:::taps mike::: This thing on?
Boy, it’s good to be back. I thought since we are winging it, I’d throw us back to when we had actual recipes and shared recipes.
It’s snowing here. My garden is completely planted, my iris, peonies and poppies are blooming, so of course it is. The veggies are protected, the flowers are on their own. I did bring in enough lilacs to fill every vase in my house. I would have brought in irises, but I’m allergic.
Snow makes me want sweet and spicy. So tonight is all about oranges. I’m not sure what the capabilities are here, so I’m providing links to the recipes, instead of posting them directly.
First up is Stir Fry Orange Chicken and Broccoli: Recipes here
This recipe uses potato starch to make the chicken super crispy without using a ton of oil. I used breasts, but boneless thighs will work just as well.
And since it’s suddenly cold (we are probably going to break low temps records tonight…my poor plants) I’m craving sweets. And Orange Bread is the perfect combination of sweet and tart.
The recipe is here. Don’t let the whole, unpeeled clementines scare you off – it works beautifully. I would not steer you wrong – and if you don’t believe me, Nigella Lawson uses whole clementines in her recipes, too.
If orange isn’t your thing – Strawberry Bread is a similar recipe, but full of strawberry goodness.
You can use up those fresh strawberries that have just about worn out their welcome or frozen strawberries. I actually have a container of strawberries that I let sit on the counter just a bit too long, so I froze them in anticipation of making this yummy bread. There’s a gluten free option included in the recipe.
And finally, in anticipation of actually being able to grill again, this yummy Orange-Chipotle Glaze For Grilling will take your chicken or pork up a notch.
And because I know my audience, here are the ducks, enjoying the rain and mud:
If you need a kitty/puppy fix, click here and a house panther fix, click here.
Share recipes if you like, but otherwise, this is an open thread to discuss everything and anything we wanted to talk about all week, but could not.
Enjoy!
ETA: In case you missed the welcome post – first comments have to be approved. I’m doing my best to catch them, but I have to get back to editing, so hopefully, other FPers will be on board, but be patient we are catching them as we can. ❤
Those are some dirty ducks!
It’s 90 degrees here, but I will be making that orange bread when it’s cool enough to use the oven.
It may hit a scorching 70° here in Seatte. It will be too hot for baking except late at night and early in the morning.
BTW I’ve got Watermelon and Okra seedings that need 70° soil temps. House be filling up soon.
Oh I wish somebody would come and make these recipes for me
I’m fighting the urge to turn on the air conditioner. I’ve had the windows open all week, enjoying highs mostly in the 70s and low 80s, but we got a blast of heat today in the DMV. It got up over 90° this afternoon, and it’s still 86° outside. Plus humidity, which is the real reason to run the A.C. for a bit. It starts to feel muggy inside without a bit of a breeze coming in. It’s 79° inside, according to the thermostat, which is not bad. But humidity. And it’s supposed to hit 95° tomorrow.
Living near to TaMara, the snow is starting to stick. We lugged several flower pots into the house and garage. Some things are covered outside but the rest will have to be tough. Ridiculous considering we’ve had little to no precipitation since March and now our gardens are being ruined. Sad!
It’s just wonderful to have a full-time time-waster back!!
Thank you Watergirl and Thank you Johngcole!
I’m off to try and convince the ducks they need to go in their coop. It will be a hard sell, but they are cold and wet and temps are dropping fast. I’ll check back for questions later.
Here in Denver, we had our first community wide, neighborhood organization meeting last night, outside at our new corner market. Fantastic weather, people in shorts and tshirts.
Today, good lord is it miserable. Snow ain’t sticking here in the heart of the city, ground’s way to warm. We’ve been scrambling all day to cover things and bring other things inside.
It’s been pleasantly cool here in Southern California. We actually got some light sprinkles this morning, which is unusual- but certainly not unwelcome- this time of year.
I grew up in the same general part of Colorado where TaMara lives, and late season snow storms are likewise unusual but not unheard of. I’ve seen it snow as late as the summer solstice. The snow was just a very light scattering that didn’t stick, but yes, it will snow all the way into summer on occasion.
