Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

No Justins, No Peace

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

T R E 4 5 O N

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

After roe, women are no longer free.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

The revolution will be supervised.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

“And when the Committee says to “report your income,” that could mean anything!

A consequence of cucumbers

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

You are here: Home / Food & Recipes / Cooking / Friday Recipe Exchange: Quick and Easy

Friday Recipe Exchange: Quick and Easy

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DSC_1039 (1600x1060)

What’s this? An actual recipe exchange? Could it be I’m back among the creative and productive? Or just the fact I’ve been snowbound today? Whatever the reason, here it is, from my blog:

This is the time of year when I wander around the store looking for anything fresh. I am big on farm stands, shopping the outside aisles of the store (away from all the processed stuff) and cooking from scratch. This is the difficult time for creative cooking in my kitchen. I fight the urge that long cold nights provoke: heavy, carb-laden meals. But there is no getting around it, there is more pasta, more bread, more potatoes, more cookies (!!) and less fresh, raw veggies as the winter days wear on.

But I do have my go-to vegetable broth that is the base to almost all my soups. It is rich, creamy and satisfies that need for hearty comfort foods without all the guilt. Because I have a Vita-Mix, I just throw in celery, carrots, corn, green beans, spinach, tomatoes, green or red pepper, onion, dash of lemon juice , and water, blending until smooth. Spices vary depending on what type of soup I’m making, but a dash of lemon juice really brings out the flavors. It’s great on its own, or as a base for hearty vegetable soup, chicken tortilla soup, tomato-spinach soup and more.

Lately, besides soups, I’ve been making a lot of one-pot meals. I throw a few items into the pressure cooker and 20 minutes later, open it up and there’s a nice dinner. Not gourmet, but flavorful and good for a quick supper. Tonight’s feature recipe is one of those that can be cooked in a pressure cooker or saucepan. Put it together, cover and a bit later, dinner.

Let’s start with some other quick and easy recipes:

In the photo above, JeffreyW takes leftovers and makes a whole new awesome dinner. That’s why I always try to make extra sauce and freeze leftovers for quick meals.

A Vegetable Pasta Toss (recipe here) is a friend of mine’s go-to meal on busy school nights. She varies the vegetables and spices to change it up.

Crispy Potato Chicken (recipe, full dinner menu and shopping list here) is easier than it sounds and a great way to shake up that typical chicken and potato dinner. Also you can easily substitute fish or pork chops for the chicken.

If you are like me and received pears for Christmas, here are two fresh and easy recipes with pears as the centerpiece:

Asian Pear, Cabbage and Grape Salad (click here)

Walnut Pear Salad (click here – there is also a dinner menu, Beef and Pepper Sub recipe and shopping list at that link)

I messed up the settings on my camera over the holidays (fixed now), so I’m a little short on photos this week. But here is a cell phone shot of my walk yesterday with the Bixster:

Bixby by the river 1 7 16

Tonight’s feature recipe is truly one-pot. I’ve made it in the pressure cooker successfully, but unless you’re confident with your pressure cooker, I’d stick with the saucepan. Unless you have an electric pressure cooker, like JeffreyW’s new one. I’ve paired it with an easy vegetable side.

Spicy Chicken & Rice

  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 4 boneless chicken thighs (breast if you prefer)
  • 1 green pepper (substitute yellow or orange if you prefer)
  • 1 red pepper
  • 1 onion
  • 1-2 tbsp pickled sliced jalapeños
  • 1 cup uncooked rice
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup chicken broth
  • 14 oz can diced tomatoes
  • 2 oz sliced black olives (opt)

large saucepan or dutch oven

Heat ½ tbsp oil in pan, add chicken and cook until browned on both sides. Remove and set aside to cool enough to cut into large pieces.  Add remaining oil, onion, peppers & jalapenos to pan and sauté.  Stir in uncooked rice and stir for 1 minute.  Add water, chicken broth, tomatoes, & chicken to pan.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and let simmer, covered, until rice is tender, about 20 minutes.  Add olives and serve.

