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Super Simple Beef Kabobs

11/20/2021

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I recently found Allegro Marinade at my local grocery store and decided to try it out (it's Gluten Free).  The stuff is awesome (on my second bottle), and works great on Kabobs (and steaks too I'd assume).  It's fun to make my own marinades, but this has just a few ingredients, and I can't beat this for flavor and simplicity, so is gonna be my go-to marinade from now on (if I can get it).

To make the kabobs, I just freeze the steaks about an hour so it firms up, then trim and cube it up (they are much easier to trim when partly frozen).  Then the steak (this was 3 medium size sirloins about a pound and a half), goes in a pyrex dish with a third a bottle of the marinade (or enough to cover them half way) for 2-4 hours in the fridge to marinate.  The cubes should be turned once during that time if possible, but sometimes I forget and they still turn out fine.  Then when I start to prep the veggies, I take the steak out of the fridge so it's not so cold before it goes in the oven.  It also helps to soak some bamboo skewers in water for about 10-30minutes prior to starting to assemble the kabobs.  I use a roughly cut up red onion, a green and red bell pepper and a medium zucchini (or whatever veggies are around and can grill well).  Before everything goes into the air fryer, I give the veggies a spray with some olive oil on the top and bottom sides.

After that I just air fry it for 375°F for about 12 minutes (or until they are at least 140 to 160°F inside for medium to well done).  Very simple and easy clean up meal which can make a couple of sirloin steaks feed several people.  I usually make this with Zatarains Yellow Rice and if I have time will add a cucumber salad (with some Feta Cheese sprinkled on top).

The cornbread muffins are also Gluten Free and are the best I have tried (Simple Truth Organic Cornbread Mix), I pretty much have to make these muffins every few weeks to keep some family members happy :D

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Hidden Valley Ranch Chicken Kabobs & Super Easy Shrimp Kabobs

11/11/2021

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This is really just the same recipe as they have on their website, but I changed a few things.  Here is what I used for the marinade (links are for reference, but you may find these cheaper at Walmart):

I packet of Hidden Valley Ranch Seasoning Mix
1 lb (or probably up to 2lbs) of cubed chicken breast
1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard (Maille is the best I have tried)
1 packet of HerbOx Sodium Free Chicken Bullion
1/4 cup lemon juice

I mix the marinade up and pour it over the chicken, which can marinate in the fridge for 4-6 hours (or probably more).  Then I skewer them up with some onion and bell peppers and air fry 'em at 375°F for about 12m, and I check them around 6m in, to turn them.  If they look like they are not getting a bit of crispiness I will bump the temp up for the last 4-5 minutes to 415°F.  They are done when they reach an internal temp of 165°F.  Depending on the size of the chicken cubes, cooking time may be longer.

Something to keep in mind with Hidden Valley Ranch though, is that it has MSG.  So if you are sensitive to that, there may be other ranch dressing mixes that will work just as well (though honestly, MSG is pretty hard to beat for flavor).

You may have noticed those things with tails in the upper right pic, yep you got me, those are not chicken.  The recipe for the Shrimp Skewers is so simple I almost hesitate to call it a "recipe", but they are still darn good.  All I did was take some shelled (tail on) jumbo shrimp (uncooked of course), put them on skewers and sprinkle them with some lemon juice, and gave them a good dusting of Magic Shrimp Seasoning, and let them sit in the fridge for 10-15 min.  Before they went in the air fryer, I sprayed them with olive oil, and then cooked em up in the air fryer for about 6 to 9 minutes at 420°F until they are fully cooked.

The rice is just Zatarains Yellow Rice which is my preferred lazy side dish when I'm too tired to make something else.
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Philly CheeseSteak Pasta

7/29/2021

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This is not my recipe, I'm only adapting it slightly from the one here:

https://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-philly-cheesesteak-pasta-skillet-248217

Instead of ground beef I'm using Gary's Quick Steak, and instead of the salt I used the packet of seasoning that comes with the steak.  I also added a small can of sliced mushrooms and cut the cream cheese since I was out.  I used Barilla Gluten Free Pasta and topped it with mozzarella cheese.  It was a bit much for the pan I used, but I was able to get the 2 cans of chicken stock in there along with most of a 12oz box of pasta and didn't spill much at all.  I just made sure to tamp down the noodles now and then and tried to mix it every 5 minutes.  This recipe makes a lot so I split it into a pyrex which I used to brown the cheese in.  The rest is going into the freezer.

