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!

Another go at Teriyaki Stir Fry

 I've been taking pictures but forgetting to make posts. I had bought some 'chuck steak for carne asada' and... it is not that kind of quality but it makes excellent stir fry.

I winged it this time since it was beef and a bit more traditional. Seat of the pants cooking! I started chopping up the celery and onion, then remembered I had carrots as well and started chopping those up then stopped when I realized those would be in the stir fry veggies. Never enough veggies in that pack though.

Ingredients:

1 lb thinly sliced beef, cross grain cuts for tenerness

1/4 c Panda Express Mandarin Teriyaki sauce

2 or 3 tbl soy sauce (maybe less, I didn't measure just sprinkled some on the meat)

4 cloves garlic minced

1/4 c flour

salt&pepper

2 tbl (approx) oil for cooking

1/2 onion diced

1 rib celery diced or sliced thin

1/2 carrot diced or sliced thin

1 bag stir fry vegetables 

1 cup rice (cooked for putting stir fry on)

 

Assembly:

 

Prep celery and onion, crush garlic. Mix salt and pepper with flour then heat oil in pan to shimmer level. Dredge meat in flour using sip lock bag or bowl, making sure to coat meat well. When pan is hot, dump in the meat and move around so as not to burn, when mostly cooked through add in celery and onion and half the garlic. Continue cooking for another minute or so, add in the teriyaki sauce and stir continually so everything is well coated. Add in the stir fry veggies and the rest of the garlic, heat through, turn off the stove and cover to let the veggies finish warming. They need to be soft but crunchy if that makes sense.

Should start cooking the rice (in a rice cooker) when you start cooking the beef so both come out roughly the same time. We had left over rice so it was a quick 2 minutes in the microwave.

It was Deeeelicious! Going to do a repeat tomorrow night, which is why I had to write this down. 

Yum!

 

 

Feeling better and a new recipe!

 I was able to cook the last few nights but nothing noteworthy. I discovered a bag of stuffing in the cupboard and there were two chicken breasts in the fridge. Perfect! Every recipe I found called for Cream of Chicken soup and celery, neither of which I had but braved the Easter crowd at the store and picked them up with some needed milk as well. Here is what I used:

Chicken Stuffing Casserole (off the cuff cooking).

 9x13 baking dish, sprayed with cooking oil or greased

2 chicken breasts diced 

1 tbl Ranch Dressing

1/2 c milk (divided)

1/2 tsp rosemary (pounded mine in a mortar and pestle until it was mostly dust)

1/2 tsp ground sage

1/4 tsp salt&pepper

1 bag basic stuffing, whatever you want to use.

1 stick unsalted butter divided

1/2 c chicken stock

1 can Cream of Chicken soup

 1/2 c mixed veggies

Dried parsley for garnish after cooking.

Here's what I did:

Started with dicing up the chicken into half inch or smaller pieces putting it in a good size bowl, sprinkled some salt and pepper, mixed thoroughly then thought about a marinade.... milk .... nope, Ranch dressing, only about a tablespoon mixed in well. Okay, I added some milk as well then popped it in the fridge covered with plastic wrap. 

Chopped up one rib of celery and half an onion then started to dice up a carrot only to remember I was putting some mixed veggies in. Oh well, so half a large carrot diced.

 

 

So the stuffing recipe calls for carrots, celery and onion softened in a pan with a 1/4 cup of butter. Okay.... then remembered the other recipe that said to add in the chicken. So I did that and cooked it sufficiently so the chicken was mostly cooked through (smelled wonderful!), I also added rosemary and some sage to the chicken before cooking it. So that got a bit cooked more and I remembered the cream of chicken soup, tossed that in and because I didn't want to look at the recipe just added about a  1/4 c of milk. Stirred that all together thoroughly and tossed in about a half cup of mixed veggies. Stir again until those are warmed through.

