Living Life the Chill Way

[she5los-trailblazes]

Stewed Shawerma Chicken with Vegetables

I got really inspired by a pomegranate chicken dish I had on Friday, and I went ahead and put some walnuts into this. :)

You will need:

-1 package Trader Joe’s shawerma chicken thighs -1 onion, cut into large dice -1-2 pounds veggies of your choice, in bite size pieces (I used zucchini and cauliflower, and wished I had mushrooms or liked red bell pepper) -3/4 cup walnuts (toasted is best, regular is fine) (pistachios or pine nuts would also be delicious!) -1 1/2 cups chicken broth -Salt and pepper to taste -A couple 2-inch strips of lemon zest (I used dehydrated lemon zest) -Optional: 1/4-1/2 cup of tannic red wine, like Zinfandel -Optional: a small handful (1/3 cup?) of golden raisins -This recipe doesn’t need any extra oil for browning

1. Take the chicken out of the package and cut into manageable-size pieces.  Brown them over medium heat, then set aside.  The marinade has plenty of oil in it, so it won’t stick.  As pieces of chicken come out of your pot, toss a few pieces of onion in so the residue in that spot doesn’t burn.

2. Add the onion and broth.  Stir up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan so they become part of the sauce.  Add any vegetables that can’t overcook (like zucchini, eggplant, peppers, carrots, tomatoes).  Add the lemon zest.  If you’re adding raisins, add them now.  When the sauce comes to a boil, lower it to a simmer.

3. Put your nuts, a small handful at a time, into a mortar and pestle and crush them gently.  Alternatively, chop them on a cutting board (still a small amount at a time).  Put them in the stew.  Adjust the salt to your taste.  If you want to add wine, add it now.

4. When your chicken is cool enough, cut it into bite-size pieces.  Add them back into the stew. 

5. Add any vegetables that shouldn’t be overcooked (cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, peas, spinach).  When these are done, take the stew off the burner and serve over rice.  If you like, garnish with raw onion and/or nuts.

[diycraftsnmore]

By BuzzFeed Nifty

[she5los]

Some recommendations:

-You’re going to have a hard time washing that.  I highly recommend doing double layers of quilting cotton (wash it before sewing!) instead of fleece and batting.

-The pockets are probably going to be thicker than that.

-The pellets will probably be the most expensive thing in the quilt.

-I also recommend double-stitching each seam.  Sew a straight line, and then sew 1/8 to ¼-inch away from that line to reinforce it.

-When you’re sewing the pellets in place, sew on the empty side of the blanket.  That may mean that you pin the fabric a little tight against the pellets.

-They make glass pellets that are slightly heavier than plastic if you want a less stuffed blanket.  They cost a little more per pound.

-Use a kitchen scale to weigh your pellets.  Figure out how many pockets you’re going to have ahead of time, divide the weight by the number of pockets, and weigh them out so you have the same amount of pellets in each.  (Ex: if your blanket is 5x8 pockets (40 pockets) and is going to be 20lb, 20/40 is ½, so you want a half-pound of pellets in each square.)

-Mark all your pockets out before you sew anything.

[aglio-knoblauch-chasnik]

Remedial Schmaltz-Making

I’m making chicken soup which means that I have to trim a bunch of chicken thighs which means that it is schmaltz-o-clock feat. my Magen David ramen bowl.

So anyway the first step is to have a bunch of chicken fat and skin.

Slimy.  Also gross.

You will also need an onion, a funnel, a jar, and cheesecloth, but not for a long time.

Next, chop up the chicken skin.  This is easier if you chill it in the fridge for a while first.

Spread the skin and fat out in the widest frying pan you have and turn the burner on medium.

Chop up the onion while you wait for the fat to render out.  You should occasionally scrape the bottom of the pan with your spatula and dislodge anything that’s trying to stick.  Don’t get impatient and try to turn the heat up too high.  Eventually (30 minutes or so? I didn’t time, but I should have), it should look like this:

Turn the heat down to low, stand back a bit, and throw in your chopped onion.  Bring the heat back to medium.

Grab your cheesecloth, a funnel (I like to use a wide-mouth canning funnel but any funnel will do), and a jar.  Spread the cheesecloth out inside the funnel and stand it in your jar in the sink.

When the onions are crispy and the schmaltz has turned golden, it’s time to strain it:

WAIT.  STOP.  Don’t throw away the crunchy bits.  Those are called gribenes and I don’t know what happens if you throw them away but I expect it involves the earth swallowing you up or possibly getting yelled at by your donkey.  Don’t do it.  Spread them out on a towel to drain, then salt them lightly and eat them.

