my first batch of pickles

This year I decided to grow cucumbers for the first time:  one pickling cucumber plant and one regular cucumber plant.  I planted them in pots and put in a small trellis so I wouldn't have to worry about having enough room for the vines to grow, nor would I have to worry about them being forgotten under the leaves. Plus I just didn't want to dig a garden.

But what to do with them since only my husband likes cucumbers? Pickle them, of course!  Although I've learned how to do canning, I didn't have nearly enough cucumbers to do more than one jar of pickles so I opted for a refrigerator pickle recipe.  (At this point I had only two pickling cucumbers so far.) All I had to do was cut up the cucumbers, mix the ingredients, put them all in a jar and stash them in the fridge overnight. Pickling the cucumbers was also an excuse to use the fresh dill from my garden.

Here's the recipe I used:  Easy Dill Lovers Refrigerator Pickles

Here are the pickles before they went into the fridge. A couple days later the level of liquid rose almost to the top, because the salt in the brine released water from the cucumbers.

Overall I liked this recipe. They're so fresh-tasting and crispy. Much different from jarred pickles from the grocery store. (And notice they're not Army Green-colored!) I tried another one a couple weeks ago and it just didn't taste like a sour dill pickle should taste. I think I'll be sticking with this recipe. A word of caution, though:  if you're not used to fresh pickles, brace yourself for the first bite--it will put hair on your chest!

grilled vegetables

I've been extremely lazy and completely unmotivated the last few months, which is part of why my blog posts are getting further apart. Hopefully my issues will be resolved in the next couple months, though.  In the meantime, a short post about my first-ever experience making grilled vegetables.

Recently I had some store-bought grilled veggies and they were delicious. The best part was I didn't have to make them myself--a definite plus these days. I had them as a side dish with some fish for lunch at work. Unfortunately, the store where I got the veggies is 20 minutes away and not cheap--Whole Paycheck...I mean Foods. There's no way it makes sense to spend that much on grilled veggies when I can easily make them myself. Did I actually feel like it? No. But did I do it anyway? Yes.

I made a marinade using some garlic balsamic vinegar I had in the cabinet. My husband got it for me a while back and I just haven't made an effort to use it. He got it from Beekman 1802 Mercantile and it's called Roasted Garlic Drizzle.  (If anyone watches the Amazing Race, the owners won the 2012 season. We visited their farm in 2014 and I got to hold the baby goats. 😊)  I also used olive oil, lemon juice and some salt and pepper.  For vegetables I used vidalia onions, cremini mushrooms, red peppers, zucchini, yellow squash and roma tomatoes. I chopped all the vegetables into either strips or chunks. The onions were cut into quarters from top to bottom, leaving the root end intact so they didn't fall apart when grilled. I then put them all in a two-gallon plastic bag to marinate for the day.  Once that was done, I grilled them until charred and soft. I left the red peppers a bit crunchy for texture. I then cut the bigger vegetables into smaller pieces. And that's it!

I have to say, they tasted delicious. I really enjoyed the flavor of the vinegar.  The veggies were a little crunchy, a bit sweet, and had a nice charred flavor from the grill. And I'm happy to report that not one vegetable fell through the grates!

Marinade for Grilled Vegetables
(You could use this for chicken, too.)

1/4 cup olive oil
3 TB garlic balsamic vinegar (use whatever balsamic you like)
Juice of one lemon
1/2 tsp salt (add more if you like)
1/2 tsp pepper

Mix well and pour into a dish or plastic bag along with the vegetables.

bbq chicken cauliflower casserole

When I recently went through my big freezer, I realized I have a lot of riced cauliflower in there. A LOT. I have six bags of plain riced cauliflower, four bags of riced cauliflower stuffing, and two bags of rice cauliflower stir fry--all from Trader Joe's. I can't even remember why I originally bought it.  So, the question became:  WTF am I going to with with all this damn cauliflower?

I got an email from The Kitchn recently, which contained a group of five-ingredient casseroles. As I looked through I noticed one, BBQ Chicken Casserole, that called for a bag of plain riced cauliflower. Also:  shredded chicken breast, onion, eggs, salt, pepper and BBQ sauce. Since I had two rotisserie chicken breasts in the freezer from a few weeks ago, I figured this would be a good recipe.

The verdict?  This was so easy and came out great. How did it taste? Like BBQ chicken. You can't taste the cauliflower at all.  Even my husband, who doesn't eat cauliflower, liked it. I made a couple modifications to it: I used store-bought BBQ sauce and used two cups rather than two and a half, used a 12 oz bag of riced cauliflower rather that 16 oz (that's what I had on-hand and didn't want to open another bag), and added about two cups of shredded Mexican cheese to it.

