Hey All,
So I didn't write nearly as much as I would have liked this summer. Things were, well, there's no polite way to put it, this summer fucking sucked! Thankfully, my beloved pulled it all together and got me to Burning Man again. I'm still not quite sure what happened out in the desert this year, and I'm still recovering from the "playa plague", but I seem a lot more satisfied with a "Meh!" than my entire life being rainbows and unicorn farts. There's a lot of stuff at play, and I'm not exactly happy all the time, but such is life.
So one thing we started doing after we got back from TTITD was menu planning. I know every good household should do this, and recently the stress of "What do you want for dinner tonight?" was making me batty. So we're doing it and with some pretty amazing success. Its a bit of a pain to take 20 minutes on Saturday and make a plan for the week, but once the shopping is done, its done and there is a clear cut plan for the week. Oh, and its been quite nice on the budget too....lot's less eating out.
So here's the week and a few things I did to get us ready for it:
Monday - Monte Cristo Sandwiches and salad. These are easy, its basically an egg battered grilled ham and cheese. They come together with ease and its a satisfying meal.
Tuesday - Curried Pork. THINK CROCK POT!
Wednesday - Shrimp Alfredo. Another easy one. Cook the shrimp, pour over a jar of alfredo and viola. That will get served with Normandy mix veggies.
Thursday - Beef Enchiladas. I prepped those today, so another easy one. Pop 'em in the oven until they are ready. The garden is going full tilt and avacados were on sale, so those will be served with a salsa fresco, avacado slices, and sour cream.
Friday - good ol' hamburgers. Grill 'em and enjoy.
So nothing too inventive or crazy, but good eatin' that isn't breaking the bank or being delivered.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
For Paula, Zucchini Bread....A Walk Down Memory Lane
Hey All,
Where did the summer go? I swear.... So tonight I was contacted by my friend Paula. I met Paula back in my days in Wyoming, we worked together and usually found ourselves up to some type of surreptitious behavior. Needless to say I was lucky to have a like minded soul helping keep things entertaining. We've since moved to quite different parts of the world, but we do still keep in touch.
So she was ranting something about hippies and if they only knew about what actually went into a box of baking soda. It struck up some interesting and snarky conversation reminiscent of the good 'ol days when life was water and rocks and big tumbling ovens..... That carried on for a bit and gardening came up. Well lucky her, she's lousy with zucchini. Mmm, how I do love me some zukes. I haven't taken to growing them, much like Paula, many of my local friends are often lousy with the buggers and I inherit the bounty. At any rate, she was looking for a zucchini bread recipe.
This brings about another story from my college days. One evenings my best friend called me to tell me she had something very important to show me. She appeared on my porch with what appeared to be a baby covered in a blanket in her arms. Oh jeez, really? Well, no, it was a 30 some-odd pound zucchini her mother (I swear the woman mutated everything she ever planted into gargantuan proportions, ask me about Momma H's Mutant Day Lilies sometime.) had grown. Knowing I had freezer space and a knack for making a preserving good food she sent it my direction. I think that thing kept us in zucchini bread for most of that year of college....a great easy breakfast in the morning.
This recipe comes from More-with-Less Cookbook, (c) 1976, Twenty-ninth Printing, July 1982, pg. 82. This cookbook was a gift from my Aunt upon high school graduation. She had a copy and spied it at a yard sale and instantly remembered how useful it was while living on a tight budget with her young family. She told me to at least read the first couple of chapters to get some ideas for the years of tight budgeting ahead. I'm sure glad I did, I ate well all throughout college and never broke the bank. I'm not sure if its still in print, but if you can find it, get it. You'll never regret it.
So here it is Zucchini Bread, makes 2 loaves, oven at 350F:
Preheat oven.
Combine in a mixing bowl and beat well:
3 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups raw, peeled, grated zucchini
1 tablespoon vanilla
Sift together:
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons cinnamon
Add to zucchini mixture and stir until blended.
Optionally add 1 cup chopped nuts.
Pour into 2 greased 8" bread pans. Bake 1 hour. Remove from pans and cool on rack.
Optionally, frozen zucchini can be used if pureed in a blender.
I always used to sprinkle a bit of sugar on top too, to give it a nice crispy crust.
Hrm, I just remembered I still have a couple pounds of zucchini in the freezer from last year. Guess I need to get cracking and have some kitchen time.
Where did the summer go? I swear.... So tonight I was contacted by my friend Paula. I met Paula back in my days in Wyoming, we worked together and usually found ourselves up to some type of surreptitious behavior. Needless to say I was lucky to have a like minded soul helping keep things entertaining. We've since moved to quite different parts of the world, but we do still keep in touch.
So she was ranting something about hippies and if they only knew about what actually went into a box of baking soda. It struck up some interesting and snarky conversation reminiscent of the good 'ol days when life was water and rocks and big tumbling ovens..... That carried on for a bit and gardening came up. Well lucky her, she's lousy with zucchini. Mmm, how I do love me some zukes. I haven't taken to growing them, much like Paula, many of my local friends are often lousy with the buggers and I inherit the bounty. At any rate, she was looking for a zucchini bread recipe.
This brings about another story from my college days. One evenings my best friend called me to tell me she had something very important to show me. She appeared on my porch with what appeared to be a baby covered in a blanket in her arms. Oh jeez, really? Well, no, it was a 30 some-odd pound zucchini her mother (I swear the woman mutated everything she ever planted into gargantuan proportions, ask me about Momma H's Mutant Day Lilies sometime.) had grown. Knowing I had freezer space and a knack for making a preserving good food she sent it my direction. I think that thing kept us in zucchini bread for most of that year of college....a great easy breakfast in the morning.
This recipe comes from More-with-Less Cookbook, (c) 1976, Twenty-ninth Printing, July 1982, pg. 82. This cookbook was a gift from my Aunt upon high school graduation. She had a copy and spied it at a yard sale and instantly remembered how useful it was while living on a tight budget with her young family. She told me to at least read the first couple of chapters to get some ideas for the years of tight budgeting ahead. I'm sure glad I did, I ate well all throughout college and never broke the bank. I'm not sure if its still in print, but if you can find it, get it. You'll never regret it.
So here it is Zucchini Bread, makes 2 loaves, oven at 350F:
Preheat oven.
Combine in a mixing bowl and beat well:
3 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups raw, peeled, grated zucchini
1 tablespoon vanilla
Sift together:
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons cinnamon
Add to zucchini mixture and stir until blended.
Optionally add 1 cup chopped nuts.
Pour into 2 greased 8" bread pans. Bake 1 hour. Remove from pans and cool on rack.
Optionally, frozen zucchini can be used if pureed in a blender.
I always used to sprinkle a bit of sugar on top too, to give it a nice crispy crust.
Hrm, I just remembered I still have a couple pounds of zucchini in the freezer from last year. Guess I need to get cracking and have some kitchen time.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Roast Beef Ranch Wraps....
Hey All,
So I haven't been blogging much lately. That's not to say the eating hasn't been good, I've just been busy and recently under the weather. Has anyone else noticed that summertime colds are the worst? Of course because of the nice weather, I'm failing to keep myself well rested....there is just too much to do and enjoy.
So lunch today was an easy affair, but one that had that moment of "Nice!" to make me want to blog it. Husbear is working on the carburetor cleaning and I've just been fiddling around in the gardens, but we were both grumbling about food.
A quick survey of the fridge and freezer produced ranch dip, tomato, romaine lettuce, and some whole wheat tortillas. Ta-da, wrap time....
4 Slices the tomatoes and then cut those in half to make half moon shapes.
4 leaves of lettuce.
4 tortillas smeared on one half with the ranch dip.
Roast beef to make 4 good hearty wraps.
On with the lettuce, tomato, and roast beef, roll and viola. Quick, easy, and super satisfying :)
So I haven't been blogging much lately. That's not to say the eating hasn't been good, I've just been busy and recently under the weather. Has anyone else noticed that summertime colds are the worst? Of course because of the nice weather, I'm failing to keep myself well rested....there is just too much to do and enjoy.
So lunch today was an easy affair, but one that had that moment of "Nice!" to make me want to blog it. Husbear is working on the carburetor cleaning and I've just been fiddling around in the gardens, but we were both grumbling about food.
A quick survey of the fridge and freezer produced ranch dip, tomato, romaine lettuce, and some whole wheat tortillas. Ta-da, wrap time....
4 Slices the tomatoes and then cut those in half to make half moon shapes.
4 leaves of lettuce.
4 tortillas smeared on one half with the ranch dip.
Roast beef to make 4 good hearty wraps.
On with the lettuce, tomato, and roast beef, roll and viola. Quick, easy, and super satisfying :)
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Now for Something Completely Unrelated
Hey All,
So as some of you know I have this thing for commercial aviation. Ever since I was a young 'un I've been fascinated by planes ranging from the B1900 all the way up to the A380. A few years ago, I stumbled upon Airliners.net and have become a daily viewer to get my fix of all varieties of aircraft. Not too long ago, what did my eye spy, but daily service between PVU (that's Provo, UT) and DEN (Denver, CO).
Well, today was the day Frontier 1655, PVU->DEN started service.
So does anyone have any thoughts on this? Is the Salt Lake Metro area going to be the next to enjoy scheduled commercial service to more than one airport? I would love to see it, and can easily see PVU becoming a great alternate, especially if they can get the UTA (Utah Transit Authority) on board with connection to the impending rail service. I doubt we'd see the likes of Southwest moving down there, but I'm putting my money on 18-21 months before United is flying it.
So as some of you know I have this thing for commercial aviation. Ever since I was a young 'un I've been fascinated by planes ranging from the B1900 all the way up to the A380. A few years ago, I stumbled upon Airliners.net and have become a daily viewer to get my fix of all varieties of aircraft. Not too long ago, what did my eye spy, but daily service between PVU (that's Provo, UT) and DEN (Denver, CO).
Well, today was the day Frontier 1655, PVU->DEN started service.
So does anyone have any thoughts on this? Is the Salt Lake Metro area going to be the next to enjoy scheduled commercial service to more than one airport? I would love to see it, and can easily see PVU becoming a great alternate, especially if they can get the UTA (Utah Transit Authority) on board with connection to the impending rail service. I doubt we'd see the likes of Southwest moving down there, but I'm putting my money on 18-21 months before United is flying it.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Herbed Grilled Flatbread, for easy reference
Hey All,
So way back when, when I was young and ambitious, I used to read just about every periodical I could get my hands on regarding herbs, herbalism, aromatherapy, and all my other favorite complimentary therapies.
Among those, was a really simple recipe for Herbed Grilled Flatbread (The Herb Quarterly, Summer 2006, with my adaptations). It looks complicated, but trust me, I have yet to screw it up, so it can't be even remotely hard. So here we go:
1 package (which is 1 1/2 tsp from the jar) yeast
3/4 cup warm (I get the yeast where you can be quite hot...I prefer a hot to the touch water as the yeast perk up quicker and produce more yeasty flavors)
1 tsp sugar
2 cups flour
1 Tblsp fresh herbs. You can do it with dry, but cut that down to 1tsp then. Conventional wisdom is 1/3 the amount of dry herbs when a recipe calls for fresh.
1/4 tsp fennel seeds, lightly ground. You can skip the fennel seed, but I contend it makes this stuff taste the way it should.
