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Old 05-28-2013, 09:23 AM   #991
chrisinhouston
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Had my wife's mother, son and his wife and 5 kids over for Memorial Day yesterday. Swam at the community pool and then did a sort of old fashioned cookout, hamburgers and hotdogs (I made lamb burgers for myself and anyone else who wanted one). Made a cole slaw and a potato salad in the French style using a vinaigrette instead of a mayonnaise base. Funny thing is that my wife insisted we buy 10 ears of corn as everyone likes that and it is sort of a traditional summer vegetable here. Completely forgot to cook the corn, I found the bag on one end of the kitchen counter this morning. Now thinking of alternate ways to use it all up. Maybe some corn chowder or corn fritters.
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Old 05-28-2013, 10:44 AM   #992
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Sounds good, Chris, even if your fish recipes are more to my taste.

I ummed and aahed over buying some corn on the cob the other day, but then remembered 1) I am the only one who really likes it and 2) I mostly enjoy it as a means of transferring butter to my mouth.

Last night I was in charge of dinner.
We had marinated chicken breasts, which were flavourful and moist, even if I'm blowing my own trumpet. Just a hint of fiery glaze as I made my own sauce.
New potatoes in garlic butter.
Mixed leaf salad with a separate side dish of sliced cucumber and tomato with a little bit of olive oil for Mum & Dad.
And another separate dish of diced red onion with a lime and mint dressing.

Yummy.
And the weather even complied with the summery feel of the meal.
Although it's persisting it down again today.
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Old 05-31-2013, 01:53 PM   #993
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Today I am totally experimenting with dinner for tonight. My wife has been craving some pork, like the kind that is shredded and can go in tacos- I think they call them carnitas. There was some boneless pork shoulder on sale today so I bought some.

Since my kitchen is a work zone for remodeling I decided to try a slow cooker/crockpot that my mother in law didn't want anymore since she just cooks for herself now. This is my first attempt at crock pot food. I always used to just use my Le Crusset cast iron pots but today I have the stove disconnected!

So I spiced up the cut up strips of pork (major fat removed) with salt, pepper and Old Bay Seasoning. Browned it and dumped it into the cooker with some sliced up onion and cloves of garlic. Then for a liquid I added what was left from this morning's coffee, about 3 cups. I had pretty good success with coffee and meat when I used to try campfire Dutch Oven food. I also added a bottle of Dos XX amber beer, the last bit I even deglazed the pan for the browning with and it did smell very good. Stirred in a good sized teaspoon of cumin and paprika, 2 of my favorite spices.

Going to let it cook for 6-8 hours, pull the meat and shred it up. I'll post how it turns out.
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Old 05-31-2013, 02:07 PM   #994
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While I can't speak for this particular recipe, you might want to try something like http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/rec...ork82340.shtmlthis with the next pork shoulder.

My grandmother had a sour orange tree in her yard, and its fruit went exclusively to the preparation of Cuban style pork. Yum.
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Old 06-03-2013, 03:50 PM   #995
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Ahhh ... tonight has been a huge, delicious salad with baby spinach, baby kale, baby arugula, fresh sweet corn, baby carrots, grape tomatoes, avocado, green Mount Athos garlic-stuffed olives, and a few shavings of aged Manchego. Entree: grilled pressed tofu in black bean korma sauce with asparagus on the side. Dessert: almond nut-thins with a few more shavings of Manchego and a glass of Viognier. I think I have achieved ecstasy.
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Old 06-04-2013, 04:10 AM   #996
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chrisinhouston View Post
Today I am totally experimenting with dinner for tonight. My wife has been craving some pork, like the kind that is shredded and can go in tacos- I think they call them carnitas. There was some boneless pork shoulder on sale today so I bought some.

Since my kitchen is a work zone for remodeling I decided to try a slow cooker/crockpot that my mother in law didn't want anymore since she just cooks for herself now. This is my first attempt at crock pot food. I always used to just use my Le Crusset cast iron pots but today I have the stove disconnected!

So I spiced up the cut up strips of pork (major fat removed) with salt, pepper and Old Bay Seasoning. Browned it and dumped it into the cooker with some sliced up onion and cloves of garlic. Then for a liquid I added what was left from this morning's coffee, about 3 cups. I had pretty good success with coffee and meat when I used to try campfire Dutch Oven food. I also added a bottle of Dos XX amber beer, the last bit I even deglazed the pan for the browning with and it did smell very good. Stirred in a good sized teaspoon of cumin and paprika, 2 of my favorite spices.

Going to let it cook for 6-8 hours, pull the meat and shred it up. I'll post how it turns out.
Sounds brilliant. I quite often use a slow cooker and there's just two of us. I'd certainly keep using it just for me - one day you cook with the slow cooker, eat a portion and freeze several ... nothing beats home-made TV dinners IMHO!
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Old 06-04-2013, 05:47 AM   #997
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Funny enough I had pork yesterday.
Mum made it for Sunday dinner and I just didn't fancy it. It was a packet mix for a start and I often find them too salty.

