Category: Recipes in SC

More Bowl Dinners: Lamb Chops and Meatloaf

*I wrote this post last week, and this week has been so busy. I’m at the 11-month occupation of my new home, and the builder sends in various subs to fix things that got missed in the first inspection. Sometimes you don’t see things at first, but you do after living in a new home for almost a year. And there are things that range from the simple to the more problematic that need fixing or adjusting.

Grilled lamb chops, baby bok chop with onion and sweet peppers cooked in the air fryer, and rice I froze and defrosted.

Leftovers!

Meatloaf, okra with butter, and roasted butternut squash with fresh garlic and rosemary dressed with olive oil.

Here’s the herb garden these days. The tall plat on the right is lavender, and there is some chive between the sage and the lavender. The oregano is going wild, so I trimmed it back and am drying those stems in the kitchen. When dried, I’ll strip off the stems and save the leaves for winter use.

So…

That butternut squash…

Normally roasted it would have a dense candied sweetness to combine with the garlic, rosemary, and olive oil. I have always looked forward to this dish in the fall.

But this squash was absolutely tasteless. Likely it was picked green and had not had time yet to develop its sugars. It’s hard to tell before one cuts into one of these winter squashes. Maybe if I had held it longer it would have “ripened.” This squash is a good keeper. But I’ll pay more attention next time. An over-ripe one is too mushy. So, I guess it is a bit of a crap shoot.

Beggars’ Lice

Last Sunday we gathered at Mike and Tami’s to celebrate Debbie’s birthday (Tami’s mother). Mike and Tami had been hard at work with various garden projects, which resulted in this kind of “beggar’s lice” sticking to their pants. And, to the dogs, which took some days to rectify once the seeds got wound up with the dogs’ hair.

“Beggar’s Lice” are seeds that a “weed” plant produces. The seeds have POWERFUL gripping power if one brushes up next to the host plant. I grew up with the name “Beggar’s Lice,” but there are other regional names for this seed. And, several plant species that produce this kind of seed.

If you google “beggar’s lice,” a page will appear with lots of pictures and links to information about his seed, like this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackelia_virginiana

While Michael was organizing our dinner, we women gathered to try to get the “lice” off of the various clothing items. Tami had already spent about three hours the night before trying to get the lice off a pair of her pants. (Debbie is on the left and granddaughter Mina, on the right.). We tried the flat edge of knives, spoons, and a carrot peeler to scrape off the seeds. It was easier to get them off the jeans than the knit-type fabric in the above picture.

While we “persevered,” Mike made us a beautiful dinner. Here’s my bowl–which is missing the beautiful sliced heritage tomatoes dressed with minced herbs, avocados, and fresh mozzarella balls. Mike grilled the chicken breasts, zucchini, and sweet peppers. The grain salad is barley and contains more diced veggies. It was dressed with olive oil. (You could add an acid, like lemon juice or vinegar.) Mike’s salads are always fun: this one had radicchio included, which I love. And the hard boiled eggs are a colorful and nice inclusion.

I can say that we were “eating the rainbow” with this meal.

It’s Monday: What to Eat?

I was down to a few choices: the leftover roast chicken, a small Delicata squash, a small zucchini, a few sweet peppers, a small head of radicchio, and a handful of the leftover roasted broccoli rabe.

Here’s what evolved…

…a chicken salad made while the air fryer cooked zucchini rounds, sweet peppers, and delicata squash rings. The chicken salad had the last of the broccoli rabe cut into small pieces, some diced onion and grated carrot, some dried herbs, and some homemade mayo. I put the chicken salad over some radicchio leaves.

Delicata squash are known for their candy sweetness. I cut mine in half, seeded it, then cut it into narrow rings. I left the skin on, but this squash was a bit old, so the skin was fairly tough, but it was easy to slide off the sweet, sweet meat. Mainly, I just ate the skin–good fiber, you know. Delicatas are not really good “keeper” squashes, so use them now if you can get them where you live.

Last night’s supper was a reprise of dinner. And today, for my noon dinner, I had these various dishes alongside some fresh asparagus quick cooked in the microwave and dabbed with some of the mayo. I sat on the porch and thoroughly enjoyed this meal.

I have enough of the salad to make a supper–alongside the asparagus. I’ll enjoy a bowl of fresh berries with a tiny bit of maple syrup.

And now I’m going upstairs to trace out the tunic pattern and, hopefully, to get it cut out.

Tomorrow the Patchwork Gals meet, and I’m looking forward to that meeting.

Tami and Debbie Visit The Medway Community Garden

Saturday afternoon, DIL Tami and her mother Debbie visited the Medway Community Garden in Charleston. I was invited and couldn’t go, so Tami took pictures and the little video below of this pollinator garden.

