Dejah

I am always amazed what my students from China can knock together in their "no cooking allowed" dorm rooms. They post pictures on facebook for me, then tell me next day "in so and so's room"!

It's been a while since we've had liver and onions! Only hubby, myself, and one of our sons will eat this organ meat. Found some packages with thick cut - the way we like it. I love mapo tofu, or eggplant with toban sauce. I didn't have any ground pork, but there were several small packets of ground beef. Threw all three ingredients together and made Spicy Tofu, Eggplant, and Beef.

Braised lamb shanks with fresh rosemary in the Instant Pot. Could have done with an extra 10 minutes, or allowing for natural release for fall-off-the-bone tenderness. But then I like a bit of chew. Threw in chopped onion, garlic, potato, daikon, celery, canned diced tomato, and red wine. Supper was ready in an hour - including prep. Lots of delicious gravy left. so might throw in ground lamb for a shepherd's pie later on.

No real recipe. I was trying to stay low-carb, thus the chayote and mushrooms. I browned the seasoned cubed pork, add chunks of onion and chayote. Added Patak curry paste AND dry Indian curry powder. Added half a container of chicken broth and set the IP for 30 minutes. I used the quick release, added the mushrooms and set it on sautee to cook the mushrooms. Thicken with a bit of cornstarch slurry. It turned out delicious.

Busy time of the term...soon...only 12 more days and 64 essays between me and freedom! Quick suppers then... Roast chicken with berbere spices. Mucked together carrots and mashed cauliflower leftover from previous night. Picked up a bone-in pork shoulder on sale at local store. Cut into 3 hunks and used one last night for Curry Pork Stew in the Instant Pot. Threw in chunks of onion, chayote, mushrooms.

@Anna N: Well, shoot! Come on down! After deliveries to family, friends, and neighbors, I still have 20 lbs in the freezer. From the looks of the new upright freezer, I need to get on the "Freezer Challenge" again!

Snow on the ground, and I think it's here to stay. So, not running out the backdoor to the BBQ or Big Easy until I find the shovel! Marinated chicken thighs in yogurt and curry powder. These were to be grilled on the BBQ, but I warmed the kitchen instead and roasted then broiled them. Fish guy came down from Lake Winnipeg with a load of Baby Sauger (Baby Pickerel) fillets. Lightly breaded with Panko crumbs, pan-fried.

Haven't made chili for a while. Found this recipe called "Our Favorite Texas Beef Chili" by Rhoda Boone Epicurious September 2014 No beans, no tomato. Called for the following chilis: dried ancho chiles, guajillo chiles, pasilla chiles, chipotle chiles, and chiles de árbol. These were roasted then soaked in hot water before being pureed. I skipped the cayenne pepper. The recipe said cooking time of 3 hours. I used my Instant Pot on the chili setting - 30 minutes, but the cubes of beef were not quite "tender". Put it on for another 15 minutes along with a can of black beans. Beans ended up mushy enough to "thicken" the chili. Nice bit of heat (not overpowering. Good enough to warm me up on our first real snowfall. Eaten with shredded Tex-Mex cheese and pita bread.

Trying out a recipe from Indian Instant Pot Cookbook - Urvashi Pitre Had picked up a semi-bonless lamb should at Safeway - 30% off. Cut up half of the chunk and made Lamb Rogan Josh - quick and delicious!

Tonight, Persian-Spiced Chicken with Spaghetti squash, pomagrante, and pistachios. I couldn't find pomagrante molasses, but I did have pom glaze. It made the roasted spaghetti squash a bit too tart. I enjoyed it with the chicken but hubby, not so much. All the more for me! Loved the flavour of turmeric and allspice on the chicken thighs. The skin got crispy in the oven.

Have never made pot roast. Might have to try that in the Instant Pot...

Our Superstore brought in a new clam along side of the usual Manila clams - Savory Clams. I wasn't too sure of them as the shells looked really thin as opposed to the rounded Manila ones. The Savory clams were $3.99 / lb; the Manila ones were $5.99. Had no idea what the Savory ones are like, but decided to give them a try. Steamed both kinds tonight as appetizer - with coconut milk, Kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, cilantro. Eaten with a dip of Ponzu and grind of Habanero peppers and lime (commercial shaker). I was happy to see the plump meat in both kinds of clams! Shells worked great for scooping and slurping. Pan fried turkey kolbassa, sauteed cabbage with ghee and cumin seeds, cauliflower "Mac'n'Cheese", and cole slaw dinner about an hour after the clams.

These two dishes...

Roast chicken thighs and legs - stuffed with fresh Kaffir lime leaves and sprinkled with salt. The skin turned out nice and crispy! Made up the Chinese Dim Sum style Beef Meatballs yesterday morning. Marinated in the fridge until we got home from the farm house at supper time. Steamed them with a drizzle of oyster sayce in the Instant Pot for 10 minutes. Juicy and light - can bounce off the plate! Wondered why I haven't made them for a long time!

