Topic: Official thread where we talk about food

[gpw11]

In light of Que's foray into veganism and a few our forays into not being fat lazy slobs, it seems like a good idea to have a thread where we talk about food, especially delicious food that won't make us fat.

I need a substitute for noodles or rice that I can eat with chicken for meals.  Like some kind of bean, but not a gross kind.  GO!

[Quemaqua]

What qualifies as "not a gross bean"? That seems rather difficult to say without more information. Lima beans with butter (or in my case vegan margarine) are simple and awesome as a side, and would go well with chicken or anything similar. Potato is always a fine starch. Sweet potato is even better, and super easy to make in most forms, from fries to just baking the sucker. And don't forget to add some green stuff, leafy or cruciferous, for loads of nutrition without adding calories.

[idolminds]

I was with you up until the "won't make us fat" part. I'm really good at that part.

Que mentioned sweet potatos. Baked, yum. Got leftovers? Slice it and fry it in a pan. Really good at breakfast (or anytime I guess), they get a little crunch and the sweetness...mmm.

[gpw11]

I was with you up until the "won't make us fat" part. I'm really good at that part.

Que mentioned sweet potatos. Baked, yum. Got leftovers? Slice it and fry it in a pan. Really good at breakfast (or anytime I guess), they get a little crunch and the sweetness...mmm.

You know, everyone has been praising sweet potatoes to me for the last few years, but I just can't get into them.  I mean, I don't hate them, but I kind of just like the ol' regular kind more.  I may give this another shot.  Oh, and delicious fattening recipes are totally in as well, I'll probably be dropping a lot of those.

What qualifies as "not a gross bean"? That seems rather difficult to say without more information. Lima beans with butter (or in my case vegan margarine) are simple and awesome as a side, and would go well with chicken or anything similar. Potato is always a fine starch. Sweet potato is even better, and super easy to make in most forms, from fries to just baking the sucker. And don't forget to add some green stuff, leafy or cruciferous, for loads of nutrition without adding calories.

I really don't like whatever kind of beans are involved in baked beans and refried beans.  Actually, pretty much hate them.   Everything else is completely acceptable.

Oh, and what's the word on quinoa?  It's a "vegan superfood", right?

[Quemaqua]

I wouldn't go that far. It's a seed, but basically used like a grain. Can be prepared in a lot of ways. It's pretty decent, but whether you'll dig it depends on whether you can cook it properly and how you do so. My sister does all kinds of stuff with it because her kids have a bunch of food allergies and such.

There's nothing wrong with regular potatoes if you like those, you're just able to overdo it quicker with those than sweet potatoes. They're a bit high in carbs and calories but do carry a decent dose of nutrients if you don't cook the living shit out of them. Though I guess we always do... but still. For a vegan that's a perfect starch to round out greens and such, which are loaded with nutrients but have practically no calories. In fact, vegans get a free pass on a lot of stuff if their base diet is a healthy one (you can be vegan and still get fat and be unhealthy... the options in a vegan diet are way more wide open than people think), and things that might normally be dirty words are suddenly beneficial or necessary.

Anyway, I stick with my bean assertion that lima beans (if prepared properly) with butter/margarine are great with chickenish stuff. If you aren't a huge bean person, you could always try lentils. I love those, even just cooked and lightly seasoned.

[Cobra951]

I love most beans and bean-based foods, but lima beans make me gag.  I cannot stand them prepared in any way.

[K-man]

it seems like a good idea to have a thread where we talk about food, especially delicious food that won't make us fat.

Welp, so much for my love letter to the ribeye steak.

[Quemaqua]

I made some chickpea cutlets last night from a recipe in the Veganomicon. Pretty good, but I'll likely do some tweaking. Basically just mashed chickpeas, olive oil, and a bunch of seasonings (thyme, rubbed sage, lemon zest, garlic, etc.) combined with a little wheat gluten (similar to flour, but gives a more stretchy result) and bread crumbs. Turned out nice, but I think I'll do a different ratio of chickpeas to other stuff, and experiment with using other kinds of beans. I'm thinking black beans in a lesser amount, more dry ingredients with some diced onions and some extra garlic, provided I can get the consistency right. It's weird, turns into almost like a dough, but then you can shape it and grill it and it has a sort of meat-patty consistency, and you can cook it more or less as you like, and they get kind of a cooked skin on the outside that can crisp up. I cooked two just to brown, then almost kinda charred the other two, and both ways were tasty. Stuck some vegan horseradish sauce on it (Vegenaise makes a killer one) and sliced tomato, plus a side of grilled asparagus with a touch of margarine and salt. Today I made a sandwich out of one of the leftover ones with some kale/spinach/mayoish sauce, fresh butter lettuce, and tomato, on warm ciabatta bread. Super good.

[idolminds]

Huh, that sounds interesting. If you have some cookbooks I'd be real interested in checking them out at the meet.

