Whatcha Cooking today?

[PlainJane]

Sorry to hear you’ve been feeling poorly @worth1.

[karstopography]

Wife is frying chicken wings. Sides will be yellow squash and sliced cucumber dressed with sour cream and fresh dill.

[Sue_CT]

Hope you feel better soon, Worth!

Prosciutto wrapped chicken.

[worth1]

I soaked some chicken leg thigh combos in balsamic vinegar reduction and baked and made some cheese rice stuff.
Can't taste or smell a darn thing.

[karstopography]

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Not trendy grilled chicken quarters with passé grilled corn on the cob and so yesterday garden bulb fennel dressed in very ordinary lemon juice and EVOO.

[MissS]

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Lamb chop, scalloped potatoes with fresh asparagus. A nice spring meal.

[pepperhead212]

I made an Italian type dish tonight, because I trimmed a bunch more basil from those plants in the hydroponics, to trigger some new growth, to take cuttings from those. I first took some dried eggplant and dried green beans, equivalent to 1 and ½ lb of each, and set it to soak in hot water. Then set some dried tomatoes to soak in hot water. Then I rinsed a cup of spelt, and put it to cook in the Instant Pot, in 2 c water, and a little salt, for 25 minutes. I then thawed 1½ lbs of venison Italian sweet sausage in the MW, and washed a lb of white mushrooms, quartering them, and cooking in a wok, while cooking the meat on the 12" sauté pan. The spelt was drained, while those were cooking, saving the water (used all but about half a cup of it). I blended the soaked tomatoes in the Vitamix, until paste-like, and set it aside. I chopped up an onion, and minced 8 smaller cloves of garlic, and about 1/4 c marjoram, with a tb of basil (much more at the end).

In the rinsed out IP, I heated about 3 tb EVOO on Sauté mode, then cooked the onion until golden, then added a generous tb of white miso (out of tomato paste, so I used this for the umami), followed by the garlic and herbs. Cooked a minute, then added the 28 oz can of diced tomatoes, the blended tomatoes, and rinsed the VM out with the rest of the tomato water, and a cup of the spelt water. Then I added all the cooked spelt, 2/3 c each of chana dal and red lentils, and all the soaked eggplant and beans. Mixed it up well, then pressure cooked it for 14 minutes, and let it release naturally. After this, I added the meat and mushrooms, and about 1/2 c more of that spelt water, then simmered it about 5 minutes. Then I added the parsley and basil, simmered another 3 minutes, and that was it!
Absolutely delicious, and I have about 3 qts leftover.
The start of the Italian type dish I made tonight, with a can of, plus some dried tomatoes, soaked and blended. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Dried eggplant and green beans, soaked and drained, plus all that trimmed basil. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The cooked spelt and some liquid, soaked veggies, chana dal, and red lentils, to pressure cook 14 minutes with the tomatoes. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Dish, after pressure cooking 14 minutes. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Cooked sausage and mushrooms, to add to cooked dish, to cook another 5 minutes. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

A large bunch of chopped parsley and basil, to be stirred in, and cooked about 3 more minutes. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished dish, after cooking the last herbs briefly. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

A friend came over, when I was resting the IP, from that second cooking, so it was almost done, and I was cleaning most of it up, and he was bringing some friends of his over, that are visiting (I think from Ohio). He told me a couple of days ago that he "might stop by" to introduce us, and I told him, jokingly, that I'm not really cooking much lately, because I'm out in the garden so much! He said I don't have to feed them, because they go out to eat all the time, in their travels, which they did earlier today. And when he came inside he yelled out "I thought you weren't cooking! You did this to tease me, because you know I ate out!" That smell wasn't even from the finished dish yet, and got even better. They all tried about a half a bowl of it, and she fell in love with it, and wanted to know what was in it. He immediately said something like "you really don't want to know!" I told her about some of the ingredients that she probably won't have, and she got a sort of disappointed look on her face. I offered some to them to take home to his place, but they declined - she said she would want even more of it, but knowing she wouldn't be able to make it, but I told her it could be done with other things, but the basic flavors in the tomatoes. That fresh basil was what made me make this - I had to come up with something to use it in!

[karstopography]

Last night, panfried redfish and fresh filet beans blanched and then cooked in EVOO infused with garlic.

Tonight I’m thinking about stuffing patty pan squash, maybe with shrimp or something similar.

[karstopography]

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Garden cucumbers figured prominently in this spread. A few early tomatoes factored in also.

Made me happy when our guests said,”wow, these cucumbers are fantastic!”

[worth1]

Nothing special last week.
Several bowls of canned clam chowder and one night a fried fish and french fries.
Yesterday it was beef liver potatoes and onions smothered in a flour gravy braised in the oven.
Been really down and out for the count the last few weeks.
No sleep to think of, sick, mentally exhausted and pretty much depressed with a side of anxiety.

[PlainJane]

Sorry to hear that @worth1. I hope life treats you better soon.

[MissS]

@worth1 I hope that you start to feel better soon. Maybe it's time to make some chicken noodle soup.

[JRinPA]

Yeah been rough here too. Apparently I broke a molar 3 weeks back. Not hardly cooking anymore. Looks like two more weeks until it will be extracted.

Cooking and eating is my thing, this stinks.

[Sue_CT]

So sorry to hear that, Worth. I hope you are feeling better soon.

[Kurt]

Stone crab season ends 4/31.Went got 4lbs.Cooked this am,will be cracked this eve.

[worth1]

I decided to make chicken and dumplings.
All from scratch.
No fancy vegetables just some garlic onion herbs and spices.
Of which are.
Dried basil.
Dried tarragon.
Freshly grated nutmeg.
Freshly ground black pepper.
Knorr chicken bullion powder for the salt.
Flour to thicken broth.
5 giant bone in split chicken breasts.
Peanut oil.
Butter.
Powdered milk.
Browned chicken breast in the oil and pulled out to cool.
Started a roux with flour and added diced onion.
Cut meat off breast bones and put back in the pot with water and cooked awhile with the skin.
Took out and set aside to cool.
Added more flour to simmer thicken and cook.
Added chunks of chicken breast in the kettle
Added herbs.
It on very low to cook the breast but not simmer and dry out
Need to make dumplings.
Tastes pretty darn good so far.
No wild flavors.
I like chicken and dumplings with big chunks of chicken breast no bones no flabby skin no weird gristle stuff.

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[karstopography]

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First BLT of 2024 tomato season. Sart Roloise tomato. Mild low acid type tomato that tastes a lot like White Wonder. Not enough acidity for a first rate BLT tomato, but the sandwich was still tasty.

[worth1]

The dumplings.
2 cups Flour water half stick of cold butter tarragon basil black pepper Knorr chicken bullion powder baking powder one egg yolk and one egg.
No recipe just winging it.

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[JRinPA]

I haven't made biscuits in a while so I just made some. The recipe I had come up (successfully many times) with using conversions from self rising flour to AP useds 3-3/4 tsp baking powder. So reading about Baking Powder vs Soda last night (bower....) I tried using just baking soda instead of powder. There is an acid (milk+vinegar for buttermilk sub) so I figured I'd try. I used 1-1/2 tsp baking soda instead of 3-3/4 powder.

Now I let them go too long, I guess, because they browned all the way around. They taste okay, but not the same. But the weird thing - they baked up YELLOW on the inside. Instead of staying white. Is that a thing with baking soda!?

[worth1]

I've never bought self rising flour in my life.
Too many flour types to keep track of.
No idea why the biscuits turned yellow.
Did you use cider vinegar?