Experimenting In The Kitchen

Sausage, Potatoes & Green Beans

Wouldn't you know it? The week I decide start learning more about my instant pot I read that the Instant Brands—maker of the Instant Pot—has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  Hopefully it's one of those things that the powers-that-be figure out and the regular workers keep on going. And now I hope that my own Instant Pot lasts forever.

I've had an Instant Pot for several years now. I have used it from time to time, but I've said more than once that if it died, I probably wouldn't replace it. But for reasons I can't explain I decided it was time to get bold with using it. I started with this Instant Pot recipe for dinner because I had a smoked sausage in the refrigerator. And I needed to start emptying the fridge before family arrives tomorrow and the groceries I stock will change over to groceries more suitable to larger families.

Let me say upfront that this is the kind of recipe that puts "instant" in the instant pot. So many Instant Pot recipes really aren't faster that a stovetop version. But they can cook unattended and that's reason enough for many people to embrace one.

I knew this was a gamble for out supper. I figured my husband might not want this. But I told him we had frozen pizza if supper was a dud. After we finished eating Daddy-O said, "Be sure to tell them that I really liked this. And I wasn't too sure when you told me what we were having for dinner. But this is really good!"  

Here is the recipe. So simple. So quick. So yummy. The green beans were perfectly cooked. I'll try cooking only green beans another time, using this cooking time.

SAUSAGE, POTATOES & GREEN BEANS

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

24-oz bag small red potatoes, cut into 1-inch chunks

1-1/2 lb fresh green beans, washed & ends trimmed

13-oz package turkey smoked sausage, sliced into 1/4-inch slices

2 teaspoons Montreal Chicken Seasoning, or to taste

4 tablespoons butter, cut into 8 pieces. (That’s a 1/2 stick)

Pour broth into pot. Add the prepared potatoes, beans and sausage and sprinkle with Montreal seasoning. Give it a stir. Put butter pieces on top.

Place lid on pot. Turn valve to “seal” and press Manual button. 

Set timer to 3 minutes. (High pressure) 

When time it up, do a Quick Release. Give it all a gentle stir.

• To make this super easy, I chose a 24-oz “steam in the bag” package of red potatoes. They are prewashed. I quartered them. 
• Do not use canned green beans for this. They would be mushy after cooking.
• I didn’t weigh the green beans. Bought a bag of fresh ones and trimmed ends until it looked like enough.
• I used a 6-qt pot. 

For as much as Daddy-O liked the main dish, his first words at the supper table were, "This toast is OUTSTANDING!" I won't argue. It was really good. And I used my new little air fryer. 

I have resisted buying one for ages when all around me raved about them. Last week I ordered Dash Mini 2.6-qt. air fryer. I've only had it long enough to try a couple of things. I had resisted an air fryer because I didn't want to have to learn to use another appliance. And I didn't want another big thing sitting on the counter. This one is small, suitable for 1 or 2 servings. And that's fine for our household. 

After looking at a few recipes, I cooked chicken strips. And when I realized I could take the basket out and look at the food. Just like looking at food in the oven to see when it's ready.  I relaxed about figuring out the exact cooking time. 

So tonight I popped a couple of slices of frozen garlic bread in the air fryer set to 400º. I checked in about 3 minutes and it looked nice and brown, but when I picked it up the bottom was soggy. So I turned it over and let it cook for another couple of minutes. And as Daddy-O said....OUTSTANDING! It was golden brown and crunchy. And it was all done in less time that it takes to preheat my oven. 

This little air fryer would only hold 2 slices, but that's all we needed.

A Stew By Any Other Name

Alabama Camp Stew

I'm almost embarrassed to share this recipe—because it's a bunch of cans dumped in a pot. Almost embarrassed. But I'm doing it because it tasted good, it was so easy to make AND Daddy-O went back two times for more.

I came across this recipe on the food blog Southern Plate years ago. Christy, the writer, is from Alabama. What made me remember the recipe was that she said if you have these cans in your grocery cart, when you check out, the cashier is likely to ask if you're making camp stew. That's why she calls it "famous."

