Keltin's Random Cooking

Mama

Queen of Cornbread
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Oh wow! That looks really kewl! You're gonna have a lot of fun with that!
 

Keltin

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Neat! What does the star and crescent moon symbolize on the lid?

I asked the same thing!!! :yum:

It's the symbol of Islam. The predominant religion in Magdi’s African hometown is Muslim.

What really interested me is that he drinks Chai which is typically an Indian drink. But he says it is very popular in Sudan. Fascinating!
 

buckytom

Grill Master
islam was my guess as well.

or it's for crescent rolls. one or the other. :tiphat:


lol, j/k.

great read, keltin. thanks. your enthusiasm for your friends and their cultures is addictive.

i had a similar experience when i was in high school and my sister had just married a west point grad. his first deployment was to northern africa. when he returned, he stayed at our house while on leave, and brought with him an officer from the sudan that he was training.

the guy was fascinating, regaling us with stories of far off and mysterious africa at dinner every night.

just before they left, the sudanese gentleman/officer gave my parents a fancy, hand made brass serving platter adorned with arabic writing and symbols of islam.

my parents' still proudly display it in their living room to this day.
 

Keltin

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islam was my guess as well.

or it's for crescent rolls. one or the other. :tiphat:


lol, j/k.

great read, keltin. thanks. your enthusiasm for your friends and their cultures is addictive.

i had a similar experience when i was in high school and my sister had just married a west point grad. his first deployment was to northern africa. when he returned, he stayed at our house while on leave, and brought with him an officer from the sudan that he was training.

the guy was fascinating, regaling us with stories of far off and mysterious africa at dinner every night.

just before they left, the sudanese gentleman/officer gave my parents a fancy, hand made brass serving platter adorned with arabic writing and symbols of islam.

my parents' still proudly display it in their living room to this day.


That's an awesome story BT! If you ever get the chance, I'd LOVE to see pics of that serving plate. Awesome!
 

BamsBBQ

Ni pedo
Site Supporter
looks great brother... looks like something i could and would make in the near future.... i like cooking with peaches,apricots,apricots and peaches...hey its all good..lol

Spatchcocked & Grilled Cornish Hen with a Peach Preserve glaze.

The glaze is made from:

1 jar Peach Preserves
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup White Wine
2 Tbsp Soy Sauce

Mix all in a pan and cook over medium heat for 15 minutes. Set aside covered.

Grill Cornish hen for 10 minutes bone side down, flip and grill 10 minutes skin side down, flip and slather on the sauce and grill for 10 minutes.

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mhend

New member
That pot is just awesome!! How special to have something authentic from a far away place like that. Very cool.
 

Keltin

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Using the new Bread Machine, I made an Italian Herb Loaf tonight. It has Basil, Parmesan Cheese, Parsley, Onion Flakes, and Garlic Powder in it. Worked out wonderfully. Smells just like Subway bread! Interesting.

It’s great with tomato sauce and melted cheese on top. Also makes a mean garlic bread.
 

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Keltin

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That looks really good, Keltin - I can almost smell it.

Thanks Karen. I can already see I'm going to get a LOT of use from this Bread Machine! The 2lb loaf it makes is the perfect size for the 2 of us, and we've already got plans to gift some loaves. Loving it!
 

Sass Muffin

Coffee Queen ☕🌎🦋
Gold Site Supporter
It's been a while since I've looked in this thread Keltin.
That chicken, the spatchcocked birdie is a thing of beauty, and I am loving the fun you are having with the bread machine.
Nice little loaves and they look perfect. ;)
 

UncleRalph

Quo Fata Ferunt
Site Supporter
wow, I had a lot of catching up to do in this thread, but hot dam it was worth it!

I gotta add, those hens on the top of this page are out of sight, thanks. I am gonna be adding that to my "things I saw on the net and need to try" list.
 

Keltin

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Mad another Basic White Loaf. This one turned out exceptionally well. Better than the last. As they say, Baking is more a Science than art. Not sure what I did this time around, but I was very anal and exacting on measurements this time. Either way, this loaf turned our perfectly. Makes the best sandwiches and toast.

Also took 16oz of heavy cream and turned it into butter using my new smallish 4 cup food processor. This unit (a Christmas present) is a joy to use. Small foot print, powerful, and easy to clean. It made the butter in record time and clean up was a snap.

For more on making your own butter, check this thread:

http://www.netcookingtalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16476

Once the butter was made, I had to try it out for a little garlic toast on the fresh bread.

