Let's talk recipes -- are you as random as I am?

[imafan26]

Not really random as I prefer to start with a basic recipe but I do tweak. This is one that I just tried and it came out pretty good.

Pineapple Coleslaw

1 cup mayonaise
3 tablespoons half and half
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar. Recipe calls for 1/4 cup, I don't like a strong vinegar taste. Wine vinegar can be substituted as well.
2 tablespoons sugar (the recipe called for 4 but that is too sweet)
2 lb bag of coleslaw with carrots or chop your own vegetables (about 5 cups)
8 oz. can pineapple tidbits or slices. Chopped into small pieces. Recipe says not to use crushed
1/2 tsp celery salt
1 apple pared, cored and chopped.

In a small bowl whisk together the mayonaise,half and half, vinegar and sugar until smooth. I started with 1/2 tsp of coarse kosher salt , a tsp of fresh cracked pepper, and 1/2 tsp of celery salt and stirred it into the dressing. Empty 1/2 the bag of coleslaw into a large bowl or bag. add the dressing and mix it well. Add more coleslaw until every thing is coated but remains loose without a lot of dressing left at the bottom of the bag. I had about 1/2 cup of coleslaw left over for later. Put the coleslaw in a large mixing bowl, add the chopped pineapple and apple. Adjust seasoning adding salt and pepper to taste.
I found this on the sweet side with a little tart from the pineapple and vinegar. I used 3 tbl of sugar so I would go down to 2 next time. If this was not already to sweet for me, I usually like to add raisins to my cole slaw. Adding 2 tbl of pineapple juice for some of the vinegar is also an option. I drank the juice instead.

Ideally refrigerate 4-8 hours before serving.

This turned out to be a costly recipe for me since I broke a new bottle of good almond extract trying to find the celery salt on my spice shelf.

I used to make really bad coleslaw that tasted bland and stuck together because I used way too much mayonaise. I learned to add a little milk to the mayonaise to make it more creamy so it would coat rather than drown the cabbage and It turned out a lot better. It does taste better to have some fat in the milk. I usually use powdered milk, it really tasted so much better when I used some left over heavy cream.

Coleslaw should not be overdressed and it tastes better when the cabbage is coated with dressing but not dripping wet (and soggy) or covered in a thick layer of mayonaise. That is why I add cabbage in stages.

[applestar]

Ended up making another inspiration banana bread today


Dry: About 2 cups of mixed toasted coconut, almond, hazelnut meal, 2/3 cups bread flour, 1/3 cup whole white wheat flour, 1/2-2/3 cups confectioner's sugar, 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spices, walnut pieces, 1/2 to 3/4 tsp sea salt, 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp baking soda.
Wet: 1 frozen/defrosted ripe banana, 1 chopped up overripe giant Asian pear, 1 stick melted cultured unsalted butter, 2 Tbs honey, 2 large eggs, 2 Tbs nut milk kefir, 1 Tbs diSaronno....

Baked in buttered and "floured" with the dry ingredients square cake pan. 350°F for 45 min.

[applestar]

Today's randomly inspired "creation" -- baked porkchops

Nice 1 inch thick bone-in porkchops, moistened in pomegranate/mixed berry juice, DiSaronno, sprigs of fresh rosemary, sesame seeds, pecan pieces, sea salt, freshly ground black pepper. Splash and soak both sides, rubbing well with the rosemary.

6 pieces arranged in a baking pan, drizzled with the "marinade" and virgin sesame seed oil, covered with toasted mixed coconut and (almond/cashew/dried cranberries trail mix) nut milk meal, drizzled with toasted sesame oil... covered with stale biscuit crumbs (broken up and ground up in the blender), then pats of olive oil-butter on each chop.



Baked in 350°F oven covered with sheet of alum foil for 60 min., rotating 180° at 30 min. Then uncovered 20 min. And then rest 5 min without opening oven door. Served with simple cooked frozen cut sweet corn and sweet green peas.

Deeeelicious!

[applestar]

We had lamb today. I don't know if this is called stewed or braised lamb shanks. First, while I did some gardening, I roasted them at 400°F for 1 hr after rubbing with sunflower oil and sea salt, covered with garlic, onions, carrots, and celery. Freshly ground black pepper.

Came in after oven had finished, but had to rest a bit, then poured everything including pan juices into a stew pot, added more chopped onions, chicken broth half way up (didn't have beef broth), dried thyme and chervil, fennel seeds, freshly grated nutmeg, a big bay leaf.... Left it simmering while I went out and planted some pepper plants.

Came in to wonderful smells, added whole red and gold potatoes, diced and added all of today's tender garlic scapes (maybe a little too much) and purple asparagus, plus frozen supersweet corn.... and with 30 minutes to go -- DH came home at this point, saying "it smells GOOD in here" as he stepped in the front door -- added more carrots (three color package, btw -- orange, yellow, and purple) and whole grain barley.

Oh yummines! Very garlicky, especially when you encounter the garlic buds, but DH insisted it wasn't too much garlic, and DDs who don't like garlic thought the meat, potatoes, carrots, and corn were yummy (they avoided the broth).

