What are you cooking?

[Mister]

-

 

[Bliss Doubt]

I don't know why you got that notification either. I get some weird things out of sequence sometimes too.

I enjoy talking about these things, not that talking changes anything, but a conversation with someone who has an open searching mind and a non-combative approach is pretty rare to find, and comforting to me.

Some people will find this conversation political anyway, and unrelated to food and cooking (though it certainly is related to the food supply), so I will PM you and we can talk further there if you want.

 

[gopher_byrd]

Tri Tip from last night. This was one of my best cooks. I had it on the pellet grill for about an hour @250F until it reached 125F internal. Then I turned up the heat to 600F to get my grill grates nice and hot for a reverse sear. The seasoning I used was a simple salt, pepper, and garlic rub.

Wifey loved it and that's what counts!

 

[Mister]

Went with some green bean caserole tonight to clear the pipes, so to speak (it runs right thru me,lol)
Heres a stock image cuz i ate it too fast

 

[Bliss Doubt]

Went with some green bean caserole tonight to clear the pipes, so to speak (it runs right thru me,lol)
Heres a stock image cuz i ate it too fast

As irritating as it is to me to see it on the holiday table, I kind of like that stuff for a winter evening meal. It's easy to make, a can of this, can of that, handful of the onions (I add extra), and the spoonful of woostersheister. It's more substantial than a bowl of soup as a main dish, and always makes enough for leftovers for lunch the next day.

 

[Bliss Doubt]

I'm editing this whole post, because previously I offered a recipe that I disclosed was un-tested by me. Now I have shopped in two grocery stores to get all the ingredients, all of them organic, and have made and tested the recipe. It worked great, tastes great.

I've never been to the middle east or Turkey, but I've had tabbouleh many times in many countries. It has a signature taste, and a reliable roster of ingredients. Traditionally it's based on bulgur wheat, which makes up about half the mixture, with fresh crisp veg mixed in, and more parsley than you'd expect to see in any other recipe. Some say cucumber isn't a traditional ingredient, but I've almost always seen it included in the dish, and it appears in many of the recipes you can view online.

I decided to try using wild rice instead of bulgur, since so many people are doing grain free or gluten free diets these days. Wild rice has a nutty flavor. It's very high in protein, and has no gluten. It is an old native American staple in some regions of our continent, with special rituals and prayers around the harvesting of it. But man oh man, expect to pay through the nose for it, if you can even find it, at least a dollar an ounce.

Prep notes: Even if you don't ordinarily seed your cucumbers for salads, you want to for this dish, because the seed mass is very watery, and salt brings out even more liquid. Tabbouleh should be fluffy. Same for tomatoes. I usually eat the seeds, juice and all, but unless the tabbouleh is to be served immediately, you'll want to scoop out some of the gelatinous seed bits, and strain out the juice after chopping.

Ingredients:

Wild rice, about half as much as the combined total of all other ingredients, half of the whole dish
Tomatoes, diced and drained
Cucumber, seeded and diced
Lots of parsley (I prefer the curly, but you can use the flat leaf if you prefer it). Some people chop the parsley to mush, but I like the leaves left whole.
Long green onion or scallion, chopped, including the white and the green parts (discarding any ragged dried ends)
Chopped fresh mint leaves, about three heaping tablespoons
Salad oil of your choice (olive oil is traditional)
Freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper, or red pepper flakes

Rinse the rice well in a fine mesh strainer, and cook according to package directions. None of the recipes say to add salt to the water, so I didn't. It might do something to the texture of the rice, dunno. Once it is tender, strain off any remaining excess liquid. Following the package recipe, I had no excess liquid to drain off. When it was done, the water was all absorbed. Do note that wild rice is more chewy than regular rice. Let the rice cool to room temp, so the heat doesn't wilt your fresh crisp veg. Then toss together with the rest of the ingredients.

Eat all you want. A whole cup of cooked wild rice is only 165 calories. The oil will add 100 to 200 calories, depending on how much you use per recipe, and you're dressing all the veg too, but still it's hard to make this dish fattening. This is my dinner tonite, leaving room for the two Hail Merry chocolate tartlets (next post).



Extreme close-up to avoid showing the messy kitchen after all that peeling, scraping and chopping.

If you don't have one or more of the above ingredients on hand, substitutions can be made: chopped lettuce, celery, carrot, jalapeno or bell pepper, basil instead of mint, but then it won't be traditional, but it will be good.

 

[Jimi]

@Jimi, have you ever had tabouli, the middle eastern salad made from bulgur wheat? It's soooooo delicious, but I know you wouldn't eat it because of gluten. When I saw you were trying to figure out how to cook wild rice, I immediately thought of it as a substitute for the wheat in tabouli (or tabbouleh, many different spellings). Wild rice is gluten free, and has more protein than quinoa, so it can be a main dish. It isn't really rice at all. It is the seed of an aquatic grass.

So to cook the rice:

1 cup rice to four cups water or broth.

Rinse the rice, and add it with your liquid to a sauce pan. Bring it to a boil, reduce heat to low, and cover. Let it simmer 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, not too often.

