Food and Recipes! 🍊🥩🥧

[PillowDetails]

I thought I would start a foodie / recipe thread - if there already is one, let me know, OK?

Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo - is anyone cooking up anything special?  I'm planning on steak with chimmichurri sauce.  I have never made that, I don't believe I have even tasted it, and I'm seeing a lot of variation in ingredients on Pinterest.

Has anyone made it, and do you have a preference of what goes in it?

Bon appetit!

[psych62]

I'm planning on chicken enchiladas. I make my own enchilada sauce. It involves slicing, de-seeding, and simmering dried chilis, putting them in a blender with chicken broth and other spices. Something of a pain in the neck, but the results are fabulous. 

It's so nice to have an oven that works! In a few minutes I'm going to start on some homemade cornbread for lunch. I like to use stone ground cornmeal and a cast iron pan for a nice crispy bite.

[iDoDiY]

Love the idea of this post.  Let's keep it going.  Let us know how your chimmichurri sauce came out @PillowDetails .  And I wouldn't mind that recipe for your enchilada sauce @psych62 .  BTW, eating is my favorite hobby. lololol.

[JMOldeVintage]

KUGELI - Warning, you MUST use a glass baking dish/roaster (shallow). This is the "healthier" recipe, omitting the fat/lard etc used in Gram's day.

5 pounds potatos peeled & grated     6 eggs     1 small onion finely diced or grated     2 carrots grated    1 cup Whole milk    1 Stick of Butter(melted)

1/2 pound of bacon - precook a bit to make it easier to chop up (& reduce fat if concerned)     Salt & Pepper to taste

Mix it all up, bake at 350 for about One & Half hours. Top & edges will crust & turn golden.

Honestly I hate to cook & rarely do. Thankfully my better-half does! But every once in a while I pull out the food processor & do this. In it's day it was the main meal but now "a side". 

[PillowDetails]

That sounds good - is it like a creamy casserole, or does it all stick together, like you could slice it?  Here's a handy bacon hint - I HATE frying bacon, or anything - and the clean-up.  I have an old pair of Fiskars scissors that are relegated to KP now - and I snip up raw bacon, and stir around in a deep saucepan, then drain on paper towels when it's done.  Perfect every time, and less splatter!

[iDoDiY]

Sounds delicious @JMOldeVintage .  Have you ever tried to cut the recipe in half.  Would love to try this but it sounds like it would feed a small army.

[JMOldeVintage]

The kugeli all "sticks together" & while it has a smooth texture it's not "creamy". Of course my Grandmother blended & baked the old fashioned way & the taste out of this world, though it would possibly do you in if you ate it too often!

We eat bacon maybe a couple of times of month & have taken to buying the pre-cooked. You don't have to pay quite as much attention to the "use by" date if it was good when purchased (we keep in frig after unsealing) & it's easy to 'nuke' placed in between paper towels. 

Yes, cleaning bacon spatter off the stove top, and back, and surrounding counter tops a pain! I'll have to try the saucepan for a few other kitchen duties I'm 'in charge' of. 

ETA: I'd think you could cut it in half & then pay more attention to bake time/crusting. Yes, it can feed an army or large family and I've often (after tasting to make sure it's up to snuff) shared with neighbors.

[psych62]

OK, here is the enchilida sauce recipe. Warning, it IS labor intensive!

18 dried chilis: 14 California, 4 New Mexico (when I first made this recipe, I divided the chilis 9/9 and the sauce was almost inedibly hot).

2 ancho (dried Anheim) chilis

3 cloves peeled garlic.

3 - 1/2 cups water

3 Tablesponns olive oil

2 Tablespoons flour

1-1/2 teaspoons ground oregano

1 Tablespoon cider vinegar

1 tsp salt

dash sugar

1 cup chicken broth

Rinse dried chilis under running water. Use scissors to cut off the stems, to split chilis and de-seed. Steam chilis and garlic for 30 minutes. Puree 1/3 of the mixture in a blender with 1/3 cup of water. Continue pureeing chili/garlic with water, 1/3 at a time. Press mixture through a strainer. You should have approx 3-1/3 cups. 

Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add flour, toast until nut-brown. Whisk in chili puree, add vinegar, oregano, salt, dash of sugar, and broth. Simmer 20 minutes. You can add more broth if sauce seems too thick. 

[psych62]

The rest of the recipe I don't have written down, it's in my head. I oil a 13 X 9 pan with olive oil, saute a cup of finely chopped in 2 tablespoons of olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano, add 3-1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast. Assemble tortillas: one by one warm each tortilla in microwave, place in pan, spread with about a Tablespoon enchilida sauce, fill with chicken mixture, sprinkle with sharp cheddar cheese. Roll. Do this with each successive tortilla. You should get about ten enchilidas out of the recipe. When you're done, pour the rest of the sauce over the tortillas, sprinkle with more cheddar, and bake at 350F for 30 minutes. 

