Stumbling around in my kitchen

Hi people!
I am so out of my depth here, but there is no one in my real world to giggle with when something interesting happens in my kitchen.

I don’t cook much. I’m usually perfectly happy with box meals and basics. But every now and then I try something.

Today, a recipe on Instagram caught my attention and I decided to play with it. It was called Mississippi pot roast and looked easy enough for the crock pot. Pork roast - I got some butt roast for $1.69/pound. The recipe called for Hidden Valley ranch dressing powder and au jus powder, a jar of chili peppers and a stick of butter.
I didn’t have the packets of powder, I don’t like chilis, and that much butter looked sickening with meat.

But I did have a bottle of ranch dressing and another of honey mustard. And I have homemade squash relish. Yeah, that’ll work.

It did come out fine. I made some white rice. I can do white rice, @lesmel, but I always bubble over into the drip pan, no matter what pot I use. The juice left in the crock pot was too thin, so I’ve got this handy little covered cup that my mom used for gravies. Flour and cold milk and shake it, then add to your hot liquid.
Though it’s flavor was good, I wish I’d salted the meat at the beginning.

Welcome! Hooray for invention in the kitchen. :)

My daughters, however, are both great cooks. Does this talent jump generations?
They were both here with their kids last month to celebrate my birthday. I wanted Oreo truffles, so Olivia, the oldest grand, was assigned crumbling the cookies and mixing with the cream cheese. She mistook my blender for a food processor and the wad had to be rescued and mixed by hand. Liv is very sensitive and rushed upstairs in tears. After hugs and reassurances, she came back downstairs, and we spent the evening sharing our various kitchen disaster stories. Lots of fun and laughter.

>3 2wonderY: I don't know about skipping generations. My grandmother and mother were both terrific cooks, and they told me I was even better, but I say I am just blessed with more readily available ingredients, the internet for ideas and how-to videos and a love of the strange and exotic. Also, the time to fool around in the kitchen. They worked much longer and harder than I have to. Without the training in taste and careful preparation of food, I might not have been who I am. My daughter is also an excellent cook, and she ventures into realms her mother never would (offal).

I also have a son who can cook. My other son says he can, but I've never caught him at it. lol

That being said, we each of us has our share of kitchen disaster stories! Baking soda for cornstarch in a stir fry of broccoli chicken is not recommended!

>1 2wonderY: All rice that is cooked in my kitchen is done in the instant pot now. I'm so pleased with that little (big) pot, I can't even express my love enough.

>3 2wonderY: My mother always says my grandma's cooking talent leapfrogged over her to me - however I suspect that was a result of Grandma's lack of teaching talent (she never had the patience to let inexperienced people do what she'd told them to do - just tended to steam in and take over).

I’ve been harvesting blackberries like crazy. I mostly make cordial because it doesn’t need a full kitchen to process them, and my cabin is very rudimentary. But now I have a regular house in town.

I finally sugared a couple of quarts and made a small cobbler. I used the basic Gold Medal recipe on their site. I was surprised it didn’t raise much, but the mix of berries and cake was perfect. Neighbors liked it too.

I’ve got 16 quarts of cordial canned and ran out of lids. Went down to the basement and realized I still had 14 quarts from last year and 2020 that I hadn’t decanted. So that’s what I’ve been doing yesterday and today while the blessed rain has finally been coming down.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CgHt3w6OLU0/

>7 2wonderY: Blackberry cordial sounds amazing. How do you make it?

It’s so simple. One cup of sugar in a quart jar. Fill the jar with blackberries and then vodka. Shake until the sugar is dissolved.
Wait a while before tasting it.

I’ve experimented with less sugar, expensive vodka, and once added spearmint leaves. Don’t do those things. I do want to try other additions, but haven’t decided what.

It’s probably drinkable after a few weeks, but I always wait till winter. And I’m determined to get every squeeze of flavor from the berries. After I drain the easy liquid, I smash the berries and then use a fruit press. And then I squeeze the pulp in my hands until no more juice runs. The pulp is then a grainy dry wad that goes in the compost pile.

It tastes like summer sunshine in the cold winter months.

>9 2wonderY: Ah, vodka. The great flavor extractor. I thought you were brewing the concoction like a wine is made. I do something similar using brandy and whatever fruit I have to much of.

>7 2wonderY: Too early for blackberries over here (not ripe till August/
September) but they are among the few things I preserve. I mostly make jam or jelly but the cordial sounds good - based on your description you don't crush the berries before macerating?

>9 2wonderY:

I will try your blackberry cordial! It sounds wonderful.

I’ve always served it room temperature, but a friend served some from the refrigerator; and it makes a refreshing summer sip too.

I put in a few tomato plants this year, but I’m in a new space and I hadn’t figured out where the best sun is. So not much fruit.
But my neighbor has a huge patch and she got horse manure to put on them. And then she left for Europe for the month. I have permission to take all I want. I should go get some canning lids. But so far, just feasting on fresh tomato soup. Tomatoes, basil, a dash of milk.

>14 2wonderY: Mmm, tomato sandwiches.

Panting to try Brown Butter Frosting, seen in August’s Bon Appetit magazine (or on Instagram).

>15 MrsLee: I need to fry up the pound of bacon in the fridge. It goes well on tomato sandwiches.

Potatoes are not a summer veggie for me, but I keep a bag around for a quick baked potato meal. Discovered a couple of rotten spuds, so I processed most of the bag, chopping and boiling in preparation for the most sublime potato dish - fried in butter with onions.

>17 2wonderY: One of my favorite sandwiches, if they are fresh tomatoes and not from the store where they were picked green and then stored for months before being shipped to the store.

Are you not a potato salad fan? I like both types, that made with a mayonnaise dressing, and the warm one made with bacon and a garlic and vinegar dressing. Sadly, I avoid potatoes and tomatoes due to their effect on my arthritis, but I love them.

>18 MrsLee: I do like both, but others make them better than I’ve ever been able to. I struggle to even get the right taste for deviled eggs; a similar problem with mayo potato salad.
And my German Irish mother made the best German potato salad in the world. I probably should resume trying on that front.

My mother always cut the hot potatoes into a marinade of oil, vinegar and stock. When that had cooled, and the marinade was all absorbed, then she added mayonnaise.

>20 MarthaJeanne: That's how my mom did it, too. She used a little pickle brine to thin the mayonnaise, and salt and pepper to taste.

Blackberry cordial sounds easy and good.
Three years ago my daughter suggested air fryers for Christmas so I bought them for my 4 sons, my daughter and one for me. Mine sat in the box for way over a year and I finally started using it. I use it almost daily; great for a single person, one who wants to cook somewhat fast, and easy to clean. I watch Air Fryer 101 by Kathy on You Tube for ideas.
I use Miracle Whip for my potato salad and deviled eggs.

>22 mnleona: miracle Whip goes on the bread, mayo goes in the salad. My mother’s rule; and I agree with her. Plus, I’ve taught my grands to use Miracle Whip as a spread or dip on cheeses.😁

You’ve nearly convinced me to try an air fryer.

>1 2wonderY: Just discovering your thread. As a native of Mississippi, I always laugh when I see that Hidden Valley Ranch recipe called "Mississippi Pot Roast." I grew up in Mississippi. Everyone I knew salted and peppered their roast and often sprinkled garlic powder on it. They'd put it in the oven (or crock pot) to cook. Later they'd add (peeled) new potatoes (or cut up red or white potatoes--not the baking kind) and carrots to the pan and finish cooking. Just a pretty basic recipe.

>24 thornton37814: Heh! Well noted.

Since I now live in Kentucky, the ginger ale to have on hand is Ale-8. It’s good, it has a citrus component as well. I don’t drink much soda, but always have some in the fridge to offer guests. Well, I decided to try the orange and cherry varieties too. Pretty bad, until you add a shot of blackberry cordial to the glass. Now that’s refreshing!

I’m taking a weeds class at the local college and we often walk over to the community garden to identify weeds and pull from designated plots. Last week I stopped back to take more samples (we are pressing and preserving for the herbarium) and one of the gardeners shared some bok choy and zuchetta. I’ve never prepared these. The huge zuchetta is easy. Pickle and can it as relish. I’ve done this with both squash and zucchini.
Daughter told me to fry the bok choy with sausage and other veg and serve with rice. She kept texting additional ingredients, so I took permission to go off on my own recognizance. I started with garlic infused olive oil and added more minced garlic before throwing in the sausage (kielbasa), slices of a smaller zuchetta and the chopped bok choy, and then threw the rice in there to warm and absorb some of the fragrant oil.

The house still smells wonderful today and I’m having leftovers for lunch.

>26 2wonderY: Sounds wonderful. I can almost smell it from here!

>26 2wonderY: Sounds like a fun class.

>28 mnleona: It surely is. Though I’m just auditing, I take the work seriously; and it is challenging. Our final paper is to write a seven crop rotation for a particular piece of ground (real or fictional) that addresses weed management.

My neighbor harvested her sweet potatoes and made a chicken curry stew with some. She shared some with me, and I’ve been eating it over buttered noodles with a dollop of sour cream on top. Again, my house smells heavenly.

I got a small basket of sweet potatoes as well, so I need ideas.

>30 2wonderY: My first thought is sweet potato fries for something different. I know you can do them in an oven and maybe in an air fryer.

Daughter is inquiring what this is:

>30 2wonderY: I made a hash this morning with cubed sweet potatoes, onions, garlic and some leftover pork roast. Delicious.

Can't help your daughter. Looks like a horrific torture device.

Somebody once asked me what I thought this was:



And I knew, because I had used one.

>30 2wonderY: My favorite way to eat a sweet potato is baked with lots of butter and just a sprinkle of brown sugar atop it. You can also create sweet potato souffles, sweet potato pies, and much more. You can also roast cut up pieces of it with other root vegetables by putting on a baking sheet and drizzling with olive oil. There are a couple of very different sweet potato recipes here: https://www.djournal.com/lifestyle/food/cook-of-the-week-vardaman-woman-speciali...

I'm pretty sure I have a recipe book from Vardaman, the sweet potato capital, in my collection--probably in my mother's collection--that focuses on sweet potatoes.

