Okra

Cook all of the okra because it shrinks like crazy
Don't overcook!

Air fryer 425 for 20 min (30 min too much and I left it in after turning oven off)

Pork chops

Eric was craving a pork chop since we had breakfast with Kristen and her family at Toasted Yolk.  He had wanted to order the pork chop, but got french toast instead and regretted his decision.

I think cooking pork chops is very similar to cooking steak except I turned the heat off the stove, added the butter and herbs and basted - cooking the steaks for another couple of minutes on either side with the heat off.

I was so surprised at how good it tasted. toot toot.

Ingredients:

1. THICK cut bone in pork chops

2. avocado oil

3. butter

4. herbs

Instructions:

1. Take pork chops out of the fridge, pat dry, and season on both sides with salt. Sit for 30 min.

2. Heat up pan and add avocado oil

3. Cook pork chop for 4 min, flip and cook for another 4 min and add garlic powder/onion powder or whatever spices you wanted to add.

4. Sear sides

5. Turn stove off and add butter and herbs and baste for about 1 min each side

Black Beans in Instant Pot

114 g of beans
2 cups of water 

45 minutes + 30 min release (forgot about it) - see how it is with less time on the release

Roasted Garlic and Lemon Cashew Pasta

Recipe taken from ourbalancedbowl.com and plantedinthekitchen.com

I started out with the former, but definitely needed to add other ingredients. I didn't measure either. I feel I made a basic recipe, and Eric said it needed more "oomph." He added basil and roasted pine nuts that he said made it much better.

I think cashew sauce would make a good substitute for anything that says heavy cream.

The sauce blended made a little over 2 cups of sauce, so probably could use less cashew.

Served with onions, mushrooms, broccoli, bell pepper. I cooked the onion and mushrooms separately.  Added the broccoli and bell pepper last to pan and then added the cashew sauce to the pan.

Ingredients:

-1.5 cups of cashews (maybe a little less)

-1.5 cups of water (I used 1 cup and would consider using bone broth for more flavor or reserved pasta water)

-1 head of garlic (used 1, but needed 2) - roasted in oven / maybe try raw garlic?

-1 TBSP olive oil

-1 tsp salt (probably used more)

-1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (I used 1 small habanero cooked on stove and was perfect amount of heat)

-1 TBSP nutritional yeast (I used less because I was afraid Eric wouldn't like it, but it was pretty neutral flavor)

-2 TBSP lemon juice (I used half a lemon for the sauce and half lemon to marinate chicken with lemon zest and it was perfect amount of lemon)

-1/2 cup of oat milk (didn't use)

Directions:

1. Soak cashews in water for 2-4 hrs (or 30 min with boiling water)

2. Roast garlic in oven - with olive oil in foil for 50 minutes at 400 F

3. Heat up habanero in pan until char

3. Blend cashews, garlic, half lemon, salt, nutritional yeast, habanero - set aside

Chickpeas in Instant Pot

113 g chickpeas
2 cups of water

1 hour perfect

Stuffed Poblano Peppers

Recipe taken from Chili Pepper Madness

Grew some poblanos in the garden. They were really good peppers! They were small, so just the filling on top, so next time, just cut it in large chunks as part of the meal. You do need to roast for 15 min in oven before hand. I didn't do it this time, but would roast the zucchini and bell pepper in there, too, with the poblanos.

Ingredients:

-poblano peppers

-1 small yellow onion, chopped

-1 jalapeno peppers, chopped

-5 cloves garlic, chopped --> I used whole bulb

-1/2 lb ground beef --> I used 2 lbs ground turkey

-black beans - cooked 1/4 bag

-corn - used like half a bag of frozen corn

-14.5 oz fire roasted tomatoes --> I used fresh tomatoes from garden

-1 TBSP chili powder

-1 tsp dried oregano

-1/2 tsp ground cumin

-salt

-pepper

-VEGGIES: cooked 1 green BP, 1 zucchini, + fresh 1 small white onion

Directions

1. Cut and scoop out poblano peppers + cut zucchini and bell pepper

2. Bake veggies in oven 425 for 15 min

3. Cook hot peppers and onions --> garlic

4. Add ground meat

5. Add beans, tomatoes, corn, seasonings (left out rice because cooked Spanish rice in cooker)

6. Served with Spanish rice, chopped white onion, cilantro, avocado, grated mozzarella 

Korean Beef Bulgogi

Recipe taken from Damndelicious.net

I cooked this 2-3 weeks ago, so don't remember all the details.

I used 1 thing of boneless rib eye steak (don't remember the poundage) and chicken.  

Didn't use the prime rib as it was very expensive and since marinating the meat....

Doubled the recipe (except for the brown sugar) for the extra meat, since also using the chicken for my lunches.

Marinated steak and chicken together so was a bit of a pain to separate to cook steak separate.

Ingredients:

-1.5 lbs boneless rib eye steak (+1.5 lbs chicken)

-1 small pear - peeled and coarsely grated (cuinsarted)

-1/2 cup reduced sodium soy sauce (probably could have used a little less)

-2 TBSP brown sugar (orig was 4)

-4 TBSP sesame oil (probably used less)

-6 cloves garlic, minced

-2 TBSP freshly grated ginger

-2 TBSP gochujang, Korean red pepper paste (just used the spice)

Veggies: broccoli, yellow onion, bell pepper, and zucchini

Garnish: green onions, toasted sesame seeds

Directions:

1. Freeze steak for 30 min. Slice across the grain into 1/4 inch thick slices

2. Combine pear, soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, and gochujang --> marinate meat

3. Grill steak 2 min per side

4. Cook chicken and set aside

5. Cook veggies in pan briefly and add the juice from the chicken into pan to cook with veg

6. Garnish green onions and toasted sesame seeds