Sending supportive emotional vibes from afar.
6 Likes
Greetings, people.
Still working on freezer inventory and garden surplus. Making progress, marked by a growing collection of empty food storage containers.
Cooking for two adults in the PNW.
FRI: Pan-roasted pork chops. Potatoes in some form. Cabbage and apple slaw.
SAT: Zucchini pizza – our last shot at fresh garden zuccs for the year. I did freeze a lot of grated and wrung zucchini for the first time. I’ll be interested to see how it holds up over the winter. I’m pretty sure it will be fine for baking, but not so sure about other applications.
SUN: Leftover hamburger soup from the freezer. Homemade crackers.
MON: Fish tacos (frozen halibut). Cabbage slaw. (Rolled from last week.)
TUE: Better Than Takeout Noodles (cabbage and ground pork stir-fry).
WED: Homemade kielbasa with rice and beans.
THUR: Longevity noodles (cabbage and chicken breast stir-fry). Will make an exception here and pick-up some mushrooms from the store.
16 Likes
The “good news” out of the ALS diagnosis is she does not have the genetic kind, so my (newlywed) cousin and the rest of su are in the “clear”. My aunt was a gardener and managed to get a very coveted spot and the Madison WI farmers market for flowers. They tried veggies and it was too much work
6 Likes
Thank you everyone for the supportive comments! It’s been a long couple of weeks but one day at a time and accepting on what I can control and not control. The girls and I stayed at our apartment instead of going to my parents in part because my mom just isn’t understanding the stress of the reno. Lots of takeout- but really loving the new to us pizza place right by our apartment
9 Likes
Tell me more about the home made crackers
My preferred cracker for soup is an oyster cracker recipe by Ivy Manning from the book Crackers & Dips. Paraphrased as follows for two half-sheet pans full:
140 g. AP flour
1 t. kosher salt
1 t. sugar
1 t. baking powder
2 T. cold, unsalted butter
1/3 c. cold water, plus additional as needed
Flour for rolling
Whisk together the flour, salt, sugar and baking powder. Grate the butter into the flour mixture and work it into the flour until it resembles coarse meal. Add water and lightly knead the dough until it comes together in a ball. Cover and rest 15 minutes. Roll the dough onto a well-floured surface to a thickness of 1/8”. Using a sharp knife, cut into squares (or any other shape). Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet and spread out as much as possible. Bake at 375 for 14-15 minutes until crackers are showing color on the bottom edges (rotate and turn pans half-way through). Turn off the oven and crack the door about 8”, leaving crackers inside the oven to cool and continue to crisp, at least 30 minutes or until oven cools off. When completely cool, store in an air-tight container.
My notes: Rather than transfer the cut crackers to parchment, I like to roll the dough out on lightly floured silpat to 1/8” and cut into squares with a pizza cutter directly on the silpat. Then I transfer the whole silpat sheet with the crackers to the sheet pan and, without bothering to separate them, bake as per above. I typically have to pull the crackers around the perimeter earlier than the crackers in the center, which take a few minutes longer to bake. Put everything back on the sheet pan (in a jumble is OK) for the final cooling in the oven.
11 Likes
Hello everyone and happy Friday. Yesterday I picked up my last CSA for the season and I got a bumper crop of veggies this week. Included were two squashes, a 10 lb. bag of potatoes and a cauliflower among other things. I will be spending the next few weeks cooking up a storm so I plan on polishing off the food in the fridge, freezer and pantry in that order. My plan for this week for a singleton in Ottawa, Canada is as follows:
Today: take-out meal from a Korean grocery store. The store I frequent has some prepared meals at the back of the store and so far my favourite is the pork bone soup (gamjatang). When I headed to the store they had one soup left and it had my name on it! So I am happily eating it while I type 
Tonight I will have a kale salad using the kale from yesterday’s CSA and a solitary tomato and avocado from the grocery store.
