misangela – Page 58

March 27, 2016March 27, 2017

Shakshuka for Two

I stumbled across a recipe for this thing called shakshuka a couple of weeks ago. It’s a Middle Eastern breakfast dish. Suddenly I start hearing about this all over Food TV. Weird! So here is my take on this dish. It’s easy, low carb and very tasty! [Nowadays, this recipe would feed FOUR. I cannot eat half of that! It is two BIG servings, take note! This is not a dish that would reheat well unless you leave off the eggs or package leftovers with a poached egg. Tricky.]

Shakshuka for Two

INGREDIENTS
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 white onion, diced
2 clove garlic, minced
1/2 medium green pepper, diced
4-5 mushrooms, diced
1/2 jalapeño, minced w/out seeds or ribs
1/2 cup frozen spinach, or 1 cup fresh chopped
1 14 oz can crushed tomatoes, drained if watery (OR 1 small box Italian crushed as pictured)
1 tbsp tomato paste (NOT necessary if you use thick Italian tomatoes)
1-2 tsp sugar (depending on how acidic your tomatoes are. TASTE.)
1/2 tsp ancho powder (you can sub cayenne, but cut back to 1/4 tsp)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 cup crumbled feta
Salt and pepper to taste
4 eggs
1 tbsp fresh chopped parsley or cilantro garnish

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Heat oil in a small nonstick, oven safe skillet over medium-low heat. Add onion, garlic, bell pepper, jalapeño, spinach and shrooms. Cook gently until very soft, about 10 minutes. Add ancho, cumin, paprika and red pepper flakes, and cook 1 minute. Pour in tomatoes (and tomato paste if using) and season with salt and pepper to taste; simmer until tomatoes have thickened, about 5 minutes (UNLESS you’re using the thick Italian tomatoes, then you might need to add a couple Tbl water). Be gentle with salt, feta cheese is salty! Turn off heat and gently stir in crumbled feta. The tomatoes and veg should be pretty thick, adjust liquid accordingly.

3. Gently crack eggs into a small bowl and use the bowl to make a well in the tomatoes as you pour the egg in. Season eggs lightly with salt and pepper. Transfer skillet to oven and bake until eggs are just set, 7 to 10 minutes. The eggs will look raw on top; don’t overcook them (as I did in this test!). Sprinkle with cilantro or parsley. (Which I didn’t do in the photo!)

March 26, 2016May 22, 2016

Obamacare Penalty

This was a comment I posted to one of the Obamacare sites. Fuck Obamacare.

So we got a penalty this year. Although by all calculations we fell below the % formula. Even our CPA didn’t understand why we were penalized when the AGI x 8.05% income number was below the cost of a crappy Bronze plan. ?? A Bronze plan that costs $521/mo (supposedly after a subsidy? Maybe? Who knows? We never could determine how to figure or get a subsidy.) with $8k deductible! LOL On which planet is this a good plan?

Nick’s job is ENDING this year and we are putting every available penny into savings. We canNOT afford $521 for nothing. And it is for nothing. Our total medical expense last year (including dentist, eyes, etc.) was $1700. So we are supposed to pay out $6252 for useless insurance that covers NOTHING until we spend $8000 on top of that? Uh, NOPE.

I just did the subsidy calculator. No idea whether we could get one or not – it doesn’t really tell you one way or the other. I did the penalty calculator. It said our penalty was $1500… The actual penalty was $563, done by the CPA’s software, which was withheld from our tax return. Seems to me that NO ONE really knows what the fuck is going on. Our CPA said he had no idea what was going on, but the software said we had to pay the penalty. So we did. NO IDEA if we had to or not. That is beyond fucked up. On top of this drama? Our tax returns this year are almost exactly what they were last year. ?? Did we actually pay a penalty last year and the CPA didn’t know? Were we to get a bigger refund this year? Who the fuck knows?

I’m so upset that we were penalized and I can’t figure out why.

HOW DOES THIS MAKE SENSE TO ANYONE? IT IS RIDICULOUS TO BE TAXED AND NOT BE ABLE TO DISCERN HOW THAT TAX WAS FIGURED. IT IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

WHEN WILL AMERICANS REALISE THAT INSURANCE IS THE PROBLEM NOT THE CURE?

No civilised country in the world is held hostage by insurance companies. NONE. Just the US. Abolish insurance and pay Drs, hospitals and all other health care workers DIRECTLY for their work. It’s that simple. Before insurance became our Lords and Masters, people would go to the Dr, pay for the visit, then go to the pharmacy and get their meds. Simple. Why is it heresy to want that back?

We are looking into leaving this country. We are nearing retirement and we don’t want to end up destitute like many have in our families. Going bankrupt to receive medical care is wrong. And even the care you get here sucks compared to other countries. Hell, CUBA has better care than we do. That is pathetic. Add to that the possibility of that horrible Trump being elected and it’s on the table that we will become EU citizens. This country has become an untenable MESS.

