Event Horizon

When I was growing up, one of my favorite dishes that my grandma would make was Nilaga, a Filipino beef stew. It had onion, garlic, potato, cabbage, and bok choy. She always seasoned it with whole white peppercorns. It was cooked until the meat was almost falling apart into shreds (not quite in the pot, but definitely when you pushed at the meat-cubes in your bowl) and served on top of plenty of rice.

Now that I cook for myself, I usually make Nilaga with fish (almost always white fish). The fun part is the variations.

Sometimes I omit the garlic and onions. Sometimes I use savoy cabbage instead of bok choy. Sometimes I add black beans. Sometimes I don't add salt and pepper (ground black pepper).

Just today I made a really tasty version of my fish soup. Just recording the ingredients here:

1 small-medium golden potato, peeled and cubed
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 sole fillets
6 white button mushrooms, chopped
about four stalks of bok choy, leaves torn and stalks chopped small
salt and pepper
a splash of lemon juice

I covered the potatoes in water and boiled until somewhat soft. Then I added the frozen fillets, pulling them out and chopping them up when they thawed. Added mushrooms. Chopped and tore the bok choy, added them to the pot and let it simmer uncovered for a while. Added salt to taste and a sprinkle of pepper, stirred a bit to mush up the potatoes and thicken the broth. Added a small splash of lemon juice as a final touch.

One of the characters I made up for the Tech Support universe is part Greek, so when it came time to figure out an actress for her, I went with Maria Menounos. She's Greek-American and while she's a little older than the character of Muse, she's so pretty!

While I was searching for more photos of her (to make artings or banners), I came across this recipe for turkey burgers, which sounds pretty yummy...

( Recipe Under the Cut )

Veggie Craving Stew
1 tsp vegetable oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 qt container vegetable broth
1 can (14.5 oz) green beans (do NOT drain)
1 and 1/2 lbs. golden potatoes, washed and cubed
3 small turnips, peeled and cubed
6 medium carrots, sliced thin
6 stalks of celery, sliced thin
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
a handful of fresh baby spinach leaves, destalked and torn
1 small bay leaf

spices to taste:
Parsley
Black Pepper
Italian seasoning
Thyme
Paprika

Instructions
Heat oil in a large stewpot; add garlic and onion when hot -- saute until garlic is slightly golden and onions are translucent.

Pour in the vegetable broth (I use the kind that comes in a box, so I always rinse it with about a 1/4 cup water to get all the flavor I can) and the can of green beans. Stir.

Add chopped potatoes and turnips -- reduce heat to medium-low and cover. Allow to cook as you slice the carrots and celery. Add carrots and celery when prepped, and the torn spinach leaves. Cook for about five minutes.

Open the can of tomato paste. I always empty out as much as I can, then fill the can with a little water and stir with a spoon to get the rest of the paste out. This usually ends up adding about 12 oz water to the stew. Stir well to integrate, then season with spices to taste.

Reduce heat to low, add bay leaf and cover. Simmer until both potatoes and turnips are soft. Remove the bay leaf before serving.

I did not need to add any more water, and I got a thick broth, but I'd advise keeping an eye on it. Make sure you scrape your stirring spoon along the bottom of the pot -- potatoes have a tendency to stick, and this stew has plenty!

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My dear carnivorous boyfriend has a tendency to neglect his vegetable intake. Last night, he asked me if we could have vegetable stew -- insisting even as I suggested adding chicken or fish that he only wanted veggies. He said he was feeling slightly off-kilter, so I figured he was missing some nutrients or something.

I made this up after consulting a few different vegetable stew recipes on the Internet. The turnips (which I love) are my own addition to the basic list of veggies you find on most vegetable stew recipes. I also added some leftover canned black-eyed peas, but there were so few I didn't include them in the ingredient list.

I always season "by eye", so I can't tell you the measurements of the spices. Lotta parsley, less pepper and Italian seasoning, only a little thyme and paprika. I didn't add salt because I figured you get enough from the boxed broth and the water from the canned green beans. We had a couple cans I forgot to take in for the Thanksgiving food drive last year. I really don't know what to do with canned green beans, as I always opt for fresh or frozen.

