Fridge-Cleanout Nachos

Snowy, lazy Saturday...and I want nachos.  I've actually wanted nachos for about a week but I've been really good lately about eating right.  And nachos aren't what one would call healthy. 

So I'm feeling snacky and I decide that nachos at home are better for you than ordering nachos at a restaurant, especially in the portion control dept.  I comb the fridge, picking out stuff on hand and start throwing away expired stuff as well. 

Nachos.  I used up a quarter bag of Tostitos Scoops and tossed out a bag of tostitos fragments.  Added minced shallot (from the fridge)  and some pickled pepperoncini slices.  A palmful of shredded cheddar and it's off to the toaster oven.  Afterwards, a couple spoonfuls of jarred mild salsa, topped with chunks of avocado.  Delicious and just the right amount to satisfy the craving.

And on the way I threw out the following:  a jar half-full of spicy chili paste.   Two-year-old maple barbecue sauce.  Kalamata olives.  Homemade pickled jalapeño and onion.  The oldest condiment was a jar of capers, and I have no idea how old they were.  And oops... the olives expired sometime in 2018.  Guess I should wear my glasses when I'm cleaning out the fridge!

Under Pressure

My pressure cooker is definitely the most underused appliance in my kitchen.  So when I was browsing cookbooks recently at the library, a cookbook specializing in pressure cooker recipes caught my eye.  We chose three recipes for the menu this week:

Pot Roast with Potatoes

By and far the best recipe of the three, but definitely took the most time to prepare.  It was a good choice for a  Sunday night dinner, and had lots of great flavor.



Enchilada-Glazed Chicken Tacos

This made a tasty, saucy shredded chicken, which we served with flour tortillas, rice and beans and for the grown-ups, sliced avocado.  (Though the kids can try this whenever they like!)
However tasty it was, though, my taco completely fell apart.  Leftovers were taco "bowls" with all the fixings.


Pork Chops with Buttery Apples served over Shaved Brussels Sprouts

This was definitely the worst recipe of the three.  Overdone pork, apples turned to mushy sauce, and watery shaved Brussels sprouts.  Brian and I each ate a bit and it did little more than "fill the belly."  All leftovers were promptly discarded and we tried to forget the sadness of this recipe.


So....thoughts on pressure cookers.

1.  The "browning" feature?  It doesn't really brown, at least not as well as on the stovetop.

2.  I didn't find any of these recipes to be a huge timesaver.  The pot roast recipe took about three hours.  Which, I guess, is a timesaver compared to how long it takes to make a pot roast and potatoes in the oven.

That being said, I'd still try some different recipes with the pressure cooker.  It is great for "set it and forget it" until it's time to depressurize.  Think we'll stick to weekends, though.

Improv Night

So, what does one do when they put Salisbury Steak on the menu?  Get a recipe?

Brian don't need no stinkin' recipe.

Voila!  Salisbury steak, improvised.

It was delicious.  Brian and I thought so, anyway.  Sean gave it a try and ended up eating four bites.

Will, on the other hand, was ok with the flavor until he found the greenery.  (Parsley, and maybe a little spinach.)  Then he pronounced it "a combination of a murdered cow and a vegetable garden."

In other news.....laughter will egg your ten-year-old on.  It's important to keep a stern face in these matters.  Or, at least try.

Strata

Thursday's becoming my turn to cook dinner.  I didn't pick this recipe, but it couldn't have been easier.

Egg and Cheese Strata, from America's Test Kitchen 30-minute meals.

Basically, saute onions, add cubed bread and toast it, then fold in scrambled-egg batter with cheese.  Push down on it a little, kind of like french toast, to get the bread to soak up the mix.  Bake for 12 minutes, and voila!  Dinner.  Add hash browns and sausage for the full effect.

Now, what the heck is the difference between a frittata and a strata??  I must find out.

"Chopped"

One of Brian's favorite shows is "Chopped" on the Food Network.  The goal is to create a dish in each of three rounds that uses four food items that are presented at the beginning of the challenge.   It's fun but I think daunting to anyone other than a professional chef....sometimes there are outlandish ingredients or things that just do not seem to go together!

Last year I got Brian a "Chopped" cookbook for Christmas and the couple of recipes thst we've tried were pretty good.  Tonight he made a coconut panna cotta with candied peanuts.  First, panna cotta is kind of like flan.  (Which we love!)  Second, he had every single ingredient in the house and was using up Pantry ingredients.  It was delicious...not super sweet, very creamy.  The peanut brittle topping was the best part, though.   A keeper for sure!

It's Apple Season Again!

We went apple picking this weekend, and managed not to go overboard with the number of apples that we brought home.  That's got to be a record!

The first thing I made was apple butter.  Homemade apple butter is sooooooo good.  Store-bought just cannot compete with homemade.  The apples spent ten hours in the crockpot, which seemed to me to be a really long time.  But it was definitely worth it.  A trip in the blender made the apples nice and smooth, and this batch debuted on some biscuits the next night next to some pork chops and butternut squash.  It made for a LOVELY fall dinner.  :)

This is the recipe that I used.  "Tastes of Lizzy" Apple Butter

Strawberries in September??

I bought a strawberry plant or two for our deck this year.  The summer went by, we got a couple of small berries, but the woodsy creatures got to them first.  I'd pretty much given up on it when Brian told me last week that there was one ripe strawberry on the plant.  I promptly went outside and ate it.  It was the sweetest little strawberry that I have ever tasted!

Then more berries came.  Brian ate a couple, and I put the rest on my Cheerios yesterday.

Then I looked outside this morning and guess what?  MORE!  It's a Strawberry Miracle!

Guess I *will* try strawberry plants again next year.

As for the rest of my plants, I got a ton of cilantro, basil, parsley and oregano.  Good lord, the oregano!  Apparently basil needs to be harvested quicker than I did though, because I chopped some up for chicken soup the other day and it tasted "woody."  Which is a shame, because it's my favorite.

The green beans were a mostly-fail.  Bugs or critters got most of them, we got one handful and steamed them for dinner one night.  I had several jalapenos and anaheim chilies, so I'd try them again, too.  Nothing on the blueberry plant, but tons of cherry tomatoes.  Too bad only a few would ripen at a time, so they became a snack every day instead of in a salad.  All in all, not a bad year!