Dejah

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.

A recent purchase - August - boneless pork rib roast. I had picked up several different spice packets while down in Dallas - Irving area. Thought I'd try one, Tomato - Tarragon Spices on the pork. It was a nice flavour with a light tomato tang. Mashed cauliflower, Shanghai bok choy, and coleslaw accompanied on the plate. The last 6 bone-in chicken thighs from the freezer - spring 2017 purchase. Chilly rainy days are still here. Comfort food WITH carbs was needed. Sandpot Ginger Chicken and Rice it is! Added sliced lap cheung for that extra flavour. Supper with some stir-fried bok choy in a fun bowl, Walmart has young turkeys out...+7 KG birds for $20.00. Thought of picking one up - 8.26 kg as I now have room in the freezer. I resisted as the sales WILL be coming up soon.

Using up the other 2 top sirloin steaks I pulled out earlier in the week. Had a fun garden club meeting in the evening, so it was fajita for supper. I picked up a bottle of Smoky Paprika Chipotle seasoning at Winners, and added that to the seasoning base. It was lovely! Guac, shredded habanero cheese and greenery (included 2 jalapeno peppers for hubby) on the side in low-carb tortillas (commercial)

@ElsieD: Here's the link to the recipe I used. http://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a21033/vadouvan-curry-shrimp-recipe-opr0213/ Let me know how you liked it. I really appreciated my Instant Pot today - a windy rainy chilly day. I forgot to bring out soup bones from the freezer. A package of frozen pork neck bones, half a pot of water, 15 minutes under high pressure and I had great broth. Threw in a bag of Sher Li Hon (much like Chinese mustard greens), a few slices of ginger, and I had soup! Had pulled out a tray of top sirloin steaks bought on sale but had no inspiration, especially after a large bowl of soup. Cut off some thick strips, rubbed on Creole spices and seared on the cast iron grill. Broiled some steamed broccoli with shredded Habanero cheese, made a big salad, and supper was all she wrote!

@Kerry Beal : No...This was a rushed job of regular Yorkie. I saw a low-carb version somewhere but can't seem to find it again. But, if I am going to have Yorkie with roast beef, it's GOT to be the real thing, even if it is a rushed job! Continuing on my freezer challenge, which has become easier now that I can see what all is in the freezer! Pulled a bag of 16-20 count shrimp and made Vadouvan Curry Shrimp - new to me. Loved it and it was easy to put together. WiKi said about Vadouvan:The spice blend is thought to have originated from French colonial influence in the Puducherry region of India

That October 2016 rib roast from the above post - became this tonight! Stuck it in 275F oven at 1:30. Pulled at 140F at 5 pm... Threw in baking potatoes and Yorkshire pudding (last minute decision), carrots and green beans made a grand meal. We ate barely one rib width for supper. Cut the rest into 2 big portions. One portion, in Foodsaver bag, went back into the freezer along with 8 Yorkies. The other portion and 2 Yorkies are for...maybe Monday. Food Truck Warz are in the city, so may well hit that for supper tomorrow!

Cooked one of 4 one lb packages of pickerel I bought from a local fisherman in June. Breaded with low-carb coating and eaten with tofu, peas, and cole slaw (been carving and eating this all week!). Here is my real dedication to cooking my way through my freezer. This is one of 3 rib roasts that were at the bottom of the old chest freezer. It was too heavy and too far down for me to pull out. Now, there is now escaping my grasp! In view of the heavy teaching load I have this term, and the marking load to go along with it, I want to have lots of leftovers for lunch and dinner. There are only the two of us at home, so some of the cooked meat MAY go back into the freezer. It was such a great price, I couldn't refuse. This one is dated October, 2016...3.975 kg! The weather has really turned chilly : 7C today and rain. Doing a slow roast for this hunk of meat will take the chill off the air.

One package of baby back ribs, purchased Dec. 2016 - rubbed with Harissa spice and slow-roasted in the oven. Eaten with cauliflower "fried rice" and peas - from the freezer. 3 more packages of ribs to use up...