What's For Dinner?

I had a huge lunch after clearing drives this morning so I am just having some cashew milk for dinner. It’s also got walnuts and pumpkin seeds in it. Ceylon cinnamon, sea salt, honey, with vanilla and orange extract in one batch, and anise extract in another.

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Why Ceylon cinnamon, Ron? Any benefits over others? Wife loves a dash of Korinthe cinnamon (3% oil) in her morning coffee. It's very fragrant, not as "hot" as other cinnamon we've tried.

Btw, bought her some turmeric for Xmas. Any recipe suggestions apart from smoothies?

T

 

Yummy. Big fan of Moet Rose Imperial.

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Zoodles! Got a little spiral slicer for Xmas. Spiral sliced 4 small zukes. Impressively, did it a day or so before, and they kept well in the fridge in an airtight container. Throw in boiling water for 3 minutes. Sauce it up. Dollop (Ok, big dollop!) of ricotta. Pepper flakes. Add some pre-made meatballs. Not bad. Probably try 2 min boiling next time, and need to do a better job at straining the water out after cooking. But, limited complaints from the missus.
T

 

Next time instead of boiling,
Try olive oil in a frypan - stir around until it’s the consistency you like, sometimes use a lid to cook faster, salt it and serve!


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What he said T.

I got one of these a few months ago after seeing what the girl was paying for store spiraled zucchini. The trick is to get as much water out of them after spiraled - salt it a bit to help before cooking if your diet permits. But typically I’ve been letting them sit on paper towels before tossing in a sauté pan over med fire with a touch of evoo then add sauce. Sweet spot is typically a few minutes before adding sauce.

Looks fantastic though. Ricotta cheese on top of any red sauce is always lovely.


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Thanks, Jason. Thanks, Davide. Will give that a try next time. I saw the EVOO suggestion on-line, but the possibility of hot oil + water = spatter -> grease fire put me off. I like the paper towel idea. I guess I can try again to do them a day or so ahead, and then store in a container with a few paper towels to dry it out a bit more. Thanks, gents. Best wishes and good food for 2018!
T

 

This is all info gleaned from online reading, which in many cases is hard to pin down as facts, because the FDA seems to come down hard on anyone selling it for making health related claims about it.
Ceylon is just the one we have around in ground form. I also have been using Ceylon leaf oil and have Ceylon bark oil on the way. Ceylon is lower in Coumarin, than Cassia, and milder in flavor, and iirc higher in eugenol, which are things I recently learned over at Cinnamonvogue.com. Well, at least the leaf is higher in eugenol. That Ceylon is used in mexican recipes, swapping can render the dish tasting different than intended, is another thing they say.

I can't say as I have ever tried Korinthe, and I’m not sure where it is comparatively in coumarin level. I will see if that site lists it in their comparisons. I think the owner, being from Sri Lanka, sticks with Ceylon.

I learned about the health benefits of taking cinnamon with honey to invigorate the lungs (as a vasodilator) while living near the bog/wild fires in Flagler county in 2010-2011, and being subjected to the smoke daily. I even broke out from the burning of the toxic poison ivy, oak and/or sumac plants with urishol while working in the lawn and garage during the smoke drift. The cinnamon brought great relief to the lungs by easing the burning pain....I assume from the increased blood flow.

 

Sorry Tom; I overlooked the turmeric question. I was adding it to the mustards I made. Salad dressing. Into the kale chip marinade/sauce. Also when I make burgers with things mixed in ala meat loaf. Not for any reason, but I just haven't been grabbing it much lately. Thinking I’ve just been eating more singly or simpler lately.

 

No prob. The burger idea sounds like one that'd likely fly with the wife, especially if I don't tell her it is in there! Maybe some kind of turkey burgers with an Indian-vibe. I did a smoothie this AM - blackberries, vanilla Greek yogurt, scoop of protein powder, teaspoon of turmeric - only mild protestations from the beloved. I think next time, I'll throw in a teaspoon of cinnamon to help cover the taste of turmeric, see how that works.
T

 

The color will be one give-away if you try to sneak it past her. You may have noticed many of my pics of food with it had the golden-orange tint to them. But the cinnamon sounds like it will mask the bitter nicely. The smoothie sounded good.

