#Which is basically just a bowl of ghost pepper hot sauce | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

daydreamingleclerc · 3 years ago

Text

spill your guts or fill your guts - mason mount

standing in as a talk show host and having to interview your footballer boyfriend means only one thing — you have to play the most infamous game and answer questions that get far too personal for the TV, until mason asks you the most personal question of all.

TRIGGER WARNING: j*mes c*rden is mentioned. read at your own risk and don’t say i didn’t warn you </3 (there’s also a mention of gagging, wretching and some sexual references, but that’s pretty much it) x

pairing: mason mount x actress!reader

when you’d signed on originally, it was as a normal guest. you’d been on the show twice beforehand and people seemed to really take a shining to you, and when james took some time off for personal reasons a few months back, you’d been co-host for an entire week, standing beside some of the UK’s most prestigious celebrities, and interviewing famous people from all walks of life. tonight though, you were the third host in a line up of six — one for every night of the week, in the run up to your new movie’s release.

mason mount had been scheduled for a while, to talk about his charity work and his new, upcoming clothing range. originally, he was scheduled in for two weeks time, but when you’d agreed to host a show in the week prior to the release of missing pieces, the schedule suddenly changed. you would be interviewing him about all things charity, football and clothes, which would’ve been completely fine if he wasn’t your boyfriend of three years.

“hello and welcome back to the late, late show with me, y/n y/l/n.”

you waved at the cameras as you sat at the circular table ready for the next segment, nerves racing through your veins.

“if you’ve just joined us then you’ll notice i am in fact, not, james corden — i’m better because i don’t have a penis,” you joked, earning a laugh - and a few cheers — from the live crowd, and saw mason chuckling from the opposite side of the table. “now if you caught the show before the break, then you’ll know i was interviewing my boyfriend, mason mount, and now we’re gonna be doing our own form of relationship therapy in the form of spill your guts or fill your guts.”

you spun the table around, the strong scent of unappealing food filling your senses, and you watched with a smirk as mason coughed at one particular smell. “alright, so mason do you wanna tell the people what we have?” you rubbed your hands together in faux excitement, and mason shifted in his seat.

“we, uh, this is cows tongue, then we have witchety grub — which are still alive, by the way — thousand year old egg,” mason gagged at the smell of the living insects mingling in the bowl, and held his hand up to the camera to apologise, “ghost pepper hot sauce, a mushroom and pineapple smoothie-”

“-that’s the one that i’m most intrigued about,” you interrupted, pointing down at the thick substance with a little cocktail stick umbrella poking out, “because it’s like dinner and dessert in one.”

“what the hell is wrong with you?” mason stared at you blankly, a confused expression on his face, and you shrugged your shoulders as the audience laughed, “anyway, we have bird saliva, hot dog water, bull penis — or testicles, i can’t quite tell because the card doesn’t even know — and fish sperm.”

the two of you gave one another a look that said you regretted the choices made to sign onto the show, both as guest and host, and you laughed, turning to face the camera once more. “for those who haven’t seen the show, basically mason and i have some cards that we’re going to read questions from and the other person has to answer said question, and if they don’t answer the question they have to eat the delicious treat placed in front of them,” mason nodded as the camera panned around to him clapping his hands together, “now, considering i’m asking first, my love, i’m going to give you the ghost pepper hot sauce.”

mason rolled his eyes and watched as you spun the table round until the hot sauce wafted under his nose, and he gripped at the bucket between his feet already, you lined up your question cards and read the first one out, a laugh trickling from your lips. “mason, rank these teammates — who you claim are all your best friend — from best to worst,” he let out a chuckle and buried his head in his hands, “ben chilwell, trevoh chalobah, kai havertz, declan rice and reece james.”

the crowd made a noise as you placed the card on the table in front of you, a smirk on your lips. the question was definitely answerable, but equally you knew mason wouldn’t want to suffer getting rinsed by his teammates if he gave the linear order. “bloody hell, what did i do to deserve this?” he looked at the producers behind the camera, and then back at you. “i can answer it, i can definitely answer it.”

“hm, there’ll be an awful lot of tension in the training room on monday morning, if you’re not careful,” you cooed, sitting back and tutting.

“right, okay, uh, well dec’s always gonna be my number one, and then i’d probably say b — or would i say that?” he questioned himself, furrowing his eyebrows as he thought of what to say, and you just continued to watch him with a laugh, “okay, uh — bloody hell i’m gonna have to take the shot, aren’t i?”

he sniffed it as the crowd made a noise, but as quick as he said he would take it, he pulled away. “declan, ben, kai, trevoh and reece,” he spat out the names in quick succession in the hopes that you didn’t ask him to repeat them, and you gasped in shock, not believing he would actually answer it. mason’s cheeks were rosy as the audience calmed, and you shifted in your seat, still in shock that he actually gave an answer.

“i can’t believe you answered that,” you laughed, shaking your head as you looked at the array of food items on the table, your stomach doing backflips. “right, what’re you gonna give me?”

“wouldn’t you like to know,” mason muttered, shooting a wink towards you. the audience cooed, some whooped and cheered and you felt your cheeks get hot. it seemed mason forgot this was on live television. “i think i’m going to give you the cod sperm.”

you let out a noise of disapproval as mason spun the table until the bowl of thick, white spirals was placed in front of you. he was itching to ask how they got it, but he figured he’d pass up on the opportunity just in case it was worse than he imagined. “okay, y/n,” he pulled out his card, and as he read the question prior to announcing it, he laughed, “you’ve been in a lot of movies where you have steamy make out sessions with your co-stars, but, out of tom holland, florence pugh, chris hemsworth, or me; who’s the best kisser?”

mason sat opposite you with a little, evil smirk on his face as he fanned the card between his fingers, and the crowd made hissing noises and funny gasps that left your cheeks red. you knew that saying mason would be the expected — and truthful — answer, and he knew it too, but there was no harm in a little fun. “i mean, they’re all great kissers — like, i mean, great-”

“-they’re not gonna shag you, y/n,” mason shot back, a schoolboy grin on his face. you kicked him under the table, you heel digging into his shin as he flinched.

