Okay. Recipe verdict:

Holy smokes, this was quite possibly the best meal I've made in months. It was so simple to prepare and so full of flavor. It's definitely going into the recipe rotation! I made a garlic mashed potato to go with it.

Yay, liver and bacon is super tasty :D And garlic mash [drool] What's your version of that?

Did Terra eat the liver? I know she'd been unimpressed with it in the past. [ninja]

Pfft, no. She's in a "I'll control what I can control" phase, which usually includes ditching dinner. I'm bummed, as she used to be such an adventurous little eater. Time will bring it back around, but I still get nervous. The food she does eat is at least healthy. She's been asking me to make chili, so we'll see if she actually eats it tomorrow. >:|

For the mash? I tend to just throw whatever together. My mash never turns out the same. Salt, pepper, garlic, butter, and enough milk to smooth it out a bit. Sometimes add in some parsley...

Oh man, I hope she doesn't stay in that phase for long. I know kids do that because it's really the only thing they can assert any control over. But at least what she is eating isn't junk! But do you even have junk in the house?

Sometimes! But she rarely gets it. [ninja] Relatives usually give her candy near holidays, but it rarely gets finished. We've had truffles in the cupboard for over a month now. But, if I bake things like muffins or banana bread, she's always bumming. At least it's better than processed stuff.

I am lucky that, even if she's asserting control over dinners, she'll still run to the fridge for fruit and veg to snack. Or yogurt and cheese.

Should work out just fine then :D

I made an effort to try cooking noodles properly today xD Or something like properly? lol

http://i.imgur.com/MxP5L68.jpg

Let's see what I did here!
This started yesterday! lol! I buy cheap and nasty fresh chickens - the cheapest there is - because funds give me no other choice. I cook it in the slow cooker so it's as tender as possible, but because it's an intensively farmed bird they can lack in flavour. So I tried brining this one, it sat in the slow cooker in the salt water while I was sleeping. This morning I slowly fried some onions with a load of sage and thyme until they were soft and golden and put those in the slow cooker under the chicken, then chicken cooked for 8 hours on low. When it was done I stripped the meat off and put the bones and skin back into the slow cooker, threw in more herbs and spices, topped it up with water and that will give me some nice chicken stock to go into the freezer. =3

The meat I used here was from the wings, as those tend to end up a bit dry so I wanted to use it up first, I just put it to one side with a few big spoonfuls of the cooking liquor out of the slow cooker . This was a super quick thing, cooked the noodles then dumped them in cold water to stop them cooking further. Put the edamame into the water I'd cooked the noodles in, dropped the noodles into a pan with some hot oil, tossed then around a bit them doused them in soy sauce.

Not entirely sure I needed the frying aspect, tempted to try that with butter though! Would add a bit more soy sauce next time too. I really liked the way the noodles ended up tasting. :D Put the noodles in my bowl, put the chicken/cooking juice into the pan (which bubbled up nicely and deglazed the pan) tipped the now cooked edamame in and (over) thickened the liquid with some cornflour. I didn't end up dry though, just not as much sauce as there should have been.

Totally forgot the salt and pepper, too! But I'm pretty happy with how this turned out, and I'll do it again with a better idea of how much of anything to use, etc.

That looks pretty tasty! :o

It wasn't bad :D I'm very glad I made the effort to cook the noodles with more care, because I liked them a whole lot more than I've liked noodles previously. =3

Jelly makes me [drool]
It is so bad of you to show everything and not give us menewshans anything! [ninja]
Today I made an Indian sweet called 'Gulab Jamun' and everyone loved it [boogie] it was my first time frying things too and it turned out good! :D you guys should totally try it out too!

Ha! There's you saying I'm being mean, and then you proceed to start talking about fried desserts!! [illgetu]


[lol]

The only thing my mind now says is: Hide! [ninja]

Mmm, fried desserts. [drool]

Tonight's dinner is one of those quick copouts... pancakes and bacon. >.> I want something fluffy and carby. /shot

I've yet to have any kind of success cooking american pancakes. Something for me to master at some point!

I need to decide what to eat today, chicken would be wise as I have all the meat from the one I cooked yesterday in the fridge! I'd really like risotto, but that's something else I've yet to master, and I don't want to have to stand stirring something either. I do have some parsnips and carrots that I roasted, in the fridge. Those would go nicely with the cooked chicken.

OH! Well, this is not a very conventional combo, but I might make some more cheesey polenta, and have that topped with the chicken and roasted veggies. Hmm, now if I put pesto in the polenta instead of butter that would add some green colour to the meal and break up all that white/yellow/orangeness. Who cares if pesto and roasted root veg is a bit of a strange flavour combo, lol, it's only me eating it!

