Ann_T

@Tropicalsenior, amazing what pops up on Google. 🙂 I hadn't made them in a few years and had forgotten just how easy they are to make.

Chocolate coated cream filled Easter Eggs. Haven't made these in a few years so made a double batch and will give most away.

Boned out a Cornish Game hen yesterday morning. Stuffed with a wild rice and mushroom stuffing and sewed up with unwaxed dental floss and tied with butcher string. Roasted. Served with a Port and red currant sauce with mashed potatoes, steamed rutabaga, green beans and carrots.

@TdeV, sorry, I meant to type the recipe out yesterday but forgot. Here is the recipe for the mushrooms. I used large Cremini mushrooms. The mushrooms would be good just on their own. The salad with the recipe was pretty basic. Mixed greens and a dressing of just olive oil and lemon. I used mixed baby greens, and the dressing was olive oil, red wine vinegar, squeeze of lemon, some dried basil, a tiny bit of Dijon mustard, garlic and salt and pepper. PARMESAN- CRUSTED PORTOBELLOS ============================= SOURCE: PASTA ET CETERA a la di Stasio 2 large PORTOBELLO MUSHROOMS, OR 4 large CREMINI MUSHROOMS 1/4 cup ALL PURPOSE FLOUR SALT AND PEPPER 2 large EGGS 1/2 cup GRATED PARMESAN CHEESE 1/2 cup DRIED BREAD CRUMBS OLIVE OIL Preheat oven to 350°F. Using a sharp knife take a thin slice off the top of the mushrooms so that they sit flat. Beat eggs with a small amount of water. Season with salt. In a small bowl mix parmesan cheese into bread crumbs. Place flour in another small bowl. Dredge mushrooms in flour, then into egg and then into the parmesan/bread crumbs. Repeat dipping mushrooms into the egg and again into the parmesan/bread crumbs. Heat a oven proof skillet, ( I used cast iron ) add some olive oil and brown mushrooms on both sides. Place pan in oven and bake for 15 or so minutes. Slice and add to salad.

Lazy day yesterday and hadn't really planned anything for dinner and didn't feel like going out. So, I pulled a 16oz Sterling Silver New York Strip steak from the freezer. Cooked on the grill and cut in half to share. Served with just a salad that I had been actually planning to make for two days. From an Italian cookbook, this salad had parmesan breaded mushrooms, served with a variety of baby greens. The steak was delicious and Moe really loved the salad.

Today's breakfast. Made Moe a egg salad sandwich on yesterdays sourdough whole wheat seeded bread.

Inspired by PartrickT and Elsie, I baked seeded loaves last night. A sourdough version. Didn't follow a recipe. I just used half whole wheat and half my bread flour. 350g of each. Added a small "scrapings in the jar" starter, along with 1/2g of yeast. Just a pinch for insurance. I bought small amounts of seeds at the Community farm store. Mixed together 2 tablespoons each of the 7 grain, black sesame seeds, flax seeds, poppy seeds, pumpkin seeds and oats, and let soak in 250g of water. I don't usually add sugar or sweeteners to the breads I make, but I did add 2 tablespoons of honey to this dough. Mixed everything together with another 240g of water and let it rest for an hour and then finished with a number of stretch and folds over the next two hours. Left the dough out on the counter from 8:30 until 3:30 aM this morning. Shaped two loaves, one baked on the stone and one baked in a loaf pan. Sliced so I could sample before leaving for work. Buttered the heel. Moe and Matt really liked it and Matt plans to have a sandwich.

Moe that big steak and egg breakfast yesterday morning and wasn't hungry for a big dinner. All he wanted was some toasted sourdough cheddar cheese bread. Toast is just a vessel for butter.

I'm not familiar with that bread but I would love to give it a try. Thanks for sharing the link to the recipe. Took a sourdough out of the fridge last night and it was left on the counter from 9:00 PM until just before 4:00 AM this morning. This was dough was in the fridge for five days. Baked two cheddar stuffed loaves.

I started using a new method recently for making a "starter" for my next batch of sourdough. Rather than making a sourdough biga using 60 to 80g of discard, with 220g of flour and 220g of water, I am using just the "scrapings in the jar" method from Culinary Exploration. Very simple method, that you can get started by just adding a teaspoon or two of discard in the bottom of a small jar and stirring in 55g of water and 55g of flour. Cover and leave to rise until more than double. When ready to use, just spoon out most of the starter into a bowl, leaving enough scrapings in the bottom of the jar to feed again. The first few batches I've made with this method, I also added a pinch of yeast, less than a gram as insurance just in case. But yesterday, I wanted to test the strength of this little preferment without adding any yeast. I fed two little jars, with just the scrapings, and left them to rise during the day. Last night one of the jars went into the fridge and the other into a batch of dough. I spooned 90g of the biga into a bowl, added 600g of flour and 420g of water, along with 8g of salt, and after the last stretch and fold, left the dough on the counter overnight for an 8 hour fermentation. I left enough scrapings in this jar to feed another day and it also went into the fridge. Baked four baguettes this morning from about 1110g of dough. Really happy with this method.

The first of the season Halibut was in the fish counter yesterday. Haven't had fresh halibut since November. Thankfully the season is a long season and we should have halibut for the next 8 months. Went simple. Just seared on a cast iron grill pan and finished in a hot oven. Served over a bed of asparagus (from Mexico), with a lemon Beurre Blanc sauce with chives from our garden and a basmati rice pilaf.

@Dejah, your dinner looks delicious. I need to cook more cabbage, including Napa. I like how most of the grocery stores are now indicating products from Canada. Difficult to find some vegetables though not grown in the US. Like spinach. I wanted spinach the other day, thinking I would make Stracciatella Soup. Had to change my plan. Last night's dinner. Grilled European Wieners served in toasted homemade "ball park style hot dog buns" With double fried fries.

Yesterday I made "Ball Park Style" hot dog buns. At least that is what Moe calls them. Similar to the buns used for Lobster Rolls. The kind of bun that we would often find at different ball parks, where the bun has a slit in the top rather than a side split. Moe loves this type of bun. I want my hotdog or hamburger buns always toasted on the grill , so I really like this style of bun because not only can I grill the inside of the bun, but also the outside. Because they buns butt up to each other, the sides are not crusty.

Greek Baby Back ribs on the grill with a potatoes, zucchini and red peppers roasted in the oven. Moe's breakfast yesterday and I took the same to work for lunch. And in the background, was the sourdough boule baked early yesterday morning.

I got a head start on last nights dinner, by getting the lamb shanks browned and the wine sauce made before leaving for work. Then all Moe had to do was put the covered cast iron pan in the oven around 3:00PM so that they were cooked by the time I got home from work. Then all I had to do was cook the vegetables. The lamb shanks were served on a bed of mashed potatoes with the wine sauce, rutabaga, carrots (for Moe) and asparagus.