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

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
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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!
ImageIMG_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:
ImageIMG_20180830_181002110 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished dish:
ImageIMG_20180830_181053120 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

imafan26
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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.

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applestar
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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.
Image
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
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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
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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
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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:
ImageIMG_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!
ImageIMG_20180910_211606394 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Dried shrimp, soaked, drained, and added to grind up:
ImageIMG_20180910_211712905 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished mix, ready to be added to the salad, along with the tamarind, rice vinegar, and fish sauce:
ImageIMG_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:
Image[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
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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

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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
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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.
ImageIMG_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:
ImageIMG_20180917_183707751 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Toor Dal, cooked to a mush:
ImageIMG_20180917_181409231 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Veggies, ready for second round of cooking (cooked the okra 5 min., first):
ImageIMG_20180917_190234960 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Ingredients for tadka:
ImageIMG_20180917_181315161 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Cooked tadka, added to the veggies, to stir in, and cook a few min. longer:
ImageIMG_20180917_192035431 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished dish, with the millet/rice mix:
ImageIMG_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.

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applestar
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When he went to go grocery shopping, I asked DH to pick up a Boston Butt, which is a trimmed pork shoulder, usually tied or netted. He came home very proud of himself saying he found a BIIIGGG BUTT :lol:

It turned out to be a whole hunk of pork shoulder, bone in and with skin on -- 8 Lbs. It hardly fit in the meat drawer. :shock:

I was waffling between making a Japanese style stewed pork and potatoes vs. Braised/stewed pork with full shebang demigras from scratch and tomato or wine-base. I ended up making both —

* Trimmed the skin off, rubbed in sugar, sea salt and maple syrup, and sunflower oil, and then used super-convection fan/roast setting on the new oven to make oven version cracklings. (IMHO not as good as deep fried)
* The Japanese version was cooked using the rice cooker as slow-cooker with yellow potatoes, peeled hard boiled eggs + soy sauce and gin (turned out I was out of sake), sugar, garlic, and ginger*. (It was good but would have been better if I had daikon)
* The other one on the stove was made with onions, carrots, celery, garlic, red potatoes, apples*, and red cabbage + apple cider vinegar, sugar, sea salt, and garden supreme pasta sauce with mushrooms from a jar. (Very rich-tasting - I had two bowls....)

...I ate too much... :P

....I still have the big meat-trimmed bone in the freezer for making soup with at some other time.

ETA — red cabbage, apples, garlic, and ginger were from my garden

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applestar
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Another fun and quick meal I like to make, then eat some through the day — Takikomi Gohan = mixed rice. Basically rice cooked with various ingredients and seasoning... like paella or risotto., in Japanese version.

Today, I used beef brisket from local bbq store that was over spiced/seasoned and dry, + an immature Thai Kang Kob cross squash that had been ripped off of the vine in the previous storm, and some roasted salted cashews for nutty-sweet. The rice is a blend of short grain brown rice (2), white rice (1), glutinous white rice (0.5), and pressed barley (0.5). Drizzled with toasted sesame oil. Yum! :D

Image

pepperhead212
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I had two butternuts that I had to cut open, due to bad spots (not much I had to cut out, fortunately, but I couldn't take a chance - could have been something living in there!), so I have a bunch to use up quickly. I saw some soup recipes in a mag, giving a slow cooker method and pressure cooker method in the same ones, and I started thinking of what I could make with it. Something I had never tried with butternuts, but do it all the time with eggplant, is a Szechuan version - probably what I have made more than any other eggplant dish. So this is what I did - cut up the hollowed out areas, and saved the necks of the squash for making "noodles". I also added 1 cup of millet, and 2 cups water (5 cups total) , to add some bulk to it - better than white rice. It ended up more of a gruel than a soup, probably because a lot of the squash sort of dissolved with the 10 min pressure cooking, but it was delicious.

The cooking in the Instant pot, even on high saute, was not the same as in a wok or saute pan on the range, but still good.

