Journal

2019 - Week 39 Cooking

It is time to start thinking about what I want to do for Thanksgiving. I’ve had smoked turkey legs cross my mind already (heading back towards a more traditional Thanksgiving). I’ll have to do a test run, clearly. I’m going to test some whiskey or ginger ale based cocktail here in a bit (from a recent Cedar Ridge email). I’ll have to be a little more careful with money this year (usually I sell PTO and a good chunk of that ends up going to the thanksgiving meal, but this year, it’s already mostly spoken for).

2019 - Week 38 Cooking Results

Spicy Carrot Sandwiches

Always a winner. While I didn’t have farmers’ market fresh carrots, it still was delicious quick meal. I didn’t use sourdough, I did have some La Mie bread on hand and that was a good alternative.

Mayo-Free Chicken Salad With Kimchi, Ginger, and Scallions Recipe

Once again I only vaguely followed the recipe. I do want to have a balance of flavors in a chicken salad, and that, to me, has to include mustard at some point. The mayo, mustard, chopped kimchi make for a good base. I used a smoked chicken, which added a nice light smokey background. All and all, it worked out pretty well.

Black Bean and Tomato Quinoa Recipe

Delayed! With it hot and humid out near the end of the week it didn’t make the list of things I wanted to do.

Fast and Easy Pasta With Blistered Cherry Tomato Sauce Recipe

This was fast, and easy. I used some Wabi Sabi cherry tomatoes (Sungold I think) and it was quite a good meal.

One-Pan Bucatini with Leeks and Lemon

I apparently forgot about the title and got the large pot ready to go, heated and salted the water…

Then started reading the directions and used the heated water to quicken things up a bit, I suppose, but even so, it was a nice meal. I didn’t end up long slicing the leeks, but cross slicing them. It still worked out, even though I had extra dishes to do.

2019 - Week 37 Cooking Results

Whiskey and Rye Chocolate Chip Cookies

Made these again. I got the cookies into the fridge, then made dinner and near the end of the 3rd debate, baked them off for Shannon’s work potluck. Quite good.

Really Awesome Black Bean Burgers (only have to cook, rest is done)

So having them only to cook off makes it a lot easier to handle and cook on a weeknight. Still quite good. It was a wonderful addition to top it with the Green Chile sauce? Mix? Paste?

Juan’s Simple Green Chile

This was a lot easier to make than I expected. I had the roasted chiles and rubbed off the skin, and went through the process. Making a batch or two really isn’t a big deal in the slightest. We had it on several things this week.

Fish

Skipped.

Taco Salad

So I made adjustments here. Less cheese available, I only used half the chorizo for the chorizo, onion, bean mixture that I usually make. Still going to be a rare dish I suppose, due to all the fat that can get added on.

Salad with Chicken

I under seasoned the chicken breasts while I cooked them sous vide them. There was a but in the app during the time that appears to make it so that I couldn’t run the countdown timer. I see that it is fixed in the latest update (or at least I hope so) but as I run the chicken at 157º its not like it would overcook. Some cherry tomatoes, I used some black bean burger cooked crumbs as a topping, which added a nice flavoring element to the whole salad (and beans!). Good things.

Digaag Qumbe

I really liked how this turned out. It had a bit lest chicken then the recipe called for (1.6 vs 2). I, of course, skipped the ghee, as I should. But it didn’t take to long to make (ok I was busy making the chicken for salad and cookies at the same time). I look forward to having some as leftovers.

Shrimp Fried Rice

I had several stalks of Iowa grown lemongrass, from Wabi Sabi Farm, so it was a challenge to decide what to do with that, and this came up. Certainly a way to avoid another chicken dish (which was my first choice), but also pretty easy to make. It came together quickly and tasted pretty good.

