NEW YEAR 2019. Whats cooking January?

Love the spiraling of the squash! The taste changes with the way it's cut and how long it's cooked.

Had "Cooking Class 101" today. Two of my neighbors came over to learn how to make cabbage rolls. They had a good time and made enough for tonight and two other meals. The cabbage Dane picked up for me at the farm stand by his sister's were so huge.....and fresh! My recipe called for two large heads and since I was doubling figured I'd need four. Two was just right for the amount of filling so now I have two left....guess a boiled dinner and haluski will be in the menu rotation soon.

I made a recipe called bagel bread from Cook's Country. It is not good. Very dense (as it should be), crust is chewy like a bagel but I found the crumb to be rubbery. I followed the directions exactly and cooked it to the right temperature but it is just not good. Joe liked it as toast but I will probably have to toss the loaves or use them as doorstops.

Galumpkis / Stuffed Cabbage Rolls, leftover mashed potatoes, peas & last of the corny cornbread pulled from the freezer to free up space.

Thankful I remembered to bake it on a foil lined, rimmed baking sheet ~ lots of juice from the fresh cabbage.

Chicken thighs or drum sticks on sale for $0.79/lb. today.....got a package of thighs and came home to de-bone them. Dane likes to boil the 'parts' for his lunch with some onion & celery and just eats the broth with the soft veg. To each his own.....

I like to leave the skin on to cook. If it's not crispy and the fat hasn't rendered off I can always pull it before we eat. But tonight it was in the convection oven and got nice and crispy ~ all the fat stayed on the sheet pan. I marinated it in some lemon juice, evoo, Greek oregano and seasoned salt & pepper. The green beans & baby bella mushrooms got a drizzle of evoo and s&p ~ love those two roasted together on a sheet pan.



The little acorn squash Dane picked up at the Farm Stand last week were really tasty - just cut in half and roasted on the same sheet pan as the beans & mushrooms (the squash went into the oven about 30 minutes before the vegetables were added to roast).

Our dinner was spareribs with a tamarind glaze and basmati rice.

We had a rotisserie chicken from Costco. I made club sandwiches for Joe and used the dark meat to try out a new chicken salad recipe. It had minced green onions, bacon, grated cheddar, ranch dressing and mayo. It wasn't bad.

Insta pot?  Not for me, thanks.  I am retired, I have time on my hands to make stuff. LOL

My neighbour bought one for her three children when they first came out a few years ago.  They were all at university at the same time, living in one house, and she said that the kids used it all the time.  So, there must be a market for it. LOL

I bought one years ago before they were the latest "thing" to have. I never use it. Maybe I should look into some recipes for it.

I had chicken cacciatorre (spelling??) at a friend's house a couple of weeks ago.  She said it had to be in there "only" 35 minutes.  Isn't that just about how long it takes to cook in a regular pot also?  I understand that the timer can be set to start hours later, and that I surely would appreciate if I was working and could have stuff ready when I came home.  However, I had a timer on my oven 45 years ago that did the same thing for me.  Chicken was delish!

It's true that you can use other utensils to do what an Instant Pot can do but as a pressure cooker, it is extremely easy to use and it has several other functions as well.

Gave one to DD#2 as a wedding present. She loves it. She's not very good at planning meals for the week so she can get home from work and still make a 'homemade' meal they enjoy.

It's not for me, I'm like Lore ~ got lots of time to stand and stir. Cooking relaxes me and entertains me.

To each their own.

Katie had a colonoscopy today and went back to bed. I don't know what she will want to eat. I am defrosting some cooked tri tip slices for a sandwich for Joe. I will probably nible on some of that. I am trying to eat down the freezer. I just hooked up the DVD recorder to the DVR and TV so I can get some of myshows I have on the DVR on to a disk. Last night we watched an odd movie from the 60's called Psych-Out. It had a long-haired Jack Nicholson, a long haired Bruce Dern. They were so young but actually looked too old to me to be playing hippies at Berkeley. !968 it was. What a time for flower children and LSD.
Joe has been working for months on his garage - building cabinets, installing lighting, painting. He is just about to the point where he will epoxy the floor. That stuff really stinks.
My sisters are up at the Sundance Festival mingling with the Hollywood elite. Wish I was there, but I never get invited. I would have liked to have seen a couple of documentaries: one about Harvey Weinstein and the other about David Crosby. Maybe they wil eventually be released on DVD and I can rent them.

Late lunch after golf scrambles - no cooking here tonight.

I've been hungry for sloppy joes for a while now.....and now it won't get off my mind! Thanks a lot.

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Tonight, however, I made a small casserole of pork and sauerkraut. Got a hunger for it last night and figured I might as well make it instead of thinking about it for a week. I had some pork sirloin so I just seasoned it and seared it, then layered it between some sauerkraut with half a grated apple, just to take the edge off the sauer of the kraut.

Didn't have any green veg so went with some more of the beet greens. Boiled potatoes on the side.

I solved my meatloaf problem!  Quite by accident. LOL 

I have never been happy with the texture of my loaf, everyone has told me that it tastes great, but I didn't like the fact that it generally fell apart, and couldn't be sliced nicely.  Well, yesterday I made a meatloaf and used a loaf pan that is a bit smaller than the other two I have, and I think the meat mixture was also a bit more than normally.  So, I was determined to get it all in there, and pressed the mix down really, really hard, and BINGO! I have a great loaf, very dense, and lovely to slice. Sometimes the solution comes when you least expect it!

Really mixing the meat with the other ingredients makes it denser too.

I have tried many, many different recipes and methods.  This one worked!

Dried onion soup mix. I think that stuff is vile.