annie1992, I’m so sorry to hear of both your daughters having so many serious health problems. I have CRPS Type II (used to be called RSD Type II). Mine was triggered by surgery but exacerbated by frostbite as a child. I wish both your daughters the best.

Everyone’s dinners look fantastic! Your skillet pizzas look awesome Jasdip!

sleevendog, I love leek soup! (mine has potatoes in it).

ann_t, DH told me yesterday to go ahead and order the CSO, but I still worry about it surviving the demo or using it in the construction site area… hard decision! You really aren’t making it easier… DH loves oven fried potatoes.

I must not have had the flu, but something milder, as I continued to pack and work throughout. Today I'm back to normal and counting my blessings.

Friday was mid-rare tenderloin, ‘southern style’ slow cooked green beans and new potatoes, but my Bearnaise sauce broke… first time in over 10 years... I was tired from packing and rushed it.

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Batard using ann_t’s artisan recipe. I was going for an ‘ear’ but with the doors open most the day never got it to proof properly and DH was giving me that “are we ever going to eat?” look! Still, it held shape well. Saturday we had roast beef sandwiches with caramelized onions, au jus, corn on the cob, and hasselbacks.

I promise, I'm not intentionally copying other's meals, but everyone's photos make me hungry for what I see!

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Jambalaya with toasted bread last night.

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AnnT, I know you're not big on the "sweet" components, you're the only person I know besides myself that eats French Toast with just butter, no syrup. Plus, if you passed on the baked beans, well, that's more for me. (grin) Elery would like Moe's "dinner for breakfast" meals, he'll eat anything in the morning, while my stomach is still saying "not a chance".

artemis, Elery would love that marinated lamb. A local restaurant has an occasional gyro special that includes lamb marinated in yogurt, I keep threatening to stop there. It's just hard to think that "Nawal's Mediterranean Restaurant" is here in small town Michigan, but she's doing well and even opening a second location. She also sells fancy cupcakes, so I guess both Elery and I could find something there!

2many, Ashley's CRPS was also triggered by a surgery for repetitive motion. It's actually much better now, for a while it was so painful she lost use of her arm and it was beginning to atrophy. Now she gets a root nerve block about every 3 or 4 months and it keeps things manageable, although there's still some pain. It seems like everything that happens to her is rare or unusual, though, like a stroke at 27 when she was inordinately healthy.

Your bread looks perfect to me, especially in the middle of unpacking! You and I must have both been looking at AnnT's beef, because I had roast beef sandwiches last night for supper too, although mine weren't as pretty as yours, and I neglected to take pictures because my Mother was visiting. I did bake a cake, though!

Annie

annie1992, huh? Wha...?? No syrup on your french toast? Et tu, ann_t? What's the world coming to???!!!! As a kid I remember a sleepover with a friend whose mom made us big, thick, dry (mix) pancakes for breakfast. No butter. I asked for syrup, got a dirty look and after she rummaged through her cabinets I was given corn syrup. Mom raised me right; I ate every last bite and to this day I still have nightmares. ; - )

Ha ha, so annie, you too are inspired by what you see here! Your cake looks like my rum cake except better!

I'm so glad your Ashley's CRPS has been helped with nerve blocks - they didn't work for me. It seems like once you get 'something', something else follows. It's a shame there are so many disorders for which there is no cure, and often, not really successful treatments. I know it's hard on you seeing what your daughters go through. My CRPS started on one foot, spread to both feet and now is in my hands but my hands did improve a great deal (they say type II can't spread, and that's simply not factual). I take nothing for my feet/pain. Just keep going : - ) Winters are not kind for me.

Thank you for the bread compliment... I'm trying and ann_t is an inspiration. I'd given up on artisan breads and pizzas a few years back...

I am packing up the house as we plan to renovate (the largest part being our kitchen). Soon I will have to stop all cooking {gasp!}. DH and I will be miserable over that! My cooking has already suffered lately. Finding this area of GW has been the best thing, the best forum... I will lurk when I have to stop cooking, but I WILL return!

Gosh... artemis_ma, your lamb looks so darned good! (... everyone's cooking lamb... now I have to!)

2ManyDiversions, not only no maple syrup, but besides the butter I also sprinkle salt and pepper.

Your bread turned out great. Nice crumb and colour on that crust.

I find that I often copy meals. Seeing something, triggers a craving.

I was planning on having pulled pork sandwiches tonight on homemade Kaisers.

Ricky's post reminded me that I hadn't made Kaisers in a long time. So I started them this morning.

But instead of Pulled Pork , I'm going to have burgers tonight because a friend on FB posted a burger that made my mouth water. Pulled pork postponed until tomorrow.

Here they are proofing. Instead of 12, I made 9 so they would be bigger.

