Nerd Pride Radio

Kyle! Have you yet tried a vegan version of your peanut butter pork pasta? I did, and it was fantastic! All I did was sub in two cans of chickpeas for the pork, just to get the protein. The missing pork and fat left the sauce too runny at the end, so I thickened it with a little cornstarch/water. It was wonderful. One batch made 10 portions, which I froze. Been using them for lunch for a couple weeks.

Oooooooo. That's a good substitute. I'm definitely going to try that.

8 Can Taco Soup

The original recipe
1 (15 oz.) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (15 oz.) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 (14.5 oz.) can petite diced tomatoes, drained
1 (15.25 oz.) can sweet corn, drained
1 (12.5 oz.) can white chicken breast, drained
1 (10.75 oz.) can cream of chicken soup
1 (10 oz.) can green enchilada sauce
1 (14 oz.) can chicken broth
1 packet taco seasoning

Mix all ingredients together in a large pot. Heat until warm, stirring occasionally. Serve with tortilla chips.


That's the basics, and it's super easy and super tasty. But if you've got stuff laying around and feel like taking a few extra minutes, I'll dice up and saute some peppers and onions first to throw in there. Or, of course, you can sub a pound of browned and drained ground beef for the chicken. Alternately, sub in an extra can of beans for the chicken, cream of celery for the soup, and make the broth veggie, and it works vegan too. I personally add a ton of hot sauce to mine in the cooking.

Maybe everyone already knows this, but if you're not making your own hummus, you're robbing yourself of great food. I'm making two large batches of hummus a week for me and my family. There's so many ways it's great. First of all- it's about half the price of store bought hummus (even the store brand). Second of all- it's WAY superior to anything you get in the store (even the name brand). When I buy store made hummus, I'm always disappointed at the lack of flavor. The only deal is that you need a proper blender or food processor- nothing fancy, my ninja blender works fine- but a $25 blender might not cut it. The other only deal is that your local store needs to sell Tahini (sesame seed paste)- but my local rural grocery store sells it (in the peanut butter section), so I think it's generally available everywhere now.

Here's the basic recipe:

Hummus
2 cans Chick Peas/Garbanzo Beans (drained, but reserve the liquid)
Juice of 1 lemon (or concentrate)
3-4 garlic cloves (or equivalent garlic powder)
1 tablespoon Cumin
1 teaspoon salt
8-9 ounces Tahini (I just use half of my 18 ounce container)

(NOTE- a lot of recipes call for adding olive oil. I find this unnecessary and adversely affects the consistency of hummus, making it too oily)

Throw it all in your blender (or food processor) and blend on high for 30 seconds. Scrape down sides with a spatula. Check consistency and add small amounts of reserve liquid if necessary. Turn back on high for 3 minutes. Keep checking for consistency and adding reserve liquid in small amounts if necessary. I think I usually end up adding a quarter cup total, but it's always different.

It's kind of a foolproof process- Not thick enough? Add liquid or water. Too thick? Crack another can of chick peas, drain them and add some of them to the mix.

Also- you can fool around with the recipe as much as you want to spice it the way you like. Today I dropped the cumin and added a heaping tablespoon of smoked paprika and seven fresh garlic cloves. Spicy, but so good.

My wife's favorite is even simpler- drop the cumin and the reserve liquid and add a drained 12 ounce can of fire roasted tomatoes. Very savory and good. You can also sub drained roasted red peppers. That's also great.

When you want to get fancy and try the expert level- you can make chocolate hummus. Drop the cumin and lemon juice. Add one cup of cocoa powder, a half cup of maple syrup (or agave) and two teaspoons of vanilla extract. But WARNING- this is super rich and addictive. You will probably make yourself sick eating it.

That's awesome. I need to be doing that. I've only tried hummus once, but I subbed peanut butter for the tahini and then added sembal oelek and garlic as my spices (because I'm OBSESSED with that peanut butter pasta recipe). It was great, but I've never tried again.

