@Star2236
the left one (workout) was made for us by a friend using her silhouette/cricut (?) machine. The right one was also a gift (I think) but not sure the history on that one. (if you can’t read it, it says " Love the wine you’re with")
@werehatrack
I’m fortunate enough to have several pecan trees on our acre of land so that is my go-to smoking wood as well. Occasionally we use apple, pear or peach if I happen to trim anything out of the orchard that’s big enough to be usable
@chienfou
I have four pecan trees, none over 20 years old, and the fallen branches alone are enough to keep me in wood for smoking purposes. (Damn squirrels keep eating the bark off the new-growth limbs!)
@werehatrack
yeah, it is kinda nice that pecan trees are mostly ‘self-pruning’. I grow jalapenos in the summer and those that don’t get eaten as poppers, cooked in eggs etc. I let turn red then smoke them with pecan wood to make chipotles. I then dry them and grind them into powder (in a cheap coffee grinder I have dedicated to that purpose). Voila… chipotle powder – which is amazing to cook with and makes great gifts at Christmas. Smoked olvie oil and smoked cream cheese also benefit from the pecan…
@tinamarie1974
Thanks. It was. We had 2 other couples over for dinner and games. Made lamb stew and white chili. One couple brought a salad, the other dessert. Ate a ton of yummy cheeses with the fresh bread too.
Butternut squash soup! This version uses onions & yellow curry powder with Indian red chili powder to give it some heat. Wizzed to a smooth soup & served with cilantro & a dollop of full fat greek yogurt.
I’ll be making max and ermas tortilla soup this week. If you’ve never been there it’s not your typical tortilla soup, it’s very cheesy and very yummy. I found the recipe online probably 20 years and have been making it ever since. Everybody knows me for this copycat soup.
@Star2236
How close is this to your recipe? What would you change from this one?
I’ve never heard of “Max & Erma’s”, so don’t know exactly what to expect, but I do generally like rich soups.
Also, it looks like it makes quite a bit of soup, so you better have a large household or really like chicken soup. Max & Erma’s Copycat Chicken Tortilla Soup
@phendrick
Yup that’s the exact recipe. I make the whole thing in the crockpot, start to finish and it turns out great. I usually cook mine a lot longer than 2 hours though. I add more garlic and never measure the cilantro, I just cut a bunch up till it looks good. And I’ve never added fresh tortillas to the soup. I always fry them and the fried ones on top with cheese. The fried tortillas make all the difference.
@chienfou@phendrick
I hate when food/soup outcomes vary from one batch to the next. That was happening with my white chicken Chile and I figured out I was cooking it to hot to fast and needed to slow it down.
@phendrick@Star2236
Since we rarely use recipes, and are prone to “clear out the refrigerator” soups and stews, ours almost always vary from one time to the next.
last night I heated up Chicken and Dressing from the freezer. My mom makes huge batches for Thanksgiving and Christmas and freezes it so that my can’t/won’t cook sister can take some home. She usually takes the majority. I just usually take a small one.
For what it’s worth, a 2015 survey by Butterball found that the term “dressing” predominates in 11 states (Washington, Nevada, Iowa, Indiana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Florida), with “stuffing” more common in the remaining 39. This roughly matches the consensus that residents of the Northeast and West Coast states say “stuffing,” while “dressing” is preferred in the South and Midwest.
@chienfou@ironcheftoni If its cooked inside the bird it is stuffing. If cooked outside, its dressing. Stuffing is better than dressing, but both can be wonderful.
@chienfou@duodec although according to Alton Brown, stuffing; at least inside the bird is evil. It can very easily be undercooked and get nasty bacteria from the turkey
What is the oldest raw meat in the fridge that I didn’t get to.
Does it smell bad? Eh it’s… probably fine… Let me smell that again(Dates are BS)
What can I make with this to get it cooked ASAP… Hmmm (poppy seed) (chicken)… Cook the rest in the cast iron for other use.
