kayb

The trays at hobby lobby are only about 3 inches deep. I always get a couple of bags of red and green Christmas filler, or just crumple red and green tissue paper, to fill in and around.

I like to give an assortment of goodies, plus that lets me cook over an extended period and stash in the freezer, etc. I've pretty much settled on a 12 x 16 or so rectangular tray-basket. That lets you put a central thing -- usually in my case, a loaf of some sort of quick bread, and surround it with smaller things. I get the treat bags from Dollar Tree --they're the perfect size for holding a cup of spiced nuts, a dozen cookies, a few pieces of fudge, a stack of pralines, etc., and there are large ones that work nicely for a couple of cups of snack mix or the like. I usually add a jar or two of homemade jelly, jam, pickles, chutney or such. Sometimes I will do small jars of cheese spread or pate, but they you have to be sure and remind folks to refrigerate it. One year, I did bottles of eggnog, and used the egg whites to make meringue cookies; that was a hit. Hobby Lobby is a great place to get the trays/baskets. I get rolls of cellophane to wrap around them and tie at the top. I try to stay away from really fragile things that may break or crumble. I will start about Thanksgiving making loaves of quick bread, which I'll triple-wrap and freeze as soon as they cool. Then I can unwrap down to the plastic wrap, and put them in the baskets. Then just fill in around them, wrap them up in cellophane, and there you are! I can tell you another one of the favorites I included one year was bacon jam and homemade rain coast crisps, my all-time favorite snack cracker. I also did homemade pretzels one year; that was kinda fun, especially if you wanted to do homeade spicy mustard with them. Oh, and the regular grocery store pretzels, dipped in white or dark chocolate and then rolled in crushed peppermint sticks, are always easy, fun ad good. When I've had an opportunity to recruit the grandkids into making Christmas ornaments, I often put one of those in, as well. Some other easy but impressive treats to package in small bags include biscotti (I salvaged a really bad fruitcake by freezing, slicing, and baking into biscotti once); cheese biscuits with deviled ham (but you have to do that just shortly before you gift it), coconut macaroons, chocolate oatmeal stove-top cookies, candied pecans, spicy pecans, pecan meltaway cookies, cheese crisp crackers, Chex mix. One year I gifted loaves of homemade yeast bread and jars of apple butter, and that was much enjoyed, too. Hope those give some inspiration.

Another cool, overcast day. Tonight's dinner was white bean and sausage soup. And tomorrow's lunch, and a few other lunches this week!

I've had, and like, Rogue River blue. I don't remember the grape leaves wrap, though. Wonder if that was a special edition for the awards?

Why has this never occurred to me? Pears going on the grocery list!

As it seems to have decided to be fall (a bit of color starting to appear in the leaves, and more importantly, mid-50s and raining), my kitchen, which I've sadly ignored in the four months since I've moved, calls to me. Faced with a Saturday with, miraculously, nothing to do, so far I've put on a pot of carbonnades a la flamande to simmer for dinner (instead of the traditional egg noodles, we'll have them over grits), mixed up a batch of America's Test Kitchen GF flour blend, and tried my hand at my first GF brownies. Still on my agenda for the day is a fresh apple cake, adapted to GF, and a batch of pimiento cheese for next week's lunches. I have also discovered my Aldi has grocery delivery. It is raining buckets, and my Aldi is going to deliver my groceries to my door for a $3.99 charge. You bet I'll jump on that, particularly as the first three orders for delivery get $10 off per order. I may bestir myself to bake bread, which, of course, I'll have to give away, but that's OK, too. Later next week, since the cool weather is supposed to hang around, there'll be carrot soup with sorghum grains in it. What do you like to cook when it finally gets cool?

YUM! Now, some sorghum molasses and cold glass of milk with that, and I'd be set.

Ohhh, I haven't even thought about holiday gift baskets. The usual fudge and pralines. Some kind of cookies; some kind of quick bread. Maybe raincoast crisps and some kind of spread. Pickled quail eggs and sausage, for the novelty value. Candied pecans, Chex mix. Whatever else strikes my fancy.

No pics because it really wasn't pic-worthy and because, for some reason, I was starving and didn't take time to take them. Hamburger steak and baked potato with butter and sour cream and chives. A few weeks ago, I bought two packs of frozen "sirloin steakburgers" at Sam's for a cookout. I think there were 18 in a package. Wound up cooking only one package, so tonight, I pulled one out, pan-fried it, and nuked a potato in the microwave. A dash of A-1 and I was good to go. Haute cuisine it was not, but it was tasty, and quick. No more than 15 minutes from start to finish, and if I'd been of a notion to microwave some frozen veggies as well, that wouldn't have take much longer. I can see keeping a package of these in the freezer all the time. They're 8-ounce patties, a big thicker than your normal burger patty.