The thing about taking the heat down to low after it boils, is that high heat will cause your dish to boil over, and high boiling liquid escapes heat into the atmosphere instead of penetrating it into the food. Gentle simmering cooks the rice (or your pasta) the quickest.

When it's tender, drain off any leftover liquid and fluff the rice with a fork.

To make it into Tabouli (admittedly an untested recipe for me, but I do plan to try it soon):

Chop your fresh tomatoes and pat off the liquid with a clean cloth.
Chop your fresh parsley and mint
Scoop the seeds out of your cucumber and chop it. I usually don't remove cuke seeds, but they're a watery mass, and you want fluffy tabouli.
Chop your green onion, both the white parts and green ends (discard raggedy dried out ends)
Squeeze the juice out of a lemon

Gently stir together the cooked rice and all the veg (how much veg depends on how much rice).

Add lemon juice, olive oil, plenty of salt and freshly ground pepper. Toss gently one more time and taste for salt, add more if necessary.

I hope you love it if you try it. I love tabouli, but have never tried making it with wild rice.

Thank you my dear friend That sounds delicious but haveta wait till my maters are ripe, I just don't trust the store ones to be truly organic, also homegrown maters taste so much better. I am real anxious to try this one, I like everything in it.

 

[Bliss Doubt]

Thank you my dear friend That sounds delicious but haveta wait till my maters are ripe, I just don't trust the store ones to be truly organic, also homegrown maters taste so much better. I am real anxious to try this one, I like everything in it.

Yes, and in mass crop organic they use way to much of the "biological" pesticides like bT, which will eventually cause insect resistance to it and make it useless. That's just one problem with it. Some growers are better than others with the companion planting, and growing things that respect the local soil and climate.

 

[Bliss Doubt]

How often do we give in to the temptation to grab a little treat, resigned to the idea it will be really naughty, with sketchy ingredients we don't usually eat? It happens. I grabbed these on sale, and what a nice surprise:



They're in a refrigerated case, and the label says "keep refrigerated". I don't know why, since all of the listed ingredients should be shelf stable. Each one is about the size of a Reese cup, but these are not candy. They really are little chocolate ganache tarts, in chocolate pie crust, and the ingredients are surprisingly clean:

Organic maple syrup, blanched almonds, cocoa processed with alkali, organic virgin coconut oil, sea salt

Each little pie is 100 calories. I bring them to room temp before enjoying, on a plate, with a fork. Decorating the top of each one with a pecan half would not be out of the question, especially for serving them to others.

A Reese cup is 115 cal., but I just don't want the ingredients in Reese's, ever:

Tert-Butylhydroquinone
Man made citric acid from black mold
Polyglycerol Polyricinoleate; a man made emulsifying agent (replacing the cocoa butter used in the original Reese's recipe)
Lactose
Dextrose

I'm not ever tempted to grab one of those. I'm over my romance with Hostess Hohos too, even though they are only 130 calories per cake:

Sugar, Water, Corn Syrup, Enriched Flour (bleached Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Ferrous Sulfate Or Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Palm Oil, Palm Kernel Oil, Whey, Contains 2% Or Less: Soybean Oil, Cocoa, Cocoa Processed With Alkali, Mono And Diglycerides, Glycerin, Baking Soda, Soy Lecithin, Salt, Modified Food Starch, Corn Syrup Solids, Mineral Oil, Egg Whites, Egg, Preservatives (sorbic Acid, Potassium Sorbate, Natamycin), Natural And Artificial Flavors, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Polysorbate 60, Defatted Soy Flour, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Xanthan Gum, Monocalcium Phosphate, Enzymes, Calcium Caseinate, Sodium Caseinate, Soy Protein Isolate.

Who needs 'em. Hail Merry! I love it. Can't wait to try the lemon flavor.

 

[Jimi]

I'm editing this whole post, because previously I offered a recipe that I disclosed was un-tested by me. Now I have shopped in two grocery stores to get all the ingredients, all of them organic, and have made and tested the recipe. It worked great, tastes great.

I've never been to the middle east or Turkey, but I've had tabbouleh many times in many countries. It has a signature taste, and a reliable roster of ingredients. Traditionally it's based on bulgur wheat, which makes up about half the mixture, with fresh crisp veg mixed in, and more parsley than you'd expect to see in any other recipe. Some say cucumber isn't a traditional ingredient, but I've almost always seen it included in the dish, and it appears in many of the recipes you can view online.

I decided to try using wild rice instead of bulgur, since so many people are doing grain free or gluten free diets these days. Wild rice has a nutty flavor. It's very high in protein, and has no gluten. It is an old native American staple in some regions of our continent, with special rituals and prayers around the harvesting of it. But man oh man, expect to pay through the nose for it, if you can even find it, at least a dollar an ounce.

Prep notes: Even if you don't ordinarily seed your cucumbers for salads, you want to for this dish, because the seed mass is very watery, and salt brings out even more liquid. Tabbouleh should be fluffy. Same for tomatoes. I usually eat the seeds, juice and all, but unless the tabbouleh is to be served immediately, you'll want to scoop out some of the gelatinous seed bits, and strain out the juice after chopping.

