I did not think the holiday 'poppers' were much of a tradition in the US but see them every year for sale. FOAS, 😂

At the moment we are crisper drawer poor. I like it full and overflowing onto the shelf above...equally like getting creative when it is near empty. No eggs, no green onions, no potatoes, not even red/white onions. One last shallot, a big radish....half a cabbage. Stuffed freezer. Lots of stocks. Froze a couple bags of miropoix---leek, onion, celery, carrot...so, soups/noodle bowls for the rest of the week. I just used up the last bit of miso. 😳

Shopping cart is full but may wait until the end of the week.

Made a cabbage/feta bake.

Totally forgot about a big bag of cauliflower rice in the freezer. Would have been a good base layer. Basically a 'pizza' topping bake without the dough/carbs.. A favorite feta bake of my fathers. Usually make it the night when we arrive visiting.

This was screaming for some marinara and parm. But i did add chopped kimchi over the cabbage.

Past 'bakes'....seems every six weeks or so this time of year. Sometimes eggs for a frittata.

Sorry for your loss of Molly. Nice pleasant way to pass.

My elder is in diapers. My ten year old is still stuck in puppy mode. A nut job.

The water glasses did not get coasters because they were placed by uncivilised offspring who didn't think to use them.

There were also lots of vegetables, gravy, cranberry sauce and bread sauce but they were put on the sideboard while the carving was done to leave some elbow room. Of course there was Christmas pudding and brandy butter to follow.

I had goose ages ago in England and I remember I liked it very much. Never see them here but perhaps we could order one from a good butcher.

The following was good old beef stew with mash and broccolini for dinner.

Nice rich looking broth/gravy.

Lamb and hatch chili tamales. Kimchi slaw.

Annie I'm sorry for your loss of Molly. A terrific way to go though.

My freezer is full and I hate rummaging in it. But I wanted shrimp so I dug them out and treated myself. I noticed that the price of shrimp at Costco is still the same price as the last time I bought it, early last year. So I bought some :-)

Shrimp and orzo with canned artichoke hearts. I love this dish.

Your dinner looks delicious Jasdip.

We’ve been eating out and at my son’s for dinner so no photos.

However, this was lunch. Anchovies on toast and salad. The salad contained feta and olives… salt warning !!! still I’ve survived and it was very tasty.

Shrimp and salmon have remained at a reasonable price for a few years here. Wild caught gulf shrimp and wild caught Alaskan salmon. Atlantic cod, scallops, and Maine lobsters are sustainably caught and reasonable $ for a special occasion. Oysters, clams, and mussels seem to be at lower prices than 5 yrs ago and farmed the NewEngland coastal waters.

I stock anchovies for DH. Need to remember that for fish chowder toasts.

We have been having soups and salads.

Lentil/white bean chili

Last night a cast iron seared salmon filet noodle bowl. White miso/Dashi broth...hijiki, wakame, nori.

The salmon noodle bowl looks so good.

Dinner was chicken fillet strips marinated in lime, garlic and olive oil. With stir fried egg plant and beans, a few tomatoes, all served over fine rice noodles. For some reason I didn’t make a sauce. I cooked the veg and noodles, DH did the strips on the BBQ and it was ready. In hindsight a simple soy and chicken stock slightly thickened with cornflour/cornstarch would have added to the meal.

Tried to post this on previous above but it went too big… I don’t know what happened… anyway just wanted to say our soft fruits and berries have been really good this year and very good prices. (for a change)

Our weather has been a lot milder with good rainfall.

Dessert

This is the serving bowl not just mine, although I could eat the lot.

Good grief, those are gorgeous berries!.😁 Most of our local farms are growing a variety that are huge that compromises the intensity of flavor. Same with blueberries except for the small wild blueberries from Maine.

Another soup. Ham, white bean, cabbage.

I bought some white beans to make a soup because ham, white beans and cabbage sounds delicious.

Home breaded squid strips, very fresh off the boat. These were on top of a pasta ’Gnocchietti’ which I hadn’t seen before but picked up from local Italian grocer, imported from Italy. They went well with a mixture of zucchini, fennel, white onion and garlic.

Poached some pears in white wine and a tiny bit of sugar.

Chunks of ham in the freezer from NewYears day. I've been adding any extra beans to a zip-lock for soups. All the stocks made early November make quick soups.