Here's the recipe, based on that Szechuan eggplant:

22 oz (because that was all I had, besides the necks, but it was about the same volume called for in that recipe I saw, using 3 c water) butternut, cut into about 3/4" cubes
1 lb ground meat (I used beef this time)
1 large onion, chopped
8 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2" ginger, minced
4 tb chili paste with garlic
4 tb oil
8 whole Thai peppers (turns out these weren't necessary, as I tried a new brand of chili paste!)
8 tb soy sauce, dark and light mixed (started with 6 tb, but wasn't enough, with all that water)
2 tb sesame oil
1 c millet, toasted
5 c water

ImageIMG_20181019_175608360 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

First, I cooked the garlic, ginger, and whole peppers, til the peppers started to color - took about 4 min, while it would have been about a minute in a wok.
ImageIMG_20181019_180307224 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Then I cooked the meat, until all browned:
ImageIMG_20181019_180803562 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Then I tossed in the squash, soy sauce, and sesame oil, and stirred around a couple of minutes, until coated:
ImageIMG_20181019_181058005 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Then I put in the water and millet, adjusted for salt (this is when I added the extra soy, which I wasn't sure it would need), covered, and set for 10 min.
ImageIMG_20181019_181305049 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

After the 10 min. was up, I let the pressure reduce for 10 min., then opened the valve, to reduce the rest. Finished dish:
ImageIMG_20181019_185926918 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

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applestar
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A quintessential Autumn Bounty Rice — White short grain rice, pressed barley, hazel nuts, brown beech mushrooms, butter, salted Koji, sea salt, sake + water. Cooked on “mixed rice” setting with extra water. Topped with a layer of roasted side of salmon and black sushi nori torn into bits. Green tea on the side. Ahhh yum!
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imafan26
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Anyone got recipes for cauliflower, butternut squash, and zucchini that are low carb?

pepperhead212
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Now here's a dish that I really threw together at random! Basically, I used small amounts of a bunch of different things that I had, and wanted to get rid of.

I made a sambar, Tuesday night (leftovers tonight!), using up a bunch of odds and ends - some cubed up butternut, the last sweet potato and Yukon gold in my potato bin, some peeled broccoli stems, and some of the solid innards of a cauliflower. Also, though not traditional, I added a couple of broken up papadum (lentil wafers), just to use up the last ones (have to make more now!).

I started by cooking the toor dal with some turmeric in the IP. While that cooked and pressure released, I cooked some chopped onion in coconut oil in a large saucepan, then cooked the sambar masala in the oil briefly, then added the veggies and 5 c water. This simmered for about 20 min, and I added the papadum with about 5 min left. While this simmered, I mashed the finished dal in the IP and added this to the saucepan, salted to taste, and simmered a few more min, while preparing the tadka - heated a little oil in a small saucepan, popped the mustard seed, then added 8 Thai peppers, along with some cumin seed, fenugreek seed, asafoetida, and 15 fresh curry leaves. When the peppers were browned, this was stirred into the sambar, which was somewhat thickened by this time, from the squash breaking down. Leftovers will be even thicker!

Earlier, I made some jowar roti to serve this with. I ground some sorghum in the VM, removed a little of the flour (in case it was to wet later), then added some hot water, and processed it, making a soft, but not too sticky dough (the hot water makes the gluten free dough hold together better than cold water would). I also added some garlic, along with some ajwain seeds, to flavor the roti (I almost never make unflavored flatbreads!). I used my tortilla press to form these, then cooked them in a dry cast iron pan.

A few weeks ago, I made the fresh batch of sambar masala, which I used here, so I already had that. I had tried another recipe for the stuff, but it wasn't as good as the one that I've sort of tweaked to my own taste (hotter, of course, plus other things), so I wen't back to my favorite. In the fall, when soup, stew, and curry season is in, I make up new batches of all of those spice mixes, so I have them fresh. I use them occasionally in the warm months, but not nearly as much.

