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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Jun 5, 2021 15:04:23 GMT -5
paquebot, Maybe High Noon juice? I dunno, I’m just making stuff up. I had a rather large lunch. I don’t generally eat too heavily anymore, but we went to town and I scarfed down some restaurant food. Beef Fajitas, 2 Eggs, Fried home style potatoes, refried beans and flour tortillas. That will be my meal for the day. Well, I might have an apple or bowl of cereal late tonight.
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Post by paquebot on Jun 5, 2021 21:03:12 GMT -5
Just a pair of Italian sausages with a dash of yellow mustard, no bun. Then the mystery super V-8 juice. No appetite all week. It's as if my body is saying that my missing cat is hungry and I must do the same. I can lose 10 pounds but she can't lose more than a few ounces.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Jun 5, 2021 22:16:01 GMT -5
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jun 7, 2021 10:27:12 GMT -5
It feels wrong for a bowl full of pain to look so delicious.
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Post by brownrexx on Jun 7, 2021 15:06:26 GMT -5
Tonight's dinner will be pan fried pork chops, red kale for DH and asparagus for me and fruit salads for both of us.
Interestingly these are super tender prime pork chops that I bought out of the butcher's case for $4.99/lb. and displayed right next to the pork were some kind of steaks (I think New York Strip) for $20.99/lb. and another type next to them for $23.99/lb. We don't eat much red meat but who would pay those prices? Not me!
I have my monthly cooking class tomorrow and the topic this month is Easy Summer Meals. I wonder what she will make? She also has a big garden.
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tallpines
Pro Member
Posts: 298
Zone:: 4a
Favorite Vegetable:: This week, it’s Rhubarb
Joined: February 2019
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Post by tallpines on Jun 7, 2021 17:13:12 GMT -5
Just a pair of Italian sausages with a dash of yellow mustard, no bun. Then the mystery super V-8 juice. No appetite all week. It's as if my body is saying that my missing cat is hungry and I must do the same. I can lose 10 pounds but she can't lose more than a few ounces. Martin The truth is more important than the facts. 😥
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tallpines
Pro Member
Posts: 298
Zone:: 4a
Favorite Vegetable:: This week, it’s Rhubarb
Joined: February 2019
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Post by tallpines on Jun 7, 2021 17:29:40 GMT -5
DH will be having the left over Rainbow Trout and cheesy rice with asparagus.
I get to open up a can of mustard sardines.
I like days like this!
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caesg
Pro Member
Posts: 152
Zone:: 5b
Favorite Vegetable:: Butternut Squash
Joined: April 2018
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Post by caesg on Jun 8, 2021 9:43:02 GMT -5
brownrexx , I'd love to hear about these easy summer meals! MrLoverMan and I find that we have minimal patience for cooking these days. About 20 minutes of meal prep is about all we've got in us most nights. We're relying a lot on salad kits and just really really basic meals. We've recently discovered these Street Kitchen kits that have been a life saver. They're too expensive to eat every night but one or two a week is enough to mix things up.
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Post by brownrexx on Jun 8, 2021 13:02:45 GMT -5
caesg, sorry but I misread the class schedule. Easy Summer Meals will be next month. Today's class was called Fruit refreshers and it was a lot of different fruit salads, some mixed with greens and she also made some infused oils using herbs or nuts. It was a fun class. Tonight I am making a green salad with the last of my garden lettuce and adding grilled chicken breast cubes as well as peppers, tomatoes, cucumber slices and hard boiled egg. A big salad with chicken is an easy summer meal for me.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Jun 9, 2021 13:43:14 GMT -5
I made a favorite summer food of mine for lunch today - Gazpacho! Surprisingly, this is one of those things made with fresh tomatoes that is almost as good when made with frozen tomatoes, as fresh ones, since it is blended up - with most things calling for fresh tomatoes, they are mushy, of course, and the skin slips off, plus they are watery. I saw those tomatoes in my freezer, and realized that I had to use them, since this year's crop will be starting soon! So I thawed a 4 lb bag of frozen grapes, and drained maybe 1 1/2 c water from them this morning. I blended the other ing together in the Vitamix, with a few tomatoes, to circulate it, put that in the large bowl, then blended the tomatoes in two more batches. To help thicken it, I added about 1 tb chia seeds to each batch, let them gel about 5 minutes, then blended on high, and also added a generous 1/2 tsp of xanthan gum while running, to each batch. Works even better than the traditional "stale bread", which I never have around anymore. I added the sherry vinegar, then the olive oil to the last batch, adding it slowly, while running, to emulsify. Then I mixed it all up in the 8 qt bowl, and poured it into this 4 qt bowl, which it just fit into! It chilled in the fridge, while I cut up the toppings. That is the only thing missing when making this with frozen tomatoes - some diced fresh tomatoes. But the rest is there. Almost 4 qts of gazpacho, using up 4 lbs of tomatoes from last season. by pepperhead212, on Flickr I'll eat this again for dinner, and probably for breakfast!
