And yes, I enhanced the colors, but the design is breathtaking.
I was waiting by the exit door when I happened to look up .. .. .. this is what I saw, only in more subdued colors. I loved these colors more and my computer agreed with me, so we fulfilled our wishes.
Poached egg, sprinkled with rosemary, White Cheddar and Alfredo sauce with added bacon bits, cinnamon apple slices, and toasted breadsticks for dipping into the soft egg yolk.
Had lunch today at Olive Garden with long-time RV buddies. Ordered the shrimp scampi appetizer. It was HUGE. I nibbled away at it while we caught up, and brought the rest home, where I nibbled a bit more on it.
So many shrimp!
There was still a lot left, so I made my dinner out of it, adding olives, red pepper strips, and some Alfredo sauce. Then put it over a pile of multi-colored spiral pastas, and accompanied that with green beans, and a tangerine.
I have been wanting to try some more ambitious sauces, so got a couple of tiny bottles (2 ounces) of a variety of Melinda’s – this is Thai Sweet Chili Sauce. I’m not much on hot sauces, but this was just right, so I liberally doused the shrimpy pasta with it. Very nice!
It was very good. My own additions make the whole thing seem like a new meal instead of just leftovers on a plate.
Believe it or not – that is ONE egg, plus the mushrooms, a splash of milk and about two teaspoons of flour. I used up the last of my scallions last night, or I would have added them with the mushrooms. It just kept getting bigger and bigger as it cooked. The rising quiche pushed the top up off the unit, but since the top heats up too, it just kept rising.
I couldn’t get all of the egg mixture into the bottom part, so just kept it aside. After I took everything out, I put in the small bit of leftover mixture, and that made the little topknot on the “flower” in the photo.
This whole thing was soooo good!
Next time I will try it in the small square “egg bite” gizmo. But this was primo.
Slowly slipping back into the groove. This was always a special day with special goodies.
As usual, my eyes and fingers were bigger than my stomach, so there is quite a lot left over.
Going around from upper left:
Strawberries and blueberries, Brie cheese, smoked salmon, polenta with roasted red pepper bruschetta, grilled red and yellow tiny pepper rings, and the ever popular poached egg.
Clean up involved washing only the dishes that you see. I had “baked” the polenta and egg dishes in my Cuisinart Oven Central in the metal dishes shown, with the peppers grilling alongside on a piece of parchment paper.
DASH does it again! Leftover DASH waffle topped with a nice layer of shredded Cheddar cheese, and then heated. A gently steam/fried, jammy-yolked egg found its way to the party. Seasoning is Tony Chachere’s Original Creole Seasoning. At the table, I added a bit of celery salt. Ah, just right.
While waiting for Spring to show up, I’m experimenting with tools/toys/foods.
Here’s what I did this morning with a five-inch tiny frying pan and a hot plate.
That’s Swiss cheese on the buttered and griddled toast. The green stuff on the egg is Fox Point Seasoning from Penzey’s. It needed no other seasoning. This was heavenly!
Not quite dinnertime, but I needed a snack. A quick rummage in the refrigerator produced the Pub Cheese that you have already met, and a container of plain hummus.
I’m sure you’ll get the picture.
I was starting some vegetable noodle soup, and the idea to make some carrot sticks to dip into the combination took hold.
So I did. And it was delicious, nutritious, and made me feel ambitious!
While it rained and rained, I experimented in the kitchen with my stable of DASH appliances.
Here’s what I did two days ago.
I used two different DASH appliances for this quickie breakfast – the Griddle did the English Muffin proud, and the Pie Maker knows what to do with an egg to make it perfectly poached.
The stuff on top of the egg that looks like sand is a Penzey’s spice called Rocky Mountain, and contains bell pepper, Parmesan, salt, sesame and poppy seeds, shallots, and green peppercorns.
This has been a surprisingly versatile seasoning, and since there is only about half an inch left in the bottom of the jar, it looks like a reorder may be in order! ;->
I utilized the coffee filter trick again, this time on a foam plate. This serves two purposes – no soggy English muffin, and no dish washing. The foam plate survived unscathed and is ready to go back on duty at a moment’s notice.
Believe it or not, I had never tried Pub Cheese before, but I jumped in head first tonight. For those of you laughing at me, I can take it because it was just wonderfully delicious. This batch had HORSERADISH in it. I was skeptical at first, but needn’t have been. It was really delicious.
PUB CHEESE with horseradish
The cheese blobs look skimpy because I thought that half of this mélange would be sufficient for my dinner tonight since I had been snacking all afternoon. But nooooo; I ate THE WHOLE THING!
Other ingredients that provided the platform for this wondrous dish were diced cooked potatoes, red and green bell peppers, mushrooms, scallions, yellow squash, and ham bits. Next time I will add carrots for additional color appeal.
With careful attention to the chicken, I was able to sauté it to perfection without using a coating, or overcooking it. I was happily surprised at the outer “crust”. Maybe it was the induction burner, but this is the first success of this magnitude!