>34 2wonderY: I don't know what that is, but it brings to mind the Disney movie, "Fantasia" I expect it to spring to life any moment and dance, twirling away.

>36 MrsLee: It’s a scientific instrument used to blindly and evenly split a sample of grain. I know… a bit of overkill design and materials. It’s beautiful though.

I spent a year back in the 1970s working for the Federal Grain Inspection Service. Samples were split, one being analyzed and graded, and the other half set aside in case there was a later question or appeal.

The other amazing tool was a 10 or 12 foot tube, also brass, with compartments and doors all the way down its length. The trick was thrusting it all the way to the bottom of the container (river barge or rail car). There was a twist mechanism to open and close the doors. Once the tube was pulled back out, the sample was laid out on a long strip of canvas to examine both visually and odorishly to make sure spoiled grain wasn’t hidden somewhere in the container.

It was a surprisingly interesting job. Short term.

>37 2wonderY: Fascinating! The copper copper truly is elegant, and so is the brass probe

That is so interesting

I’ve been eating on the go, not really cooking, or what I term modular meals, a box or a can of something. And never actually satisfied or full. So it was time for the first pot of chili. There is nothing remarkable about mine. But I do like my mother’s final touch and my daughters have passed it down too. Cooked but cold macaroni instead of crackers. Does anyone else do that?
I made a gallon and finished off a quart by myself.

I still had a mound of very green tomatoes when frost finished off the plants. My understanding was they wouldn’t turn red/orange in this circumstance. So I was hunting for my chow-chow recipe. But they are ripening nicely; so I get a couple more weeks of fresh tomatoes in my eggs or mac & cheese.

>40 2wonderY:

Interesting. You mean it's unusual to have pasta with chili? (I mean, I guess it's not how they eat it in Mexico, but in general?) Didn't hear about crackers in chili before. I use the recipe from some spice packet from ages ago and then as a side I'll have rice or pasta.

>41 LolaWalser: That’s why I ask. Is it a northern thing? My parents are from Wisconsin, but I was raised in Pittsburgh and moved south of there as an adult. I’ve never met anyone besides my family that knew this option. Everyone is horrified at the thought.

Huh. I figure pasta can be added to anything. But I guess a chili purist needs to chime in...

Californian here. My family has never added pasta or crackers to our chili. Only beans. I do like to sometimes eat it on toast; but usually if there is something served with it, that will be tortillas (corn or flour).

ETA: I recently made a pot of chili that was over our comfort level of heat (and my comfort level is very high). I had to tone it down, so I served it on tortilla chips smothered in cheese and dollops of my cheat version of quesa fresca (plain Greek yogurt mixed with heavy cream)

Chili is really yummy on a baked potato (with cheese and sour cream and chopped scallions and jalapenos...)

>45 Marissa_Doyle: Ooh! Must try that this weekend!

I love chili (actually, any soup/stew/chili thing) with crushed crackers. Saltines are my preferred crushing cracker. I'd be willing to try pasta in/with my chili. After trying Cincinnati Chili Spaghetti last year, I'm down with pasta as a base for just about anything.

>40 2wonderY: Do you make your chili with ground beef, stew beef, or chili beef? Or maybe you don't do beef at all? Hmm, this makes me want to make green chicken chili, now.

>47 lesmel: Chili with ground beef. Spaghetti sauce with pork sausage, usually mild Italian.

Corn bread. I usually serve chili with corn bread.

I didn't know what to make for supper, so I started a stew with bacon, onion and chicken from the freezer. With a can of tomatoes, a few mild peppers from the garden, the end of a piece of grana, and all the chili con carne mix in the jar, and a half can of kidney beans. I don't think I'd call this chili. For one thing, it's really mild, I need more of the spice mix.

Oh, yes. Corn bread is in the oven.

By the way, we have learned not to order chili from Ausrian restaurants. The only thing that is clear is that it will have much more corn kernels in it than either our digestive systems can deal with.

Having lived in Cincinnati for many years, I will say I'm a huge fan of Cincinnati-style chili--complete with the pasta and piled up cheese. I usually order either the 3-way or the 4-way with onions.

However, people in Cincinnati do eat pasta with Texas-style chili too. I'm not quite as huge a fan of that, but I will eat it that way if I must.

At the back of a cabinet, I found a jar of dry pinto beans. I think I moved them from the old house, and I have no idea how old they are. Sometimes beans are just too old to cook up correctly, but I put them to soak yesterday and then boiled them briefly. And into the crockpot with some onion to simmer overnight. Mm-mm. The house smells good this morning. I like my flavors simple but would ask for ideas today.
I will make some cornbread to accompany the beans. We’re supposed to have night temperatures in the teens late this week. Perfect cozy food.

My Mexican in-laws frequently ate pinto beans cooked with a little lard or olive oil and some salt added at the end. It is a comfort food when the beans are cooked until they are melt-in-your-mouth tender. You could add a little fresh chopped cilantro (if you aren't a hater) or some fresh green onions. Sometimes a dollop of sour cream. Chopped hot chili if your tastes run to spice.

>53 MrsLee: I forgot to add a taste of pork in this batch.
They cooked up well enough, but are still stiff enough to confirm they are old beans. I’ve got fresher beans in the cabinet, but I didn’t want to waste these. I’ve still got tomatoes on the counter so will add those and some sour cream. Life is better with sour cream.

A friend of mine was once investigating what food sour cream could NOT improve. In the end, I think she only came up with corn flakes.

We used to frequent a buffet restaurant that had a particularly good chocolate pudding on the dessert table. Other patrons and staff would gasp when I took my bowl over to the baked potato station and add a nice dollop of sour cream. They didn’t know what they were missing.

Always crackers in chili for 65 years! Also can eat over cornbread!

The family gathered here Thursday. I was only responsible for the meat, and chose a ham, because one daughter doesn’t like turkey. Both daughters and their spouses and children brought yummy sides, including a roast Brussels sprout and almond salad that intrigued. Granddaughter made a pecan pie, so I had to taste it. Better than I expected.
I have loads of leftovers, but I had picked up a turkey to roast and process as well. Today was that day.
I filled the cavity with chopped apple and orange and used up some homemade cranberry relish smothering it over the top of the carcass. Not bad! I’ve got the bones simmering in the crock pot and will make turkey veg soup tomorrow.

My freezer compartment is absolutely stuffed full; and I’m edging ever closer to buying a small freezer to put down in the basement.

What is the price of butter in your neck of the woods? Daughter was having to pay $5/lb at her rural grocery, and except for Aldis, that’s what’s being asked around here too. I stocked up on Aldis butter for her at $2.49. They are limiting the amount you can buy at any one time. Rose does have a large chest freezer and she loves butter. So all is good.

We're paying more than that. €2.50 for 250g would be a good deal here right now.

>57 Tess_W: Agreed; always saltine crackers with chili! And the best chili will have some kind of meat in it. For me it's less about the meat and more about making sure you add light red as well as dark red kidney beans to the pot.

After many hours, you scoop up a ladle or three of chili, and have a small plate of saltine crackers nearby. Either drop them in the bowl and break up with your spoon, or just use oyster crackers. Kinda divine comfort food!

>58 2wonderY: Our local supernarket is advertising a special of ZAR 60 for 500 g, so about 2/3 of what >59 MarthaJeanne: is paying.

ETA: (divide by about 17.5 to 18 to get US$.)

I was just figuring the Euro is a bit more than a dollar. 500 grams is a bit more than a pound.

>60 terriks: Our family only makes chili beans with pinto beans. I didn't even know some people made it otherwise until a few years ago. To me, everything else is just meat and (whatever kind of legume) beans, except cassoulet, that is made with small white beans.

Butter is a million dollars here! Well, it might as well be. OK, the fancy stuff I buy once in a blue moon because I miss European butter terribly and this is the closest I can get to it, is CAD 7.99 or 8.99 per 250g, or CAD 14.5 / 16.3 per pound.

According to today's exchange rate, that's USD 10.82 / 12.16 per pound.

The not-fancy no-name stuff I buy occasionally for general cooking (but rarely, as I don't cook much with butter and practically don't bake at all) is somewhat over half that price.

Our butter costs more than that, but we also get the good kind. We could get the not-very-good kind for like $4/lb.

In Tesco here, their store brand is £1.99 for 250g. Lurpak is £2.50 for 250 g.

Where I live, the cheapest butter is €2.19 for 250g. The fair compensation one is €2.93 and the expensive Échiré AOP one is a mind-boggling €3.48. I'm pretty sure up to maybe five years ago, the shop's own brand was around €0.80...

{{{Lurpak}}} the butter of my childhood!! (a Danish import to Syria, where butter wasn't a thing)

When the grands jumped up and offered to wash the dishes on Thursday, I was so pleased. Holidays at their house have been a series of rounding them up and insisting they do some of the work. It hasn’t always been pretty. My work is done there.
Anyway, I instructed them to scrape the plates into a container from which I have had a couple of meals. My mouth is reminding me that I saw SIL add dried cranberries to that salad. I must get the recipe.

Saturday, I took the turkey carcass apart (a favorite chore) and put the bones to simmer overnight in the crockpot. Yesterday I fished out most of the bones and added meat, veg and noodles. It made about a gallon of soup. The orange slices from the stuffing add a nice surprise.
I took a quart next door and my neighbor reciprocated with some lamb stew.
I made a dent in the packed freezer. But I need to be a bit more deliberate in cycling items through.

I will have the pleasure of the company of two grandchildren tonight. Elly is 14, and loves fashion. I will introduce her to my shelf of costumes through the ages books. Theia is 4. Last time she was here she sulked for an hour. But she knows where all the toys are and is self sufficient.
Daughters and their spouses have their own plans and will stay at a B&B after the party.

Despite the fact these two will probably not appreciate it, I wanted to make an old favorite tomato sauerkraut dish. It’s been too long, and I can’t find my notes; had to look it up on the google machine. Turns out it’s a dish from Croatia.
It’s been simmering on the stove for a couple of hours now, and smells wonderful.
I don’t use bacon, but I may add some chicken broth. Did I used to add brown sugar? Can’t recall, but brown sugar improves almost anything.
Serving kielbasa and fried potatoes as well.

