Shelby

That looks delicious Patti! I also have saved the salad recipe. I don't have the cranberries or I'd make it tonight to go with duck....I do have fresh cranberries but I don't think I'd like that as well......... edited to say I don't think I have enough slaw mix either. But I WILL be making this soon.

Our hunter friend requested ducks so I've been hoarding these in the freezer. And I think that was the smart thing to do because this cold weather seems to have sent them further south. A few weeks ago Ronnie and Scout were getting tons of them though. (I got Scoutie a new collar. It's pink much to Ronnie's dismay but she and I love it 😁) So I have 3 teal, 2 mallards and a pintail to roast tonight. I may also do some guts....... Side dishes are always a challenge it seems like. My two steam boys will be in use for the ducks and I really don't want to unload all the pans stored in my normal sized oven so that leaves the stove top as the only option. I might do stewed tomatoes. Maybe I could do scalloped potatoes and then while the ducks are resting I could throw them in the steam boy to brown on the top? The guys got up about 4:30 this morning and are out at the shooting house. It's really cold but the wind has layed down so they might see something.

As we all know, time gets away from me and every year it seems to get worse. Our friend got on his connecting flight--just barely. He like 10 mins between the time the first flight landed to get over to the second one. I think he's decided that it's worth it to pay a bit more for direct flights from now on and I don't blame him. I made breakfast burritos early in the day--I never can seem to make enough scrambled eggs the first time so it took even longer because I had to go back and make more. Ronnie found a breakfast sausage mix that he really likes so he seasoned up some venison burger with it for me. Just eggs, venison breakfast sausage, cheese, a bit of salsa and some jalapeños. I left out the usual tater tots that I love to make it less carby. So that's done. There's enough for every morning so they won't go hungry but I will offer to make breakfast sandwiches if they get sick of these. I decided to make spaghetti and meatballs for dinner (I get a carb pass when our friend is here lol). I've probably talked about these before but I LOVE Hank Shaw's Venison Meatball Recipe. I deviate a bit and use a tablespoon or so of Italian seasoning from Sam's instead of the fennel. And I use Lawry's salt instead of regular. OH and I used Italian bread crumbs to roll them in in place of plain. I neglected to take a picture but after you roll the balls in the bread crumbs you just fry them in a skillet using oil. Easy peasy. They had stopped for lunch and by the time they got home from hunting yesterday it was about 6:30 so I just made a mess of deviled eggs and put out some spicy dill pickle pretzels and every thing bagel cashews from Nuts.com. I have a very bad addiction to that place now. I threw together a salad (you'll probably see a lot of those this time) , boiled the pasta (I had fleeting thoughts of making pasta but that was quickly put out of my mind lol), buttered and wrapped up some of my homemade French bread and warmed it and dinner was done!

Thank you so much! Lol....Santa doesn't scare me but I do feel at times he's a bit judgy......... I LOVE your Christmas decorations, too. I hope you'll show us a bit That Coca Cola Santa was my Grammy's and as long as I can remember he was always out. The life size Santa was a gift from Ronnie's mom. She got my sister in law one too. Her's is more of an old-timey Santa with pinks and mauves. She saw them while on vacation with my in laws in Georgia I believe. I can't remember whether they drove them home or had them shipped but either way I know it was a lot because he's very heavy! Awwww I'm happy that you de-lurked! You should do it more often I love your tree idea! I might just copy you!

Hello! What the hell was I thinking up there saying I'd for sure be back on my game by now? 🙄🤣 For reasons I won't go into here Thanksgiving week was..........rough. BUT, time marches on and deer week stops for no woman! And I'm here! For some reason I prodded myself into decorating for Christmas early in November. Which is good because I promise it wouldn't have happened if it wasn't already done lol. I'm glad it's done, though, because I find the twinkle lights comforting . A few pictures of the house to get us in deer season mood lol: My mom and step dad sent me this gorgeous FRESH wreath. It's been years since I've had a real tree or anything so I'm really enjoying the fragrance. It's hanging in the kitchen where I can see it and smell it all the time. It's turned off pretty cold--which is an excellent thing. No worrying about it being too hot to hang a deer. I wrestled with going to the big city to the grocery store and Sam's.....but it snowed a bit on Monday and I just felt like staying home. We have enough food plus I ordered a big Misfits delivery that hopefully will be here Thursday to supplement my fresh veggie stash. Speaking of veggies, before it froze my brother and sister in law gave us about 80 lbs of green tomatoes. I had thoughts of relish etc. but in the end we simply packed them in boxes and let them ripen. It worked a treat! Soooooo...although they aren't exactly as good as just off the vine from the garden, they are miles above grocery store tomatoes. Very grateful to them for sharing (our garden got beaten to a pulp in that hail storm). And yay! Good tomatoes with meals! So, I'm off to finish cleaning a few things. Our hunter friend's flight was delayed from his starting point so fingers crossed he's able to make his connecting flight to get here. In a bit I'm going to start on breakfast burritos and prepping for dinner. I'll be back after a while!