“thank you for that,” you shifted, and sniffed at the cod sperm underneath your nose, “florence is great, very attentive, tom is great — he’s got very soft lips — and chris is also great, but i didn’t like the beard.”

“what about me?”

“you’re my boyfriend, it’s different with you.”

“so who’re you saying?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows. you sniffed the sperm and poked your tongue out at it, the salt sticking to it like shit to a blanket. you made a face and turned to the producers, muttering something about it being far too salty for its own good. “what’s your order, y/n?”

you took a breath, “okay, so... mason mount, tom holland, florence pugh, chris hemsworth.”

the crowd cheered, and you let out a long, drawn out breath at the announcement, feeling like a weight dropped from your shoulders. you spun the table around, eyes scanning each item of food. “okay, mason, i love you and all but i’m gonna have to give you the egg,” mason made a grumbling noise in the back of his throat, and you couldn’t help but laugh as the audience cheered. you picked up the card and laughed, muttering a there’s no way he’ll answer this.

“okay mason, who, out of frank lampard and thomas tuchel is the best chelsea manager?”

he laughed, a rosy hue coming to his cheeks as he knew there was absolutely no way in hell the question would be answered. without even opening his mouth for an answer, he picked the fork up off of the table and picked up some of the black egg, dangling it into his mouth. you covered yours in an attempt to stop yourself from gagging, and you watched as he wretched and spat into the metal bin at his feet.

“oh my god, mason,” you buried your head in your hands as he continued to wretch, “how was it?”

“fuckin’ felt like i was on i’m a celeb for a minute there,” he replied, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. you still couldn’t believe what you’d just witnessed, but prepared yourself for the next onslaught. mason leaned over the table, and peered over at the bulls penis, which was already sitting in front of you. “i think i’m gonna leave you with the penis.”

“wouldn’t be the first time,” you muttered, shifting in your seat and eliciting a laugh from mason and the crowd. he grabbed the next card, and giggled.

“y/n, when we first started dating, the press reported that you had the hots for other members of the england team,” he peered over the card, glancing at you while you buried your head in your hands and made a frustrated noise, “and you’ve been very open about the fact that the current england team are attractive, so, my question is, if i gave you a free pass to slide into one of their DM’s, who would it be?”

“are you fucking serious?!” you laughed, throwing your hands up over your head and slamming them down against your thighs, the audience laughing hysterically. “i can’t answer that!”

“why not?” mason asked, a cheeky glint in his eye.

you picked up the bulls penis in your hand, shocked at how small it was, and faced your boyfriend. “because it’s just embarrassing,” you laughed. several of the audience members were chanting for you to eat the penis, while some were chanting for you to answer the question, “almost as embarrassing as eating this tiny penis live on telly, but bottoms up i s’pose.”

you took one of the pre-cut chunks and began chewing at it. the taste wasn’t too bad, but the texture was god-awful, and it was extremely chewy. you fumbled around at your feet for the bin, and finally spat it out, swirling your mouth out with water. mason fell into hysterics, laughing and clapping as he watched you suffer, the sight amusing as he finally got his own back.

“right, i’m gonna give you the bird saliva, a lovely little tipple,” you spoke after a while, spinning the table round until the martini glass landed in front of him. you picked out another card. “okay, your final question is out of all of the movie’s i’ve done, which would you never want to watch again?”

mason shook his head, a smirk on his lips, “this is an easy one,” he replied, with a slap to his leg. “if i could never watch one of your movies again it would be ten rules.”

you laughed, “why ten rules, exactly?”

“because there’s too much sex in it,” he replied, nonchalantly with a shrug of his shoulders, “which wouldn’t bother me if it was sex with me, but it’s not.”

the audience laughed and cheered, while mason sat there with an amused look on his face that left you speechless. you really thought he would cave and drink the horrible substance in front of him, so when he answered it without a second thought it took you back. you laughed, completely none the wiser as mason tensed up opposite you, circling the table around to bring the cows tongue in front of you.

“final question, my turn,” he rubbed his hands together before picking up the card with one hand and checking his pocket with the other, “y/n, this card says you need to stand up and close your eyes before i can read it out.”

you knitted your eyebrows together, and stared at your boyfriend, unsure of what he was doing. “what?”

“it’s what the card says,” he shrugged his shoulders and the crowd fell silent, minus the odd chuckle here and there. you glanced up at the producer behind camera, who nodded at you to tell you it wasn’t a drill, and that it was what was written on the card. you shrugged your shoulders then, getting up from your seat and closing your eyes.

“i swear to god if i get jumpscared or if you pour water over my head, you’re dumped.”

he laughed, and one of the producers came behind you to cover your eyes with her hands to make sure there was no peeking. mason shushed the crowd with his finger on his lips and took a deep breath, pulling something out of his pocket and readjusting himself so he was on one knee. some members of the audience gasped lightly, but the producers continued in following on from mason’s efforts to shush them. it felt like an eternity of silence as you stood there waiting, and mason took a deep breath.

