pastameshugana

Percyn, We were there 2.5 years. It was a lot of fun! From iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm hoping to do some deep-frying in mine outside this summer, have fun experimenting!

The three older ones are really wanting to help, so we've been finding them jobs to do. The 10 year old was slicing strawberries for breakfast the other day, which gave me heartburn, but I guess that's why they invented emergency rooms, right? The kids were all raised to eat what we eat, but they have their picky moments. For instance, in the veggie pasta above, the 5 year old (the two older ones are at a friends house, Bhuwhahahahaa!) decided today she wanted no veggies at all. We told her she could take one of the ingredients out, her choice. She picked out the mushrooms. On occasion, if we're going to eat something 'out there' we'll make something else, usually just a version of the dish. With pasta they will very often want it plain, with no sauce/etc. In those cases they have to have one helping with sauce, and then as much as they want without. We've been very blessed to have good (albeit very active!) kids.

Ok, I hate to say it, but I'm going to have to wrap up the blog with one final meal. I've been balancing 15hrs/day at my 'real' job (thankfully I work at home), plus an annual project while cooking this week. I must say I've had a blast, and have really enjoyed having you along for the ride! I've been a bit of a lurker here, and I'm glad to be able to 'give back' a little bit. Here is last night's dinner that got postponed to today's lunch: Steamed Veggie Pasta. This is really one of my absolute favorite dishes, it taste's so much better than you can imagine by reading the ingredients or looking at the pictures. Veggies chopped up (onion, zucchini, tomato, portobello, serrano and red jalapeno): The little ramekins hold the secret ingredients: Coconut milk with about 7 cloves of diced garlic & black pepper in one, long serrano slices in the other. These heat up while steaming and are the sauce when it's done. Trust me, this dish demands coconut milk. I made it once with regular milk and I almost cried it was so sad. I do the ramekins first to let the garlic & chili macerate it. Put the 'hard' veggies in the bottom tray, salt & pepper, soft ones in the top, salt & pepper again. Now, the 'romantic' way is to use the bamboo steamers and steam the veggies on the pot you're boiling the pasta in, and it works, it's just a pain b/c the pot has a tendency to boil over this way. You're also limited in the quantity you can make. I would recommend just getting a steamer for the veggies. When the pasta is ready, strain it and toss the veggies with the 'sauce' and grated Parmesan in the noodles, and you're golden! Super healthy, colorful, really tasty. What more could you ask for? I've made this with spaghetti, angel hair, bowties and penne - they're all wonderful. Thanks so much again for reading. Till next time, Jonathan

It would be a full house, for sure. There's already 4 mini-meshugana's running around, with another 'in the oven'. It's a big happy family at our house.

We went out and stumbled on an outdoor concert and stayed too long. Now I'm out if time to cook the pasta dish I've already prepped for. The good news is tomorrow's lunch is ready to go! From iPhone using Tapatalk

When we were still in India and could buy it fresh and cheap: 5 teaspoons each darjeeling and assam black, steeped 5 minutes. Into 1 gallon of water with 1/2 cup sugar, 1tsp local honey and a dash of salt. It was the best I've ever had.

Walnuts. I know I said almonds, but it's walnuts we've got. That feta combo sounds nice - I'll see what we can drum up!

Today has started out crazy - so Mrs M did breakfast - French toast strips all around. We've eaten so much pork this week, maybe something light tonight. Looking at steamed veggie pasta, and we've got some pears & almonds we'd love to make a salad out of. Any ideas?

No. Food is just...food. But Foood is something special.

Beautiful - now we need one for the iPad for the kitchen.

Pork wrapped pork! Yay! I think what that meal needs is some pork on the side. It must be a theme for tonights dinner, over on my eG foodblog here I just posted the rest of this meal: Bacon, chorizo and pork discada: Kim Shook - beautiful all American meal! SobaAddict - that's a fabulous looking pasta dish.

