blue_dolphin

My condolences, @Kim Shook, on your mom's passing. Where I grew up, it was very common to hold springtime burial services for those who had passed away in the winter while the ground was frozen. I always felt it was a bit wrenching for the families to revisit that grief at a distance and even more so for everyone who lost loved ones in these last few years and had to postpone gatherings. How lovely of your friend to handle the food, too. It's so nice to be able to visit with people over a bit of food and drink, especially when they may have traveled a ways. My lunch today - spaghetti with asparagus fashioned after the recipe for pasta alla gricia with sugar snap peas in Six Seasons. Asparagus going in for the sugar snaps is the obvious sub but I also used diced country ham instead of pancetta. Those little biscuit slices from Broadbent's are ever so handy to have on hand! The asparagus spears were big and fat but very tender and delicious. I peeled about the last inch or so but I don't think it was necessary.

Not exactly the sweet treats shared thus far in this topic but I paid a visit to a local-ish bakery this morning and figured I could share here. Roan Mills grows the grain, mills it into flour and bakes a range of goods they sell at the bakery in Fillmore, CA and at local farmers markets. On the sweet side, today they had several kinds of croissants, scones and pies. The same family own Kenter Canyon Farms and since the pandemic, they have been offering their produce in the bakery. What I bought today: Clockwise from the nice organic asparagus are a bag of polenta, a Sonora sandwich loaf, sourdough baguette, English muffins, a bunch of tarragon, a bag of mixed cremini, shiitake and oyster mushrooms, a frozen packet of Gorgonzola, toasted walnut and endive ravioli . In the center, a very tasty roasted mushroom hand pie that I had for breakfast (brunch?) when I got home.

I love Massa Organics brown rice. It's medium grain, not the short grain you ask for but it's absolutely chewy, hearty and not mushy, at least as I cook it in the Instant Pot. I realize it's not what you asked for but it's very good stuff. Not sure where you would most easily find it locally.

This thread got me to check into what food delivery services might be available for low income seniors in my area so I consulted the website of the largest area food bank. I was rather shocked at just how low the threshold is. They are using 130% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines as the qualifier and show the table below on their website. Sounds reasonable, doesn't it? But before looking at the table, consider that the average rent for a 1-bedroom apartment around here is $2305/month. Good grief.

I figure food is cooked if heat has been applied to it.

Yes, I'm sure this is due to all the planning work you did up front but it really does seem to be moving quickly....of course I wasn't the one washing dishes in the bathroom 🤣 Looks really great!

Does anyone have both the book being discussed in this thread, Super Easy Instant Pot Cookbook: Quick Prep, One-Pot, 5-Ingredient, 30-Minute Recipes (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) published this month and the somewhat older title, 5-Ingredient Instant Pot Cookbook: Simple Recipes to Get Meals on the Table Faster (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) that was published in Nov 2021? The titles are a bit similar so I was wondering how they differ?

Excellent idea! I was going suggest making a paw-paw shrub with coconut vinegar but making paw-paw vinegar would be even better!

I know nothing of Paw-Paws but have made a number of fruit-infused liqueurs. With a fresh, ripe fruit, you don’t need a high proof spirit or the very lengthy infusion times as often recommended for limoncello. Choose your base spirit based on your intended use and personal preferences. Vodka will be most neutral and let the fruit flavor dominate. A white rum or blanco or reposado tequila might also be nice. I’d recommend this recipe for tequila por mi amante as a guide for you to use with vodka, rum or tequila, as you like. Use the paw paw flesh without skin or seeds in case they have any bitter flavors. Or leave them in to see what happens. In any case, the infused spirit will taste smoother after it sits a while after straining. You can sweeten it at this time, as one would do with limoncello but I’ve found fruits like berries or melon to be pleasantly sweet without added sugar. Edited to say that you can add some citric acid and malic acid for a bit of tang if that’s needed.

I suppose they could be pancakes...I always make all the waffles. I eat the last one, freeze the rest and enjoy resurrecting them into sandwiches or just themselves with different toppings. Do report back on your preferences. Edited to add that I guess a year is a long time to wait!

