Update: I purchased the mixer earlier this year.

Worthwhile.

 

Not if you have four on hand (although the two males tend to object strenuously). You can milk anything you know...

 

^ =

Photo of a Chihuahua nursing an orphaned kitten.

 

367 weeks and still counting.

 

Looks good, would eat that for sure. Thanks for sharing.

 

I noticed my pants fitting a bit snugly lately, stepped on the scale..............uh yeah, I'm officially the heaviest I've been in my life. So time to get back into the habit of working out and going to do Keto for awhile to help jump start things. At 36, it's either turn this ship around, or say **** it and just become a giant diabetic sloth and drink myself into a liver failure in my mid 40s. I'm not particularly fond of that option.

Last night, ribeye fajitas with romain lettuce instead of tortillas. Unlike Joe, I took before pics, but not after. I was in a hurry to get dinner on the plate since there were alternating flash flood warnings, severe weather warnings, and tornado warnings all evening.
Ribeye, red and yellow bell pepper, jalapeno, fresh garlic.





Pan HOT. sear ribeye like 45 seconds on each side, remove from pan. A bit more oil, bell peppers in. Then onions, don't stir too much so some of it gets charred, then jalapenos, then garlic. Add fajita seasoning (I'll be doing homemade next time), a bit of stock, add meat in. Simmer until moisture is basically gone.

Cotija, sour cream, cholula, and guac as accouterments.


Bacon was for a breakfast casserole the other half was working on. The left over bits of ribeye were diced up and given to the dogs with their dinner as a little treat.

 

finished product? don't be a tease

 

We were busy trying to scarf food, feed the dogs, and get ready in case the sirens went off. Hell it's only 10am here and tornado warning on the south side of town already flipped a bunch of cars over in a parking lot.

 

The spread outside Studio 2 this afternoon:




I ate way too many of the dolmas. The Beef Wellington and Tabbouleh were also quite good. The production crew scarfed up all the prawns before I could get one.

 

I'm not as baller as most of you, but I can burn some food when I need to. Tonight I was on my own so kept it simple, scrambled eggs (no milk in the house so not as fluffy as I usually make), sirloin tips from a Blue Apron meal that didn't get made and an English muffin. Steak was seasoned with salt and pepper before cooking (used a little too much salt). Of course since it was scrambled eggs they were treated to pepper and Tabasco sauce before eating.

 

Anything that you cook yourself, from scratch, is a good thing, even if it's horrible.

And that actually looks ok.

 

Time to re-visit an old friend. This one is simple on prep, but long on time.

The cast of characters:



Translation:

• Two really big sweet Italian sausages.
• Garlic. I'm lazy and buy the pre-minced-in-oil kind.
• Crushed red pepper flakes.
• Dried oregano. I love the kind that comes whole, in a cheap plastic grinder. So aroma, such flavor.
• 28oz can crushed tomatoes.
• Sweet onion.
• Two bell peppers of whatever colour you prefer.
• Marsala wine. (Or, seriously, whatever bottle you already have open and is about to go bad / has just gone bad.)
• Fresh basil.
• 1 pack frozen riced cauliflower (not shown, because it's in the freezer.)

My own personal opinion is that it's worth paying the extra 40¢ for the imported Italian crushed pear tomatoes. But, then, I'm a bourgeois pig.

The gin and vermouth are not part of the recipe proper, but will come into play later.




Start with some Alice in Chains, and a large saute pan on medium. Toss in about 6-7 cloves worth of garlic (we all know I'm a culinary barbarian) and fry until they *just* start to brown, then dump in the can of crushed tomatoes, juice and all. Add crushed red pepper flakes to taste. (Remember, you can add more later, but you can't take it out.) Stir.





Break up the cauliflower, and disseminate it upon a baking sheet lined with paper towels. Into the oven at around 200°.

