ROTFL!!! Donka, all I can say is "Giddayup". I need to clean out the fridge, so I'm going to make soup base for the freezer with the turkey carcass, leeks, rutabega and carrots. I got some lasagna noodles, so I'm going to slice up some yellow squash that needs using, and the fennel bulbs I just got, and whatever peppers I have, and oven roast them, to layer with the ricotta. I have a little tzimmis left which I think I'll puree into the ricotta. I got some shallots, too. And I got some lamb shanks to braise with baby carrots and pearl onions and leftover sweetish red wine. And a chicken. It's a really big chicken. They tried to tell me it was a fryer, but it's 4.5 lbs.!! I think I'll roast it with the heels of my multigrain bread if it's not gone moldy, and an orange. I can try out the probe because I have no idea (other than the butcher's recommendation) how long to cook this big a not turkey. JRueter, I'm in Gelsonsland, so it has to be an amazing farmer's market to be really tempting. And yes, some of them are more about the social thing than cooking! The worst is being at a dinner party where the hosts are name dropping the truck farmers like they're best friends rather than customers. Needs, keep us posted!!! I'm keeping a good thought for Thursday!

I somehow am going to be making a vegan Easter. Things I'm kicking around to make are: ratatouille; veggie pot pie; carrot habanero soup; pasta with artichokes, dried tomatoes & almonds, rice pilaf with mushrooms &pine nuts... There's a few other things too. I haven't solidified anything yet. Maybe this will help give you a few ideas for your Easter. Another thought, for the omnivores out there. How about Cornish game hens?

Missed this, but good to know that those wild pigs are good for something...eating. :-) I just made a simple chicken stir fry with what veggies I had on hand. Nothing too time consuming with a split work schedule. A local farm just had the best crop of peaches in 80 years. I went there and bought enough to have several to eat fresh and sliced and froze the rest for later. I saw something online about scoring the skin, dropping them in boiling water for 20 seconds and the skin peels right off. You then plunge them in ice water to stop the cooking process. Worked like a charm! Made the process go much quicker. It's interesting seeing what people eat from different areas of the country (countries). Sometimes I get tired of the same ole thing.

mgmum, your messaging is not enabled, so I'll post a link to my OneDrive Kitchen album (scroll down to skip my wandering explanation). It starts with the hand-drawn plan--I found GW before I knew how to upload pics or use a Paint program. I did a DIY mini-remodel using some cabinets from the old kitchen, some new cabinets, and some salvaged cabinets and other recycled/upcycled elements. If you click on each pic, then click on it again, the captions should appear. The whole mess is documented, so if you just want to see the final result, scroll to the end. I mentioned hosting big family dinners--the kitchen is set up specifically to facilitate feeding a crowd. I could have a better working layout, but I need the long counter with no appliances, and a direct path to the new dining room. The range used to be on that wall, and the burners would still be hot from cooking, when it was time to serve the buffet. Many times I've covered the still-warm burners with a noodle board, so no one would accidentally touch them. I moved the range across the room, in part to clear that wall, but also to vent it to the outside. My vented hood is one of my favorite parts of the new kitchen. So, we start in the LR, file past the buffet serving counters (counter on one side, island on the other), and walk directly into the new dining/flex room. I'll include the link for that album, too, although you can see it in the background of the kitchen pics. Scroll down for a pic of the table set for 20. We can seat 6 at the kitchen dining table (usually the teens/young adults), which is open to the kitchen on the other side, and four more at a drop leaf table, which we move from the new room to the LR, which is connected through another opening, so no one is isolated in another room. I live in an older home with a circular traffic pattern--I guess now it's more of a figure-8. Before adding the new room, we had to move chairs out of the LR, push everything else against the walls, and squeeze around each other to seat the whole family together. One Thanksgiving we seated 24 at tables in the LR, and I said, "Never again, unless we have a separate dining room!" I think I've posted the story before, but that year my FIL had a friend visiting from the UK, and they decided to come early and visit with my DH, which left me without my usual help, so I was really running behind schedule. Then my mother arrived with her friend, who became bored because the British friend was getting all the attention. Mother's friend decided that since I was alone in the kitchen, he should come in and sing to me--'Devil in Disguise', while I shooed him from one spot to another, as I needed to check the oven, open the fridge, grab something from a drawer, etc. My mother dragged him back to the LR, but as soon as her attention was again on the interesting British friend, 'Elvis' returned for an encore. As more family members arrived with their dishes, he decided that holding court in the kitchen suited him just fine. I was ready to wring his neck by the time I had the buffet laid out. Now, I can set up the tables the night before, place the serving pieces on the long buffet counter early in the day, have everyone seated comfortably in the LR before the meal, set the drinks up on the island at the last minute, give the signal for the blessing, and breathe a sigh of relief. Everything is arranged for point of use, and my relatives know where to find things without asking, so if I'm running behind, they can set up tables and chairs, set up the coffee maker, set the tables, etc. I have trained them well. ;) Kitchen album New addition/dining room/playroom