southwestern falafel, glazed pork, and more!

Alright let's start off with an answer to a comment.  I was asked "So, do you like making all this food at one time, then just reheating it?"

And, you know, on any other day I would have said yes.  And I would still probably say yes.  But on this particular day, my answer was no.  Probably only because I was asked.

This is what my kitchen looks like less than halfway through a cooking day.  And depending on how well (or not well) I plan my menu, I have to rewash the same pot, bowl, etc. a million times.  Or at least it seems like a million times.

This time, I washed everything a million times.  And it doesn't help that I had to do both my grocery shopping and cooking all in one day, either.  That's usually about a 2 hour event - one store for produce and the regular store for everything else - not to mention it's an hour and a half roundtrip drive.  And then 6 more hours of cooking.

But usually, I use a separate trip for grocery shopping and then get started cooking by 7 am, so I'm done by 2 or so.  AND, I like not having to come home after working at the ranch and trying to figure out what to cook when it's already 6 o'clock.

So the answer to the question is:  Yes, I like making all this food at once and then reheating it.

Now, onto all this food!

If you'll notice, this Shrimp and Okra Gumbo seems to be missing a key ingredient...perhaps there should be some...shrimp?  I decided that it would get rubbery if I added it and he reheated it.  And the recipe gave me a make-ahead hint of leaving it out.  So, I sent some frozen shrimp with him to throw in when he reheats (on the stove).

It was served with creamy grits (grits with Greek yogurt mixed in).  I'm still trying to decide if I like grits.  Yes, after living in the south for 4 years, the jury is still out on this one.  I can't tell you if this meal was great or not...it's components were ok (the gumbo better than the grits), but the combination of the gumbo and grits could be phenomenal, just like the Southwestern Bean Stew with Polenta (see item 6/5a).  By the way, just so you know, polenta is basically grits in a tube.

This is a good ole American meal.  Glazed Pork with couscous and green beans.  While I think it would have been better with mashed potatoes, the couscous was a HUGE time-saver.  The pork was a quick recipe, I'd say less than 30 minutes.  So if you were going to make this meal, do so in this order:  green beans, pork, couscous.

The green beans are a recipe from my friend and quite delicious.  1)  Heat a Tablespoon of butter and a Tablespoon of olive oil in a saucepan.  2)  Add about a half onion sliced vertically, let them caramelize.  3)  Add 1 cup of Chicken Broth, let it boil until it reduces by half - or use bouillon and add less water for a time-saver.  4) Add fresh green beans once the chicken broth is reduced.  5)  Cook until green beans are cooked and broth has reduced/thickened to a sauce.

Don't stare at this out-of-focus picture too long or you'll go blind.  My mom said so.  Or wait, your eyes will freeze like that.  Or something.  Anyhow, both of these items take a lot of time, but are not time-intensive. Get it?  The Oregano and Lime Roasted Chicken takes 4 hours to marinate and the Wheat Berry Salad with Raisins and Pistachios takes 1 hour for the wheat berries to simmer into something edible, but they take less than 30 minutes of actually prep work time.

The chicken gravy was DE-lish-us.  We haven't had the chicken yet.  I just licked the spatula.  After I was done.  And the wheat berry salad was better than I was expecting, good, actually, but I'm not sure I'd make it again.  I don't think I'm THAT into health food yet.  But if you like wheat berries' chewiness, definitely give this a try.  It's got great flavor.  And the reviewers of the recipe have given it 5 stars.  And I would, too, if I liked the wheat berries, but I don't.  Or so I just found out.  Ok enough of that.  You get the point.

Now this, THIS is my absolute favorite vegetarian dish and if every vegetarian dish was this good, I'd become vegetarian.  Maybe.  Southwestern Falafel with Avocado Spread is sooooo, sooooo good.  You're gonna love it.  At least if you love refried beans like I do.

You basically throw a can of pinto beans in, mash them up a bit (I forgot to do this step first, so I threw in some refried beans to help it stick), 2 handfuls of Monterey Jack cheese, some green onions, cilantro (if you don't hate it, which I do), crush some baked tortilla chips, add an egg white and voila, smash it together and call it a falafel.  So quick, so easy, so delicious.  And in the 6 minutes the falafels are cooking, whip up the sour cream/avocado sauce.  Dinner on the table in about 20 minutes.  Did I mention, so quick, so easy, so delicious?  You will seriously consider becoming vegetarian.

We had Korean-Style Beef Skewers with Rice Noodles and Peanutty Coleslaw last night, except we used an elk steak because it's free and in the freezer.  And may I just tell you, Dow and I just "mmmmm....this is good" "yummmmmm...." "oh man, this is good" 'ed (that's past tense of all those phrases) through the whole meal.  I followed the recipe exactly (ok, so I added some sesame oil) and it was definitely on the spicy side, but still finger-lickin' good.

This is another pretty quick meal.  The meat does have to marinate for 30 minutes, but you can throw the coleslaw together in that time.  Then the meat cooks for 2 minutes on a side, so we'll say it's a 40 minute meal.

So I think that's it for food this week.  One more week to go and that's it.  I'm going to do only a few big meals Food Guy can throw in the freezer to keep him a little longer, so stay tuned!