Nice salad. Looks like our lunches or light dinner. DH prefers a pastry bottom crust. Almond sounds like a great idea.

Check out the size of this sprout. Must have been grand stalks.

Neely, that corned beef looks perfect and the apple slice looks even better, but Elery is drooling over your salad.

Jack, how did the pizza turn out?

Lynda, your seafood always looks so good, and I need to eat more of it. I wish it weren't so expensive here, or only available from China.

Jasdip, it's 9F here right now, it'll be cold all next week, then get back up into the 20s and 30s, much more temperate, thankfully. I still have two pregnant cows and I don't want any calves when it's this cold.

Sleevendog, I was just thinking I needed to make some of that quick pickled cabbage, I have a small head of red cabbage from my latest Misfits box. Those hand rolls look really good. I saw those brussels sprouts too, I've never seen any that big, that's a cabbage!

This is my latest Misfits box, it included two beautiful turnips and a purple daikon radish, something I've never heard of. Bok Choy, naval and Valencia oranges, Granny Smith apples (one was pretty bruised up), a nice bunch of parsley, that little red cabbage, a couple of huge poblanos, red and gold beets, broccoli florets and some add on sardines and a pouch of salmon.

Elery made kim chee with the Napa from the last box, he says it's really hot, he got a little heavy handed with the chilis, LOL.

I made Aash-e Jow for supper, a Persian soup with lentils, beans, rice, barley, some spices, topped with caramelized onions and a dollop of green yogurt. I used the parsley from the misfits and the red kale from my last box, it was starting to get kind of limp but it worked nicely for soup:

I baked a loaf of rye bread to go with the soup, we had the last of the pastrami on rye for sandwiches to go with the soup:

I baked Grandma's Chewy Molasses cookies for Mom:

As well as a pumpkin pie, and yes, every single pumpkin pie I make has that slot in the middle where I stick a butter knife to test the doneness..

Elery made beef stew on Tuesday while I went to Mother's:

I made AnnT's Country Biscuits to go with the stew:

And houzz won't let me post any more pictures, so I'll continue this on the next comment...

Annie

OK, installment #2!

Why is it that when I'm making something like deviled eggs the eggs never peel nicely and the eggs are all chipped up, but if I'm making egg salad, they peel perfectly? Yeah, these eggs were destined for egg salad for Mother and EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM peeled perfectly, the shells coming off in big pieces:

Yeah, well I made egg salad anyway:

Then taking a page from Sleevendog's book, I decided to "fancy up" my loaf of rye bread. I have a lame, so I got it out and did a freehand kind of slash. I really need to look up patterns on the internet, LOL:

This all obviously bored my cat, as no meat was involved, LOL, or his favorite food, Kraft processed slices...

So I made some honey mustard glazed salmon in the air fryer, along with some of Elery's favorite pink half runner beans and some dirty rice. The cat was far more impressed with the salmon than with the egg salad, for some reason.

Even two little fuzzy deer decided to take a nap, LOL, so I guess I've bored the animals with my projects!

And so I'm caught up.

Annie

I have the same tiny red cabbage. And the poblanos. I have always preferred them over the horrid green bell peppers. Tiny cabbage thank you Misfits. They are so tender and last forever in the crisper.

😂😂😜, eggs. lol. If I have an audience, even just a pup, I talk to my eggs when going into the steamer for hard boiled. Julia Child voice. "oh, you are just an egg salad, so don't mind the easy peal shell". Can't fool them. 🙄

Misfits this past Wednesday. I needed long savers. I still have so much from two weeks ago. Crazy how long the greens lasted. Still using some tonight.

CovidDental, Dental/Lockdown, HouseholdAppliance/Covid. We trouble-shoot all household everything. Have never needed a service call in years. Dental is not a DIY, 😂.

Another dental yesterday. Planned softer foods for a few days. I have more opioids than a junky. Not needed at all, even an aspirin, thank goodness.

I need Ann-t's dental recovery for her DH Moe. Killer meals posted on Egullet. 😀

More than usual, I have had 5 days planned. No steak or minimal chews. Salmon, etc.

last night was freezer soup and fresh soaked/cooked beans. I labeled it DentalSoup.

So many great dishes - Annie's bread and cookies, Neely's corned beef, and Sleeve's slaw and salmon cakes. Yum!

Our warm weather is gone, so I am back to cool weather cooking. Last night was spicy hot pot, which is a favorite in our home. DH and I have both spent a fair bit of work related time in China and hot pot has been in our meal rotation ever since.