Huzzah.  You have a jar of schmaltz.  Now go saute things in it or make matzo balls.  It keeps in the freezer indefinitely.

[she5los-trailblazes]

That Yearly Rumtopf Post

Rumtopf is one of my favorite Christmas recipes, and we’re just finishing the season when you can make it.  (This year’s growing season seems to be going a little late, so at least in California, you can still get some reasonable summer fruits, but once we hit October, honestly, that’s it...)

Rumtopf (translated: “rum pot”) is a traditional German Christmas dish of fresh fruit preserved in sugar and alcohol.  It’s really easy to make and is always a crowd pleaser!

Start with your favorite summer fruits.  You want berries, stone fruits, or anything with that fine-grained, soft texture.  Apples, pears, and oranges don’t really work in it.  If you want to use grapes, you can either pierce the skin with a toothpick or just cut them in half.

Wash the fruit and cut it into bite-size pieces.  You don’t have to peel it, but I usually do peel the larger fruits, like peaches and plums.  (I recommend halving cherries to remove the stones.)  Put it in a bowl with anywhere from a quarter to a half its weight in sugar (if you don’t have a scale, just use a generous amount, and if it doesn’t quite work, add more later) and mix it together.

Leave it for a couple hours while you go about your business.  When you come in, the fruit should be sitting in a puddle of its own juice, which was drawn out of it with the sugar.

Finally, put it in a large jar with a hearty splash of rum, and maybe kirsch.  You can also add spices or other flavorings -- for example, I often add vanilla and almond extracts, since I think they go nicely with stone fruit.  If you add too little alcohol, it will start to produce bubbles and smell a little weird -- just add more rum and it will stop.

You can keep adding fruit throughout the season if you start early, but it certainly isn’t too late to throw one together now!  Between now and December, the flavors will mix and infuse, and by the time it’s ready, the fresh flavor of the preserved fruit is really welcome!

Classic fruits to add include peaches, plums, nectarines, apricots, cherries, strawberries, and raspberries, but it’s also very common to add pineapple or any other ~*exotic*~ fruits you can find.  I added some kiwis to mine!

Apples, oranges, and pears are Not Recommended, and melons would probably fall apart.  (You can always add them for flavor, though, or add some orange zest!)

[she5los-trailblazes]

My mom made Mississippi roast!  It’s that pot roast recipe that was everywhere a couple years ago.  The ingredients are:

-A good braising meat, like tri-tip, brisket, shoulder, etc.

-A can of pepperoncinis

-A packet of ranch dressing mix

-A can of beef broth

-A stick of butter

That’s it.  That’s all of it.  The entire thing.  So now I have some tips and tricks for this delicious, succulent dish.

-We added onions, and they were great.  Go ahead and add your favorite veggies.

-My mom left the butter out completely, but she used a lean cut of meat and agreed that a couple tablespoons of butter would have made it taste even better and improved the overall nutrition of the dish.  (This wouldn’t have been an issue if we’d used a richer cut, like brisket.)

-If I were to independently create a dish like this, it would probably be a little better, but it would be nowhere near as easy.  (A blogger did that -- made her own spice mix, used better beef stock, etc. -- and found the same thing.)  It’s a very flavorful and succulent meat dish that’s extremely easy to make, and I appreciate that.

-It was originally developed as a slow-cooker dish, but Mom made it on the stove in a couple hours and it was just fine.

-We removed some of the pepperoncinis because it was getting a little spicy, but once the beef was shredded and mixed with the sauce, it wasn’t spicy at all -- just flavorful -- and we wished we’d left them in.

-I expected to have to adjust the seasonings, but it was actually very flavorful and delicious.

[slow-riot-deactivated20200720]

Weirdly anti-millennial articles have scraped the bottom of the barrel so hard that they are now two feet down into the topsoil

[tramampoline]

its so wild like “this generation with no fucking money is learning to prioritize essentials” and all these chucklefucks can write is advertisements for these companies

[catparazzi]

at least our jeans won’t tear at the seams after two washes

[awfullydull-deactivated20170619]

FUCK FABRIC SOFTENER IT’S UTTERLY POINTLESS

AND FUCK DRYER SHEETS LITERALLY NOBODY EVER HAS ENOUGH OF A PROBLEM WITH STATIC TO WARRANT PAYING OUT THE ASS FOR THAT SHIT

DO YOU WANT CLEAN CLOTHES? YOU DON’T EVEN NEED TO BUY FUCKING DETERGENT JUST MAKE YOUR OWN* IT’S SO GODDAMN EASY AND 80X CHEAPER

FUCK THE ENTIRE LAUNDRY INDUSTRY *Fuck The Entire Laundry Industry Recipe

1 cup Washing Soda (not Baking Soda. Different things.)