Assuming you're a weight loss surgery post-op and divide the casserole into 12 servings, one serving is about 240 calories, 9g fat, 26g carbs, and 15g protein. If you want to leave the cheese off, which is how the recipe was written, you'll save yourself 75 calories per serving.

homemade blackberry jalapeno jelly

Alright, I've depleted my supply of homegrown jalapenos, so here's my last batch of jalapeno jelly for the season (unless I decide to go buy some jalapenos, which I may do!).

This time we have blackberry jalapeno. I LOVE blackberry jam and figured this would be a good combo, and it is! Lucky for me I found blackberries at three 6 ounce containers for $10.00, which is a good price. Usually they're about $5.00 per container and I refuse to spend that much on something that may or may not turn out good. I've learned the hard way that I should wait for a sale when making certain recipes for the first time. There's nothing worse than spending a bunch of money only to have the dish turn out bad.

I used this recipe:  Blackberry Jalapeno Jelly. What I like about this recipe, even though it is slightly more work, is that it produces a seedless jelly. I love blackberry jam/jelly, but I hate the seeds. They're just annoying, and I don't like being annoyed while I'm trying to enjoy my food. I was able to put the berries in the food processor, which saves a ton of time and effort, and then mash them through my fine-mesh sieve. It wasn't difficult or time-consuming like I thought it might be. Note:  Make sure your food processor is big enough to handle all the berries at once. If not, break them into batches. When you puree the berries they tend to go up the sides of the food processor bowl and can ooze out between the lid and the bowl...onto your white counter top. Deep purple oozing out on to a white surface that stains very easily is not good. Thank the universe for the Magic Eraser! (Come to think of it, a blender would have been easier and less mess I think.)  I increased the jalapenos on this since the ones I had left were small and not as mature as the ones in my previous batches of jelly. It worked out just fine. As with the other jellies, the heat mellowed out overnight and the result was a pleasant, but present, heat. Also, this jelled firmer than my other jellies. It was likely a combo of this recipe calling for two packages of pectin instead of one, and boiling the jelly after the pectin is added for three to four minutes, rather than just one minute.

Marty was back to work, after an extended visit at the vet, and supervised this batch. (I can't tell if he approves or not?) Whenever I'm cooking, this is his spot.

Here's the finished product. I brightened up the picture a bit so the peppers are easier to see; blacberry jelly is pretty dark.  Although the recipe says it makes eight jars, I only got six full jars and one half-full jar, even though I used more blackberries than what the recipe says to use. Not sure what happened there. Maybe I didn't mash the pulp enough to get more juice out? No matter, it's still a lot of jelly that will take me awhile to use.

Since I have a very old house that has limited storage, and I have a lot of crap stuff as it is, I've been storing my jellies on one of the shelves of the hutch. It works for now. 

I'm thinking I'm done with jelly for the moment, although if the mood strikes I still have some pectin left. I have a lot of herbs in my garden, so I'm thinking I may try my hand at making herb jelly. I'm guessing I would use for glazing chicken on the grill or mixing it with goat cheese to make a spread, since rosemary (or sage or thyme) jelly on toast doesn't sound all that appetizing. Although I'm sure someone out there would enjoy that.

homemade jalapeno jelly

Yup, more jelly! I told you I had a lot of jalapenos to use up. And I'm finding I like this whole canning thing.  Once I figured out the timing of when I should start the empty jars to heating, when to start the jelly on the stove, etc., it got easier and not such a big project. I also decided to chop all the peppers ahead of time using my food processor, which made it flow a lot better. Plus, I'm quite happy that I've had only one jar fail to seal out of four batches of jelly. That's way better than when I first tried making jelly many years ago. That...didn't go very well.

For this recipe I used the Jalapeno Jelly recipe I found on Kraft's website.  Kraft makes CERTO, which is the liquid pectin I use to make the jelly gel, so it seemed like this would be the easiest and most fool-proof. There are SO many recipes out there for jalapeno or hot pepper jelly, and even when you Google "jalapeno jelly with liquid pectin," you get a ton of recipes that call for powdered pectin, which I didn't have on hand. Powdered pectin can be used, but there's a different order in which you assemble and cook the jelly. Since I'm new at this, I wasn't comfortable trying to adapt a recipe for liquid pectin.

As you can see, it looks pretty good even though Marty wasn't there to supervise this batch. (He loves to sit in the pass-through from the dining room to the kitchen and watch me cook.) I'm happy to say it jelled up firmly and isn't runny. It has a pleasant heat and isn't very spicy at all. I'm finding that the jelly has a lot of heat at first, but as it sits overnight it tends to mellow out. Because of this, my plan next time is to leave more of the jalapeno seeds intact--that's what holds most of the heat.

So, what will I use this for? I already gave away several to friends and family. The remaining jars will likely be used for making a goat cheese panini with jalapeno jelly. Messy, but delicious! I could also mix it with cream cheese to make a dip or spread. 

