Justin & Meredith Winokur's Kitchen Cooking Notebook
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KitchenKatalog: Blog 290
Sunday, April 14, 2013, 09:51 AM
I made broccoli beef based on the recipe below. I note my changes there as well.
Major changes: brisket for hanger steak. Used 0.6lbs. They were out of hanger and this was very lean so I figured I'd use it. I also steamed the broccoli. And went heavy on the marinade ingredients. Added sriracha to both marinade and sauce
Next time: Cut the beef even thinner. I'd use brisket again, but I'd trim the small fat layer on the bottom since it didn't cook off enough and made it hard to eat.
Thoughts: I liked the recipe a lot and it didn't need many changes. I was actually surprised that the sauce was enough to coat everything but it did. It made enough for a light-to-medium dinner and lunch. Plus, it's really healthy since I steamed instead of boiled the broccoli.
I also had TJ's wonton soup. The points were low with about 10 for the beef (it was lean), plus the small amount for everything else.
(This recipe is now in my Recipe Book [with changes noted])
Beef with Broccoli (Adapted from Serious Eats)
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 5740, 2013-04-14_095109
Friday, April 12, 2013, 09:09 AM
I made falafel. I based this on the regular falafel, but again using the food processor like last time. The biggest changes were that I went extremely heavy on the parsley and cilantro. I basically just chopped a bunch of each. That explains the very green color. I also went heavy on all of the spices. The other major change was that I used rye flour since I had it out and accessible. (I actually made the dough the night before and just formed/baked them today). I also used 3-4 tbsp of flour to counteract the extra wetness from the food processor method.
I also cooked it for 20-25 minutes per side instead of 15. And I did it on the silpat which worked very well. They were very, very good
. Lots and lots of flavor. And pretty easy too. I think refrigerating it overnight helped too.
I also had spinach+arugula salad with FF dressing and McCormick Salad crunchy things
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 3419, 2013-04-12_090920
Thursday, April 11, 2013, 09:01 PM
I wanted to try something different so I made baked reuben empanadas. I based the dough on the regular empanada dough but used rye flour instead of wheat. I also didn't have egg, but this site suggested I could used soy yogurt. Since I wasn't trying to be vegan, I used greek yogurt. The dough came out okay. Very sticky. Plus, making so little is hard with the mixer.
Anyway, I rolled them out, put a small coating of lite Thousand Island, some (squeezed out) sauerkraut, then sliced corned beef and finally, I topped it with half a slice of light swiss cheese. (see the picture at the bottom).
They came out okay. I think I liked the idea of them more. They didn't taste overly "reubeny". The dough tasted the same so next time, I think I'll throw some caraway seeds in it to make it more rye tasting. And I do not know what else to try to bring out the flavors. Also, I kind of forgot how intense and time consuming it is to make empanadas alone.
I also had corn. Most things said to do them in the oven for 30 min at 350 but I did them for 24 at 400 since I was doing the empanadas anyway.
Pointwise, I don't think it should be too bad. It made 6 empanadas (3 dinner/3 lunch). It was 12 pp for the dough, plus (3x1pp) for light swiss slices + 1/2 lbs corned beef (8 pp) and guess 2 for the dressing. That's 12+3+8+2=25 for 6 or 4 points plus each.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 3414, 2013-04-11_210127
Wednesday, April 10, 2013, 08:17 AM
I made cauliflower steaks. I sliced about 1-inch thick pieces. Of course, I was really only able to get two or three steaks and the rest fell apart. I tried cooking them two different ways and I tried with BBQ sauce (Sweet Baby Rays) and just salt and pepper. The ones BBQ ones are the right and the plain are left. I did it with the grill pan and in the broiler. Obviously, the ones with lines are the grill pan.
