acpgee Member

This year I grew four trays of peashoots instead of just one on the balcony. This is the first time I could harvest enough for a Chinese stir fry.

Melon and serrano ham, potato gnocchi pulled out of the freezer with pesto I made today with air fryer cherry tomatoes, leftover mango sorbet from last weekend served Thai style with sticky rice.

Now that I am back at work with the long office hours I struggle a little to cook during the week. Dinner was a 2-man production tonight. Hubby warmed up store bought mash and store bought sauerkraut. I warmed up a portion of the corned beef I cooked sous vide on weekend. Meat was a greyish because I didn't use nitrates in…

Still using up the leftover braised beef from a Chinese takeaway during the week. This time incorporated in lasagna cupcakes, layering store bought gyoza wrappers, some tomato sauce we had in the freezer, mozarella as well as the pulled beef in a muffin tin. Starter of serrano ham and melon. Dessert was same as last night,…

I make corn tortillas every few months to store in the freezer. They are useful for making a quick taco meal with a little bit of leftover meat. We had leftover braised beef with mint from a Chinese takeaway during the week. Added pan fried bell pepper with onion, a quick tomato salsa mixed with commercial relish, and some…

@Rainbow2300 I would recommend just doing a knee replacement if you are in pain. The pain was gone afterwards. I got my right knee done when I struggled to walk for more than 10 minutes. There are plastic parts in the artificial knee so the lifespan is 20 to 25 years, so you might need a second replacement when you are…

Struggling to cook now that I am back at work. Had to go to the clinic for a wound check, and the nurse who changed my dressing thought I was walking very well for someone 4 weeks post op. Happy about that. Simple dinner of paparadelle cacio e pepe and salad with blue cheese and candied nuts week in the pantry.

@Rainbow2300 By the beginning of week 3, I had considerably less post-op pain compared to the amount of pre-op knee pain from having worn out my cartilage. Pretty amazing given how brutal the surgery is. My surgeon says there is a lot of sawing and hammering involved in a total knee replacement.

@Rainbow2300 I just had my second total knee replacement. When I had my right knee done 9 years ago, the surgeon said my knees are 15 years older than the rest of my body. I did cross country running when I was younger and my knees have been seriously overused. The physio's had me walking on a zimmer frame on day 2 after…

The hubby cooked tonight. My knee surgery was a month ago, so I had to return to the office. It was a Dutch dinner. Store bought mash stretched with butter, store bought meatballs cooked in the air fryer, store bought sauerkraut.

Pappardelle carbonara and sauteed snow peas. Leftover mango sorbet and sticky rice.

The girlfriend who cooked for us when I just got out of hospital came over for dinner. I cooked cheat's Hainan chicken and rice, Szechuan aubergine and smashed cucumber salads, with mango sorbet and coconut sticky rice for dessert.

A tip on air fryer doughnuts. Mine were a really nice texture straight out of the air fryer. However, on day two they were quite dry and stale. So keep the batch size limited.

We still had some of the chicken in the freeer my girlfriend cooked when I had just come home from hospital following knee surgery. Added Szechuan aubergine salad (cooked 3 minutes in the microwave) and Indonesian tomato lalab.

So this talk of air fryer doughnuts gave me a craving and I tried some using this recipe: I made the mistake of adding extra flour because the dough looked so liquid, making them too hard to handle and scoop. If I ever use the recipe again I will increase the sugar and and the raisins, because it depends too much on the…

Spaghetti puttanesca, salad, air fryer roasted aubergines and courgettes were done at too high a temperature. Motivation for puttanesca was to use the leftover crumb from doing last night's fish to make pangratatto.

A friend of mine who is lactose intolerant sticks to Asian restaurants when eating out. Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Malaysian, Indonesian. There is no tradition of consuming dairy in those countries. As for cooking, you can replace dairy products with substitutes such as coconut milk or cream. I do this in…

Some recent weeknight fish dinners. I bought a new non stick frying pan, so pan fried sea bass on a dry skillet with a little olive oil brushed on the fish is working again. I do 2 minutes skin side down and 1 minute skin side up over medium heat. A second dinner of crusted hake cooked in the air fryer. I used this recipe…

Another fish dinner. Air fryer crumbed hake where I used sun dried tomatoes instead of parsley. Sauteed snow peas. Roast potatoes.

Easy weeknight dinner. Pan fried sea bass filets (skin side down for 2 minutes, skin side up for 1 minute on medium heat gives dependable results), and sauteed spinach on the stove top. We have mesh trays and small casserole dishes that allow stacking of different items in air fryer so could do roast potatoes and roast…

We had an unexpected dinner guest tonight so stretched a single lamb shank to three people by making extra veg. Salad with blue cheese and strawberries, roast courgette, roast sweet potato and regular potato, sous vide lamb shank pulled out of the freezer and browned in the air fryer. We had leftover gravy in the freezer…

@mjbnj0001 If you don’t have pea shoots on hand, some torn mint leaves would make a pretty garnish. I actually threw a few mint leaves into the pea mix in the food processor.

@mjbnj0001 Here’s the recipe I used with a few simplifications. I just tossed the lemon zest and Parmesan in the food processor with the rest of the topping mix. I garnished with thin strips of raw ham (I had serrano on hand) and a sprinkle of pea shoots I had growing on the balcony. It is very tasty, fresh and easy. I…

I have made air fryer ollie bollen (a Dutch raisin doughnut with no hole eaten on New Years). Someone brought me a packet of dough mix from the Netherlands. The name of the confection translates literally to “oil balls” as they are traditionally deep fried. I put small ice cream scoops into mini individual silicone cupcake…

The girlfriend who cooked Chinese for us on day 5 post knee operation came over tonight. This time I cooked Italian, more or less. Starter of salad with blue cheese and candied seeds with pea bruschetta. Main of spaghetti with pesto and roast cherry tomatoes. We had enough Thai Thea creme brulee for dessert because hubby…

I got the green light from the physio to use only one crutch 17 days after knee surgery, so I can do the cooking now that I have one hand free while hobbling around. Simple dinner of chicken thighs and potatoes roasted in the air fryer (potatoes were par boiled for 3 minutes and tossed in goose fat before being arranged…

Failed dinner on my second night of cooking. Bucatini cacio e pepe broke and the pasta was too hard.

The physio gave me the green light to start using only one crutch when at home, so I could make dinner tonight now that I have one hand free while hobbling around. Lamb sate (following a goat sate recipe), nasi impit, pickled carrot and cucumber salad. Dessert was Thai tea creme brulee.

Since I’ve been recovering at home from knee surgery I have been directing the hubby through simple dinners. He rebelled over last weeks bucatini carbonara which stressed him out because of too many concurrent last minute tasks. Hoping we don’t need to survive on take out for too much longer.

My girlfriend who came over and cooked on day 7 after my knee surgery came back last night. This time I ordered in from the local Sichuan.