Cooking thread, anyone?

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We had Pi Day pizza, note the pepper arrangements.

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Looks like Stonehenge, too. You could make it for the solstice. :)

There was a story on Stonehenge on BBC World News America last night, and I was just looking for it online. That's why I have it in my head.
 
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That P Day Pizza looks terrible what are all those black things in it.? clancey
Kalamata olives, artichoke hearts, onions and red peppers. It tasted great.
 
I take it you don't like olives. Too bad, they're wonderful.
 
Kalamata olives, artichoke hearts, onions and red peppers. It tasted great.

Quadruple yum on that, and I loved the pepper arrangement. I showed the picture to my husband, and he just thought I was showing him a pizza. Then he looked closer and laughed and laughed in appreciation. I’ll need to show my kids tomorrrow.
 
Quadruple yum on that, and I loved the pepper arrangement. I showed the picture to my husband, and he just thought I was showing him a pizza. Then he looked closer and laughed and laughed in appreciation. I’ll need to show my kids tomorrrow.
I'm glad he got a kick out of it. The tomato sauce was from our garden tomatoes too. Pizza dough was King Arthur pizza flour.
 
I'm glad he got a kick out of it. The tomato sauce was from our garden tomatoes too. Pizza dough was King Arthur pizza flour.

We used our last garden sauce long ago. I hadn’t had much to put up, but I’m trying a new determinate sauce tomato this year (Rio Grande) to see if I can get some more. We have found a brand in our local store—Pomi—that has really good flavor. We used that on Sunday to make a big batch of spaghetti sauce. Today I used the leftover sauce to make a goat-cheese lasagna. (It’s really not that hard when the sauce is already made. Usually I’m cooking the sauce at the same time, and it’s a big project from start to finish. I need to remember that lasagna isn’t so bad when the sauce is already done, and maybe I’ll make it more often.)
 
Easy Easter dinner for the two of us. Plum-sauces pork medallions and corn pudding-stuffed tomatoes.

Bought a 2 1/4-pound pork loin roast and cut four, 4-ounce pieces. Froze the rest for Chinese food, pork with onion. Easy to hollow the tomatoes with a grapefruit spoon. Will have leftover plums and plum sauce with chicken breast.

Plum-sauced Pork Medallions

Stir-Fry Etc. Meals for Life. From the Kitchens of Healthy Choice® Foods. Minnetonka, MN: Cy Deycosse Incorporated, 1996.

Ingredients

¼ cup chopped onion
½ teaspoon vegetable oil
½ c. red plum jam
1 tbsp. wine vinegar
1 tsp. reduced-sodium soy sauce
¼ tsp. ground ginger
2 small plums, each cut into 8 wedges
1 lb. pork tenderloin, cut into 8 pieces
Cayenne powder

Directions

Spray 8-inch nonstick skillet with nonstick vegetable cooking spray. Add onion and oil. Cook over medium heat for 4 to 7 minutes, or until onion is tender, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low. Stir in jam, vinegar, soy sauce, and ginger. Cook 1 to 2 minutes, or until jam is melted, stirring occasionally. Stir in plums. Set aside.

Pound pork pieces lightly to 1-inch thickness. Sprinkle both sides of each with cayenne. Spray 10-inch nonstick skillet with nonstick vegetable cooking spray. Heat skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork. Cook for 6 to 8 minutes, or just until meat is no longer pink, turning over once. Serve topped with plum sauce.

Corn Pudding Stuffed Tomatoes

From the Test Kitchens at Taste of Home.

Ingredients

8 medium tomatoes
1 teaspoon salt, divided
½ teaspoon pepper, divided
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup half-and-half cream
1 cup whole kernel corn
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Minced fresh parsley

Directions

Cut a thin slice off the top of each tomato; scoop out and discard pulp. Sprinkle inside of tomatoes with half of the salt and pepper. Invert on paper towels to drain.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and remaining salt and pepper. Combine the eggs, cream, corn, and butter; stir into dry ingredients. Spoon into tomatoes,

Place in a shallow baking dish. Bake, uncovered, at 350 ºF for 38–40 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center of corn pudding comes out clean. Sprinkle with parsley.
 

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That sounds delicious. I’ve heard of stuffed tomatoes but don’t believe I’ve ever had them.

We had baked asparagus in bechamel sauce (with diced ham and mushrooms and pecorino Romano) served in crepes for our Easter dinner yesterday afternoon. We had the leftover filling today with bread and butter.

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We bake stuffed tomatoes and peppers frequently during the summer. They usually are stuffed with a variation on a rice pilaf mix.
 
We bake stuffed tomatoes and peppers frequently during the summer. They usually are stuffed with a variation on a rice pilaf mix.

I grew up with stuffed peppers (rice, tomato, and ground beef, I think) but not stuffed tomatoes. My mother grew tons and tons of tomatoes, and we ate them fresh and processed jars and jars of juice, soup, and sauce. I’ve just never had a stuffed one.
 
Nan made a butterscotch pie over the weekend. Never made it before. I did the crust for her.

Aunt Myra's Butterscotch Pie

Fobel, Jim. Jim Fobel’s Old Fashioned Baking. Ney York: Ballantine Books, 1987.

An incredibly rich pie filling is lightened by mounds of meringue in this very old and much favored family recipe.

Makes one 9-inch pie.

1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup all purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
One 12- to 13-ounce can evaporated milk
Water
4 egg yolks (reserve whites for meringue)
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut in pieces
1 teaspoon vanilla

1 single-crust pie shell, baked and cooled

MERINGUE

4 egg whites at room temperature
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
1/3 cup granulated sugar

Place the brown sugar, flour, and salt in a large bowl. Add enough water to the evaporated milk to measure 2 cups. In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks and then whisk in ½ cup of the diluted milk. Whisk the egg-milk mixture into the dry ingredients until thoroughly blended and then whisk in the remaining milk. Transfer to the top of a double boiler over simmering water. Whisk or stir constantly until very thick, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and vanilla, continue to stir until the butter melts. Place a round of waxed paper directly on the surface and cool for 15 minutes. Pour into the baked pie shell and cover with a round of waxed paper. Let cool to room temperature and then refrigerate until well chilled, about 3 hours.

