Nerd Pride Cookbook

[Phoebe]

Oooo smoked white cheddar sounds amazing with that. Hope it turns out well!

[Iantha]

It turned out BEAUTIFULLY. It was really, really delicious and perfect for the inevitable post-migraine hangover. I did use too much chicken broth and so it was a little thinner than I liked, but the taste was amazing and now I know how to make it better next time. Also - I absolutely recommend using smoked white cheddar for it. It gave it another layer of flavor that was really rich. We also had a nice heavy multigrain bread to dip in it so that helped with the slightly thinner broth.

[Phoebe]

I'm so glad it turned out well and you liked it! Now I am craving some soup.

[Stan]

Yesterday, I went to make meat loaf. I opened the oats and found they were now a breeding center for moths. Ick. In the garbage, they went. The day was saved by having read this thread. I tried barley (which I already like) in the meatloaf and is was fabulous.

[Phoebe]

[Iantha]

Oooh, barley. I always forget about barley in the summer because it feels too heavy and hot to eat when the air is 85 degrees and heavy with humidity. But, now that things are starting to cool down a bit and the leaves are starting to turn, I'll have to break it out and add it back into the rotation.

[Phoebe]

I'm not really sure why this cracks me up so much.

[Phoebe]

Need a good recipe that involves doing something with brownie mix. Besides the obvious.

[Phoebe]

Someone left a roll of Pillsbury Grands biscuits in my fridge. It's like something satan pooped out and now sells at grocery stores. I have no idea why anyone would buy this. However, I wasn't going to WASTE it either, so I cut the 8 biscuits into 24 pieces and cut twelve 3/4-inch squares of cranberry white cheddar and made tiny sandwiches where the cheese was wrapped/hidden within two chunks of biscuit. This baked for like 8 - 10 minutes at 350 and was pretty good, though still with a waft of satan about it.

[Phoebe]

I made a soup broth with ham bone, because Iantha's soup tale inspired me, but searched hi and lo and could find neither a bag of split peas nor white beans!



Therefore, I chopped and sauteed two large leeks in olive oil until carmelized and added those, along with 4 diced up large red potatoes, a small handful of fresh chopped parsley, a few cloves chopped garlic, one can of cream-of-potato soup, a half-cup whole milk, and tons of pepper and some salt. This went into the ham broth along with about a cup of diced ham that had fallen from the bone earlier. Simmered all this for a few hours and it's really nice for a cold evening.

[mimekiller]

Hey dudes and dudetes, I got some free blue apron boxes if anyone wants one. I have 3 invites, just need your name(or A name I guess) and a email.

[mimekiller]

[Walrus]

Walrus's Ultimate Pasta Salad

So this dish is an excercise in variation, I've never measured the ingredients, and never put in the same combo or mix, but here goes.

Start by bringing about 2 litres of water to the boil. Adding some olive oil too the water helps stop the pasta sticking to itself. Pan spray also does the same thing.

Add in frozen veg of choice, at least 2 fist size amounts.
Bring water to or back to boil, add in about half kilo of dried pasta.
Boil on rolling boil till pasta is al-dente, then drain and let pasta and veg cool.

Chop other ingredents, these will vary depending on what you have and feel like. Aiming for a medium course dice or slice depending on preference and ingredient.

Celery - 3-5 good sized stalks
Onion (personal pref sweet or vileda onions) half of a medium vileda or large regular cooking onion.
Cherry tomatos (no cutting necessary, just wash and scatter through) half a punnet to a punnet
Tinned beans (I prefer marinaded 6 bean salad mix, but whatever you like or have is good, just not baked beans - aka pork and beans)
Radishes
Mushrooms (cremini are great, white will do) half doz med to large
you can add capsicum (sweet peppers
Cheese (old or very old cheddar is best. If you use mozzerella or mild cheddar for this, don't ever tell me)Fetta or parmesan can also be added for the extra fancyness and punch

Protein options - not all of these could work together, I usually just use one.
"Faux" lobster (a freaking mazing) 1pkg
Tinned Tuna 1 - 2tin
Tinned Salmon (Pink is best for this) 1 tin
Lightly cooked bacon about a pound
Diced ham
Left over sausages (breakfast, german, whatever you have left over from the last day or two's meals or whatever)
Hot Dog Weiners (4 or so) Personally I lke to slice them on the angle and fry them off first, making a few crispies on the edges)
Eggs, Scrambled chinese stir-fry style or hard boiled (I think about 4-6)

The dressng
Put desired mix of ingredients in a large salad bowl, then add
A generous swirling drizzle of thai sweet chilli sauce
several blobs of asian oyster sauce
A moderate swirling drizzle of hoysin sauce
a light to moderate swirling drizzle of honey mustard
about a cup of real mayonaise
Mix well with a silicone spatula or similar, try not to mash stuff

Pig out and enjoy!

[mimekiller]

[Mike]

Dammit, now I want sloppy joe casserole.

[mimekiller]

dude its one of the best recipes anyone has ever shared with me, and the kids love it.

