Culinary Adventures: Part One
Since I hadn't planned a recipe ahead tonight, I just made something up off the top of my head. Actually, I hadn't even intended to cook tonight-- I almost stopped at Taco Bell on the way home. But it struck me that I needed to go to the grocery store and pick up milk, and somehow that turned into picking up quite a few staple items. Anyway.
I was feeling Tex-Mexy, so I made what I call "Ash-Style Mexican," which means that I basically took the format for Ash's delicious ground-meat-and-cauliflower-and-rice dish, i.e., lots of stuff thrown in a pan and served over rice, and Mexicanified it.
I browned one package of ground turkey (which I substitute for ground beef at pretty much every opportunity, because it's considerably cheaper, leaner, and I like it better), sprinkled it liberally with cumin, pepper, garlic, adobo (chili powder mix), and cilantro, then added some frozen broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. At the same time, I put canned black beans in a pot and added a whole lot of cumin, some salt, lots of garlic, and more cilantro. When the ground beef mixture was thoroughly cooked, I added a can of diced tomatoes with jalapeno bits and a few sliced jalapenos, and set it to a slow simmer. I also mixed the black beans in with all of this, mostly because I didn't want them to burn to the bottom of the pot they had been in. I finished by throwing it on top of some rice (which takes forever to steam, grrr), into which I'd mixed lime juice and cilantro.
I served all of this with a sprinkling of cheese and a dollop of sour cream on top. It was gooood.
What I learned:
The broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots were kind of odd, but they worked. The lime juice in the rice was probably my favorite part.
Should I create a filter for this to save those of you who don't wanna hear about my cooking? Not that I ever did that for my geek posts like I said I would...
I was feeling Tex-Mexy, so I made what I call "Ash-Style Mexican," which means that I basically took the format for Ash's delicious ground-meat-and-cauliflower-and-rice dish, i.e., lots of stuff thrown in a pan and served over rice, and Mexicanified it.
I browned one package of ground turkey (which I substitute for ground beef at pretty much every opportunity, because it's considerably cheaper, leaner, and I like it better), sprinkled it liberally with cumin, pepper, garlic, adobo (chili powder mix), and cilantro, then added some frozen broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. At the same time, I put canned black beans in a pot and added a whole lot of cumin, some salt, lots of garlic, and more cilantro. When the ground beef mixture was thoroughly cooked, I added a can of diced tomatoes with jalapeno bits and a few sliced jalapenos, and set it to a slow simmer. I also mixed the black beans in with all of this, mostly because I didn't want them to burn to the bottom of the pot they had been in. I finished by throwing it on top of some rice (which takes forever to steam, grrr), into which I'd mixed lime juice and cilantro.
I served all of this with a sprinkling of cheese and a dollop of sour cream on top. It was gooood.
What I learned:
- Canned black beans cook really fast
- It's really ok to use lots of cumin
- More lime juice is necessary to flavor rice than I'd previously thought
- 1.5 cups of dry rice makes just enough to make a bed for three people's food. Need to make more
The broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots were kind of odd, but they worked. The lime juice in the rice was probably my favorite part.
Should I create a filter for this to save those of you who don't wanna hear about my cooking? Not that I ever did that for my geek posts like I said I would...