Mike wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 1:20 pm That's awesome. I need to be doing that. I've only tried hummus once, but I subbed peanut butter for the tahini and then added sembal oelek and garlic as my spices (because I'm OBSESSED with that peanut butter pasta recipe). It was great, but I've never tried again.

Oh lord, Terry. That's not right. Do yourself a favor and make real hummus.

No, I get that. I was going for a thing. And it was really good, but admittedly... not "real" hummus.

I look forward to making this more often after the holidays, as hopefully I will get my Christmas wish of a blender! I wanted the Ninja blender but people have their own ideas about what type of blender I should have. The one I have right now should be put to the flames. Made by Oster. Useful only as a lesson in what a blender should not be. The lid broke so I have it rigged up with aluminum foil and you have to shake the whole blender with two hands while it's going which doesn't seem like a wise idea. Anything less results in zero productivity. Making a smoothie is a vigorous adventure. I don't like the consistency unless I can get it completely pureed, but we will have hummus in January!

I have an Oster that is a combo blender/food processor. I love it. I pureed raw carrots in it this last weekend and it worked like a dream. Now that I think of it, I've never used the blender pitcher.

Is it the kind that has a spout coming out the front of it? That's the one I have. I probably would have liked it if it didn't break immediately and fail to work. I remember liking it for the first month. It's hard to clean though. I used to be able to make creamed spinach in it and now I just get a glob of partly hacked spinach. No worries if you want a little chunky fruit left in your smoothie, though.

Mike, if you need your sambal oelek fix, this item has become a staple in three things we make a lot: soup, tofu, and steamed broccoli. The latter is just broccoli steamed 8 min and then tossed in a dressing of sesame oil, sambal oelek, garlic, ginger, and soy sauce. Bet you could use a little peanut butter too! some people roast it but I don't like that burnt taste that immediately accrues to the broccoli so I save the roasting for tofu or sturdier veggies.

The tofu is similar - it has to be totally squeezed dry, and then sprinkle it with a little dusting of cornstarch the way you would sprinkle things with a dusting of powdered sugar. This makes it very crispy! You can either heat up the oil-garlic-ginger-hot sauce mix in a skillet and fry the tofu that way, or you can toss it in a bowl with the same ingredients thinned out slightly with a little soy sauce, and bake it on a sheet at around 400, flipping partway through.
Actually we do the skillet version with shrimp for my kid who loves shrimp, and I put a little fish or oyster sauce in that one.

The soup is roughly the same thing (sambal-garlic-ginger) sauteed with a minced shallot and a grated carrot for a few minutes at the bottom of your saucepan. Then bring the broth to a boil - ramen or miso broth or whatever you're using - throwing bits of whatever you have on hand in there, like a few spinach leaves and some tofu sticks, sliced cabbage, or whatever. If you can tolerate mushrooms, a nice flavorful mushroom is perfect here. The people here don't understand mushrooms. My favorite is a couple baby bok choy chopped up and boiled for a few minutes, but these days it's very hard to get a good baby bok choy anywhere with grocery pickup. Boo. Baby bok choy is divine and utterly superior to its big cousin.

I love Cheddar Bay Biscuits from Red Lobster. The amazing part about this recipe is not that they look and taste just like the real thing (they do), but rather that they are so EASY!

I'm serious... next meal you have that could use some bread on the side... make these!

Cheddar Bay Biscuits

Ingredients
2 cups Original Bisquick mix
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (2 ounces)
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Directions
1 Heat oven to 450°F.
2 Stir Bisquick mix, milk and cheese until soft dough forms. Drop dough by 9 spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
3 Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Stir together butter and garlic powder; brush over warm biscuits.

I want these. Holiday treat.

Mike wrote: ↑Wed Nov 25, 2020 2:41 pm Kyle! Have you yet tried a vegan version of your peanut butter pork pasta? I did, and it was fantastic! All I did was sub in two cans of chickpeas for the pork, just to get the protein. The missing pork and fat left the sauce too runny at the end, so I thickened it with a little cornstarch/water. It was wonderful. One batch made 10 portions, which I froze. Been using them for lunch for a couple weeks.

