Another original recipe and a giggle

 I finally have a functional car again so spontaneous trips to the store will resume without the hassle of public transit limitations. 

But on another note, I was looking for a crispy coating recipe to make fried chicken this weekend. I bought the multi multi pack of chicken thighs at Costco thinking... there'll be two or three in each pack. Nope, four good size chicken thighs in the first pack, oh my! This is fantastic because we can now have two pieces for each of us and not have to skimp. So on to that recipe I had saved on pinterest

 Now keep in mind, this is a coating for fried chicken..... see what it says  under the title of this recipe? 'Vegan - 6 servings'. This is a recipe for coating chicken and you're labeling it as vegan????? I giggled for a while about that, still am in the back of my head. Also shaking my head at just what our society has become.

Anyway. 

I attempted to make baked chicken with a layer of cubed potatoes underneath so they would absorb all the flavors as I've seen in some videos. 

As you can see, the chicken turned out fantastic. I marinated it overnight in Olive Garden Italian Dressing then sprinkled garlic powder on the pieces before popping it in the oven. I parboiled the potato pieces before coating them in olive oil, salt and pepper then put the rack over them and the chicken.

That was it. Unfortunately, the potatoes are a dismal stuck on failure. We got enough scraped off for the two of us but that was it. Am not trying that recipe again ever and will stick to frying in a pan. 

The chicken really was delicious, had the flavoring of the dressing and was perfectly juicy.  No coating at all just the chicken.

Yesterday was shrimp tacos with an incredibly spicy and yummy cilantro garlic sauce. I just winged it so when it was done I had to write the recipe down best I could, like I do. We had mixed shredded cabbage and avocado as well. I failed to get fresh tomatoes so no pico or salsa other than the sauce.

Creamy Cilantro Garlic Sauce

1 handful of fresh cilantro stems and all

1/2 c mayo

1/2 sour cream

1 tbl lime juice

1 tsp white vinegar

3 garlic cloves

3 slices fresh jalapeño (approx. 1/4 inch thick with seeds and membrane)

1/4 white onion chopped coarse

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp Smoked paprika

1/2 tsp salt and pepper

1/2 tsp sugar 

 

Drop that all in the blender with veggies first then dressings and blend until smooth. If it's too runny add in more mayo until desired consistency. I have yet to try anything with greek yogurt bedcause I have yet to remember or find just plain full fat in small containers. This stuff has an incredible kick and I think the only thing I'd change is a little less jalapeño. Instead of tacos my partner has his shrimp on hamburger buns like a sandwich. 

Fried chicken tomorrow likely with mashed potatoes, maybe meatloaf or something hamburger based for Sunday then easy meals for the main part of the week. 

Will see what comes up in the kitchen! 

 

 

New month, new food

 Food finagling at it's finest. I managed a passable chicken parmesan for two with spaghetti and cheesy garlic bread.

Chicken breasts 

2 chicken breast cutlets (I used precut and frozen because ... )

1/2 c Italian Breadcrumbs

1/4 c Parmesan cheese (grated if you have a block of it otherwise I just used kraft parmesan/romano)

2 eggs

2 tbl flour

Salt and pepper.

Mozarella cheese, shredded coarse 

Italian salad dressing for marinade 

Olive oil for frying 

 

Marinara sauce can be as fancy or simple as you like. Jarred is fine but I did scratch.

 

1 can tomato sauce 

1 can diced tomatoes (prefer to use crushed tomatoes but this is what I had)

1/2 green bell pepper diced fine

1/2 onion diced fine

1 rib of celery diced fine

1/4 c of red bell pepper also diced fine (I had it on hand and figured it would add a bit of sweetness to the sauce)

1 inch piece of small carrot peeled. 

Olive oil 

2 tbl Italian seasoning plus 1/2 tsp oregano (ground in mortar and pestle together0

4 cloves fresh garlic minced/crushed

Salt/Pepper

Scant tsp chili powder or chili flakes 

 

Enough spaghetti for two cooked al dente

 

Cheesy garlic bread:

3 slices of sourdough bread (I used round loaf and large slices from the middle)

1/2 cube of unsalted butter

3 cloves fresh garlic minced/pressed

Parmesan cheese

Mozzarella cheese coarsely shredded.

