I like a mixed grill. Pleases everyone. A bit of steak, skewered shrimp/scallops. Grilled veggies....or freezer your steak for a later date.

Back to cooking.

Friends stopped by last night so we invited to stay for dinner. Easy switch. Lots of weekend choices with such great produce NJ/NY this season.

Sleevendog, it looks delicious! I made the tomahawk steak and WOW, what a hit! I also made a small filet that had been languishing in my freezer and a bunch of chicken. I figured that I can freeze or use the chicken for lunches, I like batch cooking. SIdes included corn on the cob and crashed potatoes. I also served a take home carne asada pizza from Calif Pizza Kitchen as an appetizer. FYI They're running a great deal-- if you buy an entree and that's broadly defined, for $5 extra you can choose any pizza to take home. It's ready to bake with instructions included. I don't eat pizza dough but the others raved about it.

One friend brought a fabulous salad and the other gal brought grilled peaches, homemade chocolate sorbet and vanilla ice cream to top the peaches. YUM! Fun and delicious night!

Thanks to all for best wishes about the little fella.

Hi Sol, saw your lovely comment on IG thanks, but no photo of the little one there. I wouldn’t put his photo on the wild world of IG but it feels safe to share here.

Sleevendog the salmon BLT looks great both eating and photo.

AnnT terrific looking pizzas.

FOAS ( first time I’ve typed that) all your dishes look decidedly delicious.

Compumom11 sounds like you’ve been eating very well.

This was our dinner tonight cooked by DH. Chicken Schnitzel, Brussels and a mixture of onions, red pepper, corn and chilli.

I will stop posting the baby photos eventually but thought I’d squeeze this one in to let you know NYN’d is now named formally Arthur after my father and Artie for everyday use.

Edited to remove photo

Artie is so beautiful!

Adorable! Love the name choice. Such curiosity in his eyes. : )

HappyBirthday Ann! Looks amazing and I would also rather cook for myself than go out for dinner.

I've started harvest prep as I do this time every year. Oven roasted hatch chili, tomatillos, misc peppers, garlic. Four packets for the freezer and the fifth in bowl with toasted seeds and nuts, herbs, tahini, lime...going into the blender for a pesto/green sauce.

Maybe 200 in some ovens.

Excellent green sauce. Recipe called it a pesto but more like a creamy salsa. A dozen cashews and a Tbsp tahini.

If I start commenting on everyone's (and I mean everyone's) lovely meals, I won't stop... but I had to pop back on to say a couple things:

Ann, Happy Belated Birthday! I wish we lived close by as I'd happily make that meal for your Birthday... if you'd make it for mine : ) That's exactly what I'd want, although truthfully I did have to look up Sterling Silver - none close by but I see they sell quality meat. Problem with my wish is that which I'd make for your Birthday wouldn't be as good as that which you'd make for mine!

Neely, I'm so happy to hear Artie was 7.3 lbs! I was a wee bit concerned : ) I too, think Artie is a wonderful name for him... oh such a sweet little doll!

That look on his face is priceless!

dcarch

Photo deleted. Sorry.

That expression on his face in the original photo was what inspired me to emphasize it a little more.

Thank you for your understanding of my uncalled for bad sense of humor.

dcarch

(Is that a photo shopped manipulation of a forum members pride and joy?) ...not sure I like that. Turning it into an internet joke poster. I know it is not the intention but makes me uncomfortable. I think it should be deleted but that would be neely's choice.

Thanks Sleevendog for speaking up. I was hurt about the use of what I suppose is an App to change little ones face so his mouth was down turned.

I think dcarch your sentiments were kind ‘’That look on his face is priceless’ and the words slightly amusing but the changing the photo was not funny, I even mentioned I thought I was safe here.

Such a good weekend of food and loved having time in my kitchen ...steak, lobster, stuffed hatch chilis. Lunch Saturday another watermelon salad and hatch/plum corn cake. I've been using my English muffin rings for the melon.

