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Tonight's Dinner: Airfryer #Salmon Bites! 🎣 Potato 🥔 Pancakes and Confetti 🎊 Cole Slaw. This week's Food Co-op 📦 box had a bag of 4oz individually cryovac-ed fillets of skinless Salmon (I actually prefer skin on my salmon, especially if I'm going to grill it on the barbie). I'd recently seen a cooking vid of someone making salmon bites so I thought I'd give it a whirl with half these fillets. A little olive oil, lemon juice and some spices - MrsDash, garlic powder, coriander, pepper - stirred together and the salmon cut in 1x2 inch pieces added to soak while I made the slaw and pancakes. The Potato Pancakes were made from some leftover garlic mashed taters that I added an egg, a couple TBS flour, and some grated Parmesan, and then airfried. Confetti 🎊 Cole Slaw is a colorful name for my version of Cole Slaw. Shredded red & green cabbage, carrots, some minced onion, juliennes of radish, and garnished with pepitos and sugar-free home dried cranberries, with a sweet & sour dressing. Just before airfrying I dredged the marinated salmon in Panko, airfried them for 7 minutes at 400°F which made them nice and crispy on the outside and moist inside. #TonightsDinner #SalmonBites #Airfryer #ColeSlaw #Potato #Pancakes
![Tonight's Dinner: Scallops in Lobster Sauce with Stir-fried Cauliflower Rice. Oh I'm a Lucky Man! [ ] Snapped up some lovely fresh Scallops yesterday and I'm drooling just thinking about their sweet saltly sea flavour! Plus some #SnowPeas, and I made a mild light Lobster Sauce for them (which contrary to its name has no lobster in it ... unlike Oyster Sauce which is actually made from oyster liquor. Lobster Sauce is named for a popular way to serve lobsters in China and is also a good accompaniment for other shellfish such as Scallops and Prawns. It is typically made from chickenstock, but I wanted a very mild sauce for mg Scallops so I made my Lobster Sauce from vegetable broth). For the Stir-fried Cauliflower Rice I just use minced fresh Cauliflower instead of day-old steamed rice. There's also some stir-fried Konjac Curd to serve with the Cauliflower Rice in a couple nights for a differen. Konjac curd is a dried variation of the powder extracted from Konjac Yams that are used to make lo-carb Shirataki Noodles. After soaking in boiling water to reconstitute the curd it can be cut to size and added to stir-fries or soups much like using tofu. The Konjac curd, like Shirataki and Tofu, has little taste of its own, but readily absorbs flavours of your other ingredients. #TonightsDinner #Scallops #LobsterSauce #Stirfried #CauliflowerRice #KonjacCurd #Shirataki](/photos/mrbill/thumbnails/1803328451793901813760.jpg)
Tonight's Dinner - Part Two: One of the very good things about March 17th (besides not being the Ides of March!) is that it's followed by the 18th of March ... which is the day after St.Paddy's Day which means there's leftover #CornedBeef!!! Oh yes, of course, there'll be a repeat dinner, but the special thing about leftover corned beef is you can make a batch of fresh homemade Corned Beef #Hash out of some of the corned beef and the boiled carrots and potatoes! But before that, I have served up #TonightsDinner of Corned Beef, boiled #Carrots, #Potatoes, and #Cabbage. Accompanied with #Horseradish Sauce (mine's better than Arby's!), a #Shrimp Cocktail. And I even gave in and whipped up a lo-carb version of #SodaBread, which tastes good, is hi-fiber, but is also a bit too crumbly, so I'll have tinker with my mixture of Almond, Coconut, and Flax flours ... Happy St.Patrick's Day to everyone!
T'was a 2 CUP Morning . . . rare is the morning I have more than one Cup of #coffee . . . admittedly my Mug holds the entire contents of my 1-2 person coffee pot (what is billed as a Half-Pot or 5-Cup #coffeemaker by manufacturers, whose myopic idea of a cup of coffee is a mere 5-6oz!) with a little room for a splash of flavor syrup (#SugarFree of course!), 2 teaspoons (carefully measured) and 4 Tbs of half&half . . . I'd call it a quarter cup of cream, but folks get all freaked out with that measurement until it's explained that's only 2oz, which is 4 Tbs, or 4 of those little creamer-thingies at the diner, which is less than one per cup ☕️ of coffee . . . anyways it was a cold and snowy morning outside (it was the usual cold-season 65°F inside) but peering out the window made me shiver, so much so, that I needed an after brekkie 2nd Cup of Coffee to warm me up! #1 My Coffee Bar. Drink Bar actually as you can see my 5-Cup pot, the Espresso machine, some of my Sugar-Free coffee syrups, and my Mammoth Coffee Cup ..er.. Mug; but also a half glimpse of the ice maker to the right and to the left the top shelf of the cart is home to pitchers of Green Tea, Lemonade, fruit juices, and packets of Cocoa mix. #2 Only about an inch of snow overnight, but it's damn cold out!
