Dejah

I finally caved! A 20.9 cu foot manual-defrost upright freezer will make its way to my garage on Thursday. The +30 year old chest freezer has been "challenged" down to half empty. What's down the second half ? There is still lots of protein, but I am sure lots discards as well. Here's hoping my shopping, hoarding tendency will be curbed somewhat, and my organizational skills will improve. This meal could be on either the Instant Pot thread or challenge, so I'll put it here to continue my freezer purge! Leftover re-hydrated Chinese mushrooms from making Joongzi and 8 drumsticks (purchased at 50% discount), ginger, a splash of oyster sauce and chicken stock were steamed for 18 minutes in the Instant Pot. One of our favourite meals.

Fall is in the air! Paid homage to this change in season and to my husband 's ancestors by making Nana Campbell's Peach, Apricot, Pineapple Conserve. Just eating the leftover container as I ran out of sealers. Great with toast and spoon - jar method! There's no ice-cream in the freezer, but that may also be an option for breakfast! A friend gave me a fresh loaf of whole wheat quinoa and molasses bread. It was GREAT toasted!

Thanks!

@Mmmpomps: More info' on the IP Pork Belly, Please! I have a piece in the freezer (maybe should be in Freezer Challenge!) I've been thinking about doing siu yook in the Big Easy, but now I'd love to try in the IP. Had plans to buy yet more plants at a lily nursery (1 hr. drive) with friends today. In the morning, I made the filling for a steak and kidney pie in the IP. It turned out beautifully. When I got back close to supper time, I put the pie together with pie shell and puff pastry from the store. Sauteed mixed vegetables, and hubby was so happy he didn't even ask how much $ I spent!

Posted a couple of meals in the Instant Pot thread...now I'm wondering if we are supposed to just keep text on that thread and continue to post pictures here?

OK...now I am wondering if photos of food should be posted here...or just comments? and photos to remain in "dinner thread"?

OK....so I am no longer an Instant Pot Virgin! After the lamb shanks (assisted by daughter), which were posted in the dinner thread, I think, I have ventured forth by myself without fear! After forcing myself to be patient, I have been able to get browning on the meat! Made a version of Beef Rendang - saucier than the traditional method, but just as flavourful and a lot less time involved. Used bone-in beef short ribs. I did 35 minutes on high pressure first, rapid release, then did another 35 minutes. Perfect! Then it was Beef stew - 35 minutes with carrots and celery. The corn-on-the-cob was done separately first - 10 minutes. Tonight, I used a pork roast recipe from the Internet but added my own twist. A friend gave me his Kaffir Lime tree, so i used fresh leaves, lemongrass, ginger, garlic, as the aromatics. The roast was a boneless rib roast reduced for quick sale. The roast was browned, taken out, browned the carrots and potatoes, taken out, then sauteed the chopped ginger, garlic, lemongrass, and lime leaves. 1.5 cups of chicken broth was used to bring up the brown bits, and the roast was laid on top of the "herbs". The meat was on high pressure for 15 minutes. Waited for the pressure to release on its own, then the carrots and potatoes were added for 5 minutes. Left the pressure to release naturally. The aroma was amazing! Meat was juicy and tender, as were the taters and carrot.

This weekend while our daughter was home: 2-rib prime in the Big Easy: Great crust on the cap! Makes me think crispy pork - Chinese siu yook next! And I just received my 8-quart Instant Pot! I was hesitant about the purchase as I thought I would miss the hours of slow cooking and braising in the oven, but the pressure cooker was what I have been wanting.Then Amazon.ca had their Prime Day sale, the 8-quart for $99.99 - $100.00 discount! Daughter ordered me one. Made Spiced Lamb Shanks! The recipe called for rough-chopped carrots and onions, but I left the carrot chunkier, and added celery. The veg added a sweetness, and stayed in tact enough to suffice as our vegetable. I am happy I got one! It was fast and the kitchen stayed cool!

@liuzhou Oh Gosh! Just reading about your hospital ordeal and recovery now. Wishing you a complete recovery.

