#it’s like the texture of a barely cooked potato in stew | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

queercoshon · 5 months

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I wrote another thing! This one has been in the works for a while. It is also posted on my deviantart. It's a little bit softer than the usual content I post. As always, please feel free to leave suggestions/ideas

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When I first moved into your spare room, I was definitely on the smaller side. Adult life had bulldozed me, and I learned quick meals and protein bars were the easiest way for me to eat. If I had to make something more complicated, chances are I would just forget to eat entirely.

You, on the other hand, loved to cook, bake, and create different cocktails. Every overindulgence in the past few years showed on your body, curves cascading down your back and flaring at your hips, and your belly often hanging over the waistband of your pants.

You quickly picked up on my food habits, and were quite frankly appalled.

"How can you not love food? Every flavour, every texture? Food is art to me. Have you had good food before?"

I shrugged, because, no, not really. My experience with food thus far had been boxed pastas, cans of soups and chilis, whatever frozen meals were on sale, and various boxed snacks. Eating them didn't bring me a fraction of the joy you got just from talking about food.

Thus began your mission of making me fall in love with at least one dish.

You really could have stopped at the first dish. The leek and potato stew blew my mind. I had never had leeks and found potatoes flavourless mush. But somehow you managed to make such mundane ingredients into a symphonious dish, tastes layering over one another. I could not get enough. The warmth spread from my stomach to encompass my body, and in my cozy bliss I just kept eating, chasing the high of this delectable experience.

I had eaten so much my stomach didn't even slosh when I painstakenly got up from the table.

Your first success spurred you into overdrive. You sought different flavour profiles and combinations, testing to see which ones would make me melt. Most of them did.

Most days I was coming home to the scent of dinner leading me down the hall, with an underlying sweetness hinting at dessert.

You tried a wide range of cuisines. Pot pies, various proteins with rice and veggies, curries from all around the world, and so many different types of pasta. Desserts include cobblers, doughnuts, pies, cakes, and a variety of pastries. I could not believe how much flavour was in everything, and was desperate to get as much of it as possible. Every meal ended with me breathing shallowly, hand caressing my overburdened gut, and you with a satisfied smirk on your face.

With your increase in cooking came your increase in eating. Slowly your body started to billow outward, filling out all your clothes, finally forcing you to look at specialty stores to restock.

My weight gain was not so slow. My body was so used to running on minimal to average calories, it didn't know what to do with the sudden influx, now having to process at least twice what I used to eat in a day.

The first place it was noticable was my gut. It only took a week or two before I had a cute little pot belly. It would push open the buttons on my shirt, and cause issues when buttoning my pants. The rest of my body followed suit. My thighs and ass started to swell, my arms felt constricted in my t-shirts, and a double chin was quickly noticable. I barely noticed. I was so caught up in a whirlwind of culinary pleasure that I paid no mind to my tightening waistbands and my gut starting to peak out of my shirt.

Soon you started cooking breakfast, too. The table would be covered in food, from pancakes to bacon, hashbrowns to quiche. Each day there was something different, and each day I gorged until nearly comatose.

Eating like this every day rapidly changed my body, I had put on 100lbs in 11 months, from the first time you made that stew. I had upgraded my wardrobe 4 times, and was needing to again soon.

And then is was December. The month of overindulgence. Holiday parties every weekend. Potlucks, cocktail parties, hearty meals, sometimes multiple events in the same day.

This was the first time I truly appreciated food; the tastes, the textures, and the stories behind each dish. I tried everything, and then I tried everything again. Most nights I struggled to waddle from the car to my bed. On the rare occasions I wasn't fit to burst, you sat me down on the couch and made me try your creations for the next party. On those nights, I was bound to pass out in the living room, eyes glazed over, gut too stuffed to think about getting up.

Despite all the socializing and gatherings, Christmas day was quiet, just the two of us. I didn't want to fly across the country to see my few relatives, and you were going to do a late holiday dinner with your family at the end of January, when work slowed down for your parents.

I received two sets of pajamas that year. One from you, plaid pants and a red flannel top. It was a little big, but we both knew that wouldn't be the case for long. The other pair I got was from a childhood friend I hadn't seen in person in over 2 years. The pants were baby blue with snowflakes, and the tank top had a cheesy graphic and the phrase "Let it Snow!"

When you went to go work on the feast planned for the day, I tried the second pair of pajamas on. Despite being incredibly stretchy, I could barely get the pants past my thighs. My ass was hanging out the back, and the drawstrings were instantly lost in the waistband. The graphic on the shirt was horrendously distorted, and I could feel a breeze on the bottom of my belly. I was about to change back into the first pair of pjs when you called me for Christmas meal. My mind now only focused on one thing, I stopped what I was doing and lumbered to the table.

You called it Christmas Meal, because it was past noon, but well before dinner time. With the amount of food you made though, we could be there well into the night. There was the traditional fixings; turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, honey roasted carrots, sweet potato casserole, and dinner rolls, but you also added a baked ziti dish, homemade pizza rolls, and cottage pie. Bottles of wine, apple cider, and sparking water lined the middle of the table. There was enough food for 10 people, and we were just 2. I could smell desserts being baked to perfection in the other room.

"This looks amazing! I've never had anything like this. I'm sorry I couldn't help..."

You patted my stomach and laughed. "The only help I need is getting it all eaten. Load up and dig in!"

I piled my plate high with everything I could fit. It would take me at least 2 plates to try everything, probably 3 with the portion sizes I was taking. I looked over, and saw your plate faced the same overburdened fate as mine.

You ladled me a generous glass of mulled wine from the crock pot.

"Cheers!"

And then we fell into a frenzied silence, only the cacophony of two gluttons enjoying a sinfully indulgent feast, and the tv still playing Christmas special reruns in the other room made noise in our tiny apartment.

I still don't know how you did it, but every bite I took had me holding back a moan.

My family had attempted to make a turkey once in my life, and it resulted in a tasteless hunk of disappointment, the bird so dried out that the white meat was somehow pointy and sharp. The one you made was opposite to everything I expected. It was nearly falling apart in my mouth, the seasoning from the brine and rub made it to every bite. Different levels of flavours washed over me, and my eyes nearly rolled into the back of my head.

Every dish you made was like this. Some of them I had equally dismal expectations of, like the green beans, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, and pizza rolls, all things my family had made sacrilege of once. Everything else I either hadn't had, or only had store bought. Even the best store bought ziti bake didn't come close to yours.

I was put into a trance. There was not a moment where I was still, constantly chewing, swallowing, and reaching for the next bite. Everything was washed down with copious amounts of wine and cider.

My shirt was pushed up by my rounding gut, bunched up under my chest by the end of the 3rd plate, my cheeks were warm, and every gurgle my belly let out just pushed me to eat more.

Your clothes had given up containing your belly. It sat naked on full display, hanging out of your defeated shirt, pushing your thighs apart as it sank further. You were absent-mindedly rubbing the crest of your gut as you shoved another role in your mouth. I poured the last of the 2nd bottle of wine in your glass, and popped open the 3rd to serve myself.

It wasn't until just after starting my 7th plate that I realised how overstuffed I was. It all hit me at once, the bottom of my belly itching as my skin stretched around my stomach swelling forward, my breathe shallow and pained, my lungs given no room to expand, pushing out a burp with every other gasp of air. I couldn't lean back without getting a stitch.

You were in a similar state. Hiccups jolting your body shaking out burps, your hands gingerly massaging your gut which was red and almost shiny.

I don't know how long we sat there, just rubbing our guts and moaning. There was still food left, but maybe enough for 1 averaged-sized meal for both of us. Everything else was crammed into our bellies.

Firmly drunk now, the sensation of rubbing my belly was sending sparks along all my nerves. Between that and riding the high of the first Christmas meal I had ever enjoyed, I was lost in my own little world of bliss.

A harsh timer bell going off in the kitchen jolted me out of my stupor, unleashing a string of burps and a new bout of hiccups. You groaned as you got up, supporting your back and belly like you were 9 months pregnant.

You looked at me with a wine-soaked grin.

"Ready for dessert?"

#queer feedism #feedism story #intox wg #soft feedism #stuffing literature #mutual stuffing #mutual gaining #stuffed fatty

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koreposion · 10 months

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Something sweet for Geno to think about before it all goes downhill from here.

Horror and Geno have been preparing the meal all day. They both got up early to clean up the castle's kitchen and set up the cook wear. Pre-heat the oven, premake batter and ferment yeast for bread. They both switched between cooking and cleaning with ease.

Working on a big meal for the evening also meant that others came into the kicthen throughout the day. First for breakfast in which Geno had made burritos and handed them out. Second for lunch, Horror had made tea and sandwiches that were labeled for each member. Finally then there would be the time before they took everything out to the dinning room. When they would need help carrying everything.

Both dressed in short and loose clothing to make movement easier, paired with aprons and oven mitts, Geno and Horror worked vigorously. They had taken breaks over their course of cooking, but it was soothing to always be doing something.

They flowed together easily, Horror correcting spices and Geno checking temperatures. Making sure the texture was right and some tastes weren't too strong. Cutting up fruit and frosting desserts, plating everything and keeping it warm.

"This is the most normal I've felt in forever." Geno said as he placed a cake into the freezer and started cutting into cooked meat.

"Keeping busy does that I've noticed...have you not been keeping busy?" Horror questioned as he test tasted the stew in the crockpot and added a touch more spice.

Geno quickly chopped through the rare meat as he spoke, not nicking himself with the knife once, "The whole getting used to you guys and then the eldritch God magic has been driving me crazy." He spoke honestly, not caring who might be listening.

"I've noticed, I don't like it when the others look at you like you're weird." Horror comments as he moves over to some mashed potatoes, adding just a bit of salt, "Your reactions are normal, no one would react well if they were told their magic was being changed against their will. I sure didn't."

Geno pauses as Horror speaks to him with sympathy, he wasn't sure what he was expecting, "Really? But you seem so..."

"Alright. Yes, but unfortunately you get used to madness and it's made to be the most normal thing apart of you." Horror comes close to Geno, taking the knife from his hand and washing it, "It's okay that you're upset about it, no one likes the idea of losing their mind. Seeing as you barely know who you are right now."

He then opens the oven and makes a small cut into the chicken, "I combated that feeling by just being away from everything once in a while." Once he confirmed it was cooked he took it out and set it onto the table.

