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Post by Phalon on Jun 20, 2017 4:49:54 GMT -6
Yesterday marked the end of our week of cold dinners - we had steak that Hubs grilled, and green salad with strawberries, dried cranberries, slivered almonds, and feta cheese.
The previous week when it was in the nineties, I had told Hubs I didn't feel like coming home from working outside all day, and cooking...or even eating anything hot; he agreed. We had salads and cold sandwiches all week; he'd gone to the deli one day for fried chicken that we had cold that night. It was a wonderful, hassle-free week of refreshing summertime dinners.
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Post by Phalon on Jul 27, 2017 6:24:51 GMT -6
There's a new food establishment in town - a "gourmet hotdog" place. It's food-truck style, but is a walk-up window in one of the old buildings downtown. And while they offer authentic Chicago dogs, which I love, I had to go with nostalgia: www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2012/07/03/156214351/coney-the-hot-dog-that-fed-detroits-american-dreamOh! and it's blueberry season! To go with our dogs (Hubs got some kind of New York concoction), I made a fruit salad of fresh raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries.
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Post by Phalon on Aug 1, 2017 5:09:24 GMT -6
Great summer cold salad last night with beet greens. I'm not particularly fond of beet greens by themselves unless they're young and tender - we're not growing beet greens though; we're growing beets and when the beets are mature, I find the greens on the bitter side.
I chopped them up fine though and sauteed them until just wilted in a pan with cut-up grilled chicken. I usually finish off cooking greens - spinach or kale - during the last seconds with a splash or two of balsamic vinegar, but last night I used a splash of juice from a can of mandarin oranges before I drained it.
After the greens and chicken cooled, I mixed them with cold rotini pasta, the mandarin oranges, almond slivers, ranch dressing, and refrigerated it for a couple of hours before dinner. Topped it off before serving with feta cheese crumbles. An experiment with excellent results - we've got a lot more beets to harvest, and this is definitely something I'll make again!
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Post by Mini Mia on Aug 1, 2017 10:31:18 GMT -6
Do you parboil your beet greens? If not, maybe try that to see if it weakens/removes the bitterness. Mom always parboiled her Poke in fresh water several times before seasoning and cooking for a meal. Which gave me the idea for this suggestion.
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Post by Phalon on Aug 2, 2017 4:34:07 GMT -6
I don't parboil the beet greens. I just de-rib them, chopped them up, and throw them in a pan with a bit of olive oil and seasonings; they cook for just a few minutes until they're wilted, but not mushy.
Mom used to boil beet greens; as I remember, it made them tough, but they were still bitter - maybe it was just my kid's palate.
I think, but I'm not sure, that eating poke is more of a Southern thing than a northern one. Poke weed grows up here, but I never heard of anyone eating it until I met Hubs. He used to pick it for his grandmother when he was a kid. She'd boil it multiple times to get the poison out. I dunno....if you've got to go to that much trouble to make something nonpoisonous and edible it seems like a whole lot of work to me. Then again, I've never had poke, so maybe the end result is worth the effort?
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Post by Mini Mia on Aug 2, 2017 22:59:38 GMT -6
Mom loved her Poke, so I'm going to say it must be worth the hassle. I don't eat greens, so I wouldn't know. I think I'd be too scared to try Poke myself, having never cooked it, and didn't pay attention when Mom cooked it.
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Post by Phalon on Aug 3, 2017 4:38:42 GMT -6
I'd be the same way. Who the heck first decided this would be a good thing, I wonder? 'Hey, here's this highly poisonous plant, but let's see if we can boil the poison out and eat it.' Who'd be the first to try it? (Mikey?) How much boiling is enough? 'We boiled it once; Mikey died. Hey, let's boil it again and see what happens.'
It's kinda weird, I think.
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Post by Mini Mia on Aug 3, 2017 13:28:19 GMT -6
Several people had to die in order to discover the right moment it was edible ... I'd think. IIRC, parboiling at least three times is the charm. If I really had a hankering to try it, I'm sure I have several family members I can ask. And there's no doubt information online written by Southern cooks.
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Post by Mini Mia on Aug 3, 2017 13:29:06 GMT -6
... hmm ... I need to get back to adding the rest of the smilies.
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Post by Phalon on Aug 18, 2017 6:27:00 GMT -6
Inexplicably, I woke up this morning thinking about a turkey dinner, almost craving it. I might have to do something about that this weekend.
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Post by Mini Mia on Aug 18, 2017 18:55:22 GMT -6
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Post by Phalon on Aug 19, 2017 5:16:20 GMT -6
Hhhmmm....I can't say that I've ever been to a Cracker Barrel restaurant...maybe traveling by vehicle on family vacations as kids if there wasn't a Bill Knapp's on the way to wherever it was we were going.
