What Did We Eat Today?

[BooksRule]

I made a pot of red beans (to serve over rice) and I think it was one of the best batches I've ever cooked. Maybe it was because I added extra chopped onion and garlic (or maybe I was just really hungry--I skipped lunch).  I have enough for several more meals.

[DearEvette]

I made a veggie pot pie. included:

roasted butternut squash, portobello mushroom, peas, celery, onion, black garlic, carrots, roasted parsnipa, and lentils. In a bechamel with white wine and nutmeg all in a puff pastry crust.

[annzeepark914]

Italian Wedding Soup (Ina's recipe with some of my own additions) and naan with a bit of olive oil and Parmesan, baked.  The little ground chicken/chicken sausage meatballs are soooooo tasty!

[Bastet]

4 hours ago, annzeepark914 said:

Italian Wedding Soup (Ina's recipe with some of my own additions)

What do you add?  I base mine off her recipe, but I omit the pasta, carrots, and celery, and use more spinach than she does.

[annzeepark914]

5 minutes ago, Bastet said:

What do you add?  I base mine off her recipe, but I omit the pasta, carrots, and celery, and use more spinach than she does.

Penzey's Mural of Flavor, a little Turkish Seasoning, some Bavarian Inn Chicken Seasoning (I use it whenever a soup tastes a bit weak), garlic powder. After the veggies, I use ditalini. But I find the soup really doesn't come alive until it's poured into a bowl and fresh ground Parmesan is ladled on top. I'm almost full by the time the soup is ready as I've already been inhaling the fabulous chicken meatballs!

[Ancaster]

I discovered the perfect midnight snack for our miserable current cold, drizzly weather last night.  I put a couple of slices of lovely Stilton on a small brioche roll, then, since the cheese was from the fridge, I nuked this for just 10 seconds, and added slices of sweet and spicy pickles.  The brioche was just warmed, the cheese was just starting to ooze, the pickles added just the right amount of heat and sweet and crunch.  Outstanding!

I may have to discover that again soon.

[PRgal]

Yesterday we had an early Christmas dinner - turkey (well, breast, anyway), mash, stuffing, etc…dessert was a small birthday cake I found at the bakery (4” diameter!) since it’s my mom’s birthday on Christmas and she said she didn’t want a cake purchased the day before).  Tonight (Christmas Eve) will be leftovers with a bit of salad.  

[annzeepark914]

Oy vey--I'm stuffed.  We just returned from having lunch (actually only dinner was being offered) at the Capital Grille. We'd never been before and it was funny...when we'd tell friends what we were doing on Xmas Eve, they all said, "Stop by the bank on your way".  Yeah...it was pricey.  The sea bass was excellent.  The filet mignon was ok. The French fries were divine and we had a wonderful waiter. No room for dessert. 

[luv2lurk]

So yesterday (Christmas) I baked a tourtière that I had purchased at the church Christmas Fair a month ago. The good ladies cook the filling, then put it in raw pie dough and freeze it. Served it with a salad with cranberry vinaigrette.

It was amazing - can't remember the last time I tasted such such a flaky pie crust so I know there was lard in it. And a hint of cloves in the meat filling - delish and festive. Today when I took the leftover pie out of the fridge, I could see all the lard on top, grins. Anyway it re-heated perfectly in the oven.

[annzeepark914]

I made Korean Beef & Rice (but I use thin spaghetti instead of rice). 

[DearEvette]

For Christmas I hosted 12 people with varying dietary preferences.  I basically excised all red meat and pork from the menu.

For starters I had: Carmelized peaches and brie in puff pastry, roasted cherry tomato and balsamic bruschetta,  and spinach artichoke dip

Duck with orange sauce, and crab stuffed sole with a bernaise sauce, a whole roasted cauliflower with almond herb sauce, Broccoli wild rice casserole, eggplant rollups,  corn souffle, garlic sauteed spinach and mushrooms was the main dish.