“my final question for you, y/n y/l/n is,” he popped open the box and a gorgeous silver diamond ring glistened in the light as the camera crew ran in frantically to try and get a glimpse of it for the viewers at home, “will you marry me?”

the producer pulled her hands from your eyes as he asked the question, and you suddenly felt disoriented. your eyes fell upon your boyfriend, who really was on one knee with a ring box, offering you his hand in marriage. the question ran circles in your head, and you covered your mouth with your hand in complete shock, nodding and whimpering a simple yes as you tried so hard not to let the tears fall.

“we can’t hear you, y/n!” one of the producers shouted from the top of the audience seating, and you nodded again, pulling your hand away from your mouth and smiling down at your boyfriend, who himself was now crying.

“yes, yes, yes!”

the pair of you became blubbering, tearful messes as the audience cheered and whooped; some of them crying as they came to grips with what was happening in front of them, and you helped mason stand up before he placed the ring on your finger. you cupped his face in your hands and kissed him softly, unable to even think about continuing with the show even though you knew you had to. your producer stepped in to read the cue cards.

“that was spill your guts or fill your guts with y/n soon-to-be mount and mason mount! we’ll be right back after this ad break with lots more to come.”

•

the new chapter of the man on your right should be out soon (as well as some of the requests i still haven’t completed) - just bear with me because i’m going through the worst writers block imaginable right now and i have to work all bank holiday weekend (incl. the game tonight) </3 so yeah, i’m still writing it but in the mean time i hope you can enjoy this even tho it’s pretty naff :)

#mason mount #mason mount fluff #mason mount blurb #mason mount imagine #mason mount smut #mm19 #money mase #england imagine #england blurb #football imagine #football blurb #this was so wholesome 🥺#i hope you enjoyed!#feedback welcome <3 #ily guys <3

683 notes · View notes

heyitssmiller · 4 years ago

Text

Chop It Like It’s Hot

Chapter 3: Sun’s Out Buns Out

Chop It Like It’s Hot Masterlist

Let the pining begin.

@lumosinlove

“Oh my god, there’s ducks!” Finn said excitedly, pointing to the ducks swimming in the pond nearby. Their next challenge was taking place in a small park on the outskirts of the city, which made Logan a little nervous. He was just getting used to the setup of the kitchens, and now he had to deal with this. Finn let out an aww as a group of ducklings followed their mom. “Look at ‘em, they’re so cute.”

Logan looked warily at the setup of grills a few feet away. “I don’t think we’re here to look at ducks.”

“Good morning, recruits!” Dorcas called, waving them over. Leo stood beside her, hair turned golden in the sunlight. Logan blamed the reason he was suddenly too hot on the weather.

Ah, yes. That new development Logan refused to think about too hard.

He was happy with Finn. They’d been happy together for years now.

So why was he crushing on Leo like he did with Finn back in college?

Logan wasn’t blind – he knew the signs well enough after pining for Finn for five years. He just didn’t know what to do with these feelings. And they’d learned from all the miscommunication and wasted time in college – he and Finn told each other everything now.

He just wasn’t sure he could tell Finn this.

How would that conversation go? Hey I know we’ve been happily together for three years now but I also kind of want to kiss that tall blond guy who’s been teaching us how to cook.

Yeah. That would go over well.

“Today we’re going to be testing your creativity by having you make your own burgers! We’ll both give you examples, but you’ll need to come up with your own original ideas for this challenge.” Leo stated, dumping ground beef into a bowl. “I’m going to make a jaeger schnitzel burger. So for the meat I’m using a mixture of different meats. Schnitzel is traditionally pork or veal, but you need the right ratio of lean meat to fatty meat to make a good burger, so I’m adding some additional fatty beef.” He formed patties out of the meat and placed them on the grill. “What really sets jaeger schnitzel from regular schnitzel is the mushroom gravy on top.”

He smiled, which Logan was quickly realizing was completely unfair. “Creating a gravy is a little hard on a grill, but I’ll do my best. Basically we’re going to melt butter in a pan and fry these onions until they begin to brown. Then add the garlic and cook it for another minute. Add the mushrooms and cook until they’re golden and some of the liquid from the mushrooms has evaporated.”

Leo switched back to his burgers and flipped them before returning to his sauce. “To thicken this into a gravy. We’re going to add flour and stir. Then it’s just beef broth, vinegar, thyme, sugar, salt, and pepper. Now the burgers are done, so we’re going to take all of this off the grill and plate it, making sure there’s plenty of gravy on this burger.”

“And I’m going to make a burrito burger.” Dorcas took over. “First we’re going to take our meat and add some seasoning to it: chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, crushed red pepper flakes, dried oregano, paprika, ground cumin, sea salt, and black pepper. Make sure to get the seasoning mixed in there thoroughly. Then we just throw these patties on the grill and let them cook. What really sets this burger apart are the toppings.”

She reached into a bag on her table and pulled out refried beans, salsa, pepper jack cheese, and lettuce. “I made the refried beans and salsa from scratch last night since we definitely don’t have time for that today. So once these burgers are cooked, we just add the toppings and we’re done. Easy enough, right?”

“This challenge is a blind taste test so that we can’t pick favorites.” Leo added. “Which means you guys are going to be on your own for this challenge – we can’t help you in this round.”

Everyone groaned.

“Just don’t burn yourselves and you’ll be fine. You have forty-five minutes and your time starts now!”

***

Mid-Episode Interview:

*Logan takes his hat off to run a hand through his hair with a sigh*

Logan: I… I might be going home today. *laughs* You know, I hate cooking. The only reason I went on this show was because of Finn. He seemed so excited about it, you know? So for the past seven weeks, I figured if I got eliminated I’d just stay in the city and spend time with him when they weren’t shooting the show. I haven’t really cared if I got eliminated or not. Now, though?