Sorry I can't be more exact with this one. 

[iDoDiY]

Sounds delicious.  Definitely on my "to make" list along with the Kugeli.  Thanks =))))))))))

[psych62]

You're welcome. The original recipe calls for cooked chicken breast but I don't see why you can't chop up  breast meat in small pieces a stir fry it along with the onion. You might want to give that a try. 

[GielDesigns]

I'm making tacos with rice and beans for Cinco de Mayo dinner.  Lately, every restaurant I go to has these tiny soft shell tacos on their menu so I've been craving the "old school" crunchy ones.  I want to bite into one and have stuff fall out the other side today. :-)

[vlmkpyae]

[PillowDetails]

Chimichurri sauce is, for me - "just a dab will do ya!" - Strong stuff - my husband and son liked it a lot more than I did.  I think I'm more used to pesto with basil.

Happy Monday, foodie friends!

[PillowDetails]

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms in our lives!  Is anyone cooking or having something cooked for them today?  My son is coming over to make us dinner - he's a fabulous cook, really!  Last year, he made steak in a cast-iron skillet - with herbs, and set off the smoke detectors!  But it was just about the best steak I've ever had - it was worth it!

I was just watching a show with Martha Stewart and Snoop Dog cooking Mothers' Day brunch - they are hilarious, if you've never seen it!  Snoop made "Billionaire's Bacon" - thick bacon in a rack in a hot oven, with brown sugar and pepper.  Sounds simple, but yummy.  Has anyone ever made something like that?

I love anything with bacon - sorry to all the veggie / vegan foodies!

[vlmkpyae]

those roses look clever and tasty.

[GielDesigns]

@PillowDetails 

I don't have kids and Mom is gone but I'm honoring her by making her classic chicken stew for my brother and me today.  Chicken, veggies, macaroni, onions and her special blend of seasonings. Yum!

And I agree about Martha and Snoop. The show is quite funny.  I didn't see that episode but that bacon sounds delish!

Happy Mother's Day :-)

[vlmkpyae]

[vlmkpyae]

edit. i found and swapped the unbroken copy.

somehow that pic broke. not sure why. when i lost win 7 last year i saved all my data but a few pics broke and that is one of them. the tiny cake was made for me by tiny tinker on ebay, who lived in thailand and did miniatures. i don't have a lot of food pics and that one fit for mother's day.

[PillowDetails]

I could very easily get very deep in debt if I started collecting miniatures - I follow some shops on Etsy selling minis that are to die for!!!  

KammysCreations

HappyMinisBoutique

[vlmkpyae]

@PillowDetails . last decade ebay's minatures were cheap and could be found in mixed lots. the cake rachel, aka tiny thinker, custom made me with the purple rose, was not expensive because she was very young and just starting to sell things. sadly i lost track of her. :(  in 2007 there were not many artists making fimo or ceramic minis the way the category expanded later. i'm shocked to see what they want for rement now when i got the sets for very little then. i haven't made minis in years due to my eyesight and coordination not being what it was. the only part of that pic i did was baby ruby's fuzzy hair. i made that from wool from overtherainbow's first alpaca's first sheering, strand by strand to look like baby curls. the pic was actually taken for a logo i made for cookie cutter, a seller friend on ebay then, for her listings. :) i made logos for several seller friends back then. :)

[weekendjewelry1]

Re bacon - which I love but we don't have very often anymore, because salt.  But still - bacon is wonderful! And it really is easy, and less messy, to make it in the microwave rather than on the stovetop.  Put a couple paper towels on a large plate, place bacon strips on the paper towels, add one more towel on top. 

Put in microwave, and cook on full power. How long to cook it varies a lot, microwaves are so different and I haven't made it recently.  Try 3 minutes at full power - probably will need a couple more, but it's safer to check per minute, after 3 or so.  You won't be able to save the bacon grease, if anybody still does that - but it doesn't get your whole stovetop messy, either.   And it crisps up as much as you want!

[MelsMix]

Hey !!!  Just saw this / a foodie at heart ..... what happened to the recipes !?!?!?!? 

Crazy busy these days / but for the sake of the thread..... will toss in , that I have a tray of leftover " take out " french fries ! ......   just hanging out in the fridge after a gyro sandwich venture !

Will cook some onions and garlic, coarsly chop the fries  ..... then add eggs and some grated cheese for a scramble ! .... It's good alone for breakfast / and makes a good sandwich on italian bread or a toasted roll !  :D

[MelsMix]

And yes.... you can add extra cheese :D 

[MelsMix]

Yikes !!!  No new posts !?!?!???????  

So, you guys are all eating cereal these days !??? 

Planning to attempt "philly cheesesteak" sandwiches on Sunday !   .....   sliced the steak today / as thin as I could, and salted it a bit .  I hope it's good !!!