February Foodies Frenzy

I didn't see a February thread yet, so I hope this isn't redundant.

Husband came home with catfish from the store, so it just seemed sensible to make some cornbread as well.

of course! we had chicken and rice in a mushroom sauce

I made an Italian sausage, fennel, carrot and mushroom sauce for whole wheat pasta. I also made some guacamole, but I don't know what I'm going to eat it with, yet. The avocados were getting ripe . . .

Guacamole is yummy on beans and rice. Or in/on a casadia. My daughter eats it by the spoonful. It is a wonderful food.

I like avocados with a little black pepper and lime. No one in my family, and only a few friends, will eat them so I get it all!

I had breakfast for supper last night, scrambled eggs and grits. I left off the meat and had a whole wheat bagel.

Last month somebody (I think it was Morphy) wanted suggestions for ultra-cheap meals. It's just dawned on me that traditional African umngqusho and marog might answer, especially if you can pronounce the click.
Umngqusho is a mixture of samp (dried and broken maize kernels, very coarse) and beans, simmered for hours on end. Marog is wild-collected leaves, usually some kind of Amaranthus or something related, also stewed up. And of course if you want to get rid of guests in a hurry, you substitute mashonjas (mopane worms) for the marog.

> 6 LOL. But of course the u-dish is a version of polenta with beans, a whole protein (assuming you meant dried beans). And considering that both maize and the whole Phaseolus family of edible dried beans came from the Americas, isn't it ironic that the cheap African meal you suggest has its roots across the great sea?

I decided to make something like sopa de albondigas and fried whole wheat tortilla chips to eat with my guacamole.

#7 To me, polenta is a form of ground maize; I suspect the coarsest possible grits, with the individual pips still clearly distinct, would be closer to samp. With our white maize-meal instead of polenta you'd get what the Zimbabweans call sadza and beans. (Add a tomato - onion - chilli mix and it then goes by the township mane of 'train smash'.)

But yes -- I read somewhere once that the presence of both New World vegetables in Africa is a result of a very early piece of drought aid by the King of Spain, some time in the 16th century when Spain ruled Portugal (and hence the Portuguese African colonies) as well.

#7 - You are thinking on a whole other level than me when it comes to whipping up something to go with guacamole! Sounds wonderful.

MMMMm Polenta! There's a market stall at the festival I go to each year that sells Polenta Chips with Salsa as a meal, its one of the things I really look forward to about the festival, lol... I've tried to make them at home but the polenta just fell apart rather than staying in chip form (the chips were'nt really chip shaped, just pieces about 3inch by 2inch & about a 3rd of an inch thick) :(

Last night I was laaaaazy & had fish & chips...

> 9 I'm cheating, actually. Earlier in the week I bought a large box of fresh mushrooms, with the intent of making a mushroom-rice soup that I really like. But if I add some frozen meatballs, some tomatoes and cilantro, I can call it by a spanish name and sound impressive.

:) Clever person!

Tonight I'm having corn chips and dip which my son made for his friend's Super Bowl party. He left me a special bowl of dip and I am expecting to be warm after eating it. I think the base is either beans or chipotle chili. Knowing my son, it's the chilies.

I'm working on perfecting my recipe for apple cinnamon cookies. Future variations to be tried are apple raisin cinnamon and apple cranberry cinnamon.

#13 Let us know when you've got it down, Sarge!

Thanks for all the posts about polenta! Now I know what to fix for dinner tonight.

Well last night I was bad again & had pizza, but it was such a good pizza! Bruschetta Pizza: Tomato, rocket, fetta, parmesan & garlic sauce - soooooooo yummy!!!!

Tonight I'm gonna be good & actually cook my own dinner, I thinking tofu (honey soy favoured) with mushrooms, onion, spinach & garlic. & Maybe a beetroot salad on the side :)

FOODIESS.

I made crawfish chowder and cornbread. Am planning to bake strawberry thumbprint cookies with Nutella filling for my boyfriend for our anniversary/Vday. ^_^

#17 - Those cookies sound yummy! Do you ever share your recipes?

>15 mamzel: cont'd
As I drove home I pondered what to have with my polenta and I remembered I had some shrimp in the freezer. I sauteed some chopped garlic, added the shrimp, deglazed with vermouth, then added a can of chopped tomatoes and oregano. YUM!

