Rack of lamb prep. Prep is so pretty., lol.

perfect

Shades of the old world. I had fresh figs and fried squash flowers. And I scrambled the rest of the egg that wasn’t used for the squash flowers.

I’ve always loved fried squash flowers. My grandmother would make them regularly. I got these free from a farmers market vendor along with the crooknecks I purchased. I’m going to have to get more next week.

I think the food probably did taste better Jasdip.

Shambo your meal looks great. Can’t wait till fig season.

Pizza with the dough from bread making, just means a smaller loaf.

Neely did you make your pizza using cast iron? I looove pizza in my cast iron skillet or cast iron pizza pan. Yours looks really good!

Wow Sleeve, I love your rack of lamb dinner! Both before and after pics!

Pizza looks good!

Lamb on a heap of veg. Deserved a trio of lit candles but forgot.

Shambo, we love stuffed squash blossoms. We have had them once a week for at least six now. When I lived in Italy I had them both deep fried and just bottom pan fried. Bottom dipped in egg then corn flour or reg flour, then butter olive oil, then seared crispy like dumplings.

I harvest early mornings, then in a container with a lightly damp towel. Gather until I have a dozen or so. They last in the fridge fresh for at least 5-6 days. Stuff with herbed goat cheese. Last week...

I've left my six plants alone this week to get some actual zucchini veg. It is happening but now collecting blossoms again. One Italian variety I grow is just for the flowers.

Watermelon/plum/apple salad, Mint, basil, tarragon. ...avocado

put up ten lbs of hatch peppers. roasted 5 pounds and froze individually in wax paper in zip bags; made 2 lbs of stuffed peppers, and sliced the rest and put them in jars of vinegar for pizzas, sandwiches and salads ... love it when the checkers think I'm nuts ...

Sleevendog, I’ve never tried stuffing the squash flowers. I don’t deep fry them, just a shallow fry in about 1/4 inch or less of oil. Just dip in egg and then in flour. They are so good. Unfortunately, I’m not up for growing my own summer squash any longer, but the farmers market usually has a few flowers available. So I’ll be buying them until they’re no more.

My gosh, you have been busy, Bragu.

Dinner plans right now are to air fry some red snapper and a hasbrown patty, cook some yellow crookneck squash in the IP, make some coleslaw, and warm up some leftover hot rolls.

That's a lot of peppers, Dave!

I bought a half ham, bone-in. Price was $2.49 lb which I thought was fair. I tried to get a small one, and of course I have lots for the freezer now, which is what I wanted.

My ham bone went to a good home already! I threw a post on our local eating group on FB to see if anyone wanted it. A member replied immediately.......she has organized a large feed the poor group and serves people daily. She was so thrilled to get it and make a pot of soup. I also gave her a bag of macaroni that I bought today. She happened to be in my area which is amazing timing, as she lives across the city. Yay! I'm so glad it went to a good home.

I also made peach salsa today. I bought 2 containers of peaches first of the week, and they're very good. Ripening gradually, as I bought some ripe and some unripe.

This salsa is addictive. I know 2MD made it last summer as one of our other members. Sooz, maybe? I was hooked on it immediately, last summer.

Yummy looking meal Jasdip and salsa looks good. The pizza was made in a pizza metal tin thing!!! not cast iron.

Rack of lamb looks delicious Sleevendog. Confession, I’ve never cooked squash/zucchini flowers. I’ve put some seeds in pots, in the hope that we will eventually be able to get back to our little country getaway where there is more land for growing food... but who knows when and if that will happen.

Red snapper sounds good Walnut Creek. Lots of pepper processing going on there Bragu.

I made Rouladen and hubby made mashed beetroot and mashed potato. Topped off with horseradish.

I got beets in a produce box early this summer and I loved them. I never think of buying them though. You reminded me that I must, Neely.

My first meal of my leftover ham. I'll have one more meal and then freeze the rest.

Toasted Western. This was 2 eggs and it made a big sandwich, no pic, it was kinda messy but sure tasted good. 🤗

So pretty Neely.

Eggs! When this mess started we could not get eggs. That quickly fixed itself. I did order a ham mid-march for just the freezer packets after a meal or two.

Wood fire grilled some legs and thighs. Over a wild rice/mushroom salad. Pickled red onion. (yard full of downed dead limbs from the storm made an easy kindling start)

Beautiful, Sleevendog.