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Wife has been saving left over vegetables for a while this morning she decided to turn it into beef stew. She got the crock pot out & plugged it in about 8:30 am. She cooked stew meat in crock pot for a few hours this morning until it was done then added a large chopped onion and a whole clove of our garden garlic. We had 2 ears of corn she cut off the kernels to save, left over fried potatoes with onions, few mash potatoes, green beans, peas, carrots. Not sure what else was in that freezer bag of vegetables. She added about 2 cups of water & let it cook a while while we went to the store for 2 hours. Mash potatoes made a thick gravy. She added black pepper & sprinkle of salt. We got oregano from the oregano plant in the living room threw some in the stew. Beef stew was good with the last of the homemade bread that I made yesterday. Crock pot cooking is so easy, few times during the day walk past the crock pot, give it a stir, throw in something else, return later when every you have time. Dinner is usually ready to eat by 3 or 4 pm sometimes we don't wait until 5 to eat.

When we worked a job we use to throw a bunch of stuff in the crock pot then go to work, when we got home 10 hrs later dinner was ready to eat.
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imafan26
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I have a crock pot, but I don't use it much. I don't trust it to be alone by itself. I usually only used it when I planned on staying home all day anyway and I used it to make saimin stock and once I did corned beef and cabbage.
The soup smelled wonderful, but I did not season it enough so it was bland, my bad. The corned beef came out good and tender, but the recipe said to put the vegetables under the meat to cook and the vegetables were mush after cooking that long.

Your stew looks great though and maybe I'll look for some new recipes and give it another go.

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Gary350
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imafan26 wrote:I have a crock pot, but I don't use it much. I don't trust it to be alone by itself. I usually only used it when I planned on staying home all day anyway and I used it to make saimin stock and once I did corned beef and cabbage.
The soup smelled wonderful, but I did not season it enough so it was bland, my bad. The corned beef came out good and tender, but the recipe said to put the vegetables under the meat to cook and the vegetables were mush after cooking that long.

Your stew looks great though and maybe I'll look for some new recipes and give it another go.
Crock pot is just a mini electric oven. If I buy another crock pot I always put an oven thermometer inside the pot to test see what the temperature is with the lid on. High is usually about 325 to 350 degrees F, low is usually about 180 to 200 degrees. Our smallest crock pot is about 1 quart it is great for a small meal for 2 people. The 3 & 4 quart are the ones we use most. The larger crock pot is used for larger meals or food that takes up lots of space. Put a whole chicken or meal loaf or roast, in large crock pot with, carrots, green beans, corn on cob, potatoes, broccoli, etc. its ready to eat in about 3 or 4 hrs. Most of what is cooked in a crock pot cooks fast ready to eat in 1 to 2 hours on high, then turn to low to keep it warm. Cook on low all day if your going to work then turn to high when you arrive home. You can put a frozen chicken in the crock pot it will thaw out in a few hrs then be cooked in 2 more hrs.

When we were both working a job we cooked a lot of things in the crock pot dinner was effortless. Chili, soup, stew, BBQ, meat loaf, chicken, pork chops, etc. I use to put a whole chicken in a crock pot with a whole bottle of BBQ sauce fill it to the top with water, set temperature on low then go to work. When I arrived home at 3:45 pm turn crock pot to high about 5:30 pm when I was ready to eat all the meat had fallen off the chicken bones I made BBQ chicken sandwiches. Sometimes I made, chili, stew, meat loaf, pork chops. Now we are retired & home all day start crock pot on high if we leave for a few hours turn it to low, when we return home turn it to high again. Last week we cooked, green beans, 2 ears of corn, 2 small potatoes, meat loaf in meat ball shapes in the crock pot, 4 hours later dinner was ready. Often dinner is ready long before we are ready to eat it turn it on low until its time to eat. Wife makes whole meat loaf in the crock it does not heat the house up like the kitchen oven probably uses less electricity too. If you can cook in a kitchen oven then you can cook in a crock pot. I sometimes bake homemade bread in a crock pot but I don't like crock pot shape bread it looks goofy. If you cook with herbs & spices put them in the food last 30 to 45 minutes of the cook. If you cook spices all day flavor is completely gone after 8 hours of cooking. You can use a crock pot like a cook pot on top the kitchen stove add 1" of water 8 ears of corn 15 minutes boiling water steams the corn it is ready to eat. Fill crock pot with fresh picked garden green beans throw in 2 slices of bacon for flavor & 1/2 cup water to steam the beans. Crock pot makes good rice, get 2 1/2 cup water boiling with 1 tsp salt, 1 T butter, throw in 1 cup rice cook 5 minutes then turn if off rice will be ready to eat in 20 or 30 minutes. You can make any kind of soup it is not possible to burn it there is too much water in soup. You can bake potatoes in a crock pot. You can bake a cake or cobbler in a crock pot. Soak your favorite dry beans over night next morning put a ham bone in crock pot with bean and lots of water cook all morning then after lunch start adding flavor, onions, garlic, black pepper, what every you like but no salt until the very end. If you cook beans in salt all day they get very tough.