Saturday: Orecchiette with sausage and kale. I will be using a sausage that I bought at a ribfest last July. https://www.budgetbytes.com/spicy-orecchiette-with-chicken-sausage-and-kale/
Sunday: salmon fillet and kale salad https://whatsgabycooking.com/the-new-go-to-kale-salad/
Monday: cauliflower curry https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/garbanzo-vegetable-green-curry/
Tuesday: Singapore noodle and chicken salad.
Wednesday: Out with my dinner club. This week we are going to an Italian restaurant.
Thursday: fettucine with carmelized onions and feta. Side veggies tbd.
Have a nice week everyone!
14 Likes
Hi, all! Cooking for 2 in Chattanooga, where the appliance gremlins seem to have struck: our freezer isn’t doing its job. Fortunately we have a (now very full!) chest freezer, but still…Fingers crossed DH can figure out something simple! Anyway, back to meal planning, a few actuals and some plans:
Tuesday, October 18: leftovers from our trip
Wednesday: a chicken pasta salad from Cook’s Country
Thursday: scrounge
Friday (today!): Curried peas and carrots over rice
Breakfast: Peanut butter and banana granola
Saturday: Roast beef, potato-poblano gratin, and beet salad, just to be fancy. Going to play with the sous-vide since I haven’t done roast beef in years.
Sunday: Berber frittata to recover from Saturday’s cooking. Lemon curd parfaits and butter cookies.
Monday-Tuesday: Scrounge/takeout
Wednesday: Tuna pasta and hopefully some kind of veg
Thursday: TBD
Friday: Beef Daube from Around my French Table; mashed potatoes. It’s a very beef-heavy week!
Happy Diwali to those who celebrate! Have a great week, and happy cooking!
10 Likes
Staying away from the stress on you from someone who doesn’t understand the stress of the reno sounds like a great move! Keep up whatever you need to deal with the stress of the renov as long as you need to! Best wishes!
6 Likes
I did not even know they had raspberry. Went to my store’s web site and found them and added to cart. Thank you so much for posting about these. They have to be wonderful.
2 Likes
Hope you like them! I can’t always find them, so I grab them when I see 'em.
Hi, everyone. Cooking for two adults and a tween in the Boston burbs. We are about to begin Health Week - three doctor appointments, two dentist appointments, and one visit to the vet for shots. I did not plan this well! I’m trying to keep things relatively simple in the kitchen, but am also trying three new recipes… fingers crossed.
Sun: chicken and creamed spinach (How to Cook Everything Fast), roasted potatoes
Mon: ravioli, red sauce, Italian turkey sausage for those who like it. Salad?
Tues: pork and posole (HTCEF again), green beans
Weds: chicken tortilla soup (https://smittenkitchen.com/2022/03/simple-chicken-tortilla-soup/) - hoping that this is enough for dinner, but I may need to make some cornbread or something like that.
Thurs: orechiette with (choose your own combination of) Italian turkey sausage, ricotta, and/or broccolini. This is a mash-up of two recipes - one with sausage and arugula, the other with ricotta and broccoli rabe (which we find to be too bitter). Not everyone likes everything so I’ll just cook the pasta and let DH and DS mix up their own servings.
Fri: leftovers/scrounge
12 Likes
It’s been a while since I did a theme week, so… It’s soup week.
For two adults in San Diego:
This week’s breakfasts: Still have a few chocolate chip scones to start with.
S: (tonight) takeout - Chile verde burrito topped with lots of hot sauce
Su: Chicken tortilla soup (chicken stock, red enchilada sauce as a short cut, chicken, corn, peppers, green onion, corn tortillas)
M: Ramen (from a packet, doctored with curry and sriracha) with shrimp, spinach, and carrots - seafood
T: Creamy tomato soup - vegetarian
W: Beer cheese soup - inspired by: https://alexandracooks.com/2022/01/23/vermont-cheddar-cheese-beer-soup-vegetarian/ - may add chicken
Th: Lentil soup - vegetarian
F: Loaded baked potato soup - bacon, green onion, cheddar, spinach
Have a good week!