Ingredients:

Wild rice, about half as much as the combined total of all other ingredients, half of the whole dish
Tomatoes, diced and drained
Cucumber, seeded and diced
Lots of parsley (I prefer the curly, but you can use the flat leaf if you prefer it). Some people chop the parsley to mush, but I like the leaves left whole.
Long green onion or scallion, chopped, including the white and the green parts (discarding any ragged dried ends)
Chopped fresh mint leaves, about three heaping tablespoons
Salad oil of your choice (olive oil is traditional)
Freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper, or red pepper flakes

Rinse the rice well in a fine mesh strainer, and cook according to package directions. None of the recipes say to add salt to the water, so I didn't. It might do something to the texture of the rice, dunno. Once it is tender, strain off any remaining excess liquid. Following the package recipe, I had no excess liquid to drain off. When it was done, the water was all absorbed. Do note that wild rice is more chewy than regular rice. Let the rice cool to room temp, so the heat doesn't wilt your fresh crisp veg. Then toss together with the rest of the ingredients.

Eat all you want. A whole cup of cooked wild rice is only 165 calories. The oil will add 100 to 200 calories, depending on how much you use per recipe, and you're dressing all the veg too, but still it's hard to make this dish fattening. This is my dinner tonite, leaving room for the two Hail Merry chocolate tartlets (next post).

View attachment 204822

Extreme close-up to avoid showing the messy kitchen after all that peeling, scraping and chopping.

If you don't have one or more of the above ingredients on hand, substitutions can be made: chopped lettuce, celery, carrot, jalapeno or bell pepper, basil instead of mint, but then it won't be traditional, but it will be good.

Oh that does look just so very good, can't wait to try it

 

[Mister]

@Bliss Doubt or anyone really, have you ever made french toast out of rye bread?

Does it work or is the bread too hard (its the tough kinda rye bread)

I dont wanna waste it or the eggs finding out it doesnt work

 

[Bliss Doubt]

@Bliss Doubt or anyone really, have you ever made french toast out of rye bread?

Does it work or is the bread too hard (its the tough kinda rye bread)

I dont wanna waste it or the eggs finding out it doesnt work

Mr. Nobody, I'm used to thinking of french toast as being kind of a sweet dish, finished with a dusting of powdered sugar. Some people put maple syrup or jelly on it, but the basic thing being a mixture of eggs and milk, pinch of salt, dip the bread and fry it gently in hot butter.

I don't know why not, except I can't quite see it with the sweet finish. I can easily imagine rye bread french toast done as a savory dish and finished with some chopped scallion and maybe some chopped tomato and or sweet pepper on top.

If the bread is hard, soak it a little longer in the egg/milk mixture. French toast uses up stale bread very nicely.

If you have a lot of bread to use up, and you don't want ten pieces of french toast for breakfast all at once, cut the loaf into cubes, place the cubes in a buttered dish. Beat up lots of eggs with milk, salt and pepper, and pour it over the cubes. Bake until done, as a savory bread pudding. Leftovers of that even can be good, cut in slices and toasted under the broiler.

I hope something there works for you. I hate wasting food too.

Just editing to add: if you do the rye bread savory baked pudding thing, when you put the cubed bread in the buttered dish, add some grated swiss and maybe some chopped cold cuts, all before pouring over the egg/milk mixture. Mmm. But that's throwing in more money with an experimental recipe. You can always top the finished dish with the cheese and chopped ham.

 

[Mister]

I wasnt sure it would soak in to be honest n if it did i wasnt sure id want to eat toasted rye bread mush. it was to put maple syrup on it, i just dont eat that for breakfsst usually.

In the end i just make good ole american toast with butter and was fine for my snacking. Toast i can cook

I do make a great french toast with hallah, just not hard rye, lol

 

[Bliss Doubt]

I wasnt sure it would soak in to be honest n if it did i wasnt sure id want to eat toasted rye bread mush. it was to put maple syrup on it, i just dont eat that for breakfsst usually.

In the end i just make good ole american toast with butter and was fine for my snacking. Toast i can cook

I do make a great french toast with hallah, just not hard rye, lol

I'm glad you made it work. I had the impression you were trying to use up more than a couple of pieces before it could mold. You can always put bread in the freezer to save it from molding.

I've only made bread pudding once in my life, as an experiment. It isn't my favorite thing, but keep in mind, if it's done right, it won't be a mush. It will be firm and a bit chewy, kind of like the texture of brownies.

 

[Bliss Doubt]

Behold my pretty breakfast-lunch today, all organic:

Romaine, avocado, clementine sections, pecan halves, salt, red pepper flakes. Because of the avocado, this salad doesn't need any dressing.



This is my favorite salad to put on a winter holiday table. It has to be made a la minute because avocado doesn't want to sit around waiting.

I made way too much for one person, but I ate it all up anyway, because again, leftover avocado doesn't want to sit around.