This week's Food Co-oP Delivery: Oh my, this was the "monthly" co-op drop-off, typically large with meat, fish, and produce. And it was H . U . G . E !!! Produce was a little lighter than usual, lacking the normal leafy green things, but plenty of other crops! Entrées were plentiful - lg 2lb Porterhouse steak that I trimmed into a filet and NY Strip (the Strip will make at least 2 dinners!), thin sliced boneless porkchops (or just sliced pork loin) good for stir-fry, chicken fried steak, or seasoned and slow cooked to be either BBQ pork or Mexican pulled pork. Bratwurst, Jimmy Dean brekkie sausage, and a pound of Wagyu Beef patties. Mahi Mahi fillets and some fake crab (might make some California Rolls, or add to some shrimp and scallops to make a seafood salad). Eggs (which cost as much as Filet Mignon!) a couple brekkie sandwiches, and a Key Lime Pie rounds out this Food Co-op delivery! Watch this space for #TonightsDinner episodes to see how I prepare this bounty! 😋 Buon Appetito! 😋 #FoodCooP #Food #CooP #HomeDelivery #groceries #TonightsDinner
Tonight's Dinner: Toscana Cacciucco - Tuscany Seafood Soup, especially famed from the port of Livorno. Yes you can think of it as Italian Bouillabaisse if you must. But #Cacciucco is actually the Mother Soup of San Francisco's renowned #Cioppino created by Italian immigrants during the California Gold Rush. Begin by sautéing a few cloves of garlic in olive oil, add diced onion, carrot, celery, bell pepper, peeled and diced tomatoes, and a sprig of basil. Add a liter of fish or seafood stock, some dry White Wine, then set pot to simmer while you prepare seafood. A varied selection of seafood, with & without shells, is a must. I'm using Mahi Mahi for my "white fish" because I had it on hand, Cherrystone Clams, New Zealand Mussels, peeled & deveined Prawns, Sea Scallops, and rings of Calamari. Other seafood can be added or substituted such as - crab, octopus, langostino, abalone, and other fish like cod, salmon, pollock. The more the merrier, and switch it up from one time to the next. Cut fish into bite-sized pieces, rinse (scrub if need be) shellfish, peel prawns. Quickly sear fish and shellfish with olive oil in very hot pan to seal in moisture, add each to pot after searing. Serve Cacciucco with a large salad and thick slices of crusty and hearty whole grain bread - such as this Mediterranean Olive Bread with whole dry cured olives in it, and slathered in #Truffle butter. Buon Appetito!!!