[annzeepark914]

We had Katie Lee's Breakfast Bread for supper tonight. It's an egg on top of ricotta w/ prosciutto on top of naan (or flour tortilla) with cherry tomatoes, green onions, and Gruyere, baked for about 10 minutes.

[Ancaster]

1 hour ago, annzeepark914 said:

We had Katie Lee's Breakfast Bread for supper tonight. It's an egg on top of ricotta w/ prosciutto on top of naan (or flour tortilla) with cherry tomatoes, green onions, and Gruyere, baked for about 10 minutes.

That sounds great - kind of like when you want everything from the breakfast menu with a twist.  I'll have to remember when I make something like this up that I have the seal of approval from Katie Lee!  (Unlike lots of others, I have no problem with her now I've got used to the voice!)

I've been eating Shepherd's Pie for a few days.  I love it so much and if I make a big one it's worth the effort.  Plus it's freezable.  Same with vegetarian shepherd's pie.

Hmm, I think this may be my death row "last supper", along with Cherry Garcia icecream. 

Edited December 29, 2023 by Ancaster

[Browncoat]

I love Shepherd's Pie, but I've never actually made one.  

[Quof]

Reminder, Shepherds' pie is made with lamb, not beef.  

Sir Ian McKellan has spoken

[Browncoat]

Or possibly peppered with actual shepherd on top.

Edited December 29, 2023 by Browncoat

[EtheltoTillie]

I made some great creamed spinach today. It was from a Peter Luger copycat recipe, but I made a smaller quantity. Small amount of bechamel made with some minced onion and garlic. And milk and cream. Some nutmeg and Parmesan. Only my second time making it the first time was a wrongheaded recipe with no onions garlic or bechamel. 

Edited December 30, 2023 by EtheltoTillie

[chessiegal]

Yesterday we had lunch with friends at a nice restaurant. I was looking forward to a crab cake, which I got, but as a platter instead of a sandwich. Big mistake. The platter included garlic mashed potatoes and a veggie medley, both things I like. The crabcake came plopped on top of the mashed potatoes. I don't mind food touching on a plate, but the crab cake on the mashed potatoes - just no. The veggies were good but luke warm.  My husband had the same thing and said his veggies were plenty hot. We hardly ever eat out. I need to change that. And get a crab cake sandwich next time. This place will gladly swap French fries for Cole slaw or fresh fruit.

[annzeepark914]

I read (several years ago!) that shepherds pie made with beef is Cottage Pie. Haven't made this in a long time.

[Quof]

That's the distinction Sir Ian makes.

[PRgal]

For lunch, I had salad today that was sort of like a Niçoise - it had tuna, greens and hardboiled eggs, but no potatoes or beans.  Then, for dinner, we ordered in Indian, a New Year's Eve tradition in my family!  Dinner included butter chicken, saag paneer, garlic naan and pakoras.  So yum (and so very full)!  Champagne at midnight!!  I think I'm going to nap for an hour before the ball drop (I have my alarm set for 11:30 pm).  We were gifted a dinosaur shaped waffle maker over the summer and will be making that for brunch tomorrow (my son is STILL obsessed with dinos).

Edited January 1 by PRgal

[annzeepark914]

I made Firefighters Chili from the World Central Kitchen Cookbook (Xmas gift).  Oy vey! I had to do some mega doctoring.  I guess other folks' idea of chili is very different from what I like.  In the end, it was delicious.  I ate so much of it while tasting, adding "stuff" (using big taco chips when I ran out of spoons) that MrP914 will have to eat up the leftovers 😁

Edited January 1 by annzeepark914

[BooksRule]

I had a banana and some peanut butter for breakfast.

Since it's New Year's Day, I'm going to cook up a big pot of black-eyed peas (seasoned with some Christmas ham bits) for lunch and some cabbage (again seasoned with ham) for dinner.  This should take care of my luck and prosperity for the New Year.

