kayb

Many thanks!

Many thanks. Saving that. Like @Sartoric, I turned to Sam Sifton's chicken shawarma recipe on the NYT Cooking site for tonight. I used a cut-up whole bird, bone-in, and agree with the recipe's recommendation to use boneless pieces, perhaps even cut in two or three pieces. Marinade just doesn't penetrate the whole thighs and half-breast pieces well enough. Warmed up cauliflower/tomato curry over basmati rice; roasted (a bit too long) Brussels sprouts, and cucumber salad in rice vinegar, mirin, ginger, lemongrass, sesame oil and fish sauce. Chocolate covered strawberries for dessert.

Looks wonderful! Do you have a link to, or would you share a recipe for, your Lebanese style flatbread? As I am making chicken shawarma tonight, that's on my mind.... This morning (houseguest was my excuse!) we had latkes. I had a poached egg yolk on one, and a combo of Greek yogurt and homemade apple butter on t'other. With Wright's bacon. Yum!

Forgot to take a picture, but.... Reubens, since I had homemade rye bread. Oddly, grocery didn't have corned beef brisket in the Boar's Head brand, which is my preferred brand in these parts (meaning outside the range of a damn good Jewish deli), but only corned top round, which was pretty good, too.

That just went on my list to try, as I have Stilton in the fridge. Sans sage, though, as my sage plant didn't make it through the winter.

Details on the egg tart, please?

Many thanks, @paulraphael, for your detailed scallop-cooking instructions. I did frozen scallops tonight, and they were excellent. With roasted broccoli (left in the onion a tad too long) and sriracha-garlic-cheese grits. Very good.

Grouper is possibly my favorite fish in the world; I brought some back when we were on the Gulf coast last fall. I love to just pan-saute it, with salt and pepper, and finish off with a little bit of lemon butter. Wild rice and sweet peas are my preferred accompaniment. You seldom see grouper in the stores in Mid-America; does it not freeze well?

I made a quick dash by the grocery this afternoon to pick up just a few things for meals for the weekend (have a house guest here). Corned beef, swiss, Russian dressing and kraut to make Reubens tomorrow; Brussels sprouts to roast with the chicken shawarma tomorrow night, Worcestershire because I was almost out and that just Will Not Do. And a couple of bottles of veggie juice to go in smoothies.

I've been in a not so much diet group, but a "healthier living" group since mid-January. Rather than the proscriptions of a diet, it simply has you earn points if: 1. You eat three servings of veggies a day 2. You eat two servings of fruit a day 3. You eat no added sugar or sweets (exceptions made for natural sweeteners) You earn points for each of those, as well as other activiites like exercise, drinking a minimum of 64 oz of water a day, etc., and for maintaining or losing weight. So, I've taken to fruit smoothies with protein powder for breakfast, sometimes with a rice cake with peanut butter. That knocks out my two fruit servings (1/2 cup each) first thing in the morning, except on the days like yesterday when I decide I want bacon and eggs. I tend to snack on fruit anyway, so I never have a problem getting that in. At present, tangerines are my favorite. Surprisingly, vegetables are a different story, as a "serving" of veggies is a full cup, and three cups of veggies a day is a LOT of veggies. I've made a vegetable juice I keep in the fridge that I like, as well as keeping a pot of vegetable soup in the fridge all the time to have for lunch and dinner. I snack a lot of raw cabbage and carrot sticks with hummus, and fortunately, I love a baked sweet potato. This would be a lot easier if it were summer, with fresh vegetables! I try to be reasonable on carbs -- if I have a sandwich for lunch, I'll do it with thin-sliced bread and just one slice, and then I'll try to have less carbs at dinner. Potatoes -- I love anything you can do with a potato --and fat are my downfall, so I try to police that pretty closely. Trying to incorporate more fish into my diet, as well; I eat a lot of beef because I have a freezer-full.

I did RG alubia Blanco in ham stock last night. 45 minutes, then let it switch over to slow cook for a couple of hours until it was time to eat. I'd soaked them for about 6 hours. Perfect.

After fighting with my laptop for two hours this morning -- and winning! I decided I deserved a treat for breakfast. So, bacon with poached egg yolks on rye toast, with a tangerine. I have really enjoyed tangerines this year, and the bacon and eggs were a welcome change from my standard fruit smoothie.

Alcohol, and candy. At present, the candy is bothering me more than the alcohol.

RG alubia blanco beans in ham stock, through with the pressure cook and over to low on the slow cooker side, as we speak. Need to make some cornbread.

I took a notion for rye bread and had found Rose Levy Beranbaum's recipe for Jewish rye bread. It overproofed on the third rise -- had to go pick up a grandchild! -- and wound up spreading out and making a wider, flatter loaf than I'd prefer, but the flavor is excellent.

In an effort to get more veggies in daily, I'm working on some different preps. Last night, tried a cauliflower and tomato curry (It called for potatoes, but I don't care for potatoes in curry). Recipe is on Epicurious, here. Had it with wild rice salad made with wild rice left over from the night before, and roasted sweet potato wedges with sweet paprika, glazed with a bit of honey. I'd originally planned the cauliflower for a vegetarian main, but decided I wanted some meat, so I did hamburger steaks topped with caramelized onions and gorgonzola dolce.

Reason No. 1,032 why I love my Instant Pot: I decided I wanted vegetable soup at 4:45 p.m., and less than an hour later, I had vegetable soup.

RRO, that looks absolutely breathtaking. Was it wonderful?

Thanks! Saturday night, if the Schwan's order gets here tomorrow evening as scheduled!

Healthy dinner, to make up for eating not-so-healthy over the weekend.... Sauteed tilapia in lemon butter; wild rice and steamed sugar snap peas. I don't think there is much better than a steamed fresh sugar snap, even if they are out of season and brought in from who-knows-where.

Can I use this method with frozen scallops? I've ordered some from Schwan's, if they ever show up (delivery had been cancelled/date changed for the THIRD time now....), and I'd love to try this. Also, can you give me an approximate range of times for different sizes? Thanks!

I fried 18 pounds of bacon for Shrove Tuesday pancake dinner at church last night. I may give up bacon for Lent. We decimated that and about 8 pounds of sausage, and I don't know HOW many pancakes. Pancake toppings included nutella, peanut butter, regular syrup, chocolate syrup, caramel syrup, chocolate chips, pecans, strawberries, blueberries, bananas, pecans, and whipped cream. Maybe some others, but I forget. I settled for regular syrup and pecans. Giving up alcohol and candy for Lent. We'll see how this goes.

@liamsaunt, that sandwich is a thing of beauty. I think I shall have one just like it tomorrow, except on homemade sandwich bread.

I make the Southern Living one as well, the cream-cheese-filled one. One of my expatriate Cajun friends said he likes mine because it's more moist that most you get in LA. I was proud!

I had bought olives and cheese and crackers and had pate de campagne and caviar in the freezer I was planning to thaw. Wound up going to the Thai restaurant for lunch (good Panang curry), and then eating Pancho's (won't mean anything to anyone but @Thanks for the Crepes and me, but a regional only-vaguely-Mexican restaurant in the Memphis area) cheese dip and chips during the game. Proud of the Broncos!