Rained all Monday so I made up some spice blends for our trip. And some to give as gifts for neighbors when we reach our destination.

Thank you Neely. I did not think I was over-reacting. You are safe here and if you want to share you could post and delete in 12 hours. (or less). I just had family house guests...adorable 8 month and 4 yr old. I chose not to post photos.

Aw, dang, I'm too late to see the little guy. Oh well, I'm sure he's beautiful. Neely, congratulations, enjoy every minute with him, they get big all too soon.

Happy Belated Birthday, AnnT. As usual, your fish and chips just call to me, they look delicious. On a sad note, GB Russo's has closed, after 115 years in business. (sigh) I guess they just got tired of trying to compete with the on line competition.

Jasdip, my White Cloud house had a basement. Not finished, but with a cement floor and cement block walls, lots and lots of storage, more than I have here, but not nearly as convenient!

FOAS, I feel so badly for you, having to eat all that lobster. Yup, I sure do. (grin)

Compumom, my bookmarks did the same thing and CloudyChristine sent me a message, hers also took her to a general message board. Since I only post to the Cooking Forum and Harvest and avoid all threads that are linked to any of the other forums, I was not amused. A simple search for GardenWeb Cooking Forum led me right back and then I set my bookmarks again. Grrrr. Houzz annoys me.

Sleevendog, your garden dinners look a lot prettier than mine, LOL. Mine are all corn and beans and sliced tomatoes and lots of zucchini in various forms. We're pretty much eating from the garden, so it's vegetables roasted and baked and microwaved and just sliced and eaten. Tonight was zucchini enchiladas again. Elery liked them a lot, although the only resemblance they bore to enchiladas at all was the fact that they had enchilada sauce on them!

2many, I'll miss you, hurry back. Oh, and that pressure canning? Eh, it's simple, I'll be happy to "walk you through it" if you need help. Tell your husband it's much less dangerous than using power tools!

So, what's for dinner? Nothing worth taking a picture of, that's for sure. I'm still canning tomatoes, tomorrow it'll be tomato sauce, and I'll be processing chickens for the freezer in another three weeks, plus I took that job as Township Clerk, so I've been kind of busy....

I'm having a birthday party for Mother this Sunday, she'll be 84, and it's going to actually give me an excuse to bake bread, so I'm happy about that. I'm also making raspberry pie and those gluten free lemon bars for Amanda and my cousin Michelle who is also celiac, plus cupcakes. The Princess is coming over Saturday to help me, she's making cake pops and prepping the fruit for salad and whatever else I can cram into a day!

Annie

I didn't see what happened, but I don't blame Neely for removing the baby pics. How sad that someone here would do something like that. It's actually more than sad; it's creepy.

Cooking up a storm again Sleevendog and delicious as usual.

Annie you’ll be in your element cooking and baking all that bread and sweet things. Perhaps you’ll get to ‘taste’, and Yes I intend to make the most of the little ones early days, not a newborn for very long and such a special time.

Andie, thanks for your comment... over now and back to cooking photos.

DH baked some Atlantic Cod with tomatoes, garlic, shallots, chilli and pinch saffron and I thought it was delicious. The fish was frozen but I buy it sometimes as a trip down memory lane of the years I lived in England (12) and Cod was my favourite fish and chips.

Annie, you took on a job??? Are you crazy!! I mean that with all the love in my body. I know you worked for the township as your career, so you're doing that again?

Neely, I just love your photos. You always have the light perfect.

Sleeve, you're eating like a king with you lobster, etc.

Compumom, I've never seen Tomahawk steak here, but I've seen pics on my cast iron cooking group. They're huge! Wish I'd seen yours :-)

I came across a recipe for fresh fruit and simple syrup with lemon and mint. Gave me another way to use up my mint. I love it, but don't know how to use it regularly, and it's growing great. Melissa D'Arabian of 10-Dollar Dinners.