[applestar]

I haven’t posted in this thread in a while.... well I had a random creation today that really tickled my taste buds. This one might be a bit strange for most of you, but then again, maybe there will be some that would also say, ooh, that sounds yum.

First a little back ground — when I was young and lived in Japan ... we’re talking ages ago ... my Dad was often away and my Mom would order take out from the restaurants. I have no idea how it is now, but back then, the local restaurants in the local shopping market district would send someone on a bicycle to deliver our order. The bicycle was fitted with saddle hampers one on either side of the rear wheel — these were rectangular metal boxes that had a front door that slid up/out of the grooved tracks to reveal two shelves in it to make three levels, and the dishes came in real restaurant serving dishes tightly covered with clear wrap or sometimes in special serving boxes with lids, and included all the sides, condiments, etc. You left the dirty dishes piled up outside the front door after you were done, and some one would come by later in the evening and quietly take them away.

Maybe we ordered other things, too, like sushi, or soba, or ramen, but two that I remember I ordered often were giant shrimp ten(tempura)-don and una(gi)-ju box dinners. They were special dinners and I used to love them.

I think this is why I still have cravings for those teriyaki (char)broiled eel, and despite the environmental issues, conservation issues, and mistrust of farm-raised seafood, I still buy and eat those things. So I have been eating them my entire life, but only very recently found out that there is a portion of eel eating pupulation that adamantly recommend rinsing off all the pre-applied eel teriyaki sauce from the packaged, pre-cooked, just heat and eat eels. Oh yeah those things are full of MSG no less. (I cringe when I stop to think about it, then put it all out of my mind.) They recommend buying high quality, high-end eel sauce, or better yet, make your own from scratch.

— OK enough ancient history —

So I started off making a special combo rice — organic short grain white, organic pressed barley, organic short grain brown, and organic sweet short grain brown, several pieces of konbu, and 1/2 a tsp of Mediterranean Sea salt. Rinsed as much teriyaki sauce I could from the frozen packaged pre-cooked eel (a special brand) and drizzled it with agave nectar, organic molasses, naturally brewed Japanese cooking wine (no MSG), organic tamari soy sauce, salted koji, and organic diced beech tree mushrooms. Then into a 375°F oven for 18 minutes.

While that cooked, I minced together one Myoga flower bud preserved in sake, 1/2 scallion, and 1/2 inch thick disk of peeled nagaimo, and a peeled clementine. When the eel was done, I filled a large bowl with the rice, then tore 1/2 a sheet of nori into bits on top, then covered with 1/2 of the myoga, scallions, nagaimo and clementine mixture, then topped with 1/2 of the eel. I added a giant onion ring I heated with the eel, just because I had it. Ooooh it was so yummy!

...Now normally I only eat 1/2 the eel at a time, but this was all so good and nobody else wanted the other half, so.... I plated another serving and ate it all.

[thanrose]

haha, I was reading your recipe prep thinking all the while that I could never get a family to eat eel. It would have to be mine alone. My psycho ex was as adventurous an eater as I am. Less skilled at cooking, but with occasional flashes of brilliance. He'd get on a kick to perfect something like Mongolian Barbecue Squid and I'd come home and laugh about having squid for the third time that week. We would have homestyle Chinese cooking or Korean hot pot or a cassoulet or whatever often enough with sometimes hard to find ingredients. He'd say something like, "I bought this goat head at the Latino market today. What can we do with it?" Geez, ya cook and serve an alligator steak once and he thinks you're Julia Child.

Now about that BBQ squid: He loved one of those generic quasi-Asian buffet style restaurants that also had a Mongolian style grill. And he loved the Mongolian Barbecue Squid you could request. Don't question why yak herders would have huge grills with lots of veggies. I just couldn't get past the idea of a mythical great salty sea in Mongolia with squid jetting around in it. Oh I could eat it all right as long as he cleaned the squid well, but I could still laugh about it.

I made a dish last week or so with barley, shiitake, ham and veggies. It was wonderful. My sister picked out the ham. My BIL picked out the shiitake. She doesn't like tomatoes or blueberries, he doesn't like quinoa or garlic or things called pudding that aren't dessert. They are both kinda stuck on being as bourgeois as they can.

There are a few combinations that I really like and will do often enough. Some variation on a putanesca, risotto, and black beans. It's not like I can come up with a recipe, although I really loved a Cuban meal I put together for one Christmas: roast pork with orange juice, garlic and oregano, spicy black beans with coconut milk, sweet potatoes and flan. I probably wouldn't have used the oregano with the pork if I hadn't read a recipe with it before. Oregano was way too overused on pizza of my youth.

Oh! I braised some lamb shanks years ago with fermented black beans: Lovely, smoky, and Squid Guy enjoyed it too. No recipe, but I probably had garlic and maybe a little black vinegar in the Dutch oven. Although I was making a lot of beer back then, so I could have used some stout or something like that.

[applestar]

Ha! You and I would get along just fine @thanrose.

...I was re-reading my post and realized ... unaju, which is generally considered high-end restaurant fare requiring special preparation techniques, especially if it’s a specialty restaurant that makes them from fresh live eels, is reduced to what amounts to “junk food” in my description. Well, maybe the pre-made ones ARE.

