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Tonight's Dinner: Bulgogi Roast Chicken Shrimp Fried-Rice Tomato Omelet Tonight's entrée came from a friend who had just roasted a chicken slathered in Korean Bulgogi sauce, it was sweet & spicy and very moist! Having some shrimp fried-rice leftover from last night's dinner to plate the chicken made for a most easy warm-up type dinner. My weekly food Co-op box arrived this afternoon with some Roma tomatoes, red onions, and 3 dozen eggs ... having plans for an upcoming terrine and some egg salad, I hard-boiled a dozen of the eggs. For a little Mother & Child Reunion (Paul Simon song, google or YouTube it, he was inspired by a classic Chinese dish of chicken & egg) I whipped up an egg with cream, caramelized some red onion, added a couple cloves of roasted garlic, seared tomato wedges, then added the eggs for a fluffy omelet. #TonightsDinner #Bulgogi #Chicken #Shrimp #FriedRice #Tomato #Omelet
Tonight's Dinner: Eclectic Fusion . . . Shrimp Fried-Rice Broccoli Cheddar Soup Tossed Salad Ya'know ... sometimes you just have to eat up all of the miscellaneous tids & bits that have accumulated in the fridge over the past few days ... at my house that often happens on Tuesdays ... b'cuz Wednesdays are when my weekly box from the food Co-op is delivered and I must make sure there will be room in the fridge for the goodies! Some weeks it is as easy as merely warming up a leftover already assembled complete dinner in the nuclearizer, weeks it's more of a challenge to use up this and that which are a pile of plastic & pyrex containers and ziplock baggies ... This Morning's Brekkie was finishing the Cheesy Sausage Grits, last English Muffin, and a stray handful of Raspberries, in all a delicious and filling breakfast. Now for tonight's dinner ... ⅓ of a bag of mixed greens, ½ dozen grape tomatoes, nub of cucumber, and last of the croutons becomes tonight's Tossed-Together Salad. A fairly substantial bowl of Broccoli Cheddar soup needed nuked and slurped up. And for an entrée, there was a couple servings of Dirty Rice in the freezer, ⅓lb of shrimp that wasn't going to be tasty for too many more days, half bunch of Scallions, a medium carrot, and little less than a cup of frozen peas would be reworked from Cajun to Asian becoming Shrimp Fried-Rice. #TonightsDinner #Eclectic #Fusion #Shrimp #FriedRice #BroccoliCheddar #Soup #TossedSalad #Brekkie #Cheesy #Sausage #Grits #EnglishMuffin #Raspberries
![Tonight's Dinner: Enchiladas de Cerdo Frijoles Refritos Arroz Mexicano Ensalada [Shredded Pork Enchiladas, Refried Beans, Mexican Rice, Salad] To finish off the huge package of pork chops from this week's Food Co-op box I tossed the ribs trimmed to make last night's Country Fried Steak (extra portions were one to a friend and the other frozen for later) into the slow cooker, added some weak chicken stock to jus them, then seasoned the remaining 3 chops for Mexican and layed over ribs to slow-cook overnight. This morning the chops practically shredded themselves just lifting them out of the pot! To the shredded pork I added minced Anaheim peppers and onions, Oaxaca Queso, and stuffed tortillas with the mixture to make a casserole. Topped Enchiladas with my homemade Chili Verde, Queso Blanco, and Cojita before baking an hour. Pinto Beans simmered all day to make the refritos, and brown steamed with peppers, onions, tomatoes, and spices while the Enchiladas baked. Served with a sprinkle of Cojita and tossed salad - muy bueno! #TonightsDinner #EnchiladasCerdo #Frijoles #Refritos #Arroz #Mexicano #ShreddedPork #Enchiladas, #Beans #Rice #Salad](/photos/mrbill/thumbnails/1794012342740512243712.jpg)
