kayb

Rice Krispy treats. With red and green sprinkles. Damn, but I love a Rice Krispy treat.

Yay! A very merry Christmas, indeed!

Done. Now on to Christmas dinner! Two had already been delivered. Several smaller food gifts packaged up as well.

Love the top, and love the way it goes down the side to the floor! Have never seen that before.

I particularly like the quart sized containers for freezing soup or broth, as they have a small footprint for their volume. I ordered some from Amazon, and they're just awfully convenient to have around; I got both pint and quart size.

I wish our Cracker Barrel still produced edible food. I really used to enjoy breakfast there.

It does not come as easily as it used to. That's two days' worth, about eight hours each day in the kitchen. And my kitchen looks like hell.

Treatmaking update: I think I can finish tomorrow. Which would be good, because that gives me two days to clean house and cook Christmas dinner before the fam descends on Sunday. Sour cream banana bread, because I had bananas about to go south on me. More Chex mix. Because we inhale that stuff. Butter pecan cookies, aka pecan meltaways, aka Mexican wedding cookies, aka, by the woman who made them at work for about 100 years, Hebrew cookies. Oatmeal Craisin walnut cookies. Four batches of fudge; clockwise from top, peanut butter, chocolate walnut, white chocolate with cashews and macadamias, and chocolate mint with almonds. Rice Krispy Treats Coconut macaroons Tomorrow -- pralines, toffee, more gingersnaps, more cheese crisps, and maybe one other cookie. Or maybe not. Then basket-packing will commence. Also went to the grocery today to pick up fruit for Sunday's fruit salad. Also grabbed some asparagus ($2.99 a pound, and we all love it); and, against all my good intentions, a small turkey I can stick in the smoker. Need to put the bottom round roast in to SV tomorrow; planning on 130F and then chilling, then searing, then chilling again to slice for sliders. Any recommendations on how long to SV? Moved the ham out of the freezer into the fridge to thaw; will bake him and make sides on Saturday.

Oh, yeah. Had to spring for that one.

I had second thoughts after I ordered an absolutely gorgeous salad with mandarin orange segments, sliced strawberries, toasted pecan halves, and grilled chicken yesterday for lunch. Didn't eat much of the lettuce, and have felt OK today.

Damn. Not as much of a nonconformist as I'd have myself believe...

Thanks. I remember the discussion about these before, and thinking they were similar, but for the base, to what we call chess pie. Believe I'll add chopped pecans instead of raisins, and bake them in mini muffin tins for treats, if I get to them. Banana bread in the oven now, and pecan meltaway dough chilling in the fridge. Oatmeal cookies up next. Adding candied fruit in a change from the usual, and because I had it. Another batch of cheese crisps, and that'll wind up the baking. Then it's on to candy making tomorrow.

Have you previously posted a recipe for said buttertart squares? If not, would you, please?

I want Spock.

Agreed with @mgaretz -- the extra rings and the steamer basket. I'd add the stackable metal pans for pot-in-pot cooking; I love to put rice in one and meat with sauce in the other. I also have a long-legged trivet so I can put somethign in the bottom of the pot and something on the trivet on top of it; good for, say, a piece of meat so the drippings will fall over the veggies below.

It'll be wonderful when it's finished.

Can't believe the Ski House cookbook didn't tempt me, as much as I love winter meals. But the breakfast recipes didn't look that different from stuff I already do. I escaped this morning!

Was reading Jacques Pepin's "Essential Pepin" last night, and his quiche recipe calls for four eggs, 1.5 cups whole milk and .5 cup heavy cream. I've used most everything imaginable in a quiche -- chopped ham or bacon or browned sausage, sundried tomatoes, roasted asparagus, steamed broccoli, green peas. I tend toward Gruyere or Emmenthaler for the cheese unless I'm making a southwestern quiche -- whole kernel corn, fried diced potatoes, rinsed black beans -- and then I use queso blanco or Monterey Jack and cheddar. I don't blind bake the crust. In fact, I generally don't use a crust at all. Have also shaped half- cooked hash browns into a crust.

Those are some PRETTY biscuits.

I have not. The sorghum I cooked last week was the first I'd ever cooked. After a dismal experience at trying to pop quinoa, I'm not certain I even want to try sorghum. But I did see several recipes with the popped variety. Lots of recipes and info at this site.

Having wanted sweet-and-sour pineapple meatballs for a solid week (in another era, I'd swear I was pregnant), I gave in and made them today. Two pounds of ground beef with a panade, two eggs, some ketchup, and some seasoning made 44 small meatballs (I'd say ping pong ball sized). I baked them for 35 minutes at 375F, then dumped them over into a sauce made of 12 oz pineapple juice as well as the juice from a can of pineapple chunks; a quarter-cup of soy sauce, a quarter cup cider vinegar, a half-cup brown sugar, and two tablespoons of cornstarch. Added the pineapple chunks and simmered for 30-ish minutes. Served over plain white rice. Hit the spot. I had been craving it so badly apparently I neglected to take time to take a pic. But I have three healthy servings in the freezer, and one in the fridge, so perhaps there will be a repeat later this week.

I've been doing some reading on sorghum since I made my maiden run at cooking it and adding it to my carrot/sweet potato soup t'other day. I think I'm going to try my hand at a sorghum salad that has cucumbers, Kalamata olives, sundried tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, feta cheese and a lemon viniagrette -- a vaguely Greek salad. If my oregano has not succumbed to the frost, I might put some fresh oregano in as well, along with some parsley. If it's good, I'll include it in the Christmas buffet as it'll be a good option for the gluten-free (celiac) daughter. I'm pretty entranced with this grain, not least because I've loved sorghum syrup all my life, but only ever saw the grain used in "sweet feed" for horses or cows. As I'm under a doctor's orders to boost my protein intake, and sorghum offers 18 grams in a one-cup serving, I'm thinking if I could make a salad that included sorghum and say, grilled chicken and other stuff, it'd knock a big hole in the day's protein requirement. The stuff is tasty, and has a nice chew about it. Next up: buckwheat groats, which I've had in the pantry for a while but not tried.

From reading the website description, it doesn't appear they're a lot different from steel-cut. As mentioned above, possibly finer. I wonder if one could give steel-cut a whiz or two in the blender and achieve the same effect?

I have discovered yet another reason I love my CSO. I was toasting pecans while doing three or four other things, and I set it to convection back for four minutes, tossed the pecans when it dinged, and set it for four more. Had it not been for them being in the CSO, I would have likely burned them, as I do not have an oven timer that functions.

Leftover potato salad.