At the beginning of the pandemic I stocked up on shelf stable foods when we weren't sure if the grocery stores would stay open. I remembered this recipe and bought all the cans, printed out the recipe and put the cans and recipe together in a box and added the box to my pantry stash. 

Thankfully those days are behind us, but I realized I liked having a food stash. Not as big as my pandemic stash, but extras of things that we use often. Our closest grocery store is 7 miles away. That's a 14 mile, 25-minute round trip drive to the store and back if I find out I'm out of sugar mid-recipe. So I keep extras on hand. 

Yesterday I was going through my stored foods and checking expiration dates (that's part of storing extras at home) and saw that the tomatoes in my camp stew box needed to be used. Tomatoes, unlike many canned foods, should not be used long past the expiration date.

After a long day of working around the house, this easy recipe was worth a try last night. And it sounded like good football watching food. So glad I finally tried it.

I imagine some of you will have a hard time finding the canned pork or beef BBQ. I found it on the bottom shelf at our Ingles store. But knowing that I have readers in California and Maryland and other far flung states, I googled "camp stew" to find other ways to make this. There are recipes for cooking fresh meat. Some bought BBQ from their local barbecue joint. And one person said that instead of canned, she subbed refrigerated BBQ, such as Lloyd's, found in the refrigerated section, near the mashed potatoes, at the store. 

And to be honest, if you're from California or Maryland, you're probably horrified by dumping all these cans together and would never make this anyway. Right?  In my google search, I did find this fun story about How Camp Stew Became A South Alabama Icon. Read it and learn.

I found a zillion versions of this stew online. Sometimes called camp stew, sometimes called Brunswick stew, depending on where you live. One of our friends has a stew cooking every now and then and sells quarts of Brunswick stew that we like. This recipe has a similar flavor. He uses chicken and pork that he has smoked. If you don't need to make gallons of stew, try this one pot recipe.

ALABAMA CAMP STEW (or Brunswick stew if you live in another state)

3 (14-oz) cans diced tomatoes

14-oz can whole kernel corn

14-oz can butter beans or lima beans

1 onion, chopped

2 (10-oz) cans Castleberry’s Pork or Beef in BBQ sauce

10 or 12-oz can chicken breast

Dump all cans, including the liquid, and chopped onion into a large saucepan. (Mine was 4-1/2 qt.) Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes to 1 hour, stirring occasionally, making sure the bottom doesn’t scorch. 

Made with the Castleberry's pork, the stew had a little kick. And it's a little sweet, like my friend's Brunswick stew. You can do anything you want with the recipe. Add hot sauce if you want it even hotter. Add a diced potato, leave out the corn or add more corn. Use leftover rotisserie chicken instead of canned. Use all chicken (add BBQ sauce) if you don't eat meat. Tinker with seasonings.

What to serve with the Camp Stew? We just had crackers. But this cornbread would be an excellent choice. I made these two pans last Sunday to take to church for a vegetable soup and cornbread fund raiser.

Two batches of Corny Cornbread

CORNY CORNBREAD

1/2 cup vegetable oil  (plus extra to grease the pan)
1-3/4 cups self-rising cornmeal mix  (make sure it's cornmeal mix)
1 cup cream-style corn (frozen or canned)
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 cup grated cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Generously grease a cast iron skillet or a 7x11-inch baking pan. Preheat pan in the oven while you're mixing the batter.

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl, stirring with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until combined. Pour batter into the preheated pan. Place pan in the oven and bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes.

Finally...A New Recipe

Italian Turkey & Veggie Skillet 

When your body starts craving vegetables, it probably means you should have upped your veg intake a couple of weeks ago. We usually eat a lot of vegetables here but lately things have gone a little sideways. Life happens.  

And there were vegetables in the fridge left over from Little Sister's pasta salad making last weekend that needed to be used pronto. I still had a half a large zucchini, half a large yellow squash and some diced onion, washed and bagged.