So for Christmas dinner, I can't eat what my family is eating (glazed ham, potato salad and other stuff with lots of bacon), so I'm making this! I'm so excited!

Yes! I hope it turns out for you. Such a good meal.

I feel like a monster for eating a pork roast and enjoying it this much. I do not eat pork very often if at all these days, but to make a long story short I acquired a pork roast and did not have any achiato paste or seeds. I wanted to make cochinita pibil. It was necessary to improvise. I cut up my 2 lb pork roast into little cubes and roll all of them into a light mixture of corn masa, cumin, paprika, cayenne pepper, and adobo chili powder. Salt and pepper freely. These were browned in the pan. Once browned, several coarsely chopped garlic cloves, a cup of orange juice, and the juice of approximately two limes were added to this pan, along with one 15 oz can of tomato sauce. Covered tightly with lid, came to a boil and then simmered for about 2 hours. More water was added at various points through this cooking process. The resulting product has been used for many things now: tacos, salad topping, burrito, rice topping, my kid eating the chunks off a plate plain and cold... The resulting product is so good you could weep over it.

Is that peanut butter pork roast recipe posted here, the spicy one? Or is that only on the old forums? I am afraid to touch the old forums because whenever I do, it leaves the trace in google and then I accidentally hit it again instead of the right one, and oh... easily confused here. Anyway, I have a pork roast and part is going to be adobo pork for tacos and enchiladas later, and the other part is in theory going to be your peanut butter pork, but when I looked above I realized we started here with hummus. And I did make the hummus and was much pleased by it. I used less tahini and more roasted garlic and use the chickpeas you soak and then cook, as the texture was better than canned, but soon I will try the canned version.

None of those things are what brought me here, however - so many levels to the cooking thing! Today my challenge is runza casserole without the bread. I have my peppery, garlicky meat, and I have my cabbage and onions, and now I'm wondering if there is some way to assemble a casserole that makes this a little more finished without adding tons of carbs? Most recipes want you to add a roll of those pre-made croissant doughs to become the crust, but obviously I do not want to do this. Yet it feels incomplete without something beyond the meat and cabbage. Puzzlement. Any theories? Internet exploration reveals that most Keto/paleo type recipes that typically come in handy like this are a bust, because these people eat nothing but almond flour, and when they're not eating almond flour, they eat crushed cashews, and when they're not eating that, they eat grated coconut or some *%&^ that does not belong in a runza casserole. So I'm at a loss.

Other important reports: others are experimenting with this low-carb-but-high-in-"good"-fats diet, and thus a tour of the various pasta and tortilla chip substitutes is underway. [Also: diners are demanding gourmet pork rinds. If there is a way to cook pork rinds without deep-fat-frying them, please advise.] We have found that some brands of shirataki noodle (sold wet in a little watery bag) make a very good substitute for more carb-heavy Asian-style noodles, or regular wheat spaghetti that might be used in such recipes (perhaps the peanut butter Indonesian pork above is one?). Have also found that black bean noodles, under the Explore label, are delicious and not as expensive as they seem because they expand and are very filling. We were able to feed the same group with one box of those noodles as we would regularly feed with 1.5 boxes of spaghetti. They are a very good mate for meat-based tomato sauce as well as alfredo, and they make a nice base for other things. Soon we will try the edamame version of the same brand, which is said to be more neutral-tasting relative to the black bean version. The various lo-carb tortillas are all imo excellent substitutes, and for taco shells we have found La Tiera is so thin that it hardly adds up to the carbs in normal shells. These are the low-carb diet thoughts for the day. Now I will go make Greek potatoes with lemon and enjoy the incomparable nuances of starchy food.