[Quemaqua]

For sure. I have two, though have some other stuff like apps and whatever. The Veganomicon is more involved, fancier food, sauces, more baked goods/desserts, stuff with harder to find ingredients and a far heavier emphasis on spices. I also have How to Eat Vegan on $4 a Day, which has a lot of very simple stuff, quicker stuff, crock pot meals, what have you. They cover a pretty wide spectrum between the two, so I like having them around.

And Heather and I are totally going to make you guys at least one homemade vegan feast during the meet. We did tacos with tempeh the other night, which I'm absolutely sure you guys would dig, and I'm about to try a vegan moussaka as soon as I get some eggplant. Also have my eye on a pressed baked tofu with BBQ sauce that I'll make as soon as I get some peanut oil (note: these may be better for you than a lot of similar meat-based dishes, but they sure as shit aren't health food).

[idolminds]

Ooh, sounds awesome.

So, in complete opposite of being healthy...we didn't have much food in the house so trying to come up with something. Had some pasta and pro-grade cheese sauce from my aunt (who is a chef and gets us cool stuff). So yeah, mac and cheese. But a little pro-tip for sprucing it up: a can of diced tomatoes. Just drain it a little, maybe add some garlic. Oooh yeah.

[Quemaqua]

Oh hell yeah, I used to do that all the time, it's definitely an upgrade. One of these days I'll get around to figuring out a good vegan cheese sauce so I can do that again. Though the Daiya vegan cheeses I've tried have been great for just straight cheese. Used some fake pepper jack in the tacos the other night, was quite good.

[idolminds]

You know, we did something that was close one time. I want to say it was with squash? Probably had some milk in it but soy milk or something would probably work fine. It gave it a nice flavor, and then bake it i bet it would be really good.

[Quemaqua]

Yeah, I can see that being pretty awesome. Damn it, stop making me hungry. It's almost 11 and I have to study for finals that I seem to have somehow forgotten about that start at 9 o'clock tomorrow. Whoops.

[gpw11]

Welp, so much for my love letter to the ribeye steak.

Nah, I fucking love steak. General food thread, post whatever.  Especially motherfucking dry rubs.

[Xessive]

Jerky is awesome. I know we're supposed to be less carnivorous but damn it I love jerky. We've started making our own beef jerky at my friend's place and it's fun to get creative with the flavours!

I would love to make deer jerky but venison is extremely difficult to get around here.

[idolminds]

Mom had picked up a couple packages of spicy Italian sausage that were on special (because most people around here are afraid of anything with a little heat.) I put em on the grill yesterday and they were pretty great just as they were with some toppings on buns. Had 3 left over so what to make? Obvious answer: pasta sauce!

I just went real simple. Dice an onion and saute it in a pot with a little olive oil. I was making 2 sauces, one for dad and one for the rest of us (dad doesn't like garlic and stuff), so I just used one big onion and divided it up. Once that was pretty well done I sliced open those sausages and scraped out the meat into our pan. Brown that a little and then add in a couple cans of diced tomatoes. I did 2 cans in ours, one had garlic, onions, and spices already in it so that made things even easier. Dad just got one of the plain ones. I also split a can of tomato sauce between the pans just to add a little thickness. Then just add some herbs to your liking like some basil and oregano. I did some garlic powder in ours since we didn't have any cloves. But yeah, real simple and also really really good.

And now I have a pork shoulder in the crockpot with some sliced onions, a little root beet, and some BBQ sauce. Though it says its a smoked pork shoulder so I'm a little worried that it'll be more ham-like than pulled pork by morning...but whatever. I'll eat BBQ ham.

[idolminds]

So info has come to light today. I woke up and mom said she tried a little of the pork and said it was more like ham. Which is ok, I love ham. Except when you're in the mood for pulled pork. I took a small piece and...yeah, she was right. It was also really salty tasting. There was a kind of different sweet aftertaste which I think was from the root beer. It wasn't bad but with the saltiness it was just...different.

Ah well, time for action! There was a LOT of juice, damn near filled the crockpot and I only put like a quarter inch of root beer in there for liquid. I pulled the meat out and it was just falling apart. Picnic hams (which this ended up being...thank you sticker for covering up the important part of the label) have skin still on one side and that just fell right off. Literally. I picked up the meat and bloop. Pulled the bone out just as easily.

So I was standing there unsure of how to proceed. Could just serve it like that but I was determined to have it in sandwich form. Fuck it, proceed as originally planned! Dump the juice, shred the meat, pour in some BBQ sauce and let it crank for another hour or two. Glad I did because my taste tests have been pretty awesome. Gonna go shred some cabbage to make slaw and then I will report back with the final sandwich form.

Final Verdict: Yum! Once cooked in the BBQ sauce you don't notice the extra saltiness but it retains a kind of ham flavor and chewiness. There is a hint of sweetness but its hard to say if thats from the root beer or the Sweet Baby Rays sauce. It was a fun experiment but I don't think I'd go out of my way to add root beer or colas again.

