Posted on 05/10/2017 4:39:59 PM PDT by Jamestown1630
Sometimes we use Peapod, a grocery delivery service, so that we have a weekend now and then where we don’t have to do anything but stay home, read books, putter around the house. It’s very convenient, and when you factor-in the value of time - and in my area, the frustration of traffic - it isn’t very expensive. I wouldn’t do it every week – I like going into the store and looking around; but it’s very useful and efficient for our occasional use.
We discovered recently that Peapod is offering ‘meal kits’; and since some of you have had good experiences with services like Blue Apron, we decided to try one of these. We chose a Chicken Tortilla Soup that uses the Southwest Fiesta seasoning blend from ‘The Zen of Slow Cooking’, a very interesting little company which has recently won an award from the Specialty Food Association, in the 'new product' category.
This turned out very, very well! In fact, it’s the first thing other than plain bone broth that I’ve made in the slow-cooker that I was really happy with ;-) The ingredients came carefully packed and ready to go, with simple, clear instructions; and this was a great introduction to a company that I hadn’t heard of before.
The Zen of Slow Cooking website has many recipes for using the different seasoning blends that they offer – I’m anxious to try the Indian Dal blend - and it appears that recipes come with each blend that you buy; but you can certainly make use of these recipes with your own seasoning blends:
http://www.blog.thezenofslowcooking.com/recipes/
The Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe on their blog isn’t exactly the same as the kit we received, but almost the same. The only changes to the kit that I would make would be to add some salt; and it probably needed a little more broth, to be more like soup than stew. I'm anxious to try this from scratch, using their blend.
We found something in the grocery store recently that might be a boon for other low-carb eaters: Cheese Crisps that can be used as croutons in a low-carb salad. These are offered by Fresh Gourmet, and the Asiago flavor is my favorite. You can make these yourself, but with all the from-scratch cooking that low-carbers have to do, these are very convenient. (I have to confess to sometimes eating them like potato chips, as a snack ;-)
If you want to try making them from scratch, you can do them in a frying pan; but using parchment or Silpat and baking them in the oven is probably easiest. Here’s a recipe from ‘Low Carb Yum’:
https://lowcarbyum.com/easy-parmesan-crisps/
Recently a friend told me about ‘Bundt Pan Chicken’, which I’d never heard of but which seemed an interesting variation on ‘Beer Can Chicken’. This recipe from Food.Com suggests putting the bundt pan in a larger pan to catch the drippings; but some recipes suggest covering the ‘hole’ in the bundt tube with foil; I think that would be a better way to get all of that chicken juice to fall down and flavor your veggies; but you might want to use the 'under-pan' anyway, in case of leaks:
http://www.food.com/recipe/chicken-dinner-in-a-bundt-pan-186341
-JT
This week: Some new discoveries!
(Early again, as I’ll be away for a few days.)
If you would like to be on or off of this weekly cooking thread ping-list, please send a private message.
-JT
Asparagus and strawberries are in season where I live. I will be at the farmer’s market bright and early on Saturday to get my fix.
Thanks for the ping, JT!
The Betty Crocker email newsletter this week, had a strawberry pie. I’m not sure about the pretzel crust - I have an unfortunate history with pretzels; but YMMV. I think I’d do it with a graham crust:
At least folks were honest about the nekid legs. Quite a few photos show nicely crisp browned chickens that looked fresh from the rotisserie.
I was intrigued because I thought the Bundt tube provided a chimney effect from the burners, thereby cooking more uniformly.
That photo reminds me of my last post...
I’ve done many beer-can chickens; but in the oven.
That chicken does look half-pale...
Instant Pot 3 Ingredient Japanese Cheesecake
Ingredients:
3 large eggs
4 oz white chocolate chips
4 oz full fat cream cheese, softened to room temperature
Directions:
Line the inside of your cake pan with parchment paper. To properly line your cake pan, cut a circle that will fit the bottom of the pan and a long strip that covers the rest of the inside of the pan. Spray the inside of your cake pan with a cooking oil spray before lining with the parchment paper pieces so that the parchment paper stays in place.
