What Ya' Got Cookin' 2015

YUM,!!

Making use of our garden bounty... had several tomatoes and peppers waiting out there when we got home! I made the pasta dish with the olive tapanade (from Wegman's olive bar) and fresh mozz. that i've brought to a couple of events, added chicken for more protein and a lot of chopped tomatoes and peppers. Some of the peppers had to have spots trimmed off, so I threw them into the pasta pot toward the end of cooking so they'd blanch for a few minutes. It was fabulous!

I brought in a bunch of peppers today, too, many of which will need a couple of days on the counter to finish ripening. Like tomatoes, if I try to leave them out there until fully ripe, some (other) critter starts chomping on them!

Adding... after those peppers ripen, I'm thinking "Sweet Beef with Chiles," a Paul Prudhome recipe involving both sweet and hot peppers, onions, a spice mix complex enough that I make it ahead of time by the jar, and coconut milk.

Mark made crab soup with crabs leftover from a weekend event. Wow! What a great surprise when I was expecting to pick up the usual (I am tired of, everyone else OK with) pizza

Yum Yum, love crab soup.

(psst, all from cans but still...!)

Isn't MD Crab Soup basically beef vegetable soup with some crab claws
or pieces thrown in it? Cook all to incorporate everything....serve!

yeah.
I would have bought Hanover frozen soup vegetable mix, and petite diced tomatoes, and beef Better than Boillon/bouillon? and then simmer crab legs and claws in it. But I was NOT looking forward to picking a dozen crabs.

I have a recipe for Maryland crab soup that I make in the colder months. The epitome of comfort food. I can't remember all that is in it though. I'll have to dig the recipe up. I use lump crab meat. I agree that it is no fun to sit and pick the leftover crabs. All the fun was the day before when they were fresh and the picking hadn't gotten tedious yet LOL

It's pepper season. I made some huge stuffed peppers.

I'm trying to get a chinese dumpling fix. I can't believe that of three grocery stores, none have them in the freezer. I'll have to make a special trip to Catonsville for them? or jut get them at a restaurant, lol.

Holly just made a large batch of stuffed peppers with Italian sweet sausage (the last harvest before the jack frost got them). We had some and frozen the rest for later use.
One of our favorite crab soups is a crab corn soup. It's made with a Chardonnay and served with a sprinkle of truffle oil. Yummy
Since retiring I'm using more and more fresh and frozen food for preparing meals. If I do grab anything processed, I look for low sodium, as well as using a lot less salt to cook with. Anymore processed foods as well as some of those served in restaurants taste awfully salty to me.

I do the same, Ric, most of the time (with regard to processed & salty). But certain dishes are just easy & good with "grab & dump" ingredients. I just posted my dad's chili recipe on the amaryllis group buy thread... and it occurred to me I should share it here, too. You were much missed yesterday!!

Nic's Chili (as told to me over the phone)

Brown some ground beef in a skillet, adding a little garlic powder, chili powder, onion powder, whatever you have, maybe a little salt.

Drain off most of the fat, and put the meat into the pot.
Chop some onion and cook it in the skillet until it softens up some. Add to pot.

Drain and rinse some canned kidney beans, put them in the pot. Add 1 or 2 cans (soup-can size) of whole tomatoes, and break them into pieces. Add 1 can of Campbell's condensed cream of tomato soup. Fill the soup can halfway with water, swish to get the rest of the soup out of the can, add to pot.

Add chili powder. Simmer for a while (at least 20 minutes).
Dish up and add Tabasco sauce if you want it.

Carol (my mom) likes cooked macaroni in her bowl.

***

You can make it in big or small amounts, but that's the basic proportion. It's super easy because you just dump stuff in out of cans. I cooked the hamburger (with seasonings) the day before, drained the fat, let it cool enough to crumble it, and put it into the fridge in a gallon ziploc. Here's what fit (barely) in my 5 qt. crock pot, as close as I can remember.

Critter's Crockpot Chili

6 pounds 80% lean beef (or 5 pounds if less fatty)
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon hot pepper flakes.

3 medium onions, diced & cooked until mostly softened
2 big cans petite diced tomatoes (28 oz)
1 regular can petite diced tomatoes (14.5 oz)
2 cans kidney beans (15.5 oz)
1 can small red beans
3 cans condensed tomato soup
1/2 can leftover red wine (or water)
1 can water
2 tsp. beef bouillon paste
(or just add 1-2 cans beef stock instead of the water)
6 tablespoons chili powder (I used Penzey's "Chili 3000")

I simmered all of that 4-5 hours on "high" in my crockpot. Long crockpot cooking gets more flavor into the beans. I like to add meat last when I make things like this, so the flavor of the meat doesn't get all cooked out into the soup. That's why my version has beef bouillon (and no added salt), so the beef flavor is still there from the start.