Sleeve, I am keeping notes on my mini SV desserts and am happy to share what I have learned so far. I have found that the 4oz mason jars are perfect for this use and can also be used to make the SV egg cups, which I haven't tried yet. Unlike canning, the lids are reusable. I love that I can cook, chill, store, transport and eat out of the same container, throw it in the dishwasher and do it all over again. I bought a set of 40 jars and lids on Amazon, and I do need to find a better way to store the empty ones. I make several batches at a time, refrigerating a few for now, and freezing the rest for later. The egg based desserts are perfect for having a small portion of something rich and satisfying. The plain cheesecake pairs beautifully with the fruit jams and sauces I make out of our excess fruit. So far, I have determined that the crust does need to be baked before SV. I have tried it both ways and the consensus is that it is worth the extra effort. Thermal shock can be an issue with glass jars. To prevent cracking, I've been putting them in the water bath while it is heating up, but don't count the time until the bath reaches its set temperature.

Massive brussel sprout!! Sorry to hear about your dental surgery Sleeve, but I do like your humourous labeling of your soups.

Lynda, the Hot pot looks great, lots of choices of protein.

Annie, what adorable baby deer (kids?). I didn't realize they were fuzzy. I see your kitty likes to lay in weird positions. Love his leg action. Bud is a contortionist.

Neely, I thought your summers were consistently 40°C or more. I'm surprised it's only a few days. Obviously it's your area; maybe it's the Outback that gets the extreme heat.

I made a pork roast in the slow cooker. Rubbed with ground coriander and crushed fennel and I mixed some smoked paprika into it as well.

Placed on top of cubed potatoes. At the end, the hot potatoes are tossed in an olive oil, dijon, minced shallot (I used onion) and white wine vinegar mix.

That looks really good Lynda. We have made a similar meal with guests. Over a year ago. 🙄. Now we just do a paired down version of 'hot pot'.

I have a case of 24 4oz but they have the rubber ring with the lock-down 'spring-loaded' dealio. I've read about a way to let them burp. For fermentations. Risky. Bummer. I can test by setting them in the water bath in a baggie full of the bath water....so if they crack, it is contained. Not sure it is worth it. Deciding if it is worth another container expense....and the storage.

We miss having kitties.

Mustard sauce is so good with pork.

No dental issues at all. They called and checked in Saturday, Sunday, and again this morning. (that is unusual). Not an aspirin needed. They are so good and thorough. (if I was in any pain they would have met me in their office even Sunday, their day off).

This was a disaster taco night Thursday. (pre-dental). Locally made corn tortillas but sent the wrong ones again. Thought I could make it work. Excellent black beans and pulled pork. Should have just made tostadas. Pulled out the soggy tough shells and just had it salad version. Then soaked the shells and roasted into chips. Good save for lunch nachos.

Saturday/Sunday comfort crispy salmon with mixed grains/beans, and last night grain stuffed roasted spaghetti squash. Lamb sausage. Roasted chick peas, potatoes, lots of lemon.

Nice pork Jasdip. Your kitty is beautiful, he looks just like our sammy, who passed from old age a few years back. He had the same ginger patch on his belly (and also liked to show it off).

Annie, I forgot to ask you what part of Michigan you are from. DH's family is from Michigan, so he was curious to know.

Crispy salmon looks perfect Sleeve. Sorry to hear about the taco shells.

Last night dinner was DH's bacon wrapped shrimp (yum!), lobster bisque (Yum!!), no knead white wheat boule, and salad. We harvested the first of the season's salad greens for the salad. These are the seedlings that I planted from seed in November, and the birds savaged them in December. With some netting they are now thriving.

Dessert was supposed to be lemon macarons, but they were a total mess. The shells weren't smooth, didn't rise properly and weren't lemony enough.

Lynda, Lol you didn’t mention if you ate the macarons. I would have. And your husband sure can cook. Delicious meal. Plus your hot pot looks very good.

Sleevendog all great meals and what a save. I see your area is marketing those thinner slices of salmon like ours does...it’s enough.

Hi Jasdip, yes you’re right about the inland / outback having those high temps all summer. Thank goodness we live down the south where it’s cooler, also have moderating influence of being near the sea. It still gets awfully hot. Your pork dinner looks great.

Annie, that riddle of the peeling eggs gets me too. Great meals, all of them. I must try to make Kimchi. I’ve only had it at Korean restaurants which of course was more than a year ago now with this wretched virus.