Cooking the pasta in the pan like this is definitely the way to go and it didn't turn out soupy - but I'd like to maybe get a bigger pan.  The flavor was pretty good and I suspect that if I had the cream cheese it would have been better.  It also seems to be pretty close to the philly cheesesteak flavor but not quite there (cant beat a Philly).  I'm not sure on the sodium content but I only used the packet of "Wow Seasoning" from the Gary's QuickSteak and a couple shakes of sea salt.  The chicken broth was low sodium and the only other items with some sodium would have been the mushrooms and cheese which can be reduced or removed.  It seemed like it had about the perfect amount of salt though and I'd suspect it is probably better than eating at taco bell :D

Update 10/14/2021: I added 4oz of Philadelphia Cream Cheese to this and it was big improvement.
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Hawaiian Rice in the Instant Pot

2/19/2021

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I made the Hawaiian Rice with some Hawaiian Chicken Kabobs (recipe for those is linked below).  The recipe here is just for the rice:

Ingredients:

  • About 1/3 of a 20oz can of Pineapple chunks (use the rest for kabobs)
  • 1 1/2 cups of the juice from the pineapple can (or just make the balance up with water)
  • 1 1/2 Tablespoon of Butter
  • 1 cup of Jasmine Rice
  • 1 packet of Savory Choice Chicken Broth Concentrate
  • 1 teaspoon minced Ginger
  • 1/2 to 1 teaspoon Huy Fong Foods Chili Garlic Sauce

These are optional:
  • A couple tablespoons of slivered almonds
  • a 1/2 teaspoon of oil (to roast the almonds a bit)
  • 1 Tablespoon of lime juice
  • 1 Teaspoon of cilantro (more or less if you don't like cilantro)

Instructions:

Add everything but the almonds, oil, lime juice and cilantro to the Instant Pot and cook it on the rice setting.

While the rice is cooking, put the almond slivers in a pan or dish (or foil even) with the oilve oil.  Make sure the oil coats the almonds and put them in the air fryer at 400°F for a few minutes.  I added them to the air fryer while the kabobs were also cooking and probably let them roast for about 4-5 minutes.  The should not get burned, but wanna toast them a bit.

When the rice is done in the Instant Pot, just add the lime juice, almonds and cilantro to taste, and fluff the rice, and that's it.

I made this with some Chicken Kabobs using this recipe (https://www.dinneratthezoo.com/hawaiian-chicken-kabobs/) but I substituted apple cider vinegar for the rice vinegar and added 1/2 to 1 teaspoon Huy Fong Foods Chili Garlic Sauce.  I also added the rest of the pineapple juice from the can to to the marinade, while reserving the rest for the rice. 

After they are skewered up with the pineapple chunks and veggies, I air fry 'em at 375°F for about 10m, and I check them around 6m in, to turn them.  If they look like they are not getting a bit of crispiness I will bump the temp up for the last couple minutes to 415°F.  They are done when they reach an internal temp of 165°F.  Depending on the size of the chicken cubes, cooking time may be longer. Just gotta keep an eye on them, turning them now and then, and checking the internal temp of the chicken which should be at least 165°F.


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Air Fryer Salmon Cakes (Gluten Free)

2/18/2021

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I made these tonight and they were pretty darn good.  I think the key is to hit the coated patties with some oil so they don't dry out in the air fryer, but when I made them previously I did not have an oil sprayer and they were still pretty good.

Ingredients:
  • 1 (14.75 ounce) can canned salmon, drained (I remove the bones and skin)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 chopped shallot or half an onion chopped up
  • 1 packet (half a box) of Aleia’s Coat & Crunch Extra Crispy (just dump it on a plate big enough to let you coat the patties)
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil (and a little more sprayed on if you have olive oil spritzer)
  • 1 teaspoon dry parsley
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (more or less if you like or don't like garlic)

How to make 'em:

1. Drain the salmon and dump it in a bowl and either mix it up as it, or remove the bones and skin and then break it up.

2. Add everything but the Aleia’s Coat & Crunch to the salmon in the bowl, and mix it up.  It helps to have gloves since this gets messy.