[Phoebe]

From the department of "easy recipes" and "if Chipotle can do this nonsense, why not me?" and "too hot to want to be in the kitchen" and "paleo actually works": I have taken to putting a crumbled mixture of browned ground beef, a bacon strip, and turkey (or whatever other leftovers present themselves) straight onto the lettuce salad, along with feta cheese, cold diced tomato and room temp avocado for contrast, and sunflower seeds. Lemon vinaigrette over the whole thing - this part sounds optional but is important, as there is something about the lemon flavor needed to make this gel.

[Phoebe]

Two really good recipes of late, both simple and worth trying for a healthy snack or meal addition:

Baked Tofu: I have wanted to achieve this for sooooooooo long! FINALLY DID IT! Purchase a firm or very firm tofu. Cut into three thin layers like it is a layer cake (max thickness less than an inch - number of layers probably depends on shape of your tofu block). The point is you want thin but still-intact layers. Spread all these out on a cookie sheet, atop a plain flat cotton towel or equiv, and then put another towel on top, followed by a small cutting board or another cookie sheet, and then some heavy cans or jars. This sounds crazy but the tofu can handle it. You are trying to squeeeeeeeeze the water out of it. Takes about 20 min. To achieve a good result, I am getting about 2 dishtowels quite damp, not dripping, but they would drip if I squeezed them, so pretty damp! I use big jars of pickles or fruit, or heavy cans. While this happens, get a shaking bowl or ziploc and mix together a TB of cornstarch with a TB of garlic powder. When the tofu is drained, slice it into smaller pieces, whatever shapes you want. Mine were like 1 inch squares and about 1/2-2/3 inch thick from pressing down. Before moving the tofu, I sprinkle it all over evenly with paprika, salt, and pepper, The paprika is really important. A smooth, light layer of it all over, both sides of the tofu. (A lot of recipes say to toss the tofu in oil first but this does not work for me. No oil except on the pan!) Coat the baking sheet with oil or spray, whatever, so it's ready to go before you shake the tofu. I was trying to use up a cooking spray I dislike anyway, so I imagine if that worked, most pan-coaters would be fine. Then you shake the pieces about 6 at a time in the mix of cornstarch and garlic. If you have a big container of tofu you might run out of powder and need more, I don't know. The key is to make sure each piece is lightly brushed all over with a powdery coating. This is going to make it flavorful and slightly crisp. Bake at 400 for about 10-15 minutes (check to make sure it doesn't burn - slight browning is desirable), and then flip all pieces over and continue baking another 10-15 minutes. I wanted mine pretty firm and dry so I went the whole 30 minutes, but checking along the way showed they were done after 10 if you wanted a little more moistness while still having a nicely browned coating. The result here is flavorful, firm pieces of tofu that can now be eaten either as a snack (plain or dipped in sauce as my kids did), or you can toss them in your favorite sauce (teriyaki is great, then onto a salad base), or add to a simple broth soup, or do whatever the heck you please with them. The key is texture. A thousand tofu recipes but the texture has been all wrong until now.

Brussels sprouts slaw - here's another recipe where texture is king (and this particular flavor-combo). Clean a few cups sprouts and slice super thin, discarding the hard base portion. Chop again crosswise if they are still in larger rings. Stir together an oil/vinegar dressing using a light vinegar - I use 2 TB avocado oil to 2 TB rice vinegar, and keep going until I have enough to fully touch all those sprouts. I like super tart things, so most people would probably up the oil ratio or add sugar, but my goal here is to avoid sugar. Make sure to salt/pepper the dressing. Stir it into your sprouts thoroughly, cover, and let it rest in fridge at least 20 min - can advance prep the whole thing too, as it improves over time, but the brussels sprouts need a minimum time to break down a little. Then do the same chopping with a handful each of of radishes, baby carrots, and cherry tomatoes (should get 4 small chunks of tomato from each 1). The small chopping and proportions are key because of texture - you could use a food processor but for me it wastes more time in long run. At this point I like to add 1 TB each of sunflower seeds and bacon bits - optional. At this juncture you may need more dressing; usually am in a hurry and grab regular italian dressing, add a TB, or if I have minute I whisk up more of that same oil/vinegar combo. Shake it all up like wild so everything is mixed and coated. This set of flavors and textures makes a really good chopped combo for some reason.

[Phoebe]

I don't know where I've been all my life that this hasn't happened yet, but...
1 box Betty Crocker Fudge brownies (must be fudge type imo but I'm pretty sure it works with any type)
Prep as normal, put in the 9x13 pan, preheat oven to 350.
Mix up one 8 oz pkg Light cream cheese, 1/4 cup sugar, 3 TB sour cream, 1 egg white. Drop the resulting creamy glop in spoonfuls onto the brownie mix. Slash into it with a knife, fork, etc if you want fancy swirls.
Bake as directed for the 13x9, I did the max minutes but I dislike goo in my brownie.
The results were spectacular!

[Phoebe]

What is your favorite holiday side dish? I need ideas!