Next on this list is blackberry jalapeno, as I have several more jalapenos on my plant to use up before the end of the season. I LOVE blackberry jam, so I'm thinking this will be a good combination. Although blackberries are expensive, so I will wait until I see them on sale. 

homemade strawberry jalapeno jelly

OK, I'm officially on a jelly-making kick!  I just made strawberry jalapeno jelly and it's so yummy!  Marty supervised again, but I didn't get a picture of him this time.

The recipe I made was actually for strawberry habanero jelly, but I had jalapenos on-hand and needed to use them, so I just used more jalapenos. I couldn't figure out how many jalapenos would be required to replace three habaneros, and Google failed me this time on that front, so I just guessed. I used five and left most of the seeds in, which is where a lot of the heat comes from. It worked out just fine:  after leaving one jar of jelly in the fridge for 24 hours (jar didn't seal properly), the heat had mellowed out and the result was a sweet, very mild heat. When I first tried the jelly it was quite hot from the peppers, so letting it sit for a bit helped tone it down quite a bit.  Actually, I'd consider adding more jalapenos next time, or just leaving in all the seeds.

I'm not sure if it's because the jar didn't seal properly, or if I didn't boil the jelly long enough after adding the pectin, but it didn't set firmly like jelly normally does. It came out more like jam, which is fine because I actually prefer jam.  It just makes it more difficult to eat on a hot bagel or piece of toast.

As you can see, all the strawberries and peppers floated to the top. That happens with homemade jelly. Since you're not supposed to disturb the jelly once you take it out of the canning pot, you really can't shake it up while it's hot; you run the risk that the jar won't seal properly. That's OK. All I need to do is stir it up once it's opened at some point in the future.

This is the recipe I used:  Strawberry Habanero Jelly.  I used two 16 oz. containers of fresh strawberries to make this, along with five jalapenos. This made eight, 8 oz. jars.

Next I'm making hot pepper jelly. Then it's crab apple jelly using the crab apples from my own trees--I have six of them!

homemade pineapple jalapeno jelly

So, what to do with all the jalapenos that are growing in my garden? And how about all those canning jars I have? Make pineapple jalapeno jelly, of course!

The first and last time I canned anything was probably about 20 years ago. I had a cookbook for jams and jellies that I'd bought thinking, "I'm going to make delicious jams and jellies! I'm going to can them all! I'm going to sell them at farmer's markets!"  That's usually how my thought process goes with anything new and crafty I try...just like my mom. And, as usual, I lose interest quickly, either because I'm not as good at whatever "it" is, or it doesn't produce results quick enough, or any other excuse I can think of. I differ from my mother in that way; she'd follow through.  It might not always be a success, but she stuck with it to the end and then moved onto something new.

Armed with my new jam and jelly cookbook, I made the strawberry jam recipe a couple times and decided I wanted to can it, since there's only so much strawberry jam you can use at one time. It...didn't go very well. I must not have stirred it enough, or maybe the burner was too hot,because every time I ended up with a browned mess on the bottom of the pot. The jam itself was good, though. (I made it at my parents' house one time years ago, and my mother kept telling me I "burned" her pot. I disagree...)  The jars never sealed even though I followed the canning directions. Although I'll admit that I'm not good at reading through directions or a recipe BEFORE I start, which sometimes leaves me very surprised that I was supposed to X before doing Y, or I need to do something with a certain ingredient before using it, and that's why the recipe or whatever I'm doing doesn't go quite according to plan. A long way to say, it was probably me and not the recipe or the directions for canning, or an equipment failure. Pilot error...

On to the garden.

I have two raised bed gardens since I can't be bothered, at least right now, with digging a garden. Also, I'm a reformed plant killer and two 4x8 raised beds makes gardening easy and there isn't too much space in which to kill things. I have one bed for tomatoes and green beans (OMG the beans are producing big time right now!) and one for all my herbs; some are perennial, like sage and thyme, and others are annual, like basil.  I also planted one lonely green pepper plant; I got a whole two peppers off of it so far!  Anyway, I normally plant jalapenos, but I ran out of room in the garden. I planted one plant in a large pot this year, and it's really taken off. I'm glad I planted only one, because I have a TON of jalapenos!

I made jalapeno poppers last year, and those were pretty good, but I wanted to do something different this year. I decided to try my hand at jelly-making! I have plenty of jelly jars I've never used. although I do use them for homemade seasoning mixes sometimes. But what kind of jelly should I make? Something with jalapenos obviously. I thought about what combo I like most when eating something hot and spicy and the answer was easy:  pineapple and jalapeno. I'm always buying pineapple salsa (probably next on my list to make since, as you can see, the tomatoes are starting to ripen), so it made sense to make pineapple jalapeno jelly.

