Food Forum

[ploverwing]

Looks like hummus with peanut butter substituted for tahini (sesame paste - which tastes curiously like peanut butter).

Thank you! That's what I was trying to think of - when I read Bill1's suggestion, I thought it sounded familiar somehow! And thanks for your hummus recipe; I'm always looking for a good one. We have discovered an amazing Israeli cafe in the West End of Vancouver that makes incredible hummus (incredible everything, actually). If you are ever in Vancouver BC, definitely get lunch or dinner from Ofra if you like that kind of food. The pickled beet salad is the best, and I usually hate eating beets (no exaggeration).

 

[Mike Dollarsign]

We've been making falafel with sprouted chickpeas/garbanzo beans - it's an amazing difference with the result. Here's the original recipe we follow, but I use the sprouted chickpeas (1 cup dried cover in water over night to swell, then drain & rinse and leave to sprout, rinsing & draining a couple of times a day, usually three or four days, we have a cool house). Sometimes I throw stinging nettles in instead of flat leaf parsley, if they're in season and parsley is not (nettles are spring, parsley is summer).

It's interesting that you wait for your beans to sprout. What is the purpose of this? I use dry beans, but never heard of sprouting them.

 

[Oldscruggsfan]

Off subject but still food related- What’s your experience with jackfruit? My wife bought a can this week. Label says it has the appearance & texture of pulled pork. Whaaaaat?

 

[ploverwing]

It's interesting that you wait for your beans to sprout. What is the purpose of this? I use dry beans, but never heard of sprouting them.

Arguably, makes it easier to digest, because when a seed germinates, it converts the storage elements into different nutrients. It does change the flavour of the end product a little, I can't really describe it, and it is subtle.

Off subject but still food related- What’s your experience with jackfruit? My wife bought a can this week. Label says it has the appearance & texture of pulled pork. Whaaaaat?

Well, vegans use green jackfruit as a replacement to make pulled pork, but you do have to prepare it to get it there. I've used the Instant Pot for this purpose, with pulled pork ingredients (other than the pork), because I wanted to try it. We were given very ripe jackfruit, because a friend of ours had some, but you're supposed to use green, and our version was super sweet. I liked it, it was kind of like a cross between sweet & sour pineapple pork and pulled pork. I've not used the stuff in the can, so maybe right out of the can it is like pulled pork texture? Definitely, add the pulled pork sauce ingredients and see what happens!

We're not vegan, but we often use vegan baking recipes because my daughter can't eat dairy & eggs, so we sometimes do other vegan recipes just out of curiosity. Even though we raise our own meat animals, we do eat a lot of vegetarian meals, especially Indian inspired cuisine, yuuuuummmmmmy!

 

[Mike Dollarsign]

Off subject but still food related- What’s your experience with jackfruit? My wife bought a can this week. Label says it has the appearance & texture of pulled pork. Whaaaaat?

I've tried the Jack pork and wasn't too impressed. It had the texture of dates and the flavor of pulled pork sauce. What I use when I want to make fake pulled pork sandwiches, or fake bbq chicken is Seitan. You can find it in Walmart. It has a great texture and consistancy for these types of foods and it also makes a great fake chicken salad sandwich too. Hail Seitan!

 

[KohanMike]

I've tried the Jack pork and wasn't too impressed. It had the texture of dates and the flavor of pulled pork sauce. What I use when I want to make fake pulled pork sandwiches, or fake bbq chicken is Seitan. You can find it in Walmart. It has a great texture and consistancy for these types of foods and it also makes a great fake chicken salad sandwich too. Hail Seitan!

Good post. I've been considering jack fruit for simulated pulled meat with the various food shows presenting it, but I'll take your word for it. Sometime ago I made a big batch of seitan, used it for sandwiches, also mixed cubes of it in salads with various beans to complete the protein. I'm going to stick with that.

 

[ploverwing]

Seitan doesn't work for gluten intolerant, unfortunately. Interesting though, I'd never heard of it.

 

[ploverwing]

I'm at my Dad's for a week-ish helping him out while his wife is away. He has a slow cooker but no Instant Pot, so I'm back to doing that. Made lamb stew a few nights ago with potatoes, carrots, onions, celery and various herbs, barley and wild rice. Today I'm making a beef stew with loads of onions, mushrooms, some parsnips, celery, wild rice again, and I'll find a nice dark beer to add. Just sauteing and searing all the components right now then will lock it down for the day. Perfect, the weather is brisk, this will be good comfort food.

 

[Mike Dollarsign]

I must seem like a caveman. I have to do all that stuff with a good old fashioned pot. I never had the urge to buy a slow cooker or an instant pot.
That lamb with barley and wild rice sounds amazing.

 

[ploverwing]

I must seem like a caveman. I have to do all that stuff with a good old fashioned pot. I never had the urge to buy a slow cooker or an instant pot.
That lamb with barley and wild rice sounds amazing.

Lol, no it works fine in a pot too. You get to babysit stuff less with the other equipment (not stir, or make sure the temp is maintained correctly). But food in pot + heat = cooked meal, regardless of the pot or heat source.