2019 - Week 36 Cooking Results

Goat Burgers

Goat is lean, which is part of the point of eating goat. It certainly is part of the reason of of eating it now. Goat is distinctive in its flavor, but as we have had it a few times it’s not an uncommon addition to our dishes. The burgers themselves are a bit goaty and needs a bit more fat. In the past I’ve adjusted this by actually adding fat to the goat (lard, butter, etc). But as I am driving to change, and want to get my cholesterol under control, this does not seem like a good thing. So you start by adding salt and pepper to the mix of the mean. I thought what else do I have in here. I have some roasted garlic powder and some onion powder (actually taste like they should) leftover from previous smoking experiments. I mixed them in and cooked off the goat. This really added a wonderful additional flavor profile, without adding the additional fat. This meats the goals. I have, however, bought my source of goat, out of goat, so I may have to change up what I am doing.

Really Awesome Black Bean Burgers

So…the title is true, these were really awesome. It made enough to actually have this again next week, without having to do all the prep work. It was certainly a lot of work, and I didn’t realize that the kitchen window fan was upstairs, until Shannon pointed out that it was sitting on the other side of the kitchen (clearly I’ve disappeared it from my memory). It got quite hot in the kitchen before the window fan started pumping in the cool outside air (though I think the neighbors were using citronella, which annoyed my sense of smell). With the oven and one of the burners going it got warm fast. It did, however make sense as you run through the process. Reducing moisture, seasoning with a light hand, adding in a bit of fat and flavor (feta). Good thoughts and process. I may cook them a bit less (4 minutes as opposed to 5 per side). This is going to be added to the occasional pile now.

I did eat the bean burger before I took a picture…so there is that.

Gobi Matar

This was surprisingly filling. I actually took some into work and couldn’t finish the reasonable serving. It reminded me a bit of chicken tikka masala in style but without all the dairy. I do need to make up more rice so I can use that to feed lunch to myself.

Indian Peanutty Noodles

While I skipped the roasting and just combined unsalted peanuts with the salt and spices, it did make for a nice chutney. The second part of this went quite quickly after prepping the ingredients. Shannon did comment that it might be a bit better with some chicken in there. I suppose if I added some more chutney and maybe a bit more liquid it could add the peanut chutney across multiple more ingredients. This could add a variety to this dish to do it on the regular especially since I have quite a bit of the chutney left.

Oyakodon

Mine did not end up near as pretty as the pictures on the site. I did however get a chance to use the dashi powder brought to me by Cameron. This was a nice, relatively simple wait to put together a quick(ish) meal. I used a combination of leftover basmati rice and freshly made white rice. It turned into a savory well balanced meal. Maybe add a few more vegetables.

2019 - Week 35 Cooking Results

Green Bean Curry

Clearly we are trying to be a bit more healthy. I found this after I picked up a few multi colored string beans from Grade A Gardens. This came together pretty quickly after preparation. The string beans took a bit, but after that everything came together really quickly. I made up a large batch of rice for the Peanut Rice and Chicken Thighs later. Instead of the butter that I would normally use, I ended up using olive oil. A better choice I suppose. This was pretty good. Maybe add a bit more spice to it or peppers (and I had a few to use too). I may have under salted a bit.

Melted Mozzarella on Toast with Fresh Tomato

I’m not dead, and when the opportunity comes to have farm fresh mozzarella (Lost Lake Farm) and fresh tomatoes (these from my mother’s garden), how is one supposed to say no to that?

Goat Burgers

The week was a bit wonky. I was not sure what part of the week was going to be taken up by my team visiting and wasn’t. As they were coming here, which is a bit of change of pace, it was nice to be at home but also see everyone. However, these got pushed a bit because the week ran out of time.

Chile Peanut Rice

A simple set of ingredients, a bit of niceness. It was really meant to be somewhat of a side. I added some leftover sous vide chicken to make it into a meal. I may have overcooked the peanuts a little bit, but generally it was pretty good.

Whiskey and Rye Chocolate Chip Cookies

My new fridge has a nice long tray where I’ve been storing deli meat and cheese. In this case I was able to store the cookie sheets and dough, 2 sheets worth, in the fridge while they firmed up a bit too bake. These turned out quite while with the rye flour, rye whiskey and chocolate. I liked the addition of the vanilla salt to the top which really added to the adult style flavor of it. They were enjoyed quite a bit.