*His gaze loses focus for a few seconds, then he looks back at the camera*

Logan: I don’t think I’m ready to leave just yet.

***

Finn quickly glanced over at Logan as he dropped lamb chops into a hot pan. The brunet had come in second to last place in the earlier competition today and clearly wasn’t happy about it. There wasn’t much he could do right now, but he’d find something to cheer him up with after they were done filming for the day. Alex was in the city visiting their family – maybe the two of them could stop by the house and say hi, if it wasn’t too late.

“Non-stick pan, Lo!” He hissed as Logan grabbed a regular pan to put his potato cake in.

“What?”

“Use a non-stick pan. That way it won’t stick when you flip the cake over.”

“Got it. Thanks.”

“How’s it going over here?”

Finn glanced up to see Leo at their shared station. “Good! I think. The lamb chops were a little hard to cut and my tapenade is kind of a mess, but I’m hoping it tastes ok.”

“And the potato cake?”

“The fact that I’m going to be flipping a potato cake is hilarious because I am not graceful at all.”

Leo laughed. “It’s not too bad, you’ll see. Logan, how about you?”

“Well, I’ve learned that I hate the taste of fennel.” Logan groused, sprinkling red pepper flakes on top of his fennel salad. “So I’m hoping to mask that flavor as much as I can.”

“It’s definitely not for everyone. Your chopping skills have really improved over the past couple of weeks, though – look at those potatoes!”

Logan looked up and smiled.

A smile Finn definitely recognized from college.

He glanced back and forth between the two, speculating. Maybe it wasn’t just Finn dealing with new feelings he wasn’t sure how to process yet.

After time ran out Finn glanced down at his two identical dishes – one for him, one for Leo – with a sigh of relief. It was still a little messy, but overall he felt pretty good about it. No matter what he was miles ahead of where he started, so he was happy with himself. He was still a little worried to be tasting his own dish, though. At the end of the day he was still a bad cook, after all.

When it was finally his turn to be judged, he grabbed both plates and placed them on the table before taking a seat opposite Leo.

“This feels like a really weird first date.” Finn teased, watching the faintest hint of a blush spread across Leo’s cheeks.

Oh my god, he’s adorable.

“I can definitely see some inconsistency in the cooking of your lamb chops.” He hurried to say, flipping one of the pieces of meat over for Finn to look at. “See, this one’s nice and brown while this one is undercooked. This boils down to variation of size in your meat. When you’ve got all kinds of different sizes, it’s hard to consistently cook them.” He cut up a piece of lamb and put it in his mouth. Finn probably stared at said mouth a bit too long before following suit.

“Well? What do you think?”

Finn shrugged, swallowing his bite. “I like it.”

Leo smiled. “You know what? Me too.”

***

Logan was up next. He sat down hesitantly across from Leo, looking down at his plate and hoping it was enough to save him from elimination.

“Your presentation is really good, Logan. The potatoes are nice and golden, the lamb looks perfect.” Leo said, and something about his words and calm demeanor soothed Logan instantly. He smiled. “Thanks, chef.”

“Ready to try this?”

“Let’s do it.” Logan stabbed his food with his fork, took a bite –

And instantly coughed.

It was so spicy. The kind of spicy that makes your throat close up and tears come to your eyes.

“Oh my god.” He gasped, making a mad dive towards his glass of water and downing it as fast as he could. “Jesus Christ, that’s so hot.”

Leo hummed, setting his fork down. He seemed completely unfazed. “Too much red pepper. You said earlier you were trying to mask fennel flavor, but I think you did too good a job at that.” He watched Logan with a small smile and pushed his own full glass of water towards him. “You ok?”

Logan gaped at him, but gladly accepted the water. “How are you not dying right now?”

“I literally have a show about cajun cooking; I’m used to spice. You should try ghost peppers sometime.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Don’t knock it until you try it.” Leo looked back down at his plate. “Overall, your dish was pretty good. Could’ve used a little less red pepper, but the rest of it was spot on.”

Logan felt his shoulders relax a little. “Thanks, chef.”

***

Logan was in the bottom two.

Fuck.

Finn’s heart had continued to drop as name after name of the safe contestants got announced, including his own, and Logan’s didn’t. He knew Logan didn’t really care if he got eliminated or not, but this had been so much fun to do with him. Finn didn’t want to see him go yet.

“And the recruit who will be leaving us today is…”

Finn honestly couldn’t name the person who got eliminated – all he knew was that Logan was staying. He let his tense shoulders relax and stepped forward to give him a hug. “That was close, Lo.”

“Yeah,” Logan’s voice was muffled in Finn’s shirt. “Guess I’ll have to try harder next week.”

Finn leaned back with a big smile on his face. “You wanna stay?”

“I mean, I’m a really bad cook,” Logan shrugged. “But I’ll stay as long as I can.”

“Logan?” Both boys turned at the voice. Leo stood off to the side, looking slightly awkward.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to talk to you about today’s challenges and ways to improve. I’ve got a few tips I can share, if you want.” He glanced at Finn. “Can I steal him for a second?”

“Go right ahead.”

Leo flashed him a smile before motioning for Logan to follow him.

Finn couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he could read Logan’s body language like a book. When he fiddled with his hat, Finn knew he was nervous. When he met Leo’s eyes and didn’t look away as he spoke, he was serious about whatever he was saying. When his gaze flicked down to Leo’s lips, he wanted to kiss him. When he subconsciously leaned forwards and tilted his head up slightly, he was going to kiss him.

The strangest thing was… Finn wasn’t jealous. He should be, shouldn’t he?

But Logan didn’t kiss Leo.