Peas w/Mushrooms & Onions

  • 8 oz pearl onions (fresh or frozen)
  • 4 mushrooms, washed & sliced
  • ½ tbsp olive oil
  • ½ tbsp butter
  • 16 oz frozen peas
  • salt & pepper to taste

saucepan with lid, bowl

In the saucepan over medium, heat oil and butter. Add onions, mushrooms and stir until onions are softened. Remove to a bowl. Add peas and a splash of water to the saucepan and cover. Let simmer until peas are heated through. Add more water as needed – but you want them to steam, not boil. Once they are heated through, add mushroom mixture back to the saucepan and toss, adding salt and pepper to taste.

That’s it for this week. Next week I’ll continue to try and highlight recipes that are fresh and easy, to combat the winter blues – TaMara

spring training ball

 

Remember, only 42 days until spring training.  87 until opening day.

ETA: Holy punctuation Batman, what is with the dancing periods and big spaces? I’m sure Opus is behind this.

Reader Interactions

81Comments

  3. 3.

    Mike J

    Never tried shredded potatoes for the potato encrusted chicken (fish). I do halibut with potato cut to 1/16th of an inch on a mandolin that’s the same idea, but probably more work than throwing the shred blade on the foodpro.

  4. 4.

    Keith G

    A Tex Mex/English fusion menu tonight.

    Tacos with marinaded Chicken breast and gin and tonics.

    Hail has been falling all around my place for better part of five minutes which seems mighty long to me, though the impacts have lightened up.

  5. 5.

    TaMara (BHF)

    @tybee: Sweet red pepper.

    @SiubhanDuinne: I’m still getting used to this whole European Great Dane physique. It’s so much bigger and sturdier than my previous Danes.I take him to the vet office once a month to weigh him and have them reassure me he’s the right weight for his build. I have no frame of reference otherwise.

  6. 6.

    Adam L Silverman

    Glad you’re back. I was worried I’d have to do a recipe this week and offend our new vegan friends.

  12. 12.

    TaMara (BHF)

    @debbie: This is actually the spot where I think he hit on mountain lion scent one late afternoon. They follow the river down. I couldn’t get him to budge and all his hackles went up, that never happens.

    Although, there is a beaver den there too, and they fascinate him, too.

  14. 14.

    Adam L Silverman

    @JPL: It was what it was. I personally think the author needed to turn the enthusiasm down a bit, but I’ve been fighting a nasty head cold all week, so my perspective might be a bit skewed. I’m pretty sure I’ve been too snarky in some of my comment remarks the past couple of days because I’m not feeling well.

    The one place I wanted to jump into the comments on that post was in regards to Schrondinger’s remarks about food, culture, and use of the cultural nature of food as a manner of social control.

  15. 15.

    Mnemosyne

    I think there’s still some bacon and cheddar frittata left in the fridge. That’s sounding good with some sourdough bread. (Yes, I’m supposed to stop eating wheat because of FODMAPs. I can’t.)

    If not, there should be some beef stew I made in the crockpot with Zinfandel wine (red, not white). My crockpot seems to run hot, so I cooked the potatoes separately and stirred them in right before serving rather than including them in the all-day cooking. Otherwise, they end up weird and gummy.

  16. 16.

    Davebo

    Bixster is one fabulous looking dog!

    I made a huge batch of Texas Goulash a couple of days ago and though it’s one of those dishes that is better the day after I’m starting to get tired of it.

  18. 18.

    Mike J

    Watching the remastered Ziggy concert on TV. Bowie’s the only person who could be glam and punk, two polar opposites, simultaneously.

  19. 19.

    Adam L Silverman

    @TaMara (BHF): So a funny great dane story. My former commanding general got a great dane puppy shortly after he took command. In August of 2013 at an outdoor function for all the students, faculty, staff and their families where people could bring their dogs if they wanted, he and his wife brought the puppy. She’s holding the puppies leash. I’m standing there talking to him and our Command Sergeant Major when someone walks by with a little poodle or something and the great dane puppy decided it wanted to play with the poodle. This, of course, dragged the commandant’s wife off her feet as the puppy lunged. It was hysterical to watch. And everyone tried not to laugh. Fortunately the Old Man and his wife both had great senses of humor and no one was hurt.

  20. 20.

    Mnemosyne

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Food is definitely a cultural and tribal marker, and some people wield it like a club. I frequently am simultaneously annoyed with evangelical vegans and annoyed with the people who feel entitled to harass people with “funny” diets like veganism.

  21. 21.

    SP

    I made the upside down eggplant cake here and it came out great on the first try. My wife said it tasted like it was from this great Turkish restaurant we love. It was a lot of work, mostly slicing prep, but not too difficult in terms of technique.

