kayb

I will have you people know that last night I dreamed about having an empty freezer. It's nowhere NEAR happening, but I did dream about it. That's SOMETHING, right?

Thanks! I have a great local purveyor of asparagus, and I'll be doing some of these. (I have an extra fridge, too, so...)

Tell me, please, how you pickle them?

Good. Individually vacuum sealed steaks. About four ounces each.

Thanks to the miracles of modern transportation, we're able to get just about whatever we want right now; it may not be too GOOD, but it's available. I've caught blueberries on special a couple of the times at the grocery and bought them. We'll start having local fresh strawberries in about a month, maybe quicker, as warm as it's been. On the other hand, I did cave and buy a couple of Sugar Baby watermelons at the grocery the other day. Not bad, and reasonable at $2.50 per. The grandchild heartily approved. I may have to add a few hills of sugar babies and of cantaloupes to the garden.

@rarerollingobject, those are absolutely stunning. I don't know that I could eat one, for staring at it. Coconut cake, as I have a friend coming to visit next week and this cake has to sit in the fridge for three days to get all nice and moist before you serve it. It's my mother's recipe, but for the fact I cheat and use fresh-frozen coconut instead of grating my own. I put too much coconut in the frosting and didn't have enough left to sprinkle as heavily on the top as I like. The frosting is a mix of sour cream, sugar and coconut as a filling between the layers, with the remainder combined with grocery store whipped topping (I've tried whipped cream, but can't figure out how to get it to stay stable for several days in the refrigerator without going runny) to frost the outside. More coconut sprinkled on top and patted on the sides. It'll be about right by Wednesday, when she arrives.

My copy has arrived. I'm intrigued by the basil-parmesan ricotta waffles-as-bruschetta. Also the PBJ waffles for the grandkids.

That makes sense. I try to order larger quantities when I order from y'all, although when I just did, it was only three pounds. And just out of curiosity, have you recently gone up on shipping rates? I didn't recall them being that high last time I ordered. Still well worth the price, particularly as I contemplated making that soup only to find I had no black beans...

When I was a kid, there was a very Middle America dish that involved sweet and sour meatballs made with pineapple, pineapple juice and soy sauce. Usually it was served from a crockpot, with toothpicks, at a buffet. I wanted to start from that premise. I think the meatballs I recalled were beef, but I wanted to try ground turkey. I drained a can of crushed pineapple, reserving the juice, and made a panade of white sandwich bread and milk. About half the can of pineapple, the panade, an egg, some onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper and seasoned salt went into the meatballs, which I shaped and then stuck in the freezer briefly to firm up. For the sauce, I started with a diced onion, sauteeing in the Instant Pot. Added garlic confit. Added a pound and a half of quartered button and cremini mushrooms. Once those began to give up their water, I added a cup of white wine. Let that simmer about 10 minutes, then added the pineapple juice, a copious quantity of Worcestershire sauce, a and a pint of chicken broth. I was purposefully staying away from an Asian profile, so no ginger or lemongrass, but I did break down and add a glug of sweet chili sauce. Once that came to a boil, I fetched the meatballs out of the freezer and put them in the liquid to poach. I let it come back up to a boil, then switched the IP over to slow cook on the "more" setting, and let them cook for two hours. About an hour into the cook, I took some of the broth, stirred in a couple of tablespoons of cornstarch, and added in the remaining crushed pineapple. This was pretty good. I served it over wide egg noodles, but next time, I'll put it over mashed potatoes or grits instead of noodles, and I might add just a touch of paprika. It's not overtly sweet, and there is no identifiable pineapple taste. The sauce needed to be thicker; I fished out the leftover meatballs and reduced the sauce before I put the leftovers away, and I think that'll improve things. Would be worth trying with ground pork, too. All in all, not a huge success but not bad.