I don't know how I ended up not posting this back when I originally made it.

But I found it again, so yay!

( Mustard-Herb Beef Stew )

Heat one tablespoon oil a frying pan over medium heat, then add:
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 one yellow onion, chopped
and cook until onion is translucent.

Add:
1/2 package Smart Ground original (hamburger substitute)
1 chipotle soysage, sliced into small pieces (fake-meat sausage)
1 teaspoon soy sauce
Stir until combined and well heated. Layer into 5" x 11" glass baking dish.

Next I cut some tortillas into thirds, to make 'strips' about the size of lasagna noodles. The tortillas I used were about five inches across, and I used about four 'strips' per layer.

The second layer was a can of black beans, heated in the frying pan, with some shredded Pepperjack Almond Cheese added to it. I didn't drain the black beans at all, so it was a slightly soupy mixture that I ladled on top of the tortilla layer. Another set of tortilla strips went over this one.

The third layer was a can of corn, drained, plus two 'serving spoons' of red salsa. This was mixed together, and spooned into the baking dish. Then I topped it with crushed corn chips and shredded cheese.

(We always buy a big jar -- 26 oz this time -- of regular picante salsa for cooking with. And after we finish off the 'eating salsa' and chips, we pour the 'crumblies', as the Boyfriend calls them, into a Ziploc bag for recipes like this.)

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 25 minutes, until cheese is hot and melted. Top with some more crushed corn chips, slice, and serve. (We got six "squares" out of this.)

Dick is hungry. Dani is awake before he goes to work, miracle of miracles. Several opened packages of food items are in the fridge and freezer, including a package labeled "Beef Miscellaneous/Beef for Stew".

A few days ago, I made pork curry. I always trim the fat off meat when I'm slicing it up for food -- it's a texture thing; biting into fat or gristle is #1 on my list of "Things that Will Make Me Retch" -- but since money has been getting tighter as of late, I didn't want to waste the small bits of meat clinging to the fat I'd trimmed. So I simmered up a little bit of water in a saucepan and threw the pieces in. I also added some pork gravy I had left over from homemade Filipino breakfast sausage a week or so ago. One grated baby carrot, a spoonful of soy sauce, and accidentally a lot of parsley and I had pork broth.

Last night I made burritos and, not wanting to use up our black beans, I used baked beans. The tin was still in the fridge, with about half the beans inside it. I also had an opened 'family size' pack of frozen mixed vegetables.

Idea.

1 lb of Miscellaneous Beef & 1 clove garlic, chopped -- sauteed with vegetable oil in soup pot until beef is partially browned.
1 cup pork broth & 1 cup water -- added to pot.
1/2 tin of baked beans & about 8 oz. frozen mixed vegetables -- added to pot.

Let boil, covered, for about ten minutes. Lift lid of pot and realize that the soup smells funny. Worry that perhaps you let the gravy sit unused in the fridge for too long, then realize that its the baked beans and their sauce of brown sugar and bacon fat interacting with your pork broth. Lower the heat and try not to panic.

Squirt a copious amount of brown mustard into your stirring spoon and mix it into the foul brew; add water as necessary (about 1/2 cup). A generous shaking of pepper over the mess, and (here's the secret) a little bit of cinnamon.

Let simmer, covered, for five more minutes. Cautiously taste test a little bit of the broth; submit to significant other for taste testing. Significant other, in rare moment of culinary brilliance, suggests noodles.

1/2 package of whole wheat spiral noodles added to soup, along with another splash of water from the Ozarka bottle. Enough so that it covers the noodles. Bring this to a boil, then lower the heat to medium-low. Cover and cook for fifteen to twenty more minutes.

Success! Miscellaneous Beef Stew!

Pineapple-Frosted Baked Bean and Pineapple Cookies

2 cups rolled oats
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 can baked beans
1 can crushed pineapple
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup butter

(Makes 2 dozen)

Place oats in blender and grind until it becomes oat flour (if some parts haven't totally ground, that's fine). Pour into a bowl with the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Stir these dry ingredients together and set aside.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 Celsius).

