"Fire burn, and cauldron bubble" MrsLee Cooks in 2025, Part 1

I never started new threads last year in spite of getting to the 300+ post mark. It's difficult to share photos for me, so my threads are mostly photo free. This is a new year though, so you never know.

Company will be arriving Friday night for the weekend. Saturday's dinner will be prime rib roast, twice baked potatoes (recipe from a friend in the Green Dragon pub), roasted Brussels sprouts, dinner rolls, and for dessert, persimmon pudding with rum sauce. Saturday morning will be cinnamon rolls. Sunday we will make individual pizzas.

Goals today: Clean floors for 1 year old, make eggnog, make persimmon pudding.
Tomorrow: Shopping, make dough for pizzas on Sunday
Friday: Make potatoes to point of 2nd baking, make dough for dinner rolls

Complication: I'm exhausted from our party last night with the 3 year old, so I might fudge on what I'm supposed to get done today. :P

For today's snacks (we just snack all day on New Year's Day) there will be brie and crackers, sliced sausages and mustard, ciabatta rolls, some homemade crackers (maybe) and whatever else we want to pull out of cupboards or fridge and nosh on. I would make clam dip but didn't have the foresight to get or make cream cheese.

>1 MrsLee: How can you be out of cream cheese?! It stays good till opened, so I always have a stack of bricks and several cartons of sour cream. Because, you never know…

Happy New Year and happy cooking!

>2 2wonderY: In theory, that's a good plan, but with both of those items I am likely to open them for something small, then not think of them again until a dramatic science experiment is happening in the package, so I only buy them as needed.

>2 2wonderY: >4 MrsLee: I used to hang out on Ask.Metafilter a lot. I remember a thread there once about food going off that asserted that dairy products just turn into other dairy products ... Ah yes, here it is, for whatever information or amusement it's worth.

A wonderful weekend visit and no one had a chance to be hungry. Today for breakfast I made a hash with breakfast sausage, onions, garlic, leftover mushrooms, leftover Chipotle potatoes and eggs. It was terrific!

Today I made a large pot of vegetable soup with the sad veggies left in the refrigerator. Added beans and rice and the last little bit of ham. Satisfied. Tomorrow is Farmer's Market.

Today I must cook some chicken for my husband. He is addicted to chicken and hasn't had any for about two weeks. Must remedy this. For myself, in an attempt to cook some "clean" food, whatever that means, I will also be broiling some sole, or possibly steaming, cooking some white rice and sautéing bok choy. Not sure all that will happen today. The fish is still frozen.

I just finished the last of my chicken and dumplings. Other than one serving of penne, I will be diving into my grocery store purchases this week. This is me, unexcited. LOL

I get totally spoiled when I am home & Mom feeds me.

>9 lesmel: "I get totally spoiled when I am home & Mom feeds me."

This is what moms live for. A quote from an M.F.K. Fisher story: "All she wanted to do was make them full of her love, her food..."

It's not that I'm not cooking. I'm just not enthused enough by any of it to write it up.

My loose plan is to clean out the freezers and refrigerators and make a clean start. Also the pantry. I'm pretty good about bringing forward the older things and putting the new ones to the back, but there are some things in there which aren't getting used. As much as I hate to throw out food, I think I will begin getting rid of the old stuff I don't really want to use. I am trying to streamline my ingredients and stock of spices to be fewer unicorn elements and mostly basics.

Yesterday I tried a cookie recipe from King Arthur using ricotta cheese as one of the ingredients. OK, but I prefer either my sugar cookie or the Mexican cake-like treat I make. Both are easier with more common ingredients. King Arthur recipe called for ricotta. Now I have to figure out how to use the rest because I think I've bought it all of 2 times in my 62 years. I found a recipe in an Italian cookbook La Vera Cucina Italiana by Donaldo Soviero, which uses ricotta, tomato sauce (I have some that needs using) and greens (I just froze 4 quarts of them yesterday), so I will try that.

I also have some pastry to use up, so I'm going to makes some sort of ricotta filling turnovers.

