In the Kitchen

[PK]

I had two hot dogs and vegetable juice. A nice balanced meal.

[thartley]

Pk, I'm glad to hear you are still drinking your fruits and vegetables!  Not so sure about the hotdogs, though.   

I am making a nice pot of Tuscana soup today.  Its supposed to be a knock-off recipe of the one they use at Olive Garden.  I don't know how accurate it is, but I know how tasty it is.  And it is simple to make....all in one soup pot.

1 large can of chicken broth (the BIG cans)
1/2 c heavy cream
2 potatoes, sliced and chopped to 1/4" pieces
1/2 bag of kale (you can get these hearty greens prewashed, chopped and ready to use)
1-pound of spicy italian sausage (I use Hillshire Farms Hot and Spicy precooked sausage, looks like kielbasa) sliced and quartered
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Combine chicken broth and cream in a large pot over medium heat.  Add the potatoes and stir.  Add the kale and sausage and stir.  Add the red pepper and bring to boil over medium heat.  Reduce heat to simmer for about 2 hours or until the potatoes and kale are done to your liking.

I will post a pic later.  I think I will serve this with a salad and warm french bread.   

[Ginafish]

I've never eaten kale and I never EVER will!! One of my earliest jobs was as a waitress at Shoney's, a Southern Chain restaurant that was famous for it's breakfast buffet and strawberry pie. The salad bar had kale as a decoration around all the tubs of food. Every night, the kale was removed, put in a ice/salt water solution and recycled...Over and over and over again. Sometimes the kale on the bar was at least a week old, and some people...would eat it. *gag* So even if I knew it was fresh, it'd still cause gagging ptsd. And don't ask me about the strawberry pie's either.



As for the Tuscany soup....maybe I'll try it with spinach.

Oh! And does anyone have any good cabbage recipes?

[KitKat]

Oh! And does anyone have any good cabbage recipes?

Sorry Ginafish,  I love cabbage but, we don't eat cabbage.  My husband's on blood thinning medication and cabbage interferes with it. 
Love your green "gag me" face!!        I'm sure tempted to ask about the strawberry pie's.   

[thartley]

Oh Ginafish....its a decoration?  haha!  Its actually very good for you, LOL!  But I understand where you're coming from on staying away from it.  You CAN use other greens of your choice in the soup.  If you use spinach, I would add it at the VERY end, as spinach is nowhere near as hearty or firm a green as kale.  You could use collards or mustard, but they may be a bit bitter.  (I actually think kale is a bitter green as well, but I like it in this soup!)

Kitkat, I don't know much about the cabbage medication connection, so I don't know what to suggest as a substitute for you.     If there are any greens GWiz can eat cooked, just throw them in.  And if they are like spinach, tender and cooks quickly, just wait to add them more toward the very end of the cooking process.  It is a very tasty soup.

[KitKat]

Your soup looks delicious and your Tuscan dishes make a beautiful presentation.   Looks like you may have a new table too.  Have you been shopping lately?    Tell us about your new living space?       

[thartley]

Your soup looks delicious and your Tuscan dishes make a beautiful presentation.   Looks like you may have a new table too.  Have you been shopping lately?    Tell us about your new living space?       

Ha!  No, I have not been shopping, but I am in a new location.  I am staying with a friend in a BEAUTIFUL beach condo.  I tried to find some pics to post from the web, but I will take my own today sometime and post. 

[KitKat]

  thartley, if you're interested, here's one I found for ya!  http://floridabeachhouse.org/     I'm sure it has a great kitchen!!      

[thartley]

I just thought I would mention here...most of you know that in the past, whenever I've gotten busy in the kitchen, its always been just for me, or on the rare occasion for my myself and my daughter.  I have been having a blast cooking for someone else, but I need to stop for a few days now.  In the last week, I've cooked two pots of the Tuscana soup (it was a big hit here), a batch of chili so large I had to simmer it in a black enamel turkey roaster, broiled open faced cajun turkey sandwiches with smoked gouda cheese and homemade horseradish sauce on onion rolls, loaded baked potatoes with chili and cheese (gotta do something with all that chili), southwestern omlettes with salsa and sour cream, and this morning I had (just for me) an egg scrambled with a bit of the cajun turkey served on a slice of toasted sunflower bread, half an apple, and a glass of orange juice.

The fridge is now stocked with enough leftovers that I should not have to cook for a few days, though I am loving it.   This condo has a GREAT kitchen!   


The funny thing is that I have been asked to make some of my veggie sonoma wraps and some homemade hummus for some hospital workers. ha!  They will buy the food if I will make it for them.  LOL!

