Instant Pot VS 12 Nights Of Christmas Wine

OK, the Instant Pot never really stood a chance.

But, I gotta say, I was SHOCKED by the number

of my friends who voted Instant Pot when I put it up for a vote.

Have you MET me???

And then the question  begs,

Have you met my mother and aunt?

My husband was the wise man 

who came bearing gifts of wine, 

Mom and Big? The pot :)

So now I am on a journey to determine if I will

drink of the Instant Pot Kool Aid that is 

taking Facebook and Pinterest by storm.

At first I was surprised to learn 

that I had mistaken the word 

"instant"

for

"magic".

It's not magic. 

You still have to prep.

(chop, peel, measure)

It's nice that you can saute right in the pot.

Sweat those onions, brown that meat.

See? Not magic.

I have cooked a whopping three meals in it thus far

and all three were delicious.

I'm still on the fence as to whether it's 

that much better than a slow cooker.

I think you have to decide, do I want to do 

the grunt labor 

at the start of the day or the end.

Most days it's 6 to one, half dozen to the other.

Yesterday may have tipped the scales in its favor.

I walked in the door at 4:30 

and had dinner on the table at 5:30.

This Honey Bourbon Chicken was fantastic.

And don't be mislead, there is NO bourbon in it.

The internet is in a bit of a fight as to why 

it's called this, but bottom line, don't worry when you don't see

bourbon in the ingredients.

It's not there.

Ava loved it, Mike was not as enthused but 

it was a bit sweet, so I will try cutting back on the honey

the next time I make it.

I'm kind of thinking of trying meatloaf in it tonight.

Maybe.

I dunno.

https://onceamonthmeals.com/recipes/instant-pot-honey-bourbon-chicken-traditional-version/

Asian Sloppy Joes

Without the Sloppy or Joe.

I don't know which one.

Read: No Bun!

But what are Sloppy Joes if not

a meat sauce of sorts?

I saw this in

Cuisine At Home

and had to try it. 

Who needs a bun?

I had corn pasta!

It's really good, 

I substituted ground turkey for the sirloin,

 cut back on the chili paste by about half

and added a couple of tablespoons of cornstarch

mixed with water at the end to thicken it up.

Here's the recipe with my adaptations:

 1 Lb. ground turkey

1/2 cup diced celery

1/2 cup diced onion

2 T. sesame oil

2 T. each of grated ginger and garlic

2T. soy sauce

1 t. chili garlic sauce

1 T. brown sugar

1 can sliced chestnuts, chopped

1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes, drained

1/3 cup Hoisin sauce

2 T. cornstarch

Saute the celery and onions in the sesame oil

till soft, add ginger and garlic, cook for about 1

minute, add the turkey and cook through.

Add remaining ingredients and heat through. 

Add the cornstarch/water combo at the end.

Serve it on a bun if you want to conform. 

Or not.

Hoisin Pork Salad

In theory it was supposed to be a roast, 

but it just shredded and the salad

I was going to use as a supporting player

got to become the star.

Or at least worked it's way into the credits.

The salad is a mix of;

romaine,

napa cabbage,

celery,

red peppers, 

and golden raisins

tossed with a store-bought Asian dressing.

The pork is another Rachel Ray.

Heads up, Rachel likes her food HOT!

I'll link the recipe, 

the things I "adapted"

were:

I used two pork tenderloins instead of the 

loin roast called for, 

and the 1 tablespoon chili paste

I cut to 1 teaspoon. 

Good call.

http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipes/rachael-ray-magazine-recipe-search/dinner-recipes/hoisin-pork-roast

Dinner Fail

So, people think I'm a marvelous cook.

I tell them I don't advertise my failures.

Well here you go:

The salmon was good.
It was an asian kind of thing.
The problem was in the salad.
I had an abundance of cucumbers
along with a couple of avocados.
I really and truly found a recipe that used both
ingredients.
As the main ingredients.
To be served with salmon.
No.
The textures were wrong.
The flavors were wrong.
It was a bust.

There may or may not be a trip to
Dairy Queen in my near future.

Sweet and Spicy Sauce

Or glaze. 

Or something. 

It would seem the hardest part of creating

a recipe would be naming it.

You know how 

pork is the *other* white meat?

Well, I'm not a big chicken fan so in this house

pork is the white meat. 

My favorite cut is the tenderloin. 

America's Test Kitchen gave me the 

perfect way to cook it. 

I use an oven safe fry pan, 

brown the tenderloin on all sides

 on the stove top

and then put it in a 375 degree oven for  

about 25 minutes depending on 

the size of the tenderloin.

I check it for doneness by how much

give it has when I poke it with my tongs.

I like it a little pink in the middle.

Over done pork is the pits.

Pork tenderloin is a perfect vehicle for any 

sauce you want. 

We are big on teriyaki, BBQ

and a cranberry sauce.

I got creative the other night and came up with this:

It is:

1/2 cup apricot preserves

2 T. soy sauce

1 clove garlic, minced

2 t. fresh grated ginger

1/4 t. red pepper flakes

When I took the tenderloins out to rest

I deglazed the pan with a hit of chicken stock

then added the sauce components and

heated them through. 

PS, those potatoes tasted pretty good

dunked in the sauce too. 

Yum. 

Number 200!!!!!

WHOOT! WHOOT!

Wasn't even aware of it!

(200th post, that is)

In honor of which there will be a fantastic giveaway!

A giveaway of gargantuan proportions!