[gpw11]

Mom had picked up a couple packages of spicy Italian sausage that were on special (because most people around here are afraid of anything with a little heat.) I put em on the grill yesterday and they were pretty great just as they were with some toppings on buns. Had 3 left over so what to make? Obvious answer: pasta sauce!

I just went real simple. Dice an onion and saute it in a pot with a little olive oil. I was making 2 sauces, one for dad and one for the rest of us (dad doesn't like garlic and stuff), so I just used one big onion and divided it up. Once that was pretty well done I sliced open those sausages and scraped out the meat into our pan. Brown that a little and then add in a couple cans of diced tomatoes. I did 2 cans in ours, one had garlic, onions, and spices already in it so that made things even easier. Dad just got one of the plain ones. I also split a can of tomato sauce between the pans just to add a little thickness. Then just add some herbs to your liking like some basil and oregano. I did some garlic powder in ours since we didn't have any cloves. But yeah, real simple and also really really good.

And now I have a pork shoulder in the crockpot with some sliced onions, a little root beet, and some BBQ sauce. Though it says its a smoked pork shoulder so I'm a little worried that it'll be more ham-like than pulled pork by morning...but whatever. I'll eat BBQ ham.

Italian sausage is the best. I'll go overboard on that shit, buy a bunch, grill it up, eat some the first night on buns and then use the rest in a pasta sauce.  I'd actually go the same way you did, by frying the ground suasage and discarding the skin, but also cut a few up that I cooked the day before and throw it in the sauce.  If you have a fair amount of time and you're working with a big batch of sauce (and pot, not skillet), I'll put that on minimum or low and just let the slow cooking tenderize the sausage for a couple of hours.  It tastes amazing, especially if you have the foresight to throw some chopped bacon or ribs in there.

[Quemaqua]

Tofurky makes a really good Italian sausage, if you're ever interested in trying something non-meat. I cook it up and use it in pastas and other junk all the time, though it's fairly decent on its own. That main issue is the texture isn't quite right (which generally becomes negligible if you cook it right, or especially if you add it to things). Though I do eat the fake beer brats whole or sliced to put in sandwiches. Some sauerkraut and sweet-spicy mustard on those bitches, fuck yeah (they're overly mild without some help).

[idolminds]

Sausage is mostly about the spicing anyway so I can see that working out.

[Quemaqua]

I've had better real sausage, but I've also had considerably worse. I dig em. Actually, I've had a really good pulled pork simulation too, though I forget who made it. I don't eat a lot of meat replacement stuff as after a while on a vegan diet your body really ceases to crave meat and starts craving whatever it is you're lacking nutritionally (I'm acutely aware even just after a few weeks whether I need more fruit, more greens, or more starches... which is still taking getting used to), but that shit was pretty good on a sandwich with some extra BBQ. I may have mentioned this elsewhere, but I also did some vegan BBQ "baked" beans in the crock pot. Were loaded with good stuff, super tasty. I wish I'd written down what I put in there, especially since I overcooked it slightly. I thought I'd turned it off but had only turned it to low, so the sugars in the BBQ sauce and other stuff burnt just a tad... I'd love to try it again with the right amount of time.

[idolminds]

Well speaking of sausage, today I made potato sausage. It's sort of a family tradition and it was moms birthday so she wanted some. I had never made it myself before, but I have been around when the family gets together to make it (which is a pretty hilarious time).

So the short version is a pound of ground pork, a pound of ground beef, about half an onion chopped fine, a couple potatoes also chopped fine, and some sausage seasoning. You sorta just have to play with the amounts of everything since there is no recipe. Combine the meats and then see how much onion you want, see if you want more spices, etc. Make a little patty and fry it in a pan to try it out and go from there.

Now you can get fancy and put it in casing but it works just as well as a patty that you fry. In fact, thats the way mom prefers it so hooray! Really want to get them thin and kinda crispy on the outside and they are really good. Part of that long-ish cooking time also helps to make sure the potatoes are cooked. So yeah, was kinda cool to make that myself. Little part of family tradition.


And now something Que might even enjoy (and I'm sure he will), our rhubarb has come ripe so I made orange rhubarb marmalade yesterday. Super, super easy to do. 6 cups of chopped rhubarb, 2 oranges chopped fine (peels and all), and 4-5 cups of sugar. Toss it all in a big pot and bring it to a boil (need to watch it and stir frequently so it doesn't burn). The sugar pulls a lot of moisture out of the fruits and the rhubarb practically cooks down to nothing. Just boil it long enough until it thickens how you like. Chill a plate and put a spoon full on there and pop it in the freezer to cool it down and see if its the consistency you want. Mine is a little on the thin side but I was a little gun shy of going too far with it. It's not so bad, though. Spreads easy but its not really drippy. I made a big-ass jar of it which I will be bringing to the meet.

[Quemaqua]

Oh man, that sounds amazing.