S.I.P./Quarantine Cooking

Well, we are all in a mess, so lets have some fun and learn a few things along the way!  First and foremost might be that...you can make a burrito at home!!!  That's a bit facetious talking to this crowd here on THP, who have some of the maddest cooking skills on the interwhebz. 
 
SO, lets post what we are cooking at home, what is made from the pantry, what was out of but substituted, all basic cooking skills.....
 
I'll get it started!
 
A couple days ago, talking with my son who is now 21 and living on his own for the last 2 years, he said..."I gotta go, Mom, the roasted chicken is done.  We're gonna eat dinner now."  :sniff:  AWW!!!!  I'm a happy mom.....
 
 Here's what we did for family entertainment last weekend.  We rented Milo and Otis...for the DOG to watch!!!

 
what's in the meat drawer- pork chops
Pantry- wild rice (doctored up majorly!)
Breading with pantry crackers
tomatoes (cuz that was the best FRESH veg I could come up with.)

 
I didn't have Panko, so I blitzed some Mary's pepper crackers in the food processor with some flour,  added some spices and pepper powders, dredged the chops in seasoned egg/milk wash and then cracker crumbs.  Pan Fry in cast iron skillet with a bit of oil until golden brown and done.
 

 
Rice- Saute rice mix in some butter (ala Rice-A-Roni) until toasty nutty done.  Add water and chicken base/boullion, cook until done.  Key notes!  Use broth as the cooking liquid and saute the rice mix before with butter!  There are lots of quinoa, rice mixes....just don't cook with plain water.  Saute in olive oil/butter or not,  or not, but definitely use seasoning in the water. 

 
Looks kind of blah, but was really yummy!

 
 
next up... Pork, shrimp, LO wild rice-vs-white rice, beans........and andoulle...
 
share what you got cooking.  Might make this into a competition of who had the best cooking Hack, or best out of nothing dish, to be awarded when all of this shite is over.
 
and my husband has developed a strange affinity for watching musicals.
 
Paint Your Wagon
Oklahoma
Dirty Dancing (OK...that one's mine... )
 
 
I'm queuing up
Pirates of Penzance,
Showboat
South Pacific...

 
and Floyd's final episodes.....

 

[Ashen]

Awesome! drool
 
(MSG ?? )

Chemically identical to the MSG in seaweed or parm or literally hundreds of other foods

It gets a bad reputation but there is no scientifically supported evidence it is problematic.

In fact there are many articles that tie the reason why it came to be considered unhealthy with racism.

 

[dragonsfire]

My headaches/dry mouth would say other lol
 
https://youtu.be/3ylvlmNZ2V0

 

[salsalady]

Chemically identical to the MSG in seaweed or parm or literally hundreds of other foods

It gets a bad reputation but there is no scientifically supported evidence it is problematic.

In fact there are many articles that tie the reason why it came to be considered unhealthy with racism.

I'm not jumping on one side the fence or the other on this topic.  I have seen some reports where people refuse to eat Chinese food claiming MSG allergies, then they eat chips or other foods with MSG and they have no problems.

 

[The_NorthEast_ChileMan]

I'm not jumping on one side the fence or the other on this topic.  I have seen some reports where people refuse to eat Chinese food claiming MSG allergies, then they eat chips or other foods with MSG and they have no problems.

 
I'm with SL as I've never experienced an adverse effect to MSG (Or at least one I noticed.). My MIL has and checks ingredients as she reports she has. In looking around I've often seen the amount consumed can be the trigger -So how can you tell how much the product contains...
 

 

[dragonsfire]

Amounts are list as most to least, so according to the list, theirs more MSG then Tomato Puree. 

 

[keybrdkid]

 
OK, KBK, You gotta explain this ^^^...what do cats/racoons have to do with that nice looking steak??? 
 
 
 

 
Sorry I missed this one SL. Well its a funny story (see my previous status) that involved me doing my normal clean groceries off routine (yes its a bit extra but I have a higher risk COVID susceptible individual at my house.) Anyways, long story short a racoon that steals regularly from my cat food bowls snuck up on me while my back was turned and I was cleaning groceries. I had placed a packet of steaks and other bagged items on my front porch to carry in and when my back was turned the cat/racoon (still not sure which) clawed at the corner of the packet and tried to eat one of the rib eyes. Quickly they found out the meat was too thick for them and gave up, but I had to toss out that portion of steak as a precaution. There were two more rib eyes in the same packet that I salvaged because thankfully they didnt tear the cellophane wrapping on.  I debated throwing out the whole pack, but I figured cooking them wouldn't hurt as I usually cook the steaks around 500 degrees or so. 
 
And I have no real opinion on MSG. Other than that I was always under the impression it was bad and caused cancer or something. So I never use it in my food intentionally. But I know some use it to increase flavor. But thats about the extent of my knowledge on the subject.