Reminds me i located my pack of squid that went missing. Mediterranean seafood salad in the near future.

My crisper drawer is packed. It has been so thin i gave it a good scrub. Over ordered double everything...fennel, celery, beets, radish, bok choy, carrots, etc

Shrimp Fried Rice. A DH favorite.

mise en place

I have been freezing any lefover grain in pints. Really speeds up this dish.

Annie it seems like you've had quite a time of it . I hope your DH and the DD? fared well after surgery and very sorry about Molly.

We had our little 15 year old cockapoo, Marabelle, put down this morning as she was having many miserable symptoms and was not living quality life anymore.

We just finished off our last of the turkey from Christmas and it tasted absolutely delicious in a simple sauce with peas and onions.

My next endeavor is that I really really want to make a unstructured pierogi lasagna for want of a better word. With a special diet since I'm such a difficult person diet-wise I have to have whole wheat noodles or none. My plan is to bake it like a layered like a lasagna and then pour a butter and onion sauce on it. The filling will be potato and cheese. Probably I will be the only one to eat it and probably I would be the only one in the world to enjoy it. Since I can't have real pierogies this is the closest I can get.

Thank you for continuing to whet my appetite with your wonderfully delicious looking meals photos everyone. It almost makes me feel like I can do fancy things too. But my photos never could look like that.

yeonassky your layered pierogi dish sounds delicious and I love that sauce.

It was a hot day here so DH quickly grilled half chicken fillets outside on the BBQ. Asian salad with coriander/cilantro, Vietnamese mint and fine rice noodles plus the usual salad things.

Continuing with our fruit for dessert, this time we had figs with a slice of gorganzola blue cheese, which I was a mild one which I liked.

I made taco salad without the taco shells. I can't stand the taste of Old El Paso, and that's all I can get. So shredded lettuce, flavoured beef, cheese, yogurt, salsa and avocado. It was delicious, and I didn't miss the broken up shells.

Such a fresh looking meal Neely. Jealous of your weather but i see an early Spring--fingers crossed. Snow is gone and in the 40's. Sunny all week ahead.

Nice looking salad Jas. I do the same. We do get great locally made soft corn and flour tortillas cheap. (we don't care for the hard shell either).

I usually heat/prep 3 soft corn for DH and one for me. Then just have a salad without a shell. I have a tortilla press but what a pita.

Just when DH was improving his flatbreads, our market had a bogo on local roti and tortillas. Delivered friday. Now in the freezer.

Last night, burgers. Tested, once again, potato and vegetable chips. Purple sweet potato, golden beet, purple carrot. Trying different thicknesses and oven time.

3 oz baby burgers. Harbison--wrapped in spruce bark from JasperHillFarm in Vermont. So good but very rich. That should last all week, snacking with some fresh veg 'chips'.

Decent winter greenhouse tomatoes.

At the table.

Last night i put out a snack tray late afternoon, kitcen counter, 4pm-ish. After making a couple bean/vegetable humus. Later, with some more fresh vegetable 'chips', and humus, we snacked watching the Grammy awards.

A bit of a test platter for next Sunday's Superbowl.

Those little tomatoes are a more flavoursome buy in winter IMO.

Made large meat balls to have with pasta. I made the sauce from a jar of passata, which I rarely use, preferring to use a can of crushed tomatoes to make my own. This sauce was too thick but I intended to use some pasta water to thin it at the end. However, DH lent a hand and drained the pasta. Hah! I could have used just water but served it up as it was.

Been wanting a taco salad since jasdip posted.

Made DH a few tacos with mini lamb kofta from the freezer. I had a taco salad without the tortilla.

Jasdip, I make taco salad like that too!

And I think I have those same tomatoes that sleevendog bought!

Still no photos here, and I had some kind of stomach bug all weekend, so not much cooking. Yesterday I finally decided I was still alive and made Elery a big pot of beans with some collard greens and cornbread. Today I made a pot of beef barley soup and a big sheet pan full of eggs with mushrooms, red onions and multi-colored peppers so he can have egg sandwiches, breakfast burritos or whatever suits him.

Annie

Hope you’re feeling better Annie. Elery should be well pleased with all the good food you’ve prepared for him.

Jasdip’s yummy salad reminds me we haven’t had tacos for ages… the soft kind.