3/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp (or a couple good cranks of your grinder) Black Pepper
1/4 cup olive oil, plus oil for brushing. USE OLIVE OIL! I've tried substituting other oils and it just doesn't taste right.
Activate the yeast by mixing the yeast, water, and sugar in a small dish.
Mix the flour, herbs, and salt together. Add the olive oil and mix. Then add the active yeast, bring the dough together and knead until smooth and elastic. Um, I'm not sure how else to describe this. If you've ever made good bread, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Its one of those you just know with experience. So if in doubt, you can overknead this recipe and it will be fine.
Coat the dough and let it rise for at least 1.5 hours until it doubles. Then divide the dough in half, and each of those halves into 3 pieces, so you have a total of 6. Roll these to 1/4" thick, coat with oil and grill on a low flame (or on the edges of the grill where it isn't so intensely hot), about 5-7 minutes per side. The big thing is don't burn them...
And Viola! Serve them warm, or if you must, wrap them up in foil or plastic wrap to keep them pliable.
One of my favorite things to do with this is a pita type affair with ground beef that has been seasoned beyond recognition with Mediterranean herbs, cucumber yogurt dill sauce, and salted/sugared onions.
Today, I'll be adding a bit of lavender (white grosso, so the flavor is quite subtle) to the bread and making my lavender-apple chicken. The chicken was this thing I made one evening in Wyoming when I wasn't sure what to do, so I let fancy be my muse. I think I talked about it in the post before this one. If you need a more formal recipe, be sure to comment or get hold of me and I'll provide some better guidance. On this one, we'll be doing caramelized onion with a sprinkle of bacon...YUM!
So way back when, when I was young and ambitious, I used to read just about every periodical I could get my hands on regarding herbs, herbalism, aromatherapy, and all my other favorite complimentary therapies.
Among those, was a really simple recipe for Herbed Grilled Flatbread (The Herb Quarterly, Summer 2006, with my adaptations). It looks complicated, but trust me, I have yet to screw it up, so it can't be even remotely hard. So here we go:
1 package (which is 1 1/2 tsp from the jar) yeast
3/4 cup warm (I get the yeast where you can be quite hot...I prefer a hot to the touch water as the yeast perk up quicker and produce more yeasty flavors)
1 tsp sugar
2 cups flour
1 Tblsp fresh herbs. You can do it with dry, but cut that down to 1tsp then. Conventional wisdom is 1/3 the amount of dry herbs when a recipe calls for fresh.
1/4 tsp fennel seeds, lightly ground. You can skip the fennel seed, but I contend it makes this stuff taste the way it should.
3/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp (or a couple good cranks of your grinder) Black Pepper
1/4 cup olive oil, plus oil for brushing. USE OLIVE OIL! I've tried substituting other oils and it just doesn't taste right.
Activate the yeast by mixing the yeast, water, and sugar in a small dish.
Mix the flour, herbs, and salt together. Add the olive oil and mix. Then add the active yeast, bring the dough together and knead until smooth and elastic. Um, I'm not sure how else to describe this. If you've ever made good bread, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Its one of those you just know with experience. So if in doubt, you can overknead this recipe and it will be fine.
Coat the dough and let it rise for at least 1.5 hours until it doubles. Then divide the dough in half, and each of those halves into 3 pieces, so you have a total of 6. Roll these to 1/4" thick, coat with oil and grill on a low flame (or on the edges of the grill where it isn't so intensely hot), about 5-7 minutes per side. The big thing is don't burn them...
And Viola! Serve them warm, or if you must, wrap them up in foil or plastic wrap to keep them pliable.
One of my favorite things to do with this is a pita type affair with ground beef that has been seasoned beyond recognition with Mediterranean herbs, cucumber yogurt dill sauce, and salted/sugared onions.
Today, I'll be adding a bit of lavender (white grosso, so the flavor is quite subtle) to the bread and making my lavender-apple chicken. The chicken was this thing I made one evening in Wyoming when I wasn't sure what to do, so I let fancy be my muse. I think I talked about it in the post before this one. If you need a more formal recipe, be sure to comment or get hold of me and I'll provide some better guidance. On this one, we'll be doing caramelized onion with a sprinkle of bacon...YUM!
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Summer Steaks, marinading ideas
Hey All,
So its springtime in SL,UT and very soon, once these clouds roll over us, it will be full on summer. That means its time for barbecues on the patio and lighter fare that doesn't involved an oven.
I wasn't planning on entertaining today, but alas, I found the bug. Been sitting on the porch drinking Wasatch's Jalepeno Cream Ale and enjoying the temperamental weather. Its been a great day of reconnecting with old friends, enjoying the geekery the Husbear and I share, and just enjoying life. My big projects at work are at least out of my hands for the moment, no audits are going on, and quite frankly it is nice just to sit here and look at the beautiful (although not complete) garden I've created.
So that's the jist of my personal life; let's talk food!
One of my favorite ways to prepare steaks for grilling is to marinade them in a vacuum sealed package. Tonight, I just sprinkled them with McCormick's Spicey Montreal Seasoning and then added about 4Tblsp. each of balsamic vinegar and Worcestershire sauce. I sealed that up (the sealing really helps the flavors penetrate) and we'll cook here in a few hours.
Really you can do almost anything with the half/half balsamic/Worc blend. Add a bit of sugar, tomato paste, and garlic and you've got a BBQ flavor. A bit of ginger, soy sauce, and cilantro and you've got a Thai BBQ flavor. The possibilities are literally endless.
I'm going to roll a bit of sushi to go with it for a nice summer dinner. Friends are bringing snacks and salads, so it should be a good meal. And I should mention if you are doing a dinner and plan sushi as an appetizer, make sure your guests know that. I exhausted myself a few weeks ago with a dinner where sushi was supposed to be the appetizer but it ended up being the main course.
Another favorite I'm going to bring out this summer is my lavender apple chicken. Its another sealed up marinade you might like to try. Take boneless chicken boobs with lavender, garlic, and a bit of sugar sprinkled liberally on them. Seal those up with a dose of 50/50 apple cider vinegar and sherry. Grill it and YUM!
So welcome summer and happy times with friends! Now, I'm gonna go nap a bit on account of high octane beer.
So its springtime in SL,UT and very soon, once these clouds roll over us, it will be full on summer. That means its time for barbecues on the patio and lighter fare that doesn't involved an oven.
I wasn't planning on entertaining today, but alas, I found the bug. Been sitting on the porch drinking Wasatch's Jalepeno Cream Ale and enjoying the temperamental weather. Its been a great day of reconnecting with old friends, enjoying the geekery the Husbear and I share, and just enjoying life. My big projects at work are at least out of my hands for the moment, no audits are going on, and quite frankly it is nice just to sit here and look at the beautiful (although not complete) garden I've created.
So that's the jist of my personal life; let's talk food!
One of my favorite ways to prepare steaks for grilling is to marinade them in a vacuum sealed package. Tonight, I just sprinkled them with McCormick's Spicey Montreal Seasoning and then added about 4Tblsp. each of balsamic vinegar and Worcestershire sauce. I sealed that up (the sealing really helps the flavors penetrate) and we'll cook here in a few hours.
Really you can do almost anything with the half/half balsamic/Worc blend. Add a bit of sugar, tomato paste, and garlic and you've got a BBQ flavor. A bit of ginger, soy sauce, and cilantro and you've got a Thai BBQ flavor. The possibilities are literally endless.
I'm going to roll a bit of sushi to go with it for a nice summer dinner. Friends are bringing snacks and salads, so it should be a good meal. And I should mention if you are doing a dinner and plan sushi as an appetizer, make sure your guests know that. I exhausted myself a few weeks ago with a dinner where sushi was supposed to be the appetizer but it ended up being the main course.
Another favorite I'm going to bring out this summer is my lavender apple chicken. Its another sealed up marinade you might like to try. Take boneless chicken boobs with lavender, garlic, and a bit of sugar sprinkled liberally on them. Seal those up with a dose of 50/50 apple cider vinegar and sherry. Grill it and YUM!
So welcome summer and happy times with friends! Now, I'm gonna go nap a bit on account of high octane beer.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Oh, that public record thing....
Hey All,
So just to follow up so you aren't freaking out. That thing I couldn't talk about was an FDA General Compliance Audit at work. It went well, I think it posts in the public record in 30 days, so if you are into that sort of thing, knock yourself out.
And in other news, Blogger was down for maintenance last night, so you got to miss out on my opinions on an article about sushi I read a while back. One of my favorites, and last night's dinner selection was Simply Sushi Downtown. Yes, its all you can eat, yes, its pretty generic fare, nothing out of the ordinary, but guess what, THEY DO IT WELL! As a matter of fact, they ARE ONE OF THE BEST!
That is all, stay tuned for the weekend :)
So just to follow up so you aren't freaking out. That thing I couldn't talk about was an FDA General Compliance Audit at work. It went well, I think it posts in the public record in 30 days, so if you are into that sort of thing, knock yourself out.
And in other news, Blogger was down for maintenance last night, so you got to miss out on my opinions on an article about sushi I read a while back. One of my favorites, and last night's dinner selection was Simply Sushi Downtown. Yes, its all you can eat, yes, its pretty generic fare, nothing out of the ordinary, but guess what, THEY DO IT WELL! As a matter of fact, they ARE ONE OF THE BEST!
That is all, stay tuned for the weekend :)
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Star of India.....lots of dining out
Hey All,
Its been a week of dining out, and doing it reasonably affordably. Dinner for two the past couple of nights hasn't exceeded $35, with tip, and yes, I usually tip at least $5 as a base.
Some stuff is going on that I'm not sure I can talk about in a public forum, well at least not until it becomes public record. No, no divorce, I'm not going to jail, or anything like that.... I'll explain once its over.
So last night we went to Star of India. My boss turned me onto this place when we were in the old location, as it was only a quick jaunt down the hill to have what he tells me is "real Indian food, not mislabeled Pakistani food". I'll have to trust him on that one, as up until moving to SLC, my exposure to Indian cuisine was minimal. Another one that gets high marks, although I haven't eaten there recently is Bombay Grill up in Ogden. We discovered this one on a lark, and my co-workers of Indian descent consider it to be the best...in fact one and his wife often schedule date nights to make the trek up there.
Ok, enough blather about that. I had shahi paneer and keema nan...YUM! I found this recipe over on Manjula's Kitchen. I've been a huge fan of hers for some time now, and finally get to link her :) So anyway, Star of India does theirs with almonds and a touch of raisin....delicious. The light sweetness of the dish went amazing with the Keema Nan. If you've never tried Star of India, I give it a high recommend for good food, afford-ability, and their awesome lunch buffet.
Tonight we wandered over to ESTE Pizza's Downtown Location. I'm not sure if I'm becoming picky or if I continue to be underwhelmed. Another coworker turned me onto this one, but I haven't found the same lust/desire/craving for it I do other places in the valley. Perhaps its that I'm not a huge Italian cuisine fan, save gnocchi, I think its the German and Irish blood in me; I simply adore dumplings of any sort. So not super high on my list, but not one that makes me run away in terror either....
This weekend we'll be hosting the "Mongolian Hoard"....ok, no, just quite a few friends for grilling. I'm also using this as an excuse to continue practicing sushi....not sure how much I'll document, but expect at least one or two pictures.
