urbandryad

"bisquick sausage balls" - modded for home biscuit/sausage
"Anna's fruit salsa and cinnamon chips"

World’s Easiest Shrimp Salad
1 bag frozen, peeled, deveined, cooked shrimp defrosted
1 jar marinated mushrooms, drained
1 jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained
No need for dressing, marinades do it. Refrigerate overnight.

Layer macaroni noodles, canned tomatoes, onions, and cheese in a casserole dish; fill the dish to the top with homogenized milk and bake in oven until the noodles are cooked. (this feels midwestern)

Caprese salad, but with cherry tomatoes that have been cut in half and either cut-up string cheese (which is just mozzarella cheese marketed differently) or smaller pieces of mozzarella ball, and with olive oil as well as the balsamic and basil, and everything mixed together in a casserole dish rather than layered nicely.

Dijon potato salad
3 pounds red new potatoes
¼ cup red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons whole grain Dijon mustard
½ cup olive oil
6 scallions, chopped
½ cup chopped parsley
¼ cup chopped dill
Salt and pepper
Place the potatoes in a large stockpot, and cover with water. Bring to a boil, and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and allow to cool. When cool, cut the potatoes in half.
Combine the vinegar and mustard in a large bowl. Slowly whisk in the olive oil.
Add the potatoes to the vinaigrette, and mix gently but thoroughly. Toss in the scallions, parsley and dill. Salt and pepper to taste.

I make a salad version of cassoulet: drained, rinsed, white beans, halved cherry tomatoes, sliced black olives, sliced or diced yellow pepper, very thinly sliced carrot, cut-up artichokes and/or thingy sliced fennel, a garlic vinaigrette of your choice, and mild crumbled feta or queso, or shaved parmesan. To make it a carnivore’s main dish, add sliced cooked sundried tomato sausages.

Dips. My go-to is a pound of sausage (browned) mixed with a can of Rotel (drained) and a block of cream cheese. Combine in skillet until mixed/melted through, serve with tortilla chips. – 10 minutes prep, you can chill it overnight or bring (and make!) it in a crock pot.

Buffalo chicken dip
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup Frank’s RedHot® Original Cayenne Pepper Hot Sauce
1/2 cup ranch dressing
1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles
DIRECTIONS
PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Spoon into shallow 1-quart baking dish.
BAKE 20 minutes or until mixture is heated through; stir. Sprinkle with green onions, if desired, and serve with chips, crackers and/or cut up veggies.

Brownie mod: Swirl the top with a mixture of 2/3 c peanut butter + 5 tbs powdered sugar + 3 tbs heavy cream and sprinkle over with mini peanut butter cups

I’ve made a Greek version of the layered Taco dip. It has olives, cucumber, tomatoes, feta, and hummus. Serve with pita chips.

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2011/06/just-in-time-for-your-july-4th-picnic-big-thunder-ranch-barbecue-cole-slaw/

https://food52.com/recipes/40780-rose-levy-beranbaum-s-chocolate-oblivion-truffle-torte

? https://food52.com/recipes/29939-bill-smith-s-atlantic-beach-pie

My 5% carrot, jalapeno, and garlic brined pickled last year were great but got bad kahm yeast. This year I'm making a 6% mixed pepper, garlic, and tomatillo pickle that I'll blend into a pasta sauce. I made it in a 2L jar and put about 3/4 cup of vinegar in, in addition to the brine.

I did another round of Avi's dad's pickles, which was pickling cucumbers, garlic, peppercorns, bay leaves, hot peppers, mustard seeds. I did not have dill to put in this time, though I did last year when it was really good. Pour over 3 quarts of water mixed with 3/4 cup coarse salt, just off the boil.

I've made vanilla paste with a sugar base recipe, put 16 vanilla beans into the blender with a cup of sugar. Boil another cup of sugar with a cup of water for 2 mins, add the blended vanilla sugar, boil another 2 mins together, let sit till cool, strain it, and there's the paste. Use the bits that strain out to make some extract.

I've been dehydrating tomatoes and, surprise, zucchini. Both are tasty as is.

I made a bunch of "crack pork jerky" which was, in percentages:
Meat 100
Apple Cider 7
Salt 2
Liquid Smoke 0
Worcestershire (Lea & Perrins) 1
Brown Sugar 1.5975
Maple Sugar 1.1
Maple Syrup 1.0
Cure #1 0.3
Garlic powder 0.1
Fermented pepper solids 0.3
Fermented hot sauce 0.5

I also canned Ellen's carnitas recipe, which looks like this:
Pork Shoulder

Oranges ( ¼ for each pint )

Ground Cumin ( ½ tsp for each pint )

Oregano ( ½ tsp for each pint )

Canning Salt ( ½ tsp for each pint )

Bay Leaf ( 1” piece for each pint )


Remove bones and excess fat from pork butt or shoulder roast and cut meat into suitable sizes for the jars being used. Do not remove all the fat but leave well marbled pieces. To each pint jar add the juice of 1/4 of a medium orange, half of the squeezed quarter orange, 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, 1/2 teaspoon leaf oregano, 1/2 teaspoon canning salt and about a 1-inch piece of bay leaf. Fill jars with raw meat pieces, leaving 1-inch headspace. Do not add liquid. 75 minutes for 500ml jars or 90mins for 1L at 12psi at my elevation.


I've also remembered to freeze slabs of pork belly and thin ramen slices of pork.

I had the most beautiful render on leaf lard that has ever happened so far.

I ran it through the meat grinder on the smallest plate, then put it in the round (not oval) crockpot on low, with the lid tilted so steam could escape, for about six hours (until it stopped bubbling). I'd previously stripped the inner abdominal membrane from it.

From the one section of leaf lard, maybe it was 1/2 or 1/4 of the pig's worth, I got 4 500ml jars of the absolute purest fat - it looked like water when it was hot - and there were maybe only 3tbsp of cracklins left.

Amazing.

 Wantschik Family Reunion Bratwurst

95% Pork 70/30 trim
5% water

Salt 1.6%
Nutmeg .10%
White Pepper .15%
Lemon Peel .20%
Fresh Marjoram .20%
Powdered Ginger .07%

Cumberland sausage
 

Pork shoulder 100%

(all meat is weighed out in grams)

Spices

0.09g Salt
0.152g White pepper
0.152g Black pepper
0.020g Cayenne pepper
0.155g Ground Coriander 
0.155g Ground Nutmeg
0.078g Ground Mace