FauxPas

Maybe a tamale pie? To me, that means something along the lines of beans, tomato and mixed peppers covered with a cornbread topping and baked. I like to add quite a bit of chopped jalapenos. Ground beef can also be added. Edited to add: I don't know that a recipe is needed for a dish like this, but here's Kenji's version: https://www.seriouseats.com/american-tamale-pie-quick-and-easy-food-lab-recipe

I do think some of her recipes look decent. I have two of her books, Dessert for Two and Comfort & Joy: Cooking for Two but I never seem to get around to actually cooking from either. Not sure why, really. We don't eat a lot of desserts maybe? 😄

Christina Lane has a website called Dessert for Two and 4 cookbooks that are all dedicated to small-batch baking and cooking. I've made a couple of things from her recipes (brownies or blondies, I think) though I keep meaning to try others, like some of the cookie or 6" cake recipes. She also has savory recipes, despite the name of her website. She also has some recipes to use up leftover egg yolks or whites. I think her books may be a bit overpriced but there are lots of recipes on the website.

If @JoNorvelleWalkerchimes in, she may mention another Canadian company, SpiceTrekkers. They may have a better selection, lower shipping rates and a lower minimum for free shipping. Also, they have specials now and then and reduced shipping. Edited to add: The link is to their peppercorn selection, which seems pretty decent to me. But their prices are a bit high overall.

When we were in Arizona, our basic table pepper was Trader Joe's Rainbow Peppercorns with the built-in grinder. The price was very reasonable and I thought it was a decent product. I wish we could get this up here. Trader Joe's Rainbow Peppercorns , a Mixture of Brazilian Pink, Indian Green, Malaysian White and Indian Black Tellicherry Peppercorns Photo from Amazon listing.

Mmmmm, the meat pies and ham & pea soup are both delicious things also. Do you have any special seasonings or additions for your ham & pea soup? I occasionally use a bit of Kirkland Organic No-Salt Seasoning Blend for some soups. It's not essential but it's a nice blend and adds a nice little punch without much effort. I used it this time. It might have been discontinued by Costco, though. Too bad, it was also nice used in other ways. I see it's available at Amazon for several times the price that Costco charged for it. 😞

As I started making dinner last night, I wondered how many people were making the exact same meal. Turkey stock from Christmas bird carcass, some leftover meat, veggies and egg noodles. I look forward to the turkey soup as much as the freshly cooked bird! Tonight's NYE dinner will be NY striploin, lobster and simple salad.

I noticed that Martha Stewart's version of Instant Pot caramelized onions, she used the pressure cooker function on high for only 5 minutes, then drains the onions to reduce the liquid and returns them to the pot on Sauté for another 5 minutes. In her example, 2 lbs of onions are equal to 8 cups sliced and give a final yield of 2.5 cups cooked. That still sounds a bit wet, compared to @blue_dolphin's ratios. This is the Martha Stewart link. https://www.marthastewart.com/1540713/instant-pot-caramelized-onions

Completely agree with this, I learned to use white onions instead of yellow for Mexican cooking, unless a red is specified! 🙂 The taste is just not right with the yellow ones.

Do you do any gardening there, @gulfporter? It might not be too hard to grow some scallions.

@SmithyI'll just repeat @Shelby's comments about hoping for a mild case and short-lived! It's never fun to be sick and tough to have to cancel holiday plans. 😞

Like others, I often use the powdered or granulated forms as components in a dry rub, especially for beef and pork.

In that recipe, the sugar goes in with all the other ingredients at the start of braising, right after browning the meat. I put it in toward the end of cooking because it's easier to judge the amount required at that point. I add sugar 'to taste', I'm sure you know what I mean! 🙂

I don't use a recipe anymore, but this one is similar to what I usually do. I use pork shoulder steaks, usually use more vinegar than soy sauce and brown sugar instead of white, which I add at the end of cooking. My total cooking time is usually only about an hour, I don't even bother covering the pan at times but just let it gently simmer and turn it every 15 mins or so. It's a simple dish, but there really are a lot of variations! 🙂

I've been trying to use up some bits and pieces and things have not been that inventive lately. Chicken fajitas. Also added some sliced avocado on the side. That "famous" roasted tomato and feta cheese pasta sauce (with lots of garlic, yum). I had a big container of lovely mixed cherry tomatoes from Costco and it was a good way to finish off the remainder. I only had freeze-dried basil which is tasty, but not nearly as photogenic as fresh. Filipino pork adobo, a favourite of ours. I made a slightly darker and thicker sauce than usual. Spag Bol with some nice ground chuck and mushrooms and rather a lot of Parm Reg on top. I used Muir Glen's crushed fire-roasted tomatoes and I have to agree with @weinoo that they really can be tasty. With leftover pasta and sauce, I baked in small casserole dishes with mixed cheese topping for the following night's dinner.