[Gary350]

GERMAN BEAN SOUP.................We had this for lunch wow it is good.

Cook in crock pot for 8 hours do NOT add salt it makes beans tough.
2 Cups Dry Navy Beans, rinse & soak in warm water over night. Drain & rinse, put beans in crock pot.
2 quarts of water. Add more if needed.
1 ham bone in crock pot.

Add & cook 1 more hour.
2 medium onions chopped
1 carrot sliced very thin.
1 potatoes cut small.
1 cup celery sliced thin.
4 cloves garlic diced
1 tablespoon butter
1 German sausage sliced thin

Add & cook another 1 more hour.
1 tablespoon paprika
4 sprigs of fresh oregano
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
Salt & pepper to taste.

Serve hot & top with cheddar cheese & green onions or chives.

[imafan26]

unaju is a dish with unagi and rice?

unagi = fresh water eel usually served broiled, kabayaki style?

I actually never heard of this dish. I am familiar with donburi though like tendon, oyako donburi, torikatsu donburi.

I guess it is because we only used unagi to make maki sushi.

[applestar]

You got it. Unaju is same as unagi donburi — unagi kabayaki arranged on top of rice — except they are packed in ju-bako or extra large lacquered o bento box.

[Vanisle_BC]

Garbanzo/potato bread.

I regularly use a bread recipe I got from a friend. She called it potato bread - it includes mashed potato. It was a bit rich so I usually omit the egg from the original mix and use potato water instead of milk. I let the bread machine do the kneading, then bake in the oven after rolling, shaping & rising in the fridge.

This week, in pursuit of a higher-fiber lifestyle, I changed from 1/5 white flour to 100% whole-wheat, and substituted cooked, mashed chickpeas for half the potato; got a lovely soft & tasty loaf! Next time I may sub chickpea for all of the potato.

[Gary350]

Interesting cooking ideas, what the video.

https://www.facebook.com/happyday2046/v ... 304828207/

[pepperhead212]

Garbanzo/potato bread.


This week, in pursuit of a higher-fiber lifestyle, I changed from 1/5 white flour to 100% whole-wheat, and substituted cooked, mashed chickpeas for half the potato; got a lovely soft & tasty loaf! Next time I may sub chickpea for all of the potato.

Do you have any Indian groceries near you? If so, you could get some chick pea flour - besan - which makes it easier to use chick peas in bread. Of course, you can get it online, too, or even grind your own, if you have the equipment. I have ground various types of legumes, and used them in place of besan in some flatbreads, to compare the flavors.

[Vanisle_BC]

Not really random as I prefer to start with a basic recipe

Grannie's quantities were, from smallest to largest:
A Pickle
A Puckle
A Mickle
A Muckle

Take that, spellcheckers & recipe police!

[pepperhead212]

Considering all of those bottle gourds I am going to be getting, I ordered myself a spiralizer (just what I need - another kitchen gadget! lol), and used it today to make a Thai dish, Mahogany Fire Noodles, using spiralized bottle gourd, in place of the rice noodles, and it turned out great! My friend, who has eaten this dish with me many times, with rice and regular noodles, said that it was the hottest dish that he had eaten in....he couldn't even remember how long, but he knew "that he had eaten it here!" I told him that it was the hottest thing that I had had in my mouth since I was chewing all those habaneros for pain.

Here is the bottle gourd being spiralized. The original recipe calls for 12 oz fresh rice noodles, but I usually substituted 8 oz dried, soaked to soften. Given the water in the bottle gourd, I used 20 oz of noodles, which I cooked about 2 min. over high heat, to get water out, removed to a bowl, and continued the dish, which only took another 2 min.:
DSCF0801 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The 15 Thai peppers and 10 cloves of garlic, ready to grind:
DSCF0797 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished paste (easier than the mortar and pestle!):
DSCF0798 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The various ingredients lined up, ready to stir-fry. I always rinse out the grinder with fish sauce or soy sauce, or another liquid in the dish:
DSCF0799 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished dish:
DSCF0800 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I'll have to experiment with it some more, since this was my first recipe. I will probably pre-cook it longer next time, to remove more water. And the first size I tried was the "fettuccine", double the width of that in the the photo above, but it didn't all cut the same - much was a wider ribbon size. I still used it, but re-set the blades, and it cut fine.

One thing I'll have to do more next time is cut through the pile of noodles more - there were a number of VERY long ones while we were eating! Minor problem. Next thing I'll try (though I still have over a lb of bottle gourd noodles!) is butternut squash.

[applestar]

Wow, the spiralizer works great! Trendy and deliciously healthy meals, pepperhead212!

[pepperhead212]

I made a dish tonight with the rest of that spiralized bottle gourd - Szechwan eggplant, which I used about 1 1/2 lbs EP in, plus another 8 oz of the cubed up bottle gourds I had from another time, just to see how they held up to this cooking, and they did great. The gourds actually held up to the cooking better than most of the eggplants - the green Hari stayed the firmest, about the same as the gourds.

