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.....

 

[salsalady]

Reggie made a comment in the Secret Satan thread about who is more excited, the sender or the recipient.  I agree that sometimes it is the sender. 
 
We just has a Skype with the Kid and his Lovely while they opened the 2 gifts we sent over.  Slippers for her (I know, lame...) and.....the big surprise...a mandolin for him!   We were more anxious to get on the call and watch them open the gifts.  Thought we'd hear from him at 10:00, but by 10:30, i called over and said -Get On the Chat!- 
 
 
Big hit for both!  (WHEW!)  It was a big box that he had to watch under the tree for a couple weeks.  Love that kind of anticipation for him and he really liked the mandolin, so There You Go! 

 

[Ashen]

We just had a vid call with my Sister across town , her Daughter's (niece) family out in Edmonton.

My niece and I made some comment about how we would only get to see my sister's forhead or maybe eyes. Every vid call with her is that way, we were just convinced she didn't like being in video. When we both cracked up when she joined , she demanded to know why. Turns out whatever aspect ratio she has set kn her phone , it looks like it sees her face to her but everyone else gets top of her head.

She has been doing lots of business video calls , all through the pandemic, and had no idea. :Rofl:

Cheers

Jalapeno clementine margarita that Donnalee has been meaning to make for me for months.

 

[salsalady]

Oh, thats so bad! I hope she didnt lose any bidnis because of that.

The jalapeno clementine margarita looks good!

 

[salsalady]

well, I done done it again.  Promising goods for sale in the new year for Superbowl.  I sent a couple packets of the chipotle dip mix to someone, they wanted a link to my...non-existent... hot sauce website.....best I could offer was a link to the (supposedly) upcoming superbowl box sale.  
 
 
 
Oh Well, Seahawks won!  And we had B&G for dinner!  WIN!
 
 
BackInTheDay, it was KrustEaze (or however it's spelled) Buttermilk Biscuit Mix.  NOT baking mix, biscuit mix.  Nowadays, it the Jiffy Blue Box Biscuit Mix.  2 boxes....because one box makes about 3 regular sized biscuits. 

 
Hank's breakfast sausage, rendered out and saving the grease.  Set the sausage aside, add 1 stick of butter, make a roux with 1/2 cup flour,  cook it out, add about a quart of milk and cook until thickened. 
I added a pinch of sage, 1 tsp ham base and 1/2 tsp white pepper.

 
 
Don't think about the calories, carbs, grease content..... just enjoy!
 
 
 
 
But not too often.....

 

[salsalady]

Aight...anyone ever done or eaten Beef Wellington????  That beef log stuff that was on Hell's Kitchen for several seasons, and I think on a couple of the Floyd on Food shows?

 

[keybrdkid]

my christmas turkey.

 
oh and my cat Diana says hi
 

 

[salsalady]

Beautiful bird KBK,

And that calico kitty.....Sweet!

Our vet said that only female cats are calico. Thinking back over our critters, that might be true. What do you think?

 

[keybrdkid]

Beautiful bird KBK,

And that calico kitty.....Sweet!

Our vet said that only female cats are calico. Thinking back over our critters, that might be true. What do you think?

 
thankee.  You are right about most Calicos being female. I think the odds of a male calico are something like one in 3000 being male. Even higher if the male is not sterile. The same goes for Torties. See below:
 
My Diana is a special one, even amongst her own kind. And you were partially right. Diana is actually known as a "Tortie Calico." She is more Tortie, in my opinion, than Calico due to her fur pattern. Her body markings isolate the third 'tri-color' (White) mostly on her paws and neck and belly.  There is some debate amongst veternerians and cat enthusiasts as to whether that qualifies Diana as a 'Tortie with white trim' as opposed to an actual Calico. But since we are talking semantics, the classical definition of a Calico includes three colors--one of which is usually white. So when someone asks, normally I say: Diana is a Tortie Calico just to cover my basis. As for her fur color patterning, it falls under the 'Brindled' category of Tortie fur patterns. So by technical definition, Diana is a 'brindled Tortie Calico' to me. That was a tongue twister. And then we can talk about the sharpness of her color contrasts and how they are not diffuse as some torties are. And yet, they are not 'patched' like true Calicos. So shes somewhere in the middle between Tortie and Calico in my opinion. But her ginger side is very sandy and beige. Which makes for a nice color pattern contrast to the striped black on her face for example.  I joke sometimes she gets more likes on Facebook than I do. I also entered her in the Modern Cat contest. I want to train her on agility course running for the Cat Fanciers Assocation at some point. But I haven't gotten around to it. She is quite a climber. She can get 10 feet up and down a tree in the flash. And she LOVES turkey. I think she'll end up eating more of that bird than I will. She's also the most affectionate female cat I've ever cared for personally. My other females usually bring their teeth or claws out the instant I try to pet them for longer than ten seconds. And forget touching their paws or belly. But Diana seems to not mind any of that. She's very socialable for a stray,and has no qualms about being handled. And shes definitely a lap cat. I think it helped she had other cats to be around that help raise her while I am at work. She loves to play with Christmas ornaments that roll. Fortunately, she didn't attack my xmas tree. I wasn't sure how she'd react. Its actually her first Christmas. My best estimates on her age are about 5-6 months. 
 