However there were plenty of leftovers and it smelled so nice that I thought it would be worth a try. I cut the pork up into bite sized pieces, then just lumped in all the sauce (to which had been added fresh onion and apple) then topped with glazed carrots. 20 minutes in the oven and it came out lovely. I did take the potatoes out though, and made some brown rice to go with it.

There was still enough left from the original meal for Mum and Dad to have it as their main too, not bad, five portions from one cook. Not bad for them anyway; I'm used to cooking and freezing but over the years Mum did get in the habit of binning leftovers. A combination of my influence and now having a kitchen caddy for plate scraping has certainly cut down on waste in the house.

I'm afraid I'm onto the WeightWatchers frozen meals now. Mum thinks I'm being a dutiful daughter and eating my way through the freezer. Don't like to tell her I literally have no money to restock my cupboard... I'm not going hungry of course. I'm such a food-monkey when I have money that I have plenty of pulses and spices to get buy on.
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Old 06-07-2013, 04:17 AM   #998
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Ha! Having pork again this Sunday!
It's one of my favourite meats, whereas Mum favours chicken or lamb. But I'm guessing there was a Buy One Get One Free deal, because the packet in the freezer is exactly the same as the one she used last weekend.

the weekend after this, two of my Dad's friends and wives are coming for the weekend. It's John's 70th birthday. They're coming Saturday, going out for a meal and staying overnight at a B&B. They'll have some sort of unspecified meal here on Sunday. Brunch/ lunch/ BBQ.

Now as soon as Mum told me this I started making suggestions. I just love to feed people. And yes, I'm happy to clear up afterwards too. But she said, NO! No, don't. They will want to go back home. Don't start making all these plans. I swear I only wilted a little internally. I am confident I carried off the disappointment well.

Still, Mum might have sensed it.
Because a while later she said, "How about you do Sunday dinner this weekend? You can make that pork dish you mentioned."
She might be being nice because I'm still slowly killing myself. Or it might be because I was denied a chance to try out my salmon in a balsamic glaze. But either way I am chuffed to bits.

Shame it's only pork steaks and not a shoulder that I can slow cook.
But you don't look a gift pig in the mouth.
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Old 06-08-2013, 12:39 PM   #999
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My step son and daughter in law are running around like crazy trying to get everything ready for the movers to move them to their new house across town. So we watched the kids at the new house, I repainted a bathroom and my wife put down clean shelf paper in the kitchen cabinets.

The new house has a pool so after awhile everyone went in for a swim. I volunteered to cook dinner and even brought along pots and pans and other tools as theirs are all packed awaiting the move. I made spaghetti, one with a meat sauce which the kids prefer and one more vegetarian for my wife and me. Normally I make everything from scratch, even my tomato sauce but for this I just added a jarred sauce and served it over the noodles with Parmesan, a green salad and garlic bread. Pretty basic fare.

What surprised me was when my 12 year old grandson asked if I had made mashed potatoes. "No" I told him, to which he explained that his mother always served their spaghetti over mashed potatoes with bread and never salad. Wow, I thought, that's really carbo loading. Later when their parents arrived with car loads of fragile things to unload I mentioned it to her. Both her parents died of cancer by the time she was 17 so she had a kind of strange childhood and I don't think she ever was mentored by someone on cooking technique. She admitted that she always served the kids like my GS had said. She also told me she also used a kit to make spaghetti. "A kit?" I asked. "Yes" she said, "Everything you need comes in the box, the noodles, the sauce, everything. Then we just make up some instant mashed potatoes to go with them."

Luckily my grand kids are super active. Always playing outside and involved in sports like soccer and football so they aren't overweight. But I do worry a bit about later. The kids hardly ever eat fresh vegatables or fruit unless it's at our house, I have never seen anything like potatoes, onions or any other vegetable at their house. They do get apples but that is about it. And most of the pantry food is highly processed. Lots of Lunchables, cartons of salty chips and other snack foods and things like Hamburger Helper and other pre-made dinner items where you only add a thing or to or not at all.

I consider myself lucky to have grown up with a parents who both liked to cook as well as my grandmother who taught me a lot.
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Old 06-09-2013, 04:54 PM   #1000
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Untitled by zippyt, on Flickr

Untitled by zippyt, on Flickr


Beef it's whats for Dinner !!!!
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Old 06-10-2013, 10:57 AM   #1001
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Home-made pizza with mushrooms, cheese, tomatoes ... and glass of Chianti
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Old 06-10-2013, 11:24 PM   #1002
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I'm cooking something from Jamies 15 min mwals which i was gifted yesterday. The kids did one last night which tasted great although they did take about an hour. It was povely of them to cook for ke though.
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Old 06-11-2013, 07:25 PM   #1003
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welcome soul13! good to have you here in the cellar.

your pizza didn't come with a side of fava beans by and chance, did it?
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Old 06-16-2013, 09:04 PM   #1004
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Salmon and bleu cheese burger patties done on my panini grill, garlic and herb pita chips, and an Argentinean Malbec.




My God, go and get (apparently any) $12 bottle of Argentinean Malbec.
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Old 06-16-2013, 09:26 PM   #1005
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A couple of burgers.
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