cooking

What’s On the (Romantic) Menu: Valentine Steaks

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This is just so gorgeous that I can’t even remember what else was for dinner.

Oh wait.  Mashed potatoes and kale.  Some sort of bread.  Butter.

Regardless, I started by salting the sirloins and covering them with crushed rosemary leaves.  I let the salt and aromatics work their magic while hubby and I worked on the above random vegetables.  I don’t often share the kitchen (I’m territorial), but it was late and he was being awesome.  During this time, I toasted sliced crimini and button mushrooms and onion slivers in my cast iron in some particularly amazing Amish butter that I got from a local health store.  This process takes a little bit of time.  You don’t want the heat so low that it takes all night, but you don’t want it so high that you burn the mushrooms before they have time to cook through.  Once these were golden and lovely and cooked through and crusty, I reserved them in another dish.

At this point, I raised the heat a touch and added more butter to the dish.  I seared the sirloins on both sides with their aromatics still pressed into the meat.  Once the meat was crusty and beautiful on both sides, I put them in a shallow roasting dish.  I deglazed the pan with some chianti and allowed it to reduce over heat while the other vegetables finished cooking.  When the rest of the food was ready to serve, I covered the meat with the mushrooms and onions and poured the wine reduction over.  This I topped with a double handful of freshly shredded parmesan and popped the dish into a blaring hot oven to toast for a few minutes while I set the table.  I let it rest the obligatory 15 minutes or so while everyone got to the table and plates were dished up.

It was blissfully, wonderfully, face-meltingly amazing.

I had the leftovers the next morning, and I did not share.

What’s On The (Lunch) Menu: Quick Red Beans and Rice (Mild)

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Yes, I know, it’s not really red beans and rice if you cheat and use canned beans, but my kids loved it.

Mince about four slices of bacon and saute over medium heat until the fat starts to render off.  You may need to add a little more drippings if your bacon is particularly lean; about two tablespoons for the whole batch should do it.  Stir in healthy helpings of the Cajun trinity: minced onion, celery, and sweet pepper, along with “the pope”, a bit of crushed garlic.  I don’t use hot peppers in my creole dishes right now, as my children’s palates haven’t matured enough yet to tolerate them. Cook until soft, and add two cans of red kidney beans, with the canning liquid.  Ideally, you would drain the beans and use homemade stock instead, but I was out.  Go ahead and salt to taste, but don’t stub your toe on the way down.  Reduced broth gets saltier the longer it simmers.  Regardless, you want to lower the heat and let everything simmer for about 20 minutes or until thickened.  Serve over rice, and pass some creole seasoning and hot sauce with it.

What’s On The Menu: Remedial Post

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Okay, so sometimes you intend to post regularly and then you end up with a boatload of pictures on your phone and no posts to go with them.

C’est la vie.

Enjoy the slideshow.  Sorry, but my memory faded a little too much to give specifics.

Steelhead Trout Tacos with Avocado Cream Sauce
Beef and Veg Stir Fry (Chinese American Style) over Rice
Creole Seafood Gumbo over Rice
Oven-Roasted Beef over Potatoes with Blackberries and Corn
Pressure Cooker Steaks with Mushroom Gravy over Rice, with Kale

What’s on the Menu – Last Minute Chicken

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This post is part of a series for 2016 on real meals served to my family of 7 that conserve energy and time while preserving nutrients.  This also serves the secondary purpose of eating out fewer times, providing both nutritional and fiscal benefits.

So this is one of those dinners that happened last minute because I had a high pain day. Instead of eating out, I utilized a couple convenience appliances and saved both energy and money. Normally I would have spatchcocked the birds, but my hands were hurting too much to try to split them alone, and the husband was out in the shop tending to other matters.

Last-Minute Chicken
Olive-oil Sautéed Veggies
Pressure-cooker broth risotto

A whole, thawed chicken fit tightly into a crock or lidded Pyrex dish takes approximately 20 minutes to cook on high in the microwave, produces juicy meat and copious broth. Yes, I am aware that there is some controversy about microwaves, but I feel comfortable using my newly designed one. It uses safer technology than the old radar ranges, and you can even use metal in it! Regardless, I seasoned liberally with salt and curry powder.

The veggies were sautéed in olive oil in a hot cast iron pan for about 10 minutes, at which point I added about a half cup of water, covered, and reduced heat to braise until the rest of dinner was ready.

I poured about twice as much stock into my multi-cooker as I did rice and pushed the button for rice/risotto. The results are so creamy and wonderful that I never want to go back to standard steamed rice. Truly magical.

