What's cooking? part 4

I have a good smoothie recipe with those ingredients, you want it?

oh yes please

1 cup chocolate milk (only whole milk around here, fuck that low fat milk bullshit) + 1 or 2 tablespoons peanut butter + 1 frozen banana, blend until smooth

it has a good balance imo

put some chocolate chunks, a spoon of peanut butter, and a large bite of banana in your mouth and chew vigorously

I made Ruhlman's pan-fried chicken thighs last night and they were UHHHHHMAZING, they tasted kinda like McNuggets but obv much better. The insane amount of black pep in the flour really makes it. Next time I'm gonna add some finely chopped fresh rosemary too

http://blog.ruhlman.com/2014/03/pan-fried-chicken-thighs/

i have a new favorite method for small new potatoes. first, do the salt-boiling thing in the first step here:

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/11/crispy-salty-herb-roasted-new-potatoes-recipe.html

but instead of putting them in the oven, heat up some fat (duck fat is my preference) in a cast-iron skillet. when hot, drop in the potatoes and gently press each one with a heavy, flat surface (like the top of one of those meat tenderizer mallet things or a bacon press or something) until the potato bursts and flattens a little bit. cook on each side until crispy and finish with whatever other seasonings you like.

crispy exterior, fluffy interior, incredibly rich--basically every good potato in one. best part is you're going to be happy with about five of them as a side portion.

in the nigel slater tender book there is a recipe for warm potato salad w/ mustard vinegar dressing. would probably be good on potatoes done that way.

yeah right on

i'm about to make it. it's new potato season.

anyone used coconut flour in baking? i want to make a type of breakfast cookie using coconut flour. i tried making some oat breakfast muffins but the texture was gross and there was tons of banana which i wasn't fond of. so now i want to convert the traditional ANZAC cookie recipe into a healthier breakfast thing. the recipe is 1 c each flour, sugar, rolled oats, coconut + butter, golden syrup, vanilla and baking soda. i'm gonna switch out the sugar for lakanto and coconut flour for the regular flour, add nuts and dried berries. i'm wondering if i need to add a ton of eggs?? i read that 1/4 c (or maybe is was 1/2 c) of cocnut flour requires 6 eggs bc it's so absorbent. i guess that's fine and would up the protein content.

eggs might make the consistency of the anzacs more cakey though I would think?

i'd try upping the golden syrup/water/baking soda first, eggs as a last resort.

good luck!

I bake with coconut flour, but only mixed with almond flour and arrowroot anymore. The texture of 100% coconut flour is too bizarre for me.

I made chocolate with cannabis coconut oil. Had no idea making chocolate was so easy - cocoa powder, oil, sweetener, lecithin, salt, vanilla extract, mix it on up.

bought massive bags of favas and fresh english peas today, i love late spring cooking and will also be shelling peas for the rest of the week.

me too, late spring cooking is th best, I love all the tender greens available right now

Justine, I use a mix of almond meal + white rice flour + brown rice flour for both pizza crust and pancakes and it works out pretty well?

had some Indian take-out last week that left me wanting more. so, just cooked a bit pot of chickpeas to make chana masala which i've never made before but recipe looks quality and simple. gonna roast a cauli with curry spices and have roasted purple sweet potatoes to go with in lieu of rice which i usu. prefer

and yeah, the farmer's market was screamin' yesterday. huge bunch of basil for $1, huge beautiful bunch of arugula, small purple daikon radishes and whatnot.
xxpost

TWO V CRUCIAL RECIPES 4 U:

[Removed Illegal Image]

Miso Chicken -- way more flavorful than you would think from 4 ingredients. This will prob become my go-to easy chicken recipe at this point, it is so wonderful

ok well that didn't work v well

the other one is this Baked Quinoa with Spinach and Gruyere, delicious beyond words and maybe even vaguely healthy, idk (I made the quinoa with chicken broth and it was so yummy in the finished product)

tofu millet enchiladas. i made these 20+ years ago witha recipe but am riffing with tomatillo habanero salsa. i think we'll be fine. avocado in the house to go with.

STEVIE HELL YES to that quinoa recipe!! Making it as soon as daytime temps drop below 70.

i cannot praise it enough though if you like the earthy quinoay flavor of quinoa it is not v pronounced, but whatever it does with the sage + gruyere makes something v v heavenly

i made crockpot carnitas with tritip which turned out about as weird & illadvised as i expected as taco filling - it was hot & we didnt feel like grilling
BUT i turned them into enchiladas tonight, much better

tonite i made a quick sauce for spaghetti from mixed cherry tomatoes, pancetta, garlic, basil, and butter. it had some probs but was in the general area of the simple elegant pastas i make in my imagination.

i like to make salmon w/ honey and dijon on top but i hate making the sauce because mixing honey with things is such a pain. trader joe's carolina gold bbq sauce is like almost the same thing! i put it on a costco steelhead for maximum substitution points.

hack that may or may not be "easier", depending - stick honey container in simmering water or nuke it for a few seconds, ime it doesn't harm the honey.
usually not crazy abt trout (can tend to taste kinda "muddy" imo) but i love me some steelhead. PLUS!: seems to be a v good, environmentally sustainable option http://www.seafoodsource.com/news/environment-sustainability/farmed-steelhead-trout-earns-green-rating-from-seafood-watch

i have kind of lost my zeal for cooking
it's not interesting to me anymore for some reason
like i used to really get a kick out of trying new things, now i just want to minimize the effort i spend planning what to eat and just cook/eat as needed. i feel kind of joyless about it but also it's not really a problem. maybe the zeal for cooking comes and goes.

