Favorite Foods and Recipes...

abcaines said:
Pecan pie with whiskey sauce was for dessert. My numbers are going to be so bad tomorrow. I'll be good from now on, I promise...😏
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We've been back for over a week now and I haven't been very true to my word but despite that I didn't gain any weight on this trip and my A1c dropped from 8% to 6%!
 
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I'm baking bread today.

The loaf pictured is from the other day. It's the second loaf I've made. With each loaf, I take note of ways I can improve. It's a work in progress. Even if the bread comes out looking weird or it has an odd texture, it still tastes better than anything we buy in the store and is a fraction of the cost.

Making our own bread allows us to control what goes in it. We eat whole/multi grain bread. We don't eat a lot of bread; what we do eat has lots of fiber and flavor. We're cutting back on sugar and making our own bread is a big part of that. I use about 2/3 the amount of sugar that the recipes call for; just enough to allow the yeast to work. I prefer molasses because of it imparts a bit of flavor and a nice dark color to the bread.
 
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abcaines said:
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I'm baking bread today.

The loaf pictured is from the other day. It's the second loaf I've made. With each loaf, I take note of ways I can improve. It's a work in progress. Even if the bread comes out looking weird or it has an odd texture, it still tastes better than anything we buy in the store and is a fraction of the cost.

Making our own bread allows us to control what goes in it. We eat whole/multi grain bread. We don't eat a lot of bread; what we do eat has lots of fiber and flavor. We're cutting back on sugar and making our own bread is a big part of that. I use about 2/3 the amount of sugar that the recipes call for; just enough to allow the yeast to work. I prefer molasses because of it imparts a bit of flavor and a nice dark color to the bread.
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that looks awesome... ... i had to temporarily suspend my bread baking efforts... ..i didn;t totally give them up.... i just ended up needing hands on help from someone experienced - and that person has been too busy to help... .but hopefully she will get some breaks from it all soon.... ... hopefully before christmas...... .
 
so... .i am still doing most of the cooking here at home.. .... but not much new that i haven't
mentioned or posted a video of already.. seems our household knows what it likes - and doesn;t
like to experiment too much.. or get too far away from comfort and safety zones.......

but...... there is always the unexpected isn;t there?.... .(I;m sure i heard that in a movie once)..:unsure:. ..
and you never know when some unforseen thing could happen that puts you into true survival situations.
.... ones where the acquisition of fresh food becomes impossible and you have to survive for an extended
period of time what you already have....... . for that purpose MREs and long term storage survival foods
were invented..

think of emergency survival food and some people imagine a picture of rambo eating spam out of a can with
his combat knife... ..it;s possible... and even do-able... i;ve done it myself on remote hike in hunting trips
before.... . but survival food doesn;t have to be that basic all the time..... .... ..

this is a video of the newest MRE the u.s. military came up with... they made it for cold weather troops...
but it would work in most any environment.... ..the main ingredient actually comes from mountain house
foods and can be bought by anyone in stores that sell hunting and camping gear.....


i have a few of these shirts in my closet.... .. i like wearing them to fast food restaurants....

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it;s the time of year for prime rib... 🥩. (and seared ahi.. but that;s another subject)
.... so chef jean-pierre is back with another prime rib video... .. i have followed his
method a few times and it works really well..😋
.
 
talking about a "skillet" in another thread made me think about quick comfort foods.....
... and as it turns out... ...an awesome easy to make comfort food popped up.....:)

..roasted poblano chicken corn chowder...😋

 
pollo al pastor
chicken as an alternative to thanksgiving turkey.....


what you will need to prepare it.....
....... 1 whole chicken6 New Mexico peppers or guajillo peppers3 ancho peppers1 Roma
tomato½ white onion¾ cup freshly squeezed orange juice ¾ cup pineapple juice3 garlic
cloves2 whole cloves2 bay leaves ¼ cup apple cider vinegar ¼ cup avocado oil or
vegetable oil2 ounces (57g) achiote paste1 tablespoon salt1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon paprika1 tablespoon oregano 1 tablespoon thyme1 tablespoon cumin
 
Over the past couple years, we have saved the rib bones from our prime ribs. This Thanksgiving and Christmas, I have taken those bones and made bone broth out of them. It's ridiculously simple; bones with meat still on them, carrots, onion and celery along with rosemary and thyme, kosher salt and cracked pepper slow cooked for 20-24 hours and the broth that comes out... I'm NEVER buying broth at the grocery store again!

The rosemary/garlic butter is sitting in the refrigerator along with the cranberry sauce mixed with the juice and zest of an orange for tomorrow. Some smoked prime rib with the bone broth au jus, twice baked potatoes and traditional stuffing made with rosemary butter, green bean casserole and the cranberries for dessert are on tomorrow's menu. Forget opening presents... I can't wait for dinner!

Hope y'all have a blessed Christmas with your friends and/or family tomorrow.
 
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We’re going to try this recipe this week. It’s a spin on traditional cornbread.
 
@aleshanee I tried my hand at making Spam musubi last night. This comes from my immediate supervisor who is from Maui. Soon after he took the position, his wife made a bunch of it for the bus yard. I liked it mainly because it was a quick snack for being on the go... a Hawaiian energy bar, if you will.

First of all, I am terrible at making rice; at least it came out tender and not like trying to eat gravel. The Spam part came out okay... I made a sauce with rice vinegar, soy sauce and a little bit of agave syrup. It caramelized nicely and had great flavor. I thought the nori was overpowering and tough, mainly because I cut the sheets too big.