[chessiegal]

I pulled some leftover spiral ham slices out of the freezer to snack on for good luck today.

[Quof]

I'm invited to a neighbour's for an early dinner today.  I asked what I could bring, and they said "we're having Chinese, there'll be lots of food. Bring something if you want" and I thought "Ugh, I hate Chinese food." I don't hate all of it, I just need to know in advance there are no mushrooms or shellfish that I will need to pick out, because I hate those ingredients.

Given the short notice, and in keeping with the international theme, I'm making Turkish bread. https://www.lazycatkitchen.com/no-knead-turkish-bread/.  

Mine doesn't look nearly that pretty, but it smells great. 

[DearEvette]

Every New Year's Eve do a stay at home 'grazing' -- just a lay out of finger food that we can graze on all night and at midnight raise a glass of champagne.

This year we had: a sushi platter, crab stuffed mushroom caps, salmon croquet bites(with remoulade sauce), various cheeses and crackers, bab ghanouj and tzatziki sauce with fresh veggies and pita for dipping, hot spinach-artichoke dip, cheesecake bites and macarons.

2 hours ago, BooksRule said:

Since it's New Year's Day, I'm going to cook up a big pot of black-eyed peas (seasoned with some Christmas ham bits) for lunch and some cabbage (again seasoned with ham) for dinner. 

Same.  Only I am gonna do collards with mine.  Since my husband has cut out meat in his diet in the last couple years I have to do two batches of collards.  One I do with traditional smoked hocks.  My family is from the South and that taste is hard wired in me, LOL. For my husband I try to replicate the flavor using a plant based smoked sausage and smoked olive oil for the fat.

And man, I am fo glad the holidays are over. No more entertaining until summer.

[BooksRule]

57 minutes ago, DearEvette said:

Only I am gonna do collards with mine.  Since my husband has cut out meat in his diet in the last couple years I have to do two batches of collards.  One I do with traditional smoked hocks.  My family is from the South and that taste is hard wired in me, LOL. For my husband I try to replicate the flavor using a plant based smoked sausage and smoked olive oil for the fat.

And man, I am fo glad the holidays are over. No more entertaining until summer.

I love collards and turnip greens (but not the roots), but cabbage has gotten to be a go-to for New Year's because it's so easy to get at the store.  Sometimes the other greens look a little wilted and sad at the store and I don't always have access to a local farmer's market (where you can get the good ones). Our Christmas ham was almost too salty to eat (I've never gotten one that was that salty), but the leftovers are perfect for seasoning pots of things (I plan to cut up the last bits and pieces later today and freeze them for future use). 

I had the flu the week before Christmas and still wasn't quite myself for the actual holiday.  Luckily, it was just me and immediate family and we kept it low-key (we didn't even exchange gifts this year).  I mainly took it easy. 

[Bastet]

My dad grew up with black-eyed peas as a New Year's tradition (no greens, though, just cornbread), and my mom is nice enough to make him a batch of that stinky stuff each year (with ham hock) in the crock pot even though she won't eat it (nor would I when I lived there; I hate all beans, while she likes a lot of them but not these) since she's an infinitely better cook than he is.

I usually make myself a nice meal on New Year's Eve (I don't go out; I stayed home NYE 1999, when everyone was making a huge deal out of the "millennium" [never mind that the actual millennium change was a year away], and had such a great time it became a tradition), but I had some leftovers that weren't going to last much longer so just heated those up instead.  Tonight I'll be watching football, and think I'm going to make it one of those treat nights where I make a big bowl of spinach, artichoke, and cheese dip, open up a bag of tortilla chips, and call that a meal.  For now I'm polishing off my final Bloody Mary and contemplating whether to make an egg white scramble, a salad, or just say "fuck it" and have snacks for lunch, too (I hear some cheese and crackers calling my name).

[PRgal]

I attempted to make airfryer crustless quiche based on a recipe I saw on social.  It was near disastrous and I ended up doing scrambled eggs stovetop to go along with the dino waffles!  Kiddo was okay with them (the waffles).  

