Cooking Randoms

[livinitup]

Last week, my teen and I shopped at the Asian market in my nearby city, had lunch, and bought different kinds of vegetables and noodles.

Yesterday, I bought an inexpensive cut of beef and tried to figure out dinner. Since we bought a bag of fresh lo mein noddles, that was my starting point.

I randomly found this blogger and used a few suggestions with good success. I sliced and marinated the beef in the simple marinade & made the low mein sauce. I figured it might make a good randoms post. “Velveting” the beef was a game changer for taste and texture. A definite re-do in short rotation this winter.

iamafoodblog.com/take-home-real-lo-mein-recipe/#:~:text=Lo%20mein%20sauce,mein%20whenever%20the%20craving%20hits.

[starburst604]

Mmmm that sounds delish. I love lo mein.

[lust2hart]

We have a box of perfect Colorado peaches. Tonight, for a potluck, I'm going to make a fruit salad with peaches, raspberries, and mozzarella chunks. Trying to decide if I should add anything else; what do y'all think? We have some basil plants, maybe that would be a good addition? Might also have some mint leaves in the fridge.

[circa1978]

We have a surplus of chickpeas, so I bought tahini to make hummus, but I also used some on salmon with a little maple syrup and soy sauce last night in the air fryer. It was OK on the salmon but I think it would actually be a pretty good glaze on tofu or chicken, or even a less strong tasting fish.

[eb777888]

I think I'm making chili tonight.

I was talking to an acquaintance yesterday and she told me her H was at home making chicken tortilla soup and now it's all I can think about. We have highs in the 80's here so it's basically fall weather in Texas! Hee-haw.

[holly116]

This probably goes against the spirit of this post, but at this stage of life with practices and activities nearly every night, we just can't get it together enough to plan and execute dinners at home enough. I have to feed people with peanut and tree nut allergies, plus a few picky eaters so it can feel impossible to find anything they will all eat.

I've done all the boxed meal kits over the years but relented on attempting to be healthy and recently tried Home Chef Family Menu. A few weeks in, it's been amazing. The meals are simple enough that my family will actually eat them and I can even DH or the kids to cook them. We've stopped eating out so much, so I see that as a step in the right direction of being heathier and saving $$. I could totally buy all the ingredients for far less, but removing the mental load of doing that and prepping everything is worth it just showing up at my door.

I love to cook so I still plan at least one meal a week, but this fills in the other days.

[nicolewi]

Sept 9, 2024 10:33:33 GMT -5 eb777888 said:

I think I'm making chili tonight.

I was talking to an acquaintance yesterday and she told me her H was at home making chicken tortilla soup and now it's all I can think about. We have highs in the 80's here so it's basically fall weather in Texas! Hee-haw.

This is funny to me because I don’t know what to make this week and chili had crossed my mind, but I am in Wisconsin and it’s in the low 80s here. So same temp but my take was “we are back to summer this week! I can’t make something fall-ish like chili.”

[pinkdutchtulips]

J is learning you CANNOT leave any kind of food close to the edge of the counter w Ellie dawg around. She WILL get it.  Last week it was a tri-tip, this morning it was a bagel w cream cheese (only bite marks in the bagel but still). 

He got spoiled by his lab who wouldn't touch anything. E is Kona's opposite. 

[NewGirlNic]

Tomorrow is our anniversary and we're going on a trip at the end of the month, so we're just going to cook at home and get a nicer bottle of wine. I'm trying to decide what to make. I think I'm going to make French onion soup as a starter/side. And maybe a Caesar salad too. Just need to decide on a main dish. Possibly just a nice steak or a pasta dish? If anyone has made anything great lately for a celebration type meal, I'm open to ideas. No dietary restrictions, but H doesn't love shellfish. 

[NewGirlNic]

Sept 9, 2024 10:03:34 GMT -5 livinitup said:

Last week, my teen and I shopped at the Asian market in my nearby city, had lunch, and bought different kinds of vegetables and noodles.

Yesterday, I bought an inexpensive cut of beef and tried to figure out dinner. Since we bought a bag of fresh lo mein noddles, that was my starting point.

I randomly found this blogger and used a few suggestions with good success. I sliced and marinated the beef in the simple marinade & made the low mein sauce. I figured it might make a good randoms post. “Velveting” the beef was a game changer for taste and texture. A definite re-do in short rotation this winter.

iamafoodblog.com/take-home-real-lo-mein-recipe/#:~:text=Lo%20mein%20sauce,mein%20whenever%20the%20craving%20hits.