Oldest daughter munched down on these foods for breakfast today. And cold, she was mmm’ing and wondering why she didn’t like it as a child/adolescent. She has grown up to enjoy many things I introduced her to as a child. Strange how that works.

Younger daughter brought a brownie meringue to share. She chopped up Ferraro rocher candies to add to the brownies. Wow!

Happy New Year to you! So interesting to see how adults perceive the cooking of their mothers from when they were children. I have a knee-jerk hatred for a dish my mother made called "Beef Mazatlán" but when I read the recipe now, I see no good reason why I didn't like it!

>70 2wonderY:

Tomato and sauerkraut, interesting, doesn't ring a bell. I'd guess a Northern dish--North and South have completely different cuisines.

I'm often nostalgic for mum's cooking. It's weird how I can't replicate anything.

I had some ham that needed used up so I made a crockpot of the regular lentil soup.
But I have a short stack of canned goods that are too old to donate, but I don’t use them. One daughter loves Lima beans. But these were too old to offer to her. So I dumped them into the pot. Huh! They added a nice piquancy.

Neighbor is a member of AA, but she occasionally cooks using wine. She’d sent her goddaughter out for red wine at Christmas and got a box of Cabernet Sauvignon - not what she meant.
So she offered it to me. I don’t like red wines, probably because I’m cheap and never had a good one. But I thought I could mix it successfully with cordial and seltzer. Nope. Was considering tossing the rest when neighbor asked I’d she could have a quarter of a cup for a pot roast she was making.
I got a distinct feeling I was meant to just be her pantry for wine. That ain’t happening. She agreed that tossing the remainder was a good plan - after she made her pot roast.
I got a sample of it and plan to make some rice to absorb all the jus that came with it.

When we lived in Geneva we would often go to wine tastings in France. I would only taste the whites, but if really pushed would take a sip of Jerry's glass of red. "Mm, C'est un vin rouge." This would nearly always convince the vintner not to offer me more of his red wines.

Both daughters were here last evening. Rose is staying with me, starting a new job in town and planning a family move back here (Yay!) and Anne came down from Cinci to deliver a costume rack and costumes for T (grandbaby).

So I cooked a meal.
Pan-fried pork chops with white wine Worcestershire sauce, garlic-herb buttered noodles, veggetti cut cucumber, and cheddar herb biscuits.

The Veggetti Pro was picked up at goodwill last week. I’ve wanted a spiral cutter. This works only okay. Except for the blades, it’s entirely plastic and not hefty enough to handle a raw sweet potato.
At the same goodwill excursion, I found a like-new coffee grinder for Rose (it was on her shopping list anyway) and a PL8 Professional Pasta Maker. We haven’t tried the pasta maker yet, but it’s a joy just to handle. Steel.
And Rose rounded out the new kitchen equipment with a French press rather than a coffee maker.

It was a lovely evening. We ate and chatted out on the deck, enjoying the awakening gardens and each other. It’s rare I get my girls all to myself.

Pasta machines are good fun, but a lot of work. They are also useful for making crackers if you get the consistency of the dough right and don't try to go too thin.

Rose’s husband and daughter are coming today for a visit. I won’t spend Easter with them, but the excuse to cook a spiral ham was too tempting. I can get at least a week's worth of food from one.
So ham, fried taters, romaine and giardiniera veggies (from a jar) salad. Rose ferments veggie chop, so they may turn noses up on the last. Too bad.

Rose is quite a cook. She used to manage a local upscale cafe. But oh, she makes messes! Even as simple as making coffee. Today she left grounds from one end of the counter to the other and sprinkled on clean dishes in the drain.
To be clear, I am not irritated. Only remarking on the different habits and practices between generations. I spend my visits to both daughters as head dishwasher. Have done so since college, visiting friends. I will gladly clean up after someone else preparing food.

And my plants are loving the coffee grounds.

I’ve been pursuing the perfect chocolate chip cookie for decades. I want soft and chewy, but using the traditional Toll House recipe makes crisp, brittle cookies.
I knew to increase the proportion of brown sugar to white sugar. Browsing the web, I found a few refinements that got me where I wanted to be.
2 tsp. corn starch, don’t overbeat the dough, refrigerate the dough, and use parchment paper.
With the paper, I can slip the cookies off of the cookie sheet onto the counter; cooling them so they don’t continue to cook.

I took the first batch to class and also distributed to the workmen digging a drainage trench in my front yard and sent some home with daughter.
Since I had denied myself on Friday, I made another batch yesterday. Now what am I going to do with four dozen cookies? Ah! Share with my neighbors.

>80 2wonderY: There used to be an app for iPhone that allowed you to make the perfect chocolate chip cookie -- whatever perfect meant to you. It had a base recipe and then sliders for making the cookie exactly what you wanted; then the app developers never updated it when there was an iOS update. I never got my perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. I was close; but I never copied the recipe since I was still working on it.

>80 2wonderY:

Have you tried using oil instead of butter? I make cookies very rarely so don't remember exactly, but if memory serves even just replacing butter in part (half or so?) works toward a chewy texture.

Vaguely food related. I’ve got banana popsicles in my freezer for the summer season. Grandbaby will be here, so I looked at the ingredient list. Hmm. I will have to eat them when T is not around. Her dad goes on about HFCS, the first ingredient after water. (Though they give her ice-pops🤨) The rest of the ingredients go like this: sugar, corn syrup, guar gum, artificial flavors and colors. Simple. Old fashioned.

I recall making banana soft ice cream for my kids. My recollection is that you freeze the bananas, then whiz them in the blender with yoghurt. None of the ingredients you mention. I also have several sets of molds for homemade ice treats. One set the handles are rings, and the ice is big jewels.

>83 2wonderY: If her parents are ok with T having chocolate, you could try banana babies -- chocolate dipped frozen bananas.

I saw a recipe on Instagram that I knew I had to try.

Roasted Cauliflower, set on a bed of garlic yoghurt, covered lightly with tahini and heaped with chopped and oiled veg. Chimicurri is what they called the topping. I don’t like red chilis and didn’t have all the items they listed, so I felt free to ad lib. Green onion, fresh garlic, radish for the heat, chopped green olive and giardinera (which I bought on a whim at Aldis, and was disappointed with) olive oil and a splash of cider vinegar instead of red wine vinegar.

Daughter thinks it’s very good. I liked it a lot too. Two slices were more filling than expected. I would like to serve this to guests. It is straightforward once I got the oven setting correct. (Didn’t notice the C after the number. Heathen American!)

https://instagram.com/p/CrsKcKXolxc/

https://www.instagram.com/p/Csqfls8ukpJ/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

I’m beginning to decant last year’s cordial. It has an interesting bite that I don’t recall from other years.

We’ve got peas! We’re snacking on them raw and briefly boiling and salting them for dinner. I don’t intend to can or freeze. Any other suggestions?

>88 2wonderY: Fresh pureed pea soup with violets floating on top. Served cold or warm.

>89 MrsLee: Ah!!! Will try that!

Kitchen related:

I tried a tip I saw on Instagram and it works! Instead of tackling the grease spatters and buildup around the stove with detergents, etc. use a light oil. I used grape seed oil and it dissolved the grease and was easy to polish away.

>91 2wonderY: Interesting. I use oil and water to clean my face, but hadn't thought about it in the kitchen. Although, I did use a homemade Goop once that worked like a dream. Mix 2 T. Baking soda with 1 T. oil. Gets off sticker goo and so much more.

Dropping by to say "hi."

>93 thornton37814: Hi Lori. Nice to see you here. Ain’t nothin’ happening in my kitchen this week except battling ants and fruit flies and clearing refrigerator and freezer.
I did pickle a few eggs, as the price has come down drastically.

I made ice cream! It’s so easy!

I unexpectedly had peaches this year. Not many, but oh so delicious.
I had picked up a used ice cream maker a couple of years ago and it sat on a basement shelf untested. It was this moment I had planned for.
I searched the web for directions and finally found simple proportions 2:1:.5 for heavy cream, whole milk and sugar. Two cups of diced fruit mixed with the half cup of sugar and then blended with the other ingredients and a dash of vanilla.
I had read enough to know to pre-freeze the maker bowl. Supposed to be 12 hours, but it was 9.
The motor ran sluggishly without load and wouldn’t spin even in the liquid stage. So I did it by hand. It wasn’t difficult, and I kept at it till it appeared there was no further freezing happening. It was creamy and I scooped it into two containers for the freezer. We had the soft serve version for dessert yesterday and will consume the hard version tonight.

I am definitely shopping for an ice cream maker that actually works. This was fun!

For supper, we jazzed up boxed angel hair with herbs. (The ingredient list looks pretty straightforward, with a cornstarch base for the herbs). We added fresh from the garden veg. Sweet peppers, plum tomatoes and at the last moment, chopped cucumber. It was the cucumber which lifted the dish, I thought.

Daughter requested lentils today. Ah! A chance to clear out meat and vegetables from the freezer.

Homemade is so easy and tasssssty!! If you want sorbet, it's as easy. The general ratio of fruit puree to sugar is 4:1 but the sugar can be adjusted lower by adding alcohol (something neutral like vodka, unless you match/pair the flavors) or corn syrup. I found a really nice explanation for creating all kinds of sorbets: https://www.breadandbasil.nyc/recipes/sorbet-guide. The author says you have to churn sorbet; but you don't. If you start with frozen fruit (chopped or sliced), use a simple syrup, keep all your ingredients cold cold cold, blend everything, and pour it into containers, you should still get the lush sorbet texture without churning.

Yesterday I made mandarin orange/banana sorbet for my grandson's afternoon snack. frozen orange & banana, plain whole milk yogurt, some rose simple syrup, about a T. of sugar, blended in my Vitamix. It benefited with some extra freezing, but he loved it soft. We plan to buy some strawberries and peaches at Farmer's Market tonight so we can freeze them for future "ice cream" experiments. I got rid of my ice cream maker a long time ago because it was an appliance I didn't have room for considering how often I made ice cream.