Pulled a bag of odd pieces of pork side rib left over from another BBQ in the spring. Marinated with hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, 5-spice powder, soy sauce and sat in the fridge from yesterday. Roasted in the oven while I worked in the garden. Steamed gai lan then quickly sauteed with ginger and drizzled with oyster sauce. Supper was good!

Wonderful to read this blog! Brings back great memories of our trip to Vietnam in 2015...Food was amazing!

I've fallen off the wagon! Bought beef, beef, and more beef this last week. I'll have to keep those on one side until I finish using what was already in the freezer...

Oh MY! How did I miss this thread?! Just spent my whole evening reading the entries from first to this latest one. Can't possibly hit "like" on every post by Kerry and Anna, but I paid specific attention to the rack of lamb AND the cauliflower cake. The latter is on my to-do-list as I am needing new ways of cooking cauliflower! Thanks for the always interesting time on the island!

@Anna N : Thanks for the compliment! Much appreciated coming from you. Don't really have photo skills - just my point and shoot, nor specific cooking skills. BUT, Oh...How I love to eat and feed! Will be pulling out a small slab of pork belly (to make salt pork), several packages of Chinese sausages, bags of dried baby shrimp, to host a joongzi workshop on the 15th for a couple of relatives who want to learn - for our freezers! It's late for joongzi making time, which is usually in May, but is it EVER too late to make joongzi?

A couple of meals this week - Smallish chicken from my past. This one was at the bottom of the freezer. I saw it's skinny legs sticking up. Rubbed with African Township Spice Blend and cooked in the Big Easy. Eaten with cheesy broccoli (frozen veg) A rack of lamb - from DEC. 2016! Again, it was from Safeway at 50% off. It was cryovac and stashed in the fridge freezer. I think it had dropped on my toes a few times, so MUST be eaten...NOW! Just added Montreal Steak Spice and grilled on stove top. Had a half bag of spinach, left over from salads on the weekend. Love spinach , even sauteed. Boiled little taters, buttered and eaten with chopped fresh mint.

The group's been going for many many years. Hubby was always the fan, so much so that he created a website devoted to ERB, and the company in Tarzana, Calif liked it so much they hired him. Thru' that, we have been invited to premieres, including John Carter in L.A.. Loved the movie! Continuing with the freezer saga, I had made a HUGE batch of hot 'n' sour soup a couple of weeks ago, not intentionally, but the broth was SO spicy I had to keep adding chicken stock! That resulted in several containers for the freezer as well as gifting to friends. This morning was our annual Chinese community Ching Ming, and it was followed by a big luncheon at a local Chinese buffet which included traditional dishes: fun see, Chinese mushrooms in oyster sauce, siu jook, etc. We stuffed ourselves at lunch, so by supper time, I really didn't feel like cooking from scratch, especially after working in the garden all afternoon. So, it was hot'n'sour soup for supper. The base included all the vegetarian ingredients. I added chicken breast, shrimp, and char siu from the freezer. Thickened with a bit of cornstarch slurry, and a scoop of rice for hubby, tofu in both, we were satisfied. Really, there was broth in the bowl!

Been AWOL yet again! Went down to Irving, Texas for an Edgar Rice Burroughs gathering (Think Tarzan and John Carter of Mars author). One of the events the ladies whose spouses are ERBfanatics always have is shopping! The spouses who attend the gathering are called J.A.N.E.S - just another neglected ERB spouse. I go shopping but I am an ERBfanatic I was glad I went this time as there is a great shopping "Main Street" in an adjacent town - Grapevine, Texas. There are lots of interesting shops and eateries. I hit the jackpot when I found The Spice & Tea Exchange. Picked up many different spices and some familiar ones. I had pulled a bag of lean ground beef from the freezer and made Baharat seasoned burgers. They were lovely - could really taste the spices even after the BBQ.

Pulled the lost cross rib roast from the freezer and made stew. Needed soft comfort food as I had a molar pulled in the afternoon. Love lots of celery in my stew, and it was all lovely and tender. Roasted some butternut squash as a side. I started the stew on the stove, then slowly simmered in the oven. Made the house cozy with these crazy winds we are getting as well as smelling yummy!