DH made us schnitzel, oven sweet potato chips and salad. The simplicity was perfect.

Neely, your husband did well, that looks perfect, especially the sweet potatoes.

Sleevendog, sorry about the dental work. At least you've graduated from soup to some grains and that spaghetti squash. Also glad you didn't need the pain meds, they always upset my stomach and make me feel so terrible I think the pain is preferable most times, ugh. The salmon is just the right size, Elery and I often share a piece, it comes in portions far too big for either of us.

Lynda, the hot pot sounds good, I've never had that, but lobster bisque? Oh my, I HAVE had that and I like it a lot. I'm in Northern/Western Michigan, about 50 miles northwest of Grand Rapids right on the edge of the Manistee National Forest, near a small town called Big Rapids, home of Ferris State University and not much else. (grin)

Jasdip, those are fawns, but they are last spring's fawns and so they've lost their spots. They're awfully cute and furry, aren't they? Actually, they are two out of a set of triplets, Mom and the other sibling were far enough apart from them that I couldn't get them all in one picture and still zoom in close enough to see that they were even deer. Your Bud is a hoot, that orange cat of mine sleeps like that too, very "un-cat like", I've never known another cat that sleeps like that. And then I see yours, LOL. Mine weighs about 20 pounds, and I finally gave that LaZBoy recliner spot to him, added a chair cover, but he's nearly too big for it.

So, what's cooking? Today I did some cooking for Mother, I'll go see her tomorrow, so I made one of her favorites, goulash.

I also made some split pea soup, but it's never very pretty, so no pictures, LOL.

I decided to take some stale brioche and make some bread pudding:

Meanwhile, Elery roasted a semi-boneless leg of lamb. He removed the bone and tied the roast, then used some fresh rosemary and thyme from my herb garden to season it, and roasted it medium rare:

I also made supper, a zucchini crust "pizza" with the zucchini from the Misfits box last week, along with some roasted butternut squash from my back room storage.

I mashed the other half of the squash with some butter and brown sugar and that'll go to Mother's tomorrow too.

Yesterday I made some mustard glazed salmon and oven fries from the turnips and the beets from the Misfits box:

Saturday Ashley and the girls were here and I made mashed potatoes, pork roast and green beans, some beer bread and strawberry cupcakes with marshmallow frosting, but I was busy playing and didn't take any pictures. Well, not of food, anyway, but I did get this picture of Ashley with the pipe cleaner glasses her girls made for her!

Stay healthy, and keep on cooking!

Sleevendog, I hope you heal up quickly.

Annie

The dental was such a non-issue. Such professionals, they just let their patients know what could happen post visit.

I just did a meal plan for a few days just in case.

Annie, what a creative list of recipes to feed the masses. With Elery's help with protein. (did you like the lamb?😂) ...Ashley's hair is gorgeous. Cute pic. My young millennial co-workers would say her hair is 'dope'. Nice to see smiles, and children somewhat accepting these odd times. Just maybe acceptance is survival. We have to live on and have hope for the end of this tragedy. I'm confident we will get this under control.

I still continue to pic meal disasters. Lol. DH did the basement freezer shopping over the weekend. I made salmon patties last night but could not find an egg for the binder. Could swear I had a couple frozen for cornbread, etc. (could have soaked a bit of chia seed) but too late for that. Again a heap of ugly food but so good, who cares. An adult veg heavy 'Mac-n-cheese' with a young gorgonzola. With crispy salmon crumbles. 😂

Freezer shopping. Need to get creative using up what is already prepared or half prepped. A package of braised chicken thighs, a pint of stock, 2 1/2 pints of veg grain frozen in stock....into a pot of medium dark roux. With frozen peas and fresh crisper tid-bits. (celery leek shallots garlic). Chicken pot pie.

Pastry may have been frozen longer than usual but still ok. No egg to brush the top and decided to cut it up having too much filling....(made a second small one for DH lunch.) Pastry 'scraps' covered both ceramics.

Avocado/goat cheese salad.

Neely, Your DH's schnitzel looks good. I like simplicity, no need to add if it is perfect the way it is. I did eventually try the lemon macarons, which tasted better than I thought they would. DS was happy that they didn't turn out, as he got to have almost all of them.

Annie, That lamb! You know how I like lamb. DH's family all lived around the eastern side of the state. He has good memories of summers spent in Michigan at the farms of his extended family.

