Ann_T

@Shelby that venison looks amazing. Dinner tonight was Steak and Frites. Got in from work at 5:18 and started the wine sauce. Put the potatoes through the fry cutter and in to cold water to soak. Seasoned a 16 oz Sterling Silver NY strip steak to share. While the wine and shallots reduced, I did the first fry on the potatoes. Turned on the grill to heat. When the wine had reduced added a cracked garlic clove and a sprig of rosemary and some low sodium beef broth and black pepper. Simmered on low to reduce. Grilled the steak. While the steak rested, did the second fry on the fries. Carved the steak and plated with the fries. Drizzled a little of the wine sauce over the steak and served. We were eating by 6:25.

I had planned on roasting a small chicken for dinner last night. And I knew I wouldn't have time to make a dressing when I got home from work , so I cheated and bought a box of Stove Top. Works in a pinch especially if you prepare it using chicken broth instead of water, and extra butter. But Moe wasn't very hungry last night so instead I made a pot of Stracciatella soup. A quick and easy soup to make. And I roasted the chicken this morning. Moe is having it for breakfast and I'll take a roast chicken dinner to work for lunch. Mashed potatoes, store was out of rutabaga so went with small white turnips and some really tasty tiny Brussel sprouts. Good thing that the rest of the meal was very low sodium because the same can't be said for the Stove Top.

I feel the same way about Shelby's posts. No lunch yesterday so made an early dinner. I surprised Moe with a favourite dinner. Chicken Curry with Aloo Gobi, basmati rice and homemade Chapati.

Great photo. Looks so pretty. Made Moe a tomato bacon omelette for breakfast with toasted English Bloomer Bread.

Crusty English Bloomer Bread (left sliced side down, middle a whole wheat version, and right, the second white. This bread is new to me. Someone on a FB group posted about this bread. I went searching for a recipe for this bread and found a couple. I went with two different recipes. One using a pate fermentee and my regular bread flour and one that was a Whole Wheat version. The first batch was a 1000g of flour, and a 200g pate fermentee, at 63% hydration, 5 g of yeast and 15g of salt (I've reduced the salt in my breads by 50% for lower sodium). I adapted the recipe from Culinary Explosion who used a poolish in his dough. I already had the pate fermentee in the fridge for a couple of days so that is what I used. I cut off another 200g piece of dough for future doughs and it went into the fridge and what was left was divided half and made two very large loaves of bread. The crust is a beautiful colour and "crusty" and the crumb surprised me. Sliced while not quite cold,it was nice and soft with holes and the shine I usually get on baguettes and doughs with very little yeast. I wasn't expecting an open crumb. Moe had two slices buttered and Matt ate the heel. The second batch - Whole wheat was from a different source and it was 400g bread flour with 100g of Whole Wheat , I used 8g of salt, 5 g of yeast (although this recipe called for 7) and again at 63%.

Last night's dinner. Green Peppercorn steak. With Parisienne Potatoes, cauliflower, green beans, carrot for Moe and sauteed cremini mushrooms.

@Captain, great looking loaf. Is it sourdough?

I had a boneless chicken breast with skin on that I had intended to stuff with mushroom duxelles for last night's dinner. That didn't happen because we had pizza instead. So I cooked it this morning for Moe's breakfast. Seasoned with one of Hot Mamas salt free rubs, pan fried and finished in the oven. Served with mashed potatoes, sautéed zucchini and gravy.

I had some dough in the fridge from three or four days ago so decided to make pizza for dinner. Seasoned some ground pork to make a quick Italian sausage for the pizza. This way I could control the sodium. Pizza topped with sausage, mushrooms, and olives. I know that olives are high in sodium, so I just sliced four very thin.

I felt like something sweet this morning so I baked Butter Tarts. Made with Maple Syrup. Had two for breakfast.

Moe's breakfast. Bowl of homemade Tomato bisque soup with my homemade rye bread toasted.

Thrifty's had their Sterling Silver NY Strip Loin steaks on sale yesterday. $10.99lb instead of $21.49. I bought a just under 4lb roast and cut four steaks just under 1 lb each. Did the same last week with a five pound loin. So I'm good for steaks for a while. Along with the NY Strip loin I also splurged and bought two Sterling Silver beef tenderloin filets yesterday. Seasoned with Hot Mamas no salt rub. Grilled for dinner last night. Served with roasted potatoes, asparagus and sautéed cremini mushrooms.

I started two batches of Homestyle White Bread today and baked tonight. Three larger loaves, and four small loaves, and there was enough dough for three dinner size rolls. The small loaves are for a little friend, who loves my baguettes, but has just lost two or three of his baby teeth and is having problems eating the baguettes. I don't think he will have a problem with this soft white bread. Moe just had one of the rolls while still warm with butter.

