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Simply pasta with a tomato, basil and black olive sauce. But breakfast? Oh my, how did I live this long without frying cheese and marmite sandwiches in butter?

Mystery dinner tonight... our new "flatmate" is cooking. She generally only cooks vegetarian food (eats some meat). She's also cooking something for tomorrow as her son and his girlfriend will be staying over for two nights.

Currently wishing I had a zuc so I could slice and 'grill' in it the sandwich press, then eat with butter and salt. Probably would be content with butter and salt

I'm having far too much fun with my Sous Vide machine. Today I did a pork tenderloin sous vide with olive oil, salt, pepper and herbs that sat in the bath all day while I was at work. Then I got home and cranked up the heat on the water bath and cooked diced beets with butter, lemon and chile flakes. I had to finish them in the pan to speed up the process, but will definitely do both again. The tenderloin was moist, tender and flavorful, the beets had great flavor of the lemon and chile actually IN the beets, not just on the surface.

Tomorrow it will be making me a pesto turkey breast.

Chicken breasts are marinating in lime and chipotle in adobo sauce, for DH to grill tonight.

Whataburger junior and a diet DP! I was at a meeting in town and grabbed the burger on the way home!

Korean food! Yummy...
Japchae - stir fried vegetables and beef with korean glass noodles and a tasty sauce
korean barbecue pork ribs have been marinating since last night
served with rice, kimchee (of course) and a few side dishes like seasoned spinach, korean cucumber salad, seasoned bean sprouts...
I'm getting hungry thinking about it.

bascar....seriously? marmite? to eat? on purpose? I'm stunne...

Don Giovanni wrote:
bascar....seriously? marmite? to eat? on purpose? I'm stunne...

Oh, I'm a marmite baby. All those dear little B vitamins oozing through the butter. Yum yum.

Last night... homekill steak grown on the farm where I am housesitting, plus a veritable haul of veges from their garden, and mine: cavolo nero, butter beans, yellow cherry tomatoes, basil, zuc (plus capsicum and pasta, which came from the store). Delish, having the same again tonight!

Pork slices (well, slice, there's only me), marinated with salt, pepper, paprika and chilli flakes. With a courgette, sliced and seasoned with salt and pepper. Fry off both in 50/50 olive oil and butter, then remembered to throw in some green beans, and a dollop of pesto, and some butter on top once on the plate. Nom nom nom!

This was too easy and surprisingly satisfying for this carnivore---
Frozen spinach, herby cheese, and canned white beans all heated up together--i'll def keep this one for 'instant' meals.

Sweet roll dough cut into chunks and rolled in cinnamon and sugar. Drop in bottom of oiled crockpot, drizzle butter over, add brown sugar and nuts to taste. Cook on high for an hour or more until they firm up.

The recipe I use has a cup of mashed potato in it to give the dough structure.

The idea was to cook and freeze them, but more than a few ended up as dinner.

What I like about them is that I can put them in the crockpot and forget about them, which I'm really good at, and they won't be burned crispy when I come back in and smell them and remember that I'm cooking something.

Next experiment will likely be some kind of a pizza roll.

Your rolls sound interesting, Kande50. We've had quite some tough weather lately so I haven't been as attuned to cooking and baking as I usually am. I did make spaghetti and meatballs 2 nights ago. It was lovely knowing it was simmering on the stove for us when we were ready for it.

Rockabilly wrote:I did make spaghetti and meatballs 2 nights ago. It was lovely knowing it was simmering on the stove for us when we were ready for it.

Spaghetti and meatballs sounds really good, and I think the dh has some burger thawing in the fridge so maybe I'll go do something useful while I'm procrastinating about going out to ride.

Last night I ate pasta, with a dollop of pesto and dash of cream (to make it a bit saucy), with chicken, courgette, beans, and chili. Really really yummy.

Tonight I have more chicken to do "something" with. Plenty of garden vegetables (courgettes and beans), which I've been enjoying while they are plentiful. Perhaps a stir fry...

Tomorrow I will be at a movie night with friends, and am taking dessert, but no idea what we're eating!

Trying to empty the fridge before heading out to California, so last night was oven roasted potato wedges dusted with aged gouda shavings, dipped in yoghurt/dill/cucumber/garlic while I watched Midsomer Murders. Tonight looks like 2 slices of bacon, 3/4 cup of cream and some pink grapefruit....

OK, what IS for dinner? I ate the better part of three boxes of Girl Scout cookies last week. No willpower whatsoever. Today, I walked four miles. Dinner tonight is baked pork chops in Dijon and Italian bread crumbs and a salad. Probably another two or three mile walk after that!

It has snowed here all day with a fierce blowing wind. Really, too cold for Tennesseans. Dinner tonight homemade Bean with Bacon soup. a chopped salad, homemade yeast rolls and homemade carrot cake for dessert.

Our stove blew up this weekend.

We still have an oven, and a microwave (... *thud*... that's Bascar falling to the floor in fright), but it's like a billion degrees and 101% humidity most days. Way too hot to have the oven going.

Hopefully the stove gets fixed tonight/soon.

