What's cooking? part 4

i made beans. getting better at them. still working on getting a saucy result. and though i can get them soft enough now i don't know if i'd say they're tender; beyond-soft insides and noticeable but totally edible husks is more like it.

ungh, i upped the liquid (beef broth from a powder) and added a little black olive brine, the result was just a touch too salty but the kind of too salty that makes you feel like a dissolute hedonist instead of the kind that spits your food out; it was GOOD

not sure if this helps but assuming you are pre-soaking the beans, it may help to add your beef broth midway through the cooking process if possible. ~allegedly~ sodium plays a part in the cooking and softening of beans and i'm thinking specifically of the husks becoming more chewing friendly. just a thought....

lately i've been a) soaking about 4-6 hours, b) boiling->letting sit lidded for an hour, c) cooking with add-ins and broth at a simmar for about 45 in-hr. with salt in (c). not sure i could defer the salt any further, but i think i've found a pretty sweet spot now. just kind of weird to me to have to process a food for SO LONG.

ah simmar them aftir bringeng them to a baiul

I want to rehydrate some dried tomatoes with olive oil, salt, garlic, basil

How scared should I be of BOTULISM

Should I keep it in the fridge afterwards

rehydrate with boiling H20, then marinate, yes fridge

careful and use 'em within a week. normally botulism would not be a concern, but mold will occur what with the residual water in the tomatoes even though they're covered in oil and refrigerated. it's not a anaerobic environment no matter how much you dry the soaked tomatoes. basil will get funky fairly quickly too i think. don't wanna add basil to the dish as you need it? not as convenient but i think you'd get the most of its freshness that way. i've had this issue and only buy s.d.tomatoes in olive oil on account of the fact

just made a big chilli plus home-made guac AND a huuuge chocolate Guinness cake and now I am tiiiired

that's a lot of work for one day!

I'm going to make palak paneer and shrimp tikka masala for the first time tonight. Or maybe I'll get tired after just one and will leave it at that.

oh wait I forgot to get spinach! No palak tonight!

i'm gonna make a pasta thing with garlic-wine-butter sauce and i don't have lemon but i was thinking of using sumac as substitute. it seems weird but also possibly delicious.

also i planted lots of herbs today so that is kind of exciting. i've never had this many herb plants before. fingers crossed that i can make them all live at least a month.
i've got three kinds of basil! (thai, purple, regular)

spanakopita - my Greek coworker insists now that i'm one of his brothers. never made 'em before but they came out super.
serving with what i call a Israeli salad on account of the fact that that is where i first encountered a finely chopped salad of cucumber, tomatoes, hot peppers and onion with a load of minced parsely and simply dressed with lemon juice, some oil and salt n pepper.

i'm learning to replicate the biscuits and mushroom gravy that my favorite greasy spoon makes

their biscuits are much denser than mine (bisquick for now), but they're vegan i think, so not sure what they're doing, mashing vegetable shortening into the flour maybe

barley (w/tofu) stuffed cabbage rolls and mashed celeriac/potato

Proper salad niçoise. Heatwave food. Glass of rosé on the side.

that sounds so civilised.

It would have been had un certain bébé not interrupted it. But the second half was just as good as the first.

today this provided a buncha vitamin A and awesome flavor
http://scandifoodie.blogspot.com/2011/08/japanese-inspired-sweet-potato-with.html

Chicken with a garlic & orange juice & tomato paste sauce, with a little cinnamon and oregano for seasoning? It basically came out like mole, kind of? I went Lechera-esque with a shredded carrot & radish slaw and pumpkin seeds. Feta and avocado for creaminess.

A delightfully different taco!

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/t1.0-9/p552x414/10580208_10152364739602599_2754118606157772489_n.jpg

i put soy sauce on my leftover pasta from last night (artichoke, garbanzo beans, spinach & chicken) & now i feel like a wizard!

ha! i was gonna say it looks like crazy tacos i'd make :)
they look delicious!

these days the thing i need to have on hand at all times are pickled red onions, ie sliced red onions that have been sitting in lime juice for a while
i put them on all kinds of things

~hi 5 to all mutant foods~

I wasn't sure where else to post this -- kinda looking for constructive food suggestions from nice ppl who eat nice food and this seems like a good place :)
I had a bit of a diabetes scare - ie started getting symptoms (super thirsty, weird tingly feet, etc) - long story short I went to the doc & I don't have diabetes but my blood sugar is 'high-normal'. I'm overweight, sedentary, so obv some weight loss + exercise is in my immediate future. But I want to better manage my eating habits + cooking. I wondered if anyone else itt has dealt with/dealing with diabetes/prediabetes and what cool stuff they have cooked as a result, or even just anyone who has overhauled their kitchen magic with a view to healthier eating.

My big areas of concern are breakfast esp on weekdays, and work lunches.

sorry for unwieldyness of question/topic, still kinda not sure if this is the right place. thx!!!

Seems like the right place to me! Sorry about the scare. That's not a nice thing to go through.

I feel like I need some more breakfast and work lunch ideas myself, but at the moment I make these microwave muffins for breakfast and I think they're pretty good. I leave out the Stevia and I use greek yoghurt to top them instead of butter. I've given up all attempts at paleo despite what they're called on the website, but these seem healthy to me because the protein seems to keep me full for hours and stop me having to grab crap to eat when there's not much I really want available. I might experiment soon with reducing the fat by subbing applesauce for the oil, but if they taste terrible I'm going straight back to the oil :) They're also really good if you make them with banana and stir in a bit of peanut butter.