Sizeable barrel. My aunt and uncle had rain barrels at the corners of the house when I was a kid. I got in big-time trouble for holding my cousin's head under water in one of them. At least, I was in trouble until it came out that he had been attempting to drown a cat in it, and I rescued the cat and decided he was a better candidate for drowning. Significant water was splashed out that day. I have done my first bit of gardening at the new house, and it wasn't food-related. I've planted four peonies, and about 200 assorted spring bulbs -- hyacinths, daffodils, crocus, tulips, iris and lilies. Should look beautiful in the spring. I'm figuring to get the raised beds in and nicely fertilized next month. then cover them with straw and let them rest until next spring. One bed for asparagus, one for tomatoes and peppers, one for a few hills each of yellow squash, zucchini and cucumber. Also need to get some hostas planted this month (I have lots of shade). I read, I think on here, that one could put morel beds beneath an oak tree if one had one. I have two big ones. Has anyone had any experience in growing morels? I know one can forage them up in the hills not far from me, so I'm guessing the climate is OK.

Have never been a huge fan of okra in gumbo, though I won't pick it out, either. But I will eat all the fried okra you will put in front of me. As long as it's not that nasty batter-encased stuff from the freezer section of the supermarket.

Wanting to use my Paragon to caramelize a bunch of onions. Anyone know a suggestion on temp? I'll be using some of these immediately, and packaging and freezing others. I just want light-to-medium caramelization, so the onions still have some structural integrity.

That looks lovely. Just looked up the recipe. Wondering how it would adapt to muffins for Sunday morning (being the designated muffin-maker for Sunday school class...).

FWIW, my very favorite burger is one topped with caramelized onions and crumbled blue cheese, with a good homemade mayo or light garlic aioli. Try fresh figs, split, topped with blue cheese, roasted, and drizzled with honey. Or pears sandwiched with blue cheese (bread entirely optional). (I prefer Bosc or Asian pears for this.) Blue cheese scrambled into eggs is excellent, too.

That is my very favorite kind of lunch. Or dinner.

H'mmm. I have had pasta salads that have within them diced summer sausage or cured/smoked sausage, as well as diced cheese (I've seen cheddar and Monterey Jack), along with diced gherkins, carrots, radishes, olives and so on, but they were always in a light mayo dressing. I like the idea of vinegar and a bit of oil.

On my Duo, I've had some success on simmering at saute set to the "low" setting. Which I believe I read somewhere is equivalent to the slow cook, high setting.

As always, I greatly enjoyed the trip. Though the thought of a deep fried lobster tail is kinda blasphemous, I think....

I didn't. Although I'm the only one who uses the butter (the kid prefers margarine, the Philistine!), and I have no objection to crumbs in my butter. Still, a handy thing to know.

Add me to the toasted rav fan line. At least before the celiac diagnosis. My kids can eat a boxful at a sitting. Interestingly, the Arkansas Delta has a sizeable Italian population, made up of descendants of immigrants in the 1920s-30s. I may have told the story of how they came here before; if not, and if anyone's interested, I will. But a consequence is that damn nearly every small Delta town has a reasonably decent Italian restaurant, mostly of the red-sauce workingman Italian variety, and many dishes that have been "italianized" from Southern classics, i.e., Fried chicken with marinara sauce Spaghetti as a veggie side to fried catfish (red sauce with no meat) and my personal favorite, a debris po'boy, shredded pot roast over a split small baguette, topped with marinara sauce and the classic barbecue spaghetti, pulled pork and a barbecue-flavored red sauce over linguine Toasted rav as the appetizer, naturally.

I held off getting a Keurig for years because I didn't want to tie myself to pods (clogging the waste stream, not to mention the damn things are pricy, and what if you run out?). But when I learned one could get refillable cups and I could use my ground-at-home coffee I've used for years, I was off and running. A Keurig cup made from my Brazil Estate beans from Cafe Brazil in Dallas is the best cup of coffee I've ever made at home. My French press with the same coffee gets close. Coffee snobs' mileage may, of course, vary; my tongue just isn't that sensitive.

I have no authority other than the complete and utter loathing of kale (as well as all other greens; think of @rotuts and green bell peppers, which I loathe as well). This is a sacrilege, an abomination, and most likely a mortal sin. Mexican food should remain kale-less. I am indifferent to squiggles.

If you have a food saver, why not just seal right at the edges of the phone and then trim, and not worry about vacuum? Or just pull a weak vacuum before sealing? I've done that with somewhat delicate materials I didn't want to squish. I'd say make the initial layer of Jello, let it sit until almost firm, and gently lay the encased phone on top; then add the second layer. Like @liuzhou, I'm anxious to see the video (not to mention extensive pics of the entire affair)!

I sprang for Plated. Been a while since I bought a cookbook, she rationalized. Of course, it's been a while since I've cooked, too.

Re: the kugel. Does anyone know if there's such a critter as gluten-free egg noodles? I would love to try a kugel, but alas....celiac disease sucks. ETA: Amazon shows some. But they're sure pricy!