Home KITCHEN meals

Home KITCHEN meals

cooking at home

Brussels Sprouts

BRUSSELS Sprouts

I ordered Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Cranberries at a local restaurant and I loved them. They were great so of course I have to find a way to have that dish at home.

Quick chicken Pasta

It was late and I was hungry. I needed a tasty way to use the chicken in my fridge so, I lightly breaded the chicken with seasoning and panko and gave them a quick fry with olive oil. When they were done, I removed them from the pan and poured in my grape tomatoes, seasoning, minced garlic and a bit of white wine. Served over thin pasta with shaved parmesean. I was fully fed in under an hour.

Lasagna Soup 2020

Lasagna Soup 2020

cooking at home, food

Lasagna Soup 2020

A long while ago I shared my experience making Lasagna Soup. Easy to make and pretty tasty, it was in the regular rotation back then. Fast forward to 2020 – my son remembers the soup and requests it because simply the change in weather was causing him some throat irritation and soup seems to be the most soothing of meals. I agree to make it and look up the recipe I’ve used on A Farmgirl’s Dabbles and they have updated the recipe to include not only a crockpot version but an instant pot version, as well. Loved the convenience of doing it in my instant pot instead of on top of the stove. Used a bunch of basil that was brought from my friend’s garden and it was a great early fall meal.

Adaptation of a Recipe

Adaptation of a Recipe

cooking at home

About a year ago, I watched a video from America’s Test Kitchen on roasting a chicken in an iron skillet. I watched the video intently and then roasted so many chickens and their parts that I no longer need the recipe. Following this success, I experimented with other types of meat using the same method, and to my surprise, it yielded consistent results. This week, I found two inexpensive steaks at my local grocery store and decided to apply the same technique.

I learned that while iron skillets aren’t excellent heat conductors, they retain heat remarkably well; so, they should be placed in the oven to preheat along with it. When the skillet is preheated this way and the meat makes contact with its surface, you get a good sear. This sear significantly enhances the flavor of my oven-cooked dishes.

Replicating the Formula

Replicating the Formula

cooking at home

When hunger strikes and the thought of faster food arrives, I have a shortlist of chains I return to time and again. Of them, I am noticing a trend in my ordering that seems counterintuitive to how I have eaten for most of my life. I am the one who really does not like having food touch on my plate. I do not care for it one bit. So the mere fact that I return to Chipotle and Cava time and again to order bowls of food confounds those around me.

I love the Cava Greens and Grains Bowl and the Chipotle Salad bowl and it got me thinking. If I take the building blocks of these meals and put them together in my own kitchen, how would it taste? Not copying the actual recipe but the food formula, would it work for me.

I bought an InstantPot Duo Nova a few weeks ago and my favorite thing to make in it is rice. It’s quite good at it so, I thought, what if I added some Anduie Sausage to my rice and have the flavors go through. When it was done I spooned my rice and sausage over a bowl of spring mix and baby spinach and  I really liked it. It was a quick tasty dinner bowl and lunch the next day in about 15 minutes.

I’m more than likely going to keep experimenting to see what else can be concocted.

Extra Tomatoes and YouTube

Extra Tomatoes and YouTube

cooking at home

Who can resist a bargain? I can’t. I needed a tomato or two for Christmas Eve nachos but the store had a bag of tomatoes on the vine on sale. Of course, I buy a bag. I used what I needed and the remainder hung out in my refrigerator. This is where YouTube comes in. They have videos of all kinds of people telling how to do all kinds of things. You listen to them for too long and you will begin to think to yourself “Yes, I can make over my small space; Yes, I can create an in-law suite from shipping containers in my backyard; Yes, I can make soup from scratch.”

I added a video to my playlist from Goodful and a young lady demonstrated how to make tomato soup from scratch and, this time, it was true. I can make tomato soup from scratch. The recipe was simple and straight forward and now I have servings of homemade soup in my fridge for the weekend.