1 cup Borax (not Boric Acid. Also a different thing.)

½ cup - 1 cup grated bar soap (you can use literally anything. I often use Ivory because it’s easy to get and I find it works well, a lot of people like Fels-Naptha, which is an actual laundry bar. Some people use Dr. Bronner’s. Really does not fucking matter.) After grating your soap, combine all ingredients. That’s it. That’s the whole thing. Use maybe a ¼ cup per load.

[madsciences]

^^^ I’ve done this for years now and it works as well as any store bought detergent

[ghostoftwentysomethingspast]

WHAT Thank you, tumblr user awfullydull! Your URL does no justice to the good advice you give!

[legallynonbinary]

Also you can MAKE your own washing soda very VERY cheaply.

Step one: acquire $5 bag of baking soda from Costco.

Step two: lay that motherfucking baking soda out on a baking tray.

Step three: bake the baking soda on a tray in an oven at 400° for 1 hour (to make the moisture evaporate, leaving washing soda)

Step four: revel in how easy and cheap it is to make your own washing soda, and maybe take a moment to be angry that the industry upcharges the fuck out of something that is so easy to make.

[legallynonbinary]

I see some of y'all complaining about static and/or wanting nice smelling laundry. Go to a craft store, find 100% wool yarn balls. If it doesn’t come in a ball, ask an employee to make it into a tight ball for you. Wash in the washing machine to make it felted. Remove from washer, add a few drops of essential oil to the ball, allow to seep in. Dry with clothing. Doesn’t need to be rewashed ever, and if it stops smelling, add few more drops of essential oil. Bam, reusable dryer sheets.

[polar-academia-deactivated20230]

I love this post so much it’s filled with helpful advice, hatred, saving money, and fucking the system all in one

[wodneswynn-deactivated-deactiva]

So here’s the biggest gardening hack that I don’t think I’ve seen anyone talk about before.

Terminator technology has not hit the shelves in most places. If you put these boys in the ground, they will grow and multiply. You can get enough soup beans to seed I don’t even know how much ground for like a dollar.

And man, you need to get on some beans. There’s a reason beans are cheap food: They’re one of the best staples in the whole world in terms of effort versus yield; especially the red ones, which grow in neat little bushes. You can have beans for ages with very little work. What’s more, bean plants are basically magic; they have a symbiotic relationship with nitrogen-fixing bacteria, which promotes soil health and can help revitalize damaged soil.

Anarchist Santa Claus said that the revolution must have bread; whel'p, wheat can be a tricky crop. Let’s have some soup, too.

[aprillikesthings]

Side note: DO NOT EAT RAW RED KIDNEY BEANS. Even sprouted. Even fresh. They have to be dried and cooked. 

Raw kidney beans contain relatively high amounts of phytohemagglutinin, and thus are more toxic than most other bean varieties if not pre-soaked and subsequently heated to the boiling point for at least 10 minutes. The US Food and Drug Administration recommends boiling for 30 minutes to ensure they reach a sufficient temperature long enough to completely destroy the toxin.[3] Cooking at the lower temperature of 80 °C (176 °F), such as in a slow cooker, can increase this danger and raise the toxin concentration up to fivefold.[4] Canned red kidney beans, though, are safe to use immediately

[she5los-trailblazes]

I’ll post a really easy bean soup recipe here, for anyone who needs it!

-1 large onion, 1lb carrots, any other veggies you like (Squash, like zucchini, eggplant, or butternut, can disappear into the soup if you cook it long enough, or hold its shape if you cook it for a shorter period of time.  Tomatoes can add some acid to make it more interesting.  Leafy greens, like spinach or kale, should go in toward the end.)

-1lb dried beans

-Olive oil, salt, spices, water

1. In a pot that’s larger than you think you’ll need, add a couple tablespoons of oil and brown a diced onion over medium heat.  Get it Very Brown, and if it starts to burn, add a splash of water, wine, or broth.