[annzeepark914]

16 hours ago, PRgal said:

I attempted to make airfryer crustless quiche based on a recipe I saw on social.  It was near disastrous and I ended up doing scrambled eggs stovetop to go along with the dino waffles!  Kiddo was okay with them (the waffles).  

Do you ever make frittatas?  So easy (& no crust).

[PRgal]

41 minutes ago, annzeepark914 said:

Do you ever make frittatas?  So easy (& no crust).

Yes, but not in the air fryer.

[Quof]

On 1/1/2024 at 2:46 PM, Quof said:

I'm invited to a neighbour's for an early dinner today.  I asked what I could bring, and they said "we're having Chinese

The entire menu right through dessert (except my bread) came from the frozen section of the grocery store.  It was a pleasant evening, and the food was edible - not awful - but I would never choose to eat any of the dishes again.  I can't imagine inviting guests for a meal and not cooking most, if not all of it from scratch.   Different strokes, I guess. 

[annzeepark914]

We picked up some Afghan food on our way home this afternoon. Chicken kabobs, pilaf, spinach, naan, etc. I made my own raita. Very tasty! and I didn't have to cook dinner 😁

[annzeepark914]

Tonight we had pork tenderloin coated in United Nations Sauce. I have some Asian style spicy orange sauce from Wegmans that I love but it's too hot for me. So I added some Italian orange jam. Still too hot. Added some Famous Dave's BBQ sauce. Still needed to tone it down, so I added some Swedish Lingonberry Sauce. Perfecto! Served it with Goya's yellow rice and southern style sweet potato casserole. 

[chessiegal]

Snow day! We had our first measurable snow in 2 years, so comfort food. Mac 'n Cheese for lunch. Dinner is Blue Apron creamy tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches (smoked gouda and cheddar).

[chessiegal]

Today is my husband's birthday. He requested salmon, asparagus, and a baked sweet potato and got a white potato for me. I got him a small chocolate mousse for dessert.

[EtheltoTillie]

I am making split pea soup. I had a real craving for it this week.  My past attempts have always been too bland, whether I try with some ham or not, but I think I probably need more salt.  Will try that at the end.  Most recipes are pretty much exactly like any other. 

Edited January 27 by EtheltoTillie

[EtheltoTillie]

My split pea soup turned out well, after I added a lot of salt. I kept adding a little more over and over as I tasted while it was cooking. And by the way, it took forever to cook through, and I had to keep adding more water and stirring as it was sticking to the bottom. 

[EtheltoTillie]

Next time I make split pea soup I’m going to try the electric pressure cooker.  It should take much less time. It’s not an Instant Pot, so it does not have a sauté function, but I don’t mind using another pot to sauté the mirepoix. 

[scriggle]

Dinner tonight will be french onion soup. It is currently bubbling away in the slow cooker.

[annzeepark914]

Corn & Potato Chowder, garnished with crispy bacon pieces. 

[EtheltoTillie]

I made homemade chicken soup with matzoh balls.  Yum.  My husband had a cold, so it served as "bubbemeisin."

I also made scones, which I was going to post in the baking topic as well.

[annzeepark914]

I was going to make chicken soup today but will do that tomorrow as we ordered Afghan: chicken kabobs, basmati rice, cooked/ somewhat spicy spinach, and naan. 🎶Less work for mother 🎶 😁

[EtheltoTillie]

Detroit pizza is having a moment.  I tried a recipe from the New York Times, and it was awful.  I actually threw the whole thing out after tasting. 

For those who are wondering, Detroit pizza is made of a rectangular and very thick bready crust with tomato sauce, pepperoni, and cheese.  The traditional uses something called Wisconsin brick cheese, but if you can't get it, you can use cheddar or cheddar and mozzarella.  The cheese is supposed to get melted and crusty around the edges.  Gross, really just revolting.  Hard to explain.  Perhaps I made some mistakes but I'd never try it again.  The pizza sauce recipe was good, though. 

