What are you eating Sunday February 19, 2023?

[msmofet]

I had rotisserie chicken, olives , chick peas, tomato, cucumbers over baby greens. Italian dressing.

 

[GinnyPNW]

I just put a couple of pork chops in the sous vide. I'll finish them on the Que. We'll have them with twice baked taters (from the freezer) a salad and some garlic toast too. We recently stocked up on pork chops at Costco...and I made a big batch of twice baked taters to make for easy dinners.

 

[blissful]

Baked potatoes, spinach, meal sized salad. Black bean brownies tonight. I'm waiting on those to cool.

 

[taxlady]

I just put a couple of pork chops in the sous vide. I'll finish them on the Que. We'll have them with twice baked taters (from the freezer) a salad and some garlic toast too. We recently stocked up on pork chops at Costco...and I made a big batch of twice baked taters to make for easy dinners.

Do you have any tricks and tips to freezing twice baked potatoes?

 

[Andy M.]

Pan roasted chicken thighs, smashed potatoes and broccoli.

This is the second time I've made smashed potatoes, once finishing in the oven/broiler and tonight in a skillet. Definitely prefer the skillet because you get a nice crust.

 

[taxlady]

I had very few spoons, so I went with an easy standby, "bachelor surprise". Bachelor surprise started out as a way to use up leftovers. It has morphed to be more inclusive. I fried up about 250 grams of ground pork with some flaming flare peppers and sliced onion. I added a big pinch of baking soda to the meat to make it brown better. Then I add some already cooked brown basmati rice and some toasted sesame seeds. Then, it was time for the other veggies - frozen "Asian stir fry mix" plus frozen corn kernels. I deglazed the pan with some red wine, then I added some frozen peas. I served that with tamari, shoyu, Tabasco chipotle sauce (good, but odd in this context), and some garlic chili oil. It was delicious. But, we won't be buying that particular garlic chili oil again. It has a weird flavour along with the oily, crunchy, and mildly hot flavours.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

I made Egg McGoddess sandwiches for brunch, figuring we had enough leftovers for supper. But neither of us felt like having them, so we pretty much grazed on cheese and fruit. Himself also had summer sausage. I made a PB&J sandwich on an extra hot dog bun.

 

[Aunt Bea]

Cauliflower fried rice.

A toasted, buttered English muffin with sugar free orange marmalade and a glass of ice cold skim milk for afters.

 

[GinnyPNW]

Do you have any tricks and tips to freezing twice baked potatoes?

I put them in vacuum sealer bags, then in the freezer. I do cook them "twice" before I do that. Then, when I want to use them, I toss them, bag & all, in a bowl of cold water to thaw. After that, it is just a matter of heating them to temp. I do that in the oven, but should try the sous vide sometime? We love twice baked taters...but I enjoy them more when I don't have to fuss with them?

 

[larry_stewart]

Due to my diet, I have to try and keep my carbs low. We usually get a low carb vegan cauliflower pizza crust ( I know it doesnt sound appetizing, but Trader Joes had a really good one, until about a year ago. They stopped stocking them. We checked other locations, nothing. We asked the manager, said due to supply shortages, many of their items were backordered and they would be getting them in stock at the end of August ( last August). Needless to say, it appears they are a thing of the past. We've tried other brands, with no success. For lack of better words, they tasted like crap. When visiting my daughter in Baltimore last week, we went into a health store and found a brand we never saw before. We picked up a few , and last night they were up to bat. I opened the box, and they were the color of brownish gray. I looked at my wife and said, this is not going to end well. She told me to give it a try. I did, but I took a little taste of it first and it was bitter and grainy . I set the oven to 400F, sprayed the perforated pan as instructed by the directions on the box, and out them in. It said it would take 15 - 17 minutes ( which sounded about right, as over brands are in that range ). My oven heats a little unevenly ( the back heats up a littler higher than the front, so I usually rotate half way through. I opened the oven up to roatate and the thing was burnt to a crisp. I think it was someone above's way of making it so I wouldn't have to eat it.
Anyway, the type of pizza I make its usually Crusts, with cheese melted on it ( a white 'chees'e Mozzarella, provolone ..), then topped with sautéed spinach and garlic ( with a squeeze of lemon) and ' sausages'. we've eaten this for years and love it. Now, with a burnt crust in front of me, defrosted frozen spinach and sausages already fried up, I had to come up with a plan be , kinda chopping myself with what I already have in front of me , along with what I have on hand in the house.
My wife suggested making a ' Primavera Pasta'. Basically, when I came off of a No Carbs 3 month diet, I changed some recipes to lower the carbs. Basically, instead of more pasta than veggies, I make more veggies than pasta. Boiled up some penne. In the mean time, fired up some garlic and oil, tossed in half a box of cut up shrooms I had in the fridge, added some sun dried tomatoes I had in the freezer from last years harvest. Added the drained and squeezed spinach and sausages . Also had some tomato paste cubes in the freezer from last years harvest. tossed them in too. It was a little dry, so added a ladle or two of pasta water, tasted and salted. When the pasta was just about done, spidered it into the fried up veggies an sausage . Salted a little more , and let t cook til pasta cooked to my liking. Sprinkled some almond parm, and dinner was made. Was it great? No, but a lot better than that crappy pizza crust. Normally, if using spinach in a dish like this, Id toss some baby spinach in last minute, and let the heat of the past wilt it.

***Keep in mind, as per the directions, the crust still had another 8 - 10 minutes to go ***

 

[larry_stewart]

The unfortunate thing, is my wife thought we hit the jackpot, so we bought 4 boxes ( each box has 2 crusts in them). Looks like they're going to make a one way trip to the compost pile.

 

[GinnyPNW]

The unfortunate thing, is my wife thought we hit the jackpot, so we bought 4 boxes ( each box has 2 crusts in them). Looks like they're going to make a one way trip to the compost pile.

You could try checking for a product review...maybe someone found a better way to cook them?

 

[larry_stewart]

You could try checking for a product review...maybe someone found a better way to cook them?

It's possible, but even tasting the unburnt part ( and even before I cooked it) it just had a flavor that didnt seem like it was going to work. Some people suffer with crappy tasting things to maintain their dietary restrictions. I allow ,myself one or two cheat days a week. I'd rather have the real thing sparingly , than a crappy version of it. Hopefully trader joes will carry them again.

 

[cookiecrafter]

Do you think the crust was left to thaw and then refroze at the store?

 

[larry_stewart]

Do you think the crust was left to thaw and then refroze at the store?

Possibly. Ive eaten a number of these kinds of crusts, and most are not very good. So although possible, my guess is this one is just as bad as most of the others. It was an also significantly thinner than other brands , which also had me initially concerned about the temperature and time to cook it, even before I cooked it. But I figured it must have gone through a bunch of test trials prior to going to market.

 

[GotGarlic]

I had to make room in the freezer for ice cream, so I took out a pork shoulder for dinner. I made a ragu with it and served it over pappardelle with homemade focaccia.