Sleevendog, Adult mac n cheese with gorgonzola - yum. I may have to give that a try.

A couple of recent mid week dinners -

Lynda, Elery moved to Michigan when he was 12 and grew up on the East side of the State, in the Monroe area. He lived in Jackson when I met him and moved north after we both retired.

I didn't taste the lamb, I trusted Elery's judgment on it when he said it was good, LOL. He now has lots of leftovers packaged and in the freezer when he wants a sandwich or a quick lunch of lamb.

Your saffron brown rice looks nice and creamy, almost like a risotto, very nice.

Sleevendog, I've been doing a lot of freezer shopping too, obviously, trying to just make some freezer room. Elery would like to buy pork from a neighbor this spring and we do not have freezer room yet. I found a whole basket full of bacon that I didn't even know we had, but the girls are always happy to "help me out" by taking bacon "off my hands". Yeah...

Your mac and cheese with salmon is a good way to use up a bit of leftover salmon, which I just happen to have, although the cats are trying to convince me to give it to them. The chicken pot pie sounds really good, though, and the scraps of dough gives it a nice kind of abstract art sort of vibe.

Ashley's hair? Yeah, when she said she was going to have her hair dyed silver I asked her why in the world she wanted the hair color of a 90 year old woman. Still not as jarring as that My LIttle Pony hair she had, but she says her friend does her hair and since the salons weren't open she was bored and so Ashley told her to just do whatever she wanted. Who knows what's next, LOL.

Last night I stopped at the local Chinese restaurant on my way home from Mother's. Sesame Chicken for me, Szechuan Chicken, extra hot, for Elery, and an order of steamed dumplings. We almost never ate out before the pandemic but the local restaurants have been closed for "dining in" since before Thanksgiving and they are struggling. There's not much call for outdoor dining in Northern Michigan in December either. So I've been trying to pick up take out once a week, from different restaurants, and tip heavily to maybe help just a little. I was smiling at the very heavily accented Asian woman on the phone trying to "upsell" me when I called in. I asked for Sesame Chicken and she said "oh, this is your very lucky day! Today we have combo, with fried rice and eggroll, only $6.95!" I agreed to take the combo and then said my husband would like something very spicy. "I will make a very spicy chicken for your darling husband. Would he like combo?" Sure, why not. "Oh, you are so very, very lucky today, we also have a special. 10 dumplings, steamed or fried, only $4.95!!! They are oh-so-delicious, I have eaten many. Would you like dumplings?" By now I was trying not to giggle, she was so sweetly giving me the hard sell, so, what the heck, we had the dumplings. Steamed. They were very good, I wished I had just gotten another order of those and left the sesame chicken!

Tonight Elery made supper, a combination of shrimp and sausage with some sweet peppers and onions, it was very good and I took a picture, but it's not uploaded yet.

Annie

Wintercat, Nice bean soup and cat. I am partial to a tabby, having one in our family for so many years.

Annie, Love the hustle by your local Chinese place. I have also been trying to give a little extra business to some of my favorite restaurants. My fish market/restaurant now greets me by name, their version of the hustle. We just had our ban on outdoor dining lifted, so it will be nice to enjoy a meal out when the weather permits.

This was a couple nights ago - lemon shrimp risotto with the last of the lobster bisque.

My version of comfort food.

Tonight I am going to make chicken enchiladas verde, which I haven't had in so long. I am resorting to store bought tomatillos, as it is the wrong season for them here. I am going to try SVing the chicken to see if it is more tender prepared that way.

All the above meals look delicious and interesting.

We have had our family outdoor bans lifted to 30 which was just in time for one of my sons’ ( ? ... I’m losing it regarding the right apostrophe ) birthday. I spent quite a few hours cooking things. Annie came to mind. Families arranged to bring food. I made a large bowl of potato salad, a large bowl of green salad, brownies, apple slice and raspberry slice. We had a BBQ and there was a cool breeze blowing through the covered canopy which meant no compacted heavy breathing spots so no masks were worn. It felt wonderful to be sort of back to normal and seeing people not seen for ages.

Neely, what a wonderful celebration with your family.

Lynda, I'm looking forward to seeing your chicken enchiladas.

Annie, Elery's shrimp, sausage and peppers dinner sounds wonderful!

Great soup and kitty, Wintercat

I made a sweet and sour pork stir-fry tonight. The pork was breaded and shallow-fried, then the veggies stir-fried and simmered in a sweet and sour sauce.