Baked first five in the steam oven and the remaining four are baking as I type.

Oh, you just had to, didn't ya. Hmmph. : - ) Ok, I give. I did save your recipe ann_t's Kaiser Rolls ... questions questions... you say in your recipe you use the stretch and fold.. how many times? You're going to say until it's right, aren't you! 4 times? How does one shape a kaiser roll? I've never made one. Last question... did you dust yours with cornmeal or semolina? I ask because your gorgeous rolls look like they've got a dusting of something, and I'm reasonably sure there's no such thing as micro-mini yellow poppy seeds!

We love hamburgers filled with gorgonzola! I flavor my hamburger meat with a smidge of BBQ sauce, minced garlic, and season it with s & p prior to grilling.

ETA: I missed the part about sprinkling pancakes with salt and pepper.. Ann, you have a savory tooth!

Also ETA: "Your bread turned out great. Nice crumb and colour on that crust." I was so mesmerized by your dough and baked rolls I didn't see that either... wow, what a compliment (because it's coming from ann_t, the Bread Guru)... thank you

2ManyDiversions, This is one recipe that you don't need to do it by hand. This the second time in the last four years that I got my KA out to do the kneading of this dough. I also use the KA when I made the donuts recently. But if you do decide to do it my hand, you are right, I would say until it feels right. I often go at least six stretch and folds and I never time between stretch and folds. Often going 30 or 40 minutes between instead of 20 minutes.

These buns don't need that same development and hydration that the artisan style breads need. So my advice would be to just use your KA or similar. That way you can make them from start to finish in about 4 hours. Stretch and fold method will take substantially longer.

Good eye. I thought that I had sesame or poppy seeds in the freezer but apparently not, so I dusted with a fine corn meal.

It is French Toast that I butter and salt and pepper.

2many diversions, I hope your CRPS improves, Ashley has a pain clinic appointment Wednesday, I don't know if she'll have to have those nerve blocks forever, but for now, at least, it's indefinitely.

I've also felt a little under the weather today, although not actually sick, so Elery made roasted potatoes and hamburgers for supper. Not as pretty at AnnT's roasted potatoes, but still good and the burgers were nicely rare, from our homegrown grassfed beef. The potatotes were Kennebecs from my winter storage, dug last September, they're keeping well.

Annie

ann_t, oh thank goodness! Running out of spare time so I’ll use the mixer! I knew you typed French Toast… I guess the childhood syrup-less pancake flashbacks confused me ; - ) Not ‘good eye’, great photography! Also, I found a youtube video that said to tie it into a knot, fold one end up and into, the other end down and under, so will try that.

I hope you are feeling better today Annie. I guess you know how fortunate you are to have your own beef! What’s that saying I read years ago? “There’s nothing like food you’ve seen to yourself”. I love a bit of rare in my burgers – and remember the days of steak tartare, but store-bought is no longer conducive… how I envy you those burgers! And I envy that your Elery made those burgers and roasted potatoes (we call those thick cut fries, a favorite of Jerry's!)

Thank you for your kind words. I’ve had CRPS Type II for over 10 years now… nerve damage and botched surgery complicated things and lead to intractable pain, and as your daughter I’m sure has been told, pain begets pain with this disease. I’d seen more specialists than I could count and they were always negative about my outcome, even as regards to new methods of treatments. Circulation problems almost lead to amputation, but I’m a strong believer in ‘can do’! I’m still walking, pain med free. Plan to stay that way as long as I can!

Now back to our regularly scheduled program… DH will have to deal with a less-loaded pizza tomorrow – my style, but sadly, fast food is in my near future (tonight). Ugh.

Annie, we had the same dinner. I had planned to use the Kaisers for pulled pork but made hamburgers instead. You know how much I love rare beef, but the exception is a burger. Not sure why but I have never been able to eat a rare burger. And yet I have no problem eating raw beef. Love Carpaccio.

2ManyDiversions, I had to look up CRPS. I'm sorry that you are having to deal with this constant pain. Can't be easy. What a great attitude you have.

I hope you give the Kaisers a try. They really are easy.

Is this the video you found? I have a link to this one on my blog.

{laughing and smiling hugely!} Yes-yes-yes! That's the one I found! I didn't see the link in your blog... so now I know for sure. Thank you Ann! I'm hoping to have time later this week or weekend. DH promises burgers on the grill (he loathes cold weather grilling) and I've 'got my mouth set' for gorgonzola burgers on Kaisers now! If I promise him oven-fried potatoes he'll do it! So... I'm a week late on the burgers and potatoes wagon huh? ; - )

Thank you for your comment about attitude.. I don't talk about it much, and most can't tell as I hide it fairly well. I've always had a cheerful nature : - )

ETA: I see you toast your buns on the grill too.. untoasted just fall apart with all the juiciness! I believe the kaiser rolls will also not fall apart so easily.