 

[Mister]

manderins/clementines/tangerines in salads FTW

 

[Jimi]

I like Mango's in salad, makes it own dressing

 

[Bliss Doubt]

I like Mango's in salad, makes it own dressing

Mangos are so delicious, naturally syrupy sweet. I have to get some organic ones and try them again. In my traumatic 2018 bout with eczema I removed some things from my diet that I thought might be contributing. Mangos have a natural pest deterrent in that thick skin which can irritate some people on contact. But I think I'm safe to try adding them back to my diet now. They probably never had anything to do with the eczema, which comes from internal disturbances.

 

[Mister]

 

[Jimi]

Mangos are so delicious, naturally syrupy sweet. I have to get some organic ones and try them again. In my traumatic 2018 bout with eczema I removed some things from my diet that I thought might be contributing. Mangos have a natural pest deterrent in that thick skin which can irritate some people on contact. But I think I'm safe to try adding them back to my diet now. They probably never had anything to do with the eczema, which comes from internal disturbances.

I posted an article on Mangos in the last few days, they are known as "The King Of Fruit" because they carry more vital nutrients than any other fruit? I didn't know that till I seen the article

 

[Bliss Doubt]

I'm not cooking anything today. It's too hot. We're getting temps that usually don't come around here until August, thanks to geoengineering I'm sure.

Anyway, all it takes is an avocado, a little salt and a nutty seedy organic bun to create heaven on a plate, IMHO.

 

[Walter Ladd]

2lb fresh octopus tentacles
3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, divided
two lemons
2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh chopped or dried oregano
2 teaspoons kosher salt

---

Ingredients​

Scale

1. Place the octopus in a pot and cover with cold water. Cook over medium flame until the water begins to boil, then reduce heat and simmer the octopus until tender. This will take between 1-2 hours. To check for tenderness, you should be able to pierce the thickest part of the tentacle easily with a paring knife.
2. Allow the octopus to cool in the water, then remove and pat dry with a paper towel. For maximum char, let the tentacles dry sitting on paper towel in the fridge for a further 2-3 hours. The drier they are, the more char you will get without overcooking them.
3. Light a grill for high heat cooking, 450f degrees or more.
4. Douse the tentacles in half of the olive oil, then sprinkle over half of the salt.
5. In a small bowl, combine the remaining olive oil, salt, oregano and black pepper. Add the juice of one of the lemons. Cut the remaining lemon into wedges and set aside.
6. Once your grill is hot, lay the tentacles directly over the coals to char and crisp on the edges. Leave them for 2-3 minutes, then flip them over and char the other side for a further 2-3 minutes. Remember – the octopus is already cooked, you are just applying the flavor of the grill, and so the grilling will be very quick. Basically, cook the octopus until you have the color you want then remove.
7. Drizzle with the lemon, oregano and oil mixture and serve with extra lemon wedges.

 

[Bliss Doubt]

View attachment 205702

That looks amazing.

 

[gopher_byrd]

View attachment 205702
2lb fresh octopus tentacles
3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, divided
two lemons
2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh chopped or dried oregano
2 teaspoons kosher salt

---

Ingredients​

Scale

1. Place the octopus in a pot and cover with cold water. Cook over medium flame until the water begins to boil, then reduce heat and simmer the octopus until tender. This will take between 1-2 hours. To check for tenderness, you should be able to pierce the thickest part of the tentacle easily with a paring knife.
2. Allow the octopus to cool in the water, then remove and pat dry with a paper towel. For maximum char, let the tentacles dry sitting on paper towel in the fridge for a further 2-3 hours. The drier they are, the more char you will get without overcooking them.
3. Light a grill for high heat cooking, 450f degrees or more.
4. Douse the tentacles in half of the olive oil, then sprinkle over half of the salt.
5. In a small bowl, combine the remaining olive oil, salt, oregano and black pepper. Add the juice of one of the lemons. Cut the remaining lemon into wedges and set aside.
6. Once your grill is hot, lay the tentacles directly over the coals to char and crisp on the edges. Leave them for 2-3 minutes, then flip them over and char the other side for a further 2-3 minutes. Remember – the octopus is already cooked, you are just applying the flavor of the grill, and so the grilling will be very quick. Basically, cook the octopus until you have the color you want then remove.
7. Drizzle with the lemon, oregano and oil mixture and serve with extra lemon wedges.

When's dinner??? I'm heading over! That looks and sounds delish!

 

[Mister]

Sorry to dissent but eww...
Not a fan of calamari either
Maybe if its fried up like a conch fritter

If im ever stranded at sea good to know i can eat it i guess

 

[Bliss Doubt]

Saturday breakfast-lunch is easy when Friday night dinner was at a Mexican restaurant.

When settling up at a restaurant and getting ready to leave, there is always the discussion of taking leftovers or leaving them. I always leave it to others first, to choose what they want to take home, and then maybe I'll take what they reject, but when it's a Mexican restaurant, I seem to always get the goods. People will say "I'm not taking leftovers, I'm not eating again for a week after this", or some such silliness.