12 Likes
Cooking for 1 at the Jersey Shore
Sunday: Smitten Kitchen’s Lasagna Bolognese https://smittenkitchen.com/2012/02/lasagna-bolognese/
Monday: Smitten Kitchen Broccoli Melt https://smittenkitchen.com/2016/02/broccoli-melts/
Tuesday: Leftover lasagna bolognese
Wednesday: Pesto bowties with ricotta and shredded mozzarella from the freezer
Thursday: Wednesday leftovers
Friday: homemade salmon burger with basmati rice
Saturday: Linguine carbonara
10 Likes
Actuals for Oct 17 week, cooking for 2 in MN. Where we’re matching a record - 80 degrees F - for warm today, with windows open and wind-in-the-trees relaxation sounds. My car was at the repair shop Tu - F, getting the back bumper replaced after a mid-Sept. parking lot both-backing-at-once incident at the grocery store. It came back not only perfectly repaired, but super clean inside and glossy outside – hasn’t looked this good since I bought it.
Mon: Rotisserie chicken, baked potato, fresh spinach salad, red grapes
Tues: Shrimp/pasta/asparagus Bag meal – added lots more shrimp, bag salad
Wed : Salmon, acorn squash, peas
Thurs: (and repeated as Sat lunch) Schwan’s Butternut squash ravioli w/ my addition of a garlic white wine sauce, green beans, ground beef patties. The ravioli were better Saturday with a simple butter sauce.
Fri: Celebrated the car repair completion, just in time to save weekend rental car costs, with another
Chick Fil A meal out– highly recommend their Autumn Spice milkshake.
Sat: Schwan’s breaded fish fingers, tater tots, fruit board – apple, peach, orange, red grapes
Sun (today) : Kalbi pork tenderloin (grocery meat counter, ready to cook), Farro/zuchini/haloumi side http://www.purewow.com/entry_detail/recipe/2532/A-hearty-salad-made-with-the-hottest-new-grain.html
BAKED oatmeal raisin cookies (family favorite)
11 Likes
@Autumm2 so sorry for all the recent challenges, especially the family health and loss.
It is impressive that you are keeping it all together on so many fronts, with a reno underway and in an unfamiliar rental.
Strength and best wishes from all of us here to you.
8 Likes
Am posting here because am not sure where else to share. This is a mash of reporting on actuals for a couple of disparate weeks.
- Week of October 1-10th. This partly overlapped with Navaratri, but I went with sibling and niece for a once-in-a-lifetime milestone trip to Oman. It’s an easy flight from India (where I was), and we have friends there so we visited.
I won’t get into the touristy aspect of things though we had the time of our lives, with monuments, beaches, sand dunes, frankincense groves, waterfalls, hills, sinkholes, shopping, eating, etc. I cannot recommend this place enough to anyone thinking of a visit (very safe country for travelers, moderate and stable, many things to see and do much better than its glitzy cousin Dubai, etc.).
But the food, whether at high, medium or hotel restaurants! Outstanding everywhere!
Vegetarians will be very happy because basic Middle Eastern foods are everywhere - falafel, hummus, baba ghanoush, fattoush, pita, etc. All of superlative quality. Fresh fruits and fruit juices everywhere (fruits mostly imported) just outstanding in freshness and flavour. Meaters will be in paradise because of every kind of grilled animal and biryani and shawarma available (except no pork or pig products of course). People tried camel and said it was like better tasting beef.
In most(?) places, higher and lower end, the cooks are South Asian (Malayali, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, etc.) and they have mastered local cuisine and also offer their own (e.g. dosai stations in the breakfast buffets at local hotels).
Our hosts took us to a Yemeni restaurant, saying that it was (in their opinion) similar to and better than Omani cuisine. The interesting thing is that very many local eateries are subdivided into little booths for family dining, with doors you can close, to facilitate local women dining unveiled without actually being ‘seen’ in public.