Today's Brekkie: This morning was a "production cooking" event to get some morning staples prepared for later and easy consumption. To include: Brekkie #Sausage, #CountryGravy, #Biscuits, and #CheesyGrits! Sausage Crumbles - one part regular store brand breakfast sausage and one part HOT Farmer John's sausage (b'cuz regular breakfast sausage is too bland and GroceryOutlet across the street had close-dated HOT! Farmer John for 99c/chub ... yes, of course I bought a few extras and tossed 'em in the freezer!). Unwrap sausage chubs and place in large wok (you can substitute large frying pan or dutch oven) on medium heat, and break up and mix sausage with a multi-bladed Ground Meat Masher/Chopper or side/back of wooden spoon, cook sausage to medium doneness, then drain sausage of rendered fat in strainer/colander suspended over large bowl. Cheesy #Grits - bring 3 cups water to boil in large sauce pan. Add 3 pinches of Salt or No-Salt (Potassium Chloride) a shake or two of granulated garlic and 3 more pinches of cracked or coursely ground pepper, and stir in ¾ cup of Old-Fashioned whole-grain Grits (not quick 5 minute or instant grits, "real grits" that take 25-30 minutes to cook) keep stirring until water & grits return to boil then turn heat to low and stir occasionally so grits don't stick. When sausage has been put in strainer stir in 1 cup cubed or shredded Cheddar cheese (sharp, medium, mild, Colby or American - whatever your preference, but should be an America style yellow cheese ... to the rest of the world cheese is white, off-white, bleu, and occasionally green but in a America we think cheese should be artificially #yellow ... sigh), then stir in a cup of your freshly cooked sausage crumbles and keep Cheesy Grits warm. While grits and sausage are cooking mix your biscuit dough ..or.. cheat and crack one of those Pillsbury DoughBoy canned biscuits on the counter edge (mine usually explode in my hand just pulling the outer label off ... yes, I cheated today b'cuz the Food Co-op had recently included a can of biscuits in my delivery, so I used it!), cut and position dough on pan and preheat oven (I use a countertop convection oven but you can use the big ov
Tonight's Dinner: InstaPot Seafood Hot Pot with a ...wait for it... large tossed salad. As I continue my #birthday week (probably more like 10 days) celebration, tonight's gustatory delights are headlined by an Asian dinner staple that spans many countries and their individual cuisines - the Hot Pot - sort of the Asian version of #fondue, and as ubiquitous in its realm as #TunaCasserole is across America. In Asia Hot Pot can range from a simple family dinner at home to a luxurious and romantic dinner out on the town and cover all the steps between. My InstaPot version of Hot Pot makes a quick and easy dinner for 1-2 or a whole family using a full-size or larger Pot. Hot Pot in Asia is typically served in a special vessel that keeps a soup-like stock/broth almost boiling, and the diners dip various thin sliced meat, poultry, seafood, and vegetables in to cook, similar to dipping meat in hot oil or veggies and bread into molten cheese for western cuisine's Fondue. I began building my InstaPot Hot Pot with a layer of #Shirataki noodles, topped with juliennes of carrots, #Daikon, sliced #mushrooms, scallions, Napa, and Bok Choy. A 3rd layer of seafood - #Mussels, #Clams, #Scallops and #Prawns. Fill pot ½-⅔ (little less than covering veggies and seafood with fish or seafood stock and finish with ¼ cup cooking sauce mixture of light & dark soy sauce, Thai fish sauce, rice vinegar, Shaohsing wine, mashed garlic & ginger, and a squirt or two of Sriracha and/or Green Dragon pepper sauces. Yes #Sriracha sauce is back! And Green Dragon is a somewhat similar fermented chili/pepper sauce made from green chilies. Seal your Pot and set timer to 3 minutes, quick release pressure when timer goes off, then serve Insta-Hot-Pot in large soup bowls and enjoy! #TonightsDinner #InstantPot #Seafood #HotPot
Tonight's Dinner: #Ukranian #Borscht - think Eastern European style #VegetableBeefSoup with lots of #Beets in it! And it will be a deep redish purple color! When you mention Borscht most folks think of Russia, or the old USSR, but a lot of what is considered Russian cuisine, and even traditions, are actually adopted from the Ukraine. My queue to make Borscht was finding a bundle of fresh beets, some potatoes and head of cabbage in this week's Food Co-op box ... plus two of my co-op buddies piling on gifting me their beets, and a small Tri-Tip roast to use for the beef. So I was to make soup for the group. Now to make Borscht you start with of course - mirepoix - diced onions, carrots, celery. Keep that chef's 🔪 knife (Santuko or Sakura if you've switched to Japanese knives) handy because there's a lot more slicing and dicing to prep all the veggies and meat. Or ... you can cheat like i did and use a Mandolin and/or vegetable chopper (you can see my combo chopper/mandolin on