Neely

Had some of the family over for an early Christmas get together. Some will be away at Christmas so this was a time for us all to catch up. We were going to do a BarBQ but rain was forecast so we decided to just do all cold things inside. People served themselves from a buffet. This was a Coleslaw, I had a pomegranate so I thought I’d add that. A bowl of tomatoes with split green olives and some pickled red peppers. Below…A cold meat platter, I did myself. There was also chicken and a bowl of Russian salad.

Breakfast this morning was a kind of bubble and squeak with left over cabbage and potatoes.

Meatballs containing chopped olives and feta, served with white beans and orzo with mini asparagus spears.

@Okanagancook We do the poppadums in the microwave. For about 5 on the turntable, we do 30 seconds on one side, turn them and then 30 seconds the other side. Of course depends on microwave. They have a clear taste this way and I don’t like all that oil when fried.

Dal Chawal… Lentils and rice. I was going to hand blend these French lentils to make a more traditional Dal but they turned out quite tasty so I left them as they were. Served with pappadoms and a dollop of quince jam for sweetness. Comfort food.

No cooking involved but this was breakfast,. It’s one of those mueslis that contains lots of dehydrated berries. With cold milk … it was OK but a bit sweet.

Hopefully you can find it locally but Yes not low salt for ours as well. I hardly salt most things so probably why it tasted good.

I had a craving for mushroom risotto and started preparing the chopped up onion and mushrooms only to find that I didn’t have any Arborio rice in the pantry…blast. However had some Orzo / Ricini, so made mushroom orzo and I thought it was delious. Nice and creamy like a good risotto should be and the orzo was still a little al dente. Very quick to make. I cooked the orzo in some mushroom stock from a box and added it to the mushrooms and onions sautéed in butter. Salt, pepper and parsley. The boxed mushroom stock gave so much mushroom flavour,

Sorry @rotuts it’s ACV not AVC Quote “ … olive oil and ACV with salt and pepper as dressing “ I thought ACV was the generally accepted acronym for Apple Cider Vinegar. Mind you I don’t like acronyms and rarely use them. What happened here shows a good reason why I think they are confusing.

Lunch today was very simple. A slice of ham, sourdough bread and homemade Cole slaw with radishes… no mayo… olive olive and ACV with salt and pepper as dressing. Followed by a large slice of apple and pineapple crumble tart. Coconut in the crumble as well.

We had crumbed flattened chicken breast with scalloped potatoes, broccoli, and roast pumpkin...that‘s the pumpkin with the skin facing… didn’t eat the skin this time, sometimes do, sometimes don’t.

It was warm this morning 22’ C at 8.30am so we had breakfast outside. Grilled cheese on toast over tomatoes.

Friday night and felt like Chinese food. Made sweet and sour chicken, added mini spring rolls because we were hungry. Husband said the sweet and sour sauce tasted ’right’ so I guess the Chinese rice wine vinegar really helped with the flavour. Lots of red capsicum.

Pasta and more pasta Dinner was a penne seafood mornay, really like a seafood Mac and cheese. Maybe ‘SeaMac’ or perhaps ‘MacandSea’ Another dinner below was seafood with rigatoni in a tomato based sauce.

Now this is really breakfast. Cherry season here so English muffin with cherry jam and some fresh cherries.

A couple of dinners we had recently. The first was two different sorts of pork just fried in the pan till done. Both were tender. With salad, which included yellow beetroot and radishes and a nuked potato. Another dinner below was sausage and mash with a baby cauliflower, corn and the yellow beetroot and radish. DH made the gravy which I thought was too thick but I didn’t mention it as it is not so bad, and I do appreciate him helping.

I’m sorry, I posted the above in breakfast and it should have been in the Lunch thread.

Regarding the making of condensed milk into caramel, I have used the boiling water method several times but always pierced the tin because I’m scared of an explosion. It still goes to caramel after a couple of hours. I don’t think I have the nerves to try it in the oven or an IP. I made Madeleines. They occasionally turn out differently. Once they were almost meringue like which was rather good. These were like normal Madeleines.

Made Asian style soup for lunch. The chilli crisp on top is Australian made called Umami Papi… very nice and not too spicy. The previous bottle of LaoGanMa wasn’t any good so I wanted to try another brand. The garnish on top is coriander from the garden that has gone to flower. I don’t mind eating little flowers. The soup was made from chicken stock with baby bok choy, chopped green onions, zucchini, grated galangal and a sprinkle of rice. They were bought frozen prawn dumplings.

Sunday roast again, this time roasted duck breast fillet which peculiarly had a wing attached… Cooked over orange and red onions which made a gravy/sauce and with potatoes, white asparagus and baby carrots. Duck was slightly pink.

Same same but different. Husbands Indian curry again with rice, beans, chips ( we are out of pappadams ) and mango chutney. He likes to cook this curry and I like to eat it.

A friend came over and brought some chopped liver she had made. Yummy. I made some lamb and fetta kofta and a Russian salad. An international meal which we both enjoyed.

Dinner tonight was home breaded chicken schnitzel with potato, broccolin and a small salad with leaves from the garden. I wanted a sauce and found a copy cat Chick Fil A sauce which consisted of mayonnaise, Bar B Q sauce, honey and mild English mustard. Was OK.

I have never had what I think of as American biscuits and I must say, these look absolutely delicious and have me wanting to make them.

Weekend breakfast, almost a FEB ( full English breakfast ) but not quite there. Heinz beans included in breakfast are good.