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Post by brownrexx on Jun 9, 2021 14:17:28 GMT -5
My local Giant had spatchcock (whole chicken cut in half) chicken this week with free corn on the cob and a jar of Bar-B-Q sauce. I am not expecting great taste from the corn but I couldn't resist because I like those Bar-B-Q half chickens that are sold around here as fund raisers in the summer.
I am going to cut the chicken into 2 separate halves and cook them on my gas grill over indirect heat since this is supposed to keep them tender and juicy. The last time I cooked chicken on the grill I used direct heat and it was kind of dry so I am looking forward to trying this and it will also keep the cooking heat out of the kitchen. I have AC but I don't like to use the oven or make big hot meals in the summer.
I will also grill a few asparagus spears. I have decided to stop cutting asparagus and let it grow so these will be my last spears.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jun 10, 2021 15:33:20 GMT -5
We had spaghetti with another big batch of fresh homemade sauce made from my tomatoes, elephant garlic, basil, and oregano, plus a little of the tomato powder I made from some tomatoes I dehydrated. I tend to forget about/not eat the dehydrated cherry tomatoes, so when I dehydrated tomatoes several days ago, instead of taking them out of the dehydrator when they were leathery, I dried them out fully. I also dehydrated slices from a few of the full-size tomatoes I had, because I had an awkward amount - too much for fresh use but not enough to make sauce. So using a few tomatoes to finish filling the dehydrator worked out well. Then I used my spice grinder to make tomato powder from them: The powder had a few chunks, and it was still a little sticky/wanted to clump. So I stored it airtight and used a moisture absorbing packet from a bottle of vitamins to put in there, so hopefully that will keep it from getting any stickier or clumping hard. Before grinding, the dried cherry tomato halves nearly filled that quart mason jar, and the sliced dehydrated tomatoes nearly filled another. This is the combined powder, after using 4T in my sauce. (I used 4T in the sauce because that's how much I needed to use so the rest would fit in my airtight container.) The tomato powder from the sliced tomatoes was pink and smelled sweet and amazing, like tomato candy. The tomato powder from the cherries was richer and deeper-smelling, and brownish. Mixed together they are kind of orange, as you can see. The color is similar to a homemade spice rub that Zach makes. One of my sons wants to take some of my tomato powder to Zach and tell him it's his own take on a BBQ spice rub to get him to try it. I don't think Zach will be fooled...one whiff and he'll know it's not a spice rub!
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Post by paquebot on Jun 14, 2021 20:51:12 GMT -5
Broccoli and carrots stir fry with diced venison and served over instant white rice. First time I didn't have to force myself to eat in the two weeks that my cat has been missing. Body was telling me maybe I should be as hungry as she is. Appetite today may mean that she's nabbed something big enough to fill her belly, too.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by brownrexx on Jun 15, 2021 7:01:20 GMT -5
I made chicken with asparagus tips in a nice white wine sauce. Salad on the side.
That will be the last asparagus I pick so it can grow ferns now. It was also my last head of garden lettuce.
I have nothing to harvest right now. The next crop will be green beans but they are only about 4" tall right now.