Just skimmed through the photos. What a yummy thread! Now I'm hungry for a burger (rare, please), but months away from a garden fresh tomato (starting seeds this weekend). Oh well. Carry on.

I'm jealous, just thinking that tomatoes are just "months" away for you. They are many months away for me. August if I'm lucky.

Gosh so much has been happening since I was last here. Hamburgers are stand outs.

The weather finally cooled off enough for me to do a little baking.

Quiche

neely, you quiche crust puts my quiche crust to shame! It looks so flaky!

2many, I'm sorry you've had CRPS for so long, 10 years is a long time. Thankfully, amputation wasn't your answer and although it was discussed for Ashley, she then began to improve. Your experience tells me that it's probably not going to just go away, although my stepson was diagnosed with he same thing after carpal tunnel surgery, had several months of pain treatment and then, as suddenly as it began, it quit. So, I keep hoping, but since Ashley's has gone on for a couple of years, I think the longer it goes the less likely it is to just remediate. Like you, she doesn't like the strong pain meds and opiods they use to control the pain, so much of the time she is "toughing it out". At least with her arm, she doesn't have to walk on it, like you do, she can put her arm in a sling and it's a big more comfortable.

Neely, that quiche looks delicious, I need to make a quiche here, since the hens are laying a bit more with the days getting longer.

AnnT, your burger looks nice, even if it's not rare. Your bun looks better than mine too, mine was an onion bun from a local bakery and it was OK, but it was most certainly not like homemade.

Cindy, I'm also jealous. Like AnnT, it will be August before I get ripe tomatoes, but I spent a couple of hours going through garden and seed catalogs, getting myself all geared up for starting my seedlings. That's still a couple of months away too, but I still shop and plan while it snows outside.

So, what's for dinner? Last night I made pork steak, hash browns and brussels sprouts. I like brussels sprouts a lot, they were my favorite part of the meal. Elery also had some leftover macaroni and cheese from a couple of days ago when Madi and Maci were here, they love the stuff. Me, not so much, so I passed.

Today I did Dave's books and entertained my Mother at the shop while Dave fixed her brakes. Elery made supper, BBQ'd chicken in his Instant Pot, some german potato salad and the rest of my leftover baked beans. The plate needs something green, LOL.

Tomorrow is up for grabs because I'm baking cookies for that benefit. Even with 2 ovens going simultaneously I think it'll take me most of the day to bake 400 cookies, so my kitchen will be "tied up". Maybe soup, I have several varieties of that canned, that would be good.

Annie

Annie sounds like a busy day tomorrow I saw you have dozens
of cookies frozen ready to bake. Do you thaw then first or just put them in the
oven frozen? I may try freezing some it seems if I make a whole recipe they get
stale before they all get eaten.

Claudia

Annie, you don't like Mac and Cheese either? I love pasta but just can't stand mac and cheese. I bet I can count on one hand the number of times I've made it for Matt over the years.

Neely, I would love a piece of your Quiche for breakfast.

Tuesday's dinner - Cuban Pork with a

Mojo sauce. Black beans cooked in the Breville PC, rice and tostones.

Yesterday morning I roasted Greek chicken with potatoes and lemon in the CSO and took for lunch. Moe had his for breakfast.

Signs of spring here on the west coast of Canada.

Taken January 30th, Chives up about 4".

Rhubarb

The snow drops have been up for a while.

OT: Annie, re: CRPS I found the best things that helped me were movement, stretching, walking - i.e. using the limbs and extremities combined with massaging and warm baths/showers. I was told any kind of immobilization was not good, except when resting the limb or recovering from increased pain. Had a toe exercise I stopped doing as it increased the pain quickly and took too long to recover... a year later my toe-bones are fused together - my fault. I do think there is certainly hope for your daughter... I am living a very full life, using my feet and legs, and clearly using my hands! My friend's sister has CRPS type I (the mildest) and her doc told her to do hot/cold therapy (cold is typically to be avoided), when that made it worse they cast her arm for an entire year. That made it worse so they did a sympothectomy, 3 years later she was permanently in bed, on morphine drip, other pain meds, has had most of her upper/lower intestines removed (pain med's). 4 years now, her entire arm to the shoulder is gone, the other gone to the elbow and they just put her on a respirator. I'm a big fan of physical therapy - you just can't overdo it with CRPS. Sorry to keep bringing this up - I told myself I'd help anyone I met with this. I tried to tell my friend's sister to move and use her arm every day - she listened to bad advice in hopes of winning a lawsuit. No amount of $$ worth that. I'm sure a doc has mentioned that vasodilation/vasoconstricition in the history seem to increase chances of CRPS post surgery (stroke, migraines). I had/have migraines.

