Happy Birthday Annie!

DH has his 70th next week. He requested HotDogs, lol. I was planning a lobster Boil-Up. I win. (hot dogs would save some coin)

Queso Fundido sounds good. I don't have CI but looked at a few recipes. Making that in place of our next taco night. DH will like it. One recipe had corn, black beans, then after baking added fresh chopped tomato, cilantro and avocado to the table....i have the perfect casserole dish. 😜

@Ricky, your kitchen must smell amazing. I don't have much of a sweet tooth but those would be my favored flavors....except for the added 'spice'. I'm sure i would be a paranoid heap in the corner.

@FOAS, seems every grocer has had these every year this time. WholeFoods has similar. My main grocer now is FreshDirect. Occasionally Misfits, my guilty pleasure. Both have them now from different growers.

Sunday night. Roast free range pork chop, roast carrots, roast potatoes, homegrown asparagus and Tuscan black kale.

Raspberries from the allotment, local strawberries and vanilla ice cream

Another in bi-weekly rotation...

I've been making this once a week for three...

Lots of rhubarb now. I keep adjusting my recipe for less volume. DH wants added minced jalapeno and fresh corn...more rhubarb. Sweet. savory, spicy.

DH saw this one one the back of the Bob's RedMill bag, (i just purchased a case of four a few weeks ago for our summer corn cakes.

I've been making this once a week for three...

Lots of rhubarb now. I keep adjusting my recipe for less volume. DH wants added minced jalapeno and fresh corn...more rhubarb. Sweet. savory, spicy.

DH saw this one the back of the Bob's RedMill bag, (i just purchased a case of four a few weeks ago for our summer corn cakes.

My 9 inch cast iron was way too much. Prefer fresh and no leftovers. Freezes fine but not the summer season. We eat half and snack evening and breakfast...

So forgiving unlike most baking...one egg, two eggs.

Can you explain how the pictured rhubarb apple corn cake is made? Are you putting jalapenos and fresh corn in it? So it isn't dessert? You give a recipe for corn cakes and a recipe for corn muffins but how do those relate to your rhubarb creation? Also cornflour means something different here. So is your cornflour more like polenta?

Corn Flour in the US is fine ground CornMeal, not corn starch. Previously i would put coarse corn meal through the spice grinder or my hand grain grinder.

Both recipes work. Very forgiving. This is our 'dessert' every year summer months. All summer. Different berries, a mix of berries. Sometimes nuts. Our close friends are similar. Savory, sweet, lightly spicy.

Edna Lewis is an icon in the US. Southern USA world.

What I'm not understanding us how the corn recipes are mixed with the rhubarb and apples. Is the fruit mixed in, put on top, put underneath? Is it used like I would use a sponge topping to a fruit pudding? And I'm not getting the use of the savoury ingredients (jalapenos, corn,) in a sweet dish.

Dinner for us this evening: eggs Florentine, no dessert.

Wednesday. Pea and corn fritters. Green salad.

Sweet-savory is pretty global. Think jam on toast, basic peanut butter and jelly, up to sweet spicy glazed proteins...chutneys.

I use her corn muffin recipe as a gluten free cake...

Extra-fine cornmeal, (not cornstarch)

"...they have a very tender, creamy texture when hot and stay moist when cool."

It does cut in cake slices when cool but we like it hot from the oven. The apple and rhubarb is dropped on top. As in my pic. Folded in it would be obviously dispersed in the batter. Hundreds of rhubarb cakes on-line.

Rhubarb is not sweet. I just added the apple because i have some at the moment and added some natural sweetness. Pecans would be good. SIL sent me a big box from her tree.

The recipe for corn cake is on the back of the 'corn flour' bag. Waiting for the up-coming zucchini harvest. Often served for breakfast/brunch. Some top with maple syrup or tomato jam. Like some put ketchup on eggs, ick. Some put ketchup on everything!

We call them fritters.