"Yeah, but I don't....I don't want to talk Blue that I want to get away from all of the crazy that's happening. It might upset him" Geno says as he checks another oven with Mac n' cheese in it, "I sorta like him a lot."

"Well then you don't have to word it like that. You don't even really have to tell him- make sure to check the other batch." Horror offered his solution to the matter, "Just hang out with me one day and we don't have to talk about work or our bosses. We can just look at cool things and eat good food."

Geno listened, checking the other batch of macaroni and taking it out. It was made for Dust seeing as he didn't like crunchy things. He placed that beside the chicken and closed the other oven with the unfinished macaroni.

"That sounds like fun...I wouldn't mind it..." Geno smiled to himself as he thought about going out, he hasn't been much places. Mostly because he always had a hard time choosing where to go next, "As long as you pick, I'm bad at choices."

"That's fine with me, I'll text you a date later. Now let's finish this up so we can take a break before dinner." Horror said as he nuzzled his skull against Geno's as he carried two trays of cookies.

"Got it!" Geno gave Horror a big smile as he got to work on frosting the cake he had put away before.

Dinner was very pleasant that evening.

#thoughts #headcannons

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culinarycraze · 7 months

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5 Super Healthy Native American Recipes

Native American food has a strong lifestyle, culture, and reliance on nearby ingredients. The utilization of complete meals, grains, lean proteins, and several fruits and vegetables, which might be emphasized in many Native American cuisines, makes them healthy alternatives. Five extraordinarily healthy Native American recipes that spotlight the variety and vibrancy of Indigenous culinary traditions are provided below.

Succotash: A Native American delicacy known as succotash makes use of trustworthy but wholesome ingredients to focus on the concord of flavors and textures. Succotash, which mixes fresh or frozen lima beans, corn, bell peppers, and tomatoes, is vibrant and nutrient-dense. This dish, which features nearby elements and is seasoned with herbs like thyme or cilantro, is sauteed with onions. The vegetables' brilliant colors and a sprint of salt and pepper carry out their inherent sweetness.

Cedar Plank Salmon: Salmon cooked over cedar planks is a conventional approach that gives the fish a gentle smokiness. In addition to being delicious, it's miles a coronary heart-healthful choice. Olive oil, lemon juice, herbs, and Native American spices are used to marinade salmon fillets. They are then either grilled or baked while resting on a cedar plank.

Roasted Turnips: Turnips that have been roasted make for a delectable and wholesome aspect dish. Turnips are peeled, diced, and combined with olive oil, garlic, and some herbs and spices from Native America. These roasted turnips, which might be a rich source of fiber, nutrients, and minerals, are barely crispy outdoors and smooth on the inner. They may be used as a stand-on my side dish or as an element in grain bowls and salads.

Frybread: Despite being a traditional staple, frybread ought to be fed on seldom because it's far deep-fried. This dish is adaptable and can be made healthier by making use of one-of-a-kind cooking techniques or making recipe adjustments. Using complete wheat flour or an aggregate of whole wheat and all-reason flour makes frybread more healthy.

Buffalo Stew: A filling and hearty dish, buffalo stew embodies the Indigenous human beings's ties to the land and the buffalo, a revered animal. An array of vegetables, which include carrots, potatoes, celery, and onions, are cooked with lean buffalo meat. Native American herbs and spices are used to season the stew, then cooked slowly to let the flavors mingle. This stew is a tasty and nutrient-dense way to the lean protein source of buffalo meat, which is rich in important nutrients.

Conclusion

These five extremely healthy Native American foods spotlight the price of entire foods, proper substances, and environmentally friendly methods. They provide a window into Indigenous cultures' ancient expertise, which places an emphasis on herbal, nutrient-dense meals that foster both bodily well-being and a sturdy bond with the land.

#americanrecipes #healthyrecipes #superhealthyrecipes #succotash #cedarplanksalmon #roastedturnips #frybread #buffalostew

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pumpkinangelminnie · 1 year

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food thingies with minnie's autism ☁️🍼

textures i really like:

• soup

• stew

• cooked through noodles

• sticky rice

• risotto rice

• mashed potatoes/peas/ect.

• babyfood

• smoothies

• shakes

• anything liquid

• soft, fluffy bread and pastry

• cooked trough ricecakes

• throughly cooked sauerkraut/rotkraut

• ice cream

• pudding

• sauces & dips

• cooked carrots

• yoghurt

• bread spreads & jam

• whipped cream

• cotton candy

• avocado

textures i don't like/barely can eat:

• crunchy things (whole carrot, whole apple etc)

• hard and dry bread/pastry

• crunchy fried things (chips/crisps, goldfish, etc)

• extremely chewy things (chewy meat, chewy ricecakes and rice paper, chewy noodles, several gummy candies, etc)

• fat dripping things

• sticky sweets

🪐

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tastesoftamriel · 3 years

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I'm sorry if you've already answered this one. What are the daily meals usually eaten by the various peoples of Skyrim? Is second breakfast a thing?

Daily meals across Tamriel are highly subjective, and this list is barely the tip of the iceberg where day-to-day cuisine is concerned. Nonetheless, these are some of my favourite dishes when you're just not feeling up to something remarkable, but still want something delicious. As for second breakfast, you can have as many breakfasts as you can fit into you anywhere but Summerset!

Altmer

When it's not horrendously complex, Altmeri cooking is really quite remarkable in its simplicity. One of the most common dishes you'll find in households and taverns across Summerset is a warm, smoked seafood and dill tartine. The most popular version of this recipe calls for smoked marlin or halibut, but is also just as good with everything from eel to clams and sea urchin. Baked into a smooth and creamy egg custard in a buttery shell, and topped with a sprig of fresh dill, this is a seafood lover's go-to!

Argonians

One of the things you'll find in Murkmire is the sheer number of crocodiles. And the best thing to do with those crocodiles, bar leather, is to cook them. Similar in taste and texture to frog or chicken, crocodile is a slightly dry meat that's marinaded overnight in a spice paste, and wrapped in pandan leaves to infuse the flavour. The next day, the croc is chopped into bite-sized pieces and fried in coconut oil, and served with a big plate of rice and steamed vegetables.

Bosmer

The Wood Elves love their soup, and soups aplenty do they have! A particularly popular recipe is deer stew, which is a chunky thunderbug egg-drop soup with deer meatballs. Boiled thunderbug eggs become soft and spicy, whisked goose egg-drops thicken it up, and fried venison meatballs add flavour and texture. It's simple, tasty, and made from easy to find ingredients.

Bretons

High Rock may very well be the bread capital of Tamriel, and it's no surprise that one of the most common dishes is a type of stuffed bread. A deliciously unconventional yet very popular option is large buns flavoured with cardamom, which are stuffed with blueberries, crispy lardons, and blue cheese, and served hot with a slathering of butter. Great with a cup of tea!

Dunmer

Saltrice is a staple in the Dunmer kitchen, whether it's been fermented in sauce, stir-fried with hackle-lo, or baked into crackers. Saltrice and ash yam bowls are a typical food, where generous servings of other ingredients are served atop a bowl of freshly steamed saltrice, and slices or cubes of fried or baked ash yams. Toppings can include anything from scrambled kwama egg, pulled bantam guar, nix-hound curry, or pickled comberry and spicy seasoned hackle-lo.

Imperials

Stuffed and baked pasta logs, or cannelloni, are a Cyrodiilic staple that you'll be eating at least once a week in the Province. Stuffed with things like minced boar and vine-ripened tomatoes, ricotta and spinach, or smoked aubergine and caviar, these tubes of wheat pasta are slathered in a rich cream or tomato sauce, covered in cheese, and baked until crisp. A favourite of both the young and old.

Khajiit

Noodles are a Khajiit's best friend, and roast meats are any noodle dish's best friend! Roast duck, barbecue pork, or chicken noodles with a sweet-and-salty sauce are sure to be a hit at any home in Elsweyr. Thin egg noodles are stir fried with a signature moon sugar soy sauce, and topped with juicy slices of roast meat with crispy skin are served on top. For a couple of Septims more, you can make it a truly satisfying meal by throwing in a few crispy shrimp dumplings!

Nords

When it comes down to it, nothing hits the spot for a Nord quite like a good old jacket potato with spiced beef, sausage, and beans. There really isn't much to say here, aside from the fact that nothing is off limits when it comes to jacket potatoes. Whether it's Eidar cheese and bacon or reheated rabbit pemmican, everything tastes great when it's been mashed together with a potato that's about the same core temperature as Red Mountain.

Orcs

Contrary to popular belief, the Orsimer have a varied diet beyond roasted meats and root vegetables. A popular Stronghold dish, for example, is spaghetti squash stew, made with a curious type of squash that turns stringy when cooked, mimicking Imperial spaghetti. The stew it's served with is made from meat (usually beef, boar or mammoth), cream, mushrooms, and a good measure of ale. It's rich and hearty, and also goes well with a side of bread to mop up the gravy.

Redguards

Goat is the staple meat in Redguard cuisine, and it's in everything from curries to kebabs. One of my favourite ways to eat goat is a commoner's dish of baked goat in coconut milk, served with saffron rice. The meat is juicy as it is baked in a clay oven in a sauce made from a thick paste of spices and coconut milk, and has a bit of char that brings out the flavour. It's complemented perfectly by the rice, and is best washed down with a cup of sweet cardamom tea.

#Asks #Food #Cooking #Tes #The Elder Scrolls #World building #worldbuilding #Tastes of Tamriel #tastesoftamriel #Long post #Text post

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bellatrixobsessed1 · 2 years

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Old Bones Aflame (Part 9)

She finds herself reluctant to shut the door behind her. She takes once more glance back at the firebender wrapped heavily under layers of blankets. She shouldn’t have antagonized the child knowing how important dignity is to Fire Nationals. Knowing how important pride is to teenagers.

But then, the girl shouldn’t have been–and shouldn’t continue to be–so petulant and impulsive.

It is too late for should have’s. If she thinks too much on those it will breed more of them. So she closes the door and makes her way towards her old village. Maybe this time around she’ll take a moment to learn its name.

.oOo.

Azula hadn’t realized that such a small shack could be so lonely. It leaves her with a lot of time to think. Not that she has been doing much of that–nothing of substance anyhow. Fever and pain keeps her thoughts from focus. Mostly her mind is on mortality.

She always had thought that she’d die young.

She assumed that the war would do it, but somehow she had never truly considered the possibility. Death was only slightly above just a vague concept. A thing that very well could have happened but she had always thought herself powerful enough to not fear it. Not in the way that other soldiers did.