 Mixed the stuffing as best I could remember because...was not in the mood to look at directions. Used 1/4 c of the butter melted and then realized I needed the chicken stock and only poured maybe 1/4 but needed to be lots more than that. Spread half the stuffing on the bottom of the dish, spoon the chicken mix onto that and then use the remainder of the stuffing on top. I felt it was a bit dry and drizzled more chicken stock on it, covered with foil and put in oven for 30 minutes at 350. Timer goes off, take foil off dish and cook for another ten minutes.  

Let cool slightly before serving.

 

Here's what did wrong and what I'm going to do differently next time:

The stuffing was very dry because I didn't follow the directions. Find a recipe for the chicken part and follow it. Overall it turned out delicious but it was a bit dry. 

I was originally just make the stuffing and the chicken then put the stuffing on top and bake it but double guessed myself. 

Because of the amount of stuffing you really do need to do top and bottom or you get way more top crust then chicken filling. 

Use peas and carrots mix only (mixed veggies are good for certain things but I don't like green beans and lima beans in a pie/casserole) and add the onion and celery to the stuffing as directed as well as using it in the chicken mix. 

When I attempt this again it will be more creamy I suspect because this was good, but not a lot of 'sauce'.

So it's a do again for sure, just need to tweak it a bit. Happy Easter!

Recipes on hiatus.

 Due to me injuring my foot stepping off a sidewalk, I am relegated to giving instructions to the replacement chef and sous chef. Which means, a lot of instruction and no pictures, not to mention any really complicated meals. Hobbling back and forth in a tiny space with a walking boot on does not make for quick or easy cooking.

We are having 'carne asada' or sorts today, using not flanks steak but a 'chuck steak' from Costco that was labeled as such. Just thinly sliced steak with a good amount of fat. 

First, had to glean some cilantro leaves from the garden neighbor since none of mine is ready to harvest again. Steak was marinated in a recipe from the pinterest, I never seem to have oranges or pineapple juice for doing that. Mainly because I don't know what I'm going to have for the month and then run out of money for 'extras'. 

'Mexican Carne Asada Marinade':

Skirt steak (or thinly sliced chuck)

1/3 c olive oil

1/4 c soy sauce

1 med lime juiced (I fudged and used a 1/4 lime juice from bottle

2 tbl orange juice (substituted 1/4 lemon juice and tbl honey)

2 tbl red wine vinegar

1/2 c onion, diced

1/4 cilantro chopped (didn't get the cilantro until after it was marinating)

4 cloves garlic, crushed

1 med serrano pepper (I used 1/2 a large jalapeno sliced)

2 tsp salt

2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes.

 

Me being in California all my life, Mexican food and recipes are everywhere. Those in the Midwest or North East aren't as familiar with what 'real' Mexican food is so I guess they had to label this to make sure people knew which variety of carne asada it was. (Insert confused questioning CA expression).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First of all, I was not able to double check to make sure the measurements used were correct. Given that you use 2 tsp of salt and a 1/4 cup soy sauce, this was rather salty. It was absolutely delicious though, cooking was not what I would have done either. 

As I was sitting in the bedroom resting my foot, I started giving instructions on how to cook the meat and it was too late. Substitute chef just dumped the entire bag of meat and marinade into the pan and was going to heat it up that way. This is how the packaged pollo asado is cooked that we get at Costco. This is not the way it should be cooked. But then, we don't have a grill handy either. My instructions were high heat before putting the meat in the pan with a little oil..... oh well. Boiled, marinated meat it was. I had mine as tacos, as usual, fresh made pico de gallo, sour cream and a little White Sauce with a spoonful of the marinade for extra flavor. Honestly, it was fine.

Also had garlic 'salsa verde' shrimp last week which was spectacular of course. We got a two pound bag of medium size shrimp, flash frozen so they were all individually encased in ice. A much better deal than the bag I was going to get at our usual store. So that's a do again.

Posts will be few and far between for the next four weeks. Enjoy what you have, have what you enjoy!

