BeeZee

I eat roasted chickpeas or favas for high protein, savory snack. Biena is a brand of chickpeas with various flavorings available in my supermarket, they have small pouches for single serve. Also dry roasted edamame (Seapoint Farms).

I had an avocado mishap that forced me to deal with very ripe flesh of one immediately, I squished it into a freezer ziploc bag, forced as much air out as I could, and threw in the freezer immediately. It did not turn brown. However, after defrosting 2 days later, it seemed that it started to oxidize much faster than one freshly cut (I'm thinking the mushed texture contributed to that). Stirred a little lemon juice in to arrest that. It was fine used as blobs on top of a bowl of chili, but I vote for freshly cut for guacamole.

Non-traditional, kitchen sink "chili" with chicken. Frankly it's pretty far-fetched to call it chili, it has beans and many of the spices you'd associate with chili, but I also include diced yam (I like the sweet offsetting the spicy), lentils, and brown rice. Served with some avocado and pickled jalapenos on the side for DH.

Cauliflower “fried rice” style with chicken and sugar snap peas. I boosted the flavor by dicing mushrooms and sauteeing them in a separate pan with onion powder until they gave up all of their liquid and dried out, they were more or less the same size as the grains of cauliflower. Kind of a brown dish, glad I had the snap peas for the color and sweetness.

How about rum soaked raisins!

David, if they are just vacuum sealed with nothing else, they will just kind of taste starchy and you likely won't notice them in your loaf. To make them stand out in your bread, maybe you can coarsely chop them and sort of lightly "candy" them in a pan to bring out the nice roasty flavor/sweetness?

With DH out of town and its Halloween it becomes a mainly chocolatarian area around here I did have a Wasa cracker with cheese for some nutrition, or just for some salt after all the sugar is more like it.

@Okanagancook, that’s pretty spectacular. How large was it and how many people did it feed.

My Mother is hosting, I will likely bring mushroom stuffing, which is moist and reheats really well. I've made it every time I've hosted, so I'll call it a Thanksgiving "regular" at the table. I also do "make ahead" turkey gravy using roasted turkey wings, since my DH eats gravy with a spoon and Mom didn't have enough one year and he was pouting.

I made some stuffed veg with a filling that was probably half mushroom; baked at 400 the mixture got nice and brown and the mushrooms had a terrific chewy texture (the filling had been sauteed until the liquid cooked out). Best of all was the few little bits that fell out onto the bottom of the pan and got really baked, sort of like mushroom jerky. I may try to recreate that with a sheet pan/parchment.

I remember seeing notes on the menu and/or table during one bad drought in NJ that water would not be served unless requested. Generally the waitstaff are asking for your beverage order “to start” as soon as dropping the menus, so I’ve not experienced any issue with getting water. The refill of said water....that is another issue...

Got a second blade in todays mail, probably 10-11 months after the initial request (I had sent 2 emails in, using different email addresses, maybe 3 weeks apart). Heck of a lag time.

Wait staff asking if you’d like dessert, before you’ve even finished the entree. In such a hurry to get that check closed out... Clearing the table while one person is still eating. And the follow up, asking the diner who is finished if they would like dessert, while the other person is still eating their entree.

@lindag, we got the little raisin boxes in our lunch box also, and the empty box was turned into a kazoo. I prefer golden raisins to the dark ones now.

I find that piece very appealing, as a dark crust lover. I would tear that off first.

http://www.philly.com/philly/food/holy-local-honey-for-the-high-holidays-20170914.html Honey from beehives on the roof of a synagogue in Philadelphia

Shop Rite Hamilton Marketplace (Route 130)- Mercer County. I just happened to look at the sticker as I was putting it into the fridge. Usually they are from Mexico.

The one from Whole Foods was excellent. I bought one last night at $1.99 from SR also, didn't realize until I got home that it is Peruvian, so we shall see.

Visited WF this morning and right in the entry vestibule was a big pile o' Haas avocados for $1.49, they all looked ripe (or past ripe). I grabbed one for lunch. Non-organic bananas are still 49 cents/lb, but apples were really cheap (less than my local Shop Rite), conventional Fuji apples $1.78/lb. One of my co-workers who is a regular shopper confirmed that she noticed produce prices have come down.

geez, @rarerollingobject, Monday a.m. in my office consisted of an Entemann's packaged coffee cake (yes, I punted on that).

Working my way thru a bag of TJ's half dried frozen figs. Defrosted some and chopped, mixed with cottage cheese for lunch. I liked these, so once the bag is done it will likely be replaced, only a temp freezer space saving.

the back roads in NJ driving towards the shore (my friend used to call it the Jersey Devil route) have some of these types of places. You might find a building next to a working farm with homemade pie and preserves. There are certain areas known for roadside BBQ (a lot of the guys are originally from the South), I passed one just yesterday in the middle of nowhere, farmland all around, I saw the steel drum/barrel with smoke curling out. NJ has gotten so developed, a lot of people don't realize how much open space does still exist off the beaten path. It is harder to find than in other areas of the country, no doubt.

2 more gone from freezer. Leftover zucchini casserole (sort of like noodle-less lasagne), added some darkly roasted cauliflower bits (dated from Feb) mixed with parm cheese, crumblike texture, used them as the bottom layer in the pan. Frozen prepared crabcakes (only 3 days in freezer, quick turnover!). I am now realizing I have more froz veg than I thought, may be soup time soon.

this topic has helped me be more diligent about not stockpiling things in the freezer. Our household is 2 adults and frankly I usually just cook on the weekends due to work/life schedules. I'm more apt to portion things for lunch size, so I'm more likely to get the stuff rotated out more quickly if I can grab a small container to take during the week. DH doesn't seem to recognize anything in the freezer unless it has a popsicle stick in it.

various things from Whole Foods salad bar, and they still have heirloom tomatoes so I got another Purple Cherokee while I could, at $3.99/lb that one tomato cost me $2.47. Worth it, I had a crusty seeded roll, some spreadable goat cheese, and slabs of that tomato, open faced. I eat after everyone is gone from the office kitchen so they won't see me licking the tomato juice off my fingers.