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Yesterday’s CFM was delivered by 2pm. 24 boxed lunches of slow cooker BBQ pulled chicken sandwiches and bean salad. I won’t start with pictures of cooking the dried beans, but they included these two, plus a pound of small white beans. In the future, if I’m making bean salad with dried beans and not canned, I would not add aromatics or anything else that will “muddy” the salad. In the first pot of beans, which was the pinto-like bean, I’d sautéed diced carrots, celery, and onion. Regretting that decision, I used larger aromatics in the second pot so they could be fished out easily, and in the third, no aromatics, to see if the beans would look “cleaner.” They did, but too late for this salad. Four of the six English cucumbers, first layer. 1.5 large red onions, diced, soaked in water, drained. In addition to the three beans previously mentioned, 2 28 oz cans of garbanzo beans, and a couple of cans of cannellini beans were also used, plus two bunches of fresh parsley and one small bunch of dill. It’s looking pretty, but I wish I had more cucumbers because they add so much. Seasoned with salt, black pepper, garlic powder, paprika, cumin, Tony’s. Sorry I didn’t quote the posts, but @blue_dolphin, I did use Samin Nosrat’s Creamy Oregano Dressing! Thought I had pics of it, but since I made enough for an army, I’ll snap a pic a little later. I don’t have leftover salad, but I have leftover dressing. @Smithy, I bought both sliced black olives and sliced Kalamatas with the intention of trying each of those, as well as capers, and picking a favorite. At one point I reminded myself to take them out, and then never thought of them again!! Yikes. I was not ignoring your suggestion, just got caught up and forgot! @SLB, dilly beans sound dill-icious, but alas, my groceries were purchased. I could’ve run to the store and bought some the next day so I could’ve forgotten to use them, like the other suggestions. 🤷‍♀️ And dressed Besides chicken, this stuff went into the slow cooker. First layer of chicken in the slow cooker. After second layer, it was about 10 pounds of chicken, with enough leftover to feed my son’s family. They’re not food insecure, they just like Mom’s cooking. Right before putting the sandwiches together. There were three trays like this of lightly buttered and toasted buns. Before topping with dill slices.

Have any plans? Going out? Eating at home? Cooking, or delivery/take out? We won't eat out for any holiday. Too many over-priced meals, too crowded. Plus one Valentine's Day we witnessed a young man ask his date to marry him at the (far too close) table next to us.......and get (politely) turned down. I still can't get over the sadness it left in me, and that was 40 years ago! For most holidays we cook together and/or divide the courses between us. I am making a simple seafood quasi-curry; mi esposo has taken on a Herculean task, given the inadequacy of our Mexican oven....a Basque cheesecake. Our oven has no thermostat and keeping at a steady temperature for more than a few minutes is challenging, to say the least. What are you doing, planning?

How was the Ice Cream! sounds delicious

@Smithy and @blue_dolphin I picked up up a couple of Pillsbury ready-made frozen shells yesterday. Should they be blind baked and docked before being filled? Time/temp suggestions for blind baking? TTips for docking? Do I need pie weights or can I just toss 'em in the oven? Thanks

I made the Fruit & nut biscotti with orange & fennel from Baking & the Meaning of Life by Helen Goh because I was looking for a little cookie to go with the fennel stalk ice cream with lemon and vanilla bean that I made from Cooking with Scraps by Lindsay-Jean Hard The biscotti dough is pressed into a pan instead of shaping into a loaf for the first bake. The fruit is dried apricots, blueberries, and I subbed in dried cherries for the currants in the recipe. Nuts are almond and pistachio. I made a half batch, baked in a 1/8 sheet pan. I used . Helen said not to skip the dip in white chocolate and she was right - they’re not particularly sweet so it’s a nice touch. Should be a fun recipe to play around with different fruit and nut combos. I’m thinking a tropical version with mango, papaya, pineapple, coconut and macadamia nuts would be fun.