Tonight's Dinner: Enchiladas de Cerdo Frijoles Refritos Arroz Mexicano Ensalada [Shredded Pork Enchiladas, Refried Beans, Mexican Rice, Salad] To finish off the huge package of pork chops from this week's Food Co-op box I tossed the ribs trimmed to make last night's Country Fried Steak (extra portions were one to a friend and the other frozen for later) into the slow cooker, added some weak chicken stock to jus them, then seasoned the remaining 3 chops for Mexican and layed over ribs to slow-cook overnight. This morning the chops practically shredded themselves just lifting them out of the pot! To the shredded pork I added minced Anaheim peppers and onions, Oaxaca Queso, and stuffed tortillas with the mixture to make a casserole. Topped Enchiladas with my homemade Chili Verde, Queso Blanco, and Cojita before baking an hour. Pinto Beans simmered all day to make the refritos, and brown steamed with peppers, onions, tomatoes, and spices while the Enchiladas baked. Served with a sprinkle of Cojita and tossed salad - muy bueno! #TonightsDinner #EnchiladasCerdo #Frijoles #Refritos #Arroz #Mexicano #ShreddedPork #Enchiladas, #Beans #Rice #Salad
Tonight's Dinner: Chicken Fried Steak with Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Country Gravy, steamed Asparagus, and Tossed Salad. Another tasty dinner created mostly from this week's Food Co-op box. Appx 3 lbs package of Center Cut Pork Chops had 6 big chops, which I cut the big juicy loin section off 3 of them and tossed their rib bones into the slow cooker (the other 3 chops went on top of the ribs with Mexican spices to make Enchiladas tomorrow). I then tenderized the loins, instead of smacking them thin like for schnitzel with a meat mallet, I used my new needle tenderizer (see below in pic 2) and kept the steaks thick to be chewy and juicy! To make the chicken fried pork medallions a little more lo-carb I added a finely minced mixture of pecans, walnuts, and almonds to some panko 50/50 for a crispy crunchy crust when pan fried. Yukon Gold potatoes from this week's box were cubed, pare-boiled, then mashed with half dozen cloves of roasted garlic and some savory herbs. Salad mixture of Greens & Baby Spinach came from box along with Grape Tomatoes. Cucumber cubes and homemade Bleu Cheese (Gorgonzola) dressing were hanging out in fridge waiting for greens to arrive, as were the Asparagus tips from last week's co-op box. #TonightsDinner #ChickenFriedSteak #GarlicMashedPotatoes #CountryGravy #Asparagus #TossedSalad #FoodCoop
![!!! Having a Good Day !!! Egg-traordinaire Double Yolk #Bonus! Today's Brekkie: Originally planning on a couple eggs over-easy to go with my Cheesy Grits and Hi-Fiber English Muffin ... I got a surprise when one of my local farmer eggs plopped out two [2] yolks! #DoubleYolk eggs are #GoodLuck!!! 😋 #Yum 😋 #Yum 😋 #TodaysBrekkie #CheesyGrits #HiFiber #EnglishMuffin](/photos/mrbill/thumbnails/1793722741354964353024.jpg)
#AvocadoTool ... for several years I've noticed similar kitchen gadgets at WallyWorld, Target, BedBath&Beyond, BigLots and the other last-chance chains - Marshall's, Ross, Burlington Coat Factory, Tuesday Morning ... and being priced from $4-7 I always passed on it. But a new player in #online merchandising - #TEMU - attempting to challenge Ebay, Amazon & Wish, had an Avocado Tool for just 99c minus the 30% total order discount they gave on my first order (yeah ... I bought almost all the quirky gadgets I'd been curious about b'cuz they were from 39c to $1.74 instead of several bucks or more, except for the combo Veggie Chopper/Mandolin Slicer with 15 dicer-slicer-grating attachments that dropped way down to just $12!). OK ... some if my new gadgets are treasures, some are functional, and a few are duds! Sorry to say the Avocado Tool falls into that last category. All three components #FAILED miserably! The "knife" tore the peel instead of cleanly cutting it. The "pit remover" (the hole in the middle with 3 little blades) couldn't grab the pit. And the "slicer scoop" merely mashed a perfectly nice firm & ripe Avocado! This gadget ... not recommended!