Mommy and J-Daddy did most of the cooking last weekend and they left me a package of ground turkey that didn't get used. I found one can of fire-roasted tomatoes in my pantry...pretty sure I bought that can by accident. My normal diced tomatoes are plain or seasoned with garlic/basil/oregano. I needed a quick trip to the grocery store this morning and picked up a box of baby spinach to finish the recipe.

When this recipe popped up on my Instagram feed a couple of days ago,  there was no question about making it. It basically used up everything here that I needed to cook before it wound up in the trash. Fresh things don't last forever. This was one of those recipes that you know won't be bad, but the big surprise was that it went far beyond "not bad" category  to the "really, really good" category. 

This is how I made it. So easy. So quick. So delicious. 

ITALIAN  TURKEY ANDJ VEGGIE SKILLET

1 medium zucchini (I used 1/2 of a large one)

1 medium yellow squash (again, I had 1/2 a large one)

1-lb. ground turkey (we like dark ground turkey)

1/2 onion, diced

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons minced jarred garlic (or 4 cloves fresh, minced)

3/4 teaspoon garlic powder

3/4 teaspoon dried oregano

3/4 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon salt

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

14.5-oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes, with juice

3 cups fresh baby spinach

Quarter the zucchini and squash lengthwise and cut into thick slices. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in skillet over med-high heat. Once hot, add the squashes and let cook on one side for 2-3 minutes without stirring, until it browns. Flip it over and cook the other side for 1-2 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.

Reduce heat to medium and add turkey, onion and minced garlic to skillet. Cook, breaking it up, until turkey shows no pink. Drain off any liquid. 

Sprinkle with dry spices and stir to coat. Add the can of tomatoes (not drained) and bring to simmer. Stir in the zucchini, squash and fresh spinach. Cook until spinach wilts, about 3-5 minutes.

You can served this over rice, pasta, spaghetti squash or do what we did and serve it up in a bowl and top it with a little parmesan. I am so happy that we have enough left for another meal.

If you are on Instagram, you can find the original recipe from @easyfamilyrecipes. Her measurements are a little different than mine because she used more turkey. Around here ground turkey is sold in 1-pound packages, so I adjusted my seasonings accordingly. I think I have bookmarked about half of her recipes there. They are quick, easy and family friendly. When I dug a little deeper I found her blog with the original recipe, plus some awesome tips.

• Yes. I did drain off the liquid from the turkey after browning. Sometimes I don't but this recipe needed that. 
• Yes. I think the fire roasted tomatoes made a (good) difference in the flavors, although you could certainly use another kind.
• No. I didn't measure 3/4 teaspoon precisely. Just don't fill up the 1 teaspoon measure all the way.
• Yes. We will make this again for sure!

Recipes For Safe Keeping

Smoky Beans & Sweet Potato

During our extended stay-at-home time I have expanded the list of people I follow on Instagram.  Before, it was mostly knitters I've met at assorted knitting retreats in different states, family and a few hotels where we stayed in Ireland. (It's still mostly knitters. I love keeping up with them.) Keeping the list small felt safe. And small made it easy to keep up. 

But times change. I've added Ina Garten. She is doing quarantine cooking. Joanna Gaines is new on my list. Remember the Cheese Tortellini soup I made after watching her do it? I'm now following Sir Patrick Stewart as he reads a sonnet a day. But my most recent addition is one I've really enjoyed. I've been following Jamie Oliver as he cooks at home, sometimes assisted by his children. And sometimes his children DO the cooking! We made banana ice cream this weekend just like Jamie's chilldren Buddy and Petal made it. Yum!

Jamie doesn't give recipes, he just cooks for his family. And as he cooks, he explains what he is doing. And suggests other ingredients you can use if you don't have what he does. Just watch what he does, then do something similar. We should all get more comfortable cooking basic food without needing uber-specific directions. 

