Justin & Meredith Winokur's Kitchen Cooking Notebook
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KitchenKatalog: Blog 215
Friday, February 26, 2016, 12:00 AM
This was a lunch meal we planned and packed a few times this week. We made this Smitten Kitchen recipe (local). We followed it pretty closely except we used onions instead of shallots.
It came out pretty good. Very briny pretty flavorful. It wasn't very good by the last day, but for the most part, it was pretty good. It was actually a good bit more work than expected....
We also made the regular Roasted Broccoli Soup with just 3 oz of cheese. As usual, this came out really good, low in points, and pretty easy. It was super blended from the Vitamix but still good.
Thursday, February 25, 2016, 09:29 PM
I made us Korean Tacos. I did it just like I did back in 2015-09-09. I used the regular Beef Bulgogi recipe except I added a tablespoon of Gochujang to the marinade.
Actually, I let it marinate for a really long time. I did it since Sunday, so 4 days. There wasn't much beef so I also did a block of tofu as you can see from the photos below.
Other than the beef, I used the same pickled onions as I did the first time (they were pickled so hopefully they were safe) and I made the same curtido (again, without carrots) as before.
I heated the tortilla and spread a tiny bit of Gochujang on the bottom which was just enough to get the flavor without being overpowering.
The beef was a bit too undercooked but other than that, it was really good. The flavor was all of the way through and they were really good. I think they only thing they could have needed was a bit of cheese or something.
Wednesday, February 24, 2016, 08:00 PM
Meredith and I made the regular Thai Beef Salad doing the usual extra tsp (total 1 tbsp) of fish sauce. Unlike the last few times, we skipped the Thai chili peppers and we also just happened to forget the cilantro.
The steak was also about 1/2 lbs (much less than called for) of (I think) Top Round1 that we marinated earlier that morning and then did on the grill pan.
Nothing too special but still a pretty good and easy meal. Not to mention, super low in points.
I think it was labeled London Broil but that can be a catch all. Either way, it was a lean cut. ↩
Monday, February 22, 2016, 06:00 PM
We made Lighter Lasagna Soup again with Vodka sauce noted on 2015-10-09. We added an extra pepper and skipped all forms of a starch. We also only used 1/2 lbs of chicken sausage.
The soup came out pretty good as usual. Maybe a bit thin this time. But still good. And so easy! We also finished up the mozzarella was bought for Valentines' Day.
In addition, we tried out this new "meat" dish made with jackfruit and pictured below. We just heated it and served it taco style. I could kind of see the utility of Jackfruit-as-a-meat but the sauce was really pretty awful. I guess I would try their other flavors but with extreme trepidation
2016-05-18 Update: Recipe moved to its own page
Sunday, February 21, 2016, 08:22 PM
I made our regular Huevos Rancheros with the last of the remaining rotisserie chicken. I mixed the chicken with black beans and used a mixture of salsas. I also threw a tiny bit of tofu on top since I was trying to use it up and I topped it with gouda.
It was spicy but also pretty good. The shell came out extra crispy but I really liked it.
Friday, February 19, 2016, 12:00 AM
I again made another batch of beef jerky. I decided that, in general, I will do a batch of No Idea and then something new. This way, I know I have something good on deck.
Sadly, this time, the No Idea wasn't as good. I struggled with extruding it and I think the apple cider overpowered. I think it is because I used a higher-quality one that packed a lot more flavor. Maybe it was unfiltered. It wasn't bad, but not the best either.
I let this go for about 5 hours. It came out pretty dry and brittle. I read somewhere that this may be due to more water <==> more brittle but I do not know if that is true.
I did move it it's own recipe page here. See that page for a note about the amount of vinegar.
The pepperoni jerky was based on Off the Cutting Board (LOCAL). I made a few changes besides halving it but rather than note the changes, below is what I actually did. I let this go for about 5 hours and 40 minutes but, unlike the No Idea, this was a better texture
Grind the fennel and mustard with the crushed red pepper. Grind as much as possible. Combine all ingredients including just enough water to help it hold together. Heat in the microwave for about 10 seconds to help dissolve the sugar.
Let the flavors meld for about 15 minutes then mix the beef and marinate for 1 hour to a day.
The end result certainly tasted like pepperoni. There was no doubt about it. But, the amount of liquid smoke was too much making it taste like the fake stuff my dad used to buy. Cut liquid smoke to 1/4-1/2 tsp next time
Also, the fennel as a bit over-powering. Not too bad and Meredith would still eat it. But, cut fennel to 1 tsp next time
Thursday, February 18, 2016, 08:45 PM
Meredith is still on a trip so I made a dinner she wouldn't care too much about. I made balsamic stir fry with about 3 medium heads of broccolini, a quarter head of cabbage, and a red pepper. I used about 7 ounces of rotisserie chicken.
I also roasted (400°F 30 minutes, flipped hald way) and planned to eat half. Well, as you could imagine, that was still too much food. I ended up saving even more.
So, it was a very good meal. Maybe not the most amazing thing, but certainly good. And tons of food at relatively low points!
Tuesday, February 16, 2016, 08:54 PM
Meredith is out of town and I had been wanting to make something with rutabagas for a while so I went with this idea. I had done patatas bravas with rutabagas before on 2013-11-05 so I did the same thing, again using my regular sauce (but made spicy). Pretty straight forward. I did the rutabagas for 45 min at 425. It was tossed with some salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and some smoked salt. Actually, the smoked salt kind-of opened on me and poured in but I was able to get most of it out.
I read somewhere about baking turkey cutlets and they suggested an oven at 425 and doing so on a wire rack (probably because they are fake frying). I was already using that temperature so I went with it. I topped them with smoked paprika and McCormick Montreal Chicken Seasoning like I did on 2016-01-06 (except this time in the oven). Even with just 15 minutes, they were a bit over cooked.
Still, this was a very light and tasty. Not too much work either.