I served all this on mother’s china with iced green tea and apple slices.

What’s On The Menu – Farmhouse Scramble

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This post is part of a series for 2016 on real meals served to my family of 7 that conserve energy and time while preserving nutrients.  This also serves the secondary purpose of eating out fewer times, providing both nutritional and fiscal benefits.

Farmhouse Scramble
Sausage patties
Bacon
Refried potatoes

Sorry, no photos today! 

Sautéed in butter:  torn leftover turkey shreds, sliced baby bella mushrooms, minced spring onion and minced celery.  Poured over: a dozen eggs, scrambled with salt and a bit of half and half.  These were stirred over medium lowish heat until set, as a casserole.  I stirred frequently, so the curd was very small.  You could also pour the eggs over the veggies in a casserole and bake, topped with cheese, like a frittata.

Fried sausage patties and bacon in a cast iron skillet.  Used reserved fat to refry chunks of potato that I pressure cooked to save time.  Season potatoes with salt and garlic powder.

Serve immediately with cold milk.  I would have liked a fruit salad or citrus wedges alongside.  Yogurt and berries would also make a nice addition, as would lemonade or iced tea.

Decent hearty meal, and we avoided eating out, which would surely have happened otherwise because my chickens weren’t thawed sufficiently in time for dinner.

Eating Out Less in 2016

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2015 was the year of insanity.  It was also the year of amazing.

Okay, really, it’s just that my twins were born in January and oh my GOODNESS we ate out every time I turned around.  Especially the first three months.  Soooo much of the dreaded golden arches.

So, in 2016, I’ve made a goal to eat out twice a week or less:  one church service and one outing with the kids.

I have a few things that make this feat manageable.  First of all, we moved halfway through 2016 and now live a minimum of 9 miles from the nearest gas station, much less a restaurant.  Secondly, the twins are having their first birthday, so they are no longer nursing every 30-45 minutes and have some semblance of a routine with their demands on my body and time.  Finally, I have added an electric pressure cooker / multi-cooker to my appliance list.  Between my range/oven, microwave oven, slow cooker and pressure cooker, I can now cook a variety of things all at the same time.  My stove only has two full sized burners, effectively cutting back on my cooking space.  The pressure cooker is like adding another burner without the cost of replacing my range.  I will eventually replace my range, but this helps keep the time frame manageable.

In addition, a pressure cooker can quickly cook fully frozen meats, a sizeable advantage for any busy person but especially for a homeschooling mom of 5.

You may have noticed my series on quick meals for 2016; I plan to continue the series through the year.  Hopefully this will inspire others to take the real food, less-eating-out plunge.

What’s On The Menu – Pressure Cooker Steaks

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This post is part of a series for 2016 on real meals served to my family of 7 that conserve energy and time while preserving nutrients.

Pressure Cooker Chuck Tender Steaks
Onion and Mushroom Gravy
Mashed Red Potatoes (stovetop)
Kale in Broth (microwave)

Put pressure cooker on sear/brown setting. Dredge steaks in flour and brown on all sides in hot oil; I always use organic extra virgin olive oil. Set aside. Sauté a large onion, slivered, and about 8 oz sliced mushrooms until well browned on the outside. This whole process will take about a half-hour.

Put salted water on to boil in a stew pot and drop in a few pounds of red potatoes, cubed, skins on. Once boiling, cover and reduce heat to simmer while other items cook.

Layer steaks and sautéed veggies in pressure cooker. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour broth over these (between a cup and a pint); tonight I used homemade turkey stock. Seal cooker and cook on high pressure for 20-25 minutes. I used the steak setting and reduced time to 20 minutes. (Please note that I use an electric pressure cooker and times may vary between brands.)

While steak cooks, fill a covered casserole with kale. Season with a little salt, about a cup and a half of broth, and a lump of butter (about 3 tablespoons). Mine was tender when microwaved on high, covered, for twelve minutes – stirred – and microwaved again for 2 minutes more.

When steaks finish cooking, move meat and veg to a serving dish, reserving broth. Change back to sear setting and stir in about a quarter cup of water with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch added. Be sure to use cool water and incorporate the cornstarch completely before adding to the hot pot, unless you enjoy lumpy cornstarch dumplings in your gravy. Stir frequently. When thickened, pour over meat and stir. I also added a big dollop of sour cream – about a quarter cup.

Drain potatoes and mash with about 4 tablespoons butter and some half-and-half or cream to thin. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Dinner was successful. The kids were excited about kale cooked in broth. Steaks weren’t as tender as I liked, but they were a cheap cut and still turned out well, all things considered.

