I've been on a cooking/eating binge

[LizStreithorst]

This is good for me since I've lost a ton of weight. 15 lbs for someone who's only 5' tall is a lot. Where there was once muscle, there is now flab.

At first it was just comfort food. I make a killer meatloaf. The secret is using 1/4 lb of ground pork to 1lb of ground sirloin and using oatmeal instead of breadcrumbs. Comfort food helped me get my strength back after being in the hospital for 3 weeks, but after a while I tired of it and went back to being a foodie.

I've been on a Mexican and Chinese binge for the past couple of weeks. I've made tacos and enchilladas of all kinds, and Char Siu twice now. I'm not an intuitive cook which is my dream. I pretty much follow recipes with little tweaking. Next week I'm looking forward to making egg roll in a bowl. I'll use ground pork rather than ground beef and add a bit of Char Siu sauce to the pork as it's cooking. I may add some chopped shrimp, too. The taste buds in my mind tell me that those additions would make it taste more like a real egg roll. I might try it on a flour tortilla.
https://thewoksoflife.com/egg-roll-in-a-bowl/?utm_source=The+Woks+Of+Life+Subscriber+List&utm_c ampaign=a5a7809b23-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_9.21.25_EggRollBowl&utm_medium=emai l&utm_term=0_-d4209d2db1-154592926. Next will be guacamole https://downshiftology.com/recipes/best-ever-guacamole/ That I'll have alongside tacos de carnitas. I'll use my old-fashioned Fagor pressure cooker for the pork roast. https://www.recipetineats.com/pork-c...r-pulled-pork/ I'm also going to try Nagi's Mexican red rice. I like her idea of using tomato paste rather than canned or fresh 'maters. I've never had one of her recipes that wasn't excellent.

What is everyone else cookin' up these days? I could always use more inspiration,

[Second Hand Pat]

Liz, I guess I am somewhat of an "intuitive" cook. I drive my sister-in-law nuts as she is an "by the recipe" kind of gal. All the stuff you are making sounds great. So when am I coming for dinner .

The other night I make scalloped potatoes with pork crops. I didn't have any mushroom soup which I use as a base so I cut the potatoes into thin slices, added a bit of water, flour, onions and a few other things to a fry pan and fried the potatoes until mostly cooked. Then I added the pork crops and browned them in the potato mix. I then removed the pork crops and added the potatoes and the gravy to a large glass cooking container and placed the pork crops on top and placed the container in the oven for while until the chops done. It was good BUT needed more spices. So that is a work in progress.
Pat

[LizStreithorst]

Sounds good, Pat.

[Vanman]

I am glad to hear that you are cooking and eating better. You did not have 15 pounds to spare.

[danotaylor]

Awesome Liz. Get at it girl!
I have been on a diet and have lost 18# so far. Portion control. Greatly reducing carbs. No potato chips, candy or added sugar, except in my morning coffee. Love raw light brown sugar in my coffee.
I made this garlic shrimp & scallop on fresh asparagus for my 55th bday last week. I do miss the fresh seafood where I lived in Australia, but this was nice.
I’m an intuitive, but not overly complex, cook.

[jeep]

These all look and sound good. I've always cooked my own food and eat our rarely. I don't get fancy these days because my kitchen is dismantled down to studs, so I've been eating single portion meals that include a lot of chicken, beef or shrimp. Nothing picture worthy, but I do enjoy a thick grilled rib eye along with some butterflied and sauteed shrimp...

[jwcarlson]

I don't really have anything to add, but I think next time I make meatloaf I might try it with oatmeal because Liz said so. I do two pounds ground deer, one pound ground pork sausage. Then smoke it on the pellet grill for 2-3 hours until it hits 165 or whatever temp it's supposed to get to.

I am glad to hear that you're feeling well enough and spry enough to do a lot of cooking, Liz. That's a good thing!

I mostly stick to rotating through fairly simple stuff and because it's been so warm, most of that is cooked outdoors on the pellet grill if at all possible. And with the kids back in school I've been making big batches of breakfast stuff (biscuit sandwiches with egg, bacon/sausage, and cheese) or breakfast burritos (hash browns, egg, sausage, cheese) and then freezing a bunch of those up for them to be able to eat quickly in the morning. That's been working out pretty well.

[AquaticNerd]

I'm a big foodie myself, but by the time I'm done cooking I don't feel like taking pictures of it and just scarf it down while it's hot. Liz, here's a recipe I've used successfully many times for "Spanish rice". I think it hits the spot pretty well. If you don't like heat, you can omit the jalapenos.

1 ½ cups of long-grain rice, washed and drained
2 ½ cups chicken broth
8 oz. tomato sauce
3 tbsp butter
½ small white onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, seeds removed and finely minced (optional)
1 tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp chipotle chili powder, more for additional heat
1 tsp salt

Combine all ingredients in a rice cooker and cook according to cooker’s instructions

[LizStreithorst]

Awesome Liz. Get at it girl!
I have been on a diet and have lost 18# so far. Portion control. Greatly reducing carbs. No potato chips, candy or added sugar, except in my morning coffee. Love raw light brown sugar in my coffee.
I made this garlic shrimp & scallop on fresh asparagus for my 55th bday last week. I do miss the fresh seafood where I lived in Australia, but this was nice.
I’m an intuitive, but not overly complex, cook.

OMG, Danny, is there anything you can't do. That looks fabulous. Did you simmer everything in butter? It looks like it. A meal fit for foodie royalty.

[LizStreithorst]

I'm a big foodie myself, but by the time I'm done cooking I don't feel like taking pictures of it and just scarf it down while it's hot. Liz, here's a recipe I've used successfully many times for "Spanish rice". I think it hits the spot pretty well. If you don't like heat, you can omit the jalapenos.

1 ½ cups of long-grain rice, washed and drained
2 ½ cups chicken broth
8 oz. tomato sauce
3 tbsp butter
½ small white onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, seeds removed and finely minced (optional)
1 tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp chipotle chili powder, more for additional heat
1 tsp salt

Combine all ingredients in a rice cooker and cook according to cooker’s instructions

I'll try that, Jake. I bet the chipotle chile powder really makes the dish. BTW, I don't take pictures of food either, for the same reason. But when I'm looking for recipes, I always look at the pictures first. Before the food hits the taste buds I eat it first with my eyes.

[danotaylor]

OMG, Danny, is there anything you can't do. That looks fabulous. Did you simmer everything in butter? It looks like it. A meal fit for foodie royalty.

Most certainly butter Liz, salted butter at that!! I glazed the purple onion & fresh garlic in butter to infuse the flavors then kept it in the pan but pushed to the side, next seared the scallops & shrimp in a little extra butter, pinch of pink salt & cracked black pepper, folded the onion & garlic through, lid on, lowered heat to a gentle simmer for the 5 mins it took to sautee the asparagus, also in butter & garlic. Voila!

I’m not very good with car stuff, though I have changed brake pads

[AquaticNerd]

Do you peel your asparagus stalks Danny?

[danotaylor]

Do you peel your asparagus stalks Danny?

No mate. I’ve actually never heard of that before

[LizStreithorst]

It's a thing but I've never seen the point.

[AquaticNerd]

The use for me is to reduce waste. I'm usually stuck on getting grocery store asparagus and sometimes the stalks are too woody and have to be trimmed off. Instead of trimming it and considering it waste, I use a vegetable peeler to remove the outside "woodier" portion of the stalks and can sautee the entire plant instead of just some of the stalk and all the tops.