A giveaway to end all giveaways!!!!

Yeah, no, actually just a 

Whoot, Whoot.

Oh, and a new post :o)

About an Asian Sweet Potato Salad that I don't need to make again.

And now looking at it, I can't remember what intrigued me about it to begin with.

Well, except for that I have been interested in finding a 

potato salad that uses sweet potatoes as opposed to white potatoes.

It's from Tyler Florence and the one good take away

from the experience was his reiterating to be careful

not to over cook the potatoes.

"We are making potato salad, not mashed potatoes."

Good point.

I have been known to cook my potatoes to within an inch of their lives.

Thank you Tyler, I will take your advice. 

You, however, may keep your 

Asian Sweet Potato Salad with Cucumbers, Dates and Arugula.

Meantime, Honey and I are devising

 our own recipe for 

Grilled Sweet Potato Salad. 

It's better already, way shorter title.

Oh, and we found out we like arugula.

Once again, thank you Tyler. 

Asian Pork With Snow Peas,

Red Peppers, and Soba Noodles.

Boy, that's a long name for something.

But worth every syllable.

I love Asian flavors and as long as I refer to them as such and not

"Chinese" I seem to be able to get away with it.

Mind you, my husband has nothing against the ethnicity,

just what he perceives as their cuisine. 

So Asian it was tonight!

This recipe came courtesy of Real Simple Magazine. 

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/slow-cooker-asian-pork-with-snow-peas-red-peppers-and-soba-noodles-00000000052428/index.html

Real Simple Magazine came courtesy of Indra.

Thanks, Indra :o)

K, so here's the scoop; 

I followed the recipe pretty closely, 

I did substitute wheat spaghetti for the soba noodles

and cashews for the peanuts. 

The meat I used was called a 

"pork shoulder blade steak".

I cut the meat into pieces as the recipe instructed but then I 

tossed the bone in for the heck of it.

I think this would be really good with pork country ribs too. 

Just cook them whole and then shred them at the end.

The recipe has you slice the ginger. I pulled the slices

out before serving, biting into a hunk of ginger just

doesn't sound like a good thing to me, but I

could be wrong.

Happens sometimes.

Yum!

It's a keeper :o)

Asian Meatball Subs

with...

Hoisin Mayonnaise!!!

                                       

The meatballs were just fine but the best part of this little baby was the sauce!

It has Thai Chili Sauce in it along with Hoisin sauce and the

mellow heat you get is unbelievable!

This is another little find from The Food Network Magazine. 

Best 18 bucks (for the subscription) we've ever spent!

Well, maybe not *best*, but pretty darn good. 

I think this sauce has real potential as the goop for chicken salad.

 I can just see it with some shredded chicken breast,

chopped water chestnuts, cilantro and some shredded carrots.

Lots of the same things they put in the meatballs. 

Maybe some sliced almonds on top?

Could it be warm over some quinoa?

Oh no, wait, Salmon!!!

Yes! 

Salmon!

Ah, the creative process. 

...or, ADHD, you decide.....

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/asian-meatball-subs-with-hoisin-mayonnaise-recipe/index.html

Thai-Style Chicken Salad

I seem to be on an international bend at the moment.

In my never ending quest to find different things to do to a chicken

breast, I have stumbled upon this little gem.

Have I mentioned that I love

America's Test Kitchen/Cook's Illustrated?

And does any one get the connection between the two?

And why aren't they just one entity?

And where does Cook's Country figure in?

I digress....

This was really good. I served it over a bed of quinoa.

Sliced heirloom tomato on the side.

I didn't happen to have a cucumber but, go figure, I had a zucchini.

Other than that I stuck pretty close to the recipe as written.

This was one of those times that the frozen ginger

and the lime ice cubes came in handy.

It's the best when I can put together a recipe without

having to run to the grocery store.

The greeter at Meijer kinda looks at me funny sometimes.

One of the greeters is kinda grumpy.

That's a contradiction, don't you think?

It appears I'm having a difficult time staying on task.

I'll post the recipe in the pages and end for now before I take

you to the next weird place my mind is headed.

You're welcome :o)

Korean Beef Lo Mein

Can you do that?

I'm not that well versed on international relations.

Can you throw Korea and China in a pan and have them get along?

Well, in my world you can and not only will they get along,

they will make beautiful music together :o)

I knew I had to find more ways to eat the Korean BBQ

from our night of K-Bobs and my most favorite chinese dish

at the moment is Lo Mein. The best looking recipe I could find for

Lo Mein was from All Recipes.

But it's a vege one and something in me screamed WAA LAA!

(again, not copping to the french)

Korea, China, MAKE NICE!

And they totally did!

I posted both recipes in the pages section for your convenience.

:o)

BLTs with Wasabi Aioli

I don't like mine toasted.

Rips up the roof of my mouth. What' s THAT about??

Honey likes his toasted.

Here's a shout out to that tomato, the first (hopefully more to come) from my garden!

Aggie turned me on to the concept of wasabi aioli.

We tossed around a bit what differentiated aioli from mayonnaise and concluded the olive oil and the garlic turned mayonnaise into aioli.

I'm pretty sure that the Hellman's mayo that says "made with olive oil" is really aioli

dumbed down for the masses. But I digress..

So taking my newfound knowledge and running with it I decided I could make a "cheat" aioli by adding great flavors to store bought mayo. And, it worked!

I do have in mind making it from scratch one of these days but for a busy Saturday lunch this worked out great.

I'll post my "formula" in the recipes.