Journal

2020 - Week 7 Cooking Results

Chicken and Potato Curry

Simple dish, I adjusted the spices a bit, not to much, to what I had on hand (chile powder to…a specific chile that I cannot recall right now). I did have to make some adjustments, as I added more chicken and potato then called for (as that was what the on hand had, without leaving leftovers. so I added a bit more water. I do regret that I forgot to add the heavy cream at the end, as I do think it would’ve added a nice finishing touch to add to the over all dish.

Bulgarian Moussaka

I had a package of Lucky George….ground meat, where the label had mostly rubbed off. I suspect pork, as, generally, their beef is in brown paper. But I was not certain, as this recipe called for either pork or beef, it seemed like an opportune time to use it, since it would be fine either way.

It turned out to be pork.

I found this dish to be curious, ti was wonderful and filling but the combination of yogurt, flour, eggs and baking soda to make a topping to it was interesting. It created a mildly gelatinous topping that had a nice yogurt flavor that went well with the rest of the elements.

Tuscan White Bean Soup

While fresh, the addition of greens to a soup can be wonderful thing, but often does not do much if you have leftovers. As I thought this might be the case, I skipped the kale addition. However, due to a bit of an adventure with Freyja, the soup condensed down quite a bit more then expected. So it ended up being just more then 2 servings.

We have been struggling the last few days in finding a Freyja to give her the twice daily does of medication. I did, see her, after she skipped out on a dose, calmly walk out from under the guest bedroom’s bed (I quickly grabbed her and gave her the medication she almost missed). After further investigation, when she was again trying to skip a medication dose again. I then after inspecting under the bed, finder her. To be honest I found Mani first which, I believe allowed me to notice further down, there was the Freyja, as she blended into the under-bed darkness. Several years ago, Moonshadow would sneak up into a cut int he fabric at the bottom of the box spring and hide away from us (especially around medication taking time). As we tore this out quite a bit ago, it was no longer really an option. However, with the addition of an under bed container, Freyja’s newest spot, is on top of the container in the box spring. Making her very hard to see, and near impossible to grab. So while we were trying to get her out from under the bed (removed the storage container, then she went to the wall, making also hard to get her), I over reduced the soup, as I only intended to bring it to a boil while finding her (then turn it to simmer). It was at a rolling boil when I got back to it.

Turkey Burgers

I used the Savory Momofuku Seasoned Salt and mixed it into the turkey. As there is not much in the way of guidance, I made a guess as to how much should be used. I added a bit more then the amount of salt and pepper that I would use for the pound in a half that was there. It seemed to add a bit more of an oomph then I thought to expect. But had a nice addition to the flavor profile of the turkey. It was a good add. I look forward to adding the others to something simple to get a general idea of what they do, though the spice level may leave me a little cautious as I do not want to make it to much for my dear wife.

Orecchiette with Broccoli, Anchovies, and Chiles

Delayed!

2020 - Week 6 Cooking Results

Spicy Coconut Chicken Noodle Soup

I was looking at the noodles going into this and thinking yeah I could put the whole thing in there. It was a good thing I didn’t. They rice noddles sucked up some of the liquid and expanded out. If I would’ve added the whole package of noodles, it would’ve ended up being a noodle dish, which would’ve been fine to, I suppose.

Chicken and Potato Curry

Delayed (Gusto Pizza for Oscar Sunday)!

Bulgarian Moussaka

Delayed (Cheese Bar early Valentines)!

Sweet Potato Burritos p198 (Power Vegetables!)

So some spices on some sweet potatoes. A bit of a roast, then combining them with other burrito ingredients. It was pretty good. A nice way to have a vegetarian dish. I also combined some black beans and diced tomatoes and simmered them down quite a bit. Good, filling, nice.

Bison Burgers

Good things.

2020 - Week 5 Cooking Results

Roasted Chickpeas and Broccoli Burritos p165 (Thug Kitchen)

Though I changed it a bit, because I didn’t have chili powder but I had chipotle powder. It was easy to put things together and I actually had leftovers for breakfast for a couple of days. Roasting the spiced vegetables was a way to build flavor, without to much effort. This is what I generally like about the book. Process is easy, generally. I got tired of the swearing in text pretty quickly. I may curse a lot in my speech, but it doesn’t often make it to the page, as I think a bit more then what comes out of my mouth. Good meal, relatively low effort and a nice flavor profile. I admit, we removed the vegan meal label by adding sour cream and cheese.

Tex Mex Shepherds Pie p114 (Power Vegetables!)

I started this around 4, we ate around 7. So it takes a bit. There’s a bit of effort to dice a bit of vegetables, but after getting a general start with up to the garlic, and was able to keep ahead. Had I bought 3 zucchini instead of 2, I probably wouldn’t have been able to. I didn’t want to buy a bag of masa harina, I used corn meal instead. This may have messed the dough up a bit as it didn’t absorb as much water as I thought it might. I added a bit more meal to thicken it up a bit. Even so I never got it to the play-dough like texture that was mentioned in the recipe. That being said, it came out as a flavorful dish. A good weekend cook.