Instant Pot Ground Pork and Pasta

Ingredients
1/4 cup peanut butter creamy
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sambal oelek (chile paste)
1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar packed
2 tablespoons peanut oil
1 pound ground pork lean
1 yellow onion chopped
2 celery stalks chopped
1 tablespoon fresh ginger minced
2 teaspoons garlic minced
8 ounces farfalle pasta dried
2 cups chicken broth

Instructions
In a medium bowl, whisk together the peanut butter, soy sauce, sambal oelek, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, and brown sugar.

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in the Instant Pot set on the saute function. Add the pork and break it up as it browns, for about 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the pork and add to the bowl with the sauce. Drain the fat from the cooker.

Add 1 tablespoon of oil to pot, still set on Saute. Add the onion and celery and cook for about 4 minutes. Add the ginger and garlic, stirring for a bout a minute.

Add the pork and sauce to the pot. Stir well. Add the past and stir until coated. Add the broth and stir again, until well mixed.

Lock the lid into place and set the venting knob to sealing. Turn off saute and using manual, set the machine to cook at high pressure for 8 minutes.

Use the quick release method to return the pot to normal pressure. Unlock the lid and stir gently before serving.

By the way- Mike- you were right. I subbed chickpeas for the pork in this thing and it was still freaking great. The sauce on this dish is one of my favorites.

That's wonderful! My favorite sauce.

Ahhhhh thank you for posting recipe again! I have a roast instead of ground pork but I imagine it will work just as well - I will cube the roast and brown it with onions, and then proceed. Will report back on results.

We have been making smoothies with: peaches, half and half, ice cubes, vanilla extract. They are ridiculously good and probably not what I should be drinking, so I have only a small cup but the kids love it.

I ended up using carrots as the solution to my runza casserole problem and I am here to tell you that it worked BEAUTIFULLY. Basically grated three - four large carrots into the saute pan, sauteed them with a little garlic, and used them as the base for the cabbage-beef-onion-garlic mixture in the baking dish. Mixed in a little cheese and baked for another 20 - 30 minutes in low oven to let it all mix and mingle. I also made a smaller one as an experiment, with steamed cabbage leaves on the bottom and a seasoned tomato sauce poured over it all. That was terrific in flavor - the tomato sauce addition - but was not good in texture because the cabbage still needed to be cut apart. No point to that when you're eating a shredded cabbage dish that already has great texture, why ruin it?

Details: You can do the carrots separately while this is going on - grate in pan, salt and pepper, add garlic, and saute until softened. Or you could maybe add a bell pepper with the carrot? Celery? I bet a lot of things would work nicely. Or just mix the carrots and onion and don't worry about having a "bottom layer" at all? Anyway, however you choose to proceed with carrots, the main mixture is: saute onions until soft and not yet starting to carmelize - then add your ground meat - I think it would work with almost any mix of ground meat or faux meat or whatever - brown it all with the now-carmelizing onions and a large spoon (2 TB?) garlic and a massive amount of pepper. I used about 1.5 lbs ground beef/turkey mix and 2 large onions very thinly sliced. I added some paprika, some northwoods seasoning, some more pepper, some herb mix, just go wild with your seasoning and see what happens. Then add about 2x the volume of chopped cabbage - for me this was almost but not quite a whole head of green cabbage. Add a little water to pan with the cabbage and put the lid on so it steams a little to cook - I pushed the meat mix to the sides and plopped the cabbage in center of pan, It steams down pretty quickly - you can saute it around for a while until you have a good texture. Then I put all this on top of my sauteed carrots in the baking pan, with some cheese. You could experiment by mixing your tomato sauce with more seasonings and pepper and pouring it over only a little of your pan, or making two smaller pans, one with tomato. Bake it 325 or so - it's already a hot mix so you're just baking it to heat up that tomato sauce or to let the cheese melt and the flavors all mix. This stuff is SO GOOD. It would be REALLY good as a kind of substitute sloppy-joe mix eaten on nice bread with slice of cheese, or stuffed in a warm pita pocket, or whatever, but our goal here is to have no gluten or bread product anywhere near it. The casserole is substantial and delish all by itself.

