A place where I can share interesting ideas and maybe get a few things off my chest

Posts tagged ‘food’

Black-Eyed Peas for New Year’s Day

I love my pressure cooker. It’s a Crockpot Multi-Cooker, but I call it the Instapot (and I really think Instant Pot missed the mark on that), and the internet agrees with me because whenever I search for new recipes, I put in Instapot as the main search term, and I am presented with exactly what I’m looking for. Sometimes many versions of exactly what I’m looking for. And then I usually pick two or three and do a recipe mash-up of what I think looks like the best from each one. Which is how I came up with the recipe for my New Year’s Day 2022 Lucky Black-Eyed Peas and Greens.

And this is also my first Yeet It or Eat It recipe post! No yeets here – I’ll have my pantry cleared out in no time!

Best-by date of July 7, 2021? Do these dates even count for dried peas and beans? I don’t think so.
Best-by date is March 20, 2018. I think I bought this to use for making black-eyed peas for New Year’s Day of 2018. Doesn’t matter; it’s been in the freezer the whole time.
These mixed greens are really tasty all on their own, but I think I’ll mix them right into the pot.
Best-by date of October 2021. Canned goods pretty much last forever, don’t they?

The recipe I started with was this one at Simply Happy Foodie, but I used the cured dried pork, which really looked a lot like thick bacon slices, so I guess it was pretty close, after all. I did not have a ham hock, but I did have half a bag of frozen baby okra. And then I mixed the can of greens in after it had finished cooking. My daughter in Texas made cornbread to go with her mess o’ peas, but I put mine over brown rice. And everyone in our households had their share to stock up on good luck for 2022 (even if some of them only ate a single pea and swallowed it whole while washing it down with grape drink so he wouldn’t taste it at all, but I’m not naming any names, Steve).

It’s been eight hours since we had our first helpings, and we’re feeling just fine, so it seems “Eat It” was the right choice here.

I hope everyone has a healthful, happy, wonderful, prosperous 2022. That’s certainly our plan.

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Yeet It or Eat It?

I went through the pantry and pulled out all the foods with expired dates. For the most part, food expiration dates don’t really mean that much. They are more for retail stock rotation than anything else. While some things will go off after awhile, most of this stuff will be perfectly fine for a few more months or even years.

I did decide to toss the microwave popcorn that I bought three years ago to have at work for snacks. You remember, when we used to go to offices. And the taco shells that were way in the back. I think we’ve had taco night three times since these were safely placed behind, well, everything. And the older salad dressings are definitely on the iffy side.

The giant can of diced tomatoes is for gumbo that makes too much for just the two of us. The giant cans of tomato puree were bought by mistake because I thought I was reaching for a couple more giant cans of diced tomatoes. The salad dressings were bought BOGO when I greatly overestimated the amount of salad I would ultimately be willing to eat. And I know some of those condensed soups were bought with specific recipes in mind, but who knows which ones or how long ago.

Tonight, we had pork chops and made the Velveeta and Shells to go with them. I’ll cook up the black-eyed peas for New Year’s and enjoy them for several days after Steve chokes down his single good-luck spoonful. And with the giant recipe database that is the internet, who knows what yummy dishes some of these ingredients might eventually become a part of?

I’ll let y’all know how that works out.

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Granny’s Banana-Blueberry Cream Pie

The recipe came in the electric bill
Courtesy of Reddy Kilowatt and Texas Power and Light
When I was nine years old? Eleven years old?
So, fifty years ago, give or take
Half a century, good lord, how time flies
Mom made it for the next holiday – Christmas? Easter?
I don’t remember which
It was so wonderful
And it was at every holiday table after that
Still is, actually
Even though Mom hasn’t made one in years
But her descendants still make it
Ten grandchildren
Eighteen great-grandchildren
A dozen-and-counting great-great-grandchildren
Scattered across three to five states
Depending on the time of year
That pie shows up at every family holiday dinner
And is highly anticipated at a great many work potlucks
(The recipe makes two pies, but sometimes one is saved back at home)
Mom passed recently, almost 92 years old
Since then, her family has made it in homes across the South
A taste of childhood across four generations
In loving memory of Granny

(OctPoWriMo 2021 Day 4, recipe listed in “Family Recipes”, tab at the top of this page)

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Lunch With Mom

 

 

 

Me: Okay, Mom! We’re through with our Saturday errands. What do you want to have for lunch? Mexican? Chinese? A sandwich?

Mom: I’ll just decided when I look at the menu.

Me: But if we want Mexican or Chinese we have to decide to go to that restaurant.

Mom: I don’t care. Anything’s fine.

(After our arrival at Daddy’s Grill)

Me: Oh, good – we can choose between the breakfast or lunch menus. I think I’m going to have breakfast. What about you?

Mom: Do they have Mexican food?

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Texas Food (So Far)

Waffle made with the Texas-shaped waffle iron at the Dallas La Quinta breakfast area

Waffle made with the Texas-shaped waffle iron at the Dallas La Quinta breakfast area

How nice to be back in Texas, even if only for a visit. Even the food is welcoming me home.

Biscuits & Gravy 11.26.13

Biscuits with white cream gravy, also at the La Quinta breakfast bar. Very southern. Very yummy.

Whataburger!

Whataburger!

And what trip back to Texas would be complete without a stop in at Whataburger! A Texas tradition since 1950!

Burger sign 11.25.13

Avocado Bacon Burger? On Texas toast? Yes, please!! (Although I did pass on the jalapenos – I’m a kinda sissy native Texan.)

Actual Burger 11.25.13

Well, okay, the actual sandwich is not quite as pretty as the one in the ad on the wall, but it was still pretty tasty.

Steve, too!

Steve, too!

And look – all this food photographing behavior is contagious!

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Spamjalaya

Awhile back, I saw this on the grocery shelf and took a picture just for grins:

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I didn’t buy it at the time, and had no real intention of doing so, but then a couple of weeks ago, I saw it on the sale table in the back of the store:

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Seeing the photos side by side, I now realize that it was only 17 cents less than the normal price, but I guess I was in a mood because I bought it, again, just for grins. Then, yesterday at work, I had nothing for lunch and remembered that this was in the cabinet. Okay, then – time to try it. 

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My co-workers commented on my courage and/or foolishness – it was a little bit of a toss-up which one it might be. While reading the heating instructions, I carefully avoided reading the ingredients list. I did photograph the lot number, just in case medical intervention might be needed.

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Well, now – that doesn’t look too bad, does it? Not really, right?

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Unfortunately, it tasted like rice in a sage sauce. I couldn’t even taste the Spam for the overwhelming taste of sage. I had to stop after only a few bites.

 

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It’s a good thing I still had the package of cranberry bagels in the fridge or I would have had to lunch on the last of the leftover Halloween candy.

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While I did get $1.50 worth of entertainment value showing the package at work and laughing about it beforehand, I really did NOT get $1.50 worth of enjoyable lunch out it. I did, however, get a fun blog post. Not a bad investment, overall, I guess.

 

 

 

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Nosh!

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I recently tried a new cafe’ in Oldsmar, Nosh!, where I got a breakfast sandwich pressed on Cuban bread. It was really yummy and I can’t wait to get back to try some of their specialty coffee drinks and other breakfast and lunch items.

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I also got one of their crumb cakes to go. It’s hard to tell in this picture, but it’s 2/3 “crumb” and 1/3 “cake”. It was pretty tasty, but I would have preferred less crumb and more cake, myself.

It wasn’t too crowded mid-morning, but did have a steady flow of traffic. It seems like a good place for future morning writing sessions.

Nosh Cafe on Urbanspoon

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