Lemony Chicken and Orzo Soup

Easy in process, I added more orzo, which is a mistake for leftovers, but fine for the night of. The net day it looks more like a rice dish with a touch of broth as the orzo grows in size and soaks up the broth, but the night of, fine. I added quite a bit of pepper to it to have a underlaying pepper bite. It was pretty nice.

Ginger Scallion Ramen Noodles

I always have trouble converting from fresh to dried, when involving ginger. I think I about have it right for garlic, but I don’t use ginger that often. So this ended up being a bit more gingery then it probably should be. I used fresh udon noodles, instead of dried ramen (I didn’t even look for fresh ramen). It was a bit spicy, ginger-wise, but that’s on me.

Turkey Burgers

Added some spices, cooked lower then I normally do, done and good.

2020 - Week 4 Cooking Results

Pumpkin Bolognese p385 (Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables)

This took about 2 hours to do, even though I was able to skip part of of the directions, since I already had some pumpkin puree on hand (it was frozen). This was a very slow cooking event. The lower temperatures are used to mesh up the flavors.This was certainly the most meat I’ve used in a dish in a bit. I think it was quite enjoyable and this would be in the “once in a while” category of foods to cook. I think I could probably start with a bit more pumpkin puree, since I was guessing as to what it would convert to (I also used pumpkin last week, and wanted to not open another frozen block of pumpkin puree). Anyways, I will have to make this again.

Sweet Corn and Green Chile Baked Flautas p62 (Thug Kitchen)

I used some of my co-worker’s corn to make this..it was easy to do, though had a few steps. Finished off in the oven, I, again, broke then vegan, by adding cheese and sour cream. Even so, by itself, it was nice. I used chipotle powder. which added a nice smokiness to the dish, plus a bit of heat. I enjoyed it.

Caramelized Cream Eggs

I may have to try this again. This was a suggestion from Jenny as something that was quite good. reading the article you get the idea that the head breaks up the cream into milk fat solids (butter) and water, which leads for a nice finish…though I have just cooked eggs in butter, which I suspect is fairly similar, though this was interesting watching it finish.

Fish (see what is around)

Yellow fin tuna, salt, pepper, olive oil, sous vide, finished in a pan.

Bison Burgers

Good as always. I combined with some chili powder that my aunt brought back from Mexico. made for a nice, mildly spicy grilled burger. Cooking it lower then you would for a fatter meat, but for longer to get that done edge, while keeping it just a little pink in the middle. it’s an odd balance to try to maintain.

2020 - Week 3 Cooking Results

Spiced Chickpea wraps with Tahini Dressing, pg. 32 (Thug Kitchen)

Pulled out my tiny blender attachment for my stick blender to make the Tahini dressing, which made it very easy to do. The rest came together quite will as they are simple directions and simple ingredients. A bit spicy, but filling. We topped ours with some baby spinach and some carrots. Even after leaving work at around 6, I was still able to get this on the table shortly after. Several hours later, I’m still feeling a bit full (not stuffed, just not hungry).

Black Bean Tortas with Coconut Chipotle May, pg. 143 (Thug Kitchen)

So I have a mild complaint about the book. So they recommend using their own bean recipe, which is fine, however they do provide the alternative to used canned chickpeas or beans. In that case it should be specified if they should be drained, drained and rinsed, or not. It seems like in some recipes this would be fine and in others not so much. This one was clearly a drained. I had to spend some extra time simmering getting it to the described guacamole consistency that they talking about. That being said, it still came out pretty good. The mayo didn’t get quite enough time to solidify, as it was the next day, but still was nice. I used the leftover beans to make myself bean burrito lunches.

Pumpkin Chili, pg. 97 (Thug Kitchen)

I have a “bit” of pumpkin puree leftover from the several times that I have made it. That being said pulling it out of the freezer to use it feels pretty good. I thought about making this Friday, but, since I pulled it out late, the pumpkin puree was still quite frozen. Even when I made it on Saturday it was a mixture of mostly ice shards and liquid.

As a note, I didn’t drain the beans here.

This came together pretty easily. though I did have to simmer it a bit longer, because it took a bit for all the ice to melt. I did ruing the vegan-ness by topping it with sour cream (sour cream’s not vegan?), so there is that. What this does show that it is possible for me to stay full without meat (or fake meat).

Sloppy Chicken

The chicken I didn’t used, ended up in a sloppy joe like mixture and it was nice.

Indian Pulled-Chicken Sandwiches

I got home late, and was mentally exhausted, so after pulling the chicken off the bones, I went with a standard chicken salad instead. It was nice.