Whatcha Cooking today?

[worth1]

I'm making what might turn out to be a disaster or something good.
You just never know with my concoctions because I don't follow any real recipe.
This one is a canned biscuit apple cobbler.
I just sliced up one giant honey crisp apple really thin and added Saigon cinnamon allspice star anise and white sugar.
Tossed in a few chunks of deli white American cheese.
More on that later.
Mixed in some raw biscuits quartered.
Dash of water.
Stretched out the remaining biscuits on top and sprinkled some more cinnamon and white sugar.
Covered with foil and put in oven at 350.
I cook for awhile and then take cover off add more cheese and bake uncovered.
We shall see.

[worth1]

Here it is with herringbone cheese pattern.

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[worth1]

I never thought it would turn out to be a bread pudding

It's very good too.

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[Sue_CT]

Last leftover piece of the first garden tomato pizza of the year that I made on Sunday. Cherokee Purple and Brandywine Sudduth.

[worth1]

I haven't been able to actually taste nutmeg much since I got sicker than a dog a few years ago during the COVID outbreak.
Never tested to see if I was positive or anything so I can't say COVID 19 ruined my taste and smell.

Well anyway I've been using it anyway in the slim chance I would be able to taste it again one day.
Well today is that day.
I used the normal amount I always use and tasted the sausage gravy I was making and the nutmeg hit me like a ton of bricks.
It was a half of a nutmeg nut I've been using all along.
So that can be ruled out.
Anywho I'm having sausage gravy on toast with eggs dropped into the gravy to set up.
Bacon on top with sliced tomato.

[pepperhead212]

Tonight I made a one dish creole type meal; well, not really, since the veggies are cooked in a wok, and the BEPs are cooked separately, but it all ends up in one dish!

The first thing I did was I cooked some old black eyed peas, to use them up (they were dated 2015, and this shows how long beans last!). And I did what I do when cooking dal and other beans for salads, as it's easy to not overcook them - I use the slow cooker! Something told me to check early - after only 90 minutes - and they were done! I know they don't take as long as larger beans, but these were old! I rinsed them, and set aside.

I thawed 6 oz of cut up bacon, and put it in the Instant Pot on Sauté low, and stirred occasionally, while cutting up everything else - a pound of cremini, a medium eggplant, a medium green bell pepper, about 2 c of okra, about a cup of green beans, and about a cup of diced bottle gourds (just trying to use up all these veggies I had bits of). I also found any tomatoes that I had that had any bad spots, cut them out, and got about a quart of purée out of it, then rinsed the VM out with a little water, and this was set aside. The bacon was finished after all this, and I removed it to a PT on a plate, to drain. Then added a little olive oil to the IP, and a large chopped onion, cooked it about 5 minutes on Sauté medium, added 4 minced garlic cloves, some ground cloves, thyme, ground bay, some smoked paprika, a little ground Thai pepper (my cayenne pepper), and cooked about a minute or so, and stirred all that tomato purée in. Then I rinsed the last cup of brown rice I had, and set that to cook, while cooking the mushrooms in the wok - I first steam them 3 or 4 min, boil off the water, and add a tb of o, and cook them over medium heat, 7 or 8 min, added the okra and pepper, and cooked about 3 min, and set aside. When the rice finished, and the pressure had released, I opened that, stirred in about 1/4 c white vermouth, the veggies from the wok, and the cut up eggplant, bottle gourd, green beans, and cooked BEPs, stirred that up, added a little more salt and hot pepper, and let it simmer about 10 minutes, to finish.
The okra and bell pepper cooked briefly with the mushrooms, after they were almost done. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

All the veggies added to the cooked brown rice, along with some cooked black eyed peas. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished one dish Creole type dish, with bacon, cremini, okra, eggplant, bottle gourd, green beans, and black eyed peas. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[worth1]

Cooking things separately then combining many times makes for a better dish I don't care what the traditionalists say.

[Whwoz]

Tonight's dinner, Kangaroo Stir fry, to be served over rice.

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Kangaroo strips, frozen peas, corn and carrots, with some baby corn, celery and garlic added. Quick simple and tasty.

[Cornelius_Gotchberg]

Not really cooking, but a SMR 58 Cuke and Gold Rush Zuke salad:

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Add Radishes, purple Onion, dress, and vwä-ˈlä:

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The Gotch

[FatBeeFarm]

Great day today! I harvested fresh eggplant, poblanos, red onion, garlic, scallion, basil and tomatoes this morning.

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Which means I have everything I need to cook one of my favs, Pasta all Norma. I do it one pot style. I often cook it early so the flavors have a few hours to come together before dinner.

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[pepperhead212]

Today I made another favorite dish of mine in the summer, for using all these veggies - ratatouille soup! With all the vegetables in this dish, only one - the bell pepper - didn't come from the garden! The original recipe had zucchini, but I never grow that, so I double the eggplant, but this time I used a little of one of those bottle gourds I had leftover from another dish. And in this double recipe I used up 4 lbs of the ripest tomatoes I had in there. This was a one dish meal, unless you count the Vitamix it was blended in.