Welcome anytime, Ann N. Then my freezer content will go down faster!

I DID weaken last week and stock-piled the freezer with T-Bone steaks that were on sale at Sobeys. Used 10 of the 24 I picked up. This week, AAA A Angus rib steaks are on sale on Monday at Walmart at $5.77 / lb. How can I refuse? They will lie flat, so won't take up much room...

More protein from the freezer being used: A tray of baby back rib, marinated overnight with Hoisin sauce, Chinese wine and cooked in the oven. A small chicken rubbed with Township Chicken - African spices a colleague brought back from working in Africa. Chicken was cooked in the Big Easy. Stir-fried bell peppers. Cauliflower was cooked with another packet of African herbs and spices: Cape Malay Rice Spice. It was not as I had hoped as the cauliflower does jot absorb flavours as does rice. Kids all came home for the long weekend. Used a tray of sweet Italian sausages and 2 lbs of lean ground beef I had in the freezer and made a huge "meatza lasagna" for the carnivores in the family. Also made a vegetarian one for 12-year-old granddaughter who changed her eating habits after seeing the piggies go to market in a big truck.

Had none of the great toppings you folks are enjoying, but our friends visiting yesterday brought a loaf of freshly baked lemon loaf. It had a lovely dense texture and fresh lemony taste with a sugar crumb topping. SO good this morning (and last night after they left) with my coffee...

Friends who travelled to China with us came over to exhange memory cards full of pictures from our village visit. A favourite dish from his childhood days was the request for supper. Pork spareribs (freezer collection) steamed with brown bean sauce and plums in brine. Simple stir-fried baby bak choy, jasmine rice Soup was Chinese Mustard Greens with pork ribs. Another favourite dish was Beef (tenderloin from freezer collection) and Tomato with Egg. Needed lots of rice for that tangy tomato sauce! Dessert was Green Tea ice-cream, a sample container from a friend whose husband has an ice-cream company. They are testing out a new CanAsian series of flavours. We have had Peach Lemongrass, Mango, and Coconut so far. A couple of other meals I was able to cobble together with more "freezer collection" Ground beef Moussaka and Mashed Cauliflower. Unfortunately, the ingredients made a huge panful, so there are 3 more meals for two back in the freezer. Roast Chicken legs with Moroccan Harissa rub with steamed asparagus.

Jet lag has not released me from its grip. These 3-hour afternoon naps have messed up my meal planning and night time sleeps. Anything that is easy to throw on is my MO for meals these days. Bought beef tenderloins at an excellent price in Dec. These were trimmed and cut into sizes possible for Beef Wellington, but were out-voted by crab legs over Xmas and NY. Had pulled a piece out of the freezer a couple of days ago in anticipation of better things; however, it was divided into 4 thick pieces, grilled on stove top, and eaten with more delicious store-bought corn (compared to China) and sauteed yam leaves with garlic and a dash of fish sauce and garlic. And, here I am at 4:30 am posting about it!

Just back from our 3 week trip to China, with a visit to my family home where I was born! We were on a tour with a Canadian company, so meals were pretty pedestrian, set up for the mass of tourists. We extended our trip by a week, so food by choice was much much better.Dim sum and street food in Guangzhou were the best! However, back to the reality of the freezer challenge. The kids haven't been home, so the level of the contents has not changed. First dinner home, prime rib bones with pepper leaves and rice. We enjoyed these pepper leaves at many meals in China, but this was the first time I had seen them at the Chinese grocery store in the city. Had picked up a package of prime rib bones a couple of months back. Was feeling the need for good beef on the bone! Tonight, we had a grilled rack of lamb I had picked up at 50% off...The gremolata added a nice brightness to the meat. Corn-on-the cob and a salad was what we needed. The corn we tried in China was horrible - dry and tasteless. Might have been field corn for fodder? But everyone was eating and seemed to enjoy them...