I do pay attention to food posts on Instagram. That’s been a good development on social media, the sharing of recipes. It does help with the everlasting conundrum of what to prepare for dinner.

Of course, that reminds us of how fortunate we are to have choices every day.

I tried an easy fried tuna patty recipe. Its best feature was its ease. Tuna, egg, grated cheese. I added a healthy dose of black pepper and fine chopped some celery.
I decided to toss the recipe, as salmon cakes are only slightly more work and so much tastier. Save the tuna for salads and casseroles.

Daughter came prepared to make her week based on tuna as well. (She and grandbaby are here for the summer on temporary assignment.) she asked to use the rest of my celery. Of course. But don’t toss the best part into the compost! I was able to rescue the heart.

I’ve decided to expand this thread to talk about food books that I’ve read.

I’m just starting The Fate of Food. She’s already mentioned a real company named Soylent Inc. and referenced Mark Watney’s farming attempt. Not only timely, but entertaining.

It’s tomato season! I planted three varieties. Wisconsin 66 for sliced tomatoes - not much yield, and small. Reminder: stop buying from the college greenhouse.
Orange plum tomatoes just for nostalgia. Sharp memory of popping a sun warm plum tomato in my mouth as a child. Plenty of yield, mostly for snacking.
Romas, two starts dropped off by a neighbor. Heavy yielding and they are sturdy fruit. Just cooked some down today with the tiny plum tomatoes and made soup. I didn’t even peel because it’s just fine as is.

Neighbor has been leaving zucchinis and I picked up some Peaches and Cream ear corn at the Farmers Market. Summer feasting. And so simple.

>100 2wonderY: I went to my brother's house. He wanted to see if he could find some good produce in an Amish community a little north of where he lives. We came home with a huge box of tomatoes. My sister-in-law didn't own a canner so we had to purchase one, and I canned 16 pints of tomatoes. (That was the only way they would be canned. He'll enjoy them in soups this fall and winter.)

Aldis was selling a 2 quart air fryer for $30 this week; so I figured that was worth trying it.
I’ve got zucchini and recipes for fries. Any tips?

And though it didn’t indicate on the box, mine is a lovely powder blue!

>102 2wonderY: I have been writing about mine in my cooking thread. My absolute favorite thing about mine is reheating leftovers, making nachos, fried chicken and pork chops, and dehydrating herbs. Mine is like a miniature oven with shelves, I don't know what works best in the drawer types.

>101 thornton37814: Thanks for the reminder! I can can. It’s been way too long, but I rummaged and found adequate equipment and supplies.

>103 MrsLee: Mine just has a drawer. So, spray oil? How does that work?

The zucchini fries I put together had good flavor but were rather limp.

>102 2wonderY: I use mine all the time. I have even made "boiled" eggs in it. Watch the You Tube channel (no charge) for some great ideas.

>104 2wonderY: I bought some bottles on Amazon, refillable. I think I saw the brand on one of the YouTube videos about airfreight, or maybe it was a web recipe. They are squirter bottles that give a fine spray. I have mine filled with avocado oil and peanut oil. Well, I also filled one with EVO and keep it in my shower. I spray it on my skin after I shower, before I dry. A fantastic moisturizer. On the bottles it says: evooilsprayers.com

>106 MrsLee: 👍 Thanks for that info. And you’ve had no issues with clogs?

>107 2wonderY: Not yet! It won't be like an aerosol, but it is pretty fine. Works well for my chicken and pork chops. I find that I only have to spray one side, the second side usually has the fat of the meat coating by the time I turn it.

Just one more tip. I often Google whatever I want to make and "air fryer" to get cooking temps and times since they are lower and shorter than ovens.

I think the air fryer is just a counter space user.

But I nailed dinner today. I borrowed PlantYou from the library, and I think I’m going to explore new tastes.
I was attracted to a picture of a balsamic pasta salad. I don’t have balsamic anything, so I substituted.
I did have spiral pastas.
Instead of cherry tomatoes, I have orange plum tomatoes, same size.
Instead of chopped artichoke, I have cucumbers.
Instead of spinach, I have romaine.
Black olives instead of Kalamata olives.
And I added cooked lentils and French cut green beans.

Instead of the balsamic dressing, I made peanut sauce. That’s really the new taste. I saw this on Instagram and stayed pretty faithful, even going next door for a dash of rice vinegar. I did substitute a spoon of powdered cayenne for sriracha. I’m glad I did. The pepper just lent a brightness to the whole thing.
Very satisfying.

This reminds me of the old Soviet era joke:

Ivan, is it true that your brother in Moscow won a Mercedes?

In principle, yes, but it wasn't in Moscow, it was in Leningrad.

And it wasn't my brother, it was a second cousin.

It wasn't a Mercedes, it was a bicycle.

Oh, yes, he didn't win it, it was stolen.

>111 MarthaJeanne: 😆 Yes, exactly! It did look very much like the photo if you squint a little.

Okay! I found the perfect use for the air fryer. I bought a package of spring rolls at Aldis. The nice larger size. Microwaving leaves them soggy. But playing with the setting on the fryer, I got the perfect slight crispness. And a whole jar of duck sauce means I don’t have to scrimp on the dipping. Ha! A great light meal. Worth the purchase of the fryer.

>113 2wonderY: I love mine for reheating spring rolls. Or anything like them; pizza, especially.

>114 MrsLee: I don’t mind cold pizza, but I’ll try that.

The pizza does re-heat great in the air fryer. Chicken wings cook good in the air fryer also. I wiped my stove top the other day and noticed I have not used it for a couple of weeks because I use the air fryer or microwave. It has been hot and humid here so I try not to use the stove or oven.
Has anyone baked a cake in their air fryer?

I buy a slice of pizza from Costco & a lot of times I end up popping it into my instant pot with the air fryer lid. It makes the pizza perfectly oozy, melty cheesey.

>116 mnleona: I tried donuts, they came out denser than I wanted, but I was winging it on the recipe. One of these days I will play by the rules and see if it works.

I found a plum tree loaded with fruit. It’s on city property and no one is harvesting enough from it. Turning to prunes.
They are cherry sized. I took enough to try making a quart of cordial and will do it again next week, if there are any left. (I’m leaving town for the weekend.)

Just guessing that a cup of sugar is the right amount. That might be too much, but not sure how the skins will affect the taste.
I did remove the stones; so much more work than blackberries.

I'm so glad you expressed that at "remove the stones". Whenever I read a recipe calling for "stoned olives" (or plums, or peaches, or whatever) I can't help wondering what they are supposed to have smoked.

I think drupe stones might be toxic, so they might just do that.

The stones of stone fruits tend to have various levels of cyanide. Adding one or two to a batch of jam or whatever adds flavour. More than that cannot be recommended.

I mentioned back in August that I really like Aldi’s spring rolls. So I check for them every time I shop. No luck last time, so I gambled on another of their gourmet entrees. Artichoke Stuffed Chicken. Total fail. First, the breast was not exactly stuffed. I should have extricated the stuffing, pounded the meat and re-rolled it. But there was also nothing to note about the stuffing besides its blandness. I will wait patiently for the spring rolls, thank you.

I’d been meaning to make more peanut sauce, but I need to buy some rice vinegar. But I had come to the bottom of a jar of minced garlic in oil and I added the soy sauce into the jar and left it sitting open on the counter. It made the kitchen smell obnoxiously good. So when I made lentils with turkey from the freezer, I dumped it into the crockpot along with a bunch of cherry and plum tomatoes which will not quit producing in the garden. Warmed up the taste considerably.

My daughter showed me a treat she invented for T.

A very ripe banana, smooshed before peeling.
A tablespoon of creamy peanut butter, and less than a teaspoon of cocoa powder. Mix by hand in the bowl.
A remarkably tasty treat!

>125 2wonderY: That sounds lovely!

>25 2wonderY: That does sound good.

Just announcing that it’s chili season here. And with that, I also got around to organizing my freezer compartment. It has needed doing for quite some time. Haven’t bought a chest freezer, though I’ve looked at them at Lowe’s. Daughter has been staying with me and fridge/freezer use has been the only irritant between us.

>128 2wonderY: I did organize mine not long ago, but I've been stuffing anything I don't want to deal with in the freezers and now they are a mess.

Daughter went grocery shopping for herself, and the fridge and freezer are again stuffed full. I’m glad I cleaned.

She did bring Costco winter supplies for me as well; and they don’t need refrigeration - 50 packets of Swiss Miss and a fresh bottle of Irish Cream whiskey.

Middle grand, Elly, and I like glitter and sparkles in our clothing. So we decided to have a mocktail party for our Christmas celebration this year.
Can I solicit canapé and drink recipes?

Hardest task getting ready is clearing the kitchen table!

Cranberry sparkler -- cranberry juice, lime juice, sparkling water.

Tea punch -- I can post the recipe in a bit; it literally makes a giant punch bowl. You can reduce as needed. Tea, sugar, water, lemonade, orange juice, pineapple juice, fruit cocktail, ginger ale, water, maraschino cherries

"Mimosas" -- Sparkling water or ginger ale, orange juice

Bellinis -- Ginger ale, juice of choice (peach, apricot, nectarine)

Basically, sparkling water/club soda/ginger ale/sparkling lemonade/sparkling flavored water + juice + sweetener (as needed) + twist of lime/orange/lemon + sprig of mint/herb makes any mocktail you can think of. Fancy glasses help 😁

If you buy those crescent roll dough packages you can cut each triangle into 4 pieces. (Join the centers of the sides.) Wrap them up around a filling and bake. I remember using coconut, dates and spices one year, which were very good, but ham and cheese chopped small, or sausagemeat would make good savouries. Mincemeat would be Christmasy. But then, so would cranberry and orange, or a walnut half on a lump of marzipan. In any case, you want the stuffing to be either one big piece or else chopped quite small.

They bake up fast, so prepare several small baking sheets and you can serve fresh hot ones as needed. And nothing stops you pushing the ends of the mini crescents into baking glitter. Let's see, red glitter have meat in them, veggies are green.

Great! Thank you both! I really had no idea where to start.