For now, leftovers, and avocado on toast. I was housesitting until yesterday so I had access to appliances that functioned, and thus haven't starved yet. I made a delicious curry on the weekend, it started off as green thai but ended up bright yellow due to the copious amount of tumeric I added (along with garlic and chilli flakes) to intensify the flavour (which was a bit bland).

I have dinner guests tonight - so Sparkleby's Bombay Chicken and a side of salmon that I'm also going to slather with Bombay spice before baking. Alongside will be the roast potato and kale salad we all love. Then for dessert I have made a cold champagne sabayon (I did not use the amount of sugar the recipe called for, I used 2/3rds and it's still damn sweet unfortunately) to serve over a slice of vanilla cake (which I am going to buy!) and berries marinated in Chambord. Totally boozy pudding. (Silk will not be able to replicate any of this as none of it can be cooked in a microwave)

[quote="bascar" (Silk will not be able to replicate any of this as none of it can be cooked in a microwave)[/quote]

I'm sure that anything that can't be cooked in a microwave can be cooked in a crockpot!

bascar wrote:(Silk will not be able to replicate any of this as none of it can be cooked in a microwave)

Oh, but we have an oven. And as mum reminded me this morning, an electric frying pan. That comes from the 70s.

It's just too damn hot to use the oven.

New stove top being installed tonight, yayyyy.

So, what to cook for Valentine's day dinner? I'm thinking lamb cutlets, maybe? Something pretty for dessert?

Moutaineer wrote:So, what to cook for Valentine's day dinner? I'm thinking lamb cutlets, maybe? Something pretty for dessert?

Pink lamb sounds perfect. Chocolate brownies dusted with icing sugar in a heart shape?

I had dinner in Durango last night. Excellent calamari followed by rare seared tuna on a butter lemon sauce and grilled vegetables. Blind date with Harrison Ford lookalike. Not Harrison Ford back in the day, but Harrison Ford as he is now.... unworked upon. A lived-in face - bit like a an old sleeping bag.

Tomato and basil soup, made with chicken stock & a few yellow courgettes, seasoned with salt, pepper, chilli flakes and garlic.

bascar wrote:A lived-in face - bit like a an old sleeping bag.

As long as he doesn't smell like an old sleeping bag. ...

Seriously, is this a good or a bad thing for you, bascar? I don't think I've ever heard this description.

ThursdayNext wrote:

bascar wrote:A lived-in face - bit like a an old sleeping bag.

As long as he doesn't smell like an old sleeping bag. ...

Seriously, is this a good or a bad thing for you, bascar? I don't think I've ever heard this description.

It's not really good or bad now I think about it - it just *is*. Whilst I can't deny that initially I look at a profile photo and reject instantly or read on, looks matter not at all once you are talking to someone. And along those lines, I have a story to tell....

On my way to seeing Harrison Ford, I arranged to have coffee with Mr Breeds QHs for Polo at 11am. At 10.30 I realize that I have misjudged the driving time, so text to say I will be 15 minutes late. He texts that he is also running late as he has had to go and get some vet medication from a town a little further away. I arrive at 11.20, text to say I was parking and my apologies again. He replies he is on his way. At 11.45 I say screw this and get back into my truck - as I do so a text arrives saying he is parking. What he doesn't know is that I can see him - I recognize the truck and the dog. But the man who gets out???? OMFG think ZZ Top's grandfather. Seriously long grey hair, beard and mustache - at least 20 years older than his photo. I figure I have just dodged a major bullet and drive off, blocking his number on my phone.

Sometimes it would be better to have no picture at all!

I'm roasting a chicken tonight. We will have buttered carrots, mashed potatoes and gravy with it. Comfort food. It's been a busy day. I just finished my lesson when my friends horse crashed with colic. Once we got her up, it took 4 of us an hour to fail to get her into t he trailer. By which time she was looking a whole lot better, and the on call vet said he would come to us. When I finaly got home I spent an hour shoveling thawing poop for my at home horses who have been seriously confined by the amount of snow we have had this year...

I feel like I've been beat up and left for dead. I need a glass of wine.

Tonight Pineapple Chicken Kebabs, Black Beans and Rice and Cilantro Lime Slaw.

Last night, mix of leftovers as sides (mixed garden veges, mashed potatoes that *I* grew , some lentil dish that I didn't try), served with lamb chops that had been marinated with lots of garlic, rosemary, salt, pepper and a sprinkle of chili flakes.


Any suggestions for chicken? I have a couple of chicken breasts to do something with and am lacking inspiration.

silk wrote:Any suggestions for chicken? I have a couple of chicken breasts to do something with and am lacking inspiration.

We're in the middle of winter here, but I had some cabbages hanging in the cellar, along with stored onions and carrots, so chopped them all up and stir fried them. I keep a ginger root in the freezer that I've found will grate frozen, so I don't even peel it but just take it out of the freezer, grate a pile of it, and put it back in. Threw in some leftover chicken and it was surprisingly good.

My original idea was to make egg rolls from a recipe I found that uses a thin batter cooked like a crepe, but I didn't get the texture right so they didn't hold together well enough, so I just fried them up separately and we ate them with the stir fry (and it was so much easier than making egg rolls that I'll probably never make an egg roll again).