  22. 22.

    TaMara (BHF)

    @Adam L Silverman: Ok, as an Air Force brat whose dad was the assistant to the base commander, that is hysterical. Can’t imagine.

    Bixby and I have had our issues – before he was neutered, he was a dog on a mission and I was just the thing at the end of the leash that he dragged along with him.

    Now he’s 160 lbs and outweighs me considerably, but has more emotional control, we have strict rules, the moment he pulls in any direction, the walk is over and we go home. Otherwise, I’d lose daily. Each day he gets more and more control – though squirrels still vex him.

  26. 26.

    JPL

    @TaMara (BHF): A squirrel once stole one of my dogs balls… fk squirrels. The former great Miss Moxie once treed a squirrel who then fell from the tree. Once on the ground neither knew what to do.

  30. 30.

    Mnemosyne

    @TaMara (BHF):

    I am known as the Walking Encyclopedia at work, and yet I couldn’t pass the “Jeopardy!” exam. Sigh.

    (I haven’t tried it in 20 years, though. Maybe I should give it another shot.)

  31. 31.

    JPL

    @Adam L Silverman: One thing I dislike is painting with a wide brush and insinuating there is no way to humanely raise animals for food. I buy beef, pork and eggs from a local farmer and it is possible to raise animals humanely. It’s no different than saying there was a bad teacher in timbuktu and all teachers are bad. imo

  32. 32.

    TaMara (BHF)

    @Mnemosyne: Funny story, I was in LA and my agent wanted desperately to be on any game show, including Jeopardy. She dragged me to an audition for the new Match Game – ten minutes in, they’d picked me and not her (just what you want, to piss off your agent – but she was a good sport and rooted for me). We filmed a few days later. I won, too.

    It was all very fun for me because I used to love the old one with Richard Dawson and his very dirty answers. LOL.

  33. 33.

    muddy

    @Roger Moore: I thought of that and discarded it, because surely vegan people don’t expect babies to drink coconut milk? I hope not.

    I was thinking more about the bloodthirsty nature of cows. They eat chickens. Of course chickens will peck each other to death if they don’t get enough “flesh” as well.

  35. 35.

    schrodinger's cat

    @muddy: Do people actually drink coconut milk? It is very fatty, it would be like drinking heavy cream.

    ETA: In the coastal cuisine from western India, it performs basically the same role as cream does in classic French cuisine.

  36. 36.

    muddy

    @JPL: Agreed. I don’t eat what I call “misery meat”. I can’t think that a stressed animal pumped full of drugs is good for you to eat. You can taste the misery in it.

  37. 37.

    muddy

    @schrodinger’s cat: I’ve seen a version of Silk, in the half-gallon carton that says coconut milk. I assume it’s sweetened and doesn’t separate?

    ETA: it was next to the Silk soy and the almond milk, refrigerated.

  38. 38.

    Gin & Tonic

    @schrodinger’s cat: Two of my millennial-aged kids living in Brooklyn told me a quintessential young-New-York “joke”: How can you tell one of your co-workers is vegan? Don’t worry, they’ll tell you.

  40. 40.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @TaMara (BHF): Bixby is a delightful Dane! And that’s a lovely photo, cell phone or not. Squirrels vex most dogs I suspect.

    @TaMara (BHF): PS – that’s an amazing story! Richard Dawson was the bomb.

  41. 41.

    Adam L Silverman

    @TaMara (BHF): Its even funnier because she’s only about 5’5 or so. And the puppy was a little over one at the time, so pretty decent sized already.

  42. 42.

    schrodinger's cat

    @muddy: Oh I have seen it too, its not exactly what I would call coconut milk as in extracted from the flesh of a fresh coconut. Its a concoction of coconut milk and lots of sugar and mysterious food like substances and thickeners.

  45. 45.

    Adam L Silverman

    @muddy: If they’re grass fed, I would think they would classify. Unless we’ve decided that grass is meat? In that case I need to to take my beef mower out tomorrow and trim the meat around the patio.

  46. 46.

    muddy

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Once walking with my dog when he was young, he saw a squirrel. It ran behind a very large tree and ran up the back side. He thought it just vanished.

    But he’d rush to look around the back of every large tree for a while after that, in case it turned up in the back of one of them.

  47. 47.