Neely, You son's birthday seems so wonderful and normal. I really miss normal.

Jasdip, Your sweet & sour pork looks great. I've never made it before. I will have to give a try, as I bet it would be hit for my family.

My chicken enchiladas came out great. SVing the chicken was much easier and resulted in a more tender chicken.

We've had a significant rain storm in the last week and yesterday was the first dry day to get outside. I found a carpet of ripe key limes on the ground surrounding my tree, so they featured in this dish. I used them to make the crema, the verde sauce, and added as a garnish. We also found, harvested and used several ripe jalapenos and one serrano. It is amazing that they have continued producing all winter.

Super ripe key limes

Earlier, my DS wanted to make cookies. He picked a recipe off of pinterest and I had him make it. They came out really well and were easy enough for him to make. My goal is that he be a proficient cook by the time he leaves our home.

Storm prep day. Makes it messy when it starts in the evening. Overnight snow load is difficult to deal with in the morning.

Jealous of the family gathering. Though happy it was a success.

I did sous vide packages of pork loin a few months ago. Stir fry is a good alternative menu choice.

A week of good freezer meals with good lunches made for an easy week. A packet of braised chicken, ham, and pork, ...noodle bowls, chili, ham and bean soup...thawing a whole chicken for tomorrows storm...steak tonight. Made lots of room for yesterdays delivery. Could not go without eggs any longer. Three dozen. Not used any yet. Just comforting to know I have them. 😜

Really nice chili. Made it without beans and cubed beef. That way I can 'add-ins' as I wish when thawed.

Beautiful California artichokes. Winter squash.

Your enchiladas look so good, Lynda! I absolutely love your photography of the limes. Man I can't get used to calling yellow fruit limes :-D

Sleeve, your hubby thawed 2 slabs of lamb? What was he thinking? 🤣

Good ol' comfort food today. It's a bitterly cold wind. I went for 2 walks; one to cash in my $7 scratch winnings, and again to cash in my $50 winnings! LOL It was colder the second time.

When he does the freezer shopping he grabs the first he sees. I have a single slab. He did the same with shrimp a couple weeks ago, 🙄😂

Baby steak cubes last night. The other two artichokes.

We snacked on the sugar snaps so not much made it to the plate...

Sleevenog, I love the idea of his and her racks of lamb. Artichokes look great too.

Annie, I am so sorry for your lost calf. I can only imagine how hard it must be.

Jasdip, Comfort food is perfect on a cold day.

WFD tonight was Pad Thai, which is one of my comfort foods. We used our kaffir limes, the last of our thai peppers, and our spring onions.

We picked up 60 seedlings from our local nursery and planted them today. About 2/3s were bok choy and the rest various types of salad greens.

Love your sweet and sour pork Jasdip. We had this as a home delivered meal a while ago and it didn’t taste quite right. It was OK but didn’t have that sweet vinegary taste which I like.

Sleevendog, love your serves of artichokes as a side to the main. I usually think of them as a first course but love them served your way. Also like rack of lamb... expensive here why.... why when so many sheep but labor costs are so high.

Lynda your Pad Thai looks the best... Yum makes me want to dig in.

DH brought home cooked cabbage rolls, falafel and hummus dip which was a yummy vegetarian meal for a change.

Artichokes are a first course with dinner guests. (our dishwasher is acting up so extra plates are excessive right now...and dealing with the aftermath of a massive snow storm)

Yum, pad thai. And lamb.

Planting seedlings, lol. Digging out from snow storm here.

Did manage to cold smoke some cheeses and tomatillo/hatch chili salsa. Then hot smoked a chicken, finished in the oven.

Not burnt like it looks. Crispy skin via a dark miso/urfa biber/palm sugar glaze. (urfa is black from the get-go)

Quick pickled salad with a fresh grapefruit dressing. Forgot to add the pear.

For a massive snowstorm this was fantastic. Smoked salmon fettuccini. Lots of veg in the sauce....shallot, golden beet, radish, fennel, celery....1/2 pint veg stock, 1/2 pint smocked tomatillo salsa.

Nice looking meals, Cookebook!

Sleeve, lovely looking salads as always. Your chicken and potatoes look great!

Lynda, I made pad thai once, but the peanut butter was over-powering. Easy to fix, if I ever decide to make it again.

Neely, I love your sweet potato slices!

