BeeZee

Having resolved to clear the overstocked pantry and freezer…Thanksgiving leftovers (fresh roasted sprouts) and Stove Top cornbread stuffing. Of course I made a huge amount of mushroom barley soup today, so no net gain in freezer space😆.

This, plus the metal implement you use as the chisel should be warmed.

I see that @weinooand @KennethTmention using Fresh Direct...I'm kind of fed up with my local supermarket and am contemplating using some alternate suppliers (especially for seafood). Any perspective on what you think they are "best" for vs what they don't do well. I am still leaning towards buying the majority of produce locally (Whole Foods or Wegmans) since I can't wrap my head around trusting someone else's judgement for most of that (particularly fruit). I looked at the prices online and for sure they aren't as low as the local ShopRite for "basics", but they aren't unreasonable given the convenience.

Had to cut back on things for a couple of days since DH sent his blood sugar through the roof with his gorging on sweets and carbs all week (he's type 2 diabetic and does fine...if there is no temptation). Modified fast on Friday. Saturday was baked orangy roughy with nut crust, asparagus, and Right Rice (faux rice made from lentil flour, it's marginally edible). Sunday was Asian coleslaw salad with chopped up grilled chicken and toasted pepitas (actually very tasty - a recipe not to be repeated since it was a "mix in the bowl" kind of thing).

THIS! I have a box of latex gloves that are put to use when I make ground meat balls/patties/loaves. And some of those shrimp, what did they eat, yuck! I've started buying "EZ Peel" shrimp sometimes just so I don't have to deal with deveining. I love my kitchen shears for trimming raw chicken, I can hold it with a utensil or gloved hand and "snip snip" with the other.

I have a dishwasher and rarely use it, I find hand washing dishes meditative and the noise as it runs for an hour or two just annoys me. As a two person household, we wouldn’t have enough dishes to justify running it most days, I can’t stand the idea of leaving dirty dishes for multiple days…so it generally gets used when we have guests for dinner. Which is to say, rarely these days.

The one item I know I bought as a direct result of a post by @andiesenji was a silicone muffin "tin". An instant read thermometer also replaced my old style (probe with dial) one. Popsicle molds purchased after reading @blue_dolphin's posts.

This takes the prize for 2nd strangest Holiday office food gift, ever. First prize was the crate of potatoes from an Idaho-based vendor.

No shortage of Philadelphia cream cheese bricks at Shop Rite, but they did have no or very few tubs of the flavored varieties except for chive.

Trader Joe’s Belgian butter almond thins. Thin, crispy, and buttery. Not overly sweet, very nice with tea.

@liamsaunt, I love the "boat" cut on the roll, great way to hold those scallops in!

It's the most important meal of the day! This time of the year...Christmas cookies at the office. The chocolate one has melted mint/chocolate candy as frosting (guessing Andes).

Whole wheat/oat and berry (mixed, frozen) muffins. Used coconut sugar, so they get rather brown.

As @heidih noted, in my area produce prices are staying relatively stable, but I have seen increases in dairy (around 10%) and dry goods (10-20%). Don’t buy meat often enough to have perspective. Did notice that even Trader Joe’s took some increases.

Last year I bought some mesh reusable bags for produce, in part because of the plastic bag frustration. I still use the plastic bags for wet items like lettuce/greens since the supermarket insists on "misting" the greens to keep them fresh. Or packaged meat which may leak. We are going to "bring your own bag" later next year, the system that @Tropicalsenior uses is very smart. I separate items as I put them on the belt, but bagging does tend to become random if not monitored. I also "prioritize" grocery items for putting away, this makes it dead simple.

We voted to skip it this year since the holiday started days after Thanksgiving, too much family time. We light candles and that is pretty much it. Since Mom is the designated latke maker, will miss them this year.

Unexpected gift for food…Dad has been making cheese boards for fun, so he brought one for Thanksgiving.

Photos by DH, components of our Thanksgiving meal: turkey breast, mushroom dressing/stuffing, jellied cranberry sauce (by demand) sprouts, carrot salad. Not shown: gravy and twice-baked potatoes. And wine.

I was talking to my Admin yesterday about Thanksgiving snacks and she mentioned a fig spread and crackers that she liked from Wegmans...found these on my desk this morning. I'll probably save this for when my step daughter comes to visit in December, since she loves brie baked with preserves, she'll like these with cheese.

I saw some photos on David Lebovitz's Instagram or Twitter feed with he and Emhoff hanging out and sampling oysters.

And so it begins, the turkey stock is done for gravy. Will skim fat tomorrow and put it in the freezer.

I am hosting 9 people, all vax’d (some boosted). I have turkey wings in the freezer to use for “make ahead” gravy. Two cans of jellied cranberry sauce, because I’ve given up making fresh that nobody but me eats. Loaf of bread in the freezer to be used for mushroom stuffing. Sides will be contributions from Mom (twice baked potatoes) and Sis (some veg), might make a 2nd veg like braised carrots (because I like veg), dessert by stepson’s fiance (guessing a pie or cobbler) plus I will have ice cream and cookies. I am leaning towards skipping the appetizer course, since ther will be snacks before the meal. I usually wait a bit longer, but I am nervous about turkey availability so I plan to purchase two frozen bone-in breasts this weekend.

I had purchased Lidl's house brand version of Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia and finally tried it today. Pretty good (sweet, of course), particularly at half the cost of the name brand.

I needed to make something hearty, but couldn’t spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Baked risotto (yes, I acknowledge it’s not “real” risotto if not cooked stovetop and the texture isn’t as nice) with bay scallops and julienned endive salad. Wound up being kind of a beige dinner, but tasty.

Could not resist stopping in the Asian supermarket on my way to the office this morning, picked up a case of 16 Ataulfo mangoes for $16.99, gave a bunch away to co-workers (one person took 5 to make fruit leather). They are from Ecuador and a little more tart.