    TaMara (BHF)

    I am all for people who decide vegan works for them. It’s not something that works for me. But I can definitely get behind people becoming more connected with their food – where it comes from, how it’s handled and in the case of animals, humane treatment. My grandparents were farmers and I spent a lot of time there, and understood the nature of what it meant to have chicken for dinner or bacon for breakfast.

    One of the reasons I love the garden threads here is because people share these great, connected experiences to their food.

    And yes, on a personal level I have issues when my vegetables are overly processed and shaped like meat patties. But who am I to judge, I’m eating chocolate chip cookies for dinner tonight.

  48. 48.

    JPL

    @muddy: My latest rescue is Finch.. He eats worms and my neighbors’ son said what do you expect, you named him after a bird. The dog also catches field mice and plays with them.

  50. 50.

    muddy

    @Adam L Silverman: It’s that cows don’t restrict themselves to grass naturally. It’s only people that are perfect vegans I think. Cows will eat warmblooded critters if they feel the dietary need.

  51. 51.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mnemosyne: @efgoldman: I tried out for the college one when I was in grad school. It was a scam. At each regional test they were only going to take a set number. Several of us tied on our tests for what would be the last spot. Rather than have a competitive way to resolve the tie, they just selected one of us at random.

  53. 53.

    Adam L Silverman

    @JPL: @muddy: I try to only purchase, and consume, humanely raised, grass fed, or if poultry naturally fed, free range beef, lamb, bison, and poultry. Can be a little hard if eating out, but for at home consumption, that’s what I do.

  55. 55.

    muddy

    @JPL: I’ve seen my dog catch and kill small critters in the yard (birds, squirrels, chipmunks), so I know that she knows the procedure. The other night the 2 dogs found a giant rabbit out in their yard, and chased the poor thing from fence to fence.

    Finally Gracie got it but then just held it there against the ground. I went down and told her to Leave It. I picked it up but it would only cringe. I pulled on the paws a little to see if they worked (pulling them back) and since they did I just left it there. It made off a short time later, hopefully without internal injury.

    I don’t know why she didn’t kill it, but I wondered if once she got it down it felt like one of her cats, who she treasures and cares for. Or maybe she just didn’t have a good grip, I dunno. I was glad not to have to dispatch it.

  60. 60.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @TaMara (BHF): You win! I had popcorn. I made crockpot chicken stew for Mr. Q with coconut milk, coriander, paprika, red lentils, and curry. Also garlic, shallots, carrots and celery as well as a bit of ground cinnamon. It was a “cook what’s in the pantry and refrigerator” and he liked it. I couldn’t even manage the aroma. I’d have had chocolate chip cookies if I’d had any.

  61. 61.

    RSA

    @JPL:

    One thing I dislike is painting with a wide brush and insinuating there is no way to humanely raise animals for food.

    In the vegan thread, someone asked why there was snark, or something like that, and I think part of the answer is that some vegan writing seems intended to be persuasive in a particular way. “Try this because it’s vegan,” rather than just “Try this because it tastes good.” I don’t know, but I suspect that a humane farmer posting a meat recipe to a vegan audience would encounter comparable resistance.

  70. 70.

    JPL

    @muddy: The back yard is fenced and my plot is close to an acre but I back up to 12 acres. Many critters have gone to the great burial grounds over the fence. I sorta felt bad about the mouse being tossed in the air though. He/she didn’t make it though so over the fence it went.

  71. 71.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    I usually try to make pepperoni rolls for our neighborhood potluck, but I’ve never been happy with the way they turn out and I thought I would try something different this year. I made a variation of JeffreyW’s cheese crackers. It was my first attempt at making something like this. They were quite tasty, but more like thin cheese biscuits than crackers – maybe crackits. ;-) I probably didn’t make them thin enough before baking (the dough stuck to my rolling pin, so I ended up using my hands to smash the dough flat).