Open the can of baked beans. (Optional: If it has that white chunk of bacon fat in it, go ahead and fish that out.) Pour the baked beans into the blender.

Open the can of pineapple, and drain the juice into measuring cup. You're saving that to make icing!

Pour the pineapple chunks into the blender as well. Now run the blender (I use the Liquefy setting) until the beans and pineapple are well combined. Put the bean mixture into a bowl, and mix in the brown sugar.

Add the dry ingredients in small amounts, mixing well after each addition until it is all combined. The dough should be somewhat sticky, looking more like cake batter.

Drop dough by the tablespoon onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven for twelve minutes.

As the cookies are baking, cream together the powdered sugar and butter. Add enough pineapple juice to get an icing of spreading consistency.

Remove cookies from oven, let cool, and frost.

Note: These cookies end up more like small cakes, somewhat like pumpkin cookies. And if I made another batch, I would have definitely put cinnamon in the batter. As is, I sprinkled some on top of the icing.

I've never been particularly fond of chicken, unless you count my childhood taste for McDonald's chicken nuggets, or the roast chicken and mashed potatoes that I used to make when living with my mom and stepdad. That usually goes double for Filipino chicken-only dishes -- while I love to eat pancit and other mixed-meat dishes, chicken adobo does nothing for me but turn my stomach. (I'm more partial to beef dishes.)

The one exception to this would have to be arroz caldo (lit. "hot rice"), a thick chicken-and-rice soup adapted from the Chinese dish called congee. I love making it and eating it. And since (as usual) I'm cooking from memory when it comes to soups, I found a simple version of an arroz caldo recipe to share with you all.

I usually like to add chopped celery or bok choy stalks for flavor. The recipe calls for patis -- fish sauce. You can usually find fish sauce (also called nuoc nam or nam pla) in the Asian aisle of major grocery stores. It might not seem like a very attractive ingredient -- it is quite pungent and can be unfamiliar to Western palates -- but trust me, it's quite good. Feel free, however, to reduce the amount or omit the ingredient.

( Iconsam's Arroz Caldo )

A few substitution notes from Dani:
* Generally, the goal is to cook the arroz caldo long enough the that chicken falls off the bone. If you'd rather not deal with picking the drumstick or thigh bones out prior to serving, chopped chicken breast or tenderloin can be used instead.
* If you have no fresh ginger, dried ground ginger can be used. This recipe calls for about two tablespoons of fresh, so two teaspoons of dried ginger can be used as a substitute.
* Likewise, the chicken stock called for can be replaced with water. This makes the finished soup slightly less flavorful, but if you add the vegetables or increase the spices to taste, the finished product will still be just as tasty.

Happy cooking!

An interesting thing I've noticed about myself is that if I'm being creative in one area, it will lead to creativity in another. Case in point, just as I am getting creative in making a gift for the annual Tech Support exchange, I remember reading about making my own rice flour and come up with this gluten-free fish recipe.

( Recipe Under Cut )

Richard, being a heathen, insists that this should be topped with melted cheese and salsa.

So we're spending Thanksgiving with Richard's family. They don't know I'm making two pies for them, but I'm making two pies for them. ^_^ I'm baking the crust of a pumpkin pudding pie right now, and later I'll be doing a lattice-top cherry pie (that will stay unbaked until tomorrow, so it will be warm and ready for dinner/dessert.

This will be my first Thanksgiving spent without my family. Even when I lived in my own apartment, I was close enough to my mom that not coming over for Thanksgiving would be a terrible insult. And Dad's family was an hour away.

I'm hoping that next year we'll have enough money for two tickets up to Washington and Richard will have the day off again. But it's not likely...he does try to work on holidays for the overtime/holiday pay.

In any case, you all know what's coming with a Domesticated Dani entry...a recipe! Won't keep you waiting any longer:

( Easy Pumpkin Pudding Pie )

And for the vegans on my list:

( Tofu Pumpkin Pie )

ETA: Two cups of milk was too much for the pie I made. It never set properly. So I reduced the milk by a half cup. That should work out fine.