#ThanksgivingDinner: I was invited to a Thanksgiving Dinner, oh I didn't get out of cooking! I brought a couple Butternut Squash dishes plus I went over to my friend's house Wednesday and helped her prep for the dinner. I cut up her turkey so she could slow-cook it in separate crockpots (one for breast, another for the rest! Though she sent the drumsticks & back home with me for soup). we made Cellentani pasta casserole, par-boiled little Yukon Gold potatoes to be turned into Smashed taters (another guest would bring "mashed potatoes"), washed, chopped & diced & sliced veggies for dressings, gravy, and other dishes; and sampled cheeses, olives, pickles and assorted other items that would become antipasto. At 4:00PM Thursday the 6 of us converged for Thanksgiving Dinner, a filling, laugh filled, sumptuous feast! See below for the spread! Pic 1 - Hot Table, clockwise from top - wheat grass for decoration; #Cellentani Pasta casserole with Shaved #Parmesan, #Prosciutto and #Pistachios; Baked #Ham; Slow Roasted #Turkey; Mashed Potatoes; #Garlic & #Cojito Butternut Squash; Smashed Taters w/Parmesan & Parsley. Center - Sausage & Mushroom #Dressing. Pic 2 - Around the table from upper-right: #Kimchi; cranberries; Butternut Slaw; Pickles-Olives-Asparagus; jellied cranberries; just plain bread dressing (for guest with special diet); basket filled with sliced Truffle Butter Baguettes; hidden - platter of sauted whole Green Beans w/ Shitaki Mushrooms surrounded by broiled Tomato halves. Pic 3 - Dessert Table - Pies: Coconut Creme, Pumpkin, Pecan. And a tray of homemade Cookies. Pic 4 - And there's the previously alluded to Turkey Soup made from the back & drumsticks with celery, carrots, onions, peppers, and mushrooms that simmered on my back-burner all morning and afternoon while I made the Garlic & Cojita Roasted Butternut Squash and the Butternut Slaw.
Tonight's Dinner: Dwaejigogiwa Gugsu (spicy Korean style Pork Noodle Soup usually served in winter) ... yes, it's freezing outside which just screams for a soup-based hot supper! Gogi Mandu (Meat filled Korean Dumplings sort of like Pot Stickers) Last week I got a screaming deal on a package of super meaty pork neck bones, which I braised with mir poix and added extra liquid, then pulled the meat off the bones (actually the meat pretty just fell off the bones after simmering for several hours), tossed the bones back in the pot, added some more water and couple tsp of mushroom bouillon powder brought to boil, then simmered and reduced stock by a ⅓. Meanwhile I froze half the braised pork and turned the other half into a thick savory Pork & Peppers stew ... but only used about half of the pork broth I'd just made. So this afternoon I defrosted the remaining braised pork, warmed up the leftover pork stock, stir-fried a bunch of veggies, prepped some Shirataki noodles, and made a delicious Gogiwa Gugsu - Spicy Korean Pork Neck Bone Soup. I happened to have a bag of Korean Mandu (a pot sticker type dumpling) which was the inspiration to go Korean for dinner tonight! #TonightsDinner #Korean #DwaejigogiwaGugsu #PorkNoodleSoup #GogiMandu #Dumplings #PotStickers
Today's Co-oP Market delivery: This week's box had some interesting surprises (never know what the co-op will be sharing with members from week to week). So here we go! Asparagus, orange&green bell peppers, butternut squash (I picked the smallest one for pic but I also have 3 really big ones - 2 gifted from friend that I'm suppose to cook up and bring for Turkey Day), red&yellow onions, 2 bags of Mixed Greens salad, big bag of black grapes, and there was a bag of russet potatoes but I gave them to friend for T-day dinner. Meaty items included chicken drumstix, mahi mahi fillets, and Cerviche Shrimp. I already started trimming asparagus and will make Creme of Asparagus soup of the lower stalks, got out my scimitar and cut block of mahi mahi in two, bagged the halves, and put them in freezer for later date, and finally the drummies are now pan roasting in olive oil and lots of smashed garlic cloves ... not sure what I'll eventually make out of the chicken but it will be garlicky and yummy! 😋
Tonight's Dinner: Pork & Peppers Stew Chopped Salad and homemade Tater Tots! OK ... mostly a repeat of leftovers and the taters tots look more like #TaterTurds ...BUT... they are super 😋 #YUMMY!😋 Make your own sort of like making the filling for #TwiceBakedPotatoes, except boil your potatoes and mash, add a splash of milk, a Tbs corn starch per tater, grated cheese of your fancy, minced bacon and onion, add a scrambled egg, and spices of your choice - I went with fresh ground pepper, garlic & onion powder, HVR powder - then stir it all together and stuff into a quart ziplock baggie, snip a little off one corner (or use a pastry bag and ⅜ to ½ inch tip). Into hot oil (pan or deep fryer) squeeze out 1½ to 2 inch long tots, snip off with kitchen shears and brown. Remove and drain on paper towels, then enjoy! #TonightsDinner #Homemade #TaterTots
