Hello, there. I accidentally let a few years go by between posts. There have been approximately 10,532 changes since I previously posted, including my stepson heading to college, a new job in state service, and an unfortunate increase in Taco Bell trips. I’m still making coffee at home and going to Friends Dinner most every Monday. I still hand out recommendations for recipes to others freely, while struggling to come up with ideas for what I personally will cook.
Without further ado, here are the favorites I can think of right now:
- Chicken tikka masala, the cheater version. Aldi and other retailers have their own jars of tikka masala simmer sauce, which is a decent start.
- Season chicken thighs however you like, I usually start with Lawry’s seasoned salt, black pepper, and some Kinder’s woodfired garlic. Brown the thighs over medium heat, making sure to not crowd the pan and cooking in batches as needed.
- After you remove the last batch of thighs, lower your heat and add in a diced onion, cooking until slightly browned and it’s helped remove some of the brown bits form the bottom of the pan. Add in about 4 cloves of crushed garlic and cook briefly until its fragrant. Dump in a jar of Tikka masala, add a little water to get the last of it out of the jar.
- Dump in a whole bunch of berbere, extra garlic poweder, and stir/simmer for a bit before adding back in the thighs that have cooled a bit and been chunked into more bite sized pieces, along with any accumulated juices. Simmer some more, taste, add some extra seasoned salt or more berbere.
- Turn off the heat, then stir in a quarter cup of heavy cream and some chopped fresh cilantro. Serve over rice, or make into burritos with rice, more cilantro, and some tzatziki.
- Nami’s recipe for chicken katsu (or pork) with her homemade tonkatsu sauce recipe. Over rice, again, and with some kind side of veggies.
- If it’s a birthday celebration or Father’s day, it’s still almost always king crab legs and ribeye steaks. A big pot of boiling water with plenty of old bay for the crab legs, plus extra old bay after they are heated up and some melted butter. Whatever steak seasoning I have on hand plus extra pepper for the ribeyes.
- Meatloaf isn’t nearly as popular as it once was, and patty melts have take over. Caramelized onion, meunster or havarti for the cheese, marble rye bread if I can find it, and toasted with garlic butter.
- This Sticky Chicken recipe from Recipe Tin Eats, with boneless skinless chicken thighs. I almost always make a double batch and serve it with mashed potatoes. I really like garlicky broccoli as the veggie side for no good reason.
- ChipotLiz burritos or burrito bowls continue! I rarely make carnitas or shredded chuck roast unless I’m making it for a crowd. It’s mostly either chicken (in a green tomatillo salsa, cumin, and sour cream sauce) or marinated, grilled, then diced skirt steak. Cilantro lime rice of course. Salsas galore, with only this corn and black bean recipe being homemade.. Freshly shredded combo of sharp cheddar and pepper jack cheeses.
- Weekend breakfasts get slept through at least half the time. Either bacon or sausages, fruit on the side or as a topping, and one of these:
- Most often it’s German Oven Pancakes. This recipe is close, but I crank my oven to 450, use a glass pie plate (preheated with 3 TBS butter) and the mixture is 4 eggs, 1 cup milk, 1 cup flour, 1/8 tsp salt.
- French toast, preferably with a baguette that’s a few days old, but often with just sandwich bread.
- Pancakes, though I have yet to find a favorite recipe.
- Crepes sometimes,
- Waffles!
- A default meal when short on time or inspiration is Bibigo chicken, specifically the one with sweet & spicy sauce.
- Stirfries are more often made with Bachan’s original Japanese BBQ sauce as a main ingredient rather than Soy Vay’s Veri Veri Teriyaki sauce, with some extra chili oil or peanutbutter. Other times it’s just a mixture of oyster sauce, Soy sauce, mirin, or other adaptation of what comes up when you Google stir fry sauce. It’s usually all meat in there and then veggies on the side, since I don’t have a wok and can’t seem to keep the veggies a good texture while coating the meat in sauce otherwise.
- I make spaghetti a lot less frequently these days. When I do, it’s often with a tomato/goat cheese/crushed red pepper sauce, or vodka sauce, then topped with parmesan. Meat is more likely to be on the side than in the sauce. If I’m making a meaty marinara, it’s usually for Friends Dinner or a lasagna.
- Grilling galore when it’s not winter:
- Marinated skirt steak with chimmichuri recipe from Grandbabycakes is still going strong, though often I’m not exact about following the measurements.
- This recipe really is a great pork chop marinade. I love this with a side of spaghetti, garlic bread, and salad.
- This particular recipe for balsamic marinated chicken, but made with boneless skinless thighs.
- Fried chicken wings at home, with this recipe as a base, but with vegetable oil instead of canola, using smoked paprika for half of the required paprika, and dusting with some Slap Ya Mama after they are out of the oil. We have these either dry or with a variety of sauces including sweet chili, mango habenero, or whatever hot sauce and butter combo.
- Things I love from Costco: their refrigerated cheese tortellini, refrigerated pesto (freeze what you don’t use the first time you open it), whole pepperoni pizzas from the food court, frozen tortilla crusted tilapia, frozen mahi mahi, fresh berries, fresh pineapple, samples while you shop, and their vacuum sealed fresh boneless skinless chicken thighs.
That’s all I can think of for now. As always, please share ideas for meals or recipes you love!
CrustyBeth 