As usual, there are tons of recipes for the same thing. This is the recipe I settled on:  Jalapeno Pineapple Jelly.  It's just pineapple, jalapenos, red pepper, white vinegar, a little salt, liquid pectin, and a TON of sugar, which explains the sugar content in just a small amount of jelly. (Large amounts of jam/jelly on a bagel is something I really miss after gastric bypass; I can eat it, but definitely not as much as I used to.) It made six 8 oz. jars.

The process was easy enough, but, man, was the kitchen HOT! Not only because I had to stand in front of the pot and stir constantly for 10 minutes once it got boiling, but because of the pepper fumes.  I made the mistake of leaning over the pot to enjoy the scent of peppers--bad idea! Don't do that! I also had to prepare the jars for canning. That was a little tedious, but only because I have a small kitchen and haven't done it in many years.

As you can see, Marty supervised the whole process and kept me on track. He was there from start to finish.

No special canning equipment needed other than the jar lifter (special tongs). You also need a wide-mouth funnel to make the process of putting the screaming hot jelly into the jars, but it's not a requirement; it just makes it much less messy. I used my huge stock pot and the rack from my Instant Pot as the insert to do the canning part.

Batch #1

The finished product is delicious! It gelled up just the way it should. It has some heat, but it's a pleasant amount of heat. It looks pretty, too. It's a golden yellow color with red and green specks of pepper (I chopped them in my mini food processor) with some little bits of pineapple. I really want to dive into the jar, but the sugar content works out to 21g for one ounce (and 84 calories)! One ounce of jelly is a lot, though--a more realistic serving size is probably half that. I just used ounces since it was easier for entering the recipe into My Fitness Pal.

Isn't it gorgeous?! Liquid gold!

Overall, the first run through was a bit tiring, but I did it again last night and it went much easier this time. I prepared all the peppers first, then prepared the canning jars and pot for canning, then did the cooking. It was still a very hot process, and the whole house smelled like peppers and vinegar (sorry, dear!), but I found it easier this time. This time I used my big food processor for the chopping and it came out chunkier. I like chunky, so I'll probably stick with using the big one. I found that the mini food processor kind of pulverized the peppers and pineapple. That's fine, though, if you like a smoother product.

Batch #2
The jars are still hot and steamed up. Plus my phone camera sucks sometimes.

Some of the jelly is going to a family member and the rest is staying with ME!! (It's shelf stable for about 18 months.) I'm thinking I'll need to mix some of this with cream cheese to make a dip, or spread for bagels or crackers. Crackers are probably a better bet since bagels are my kryptonite...

Next on the list:  strawberry jalapeno jelly, hot pepper jam (or jelly), and crab apple jelly (I have crab apple trees in my yard).

bulgarian mish mash--my version

Tis the season for fresh garden tomatoes! 

I used to be a tomato-hater, but in recent years I've begun to like them. So much so that I now grow them in my garden every year. I've got bunch growing now and a whole bunch that are ready to be used. What to do with all these tomatoes?

It used to be that I wouldn't eat tomatoes except in pasta sauce, salsa, and ketchup. I gradually started to enjoy them in their sundried form. Then eventually I would be OK with chopped tomatoes in a taco, although there better not be any seeds or tomato slime! I then moved up to tomatoes cooked on a pizza. One day I was brave enough to try caprese salad. I still hated sliced raw tomatoes; however, the addition of mozzarella cheese made it OK. I then decided I could deal with grape tomatoes, as long as they were with the mozzarella cheese. To this day, though, I still can't bring myself to eat a sliced raw tomato.

I've settled on a few ways to use up the tomatoes. The easiest is to make fresh salsa. It's so much better than the stuff in the jar! I just throw all the ingredients in the food processor, pulse it until it's the consistency I want, and it's done. I use my own tomatoes and jalapenos to make it. I used my own cilantro this year; however, my cilantro isn't doing well so it was kind of a one shot deal. I don't think I'll grow it again.

Another thing I make is caprese salad using the cherry and grape tomatoes I grow. I'm finding that I much prefer grape tomatoes, so I'm thinking of eliminated cherry next year and just growing grape.

And then there's this delicious dish: Bulgarian mish mash. A coworker told me how to make this; however, I've discovered that there are many variations for this and everyone makes it a little different. The base doesn't change, though: tomatoes, peppers, eggs and cheese. I made this last year, but never posted about it, so I figured I would this time around because it's so delicious and easy. I like to eat it with some crusty bread or maybe some crackers. It can be eaten anytime.

