pork – Page 5 – no counterspace

food list

Food I Have:
dairy
some half & half
gorgonzola
pepper crusted goat cheese
cream cheese

meat
~~chicken stock~~
~~3 chicken thighs, thawed, marinated in soy sauce and rice vinegar~~
pork roast leftovers

bread
2 english muffins
3 hamburger buns
several pitas
corn bread muffins
biscuits
bunch of nifty noodles and spring roll wrappers

produce
leeks
habanero peppers
lettuce
baby bok choy
bean tops (tasty greens)
parsley
broccoli
chinese lettuce/cabbage
lemongrass

Meal planning:
Tuesday, January 23 – bring rice in from car – freeze stock in ice cubes
cook the chicken thighs with some onion, garlic, and ginger
Make half of the bean greenery, sauteed with garlic
cook short grain rice with lemongrass
freeze leftovers

Wednesday, January 24 – pick up laundry – buy potatoes & tortillas
make samosa filling
eat some for dinner
salad: lettuce, gorgonzola, grilled onions, toasted almonds

Thursday, January 25 – buy greek yogurt
stir fry broccoli, pork leftovers, shredded cabbage, onions, garlic, habanero and then toss with slice noodles
freeze leftovers

Friday, January 26 – assemble samosas. freeze some, refrigerate some – make shrimp dip
dice pork, freeze bone and skin in one bag, and most of the meat in another
cook some pork & what greens are left with a bouillon cube and a can of tomatoes, eat ~~over rice~~ in pitas.

Saturday, January 27 – bridge
samosas, shrimp dip & crackers… I need at least one other finger food option.
Okonomiyaki?

scheduling food

No, really, this is just me scheduling food.

So Here‘s the almost current food list.

Over the weekend, I acquired roast pork, ten oranges, and four grapefruit leftovers from my parents. At the produce truck, I picked up 5 red bell peppers, a bunch of scallions, carrots, a bunch or parsley, 1/2 pint of blueberries, and 2 1/2 pints of blackberries (I went back for more twice!).

Monday, December 11th
film screening – so chili because that will reheat quickly. Pity I didn’t think to pre-bake a potato
Ooo… or how about a bowl of oatmeal with blueberries instead?

Tuesday, December 12th
Thai chicken with leeks, red bell peppers, carrots, and rice noodles. Coconut milk is a maybe.
*take ground beef out to thaw*

Wednesday, December 13th
Indian buffet at New Delhi before a movie
dessert of blackberries and cream

Thursday, December 14th
*bone and cut up pork roast – make stock with pork bones – freeze meat*
mexican ground beef casserole/giant layered dip of goodness
*taco seasoned ground beef
*avocado
*diced tomato
*scallions
*lettuce
*sour cream
*tortillas? tortilla chips?

Friday, December 15th
Library holiday party with tasty food
late supper of either chili or mexican thing leftovers
*bake something? something that’s not sticky or too crumbish*
*finish cooking and strain stock*
*set beans to soaking*
*buy chicken thighs and london broil on last day of sale, if they have any left*
If there are any blackberries left, eat them.

Saturday, December 16th
birthday freaks & geeks
*start cooking pork and beans in pork stock*
salad o’ leftovers?

Planning the week

Food I have
meat
leftover beef roast
~~leftover pork roast~~

vegetables
~~zucchini~~
spinach
salad greens
jalapeno peppers
carrots
chinese cabbage

Meal Planning
Monday, April 24 – 7:30 movie screening
something quick and easy – salad: with blue cheese, toasted pecans, purple onion, and a red wine and balsamic vinaigrette

Tuesday, April 25
~~beef, zucchini, spinach, onions, peppers – with mexican beans and rice~~

Wednesday, April 26
pork, chinese cabbage, carrots, peppers – stir fried with flat noodles

Thursday, April 27
Dining Out for Life?
going early to New York?

pondering pumpkin bread (plus bonus soup)

I am feeling adventurous – I like cooking, but am kinda amateur at the baking.

Pumpkin Bread…

from real pumpkins or canned ones?

discuss.

ETA: I guess I’ll have to wait until I get home to research recipes. Neither allrecipes.com or epicurious.com have an old fashioned pumpkin bread recipe that includes both real butter and brown sugar. Everything is trying to be different – less fat, more fiber, less spice, less pumpkin flavour (!! Why you makin pumpkin bread, then?). Probably my red checked cookbook will have the right recipe.

Why, no, I don’t get to eat lunch for another ~~40 minutes~~ 10 minutes

~*~

For actual food porn content – I made a lovely soup this week.

I thawed out my remaining cubes of chicken stock (so I can make more soon! because I’ve started to think that an autumn without making stock is wasted).

Added an acorn squash. By which I mean that I washed the outside, cut of the top and tip, split it in half, and stuck it open side down into the stock and let it cook until mushy… and then scooped out the inside with a spoon.

I threw in a frozen pork chop because I figured there should be some meat. After it cooked, I trimmed and diced it.

At this point I realised that 1 squash would not be enough, so I turned off the pot and let it sit overnight.

The next day, I bought a second squash and two sweet potatoes. Rinse. Repeat. First the squash, and then I decided the soup could still be thicker, so I cooked the potatoes in the microwave and then mushed them into the soup.

Meanwhile, I melted some butter and sauteed some onion, cumin, and a winesap apple…. when golden and mushy, I added that to the soup.

In went a bay leaf, a dash of worcestershire sauce, and tiny bit of nutmeg.

Cooking. cooking. cooking. (more like 20 minutes worth)

Then I drained a can of black beans… because apparently I live in a crazy land where I can’t find dried black beans (ghetto mart would have had some before they closed, but it hasn’t reopened yet – harrumph). Beans get dumped in. And the soup cooks for the length of an episode of Spooks.

Then eating… and the realisation that I forgot to add salt and pepper… and that it’d be good with a dollop of sour cream in the middle.

Second (third?) day. Soup! With salt and pepper. And sour cream seasoned with more cumin and a smidgeon of horseradish. Very tasty!

The soup was a bit gloppy and would have benefited from a run through a food processor or blender, but I don’t believe in doing that to the poor soups. And it was quite tasty.

Really. I’ve had two other people eat this soup, and both liked it. Or said they did. But there were second helpings involved. And I’m perfectly willing to eat soup again tonight for dinner. Yum!

Chinese pork

Do any of you cook Chinese food much? I have a leftover pork roast, and I want to turn it into that brown melty pork that you sometimes get in restaurants… only every store-bought sauce I have ever tried for this has been too salty and/or too sweet and usually not even close. I don’t even know what to call the particular dish to look it up.

So can any of you read my mind? Can you tell me how to make it from scratch?

ETA: The answer is to use authentic oyster sauce instead of a mixed sauce from the supermarket

*****

Other upcoming meals —

Collard Greens and Lentils cooked down with fried mustard seeds, nigella seeds, coriander, chillies, and garlic added at the last.

Asparagus. Something special with asparagus. It will probably be with peas and tortellini and either a butter & lemon sauce or something creamy.

Chili

*****

Notable recent meals —

I made a lovely curry (onions, garlic, ginger, coriander stalks, curry powder, and tomatoes) with potatoes and string beans.

And last night there were scrambled eggs with onions, garlic, mushrooms, artichoke hearts (the vegetable truck has had lovely artichokes lately!), smoked oysters, and cheese. Thanks to the lovely Meghan for the idea.