Beef stew

 

Another stew...cuz it's still cold out. =)

I used veal brisket as stewing meat...and these ingredients:

 

Tomatoes
Onions
Caraway seeds
Paprika
Cumin
Ketchup
Srirracha   

Rice wine

S&P to taste

Onions were softened first with the herbs. Then the brisket pieces were browned with the onions. Then a dash of rice wine (I didn't have red wine in the house.) The tomatoes went in after that along with ketchup (I didn't have tomato paste in the house) and srirracha. Heat was turned low for a nice simmer. And the consistency turned out just fine with the tomatoes releasing the water it had. I didn't have to add any more liquid surprisingly.

The only down side was that I only had about 40 minutes to stew the meat before it was served. While it was cooked through, it remained on the chewy side. It tasted great though.

My husband made a variation of this recently but it got to sit in a thermal cooker overnight. OMG. The brisket was melt in your mouth. I just need to plan a little further in advance....like I would need to for the ox tail stew. =)

Pot Braised Ribs

I love eating ribs...the meat is especially tasty and tender. Probably because of all the fat...but whatevs. If you're going to eat ribs, it better be fatty and good. Just don't eat it often. I cut up the ribs into two's and then boiled it in water for ten minutes to get rid of some of the fat and scuz. Then I drained the ribs and in another pot, started the marinade in which I'll eventually braise the ribs in:

Onion - sauteed until almost carmelized
Tomatoes
Paprika
Bbq sauce
Ketchup
Sirracha
Honey
Chicken stock
Apple cider vinegar

The ribs simmered in that sauce for...I dunno....40 minutes? Until the meat was soft and everything smelled heavenly. Then it was served and paired with the Beet and Brussel Sprouts salad.

I liked the sauce with onions and tomatoes more than I liked the ribs...but I think that's account my pregnancy tastebuds still throwing off the taste of meat. One day...in five months or so...this will taste as good as it smelled.

Bean Patties

Yup still going strong on the vegetarian kick. I still really love a good marbled piece of rib eye steak, med rare with a nice sear...but a much smaller piece now. Less is more! Anyways, as summer is swinging in, visions of bbq's and grills and burgers and wings start to float in. I realize the picture is of patties in a frying pan, but that's really only because we hadn't filled up our propane tank for the bbq yet.

So, patties...I've tried veggie burgers and I really don't like the ones that imitate beef patties. If I wanted beef patties, I'll eat beef patties. In this case, I wanted to try making bean patties....see if it can taste good. And also because that huge tub of nine-bean mix I bought at Costco isn't being used up fast enough.



I kinda followed this recipe for a Black Bean Veggie burger. I used a nine bean mix instead of just black beans. Sriracha instead of chili powder. Added paprika to the mix. And used flour instead of bread crumbs...because I didn't have any and didn't want to waste my bread to make some.

Everything was mashed/mixed by hand because we don't have a food processor. And maybe it could'e used more flour (or bread crumbs) because it wasn't holding together very well. The cooked result was quite crumbly too so it's a good thing I didn't put it on the grill. BUT, it was very tasty indeed. Yay!

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

I was venturing into making my own pizzas from scratch. It seemed so easy whenever I watch it on TV. Or even when I watch people make it from scratch at restaurants. Restaurants charge some $17 for a simple thin crust pizza and I'm SURE the raw supplies cost $4 tops. Anyways...so this is my first attempt:



I mixed BBQ sauce, ketchup and sriracha for my base sauce. Topped it with sauteed chicken slices, mushrooms, peppers, sauteed onions and some smokey gouda. (I would've used mozzarella but I didn't plan ahead and again, didn't have any.)



End result was really tasty actually! THOUGH....you know how I don't like baking? Well the dough for the crust (I don't remember which site I got the recipe from...I just ran a search for "thin crust pizza dough") didn't turn out as well as I'd like. I think I killed the yeast mixture or maybe I didn't pour it into the flour right. It's just not my thing. The dough didn't bubble and was pretty hard. Almost like a soft cracker. BUT, it still tasted really good!

Veal Flank Stew and Spring Salad

I bought some veal flank meat and thought a stew would be nice....but as Spring is here, pairing it with a fresh salad would be even nicer.

Stew:
Tomatoes
Mushrooms
Veal flank
Onion
Garlic
Cumin
Paprika
Sugar
Sriracha
BBQ Sauce
Ketchup
Tomato Paste
Various herbs that seemed to smell good together

Salad:
Spring Greens
Naval Orange cut to bite sizes
Chopped Almonds

Dressing:
Olive Oil
Grainy mustard
Honey
Lemon Juice

Leftover Makeover : Mish-Mash

This one my Hubby put together. (yay!) He had the day off and was rummaging through the fridge for whatever leftovers were still lurking about. This delicious fried rice was what he put together from a tub of curried rice, some BBQ pork/char siu, a small container of soggy napa cabbage/siu choi, some kale leaves and some purple cabbage shreds.

The virbrant green and purple of the veggies, cooked separately from the rice, was beautiful...and super tasty:

Kale
Cabbage
Paprika
Dark soy sauce
Butter & coconut oil
Sugar
Salt

As for the fried rice, the possibilities are endless depending on what leftovers you have. In this case:

Curried rice
BBQ Pork/char siu
Coconut oil
Napa Cabbage/siu choi
Sriracha
Hoisin sauce
Soy sauce (light & dark)

And the best part, I got to eat lunch with my Hubby. =)

Chicken Salad

One thing I love about cooking chicken whole is having all the leftovers (meat and bones) and all the things you can do with it. Yesterday Skywalker and I each enjoyed a chicken leg. Then for his lunch, I used one breast to whip into a simple chicken salad. And used the red cabbage slaw from a couple days ago as the "greens" in the sandwich. This all went in between some healthy Squirrely bread. Unfortunately he couldn't enjoy his sandwich toasted as it would be soggy by the time lunch rolled around, but I toasted mine....so yum!!

Chicken salad:
Breast meat
Sriracha
Mayo
Black Pepper

I would've loved to add some cilantro to it but there wasn't any in the house. =(
And apologies again...I ate it all before remembering I should've taken a picture first.

Thinking of what to make from the other breast next.
And, whether to make a chicken soup or a chicken congee from the remaining bones. Decisions decisions.

Quick BBQ Marinade

I've only made BBQ sauce from scratch once. It's a lot of work. It takes a lot of time. And like most people, we don't have that kind of time. So this is my quick BBQ marinade:

Store bought BBQ sauce
Ketchup
Sriracha

In whatever combination you find tasty.
So far...it works every time to produce tasty wings or ribs.