I felt like pasta, so the one-pot pasta meal to the rescue. If I have green beans, and I did have some that were wilty looking, they get thrown in, and baby spinach, since I don't have basil.

A victory, of sorts. I cooked chicken parts in my air fryer for the first time. They came out with crispy skin and were very juicy. It was an experiment I hoped would work because it’s so easy and fast. And it makes just the right amount. A whole chicken is too much for me now.

Not the greatest picture, and I had to test the thigh before I pronounced it good. But I’m pretty happy with the results and am looking forward to playing around with different rubs and spice blends.

A bit of pasta is the ultimate comfort food.

Like hearing about the air fryer successes. Not needed here with a small side door wall oven with a fan, at eye level,....but for smaller meals, heating up a big standing oven for a small amount seems wasteful in energy and time.

Storm Gorgonzola sliders. Might just beat out pasta as the ultimate comfort...and the chips. 😜

Welcome back cookbook!

I love your meal, Sleeve! (especially the chips!)

Do I need an air-fryer when my countertop cuisinart is convection? I keep telling myself that the convection does the same thing. A lot of people sure love their a/f though.

No potatoes tonite!! Patting myself on the back....

Simple sauteed cabbage, carrots and onions with garlic and red pepper flakes. A handful of baby spinach tossed in as well. Alongside my leftover pork chop with a quick gravy (meh).

No air-fryer needed. JMHO. Do not really need a fan. Any protein just needs to have a very dry surface/skin. Left uncovered in the fridge for at least 6 hours or overnight with or without a dry rub. I do this with chicken, steaks, burgers...no surface moisture equals crispy when seared in cast iron or baked. Fan/low heat for 15 minutes will do about the same thing.

Cabbage always surprises me how good it can be. So naturally sweet when cooked.

Cleaned out the crisper with a waiting veg box for the refill.

Meatless Thursday. Wild mushroom and wild rice/veg/bean/greens pasta. 3 cheese.

(beans I prepped for a Tunisian stew I'm making tomorrow)... used a few in the pasta. That is a newly discovered heirloom black garbanzo now grown in California. Tiny and nutty.

So many great meals!

Sleeve, That gorgonzola slider might just be my favorite of your meals so far - perfectly balanced with a fresh salad and home fries. I am also interested in your tomatillo salsa that is frozen. We have lots of excess tomatillos and jalapenos, both of which grow abundantly in the summer. Are you roasting them, and then freezing packages? Do the packages have everything in them (ie lime juice, cilantro) or are these added when you blend them or not at all?

Cookebook, Love your Louisana style shrimp boil. There was a restaurant here that served that. You would pick your protein mix and your spices and they would serve it family style in the middle of the table. It would be fun to try that at home.

Jasdip, That pasta looks great - my kind of comfort food. For pad Thai, I use ground peanuts versus peanut butter. I coarsely grind up ~1/2 cup peanuts and cook half of them in the dish and reserve the other half for a garnish. That way everyone can adjust the dish to their liking.

Shambo, Congrats on the air fryer success. We don't have one, but are considering it, so I would like to learn more about what they can do.

Work was really busy this week, so not much time for innovation in the kitchen. We have had whole chicken a couple of times, which pairs really well with long days working from home, as I can take a break to put it in the oven, continue working and still have dinner at a decent hour.

Last night we had our lamb skewers again. DH made a double batch of pita dough, which we froze into meal size portions in ziplock bags. I made the hummus, substituting key lime juice for the lemon juice, which turned out really well. As we move into spring, and I have both grape leaves and time, I am looking forward to making dolmas to go with this meal.

I think an air fryer is like a lot of kitchen small appliances. It can be useful depending on how you like to cook. I know it’s the latest trend, but that doesn’t mean it’s a necessity. Some people swear by it, just as some people swear by their Instant Pots.

I have found it useful in roasting vegetables like potatoes, turnips, parsnips, and carrots. It does a really good job reheating the frozen French toast that I mass produce for quick breakfasts. This was my first attempt at meat/chicken, and it was pretty good. I think it’d work well with fish, chops, and steaks too.

Jasdip, you do such a wonderful job with your slow cooker, cast iron skillet, and toaster oven already. I can’t think of anything that could improve your cooking.

Here’s what I had for lunch. A weird combo of cranberry bean & ham soup, stewed okra with tomatoes & bacon, and a super thick slice of homemade bread made with evaporated milk.

And tonight I made sauerkraut with potatoes & some sausage from a local butcher. I’m determined to use up some of the stuff in my pantry and freezer.

