REMINDER - bean salad

 That's it.  That's the whole reminder, that my mom's bean salad recipe is so, so good.

book club 30 - Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

 2022-30

 

Sunday Dinner - my mom's split pea soup recipe

 The weather changed suddenly and horribly to winter early this year and now we have had daylight savings and it's dark all the time and cold and snowy and I hate it.  I am NOT a winter person, even though I made this pretty snowflake craft out of paper bags and will make more once I get my hands on more paper bags

I pulled out the big ole green binder to find my mom's pea soup recipe because pea soup sounded so comforting.

We had meat and cheese  - pimento cheese! - and bread and some raw veggies too.

My Mom's Pea Soup - with some changes from me

2 cups dried yellow split peas

1 1/2 - 2 lb smoked ham hocks

1 large onion, finely chopped

2 stalks celery, finely chopped

2 carrots, sliced

1-2 potatos, chopped

1 TB salt

2 litres water

Wash peas in a sieve under cold water - discard any that are discolored.  Place peas in a heavy 5-6 quart pot and add remaining ingredients.  Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 1 hour.  Remove the cover and simmer 20 minutes more.  Transfer the ham hocks to a cutting board and pull off the ham, cut into bite size chunks and return to the pot.  Simmer until peas and vegetables are tender, and adjust seasonings.

more bread by the mister

 

 

cookbook cleanup 38 - Simply Julia by Julia Turshen

 Book 38 is Simply Julia by Julia Turshen.  I am a big fan and was excited to get this as a gift (that I bought myself and then handed to the Mister and said here give this to me for mothers day).

 This is a really cool, easy to read book that is divided into 10 interesting chapters - Eleven chicken recipes,  Eleven favorite breakfasts.... with lots of stories and asides sprinkled throughout.

We've tried 6 recipes so far - 

Blueberry Crumble - classic and delicious

Stewed chicken with sour cream and chive dumplings

 

Sled Dog Muffins - the only "fail" for us - these were too dense and healthy for the fam.

 

Llubav's Green Spaghetti - spinach and kale and basil and feta....mmmmm

Sticky Chicken - a bit too salty, but easily fixed next time

 

We also tried Doug's Tex Mex Turkey Meatballs which were delicious,  and the Carrot and Chickpea Korma which was outstanding and the best dish we tried.  There's a lot more I want to try and will get back to this book soon.

Back on the bookshelf - 17 Donated -21

book club 29 - The Apollo Murders by Chris Hadfield

 2022-29

 

cookbook clean up 36 and 37 - another one bites the dust untested

I tried to consolidate all my cookbooks into one area in the house and give The Mister an area for his bread books - both the ones he's stolen from me and his own.  I underestimated space before I started and so they don't all fit on the bookshelf but maybe that's incentive to be a bit more ruthless with my cookbook cleanups.

The area behind the books stacked vertically does not have cookbooks in it, but some stuff that for now I don't have another place to put.  But by gathering them all together I discovered some books that I completely forgot about and am excited to get to.  I have not been cooking much interesting food lately but reading through cookbooks isn't appealing either.  Is ANYTHING appealing these days???

Anyhoo, say goodbye to - 

 Which just isn't sparking any interest, so goodbye.

We'll also say goodbye to this one, which I think I have already gotten rid of?  Or misplaced? Not sure.  But if I find it still here, it's on its way too.

 

 

 

Back on the bookshelf - 16 Donated -21

Pimento cheese

 The Mister and I were trying to figure out something for Sunday dinner and he discovered a ham hock in the freezer that I'd bought this summer for pea soup and since Winter showed up and kicked the door in to announce its arrival, I thought pea soup for dinner sounded good and moved on to looking for my moms recipe in the big old green binder.

The binder long ago abandoned being organized in any sort of sensible way, so instead I just flipped the pages, commenting on recipes that we haven't had for a while, or haven't even tried yet.  Honestly, some of this stuff is from the beginning time of my blog - 2004 for God sake!!!! - and we STILL haven't tried it?  

AnyHOO, I before I found the pea soup recipe I found 2 pimento cheese recipes and so The Mister and I started reminiscing about pimento cheese and the probably 4 times we've ever had it.  Next thing I knew The Mister was in the kitchen yelling that we had all the ingredients and how much cheese should he grate.

I didn't note where the recipe came from but it looked it was from Bon Apetit or Gourmet (RIP).

Basically for half a recipe you want 2 cups shredded cheddar, 1/2 cup finely chopped pimento, 1/4 cup (or more) mayo, and season with celery salt.

Ideally we should have used the finer cheese grater for a smoother texture but honestly it doesn't really matter.  It's SO good on bread, chips, toast, sandwiches, crackers, a spoon......yum.

book club 28 - the humanity project by jean thompson

 2022-28

 

Instant Pot HK Beef Curry

 I was rooting through the freezer and I found some stew meat.  I made a mental note (HA!) to keep that in mind to use up soon.  A couple of days later I realized that the little butternut squash and sweet potato I had bought on a whim a few weeks ago were still sitting on the counter.  I needed to use those up!  But how?  Ooooh, maybe a curry!  With coconut milk.  Over rice!

I decided last weekend to make a veg curry for dinner and then remember the beef.  Might as well use that too.  I started googling and soon came up with a potential winner curry to make in the instant pot so that the beef would be tender without me having to cook it on the stove all day.

By 4:30 I was pretty darn tired after tacking some extra cleaning jobs in addition to our usual weekend clean and my knees were so sore from getting up and down off chairs, being on the floor to clean out cupboards.  It was a bit depressing.  I started loosely following the curry recipe with The Mister backseat cooking over my shoulder.  The kids were apparently starving like the hadn't just eaten a snack 20 minutes earlier, so when the rice was done, it was chaos in the kitchen.  I was so focused on trying to get them sorted out and stop the complaining from both of them that I completely forgot the last few steps of the recipe - adding the coconut milk (NOOOOOOOOOOOOO), a bit of sugar, thickening the sauce...... 

 

In the end, it was delicious, and we all enjoyed it - The Boy even had seconds!  But I will make this again and add more curry - The Mister made me stop at 1 1/2 TB - and the rest of the ingredients.  What an idea!   I also realize as I write this that I didn't add the squash or sweet potato, which started this whole dang thing.  Jeez.

Recipe - Instant Pot HK Beef Curry