All Activity

I was just contemplating ham and mac’n cheese! Will be discussing soon. Here’s my current working list of ideas from notes on my phone. Asterisked ones are things I’ve done (which doesn’t mean I won’t do again). The second pic is something called “Hobo Stew,” which looks really good. I’d change the name, though! I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. 🤷🏼‍♀️ Smithy, thank you so much. I’ve saved the pdf and I’ll be checking out the links! Hobo stew pic, stolen from the internet.

Went to this website https://inspection.canada.ca/en/inspection-and-enforcement/food-safety-investigations/pistachio-recall-salmonella and found the many...MANY!!!...recalls. However, nary a word about the origins of this enormous boatload of pistachios is included. I find this a bit strange.

I am very, very impressed with what you're doing and how well you're doing it! Since you're looking for ideas, and given the photos you've posted, I wonder whether you've done any sort of baked potato casserole, with cheese, cream, even maybe an appropriate meat? Here's where I got the idea for something I wanted to try duplicating sometime, and this recipe looked like a good starting point for my attempts at duplication. (I still haven't gotten to it.) What about macaroni and cheese, with ham if you can find it? Tuna and noodle casserole? My best friend and her husband have cooked on occasion for a homeless shelter in their area. One she remembers is called "Dump and Bake Chicken Alfredo". They literally dumped all the ingredients into the pan, baked and served. She remembers chunks of raw chicken, pasta, milk, and either cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup. (She's looking right now for the recipe to see what the cooking time and temperature is, but not finding it.) There is a meatball and marinara sauce version that starts with cooked meatballs. She says that when they've made that dish they've assembled it, baked and been ready to serve all within an hour. Edited to add: she hasn't found the chicken recipe, but she sent me a meatball and rice recipe. I've attached a PDF of it. Dump and Bake Italian Meatball and Rice Casserole.PDF

The Pistachio warnings from Health Canada, as far as I could see, started in September. I just did a quick count of the alerts and there have been over 50, which is why I was so surprised to see so much of it on the Costco shelves.

So I googled Crown Pastries, the sole source of contaminated pistachios in the last food recalls : Crown Pastries sources its pistachios from "Pistachios Land", a term they use to refer to the origin of the high-quality nuts used in their products. While their marketing uses this general phrase, Crown Pastries is an authentic Syrian bakery with deep roots in Aleppo, Syria, and they likely import pistachios that align with the traditional Middle Eastern standards, possibly from major producing countries like the United States (specifically California), Iran, or Turkey, which are the top global producers and suppliers to the Canadian market. Specific details on the exact supplier or farm are not publicly disclosed, but the company emphasizes using premium, high-quality pistachios as a core part of their authentic recipes.

I agree it does seem rather odd. There was a recall of pistachio cream in the US early in the summer but nothing since. It was a rather limited issue with few affected. The US is the world’s largest producer of pistachios (followed by Iran and Turkey, I believe) and the largest exporter but we also import them, presumably from the same places as Canada so you’d think there might be some of the same issues here.

This will be with good friends of ours. We've been making dinners back and forth for 35 years. "BYO" = Build Your Own. The first two wines are from Michigan. BYO BliS char roe, Terra potato chips, crème fraîche + sour cream 2 Lads Sparkling Rosé 2020 Alaskan coho salmon sous vide, lemon dry brine Carnaroli risotto with butternut squash and sage Brussels sprouts à la plancha Bluestone Chardonnay Reserve 2023 Pear-caramel ice cream Bayley Hazen Blue (+ a little sour cream) on challah croutons Cockburn’s 20 Year Tawny Port

It really is a hoot and I’m glad you’re enjoying it! I should get back to it as I’ve quite enjoyed the silly sandwiches I made!

Thank you blue_dolphin for telling us about A Super Upsetting Cookbook About Sandwiches by Tyler Kord. It's hilarious! Might even be good bedtime reading . . . .

Not below the border. Curious.

Thursday, lemon and garlic marinated chicken with sweet potato and a really good NY Times recipe for mustard glazed roasted broccoli Friday, pasta with eggplant, spinach, tomato and basil

@weinoo and interesting idea . Im just not a fan chicken fat . if that was duck skin , you bet-cha .

Why not make chicken skin "bacon?" Or gribenes? https://toriavey.com/schmaltz-and-gribenes/

I was at Costco the other day and saw a lot of edibles with pistachios. With all the pistachio warnings, I wondered who was buying the stuff. The warnings against pistachios have been unrelenting, and I trust no pistachio products.

I had some baby back ribs that I was thinking of grilling and making Greek ribs for breakfast, but decided to use them instead for Chinese steamed pork ribs with black beans. One of our favourite dim sum dishes. I know that baby back ribs aren't the ribs traditionally used for this dish, but I actually like them better.

"Pistachios are not currently grown commercially in Canada due to the climate, but could become a possibility in certain regions like the Okanagan in the future due to climate change. Canada's climate is too cold for commercial pistachio cultivation, as the trees require hot, dry summers and cool winters to thrive, conditions that Canada does not consistently meet. "

Grilled salmon with stuffed mushrooms. I bought the prepped mushrooms at Safeway . They grilled nicely next to the salmon, took the same amount of time. They were good, but the cheese wasn't needed on them. Served with cherry chipotle dipping sauce.

Not sure. I thought of this when I saw the ginormous bags of pistachios, candies with them, etc. at Costco the other day.

Thinking some more, I remembered we also get these segmented delivery containers.

Dumpling soup again, this time has kale, pumpkin, lots of coriander and Vietnamese mint.

Why is it only Canadian pistachios? Don't US ones come from the same trees?

...and one more. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/various-pistachio-containing-products-recalled-due-salmonella-7

Ask, and ye shall receive! https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/mount-kumgang-brand-enoki-mushroom-recalled-due-listeria-monocytogenes Of course, we also get a couple of the same old, same old. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/certain-raw-pistachio-kernels-recalled-due-salmonella https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/certain-pistachios-recalled-due-salmonella-3

I really wanted to like this but can't recommend it. Got at Costco 2 days ago. Best by date is tomorrow but I had to spend too much time picking out the black slimy lettuce. The dried apple is in such tiny pieces that you can't taste it. The dressing doesn't have enough Dijon. Way too sweet. Just a big disappointment.