Dejah

Picked up some Za'atar for a recipe last year and it's been sitting on the shelf for too long! Marinated some chicken thighs in a mixture of Za'atar, lemon juice and zest, garlic, and OV, and seared them on the cast iron grill - finished in the oven. Eaten with Brussel Sprouts with pecans, shallots, and Dijon mustard; and carrot fries.

Punjabi Dry Curry Chicken - a couple of weeks ago. I THINK it's a recipe from Twosleeves - Urvashi Pitre I have such a pile of new recipes to try...Must get organized! But this was a nice change from the saucy curries we usually eat.

Picked up 2 pkgs of lamb chops - price reduced by 50% - gotta love my Safeway down the street! Trimmed the meat off the 7 chops, marinated with salt, pepper, and cumin in the fridge for the day. Heated the cast iron wok to smoking and seared the bones first, added chunks of onion, then the slices of lamb. Eaten with curry cauliflower and gingery bean sprouts. I REALLY enjoyed gnawing on the crispy bits on the bones.

Unfortunately, I have to wait for spring to get our treat of gogi vegetables. What did Pig Offal include?

Beef Curry from my Indian Instant Pot Cookbook by Urvashi Pitre. It was very good, especially with the keto-friendly naan bread I made with coconut flour to sop up the sauce. Had some bok choy I had chopped up sitting in the fridge, so that was also part of the meal.

Had picked up bell peppers of various colours but can't remember why! My fridge is becoming a challenge. like my freezer WAS. Had half a lb. of ground beef thawed in the fridge, so I sauteed some chopped onion, mushrooms, added spicy taco seasoning, and threw it all into a hot pan for a quick stir stir. Added the ground beef, a couple of chipotle in adobo, and a couple tbsps of homemade salsa. I heated up the meat but didn't brown the meat. Spooned some of the mixture into bell pepper halves, topped with shredded habanero cheddar cheese, and baked for 30 minutes. Topped it with more cheese and broiled for a couple more minutes. Had 2 ripe avocados intended to be filled with crab salad. Didn't get done, so made a salad with chunky cukes, cherry tomatoes, sliced radishes, red onion, cilantro, and chunked up avocado and lime juice. A sprinkle of chili/lime seasoning and supper was ready!

Crazy coincidence! I just picked up a can of artichoke hearts on a whim! I have never bought them before. Now I have a recipe to try! Thanks @robirdstx!

Chicken Marsala Florentine, roasted cauliflower - fairly quick supper - low cal and low carb Last night: Shrimp Egg Foo Young and steamed ground beef with Sechuan pickled vegetable ( Cha-choy) on one side. The other half is also ground beef but with salted fermented mustard greens (mu choy) with hot pepper and mint leaves.

@ElsieD: Do the Zeroodles products come in water as well, or are they dry? Felt like a fish day, so it was herb-crusted pickerel with basil butter. It's a recipe by Winnipeg chef: Chef Darryl Riddle of Le Garage Cafe. Also made some Singapore "rice noodles" with shiritaki noodles, the ones without tofu. Miss the rice noodles, but these did the trick in a pinch... e

@ElsieD: I pick up these "Tofu Shirataki" noodles at our Safeway - House Noodles? They do have that funky smell but I just rinse and throw them into hot water for a few minutes. Seems to take that smell away. The texture is not as rubber-band like. I have only seen Zeroodles at the Low Carb mail order store. Been trying to order the rice ones, but they are always sold out! I am looking forwward to trying the rice ones! Tonight's dinner was Coconut Chicken Meatballs. They are similar to the Beef Meatballs served in Dim Sum restaurants, but much easier to put together. It's a recipe by Urvashi of Twosleeves. Steamed some turnip and turned them into "fries", asparagus with bacon, and spinach salad...all fairly low-carb.

-4 Celcius but snowy day. Made Keto- Tuncan Zupper the other day. Reheated a couple of bowls for brunch today, topped with poached egg, Kraft Habanero Cheddar cheese, and fresh mint.

@Kim Shook Thank you for the birthday wish for hubby. @Smokeydoke: Yup, 100% Chinese. The Chinese restaurant was a family biz (1972) that I took over in 1992 for 10 years even though I swore as a teenager working in it to NEVER be in the restaurant biz. Loved it for the 10 years, retired, then went back teaching. I DID learn a lot about cooking. Now, I do a variety of cooking, sometimes very traditional Chinese, sometimes Canadian Chinese, and often, exploring other cuisine. Tonight, a simple oven baked low-carb coconut chicken, Lemon Parmesan Green Beans, and Shirataki Fettuccini noodles with Alfredo sauce and fresh green peppercorns.

Been AWOL again. Cleaning the house from top to bottom as we had a little dinner party and jam session planned as a belated bday celebration for hubby's 75 last weekend. The menu was based on some of the dishes we featured at our restaurant, from which we retired 15 years ago! I teased my friends on facebook by just giving the numbers of the dishes and they had to try to remember from when they used to frequent the restaurant. #63, #13, #109, #110, #12a, and Coconut Shrimp, which wasn't part of our menu at the time: Deep-fried Wontons, Sweet and Sour Ribs, Ginger Beef, Chicken in BBQ Sauce Sizzling Hot Plate, and Cantonese Shrimp and Char Siu Chow Mein. Dessert was Mango Pudding! Then we jammed late into the night!

Hubby has the flu, so comfort food it is... Made up filling for wontons: ground pork shrimp, waterchestnuts. Made into wontons, stuffed into deep-fried tofu, AND napa cabbage wrapped meatballs. Finished products all added to shrimp roe noodle soup. Chicken and ginger cooked in the rice pot. Beansprouts stir-fried with green onion, ginger, and slices of lap yuk (wind-dried cured pork), steamed rice, and a couple of cubes of fuyu (preserved tofu). I had made a pot of rehydrated squid and lotus root soup. It didn't appeal to hubby this time, so I've been eating this for 3 days!

There are some dishes best done the traditional way!

Most amazing! All I got was ONE poached egg, no toast, but a lovely sprinkle of toasted ginger and sesame seeds - a shaker from Winners.

@OkanagancookFirst Shelby and now YOU! My vegetarian granddaughter and the 3 other little monkeys are going to love Grandma when I put THESE out at the Xmas dinner!

SO much to see and eat in China...SO little time. Thank you for your travels and sharing.

Oh Joy! With retirement comes more time now to try all these delicious posts! Last suppers before "the end": "Chili" made with ground lamb and excessive shaker of cumin and roasted cumin seeds. Roasted cauliflower topped with cheese and buttered Panko, green beans with a fresh grind of lime and habanero, and coleslaw for cooling! Steamed pickerel fillets with the final blast of hot oil on top of the "greenery" Beef Fajita with the works and more of the roasted cauliflower

Thanks for THIS! On my list of to-dos!

Catching up on all the Thanksgiving posts... One more teaching day followed by a week of exams and marking...then FREEDOM! A couple of meals: Pickerel Fis'n'Chips with curry gravy: Char siu with soy bean sprouts and chives: : with a side of Ong Choy (water spinach) stir-fried with fermented tofu: I had picked up 2 trays of 3 lamb chops each, reduced by 30% at Safeway while waiting for my prescription. They were thick and I couldn't resist. Grilled them in my cast iron pan and finished in the oven. Minted peas and baby taters on the side.

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.