The other thing in my freezer I'm trying to use is tiny salad shrimps. I bought a huge bag because they were wild caught and a good price. Problem is, I don't love them. They seem very salty. I made a 1/2 pint of potted shrimp yesterday. Have yet to try it. Think I will make some hot shrimp curry this week, and next week some creamy shrimp pasta. In the meantime, husband requested a pork roast to give him a break from shrimp which is not his favorite food. I suppose another way to use the shrimp is in a salad, like chicken salad made with mayonnaise, only shrimp. It's very cold right now though and I don't tend to eat cold things when it's cold. Hmmm, maybe a shrimp soup, cream base, like a chowder, with corn and green chilies?

>12 MrsLee: Ricotta is easy to use up, you can just dump it on pasta as-is. Or you can blend it with cocoa powder, a pinch of salt, and a little honey to make a pudding thing. You could make a tiny lasagne or a creamy salad dressing with it, or put it on a pizza. Hope that helps!

>12 MrsLee: I remember that Weight Watchers used to suggest what they called "ricotta cream" which (IIRC) is basically just ricotta and your fruit juice of choice, plus maybe vanilla, emulsified in a blender. Sweetening optional. Not bad as a substitute for cream or custard.

To my surprise, a quick web search shows up quite a few recipes for it.

>13 reconditereader: & >14 haydninvienna: Thank you, yes, I did a little internet surfing today and got some ideas. I made a filling using ricotta, sugar, 1 egg yolk, a little Frangelico, lemon zest, and chopped dried cherries that I had soaked in the liqueur. The recipe called for a "splash" of alcohol, but apparently my idea of a splash is bigger than they called for because the filling was quite liquid. So I added a little coconut flour. This made more filling than I needed. The pastries were quite good. With the leftover filling I added whipped cream, whisked it together, and put it in the fridge to chill. It is like a Pavlova and delicious.

I think I have just enough ricotta left over for my pasta recipe tomorrow. I'm liking it so well I might need to go to the store and buy more.

>15 MrsLee: "apparently my idea of a splash is bigger than they called for"
Ha ha ha ha...Mmmmm, Frangelico!

>15 MrsLee: That sounds delightful.

I made the pasta with ricotta cheese. It also had tomatoes, bok choy greens, onions and spices. It is a comfort food. Tastes a little like the macaroni and cheese casserole my mom used to make with tomatoes in it. Not my favorite, but my husband likes it.

Today I'm starting a pork stew. First the broth using the bone of the roast from the other night, some leek, fennel, onion, parsley, castoffs I had in the freezer, etc. Tomorrow I will strain the stock, add cubes of sweet potatoes, some fennel, onion, turnip and carrots. Maybe a little gin, and some chopped up prunes. When those are cooked I will add some of the cooked pork meat (cubed), garlic and ginger and minced parsley, then season.

The pork stew was delicious.Next up will be ramen, since I have the broth, and after that Shrimp Curry. Problem is, there are only 2 of us to eat all this. I guess since I'm emptying the freezer I can restock it as I go.

My daughter came for the weekend, so I made the shrimp curry for our dinner, then at her request, sausage gravy and baking-powder biscuits for breakfast (American style). I also stir-fried bok-choy with some black "ear" fungus.

This week we will eat a radicchio salad with roasted vegetables on top, probably an elderberry dressing for it. Near the weekend I plan to make a shrimp and leek cream soup.

I made the shrimp and leek soup today. Sooo good!

Leek tops, shallot peelings, some oyster mushroom stems, and a bit of fennel and celery, cooked in white wine and broth (some spices and herbs), and a couple chunks of cod. Simmered 2 hours. I strained that, then sautéed the white part of the leeks, celery and shallot. Added it to the broth with the shrimp and cilantro and a little sherry, and a can of coconut milk.

>21 MrsLee: That sounds delicious!

Been away and not cooking much, but the refrigerator was so empty I thought I was going to have to clean it, so I got busy cooking instead.

When I got back from my trip I baked four loaves of white sandwich bread made with yeast. The recipe was from my sister-in-law's mom. My head was in a muddle. I saw how much flour and water was involved so I called my brother and he said four loaves. I didn't think I had that many loaf pans, so I planned to cut the recipe in half. Then I found four pans so I greased them. Then I realized my mixer wouldn't handle that much dough, so I cut the recipe in half and made two batches. Oy vey.

Today I made a seafood pasta with a creamy garlic sauce, very good, and used a lot of the shrimp!

I also baked some cookies. I had some crushed rice crispies left, and I crave peanutbutter and chocolate. So I used a drop sugar cookie recipe and added the peanuts, chocolate chips and rice cereal. Pretty good, although the rice cereal doesn't add much.