Back to Food! Annie, your Elery is like my Jerry I think, a meat and potatoes (carbs) kinda guy - thank goodness for vegetables! Sadly, my Jerry can't cook! Those pork chops look so good and I love warm german potato salad!

Ann, I had to look up tostones - they seem very similar to fried green tomatoes! Which I crave too often. Like fried okra, that's something I can overeat if given the opportunity. You are torturing me with all your chicken dishes made in the CSO! And I thought that was garlic popping up! My chives are still dormant and my garlic is the only thing showing green (20 degrees last night, with 1" of snow). Those snow drops are so pretty, and your soil looks so darned healthy! We have to work ours constantly (we've a lot of red clay).

We had dinner and a movie out last night... burgers and old fashioned shakes, the movie was Hostiles. For the life of me, my mind is blank on what we ate night before last... must've been something unmemorable from the freezer!

ET Ask: Ann, is that fresh sage with your chicken? Say no if you care about my stomach growling! Oh, I can't wait for summer...

partst, I freeze the cookie dough unbaked. I just scoop it out onto a sheet tray and put the whole tray in the freezer. When they're all frozen I stash them in a ziplock bag. When i want to bake cookies I take out a dozen or as many as I need, put them on sheet pans on the counter and let them thaw. It takes about 10 or 15 minutes, then they go into the oven. Voila!! Fresh cookies on demand. (grin)

AnnT, nope, I do not care for mac and cheese. As you know, I don't care for pasta very much, and I'm not a huge cheese consumer either, so for me, mac and cheese is that "perfect storm" of everything I don't like, with the mushy/gooey texture to add to the fun. The grandkids just love the stuff, though, especially if I make it from scratch and clean out the cheese drawer.

You're ahead of me on spring, there's no green here and the rhubarb doesn't dare peek out yet. We're supposed to get 6 inches of snow tomorrow, high of 10F. It's going to be a couple of months before rhubarb, so thank goodness I have lots of it in the freezer.

2many, I'd never even heard of CRPS until Ashley was diagnosed. Thankfully not using the arm wasn't an option, as she had two small children and these nerve blocks keep the pain tolerable. It's an horrible thing to have, that's for certain.

Tonight was the benefit and it went very well. We fed garlic bread salad and spaghetti to about 600 people. All 40 dozen cookies were consumed, along with 20 gallons of lemonade, 80 cups of coffee and about 40 gallons of ice water. There was a simultaneous bake sale and silent auction and Ashley made a pretty good dent in the amount she needs to get herself to Seattle and pay her relatively hefty portion of the surgical costs.

So what's for dinner? I had cookies. (grin) And coffee. I hope to never see another strand of spaghetti for a long, long time. I'm thinking tomorrow maybe chicken curry or Mexican, anything except pasta!

Annie

So fantastic your benefit for Ashley went well Annie. It's lovely to hear she will soon be able to get the treatment she needs. And 2many sorry to hear about your pain and trust things are going better for you.

Foodwise, AnnT your black beans set up a craving for them so I soaked some and made a make up dish with rice, red and green peppers, onions, garlic, cummin, fresh oregano and chilli. Also added some left over sausage.

Friday dinner saw a return to battered fish fillets. NZ Hoki.

Left over fish became my brunch on Sat morning. I love cold fish... below with dill pickles on a slice of sour dough bread.

Also, thought I'd mention that I do like Mac and cheese but hardly ever have it.

2ManyDiversions, Not sage, although it could have been. It was fresh oregano. I can still pull fresh thyme from my garden and sage, but not oregano. That I had to buy.

Annie, sounds like the fund raiser was a big success.

Unlike you I actually love pasta. But I'm not a dairy fan, which includes cheese. With very few exceptions. Have never eaten cereal either because I hate milk.

Neely, great photos. I promised Moe when Halibut season opens again, hopefully in March, I will make him homemade fish and chips. In the mean time I'm not showing him your battered fish.

Thursday morning I hand-mixed two 500g batches of dough before leaving for work. Both went into the fridge. Matt pulled one out around four and for dinner.

Everything was baked in the steam oven. It is perfect for baking bread and just about everything else, but I think I will stick to baking pizza on a stone on the grill. The steam oven just doesn't get hot enough to do a pizza justice.

I baked Matt two mini 7" pizzas.

A Flammkuchen for Moe and I

to share and

one Batard.

Batard was sliced Friday morning

And all Moe wanted for breakfast was buttered toast.