Its been a week of dining out, and doing it reasonably affordably. Dinner for two the past couple of nights hasn't exceeded $35, with tip, and yes, I usually tip at least $5 as a base.
Some stuff is going on that I'm not sure I can talk about in a public forum, well at least not until it becomes public record. No, no divorce, I'm not going to jail, or anything like that.... I'll explain once its over.
So last night we went to Star of India. My boss turned me onto this place when we were in the old location, as it was only a quick jaunt down the hill to have what he tells me is "real Indian food, not mislabeled Pakistani food". I'll have to trust him on that one, as up until moving to SLC, my exposure to Indian cuisine was minimal. Another one that gets high marks, although I haven't eaten there recently is Bombay Grill up in Ogden. We discovered this one on a lark, and my co-workers of Indian descent consider it to be the best...in fact one and his wife often schedule date nights to make the trek up there.
Ok, enough blather about that. I had shahi paneer and keema nan...YUM! I found this recipe over on Manjula's Kitchen. I've been a huge fan of hers for some time now, and finally get to link her :) So anyway, Star of India does theirs with almonds and a touch of raisin....delicious. The light sweetness of the dish went amazing with the Keema Nan. If you've never tried Star of India, I give it a high recommend for good food, afford-ability, and their awesome lunch buffet.
Tonight we wandered over to ESTE Pizza's Downtown Location. I'm not sure if I'm becoming picky or if I continue to be underwhelmed. Another coworker turned me onto this one, but I haven't found the same lust/desire/craving for it I do other places in the valley. Perhaps its that I'm not a huge Italian cuisine fan, save gnocchi, I think its the German and Irish blood in me; I simply adore dumplings of any sort. So not super high on my list, but not one that makes me run away in terror either....
This weekend we'll be hosting the "Mongolian Hoard"....ok, no, just quite a few friends for grilling. I'm also using this as an excuse to continue practicing sushi....not sure how much I'll document, but expect at least one or two pictures.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Fore! And somethig witty that Husbear said...now I forget
Hey All,
So here it is, a drizzly evening in SLc, UT and I am worn out. This, of course, is in a good way, not like Friday when I came home and swallowed about 6 bottles of wine and slept all day Saturday....but that's another story for face-to-face time. Today was up bright and early for a quick 9 with Lushus and Killer (we finally found him a nickname, YAY!). I really wish I knew what it was about a good round of golf (shot a 44, and had a birdie in the mix too!) that is about the best drug on Earth! Not even marathon sex can leave me that worn out and buzzing....but you don't want to hear about my dirty laundry, and well, if you do, we need to do that face-to-face thingy....
It wasn't needed, but if your local links are anything like some of ours, you'll want skeeter scoot and lots of it. I've gone the natural route with great success.
Here's a couple of blends:
Skeeter Scoot 1
1 part Eucalyptus Citriodora Essential Oil
1 part Siberian Fir Essential Oil
Skeeter Scoot 2 (aka Nosler's secret blend....yes, its also one of my signature colognes)
1 part Eucalyptus Citriodora Essential Oil
1 part Lavandin (no need for a spendy lavender here) Essential Oil
1 part Patchouli Essential Oil
So it was supposed to be a lazy afternoon; a bit of maritals, a nap, and easy dinner. Well the nap never happened, but a really yummy dinner came together quite quickly.
Lately, I've been playing with making my own sushi. Its amazing what one can do very afford-ably with a good Asian market nearby. Here's one of my first Kalifornia Rolls and a Cucumber Roll.
I wish I had good advice to give. I had to enlist the help of a dear friend who spent quite a bit of time in Japan to give me a quick tutorial.....I've been practicing and getting better everyday.
Tonight's dinner was nothing fancy, but I need to keep those sushi skills coming along, so I pulled out some Oshinko (pickled radish) and made a simple roll with Oshinko, green onion, and pickled ginger. Needless to say, it tasted great!
Also, the steaks, nothing fancy, but this never fails me. 2 or more hours before grilling, soak them in 1 part balsamic vinegar and 1 part Worcestershire sauce. Lately I've been adventuring with some Malbec I turned into vinegar, mixing it half and half with the balsamic. Its just short of divine. When I grill them, I also sprinkle them generously with McCormick Spicy Montreal Steak Seasoning. An easy trick to cooking I learned from Nigella Express on the Cooking channel is get that grill HOT and then 4 minutes on each side.....perfect, EVERYTIME!
So we served that with some leftover baked beans and coleslaw from the chicken dinner the other night.....yes, it was store bought, some vices I just can't give up that easily.
Here's the final plate:
Oh and its strange, I know, but this is what I've been listening to tonight.
And a quick tip if you don't eat all the steak. I only ate half, so here's what I'm doing for lunch tomorrow: slice the steak as thin as you can, mix with 1tsp balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp sugar, a sprinkle of cinnamon, a sprinkle of garlic powder, and mix with enough ketchup to get it to stick together. I'll nuke that and serve it on a bun....best BBQ beef sandwich ever!
So here it is, a drizzly evening in SLc, UT and I am worn out. This, of course, is in a good way, not like Friday when I came home and swallowed about 6 bottles of wine and slept all day Saturday....but that's another story for face-to-face time. Today was up bright and early for a quick 9 with Lushus and Killer (we finally found him a nickname, YAY!). I really wish I knew what it was about a good round of golf (shot a 44, and had a birdie in the mix too!) that is about the best drug on Earth! Not even marathon sex can leave me that worn out and buzzing....but you don't want to hear about my dirty laundry, and well, if you do, we need to do that face-to-face thingy....
It wasn't needed, but if your local links are anything like some of ours, you'll want skeeter scoot and lots of it. I've gone the natural route with great success.
Here's a couple of blends:
Skeeter Scoot 1
1 part Eucalyptus Citriodora Essential Oil
1 part Siberian Fir Essential Oil
Skeeter Scoot 2 (aka Nosler's secret blend....yes, its also one of my signature colognes)
1 part Eucalyptus Citriodora Essential Oil
1 part Lavandin (no need for a spendy lavender here) Essential Oil
1 part Patchouli Essential Oil
So it was supposed to be a lazy afternoon; a bit of maritals, a nap, and easy dinner. Well the nap never happened, but a really yummy dinner came together quite quickly.
Lately, I've been playing with making my own sushi. Its amazing what one can do very afford-ably with a good Asian market nearby. Here's one of my first Kalifornia Rolls and a Cucumber Roll.
I wish I had good advice to give. I had to enlist the help of a dear friend who spent quite a bit of time in Japan to give me a quick tutorial.....I've been practicing and getting better everyday.
Tonight's dinner was nothing fancy, but I need to keep those sushi skills coming along, so I pulled out some Oshinko (pickled radish) and made a simple roll with Oshinko, green onion, and pickled ginger. Needless to say, it tasted great!
Also, the steaks, nothing fancy, but this never fails me. 2 or more hours before grilling, soak them in 1 part balsamic vinegar and 1 part Worcestershire sauce. Lately I've been adventuring with some Malbec I turned into vinegar, mixing it half and half with the balsamic. Its just short of divine. When I grill them, I also sprinkle them generously with McCormick Spicy Montreal Steak Seasoning. An easy trick to cooking I learned from Nigella Express on the Cooking channel is get that grill HOT and then 4 minutes on each side.....perfect, EVERYTIME!
So we served that with some leftover baked beans and coleslaw from the chicken dinner the other night.....yes, it was store bought, some vices I just can't give up that easily.
Here's the final plate:
Oh and its strange, I know, but this is what I've been listening to tonight.
And a quick tip if you don't eat all the steak. I only ate half, so here's what I'm doing for lunch tomorrow: slice the steak as thin as you can, mix with 1tsp balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp sugar, a sprinkle of cinnamon, a sprinkle of garlic powder, and mix with enough ketchup to get it to stick together. I'll nuke that and serve it on a bun....best BBQ beef sandwich ever!
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Its probably just as well....
Hey All,
Well, it turned out to be a nice kinda sunny day here in good ol' SLc, UT. I was hoping to hit the links today, but alas it only just now got sunny and there is still a brutal chill to the air.
Ya'll haven't heard much from me, well, for a handful of reasons. Recently my work blocked access to my social media sites, and have been being downright ruthless about IT policy, so my 20 minutes in the evening I would normally spend blogging or photographing great and easy homecooked food has been spent catching up on the days events. Also, life in general has taken an AMAZING twist. I'm not sure what has kicked over, but I've decided to quit letting minutia ruin my life. Crazy work BS -- OUT! Crappy body image stuff -- OUT! Feeling like people just don't get me -- OUT! A lot of this has happened in the past couple of weeks. I had some really amazing validation happen on the career front. While I'm not changing jobs anytime soon, I finally got potential employers to say, "Wow, you are way experienced and awesome, can we keep your resume on file should a more senior position open up?" Its made it a lot easier to let go of trying to prove myself every time I turn around. I've been letting work flow naturally and organically, and I'm pretty confident I'm rocking it. Friday alone I did more science in 4 hours than I had been doing in a year...out of fear and concern for the minutia, my productivity had been sucking. I also had a really cool friend wander back into the local area. She's one of those people that just knows me and is really a fuckton of fun! The past two weekends have been spent having some of the funnest times of my life....yes, the fun I have with her rivals the fun I have at Burning Man. The past two weekends have been spent dancing and bitching and just having fun....not often I get to do that. Thanks Ang, for reminding me what it is like to live open and free!
So that brings us to tonight. Through Ang, we met this amazing new boi. I don't mean to gush, but damn. He's cute, he's fun, he's smart (persuing his Ph.D., no less), and available. That doesn't seem to happen that often in the world of this slut. Usually, if they are available, they are lame-ass leaches that I can't stand, or if they are smart and fun they are so damn busy I have to make time to savor every single second. Some of my closest and greatest friends from down south are coming over for dinner and sleepover, as is new boi :)
So what does one do when great friends and new fucktois (I use that term with the utmost affection) are coming for dinner? We were thinking steaks, but why not pull out all the stops and make an amazing cheddar bacon stuffed burger. That set my wheels in motion, and why not add an awesome potato salad (Dusti taught me how to make this one, its delicious!). Husbear was craving a green salad too.....so why not one of my favorites, the Mushroom Spinach Salad.
So where to start. The burgers are surprisingly easy. NPS had Everson Spice Bacon Cheddar Seasoning on clearance last year. I figured why not and bought some. Needless to say I was back the next day they were open buying up their stock. For batches smaller than 5 lbs. you can approximate 2Tblsp. per pound. So I rehydrate that in a bowl and then mix in the ground beef. Usually I go for something really lean....tonight I did 1lb. 98/2 and 1lb. 80/20. Then mix in plenty of good cheddar...I've done it with super sharp, tonight with Chive Shallot Cheddar. NPS is a godsend with this as they often get the "near outdates" from local retailers and sell it for a fraction of the price. The funny thing with cheese, tho, is that there really is no such thing as an outdate. The flavors are less predictable after the outdate, but sometimes you get amazing suprises. I recently had an "outdated" blue develop white mold and get brie flavors on top of the blue....I was in heaven. So anyway, turn those into patties and grill.....a couple strips of bacon on top and YUM!