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MariaDigsGardening
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Gary350 wrote:You can use a crock pot like a cook pot on top the kitchen stove add 1" of water 8 ears of corn 15 minutes boiling water steams the corn it is ready to eat. Fill crock pot with fresh picked garden green beans throw in 2 slices of bacon for flavor & 1/2 cup water to steam the beans. Crock pot makes good rice, get 2 1/2 cup water boiling with 1 tsp salt, 1 T butter, throw in 1 cup rice cook 5 minutes then turn if off rice will be ready to eat in 20 or 30 minutes.
Mind blown. I haven't used my crock pot this way, but am going to have to try it.

I have two crockpots. One has an electric timer built in, but I find that it runs too hot and I don't get as good of results with it. I like the one that just has the dial knob (low, high, keep warm)-- but this can be tricky when I am gone 10 hours and cook something that needs less time to cook. So I use a light timer and set everything up in the morning when I leave. The light timer turns the crock pot on at 11 or 12 or whenever, and then everything is perfect when I get home.

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We made Tikka Masala for dinner, WOW this was so good. Wife cut 2 chicken breasts into small pieces cooked it in the electric skilled with 1 large onion diced. I smashed 12 cloves of garlic on the cutting board with a mason jar then threw them in the skillet. Chicken cooked in about 14 minutes then we started pouring in the vegetables. We had left over garden corn & carrots and part of a bag of grocery store vegetables. We found garden broccoli and peas in the freezer. Vegetables cooked a few minutes then added 1 tablespoon soy sauce. Next in goes the whole jar of Tikka Masala sauce, rinse jar with 1 tablespoon of water 2 times pour water in the skillet. Stir in sauce it is ready to eat. I forgot to take a picture until after we both ate dinner, there is enough left over for tomorrow.
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applestar
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There is a Japanese chicken dish called “Chicken Nanban” It’s basically ginger/soy/mirin marinated then starch-dusted or egg-dip+panko fried chicken nuggets that are dipped in hot sweet soy sauce+vinegar, then served on greens with tartar sauce.

A little while ago, I came across a recipe for this made with home-made tartar sauce using pickled scallions rather than bread/butter pickles. I’ve been wanting to make it, but over the busy last couple of days, DH used up all of the chicken thigh meat and breast meat I had stocked.

So... today for my lunch, I used a left-over Chick-fil-A sandwich and made my adaptation of Chicken Nanban.
- I removed the two pickle slices to put in the tartar sauce, cut up the top and bottom halves of the roll into 1 inch cubes and put them in the toaster oven along with the breaded, fried chicken breast meat to reheat.
- Since I was using the oven anyway, I cracked open an egg into a Pyrex bowl of hot water + rice wine vinegar to poach in the oven, and ...
- made the vinegar dip mixture out of konbu steeped-rice wine vinegar mixed with sake and sugar that I had made for another dish + coconut aminos (soy sauce substitute) + fresh ginger slivers and put that in the oven to heat.

While they were heating up/cooking, I minced up some more fresh ginger root, the pickles from the sandwich, my own pickled scallions, my own sweet rice vinegar pickled cucumbers and mushrooms, 1” long fresh green premature pepper that fell off a plant when I jostled it (it turned out to be some kind of a hot pepper), and some onion and cucumber pickles that came as accompaniment to a meat-sauce and quail-egg stuffed potato appetizer that DH brought home from a Peruvian restaurant yesterday. These were blended with juice from a wedge of lemon and my current fave sunflower oil mayo (Sir Kensington‘s). Instead of chopped fresh parsley, I added fresh dwarf moringa leaves and also a few grinds of freshly ground black pepper.