Continuing on the journey of low-carb food: now you can easily get 10 carb tortillas (gross carbs, I don't go by net at all in this situation until something has proven that it's fiber works like that), three carb Greek yogurt, variations, and quite decent lower carb pasta made out of edamame or black bean. This stuff makes a significant amount of pasta once it absorbs water.

I am not much of a recipe cook. Recipes are for inspiration and starting points to figure out proportions and sequences, but then you cook. Recipes are for baking when you need more precision. So please take this in that spirit, as a starting point, but I have achieved The Perfect Sauce for Most Purposes - marinade, fish glaze, salad dressing, warm dressing for sauteed veggies and wilted greens, etc. This is the sauce you need and I post it because the core ingredient is Mike's favorite Sambal Oelek.

When I am using this during cooking on the stovetop, I do not add garlic or ginger because I will chop the fresh version and put it directly into the pan. However, when you are using this for marinade, add in the fresh chopped ginger and garlic, or when you're using it as a dressing, use the powdered version unless you actually enjoy getting chunks of the raw ginger and garlic. You know, judge according to your needs!

In this Order:
Start with a clove of thinly sliced garlic and similar amount of sliced ginger root. Or, use a few shakes each of garlic powder and ginger powder.
Add 2 TB lime juice. This is the amount I generally get from half a large lime or most of a smaller one.
Add 1 TB Toasted Sesame Oil (can use untoasted but toasted tastes better!)
1 TB Honey (the lingering oil on your spoon will help it slide right off)
1 tsp Sambal Oelek or your favorite hot chili sauce/paste (add more to taste as desired - this produces very mild spice, 2 tsp is medium, etc)
1 tsp Tamari or soy sauce
Whisk this all together with a fork until it forms a little emulsion. It is ready to use straight into the cooking pan, e.g. if you need to add liquid to your wilting greens, or want to spoon it over mostly-cooked fish. Or you can marinade the fish or chicken or tofu in this. Or you can use it straight up as a salad dressing, or a sauce to make quinoa or pilaf into a cold or warm salad base.

Today I am using this both as a marinade and topping for steelhead filets, as a sauce added to pan-sauteed spinach, and then putting a chopped avocado on top of all of it for the cool contrast. SIGHHHHHH

Two Good yogurt. Recipe: buy one of the kinds and put some berries in it and eat it down. This is a genius product! I think they have three grams of carbs per yogurt? Or two?

Oh my god, y'all! Have you tried Everything Bagel Hummus? I needed a quick work lunch, so I got the Boar's Head Everything Bagel Hummus (I won't buy any other brand because they are flavorless and even Boar's Head is inferior to my homemade hummus) and some rice crackers. Holy cow! This is the greatest hummus I've ever had! But knowing that homemade hummus is always better, I bought some Everything Bagel spice, made a plain hummus (2 cans chick peas, half container of tahini, some reserve water from the cans of chick peas, a dash of lemon juice) and then I added a crap load of Everything Bagel spice to taste. I didn't add any extra salt or oil- just the spice. It's the best.

I do not know what this everything bagel spice is supposed to be. What's in it? I don't want little hard bits in my hummus? But if it's just powdered flavor then that would be okay.

Oh Kyle I have been using something so wonderful and new that you might like: Bob's Red Mill brown rice flour. I have been making scallions pancakes and other sorts of Asian pancakes with it and it's so freaking good for that purpose.

Phoebe wrote: ↑Tue Apr 27, 2021 5:00 pm Oh Kyle I have been using something so wonderful and new that you might like: Bob's Red Mill brown rice flour. I have been making scallions pancakes and other sorts of Asian pancakes with it and it's so freaking good for that purpose.

Yeah- I love their whole line of gf flours. Great stuff.

I don’t know what’s in the spice, but it goes in the blender so there’s no hard bits. I think the flavor is mostly garlic, sesame and poppy seed.

