What's cooking? part 4

good for storing extra pigs in a blanket

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7386/8953858097_62e549e4c1_z.jpg

french lentils
pearled barley
roasted sweet potato and kabocha
spinach
red onion
grape tomatoes
micro greens
cucumber
homemade champagne vinaigrette

i had some summer fruit going soft from the heat in our fruit bowl (a handful of black cherries, two apricots and a nectarine), so last night I threw them in a salad with some spinach and a bit of balsamic & olive oil, it was a treat!

just1n3 that looks so beautiful!

The Cooks Illustrated pasta salad recipe came out better than the vast majority of pasta salads I have experienced, but I'm still not a huge fan of the genre.

It was more delicious than I expected - and I forgot to note there was a little avocado in there as well.

I'm having real difficulty finding the will to cook and we've been eating out/junk a lot lately, so I'm trying to figure out simple dishes that I can do most of the actual cooking for in one go on a sunday night, and are also super nutritious (bc I'm totally exhausted all of the time) AND are appetizing to me bc I'm so annoyingly fussy/picky.

I have a fancy new camera that I really want to get better at using, so expect to see more food pics from me

Overnight I made crockpot BBQ chicken thighs, shredded them in the morning and put them on crusty bread w scallions & radish matchsticks. GOOD.

omg i want that

here you go, with tj's cheez doodles and a beer for extra fun
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8396/8962155766_93919620d2.jpg

crockpot bbq chicken takes the effort of finding a bbq sauce you like and shopping for the chicken and having hands (or something like hands) to put all of this into the crockpot. that's it. that's all i do. the sauce does all the work. it's so easy you could put it in there before work (takes 30 sec at most) and it will be ready to eat when you get home. shred, top, profit.

tbh it almost tastes like mole!

ooh mr veg makes homemade bbq sauces for ribs, maybe I can use some of that and try it out

i have been wanting to use my crockpot again but kinda bored with my recipes, yayayayay

yessssss
perfect!
my only advice is to use enough sauce to cover the chicken and then if you don't want to waste more sauce throw in a little apple cider vinegar to make it tangy
i bet if i put lime on this it and stuck it on a tostada/in a tortilla it would taste even more like mole...

it's a wonderful secret -- tastes way more complex than it has any right to considering the complete lack of effort it takes to make

i think this will be sunday dinner yay

LL, what BBQ sauce(s) do you like for this?

there's a place nearby where we sometimes get ribs, and they sell their sauce there at the counter (it's a walk-in order from the counter type place)
i always get the hot kind because the mild is a little too tomatoey/ketchupy/sweet for me.

I could totally fuck w some flavor-packed no-fuss crock pot recipes right abt now. I think imma go pick up some chicken thighs and BBQ sauce later

just for reference, i put the crockpot on low and cooked it from 10pm-7am
i'm sure it would have been fine for a little less or a little more time

I made a pork tenderloin in the crockpot the other day (Worcestershire sauce, veg stock, garlic, oregano, s&p) and failing to find much in the way of a complimentary side dish, I served it in a bowl surrounded by a warmed can of baked beans. DELICIOUS. Upped that pork n beans game.

LL that chicken recipe looks BRILLIAAAANT. That's exactly the kind of thing I like! And you know if you make 2 or 3x your usual amount you can put the rest in the freezer indefinitely.

Chicken thighs & homemade bbq sauce in the crockpot for dinner tonight; hoagie rolls at the ready

Thanks for the inspiration LL!

So much potato salad!! I use the CI recipe but I tinker--no red onion, no sweet relish. Instead, I use home-grown chives and lots of minced cornichon. Only Russet potatoes, though. And a little extra vinegar.

I do like to top it with some chopped Spanish chorizo, I just don't have any right now.

that sounds good! I love vinegar potato salad

Spanish chorizo is the best, I just ate some of it with asparagus and runny fried eggs on top. And iced coffee.

Yaaay for BBQ chicken! I applaud the potato salad even if it's not sthg I'd normally eat. Would try!

I made a standard issue stir fry w rice noods last night, not really worth going into detail abt that.

It is very light on the mayo but there is some. Fair warning!

Ghee-making day means 6+ lbs of butter slowly caramelizing in the oven. 18 eggs hardboiling on the induction burner and beets queued up for roasting once the gheeis done.

jaq i've been taking notes and i've decided to start trying to do as much food prep on sundays as i can - it's so much better, i feel less rushed, and we eat a lot better.

today i'm roasting a few pounds of hothouse + grape tomatoes, making some croutons (if i can find your post about them from years ago), making roasted-tomato pesto, cooking a big batch of pasta, prepping some lettuce (i want to have literally nothing to do this week, meal-wise, except throw things on a plate), marinating in adobo sauce then frying some tempeh.

