FauxPas

What brand/model is that, @cyalexa?

Wow, that really is slow. And I don't mean the oven. My basic Maytag oven here took about 11 mins to get to temp on a chilly morning. I have a convection oven at the other place and it seems faster, but I will have to check to see if that's the case. Good test!

For awhile the best was listening to John Kessler and his All Blues program on KPLU (National Public Radio) on weekends. And many of the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) or Radio-Canada offerings are wonderful and quite eclectic.

She's so upbeat and her excitement is contagious, isn't it? And she really was inventive at times, though I haven't looked at her site for a while now. I hope you will share some details/pics of meals you cook!

I'm so enjoying this thread! It was 80F (27C) here in Tucson today, but I have spent some time in cold and snow and with a few storms/power outages. ChefMD, I love the spirit of your building, what a great idea to have a party! It's great to hear from people and their experiences. The one thing I loved about big snowstorms in the city was how quiet the streets could get. Even in cities where the traffic keeps moving, the snow muffles the sound. I hope the storm doesn't cause too much hardship for people, though.

Wow, I really admire you for taking this on and making it work! I'd love to see more pics if you have them and hear more about some of your fave meals. (I don't need the spreadsheet, I don't ever plan on doing this, just enjoy hearing about some more details if possible.)

Chef Steps has a nice overview of different cook times and temps: https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/short-ribs-time-and-temp Watch the short video and then scroll down for the details I haven't tried this myself, though I keep meaning to. Got distracted with the Instant Pot and did some short ribs in it.

Found the other two I used to peruse: Please Don't Pass the Salt at http://dontsalt.blogspot.com/ and The Daily Dish at http://thedailydish.us/

I forgot about another site that I used to find very useful - Sodium Girl's site: http://www.sodiumgirl.com/ The name seems odd, but she has to eat a very low sodium diet due to kidney disease. Her approach is fun and fairly inventive. Somewhere on her web site, I am sure she recommends some other sites, but I couldn't find that with a quick search. She also wrote a cookbook (link is on her web site), not sure how good it is though it gets decent reviews on Amazon. Amazon has some used copies listed. And also there is a web store for low sodium foods called Healthy Heart Market. If you need a sodium-free baking soda or powder or salt-free pickles, they have them. Also low sodium condiments, soups, etc. http://healthyheartmarket.com/

I had to do some very low sodium cooking a few years back and found that the cookbooks written by Donald Gazzaniga were very useful. They get good reviews from others at Amazon and a couple of them are inexpensive or you can get used copies. I see one is only $1.99 for the Kindle version today (the Soup, Salad and Sandwich one). I used some of his bread recipes and thought they were pretty decent. I liked some of his spice blends. http://www.amazon.com/Donald-A.-Gazzaniga/e/B001ITVYRU Edited to add: I also liked some of the ideas in one of Dick Logue's books. He has a few others out, though not all may be low sodium cookbooks. http://www.amazon.com/Dick-Logue/e/B001JPBQPS/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1453519441&sr=1-1

I think the CSO is my fave way to cook chicken, haven't done turkey yet but I should remedy that. Your breasts and bacon look delish!

Fine Cooking has an interactive Create Your Own Braised Short Ribs that includes some interesting variations and suggestions. http://www.finecooking.com/articles/cyor/braised-short-ribs.aspx

But you do have some Peet's coffee! That's my husband's favorite, It's just about the only brand of coffee he drinks at home now. Edited to add: I think that makes him a "Peetnik", ha.

I like SV for pork tenderloin, some chops and chicken breasts because it's so easy (for me!) to overcook them using other methods. With SV, the meat gets uniformly cooked to a nice temp and then only a quick sear is needed and they stay moist and yet they are cooked and w/o having to cook them for a really long time. Edited to add: Maybe you were just trying to say that a tender cut like pork tenderloin doesn't benefit from a long SV cook?