 

If making marinara from scratch, start that first:

Heat medium saucepan with 1 tbl olive oil, add veggies into pan and stir to thoroughly coat with oil. When onion is soft, add in spice mix and stir until well coated. Crush two cloves of garlic into pan, stir and cook until veggies are mostly softened. Lower heat and add in diced tomatoes with liquid, stir to combine, let cook for about a minute or so then add in tomato sauce and carrot piece. Reduce heat to low and barely simmering taste test, add spices as needed. I added just a bare smidge of baking soda and a bit more spices and oregano. The carrot is a secret I learned from an Italian, it takes the acidity and sharpness out of the sauce without using sugar. Though if your taste goes that way you can add a tiny big of sugar. Let simmer on back burner while chicken is cooked.

 

Mix 1/2 cube butter, sotfened with three cloves garlic crushed  using a fork. Put in fridge if it is too melted. 

 

Rinse and pat dry the two chicken breast cutlets then put in gallon zip lock bag with 1/2 c Italian dressing (I used Olive Garden) and put in fridge. Marinate for minimum an hour, up to 4 hours is fine.

Before taking chicken out of fridge prepare frying ingredients.

Using two small 6x8 casserole/storage containers, scramble eggs, salt, pepper and flour in one until well combined, use second container for bread crumbs. 

Heat large pan on stove with 2 tbl olive oil (or a little more) medium high heat. Preheat oven to 425.

When pan is ready, take chicken from bag directly into the egg wash letting it drip a little before putting in breadcrumbs. Press firmly to get good contact over entire surface then place in hot pan carefully, repeat with second piece. Fry until golden brown on both sides.

 

Using a large spoon, add some marinara to bottom of 9x9 baking dish and using tongs or a fork add chicken pieces into dish. Spoon more marinara on top, sprinkle with parmesan, then add generous heaping of shredded mozarella to tops of chicken. Cook in oven at 425 for about 15 minutes or until cheese is slightly browned and melted.

 

While chicken is cooking, prepare cheesy garlic bread: 

Using a baking sheet, layer aluminum foil on bottom for easier clean up. Cut slices in half then spread with garlic butter, sprinkle parmesan cheese then good helping of shredded mozarella. Hold aside or in fridge until chicken is done.

 

Cook spaghetti according to directions while chicken is in oven.

 

(This took some juggling on my part because I forgot about the spaghetti and the bread ended up cold by the time that was ready)

 

Pull out chicken when done, set at back of stove or to the side, change oven to broil and slide in baking sheet with bread. Watch carefully! Takes only about a minute or less for the cheese to melt and get toasty under the broiler.

 

Assemble! Pasta on plate with a scoop of marinara, use spatula to transfer chicken to spaghetti (make sure it doesn't slide off!), add garlic bread. 

 

Things I would do differently:

Use crushed tomatoes not diced, this is a marinara and should be thick but not too chunky, I actually put it in my blender and pulsed a few times to get a better consistency.

 

If I had remembered the spaghetti at the right time the bread would have been piping hot and much better. 

Seriously, these cutlets were bigger than what we're used to, I should have only eaten half of mine but decided to finish instead. Bad idea. I was so uncomfortable for the rest of the night but it was delicious. Definitely a do again, oh and I would also suggest thicker sliced bread. This was fine but using a baguette and cutting our own thickness would make it better.

 

Mangiare!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have been cooking..

Just haven't been taking a lot of pictures or doing anything about remembering and writing down recipes. Getting groceries this month has been haphazard so not as much creativity happening with new ingredients.

Later in August I attempted carne asada using frozen orange peels, onion, fresh jalapeño from the garden and other ingredients I found in a recipe but just cobbled it together.

It smelled delicious when it was cooking. Still haven't mastered tossing it in a pan and have it sear quickly. That only happens with open flame apparently.

They were tasty as tacos go, no avocado this round unfortunately but did have some homemade salsa and sour cream. It was food and can be served with rice instead.

This, this was my attempt at grande nachos. There's a lot going on here, pico, salsa, some taco seasoned hamburger, lettuce, cilantro, onions sour cream and believe it or not, there is cheese in there. This was also quite delicious, though still no avocado.