A reminder, Tami is the Director and Co-Founder of The Bee Cause. She texted me with this message: “A beautiful afternoon at Medway Community Garden. The pollinators were plentiful in this beautiful pollinator habitat donated by The Bee Cause and installed by Charleston Parks Conservancy. We also got to meet and chat with the author of The Ark of Taste.” There was also a potluck supper.

A video of the garden.

And the new book:

From a review on the Slow Food USA web site: “The Ark of Taste is a living catalog of our food heritage and a movement to preserve gastronomic treasures passed down for generations—some rare, some endangered, all delicious. Created by Slow Food, the Ark illuminates the history, identity and taste of these unique food products, many of which were revived or saved from extinction by their Slow Food champions.”  

And: “The Ark of Taste book features the stories of how some of these American products almost didn’t reach our table, with recipes from Slow Food chefs and profiles of growers from around the country.”

https://slowfoodusa.org/ark-of-taste-book/

As you know from this blog, I have planted pollinator plants in my new garden. And Tami has been working hard in her garden in recent days. She is developing a space where she would like to plant a pollinator garden–and that space is near her bee hive.

On a very happy note, Tami recently harvested some honey from that hive, and she generously gave me 12 jars of that beautiful honey–which I am busily lapping up.

The dried blooms are from the Panicle Hydrangea “Limelight.” In Maine, these big blooms would turn a gorgeous deep red color; here with the heat, they just turn brown. I clipped these blooms when they were just starting to show flecks of red in the petals, but before they started to turn brown. I put them in this vase with no water and let them further dry out inside. They will hold their color through most of the winter.

Drying hydrangea blooms is tricky. I’ve found it best to wait until they are starting to dry on the plant before clipping them. And even then, they might shrivel up once inside.

I Am in Love…

With this Mexican Sage plant:

I took the above pic and the little video below from inside the house. I love the way this plant moves in the wind. It was “quiet” all summer, and then, overnight, it burst into bloom, and it has been blooming for weeks now.

AND I’m in love with the new air fryer.

Look at the gorgeous brown, crisp skin on the chicken thighs below. And on the roasted zucchini squash and roasted sweet peppers. The chicken meat is so juicy and tender too.

And look at the 15-minute, or less, French fries with their skins left on. Plus, more roasted peppers. That’s leftover grilled steak and asparagus cooked in the microwave. I only use a very tiny bit of soft duck fat to coat the fries.

AND, I’m in love with bowl suppers.

These bowls are very inexpensive on Amazon and are just the right size. The gentle slope of the bowl sides keeps thing INSIDE the bowl. As I often eat a meal on the porch or in the little tv room (at night), the sloped bowl is a good choice.

This meal was cooked in the new oven: roasted whole chicken, roasted sweet potatoes, roasted broccoli rabe, carrots in butter (stove top), warmed leftover asparagus and red peppers, and for dessert, raw apple and an espresso. It’s a feast–with great leftovers so I have time to do other things.

When I roast sweet potatoes, I cook several, smash them with butter, and freeze portions for future meals. I do the same for my sprouted brown rice: I cook the whole bag at one time.

I filter my water and use a glass and a glass straw. I have a glass for the car as well. I clean these glasses and straws daily. After researching when I moved here, I use “Clearly Filtered” to filter my water.

I have many things I am “in love” with, for sure. I’m feeling lucky this morning, and I’m grateful.

Some Air Fryer Meals

The new oven came this week. Whew!

But meanwhile, I am still enjoying the Air Fryer.

So I thought I’d share some recent air fryer endeavors.

I cooked the asparagus in the picture below in the microwave for about two minutes–in a glass shallow pan covered with a cloth. The chicken tenders I put into a bowl with a little melted duck fat and then coated each one with the gluten-free panko I bought and ground finer–so there is just a light coating here.

They were good–but maybe cooked just a bit too long, which made them be a bit dense. I used the roasting feature–but I think I’ll try a shorter time next (maybe 6-8 minutes, turn them over halfway) and then finish with the air broil to brown the coating. I had enough left over to top a supper salad–which I make while cooking my noon dinner.

For the next meal, I cooked the broccoli in hot water until tender–in a pot on the stove top. The cod fillet I thawed, coated with some melted ghee using a brush, then patted the top with the panko mix. I cooked on air fryer for about 10 minutes as this fillet was thick. I think I checked it at about 8 minutes.

It was flaky and DELICIOUS. This one was a win-win. Hmmm, a dollop of tartar sauce, or, for me, some homemade mayo, would be a nice addition.

I had a meeting Thursday morning, and when I got home I was so hungry. I had bought this little loin steak, so thought I’d try it in the air fryer as I was feeling lazy about the outside grill or pan-frying it. (I reheated my leftover broccoli in the microwave.) I cut up one small russet potato and did not soak it in ice water for 30 minutes, which does make the browning more even I think. I tossed the slices in a tablespoon of melted duck fat in a bowl. The potatoes cooked in under 15 minutes (I shake them every few minutes and almost burned them this time–at under 15 minutes.) And the steak cooked on roast in about 10 minutes.