Tomorrow is the corned beef and cabbage dinner I make about once a year.

>23 MrsLee: rice crispies and chocolate? You need the Australian confection called the chocolate crackle. Basically just a mixture of chocolate, probably some sugar, melted Copha * and rice crispies stirred together, filled into cupcake papers and allowed to set. Kids generally adore them. I don’t, or don’t now. I might have 60 or so years ago.

*Copha is solidified coconut oil. It’s still available although I know of no other use for it.

>24 haydninvienna: I would probably like that, but it sounds a bit messy on the fingers.

>25 MrsLee: Here’s an “authentic” recipe: https://www.taste.com.au/recipes/cadbury-chocolate-crackles/73463db9-5a57-4bc1-b.... (Note the reference to it being messy). I suspect it wouldn’t work without the Copha, which is hydrogenated coconut oil, and may not be available outside Australia, although right at the end the recipe seems to suggest you can actually use coconut oil.
And here’s an alternative that just uses a lot of chocolate: https://gggiraffe.blogspot.com/2011/11/chocolate-crackles-and-copha-conundrum.ht....

>26 haydninvienna: Interesting recipes. Also interesting treat. I am used to crispy rice cereal being used for one thing only. Rice Crispie treats. Made with marshmallows, I love to eat them, but find them a pain to make, and so don't.

https://www.ricekrispies.us/recipes/the-original-treats-recipe

Little Debbie has a snack similar (sort of) to chocolate crackle --- Star Crunch. It's crisp rice cereal, caramel, and chocolate coating. https://www.littledebbie.com/star-crunch-cosmic-snacks-cookies

Still on my mission of trying to use up older ingredients; I made a coconut cake today. I made this before and we really liked it. Recipe on the bag of coconut flour I'm trying to use up. It's like pound cake, but uses fewer eggs, a small amount of coconut oil and yogurt.

Anyway. Made a decision. After I use up the coconut oil and flour, they will not be replaced in my pantry. Coconut oil is too hard to work with here. It's either rock hard, or liquid. All my oil needs that I have used it for can be met by olive oil, avocado oil, peanut oil, butter and lard.

>27 MrsLee: I confess that I sometimes purchase a big block at the Amish store just so I don't have to make them! I love them too. There's a local bread bakery that sells a pre-packaged version that is better than the pre-packaged Rice Krispie treats you can buy. I will purchase them if they are on sale to take to work as a snack--just in case I need something.

>30 thornton37814: I would love to try the ones from the Amish store sometime. I have occasionally bought pre-packaged, but I feel too guilty as a rule. It's like buying pre-made gelatin desserts, but I have rarely had a gelatin dessert turn out. Simple as the package tells me it is to make, I fail.

>31 MrsLee: I think you would enjoy the ones from the Amish store! They are quite tasty!

We keep getting geared up for spring. Had about three days of almost 80º F weather. So husband requested pasta prima vera. I don't follow a recipe, and we didn't want cream sauce. I fried some Italian sausage, added mushrooms, garlic, red and yellow bell peppers, asparagus, broccoli, pesto sauce, garden herbs and freshly grated Parmesan with olive oil to mix. It was lovely.

Today we have strong wind, clouds, rain and cool weather. Good thing I made a green pea soup a couple of days ago.

>33 MrsLee: it's been Spring here for a couple weeks, though our last frost date is in April. I've been outside most of my spare time, digging and planting.

Speaking of digging, I've been cleaning out my little chest freezer. I found one last pork roast from 2022 and it's in the slow cooker as I type. The previous roast I found had a slight freezer smell, so I buried it in the slow cooker with pickled red cabbage, splash of apple cider vinegar. It came out delicious, hoping this one will too. I marinated it in the stoneware insert overnight with some sauerkraut this time as well.

>34 fuzzi: Ooooooo! I can smell it cooking from here!

>34 fuzzi: Sounds delicious! I am slow roasting pork ribs today, and also some chicken thighs. The ribs are hot New Orleans's style, the chicken is my own creation of Asian BBQ.

I also plan to roast some root veggies: fennel, leeks, carrots, beet (literally one beet, the farmer threw it in my husband's bag as a bonus yesterday. He also threw in two extra bundles of chard, so boiled chard leaves are on the menu as well. Will stir-fry the stems with celery another day.

And it came out delicious!

