Whatcha Cooking today?

[GoDawgs]

Pickles made Tangy Reuben Bake yesterday. It includes the ingredients of a Reuben sandwich (except the bread) but in casserole form and it's so easy to make. It also used Polish sausage or kielbasa instead of corned beef which is sometimes hard to find here. Less expensive too! Since I love Reuben sandwiches, I love this casserole too. Posting the recipe in the recipe section.

[worth1]

Im still eating Mexican rice and homemade tamales.
Got a little skillet chili left too.
These are pastor tamales, they have pineapple in them..

[pepperhead212]

Last night, in the Instant Pot I made a dal/curry, starting out by soaking about 3/4 lb worth of dried tomatoes, and a half lb worth of dried eggplant in hot water, while preparing the rest of the ingredients. I diced a med-large onion, and started it on Sauté in the Instant Pot in about 3 tb coconut oil, while mincing 5 cloves of garlic and about 2 tb ginger. Meanwhile, the tomatoes I blended smooth in the Vitamix. Then I added the garlic ginger mix to the onion, along with 2 tb sambar masala, stirred another 30 seconds, and dumped in the tomato paste, stirring well, and washed out the VM with 2 c water, and added that to the IP. Then I strained out the eggplant, saving another cup of water, and added those to the IP, plus 1 cup toor dal and 1/4 c moong dal, rinsed and drained. I added a little salt (more later), put the lid on, and set it for Manual 12 min., and let the pressure release naturally. Meanwhile, I cut about a dozen curry leaves in half, and measured out 3/4 tsp mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp urad dal, 1 tsp cumin seeds, and 1/2 tsp asafoetida, and got the 2 tsp coconut oil melted in the pot, to make the tarka. And I cut up some of that bok choy to add at the very end

After the pressure released, I removed the lid, and stirred it, and corrected the salt, then made the tarka. Heated the mustard seeds in the coconut oil, adding the urad dal and cumin as soon as I heard any crackling, and when the urad dal had darkened, the asafoetida and curry leaves were added, and cooked until crisp, then scraped into the curry. Then I stirred in the 2 c or so of bok choy, to let cook just as long as it took me to chop up the quarter cup of cilantro. I finished this late last night, so I didn't eat much then, but ate it reheated twice today!
The tarka, just before scraping into the curry, after the curry leaves turned crispy. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The almost finished dal/curry, with cilantro ready to stir in. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[worth1]

More of that confounded never ending rice with cheese and corn tortillas.
Two yellow strong roasted onions one jacket on the other jacket off.
A slice of picanha I had stashed back in the freezer that'll be cooked on a hot cast iron skillet.

Lunch crackers and kippers.

[karstopography]

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Some young and tight Ironman broccoli. A tiny bit of Green Sprouting Broccoli and Aspabroc broccolini. Maybe the last of the green beans.

[rxkeith]

from our moosewood low fat cook book that is now falling apart,
i made an old favorite, persian split pea and barley stew. been
awhile since i made it. it was as good as before.


keith

[Cornelius_Gotchberg]

Thought we'd roast some spuds...for a change...

Little Potato Company (a WESconsin business!) Little Yellows (https://www.littlepotatoes.com/product/little-yellows/) were on sale @Woodmans & seasoned with Kinder's Garlic Parmesan Seasoning (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Kinder-s-Gar ... j9EALw_wcB)
washed:

thumbnail_IMG_3573.jpg

roasting:

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Finish line;

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Krispy outside, buttery inside, dressed with our new favorite sauce, Mama Selita's Jalapeño Ketchup (https://www.redgoldtomatoes.com/redgold ... hup-20-oz_) = ¡Maravillosamente Delicioso!

The Gotch

[worth1]

Anasazi beans and basmati rice.
One half cup each before cooked.
Just enough for two servings.
Active ingredients water beans rice a few drops of liquid smoke Knorr chicken bullion powder.
That's it
Rice and beans cooked separately.

IMG_20250118_112143049_HDR.jpg

[pepperhead212]

After finishing up the last of those leftover lentils, I made another batch of dal - this time similar to dal palak, with only 2/3 c each chana dal and masoor dal, plus I added 1/4 c black quinoa. First, I soaked a half ounce of dried tomatoes in a cup of hot water. Then, I started in the Instant Pot in Sauté mode, with a chopped medium onion, in about 3 tb olive oil, adding a tb of ginger/garlic paste for the last minute, then adding a half cup of water, to slow down the cooking. Meanwhile, I put the soaked tomatoes and water in the Vitamix, and added 3 tb raw cashews, 3 tb fresh coconut (from the freezer), 3 dried Byadagi peppers, 2 whole cloves, and 1 tsp coriander/cumin powder, and blended it until totally smooth. I added this to the IP, then rinsed the VM out with 4 more cups of water, then added the 2/3 c each of the chana dal and masoor dal, and 1/4 c black quinoa, plus 1 tsp turmeric, and 1½ tsp garam masala, salt to taste, then put the lid on, and set the timer to Manual/12 min (will cook a little more later), and let the pressure release naturally. Meanwhile, I harvested much of the mizuna, in the hydroponics, chopped it up, and washed it and spun it dry. There was over 6 c of mizuna when I finished. When the dal was finished, I stirred the mizuna into the dal, and set it to Manual/2 min, letting the pressure release naturally. Then I stirred in a few tb of chopped cilantro.
Almost finished dal palak, using chana dal and masoor dal, plus adding some black quinoa. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Cilantro ready to stir into the dal palak. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished dal palak, made with chopped Mizuna, added at the end. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The mizuna I harvested was from 2 varieties, the original variety being the most productive, but the new variety having wider stems, as well as leaves, and has flavor just as good.
Mizuna from hydro, regular on L, and Landrace variety on R, one plant each. And about 1/2 c cilantro above. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[karstopography]

Wife made a fantastic stir fry last night. I harvested a couple of the heads of Ironman broccoli that were a little on the young side, but, by golly, young, tight broccoli like that is super good. Most supermarket broccoli is much less dense or tasty. We had a thinner ribeye we cut up and she made a sauce from some fresh ginger I microplaned and garlic I minced. Served over Jasmine rice.