I've been cooking up some Rancho Gordo beans also! I often cook a bunch and then freeze them in small portions so we can use them for quick meals later. Today was Domingo Rojo beans and they are lovely! I had some butternut squash and tomatoes that really needed to be used, and borrowed from a recipe for Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili from Simple Bites. This is hardly an original starting point, but I liked Aimée's seasonings and the maple syrup was not a bad addition. I subbed the squash for the sweet potato and skipped the cornmeal, but had some seasoned pumpkin seeds for topping. Edited to add: I roasted the squash and then added it to the stew at the end, because I adore that roasted flavour. We have had such good luck with avocados lately. (This stands out, because we have had more than our fair share of crappy avocados!) Someone wrote a recipe about 'what to do with the green part of the avocado,' because it is so easy to find brown or black and bruised ones. But we have been trying to use up ones we bought for a song and they have been almost all beautiful and green and creamy, so we started with a super simple avocado, tomato and cucumber salad. And then this simple stew.

Last night we had Lemony Chicken with Fresh Coriander based on Madhur Jaffrey's recipe. (The link goes to a Serious Eats version, which I think is pretty similar). Also, some Chana Masala + Gobi (ha, I like cauliflower in it). Basmati rice.

I brought some home from the Caribbean (Grenada) some years ago. I remember removing the hard outer shell, but can't remember how I did it. You don't want to smash the seed inside, but you need a bit of force to crack the shell. Can't remember if I used a nutcracker or a hammer and towel, but probably one of those two.

I was reading on the Instant Pot Facebook group and someone recommended using aquarium charcoal filters to keep the smells out of the Instant Pot. They say to place a filter in the pot and close the lid when not in use and the filter will absorb all the odors from the sealing ring. They say it is safe to be used in food vessels, but I wonder if anyone has any thoughts on that?

Finally found a site that describes this - http://www.fareisle.com/etsy-items/fare-isle-wildcrafted-jamaican-whole-nutmeg-in-mace-shell

I'm pretty sure that the shell is considered inedible. The mace has already been removed from those pictured nuts. Inside the pulpy fruit (pictured on the tree) is the mace-encased shell with the nutmeg kernel inside. I would crack open the hard shell and extract the kernel from inside and use it (grate it). Leaving the shell on will extend the shelf life of the kernel though it will last pretty well even without it. Edited to add: I buy whole nutmeg from Penzey's and it is the dull-looking nut, not the shiny shell.

I'm not positive, but it looks pretty close! Is yours as curved as the Kuhn Rikon one? Maybe it's for scraping something else...

Corn scraper? http://www.chefsresource.com/kuhn-rikon-corn-zipper.html?gclid=Cj0KEQiAzai0BRCs2Yydo8yptuIBEiQAN3_lFoDvN9M0ixEJGM1bXdRyU4nFK87iNgdnEHcBy2LaBFkaAuDM8P8HAQ

Beef and bean leftovers made for a super-easy and simple dinner of burritos with cheese and side veggies.

The Moosewood 40th Anniversary Cookbook (Kindle edition) is only $1.99 right now at Amazon. Not sure if that is short-term or regular pricing.

I'm very minimalist when it comes to kitchen gear, but I am enjoying the Instant Pot. I like being able to slow cook as well as pressure cook in the same pot. I had a small chuck roast in the freezer and after thawing it overnight it spent all day in slow-cook mode, along with some lovely tomatoes, peppers and spices and a bit of tequila. I started with this recipe from Serious Eats, but I did the beans on the side and only added them in toward the end of cooking. It was really really good. I should have made tortillas but we had to pick up some friends from the airport just before dinner and that made timing a bit awkward. Even so, my store bought tortillas look awfully pale, I should have done better by them, ha. This was also on dinner thread. I did my crema fairly liquid so I could use a squeeze bottle but was in a hurry and it didn't squeeze very well, still clumpy! We were too hungry to pretty up the pics, sorry.