The potatoes were delicious. The steak was fine, but felt a bit tough. I had enough steak to top my supper salad–which is always nice. So, steak in the air fryer works fine, but isn’t as nice as the grill.

I like asparagus roasted in the air fryer. But I don’t really like broccoli cooked that way–it is tough. Maybe if one par-boiled it until almost tender and then air broiled it? But that seems like way too much trouble.

So, the air fryer is a learning curve, but one I’m enjoying. And I’m feeling more confident with using it to its best potential. And it is so easy to clean up. There is no grease all over the stove top from pan-frying something. Yes, I could easily have fried the potatoes in a pan with some duck fat–but the air fryer does use much less fat–and the texture of the air fryer potatoes, unfortunately for my body, is awesome!

Red Quilt and Air Fryer Fries

The big red blocks (10 inches) are getting sashed. Four rows are done, and sets of two are sewn together. I have to use a ladder to reach the top of the design wall, so I won’t sew those two top rows to the others until the last rows are done and connected.

I looked at some of the selvages more closely while cutting, and not all of these fabrics are Kaffe Fasset, which is ok. Remember that I bought two kits 18 or 19 years ago in Maine as I wanted to make a big red quilt, but never made the kits. I am using most of the kit fabrics, but not following the kit plan. I wanted something more modern–and I think I have a “modern traditional” quilt going here. The label doesn’t matter to me really as I am liking the quilt.

I’m really liking the soft lavender sashing–and I learned a way to set a long sashing strip so that the vertical lines match from videos on the Modern Quilt Studio web site via their Summer Camp mystery quilt. (They have a you-tube channel for their videos and these videos are very helpful for all levels of quilt competency.) I will bind with the lavender (Kona Thistle). And I have a soft grey wide-back for the backing and can use a medium grey to quilt.

Oh my! I am in huge trouble diet wise. I tried air frying French fries yesterday –I cut my own russet potatoes, soaked them in ice water for 30 minutes, dried them in a towel, and used a little duck fat which I melted for the fat coating, and salted them. I had preheated the air fryer–and 15 minutes later, and after shaking the drawer hard a few times, I had these DELICIOUS fries.

In the other drawer, I reheated a hamburger patty and the zucchini rounds I air fried the other day. I over-cooked the hamburger pattyies I made and should have paid attention to my own instincts. But the reheating went well and didn’t ruin either the zucchini rounds or the hamburger patty by cooking them more beyond warming them. LOL, ketchup helped. (I don’t like well-done meat.)

We got about an inch of rain here in two nights and with a shower yesterday. And the temps are now falling into the 70s at night–with daytime temps in the 80s and low 90s. Still, I will water the new little tree out front later today–just to make sure. It is looking ok for now.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! I am hoping for a beach walk, but the high tide is now in the morning, and I sew late afternoon.

Poaching Eggs in Water…Is Easy

And they result is that the eggs are so tender and velvety–so much better than the old poaching pans with which I grew up.

You need a regular, pot of water that you bring to a SIMMER ONLY. More than simmer makes the egg white come away from the egg. There should be no bubbles on the surface of the water. Some use a wide flat pan, especially with more than two eggs. The water has to be deep enough, so a wide flat pan might need a cover, with the heat turned off. (See the video below.)

And you need a utensil with holes to pick up the egg when it’s ready to your satisfaction. A flat spatula works well too.

Break your egg into a glass or a ramekin. Ramekins are shallower than this glass, but I just grabbed what was near. Use only one egg per glass/ramekin and don’t cook more than 4 at a time. You can reuse the same simmering water if you want more eggs.

Many add a teaspoon of WHITE vinegar to the water as it helps the whites stay put. I often don’t, but after looking at the video below, I’ll try the vinegar addition again.

Slide the egg gently, gently into the water. The video below uses a cover and a timer to cook the egg to soft boil–and turns off the heat. I just watch the egg so I can tell when it is done to the consistency I like. I can also spoon water over the top GENTLY if the top needs more heat. This pot is smaller; I would use a bigger pot for more eggs.

When done (either decided by eye or a covered pan with the heat turned off and a timer as in the video below), remove each egg gently. I like soft eggs with golden yolks that will run out on my salad. But harder boiled are lovely too.

I needed some protein for this supper salad, so the poached eggs were perfect. And, delicious.

A bit of practice makes perfect.