Switched it up to Italian and made garlic butter shrimp aka faux scampi, and made sure to buy some sourdough bread to make garlic toast. It was deeelicious! Very simple ingredients and you have to cook the noodles first and start the shrimp after. I have a habit of overcooking the shrimp but I think I did okay on this. I use a variation of garlic bread that I remember from an old restaurant when I was a kid. I think I posted the recipe for 'Trails Restaurant Garlic Bread' but maybe not added it to the labels.

3 cloves garlic, crushed

4 tbl unsalted butter, softened (not melted)

Parmesan cheese

Paprika

Baking sheet or foil

 

In a small bowl or ramekin, mix the garlic and butter together well using a fork, cover with plastic wrap and set aside in fridge while preheating oven (or broiler). Lay slices of bread on foil or baking sheet. Full or half slices, whatever you prefer. Spread garlic butter on the slices of bread, sprinkle with parmesan and paprika over the top. Place in hot oven (350 or higher if baking) watch them carefully if you have the broiler on, maybe a minute or two at most. Just want it browned and toasty.

Another recipe I used to do was with a long baguette. Just garlic and tons of butter, slice the bread almost all the way through in slices, spread the garlic butter between each slice, wrap in foil then bake for about twenty minutes. That is so good because the outside is crispy but the inside is garlic buttery softness.

Last of the shrimp was made into a wonderful lime cilantro shrimp over rice another one knocked out of the park, just hit all the right notes.

We finally got hold of some avocados and I had an old favorite. Scrambled eggs (with sausage this time but bacon is better), shredded cheese salsa, avocado and sour cream. It's my low level diy version of my favorite omelette from Denny's. Can't remember what it was but it had all the things with bacon and I'd ask for salsa and sour cream.

This was the chicken and stuffing bake again and again for got to mix the stuffing in with the chicken. I had enough veggies to do a pot pie kind of mix which was absolutely delicious but needed a little more liquid. I will try that again later in the month I think and make sure to cook the stuffing first so it's moist and then put it on top. 

And finally I tried a different way of cooking the hot dogs. If I'm really hungry I just wrap them in paper towels and microwave them. If I'm feeling more cookish, I'll cook them in a frying pan so they're grilled, but this time, I tried the 'New York Dirty Water' recipe. (oh I also bought a can of beanless chili so I can have chili dogs).

The recipe called for a lot more ingredients than I was comfortable with using for just two hot dogs but here's what I did:

Half a yellow onion sliced

Splash of ketchup and equal splash of cocktail sauce

Tsp of red wine vinegar

Tsp of black pepper

1/2 tsp each cumin, chili powder, onion powder and garlic powder 

One or two shakes of chili flakes

Tsp olive oil

Stir well as it heats up and when it starts steaming, add in hot dogs. Cook for approx 20 minutes or when it starts to boil. Turn off heat, let them sit in the water while you prep your buns.

I had on my dogs:

Mustard, relish, a few small slices of the onions from the water, chili and shredded cheese. 

Very yummy! I saved the dirty water to use next time and will only have a musard and relish dog so I can see what the difference in the flavor is.

So that's what I've been cooking up lately. Hoping next month we will be back on track and have some more tasty meals now that the weather is cooling down finally!

Crock pot meals here we come!

Finally back in the kitchen!

 With no car of my own relying on others to shuttle us for groceries delays a lot of shopping. This month it was a combination of that and having surgery and not being up to cooking for almost a week. Compound that with very high temperatures that have us closed up with AC on all day so cooking anything in the oven or creating smoke is not good.

Fixed pan fried chicken sandwiches last night and they were delicious of course, but forgot we had pickle slices! Drat! Oh well, still chicken pieces left over for another go around. Today I went relatively easy using some of the shrimp left over from last months purchase. With only 2 adults, bulk buys go a lot farther.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teriyaki Shrimp and Rice

1 tbl butter
2 tbs green onion chopped
½ tsp pepper and salt
3 cloves garlic crushed
1lb shrimp
2 bl teriyaki sauce~
½ tsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp lemon juice
½ (or full 8 oz) bag stir fry veggies

1 c rice cooked

Clean and rinse shrimp, pat dry and put in bowl with lemon juice and ½ of crushed garlic, salt and pepper. Stir to coat well. Add in 1 tsp teriyaki sauce and chopped green onions, stir to coat and set aside.
Add butter to large pan on medium heat with ½ of crushed garlic, cook until fragrant, add in shrimp and stir with tongs to turn shrimp over when pink, when almost done add in veggies and the remainder of teriyaki sauce. Add in pepper flakes mix well then turn heat down to low and cover pan for 5 minutes.