This Denver snow is crazy, I expect to see a lot of broken tree branches by the time it’s finally over.
@debbie
It never got quite to 90 today where I live because it rained, but it should tomorrow. Sooo glad I mowed the lawn yesterday and avoided the rain and the heat
Gotta say, I like the new digs. Way easier on the phone battery.
Thank god BJ is back.
Just found the home away from home. Thanks WaterGirl and all the folks behind this. Good to have something!
I moved into the first home I was part-owner of in January of 1977, in a suburb of Boston. On a beautiful sunny May morning, the 8th or 9th, I got to work planting my vegetable garden. As the hours wore on the clouds rolled in, the wind started picking up, and eventually we had … 12 inches of snow. Bye-bye a lot of my seedings! Bye-bye a fair number of tree branches, because the trees were in full leaf. You have my sympathy!
That orange bread looks good. I’ve been doing most of my food experimentations off of the Aaron and Claire Korean cooking YouTube site. Aaron does Asian food 101 vids, as well as home versions of popular take out food. What I like is that it’s home cooking, with normal pots, pans, and tools in a regular home kitchen. Makes zero claims to “authenticity,” just what this one guy cooks for his wife. He also knows his main audience is outside Korea, so he keeps the ingredients simple.
Also, at Christmas, I upgraded my sponges and scrubbing wand to the America’s Test Kitchen recommended O-Cedar ones. Much, much better than the Scotch brand ones I’d been using. Crud just rinsed off the sponge, both the scrubby and the regular side and it doesn’t get as mucky. The one I started in January is still going strong. The wand has the bristles splayed and slits in the head so water runs through, and has a small power scrubber on top. Again, really works and comes clean easily.
No links because I don’t know how they work here and the Amazon one I tried was a mess.
Two inches down in COS, they were predicting 2-6″ here. I imagine we’ll exceed that lower range. Smells like damp dog here.
Love the photos! And I’ve bookmarked the orange chicken recipe, yum. One question, does a run of the mill supermarket stock potato starch? I’ve never looked for it.
@Feathers:
Didn’t get the wand, but I second you on the O-Cedar sponge pads. Excellent.
Amazon link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007C5IH4C
Betcha one could use the pre-cooked chunks of rotisserie chicken breast sold at Costco and the Instant Pot on sauté setting as a shortcut method to turn out a passable taste alike (also avoids stove top splatter).
@NotMax
God dude, stop lol. You’re making my mouth water. I always love the smell of those supermarket rotisserie chickens. Such an easy dinner for less than $10 and it’s already hot
God, is there a more aromatic dish than orange flavored chicken? I could inhale a restaurant-sized serving plate of that. Lord love a duck, that’s good
It’s 90 here but the humidity is down so our old people outside dinner/birthday gig was comfy!
@eclare, I think Bob’s Red Mill makes potato starch so if your small-ish grocery stocks their stuff (mine does), you should be fine.
It’s great to have BJ back.
Australia votes today. We get to exercise our version of democracy. Preferential voting, compulsory voting, democracy sausages and all.
The incumbent quasi-Trumpian Liberal-National Party is looking likely to be replaced by the centrist, formerly slightly socialist, Labor Party.
Polls are telling us that Labor should romp in. Unfortunately they said the same thing in 2019, when Labor ended up narrowly losing. The Lib-Nats are experts at dirty tricks and have Rupert Murdoch’s arm so far up their fundament that he can floss for them.
That said, current Prime Minister Scott Morrison, the scum sucking, trans bashing, evangelical sod, may well be replaced by Anthony Albanese, former left wing university rabble rouser, now affable everyman.
If the swing is on, and almost everyone assumes it is, then we should have a result in about 10 hours.
@brantl
Lemon chicken ain’t chopped liver.