2. Add the beans, water, all the other veggies you plan to cook for a While, and any other seasonings.  Be sure to add plenty of salt and spices (and garlic); beans and veggies can be pretty bland on their own.  Once it reaches a boil, cook it on low heat with the lid on (the bottom can burn if the heat is too high).

3. After a few hours, adjust the seasonings one last time and turn off the heat.

I make soup this way pretty much every time, and it’s very straightforward, but always turns out good results.  Going to the extra effort to brown the onions gives it a good, complex flavor, and if you need to go out for a few minutes (a quick grocery run, or as an example my mom and I went for affogatos on Sunday) just add 2c or so of water, stir it in, and you should be okay leaving the stove on.  If you check it every hour or so and keep it soupy, you shouldn’t have any problems.

This soup is boiled for a few hours, so it shouldn’t have any kidney bean toxin.

(If you eat meat, boiling is a great way to get lots of nutritious collagen and calcium out of cheap cuts of meat, like ham hocks, spine bones, chicken feet, turkey backs, etc.  Brown them before the onions, let them sit during step 1, add them back in when you add the veggies and beans, and when they’ve cooked for an hour or two, take them out and cool them enough to take the meat off the bones.  Add just the meat back in -- or, in the case of chicken feet, either throw the whole things out or let people pick them out on their own.)

[she5los-trailblazes]

Hair Care with No Sulfates

So, I’m really unimpressed by my local drug store’s sulfate-free offerings in their shampoo section.  Sodium laureth sulfate and sodium lauryl sulfate aren’t that great for your scalp, but all the “sulfate-free” options have, for example, sodium olefin sulfanate, which is just a different detergent that’s slightly less bad for you.  My friend has a genuinely no-sulfate shampoo, but I haven’t had a chance to try it yet.  So I turned to my favorite soap.

For this hair care routine, you need two squirt bottles, a tablespoon, and a measuring cup.  If you don’t have any vinegar in your house, buy some apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar, but I’m sure rice vinegar would work just fine, and even white vinegar would probably do in a pinch.

Start by buying a bottle of Dr. Bronner’s soap.  They have a lot of good scents, and unscented if you’re like me (you can also add essential oils later).  Start with a mix of 2T in 1c of water, and increase that amount if you want more intensity.  Try washing your hands with so you know how strong it is.  It won’t foam as much as regular soaps, but it should still foam some.  Put the soap mixture in one bottle.

Next, mix 2T of vinegar with 1c water.  You may want to increase the concentration later, but try using it first.  Put that in the second squirt bottle.

When you’re washing your hair, wash it with the shampoo like normal, rinse it thoroughly (it tends to stick around more than other shampoos), and put plenty of vinegar rinse on your hair.  Leave it there for 3-5 minutes, or as long as it takes you to wash your body.  After you rinse that out, apply your favorite conditioner or hair oil.

[she5los-trailblazes]

I’m making some radish kimchi with cucumber, scallions, and pickled Meyer lemon peel, and it’s just making me want to share a lemon pickling tutorial with y’all.

I do want you to know about this flavor combo tho bc it has a beautiful Spring scent.

[she5los-trailblazes]

I’ve been really interested in learning European folk art styles for the last few months, and this is a really good tutorial for an intermediate painter – someone who has a general knowledge of shapes and brush strokes, but doesn’t know this style in particular.

[she5los-trailblazes]

Pesto chicken with tomatoes and turnips

Turnips are underappreciated tbh.  They’re a sweet, less-starchy root vegetable and they don’t have the weird, spicy taste of a parsnip or small radish.  Here’s the way I cooked them yesterday.  I served this with potatoes because the friend I had over has Celiac disease, but it would be great with pasta, too.

(If you can’t get the Trader Joe’s pesto chicken, slice up some chicken thighs and marinate in pesto for a day or two.  You may want to add extra garlic to the vegetables if this is the case.)

-TJ’s “Pesto Alla Genovese” chicken, sliced up a little more because they cut it in weirdly big and hard-to-cook chunks -A can of tomatoes (12oz.) -Two medium-size turnips, cut into half-inch cubes -1/2 to 3/4c of any vegetable you’re trying to get rid of (I grated some zucchini; you can use onion, carrot, celery, or whatever you like.) -Cornstarch slurry -Olive oil, salt, spices

Heat a pan over medium heat (medium-high if you have a glass-top stove) and pour in a tablespoon or so of olive oil.  Fry the chicken in batches, making sure not to crowd the pan.  Between batches, pour a little water or wine into the pan to deglaze and reserve the brown liquid.After the last batch of chicken, add all of the vegetables to the pan.  Season with salt, pepper, and a generous amount of oregano.  Skim excess oil from the top of the deglazing liquid and add that to the vegetables.  Cover and cook over medium heat.When the turnips are translucent, that means they’re cooked.  Add cornstarch slurry so the mixture isn’t watery.  Serve veggies and chicken with your favorite carb.

