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!

Shrimp again!

 I've been cooking repeats of other dishes, pasta with meat sauce, chicken sandwiches last night (delicious as usual) and Teriyaki chicken thighs the night before. I learned something though, seasoned salt needs to be used VERY sparingly. The mix I made is very strong and it overpowered the teriyaki flavor of the chicken. 

No pictures of those but showed a delicious rendition of the 'grilled' chicken sandwiches. I've been hungry while cooking so not many pictures of the finished dish. For this chicken I only sprinkled liberally with salt, pepper, less paprika and just a dusting of cajun spice. Let that sit in the fridge while I sliced up the veggies and we had to run  out and get more mayonnaise. They were tender, perfectly seasoned and we each had two. Used up the last of the buns on this set.

I used the recipe for shrimp tacos for the marinade and added in some chopped red onion. Instead of crushing the garlic, I just chopped it fine and added in an extra tablespoon of lime juice. I cannot tell you how delicious this turned out!

Shrimp Marinade:

 

3 tbl fresh cilantro, chopped fine

2 tbl fresh lime juice (plus 1 if you wish)

2 tbl olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced fine

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp each salt and pepper (or to taste)

 

Mix that thoroughly together then put shrimp in a shallow bowl and pour marinade over, tossing together to mix well. Marinade in fridge for about 15 minutes to half hour.

A note about the garlic; I learned that crushed garlic doesn't impart as much flavor as sliced or coarsely chopped. 

Heat large frying pan with two tblspoons olive oil until shimmers, add in shrimp and marinade, dump it all in there and cook until shrimp is opaque and/or pink.

Serve over white rice with home made refried beans, pico de gallo, whatever you wish. I warmed up some corn tortillas and made tacos, partner opted for the rice and beans.

 

 

 

I also used some of the Alabama White Sauce with some chopped up cabbage, pico and shredded cheese. This was just a knock out of the park and my only mistake was not doubling the tortillas for my tacos. I had to resort to a fork to eat everything when the tortillas broke in the middle.

Another note about tortillas. I have been using white corn tortillas forever, I don't remember why I changed, but I grabbed a stack of yellow corn ones this time and I am not going back. These had the classic flavor of Mexican food that I missed with my recipes. I may have switched to white corn because they held together better but the flavor is so mild it might as well be white bread.

Going to try and afford a better batch of shrimp next month but if not, these will still be okay.

Another new dish from an old recipe!

 I am using a calendar of sorts for planning meals but it gets switched up sometimes, this time it was what to do with shrimp.    Shrimp Scampi with zucchini and squash!

I also had to use up the squash and zuccini that was languishing and shriveling up. It was all very, very delicious! I was looking for the recipe I had for scampi but realized I was missing a crucial recipe box! I found a hand written paper with just the ingredients on it but needed to know the process of course. Luckily I found the a similar recipe online from Cooks.com. 

Ingredients:

1 lb shrimp, peeled, deveined, cleaned

5 cloves garlic, crushed

1/4 cup (one full cube) unsalted butter

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp minced parsley (dry is okay)

2 tbsp lemon juice (I used more)

2 or 3 drops Tobasco (or other hot sauce, I had Tapatio)

1 tbsp minced (chopped) green onion

1/4 tsp salt (adding pepper is okay too)

Lemon peel, grated (I didn't have this)

 

Melt butter and oil in sauce (frying) pan. Add green onion, garlic, lemon juice and salt. Cook until bubbly. Add shrimp, cook about 5 minutes or until all shrimp are pink. Add Tobasco sauce and stir in parsley. Heat through.

When shrimp is done, remove to bowl and keep warm (leaving some of the sauce in the pan is okay). Slice 2 lbs (about three or four zuccini and yellow squash)  add another tbsp butter and olive oil in pan, add squash and cook with lid on for ten minutes, remove lid and stir. Continue this process until they are soft and cooked through. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, mix and remove to another bowl.

