Annie, I have just about come to the conclusion that most everything that's good, is bad for you.

I just cooked Jasdip's Sesame Pork Roast 2 days ago but it was cooked in the marinade so that wouldn't work, this time, but I drooled when I saw those potatoes. I had rice, baked sweet potatoes and some Brussels sprouts with it.

Thanks.

yeah, well,something is going to kill us anyway, it might as well be something good. Sigh.

I love sweet potatoes any way they're done, pretty much, but I like them less sweet better than I do more. If I'm going to have them sweet, just a couple of spoons full of orange marmalade is good enough for me.

Annie

My tax season job is finally finished and I have slipped back into retirement and regularly scheduled dinners and a bit more time on the computer. DD#2 was home on leave from the Army for a week before shipping off to Afghanistan so I was busy preparing her requests - mostly soups and vegetable dishes she missed.

One recent dinner was swordfish with Bercy butter, apricot beets and squash strings. I used the remainder of the butter on steamed broccoli the following night.

Tell your daughter thanks from me, Ruthanna, if you please, and I'm sending prayers and wishes for her to come back home safely.

The swordfish looks good, I've had it a couple of times and wasn't crazy for it, it's about time to try it again, I think.

Annie

Thanks, Annie. It's going to be a nervous year ahead for us.

I tried a new technique for cooking purple-topped white turnips this weekend. I grated them and slowly caramelized them in the same way I would caramelize onions or cabbage. They weren't pretty but had a delicate and sweet flavor and I'll be making them that way again. The roast for the pulled pork was cooked in a sauce starring star anise.

Ruthanna, I can't even imagine how nerve wracking that would be, it's going to be one long year, probably for her too.

Those potatoes look perfectly crunchy and dI'm definitely going to have to try that technnique for turnips.

Annie

Ruthana I feel for you, over the next year. Best of luck to you and her, and thank her for what she is doing.

I love the way your potatoes look! Did you do anything in particular to get them so crispy-looking?

I just put about a quarter cup of olive oil in a pie pan, add the halved potatoes cut side down and bake at 325 or 300 for about an hour. Then I take them out and roll the skin side around in the oil and bake for another hour. They end up very crunchy on the outside and creamy on the inside.

The only time we have them is when I'm baking something at less than 350 degrees.

This past Sunday was calzone night. Probably the last time for the season, since it's hitting 90 degrees regularly in Texas now.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Unorthodox Epicure: Confessions of an Aspiring Food Snob

I haven't had a lot of dinners because Elery and I are both working on our houses. I went to Chicago on Tuesday and met Robin, came home Wednesday and laid all the floor tile in Elery's kitchen on Thursday. the counters are painted and so are the cupboards, the floor is finished and so is the backsplash. We'll put it all back together next week.

We packed up a truck load of furniture and brought it up here on Saturday, unloaded it. I had taped and plastered a wall of sheetrock before I left, so I did sandpaper touch up yesterday and another coat of "mud". Elery fixed dinner, we had fajitas of flank steak and peppers and onions from Horrocks.

Elery made these salmon cakes with dried cranberries and black eyed peas one night last week too.

I baked a loaf of bread from the "Artisan Bread in 5 minutes" cookbook Elery has:

Then, last but far from least, I baked a fresh rhubarb pie, and it was pretty darned good!

And that's what's for Dinner.

Annie

We've been eating, but nothing camera-worthy or out of the ordinary.

That calzone looks sooo good!

Annie, your pictures look fantastic. The flank steak looks perfect, as does your rhubarb pie. I make rhubarb pie too but custard-style in a single crust. I'm not confident enough in my pastry to make 2 crusts :)

Hey, I can contribute tonite!!

I took out a teeny chicky the other day and since today was cool and damp, I made chicken with 40 cloves of garlic. I've been wanting to do it, and today was the day.

I browned the chicken in my enamelled dutch oven and deglazed the pot with chicken broth. Threw some quartered potatoes and carrots and peeled garlic in the pot and the chicken and baked it at 375. Took an hour.
Absolutely fabulous dish!! Hubby couldn't say enough good things about it. The potatoes were infused with the garlic. I'm glad I did that instead of having them mashed.

Adam, great looking Calzone.