- Removed the sandwich roll croutons as they became nicely toasted
- Cut up the heated chicken, dipped them in the hot vinegar and arranged them with the croutons, then poured the sweet vinegar all over
- roughly cut up the poached egg and arranged them on top then spooned the mayo mixture over them all. (In the recipe I was using for inspiration, the scallion pickles are minced and mixed with diced hard boiled egg, lemon juice, and mayo to make the home-made tartar sauce.)


Just to emphasize the Japanese cuisine, I added a small portion of hot brown rice on the side. Let me tell ya, this was amazingly good. :D

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Made one of my favorite dishes last night - Chicken Cafreal. May be my favorite Indian chicken dish - this or Chicken 65, both loaded with garlic! Chicken cafreal is a Goan dish, influenced by the Portuguese (and visa-versa - probably why so much cilantro is used in Portuguese food!), when they occupied the small state of Goa, back in the days of the spice trades. Some of the spiciest foods, and also use a lot of vinegar, for their sour in the foods, though this also has tamarind.

Chicken cafreal, start to finish.

Spices for the green masala:
ImageSpices for cafreal, before toasting. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Spices, after toasting:
ImageToasted spices, for chicken cafreal masala. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

2 sliced onions, caramelized, for topping:
ImageCaramelized onions, for topping chicken by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Cafreal masala paste, with spices, green chiles, ginger, garlic, cilantro, and salt:
ImageCafreal masala paste, to marinate the chicken. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Chicken, starting to cook after marinating 5 hours:
ImageChicken cafreal, starting to cook. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Chicken cafreal, after cooking about 20 min., before adding vinegar. Here, I sucked off 2 tb of the fat, with a baster:
ImageCafreal, after cooking about 20 min., before adding the vinegar. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Chicken cafreal, finished cooking, with most of the masala clinging to the chicken:
ImageCafreal, ready to serve. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Chicken cafreal, topped with crispy onions:
ImageChicken cafreal by pepperhead212, on Flickr

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We had lobsters a couple of days ago. They were smaller than the size we usually get, so we had 6 for the 4 of us, but only enjoyed the claws and the tail meat. The rest were just too small to bother with. But I asked DH to clean them and save them so I could try to do something with them.

...today, I pulled them out from their semi-frozen state, and made soup.

- Thawed them in a covered pot with EVOO and once the liquid that came out started to caramelize, deglazed with rum, added water, bay leaf, and a little salt and boiled to extract the flavors. Crushed the body until the legs came off in metal colander with a wooden pestle, returned to pot and boiled some more.

- In the 2nd, soup pot, finely diced bacon and minced onions and carrots, plus a whole garlic clove from the freezer — to sweat in the bacon fat and EVOO and then butter.

- Added strained lobster broth (I don’t have a conical metal strainer, so I use a metal colander, then a medium wire mesh strainer) and rice milk, a splash more rum and Japanese dashi broth (bonito, anchovy, kombucha). A few glugs of store-bought organic chicken broth.

- Herbs and spices — Minced slices of turmeric and ginger. My own sweet paprika. Chervil, celery roots, dried leaf celery, coriander, parsley. Himalayan pink rock salt and Mediterranean Sea salt.

(Returned lobster carcasses and bay leaf to the 1st pot, covered with water and heated to boiling and simmered some more for 2nd extract)

- Needed something fruity and something sweet, so added a splash of “spiced (detected cinnamon and clove)” apple cider. Ground schisandra berries (I’m going to try to grow this from seeds this year). And juice from the last wedge of lemon.

- Once boiling, added diced vegs — a couple of small russet potatoes and a largish purple fingering potato, dried portabello mushroom, last wedge of runty TKK squash, cauliflower, and long potato mountain yam.

- Skimmed foam, added the strained 2nd extract lobster broth and skimmed again until done.

- Served with a dollop of home made yogurt stirred into the bowl of soup — it was refreshing a tasty this way and received good reviews, but decided to make it “richer”, so melted butter until lightly golden, then added bread flour and salt to toast the flour, then whisked with soup until gravy-like roux, then added to soup for creamier texture.

