Rat thoughts

OK, not sandwiches, but pork chops!

I started off with some thinly sliced boneless pork chops, which I seasoned with Kirkland Seasoned Salt (it's Costco's version more or less of Emeril's Essence, but with a bit less heat and a bit more salt).  Then I sauteed the chops in about a stick of melted butter.  Yes, a stick of butter.  I then cooked them until there was no longer any pink in the center (if the chops are thick enough to measure temperature, about 150°F in the center).

Serve the chops over rice, then pour the butter over the chops and rice.  Or turn the butter & nummies into gravy.


(I suppose you could turn them into porkchop sandwiches.  Make the gravy extra thick and use it instead of mayo on the bread.)





Yes.  A whole stick of butter. 

Bakers had various single-serving fish packets on sale for $1 each, so I picked up a bunch of different fish.  My freezer now has salmon, cod, haddock, sole, flounder, pollock, mahi mahi, tilapia and perch.  And shrimp.  And none of it with breading nor in stick form.

For dinner tonight, I made Fillet of Sole With Lemon-Dill Sauce

(I tend not to measure stuff, so my measurements may be approximate)

Melt 3 Tblsp butter in a frying pan.  Add an equal amount of olive oil.  Add 1/4 tsp dill weed, 1 Tblsp lemon juice, 1 green onion, sliced, and 1/4 tsp kosher salt and stir.  Fry the sole fillets over medium heat for about 3-4 minutes per side.  When done, remove the fish to a plate and turn off the heat.

Sprinkle about 2-3 Tblsp flour over the pan full of butter and oil and whisk until all the flour is incorporated and you have a paste-like consistency.  Cook this paste using the pan's residual heat for a couple minutes, just to cook off the "floury" taste.  Then add about 2 cups of chicken bouillon or chicken stock.  Whisk rapidly until all the lumps are gone and the sauce is smooth.  If the pan is still hot, it should be sufficient to heat the sauce, otherwise you may need to turn the stove on low.  Don't overcook the sauce or it may separate; it should be hot but not boiling.

Serve the fish over rice, then spoon the sauce over the fish and rice.

      

I ordered a salt cellar from Alton Brown's web site several months ago.  Apparently they are extremely popular, so it's been backordered all this time.  It finally arrived today!

For some reason, I absolutely cannot find Dennison's Chili anywhere in the Omaha area.  It's my favorite brand of canned chili, and a critical component of my Famous Chili Burritos.  I can find Hormel, Bush's, Stagg and Campbell's as well as store brands and several other smaller brands I'd never heard of before.  Stagg is nasty, Hormel is way too watery, the store brands I've tried are too salty, Campbell's flavor is wrong for my burritos and Bush's is good but obscenely expensive.

What's really odd about this is that the company that makes Dennison's, ConAgra Foods, is headquartered here in Omaha.  You would think the place would be swimming in chili.  Most other ConAgra products, such as Banquet, Chef Boyardee, Manwich, Ro-Tel, Hunts and Pam, can be found in just about any store here, so why not Dennison's?


Chili Burritos:

Empty a can of Dennison's Chili Con Carne with Beans into a microwave safe container.  Heat on high, covered for 3 minutes, stirring once.

Heat up a large non-stick frying pan on the stove on the hottest burner on it's hottest setting.  Place a large flour tortilla in the pan.  After a few moments, flip the tortilla over.  The top side should have light brown spots on it.  When the tortilla starts to puff up like a balloon, transfer it to a plate.

Once the tortilla has deflated, spoon a couple tablespoons of the chili onto the tortilla, making a line of chili about 1/3 of the way towards one edge.  Top with plenty of cheddar and/or jack cheese.  Fold the sides over, then roll up the tortilla into a burrito.


EDIT:  I tried some Chili Man brand chili tonight.  I think it might make an acceptable substitute for Dennison's.  It's got the right thickness, and the flavor, while not the same as Dennison's, is still pretty good.  I just hope I can find it again, as I recall only seeing it at one store.

Last night I made the most incredible loaf of bread ever.  It's incredibly rich, much more than regular white bread.

Sally Lunn Bread

Add to a bread machine in the following order:

3 eggs
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
3 Tblsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
3 cups bread flour
1 tsp bread machine (instant) yeast

Select basic white bread cycle, 1-1/2 pound loaf, light color setting.

Ended up spending a hefty portion of my tax refund today.