 

My favorite burger in Budapest. .. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

^ That's a burger any American would be proud to stuff in their pie-hole! I also like seeing that they have Tabasco and Sriracha available for spicing things up. Most excellent. Budapest - one of the prettiest cities we've visited. Safe travels...T

 

Agree ..In Europe they charge for a tiny single pack of ketchup ..This place gives you everything you see in the Costco isle ..

 

Gorgeous looking burger.


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Friend dropped this off.
I think this is it for supper today
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Wife made meatballs today. Typical italian recipe, meat mixed w bread, egg, etc then fried and finished in fresh tomato sauce. I wasnt in mood for pasta w sauce so tried this instead,

melted parmesan cheese in butter, add heavy cream. Pour over meatballs (without red sauce, obvi). Then top w fried egg and parsley. Had it with side salad w sharp vinegar dressing to cut richness cream sauce. Nice change pace

 

^ Sounds tasty. Back to zoodles, before the wife gets tired of them.

This time I spiralized them earlier in the day. Kept in fridge between paper towels to wick away moisture. Put olive oil in a saute pan, when the oil was >300 F, threw in zoodles, added garlic powder, oregano, parsley, fresh basil, salt, pepper. Tossed them for 5 mins or so. Sauced. Topped with ricotta. Much better! Lot less watery. Thanks for the suggestions gents!

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T

 

Sounds delicious. Did she use just beef?

The thought of meatballs crossed my mind this afternoon. I wish I had the time... Trying to get a head start on my one week “New Years” diet but they would of went very well in the stracciatella.

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The best!

Tomc- I was gifted your holy grail. The Mauviel. What should I do to bake all the wax off of it and season this sucker?

 

Nice! Congrats.

Mauviel copper? Carbon steel? Stainless? If it's the bees wax, then I followed their recipe.
See, this for example, for the carbon steel crepe pan. Hot water & scrub. Let it soak to remove the paper label, if there's one.

https://www.mauvielusa.com/M-Steel-Crepes-Pan-Steel-Handle-plu4443.html

If it's a carbon steel pan, for seasoning, I went with the potatoes, oil and salt method. From the Matfer webpage...

"Black Steel FrypanSeasoning
Before the first use – Place the frying pan under hot running water for a few minutes, to remove what remains of the protection layer, with a brush if necessary. Dry the frying pan, then fry in a portion of oil, slices of sprinkled potatoes, and large portion of salt for a few minutes. Discard contents, then briefly reheat frying pan with a little oil, remove from heat and wipe with paper.
After use - Wipe with paper or if necessary rinse under hot running water. Clean without dish washing liquid. Dry and re-grease lightly."

Check some YouTube videos out. You need a lot of salt, oil and taters. Don't be shy with the heat either. I then follow this with the
"let's cook a lot of bacon" for a few weeks method! Since my wife likes bacon and eggs for breakfast, it's no biggie!

For any of these pans, I find the key to avoiding sticking is proper heating. Medium heat & an extra minute or two seems to work better than blast it on high for a few seconds. Don't put food into a cold pan, but you probably knew that.

Cleaning - do it when it's a little warm, makes it easier. I scrape with a Lodge polycarbonate scraper after finishing cooking, but when it's had a couple of minutes to cool. Don't want to melt your scraper! Then add water to the pan. Enjoy your meal. Then use a scrub brush on the soaked pan to remove crud. I have a bamboo handle scrubber I got from Amazon. I then like to hit it with the scraper again to planarize any carbonaceous material. Wipe dry with a paper towel. Then a few seconds on high heat to make sure it's really dry. Then apply a light coat of oil to the pan cooking surface - canola, bacon grease, Crisco veggie shortening. Voila!

Oh, and if you've made it this far, pictures! So, that I may enjoy vicariously the newness of your pan!

T

 

I like these for the Lodge cast iron.

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Looks great T. Molto fresco. Stuffed mushrooms on the side?

 

Thank you. Kroger meatballs! On sale + had a coupon = cheapskate me will buy it!
T

 

I've seen those and people seem to really like them. May have to try one of these days...T

 

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When I need to get a tad more aggressive with stuck-on crud for the cast iron & carbon steel, I use a Scotch Brite blue sponge like pictured above. The key is that the sponge NEVER sees soap! So, I have one set aside just for cast iron & carbon steel.

This is the dish sponge I picked up @ Amazon. After a soak, a little scrubbing and 90% of dirt comes off. Again, NEVER USE SOAP with the brush!

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These are the Lodge scrapers.
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For the most stubborn stains, or if I'm bored and need some therapeutic cleaning - salt.


T