I'd agree. It's one of those things where my enthusiasm wanes and it's nice to know I've learned techniques and the basics of composing a dish, but the joy of creating a meal is ephemeral for me.

In those times, it comes in handy when I don't feel like going out for a meal or buying groceries and I'm scavenging my pantry

like it's just not where i want to focus my creative energy right now. like don't get me wrong, i will continue to make delicious healthy foods but they're probably going to be the same ones i have been making for a while.

like like like
sob sob sob

I just eat a bucket of grains

not ancient grains, though, those are too water-intensive and farmed in unsustainable habitats

I think I am coming out of a period of more or less hating cooking, just keeping things simple atm

feel like cooking is a love that grows into available spaces. it is still nice to master extremely quick, basic things that you enjoy eating though. or just master having a nice store cupboard.

it feels like i have mastered what i wish to master (which is not a small amount) and the rest -- the striving to top previous achievements -- is simply not there right now. it'll probably come back when i feel inspired but right now i guess i have other fish to fry
LOLOLOLOLOL
ugh

sometimes i lack time these days, but am always interested/looking for new ideas. on occasion i lack inspiration, but, yesterday, for example, after feeling uninspired for a day or two, i found this AMAZINGLY bee-you-tea-ful new cookbook at the library, Persiana, and i already want to make handfuls of these dishes, and it's all simple stuff to make and relatively easy-to-acquire ingredients

I kinda hate cooking every year at this time with the disgusting hot weather. I was thinking a couple of weeks ago that I'd really like to try making sauerbraten, but I don't want to turn the oven on until October.

Yeah summer makes me allergic to the kitchen. I've been eating take-out and things I can microwave and salads, exclusively. Maybe it would be different if grilling were an option/I had a yard, but in the heat: No.

I can happily eat smoked whitefish and hardboiled eggs and snow peas and granola (my current staples) for a long time before the nutrient deficiency becomes a significant problem. Luckily almond milk has lots of added vitamins.

My brain is starting to remember how good bolognese sauce is, though, so I might be ready to get back to it when the temperature drops.

i have kind of lost my zeal for cooking
it's not interesting to me anymore for some reason
like i used to really get a kick out of trying new things, now i just want to minimize the effort i spend planning what to eat and just cook/eat as needed. i feel kind of joyless about it but also it's not really a problem. maybe the zeal for cooking comes and goes.

― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Wednesday, August 3, 2016 2:48 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

me too

not feeling it at all lately, part of that is that i just moved states and have been in transition for the past month or so, also the kitchen in the place i am renting now is shithole, it really sucks, we're only going to be here for a few months (hopefully) until we find a place to buy but it is a dark ugly space where i never want to be. even before that though in our previous wonderful kitchen i have been pretty joyless when cooking, just seems like a chore. i am happy with the meals we make but it does not feel like a creative outlet right now, just a necessity

The last four years for me have been all grad school / adoption process / buying a new house / selling an old house / starting a new job / having a baby, and spending loads of time researching and experimenting with cooking just fell off the list of things I had time and energy for. It was just a huge chore and not something I really could devote any time to, and I just fell back on simple quick things I knew by rote if I cooked at all.

It's just been in the last couple of months that I've gotten back into it, went out to eat at some new places and got inspired, and actually bought a few new cookbooks.

checked out lovely book from library called Persiana, so tonight, Persian recipes, one slightly adapted to be vegan: Tomato Bulgur which is a simple pilaf kinda thing with tomato paste and red bell; and Cod in cilantro, tamarind, fenugreek sauce wherein cod will have to be subbed for another protein, thinking fake chicken. highly recommend the book if anyone has any interest in food from this region

zeal for cooking briefly restored after eating (not cooking) something from this book
http://shesimmers.com/2014/03/simple-thai-food-classic-recipes-thai-home-kitchen.html

it was SO GOOD

Good book! Most of the recipes available at her excellent blog.

ooh good to know
the one thing that seemed labor intensive was making the toasted rice powder/chili powder and i think i convinced my friend to share with me if i used my food processor to make something else and we could make double batches and then trade

i have kind of lost my zeal for cooking
it's not interesting to me anymore for some reason
like i used to really get a kick out of trying new things, now i just want to minimize the effort i spend planning what to eat and just cook/eat as needed. i feel kind of joyless about it but also it's not really a problem. maybe the zeal for cooking comes and goes.

this is me too, in a way, as I have zero free time to spend on making food (and shopping for it), but conversely my evening meal + TV time is like the one small pleasure in my day. (Apart from the love and joy of my family of course, but come on). So I'd like to at least enjoy it a bit. I wish I didn't find most microwave meals/pre-made soups hideous as I'd live on those for a good while.

Also I haven't tried any new recipes for about 5 years. And rarely eat out. I have started baking occasionally though.

new cuisinart ice cream maker has made an appearance! it's really hot here, so can't wait to find out if this works: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/08/kaffir-lime-ginger-anise-sorbet-recipe.html. just made the base which we'll chill overnight.
never made frozen dessert before but guy @ farmer's mkt had kaffir limes today, so. . . next time i wanna make passionfruit and pair it with chocolate (sorbet). am a little limited, housemates won't do ice cream but they bought the thing so whatever

i made this tonight & it was really good

http://www.africanbites.com/moroccan-slow-cooker-chicken-stew-chick-peas/

oh, nice webiste. i love habanero/scotch bonnet recipes!
sorbet came out REALLY icey. i don't like it. sweet/tart isn't balanced enough either, maybe i shoulda added a little more lime juice and let it go 5 minutes longer, but it didn't seem like it was still churning when i stopped it.