He seemed to catch himself at the last second and he drew back sharply, refusing to look at Leo again. He muttered something and turned to walk away, catching Finn’s gaze as he did so. His eyes widened guiltily, steps slowing as he crossed the room to where Finn was waiting.

Finn gave him a small smile and grabbed his hand reassuringly.

“I think we need to talk.”

#lumosinlove #Sweater Weather #Coast To Coast #finn o'hara #logan tremblay #leo knut #o'knutzy #chop it like it's hot

144 notes · View notes

withasmoothroundstone · 7 years ago

Photo

Spicy Squash Soup

I love just about any combination of chili peppers and squash. This is butternut squash with half a dried chipotle pepper, made into soup, basically.

1. Making the Squash

Poke a bunch of holes in a butternut squash. Stick it in a 400-degree-F preheated oven on a baking pan. Leave it in there somewhere around an hour or an hour and a half. It’s ready when poking the squash it’s always soft no matter where you poke. Cut it in half, remove the innards (the stringy stuff with the seeds in it on the large end of the squash), and take the peel off.

2. Making it Soup

Cut the squash to pieces. Put it in a high-powered blender (like a Blendtec or Vitamix). Put in water that covers the squash, or nearly does.

Add some kind of chili pepper, whatever you’re comfortable with, to whatever degree you like your spiciness. You can add a pepper directly or use ground-up peppers or use a chili-pepper-based hot sauce, or any combination. This is entirely about your preferences and spice tolerance, and what you have on hand.

I used half of a dried chipotle, without removing the seeds, and it was plenty for the way I feel today. If you are using a hot pepper and are concerned it’s too spicy, removing the seeds can tone it down a notch. When in doubt, figure it out before you throw the peppers/hot sauce into the blender.

Other times I have used a combination of Sriracha and ghost pepper sauce without adding any actual peppers directly, so you can get the peppers in in whatever form fits your convenience and preference. I tend to use whatever I have around the house at the time, which varies a lot.

Add a small amount of olive oil, butter, or similar thing. This goes really well with the butternut squash but you don’t want to overdo it.

Then blend it on high for as long as you can get away with without hurting the blender. If it’s too thick, add more water. If there’s too much, do it in two batches. Don’t kill your blender.

Getting Rid of Lumps

I’m making soup partially for use in a narrow J-tube (a type of feeding tube), and since anything I actually swallow for taste purposes ends up needing to be drained out of a MIC-KEY button G-tube (a different feeding tube I use for draining my stomach, with a valve that can serve as a choke point if large particles of food are in there). This means it very much matters if the soup is too thick or contains particles of food that are too large. If a large enough food particle gets in the wrong tube, the results can range from annoying to life-threatening depending on your overall situation. So it’s important to make sure those particles aren’t there.

For that, I use a chinois. It’s like the world’s most hard-core strainer. It’s got small enough holes that many times, you have to use a wooden pestle to shove the liquid through. Any solid particles of any size at all will stay inside the chinois and not make it into your final soup. Chinois are often used by restaurants to ensure that sauces and other liquids have a smooth, silky consistency without big lumps. I always run my soups through a chinois due to my feeding tube situation. It’s hands-down the best way to guarantee I won’t clog anything. This is also why I insist on using a high-powered blender -- anything less would not be able to create liquid out of pretty much anything I stick into it (with enough water of course).

Anyway, I use the chinois over a large mixing bowl, adding water if absolutely necessary, and then keep the soup in the mixing bowl, using a ladle to put soup into coffee mugs for drinking orally, or a 60-mL feeding syringe to put soup into my feeding tube. If the soup is very thick I might water it down by just adding water and stirring it vigorously until the consistency changes.

Taste and A Note About Mindset

I am not the only person who likes my soups -- pretty much everyone who tries them says they’re great. Often to their surprise. People don’t expect blenderized meals to taste good, which is a sad commentary on how most people approach blenderized food. Even most people who have to live on it.

First off, most people associate blenderized food with “baby food” or tasteless mush of various sorts. Simply beginning to view your food as soup rather than baby food will change both how you make blenderized food and how you feel when you eat it. Seeing it as soup makes all the difference -- and it is soup.

Second off, it’s very important to approach blenderized food as a meal. The way I started making my soups, is I would make (or have someone else make if it was beyond my meager cooking abilities) an actual meal as if I was going to eat it as solid food. Complete with seasonings and everything. Then, I just throw it in a blender, add water if necessary, and the resulting soup tastes like a meal. If you just throw things together without bothering to think how they taste, you’ll be lucky if the results are appetizing at all. Once you get used to making things, you can throw ingredients into the blender without making the whole meal first. But only do that once you have an idea what tastes good with what else.

I have rarely gone too far wrong if guided by those two basic ideas -- both my blenderized vegetable food is soup and my soups are meals. And the result is food that even nondisabled people will have trouble eating just a spoonful.

Just because you need your food through a tube, or need food you don’t have to chew, doesn’t mean your food has to be gross. I mean, Osmolite is pretty gross, but I’m referring specifically to blenderized meals that either replace or supplement tube-feed formulas like Osmolite. In my case, my main nutrition is from Osmolite, but I use blenderized vegetable meals to add variety to my diet, both in taste (for what I drink orally but drain out before I can absorb many nutrients) and nutrition (for what I put down my J-tube with a feeding syringe).

Another thing you may notice, even if you do this entirely through a tube and never taste your meals: You may feel a satisfied feeling if you’re consuming nutrients you need, even if you’re bypassing both mouth and stomach and sticking them straight into your intestines, like me.