[Ginafish]

I'm wondering if you might have a catering business in your future rather than accounting or journalism.... Or best yet! A food critique who has to keep meals under $40 a day. As opposed to Rachel Ray who likes everything.

[M3R1IN]

"as opposed to Rachel Ray who likes everything"
LOL... I agree indeed

[thartley]

In some alternate reality, I think I am a real cook.  For now, I just pretend.

 

[M3R1IN]

I have a request for a Thai dish, its called:
"Plah Thod sahm rodt" or something like that... I only had it a few times when I was over there...
It is deep-fried river fish or so one of my Thai friends told me but he doesnt know how to cook it or what species of fish it is..
Just from looking at the fish it looked like tilapia because it is literally the whole fish minus the innards and scales that has had slits cut in the sides and then deep fried whole.
So basically I need to know what kind of oil to fry it in and what species of fish... I have also had it here in Canada at a Thai restaurant but it was breaded in what looked like a tempura batter.
The owners of this thai restaurant dont speak very good engilsh so i couldnt convey my request for the type of fish to them add the fact that I have to drive 2.5 hours to get to that restaurant and you can see how difficult it is to get that info.
Thanks for any suggestions anyone can offer.

[thartley]

Didnt Ming post about the fish dish somewhere in maybe the Nong Khai Food thread?  Are those the ones you are talking about, Wes?

Today, I made lasagne.  I have not made it in forever, and honestly, it turned out kinda dry.  I am positive I followed the recipe correctly on the back of the pasta box.  Thank goodness I got a huge jar of sauce.  I will need to top the servings individually with extra.

In the oven right now are some yummy toll house cookies.  Making five dozen, so the package tells me.   

[thartley]

Dinner:




And dessert:



(disclaimer: none of the bottles, full or otherwise have anything to do with me...not now, not previously)   

[PK]

Interesting. That top cookie looks to have a huge bite taken out of it. You just couldn't wait, could you?

[thartley]

Interesting. That top cookie looks to have a huge bite taken out of it. You just couldn't wait, could you?

Nope.... and it was warm and all melty in the morsels.... mmmmmm

[Ginafish]

You just put those cookies there hoping Horse would come by.

How was the lasagna with the extra sauce on top?

[thartley]

The lasagna was much better wetter.   

The whiskey stuff back there was used as a marinade for some huge  chunks of meat on shish-ka-bobs for a tailgating thing Sunday (when the Jaguars got spanked by the Saints).  The wine....not mine. 

[thartley]

What do you do when you can't make up your  mind if you want homemade chicken soup, or baby limas with smoked ham over rice and green beans, and any and all of it with some made-from-scratch buttermilk cornbread?

Well, you make it all and then sit back for the rest of the week cooking nothing.  HAHA!

[Ginafish]

LOL! Kitchen Confusion! That's be a better thread title over all!

I love that you made all of the dishes! The soup looks YUmMY! (I almost through in a Rachel Ray "Yum-O" but then I gagged.

Josh and I cooked together tonight, Indian Chicken over rice! Spendiforous!

[thartley]

It might have been good of me to add to my post that I actually opted to eat the soup.  I didnt eat of all of it, other than to taste test it.   

I will take half the soup over to David's tomorrow, along with some of the cornbread, and have a movie night.

I may freeze half the limas, also.  I am the only one around here who likes them.

Laurie came over night before last and we had bourbon salmon, fresh broccoli with melted garlic butter (Smart Balance) and corn on the cob.  No leftovers there except for a bit of broccoli.     But now, I am here by myself. 

One of the things I am learning is that some things are sooooo much cheaper to make from scratch than it is to use the mixes or canned versions.  Like the soup.  I made that whole huge pot of soup for about $5.  Found the chicken on sale for .69/lb, I DID use frozen veggie mix, and the egg noodles.  I didnt use any added broth, opting for the natural broth I got after boiling the chicken.

The cornbread is super economical to make from scratch.  I have to play with the recipe a bit to get it as sweet as I like it, but I'll get there.

And with the leftover buttermilk, I think I have just enough to make some real buttermilk pancakes tomorrow.     (Though I said I wouldnt cook for the rest of the week....I dont count breakfast in the "not cooking" thing!--haha!)

[Ginafish]

You could go even cheaper by not buying buttermilk, but instead add vinegar to regular milk...in a measuring cup so the rest of the milk is still useful for things like hot cocoa.

I'd like Ming's recipe for cashew chicken. *hint, hint*

And here's last nights curry chicken.

Josh didn't want me to post this pic b/c it the rice isn't pretty. It all gets eaten together anyway I figure.

[thartley]

The rice looks fine and the meal looks great.  Is that zuchinni?

[Ginafish]

Yep, zuchinni, red onions and garlic. Sometimes we also use sweet potatoes.