Dinner 2022

[Kim Shook]

@Norm Matthews – the chili looks great.  I’ve printed out your recipe and hope to try it soon.  We love chili dogs and have them fairly often, but I’ve never had any luck making a good chili.  Thanks!

 

@Ann_T – Happy Anniversary! 

 

@Honkman – perfectly cooked snow peas.  I’m a bit challenged when it comes to timing them.  Mine are almost always overcooked. 

 

Had some blood tests in the past few days and it turns out that my potassium level is way too high.  So, I have to make some changes in my diet.  There are so many weirdly proscribed foods – so many things that are good for my weight and diabetes and just general health are LOADED with potassium.  Some of my favorite vegetables are high in potassium: greens (except for kale, which I hate), potatoes, spinach, Brussels sprouts.  White bread is better than whole grain.  So much to learn.  And some of the information is contradictory – on the National Kidney Foundation’s website charts broccoli is listed on both the HIGH and the LOW ones.  So, I’m back to counting again – except instead of calories, it will be potassium milligrams.  Sigh. 

  

Tuesday night was Sizzle Burgers (prepared with Worcestershire sauce in the beef and in the frying pan), watermelon, @patti's oven fries, and tomatoes:

 

Last night Jessica requested that I make smothered pork chops.  She’s never liked anything “smothered” before (she’s never been a big gravy lover) but wanted to try it again.  Browned pork chops:

 

Smothered with onion gravy:

This was very good.  Not sure Jessica is a convert, but Mr. Kim and I loved this recipe.  Served with mashed potatoes and butter beans:

 

We also had some gorgeous sourdough bread Mr. Kim got at the Capitol Square farmer’s market:

 

From a local, small batch bakery that sells through their own small store-front and at local farmer’s markets.

[TicTac]

Some recent dishes from dinners - 

 

 

corn/cherry/fresh mozz

 

steamed/grilled Asian marinated chokes 

 

 

locally foraged shrooms 

 

 

 

 

Tunato sashimi 

 

truth be told I peeled some heirloom tomatoes and not wanting to waste I shaved the skins further…tasted awesome - great texture when some salt pulls a bit of water out first 

 

 

 

[heidih]

Interesting on the tomato skins. So your artichokes are well priced now or did you grow them? Bit of work to trim down? 

[TicTac]

3 hours ago, heidih said:

Interesting on the tomato skins. So your artichokes are well priced now or did you grow them? Bit of work to trim down? 

The prices were not bad, about $6 for a large pack of baby artichokes.  They were nice and tight and squeaky, so I bought some!  A bit of work for sure, but I love them.

 

 

[Steve Irby]

Grill time since we had a brief reprieve from the rain.  I think we've had about 25 out of 30 soggy days.   Pacific NW weather without the cool temps! 

 

 

The pork steaks were served with potatoes roasted with rosemary and garlic and served  with a avocado salad with lime vinaigrette.

  

 

We've also enjoyed a fresh vegetable soup (for lunch and dinner over several days)  of local vegetables with andouille sausage and shrimp.

 

 

And a little multi-tasking tonight with grilling and roasting.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 27, 2022 by Steve Irby (log)

[Kim Shook]

I’m having a bit of trouble deciding what to eat.  I’ll go to start something or pull out something leftover and remember to look up the potassium count and discover it’s too high for me.  I know that tonight’s choice was probably bad for blood pressure, weight and diabetes.  But I finally just decided to concentrate on the potassium tonight.  Luckily Mr. Kim is out playing poker and Jessica is not eating dinner, so I only had to fend for myself. 

Sausage, egg, and American cheese on a roll and (canned) chicken noodle soup.

 

[Dejah]

23 hours ago, Ann_T said:

 

Moe and I celebrated our 43rd Wedding Anniversary today.

 

Dinner was grilled pork tenderloin medallions with a reduced black pepper cherry sauce. Served with spaetzle, braised red cabbage and zucchini.

 

Happy Anniversary!

[Dejah]

Friends coming over tomorrow for a lesson in making joongzi! Been busy all day prepping the ingredients. The bamboo leaves were soaked and rinsed for 2 days. Today, I boiled them in vinegar, to make them really pliable.
So a quick supper tonight: pan seared scallops dusted with Old Bay; gai lan with s dash of oyster sauce, and rice.