I didn't express myself very well about the sweet savoury puzzlement. Of course I'm familiar with that idea. For example, I'm a big fan of apple sauce on pork and mint jelly with lamb, apples or oranges in meat dishes, quince or figs with cheese, rhubarb or gooseberries with oily fish. But I suppose I was thinking of the rhubarb apple corn cake as a similar dish to the rhubarb crumble or sponge I make with my abundant crop. I might add some spice such as ginger, which goes well with rhubarb, but was curious about the jalapenos and corn kernels. I suppose I'm used to some sweet ingredients being added to a savoury dish but not savoury ingredients added to what sounds like a dessert. I've had a look and it seems that fine corn meal is here so maybe I'll try it some time.

I know you know all that. I was just addressing all the question marks. It is dessert to us and close friends, my family.....DH's family not so much. His siblings have enormous sweet tooths.

No added sugar in the corn 'cake'. Just the bit of apple. I have made one traditional dessert last holiday. A Clair Savitz pecan fragipane. A DH favorite. I cut in 1 inch slivers but not touched until a few hours later, then devoured.

I know in the UK corn flour is called starch here. Comes up here about every year.

Last night, another easy weeknight meal...

Thursday: caramelized onion and beetroot tart.

I often make corn muffins with blueberries or with cheese and ham, or bacon and jalapenos. I never thought to use those with rhubarb, though, and now I'm thinking a slightly sweet rhubarb sauce over corn waffles for breakfast. Hmmm. I have LOTS of rhubarb this year.

We've been busy gardening and finishing up pond repairs and removing autumn olive infestations and general early summer stuff. When Dave was here with the backhoe last weekend we had beef tips, mashed potatoes and green beans, with strawberry rhubarb pie for dessert. Of course, I only got a picture of the pie, LOL, I never think of supper pictures when I'm trying to feed other people!

We had corned beef last week with broccoli salad and an experimental potato salad made with home canned potatoes. I was pleasantly surprised, the potatoes held their shape better than when I cook them fresh, but the dressing got a bit runny with the addition of just a bit too much pickle juice.

Elery made breakfast with some of the leftovers, corned beef hash with eggs. I like hash better than I like the original meal, I think.

We had roasted chicken with a pile of leaves from the garden another night:

Last night we had taco salad with lettuce from the garden, homegrown beef and our own home canned beans, but I haven't figured out yet how to make the Mexican cheese. I don't have a cow for milk anyway, so I guess I'll keep buying that, LOL, although I don't add any to my salad. Elery loves cheese, though, so he can have my share.

We had some little visitors at the pond with their mom:

What does that mean to me? Constant fence repair as the deer run through it. Sigh. Add another daily job to the growing list...

Annie

An older neighbor passed away a few years ago. She fed the wildlife in two big troughs. It is illegal here to do that. We were overrun with deer and wild turkeys. Somewhat charming when i hosted Thanksgiving for my family one year. Not so great that she also fed the feral cats. The 'sexKittens' screaming all night. Cats are gone and now just a random few deer and turkeys pass by.

Don't care for leftovers unless planned. Like hash. Sunday roast chikens...next day chicken salad is fine. Not another roast chicken dinner.

Recently made extra colecannon and froze a couple pints for a test. Made an excellent quick leek garlic and potato soup.

so. much. rhubarb.!

Didn't really need Misfits with such a full fridge pantry freezer, but it is DH's birthday week and wanted to stock some of his favorites. I had him unpack the box so he would know what we have. So strange...two tins of pumpkin, 🤪, huh?, a pint of maple syrup, I have 3 gallons in the storage fridge, (boiled down about 70%...need to complete). And . more tumeric. Things i did not order. Huge spaghetti squash. Over 3 pounds. Paid 1.99. My local market is 2.99Lb for organic. (9 bucks!). Two hugh sweet potatoes i paid 1.35 for the two. My market is 2.99Lb. He wants another BLT and corn zucchini fritters...my zucc's are not even flowering yet. Cool damp spring.