We had good old lamb cutlets, peas and mashed potato. This is as Australian a meal as you can get. Comfort food for (older ) folks.

Ick, stomach bugs are awful...and mysterious.

I've never made sheet pan eggs but did come across the idea when searching freezer meals for my parents.

Rack of lamb is a favorite here as well. Prices have remained resonable the past few years.

Forgot i have peas in the freezer. Would have been nice when my chrisper was empty last week.

Had planned a seafood bisque but grabbed a pint of marinara instead of a chowder base from the freezer. So made a shrimp and vegetable sauté over linguini with artichoke hearts and olives.

I always make too much pasta. Like beans, it never looks like much when dried but expands. Don't mind leftover beans but pasta i don't care for. (pup food). I need to start weighing my dried pasta.

Annie, there are a lot of flus and stomach bugs going around. I wonder if it's because our winter has been so unseasonably mild. I feel short-changed, I only shoveled once. As you know, snow is crucial to farming, and there's been a decided lack of it.

I have never heard of sheet pan eggs. Interesting.

Neely, your comfort meal looks delicious. I love that kind of meal. I roasted a chicken on Sunday, which I haven't done in a while.

On Saturday a friend and I took a drive to pick up a kitten that she bought. A rescue. While there, this friendly cat came up to me and put his paw up to me so I could pet him.

I sat down and he hopped up.

It turns out he's blind, he had his eyes removed as a kitten due to a severe infection. He's not up for adoption as he's the owner's cat. He's 9 if I remember. It was love at first "sight" :-)

We stopped for lunch on the way home. Homemade baking galore. We both had soup and fish and chips. A very fun day!

I guess tonight's dinner is a snack. I got them made for an event I'm having March 20. I feel like I can reheat them via air fryer. The crab and artichoke fritters I imagined. Used this recipe, but half artichoke and half crab. And because I love red bell pepper with my crab cakes I added a bit.

https://en.petitchef.com/recipes/appetizer/artichoke-fritters-fid-391334

^ Those look really good.

I made a seafood chowder. Salmon, swordfish, scallops, and duh, clams.

Those crab and artichoke fritters look really good rob.

Sleeve it’s interesting to me that your go to fish dish is often chowder whereas if I have some different fish in the freezer (like now) I am tending to go towards making a bouillabaisse. I did have a lovely chowder once in San Francisco but I can’t remember making it myself. We’ll see what happens and also what DH would like.

Dinner was our good old go to … chicken schnitzel. Fennel in the salad is always welcome.

Aw, Jasdip, I love the kitty, it's so fluffy. All those baked goods look pretty good too!

rob, the fritters look really good. Neely, I like bouillabaise AND chowder. Cioppino too, I like it all, LOL. Your chicken looks delicious too, though.

sleevendog, sometimes I wish I were closer to the ocean, there's not much good seafood here, although the lake fish is very nice when everything isn't covered with ice. (sigh)

Supper here is three bean chili. Not pretty, but serviceable and everything in that pot was something I grew.

Annie

Chowders on the NorthEast coast are usually served in seaside Diners, restaurants, and fish shacks. Often a cup or small bowl using big chopped fresh 'chowder' clams. With fish-and-chips, lobster rolls, etc. We have NewEngland(cream) and Manhattan style(tomato based) clam chowders that almost always include potatoes and corn. Bacon bit garnish. Rarely the main meal except for maybe a light lunch. Some are so thick using a white roux a spoon will stand up. Don't care for either too thick or too much tomato. Not much seafood in either but decent flavor with a good fish stock.... 65 chowder recipes...none of those look that great to me. Especially the ones with cheese.

Bouillabaisse is a higher end main course here. Loaded with all seafoods available. A bit more attention to detail. For dinner guests i order live lobsters---1/2 per person. Or just tails split in half. A special occasion or holiday meal.

I could call mine a weeknight bouillabaisse because of the fennel in my miropoix and a rich broth, slice toasted boule instead of saltines.

Last night made a shrimp and salmon bisque. Excellent. I foze a few pints of 'chowder base' from a holiday fisherman's stew. I think of 'fisherman' meaning what the days catch brings in. Seems to also mean what the cook/chef has available to them these days.

Yum, that looks good.

I decided it was time to harvest some of the lettuce I have growing in my front entryway, this is my "grow op", LOL.