Up next is the potato salad. So um, yeah, its potato salad is kinda hard to screw up. Boil the taters, I leave the skin on, in well salted water. This saves having to add salt later. And a new trick I learned today, don't want to dirty another pot for boiling the eggs, just put them on top the taters and take them out after boiling for 11min with a slotted spoon. CAKE! Now for the trick that Dusti taught me in Wyoming. Don't go full mayo, use half mayo and half sour cream....it adds a unique flavor that can't be beat. Tonights' includes celery, sweet relish, 4 eggs, about 3/4 of a normal sized onion, plenty of prepared mustard, and a tiche of distilled vinegar. I also decided to add some (ok, a lot of) mustard powder to kick it up a notch. Oh hells yeah, it knocked it up a notch and added a spice that is A-FREAKING-MAZING!
And finally the Warm Mushroom Salad. A couple of notes on this one, the recipe calls for a mixed green....I like straight up spinach. Don't over reduce the balsamic, or it doesn't coat the greens well. And finally, add those mushrooms while they are still steaming hot. I like a well wilted spinach, this is the only way I've found to get that effect, otherwise the spinach holds up and well, the salad just sucks. The day after, this is great with a splash of vinaigrette or good old Catalina.
I'm hoping to take some pictures tonight to share some of my awesome friends with ya'll. Of course, as any good Burner should, I'll ask first.
Keep on cooking! I'm sure missing all my Burning Man friends tonight....can't wait to see you all soon!
Well, it turned out to be a nice kinda sunny day here in good ol' SLc, UT. I was hoping to hit the links today, but alas it only just now got sunny and there is still a brutal chill to the air.
Ya'll haven't heard much from me, well, for a handful of reasons. Recently my work blocked access to my social media sites, and have been being downright ruthless about IT policy, so my 20 minutes in the evening I would normally spend blogging or photographing great and easy homecooked food has been spent catching up on the days events. Also, life in general has taken an AMAZING twist. I'm not sure what has kicked over, but I've decided to quit letting minutia ruin my life. Crazy work BS -- OUT! Crappy body image stuff -- OUT! Feeling like people just don't get me -- OUT! A lot of this has happened in the past couple of weeks. I had some really amazing validation happen on the career front. While I'm not changing jobs anytime soon, I finally got potential employers to say, "Wow, you are way experienced and awesome, can we keep your resume on file should a more senior position open up?" Its made it a lot easier to let go of trying to prove myself every time I turn around. I've been letting work flow naturally and organically, and I'm pretty confident I'm rocking it. Friday alone I did more science in 4 hours than I had been doing in a year...out of fear and concern for the minutia, my productivity had been sucking. I also had a really cool friend wander back into the local area. She's one of those people that just knows me and is really a fuckton of fun! The past two weekends have been spent having some of the funnest times of my life....yes, the fun I have with her rivals the fun I have at Burning Man. The past two weekends have been spent dancing and bitching and just having fun....not often I get to do that. Thanks Ang, for reminding me what it is like to live open and free!
So that brings us to tonight. Through Ang, we met this amazing new boi. I don't mean to gush, but damn. He's cute, he's fun, he's smart (persuing his Ph.D., no less), and available. That doesn't seem to happen that often in the world of this slut. Usually, if they are available, they are lame-ass leaches that I can't stand, or if they are smart and fun they are so damn busy I have to make time to savor every single second. Some of my closest and greatest friends from down south are coming over for dinner and sleepover, as is new boi :)
So what does one do when great friends and new fucktois (I use that term with the utmost affection) are coming for dinner? We were thinking steaks, but why not pull out all the stops and make an amazing cheddar bacon stuffed burger. That set my wheels in motion, and why not add an awesome potato salad (Dusti taught me how to make this one, its delicious!). Husbear was craving a green salad too.....so why not one of my favorites, the Mushroom Spinach Salad.
So where to start. The burgers are surprisingly easy. NPS had Everson Spice Bacon Cheddar Seasoning on clearance last year. I figured why not and bought some. Needless to say I was back the next day they were open buying up their stock. For batches smaller than 5 lbs. you can approximate 2Tblsp. per pound. So I rehydrate that in a bowl and then mix in the ground beef. Usually I go for something really lean....tonight I did 1lb. 98/2 and 1lb. 80/20. Then mix in plenty of good cheddar...I've done it with super sharp, tonight with Chive Shallot Cheddar. NPS is a godsend with this as they often get the "near outdates" from local retailers and sell it for a fraction of the price. The funny thing with cheese, tho, is that there really is no such thing as an outdate. The flavors are less predictable after the outdate, but sometimes you get amazing suprises. I recently had an "outdated" blue develop white mold and get brie flavors on top of the blue....I was in heaven. So anyway, turn those into patties and grill.....a couple strips of bacon on top and YUM!
Up next is the potato salad. So um, yeah, its potato salad is kinda hard to screw up. Boil the taters, I leave the skin on, in well salted water. This saves having to add salt later. And a new trick I learned today, don't want to dirty another pot for boiling the eggs, just put them on top the taters and take them out after boiling for 11min with a slotted spoon. CAKE! Now for the trick that Dusti taught me in Wyoming. Don't go full mayo, use half mayo and half sour cream....it adds a unique flavor that can't be beat. Tonights' includes celery, sweet relish, 4 eggs, about 3/4 of a normal sized onion, plenty of prepared mustard, and a tiche of distilled vinegar. I also decided to add some (ok, a lot of) mustard powder to kick it up a notch. Oh hells yeah, it knocked it up a notch and added a spice that is A-FREAKING-MAZING!
And finally the Warm Mushroom Salad. A couple of notes on this one, the recipe calls for a mixed green....I like straight up spinach. Don't over reduce the balsamic, or it doesn't coat the greens well. And finally, add those mushrooms while they are still steaming hot. I like a well wilted spinach, this is the only way I've found to get that effect, otherwise the spinach holds up and well, the salad just sucks. The day after, this is great with a splash of vinaigrette or good old Catalina.
I'm hoping to take some pictures tonight to share some of my awesome friends with ya'll. Of course, as any good Burner should, I'll ask first.
Keep on cooking! I'm sure missing all my Burning Man friends tonight....can't wait to see you all soon!
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Under the weather, but still needed to get this one out
Hey All,
What a Sunday....and after 2 beautiful days in the 70sF its snowing again. I spent yesterday in bed, in and out of the fetal position. Initially I wasn't sure if it was a rotten hangover or a stomach bug. Chez 825 did go out and tie one on on Friday. However, today, I contend it is a stomach bug :( I'm still having the chills and hot flashes, and finally broke down and made some ginger-chili tea to calm my stomach. The tea is working its magic, and its really easy. Literally all one needs to do is place some dried ginger and half a dried chili in a tea pot.
Husbear, RN, has been taking excellent care of me. He's been keeping me hydrated with "The Judy Russel Special" (its half strength Gatorade) and picking up the slack with cooking and keeping the house in a semblance of order. He's got a pork bean thing going in the crock pot.....I'm really hoping he'll write me a guest piece on it. It smells great and the little bits I've nibbled on are amazing!
So I never got around to getting this one published. I was busy with the Science Fair, and the stress levels at work this week have been EPIC...and not like happy EPIC. But I did prepare this last Thursday on my way out the door to hopefully coach young scientists to awesomeness....there's a great baseline there. With a couple of easy tweaks a couple of these projects can go all the way.
So what was quick and easy? I opted for Pierogi. Its a favorite of mine, and pretty quick to turn around if you have the frozen ones handy. Thank you NPS for having these on my last shopping trip.
So here's the ingredients:
For the gravy, I decided to go with a modified cream gravy. It was one can of condensed cream of mushroom soup, a cup of prepared chicken and tomato bullion, and 1 1/2 Tblsp (thats 4.5 teaspoons), in the jar for the good ol' shaking technique.
I fried the pierogi much like one would gyoza (Japanese potstickers). A very hot pan, to get some color, but as soon as the dumplings went into the pan, the heat was turned back to medium.
After the pierogi were cooked through, onto the plate. The pan got turned up to high just to get those bits to turn dark brown, then in with the prepared gravy, and back to medium heat. This one required me to stir the whole time, as it kept trying to lump on me.
When I could spare a moment with the gravy, it was off to the freezer to get a dish of frozen veggies, in the microwave and a press of the "magic button" and dinner was ready.
Here's the finished product.
We had a bit of leftover gravy, which found itself a second life as breakfast. I sliced up and cooked some ritzy gourmet sausages I also scored at NPS. A couple of biscuits from the tube, the sausage, an egg over easy, and the gravy. It was just as good the 2nd time around. This picture just doesn't do it justice....it really was quite tasty.
What a Sunday....and after 2 beautiful days in the 70sF its snowing again. I spent yesterday in bed, in and out of the fetal position. Initially I wasn't sure if it was a rotten hangover or a stomach bug. Chez 825 did go out and tie one on on Friday. However, today, I contend it is a stomach bug :( I'm still having the chills and hot flashes, and finally broke down and made some ginger-chili tea to calm my stomach. The tea is working its magic, and its really easy. Literally all one needs to do is place some dried ginger and half a dried chili in a tea pot.
Husbear, RN, has been taking excellent care of me. He's been keeping me hydrated with "The Judy Russel Special" (its half strength Gatorade) and picking up the slack with cooking and keeping the house in a semblance of order. He's got a pork bean thing going in the crock pot.....I'm really hoping he'll write me a guest piece on it. It smells great and the little bits I've nibbled on are amazing!
So I never got around to getting this one published. I was busy with the Science Fair, and the stress levels at work this week have been EPIC...and not like happy EPIC. But I did prepare this last Thursday on my way out the door to hopefully coach young scientists to awesomeness....there's a great baseline there. With a couple of easy tweaks a couple of these projects can go all the way.
So what was quick and easy? I opted for Pierogi. Its a favorite of mine, and pretty quick to turn around if you have the frozen ones handy. Thank you NPS for having these on my last shopping trip.
So here's the ingredients:
For the gravy, I decided to go with a modified cream gravy. It was one can of condensed cream of mushroom soup, a cup of prepared chicken and tomato bullion, and 1 1/2 Tblsp (thats 4.5 teaspoons), in the jar for the good ol' shaking technique.
I fried the pierogi much like one would gyoza (Japanese potstickers). A very hot pan, to get some color, but as soon as the dumplings went into the pan, the heat was turned back to medium.
After the pierogi were cooked through, onto the plate. The pan got turned up to high just to get those bits to turn dark brown, then in with the prepared gravy, and back to medium heat. This one required me to stir the whole time, as it kept trying to lump on me.
When I could spare a moment with the gravy, it was off to the freezer to get a dish of frozen veggies, in the microwave and a press of the "magic button" and dinner was ready.
Here's the finished product.