 

[The_NorthEast_ChileMan]

Amounts are list as most to least, so according to the list, theirs more MSG then Tomato Puree. 

 
I was thinking the same thing DF until you look close - The MSG is in the "Seasoned Beef Sirloin Burgers" not the entire can of soup

 

[salsalady]

KBK... thats funny! Thanks for sharing.


NECM is correct, the msg is a sub-ingedient of the sirloin pieces. Easy to miss that.

 

[Ashen]

 

[salsalady]

Pepper steak and 'shrooms.  Nice, Ashen!  That rare meat doesn't gross me out like my raw beef wellington did.  :shrug: 
 
Your shrimp tacos were an inspiration, I picked up a bag of shrimp when shopping yesterday and I plan on working up some tacos tomorrow. 

 

[Ashen]

Appearances aside steak dinner isn't actually a regular occurrence but it seems I am more likely to take photos of them.

Grilled tri tip with my home-made steak spice, mashed and a mixed kale salad with dill pickle dressing.

 

[WarrantMan]

Ashen, killing it dude! Spectacular...
 
I'm a big fan of Chinese food and God knows I've spent thousands$ over the years in consumption thereof. But, in so saying, there have been those times afterwards that I had an intense insatiable thirst. Drink water till my belly almost pops and still thirsty yet for an hour or so after. Maybe wrongfully so, but I have always attributed this to the MSG.  Some places now advertise "no MSG" and I haven't had such problems with those. I think it (MSG) does have its place, but even though it may be great for "flavor enhancement" (or meat tenderizer as oft touted) "high" doses perhaps are not always pleasurable.  My "opinion" for whatever weight you give it.

 

[Ashen]

I get that same thing with a lot of take out food. Pizza, chinese food that is no msg, and other things.

High sodium content will do that no matter what kind of salts, you are talking about.

High enough doses of anything can be problematic.
There were people dying from drinking too much water from stupid internet challenges not long ago.

A 1/4 tsp msg in 3/4 of a cup of batter on pound of shrimp isnt even a blip on the radar.

I will stick with the evidence of the double blind tests that were done on the other so called side effects.

 

[salsalady]

Ashen inspired some shrimp tacos...but we didn't get to that.

I made fish and chips today using Ashen's shrimp batter recipe. Wanted to do some coleslaw and other stuff. Spent 5 hours working on bids...is what it is...

Let's see if I can get the pics


Ok...pics not happening on the new (recycled) phoane.

Brb-

 

[salsalady]

I'm trying to work on bids, and the critters are just....well, this speaks for itself.....
 

 
And then there's This Guy!~~~

 
 
Well, the food got DONE!
 
This is what our front porch looked like this morning.  The grill under the roof, there was a good wind blowing all the snow up onto the deck. 

 
It melted off enough to use the side burner on the bbq for the fish and chips.

 
 
 
sorry, no coleslaw, etc....
 
Ashen's batter recipe cooked up really nice!.  There was a lot of ...crispies...in the oil.  I picked those out while the fish was cooking.  I thought the crispies would burn and not be good for the 2nd batch of fish that had to cook.  It seemed to work.  
 
I cut the halibut fillet into 1/2"x1/2"x4" strips based on the halibut fillet I picked up at the market.  Thinking I was gonna be cooking outside on the side burner in coooold temps, the smaller strips sounded like a better cooking scenario. 
 
It worked!
 
 
 
Homemade Tartar Sauce.....coming right up...

 

[salsalady]

Homemade Tarter Sauce
 
1 Tbsp dried diced onions with hot water*
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tbsp dill pickle relish (finely minced dill pickles if you don't have 'relish'  )
1tsp lemon juice
pinch salt-optional
1/2-3/4c mayo
 
place 1 tbsp dried minced onion pieces in a bowl and add 1 tbsp very hot tap water.  let set for 20 minutes.  Add all the rest of the ingredients, refer for 2 hours or overnight.

 

[bob65]

You Northern Hemispherers are welcome to keep that snow to yourselves thanks. I am afraid that it would do me in.
 
I will stick to down here with the snakes and spiders and turn the aircon on if I want to be cold.
 
 
Meat is a little too pink for me there Ashen, but it does look like a great feed.
 
SL, your fish and chips makes me hungry.

 

[Ashen]

It is definitely temp'd out right on the borderline of rare and med rare at 131 F / 55 C

 

[bob65]

Some times the simple meals are the best.
 
Drumsticks in the Weber kettle
 

 

[salsalady]

Simple is good. Nice chicken, Bob.

Doing another leek soup. This was a caramelized leek and roasted garlic soup. Edit- with bacon!

Dinner being cooked on the barbie...in the snow..with the dog chasing shadows...(don't ask...its a terrier thing.. )