 

 

 

End of the month repeats but something new also

Most of what I've fixed has been repeats of favorites, chicken, pasta and the sort. And of course I am always hungry when cooking so I haven't gotten any pictures except these.

I saw a video of someone making a huuuge pot of jambalaya then went looking for the ingredients. Hot diggity I had everything but the shrimp! I had three of the smoked sausages left from doing the 'Ronto Wraps' so a cut those up, had bell pepper and onion and cut up two chicken breasts. I followed a recipe exactly but honestly I don't like that much cayenne.

I also had to scale down the recipe for only two people.

Jambalaya For Two

2 tbl olive oil (for cooking)

1/2  medium onion chopped

1/2 bell pepper chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

3 smoked sausage (authentic calls for andouille)

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 'bite size pieces' 

14.5 oz can diced tomatoes

1 c long grain white rice uncooked

2 cups chicken broth/boullion

1 tsp dried oregano

1tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp cayenne (I suggest 1/4 if you don't like a lot of heat)

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/2 lb lg shrimp cleaned/deveined

2 green onions chopped (for 'garnish')

 

In dutch oven heat oil until shimmer, add in the bell pepper, onion and garlic. Cook until fragrant and softened (about 7 or 8 minutes? I never time things). Add in the sausage and chicken, cook until browned. (Okay, here's the deal, if you want it browned, put it in first not after the vegetables). Add in the remaining ingredients (except the shrimp) and spices. Stir thoroughly and bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to low, add lid and cook for 20-25 minutes until rice has completely absorbed the liquid (I cut the time short and there were still a few crunchy rice kernels). Add in the shrimp and cook until shrimp is pink and completely cooked. Somewhere in there it says to add salt and pepper to taste. It could definitely use some salt, maybe pepper but being able to taste is another thing. After I cut up the chicken I added salt and pepper, mixed it up then covered and put it in the fridge while other things were getting ready.

Serve while hot and enjoy a taste of Louisiana! 

I am finding a lot of recipe videos on the net and unfortunately have to copy/paste it from the 'comments' section so I get that specific recipe. Like Garlic Parmesan Chicken Skewers, watched it, looked delicious and then they put it in the air fryer which I don't have. Oven will have to do.  Another one was Chile Lime Chipotle Chicken that they cut into pieces layered and crammed into a loaf pan and baked in the oven. Well that's something new.

Tonight I fixed meatloaf. Except I don't have any eggs... wing it! I have never been a fan of ketchup on meatloaf and we didn't have any to boot. I suggested barbecue sauce, teriyaki sauce and the brown gravy and that's what we went with.

2 lbs hamburger

1/2 onion chopped

Salt, pepper

1 packet Brown Gravy mix 

1/2 c Italian seasoned Bread Crumbs

1/4 c milk.

 1 tsp Italian Seasoning

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

 The only thing missing was garlic because I was a doofus. I used garlic powder because my hands were all gummed up from mixing the meat.

Oh and using nitrile gloves to mix the meat is a stroke of genius. 

Preheat oven to 375-400

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl, spray oil in two average size loaf pans, divide meat to fit. Sprinkle W sauce down the middle of the loaves, bake in oven for 30 minutes, rotate pans, bake for another 20-30 minutes (I didn't trust my timing so I had to cut into the middle to make sure they were done.) I would add in the W sauce during mixing next time.

(Sorry for the phone shadow)

Serve with mashed potatoes and gravy made from the other packet of mix. It was delicious! Not all fluffy and light like you'd get using an egg but it was still good. I flattened the loves a bit and kind of mushed a channel in the middle to reduce the meat thickness so it would cook more evenly.  I added a few things into the gravy for a bit of extra flavor. 

Will be restocking the kitchen this coming week and hopefully will be making a meal plan calendar. I found an app that was supposed to do that but technically wanted you to enter meals from their list so I had to hand enter what I thought we were going to eat. Three weeks of meals and only about four change ups.

Chicken, shrimp, more international flavors coming next month!