What are You Cooking the Week of December 3, 2017?

[BakerAunt]

Tuesday morning, I put the bones from the Thanksgiving turkey (they were in the freezer) into a large pot, along with savory spices, some chopped celery, and some parsley, and put it on the wood stove to simmer. Some broth was used in the dinner meal, some is for soup later this week, and some will be frozen.

On Tuesday evening, I tried a new recipe, "One-Pan Pork Loin Roast Dinner," from a recent special collector's edition of Cook's Fall Harvest Recipes, p. 22. The roast cooks in a heavy Dutch oven in the oven, then the meat sits covered while the rest of the vegetables and barley are finished stove top. I was forced to make some substitutions, since the only grocery store in town did not have pearl barley (?!) only quick barley. Less surprisingly, the store did not have Swiss chard--or any fresh slightly bitter greens. I found collard greens in the frozen food section, so that is what I used. I was uncertain about putting the pot on the very lowest oven rack, so I put it on the next lowest. That may have been a mistake, as it added about 40 minutes to the roast's cooking time, but since I did not have the pearl barley, I was worried about the grains sticking. It came out well, albeit perhaps slightly mushy due to using instant rather than pearl barley. I will make it again.

[cwcdesign]

Navlys, my new crockpot cooks faster too. I’ve started using my Chef alarm from thermoworks to monitor my cooking time. I put it in a chicken breast, set it for 163, and turn it on manual low. When the alarm goes off I know it’s ready. Most of my recipes say 4-5 hours for the chicken and mine’s been done in about 3½.

Not the convenience of cooking all day, but at least it takes care of an afternoon.

[Mike Nolan]

Our gut feeling is that the sweet potatoes would take longer to cook than white potatoes, mostly because sweet potatoes are usually cooked until they're really soft.

I made baked pork chops tonight with apples, cinnamon, nutmeg and a butter/brown sugar sauce, good, but maybe a bit too sweet for my taste. Pork chops are on sale through tomorrow, I may go get some more. My wife suggested an orange juice and cranberry/craisin combination.

The new generation of countertop cookers aren't really crock pot slow cookers any more, I saw an ad for one that claimed it made some meals in 30 minutes.

[cwcdesign]

Mike, I think that’s the new gadget they call an Instant Pot it’s supposed to be some kind of combination slow Coker, rice cooker and pressure cooker. Some people swear by them, but I’ve read articles from others who say they’re not all they’re cracked up to be

[chocomouse]

My very favorite roasted veggie pan includes: sweet potato, white potato, winter squash (any kind), carrots, parsnips, onions (and I may be missing something; turnip anyone? not at my house!). They are all cut into about the same size pieces, about 1/2" to 1", and in about equal proportions. Some veggies may be a bit softer than others, but not much, hardly noticeable. I just drizzle with olive oil and toss with sea salt. I generally don't use any seasonings, perhaps a fresh rosemary or thyme sprig, preferring to let the flavor of each vegetable shine. I have frozen the leftovers and reheated briefly in a hot oven - not as good as fresh, but quick and easy.

[Italiancook]

When I checked out Clark Howard's website this morning, I found an article about Instant Pot. Since it's been mentioned here, I'm putting a link to the piece below:

Instant Pot helped this woman lose 125 pounds and save $200 a month

[BakerAunt]

Here on the lake, we had the season's first snowfall this morning. It was rather light, but it stayed on the ground and sidewalk for a time as it is in the 20s today. It was a perfect day to make Ground Turkey and Black Bean Chili, my adaptation of a recipe from Bon Appetit (April 1993) in the "Cooking for Health," column by Richard Sax and Marie Simmons. It has long been a favorite, and finding a bag of 6 red bell peppers in a bag for 99 cents at the grocery store put it on the list to make this week. My version is milder than the original, as I reduce the chili powder from 4 to 1 tsp. and delete 2 tsp. of cumin. I do add a dash of cayenne. I also use additional broth and add 3/4 cups brown rice. I started it on the kitchen stove, but once all was combined, I put it on the wood stove to simmer for an hour.

[RiversideLen]

Roast salmon with spinach and mushrooms.

[Joan Simpson]

Chili out of the freezer.

[Joan Simpson]

Oyster stew tonight,good and warming on a really nasty day here.

[cwcdesign]

Wednesday I pan fried flank steak spirals stuffed with spinach and feta that were on sale at HT. They were really good with mashed sweet potatoes and sautéed tomatoes. Thursday it was potstickers from my visit to Trader Joe’s after we checked out the new IKEA in Jacksonville.

We had the same yucky weather as Joan yesterday- grilled cheese for dinner - cheddar on sourdough with chutney on the bread and avocado and tomato between the cheese - just right.

[Mike Nolan]

I'm glad the nearest Ikea is in Kansas City, that's a DANGEROUS store for me, even if I skip the assemble-it-yourself furniture areas. I bought a wine rack from them that I use to store rolling pins, and I love their cookware.

[BakerAunt]

Darn! I let my husband talk me into getting rid of the wine rack when we moved. I've been wondering how to coral my collection of rolling pins--soon to be increased by a knakkebrod pin for Scandinavian flat bread--that I ordered earlier this week.

[navlys]

This week I baked cod with panko and grated parmesan. The latter is good with chicken too. I made my own deli roast beef again. I used to use an eye of the round for this but I find the top round roast is tastier especially after I marinate it in teriyaki sauce. Today we will have omelets and potato patties. I baked a lb. of bacon some of which I will use in the omelets. The rest of the bacon will be divvied up into small packages for recipes that call for some bacon. These I freeze in a larger package. Jeff Mauro on Food Network has a good way of baking a large amount of bacon at once.

[Mike Nolan]

I've seen a pigeon hole cabinet used to store both rolling pins and rolls of waxed paper, plastic wrap, plastic bags, etc. (I've got the rolls and bags in a drawer, but the drawer is full and I've actually had to move some of the less frequently used ones to another drawer.)

Sometimes office supply stores have inexpensive cardboard ones for sorting mail that are 3x3 or 4x4.

Here's the Ikea wine rack I got, it sits at the back of the counter behind my flour bins, so it takes up very little space. I didn't bother fastening it to the wall, since it has flour bins in front of it.
Ikea wine rack

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