JGE 16 - Shrimp and Pineapple Salad

Good Day,

I did not want to spend too much time in the kitchen, especially as all six of The Pack were underfoot and clammering, grunting, groaning, and yapping to be fed. I needed to do something easy, and I had a craving for a simple shrimp salad.

Well after getting The Pack all fed and settled, I checked the freezer and found a bag of already opened frozen Salad Shrimp. But at this late time in the afternoon I did not want to run the frozen shrimp under water since already cooked frozen shrimp fast thawed in water tastes just like that, "water". I did not want to heat up the shrimp but thought what if I did a type of sous-vide process to the frozen shrimp with tap water. I thought that I would be able to fast-speed thaw out the shrimp and make sure that they did not taste aqua-bound.

I filled a plastic sandwich bag with enough shrimp for my proposed salad and then sealed the bag, trying to squeeze out as much of the air as possible. I placed the "almost vacuum sealed" frozen shrimp bag in a large bowl and filled the bowl with room temperature water. I then placed a weight on top of the bag of shrimp to keep it completely submerged. Believe it or not this really worked and the shrimp tasted close to fine.

In the pantry I decided that whatever I first saw I would use. I spotted a can of Chick Peas and a can of Pineapple Tidbits. In the refrigerator I found a recently opened bag of Baby Spinach and a Tomato in the vegetable drawer. I next grabbed an Onion and my last remaining, (there's still more on the bushes outside), Scotch Bonnet.

All the ingredients assembled, I then thought that I would like to, which I normally do, make my own salad dressing. I do not think that I have bought a packaged or bottled salad dressing in a good number of years. Okay, Olive Oil, Lime Juice, Basil Leaves, Smoked Paprika, and Salt. Whisked and done.

The Pack was ready next for their early evening walk. Out we went; leashed canines for a quick mile walk around the block.

Upon return to the house, I began the composition of my Shrimp and Pineapple with Chick Peas on Baby Spinach Salad. I prepared my "mise en place". I added some chopped tomato and sliced onion to the chopped Scotch Bonnet, the drained Chick Peas and the drained Pineapple Tidbits. I drained the Shrimp and tossed them into the bowl with the other ingredients.

I next added the made dressing, folded the ingredients, and placed the Shrimp Salad in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.

To prepare my dinner I put a handful of Baby Spinach on the plate and added a couple of large spoonfuls of the Salad on top. There were some Swiss and Parsley, Garlic Biscuits I had made for our previous night's supper...and viola. Shrimp and Pineapple with Chick Peas, Tomato, Onion and Spinach Salad.

Oh, and by the way, there was none left...

Enjoy,

Jim

JGE 11 - Quick and Easy Ground Beef and Sweet Potato Supper

Good Day,

This day I didn't want to spend too much time in the kitchen nor did I want to spend an excessive amount of time at the stove. I just wanted to make something quick, good, and easy.  I figured that I would from the gathering of the ingredients to the sit-down-to-eat take about one hour.

Max always sits patiently for me to drop some morsel.  Please some more...

Today's ingredients... Ground beef in the freezer, sweet potatoes and onion on the butcher block, broccoli and baby spinach in the crisper, and Jasmine rice in the pantry. Also to add - garlic, salt and pepper, cornstarch and water.  Ground beef was thawed earlier. I peeled and cubed the sweet potatoes and chopped the onion and garlic.

No, this is not a baby bottle sterilizer, even though I think those contraptions went by the wayside many, many moons ago.

This is my steamer gizmo. It has three individual layers and compartments. For this meal I only needed two of the layered compartments; one for the rice and one for the broccoli.

While the rice and the broccoli were steaming I cooked the ground beef, the onion, the sweet potatoes with the garlic, salt and pepper.  I added the mixture of cornstarch and water and then the baby spinach. The only thing I had to do after preparing my ingredients was to make sure that I timed the starts and cooking of each.

Everything done and cooked, we ate in one hour.

And I enjoyed,

Jim