Once the tomato starts to bubble, add about 1/2 cup Marsala wine, and the basil and oregano. (Again, totally to-taste. Maybe 1 tsp dried oregano and 1/4 cup minced fresh basil? I don't measure this ****.) Set this pan back onto the small burner, and set the fire on low. Like, "lower than Sandra Fluke's understanding of macroeconomic theory, or Robert Mueller's interest in the truth." We're gonna let this one not-quite-simmer for about an hour.



By now, the kitchen is starting to smell like that one pizza place in Barberton, Ohio that I have only vague childhood memories of. The one where the walls were paneled with oiled pine, rather than the fake woodgrain trim which was so very popular at the time. It was winter, snow was on the ground. Journey was playing on the jukebox.

You know the place I'm talking about. We all had one. Go there now in your mind.


Put the sausages into the oven at 400° for about 25 minutes. This is not the last we'll see of them.

And, yes, the riced cauliflower is still in there. I've never had any success in cooking it consistently, so my advice here is to remove it once done to your taste.

At this point, mix a martini. Two jiggers Bombay Sapphire gin, a nice splash of dry Vermouth (**** you, Winston Churchill*), and blue-cheese-stuffed olives. Relax and do something distracting. Check / stir the sauce occasionally. It's watery as hell now. You'll know when it's ready. Check on it and stir occasionally.

Add some Smashing Pumpkins. Keep watching the Marinara. Maybe have a cigar.

*ding*

Remove the sausage, slice into 1/4" chunks, and array on a baking pan. We'll now finish them under the broiler.





Skillet time. High heat. Olive oil. Peppers and onion. This bit doesn't require a lot of explaining. Sear on high, turning every minute or two, until they develop a nice char, but before they get mushy:




Plate and serve:






Dat's a spicy meat-a-boll!

* = It's said that Winston Churchill was known to make his dry martinis by merely chilling gin and then bowing in the direction of France, where dry vermouth originated. Churchill was a brilliant politician, a questionable military tactician, and a poor bartender.

 

Unrelated side note since you mentioned Smashing Pumpkins. We saw there show earlier this year, they sounded great, put on a hell of a show with no openers that lasted 3+ hours. Definitely got our money's worth on that one.

 

i spent over an hour caramelizing onions last night, then i burnt them.

 

indoctrinated another one...

Jasper gives thumbs up to oysters. He had trouble getting the thing into his mouth and chewing it, but he eventually did and liked it.


My older boy (Campbell, 6) offered to have only oysters for dinner but we informed him that four was plenty and we were not paying for another dozen for him to eat by himself.

 

Nice!

My kiddo will gladly eat red or back caviar, but will not touch real crab meat, raw fish sushi or oysters.

 

The better half made dinner this evening, so I forgot to take pics until, I was putting up our leftovers so I have an awesome lunch for tomorrow in the office. So she went simple, yet delicious.

Pork Chops - Salt, pepper, paprika. Seared in the pan for a few minutes each side and finished in the over.
Apples - Sauteed in butter, then add water/cornstarch slurry, and some cinnamon and brown sugar.

I added some nice, whole-grain German mustard on mine for the reheat.

 

Blackened rare tuna steak BLT sandwich with grilled seasoned vegetables at a little place in the old historic downtown of Palmetto, FL a couple of blocks from the Manatee River. Really delicious.

 

I would like to have that in, and all around my mouth.

My mom is coming down to hang out with us and stay the night. So we put some chili in the crock pot. We used the "Purdue Boilermakers Chili" recipe that you can find various places. I miss having a gas stove to char bell peppers and jalapenos for a bit of smoke. I can kinda sort of do it on the glass top, but it doesn't work well. And I wasn't about to start up some charcoal.

I may have found a bit of extra money with changing my homeowners insurance. So I'm going to call the plumber and see what he would charge me to tap into the gas line and run a hardline over to the patio. Then I can go buy a gas grill and never worry about propane tanks.

 

Pro tip: do not put kangaroo meat in the chili.