I didn't have a lime to make my usual honey lime sambal sauce, so I made a Cajun honey garlic shrimp. So easy: saute garlic, shallot, and a pinch of red pepper flakes in a few teaspoons of oil, brown the salted-and-peppered and cajun-spice-sprinkled shrimp at med-high heat on both sides, drizzle a thin stream of honey all over it, turn down the heat and deglaze the pan with a splash of white wine, and voila you have perfect sweet-spicy shrimp in a little sauce.

The saving grace of Summer is that a lot of delightful food options are best in summer. Berries, special things from the garden, grilled things placed on salad-variant beds, ice cream things, etc.
Currently mad about croquettes of different kinds (e.g. a patty made of fish, veggie, egg, sauce) served atop veggies (zucchini tomato stir fry) or salads (cuke/tomato/greens).

Summer is the time for briami. The base is to saute significant garlic in olive oil, along with onions so that there are no firm chunks of onion but you get the nice onion flavor and caramelization. Then you've got to take all of that out of the pan before proceeding. That was a big discovery on my part - cook the briami in totally separate batches. The phone assistant is really feeling himself today because he keeps trying to present this as biryani like the Indian dish, due to some food snobbery issue where he doesn't understand or appreciate Briami.

Anyway, I found by cooking each batch of vegetables separately to form a nice crust - eggplant, then zucchini, then carrot/potato mix - I could get better texture in the vegetable and a nicer reduction sauce when all of them were thrown back into the pot together to finish with the tomatoes.
The other secret I found was going much heavier on the oregano and basil than I thought reasonable. It was very reasonable!

OMG favorite people who give me hope for humanity, this is what you've got to do:
Saute in a few tsps oil some garlic cloves, half an onion finely minced, a dozen radishes cut in half and then chopped into thin slices, and whatever peppers are coming out of your garden these days, like maybe a banana pepper or Anaheim chili or whatever you might have. Get these starting to brown and caramelize and then push them all to the outer ring of the pan, and in the middle put about a half cup each of thinly sliced mushrooms, chopped tomato, and some spinach or kale or whatever green leaves you have around. Put your salt and favorite seasonings on all this.
Then you get a little bag of quickie grains/rice like from Target or wherever, Costco... Like the ancient greens quinoa with chia seed and brown rice or the Target vegetable rice, microwave it for a minute, mix it in the pan so it can finish heating up while absorbing all your extra tomato juices and whatnot. This will make you two lunches and they will be so damn good. It's the radish; That's the secret.

Radish is awesome.

Does anyone have good okra recipes that don't involve deep fat frying it?

Trim them, put them in a single layer on a baking sheet, drizzle them with olive oil, salt and pepper. Then roast it in a 450 oven until crispy. Best okra I've ever had- and I used to HATE okra.

People keep trying to stuff jalapenos and other such peppers with cream cheese. This is a mess. It's not easy to de-seed and stuff those and may lead either to undesirable deep fat frying with breading, or a messy charred thing grilled or baked in a bacon wrap, or accidental touching of your eye with spicy residues. No! Go ahead and chop the pepper into thin rings as the universe intended, lightly saute with a little onion and garlic, mash it into the cream cheese, and then stuff something the universe intended to be hollowed out and stuffed with such mixtures, like a baby bella mushroom or garden tomato or squash. The bacon can still be baked onto it, no problem.

Phoebe wrote: ↑Fri Sep 03, 2021 8:06 am Does anyone have good okra recipes that don't involve deep fat frying it?

Since we grow our own (which is stupid-easy), I will occasionally pick a few and just eat them raw. Usually they are about 2-3 inches long and still tender. Otherwise we bread ours with corn meal and fry them in an iron skillet.

Mando wrote: ↑Wed Sep 15, 2021 7:43 amSince we grow our own (which is stupid-easy)

I second this. Okra is stupid easy to grow and produces a bunch.

Yes! I have been growing okra for the first time, which is why I seek recipes, but unfortunately I have only been able to produce a few stalks or pods or whatever they are called. The few I had were absolutely gorgeous and perfect, but I felt like yields should normally be higher and I need to experiment next time. How many stalks do you normally get out of a single okra plant? Now that I have harvested my first round of okra will new stalks grow out? Or at least, in theory this could happen even if it doesn't happen to mine?

