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Lydia Lightfoot · **10-09-2015, 03:20 PM**

The best advice I can give about portion control is mason jars (and by extension, pressure canning).

A pint jar is 16 ounces which is comparable to a can of non-condensed soup (Progresso, etc). That's perfect for a single person's meal (a nice big bowl full) with some bread or crackers, or "a side dish of soup" for 2-3 people to be served alongside a main dish of something else (sandwiches, etc). If you tend to eat your soup/stew as a side rather than a meal in itself, you could get half-pint mason jars instead. But, if you normally eat it as a meal, then if you did happen to eat it as a side dish at some point you can always refrigerate half the contents of a pint jar for a few days.

If you buy a pressure canner, then you can make big batches of soup with ingredients proportioned as you see fit - if you decide midway through that it doesn't have enough potato or whatever you just add some more to your soup kettle until you feel it has the right balance of ingredients and seasonings. Load up as many mason jars with the soup as you can - the only trick there is trying to make sure that you load them evenly in terms of solids and liquids in your soup (if you don't pay attention, you may end up with some jars that have a lot of solids and the later jars end up as mostly liquids). You can always use a spoon to redistribute the jar contents once they're filled, if you notice that there's some significant imbalance.

Once you have the jars filled, decide how many that you will eat "short-term" - which is to say the same day or within a couple of days. Those jars don't need lids - just saran wrap the top and use a rubber band to hold it in place. Put those ones in the fridge. The rest of them get lids and rings, as is normal in canning, and then go into the pressure canner. Typical pressure canning instructions say not to deviate from recipes, but that's a load of malarkey - you can put pretty much whatever you want into those jars as long as you get it to a high pressure and leave it at that pressure for a lengthy time to ensure that any possible bacteria have died. I typically do 13 PSI for an hour if there's no dairy or meat, or 90 minutes if there's dairy or meat.

Once the canning is done you can store the jars in a cabinet, on shelves, etc. It's really a great way to make use of holiday sales on foods, and once you've made your initial investment into the canner and a huge amount of mason jars there's not very much expense. Jars and the sealing rings are reusable, the only thing you have to replace with every use is the actual lid of the jar due to the seal having already been used. You can get those for about ten cents each or less depending on the bulk you purchase (and you may as well buy a ton of them to make it cheap individually, they're small and don't take up much space to store).

rainichan · **10-11-2015, 12:51 AM**

I don't have pictures of most of the stuff I've made in the past, but! I do have a few recipes I've used for delicious noms.

Shortcut red beans and rice for those who don't have the time to stew red beans for a day or more. I've also experimented with adding different spices as well, and we don't have Slap Ya Mama here in Reno soooo I just roll with the cajun spices I can find.

I believe I also used the seafood gumbo recipe on that same site and modified it some. I was told that, while it was still gumbo, with all the seafood I put into it beyond crab and shrimp it more resembled a cioppino but as a gumbo. Was still ridiculously tasty. Big Grin

One of the other things I've done in the past was buying huge, almost the size of my hand shrimp and stuffing them. It was a fairly simple recipe derived from a different stuffed shrimp with pepperjack cheese. I also got some ricotta cheese and crab meat (real crab, not krab), used just salt and pepper in the crab/ricotta mixture and stuffed/covered the shrimp with it. Popped it under the broiler to melt the cheese, flipped the shrimp to cook them, and voila. It was so tasty ;;

A few weeks ago, I made this. Boy howdy was it good. Popped it in the oven and hnnnnng. I added some prosciutto to it to balance out the ham and brie and it turned out better than I had been hoping. Brie is such a delicious cheese, I love cooking with it. Pair it with gruyere and it's a match made in heaven for me.

And the last thing I can think of off the top of my head that I made for a coworker that was moving from the states to Japan were some super delish garlic miso chicken wings. I wanted to make something that was sort of a hybrid food and I found this. Receiver at my old job told me he'd take an order for his Super Bowl party lol. I also used the marinade for other meats as well, so it's not just for chicken. It makes your kitchen (and your house/apartment) smell amazing while its cooking too!