Serve over cooked white rice.

I almost added in some canola oil then changed my mind and left it out. Glad I did.

Oh yes and another inspiration that worked out really well, a very simple ramen bowl. Basic Maruchan chicken ramen package, a handful of stir fry veggies, garlic powder, chopped green onion. That's it., usually use crushed garlic and a good dash of ground pepper as well.

Easy meals for being not up to snuff lately. Not sure what I'll fix tomorrow but pulled out stew meat chunks... maybe something taco style or something. Will see what happens.

End of the month meals; Fun with leftovers!

 Plenty of meat in the freezer for cooking, just not a lot else to go with it. So simple meals on repeat with a few flairs and changes for variation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What do you do when you don't feel like fixing goulash or DIY hamburger helper? Use up the left over chili! Chili Mac! I should have used the small elbows but this turned out tasty and used up the leftover enchilada sauce that was sitting in the fridge from weeks ago. Cheese and sour cream and I went back for seconds  and we had leftovers of that for next day lunch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another pound bag of the stew beef chunks had been pulled out and I had an entire day and night to try and figure out what to do with it. Hmmm, brown gravy and onion soup mix, peas and carrots, instant mashed potatoes.... another tasty and filling meal! Just salt and pepper on the beef chunks that I cut into bite size bits used a little unsalted butter in the pan and browned them before I added in the gravy mix with a cup of water, then mixed that around, added in the onion soup mix and another half cup of water then a cup of the peas and carrots, put the lid on to let everything cook through. Whipped up the instant mashed potatoes (my last bag of potatoes rotted sadly) and spoon meat and gravy over the potatoes.... tasty. Would have preferred mushrooms mixed in but that can be for next time.

And for today's meal, innovation and invention. I have always loved cauliflower with cheese, it is one of my favorite dishes but the cheese mix I grew up on is no longer available. Sadness and dismay, it was a McCormick cheese sauce packet I believe and you just added milk and it tasted like nothing else. So what to do with a small head of cauliflower that I broke up to use yesterday and decided not to? Mac n Cheese! Oh yes and oven baked barbecue chicken with the rotisserie chicken seasoning (which I need to remember not to be so heavy handed, very salty)

The other issue right now is we are shutting up with the AC due to the heat outside which makes cooking carefully a priority. Right now the entire apartment smells like bbq sauce and pepper but also a bit of smoke from the oven. Using the oven also heats up the front half of the apartment as well. 

Adventures in cooking!

Yes it's summer but.... Chili!

 Among other things since Lasagna happened which I just ate the last of the leftovers yesterday. Chop it into small squares, remembered I had that jar of marinara and used that to give it some extra flavor, delicious down to the last bite. Nothing else remarkable as far as food is concerned in the last two weeks or so which is why I am  posting now.

 

We bought packaged pollo asado and of course made up some absolutely stellar tacos and partner had his over rice with chopped tomato, onion and cilantro, and diy refried beans. That chicken was just finished off as well in some ramen for him. I think I remember looking at the ingredients on the chicken and fixed up a reasonable copy of it but never wrote it down.

 

I bought a package of pork shoulder steaks that were a reasonable price and then realized I had no recipes for them. So used up the last of my bread crumbs and gave them the schnitzel treatment but no pounding because they still have a bone in them. Fixed up the Seasoned Rice and all that was missing was a side of veggies or broccoli. Nothing special about the process, used an egg with a little milk scrambled, flower and the breadcrumbs. Need to figure out how to keep the crumbs from flaking off.