I will dig out pretty glassware and dishes. Food will be served on a temporary table in the second bedroom, which has a doorway into the kitchen (someone wanted a dining room) and leads out to the deck. If we are fortunate, the sun will shine and we can spill out there too.

As a start to clearing the kitchen table, I’m mixing and jarring (like bottling, only heavier) the Jewelweed I harvested and processed in the fall.
I’m mixing half with CeraVe skin lotion and the other half with coconut oil. I may do a combination at the end. It sure has more scent than I would have expected.
This is treatment for poison ivy.

https://theviewfromgreatisland.com/its-5-oclock-somewhere-friday-party-animals/

This has instructions for cute olive and cheese penguins and adorable radish mice to scatter on a cheese plate.

I make a cheese spread and shape it into a triangle with softened points (like a pinecone). Then toast some almonds and starting at the narrow end, slide the almonds into the cheese at a slight angle, alternating rows, until you get to the top. If you have any pine trees around you can snip the end of a branch for your "pinecone" to hang from. Serve with crackers or bread.

>135 MrsLee: Oh, sweet! Keep ‘em coming.

I was gonna post this in your thread, with the discussion of butlers pantry and silver.
A random drawer:


There are bins of this stuff in the basement. I collected for my daughter’s wedding in 2015, and I don’t seem able to stop.
I lend it out for posh parties on the block.

>136 2wonderY: I think silver is pretty, but I don't like to eat off of it. I don't know why, but it makes my mouth go funny and the food tastes different. Also, I am incredibly lazy, or shall we say focused? And I decided that polishing silver and ironing were two things I never wanted to do again. :P

>136 2wonderY: My sister made a Christmas tree charcuterie. It was very cute, herbs with vegetables, berries, 3 cheeses, a couple of meats, nuts. Wish I could send you a photo, but it is very complicated for me to post a photo on LT. A two device operation, and I don't feel well enough. However, I'm sure your imagination is up to it. You could serve bread or crackers as the tree "holder."

>137 MrsLee: One daughter has the same sensitivity to silver. I prefer it, but only if it’s not worn. I think the base metal spoils taste.
Polish? What’s that? Just got to use it often.

>139 2wonderY: My mother and grandmother swore that food tasted better eaten from silver. Maybe it's like cilantro, people are genetically wired to either like or dislike it. I got the "lower class" cutlery gene! But I hate eating from plastic, too, so maybe middle class.;)

I can eat off silver or non-silver, but I wish I could remember to take real cutlery with me when we go to the fast food place that gives throw away wood. At least they gave upon floppy plastic for drinks. They went back to real glasses.

Daughter has the week off and is indulging many of her pleasures. She just sent this picture:

My niece is a big fan of pineapple upside down cake. I can just see her reacting like this.

It looks very tasty.

Ruth, are we trying to get you five or six more messages before midnight?

>145 MarthaJeanne: Nope.

I’ve got fruits galore in my kitchen, so decided to “pickle” them in left over vodka.

I mistakenly bought golden raisins once and thought I’d mix them with regular raisins, but they are enough different that it just annoys.
So I separated them again and jarred them with vodka. I saw a post on Instagram that it’s a medicinal. I forget what for.

I’ve also got too many oranges and limes. Slicing them now.
Question - should I add sugar to the jars?

If you have oranges and limes steeped in vodka, aren’t you essentially making (the equivalent of) limoncello?

>148 haydninvienna: Perhaps. I’m not sophisticated enough to know. I just don’t want the fruit to go to waste. I’m a good Boomer like that😁

>149 2wonderY: Looking at the recipes for limoncello on line, they mostly seem to use only the zest, so you are in fact making pickled fruit, as you said. But what do you intend doing with the fruit once pickled? If you mean to eat it, I feel like you would need some sugar, but I have no idea how much.

As to raisins in vodka being medicinal, the answer to what it’s medicinal for is obvious: it’s good for whatever ails you.

>149 2wonderY: If you like a sweet liquor to sip in the evening or pour over ice with some carbonated drink, then add sugar. I make a lemon flavored gin that is divine for cocktails or over ice by adding lemon peel to the gin and soaking a month. I make lovely fruit flavored brandy by adding the fruit of choice, sugar and spices and shaking it every day for a week, then strain, let sit one month, strain and let sit for a year in the pantry. You don't have to let it sit that long, but if you do it's divine.

Sloe gin! I did it one year when I had access to a supply of sloes near Bicester. Definitely need sugar with those sour little morsels.

>147 2wonderY: Add a couple of cloves, a stick of cinnamon and a whiff of nutmeg to your preserved oranges and you're well on your way to making a brew related to the old Cape liqueur Van Der Hum. You'll need some sugar in this, and maybe should have used brandy rather than vodka.

The important thing might be the proportions of juice and vodka, and the strength of the vodka. You want the final alcohol percentage to be strong enough.

I found the following interesting articles:
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/22/dining/22appe.html

https://preserveandpickle.com/preserving-fruit-alcohol/

Has anyone made vanilla using vodka and a vanilla pod?

>155 mnleona: I do this all the time. Well, for the last 5 years, at least.

I use two whole vanilla pods, slit them, drop into the vodka bottle and put it away for at least a year. Wonderful stuff.

What size bottle?

You can also bury the vanilla pod (or scented geranium leaves) in sugar if you prefer flavoured sugar to a liquid vlavouring.

>157 2wonderY: Good question. I bought a Costco, Kirkland brand vodka. They are pretty big, but I'm bad at quantity guessing and it is at the back of a hard to reach cupboard. :P I have also used smaller bottles. Don't think it really matters. The smaller one might infuse faster? I don't do a lot of baking, so mine lasts a long time, the trick is to get another started before you are out of the first.

Ina Garten says 10, 12, 24 vanilla pods per bottle to 1.5 bottles (750 ml) and you can have really great vanilla in 6 months. That seems really expensive to me. She puts the pods and the vodka in a jar large enough to hold everything. It looks like the standard ratio is 6-8 pods per 240 ml of alcohol.

>160 lesmel: I wish Ina still had a TV show. I always enjoyed watching her. I don't know if reruns of her programs still air really early in the morning on Food Network on the weekends or not. I ditched cable.

>161 thornton37814: Good news, you can stream her stuff.
"Currently you are able to watch "Barefoot Contessa" streaming on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Discovery+ Amazon Channel, Discovery+, fuboTV or for free with ads on Food Network. It is also possible to buy "Barefoot Contessa" as download on Apple TV, Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, Vudu. "

>160 lesmel: I think my vanilla is lighter than what you would buy in the store, but since I always add an extra slosh anyway, I've never been bothered.

>162 reconditereader: I'll have to see if it shows up on Amazon Prime.

Duck Sauce

Now that I can get spring rolls so readily, I went shopping for duck sauce to dip them.
I finished the Akita jar I had.
Krogers had several choices, and I bought a small jar made by Sun Luck. Expensive. I want to make my own. Since the Sun Luck is based on apricots, I bought a jar of Smuckers Natural Apricot fruit spread.

Before tossing the old Akita jar, I thought to look at the ingredients:
water, sugar, pumpkin puree, tomato paste, modified corn starch, vinegar, brown sugar, plum puree, garlic, salt, natural flavor, dehydrated chili.

The Sun Luck ingredients:
Sugar, water, apricots, tapioca or corn starch, vinegar, salt, cayenne pepper, spice.

So. A sweet thick something and a dash of hot.

Side by side taste test; The Akita recipe is preferred. More complex. The Sun Luck is just sweet.

>161 thornton37814: Some of her old shows are on You Tube for no charge. I checked and saw a couple for 2021 and one for 2010.

Did y’all know that fruit juices will eat away aluminum, and rapidly?

Daughter made a couple of pans of strawberry pretzel dessert, and I got to take one home with me.
This morning, I filled the empty pan with water and set it on the counter. You know, just loosening the debris inside it.
I came back to find that water all over the counter and the floor.
This is why:
https://www.instagram.com/p/C2kV0NtORY2/?igsh=Y3J1NHVkZ3g3YjVr

Anything acidic, like tomato sauce, can be a problem in aluminium.

>167 2wonderY: Yikes! I have some aluminum tumblers I have been serving our fruit smoothies in. Guess I better be sure they aren't going to sit around undrunk (sadly my go-to state of being these days ;) anymore. I was putting them in there because sometimes my husband likes to freeze his and eat it like ice cream later in the day.

>169 MrsLee: I’m not going to worry about it at this stage in my life. I’ve had those anodized aluminum tumblers since childhood too. I suspect they’re fine. It’s the cheap material that seems susceptible.
I might try playing with foil to see if I can reproduce that.

>170 2wonderY: Like this?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kyM-WJiDOl4

>171 MarthaJeanne: Well, I was thinking some vinegar.

Ready to make my own Duck Sauce.

Collecting examples from the internet

First

3/4 C all-natural apricot jam
4 Tbsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp low sodium soy sauce
2 medium cloves fresh minced garlic
1 tsp fresh minced ginger
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/16 tsp cayenne powder (or to taste)

And
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_sauce

It is made of plums, apricots, pineapples or peaches added to sugar, vinegar, ginger and chili peppers

>173 2wonderY: Sounds good! I have made plum sauce with great success. May you enjoy it. Are you going to roast a duck?

>174 MrsLee: Heavens, no! You mistake my ambitions. I’m nearly out of the duck sauce I bought up in >165 2wonderY: and I stocked up on plum, peach and apricot preserves this weekend. Dipping sauce is all I aspire to.

Quick plum sauce made from two bottles:
Red plum jelly, a discount brand with hfcs, and Sweet Chili Sauce, Mae Ploy brand. I wish I remembered where the latter came from so I can buy it again. It’s made in Thailand and the first ingredient is sugar; but I don’t mind.

I’ve been wanting to make a summer lentil dish, but didn’t know how. It’s always been a crockpot meal with ham in fall and winter.
So I just winged it.
I boiled last evening in half water, half chicken broth that daughter had left here. I’ve never used store bought chicken broth, mine is fatty, this isn’t. And let them sit all night after adding chopped red (sweet) peppers from my freezer, and a dash of lemon juice.
It smells really good!
I will pan fry fish today to serve on top.