Wow, what fabulous meals!!! Love your hamburger and fries that Elery made, Annie. I've never heard of your Kennebec potatoes. I bought a bag of reds a couple of weeks ago and I had to throw half of the bag out.......they were black inside when I peeled and cut them. Yellows are my favourites.

2manydiversions, you're jumping right in! Delicious meals, and baking bread, too!!

Neely, I love your pie. The crust is my favourite part of a pie.

Ann, I tried a pizza on the stone in my Cuisinart oven, but I like them done in the skillet better. I've made another one since my pictures, and I got the crust nice and thin, which is how we like it.

Tonite I over-stuffed boneless breasts with sauteed peppers, onions, goat cheese and baby spinach. I had to tie them closed.

AnnT, when the toast looks like that, it would be enough for me too.

Your little oven does so many things well that the fact it doesn't get hot enough for pizza is a minor inconvenience, I think. Your flammkuchen looks like something I would like, with all those onions and bacon and no red sauce. Did you use the creme fraiche? If you did, how did you like it? I'm kind of suspicious about that, it's so different. I do like some dairy, I like milk and butter, but I'm not so wild about cheese, ice cream, sour cream, yogurt. I use yogurt for baking, but don't really just eat it and I occasionally put cream cheese on a bagel with hot pepper jelly. Your flammkuchen has me intrigued, anyway.

Neely, I love fish and I'm always envious when AnnT gets her halibut, that's not so readily available here in small town Northern Michigan. Yours looks good and I had to smile at the "next day" leftovers. My Great Grandmother lived in Canada, next to a river. If she caught fish and had them for supper, any leftovers were put on a plate, covered and shoved to the back of the woodstove, where they remained warm until breakfast when she gladly ate them.

Here I had threatened Mexican and I kind of had that. I made Spanish Rice and a tossed salad. I'm not an enthusiastic salad eater, but I try because Elery loves salads of all types. So, salad it was and Elery was happy.

Last night, of course, it was cookies. Chocolate Chip:

Oatmeal Scotchies:

Cinnamon Snaps:

The night before it was Chinese takeout, I had sesame chicken with an eggroll. It was the first time we've tried the local Chinese restaurant, it's one of those buffet style things, but also have a regular and relatively extensive menu. Anyway, it was good. Not exceptional but altogether acceptable when every surface in my kitchen was covered with cookies:

Tomorrow Amanda, Dave and the kids are coming for breakfast so I have some of Lakeguy's blueberry french toast in the fridge waiting. I have a small container of it made from gluten free bread, so that's an experiment, we'll see how it is. If it's horrible she can still eat eggs, hash browns and bacon.

Annie

Annie, you might like the Flammkuchen. I've made it a number of times now over the last few years. Creme fraiche is easy to make. You just need buttermilk and heavy cream. But since I decided to make the Flammkuchen on the spur of the moment, I just bought some on my way home from work.

Moe loves cornbread so I made it again yesterday morning to have with coffee.

Italian Roast chicken with a side of Pasta Aglio E Olio.

AnnT, the chicken looks good, but that cornbread looks perfect. I agree with Moe, it would be wonderful for breakfast with a good cup of coffee. Here I've never seen creme fraiche in any of the stores, go figure. I would have to make it, although that's not such a big deal.

Here we had beans and rice with homemade bread, but I forgot to take a picture. Amanda and Dave were here with Bud and Makayla for breakfast, and I made bacon, hash browns, scrambled eggs and Lakeguy's blueberry french toast, so I wasn't really hungry for a big meal this evening.

Turns out Dave doesn't like French Toast and Makayla doesn't like blueberries and Amanda, of course, is celiac, so I made her a special serving with gluten free bread. There's a lot of the pan left here, so I'll be having that for breakfast. Maybe I'll make corn bread for supper....

Annie

Annie, has Dave tried French toast the way we like it? Butter, salt and pepper?

Jasdip, I like the look of your "over stuffed" chicken breasts. And the filling.

Bought some beautiful oyster mushrooms at the Duncan Farmer's Market on Saturday and I used some in Moe's breakfast on Sunday.

Baked Bread yesterday

I used some of my regular dough, and fried in hot oil, topped with garlic creme fraiche to make my take on Hungarian fried bread.

There was a restaurant in Vancouver, The Ivy that closed a number of years ago. They served, as an appetizer, fried bread with a garlic sauce. Loved it.

Served with Grilled Pork Chops with potatoes roasted with chopped red onion and paprika.

Another dinner for breaakfast.

Good Gosh everyone’s meals look so enticing!

Neely, your black beans and rice looks so good, and I’ve never even heard of NZ hoki, but the batter looks so light – and I love fish sandwiches!

ann-t, your Flammkuchen looks like something I’d love, especially with my German heritage – why did my Mom not introduce me to that? “Creme fraiche is easy to make. You just need buttermilk and heavy cream.” But can it be made with ultra pasteurized? That’s all we have here.