[she5los-trailblazes]

Make Your Own Bed Buddy

Istg every once-in-a-while, my sweet, tiny grandma with osteoperosis and floral sheets comes up with a spectacular “u mad bro?” style joke, and one of those is calling her homehade heated neck pads “bed buddies,” which is cute/fun when you’re a kid and Weird when you’re an adult.

Anyway, since I can remember she’s been making these things.  You take a tube sock, fill it about 3/4 full of rice, and sew the end together.  (You can also just tie a knot in it if you’re in a hurry, but you’ll end up with a much shorter one.)  Put it in the microwave for a hot neck pad, or the freezer for a cold one.  The weight is really nice, as well.

[she5los-trailblazes]

I made these to go with Maangchi’s recent roast chicken recipe (you rub it with olive oil, salt, pepper, and lots of garlic and baste it with butter while baking) and I just have to say: they’re phenomenal.

I used rice vinegar instead of white vinegar, so I increased the amount of vinegar (because rice vinegar is weaker), and I added some chopped scallions. I also used purple daikon instead of white watermelon radish, but aside from the aesthetics of the pickles being pink, I don’t think that changed the taste significantly.

The thing that surprised me most was that, in the day between making the pickles and eating them, even though they’d been in the fridge the whole time, they’d started to ferment!  So I guess I should just expect that from all radishes and kohl vegetables from now on.

I agree with Maangchi 100%: these pickles are super refreshing and they’re perfect with chicken.  They’re especially cheerful now, at the end of winter, when you’ve been eating starchy winter vegetables for months and really want something crisp and light.

[buzzfeedtasty]

An Intro To Indian Dishes, by BuzzFeed India

[queeranne]

This woman is hilarious

[spleen9000]

Cheesy Pumpkin and Green Onion Pancakes

A recipe for Cheesy Pumpkin and Green Onion Pancakes.

I just made these and they’re GOOD AS HELL. I used whole wheat flour and accidentally put in 4/3 cup pumpkin instead of 2/3 because I’m a dumbass but honestly??? they still turned out perfect so when I make these again I’m gonna do that again but on purpose

[she5los-trailblazes]

Korean beef BBQ (Bulgogi) recipe - Maangchi.com

How to make Bulgogi, Korean beef BBQ from Maangchi.com

I made bulgogi marinade and put the extra in the freezer, and I just cut off half the frozen marinade to give to my grandma, so now my hands smell like bulgogi marinade And Yours Can Too.

Ingredients: Literally just use the ingredients from the link.  You can finagle them a little to suit your taste (I use Asian pear as my only sweetener and add extra soy sauce, and probably more ginger than she uses) but do stick reasonably close to the recipe.

How to make it:

-Put your meat in the freezer if it’s thawed, or pull it out if it isn’t.  Half-frozen is best for cutting it thin.  (If it’s already thinly sliced, just keep it in the fridge.)

-Get out your blender or food processor, your cutting board, and a big knife.  No fine chopping has to be done today.

-Prep your Asian pear because we all know you’re eating whatever doesn’t go in the marinade.  Cut into pieces (they can be pretty big) and toss them in the blender with all of the soy sauce and sesame oil.  Blend.

-Keep adding ingredients until you’ve got a delicious vegetable puree.  It may look different due to factors like using red onions or having particularly orange carrots; that’s fine.

-Taste your marinade and adjust the ingredients to your liking.

-If you aren’t using it immediately, pour it into a bag or container and store it in the freezer.  If you are, slice up your meat and mix well with as much marinade as you like.  Store any extra in the freezer.  (You can also marinate lots of meat and store THAT in the freezer, just like you would with the marinated meat you buy at the store.)

[she5los-trailblazes]

Hey idk if this is A Recipe or not, but a couple days ago I cut up a large cauliflower and simmered it with a little water and a container of pesto from Trader Joe’s.  I salted it and added blue cheese (just long enough to melt).  It was good, but could have used a little more garlic.  (You can cook that in the pesto oil before adding the cauliflower)