The roast was bone-in, about 2.5 lbs, and needed almost 9 hours to fall apart. Being surrounded and smothered by both red cabbage and sauerkraut might have increased the cooking time. After dinner I used the leftovers to create four meals for this week. The individual containers are in the refrigerator.

I'm using the juices left from the bbq ribs and chicken I cooked the other day to make a pot of baked beans and pork today. The only pork I have is bacon. It will have to do. I plan to chrysanthemum cut an onion, stud in some cloves and other spices, add cooked beans, mustard and maple syrup or honey, maybe a bit of brown sugar, the juices just to cover, then pop it in the oven for eight hours or so on about 300°

This weekend I want to make rice & shrimp cooked in coconut milk with green Thai curry and a peanut sauce to go on top.

All of that sounds delicious.

Today's adventure will be "Prime Rib" lamb steaks. I say it like that because the man who was stocking the cooler with meat at Costco told me a story when picked up the package (I had asked him a question about another package). His wife and children have repeatedly told him they hate/are disgusted by/and won't eat lamb. He cooked and served these little T-bone chops and told them it was prime rib steaks (the size alone should have clued them in). They loved them, then he told them it was lamb.

My plan is to salt and pepper the meat (Kosher salt, fresh ground pepper), get the grill very hot, then as they cook, baste them with a puree of oil, beer, garlic, mango, fresh rosemary, oregano and thyme. I'm going to make an herb bundle of rosemary, sage, oregano and lavender to baste them with. I don't know if that will impart any flavor or not, but it will look pretty and make me feel fancy. The trick will be not to overcook the lamb.

These will be served with a platter of roasted asparagus and leeks.

Sounds delish! I love lamb. I am toying with the idea of making some lamb stew this week.

>40 MrsLee: I love lamb. We used to have it every Easter, with mint jelly. Yum.

>41 lesmel: & >42 fuzzi: My husband and I love lamb roast, and after the first night our two, I make a big lamb curry, which I love, him not so much. I think I could eat lamb curry morning, noon and night, but I don't allow myself to.

This weekend I want to make rice & shrimp cooked in coconut milk with green Thai curry and a peanut sauce to go on top.

Did this yesterday with results not as expected, but I learned some things and plan to try it again. The flavors were good, even my husband, who does not like Thai food or spice, liked it. I didn't hold back on the spice, either.

What went wrong: The rice didn't get cooked properly. I cooked it with the liquid and curry paste for 10 minutes, no cover, then stirred in some cold shrimp. I had also added 2 T. of shredded unsweetened coconut. Lid on, cooked on low 10 more minutes. Maybe the shrimp cooled it off, maybe I didn't have enough liquid with the added coconut, but it was a bit chewy. Got better after more sitting, but texture was more paste-like than rice-like.

The peanut sauce tasted wonderful, but I forgot to sizzle the garlic and ginger a bit before adding, and I couldn't remember if the recipe said to cook the sauce. I put it in a small saucepan over low heat. It got bubbly. I put the lid back on and then forgot it. It got burnt and almost turned into a cake! Grrr. So I stirred it into the rice (what I could get out of the pan) instead of serving over it. Still tasted fantastic, really weird texture.

I stir-fried some vegetables: chard stems, celery, onion, cabbage, ginger, garlic. These came out perfectly. Served them over rice and we very much enjoyed the flavors, but next time I won't cook the sauce, will possibly sizzle the garlic and ginger, but maybe not. It was delicious, only a little thin without the cooking. Will leave out the shrimp, or toss them in after the rice it cooked.

I made the lamb chops as described in post >40 MrsLee:. Delicious! My husband walked by as I was basting them with the herb bundle. He said, "Are you sure you know the right incantations to chant over that?" Funny guy. I don't know if they added flavor, but they smelled great and make the most efficient basting brush I've ever used. I let the bundle sit in the marinade, herb/foliage side down, for about 30 minutes before I used it. I wanted to eat ALL the chops, but limited myself to two.

Also, I managed to get them perfectly done to rare/medium rare. Total of 8 minutes, 1:30, turn, 1:30, turn, 1:30, turn, 1:30 turn, then brown on edges about 20 seconds per edge. The thermometer read between 115 and 120 when I took them off, and I let them sit 5 minutes under a cover. These chops were about 1 1/2" thick.