I watched him make this meatless meals and it will stay on my own cooking list for a long time. So different. So delicious. So easy. Once you've sorted out the British terms. I find trying to figure out the British-ness of his cooking entertaining. 

I'm writing it down here, so I can remember what I did for another time. You can watch Jamie make this here. I had to convert the temperature from Celsius to Fahrenheit. (180º C is 356º F) And I can honestly say I have never ever heard of "tomato passata." Looked that up, too. Closest thing here in the US, at least in my small town, is tomato puree. It's on the shelf next to the tomato sauce and tomato paste. But it is different from either of those. I also left out the fresh herbs because I had none. The one substitution you shouldn't make is using regular paprika instead of the smoked version. That's the basis of the flavor for this dish. FYI, the chili beans are next to the baked beans in the store.

SMOKY BEANS & SWEET POTATOES

2 or 3 small to medium sweet potatoes, well scrubbed

salt & pepper

olive oil

smoked paprika

about 1 cup chopped onion (red or white)

4 cloves garlic, sliced

2 (15-oz) cans mixed chili beans, with liquid (mild or spicy)

1 (10-oz) can tomato puree

small flour tortillas

sour cream

crumbled feta

Preheat oven to 350º. 

Halve the potatoes lengthwise. Season with salt & pepper. Rub with a little olive oil. Sprinkle with smoked paprika and rub all over. Set aside.

In an oven proof skillet, heat a little olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook about 5 minutes, until getting tender. Add garlic and stir. Cook 1 minute. Sprinkle generously with smoked paprika and stir. Cook for 1 minute. Pour in both cans of beans and tomato puree. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil.

Put pan of beans on the lower rack of oven. Place potatoes cut side down directly on rack above beans.  Bake for 45 minutes, until potatoes are done.

To serve, warm tortillas. Spread sour cream on each tortilla. Spoon beans and a potato over that. Add another small spoon of beans on top of potato. Sprinkle with crumbled feta cheese.

I put a couple of potato halves and a hearty helping of beans in a single serve freezer dish. Fingers crossed this is another one that will thaw and heat well. Can't imagine that it won't but I never know until I try.

Spinach Bacon Salad

And while I'm saving recipes here for me to use later, I'll add this spinach salad I made a few weeks ago for dinner. Served it with our favorite bourbon marinated pork tenderloin and a baked sweet potato. The two of us ate every bite of the salad. Then I made it again at Jessica's while I was there a few days on Mimi duty.

And this morning I boiled eggs to make it again. Then I couldn't remember where the recipe was. I had never printed it out. Absolutely could not remember where on the internet I found it. Thankfully Jessica's memory is better than mine. She said she thought it was from NY Times Cooking. (Yes. I caved and subscribed...another quarantine plunge.) And she was right. I now have a printed copy tucked in a cookbook. But in case I forget which one, I'll put the recipe here for safe keeping.

SPINACH BACON SALAD

1 (5-oz) container fresh baby spinach (trim off long stems)

1 hard cooked egg

3 sliced bacon, cooked crisp and drained

1/3 cup canola or corn oil

1 teaspoon minced garlic 

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup chopped parsley (I didn't have any)

Roughly chop the spinach. Coarsely chop the egg. Add both to a serving bowl. Crumble or chop bacon. Heat oil and bacon in a small skillet. Heat briefly and add vinegar. Bring to a boil and pour over spinach. Add the parsley. Toss and serve immediately.

Fried Cabbage with Smoked Sausage

Fried Cabbage with Smoked Sausage

After a holiday weekend that included coconut cake and a splendid pumpkin pie where all the leftovers stayed at my house, we were in need of food that's more basic. And I needed quick. And easy. I have handbell practice tonight and won't get home until about 7:30.

This morning I remembered this recipe, but I had trouble finding it here. On my own blog. It's now listed in two places in the index—under MAIN DISHES, listed under both beef and turkey. Depends on which sausage you use. Remember, you can always use the search box at the top left. That's what I did. Searched for "cabbage" and this recipe was way down in the posts that came up. But I did find it.