I started it in the Instant Pot, with a chopped up onion in a little olive oil, on Sauté medium, and while that was cooking, I cut up the other ingredients, and added the garlic, cooked briefly, then added the bell pepper. After cooking a few more minutes, I added the gourd and eggplant, and cooked about 5 minutes, then added some basil and thyme, along with about 4 lbs of tomatoes, and 3½ c water, plus some vegetable stock paste (I forget the brand I use of that) - the original recipe just had 2 c of chicken stock, which seems like a waste, to me. I tasted for salt - didn't need a lot, after that paste, and about 1½ tb soy sauce, and set it to cook for 14 minutes, and let it release naturally. Then I used the immersion blender, only to totally mix it up, so I could blend it in the Vitamix, first weighing the soup in the IP container (which weighs 28.2 oz), and figured that 3 batches would be best to do, which was just over 39 oz each, to which I added 2 tb chopped parsley to each. And I blended them on medium, getting that vortex in the liquid, and slowly added through the hole in the lid a quarter tsp of xanthan gum, then increased the speed to maximum, blending about 30 sec, before pouring into the bowl, and blending the other two batches. It was almost too much for that 4 qt bowl, so I had a large bowl, to start with.
Eggplant and bottle gourd for the ratatouille soup. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Ratatouille soup, starting in the Instant Pot, hidden by the steam, ready to add the gourd and eggplant. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

4 lbs of tomatoes, added to the IP, along with herbs, salt, and pepper, to pressure cook 14 minutes. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Ratatouille soup, blended with the immersion blender - not quite smooth enough, but makes it smooth enough to divide it up, to put into the Vitamix. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished ratatouille soup, blended in the Vitamix in 3 portions, with some xanthan gum, for a slight thickening. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished ratatouille soup, with a little more basil, and some croutons, served hot. Most of it I eat cold. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[FatBeeFarm]

@pepperhead212

That looks so delicious. I'm so making this very soon, it should not be long before the garden gives me what I need. Thank you for the very detailed instructions. Are you canning any of this? Freezing it?

[worth1]

@Whwoz
The kangaroo stir fry threw me for a loop.
How popular is it there?

[pepperhead212]

@pepperhead212

That looks so delicious. I'm so making this very soon, it should not be long before the garden gives me what I need. Thank you for the very detailed instructions. Are you canning any of this? Freezing it?

I don't have enough space in my freezer to freeze things like this, but it would freeze well. I'm definitely thinking of canning it, however - I've been thinking of trying to can some sort of V8 type juice, to use up all these tomatoes. The original recipe is for 2 lbs of tomatoes, with 2 tb olive oil to cook a medium onion in, followed by the 2 cloves of minced garlic (I increase this!), and it called for 3/4 c each diced bell peppers, eggplant, and zucchini, but these things I don't measure by volume; just a whole fruit that would make about that much - it's flexible. And 2 tb chopped basil, which I increase at least 50%. And it called for 2 c chicken stock, for which I substituted that vegetable stock paste, as I noted, but I've also made it with just water, and a little more salt or soy. And a 1 tb fresh, or 1 tsp dry thyme. And something I forgot to put in the original post (I went back and added it), which is added at the end, when blending, is the 3 tb chopped parsley. And another thing I forgot that I did, which I do with a lot of dishes, is added some soy sauce for the salt, and some of that umami flavor - I put about 3 tb in that double recipe, but still needed a little more salt, at the end. For a single recipe about 3/8 tsp xanthan gum would be used. The cold soup is especially good with some chives sprinkled on it.

The original recipe called for straining it, but I don't think I even did that when using my old blender. And that Vitamix grinds up everything so fine, that there is no skin, seeds, or anything left in it!

[FatBeeFarm]

@pepperhead212

Thanks for the additional notes. I don't have much freezer space either but I did talk my wife into letting me have a Vitamix when they went on sale two years ago and I love it. Makes processing tomatoes so much easier. Plus it's the bomb for whipping up Hummingbird nectar every 4 days, pesto, and may favorite thing of all: Aji Verde Sauce. I grow a ton of cilantro every year so I can make liters of Aji Verde sauce. I should probably make a separate post about it. Aji Verde sauce is so good I feel positively evangelical about it lol.

[worth1]

Due to the unreasonable cooler weather I'm making an Eastern European type beef stew borscht type concoction.
Browned chuck roast cubed.
Beets.
Homemade sauerkraut..
Mushrooms.
Carrots.
Onion.
Etc.

[PlainJane]

Taking advantage of finding turkey thighs at Publix, a glut of Matrosik, some zucchini, garlic and onions from the garden to set up meals for the week.
I’m completely addicted to the Divinia giant white beans and always have them in the pantry.

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[worth1]

Taking advantage of finding turkey thighs at Publix, a glut of Matrosik, some zucchini, garlic and onions from the garden to set up meals for the week.
I’m completely addicted to the Divinia giant white beans and always have them in the pantry.
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If you like giant white beans you will definitely love mayocoba beans.

[FatBeeFarm]

@PlainJane and @worth1 I LOVE giant white beans! I thought I hated them as a seven year old (without actually trying them) so shamefully it took me 50 years to find out Lima beans are fabulously delicious. What magical beans are you talking about? Where do I get them? Do I need to grow them? (I've got some bean disease most of my runners beans were stunted and diseased I had to rip them out )

[worth1]

@PlainJane and @worth1 I LOVE giant white beans! I thought I hated them as a seven year old (without actually trying them) so shamefully it took me 50 years to find out Lima beans are fabulously delicious. What magical beans are you talking about? Where do I get them? Do I need to grow them? (I've got some bean disease most of my runners beans were stunted and diseased I had to rip them out )

An Italian woman that used to be on another site tried them and fell in love with them.
They have several different names and are out of Mexico and beyond.
They go by the names
Canary beans.
Mayocoba beans.
Purano beans or some such spelling.
Peruvian beans and so on.
They aren't hybrids so if you find the beans in the store they will sprout and grow.



https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/mayocoba-beans/