I used strawberries and fresh pears. I like pears that are green and a neighbour had a box out at his driveway for the taking. I used the pears in this and they're crunchy. They'd be good if they were ripe/yellow. The recipe called for strawberries, an orange and a banana, but I didn't have those.

ETA: I had some for dessert and it's really good!! I'm trying to think of other fruit I can use. I don't like the idea of bananas, too mushy, as I can't eat this in one sitting.

I keep frozen strawberries and mango on hand for my water kefir drinks, and that's what I used here. Any other ideas for fruit?

Last day of the sale. This week’s sale, anyway; we’ll see what happens tomorrow morning. Stuffed a couple:

Twp. trustees and the clerk don't have many meetings. Unless there are a lot of fencerow disputes, or bidding for mowing the cemeteries, or doing the annual budget. Great paying job! ... JK

FOAS, if you don't stop that, I'm just going to have to hunt you down. (sigh) It looks amazing.

Jasdip, I worked for the County Prosecuting Attorney as my career, this is just a part time Township Clerk position. I'll have two meeting per month, but I'm in charge of all elections, paying all the bills and employees, making sure payroll taxes get paid quarterly and everyone gets W-2s at the end of the year. I'll have to send out the absentee voter registrations and ballots and draft and publish all the notices, changes to ordinances, etc. The current clerk says it takes her about 10 hours per week when it's not election time, so it's about $10 an hour, but it's definitely not hard work. I'll also have to run for re-election, so does that make me a politician? (grin) Michigan just passed Prop 13, so anyone can get an absentee ballot, no reason necessary, so that will probably up the number of those. I also have to be at my "office" (which is actually my house), The Saturday/Sunday/Monday before an election and the Tuesday of the election for "on the spot" voter registration, something also required by Prop 13. Now people can register to vote up to and on election day, so I think that's a good thing. Heck, I can bake muffins and provide a snack to anyone who will register to vote on those days!

I work from home, only have to go to a couple of meetings a month plus regular "certification" and "continuing education" classes. Heck, I can do minutes, agendas and checks in the middle of the night, while I'm waiting for my canner to finish, which is what I'm doing now. I wouldn't want to get bored, you know. Oh, and Elery is my Deputy, law says I have to have one. He gets paid the magnificent sum of $500 annually. He's already on the Zoning Board and I was Secretary of the Planning Commission. I think this is actually going to be less work than that was. Just in the past couple of years we've had a guy who wanted to build a 50 site rustic campground (approved), a local banker who bought 350 acres and turned it into a hunting preserve for disabled veterans (approved) and wanted a 10 foot fence so he could have elk (couldn't stop that if we wanted to, covered by Michigan's Right to Farm Act), and some fool that wanted to build a para-military training center complete with heli-pad. (denied) Oh, and the ongoing growing/selling marijuana issues while Michigan gets everything figured out on that newly legal recreational marijuana thing. Other than that, it's been pretty boring. (snicker) But I want my Township to stay agricultural and not become some regulated suburb where everyone has to have matching mailboxes, so I figured I'd better get myself involved.

Thanks for the idea on using mint, though. I'm planning a fruit salad for Mother's party on Sunday and I have mint, I never even thought about it. And that part about being crazy? Well, sometimes things get mentioned, but I ignore those voices in my head, hah!

So you are on your Township Board, Bragu? ROFL...

Anyway, what's for dinner? Leftovers, because I'm canning tomato sauce. My dinner plates look like I've become a vegetarian, tonight it was corn, roasted beets, kale and that leftover zucchini "enchilada" stuff. I'm definitely getting my daily servings, but I'll make up for that with turkey and pie for Mother's party!

