Shelby

@Anna N Your salad looks so good. I'm craving salad. Salad, salad salad. Threw together a pasta dish. Cajun spices, andouille sausage, shrimp, green bell peppers, garlic, onions, tomatoes and broccoli. Splash of white wine to deglaze after cooking the sausage. Cream to finish it off. Not too shabby.

A fish reuben. That's a new one for me. Is the fish fried? Looks like more of a cole slaw instead of the traditional reuben sour kraut? What kind of fish? I might need to make this at home

Want.

They need to tell Amazon, then.

Modernist Bread will be released in May.

I've been wanting to make this since I got the book. Now I really really want to make it.

Potato salad and BBQ pork sandwiches. The 'taters were spicy because they were leftover from the crawfish boil.

This looks awesome.

Fried crawfish tails

Excellent! I was scared to go further but 17 mins is what I'll try next time.

I don't want to scare you from doing it in the IP--it's SO easy that way....and maybe the texture just isn't something that I'll ever like. I am going to do another one if/when I can get to the store to get one.

I think I've only made spaghetti squash twice in my life. The first time, I really don't remember lol. I wanted to try again last night. I've read glowing reports about doing one in the IP. The instructions that I read said it was best to cut it in half before cooking it in the IP. Well, hell, that defeats the easiness of doing it the IP, IMO. Also, I did try to cut it in half. Wasn't gonna happen without me losing at least one finger. Anyway, I'd also read plenty of reports of doing it whole with no problems. So, a cup of water or so, trivet in, squash on top. 8 mins, high pressure, quick release. Was able to easily slice it in half and remove the seeds. But, I tested a strand and it was super "al dente". Back in it went for 4 mins. Took it out....still too al dente for me ( Ronnie loved it) , but we were hungry so I ate it. I don't know if I would have done it more if it would have turned too mushy? Anyone else done a spag squash in the IP?

I just got coffee up my nose over this. It was kinda sad, though, really.

In the never ending quest to find something to replace my beloved pasta with (never gonna happen) I did a spaghetti squash in the IP. I'll say more about that on the IP thread. I was out of spaghetti sauce so I made some using two of my hoarded jars of home canned tomatoes. I covered my eyes as I snatched them from the shelf downstairs. I'm afraid there are not many left and I am in denial. Venison meatballs are under the sauce there somewhere.

WOW that cactus flowering is absolutely stunning. When I was younger, skinnier, more tan....I used to have a lipstick that color that I loved. Sigh. I don't think I've ever bought a pork prime rib roast...might need to rectify that? Your burritos look so good. You can sure tell that the tortillas are not the kind of tortillas that I buy that have sat on a shelf in the store for ever lol. Going to google the cheese balls. I don't want you to be alone in eating them

I just had a little bowl of soy sauce. I should have added some chili oil though.

I don't know if I can resist if they go on sale again lol.

No problem Yes, the basket is placed on the trivet/rack. I need to shine my pot up a bit with some Barkeeper's Friend so excuse it's dullness lol. Never!!! You and Rotuts and others were the flag ship experimenters with the IP here! I'm eternally grateful to you guys!

Clawing my way out of the eating rut, I tried some things that are new to us. I'm calling last night's dinner Shelby's version of Dim Sum. I've never had Dim Sum before....reading about it always makes me want to go. All of those carts full of delicious, steaming buns stuffed with pork and veggies. Dumplings, turnip cakes (never had those, but they sound so good). Anyway, probably the soup and maybe the lettuce wraps don't fit into the real Dim Sum world, but remember, this is Shelby's Dim Sum lol. We started with a small bowl of egg drop soup Then moved on to pork lettuce wraps, egg rolls (homemade) Those are chopped up salted pistachios --I was out of peanuts to top the lettuce wraps with. Shumai (pork and shrimp dumplings) --homemade And steamed buns filled with mushrooms and spinach--store bought More about the Shumai and steamed buns on the Instant Pot thread.  Those were both made in the IP and quite fun to do.

I mentioned on the dinner thread that I've felt like we've been in an eating rut. I ran across this recipe for shrimp and pork dumplings or Shurmai. I've never eaten it or even heard of it, but it looked so good, and fun to make to boot. AND it was done in the IP. So, I ordered one of these steamers from Amazon It fits perfectly in my IP. Only one layer, though. Two steamer levels make it too tall. I didn't take pictures of every step....the recipe is very straight forward and easy to follow...but here's a little sampling . At the big grocery store I found these dumpling wrappers in the freezer section. After thawing them they seemed exactly like the wonton wrappers that I usually buy......so maybe dumpling wrappers and wonton wrappers are the same thing? Anyway, I much preferred these frozen ones because I never used up a whole package of them before they got all moldy. It never crossed my mind to freeze them. Anyway, I digress. I thawed out some shrimp and some ground pork and proceeded to make the "paste". I started with the shrimp first. Diced it all up really small, added the cornstarch and salt and proceeded to squish it all up with my hands and occasionally balling it up and throwing it against the bowl. Quote from the recipe "Chinese people believe that mixing by hand will create the best texture. Throwing the paste against the mixing bowl will increase the bounciness of the Shumai." Did I mention that this is super fun to make??? Anyway, here is the shrimp "paste" Pork "paste" Before mixing together after adding other ingredients I used round parchment paper that I had poked holes in on the bottom of the steamer. The recipe also says that lettuce leaves will work. I used a butter knife to scoop up about a tablespoon of the paste mixture into the dumpling wrapper. Then you just kind of crimp it around. Very easy to make. All ready to go into the IP I put a cup of water in the liner of the IP and then put my trivet in and set the steamer on top of that. Put the lid on the steamer basket and the secure the lid on the IP Manual, high pressure, three minutes. Natural release for five minutes and then quick release. All done! Seriously these were so good. And easy and fun. And, the recipe says they freeze well. These won't make it to the freezer. The leftovers will be my breakfast in a bit ALSO, in my other IP I had these going: Also found in the freezer section of the big grocery store. I was winging it on this. The package said to steam from frozen for 8-10 mins. So, again, I put a cup of water and my trivet in the IP liner pot. Then I put the parchment covered steamer basket in with the buns. Lid on the steamer. Lid on the IP. Four minutes using the steam setting and quick release. Came out perfect. There will be an after picture on the dinner thread in a bit.

Lordy, do I want this. ME TOO! Maybe Kay wouldn't notice if we showed up if we were very quiet and only ate like 2-3 pieces of cake instead of the whole thing.....

OMG you are brilliant. I am so doing this only maybe with venison. Come on deer season.

Brush with egg white right before baking. Nice looking bread!

Sometimes we just splurge...we don't go on trips so the food has to come to us lol. I get our crawfish from cajungrocer.com. 10 lbs. of live 'dads for $65 including shipping. Fedex delivers them by noon.

Crawfish boil last night Ronnie was smoking a pork roast so I hacked off a couple pieces to put in the boil. They sat in the boil all night. Should be nice and tender and spicy this morning.