Though I could just freeze the veggies as I'd intended and fry up tomatoes, garlic and courgette to go with the chicken...yes, I think that's a better idea!

I vote for the yummy polenta, chicken, and roasted veg combo. That sounds fantastic.

Actually, everything you suggested sounds good. The garlic, tomato, and courgette (teehee, zucchini here) sounds tasty, too.

*yawn* I had half an apple with peanut butter for a snack. It's just been one of those days requiring quick and easy. I suppose I should go get the bacon going! The little one is whining of hunger, yet all she's done is eat today. I'm suspecting growth spurt.

Went for the tomato, courgette and garlic option in the end. Vine-ripened tomatoes and they're still tasteless >.> Tomatoes sold in the UK are crap unless you pay through the nose for them, looks like I'm going to have to cave and do just that. : /

Pesto in the polenta works good, anyway! Also I'm glad I bought parmesan rather than that Grana Padano that I bought before. The parmesan's got so much more flavour so that offsets the higher price as I didn't use that much. \o/

http://i.imgur.com/uPK5Fe8.jpg

I am glad I tried using the polenta like this, I really like it.

It's such an awesome dish, often underutilized. It's just so tasty and comforting, isn't it? Plus versatile, depending on what you feel like. Creamy? Add more liquid. Firmer? Less. I do a dish where I stew meat with broth, wine, tomato paste, veg and spices, and often put it on top of polenta squares for serving. So good!

Jelly makes another thing [drool] And I love that polka dot thingy below the plate.. is that the table or a lunchmat or a table cloth or something else? [ninja]

It's one of those disposable table cloths, that I use to cover my crappy desk. [ninja] Once it gets dirty I throw it out and cut another section to use, but it lasts a good long time. I think I've got enough for another 2, maybe 3 lots. They I'll go to the supermarket and see what versions they have available at the time. I'm really hoping they'll have this one again though, as it's really cute. =3

Chi, do you make your polenta with water, or what? I've only made it with half milk/half water, because that's what the recipe I found online said. [ninja] But since looking further afield I see people making it with just water, which I'd rather do if it's still tasty. I might try adding a stock cube/bouillon to it, see how that turns out.

I've used just water before. It came out bland, but I remember tasting it then adding Parmesan cheese and a splash of cream. The last time I made it I went back to the half milk/half water implementation, and I preferred the taste. I think if it was made with a stock (or tossing in a bullion, pretty much the same idea!), it would be tasty. I was thinking about making the thick polenta, putting it into a pan for molding, and then cutting it into small cubes to pan fry with veg and protein. Like a hash, sort of, probably omitting potato and having polenta in its place.

I keep wondering about the breakfast type implementations of polenta... I need to be adventurous! I'm not big on breakfasts though. I've been fighting to eat them lately, and when I do it's usually eggs with something.

Tonight I took a chuck steak, cubed it up, and after browning it, just made a gravy with onions and garlic. Terra ate a huge bowl of that over rice with corn. Me? I had coffee. I'm not up for eating this early!

Is Terra getting over her food control issues then?

What are the breakfast methods with polenta? :O

I wish I had the funds to buy meat, the only beef I ever buy is ground stuff, so I have basically zero experience with cooking red meat. When I lived with my ex I used to get this twin pack of peppered steaks with garlic butter, they were only cheap, but I'd study all the packs and pick ones with a trace of marbling. They were nice, and of course the smell was to die for! But I've not bought any cuts of red meat for over 10 years.

Here's today's gastronomic extravaganza, lol. I experimented with the polenta with water with a beef stock cube crumbled into it, and some sage. It looked gross but it was tasty. Gonna be with the amount of salt that's in stock cubes xD Used the last cheap and nasty chicken breast steak thing, one of those things with hardly any chicken it them never buying them again, and fried a load of white cabbage for my veg, in butter because who cares about health, lol.
http://i.imgur.com/RspxC14.jpg
I think I'll only make polenta with water if a whole bunch of flavour's added, the milk does add to the texture, doesn't it. Would be better to make it with plain water and add the flavours once it was done absorbing the water, wouldn't it, so the polenta itself didn't just eat all the flavour like rice and pasta does.

Have you tried buying frozen meat, Jelly? I have no personal experience with it, being vegetarian, but I hear buying bags of frozen chicken breasts and the like is much more economical, if you can afford the initial investment. My parents bulk up on non-frozen during good sales and then freeze it, so there's that too.