And when she did think of death it was always glorious and bold. Heroic and honorable. And it came in a quick flash or a fatal blaze.

It wasn’t foul and malodorous. It wasn’t slow and degrading.

It wasn’t this.

It wasn’t supposed to be her hunching over and losing anything that she tried to put in her stomach. It wasn’t supposed to be her on the floor with a pounding head and clammy skin.

She wasn’t supposed to be trembling and crying to herself. She wasn’t even supposed to have time to think about death, let alone contemplate it for two days, moving into three.

She only barely remembers to switch her bandages and apply the paste. She only barely remembers to fix herself the tea and take her herbal medication. These things help her for perhaps an hour or two.

And in those two hours she finds herself contemplating more than just her mortality. In those hours she finds herself going over ever stupid, impulsive, ridiculous thing that led her to this.

All in all she can only deduce that Hama had been right about her.

She is a child.

Only a child would look at an infection like hers and run off to prove a pointless point. And to someone who isn’t even of status to judge her. To someone whose opinion doesn’t matter…

But somehow it does.

Somehow she finds herself craving the woman’s praise as much as she’d latched onto father’s.

And her aching mind turns again and she thinks further back. To the exchange that led her to brushing up with poison ivy. What had she said that had made the woman so prickly? Waterbenders and airbenders are all too sensitive.

She huddles herself in front of the fireplace and inhales. She holds her fingers to the long within.

Her fire is growing weak.

She is growing weak.

By the time her cooking fire is going, her head is spinning and her vision is fuzzy. But, Agni, she is so hungry. This time she doesn’t eat her stew whole. She mashes chunks of poorly chopped potatoes and carrots into something of a mush. The texture is absolutely miserable as it slides down her throat. But at least she keeps it down this time.

She takes a sip of her tea and then she flops onto the floor. She is too fatigued to inch her way back to the bed. From her place on the creaky wood she tries to nap, to close her eyes for just a moment.

She lays there and stares at the ceiling, at those little herb pouches that dangle from the unstable rafters, swishing in the breeze. It smells as lovely as her arms smell of infection. And it finally comes to her–the thing that she had said.

The old woman had stiffened when she had mentioned that she had been a soldier.

The woman had mentioned something or another about having been captured and imprisoned by soldiers…

Azula bunches herself up and shivers.

There is more to it she thinks, more things that she had said.

Her head hurts so much. She doesn’t want to think anymore.

.oOo.

Ultimately, Hama decides that it is better to not learn the name of the village. It scorns her so heavily that she’d rather not grow attached to it. And most attachments start with a name. That is why she had never bothered to name her inn.

Everyone had just called it ‘Hama’s Inn’. And that was perfectly fine by her.

It hadn’t had much business in its prime.

It is fully vacant now.

Vacant in spite of the posters plastered to it that boast of its availability to buy. And the price is astoundingly affordable. But no one wants to buy a forlorn ‘ghost’ house. No one wants to buy a house that had once belonged to the village terror. Not even for such a generous pricel. A steal for a lower born Fire National…or for a fire princess who doesn’t have many options or coins left to give away. Yes, Hama decides, that is what will be done; if the girl makes it through her fever and infection she will take her to this village and point her towards the for sale poster.

She can cleanse her hands of the girl without condemning her to die at the mercy of the jungle. And from there, what happens to her is no problem of Hama’s.

The old woman nods to herself, satisfied with her plan.

And with it in mind she scuttles her way down the path and deeper into the village. Kohan’s tavern isn’t too far from her inn.

She hopes that they have been treating him well in her absence, he doesn’t pass for a Fire National as well has she.

But then he has always been the sort to keep his head down. He had always loved and appreciated what he insisted were ‘the good parts of the Fire Nation’. She had always thought her friend to be a fool.

She stands outside of the tavern for a good while, watching the wood sign flap in the wind. The painted calligraphy has faded with age and weather. But she knows it by heart; Flamin’ Fish Tavern; The most fiery water tribe cuisine!

She can’t particularly argue with the slogan. It is the most bastardized version of her favorite traditional foods. She tastes more fire than water in its dishes. She shakes her head, if they’d hired her instead of Kohan, they’d know what real Water Tribe food tastes like.

She takes a breath before finally entering the tavern.

#Avatar The Last Airbender #Azula #Hama #Found Family #Fanfiction

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waysenna · 4 years

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Bound By Madness Chapter 22

Another two days went by before the Jester Assassin finally found his way in to see me, days spent stitching bright red flowers amidst dark green leaves as thorny vines wove down my arms. I'd set everything else aside to work on the pattern every waking moment. I don't think I had ever finished a pattern so quickly, the roses almost looking like splashes of blood across my arms. I was just thankful that over the years I had gotten nearly as good with my off-hand as I had with my main hand.

When the Jester Assassin walked in, a bowl of stew in his hands and a look of relief on his face, I was unsure of how to behave. What did he expect of me? How did he see me now? Had I become a burden to him? I wouldn't blame him if he saw me like that. I wasn't sure why I had failed to defend myself properly in that fight. I'd never gotten hurt like that before when fighting wolves. The thought that he might think me so weak because of this had me frowning.

I don't want to be seen as a burden. I know I can do better.

"Cicero does not think Faith is a burden. Perhaps she was distracted? Or maybe she just needs more practice with her new dagger, although Cicero wonders what happened to her last weapon since she did not have one before. Only Cicero had a blade when they danced that first night," he spoke as he sat down on the bed, the bowl of stew still in his hands.

I kinda lost it... when I was running... from a dragon. I swear, it really was a dragon! It was huge! I'd thought dragons were gone! That's what my father said, at least. But Skyrim seems to have them still, somehow! This place is crazy! How do you have dragons flying around killing people and not at least give a warning to people about it? Madness, I tell you! Madness!

As soon as I ended my little rant, I saw a spoon of broth with just a little bit of meat in it raised before me. I peered at the man who was facing me on the edge of the bed and wondered if he really thought me weak enough to need feeding. But as soon as I opened my mouth to say something about it, he slipped the spoon between my lips with a smile. He was doing this on purpose! He had to be!

Was it some kind of punishment for making him deviate from his journey? For wasting so much of his time while he waited for me to heal enough to leave with him again? If that was the case, why hadn't he just left without me? Or killed me outright if he worried I would tell someone about him?

Once I finished the first bite of food, he had another spoonful waiting for me, that same smile on his lips as he watched me sit there with my lips pressed together and a hand held out waiting for him to give me the bowl so I could feed myself.

"No, no, sweet Faith. Cicero was told you had suffered from blood loss and were weakened by it. Besides, Cicero doesn't mind helping Faith eat. This way he can make sure she eats all of her food. Including the carrots," the grin on his face became a little more forced looking as I shrank back a little.

But I don't like-

The spoon was between my lips again before I could finish what I was saying. Ugh, the texture of the carrots, softened from being cooked in the stew for who knows how long, had me almost gagging. If he had to give me carrots, they could at least be fresh and crisp, with a nice crunch to them. But cooked like this? They felt like mush as I chewed, although I barely even needed to do that much. All the taste had been leeched out of them into the broth, which had made the broth amazing but the carrots... less so.

These carrots are so gross!

The man frowned at me, his smile gone as he spoke. "And what is wrong with carrots? Hmm?"

Nothing! Unless they are cooked! There is no flavor left in them like this! And the feel of them squishing in my mouth, ugh!

"Oh, Cicero doubts it is as bad as you say. He thinks fussy Faith is just being picky and doesn't like carrots. Well, Cicero does and if Faith is going to be that spoiled about eating them, then Cicero will eat them instead," he grumbled at me before lifting a piece of carrot to his mouth.

I watched with wide eyes as he placed the spoon between his lips and pulled it back out, chewing for a second with a smile. The smile didn't last long.

"What have they done to it?! The carrot! They've killed it!" He wailed as he nearly dropped the bowl with his antics.

I told you so! Cooked carrots are gross! Fresh is the best way to have carrots!

"While Cicero will agree that the crunch of a fresh carrot is best, there are still ways to have them cooked that does not end up like... this blasphemous monstrosity. Cicero cannot make poor Faith eat a meal like this. If he wished to torture Faith, he would be much more upfront about it and not waste so many carrots to do so," he spoke with a nod as he stood and placed the spoon back into the bowl. "Cicero will be back soon with something better."

With a nod to me, he turned and left the room, closing the door behind him. Leaning back with a sigh, I wondered when I would be allowed to get up. I wasn't going to get any stronger by just laying here and my arms had been finished finally. Years of stitching patterns had helped me become quick with my needle, not taking anywhere near as long as I had when I'd just started making them.

Besides, as much as I wanted to start on my legs, I knew I needed to build my strength back up even more. My arms would be enough to hold me together until I could get to my legs. They would need to be enough. I needed to get out of here. If I didn't get out of here soon, it felt like I would never leave.

With that thought, I began pulling the blankets that covered me to the side, flipping them over as needed until they were nearly pushed off the bed. Looking down, I wished they had given me a pair of sleep pants instead of these things that stopped before they even reached my knees.

I barely held back the wince at the scars that trailed over my legs in random areas. The cuts from a few close calls back when I was just learning how different the city was from back in Bruma when it came to stealing. The burn down one side where a fire trap had gotten me before I could move out of the way.

With no patterns to hide the marks, my legs looked ugly to me. All but the faint scars left behind from some of the previous patterns I had created, tiny dots upon the skin from years of stitches that had made my legs something colorful and lovely to me.

Climbing slowly out of the bed, I gasped when my legs tried to give out on me before I could grab at the nightstand for support. Barely keeping my feet under me, I slowly straightened up again, taking a single step toward the wall as I placed a hand against it to steady myself. Slowly, I made my way along the wall, stopping often to rest. It took several minutes just to reach the fireplace before I finally stopped, carefully lowering myself until I sat in front of the dying fire and began adding more wood until it was big enough to start warming the room again. I didn't even notice the sound of the door open and close nearby.

"Faith shouldn't be out of bed yet. She needs to eat to get her strength back. She should also cover herself so she can keep warm. The last thing Faith needs to do is get sick on top of everything else that has happened," Cicero said as he placed a covered plate down on the nightstand, quickly grabbing one of the blankets barely hanging from the bed.