- Addition of yogurt was accepted and adopted by the family as a great innovation — the yogurt adds that final tangy flavor to round out the flavors (we also had sour cream, but I opted for the tangier yogurt — and there was enough butterfat in the soup already). I liked mine also topped with freshly ground black pepper to add that peppery finish.

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Even after 2 extractions, the lobster body meat that were left in the mesh strainer — I guess this is akin to “lump crab meat” — were received with great enthusiasm by our two kitties after I rubbed the sticky meat between my fingers to feel/pick out all of the shell and cartridge fragments and rolled into bite-sized balls for them. They each got two gumball sized lobster meatballs today. They have another serving each to look forward to for tromorrow. ;)

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I made “umaki” — teriyaki char-broiled eel rolled in dashi tamago omelette

Image

I’ve been wanting to try making it since I saw it in this episode of Isekai Izakaya —

Isekai Izakaya: Japanese Food From Another World Episode 16
https://www.crunchyroll.com/isekai-izaka ... urn-774507

...I made the “dashi” for the omelette from scratch using kombu, dried anchovies and dried baby shrimp, and had mine on a bed of brown rice bowl. :D Ground sansho spice on top of course. ;)

If you would like to watch the episode in which the Japanese pub chef convinced the local community that eel can taste delicious, try this episode too.

Isekai Izakaya: Japanese Food From Another World Episode 15
https://www.crunchyroll.com/isekai-izaka ... nor-774506



I previously mentioned eel in this post — (if you follow the link, there were some follow-up comments at that time, too)
Subject: Let's talk recipes -- are you as random as I am?
applestar wrote: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. :roll: :>

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digitS'
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We have some knowledgeable and creative Helpful Gardeners in their kitchens making breads and using cereals.

I have been trying to help DD with her diet now that her healthcare people have said that she really shouldn't be eating wheat flour and some other cereal grains. This has introduced me to the miller's world of flours. I really didn't know that some of these existed. Coconut flour?

Arrowroot flour, Mom used it at times. There were some cookies, I think that they had powdered sugar on them and if we are parents, we discovered arrowroot cookies on the baby food shelves at the supermarket. Now we can't be sure about everything on Wikipedia but it says that roots any of "several" plants might be milled into a product that may then go under the name "arrowroot flour." I don't know what to make of that but, okay! Maybe the uses for any of them is about the same.

My question is about millet (sorghum) flour. It was written like that in several recipes that I looked at, "millet (sorghum)." Or, maybe it was "sorghum (millet)" flour. What? Is the grain from a millet made into something sold as sorghum flour? Or, is one suggested as an alternative for the other?

I bought some "millet flour" and it looks something like whole wheat. Didn't see any sorghum flour on the shelves ... Have any of you had experience with this flour (these 2 flours?)?

Steve

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Sorghum and millet are two different grains. If you have an Indian grocery nearby, you can find both flours there, and sometimes whole millet (haven't seen whole sorghum at any of the stores here). There, sorgum flour is called jowar, and millet flour is bahra. I have made flatbreads with both; sorghum is more flavorful, while millet is sort of mild. They also have a lot of other non-wheat flours, chick pea flour, or bessan, being the most commonly used.

Arrowroot is almost entirely starch, as is cornstarch, tapioca starch, and potato flour. Not much nutrition in those flours, but still used, in some cooking.

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Steve- Do you have access to a health food store? They usually have a good selection of gluten-free flours, such as millet & sorghum. And, yes, Indian stores are also a great place for specialty foods, probably less expensive. I don't know why your recipe shows 'millet (sorghum)'. They are both small sized grains, so perhaps they are interchangeable, but I can't say for sure since I have never even tried sorghum.
I buy frozen millet tots at my local health food store. The look sort of like tater tots, only a little smaller in size. I have 2 flavors to choose from. I like the italian herb flavor. Millet is supposedly very good for you, with omega-3 and gluten-free. I find the frozen millet tots to be a great healthy convenient food. They are easy to heat up in the microwave. I take them to work for lunch and mix them with vegetables. I find millet to be rather filling, so I think that it must be high in calories. I guess I need to check that.
My cockatiel was crazy about millet sprays. It was like an addiction for him.
I would like to someday try growing millet. I had some volunteers millet plants growing in my garden once in a spot where I had put some millet out for the birds.