In the restaurant we went to, one of a contiguous line of similar eateries known by their numbers (Number 1 … Number 10), there was an open grill station in the front and a line of family cabins at the back, like little rooms where you can close the doors, where we are seated on the floor, leaning on cushions/bolsters that line the walls (we left our shoes at the cabin door). The food is served on gigantic platters and we lean forward and eat, with our fingers, which we are used to despite knee problems.
Lots of rice and grilled meats. Omani mint tea (black) to sip and wash everything down.
ETA: I did find pics: of the grill and the cabin.
Omani coffee is also ubiquitous, black, flavoured with cardamom, and eaten with dates. However, the most popular drink is karak chai which we just loved - tea, milk, sugar, and spices, stronger than desi masala chai. Served blazing hot in tiny cups, this was the best pick me up during long strenuous days of sightseeing.
Omani halwa is also famous: a cooked down springy paste of sugar, cornflour, and flavourings such as honey, dates, figs, etc.
A lovely bread called fathayer, that is crispy and made with honey or cheese or honey and cheese 
So much food, and regretfully, only one stomach per head to dedicate to the cause. There were other amazing breads too, e.g. maldouf bread.
We had only one bad meal in the whole trip, out in the desert night, due to some communications and supply chain breakdown for the tour company but the beautiful night sky made up for it 
I didn’t take food pictures, instead prioritizing interactions with friends and family.
The aroma of burning frankincense welcomes you everywhere.
I came back with a baggie of Omani dried limes, some sumac spice mix, and dried za’atar leaf spice. Will cook my way through these in due course.
-
Last week, that culminated in Diwali over the weekend. I just got back to the US after a long sojourn in India and am feeling very low. It did help a little to attend in-person celebrations after more than 2 years, and hosts pulled out all the stops. The dishes served were solidly traditional - (1) snack based afternoon gathering included pani puris, dhoklas, samosa chaat, vadais, chum-chum (Bangla milk based sweet). (2) Dinner 1: South Indian sambar, koottu, eggplant coconut masala, green beans paruppu usilli, black eyed peas masala, jeera rice, boondi raita, rotis, gulab jamuns, jilebis, and boxes and boxes and boxes of mithais brought by guests. Some of my Omani halwa stash ended up here. (3) Dinner 2: South Indian coconut vermicelli, lemon vermicelli, koorma, sambar-rice, paneer jalfrezi, yogurt rice with the best ginger/tamarind chutney to go with; tiers and tiers of sweets including South Indian delicacies such as adhirasam (I hadn’t eaten these in years), laddoos, etc. A specific strong tasting digestive concoction called “Deepavali Medicine” (in Tamil) that is made of digestive spices pounded together into a sticky paste that prevents and cures the ill effects of over eating
We also went another day to a local well regarded Indian restaurant that ended up being rather meh so I won’t report. -
For my Diwali efforts I made milk powder pedas (successful), chocolate burfi (not that successful though edible), curry leaf namak paras (excellent!), chiwda (seriously oversalted alas!!), and fried up some rice flour vadams (lazy way out).
Since my family is indifferent at best to Diwali eats, I shared with the neighbors per suggestion received here last year. Family dutifully munched some but I think I will have to eat the rest. The oversalted chiwda will be mixed with plain yogurt as savory breakfast cereal for me. Hopefully I can add a picture shortly.
Wishing everyone a happy and sweet season, and may light overcome darkness everywhere.
17 Likes
I’m so excited to read about your trip. I saw a travel show about Oman and it made me want to go. You are fueling that desire. It sounds amazing.
Sorry that you’ve been feeling down. Sometimes being able to spend time with people we love who we don’t get to see often can leave us blue. I hope your happy memories will drive that away.
Of course I have to ask which restaurant it was …
3 Likes
If you get a chance, you should definitely go to Oman! I am sure Lulu would love it, and maybe LLD too.
The meh ness of the restaurant may have been my choice of dishes (though they should execute everything well) since a visit there a few months ago was good. I will message you the name of the restaurant so as to not diss them on an open forum.
2 Likes
I would not add chicken. We do add bacon crumbles to ours.