Coming over to where I sat, he began gently placing the blanket over me, lifting my legs with his gloved hands to tuck the edges underneath to protect me from the cold stone of the floor. Not once did he comment on the scars he must have seen, something I was unused to since even the healers would remark whenever I had to go to them instead of turning to a potion.

"There, that is better. Now for the food. Cicero has brought something he thinks sweet Faith will enjoy far more than what those men tried to call stew. Cicero is sorry it took so long to get it, but he thinks Faith will find it worth the wait," he said as he went back and grabbed the plate before returning and sitting beside me.

I could already tell he was determined to feed me, yet again. He was definitely punishing me. Or so I thought until he lifted the covering to reveal a meal I hadn't thought to ever see in Skyrim. Delicately cooked rabbit sat beside a helping of seasoned potatoes cut into bite-sized pieces, although the cooked carrots next to them had me sigh.

More carrots? Really?

"Cicero thinks you will like these ones," was all he said before setting the plate in his lap and grabbing the knife and fork laying beside the rabbit.

Moments later, I begrudgingly found myself agreeing, the seasonings bringing out the sweetness of the carrots.

#Cicero #Skyrim #Elder Scrolls #Dark Brotherhood #Madness #Slow Burn #Mental Instability #MuteOC #Lip Reading #Not The Listener #Original Character #Jester #Assassin

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darkhymns-fic · 6 years

Text

A Little Too Sweet

Lloyd gets a bit obsessive when making Colette's favorite meals.

Genis never wants to see another piece of strawberry ever again.

Fandom: Tales of Symphonia Characters: Lloyd Irving, Colette Brunel, Genis Sage, and the rest Rating: G Mirror Links: AO3 Notes: It was Tales of Symphonia's anniversary on August 29th! (Which I forgot about!) I had nothing for it except this short fic from a while ago that makes no sense. Have fun.

Getting through Latheon Gorge was both frustrating and confusing (especially when the weird wind gusts from the vibrating flowers that dotted the landscape just didn’t seem to work) but after a long trek, the whole party decided to settle down for both rest and sustenance.

Unfortunately, almost (and key word, almost) no one was looking forward to it.

“Hey!” Lloyd shouted from the side of the glade they all sat in, his face beaming. “Just got lunch ready!”

Genis, seated by the grass, gave a deep sigh. “Is it fruit salad agai-”

“It’s fruit salad! Everyone dig in!”

The boy in red had a huge platter held in his hands. It was stacked with rows of neatly cut slices of pineapple, strawberries, apples, lemons and oranges, and was sprinkled with a wide assortment of blackberries here and there, with occasional almonds to add in some more texture to the softness of the meal. Some of the group gave weak smiles, some looked to the ground tiredly, but only one had her eyes lit up at the sight.

“That looks so good, Lloyd!” Colette sat neatly on the ground, just before the dining cloth. “Oh! You even made part of the salad into a cute little doggy face!”

“Heh, yep!” Lloyd set down, admiring his own handiwork in the culinary arts. “That’s what the blackberries were for! To make the nose and eyes!”

“…Is this why you sent me out into the woods to search for those?” Zelos asked incredulously. His clothing looked a little frayed. Even his hair sported the occasional twig. “That took me like two hours!”

“Yeah, but it was important!”

“Lloyd…” Genis started, looking at his bowl that Lloyd was happily dumping some of the fruit into. “Do you think you can like… I don’t know… let me cook next time?”

“I don’t mind making stuff for you guys!” Lloyd proclaimed.

Sheena had to intervene. “Yeah, but, we’ve only had fruit for the past three weeks.”

“Fruit is very healthy for you,” Presea commented. She dumped some kind of sauce onto her bowl that no one really knew what it consisted of.

“And also very sweet!” Colette smiled with happiness after each bite. “Oh! Maybe we can make fruit sandwiches next time?”

Lloyd gave her a thumbs up. “Yeah, no problem!”

“That is not a thing.” Genis glared at both of his friends. “That is not a thing that you make. I don’t care.”

“Presea is right however.” Regal had his bowl very close to his face, courtesy of his shackled hands just making everything difficult for him. “Fruit is healthy. It provides your daily value of fiber.”

“We’ve had plenty of fiber!” Genis tried his best not to shout, but that was the result of being force-fed all assortments of fruits for an extended period of time. “Too much fiber! Sis! Say something!”

Raine was munching pleasantly on her share. “There are lemon wedges. I suppose it’s satisfactory enough.” She gave her little brother a frown. “Even if Lloyd stops making us food, it’s not like I would ever have a chance to experiment with meals of my own, according to everyone’s complaints.”

For Genis, it was either food boredom or actual death. He wasn’t sure what was worse.

“Well, I’m not complaining. My bud is a master at this stuff! And-” Zelos squinted at his bowl, mussing it around with his fork. “Um, no uh, no melons?”

A familiar groan from a familiar ninja. “Of course you miss your damn melons.”

“Oh! I forgot about that, Zelos! Don’t worry. I made you your own dish!”

Zelos was close to having tears in his eyes. To think that his friend would do that for him. The venture out into the woods to collect ingredients for Colette’s doggy portrait was completely forgotten. “Aw, Lloyd!”

“Here you go!” Lloyd plopped the prepared dish in front of Zelos. “Eat up!”

It was fried octopus. A really big one. A really big, fleshy looking, eye bulging octopus.

The dish also had with it some tuna and red snappers to the side, but… the tentacles of the octopus were… touching them…

“Oh, that looks pretty good.” Sheena pointed at the plate, her mouth full. “Got your own seafood platter there.”

Zelos sat there in dejection. “…Yeah.”

Genis saw how it was. He could always see through his best friend, and these past three weeks had made it all the more obvious. But this didn’t mean that Lloyd should subject the others to constant fruity meals just to impress a girl that didn’t even need impressing!

He scuttled close to Lloyd, trying to drag him away from his conversation with Colette with all the force his little arms could muster.

Lloyd turned to him with confusion. “Genis? What is it?”

“Lloyd, you need to stop,” the child stated. “The fruit cocktails were pretty cool at first, until you kept making them four nights in a row. That fruit sculpture was honestly neat, but it took you like half the day to make it and you didn’t even sleep because of it! Also, you can’t make sandwiches, Lloyd. We all know this. Don’t try to make fruit sandwiches. I don’t care what the Wonder Chef told you, he’s completely wrong. Don’t you miss eating beef, Lloyd? Like actual protein? We can’t live off fruit for the rest of this journey!”

Lloyd blinked. He gave a brief glance to Colette, who looked to be in heaven with her meal, then he turned back to Genis. “But I gotta.”

“No. No, you don’t.”

“Colette likes it.”

“She can handle some beef stew once in a while! If this is about making up for not getting her birthday present on time-!”

“Hey, Zelos!” Lloyd shouted suddenly, looking past Genis’ head. “How do you like that dish?”

There was the distant sound of Zelos sobbing.

“Great!”

“Lloyd,” Genis pleaded. “Please listen to reason. I don’t think my digestion can take it anymore. I don’t know how the heck you and Colette can.”

Lloyd looked back down at his own fruit share, already half-eaten. To the side of it, some lemon wedges and apple slices were pushed to the side, looking like someone’s face and long hair. Oh no.

“But I gotta,” Lloyd said, more to himself than to Genis.

Genis put his face in his hands. “I want to die.”

A week later and they were finally back at Altessa’s after some important events happened, but honestly, Genis was past both caring and remembering what they were. He had been pushing through fatigue the entire time, having had no iron intake in the slightest.

Even his sister was looking paler than usual, leaning on her staff as they all stumbled into the house carved into the mountain. “I’m going to take a long nap,” she muttered.

Tabatha greeted them at the door, her robotic motions having long gotten used to by everyone. “Hello. I was. Just making dinner. Roast. Beef. With potatoes. And garnish. Would you like-”

“Please,” Sheena uttered, falling to the floor in a heap. The malnutrition was finally catching up to people. Even Regal and Presea could barely hold their taciturn composures, their eyes lighting up on the thought of actual cooked food on their plates. Zelos was not technically starving, but he was suffering plenty, choking on his octopus-fruit cocktail that Lloyd had insisted on him eating on the way back for some reason.

Of course, Lloyd and Colette were perfectly fine! Just peachy! They were both eating actual peaches at this very moment that Genis was so tempted on burning up with his fire magic. “I’m full now, but thanks Tabatha!” Lloyd told her.

Colette nodded. “Me too! Oh!” She stood up straight after thinking up a… oh no. “Lloyd, do you know how to make peach cobbler?”

“Do I?” Lloyd said to her eagerly. After a moment, he emphasized his answer when she still waited for it. “Yeah, I do.”

“What if we make some for everybody for dessert?”

Lloyd pumped a fist in the air. “That sounds great!”

Usually such a treat would be enough to make any mouth salivate. But all Genis wanted to do was hurl. No more fruit… please…

When Genis failed to convince Lloyd to stop with the meals, he just fell to fate. After everything Lloyd did to save Colette, it made sense that he would try to make up for lost time, to make Colette feel happy, despite the hardships of the journey. When one thought about it, it was rather sweet and romantic. Making her favorite dishes whenever he had the chance to, and as luck would have it, Colette never getting sick of it once! Not! Once!

Genis kinda hated Lloyd a little right now.

Watching his two dearest friends make their way to the kitchen with Tabatha, a dark thought burrowed in his mind.

Once this journey is over, Lloyd, I’ll make some fruit dishes for you all right. It’s your favorite thing now, isn’t it? I’ll sneak in some grape tomatoes for you. Colette likes those, but you’re going to hate it. And you can’t hate it because it’s a fruit. You’ll have to gulp it down for Colette’s sake! Then you’ll be sorry!

But even Genis knew he would never follow through on his revenge plan. In the end, he was just tired. Besides, if he was getting a real meal today, he supposed more fruit in his already fruit-saturated diet wouldn’t be too bad.

He could just send a fireball Lloyd’s way in their next battle anyway. Say it was a mistake. Maybe singe Lloyd’s hair a little. That was good enough revenge for Genis, and he would take it gladly.

#tales of symphonia #lloyd irving #colette brunel #genis sage #tales of #implied colloyd #fanfiction #one shot

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anyonecanbeacook · 6 years

Text

Mom's Beef Stew

Real quick: The recipe I am giving is enough to feed at least 12, so unless you want to batch cook, feel free to scale down as needed.

I was making this at a friends house so, no process pictures today sorry! But did get a (drunken) picture of the final product!

See?