It has been a busy few weeks which hasn't allowed much time for cooking. This weekend, we celebrated the start of school (a new one where he knows no one, middle school and virtual), with some of our favorites. Sushi on Saturday and tonight Lamb skewers with hummus, couscous and Tzatziki sauce. We've done the lamb skewers a bit lately, and I wanted to change it up, so we made pita bread in the cast iron pan. So easy and good that I wonder why I haven't done it earlier. It has cooled down so much here on the coast that we were able to eat outside.

Oh my, I'll never catch up with everyone!

Dave, that's a LOT of peppers, even for me. Enjoy them.

Neely, I love beets, and you remind me that I have some still in the garden to use. I'm going to be planting my fall garden this week, and some more beets.

Lynda, I'm not a fan of lamb, but my husband would be in heaven. Your presentation is lovely. Good luck with school...

Jasdip, everything looks delicious. And good for you for your contribution to the "soup kitchen". I've been giving money to the local food pantries, right now they are not taking stuff like fresh produce because of the sanitizing issues, or they'd be getting crates of zucchini!

Shambo, I've never tried the flowers either, but Elery says they are delicious. He stuffed them with some cream cheese mixture, I think.

sleevendog, as usual everything looks so fresh and good, especially that sirloin salad!

Walnutcreek, I used to cook eggs in the microwave at work for a breakfast sandwich, I never thought of trying to poach them that way.

Here I've been cooking, Elery's youngest son and daughter in law visited with their two girls, ages 5 and 3. They loved the garden and the chickens and feeding the fish, and they worked up appetites. We had "brunch", so Elery made bacon and scrambled eggs, while I worked on biscuits and gravy, Woody's Creme Brulee french toast, macaroni and cheese and I made a lemon blueberry pound cake and some frosted sugar cookies. A fruit salad rounded out the meal and it was a good thing I cut up that fruit, the daughter in law didn't warn me in advance but announced that she had been doing Weight Watchers for a month or so. I sent her home with lots of fresh vegetables, and was kind enough not to send the pound cake home, LOL. I did take a pictures of the pound cake...

Earlier this week we had a quick supper of avocado toast with a slice of fresh garden tomato and eggs:

Extra tomatoes and fresh cucumbers served as the side dish. Tomatoes, starting with the red one and going clockwise: Barnes Pink Mountain, Pineapple, Great White, Golden Jubilee. We also have LOTS of Sun Sugar and the DIL took a big container of those home.

I was busy shelling these Kebarika beans, aren't they pretty? Ignore the kidney beans in there, they are from the next row over but I had some "help" picking. Eh, they're beans, it's all good...

I made a vegetable pizza one day, a splurge for us:

Another day we had Lake Superior whitefish. We had cabbage from the garden that needed to be used, so I made cole slaw, and some freshly picked corn on the cob:

Another day we had pork steak with more of those sliced tomatoes and cucumbers from the garden and some freshly picked green beans:

Today Amanda and Dave came for dinner with the kids so I baked a ham, it must be the "theme" for this week! I warmed up the leftover macaroni and cheese from yesterday and the leftover green beans from earlier this week, made some baked beans and sliced some cucumbers to mix with some low fat sour cream. Dessert was the leftover pound cake and cookies. I made a batch of "no bake" cookies for Amanda as she can't eat the gluten. We also had roasted potatoes, freshly dug, the first ones from the garden this year. And, of course, no pictures, LOL.

Mother has been with my brother for 4 days, so I've been cooking and cleaning and catching up on the garden. I go pick her up tomorrow and her doctor's appointment is Tuesday, but it was good to have a short break.

Annie

Lynda, I make tortillas using my cast iron, quick and easy and they certainly taste better than the store-bought.

Annie enjoy your brief 'vacation'. I'm sure your brother may even ask you how you do it? :-) Those purple beans are gorgeous!

Annie, that fresh picked corn looks so good. We have tried and failed to grow it here as we don't get the heat it needs.

Enjoy your "break" as taking care of parents can be quite stressful. More so than children, I think. We took care of both of my parents, who were diagnosed with terminal cancer four years apart. Now we take care of my father in law, who lives alone. He is in great physical shape but has some dementia, which adds a whole other layer of stress. I always find tending the garden peaceful, and I hope you had plenty of time to refresh.

Jadsip, I was wondering if tortillas would also work in the cast iron. The pita cooked quickly, puffed up nicely and got a little char. They were the hit of the meal. My husband views the cast iron as 'his pan for steak', so it took some convincing have him use it for the pitas.