If you go looking for miso paste, your best bet is going to be at an Asian market. It'll be located in the refrigerated section of the store. You can use it for other things too, so it's pretty versatile!

LiadansWhisper · **10-13-2015, 04:59 PM**

Okay. Â This is something I have made several times and we loooooove:

[Image: 21522778904_29c1f46547_o.jpg]

It's incredibly easy. Â Here are the ingredients:

4 chicken breasts
1 packet Fiesta Ranch mix (by the salad dressing)
1 can black beans, undrained (you can drain them if you want, I do not)
1 can Rotel, undrained
1 can corn, undrained
1 block cream cheese.

Throw them all in the crock pot, then cook on high in the slow cooker for 4 hours or 6 on low. (I highly recommend cooking it on low for 6 hours, as the chicken tends to be more tender.)

I usually eat this with tortilla chips.

LiadansWhisper · **10-13-2015, 05:05 PM**

White Bean and Sausage Stew

[Image: beans-sausage-ay-1875451-x.jpg]

Ingredients:

6 (3 oz.) Italian sausages
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 (15 oz.) cans white beans (Great Northern or navy), rinsed and drained
1 (28 oz.) can chopped tomatoes, drained
1 tbsp chopped fresh or 1 tsp. dried thyme
Salt and pepper

Directions:

Poke holes in sausages and put in a large nonstick skillet. Add 1/4 cup water; bring to a boil. Lower heat and cook sausages, turning, until lightly browned and water has evaporated, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; cook, stirring often, about 3 minutes. Add beans, tomatoes and thyme.
Put half of bean mixture into a slow cooker. Arrange sausages on top, followed by remaining beans. Cook on high for 4 hours. Check after 2 hours and add water if mixture looks dry.
Remove sausages; slice thickly. Season beans with salt and pepper. Return sausage to stew. (Stew can be kept, frozen and tightly sealed, for up to 1 month.)

Kage · **10-13-2015, 06:36 PM**

(10-13-2015, 04:59 PM)LiadansWhisper Wrote: Okay. Â This is something I have made several times and we loooooove:

It's incredibly easy. Â Here are the ingredients:

4 chicken breasts
1 packet Fiesta Ranch mix (by the salad dressing)
1 can black beans, undrained
1 can Rotel, undrained
1 can corn, undrained
1 block cream cheese.

Throw them all in the crock pot, then cook on high in the slow cooker for 4 hours or 6 on low. (I highly recommend cooking it on low for 6 hours, as the chicken tends to be more tender.)

I usually eat this with tortilla chips.

Ohhh, what kinda Rotel tomatoes? Any?

LiadansWhisper · **10-13-2015, 07:38 PM**

(10-13-2015, 06:36 PM)Kage Wrote: Ohhh, what kinda Rotel tomatoes? Any?

I literally buy the Great Value diced tomatoes with chilis (they're next to the actual Rotel). Â It's the original Rotel they're looking for, I'm pretty sure.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Di...z/10315170

[Image: k2-_3962799f-678d-4bec-b243-cb0d2b4faf4d.v4.jpg]

[Image: k2-_3962799f-678d-4bec-b243-cb0d2b4faf4d.v4.jpg]

Lydia Lightfoot · **10-13-2015, 07:56 PM**

If you're a sale shopper like me, you're better off buying cans of diced tomato and cans of diced green chiles separately. Individually they're applicable to a wider range of recipes than the combination, yet they can always be combined in recipes which call for both.

LiadansWhisper · **10-13-2015, 08:08 PM**

(10-13-2015, 07:56 PM)Calliope Cloverbloom Wrote: If you're a sale shopper like me, you're better off buying cans of diced tomato and cans of diced green chiles separately. Individually they're applicable to a wider range of recipes than the combination, yet they can always be combined in recipes which call for both.

The GV stuff is normally priced less than 50 cents each here. Â I have bought separate cans of diced chiles before, but they don't taste the same as the ones in the rotel-style cans.

***Maril*** · **10-27-2015, 08:00 AM**

This is either going to go really really right, or really really wrong.

Will update with a post-baking picture soon Big Grin

(Cinnamon snails if anyone was wondering. Or buns, depending on where you're from.)

