Hi. Sorry haven't posted for a couple months, also haven't taken care of my garden in a couple months, very embarrassing. I think there is a skunk living in a hole in the property, not looking forward to getting them removed.

It just daunted on me I should be using my instant pot more. Really make life a lot easier making meals since I'm taking care of a sick parent.
Made this unintentional chili/stew today. Just typical, chili, beans, rice, potato, carrot, broccoli. And some Nashville Hot, which give it an amazing taste. Really it taste amazing despite the underwhelming photo. Just 15min pressure cook. Such a time saver.

@maxjohnson If it's living in a hole it's probably a ground hog. I never worry about skunks. They dig a lot of small holes in my yard but they are eating grubs which I don't want. I'd rather have the little holes.

The continuation of my beef heart experiment is in progress as we speak.
A little bit afraid to say what I came up with.
Pretty old school.

Bananer pudding.
Not cooking but mixing and slicing.
I went the instant route along with powdered milk.
Store brand at 40 something cents a box.
Even store brand vanilla wafers at half the price of name brand.
You could literally make this at a camp site.

brownrexx wrote: ↑Sun Oct 17, 2021 12:14 pm @maxjohnson If it's living in a hole it's probably a ground hog. I never worry about skunks. They dig a lot of small holes in my yard but they are eating grubs which I don't want. I'd rather have the little holes.

I smell skunk at night when I'm in bed, maybe that's just passing by, and the thing in the hole is a groundhog. It or something have been tearing up my lawn. Literally pulling grass out of the ground, make the place look like a mess.

It's soup weather! I got my Instant Pot back to use, and, while this can be done as a one dish meal, there is no way to get all that browning in the IP, so I do two things at once whenever I brown mushrooms or meats, or both, as in this delicious mushroom barley beef soup. The broth I used was just 4 c chicken - I'm not crazy about store bought beef broth, but chicken is fine. This darkness is from the browning in the pan, and some from the 1 oz of dried boletus mushrooms - I add those or porcini to just about every mushroom dish I make, except Asian dishes.

While sautéing the mirepoix in the Instant Pot, first the mushrooms, then the cubed beef were browned in that wok. While those were all cooking, I squeezed the grit out of the boletus, then filtered the water.
All the browning from the mushrooms and the beef, for the soup. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

After those were finished, I deglazed the pan with some white vermouth, then that filtered soaking water. I added enough water to make 3 c, plus the 4 c broth, and added to the IP, after cooking some garlic and 2 tb tomato paste the last 2 minutes. I added 3/4 c pearled barley, and the beef, plus a tb of low sodium soy. Then I pressure cooked it for just 15 min., let the pressure release naturally, then added one good sized potato, diced, and the browned mushrooms. It was a little thin, so I also stirred in 1/4 c red lentils. I then pressure cooked them again, for 15 min., let the pressure release naturally, and it was ready! I had to have a second, not quite filled bowl - been so long since I had this, and it was so good!
About 2 qts of the mushroom beef barley soup, left in the Instant Pot, after I had my fill! by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Mushroom beef barley soup by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Spaghetti and Meatballs. I put fresh garden basil, minced garlic, red pepper flakes, fresh grated Parmesan cheese, Italian dried herbs, and bread crumbs along with the egg. 85/15 grass fed beef. These were surprisingly light and tender and really good, I baked them on parchment paper at 400 for 25 minutes. Sauce was thawed and peeled and crushed garden tomatoes, with herbs, garlic and a little white wine.

I decided I like this way much better than a meat sauce. Same amount of beef either way, but little bits of ground beef in the sauce doesn’t do anything for me.

more roadkill stew

Y'all remember that beef cheek green olive sliced tomato and lamb lasagna I prepared.
Well here it is after baking at 350F for 45 minutes covered.
Mozzarella cheese on top added and finished on broil.
Gotta let it cool for awhile before serving.
Baked in the Lodge cast iron loaf pan.
It will either be over the top or I'll have cheap ramen noodles for supper.

Caught and retained a 20” redfish. Turning it into fish tacos. Beer battered and pan fried. Served with shredded cabbage, cilantro, pico de gallo, sriracha mayo dressing. One 20” redfish will feed three adults done this way.

Well I'll be.

Really good.

Looks delicious!

maxjohnson wrote: ↑Sat Oct 16, 2021 6:01 pm Hi. Sorry haven't posted for a couple months, also haven't taken care of my garden in a couple months, very embarrassing. I think there is a skunk living in a hole in the property, not looking forward to getting them removed.

It just daunted on me I should be using my instant pot more. Really make life a lot easier making meals since I'm taking care of a sick parent.

PXL_20211013_025123.jpg

Made this unintentional chili/stew today. Just typical, chili, beans, rice, potato, carrot, broccoli. And some Nashville Hot, which give it an amazing taste. Really it taste amazing despite the underwhelming photo. Just 15min pressure cook. Such a time saver.
PXL_20211016_183854553.jpg
PXL_20211016_184024172.jpg

Find the hole, toss in a few mothballs. I'm talking the skunk, not the hole at the top of the instant pot.

I'm making the same thing as yesterday but with brown flour gravy.
Seems like gravy would be good with it.
Gonna use beef bullion for the salt.
Won't buy it again because it's too salty.

Wife is cooking lentils and sausage. Holmes Pecan wood smoked pork sausage. It all smells great.

Bitter melon, tomato, green onion, and carrot salad. The Okinawan white bitter melon was picked moments ago from the garden. Cut, salted, rinsed and added to the other vegetables along with a bit of vinegar, a teaspoon or so of EVOO and a dash of toasted sesame seed oil.

Yummy, if you like a unique sort of back end slight bitterness. Supposed to be very healthy, bitter melon.

Homemade flour brown gravy not cheap corn starch gravy.
French fries.
Queso fresco from the Mexican market.
Almost poutine sans the cheese curds.

Real french fries (sigh). I haven't had a good french fry in about 5 years. Skin on, thick cut, HOT oil so that the outside blisters, and the inside is like a baked potato, lightly salted. Every french fry I've had lately has been thin and soggy. Poutine makes them edible.

Today's lunch was a chicken done on the grill, beer can style. So juicy and tender! And I get to have more tomorrow