For both with and without BBQ sauce, the broiler did a better job. It has more charring, was more cooked through, and had better flavor. For the ones with the BBQ sauce, the broiler was noticeably better! The sauce caramelized better and it was more flavorful. I did them for 13 minutes on the first side and about 12 on the second
One thing I discovered when eating a few pieces raw was that salt is really key to bringing out the sweetness of the cauliflower. While these were pretty good, I still think the curry kind is better!
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 3409, 2013-04-10_081742
Tuesday, April 09, 2013, 02:20 PM
I made a pretty simple meal. I grilled (with the grill pan) a salmon burger and I steamed about 4 oz of frozen shrimp. The shrimp were overcooked a lost a lot of flavor. I think this is because I cooked them from frozen.I also steamed a bunch of sugar snap peas. Many sites (and Meredith) recommended de-stringing them. I could t figure out how to do that nor did I taste a string. So I just ate then as is. I liked how simple they were to make (I ate cutting green beans). I may try doing them in the pan next time.
Points for the meal were 4 for the salmon burger and 2 for shrimp. Not bad!!!
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 3400, 2013-04-09_142049
Monday, April 08, 2013, 09:05 PM
I was going to eat out when I remember I had a spaghetti squash I haven't eaten. I bought a pack of Italian chicken sausage at Target (2.2 points plus/link and 5 links/package). I also bought Classico Tomato Basil sauce (1 point plus/serving, 5 for the whole thing. Lowest one available). I halved the raw squash, deseeded it, lammed it, added salt and pepper, and microwaved it for 13 minutes. Pretty standard. I sliced the sausage into pieces and did it in the pan for a while. It was cooking too much on the bottom and not enough all around so I threw it in the broiler. Once the squash was done, I microwaved the sauce. Once it was all done, I mixed it all together with some parm cheese. It made two very large servings! It was also extremely good. I do not know if it was the sauce; the sausage or the mix, but I liked it a lot and very low points! ( (2.2+1)*5+(some for the cheese)=~18 total). So 9 points for each meal!
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 3393, 2013-04-08_210542
Friday, April 05, 2013, 10:19 AM
Meredith and I made Blue-Hubbard squash croquettes following the recipe below with a few changes. Note that she directed so I may miss a thing or two:
Changes:
As usual, we used the recipe but didn't exactly measure everything. They came out very good. A bit reminiscent of butter-nut squash falafel more than anything else. The bacon got a bit lost in the mix which was unfortunate since it was so good alone. It was a good way to use up the squash which was kind of lacking in flavor alone.
We also added some asparagus to the pan for the last eight minutes or so
Butternut Squash Croquettes (from Love and Lemons)
Local Copy -- password is the name of my dog, all lower case
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 3389, 2013-04-05_101930
Monday, April 01, 2013, 09:28 PM
I made curry chicken and served it over wheat berries (instead of brown rice) with roasted broccoli. This was an interesting meal since I used both very slow cooking for the chicken and very fast [pressure] cooking for the wheat-berries.
I did the chicken in the slow-cooker. I made the sauce the night before.In a bit of oil, I lightly browned grated ginger, garlic (two cloves), curry powder, and a bunch of red-curry paste. I used 3 cups of almond-coconut milk with some ginger chuncks and a bit more curry powder. I also added salt and pepper. I cut the chicken into pieces and marinated in mix overnight then put the whole thing in the slow-cooker in the morning on low.
I do not understand what curdled in it since there was no dairy, but something did, as you can see. Overall, the chicken was overcooked. I think even with 3 cups of milk, there wasn't enough to fill the cooker so it was a bit too hot. And the whole thing wasn't incredibly flavorful as I had hoped.
For the wheat berries,I read a few different things but I finally just kind of made it up. I skipped the presoak as I had in the past which seemed fine. I mixed 1 cup of dry wheat berries with 2 or so cups of water. I pressure cooked it on high for 12-15 minutes and then released. They were cooked but a bit chewy. I drained the excess water.
I also roasted broccoli (425 for about 25-30 min, rotated once) which came out pretty good!
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 3383, 2013-04-01_212811