Sesame Ginger Chix

 I made this HBH Sesame Ginger Chix. It was pretty tasty. The kids all liked it and I have to say, for our family of five, I buy a bag of Tyson boneless skinless chix thighs and that feeds everyone about one serving each. I doubled the sauce portion of the recipe so fit the amount of chix. I literally have nothing else exciting to add about it. It was easy, but was, in theory, a weeknight meal. Still kind of a lot of prep though. Would make again since everyone liked it. 

A few nights ago I made A Jo Cooks Mongolian Beef. The kids liked it. It was not my favorite one I made so I’m not going to link to the recipe. 

Anyway. It was back to school week for me. How’s everyone faring? 

Chicken Carnitas!!

Sooo today I tried Gimme Some Oven’s Crispy Chicken Carnitas and they were A HIT. I even liked them with chicken breast, which, is not my fave. 

Basically it’s seasoning (cumin, SnP, Chili powder), garlic, a can o’ beer, ONE chipotle pepper and your chicken. The key is to broil them once they are done cooking. 

I used the instant pot’s slow cook feature which I had never tried before. Then you spread them out on a pan, broil for a few, put the broth from the pot on them, broil some more until they are as crispy as you like. 

Those are the only pictures I took and I was STOKED. NOM NOM N NOM NOM NOM. 

I recommend. 

Instant pot!! Red Beans and Rice!!!

So. The instant pot. Amirite? It’s amazing. I found this recipe on Damn Delicious and it’s so good. ALSO YOU DO NOT HAVE TO SOAK THE BEANS OVERNIGHT! Omg. Yes. Essentially, cook andouille, onion, bell, celery. Put in seasonings, chicken stock and beans. Pressure cook for 35 min and DONE! 

I would only get a spicier sausage and double the amount of Cajun seasoning. That being said, the leftovers for lunch will be delish. 

Pasta salads

Okey dokey artichokeys. First of all if I had HAD some artichokes I would have put them into this delicious pasta salad. 

I followed this recipe (vaguely, like always) from Peas and Crayons. I used some rando tomato tortellini from Aldi I found on the clearance and some chopped ham, cheddar jack, an orange bell, and green olives. I support this pasta salad. I’m going to bring some to my friends Jake and Annie tomorrow because I feel like they also need some. Mostly because I accidentally sent Annie the recipe and she was like BRING ME SOME and I’m like OK I WILL BECAUSE THIS IS WAY TOO MUCH FOR ME TO EAT. 

Turns out Jerms doesn’t love a whole green olive. MOAR FUR MEEEEEEEE

ANYWAY. YUM YUM YUM NOW PICTURES 

PINEAPPLE UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

I made a cake. It came out perfect and delicious and only me and Jerms liked it and that’s just fine. It was WORTH IT. YUMMMMMMMMMMMM

Taco Casserole

Howdy friends! Last night I made this Taco Casserole. Super easy. I only took two pictures because lazy. Essentially, you brown some beef/turkey with an onion and taco seasoning.

Then in a big pan put crunched up Doritos or Fritos. Mix in with your beef corn, salsa, black beans and cheese.

Put more cheese and chips. Bakey Bake. Woot! 

It literally took me like ten minutes?! I don’t even know. I DO know, that the kids liked it (except G because idk, he doesn’t like melted cheese now???) 

I used this recipe from Salt and Lavender. I actually put Fritos on the bottom and nacho cheese Doritos on the top because WHY NOT ITS A PANDEMIC! 

Anyway. This was good, easy and I had all the stuff anyway which is my favorite type of cooking. Pantry cooking! 

Now. Off to go randomly clean some more stuff since I randomly cleaned the windows today (somewhat poorly but whatever, they look better than they did before!) 

Sourdough bread!

So! Have been working on this for a few weeks. My virtual mommy sent me some sourdough starter way like......a lot of years ago. I just FINALLY got around to using it. Well. I kind of tried it once. A long, long time ago and it didn't work. I also really sucked at feeding it sooooooo that was kind of a problem. 

Anyway. A quarantine seems like the PERFECT time to go ahead and try. 

 So I used the dried starter mixed with warm water, and then fed it according to what Breadtopia told me to do. Basically, mix water and flour and seal and go. As you can see, I'm using an old pasta sauce jar because I'm one of those people who saves jars. Anyway.

So. I mixed mixed mixed for like a week. Then today mixed it on up with flour, water, salt. Mmmm. now. I'm using a mix of unbleached flour and whole wheat. Mostly because I have been previously buying it in bulk and then not writing down what it was. And whole wheat and unbleached look super similar and ooops. 

Whatever. 

OK so this is after like two rises, I also saw lots of recipes where you let it rise for 12 hours and then bake it next day. For some reason, I was against this. I don't know why. 

MMMMMM. This is baked yumminess. It's good. Not too sour. I fully supported it. I will totally keep making this because WHY NOT. I can also share some starter if you want some! And you live close. And also when social distancing is over. *sigh*