By the way, I'm not sure if you've seen me share this stuff on tumblr, but you should check out No More Ramen. It's designed with people who have mental/physical disabilities and/or a low budget in mind, so everything is very easy, quick, and cheap. Of course those who are able-bodied/minded and with plenty of cash can benefit from the recipes too. Some of the recipes are better than others, as they're all user-submitted, but I've made some off it and been quite happy with them and have added them to my rotation. There are also some general principles I've adapted - like chopping up fresh veggies and freezing them for easy use later, which somehow never occurred to me before.

Frozen meat is always poorer quality though. Don't forget I worked in a chicken factory for 20 years, so I know that the stuff that goes into frozen is partly what's not good enough to be sold fresh.

Meat quality is a big thing for me, I don't want to spend money on meat for it to be disappointing, another reason why I don't buy cuts of meat. I'd need to spend way more than I wanted to to get the better standard of meat. The main reason I've started buying a whole chicken is because it's going to be tender. Animals that are stunned before slaughter; their muscles tense when they're stunned, it takes hours for the meat to relax again, if it's filleted in that time it's going to be tough and chewy. Getting a whole bird takes away that risk.

Chickens, I know where I am with them because of 2 decades of industry knowledge, I'm just at a loss with other meats ><

Joy the Baker – Breakfast Polenta: Two Ways

I think there's a pile of recipes out there, but this is just one example. And come to think of it, I forgot I once had a soft egg on top of leftover polenta squares, and it was tasty that way, too!

Her food issues are still there, but I work around them. One of the many examples? She's eaten onions and garlic since 9 months. Only now is she saying she doesn't like them. Last night's dish, that she devoured, was loaded with both. She says it on principle, because she's three. [lol] When I pointed out that she ate them happily last night, she looked confused and just said, "...Oh." I think if she had the choice, she'd live on meat and fruit. I guess that's better than macaroni and cheese and hot dogs, right? She dislikes those, actually.

With beef, we have a solid source. We buy grass fed beef from a local (ish... 3 hours away) source, but we have yet to be able to afford the organic. Some day:

Herring Brothers, Herring Brothers Meats, Maine Game Processing, Wicked Good Beef Jerky, Maine Meat Processing, Maine Slaughterhouse, Maine Beef Pork Goats Lambs, Maine Hickory Smoked

Actually, we just placed an order for an entire cow, to be split among the family. They will dry age the beef for three or so weeks, then vacuum seal and flash freeze. The quality doesn't compare to the crap in our grocery stores here. The price is the same, too. I'm not sure how bad prices are in the UK, but ground beef isn't under $3/lb here anymore. It evens out that we get select cuts of steak for a bit over $3/lb, and years ago it was much less in cost. There are different prices everywhere, but where I live? No.

Anyhow, that's the beef we've been using for 4-5 years now. It's excellent. How bad are beef prices there in comparison to chicken?

We need a good source for chicken. I want to find something not loaded with hormones, antibiotics, and all that mess. I need to get off my butt and just go visit the local health shop, as I'm pretty sure they know where to get it from a good source. The only other option I've seen is some ridiculous $10/lb from a farm. Can't do that. Who could? :s

I'm jealous of your meat buying options! For me it's basically the supermarket or nothing as I'm not able to get out and shop myself. And while there's one butcher in town still, for someone with no meat buying experience, that would be very daunting. D: Maybe one day! One of the reasons why I don't buy that much red meat is not wanting to get that hormone-pumped farmed stuff, same as you. Buying the supermarket's best quality stuff when it's on offer is the best option, but I don't have the money for that. So I tend to stick to doing what I can (brining,slow-cooking) to get the best from a cheap chicken!

The whole bird that I get is £2.48/kg
The free range corn fed one is £5/kg
The organic one is £6.50/kg

Last time I bought ground beef I got a bigger pack as that was cheaper per/kg, and froze half of it. But I'd really like to buy the meat and chop it up myself. The everyday value joint is the same price/kg as the "normal" ground beef. (£5.75/kg) By normal I mean not the value version, and not the ground steak version. That joint is going to be better quality just because it's a joint, but it's still the value range so absolutely going to be the intensively farmed/drug-laden stuff.

Brisket is £7 or £8/kg
Eeverything else is more. Oh, apart from this joint which is half price at the moment.
Counter Tesco British Roasting Joint - Groceries - Tesco Groceries

Do I get some of that, decisions! Oh, that offer ends before my next delivery, that makes that decision for me then! [lol] I do think this is the way forward for me though.

---

I had salad today, how healthy of me! I feel so virtuous now that I want to bake cakes. [lol]
http://i.imgur.com/t2gg1vN.jpg