Annie,I'd be happy with your steak fajitas. Steak is perfectly grilled. Your rhubarb pie is giving me a craving for another pie.

Jasdip, got to love anything with that much garlic. YUM!! A few of our recent meals.

Another pizza. Our traditional toppings of mushrooms and pepperoni.

I'm back to baking all the bread we eat.

Roast Beef dinner with Yorkshire Pudding.

Bake Fontina with garlic and fresh herbs.

Chicken Tacos with homemade corn tortillas.

And today's breakfast - Tex Mex Migas. A good way to use up the leftover corn tortillas.

Fantastic meals Ann!

I've been baking all of our bread for a couple years now. I just stick to regular white and the honey-whole wheat, but it suits us fine. Everytime we dig into a fresh loaf it's bliss.

Love your baguettes. Making the old stand-bys is such a habit...albeit a yummy one.

Thanks Jasdip. Like you I've been baking most of our bread now for many, many years.

I've been so busy the last few months between working and a few other things I'm involved in, that baking bread became rather hit and miss. Poor Moe, he was feeling deprived. He loves my bread.

I know what you mean about habit. Over the years I've baked just about every type of bread, including whole wheat, oatmeal, regular white loaves,etc.... even sour dough, but the simple truth is we are Italian and French bread lovers. The only other requests I get are for bagels (We both love homemade bagels toasted for breakfast), rye bread and homemade Croissants.

~Ann

Here is a link that might be useful: The Unorthodox Epicure: Confessions of an Aspiring Food Snob

Too many fantastic meals to comment on and I have been woefully lax in my cooking efforts. But tonight I sort of got it together and made a meal that I am proud of.....

Butter Poached Lobster Tails with Porterhouse and couscous. Salad and Champagne didn't seem photo worthy LOL (actually I just forgot LOLOLOLOL)

Alexa

Alexa

Some great looking dinners. I don't know what I want more, Adam's Tostadas or Alexa's lobster.

What we have been eating:

Pizza

Baked Bagels today

and we had Bagels, cream cheese and smoked salmon for dinner tonight.

I'm going to have an "indulge me" dinner...grilled beef filet with lots of fresh garlic....maybe a couple of tiny red potatoes with onions and blue cheese.
Strawberries dipped in vanilla sugar....no salad....no veggies, no bread!!!!

Linda, your dinner sounds just about perfect to me.

~Ann

Tried a new recipe in the pressure cooker last night, Pepper Steak. It turned out really good: strips of one pound round steak dredged in seasoned flour, browned in 1 TB sesame oil and 2 TB veg. oil; then 2 cloves garlic minced, 1 cup beef broth, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 2 TB sugar, salt and pepper were added, all cooked under pressure for 8 minutes. After a quick pressure release under cold water in the sink, you add 1 onion, 1/2 red bell pepper, 1/2 green bell pepper cut in strips and cook under pressure for 4 minutes. But I wanted the vegetables to still be a bit crunchy so I cooked in the pot but not under pressure, for about 5 minutes, lid partially on. Served over jasmine rice, a nice thickened sauce resulted, delicious! And I have leftovers for lunch today.

I grew up on my mom's Pepper Steak which was really good but used an entire small bottle of soy sauce and was quite salty....naturally. I liked this new recipe better (but don't tell Mom).

Teresa

Sounds good Teresa.

Dinner last night - Greek Style - Pork Chops

The chops were pre-salted the day before and then seasoned with garlic, fresh oregano, lots of black pepper and a dizzle of olive oil. An hour before grilling, the juice of a large lemon was squeezed over the chops.

Grilled

and a stacked Greek Salad.

Chicken Paprikas with Spaetzle

What a nice parade of fine cooking by everyone. I should come here more often to get inspirations.

A few ordinary dishes I made.

Puffed wild rice turned out very well, so I made it again with roasted pork.

Poached tilapia.

Cabbage and radish

dcarch

I made a Boston Cream Pie to take to our neighbours. Barb's Birthday cake.