I put the ones we didn't eat away in little baggies in the fridge. Today, they were AMAZING! Just sitting overnight the flavors came together and the nori softened up a lot. The biggest surprise was that Mrs. Abcaines loves them. When I brought the Spam home she wrinkled her nose and I thought I was going to eat a bunch of musubi by myself.

I plan to improve my rice making and finding a mold for the rice. I will find some nori sheets that are less pungent (if that's possible) and cut the strips smaller. I don't think I will change how I do the Spam since that was the only thing that I wasn't disappointed with.
 
abcaines said:
@aleshanee I tried my hand at making Spam musubi last night. This comes from my immediate supervisor who is from Maui. Soon after he took the position, his wife made a bunch of it for the bus yard. I liked it mainly because it was a quick snack for being on the go... a Hawaiian energy bar, if you will.

First of all, I am terrible at making rice; at least it came out tender and not like trying to eat gravel. The Spam part came out okay... I made a sauce with rice vinegar, soy sauce and a little bit of agave syrup. It caramelized nicely and had great flavor. I thought the nori was overpowering and tough, mainly because I cut the sheets too big.

I put the ones we didn't eat away in little baggies in the fridge. Today, they were AMAZING! Just sitting overnight the flavors came together and the nori softened up a lot. The biggest surprise was that Mrs. Abcaines loves them. When I brought the Spam home she wrinkled her nose and I thought I was going to eat a bunch of musubi by myself.

I plan to improve my rice making and finding a mold for the rice. I will find some nori sheets that are less pungent (if that's possible) and cut the strips smaller. I don't think I will change how I do the Spam since that was the only thing that I wasn't disappointed with.
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the history of spam musubi is disputed and even somewhat controversial.... . and today it always gets associated with hawaii because it became so common here - and because this is where most people first come across it.... . ..... but the fact is spam musubi is not hawaiian...... .nothing about it is hawaiian..... ... it;s japanese.....

most agree spam musubi was originally invented by japanese americans confined in the internments camps of world war 2..... and most specifically in those camps located in california...... many different survivors of internment camps claimed to have been the one who invented it... .but those arguments have faded over time as they all passed away......

it was originally made out of only 3 cheap ingredients and no more.... .. it was foods that had been made available to them by the people who managed and oversaw the camps....... canned spam was supplied in abundance..... bags of rice... .. and of course seaweed which for centuries has been a staple of japanese diets and nobody else had a use for... .... the final product of spam musubi was a kind of makeshift sushi.. ..the only real difference was the spam being there instead of some type of fish or seafood.... .....

my friends who make spam musubi use sticky rice... ....it;s made using high glutinous sweet rice and soaking it until it naturally sticks together.... .....the mistake most newcomers to spam musubi make is using rice that is naturally flakey and won;t stick.. ..... or not using a mold to shape it....... originally it was compressed together in an empty spam can with both top and bottom of the can cut off and the sharp edges ground off it... ............... . but today most people use store bought plastic molds...... easier and a little safer to use..... ......

like this one below.... .. which if you notice is actually a little larger is all directions than a can of spam...it;s easier to use and leaves a block of rice slighter wider and longer than the slab of spam... ..i;m not sure if thats an advantage or not......... ... but some of the hard core spam musubi makers i know..... (older japanese)....shun the idea of using a mold and still use an empty can of spam to compress their musubi... .. .....



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. today people making spam musubi use it for all kinds of things from party foods to snacks to carry around while hiking or fishing... and there are some out there that live on it - eating nothing else..... ..

but here;s the thing..... ... i actually hate spam musubi......... .i despise it... ...it;s not so much the spam or the rice... though neither are things we eat regularly.... ..... it;s the sea weed..... (or nori).... . i cannot tolerate even the smell of sea weed much less enjoy eating it..... we use spam like as survival food.... ... and the rice we use in our meals is usually darker wild or indian rices.... .... the high glutinous rice used in traditional spam musubi is highly glycemic and raises blood sugar through the roof - which is good in a survival situation or as a travel food when you don;t where your next prepared meal might come from.....

personally i always thought spam musubi would be better wrapped in bacon rather than seaweed...i might even be able to tolerate it then . ..... but the final product won;t hold together well wrapped in bacon ..or keep fresh as long either.... .plus bacon wasn;t one of the foods people kept in japanese internment camps were supplied with...... . .
 
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creamy mexican red spaghetti with shrimp​

(espagueti rojo)​


ingredients;
16 oz spaghetti

for the shrimp;
1 1/2 lbs shrimp; clean and deveined
1 1/4 tsp salt, smoked paprika, onion & garlic powder,
1 tsp black pepper and chili flakes
3 roma tomatoes; halved
1/2 small white onion
2 garlic clove
2 chile chipotles in adobó sauce
4 oz cream cheese( room temperature)
7.6 oz media crema or crema mexicana
4 oz tomato sauce
4 tsp chicken bouillon
1/2 tsp ground cuminqueso oaxaca
 
aleshanee said:
the final product of spam musubi was a kind of makeshift sushi.. ..the only real difference was the spam being there instead of some type of fish or seafood....
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Yeah, after looking up pictures, my only thought was that it was a big piece of nigiri sushi, just with Spam instead of a shrimp or tuna.

I'm not a huge fan of cold Spam (though I eat a fair bit of it fried for breakfast), but I'd probably learn to make Spam musubi if I thought it was a way to learn to make sushi.
 
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