patti

The bean salad recipe I was looking at included capers, but I wasn’t sure if I was going to include them. They do offer that brininess. Will do taste tests and ponder. Thank you! I’m going to avoid those long skinny legumes this time. 😀

Pulled BBQ chicken sandwiches will be on the menu this week. Easy enough in the slow cooker, and SO much easier than pulled pork or ham. PLUS, I already have half of the chicken I need in the freezer, not used in a previous CFM. I’ve made these twice before for different CFMs. Once, paired with a corn salad, and another time, served with rice dressing and coleslaw. Pulled chicken for sandwiches and corn salad. BBQ pulled chicken sandwich, rice dressing (aka dirty rice), coleslaw, boiled cookies (not homemade). I’m thinking bean salad as the side this week. Two kinds of Rancho Gordo beans (Domingo Rojo and Rio Zape) along with canned chickpeas, cucumber, onion, fresh herbs, etc. I know that green beans are often used in three bean salad, but I didn’t really want to use them. Opinions? Suggestions? Dressing recipe ideas? Alternate side ideas? Not sure what day of the week I’ll be cooking or delivering yet.

Looked so delicious I had to try it. And it IS delicious! Thank you @blue_dolphin The only ingredient sub I made was for the honey. Used a low carb sweetener. The fish is red snapper.

You are considerate, generous, and kind! Although I have a contact person at the church, I’m not a member, and I while I know they set aside money in their budget for stocking their pantry, I am not privy to any other details on their buying processes. While I had not heard of Emaco Foodservice, after looking them up, I have heard of the owner, Ema Haq, who is a well known restauranteur, respected for being generous to the community. One of the more visible things he does is that he opens his restaurant every year on Thanksgiving (or maybe Christmas) and dining is free for the food insecure. Coincidentally, I did business with one of his restaurants many years ago in my capacity as coordinator of an educational travel program. His staff worked with me and my less than generous budget so that my group could dine in for dinner one night of their visit. Thank you! Definitely worth investigating. As far as my purchase price for the three compartment hinged styrofoam to go containers, it’s about 15 cents a unit from Costco and maybe 14 at Sam’s. That is what I have used most frequently in the past.

Out to lunch a couple of days ago with my husband. A cup of seafood gumbo (with hardly any seafood), and a shrimp Caesar salad for me. What I enjoyed about the salad was how easy it was to eat. The romaine was chopped into bite sized pieces and I didn’t have to fight to make it ready to eat. Oh, and it tasted really good. He had crawfish enchiladas that came with sides of rice dressing and green beans. He ate every bite, although neither of us tried the bread. At an all day meeting a few days ago I chose to eat at the restaurant where the meeting was held. The other attendants went elsewhere for lunch, which was probably smart. This grilled chicken Caesar salad was bountiful, but also, overpriced (in my opinion). After tax and gratuity, it was $35 and some change for a salad and a glass of iced tea. I was not ashamed to take the leftovers to go.

@Shelby mentioned zoodles recently, which reminded me I haven’t had them in a while. Despite buying the zucchini specifically to make zoodles, I was too lazy to get out the zoodle maker, and used a veg peeler to make zucchini ribbons. Turns out I like the ribbons better than the noodles, so my laziness paid off. Shrimp scampi.

No restaurant depot, but a couple of restaurant supply stores. I have bought from each of those, but also found good prices on deli containers on Amazon (with careful looking), and I usually get the styrofoam three compartment and one compartment plates from Costco or Sam’s. I’ve priced things at Webstaurant, but the shipping costs don’t make sense for what I’m currently buying. I would love to know of other sources.

Louisiana’s high point … Mt. Driskill … 532 feet!

My husband recently mentioned something he thought we should spend money on in the house and I thought, “Can we afford that?” And then felt horribly guilty that I spend our money on something I want to do (like the CFMs), but considered telling him I didn’t think we could afford what he wants to do. It gives one pause. I’m not exhausted yet! But I have given some thought to how long I can realistically do this, or even how long I want to do this. Thank you. My contact at the church told me that the regulars loved the pizza last time I made it, and encouraged me to repeat. I hope they did enjoy it! Thank you all for your kind words and support. I feel like I’m already more than halfway to my goal and it could be very doable! I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t also get something out of it. It keeps me busy enough, it gives me purpose, and it gives me a sense of accomplishment each time we deliver. I can’t do much about the state of the US and the economy, but I can do what I can do, and I have always loved feeding people. Y’all wouldn’t be on this site if you didn’t know how good it feels to make good food. (And why I beat myself up when the food isn’t delicious.)