Butternut, tamarind, and coconut stew from Ottolenghi’s Comfort, with rice and flatbread

Not Really - I’m not a huge fan of some Laval areas. But that’s just me. If you stay in the core you should be fine.

Hi, can you send your whole recipe and method? it looks like your meringue is the problem at first glance

Yum!!

Asparagus with tuna p 165 from Six Seasons of Pasta by Joshua McFadden and Martha Holmberg This is basically the book’s version of tuna noodle casserole. I followed the recommendation of an EYB user to include the baking step and agree that the baking time really brings the flavors together. I used a can of smoked tuna, increased the amount of asparagus, added lots of arugula as suggested in the header notes and included breadcrumbs in the cheese topping. With those modifications, I liked it enough to make again.

Or as a friend of mine used to say. I'm on a light diet. As soon as it gets light, I start eating.

I will have one near me when I get moved, too. I won't go near the ginormous WM near me now.

Just good things on a plate for lunch Tuna, Camembert, Avocado and grapes

Toast, feta poached egg with various greens

Several dinners from over the last few days below Beef stir fry with noodles. below Salad bowl below Green chicken curry with beans rice and microwaved popadums Below Hamburger

Yes, I have a WNM super close to where I work and same.

I came across these yesterday for the first time. Known locally as 海棠果 (hǎi táng guǒ，literally 'sea cherry-apple fruit') or 鸡心果 (jī xīn guǒ, literally 'chicken heart fruit'), they are a type of wampee. Clausena lansium, native to China and SE and South Asia. I'm going with 'chicken heart fruit' as it fits the size and shape. Unlike chicken hearts, they are sweet and crisp.

Getting back to the Somali goat and rice dish, because I finished the goat tonight: the spices seem to be a blend called Xawaash. As with most spice blends, every one is a bit different. This page gives one recipe for it. The spices involved are cumin, coriander seeds, black peppercorns, cinnamon bark, cardamom, cloves, and turmeric. I don't like cloves but in this small amount (yes, I could taste it tonight) it was acceptable. If I ever try making it myself I'll probably omit the cloves and maybe the cinnamon, but it's all pretty well balanced in these leftovers.

A favourite pasta dish with chicken sausage, anchovies, garlic and sampari tomatoes. Lots of basil and Parmesan to finish. Yesterday I tried my hand at a no knead baguette and I reckon it turned out pretty well. Dinner was a pesto spinach and cheese lasagna from the freezer with said bread.

This ended up in the bin. It was a chickpea and vegetable curry I have made many times before. The whole thing smelled and tasted of capsicum which I detest. The only difference is I opened a new bag of chilli powder. I bought it from the Indian grocery in town and it was labeled “chilli powder extra hot (capsicum annum)”. It certainly was hot. Note, this is not a blended powder for beans and the like, but rather whole dried and ground chillies. Anyways, the rest of the 200g pack will be sprinkled on the herbs growing in the garden to deter critters. I have bought myself a bag of cayenne to replace it 😉

I've only ever used the Italian meringue method; and I've only ever used a convection oven (low fan). Are you letting your piped shells dry before baking? For how long? Have you tried baking on parchment paper instead of the silpat? Herme's method (also Italian meringue) uses some of the aged egg whites in with the TPT so perhaps that could be an option for you to try. Are you using aged whites or freshly separated whites? Or the whites that come in a carton? I would change one thing at a time. First I would try the parchment because I've definitely had better results using parchment instead of silpat. Let us know how things progress....

Ha, what would we complain about if not the weather? The dressing was so simple, oil from the tuna can (chilli) and a squeeze of fresh lime, salt and pepper.

For some reason I decided to make bread rolls yesterday. They turned out delicious so I had to make burgers for dinner.

I never make stew with whole pieces of chicken - always bite size pieces of meat and veg in a thick gravy. Same with beef stew. My soups are closer to "stoup" - very thick, lots of diced veg and meat and lots of barley or rice or noodles.Different strokes.