Interesting, everything in this post was homemade except the garlic! :biggrin:
 

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MexicoKaren

Joyfully Retired
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Wow, Keltin - your bread looks perfect and I love your little FP. I have a small one as well - I should try making some butter in it. Gotta love that home made butter!
 

QSis

Grill Master
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Keltin, what did you think of the flavor of the bread and the butter?

I bet you swooned!!!

Lee
 

Cooksie

Well-known member
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Your bread looks great, Keltin. I haven't used my bread machine in eons. Maybe today I will pull it out. I do so love that smell of baking bread.
 

Keltin

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I ordered a manual (hand crank) meat grinder and pasta maker from Amazon. It came in today, so let the maiden voyage commence!

For this first run, I opted for ground beef, chuck to be exact. I cut it into cubes and removed any large pieces of fat and tough connective tissue I found.

Once cubed, it was time to grind. Let me tell you, this little beauty does a marvelous job of grinding the meat. I kept the hopper full and pressed down with my hands while grinding. But for safety, at the end, I used a wooden spatula to press the meat into the screw for those last few pieces.

I’m very impressed. This thing works like a dream, and the meat’s texture is amazing. It’s the best ground meat I’ve ever seen.

I made 2 burgers for grilling, a third smaller burger for Cricket (hey, he’s got to eat too), and used the rest of the meat for my vegetable soup recipe.

Everything is in the works now, but I have browned the ground meat so far, and it browns beautifully with very little fat left in the pan. So little that I didn’t even drain the meat and instead dumped it straight to the crock pot with the rest of the ingredients for the soup.

I’ll update later with finished pics of the cooked food.

To Be Continued.


Oh, one other thing, this unit comes with 3 pasta attachments, a sausage making attachement, two grind attachments (medium and coarse - I used medium tonight for this meat). So, I see fresh made pasta and even sausage in the future, and this unit only cost 29.99 at Amazon with free shipping.
 

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MexicoKaren

Joyfully Retired
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Wow, nice hamburger! I NEED one of those. The hamburger we buy here is so lean and ground so fine that it ends up like sawdust. Yours looks just perfect.
 

Keltin

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Wow, nice hamburger! I NEED one of those. The hamburger we buy here is so lean and ground so fine that it ends up like sawdust. Yours looks just perfect.


Thanks. I'm thinkng I may not buy ground meat for a while and will instead go for whole cuts and grind and freeze my own. I'm interested to see how well this freezes and then cooks up. I can only imagine it will be better than regular frozen ground (in theory and hopefully).

Food is such an adventure! Love it!
 

MexicoKaren

Joyfully Retired
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I'm going north in April...will order stuff online, send it to the friend I'm staying with, and bring it home with me! I was taking a gander at Amazon's meat grinders. Sounds like that's a good buy. I'll be watching to see how it holds up - so use it ALOT, OK?
 

Keltin

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I'm going north in April...will order stuff online, send it to the friend I'm staying with, and bring it home with me! I was taking a gander at Amazon's meat grinders. Sounds like that's a good buy. I'll be watching to see how it holds up - so use it ALOT, OK?

For you, of course! I'll now be flooding NCT with my grindings! But as I said, food is an adventure! Get ready everyone!!! :yum:
 

Sass Muffin

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Did you take any pictures of the vegetable soup and the burgers you made?
That's a nifty little gadget Keltin.
 

Keltin

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Did you take any pictures of the vegetable soup and the burgers you made?
That's a nifty little gadget Keltin.

Actually, I only managed a shot of the burgers fresh off the grill, but not made and fully dressed. We still have some soup left, so I might snag a pic of that later.

Here are the burgers right off the grill. They were very good, and DW even remarked this meat is way above and beyond store bought ground beef.

 

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Keltin

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Ok, tonight I decided to grind up some pork and more beef. Specifically, I wanted a beef and pork mixture for some meatballs I’m going to make a little later tonight.

I started with another chuck roast and a Boston Butt. I ended up with:

1.5 lbs Ground Beef & Pork Mix
1.25 lbs Ground Beef
2.0 lbs Ground Pork

The mix is in the fridge waiting to be used. The ground beef and pork got put into vacuum Ziploc bags and stuck in the freezer.

Again, this little grinder performed like a champ! Did the job well, and cleaned up in no time. Heck, it actually takes longer to cut and clean (remove extra fat and connective tissue) than it does to grind it all.

I think next time I may just grind all of a chuck roast. Every bit with no “clean up”. A Boston Butt though…..man there is a LOT of fat on that thing, so I think I’ll always trim it before grinding.
 

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