Annie, all of your foods look just beautiful. Lynda and Jasdip, your success with pita and tortillas has me thinking I might try my hand at making some homemade tortillas. Will be a first for me.

Had a lovely and very satisfying meal last night. Chicken thigh in the air fryer, green beans in the IP, dressing/stuffing, and cherry tomatoes.

I just put together a salad for dinner. A simple one, I'm not a salad-master like Sleeve!

I love eggs in salads, and I put ham in it as well of course

What!?, I love that salad. Did you see my HB egg fail, 😂. (I think the pasture raised were too small with big yolks). I have some leafy big lettuce in the garden. Need a good buttermilk, ranch, or some yogurt type blue cheese dressing. Maybe a Russian. Usually toss on a bit of cheese. I just run out of time. A crumble of cheese works in a pinch.

Pasta last night. Lamb meatballs kimchi sauce with a side of roasted veg side dish. Lots of leftovers for todays lunch. Fresh cherry tomatoes with tarragon.

Dressing/stuffing looks good. I found a par-baked packet in the freezer from the last holidays. Need to plan a meal around that soon.

Pizza last night was good. Not my best. I used too many toppings. I made three 12inch but could have made 6. I fold in half, then cut in half, and freeze for quick lunches.

"I fold in half, cut in half and freeze."

That's a great idea, I don't know if my crust would fold though. That would taste much like a calzone, yum!!!

Walnut, your dressing/stuffing reminds me of how I used to always keep uncooked stuffing in the freezer (bread, rice, celery and onions) to stuff between pork chops as a quick meal. Must do that again!!

After I took a pic, I realized that you must think I eat this a lot! I guess I do, it's so quick and easy. I added leftover ham along with the sausage.

I bought a package of discounted tomatoes, they looked fine. I sliced on for toasted tomato sandwiches and the peel just started slipping off. Very thin skin, it all came off with my paring knife. The flesh was also very pale. I ended up by peeling them all and chopping them for sauce and made Pasta Puttanesca.

These couldn't have been local tomatoes as they should have been a beautiful red colour throughout. Not the best puttanesca I've made (I always use canned San Marzano tomatoes from Costco, but they got used up, anyway.

With feta cheese, the olives and capers and fresh basil, it was passable.

Another good meal last night. The ham and dressing/stuffing were leftovers. All was heated and/or cooked in the Instant Pot I could eat only half of it, so will have the remainder tonight. I have found that since I have started taking pictures and also making a weekly menu plan, I am much better about using leftovers. Sure is better than throwing forgotten food away.

Very good meal Walnut Creek. I like to plan for left overs or put in freezer left overs. As much as I love cooking I love a ‘free’ night. Especially now as I’m ‘so busy’ Not,

Good healthy meals as usual from all cooks here on our lovely WFD thread.

I cooked Chicken Korma from scratch. I used the FP to whizz up onions, ginger, garlic, spices and cashew nuts but wished I had used the Stick Whizz for a finer sauce. Could have done without lumps of cashew and bits of cardamom pods. My good FP blew up a couple of months ago and the one I now have is the spare cheapy I was taking to the country but never went there.

And Yes there is enough left over to feed the freezer.

Bruschetta from kitchen deck tomatoes.

Korma sounds good. Maybe tonight. I have some braised thighs in the freezer that can be used in any direction. I have cashews. They make such a good sauce. When I make Garam Masala I toast the whole spices and whizz them in my spice grinder. Cashew pieces might be ok but cardamon bits? hmmm

Burger night

Thanks to your bruschetta post Sleeve, I made some up real quick to go with my salad for lunch.

I love cauliflower sauteed with garlic and red peppers, I just wish it photographed better :-). Gypsy schnitzel is a favourite of mine at my favourite German restaurant. I took a couple of pork chops out of the freezer then got too lazy to bother pounding them. I breaded them, sauteed peppers and onions. Topped a chop with some marinara sauce and the peppers and onions.

All your meals look so healthful and delicious. My gardens are becoming too shaded, so my tomato plants grow lanky. We’ve had a lot of hot weather in July and I wilt. I am probably in a pizza, stir fry rut.

I really love fresh pesto with potatoes and pasta.

