Justin & Meredith Winokur's Kitchen Cooking Notebook
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KitchenKatalog: Blog 290
Wednesday, April 10, 2013, 08:17 AM
I made cauliflower steaks. I sliced about 1-inch thick pieces. Of course, I was really only able to get two or three steaks and the rest fell apart. I tried cooking them two different ways and I tried with BBQ sauce (Sweet Baby Rays) and just salt and pepper. The ones BBQ ones are the right and the plain are left. I did it with the grill pan and in the broiler. Obviously, the ones with lines are the grill pan.
For both with and without BBQ sauce, the broiler did a better job. It has more charring, was more cooked through, and had better flavor. For the ones with the BBQ sauce, the broiler was noticeably better! The sauce caramelized better and it was more flavorful. I did them for 13 minutes on the first side and about 12 on the second
One thing I discovered when eating a few pieces raw was that salt is really key to bringing out the sweetness of the cauliflower. While these were pretty good, I still think the curry kind is better!
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 3409, 2013-04-10_081742
Tuesday, April 09, 2013, 02:20 PM
I made a pretty simple meal. I grilled (with the grill pan) a salmon burger and I steamed about 4 oz of frozen shrimp. The shrimp were overcooked a lost a lot of flavor. I think this is because I cooked them from frozen.I also steamed a bunch of sugar snap peas. Many sites (and Meredith) recommended de-stringing them. I could t figure out how to do that nor did I taste a string. So I just ate then as is. I liked how simple they were to make (I ate cutting green beans). I may try doing them in the pan next time.
Points for the meal were 4 for the salmon burger and 2 for shrimp. Not bad!!!
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 3400, 2013-04-09_142049
Monday, April 08, 2013, 09:05 PM
I was going to eat out when I remember I had a spaghetti squash I haven't eaten. I bought a pack of Italian chicken sausage at Target (2.2 points plus/link and 5 links/package). I also bought Classico Tomato Basil sauce (1 point plus/serving, 5 for the whole thing. Lowest one available). I halved the raw squash, deseeded it, lammed it, added salt and pepper, and microwaved it for 13 minutes. Pretty standard. I sliced the sausage into pieces and did it in the pan for a while. It was cooking too much on the bottom and not enough all around so I threw it in the broiler. Once the squash was done, I microwaved the sauce. Once it was all done, I mixed it all together with some parm cheese. It made two very large servings! It was also extremely good. I do not know if it was the sauce; the sausage or the mix, but I liked it a lot and very low points! ( (2.2+1)*5+(some for the cheese)=~18 total). So 9 points for each meal!
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 3393, 2013-04-08_210542
Friday, April 05, 2013, 10:19 AM
Meredith and I made Blue-Hubbard squash croquettes following the recipe below with a few changes. Note that she directed so I may miss a thing or two:
Changes:
As usual, we used the recipe but didn't exactly measure everything. They came out very good. A bit reminiscent of butter-nut squash falafel more than anything else. The bacon got a bit lost in the mix which was unfortunate since it was so good alone. It was a good way to use up the squash which was kind of lacking in flavor alone.
We also added some asparagus to the pan for the last eight minutes or so
Butternut Squash Croquettes (from Love and Lemons)
Local Copy -- password is the name of my dog, all lower case
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 3389, 2013-04-05_101930
Monday, April 01, 2013, 09:28 PM
I made curry chicken and served it over wheat berries (instead of brown rice) with roasted broccoli. This was an interesting meal since I used both very slow cooking for the chicken and very fast [pressure] cooking for the wheat-berries.
I did the chicken in the slow-cooker. I made the sauce the night before.In a bit of oil, I lightly browned grated ginger, garlic (two cloves), curry powder, and a bunch of red-curry paste. I used 3 cups of almond-coconut milk with some ginger chuncks and a bit more curry powder. I also added salt and pepper. I cut the chicken into pieces and marinated in mix overnight then put the whole thing in the slow-cooker in the morning on low.
I do not understand what curdled in it since there was no dairy, but something did, as you can see. Overall, the chicken was overcooked. I think even with 3 cups of milk, there wasn't enough to fill the cooker so it was a bit too hot. And the whole thing wasn't incredibly flavorful as I had hoped.
For the wheat berries,I read a few different things but I finally just kind of made it up. I skipped the presoak as I had in the past which seemed fine. I mixed 1 cup of dry wheat berries with 2 or so cups of water. I pressure cooked it on high for 12-15 minutes and then released. They were cooked but a bit chewy. I drained the excess water.
I also roasted broccoli (425 for about 25-30 min, rotated once) which came out pretty good!
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 3383, 2013-04-01_212811
Sunday, March 31, 2013, 07:35 AM
I made my pretty standard roasted veggies with sausage. I used the same smoked turkey sausage as last time. Again, I didn't like it at first but the flavor really grew one me.
This came out pretty spicy. I do not know if it was the poblano or the crushed red pepper. I should note that other than salt, I put all of the spices in a mortar and pestle to mix and crush. In the thing, I used:
And spices:
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 3376, 2013-03-31_073526
Friday, March 29, 2013, 07:34 AM
I made Banana-Oat bars for a long bike ride the next day. I figured I usually have oatmeal with a banana for breakfast so I could just have half of this recipe for breakfast and take the rest for snacks on the ride.
It was based on the recipe below but there is a lot of freedom. I used a bit less than two cups of oats since it is what I had, and it was quick oats (smaller pieces) so they were more dense. I also used about 2 1/4 banana since they were small. I added some almonds (slices; toasted first), chopped dates and some cranberries. I also used a bit of Splenda. Finally, when I pressed it into the pan, I then sprinkled it with pumpkin-pie spice.
I like the bars a lot. It was certainty more interesting than just eating oatmeal and also a lot easier since I could eat while getting ready. I ate half for breakfast (1 cup of oatmeal) and then I had a quarter as a snack at one point on the ride. I liked the dates and the cranberries however I was disappointed with how lost the almond flavor was in there. I would have preferred to use the slivered kind but they didn't have them. I'll probably just skip them in the future so as to not have the calories with no flavor.
Banana-Oat Bars [4 Ingredient] (from The Kitchn)
Local Copy -- password is the name of my dog, all lower case
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 3371, 2013-03-29_073409
Thursday, March 28, 2013, 09:07 PM
I made tacos and roasted cabbage. I used red cabbage to mix it up this time though it didn't affect the flavor. It was good as usual though I think I am getting a bit sick of it. I should look for alternative cabbage recipes or just give it a break for a bit.
I also made taco meat with beef, onions, 1/2 a bell pepper and a bunch of spices (including taco powder). The meat was pretty standard and fine. The problem was I tried to put it in wraps that were too old and too big. It just didn't hold together well. I think I prefer when I make hard shells out of smaller tortillas and use them.
Oh, and I used a spinach-arugula mixture inside of it too.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 3368, 2013-03-28_210737