Gotta run to the store for watermelon!

July 4
It was all that I hoped. Tilapia fried in butter with salt, pepper and paprika.
I also had sausages because Nathan doesn’t like fish.
Aldis had a George Forman electric grill for $30 today. So we used it out on the deck rather than heat the inside of the house. It looks like it cooked the sausages to perfection. Unfortunately, the grill plates do not remove for clean up.

The bloom on juniper berries is a yeast?

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C9x9jALSgjL/?igsh=MTQ2cDFvaTl6d3VtZQ==

>179 2wonderY: Also on elderberries, plums, grapes, figs and more.

It's how I made my wild sourdough, but I have since learned that as a rule, flour alone has enough yeast in it to develop a sourdough.

>180 MrsLee: Well, isn’t that convenient?!! Creation is so dang fascinating!

Different grapes have different yeasts, and using the 'native' yeasts or adding different ones can make a big difference in the results.

As far as getting a sourdough culture goes, I'd rather get one at the Josef Bäckerei any time I manage to kill off the one I have.

>182 MarthaJeanne: Admittedly, not all yeasts make a delicious product. I think this applies to wine more than sourdough. The sourdough will get most of its yeast from the flour. I gathered the "wild" yeast in my kitchen because it is the kitchen my grandmother cooked sourdough bread in for years. I like to think that some of her bread yeast is in mine. :P I've also read that each person's sourdough adapts to them and can be traced to that person. It is a fascinating subject.

I read once about a brewery that built a brand new modern brewery bnilding. The old one have been in use for a long time, was no longer up to modern ideas of hygiene, and wasn't very efficient. So the new building was built, the old one torn down ... and the beer just wasn't the same. Then someone found a pile of old ceiling tiles from the old brewing room, and hung them up in the new room. Soon the beer began to regain its old flavour.

I think I've heard similar tales of Scotch whisky distilleries, though the size, shape and material of the stills are more important.

Interesting about yeast

With the expectation that certain food catagories will possibly become scarce and assuredly more expensive, I intend to buy certain items, not in bulk, but more of it, to deepen my pantry.
At ALDIs yesterday, I fought bakers chocolate chips. Then I realized there is a difference between dark chocolate chips and semi-sweet chips. Oddly, looking at the ingredients, semi-sweet lists sugar before chocolate liquor, and the dark chocolate is reversed. Taste testing confirms that I like the after bite of the semi-sweet. There’s not a lot of difference and dark chocolate combines with other flavors as well. I just need to keep that in mind.

I’ve also been looking at chest freezers. Oddly, Lowe’s and Home Depot have floor models, but nothing in stock. You can order one and pay extra for shipping. I’ll wait a bit. I want a 6 to 7 cubic foot. Lowes has one that is convertible to refrigerator for $200. Freezers really have not changed in technology since I was a child.

We had a birthday party two weeks ago at daughter’s farm. There was so much food!
I brought pork and corn salad and all kinds of produce home with me, and I’ve been feasting since then.
The corn salad lasted perfectly to top my barbecue sandwiches. I ate the last luscious peach today, and the last beefsteak tomato will join my tomatoes tomorrow for a pot of soup.

I came away without the portion of daughter Anne’s grape salad set aside for me. Instead of pouting, I asked for the recipe and made my own batch today. I know it as Grape Crack.
The dressing is 8 oz. cream cheese, 8 oz. sour cream, 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 tsp. vanilla.
The recipe is for 2 lbs of grapes. I realized after mixing the dressing that I had 1.7 lb, so the salad is a bit on the heavy side.😊 very satisfying.

Trying to be creative with meals and make batches of food so I don’t fall back on modular meals - a can of this or a box of that.
Instagram helps, as I encounter easy looking prep.

Today I took 2 and a half pounds of boneless chicken pieces and crock potted with broth, onions, herbs for several hours and then shredded the chicken. Supposed to then add pasta, yogurt, cream cheese, frozen veggies and shredded Parmesan for a complete meal. I’m doing that, but I thought it needed some sweet relief and added a little maple syrup.
I also saved several of the breasts for later slicing and frying, and also bagged some of the shredded chicken for future experiments.

I do need that freezer.

I also processed half the ripe tomatoes; just chopped and cooked them down with basil. Three quarts ready for my favorite summer soup. Easy peasy.
The plum tomatoes are very different from last year’s yield. They are not particularly palatable. Very odd, not juicy. But will add volume to the beautiful Rutgers and Hillbilly fruit.

Dehydrators are much kinder to the environment than chest freezers, and come in a large variety of sizes nowadays at CostCo:

https://duckduckgo.com/?

>190 MaureenRoy: Dehydrators can’t address all sorts of foods that freezers can. Meats? Prepared meals? Ice cream and popsicles?

One of my favourite uses for the dehydrator was to half dry tomatoes (little ones halved or quartered) and then freeze. They froze a lot better once some of the water was gone, and make a welcome addition to winter salads.

And even things that work well in both, the uses for the dried and frozen results are very different.

When my son was still here, he loved dried apples and would run that thing as much as I would allow, full of spiral cut apples. I just insisted that he leave me a tray or two. It was quite efficient, and in hot weather he would put it out on the terrace. But I am not going to haul it up out of the basement to add hot air to the living room for just one or two trays. I can't handle constantly moving it, and much of the time I have the AC running. Not very kind to the environment.

The freezer is running anyway with the things that need to be in it.

The Lord of the Rings as a food blog:

https://www.instagram.com/lotr_memelord/p/C-gBvjqtcOj/?igsh=MTNoOHZncDdiM2drYQ==

Do read the comments!😀

There are two plum trees in the center space of the cul-de-sac next street over. Last year I noticed just late enough to miss most of the fruit harvest. No one and no wildlife seems to be interested. I harvested enough for one quart of cordial last year. I’ve got two quarts put up this season and will go harvest more today. The production is much lower this year, and the fruit is the size of cherries. I first started trying to cut out the pit, but learned I could just squeeze and pop it out with only minor loss of pulp.
There is another plum tree on my block with larger fruit. I’m seeking picking permission today.
The liquid is already turned a beautiful ruby from the skins.

>190 MaureenRoy: I am currently reading Gutes fürs ganze Jahr, an Austrian preserving cookbook. She recommends, if you don't have a dehydrator, that you put your trays of fruit to dry behind the windshield of your car parked in the sun. She also likes the way the car smells afterwards.

I’ve been working in the kitchen, putting up tomatoes and plums and dealing with bottled goods that I put up last year.

Some totals:
8 quarts of tomatoes
10 quarts of plums
1 pint jewelweed extract
2 pints pine vinegar
5 pints citrus vinegar
1 pint citrus cordial
Small jar of golden raisin cordial
Dried basil
Dried spearmint
Dried chocolate mint
I decanted last year’s blackberries and plums. I decided to try to further steep the blackberries in a fresh dose of vodka instead of smashing them. Just curious whether there is any flavor left to pull from the berries.

ALDIs had a portable blender on sale for $15, so I thought I’d chance it. I have a regular sized blender, but want one for medicinals. They are good at returns if you are not satisfied. I’m satisfied!
I decanted the jewelweed I put up last fall, but there is a large amount of leaf and stem from that. This little battery powered blender shredded it down perfectly and was also easy to clean afterward.

Lowes has 112 chest freezers, of the model I want, in their Louisville warehouse, but my store ships from Nashville, which has none.
The sales clerks have been great trying to get me one, but the system is awful. So I begged space in a neighbor’s freezer, rewarding her with some grape crack and a coleus plant. We took the opportunity to catch up on each others lives.

Additionally, I spent time in the kitchen storage corner in the basement. I organized every drawer, built another shelf, and rid some duplications.

I forgot to share pictures

https://www.instagram.com/p/C-rzNvAx7FE/?igsh=bHhtbWU0ajRhcWNn

https://www.instagram.com/p/C-u5YUaRcrB/?igsh=MWU0a2N0NDNza3d4aQ==

The table was entirely covered before I was done.

I’ve installed a couple of roll-out metal basket shelves in the base cabinets. And weeding stuff I really don’t use.
I don’t know where this big bottle of peach schnapps came from; but the idea of it has kept it there.
I tried it yesterday with some flavored seltzer water, and ended dumping it.
I need recipes - sweet recipes. Please.

>198 2wonderY: The "two nations divided by a common language" syndrome means I'm not 100% sure what kind of recipes you want, but here are two traditional ones to be going on with.

TAMELETJIES

400 g (2 cups) sugar
250 ml ( 1 cup) water
150 g (150 ml or about 2/3 cup) pine kernels or almonds, but see method

Bring sugar and water slowly to the boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Allow to boil briskly until it froths. Add pine kernels, almonds, grated orange or naartjie (mandarin, clementine) peel or orange blossoms. Spoon into square containers made of folded paper. Allow to cool completely before eating

>> Apparently brought to the Cape by French Huguenots in 1688, now much made by Cape Malays.
>> Pine kernels used to be common on the Cape Peninsula, but now the squirrels mostly get them before any humans get a look-in.
>> In Afrikaans, " 'n tameletjie" has a subsidiary meaning of "an intractable problem". You can see why!

MILK TART

Use your favourite source of / recipe for flaky pastry. Roll out thinly and use it to line a tart pan. Lay strips of dough around the edge of the pan, secured with beaten egg yolk, to form a lip of the finished tart.

Filling:
35g (2 tablespoons) cake flour
60g (4 tablespoons) sugar
500 ml (2 cups) milk
2 eggs
5 ml (1 teaspoon) grated orange peel
pinch of salt

Combine the dry ingredients and make into a paste with a little milk. Bring the rest of the milk to the boil, add the flour mixture and boil for three minutes. Allow to cool slightly. Add beaten egg yolks. Fold in whisked egg whites and grated orange peel. Pour while still hot into a tart dish lined with raw flaky pastry. Bake in a hot oven (200°C / 400°F) for 10 minutes, reduce the temperature to 190°C / 375°F and bake for a further 10 minutes. Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar when it comes out of the oven.