It's awesome, isn't it, to have enough stuff ready that a meal can be got together in a few minutes. I think the key is finding those things you like enough to eat a few times in a week, and figuring out how to cook them for storage while retaining versatility. Roasted beets and yams are mainstays for me now, where it used to be pasta. Stuff that can be tossed into a salad or a frittata, etc. Slow-braised proteins that can be sliced or made into stew/soup.

Trick for storing prepped lettuce - put a paper towel in the bag or bottom of the container and don't seal it all the way. You want humidity and a bit of airflow.

I do that too -- pre-prep really makes a difference. Cooking something totally different every night is kinda bonkers really!

Roast chicken in the oven, made a salad with quinoa, peas, tomatoes, coriander, and lemon juice/oil dressing. Sometimes a Sunday of staying in can be nice.

xps yeah my problem is that i can't really eat the same things bc i am super fussy (ugh :/), and it's too easy for me to eat the same thing and then get so sick of it i can never eat it again! but i'm trying to be more economical in my cooking - eg the oven-roasted tomatoes will be in 2 nights' of salad made with romain/avo/spicy tempeh/croutons and also in a pesto sauce for a pasta w/zucch and spinach (another 2 nights' worth of dinners).

last week we ate lentils/barley/salad every night, but i made different vinaigrettes in advance to switch it up each time.

i've been wasting a lot of food the last few months, bc i was getting these lofty ideas for all the things i would cook each week, but then i would get home at 8pm and just be like 'eh fuck it, frozens for me, pasta marinara for you'.

p.s. jaq that is how i do the lettuce - wash it all in one big go, chop it up, spin it, wrap it in paper towels and put in ziploc bags. but i might try your tip and leave the bag partially open.

what is this adobo marinated tempeh, of which you speak, all about?

neighbor came by with some BEAUTIFUL salmon filets that he said he just caught over by the farralons. my go-to salmon preparation lately has been miso glazed..... i'm looking forward to din-din!

I got a crock pot and am gonna do LL/VG BBQ chicky manana!

Did kinda-sorta french onion soup in it today; not really the most appealing thing for lunch when it is so hot out :( And I have yet to find decent gruyere here. Or really good french bread.

Geez I am a cranky cook today.

On the upside, we did pizza in a friend's wood-burning oven last night and it was great!

outdoor_miner: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/tlt-sandwich-recipe.html

it's REALLY good - usually we have on sandwiches per the recipe, but this time i'm gonna switch up into a salad with croutons instead

thanks. that sandwedge looks incredibly delicious!
not jaq by any means but i'm guessing cutting off crust for croutons is a aesthetic thing (i.e... makes 'em look less rustic and more fancy)

in addition to visual aesthetics crust removal allows for a more porous surface area, so whatever lube you use will allow for more flavor. as we all know fat is the magic carpet that flavor rides upon

I want to eat something. I don't know what. I've had too much potato salad today and it's not satisfying anymore.

haven't been cooking due to wedding/honeymoon ish, came back dying for vegetables so this is basically an all-salad week. started with a bittman salad of corn, red peppers, onion, avocado, cilantro. topped with a few seared shrimp.

Bbq Chicken A La Lechera was a resounding success! Tons leftover for yay some weekday lunches!

Phew now you don't have to sweat yr lunches yaaaaay :)

you are a genius fyi :)

I made Mexican rice, and as usual, forgot to take my contacts out until I'd already minced the onions and garlic. Luckily I remembered before I did the jalepenos.

I wish I had done something more spectacular to earn that title, but I'll take what I can get!!

Your genius is for integrating cooking into your already full daily life, though, and still enjoying it! Most people do not make 3 meals a day from scratch while also doing everything else you do. You have good workarounds and the best attitude.

^^^

my dinner:

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5344/9002510681_8876b05bab_z.jpg

I don't know what it is, but it looks like something I would love!

recipe link a few posts up - it's tempeh marinated in adobo sauce/balsamic/soy/sugar, fried then shoved in a sandwich with avo/romaine/vegan mayo with grape toms roasted in oil/brown sugar etc

i'm not a huge fan of tempeh, but i love this. the creamy avo + the sweet/acidic tomatoes + the crunchy romaine/bread + spicy tempeh = amazing balance of tastes and textures.

i'm sure chicken would sub for the tempeh pretty easily too.