So I got the leftover refried beans and pico de gallo last night, and I always order a dozen tortillas to take home. None are better than restaurant made. Just look how charry these are, thin, with crispy edges. They're chewy too.



Here spread with the re-heated beans, some fresh avocado and the pico:



Rolled and ready to be assaulted by my teeth:

 

[Bliss Doubt]

Last night the job at hand was to create a satisfying, filling appetizer for friends meeting here before we went out to a summer evening music event at the sunken gardens. We thought there would probably be drinks available, but we really couldn't tell, nor did we know if food would be offered, so I made a big appetizer for us to have before going.

I decided to try french fries as the dipping instrument, so here is the spread of organic waffle fries I served on my big 12" platter, fresh guacamole for dipping, sour cream unceremoniously offered in its store container (but I stirred in some fresh chopped dill which disappears in the overexposed pic). I sprinkled some green onion over the potatoes for freshness. We drank sparkling water and local IPA beers. I put a bowl of wet wipe packets next to the napkins, since even the least oily of fries will be a bit greasy.



Heating frozen fries in the oven keeps you from having to stand over popping hot oil, and cleanup is easy, no oil to dispose of. They can be crisping up in the oven while you get ready for company. In case the fries should fail to work as dippers, I had a bag of pita crisps on hand, but I never had to open them.

I also served a smaller plate of cucumber slices and baby tomatoes.

In conclusion, I have to admit this isn't the best idea I ever had. My guests were prompt, coming up the walk right as the fries came out of the oven hot and crisp. The fries were plenty crispy and sturdy for dipping in the guac at first, but after some time they began to lose their erecti0ns, haha, so I had to bring out spoons for loading dips onto fries, more so the guac than the sour cream. Nonetheless, it was delicious. Nobody asked for ketchup, and there were no leftovers.

 

[Bliss Doubt]

Spring mix is so beautiful, and more durable, less subject to rot than iceberg or romaine, so the comparative price is better than, say, the 3-pack of organic romaine. It's strange how often I forget that I prefer it, and instead bring home the iceberg and romaine. I believe some of the varieties of veg in the spring mix are more vitamin rich than romaine or iceberg.



The 16 oz. organic spring mix is 4.69, already trimmed of waste before you get it. The 3-pack organic romaine is 4.99 currently, always comes with a layer or two of rotty leaves that have to be pulled off, and you lose the whole weight of the root end. The spring mix is all fresh, no rotten leaves, and lasts a while in the fridge.

Prices are up, for sure, but at 3.49 for the net bag of four organic avocados, I find no cause for concern. Avocados have always been expensive. I'm still finding some kinds of organic tomatoes at 1.69 per pound, but they do sell out. Just a few months ago I was finding some at around a dollar per pound. The cherry and grape tomatoes cost a lot more, so your flexibility in choosing can save you money.

Here is my beautiful summer salad: spring mix, avocado, tomato, black olives, cucumber, and my homemade dressing with garlic, parmesan, red pepper flakes and fresh thyme. All organic, refreshing. I could eat it for every meal in the summer.



There is actually a brand of organic parmesan. The brand is Cello. It comes grated in a huge shaker and keeps a long time in the fridge. The same brand offers shaved and wheel parm that are not organic, but I am enjoying this big shaker of the organic grated. If you don't choose organic, and you eat a lot of parmesan in your salads, Italian foods and whatnot, you're getting the results of growth hormone given to the cattle, which causes infected udders, which causes pus in their milk. Non-organic grated parm will also include anti-caking ingredients. My jar of organic does clump but it doesn't matter. I just shake the jar to loosen it up again.

Bon appétit

 

[Bliss Doubt]

Veggie burgers for anybody, without soy or mystery ingredients, and these don't taste beany. They taste roasty toasty.

Falafel mix used to be just chickpeas and/or fava beans plus a citric type preservative, all of the brands. Lately a lot of them contain wheat flour, so the gluten intolerant should read labels before choosing. I used the Tarazi brand. Ingredients: Fava beans, chickpeas, spices, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, baking powder, dehydrated parsley, sunflower oil.

I don't mind some of those ingredients being in there. I would have added some of them myself, but I don't know what baking powder is doing in there. The Ziyad brand is clean too, but it has baking soda in it. I guess you could just use pure chickpea flour and add what you want.

Anyway, I mixed the Tarazi with water. The amount of water called for on the package isn't enough, so don't feel bound to it. I also added some ketchup. I know. I can hear eyebrows going up. I was making veggie burgers, not falafel. The ketchup in the mixture is not expressed as a tomato flavor or a ketchup flavor. It just mellows it a bit. You could just add some vinegar instead. I added some fresh thyme too.

Mix mix mix, stir and turn, adding more water as needed until no more dry powder mix is seen. Then I let the mixture sit, as the instructions indicate, for the water to be fully absorbed to make it tender.

Then sprinkled a cooking sheet with avocado oil, laid out sliced onion, and slid the slices all around to spread the oil.