Anyway they were delicious roasted in the oven as Kyle described, and they were delicious in a stir fry with zucchini and tomatoes and mushrooms and spinach.

If you kep picking okra and your climate is right, they will continue producing. Don't let the pods get large or rigid until you are ready to let them go to seed.

Did you soak your seeds before planting?

You have to tend to the plants every day or two to make sure they're not going to start their seeding process and you should get a ton of okra. That said, I'm growing in Texas in lake soil- so my experience isn't really something to base what you should do where it starts snowing in late June.

Ooo, I believe my plants have started their seeding process. Also the new sprouts were recently eaten by a rabbit. This rabbit tried to eat my squash and apparently failed to be able to use its chompers to cut through the squash and I cackled with glee! My squash, rabbit, hahàaa! I don't know where this accent just came from but I think it captures the spirit.

Last year we had great success with okra, but this year the bunnies discovered them and decimated our okra every time it got big enough...so next year I guess we'll try to put some chicken wire up. Okra is so easy to grow (when the rabbits don't eat it...)

Also! Fresh okra is really tasty. Just eating it right off the plant. I wouldn't have thought I'd like raw okra, but when it's super fresh, it's good.

Mongolian Style Beef
2 lbs of flank steak sliced into thin strips (or whatever stir fry style beef you like)
2 Tbl olive oil
1 Tbl minced garlic
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup water
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup shredded carrots
1 bag frozen peas

Put the cornstarch and beef in a Ziploc bag. Seal and shake to coat.

Add all remaining ingredients except the peas to slow cooker or Instant Pot. Mix thoroughly.

Add beef to sauce and mix until fully coated.

Slow cooker: 2-3 hours on High, or 4-6 on Low.
Instant Pot: Set to pressure cook 30 minutes.

Stir in peas and leave it for 10-15 more minutes.

Serve over rice.

With half my kids out of the house, my wife and I are changing how we’re cooking for the family. Four nights a week, one of the remaining kids will cook something for the others. And on those nights my wife and I will be preparing meals for ourselves from Purple Carrot- a vegan meal delivery service (it’s way overpriced, but we’re going to do this for a month as a way to kickstart a healthy eating change). It gives you all the ingredients list and instructions each week, so after a month we’ll hopefully have a large stable of additional vegan meals to make ourselves.

Last night was the first night, and wow. We cooked Roasted Root Salad, which was the meal I was most skeptical of. But it was so good and so filling. The parsnips were amazing and the pumpkin seed orange dressing was a note perfect complement to the rest of the dish. Here’s the recipe:

https://www.purplecarrot.com/recipe/roa ... inaigrette

I have a really good one for you. Get baby potatoes or small new potatoes or yukon gold or red potatoes. You can't use large white baking type potatoes for this - the ideal is a small potato that can be cut in halves or quarters and results in small bite size cubes. Once you have such a potato, cut a handful of these accordingly. Put a few spoons water - enough that all your potatoes will be sitting in a very thin layer of water at the bottom of the dish but not more than this - in the bottom of a heavy bowl or glass baking pan that can be microwaved. Get your potatoes in here and microwave for about 7 minutes or maybe on your potato setting if you have one. The potatoes should be starting to get fork tender by the time they're done microwaving this long but they should still have a little firmness. You might have to microwave for another minute or two to get the desired consistency of "not mushy yet able to get my fork into it".

While you're microwaving the potatoes, put some minced onion and bell pepper in a large saute pan and a spoon of cooking oil until this is softened. I personally detest crunchy chunks of onion and pepper so I cook this med-hot and for a full minute. The beauty is you can use up any leftover portions of onion or pepper you might have on hand and you can use other types of pepper like a banana pepper or whatever. Remove from pan and hold ready at the side.

