CaliPoutine

Is there any site online where we can view your past segments?

I made the baked ziti today( from Cook's). Before I froze it( for a party I'm catering next Saturday), I took out a bit and baked it off. Omg, too die for!! So good. The sauce is a bit tangy for me( I left out the basil, will add after the larger portion is cooked) as I'm used to san marzano tomatoes. But, still very creamy and delish. Way better than any other baked ziti I've ever made. I'd love to make another recipe so I can eat more, but I wont. I used Wegman's cottage cheese and Whole milk mozzarella. I only cooked the pasta for 5 min too. I can't stop thinking about........ It was that good.

I made the baked ziti today. Before I froze it(its for a party next Saturday), I took out a bit and baked it off. Omg, too die for!! So good. The sauce is a bit tangy for me( I left out the basil, will add after the larger portion is cooked) as I'm used to san marzano tomatoes. But, still very creamy and delish. Way better than any other baked ziti I've ever made.

Welcome to eGullet! What a nice first post decribing a wonderful cross-cultural experience! ← That was a great post, totally made me smile

Any thrift stores in town? The old GE hand mixers will last forever!!

re: Catalina. My MIL( take that with a grain of salt) made a dish of chicken pieces, rice, cranberry sauce, onion soup mix and catalina dressing. I thought it was very salty, but passable taste wise. Its not something I'd go out of my way to make though.

Garden Web is fabulous. I consulted them heavily( and I know another eG member Jgarner did as well) before our remodel. I ended up buying my sink ( from a Chicago company) based on many recs from GW. I also put in an airswitch for my disposal( another thing I probably never would have learned on my own).

I cooked today at a smaller program in a neighboring town. The main office has decided to partner with a retirement home in the same town. The seniors will eat at the retirement home and their cook will be providing their meal. The seniors wont eat w/ the retirement home residents though. The regular cook was told she was losing that program( she still cooks 1x a week in my town) so she found a new job that she needed to start asap. I'll be cooking there 1x a week for the month of April( expect April 8th). The group is small( today was 14ppl). We sold 8 takeouts because we reduced the price to 3.00(instead of 6.00). They didnt get the bun or salad though. I had so much leftover. I made turkey cutlets, a salad( with apples, pears and dried cranberries), mashed, corn, PC "bake it yourself" rolls and the same lemon pie I made last week. I also gave them the leftover applesauce. One lady did ask for gravy, but they were all very happy with the meal.

Those apps look yummy. Nice bit of history too. When we were in CB last year, we took a little boat cruise tour thing of Bras d'Or Lake. We saw Alexander's house, et al. It was really cool. How is that Trish Magwood cookbook? You like?

I cooked the old fashioned pork roast again for yesterday's meal. I took them out of the freezer on Monday and one of them was still frozen on Wednesday. I had no choice but to cook it anyway and hope for the best. I bought these boneless shoulder roasts at a different grocery store for 1.79lb. They were so much fattier than the other roasts I cooked. I couldnt trim the fat off before cooking because they were still mostly frozen. I did a lot of trimming yesterday. I cooked them for 6hrs and one of them was still not cooked enough. When I sliced them yesterday, parts were still very, very pink. I cooked them for another 2hrs in the gravy and they came out great. I got lots of compliments too!!! No pictures of the roast because it looked much like ones I cooked 2 weeks ago. I made a garden salad. I also made "homemade" dressing using a package of Green Garden dressing mix( made by Clubhouse aka McCormicks). I got the packet on clearance for .37. I used half the package, 3/4 cup of mayo and 1/4 of milk. They really loved it. I had a table ask for more salad. I used 2 heads of iceberg(1.00 each(, 2 romaine hearts(1.99), 2 packages of sliced mushrooms( on sale for 1.00 each), an English cuke( .79), 2 carrots( from a big bag I bought a few months ago), a red bell pepper and half a sliced red onion. I had a bag of croutons also bought on clearance for .67. I had a big bar of mozzarella cheese leftover from when I made the chicken parmesean months ago. I used half of that. The other half will go into a salad for another program next week. They had PC garlic bread, frozen corn and mashed red skin potatoes. I made lemon meringue pie for dessert. I used the No Name pie crust( 1.99 for 2) and the Shirrif lemon filling( on sale for 1.11). The filling uses 2 egg yolks, water and a few tbls of butter. I made 5 pies and had 1.5 leftover. One of my volunteers said " I always make my pie filling from scratch".( but that didnt stop her from taking 4 pieces home) I said that I normally do too. I always feel I need to explain myself. These people have No clue how I really cook!! I did overhear one of the ladies( another constant complainer) telling the volunteer ( who cooked the beef last week) that it wasnt cooked enough. The voluneteer was totally defending me, saying how its the cut of beef, etc. I later thanked her for having my back. I told the coordinator that I'm not going to make an oven roast anymore and she agreed. I'm cooking at another program next week. I'm making breaded turkey scallopine that I got on sale. The program only gets about 12-18 diners each week.

My spouse is a PB freak. The PB pie I make her uses nutter butters for the crust. The filling is cream cheese, PB, brown sugar and whipped cream. I like a bite or two, but she goes nuts ( no pun intended) for it.

I might be mistaken, but I always thought that instant had smaller grains than the active dry.

Now I need to know where I can buy that shredded halvah in the US. I LOVE Halvah!! The best I ever had was in Brooklyn, but I'm thinking that shredded product would be great in cookies, parfaits, etc.

