BeeZee

Alpine Lace swiss cheese (made by Land O Lakes) is a reduced fat swiss cheese which is a bit over 100 mg sodium per oz., 6 grams of fat. It is much milder than “real” swiss cheese but it has some flavor and will melt. I have made yogurt cheese at home by draining greek yogurt in a coffee filter in the refrig overnight, it is a good canvas for flavors.

What a wonderful thing to do for your Mother, she will cherish the memory!

Hmmm, this may be what pushes me to buy an enameled pot (since I don't have any pots that would hold heat well enough). I love the idea of yogurt via neglect.

https://images.app.goo.gl/dPdkEkVRFuwNhjMf9 Uncle Fester had a unique talent with light bulbs

@Margaret Pilgrim, so jealous, I love fresh apricots and I rarely get any here in NJ that are not mealy or lacking in deep flavor.

The large tomatoes on the vine are always mediocre. These cherry tomatoes were very fresh, the vine still had that unique tomato vine smell, the fruit itself was very sweet. I may have to go back tomorrow on my way to the office to buy some more to bring home.

Something that I find mildly annoying is that Shop Rite (big supermarket chain in NJ) has stores owned by different "families" or groups. I have 4 stores within 20 minutes of my house, and one within walking distance of my office. There is a pretty big variation in the variety and quality of produce in each store. At lunchtime today I bought a pack of cherry tomatoes on the vine (99 cents) that was incredible, but never saw them at the 2 stores closest to my house. Not that the store by my office is any great shakes, but they must have a better produce buyer.

Brunch at my desk (busy morning)...cottage cheese, blueberries, white nectarine, cherries

I believe they fry the panko briefly to take some of the “raw” flavor off, but not so long as to brown it. You might just want to try toasting some briefly in a sautee pan?

Salad for dinner after an indulgent breakfast out with friends (full all day from those pancakes!)...endive, radish, english cuke, grape tomatoes, scallion, cooked shrimp. Simple lemon juice dressing with some fresh dill.

working at home...had leftover grilled salmon portion over lettuce from co-worker's garden and some sliced white grapes in the salad. They were pretty sour, so I thought they would be better in the salad, which they were. TJ's champagne vinaigrette dressing. No photo as I had to guard it from a highly interested cat.

Well, if that sandwich were made with Corned Beef (common deli sandwich in this area), they would call it a Corned Beef Special (Turkey Special exists also, one of my fav's). So it was likely your family adapting the NY area deli concept to their preferred/available deli meat.

Toastie...gigantic slice of rye bread (freezer to micro, then toaster oven) with Jarlsberg cheese on top. Couple of grape tomatoes on the side. Black coffee. Working from home with a dastardly summer cold and my sense of taste is dulled, but I appreciated the texture of the crispy bread crust.

Pan seared dry sea scallops, salad of yellow tomato and cuke, packaged green curry rice. Boy, there is nothing tastier than the fond from scallops seared in butter. Shellfish caramel.

NJ example...I put a package of raw chicken into a single use plastic bag because I didn't trust it not to leak. When I got to checkout, the cashier was frustrated with getting the bar code to scan so she just tore a hole in the outer plastic bag.

My husband is the Griller in Chief, but he's not patient or particularly skilled. So I put the seasoned salmon on a piece of foil (skin down) just as a barrier between fish and grate. Makes it easy to remove the skin, since it will want to stick to the foil after cooking.

desk breakfast...cottage cheese, peach, grape nuts, sliced toasted almonds, dash of cinnamon.

@Kim Shook, I am inspired by your 'tater and have resolved to make extra baked potatoes and yams next time I am cooking them. I think some topped potatoes will be in future lunch plans.

I loved vegetables as a kid and still do. My sister wasn't so much of a fan as a kid then was a vegetarian for a while as an adult. No predicting. Finding some kind of sauce or topping that they like for the veggies will persuade most kids to eat some of them more willingly.

Lit the grill for the first time this year. Grilled boneless chicken breasts, yams (par cooked halfway in micro), zucchini. Also did a batch of extra firm tofu that I coated with a dijon based marinade, put the slices on oiled foil so the bottom would brown...future lunches.

not so dissimilar from the problem with kids eating detergent pods, they look too much like a candy product.

@Darienne, I’m sure you could tear up some of those slices and stack up the bits to make a larger mass to stuff the rice balls. Even if not perfect, they are tasty. A recipe born from using up leftovers.

If it is the firm block type mozz (ie, not the ball in brine) you can cut cubes and make mozz stuffed meatballs, or arancini. Neither uses a tremendous amount of cheese, but mozz (if in a sealed pack, I'm thinking of the stuff like Polly-O in the US) will keep for a while in the fridge if unopened.

Cottage cheese with first peach of the season (surprisingly good) and a few chopped nuts.

Made banana muffins (with carob chips) today, the recipe calls for 1 1/4 cups flour, I used 1/4c almond flour and the remainder whole wheat. Not sure that it made a huge difference, but they are pretty moist. I will have to try it with the vegan recipe I have also made, it would likely be more noticeable. May bump it up to 3/8 cup almond flour.