Broccoli is fast becoming one of my go to, must grow vegetables for the garden. Seems to check all the right boxes.

[worth1]

Eating out of the freezer.
Today I looked in one and saw a big freezer bag that looked like chili meat that was cooked.
The bag said beef.
What the heck I'll make chili.
What could possibly go wrong.
Once it was in the kettle with water and thawing i realized it was cracklings left over from making beef tallow with a lot of meat in it.
So it's basically dried fried beef and fat with no moisture in it at all.
Not freezer burned.
So I'm cooking it in water with Knorr beef bullion powder for the salt and rehydrating it.
The flavor is amazing.
The chili powder is the fiesta brand with no salt.
No idea what the chilli will turn out like.
Lord only knows it's really rich.

[worth1]

Chili

IMG_20250119_120852159.jpg

[Tormahto]

Does semi-burnt microwave popcorn fit in, here?

[worth1]

KISS pasta salad.
In other words.
Keep it simple stupid.
I've been wanting to try it for some time and finally did.
I used rotini pasta and added mayonnaise and a squirt of yellow mustard.
Nothing else nothing fancy.
It turned out the be the best pasta salad I've ever had.
Just don't overcook the pasta.
Eat at a little above room temperature.

[Tormato]

Pickles made Tangy Reuben Bake yesterday. It includes the ingredients of a Reuben sandwich (except the bread) but in casserole form and it's so easy to make. It also used Polish sausage or kielbasa instead of corned beef which is sometimes hard to find here. Less expensive too! Since I love Reuben sandwiches, I love this casserole too. Posting the recipe in the recipe section.

Blasphemy!

A casserole?

Polish sausage?

Why not go all the way, and use raw cabbage, American processed cheese food, creamy Italian dressing, and top/bottom it with some Wonder bread?

Here, just before St Patrick's Day, point cut is $1.29/lb, while Kielbasa is $7.99/lb. At Easter, the kielbasa is then about 1/2 priced, but still many times the cost of corned beef.

I know my corned beef and kielbasa, being half Irish and half Polish. Somewhere around here I have a kielbasa casserole recipe: kielbasa, cabbage, apples, apple cider, and a few other things that I currently don't recall.

[karstopography]

Kale, Italian sausage and potato soup. Made a big pot last night, first one of the winter. This was Dinner last night and dinner tonight. Lunch was taco soup made two or three days ago. Going to be souped out by the time this cold spell is over, which hopefully is soon.

[GoDawgs]

Pickles made Tangy Reuben Bake yesterday. It includes the ingredients of a Reuben sandwich (except the bread) but in casserole form and it's so easy to make. It also used Polish sausage or kielbasa instead of corned beef which is sometimes hard to find here. Less expensive too! Since I love Reuben sandwiches, I love this casserole too. Posting the recipe in the recipe section.

Blasphemy!

A casserole?

Polish sausage?

Why not go all the way, and use raw cabbage, American processed cheese food, creamy Italian dressing, and top/bottom it with some Wonder bread?

Here, just before St Patrick's Day, point cut is $1.29/lb, while Kielbasa is $7.99/lb. At Easter, the kielbasa is then about 1/2 priced, but still many times the cost of corned beef.

LOL! You live in the land of dirt cheap potatoes and cheap corned beef at St. Patrick's Day. Around St. Patrick's Day here, corned beef or even plain brisket is still almost $5.00 a pound and I won't pay it. And the kielbasa you find around here is the pre-packaged stuff but it will suffice. In this rural area of the South there are no dedicated delis around, let alone any who make their own corned beef, sausage, etc. The only deli near me is stuffed in a small corner of Walmart. They might not even have corned beef depending on the day. Pastrami? Not a chance. In fact, St. Patrick's Day isn't a huge deal here as there are no large Irish areas and a lot more Baptists and Methodists than Catholics. The bars might have green beer though and put up a few decorations. Erin Go Braless.

We did use our own homemade kraut though and I whipped up some Thousand Island dressing for the recipe. If it had been a sandwich instead of a casserole I'd have used my homemade rye bread. So, the moral of the story is that you use what you have and call it good.

[Tormato]

Because of the smoking/grilling craze, our area is finally getting whole plain briskets, at about $10/lb.

There are likely about 20 different makers of kielbasa in my area, just one Polish deli carrying about a dozen. Over the course of two years, I tried about 15 of them. The best was the original "Blue Ribbon" one that our family has been buying for several decades. A few years ago, their processing plant burned down, and they had to rent space at another processor. So, to make up for the loss, they jacked up their prices by more than $1 a year, for 3 years. So, they are now $8.50 a pound, the highest of all brands, and I'll still buy it once a year, a 2 pound plus sausage.

[bower]

Much needed pot of stew tonight. Big cubes of pork tenderloin, onion, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, small shake of cumin and coriander, lots of paprika, summer savory, basil, carrots, super shepherd pepper sliced from the freezer, cauliflower, minced frozen tomatoes so no piece of skin is bigger than a cm square. Saucy. Pickled peppers with garlic, some spoonfuls of sweet salty brine. Sour cream. Broad noodles.

[worth1]

Still eating chili.