>> or in the last step, use a punched-paper "lace" doily to stencil a pattern on the top with cinnamon.
>> This is one of the finest known ways of causing eternal feuds and bickering in the Home Industries section of country shows here. Just let the "wrong" one win ...

>199 hfglen: Those do sound delicious. I may be able to find pine kernels in Cincinnati, next time I go.

But it’s peach schnapps that is my dilemma at the moment.

Hmmmz. I'm now thinking your dilemma is at least related to the mampoer the farmers in the Marico distil from peaches, as immortalised in a story by Herman Charles Bosman -- water clear and 40-50% alcohol. If so then
1. It would make a good fuel for your favourite flambé recipe: think Steak Diane, Crepes Suzette or the traditional British Christmas Pud.
2. My mother used to make a heavy and indigestible fruitcake for Christmas; she matured it for months, keeping it moist with libations of brandy. I wonder if your peach schnapps could be put to a similar use?
3. I believe it may have an application as emergency remover of grease-marks on (for example) sufficiently robust, colour-fast fabrics.
4. Store-bought Christmas mince pies here are vastly inferior to home-made. In particular, the fruit mincemeat is far too sweet. Aged mother used to cut the sugar with brandy, rum or any available mixture. The best she ever made was the year she found an assortment of liqueur bottles, each with only a tot or so of liquid in it, in a kist belonging to her late uncle. She emptied the lot into the mincemeat, which was superb. If you make your own with various dried and candied fruits -- I think I can find a recipe -- and flaky pastry, they will vanish like the morning mist or faster just as soon as family and friends try them. In this use, a splash of Bourbon (considering where LT says you are) may be an appropriate addition.

Sweet recipes for peach schnapps? Most obvious is Fuzzy Navel (roughly, 4 parts OJ to 1 part peach schapps)

I think Missionary's Downfall is a fairly well-known schnapps cocktail.

A variety of recipes here: https://www.thespruceeats.com/deliciously-sweet-peach-schnapps-cocktails-4682587

and here:
https://www.diffordsguide.com/encyclopedia/2328/cocktails/20-best-peach-schnapps...

Personally, I would try Bourbon or Rum based cocktails or recipes with Aperol or Campari with the schnapps.

Thanks! That’s what I needed.
I don’t like rum, but I do have some bourbon. I thought we were gonna celebrate Derby Days this year.

I did try a fuzzy navel a few evenings ago. The recipe I pulled up said the proportions should be half and half. It was a bit strong for my taste; but I did retire at 8 and slept really well.
I’m trying it again with less schnapps.

>191 2wonderY: These are important examples. There is, however, an essential nutrition difference between dehydrated foods and frozen foods: Many people don't know that nutrition loss can be a problem for frozen food, and USDA nutrition labeling on packaged goods makes that problem worse because they elected to not list some nutrients on US frozen food labels (I'm looking at you, Vitamin E, folate, folic acid and the like, which are mostly destroyed by freezing). From our family's experience in recent years, here is our list of freezer "avoids:" Anything green loses nutrients (and hence flavor) in the freezer; all whole grains + derivatives, such as all flours, whole grain tortillas, ditto; anything curried also loses all the curry flavor.

Our vegetarian family stays away from meats, but we did buy Trader Joe's Turkeyless Roast (sold frozen) until that manufacturer went out of business during the pandemic lockdowns. We are now down to our last TJ "roast" in the refrigerator freezer, to use during the coming fall/winter holidays this year. We also save all frozen desserts for our family member with Parkinson's, because he always needs the extra calories and protein. (I only crave ice cream if I am consuming too much salt.) The biggest items in our refrigerator freezer are frozen pizza + frozen edamame, which has a huge protein content. So it makes sense that the best tasting spinach pizza uses fresh spinach added on before baking, with some sort of topping on that to arrest oven burning of the fresh spinach.

One other important point about spinach: Nutrition writers often caution against spinach because they claim it contains the anti-nutrient oxalates (also known as oxalic acid). That is correct, but only if it is mature spinach. Nowadays, luckily, baby spinach that has been cleaned and packaged in plastic boxes contains zero oxalic acid. You can actually taste the difference, because mature spinach has a metallic or harsh flavor, while baby spinach has a mellow flavor.

I solicited help from my college classmates and Tristan came over yesterday to help me move the freezer. Good thing! It was definitely a job needing two people.
It came complete with contents - two huge turkeys and lots of frozen vegetables. I packed all that in coolers and defrosted before we moved it.
I thawed one of the turkeys and roasted it today. I tried a new to me Apple & Honey rub before it went in the oven and butter rubbed all over it half way through. It is very flavorful! I will make a pot of soup and put most of the meat in bags and back into the freezer for future meals.
I’ve never had to label and date materials before, but I will need to now.
Tomorrow I’m off to buy ice cream!

I de-boned the turkey and cooked just the discards for some great broth. Then I added the dark meat back in and used some of the frozen veggies, including my tomatoes. Made almost 3 gallons of soup!
There was also a package of bread dough loaves, so I thawed one and baked it. Gosh it’s been half a lifetime since I’ve done that. It turned out great too.
Perfect compliment to the rain slashed day outside my windows.
Between storms, I picked more tomatoes for processing again tomorrow.

Very happy with my chest freezer. I’m already more organized and producing real meals rather than the “modular meals” I typically survive on.
I filled the bottom with gallon jugs of water, so it appears very full.
In the past, I’ve frozen cut veggies in ziplock bags, but they freeze in a clump, good only for soups. Now I can freeze them on a tray and then bag them, suitable for fried dishes.

Not any busyness in my kitchen, but food related.
I like an occasional snack of potato sticks. Usually when I’m on the road.
But I was grocery shopping in ALDIs today and decided to try their brand from Germany, Deutsche Küche.
OMG they are so superior to the American product. Yes, it may be the spice mix. But I can actually taste real potato in there.

Review of Kitchen Maiden oil spray container.

I’ve never bought oil in a spray can because of the huge waste in packaging. But with an air fryer, it makes sense to have that kind of delivery system. So I’ve been watching for a pump sprayer. I took the plunge after seeing the glass Kitchen Maiden on Instagram and went with their best offer; buying 4 for $50.
They arrived in exactly two weeks, extremely flimsily packaged, but none broken. The individual boxes were squished out of shape and the package itself didn’t indicate fragile contents inside.
Some assembly was required, but with no directions. So I spent some fruitless time trying to put the internal straw upside down.
There is also a pour spout using a different button. Closing that pop-up lid fully requires retracting that button a smidge, rather than it just clicking back into place.
It takes a surprisingly long time to pump the straw full and get spray.
But that is presumably a first time issue.
I got the green glass bottle; which is a nice choice.
Spray comes out a bit unevenly; sometimes a fine mist, other times bigger drops. Perhaps practice will solve that issue.
My major unresolved question is cleaning it. Will it collect oil gunk in the system and is it possible to clean.
Oh, and have a napkin on hand, as it does drip in a minor fashion.

Gave one to younger daughter, along with the tips. She was pleased to try it because she does buy spray cans.

>210 2wonderY: For my air fryer, I bought a plastic spray container called Evo on Amazon. I love it. The spray is even and complete, not necessitating a second spray over. I love it so much that I bought more to use for the poopori in my bathroom, and the olive oil I use after I shower. I have one for olive oil in the kitchen and one for avocado oil.

If/when they start to smell or taste rancid, I plan to fill them with hot soapy water and squirter a lot, then clean hot water and repeats.

>211 MrsLee: I see that Amazon sells them in 6, 8 and 16 oz sizes. Which do you recommend?
I guess the plastic is better than the stainless steel, so you can see how full they are?

>212 kleh: I like to see the level of fluid, and I bought the smaller size with the thought that I would use up the oil before it went stale.

>196 2wonderY: I tried to use that portable blender today. It is dead. **Grumble** I found the receipt though.

Things that stick drawers

https://www.instagram.com/p/DEG3FhmRqtr/?igsh=MWgzYW13MmVvYTFtMA==

I don’t have any problems with my drawers, as I have other ways to store those bulky items.

You?

Suddenly I'm transported to Terry Pratchett's Discworld, where one finds Anoia, the goddess of things that get stuck in drawers.

>216 hfglen: Me too! Lol. I think it was after reading that book that I determined to reorganize and eliminate the possibility of Anoia.

I make war on gadgets once a year and eliminate any I don't use regularly. Many sources of Anoia were eliminated when I bought a rack for the wall to hang up the potato masher, etc. She is threatening to return recently with the purchase of a gadget to help us open jar lids.

In my old kitchen, I had an ikea rod mounted near the stove for hanging tools. In my current kitchen, I’ve placed hooks in various subtle spots for the same purpose. And I have sewing machine cabinet drawers that hold things like cork removers and other opening and closing implements

https://www.instagram.com/p/C_IzLCZxoif/?igsh=MTBpeWRleWZwOGpubw==

What does your jar opener look like? Mine is old fashioned gripper found in the local hardware store:

>218 2wonderY: My jar opener looks like a rubber glove, because that is what it is. Tupperware used to (may still) sell a jar opener that was basically a small flexible sheet of rubber, but I've lost the one I used to have. However, a rubber glove generally works — just hold it on the cap of the jar and twist as usual. I agree this might not work well for people with arthritis.

>218 2wonderY: I have one of those for when nothing else works. My routine is

1) Try to just do it. Dry hands and wipe jar and try again.

2) Turn the jar upside down and wack it hard flat lid on the counter and try again. This usually works.

3) If Jerry is around, hand it to him. Also very effective. Males like to show their strength.

4) If the jar still isn't open, hunt that thing out. When you close the handle at the right size it usually breaks the seal, and if not the extra leverage does the job. Never had it fail, but getting it to the right size is fussy.

For commercial lidded jars, I have a new "party trick" that works about 50/50. Grasp the lid between your palms, fingers up...sort of like you are holding the jar by the lid in a prayer position. Exert pressure on the lid with your palms until you hear the pop of the seal breaking.

Yes, it requires strength; but that's not really the point. It's a funny way that mostly works and actually takes less force than twisting the seal open.

Fastest way I have found, though, for unsealing jars is to use the flat side of a church key.