>44 MrsLee: I did that with tomato soup yesterday. Quite the mess to clean up, but I still salvaged enough for supper. It was a mix of canned soup and my tomatoes from last year. Delish!

>45 MrsLee: I'm drooling here. It's been a long time since I've had lamb.

>47 fuzzi: It is certainly something I will do again. I think the package from Costco had ten chops at about $23. Considering that two is the max we can eat in a meal, that's five meals. Very worth it.

>48 MrsLee: no Costco here, but maybe Aldi's will have them. I avoid the prepackaged "seasoned" meat as a rule.

>49 fuzzi: Me too. I like to know what's going on my food.

I have 5 covered glass/crystal candy containers. Well, one is for trifle, and one is a cookie jar. Anyway, I'm using them as table decorations this coming weekend and filling them with pastel confections; Peeps, pastel peanut M&Ms, Cadbury chocolate eggs, little gummy Easter candy.

I didn't want enough candy to fill the cookie jar, so decided to make Italian anise cookies with pastel icing and sprinkles. I threw out my food coloring some time ago and bought vegetable powders to use instead. Color me unimpressed. They are, for the most part, a motley crew of dullness. The best one is the purple sweet potato powder. Hopefully the sprinkles on top will look cheery through the cut crystal glass cookie jar, which is over 100 years old.

>51 MrsLee: That sounds like fun!

Today I made "red" velvet mini cupcakes, decorated with various mini pastel Easter candies. They taste delicious, but are a dull brown, NOT the vibrant red shown in the photo with the recipe. I used beet powder, and followed the recipe religiously, but whoever put that photo in it was a big fat liar.

I also made a tequila lime snack cake from King Arthur flour website. Tastes like a very sweet cornbread (I happen to love cornbread). I am going to glaze each piece, and decorate with lime blossoms and leaves.

Made a wonderful soup yesterday. The broth was ham bone and juice from the Eater ham. I cooked some baby lima beans, strained them, added their water to the ham bone, along with my bag of frozen broth starter (some fennel tops, leek tops, onion skins, a chicken neck, etc.) and simmered that for 3 hours. Strained it, added asparagus stems and cooked until tender, pureed that. Then I added the beans, a little bit of ham, summer squash and an assortment of fresh herbs from the garden (mint, oregano, thyme, cilantro, rosemary). A few adjustments with salt, pepper, hot sauce and vinegar (the ham juice was pretty sweet) and ta-da!

Also made a breakfast casserole with eggs, cheese, bacon, milk and some potato bread that had been a failure (added the last of the mashed potatoes from Easter dinner to the normal recipe for bread, should have added more flour I guess because although the loaf was done, it sank to a heavy sogginess at the bottom of the loaf - tasted great though!).

Today I am trying an Oatmeal Dinner Roll recipe. However, I'm making 2 loaves instead of rolls, I cut the sugar by half because it called for almost a whole cup of brown sugar, and I added the leftover milk and egg mixture from the French toast we had this morning. Not really a fair trial of the recipe, but it looks good. Still in the oven.

The goal is to start some kimchi today, and cook some artichokes. We love to boil the artichoke leaves and stems for about an hour, then save the water for cold "tea." If you like artichokes, you will find it delicious. Very light and refreshing. I cut off all the pokey bits, cut the artichokes in half and steam them.

That oatmeal bread was GOOD! Very tender, possibly still a bit too sweet, but excellent.

Started the kimchi today. Recipe from Fermented Vegetables. My husband wanted me to buy some pills for him, but they were about $90 for 90 pills. Not paying that when there are no regulations regarding what goes in them. I know what's in my kimchi and it cost less than $10 for a gallon and a half. That is pretty cost effective considering that a serving is about 1/2 c. or less.

Also made some oatmeal, raisin and pecan cookies; my great grandmother's recipe. Yum. Then toasted some pecans and almonds for snacking. Recipe from Nom Nom Paleo.

I really really really want to like kimchi; but it's way too spicy for me. Also, sometimes, the ferment is a little too...gaggy for me.

>57 lesmel: The recipe I use doesn't have the heavy hot sauce that most recipes use. It adds chili flakes, so I go a little light with that and my husband can handle it. Also, it is a lighter ferment. You start tasting after 3 days for the tang you like. I usually go about 5 days, then put it in the refrigerator. I do the same when I make sauerkraut. In truth, the recipe I use is more of an Asian inspired sauerkraut, but that's the way we like it and it is pretty simple to make.