My micro tomatoes have fruit, but not ripe ones:

As a result, I had no tomatoes on the salad, just some greens, cucumber, sweet peppers and smoked chicken. It was good enough, although a plate of leaves isn't my favorite meal. I also made bread, some no knead whole wheat that just begged for some of sleevendog's chowder:

That other huge loaf in the back is an egg bread that took 10 eggs! It made a huge loaf which got sliced to be used for french toast or a casserole later, Elery's brother and sister, SIL and two grandkids are coming to visit in March. His middle son and oldest granddaughter are coming to visit at the same time, and maybe his DIL and the other two kids, so I'll be cooking for anywhere from 7 to 12 people, if my kids don't drop by!

This was the egg bread, now in the freezer in slices, very soft and squishy. I think it might make a good grilled cheese for the kids too...

I put eggs in the freezer and made some oatmeal pancakes for Amanda, and these baked oatmeal blueberry "muffins" which will be fore breakfast tomorrow.

Annie

Impressive to find a bread recipe that takes 10 eggs! I bet it will make good french toast.

Made a shrimp and egg stir fry. DH very happy.

Meis en place

Made a mixed grain Thursday night and two pints for the freezer

Yes I like to do a sort of mis en place before cooking… that way things are less likely to get burnt LOL.

That egg bread looks so soft and fluffy Annie, amazing that you’ve got those little toms forming at all in your winter. I am trying to grow late season tomatoes, the early season were not so good.

Fish and a vegetable stew… not bouillebaisse.

...and less likely to forget an ingredient. I was busy prepping for the SwiftyBowl and forgot to take a couple slices of boule out of the freezer. We had breakfast for dinner and wanted to have avocado toast with it.

^^^That looks good. Love all the vegetables.

I roasted a russet, a purple sweet potato and a red beet and made a hash. Crispy scrapple and eggs and into the oven for a bit to cook the eggs(medium) with parmesan.

Superbowl prep

On second thought Annie, you might like microgreens over leaf lettuce. They are meatier and have much more food value if you are just wanting the nutrition. Faster growers over leaf lettuce. My main crops in just 1 sq foot is ready to harvest in 8-10 days...12 for the sunflower sprouts. Cut so fresh, they last a couple weeks in the fridge. We go through it quickly, then the next batch is ready to harvest.

Arugula to the baby leaf stage can take 5-6 weeks.

Micros can be chopped and added to slaw if the texure is annoying.

Let me know if you want some seed to try. I have fresh pound bags of my favorite fast growers.

No pictures of my SB food. I smoked 12 lbs. of brisket on Friday and sliced it this morning. It's in the crock pot now with some beef broth. Frist batch of wings is on the grill and I'll sauce them with Aldi's Bang! Bang! sauce. Next batch will be sauced with traditional home made Buffalo wing sauce.

Thanks, sleevendog, I've considered doing that. With Elery's macular degeneration the only "treatment" is a multivitamin with specific components. It appears that red cabbage microgreens have even more of the lutein/etc. than mature cabbage, so maybe that holds true for other microgreens. I don't mind the lettuce, except iceburg which I don't really care for. It's just boring, leaves with stuff on them every. single. day. Ugh.

Neely, that plant stand is in my entryway, inside the house, but even with the lights things are not doing as well as I had hoped. I'm going to eat all those leaves and move the stand in another 6 weeks so I can set up my nursery for garden plants.

Oh, but your seafood looks good, I have some ahi tuna that I may have to cook to go with those leaves...

Jak, I'm betting you are a happy man this morning! I was hoping it was going to be my own beleagured and long suffering Lions, but maybe next year.

Supper last night was beans and smoked chicken sandwiches. We've been having beans and some kind of greens 3 or 4 times a week, and I'm getting tired of beans too, LOL. I definitely should not have grown that many!

Annie

Fantastic game!

Made an easy meatless meal after cleaning up the superbowl mess. Not a huge mess but didn't want to make another.

A shared plate....quesadilla with spinach, arugula, feta, gruyere, parm.

Completely forgot a new microgreen harvest. Out of sight, out of mind.

Shrimp, Dumpling, and Vegetable Noodle Bowl

Dashi/Miso broth

Smoked Duck Tacos.