Corn starch

You will need:

Utensils:

1 large stockpot (nonstick is a plus but not required)

5 bowls (trust me)

One fork, one plastic heat resistant stirring spoon OR wooden spoon (not metal!)

1 large pyrex liquid measuring cup

1 small pyrex liquid measuring cup

Ingredients:

Salt & pepper

1/2 cup flour

Marjoram

Thyme

Oregano

Turmeric

Bay leaves (4 total)

If using fresh herbs and spices then use sparingly the flavor goes a long way! This is a "sweet" beef stew recipe also, a lot of people read it as bland, and honestly it kind of is, but it is a very specific memory for me, as the title may imply.

Worcestershire sauce.

Cinnamon (optional)(not part of the original recipe).

White or red wine (either work! I prefer whites but we're cooking so, eh).

Butter (unsalted)

Cream, milk or half n half

2 medium rutabagas (chopped)

2 medium turnips (chopped)

4 large carrots (chopped)

6 russet potatoes. (Skin or no, up to you) chopped

1 med onion (thinly sliced)

15 cloves of garlic (yes. Really.) (Not a fan feel free to tone it down!)

2 small leeks (wash well, thin slices)

1 can corn drained.

Hot sauce or crushed red pepper flakes (optional).

2.5 lbs of stew meat cubed. Note: this is a beef stew recipe however this tastes very good as a lamb stew as well!

Optional: beef stock/bouillon. (2 boxes stock/ 1tbsp better than bouillon/ 1 bouillon cube)

For prep: chop and slice everything beforehand, and divide into the bowls! Make sure the root veg is separated by cook time! (Carrots & rutabaga/turnip first, then potatoes, then leeks).

Directions:

So! First, mix your flour and about 2 tsp of each spice in a bowl large enough to hold your meat. But not the bay leaves! Those come later.

Then, making sure your stew meat is cut into about 1in squares, toss and coat evenly (but not too thick!). The 1/2 cup was just enough for me to have all the meat coated and about 1/8th cup flour leftover. All this goes into the pre-heated stockpot, with about 3 tablespoons butter.

If you prep this all BEFORE cooking this goes easier. I didn't do that today. Oops.

Brown off the meat with the butter and any remaining flour mixture (shouldn't be that much honestly), the flour and spices and meat should all brown up. You want to make sure all the meat is browned on all sides. Takes about 15 minutes with how much meat I used today.

While Browning after most of the meat is cooked: deglaze slowly with the wine. Aka: pour the wine slowly into the pot and stir the mixture smooth. Don't let it get too watery! (And so, slowly, the gravy builds. Yum) I mean you can use as much as you would like but be sure to cook it off or the alcohol taste will overpower your stew! And not everyone likes the taste of wine.

Add onions (I opt for full rings usually, thinly sliced) and garlic.

Is everything smelling tasty, the brown lumps mostly smoothed out, and nothing is sticking to your pot? Great! Taste it. Is it overpowering or bland? We are about to add a crapton of liquid and other bland-tasting veggies, if it is overpowering, leave it be for now and add your water or stock, slowly! Also, add the bay leaves and 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce.

Let sit for 5 minutes at a medium simmer, then taste again. Bland or too strong? Go ahead and add your Carrots/rutabaga and turnips. There should be enough liquid to just barely cover everything in your pot. This is fine. Bring to a boil and cover with a lid for about 5 minutes.

Now you should have a thin-looking soup, that's mostly brown in color. Now, taste it again. Bland or still too strong? This is where the magic happens-- after you add the potatoes, we are going to let it sit for about 5 minutes at a nice steady boil, taste, then add the next ingredient: half of the sliced leeks, another 5 minutes, then the canned corn & rest of the leeks.

Once all the ingredients are in, check your liquid level, again water level should be just barely covering everything, if it has cooked down some keep adding more, then taste and tweek to taste.

This mostly goes on personal preference here. Marjoram, thyme, and oregano are sweet subtle herbs, it takes a while to discern them as separate tastes and smells if you aren't used to cooking with them, so add one at a time, let things simmer a bit, then taste and add different things. If I had to guess I would say my mon probably uses 3 tbsp of each spice when its all said and done? I tend to use about 2 tbsp or so.

One thing: don't overdo the salt or pepper! These things can always be added to individual bowls later. Better to have to add it then have food be too salty.

Now, how are things tasting? Good? Still too bland?

So, add about 2.5 tsp of cinnamon, and 2 tsp (or to your heat preference) of crushed red pepper flakes. Not together if you aren't sure! Try one first, then the other.

I know the cinnamon is a surprise but its actually really tasty!

Once the taste is where you want it, time to thicken! First, lower heat to a low simmer!

So take the small liquid measuring cup and fill it about halfway with stock from the stew. Just stock no actual veggies or anything. Add 2 tablespoons of cornstarch to this and stir the lumps out. Should be thick, but not like a paste. If it is pasty add more stock if it is too watery add more cornstarch. You want it to grab your stirring utensil but not actually give serious resistance.

Now mix 3 tbsp milk/cream/half n half to the goop, stir, and slowly pour into the stew, stirring as you go. Make sure the temp is no longer at a roiling boil & is just a simmer or the milk will curdle and instead of creamy texture you get grainy instead.

Once it is to your desired thickness, et voila! Your stew is ready!

Would probably pair super well with the bread I did a while back. Didn't have time to make that today. Maybe next time!

Time to make: I... don't know? I was working in a kitchen with friends and alcohol. Let's say 2.5 hours from prep start to finish? Less if you can get your ingredients pre-prepped!

Anyway! Hope you enjoy!

#cooking #taste of home #homesick recipes #from my mother to you #delicious #fun #party of 4 or more

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kunwiginjanu · 3 years

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Crock pot sirloin tips. As you cook the sirloin tip roast in a Crock-Pot, the collagen between the muscle fibers breaks down, the meat reaches that "fall-apart" texture that slow-cooked beef The finished product of a slow cooker sirloin tip roast looks much like a traditional pot roast, particularly if you braise the cut of beef with. Beef sirloin is simmered in tomato sauce with mushrooms in the slow cooker. Serve with rice, mashed potatoes, or buttered egg noodles.

Beef tips can be cut from any section, but sirloin tips or tenderloin tips are usually labeled. Budget-friendly chuck stew beef may be used as well. Red wine is optional in this recipe.

Hey everyone, I hope you are having an incredible day today. Today, I'm gonna show you how to make a special dish, crock pot sirloin tips. One of my favorites food recipes. For mine, I am going to make it a bit unique. This is gonna smell and look delicious.

As you cook the sirloin tip roast in a Crock-Pot, the collagen between the muscle fibers breaks down, the meat reaches that "fall-apart" texture that slow-cooked beef The finished product of a slow cooker sirloin tip roast looks much like a traditional pot roast, particularly if you braise the cut of beef with. Beef sirloin is simmered in tomato sauce with mushrooms in the slow cooker. Serve with rice, mashed potatoes, or buttered egg noodles.

Crock pot sirloin tips is one of the most popular of recent trending meals in the world. It's appreciated by millions every day. It's easy, it is fast, it tastes delicious. They are nice and they look wonderful. Crock pot sirloin tips is something that I've loved my entire life.

To get started with this recipe, we must first prepare a few components. You can cook crock pot sirloin tips using 12 ingredients and 2 steps. Here is how you can achieve that.

The ingredients needed to make Crock pot sirloin tips:

{Prepare 1 1/2 lbs of sirloin steak tips.

{Make ready 1 of med yellow onion cut into strips.

{Take 1 of med green pepper cut into strips.

{Make ready 1 can of beef broth.

{Take 1/8-1/4 cup of worsteshire sauce.

{Make ready 1/2 tsp of dried thyme.

{Make ready of Black pepper to taste.

{Take of Optional.

{Make ready A few of shakes crushed red pepper.

{Get 2 tbs of corn starch.

{Make ready 2 tbs of cold water.

{Make ready 2 tbs of minced garlic.

Sirloin tip roast cooked in a slow cooker. Easy Crock Pot Slow Cooker Recipe~Beef Tri Tip Roast~Pot Roast Recipe. Crock Pot BBQ Sirloin Tip Steak over Mashed Potatoes - This recipe is hearty, filling and packed with flavor! BBQ Sirloin Tips over Mashed Potatoes is a set it and forget it crock pot meal!

Steps to make Crock pot sirloin tips:

In a large skillet, pour some olive oil down & brown beef on both sides (5-10min). Place onion and green pepper in a bottom of slow cooker. Top with beef. Combine broth, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, pepper, garlic if desired and pepper flakes; pour over beef. Cover and cook on high until meat reaches desired doneness and vegetables are crisp-tender, about 3.5-4 hours..

Optional: Remove beef and keep warm. Combine cornstarch and water until smooth; gradually stir into cooking juices. Cover and cook on high until slightly thickened, about 30 minutes. Return beef to the slow cooker; heat through..

Cut up sirloin tips into bite-size pieces. Serve over rice or egg noodles. Perfectly cooked Crock Pot pork loin roast wrapped in bacon and basted with sugar free BBQ sauce. Instant Pot Pork Sirloin Roast with Apple & Fennel • Bare Root Girl. Costco is running a great deal on pork this month and as part of a project to promote the National Pork Board I am posting one of my favorite recipes using my trusty crock pot and a Sirloin Tip Roast from Costco.

So that is going to wrap it up for this special food crock pot sirloin tips recipe. Thanks so much for your time. I am confident you will make this at home. There's gonna be interesting food at home recipes coming up. Remember to save this page on your browser, and share it to your loved ones, colleague and friends. Thanks again for reading. Go on get cooking!

#recipesfood

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prepperjournal · 7 years

Photo

New Post has been published on http://www.theprepperjournal.com/2017/05/20/13-tips-oatmeal-food-stores/

13 Tips for Using Oatmeal from Your Food Stores

Editor’s Note: This article was generously contributed by R. Ann Parris. If you have information for Preppers that you would like to share and possibly win a $300 Amazon Gift Card to purchase your own prepping supplies, enter today.

Oatmeal – Jazzing Up the Ubiquitous Prepper Cereal

Being inexpensive, rolled oats can help us save money now, and it’s a good one to stock up on for the same reasons – cheap, filling and full of endurance-granting slow-release energy. I’m not a big fan of “just” oatmeal as a hot cereal. It’s just … well, boring. Too, I anticipate plenty enough spoon-and-bowl meals from beans and rice, boiled wheat or barley, or soups in a crisis, whether it’s a personal crisis or a widespread disaster. I’d rather avoid more as much as possible. The humble rolled oats tub actually helps me there in a big way.