Then used an ice cream scoop with a releasing mechanism to place the burgers on top of the onion slices, then flattened with the back of the mixing spoon. I didn't brush the tops with oil because you flip them halfway through cooking. Here they are before cooking, riding on their onion saddles. There was one little runt you see there.



Into the oven at 400 to get cooking. When I could hear sizzling and smell deliciousness, I flipped them over, rotated the pan, cooked them some more. You can see one of those little devil onions tried to escape. They're done when the onions are all melty and browned.



Let them cool. Then it's time to build a burger with all your fave stuff on it.





The Tarazi box says it contains eight servings, each at 150 calories fried, so the total mix fried would be 1200. I made seven burgers, therefore 172 calories each.

I'm not counting the calories in the onions, because the grilled onion calories are in the oil, and most of the 3 tablespoons oil did get taken up by the burgers and onions as they fried. So oil x 3 tablespoons = 360 calories in the whole dish, divided by seven burgers = 52 oil calories per burger.

Dave's Killer brand 21 seed and grain buns are 160 calories each. There are lower calorie options out there.

Lettuce, tomato, pickle, etc.: I don't count those calories

I won't mention condiments, because what belongs on your burger is what you want on that burger.

So calories per burger:

Oil = 52
Patty w/ grilled onions = 172
Bun = 160
Total per burger = 384 calories

A good calorie count for a meal.

Leftovers store in easily in the fridge for a week, each one wrapped separately in foil, re-warmed in the oven without removing the foil so they stay tender. Needless to say, I'll be eating this for a week, but I don't mind, not one bit.

I'm just linking back to my Sept. 2022 post for how to make my falafel burgers, which are IMO the best veggie burgers in the world, no soy, no sketchy ingredients, easy to make, and they taste great. You can add your own flourishes when mixing up the falafel, such as steak sauce or a little honey, ketchup, whatever you like, but I'm linking the recipe I always make. The burgers always turn out perfectly.

This is a little update because I got the craving again, and it was a way to use up more of this massive quantity of spring mix I have in the fridge.



I'm out of slicing tomatoes, so I added a side of crudites to go with it.



Bon appetit.

 

[Jimi]

I'm just linking back to my Sept. 2022 post for how to make my falafel burgers, which are IMO the best veggie burgers in the world, no soy, no sketchy ingredients, easy to make, and they taste great. You can add your own flourishes when mixing up the falafel, such as steak sauce or a little honey, ketchup, whatever you like, but I'm linking the recipe I always make. The burgers always turn out perfectly.

This is a little update because I got the craving again, and it was a way to use up more of this massive quantity of spring mix I have in the fridge.

View attachment 206201View attachment 206204

I'm out of slicing tomatoes, so I added a side of crudites to go with it.

View attachment 206205

Bon appetit.

I am definitely gonna haveta try this one, I had forgoten about it, thank you for bringin it back to life my friend

 

[Bliss Doubt]

I am definitely gonna haveta try this one, I had forgoten about it, thank you for bringin it back to life my friend

Thank you Jimi. If you try these burgers I hope you'll enjoy them.

 

[Bliss Doubt]

Cherry pecan salad, big OMG.

I was digging around for what to have for breakfast-lunch, and found some cherries I bought about three weeks ago and forgot about. A few had gotten moldy unfortunately, about 25 percent. I discarded the moldy ones and rinsed the rest really well under running water.



Fresh cherries can be very tart, medium or sweet. I tasted and found these were exceptionally sweet and juicy. I don't have a cherry pitter, so I cut them off the stones.

Simple ingredients: This gorgeous spring mix, the cherries, and the pecans, all organic. I'm showing the salad before I dressed it with mayo only, no salt or pepper, nothing else needed.



Thank goodness nobody was here to stop me from eating it or make me share. They would not have survived.

 

[Bliss Doubt]

I had lunch at La Madeleine the other day, including their mashed red skin potatoes topped with their mushroom wine sauce. I decided I had to make that sauce. It is too too good, but it's expensive and often sold out. I knew if I could achieve the flavor and texture, I could make it even better because La Mad chops the mushrooms into small bits, and I'd rather have mushroom slices. I could also add some fresh thyme to mine.

So here goes: I used canned organic mushroom slices, easier than cleaning, peeling and slicing mushrooms. I always have the canned ones around. If you drain them really well they brown nicely in butter. So I drained the two 6.5 oz. cans mushrooms, melted a knob of butter and let the shrooms brown, stirring occasionally.



Then added half a cup of wine and let it evaporate a few minutes, then flooded the pan with heavy cream. Added salt and fresh thyme. Let it cook a few minutes more just to condense a bit and marry the flavors.



That's the simple recipe. I won't brag on it much. It was delicious, don't get me wrong, but not equal to the La Madeleine version, which uses white wine. I used pinot noir, and I don't think it did the best job. That particular pinot didn't have much flavor in the glass either. Every wine is different. I will try this again.

So what could I put the sauce on? I made a steak. Haven't had one in at least 15 years. I roasted it to medium, with sliced onion underneath to melt and brown. Here are the steak & onions on a plate of spring mix. The lettuce absorbs the steak juice, which makes it mouth watering without any dressing.