BP and Hubs made pizza last night for dinner - grilled zucchini, tomatoes, and peppers on naan (an Indian flatbread - it makes the best pizza crust!); Hubs and I had ground turkey on ours. Topped with lots mozzarella, of course! Perfectly delicious!
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Post by moonglum on Aug 20, 2017 3:17:43 GMT -6
Vox and I are off to The Maldon Smoke and Fire Festival today to sample all things BBQ,d, smoked and grilled US style.
Which reminds me of a joke. The wife and I went out for a meal the other night. All you can eat for £10. It came with every sort of condiment you can think of. I won't tell you which ones I used because............wait for it..........I can't reveal my sauces.
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Post by Phalon on Aug 20, 2017 8:13:33 GMT -6
BOLL! I relish a joke that makes me laugh, and this one passes the mustard....and the catsup, and the alfredo, and the BBQ sauce.
You and Voxie have a great time at the festival - sounds fun!
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Post by Mini Mia on Aug 20, 2017 22:52:33 GMT -6
I hope your sauces were good ones.
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Post by Phalon on Sept 4, 2017 20:32:50 GMT -6
Hub grilled baby back ribs today, with a glaze he made from the raspberries he picked in the neighbor's garden. I made tomato, feta, and parsley bruschetta. We had green beans too. Fantastic meal! I'm going to miss all this fresh food from the garden - it's not going to last much longer with the nights getting as cold as they have been!
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Post by Mini Mia on Sept 4, 2017 22:06:11 GMT -6
Working on Mom's house, and we didn't take a holiday. BIL got sliced ham and fixings for making ham sandwiches. Will probably have the same tomorrow.
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Post by Phalon on Sept 9, 2017 5:04:19 GMT -6
We do that often too, and I don't mind a bit having them multiple nights in a row. I love sandwiches! Not to mention, it's quick, there's very little, if any, cooking involved, and easy cleanup.
This week, I got Salsalito turkey breast at the deli (just a tiny bit spicy) and sliced white cheddar, pretzel buns at the bakery, which I grilled in a pan on the stove, and tomatoes and lettuce from the garden. Boiled fingerling potatoes, oh-so-creamy with butter, salt and pepper, and chopped parsley.
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Post by Phalon on Sept 18, 2017 20:30:07 GMT -6
Today was National Cheeseburger Day.
I can't decide if I'm sorry we missed it or not. We had BLTs.
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Post by Mini Mia on Sept 18, 2017 22:53:32 GMT -6
Dang ... I had frozen pot stickers.
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Post by Phalon on Sept 19, 2017 6:25:43 GMT -6
I never much cared for pot stickers, but Hubs loved the ones at the Chinese restaurant around the corner. Unfortunately, the restaurant closed its doors this past summer; the owner has wanted to retire for years and finally decided to go for it. There are two other Chinese restaurants in town - one I wouldn't eat at if someone paid me to do it, and the other is ok, I suppose, but we miss our favorite!
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Post by Mini Mia on Sept 19, 2017 17:32:42 GMT -6
I bought a cookbook on Asian dumpling making, but don't know if I'll ever do more than read it and dream of making them.
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Post by Phalon on Sept 20, 2017 5:16:56 GMT -6
Hhmmm...sounds complicated!
Last night...ooey, gooey peanut butter, chocolate chunk cookies!!!
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Post by Mini Mia on Sept 20, 2017 21:30:00 GMT -6
It's probably one of those things that gets easier with practice. It looks simple in videos, but those cooks have been making them for years and years.
Today I had to go to town, so I ordered a pizza. I got a large, so I'll have leftovers tomorrow.
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Post by Phalon on Oct 12, 2017 4:18:42 GMT -6
A big change in weather this week - from sunny and warm on Monday, to rainy, windy, and just raw feeling yesterday - was reflected in what we had for dinner. Hubs did burgers on the grill Monday; we had cold slaw, and sliced homegrown tomatoes - the last of them.
Yesterday, I fixed what felt like a wintry dinner. I did baked chicken, with mashed potatoes and gravy, and broccoli seasoned with just salt, pepper, and garlic, sauteed in a bit of olive oil until slightly charred but still crunchy. (Poor BP! It's broccoli fixed her favorite way, but she couldn't eat it - she just got braces on her teeth, and they still hurt too much to eat anything that's not soft).
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Post by Mini Mia on Oct 12, 2017 19:44:03 GMT -6
I've been eating tons of frozen dinners ... my BP isn't in a good place ... but it's so hard to cook for just one. Plus, I'm really, really lazy.
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Post by Phalon on Oct 13, 2017 4:53:00 GMT -6
Dang, Joxie. I'm sure you know that frozen dinners are sodium bombs, and along with other processed foods, are a horrible choice for people watching their blood pressure and their health in general.