I follow this girl on Instagram and her parents owned an Asian restaurant. She posts her dad's restaurant recipes (and has him on cooking with her and he's adorable). The recipes are all so good and I learned the "velveting" trick from her, and it makes such a difference, especially in cheaper cuts of meat. But even chicken is so good that way. It's like it holds the sauce so much better. 

www.instagram.com/stephvnietea?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==
here is her Instagram page

[lavenderblue]

I'm struggling with coming up with menu ideas, and just feeling meh about everything. Last night I wanted Salisbury Steaks but didn't want the effort of making them, so I made "Deconstructed Salisbury Steaks" which was basically like fancy Hamburger Helper from scratch. I googled for recipe ideas but here literally weren't any, so I just made it up. It was so good and I served it over a Potato Casserole instead of mashed so it was kind of sorta healthy w/o all of the butter and cream I usually put in my mashed potatoes.

[7costanza]

I felt like making something more involved this weekend so made a chocolate babka, it wasn’t hard but had lots of steps and took about 10 hours total (mostly proofing time), and turned out so good! Definitely not healthy but I ate cut vegetables for lunch to make up for it lol.

[meanie]

I made a beef stew over the weekend because I have declared it is now fall. After 8 ours in the slow cooker it was amaaaaaazing. I am also doing a sugar detox so it was nice to be able to eat something that I knew I could have.

Next is a roast, which I am very meh about. Kind of feels like the same meal two ways.

[moreace01]

I figured out how to make vegan mayo which is so simple and tastes pretty close to the same as non-vegan. We don't tend to keep it on hand and sometimes randomly need like a tablespoon or two. The non-vegan recipes always require an egg to like 1 cup of oil which is incredibly wasteful. Anyway. I was proud of myself.

To whomever said they have peaches up above and want to make a salad - I've been living off of peaches, roasted corn, blueberries and a little mint and basil for the last month - with a light vinaigrette. I was going to do the same with some farro tomorrow to make it a little more hearty.

[charlatti]

moreace01, can you share the vegan mayo recipe? No one in my house uses mayo but once in a while I’ll need it for a recipe — would definitely help to be able to make my own!

[moreace01]

Sept 9, 2024 15:32:56 GMT -5 charlatti said:

moreace01 , can you share the vegan mayo recipe? No one in my house uses mayo but once in a while I’ll need it for a recipe — would definitely help to be able to make my own!

I've been using this - jessicainthekitchen.com/vegan-mayonnaise/
It's a heck of a lot easier to scale down something that doesn't require you to split up an egg.  

[zizibet]

Sept 9, 2024 10:15:09 GMT -5 circa1978 said:

We have a surplus of chickpeas, so I bought tahini to make hummus, but I also used some on salmon with a little maple syrup and soy sauce last night in the air fryer. It was OK on the salmon but I think it would actually be a pretty good glaze on tofu or chicken, or even a less strong tasting fish.

Tahini is also great in brownies and chocolate chip cookies.

Another delicious thing for chickpeas is this smittenkitchen.com/2024/07/braised-chickpeas-with-zucchini-and-pesto/

[CurlyQ284]

Interesting! I have a beef/chicken with broccoli recipe that includes the ingredients for velveting for the meat marinade but I never heard that term. I always wondered how the meat comes out perfect, chicken is NEVER dry!

I made this tonight, it was REALLY good, and easy. Sheet pan, toss it in the oven, did 2 mile walk with my dog while it was cooking. When the pork was done, I put it on a cutting board to rest, turned the oven up to 400 and put the veggies back in for 10 min while the pork was resting. I don't even like carrots but it was a nice fall dinner even though it was almost 80 today.

www.chewoutloud.com/sheet-pan-pork-tenderloin-and-roasted-vegetables/#jump-to-recipe

[lust2hart]

Sept 9, 2024 10:11:00 GMT -5 lust2hart said:

We have a box of perfect Colorado peaches. Tonight, for a potluck, I'm going to make a fruit salad with peaches, raspberries, and mozzarella chunks. Trying to decide if I should add anything else; what do y'all think? We have some basil plants, maybe that would be a good addition? Might also have some mint leaves in the fridge.

