BeeZee

Cod baked with panko breadcrumbs, I brushed dijon on top of the fillets then pressed the panko mixed w/melted butter on top. Steamed whole green beans with a drizzle of balsamic, and a multi-grain/cous cous mix from TJ’s.

Much anticipation...Japan is a bucket list destination for me, sometimes I look at Air BNB and dream...

Having only had Chick-Fil-A, their chicken has a thin coating, and is fried, but not terribly crunchy because that coating doesn't have much texture. From what I see advertised the others have more of a thick coating as you'd expect of fried chicken, providing more of a "crunch".

A nearby Chick-fil-A relocated closer to my office (walking distance) and opened this week so I decided to head over for lunch. They have a special/limited time honey/pepper pimento cheese chicken sandwich which I decided to try. I'm not a fast food consumer for the most part, maybe 1-2 times a year I get their cold chicken wrap sandwich. The specialty sandwich was a bit more expensive than the standard sandwich, $7.25, and freshly prepared - the chicken filet was clearly just out of the fryer, it almost burned my tongue. It was perfectly acceptable for what it was, if a bit blander overall than what I anticipated.

A healthy version of “baked ziti” (vegetarian), cleaned out the freezer of some homemade tomato sauce and TVP crumbles. Roasted eggplant cubes, sauteed zucchini before combining. No ricotta, just mozzarella, and we enjoyed the lighter take. Only used 4oz penne for the 11x17 pan (6 servings).

I usually find one fingernail suspiciously flatter after doing that. Collagen anyone?

Had a couple of meals worth of leftovers from Rosh Hashana dinner on Saturday, which was welcome after playing golf. Chicken breasts that had been cooked with a mixture of orange marmelade/dijon; honey/balsamic roasted carrots (very good at room temp); noodle kugel with dried apricots.

Cherry tomatoes from former co-worker's garden. He's so sweet, he knows I really miss his fresh veggie gifts.

A second “last hurrah” to summer foods, made a huge batch of ratatouille. The mise nearly made me give up, cutting everything into 1/2” dice took forever (yeah, I’m slow). Had some of it for dinner with baked haddock and rice, the remainder containered up for another dinner and a couple of lunch portions. Looking forward to the leftovers, since it only gets better with reheating.

Once a summer we do a turkey burger feast, just squeezed in for the last (unofficial) weekend of summer. NJ tomatoes, coleslaw, refrigerator pickles, grilled sweet onion, avocado, cracked wheat buns (nothing special, they just had a weird wrinkly texture). I grated some zucchini and squeezed it pretty dry to add to the ground turkey, it kept them very moist. Some panko in the mix helped hold them together.

Arugula pesto can be used to dress lots of things, it uses a good amount of greens! Green shakshuka (so I hear, I avoid eggs...) Spinach enchiladas Spinach lasagna

Right, so you'll have a giant shrink-wrapped pallet dropped most likely at the end of your driveway, in the street. You need to unwrap everything to check for freight damage immediately. Better hope for a rain-free delivery day.😉

Local supermarket had snow crab legs on sale, so we had a feast. Five minutes in boiling water to heat them, and they were perfect. Served with salad and sweet potato fries (frozen, cooked in oven). Melted butter for dipping.

I will be interested in what you think, I am almost out of plastic wrap and they are supposed to have this in stock at Ocean State Job Lot, which opened a store very recently about 15-20 minutes away from me. I often use plastic wrap to separate items within larger freezer bags or containers.

WW bagel with cream cheese and locally grown heirloom tomato (which was a little mealy, TBH, but still tasty).

Had a lunch time presentation in Philadelphia's Chinatown neighborhood, so afterwards I grabbed a Vegetarian bahn mi (grilled tofu) from Bahn Mi Cali and found a place to sit outdoors and enjoy the nice day. They had asked if I wanted hot sauce and I said "no" thinking there might already be jalapeños...but there were not, so the sandwich was lacking a little zest. Photo from their website, I was eating my sandwich out of a brown bag in a parking lot. Pigeon got the crumbs.

Another Trader Joe’s recall, possible metal fragments in crackers. I know they use different vendors for all of these items that have had foreign bodies, but holy cow.

In N.J., I've only been able to get frozen grouper at Wegmans. However, my crappy Shop Rite supermarket has small vac packs of ground bison meat and venison in the tiny Organic meat case.

I have the exact same gripper, purchased a couple of months ago, it has good thickness to it.

@Paul Bacino, Purple Cherokee is my favorite, as well, what is the flavor profile of the Pineapple tomato (sweet/acidic?)

I had a new to me fish tonight, ocean perch. The fillets have a beautiful red skin (similar to snapper) and the flesh was sweet and moist. I cooked it simply on a piece of foil on the grill, skin side down. Just brushed the flesh with a little oil and some basic seasonings, it lifted nicely off the skin when done. Red sweet potato (par cooked in micro, finished on grill) and Greek salad with lots of fresh dill, got some nice NJ tomatoes.

This is the best time of year for fruit...cherries and nectarine with Greek yogurt

I was skeptical when I saw it posted online, but you can prevent cut apples from browning by soaking for 10 minutes in a salt water solution (1/2 tsp sea salt dissolved in 1c water). Rinse them off to remove the salty water, pat dry, and good to go. I took a bag full of slices for golfing snacks and they were fine for 5 hours. I've read of a similar method using honey diluted in water, but I may save that for a time when I can wash my hands if needed.

Something going on with Trader Joe's, last week there was a recall of cookies due to rocks, today it was fully cooked falafel with rocks.

With really good tomatoes, I have my sandwich open-faced. Bread is the carrier.