Lovely to see your tasty meals shambo. The potatoes and sauerkraut would be gone in a flash in our house. Totally agree with what you said about Jasdip’s cooking... as evidenced by your pork chop and veg J. not meh at all.

Lynda, when I see your dinner table and food I want to sit down there and start eating, looks great.

Cookebook great meals, and I really like your blue and white plates.

Sleevendog, must confess that the word ‘sliders’ is relatively new term for me, say 5 - 7 years and only because pulled pork sliders became popular here. I don’t have a good backup feeling of what is a slider. So in this context I am assuming that you fold the other piece of bread on top of the other and eat it like that. However it is eaten it looks delicious.

Below we had ratatouille and fried chicken, but unfortunately a lot of the batter fell off.

Below was my first time cooking bought ramen noodles at home. They really are a good noodle so clean, and with the light broth made for a refreshing meal

Neely, there's a very popular restaurant here, Ramen House or something like that, that makes delicious meals, like the one you just made. I should attempt one.

Lynda, that's such a colourful plate, with your lamb and peppers!! I love it.

Shambo, there's nothing better than home-made bread! Yours looks perfect.

THANK you for the kind compliments on my cooking, and versatility, and you reinforced my thought that I don't need another appliance taking up room. :-)

Sausage and kraut you say??? YES!

'Slider' just means 2-2.5 ounces. Tiny burgers on small buns. It is a catering term but also a pre-dinner Hors d'Oeuvres, or an event snack passed by servers.

I sear/prep 5 out of a pound of mince. The 5th is chopped into a 'dirty rice' salad. DH likes the other two for lunches. (meatloaf sliders).

Slider in NYC just means small. A first course shared with cocktails. We don't want a 20$ burger...just a mini. Many cocktail offerings tiny.

We like the taste/flavor without the 'bulk'. The supplier posted above caters many events and now supplies fancy folk needing, i'm guessing, their kitchen freezers for spoiled teens. Link, HERE

If I had fussy teens...I would stock some of these ^^delights.

Ok my friends, I'm pretty much at the point where I'm getting lonely. I would love to have a guy call and chat. It's so nice to hear a man's voice on the phone/have a guy to talk to and kibitz with.

Meanwhile here's tonight's dinner.

New sauce recipe for my drums. Hoisin, soy, honey, sesame oil. Super easy. I added sriracha sauce because it needs it. Baked at 400.

Used up the rest of my pasta. See the wine glass taking precedence? LOL

Thanks for that explanation about sliders Sleeve. I had no idea it had something to do with size. Explains why the pulled pork sliders I’ve had were all small. I just thought it was the way that particular restaurant served them.

Jasdip, my heart so goes out to you. My mother always said the better the relationship, the worse was the loneliness. I know that sounds a truism but meant at a deep heart felt level. She remarried 3 years after my father died at 34 years old. You are doing so well with keeping your cooking so enthusiastic for yourself. These uncertain times of Covid don’t help either as I guess you would be more social if it weren’t for feeling one should stay at home more than normal. Friendship of the opposite kind is what’s needed.... hope you can work this out.

Our dinner last night.

I managed to cook this steak medium rare, the way I like it.

OH, my, I'll never catch up! We lost our internet during the storm and when it came back, I was kicked out of Houzz, had to reload my browser, the phone still doesn't work! We got about 2 feet of snow, so we've been busily moving that anyway, and Mother is here so she keeps me busy.

What really jumped out at me was Cookebook's blue and white plates, they're lovely!

Jasdip, I kind of know the feeling, I was happily divorced for a while, then it got lonely doing everything alone. The girls grew up and had their own lives and then there was just me. I had no idea how to even start dating in my 50s, and wasn't really sure I wanted to anyway. And then, there was Elery, it sure took me a long time to get it right! As for the air fryer, I'm still pretty "eh" about it. It makes fried chicken really well, and I've roasted potato wedges successfully, but I really don't see a big difference between most items prepared in that and those prepared in the oven. (shrug)

Neely, perfect steak!

Shambo, I'm glad to see you back cooking, that sausage looks really good.

Sleevendog, black garbanzos? I never heard of those? And how were they? Do they taste like regular garbanzos?

Today it was cold, definitely soup day. I made a big pot of vegetable beef soup, one of those "clean out the refrigerator" pots of soup. Surprisingly, Mother ate a whole bowl, I was astounded. We had homemade bread with it, but I didn't take a picture, it really wasn't pretty, LOL.