Dinner last night was a meatless Monday:
~ butternut squash gratin (leftover from Sunday night)
~ green beans with new potatoes
~ crookneck squash and onion (also leftover from Sunday)
~ a small skillet of cornbread
~ and a piece of cheesecake, for the protein doncha know :)

Teresa

Shrimp & Avocado Salad with Crab Croutons (and a spicy Louis dressing). It was our dinner on Sunday. Wow! What wonderful photos I see here. Everyone!

Here is a link that might be useful: The Unorthodox Epicure: Confessions of an Aspiring Food Snob

Adam, your salad looks amazing. Great photo.

Local Spot Prawns

Last night's dinner

A few of our meals from the past week.

Pasta with a Pork, Tomato and Basil Sauce. Some hot red pepper flakes to give it heat.

One of Moe's Breakfasts

Brie and Chive Omelette with baked tomato.

We had prawns again. This time in an Etouffee sauce.

We had this dinner with our neighbours Clif and Barb. One of Clif's favourite meals.

Moe's birthday was Monday. Matt and Dana were here to help celebrate.

Dinner was a traditional roast chicken dinner. As requested by Moe.

And for dessert - as it tradition for Moe's Birthday - something with strawberries.

And today's breakfast

I didn't feel like eggs so I grilled the sausage and served them baguette buns topped with fried onions and peppers.

I'm going to miss seeing your sausages with onions, gravy and mashed potatoes with this thread is done. I crave that every time I open this page Ann.

Wonderful meals everyone!!!

happy Birthday to Moe, his strawberry dessert looks delicious, as usual.

I like to try new things so I picked this up for 44 cents at Horrocks:

{{gwi:1499878}}

Nope, I do not like it. I stir fried it with a bunch of other vegetables but they call it Bitter Melon for a reason. It was, indeed, bitter, LOL. I picked it out and ate the rest of the vegetables.

I've been trying to clean out the freezer, so I cooked another thing that is not a favorite of mine, beef short ribs. I braised them with onions and orange juice and seasonings. The meat was tender and the sauce was very good:

However, even my grass fed and ultra lean beef left this on the plate, which is why I don't like shortribs:

Chicken breast had migrated to the bottom of the freezer, so I pulled it out one day and stuffed it with our home made canadian bacon and provolone cheese. Sides were asparagus and sauteed zucchini and summer squash:

elery had read a Cook's Illustrated review on a microwave potato chip maker and wanted one, so I got him one for our anniversary. We made chips! These are red potatoes, unpeeled, but the sweet potatoes were best. We ate those before I thought to take pictures. (grin)

We had a small visitor, this is kind of food related. She now weighs 17 pounds and you can see that she doesn't starve!

This was one of Elery's suppers, eggplant "falafel with a fresh tomato salsa, corn on the cob and sauteed swiss chard:

Bud and Makayla came to spend the weekend last weekend and we made pancakes. This one was Makayla's, mine looked much the same sans bananas and with an egg. Bud's was shaped like a monster truck with banana slices for tires. That boy and his trucks.....

This was last night's stuffed flounder, home canned pink half runner beans and kind of a pasta primavera:

{{gwi:1499886}}

I made a white bean and garlic scape dip which we had with toasted slices of baguette:

Elery left to go back home yesterday morning so I made brunch, a quiche made with Nathan's Never Fail Pastry, thanks to SharonCB. It had our homemade Italian sausage, some leftover red pepper, sweet onions and fresh herbs from the herb garden. Sweet potato hash on the side.

So, you see, I've been eating and I've been eating well. I have a bunch of garlic scapes, so we'll see what tomorrow brings....

Annie

Annie, love the eggplant falafel! I, too, was intrigued by bitter melon and picked it up from the farmer's market. After seeing it declared "worst vegetable ever" on search after search, I chickened out. I rarely let my food go bad, but by the time I'd worked up the nerve to face it again it had rotted.

Thanks Jasdip.

Annie everything looks good, especially the short ribs.
I love your little visitor. Looks like she is a good eater.

Made my favourite Osso Buco recipe this week.

Osso Buco served over polenta.

And

Sweet and Sour Chicken

and Chicken Katsu served with a version of a Japanese Steak House Salad.