 

 

[sinensis]

Aight...anyone ever done or eaten Beef Wellington????  That beef log stuff that was on Hell's Kitchen for several seasons, and I think on a couple of the Floyd on Food shows?

 
yes http://thehotpepper.com/topic/73065-2019-xmasnew-years-food-prep/page-2#entry1665185
one of my fav special occasion meals
 
btw, never seen the ham flavor of better than bouillon. is it good? i tried the chicken, beef, and veggie ones, and now i only buy the chicken.

 

[sinensis]

My Diana is a special one, even amongst her own kind. And you were partially right. Diana is actually known as a "Tortie Calico." ...

 
beautiful cat

 

[dragonsfire]

lovely Kitty

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Snacking on part of a gift pack from NM fam. This is so yummy and hotter than expected!

 

[salsalady]

yes http://thehotpepper.com/topic/73065-2019-xmasnew-years-food-prep/page-2#entry1665185
one of my fav special occasion meals
 
btw, never seen the ham flavor of better than bouillon. is it good? i tried the chicken, beef, and veggie ones, and now i only buy the chicken.

This is the first time using the ham base. I couldnt really get the ham flavor as it was in the cream gravy. We used to use dry ham base in the restaurant, i had a 5 pound container of it when the cafe closed and it finally ran out a few years ago. I found this at Hanks a couple months ago. Chicken would also work.

Thanks for the wellington link. Did the chestnuts get rubbed onto the meat before the wrap? It looks pretty spectacular for presentation. On Hells Kitchen they did individual servings. Maybe i can get something a little smaller than what you did for just the 2 of us.

 

[salsalady]

Green chile caramel corn? Never would a thunk that would work.

 

[The_NorthEast_ChileMan]

Green chile caramel corn? Never would a thunk that would work.

 
Have to agree with Ya SL! When my ears hear green chile flavored popcorn my mind sees green tinged dispensers.
 

 

[dragonsfire]

My fav is still dehydrating tomatoes and then powder with peppers and some buttermilk powder mix for my popcorn.

 

[salsalady]

Here's a couple pictures of Pudderz aka Princess aka The Villian.
 
She and the dog get along pretty well.  Sometimes she is laying on the floor and the dog will walk by, not paying her any mind, and she reaches out a paw and swats him...for not reason! 
 
Or she will pounce on him and bite him...for no reason... That's where the villian part comes from.

 

 
 
Joe is a Jack Russell/ red heeler mix

 
ThrowtheballThrowtheballThrowtheballThrowtheball 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

[Harry_Dangler]

Our quarantine cooking buddies ..... Princess Dinah and Moe. 
 
Dinah is the boss.  She's 11 pounds and keeps all of the critters in line.  I've seen her swat possums, racoons and stray dogs.  She's got a real "tortitude".  
 
Moe is a 21 pound gray tabby.  He is massive.  He's afraid of his own shadow.  When my kids were little (a loooong time ago) they used to watch a cartoon called Lambert the Sheepish Lion.  That's Moe.  All of the neighboring farm cats are afraid of him but he doesn't know it.    At times he's afraid to even go outside.  He will protect Dinah if she gets in trouble though.  

 

[Ashen]

I'm wondering if I should be getting concerned about all the pet pictures in the lockdown cooking thread.

Last meal of 2020 was our traditional pre count down calzones.

Homemade bacon, black olives, chopped fresh toms, italian salami, caramelized onions, good low moisture mozz , fresh minced garlic and flake.

Big bowl of marinara for dipping not pictured.

 

[salsalady]

I'm wondering if I should be getting concerned about all the pet pictures in the lockdown cooking thread. 4VS93/PXL-20210101-031241590-PORTRAIT.jpg]

You shouldn't get concerned until there is no proof of life in 2021.


I have 6 hours of work to post. Rewine and lets see how long it takes.

Dadgum...mighty fine looking pizza pocket!