This is the base recipe I used, very loosely I might add: Bulgarian Vegetarian Mish Mash

Here's how I actually made mine (this makes about 8 one-cup servings):

2 TB olive oil
2 onions, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 red peppers, chopped
1 jalapeno, chopped (optional; remove the seeds)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
4 oz. roasted red peppers (jar), chopped
8 tomatoes, chopped (you can peel them if you want to, but don't have to)

Fresh parsley
Fresh basil
Fresh oregano
Dash of crushed red pepper flakes, optional
Pepper
4 eggs
8 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
Salt, only if needed (be very careful how much salt you use since the feta cheese is very salty)

In a pot on medium heat, sauté onions in the olive oil until they start to soften. Reduce heat to low and add green peppers, red peppers, jalapenos (if using) and garlic. Continue sautéing for about 15 minutes or until soft.

Add the tomatoes, roasted red peppers, and herbs. Cover and cook until the tomatoes break down and it looks like a stew. 

Add the eggs and stir until they dissolve into the tomato mixture. You will see pieces of egg white. This is normal. If you prefer, you can beat the eggs together before adding into the tomatoes. Feel free to add more or less to make it thinner or thicker.

Remove from the heat and add the cheese, pepper, red pepper flakes (if using) and salt, if needed.

Notes: 

1. I used fresh herbs, because I have them in my garden. I used very roughly about 2 TB of each, but add whatever you like, to taste. Used dried herbs if that's what you have; however, if using dried herbs, make sure you reduce the amount you use since the flavor is much stronger than fresh herbs.
2. You can use any hard cheese you like, but I find that feta gives it a lot more flavor. Just make sure you use a cheese that doesn't melt, otherwise it all just disappears into the mix.  The standard cheese is a Bulgarian cheese called "sirene", but I don't know if that's something readily available.
3. You can cook this to whatever consistency you like. I prefer it more like a stew, whereas my coworker likes it more chunky.

 

today's lunch

Here's today's work lunch. Very simple and definitely thrown together at the last minute. I took two pieces of Jenni-o Buffalo Chicken Breast lunchmeat and spread a little Tribe Mediterranean-style hummus on them, and then rolled them around some sliced raw red pepper. The other two slices I rolled up and dipped them in some Gulden's mustard.  I ate the rest of the pepper with some hummus as a snack. Low in calories, pretty healthy, fast, and I got some veggies in.

What I brought to work: a whole red pepper, the whole container of hummus, the bottle of mustard and the whole package of lunch meat. I'm at the point where I can't be bothered to make up my lunch at home. We have several refrigerators at work, so I can easily store a few things to have when I want them. I also keep a paring knife in my desk, and we have paper plates and utensils in the cafeteria.

something different: sweet potato chili

When I went to the grocery store last week I was feeling a wave of motivation and commitment to cooking more. Normally that means I come home with a ton of ingredients, like fresh produce, full of hope and inspiration. I make a meal that night, and then I get back to reality...and promptly forget about the special items I bought. They sit there for most of the week. I look at them every time I go in the kitchen, hoping to feel the motivation I felt on grocery day, but it doesn't happen. (I have to admit, I'm usually hoping that these items somehow cooked themselves and will be ready for me to eat when I open the fridge.  That hasn't happened for some reason. I guess it's not quite the age of the Jetsons yet.) The produce goes bad and then I have to toss it, or I end up having to put meat in the freezer for another time, or non-perishables end up in the back of the cabinet, never to be heard from again.

So, what did I come home with? Two sweet potatoes. That's it. (Shockingly, that equaled 1.5 pounds!) I kept myself under control and didn't buy a bunch of things that might end up in the garbage. I've learned that I need to have either very big goals (weight loss surgery, tummy tuck) or very small goals (wake up everyday, buy only two sweet potatoes). For some reason I can't do anything in between.

I get the potatoes home and...not a clue what to do with them. I've made mashed sweet potatoes and sweet potato hash in the past, but that's just way too much sweet potato for me. I'd rather it be in the background, kind of an accent, not the main attraction. I Googled and came up with a recipe for the Instant Pot, which is a chicken sweet potato curry. I plan to make that later in the week. The other recipe, below, was shared with me by someone on a blog I read. (Here's the link if you want to make it:  Vegetarian Sweet Potato Chili)

I've always wanted to want to try vegetarian chili, but never had the guts. Mainly because I can't fathom chili without meat. But since I had to do something with the sweet potatoes I bought, I figured, why not? The recipe looked interesting--it calls for cocoa powder!--and I had all the ingredients except the peppers, so I gave it a go.

It was very easy to make. Honestly, the hardest part was chopping the damn potato. I had no idea sweet potatoes were so hard to cut in half! Once I got it cut in half, it was much easier. Also, one potato produced a pretty large quantity once chopped--about two cups, maybe a little more. Basically you just throw all the ingredients into the pot and let it simmer. It smelled wonderful! The cocoa powder and other spices hit the heat and the smell just wafted up into the air. Heavenly!