I first encountered this with water. I’ve sometimes needed IV fluids when unable to get enough water by drinking, for whatever reason. When you’re thirsty enough, being given a bolus of fluids in your IV feels exactly like that satisfied feeling you get from drinking a huge glass of cold water on a hot day after working up a sweat. I found the same to be through with water delivered through my feeding tube: It doesn’t matter where the water comes from, just that it gets there in the end.

Food is somewhat different. But. When I stick blenderized vegetables into my J-tube, then once I begin to digest them, I get the same satisfied feeling I used to get after eating a lot of vegetables the usual way. I don’t know if everyone feels that way after eating vegetables to begin with. But if you do, chances are you will be able to recreate at least some of that feeling with vegetables in your tube. And it feels great when that happens.

So, that’s the very long explanation of my soup today. I happen to love squash / chili pepper combos of all kinds, and sometimes the simplest ones taste the best. There’s literally nothing for seasoning in today’s food other than half a chipotle and a pat of butter, and it’s much better than a lot of heavily-seasoned versions. A bit of salt is sometimes good too, but this didn’t need it at all.

45 notes · View notes

clamjumper5-blog · 5 years ago

Text

Thai Beef Basil with Coconut Rice

This Thai Beef Basil with Coconut Rice is an incredibly flavorful, easy-to-make dinner that can be customized for all types of spicy food level preferences. It’s on regular rotation in our weekly meal plans!

(This recipe for Thai Beef Basil was originally posted in Februrary 2011, but was updated with new photos and content in 2018).

One of my favorite things in life is going out for Thai or Indian food with Chris. It’s basically like free entertainment when I watch him order food to his ideal level of spiciness. BTW, his ideal level of spiciness is “AS HOT AS YOU CAN POSSIBLY MAKE IT.” He has all kinds of strategies to get the waiter or waitress to understand how spicy he wants his food including telling them, “make it Thai hot, please” and “I want 10 stars!” and “make it as spicy as you can; I promise I will eat it!” But my favorite is when he says, “make me cry!” For the record, in the almost ten years I’ve been with Chris, there have only been two occasions where he’s found the food he’s ordered ridiculously spicy… Almost to the point of tears. It’s generally not even close to being hot enough, no matter how he orders it.

I love spicy food, too, but definitely not to the level he does. Call me crazy, but I don’t quite see the joy in crying while I’m eating. I cook a lot of spicy food at home and love that it’s easy to vary spicy levels serving to serving, whether it’s by adding some additional peppers into one person’s serving, sprinkling on some crushed red pepper, or drizzling on lots of Sriracha (also of note, Chris recently tried to argue with me that Sriracha isn’t meant to be spicy. Hello??). I discovered a Thai beef and coconut rice recipe from Martha Stewart about 8 years ago and have slowly adapted it to our specific tastes over the years. It’s one of the meals we have in our regular rotation now and one we both get super excited about.

It’s delicious year-round, but especially during the summer considering many of us likely have absolutely out of control basil plants growing on our decks.

THAI BEEF BASIL WITH COCONUT RICE RECIPE

One awesome thing about this Thai beef basil recipe is that it’s so versatile and can cater to many different tastes for spice. It’s easy to get the flavor of peppers without too much heat by simply removing the seeds of the peppers. But you can leave them in if you love heat. You can also use fewer peppers for those who are spicy-averse and you can add additional peppers as garnish for anyone who loves it. And when push comes to shove, you can always add garnishes like lime wedges to cut the heat or crushed red pepper and Sriracha sauce to add more.

I should also mention that the coconut rice is an excellent complement to the Thai beef because it’s nice and mild and helps take away a little bit of the heat in each bite.

WHAT KIND OF PEPPERS SHOULD I USE?

The good news is that you can really use any type of spicy pepper for this dish. I love using Thai chili peppers, but they can sometimes be tough to find, so I often substitute with habanero peppers or long hot chili peppers. If you want a little less heat, but still lots of flavor, use jalapeño peppers. And like I mentioned above, keep in or remove the seeds depending on your preferences.

CAN I SUBSTITUTE QUINOA OR BROWN RICE?

Yes! I actually make this dish all the time with quinoa and occasionally use brown rice, too. But it’s definitely at it’s most indulgent and best with jasmine rice. The jasmine rice is so light and fluffy with an awesome touch of sweetness from the coconut milk. Quinoa and brown rice have more of a nutty flavor and the coconut milk isn’t quite as prevalent in it. But since I like to make a big batch of this and eat it for leftovers throughout the week, I often try to make it a bit healthier with quinoa. You can use whatever type of grain you prefer!

CAN I SUBSTITUTE GROUND CHICKEN, GROUND PORK, OR STEAK?

Yes to all! Obviously you may not be able to call this “beef basil” depending on what meat you use, but you can certainly use any type of ground beef or even steak in this dish. I told you it was versatile!

You’ll want to get your rice started first and then get going on the rest of the recipe. It’s a quick and easy one, which means you’ll have dinner on the table in no time. Though my husband doesn’t do too much to help out in the kitchen, he always offers to chop my chili peppers and garlic for this recipe, which is pretty much the toughest part. If you’re chopping the peppers, I recommend wearing gloves… Especially if you wear contacts. If you’ve never felt the pain of touching your eye after chopping a hot pepper, count yourself very lucky!

After sautéing half the hot peppers and all the garlic, you’ll add the beef, then mix in a soy sauce/fish sauce/sugar solution and then add in chopped tomatoes, basil, and remaining peppers and briefly cook.

Serve the fluffy coconut rice in a bowl with the beef basil served over the top. If you love the spice, sprinkle on additional chopped peppers, a little crushed pepper, and a Sriracha drizzle. And top off with lime wedges. Even if you’re not trying to cut the heat, there’s something so delicious about a little bit of fresh lime juice squeezed on the top of this dish.