So to speak. 😉
@eclare
If can’t readily spot it on the shelves in the regular aisle where the flour , cornmeal, cornstarch and suchlike are, take a look at the kosher aisle/section.
the trucker convey is starting to fight amongst themselves, lol
https://twitter.com/BaltMetroNews/status/1527804396490444801
seems like some of them finally noticed the grift going on, and they weren’t getting any of it hahahaahahha
I was in Boulder CO back in 1979. The first day I was there, I ran around in shorts, tank top, and flip flops. The *very next day* I woke up to 2″ of snow on the ground. Later that week we had a wind storm. I think there was rain, too.
Boulder was the first place I heard the saying, “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes.”
@Argiope: my grocery does stock Bob’s Red Mill, thanks!
…I should add that I was in Boulder in May.
NotMax: no Kosher section at my grocery.
Made a delicious chicken mole last night with leftover rotisserie chicken.
https://www.dadcooksdinner.com/pressure-cooker-shredded-chicken-black-mole-sauce/
Subs –
1) Didn’t have Mexican chocolate so I tossed in a handful of semi sweet chocolate chips and a few shakes of Penzey’s cinnamon
2) Rotisserie chicken was already cooked, so I didn’t pressure cook it. Just used the saute function to reduce down the sauce a bit.
Got a bunch of leftovers, though, now, so I need to do some checking on what I can make with it. Might end up doing a mole enchilada bake next week. Good flavor, though. 😊
@M31
That’s STILL going on!?
They were gone but I think they just came back to Hagerstown, MD, and are calling the cops on each other
what a bunch of maroons
I had a delicious orange scone recently. Usually I am anti-scone, but this one was good.
Watching Spielberg’s West Side Story again. It’s really good.
@M31
God, that’s pathetic lol
Their “act” hasn’t aged any better and diesel hasn’t gotten any cheaper
Hi, everybody!
@zhena gogolia
Spielberg can always be counted on for a good film. The guy’s influence on the last 45 years of pop culture can’t be understated. Spielberg had a big influence on 90s animation through his Amblin Television and Warner Bros Animation with Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, and Freakazoid
@M31
As we were heading out on an errand a few days ago, we saw a small traffic slowdown in the opposite direction possibly caused by three pickups festooned with American flags. Or maybe just random.
I got to thinking, remember when these yahoos called anyone who didn’t know the difference between a pickup and a *truck* wasn’t a real ‘Murkin (like how you couldn’t have an opinion on guns if you didn’t know all the right terminology)? Weird how now they’re all fine with calling a caravan that’s half or more pickups a “truck convoy” to make it sound more impressive…
It’s been a long, LONG week without Balloon Juice. How has everybody been?
I may go all patriotic today and lunch on Malaysia’s national dish — nasi lemak. With chicken, either spicy or fried. That should hit the spot. Oh yeah.
oh wow that all looks so good!
“Orange, Orange, Orange” Does everything have to be about Trump?
Red beans and rice tonight for us.
@ Jay S in WA
It’s about _oranges_ today. TFG gets his orange colouring from hair dye and make-up. He’s probably never eaten anything as nutritious as an orange in his life.
Remember that your first comment on our home away from home has to be manually approved.
i am closing my laptop for the night, so unless someone is watching for those comments, they may not show up until morning. Just didn’t want anyone to think that something is wrong if your comment doesn’t appear.
@Redshift
Hi!
@Amir Khalid
That looks super yummy! You totally should. And it has been a long week w/o BJ. So much has happened. It appears Musk wants to back out of that Twitter deal. He’s such a fool
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasi_lemak?wprov=sfla1
Thank you, WaterGirl!
@Watergirl
Thanks (and to that Adam) for setting up this home away from home, WG : )
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
If one were to substitute chunks from the thigh and drumstick would that constitute White Meat Replacement Theory?
//
@NotMax
Tucker is on the case!
Lived in CO for three years (Georgetown) and it snowed every month except July.
For you (us) Instant Pot
cult membersafficanados, I recommend Pressure Luck’s Corned Beef recipe: https://youtu.be/FE71b9wXUYII have done it with any vegetables yet (except the onion foundation) but yes – most excellent.
@Max
You may remember Pearl’s, the renowned Asian restaurant on 47th St. in NYC? My boss, who ate there at least a billion times, got Pearl to give him her recipe for Lemon Chicken. Awesome!!!