Chicken Thighs with Saffron, lemon and Red Potatoes

So these probably would’ve been better with chicken skin on, but that would have defeated the point to some extent. I lessened to the time a bit to take into account that there was no skin. I added the items as needed. Maybe a bit more than a pinch of saffron. As it comes down to it it was a pretty good meal. I served it over rice with a bit of the broth with the potatoes and chicken. Nice meal to end the week.

2019 - Week 34 Cooking Results

I started cardiac rehab this week. I think it’s a pretty fancy name for nurse supervised / directed exercise. That being said, it is nice getting the movement in. We’ve been looking at something to effectively keep me off my feet (and thus spurs), but still allow me to get the cardio in. I does get a bit expensive though. I’ve got 5-7 more weeks to figure it out.

Over the last two weeks, I’ve added a number of drugs and quadrupled one, some of the top line numbers (blood pressure, for example) are well in control. I’ll have to wait for blood tests to see how the others do. My body seems to be coping well with all the changes so far. The only one I’m really struggling with is the general forbidding of my go to feet solver, naproxen.

I replace my battery in my close to 3 years old iPhone on Monday, and slowly wondered around the probably dying mall while the apple store was doing their thing. This was probably a mistake, as the next day, my feet were complaining quite a bit. It was troublesome After talking to my pcp, I’m convinced that the next step will probably be anti-inflammatory injections. I should make an appointment with my podiatrist. I meet with my cardiologist on Monday. I’m collecting doctors…

During the checkup I explained that this week there was only one pork thing on the list, while last week there were 4. I’m doing better?

I’m having trouble with judging the salt level. Knowing what I like and knowing what I should do is challenging. I want it to be flavorful, but not to much that it’ll be problematic. I always try to buy the low salt prepared ingredients, but I also have taste buds.

Reed’s Hollow announced it was closing at the end of the month. This is a loss for the Beaverdale neighborhood.

I paid a guy (tiny company) to mow my lawn, and he’ll do so for the next four weeks (hopefully by that time I will no longer be forbidden to do so). We were sitting in the basement and watched him whip back and forth on his riding mower on our tiny plot of land.

Sous Vide Fish

After taking a few weeks off from using my sous vide thing, I finally got back into it. So I wanted to see what the taste of the mirin that Cam brought me from Japan. This seemed like the perfect opportunity. I added a bit of mirin with the lightly salted tuna steaks. It added a bit of extra sweetness to the tuna and a nice savoriness on top of it. Served with a simple salad. and tada, a healthy meal.

Tinga de Pollo

So this may not be as healthy as the general target was set, but other then salt content, may have served the right purpose. I served it over rice and quinoa for a nice mildly spicy dish. I did cut out one of the peppers, because I thought it might be a little to spicy for Shannon, but after adding all the things, I was pretty sure it could’ve taken the extra pepper. That being said, it was pretty good. I added a bit of the adobo sauce to the rice while it was cooking, to add a bit more flavor to it and stirred in the leftover quinoa after it was finished.

Stir Fry Udon

Lots of vegetables, some pork and a combination of Cam brought mirin and soy sauce. This turned out real nice. I’ll have to make this again.

Spaghetti Aglio e Olio

I was going to use this as a quick meal night, and it was. I also started the sous vide for the chicken for the salad. This wasn’t as garlicly as I thought it might be, but I blame myself. It was still pretty good. I had intended to use some of the chicken for pasta, but the 2 hour cook time removed that from the thought process.

Cold Chicken over Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette

So this is how to make a salad. We started off with a base of spinach, added some fried onions (bought for another purpose), some fresh cut super fresh cherry tomatoes from Wabi Sabi farm and some chicken sliced and put over it, then drizzled with the citrus vinaigrette. Good things. Still have a lot of leftover chicken to use.