And here's the result:

[Image: 366b7ebaa2.jpg]

So, I ended up taking them out of the muffin-mold after about 8 mins, I realized they weren't really quite done yet so I put the next batch on (without muffin mold), then took that one out after 6 minutes and put the other ones back on, then blasted them with hot air for like 3-4 minutes to make sure they were properly cooked and got a bit more color.
The muffin mold thing was an experiment, I'd seen someone do it on facebook and was like "That looks pretty". The conclusion I can draw is that I actually prefer the standard way of making them, and that despite putting what seemed like LOTS of cinnamon in there, they don't really taste overly cinnamon like. I'm half-way considering I might have used the wrong type of butter (unsalted) for the filling or that something somehow effed up when I used it.It may also just have been the recipe that was weird.

I am probably not going to be serving these to anyone. Ah well. Can't get it right every-time.

Kage · **10-27-2015, 08:23 AM**

o.o Snails?

If anyone ever wants a "quick" almost effortless meal... and aren't afraid of the microwave, I like using bone-in skin-on chicken thighs (or a whole chicken but that requires cleaning and -work-. For a brine, sprinkle some black peppercorns on the thighs, and then rub salt into them. I use a little olive oil to help rub it in but you honestly don't need it. Cover with saran wrap. Next day, microwave about 4 thighs about 12 min. Flip the thighs over and change the saran wrap. Microwave another 10 minutes or so.

For a whole bird about 6-7 lbs I'd microwave it for about 20 min each side. nwn I'd do the bird but I also dont want to clean it >.>

***Maril*** · **10-27-2015, 08:45 AM**

(10-27-2015, 08:23 AM)Kage Wrote: o.o Snails?

We call them snails in Denmark because the swirly thing kind of looks like the house of a snail xD It's just buns everywhere else I think.

Kage · **10-27-2015, 08:49 AM**

(10-27-2015, 08:45 AM)Nailah Wrote:
(10-27-2015, 08:23 AM)Kage Wrote: o.o Snails?

We call them snails in Denmark because the swirly thing kind of looks like the house of a snail xD It's just buns everywhere else I think.

I found it interesting that they're named snails but then again my idea of food does not include snails unless I am super duper hungry. Never occurred to me other food would be named them.
((I also admit that it's the early morning and I had read it as sails first so I was much more confused until I saw it was snails))

Edit: Also, by taking them out, they do look like snails now :p

Mae · **10-28-2015, 03:53 PM**

Been sick for a few days, so kitchen is messier than I like and therefore I'm not taking any pictures.

Currently making a large crock-pot full of "Portuguese penicillin". My mum swears by her homemade chicken and barley soup for when she's sick, but I always turn to this. Hers might be more healthy because she makes everything 100% from scratch, I think mine is "safer" because when you're dizzy, achey, and queasy, you really only want to be standing and doing something in the kitchen for 20 minutes tops.

In true old-fashioned style, I don't measure when I make this (unless I used a whole package of something). Everything is pretty much eyeballed in relation to how big my pot is. I'll probably be eating nothing but big bowls of this for the next few days, sooo... there's probably quite a few regular sized servings in this.

2lbs chourico sausage, casing removed and cut into bite-sized half-moon pieces
-- chourico is sometimes listed as "hot Portuguese sausage", but it really isn't that spicy or hot. If you're still worried about it being too hot/spicy, go with linguica sausage, which is milder.
1 1.5lb bag of "little potatoes", quartered. Any other potato type, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 really large yellow onion, diced (or do what I do, and use 1 package frozen diced onion from the frozen veggie isle)
2 boxes no sodium added or low-sodium chicken stock of any brand but Swanson's.
3 or so large cloves chopped garlic
1 small can petite diced tomatoes in juice (optional... I do it for the acidity)
Bay leaves (I used three today)
Sweet Hungarian paprika (... a lot...)
Salt and black pepper.
Handful of dry barley or can of cannellini beans, rinsed (I did barley today cause I don't like beans and I'm the only one eating this batch)
Bunch of kale (... maybe a pound? my grocery store sells it by the bunch), chopped and mostly-leafy parts separated from the mostly-stem parts. This may seem like an insane amount, but it'll cook down to next to nothing.