I missed your post. Ended up making zucchini fritters, then flattened out the chicken breast, seasoned with salt/pepper/chili flakes and fried it off. Nice and easy.

I'm in New Mexico this week. Chile relleno, enchilada, tamale and pot beans for dinner. They're going to have to roll me onto the plane on Friday.

StraightForward wrote:I'm in New Mexico this week. Chile relleno, enchilada, tamale and pot beans for dinner. They're going to have to roll me onto the plane on Friday.

And you'll have a big smile on your face, too! Gads I miss that place.

Lemon Butter Chicken (Really delicious and I added white kidney beans just because)
8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
Juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 cups baby spinach, chopped
Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Season chicken thighs with paprika, salt and pepper, to taste. (I also dusted mine with a little flour)

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large oven-proof skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken, skin-side down, and sear both sides until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per side; drain excess fat and set aside.

Melt remaining tablespoon butter in the skillet. Add garlic, and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in chicken broth, heavy cream, Parmesan, lemon juice and thyme.

Bring to a boil; reduce heat, stir in spinach, and simmer until the spinach has wilted and the sauce has slightly thickened, about 3-5 minutes. Return chicken to the skillet.

Place into oven and roast until completely cooked through, reaching an internal temperature of 175 degrees F, about 25-30 minutes.
Serve immediately.

Koolkat wrote:

StraightForward wrote:I'm in New Mexico this week. Chile relleno, enchilada, tamale and pot beans for dinner. They're going to have to roll me onto the plane on Friday.

And you'll have a big smile on your face, too! Gads I miss that place.

And a suitcase full of green chile. I like to visit, but no desire to live here again. Need to rouse the troops tonight and go find some green chile cheese burgers.

Slow-cooked beef cheek and oxtail stew (with beer - it turned into deliciously dark and tasty gravy), to be served with risotto I believe, and no doubt zucs and beans from the garden.

bascar wrote:

Don Giovanni wrote:
bascar....seriously? marmite? to eat? on purpose? I'm stunne...

Oh, I'm a marmite baby. All those dear little B vitamins oozing through the butter. Yum yum.

What the hell is marmite?

Smitten Kitchen to the rescue. I had some oranges and limes which needed using. Oh and some tequila that I will probably never drink.

Tequila Lime [and Orange] Chicken: http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2007/04/ ... -jealousy/

I only had chicken thigh cutlets (which everyone seemed to suggest tasted better than chicken breast anyway) and no jalapeno, so I added extra chilli flakes. It won't be cooked on the grill, rather in a cast iron pan which is fairly similar. I'll probably serve it with a grated beet and carrot salad instead of the slaw, because I know we have the ingredients already.

Well, I've been exploring different culture's way of cooking. I am most deeply a southern girl, but there are more things to life than what southerners cook and not that's it not delicious, but experimenting is a good thing. I am teaching myself how to stir fry and how to make egg rolls. Now I am teaching myself how to make Carne Asada. I made it last night and it came out quite well.

Rockabilly wrote:Now I am teaching myself how to make Carne Asada. I made it last night and it came out quite well.

That sounds nice!!

I need more recipes to help us deal with the glut of vegetables from the garden... green beans (3 or 4 kinds), courgettes, silverbeet (chard). It's a good thing we like vegetables, but sometimes challenging to find "new" ways to prepare them.

Eggplant parmesan with roasted potatoes, and a butterleaf/heirloom tomato salad.

Dong po pork with steamed buns. I'm drooling just thinking about it (the pork needs a long, slow cook, and so I know how it tastes already )

Tonight is Beef Enchiladas. I had some nice beef and cooked it all afternoon in the sauce I made for it. When the beef was done I took it out of the cast iron pot and shredded it with cheese and cilantro. Then I filled the corn tortillas and used the sauce on the bottom and top of the Enchiladas. It is baking in the oven right now. I hope they turn out well. We'll have an appropriate salad along with it.

Last night, DH smoked some tri-tip. We made the smoked salsa and also smoked some garlic bread and served it all with a big salad. OMG good; everyone loved the meal.

Bonus - the tri-tip was done relatively quickly, compared to other meats he's smoked.

I've restarted Meatless Mondays so tonight is eggplant rollups (like eggplant parm without the tomato sauce) and salad. Confession: I don't make eggplant rollups, I buy them at the local grocery store. THEY make them.

Got home later than planned from the barn (but trimming feet is so fun, and my gelding's feet finally decided to let me trim his excess bar!)

So it was a quick Basque chorizo, blue potato and asparagus hash with a couple homegrown eggs sunny side up on top.

Lemon Butter Chicken with fresh spinach. Homemade Pineapple Coconut Cake.

Great dinner tonight: pork loin roast seared and then pressure cooked in the Instant Pot with shallots, mushrooms, beef demi glace, Rosemary, thyme and dried lemon, then the liquid taken out and cooked down into a gravy. On the side, Brussels sprouts roasted with ghee, sea salt and red chile flakes. I thought there might be leftovers for tomorrow's lunch, but I was wrong.

Not sure, but I have buns in the oven (the hot cross kind)