#maybe also balsamic vinegar to dip the crust in

[copperbadge]

My home smells AMAZING right now. 

I sliced up the shiitake mushrooms and sauteed them for another recipe; the stems I sauteed over low heat then added a bit of water and soy sauce, and poured them into the bottom of a slow-cooker. I then added roughly three cups of beef broth from stock I’d made, plus two pounds of sirloin tip roast, sprinkling on Penzey’s “Revolution” seasoning mix as I layered it into the pot. I set that to slow-cook on high for four hours, meanwhile caramelizing the onions that came in the farm share, taking the occasional spoonful of juice from the caramelizing pan and adding it to the slow cooker broth. The resulting jus has been boiled and strained and is cooling; the meat will stand until cooled, then (realistically, tomorrow after it’s been in the fridge overnight) I’ll slice it thin and pack it with jus into tupperware, freezing most of it for later consumption. 

I really need to learn how to bake some crusty Italian Beef rolls. Maybe it’s finally time for me to attempt ciabatta, which I never have before due to fear. 

Anyway, the caramelized onion is a bit pale because I’m going to cook it down even further with a can of chopped tomato and a bit of balsamic vinegar to make a tomato-onion jam to take to Friendsgiving, along with some cranberry jam, both for the excellent bread that’s always served (it’s Auntie A’s friendsgiving and her husband makes amazing bread). I’m also bringing a bowl of Kiwi Dip and a bag of chips because I love telling people about Kiwi Dip. 

[ID: Two images; top, a bowl of soft, jammy-looking caramelized onion bits. Bottom, a large bowl full of deep mahogany-colored jus for sandwich dipping sits next to a tupperware full of cooked sirloin tip, which is crusted with seasoning that has turned the exterior a mild yellow-green (that’s the turmeric).] 

[weebeestie]

all i want in this world is a very specific brick oven margarita pizza with slightly burnt crust, and a side of very cold green grapes.

[mealsforsquares]

Bean Soup

CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT THERE IS STILL MORE SOUP IN THIS PIECE? I cannot.

So once again the grocery situation I find myself in is that I forgot to buy groceries for the actual non-thanksgiving parts of the week*, so the dinners are left in a somewhat-dire position. That said, there’s still plenty to soldier on with, so soldier is what I did.

There are a bunch of recipes for what is commonly called “no-time bread”, which is risen in the microwave and then cooked in a dutch oven, so you can have something like bread on the table in about an hour or so. It’s not very good! I mean, it tastes like basically nothing. It’s similar, compositionally, to the flatbreads that I made last week, and has a similar profile but doesn’t have the chew, the fried-exterior crust or the heft of those. Nevertheless, it was an easy enough thing to do, and A simply loves it, so we’re in business with it.

I bloomed a tablespoon of yeast in 10 ounces of warm water, followed by 12 ounces of flour**, then a tablespoon or so of sugar and a brief splash with some balsamic vinegar (I don’t remember which of the versions of the recipe added the vinegar, but it’s a good idea, and gives the thing some more flavor than just...hot flour). It gets knocked around in the mixer for a good long time, then it goes into the oven for 30 seconds to rise, then into a hot dutch oven in the regular, non-dutch oven. Then it bakes and is flour foam, suitable for buttering and dipping in soup. Oh the things we do for the people who are important to us.

The bread handled, I turned my attention to the soup. I had some heirloom scarlet runner beans that I had cooked off earlier - waiting for the beans to cook in the soup was going to be a problem, so I pressure-cooked them before I put the bread together. I still don’t have any homemade stock, so stock base went down into a saucepan with water, some dried mushrooms, the stems from a bunch of parsley***, a couple of bay leaves, some soy sauce, and some peppercorns. As I prepared the vegetables for the soup, I would also fortify the stock with the trimmings, extracting as much flavor as possible from everything involved.