Tonight's "Tonight's Dinner" episode has been pre-empted by a special Prequel - Morning Market Adventure - featuring things that jumped into my basket early this morning when I ran over to the store for only Jalapeños and ½&½ so I could fix brekkie ... jump down to pics for details. #TonightsDinner #MorningMarketAdventure #clearance #markdown #HalfAndHalf #Jalapenos Pic #1 - As you can see, several items jumped, climbed, and snuck into my basket while trying to get just 2 things for brekkie - pkg Pork Neck Bones with a lot of meat on them ($1.99), Hot Italian Sausage (usually a buck & quarter each or 10for$10 these end up being half-a-buck apiece!), ½lb box sliced shrooms, while the Jalapeños were normal price 99c/lb their cousins the Sweet Bell Peppers were on unadvertised sale (MGR Special) of only 69c/each and jumped in while I bagging Jalapeños. The Sugar-Free Lemonade is in the cooler by the dairy products and snuck onboard when I was getting ½&½, similar situation in produce with the peppers distracting me while the parsley climbed in ... Pic #2 - These oh-so meaty pork neck bonesand (practically County-style ribs at half the price) will be braised and made into a pork stew and pork stock. Pic #3 - The pork neck bones have been browned in olive oil and now adding mirpoix befire adding water to start agternoon long slow simmer. The #PorkStew will be kinda the opposite of my Chili Verde con Cerdo which is more a green chili soup/sauce with bits of pork in it, whereas the Pork Stew will be centered on the #braised #pork with potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, and green bell pepper.
Today's Brekkie: Deconstructed #Breakfast #Sandwiches Steel-Cut Oats w/Raisins Kinda weird weather outside & kinda weird #Brekkie inside ... Let's begin with the #oatmeal, it's easiest to explain. Roaming around grocery store last evening I pass the clearance-corner coming face-to-face with a container of #SteelCutOats 60%OFF b'cuz somebody dropped it hard on edge crushing it so plastic lid has to be taped on, but inner seal still intact (and I was able to uncrush cylinder and restore original shape such that lid fits again!) which many around me on farcebook tout as yummy. I was in need of more oatmeal after several oatmeal brekkies in pas weeks, so 2 bucks instead of $5-7 normally for organic steel-cut and less than my usual wholegrain rolled oats, I thought I'd take the Steel-Cut for a test drive (and could make cookies for holiday gifts if I didn't like them). So I fixed a small serving, added some Raisins, and ... ok, not bad, definitely edible, I still prefer the mouth (consistently) of the whole oats to these chopped groats ... I'll probably eat half the container and bake the rest. Now to #deconstructing brekkie sandwiches ... ya'know those frozen egg/meat/cheese on biscuit/muffin/croissant thingies? Well I found a couple hiding in my freezer, a convenience when time is short and brekkie will be on the run. This morning I just wasn't in a mood for a nuked egg-crois-mac-sandwich, but wanted to get them rotated outta freezer and thoughts of an easy #sausage and #gravy and #biscuit was forming ... separating the elements, I diced the sausage patties and started browning them with some chopped onion. Slightest smear of butter to biscuits cut sides (biscuits were actually #croissants) and toasted. A sprinkle of flour to sausage & onions to make a roux, with ⅓c each chicken broth and milk stirred in to make gravy. Diced the egg patties, added to sausage gravy. Serve up oats with pat of butter and sprinkle of stevia, then line bowl with biscuits, pour sausage & egg gravy over, cover with the remaining cheese slices.
Tonight's Dinner: Vegetable Wonton Soup Orange Glazed Chicken over Tossed Salad Soup - basic veggie broth plus mushroom broth, packed full of fresh veggies - big handful of Broccoli Slaw from bag (julienned broccoli stalks, red cabbage and carrots saves time), diced red onion, sliced mushrooms and celery, minced garlic & ginger, bring to boil, lower to simmer for an hour, then add wontons and steep on low for ½hr. Chicken - pound out a boneless skinless thigh (slip into small sandwich baggie, pound with mallet, I used the textured side (the little pyramid spikes) with a medium stroke to nicely tenderize the thigh), 3-step breaded thigh finishing in Panko. Pan-fried breaded thigh quickly on high in combo of avocado and sesame oil. When golden brown, put chicken on cutting board, slice, and serve over salad with a good drizzle of Orange sauce. #TonightsDinner #Wonton #Soup #OrangeChicken #TossedSalad