And this video is excellent to get you started.

https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+poach+an+egg+in+a+saucepan+of+water&client=safari&rls=en&sxsrf=AB5stBhMRWYAYmkeh5QYDyxAmUuUL6k-Jw%3A1690200612860&ei=JGq-ZJmTNLvNkPIPoMiMiAc&oq=how+to+poach+an+egg+in+water&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiHGhvdyB0byBwb2FjaCBhbiBlZ2cgaW4gd2F0ZXIqAggGMgUQABiABDIFEAAYgAQyBRAAGIAEMgUQABiABDIEEAAYHjIGEAAYCBgeMgYQABgIGB4yBhAAGAgYHjIGEAAYCBgeMgYQABgIGB5IyJcBUO8GWMtScAF4AZABAZgB3QKgAcUvqgEIMC4yMC45LjG4AQHIAQD4AQHCAgoQABhHGNYEGLADwgIHECMYsAIYJ8ICCBAAGAgYBxgewgIIEAAYigUYhgPCAgYQABgHGB7CAgcQABiKBRhDwgIIEAAYigUYkQLiAwQYACBBiAYBkAYI&sclient=gws-wiz-serp#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:fa990d7e,vid:mrbyeS98x0A

A Little Cooking Goes a Long Way

And, this bit of easy cooking provided the bulk of two days of meals–given that I eat two meals a day: dinner at noon and something fairly light for supper at night.

Yesterday I wanted fish–which I have not had for some time now. I keep frozen wild-caught fillets in the freezer. And this time I had cod, which I defrosted early in the morning. You can flash defrost meat by putting it on an iron of some type–I have a griddle I use, but a skillet would work too. Just make sure you regrease whatever you use before storing it again. Today I thought I’d use a deeper, heavier pan to make my dish.

I layered the bottom with two small unpeeled potatoes (a little bigger than eggs maybe) into the bottom of the pan–thinly sliced. I added some diced sweet onion, carrot, red pepper, and some frozen corn. Salt and basil from the garden went in on top of the raw whole milk.

I heated the pan on the stove until the mixture was bubbly and put it in the hot oven COVERED for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, I washed and chopped two baby bok choy. I love that vegetable and often flash stir fry it in a good fat with seasonings. I do not like it overcooked–the bigger stem pieces should be al dente.

I layered the bok choy on the top and put the fish fillets on top of the mixture. I added more salt and some butter on the fish. I covered the dish again and put it in the oven for 10 minutes and then uncovered it for 10 more minutes. My oven does not brown well, so I broiled the dish for about 5 minutes–keeping a close eye on it so I didn’t burn it. I wanted a little color, that’s all. The fish were done.

This method proved to be a great way to add fresh greens to a dish–and now I’m wondering about adding frozen broccoli crowns at this step.

I topped my dish with chopped parsley from the garden. And, yum!

While the fish was cooking, I put together a salad for supper. I could either top it with the other piece of fish or add some other protein. If I used the fish, I’d still have a nice chowder to eat–and I could always defrost another cod fillet and bake it for the salad or the chowder.

I wasn’t terribly hungry after the large and rich dinner at noon, so I just soft boiled some eggs in a pan of water–yes, I’ll do a future post on how I do this quick and easy task. These poached eggs are velvety soft, and you can make them as hard or soft as you like.

For dinner today, I’ll have the rest of my fish dish. But there is a lot of the “soup” to eat, so I’ll save some and add it to a soup I took from the freezer to have for supper. I’m always happy to have “assets” in my refrigerator or freezer. I’ll cut up an apple at supper to have something sweet.

And tomorrow I’ll need to visit the grocery store for more fresh veggies and fruits. But NOT today. Today is mine to enjoy without tasks I need to do.

A Meatloaf Twist

I am always looking for ways to use my beef gelatin.

Why not add just a tiny bit to the meatloaf I was making?

I’ve blogged about my basic meat loaf recipe many times now, probably, LOL, more than many want to read about again. But for the moment, I can’t find the last time I wrote about making meatloaf. Basically, I use ground hamburger or bison, to which I add an egg, some oatmeal, some good fat if the meat is too lean, some cream sometimes, some grated veggie (carrot, zucchini), some chopped onion, some cheese (mozzarella for me), some herbs, and salt.

I just sprinkled about a teaspoon or less of the gelatin over the egg and cream before I added all the other ingredients–so the gelatin would soften.

You all know that I cook with what I have on hand for the most part. This time I had half of a red pepper and some fresh basil from the garden.

I added some Annie’s Ketchup to the top as it is the only ketchup I can find that has a few ingredients. Ketchup is the closest I can get to tomatoes these days. I use it only on meatloaf and don’t add it too often.

Yummy!

The gelatin added a nice texture–but no flavor as it is flavorless. When cold, the loaf is very firm.

This one is a win-win.

*I don’t use ground chicken as these days it has added spices I can’t eat. Probably ground turkey does too, but I’m not sure about ground turkey anyway. Experimentation is often not a good idea for me, so…why mess with what is working and working well.