Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Beef Creation

Found out that I had accidentally defrosted some beef stew meat.  Ooops.

Creation time:
2 medium onions, sliced, caramelized in chipotle olive oil.
Throw in a couple cloves of garlic, minced.
Add the stew meat, cook until browned.
Add sliced red bell peppers, some zucchini, and some bok choy stalks.
Saute for a few minutes.
Add about 3 cups of Bone Broth
Simmer until somewhat reduced.  (~20 minutes.)

Surprisingly good for something thrown together at the last minute.

Yet another photo of my favorite pan!

Scooter

Monday, June 20, 2011

Salmon!

It's fresh wild-caught salmon season!  Bought a couple huge fillets from Costco, and prepared them a few different ways:

I:
A Sesame-Ginger-Marinade:
Tamari Sauce (Or soy sauce)
A bunch of minced fresh garlic
A bunch of minced fresh ginger
Some Sesame oil
Some sesame seeds
Some honey or orange juice (Did it both ways - slightly prefer the honey)

Marinade for a few hours, bake at 400 for 20ish minutes.  (Until the salmon flakes when pressed with a fork.)


II:
Cover with red bell pepper pesto.

Bake at 400 for 20ish minutes.

III:
In a food processor, whir together garlic scapes, cilantro, and basil until it is chopped up, but not ground into a sauce.  Cover salmon with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, sprinkle with lemon juice.  Put the green mixture on top.

Bake at 400 for 20ish minutes.

Delicious!
Scooter

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Turnip Greens Side Dish

Got some Turnip greens in my CSA box this week.  So, I:
heat up sesame oil and mongolian fire oil on the stove
Saute 3/4 of an onion in it for 5 minutes
Add 4 cloves of minced garlic
Saute for another few minutes
Chop the stems of the turnip greens, and add those as you go, saving the roughly chopped leaves
After all that has sauteed for a while, add the bunch of turnip greens, cover with a lid, and steam for 5-8 minutes.

Makes a solid side dish.

Scooter

Monday, June 13, 2011

More Beef-Broccoli-Ginger Stir Ffy

I had purchased some eye of round roast to make beef jerky, but apparently had a mis-communication with the butcher when I asked them to slice it real thin.  It was thin-ish, but not quite right for beef jerky.  I decided to cut it into chunks and stir fry it somehow.

So, here's a minimal ingredient stir fry.

Chop up two onions, saute with sesame oil and mongolian fire oil in a large pan.  Add some freshly grated ginger after 5 minutes.  When the onions are done, add the beef chunks, cook until don, stirring often.  Add a big head of broccoli, chopped into florets, and cook until the broccoli is tender crisp.

Sprinkle some sesame seeds on top and serve!

Scooter
Tried to do a super close up shot with the camera.....

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Grilled Stuffed Peppers and Salmon-Zucchini Rolls

Was going to a BBQ, wanted to bring a potluck thing to share and something to throw on the grill.

Potluck thing to share, from Sarah Fragoso's Everyday Paleo

Combine and mix in a bowl:
2 cans salmon
1 large lemon
Couple shakes of dill
Couple turns of ground salt
Couple turns of ground pepper

Take a couple medium zucchini and a mandoline slicer.  Slice the zucchini long ways.  I tried to use the thick side, which was just too thick, and the thin side worked well as long as I maintained downward pressure on the zucchini through the blade.

Plop some zucchini on the end of a zucchini slice, and roll up.  Secure with a toothpick.

Something to throw on the grill:

Saute some onions, add some italian seasoning, add a can of drained, diced tomatoes and let cook until most of the moisture is gone.
Whir some cauliflower in the food processor, then microwave for two minutes with a little bit of water.
Defrost some random meatballs from the freezer and chop up.
Combine the above, and put into a bell pepper cut in half, top to bottom.  Wrap in foil.  Cook on grill for 10-15 minutes.  Awesome.

Scooter

Friday, June 10, 2011

Dehydrated Sweet Potato Chips

These aren't quite done yet, but I needed to write down the prep steps before I forget:
5 medium sweet potatoes roasted in the oven at 400 for 30-40 minutes.
Let cool.
Peel, slice into rounds ~1/8" thick
Sprinkle with salt and (too much) pepper.  (Next time - just the barest of turns with the pepper grinder.)
Filled up all the trays of my dehydrator.
After 12 hours they were still flat out wet.
After 24 hours they were still moist and pliable
After 32 hours they were mostly dry, but not quite there.
They'd better be done by the 48th hour tonight, 'cause I'm slamming jerky back in there soon.

Scoot

48th hour:  Um, still not dry.  Next time, must cut even thinner, in spite of risk of mushing.

60th hour: Good enough.  They're interesting and good, but not the raging success I had hoped for.  Something to play with anyway.  Might try the mandoline slicer next time.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Chicken Tomato Pantry Concoction

Yes, I do go for the catchy, catchy names.  This was a creation when I was running low to nil on produce and thawed meat.  Time to raid the pantry, see what I could do.

I started as I start many of the things I eat - slicing up two onions.  Saute, in a large pan, with olive oil on medium high, until a bit translucent and/or a bit browned.  Added a few shakes of dried garlic slices (out of fresh - the horror!) and random italian spices - basil, marjoram, and thyme.  Saute for a few more minutes.

In the meantime, open the following:
2 large cans of chicken, rinsed and drained (12ish oz)
2 cans diced tomatoes, not drained (15ish oz)
1 can tomato sauce (6 oz)
1/2 jar roasted bell peppers, chopped
Close-up!

Add these all to the pan, mix it all together, bring to a low simmer for 10 minutes.

Garnish with sliced olives.

Really easy and good!  Probably 5 meals here.
In the background, you can see some of the garden where I will be pulling my own tomatoes and garlic soon!














Scooter