kayb

Hello, and welcome back! There are some serious kimchi aficionados on here, so let's hear more. Looking forward to learning from you!

I will be interested to hear how fragrant that gets. My daughter, who lives with me, would go nuclear when I would caramelize onions in the crockpot, because of the smell. Yeah, it's stout, but it's not unbearable. I would thing the IP would be less fragrant. Your experience?

The rest of that lyric though, goes, "...You get what you need!"

I've done that. It works. Saving whey can get away with you. I make more yogurt and ricotta than I make bread. I could fill my freezer with whey. I put it on the dog's food, and have resorted to watering plants with it.

Can I just say, I am lusting for that fish sandwich.

Slice the eggplant thin and roast it. Roll it up with some brie in the middle; make a sauce of tomatoes and onions, with assorted spices (I would use traditional Italian spices) to put over it. Top with mozzarella. Bake. With a side of pigeon peas or frozen peas, as you choose. I would go for pigeon peas, as I love them!

My squash did very little this year. First time I've ever seen zucchini that didn't produce. Of course, the month I was unable to tend the garden took its toll. I'll be giving it a whirl again next year, with a better-tilled and better-weed-controlled garden. My very favorite summer squash dish is also about the simplest; yellow crooknecks, sliced horizontally and sauteed with sliced onions and a sprinkle of Lawry's seasoned salt until tender, but retaining their shape. I could eat a full dinner plate of that alone. Sauteed squash at 10-11 o'clock. I also love zucchini fritters, another very simple recipe -- two medium grated zucchini, a sleeve of Saltines, crushed, two eggs and a splash of milk, dropped by spoonsful into 1/4 inch of hot oil and pan-fried until golden. A favorite with my kids. Zucchini fritter at 8 o'clock.

That looks outstanding, and I am headed to the NYT site right now to find and save that recipe. Thanks! Please elaborate on strawberry marinara; I'm intrigued by that and the deep-fried cucumber. Never occurred to me to deep-fry a cucumber; how was it?

@robirdstx-- welcome to the Dark Side. You'll love your IP.

That...looks...amazing. I believe I must make it this week!

Had to look up scrunchions. You mean, as we say down here, cracklings! They are the best thing in the world cooked into cornbread, which is then served with sorghum molasses and butter.

The recipes I've seen and used call for slicing the potatoes thinly, and parboiling for a few moments to soften before layering in a skillet with whatever other ingredients. Then beaten eggs are poured over all and it's cooked like an omelet, lifting the edges with a spatula as the edges set to let the liquid center flow underneath. Eventually it's turned out onto a plate inverted over it and slid back in to the skillet to brown the topside. It always gives me anxiety attacks when I try to make it, but Lord, I do love it when it turns out well.

Can't wait!

A Spanish-style tortilla with swiss and mozzarella cheese, onions and roasted chiles. Layer the cheeses and chiles in between the potatoes. To give you something green, a broccoli stir-fry with a peanut sauce.

@BonVivant, everything you post always looks absolutely luscious, but I almost fainted dead away at the figs dipped in chocolate. I could eat a dozen of those, easily. Pimiento cheese, bacon, tomato sandwich redux, this time with a photo:

That looks so good! I love tofu in a broth like that. Sounds like a great hot-weather dinner. Roast pork loin in apple/balsamic glaze with baked apples, sauteed yellow squash and onions, and cucumber salad. Pork slow-roasted in the CSO, 300F steam bake for an hour. Too done. Won't do that again.

My basic cheesecake recipe, which I've used for years, is this: 2 cups graham cracker crumbs 1/2 cup butter, melted 2 tablespoons sugar 4 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened 1 3/4 cups sugar 7 large eggs 3 (8-ounce) containers sour cream 1 tablespoon vanilla The first three ingredients, of course, are the crust. The filling recipe (softened cream cheese, creamed with sugar until light, eggs addedonce at a time, sour cream and vanilla folded in) makes enough to make a thick cheesecake in my 9" springform pan and have enough left over for my 9-inch shallow pie plate, so I generally use half the recipe. When I'm using ricotta, I sub it for half to three-quarters of the cream cheese, depending on how much I have. I find it needs a little cream cheese in it for texture purposes. The recipe says to bake it at 300 for an hour and a half, then turn the oven off and leave it, untouched and door unopened, for four hours. It adapts well to cooking in the Instant Pot, with half the recipe and the little springform pan.

Meant to say via Amazon. Still there today.

I've used a peach/chipotle sauce to good effect on grilled chicken before, as well as pork chops and pork loin. But I've got to try peach-bourbon ice cream.

Don't know, don't care, can't wait for the blog! Love 'em!

Instant Pot Lux on sale for $99.99. Don't know for how long.

Amazon currently has the IP LUX on for $99.99. Here.

Making mashed potatoes last night, I peeled, diced and boiled my potatoes until soft in heavily salted water; drained off the water, added butter and half-and-half together, and commenced to mash. Mine were not perfectly smooth, but I'm OK with a lump or two. Adds authenticity, don't'cha know.

Good dinners the last two nights, though I've forgotten to take photos both nights. Wednesday night, finally cooked the Hawaiian ribeyes that had been drained from the marinade and frozen in a vac sealed bag. I was going to grill them, but the grill ran out of gas about the time it got hot, so I did them in the CSO. Very good, 5 minutes on steam broil at 500F on each side, perfect medium rare. Two of us split three steaks and had plenty. We had sweet potato fries (the frozen and oven roasted variety), Asian cucumber salad and coconut rice as sides. Last night, I warmed some leftover chicken from Sunday on steam bake in the CSO. Very simple sides of mashed potatoes, gravy and frozen green peas. Hit the spot. Tonight, I'm thinking some kind of chicken pasta or casserole.

Forgot to take a photo of yesterday's lunch because I was starving when I fixed it: A bacon, tomato and homemade pimiento cheese sandwich, on homemade whole wheat toast. Quite good. @rotuts, on your advice I grabbed a jar of the Aldi mayonnaise (I forget the brand name, and the label fell off). It does indeed taste a dead ringer for Hellman's. Thanks for that tip!