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cooking using up things around the house
Dec. 7th, 2025 03:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rugessnomeEarly this week I made a kind of turkey pot pie stew from leftover turkey, and served it with biscuit mix biscuits with celery seed added to them (to reflect the crust of my mom's Betty Crocker cookbook's pot pie recipe)
Cooked 1 medium onion, chopped, in roughly 2 T oil with a little salt and more generous black pepper, add 2 T flour and cook for a couple minutes, then added four (and eventually a fifth) cups of water, ultimately about 4 tsp Chicken Better than Bouillon, 2 medium carrots chopped, 2 smallish russet potatoes, diced, 6 oz frozen broccoli cuts (alas, some of the stems were a very bad texture due to being fibrous), and 6 oz frozen peas, and about 1.75c chopped cooked turkey.
I think I added 1/2tsp celery seed to a half batch of biscuit mix biscuits, which was not very strong but did come through somewhat.
Today we baked a cran-apple (walnut-less) cake as seen in *Heart of the Plate* (apparently also in Moosewood Cookbook though? I do not know it that well + have never paid a great deal of attention to the dessert section) and I made a couple Indian dishes for a late lunch since I had bought the mixes on a whim and they had recently passed their best by dates* (Plus I had some clearance mini naans that were getting old so needed eaten up).
Both were Rasoi Magic brand, and the Methi Mutter Malai (methi/fenugreek leaves and peas in a creamy sauce) turned out pretty well, although I think I would prefer to add slightly less sugar to the dish than it has (and am curious to perhaps try making Methi Mutter Malai with fresh methi at some point). I am less pleased with my tofu version of their Paneer Tikka Masala--even though the spicing and the tofu seem a promising combo, how I made it was more frustrating (involving shallow frying tofu cubes and experiencing some sticking), it was too spicy-hot for my mom to eat (which I failed to consider when I bought it), and it told me I should add a "cup" of water at the last step, which turned into a really liquid sauce that did not thicken up within anything like the recommended cooking time...
*anecdote: ...a month or so ago I stopped by the nearest Indian grocery and happened to pick up some sort of dried root that was in the spice section to look at the package, curious if I could glean any information about the unfamiliar item. I discovered, however, instead that it had expired by some earlier month in 2023 (maybe even 2022) so decided to bring that particular package to a staff member's attention. I was told that whatever it was was used medicinally, and that best by dates don't mean a lot (which is true!), but in my defense, I do feel that discovering you'd purchased something over 2 years past its best by date (without even being marked down) would be disappointing to most people. I was fine with using these mixes a month or three after their dates, although I wouldn't want to buy one that expired more than a month ago since I don't always get around to using them very quickly, and these contain nuts and milk powder, both of which tend to go strong. Otherwise I don't totally mind using somewhat older spices/spice mixes though yes, they do lose at least some flavor.
**I actually cooked by the mL quantities since my measuring cups have both and my Indian Saffola oats give a cup quantity of water that does not mesh with the mL recommendation at all. But I do think these were more reasonable approximations even if the mL (in like, centiliter accuracy) is probably what's strictly intended.
Cursory notes on the procedure
Cooked 1 medium onion, chopped, in roughly 2 T oil with a little salt and more generous black pepper, add 2 T flour and cook for a couple minutes, then added four (and eventually a fifth) cups of water, ultimately about 4 tsp Chicken Better than Bouillon, 2 medium carrots chopped, 2 smallish russet potatoes, diced, 6 oz frozen broccoli cuts (alas, some of the stems were a very bad texture due to being fibrous), and 6 oz frozen peas, and about 1.75c chopped cooked turkey.
I think I added 1/2tsp celery seed to a half batch of biscuit mix biscuits, which was not very strong but did come through somewhat.
Today we baked a cran-apple (walnut-less) cake as seen in *Heart of the Plate* (apparently also in Moosewood Cookbook though? I do not know it that well + have never paid a great deal of attention to the dessert section) and I made a couple Indian dishes for a late lunch since I had bought the mixes on a whim and they had recently passed their best by dates* (Plus I had some clearance mini naans that were getting old so needed eaten up).
Both were Rasoi Magic brand, and the Methi Mutter Malai (methi/fenugreek leaves and peas in a creamy sauce) turned out pretty well, although I think I would prefer to add slightly less sugar to the dish than it has (and am curious to perhaps try making Methi Mutter Malai with fresh methi at some point). I am less pleased with my tofu version of their Paneer Tikka Masala--even though the spicing and the tofu seem a promising combo, how I made it was more frustrating (involving shallow frying tofu cubes and experiencing some sticking), it was too spicy-hot for my mom to eat (which I failed to consider when I bought it), and it told me I should add a "cup" of water at the last step, which turned into a really liquid sauce that did not thicken up within anything like the recommended cooking time...
*anecdote: ...a month or so ago I stopped by the nearest Indian grocery and happened to pick up some sort of dried root that was in the spice section to look at the package, curious if I could glean any information about the unfamiliar item. I discovered, however, instead that it had expired by some earlier month in 2023 (maybe even 2022) so decided to bring that particular package to a staff member's attention. I was told that whatever it was was used medicinally, and that best by dates don't mean a lot (which is true!), but in my defense, I do feel that discovering you'd purchased something over 2 years past its best by date (without even being marked down) would be disappointing to most people. I was fine with using these mixes a month or three after their dates, although I wouldn't want to buy one that expired more than a month ago since I don't always get around to using them very quickly, and these contain nuts and milk powder, both of which tend to go strong. Otherwise I don't totally mind using somewhat older spices/spice mixes though yes, they do lose at least some flavor.
**I actually cooked by the mL quantities since my measuring cups have both and my Indian Saffola oats give a cup quantity of water that does not mesh with the mL recommendation at all. But I do think these were more reasonable approximations even if the mL (in like, centiliter accuracy) is probably what's strictly intended.