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Using mostly things that are also already in my storage or that are easy and inexpensive to obtain, I can churn out desserts, snacks, sides, dinners and breakfasts that are interesting and varied, and don’t really taste like oatmeal. Oatmeal also has a lot of soothing and absorption properties that gives it some handy topical uses.

Using Oatmeal to Extend Meats & Meals

Mix in flakes of oatmeal and-or lentils and ground beans to extend things like meatloaf, meatballs and the hamburger in stews. Oats also make a fabulous replacement for breadcrumbs that would be used as binding or for coating meats.

Add it into Stovetop or homemade bread dressing or stuffing to increase the healthy fibers and calories, and the feelings of satiety from meals.

Grind coarsely or finely and add to flours for bannock, breads, muffins, and biscuits. Zucchini bread, carrot cake and other sweets can take as much as a quarter of the flour in oats without a significant change in texture or flavor. Pancakes, pie crusts, dumplings, cookies and cobblers can all have part of the flour replaced, especially with oats processed to a fine powder.

Fifty-fifty mixes or greater will be far more noticeable and may require additional liquids, but it also increases the heartiness of foods, helps us feel fuller and keep that satisfaction longer over stripped bleached flours especially, gives us healthier, natural arcs of energy, and lowers the glycemic index of foods while helping stomachs process.

Ground oatmeal can also be used to thicken soups, stews and gravy, just like ground beans or lentils that are too old to soak up water efficiently.

Easy Non-Cereal Recipes

Oatmeal has a lot of applications for cooking, without resorting to a bowl of hot cereal. Most of them can be done with a Dutch oven, campfire, rocket stove, or a solar oven or Wonderbag cooker if we don’t have access to our stoves and ovens.

Ash cakes can be made out of pretty much any flour. Using some salt, milk, egg or fats will improve flavor, but the bare-bones way of doing it is to mix just a little water at a time with flour or meal – or in this case, oats – until we can form a patty, then flopping it onto a cooler section of ash. Rolled oats will do best if they’re ground to a flour or if they’re allowed to soak a bit first. As a plain, just-salted version, they make a bread we can have with soups or meats. A little sugar or fruits, and we’re getting closer to a cookie. Alternatively, we can top them with honey or jams, fruits, sweetened cream, or something like a chili or bean medley.

Baked Oatmeal Muffins – A basic recipe with add-in’s for interest and variety is here https://brendid.com/healthy-oatmeal-muffins-no-flour-no-sugar-no-oil/ along with additional links. You can also find dozens of recipes as simple or complicated as you like, with and without other flours and oils, with just about any search. They turn oats into a fast, easy finger food that’s readily portable.

No-Bake Cookies are a staple in some lives. With just a few ingredients and few utensils dirtied, we can use up our oats to satisfy cravings for a fork or finger food as well as a sweet treat. Given the speed with which they disappear as either drop clusters or sliced squares at BSA and adult gatherings these days, during a disaster they’ll be a for-sure hit.

Oatmeal bars can be found as Amish Baked Oatmeal or other standard baked oatmeal, such as this one http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/baked-oatmeal. Oatmeal can also be turned into homemade granola bars. They’re out there in the internet world as soft chewy bars or crunchy options. All of them are adaptable to the fruits, nuts and seeds we have on hand or prefer. There are also homemade granola bars that make use of cereals that store well such as Rice Krispies, Cheerios, or Chex, which can increase the variety even more.

Crunchy granola clusters like this one that has healthier ingredients and a few extra steps and this one that uses lower-cost and easy-to-source ingredients with fewer steps in the process have a lot of versatility. There’s a lot to be said for the ability to turn out a nice snacking portion while using up inexpensive oats, today and later. And, if you’re giddy for it, making mini clusters to throw in as a homemade cold cereal can help provide a different breakfast meal even with a spoon.

Fruit crisps – A basic oatmeal crisp recipe such as this one has a lot of versatility, both now and during a personal crisis or a widespread disaster. We can use it with any pie filling we have, or regular canned fruits we strain or thicken the syrups. We can also use it to make stuffed apples, pears or peaches. It can go over cubed, mashed or pureed pumpkin or sweet potatoes as well, or can be used as a topper for a baked sweet potato. Oatmeal crisp is pretty versatile and forgiving, so we can add a quarter to a half extra oats to our recipe if we want a somewhat heartier and healthier version, or just to help us use up a few more of our rolled oats.

Cookies, Pizzas & Pie Crusts – Cookies are pretty cool as they are. Made thick and gooey, they can be a pretty hearty dessert by topping with dried or canned fruit or pie filling, with or without heavy or whipped cream. We can spread them out in a pie pan to make a quickie crust, use a crisp recipe for a pie crust, or we can bake them as a big, wide cookie to then slice up as a dessert pizza topped with cream cheese, frosting or glaze and then whatever fruit, nuts or morsels floats our boat.

Southern Oatmeal Cake – There are numerous versions of oatmeal cakes, although they’re pretty similar. It’s not the prettiest dish in the lineup, but it’s gooey happiness that can satisfy our sweet tooth without enormous expense. For an easier version that’s more storage friendly or to create some variety, we can alternate the topping with tubs of German chocolate cake frosting, reduced sweetened condensed milk, or just honey if coconut isn’t available. It’s also pretty darn nummy just with some heavy cream, whole milk, whipped cream, or clotted cream on top.

Fried Oatmeal is like fried grits. It starts with the cereal we all know, then it gets packed in a glass or a lined bowl, chilled so it sets up, and later, gets turned out and sliced, then fried in grease, butter or oil. The amount or depth of oil in the pan can change the texture some. The size of the slice both in thickness and width-by-height can affect whether it’s a plate meal like pancakes or if it can be picked up like happy French toast fingers for a non-spoon meal. As with pancakes, waffles and French toast, the topping options become endless – fried “dippy” eggs, sweetened syrups or fruits, chocolate or strawberry milk syrup, cinnamon sugar, and sausage bits and honey are favorites in our house. Chopped nuts can be included in the cereal or added on top for a little bit more texture yet.

For additional ideas about using oatmeal, do a search for savory recipes. Even when it’s served as a bowl of hot cereal, inclusions like grated radish, sprouts, fish, and tomatoes and peppers can increase the variety we’re seeing with our rolled oats and help prevent fatigue from them.

Oats Outside the Kitchen

We can really feel our oats sometimes. Probably most of us have already seen or use – possibly regularly – a product that makes use of some of oats’ best qualities. Just as oatmeal is a pretty soothing and mild option for breakfast, it has a lot of uses externally, too.

Oats can be added to bathwater or used as a paste to relieve:

Dry, itchy skin (for animals, too)

Bug bites

Burns & sunburn

It can also be added to soaps for its soothing qualities, or turned into an exfoliating scrub.

Combined with baking soda, we can use ground oatmeal flour as a dry shampoo, scrubbing it in with our fingers, then brushing it out. The two absorb oils and relieve any itching, which can be an excellent low-weight and inexpensive option during sweaty garden seasons should water be in limited supply.

That dry shampoo can also safely be used on cats and dogs, to save money on no-rinse shampoos, to avoid stressing a pet with a shower bath, to treat flea or grass allergies, or to avoid getting them wet in cold weather.

Satchels & Sachets

When we don’t really want to turn a bath into an oatmeal pot to scrub, or don’t have a tub available, we can make little balls of rolled oats, with or without additives like baking soda or herbs and oils to gain relief from skin irritations. We can use them in showers, baths, creeks, or just dampened and dabbed on affected areas.

Those, too, can be used on our pets to treat hot spots, bites, and irritated skin.

Satchels of rolled oats can also be used to:

Absorb odors in shoes, closets, bags, coolers

Absorb moisture from containers before sealing, or sealed with important items

Heat relieves some of the discomfort from cramps, headaches and muscle pains. Pouches can also be filled with warmed dry oatmeal to create in-the-glove or pocket hand-warmers.

Using Up Oats

Oats are a major part of prepper food storage kits because they’re inexpensive. They store well, last well past supermarket best-by dates, have a lot of health benefits for the gut and cardiovascular system, and the fiber and whole grains of rolled oats help us feel full for longer as well as provide slow-release energy that can keep us moving through long days of work or travel.

Happily, they’re also pretty versatile, and with a little creativity we can use them to stretch our budgets now as well as increase our food storage.

There are probably fifty million more recipes out there for making oats without a steaming bowl and spoon, from breads to desserts. There are probably another dozen helpful ways to use it up outside the kitchen. These are just a few of my favorites, due to the ease or the effectiveness of them. Feel free to tag on your additional favorite non-cereal-bowl recipes and uses outside the kitchen.

#homesteading #Prepping #Top Menu

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kunwiginjanu · 3 years

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Beef tips can be cut from any section, but sirloin tips or tenderloin tips are usually labeled. Budget-friendly chuck stew beef may be used as well. Red wine is optional in this recipe.

Hey everyone, I hope you are having an incredible day today. Today, I'm gonna show you how to make a distinctive dish, crock pot sirloin tips. It is one of my favorites. For mine, I'm gonna make it a little bit tasty. This will be really delicious.

Crock pot sirloin tips is one of the most well liked of recent trending foods on earth. It is appreciated by millions daily. It's simple, it's fast, it tastes delicious. They are nice and they look wonderful. Crock pot sirloin tips is something that I have loved my whole life.

To begin with this particular recipe, we have to prepare a few ingredients. You can have crock pot sirloin tips using 12 ingredients and 2 steps. Here is how you cook it.

The ingredients needed to make Crock pot sirloin tips:

{Prepare 1 1/2 lbs of sirloin steak tips.

{Make ready 1 of med yellow onion cut into strips.

{Get 1 of med green pepper cut into strips.

{Get 1 can of beef broth.

{Get 1/8-1/4 cup of worsteshire sauce.

{Get 1/2 tsp of dried thyme.

{Get of Black pepper to taste.

{Take of Optional.

{Get A few of shakes crushed red pepper.

{Prepare 2 tbs of corn starch.

{Get 2 tbs of cold water.

{Make ready 2 tbs of minced garlic.

Instructions to make Crock pot sirloin tips:

So that is going to wrap it up with this exceptional food crock pot sirloin tips recipe. Thanks so much for reading. I'm confident you will make this at home. There is gonna be interesting food in home recipes coming up. Remember to save this page in your browser, and share it to your family, colleague and friends. Thank you for reading. Go on get cooking!

