Flare's Flavorful Food

[Flare]

Alrighty, I made dinner two nights in a row so I'll make two posts about them. And sorry in advance for the somewhat poor picture quality, I'm using my iPad because I don't have any camera that's as good as that at the moment.

First up is a dinner I've already posted on this site here once before, and it's stuffed squash (also called 'zucchini/squash boats)! Technically supposed to be stuffed zucchini, but we have so many frickin' patty pan squash I have to use them up somehow.

So this has zucchini, yellow crookneck, and pattypan squash in it, and they all taste great. And that squash in the upper-lefthand corner is also pattypan. Yes. I know. It';s mutated or something, but it still tastes great. XD

Om nommers, this is a good and easy recipe to make. I like easy stuff to make. I got this particular recipe for the 'stuffing' from pinterest, and it's super tasty; it uses ground beef, taco seasoning, the insides of the squash, and cream cheese, to name a few of the ingredients. The cream cheese makes it creamy and the taco seasoning adds a really great flavor to the whole thing.

So before anyone asks, here's the recipe if you're interested! http://www.katrina-runs.com/stuffed-zucchini-2

 

[Flare]

And last night's dinner..... Lemon basil shrimp spaghetti!! TA-DA!

Now THIS is a recipe I love so much. I've made it several times now for the past couple years, and I didn't get the recipe off the internet, I actually got it from a cookbook.
Basically, if the title didn't give it away, it's a lemony flavored shrimp spaghetti with basil chopped up in it at the end, and has paremsan/pecorino romano cheese, olive oil, a clove of garlic, and butter all mixed in with not (not in that order particularly). like seriously, this is one of the best meals I've ever ate, I love it that much.

There it 'tis on my plate, with a slab of quite delicious (store-bought) sourdough bread to go with it, and it goes pretty well I might add.

So if any of you want the recipe, I would type it up and put it on here for you all, but only if some of you want it so I'm not going through all that typing for no reason.

Also, even more enjoyable dinner last night as we watched the biggest frickin' rainstorm/thunderstorm pass overhead that I've seen in years. Seriously this whole weeks been a stormy week; windstorm last saturday, rainy weather, thunder and lighting, and last night's rainy lighting thunder storm going off everywhere. Very cool to see, and even better, we didn't lose power.
But my doggies don't like thunder very much.... one looked like he was gong to have a heartattack and the other one was outside up against out back door. Poor things....

 

[Mayo Master]

*Yummies* Thanks for sharing that
Regarding the stuffed squash: my stuffing of choice is rather pork-based (generally blended with a good portion of old-style mustard, the one with the seeds), rather than beef. IMO I feel like the pork grease you get from ground meat is awesome for giving extra flavor to the vegetable, whereas it's difficult to get that with a leaner kind of meat (like beef). Making that with spaghetti-squash is awesome.
Great job with the shrimp/spaghetti combo Works pretty well with any seafood or fish. I tend to do that with salmon. And a nice dry white wine to go with it

 

[Joe]

Ngl that spaghetti looks bitchin'. I am so jealous right now.

 

[Flare]

Pork-based with mustard, Mayo? That sounds good! Yeah, I like the pork grease much better than beef grease, oftentimes when I'm cooking up bacon for a dish, I usually cook the vegetables in the same pan as well to get that good flavor. But beef grease I just try to get rid of.
And I never thought of using fish and spaghetti, only shrimp so far. I bet salmon would be delicious in this recipe too!

Aw, thanks Joe! Maybe someday you can try some of my lemon shrimp spaghetti.

 

[Ghost X]

Your zucchini boats look particularly delicious.

 

[Flare]

Thanks Ghost! They were very good; I just wish there were leftovers.....

 

[trash panda]

.....feed me....

 

[Flare]

OMG I love that cat. It's hilarious.

Howl I'd invite you to dinner if you didn't live down so far from me. Cali is like at least a day's drive away.
(Lolz at that being so far when almost half the forum lives in Europe )

 

[Flare]

Tonight's delicious dinner! Boiled green beans, sautéed potatoes with some garlic and onion, and sautéed pattypan squash with mushrooms and chicken sausage.
So so good, I had to get seconds. XD
Not from a recipe, I just threw stuff together and seasoned it up in ways I knew would taste good. Lawry's salt is a wonderful seasoning.

The green beans are from our garden, a couple potatoes were from our garden, and the pattypan squash was from our garden. I love it when I can cook guaranteed fresh and wholly organic food that we grew!

Spoiler

 

[Flare]

Okay, and here's breakfast for this morning~
Baked blueberry frenchtoast with blueberry sauce!

I got this recipe off of pinterest; it's heavenly, seriously. You have to make it the night before (and probably best to make for the weekend of course), but it's totally worth it. It takes about an hour to bake, so take it out early when you wake up so that it can warm up a little before you put it in the oven. you make the blueberry sauce while it's baking.

It takes a whole loaf of french bread that you cut into cubes; I use Haggen french bread because it has the best bread where I live at a good price. It definitely pays to use good ingredients!
Basically, you cube the bread and put half of it in a 9x13" pan that's lightly greased (a spray works great).
Then you cube up 8 ounces of cream cheese and put it all over the bread, and some blueberries too, and once that's done you put the rest of the bread on top.
Then you make an egg, milk, vanilla, and maple syrup mixture, whisk it all up and then pour it over the bread and smush the bread down a bit so it all soaks in.
After that you make a crumble top with butter, flour, brown sugar, and Cinnamon, and using forks to mix it all together (make sure the buter's cold), you then sprinkle that over the top of the whole thing. Sprinkle some blueberries on top too.
Cover it with foil and slide it into the fridge, then bring it out and bake it up in the morning!

