Reason # 4,967 why I love cooking meals in my pressure air fryer: 1. Sauteed a seasoned roast. 2. Pressure cooked it. 3. Added veggies and slow-cooked it all for a MUCH shorter time than I’d ordinarily need to to have the meat just fall apart the way I wanted (this time — other times? *shrugs* depends on my whimsy).
Easy-Peasy Din-Din
Dinner this evening: light and multi-culti. Cheesy bean and ancho chile tapas with. . . coleslaw. *heh*
Remember “The Frugal Gourmet”?
Yeh, he wasn’t. Frugal, that is. But by adapting his recipes and using genuinely frugal ingredients and techniques, I found that I was able to make some nutritious and delicious meals inexpensively.
“shrugs* I’m sure he was “frugal” by a definition of the word that was held by folks who, nowadays, would waste $$ on crap coffee from “Starclucks,” but that ain’t frugal.
To Be Determined. . .
Experimental dinner again tonight built around. . . a sweet red pepper. Casserole Sine Nomine: Browned ground beef (salt, pepper, roasted garlic–powdered–, minced onion); chopped sweet red pepper; broccoli, cauliflower, a can of no-name cream of mushroom soup, sharp cheddar (shredded), mixed; topped with more shredded cheddar and chunks of a smoked bacon cheddar cheese ball I had layin’ around. 350°F for 30 minutes. We’ll see how it turns out: save the “recipe” or toss, that is the question. Answer to be determined.
Determined: Good. Due a wee bit of tweaking (more garlic, for one), but a keeper.
Light Lunch — Easy-Peasy
1-oz. tortilla chips
1 – habanero pepper, diced
1 – serano pepper, diced
Microwave for 55 seconds
Just the right size for a light lunch, and tasty, indeed.
Experimental Foodery
Tonight, I’m springing an experimental meal on my Wonder Woman. I know she’ll at least like the leftover “Amish Salad,” but time will tell how the rest of the meal will go down. . .
No amounts, mostly, just ingredients:
Smoked sausage, nicely browned, served over
Riced cauliflower prepared with ghee, turmeric, roasted garlic powder, and a packet of beef-flavored bouillon powder (I’ve tried the cauliflower and like it; we’ll see who else does) Combined with
Sweet red pepper, chopped and sauteed in ghee
Onion, also chopped and sauteed in ghee.
“Amish Salad” for a side.
Hits my “Ooo, so good!” buttons, but we’ll just have to see if it makes the cut, won’t we?
Well, it still hit my “Ooo, so good!” buttons, but just my Wonder Woman’s “It’s OK,” resulting in a complaint that “I may have eaten too much,” but not a request to save the recipe. *shrugs* Maybe next time with a curry sauce. . .
Touching Serendip
In a happy accident, a couple of bottles of my most recent sparking hard apple cider turned out as apple cider vinegar. Just those two. *shrugs* I’m fine with it, but I kinda wonder why just those two, while all the rest have been as expected.
Still, tonight’s dinner:
Sweet and sour pork chops and veggies cooked in a rice cooker used as an “instapot.”
Chops seasoned with my fav seasoned salt, minced garlic and pepper.
Mixed veggies (red and yellow bell pepper, broccoli, snow peas, green beans) in a mild soy-based sauce.
Sauce added: unmeasured amounts to taste: my apple cider vinegar, soy sauce, sucralose, corn starch.
Was, according to my Wonder Woman, juuuuust sweet enough to offset the vinegar and soy.
*whew!* Experimental cooking that turns out delish is da bomb. (When it doesn’t turn out so well, it just bombs. *heh*)
A Teensy-Tiny Piece of History
Back in 1959, in observance of Alaska’s new statehood (1958), the Southern Baptist Convention sponsored an evangelistic effort, partnering with existing SBC churches in Alaska. My dad obtained sponsorship from the baptist church in Seward, Alaska, along with its partnering churches in the lower 48, and spent a month as part of evangelistic meetings, clinics on church music and church education, and in personal evangelism.
I have copies of letters between him and the sponsoring church, copies of various agendas for meetings, and a very special “cookbook” compiled by students of Shishmaref Day School, Shishmaref, Alaska.It’s a little ~4”x5” typewritten booklet with a hand lettered cover that includes such “recipes” (descriptions of preparation, no amounts given; kinda like my “Not a recipe” recipes I post here now and then *heh* like
Eskimo Ice Cream
- grate reindeer tallow into small pieces
- Add seal oil slowly while beating with hand
- After some seal oil has been used, then add a little water while whipping
- Continue adding seal oil and water until white and fluffy
- Some berries can be added to it
It might be difficult to come by reindeer tallow and seal oil, here in America’s Third World County™, but it’d certainly be “keto friendly.” 🙂
Once Again, Xmas Stew
This year again, a Xmas meal I make every now and then: Green Chicken (or Pork) Stew. It’s a chicken (or pork) posole made with the following ingredients:
Cooked and cubed chicken or pork. Most folks would probably go with boned and skinned chicken breasts for the chicken, but that’d be a mistake. Use chicken breasts, if you must, but cook them skin on, bone in. Chicken thighs would be even tastier. Bone ’em when you cube ’em. Whether using pork or chicken, be sure to season the meat with salt, pepper, and freshly ground cumin seed (use a coffee mill or a mortar and pestle).
Sauteed chopped onions and minced garlic (use ghee or the rendered fats from the chicken or pork).
Green enchilada sauce and chopped green chiles (your choice of green chiles; everyday Xmas Stew can be fine with the canned stuff)
Condensed chicken or mushroom soup
Cannellini beans
WHITE hominy
A can of Rotels™
Dump the prepared ingredients in a crockpot on low for six or more hours. Served with baked corn tortillas, either whole or cut into wedges before baking.
You notice I have not mentioned amounts. That’s because it all depends on how much you want to make and how many you intend to feed, as well as how meaty/beany/corny/spicy you find you prefer.
Baked corn tortillas: Brush corn tortillas lightly with ghee, coconut oil or [BEST!] bacon grease. Place on middle rack in oven and bake at 375°F for about eight minutes. Ovens vary, so watch it and mod the time to suit your oven. If baking wedges, place them on a cookie sheet and bake at 375°F for about seven to nine minutes–again, watching them. Could be ten for either, depending on your oven, etc.
Nutritious and Delicious; Tastes Just Like (Pre)Chicken
Breakfast for dinner:
2 people
5 eggs scrambled with about a tablespoon of heavy cream and
1/2 pound “hot” sausage and
1/2 diced onion
1/2 C shredded provolone/mozzarellamix
Diced jalapeno on mine.
Filling, delicious, low-carb (protein-sparing) fare.
(Confession: 1/2 of the way through my plate, I decided the jalapenos, though adequately sinus-clearing, were too mild, so added some habanero salsa.)