Annie

I'm glad you're able to work at home, Annie. That makes it so much easier. AND that you can see the positive, and do some work while you're waiting for the canning in the middle of the night!!!! LOL

I felt like a hamburger, and to put a tomato slice on it. The landlord brought me 3 more large tomatoes today. I'm getting tomatoe'd out! :-)

Burgers are big, and I thawed out one of my buns. I squished it flat to make it a hamburger bun, but the whole thing is still ginormous. Hamburger juice, mustard, pickle juice, all over my hands and face. Hah, I'm a messy eater, but it was good!

I'm going to have more of the strawberry fruit salad for dessert to put 'something' healthy into my meal!

So unusual for me! I don't have a sweet tooth but while browsing thru some to-try recipes I had collected I came across Nigella Lawson's Emergency Brownies.

They're perfect for when you have an urge for something quick but don't want to make a whole pan. 2-4 servings, depending on the size :-)

Stupidly, I thought it was a 7x4 loaf pan, but it was a shallow 7x4x2 aluminum foil pan, so it looks lost in my cast iron loaf pan. But it can be made in anything, really.

They're really good!

When your chocolate need is urgent, this is the perfect small-batch brownie recipe just for you. I always have a stash of takeout aluminum foil pans, which are just the right size for these.

Technique tip: Allow the brownies to cool for 20-30 minutes before eating, so they are still warm, but have had a chance to set.

Ingredients

• • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon maple or light corn syrup
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt flakes or 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup walnut pieces
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease a 7- by 4 by 2-inch pan.

2. Put the butter, sugar, and maple or light corn syrup into a small heavy-based saucepan and gently warm, stirring once or twice, until the butter is melted and the sugar has dissolved. Remove the pan from the heat.

3. Whisk together the flour, cocoa and salt to mix, then beat into the butter and sugar pan with a wooden spoon or spatula until smoothly combined.

4. In a small bowl, whisk the egg with the vanilla then stir into the pan, giving a final little whisk, if needed, to make sure everything's mixed together thoroughly. Then fold in the nuts and chocolate chips.

5. Pour and scrape this nubbly brownie batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake in the oven for 15–20 minutes until it is beginning to come away at the sides and the top has dried a little just around the edges.

6. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool. I leave them for 20–30 minutes (and that's difficult enough) so that my first bite gets them while they're still warm, but just set enough to cut into squares.

Thanks for the birthday wishes.

Neely, I did get to see the picture of Artie. What a beautiful little boy. I'm sorry that you felt you had to remove the photo. I hope you will continue to post pictures as he grows. Many of us here have watched Annie's grandchildren grow up and no one has ever had a problem. Didn't see the other photo. So can't comment on that.

Annie, makes me sad that Russo's has closed. I have many fond memories of Russo's from when we lived in GR.

Sleevendog, beautiful photos of your salads. So colourful.

Don't be gone long 2ManyDiversions. You are already missed.

Annie, why am I not surprised that you are now into politics in your spare time.:)

FOAS, I wish lobster was on sale here. You have given me a craving.

Made Cindy's Etouffee for my neighbour. We were celebrating Clif's retirement and the Etouffee has been a favourite of his since the first time I made it for him.

A few recent meals.

Roasted a chicken specifically to have Hot Chicken Sandwiches.

with double fried fries.

Been eating a lot of caprese salads. Still picking tomatoes every day.

Ann, I made a shrimp etouffee last year and we both loved it.

I had the urge for stir-fry vegetables and breaded pork chops, so that's what I had.

That and a glass of wine on the tv tray, settled in to watch the Sons of Anarchy!

I defrosted the freezer a couple of days ago and took out some drumsticks. I have LOTS of them. I can't resist buying them when they're .99/lb. I have to hold myself back now.

Anyway, I found a recipe that called for grilling them then coating them with honey, mustard, some cider vinegar and chopped thyme (I used rosemary).

As usual, I lost most of the skin on the bottom of the skillet, even though I used my cast iron, Oh, I didn't grill them, I wanted to brown them in the skillet and then coat with the sauce.

Regardless they were good, just not pretty.

