BS: What's on the menu?

Subject: BS: What's on the menu?
From: GUEST,CS
Date: 01 Oct 14 - 04:24 AM

I'm trying to be a bit more organised with creating menus lately. In fact I have an App ( Food Planner app for android phone )
that's quite useful as you can plan meals, store or link to recipes, and copy plans as desired for future weeks.

Tonight as a part of my ongoing discovery of veggified US classic dishes, we're having what might sound like an odd combination to some (though not really as tofu is a bland tasting food that can be easily marinated and either baked, pan-fried or grilled very much like chicken breast.)

Hopping John (pre-prepped and frozen)
Cajun spiced tofu (just needs to be rubbed in a bit of oil and a ready made seasoning mix and then pan fried) with,
Steamed greens (LOVE greens, folks in the US probably call them collards)

As I've already done the prepping for the beans, there are at least a couple more batches of them in the freezer for future weeks, so we'll be having this again this month, though I might do pumpkin rice next time.

Do you make menus for the days and weeks ahead. What's on the menu?

Subject: RE: BS: What's on the menu?
From: Rapparee
Date: 01 Oct 14 - 08:51 AM

Collards, turnip greens, kale, beet greens...US'ers aren't picky about there greens. Even dandelions.

Subject: RE: BS: What's on the menu?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 01 Oct 14 - 12:53 PM

I can't resist making a pot of chili once a month. I use ground beef, canned tomatoes, four or five different kinds of canned beans, chopped onions, ground beef, and chili powder. Add rice and sausage and adjust the seasoning so it's more Cajun, and it's jambalaya.
I brown the meat and onions, and throw everything into a crock pot/slow cooker for four hours, or in the microwave for 25 minutes.
I like to think this is a healthy dish, but I'm not sure. I recently started using low-sodium beans and tomatoes to make my cardiologist happy.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: What's on the menu?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 01 Oct 14 - 07:47 PM

About time I started another crock pot of the type you describe, Joe, but recently we have been using cured ham shoulder rather than beef (and we always used cubed rather than ground- easier to control the fat). And we use pure New Mexico chile powder and add cumin, oregano and garlic rather than the store-bought chili powder, which is largely filler.

We have been using tepary beans, soak overnight in the pot before the start-up. We get them from a place in Idaho, offered on the internet. The brown tepary are more expensive, but we prefer them. Order early in the year, they are often out-of-stock.

Also very good, we have a brand of canned beans here, "O", organic, no additives, and several types. We use the pintos.

Haven't tried the sausage (fat?) and rice, but I'm sure it's good.

Occasionally I made up a crock pot with chopped root vegetables in addition to the beans and ham, but my wife prefers the chile with ham and no vegetables.

Subject: RE: BS: What's on the menu?
From: Charmion
Date: 01 Oct 14 - 09:29 PM

Cockaleekie this week: a chicken stew with leeks and barley. Great for lunches, works well in a crock pot. Another go-to dish is a minestrone stuffed with shredded kale along with the usual white beans, carrots, celery and tomatoes. And last week (before the Getaway), I made up and froze a batch of chickpea and squash stew that goes with couscous cooked with pine nuts for a nice less-meatarian supper.

If you're looking for new ways to cook with less meat, I strongly recommend Mark Bittman's "Food Matters" Cookbook.

Subject: RE: BS: What's on the menu?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 02 Oct 14 - 06:05 PM

Man, I had a great post about accidentally discovering that microwaving frozen rabbit makes incredibly delicious rabbit, I had always defrosted it first if I had to buy it frozen in the first place. What happened was I forgot to set the power level to Low, and ended up with the juiciest bunny evvver. So here is how I make it now:
Rinse off your frozen rabbit, and dry it a bit with a clean kitchen towel.
Chop veg you like into biggish pieces, put veg, with enough oil to cover the bottom, into a baking dish with a heavy, glass lid that fits. Then, roll the frozen bunny in the dish so that it coats with oil (the veg pieces help coat the dents in frozen rabbit), then take it out again leaving all the veg behind, crust it with a dry rub of, say, thyme, whole peppercorns, salt, paprika, marjoram that have been pestled in a mortar to break the peppercorns and mix the spices. Then put it back on top of the veg, lid, and zap for 15-20 mn at full power.
The time depends on rabbit size and whether I used potatoes in the veg (longer cooktime) or am making rice or couscous or pasta that will take a sauce, like rigatoni - as an aside, if you want it to be like spaghetti use oregano in the rub and tomato in the veg).
Make sure you leave it with the lid on for another 5 mn or so. Then, turn the rabbit a few times get the spices into the veg and the sauce that is being made, but keeping it on top of the ve mostly, put the lid back on, and zap for another 10 mn.
Again, leave the lid on for at least 5 mn before taking the rabbit out and getting all the veg and sauce off it you can, so you can carve it. Did you know rabbit arms aren't attached by bone? There is no joint there, they just come off. Put the bunny pieces back into the baking dish and kind of fluff the whole thing so the veg, sauce, spices and rabbit are all yummy, and serve with the starch.
Yum yum yum. I love me some bunny rabbit couscous.

Subject: RE: BS: What's on the menu?
From: Rapparee
Date: 03 Oct 14 - 03:54 PM

A fricassee of blue octopus and blow fish with sauce of sea snake venom.

Subject: RE: BS: What's on the menu?
From: Janie
Date: 03 Oct 14 - 04:43 PM

I like to saute kale onion and garlic in a little bit of butter or olive oil, add kale or mustard greens and saute a couple of minutes longer, and serve it over pasta with parmesan or romano cheese. If one of the less tender kales, I'll finish it by sprinkling a couple of tablespoons of water on it and pop a lid on the skillet for a couple of minutes.