 

Just before adding last ingredients start fettucini noodles.  Boil as directed, drain and then sprinkle three tbsp parmesan cheese, garlic powder, 1 tbsp butter and a tbsp parsley flakes. Serve scampi and zucchini on noodles. 

It really needed larger shrimp, the earthy and almost salty flavor of the shrimp just goes so well with the zesty lemon garlic sauce. I remember the first few times I made it I used fresh shrimp from the meat counter so they were good sized (this was also a few decades ago). I used what I can afford now so these were the smaller white shrimp again.

I pulled out the squash the night before to see how many I had and realized at least three of them were limp beyond healthy and had to chuck them. I ended up with two zucchini and one yellow squash, which I sliced up and then put in a bowl of water overnight in the fridge. It rehydrated them perfectly and then I just dumped out the water, pat dried them as best I could when I had to used them. 

It's great when a recipe comes together quickly and with tons of flavor.

 

 

 

New dish: Chicken with Rice and Mushrooms.

 

 

Today's recipe which I decided to do instead of the usual chicken cacciatore and yet another recipe inspiration from a Pinterest find:

"One Pot Mushroom Chicken and Rice"

(My) Ingredients:

 

2 Chicken thighs (bone and skin intact)

1 lg (16 oz) package of pre-sliced mushrooms (2 cups)

2 lg cloves garlic crushed

2 tsp dried parsley

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 14 oz can chicken broth

1 cup white rice, rinsed

1/2 tsp each salt and pepper

1/2 tsp each garlic and onion powder

Olive oil

2 tbl unsalted butter

1/4 milk

2 tbl cream cheese 

(1/4 heavy cream)

 

The original recipe called for doing stovetop cooking the put the whole pan in the oven to finish cooking. I do not trust that my 'Greenpan' frying pan is oven safe so I did it all on the stove like I've done other recipes

 

Instructions:

 

Rinse and pat dry chicken thighs then sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper (this is separate from the amount called for). I also added onion and garlic powder with a sprinkle of paprika because that's what I do. Salt and pepper should not be the only spices used in a recipe.

 

Heat oil in large pan (that has a lid) then fry chicken skin side down first until browned, then turn and do other side. Chicken will not be cooked through but feel free to cook a bit longer.

 When chicken is done (about ten minutes or so) set aside on a plate, add 1 tbl butter to the pan and add in the mushrooms, onion and garlic. I suggest doing it in that order as it takes longer for the mushrooms to cook than the other two. 

If using cream  substitute, combine the milk and cream cheese using a whisk.

if you have any burnt patches (fonde) in the bottom of the pan the liquid from the mushrooms and onion will help release it. Cook until mushrooms are soft but not thoroughly cooked through, add in the spices and stir to combine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add in the chicken broth, rice, cream (or substitute milk/cream cheese mix) stirring to combine. Heat until bubbly but not boiling, place chicken in pan, add lid and cook for approx 30-40 minutes. 

At 30 minutes, lift lid and stir best you can, replace lid and cook for another 10 minutes. 

Remove lid again and stir, check to see if rice is soft and liquid is mostly gone.

Turn off heat, let sit for a few minutes then enjoy! This could also benefit with a side veggie of steamed broccoli which I forgot to do.

I haven't used recipes that called for thyme very much because I never had it on hand. I made a point to buy some a while ago and am glad I did! This dish would be an excellent use for lemon thyme if you happened to have that growing. If not, a squirt or two (1/2 tsp) of lemon before adding the chicken back into the pan would be excellent! 

 

And now, if you wish to see, a before and after of my fridge and freezer. What a difference money makes.

What isn't shown is the two crisper drawers are completely stuffed with a variety of gifted and purchased veggies. From the time of that second picture to now, the potato salad is almost gone, the hamburger has been portioned and put in the freezer and I just used the mushrooms in today's meal. The chicken in the first picture was used the next day. The jar on the top shelf is Alabama White Sauce which I have been using on my breakfast sandwiches.

