The Cooking Thread

[Courtney]

Baked goods are allowed into the campgrounds; not the festival.

[guest-1185]

I am currently eating Nancy's plain lowfat yogurt with honey and vanilla, topped with Bear Naked Fruit and Nut Granola and fresh sliced strawberries and blueberries. This hardly even counts as a recipe, but I can honestly say that at this moment it is the exact perfect thing that I want to be eating. I'm having a little moment of bliss over here.

That does sound quite yummy.

I made guacamole last night for some friends, it was a hit.

[Courtney]

Oooh. My coworker gave me two huge, ripe butter avocados from his yard yesterday, so I need to use them quickly. I may be making some guacamole too.

[guest-1185]

Thanks for making this thread, i had thought about it a while ago, but didnt get around to it.

I love to cook. I cook all my own dinners throughout the week and most of my other meals. I am also a bit of a health nut, and thus have incorporated that into my cooking style. I made this last pasta sauce last week:



Base is a basic, natural marinara with a bit of heavy whipping cream for slight taste and color
Artichoke hearts
Capers
Fresh, diced garlic
Mushrooms
Diced Onions
Crushed red pepper
spicy chicken sausage

I cook the sausage first to brown it so it has some texture, then add in everything else and let simmer for 25 minutes or so.

I threw this on some whole wheat penne pasta and served.

I'll post some more easy, healthy dinners here as i make them....all very simple, and very good. OH, and i do 99.99% of my shopping at Trader Joes, which is cheap and excellent, so you can find everything there.

The artichoke hearts are a good idea, I may give that a whirl next time. And does anyone else see the cat in this picture? (ears, tail and feet?)

[All Your Base]

The artichoke hearts are a good idea, I may give that a whirl next time. And does anyone else see the cat in this picture? (ears, tail and feet?)

I put artichoke hearts in my lasagna. They're yummy.

[All Your Base]

Baked goods are allowed into the campgrounds; not the festival.

Sweet.. Thanks Courtney.

[CalmerThanYou]

A very simple one tonight...Pork Loin Cutlets with brown rice and steamed broccoli





The pork loin cutlets from trader joes are awesome. they are only $4-5 for 6, and they cook super quick in the pan. I marinated them in some soyaki (teriyaki and soy) 10 mins and added some montreal steak seasoning. because they are thin, they cook through in about 4-5 mins total. the pork loins are also super low in fat, less than chicken. steamed the broccoli and made some basic brown rice. cheap, easy, and healthy.

preparation + cook time = 12 mins total
cost = appx. $8
serves = 2

[All Your Base]

I've been watching Food Network pretty much all morning. This new show called 'Chopped' is pretty interesting. In the vein of that show....
I'm going to tell the wife today that she can pick three ingredients, and I'll cook something I've never cooked before. I'll post the ingredients she picks and a picture of what I come up with later this evening.

[captncrzy]

I'm cooking a turkey.

[All Your Base]

I've been watching Food Network pretty much all morning. This new show called 'Chopped' is pretty interesting. In the vein of that show....
I'm going to tell the wife today that she can pick three ingredients, and I'll cook something I've never cooked before. I'll post the ingredients she picks and a picture of what I come up with later this evening.

Okay. She picked beef, cilantro & ginger. I'm making jerk-rubbed grilled ribeyes (with a papaya/mango relish) and mashed sweet potatoes. This is going to be fun!

[All Your Base]

Okay. She picked beef, cilantro & ginger. I'm making jerk-rubbed grilled ribeyes (with a papaya/mango relish) and mashed sweet potatoes. This is going to be fun!

I'd rate this dinner experiment a 7 out of 10. The jerk crust never formed real well when I grilled the steak, so the clove/allspice/cinnamon flavor didn't have that punch on the steak. The mashed sweet potatoes tasted good, but next time I'll use some heavy cream when making them.

The hit of the dish was definitely the relish. It'd be really good with fish I think. Here's the recipe:

half a cucumber, diced
1 mango, diced
1 green papaya, diced
5 green onions, diced
1 small red pepper, diced
2 tbs rice vinegar
2 tbs honey
2 tbs sugar
the juice of 2 limes
the juice of 1 sweet lemon
a few drops of rooster sauce
half a bunch of cilantro, chopped fine

combine the sugar, vinegar, honey, lime/lemon juice and rooster sauce, th whisk until combined. Add to the diced ingredients and cilantro. Toss & chill.

[Stefachink]

I love Paula cuz she is literally fucking insane and acts like butter is the 2nd coming of Christ

Hahaha that's hilarious. Anyone watch Ace Of Cakes? That show is amazingly funny.

[Alchemy]

I can make a mean Maruchan. This recipe is called Alchemy's Fiery Noodle:

1. 3 cups of water in small pan.
2. Put on stove until it boils.
3. Put in Maruchan Chicken Noodles for 3 minutes exactly.
4. Turn off stove after the 3 minutes.
5. Mix in Maruchan Chicken Flavoring.
6. Quickly pour in bowl.
7. Put a good amount of Louisiana Hot Sauce.

Drink Dr. Pepper or Coke/Pepsi in glass with ice while eating.

[captncrzy]

My turkey rocked, by the way. I slow roasted it for five hours (basting every 1/2 hour) at 325F. I rubbed it with a lemon pepper butter (rubbed butter onto the meat under the skin) and then melted the same butter and basted the top.