Thai beef basil is actually the dish Chris most often orders when we’re at a Thai restaurant, so it makes me extra happy that he loves my version so much. I haven’t actually made him cry… But I’ve gotten his serving to the spicy level that he’s talking about when he says “make me cry.”

I know this isn’t really traditional Thai food and is definitely Americanized (especially if you’re using jalapeño peppers or quinoa!), but it’s an eclectic fusion dinner that is sure to satisfy most Thai food cravings… Which I get all the time!

Honestly, I think my favorite part of this dish is all that fresh basil. I want a piece of basil in every bite! It’s funny because Chris often leaves his basil behind and makes sure to eat every single pepper.

Believe it or not, it’s actually quite rare that I make recipes twice. I just love trying new things too much and unless a recipe is off-the-walls amazing, I probably won’t make it again for quite a while. This Thai beef basil qualifies as off-the-walls amazing. Plus, it’s so quick and simple, that it’s one of those meals I can add to my weekly meal plan and know that I won’t have to spend all night in the kitchen. It’s right up there with tacos as one of our “eat all the time” meals.

I should note that I actually have managed to make Chris cry with spicy food just once in our 10 years together. It was with a ridiculously spicy ghost chili pepper sauce that we used ONE drop of in mac and cheese. He claims his hearing was affected and refused to go near it again. I opted out of trying it. Do you blame me??

How spicy do you like your food?

If you’re looking for other recipes with a kick, check out my Spicy Clam Chowder with Corn or my Spicy Lime Linguine with Clams and Sausage.

5 from 3 votes

Thai Beef Basil

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

20 mins

Total Time

35 mins

This Thai Beef Basil with Coconut Rice is an incredibly flavorful, easy-to-make dinner that can be customized for all types of spicy food level preferences.

Course: Entree

Cuisine: Eclectic, Fusion, Thai

Keyword: Beef, Rice, Spicy

Servings: 6 servings

Author: Sues

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups jasmine rice (can also use brown rice or quinoa)

1 can light coconut milk

1 1/4 cups water

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

2 Tbsp chopped Thai chili peppers (can also use habanero, long hot chili peppers, or jalapeño peppers), seeds removed to tone down heat if desired + additional peppers for topping if extra heat is desired

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 lb. lean ground sirloin

3 Tbsp fish sauce

3 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce

1 tsp granulated sugar

1 1/2 cups loosely packed fresh basil

2 small tomatoes, chopped

Lime wedges, for garnish

crushed red pepper, for topping

Sriracha, for serving

Instructions

In a medium saucepan, combine rice, coconut milk, water, and salt. Let mixture come to a boil and then reduce to a simmer and cover. Let simmer until all the water has been absorbed and the rice is nice and fluffy, about 20 minutes.

While the rice is cooking, heat a cast-iron skillet or wok over high, add the oil, and toss in half the hot peppers and garlic. Cook for about 15 seconds. Turn the heat down to medium-high and add the beef and cook, breaking up with a wooden spoon, for about 5 minutes, until just cooked through.

In a small bowl, stir together fish sauce, soy sauce, and sugar. Stir this mixture into the beef and cook for another 30 seconds.

Add basil, tomatoes, and remaining peppers and stir to combine. When basil is starting to wilt, remove pan from heat, about 30 seconds.

Serve coconut rice in bowls and top with beef basil mixture. Garnish with lime wedges, crushed red pepper, and Sriracha sauce, if desired. For extra heat, add additional chopped peppers.

Recipe Notes

Adapted from Martha Stewart

Pin38

Tweet1

Share2

Yum13

Stumble

Shares 54

Source: https://wearenotmartha.com/thai-beef-basil-with-coconut-rice/

0 notes

anachef · 6 years ago

Text

Best of the Fest! Must-Eats at the 2019 Disney California Adventure Food and Wine Festival

Greetings from sunny (welllll…slightly cloudy, actually) California! We’re here enjoying the very first day of the 2019 Disney California Adventure Food and Wine Festival at the Disneyland Resort, which runs through April 23, 2019.

2019 Disney California Adventure Food and Wine Festival Passport

The Festival fun features Special Events, Seminars and Demonstrations, family fun, and more. And to help you plan your trip to the Festival, our focus today is on the 16 Festival Marketplace Food Booths serving California-inspired cuisine!

We have tasted and sipped every single item to bring you the BEST of the Fest so you can make your own list of what you’d love to try at the Festival!

Click HERE to check out photos of ALL THE FOOD on our 2019 Disney California Adventure Food and Wine Festival Menus Page!

Introducing… the BEST of the FEST!!

BEST of the 2019 DCA Food and Wine Festival

Shrimp Boil Tacos with Andouille Sausage and Fresh Corn at Off the Cob

We found the Shrimp Boil Tacos at Off the Cob.

Shrimp Boil Tacos with Andouille Sausage and Fresh Corn

These are gluten-free (!!) and the the shrimp, sausage, and fresh corn are classic seaside flavors together!

Esquites Sweet Corn Nuggets with Bacon Lardons at Off the Cob

Esquites Sweet Corn Nuggets with Bacon Lardons is on the menu at Off the Cob. Look at that bacon!

Esquites Sweet Corn Nuggets with Bacon Lardons

Reminding us of delicious pub grub, we recommend these sweet and savory corn nuggets.

Creamy Mac & Cheese with Garlic Bread Crumble at Garlic Kissed

The Creamy Mac & Cheese is a returning favorite and this comfort food can be found at Garlic Kissed.

Creamy Mac & Cheese with Garlic Bread Crumble

One of the many vegetarian dishes at this year’s festival, the garlic bread crumble is generous.

