Instant Pot Max
You can now CAN in the newest Instant Pot model. It will maintain 15 psi. Yay! Elder Son and his GF will be gifted with a hand-me-down older model that still works perfectly well and I’ll be able to can safely.
Meal Kits
I tried a meal kit the other night. At the grocery store, they had a case with some meal kits from Chef’d and I bought two to try. One with pork chops and one with flank steak.
The Pork one was Apple-Mustard Glazed Pork Chops with Mashed Potatoes and Baby Carrots.
| The packaging was clean and bright, easy to see what was inside. | The final product. |
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| The recipe and instructions are under the wrapper. | What’s included and what I need to provide. |
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| The plastic divided case. | Everything laid out on a sheet pan. |
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| The recipe/instruction card.ch | Chopped apple and onion. |
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| Pork chops patted dry with salt and pepper. | Pork chops dredged in flour. |
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| In the pan, seared, with apples and onions, pre-sauce. | Final product plated. |
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It was pretty easy to follow the instructions and prepare the meal. I would certainly recommend reading the instructions through at least once and maybe twice before attempting it.
It did taste fantastic.
I bought this on my own and was not compensated for it in any way.
Garlic Lamb Chops
International Eat a Tasty Animal for PETA Day is coming up on March 15th as it does every year. IEATAPETA Day was started in 2003 as a response to an ad campaign by PETA that used Holocaust terminology, quotes, and pictures to liken the human consumption of chickens to the slaughter of the Jews by the Nazis.
In honor of the 15th Annual IEATAPETA Day, I’ll be posting recipes leading up to the date.
Here’s one for Lamb Chops Sizzled with Garlic.
Photo of Lamb Chops Sizzled with Garlic from Food & Wine Magazine
Food & Wine’s recipe here
Sausage Stuffed Zucchini
International Eat A Tasty Animal for PETA Day Facebook Page
My New Favorite Non-Alcoholic Summer Beverage
Agua de Jamaica (AH-gwa day ha-Mike-uh) or Hibiscus Water (tea)
I live in an area with a large Hispanic population so there are many places to get Flor de Jamaica and piloncillo – Mexican brown sugar. Both are available on Amazon if you can’t find either locally.
Boil up a quart of water with some piloncillo (so it melts). Turn off the heat and drop in a good sized handful of Flor de Jamaica, cover and let steep for 10 minutes or more. Strain out the flowers and then add plain water to dilute to taste.
You can use white sugar if you wish. Piloncillo is an unrefined sugar however and it contains vitamins and minerals such a calcium that are actually good for you! The hibiscus has Vitamin C and other nutrients as well. No caffiene.
You can use sparkling water to dilute and have a beverage a bit like soda pop, but much, much better for you.
The Little Guy asks if he can “have some more of that delicious beverage.” Yep. He says “delicious beverage.”
Added: You can add some sliced ginger and/or cinnamon sticks when steeping for a slightly different flavor profile. Strain out with the flowers.
Leftovers Turkey-Apple-Noodle Soup
Made this for dinner tonight. Nom-nom.
Leftovers Turkey-Apple-Noodle Soup
Print recipe
| Prep time | 30 minutes |
| Cook time | 30 minutes |
| Total time | 1 hour |
| Meal type | Soup |
| Misc | Freezable, Serve Hot |
Leftover Turkey-Apple-Noodle Soup. Uses leftover turkey and noodles with carrots, celery, onion, thyme, turkey or chicken stock, apple cider, and apple pie spice, salt and pepper.
Ingredients
- ~2 cup Turkey (leftover turkey meat)
- 1 cup carrots (I used about 10 baby carrots cut into 5 pieces each)
- 1 celery stalk (split lengthwise and diced)
- 1 small onion (halved and sliced or diced)
- 4 pints Turkey Stock (Chicken broth can be substituted)
- 1 cup Apple Cider
- salt
- pepper
- thyme
- apple pie spice
- 2 apples (peeled, cored, and cubed)
- 1-2 cup noodles (cooked, leftover)
- olive oil
Note
This is a very forgiving recipe and a good way to use up the last of the leftover turkey. Herbs and spices are to taste, add as much or as little as you like. I used two wings and a drumstick for this batch of soup with turkey stock. I had leftover noodles, but you could add new, uncooked noodles near the beginning of the cooking time and let them cook in the stock. This will add a little bit of thickening as well. You can add any leftover veggies you have as well.
Directions
| Step 1 | |
| Saute onion with a little salt in a little olive oil in the pan. | |
| Step 2 | |
| Add carrots and celery, stock and cider. | |
| Step 3 | |
| Add turkey, herbs, and spices. | |
| Step 4 | |
| After about 20 minutes, when carrots are tender, add apples. | |
| Step 5 | |
| Add cooked noodles 5-10 minutes prior to serving. Noodles only need to be heated through as they are pre-cooked. | |
These Are Just So D**n CUTE!
I wish I had room on my counter for them. I don’t have room on my counter. I wish I had more counterspace. A bigger kitchen, a bigger house… But I digress.
These are so darn cute:
This Lil' Piggy Measuring Set
And these:
This Lil' Piggy Cannister Set
*Disclaimer: I don’t get anything from Cooking.com or Del Rey for this. I just thought these were so darn cute I wanted to share them.