3. Form the patties and coat them in the Aleia’s Coat & Crunch, then set them on an oiled sheet or aluminum foil.  I put some foil in the air fry basket and coat it with oilve oil.

4. If you have an olive oil sprayer, hit the tops with enough oil so they are not dry.  If you don't have an oilve oil sprayer, then just keep an eye on them and be ready to turn them before they get too dry/burned.  I learned of this magical addition to my air fryer from Lana Under Pressure on Youtube.  She explains why it's so useful in that linked video and she also has an amazon link there if you want to support her channel (note that if you click the link here it will not have an affiliate association). 

5. Cook the patties at 400°F until browned and they are 145°F inside (took about 11-12 minutes for mine).  I got the cooking time and some other ideas for this recipe from here (https://www.eatingwell.com/recipe/270219/air-fryer-salmon-cakes/)

I got 5 decent sized patties from this recipe, and I serve them with some creamed peas and instant mashed potatoes.

For the creamed peas:
  • Drain 1 can of peas and put it in a microwave safe dish.
  • Add about 1/4  to 1/3 cup of milk to a mug, with 1 1/2 to 2 Tablespoons of butter and optionally a bit of salt (just a pinch, it is easy to add too much since there is salt in the butter normally).  You can add more milk later if you like them more soupy.  Also don't add to much salt (needs to be said since it's easy to do :D
  • Heat  the milk, butter in the mug, in the microwave, until the butter is melted. 
  • Then add a bit of corn starch to the milk and butter mix, just enough to thicken it slightly, and stir constantly while adding it.  It's best to add corn starch in very small amounts at a time so it can fully dissolve.  If you have problems you can try adding a couple tablespoons of water to a mug and mix the corn starch there first, and then add it to the milk.
  • Once it looks good, add the milk, butter, salt and corn starch mix to the peas, and then heat in the microwave until hot (takes about 3-4 minutes in mine).  It should be stirred up about every minute while it cooks or the corn starch may settle to the bottom.

This goes great with some Simple Truth Corn Bread Mix.

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Simple Creamed Corn (using canned corn)

2/5/2021

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Sorry no pics, it was gone too quick :D

This was adapted from a creamed corn recipe here, which is probably much better but I did not have the cream and my corn was in a can.  In any case I would use the one linked if you have the stuff, but this should be OK in a pinch.

What you will need:
  •     1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  •     about 2-3 tablespoons of a medium onion, minced (it was about 1/2" of a sliced from the middle of a medium onion)
  •     1 cloves garlic, minced
  •     1 15 ounce can of corn, drained
  •     1/4 cup of milk (add some more at the end if needed)
  •     2 tablespons Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
  •     salt and pepper to taste

Just heat the butter over medium heat till it melts, then add the minces onion in and cook till its soft.

Then dump the drained can of corn, milk and garlic in the pan, cook 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring often.  If it gets to dry, add a bit of milk back or reduce the heat to low.

Stir in the Parmesan cheese and then taste it to see if it needs salt and pepper, and that's it.  I think some chopped jalapenos , a half teaspoon of smoked paprika or red pepper flakes may be nice to try next time, to spice it up a bit, but it was good the way it is too.
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Great tool for Air Fryers - The Air Fryer Calculator

2/4/2021

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https://www.airfryercalculator.com/
www.airfryercalculator.com has been a great tool for using with the air fryer.  I heard of the site from a buddy who has an air fryer and it has given me a better understanding of how much quicker and hotter air frying is (also I tend to overcook things less often when I use the calculator).  It is not always perfect, but it is always very close and gives me a good idea of where I should start if I am going to air fry.
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Quick Air Fryer Eggs

12/22/2020

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This is not my idea, a friend from work told me about it and it's the only way I will make eggs now.  It's about as easy as it gets, just put some oil in a cupcake pan and crack an egg in one of the cupcake holes, then season with some salt, pepper, Bragg Seasoning, green onion, bacon bits, cheese or whatever.  Then air fry for about 7 minutes at 350­­°F... and that's it.  I use about a teaspoon of olive oil or safflower oil per egg, and it ends up perfect.
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Greek Cucumber Salad

12/18/2020

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This one is all chopping, otherwise it's easy.  It makes enough for 3-4 people.