The oatmeal rolls with less sugar sound good!

Working on my condiment supply.

Made a small batch of chive blossom seasoning salt (it also has lemon rind and I added some fresh ground pepper). Online recipe.

Started fermenting some "stone" ground mustard (I used food processor). Recipe from Mastering Fermentation.

Next up I will start a batch of mango salsa to ferment 3 days. My own recipe.

Made a pasta salad today from a recipe I got from a church lady in the 1980s (no Satan involved). He recipe called for a bottle of Italian dressing and one spice container of Salad Supreme. I make my own vinaigrette with lemon juice, and I make my own spice mixture (Parmesan, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, paprika, garlic & onion powder, salt, pepper, oregano, poultry seasoning and turmeric. Very yummy. Vegetables I used were cucumber, celery, red and yellow bell pepper, (oops I forgot the onion!) and black olive sliced

>55 MrsLee: I am going to try baking bread. I found a Dough Girl on eBay, and am psyched!

>62 fuzzi: Have fun! Evan my worst mistakes have been edible in some form, and when it's right it is marvelous.

Made black beans, pretty basic, but added too much salt, so then added rice. Yum!

Roasted a pork shoulder and made a chili verde sauce to simmer the leftover pork in, adding the drippings from the roast. I forgot to taste them first; it came out painfully salty, so I added some small potatoes, which helped. I HATE when I do that.

Also made some Spanish rice with shrimp, using some fish stock I had made and frozen. Yum.

All this because I had too many mangoes come ripe and I made a mango salsa to ferment.

Since my kids are here to help eat it all I probably didn't make too much. Tonight we feast with tortillas, shredded cabbage, radishes, sour cream, limes and tortilla chips to go with the above.

Got a great deal on some less than prefect apricots and peaches at Farmer's Market, so decided to make some jam. I love apricot jam.

I burned it! My heart is so sad. Also, my pot is a mess. The jam is very caramelized, but still tastes pretty good. It might be a good BBQ sauce ingredient or maybe a topping for ice cream. I still want to cry.

Feeling a bit like a clean-out lately, so I'm cooking from Anti-inflammatory Diet in 21: 100 Recipes, 5 ingredients, and 3 Weeks to Fight Inflamation, by Sondi Bruner.

I've read this before, but I didn't use the recipes. I like her style and the recipes are easy to adjust, although some of them make A LOT. That's ok because I can freeze what isn't needed for the menu plan and have some healthy meals ready for when I am back on my cancer treatment.

So far I've done two days of the menu, and I can tell it would wear me out if I were going to follow it religiously. I'm not though. My goal is to work in more plant-based recipes and less meat, cheese and dairy, but not none. I've already done an elimination diet and I know those things don't set me off, but I feel cleaner when I eat less of them. When this book has a recipe for soup, I add some of my homemade bone broth in place of some of the liquid called for. This morning was avocado toast with steamed spinach on top. That was good, the spinach didn't have much flavor, but I'm thinking a poached egg would be great on top of the spinach.

So far I've made:
Green Smoothie, basic spinach, two fruits and some ginger.
Vegan Green/Yellow Pea soup: sweet potatoes gave it a great flavor. I added some of my bone broth (so not vegan) and several other veggies I had. Really good.
Carrot Marinara on pasta, made with soaked cashews and basil. Excellent and surprising. Almost tasted like mac 'n cheese and a vivid yellow color.

Today I prepped for the whitefish chowder for tonight. (The above marinara leftovers are supposed to be lunch, I'm adding an arugula salad). Soup two days in a row is not ideal in our heat, but it isn't as bad as one would think. This has coconut milk as its base, sweet potatoes and carrots and I'm adding Thai herbs & spices. Will cook it tonight.

In addition to being tasty, these are very simple to prepare and easy to modify to one's taste. I plan to take a break every three days to catch up and finish leftovers and maybe clear the refrigerator and freezer of some of the other things we have to use up.

For my husband, I've baked a loaf of sourdough bread, baked some chicken thighs and prepared a Middle-Eastern rice dish for his breakfast which has dried cranberries, dates, toasted almonds and sesame and flax seeds. Very filling.