March 17, 2016January 13, 2018

Gochujang Roasted Salmon with Panko

I’ve fallen in love with gochujang! It’s the Korean chili paste used in all sorts of Korean dishes. This is a marinade recipe that I use on salmon with a crispy panko topping. You can leave off the panko if you like, but it does give an excellent texture.

Gochujang Salmon

Gochujang Roasted Salmon with Panko

Marinade:
(double for 4 servings or larger filets)
1 Tbl gochujang paste (I like the one in the square red container)
1 Tbl soy sauce or ponzu if you have it
1 Tbl Mirin
1 Tbl Doenjang (Korean miso; I like the one in the square green container)
1 tsp lime juice (if using plain soy)

Panko:
2 Tbl panko
.5 tsp ground white pepper
.5 tsp salt
1 tsp lime zest
1 tsp olive oil

2 4oz salmon filets (the ones pictured in marinade are 8oz filets, the finished one is 4oz)
2 lime quarters

Mix up the marinade and cover the salmon. Refrigerate for an hour or two.

Preheat the oven to 425F. Stir together panko ingredients and top the filets with it. The marinade should provide enough adhesion for the panko, which should be at least 1/2 inch thick. Put the leftover marinade with a tsp of water in the microwave for a minute or two – long enough to boil it. Once it’s boiled, you can use it as a sauce. You can also put cream and/or a pat of butter in the marinade for a richer sauce.

Put salmon on a rack over a parchment sheet (or foil) covered baking sheet and roast for about 6 minutes. If you don’t have racks, roast directly on covered sheet pan. The panko should be getting brown at the end of 6 minutes. Once it’s browned, cover salmon lightly with a piece of foil so the panko does not burn. Your total cooking time will be about 15 minutes. Salmon should be around 130F internal temp for medium. Remember that it will continue to cook after you remove it from the heat, so a reading of 120F is good.

Serve with a lime quarter and some of the marinade/sauce drizzled over.

Serve with my Creamy Apple and Fennel Slaw, Confetti Rice or sautéed green beans with sesame oil and lime juice.

March 17, 2016September 6, 2018

Creamy Apple and Fennel Slaw

Creamy Apple and Fennel Slaw
Yield: about 4 cups
Servings: 6-8
Prep Time: 20 minutes

Dressing:
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbl cream (or half n half)
juice from one small lime plus zest (or half a large one)
1 tsp dijon mustard
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
fresh ground pepper, to taste

Salad:
1 fennel bulb (including tops), thinly sliced
1/2 Granny Smith apple, about 2/3 cup, thinly sliced and cut into 1/4″ strips
1 cup shredded Napa cabbage (or any cabbage), thinly sliced
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion

1. In large bowl, prepare dressing by combining all dressing ingredients. Set aside.
2. Prepare salad by thinly slicing the fennel bulbs, apples (skin on), green cabbage and red onion. A mandolin is helpful for this. Finely dice the fennel tops and add to salad bowl.
3. Mix well and allow to sit for a few minutes before serving.

March 17, 2016

St Patty’s and other News

Happy St Patrick’s! Other than wear a little green, I’ve done nothing to celebrate my Irish heritage. I’m even making gochujang salmon w/ asparagus and a fresh fennel and apple salad for dinner. Nothing Irish there! LOL Salmon was on sale for $4.99/lb at Kroger! I couldn’t pass THAT up!

We ordered and received our first lot from liquidation.com. Two good sized boxes with 76 items. We are not impressed with the seller (onlinereturns). Not only did they NOT include the highest priced item, but there were 5 items broken/unsellable and one of those was a $30 outdoor light. Ugh. I talked to liquidation.com today and the CSR told me that while some broken stuff is normal, the seller not including things specifically on the manifest is not normal and we are right to dispute. He also told me to include the broken light in the dispute since it was one of the more expensive items. So I did. We shall see how this gets handled. Until then, we can’t sell anything and my library is full of random merch. We got LOTS of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus cases, several VR goggles for phones, a cute lil Polaroid Cube camera and Inkless Zip printer, a Hello Kitty microphone, a webcam, several headsets, a waterproof mp3 player, a Dragon Naturally Speaking dictation set, a coupla HDMI converter boxes, and gobs of random crap. If you’re interested in any of this, keep an eye on our eBay account: indigodragon-auctions.

We are loaning an arcade game to BaconFest 2016! Dad’s Garage Theatre asked Joystick for one and Johnny promptly asked us if we’d like to do it. BUT OF COURSE! We are lending them a Street Fighter II multicade. We deliver it tomorrow – but BaconFest is actually March 26. So we’ll be out and about delivering the game tomorrow afternoon, then hitting L5P to check out Arcadia, the new restaurant upstairs at Cameli’s Pizza. We’ll also have a drink at The Porter to celebrate their making the Best Bar in GA list on MSN.

Then we’ve got to get our tax crap together on Sat for our visit to the accountant on Sunday. Buh. Always fun.

Monday we’ve got eye doctor appointments in Decatur, then we’ll probably have lunch at Twain’s.

Busy weekend for us! Happy the weather is cooperating!

Éirinn go Brách!