I started some bacon in another dutch oven****, cold, so it would render the most as it came up to temp. When it had released some of its fat, I added a bunch of minced onions and a carrot. When that was soft, I minced up four garlic cloves and added them as well, then I deglazed the hole thing with some wine to stop the garlic from burning. I drained the beans, reserving the bean-cooking liquid because, well, I’m probably going to have to fortify another soup soon, and added them to the pot.

Remember the Costco tomato sauce? Maybe you don’t. So I bought a bunch of cans of Kirkland tomato “sauce,” which is actually just a cooked tomato puree. It’s not great, but it doesn’t have anything weird in it - there’s no sugar, and no herbs or anything, so it works ok when I want, y’know, a tomato puree. While my druthers would be for a more rustic crushed-tomato situation, it’s also the only tomato product I have on hand at this point in time (I know! I’m a mess!), so into the soup it went, after which I strained the stock into it and gave it a stir. I added a package of frozen corn (we can add to the list of things I am out of: packages of frozen corn) and a couple of handfuls of frozen peas, and let them all get chummy while I attended to the bread.

The bread had basically no structural integrity (it was, somehow, still too wet), so I tore it into chunks. It tasted pretty good with soup saturating it, actually. The soup, on the other hand, was an outstanding home run. Truly one of the best soups I’ve made in awhile, and it has been a real soup-ful season.

* this is probably the right time to tell the tumblr that this year, because R’s work schedule is so nightmarish, we are having thanksgiving for just the three of us, and I’m finally going to get to cook the thanksgiving of my dreams, which I’ll write some more about later.

** the ratio on it is weird, probably because of the way it develops and the fact that it doesn’t do any of the things that bread does.

*** the parsley had been used to make lunch salads

**** always have two dutch ovens! Also my soup pot was incapacitated.

[ultralifehackerguru-blog]

New Post has been published on http://www.lifehacker.guru/prep-cook-chili-garlic-tofu-bowls-black-bean-soup-and-more/

Prep Cook: Chili Garlic Tofu Bowls, Black Bean Soup, and More

Embracing home cooking is one of the best ways to save money while eating healthier, but planning your meals can be a bit of a pain. That’s where we come in. Welcome to Prep Cook, where we plan a week’s worth of meals, test them out, and tell you which ones are worth your time and money. This week features chili garlic tofu bowls, slow cooker black bean soup, chocolate chip energy bites, and more.

Everyone has a different schedule (and different tastes), so the week’s menu is organized by meal rather than day. I’ve ordered them to provide variety throughout the week, but you can skip meals that don’t sound good to you or switch them around based on how much time you have to cook when you get home (slow cooker dishes are great for days when you want to eat as soon as you walk in the door). If you really want to get ahead, set aside two to four hours on the weekend to prep ingredients for the week (cut produce, mix up sauces that will last, mass cook items you can freeze, etc.).

Breakfast

Granola and yogurt

Prep Difficulty: Easy

Boost it: Toss in fresh berries or sliced apples. Keep some crunch in your granola by buying one that comes in clusters, so the middle stays dry even as the outside starts to soften.

Toast with your favorite topping

Prep Difficulty: Easy

Boost it: Get really, really good bread. You know what I’m talking about, a loaf from a local bakery that has a perfect, crunchy crust and fluffy inside. Pre-slice and freeze your bread to keep it from going stale quickly.

Add meat: Go for a savory breakfast and top your toast with hummus sprinkled with bits of bacon.

Special notes: Personally, I opt for filling toppings like a mountain of avocado or crunchy peanut butter (this one from Trader Joe’s is extra filling).

Frozen oatmeal with nuts and dried fruit

Prep Difficulty: Medium

Boost it: Drizzle yogurt or milk over the oatmeal when you reheat it to eat for a richer dish.

Special notes: Since you can make a muffin tin full of these at once, you can prep this on the weekend and have breakfast for the whole week. Great for throwing in your bag if you tend to eat breakfast at work.

Whole wheat flax blueberry pancakes

Prep Difficulty: Easy

Boost it: Top with homemade whip cream, fancy maple syrup, or stuff your favorite jam between the layers of pancakes.