To make the blueberry sauce, it's super easy, you have equal amounts sugar and water, and some cornstarch to thicken it up with, and simmer that on medium until it's all mixed together (you can add cornstarch to your 'taste' on how thick you want it). Once it's all mixed, you just add a healthy amount of blueberries and voila, after simmering for 10 minutes it's all done! Oh, add a dollop of butter in there too at the end. Makes it shiny.

Okay, so that's the gist, and here's a link to the recipe itself that has the amounts on there. http://lifemadesweeter.com/2015/05/overnight-blueberry-cream-cheese-french-toast-bake/

I don't know why I typed all this up when I can't remember the amounts and need to link the recipe anyway.

 

[trash panda]

That looks diviiiiiine.

A secret I learned while making black cherry sauce last Thanksgiving: chia seeds are an excellent thickening agent if you're short on cornstarch. Plus they're all the rage right now so you can find them basically anywhere. I just thought I'd nerd about that since you mentioned berry sauce.

I think you just inspired me to go whip up some muffins.

 

[Flare]

Thanks Howl~! <3
I never ever would have though chia seeds would thicken up sauces. That's interesting! Thanks for the tip (maybe it's also healthier than cornstarch? )

Oh yes, go whip up shome muffins! And let us know what kind they are and how they taste and everything.

 

[Flare]

Dinner earlier this week~!

It's a cheap way to make Korean BBQ. Like the kind in the Slums. But it's super tasty and flavorful. There was sadly no leftovers of this... ;_;

I can provide a link if anyone's interested in the recipe! I got this off pinterest, as usual.

 

[Flare]

Been a while, but I finally took another picture of my latest dinner. It's called Skinny Orange Chicken, and I got it off of a blog from the women who created the recipe here: http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/skinny-orange-chicken-recipe/

Sorry for the bad picture quality Anyway, this was much better than I thought it would be the first time I made it (this was the second time, and it was just as delicious!) When i first made th3e orange sauce, the flavor wasn't what I was expecting, and I didn't know if I'd like it. However, I continued on and put it all together, and voila, it comes out with a great flavor and is super delicious!

I added some cilantro at the end, a great burst of flavor. Also, she enjoys hers over quinoa, but so far I've only used rice to serve this over. I imagine quinoa would be just as good. <3

She calls it 'skinny' orange chicken because the chicken is not fried, it's actually sauteed, and this saves on fat and calories.
Plus, if you get the recipe down, she says you can make it in just 20 minutes. Well that might be a stretch, but I'd say you can definitely have it whipped up within the hour, unless you like to mosey as you cook (which I've admittedly done before )

So take a look at the recipe if you're interested! But I think if you like chicken, and you enjoy foods with an Asian flair, I think you'll love this. ,3

 

[trash panda]

Orange chicken...one of my 3942849032849 food weaknesses!!! I could seriously eat orange chicken till I puke...then eat more. ;____;
The recipe for the sauce looks similar to what I do, only fresh ginger is the bestest. I'm currently overcoming a turmeric addiction, but normally I'd cheat and put a pinch of turmeric to amp up the color. (I uh...eat with my eyes just as much as I eat with my mouth). :3

I think something like this would be easy to prepare ahead of time. I.e. get the sauce together the night before along with some diced chicken. Then all you'd have to do is throw it all together and make some rice.

Do you have a dumpling recipe that you like? I've been wanting to make dumplings and I have some minced pork eyeballing me every time I go to the fridge.

 

[Flare]

Oh yeah, that's totally a great idea, to prepare it the night before or early in the day. And fresh (or frozen) ginger might make it even better. This last time I did use fresh squeezed orange juice since we didn't have any actual juice in a carton to use, but I think it's even better freshly squeezed. Yum.

I've never made dumplings myself, so sadly, I don't have a good recipe to give out. Though, my grandma makes a pretty great chicken and dumpling soup, so if you're interested I could always get her dumpling recipe. Er wait, are you talking about like soup dumplings or Asian type dumplings?

 

[Channy]

Dat Korean BBQ

 

[trash panda]

I was asking about asian dumplings.
I've never been a fan of dumplings like the ones in chicken/dumpling soup. Or chicken pot pie...or anything like that really.

 

[Flare]

I'd love to try some authentic and tasty asian dumplings... I tried some once years ago when a friend who was born in Korea (but he lives in Australia) introduced them to my family, but it's hard to remember the taste now.

 

[Flare]

Okaaaay, been a while since I posted a dinner, just being too lazy and too hungry to bother taking pictures of them lately.

Anyway, here's two!

^This was a delicious and easy-to-make pasta with tomatoes and spinach and feta cheese on top. Recipe taken from Pinterest.

^And another delicious dinner I made last night, it's a kielbasa, white beans and kale soup, from Pinterest as well. Sooo flavorful, ate the leftovers for lunch today! Will definitely make these two again. And this one is also easy to make.
Easy + dinners = win win win.

 

[trash panda]

ARE THOSE HANDMADE NOODLES!?? (They look like handmade noodles).

I have a love/hate relationship with beans. They don't flatter my bowels whatsoever but they're so nommers. <3

 

[Flare]

No they're not handmade noodles... I'd have no idea how to do that. They're discolored because they cooked in the same pot as everything else.

Totally agree about the beans! A little bit is nice, but too much......