Whatcha been cookin’?
With all the restaurant news that’s been hopping on the blog lately, it’s been a while since we’ve talked about cooking at home. And I’m not going to lie — for the past few weeks, I’ve been experiencing the end-of-summer burnout when it comes to cooking. We’ve been on-the-go on the weekends and all I’ve had the energy to do is eat a lot of fresh produce and grilled meats, with the exception of some go-to dishes I’ve made for dinners and potlucks. But those are dishes I’ve mentioned on the blog or in the column before.
As the weather starts to cool down a little, I feel that spark of inspiration in my belly. I am ready to experiment again, using some unfamiliar ingredients and recipes. On my list to try this fall or winter are an osso bucco dish like this one on Simply Recipes, Caribbean- or African-style oxtails such as this Emeril Lagasse recipe, a maple cake with maple icing (I’m a sucker for anything maple-flavored), and various dishes that call for chicken thighs. I’m always on the lookout for good chicken thigh recipes, so if anybody has one they would like to share, please do.
I also want to do a muffin column within the next couple of months, so I hope to crank up the oven and make several different kinds of homemade muffins. Got any favorite muffin flavors you’d like me to test?
Most of all, I want to hear what YOU have been cooking lately. Has anybody tried a new recipe or ingredient they loved (or hated, for that matter)? I always know that all of you foodies are out there creating great meals in your kitchens. Inspire us with your kitchen genius!
August 22, 2012 - 11:31 AM
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It’s getting to be Chili weather! I make a 3 meat, 3 bean and 3 pepper chili. I use a pound of each, ground chuck, country sausage and cubed sirloin (I grill an extra when we have steak on the Weber). Black, kidney and pinto beans along with a serrano, Anaheim and green bell pepper. As for muffins try PB&J suing a whole grain basic muffin and spoon 1 TBLSP of peanut butter and 1 tsp of jam/jelly into the center of batter and bake!
My roommate recently moved out, and he was doing all the cooking… He’s a fantastic cook.
So Now I am trying to teach myself how to cook (and be somewhat healthy about it.)
One thing I was wildly successful with was a recipe for a Tomato Sauce topped over Polenta Cakes:
slice Polenta Cakes into 1/2″ rounds and place on baking sheet brushed with olive oil (they can also be grilled.)
Sauce: One diced, 2 pints of cherry tomatoes, half chopped in a food processor, half quartered, add 8 sprigs of basil, 2-3 tbsp of olive oil, as much garlic as you can handle, and maybe a bit of hot sauce.
I put my sauce in a Bake-proof Pyrex and baked both @425 for 25 minutes. Flip the cakes once in the middle of baking.
Bon Appetit, where I saw the recipe says to put the sauce in parchment paper to cook the tomatoes, but I’m not going out to buy parchment paper for that. En Papillote (or whoever you spell it) seems like a gimmick.
Top the polenta cakes with the tomato sauce, and you get an amazing light appetizer or snack. I think I’m going to make it spicier next time and turn it into a sort of healthier replacement for nachos.
That all sounds really great!
We’ve been experimenting a lot more with Paleo diet foods, since we determined that the Paleo diet is essentially what we’ve been able to safely eat with no side-effects. We have no sugars, no grains, no alcohol, no legumes, no dairy (ok, still working on this one), no processed anything…basically it’s lean meats, veggies, and some fruit. I really can’t eat the fruit though, they tear me up and the sugars are too much.
It’s been interesting, but I like that a lunch consisting of a mixed salad with some grilled chicken and a fat-free vinegar dressing keeps me full practically all day…and aside from some hot and/or unsweetened tea and sugar-free lemonade…all I drink is a bunch of water.
It also makes shopping incredibly easy…we hit the produce section, then the butcher section…and that just about does it. Aside from a few items in the Nature’s Market area, spice/herb aisle, and household items…we rarely have to hit the middle of the store. But we do have to shop every 3rd or 4th day since we need a steady supply of fresh meats and produce.
This new diet makes dining out very tricky, but doable if we find the right place and the right menu items…but we try to limit dining out to a time or 2 a month to be safe.
I’ve never heard of the Paleo diet. It sounds very healthy.
Those polenta cakes with tomato sauce sound tasty, Scott.
My latest creation is a “South” Chicago dog (a Southern version, obviously, of the famous Chicago dog). All-beef hot dog, fried green tomatoes, bread and butter pickles, Vidalia onions, Creole mustard, pickled okra, and a dash of Old Bay seasoning. Served on a split-top bun that has been slathered with Duke’s mayo and grilled. Because if you’re going, you might as well go all the way.
New food that I tried was Natto. My sister enjoyed it but I just cannot make myself try any more than the two bites that I did. Something about the taste reminds me of the way hair smells when it is being blow dried.
Today for lunch I cooked up a little bit of chicken
Didn’t mean to enter that…
It was chicken with garlic, onions, kale, hot chili oil, soy sauce, wide rice noodles and a little bit of shredded beef jerky. It was pretty good!
The shredded beef jerky was just a twist on the dried shredded pork that you can buy at the oriental markets.
scott, I am all over that tomato sauce recipe. Simple and fresh … and baked! Never thought of that.
I slow cooked a pork shoulder in the oven on Sunday and then mixed some Sandy River Pork BBQ sauce with it. The sauce is great. I bought a bottle from the Sandy River guy on the market on Saturday. I usually make my own but I wanted to try it. I loved it. It’s sweet and spicy. It’s called Oinkment sauce.
Ha! What a great name for BBQ sauce.
I thought so!
As soon as the weather cooled off I made pot roast in the slow cooker. I love coming home and dinner is all but made, and my family loves pot roast.
I’m stuck with microwave cooking at the moment. One of the dishes I’ve tried is spaghetti squash with broccoli seasoned with garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper.
My favorite muffin recipe is Pumpkin Chocolate Chip and is found on allrecipes.com.
Haven’t cooked much this week due to hubby’s schedule, but we are camping this weekend so last night I cooked elbow noodles for his favorite macaroni salad and make a crockpot of Venison BBQ. I plan on cooking ‘campfire potatoes’ in foil over the campfire on Friday night.
Laura, that reminds me of how my mom used to bake potatoes the night before we went camping so all she had to do was chop them up and fry them for breakfast over the campfire and it didn’t take as long. Yummmm I love camp food
That is a great idea for the potatoes! I will have to try that! I have started cooking as much ahead as possible to cut down on dish-washing and “kitchen time”. Even though we do have a camper, the kitchen and fridge are still small and you do have to plan ahead for how much cooked food you have room to store!
On the muffin topic: my favorite apple-cinnamon box mix has been discontinued, so I am on the hunt to find a recipe that I can replace those with.