Just for reference, this is the only hamburger we get now. Better quality and less fat than the 'cheap' stuff at Kroger. I have gotten the 10 lb 'chub' previously when it was quite a bit cheaper, this trip they have started putting them in the regular meat case because so many people ask for it. The chub was only ten cents cheaper than this package and we don't really need 'that' much hamburger with all the other meat we have. Just shy of 6 lbs at 4.79/lb. That package of meat was almost as expensive as 7 gallons of gas when I went to fill up the next day.

We did not buy any eggs for the second month due to the price. It is not an absolute staple for us and we can survive not having them until things settle out, if they ever do. I am trying to make a menu calendar using an app but the problem is, I improvise too much. I had Chicken Cacciatore down for today and did the rice and mushrooms instead. I don't even remember what we had on Monday and am now using the app as a log of what we have had for reference.

I have to keep in mind as well that on Tuesday and Thursday I don't have as much time to cook so have to have simpler meals for those days until the end of the school year. So sometimes it will be leftovers, sandwiches, something quick that doesn't require a lot of prep or cooking. Which is another reason why I don't have recipe posts every day.

Other than that, enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

New month, new food ideas!

We have a list of different meals that are on infinite repeat because they're simple, tasty and filling. So any time I don't post here with a recipe or meal it means that we've been having another repeat. I fixed breaded chicken strips last night with a side salad. Today was a bit different and I have a new menu calendar on my ipad to reference when I need to know what to pull out of the freezer. 

This was our freezer and fridge the day before we got money. A few chicken breasts left and some frozen veggies. I don't have all the meats I usually buy in the freezer right now so will post an 'after' picture then. The chicken strips we had I used a variation of a recipe for chicken tenderloins which you soak the chicken in milk first. 

I added about a tablespoon of rotisserie chicken seasoning and this is the way I'm going to be doing chicken from now on. It's moist, has flavor and then adding seasoning to the flour as well it is super tasty!

 

Today I tried a new recipe from a video and had to guess at a few points. 

 

'Stuffed Italian Sausage' Sandwiches

 

1 pack (5) mild Italian sausage

1 package string cheeses (any number)

1 jar Marinara sauce

Sandwich rolls (all I could find is 'bolillo' at the market)

Parmesan cheese (dry grated or fresh)

Chili flakes

2 tbl butter

1 large clove garlic crushed

 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Grease or spray a baking dish large enough to fit the sausages 

Slice through sausages enough to fit one string cheese, do not remove skin. When all are done, sprinkle a little of the chili flakes on top.

Spoon marinara sauce over sausages to cover well and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Cook in oven for approximately one hour until sausages are completely cooked and cheese is melted. I found that an hour was just shy of enough time, the cheese wasn't completely melted in the middle. 

While that is baking, if needed, split the buns/rolls then mix the crushed garlic and butter and spread on inside of rolls. Afterthought: scoop out some of the bread to make room for the sausage. Heat up remaining sauce if all five will be eaten, if not about a cup of sauce and add any other flavorings to the sauce to taste. I added another clove of garlic, garlic powder and that was it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When sausages are done, put rolls on a baking pan or toast on a rack in oven (you can use aluminum foil on the rack if needed). Using tongs place a sausage carefully on the bun and spoon more sauce on top. Eat up! The original recipe was just the sausage alone and I thought this would make a great alternative to the meatball sandwich.

It was really good but due to poor condition of buns, mine fell apart and I had to use a knife and fork but it was still delicious. I'm planning on using the remainders with fettucini and the remainder of the marinara. Going to either put them in the oven again to heat with foil over them or in the microwave. 

Pictures when that happens of course.

Part 1 of our grocery haul, we also got a box of veggies from a dear friend who had extra so will be having Ronto Wraps again with the cabbage and already used some of the lettuce for salad.  I have two weeks of meals planned already and need to see what we will be picking up at the store tomorrow for the rest of our meals.

Mangia!