Jasdip, I’m attempting to jump in! Ok, that’s it, I need to make some roasted chicken! Yours looks delicious – though DH has decided he can’t abide goat cheese :-/

annie1992, you just keep torturing us with photos of those cookies! I feel I can almost grab one from my monitor… and wish I could!

Last Friday I made a double batch of ann’s artisan dough… this is how it looks after the first autolyze – it’s rather shaggy until the 2nd stretch and fold. Friday and Saturday ‘the beast’ (DH’s nickname for my mixer) got a workout!

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Continued... Sunday was fast food – seeing more of that than I care to admit, but we’d moved a ton of furniture and boxes ourselves, readying for the renovation. Last night, a bistro salad with thick cut smoked bacon and poached eggs.

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ann_t, your post didn't show up for me until well after I posted mine (GW gremlins at it again!). Sure wish I could get some lovely mushrooms like yours! That breakfast looks so good - DH would love it (I'd have to tell him the creme fraiche was a type of gravy tho'!). You've made lovely use of your chives already!

Omg...excuse me while I scrape myself off the floor where I'm praying to the foodie gods to drop a sample of all these wondrous foods.

Thanks for the cookie advice Annie I plan on giving a try
this week if. I make a big batch of cookies we tent to eat way too many. DH
uses the excuse that they go bad!

Claudia

AnnT, he has, he just doesn't like it. Fine with the rest of us, Makayla will eat all of his share with a sifting of powdered sugar as long as I leave out the blueberries. I'll stick with the butter/salt/pepper combo...

That fry bread, BTW looks delicious! We have a pig being processed, so I can see pork chops in our future here too.

2many, that's one beautiful burger and the pots de creme aren't bad either, I'd have one of each, thanks.

partst, I like having cookies in the freezer unbaked. If I bake them and freeze them, I just dunk the frozen ones in coffee, but if I have to thaw them and bake them, I have time to think better of eating half a dozen...

OK, so what's for dinner? Tonight I made chicken curry over couscous with a side of home canned kale. I got a little carried away with the hot peppers, so I had a bite, went to the fridge for sour cream, managed to eat a couple more and then gave up. It was just too darned hot for me, but Elery loved it.

Last night we had pasta with my home canned venison spaghetti sauce, Elery's beloved green salad and a side dish of okra/corn/tomatoes, some homemade bread. He was a very happy man.

I've canned beef stock:

and baked some bread:

I got avocados for 49 cents each at Aldi, so I bought a dozen and mashed them up, two per bag, and froze them for future guacamole. Avocado for that price is unheard of here:

Right now I have a venison roast in brine, becoming "corned venison", it should be ready by Saturday, and I have a couple of chicken breasts in the fridge that'll be tomorrow's supper. I have a Planning Commission meeting tomorrow night at 7 pm, so supper will have to be quick.

Annie

My gosh Annie, you've been busy! How do you do it?? Your chicken curry over couscous looks good! DH also loves spicy, but I have to tone it down for myself as well. My Jambalaya before last was so spicy nothing could make me eat it and I was so hungry for it.

Love the photo of your stock 'stuff'. I'd love to learn to can when things calm down. Sometimes I have to buy ready-made stock, which is not good. I try not to!

Your bread is lovely! Reminds me, I've got to make some more for DH's lunches.

Annie, you have been busy. You never seem to stop. Your beef stock looks so rich.

2Many Diversions, you are a busy girl too. I'm jealous of your corn. Haven't seen any corn worth buying in our stores and it will be late July if I'm lucky before fresh Island corn is available.

Last night's dinner. Winged a Udon noodle and Pork dish for dinner last night.

Made two doughs yesterday morning, one for the fridge and one to bake.

Baked six small baguettes last night. Three at a time in the CSO.

This morning Moe and I shared a toasted Back Bacon and Tomato sandwich on one of the baguettes.

Annie great idea about the avocados! Thanks!

I get it now, you all are just tempting me to go ahead and try my hand at Asian with those enticing meals! Alas, no time, kitchen is slowly getting packed now! Ann, your pork and udon looks perfect. Would those be your chives I see? I'll trade you corn for some oyster mushrooms!

I've got some of your artisan dough sitting in my fridge, waiting for me to attempt getting my scoring half as pretty as yours. If it takes four hours to proof, I'm waiting! Hopefully tomorrow or day after.

So is that similar to a BLT, without the L? Only greatly elevated?! {muttering to myself... should I make baguettes or a batard with that dough?}

2ManyDiversions, Proofing doesn't take four hours. But if the dough has been in the fridge for a while and hasn't had a chance to warm up before shaping for the proof, it could take up to two hours. Yesterday's batch was never in the fridge but the proofing still took a little more than an hour.