I’ve wanted to find a fast way to make flavorful ribs. Most recipes boast how the meat “falls of the bone.” Call me cave woman, but I don’t want baby food, I want my teeth to escort of off the bone. With bold hand an incisors. So, after a bit of reading recipes, I think I have a good recipe. I made a rub, fashioned a rack pan for the InstantPot and cooked them for about 25 minutes (I think they needed a bit more time. Then I used Chipotle BBQ sauce doctored with extra garlic, cumin, coriander and some cayenne. I am not supposed to eat this stuff, so I trimmed some fat off.

I was a bit concerned about the pink so I returned them to the oven. Pink is not good, yes? But I think they were still pink after cooking longer. What do you think?

The texture and flavor were good. DH liked them.

sleevendog, I like the "fold in half and freeze" thing, it would save freezer room, a whole pizza takes a lot of space. Your food always looks so fresh and nice and the bruschetta looks really good.

Jasdip, I like all your cast iron dishes too, but the mashed potatoes always call to me, and I love cooked/sauteed onions, yum.

Walnutcreek, I need to go back to making a weekly plan, the hardest part of my day is deciding what to cook for supper. (sigh) I do like sweet potatoes too, just baked, with butter/salt/pepper.

Neely, that korma looks amazing, I need to make that again soon. I might even make rice, although neither Mother nor Elery will touch it. I like the "sauce" on things mixed with rice better than I like the main ingredients, usually!

Petalique, those ribs look absolutely perfect to me. What is "hot" basil? Thai basil? Or just thermally hot and not hot in flavor?

Here I've been canning pizza sauce, so today was taco salad, fast and easily made to suit different tastes:

Lovely tomatoes, Black Beauty and Pineapple, to top the tacos:

The night before it was a venison and broccoli stir fry, pink half runner beans and roasted golden beets, all from the farm:

I baked a loaf of honey wheat bread for an elderly neighbor, I'll deliver that tomorrow.

Annie

Between work and homeschooling I haven't been able to cook as much as usual, but I've been enjoying seeing what all of you are making.

Here are our two weekend dishes - Roast chicken with carrots and our homegrown Yukon gold potatoes and Rib eye with fried Yukon gold potatoes, and our homegrown salad greens. The watermelon is a "sugar baby" grown in our garden.

Corn and Tomato Chowder

Miso Udon Noodle Bowl

Annie, your tomatoes are always so colourul, you grow such a wide variety.

Lynda, that a real watermelon!! What a treat seeing actual black seeds. I miss those so much, I don't know why seedless watermelons are the only ones stores sell. I hate those, they're only good for popsicles and sometimes a watermelon salad.

I had no idea what I wanted to make for dinner today, then realized that I have pizza fixings. I even had dough in the freezer. I used the cast iron pizza pan for its intended use. I usually use it to bake my rolls on. I didn't realize it shrunk so much, it was up the edges before I baked it.

Annie —

I love shell beans! Yours look so beautiful and delicious.

Re my ribs: can pork ribs be “done” if they are pink? I am sometimes perplexed because some pork seems to remain quite pink even when it should be well past cooked.

”...Hot Thai Basil” is often how Thai menus and recipes read. The dish does have heat from the Thai bird chillies. For this dish fresh Thai anise flavored sweet basil is used. Before I begin cooking the main part of the dish, the garnish of fried basil leaves is prepared in the clean wok. Splatters like crazy, so I should do that outside. Some of the unfried basil is also added to the dish.

(fried Thai anise basil — fragile because once fried it is crispy and delicate)

Last night was another where I prepared food that I could eat only half of it. Had air fryer steak, Instant Pot (IP) Steam/Baked Potato, IP Green Beans, and Garlic Bread. The steak was so good and tender, I sprinkled it well with Kinder's Best Seasoning before cooking.

Jasdip - We liked the watermelon so much that we saved the seeds for next year. We never get much heat here, so I had always considered watermelon as something that was just not possible. This year, right after covid hit, I went to pick up some seedlings to fill gaps in our growing beds. When I got home, I realized in my zeal to get in and out, that I had picked up a watermelon seedling instead of a squash. It turned out to be a happy error, because it grew prolifically and has given us 6 icebox sized watermelon, which is just perfect for our family of 3.

Your cast iron pizza looks so good. I've been craving a good homemade pizza for awhile now.

Last night - miso soup, onigiri, deep fried tofu, panko fried pork cutlets.