Special notes: Skip the zucchini. It made my version too watery and didn’t add to the texture or taste of the pancakes. You can made a batch of these ahead of time and freeze them, then reheat in the toaster oven during the week. Or save this as a decadent weekend breakfast.

Lunch & Dinner

Slow cooker black bean soup

Prep Difficulty: Easy

Boost it: Top with sour cream (I used yogurt because I didn’t have sour cream) or salsa. Whip up garlic bread, a quesadilla, or a side salad to make this a bigger meal.

Add meat: Mix in sliced sausage or ground beef after you’ve run the soup through the blender.

Special notes: You need a blender of some sort to finish off this soup. I used an immersion blender, but you can also use a normal blender and go in batches. My soup turned out really thick, almost a dip, so you may need to add more water or broth after you’ve blended.

Pack it for lunch: Throw half an avocado, sliced tomato, or fresh herbs to liven up your lunch version of this filling soup.

Chili garlic tofu bowls

Prep Difficulty: Hard

Boost it: Make your sauce extra spicy with La Yu chili oil (here it is on Amazon), sprinkle your rice with furikake (Japanese mix of dried seaweed and sesame seeds, here’s one on Amazon), or add a fried egg on top of your bowl.

Add meat: Swap the tofu for a baked or pan fried chicken breast, sliced and covered in sauce.

Special notes: Get your tofu super crispy by pressing it for as long as possible (to remove water) and only flipping it once in the pan. Leaving it alone helps a crunchy crust on each side, yum!

Pack it for lunch: If you can, keep the rice separate from the other stuff so that it doesn’t get soggy from the sauce.

Roasted cauliflower salad with tahini dressing

Prep Difficulty: Medium

Boost it: Let the cauliflower roast as long as possible and throw the chickpeas into the oven rather than a pan to get them super crispy.

Add meat: Shredded chicken seasoned with just salt and pepper would mix in well with this salad.

Pack it for lunch: The chickpeas won’t be crispy the next day, so skip adding those to your lunch.

Creamy polenta with tempeh and tomatoes

Prep Difficulty: Medium

Boost it: Slip a little balsamic vinegar in the tomato sauce for added depth.

Add meat: Swap the tempeh for ground sausage or beef.

Special notes: Instead of making the polenta from scratch, I just rehydrated Trader Joe’s already cooked polenta with a mix of broth and milk.

Pack it for lunch: Everything can go in one container so the flavors mix together overnight to be even more delicious.

Slow cooker coconut curry lentils

Prep Difficulty: Easy

Boost it: Toast up some naan to dip in your lentils if you want to skip the rice.

Add meat: Pan fry chicken or a white fish to top your bowl of lentils and rice.

Pack it for lunch: Keep the rice and lentils separate so the rice doesn’t get soggy. And maybe skip the raw red onion on top — your coworkers will be thankful.

Smashed chickpea, avocado, and pesto sandwich with crispy garlic potatoes

Prep Difficulty: Medium

Boost it: Sprinkle other spices into the sandwich mix, like a little flavored salt or hot sauce to liven things up.

Add meat: Swap the chickpeas for canned tuna or shredded chicken.

Special notes: Mash the chickpeas as much as you can otherwise you’ll end up with whole chickpeas, which aren’t as nice texture-wise.

Pack it for lunch: Pack the filling and bread for the sandwich separately and assemble at work to keep your bread dry.

Thai crunch salad with peanut dressing

Prep Difficulty: Medium

Boost it: Amp up the flavor in the sauce by adding a little more of what you like, more garlic, cilantro, or rice vinegar. Swap some of the veggie oil for chili or sesame. Fry up some crispy tofu (use the same technique as you did for the chili garlic bowls).

Add meat: Cubed chicken is an easy mix-in with this salad.

Pack it for lunch: No special packing needed, just scoop it into a container and go!

Share your own tips and tricks in the discussion below as you try these recipes out.

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