Edited February 22 by EtheltoTillie

[isalicat]

I was taken to lunch on Tuesday (yes, there is such a thing as a free lunch...😸 ) and went to a marvelous restaurant called "Taste" that completely lived up to its name. The idea is that you get several small things and taste lots of new flavors - so they have about 35 different kind of small (but not tiny) burgers, including hamburger, chicken, lamb, salmon and vegetarian, plus about 12 different salads and 6 different soups on any day. I had a lamb burger (with spicy garlic aoili, arugula, tomato), and what they call a "dirty chicken", which is BBQ chicken breast with a really good BBQ sauce and onions, tomato and greens, plus a salad of arugula, candied walnuts and other greens with balsamic viniagrette dressing - I thought this might be too much food for me, but I scarfed it all down happily. Now I want to go back and try the salmon (there were three different salmon burgers to try!) and a buncha other stuff. Not cheap, but really wonderful.

[annzeepark914]

1 hour ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Detroit pizza is having a moment.  I tried a recipe from the New York Times, and it was awful.  I actually threw the whole thing out after tasting. 

For those who are wondering, Detroit pizza is made of a rectangular and very thick bready crust with tomato sauce, pepperoni, and cheese.  The traditional uses something called Wisconsin brick cheese, but if you can't get it, you can use cheddar or cheddar and mozzarella.  The cheese is supposed to get melted and crusty around the edges.  Gross, really just revolting.  Hard to explain.  Perhaps I made some mistakes but I'd never try it again.  The pizza sauce recipe was good, though. 

That sounds like it's trying to be Sicilian pizza, the only thick crust pizza I'll eat. I'm no pizza making expert, but I think one has to have a real pizza oven to properly create that nice crunchy, delicious crust (as opposed to those bready crusts). Haven't had Sicilian in years (just waiting to first hear from folks about a great Sicilian pie 😏). I'm glad at least one part of the recipe, the sauce, was good!!

[EtheltoTillie]

5 hours ago, annzeepark914 said:

That sounds like it's trying to be Sicilian pizza, the only thick crust pizza I'll eat. I'm no pizza making expert, but I think one has to have a real pizza oven to properly create that nice crunchy, delicious crust (as opposed to those bready crusts). Haven't had Sicilian in years (just waiting to first hear from folks about a great Sicilian pie 😏). I'm glad at least one part of the recipe, the sauce, was good!!

From what I read it’s supposed to be like Sicilian pizza on steroids.  I’d rather make focaccia or regular thin crust pizza. I was able to save the rest of the pizza sauce by serving it with some ravioli the next day. 

[annzeepark914]

@EtheltoTillie But you're in NYC, land of a million pizza parlors so you can go out and get a wonderful, real Sicilian pie, right? Great save with the sauce. The only pizza I dare make is the flour tortilla in the cast iron skillet type. Haven't made it in years. It's not bad (for someone w/o a pizza stone). 

[EtheltoTillie]

2 minutes ago, annzeepark914 said:

@EtheltoTillie But you're in NYC, land of a million pizza parlors so you can go out and get a wonderful, real Sicilian pie, right? Great save with the sauce. The only pizza I dare make is the flour tortilla in the cast iron skillet type. Haven't made it in years. It's not bad (for someone w/o a pizza stone). 

True. I usually just get a regular triangle slice. 

[Bastet]

7 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

For those who are wondering, Detroit pizza is made of a rectangular and very thick bready crust

Emphasis mine, and why I'm a hard pass.  This article is an ode to it, but its top picture illustrates why I want no part of it -- I don't care whether that thick-ass crust is Sicilian or Detroit style (of the two, I'd probably go for the texture contrast of Detroit, but I don't want either one), it's a thick-ass crust that completely overpowers the stuff on top of it pizza is all about.