 

                                                                                           

 

Along with finding the bag of scallops, I also found a 6" Saskatoon pie! Baked it in the Ninja Air Fry oven. Needed to keep the kitchen cool as our A/C died. New one won't be installed until Monday!

                                                                                 

 

 

[Dejah]

9 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

 

Smothered with onion gravy:

This was very good.  Not sure Jessica is a convert, but Mr. Kim and I loved this recipe.  Served with mashed potatoes and butter beans:

 

We also had some gorgeous sourdough bread Mr. Kim got at the Capitol Square farmer’s market:

 

From a local, small batch bakery that sells through their own small store-front and at local farmer’s markets.

Thanks for the compliment on the Char Siu.
We love smothered pork chops. Never have to worry about the chops would be dry!
I'd just eat the onion gravy with a big slice of that sourdough bread!

[Honkman]

Maeuntang - Korean fish stew with cod, kimchi, tofu, gochujang, gochugaru, zucchini, scallions, cilantro, garlic, ginger

[Paul Bacino]

Picked up live scallops in shell

 

Simple prep--Irish butter, lemon zest, juice and smoked sea salt, cilantro flowers--broiled

 

[Norm Matthews]

17 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

@Norm Matthews – the chili looks great.  I’ve printed out your recipe and hope to try it soon.  We love chili dogs and have them fairly often, but I’ve never had any luck making a good chili.  Thanks!

 

Thanks. I hope you enjoy it.  Jimmy said his recipe is based on another sauce which he as tweaked and is not Texas Weiner sauce someone else thought it was.  I didn't mention it in the recipe but I steamed the hot dogs.  I think it helped give them an old time flavor and kept them from splitting.  I don't know if that is any help but I thought I'd mention it.  

[Norm Matthews]

I thought I'd freeze the leftover chili dog sauce but Charlie asked for chili dogs again last night and invited a few friends over so now there are no leftovers.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

3 hours ago, Norm Matthews said:

...Charlie asked for chili dogs again last night and invited a few friends over so now there are no leftovers.

The highest praise.

[mgaretz]

Simple burger, cooked on the PAG, on brioche bread with homemade 1000 Island, served with corn on the cob and leftover coleslaw from takeout chicken.

 

 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

6 hours ago, Paul Bacino said:

Picked up live scallops in shell

 

Simple prep--Irish butter, lemon zest, juice and smoked sea salt, cilantro flowers--broiled

 

 

Beautiful!  I have never seen live scallops.  My question though is about cilantro flowers.  A few weeks ago I needed a bunch of cilantro for my dinner.  The store was sold out but they did offer little pots of live herb plants, including cilantro, one of which I brought home.

 

On reflection I decided there were not really enough leaves to use, so I decided to put the plant by the glass door and let it grow.  Last night I cooked a mess of Good Mother Stallard, and went to pluck a few cilantro leaves as an accompaniment.  To my surprise if not dismay, the plant had flowered.  There were no flowers the day before.

 

A google search suggested one should not eat cilantro leaves once the plant had flowered, as the leaves would be tasteless.  But rather wait and collect the seeds.  I saw no mention of anyone using flowers themselves.  I would love to learn more.

 

[heidih]

52 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

A google search suggested one should not eat cilantro leaves once the plant had flowered, as the leaves would be tasteless.  But rather wait and collect the seeds.  I saw no mention of anyone using flowers themselves.  I would love to learn more.

 

Sure Paul will chime in. Herb flowers can be lovely. Often more concentrated than the leaves. I've always used them. You are the best judge of your own taste - give the leaf and the bloom a nibble and proceed accordingly

[rotuts]

my understanding 

 

long not updated

 

i that herbs, especially of the 

 

annual versions  

 

become harsher when they flower

 

no other unpleasant characteristics as I remember..

 

worth looking up , herb for herb

 

if you look to use them .

