Okanagancook

Your dal looks especially good today! So does the paratha.

Shelby, look away or you may faint Below is a picture my friend sent of her tomato garden against her house, southern exposure. The field stone detailing wasn't done properly and it crashed down sometime yesterday morning. Luckily she had done a 'pick' yesterday of any ripe ones. I think there are two plants that were spared. She was very distraught.

I have this brand: Ecoideas Whole Grain Greenwheat Freekeh They have whole and cracked fresh. Imported from Australia to Canada by Ecoideas at ecoideas.ca from Richmond, British Columbia. I did not see this brand on amazon.com. Bob's Red Mill might be a reliable source. Good luck.

From Plenty More: Corn Slaw. It is easy to make but you need to allow at least 45 minutes to an hour to make it. The onions, carrots and cabbage need to sit in the vinegar-brine and then one has to char the corn which takes 15 minutes. Having said that, I like it quite a lot. The flavours are clean and refreshing probably because the dressing is quite light. I think it is a nice use of corn in season. Essential to get the char on the corn I might add. It looks like it will keep well in the fridge for a few days.

A number of Grace Young's recipes call for flank steak. I had a small piece of fillet in the freezer so I used it for my stir fry tonight.

I hauled out Grace Young's Stir Frying to the Sky's Edge to see what she has to say about this subject. "Marinades typically are made with cornstarch, rice wine, soy sauce, and sometimes oil, in addition to other seasonings such as salt, pepper, sugar, ginger, or garlic. Marinades enhance flavour and tenderize meat and poultry (the moderate acidity of rice wine or dry sherry breaks down muscle fiber), and they promote the browning, even caramelizing of ingredients. Regardless of the ability of marinades to tenderize, great care must always be taken to cut beef or chicken correctly across the grain, it will be tough, dry or chewy even after marinating. Marinating beef, pork, lamb, chicken, and duck for stir fries can require as little as a few minutes, but in general 5 minutes should be allowed. Marinades infuse bite-sized morsels quickly, whether cut as thing as a 1/4 inch thick slice or as thick as a 3/4 inch cube. In fact, when a marinade made with soy sauce marinates for more than 45 minutes, the flavour of soy sauce can become overpowering, and the dish may become too salty." I use sirloin, flank or tenderloin and am sure to cut across the grain. Hope that helps.

@robirdstx OMG, fantastic looking steak. Well done. You, not the meat! A nice thick steak makes all the difference. Nice sear on it.

I didn't think humanly possible To perk up a few slices of chicken breast BUT you have managed to achieve it. Well done. signed 'chicken breast hater'

That's a coincidence, I just made P. wolfret's mushrooms and garlic in a clay pot braised for 45 min. I taste MUSHROOMS

Excellent and interesting looking meals everyone. I made a meal with a Middle Eastern bent: Cauliflower with tahini/lemon sauce which was deliciously easy to make. Yogurt, raisins, mint & cucumber garnished with mint, rose petals, olive oil and walnuts which was a real hit and looked very pretty. Spiced lamb leg. Rice with nuts & fried onions. Carrots glazed with honey & lemon and garnished with goat cheese which was totally demolished.

I used the zucchini filling from the pistachio squash crumble to make some 'hand pies'. I added a cup of apple sauce I had in the freezer along with a good dose of cinnamon. Delicious....tastes like apple alright: faux apple hand pies!

I have Gjelina, Travis Lett. I haven't made much in it mainly because one is obliged to make ingredients in the first chapter for use in subsequent recipes. So unless you want to binge cook from the book there could be a lot of waste...time and ingredients. May be this winter I'll take a week and just cook from it. For @2.50 it may be worth it.

I have an entry in my "Instapot" notebook: "Blue-Dolphin's grits: pot in pot method using 1/2 c grits, 2 cups water and butter. Manual HP x 15 minutes, slow release" I did try this and my notes says a little under, try 20 minutes next time. I also have a note about 'chemed's' version: 1:4 ratio with chicken stock. Manual HP x 15 min, presumably SR. Give it a go but the time may depend on the "coarseness" of one's grits.

I've got a Rock Hen on it's perch so will try 500F also. I think I'll use some of our 'estate pino gris in the bird holder'.

I'm not fond of the dark balsamic vinegar on leafy greens but I do like it on tomatoes and cucumber. The white balsamic I have is very nice with walnut oil or the pumpkin seed oil my brother brought me back from Austria, I think it was. Very dark green. I like a little lemon oil, olive oil with white wine vinegar. The classic red wine vinegar with shallots and olive oil along with a pinch of onion powder. Spanish sherry vinegar is nice and sharp and I stumbled upon some of it in a reduced version which is lovely just drizzled over the top of the salad greens dressed in a little oil. For cucumbers I like sesame oil with soy sauce and some chili oil and I think the smoked oil would go well with that. The smoked oil would be good with lemon juice over tomatoes or grilled romaine. Just a few combos I have been using.