Reader Friday: Recipes

JSB’s Whipped Coffee

This shutdown has me exploring my culinary side. For example, I recently discovered “whipped coffee.” (Talk about a money saver over those fancy frappy things at the coffee house!)

Do you have a favorite recipe you’d like to share with an amateur, housebound chef?

17 thoughts on “Reader Friday: Recipes

  1. Yesterday I made beer bread for the first time. It turned out very well, except my husband wouldn’t give me any Guinness from his stash, so I substituted ginger ale.

    This isn’t my favorite recipe, but it certainly is one of the simplest to prepare & requires few ingredients:

    – 3 cups of self-rising flour
    – 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
    – 12 ounces of beer (Any kind works, Guinness would taste great.)
    – melted butter

    In a large bowl, stir sugar into self-rising flour. Add beer and stir just until flour is incorporated. Pour into a 9″ x 3″ loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes. Remove from pan immediately. Brush melted butter on top. Rip apart to eat immediately, while its still nice and warm, or cool completely before slicing to eat like a civilized person.

  2. Baking is too much of a challenge at 9100 feet, so I gave most of that up when we moved here. We haven’t experienced any significant ingredient shortages, so … life goes on as usual. We get Home Chef delivered every two weeks, so those are our “new” recipes.
    But I’ll share something we’ve found enjoyable:

    McCoy’s Celtic Calm

    2 ounces of Scotch single malt (Other scotches will do — in an emergency.)
    Juice of half a lemon
    1 teaspoon Vermont maple syrup (Honey will do.)
    6 ounces of hot water

    Stir gently and briefly in your favorite teacup or a brandy snifter. Sip and swallow slowly. Inhale dilatorily through the nostrils and savor the aroma of this titillating imbibition. Yes, truly experience this derivative of the real “cup of kindness” to which Scotland’s favorite son so eloquently referred in his “Auld Lang Syne”. The most beneficial results may be derived when this gastronomical delight is enjoyed about 15 minutes before one retires for the evening. Sweet dreams to y’all, now.

    Suggested single malts for the above recipe: Aberlour, Balvenie, Cardhu, Cragganmore, Dalmore, Dalwhinnie, Edradour, Glen Garioch, Glendronach, Glenfiddich, Glenkinchie, Glenlivet, Glenmorangie, Highland Park, Macallan, Oban, Old Fettercairn, and any of the Highland malts. The more characterful Islay and Campbeltown malts should be tried later.

    P.S. One “school of thought” believes that an ancient forerunner to McCoy’s Celtic Calm may be one explanation of why the legendary King Arthur (a genuine Celt, you know) enjoyed so many “nights around the table”. There was probably a jug of this “stuff” on it…yep, that’s what this school says. Slainte!

  3. The other night I took a sirloin steak and using a super sharp knife, thinly sliced it across the grain on a bias. I marinated the slices in a teriyaki sauce (off the shelf) while heating a skillet with a couple tablespoons veggie oil. When the skillet was hot (water drops sizzled in the oil) I fried the beef a few strips at a time, turning once, removing them to a clean bowl when done. This does not take long as the strips are very thin. Be careful not to overcrowd the skillet. Once I was almost through this I tossed 3 packs of Raman into boiling water. When the beef is done dump all of the cooked strips into the skillet along with the quickly drained Raman. Stir and serve. The family loved it.

  4. Chinese Chicken Soup – it’s a two-day process but we’ve got lots of time, right?

    Stock: boil bones and skin of a rotisserie chicken in one quart water or one quart prepared chicken broth (gives a richer flavor than water). Season with pepper and garlic powder. Don’t need salt b/c rotisserie chicken is already salty. Simmer for a couple of hours or cook in pressure cooker for one hour. Drain broth through strainer or colander. Discard bones and skin. Chill broth overnight so fat congeals on top. Next day, scrape off fat.

    Soup:
    3 large sliced carrots
    2 stalks sliced celery
    One small onion, chopped
    8 oz can of sliced water chestnuts including liquid
    6 oz can of mushroom pieces and stems, including liquid, or use 1/2 cup fresh sliced mushrooms
    1/4 – 1/2 cup soy sauce to taste
    1/2 – 1 teas. ground ginger (I use jarred)
    As much leftover chicken as you have, torn in small pieces
    Leftover barbecued pork, sliced thin (optional but very tasty)

    Simmer all ingredients in broth until carrots and celery are tender.
    Add 1 cup frozen peas and 1 cup chopped bean sprouts.
    Heat through. Top with cashews and serve.

    After a friend had a double radical mastectomy, I made this soup for her. She swears it cured her! I make no such claims.

  5. Well, how far do you want to go with this?

    I’ve discovered the air fryer and the Instant Pot just in the last year or so. If you’re into seriously good, seriously easy cooking (disclaimer: some aren’t so easy), skip on over to my sis-in-law’s website, https://twosleevers.com/. She does video presentations, and has produced several cookbooks. I haven’t tried all of her recipes, but the ones I have are tasty.

    Indian Butter Chicken (Instant Pot) over Jasmine rice, and Spicy Indian Fennel chicken (Air Fryer) are two of my faves.

    And there’s another website I use to get recipes for my IP and AF: https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/

    That website has a killer IP recipe for Lemon Garlic Parmesan Shrimp Pasta.

    So, JSB, when’s dinner? Be right over…(and I’ll try a cup of that whipped coffee, too, while you put the finishing touches on the food.) 🙂

  6. I’ve been doing a ton of cooking — and trying a lot of new recipes that don’t use fresh ingredients, or can be adapted.

    I made ham and potato soup last night. At least, it all came together last night, because I made the stock from scratch, too. I used a pork shoulder joint, and made pulled pork tacos from the slow cooked joint. Then used the bone to make the stock, and then finally, last night, the ham and potato soup, using tinned ham and the last of the potatoes (although frozen hashbrowns might work, too).

    INGREDIENTS
    1 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and diced
    Veggies:
    1 medium onion, diced
    1 medium carrot, diced
    1 rib celery, diced
    OR frozen veggies to match.
    8 ounces smoked ham, diced
    3 cloves garlic, sliced
    3 tablespoons butter
    1/4 cup flour
    4 cups chicken broth
    2 cups water
    1/2 cup heavy cream/evap milk
     
    STEPS
    1. Melt butter in a stockpot over medium heat until golden brown. Stir in carrot, celery, onion, ham, and garlic; cook and stir for 5-6 minutes, until the vegetables soften and the onions are translucent.
    2. Stir in flour; cook for about 3 minutes. Stir in chicken broth, 1 cup at a time. Add water and stir to combine. Turn the heat to high and bring to a simmer. Simmer on medium-low for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
    3. Taste the soup for salt and add more if necessary. Stir in potatoes; cook for 15 minutes, until potatoes are tender. Skim fat if desired.
    4. With a potato masher, mash the soup a few times, leaving plenty of whole chunks of potato. Season with salt and pepper to taste, add cayenne if desired, and add cream. Stir to combine and heat through. Garnish with fresh chives.

    It was pronounced as “good” by my fellow inmates.

    Pretty on-line version is here: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/220127/chef-johns-ham-and-potato-soup/

  7. If you can stand the calories, check out The Amish Friendship Bread Kitchen. I took a quart Ziplock of starter out of my freezer when the availability of yeast disappeared, but the recipe for the starter is easy. I’ve made nine different recipes from it in the last three weeks, all delicious. I also made sourdough starter from scratch because it has no sugar, and have had fun using the discard for various recipes, like waffles that came out light as air.

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