What did you cook today?

I'm going to sample one of the jars of the traditional kimchi tomorrow. I can't wait to see how it turned out. I'll probably put both jars in the fridge tomorrow. I need the two lids to make another batch of veggies. We have a farmer's market that sets up a stand across from the lake on Fridays so I bought bell peppers today to make fermented peppers (I'll had some hot peppers to it too) and cucumbers to make another jar of fermented dill pickles.

 

DO you have a lot of experience fermenting things? It is something I really want to try. Fermented salsa and kimchi were at the top of my list of fermented things to try. If you have any tips I would love to hear them!

 

Actually people here got me started (and hooked!). I was interested in more natural probiotics than supplements which half the time are dead. I'm still experimenting. If you read back in this thread there are lots of tips, but I've also started doing a lot of reading about it, it's becoming quite popular so there are a lot of resources. I recently bought airlocks to try. I haven't tasted those batches yet, they're still fermenting in the cool room. A few of us here have started because of all the talk about it in this thread. Now you can join the fermenting craze!

 

We had a bunch of veggies from our CSA to use up, so I made a big stirfry yesterday. Lots of pak choy, garlic scapes, scallions, swiss chard, and rice.

 

Alpaca burgers. nothing really special, its kinda lean, slightly sweet like venison, need to add some fat so I stuck some cheddar cheese in there with the cornflakes mush to keep em stuck together.

 

That sounds good. I haven't tried alpaca. I really liked the bison steak I had last year. I have an elk steak in the freezer that I want to make chili with, once it cools down. I bought a Mayan chili powder (hot chilis and chocolate). The recipe I found was for bison, but I want to use the elk I have. I think the Mayan chili powder will compliment the elk.

 

I tasted the kimchi today. OMG it is so good. I'll definitely be making it again. These are the lids with the airlocks that I'm trying. When it's done and I put the jar in the fridge, I put the regular Mason jar lid on so I can use the fermenting lids for a new batch of veggies.





So with the two kimchi jars in the fridge now, I made the bell peppers and dill cukes. The farmer's stand didn't have small pickling cukes so I bought regular cucumbers and quartered them. For the bell peppers I just used oregano and bay leaf as the spices, with chopped garlic and red onion and one Fresno hot pepper, with just a slit in it. For the cukes I used mustard seed, black peppercorns, cloves, fennel seed, dill seed, bay leaf, fresh tarragon, and lots of fresh dill.

I packed both jars with horseradish leaves. The tannins in the leaves are supposed to help keep the veggies crisp, especially the cucumbers. I used horseradish because that's what I have plenty of in the garden, but you can use grape leaves, oak leaves, sour cherry leaves… probably other leaves as well. It's my first time trying the leaves, so we'll see if it makes a difference. I'll probably ferment these for about a week.


bell peppers, seeded




chopped into square(ish) pieces




chopped onions




chopped garlic




stuffing the jars with my trusty vegetable funnel (makes less of a mess)




horseradish leaves added




bell peppers and dill cukes with lids, ready to ferment

 

Right now I am cooking a beer can chicken, curried roasted carrots, and curried rice pilaf with apricots and nuts. I will try to get a pic when it is finished if everyone doesn't dig in too fast.

 

Here's a pic of the kimchi on a plate. It is so good. Expanse is right, it goes well with so many dishes.





Today I put the fermented cukes in the fridge. I fermented them for 3 days. I prefer them not too strong, and I found since they keep fermenting in the fridge, they tend to get a bit too sour by the end of the jar. I think the horseradish leaves helped with the crispness, they're definitely crispier than the last batch. I also put one of the jars of cabbage in the fridge. I fermented the cabbage for 4 weeks, the longest I've ever done. This was the first one I did with the airlocks. The cabbage turned out nice and crispy and no suspicious goo on the top. I highly recommend the airlocks from what I've seen so far. Another plus is that it highly decreases the odor while it's fermenting. I think I'll leave the other cabbage and the veggie mix jars another week or two. Gotta think of what I want to ferment next! I'll see what they have at the farmer's stand this week.

 

Ummm I forgot to take pics.... I got too hungry. Woops...

The curried rice turned out amazingly! It was my favourite of the dishes I made tonight. The apricots made it sweet and the dried chili's made it spicy. It was a lovely combination! I did add a bit too much liquid though since the apricots were fresh and I forgot to take that into account. It just ended up a bit more of a risotto texture instead, which was still fine.

And Omg that kimchi looks amazing lucy! I can't wait until my next market trip to pick up some nappa cabbage and chili's! I will be trying this soon!

 

Hotwater

 

I am getting ready to make some Cheddar Cheese Melt Hamburger Helper with ground pork sausage instead of ground beef. I'll use two boxes to one lb. meat and half the milk and water called for. My daughter made it like that with ground turkey last week and it was good.
It will make way more than hubby and I will eat in a few days so I'll freeze half of it.

I think I'll steam some broccoli to go with it.

 

pesto

 

The steamed broccoli was so pretty. It was actually broccoli slaw. After I steamed it I tossed it was butter seasoned with salt and pepper.

It was yummy and pretty.

 

ughgugughhh I made my pesto way too salty

 

I don't know a thing about Pesto.

 

shrimp on grits..

you make a hot sausage sauce, pepper and red sauce shit. no sausage, sub with shrimp. serve on grits..

 

Who was wanting ground beef recipes?

I remembered this one and it is awesome.http://allrecipes.com/recipe/easy-mexican-goulash/

The only real difference is I add black olives and canned corn. I don't drain either of them so I don't use the salsa. I also don't use the worchestershire..

Shit, here's what I do.

Brown the ground beef with the fresh chopped onion and bell pepper. Drain.
Add the egg noodles, a can of tomatoes, a can of corn, a can of ripe olives. Don't drain any of them.
Add chili powder to taste.
Cover and cook until noodles are done.
You might have to add some water.
When it's done, put grated cheese on top and cover it for a few minutes so the cheese melts.

Best stuff ever!

 

Buffalo wings with Maytag blue cheese dressing.

 

well sometimes i don't keep track.

salad mac cooks pretty quick for a non-instant type pasta.
in my usual broth of chicken bullion with a little lemon (and light on the bullion too, i have to watch my sodium)
with some kielbassa and babby spinich.

just simple things that don't take a lot of thought. one bowl in the micro.
but something a little different each time.