The Kaisers on the other hand, once shaped and left to proof , are fairly quick. More yeast in that recipe than I put in the artisan style breads.

Yep, I knew there wasn't as much yeast in your artisan.. the last time (and first time) I made the batard, it hadn't properly proofed after 2 hours... it was "this close" as it had risen, but didn't pass the 'finger-poke indent' test, so I knew my scores would do nada. The house was very cold that day. Still, it did well in the baking! I was exaggerating about the 4 hours : ) I do thank you, you are really watching over my bread making! I'm the better bread maker for it. Please keep some fingers crossed that my next batard looks closer to your gorgeous breads!

I think this next one will taste even better, as I made the dough Friday, and I left out enough for a pizza and a batard... that's 7 days if I get it made tomorrow : )

Oh, that reminds me, I need to get more out of the freezer pronto!

I have a lot of catching up to do starting with Jasdip's stuffed chicken breasts which look delicious.

Many AnnT meals and bread look so good and of course the pork and udon noodles appeal very much.

Annie... I like the look of your chicken curry and the hotter the better for me. I have been gradually getting to like hot things more and more over the years. I have even found myself to be "one of those people" who asks for extra chilli on their Bahn Mi pork roll/bun at the Vietnamese bakery lately.

2many ... so much yummy looking food and your "bistro" salad looks great. Is that your word or is it common usage, anyway I knew actually what you meant. Also your hamburger promoted the following meal at our house.

These were home made chips and probably not as good as oven fries. Oh Well !!

Another two meals involved lamb chops... look away now Annie LOL,

Above very plain chops, mash and broccolini

So that's a few dinners from recent days.

I counted 19 soups from January. Most new recipes, other standard Pho and noodle bowl favorites from last January. Not much bread, (but that will change soon)...we did meat Fridays and fish weekends. Leek/garlic/once I roasted mushrooms. Garlic will return for sure.

Easy prep roasting while sautéing veg.

Still have lots of Cod fillets from some good fishing off our kayaks. About 75lbs. I think I have 20 lbs left. Cod many ways. A new favorite one is Cod Provencale with a sesame Miso glaze. (pomegranate molasses for the tiny bit of sweet)

Dumplings last week and a white miso soup with cast iron grilled shrimp/scallops.

neely, your burger and chips looks great - we call those thick-cut fries around here, they are very popular and yours look perfect! Your lamb chops look tasty - I love lamb!

I have always thought of a bistro salad (or some call it a frisée salad) as a salad with dark greens, frisée (sadly, our store often does not have frisée) and having lardons and poached eggs with a warm vinaigrette made from the bacon drippings. Some use chicken instead of thick-cut bacon/pork for a healthier salad. I usually serve it with French Onion soup, but ironically, I had no bread for the soup. The salad is pretty much a meal in itself and DH loves it.

sleevendog, you're making me feel very unhealthy! And you'd be right. I adore leek soup, but DH is not a fan (I still make it tho'). Your Cod Provencale looks amazing and how wonderful you've got so much cod! But it's your dumplings that stole my heart!

AnnT, that bacon and tomato sandwich looks so good, I don't even have descriptive phrases to describe. Yum.

d_megow, I like guacamole a lot, but I don't like paying $2 each or even more for a single avocado. So, when they are cheap I eat all I can, and then when they are expensive, I make guacamole from the frozen ones. Definitely freeze them, if you squish them into flat packages all the air squeezes out and they don't oxidize, so they stay nice and green while thawing.

Neely, Elery would love your lamb chops, and I'd be happy with the fries. I love potatoes, so that would still make me happy!

sleevendog, that all looks just....amazing. Fresh and delicious and healthy, and I envy you that fresh cod. Fising from a kayak must be a real art, my mind is imagining you "hooking a big one" and it dragging your kayak around like a game of crack the whip, LOL. Of course, I've never actually seen a cod that wasn't filleted and frozen, but I like it a lot.

What's for dinner? Last night it was an Asian sauced pulled chicken, made into a quick sandwich before the Township Planning Commission meeting. It was good, but no time for pictures. We'll see what tonight brings.

Annie

Sleevendog, those soups and the cod look really nice. I'm curious about a recipe for refrigerator pickles. Tell me more! DH likes pickles, but not the dills like we get at the deli. I've made a few recipes of pickled snap peas, but despite using less vinegar or even rice vinegar, there's a sharpness that he'd like me to eliminate.

Goodness, all that fresh amazing looking food sleevendog, and it's winter where you are. It all looks delicious. I haven't experimented with miso as a glaze yet but that Cod Provençal sure makes me want to go to the recipes.