Separate your eggs. Keep the egg whites in the fridge until ready to use. Make sure your egg whites do not touch any oil, water or other ingredients or they will not whip to a meringue state if contaminated.
Melt chocolate either over the stove or the microwave. For the stove you can use a double boiler, or melt the chocolate in a large glass bowl sitting on top of a simmering small pot of water. For the microwave method, microwave at 20 second intervals, stirring in between, until chocolate is completely melted and smooth.
Add in the cream cheese and whisk until smooth. If your cream cheese is still too hard, soften slightly in microwave. Make sure your batter is completely smooth before adding in the egg yolks. Add in the egg yolks and whisk until smooth.
Beat your egg whites on high speed with an electric mixer until glossy, stiff peaks form. You should be able to hold your mixing bowl upside down without any of the meringue falling or dripping out.
Add one third of the egg whites to your yellow batter. Gently fold in the egg whites with a spatula until just incorporated and there are no white streaks. Fold in another one-third. Fold in the final one-third.
Pour batter into prepared cake pan.
Add 1 1/2 cups of water to your Instant Pot. Place the trivet that came with the pot inside. Place your cake pan directly on top of the trivet, so that it should not touch the water.
Seal your Instant Pot. Set to manual, high pressure, for 17 minutes. Allow the cake to naturally release as it will continue to cook and set during the natural release.
Once the natural release is finished, carefully remove cake from pan. For best tasting results, refrigerate for several hours as it will allow the cheese flavor to more fully develop. However, the cake can be eaten right away but it will have a more eggy souffle-like taste. This is normal for Japanese-style cheesecakes. You cake will also shrink as it cools, but it should not collapse. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.
http://kirbiecravings.com/2017/05/instant-pot-3-ingredient-japanese-cheesecake.html
Pretzel crust works great if you like sweet and salty. (Watermelon with poppy seed dressing. YUMMMM)
I got ask, what is your unfortunate history with pretzels??? LOL!!
Thanks for the ping.
We had asparagus tonight - on the outdoor charcoal grill. For me, this is the only way to go; it avoids the mushiness that I always find when simply roasting them in the oven. I also think the thicker the asparagus, the better the flavor but that’s just me.
I also picked up strawberries at our local farmer’s market. I wonder if the warm weather in February hastened their arrival. I’ve only had fresh local strawberries in June!
One of my favorite ways to have pretzels is dipped in fresh caramel, coated in melted chocolate and sprinkled with crushed walnuts. I haven’t made them in a while, mmm!
These keep air-tight at room temp several days or longer. A very nice snack, but beware; it's not easy to stop eating them. Very good with salsa, dips or peanut butter. You can also cut the slices into quarters for larger crackers. Watch these closely as they cook because they tend to get dark faster than the tiny squares.
LO-CARB CRISPY CHEESE CRACKERS (CHEEZITS)
BEFORE COOKING
METHOD Use Deluxe American cheese slices (not cheese food or cheese product) Cut one square of cheese into 16 tiny squares. Arrange on parchment paper in an oval ring at edges of paper--not close together or they'll stick to each other. Not in center of the paper or they will burn before the outer squares are done.
Carefully place paper on the micro tray. Microwave on HIGH about 65 sec, or til well-browned, not burnt. Watch closely and add more time if needed. Remove to counter; cool slightly before removing. Peel them off; store in airtight. Repeat process one cheese slice at a time. Each slice makes 16 crackers. Can be frozen
Per Serving (16 crackers): 106 Calories; 9g Fat; 6g Protein; .5g Carbohydrate; 0g Fiber; .5g Net Carbs
===============================================
TIPS: It works best if the parchment paper with the cheese pieces is on a flat surface and not going up the sloping sides of a dinner plate. That's why I suggest placing the paper directly on the tray of the microwave. Deluxe American cheese is by far the best thing to use. Other cheese fails to brown.......or burns.