Here are those spiralized gourd noodles I had leftover, and they kept very well for 3 days, as you can see. I tossed them in a little oil, for about 2 min. along with about 1 1/2 c leftover brown rice/oat mix, I had leftover from something else. These I tossed with the finished dish.
DSCF0826 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Ingredients ready for cooking:
DSCF0827 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Seasoning mixes - ginger, garlic, and chili paste - cooked with onion, ready for meat:
DSCF0830 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Meat cooked with seasonings and soy sauce:
DSCF0831 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Veggies being stir-fried several min., before covering and cooking, to steam them:
DSCF0832 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Cooking finished:
DSCF0835 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Noodles and rice, before tossing:
DSCF0836 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished dish:
DSCF0837 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

DSCF0838 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

This is one of those dishes that I can smell for a couple days after cooking it! I am upstairs in my computer room, smelling it now!

I'll have to try the spiralizer on butternuts, next...

[pepperhead212]

I made another one of those vegetable noodle dishes tonight, after testing that spiralizer. I had about 20 oz of noodles, and I added a cup of spelt, which I pressure cooked, while getting the rest of it ready.

This is sort of a random dish, but not entirely. It is a mushroom pasta dish, the original recipe from an old Marcella Hazan CB, which was served on fresh egg pasta - a dish to die for! I have changed it considerably - changed the butter to olive oil, and the cheese from reggiano to asiago (what I have today), and added rosemary (I'm getting fresh rosemary already!). I still add those dried muchrooms - something I learned from her books, and I still do to this day, with many, of not most, mushroom dishes I make. Another one of those ingredients I am never without!

Soaked dried boletus mushrooms:
DSCF0861 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Cleaned, minced, and added to the cooked onions (I know what it looks like!):
DSCF0862 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Cooking them with the soaking water, to boil it off, and extract the flavor:
DSCF0863 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Most of the water cooked off:
DSCF0864 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Chopped cremini mushrooms added.
DSCF0866 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Much of the mushroom's water cooked off.
DSCF0867 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

"noodles" and spelt added, to toss with the muchrooms, then covered, to steam 5 min., to take the rawness out of the noodles.
DSCF0868 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Asiago cheese added.
DSCF0869 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished dish:
DSCF0870 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Not as good as that original recipe with the butter and fresh pasta, but a lot better for me!

[applestar]

Looks like you are having fun with your new toy.

I don’t have pictures but I decided I had to have BLACKBERRY COBBLER thanks to certain someone from TN who kept posting about it

But my blackberries have barely started coming in, so I looked to see if I had any left in the freezer— about 1 cup. Then remembered I had about 2/3 of a 1/2 gal jar filled with good berries and organic cane and brown sugars, honey, and Bacardi rum that I hadn’t decanted yet. Poured through fine mesh strainer into bottles - 1-1/2 pints of lovely blackberry liqueur. Then food milled the berries to remove the seeds.

I wasn’t measuring and didn’t realize I had too much deseeded berries now, so my cobbler ended up with fabulously rich jam and only half as much batter as needed — should have doubled the recipe. But oh my is it yum!

I used Betty Crocker blackberry cobbler and Paula Dean peach cobbler recipes for reference.

[Gary350]

Looks like you are having fun with your new toy.

I don’t have pictures but I decided I had to have BLACKBERRY COBBLER thanks to certain someone from TN who kept posting about it

But my blackberries have barely started coming in, so I looked to see if I had any left in the freezer— about 1 cup. Then remembered I had about 2/3 of a 1/2 gal jar filled with good berries and organic cane and brown sugars, honey, and Bacardi rum that I hadn’t decanted yet. Poured through fine mesh strainer into bottles - 1-1/2 pints of lovely blackberry liqueur. Then food milled the berries to remove the seeds.

I wasn’t measuring and didn’t realize I had too much deseeded berries now, so my cobbler ended up with fabulously rich jam and only half as much batter as needed — should have doubled the recipe. But oh my is it yum!

I used Betty Crocker blackberry cobbler and Paula Dean peach cobbler recipes for reference.

Applestar, I am glad you make yourself a Blackberry Cobbler, that is something everyone should have when berries are ripe. I have 1 cup of blackberries in the refrigerator waiting for another cup from the bush but the red quarter size berries have been red for a week and just setting there. Today I am thinking how good Peach Cobbler is and I have a can of peaches in the pantry so maybe we will have a peach cobbler while we wait for more blackberries to get ripe. LOL

[applestar]

Thanks, Gary350 It really is fabulous to enjoy the summer berry season — my blackberries have picked up in production — about a cup a day, but so far my DDs are eating them up as they come in. I’ll have chance to make more cobbler once they start to tire of the fresh berries.


Yesterday morning, I noticed there was a store-bought graham cracker pie shell, still in the pantry, and I wanted to use it up before it became stale. I had two boxes of NJ blueberries in the fridge that DH bought at the local farmer’s market needed to be processed. So, PIE!