Annie, your sandwich sounds Yum.

Pork chops here, cooked by myself. When hubby cooks them, IF he adds a sauce he puts it in with the cooking meat, which as you know makes the meat tougher. I took the meat out and added two mustards, thyme and yoghurt to the pan juices. Better. Mind you the sauce is a tiny bit away from splitting.

Love a mustard sauce on pork. The last pork gravy I made was shallot, apple, leek, capers and pickled mustard seed. (I'll pull up and post the pickle recipe...I need to make some more tomorrow)

Fridge pickles. I leapt up and made a quick batch last night. The Persian cukes in the crisper were still good....they often get slimy in a few days.

A few hundred bloggers all have the same recipe. Most just copy each other over and over, lol. ( and give their life story along with recipes, : )

I like NY deli half sours. Some can be a bit acrid. Might be the left on stem ends or the skins or the variety. End of the growing season pickles are much different than the early season. NYC picklers only offer fresh fermented pickles once a year. One spear is usually enough for me. Fresh non-fermented I could eat the whole jar.

Try a test batch. You can taste in an hour, after two hours and again the next day. If I have a half jar left after 24hours, I top off with a bit of fresh water. Dilutes the vinegar a bit and great on sandwiches and salads all week. Often I don't make a dressing. Just pickles, splash of evoo, lemon and feta or crumbled blue, goat cheese, etc.

Basic recipe, 1/2 cup vinegar, 1/2 cup water, bay leaf, whole black peppercorns, mustard seed, fresh or dried dill, celery seed, pepper flakes, clove of garlic smashed. Pinch of sweet, pinch of salt. *I use ac vinegar, maple syrup or honey. Lots of variations. Use what you have, less or more. We hate sweet so I often don't use it.

Here is one of many, (zip through the life story to the recipe) I just picked link random but the method is similar. PICKLES

Baby Persian cukes work great and any other root veg like beets, radish, onion, carrot. (peel carrots)

neely, those potatoes look perfect with a capital P! Thyme and pork chops... mm-mmmm!

Gee, thanks sleevendog, now I gotta try your pickles! I can't stand store-bought, but yours look fresh, light and crisp! I'll have to wait until cuke season is here and try to find someone with baby cukes (we've no Persian cucumbers).

You've got me attempting Pho Ga next week after reading more recipes than I can count (I had no idea it would involve so much time, so many layers of flavors! Now I know I'll love it!) I'm embarrassed to admit, roasting the bones and caramelizing the onions had never occurred to me. Asian is so out of my wheelhouse.

So many great looking meals.

Sleevendog, So many soups. Love soup. I should make more.

Great looking dumplings.

Moe would be thrilled with your salads.

Neely, Pork with a mustard sauce is one of the few things I like mustard with.

Made a batch of my favourite meatballs, pork with garlic and fresh basil, on Thursday morning before leaving for work. But a few on to simmer in sauce for dinner and froze the rest for another day. We had Spaghetti and Meatballs for dinner. Forgot my phone at work so no pics.

Moe's breakfast this morning. Meatball sandwich on one of the little baguettes.

I didn't freeze the baguettes, and I had two left.

I put one in the steam oven on the Bake Steam setting, at 375°F for 4 minutes and it came out of the oven like new. Warm and soft on the inside and the crust was crackly. Just like it had been freshly baked.

Last night's dinner. Rack of Lamb. Usually I do rack of lamb on the grill.

This time I roasted it in the steam oven.

Fed my starter and made a batch of sourdough bread on Wednesday and baked

half the batch Thursday night.

Two small boules baked in the steam oven.

The small baguettes made the best hot dog buns. Dinner Wednesday night.

We've had our steam oven I think two years now. I never had much problem with leftovers before but I always made something completely different and never the exact meal.

"House guests, left-overs, and fish, ...stink after three days." I say two days. : )

With the steam oven frozen proteins and grains are about as close you can get to freshly simmered, roasted, baked. Hoping to find some meatballs in a freezer cleaning I may do today. Yours look great. I did see some porcini risotto rice balls that I will thaw if no meat.

Neely, this is a must-do recipe. (I insist, lol) Or anyone that likes a more modernist approach to flavors. Trying new things. A loose approach to exact recipes.

Pickled Mustard Seed

Not really a cookbook of recipes. More about ideas and his style of exploring flavors. So not for everyone.

This batch I could not keep an eye on it so I had to often put it on the front 'less than simmer' plate, (keeps Chemex coffee perfect) burner. On and off simmer for about four hours to thicken.

1/2 cup seed

3/4 cup water

3/4 cup vinegar

1/4 cup sugar

1 and 1/2tsp kosher salt