Total time from start to finish – approximately one hour.

What’s On The Menu – Seared Steelhead Trout

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This post is part of a series for 2016 on real meals served to my family of 7 that conserve energy and time while preserving nutrients.

Seared Chilean Steelhead Trout (with dill and browned butter)
Rice and quinoa
Green beans (previously frozen)
Beet coins dressed with olive oil (canned)

Organic whole milk

Gingerbread ice cream (on clearance)

My family thoroughly enjoyed this meal, although the grains were a bit bland this time.

Cook time was about half an hour to forty-five minutes.  Pre-heated the cast iron and put the grains in a multi-cooker on rice setting to save time.  Seared each piece of fish skin-side down in a cast iron skillet with a fresh pat of butter and put fresh dill and a sprinkle of sea salt while the skin crisped up.  While the fish pieces cooked, I heated a can of beets in good olive oil with a sprinkle of salt in a covered saucepan over low heat.  The green beans were put frozen with about a half-cup of water into a covered casserole and were cooked in the microwave on high for 12 minutes, and then again for 3 minutes after adding a bit of dill and a lump of butter.

All in all, dinner was successful.

Note:  I used Kenji’s method for searing fish filets as my inspiration.  Find it in The Food Lab, an amazing modern cookbook that utilizes the scientific method to discover better home cooking.

Saucy Creole Pork Chops

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I based this recipe off of some inspiration from my decades-old Southern Living Cook Book and an old tattered Cajun work called River Road Recipes. 

One of the most interesting things about the way a person cooks is how their environment saturates their cooking.  For example, my mama grew up in Baytown, Tx, so she had a bit of Cajun influence, but her cooking was mostly Southern-American and Campbell’s kitchen.  I grew up near Houston, Tx, so I was exposed to lots of different cultures.  I also grew up during the dawn of the internet, so I have both old-fashioned books and an Internet full of blogs to pull inspiration from.

Both my husband and I grew up in homes where mealtime is family time, and we have passed that tradition on to our kids.  Three squares a day plus snacks, all eaten at the dining room table.  This lifestyle has an important influence on my cooking style, because presentation, comfort, taste, and variety are all up to me. 

If I were to label my cooking, I would say it’s a unique Texas blend of authentic Mexican and Southern-American with the occasional Cajun dish thrown in, and we go through ethnic seasons based on the time of year.  We enjoy Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese and Chinese American dishes for a change of pace, and I rotate through my seasonings to keep the English round of meat-starch-and-green interesting.

Frequently I cook pork with onions until tender, make a gravy and serve with starch.  This was our change of pace.  It makes a great company meal as well as a family meal.  I forgot to take pictures of the finished product because we were so hungry!

I started with large, “thin cut” pork chops (bone-in) and dredged them in plain flour.  These I pan-fried in a small amount of olive oil in a nice, deep cast-iron pot.  Fry on both sides over a medium-low heat until nice and golden.  I layered these in a 9×13″ baking dish.

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As you can see below, this process left a lovely deep golden roux base in the pot, perfect for creating my sauce.

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Then you add “the Holy Trinity,” which is Cajun for mince onion, green pepper, and celery.  I also added two frozen cubes of “da Pope,” aka garlic.

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My wonderful husband minced these for me while I was frying the chops. Time saver!

I cooked all these vegetables with a little salt in the oil-and-flour mixture left in the bottom of the iron pot.  I also added about 8 ounces of crumbled mushrooms during the sauté stage, along with a lump of butter about 3 tablespoons in size.

Once the veggies had softened, I added 5 ounces or so of (previously frozen) fresh tomato sauce and around twelve ounces of water.  It’s better with broth, but I worked with what I had on hand.  Simmer all of this for at least 10 minutes.  Salt to taste.  You want the broth to taste like a hearty vegetable soup, not a watery mess.

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Now, at this point I had crying babies, so you’ll have to excuse the lack of pictures.  I poured the finished sauce over the meat and covered the dish with aluminum foil.  This we baked at 375F for an hour while we made the rice dish and buttered zucchini and aguas frescas (watermelon this time).  This produced tender meat and savory sauce to serve with starch and green, and the company was impressed.

What’s on the menu:
-saucy Creole pork chops
-quinoa-and-rice blend, steamed, seasoned with beef soup base
-buttered zucchini
-Aguas fréscas de melón – a Mexican drink consisting of pureed watermelon, lime juice and water.  I sweetened with honey and strained over ice.