We had a bit of leftover gravy, which found itself a second life as breakfast. I sliced up and cooked some ritzy gourmet sausages I also scored at NPS. A couple of biscuits from the tube, the sausage, an egg over easy, and the gravy. It was just as good the 2nd time around. This picture just doesn't do it justice....it really was quite tasty.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
One I forgot to photograph, maybe I can explain it...and a bit of op-ed
Hey All,
So in my bit of playing catch-up today, it would appear it was time for KPackageKit, the KDE package tool to report my stats. All sorts of crazy assed notifications that stuff was being transmitted and whathaveyou. This got me thinking a bit about the awesome world of technology we live in. I made the return to linux this past year as I couldn't bring myself to cough up the cash for all the hardware necessary to run a conventional operating system. My thought process was, well, I have hardware that still functions, just not very well with current versions of windows. A bit ago, I enabled stat reporting on my Kubuntu box. There are plenty of hardworking developers out there that are taking the time to write good, solid, and efficient code and help me get more life out of my old hardware. I dabbled in linux in college and found it to be horrifying. I could do enough to get good grades, but I always had a tough time wrapping my head around how it did stuff. Newer distributions, I have found, take care of a lot of those problems. GUIs are finally intuitive, as is system management. I initially tried Mandriva, but it still lacked a lot of what I was looking for in an OS. Next, I procured this laptop and decided to give Kubuntu a try. I know many folks roll their eyes that I'm using modified Ubuntu, but I am a child of the Microsoft era. KDE is the closest thing I've found to MS Windows behavior. GNOME is still a dirty word in my world as the old Red Hat distros I used way back when where horrible with it. So anyway, that was a really long editorial about how amazing some of the newer linux, namely Ubuntu and Kubuntu, distributions are. And also why I don't mind sharing my stats with the linux community. Perhaps its my inner Burner loving what a motivated and thoughtful community can do. I do know its also the cheapskate in my loving free and useful software :) So if you've got some old hardware and curious if you might be able to get some additional life out of it, you might want to give Ubuntu and its derivatives a try. Some functionality does require post-doctorate honors in computer science, but for a stand alone, have fun with it system, it might just fit your needs.
Part of what prompted that is the ease with which Kubuntu is handling all my old hardware in the form of cameras and the like. In this case, I forgot to take pictures, but I'll try and explain.
This is a take on the Sweet Chili Sauce. I used 1 jalapeño and one julienned green pepper. I fried up some chicken with some ginger. Then added the sauce and a healthy sprinkle of sesame seeds and served over rice. I also served some of the Spiced Edamame as an appetizer. It was tasty!
I had just a bit leftover, so yesterday, for lunch, I put some in a tortilla with mango salsa. Man, that was good too. Sweet, spicy, and perfectly filling for a lunch.
So in my bit of playing catch-up today, it would appear it was time for KPackageKit, the KDE package tool to report my stats. All sorts of crazy assed notifications that stuff was being transmitted and whathaveyou. This got me thinking a bit about the awesome world of technology we live in. I made the return to linux this past year as I couldn't bring myself to cough up the cash for all the hardware necessary to run a conventional operating system. My thought process was, well, I have hardware that still functions, just not very well with current versions of windows. A bit ago, I enabled stat reporting on my Kubuntu box. There are plenty of hardworking developers out there that are taking the time to write good, solid, and efficient code and help me get more life out of my old hardware. I dabbled in linux in college and found it to be horrifying. I could do enough to get good grades, but I always had a tough time wrapping my head around how it did stuff. Newer distributions, I have found, take care of a lot of those problems. GUIs are finally intuitive, as is system management. I initially tried Mandriva, but it still lacked a lot of what I was looking for in an OS. Next, I procured this laptop and decided to give Kubuntu a try. I know many folks roll their eyes that I'm using modified Ubuntu, but I am a child of the Microsoft era. KDE is the closest thing I've found to MS Windows behavior. GNOME is still a dirty word in my world as the old Red Hat distros I used way back when where horrible with it. So anyway, that was a really long editorial about how amazing some of the newer linux, namely Ubuntu and Kubuntu, distributions are. And also why I don't mind sharing my stats with the linux community. Perhaps its my inner Burner loving what a motivated and thoughtful community can do. I do know its also the cheapskate in my loving free and useful software :) So if you've got some old hardware and curious if you might be able to get some additional life out of it, you might want to give Ubuntu and its derivatives a try. Some functionality does require post-doctorate honors in computer science, but for a stand alone, have fun with it system, it might just fit your needs.
Part of what prompted that is the ease with which Kubuntu is handling all my old hardware in the form of cameras and the like. In this case, I forgot to take pictures, but I'll try and explain.
This is a take on the Sweet Chili Sauce. I used 1 jalapeño and one julienned green pepper. I fried up some chicken with some ginger. Then added the sauce and a healthy sprinkle of sesame seeds and served over rice. I also served some of the Spiced Edamame as an appetizer. It was tasty!
I had just a bit leftover, so yesterday, for lunch, I put some in a tortilla with mango salsa. Man, that was good too. Sweet, spicy, and perfectly filling for a lunch.
Now for the Broccoli Beef....YUM!
Hey All,
Today is my day to catch up. As I mentioned, its been busy....but I've been remembering to take pictures as I go, so I've got something to write about. Also, I've noticed in the past couple of weeks my cooking hasn't been as budget friendly as usual. Lately the meals have been running in the $10-15 to feed 3 range as opposed to the usual less than $10. I still consider that a pretty hefty accomplishment. Since tax season is over and all the insurance premiums have been paid for the next 6 months, I'm not losing any sleep over some splurging.
I've also been having lots of fun with music again. Many of my super talented DJ friends have been releasing some great stuff that keeps me rocking in the kitchen. I do have plans to install an under the cupboard radio to keep my kitchen juices flowing. Now if I could just find the funding to turn it into a full fledged nightclub ;P
I alluded to The Best Broccoli Beef Sauce recipe ever. Its simple, its flavorful and YUM! I deviate from the recipe a bit by mixing up the sauce the night before. Instead of just the flour and liquids, I also add the ginger and garlic to the mix. I also have a habit of using Wai Fa ginger. This is another of those strange things I found at Global Supermarket. It is a cured and spiced version of ginger that I've found stores better than fresh or candied and is easier to cut up. It still has a great ginger flavor and the ease of cutting is a huge plus when you are in a hurry in the kitchen. Put that all together in a container with a tight fitting lid and shake the daylights out of it to get the lumps to break up. No need for crazy stirring methods or anything like that, shaking is easy!
Up next is the mushroom stem. This stuff is crazy good! I first had it on my 26th birthday. I was in Salt Lake for my birthday weekend, and God, what a fun weekend that was...it was the Utah Bears annual Mr. Bear - Mr. Cub contest. Needless to say with all the partying and debauchery I needed something healthy to eat and Evergreen House fit the bill. This review is spot on that its some of the best stuff you'll ever find for vegetarian fare. I like to think of it as good, healthy, vegetarian food without the hipster pretentiousness. Its affordable and tasty, I can't say the same for any of the other vegetarian establishments I've been to in Salt Lake. OK, enough of that, this mushroom stem is just cool....it has a great earthy, grainy flavor, and really unique texture. I have no idea where else to get it besides Evergreen, so if you are fortunate enough to be able to get your hands on this stuff, give it a try, I guarantee you won't be disappointed.
And of course, broccoli. We've been having really good sales on broccoli again, so this was a no brainer last week.
The first thing is to fry up the mushroom stem like you would beef. Just get some brown marks on it. Of course, that means a bit of oil (not too much), and a hot pan. Then just heat it through.
Then give the sauce one last good shake and pour it in. If the skillet is still on the hot side, you may want to stir it until it cools down to keep the sauce from lumping up.
Then in with the broccoli. At this point I like to cover it just until the broccoli starts to sweat.
Then I give it a quick toss, turn off the heat, and let it stay warm until I'm ready to plate.
We served it over a jasmine rice. Its tasty over any rice, but to capture the Evergreen House experience, you'll want to use a really hearty brown rice.
I've also done this with reconstituted Vege1 meat substitute. Vege1 is one of the few I've found that has good flavor and a tolerable texture. You might want to give it a shot if you're entertaining for die hard vegetarians.
Today is my day to catch up. As I mentioned, its been busy....but I've been remembering to take pictures as I go, so I've got something to write about. Also, I've noticed in the past couple of weeks my cooking hasn't been as budget friendly as usual. Lately the meals have been running in the $10-15 to feed 3 range as opposed to the usual less than $10. I still consider that a pretty hefty accomplishment. Since tax season is over and all the insurance premiums have been paid for the next 6 months, I'm not losing any sleep over some splurging.
I've also been having lots of fun with music again. Many of my super talented DJ friends have been releasing some great stuff that keeps me rocking in the kitchen. I do have plans to install an under the cupboard radio to keep my kitchen juices flowing. Now if I could just find the funding to turn it into a full fledged nightclub ;P
I alluded to The Best Broccoli Beef Sauce recipe ever. Its simple, its flavorful and YUM! I deviate from the recipe a bit by mixing up the sauce the night before. Instead of just the flour and liquids, I also add the ginger and garlic to the mix. I also have a habit of using Wai Fa ginger. This is another of those strange things I found at Global Supermarket. It is a cured and spiced version of ginger that I've found stores better than fresh or candied and is easier to cut up. It still has a great ginger flavor and the ease of cutting is a huge plus when you are in a hurry in the kitchen. Put that all together in a container with a tight fitting lid and shake the daylights out of it to get the lumps to break up. No need for crazy stirring methods or anything like that, shaking is easy!
Up next is the mushroom stem. This stuff is crazy good! I first had it on my 26th birthday. I was in Salt Lake for my birthday weekend, and God, what a fun weekend that was...it was the Utah Bears annual Mr. Bear - Mr. Cub contest. Needless to say with all the partying and debauchery I needed something healthy to eat and Evergreen House fit the bill. This review is spot on that its some of the best stuff you'll ever find for vegetarian fare. I like to think of it as good, healthy, vegetarian food without the hipster pretentiousness. Its affordable and tasty, I can't say the same for any of the other vegetarian establishments I've been to in Salt Lake. OK, enough of that, this mushroom stem is just cool....it has a great earthy, grainy flavor, and really unique texture. I have no idea where else to get it besides Evergreen, so if you are fortunate enough to be able to get your hands on this stuff, give it a try, I guarantee you won't be disappointed.
And of course, broccoli. We've been having really good sales on broccoli again, so this was a no brainer last week.
The first thing is to fry up the mushroom stem like you would beef. Just get some brown marks on it. Of course, that means a bit of oil (not too much), and a hot pan. Then just heat it through.
Then give the sauce one last good shake and pour it in. If the skillet is still on the hot side, you may want to stir it until it cools down to keep the sauce from lumping up.
Then in with the broccoli. At this point I like to cover it just until the broccoli starts to sweat.
Then I give it a quick toss, turn off the heat, and let it stay warm until I'm ready to plate.
We served it over a jasmine rice. Its tasty over any rice, but to capture the Evergreen House experience, you'll want to use a really hearty brown rice.
I've also done this with reconstituted Vege1 meat substitute. Vege1 is one of the few I've found that has good flavor and a tolerable texture. You might want to give it a shot if you're entertaining for die hard vegetarians.
First order of business
Hey All,
I'm finally sitting down to write. Its been a long couple of weeks, and that's OK. A lot of really fun and exciting, and some not so exciting stuff has happened. Work has been its usual drudgery with a couple of extra helpings of drama. I also got to judge my first regional science fair on Friday. That was a lot of fun and I'm really excited to see budding young scientists, and a few with an interest in food science....that's some cool stuff right there.
