snowangel
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Posts posted by snowangel
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I often follow the in instructions in my trusty old Farm Journal Pie cookbook. Line a pie tin with foil. Prepare pie filling (do not bake!) And put in foil lined pie tin. Fold edges over, fully covering filling.
Freeze. Once frozen, you can remove pie tin.
When you want to bake a pie, line pie tin with crust. Take filling out of freezer, peel off foil, and slip into pastry lined tin. Top as desired. Bake, just adding a few minutes. Works well with peaches, berries, etc.
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On 5/2/2019 at 10:57 AM, Smithy said:
I'm glad you enjoyed it. We wrote down the finishing mileage but haven't looked yet at the start mileage. I'll edit this post when I get the number.
What kind of camper do you have? Fifth wheel? Trailer? We are starting to think about one. We think stealth camper van, but geez, a buddy for the occasional mid-night pee sure is a nice luxury.
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4 hours ago, Smithy said:
I've stopped there once or twice since their fire and rebuilding. I haven't noticed much difference in their smoked fish from previous years, but keep in mind that I (still) prefer the Northern Waters Smokehaus fish so I'm not as tuned to the quality of Russ Kendall's fish as you would be. I do think it's great that they're around, and so much a part of the community that everyone chipped in to help them rebuild after the fire.
We stopped a couple of weeks ago to see the tall ships (if the sails aren't up, they aren't very impressive), and stopped at Northern Waters. To buy fish, not a sandwich. It was 11 am, and the line was awful. And, since only a couple if incoming customers can see the sandwich menu (which is long with many multi ingredient choices), the line wasn't moving. We watched one couple take 6 minutes to decide! Holding up the line. I sure with they'd post the menu outside and offer a line for those buying smoked fish/sausages. (We ended up at Love Creamery. Note worthy ice cream flavors.)
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Bump!
We have still been meat marketing, and since I'm not working and spending lots of time at the cabin, F&D remains my most common stop. Everything there is good, and I think I'll stop on my way home for one of their little boneless half hams. (But no more detours to the 32 Degree Freeze for the tallest $2.00 soft serve twist cone anywhere; they close for the season on Monday. Outstanding soft serve, btw. Not as good as Connie's Creamy Cones in St. Paul, or the Deep Freeze in New London, which heysy best in state award.)
I've never stopped at the place in Eveleth, do should stop on Tuesday.
Zups in Cook burned down and hasn't been rebuilt yet, and Babbitt is too much of a detour
I discovered the hard salami and the smoked hot Italian sausage strips in Gilbert, so that's another regular, especially since it's barely off the beaten path. These are both outstanding treats.
A couple of years ago, we went to Zumbrota for a funeral and stopped at the Wanamingo Meat Locker and had what I believe to be the best meat sticks in the state. Warning that this is a meat locker. They have an upright glassed fridge thing (ala convenience store for beverages), and some packages of meat sticks shared space with pop, a couple if hams, and maybe a couple of other things.
Then, this past spring, we drove out to Delano to see the new flood wall and stopped at their meat market, Rieder's, and their meat sticks were on a par with Wanamingo's. Sadly, the Peppermint Twist wasn't yet open for the season, so no soft serve.
Finally, @Smithy, have you had any smoked fish from Russ Kendall's lately? The two recent takes (within the last year) weren't nearly as good as we remember.
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On 8/24/2019 at 8:02 AM, Smithy said:
Made me do it, too. One for home one for cabin.
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4 minutes ago, Smithy said:
Good to see you here! Thanks for the compliments...and please come back more often!
I hope to be around more often. We've had a major life change, and cooking and food will hold more of a stage!
Meantime, I've been enjoying sweet corn almost daily, and trying to head north more often. Mid summer was exceptionally chaotic.
Diana (who is home for a bit following her 977 days in Madagascar) and I have been eating a lot of corn off the coop, mixed with diced peppers (hot, whatever looks good at the farmers market), was of cilantro, lime and cojita cheese.
