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Shrimp Étouffée from Chef Prudhomme’s Louisiana Kitchen - using (much) less butter and (a bit) more vegetables. First making the roux with oil and flour until dark brown, when it’s still hot but not any longer on the stove you add the vegetables (green bell peppers, celery, onion) and spice mix (black, white and cayenne pepper, basil and thyme) and let it cool down. Afterwards, you slowly add the mixture to the broth in another pot and cook it briefly. In another pan you briefly cook shrimps and scallions before adding the roux mix, more spice mix and some more broth. Served over rice

We cut potatoes into chunks, usually nuked them a few minutes to give them a head start, then lined the bottom of a Dutch oven or slow cooker with them. We put the seasoned pork roast atop the potatoes, then packed enough chunks of potato around the edges to keep the pork from contacting the sides of the pot. The seasoning was generally one packet of the Onion Soup mix; then sometimes we'd pour another packet over the whole thing. (That depended on the whim of the day and the size of the pork roast.) The potato chunk sizes varied over the years; we ranged from slightly larger than 1" chunks (say, cutting a spud into eighths) down to 1/2" dice. If the chunks were small dice we'd skip the microwave step. At the most we'd add a cup of water to the bottom of the pot; usually the meat itself would release enough moisture to cook the potatoes and make a tasty gravy. I think we experimented with finely chopped onion, and maybe with chunks of carrot or celery, thrown into the mix, but at its simplest it was just the pork and potatoes with Lipton's Onion Soup Mix...which is now called Lipton's Recipe Secrets, incidentally. In our earliest days together he did this all in a Crock Pot, then took the extra step of making gravy from the defatted juices after the cooking was complete. In later years we skipped that step. As I recall it was the classic gravy process: make a roux, pour the defatted juices into the pan, stir until it started to thicken, season with Worcestershire sauce. In later years we just enjoyed the juices without the gravy. You can see the setup in this picture. You can also see how he set up using the Crock Pot in this picture. The main difference there was that he added sauerkraut after the potatoes and meat had mostly cooked, and he did not make gravy. I'm pretty sure he didn't use the onion soup mix in this case.

Some fine word-wrangling there, sir. 🙂 As I mentioned a few posts earlier, my best friend is visiting and we've had several dinners to try. Last night, and today for lunch, it was the Spicy Chickpeas with Sundried Tomatoes and Olives, from @JAZ's Super-Easy Instant Pot Cookbook (eG-friendly Amazon.com link). I'm afraid my photo of the leftovers this time is no better than previous photos (so I won't show it), but the stuff is darned good. Harissa gives it a nice citrusy kick, and the recipe is really very easy. I think I prefer it with my own cooked chickpeas rather than canned, but in a hurry the canned are fine.

Wow - that sure looks deeper to me than counter depth. Are your counters 18"?

Growing up PA dutch, my entire family always made hot bacon dressing salad. While im sure it taste good, I can't get past the texture of wilted lettuce.

This, and if you have a grinder, I like to grind some up for meatloaf and pork and shrimp wontons.

Wow, @patti you are sure doing a lot of work, but making some lovely meals. Do you get much feedback on what you do? Do the meals go fast? I was just re-reading about your kitchen remodel in 2015 on the Kitchen Photos thread, are you still in the same house? Lovely kitchen! You have made an impressive variety of meals. Are you looking for meal ideas or just general feedback on your choices? Everything you have made looks wonderful and so thoughtfully packaged. There was a thread on Batch Meals but I don't know if it's got many suggestions for you. But it's here, just in case: You and your husband are to be commended for the good work you are doing!

Aw, thanks. It's pretty bland by some people's standards and it's not very big at all, but it is working out pretty well for us. 🙂

Yes, 'twas noticed. Those little oranges are a very tasty snack!

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.