This recipe made it easy — https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/con ... berry-pie/
(Yes I do follow simple recipes without changing them much sometimes )

[pepperhead212]

I made another one of those recipes using spiralized bottle gourds
I made this based on a recipe of Pasta alla Norma in Milk Street, I've been waiting to make, as soon as I had enough tomatoes, and I certainly do now! In fact, I used eggplants, tomatoes, garlic, basil, and bottle gourds from the garden. While the original recipe called for 2 pints of grape tomatoes, I just cut up what I had, and cut the bad parts out of a lot of the tomatoes that had split, then I figured that a pint of grape tomatoes would be about 12 oz, with all that air space. I just about doubled the recipe, and used about 24 oz of those spiralized bottle gourds again, then tossed in about a cup of black quinoa, for some protein, since I had it in the fridge.

Here are the eggplants, on the grill, the night before. The one thing I will do different next time is cut the EPs into quarters lengthwise, instead of halves, as some of the chunks of skin were too large and chewy (the original recipe may have called for peeling, which I almost never do with EP):
DSCF0888 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Ingredients for the sauce - a lot of garlic and basil!
DSCF0903 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Garlic cooking briefly in olive oil:
DSCF0904 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Tomatoes added:
DSCF0905 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

White balsamic vinegar added, after about 8 min. reducing:
DSCF0906 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Sauce reduced for about 15 min:
DSCF0907 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Bottle gourd noodles added:
DSCF0908 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Grilled EP and quinoa added, after cooking off the juice from the noodles for about 8 min:
DSCF0909 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Cheese and basil added:
DSCF0910 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished dish:
DSCF0911 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Will definitely make this again, cutting the EP smaller, as stated above, and maybe adding more basil (hard to get too much basil or garlic for me!), though I made up for that with the garnish on this first dish of it.

[imafan26]

Looks yummy.
I have a won bok (napa cabbage in my fridge). I'm looking for a new way to cook it.
I usually make a side dish of the napa cabbage, bacon, soy sauce and a little sugar to cut the bitterness of the soy.
I have made lion's head which is a soup of napa cabbage and pork balls.
I can put it in ramen
I can make cabbage rolls with it. Ground pork, 5 spice, water chestnuts, green onions, shitake mushroom, hoi sin or black bean sauce, garlic, ginger, egg and cornstarch for binder wrapped in blanched cabbage leaves and steamed.

What else can I do with it? No salads, I only like it cooked.

[pepperhead212]

Too bad you don't like napa salads - I have a recipe for a delicious Thai based slaw. Here it is, for others that might like this type of dish:

Thai style Slaw

1/4 cup(s) lime juice (fresh)
1 tb thin soy sauce
1 tb honey
1/4 cup(s) vegetable oil
1 tb sesame oil
2 tsp red curry paste
3 tb shallot; minced
1 1/2 tb ginger; minced
2 clove(s) garlic; put through a press
1 tb fresh red Thai chile peppers; minced
5 cup(s) napa cabbage; thinly sliced
1 1/2 cup(s) carrots; julienned
2 large bell peppers; seeded and sliced thinly
1/2 cup(s) scallions; chopped
1/4 cup(s) cilantro (fresh); chopped
2 tb peanuts; lightly crushed
1 tb sesame seeds; toasted
2 tsp kosher salt; to taste
1/4 tsp white pepper; freshly ground

Combine all ing. through the chiles in a bottle. Shake to mix well. In a large bowl combine remaining ing. and toss to mix. Shake dressing, and pour over the slaw and toss to mix. Let sit 10 min. before serving.

Note: can be made with regular cabbage, and using half purple cabbage, and half napa or green cabbage, makes a colorful salad.

[applestar]

Napa cabbage goes really well with pork, daikon, carrots, Asian mushrooms (enoki, beech, shiitake), a little lemon juice....mild miso... a little sesame (roasted sesame oil, roasted sesame seeds, or tahini/sesame butter)... I could even combine this with chickpeas.

You could make this pork shabushabu style in chunks of daikon, Napa, and konbu broth and miso/daikon oroshi sauce, or I could see it as sauté ingredients and add broth. (Add cooked daikon .. though I might just cut them in thin slices or match sticks... or even add (pile on) as daikon oroshi garnish at the end) I could see eggplants and/or peppers in the sautéed version, too.

Overall, daikon oroshi seems more suited to the summer heat to me, while stewed daikon chunks feel more winter?

[imafan26]

Sounds good. I tried velveting some pork shoulder strips. I put too much sake in. I did use shitake because I always have that on hand and it does have a meaty flavor. Instead of daikon, I used bamboo strips ( I had it in the pantry). I used the mushroom water for part of the broth base. I like oyster sauce so I used that and some Thai sweet chili paste for a little more spice. I have calamondin in the yard that is ready, so I think that will work for the lemon juice. I will use it as a finish.

I made it this morning and the cabbage has not really taken up any of the flavors yet, so I will let it sit a while. I did not add any additional salt because the oyster sauce, soy, and sweet thai chili sauce all have salt. It is still a little bland but I shouldn't eat a lot of salt anyway. I can definitely taste the mushrooms and the pork is good, but it does not have any noticeable spice from the chili sauce. I might add a fresh chili when I reheat it. I put in a whole cabbage and I may not have seasoned it enough for all that cabbage. I will see what happens after it has had a chance to marry and maybe add more soy. It tasted better after a squirt of calamondin juice. Thanks for the tip Applestar. I would never have tried any lemon or lime otherwise, and it is a healthier alternative than adding more salt.

