blue_dolphin

@Smithy, thinking of unseasoned beans reminded me of several baking recipes in Joe Yonan's book, Cool Beans. Do you have that one? There's a Coconut cream bean pie, Five-spice pumpkin-oat muffins, Plantain, black sesame, and white bean quick bread, Cardamom, lime, and white bean bundt cake and Mint chocolate chip and white bean-oat cookies. They sound very curious but if you're in the mood to play around, they could be fun!

Yeah, mine came with three and I bought 2 more. I see all sorts of options in the Creami ads peppering my feeds over this holiday season and lead-up to Amazon/Walmart/Target days. I agree that frozen yogurt is nice to make but I already have a blender that makes good smoothies, milkshakes, frozen drinks and slushies in quart-plus quantities with no need to pre-freeze anything other than ice cubes so there's no big advantage there for me (who believes 1/2 a pint to be a VERY large serving of ice cream but can empty a pint of a watermelon frozé slushy in no time on a hot day) YMMV

@Smithy, I can't speak from direct experience as I always season the beans while cooking but I agree with @Maison Rustique's suggestion of a bean dip or spread of some sort. It's always my go-to for an overcooked bean. This recipe from Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Every Day for a white bean spread with rosemary and toasted almonds is one of my favorites. The garlic and rosemary are gently warmed in olive oil and then strained out so their flavors are mellow rather than harsh. One of the best things I made recently with Royal Coronas was a recipe for mustard-marinated beans with shaved asparagus and parsley from Abra Berens' Grist. See photo in this post. Any combo of a crunchy + a leafy green would work. My beans were slightly overcooked but mixing them gently with the vinaigrette helped them stay separate and seasoned them nicely as well. Do warm them up so they'll absorb the seasonings well. Her vinaigrette (1 shallot, minced, 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/4 cup whole grain or Dijon mustard, 1/2 t salt) packs a nice mustardy punch, but I'm sure you could use your favorite dressing. Edited to add that I used half whole grain and half Dijon in the dressing.

I'll go ahead and add my 2 cents on the the Ninja Creami. You specified a batch size of 1 - 2 qts. The Creami containers hold either 1 pint for the original or 1.5 pts for the newer machine. Neither are going to make the batch size you specified although it's possible to prep and freeze multiple Creami containers (assuming you've purchased them) and spin them one after the other. If you want to learn about the art and science of ice cream making, a true ice cream machine is probably the better choice. There will likely be a learning curve. If you want to play around with lots of flavors, make quick sorbets or frozen yogurt from summer fruit, those small Creami containers are a plus. You can spin as little as 1/3 of a pint. You don't really need to learn a lot about ice cream to use the thing. You may need to put stuff back in the freezer to firm up if the spin cycle warmed your mix up too much or you might need a quick re-spin if your ice cream has gotten too hard sitting in the freezer but it's usually pretty edible once you've gotten that down. If you do get a Creami, I'd recommend skipping their recipes, unless they've improved them a lot. I tend to use ice cream recipes from my cookbooks or that handy sorbet template that was shared here a while back.

You might peruse this topic about the Ninja Creami. Quite a few of us have one. And this topic on homemade ice cream may also be of interest.

I guess I'm a lazy eater but I also prefer salads with more bite-sized ingredients than something that needs carving. I've gone to Little Gem lettuce in a Caesar instead of full-size Romaine. More crunch, less limp. Some curly escarole/frisée in the mix if I've got it for a touch of bitterness.

Arancini are one of the best reasons I know to make risotto and those look great! Two holiday appropriate lunches. Yesterday, I had a spiral-cut kimchi dog with cabbage and watermelon radish slaw dressed with yuzu koshu mayo and Homesteader's New England Baked Beans from Cool Beans. Today, I pulled out a foil packet that I thought was pulled pork but turned out to be pork belly burnt ends. I could only make out ZEF BBQ Pork on the label 🙃 No matter, I sliced and crisped them up and they made for a fine sandwich. Same slaw as yesterday on the sandwich but with Southern Baked Beans, also from Cool Beans, instead of the New England style. I was curious to try both vegan baked bean recipes as I usually put some sort of pork into baked beans. The New England style were a bit sweet and very mushy (baking 8 hrs after they're already very tender will do that). The Southern Baked beans were good texture-wise but could have used a touch of the sweetness and vinegar in the first recipe. They have now been combined and we'll see how that works tomorrow!

I've picked up the TJ's kimchi to use in a pinch. It is indeed a very small jar, and like the kraut, it’s more of a fresh, lightly fermented kimchi. Not my first choice but I didn’t find it leaving as much to be desired as @rotuts did. I think it would be a good intro to kimchi - very easy to use a pair of scissors to chop up the contents right in the little jar and spoon out a small amount.

The only sauerkraut I've made is the one from Vivian Howard's This Will Make It Taste Good, which also included cucumber, though hers specifies English rather then Persian. I ended up using this TJ's kraut in the book recipes when mine ran out. I found the flavor of this to be very similar to what I made: more fresh, tangy and pickle-y than seriously funky.

This article agrees with what @Maison Rustique said, What Is Cornmeal and Which Type Should You Buy?

At least check out the airport with me! I'd pay money for a food tour of that Singapore airport led by @KennethT with wine and beverage commentary by his wife!

Seen on Facebook, tagged #momhacks

Curry Gai Lan Chow Fun from Tenderheart

@Pete Fred, you nailed it! Strawberries and ice cream are the best uses for that extra vecchio stuff, at least in my book!

Grilled white sea bass from the weekly fish share with a pat of Gabrielle Hamilton's preserved lemon compound butter, along with my riff on a za'atar zucchini pasta dish from Tenderheart. The recipe called for instant ramen noodles but they refused to come forth from the pantry when I summoned them so I went with these little lemon guys from Trader Joe's which only take 5 or 6 min to cook. Also, I added sugar snap peas and little cherry tomatoes