 

So silly me, pulled out one of the packages of cubed stew meat and it was the larger sized bits. I do have a recipe for chili but didn't want to go rummaging through my recipe box for it so on to Pinterest... because initially I wanted to use the crock pot so it would cook all day. Found a recipe that used the cubed meat as well as black beans because I used the last can of pinto beans in the refried. Now here is where it gets silly:

They have you cook up the spices and veggies, do all the pre cooking then dump it all in the crock pot to cook. I thought, why dirty two dishes when I can stew this on simmer in the dutch oven?

Another mistake was misreading the ingredient measurements. 

So here's 'Award Winning Crockpot Chili'. Sans crockpot

1 T canola or other cooking oil

1 T cumin

1 T smoked paprika

2 T chili powder (I misread and thought it said tsp but corrected it)

3 T regular paprika (I thought that was a bit excessive and used 2)

2 tsp onion powder

1-1 1/2 lbs chuck roast cut into cubes

2 T brown sugar

1 tsp oregano (I used my garden oregano dried)

1 medium onion diced

(1/2 green bell pepper diced)

3 cloves garlic minced (used garlic I grew in my garden yay!)

14 oz (1 can) diced tomatoes (undrained)

4 oz can diced chilis (I didn't have any so I used one can Rotel and one can diced tomatoes)

1 c beef broth

1 T apple cider vinegar (I used 1 tsp)

2 cans black beans drained and rinsed (I only had one)

1 tsp salt

Heat oil over medium-high heat in a medium-sized skillet. When the oil shimmers, stir paprikas, cumin, chili powder and onion powder into the pan. Cook for 1 minute or until spices are very aromatic and remove from heat. (I had the oregano in there two because I didn't read effectively)

 

Add beef, sugar, oregano, onion, vinegar, garlic, tomatoes, green chilies, beef broth, beans and salt to the slow cooker. Transfer spices from the skillet into the slow-cooker and stir to combine. Cover and cook for 4 hours on high, 6 on low.

 

This is where I got confused due to not reading well (stupid eyesight). I added the onion and I thought you cooked everything in that original pan then transferred so I just added the meat and everything into the dutch oven, stirred everything well brought it up to a good simmer then put the lid on and turned it down to let it cook for a few hours. I also added in a can of corn because it just looked like it could use something. Also I was thinking that adding in lime juice instead of the vinegar would give it a different flavor next time. When it was about an hour or two in I took the lid off and stirred, it was very watery so I added in about a tablespoon of cornstarch and water to thicken it up. 

Garnish with shredded cheese, sour cream and cilantro because that just makes it even better. I was going to add in cilantro toward the end of cooking but changed my mind. It's a fantastic flavor and can see how it may have won an award or two but I've also had better.

 

I can see how heating up the spices is an old world way of doing things and it does add a depth to the flavors. Most cooking you can screw up directions like this and it still turns out just fine. Which it did this time luckily. I was briefly tempted to use a drop of smoke flavoring instead of using the smoked paprika but didn't. Vinegar and that stuff I have used wrong and it ruins the entire recipe. If I were to use it I would sear the meat first, add a drop of smoke and stir it around then add the other ingredients give it a good char first with that smoke flavor would make it completely different for sure.

 

That's all I've got for this time, mid July is going to be busy so I'll be hopefully stockpiling on easy to fix meals and leftovers. I've got a bit of time until then, tomorrow is going to be chicken breasts somehow.

 

Lasagna has happened!

Pre-cooking the meat helped immensely for time but I ran just a tad short on mozzarella and really needed provolone on top. Oh well, I added some colby-jack cheese on top, cooked it for an hour then took the foil off and cooked for another fifteen minutes.

I had to kind of  mish mash the two recipes as I went due to using oven ready noodles but a semi-homemade sauce. Neither of the recipes from the box of noodles or the recipe I found on pinterest.

Not enough cheese and sauce. I broke some of the noodles up to fill in gaps so all of them were used. If I attempt this again, it is going to get more sauce and cheese for sure. I still have the jar of marinara sauce and will likely open that up and add it to portions I will fix  for lunch and dinner in the future. Really needed some slices of provolone on top.

 

I was afraid the noodles wouldn't be cooked all the way through and I thought I had feared it was true. The bottom layer of noodles would not cut and thinking about it, thought that was odd because it was being cooked from the bottom. Turns out, the bottom layer around the edges was burned. Not a rave review from my partner but it was good. If I had added anymore sauce it would have really spilled out over the edges. As it was, there was some drippage and burning in the oven. 