I really like how it came out. I was worried that the sweet potato would take over, but it really didn't. It added a sweetness and a hint of sweet potato. I couldn't taste the cocoa powder, but that's the point--it's supposed to enhance the flavor of the chili. The two modifications I made to the recipe were to reduce the cayenne to about 1/2 tsp., rather than the full teaspoon, and it was still plenty spicy; and to use chicken broth rather than vegetable broth. That was simply because that's what I had on-hand.

I'm thinking I'd like to add ground turkey to this next time, since I really like meat in my chili. I mashed up some of the sweet potato in order to get it to the consistency above. If you don't mash them up, it seems a little more like soup. Although, it thickened a bit after I let it sit for about a half hour. I added a few crackers for dipping when it was time to eat.

I plugged this into My Fitness Pal and here's the nutritional info it came up with and assumes nine one-cup servings (this made a lot!):  165 calories, 2 g fat, 31 g carbs, 10 g fiber, 6 g sugar, and 8 g protein. So this is a pretty good meal for a post-op, in my opinion. It definitely won't break the calorie bank and should be OK for those who are a little sensitive to sugar.

homemade turkey stock

I was on vacation from work last week. I actually had what people would call a "staycation," and a pretty productive one at that. Ick, I hate that term. "Staycation." Even though I was on vacation and stayed home, it's still a vacation in my book. Any time I don't have to be at work is a vacation.

Anyway, my plans were to go to physical therapy for my back issues, scan a ton of family photos, do some cooking, and do a little clothing shopping. I'm happy to report I did all those things! It was a great week, other than a neck problem cropping up, and even though I wasn't super productive, I rested a lot, had a leisurely week, and crossed some items off the to-do list, like dropping two more bags of clothing at Good Will.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I made a turkey. It was on my birthday, actually. I then used the carcass to make turkey stock. I had to cut the carcass up, because it was too long for my biggest pot. (As you can see, it still has a good amount of meat on it, which was used later for turkey salad.) I tossed in a bunch of vegetable scraps from my odds-and-ends bag I keep in the freezer for such occasions:  a couple scallions, some celery, celery leaves, and carrots. I also tossed in some fresh sage, parsley and rosemary from my garden, fresh onions, bay leaf, dried thyme, some peppercorns, and a little salt. I then covered it all in water and boiled it until the carcass started falling apart. There's really no set time I use. When it looks done and smells great, it's done. There's also no set recipe.  Whatever I feel like throwing in and actually have on-hand is what goes in; however, I will say that I typically use mostly the same things all the time.



Still lots of meat on that carcass!

Look at all those veggies! Everyone is going for a nice, long swim. :)

This is what I got when I was done:  five quarts of homemade, delicious turkey stock. You have no idea how good this smells (and tastes)! My intention was to freeze these jars, but apparently these canning jars are no freezer-safe; I had one casualty when doing a test freeze. I put the other four quarts into Ziploc bags and laid them flat on a cookie sheet to freeze. Kind of a bummer, because I really wanted to use the jars. I'll have to find another use for them since I have a dozen.



buttered balsamic mushrooms

I don't think there's any better side dish for a good steak than sautéed mushrooms. Actually, it's a toss-up between sautéed mushrooms and creamed spinach, but I think the mushrooms win--they're probably a little more healthy.

A few weeks ago I bought some shallots at the farm stand down the street, even though I didn't have a clue as to what I'd use them for. I know they're in the onion family and can be used the same way, but have a milder taste.They had been sitting on my counter for a while. I kept ignoring them, because I was being lazy and couldn't be bothered to Google a recipe.  I finally decided it was time to use them, though. Coincidentally, The Kitchn had a post that day for buttered mushrooms with shallots. It made my mouth water just looking at the picture of the gorgeous, glossy, buttery mushrooms, so I decided it was time to defrost a steak or two and make these to have on the side for dinner.

This recipe was really easy. What's nice is that you can use Worcestershire sauce if you don't have soy sauce, and that's what I did. Also, this recipe gave me a chance to use some of the rosemary in my garden. I would say this took closer to 30 minutes to cook, but my mushrooms were big and I like mine cooked well.

As you can see, they look pretty good. Although, not as good as the picture in the recipe link. Does anything ever come out looking as good as it does on the Internet??

Here's the recipe:  15-Minute Buttered Balsamic Mushrooms.

By the way, in the picture is my most favorite wooden spoon. It just seems perfect for just about everything:  it's the right size, it has a slanted edge to scrap up bits from the pan, and a shallow bowl for tasting.  Only $4.99 at Bed Bath and Beyond.

my first batch of homemade salsa

Now that summer is pretty much over, I find myself with lots of tomatoes and jalapenos, which I grew myself thank you very much! There's a certain amount of pride in the fact that I grew these edible items in my own backyard.