Kohlrabi, broccoli, and cilantro from local market delivered two weeks ago. DH commented that Misfits has the best cilantro..."oh, no, that is FreshDirect from two weeks ago". He just shakes his head having spent years doing the 10 and under weekend grocery list every thursday or friday always frustrated on the quality. The new Misfits cilantro in the fridge just as fresh.

I made his B-day cake yesterday...

He wants another tomorrow.

Monday night. Back from weekend in London. Allotment producing well now.

Broadbeans (favas) with garlic and coriander (cilantro). Asparagus with Parmesan, beetroot hummus, lettuce salad. Raspberries for dessert. A kilo each of raspberries and redcurrants into the freezer.

Nice garden spread. Love beetroot humus. I soak and cook a pound of garbanzos at a time, then freeze in pints for an easy quick all summer humus without all the stovetop heat and prep.

Flipped a coin thinking maybe a fritatta. I need quick so this was easier. Translates loosely as 'all-mixed-up'.

Steamed some cabbage and greens. Pushed to half, added a Marcella bean and feta salad from the weekend, other half. Sliced fresh tomato and kimchi.

Best time of year for asparagus. Local NewJersey grown. Great raw but just kissed with heat under the broiler for a 'garnish'.

Here is an easy recipe for Queso Blanco, LINKY

I only make two cheeses, Motzarella and Queso. (not that you need another project) but good to have a recipe on hand for a rainy day...

Tuesday: running out of inspiration so I cheated on the weekday vegetarian rule.

Harvard beets, invented spicy fried chicken and cabbage dish.

Easy weeknight meal

Made a quick steak dinner.

dcarch

I've never eaten lotus root. How do you make it red?

Pre break fridge clearing pasta here. A solitary rasher of bacon, a few tomatoes, tin of anchovies, garlic, parsley, olives, onion, jarred peppers.

"

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK

I've never eaten lotus root. How do you make it red?---"

I also made a salad for lunch. I cooked the lotus root with beets.

dcarch

Turns out this has a name...

Originally, traditionally, this was a braised spring artichoke dish stuffed with mushrooms, then evolved into artichokes with spring vegetables. Now it is sometimes just spring vegetables, whatever is coming into harvest. Butter, white wine, sometimes stock for a braise. No stock or vegetables that do not release alot of water for a slow braise that sears the bottoms. Like quartered fennel. Seems now it lists the name as Artichaut Barigoule if artichokes are the star ingredient.

With all the fresh spring produce coming in my produce mystery box, i've been making this at least once, sometimes twice a week. Bar-e-gool

Thanks. That explains it.

Dinner has been fast, functional, and entirely unremarkable lately. SWMBO was in L.A. visiting our friends, so I mostly subsisted on instant ramen and hunks cut from a ham.

Now that she’s back, dinners here are slowly emerging from the grad school throwback. It was cold and very rainy the last couple days, so I made a beef stew. No suitably cheap red wine around - I did wonder whether to sacrifice a 2018 Rioja but decided a) it’s potentially a decent bottle and b) Rioja isn’t the red wine for stew, so used a can of stout beer and a slug of red miso, with good results.

I’m trying the sous vide bacon thing. I like bacon but not the hassle and time of cooking it. SWMBO uses “microwave bacon” which probably means she’s going to Hell. In hopes of saving her from that fate, I’m going to have the fridge stocked with sous vided bacon ready to quickly sear ’n serve.

When making someone breakfast in bed this morning, I learned - I like to think “discovered“ or even “invented“, but I know it’s not true - that if you mince strawberries and mix it into the eggs before scrambling, the scrambled eggs are subtly sweeter and quite a bit more interesting.

I am in the habit, when frying things that stick to the pan - like breakfast sausage patties, or potstickers - of tossing some water into the hot panful of stuck-on food to release the food. This creates big boiling clouds of vaporizing oily steam-spatter. I think it’s fun to make the biggest mushroom cloud I can, and see if anything escapes the hood. So far, nothing has. Capture volume is a great thing.

Your pantry bank is larger than i thought. I need a peek inside.