Great looking bagels, @Dave R! I know Stella Parks (aka Brave Tart) has a food processor bagel recipe over on Serious Eats. I was interested in trying that mixing method but not her exact recipe so it's good to know that you had good results with it. I've been using my KitchenAid mixer but with the smallish (6 bagel) recipes in Cathy Barrow's bagel book, the dough hook doesn't really engage the dough as well as I think it should. It kind of nudges it around the bowl and only really flings it about every now and again. I'll try the processor next batch!

I agree with @heidih. I wouldn’t think freshness would be a big issue with dried seasoning packets - those herbs and spices were at their best before being packaged and any recipe calling for them assumes that. If you receive packets long past their 'best by' dates, go ahead and return them. Otherwise, see if they match your fast food memories!

Lots of recipes online for Popeye's style chicken tenders (like this one) Which ones have you tried and what would you like to improve in them?

I don’t have a grill but wrap unpeeled beets in foil when roasting in my regular oven and in the CSO with no steam, then rub off the skins. I recently tried a recipe that specified first peeling and cutting up the beets and oven roasting. Interesting bit of browning on the edges but I don’t like to peel beets so probably won’t repeat.

I grew up on tuna fish salad sandwiches. Prickly pear fruits are called tuna but I doubt my family was wanting to make that particular distinction. I also learned cod fish at home, depending on the dish so codfish cakes, creamed codfish (both made with salted cod) but probably cod filet without the fish part. Edited to add that I did wonder if tuna fish was a regional usage. I grew up in northern NY state and this usage seems less common here in SoCal.

Added a splash of cream to yesterday's fiasco, piled it on toasted sourdough and ran it under the broiler with a sprinkle of Parm to turn it into this caramelized (ahem) leek, mushroom and country ham toastie: Tasted pretty good. Probably could have gone ahead with the quiche, even if it wouldn't have been the light, bright spring style I had in mind!

Thank you. I'll have to try making my own someday but that $2.49 price point on the TJ's product isn’t really incentivizing me! How well do they freeze and reheat? Do they maintain the crispy flakiness?

I believe that with the free version, you can also search any of the online sources EYB indexes. To do that, I choose "online recipes" under the "Library" tab, rather than the "My Bookshelf" tab which would only search the books I've added. That will allow you to play around with the search features a bit more than with just 5 books.

Maybe I’ll just make a mojito and start over tomorrow!

I feel your pain, @Okanagancook, though I'm sure I'll do something similar again. This AM, I was cooking veg for a quiche. Lots of thinly sliced leeks that I wanted cooked low and slow, with no browning. Then added a half pound of mushrooms and some diced country ham and watched closely. When all was just the way I wanted, I covered the pan andI turned the burner off (or so I thought) and stepped away for a cup of coffee and eG. Well, I was using the low "simmer" setting on my 2-stage Wolf gas cooktop and instead of shutting it off, I turned it to the lowest regular setting so the leeks perhaps no charred but deeply caramelized when I returned. Sigh. Haven't tossed it all yet but I probably should and move on!

So sweet!

Picked up these frozen cheese pastries at TJ's. Tasty little things, kinda like a cheese danish. Like the newer croissants, the box says they can go right from the freezer to the oven, no need to proof. And like those croissants, I'll say that you'll get a better result if you give them at least a little proofing time before the go into the oven. They don't need a full overnight proof like the chocolate and almond croissants but I think a couple of hours would help. Here's my little experiment comparing a direct from frozen (on the left) to one that I proofed at RT first (on the right): I'd say that I rather over-proofed that one. I set it on a tray and forgot about it for around 5 hours. Since it was so poofy, it also baked a lot quicker and was done in about 10-12 min vs the 20+ min on the box. I'd recommend going with 2 hrs or so for something less poofy!

Another day, another pumpernickel bagel.... ...and today's schmear is the olive cheese version.

Here's a link to an older topic for anyone else interested in what other eG members have had to say about The Mojito I got a big bunch of mint at the farmers market and Lent is over so I can dip my toe into cocktails again. Guess I'll be hunting down some rum and a recipe!

Yes, it does! I should have mentioned that. I had it with a cup of coffee first and it was nice but the coffee kind of overpowered it while the chamomile tea did indeed enhance the flavor.