I just love reading your posts.

I still get a box --or boxes weekly. I am rarely disappointed except when FedEx screws up and doesn't deliver. I LOVE those jam grapes. Along with eating them plain I've been making galettes. I smear some heated peanut butter over pie crust dough and then take the grapes and sprinkle them with a bit of cornstarch and sugar and then put them on top of the peanut butter. Peanut butter and jelly elevated.

Excellent excellent job, Patti! SO much work....the cooking the cleaning up. I'm exhausted reading about it. I'd dive head-first into that pan of macaroni if I could.

I also think it's great that you reused those containers. I don't think it's tacky at all! I promise you the people who got the store bought cornbread loved their meals as much as those who didn't!

Well, I don't know if it's just the mood I'm in or what, but I'm really enjoying these shows. I've never heard of any of the restaurants but I'm sure having fun googling and finding out more about them. There is a restaurant in Chicago called Feld. I'm reading that it's very....polarizing. I guess Reddit had some seriously scathing reviews that went viral. The chef serves about 30 dishes from a set tasting menu. They say it's minimalistic. I can't decide if I like it or if it's absolutely ridiculous lol.

Here's a link to @kayb's egg bites

Nah, I'm afraid of my stupidly expensive pizza oven so I never use it either 🤣 I'll search around on the IP topic here and see if I can find someone doing egg bites--I know someone did. I don't know how you feel about sous vide, but I've read that method does wonderful egg bites.

Egg bites might be something to look into.......I have a silicone thing that fits in my IP to make them with or of course you can bake them. So you could put however many in a package or container. Like mini quiches. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=egg+bite+container&adgrpid=189287244151&hvadid=779610896374&hvdev=c&hvexpln=0&hvlocphy=9024300&hvnetw=g&hvocijid=4548578429737499858--&hvqmt=e&hvrand=4548578429737499858&hvtargid=kwd-827536223903&hydadcr=15254_13597211_8075&mcid=4caf7b7e0ce831bd87c89e6092c67243&tag=googhydr-20&ref=pd_sl_1r7wwqo7c8_e

Documentary that started on October 10 on Apple TV. Gordon Ramsey is one --or maybe the only--producer. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt36935784/ I've watched the first episode that is based in NYC. I found it interesting. It was focused on three restaurants Cocodaq --trying to make the best fried chicken ever, The Musket Room -already has a star so trying to keep it, and Noksu which is located in the subway I think?. Anyway, anyone watching? Anyone eaten at these places?

I've been thinking (I'm getting older so it's a slower process lol) and I'll post ideas when they come to me. I'm keeping in mind that some ingredients are expensive...but I figure I'll put out my ideas anyway and maybe they can be modified etc. to be cheaper if needed. People always seem to like the ever present (at least around here) broccoli salad: Broccoli florets (could also add cauliflower florets) Chopped red onion (or white) Shredded sharp cheddar Crispy bacon Optional: roasted sunflower seeds (but adds a lot imo) Dressing: Stir up mayo (not miracle whip) sugar and red wine vinegar. Salt and and pepper to taste. (google will give you lots of recipes if you need amounts but I think you cook like I do and just wing it lol) ------ Red beans and rice with andouille and like a fruit side or salad side? ----- Some kind of gumbo--probably chicken would be on the less expensive side or sausage? --- I think the baked potato idea is great--maybe chili for the topping? Those little containers could hold some sour cream, diced green onions and shredded cheese?

I think this looks super delicious. I like the addition of the veg and an orange. And YAY Patti's husband! The labeling and the clean up would be the parts that I wouldn't like the most lol.

Ohhhh ok I see now. (thanks for copying/pasting--I don't have Instagram). Wow, you are doing a LOT. So admirable.