My regular tomatoes are finally ripening (I'm STILL waiting on the Romas....), which means I need to find a use for them fast. I'm not a fan of the seeds and goop that's inside a tomato, so eating them in a salad or on a sandwich is out of the question. Plus I generally don't eat salads and sandwiches anymore. I figured my options are: tomato sauce, salsa, roasted tomatoes, on pizza, or chopped up for tacos. I decided on salsa since I needed to use the jalapenos, too. I Goggled for a recipe and found one easily.

Making the salsa was incredibly easy. Probably because I picked a "fresh" recipe (no-cook) and used my food processor. I was done in like 10 minutes, which includes peeling and chopping the veggies.

As you can see, it's a little chunky, but not much. And it's more on the thin side. It tastes great; however, I was skeptical at first. It definitely doesn't taste like your standard store-bought salsa, which is cooked and contains vinegar and/or sugar. I was tempted to fiddle around and add more of this or that, but I resisted. It tasted like there was too much onion and it didn't seem to have any heat even though I used two jalapenos (minus the seeds). I waited a couple hours and the heat started growing. Then the next day I tasted again and it was perfect. The heat had mellowed and it tasted less like onions. (I was later told that fresh salsa takes at least a day or more for the flavors to meld and develop; they were right!)

The verdict for my first time making salsa? It tastes great, it was super easy, and I used up some tomatoes. I'd make it again.

Here's the recipe.

Fresh Salsa

6 garden tomatoes, cut into quarters
2 jalapeños, seeded and roughly chopped
1/2 large yellow onion, peeled and roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
juice of 1 lime
1 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt

Toss it all in the food processor and pulse until it's at a consistency you like. Taste and adjust the seasonings as necessary.

Note: The flavors of the salsa will change the longer it sits in the fridge. If you don't need it right away, you might want to wait until the following day to make adjustments.

what's been cooking?

I've been really awful about cooking over the last few months due to everything that's happened. But I'm getting back to it. Here are some of the things I've made.

At work we have the option to participate in the local CSA (community supported agriculture). This is the first year we've been offered this service. It's not free, though. People who want to participate pay about $19 a week for a half-share and receive enough produce to feed two to three people for one week. I believe it lasts for about 18 weeks. Each week you get a variety of produce and you won't know until you receive it what you're actually getting. They give you whatever is in season. I don't participate in it, mainly because $19 a week for produce is a bit much for me to spend knowing that either I or Bob won't eat certain things or won't be able to cook it all before it goes bad. Also, they give you seasonal items. Since kale, Swiss chard, celery and celery root are in season right now, those items have been provided every week. That can get boring even if you like those items. If you don't, it's a waste of money. I have, however, been taking advantage of the fact that someone at work doesn't like those four items I mentioned. They leave them in the community kitchen each week, so I grabbed them one week. If you're interested in finding a CSA in your area, try this website: https://www.localharvest.org/csa/.

Here's what my fridge looked like after I brought the CSA items home. Those are some HUGE celery leaves! I chopped off the ends of the celery and removed the leaves, which I then froze for later use in making stock. The celery stalks were so crispy, nothing like what I get at the grocery store.

I used the red Swiss chard to make grilled turkey and cheese sandwiches. I just sautéed the chard in olive oil with some garlic, salt and pepper. I then added it to my sandwich and grilled it. I did the same thing with the kale, but added it to my egg muffins. Note to self: remove the stems before sautéing. It was a bit unpleasant to bite into tough stems when eating something soft like eggs.



This is my steak dinner on another night. The green beans are from the farm stand up the road. I boiled them, then added some butter, salt and pepper. I also fried up a container of leftover onions. I added a little butter, salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce.

Below is some broccoli rabe sautéed in olive oil with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. I blanched it first in order to start getting it tender. From what I understand, broccoli rabe is done when it's dead. This is definitely dead. LOL  I also grilled some turkey tenderloins with some Borsari seasoned salt in Citrus flavor. I absolutely love Borsari. It makes seasoning ridiculously simple. I brought both to work for lunch last week.



And finally, I made roasted tomatoes for the first time. My boss gave us all some plum tomatoes. I put some olive oil on them, along with rosemary from my garden and some mince garlic, then roasted them according to a recipe I found online on Rachel Ray's website. I think the roasting time would have been perfect for larger plum tomatoes, but it was a bit too much for the little ones. A few got burnt. Overall, very delicious, though. And sweet!



fried cauliflower rice with bean sprouts and edamame

This recipe came about because I had several ingredients in the freezer to use up:  riced cauliflower and edamame, both from Trader Joe's coincidentally. (I seem to find myself in this predicament quite often...) I had also bought a bag of bean sprouts at the store that I needed to use up.

I just have to say that the riced cauliflower at Trader Joe's is super convenient and inexpensive. I recently read an article that talks about Trader Joe's implementing a limit on the number of bags of this stuff people can buy. Scary! It's not nationwide, but of course it applies to my state.