I'm in a very small town in Southwestern Ontario. I'm 62 miles from the MI border. --Pomegranate molasses- NO --Sumac- NO --Aleppo pepper (Turkish-style red pepper) NO --creme fraiche- No --Mexican crema - No --Spanish smoked paprika _ Yes, mcormack brand --miso paste- No --sherry vinegar- Yes, Maille --duck (fresh or frozen)- No --duck fat- No --pancetta- No, but we can get proscuitto --less common pig parts: trotters, unsmoked hocks, cheeks, slab bacon, skin _ Yes, we're in a big pork producing county.

For future reference, the vacuum packed guac from Trader Joe's freezes+defrosts with not much noticeable texture change, so probably if you packed it in a tupperware with plastic wrap over the top you might not get too much oxidation. ← I freeze avocados a lot. I put them in plastic ziplock bags with fresh lime juice or tupperwares with juice squirted on top. The top portion does get a bit brown on top, but I just scrape it away.

I think maybe what Randi meant was that, after 5 credit cards being denied, she wouldn't have made the food at all without a deposit. Interesting that he didn't give you the credit card number on the phone when you spoke with him, but chose to email it, generally a less secure option. ← Yep, thats what I meant. Thanks Marlene!!

I must be the odd one out, but I hate cheeze-its and goldfish. Wait, correction, I only like the pretzel goldfish. I guess I dont like faux cheese flavored crackers.

I only tasted the yorkshire pudding because the label said they left out the beef fat. Honestly, I'm not sure what they're supposed to taste like because I've never had one( I dont eat red meat). That being said, it was good. Everyone really liked them. ← You can make yorkies without beef fat. I do it all the time. I've had the President's choice ones, and well, they just don't quite get there. But then I make them a lot. I imagine for this group, they were just fine. ← Marlene, I actually thought about you while I was throwing them in the oven. LOL. I know you make them all the time, and I'm sure I could have made them, but didnt really have the time or the inclination. So, what are homemade ones supposed to taste like? I tasted the ready made ones and it was ok, nothing I'd go out of my way to purchase for myself though.

If 5 different credit cards were denied, what makes you think he actually has any money to pay an invoice. I would NEVER just give someone 2k worth of product and let them pay me later( after all those credit cards were denied).

I only tasted the yorkshire pudding because the label said they left out the beef fat. Honestly, I'm not sure what they're supposed to taste like because I've never had one( I dont eat red meat). That being said, it was good. Everyone really liked them.

Todays meal Inside round oven roast mashed potatoes yorkshire puddings cole slaw frozen mixed veg choc. cups filled with mouse. This was a valentine meal. First, I have to say that I feel totally vindicated. One of my volunteers( an older woman who grew up in this area) volunteered to cook the roast since she's experienced with roast cooking. I was all for it!! I bought 2 10lb inside round roasts on sale for 1.99lb. My volunteer said that she never makes roasts the day before and reheats, instead she would start cooking it early in the morning for our 12 noon meal. She put the roast in @ 5:45am and pulled them @ 11:30( tented w/ foil for 20 min). The roast was very well done!! Well, I'm happy to say that someone complained to the volunteer( the one who cooked the roasts). LOL. They told her it wasnt cooked enough. The volunteer replied ( It was in the oven for 6hrs). The complainer said " It's tough". LOL. I'm sorry I'm laughing, but I'm glad to know its not only me who gets complaints. When the roast was being sliced, the volunteer who cooked it, tasted it and said it was a bit tough. I told her that I think you just can NOT get an oven roast that will be tender for 1.99lb. I also said to her that "I give up" making oven roasts, the only beef roast I'll do from now on is pot roast. Anyway, there were lots of other compliments and we sold 4 takeouts( 22 people dined). This was a relatively cheap meal to make. I spent $79.00. I made yorkshire puddings to go with the roast in lieu of rolls. These are a frozen product put out my President's Choice. They're a product of England. 12 in a bag for 3.49. I made coleslaw( no pic). I used 1 head of cabbage( 1.15), a bunch of green onions( .50), 2 carrots( taken from a big bag at the main office) and 4 apples that I bought on clearance for 99cents( for 6). I used a bottled cole slaw dressing that was already in the church fridge along with some vinegar and celery seeds. They also had a bag of frozen mixed veg( 1.99 for 1kg). I used two bags. I bought a 15lb bag of russet potatoes a few weeks ago for 4.99 The dessert was another bargain find. I bought 4 boxes of these chocolate cups on clearance for 1.94 each. I made 4 packages of Dr. Oetker mouse( 1.69 each) and filled them with my pastry bag. The milk was 2.37(1L). I garnished with 2 boxes of Florida strawberries( served 4 diabetics strawberries too) 1.99 each. There is a little choc. covered biscuit( cookie). These are a President's Choice product. A big box of assorted cookies was on clearance for .94. They were 7.99 @ xmas time. Overall, the meal turned out well. The next meal will be in two weeks and I'll be repeating the Pork roast I made for another program.

If you're looking for pasta dishes, I've heard( on the CI Bulletin Board) that the Baked Ziti from the lastest issue is getting really good reviews( its on my list to make next month). I've made the spinach lasagna( bechamel) multiple times and that always gets really great reviews too. Both of the above are made with cottage cheese.

Shelby, dont sell yourself short. That is a gorgeous tart. Did you use sour or sweet cherries?

Here are my weight watcher approved oven fries. Like Peter, I used PEI Russet potatoes. I parboiled them for a few minutes, drained, patted dry, tossed with 2tbls of Evoo and baked on my favorite Williams Sonoma Gold Touch pan.

Haha, today( where I live in Ontario, Canada) was 9C after weeks of -22C so I can't even fathom what 47C feels like. But, it does get pretty warm here in the summer, I think the highest was 40C. For us, its salads, salads and more salads. I can't even think of cooking when its that hot out( even though we have A/C). I find it the summer, I just want to eat fresh and light.