So before we start with the beef broccoli recipe, I found a photo from a while back I had to share. It was a scampi type affair I did and it was delicious. The mussels were from Global Supermarket and they were delicious....big, tender, and the flavor was that perfect subtle sweet that I've only had in New York City. It was all done in a traditional scampi butter with the addition of a couple of roma tomatoes. I've actually been pleased with the romas I've been getting lately. I associate romas with poor flavor and cruddy texture. These that I have been getting, although they do look a bit rough on the outside, have actually had good flavor and texture. They still aren't garden fresh tomatoes, but they'll do in the ends of winter when I need to remember brighter days are coming.
We also broke down and replaced the old green plates. Two of them are still running around, but the rest got broke. I've still got the yellow ones, that while they brighten up the kitchen nicely, they really do make for some unappealing looking photographs.
I'm finally sitting down to write. Its been a long couple of weeks, and that's OK. A lot of really fun and exciting, and some not so exciting stuff has happened. Work has been its usual drudgery with a couple of extra helpings of drama. I also got to judge my first regional science fair on Friday. That was a lot of fun and I'm really excited to see budding young scientists, and a few with an interest in food science....that's some cool stuff right there.
So before we start with the beef broccoli recipe, I found a photo from a while back I had to share. It was a scampi type affair I did and it was delicious. The mussels were from Global Supermarket and they were delicious....big, tender, and the flavor was that perfect subtle sweet that I've only had in New York City. It was all done in a traditional scampi butter with the addition of a couple of roma tomatoes. I've actually been pleased with the romas I've been getting lately. I associate romas with poor flavor and cruddy texture. These that I have been getting, although they do look a bit rough on the outside, have actually had good flavor and texture. They still aren't garden fresh tomatoes, but they'll do in the ends of winter when I need to remember brighter days are coming.
We also broke down and replaced the old green plates. Two of them are still running around, but the rest got broke. I've still got the yellow ones, that while they brighten up the kitchen nicely, they really do make for some unappealing looking photographs.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
The Best Broccoli Beef Sauce Ever...
Hey All,
So tomorrow night will be broccoli mushroom stem. I had to go findthe best sauce recipe ever!
I'll work on getting the usual pictures up when we cook tomorrow.
Also, we've been eating well, I've just been running around like mad getting ready to go judge The Salt Lake Valley Science and Engineering Fair. It all starts a week from today....I'm excited as can be to be judging a feeder to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.
So tomorrow night will be broccoli mushroom stem. I had to go findthe best sauce recipe ever!
I'll work on getting the usual pictures up when we cook tomorrow.
Also, we've been eating well, I've just been running around like mad getting ready to go judge The Salt Lake Valley Science and Engineering Fair. It all starts a week from today....I'm excited as can be to be judging a feeder to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
We're not entertaining, a joint effort
Hey All,
So I promised some info about dinner last night. It was one of those that we tend to do in the summer(ish) months as an excuse to get together with friends, have a few drinks, and of course, eat good food. Its pretty typical fare for these kinds of get togethers....steaks, potatoes, and a salad.
So first up was starting the steaks. In my younger years, I would have drenched these in some exotic sauce and pretty well ruined the good flavor of them. Now-a-days, its simple marinades to enhance the flavor. One of my favorites, is equal parts balsamic vinegar and Worcestershire sauce with salt and pepper. Its pretty much no fail and I've never had it ruin a steak on me.
On an amusing side note, Lushus gave me a bad time about my pronunciation of Worcestershire. I abbreviate it, "werk". I was informed the proper way to pronounce this, since no-one I cooked with until now could pronounce it, is "wusrt-a-shure". OK, so now I have a fancy way of saying, "Damn, my cooking is easy and it tastes good :P"
I also did some foil packets, one of onions, one of mushrooms, to throw on the grill (top rack), to go over the steaks. We also scored more blue cheese for pennies at NPS.
Up next was the potato prep. Husbear and I have been doing variations on this for years....in foil for camping, in a dish in the oven for at-home, you get the picture. Start with a healthy dose of olive oil in the bottom of the dish.
Then a layer of medium to thin sliced potatoes.
After that, some garlic, onion, mushrooms, salt, and herbs. One of our guests doesn't care much for fungus, so we left about 1/4 of the dish without any mushrooms. The herbs can vary. Last night, we did basil, oregano, and thyme. A touch of rosemary is always nice, but I couldn't find it, so we left it out. About midnight, I remembered its not in one of my bags or fancy jars, its in a can....duh!
Then another layer of potatoes. Some butter....what's left of any of the onions or anything else.
Then one last layer of potatoes, a sprinkle of olive oil, and we gave it a dusting of Sunbird Mongolian Barbeque shake on.....just for a little bit of smokiness.
Cover with foil and into a 350F oven for 60-90 (or longer) minutes.
Lushus and (oh, hell, we need a good nickname for him, let's call him Mr. Corvette) arrived with a spinach salad. She's forwarding directions for her candied pecans. She couldn't find any at the store, so she set out to make her own. These were better than any I've ever had....perfect texture, that when you bit into them were buttery and rich with just the perfect hint of sweetness. I think the only thing that could have improved upon them would have been a bit of cayenne for heat....then again, I like a bit of spice in all my food, so this is really just semantics. The salad was wonderfully simple, spinach, pecans, and dried cranberries, all tossed together with a raspberry vinaigrette.
Grilled the steaks perfectly, to a just on the rare side of medium-rare and we had an awesome dinner. I can't believe I didn't get a picture of the plated meal...it was a mountain of food, and it tasted GREAT!
For dessert, it was the last of the truffles. Lushus assures me, that although they aren't the prettiest things; the flavor is better than the most expensive she's ever had. OK, so I'm letting Ina off the hook for the disaster that was the recipe. I'll suffer with waiting for 2 days for the ganache to set if it garners that kind of praise.
I hope you all are as excited about the summer months as I am. A friend of a friend passed along the word that it was "...time to come out of my cave..." Ah, yes, it is, time for the warmer days and good times!
So I promised some info about dinner last night. It was one of those that we tend to do in the summer(ish) months as an excuse to get together with friends, have a few drinks, and of course, eat good food. Its pretty typical fare for these kinds of get togethers....steaks, potatoes, and a salad.
So first up was starting the steaks. In my younger years, I would have drenched these in some exotic sauce and pretty well ruined the good flavor of them. Now-a-days, its simple marinades to enhance the flavor. One of my favorites, is equal parts balsamic vinegar and Worcestershire sauce with salt and pepper. Its pretty much no fail and I've never had it ruin a steak on me.
On an amusing side note, Lushus gave me a bad time about my pronunciation of Worcestershire. I abbreviate it, "werk". I was informed the proper way to pronounce this, since no-one I cooked with until now could pronounce it, is "wusrt-a-shure". OK, so now I have a fancy way of saying, "Damn, my cooking is easy and it tastes good :P"
I also did some foil packets, one of onions, one of mushrooms, to throw on the grill (top rack), to go over the steaks. We also scored more blue cheese for pennies at NPS.
Up next was the potato prep. Husbear and I have been doing variations on this for years....in foil for camping, in a dish in the oven for at-home, you get the picture. Start with a healthy dose of olive oil in the bottom of the dish.
Then a layer of medium to thin sliced potatoes.
After that, some garlic, onion, mushrooms, salt, and herbs. One of our guests doesn't care much for fungus, so we left about 1/4 of the dish without any mushrooms. The herbs can vary. Last night, we did basil, oregano, and thyme. A touch of rosemary is always nice, but I couldn't find it, so we left it out. About midnight, I remembered its not in one of my bags or fancy jars, its in a can....duh!
Then another layer of potatoes. Some butter....what's left of any of the onions or anything else.
Then one last layer of potatoes, a sprinkle of olive oil, and we gave it a dusting of Sunbird Mongolian Barbeque shake on.....just for a little bit of smokiness.
Cover with foil and into a 350F oven for 60-90 (or longer) minutes.
Lushus and (oh, hell, we need a good nickname for him, let's call him Mr. Corvette) arrived with a spinach salad. She's forwarding directions for her candied pecans. She couldn't find any at the store, so she set out to make her own. These were better than any I've ever had....perfect texture, that when you bit into them were buttery and rich with just the perfect hint of sweetness. I think the only thing that could have improved upon them would have been a bit of cayenne for heat....then again, I like a bit of spice in all my food, so this is really just semantics. The salad was wonderfully simple, spinach, pecans, and dried cranberries, all tossed together with a raspberry vinaigrette.
Grilled the steaks perfectly, to a just on the rare side of medium-rare and we had an awesome dinner. I can't believe I didn't get a picture of the plated meal...it was a mountain of food, and it tasted GREAT!
For dessert, it was the last of the truffles. Lushus assures me, that although they aren't the prettiest things; the flavor is better than the most expensive she's ever had. OK, so I'm letting Ina off the hook for the disaster that was the recipe. I'll suffer with waiting for 2 days for the ganache to set if it garners that kind of praise.
I hope you all are as excited about the summer months as I am. A friend of a friend passed along the word that it was "...time to come out of my cave..." Ah, yes, it is, time for the warmer days and good times!
Saturday, March 12, 2011
The Burning Man Meal Prep part 2, my first blog video
Hey All,
So I'm hanging out in the kitchen with Lushus, listening to great music and FINALLY, after 4 softwares, a bit of learning, and 57 minutes of rendering, the video for how to seal up a Burning Man meal is ready.
So here it is:
The notes, are that the crazy blue strips are from Vac N Save, Jim and Nancy over there have an awesome thing going. Their bags are very affordable compared to the brand name ones. I take it one step further, because I'm a vacuum sealing whore, and actually purchase my bags from U Line. I got a major deal on their 4 mil bags last year.
I'm also using a FoodSaver V2040. I used to use the crappy Seal-A-Meal....um, no never again! Spend the extra $40 and get yourself a good FoodSaver.
I'll have lots more to come from tonights dinner. We had friends over and did the good ol' tater log for the oven....some steaks, and Lushus made an awesome salad with homemade candied pecans that melted like butter in your mouth. I'll post more tomorrow :)
So I'm hanging out in the kitchen with Lushus, listening to great music and FINALLY, after 4 softwares, a bit of learning, and 57 minutes of rendering, the video for how to seal up a Burning Man meal is ready.
So here it is:
The notes, are that the crazy blue strips are from Vac N Save, Jim and Nancy over there have an awesome thing going. Their bags are very affordable compared to the brand name ones. I take it one step further, because I'm a vacuum sealing whore, and actually purchase my bags from U Line. I got a major deal on their 4 mil bags last year.
I'm also using a FoodSaver V2040. I used to use the crappy Seal-A-Meal....um, no never again! Spend the extra $40 and get yourself a good FoodSaver.
I'll have lots more to come from tonights dinner. We had friends over and did the good ol' tater log for the oven....some steaks, and Lushus made an awesome salad with homemade candied pecans that melted like butter in your mouth. I'll post more tomorrow :)
Friday, March 11, 2011
Mike Delinquent
Hey All,
So keep your eyes peeled for Mike Delinquent........he's got a hot remix of Adele. That be some cooking music! Its unreleased as of yet, but it was hot on Annie Mac tonight.
So keep your eyes peeled for Mike Delinquent........he's got a hot remix of Adele. That be some cooking music! Its unreleased as of yet, but it was hot on Annie Mac tonight.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Porkschnitzel...Beat that Meat!
Hey All,
Dear sweet Jesus, I've been blogging up a storm. Its actually become a very healthy and fun addiction.
