Whatcha Cooking today?

[karstopography]

Moose is great. My dad shot a moose in Ontario, Canada years ago. The meat was really nice.

I love apple pie. I bet there are awesome pie apples on the Gulf of Bothnia. I used to pick my own apples in New England. I picked a few great ones in New Mexico this past October.

[Uncle_Feist]

Our son is still on his holiday break with us, so I had to pamper him with a double crust apple pie made from our own apples.

20250105_222222.jpg


For dinner we had lasagna made from scratch with freshly made pasta sheets and home canned tomato sauce. For meat I used ground moose.

Well, that's an absolutely awesome meal!

[worth1]

Egg.
Sardines.
Dates.
Crackers.
For breakfast.

IMG_20250105_095715601_HDR.jpg

[karstopography]

Started off with three megatron jalapeño poppers, these were super great, perfect. Love the megatron jalapeños. My favorite jalapeño grown out of the garden so far. Might just settle on this variety and call it good.

Probably the last of the 2024 megatron jalapeños since it’s supposed to freeze early Monday morning. We saved five poppers for lunch tomorrow.

Rest of dinner was st louis trimmed spare ribs and green beans. Likely the end of the beans since a freeze should finish them off. Green beans in January isn’t a bad thing.

[worth1]

Started off with three megatron jalapeño poppers, these were super great, perfect. Love the megatron jalapeños. My favorite jalapeño grown out of the garden so far. Might just settle on this variety and call it good.

Probably the last of the 2024 megatron jalapeños since it’s supposed to freeze early Monday morning. We saved five poppers for lunch tomorrow.

Rest of dinner was st louis trimmed spare ribs and green beans. Likely the end of the beans since a freeze should finish them off. Green beans in January isn’t a bad thing.

I wonder if these are the same giant peppers I see in the store sometimes.
The last time I bought jalapenos they were so hot I couldn't hardly eat them.

[karstopography]

Started off with three megatron jalapeño poppers, these were super great, perfect. Love the megatron jalapeños. My favorite jalapeño grown out of the garden so far. Might just settle on this variety and call it good.

Probably the last of the 2024 megatron jalapeños since it’s supposed to freeze early Monday morning. We saved five poppers for lunch tomorrow.

Rest of dinner was st louis trimmed spare ribs and green beans. Likely the end of the beans since a freeze should finish them off. Green beans in January isn’t a bad thing.

I wonder if these are the same giant peppers I see in the store sometimes.
The last time I bought jalapenos they were so hot I couldn't hardly eat them.

I don’t really know. It would be interesting to taste them side by side. I think these megatron jalapeños I’ve been growing have a better flavor, fragrance and texture. Megatron has some heat, not a sharp, pointed or overwhelming heat, just the right amount of burn.

[karstopography]

FullSizeRender.jpeg

Bucatini with garden broccoli and broccolini, garden sundried tomatoes, and burrata. Yummy.

[worth1]

Last night it was ramen noodles spice pack tossed and my own not so salty spices tossed in the trash my spices added.
Grilled cheese sammy.

[pepperhead212]

Tonight I made a one dish meal in the Instant Pot, to use up some things out of the freezer and the fridge, as well as some of that basil, out of the hydroponics! I had 8 oz of ham (the vacuum seal was broken), and about 1¼ lbs of shrimp in the freezer, that needed used, and some green peas and celery in the fridge I wanted to use, and that basil was getting overgrown, so I had to cut it.

I started out by soaking about 2 lbs worth of dried tomatoes in hot water. Then I soaked 3/4 oz boletus mushrooms in hot water (I was first thinking of Italian, when I did this, but it went well with all this). Then I soaked 2/3 c toor dal in warm water, to add some nutrition to the rice. Then I started cutting up all the ingredients, starting with a large onion, which I put in the IP, with about 4 tb olive oil, on Sauté medium. I diced up a large bell pepper, and about 1½ c celery, adding those as they were cut, along with the ham. Then I cleaned those boletus, saving the washing water, and minced those up and added to the IP, stirring frequently, and added 6 minced garlic cloves, and after a minute, I added about ½ c vermouth, letting it boil down, while I prepped the tomatoes, blending them to a paste, with half the basil, then rinsing the Vitamix out with the soaking water from the tomatoes and boletus.

The IP had almost cooked down, and I then added the powdered bay leaf, a generous tsp of marjoram, a tsp of cloves, a tsp of crushed Thai pepper, stirred it briefly, then added the tomatoes, rinsing out the VM with enough of that soaking water to make about 4½ c. Then I drained and rinsed the dal, and added this, along with 1 1/3 c parboiled rice, added a tb of soy sauce, and a little more salt, then put the lid on, and set it on Rice mode, which is on low pressure, 12 minutes, and let the pressure release 10 minutes, then released the rest of the pressure. Then I stirred the rest of the basil, chopped up, and those leftover green peas in, then put some shrimp on top to steam for a serving. When I reheat some, I'll put some on top for each serving, in the second half of the heating.
Starting out a batch of Jambalaya, with a hint (or more!) of Italian, with a bunch of basil added to it. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Here's the basil, from the hydroponics, before blending half with the tomatoes, adding the rest after rice cooks. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The rice and lentils cooked, before adding the green peas and topping with some of the shrimp, to cook briefly, for one helping. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The jambalaya, after stirring in the green peas and second half of the basil, and topping with a few shrimp, for one serving. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

My Italian style Jambalaya, with basil, and a few shrimp placed on top in the Instant Pot, to steam for 5 minutes. by pepperhead212, on Flickr