[Shelby]

9 hours ago, Paul Bacino said:

Picked up live scallops in shell

 

Simple prep--Irish butter, lemon zest, juice and smoked sea salt, cilantro flowers--broiled

 

This is a thing of beauty.  I apparently am wrong, but I've always thought that Nebraska was the same as Kansas--a  big void of fresh seafood.  Where did you get these wonderful scallops?

3 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Beautiful!  I have never seen live scallops.  My question though is about cilantro flowers.  A few weeks ago I needed a bunch of cilantro for my dinner.  The store was sold out but they did offer little pots of live herb plants, including cilantro, one of which I brought home.

 

On reflection I decided there were not really enough leaves to use, so I decided to put the plant by the glass door and let it grow.  Last night I cooked a mess of Good Mother Stallard, and went to pluck a few cilantro leaves as an accompaniment.  To my surprise if not dismay, the plant had flowered.  There were no flowers the day before.

 

A google search suggested one should not eat cilantro leaves once the plant had flowered, as the leaves would be tasteless.  But rather wait and collect the seeds.  I saw no mention of anyone using flowers themselves.  I would love to learn more.

 

I use the leaves off my cilantro plants in the garden until they dry up and die.  I've not noticed a difference in taste.

 

Ronnie found some chicken breasts for a decent price so I froze about 4 of them and left two out for meals.  First up was chicken parm.

 

 

Since I had sauce made, more calzones--Spinach, mushroom, Canadian bacon and pepperoni.

 

 

 

Beef steaks on the grill.  Mushrooms and broccoli needed using--broccoli cheddar sauce on the baked potatoes (potatoes still from our garden...they are keeping well).

 

 

 

The rest of the chicken breast fried up for a big salad.

 

 

 

Roasted a chicken in the CSO (I guess I'm hungry for chicken lately).  Forgot to take a picture of the rest...scalloped potatoes were involved.

 

 

A long time ago I ran across a recipe that used frozen jalapeño poppers that you insert in-between your burger patties and grill. Kind of like a Juicy Lucy.  Remembered that and had Ronnie pick up some frozen TGI Fridays frozen poppers.  Cooked them in the CSO for 8 mins and then when they were cooled off I put them in venison burgers then grilled OMG I forgot how easy and good they are.

 

 

Last night was scallops, pasta,  spinach and squash.

 

 

 

[gulfporter]

Seared sesame crusted tuna over avocado with fresh corn, pickled onions and cilantro.

 

 

[Paul Bacino]

On cilantro that is flowering ,  I found ,that as they flower, the leaflets are more delicate,  not the grocery store larger leafs.  So a more delicate flavor.

 

 

My Cilantro  is about dead..sorry

 

If i can get a picture Ill post @JoNorvelleWalker@rotuts@Shelby@heidih

Edited August 28, 2022 by Paul Bacino (log)

[weinoo]

1 minute ago, Paul Bacino said:

On cilantro that is flowering ,  I found ,that as they flower, the leaflets are more delicate,  not the grocery store larger leafs.  So a more delicate flavor.

 

If i can get a picture Ill post @JoNorvelleWalker@rotuts@Shelby@heidih

 

Forget the cilantro - how are you acquiring scallops in the shell? I've sometimes thought that they are generally shucked when harvested.

 

However...

 

 

there was the time I was tasked with shucking 20 dozen day-boat scallops from Maine, for an event. While easy to shuck, I thought If I ever see another scallop in its shell, I'll scream!

 

Note in the lower left assorted tiny fish, crabs, etc.  These are all part of the scallop diet, at least from where this batch came.

[Paul Bacino]

@weinoo  -  i sourced them from the Lobster Company in Massachusetts 

[Ann_T]

I wasn't sure what I wanted to make for dinner yesterday so before leaving for work, I offered Moe a couple of options, one being steak.

He chose the steak and requested green peppercorn steak. So that is what we had.

I carved out the russet potatoes using a melon baller and made Parisienne potatoes, along with steamed green beans and cauliflower.

One of our favourite meals.

 

Friday night's dinner.  Roast Chicken.

 

 

[Anna N]

4 minutes ago, Ann_T said:

I carved out the russet potatoes using a melon baller and made Parisienne potatoes,

I have done this in the past to make

Danish caramelized potatoes.