    ===
    Spicy Cheese Crackits

    Makes ~ 50 each ~ 2-inch diameter thick bisucit/crackers
    Preheat oven to 400F. Take eggs, milk, butter, cheese out of refrigerator.

    rectangular metal baking sheet
    silicone baking sheet
    plastic cutting board (or equivalent)
    rolling pin
    ~ 2-inch diameter glass
    fork

    16 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese. Grated coarsely.
    2 cup all-purpose flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour
    1 teaspoon baking powder
    1 teaspoon paprika
    1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
    1 teaspoon “Mrs Dash” salt-free spices (or equivalent)
    1/2 teaspoon onion powder
    1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
    1 stick (4 oz) salted butter
    2 egg yolks (large, warmed to near room temperature), beaten
    1 cup milk (2%)
    table salt

    Mix dry ingredients in large bowl.
    Cut butter into flour with table knives, then use metal whisk to chop butter into grain-size pieces (~ 1-2 min).
    Mix shredded cheddar cheese into flour+butter mixture, form into a rough uniform mixture.
    Mix egg yolks until smooth, then add milk and mix well.
    Add egg+milk mixture to dry mixture, mix by hand and make sure all of the dry ingredients are wet.
    Turn dough out onto cutting board and kneed until well mixed, and becomes easy to handle (a few minutes)

    Cover dough, refrigerate 30 min.

    Remove dough, form into a smooth ball, cut off ~ 1/4 of dough, roll flat and try to flatten to less than 1/8″ thick.
    Cut with glass to desired size, place on silicone sheet on baking sheet ~ 1/4-inch apart.

    Continue rolling dough and cutting into desired shape until the Crackits cover the available space.

    Poke Crackits with fork to help minimize ballooning of the snacks.
    Sprinkle with a few grains of table salt (to taste)

    Bake at 400 F until the tops just begin to darken (~ 15 minutes).

    Remove from oven, let rest briefly, then remove from silicone sheet to cool.

    Enjoy while warm!

    ===

    They are wonderful when they’re still warm, very flavorful and a little chewy, with a little bit of “heat” from the pepper a few seconds after chewing on them.

    When they cool, they’re not “cracker-y”, and they’re not quite as good as when warm. The bottom half of the Crackit, especially, is quite chewy. Perhaps shredding the cheese finer, making the dough even thinner, and maybe increasing the flour-to-cheese ratio will make them more cracker-like.

    I’ll probably try making them again. If JeffreyW or others have suggestions, please let me know.

    Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  72. 72.

    muddy

    @JPL: In winter I have been known to give “burial at sea” to maimed mousies the cats bring me. Seems quick. Once though, there was a mineral buildup ring, and the mouse was grabbing at it and actually getting a little purchase. I was dying, Don’t have hope! Just drown quickly, no hope! I had to hold him under with the toilet brush because I couldn’t let him have pointless hope while I was waiting for the toilet to refill. At least by that I knew it really was very fast.

    Stupid animals, they need to learn to be more immediately lethal.

  74. 74.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @TaMara (BHF): Baud dammit, my teleporter is on the fritz. I’m envious just thinking about the cookies.

    @schrodinger’s cat: Really? I confess I also added turmeric and ginger. I can’t wait to tell Mr. Q. Where would I find a recipe for that actual dish?

  75. 75.

    Gvg

    When I was young, I was a pizza delivery person for awhile and saw a lot of homes and people. Someone had a huge Oscar fish in an aquarium with a large goldfish. A very large goldfish. I knew Oscars ate feeder fish and goldfish are slow and gentle so I asked about it. The owner said he used to feed it goldfish but it got less interested as it grew up and never bothered to eat the last one which had been in there unbothered for a few years. Oscar now liked pellets and preferred the ones with more veggie, though those type of pellets usually had fish meal n such. Just a weird fish because that species is not gentle.

  76. 76.

    TaMara (BHF)

    @schrodinger’s cat: You have such a great and different recipe palate than what I make – are you posting them on your website? I’d like to include some of your favorites in some of the Friday posts.

    ETA: I just popped over and you do indeed have an entire category dedicated to food. What do you think of my including a few on Fridays?

  77. 77.

    pete mack

    I’m on a galangal/lime binge right now. Last week, Thai lemongrass soup. Yesterday, with leftovers, more or less pad Thai. The Williams-Sonoma recipe for lemongrass mushroom/chicken soup, slightly modified (only one can coconut milk and fewer kaffir leaves; add Thai basil) is really excellent.

  78. 78.

    PurpleGirl

    @TaMara (BHF): I was helping my cat rescuer friend at Petco (she brings in kittens/cats for adoption) one day and a lady and friends came in the store with a big — BIG — gray Great Dane. And she said he wasn’t at adult size yet. The dog was definitely leading the lady around. But he did seem gentle. But he was just big.

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