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On 8/18/2019 at 2:24 PM, Smithy said:
One of my weaknesses as a shopper is overenthusiasm. I buy a lot of whatever looks good -- especially seasonal produce -- and then scramble (or fail) to use it before it goes off. So it was that yesterday I had an overabundance of corn to use up, as well as tomatoes, Japanese eggplant, and lettuce.
Here's what I used, and how it turned out:
4 ears of corn: kernels cut off, and "milk" scraped into a bowl with the kernels
5 small Japanese eggplants, sliced into 1/2" coins and steamed
4 sausages (2 Polish, 2 jalapeno jack cheese bratwursts) sliced into 1/2" coins
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded, deveined and chopped
1/2 poblano pepper, seeded, deveined and chopped
~1/4c chicken jello
1 c cherry tomatoes on the way out, and the surviving 3/4 of a beefsteak tomato, chopped
a bit of water as a sauce booster
Steamed the eggplant coins as noted above, to soften them and prevent them from requiring too much oil.
Filmed a wok with oil (I used pecan, because I happen to have it, but any cooking oil would have done) and heated it, then sauteed the sausage coins until they were partially cooked.
Added the eggplant, and stirred all until browning began.
Added the peppers until soft.
Added the tomatoes, cooked until the cherry tomatoes began to pop.
Added the corn.
Added the chicken jello, and stirred until it melted. By that time it appeared that the beefsteak tomato juice and corn milk needed more assistance, so added a touch of water to develop more sauce.
Here is the finished melange:
About half went into a bowl with about half the lettuce, with the idea of making a wilted-lettuce salad.
It looks a bit like a dog's dinner, but we both liked it. As usual, he wanted it slightly sweetened and added white wine worcestershire sauce; I wanted it slightly tarter and added a touch of red wine vinegar to brighten it. It was a good way to use those ingredients, including the corn. I think sweet corn is a wonderfully versatile filler for other dishes.
Today we finished the leftovers. It looks better before stirring!
Now I have to go buy more
Imagine this. I haven't eGullet'ed in ages, and came looking for the smokin' brisket topic, and voila, a sweet corn topic. Be still my beating heart (and note my ravatar). This sure looks good, my friend.
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One day when I'm working, I should count how many of these chickens walk out.
They can only stay on the warming table for a certain period of time, after which they take them into the deli and harvest the breast meat for things like salads, chicken Alfredo, etc. And then package 8 leg thigh quarters into foil trays which they sell for $4.99 (price at my Costco, I font know if the price is the same at the other U.S. Costco's).
I've demo'd their chicken salad several times, and the consistence is different with harvested rotisserie breast meat than it is with the other pre cooked breast meat they use.
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9 hours ago, Smithy said:
Susan, how nice to see you here! I have often wondered - and I am not the only one - how you're doing and whether The Cabin is still in your lives. (I know I speak for more than just myself when I say I'd love to see cabin updates again - hint, hint.
) Yes, I'm retired from my full-time job and we spend the winters on the road...but still live in Duluth during the summer months. We have generally gone home for a month in the winter as well - without the trailer - but haven't decided whether we'll do that this year.
Yes, the cabin is still part of our lives, and although we won't be up again until next spring, I will start reporting again. Of note this past season, was a fairly comfortable swim on October 2, if you can believe it! You'll also see a report from me next year from Madagascar! I am able to take summers off from my newish job.
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Nancy, I had no idea you were on-the-roading life! This is our dream, and when Heidi finally gets into a groul home, it might happen. We've always said that if the cabin disappears from our life, it would be an RV or travel trailer. Do you do any portion of the year in Duluth? Make it to the Twin Cities at all? Color me jealous.
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Thanks everyone, for the notes. I've just reserved this book at my library and will also look for it at Costco.
I'm curious if I'll enjoy it as much as I've loved my Maida Heatter cookie books. I've loved everything that's come out of her books, and she is a recipe writer extraordinaire.
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Costco is also utterly fabulous about returns, even opened containers of food. Their Kirkland Signature brand items are guaranteed 100%.
And, if you stop at the Costco at US highway 10 and Main Street in Coon Rapids, MN on a Monday, Tuesday or Thursday, you might get a sample from me.
