BeeZee

went out for lunch instead of sad desk lunch today...pho tom (chicken broth with shrimp, included baby bok choy, which was nice) and an appetizer of summer rolls with tofu. I'm stuffed.

Made the popular citrus baked chicken, along with unpictured asparagus and mashed yukon gold potatoes with sour cream and chives.

they do in the Princeton, NJ store also...but not all locations in NJ have liquor (of any type)

Split and toasted small sub-type roll, spread with Dijon and topped with some lightly smoked cracked pepper sardines from a tin, eaten open faced. Atulfo mango, perfectly ripe, for dessert.

Pressed some firm tofu, then made a paste with sesame oil, soy, garlic, 5 spice, ginger, mirin, chopped cilantro and scallion. Dabbed paste on cubed tofu and baked. Sliced some nice (thick-ish) asparagus (hello, Spring). Sautéed briefly, added remainder of paste diluted with water and some white miso, covered pan and simmered a couple of minutes. Added chopped water chestnut and baked tofu cubes and served with jasmine rice. Colors were pretty, didn't remember to take photo.

Whole wheat bagel with avocado smooshed into it, sprinkled with furikake.

I think chutney is usually cooked, incorporates pieces of things (be it fruit, ginger, herbs, etc). I always think of it as having a bit of spice, more of a savory/sweet. I can't remember the last time I ate jelly (as a young kid, PB&J with grape jelly was a given, but I later developed a taste for PB&strawberry preserves). Preserves are nice to mix into hot oatmeal, so you get it melted and have the pieces of fruit. A related question is, would fruit butter be an ultra-smooth jam?

I just bought a container of pre-cut mirepoix today at TJ's. First time...but I have to put something together quickly, I didn't have the veggies on hand, and the savings in time appealed to me at the moment. Weekday cooking is different than weekend. Stock, I have canned, boxed, and better than bullion. Plus smaller amounts in the freezer when I didn't need to use that whole can or carton (marked with amount, like 1/2c or 1c usually). Good to add to the water when making grains and such.

Bagels. I've never made bread, but bagels seem a bit more approachable. Heck, the ingredients are cheap and I'm paying $1 a bagel, so if one batch turns out edible I'm ahead. And I've seen some gorgeous homemade ones posted recently by Ann_T, which rekindled my resolve.

David Leibovitz tested cloves with and without the green sprout and found that he only tasted a difference when the garlic was used raw. Roasting whole garlic makes it sweeter, perhaps if you'd like to use garlic you could pre-roast it?

probably gorge on chocolates my husband buys them for me so he can shamelessly indulge

I just got a new gas range last month and it's definitely higher BTU's than the old one (there is one burner that 16,000 BTU) and I'm still adjusting to it. I don't look at the level of the flames, I just try to get a feel for each burner what the dial relates to relative to "high" "med" and "low". For example, on the higher output burner, on the very lowest setting, it won't allow a gentle simmer. And yes, when you set the dials to "low", you'll have a very short flame, not touching the bottom of the pan. People with touchy smoke detectors have advocated using a freestanding fan and having it near the detector to blow air thru it while cooking. Or in your case, heating the oven.

my Mom made them very occasionally, and she used canned salmon. I didn't watch the prep too closely as a kid...however I'd venture a guess that she would have pulled out any large bones. Had a comfort food yen a couple of weeks ago and ordered "fish cakes" at the local diner, which were probably half bread crumbs. Crispy, fish flavored bread crumb cakes. Kind of disappointing.

similarly...I purchased furikake recently (rice seasoning)...which is great sprinkled on plain rice or broiled fish. I think it will next be sprinkled on popcorn.

seems sort of like a fetish thing, hence the attractive women

Creamy curried cauliflower soup. Recipe from Whole Foods Market, tweaked per suggestions, roasted the cauliflower, onion, and garlic first. It is creamy from cooking in almond milk, then when soft you puree everything. I added some salt, white pepper, and a tiny bit of sugar to offset a slight bitterness (poor quality curry powder). You serve it with sunflower kernels that are toasted in curry. I think a dollop of chutney might be nice.

that is more or less the default threesome when I put cheese/crackers out for company...for plain eating Triscuits.

I'll check it but seeing as I use it every day in a pre-breakfast and not yummy drink, I don't think it could be. I didn't keep a list of the nuts I used but sometimes the walnuts are a bit off. I'll check those too. OTOH, DH liked them and now with chocolate coating, he's eating them with relish. (little joke here ) Sounds like your hubby is willing to eat most varieties...as long as chocolate enhanced! I was poking around the supermarket today, one which has a large section of imported Israeli products and they had date paste...which was noted on the tub as being good for baking...so I thought maybe it would be useful for a softer date to more easily mix in, but it had sugar added, which kind of defeats the purpose.

must have been the chickpeas. Unless the flax seed meal was rancid?

Chickpea in bars doesn't appeal...but I made roasted chickpeas the other day and yum. That's a good, healthy, savory snack.

inquiring minds wonder... how do you leave the iron clean enough that the unfortunate guest who next uses it to press their nice white shirt...doesn't get a stain?

Darienne, on the #1 bar you made with oatmeal and dried fruit, do you think the amount of honey was the culprit? Because generally I'd like a breakfast bar with oats and dried fruit and almonds (not a fan of chocolate chips for breakfast). I checked out the web site and I think I'd like the date-sweetened quinoa bars.

One thought is that many 3 year olds are picky about seeds, so maybe the raspberry part could be mousse layer? Unless you use seedless jam...

I will be interested to hear about the "winners". I like the convenience of the nutrition bars but agree that too many of them are formulated to resemble sweet cookies. Lara Bar is just dried fruit and nuts, but I prefer something with grains in the mix to lighten the texture.

I agree, I've never had an actual stem as fibrous as what I've had in the slaw mix at times...and I did try using it for stir fry, which was reasonably successful. Except the wood chips, which were never going to soften up.