My Lasagna:

I chopped up half a green bell pepper and a red, a rib of celery, half a yellow onion and used four cloves of garlic. A little olive oil in the dutch oven and cooked the onion and garlic first, then added in the other veggies. Got that all softened then tossed in the can of tomatoes, juice and all then the crushed. Oh yes, since I was doing 'scratch' I used about a tablespoon of Italian seasoning with an extra teaspoon of oregano and crushed red pepper. Mashed that all together in the pestle and tossed that in.  I heated the meat in the microwave for a minute then tossed that in and stirred. Turned down the heat to about 3 but left the lid off, when it looked like it was bubbling a bit much, turned it down to 1 (really low) and put the lid on. Cooked that probably for about an hour, maybe forty-five minutes. Took the lid off and it looked a bit watery so I added in the can of paste and another large pinch of oregano. Salt and pepper fresh ground and a pinch of sugar. Taste test said it needed to be smoothed out a bit so I added a pinch of baking soda. I have heard you can add a carrot for a few minutes but I didn't have a carrot until after it was in the oven (found a bag of four carrots on the community table when I took Rocky for a walk while it was cooking). Started the oven on 350 then double guessed myself and turned it up to 400 but only for about fifteen minutes, then turned it down again. That may have been the reason for the burning.

Oh and we had a good chopped salad (not the absolute mashed chop that other people do) just a good standard salad with tomato, cucumber, red onion, romaine (fresh from the garden!), iceberg and a little bit of green leaf lettuce and some shavings of carrot.

We will have meals for days, which is a good thing. I like having leftovers to supplement fresh meals, that's how you make meals stretch longer. 

So, fresh meals not for a few days but there are pollo asado tacos in the future for sure.

Monthly shopping and meal planning

Since new recipes are scant at the moment you'll have to put up with other topics. We are restocked with various forms of protein, a lot of beef, some pork and hamburger of course. Only got chicken thighs since I still have two packs of breasts and some shrimp left.  Lots and lots of red meat though so here's ideas for what will be done. I cooked up two lbs of hamburger last night because I couldn't separate the two halves. Cooked one pound with taco seasoning and the other with Italian seasoning for the upcoming lasagna feast!

I got a roughly 5 or 6 lb package of 'stew meat' chunks. That is a LOT of meat and it's very lean chuck meat so it's great for chili, stir fry, soup and stew. I tried to portion it into bags with one keeping the large chunks for actual 'stew', two bags I cut most of the pieces in half and quarters for maybe beef pie of some sort or beef soup. Two other bags were sliced mostly into small pieces for stir fry. 

Next up is five servings of chicken thighs, basic recipes for those so nothing new, almost bough a package of thigh meat but then remembered I  usually get breast pieces and totally forgot to get them because people were in the way.

I splurged ($11) on a package of pre seasoned pollo asado. It's been a very long time since we had that and am looking forward to having delicious tacos.

Another pack of meat was five pork shoulder steaks, bone in. I will be hunting down recipes for those and they are big enough that one steak can feed both of us with veggies and potatoes on the side. There's five meals for both of us. Last but not least the 6 lbs of hamburger in addition to the two prepped containers in the fridge and I think another double pack of hamburger still in the freezer.

We are good for protein meals for a month!

I do have to share the recipe I found for macaroni salad.  Need to figure out the proportions to cut it in half because an entire pound of elbows last us 2 weeks of mac salad.

What I have discovered with this recipe is marinating the noodles not adding it into the mayo as the dressing.

NY Deli Macaroni Salad

Brine:

1/3 c white vinegar (this is crucial, do not use apple cider vinegar)

1/3 c sugar

3 tbl water

3 tbl vegetable oil (canola works)

1/2 c white onion grated or pureed (neither of those options work well for me, I just finely diced a yellow onion)

1 1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp (white) pepper (I have yet to remember to pick up some white pepper and it's simply for aesthetics)

Remaining ingredients:

1 lb small elbow macaroni

3/4 c mayonnaise (or more for creamier texture)

1/2 small green or red bell pepper finely diced (I used both)

1 rib celery finely diced

 In a large bowl (do not think it will fit in a small or medium, use large!) combine all the brine ingredients and set aside. I only have a glass bowl and since there is vinegar in this, metal might be reactive and change the flavor, but I'm not a chemistry major or minor.