So here is the recipe again. It might be new to you. Or, maybe like me, you had forgotten this one. It's delicious. And in my way of thinking, it's a one dish meal. It has three vegetables...cabbage, onion, and tomatoes. And the smoked sausage. Tonight that's the whole meal for us. If Daddy-O is lucky, he might get a slice of garlic bread with it.

We have figured out that we liked it better left over. So it was perfect for me to make this afternoon after errands so that dinner will be ready to heat when I get home tonight. You can make it in the morning. You can make it the night before. I love a flexible recipe.

FRIED CABBAGE with SMOKED SAUSAGE

3-4 tablespoons butter
1 small head of cabbage, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 package smoked sausage, sliced in rounds (my turkey sausage was 13 oz.)
1 (15-oz) can diced tomatoes (or Rotel if you like spicy)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste

Melt butter in a large skillet. Add cabbage and onion. Cook on medium-high for about 5 minutes, stirring to keep from sticking to pan. Add remaining ingredients. Cover. Lower heat and simmer for 20-25 minutes.

Serves about 6


Blog posts between now and Christmas will be done as I can find a few spare minutes. Not promising any kind of regularity. But don't give up on me! 

Home From The City

No Bean Turkey Chili

It was a Cinderella kind of weekend. Not the part where the mean women tormented Cinderella, but the good fairy godmother part of the story. I spent the weekend in the city with Jessica. The main purpose for the trip was to shop for a dress for me to wear to her wedding. I am SO not a shopper. The thoughts of serious shopping—important shopping—did not thrill me. It was more like it filled me with dread with a touch of terror. But it turned out to be so much fun. A truly memorable morning.

I tried on dress after dress. Dresses that sparkled and glittered. Dresses that glimmered and shimmered. Dresses that were slim. Dresses that were poofy. For this blue-jean wearing grandmother, it was like finding another me that I didn't know was there. One that enjoyed dressing up. Or, maybe playing dress up. I understand a little better now why the small granddaughters love their princess dresses.

The whole weekend had a bit of magic about it. On Friday we visited one of the quaint nearby neighborhoods for a little browsing before dinner. As we strolled down the busy sidewalk, a middle school girl shouted out to me, "I love your shoes!" A clerk in a shop told me the same thing a little later. I've never been overly concerned about being fashionable. But it was fun to think that maybe for once I hit the mark.

After the shopping and lunch at the OK Cafe on Saturday, we spent the afternoon at home. Jessica worked while I knitted and watched a Craftsy class. (More about that class later.) Then she whipped up a quick supper for us to enjoy while we watched a movie. She has been doing a month of Whole 30 recipes and this was a recipe she has made before and liked.

I imagine that if I had read this recipe before making it, I would have kept looking. But this chili without beans was delicious. One that I'd make here at home. It's nice to have some healthy recipes on hand. I know. I know. All of our recipes should be healthy. But that's not always the case. We try to balance the indulgent foods with healthy foods, aiming to tip the scale toward the healthy side. Way toward that side of the scale.

The hardest part of making this chili would be peeling and dicing the sweet potato. Jessica had a container of potatoes already peeled and diced. She's used the sweet potatoes in many of her dishes lately, so stirring up this chili was a breeze. Jessica also tossed in some diced green peppers and tomatoes because there some on hand that needed to be used.

If your meals need to be gluten free, this one is. I do have friends that are very careful about avoiding gluten. Thankfully, my only requirement is that it be delicious. It is that, too.

NO-BEAN TURKEY SWEET POTATO CHILI (with Jessica's notes)

• 1 lb. ground turkey (I used 93% lean)
• kosher salt, to taste
• ½ cup onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 10 oz. can Rotel mild tomatoes with green chilies (I used the Whole Foods organic kind)
• 8 oz can tomato sauce (I looked for the one with the lowest amount of sugar)
• ¾ cup water
• ½ tsp cumin, or to taste
• ¼ tsp chili powder
• ¼ tsp paprika
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and diced into ½-inch cubes
• diced avocado, for garnish
• optional toppings: shredded cheese, cilantro, sour cream, scallions

In a large skillet, brown turkey over medium-high heat, breaking it up as it cooks into smaller pieces and season with salt and cumin. When meat is browned and cooked through, add onion and garlic; cook 3 minutes over medium heat.

