Whatcha Cookin'?

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becasunshine

becasunshine

Minister of Fire
Hearth Supporter
Dec 10, 2009
708
Coastal Virginia
^^Whatcha, sorry! (Fixed by one of your friendly mods)

So miserable outside, we are surely not going anywhere (we've caulked everything that doesn't move and some things that probably did move, before we caulked them.) What's left to do but cook?

Here's what we dreamed up for dinner:

Chili in the Tiger Cooker
Cornbread
Lemon meringue pie
Chocolate cream pie (we have whipped cream in the fridge)

[Hearth.com] Whatcha Cookin'?

What are you cooking on this cold, rainy, icy night?
 
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breakfast quesadilla
 
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I have 3 chuck roasts thawing. After baking them, I chop them up with a cleaver and remove the fat. Then throw the meat in a big pan and add lots of peppers and onions.
Put it on a Hoagy bun, top it with some provolone and bake 5 minutes in the toaster oven. This is one of my wife's favorite meals.
Whatever is left will be put in glad containers and put in the freezer. I usually get about 5 containers out of it.
From the freezer, it takes about 5 to 10 minutes to make the same meal again.
 
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We did a slow cooker pork butt and turned it into pulled pork. Took too long to cook, so we had frozen saag paneer (company called Tandoori Chef)- I swear- that stuff is so good with naan heated on the grill...
 
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Keeping with the day's theme and starting up a vegetarian chili with a dash of chipotle.
 
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Thank you, Friendly Mod! That all sounds delicious up there. Hmm... when are we going to get together for a Hearth.com pot luck? :)
 
Missed this one by a day, but tonight I will make a pork tenderloin Parmesan...Dice 2 lbs pork tenderloin into about 1" cubes. Put in one gallon Ziploc bag with one cup Parmesan cheese & one cup Italian Bread crumbs & seal..Pound the crap out of it to break down the meat fibers (aka tenderize)... Flip the bag a lot so the cheese & breadcrumbs completely coat the meat...Melt about 1/2 stick of butter in a BIG frying pan over moderate heat & add 1 cup of diced onions & the same amount of chopped mushrooms (optional)...Once the onions & shrooms are starting to brown up dump the entire contents of the bag into the frying pan & cover. Stir occasionally & if it looks like the butter has been absorbed by the breadcrumb/Parmesan mixture, don't be shy about adding more butter (olive oil is a healthier option , but WTF). Any way cook & stir for 25 - 30 minutes until the diced pork is pretty much browned & crusty on all sides & serve with whatever condiments you like. I prefer none. OOOOWEEE!
 
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I hope we keep this thread going. Cooking is one of my favorite hobbies. This thread has given me inspiration for future meals.
 
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DevilsBrew said:
I hope we keep this thread going. Cooking is one of my favorite hobbies. This thread has given me inspiration for future meals.
Click to expand...


And eating what someone else has cooked is one of my favorite hobbies. ;) :)
 
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firefighterjake said:
And eating what someone else has cooked is one of my favorite hobbies. ;) :)
Click to expand...

My husband specializes in several forms of "bacon and eggs." Most of the time, if we are eating a "cooked" breakfast, he made it. This returned favor makes me feel particularly spoiled, when I can lounge around in The Ubiquitous Flannel Nighty and *not* cook. Yes, bacon and eggs taste so much better when he makes them! :)
 
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Home-caught pink salmon is thawing at the moment. Weather is still yucky here, so back to basics cooking for me using whatever I can find, so roast potatoes w/onions and roast carrots. Can't decide what to do with the salmon - I might filet it and then do a teriyaki glaze.
 
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DAKSY said:
tonight I will make a pork tenderloin
Click to expand...

That's what DW is doing right now. To go along with it we have yellow wax beans and mashed potatoes; both from the garden. For dessert we have about a quart of my homemade chocolate-peanut butter ice cream left over from Thanksgiving dinner. :)
 
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Pasta Fagioli...Mangia!

Here's a picture if you don't know what it is...
 

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Had smoked turkey parts ,legs,wings,necks on thanksgiving. First thanksgiving EVER with no leftovers. Now im looking for some more already.
 
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Yesterday - Boneless country style pork ribs in the crock with homemade kraught and fennel seed. Side dish of twice baked taters (sour cream, cream cheese, shredded cheddar and butter) and brussel sprouts cut in half and slowing simmered in butter in the old cast iron pan.
Tonight - smoked meat loaf with a side of roasted fingerling taters and butternut squash. Sweetcorn (kernels) from the freezer.
 
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We are supposed to get Round Two today. There are a lot of large, mature trees around here and I always worry about losing power during ice from limbs falling on wires. Ergo I'm going to start dinner somewhat early and keep it hot in crock pots and in the Tiger Cooker (thermal mass cooker.)

I could always walk out to the camper and cook dinner out there.

