Kaffir Lime Leaves and Lemongrass

I posted this Larb gai yesterday and thought I put this picture in that post. I didn't. My mom grows these Kaffir leaves so she brings them to me to put in my freezer. I love them. So fragrant and fresh. Great in soups, Thai beef salad, marinades, curries and more.
They can also be dehydrated. Just wash, dry, and put them in my dehydrator.

(Living in Texas I now have my own tree and I love having fresh leaves year round)

Freezer Tip: Bell peppers, Onions, Celery

Freezer tip for you for things like bell peppers, jalapenos, onions, celery. Hardier vegetables that you're going to use in cooking.
Chop them up, freeze them in a thin layer on a jelly roll pan. Once frozen break them up and put them into a zip-top bag or a plastic container. When you want to use them they can easily be measured cup for cup or shaken into a recipe. Use them frozen, not thawed.
Easy peasy.
This is handy when we buy vegetables in bulk.
For more freezer tips click HERE.

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Potato and Cheese Pierogi

 Pierogi time. I decided to make some Pierogi with the kids. These are savory ones with a simple potato and cheese filling. I know that some Pierogi have a sweet filling. I have never tried the sweet ones. I've only had potato and cheese ones,  some with potato, cheese, and jalapeno, and I think spinach, potato, and cheese. These are essentially dumplings that are boiled then pan fried in butter. I serve them with sour cream, sometimes with sour cream, caramelized onion, and chopped bacon on top. Right now we're sheltering in place so ingredients are minimal.

Salmon Chowder

Salmon Chowder
It's finally getting cooler around here. It was 38 degrees this morning. I will say that it's colder here at 38 degrees than it was at 38 degrees in Maryland because of the humidity. It just chills you through. I'm loving it so I can't complain. Bundling up, wearing layers, and boots. It's wonderful. I decided to make some Salmon Chowder. It's so easy and quick to make. The ingredients can be kept on hand, if the salmon is frozen. Even the vegetables can be flash frozen after being diced. Set the carrots, celery, and onion on a baking sheet and freeze them. Once frozen transfer them into a container or freezer bag. They do not need to be thawed before cooking. Just keep in mind they they will have ice on them. Be very careful putting them into hot oil.

Freezer Tip: Spa Water Add Ins

Quick freezer tip for infused waters here today! I usually drink water all day, with a cup of tea in the afternoon. Sometimes I'll infuse my water with herbs, fruits, and/or vegetables. It's refreshing and healthy!

Seafood Stock

Instant Pot seafood stock.

Here's a an easy seafood stock to make whenever the stock bags in your freezer get full. You have stock bags right? Labeled seafood, beef, chicken, veggie... pork? If not start some. Put vegetable scraps, stems of cilantro and parsley in them. Chicken bones, beef bones. Once full, pull them out and make a stock.
Things I don't put in there

organ meats

broccoli

cauliflower

potatoes

onion skins

asparagus

peppers

cabbage

There's probably more, but I can't think of any right now.

Cranberry Orange Sweet Rolls

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that you are having a blessed New Year. We had a wonderfully low key Christmas. We stayed home and played games and cooked. Just our immediate family. After Christmas we did have family visit through the New Year. There wasn't any snow and it's been unusually warm on and off here. It's been in the seventies and it's February. Too crazy. Have you all gotten much snow? I'm hoping we'll get at least one good storm.

Look at this ooey gooey filling.

Freezer Tip: Tomato Paste and Yogurt Starter

How to freeze tomato sauce in bags do you can easily break of portions.

Quick freezer tip. When you have extra tomato paste or want to save small portions of yogurt starter for next batch of yogurt freeze it in a zip top bag. Then squish it flat. Score lines with a chopstick or wooden spoon. Freeze the bags flat until they are completely frozen. After that they can be stacked easily. When you need a portion just open up your bag and break off a piece.

This method also works for ground beef and other ground meats.

Kitchen Sink Chunk Cookies

The weather is getting cooler around here, it's a rainy morning so I'm sitting down to update. With a cup of tea at my side and cookies... you know, so I can taste the to make sure they are still yummy. To post, because I don't want to post cookies that aren't still yummy. I better have two just to make sure :). I let my kids have one after breakfast, two days in a row now. I'm cool like that.
How is the weather where you are? I'm so ready for fall. My parents are planning a visit. I can't wait. They will get to see the leaves change color, come to a couple soccer games. It'll just be nice having them here. Maybe I should makes some of this cookie dough to keep in the freezer. Because cookies.
I like this Kitchen Sink Chunk Cookie recipe because it doesn't require me to think ahead and soften butter. I think most of the Chocolate Chip Cookie recipes and cookie recipes that I like use melted butter. I will say I like cookies that are chewy, so I prefer using bread flour. You can swap out AP flour in equal amounts if you prefer, or if that's what you happen to have on hand. Adding oats would also be easy to do, swap out some of the flour for rolled oats, or use some as your mix-ins. This recipe is easily tweaked. See the notes below for variations.

I used dried tart cherries and chocolate bars for this batch, because I didn't have any chocolate chips in the house! Yikes.

Freezer Tip: Stock Bag, Schmaltz Bag

Chicken stock bag and schmaltz bags for the freezer..

Hello! Quick Freezer Tip post today on two things. Stock bags and Schmaltz. I make several types of stock: seafood, beef, chicken, pork, vegetables. Often times I'll combine a couple or more. There's always vegetables in the beef, chicken, or pork. Often times I'll make beef stock and add pork. I don't mind adding chicken bones to a beef stock. But because chicken has a more delicate flavor I don't use beef or pork bones in that stock. For seafood I don't add any other bones or meats. 