Since the new year, Sunday's have been something heartier...roast chicken, ribs, rack of lamb, beef stew...

Humid, thunderstrorms, AC on. Time to switch to lighter meals.

Remembered last year i tossed zucchini, red onion, corn, habanero into the dry corn flour mix to soak up moisture, set aside to rest, then added the wet.

So crispy. I blended 4 oz of cottage cheese with two small eggs. I keep coming across cottage cheese used in recipes. Excellent.

These two beauties will determine the next couple meals

We are in a real heat spell. 35C feeling like in the 40s. (97.6F feeling like in the hu ndreds). I learned yesterday that you can bake rice in large quantities. I had no idea. Cooks perfectly when you want a large amount. I love having rice and pasta in the freezer for quick meals.

4 cups Basmati rice, 4 cups boiling water in a metal 13x9. bake at 375 45 minutes.

For dinner I made a couscous salad with chickpeas, sun-dried tomatoes, onions, garlic, chopped spinach. Lemon juice and zest and the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes for the dressing. Quinoa would also be perfect.

@sleevendog (5a NY 6aNYC NL CA)

Pantry wall - minus trim and finishing. You see that stub wall between pantry and fridge - turns out it contains a bunch of ducting, water, electrical - grrrr.

I had pullout shelves built in, seemed like a good idea, in practice they are never ever used.

Contents basically look like below.

We are still figuring out the best arrangement. Right now it is

- separate pullouts for legumes, rice/pasta, canned goods, jarred goods, crackers and bread;

- the Pullout Of Shame for junk food;

- a pullout for Asian dry goods (dried mushrooms, nori, sausage, instant noodles, etc) and another for Western ditto;

- a pullout for oils and vinegars and similar liquids/sauces packaged in short and medium-height bottles, which is a total mess as organizing things by size is as chaotic as organizing alphabetically . . . someday I’ll find a set of uniform size bottles to decant into;

- a pullout for tall bottles and big jugs like champagne and dish detergent and cooking oil, also a mess;

- and some pullouts I’ve forgotten which is pretty good evidence that the “system” still needs work.

- finally the topmost cabinets hold pressure cookers, popcorn makers, and random clutter that used to live on top of the refrigerator and has since been replaced with other random clutter up there - I really should tear out that drywall and install more cabinetry.

I can reposition the pullouts higher and lower, and swap them between cabinets.

There are two bays with quad outlets, only one is currently being used for appliance garage and it doesn’t look this tidy anymore.

There is another switched outlet for in-cabinet lighting, another seemingly clever idea that proved totally useless.

Rearranging the pantry is an ongoing process. For me, some things like to be stored by size and shape, others like to be stored by theme. Some themes have overs. Some are lonely and need combining. Last year, I put everything that could be regarded as sugar, includihng honey and jam, on one pullout, other than the sugar in the baking drawer on the other side of the kitchen. That works surprisingly well, though there's a pretty tea tin that lives there too, because there's room...

No cooking happening here. All my energy is going to taking care of others (non-culinarily). Dinner last night was the ends of containers of boughten organic stuffed pastas, mixed with Rao's mushroom and sausage sauce, a slice of havari and handfuls of baby spinach. Pre-sundown today was cheap shrimp from the chain grocery. It was going to be shrimp salad, but I didn't have the will or energy. It's cooked (tails on) and still a bit icy. Also some preservatives, and likely farm bred, probably in Vietnam. I don't make salad out of lovely caught off the coast locally. That would be cruel. instead of making sauce, I just put some condiments on the plate to be smooshed together at will. Served with kale and carrot salad from the semi-snooty store, and Better Beans chipotle bean "dip". Nothing picture worthy.

Thanks for the peek John.

I do the same Jasdip. Every time i make a mixed grain, beans, pasta, I make extra for pints and half pints for the freezer. I'm making this salad tonight...

I have so many choices in the freezer to add. Lots of fresh produce choices in the crisper. I roasted some eggplant cubed small last week when it was stormy and cool. I froze a 1/2 pint to test how it is when thawed.

