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Apparently I missed this thread, so just chiming in to say that you have a lovely kitchen @FauxPas

Thanks! I would love to be able to afford lots of fruit/great produce for these meals. My husband’s help makes this doable, seriously. Oh, and I ended up putting two little oranges in each! 😁

This was what it was and what it was was what I wanted, or rather was and wasn’t what I wanted. What I was wanting was not to cook and that was what occurred. What I was wanting was curry but the curry I was wanting was of the Indian variety which this wasn’t. This was of the Sino-Japanese variety and so, was wanting. Chicken curry it was and as always was more full of carrot and potato than it was of chicken. Cheapskates. Over rice, it was. Remarkably, it was actually more tasty than I was expecting and was enough to dull the craving. (Although I can buy Indian curry paste, I don’t go that route – all the curries end up tasting the same. Individual Indian spices are very difficult to source here. India and China have never gotten along well despite or because of their shared and disputed border. A few come in from Pakistan but are never of great quality.) I need to go to Hong Kong for good Indian food. Or, of course, India, although India is where I have eaten the worst Indian food of my life.

Just to complete things, this is the fridge I settled on. It's a Whirlpool 36" counter depth. And yes, it only has a little over 20 cu ft capacity. For the most part, it's been ok. But my stepdaughter and her boyfriend were burned out of Jasper, Alberta last year due to the big wildfire there and they stayed with us for a couple of months. And during that, I felt it was a bit too small. But I like the look and for the most part it's fine for the two of us! Plus, the old one now resides in the garage with the upright freezer. 🙂 We use the interior water dispenser quite a lot. It's a handy feature. And it does have an ice maker in the freezer, one of the basic ones with a wire arm that lifts up and down to activate on/off. These simpler ones seem to break down a lot less than the fussy new ones with all kinds of sensors. The one in our expensive LG one was always a problem - it was repaired once and replaced once and was acting up again when the whole fridge up and died. I put Jasper the Bear at feline nose height for our cat's benefit. 😆

Went to the Basque Country...

saffron poached salmon with pan roasted veggies + noodles. really good, if the cook does say so himself . . .

I think this looks super delicious. I like the addition of the veg and an orange. And YAY Patti's husband! The labeling and the clean up would be the parts that I wouldn't like the most lol.

well , nor do I . i didnt taste bourbon .

Charlie found a recipe that looked like it was similar to a mussels appetizer he always ordered at an Italian restaurant but it isn't on the menu anymore. He said it tasted just like it but it didn't come with pasta but it was good cooked in the sauce until it was absorbed. I was cooking the Brussels sprouts first and he thought it was the only thing we were having. He was relieved to find it was just a side. I am not a fan of tofu, generally, but is was good roasted with the the garlicky seasonings.

@Smithy, do you ever say how you make the onion soup one? Are they potatoes or onions in the pot? Then gravy, stock, or?

I am not a biscuit maker, either, but this is just milk and the biscuit mix, whisked together and poured over the seasoned vegetable mixture. (I forgot to say that I seasoned that layer.) The box directions are not followed. The next layer is whisked together condensed soup and stock, which is also poured over (not mixed in). The bake time is supposed to be 45 minutes, but that’s for a single recipe.

How is the biscuit mix added? It isn't sprinkled dry on top of casseole, is it? Or mixed with only milk? (I've never made biscuits).

My husband gets credit for printing and applying labels, taping up the completed plates, bagging and then packing the car, unloading the car at the delivery place, and cleaning the kitchen! And occasionally helping to fill the plates, and/or last minute grocery store runs.

Although the recipe I used for today’s CFM (community fridge meal) called for rotisserie chicken, the manager of the community fridge had given me some rescued frozen chicken breasts, so I poached and then shredded the chicken yesterday. I used 10 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, which came out to right under 5 pounds of meat. Melted two sticks of butter per hotel pan, layered the chicken, frozen peas and carrots (2 12 oz bags per pan), two packs of biscuit mix and 4 cups of milk per pan, and then 22 oz of cream of chicken soup (so sue me) and 2 cups of chicken stock (used the poaching liquid) per pan, and then baked at 375 much longer than the recipe said to. I also added a bit of grated cheese to the top. Not done enough! Back in the oven. Car packed for delivery. Delivery made!

They freeze fine... but when thawed they will be a little more soft and runny. I think the water crystalizes and when thawed needs to be stirred in. I just heat and mix them for a little longer and they are fine. It does tend to break up any lumps though so that's a bonus (I am a bit lazy mashing them)

I didn't like it, but I don't like bourbon.

Id try them might be something , nicely toasted having nothing to do w the labeling.

I did a double take when walking through the bread section of our local grocery. I did not purchase any.

O often make mashed potatoes ahead of time and freeze. I use sour cream and or cream cheese instead of mik and they freeze aqnd reheat just fine.

Im deeply impressed : this is a table wine , red , w the flavors os Zin , and some aging that you can taste. Im going back and buy several cases , and this , over time , is going to be a very very nice table wine $ 5.99 and better than wines < 15 -- 20 dollars as its a bit aged

@rotuts, what do you think of it? I have been unimpressed with the bourbon barrel aged wines. I like many wines; I generally like bourbon; however, the combination has left me cold.

I've said repeatedly "I don't want a counter-depth fridge, I want fridge-depth cabinets!" (ideally with pull-out drawers, sliders, etc rather than just empty boxes). Our big French-door Kenmore has given up the ghost within the past few days, sadly, so I was just in town getting a stopgap fridge. A stepdaughter's boyfriend's parents (!!) had one they were willing to give me for free; they'd gotten it from their daughter's workplace (they'd downsized) and were keeping it as a spare for one of their rental properties.

Can mashed potatoes be frozen? Can @Chufi's stamppot be frozen? I read somewhere on eGullet folks mentioning that they avoided potatoes for food destined for freezer. What happens to potato? Sweet potato too?

Okay, y’all are being just too nice to me. Haha! Thank you.

Thank you! It seems so simple, just four times everything, but it doesn’t actually seem to work out that way. I get flustered and do some major cussing at some point during the prep or cook or when filling the plates. Or all three.