Hanover chili recipe is my base; and play with it. Diced butternut or barley are both good adds, beans can be varied for fun.

That rain coming in midweek might work to give me a soup night.

Italian sausage, peppers and onions tonight.

We have tentatively started a round robin of family Sunday night dinners. I have a sister who lives really close by, a brother who is not too far, and my parents are just up the hill, but it seems like weeks go by without seeing each other. The other sister is not too far either, but she has the winery that is open on weekends that she can't leave. Anyway, tonight's dinner was lasagna, salad, and crusty bread at my sister's house. Really good, especially since she actually made a meat lasagna instead of a spinach lasagna. I just can't seem to like vegetables all that much, and health nut that she is, I was expecting the spinach LOL. She ran the 10K this morning alongside the annual Marine Corps Marathon, and still managed to put a dinner together.

Mark is making pound cake from scratch again. No sifting flour, he dumps it in a big glass measure and shakes it level. He has made three perfect cakes this way. SO when he asked me tonight about how to properly cream the butter and sugar, I said, I'm keeping my mouth shut!

After our meal of Stouffers chicken alfredo, broccoli, and bruschetta - I sliced a round loaf of rosemary bread and made my topping of fresh plum tomato, garlic, olive oil and basil.

Yum Yum on the bruschetta. My mouth is watering thinking about it. And way to go Mark with the baking :-)

Mike rarely cooks and is rarely home for dinner so I find that I don't cook much either. I guess he didn't have any work today, and I was floored when he had a home cooked meal waiting for me tonight. Steak that he cooked outside on the grill and shrimp that he had steamed at the grocery store. He doesn't have much in his repertoire, but he did whip up Kraft Mac&Cheese to go with it. I love homemade, but I confess I am also a sucker for the boxed orange stuff. I thought he double toothpicks had frozen over LOL.

yum, aspenhill, good going Mike!!

Hehehe. Way to go Mark and Mike!!!

Jeff makes a mean cheeseburger on the grill.

I sautéed couple shallots and an apple then mixed them into mashed sweet potatoes. Of course I added a little brown sugar and a little cider vinegar into the mixture. Pretty tasty.

sounds good!
We used a packet of Tortilla soup mix from Aldi, with added corn and orzo. It's pretty tasty, and especially easy. And chicken quesadillas.

Sally, your last few meals have sounded really good. Sorry Jan, I am not a sweet potato fan, but my sister would have LOVED it LOL. I know I should have gotten over my vegetable dislikes a long, long time ago. Who ever heard of a 50+ year old who still has the pickiness of a child. Speaking of the tastes of a child, I was so hungry after sitting for hours in traffic tonight that I stopped and got chicken McNuggets. I knew I had great steak and shrimp leftovers from last night, but I couldn't wait.

When you're hungry, you're hungry.
I had mild cravings for a Big Mac the other day. I used to get them after drinking at U MD.
2 all beef patties, special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun....

I've been under the weather & not cooking since Saturday night, so Jim & Joyanna were happy to have me back in the kitchen today... we had "Red Eye Chicken," a Paul Prudhome recipe involving lots of paprika and sour cream. I added red garden peppers and good frozen peas. The paprika and chilis get toasted in the pan, great smell but better have the exhaust fan on high, it's potent!

sOunds yummo!

I went to a dinner meeting last night at a seafood restaurant, so of course I ordered lobster tail. The other choices were filet mignon or chicken Parmesan. The yeast rolls they brought out were almost too hot to handle. The soup and salad were great. The dinner plate was huge with fresh green beans done perfectly, a baked tater, and two lobster tails that were pankoed and fried. I had never seen that before. It was tasty, but not what I was expecting. Hehehe. Carrot cake for dessert. I brought that home for Jeff. It was a long ride there. I went along so the driver didn't have to drive 70 miles by herself. It was light on the ride there, but dark and rainy coming home. Glad I went. BTW, Jeff had leftovers.

Ok, lobster tails are much more up my alley - sounds delish! I've only ever had them in restaurants and not attempted to cook them on my own. Years ago, I bought an entire cookbook about lobster though LOL.

HAHAHAHAHAHA. Something to aspire toward.

Just got done making a Buffalo chicken dip http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/easy-cheesy-buffalo-dip-150577.aspx for Trick or Treat at Josh and Courtney tonight. The only town around here that has Halloween on the 31st.
While I was in the kitchen anyway, I made a chicken, mushroom, noodle soup with egg dribbles and lots of celery to be served with a sprinkle of white truffle oil. The weather today, though lovely, was calling for soup.

Today, I made 6 huge, stuffed pork chops. Second time i am doing this.

Not for any dinner--but it all started when I bought a pack of 6 thick Pork Chops
in the clearance area--50% 0ff. This happens a lot.
I see something that is a great deal, buy it and then--I have to either prepare it
or put it in my freezer--which is always full anyway.