Salad at a friends’ place.

Hmm, weird, I cannot post a photo.

And now I can!

Beautiful tomatoes. DIY BLT's

Spiced yogurt cream

Daily salads

Back mid February we thought these days were numbered.

Stocked up on eggs and avocados predicting spikes in prices. Egg prices peaked quickly to 6.50 for local organic pasture and a limit per family. Costco, Aldi, and TJ's had empty shelves.

Our market quickly shopped other local farms and have offered 10-12 varieties since. We have been buying their small organic pasture eggs for 3.99 doz.

Decided we would just eat less eggs. Or same quantity but smaller is fine. No need as prices are falling now.

We have gone without avocados before. 10 years ago they were so horrid and a waste of money...never ripened properly. 5 years ago i gave them another try...excellent, the small ones, dense and creamy.

We have not had avocados for a couple months. Both markets were out of stock so we ordered both smalls and minis hoping for at least one or the other. Both delivered so i have 17 avocadoes delivered last friday. Ripening slowly but have 12 still. The minis were suposed to be 7-10 per bag but we got 12. Close to three pounds for 3.99. What!? When have i ever had gorgeous avocados, any size, for 33 cents each. (the price is 4.99 now)

I just looked up freezing them. Seems fine for certain things like dressings, some salads.

Misfits does not weigh at check-out. They must have realized at some point that the bags were much more than 7-10 per. Well over 2 pounds.

I had planned the veg pasta salad and the 'holy trinity'....chicken salad, tuna salad, egg salad...extra credit...potato salad, for the weekend... but the heat wave lifted last night. Windows open today.

Having the above favorite noodle bowl tonight.

Ooo lovely tomatoes. When we lived in L.A., it was easy to grow tomatoes, eaten hand fruit style with a salt shaker set on a post in the garden. In Portland with a tree shaded lot it is difficult, for me at least, to grow tomatoes - but hope springs eternal so we are trying again this year.

DD’s meal in Marseille

“this was a suuuper yummy bbq pork bao but v french flavor profile- whole grain mustard, comte”

“panisse and a kefte de thon and sum v yum haricots verts”

“cucumber teriyaki salad!”

and another day, at an “Afrovegan pop-up“ at a bar a block down the street from her apartment

That looks good. I've yet to come across a good Bao Bun. I know they exist in NYC but usually found in corner bakeries with skimpy fillings like a chunk of hot dog and made hours before. More of an after school to-go snack for kids.

Rarely without persian cukes. Cucumber salads are everywhere these days. Love with a miso sesame dressing.

Thursday noodle bowl.

Trying to think of something to make the SummerTonic more 'summery'.

Re-stocked my miso stash. Came just in time. I order twice a year. Early Jan and early July. (left a couple with family) so i was running out here.

GreatEasternSun, MisoMaster, is made in NorthCarolina. 40 years now. My local market and WholeFoods only has the mellow white and the traditional red. (website is down this week)

Last night a favorite in rotation.

We go through so much miso. This looks good. Using my Tonic base then stir in this and add some green garden produce, and maybe some herbed tofu crumbles mixed with goat cheese

Just posted yesterday,

dressings

The last two of four use miso. Making one of them today. Or the miso caesar i've been making all Spring.

sleevendog, your meals always look fresh and healthy, but those tomatoes, yum. I'm just waiting for mine....

John, my single year of high school French class 53 years ago is not serving me well, it took me a little time to puzzle through that menu, LOL. The only bao I've ever had was frozen from the freezer section of a local grocery, that one looks much nicer and fluffier.

Jasdip, I hope it's cooled off a bit there. Here it was nice for a couple of days, now it's back up to above 90F tomorrow. In Michigan in June!!! It's just not supposed to happen, ugh.

And yet, I still cook. (grin) Today we had peanut butter chicken with rice and roasted asparagus, and strawberry shortcake for dessert with what are probably the last berries this year as the groundhogs keep eating them the minute they get at all red.