Cube the raw chicken, throw in the casserole dish.
Following a recipe meant for cooked chicken.
Create filling adding any other (dairy) ingredients not called for but need used along the same lines.
Bake twice as long as the recipe to get the meat cooked/check the temp.
8.Eat leftovers for a week
9.Stir skillet cooked meat into something (pasta with meat/sauce) if you get bored of leftovers
I have never managed to make anything inedible when playing clear the fridge. Not that it’s fine cooking. I have sometimes thrown out a package of meat but. It has to be away past its date and smell way off.
@mike808 I generally dont rinse meat for a number of reasons.although if just the right combination of slime/slight smell I’m sure I have cause surface bacteria/toxins. Then seared it well. If it’s going green/smells really off… I figure that’s pushing it.
But the whole use raw meat in 3 days crowd and the “use by” crowd and omg the hamburger is brown crowd. FFS it’s oxidation. Chill
@chienfou@mike808 well. That’s a potential problem because now you are dealing with sliced meat that has had a blade in between to introduce bacteria. Ton of surface area
I was more referring to whole cuts/don’t eat much lunch meat. I treat that as it’s in the sealed package it’s fine. Although I actually think that’s the one I have had turn green on me.
The Moscow mules we were drinking while these were cooking didn’t quite make it into the picture
@chienfou
Omg I love your kitchen towels, especially the workout one. I’m a huge wine fan, where did you get it from?
@Star2236
the left one (workout) was made for us by a friend using her silhouette/cricut (?) machine. The right one was also a gift (I think) but not sure the history on that one. (if you can’t read it, it says " Love the wine you’re with")
This evening’s meal featured pecan-smoked ribs hot off the grill.
@werehatrack
I’m fortunate enough to have several pecan trees on our acre of land so that is my go-to smoking wood as well. Occasionally we use apple, pear or peach if I happen to trim anything out of the orchard that’s big enough to be usable
@chienfou
I have four pecan trees, none over 20 years old, and the fallen branches alone are enough to keep me in wood for smoking purposes. (Damn squirrels keep eating the bark off the new-growth limbs!)
@werehatrack
yeah, it is kinda nice that pecan trees are mostly ‘self-pruning’. I grow jalapenos in the summer and those that don’t get eaten as poppers, cooked in eggs etc. I let turn red then smoke them with pecan wood to make chipotles. I then dry them and grind them into powder (in a cheap coffee grinder I have dedicated to that purpose). Voila… chipotle powder – which is amazing to cook with and makes great gifts at Christmas. Smoked olvie oil and smoked cream cheese also benefit from the pecan…
@chienfou @werehatrack
Ahhhhhh!
We had pork loin & potatoes for dinner
Looks yum!!
@tinamarie1974
Thanks. It was. We had 2 other couples over for dinner and games. Made lamb stew and white chili. One couple brought a salad, the other dessert. Ate a ton of yummy cheeses with the fresh bread too.
Butternut squash soup! This version uses onions & yellow curry powder with Indian red chili powder to give it some heat. Wizzed to a smooth soup & served with cilantro & a dollop of full fat greek yogurt.
@Joedetroit
yum… that sounds great. Got to love soups in the winter
@Joedetroit
Have a great recipe I saved out of the newspaper years ago for butternut squash and fusilli pasta that we make now and then…
I’ll be making max and ermas tortilla soup this week. If you’ve never been there it’s not your typical tortilla soup, it’s very cheesy and very yummy. I found the recipe online probably 20 years and have been making it ever since. Everybody knows me for this copycat soup.
@Star2236
How close is this to your recipe? What would you change from this one?
I’ve never heard of “Max & Erma’s”, so don’t know exactly what to expect, but I do generally like rich soups.
Also, it looks like it makes quite a bit of soup, so you better have a large household or really like chicken soup.