#recipesfood

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imsohealthy2 · 4 years

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Slow Cooker Hamburger Stew

Y’all. I’m SO prepared for sweater climate and comfy gradual cooker stews! To kick the season off, I made this tremendous easy Slow Cooker Hamburger Stew this week. It’s nothing fancy, it’s simply easy, good, comforting meals! I really like the simplicity of this dish and the flexibleness. It’s the proper factor to have simmering away on the weekend as you do your chores or calm down and revel in watching the altering of the seasons.

What’s in Hamburger Stew?

Hamburger stew is similar to conventional beef stew, nevertheless it’s made with floor beef as an alternative of stew meat. Utilizing floor beef is a bit of bit inexpensive than utilizing stew meat, and I like the way you get a bit of little bit of beef in each chunk!

Along with the meat we now have a medley of contemporary greens (carrots, onions, potatoes, peas), beef broth, herbs and spices, plus a bit of Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce to zhuzh it up a bit. It’s extremely easy, however creates that fantastically delicate gradual stewed taste.

Why Brown The Hamburger First?

For this Hamburger Stew I browned the bottom beef in a skillet earlier than including it to the gradual cooker. I did this for 2 causes. One, to render off among the fats. I used 15% fats floor beef and there was fairly a bit that wanted to be drained away (I really examined this recipe as soon as with out draining the fats and it simply ended up far too oily). The second purpose is that you simply get a pleasant browning (maillard response) on the meat within the dry surroundings of a skillet that you don’t get within the moist surroundings of a gradual cooker. So that you’ll get just a bit bit extra taste with this additional step!

Can I Use Completely different Greens?

Sure! Stews are very versatile. When you don’t like one of many greens listed, go forward and skip it. Simply understand that the potatoes do assist thicken the stew, so when you skip the potatoes you’ll have extra of a soup texture. Different nice greens to make use of in beef stew embody:

mushrooms

pearl onions

parsnips

turnips

rutabagas

candy potatoes

winter squash (acorn, butternut, pumpkin)

What Are Stewed Tomatoes?

This recipe requires stewed tomatoes, that are quite a lot of canned tomatoes which are in style within the U.S. (instance: Hunts stewed tomatoes). These tomatoes are cooked with seasonings and a bit of little bit of sugar to offer them the slightest sweetness. Stewed tomatoes add a bit of additional particular distinctive taste to the broth of this stew. Whereas you should utilize diced tomatoes if stewed tomatoes should not accessible, this substitution will barely change the flavour of the stew.

How Lengthy Is Hamburger Stew Good?

After cooking the hamburger stew, I counsel dividing it into single parts (in order that it cools quicker) and refrigerating it immediately. It should keep good within the fridge for 4-5 days, or it may be transferred to the freezer for longer storage (about three months). This stew is a superb merchandise to have stashed in your freezer for busy nights! It may be reheated shortly within the microwave, or slowly over medium-low warmth in a pot on the range.

Slow Cooker Hamburger Stew

.wprm-recipe-rating .wprm-rating-star.wprm-rating-star-full svg * { fill: #343434; }

This tremendous straightforward Slow Cooker Hamburger Stew is straightforward, comforting meals at its finest. And the leftovers are even higher the subsequent day!

Complete Price $9.88 recipe / $1.65 serving

Prep Time 15 minutes

Prepare dinner Time 4 hours 15 minutes

Complete Time 4 hours 30 minutes

Servings 6 1.5 cups every

Energy 348.27kcal

Creator Beth – Price range Bytes

Gear

Slow Cooker

Liquid Measuring Cup

Measuring Cups Spoons

Components

2 lbs. russet potatoes $1.20

1/2 lb. carrots (about Four carrots) $0.45

1 yellow onion 0.32

2 cloves garlic $0.16

½ tsp dried rosemary $0.05

½ tsp dried thyme $0.05

1/4 tsp freshly cracked black pepper $0.02

1 lb. floor beef $5.69

1 15oz. can stewed tomatoes $1.00

2 cups beef broth $0.26

2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce $0.02

1 Tbsp soy sauce $0.06

1 cup frozen peas $0.60

Directions

Peel and cube the potatoes into 1-inch cubes. Peel and slice the carrots. Cube the onion and mince the garlic. Add the potatoes, carrots, onion, garlic, rosemary, thyme, and pepper to a gradual cooker (Four quarts or bigger).

Brown the bottom beef in a skillet, then drain off the surplus fats. Add the browned and drained beef to the gradual cooker together with the can of stewed tomatoes (with juices). Lastly, add the meat broth, Worcestershire sauce, and soy sauce to the gradual cooker.

Give the contents of the gradual cooker a short stir to ensure every little thing is evenly mixed (the broth might not absolutely cowl the opposite components). Place the lid on the gradual cooker and cook dinner on excessive for 4 hours, or low for eight hours.

After cooking on excessive for 4 hours or low for eight hours, take away the lid and stir the stew. Use the again of a spoon to barely mash among the potatoes, which can assist thicken the stew.

Add the frozen peas (no have to thaw) and stir to mix into the stew. Style the stew and add additional salt if wanted (I didn’t add any, this may rely on the salt content material of your beef broth). Serve scorching with bread for dipping!

Vitamin

Scroll down for the step-by-step images!

Attempt These Different Stew Recipes:

Slow Cooker Rosemary Garlic Beef Stew

Vegan Winter Lentil Stew

Immediate Pot Beef Stew

Vegan Peanut Stew

Smoky Potato Chickpea Stew

Learn how to Make Slow Cooker Hamburger Stew – Step by Step Pictures

Peel and cube 2 lbs. of potatoes into 1-inch items. Peel and slice ½ lb. carrots (about Four carrots). Cube one onion and mince two cloves of garlic. Add the potatoes, carrots, onion, and garlic to a gradual cooker together with ½ tsp dried rosemary, ½ tsp dried tyme, and ¼ tsp freshly cracked pepper.

Brown one pound of floor beef and drain off the surplus fats. Add the browned floor beef to the gradual cooker together with one 15oz. can of stewed tomatoes (with the juices).

Add 2 cups beef broth, 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce, and 1 Tbsp soy sauce to the gradual cooker.

Give the contents of the gradual cooker a short stir to mix. The broth won’t absolutely cowl the meat and greens, however that’s okay. The greens will launch extra moisture and enhance the broth as they cook dinner. Place the lid on the gradual cooker and cook dinner on excessive for 4 hours or low for eight hours.

After cooking on excessive for 4 hours or low for eight hours, it is going to appear like this. Give it a superb stir and smash among the potatoes in opposition to the aspect of the gradual cooker. The smashed potatoes will assist thicken the broth into a pleasant hearty stew.

Stir one cup of frozen peas into the gradual cooker (they’ll thaw and warmth inside a minute or so).

Give the hamburger stew a last style and modify the salt to your liking. I didn’t want so as to add any as a result of the broth I take advantage of (Higher than Bouillon) has an honest quantity, but when your broth has much less sodium chances are you’ll discover {that a} pinch of salt on the finish helps the flavors pop!

Serve the hamburger stew instantly or refrigerate till able to eat (however I don’t understand how you’ll resist having a bowl after smelling that cooking all day!).

The submit Slow Cooker Hamburger Stew appeared first on Price range Bytes.

Authentic supply: https://www.budgetbytes.com/slow-cooker-hamburger-stew/

Healthy Diet

#Healthy Diet

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waysenna · 4 years

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Bound By Madness Chapter 34

As tired as I was, it had been hours before I'd been able to sleep. I'd ended up spending most of that time writing, making notes on everything that came to mind about Ellery and Amicus and the things that I had learned during our travels together.

How Amicus disliked the rain, much like myself, and yet Ellery would dance about in the cold drops of water. I jotted down how Ellery was the one who told me to make the first stitch upon my flesh but over the years Amicus began suggesting I put meaning into the patterns based on my feelings, rather than just random patterns that simply showed my skill.

By the time I put the notes away and curled up next to the metal door in the little dead-end alcove I'd hidden in, I'd written several pages of notes about the two companions who I'd spent so many years with. And I once more thanked whoever it was that brought them both back to me, praying they let my friends continue to stay by my side. Then I took a moment to pray that, if they would be so kind, to please help Cicero with his search for Mother's Listener.

I'm not sure how much time passed after I'd fallen asleep, but it was to a gentle hand running up and down my back that I awoke, a voice whispering softly to me.

"Silly Faith, sleeping on the floor like this. Did Faith not wish to share Cicero's room this badly last night? She seemed to like Cicero enough before she left the room, but she didn't return and Cicero began wondering if Ellery had decided he didn't like Cicero again, even though Cicero has been trying his best to not make Faith's Jester upset... Cicero just doesn't know enough about the man to know all the things that might upset him," the Jester Assassin was rambling at this point and as I opened my eyes to look up at him, I could feel his fingers begin to twitch as his hands grew still upon my back.

Reaching a hand up to touch his cheek and turn his face down to see me speak, I gave a small smile before moving my lips slowly.

Sweet Cicero, you don't need to worry. You have done nothing to upset any of us, not even Ellery. No, I simply didn't want to bother you last night. You were so tired, I couldn't expect you to stay up while I hunted for a bed, so I left in hopes you could sleep peacefully if you didn't have to worry about me.

"Then why did thoughtful Faith not sleep in one of the other beds? Cicero checked yesterday and there were enough she could have picked one for herself," the Jester Assassin spoke, his eyes flickering between my lips and my own eyes.

Because I didn't want to sleep near the others, either. I don't trust them that much yet. I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't distrust them so much, but I just can't feel safe around people who don't seem to understand how to treat family. Besides, this way, I was able to stay close to Mother in case anyone tried to bother her while we were sleeping!

"Silly Faith, Cicero locked the doors before he went to bed. His foolish friend really should have come back to our room. Cicero wouldn't have minded making space for Faith to sleep. At the very least, she should have grabbed a bedroll to sleep on," sighing softly, he pulled me up and wrapped his arms around me in a short hug before pulling away again. "Come, let us get something warm to eat. We don't want Faith to get sick because the floor made her cold."

Smiling at my sweet friend's concern, I climbed to my feet and followed him back down the stairs, leaving behind my pack and the small pile of still damp cloth for later. By the time we reached the room where the other siblings were eating, my stomach was growling at the smell that filled the room.