So I showed you how to get a meal started for Burning Man. It just dawned on me, those meals are the longest to prep....what 6 months? LOL!
Husbear promised when he scored big on the pork that we'd make a German dish out of it. And tonight, he delivered on the goods. His paw is still in rough shape, so I helped a lot and we took all kinds of fun pictures along the way.
First up, POUND THAT MEAT! Since we used pork steaks, instead of a cutlet or scaloppini, we had to beat them a bit.
Dry the meat off....then an egg and flour dredge. Plenty of salt and pepper in the flour. This is kinda important, that's where most of the flavor comes from in this one.
Then into a pan with medium-hot oil. Since this one is pork, you don't want to cook it quite as hot as you would a meat that you can serve rare.
So after that's done, drain out the excess oil. I also always brown the bits a bit more....I like the darker flavor.
Then in 2 cups of beef broth with 2 small cans of stems and pieces mushrooms. Husbear insists its better with fresh, but we didn't have any handy. Salt and pepper, and about 1/4 cup of beer. I like the cheapest, crappiest lager I can find...PBR usually fits the bill.
And now one of the best tricks I have in my cupboard. You know how mixing in cornstarch (3 Tblsp in this recipe) is a real bitch and your gravy will lump if you aren't careful? Put the cornstarch in a small jar add some water...and shake, ShAkE, SHAKE. You can stir this into the gravy directly...keep the gravy stirring until its thickened...and viola, no lumps and its easy as can be.
So to go with that some spaetzle. I like the frozen stuff, but you can find all sorts of takes on it. Instant, canned, frozen, etc. I still contend homemade has the best flavor, but that would take this out of the realm of weeknight food to all damn weekend food.
Plate that up...and another relatively quick (took us 20 min) and easy meal.
Dear sweet Jesus, I've been blogging up a storm. Its actually become a very healthy and fun addiction.
So I showed you how to get a meal started for Burning Man. It just dawned on me, those meals are the longest to prep....what 6 months? LOL!
Husbear promised when he scored big on the pork that we'd make a German dish out of it. And tonight, he delivered on the goods. His paw is still in rough shape, so I helped a lot and we took all kinds of fun pictures along the way.
First up, POUND THAT MEAT! Since we used pork steaks, instead of a cutlet or scaloppini, we had to beat them a bit.
Dry the meat off....then an egg and flour dredge. Plenty of salt and pepper in the flour. This is kinda important, that's where most of the flavor comes from in this one.
Then into a pan with medium-hot oil. Since this one is pork, you don't want to cook it quite as hot as you would a meat that you can serve rare.
So after that's done, drain out the excess oil. I also always brown the bits a bit more....I like the darker flavor.
Then in 2 cups of beef broth with 2 small cans of stems and pieces mushrooms. Husbear insists its better with fresh, but we didn't have any handy. Salt and pepper, and about 1/4 cup of beer. I like the cheapest, crappiest lager I can find...PBR usually fits the bill.
And now one of the best tricks I have in my cupboard. You know how mixing in cornstarch (3 Tblsp in this recipe) is a real bitch and your gravy will lump if you aren't careful? Put the cornstarch in a small jar add some water...and shake, ShAkE, SHAKE. You can stir this into the gravy directly...keep the gravy stirring until its thickened...and viola, no lumps and its easy as can be.
So to go with that some spaetzle. I like the frozen stuff, but you can find all sorts of takes on it. Instant, canned, frozen, etc. I still contend homemade has the best flavor, but that would take this out of the realm of weeknight food to all damn weekend food.
Plate that up...and another relatively quick (took us 20 min) and easy meal.
Finally, some Burning Man Prep....Ravioli 3-way
Hey All,
One of the cuties over on Gay Burners reminded me that I got a bit tipsy a while back and was pimping my blog over there. I've been meaning to get to posting my helpful tips for wonderful cooking on playa, alas my camera was being a flaky the other day and corrupted a whole disks worth of images....but I digress.
So in reality I've got 3 dinners packed already. Some Mac 'n Cheese, leftover from that adventure, and some lasagna from one of Husbear's cooking adventures. The premise is pretty much the same, package meal, seal meal, freeze meal, and on the day you want to eat it, solar-cook meal. Solar cooking is lots of fun surprisingly safe if you are using a well-designed oven, and super easy if you don't want to have to worry about cooking when you get home from a day of play. Just realize that on the hottest of days in Black Rock, your oven may reach temperatures in excess of 350F. That's probably not so good for the plastic bags, so I try to stop by at some point in the day and see if the oven is exceeding 250F. If it is, I open it for a bit and let it cool to just below 200F. On my inspired days, I'll put out some sun tea in the morning and use that as my excuse to check in...."Gee, wouldn't a nice glass of iced tea be great right now?" If you are feeling truly inspired, try some mint, or one of my personal favorites, Jamaica (its actually hibiscus flower, but I guess its trendier to call it by its Mexican name). With the Hibiscus, I've found adding spices, cinnamon, clove, and a touch of anise is quite nice.
A quick note about the safety of solar cooking. Make damn well and sure you have a well designed oven than can sustain temperatures above 160F for more than 40 minutes. These are basically pasteurization temperatures and should kill off any nasty bugs. Vacuum sealing also helps, but it isn't fool proof. The best way to check on a homemade model is to hang an oven thermometer in it....that's what we do with ours.
So here's how I do the Ravioli 3-way. Its always a favorite.
First up is a note about packages. In my experience, having uniform, "bricks of food", makes packing the freezer/cooler much easier. So you'll notice I'm using the same sized containers for all of these:
So portion out the meals. This makes it super easy for everyone to have their meal, when they want it, and you don't have to mess the with the drama of scheduled meal times. The one thing to keep in mind, these essentially turn into casserole type affairs, so plan accordingly.
The off to the freezer they go. Tomorrow (or, quite frankly whenever the hell I feel like it) I'll post about the vacuum sealing.
One of the cuties over on Gay Burners reminded me that I got a bit tipsy a while back and was pimping my blog over there. I've been meaning to get to posting my helpful tips for wonderful cooking on playa, alas my camera was being a flaky the other day and corrupted a whole disks worth of images....but I digress.
So in reality I've got 3 dinners packed already. Some Mac 'n Cheese, leftover from that adventure, and some lasagna from one of Husbear's cooking adventures. The premise is pretty much the same, package meal, seal meal, freeze meal, and on the day you want to eat it, solar-cook meal. Solar cooking is lots of fun surprisingly safe if you are using a well-designed oven, and super easy if you don't want to have to worry about cooking when you get home from a day of play. Just realize that on the hottest of days in Black Rock, your oven may reach temperatures in excess of 350F. That's probably not so good for the plastic bags, so I try to stop by at some point in the day and see if the oven is exceeding 250F. If it is, I open it for a bit and let it cool to just below 200F. On my inspired days, I'll put out some sun tea in the morning and use that as my excuse to check in...."Gee, wouldn't a nice glass of iced tea be great right now?" If you are feeling truly inspired, try some mint, or one of my personal favorites, Jamaica (its actually hibiscus flower, but I guess its trendier to call it by its Mexican name). With the Hibiscus, I've found adding spices, cinnamon, clove, and a touch of anise is quite nice.
A quick note about the safety of solar cooking. Make damn well and sure you have a well designed oven than can sustain temperatures above 160F for more than 40 minutes. These are basically pasteurization temperatures and should kill off any nasty bugs. Vacuum sealing also helps, but it isn't fool proof. The best way to check on a homemade model is to hang an oven thermometer in it....that's what we do with ours.
So here's how I do the Ravioli 3-way. Its always a favorite.
First up is a note about packages. In my experience, having uniform, "bricks of food", makes packing the freezer/cooler much easier. So you'll notice I'm using the same sized containers for all of these:
So portion out the meals. This makes it super easy for everyone to have their meal, when they want it, and you don't have to mess the with the drama of scheduled meal times. The one thing to keep in mind, these essentially turn into casserole type affairs, so plan accordingly.
The off to the freezer they go. Tomorrow (or, quite frankly whenever the hell I feel like it) I'll post about the vacuum sealing.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Is it French/Danish/Swiss or Mediteranean, or both, a really yummy sandwich
Hey All,
I had no intention of cooking tonight. It was supposed to be come home, call Domino's, sleep, and be done with it.
Then I remembered I needed to pick up my blood pressure meds at Smith's. I figured I'd look and see if I got inspired. Well, that was a mistake, or not depending on how you look at it. First up were roma tomatoes for $0.69/lb...WTF? Tomatoes are never that cheap....well I guess its a good thing I need some for the mussels and shrimp scampi on Thursday. Next up was alfalfa sprouts on clearance for $0.79. I'll need to eat them by weeks' end, so I guess I'll just have to have a salad or two. Then I found grapes for $0.99/lb. Grapes are always a source of contention in our house, as they always seem very expensive, $0.99/lb is when I give in and let the Husbear have as much as he wants. So, now the brain gets going, it is kinda spring, although the foot of snow outside sure could have fooled me. Hrm, pizza, grapes....ah ha! My favorite grilled chicken pizza. I'll post that one another day when I get a chance. Its basically chicken and onions grilled tossed with halved grapes on an oiled pita with Parmesan over the top.
Well, tee hee, fighting with Parmesan just led me to discover my computer thinks I'm speaking Australian English....not good 'ol hillbilly English...well, I fixed that. So anyway, the rest of the shopping was disappointing. I couldn't find pitas, but I did find these on sale for $2.50:
This actually all reminded me I have a great herbed grilled flat-bread recipe I need to share with ya'll when I get a chance, too. But back to tonight....
So I cut some chicken up, and some onions.
About a tablespoon of olive oil heated in a skillet till it was good and hot. In went the chicken and onions. Salt, pepper, and then the secret to great chicken for this....LOTS of dried thyme. See the picture, see what I mean?
Once that cooked down, I turned off the heat and added about 1/4 cup of the blue cream cheese I started about a week ago. And yes, its turning beautifully. Its only got a single mold spot, but the flavor is OMG! And for good measure a bit of the blue cheese and cranberries I picked up at NPS. It was another ridiculous score, something like $0.99 for the tub.
So stir that up. Its ready to serve now, or you can let it cool. It will thicken back up as it cools and the cheese flavor actually intensifies a bit if you let it cool. Can you imagine this on a croissant on a picnic? I'm getting springy food ideas already.
So the rest is pretty straightforward...oh, the hardest part of this dish, cutting all those damn grapes in half. So here's the pictures of it going together.
So it is a bit lighter....so we did it with chips and probably a snack later. I hope you enjoy!
I had no intention of cooking tonight. It was supposed to be come home, call Domino's, sleep, and be done with it.
Then I remembered I needed to pick up my blood pressure meds at Smith's. I figured I'd look and see if I got inspired. Well, that was a mistake, or not depending on how you look at it. First up were roma tomatoes for $0.69/lb...WTF? Tomatoes are never that cheap....well I guess its a good thing I need some for the mussels and shrimp scampi on Thursday. Next up was alfalfa sprouts on clearance for $0.79. I'll need to eat them by weeks' end, so I guess I'll just have to have a salad or two. Then I found grapes for $0.99/lb. Grapes are always a source of contention in our house, as they always seem very expensive, $0.99/lb is when I give in and let the Husbear have as much as he wants. So, now the brain gets going, it is kinda spring, although the foot of snow outside sure could have fooled me. Hrm, pizza, grapes....ah ha! My favorite grilled chicken pizza. I'll post that one another day when I get a chance. Its basically chicken and onions grilled tossed with halved grapes on an oiled pita with Parmesan over the top.