Cook macaroni according to al dente directions, drain and rinse under cold water to stop cooking and remove starch. This recipe needs to be rich and creamy not soupy or gummy.  Oh also, make sure to use good quality pasta. I used a package I found on the community table and ... was not good.

When the noodles are cooled down sufficiently whisk the brine and add the pasta, mixing well with a large spoon. Cover and put in fridge for overnight or as short as 2 hours. I did the first batch overnight and had not done the recipe correctly so there was a lot of liquid still. I did it by the book this time and only kept it in the fridge for 2 or 3 hours and it was still delicious.

Add the mayo when you are ready and mix really well. Keep mixing and if it looks a bit 'dry' add some more mayo. Cover and put in the fridge for a few hours or eat right away. 

Your choice of may can make a difference as well. Notice this is mayonnaise, not 'salad dressing' type spread. I have used the Kroger brand mayo without a problem but by all means if you have a better quality brand it will make a difference. I do not suggest using the olive oil or avocado oil version of mayo.

 

And now, the weird/funny picture of the month. 

Caution if you do not like the image of processed animal parts... don't go any further. But if you're that sensitive, what do you do with chicken pieces?

 

 

 

Chicken 'Paws'

 

 

 

Resetting things and no pictures

 I've changed the theme and the layout a bit on the blog if things look funky, let me know as it is set to a medium computer screen. I have also realized I don't have as many unique recipes as I thought. What I have done though is write down some good basic dishes that most anyone can do. This will be for future reference for family and friends. I haven't been taking as many pictures of my cooking as before because of several factors, one being I am too busy trying to cook to take the selfish time out to take a picture. 

Cooking is a relatively fast paced situation and when you have a small space and area to use, it gets even more hectic to try and prep things in a timely fashion. 

We had beef teriyaki stir fry today, I was cooking on autopilot I think because it turned out delicious. Used left over seasoned rice, aka teriyaki rice, mixed in with a single serving of white rice. Just enough of both for seconds for two people. No pictures... see reason above.

Haven't gone shopping yet but that will be happening either tomorrow or Monday, there are a few things on my list that I want to cook this coming month that is not everyday simple sort of things. I want to tackle lasagna. That's a little extra cost for the real cheeses I need to buy, not talking about the videos everyone seems to show where they mix egg and ricotta together. Oh no my friend, this is my mom's recipe and I have posted about it before. I think the noodles I bought a few months ago are the 'oven ready' type but I still don't trust them, even if the America's Test Kitchen says it's good to go.

Right now I have two pounds of hamburger that is thawed and absolutely need to use it tomorrow. Actually, I just might cook it up tonight with appropriate seasoning... put it in a container to save time on the lasagna. BINGO! Time saver right there. Cooked meat lasts longer than raw meat in the fridge.

 

 

Fresh Roma tomatoes and Romaine lettuce in my garden growing fantastic! Both should be ready for harvest in another few weeks. I am not sure if I will have the energy and time to try and make my own sauce from the tomatoes but will post it here if I do. Tucked in between the Romaine are two Jalapeño plants and there are four bell pepper seedlings that are much too young to be even close to getting flowers let alone fruit. The lettuce will be ready before the end of June and the tomatoes not far behind that. 

Oh, I made another excellent batch of macaroni salad and am looking to try the 'Elote Macaroni Salad' recipe I have saved on my computer. 

 

Many good meals and warm summer days ahead!

New month same recipes, different results

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Going to start off with the salmon dish. Same marinade, Italian dressing then topped with teriyaki sauce. The salmon was one long filet with no skin so very little meat lost. Got a lot of pieces from it and then fixed my, now go to, rice dish. I think I am going to have to remember to add broccoli to the rice because it needs something more in it. The salmon was okay, not prime fish but good enough.

Something new this week. Picked up some pre-cooked roast beef, the kind that comes in a tray you can microwave. Fresh lettuce, tomatoes and onions, mayo and that wonderful white sauce and we splurged on some avocados and brioche buns. 