Hhhmmm....quick, easy dinners for one? Pasta, jarred sauce or Italian dressing, and frozen veggies - none of those ingredients require you to cook the whole package at once, and probably take 10 minutes at the most to prepare. A grilled cheese (with tomato and spinach) or an egg sandwich. Scrambled eggs with chopped vegetables. Frozen pancakes with peanut butter and chopped nuts of your choice.
You've been channeling BP, haven't you? That's pretty much her exact wording lately. It's been just over a year since she started eating vegetarian, and I told her at the beginning that if we were having something for dinner without meat, fine, but I was not cooking separate dinners.
So she learned to cook for herself - and would go through spurts, at times making elaborate vegetarian meals for weeks on end, even cooking dinners for Hubs and me, or for her friends. She actually became a really good cook.
Other times though, she'd go through periods of eating cold cereal with soy milk for dinner, microwaved popcorn, or boxed macaroni and cheese, especially for the past few months since school started again.
I made spaghetti with meat sauce last week....and she said it smelled so good, she had to have some. This Monday, she announced she was not a vegetarian anymore...
...because it was too much work to cook for herself.
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Post by Mini Mia on Oct 13, 2017 22:56:49 GMT -6
If they're 'sodium bombs' why do I need to add salt before they will taste good? That just doesn't make any sense. And I'm not a salt-oholic either. My dad and sister always salt their plates before even taking one bite. I only add salt if I feel it needs it after taking a taste. I've eaten a burger and then once it was all gone realized I never even added any salt to the meat as it was cooking.
I need to take a course in meal planning. The up side to driving now is that I can get the ingredients as I need them. I recently got the bright idea that when I do make a meal plan, I will cook the same recipe twice, and freeze one. If I do this with every meal, I shouldn't have to buy processed meals anymore.
Ooh. When I do cook pancakes, I use a box mix and half the recipe for one meal. I should double the recipe and freeze what I don't eat. Now to motivate myself to do more than think about doing it.
Yeah. I'm not good and continuing what I've started. She could be a sometimes/part time vegetarian.
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Post by Phalon on Oct 15, 2017 8:21:11 GMT -6
I dunno - even after drilling the question. Closest I came to finding an answer is on the FDA's website: "Packaged foods and beverages can contain high levels of sodium, whether or not they taste salty." And "Surprisingly, some foods that don’t taste salty can still be high in sodium, which is why using taste alone is not an accurate way to judge a food’s sodium content." It might have something to do with the chemicals added to processed foods. Sodium, and chemicals containing sodium, are used as preservatives, whereas salt is used in processed foods to add flavor - and even to mask the taste of chemicals (containing sodium) that are used as preservatives! www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm315393.htmThat's BP. I have to say, I'm sort of relieved I guess would be a word to use in this instance, that she ended up not following through. She is rail-thin to begin with, and I worried when she started not eating meat that because she was only 15 and still growing, she wouldn't get enough protein and other essential things that her body needed. Teenagers don't always have the best daily diet or make the best choices. Shortly after saying she was going to a vegetarian diet, I took her to have a talk with our family doctor, who is "mostly vegetarian" - she, like BP, does it for ethical reasons; she will eat meat, for example, if it's local and she knows exactly how the animals are treated. Likewise, there are certain fruits, vegetables, and grains she won't eat because of the environmental impact it takes to produce them, and get them to the grocery shelf half the world away. Now I can make sure that during dinner, she'll get at least one well-balanced meal a day. Not to mention, the kitchen will be cleaner! She's a much better at cooking than she is at cleaning up; her idea of clean and mine are vastly different!
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Post by Mini Mia on Oct 15, 2017 19:09:48 GMT -6
I really don't like the chemical crap, but I'm too lazy to do something about it. Though I have been doing searches and bookmarking stuff to try and motivate me. I joined an Instant Pot group, and a Crockpot group, hoping I'll get inspired. I did a bit. I got the idea to cook the meal twice to freeze one for future quick meals.
Haven't put it in motion yet. I haven't bought an Instant Pot yet, but I'm thinking hard on it. Mom pressure cooked all the time, and would warn me about how dangerous it could be, so I never got one or even considered using one. I wasn't aware there were electric pressure cookers, but I'm sure they're far safer nowadays than they were back then anyways. And as much as I love my crockpots/slow cooker, I don't always need to wait the many hours they take. I was pretty much cooking for the next day/s. I used them in the summers to keep from heating up the house and fighting against the a/c.
I've no idea why I seem to love to take my time and figure every detail out before I get something ... or get something done. I usually wait until I've lost my patience with myself and then just do it. And then wonder what took me so long.
I have read that you do/can get enough protein in a vegan/vegetarian diet, but I don't know if it's the right kind of protein for a growing body. Though perhaps it is, I'm sure there are children who grew up in strictly plant-life consuming households. Which I'm sure the doctor can fill you in off should BP decide to get back on the wagon.
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