Patti it is SO good to see you! I definitely remember you and always loved seeing your cooking (and your gorgeous Christmas decorations ) And I think what you're doing is wonderful. I'm very interested in this and I am certain that others here will be, too , and will also have great feedback. I'm impressed with the variety that you've made. I imagine coming up with new ideas each week can sometimes be challenging. (reading this on a growling empty stomach was not smart on my part) I have a few questions--and forgive me if they are dumb ones but I'm not sure about some specifics about how food pantries work. Does the pantry have specific ingredients and budget that you must work with/use each week or do you choose the ingredients yourself and it must be under a certain dollar amount? Do they provide the packaging? Do other people volunteer and do the same thing for the other days of the week? Are there ever any gluten-free options or other types of options for folks with dietary restrictions? Just questions I've thought of off the top of my head. While it's not exactly the same situation, I thought of this topic right off the bat --Cooking for 50 Senior Citizens. It might give you some helpful ideas. I can't wait to see more and tag along with your weekly updates

Hi hi! Sorry for delay in answering! Like others have already suggested, I'd just blanch the beans in salted water, put in an ice bath, dry well, place on a flat tray, freeze and then bag. After that for sure you can do the cooked to death version that Kim and I always do. And, I know I've roasted some that I've frozen but they aren't going to be AS crisp as fresh would be.

Oh damn. Is this the green beans? I'm so sorry. So much work and, yeah, food prices. Don't give up.

CRAVING linguini and clam sauce. I even have decent canned clams...... Now THAT is a hot dog. And those buns look amazing. Good on your wife for doing great on the low carb thing! I've found it....challenging and I cheat too much. Ronnie is doing good, though, still. I have cauliflower on hand at all times it really comes in handy. I make a bake like that frequently. If you haven't tried it already, cauliflower "potato" salad is really good too. That looks so fresh and delicious. I think (fingers crossed) things are finally slowing down around here--I don't want to jinx myself. The last few days have been very rainy and coldish. I'm loving it. I guess one upside of a hailed out garden is that I'm not worried about cold and when it's going to freeze. We've made the trip twice now to buy tomatoes from the Amish farm.....I'm thinking about trying one more time but I better hurry up because it's supposed to frost/freeze later this week possibly. So, big salad night still has decent tomatoes. My mom came to see us! We were talking and having too much fun so I forgot to take a ton of pictures but here's a few: Welcome mom snack board We try to make two salads that we both love but our spouses don't--this time mom made the delicious ramen salad first and we didn't get the second salad done sigh. Platter of SV'd pork chops, deviled eggs and cheesy squash (did I mention a squash plant bounced back and is producing??? Those things are hardy I'm tellin' ya) Mom sent birthday cupcakes With sparklers! She also had a Skyline Chili kit sent that included hotdogs so Ronnie could have a low carb version. Super fun!!!! Another snack board As always her visit was too short but as always glad it happened Last night yellow squash pizza boats and a galette to use up a lot of the fruits that she and I had snacked on during her visit.

I'm so glad you are eating such gorgeous delicious looking tomatoes. Nice job not wasting any It about killed me but we drove a few miles to an Amish community not too far from here and bought some tomatoes. I can't remember the last time I bought homegrown tomatoes lol. But, I feel lucky to have gotten some and we'll probably go back the end of this week.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh this looks so buttery and delicious. I want. Looks excellent--I like not being the only bell pepper stuffer here lol. I also thought this was a bit too smokey--or maybe the smoke flavoring just isn't very good. I did like the pretzels though. Looks delicious--and your photography is great! Post more often please Phew. It's been a minute since I've posted in Dinner but I sure have been enjoying looking at everyone's creations. SV'd lamb chops and stuffed jalapenos (Ronnie's brother has a TON of beautiful peppers again this year. I need to search around here and find where I used up all those jalapeños last time) Pizza night Mexican stuffed peppers and beans Ronnie went to Texoma lake for a short fishing trip. Caught a ton of not very big striped bass. Not his favorite thing to catch but he came home with some so some for the freezer and some for dinner. Our collard greens have made a comeback from the damn hail so we that that along with. j SV'd pork chops, cooked to death green beans and mix of all of the cheesy vegetables I had in the fridge. 51st birthday dinner nice and easy. My mom and step dad sent shrimp, oysters, crab and dipping sauces--SO GOOD. So we had that plus cioppino that I bought from Goldbelly. Wings, chicken strips and the rest of the oysters and broccoli salad

Yeah that's a terrible smell.

Awww thanks--and thanks to everyone. I promise--barring any hail...natural disasters etc. lol--that I'll do better for deer season. I think I'll be back on my game by then