I needed a quick and easy meal for this week’s CFM, and chose to repeat French bread pizza. Pictures are minimal. What can I say? I bought 13 loaves of French bread (an extra, just in case). The plan was that each plate would get one of the halves of each loaf of French bread. For that half loaf to fit in the container, it was cut in half. Preparing to add butter and garlic powder to the first batch. These will go into the oven for a light toasting. Afterwards, pizza sauce will be added, followed by shredded mozzarella, and as many pepperoni slices as I can fit onto the bread. Test batch to see if broiling is the final step. Nope. Didn’t want to get them this done (however, it tasted pretty damn good). Although they don’t look as cheesy as I would like, there is actually a good bit of cheese on each, and I didn’t want to get too heavy handed. Plated. Yep, nothing else but the pizza. I revealed to my husband that my personal goal was to do this for an entire year. Although I made some grocery and meal donations in May and June, I didn’t start doing them weekly until July 2. That means I hope to be able to continue this through the end of June 2026. That won’t mean I’ll stop altogether, but will reassess. Not sure how on board he is with that length of time, but his participation is essential, and not just the physical participation.

Chicken with lemon butter caper sauce and roasted veg (carrots, mushrooms, onion, red bell pepper). Ladled more sauce over the veg after the pic. So good! A few nights ago, a very mismatched meal of air fryer zucchini fries and a cup of chicken and sausage gumbo. Each element was good! The zucchini needed using and it did not die in vain. Dinner salad.

This is so smart! I will utilize your method in the future. I use some of the same things you do, trying to reach that balance. I added a little sugar to the potato soup near the end, trying to get there. Regerts, I has a few. Yes, and maybe I made a mistake in buying these specific potatoes at Aldi because they had the best price. Like $3.97 for 10 lbs. My husband knowingly chose to try the potatoes. That’s fine! It’s serving them to the unknowing and not giving them a choice about it that worried me.

Please do!!! 😜

Good morning! The CFM was delivered yesterday, but afternoon babysitting duties prevented me from posting about it (to make this comment relate to food, I brought two kinds of cookies with me, chocolate chip and peanut butter). 😀 This week’s meal was simple, which may be the wave of the future as I try to be more economical. Sausage and potato soup, bread, an orange. The soup was started with two kinds of potatoes, russets and Yukon gold. Instead of peeling the russets beforehand, I decided to boil them and peel after. Some of the skins had a green tint, which I wasn’t too concerned about, figuring I would be removing it with the peels. But the green wasn’t just skin deep, to my dismay. While I don’t think a little bit of green will hurt you, I decided to toss the ones that seemed too green, and I replaced them with frozen hash browns. The Yukons were fine, unfortunately, not pictured. Is this going to be where y’all all tell me I should’ve used the green potatoes, like y’all thought I should’ve used the charred cheese on a previous CFM? Look how green! BTW, my husband reserved some of the green potatoes for himself before tossing, and used them to make mashed potatoes for his supper. All of the green magically disappeared, and he said they tasted fine. But I don’t regret the decision. Some of the green potatoes. One of the two pots going. Browned Italian sausage, sautéed the trinity, plus carrots, and extra celery. The green potato replacements. Spinach, ready for the soup pots. Homemade chicken stock, boxed chicken stock, and chicken base was used, as well as heavy cream. You know how when you’re seasoning and tasting and looking for that perfect balance of flavors? I never actually found it, much to my disappointment. I never got that “yes” moment. I kept fiddling and adding and even my usual go to things didn’t make it happen, but I had to stop at some point. Mediocre sausage and potato soup, at your service. Each meal included a small loaf of Italian buttered, toasted, garlic Parmesan bread. Ready for wrapping up. The soup in container. C’est tout, folks!

Thank you! I love that you do this. I know the recipients are grateful. Thank you, ma’am! I love toppings on chili. I prefer diced red onion, but thought I should try to please the masses.