#18- Yes I do!

Not my blog, found this via Taste Spotting:

http://sinfullyspicy.com/2011/01/27/strawberry-nutella-thumbprint-cookies-eggles...

Hope you enjoy :)

#20 - Thanks! I did not expect the pink, for some reason. :)

> 20 I love when I learn about an exciting fun blog on LT. The strawberry thumbprint cookies look smashing, but the blog as a whole looks like a gold mine of Indian culinary delights.

Update on the guacamole: I took some large multi-grain flour tortillas, cut them into "triangles" of wedges, and fried them in 375F oil until they were crisp and golden. They went very well with the guacamole.

I have so many foodie blogs bookmarked. :)

Just stopping for a hot cup of coffee and a square of chocolate. Simple food.

I made baking powder biscuits and sausage gravy for breakfast this morning, well, more like for lunch since they were only ready at 12:30pm.

Tonight's supper was Chacuti de Galinha, a Goanese chicken curry from Mimi Jardim's Cooking the Portuguese way in South Africa. Interestingly, this recipe bears only a minimal resemblance to the two in the Goanese book Cozinha indo-portuguesa: receitas da bisavó (Touchstone doesn't seem to be working for this, but there are 3 copies in the LT system) -- and those recipes are wildly different from each other. Anyway, the result was better than merely edible, and certainly memorable.

Made Thai red curry chicken for dinner, with cabbage and broccoli, served over rice.

Today I made something. Not sure what it's called, it was inspired by a recipe in the Something Extra magazine published by Bel Air foods. Mine was rice with pesto, sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, bacon, pine nuts and Parmesan cheese. It is YUMMY! Oh, I used a little orange juice to moisten the cooked rice. The pesto was from a jar, and this was oh so easy.

Since I've lost my zeal for intense cooking, I've been using prepared products to help me cook with whole foods. I pick the ones with only natural ingredients, and season them to suit me. The red curry sauce was from a jar, but once I added ginger to the chicken, broccoli, cabbage, a bit of fish sauce and dried peppers, it tasted great.

This must be the day for ethnic foods. I'm cooking Pink Beans with Ham and potato, a Cuban dish from the PBS series "Daisy Cooks!" I plan to serve it with rice, and steamed broccoli.

Got bored last night and made almond chocolate chip cookies using white whole wheat flour. Very good, very good.

Think I've got my recipe for apple cinnamon cookies just right. Now to perfect my recipe for orange cookies. Maybe turn them into cranberry orange cookies.

My neice spent several days with me, so I made her omlettes with fresh mushrooms, chopped tomato, cheese, sour cream, and fresh fruit on the side, for breakfasts.

I also made broiled chicken breasts, marinaded overnight in fat free Italian dressing.

I made a taco soup, which she had never had before, but loved, and served it with sweet cornbread.

The taco soup is sooo easy and fast, that I'm going to keep the ingredients on hand all the time for "just in case" when folks drop by at meal time. (My "just in case" meal used to be pasta & salad.)

1 lb ground beef browned (but you can, of course, use ground chicken or ground turkey)
1 package mild taco seasoning (use spicier if you prefer, but I'm a wimp)
1 package buttermilk ranch dressing mix
1 can corn
1 can diced tomatos
1 can pinto beans
1 can black beans (or kidney beans, etc.)
That's it--no additional liquid or seasoning is needed.
Simmer until everything is heated, then try not to make a pig of yourself, because it's very good! :-)

We also had lots of salads, with yummy things added like fresh boiled shirmp and so on.

#28 Any chance of sharing the Pink Beans recipe with foreigners who don't get PBS?

Sure!

Cuban Pink Beans with Ham

Olive Oil
*Recaito (I used the whole batch, which started with a tennis-ball sized onion)
Pimiento-stuffed green olives (1/4 to 1/2 cup)
Capers (1 Tablespoon or so)
1 t ground cumin
about 1/3 cup tomato sauce**
chicken broth (I used a 4-cup carton)
Ham, in bite-sized cubes (I used about a pound)
Potato, coarsely chopped (I used 3 medium)
2 cans pink beans, drained and rinsed (cannot buy these where I live, so I started with 1 1/2 cups of dried pink beans, soaked and cooked until tender)