Then on with the mushroom sauce (the two slices of meat you can see I cut on the end, were removed to make steak & avocado tacos tomorrow).



The sauce doesn't need a steak. It goes on anything: toast, croissant, potatoes, rice, fish, shrimp. Add some broth to the sauce, and a few green peas and you'll have the best mushroom soup ever.

I'm happy now. There is enough leftover sauce to add broth and make a bowl of soup later on, and the reserved steak slices for special Sunday breakfast-lunch tacos tomorrow.

Bon appetit.

 

[Bliss Doubt]

The purpose of this post is to show the success of my new way to save half an avocado without having it turn dark. I've tried it a few times now, and it works every time.

Some say when the avocado turns dark you can't taste the difference, but I sure can. The taste is a bit sour, and the texture is gooey, but if you're not eating the whole avocado, it's hard to save the leftover, even tightly wrapped in cling, without it turning dark on top.

Here is the beautifully ripe avocado freshly cut. I scooped out the non-seed half and used it to make tacos for breakfast-lunch.



That left me with the half which contained the seed, and the empty shell of the used half. I put the empty shell on top of the seed half as precisely as possible, and gently set the capped avo inside the fridge. I don't wrap it, to avoid disturbing the precisely placed cap. I think there's something protective inside the shell that keeps the fruit fresh. It's the mommy.



Seven hours later, I took off the hat, and here it is, almost perfectly preserved for supper time.



I haven't tried it overnight yet, so when I get the opportunity to I'll come back and edit. But I'm really happy with seven whole hours between breakfast-lunch and dinner, and a nearly perfect avo half left to use.

EDITING to add: The half you save needs to be the half that still has the seed in it. The seed also has preserving qualities.

Avocados forever, fruit of the gods.

 

[newyork13]

If that works for overnight, you're a genius.
Report back!!

 

[Bliss Doubt]

If that works for overnight, you're a genius.
Report back!!

That was my last avo until I shop again, but I always get them. I'll try the overnight soon.

 

[Mister]

I don't know why you got that notification either. I get some weird things out of sequence sometimes too.

I enjoy talking about these things, not that talking changes anything, but a conversation with someone who has an open searching mind and a non-combative approach is pretty rare to find, and comforting to me.

Some people will find this conversation political anyway, and unrelated to food and cooking (though it certainly is related to the food supply), so I will PM you and we can talk further there if you want.

U can invite me to those conversations too, i wouldnt mind that kind of thread. The say it here thread i just found, but i would rather discourse than private rants like the second coming of andy rooney

Edit:topic doesnt matter at all, appreciate all topics of discourse, even political, except those 3 letter agencies are always watching and taking notes

 

[Bliss Doubt]

U can invite me to those conversations too, i wouldnt mind that kind of thread. The say it here thread i just found, but i would rather discourse than private rants like the second coming of andy rooney

Edit:topic doesnt matter at all, appreciate all topics of discourse, even political, except those 3 letter agencies are always watching and taking notes

Hello there Frogger,

That was you and I talking that day, and you were in that conversation. It was our "wicked world" discussion. I think it's still open if you have anything to add, or, anytime you want, you can start a PM conversation with me.

 

[Jimi]

I made something I haven't seen anyone else do, it's so easy and very tasty.
I'm startin to get a lot of zucchini squash outta my garden so thought I would try this'
I sliced the zuc about 3/16 inch thick
put them on aoiled parchment paper on a bakin sheet
Then topped them with pizza sauce and a sprinkle of plant based cheese.
If I woulda had other toppins handy I woulda cut the zuc longwise.



These are soo good I ate five of them just puttin them on this plate, told the wife they wouldn't all fit so I had to improvise Honestly try it.
They also could be made to look better I made these to eat the picture was an afterthought when I tasted just how good these are,
Could be nice little party favors too, they taste super.

 

[Bliss Doubt]

I made something I haven't seen anyone else do, it's so easy and very tasty.
I'm startin to get a lot of zucchini squash outta my garden so thought I would try this'
I sliced the zuc about 3/16 inch thick
put them on aoiled parchment paper on a bakin sheet
Then topped them with pizza sauce and a sprinkle of plant based cheese.
If I woulda had other toppins handy I woulda cut the zuc longwise.

These are soo good I ate five of them just puttin them on this plate, told the wife they wouldn't all fit so I had to improvise Honestly try it.
They also could be made to look better I made these to eat the picture was an afterthought when I tasted just how good these are,
Could be nice little party favors too, they taste super.

Jimi those look just wonderful. I can't wait to try this.

I disagree about making them look better. They look very appetizing. Little zucchini pizzas.

 

[Jimi]

Jimi those look just wonderful. I can't wait to try this.

I disagree about making them look better. They look very appetizing. Little zucchini pizzas.

Thank you my friend, I haveta admit they are real tasty

 

[Bliss Doubt]

I made a lovely ramen bowl for breakfast-lunch, featuring my lucky find, fresh organic broccolini. Broccolini is a cousin of regular broccoli, on long slender stalks. It tastes fresher and more mild than broccoli. It stays that bright green color even when cooked. I used only the florets, but snacked on the trimmed stalks while cooking.