DH has eyes bigger than his stomach. He wanted three. (i shouldn't ask). Barely finished two. I like one and have a salad....made guacamole and a fresh tomato salsa, and a three bean warm salad. Nothing will go to waste. I'll freeze the beans for future soups.

So funny, I bought duck at a Chinese restaurant and made duck pancakes, there must have been a duck vibe floating around the world.

Must be wanting Asian food.

Pork stir fry, the flat noodle like things are actually daikon strips and the sauce was oyster with chilli crisp.

For dessert I made these lychee and raspberry glasses with a little creme de cacao poured over plus a ginger cookie and an ice cream from the freezer.

Yum, never would have guessed diakon. I have some veg that would make nice 'noodles'.

Leaning towards a noodle or raman bowl tonight.

Night before the duck tacos i rendered the smoked duck breast over potato coins. Had some slices over a fennel/celery salad. Have a couple more in the freezer.

Last night, a Manhattan fish chowder. Salmon, tuna, cod. I've read that if musselsor any shellfish are included it could be called Provencal fish chowder. Or stew. Or Portugese fish stew....Manhattan just means a bit of tomato in the broth. No rules. Call it whatever, lol.

On a menu here, 'chowder' has corn and potatoes. 'Manhattan' has tomato. (needs toast)

Shrimp and Dumplings

Forgot to add a new batch of ramen eggs. Make 4-6 weekly. Good mid-morning snack.

(we don't have any bread or heavy starch before dinner). Kimchi, sauerkraut, good cottage cheese, half of an avocado ...

Cup of good filtered water, a tBsp of soy sauce, tBsp of Worcestershire, 2 tBsp ac vinegar. A few herbs...

Great way to use up an egg abundance. Not like Annie but we have three dozen most days.

Sunday i also made a variety of vegetabe humus for snacking. The beet/sumac is too spicy again. (smoked chipotle). DH loves it but i'll cut it in half with the lighter one to make less spicy 'pink' color.

Busy monday so we snacked and tested some baked chips...sweet potato, beet and regular potatoes.

Last night---seafood cakes,... cod, salmon, shrimp

Doing some baking including this pizza which is half Italian sausage and half ham and pineapple. I hadn’t had a ham and pineapple pizza forever, but they are making a come back down here. I know it would be outrageous for Italians to have this combo but we do what we must. It was a very quick rise as we were hungry.

Sous Vide a couple small packages of pork and chicken, two each, for easy quick meals. Nice to pull out from the freezer night before fully cooked...just needs a cast iron sear or stir fry.

We have had a shared chicken salad, pork salad...

...and a pork and rice noodles bowl last night

The seafood cakes look amazing, sleevendog, I'd like those a lot, I think.

Neely, I'm not a huge pizza fan, but I eat the ham and pineapple version occasionally, causing great consternation to my daughter's in-laws who are of Italian descent, LOL.

My fried rice today isn't nearly as pretty as any of sleevendog's, and I made it with leftover brown rice from an earlier meal that I don't even remember! We did have baked chicken breast earlier this week and it was as boring as it sounds, so I tossed that in the fried rice too, along with some onion, red carrot and snow peas. Roasted some golden beets and white sweet potatoes, which Elery likes better than the orange ones. And then, of course, I didn't take a picture. (sigh)

I did go grocery shopping with Amanda yesterday and our local Meijer sells items made at a fancy Italian restaurant in Grand Rapids, Noto's. They had Italian Cream Cake, only $7.00. A slice. Yeah, at the restaurant it costs $10 a slice! So, I did what I usually do, I rolled my eyes at someone paying $7 for one single piece of cake at Meijer, not even a wedding or special occasion, went home and made an Italian Cream Cake.

Annie

Annie, we have some issues with some retail offerings when we can make just as good at home. I'm making lobster rolls tomorrow for 6$ each. My favorite locally are 32$ each. 🤪

And i like mine just as good, even better.

When i purchased a new fancy wok a couple years ago, (cyber monday?), i never expected a stir fry to be a weekly favorite.

Last night, ...pork and egg fried rice....

at the table...

and an endless supply of micrgreen harvest...

This is the end of the winter 'what's for dinner'. Only a few weeks from Spring. We are making summer dishes starting tomorrow...fish chowders and lobster rolls....

Spring is early this year. Predicted to be in the 50's all next week.

Lots of garden seeds started and Spring cleaning.