[applestar]

Turkey midnight snack —

Cubed left over roasted turkey breast in a bowl, cover with chopped fresh Swiss Chard.chopped green onions. Drizzle with lemon juice and EVOO, add peeled diced tomatoes. Bake at 325 for 12 minutes. Cover with chopped nasturtium leaves, more scallions, more EVOO to taste, season with (Himalayan Pink) sea salt, and spoon blend with tahini. Yum!

[imafan26]

The thing about gourd is that it takes on the flavor of whatever you put with it. I thought it kinda strange to put noodles with rice, but the noodles are gourd. Rice and gourd both pick up flavors of the ingredients around them.

[HoneyBerry]

Thanks Dave for the Thai Slaw recipe. I copy and pasted it and hope to try the recipe someday.
I also have a couple of new Indian recipes that I plan to try: "Heavenly Tomato Rice" and "Veg Dum Biryani".
And some recipes for Chia seed puddings.
I have enough recipes to keep me busy for a while.

[applestar]

I made another on of those “I’ll never be able to make this again” deliciousness. — peppers, garlic, butternut squash, and some of the tomatoes, as well as chard and moringa came from my garden. Most of the tomatoes were from my BIL’s garden.

Sauce pan with a bit of EVOO.
- Various super-ripe tomatoes, skin on, stem end etc. cut out and quartered, thick walled sweet peppers and mildly spicy peppers —all cooked until tomatoes were liquified and skin loosened.
- Added two large garlic cloves roughly chopped and leftover roasted peppers and butternut squash that had been cooked in a casserole with butter. Sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, and ground pumpkin pie seasoning mix.
- Transferred larger solids including garlic, pepper chunks, tomato skins and butternut squash seeds to blender and blended until thickened, then added the rest of the tomato liquid with seeds and thoroughly puréed.

...in the mean time, cleaned out the pot and boiled water, then soaked rinsed mung bean noodles, then drained and transferred noodles to a serving bowl.

- Returned the puréed mixture to the emptied pot and heated to bubbling, then added chopped Swiss chard ribs, red noodle beans , and moringa leaves.
- Ready when the beans were cooked.
- Served with deli meat of choice — I had smoked turkey — over mung bean noodles

...oh look somebody was about to finish it... not much of a picture but you get the idea —

DH: Save me some. I want to try it. [He DOES? This is Mr. I Don’t Eat Squash.... ]
DD: Mama’s just taking a picture.

[applestar]

Short order yummy sandwich for moi

- 1/2 Tatume harvested as summer squash, sliced paper thin
- 1 each runty 1/2 sized Jaloro and Numex Lemon Spice jalapeños, cored and diced
- 3 fully ripe but mediocre salad sized cooking tomatoes, stem end cut off and peeled then thickly sliced
- leftover medium steak sliced against grain

— Put in small bowl and pour over with EVOO, sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, freshly dried Greek oregano. Coat all ingredients.
— 2 big slices of polish rye on bare rack of toaster oven. Layer squash slices on one side; marinated tomato, steak, and pepper mixture on the other side. Reserve remaining marinade.
— Toast for about 7 minutes.
— Dip squash slices in the reserved marinade then transfer to top of the tomato/steak mixture on the other slice, pour remaining marinade with seeds and bits on top, then slather the now empty slice with Dijon mustard before topping the sandwich.
— Cut in half and flip so the toasted crunchy sturdy slice is on the bottom and marinade soaked slice is on top.

[pepperhead212]

Apple, Here's a dish I made with some of those red noodle beans, showing the color they turn to, after cooking.

Here are the few noodle beans I harvested today, but there are a lot more small ones out there!
IMG_20180830_172932669 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Tuesday night I trimmed all those bad tomatoes, and got 60 oz chopped up, plus who knows what for the compost. Then I made that mix for a raw tomato pasta, with a bunch of black and green olives, some chopped up capers, chopped anchovies, minced garlic, and a large amount of basil, with some olive oil to mix in, before letting it sit in the fridge 'til tonight. Then I cooked some spelt and a small amount of French lentils (only because there was a half cup in a jar, and I wanted to get it off the shelf) in the slow cook mode for about 3 hours. Then I added the pound of pasta (this much would be normally mixed with just 2 lbs of pasta, but I try to add a few more nutritious ingredients to it), cooked 8 min., then the red noodle beans I cut up, along with some canned beans, just to warm them. when the beans were done, I drained it well, and tossed them with the tomato mix. One of my favorite things in the summer. This might be the last batch I'll make of it, though I see some more tomatoes out there on some new growth.