Harris Ranch Grilled Beef Tenderloin Slider with Chimichurri Sauce at Cluck-A-Doodle-Moo

At Cluck-A-Doodle-Moo , sample this really great Slider!

Harris Ranch Grilled Beef Tenderloin Slider with Chimichurri Sauce

The beef tenderloin is flavorful and not too dry. And we love the addition of the Chimichurri Sauce.

Salt and Vinegar Parmesan Chicken Wings at Cluck-A-Doodle-Moo

With a name like Cluck-A-Doodle-Moo , this kiosk is especially fun!

Salt and Vinegar Parmesan Chicken Wings

The Salt and Vinegar Parmesan Chicken Wings are one of our favorite savory items. If you didn’t try them last year, don’t pass them up again.

Deconstructed Teriyaki Chicken Musubi with Pineapple Relish at Golden Dreams

DO NOT MISS Golden Dreams! The Deconstructed Teriyaki Chicken Musibi with Pineapple Relish (and, frankly, everything else) impressed us at the new booth.

Deconstructed Teriyaki Chicken Musubi

Musubi is super popular in Disneyland right now (we’ve seen other versions at Tangaroa Terrace and Bengal Barbecue). This dish was a great surprise!

Anaheim Chile Relleno Bites with Salsa Verde at Golden Dreams

Another vegetarian option, the Anaheim Chile Relleno Bites with Salsa Verde is served at Golden Dreams.

Anaheim Chile Relleno Bites

These are crazy flavorful — rich, cheesy, and savory!

Chocolate-Peanut-Caramel Parfait at Golden Dreams

One of our favorite festival sweets, the Chocolate-Peanut-Caramel Parfait is also at Golden Dreams.

Chocolate Peanut Caramel Parfait

Another gluten-free option, this dessert is delicious! It’s basically a deconstructed Snickers Bar in an adorable little cup! GET IT.

Fiscalini White Cheddar Lager Soup served in a Mini Boudin Sourdough Bowl at Nuts About Cheese

The Soup at Nuts About Cheese is another winner! Basically, if anything is ever served in a bread bowl at a DCA festival you can almost guarantee it’s going to be on our list. They’re all amazing!

Fiscalini White Cheddar Lager Soup served in a Mini Boudin Sourdough Bowl

This basically tastes like a ton of cheese melted with an equally large amount of cream…so if that’s your think like it is mine, go for this!

Ham and Vella Jack Cheese Pinwheel with Smoked Pistachios at Nuts about Cheese

We couldn’t wait to dig into the Ham and Vella Jack Cheese Pinwheel with Smoked Pistachios at Nuts About Cheese!

Ham and Vella Jack Cheese Pinwheel with Smoked Pistacios

The super flaky pastry packed with smokey and flavorful ham and that rich sharp cheese is doused in what seems like more of that cheese soup from the bread bowl! The whole thing means a flavor explosion in your mouth! I predict this will be one of the MUST-GETS from this year’s festival!

Meyer Lemon Ginger Mule at Citrus Grove

Cool and refreshing, the Meyer Lemon Ginger Mule continues to wow us at Citrus Grove.

Meyer Lemon Ginger Mule

Once again, the pucker from the lemon and the zest from the ginger make this drink memorable. Cheers!

Strawberry Float with Vanilla Ice Cream, Whipped Cream, and Crunchy Cereal Garnish at Berry Basket

At Berry Basket, it was love at first sight — AND first TASTE — with this Strawberry Float.

Strawberry Float with Vanilla Ice Cream, Whipped Cream, and Crunchy Cereal Garnish

Yes, it’s super sweet. Basically a bunch of ice cream doused in strawberry jam, so be prepared. But the strawberry flavor is powerful! Plus, Cap’n Crunch. You’re kids will be crazy for this one!

Ghost Pepper Mac & Cheese with Chili Cheese Corn Chip Dust at Peppers Cali-Ente

With hot frito dush and Ghost Pepper (oh my!!), the Mac & Cheese really caught our attention at Peppers Cali-Ente.

Ghost Pepper Mac and Cheese

While it’s spicy, it’s not “kick you in the throat” spicy, so it should be accessible to just about everyone except the MOST spice averse folks. Pair it with the lovely jalapeno margarita and it’s a great match!

That’s our Best of the Fest! So, what’s on YOUR list to try?

Click HERE to check out photos of ALL THE FOOD on our 2019 Disney California Adventure Food and Wine Festival Menus Page!

2019 Disney California Adventure Food and Wine Festival Index

2019 Disney California Adventure Food and Wine Festival Booth and Menu Index 2019 Disney California Adventure Food and Wine Festival Low-Cost Seminar and Demonstrations 2019 Disney California Adventure Food and Wine Festival Wine, Beer, and Spirits Education and Tasting Seminars 2019 Disney California Adventure Food and Wine Festival Special Events 2019 Disney California Adventure Food and Wine Festival Passholder Information Epcot Festival Fans Facebook Page 2018 Disney California Adventure Food and Wine Festival Menus and FOOD PHOTOS

Booking Disney California Adventure Food and Wine Festival Events

Booking for all special events, seminars, and demonstrations is available at the official DCA Food and Wine Festival reservation page.

Which item are you most excited to try at the Disney California Adventure Food and Wine Festival this year? Please let us know with a comment!

Best of the Fest! Must-Eats at the 2018 Disney California Adventure Food and Wine Festival!

NEW Food Booths For the 2018 Disney California Adventure Food and Wine Festival!

Even MORE 2019 Disney California Adventure Food and Wine Festival Booths Spotted!

from the disney food blog https://ift.tt/2GYdhHx via https://ift.tt/LNvO3e

0 notes