That meal above Jasdip looks both healthy and tasty.

Love your Caprese salads AnnT, we’re looking forward to homegrown tomato season.

Your lobster FOAS is making my mouth water.

WFD has been very haphazard around here lately with all the visits to the baby. Takeaways and bought frozen pies, dim sims etc not very healthy or inspiring.

There was a get together with all the grandparents plus uncles and aunts, to which I took quite a lot of food... but forgot to photograph. However, I did take a photo of these pies I made the night before.

Blackberry and cherry. The blackberry was the favourite as it was slightly tart/sour because I didn’t add any sugar and people liked it that way. As I was in a rush I just sprinkled cornflour/cornstarch? over the fruit to thicken the juices and Hooray it worked. Also just sprinkled ground almonds over the bottom to stop getting a soggy bottom and that worked as well. Bought pastry ... short crust on the bottom and puff on the top. So easy, I had trouble accepting people saying how nice they were.

I’ve just discovered I can’t edit at the moment when I tried to fix up the spacing and was going to add that the pies were served with a dollop of double cream.

I've missed a bunch with work and a family visit.

Pie looks amazing. Have not had a burger since the early Spring. (some junk ones at work). ...had to try the impossible. Nothing compares to lobster so we indulged 'straight up' since I re-used the freezer bag for baguette and had no split-top. (bag labeled 'lobster roll'). I had already made a small 1/4 cup of sauce so we just dipped. With potatoes and corn on the cob. We have never been a fan of the butter bath on lobster or steak.

Did not pic much...just salads and light meals of mixed grain, bean, seafood. Pickles.

Fabulous pies Neely.

Sleeve, sauteed radishes are getting more and more popular, I haven't tried them, have you?

Last night's meal was a meatball sub with sauteed onions and peppers

Turkeys on sale for .99/lb this week. I bought the smallest one they had. Geez, the drumstick didn't look that ugly on the plate LOL.

Garden/fridge frittata. Prepping/packing for a road trip...using up/cleaning the fridge.

Your frittata looks wonderful, Sleeve!! I like the idea of a bottom layer of sliced potatoes. I made one once, and it called for cubed potatoes, I didn't really care for the potato in it. I'm sure it's not a necessity though.

Yes Sleevendog it makes sense and taste to have sliced potatoes on the bottom of a frittata. Good looking salads and I’m not even going to mention the lobster as I am too envious.

Jasdip your meals always look tasty and I love how you try new things.

Meals still very haphazard around here. DH is getting a lot of the meals. I’ve been minding the baby for a few hours during the mornings so that DDILaw can get a few hours sleep. She was so happy when we started doing this. Artie is coming up to 4 weeks old and together they have got his feeding going pretty well.

I did make some blood orange marmalade using the oranges from our tree. Thanks to Annie for all her canning tips as this time I did the boil in a pot sterilise so I can keep the jars on the shelf rather than in the fridge. It’s funny how a comment from awhile ago sticks in the brain. Thanks to Annie mentioning she once folded a small towel to put in the bottom of the pot when she didn’t have a rack to fit. I did this and it worked fine.

All the wonderful canning you do Annie must be like a full time job at certain times of the year.

Everything looks so good. Jasdip, I like turkey a lot, but doesn't go on sale here until closer to our Thanksgiving, which is in November.

Neely, that jam is beautiful and looks delicious, I love marmalade with those chewy bits of peel, yum. That towel trick works pretty well to keep the jars from sitting right on the bottom of the pot, but I remember trying to keep it from floating to the top until I could get the jars on it, LOL.

I'm glad you are getting to spend a couple of hours with the little guy, and I'm sure Mom is enjoying that well deserved nap time.

Here we're eating, but nothing worth taking a picture of or talking about. I'm nearly done canning, I'm down to peaches, greens and apples, I think!

