July 11, 2013

Well, today we are on our way out of town.  I went through the kitchen and pulled out all the fresh produce from the fridge to bring with us or get rid of.  I am taking the corn, zucchini and radishes to Brandy in Vegas.  I cut up the watermelon to bring with us and I put all of the oranges in a cooler in the car.  I wish that I could have had time to  dehydrate the kiwi before we left, but that just didn’t happen.

I brought a ton of recipe books to sort out at least a month’s worth of meals while we are on the road too and from Utah to California and back.  While I was at work this morning I started looking through the cookbook 365 days of crock pot.  I follow her blog 365ofcrockpot.blogspot.com.   I have always loved all of her recipes however, I think I might be asking for her cookbook for my birthday.  I was so nice to look through a cookbook that used basic things that I have in my cupboard already and give me new ideas about how to prepare food.

For example: on all my beef chuck roasts when I come home I need to pack them cut into strips.  I rarely cook a beef roast.  I just don’t like beef that much.  I prefer pork to beef any day.  However there are meals like beef and broccoli that I do like.  All of those kinds of meals are made with roast cut into strips.  I realized that I also need to cut up a few chicken breasts before I freeze them.  Some meals call for chicken thighs or cut up chicken breast.  I just don’t understand buying thighs and drumsticks.  I am just not a fan of drumsticks, so I stick to chicken breasts and that is what we eat. 

As part of my constant searching for new things to cook, esp. with a crock pot I have a list of things that I need to stock in my kitchen to make new meals.  I have been esp.  interested in making some new Thai meals.  

In a slow cooker revolution by America’s Test Kitchen I found some great information about various seasonings and ways to prepare meat and vegetables.  The following paragraph is from their book.

“Curry Paste, which can be either green or red, are a key ingredient for adding deep, well-rounded flavor to Thai curries.  They are made from a mix of lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves, shrimp paste, ginger, garlic, chiles (fresh green Thai chiles for green curry paste and dried red Thai chiles for red curry paste), and other spices.  So it’s not surprising that making curry paste at home can be quite a chore.  We have found that the store-bought variety does a fine job and saves significant time in terms of both shopping and prep.  It is usually sold in small jars next to other Thai ingredients at the supermarket.  Be aware that these pastes can vary in spiciness depending on the brand, so use more or less as desired.”

I now want to know what lemon grass is.