Well, we polished off the majority of the discada, and here's the (lengthy) tale: Lard melted and 1lb bacon in (Bar-S, my childhood sweetheart): After a few minutes, 1 can of Coke added to make a simmering sauce (most recipes call for beer): Somehow I missed photographing the step where I pushed the bacon to the edge and added the chorizo to the liquid. After that, push the chorizo out and add the pork tenderloin, plus the 'hard' stuff (chile & garlic): Closeup beauty shot: Long shot showing corn going onto the grill in the background (and Mrs Meshugana's ankle - woo hoo!): Closeup of the corn: Last step - adding the onions and tossing: Yum! (bad pic, sorry, but I was preoccupied with stuffing my face at the moment: The black is from (I believe) the coke carmelizing (burning?) onto the disco and being scraped off while tossing. It actually was an extremely tasty, salty sweet and porky crunchy substance that I intentionally scooped from the bottom of the serving bowl onto my tortilla. (Doesn't 'Salty Sweet and Porky Crunchy' sound like the name of a punk band's debut album?) We used flour tortillas in the past, this time we had flour and corn. I must say, this meal calls for corn tortillas. Lightly fried in oil - that's the bomb. Stuff a tortilla with the filling, cheese, crema mexicana (a cultured sour cream (not in the "pinky in the air while sipping tea" meaning of cultured, the "this milk has gone slightly off" meaning of cultured)), and a dash of El Pato. Oi vey. I'm going to have to roll down the hall tonight. Sweet dreams!

Mmm. Me and the kids (the two youngest) actually dip potato chips in plain El Pato, which is a very tasty treat.

Yes - that's exactly it! I promise to get pics, even if they're iPhone pics.

Countdown to disco time. I've got my raw ingredients ready: What you see is the meat: Chopped bacon, pork filet, and chorizo. A separate bowl for chili and garlic, and one for onions (red and green). I had to chop the chiles (anaheim, red jalapeno, serrano) large b/c we've got some non-chili-heads coming over that may want to pick them out. (I did however, surreptitiously crush into tiny bits a small handful of dried chile pequin that they'll never find! If they don't like it, more leftovers for me! Bhuwhahahahaa!) The basic method: Melt some lard in the disco (I may try a little coke as well, who knows), add bacon till lots of fat releases, move it out of the way (to the side of the disco). Add the chorizo to the bacon-y lard (I'll add the chili and garlic at this point), when about 1/2 done move it to the side. Add the pork to the middle and cook a while, then add some spices, the onions, and bring it all together and toss to finish. I'm adding the onions late so they'll stay crunchy and sweet-ish for some texture. I forgo the traditional 'wieners' or sausage in this dish because I really don't care for them. One more beauty shot: I'll update later on this one!

Thanks - you should've seen the last one, I was much, much happier with it... but oh well - still tasted great.

Some things in life are too tasty to be coincidence! BTW - I love your signature line!

Hmm - I've never thought about eating it cold - but I'm also not big on cold soups. I bet it would work, though. For this batch we used: 3 large leeks, 6 medium potatoes, 7 (anemic) carrots, 4 green zucchini, 2 yellow squash, 6 stalks celery, 6 cloves garlic, and 1/2 can of diced green chilies (a last minute addition), 12 cups of chicken stock for the simmering. When just about to serve, one 1/2 pint carton of heavy cream was stirred in. Last night we had some 'vegetable haters' in the house, and they all had seconds and thirds!

Well, here's a few pics from the rest of the prep for tonights dinner. Challa out of the oven: The bread really isn't as brown as the pictures make it look. It was cooked nearly perfect, but the color correction is wacking these photos out. This is, however, actually one of the more disappointing challas I've made. I used all-purpose instead of bread flour, and it wasn't perfect. Still darn good and there's barely a shred left, but not perfect. Kebabs onto the skewers (Bacon wrapped through pieces of ribeye, onion, and anaheim pepper: I feel like crying because I didn't get a picture of the finished product. It was worthy for sure. The meal was just eaten in a frenzy, so all picture taking was out the window. Finally, the main course, Mrs. Meshugana's Leek Soup: Just leeks, garlic, yukon gold, carrot, celery, sauteed in butter, simmered in chicken stock for an hour, then blended. Added about a cup of heavy cream to finish. Yowser. That, my friends, is a soup worth eating. So incredibly simple, healthy and tasty to your toes. Back in the morning with more adventures!

Yes there's very good illustrate braiding instructions. More pics in a few hours! We also added ribeye kabobs to the menu... From iPhone using Tapatalk

Bravo! That sounds like a line out of a food romance novel!

Yes! The leftovers get made into eggs on toast and French toast (Mrs. Meshugana). Absolutely the best french toast ever. You should give it a whirl, it's really quite easy. In fact, this is the only bread I've ever made. The only hard part is the braiding, but there's so many designs (like the pull apart loaf you see there) that are much easier. I also highly recommend this book, very easy to follow for a 'non-recipe' guy like myself.

Challa just about to go into the oven... From iPhone using Tapatalk

Where in Northern AZ? That's my 'native place' as they say in B'Lore.