 

[Biem]

I've recently tried to cook fudge in a slow cooker. It was really delicious. I'm currently follow a diet because of health issues. I'm also prescribed to buy ozempic online, so I avoid any unhealthy and junk food.

 

[ploverwing]

I've recently tried to cook fudge in a slow cooker. It was really delicious.

Ooooooohhh... recipe please!!! I've made penuche on the stovetop, which is kind of a quick & dirty fudge, but I love the idea of a slow cooker fudge...

 

[ploverwing]

Just have a witch's brew on the go in the instant pot (and whoooh does it smell garlicy!); I use it as a tonic in the cold/flu season, just because. It's kind of like fire cider vinegar, except I can't take vinegar daily, it's too acidic for me. It's got the same kinds of ingredients (garlic, onion, ginger, jalapenoes, lemons, cinnamon, bay leaves, black pepper, cloves), but I make it into a decoction, strain out the solids, and keep it in the fridge. I'll add a splash of it plus honey to a cup of hot water and enjoy that every morning, and maybe take it a few times a day if I'm feeling like I might be fighting off something. It started as a recipe from a friend of my Dad's, and he uses it to help keep his lungs clear (he has COPD): 40 cloves of garlic, 5 lemons, simmer with 1 litre of water. I of course had to tweak it, and thus my dragon juice recipe resulted.

 

[bbkobabe]

MMMMMM... yum! Have you tried making Humus this way?

 

[ploverwing]

MMMMMM... yum! Have you tried making Humus this way?

No, but I like the way you think!

 

[Mike Dollarsign]

Peanut Butter and Bananas with Bacon on Fry-Bread:
Next time you bake some homemade bread, make a little extra dough and divide it into 3 or4oz balls, and stick them in the fridge overnight covered. Next morning stick a medium sauce pan with a couple inches of oil in it on medium heat until it gets to 375. Softly stretch the ball out to shape of a disk about the size of a large hamburger. Carefully set the dough in the oil and turn once when the bottom is golden. Let cool to room temperature, slice it open and fill it with Peanut Butter, sliced Bananas, and a few rashers of bacon. I used Jiff peanut butter and veggie bacon, but if you think you're better than me, you can use all-natural, unsweetened, organic peanut butter and real bacon with organic bananas. Try it, you'll like it.

 

[ploverwing]

Peanut Butter and Bananas with Bacon on Fry-Bread:
Next time you bake some homemade bread, make a little extra dough and divide it into 3 or4oz balls, and stick them in the fridge overnight covered. Next morning stick a medium sauce pan with a couple inches of oil in it on medium heat until it gets to 375. Softly stretch the ball out to shape of a disk about the size of a large hamburger. Carefully set the dough in the oil and turn once when the bottom is golden. Let cool to room temperature, slice it open and fill it with Peanut Butter, sliced Bananas, and a few rashers of bacon. I used Jiff peanut butter and veggie bacon, but if you think you're better than me, you can use all-natural, unsweetened, organic peanut butter and real bacon with organic bananas. Try it, you'll like it.

MMMMMMMM. That sounds delicious.

 

[ploverwing]

Anyone got any seasonal recipes that they love to make and that they get grumpy if they don't have an opportunity to eat at this time of year?

We just made our annual steamed Christmas pudding (with booze infused blueberries, a ton of other fruit, sunflower seeds, shredded carrots & shredded apples, lots of spices). It's a vegan recipe so we can eat it (not that we're vegan, far from it, but two of us have to avoid dairy, and one has to avoid eggs, so vegan is easiest for baking purposes), and it's so rich and yummy and wonderful. Of course, I can't smell or taste anything at the moment, so that's a bit of a bummer. I'm told it smells amazing and tastes fabulous. I can taste that it's got something warming in it spice-wise, that it's not very sweet, and that's pretty much it.

 

[TimWilson]

Late breaking news! I've spoken to Aaron, who has run it up the flagpole, and we're on! As noted in other threads, my personal life is pulling me away from the web just now, so I don't have a firm date for you...but soon!

I really love this idea myself! I'm obsessed with food and cooking and eating. A couple of times along the way, I've actually looked at starting a restaurant, or maybe an inn that served dinner, maybe a food truck? But in any case, cooking for a living.

I'm also very much in the "food as medicine" camp, and really care about the specifics of what we eat, why, and all of that.

So yeah, I'll definitely see you all there! Soon!

 

[TimWilson]

Late breaking news! I've spoken to Aaron, who has run it up the flagpole, and we're on! As noted in other threads, my personal life is pulling me away from the web just now, so I don't have a firm date for you...but soon!

I really love this idea myself! I'm obsessed with food and cooking and eating. A couple of times along the way, I've actually looked at starting a restaurant, or maybe an inn that served dinner, maybe a food truck? But in any case, cooking for a living.

I'm also very much in the "food as medicine" camp, and really care about the specifics of what we eat, why, and all of that.

So yeah, I'll definitely see you all there! Soon!

It's on! That's the link, and it's also listed on the front page of course.

There's nothing there yet. It'll take me a bit longer to populate it with some new threads, and hopefully you'll all start soon too! I'll also bring in some other threads from the General forum that naturally fit there, but happy to start filling some requests that you folks have made!

More soon,
Tim