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There is more than one type of millet. I have been recently researching millet because I read that it can have goiterogenic effects. Apparently, there was a goitre epidemic in the Sudan in the '80s that was linked to millet consumption. So I have been trying to not eat very much millet until I know more about the goitre concern.

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applestar
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...found it... there was a discussion recently about millet vs. sorghum:

Subject: Do you think this is sorghum?
PaulF wrote:My first thought being a mid-westerner is milo. After looking it up it is called grain sorghum. Milo or grain sorghum is used in bird seed so I think that is what you have.

Milo (Sorghum bicolor) is called grain sorghum because there are other types (cultivars) of sorghum that are the same species. Forage sorghum can grow over 10 feet tall and is chopped and used as cattle feed. It is selected and bred for its ability to grow a lot of stalks and foliage versus grain. Sweet sorghum is grown in tropical areas to be made into mollasses and rum.

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Thank you, Dave! We don't have an Indian grocery around, that I know of. There is a Thai lady with a grocery store and I know that there are some things on her shelves from that part of the world. I can look there.

Thank you, HoneyBerry! I hadn't thought of a health food store. We make a periodic stop for DW's vitamins and a root beer for me :) . I know that there are several varieties of millet. I grew foxtail millet for an ornamental, several years. Even had the purple variety, once. It's very pretty but you have to harvest it a little early or the finches move in on it very hungrily! Miss the millet harvest by about a week and the birds will make a mess of it :? .

Thank you, AppleStar! I hadn't thought of milo ... mostly because I don't know what it is :wink: . Missed that thread by Taiji and PaulF's reponse - shoot, all of about 6 weeks ago.

Steve

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applestar
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Japanese-style Smokey Chicken Currie Don

(I apologize in advance @pepperhead212, this was a from-box assembly, not on same level with the advanced culinary masterpieces like yours :oops: )

Image

- leftover yesterday’s Japanese stew-style curry sauce — made with store-bought roux, but started by warming up/toasting fennel seeds, ground cumin and coriander, slices of fresh turmeric and ginger roots, and dried curry leaves in saved beef fat and virgin coconut oil. Removed the curry leaves and covered with sesame oil to steep, then sweated minced onion, diced apple, dehydrated garlic, carrot chunks and peeled chunks of cauliflower stems. Added leftover Smokey “pulled chicken” from a local bbq place.
- separately defrosted and simmered about a quart of summer-frozen cherry tomatoes, then added the toasted curry leaf-steeped sesame oil and hand-blendered, then strained and added to the main pot to deglaze.
- When bubbling, added chunks of fingering potatoes and cauliflower florets, and chicken broth.
- separately cooked 3:1 short grain brown rice and basmati brown rice with a bit of sea salt
- when rice was almost ready, added chopped up blocks of store bought curry roux (S&B medium hot), and also floated S&B curry powder and Indian grocery-bought gala masala mix in the pooled grease. Simmered to warm the spice powders then gently stirred until thickened and bubbly.

>> Served yesterday’s over rice with my own kefir and blackberry sauce. That was quite lovely, too.
>> Today’s after the stew/sauce was kept warm all night — stew flavors meld together and become mellower next day ...some people say “better” (rice is kept warm in the neurofuzzy rice cooker — it was still fragrant with basmati rice aroma) — I embellished and garnished with shaved coconut flakes, fenugreek seeds that have just sprouted to harvest-size, my kefir + store-bought mango kefir, and my hot pepper relish sauce -photo above-

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Oh no, Applestar - a box??? How could you? :eek:

From the looks of that, you have nothing to apologize for. I'm sure it was delicious!

Steve, Here are my jars of millet (L) and sorghum (R), side by side:
ImageIMG_20190120_182743527 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The sorghum flour is sort of gray-brown, and the millet a much lighter, yellowish color.