Anti-Inflammatory Diet? Very cool. With dinner, we had a large serving of steamed broccoli and steamed kale with brown rice that had a topping of browned sesame seeds. My husband also had a black bean enchilada for the extra protein he needs. When we eat like that, I always get a *great* night's sleep, yippee. Afterward we ate fresh organic cherries (only available in California in May and June each year).

>67 MaureenRoy: Gotta say, no heartburn since I started, but I am tired of so much food prep. This is the start of my three day break from the plan, so hopefully will get some mojo back again by Monday.

A friend has invited me to pick apricots today, so I might try another batch of apricot-pineapple jam. Depends on how many she let's me have.

Yesterday it was all things rhubarb. Made syrup, compote, shrub and a rhubarb Betty. Also froze 4 cups.

I think I was successful with the jam. It could be a little thicker, but it isn't runny and it isn't burned!

I'm freezing the rest of the apricots as they ripen. At least what we don't eat fresh.

Bought enough cucumbers to have a go at fermented pickles. Will know Friday it is a success.

In the effort to clean the freezer, I made some asparagus ends soup today. Used Thai seasonings and coconut milk. Pretty delicious and we will have the leftovers as cold soup since we are easing into the hottest part of our year now.

Made an apricot cobbler, very small, 3 small servings. This is the way to make cobbler when there are only two people eating it (my husband never enjoys cobbler after the second day, and I don't enjoy it after 2 days). Did the typing by guess and by golly, using coconut oil, flour, salt, sugar, baking powder and milk. I was afraid I had too much oil, but the baked result was somewhere between a pie crust and a biscuit. Yummy.

This morning I'm back to three days of anti-inflammatory cooking. Stir-fried bok choy and rice for lunch and pearl barley with vegetables polenta for dinner. It was supposed to be buckwheat so there would be no gluten, but I didn't have any and we aren't gluten sensitive so I substituted. Also used bone broth. It felt very wrong to not put any cheese in this, but it does taste good. Recipe called for zucchini and spinach. I had zucchini and beet greens. Also added mushrooms and pine nuts.

My kids came over the weekend. Daughter-in-law made a delicious biriya for Saturday night. There was a lot of sauce left so last night I added chicken, hominy and sweet potatoes. Behold, we have pozole! Delicious, and I froze two large containers for future meals.

This morning I made a miso soup with bok choy, mushrooms, dashi, tofu and wakame (seaweed). Wasn't sure hubby would like it, but he did. He said, "If you opened a restaurant, people would fly from New York to eat your soup." An obscure reference to Seinfeld.

Tomorrow will be pan roasted asparagus and tofu, a recipe I found online since I have both ingredients to use. Not cooking in the anti-inflammatory cookbook because I have too much food on hand right now.

That all sounds excellent!

We were very happy with the roasted asparagus and tofu! The tofu was firm with a crunch to the outside and slightly but flavored. Sauce was good (it was excessively salty on its own, but over rice was just right).

>71 MrsLee: I want your version of miso soup. Sounds so yummy.

>74 Narilka: I will try to remember to type it up here next time I'm on the computer. My hand go numb if I do too much on my phone. It will only be guidelines, I'm afraid.

I made a blueberry-rhubarb cobbler today. So good! I like that combo better than strawberry-rhubarb now.

>74 Narilka: Well, I'm finally at my computer. I will do my best, but most recipes for me are more like guidelines, so feel free to make adjustments.

6 c. water + Dashi to make a broth, the dashi usually tells you how much to use, and you can make less than 6 cups, but then adjust how much of the other ingredients you put in. This was a lot of soup for two people and we became tired of it by the end.

2-3 T. miso, I used the lighter miso.
1-2 c. chopped bok choy
3-4 shitaki mushrooms, sliced (I used dried, then rehydrated ones)
Half a brick of firm tofu (I froze it, thawed it, then squeezed the heck out of it, then cubed it into small cubes)
1 T. sesame oil
pinch of wakame seaweed
salt as needed

Make the dashi, add miso and other ingredients except salt, then simmer about 30 minutes until the bok choy is tender. Add salt if needed, or more miso. The wakame adds a special flavor, but careful not to use too much. If you like things spicy, add red pepper flakes or a bit of chili oil. I kept it simple.

I'm trying to use up a lot of mozzarella cheese and I had other ingredients that called out "lasagna!" So I made one. Now I remember why I don't make them anymore. They are not cost or time effective. Tasted delicious though.

>77 MrsLee: Thank you!!