Add the can of Rotel tomatoes, sweet potato, tomato sauce, water, cumin, chili powder, paprika, salt and bay leaf. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat until potatoes are soft and cooked through, about 25 minutes stirring occasionally. 

Add ¼ cup more water if needed. Remove bay leaf and serve.

You can served this with extra toppings, like shredded cheese, scallions, and sour cream. I added a spoonful of sour cream to my bowl and loved the extra richness. Now that cooler weather is here—well, the weatherman has PROMISED it will be cool tomorrow—I'm happy to have a new chili recipe to enjoy. Thanks, Jessica! Thanks for the recipe. Thanks for your hospitality. Thanks for a fun mother-daughter weekend.

If you have a few minutes, take a look at Jessica's blog, which right now contains many of the recipes she's been using lately. She's an excellent cook and as an artist, her food photos are always better than mine, too.

PS....Yes. I did find a dress!

Family Fun On The Fourth

My "week of the 4th" started with a few days at the beach with Little Sister and her family. She was so little the last time she went, she didn't remember seeing the ocean. So she was tremendously excited this trip. Baby Girl and I spent most of our time on the porch, rocking as we listened to the ocean.

But for our family, the main event for the 4th of July is time at the lake.

Little Sister had her first lessons in boating.

Then on the actual day—July 4th—we had 20 family members join us for lunch.

The food is always good but the company is even better.

This year we had 5 children under four which was loads of fun.

Remember this blueberry pie? 

The recipe was good enough for a repeat.

There was paddle ball, and juggling, and hammock swinging 

and dazzling fireworks on our own pier later on.

And there was time for paddling, too.

Sometimes a slow boat is better than the motor boat.

Little Sister did her paddling on dry land 

and had just as much fun as anyone.

They made lots stops on their "trip" to explore the yard 

and gather leaves and stones in buckets.

Little Sister is blessed with loads of imagination.

But Jessica gets the "best aunt" award for finally taking little one 

out on her first real kayak ride.

After lots of BBQ and hot dogs, it was time for a menu change. We've had this recipe stuck on the wall at the lake since 2007 (according to the date on the computer print out.) I knew I was saving it for a reason. This one pot dinner is one of the easiest meals to cook as well as one of the most delicious. It was the perfect meal for our last night at the lake. We've eaten this South Carolina dish many times, but it was the first time we cooked it ourselves.

LOW COUNTRY BOIL (also known as Frogmore Stew)

4 quarts cold water

1/4 cup Old Bay seasoning

1 tablespoon Kosher salt, plus more to taste

4 celery stalks, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 yellow onion, diced

1 head of garlic, cut in half crosswise

2-1/2 pounds small red potatoes

4 ears of corn, shucked, each cut into 4 pieces

2 pounds smoked sausage, cut into 1-1/2 inch slices

2 pounds medium shrimp, deveined, in the shell

In a large stockpot, combine water, Old Bay seasoning, the 1 tbsp of salt, celery, onion, garlic and potatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until potatoes are tender when pierced, about 10-20 minutes.

Add corn and sausage to the pot and simmer until corn is tender, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add shrimp and simmer until opaque, about 3 to 4 minutes. Taste broth and adjust seasonings with salt.

Strain and serve immediately. (Daddy-O cooked this in a pot with a basket that lifted out. Made the serving easy.)

It is traditionally served by pouring the food out on newspapers spread on a picnic table outside, but we opted for paper plates and LOTS of napkins on our porch. There are as many variations for this as there are cooks. You can search for the recipe by both names and check out some recipes from other folks.