Here is a link that might be useful: Osso Buco

Szechwan Garlic Eggplant and Asian 'Dry Fried' Green Beans.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Unorthodox Epicure: Confessions of an Aspiring Food Snob

Annie,
The vegetable that you posted was actually karella, which is the East Indian version of bitter melon. The Asian one is not quite as bitter; it is bigger and has larger bumps. It is really an acquired taste and has to be prepared properly, not just tossed into a stirfry. I usually make it with beef and black bean sauce. It is really good for you, but some people can't get past the bitter taste.

Ann T,

That sweet and sour chicken looks wonderful. Do you not use a sauce with it? We were introduced to Chicken Katsu while in Hawaii. They cut costs by using thigh meat, which I really don't like. I should try making it at home with chicken breast meat.

Donna, yes there is a sauce. The chicken and vegetables are coated with the sauce. This isn't one of those thick translucent red/pink sweet and sour sauces that I associate with American/Canadian style Chinese food.

Matthew was home for a few days. We had sirloin burgers one night.

Mexican another. Matt made the corn tortillas.

And we had a Prime Rib dinner

Donna, the sign just said "bitter melon" and the little card that was available said to stir fry int. Of course, this is central Michigan, LOL, so it probably was their best guess!

UE, I've definitely got to try that eggplant!

Ann, the prime rib looks perfect as always, but those Yorkshire puddings, those look really good today.

Annie

Oooohhh! I am drooling over the keyboard. I havent been to this forum for quite awhile until recently. I am getting ready to leave but was scrolling thru these delicious meals. When I get back I have to try and find some of these recipes. Ann_T, I am going to try that french baguette this weekend if I can get a pizza stone.I cant wait.
Tammy

Tammy, did you get that stone and make the baguette?

Unorthodox Epicure, I made the szechwan eggplant and Elery just loved the stuff, so thank you for that recipe, I'll definitely be making that in the future. We had it with "spicy orange" chicken wings, definitely not a recipe I'd use again. It was neither spicy nor orange, although it was marinated overnight in orange juice. It was very bland and needed a glaze, IMO. We also had a spinach salad with home canned pickled beets, fresh orange wedges and the last of some candied walnuts I got as a Christmas gift. I put enough "stuff" on the spinach that it didn't need dressing, LOL.

Saturday we went out to clean up the mess those "renters" that never paid rent made. Township cleanup, so there was a free dumpster right next door and we made use of it. Dave brought up the skid steer with the bucket and we went to work. The dumpsters left at noon, so we only had 4 hours, but we filled a dumpster and a half with just garbage, a couple of old couches, rotten mattresses, a tub surround, an old fiberglass boat. It was disgusting and we never even went inside the mobile home which they also left there. Ugh.

We didn't really want anything to eat after that, so about 7 pm I finally made waffles with dried cherries and pecans and fresh Michigan maple syrup. Elery ate his with an egg, he doesn't "do" syrup or much sugar.

sunday we went to the ballpark to watch the West Michigan Whitecaps. Bud's Little League team sold tickets as a fundraiser, and it was kid's day so the kids got a free hot dog, pop and chips and got to go down on the field and run the bases after the game. It was fun, although it finally reached 91F. Fortunately we were in the "cheap seats" way at the top, where the roof of the concessions shaded us. I only sunburned my knees, LOL.

The kids had fun although Makayla is far more "into" baseball than Bud is. Bud likes trucks, LOL, and only tolerated the long game because I bought him cotton candy after his hot dog. The game was tied at the end of 9 innings, 2-2. The opposing team went down in the 10th without scoring. The first WhiteCaps batter up hit a solo homerun, the only homerun of the game. It was a storybook ending for Makayla, who was cheering hard for her Whitecaps, LOL.

He tried his best to outrun his longer legged sister when they ran the bases, but fell just short:

Elery and I both stuck to water at the ballpark, it was far too hot to think of eating, not even the Fifth Third Burger that made it onto "Man vs Food". It's $20 and feeds five people, but none of us wanted it. We came home and grilled salmon and had some more salad, dark greens with pea pods, red onions, sweet yellow peppers and the last of a cucumber that was sitting in the fridge. Vidalia onion dressing.