It was only then that I realized I hadn't eaten since before we arrived and likely Cicero hadn't either. Rushing over to the gently bubbling pot of stew resting over the firepit, I grabbed two bowls and filled them with chunks of meat and vegetables, making sure extra carrots were in the second bowl.

Here Cicero! I put extra carrots in your bowl!

"And did thoughtful Faith make sure she had enough in her own bowl? Or is it mostly meat, like usual?" The sharp grin on his face had me lowering my bowl before him so he could see the chunks of carrot and potato sitting amidst the meat, showing that even though there was more meat than vegetables, it was balanced enough he gave a nod before starting to eat his own portion. "That will do for now. But try to add more carrots to the next bowl. They are good for your eyes, after all."

I let a small sigh escape before nodding to my friend, sitting down beside him and poking cautiously at one of the carrots. When it didn't turn to mush, I scooped it up onto the bowl of the spoon and lifted it toward my lips, looking almost like I expected it to attack me.

"Oh, quit being overdramatic and just eat the carrot, Faith. The longer you take, the colder the stew will become and Cicero really doubts our siblings would allow you to dump your bowl back into the pot and get a new serving like Cicero let you get away with last time you dawdled like this," I felt him nudge me in the side as he spoke.

Feeling the stares of our Siblings upon me, I hurriedly placed the spoon in my mouth and placed it emptied back down into the bowl, chewing slowly as I tried to decide if I liked the taste and texture. It wasn't quite as firm as I prefer my carrots, but it wasn't mushy either, just barely firm enough to require a moment of chewing to eat it. The flavor wasn't completely leached from the carrot either, leaving a bit of sweetness to it as it lay upon my tongue, although not as much as a raw carrot would have. It wasn't as good as the stew Cicero made, but it was a fair amount better than any not made by him that I'd had before.

This will do, but I still prefer your stews, Cicero. I hope you get to make something before too long or I might have to drag you off on a trip so there is an excuse to eat your cooking again! At least once before I have to go out on a contract.

"Go out? On a contract? And what if Faith gets hurt and can't tell anyone what is wrong? Or loses track of her days, without someone there to remind her and doesn't come home for weeks... Or, Sithis forbid, for months! No, no, no! Faith cannot leave on her own for her first time leaving the Sanctuary," the man's frantic voice raised and lowered with each phrase he spoke, his food forgotten as he flung his hands around, the bit of broth once on his spoon now splashed about the table. "Besides, how would silent Faith get back inside without someone to speak the words for her? We don't even know if the Black Door is able to hear her Ellery or Amicus whisper the words for her!"

"Well, why not test the idea and see if the door will open for her imaginary friends?"

#Cicero #Skyrim #Elder Scrolls #Dark Brotherhood #Madness #Mental Instability #MuteOC #Lip Reading #Original Character #Not The Listener #Jester #Assassin #Slow Burn

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irisplate9-blog · 5 years

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foolproof cacio e pepe

Soon, extremely soon, I’m going to tell you more about our 12 days in Andalucía but before that, before summer is truly over, before I start thinking about cooking more complex meals again, before I even consider turning on the oven again, I wanted to tell you that this summer was the year I finally figured out how to make cacio e pepe, one of my favorite pastas, as good at you’d have in Rome, and we cannot let the summer end until you do too.

Huh? Deb, you wrote about it years ago, in 2011. But the recipe always bothered me, and the reason is written out right in it: authentic cacio e pepe contains only three sauce ingredients: pecorino romano (this is the cacio, the cheese), black pepper (this is the pepe, ground to your desired texture, often toasted first if you’re going for extra flavor), and pasta, plus splashes of the pasta’s hot starchy cooking water to form a sauce. It doesn’t contain oil, butter, cream, flour, cornstarch or any other binders. The trouble begins when you try to merge/coalesce/magic together water and cheese into an emulsified, creamy sauce. Ever tried to mix oil and water? In my kitchen, it goes about as well as you might imagine.

Frustrated in 2011, I added a little cream and butter* to make it work. But I never “finished” the recipe in my mind. Since then, I have tried — this is barely an understatement — every single 3-ingredient technique on the internet and in cookbooks I could track down, I have watched videos completely in Italian to try to glom how they do it, walked into the kitchen, repeated their exact steps, and failed every time. I try about 6 times a year. It’s been 7 years. I never, ever succeed in magic-ing pasta water and cheese into a smooth sauce. The cheese melts before it glues itself to the noodles, cementing itself instead to the pot, the bowl, the tongs, the stuff of dishwashing dread. I imagine this sounds familiar to others.

When someone emailed me (hi, Annie!) earlier this summer and told me about Flavio de Maio’s (of the restaurant Flavio Velavevodetto in Rome) method as shared by tour guide and Roman cooking expert Elizabeth Minchilli on her site, I was fresh off my latest cacio flop and thanked her, but expressed my doubt that this would be This One. That was 2:12pm. At 6:12pm, I sent her a photo of our dinner and told her she’d changed my life, and I hope yours, possibly in the next 20 minutes.

* it was good enough for Batali, so it was good enough for me, I rationalized in 2011; what different times those were

I wrote a thing: I wrote an Op-Ed for the New York Times about a favorite subject — cooking and why it’s terrible and you should never do it. Here’s the link. I hope you read, uh, to the end.

Previously

One year ago: Corn Chowder with Chile, Lime and Cotija Two years ago: Burrata with Lentils and Basil Vinaigrette and Eggplant Parmesan Melts and Even More Perfect Blueberry Muffins Three years ago: Angel Hair Pasta with Raw Tomato Sauce and Crispy Peach Cobbler Four years ago: Smoky Eggplant Dip and Strawberries and Cream with Graham Crumbles Five years ago: Rice-Stuffed Tomatoes and Almond-Crisped Peaches and Key Lime Popsicles Six years ago: Mediterranean Baked Feta with Tomatoes and Leek, Chard, and Corn Flatbread Seven years ago: Zucchini Fritters and Naked Tomato Sauce Eight years ago: Sweet Corn Pancakes, Eggplant Salad Toasts and Perfect Blueberry Muffins Nine years ago: Plum Kuchen, Lighter, Airy Pound Cake, Summer Pea and Roasted Red Pepper Pasta Salad and Lobster Rolls Ten years ago: How to Poach an Egg, Smitten Kitchen-Style, Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake, and Slow-Roasted Tomatoes Eleven years ago: Double Chocolate Torte and Spicy Soba Noodles with Shiitakes

And for the other side of the world: Six Months Ago: Quick, Essential Stovetop Mac-and-Cheese 1.5 Years Ago: Tomato-Glazed Meatloaves with Brown Butter Mashed Potatoes and Pomegranate Grapefruit Paloma 2.5 Years Ago: Belgian Brownie Cakelets and Broccoli Melts 3.5 Years Ago: Pecan Sticky Buns and Perfect Corn Muffins 4.5 Years Ago: Stuck-Pot Rice with Lentils and Yogurt and Dijon and Cognac Beef Stew

Foolproof Cacio e Pepe

Servings: 2 to 3, or to preference

Time: 15 minutes

Source: Flavio de Maio via Elizabeth Minchilli

Here’s the magic of this technique: The recipe sticks to the 3-ingrdient-only premise, but it begins the sauce with cold water, forming the cheese and pepper into a thick, paste-like sauce, without any of the separated, gloppy cheese risk that can happen with pasta cooking water. No heat touches the sauce until it hits the piping hot pasta, so it melts only onto the noodles. At this point, you use spoonfuls of cooking water as needed to loosen it to a thick but lightly creamy consistency. And it works every time, which will I bet will a lot more often after today.

Check out Elizabeth Minchilli’s site for a video of Flavio making it himself with an immersion blender.

The traditional pasta used for cacio e pepe is tonnarelli, sometimes sold as spaghetti alla chittara, a squared-off, slightly thicker spaghetti, but you use what you can get. I’m using standard thickness spaghetti here. The traditional cheese used for cacio e pepe is pecorino romano, a sharp, salty aged sheep’s milk cheese. If you can only get parmesan, it works too, but you’ll probably need to add salt to the sauce. While the recipe below works as written, you’ll probably want to make adjustments to taste, and to the intensity, age, and saltiness of your cheese.

How much is “a lot” of freshly ground black pepper? It’s impossible to measure — too low in grams to register steadily on a scale, too varied in coarseness to measure in consistent measuring spoons, plus peppercorns vary in intensity, and your preference may not be someone else’s. Taste the cheese-pepper mixture. The pepper should be prominent and give it a sparkly kick. If you want more, add more. Remember that this sauce base will stretch over a lot of pasta, so if it tastes too intense, that’s probably correct. For what it’s worth, I counted 46 peppermill grinds on one batch, but I keep mine pretty tight/at a fine grind.

8 ounces dried spaghetti or tonnarelli

4 ounces aged pecorino romano, finely grated

A lot of freshly ground black pepper

Bring a pot of well-salted water to boil. Cook pasta to one minute shy of package instructions and taste for your desired doneness, cooking a minute longer if needed. We are not cooking the pasta and sauce further together on the stove, so the bite it has now is about what your final dish will.

While it’s cooking, combine all the pecorino (except a spoonful for garnish) and lots of freshly ground black pepper in a bowl. Add 1 tablespoon cold water and use an immersion blender to work it into a paste, adding additional cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, only as needed. You want to form the mixture into a paste about the thickness of cream cheese or frosting. I use about 4 to 5 tablespoons total for this amount. Blend more than you think is needed; you want this paste as smooth as you can get it. You can do this same process in a food processor, even grinding the cheese in it instead of grating it first but it will require longer processing to get the rubble-like cheese smooth.

Before the pasta is done, scoop out a cup of hot cooking water and set it aside. Drain the pasta very quickly in a colander (no need to shake every drop of water off) and immediately drop it, piping hot, into a large bowl. Add 3/4 of cheese-pepper paste in dollops and toss to combine. It’s going to be too thick to form a sauce but once it has begun to coat the noodles, pour in one small ladleful of pasta water and toss, toss, toss (a lot of movement helps here) to loosen the paste into a lightly creamy consistency that evenly coats the spaghetti strands. Taste and add more of the cheese-pepper paste to taste, or use it all. Add more pasta water as needed only to loosen.

Finish with reserved pecorino and a few grinds of black pepper. Eat immediately.

Source: https://smittenkitchen.com/2018/09/foolproof-cacio-e-pepe/

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