>221 lesmel: “church key”.
Now that’s a term you don’t hear much nowadays; what with pop top cans and twist off bottle caps. I use one because I prefer drinks in glass bottles.

I just finished What She Ate, biographical material about six famous women. Most enjoyable was learning of Rosa Lewis, an Edwardian-era caterer.

>218 2wonderY: Mine is plastic. On its side you could see alligator jaws of you squint and have a good imagination. The long jaws have about four different sizes cutouts the you squeeze over the lid and hopefully get enough fulcrum power to turn it. Fulcrum may not be the correct term, but I like it.

We have run the jar under hot water, trapped around the edge with a knife handle, etc.

Duh! I just bought a gallon of vinegar. It happened to be Heinz brand. I thought it was Apple Cider vinegar. The fine print reveals it’s really Apple cider “FLAVORED” vinegar, made entirely from grains with natural flavor and caramel color added.

>224 2wonderY: Great for cleaning stuff. Ugh, I wish fine print weren't so fine.

>224 2wonderY: I'm pretty sure that would have got Heinz into trouble with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission here as a piece of "misleading or deceptive" conduct! Write to Heinz and complain. You will get corporate BS back (if anything) but if enough people complain ...

>226 haydninvienna: My mother was a consumer activist of sorts. She always let a company know when she wasn’t satisfied. She got good results with coupons and free stuff often.

We bought a rotisserie chicken last weekend and munched on it. But I’m here alone again with most of it.
So tore it apart and cooked down the bones, etc. for soup stock.

My question : I have an unopened bag of frozen edamame, left by daughter. Is it suitable to add to my chicken noodle soup?

Is it shelled? If so, it's really not much different from lima beans or similar. Just last week, I ate a bag of edamame. It was frozen in a "steam in a bag;" but it was in the pods. I forget how much I like edamame. I prefer it shelled when I eat it at the house because I'm lazy that way. lol

They are not shelled.

I wouldn't put them in the soup. The pods are tough and fiberous. Not pleasant eating.

>230 2wonderY: Remove shells, add to soup.

>232 MrsLee: I will do that. Thanks!

Classic recipe!

https://www.instagram.com/p/DGMgFMSR5vi/?igsh=NDFmazI1bjFxOGdw

Trying to clear a drawer in my freezer. I’ve got chicken breasts and decided to marinate with peanut sauce. And then what? Bake?

>235 2wonderY: Baking sounds good, if you can find a way to keep the moisture in. Broil? Maybe pound them flat first?

>236 MrsLee: Sadly, they are not boneless.

I knew this little woodside plant is a marsh mallow. I did not know how the confection was made:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIouSaqPfPa/?igsh=ZnhqcmNtdjByNGo=

I have a marshmallow in my yard. The flowers and leaves make a nice herbal tea.

I have a marshmallow in my yard. The flowers and leaves make a nice herbal tea. Besides, it is standing where a rise died because if it really rains that spot end up with a puddle.

Mm Mm Mm. I pulled stock, scrap meats and chopped onion out of the freezer and dumped them in the crock pot with a bag of lentils. Glad I watered it down by three, as it’s perfect.

I rummaged on the basement shelves to find my meat grinder. Ran both ham and chicken through it to add to the soup.
Black pepper was all it needed to finish it.
Savory.

On using lentils, my results were so-so until I tried soaking the lentils overnight ... *much* better.

On jar openers, I co-opted a small-sized heavy duty pliers (orange rubber handles) from my husband's tool kit. But I only use it to open plastic bottles of spring water (Crystal Geyser); they are a vendor who recently reinforced their bottle lids to make the lids harder to break open. I open larger jars by running them under the hot water faucet for a minute; but that doesn't happen often because we mostly cook from scratch.

I planted a couple of oreganos in my front yard last year, attempting to find something useful to compete with the dominant weeds. They’ve grown into lovely mounds. I trimmed them and dried what I cut. Now what?

I don’t use oregano in the kitchen, though I think my son-in-law does.
Medicinal? Has anyone made oregano oil?

I use oregano a lot, both for Italian and Greek food.

Most of the oregano around the garden is self-seeded, and gets treated as weeds, though.

You are up early today.

Yeah. It seems to be a cycle now. Awake at 4am, nap at midday, bed at 9.
I recall this was grandma Edna’s routine.

I use oregano in my Mexican cooking. Salsa and marinades. Also Italian and mixed with other green herbs for general use in soups or salad. Like sage, a little goes a long way.

I've also simmered a branch in water to breathe the steam when I'm congested. Making essential oil with it takes a LOT of herb for very little oil. The leaves are good for one or two simmers. Be careful to keep your eyes closed and breathe carefully as it is quite powerful and burns the eyes and throat if it is strong.

>246 MrsLee: I was watching the Pioneer Woman (one I downloaded so an older one) and she was saying how much she liked Mexican oregano.

I’m starting to eat from my garden. No big tomatoes yet, but a bowlful of marble sized Appalachian Red Apple. Rose says she gave me a couple of Beefsteaks, but if so, they are not liking my yard.
I’ve been eating cucumber and apple chunk salad for a couple of weeks.
Today I chopped the first of my yellow onions to add to potato and egg fry. These onions did not make my eyes water. Is that special to homegrown?

Beginning to harvest squash and eggplant too. I will probably make chow chow with the squash. And I’ve never cooked with eggplant. It’s an exotic for me.
Peppers are coming on. One plant is hot peppers, in error. Will offer them to my neighbor.

I defrosted a quart of tomatoes thinking I’d make spaghetti sauce. I’ve even cooked up some Italian sausage.
But I’m tempted to just make soup.

For some reason, my tomato plants have few fruit and all green except for the snack-sized marble tomatoes. I had to buy a couple of slicing tomatoes for sandwiches. Luckily, we have Bill Best selling his fruit at the Farmers Market. He is such a local treasure.

I’ve also been inquiring about other fruit in the vicinity.

The plum trees are bare. Neighbors report no apples or pears either. My peaches remain small and some have fallen off the tree.
My neighbor does have a healthy crop of hazelnuts. I’ve never seen them up close before. My trees did not fruit, and my fig trees have nothing yet.

There is an apple tree a block away with plenty of fruit on the ground. I need to ask permission to collect a bucket full.

I spit on Heinz!

And that from a Pittsburgh native who toured the plant in grade school and came away with a pickle pin.

They are now selling Apple Cider (flavoured*) Vinegar
*small print
Ingredients: distilled vinegar from grain, natural flavor with caramel color

Notified, I’ve been looking.

Sav-A-Lot sells the real thing under their Kurtz brand.
Ingredients: Made from the juice of apples*, diluted to a uniform 5% acidity
*color changes and naturally occurring sediment may appear throughout the life of the product.

I just poured the Kurtz into a glass jug (because I don’t store liquids in plastic) and the aroma was robust and very welcome.

Phooey! If I buy apple vinegar I want the real thing.

The presenter is annoying, but her knowledge of acorn processing is spot on. The Goodie-Getter machine is better than the hammers we used.

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTMAmnReD/

The trees on campus are dropping huge swaths of large acorns this season. Considering sweeping some up.

Down here in Texas, we are starting to see acorns drop. There are so many on the ground it's a nightmare trying to walk anywhere.

>253 lesmel: That’s what I’m saying. Bring a shovel and a bucket.

We had a very small gathering Thursday. One daughter’s household has very bad flu. The other, at present lacking a kitchen range, has adolescents who made other plans.
So Anne and Mike were the only ones who joined me. We had a restful tasteful day, with each of us contributing to the feast.
I would have preferred turkey, but ham was requested.
Anne and Mike did the sides - frozen green beans, so they avoided the Del Monte disappointment, for the casserole, cheesy potatoes, roasted carrots. One grand did send an hors d'oeuvre, sausages in Cranberry BBQ Sauce. Delish!
I also contributed a layered favorite, Dessert Crap. I didn’t let the layers cool enough between, so there was some disruption in the layers. But we managed to enjoy it nonetheless.

Yesterday was leftover ham processing. Though half went back to Cinci, I’ve got plenty left for soups and sandwiches myself. And of course I crock potted the bone with pinto beans, giving me a gallon to feast on in the next week. I finally got the black pepper correct - lots more that I’d ever used. Possibly a smidge too much salt. The house still smells heavenly.

At Aldi’s, I picked up a six pack of Chocolate Lava Cake Stout as well as Pumpkin Ale. Excellent choices. Do not refrigerate; serve at room temperature.

https://www.bonappeteach.com/cranberry-bbq-sauce/

The holiday season had me rummaging and rearranging in the chest freezer. I was reminded that I have a package of four bread dough loaves. I knew I had a loaf pan, but it wasn’t where I thought it should be. At Goodwill, I could choose between $2 for a metal loaf pan and $5 for glass. I chose the cheaper option. The bread baked, but had a slightly unappetizing center, so was distributed to the birds. A week later I did find my loaf pan, and it is glass. Decided to try again. This loaf baked to perfection.

An interesting video about nutmeg and mace:

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZThq3YrhU/

I do love nutmeg on eggnog. Hadn’t thought of its other uses. I’ve never tried mace.

Mace is very similar. A bit milder. I'm more likely to use mace in a spice mix than plain. Nutmeg is very good on spinach. Or on mushrooms.

Don't overdo nutmeg. Don't try to grind a whole nut in a mortar. While small amounts are harmless, in quantity it is a strong hallucinogen and toxic. Lethal toxicity is said to be very close to the level of hallucinating.

One of my next reads will be The Nutmeg's Curse.

>258 MarthaJeanne: I won't be using nutmeg on mushrooms because I'm allergic to mushrooms. It's related to my allergy to penicillin. From what I understand people who are allergic to penicillin often develop this allergy as I did.

I am not in a community that has rotisserie chicken except at the Walmart. And I don’t shop Walmart.

So I picked up a small chicken at Aldi’s and roasted it today. OMG does it smell heavenly!

I swabbed it with German sweet mustard (probably also an Aldi purchase), some honey, and poultry seasoning.

Okay. Very good; but I should have salted also.

A fascinating review of butter

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTkvCdNU9/