For tonight I'm thinking about:

Chicken Marsala with onions and mushrooms
I make a few different versions of Chicken Marsala. We've had so much rich food recently that I plan to make a simpler version for tonight: boneless, skinless chicken breasts pan seared in olive oil with sauteed onions, mushrooms, garlic and Marsala, just the basics.
Marinara sauce over al dente thin spaghetti
Steamed broccoli (frozen)
Home made rolls
 
OH, BTW- THAT LEMON MERINGUE PIE UP THERE? IT IMPLODED. LEMON MERINGUE FAIL. I have never had a lemon meringue pie fail so spectacularly.

I cooked the lemon custard until it was thick and bubbly. It never set up. I have no idea why. The chocolate custard set up just fine. I used the same corn starch from the same container in both. Same eggs. Same everything, really, except flavorings- cocoa in one, lemon juice in the other. ???

The meringue- for the first time in my life, I may have over-beat the egg whites. Can you even do that? I guess you can... the meringue was so stiff that it was hard to spread, and now that it's cooked, it's almost crumbly.

It tastes fine- but you have to scoop your "slice" into a bowl and eat it with a spoon, sort of like a lemon meringue trifle. Or a lemon meringue cobbler. Or something.

The crust is nice... got that right...

I was really cruising through that meal- entire thing, start to finish, took about two hours: Home made chili, two home made pies from crust to meringue (truth in advertising, the whipped cream for the chocolate pie is real whipped cream but it's in a can in the fridge) and home made corn bread. Perhaps I didn't get the lemon custard as cooked as I thought I did- or perhaps I held it on "warm" for too long while I paid attention to other things, before I got back to making the meringue. *This* time I followed the recipe instructions to the letter, and held the custard on "warm" until I was ready to put the meringue on it and pop it in the oven. Usually, once the custard is thick, into the pie shell it goes and I don't think about it again until I put the meringue on it and pop it in the oven.

I didn't know that lemon meringue pies come with a self-destruct feature until this one.

Now I know. =/
 
becasunshine said:
For tonight I'm thinking about:
Chicken Marsala with onions and mushrooms
I make a few different versions of Chicken Marsala. We've had so much rich food recently that I plan to make a simpler version for tonight: boneless, skinless chicken breasts pan seared in olive oil with sauteed onions, mushrooms, garlic and Marsala, just the basics.
Marinara sauce over al dente thin spaghetti
Steamed broccoli (frozen)
Home made rolls
Click to expand...
Thats some healthy cookin there,add in dream fields low carb pasta and you got a winner. I love pasta,so glad i found one that tast great and is easy on the carbs.
 
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Cynnergy said:
Home-caught pink salmon is thawing at the moment. Weather is still yucky here, so back to basics cooking for me using whatever I can find, so roast potatoes w/onions and roast carrots. Can't decide what to do with the salmon - I might filet it and then do a teriyaki glaze.
Click to expand...
Your post inspired me to make tonight's dinner. Teriyaki glazed chicken over basmati rice. Of course, the glaze had a generous amount of cayenne added to it.
The meal was outstanding and the wife loved it. She usually isn't too crazy about the chicken and pork dishes I make, but she ate everything on her plate.
The glaze really brought out the flavor of the basmati.
 
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Father-in-law just slaughtered my kids' pigs...375# and 275# females...now we're enjoying all sorts of pork products...this week was black pepper bacon. Next will be maple honey bacon. Bacon makes me happy.
 
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So far we don't even have a dusting of snow.

This week..

I made a pot roast on sunday.

Then DH made beef stroganof (SP).

Then DH made pulled pork in the slow cooker, and some fresh bread.

Not sure what's up for tonight yet. Maybe left over pulled pork, maybe a home made pizza. Depends on if he had time to make the dough today (he works from home so he can throw stuff in the crock pot, or make dough to let it rise).

This weekend we'll probably make chicken pot pie soup (basically like the stuff that goes into the pot pie without a crust).
 
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Getting ready to walk into the kitchen and stay there for a few hours:

1. Processing some stew beef and pork chops (Costco) into home canned beef and pork. In this manner it becomes shelf-stable for use in recipes later. Pressure canning renders it fork tender.

2. Also going to make some cranberry conserve, since this is the time of the year when I can reliably get fresh cranberries (Costco again.)

3. Also need to trim down my AeroGardens and put those herbs in the dehydrator.

4. Perhaps salmon-tuna cakes tonight for dinner? We have some name brand canned tuna here that for some reason is coming out of the can with a very strong fishy taste. It's too pronounced for tuna fish, but I find that if I mix a can of tuna with a can of salmon, add a splash of lemon juice and other spices plus binders, the fishy taste is much reduced. It makes a very nice "fish cake."
 
If the weather holds, then I would like to throw together a cheesy brick oven and smoke some pork country style ribs. Did that last summer for the first time and now I am daydreaming of them. It is supposed to get up to 60! :)
 
I like smoked foods such as salmon,cheese,poultry, trout, almost anything. I even use smoke flavored salt on anything that need s salt, even popcorn.
 
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