Pork & Vegetable Soup

Cycling through really old meat from the freezer. This ground pork package was from 2021 and so were the canned beans. What makes it really tasty is the addition of aged balsamic vinegar before serving. This is a two-technique process, using a pressure cooker for the first part, and the slow cooker for the second.

Pressure Cooker Ingredients:

1 lb ground pork (was frozen; but you can use fresh)

sea salt & fresh ground black pepper, to taste

1 c water

Pressure Cooker Directions:

Add ingredients to pressure cooker. Cook 5 mins on high. Quick release.

Slow Cooker Ingredients:

One 14.5 oz can organic diced tomatoes

One 15 oz can great Northern beans

1 tsp dried oregano

3 Yukon gold potatoes, diced

2 organic carrots, sliced thick

6 cups of water

2 tbsp Better than Buillion Beef

Slow Cooker Directions:

Cook on Low for 8 hours

I did this recipe as an overnight recipe and had it for breakfast the next day. Per bowl, I added 1-2 tsp aged balsamic vinegar before serving. Though, this is not necessary.

Cold Oven Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Found this recipe on Reddit and the batter was enough to make 12 cupcake-sized pound cakes and one loaf for a work potluck. The cupcake-sized pound cakes got overbaked, and were of a hockey puck consistency, so didn't get anyone to eat them. Was able to slice up the loaf, and had a few takers for that. Not sure why it wasn't as popular of a homemade dessert; but the three-layer cake someone else made was more appealing.

Flour measuring method: scoop with a spoon into measuring cup and level

Substitution for cake flour

1 cup cake flour = 1 cup all purpose flour minus 2 tbsp flour plus 2 tbsp cornstarch

Ingredients

1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter (8 T. each)
8 oz. cream cheese
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
3 cups cake flour
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Instructions

Start with ingredients at room temperature. Butter and flour a loaf 9x5x3 loaf pan and set aside. I have a silicone loaf pan and just lightly grease the inside with unsalted butter.

Using a stand mixer, combine cream cheese, butter, sugar, and vanilla extract until light in color and fluffy. Then, add a whole egg, one at a time and mix to incorporate each egg before adding the next.

Pour batter evenly into a loaf pan or into silicone muffin cups.

Do not preheat oven. Start the bake in a cold oven.

Bake pound cake for 1.5 hours at 325 F, if using an angel food cake tube pan. Let the cake cool in the pan for 20 minutes before removing from the pan.

Bake for 70 minutes at 325 F, if using a loaf pan. Let cool for 10 minutes in the pan on a rack before unmoulding.

Bake for 25 minutes at 350 F, if using making cupcake/muffin tin.

Sun-dried tomato and castelvatrano olive relish

It would appear that I have no mayonnaise in stock. However, I have a lot of green olives and sun-dried tomatoes. Aside from eating this with crackers, it can also be used as a spread on sandwich bread.

Ingredients

200 g sun-dried tomatoes

700 g castelvatrano olive, pitted

125 g red wine (cabernet, merlot, or malbec)

1 fresh garlic clove, minced

olive oil, for consistency

Pulse together in a food processor until desired consistency.

Will the real Cheese, please stand up

Despite my folks and relatives avoiding most dairy cow products, I love non-vegan cheese. Look, don't get me wrong, "cheese" product made with cashews is fine as a spreadable cheese, but sometimes, you just want to make a gooey grilled cheese sandwich (because it's now autumn and roasted tomato basil soup + grilled cheese sandwiches are delicious), add some cheddar to ramen noodles, or nibble on cheese blocks with cured slices of meat.

Here's what's in a typical plain cashew cheese recipe:

• raw cashews (1 cup cashews = 1 cup of cheese product)
• nutritional yeast (for flavor)
• fresh lemon juice
• garlic powder, black pepper, (optional flavorings)
• salt

Here's what's in a typical cow milk-based cheese recipe:

• whole cow milk (1 gal = 8 oz farmer's cheese)
• fresh lemon juice
• salt, optional

What goes into a farmhouse cheddar cheese recipe:

• whole cow's milk
• plain yogurt or active kefir with probiotics
• rennet (to make a firmer cheese)
• animal: stomach lining of young cows, sheep, or goats
• vegetarian: derived from plants such as thistle, nettle, artichokes, figs, or caper leaves
• salt
• butter (dairy milk fat) or lard (rendered pork fat) - used to coat the finished pressed cheese
• unchlorinated water

And for a vegan "spreadable" cheese product that can be used as a replacement to make "meltable" cheese in a grilled cheese sandwich (recipe ratio from the Minimalist Baker):

• raw cashews
• peeled carrots
• water
• tapioca starch
• nutritional yeast
• apple cider vinegar
• salt
• garlic powder
• ground mustard
• ground tumeric (for color)

If you're thinking that nut-based cheeses don't have saturated fat like animal products, think again because 1 ounce of cashews has 2.2 grams of saturated fat. 1 cup of raw cashews in a typical cashew cheese recipe will have 17.6 grams of saturated fat. 1 cup of whole cow milk has 8 grams of saturated fat. Contrary to how the anti-cow media has presented dairy to the public, whole milk is the healthier of the two.

Cost-wise, about the same in 2023 prices comparing raw cashews to organic whole milk.

Prep time:

• dairy cheese: assuming you didn't have to milk the cow and picked up at least a gallon of non- or low pasturized milk from the grocery store; a couple hours for farmer's cheese/ricotta/cream cheese; 3-4 weeks minimum for aged cheddar cheese; mozzarella in less than an hour
• vegan cheese: can be made in 1-2 days (raw cashews need to be pre-soaked)

The other downside to cashew "cheese" is that it has the consistency of chunky cream cheese and is used wherever a 'spread" or the look of the "cheese" in the finished cooked product doesn't matter. E.g., as a substitute for ricotta cheese in lasagna or ravioli, as a sauce or spread used with crackers.

Frozen Chicken Thighs for Dinner

This has been one of my go-to meals this year. Mostly because I'm both tired and lazy; and after work, I just want something simple without a lot of prep. Thank goodness that the Ninja Foodi still works after two years. This uses the stainless steel rack insert that the NF comes with.

In the NF, insert stainless steel rack and add 1 cup of water.

On the rack, place frozen chicken thighs.

Season to your liking. I use sea salt, fresh ground black pepper, and garlic powder.

No pre-heating needed.

NF settings: 10 minutes on HIGH. Natural release 20 minutes.

Stab with meat thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh. Should read at least 165 F. If not, flip the thighs over and set NF to air crisp settings (390 F) for 5 minutes.

You can use the same prep time doing other things while the chicken is cooking; such as preparing a vegetable dish stovetop or a salad or whatever.

You can cook rice at the same time; though I have not tried this because the chicken needs that water to pressure cook & steam to perfection; the rice also uses the same amount of water to cook. The remaining liquid is essentially chicken broth and can be used or consumed.

Side note: when chicken thighs (bone-in with skin) are on sale ($0.99/lb or BOGO) at my local Fred Meyer grocery store, I buy . .  a lot. Half gets baked or grilled, then eaten in meals for the week. I freeze the rest in 2 thighs per resealable quart bag.

Let's say that you did nothing at meal time with the leftover chicken broth. You could add more water and add uncooked rice to make a congee for breakfast tomorrow. Or, you could add more water to that the liquid volume is back to 1 cup and make a batch of pressure cooked steamed rice (1 minute on HIGH, 10 minutes natural release).