Smithy

Perhaps this freezer clear-out topic would be an inspiration? Note: This topic has been locked because it had begun to drift, and there is a parallel discussion, here: https://forums.egullet.org/topic/26102-chili/(and it didn't really make sense to merge these).

I'd have guessed that the salmon and broccoli needed different times and/or temperatures. What did you use?

Toliver's links led me to Opa! The Healthy Greek Cookbook: Modern Mediterranean Recipes for Living the Good Life. I love Greek food. I do not need another cookbook of any stripe, except the Modernist Bread. OTOH for $1.99 (my Amazon Prime price, at least) it's so easy to collect books. You suppose Amazon has found a nice price point for quick sales?

Is that slow-cooker curry something you've posted about before? If not, do you have a recipe or a reference for us?

Yes, we've been on the road a little over a week. So far it's been mostly freezer-cleanout food, so hardly worth writing about except in this topic. (We did pig out on barbecue for 3 days in Llano, Texas. )

This isn't from a yard sale, but it was a heck of a find. I stopped at a favorite hardware/general store in Llano, Texas to see what they might have, and to pick up some small Charles Viancin silicone lids. The store has been reorganized. After some searching, the gentlemen said they thought they must be out. I went wandering, disappointed that I couldn't get what I needed, but curious to see what they had at their bargain table. What they had was all the lids they thought they'd cleared out. I didn't clear them out, but I made a fine haul: $17. Yep, all this for seventeen bucks! Then I went around the corner to a favorite antiques mall/ junk store, and found this gem for $6.50: I'm still trying to work out the best way to shell pecans, and this looked promising. The nifty bag in the background is a routine lagniappe from this store. It appears that the proprietor loves to sew, so she makes a variety of bags into which purchases go. Since my last visit she's added a special label to each.

It may not look like much in the way of cleanout progress, but this fully-packed trailer-refrigerator freezer contains most of the erstwhile contents of our chest and refrigerator freezers from home. The containers on the right have travel/microwaveable meals; scattered at the bottom and on the left are the hunks of meat (pork, chicken, burger, etc.) and stray bits like persimmon pulp, nuts and frozen vegetables. The bottoms of both freezers were visible when we left home in our trailer. It isn't quite a clean sweep, but it was gratifyingly close. Sorry I didn't take time to snap those freezer bottoms before we started traveling!

"Breakfast, Lunch and Whimsy" - what a great title for that article! I liked the food descriptions and photos. I'd be all over that yogurt in a take-away jar - especially with a white ball that turned out to contain huckleberry sauce. Thanks for taking the time to keep us posted.

Barberries.

Welcome, Slimy Hog! Jump right in and join the fun!

How did it come out? Would you do it again with the eggplant, or wait for the artichoke hearts, or not at all? Got photos?

That one was worth the money simply for the introduction alone! Some good laughs there, and the promise of good techniques to be learnt in future. Thanks, kayb.

Pan, would you consider wild rice as a potential material? If so, this is the best wild rice I've ever had. It's very local - I've only seen it in grocery stores near or on the tribal lands of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe - so I don't know whether they do wholesale. However, their contact information is on the labels.

Thanks from me as well. We do a fair amount of talapia because it's readily available frozen at the grocery stores we frequent. I have mixed feelings about it. I prefer stronger-tasting fish such as salmon, but my husband doesn't. After a while I run out of ideas for the mild fish. Maybe the Sous Vide Everything site will have a new twist that we like.

That looks very good, Shelby. I think it'll make an appearance at our Thanksgiving table, if not sooner. Thanks for the link!

Pan, I too am delighted to see you back - and with such an interesting store idea! Here is my current favorite mustard. I have no idea whether a native German would consider it to be high quality, but it has a nice piquancy that fits our household tastes. I first found it at a HEB grocery store in Texas; it's now available in a few of our grocery stores. Amazon also carries it, but at wildly varying prices.

Franci, the timing really does look good. I can see these being featured at some Christmas and New Year's parties. They look beautiful and tempting - both wrapped and unwrapped!

I haven't posted much on this topic lately, but so far a Very Large Chicken has been roasted and used for several fine meals. A pork tenderloin has been sous-vided and may be tonight's dinner. Other impulse-buy meats have been cooked and eaten, with commensurate money savings at the grocery store because of our (for now) iron will. I found a bunch of frozen fruits at the bottom of our chest freezer, and have been working my way through them. I'm pretty sure the original plan was pies, tarts or other baking - or ice cream. The blueberries (from 2003!) have held up well and have been part of my morning yogurt-and-flax seed breakfast instead. I opened the last container today. The top had split, so there's a bit of frost, but it doesn't seem to have hurt the flavor of the berries. I can see the bottom of that freezer now.

@HungryChris, you posted at the precise moment I was perusing the Sous Vide Pork Tenderloin topic and trying to decide what to do. Thank you the tutorial and the inspiration!

It certainly looks tasty! I like the extra touch of the smoked paprika. That reminds me: I have some (overly) crisp bacon crumbles in the fridge, waiting to be used. They're the remains of an attempt to cook bacon in the oven when family was visiting.

Like rotuts, I'm having trouble seeing the problem with the left- vs right-handedness of the beaters with the handle on the side. My mother, a leftie, used ours with no problem. However, she grew up in an era that discouraged left-handed work, and I may have overlooked some compensation she made to this machine. What am I missing?

The post-travel days are often a letdown for me. No matter what food I may have waiting at home, it can't hold a candle to the interesting and new food I had been exploring...and the fatigue makes it all worse. I'd say your breakfast looks inspired! It must be the jet lag that makes you feel otherwise.

I have yet to be a state fair - any state fair. The writeup in @kayb's link makes me think I could eat myself silly, day after day there. Some of it I could pass by: call me unadventuresome, but the cricket pizza isn't something I'd jump at. Bacon-wrapped deep-fried oreos seems a bit much, too. OTOH I have had deep-fried Snickers bars and been surprised at their over-the-top deliciousness, and the offerings listed from Fried What? make me think I'd spend far too much time and money there. The Minnesota State Fair has come and gone, but it seems from radio reports that their food schtick is food-on-a-stick. (The logging and forest products industry must love this trend. ) Deep fried candy bars or chicken or pickles on a stick, anyone? This article from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, 10 foods on a stick you have to try at the Minnesota State Fair, lists some intriguing options like fried olives on a stick. There's hand food and plate food too, according to this listing of the 2017 new food offerings. (Warning to future readers: it looks like this updates yearly.) Perhaps I'll get there some year.

Why, O Why do I keep checking in on this topic? Bittman's Kitchen Matrix was too good to pass up. For $2.99 (I also am a Prime member) it's a bargain. I think I'll be using it tonight for the shrimp that's currently thawing in my kitchen sink.

Please tell us more about these dishes: what's in them? Do you make them often?