Max & Erma’s Copycat Chicken Tortilla Soup
@phendrick @Star2236
We’re really bad about making soups & stews on the fly. Consequently, they vary from one batch to the next.
@phendrick
Yup that’s the exact recipe. I make the whole thing in the crockpot, start to finish and it turns out great. I usually cook mine a lot longer than 2 hours though. I add more garlic and never measure the cilantro, I just cut a bunch up till it looks good. And I’ve never added fresh tortillas to the soup. I always fry them and the fried ones on top with cheese. The fried tortillas make all the difference.
@chienfou @phendrick
I hate when food/soup outcomes vary from one batch to the next. That was happening with my white chicken Chile and I figured out I was cooking it to hot to fast and needed to slow it down.
@phendrick @Star2236
Since we rarely use recipes, and are prone to “clear out the refrigerator” soups and stews, ours almost always vary from one time to the next.
Mississippi pot roast. Super yum!
@tinamarie1974 We love that! Super easy too.
last night I heated up Chicken and Dressing from the freezer. My mom makes huge batches for Thanksgiving and Christmas and freezes it so that my can’t/won’t cook sister can take some home. She usually takes the majority. I just usually take a small one.
@ironcheftoni
Another good winter comfort food
@ironcheftoni
BTW the term dressing is (essentially) interchangeable with stuffing, and is primarily dependent on geographical preference.
@chienfou and in the south, we call it dressing.
@ironcheftoni
Just for reference sake
@chienfou @ironcheftoni If its cooked inside the bird it is stuffing. If cooked outside, its dressing. Stuffing is better than dressing, but both can be wonderful.
@duodec @ironcheftoni
Yeah that’s what i thought too but not according to Butterball survey above…
@chienfou @duodec although according to Alton Brown, stuffing; at least inside the bird is evil. It can very easily be undercooked and get nasty bacteria from the turkey
@duodec @ironcheftoni
Since I generally spatchcock that’s not a worry…
@sillyheathen
Yumm… looks like home made dough and a margharita pizza! Did you grow the basil/tomatoes?
Make the sauce?
Taco Wednesday
Please do not be intimidated by my fancy China
@tinamarie1974
Nice! I bet you have a matched set too!
@chienfou I have service for 50. Fancy, right!?!?!?
@chienfou @tinamarie1974
Tacos made from leftover pot roast?
@chienfou @Kyeh no, but I have done that! Ground sirlion
@chienfou @tinamarie1974 Sir Lion?
You two with your exotic tastes - first owls, now lions?
The tacos look yummy, though!
@chienfou @Kyeh @tinamarie1974
TM knows about LC. Better than Arby’s.
I have a very delicate process.
8.Eat leftovers for a week
9.Stir skillet cooked meat into something (pasta with meat/sauce) if you get bored of leftovers
I have never managed to make anything inedible when playing clear the fridge. Not that it’s fine cooking. I have sometimes thrown out a package of meat but. It has to be away past its date and smell way off.
@unksol You forgot:
10. If you rinse off the slime, it’s probably still good.
11. Trim off anything growing in 38°F temperatures in the dark.
@mike808 I generally dont rinse meat for a number of reasons.although if just the right combination of slime/slight smell I’m sure I have cause surface bacteria/toxins. Then seared it well. If it’s going green/smells really off… I figure that’s pushing it.
But the whole use raw meat in 3 days crowd and the “use by” crowd and omg the hamburger is brown crowd. FFS it’s oxidation. Chill
@mike808 @unksol
not to mention that’s what aged beef is all about!
@chienfou @unksol
I’m referring to the slime between slices of boloney or luncheon loaf after a week in the fridge drawer.
@chienfou @mike808 well. That’s a potential problem because now you are dealing with sliced meat that has had a blade in between to introduce bacteria. Ton of surface area
I was more referring to whole cuts/don’t eat much lunch meat. I treat that as it’s in the sealed package it’s fine. Although I actually think that’s the one I have had turn green on me.