They cutlets were joined by the last of the fettuccini, steamed broccoli, and my usual mélange of mushrooms, peppers, and scallions. For extra interest, I sprinkled some sesame seeds all over everything, and made an impromptu sauce of mayo, lemon juice, mustard and horseradish. Sounds pretty tart, but it was just right for complementing the chicken breast cutlets.
After the picture, but before dining, I sprinkled on some coconut aminos, and toasted sesame oil.
I tend to forget how really tasty these big shrimpies are. I have found that the larger ones, with the shells ON, tend to be more satisfying than the ones that have had the shells removed before packaging.
What you see is my old standby stir-fry mixture of baby peppers, mushrooms, lacinato, and scallions getting cozy with a serving of fettuccini. I had some broccoli – not sure why it didn’t join the party.
I ate only half of the shrimp, and there was a little less than half of the veggies/fettuccini mixture left. I feel a very fancy omelette lurking in my future!
Today’s lunch is brought to you (and to me!) by the DASH eight-inch Express Griddle appliance.
First, I preheated and slightly crisped two tortillas. Then I sautéed some freshly cut-up yellow pepper and leftover cooked cauliflower bits, and set them aside. When the grill had reheated, I put one of the tiny tortillas on it, added a light layer of hot pepper cheese, the pepper and cauliflower, and topped it with a thin slice of deli ham.
Adding the other slightly crisped tortilla made a lovely-looking quesadilla that was just the right amount of crunch. It held together nicely because of the cheese, and eating it was a delight in flavors and crispy!
The Cole slaw is simplicity itself. I have found that the deli Cole slaw is way too soupy for me, so I use it in place of Cole slaw dressing with my own thinly sliced raw cabbage. The ratio is about three or four parts fresh cabbage shreds to one part of the commercial slaw.
This makes having a healthful side dish very simple and without a bazillion calories.
Hint: This combination of cabbage and commercial slaw makes a great “spread” on just about any sandwich that you would like to have a bit more moisture, but not a big blob of straight mayonnaise.
And wait until you see my dessert! (Tomorrow or the next day.)
Cooking for one is a whole new experience for me. The fun part is figuring out delicious things to eat utilizing the items already in the refrigerator from prior meals.
Tonight I had leftover thick Cream of Mushroom/Onion/Potato soup (yes, homemade) to work with. So I boiled up some Buitoni Tortellini and sauced it with the soup, and added in a few shreds of salami to point up the Italian influence.
That pretty, dark green leafy stuff is Lacinato, also called Black Kale. It is mild – more like spinach than kale. It melts down a bit when cooked, but nothing like the disappearing act that spinach does when cooked!
I sprinkled some Smoked Paprika on the tortellini, and some French Thyme on the mushrooms.
Without my trusty taster at hand to encourage me, to smack his lips in pure joy, and mostly to eat up the results, I am finding that I don’t have enough of an outlet for the food to really support a whole food blog.
So I will share my experiments here, and show you the fun things that I am doing with the tiny DASH products, the new-fangled portable power stations, and whatever else crosses my path.
I’m using the smaller DASH units while plugged into my small Bluetti power station that I keep on the kitchen counter – just for these experiments. I plan to get an expanded power station to accommodate the larger requirements for some of the other countertop cooking units.
The power station handily runs my six-cup Black + Decker Rice Cooker, which I use every morning to make my cooked Bob’s Red Mill Five Grain cereal.
From earlier experiments, I have found that this unit does an admirable job at producing two portions of rice in the main compartment, whilst saving room for a generous portion of vegetables and/or warming up other leftovers, or steaming a smallish piece of fish in the perforated steaming tray that nestles in to share the main compartment.
Right now it seems to be Bleu Cheese that is holding my attention. Today’s combination turned out to be very good, and I will make it again in the future.
See below for narrative.
Ingredients: Use whatever amounts appeal to your particular taste.
I am just getting to know mayonnaise. My mother always used Miracle Whip, and when I got out on my own, I made my own mayonnaise, so the jarred variety is all new to me. It has a different consistency than what I made, but I like it, and it blends well with other ingredients.
In this case, it is a scoop of mayo, a scoop of Bleu Cheese, and a scoop of sour cream – in just about equal parts. Adjust to suit your own proclivities.
After these three main ingredients were mixed together and tasted, I contemplated additions, tasted again, and came up with a perceived need for lemon juice, Italian Seasoning from Simple Truth, and Greek Seasoning from Penzey’s.
Before the salad, I had slurped a small bowl of leftover burger, cabbage, and chopped tomato soup. And after, I had some of my famous healthy chocolate pudding.
I think I will try out the rice cooker to see how it does with simmering spaghetti sauce.
The invitation is out for your suggestions as to dishes, or entire meals, that you think might be done easily in one of the DASH units, or in the rice cooker. I’m always up for a good experiment!
Also, anyone with experience with the portable power generators? I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to comment below on any aspect that you think would be of interest here. Let’s share our knowledge! ;->
Adventures of Dorrie Anne 