[All Your Base]

My turkey rocked, by the way. I slow roasted it for five hours (basting every 1/2 hour) at 325F. I rubbed it with a lemon pepper butter (rubbed butter onto the meat under the skin) and then melted the same butter and basted the top.

My father-in-law always barbecues two Thanksgiving turkeys. They're super moist (gotta brine them) and have a great smokey flavor.

Lemon pepper butter sounds awesome though. Do you make that from scratch?

[captncrzy]

Yes. Real butter, lemon zest, garlic, pepper, rosemary.

[All Your Base]

Well done, captn! Do you just do it to-taste, or is there a formula?

[CalmerThanYou]

Eggcellent! Great looking meals

[casey]

wow, this thread is going to be my new favorite.

[mountmccabe]

A very simple one tonight...Pork Loin Cutlets with brown rice and steamed broccoli

The pork loin cutlets from trader joes are awesome. they are only $4-5 for 6, and they cook super quick in the pan. I marinated them in some soyaki (teriyaki and soy) 10 mins and added some montreal steak seasoning. because they are thin, they cook through in about 4-5 mins total. the pork loins are also super low in fat, less than chicken. steamed the broccoli and made some basic brown rice. cheap, easy, and healthy.

preparation + cook time = 12 mins total
cost = appx. $8
serves = 2

How do you cook brown rice in 12 minutes? Does it turn out at all normal? It looks good in the pic. That would be so helpful.

Also that looks really good. I, historically, have not been a pork fan but I am being won over by eating it cooked/seasoned right.


I am actually considering making traditional style Carnitas next weekend. I haven't bit that bullet quite yet, though. I really wanna find out how it works so maybe!

[CalmerThanYou]

^ great question about the rice, i was gonna mention something about it but forgot.

I LOVE brown rice, but hate cooking it. solution? trader joes has this brown rice thats already cooked and frozen. 3 bags per box. all natural, nothing added, just straight brown (or white) rice. It takes 3 minutes to cook in the microwave and comes out perfect. peep it, it makes your life so much easier.

[mountmccabe]

Huh. I am skeptical that it would still turn out well... but then again cooking brown rice the standard way doesn't always turn out just right either so I think it's worth checking into. At least once I work through the tub of uncooked brown rice I have in my fridge.

Thanks.

[CalmerThanYou]

dont be skeptical. i wouldnt lie about something as serious as brown rice, it comes out PERFECT every time. oh, and its really cheap too. each bag in the box is good for 2-3 servings. its really one of my favorite discoveries in the last 2 years...food wise.


on another note, my GF got me a full blown sushi kit for my bday and 2 sets of awesome japanese dish sets for sushi...were gonna get involved with the kit this week, so ill post some pics of the sushi we come up with.

[mountmccabe]

I'm skeptical of most everything.


Also, mmmm, sushi.

[CalmerThanYou]

LOL. take my word on it, then thank me later. its been a huge game changer for me.

[All Your Base]

on another note, my GF got me a full blown sushi kit for my bday and 2 sets of awesome japanese dish sets for sushi...were gonna get involved with the kit this week, so ill post some pics of the sushi we come up with.

Oh HELLS yeah!

Be careful slicing it though.....there's a real science to it. Easy way to fuck up a $40 piece of sushi-grade tuna if you don't know what you're doing. I've learned this the hard way. And don't even get me started with sushi rice....

[CalmerThanYou]

yeahh, im really excited. i LOVE sushi, and have wanted to make some for a while now. i was definitely stoked on the kit, its really awesome.

definitely will keep that in mind, thanks for the heads up. there are tons of great seafood places around here, so im going to research tomorrow and see who has the best shit.

can you elaborate on the cutting? how would one fuck up the fish if you cut it incorrectly? what is the right way to do it?

[All Your Base]

Something about you have to make sure to cut against the 'grain' of the fish, and in one fluid motion. If you use more than 1 motion your edges won't be totally clean edges like you get in a sushi restaurant. I had a chunk of fatty tuna that I cut incorrectly and it just fell apart on me (plus it wasn't cold enough when I cut it which didn't help matters) so I ended up cubing it all up, spicing it and making spicy tuna rolls. Tastes just as good/if not better, but there's something about putting a slab of beautiful purple tuna on a little bed of rice.

[captncrzy]

Well done, captn! Do you just do it to-taste, or is there a formula?

Just to taste.

yeahh, im really excited. i LOVE sushi, and have wanted to make some for a while now. i was definitely stoked on the kit, its really awesome.

definitely will keep that in mind, thanks for the heads up. there are tons of great seafood places around here, so im going to research tomorrow and see who has the best shit.

can you elaborate on the cutting? how would one fuck up the fish if you cut it incorrectly? what is the right way to do it?

Honestly, you should go to a seafood market, preferably a japanese one, and have them cut it for you. The tenderness and buttery-ness of the fish relies on it being cut correctly.

[CalmerThanYou]

Awesome, thanks for the insight guys (and gal)

I was thinking for my first experiment just going to the amazing sushi joint down the street from my house and asking the owner (who knows me by name) if i can just buy some straight from them for the first time...get some different types of fish already cut, then go from there...i'll report back.