Hamburger helper + an extra two cups or so of liquid (+an extra cup of water + cup of extra noodles if you want to stretch it) = pretty decent soup. EDIT: This is for a double batch, I should note. single batches are never really enough food.
I did the roux-based curry again and... Kind of disappointed, this time. The flavor's gone down a lot, which isn't a surprise since three of the roux blocks were from the fridge and didn't seem as fragrant as the others, but still sad. It should taste better in a few days, leaving it in the fridge to permeate the potatoes and sweet potatoes. Next time, I'm going to try seasoning the meat with curry powder and Goya-adobo instead of just salt and pepper. And probably add more garlic and onions too, like I only added one and a half tablespoons of garlic (for about 6-8 portions of curry, so it's really not that much at all) and one onion, so maybe upping it to two onions (one to be completely diced or even grated into the garlic + oil initial fry, and one to be rough-chopped and mixed in with the rest of the veg) should help out a lot.
Back when I was still on tumblr, @jacktrash posted his recipe for mushrooms, which I can't for the life of me find, so I basically winged it with how much I remember. What I remember: Don't let them layer in the pan, or they'll get spongy. And oh my gods those are delicious, really tender and nice **_** While I'm talking mushrooms, the following method I got from my dad: Take big shrooms, and remove the stem. Place them top down in a pan with a bit of oil, and cook/simmer/fry/???? on medium heat under the lid, until the shrooms are tender enough to slip off a fork. Chop the stems and some onion, and fry it afterwards with some bacon, serve together. Lemme tell you, that mushroom liquid that gathers in the hats is so. fucking. delicious. This here is tofu, marinated overnight in a mixture of soy sauce, sesame seed oil, sesame seeds, sugar, chili, and ginger. Currently frying. The recipe called for garlic, too, but I forgot to buy garlic. Whoops. For 450g tofu I used: 6 tbsp soy sauce 1-ish tbsp sesame seed oil 2 heaped tbsp sugar 2 heaped tbsp red flakey chili stuff a small ginger root 2 heaped ts sesame seeds The recipe also called for about half of it and just fry the plain tofu and serve the sauce afterwards, but nope. Not gonna go down that route, so I doubled the measurements and made a marinade. Also cooking rice. I've got a bottle of rice vinegar, and I put a bit in, idk if it's not enough or too muhc or ????. Will find out.
I discovered last night that the "thin sliced" chicken breasts my grocery store sells are PERFECT when coated in egg, dredged in flour with seasoned salt, garlic powder, and black pepper, and pan fried. Om nom nom. Next time I'll do a whole batch at once and eat the leftovers in sandwiches.
I wanted sweet things but what is effort. So I made Lazy Cookies. 1 cup peanut butter 3/4 cup sugar 1 egg Combine with spoon, roll into balls approx 1 tsp each, place into baking sheet covered in grease proof paper 5 cm apart, flatten with fork or thumb, bake at 180/gas 4 for 12-15 mins. Cool before eating or they crumble everywhere and you will burn your tongue. If you feel fancy you could stir in some chocolate chips or stick a chocolate button on top.
I made bread today!! I used this recipe to great success!! I ate so much of this bread. There's still an entire loaf. I smell slightly of bread now even though it's been hours?? I love it so much it was crunchy and kind of spongey and buttery and made a truly stunning grilled cheese oh my god.
finished the potato cakes; they are in the freezer. will finish the chicken casserole tomorrow, as my spare time today was eaten up by an impromptu nap that was way longer than I thought it was, making soup for moirail, and homework.
Brownie in a mug suggestions? I am really wanting chocolate right now, but the only options are making chocolate things myself.
It's finally soup weather where I live, which means chicken bog time! Chicken bog, if you haven't heard of it before, is basically like a super meaty savory rice porridge thing. Like, chicken and rice soup, but cooked way, way down. It is so good, but it takes a good while to make. Most of it is hands off time, though, and it can be modified to hell and back. You will need: A whole chicken 1 yellow onion 2-3 carrots Half a package of celery A smidgen of butter 8 cups of water 3 cups uncooked white rice A pound of smoked sausage or kielbasa Salt and black pepper to taste Some garlic, thyme, and a bay leaf if you're feeling fancy A stockpot Remove the chicken organs and discard. If you've got a neckbone, keep it, it adds magical deliciousness to your broth. Peel your carrots, and chop up them, your onions, your celery, and your garlic if you're using it. On medium low, heat a little butter in the bottom of your stock pot, and saute your veggies for a few minutes. Slice your sausage into pieces about half an inch thick. Cut up your chicken so it fits in the stock pot (I quarter it, but it doesn't matter) and add it, your sausage, and the water. Salt and pepper it a bit. Bring the water to a boil, then turn it down, cover the pot, and walk away for 45 minutes to an hour. Remove your chicken from the pot and let it cool. Remove the skin and bones and shred it up - not too fine, thick chicken chunks are awesome in this. Don't worry if your chicken isn't 100% cooked, it's going right back in the pot! Put it back in. Add your rice to the pot, along with the thyme and bay leaf if you're using them, and bring to a boil. Boil for 10 minutes, then turn down the heat and let it simmer for another 10-15. You're done when your rice has an Irish oatmeal kind of consistency here. Remove the bay leaf and serve. Makes a ton, and is almost better left over - add a tablespoon or so of chicken broth every time it goes in the fridge and the rice will just soak it up. Modifications! My mom made this with turkey a lot to use up thanksgiving leftovers, so you can eliminate cooking the chicken altogether in that case. You don't get that delicious broth you make yourself, though, so use six cups of chicken broth and two cups of water instead of just water. If you want more texture, replace one of the uncooked cups of rice with half a cup of barley. And finally, you don't actually need celery and carrots at all if you don't have them - just onion is great. It just adds a bit to your final flavor, and I like veggies. Those are just my modifications, though - it's a recipe that's pretty tolerant to change. ETA: some people tell you to skim the fat. Don't. That's where the goodness is.
If you add Cajun seasoning, a can of diced tomatoes and some chopped ham or a ham hock, that's basically my recipe for jambalaya :D Edit: And chopped bell peppers, any color.