I ended up adding mint. It was so good! No other seasoning, just the 4 ingredients.

[sadlebred]

I baked tonight. Krusteaz corn bread muffins & double chocolate muffins. Not together, obviously. They were a bit past their best by but were fine. (WHY do I put things on the top shelf of the pantry? I can't see it.) I put most of them in the freezer for the next few weeks.

[katb]

Sept 9, 2024 10:11:00 GMT -5 lust2hart said:

We have a box of perfect Colorado peaches. Tonight, for a potluck, I'm going to make a fruit salad with peaches, raspberries, and mozzarella chunks. Trying to decide if I should add anything else; what do y'all think? We have some basil plants, maybe that would be a good addition? Might also have some mint leaves in the fridge.

I would do either herb and maybe a balsamic drizzle or have it on the side and people can drizzle it on their serving.

[starburst604]

This post is making me want to take up cooking again. I've basically been on strike since separating from STBX, I was burned out from being the primary meal planner, preparer and cleaner for 10+ years! I've just been making the easy things DD eats and having Factor meals for most of mine. I think I'm going to start with some soups now that fall is here. I loooove soups.

[beerlover]

I have a ton of leftover sliced baguette from our seafood boil Sunday. I think I want to make croutons out of it. Anyone have suggestions on how to do that? I would guess I should cube it, let it dry out, toss it in some olive oil and spices and bake, but at what temp?

[NewGirlNic]

Sept 10, 2024 7:53:51 GMT -5 beerlover said:

I have a ton of leftover sliced baguette from our seafood boil Sunday. I think I want to make croutons out of it. Anyone have suggestions on how to do that? I would guess I should cube it, let it dry out, toss it in some olive oil and spices and bake, but at what temp?

You don't have to let it dry out, the oven will do that for you. I like to cube it, toss with olive oil and seasonings- garlic powder, onion powder, some type of dried herbs (usually Italian seasoning), salt and pepper. Spread on a sheet pan and bake at 275-300 for about 20-30 minutes (check often and toss a few times). Let cool completely before storing in an airtight container. 

[konapoppy]

I’ve been really inspired by this YouTuber recently: youtube.com/@theorganisedeverydaymum?si=q2-o7obAUi97Gjtr she does great weekly meal prep that is straight forward and manageable.

For better or for worse, I have started to make treats at home. Last weekend we did cookies and a mochi cake (so fun).

So cooking more, eating out less, but not necessarily healthy things 🤷🏻‍♀️

[litebright]

I, too, am in the mood for soup, even though we're going to hit the low 80s again today. Stopped by the grocery store this morning and got stuff to make chicken noodle soup from scratch.

holly116, no shame! We got a weekly Marley Spoon box over the summer and it made my life so much easier to have something that my teens could cook and accounted for two meals a week that I didn't have to worry about/plan/buy stuff for--they just showed up on my front step. I stopped it once school started up again, but I'm seeing how that goes and whether to add it back in. I think it was a wash financially, because it was more expensive per-meal but I went to the store less (so way fewer impulse purchases), and because it was $$ we were careful to use it, which ultimately meant that we cut down on our overall food waste.

I had my work hours cut back, so I am hoping to use some of that time for baking. I made my family's favorite coffee cake last week, that disappeared fast. DH was craving no-bake cookies this weekend so I made those, too, and tweaked the recipe a bit so that they were milk-free (I can handle cooked butter but that's about it as far as dairy). OMG, I forgot how addictive those things are, they're practically gone already. I really should make another batch!

[penelope]

Sunday night we had breakfast for dinner and I read up on how to fry potatoes properly. Soaked them in water for about an hour, par broiled them, then fried them saving the seasonings to be added last. Holy cow, they were the best potatoes I've ever made. Perfectly crispy on the outside, nicely cooked on the inside and so flavorful. Lesson learned, a google and a 2 minute video can make all the difference....

[ny96]

Last night I had planned to make grilled Zaa’tar chicken and a Greek salad with chickpeas and avocado. I got halfway through each recipe and realized I was in over my head timewise, so I finished grilling tge chicken, chopped romaine, cucumber and avocado, sautéed some middle eastern bread from TJs for croutons, added some feta and took a leftover vinaigrette from the fridge and added Zaa’tar to that too. Then I took the grilled chicken and added it to the salad. I was so proud of myself for improving and my family thought it was delicious 🙂.