I almost feel guilty that this week’s CFM meal was practically stress free. Apologies for not taking pics of everything along the way. At any rate, once I decided how to package the extras, I decided to go ahead with my plan for chili and “fixins.” Started off with two pounds of beautiful Rancho Gordo black beans. Two varieties, but it worked out well to cook them together. I cooked the black beans on Tuesday for adding to the chili being made on Wednesday. I cooked them with aromatics and basic seasoning, but no seasoning meat or other flavorings because of their use in chili. I thought I had pics of the finished beans (other than mixed in with the chili), but it seems that I do not. Because I like variety and also because I needed more than the two pounds of black beans, I also used canned kidney beans. (Regretfully. Wish I’d also used dried kidney beans.) I have shaker containers of these spices and seasonings in the cabinet, but I was using more than usual so I pulled these out of the freezer. Others were also used. Added to the ten pounds plus of browned ground beef, cooking in two pots. Each pot was seasoned the same way. Tony’s was used, but not shown. Not pictured but used was tomato paste. Instead of cooking or preparing a side dish to go with the chili, we included the fixings for chili Fritos. I diced up some sweet white onion. My husband grated sharp cheddar and bagged in snack size ziplocks. Sour cream went into other containers. Ready for filling the brown bags. Ready for covering, and then bagging. All of the elements together (spoon included with the lunch, but not pictured). Delivered about 11:45am today.

Pot roast with mashed cauliflower and roast gravy.

US Southerners tend to call what others call stuffing, dressing. Cornbread dressing, oyster dressing, rice dressing (which is rarely stuffed into a bird afaik). Eggplant dressing. But made from white bread, it is stuffing. I don’t make the rules! 😁

I am humbled if I have inspired you in any way. I’ll just sit here quietly and bask in the glow (while also smiling/laughing at the lunch ladies showing you their appreciation of YOUR appreciation by piling on the love, er, I mean, food. While my husband was unloading the food at the fridge this past week, a young man (30s, I’m guessing) gratefully took a bag with two meals in it, and started in on one of the plates immediately (forks are included). With a very pronounced southern drawl he told me that for two weeks he’d been trying to get there when we dropped off meals and he was happy he finally made it (he came by bicycle). He complimented the food several times, telling us how hungry he was and that we’d done a good job. I told him his accent let me know that cornbread dressing was right up his alley! Oddly, he seemed suspicious that I thought he had an accent. 😆

Chili crisp shrimp stir fry.

Ham & mushroom crustless quiche, air fryer roasted cauliflower.

The French Acadians brought the tradition of boudin noir with them to Louisiana, but it evolved with the influences of German settlers/sausage makers, who also industrialized rice farming in south Louisiana. They made rice the binder instead of blood or milk. There were Spanish and Afro-Caribbean influences, as well. Blood boudin was usually made during a traditional boucherie, a hog butchering where every part of the animal is used. One of the best episodes of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations was filmed at a boucherie in south Louisiana. Look for the Cajun Country episode. It’s so good! Not to be confused with another Cajun episode he filmed a few months before his death about Cajun Mardi Gras. It was not good at all.

Ooh, @Shelby, those are some good looking dinners you’ve had! Boudin is close to my heart. Sorry to hear about Amish faux boudin, but at least it was tasty. 😟😂 @Smithy, boudin from Cajun-adjacent territory doesn’t count, haha. Especially if they spell it boudain! But I guess even the most authentic could be off putting in its original linked form. Nowadays boudin stuffed eggrolls with a pepper jelly dipping sauce, boudin king cake, boudin omelets, or fried boudin balls stuffed with pepperjack cheese are all the rage. And even boudin made with cauliflower rice (a mortal sin).

Thank you for that bolding!!! Haha. I didn’t examine the labels until after the fact, and since I had called out something from last week’s label, I would be pushing my luck two weeks in a row. I do want him to continue making the labels. I will emphasize “copy and paste,” however! Also, the dressing was really good, if I do say so, myself. I don’t always use sausage in cornbread dressing. My mother’s east Texas family shredded the chicken or hen they’d used to make the stock for the dressing, as well as the chopped up giblets and put those in the dressing. I haven’t made that style in a few years, but it is delicious. And more time consuming than I wanted to do for this week.

I don’t know how helpful this will be, but my husband and I often eat completely differently. He freezes things for himself to have when we aren’t having the same thing. For example, rice dressing (aka dirty rice) and eggplant dressing. I make a batch, but mix rice in only with the portion he will have for two meals, and then he freezes small containers of the meat/veg mixture to add to rice later. And if you also freeze rice, you could grab your rice portion, your eggplant dressing or rice dressing mix, thaw, heat, combine, and have a very nice main. With the eggplant dressing you could also make and freeze little one serving casseroles of the dressing, to which you’ve added cheese, and a bread crumb topping. Baby showers for a second baby are not the norm, but I was given one for my second son and the gifts were all homemade frozen meals put together by the guests. What a gift! Unfortunately, that was 38 years ago and the only one I recall was chicken tetrazzini.