I don't think that you have to worry about getting a goiter from millet. It is probably something eaten in excess, simply because there are few other grains in that area, and the diet of the area is probably lacking in iodine in general, not because something in the diet is absorbing it. Sort of like pellagra occurring in areas where corn is consumed as the main part of their diet, resulting in niacin deficiency.

HoneyBerry
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The writing that I read about millet and goiter did say that the millet was eaten in excess, as much as 70% of their diet was millet. They ate pearl millet. So the doctor who wrote what I read suggests avoiding pearl millet altogether to be on the safe side.

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Probably that region does not have iodized salt!

Seriously, though, I don't think that you have to worry about eating millet, or anything like that, when you are eating it as part of a healthy diet. Areas of the world, where malnutrition of many types exists, it is often because a high % of their calories is from the only grain grown in the region. Iodine is just one of the many deficiencies found in these areas.

Sometimes I use millet in combination with jasmine rice, since it has much more nutrients than white rice (and brown jasmine just doesn't have the flavor), and having a sort of neutral flavor, the jasmine rice flavor is still there. I've tried this with several other grains, but their flavors masked the jasmine.

HoneyBerry
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Millet mixed with jasmine rice sounds wonderful. That's my favorite kind of rice anyway. I will try that combo sometime. I want to sometime try quinoa with jasmine rice too.

HoneyBerry
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I have a hard time with the idea that pearl millet may cause goiter. Iodine deficiency makes more sense.
A very young coworker of mine has an enlarged thyroid. She's seen several doctors about it and they don't know what the cause is. She said she has tried everything. She is also Type 1 diabetic. She seems fine, healthy. She said that she has to live with it.
I just had some yummy millet tots. No longer concerned about 'millet goiter' thanks to Pepperhead.

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I did a definitely unusual recipe today - instead of Thai fried rice, I used some cooked whole oats I had in the fridge! Nothing is as good as jasmine rice, but it was still delicious, and definitely more nutritious.

I had to make some guac, since it is national corn chip day, but that was more my lunch.

For dinner I had that Thai grilled chicken, which I took out of the freezer a couple of days ago, and put in the marinade yesterday. I made a batch of that spicy sweet and sour dip sauce - a favorite of mine for grilled foods and fried foods in the summer. And as a side dish some fried oats! I had some whole oats left in the fridge, so I used those, mushrooms, and some chopped bok choy leaves. Worked out great!

ImageThai chicken, marinated, ready to roast. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

ImageThai chicken, finished roasting. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

ImageFinished Nam Jeem Gratiem. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

ImageIngredients for fried oats. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Garlic and ginger, added to the superhot oil and producing that incredible aroma!
ImageGarlic and ginger, hitting the hot oil. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

ImageJust after adding the scallions and sugar. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

ImageFinished fried oats, with basils torn on top. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

ImageMeal served. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I still smell those dishes up in my computer room as I sit here! Makes me hungry for a midnight snack. :o

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I made some Spareribs in Black Bean sauce tonight (plus a little SF bok choy on the side). I made it a day early, but I have more than half left for Chinese New Year, which starts Tuesday.

This dish is one of my favorites, though I hadn't made it for quite a while. It was the second recipe in the meat chapter in my looseleaf "black book", which I wrote my favorite oriental recipes in, before I had a software for recipes! These salted, fermented black beans are one of those ingredients that smell totally disgusting, at first, but the smell cooks off, and about halfway through, the sparerib aroma takes over, and by the end, you can't wait to taste them! Still, I don't recommend them to anyone that does not have a powerful, externally vented exhaust hood! This is the recipe I was cooking in my parent's house, before I left home, and Dad threatened to throw me out if I ever cooked "whatever that was again". I've been making it for that long!
ImageIngredients for Spareribs in Black Bean Sauce by pepperhead212, on Flickr

ImageStir-frying minced ingredients. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

ImageStir-frying ribs, with minced ingredients. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

ImageLiquid added, and brought to boil. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

ImageAfter 45 minutes cooking. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

ImageMost of the liquid cooked off. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

ImageFinished dish. by pepperhead212, on Flickr



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