great taste was a little more towards the olive oil side of things. Perhaps I need to make basil-infused olive oil for this recipe in the future.
So, in case anyone was wondering (probably not), it was mostly the basil. I almost forgot to put the basil in at the end of the last batch and the first forkful (sans basil) was not as tasty. It's not even fancy basil. It's just Target's Good and Gather dried organic basil. Who'd have thought dried basil, much less a store brand, would be so tasty.
2Scoops
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Re: So what are you cooking

Post by 2Scoops »

Just made dry rub shrimp tacos (vinegar based slaw and lime crema) on charred tortillas with black beans.
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