I used the garlic-pepper flavor Koyo ramen. The label says "low sodium" so I always have to add salt. The included flavor packet is a bit weak, but I don't care. I buy Koyo because it's organic, and calorie measured at 210 cal. per packet. I used two packets. I use the included flavor dust packets for what they can give, but as always, added flavor myself, crushed garlic and red pepper flakes, and in this instance, grated fresh ginger.



Bon appetit.

 

[VapeOn1960]

I made some hummus (it's actually my wife's recipe... she made this a few times and people told her she should sell it) First off... it's over 100 deg F outside so cooking chickpeas (garbanzo beans) from scratch is out (just used cans) It's jalapeno peppers, garlic and dried cranberries (soaked in water) I like it (and my son and nephew will also like it... we like spicy) but I know when I bring some to my wife (the hummus queen) she will say it has too many peppers. It also has tahini (sesame paste), lemon juice, olive oil, himalayan salt.

 

[Bliss Doubt]

I made some hummus (it's actually my wife's recipe... she made this a few times and people told her she should sell it) First off... it's over 100 deg F outside so cooking chickpeas (garbanzo beans) from scratch is out (just used cans) It's jalapeno peppers, garlic and dried cranberries (soaked in water) I like it (and my son and nephew will also like it... we like spicy) but I know when I bring some to my wife (the hummus queen) she will say it has too many peppers. It also has tahini (sesame paste), lemon juice, olive oil, himalayan salt.

Wow that sounds very unusual with the dried cranberries.

 

[Bliss Doubt]

If that works for overnight, you're a genius.
Report back!!

Okay, reporting back.

I had half the avocado with dinner last evening at 6pm, then put the lid on and placed it gently in the fridge to see how it would keep overnight.



Lid on:



Took it out at 10am for breakfast-lunch on my intermittent fasting schedule. So, 6pm to 10am, 16 hours, and here it is:



I nicked it getting the seed out, but this pic shows especially how pretty the interior remained.



If there are any strict secrets to this method, they are 1. replacing the shell as precisely as possible over the half still containing the pit, and 2. I put the capped leftover on the top shelf in the fridge, using no wrap, no container. The second rule may not be essential, but that's what I did.

Contrary to what you said, I'm no genius. Mother nature is the genius, putting the protective hormone, or whatever it is, inside the shell.

 

[VapeOn1960]

Wow that sounds very unusual with the dried cranberries.

I did soak the dried cranberries in water (just long enough to partially re-hydrate them... but not all the way)
My wife (the hummus queen) tried my batch and said it wasn't too spicy hot (almost) and it just needed some more cranberries to balance it out. We both love garlic so no problem with using a lot.
My son just told me she did a similar batch with dried cherries that was even better.

 

[VapeOn1960]

I grew some "New Zealand spinach" (it's not related to spinach... just similar in how you use it) Got my first harvest (attn: @Jimi ) and put it in an omelette (with cheese on top) Anyway, you should par-boil it first for 3 minutes, drain, and then put in cold water (this get's rid of the oxalic acid that can cause things like kidney stones) It was really good (and it has many healthy nutrients) My mother and I agreed... it tastes better than spinach. Next time (still have plenty...) it's going in a Quiche.

 

[Bliss Doubt]

Determined not to forget about the other half bunch of organic broccolini in the fridge, I did ramen take 2 with it for dinner tonite. I added juice pack pineapple chunks too.

This time I used Koyo ramen again, but I mixed up some peanut butter powder with some of the juice drained off the pineapple, then stirred in the flavor dust from the ramen, plus red pepper flakes and some grated fresh ginger. I didn't add any garlic this time. Pineapple and garlic have never seemed to me to go together.



While heating the water, I chopped up the last bit of an onion I had in the fridge, threw that in the water with the ramen and some salt. As soon as the noodles were soft, I tossed them with the peanut sauce. In the bowl, I topped it with the broccolini florets, which get tender crisp just from the heat of the cooked dish. Added the pineapple chunks, done.

 

[VapeOn1960]

This time I used Koyo ramen again, but I mixed up some peanut butter powder with some of the juice drained off the pineapple, then stirred in the flavor dust from the ramen, plus red pepper flakes and some grated fresh ginger. I didn't add any garlic this time. Pineapple and garlic have never seemed to me to go together.

You just gave an idea of how to use up some of the tahini I have (it's a great sub for peanut butter)
I also ordered some dried cherries for my next batch of hummus
Hey... any ideas for using spinach (cooked)? I still have a bunch of "new zealand spinach" I was going to make a quiche but it's too hot to run the oven.

 

[VapeOn1960]

@Bliss Doubt , is this the ramen you use (or similar)?
https://www.amazon.com/Koyo-Tofu-Ra...&qid=1690403588&sprefix=ramen,aps,155&sr=8-58
I also found this:
https://www.amazon.com/Lotus-Foods-...=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9zZWFyY2hfdGhlbWF0aWM&th=1