Recipes

- Miso soup: the usual, water, red miso, silken tofu cubed, seaweed, scallions

- Onigiri: short grain rice, formed into triangles around a core of teriyaki chicken or simmered dates, using hands wetted in salt water, then wrapped in nori.

- Tofu: firm tofu in larger cubes, coated with egg white, tossed in flour with garlic, ginger, salt, white pepper, and deep fried

- Pork: thin portions about 3" long, sous vide 140F 30 min in soy sauce, sake, a little rice vinegar, sesame oil, ginger, garlic, then coated in egg whites, rolled in panko, deep fried, and chopped in crispy strips to serve

Tonight - miso chicken soup, tofu and mushrooms

Recipes

Miso soup: the usual plus lots of diced chicken, and a little sesame oil and orange peel

Tofu - cubed, coated in ginger and garlic powder, mushroom powder, salt and pepper, pan fried

Mushrooms - browned in pan with soy sauce and sesame oil added at the end

The tofu and mushrooms are served on the side and dipped into the soup.

Had a very nice dinner last night. Cut some slices of breast from a rotisserie chicken, put some sliced pepperoncini on top of the chicken, and mixed some pepperoncini juice with white wine and poured into the pan and baked at 275 in air fryer until the liquid nearly totally reduced. Cooked the spaghetti in the Instant Pot and when it was done, mixed in the red sauce and parmesan. Toasted the garlic bread in the Breville Smart Oven. But, once again, I could only eat half of it. I am just going to have to start cooking smaller amounts. I don't mind leftovers occasionally, but not so many times during the week.

Not dinner, but lunch... Cucumber soup!

Cucumber out of the garden; garnished with Parm & homemade croutons. So yummy. Silly DH won't touch it.

I missed so many pics above.. So many pics did not show up....just the copy at first . Weird. Probably my end with iffy service after the storms. (I'm on my personal hot spot for most of the day on and off)

Real quick. Posting here. (hiding from the evil) whoever is muzzling garden web threads I made a post that was deleted this morning. The deleting guns Houzz, did not like my post about 'what happens when houzz' eliminates the cooking forum or any garden web forums. Ya never know.

Check out eGullet. Ann_t is there and dcarch. Very friendly and not at all critical even if you cook and serve paper plates. 😂. or velvitta😂😂😂

Lots of info all about cooking. Just keep it in mind if this Houzz goes 'poof'.

I just checked it out. I love the GW format, and all the pictures. That site reminds me of the CityData one which I don't care for. I sincerely hope this one doesn't go kaput, but I can't see me joining that one :-(

Sleeve, I don't get the paper plates thing. Even on my cast iron cooking site a lot of people use paper plates.

We made tri tip tonight, but the star was our tomatillo salsa, made with our homegrown tomatillos (first of the season), key lime, and jalapenos with store bought cilantro and shallots. This is our first year having salad greens all summer long. A little extra work, but so worth it.

100% homegrown! We have four or five types of lettuce, plus arugula, mustard greens, basil, cucumber and purple onion.

...with my creamy balsamic and feta.

@jadsip I don't get paper plates either -- a nice meal deserves a proper plate.

Oh that tomatillos sauce Lynda looks and sounds so good. I guess it’s similar or the same as what AnnT and others call salsa verde. I’ve been trying to make it for ages but have to grow my own tomatillos first. Tried last year but one day of neglect of watering in our horrible heat saw the loss of all my plants.

I have sown seeds again this year and they are up, tiny but I’m looking after them. Can not wait to taste a sauce such as yours.

Tomatillos grow like weeds here and often re-seed themselves. And yes, very thirsty plants. Shade cloth helps in the hot weeks.

Love that salsa verde. I should be harvesting starting this weekend.

I think paper plates are an elderly thing. My parents use the very lightweight I think it is corelle. Under the corelle is a stack of the cheap white paper. Not noticed them ever using them. .

Tomatillos usually grow like weeds here too, but this summer has been cool. Everything that likes heat has suffered this year.

@Neely It is salsa verde, but some people call anything green salsa verde, so I wanted to be specific. I hope you get your tomatillos and have your salsa. It is really good - my favorite salsa. I used two limes yesterday, and it tasted much better than usual.

"---I sincerely hope this one doesn't go kaput, but I can't see me joining that one :-(---"

I do something strange. Whenever I have GW on, I click on all the advertisements. I don't see the problem letting GW make some money. The more money they make, the more respect we get.

dcarch