Workday lunches are tricky for me too. At the moment I do a kind of home-made Lunchables: carrot sticks, nuts, Emmenthal because it's one of my favourite cheeses, snow peas.

VG have you thought about making little omelette muffins for breakfasts? basically, if you can put it into a muffin tin and it tastes good, you can eat it for breakfast. i like spinach (fresh), feta, maybe a few lil bacon bits if i have bacon. Also those little oatmeal cupcakes are great for on-the-go snacks. I think getting into the habit of making something every week and knowing you're gonna eat it for breakfast every day is a good habit to start with. when the school year is in full swing, i basically eat the same thing every day for breakfast/lunch and then dinner is a special treat of my choosing. it makes grocery shopping easier too.

oh also i make granola and eat it with berries and yog for breakfast a lot -- i use an adapted version of this granola recipe (i use unsweetened coconut, reduce sweet elements, and sub pecans for cashews) http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/granola-recipe.html

I've been making a lot of spinach and cheese strata lately, subbing frozen diced potatoes for the bread tho. It's this recipe:

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2009/12/spinach-and-cheese-strata/

It's for real SO GOOD and just as good cold, I've even been taking slices on bus trips and stuff for when I can't get gluten-free foods on the road.

If you want to add meat, after the onion softens I add a few links' worth of sweet Italian sausage out of the casing and brown that up, THEN add in the spinach to wilt. (I tried using raw spinach but it's so voluminous that it makes the casserole too tall to fit in the pan and then cooks down to not enough. Turns out you kinda have to cook it first.)

oh yeah -- i totally do that with chorizo! i burnt out on making egg things for a while but i guess the season is here :-/

I've been making a lot of salads lately because even though it's a mild summer, it's hot enough that I don't want to cook any more than I have to. They are good because there's always leftovers for lunch.

http://www.budgetbytes.com/2014/07/crunchy-kale-chicken-salad/
http://www.budgetbytes.com/2010/04/tuna-pasta-salad-wpeas/
http://www.daringgourmet.com/2014/01/02/mega-healthy-wheat-berry-salad/

Also if you like eggs, hardboiled eggs make a good protein snack or lunch component.

speaking of salads i just discovered that my new local big grocery store has those huge things of spinach for $5 all the time
i go through one of those a week! on the grand scale of humanity this is a small achievement, but i was glad.

woo you guys are full of great suggestions!! imma try all these!!

thanks everyone!

I think the best thing you can do is experiment more with cooking in general. Trying to switch to a healthy diet is great but I meet so many health-oriented people who are baffled about how to implement it in their cooking long-term because they struggle to think of what to cook when they're tired of the one or two obvious ideas they have for a particular ingredient.

So, for example, maybe take a week of experimenting with how you can use one new ingredient. Like farro, for example. Make enough so that you can make something with it today and then have enough extra to make a farro-inclusive salad the next day or etc. Next week, swiss chard. Following week, green lentils. Maybe some weeks try making something very unhealthy but unfamiliar (a kind of cheese you've never had? lamb? veal stock? fish sauce? etc.).

if you are into steel cut oats at all (their a super low glycemic and filling brekkie, imo) you can just toss 'em in a rice cooker (if you have) and go about your morning routine, then they'll be ready whenever your ready for 'em. even sans cooker they take ~12minutes on the stove and i think they might be a nice option for you VG unless of course you hate the stuff. i like to add a bit of dried fruit, maybe some nuts, cinnamon and always a little butter, ymmv (?)

You can also make them overnight in a slow cooker! And they freeze and reheat well.

thanks outdoor miner, i do like steelcut oats!

carl, can u tell me about slow cooking them? how much/how long etc

my breakfast is usually a handful of frozen blueberries from a costco 5 lb bag microwaved to melt (40 seconds) and add half a 17 oz tub of fage

I always used Alton Brown's technique - http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/overnight-oatmeal-recipe.html

But this looks good, too - http://www.chow.com/recipes/30656-slow-cooker-steel-cut-oatmeal

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/06/better-no-knead-bread-recipe.html

Made the Serious Eats version of no knead bread (first time baking) and it was good - didn't rise much, but I kind of combined that recipe with the Bittman steps (ie less resting, not being in the fridge for days).

whoa harbl i am feeling that blueberry tip

Found my new favourite cooking channel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VXQltHSkyY

Those look really good.

VG - here's an interesting freezer friendly breakfast idea: http://damndelicious.net/2013/06/12/breakfast-taquitos/

ooh yum! thx carl

what can i make out of ground turkey for dinner? i have a lot of basil, also tomatoes squash bell peppers and eggplant

the only thing i ever make is turkey burgers... u could make p flavorful ones!

turkey meatballs with your spices of choice and some grilled/baked(roasted?) veggies?

yeah meatballs sounds good. i'll put some basil and garlic in the food processor and see what happens. my pepper grinder seems to have broken. unrelated.

picadillo is my favorite thing to make with ground turkey. Here's the recipe I kind of sort of follow in a flexible way. The raisins and capers are key.

http://www.fareshare.net/recipesV13-07T.html#Turkey%20Picadillo%20-%20Cuban