Check the Sprouts Market in Yuma. The Tucson stores would carry duck, especially at Christmas, and it looks like the one there should also. https://shop.sprouts.com/search?search_term=duck&search_is_autocomplete=true Edited to add: They may also sell jars of duck fat. 🙂

When I look at the seed catalogues, the Spanish onions are usually characterized as a type of yellow onion, but a bit sweeter or milder than the usual yellow onion. I don't know that the shape looks very different though. https://mckenzieseeds.com/collections/onion/products/onion-valencia-italian Stokes classifies Walla Walla as a Spanish onion. It also has white Spanish onions. I may be even more confused than I was before. 🙂 https://www.stokeseeds.com/ca/vegetables/onion?product_list_limit=36 https://www.stokeseeds.com/ca/white-sweet-spanish-white-onion-spanish-o-p-217-group

Chatelaine magazine did a little piece on 15 fave Canadian hot sauces. They say they sampled more than 120 made-in-Canada sauces. https://www.chatelaine.com/food/best-canadian-hot-sauces/ There's an impressive store in Ottawa that sells a gazillion different sauces. They say they have Canada's largest hot sauce collection and they have online ordering if you want to try some of them out. 😄 https://chillychiles.com/ I bought some hot sauce at the local Farmers' Market last year. It was a delicious fermented sauce that I really enjoyed (my husband isn't a fan of 'hot'). It was made by some of the people that operate the local Yellow Deli restaurant, a place I didn't really know. Then I looked it up and it seems to be operated by some kind of cult. I don't really want to support the cult, but I did like that sauce. 🙂

I thought these were beautiful, but I don't see myself actually getting around to making them. Maybe I can talk a friend into doing them with me to get me motivated. I love the Isomalt clear centres in some of them. I've never used Isomalt, is it tricky? From this source: https://vancouversun.com/life/food/recipes/karen-gordon-spectacular-holiday-cookies-that-look-like-you-fussed

Wow, I thought they were pricey here. Regular price is $4.99 but they go on sale for $3.99 lately. Used to be on sale for $2.49. You have to try the Slam and see if it works with the TJ's ones! 😄

That's for sure! Have you ever tried the Slam? I did it once a long time ago, but I prefer my biscuits crispy and cold. I keep them in the fridge! 🙂

OOOHHH! Those "Aussie-style" must be just like Tim Tams. I adore Tim Tams (but only the original milk chocolate or the dark chocoate ones). I have known Aussies who do indeed love their Tim Tams, also. https://www.arnotts.com/products/tim-tam Do you remember how much they cost, @rotuts? They are stupidly expensive here most of the time, like $5 for a small box. Ooh, just checked and they are on sale at one of the stores, must make a trip over soon. 🙂

Wow, that's a good amount and so convenient to have something like that on hand. Thanks so much for sharing details of your life, it's always interesting!

I usually use a 6 qt IP, so don't know how much would fit in the 3 qt. I just put a cup or so of apple juice in the bottom, it's in place of water. I do think it adds a little bit of flavour. I do the ribs on high pressure for about 20 to 25 mins and then let them sit for a bit before I do the release. I've sometimes thought some kind of spicy apple BBQ sauce would be pretty awesome for the next step and I looked at some recipes but have never followed through on that part. Edited to add: You can still do a dry rub before the ribs go into the IP. I usually just do salt and pepper and maybe some garlic and onion powder.

Definitely an amazing deal for those ribs! And some lovely meals from them. I adore green beans. Do you ever cook pork ribs in your Instant Pot? That's my standard method for cooking them now, with apple juice instead of water. And since I have two IPs, I can cook a fair amount at once. Then they get brushed with sauce and briefly cooked in the oven or on the grill.