So what's a stock bag, and what do I put in them? A stock bag is a I keep in the freezer, labeled with whatever the end result should be. The bag above is obvious as those are all chicken bones, but normally I would label the bag "chicken stock". Any bones from chickens, I throw in there. If I roast a chicken I'll break down the carcass and toss the bones in the bag. Kidneys and hearts we actually eat, but if we didn't they would go into the stock bag. Liver I wouldn't put in stock because it gets cloudy and tends to give off a metallic flavor I don't like. 

Quick School Lunch Chicken Noodle Soup

Some days I wake up with no plan for lunches. Of course the kids could just buy lunches but they don't like it and by the time they get through the lunch line there's about 15 minutes max to eat lunch.  I have no issues packing them lunches, I truly enjoy doing it. I know many people groan about it and just don't like to do it. I am not one of those people the majority of the time. 

Any aromatics can be used. I used these for an udon noodle soup.

There are some days I will groan but not often. I also like to know that they are eating foods they like. There are some days that they do want to buy lunch if it's something they are in the mood for, and that's fine also. My two younger kids will do that, my oldest won't. She didn't buy a single school lunch last year.

Twice Baked Potatoes

Twice Baked Potatoes. I tell you, they are so simple aren't they? There's no real recipe, it's just a method and you put whatever you want in them I say. Buffalo Chicken? Make your potatoes with blue cheese and them top with shredded chicken in buffalo sauce. Have a favorite mashed potato recipe you want to use? Use it! Bacon? Add it! Sliced jalapenos? Be still my beating heart. Whatever pretty much can work here. I mean within reason. Nothing too wet and soupy right? The filling has to stay in the potato.

Kālua Pig (Slow Cooker, Instant Pot)

Kalua Pig from the Instant Pot

I've sadly never been to Hawaii. Maybe one day. I have had pork and even beef cooked in a pit/hole in the ground though, and both are insanely delicious. So very tender, juicy, and flavorful, despite the absence of spices and herbs. Usually just salt. I remember as a child, we went to visit my cousins on their farm. One time they had a bunch of people over and they cooked a cow in the ground. IT WAS AMAZING. Just a little salt, smokey good flavor from the smoke and the earth. Perfection. I suspect Kālua Pig, or is like that, if so, this comes pretty darn close. Authentic or not this recipe is so yum. Anything wrapped in banana leaf is going to have a beautiful flavor from them also. I'll be posting a traditional Lao dish using banana leaves soon that is savory. Until then here is a sweet dessert that's wrapped in banana leaves called Khao Tom Mad.

A Bee, and a Mango Lassi

I have a bee story for you that is directly related to this post, more on that below. But first things first. Mango Lassi, perfectly refreshing. Not sickly sweet, and easy to make. The method below is just a method, adjust flavors to your taste. The lassi I'm writing about is a sweet, not salty lassi.

Mango Lassi with Tapioca pearls.

Freezer Tip: All Things Citrus

How to freeze all things citrus.

Welcome to another Freezer Tip post. Some of these posts may be obvious and/or common knowledge. But as some of you may know, I started this blog for my children. So they that could reference it when they move out and if they ever wanted a recipe for a dish they liked. So these little tips may be useful, someday.

Bo Kho

Have you had Bo Kho? I grew up having it with French bread to dip in the spicy fragrant broth. Not hot spicy, but aromatic herbs spicy. You can make this as spicy hot as you like by adding more spicy chilies to it. This is a Vietnamese dish. I was very fortunate growing up that my parents had such a wonderful variety of friends. Their children in turn because good friends of mine. We would gather weekly for meals at someones house. Late late nights, as they shared stores. Some of the country they left behind to come America for. Other times to sing Karaoke until early morning. And they were always "Auntie" or "Uncle" if not

Freezer Tip: Flash Freezing

Hello! Just thought I would do a quick post on Flash Freezing. I'm not certain that's the correct term, but I use it a lot. I also use this method of freezing quite a bit for items I don't want to freeze stuck together. That way I can use one or two pieces at the same time, but they can all be stored together.

Jambalaya

Seafood Jambalaya.

 I have been making this same Jambalaya recipe for a couple years now. I got it from a friend online. It's fairly easy to make. I never posted the recipe because there is a bit of eyeballing and tweaking when doing this on the stove top for me. Sometimes I need more water, sometimes less. It's got a lot to do with how tight fitting your lid is on the pot, how much evaporation happens each time, stuff like that. It's not that it's a hard dish to make, it's that it's a hard dish to give concrete measurements for. You'll find that the more you make this the easier it is to tell just by looking in the pot how much stock or water is needed for  rice that isn't too wet. You also don't want it to be crunchy. The plate above I made on the stove top with a medium grain rice. The plate below I made in my electric pressure cooker, Instant Pot. Both methods take about the same amount of time, maybe a bit less time in the Instant Pot.

(Winter Squash) Pumpkin Puree- Instant Pot

Instant Pot Pumpkin Puree ready for the freezer.

It's Pumpkin season y'all! Before we go any further, I mean: it's winter squash season y'all! We are huge fans of winter squash around here. So many varieties to choose from, SO yes, make pumpkin puree. But don't forget all the other wonderful varieties which are great for both savory and sweet applications!

Any of these winter squash can be made in the Instant Pot, oven, or slow cooker.

Masala Chai

Masala Chai is one of my oldest child's favorite teas, it's also one of my favorites. In the Fall and Winter we'll make some in the cool mornings. I put some in a travel mug for her to take to school. This can easily be done on the stove top or in the pressure cooker. I started doing it in the pressure cooker because on the stove top it can boil over so you have to baby sit it a little bit more. Making sure you don't let the bottom scorch is another thing to watch for using the stove top method. But both methods yield a flavorful spiced Masala Chai, both easy enough for my child to do on her own. Granted the boiling over was an issue the first few times. But she got better at it as the school year passed.