This was Elery's shrimp and sausage, it was pretty good, I like shrimp very much.

I made burritos last night, didn't take a picture of those either, I'm definitely slipping!

I did take a picture of the fluffy "southwestern omelette" with green chilies, cheese and corn, we liked it a lot but it needed more chilies. Served with a quick pickle made with that baby head of red cabbage from Misfits, but it was too sour for either of us to eat, even as a condiment on sandwiches, I've definitely got to work on that recipe! Broccoli was also from Misfits:

I panfried a new-to-me fish, rockfish from the Alaskan seafood box. It was very good, reminded me of walleye, I'd definitely get that again. Served with homecanned Purple Dragon carrots glazed with some Habanero Gold along with a cold salad of peas and peanuts:

Elery made some potstickers the night I went to pick Mother up, also very good with some of that sweet dark soy sauce for me, Sriracha for Elery.

And so, I guess I'm caught up. I got my new Misfits box, and so I have some beets, some leaf lettuce, some onions, a head of cabbage. We'll see if I get creative or just roast the beets and saute the cabbage, the way Elery and Mother both like it...

Annie

OK, I'll add some more! Here is the cinnamon roll belonging to The Princess, well frosted!

I got the Misfits box:

I made the world's healthiest blueberry coffee cake, with whole wheat flour, fresh blueberries, a tiny bit of sugar, no butter. Used up 4 eggs, but the effort was unanimously condemned, and 3/4 of it is still left, even the dog won't eat it. It'll become healthy chicken food, I guess, Mother wouldn't even eat it with glaze on it!

And then Elery decided he needed to experiment and make some gyro meat. We had no lamb, of course, so he used half pork and half beef, then made a tower of pans and cans to press it into the required shape, cooled overnight and then sliced. We'll eat it in pita bread with some tzatziki, but he forgot to salt it and so it's a little bland. The texture is right though, so it's a step..

And tonight Mother wants lasagna, so maybe she'll actually eat it for a change...

Annie

"OK, I'll add some more!."

lol Annie. Yup, we are running on whatever seems good and change daily...last night had a few choices but went to ye olde' reliable favorite frittata. We went two weeks without eggs, then three dozen and did not use any for a week, lol.

(don't tell me I can't have what I want). I've not had GrapeNuts in 25 years...now they are unavailable I want it. 😂 Dads favorite he hid from us. It was considered 'expensive' and not for children.

Good veg box. I don't want fruit. I want veg and greens with so much garden fruit frozen. Love this recent box.

I went overboard, maybe, on the add-ons. (?). Nah. Just some good treats. Two weeks, every other week, of good treats.

I also try to limit the "add ons". Sometimes I'm successful. This last time I bought popcorn, a snack we have often but I try to avoid those expensive microwaveable bags. Popcorn is something like $2 a silo full, LOL, so I don't want to pay extra for all that packaging! I make it in an old Twirly Pop, so I got popcorn...

Elery eats a lot of apples and I don't have any citrus frozen, so I try to limit the fruit to apples and citrus.

Annie

I use the WhirlyPop. Yup very twirly, lol. Works like a charm.

Happy National Pizza Day. (I had no idea but never follow that stuff anywho)

A day ahead but it was good. My sister made a sprouted spelt naan type bread, (her husband is muslim and doing residency in a covid ward....long hours). That is her trio delivering to him in bed it appears) Both vaccinated. Mom and Dad still not able to get an appointment....just wrote Joe Biden, MrPresident, an e-mail. (met him many times over the years being from Delaware)

Made six quick weeknight pizzas. Various toppings. Leek, wild mushroom, olive, cherry toms, prosciutto, three cheese. DH took one to work for lunch...smoked salmon, anchovy, etc. Folded, cut, and froze the rest.

-The black garbanzos are tiny and nutty. Really good.

Oh, just the usual 'internet generated response'....🙄

After weeks of thinking about it, I finally fixed Canary Bird’s, Sharon CB’s, recipe for braised red cabbage. I’ve been making it for years because it’s so tasty. Sharon’s original recipe didn’t call for bacon, but every once in a while, I add some for good measure. It makes a lot, but that’s OK with me. I love the stuff and eat huge helpings.

We haven't made this one for awhile, but it is a favorite.

....I just started the new thread....we hit 100 posts.

Salmon cakes joined our rotation just this past year. Not sure why it did not appeal to us before....love them!