This is the cooked mix, dumped on the tomato mix, where you can see the beans best:
IMG_20180830_181002110 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished dish:
IMG_20180830_181053120 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[imafan26]

I only use long beans in a couple of recipes. There are a lot of Filipino recipes that use it like pinakbet, diningding, and sitaw recipes that use it. Long beans hold up better when cooked than

Pinakbet Recipe (Tagalog)

Prep time
15 mins
Cook time
45 mins
Total time
1 hour

Author: Vanjo Merano
Serves: 4
Ingredients
¼ lb pork, thinly sliced
1 large egg plant, sliced
1 medium-sized bitter melon, chopped
¼ lb squash, chopped into 2x1 inch cubes
3 pieces large tomato, sliced
1 piece onion, chopped
1 tbsp ginger, minced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
6 to 8 pieces okra
1 bunch long beans, cut in 3 inches length
4 tbsp shrimp paste (bagaong)
1 cup water
3 tbsp cooking oil
salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Heat the pan and put the cooking oil.
When oil is hot enough, saute the garlic, ginger, onion, and tomato
Add the pork and cook until color turns light brown (about 5 to 8 minutes)
Put-in the shrimp paste and cook for 2 minutes.
Add water and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until pork is tender
Put-in the squash and cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until texture becomes soft
Add the remaining vegetables and mix with the other ingredients.Simmer for 5 minutes or until all the vegetables are cooked. (Do not overcook the vegetables)
Serve hot with steamed white rice. Share and Enjoy!
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 4

Bacon and Long Beans
4 strips bacon sliced into 1/2 inch slices
1 medium onion chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 bundle long beans (asparagus beans), cut itn 2 inch pieces. Discard stem end of bean.
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tsp sugar or honey.
Pepper to taste
If you like it spicier you can use crushed pepper instead of black pepper.

Saute bacon in skillet until half cooked. Drain excess oil, retaining about 2 tablespoons of bacon fat
Add onions and garlic and continue to cook bacon until onions are soft and translucent. Add beans, soy sauce, and sugar and cook covered until beans are crisp tender. Season with pepper.

I do not add salt since the soy and bacon have enough salt for me but you might want to add salt to suit your taste. I only add enough sugar or honey to cut the bitterness of the soy. I sometimes substitute oyster sauce for soy. Lechon or fried pork belly can be substituted for the bacon.

Usually served as a side dish.

Adobong Sitaw with Pork


Prep time
15 mins
Cook time
30 mins
Total time
45 mins

Author: Lalaine | Kawaling Pinoy
Recipe type: Main Entree
Cuisine: Filipino
Yield: 4 Servings
Ingredients
1 tablespoon oil
1 pound pork belly, cut into thin strips
1 small onion, peeled and sliced thinly
5 to 6 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
¾ cup vinegar
¼ cup soy sauce
½ cup water
1 bunch long beans (sitaw), ends trimmed and cut into 3-inch lengths
salt and pepper to taste
fried garlic bits, optional
Get Ingredients Powered by Chicory
Instructions
In a skillet over medium heat, heat oil. Add pork and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned and begins to render fat. Add onions and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until limp and aromatic.
Add vinegar and bring to a boil, uncovered and without stirring, for about 3 to 5 minutes. Add soy sauce and water. Cover and continue to cook until pork is cooked through and sauce is slightly reduced.
Add long beans and stir to combine. Cook for about 3 to 5 minutes or until long beans are tender yet crisp. (they will change color due to reaction with the vinegar). Season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with fried garlic bits, if desired, and serve hot.

[applestar]

Hmm... pepperhead212 do you think the acid in the dish could strip some of the color pigments?

Here are some I cooked this morning. The olive green flat beans are Blue Coco pole beans after they are cooked. Some of my red noodle beans turns lighter color, but most stayed pretty dark color as you can see.

I added more water as they cooked, keeping the dept at about 1/2 inch or so, and you might be able to see that the broth stained red.

This is a 1 qt pan. I added additional sea salt and big blob of tahini to this (about 1/4 cup), then a fair amount of rice wine (2-3 tsp) and some agave nectar and white sesame seeds. I like it this way. My DD2 loved it too and asked if she could eat it all. haha.


...BTW... as I trimmed the beans, I tossed the ends and scarred pieces to the ...kitties. Yes kitties. LOL ...while they crowded around me looking up and meowing the whole time. And I gave them some of the cooked and finished beans, too. Yes, they are weird. I also had to give them trimmings and pieces of raw cucumber I cut up for tomato and cucumber salad.

[cyberageous]

I am a sourdough yeast baker. No idea what I am doing altho I have been doing this for MANY years and have really good luck "winging it". No matter how hard I try, I can't follow the rules!
My sourdough starter is almost 20 years old I think. I am trying to remember when I started it. Then to top it off I ordered some very old starters to get it going. Did you know there is literally an underground international yeast growing community? You can find sourdough yeast from all over the world that produces many different flavor breads.

[pepperhead212]

Here's a bread thread that may interest you: viewtopic.php?f=45&t=66654

And you may already know this site – a lot of bread bakers, and much discussion of soursough: https://www.thefreshloaf.com/tracker

[pepperhead212]

This was an experiment I made today, that turned out good, but I'll make some changes to it, for next time, as noted below.

Sun. night I made a soup - it was sort of soup weather, being cool and rainy, and I wanted to use up one of those butternuts I still have out there. And I was having a craving for some Thai food, and this recipe came back to me - simple, as it only has 6 ingredients (actually a few more, as one is a curry paste, though it is a simple one), and only cooks long enough to tenderize the squash. I made a double recipe, to use up the squash, but I only added enough Thai basil for what I ate - I'll add more as it's reheated, so it's fresh every time. Making this got me craving more Thai, thus the experimental recipe the next day.

