The Kitchen: all things delicious and disastrous

Maybe changing the bread would help. I exclusively use whole wheat or multigrain when I can. These denser breads can stand up to more abuse.

When I feel like cheese and bread I usually just grate some cheese on bread then stick it in the toaster oven. That way there are fewer variables. To avoid soggy, I put less cheese in the middle.

Accidentally doubled the salt in my soup for lunch today because I forgot I'd done that. Bleh.

Never cook on auto. -_-

Eugh, Euo.

Craving sushi tonight but alas. It is a noodles and sauce kind of night instead.

Tried jambalaya last night, it was a tad too spicy for my liking.

Today is rack of lamb day! ...wish me luck in not turning the thing to charcoal.

Mmm! just watch your cook time and temp and it should be fine. rack of lamb is delish!

It WAS delish! Except my mom is apparently a heathen and eats hers well done, so that part of the rack got to stay in the oven.

The main problem ended up being cleanup. The rack I got had a centimeter-thick layer of fat on top, so grease got everywhere.

For the record, mushrooms sautéed in lamb drippings is DIVINE.

mmmm!!! You are making my mouth water...

Good thing i've got some lambchops in the fridge for tomorrow ;p

I've been making burritos with Walmart's Great Value frozen pulled chicken. A good two and a half dollars cheaper than name brand because it's basically trimmings, which suits me fine because it's mostly exactly the size I want my chicken pieces to be in my burritos. But I've been experimenting with shopping at other stores, and they don't have pulled chicken (HEB doesn't even appear to have a store brand frozen chicken). Today I discovered that the Market Pantry chicken I bought last night was whole boneless skinless breasts.

Quick and easy but not as quick and easy as I wanted, better burrito chicken

1. Discover the chicken is whole breasts
2. Microwave one on high two minutes
3. Cut chicken into about two-inch pieces
4. Microwave another two minutes
5. Decide since the chicken is going to need another heat source to properly cook, the frying pan would be faster than the oven, dump in pan
6. Figure if I'm using the frying pan, I might as well experiment with taco seasoning like I've been considering
7. Shake out a little garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, and cumin over the chicken in the pan
8. Continue cutting into smaller pieces and stirring until the chicken seems cooked.
9. Makes two generous burritos

edited 3rd May '16 6:45:36 PM by TParadox

Skip the microwave entirely next time, chop up chicken first and p[an sear for about 15. yum!

Or if going from frozen, stick it in the pan at low heat, add a bit of water and a lid, and steam for 25 minutes or so. Remove chicken, slice and dice, then turn the heat high, let the water boil off A BIT (not all of it gone) add some seasoning and readd your chicken. The water and seasoning coats the chicken beautfully.

Cook the chicken sorta fajita style too. Take the chicken, cut into chunks or strips and fry it in oil (olive oil mixed in for taste + nutrition) and keep at it until all the water is reduced from it. When you start getting a caramelized golden brown on the meat you're ready.

Are quinoa supposed to be slightly crunchy when cooked? I cook it with twice the amount of water until it cracked and then left it until it soaked the rest of the water in.

I don't think so. The few times I had quinoa salad, they ended up tasting like barley. Which is gummy when properly cooked.

edited 7th May '16 8:28:21 PM by war877

So I cook it with 50% more water then add milk to make a porridge. It now feels gummy. That stuff sure is filling.

Pan-cooked my chicken in butter because it's the closest thing I've got to oil right now. Definitely helped the dryness.

Made a recipe for General Tso's Chicken from scratch. I overcooked the chicken a bit but it came out otherwise just fine. The mixture of hoisin sauce, soy sauce, lime juice, garlic, and other things just came out awesome. A bit spicy but it's the you feel it type spicy not "Ahh! Water!" type.

I'd definitely make it again.

Well, trying something pretty different with my chicken this time. There was a recipe on the back of the chicken breasts suggesting I chop up some onion and peppers and mix them up in a slow cooker with three breasts, a can of tomato and green chiles, and some chili powder and cumin.

I'll cook it tomorrow while I'm at work and see how it turns out. It didn't tell me to cut up the chicken, so I'm assuming it will fall apart while cooking.

The recipe claimed the "hands-on time" was ten minutes, and it probably would've gone faster if I was using a kitchen knife instead of a butter knife, but it took me about 45 to roughly dice three red bell peppers and one onion.

Dicing veggies is definitely something you get better at. And yeah, if the chicken isn't fall apart tender by the time you get home, some application of a fork should make it so. What liquid is going in that crock with all that good stuff?

The recipe didn't call for any extra liquid, so I didn't add any. I was nervous about that though, so I didn't drain the can of tomatoes and chiles as would have been my instinct.

I was really worried it was going to be completely dried out when I got home, but the veggies cooked down and made a broth the whole thing marinaded in. I wasn't confident the water stored in the veggies would be enough, but I figured it would be if they didn't call for extra liquid. It's actually so wet I kind of want to dump it in my colander before putting it in burritos.

When I stirred it all with a slotted spoon, the chicken held together, but when I got a fork to pull it out to cut, then it fell apart, so I tore the rest up with a fork. The inside isn't nearly as seasoned as the outside though. That would be a good reason to cut it up before cooking.

I skipped the salsa since this pretty much is salsa, but it felt like it was missing something. I guess I really should have bought guacamole this week.

This is becoming a great stew, if kind of bland. I don't want to get rid of the broth, but it's not compatible with tortillas.

Needs some more spice. I don't keep red or black pepper around because I don't generally use hot spice, but it seems to need it.

crockpot stew can wind up a bit bland. add some mroe salt to bring out the flavor, or drain it all, freeze the broth for stock for something else (it's nutritious) and burrito the lot with more salsa.

The bananas are overripe. Time for banana muffins with no eggs and a handful of leftover walnuts.

Adding salt helped a lot. The recipe didn't say to add any, just the chicken and veggies.

If I do this again, I'm gonna add some salt and red or black pepper to the spices.

Yeah, crockpots tend to sap flavor, and in my experience you always need to add more than even what the recipe calls for. It's nice though because once you get your ratios right, you end up with super quick easy savory meals. Try Dr. Pepper pork next!!

Well, I just made a new soup recipe. It didn't work too well. Every single time I use celery seed in a recipe, I regret it.

I was trying to replicate this Moroccan soup Campbell's came out with. But with more onion. Onion, vegetable broth, some barley, potato, kidney beans and chick peas, lemon juice, some cumin, and celery seed. It needed a lot of black pepper to be palatable.