I also have to say that I love Trader Joe's.  They have a lot of unique items and their prices are usually really good. I buy all my goat cheese there.

This was very bean sprout-heavy, but I was OK with that. I had to use the whole bag, because I knew I would end up tossing it out if I didn't.  If you don't like tons of sprouts, just cut the amount listed below to 3/4 or 1/2 of that.

I'm not sure of the number of servings, since I didn't measure it out. I'd say a WLS post-op will get probably 8 to 10 servings if I had to guess. Since it's veggie-heavy, that could be less, as many post-ops are able to eat a larger amount when there's no meat or grains in a dish. Recipe below.



This coloring in this picture is kind of awful, but you get the gist of it I'm sure. 😄

Fried Cauliflower Rice With Bean Sprouts and Edamame

1 12 oz. bag bean sprouts
1 12 oz. bag riced cauliflower
5 scallions, sliced, whites and greens separated
1/2 an onion, diced
1 cup shelled ready-to-eat edamame
2 whole eggs
2 cloves garlic, minced (I use the stuff in the jar since I hate mincing garlic)
3 TB soy sauce
1 TB oyster sauce (not necessary; leave it out if you don't have it)
2 TB sesame or canola oil
salt and pepper to taste

1. Put 1 TB of the sesame oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Scramble the eggs, season with salt and pepper, and cook in the oil until done. Remove from the pan and set aside.
2. Add the remaining oil and cook onions, scallion whites, bean sprouts, and garlic for about one minute.
3. Add the riced cauliflower and stir well a few minutes to heat through. (If using raw cauliflower you riced yourself, you might need to cook a little longer. Cook until tender.)
4. Add cooked egg along with soy sauce, oyster sauce, scallion greens and edamame, mixing well and cooking for about 3 to 4 minutes. 

Note:  If you don't want the extra calories that comes with using oil, you could use cooking spray if you want. Coconut oil cooking spray would likely add a nice flavor to it.

today's lunch: Green Giant Steamers and boneless chicken thighs

I'm in a funk again when it comes to putting together my work lunch. I typically bring some rolled-up lunchmeat and mustard for dipping, but that's getting really boring. I think one of my biggest struggles sometimes is figuring out what to eat that doesn't get boring, but isn't overly fussy or complicated at the same time.

Recently I stocked up on frozen veggie mixes in an effort to eat more veggies and to have something different, but still easy. I found a bunch of Green Giant Steamers on sale for $1.00 each a couple months ago, so I grabbed some and tossed them in the freezer. Then I promptly forgot about them, Well...that's not 100% true. I didn't exactly forget about them. Rather, I came across them a few times when looking for something else in the freezer and said, "Hmmm. I need to start using those. What else looks better in here??" Then I'd shut the door, to be forgotten until another day.

This week I finally started using them. I got lazy a couple times and didn't prepare my lunch the night before, and of course I was running late for work the next morning (like always; not sure why I'm always late for work but never anything else...). I had a plate of grilled boneless chicken thighs in the fridge, so I tossed a thigh in a container and grabbed the Green Giant Steamers Healthy Weight veggie blend and was on my way.

So here's today's lunch. I just microwaved the bag of veggies for 4 minutes, heated the chicken for about 2 minutes, and then tossed it all in one container. The veggie mix is sliced carrots, sugar snap peas, black beans, and edamame in a butter sauce. The chicken had enough seasoning, so I didn't add any salt; however, the veggies by themselves might be better with some salt or seasonings. This is the whole box, which is two servings. It's 180 calories total, plus whatever is in the chicken.

Very fast, very convenient, I got my veggies in, and it tasted good.

weekly cookbook project: grilled asparagus with southwest spice mix

I decided to buy some asparagus this week. Since I've been back to eating the way I should, I've been wanting more fruits and vegetables. I actually made a special trip to a local store that I don't usually shop at just so I could look at the produce section. I came home with asparagus, Fuji apples, potatoes, and...something else I can't remember now.

Since I hadn't yet made a recipe from one of my cookbooks this week, I decided I would make it simple and find one for asparagus. Hmm, not so simple. Most of the recipes were in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking cookbook, and they all required performing the steps for blanching the asparagus first. So basically that meant making two recipes just to get a finished product. My last resort was Martha Stewart's Cooking School cookbook. (Even though I don't care for her and hate how all her home goods tend to take over the whole store, this is a really useful book and is well-written.) Lo and behold, I found an easy one there:  grilled asparagus with southwest spice mix.  All I had to do was wash the asparagus and snap the woody ends off, throw together the spices (salt, cumin, ground coriander, chili powder, and paprika), toss the asparagus with the spice mix and a bit of olive oil, and grill the spears. It was so easy and tasted great. Just a little kick of spice, but nothing overwhelming. I find I like to grab a few spears from the fridge and eat them as a snack.