Dinner

I was out and about and asked my wife to get some beans going as a simple and nutritious side dish in the Instant Pot . She picked black beans (I had her do a 0 minute cycle to be almost equivalent to soaking overnight, then I cooked for 25 minutes). I thought I'd continue my experiments with my air fryer and have seen several recipes for air fried broccoli. I think that Kathy Hester had a recipe, but I also quickly looked and found one recipe that included boiling the broccoli first, and another that was simpler that I modified a bit and tried. For the broccoli, I used not just the florets, but also the chopped stalk. I made a mixture of rice milk, Panko bread crumbs, garlic granules, freshly ground black pepper, and salt, and coated the broccoli, then air fried. The recipe I modified suggested 350°F for four minutes, shaking the broccoli up, then continuing for another four minutes, but I wasn't using olive oil and thought I'd try just one go at four minutes. I tried ...

I'm excited about our new air fryer, the Cuisinart   Air Fryer Toaster Oven TOA-60 . I got it about a week ago and am impressed by its toasting (even and fast) and baking, with or without convection (it's fast!). I finally wanted to try the air frying function. I believe that all "air frying" is with this oven is convection baking, maybe with faster air circulation, and with food put in a rectangular basket with holes allowing air circulation. That basket sits atop a baking tray that I put aluminum foil on to make cleanup easier. For my first try, I was going to make a battered seitan, but my wife forgot to pick up bread crumbs and it turned out that we were out of seitan. How about tofu steaks for kiddo and me, and tempeh ones for my wife? I have read that quinoa can be a good coating, so made some quinoa. I also bought some frozen French Fries. I put a little canola oil on a paper towel and wiped the basket to help with keeping food from sticking. The fries were eas...

I made a waterless meal by putting, in this order, onion, shallot, matchsticks of potato, broccoli, fennel, and fresh sage leaves into a large Saladmaster stock pan. I covered the pan and heated it on medium high until the vapor release started jiggling, then I reduced the heat to low till the jiggle stopped. I let it cook for about 15 minutes. I then mixed in  Victoria Vegan brand arugula pesto alfredo sauce ; I will classify this as an almost no added fat meal; the sauce has 5g fat per quarter cup, but I only used about 1/4 cup to make our three servings. I simmered, covered, on low for a few more minutes. I then added a bit of cubed (1/4") shallot, salt, freshly ground black pepper, and dried oregano. I served it with brown rice maifun noodles and leftover dhal. Results Pending Ideas for the future Pending