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I'm looking for a new knife; sort of all purpose in the 6" blade length range, prefer a narrower, thinner blade. I'm a home cook, and have a mish mash of knives -- Wustof, a Shun, some e really old Chicago Cutlery paring knives (wedding present in 1980 old), a Marttiini filet knife (that I adore) and a an scythe shaped knife that a neighbor gave me (he worked at a slaughterhouse). I haven't set a price limit, but given the kid in college, I'm thinking I'm hard pressed to go much over $150, but I don't need to spend that much. I take good care of my stuff and I'll have it forever, otherwise I'd just pick up a two pack of the cheapos at Costco.
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Time for a bump up on this topic. I just made baked beans for a BBQ tomorrow, using this method, adding everything I usually add to my baked beans, to the pot before putting in the oven. So easy, so quick. No excuse not to make baked beans. And, last summer, when it was super hot, and I was in charge of baked beans, I did them in the crock pot. It took longer, because I didn't bother to bring stuff to a boil on the stovetop, but that, too, worked well.
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I finally found a timer that fit my bill -- it's an Acurite -- from Walmart. The big thing I was looking for, as I noted up-topic, was one that started to count down when it went off so if I missed the buzz, I'd know by how much I missed the mark. Magnet on the back. Nice, big easy to read numbers. It's small, so doesn't have the number buttons (so you have to keep your finger on minute or second to advance the time), but it does the count-down trick. Best of all -- $2.99 and it takes standard batteries.
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We retrofitted our under-counter cabinets and pantry (former very deep broom closet) with pull-out drawers. We built the drawers ourself.
With the pull-out glider thingies, there are not only different lengths, but different "grades" -- we got the heaviest duty ones we could find so weight isn't a problem.
All in all, building the drawers was simple. Installing them was simple. It took the longest to apply finish to the drawers.
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I'd second what Chris said about the MN state fair. Deep fried hot dish on a stick? Got it. The fried candy bars, pop tarts, etc. are an old story at the Great Minnesota Get-together, as is the chocolate dipped bacon. Want deep fried bacon? Head to MN.
My big tip for the MN fair is to go on the first day. Rides are half price, the bathrooms are clean and the grease is fresh.
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This paste sounds absolutely spectacular. I've put the cookbook on hold at the library, and when I return from our cabin next Tuesday, it will be waiting for me. Which brings me to a question: does Mexican food use cilantro roots? I use them all of the time for Thai food.
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I forgot about kitchen shears. Mine have the uncanny ability to develop legs and walk to my kids' bedrooms. I favor those made by Chicago Cutlery, and I can almost always get them at the outlet mall -- 2 for $9.99.
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Outlets. Seriously. I only have two duplexes in my kitchen. Maybe one of these days all of the pesting I've done will pay off and DH will at least make them 4-plexes. We have far more juice to the kitchen than I could possibly use, and I refuse to go the strip route because I have so little counter space.
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A little hard plastic gizmo that was one of those things in the bucket at the cash register. It's about 2x2", and one corner is curved, the other square. Use it as a tiny bench scraper, or a thingee it get dried on crud out of bowls, etc.
A plastic ruler we got free at the fair from a 4-H booth.
Screwdriver. Mine has a screw top with different bits.
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I always use thighs or legs (if using legs, cut the skin and tendons all the way around just above where the foot was attached). If marinating, I make sure and make a mess of slits in the meat with a paring knife. Just last night, I did a batch, using Goya's Mojo Crillo for a marinade. A bottle of this on hand sure makes things easy; I keep one at the cabin so I don't have to worry about forgotten citrus.
They were yummy right off the grill, at 10:30 pm straight out of the fridge, and made for an exceptionally tasty lunch.
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Franci, you might want to also check out this topic on dumplings.
Ironically just clicked on this topic and I'm making pot stickers for dinner tonight. I always make a ton and them freeze them (raw) to cook while still frozen. It makes for a darned quick meal.
A surfeit of apples
in Cooking
Posted
Correct. Easy peasy. I usually freeze 'em two at a time. Just dont thaw before baking. Or you'll have a mess.