I'm cooking stuff, but don't feel like writing it up. Barely feel like cooking it, although I'm always glad when I get it done and can eat it. :)

I read another book, Eat to Beat Disease by William W. Li, M.D. It has a few recipes in it, but I found most of them so similar to what I cook already I didn't bother to save them. I saved the Pesto recipe and the one for Chocolate Breakfast Bars. The pesto was great (very traditional, but I can never remember the portions, so I will keep this simple one), I haven't tried the breakfast bars yet. The book was enlightening as to the role food plays in the functioning of our health defense system.

I made a coconut-chicken curry with swiss chard and small purple potatoes. Also a lentil-vegetable stew, both of which were great favorites with my husband and sister.

Also made a moussaka with eggplant, ground lamb and the rest of my frozen mozzarella cheese. It was delicious. The recipe I used called for yogurt blended with eggs as the custard-like topping and that was not only much easier than béchamel sauce, it tasted wonderful. Not unlike the topping on a South African curry dish I made several years ago. If I make this moussaka again, I will try curling some lemon leaves in the sauce for a bit of flavor, like the other recipe did.

I have been avoiding all the nightshade fruit/veg for years; tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, chilies and tomatillos. When I began, it did seem to help with my arthritis. After reading Dr. Li's book, I have begun eating some of them again, in moderate amounts. So far, no problems have arisen. I wonder if it is because I have changed so much of the rest of my diet as well? The benefits of them are worth a little risk I think, and of course they are all some of my favorite foods.

>80 MrsLee: Reactions to nightshades can also vary by raw vs cooked. Even how it is cooked -- fried, grilled, stewed, etc. I have a friend with RA that can't eat raw tomatoes (raw sauce, juice, tomatoes on salad, etc) but she does just fine with cooked tomatoes.

I had forgotten just how good fresh trout is. My brother-in-law sent some fresh caught your with my sister. We popped it in the freezer so I could enjoy it later. Today I cooked the two smaller trout in the air fryer, stuffed with thyme, rosemary, lemongrass and parsley, sprinkled with salt and pepper. Really fantastic!

I have a larger one which also needs cooking so tonight I will poach it. Stuffed with the same herbs and seasoning, poached in broth and sherry with a generous amount of butter. Then I will reduce the liquid to pour over the fish. Also some lemon juice.

I'm cooking stuff. Mostly from thoughts in my head. Beans and rice with kale and lots of other veggies. I'm happy with it because for once it didn't come out as soup. I threw in some of spices I'm trying to use up, like black cumin and nigela seeds. I like it.

Had a decent white peach harvest this year, at least 15 peaches off a still young tree. This is after removing bird pecked, insect chewed and cracked open peaches. I made those into a pint of pickled peaches (similar to tart applesauce). This morning I baked a blueberry-peach pie, and some blueberry muffins. The blueberries needed using up.

I was going to make a fancy blueberry sauce to serve over grilled pork chops, but lazy won the day. Plus, I really like fried pork chops. I fry them like fried chicken.

I finally made a fool today. I've looked at the recipes for years, but never actually made one. Today was blackberry, chocolate and whipped cream. I also added a little rhubarb syrup. Pretty darned amazing for something that has little to no sugar (there was some sugar in the 1/4 c. of syrup, but the recipe didn't call for that).

I was told by a friend that I should be eating cod livers instead of taking fish oil capsules. Tried it. Giving her the rest of the cod livers. It wasn't that they tasted so bad, but the texture was liver, and I have never been able to do liver. I spent the next hour trying to convince my stomach not to retch. I succeeded there, but my burps were livery. Yuck. I ate a big bowl of chocolate ice cream to compensate.

Next adventure will be squid ink. Think I will start with a ramen noodle/ink sauce preparation. I'm trying to figure out a way to make this easy. Husband wants me to use up the last of the roasted chicken breast too. Squid ink is one of the things highly recommended in Eat to Beat Disease by William Li, M.D. We shall see. It may go the way of the cod livers.

And now I know why I couldn't find a recipe for a potato salad that had tomatoes and cucumbers in it. I didn't look very hard. It tastes fine, but is soupy; even though I deseeded the tomatoes. Oh well Summer Cold Potato Soup anyone?

Farewell, good friend.

How eerie to return here not having read the thread since before August 10th and seeing MrsLee’s posts fresh.

Sigh. I raise my glass to her again.