That is one of the most beautiful boules I've ever seen. Today's bake. Dough started with a sourdough Pate Fermentee , on Monday and went into the fridge until 8:00 PM last night. Left out on the counter until 3:00 AM today. I did add 2g of yeast to this batch. Sourdough Light Rye.

I don't burn them putting them in, but they are a little on on the fingers when I pull them out by hand.

Moe's says I haven't met a grocery store I didn't like. I love grocery shopping and I shop almost daily. I've always shopped this way. When I worked in Toronto many years ago,I worked downtown and lived along the Yonge Subway line. Lived in a neighbourhood where there was a Fruit and Vegetable store, a butcher, bakery and depending on which stop I got off, a seafood store. I got off the subway and shopped for dinner and then walked the rest of the way home. I pass a Country Grocer on my way to work everyday and stop there every morning to pick up anything I might need for dinner or for lunch. They have a good vegetable/fruit department although other than chicken, I don't tend to buy meat there. Thrifty's is just five minutes from home so I will often go there in the morning and drop stuff off at home before heading to work. Thrifty's has both a butcher counter and a seafood counter. And their beef is the best. And the butchers are always happy to cut a roast or steaks for me. I don't like the Superstore's self check out, but the Duncan Thrifty's has a self=checkout and I like it. The Mill Bay location doesn't have self-checkout. @gfweb I loved Wegmans and when we lived in Dunkirk, NY we were about halfway between Erie and Buffalo and Jamestown. A couple of times a week I would go to at least one of them. It varied as to which location depending on what other shopping I planned to do.

Moe's breakfast. Picked up more of the Kirkland brand low sodium bacon so breakfast was simple. Bacon and Sunnyside Up eggs. Toasted baguette.

Other than our traditional Christmas Eve Tourtiere, I haven't thought about Christmas dinner yet. Moe loves an old fashion Chile sauce with his tourtiere and I want gravy on mine. So from yesterdays roasted chicken I made gravy and put it in the freezer. Netted 3/4's of a litre from that little chicken. And I also have some wonderful pork gravy, from the porchetta I roasted earlier this week, also in the freezer, just enough to go into the meat filling for the tourtiere. I will have to make a small batch of the Chile sauce between now and then. The last couple of times I made it I just used canned tomatoes. I have a duck in the freezer so maybe I'll do that. Matt is a vegetarian so I can pretty much do what I want for Christmas dinner and Moe will be happy.

I decided I would roast the chicken this morning before work. But then I gave Moe the choice of a full chicken dinner, or a hot chicken sandwich with fries for dinner or he could have the legs with fries and TBQ sauce for breakfast. He choose breakfast.

Thrifty's where I buy all my beef, lamb and other cuts of meat, had Porchetta stuffed with pork tenderloin roasts the other day. I had not seen these before here. They had a couple of small ones so I couldn't resist. I hadn't roasted one before. I seasoned with garlic, black pepper and fennel. Pushing some down between the roll and rubbing on top. Slow roasted rather than my regular high heat method and served with roasted potatoes, squash and fresh green beans. And the best gravy. Even with very little in the way of drippings from such a small roast the pork gravy was so good.

Lamb Shanks are on my top 10 list of favourite meals. I do them various ways, but tonight's version was Greek. Served with rice, Greek potatoes and always with a Greek salad. Always reminds of many of the Greek Restaurants in Toronto on the Danforth. Known as Greek Town. Years ago, like 45 to 50 years ago) some of the restaurants would take you in to the kitchen and let you choose from a number of different pots. Make up your plate and bring it out to the table. I always went with the lamb shoulder. Melt in your mouth tender. At some point this stopped . I'm assuming it had something to do with Health Regulations.

Today's bake. Same day dough. Started with a sourdough Pate Fermentee. Baked nine small poppy seed baguettes. Just 8 1/2 to 9" each. (Claude size). Took him four.

Moe's breakfast. Bacon (low sodium) with butter basted eggs. Toasted slices of baguette.

@Matthew.Taylor love that picture of the butter melting into your rolls. I can almost taste. Started a sourdough batch yesterday morning before leaving for work. Dough was started with a pâte fermentée. Left in the fridge all day and taken out at 8:00 PM last night. Left on the counter until 3:30 this morning. Baked 9 skinny baguettes. Matt and Moe like this size for sandwiches.

On my way to work yesterday I picked up a rotisserie chicken, with the intention of making a chicken sandwich on one of yesterday's sourdough baguettes. Never got around to doing that, so I brought the chicken home with me. Last night's dinner was fresh sole with baby shrimp so I still had to do something with the chicken. This morning I scraped the jelled drippings from the bottom on the container into a pan, added some butter and cooked until the juices browned and then made a roux. Added reduced sodium chicken broth and seasoned with sage, thyme and black pepper. Amazing how much gravy one can get off a small amount of drippings. Made Moe a hot chicken sandwich with homemade fries and peas for breakfast. All those fries were from one long russet potato. This should keep him going until dinner.