My AeroBed was just about gone, so I had to buy a new bed.   I found a nice Sealy Posturepedic mattress and box springs on sale for $330 at Nebraska Furniture Mart.    Since I didn't have any sheets or anything to fit it, I also picked up a "bed in a bag" set at Wal*Mart: sheets, pillow cases, pillow shams, comforter and bed skirt for a mere $30.  I think I should buy some new pillows too, the ones I have are kinda nasty.  And where the heck do you buy those funky flat pillows that go into pillow shams, anyway?

We also picked up a new stove, a Magic Chef with a glass cooktop.   It's not the model I'd have liked to have gotten (that would be the $2000 Jenn-Air with the grill), but for $370, it was practically a steal.  Besides, I still have a really great gas stove in my PODS container which will go into my home, whenever I get around to buying one.  (There's no gas here so it wouldn't work here anyway.)  So far it's proven to be MUCH better than the old stove (how old was it?  It was avacado!); I nearly burned tonight's dinner because I didn't realize the stove could heat up that fast.

My SO also took me to a local sporting goods/military surplus store.  I was tempted to splurge $400 for a leather bomber jacket, but they didn't have one in my size.  I've always wanted a leather flight jacket, but never got around to buying one since it was too warm in California to ever really need a jacket.  But with the current temperature of 9.7ºF, I could use something a wee bit warmer than the windbreaker my last job gave me.  I may end up ordering one from Sporty's Pilot Shop.

But while looking around for something to keep his head warm, I found some fur-lined aviator caps, in my size even (7-6/8, i.e., freaking huge).  I was tempted to buy the $40 leather version, since it's the more traditional look (and would go great with a leather jacket), but I went with the much cheaper synthetic.  I'd bought a balaclava a couple weeks ago, and it kept my head crazy warm, but it was really inconvenient to put on and take off and it tended to fog up my glasses, especially if I tried to wear it while driving.  And of course, the thing made me look like a terrorist or something; I always got funny looks walking into a store.  This aviator cap has fur-lined ear flaps that keep me nice and warm, but when I get inside I can tie them up to the top of the cap.

My right eye is beginning to bother me again.  It keeps happening the first week or so of every month.  At first I was wondering if it had something to do with the farmers next door spraying something on their crops, but the fields have been fallow since harvest time in October.  I'm still taking the Doxycycline, which I think has been helping to moderate the events.  This one doesn't seem to be as bad as some past events.  At least, I don't feel like clawing my eyes out yet.  I just wish I knew what the hell could be occurring on a monthly cycle to cause this.  (Don't say the moon.  Yes, it seems to occur just after the full moon, but there's no reasonable explanation how the moon could affect my eye)

Argh!  Stupid oven is broken.  The main element can't even heat the oven to 200ºF.  I was trying to cook dinner, but even after being in the oven set at 350º for 40 minutes, it's still ice cold and I can almost handle the dish with my bare hands.  I cranked up the oven to 500º for another 30 minutes, but it's still cold.  Now I'm trying to finish dinner using the broiler element, which still works.  The problem is the element doesn't really have any temperature control, it's either on full blast or totally off.

Gotta buy a new range this weekend.  :-P

I found a box of chocolate-covered peppermint Altoids today.  Apparently they also make cinnamon and ginger flavors with chocolate as well.   The mint flavored variety at first tastes rather like an Andes mint, until the chocolate coating dissolves.

I was shopping at Sam's Club today and turned my back for just a moment and someone swiped my cart!  Is it my imagination or are people just getting more and more rude while grocery shopping?

While at Sam's Club, I found a huge and heavy steel stock pot.  Upon seeing my reaction to it (another friend described it as "orgasmic"), my SO grabbed one off the shelf and added it to the (new) cart.  It's made of 18/10 stainless steel, holds 20 quarts, and the lid alone weighs more than the flimsy aluminum 12 quart pot I was using.  And it was a mere $40!  We're having soup tonight!

For dinner tonight I started to make turkey noodle soup, using the leftovers from my Good Eats Roast Turkey of last night. Unfortunately, I added too many noodles, which soaked up all the broth, so we had turkey noodles instead of turkey noodle soup.

I also made a couple loaves of cheese bread today. Very hard work, since I don't have any machines to do the work for me; I have to do all the kneading and everything by hand. But well worth the effort. I ate one of the loaves already. Whoops!

Cook 2 chicken breasts then chop finely.

Saute 1 onion, chopped, in olive oil until the onion is translucent.  Add 1 can of green chilies (4 oz), 3 Tblsp flour and 2 tsp ground cumin and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add 2 cans of navy beans (2 lbs total) and 1 can chicken broth (14.5 oz) then bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  Add the chicken and cook until hot.

Garnish if desired with sour cream and/or a white Mexican-type cheese (Jack, Queso Quesadilla, Queso Fresco, Queso Blanco, Cotija, etc)