Glad to hear you're making the adjustment. I've resigned myself that I can't cook for just one, or at the most, two people, so I'm GOING to have leftovers. My focus now is to just go ahead and toss the stuff if I'm reasonably certain I will never eat it, instead of having it cluttering up the fridge or freezer for days or weeks or.... Tonight's freezer cleanout is an ahi tuna steak from some I caught on sale at Aldi t'other day. My child has expressed a wish for tuna poke with Asian cucumber salad, so that's what we'll have.

@Shelby, my favorite hearts of palm salad is with chunks of crisp-tender asparagus, barely blanched early green peas, and sliced, sauteed mushrooms, all in a red wine viniagrette. Served over sliced tomatoes, with a little grated Parm on top. No, I've never had the fresh HoP either.

Pulled out a top sirloin steak from the freezer, along with a bag of cooked rice frozen t'other night and three small broccoli crowns from the fridge that were about to have been there too long. Beef and broccoli. I had mushrooms I intended to put in there, but I forgot 'em.

Beef and broccoli, inspired by @Shelby's dish the other day. Meant to add mushrooms, and forgot. Details on freezer cleanout thread.

I give up. I ordered it.

A baked potato, with bacon, cheese, sour cream and scallions. And a pickle.

FWIW, Broadbent's, which has won the award for best country ham for the past, oh, decades at the Kentucky State Fair, auctions off its grand champion ham every year for charity. It went for over a million bucks last year.

It was supposed to be pancakes at church last night, but that called off due to the threat of adverse weather (we had tornadoes and such). So I went to eat with a friend and had fish tacos. But I've got to try that boudin king cake.

@chromedome -- my sympathies on your father's condition. I did a similar cook-and-freeze project for my father after my mother died. One of his favorites was sausage and biscuits; I fried up three pounds of sausage patties, made a BIG batch of biscuits, individually wrapped them and froze them. Kept him in breakfasts. As I previously mentioned to @Thanks for the Crepes, if you have a Dollar Tree store up there, they carry three-packs of 4 x 6 tins with foiled cardboard lids that serve nicely for freezing dinners. Lids lend themselves to writing on with a Sharpie; I usually just include date and what's in it, but have included directions when I was giving them to someone.

You and @Paul Fink may well be right; it may simply be sheet steel. I was trying to remember as I typed that. I will look, and take a picture, next time I'm up there. Although Daddy could weld anything, up to and including glass.

I've had some luck in using a half-cup of dry beans, then soaking and cooking them, for two people, neither of whom are huge eaters. Works better now that I'm using mostly Rancho Gordo, which cook faster because they're fresher than some of those from the grocery. But then, I also have some beans in the pantry that are probably five years old...

My father, who was a welder, built the "pit" out of galvanized steel; a box with no bottom, a grate, and a lid about six inches deep to set down over the whole thing. The temp gauge was in the lid. He would start at 175, and gradually build up, turning and basting hourly with a vinegar-based sauce, and finish off at 275. It involved shifts of staying with the pit during the night. The pit belongs to me now, although it's hanging on the wall of the barn up home. Next time I'm up, I plan to bring it home with me. Probably was. It was excessive enough as to be completely unpleasant.

I have only once in my life had meat I thought was too smokey; that, oddly enough, was in a bar in Philadelphia, and it was brisket. I know when we used to cook pork shoulders on a pit, the traditional West Tennessee method of barbecuing, we'd cook them for 18 hours, over hardwood coals. Max temperature 275. The meat was moist, tender, and pulled like a dream, and the taste was to die for.

Good. I was afraid for a minute you had a gray, semi-shiny tongue.

I often rub meats to be slow-cooked before I SV; it serves more as a marinade than anything else. Particularly, I do ribs and pork shoulder, and occasionally pork chops, that way, generally the night before starting them in SV, and letting them sit in the rub in the fridge. I tend to finish with a wet sauce/glaze instead of a dry rub (that's the Memphis coming out), but you could certainly do either.

This qualifies as a "Well, I'll be damned" fact. Always a good day when I learn something new. Thanks.