SO--these chops will be yummy! Will share one or two with Tony at work.
I feed him about once a week. He is the garden supervisor, and a great Guy.
We have an amazing affection for each other... I always get hugs and a kiss.
YES! I spoil him rotten in return. Dinner almost every Sunday.

Then--again--my store manager also gives me a hug every time he sees me.

What can I say??? I just love it all......Gita

Here ya Go! YUMMMM....

We had buffalo chicken dip at a housewarming this afternoon. And toffee dip on prezls crackers, YUM. That was cream cheese, sweetened with brown sugar and copped Heath bars, pretty much that was it.

Just ran across this article and thought it might be of interest to some of the cooks on this forum. If like in our area one has a plague of invasive Autumn Olive, some benefit may be derived making Autumn Olive Ketchup from the berries. ;-) http://learningandyearning.com/autumn-olive-ketchup

well, that's creative! I tasted some berries on September 25 near here, they were very tart. And it would take a lot to make 4 cups of puree. I think there's a thicket of them in our community recreation area.

I went to the grocery store yesterday morning and then got completely sidetracked when I came home and started putting things away. The pantries had gotten a little cluttered so I started straightening them up and then noticed how many cans, bottles of salad dressing, marinades, boxed staples, etc... had expired. Before I knew it, I had purged the pantries and had moved on to the fridges and freezer. Took me hours and then I was too tired to cook the lunch that I had gone to the store to get stuff for LOL.

Good for you!
There must be something going around. I needed to wash my two picture windows, and ended up carrying on into washing windowsills and screens on 8 main-floor windows, and quickly washing the siding in the deck area.
Gotta get the screens back in- there's a stink bug...

Inspired by an easy bake pasta I saw in the newspaper. I put two cups of dry macaroni into a 13 by 9 dish. added about two cups of homemade pasta sauce with sausage, and two cups of water, stir it up. . Baked 350 about 40 minutes, during which time you run outside and find more fun gardening to do. Check the dish; the pasta was tender by that time but I stirred in maybe two more cups of water to make it saucy enough. Then stirred in some shredded Mozz and more on top, returned to oven about ten minutes.

New dinner routine with the time change. I'll get home about 5:15 some nights and take that precious last bit of daylight in the yard before starting any dinner.

Sometime this week- maybe...
Pancit with leftover pork
Chili - with leftover canned pumpkin
Pizza- maybe one night I work, I am not real excited about pizza these days.
Chicken curry on rice

I am a big fan of those rotisserie chickens. You can make all kinds of things from them, and you can put together dishes pretty quickly. Costco has the biggest and cheapest ones. Yesterday I made a hearty chicken, wild rice, and mushroom soup. It turned out great. I have another one that I will use to make a chicken tortilla lime soup with later this week. I always crave soup, but even more so this time of year.

What is Pancit?

Pancit bihon would be the kind my friend introduced me to
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancit

Thin rice noodles with shredded cabbage, carrot, onion, pork or shrimp, soy sauce...there's one brand of noodles my Filipino co-worker says are best
http://www.amazon.com/Excellent-Stick-Bihon-16-Ounce-Packages/dp/B000KK1A9A

I love the rotisserie chickens too. So tender and tasty.I try to make some broth from the bones too; I have some right now that will go in the pancit.

At our house, rotisserie chicken is a go to for a snap meal that taste like a production. I often serve with potato salad and slaw; or go to the trouble of mashed, gravy, and microwave veggies. It's all good, instant picnic or dinner. I really like making a Waldorf style chicken salad with leftovers.

I think a type or types of pancit may be the super tasty noodles served at a Thai place we frequent. There is an Asian market next door, I'll have to check it out. Come to think of it, there is a market next to Bombay Junction.

Darn you Sally, all I need is more places to food shop. LOL Which reminds me, they just opened a Grocery Warehouse in the old Giant. They're more like Aldi, with more recognizable brands.

Ahhh--Pansit----first time I ever had it was at my sisters (in NJ) about 30+ years ago.
A friend of hers brought it to a dinner get-together. It was so tasty!

I think I have also had it when my Philippine neighbors, across the street, served it at one
of their frequent celebrations. My other favorite were these finger-sized, filled thingies.
I think they used egg-roll wrappers.....Yummmm

Costco chicken rocks. One time I got it and was amazed at the size of it.
Wish I belonged there, as there is one right next to my HD.

Gita

The pancit that caught my eye was the one made of shredded coconut. That would probably be tasty in a spicy lime and shrimp soup.

mmm, I think I'll toss some coconut on my noodles tonight!

Lumpia would be the eggrolls thingies, the other favorite Filipino dish you might run into
http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=EUAM9

Hmmmm, Sally--that is not what they called it.

It was filled with some kind of meat and either deep fried or baked.
Yummy!