Late yesterday, I saw this huge can of garbanzos that I found when cleaning out the pantry at Mom's place (no idea why she would have bought this - had to be something that she was going to give to the church, or something like that), and I finally made myself use that, and some package of quick cook whole grains my sister gave me, because she's on that keto diet now, and not eating these things anymore. So I cooked them up last night, and "skinned" those garbanzos (thank God most of the garbanzos in those small cans I get these days are fairly well skinned!), and mixed the two, and stuck them in the fridge 'til today.

I was going to make up one of those usual dishes I make in the summer, but didn't have enough tomatoes, and it's still soaked out there. So I started thinking of some Thai flavors - starting with what I put in Som Tum, as a salad. But that dressing is a little liquidy, with all that lime juice, so I thought about using tamarind for some of the sour, since it is thick, and that made me think of the things I use in Pad Thai. So I made a dressing with some tamarind, lime juice, and a small amount of rice vinegar - something with a unique flavor, which is good in things like this, but doesn't give a strong vinegar flavor. I added palm sugar, for the sweet, 1/3c dried shrimp, 3 cloves garlic, 10 ripe Thai peppers (sounds like a lot, but could have used more - think of this amount of salad I make, adding a whole chocolate habanero, which is much hotter!), and 1/3c peanuts, crushed. Also, about 1/4c of fish sauce; I added a little bit more of this, as well as the tamarind. Since this was an experiment, I had to add a bit more of the salty and sour, until it was just right. Turned out really good, though I'll have to tweak it a little - could use a little more dried shrimp, and less fish sauce, and a few more Thai peppers, even for the other two that tried it. They think it is mild, for me! I'll harvest some more sunsugars tomorrow, and add some more to the salad. I may try some things with the leftovers, like making a chiffonade from one of the lime leaves, and adding some of it to a small bowl of this, or maybe try the same with a Thai basil leaf. I'll have to go to the Asian market tomorrow, for some more dried shrimp, among other things, having used up all of it in that soup and the salad!

All the seasonings, except the palm sugar:
IMG_20180910_210706337 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Peppers and garlic, ready to grind up. Was going to do it in a mortar, but I felt lazy!
IMG_20180910_211606394 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Dried shrimp, soaked, drained, and added to grind up:
IMG_20180910_211712905 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished mix, ready to be added to the salad, along with the tamarind, rice vinegar, and fish sauce:
IMG_20180910_211830684 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished salad. As you may see, I forgot to mention that I also added those red noodle beans, that I went out yesterday to harvest - only about a generous cup of them, which I cooked with that grain mix:
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2aTmhgY]IMG_20180910_21563

Update: a friend and I tested the leftovers of this salad with the different herbs today. We just put about a half a cup in each of 5 bowls. Then, I
shredded a lime leaf, a couple Thai basil leaves, a regular basil leaf, and chopped up a couple cilantro sprigs, and stirred these into the bowls, leaving one w/o herbs. Then we sampled them; all were good, but we both thought that the lime leaf and Thai basil were too strong. The regular basil was better, but the cilantro was best, and we both thought that it improved on the plain batch. So, I chopped up about 3/4 c of cilantro, and added this to the salad. Before this testing, I adjusted the flavor by adding another 1/4c salted shrimp, and 10 more Thai peppers - yes, you read that right, 10 more! It definitely improved the flavor, yet, as my friend noted, it was still nowhere near as hot as the salad I make with just one chocolate habanero, in the same amount.

[Grassheart]

Can I make that with the sun as the oven and very smal unripe apples I am doing this from my kindel paper white without apps I only have limmited time how long dose it take to make apple butter

[webmaster]

pepperhead212 that looks amazing!
I haven't dabbled in Thai food yet, but you've given me inspiration to give it a try.

Been doing the same things for awhile and feeling the need to expand the repertoire!

[pepperhead212]

All that talk about Thai food got me thinking about making some, but I ended up making some Indian curry, instead.
But I made something I hadn't done before - a batch of millet, to which I had put 1/4 c of white jasmine rice, to see if the flavor would come through, and it came through better than with any other grain I have tried this with! Next time, I'll add a little more water, but it was good for a first try. I have tried other things, mixed with a small amount of white jasmine rice, but the flavor was covered up in all those, and brown jasmine, though I have some, doesn't have that flavor and aroma.
IMG_20180917_184017329 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I made a sambar, with 4 types of veggies - the green bananas, and three from the garden, okra, eggplant, and my last bottle gourd. Here's the plate of veggies, ready to cook:
IMG_20180917_183707751 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Toor Dal, cooked to a mush:
IMG_20180917_181409231 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Veggies, ready for second round of cooking (cooked the okra 5 min., first):
IMG_20180917_190234960 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Ingredients for tadka:
IMG_20180917_181315161 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Cooked tadka, added to the veggies, to stir in, and cook a few min. longer:
IMG_20180917_192035431 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished dish, with the millet/rice mix:
IMG_20180917_195349594 by pepperhead212, on Flickr


The green bananas stayed firm, compared to the other vegetables, which surprised me. Not much flavor - a neutral veggie, that absorbed the flavors in the sauce.