Annie

I'm just catching up after a busy couple of weeks. DD and family relocated across the country to the Atlanta area. I was recruited to babysit-- with the grands who are 12 and almost 15! we ate out and cooked in. They're boring eaters so mostly steak, salmon and pizza for them! We did have some good meals in restaurants.
THere's just too much to comment on here- but have to say to Annie, where do you find the energy and stamina to do all of this? You're such a good citizen!

WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO MY SCREEN NAME?? This is COMPUMOM11

sheesh!

LOL, Compumom, I THOUGHT that was you, and then I hesitated....

Right now, I'm tired, does that count? Elery's middle son and two oldest kids will be here tomorrow, we are processing chickens. Yeah, we'll teach them to think farming is fun. (snicker) And it's supposed to rain buckets besides, but it's the only weekend they could make it due to sports and half of those 34 chickens are theirs....

So, what's for dinner? Chicken sausage, lentils and green beans from the garden, the bean vines just seem to keep on producing without hesitation. It's not very pretty, but here it is:

Yes, the lentils and the beans were left over from a couple of days ago when we had the last corn from the garden, lentils and green beans:

I did make a nice bacon and cheese quiche that I took to Mother:

The garden is still giving me lots of SunGold tomatoes for snacks and hot peppers for Elery, with a few Garden Peach tomatoes for good measure:

Tomorrow I plan to forage some staghorn sumac berries and then dry them and produce my own ground sumac, just because I've never done that before. We'll see how it goes, LOL.

Annie

Thanks for recognizing me! Just wanted to see if my screen name shows up on this desktop.

There you are!!!

welcome back 474 .... I like compumama better *grin*

Neely, aren't you handy, making your own marmalade! They look great!!

Annie, I love quiche and I had some ham in the freezer for that, then I made it into Zuppa Toscana soup today instead.

I saved some turkey from last week's roast to make this recipe today. It's chicken, pasta, pepperoni (I used sliced salami) alfredo and pizza sauce casserole. So a pasta chicken pizza casserole. It was pretty good, and a good way to use up leftover bird.

Here's the makings of the Zuppa soup that I made today. It's before I thickened it with cream and flour. Ham, sausage, kale and potatoes.

Me again. My cast iron chicken fryer is under-utilized; mainly because I forget about it. But it was perfect for my chicken and rice dish tonite.

looks great ... and that's a wrap [am doing chicken and rice tonight too]

time to regretfully move on to WFD #373

No pics here-- i made delicious chicken salad tonight. After being in Atlanta all last week, I've been jonesing for a good homemade chicken salad with chopped apples and celery. I don't like soy based mayo and today in WF I found Kensington mayo made with safflower oil. That's a taste I like!
Today we visited a cousin up the coast in Ventura Harbor. To get there we had to pass through some local growing fields. A stop at a produce stand was mandatory and we made fast work at two competing stands. The tangerine was divine, I wish I had bought a bunch. Strawberries, artichokes, plums, peaches, prickly pears, nectarines and a grapefruit along with an enormous cauliflower managed to make it home with us.

I'm trying to get back on the cooking forum and thought maybe if somebody saw this they could give me a guide back. I am unable to find it and my link no longer works. My KT link has started working again but no go on the cooking forum. Although I'm not a great poster I enjoy reading all about the food and getting ideas. Plus seeing familiar names!

At the top of this thread, click on 'cooking' I've circled. Save and use that as your new tab or bookmark.

If that ever stops working, google 'garden web'

Thank you sleevendog. Unfortunately this is what I get when I click on that button.

Any other ideas?

Try this one HERE

So odd isn't it? Many are having trouble but on my end it is all back to normal.

Or this one HERE

Sleevendog I so appreciate your help and I can't believe it's still not working. Same results both times. I get into this topic on #392 but I can't go to the actual cooking forum and see the listed cooking postings. I get sent back to search results for cooking and there are few search results for cooking if any. How I found this one was through Google.. Emily h said that she was checking into the forum problems but I have no idea if that means anything anymore...