kayb

Yes, please. I'm in no rush!

My thought exactly. And I have some decent blue in the fridge....

Welcome, Paul. Looking forward to your input. Love me a good stir-fry.

Best sauerkraut I ever made was when I bought four big heads of cabbage at the farmers market, came home, and made kraut that day. Those cabbages were better than six pounds each! I had more than 20 pounds of shredded cabbage, and my poor food processor was panting, and the kitchen floor and counters had cabbage everywhere! I went six weeks with it in a food grade plastic bucket, with one of those brewer's air-lock releases fitted into a hole I'd drilled in the top; perfect vessel. I'm down to one jar left (yeah, I know it kills the good probiotics when you can it, but I wanted shelf stable). Know that I'll be making more next spring!

Well...we've begun. Peanut brittle. Crossing my fingers on this one. It's a recipe I haven't used, one where you use the microwave. Like @Kim Shook, I didnt get much foam, but I do have bubbles. Sweet and spicy nuts. Lawry's seasoned salt, smoked paprika, guajillo pepper, egg white. Chex mix! First of several batches I will make betwixt now and New Year's. As all the cooling/drying room is mostly taken, I believe I shall make a liquor store run before I take on anything else.

My mother, who canned everything, said she'd use non-regulation jars in things that don't need pressure canning, but just waterbath, so jams, jellies, pickles. Like others have said, I don't. I've had to clean up after a broken jar before. It ain't fun. Also, be sure to check the top rims of your jars for any cracks or chips. If they have either, discard them.

So glad to see Mousie back. He makes me smile.

OK, if you take orders, I want a set of the trees. Just let me know how to acquire them. And you people are about to tempt me over the line into fancy chocolate making, and that is a step I do NOT need to take!

"Fleabay." I love it. I'd venture that if the KA lasts another five years, or ten, and if you've returned the Magimix, you'll pay considerably more for it then than you just did. Also, there is the law of appliance failure that states that if you return the MM, the KA will die when you are in the middle of something critical you simply MUST complete. If you have storage room, a backup is not a bad thing, as many in this group will testify. I feel moderately uneasy about not having a backup CSO, but I DO have a backup coffee grinder, perhaps the most important small appliance I own.

Wow. Tough one. 1. Bacon 2. Strawberries 3. Pulled pork barbecue (when done right) 4. French onion soup 5. Cajun boiled shrimp with a very horseradishy cocktail sauce 6. Latkes with very runny egg yolks 7. Creme brulee 8. Berries with creme anglaise 9. Sliced vine-ripe tomatoes with salt 10. Lobster ETA 11. Castelvetrano olives

@robirdstx -- for those remaining neckbones, think about neckbones and dressing. Neckbones boiled pretty much as you did. Cornbread dressing, light on the sage, heavy on the black pepper. Serve with white beans and turnip or collard greens. Some seriously good soul food, though I forego the greens.

@Chris Amirault, on this site, posted his mother-in-law's Castaneda Posole some 10 or more years ago. It remains the only posole I will ever cook. Recipe here.

I've become a devotee of Bota Box red blend -- RedVolution. I have to drive 12 miles or so to one of four liquor stores, depending on which direction I'm already headed, as we're in a dry county. At the cheapest one, which is the one I frequent most, it's $18.03 with tax. At the priciest, it's $26 and change. The other two are in the $22-23 range. I get their Pinot Grigio too, in the summer.

Well. Thanksgiving having passed and Christmas coming on, I need to be getting busy on Christmas treats. The first two baskets will go out next Thursday, to the two ladies who run the office for my largest client. One of these ladies is vegan, which obviously limits what I can make for her. I'm thinking of making Chex mix with either oil or vegan butter, and also on the possibles agenda: Quick bread. I found a can of pumpkin in the pantry, have the other makings, am picking up egg replacer in the a.m., will use almond milk, so pumpkin bread. Assorted jellies and pickles. I have plenty, even though I didn't can any this summer. Coconut macaroons made with egg replacer. Cinnamon rolls made with egg replacer and vegan butter. Spicy or candied pecans Here's my question. I am by no means a chocolatier, but I have had some minor success with fudge and with chocolate dipped things. I'm contemplating chocolate dipped mints, making the mint filling with confectioner's sugar and vegan butter to make the filling. Everyone loves those fudgy cookies you make with cocoa and oatmeal and cook on top of the stove and drop on waxed paper. Would those work with vegan butter? I'm sure Mama used to make them with margarine, as that was what she typically used for everything, so I don't see why not. Chocolate peanut butter balls, filling simply peanut butter and confectioner's sugar. I'm thinking this year I will use the Paragon unit to melt/hold the chocolate. What temp do I want? It's grocery store chocolate bark; as I said, I am not a chocolatier, and I don't know that I have access to the good stuff here, anyway. I have a box of Cheddar Bay cheese biscuit mix (a la Red Lobster). Contemplating mixing up a batch of those to toss in. What I'd like to do is figure how to make a stiffer dough, roll it thin, cut it out and prick it, and make crackers, as they'd stay fresh longer. Vegetable shortening, or vegan butter? Last year, she was just vegetarian, and I could handle that; she just didn't get bacon jam or ham-cheese rollups. This year she's a lot more problematic. I have told her this. She also shoots hell out of my "bring them lunch the last day this year that I work down there" plan. Although I did one day this year bring a big pot of carrot soup with sorghum grain in it that wasn't bad. Thankfully, no one else on the goodie basket list has dietary restrictions. And I always make GF Chex Mix anyway, as it's easy, and Child C and I can both eat it.

I have a horror of wallpaper. My stepmother, God rest her soul, papered every room in the house in which I grew up, but for two, which were paneled, in some of the Godawful ugliest wallpaper I ever saw in my life. I don't think I'll ever hang a strip of wallpaper in any place I live. I could just see my mother looking down and shaking her head... Sorry. That's way off target for the topic. Stepmother did love PW kitchenware.

I keep a tin of decaf instant espresso in my pantry just to make my favorite Irish coffee -- 3 oz espresso, 1 oz Irish creme, 1 - 1 1/2 oz Jamesons. I'll occasionally stir a spoon of cocoa into it and call it mocha.

Nice buck. I do love tenderloin.

Wish they made the pretty ones to go with the bowl lift style mixers. On the same topic, I was in WalMart today and saw a massive display of Pioneer Woman mixing bowls and bakeware. I don't know if I could handle that much cheer and poufery in my kitchen.

Kira is a very pretty girl, even looking worried.

Oh, no, that just will not do. It's easy to see my Irish roots. I have never seen any preparation of potato I do not love.

Ohhhh, this gives me a taste for venison chili! Must find a hunter to cadge a couple of pounds from, as I no longer have any hunters in the family. Looking forward to the hunt, and all the details!

And I can (and just did) get that on Kindle Unlimited. Thanks again.

Sigh. I haven't even broken mine down yet. They're in the auxiliary fridge. That's a job for tomorrow, that and stock.

I have to ask...were y'all afraid he was going to escape before he got done? Wonderful looking spread, seriously.

Thank you for this! Got any good gluten-free crackers you can suggest?