Put everything but the kale into the crockpot and set for whatever time you want (I set mine for 6 hours). Check broth every once in a while for flavor and adjust -- depending on my mood I've used up to 1/4 cup of the paprika in the past, and I used Salish salt today for extra smokey flavor.

When I'm feeling good and making this soup just because I want it, I'll brown half the chourico and onions in a pan before adding to the crockpot for some extra flavor.

One hour before serving (or before turning off the crockpot), you can add roux or cornstarch to thicken slightly. At this point, you can also add the mostly-stem parts of the kale.

20 minutes before serving (or turning off the crockpot), add the leafy parts of the kale. This'll keep the kale from becoming a weird brown-green pondweedy sludge.

I like to add a dollop of sour cream or plain greek yogurt to my bowl just before eating.

And here is a picture of the internet:
[Image: 9509.jpg]

Lydia Lightfoot · **10-28-2015, 05:21 PM**

This was an experiment the other day when my roomie botched her first attempt this year at making a Jack-o-Lantern, but it turned out really great! I'd never cooked anything with pumpkin before, but I'd heard you can make mashes or soups with them, so I thought... let's see what we can do!

Oops Jack Soup

1 medium pumpkin
2 red potatoes
2 celery stalks
2 onions
4 cloves garlic
1 stick salted butter (1/4 lb)
whole milk
chicken stock (or bouillon cubes/powder)
basil, dried
rosemary, dried
black pepper
salt

Wash your pumpkin, then remove the stem, flower end (we refer to this as the veggie butt, around here, lol), and seeds from the inside. If you're using a failed Jack like we did, you've probably already done some of that!

Slice the pumpkin into pieces about the size of your hand for easier peeling, then peel (any old veggie peeler works fine for this), and peel your potatoes. Discard all peels, and cube the pumpkin flesh and potato chunks. Toss them into your soup kettle with a couple inches of chicken stock and cover, and bring to a boil, then drop temperature into a simmer. The pumpkin flesh will become slightly clear when it becomes cooked, and will have a softened texture - if you regularly cook squashes of other types, this'll be familiar to you.

Dice up the celery, onion, and garlic while you heat a skillet and melt your butter in it. Add the diced stuff, plus 1 tablespoon each of rosemary and basil, once the pan is hot and the butter is melted, and stir that good stuff around for a few minutes until your onions become transparent. I used sweet onions, but it'd be delicious with any kind of onions, I'm sure! Once the onions are done, carefully put the contents of the skillet into the kettle, making sure to get all the little bits out of there (I used a baking spatula to help).Â

When the pumpkin cubes are soft enough to start smashing up on their own just as you stir the pot, take your immersion blender to the kettle to puree everything (you can use a standard blender for this if you want, in batches, it just takes longer - think about getting an immersion blender for Christmas, though, they're super handy!). Add milk until it reaches your desired consistency and creaminess, in my case it was comparable to a light gravy. Add salt and pepper to taste, and you can add a little more of other seasonings if you like, too!

Serve with toasted bread for dipping.

Oops Jack Chowder

Above, plus...
More red potatoes
More celery
Carrots
Green bell peppers

For a heartier version, after the puree stage add in some diced red potato and green bell pepper, quartered-and-diced carrot, and celery slices about 1/4" thick. Let that simmer until the potatoes soften, and serve.

***GhostlyMaiden*** · **10-28-2015, 05:24 PM**

Something my best friend and I LOVE to make is Onigiri
[Image: onigiri-5.jpg]

Now when we make it, it doesn't look that pretty but it's still REALLY good. We used the a wikihelp guide the first few times we made it, and I will happily share it.
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Onigiri
Please note: You can put whatever you want as the filling. We use scrambled eggs, and grilled chicken. Also I recommend using Jasmine rice, it sticks better.
If anyone decides to make it, please let me know what you think and/or what filling you used. ^_^

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Foods! Delicious Foods. Please share them (recipes?pics?) with me (everyone)

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