ARRRGGG! I need to retire from teaching so I can hang out here more! Enjoying everyone's dishes! A few dishes to fill our needs lately: Stuffed Bell Peppers with ground pork, shrimp, and waterchestnut. Had some deep-fried tofu cubes in the fridge, so stuffed them All fried in the wok then drizzled with oyster sauce gravy. Had a very windy day yesterday - worst at 65 km/hr. Needed comfort food, so we had steamed pork with salty fish (traditional Cantonese dish I grew up with). I also love soy bean sprouts stir-fried with ginger and green onions. Lots of rice was needed, and we especially enjoyed the soften "burnt rice" on the bottom of the pot with some of the juice from the steamed pork and fish. Tonight was a quick supper after doing a bunch of clean-up in the yard after the wind storm. A small roast pork, sticky rice (joongzi) steamed in the Instant Pot from frozen state. Steamed frozen mixed veg, and cole slaw.

@Paul Bacino: Inspired by your delicious looking stuff pablano peppers! It's been many moons since I've made chili relleno, so last night, I stuffed some pablano peppers with seasoned ground beef and shredded Tex-Mex cheese. Wishing I had some of your sauce, Paul, but these were still pretty good! @CantCookStillTry: This forum is not only great for encouragement, but it is also a great place to get inspiration!

Found a lonely pork tenderloin from...ummm...can't remember when, but it showed up when I moved the items from the chest freezer to the upright. Have always known turmeric to have health benefits and enjoyed the fragrance and flavour, and tonight, I found a recipe that showcases this spice. Pork Tenderloin rubbed with turmeric, cumin, kosher salt, black pepper. The loin was seared in the pan then finished in a 400F oven. We enjoyed it with the last bits of the cranberry/orange/pecan chutney I had from the freezer. Will be making a new batch before the weekend Thanksgiving Turkey!

Babysat most of the day, so Instant Pot came to the rescue - steamed pork ribs in "meen see" - brown soy bean paste - a family favourite (15 minutes followed by 10 min. natural release. Eaten with MY favourite - stir-fried green beans and Jasmin rice.

Broke open the first jar of my Peach / Apricot/ Pineapple Conserve. Broke all the low-carb rules ever written, and ate it with a toasted Everything Bagel!

@Norm Matthews: Inspired by your Mexican Chicken, I pulled out Rick Bayless cookbook and made the Road Side Chicken for supper! Thanks! Cooked up some Mexican Rice and grilled bell peppers with the chicken. I can see where BIG bulb green onions would be needed for the grill. I only had small ones and even then, the bulbs were lovely.

Walmart had cap-off AAA Angus rib roasts on sale, this week - &5.77 / lb!. They started bringing them out yesterday. I picked up 2 single rib and one 2-rib roasts as I am actually out of smaller roasts (result of freezer challenge! I don't usually buy meat at Walmart, but they have been bringing in some good looking meat. Cooked a single tonight. We has a slice each and still have enough for lunch tomorrow - a sandwich and topping for my salad. The meat was very good! Roasted the meat at 325F for an hour along with some baby taters. Served with au jus, buttered carrots, and coleslaw for me.

Using the last rack of lamb from the freezer - March 2017 - not bad! It was cryovac and marked down at Safeway. I could never walk past a red bold 50% on a package. Decided we've had enough grilled racks, so I sliced it up, marinated the meat with ground cumin, wine, oil, soy sauce, and a bit of cornstarch. Other ingredients included 2 little Thai red chilis, red bell peppers, green onions, cilantro, Sechuan peppercorns and toasted cumin seeds. Cooked up some peas and cauliflower (a couple tiny tomatoes ) in curry paste, and basmati rice with cumin and cardamom seeds...all good...all good!

Many have minis, 3qt, 6, and 8 - ALL the sizes. I bought the 8-qt when Amazon Prime had them on 50% off. I think it would be the most versatile as the size allows for batch cooking, baking a cheese cake, etc (which I haven't tried). It takes up room on the counter, but I use it nearly every day, so it's fine sitting in the corner.

Sauerkraut was what we didn't have with our meal, and I was too tired to go to the store. Instead, we had stir-fried cabbage with caraway seeds with our spicy Italian sausages along with the last of my frozen cranberry / raisin/pecan chutney. Warmed the cockles of my tummy on a fall day...

Not much time to ponder dinner menu these days with outside fall work when it's not raining and a heavier teaching load. The Instant Pot has been my best friend. From a frozen package of top sirloin steaks to Beef Curry (Patak Hot Curry paste), some Indian curry powder, carrots, onions, and a couple of potatoes, dinner was ready in an hour. The hardest part was cutting thru' the frozen steaks. I did throw them into the microwave "thaw" for a few minutes, which helped.