far right of pic #2 next to cabbage). Besides the beets, and the mirepoix, you need diced potatoes, a little minced garlic, and shredded or julienned cabbage (I like a 50/50 mix of red & green cabbage), I used my veggie chopper to make small juliennes of the beets, carrots and potatoes, and then julienned the cabbage and onions and diced the celery with my Santuko. And then you need some #Beef. Now it's easy to go vegetarian (maybe even vegan if that's your bent) by skipping the meat and using vegetable broth. For the rest of us, you can use whatever cut of beef you want - even ground beef - and slice, dice, cube, or julienne the meat. Less expensive cuts are the usual just like for typical beef vegetable soup - chuck or bottom round roast - or in my case a small frozen tri-tip that after thawing halfway while I prepped the veggies, was just right to julienne to match the long and thin veggies. Sauté the mirepoix and garlic in some olive oil over medium heat, then add beets and potatoes, keep stirring, then add your meat and brown it. Last add cabbage and wilt it. Then add beef broth, turn up heat and bring to boil, before setting temp to low and let soup simmer covered 3-4 hours. Served a
Tonight's Dinner: ... actually a little bit (bite) of last night's dinner ... I went to a friend's home and joined her and a few of her neighbors for a Buon Natale #Italian holiday dinner - antipasto, manicotti, bucatini al fredo, cardone, ceasar & caprese salads and gelato, biscotti & grostoli for dessert. ... I forgot my phone (mea culpa) and didn't capture any dinner pics, but when I got home I snapped one of what was left of the #terrine I made to go with the antipasta - sort of somewhere between paté and meatloaf, terrine is typically served cold or room temperature for lunch, brunch or an appetizer ar dinner. A loaf pan is lined with thin strips of pork belly or bacon, then packed with a meat mixture - mine was a combination of ground beef tri-tip, ground pork, sweet Italian sausage and ground turkey - seasoned with minced onion, shallots, garlic & my choice - a jalapeño pepper that were lightly sautéed. After squishing and kneading the ground meats together, add a couple beaten eggs & breadcrumbs like for meatloaf, a couple handfuls of shelled pistachios, the sautéed veggies and work the mixture to evenly spread additions throughout the meats. Pack meat mixture into lined loaf pan about ⅓ deep, place hard-boiled eggs down the middle, then pack remainder of meat firmly around the eggs to completely cover. Lay tails of bacon lining over top of loaf over lapping to encase the loaf. Bake slowly in moderate heat with loaf pan in a waterbath for a couple hours and exposed bacon has begun to crisp and brown. Remove terrine from oven and le for 10-15 minutes before turing out onto a roasting pan. Return terrine to hot oven to brown the bacon sides and top. Terrine can be served hot, but it traditionally cooled to room temperature before slicing. Bon Appétit!
![Today's Brekkie: DeLuxe Breakfast Bowl w/SuperDuper Hashbrowns (fine julienned potatoes [blanched then fried], diced ham, onion & jalapeño peppers) Topped with melted cheese and Eggs over easy. Toast of Sprouted Multi-Grain Keto bread w/fresh Avocado slices. Also, I baked a Dutch Apple Pie for tomorrow's dinner while hashbrowns were ..well.. browning! #TodaysBrekkie #BreakfastBowl #Hashbrowns #ham #onion #jalapeños #Eggs #Toast #Avocado #DutchApplePie](/photos/mrbill/thumbnails/1795249625674922164224.jpg)
‼️O.M.G‼️ 🎅 #SANTA 🎅 arrived early ⏰️ and his sleigh looked a lot like a new, Blue Ford F-150 4X4 pick'em-up truck loaded with a shiny new bottom freezer refrigerator‼️ The fridge that came with the townhouse was old, very small, and missing parts like veggie drawer and railings on the door shelves ... well ... the shiny, and even sparkly, new fridge with its "smudge-proof" brushed stainless steel doors is not huge by current fridge standards, but it's 40% bigger than the old fridge, in fact, the new fridge's cool compartment is as many ft³ as the entire old one's fridge&freezer! And it has all of its drawers and shelves! Plus cool LED lighting, touch controls, an alarm goes off if you leave the door open too long ...hey! I was pulling the factory tape and film off the shelves! And besides being a reasonable size (19ft³ total) it has my preferred layout - bottom pull-out freezer drawer so the fridge is much more easily accessed and my salad fixings are no longer at floor level!!! The NEW refrigerator is my xmas present from various family members chipping in. I was at HomeDespot on Saturday and saw this nice refrigerator, which was a December Special discount from $1100 down to $698 ... hang on, it gets even better! ... the holiday special discount was then matched by our electric company (NV Energy) with a $400 InstantRebate at the register, making the brand spanking new shiny and sparkly bottom drawer freezer-refrigerator just $298+tax! ‼️Thanks 🎅 Santa‼️ ‼️‼️‼️ 🎅🎅🎅