Then squeeze a tube of chorizo, like half of a 12 oz package of El popular or some other brand like this, into the saute pan. If you have fresh sausage you want about 6 - 8 oz. Saute this for about 6 minutes by which point your potatoes are done and waiting for you. Depending on how well done you like your onion and pepper you can add them in towards the end of this process at any point.

Then add your potatoes to the pan during the last few minutes of sauteing your sausage and veggies, so they can all get mixed in together and the potatoes can cook in the oil generated by the sausage for a few minutes. I like to cook it for at least a few minutes at the end to really make sure that sausage is fully cooked through and let the potatoes crisp up a bit.

Obviously you can top this with your scrambled eggs or with chopped cilantro or green onion - whatever you might have on hand. It's basically a spicy home fried potatoes but it's so freaking good and cooks up quickly. The beauty is that if you have vegetarians, you can accomplish a similar purpose with faux sausage to which you add hot sauce and chorizo seasoning (can get pre-prepared or easy to make your own with a mix of chili pepper, oregano, paprika, etc) if it doesn't have enough spice to it. Or you can start the process with tofu that you cook in spicy oil and then season before adding to your potatoes as they finish.

You can also add a lot more of the sauteed veggies depending on your liking for them. I like them! Good way to incorporate the veggies for those who dislike them, however.

Firecracker Trail Mix
Spicy sweet ranch trail mix

3/4 cup oil (vegetable, peanut, olive, canola, whatever)
1 t garlic powder
1 t onion powder
1½ T red pepper flakes or more to taste
2 (1 oz.) packages of dry ranch dressing mix
10 cups of whatever goes in your trail mix.
...I use:
.....1 bag of Goldfish crackers
.....1 box of white cheddar Cheez-Its
.....1 jar of peanuts
.....1 can of cashew halves and pieces
.....1 big box golden raisins

(But you can use anything: pretzels, mini saltines, mini club crackers, Chex cereal, any kind of seeds or nuts, raisins or dried cranberries, oyster crackers, you can even throw in any kind of M&M, but I prefer the raisins for sweetness)


1. Put the oil and spices in a 2-gallon ziplock style bag. Squeeze to mix thoroughly.

2. Add your trail mix to the bag (except for fruits and candies), and shake it and turn it so that everything is fully coated.

3. Let it sit for 4-24 hours. Occasionally turn and shake the bag to redistribute oil and spice.

4. Spread on baking sheets and put in 225 degree (F) oven for about 45 minutes.

5. Let it cool, and then mix in sweet ingredients.

I always have a bucket of homemade trail mix in my office, and it always last me a long time. Then I got the idea to adapt a spicy cracker recipe to my trail mix, and holy crap... I can't stop eating it. I have to go back to the plain mix in my office, but I'm definitely breaking this one out for special occasions.

Oooh. This does sound good - might make a slightly modified version with craisins and omitting some other things. It is very lucky thing for me that the following ravishing item strikes me as too expensive for what you get out of the box, yet once in a while it must be purchased regardless:

1 box of white cheddar Cheez-Its

Uh... Leftovers

I do this sort of thing all the time, and it's usually decent, but once in a while it gets rave reviews from the kids. This is one of those.

Mac'n'Ribs
Last night we had some awesome super-tender, super-juicy, fall off the bone pork ribs. And we made A LOT, so after stripping it off the bones, we actually had almost a pound of leftover rib meat for tonight. I made 2 boxes of Kraft mac and cheese. Then I added in a couple slices of "swiss style" processed cheese (it's what was in the fridge). Mixed in the shredded rib meat (which was essentially a very fatty pulled pork at that point).

While I was doing all that, I had mixed a cup of plain panko bread crumbs with a half cup of melted butter and a half cup of crumbled Hy Vee brand crispy fried bagged onions. I spread that mixture over a small pan and popped it into the toaster oven until it was nicely browned, and then I used the crumbs to top the dish,. Lastly, I drizzled on a little BBQ sauce.

Fantastic. Simple comfort food.

Vegan gnocchi. Holy shit. Creamy and so good. And extremely healthy.

https://www.noracooks.com/vegan-gnocchi/