I used the following veggies:

1 Cucumber (didn't bother to remove the skin)
½ Red Onion
3 Roma Tomatoes or 2 medium Tomatoes (with the seeds removed)
¼ Red Bell Pepper

½ Green Bell Pepper

You can use more or less of the bell pepper, I just used the trimmings from a bell pepper I used for Kabobs since I had some left over.  If you don't like the seeds, remove those from the cucumber before cubing, then just cube everything. 

For the cucumbers, I took a paper towel and draped that over a bowl, then put the cubed cucumbers on the paper towel, and sprinkled about a 1/4 teaspoon of salt over it.  Then I left it in the fridge for about 30 minutes (according to this, doing this helps to remove excess water).  Once the cucumbers are drained off, then add all the veggies to a bowl.

For the dressing, I modified this recipe for a smaller salad (enough for 3) and added some other seasonings:

3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar
(or 3 if not using the lemon juice)
1 Tablespoon of Lemon Juice
½ Tablespoon dried oregano
½
Tablespoon Bragg Seasoning
1
teaspoon of minced garlic (or about half that much in granulated garlic)
1½ teaspoons of Badia Andrew Zimmern Mediterranean Magic All-Purpose Seasoning
Salt and Pepper to taste (I use at least
¼ teaspoon of salt and several grinds of pepper)

I mixed the dressing together in a separate bowl and let that sit in the fridge until everything was ready to serve (which helps the seasonings mix).  Also easy to taste the dressing and see if it needs something.  Then just before serving I mixed the dressing in and put some Feta Cheese on top.

Updated 5/12/2022
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Air Fryer Beef Kabobs (Gluten Free)

12/18/2020

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These were damn good, but I did not write down the recipe as I was making it.  This "recipe" is mostly a copy of Mike Hearne's "Mom's Beed Shish Kabobs", with a few minor changes to make it less salty and add some seasonings.

Also going by memory (since I did not write it down), but this is what I used for the marinade (it makes a lot of marinade though so it could probably work for a couple pounds of steak easily):

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
2 Tablespoons cup lemon juice (Or you can split it with 1 Tablespoon of Lemon Juice and 1 Tablespoon of Apple Cider vinegar)
2 Tablespoons soy sauce (I would probably use a bit less next time, like 3 tbsp)
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 to 1½ pounds of Sirloin Steak (cubed)
1 tablespoon
Badia Andrew Zimmern Mediterranean Magic All-Purpose Seasoning


Then I marinated the steak for a day in the fridge.  One tip if the meat being used requires a lot of trimming, is to put it in the freezer for a couple hours, so that it just gets firmed up but not frozen.  It is much easier to trim up a partly frozen steak than it is when they are defrosted.

The veggies were one of each of these, chopped into kabob size chunks (if you are using bamboo skewers, you may want to start soaking them in water while you prep the veggies).  I used the tops and bottom trimmings from the peppers to make a Cucumber Salad:

1 Red Onion
1 Green Bell Pepper
1 Red Bell Pepper


If you are trying to avoid gluten, then I would seer clear of adding mushrooms, since they are often grown in a bed of gluten containing grains.  There are some which are labeled "Gluten Free" but usually those are smaller, canned mushrooms.  Squash, pineapple and cherry tomatoes would be good with this though.

Next just put everything on skewers, drizzle the remaining marinade over the veggies, and stick 'em in the air fryer at 400­°F (I think I'd use 375°F next time) for about 10 minutes, or until they are 140°F inside (thats the same as a medium steak).  You can of course add a couple more minutes if you prefer them well done (I ran them for 12 minutes and they were well done). 

Add some Tzatziki Sauce, Cucumber Salad, Greek Lemon Rice, (I add a couple light shakes of the Mediterranean Magic to the rice), and Opa! you got dinner.
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A little "Magic" goes a long way.
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I only thought to grab a pic after almost all the kabobs were gone :D
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<<Previous

    Just some Stoopid Recipes

    Nothing fancy here :D  These are just some simple recipes I have made (and like).  I usually don't write them down and end up forgetting (and later rediscovering) them, so I'm sort'a doing this for me, but I hope somebody finds them useful too.  Everything here will be gluten free unless specified.

    Most recipes will be for an Instant Pot or Air Fryer (I have the Instant Omni Plus).

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