Well, tee hee, fighting with Parmesan just led me to discover my computer thinks I'm speaking Australian English....not good 'ol hillbilly English...well, I fixed that. So anyway, the rest of the shopping was disappointing. I couldn't find pitas, but I did find these on sale for $2.50:
This actually all reminded me I have a great herbed grilled flat-bread recipe I need to share with ya'll when I get a chance, too. But back to tonight....
So I cut some chicken up, and some onions.
About a tablespoon of olive oil heated in a skillet till it was good and hot. In went the chicken and onions. Salt, pepper, and then the secret to great chicken for this....LOTS of dried thyme. See the picture, see what I mean?
Once that cooked down, I turned off the heat and added about 1/4 cup of the blue cream cheese I started about a week ago. And yes, its turning beautifully. Its only got a single mold spot, but the flavor is OMG! And for good measure a bit of the blue cheese and cranberries I picked up at NPS. It was another ridiculous score, something like $0.99 for the tub.
So stir that up. Its ready to serve now, or you can let it cool. It will thicken back up as it cools and the cheese flavor actually intensifies a bit if you let it cool. Can you imagine this on a croissant on a picnic? I'm getting springy food ideas already.
So the rest is pretty straightforward...oh, the hardest part of this dish, cutting all those damn grapes in half. So here's the pictures of it going together.
So it is a bit lighter....so we did it with chips and probably a snack later. I hope you enjoy!
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Dinner for 2, 10 minutes, $3.27, and some leftovers
Hey All,
Another wild update. Earlier today, I found 3/4 cup of couscous in the back of the pantry. While he was out and about (yeah, he's feeling tons better), Husbear found a 6-pack of pork steaks for $4 at Smith's. I guess its some sort of crazy sale. Although if you know how to shop, you can do quite well there too. Watch for clearance....I always score killer on produce this way.
So here we go. We took 2 of the pork steaks, rubbed them with 2 drops of lime essential oil (the usual disclaimer here about cooking with essential oils, know your oils, a little goes a long way, etc) in about 2 Tblsp. of cooking oil. Then a light sprinkle of chili salt that we picked up at Global Supermarket. We always find the yummiest, and most exotic spices there at an excellent price. Needless to say our spice rack is quite full. Apparently its supposed to go on fruit, but it goes really well on pork too! And then a sprinkle of garlic powder. That set for a few minutes.
Couscous is super easy. If you can remember 2 parts water to one part couscous, that's all you need. I always like to play up the flavor of couscous, so I added some old herb mix I've been dragging around in a small container for next to FOREVER, a few splashes of garlic wine vinegar, and a small can of mushrooms (stems and pieces). Couscous, is easy, bring the water (and a good dose of salt, and in this case vinegar) to a full rolling boil. Add the couscous and herbs, give a quick stir, turn off the heat....and WALK AWAY! It'll be ready when you are.
The beans were the usual. Into my trusty pyrex bowl with a lid, press the veggie button on the microwave.
The result: amazing pork...I was going to put some of the chili sauce from the ribs a while back, but I tasted it and said, "Oh heyall, no! I'm eating this as it is!" The couscous was perfect, and well, its hard to screw up the beans when the microwave does all the work for ya.
So, the amazing price point of this dish?
Pork - $4 for 6 steaks, used 2, so $1.33
Can of mushrooms (generic, of course) - $0.69
Green beans from a massive bulk pack from Costco - $0.50 (I do about the same at NPS)
Couscous, bought in bulk for ~$1.20/lb - $0.75
The usual pantry items, so add a couple more pennies.
And there are leftovers of couscous and beans. YAY! I know its silly, but I do love seeing how awesome my food budget it :)
Another wild update. Earlier today, I found 3/4 cup of couscous in the back of the pantry. While he was out and about (yeah, he's feeling tons better), Husbear found a 6-pack of pork steaks for $4 at Smith's. I guess its some sort of crazy sale. Although if you know how to shop, you can do quite well there too. Watch for clearance....I always score killer on produce this way.
So here we go. We took 2 of the pork steaks, rubbed them with 2 drops of lime essential oil (the usual disclaimer here about cooking with essential oils, know your oils, a little goes a long way, etc) in about 2 Tblsp. of cooking oil. Then a light sprinkle of chili salt that we picked up at Global Supermarket. We always find the yummiest, and most exotic spices there at an excellent price. Needless to say our spice rack is quite full. Apparently its supposed to go on fruit, but it goes really well on pork too! And then a sprinkle of garlic powder. That set for a few minutes.
Couscous is super easy. If you can remember 2 parts water to one part couscous, that's all you need. I always like to play up the flavor of couscous, so I added some old herb mix I've been dragging around in a small container for next to FOREVER, a few splashes of garlic wine vinegar, and a small can of mushrooms (stems and pieces). Couscous, is easy, bring the water (and a good dose of salt, and in this case vinegar) to a full rolling boil. Add the couscous and herbs, give a quick stir, turn off the heat....and WALK AWAY! It'll be ready when you are.
The beans were the usual. Into my trusty pyrex bowl with a lid, press the veggie button on the microwave.
The result: amazing pork...I was going to put some of the chili sauce from the ribs a while back, but I tasted it and said, "Oh heyall, no! I'm eating this as it is!" The couscous was perfect, and well, its hard to screw up the beans when the microwave does all the work for ya.
So, the amazing price point of this dish?
Pork - $4 for 6 steaks, used 2, so $1.33
Can of mushrooms (generic, of course) - $0.69
Green beans from a massive bulk pack from Costco - $0.50 (I do about the same at NPS)
Couscous, bought in bulk for ~$1.20/lb - $0.75
The usual pantry items, so add a couple more pennies.
And there are leftovers of couscous and beans. YAY! I know its silly, but I do love seeing how awesome my food budget it :)
California Roll Omelette, no really....
Hey All,
What the heck is it with craving foods lately at Chez 825? We have been craving just about everything, some of it nice and healthy and reasonably explained that we're needing something, and some of it is downright bad.....I fail to recognize Twinkies or full-fat Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream in huge quantities as healthy..
Another great thing that has happened in the past while has been my switch to (K)Ubuntu. Even MacroShaft in its infinite wisdom of new OS after new OS has failed to properly support my old CD-Mavica camera in PTP (some fancy proprietary Sony file transfer thingy), but Viola! Ubuntu/Kubuntu does. Fair warning if you decide to switch some of it is pretty intense and requires a bit of CS knowledge. It took me a bit of hunting and coding to get my network functionality right, but hey, I have a fully functional laptop now :) So today, you all get pictures of how I did this :)
This is definitely a variation on yesterdays' natto omelette, sans the stinky weird stuff ;P
First up was the prep. I thawed out some of the prepared seafood salad I picked up at NPS a while back. This one, for as extravagant as it looks, is actually quite budget friendly if the ingredients are shopped for correctly. I imagine you could use good old imitation crab, or crab stick or the like with good result. Cut up some green onion, and cut some nori (you know, sushi wrapper) into strips. I also prepared some wasabi creme friache. I'm still not sure how to spell that properly, but it was 2 Tblsp. of room temp sour cream with 2 pea sized lumps of wasabi mixed in.
Gently wisk 2 of the eggs just until they start to get big bubbles. I learned from Ina Garten yesterday that overmixing the eggs, so that they puff, makes for a crummy omelette. And she was totally right, these turned out great with eggs not mixed too much.
Next, heat some oil, maybe a tablespoon to medium high. Lay down the nori strips in parallell. This is kind of important as the nori doesn't cut so well and will make for a very messy plate if there aren't nice lines to cut on.
Now in go the eggs. I had to rotate the pan just a bit to get all the nori covered.
Now in goes the crab. Lay it out perpendicular to the nori strips. Then a bit of the green onion.
Now for the "tricky part" according to many folks. Fold the eggs over the crab/onion.
Let that cook to warm everything through and get the perfect golden on the omelette. You may want to flip it once if you are a stickler for perfect color on all surfaces.
Then roll it onto the plate and top with the wasabi cream and a smattering of green onion.
This was the perfect dish this morning for having craved seaweed all weekend. And it was quick and easy!
So just a quick rundown of how this works on a budget for 2:
Prepared crab salad from NPS: $0.50 (and I only used half)
4 eggs: $1.89 for 18. The advertised estimate is $0.15/egg, so let's call it $0.60.
1 sheet of Nori: I paid $1.49 for 10 sheets at my favorite Asian market: $0.15
Green Onion: I paid $0.20 for the bunch at NPS this week and this is meal #3 coming from them, so let's call it $0.10
The wasabi was actually leftover from the sushi last night, and the sour cream, well, its been in the fridge for a week. So I'm not going to count that or the oil.
ESTIMATED GRAND TOTAL: $1.45 for an awesome breakfast for 2!
What the heck is it with craving foods lately at Chez 825? We have been craving just about everything, some of it nice and healthy and reasonably explained that we're needing something, and some of it is downright bad.....I fail to recognize Twinkies or full-fat Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream in huge quantities as healthy.
Another great thing that has happened in the past while has been my switch to (K)Ubuntu. Even MacroShaft in its infinite wisdom of new OS after new OS has failed to properly support my old CD-Mavica camera in PTP (some fancy proprietary Sony file transfer thingy), but Viola! Ubuntu/Kubuntu does. Fair warning if you decide to switch some of it is pretty intense and requires a bit of CS knowledge. It took me a bit of hunting and coding to get my network functionality right, but hey, I have a fully functional laptop now :) So today, you all get pictures of how I did this :)
This is definitely a variation on yesterdays' natto omelette, sans the stinky weird stuff ;P
First up was the prep. I thawed out some of the prepared seafood salad I picked up at NPS a while back. This one, for as extravagant as it looks, is actually quite budget friendly if the ingredients are shopped for correctly. I imagine you could use good old imitation crab, or crab stick or the like with good result. Cut up some green onion, and cut some nori (you know, sushi wrapper) into strips. I also prepared some wasabi creme friache. I'm still not sure how to spell that properly, but it was 2 Tblsp. of room temp sour cream with 2 pea sized lumps of wasabi mixed in.
Next, heat some oil, maybe a tablespoon to medium high. Lay down the nori strips in parallell. This is kind of important as the nori doesn't cut so well and will make for a very messy plate if there aren't nice lines to cut on.
Then roll it onto the plate and top with the wasabi cream and a smattering of green onion.
So just a quick rundown of how this works on a budget for 2:
Prepared crab salad from NPS: $0.50 (and I only used half)
4 eggs: $1.89 for 18. The advertised estimate is $0.15/egg, so let's call it $0.60.
1 sheet of Nori: I paid $1.49 for 10 sheets at my favorite Asian market: $0.15
Green Onion: I paid $0.20 for the bunch at NPS this week and this is meal #3 coming from them, so let's call it $0.10
The wasabi was actually leftover from the sushi last night, and the sour cream, well, its been in the fridge for a week. So I'm not going to count that or the oil.
ESTIMATED GRAND TOTAL: $1.45 for an awesome breakfast for 2!
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