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the recaito and saute briefly. Chop the olives roughly and add along with a little of their brine. Add the capers. Let "saute" a bit. Stir in the cumin and saute a bit more. Then add everything else except the beans and bring just to the boil over medium or medium-high heat. Add the beans to the simmering pot, then lower heat and simmer, covered, 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

*Recaito - you can get the recipe from Daisy's website. For the cubanelle pepper, I substitute a reconstituted dried chile like chile ancho or chile negro (very mild) as I cannot tolerate fresh bell-type peppers.

http://www.daisycooks.com/pages/recipes_detail.cfm?ID=5

**On the show, she said to use "1/3 can" of tomato sauce, or "not too much." I don't know how big a can she started with, so I just guess. In the US, tomato sauce is a thickened, (usually) unseasoned tomato puree. Last night I roasted some cherry tomatoes with olive oil, removed the skins, and pureed the pulp. There's not too much tomato flavor in the final dish, but it's still good.

A million thanks -- will try it!

Tonight I think I'm going to try making chicken marsallia (I think that's how it is spelled) and rosemary roasted potatoes. Hopefully it comes out much better than my failed experiment of falafel and quinoa on Sunday. What a disaster!

Peanutbutter and jelly on whole wheat with a glass of milk for lunch and Cup O Noodle soup for dinner. That is all I seem to want the last two days. Anyway, it's about all we have in the house.

Today I am making Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic. I was looking at the recipe, which I acquired in my teens, and realized that it called for vermouth and tarragon, neither of which would I have used the first (and only) time I cooked it.

I don't have any tarragon as it's not gardening season, and would rather not pay the exorbitant price in the produce section. But I do have a little leftover fennel, so I'm going to substitute that.

I also purchased a bottle of vermouth. So I'm hoping that will have been worth it, as it is a rather large bottle for someone who otherwise doesn't drink.

Sautéed Baby Bok Choy--I've made this recipe several times since NYT published in early January. I buy baby bok choy at an Asian grocery. Very tasty and healthy, too!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/magazine/09Food-t-002.html?adxnnl=1&ref=ma...

It was recommended as accompaniment to Chicken Adobo, also good but strong-tasting (vinegar), so not something that I would serve to any but most adventurous guests: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/magazine/09Food-t-001.html?_r=1&src=me&amp...

I made a mixture of prunes, chipotle, cinnamon, coriander seeds, tequila and comino, then filled a pork loin roast with it. Coated the pork loin with salt, pepper, sage and garlic. Very yum. Also roasted potatoes and portobello mushrooms with olive oil, butter, salt and pepper. More yum.

Now I'm going to see if I can't find that old thread about Kale here. I was supposed to cook that too, but didn't.

I successfully caramelised onions last night - yay! Made a pizza with said caramelised onions, spinach & fetta - twas veeeery tasty!!!

Tonight it'll either be beetroot salad & a fried egg or honey soy tofu with muchrooms, onion & garlic :)

Just tried socca (farinata), a chickpea-rosemary-onion flatbread or pancake (appetizer or accompaniment to soup & salad?). A keeper! Recipe is from NY Times Minimalist Mark Bittman.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E05E6D7153FF93AA25753C1A9639C8B6...

Bok choi is a standard for me. I put it in just about anything.

Last night I had a Quorn cottage pie, twas quite yummy, & I love that as a vegetarian I can still find a cottage pie to eat! But I do wish they'd put more vegies in there...

Tonight will either be honey soy tofu with mushrooms, onions & garlic or I might roast some cherry tomatoes I've got with some garlic, oregano & basil & try & make a home made pasta sauce...

I actually bought some nice looking small red potatoes and some kale today....experimenting, I am. I'll report in later.

>36 walk2work: walktowork - I always have a bottle of Vermouth on hand. I use it to deglaze a pan after cooking pork or chicken and I use it when I make linguine with clam sauce. We don't drink wine so I never have any left over bottles sitting around to use. Since Vermouth is fortified it doesn't go bad and sits, patiently waiting until I have a chance to use it. I hope you find some use for it.

> 44 I finally made the Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic, and it turned out fine. Problem is, I'm not that hungry for it now. Plus, it's turned out to be a busy week, and I haven't really had time to make the veg accompaniment I had planned:

http://foodblogga.blogspot.com/2010/11/thanksgiving-side-dish-recipe-roasted.htm...