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Post by paquebot on Jun 15, 2021 18:30:53 GMT -5
Italian sausages, baked beans, and steamed chard and beet greens. Darned wife ate all of the baby beets but I forgave her! My fault for not bringing in more.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jun 16, 2021 14:08:57 GMT -5
Meatloaf tonight. It's not exciting, but it's one of the few entrees that all four kids really like. Since both of the older boys are coming tonight, I'm actually making two loaves. There will be a fair amount leftover, but leftover meatloaf is one of the few leftovers that my kids will eat. So any leftover meatloaf will be eaten for lunch within a day or two - no waste!
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Post by pepperhead212 on Jun 17, 2021 20:30:43 GMT -5
I made some curry today - something I started by taking an old rutabaga out of the fridge, which was actually growing sprouts! I got almost 1 1/2 lbs diced flesh from it, and I have been having a craving for some curry, after seeing some photos a couple of nights ago. Almost a one dish meal in the Instant Pot - also had to make the tarka in that small saucepan. I started with some chopped onion in some ghee on sauté mode, and after about 10 min, added a lot of garlic, plus some tomato paste, a little over a tb of sambar masala, and cooked another 2 minutes, then added some water, to deglaze, and added the remainder of 6 c water. Then I added 3/4 c each channa dal and moong dal (the split, but not dehulled type, so the skin is still on them), and about a cup of steel cut oats; not traditional, but wanted to use up the little bit from the new package that wouldn't fit in the quart jar. I cooked these for 1 1/2 hours on med-slow cook, then added the diced rutabaga, and cooked another hour. Then I added a lb of diced, boneless chicken thighs, and a tb of the garam masala I just made, and about 1 1/2 c yogurt, which I blended with 3/4 tsp xanthan gum - this kept it from curdling, while cooking. After this, the rutabaga was just right. I added another tsp of the new garam masala, and about 1/2 c chopped cilantro, and cooked about 5 minutes, while making the tarka. The tarka was 2 tsp mustard seed, popped in 2 tb oil, then 2 tsp cumin seed and 8 dried chiles, cooked until peppers brown, then 1/2 tsp asafoetida and about 20 curry leaves, cooked briefly, cooked briefly, then dumped in the curry. This tempering takes under a minute, start to finish. Rutabaga/chicken curry, being made in the Instant Pot. by pepperhead212, on Flickr Ingredients for the tarka, for the rutabaga curry. by pepperhead212, on Flickr Finished tarka, ready to stir into the rutabaga curry, to cook about 5 minutes more. by pepperhead212, on Flickr Finished rutabaga/chicken curry. by pepperhead212, on Flickr
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Post by paquebot on Jun 18, 2021 17:37:33 GMT -5
Pollock fillets from WalMart, potato salad from Pick 'n Save, and peas and carrots from the pantry. Wife had late-afternoon doctor's appointment so no time to make anything fancy.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by brownrexx on Jun 18, 2021 21:08:04 GMT -5
Tonight's dinner consisted of left overs from a casserole made last night with chicken and penne pasta and......... my FIRST tomato!
Actually it was a fried green tomato but it was still my first edible tomato from this year's garden.
I had purchased a Cherokee Purple seedling back in April and it had blooms which I allowed to develop. I planted the seedling into the garden in late May with the rest of my seedlings. I was hoping to get an early ripe tomato but 3 tomatoes were at the top of the plant and causing it to be top heavy and tip over so I cut 2 of them off yesterday.
The plant is now standing upright again and I surprised DH with a fried green tomato for dinner. He loves them so he was very happy.
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Jun 18, 2021 21:10:39 GMT -5
Garden finally dried up. Mom picked a mess of beans and we had snap beans and potatoes. Pan of cornbread rounded out the meal. My back has been acting up, so I’ve been taking it real easy the past few days.
ooops I forgot to mention, wife made me a pan of granola. It’s freaking awesome!
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Post by pepperhead212 on Jun 22, 2021 17:33:25 GMT -5
Another batch of gazpacho, with the last bag of tomatoes from the freezer from last season. The garlic was still from last season, but nothing else. I've been trying to use up as much as possible from the freezer - still have a generous amount of beans, as well as some tomatillos, eggplant purée, roasted chiles, and squash blossoms. Okra, and now the tomatoes, are gone. Another 4 quarts of gazpacho! by pepperhead212, on Flickr
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Post by paquebot on Jun 22, 2021 18:11:05 GMT -5
Great meal! It was a beef pasty from Jean Kay's in Iron Mountain, MI, special order with extra rutabagas. It was hard to improve on those which I had a few years ago but there was. Crust was a lot lighter as it should be, less chewy. Also perfect ratio of vegetables to meat. Nicest part now is that there are 11 more in the freezer!