Prepare the meringue: Preheat the oven to 350 ℉. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites with salt and cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar and continue beating until the whites are stiff and glossy. Do not overbeat of the meringue will be dry and lumpy.

Remove the waxed paper from the pie filling and pile the meringue on top, mounding it in eth center, swirling decoratively, and spreading it out to overlap the crust slightly all around to discourage shrinking.

Bake the pie in the center of the oven until golden, about 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on a rack, and then refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours before serving. When slicing, dip a sharp knife in very hot water before making each cut.

Our Notes: Used whipped cream topping. Make whipped cream following the recipe from Chocolate Cream Pie. Use only 1 cup heavy cream for the topping.
 

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Sounds yummy.

I had a bit of a cooking adventure recently. My youngest was turning five, and I had told him that I would make rhubarb crisp for his birthday dessert. It turns out that I didn’t have rhubarb in the freezer, but I needed to go to the store anyway. Well, there wasn’t even any frozen rhubarb at the store. I had to come up with plan B on the spot.

It’s strawberry season in Texas, so that seemed a pretty obvious choice, but I wanted that sour tang that comes from rhubarb. What’s easily available in Texas that would go with strawberries? Hibiscus!

It’s been hot here, and we’ve been drinking iced hibiscus tea. We‘ve bought tea bags before, but I recently found the whole dried calyces available in the corner of the produce department where all the dried chili peppers are sold. It’s much more economical to buy that way, and the whole calyx can be eaten after it has been steeped. I probably mixed about half a cup of used calyces into my strawberry filling. It made a nice contrast (though it reminded one child of tentacles), and the dessert was a hit. Thankfully the birthday boy was perfectly happy with the substitution.
 
MY BIRTHDAY IS COMING UP SOON...Can I have some pie too made with strawberries---yes---you could mail it to me...That"s one lucky grand child....I bet he eats about three slices all at once...lol clancey
 
MY BIRTHDAY IS COMING UP SOON...Can I have some pie too made with strawberries---yes---you could mail it to me...That"s one lucky grand child....I bet he eats about three slices all at once...lol clancey

Happy upcoming Birthday, Mrs. Clancey. The pie is all gone, I’m afraid, though no one ate three slices all at once. I can be a pretty strict mommy about some things, and I like to have leftovers. We have a family of six, and we ate slightly more than half the pie for dessert, and then the kids were allowed to have the other half for breakfast the next morning.
 
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I had a small harvest of kale yesterday and lots of Swiss Chard. My kids love kale, but the Swiss Chard has not gone over well this spring. (I‘m new to growing it and thought it would be a hit because my kids love beet greens, but the chard is earthier and has not gone over well sauteed or in soup.). Thankfully it turned out to be not only acceptable to them mixed with kale in quiche but even delicious.

I used this recipe as the inspiration, substituting about 1/3 of the chard with kale, and using two whole eggs instead of egg whites because I wanted to make it a bit easier.

 
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Looks like healthy "green stuff" out of your garden and I will wait for my rhubard pie made with strawberries next year...clancey
 
Forgot to take pics lol, but I did my fav cast iron pan pork chops tonight,
Pork chops about 1 - 1.25" thick, take them out of fridge, open them up. lightly salt both sides, let sit out for 30-40min
In a bowl or gallon bag (poor mans shake & bake) - mix 1 tbl sp of flour, 1 tbl sp of chilly powder, 1 tbl sp of garlic powder and 1 tbl sp of onion powder, 1/2 tbl sp of both black pepper and paprika, mix together.
After pork chops have been sitting out for more then 30min, heat 1.5 table spoons of olive oil in a cast iron pan, set stove to medium, pat pork chops dry with paper towels, then (I like to chuck 2 at a time in the bag) coat with season mix and transfer to hot pan.
Cook, essentially braze one side of the pork chops 3 min then flip, lower stove temp, cover with lid or foil and cook another 4 - 5 min, check center of meat after that time, its important, once the pork chop hit 145 deg f take out of pan and put on plate.
Now turn heat back up to medium, pour in 1 to 1 1/4 cup of chicken broth, 1.5 table spoons of apple cider vinegar and an estimated table spoon or so of honey, use a spatula and scrap the pan will bringing the liquid to a boil, mix occasionally and let the vinegar cook off (smells bad to me) you will want to let the mix boil and reduce down to half its original size add a table spoon of butter.
Start slicing the pork chops up, once the "gravy" is reduced turn stove off and transfer the pork chops back into the mix, or dump the mix into a bowl and serve.
 
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My wife's birthday is today. Made a Choco-nilla Cake yesterday. Recipe from the KAF web site.

Choco-nilla Cake | King Arthur Baking

Recipe above is slightly different from the older recipe, which I made. The filling in the older recipe is similar to the topping using 12-oz. chocolate chips. Think I would like the new recipe better.

My wife is the cake and cookie baker. I'm more breads, scones, cinnamon rolls, and brownies. Made a cake because she wanted it for her birthday.

Just saw the following on the KAF web site: Chocolate Caramel Cake | King Arthur Baking . Yum! That's next!

Making Mexican food for her birthday, as it's Cinco de Mayo: Almond Chicken (Pollo Almendrado) and Skillet Red Rice (Arroz a la Mexicana). :)
 

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Nan cut a piece for a mid-afternoon snack.
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