Annie

Annie, I did try the baguettes last night. They tasted good inside, crust was a little too tough, but I know it was all my fault, not the recipe. I forgot a few things such as slashing the loaves. And did a few things I shouldnt have,lol. But Ann_t has been extremely generous and patient with her coaching. So I still havnt given up yet. When I tried making french bread before, my dough would just kinda splay out on the sheet pan. I hadnt done any research, used my white sandwich bread recipe (Amish White Bread, which is great), and didnt research technique, and just shaped a long loaf baked on cornmeal, and placed ice cubes. So here's to lots of patience, helpful friends and a great forum!
Tammy

Makayla does have long legs. She is getting really tall.

Tammy, just remember - Practice Makes Perfect.

Homemade Wontons in chili broth.

I regularly glean the WFD thread but I have to comment on the kids...Wow, so cute and yup, those are some long legs on Makayla!

Thanks for the endorsement Annie. I copied and pasted the Szechuan eggplant recipe yesterday; I'm eager to try it because I love eggplant and Szechuan so together it's tantalizing to me.

Kathy, you might want to up the heat in that eggplant, I made it and it wasn't even too hot for me, so you'll probably like it a bit more "serious".

Yes, that girl does have the same long legs as her mother. Now, if she'd just get two teeth together at a time, LOL.

Annie

The WFD thread use to be so active, hitting a 100 post each month. Had to search to find this thread on page three.

We had Greek the other night. Chicken Souvlaki with typical sides - rice,Greek Salad and Tzatziki sauce.

You're right, Ann T, it used to move a lot faster, but I remember other slow times when the thread would be "rescued" after a couple of pages.

It's just been too darned hot here to cook or bake. It's been in the 90s periodically since April, unheard of in Michigan, and I don't have air conditioning, so I just don't cook and I'm sure not going to bake. Days worth of time are taken up by my stepmother and her constant "needs", and by my own elderly mother, plus Elery's elderly father. I'm still trying to clean up the horrendous mess the renters left at the farm, the police are now involved in that problem. And, of course, it's gardening season. (grin)

So, I had an egg for breakfast, some fresh pineapple for supper last night, nothing interesting enough for What's For Dinner.

Annie

I remember those hot humid Michigan Summers. I'm almost jealous. We are having another cool summer. Most days are in the 60's and more often than not it is also raining. Oh well. Not much one can do about the weather.

I've always cooked regardless of weather. When it is really not, I use the grill to prepare the whole meal. But if I remember right you don't like to grill.

The only good thing I can say about our weather is that at least I can still bake bread. That is the one thing I stop doing on a hot day.

I didn't realize that you were renting out the farm. I hope the renters are held accountable for whatever damage they did.

~Ann

Ann, I'm not renting the farm, I'm trying to get renters off the farm. Of course, my understanding of renters is that they pay rent, which these people were not doing. Dad rented a "lot" to them to put a house trailer on. I evicted them. They left the trailer there, along with piles of garbage, old tires, dilapidated campers and sheds, they built a pen for a horse out into the hay field. (The horse died after two months, probably from the filth). when they moved they left a duck in a cage outside the trailer. It's dead, probably starved to death because no one knew it was there. It's still there, dead in the cage. They have promised for 8 months to clean it up and haven't, so I made a police report for illegal dumping, littering, malicious destruction of property, improper disposal of a dead animal, various health department violations and anything else I could think of.

Dave came up with a loader for township clean-up a couple of weeks ago and we filled a dumpster and a half with the couches that they threw out in the middle of the orchard, the old tub surround in the back yard, mattresses and chair, you name it. Plus an entire outbuilding full of bags of garbage that they've been bringing from their current residence since they moved out. Yup, they brought all their garbage out here and dumped it. Ugh. They didn't show up to help at township clean-up and there's at least 3 more dumpsters full of filth out there.

So, I've been busy. I did grill chicken one day last week, we killed and plucked those 30 broilers and I marinated one and cut it up. Sure enough, it was black on the outside but it was better than usual. It wasn't bloody on the inside, but it was way overcooked. I don't like to grill at all, I'm too impatient and I don't like grilled food well enough to subject myself to the technique.

Annie

Wow what a mess. I like that you threw as many violations as possible at them. Hopefully most of them stick.

~Ann

Annie, DH and I have been arguing about whether or not we should buy property to rent it out. I vote "no", and I read your post to him as an example. Not something I want to deal with! I'm sorry you had to.