ElsieD

I will never again ask my husband to take charge of the Instant Pot. One day last week I decided to make lasagna and cook it in the IP. As I am looking after 2 little girls between 3:00 pm and about 7:45 pm it meant that I wouldn't get home until about 8:30. I said, "If I make the lasagna up before I go out, can you put it on at around 7:30". "No problem", he said. So I showed him what buttons to push and told him to pull the plug after it had finished its 20 minutes on high pressure. And away I went. I got home at 8:20 and saw that the plug had not been pulled and it was 23 minutes into the keep warm cycle. When asked why the plug had not been pulled I was told he didn't think it would be ready so soon. Oh well, I thought, the valve thingy had dropped so we could eat. With great anticipation as I was quite hungry, I opened the pot and peered inside. It was empty. He had forgotten to put the lasagna in there. "No problem" indeed.

This past week we have managed to eat another pork chop dinner, now down to 4 left. Also finished the last of the square sausage from a place called McVicar's in Stoney Creek. Since that place is a ways away and we don't get there often, we aren't in danger of stocking up on those any time soon. I also took 2 cooked packages of buttercup squash and made an incredibly easy soup. To the squash you add some chicken stock and heat through. I did this in the Thermomix. Add some salsa, salt and pepper, heat again and purée. Press through a sieve to get rid of any gnarly bits and thin with some cream or milk, whichever you prefer. Fast and delicious. I took out a smoked picnic shoulder which I will be cooking up tomorrow. That brings the number of those down to two. Unfortunately, as old stuff is coming out, new stuff is going in. I'm a sucker for the 50% off "enjoy it tonight" sales. A package of marinated pork chops, 2 racks of lamb and 4 pounds of bacon has been added to the freezer, My bad.

I'll give you my pointy-headed accountant's viewpoint. These recipes are your property and as such, they are an asset belonging to your business. If you were ever to sell your business, your recipes (and goodwill among other assets) are what you would be selling. If you have given these recipes away or sold them to another person(s) the value of your business has been diminished. I would explain it to them that way. They should be understanding of this because I would be surprised if they gave their recipes away for those same reasons.

Does this sourdough starter still look alive? It was started last Thursday.

I read that article n Saveur as well. Great story and I was so happy to read that family is doing so well. I went to their web site but it isn't up and running yet. When it is, I will be placing an order.

I tried making ANZAC biscuits once, maybe a year ago. I can't remember the source of the recipe as I deleted the recipe after making them. They were a dismal failure. Too bad, too, because I love oatmeal type cookies. It would be nice if someone could post a proven recipe. If that were to happen, I'd give it another go.

You can buy Driscoll's fruit everywhere in Canada, too.

Sounds like me, as I did this for years. Now I only buy local, in season strawberries.

I have a question about Napa cabbage. I have one in this fridge with just a bit of his head cut off which I used in something else. My usual cabbage for my corned beef dinner is Savoy. I would like to use the Napa up. If I use it in place of the Savoy what should the cooking time be relative to the potatoes and carrots? Thanks!

Tuesday night we had pork chops (only 5 more pork chop dinners to go!) with roasted carrots and smashed spuds. Yesterday we had a top sirloin roast (last one) with Yorkshire pudding, mashed potatoes and squash (11 more to go). In the gravy went the last two veal jus cubes. We're getting there.

I finally got around to checking the temperature of the slow cook function of my two Instant Pots. I put 8 cups of cold water in each of them. The readings for the Smart Cooker were 202F on low, 212F on normal and 212F on high. Odd that both normal and high read the same 212F. The readings for the DUO 60 7in1 were 182-183F on less, 193-194F on normal and 202-203F on more. I would say that the Smart Cooker can only be used to slow cook on the low function and only if one would use the high setting on the DUO. I'm going to contact them and see what they have to say.

Bangers, Irish or otherwise, are hard to find here. When I first moved here, a loooong time ago, they were very common. Now they are as scarce as hen's teeth. @HungryChris. Those were great books, weren't they?

@scubadoo97. Sure would like to see a picture. When we were there, we went to Columbia Restaurant and had their Cuban sandwich which they claimed was authentic. They had the recipe on their web site for a while and we have been making them ever since. Please do describe Pipo's Cuban sandwich.

That looks delicious!

@Smithy. Thanks for the credit on the shrimp dish but that wasn't me who suggested it. It was Okanagancook. Looks good, I wish I had thought of it.

@chromedome. My sympathies on the loss of your father. A sad time.

Can you describe this dish at all?

Trader Joe's is selling Irish Bangers right now. They have a 5% rusk content.

@Smithy. Those are phenomenal shrimp. One of our local stores sell Mexican shrimp for $23 a pound. I have yet to try them as I have trouble shelling out $23 for a pound of shrimp. How much do they weigh?

One of the few times that Amazon is more expensive than the department store. In this case by almost $88.00.

That's the one.

This product was recently advertised in a flyer from The Bay, a department store in Canada. This oven has some new features, compared to previous Smart Ovens, mainly dehydrator and air fry functions. It comes with two racks and an air fryer rack. It also claims to be 30% larger than the Smart Oven Pro. This oven got a passing mention on the Cuisinart Steam Oven topic, but I could not find any mention of it elsewhere on this site. Does anyone here have one?

This is my final meatball. It is a recipe I got from The Washington Post called Sesame Noodles and Asian Meatballs. Into a food processor go the sauce ingredients:. Water, green onions, hoisin sauce, lemon juice, soy sauce, sesame oil, hot sauce (it called for 1 teaspoon, I used a tablespoon of sambal oelek), natural peanut butter and a bit of salt. Process til smooth. Next up are the meatballs:. Into a bowl goes minced green onions, 1 egg, Napa cabbage, cilantro (or basil, or mint), soy sauce, fresh ginger, garlic, sesame oil and salt. Mix this up and add ground pork. Mix and shape into meatballs. Meatballs are browned, sauce is thinned with 1 cup chicken broth, and tossed with cooked linguini noodles. Serve up and garnish with cilantro. This was very good. For the two of us, it made two meals. @David Ross Thanks for starting this thread. I have probably made more meatballs in the last few weeks than I have the last ten years. I've enjoyed it.

More info on the soup, please. I just checked my freezer and counted 12 servings for two people of squash. I could use an idea or two.

I was going to corn my own beef but saw some nice ones at the grocery store yesterday so ended up buying one. The brand I bought is Maple Leaf. The other brand they had was Rachel's which, the few times I've tried it, was terrible. A LOT of gristle and fat, well hidden until you open the package. I now stay away from that brand unless I see it at 50% off which makes trimming it worthwhile.