We've been having salads regularly because I had a lot of various leaves in a raised bed, until the same blasted groundhog decided to just chew on everything. It wasn't actually eaten, just nibbled, walked upon and chewed to pieces, so it seems I'll have to buy my leaves until I can trap the whistle pig. It's also burrowing under the foundation of the house, so it's got to go.

Anyway, other meals were some sauteed shrimp with more asparagus and some chickpea salad:

Southern style blackberry cobbler with ice cream:

Amanda's lunch of a cheese omelette, some gluten free toast and fresh strawberries on a day when she was here visiting:

Salmon patties and air fryer potato slices, with some more asparagus. Oddly, nothing seems to want the asparagus, but it's nearing the end of the season for that.

Biscuits for breakfast, baked in a "pone" instead of individual biscuits, Elery made these and we had them with eggs.

A nicely rare high heat roasted sirloin tip, sliced on the slicer for sandwiches:

Panini made from the above beef....

Penne with home canned tomato sauce and garlic bread:

I picked some broccolini and "Fioretto" cauliflower from the garden, the purple Fioretto is very colorful and tastes more like cabbage than cauliflower.

We will process meat chickens in the next couple of weeks, so I'm trying to make more freezer room, that seems like a constant endeavor. I had the "leaf" fat from the pig we got from a neighbor and so rendered two "almost" pints of lard:

I know there were others, but I sure don't remember what!

Annie

All the vegetables look lovely! Mine rotted. One of the minions helped me clean all the compost volunteers out a couple of days ago. I've been stressed and exhausted, and cooked nothing for a couple of weeks, but we got things like artichokes and corn steamed for grab and goes, and an egg bake with a spring shallot, broccolini, red dandelion greens and a small peach, with berbere in the custard and leftover smoked jack on top. It's fantastic.

Tonight's dinner was can't move/delivery Indian. Giving up on trying to make a properly arranged Indian meal, we just randomly chose what sounded good and not too much carb or cream. It was all delicious, though my Middle Eastern tongue wanted more garlic in the garlicky bits. ;) There was tomato soup and an American style salad, beautifully made, along with tandoori prawns, chicken saag (my favorite), barra kebab masala, bangan bharta, and garlic naan. That's chicken in spinach, succulent lamb in brown sauce, and Indian style baba ganouj. Neighborhood place with excellent food that arrives piping hot. And enough leftover to be useful.

Dandelion egg bake

I often say you don't really know it's good until it's good cold. Today's lunch was the Indian leftovers out of the fridge. Wow! It was good last night, but whether from time to come into its own, or fridge magic, all the spice I'd been looking for last night jumped into service. The eggplant, which was a little too subtle, now has the garlic, salt, spice and char flavors, perfectly balanced and very present. Same with the shrimp. True too for the rest, but those hadn't so far to go, so less pronounced.

Tonight, salad from TJ's.

Annie, I agree with you about the temps. It's far too early for this nonsense. Your roast beef looks amazing!

I made a Mediterranean salad using chickpeas, cherry tomatoes, artichokes, olives, etc etc. Delicious. I had it with garlic bread and a glass of red

I'm helping my friend who lives below me, dog-sit her friend's dog. We take turns. I'm going to really miss this guy. I've never wanted to own a dog (I love other people's dogs and buy the Liver treats from Costco for all my neighbourhood dogs) but this guy has stolen my heart. We have him till Tuesday. I'm going to miss his face. LOL He does not like walking on bare floors so he watches me in the kitchen from the livingroom or hallway.

Jasdip, I like his black tuxedo with white tie look, so dapper! I like that big furry cat behind him on the couch too, with the "I'm far superior to a DOG" look, LOL.

Oh, and your salad looks good too!

Annie

So cute. My pup has the white tux on black.

Short on inspiration tonight. Yet another frittata. Spinach, potato, onion, tomato, plus herbs and smoked paprika.

We don't eat a lot of eggs but I try to use them once a week on veggie nights.