I have a pot of Thai yellow curry with pork, carrots, red bell pepper and peas simmering right now. We usually serve it over rice but are using penne pasta tonight.
If anybody in the South wants to learn how to make smoothies that take you from AM coffee and through lunch, I can help with that. Starting to get hot.
Found a great recipe for Peruvian chicken BUT I can’t do the yellow sauce. I’ve been buying ingredients from Hispanic markets. No luck. It has a buttery background I can’t reproduce.
Any clues out there???
I think I was about 13 or 14 years old, and went to a big store nearby, which had those giant soft pretzels in a hot box, the way they sell them at eateries. I hadn’t ever had one, and decided to try.
That afternoon, I came down with the second worst gastro-intestinal illness that I’ve ever had - high fever, insane vomiting, &c. I remember that it was a hot Summer day, and a one point I think I saw Jesus, come to watch over me ;-)
As I improved, and lay in bed still miserable, my father had a Senators ball game on the radio in the other room. I tried to distract myself from my situation by paying attention to the sounds - ball games on the radio have always reminded me of the sounds of a night in deep Summer: the roar of the crowd like crickets; the occasional sound of the bat, like a katydid; the announcer’s murmurings like the creakings of the old electric fan in the window.
I was absolutely miserable, but glad for the distraction of a ball game on a radio.
It probably had nothing to do with the pretzel, of course - I had caught a bug. But I’ve never been able to eat one of those big soft pretzels again. Sometimes I eat the little crispy ones, but I don’t think I’d like a pretzel pie crust.
The FIRST-worst time, was when I was only about 6 years old, but that time it was Coffee Ice Cream. I got really sick, and hallucinated that enemy soldiers were around my bed, and were going to kill my family (Daddy liked to watch ‘Combat!’, too :-)
Again, it wasn’t the ice cream; but I can only drink black coffee now, and never anything coffee-sweet.
Strange how things affect us, even when they have had no effect upon us, except for the conscious associations with them that we make.
Please Post!
The only thing you *can't* make with a bullet is homemade instant mayonnaise, you'll need a submersion hand blender for that (ask me if you wanna know how).
For me, drinking cafe au lait (half steamed/hot milk and half double strong coffee with some sort of sweetener) is breakfast. I ate eggs each and every way mankind has yet devised, and with a breakfast meat and a breakfast bread, and I was noticing a morning nap crash with our American breakfast, after coffee. OK if you can stretch out, NOKAY if you have to be out and about early.
The base of the smoothie is greek yogurt, as it is strained such that an 8oz serving provides 22g of protein. Optional is fresh raw egg(s), good for another 10g of protein each. Then you want blasts of Vitamins C and A, via berries, if you go the fruit route. You can go the coffee route (instant coffee granules or squirt) if you skipped java that AM, or the digestive (frozen papaya, mango, guava, etc) route if your GI tract seems to be weak.
If strawberry-banana beckons, put both in the freezer the night before, they will freeze the yogurt/egg base. The rough ratios are 3/5 greek yogurt, 1/5 frozen something, 1/5 an egg or two, and the balance milk or juice to fill the top of the 20oz container.
If you plan it right, you can hit your protein, calcium, Vit A, C, others all in one smoothie that washes down horse-pill supplements like they weren't even there. Have two 20oz 'mugs', in case you stuck one in the freezer and forgot.
I've used the leftover gooey parts of pies (banana cream, boston chocolate, berry, peach, apple) as the fruit base of smoothies. I've put ice cream and frozen juice pops in them. If you can get about 800cals of the things you love into the smoothie, you can skip breakfast *and* lunch, with maybe just a piece of toast or a couple of crackers and cheese to satisfy the crunch crave.
Smoothies don't cause your body to want to lay down and digest the typical breakfast, you just zip along with your day as planned.
I too would knock those back like chips. They look delicious.
Safe travels JT.
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