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Jun 22, 2021 18:43:53 GMT -5
I had an egg roll and a slice of frozen pizza. Well, it wasn’t frozen when I ate it, but you know what I mean. It’s been so darn hot lately that we just grab what we can, when we can. This time of year we eat lots of frozen fruit and yogurt.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jun 23, 2021 15:11:34 GMT -5
For dinner last night I made an easy casserole using pasta, cream of mushroom soup (the recipe called for cream of chicken, but I used what I had), cheese, and canned chicken. DH and I and son #3 liked it; son #4 said it was, "Meh," but ate it anyway. He's picky, so I probably would have been more surprised if he had really liked it.
I am experimenting with recipes for canned chicken and tuna. I have a bunch of older canned chicken and tuna from my hurricane kit that I need to use and replace. So there will be more of these experiments in the near future. I don't normally cook with canned chicken or tuna; except for emergency use I mostly make tuna salad or chicken salad with these. Every once in a while I make a buffalo chicken dip just for me. Thus the experimenting, because there is only so much tuna salad and chicken salad I want to eat!
Last night I also made a peach cobbler with some older canned peaches that needed to be used and replaced. That turned out well, so I will probably do that again in a few weeks since I have just enough of the older canned peaches left for one more cobbler.
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Post by brownrexx on Jun 28, 2021 15:44:35 GMT -5
We were at our cabin for the weekend and Friday night's meal was on the grill. This is the first time I have ever grilled carrots but they were pretty good. I pulled these from my garden earlier in the week. They were supposed to be drizzled with herb butter after cooking but I forgot to pick any herbs to take along so I just coated them with olive oil and grilled them and they were good. I will try the butter the next time. I also grilled my first zucchini of the season. 20210626_174419 by Brownrexx, on Flickr On Saturday night we decided to try out hubby's new cast iron pan. Last year he decided that he wanted to try cast iron cooking over a fire and I bought the pan but we never used it so this weekend I brought the fixins for chili and he made it over the fire. It was really excellent chili and I brought the last of my spinach and made a side salad. This was fun so now I am trying to think of things to cook like this for the next time we go there. He also has a big cast iron frying pan. Campfire Chili by Brownrexx, on Flickr
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jun 29, 2021 12:28:47 GMT -5
I bet that hint of smokiness from cooking over the fire was really good in the chili. Mmmm...
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Post by brownrexx on Jun 29, 2021 15:38:29 GMT -5
Today is hubby's birthday so I am using the oven which I hardly ever do in air conditioning season. First I baked a chocolate cake and made caramel icing which is his favorite.
Dinner will be parmesan/cornflake crumb chicken, corn from the freezer, fried green tomatoes and fried yellow squash slices.
He loves fried green tomatoes so I am making them as a surprise. He told me recently that his mom always also fried some yellow squash slices when she made tomatoes so luckily I was able to pick my first yellow squash and I will be frying that too.
Not the healthiest meal I ever make but it's his birthday after all and fat grams and calories don't count!
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Jun 29, 2021 19:58:43 GMT -5
I made a smoothie bowl from Frozen fruits. I used Strawberries, Bananas & Peaches. Then topped it with homemade granola. No fuss! In & out of kitchen in 5.
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Post by september on Jun 29, 2021 21:37:12 GMT -5
Another summer meal of taco salad for Taco Tuesday. Had my own garden lettuce and cukes for this one.
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Jun 30, 2021 16:07:03 GMT -5
september, I think we’re going to have another frozen fruit smoothie bowl. It’s just so darn hot and humid. No one around here wants to heat the kitchen. We love our instapot blender. Makes fruit sorbet like nobody’s business! Dog Days of summer are here. Just think, a few decades ago, this was my favorite time of year. Of course that’s when I was gungho for girls in cutoffs and bikinis. I think differently these days. Been there done that and have a few T-Shirts. Hahahaaaaa!
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