I opted to get leaf lettuce instead of Romaine this time, it's fluffy and wavy and just better on a sandwich. Even the cashier agreed when she saw it, not that it is a prime endorsement but a nice point of conversation. One note though, will not be getting the brioche style buns again, way too soft and squishy even after toasting.

I was too hungry to get many pictures but we had chicken sandwiches again with similar fixings as the roast beef. I finally got my meat tenderizer mallet! Yay! The pounding may commence! Still ended up with similar size pieces despite pounding the heck out of the breasts. I also upgraded the white sauce. Mistakenly added sour cream and then thought it still needed something extra. Cleaned out the last of the horseradish, added in some milk and about two tablespoons... almost half a packet of Rance dressing mix. A little more milk, dash or two of some hot sauce, squirt of lemon juice, dash of cajun spice and some of the smokey chipotle adobo sauce then stirred. Nice kick to it and added just the right flavor to the sandwich.

We've been watching a show called Food Paradise. They go to different food festivals, restaurants, food halls and all that. What we've realized is about a third of all the featured restaurants didn't survive the pandemic. Some of the rest closed and reopened but then didn't last very long. The running thread I realized is most of the featured food was just way over the top. Huge stacked burgers, fusion versions of things like sushi or mac and cheese and then food trucks for one episode.  If your food is so unique and specific for your location, it will fail. It's a 'locals' thing and 9 times out of 10, it will not survive. One restaurant that did survive when we looked it up, average price per person is $10-$20. If I'm going to get food that expensive, I'll go down the road to 5 Guys. 

On the other hand, it gave me some ideas on how to spice things up, change up flavor profiles and condiment ideas. So it's good for inspiration but that's about it. Got really annoying after awhile when people would basically say the same things about the flavors and 'crunch' and 'texture'. Gets old real fast.

Food is expensive when you eat out. Will see what else comes up this month.

Tex-Mex One Pan dish

 

Started with a recipe that called for rice instead of noodles but when I asked my good consultant he requested noodles. Rotini was the choice but if I had bow tie pasta that would have been the preferred. I have a friend who told me about a 'craft table' (Movie talk for catering ) go to that was essentially this but couldn't find the original recipe so here is what I did.

1 lb hamburger

1/2 onion diced

1/2 bell pepper diced

2 cloves garlic mashed

1 c beef broth

1 sm can tomato sauce (I used a foundling can of tomato sauce with jalapeno)

1 can Rotel

1 can sweet corn (drained)

1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)

1 c rotini (1 1/2 would have been better)

1 tbl taco seasoning

shredded cheese for garnish 

Chopped cilantro to add in or for garnish

Heat large pan with small amount of oil, when hot, add in the onion and bell pepper, cook for about a minute or two then add in the hamburger, cook thoroughly until there's no pink add in the taco seasoning and stir well until meat is coated. Pour in noodles, beef broth, tomatoes and sauce, combine thorougly then wait for it to boil again. Put lid on and turn down to low for 12-13 minutes. Take lid off and stir in the corn and black beans. Heat through for a minute or so then anjoy!

Addendum: If I had cilantro would have chopped some up and add it in, also a larger can of tomato sauce is good as well. I had a 'Pato' brand small can and decided to use it, almost used a can of enchilada sauce but changed my mind. Glad I did for this version.

 

As another side note, something else I picked up from the table was a huge (has to be at least 100) pre made uncooked flour tortillas. I initially passed on them  but then turned around and picked them up. Never buying store bought again. These are amazing, I have no idea what company it was since the bag had no label and was just clear cellophane. Easy peasy to cook, just heat up a non-stick pan HOT toss in a tortilla, wait for it to turn white (dry) with maybe bubbles forming, use a spatula or tongs to flip it until bubbles form (you can pop them) remove and repeat. The pan needs to be hot so they cook before drying out. I made that mistake on the first several I cooked but second batch is much better.  They aren't huge gigantic size, about the same as what the store bought calls 'soft taco' size.  Will have to figure out a use for them next month, they are staying fresh in a zip lock bag in the fridge to cook as I need.

New month and menus starting up soon!