Miriravan

I like ketchup, but not on eggs or, as my cousins in my youth horrified me by eating, on macaroni and cheese. (Even worse, the macaroni and cheese--Kraft--was leftover that had been refrigerated overnight and then fried in butter. In case you should wonder, this does very little good for a food that is really not that good to begin with, and I say this as a woman who still loves that cheesy salty neon saucy delicousness). Ketchup is for various permutations of meat and potatoes, often mixed with mayo and mustard (or sometimes ranch) to dip fries and fishsticks in (add relish and it substitutes for tartar sauce), slathered on crispy hashbrowns or corned beef hash, squirted on hotdogs, hamburgers, meatloaf, and that ilk. I mostly use Best Foods (Hellman's east of the Rockies!) for all mayonnaise-type dressing applications (including potato salad, which does also include yellow mustard--just made a batch today, and it's delicious, if I do say so myself) but I retain a secret love of Miracle Whip from childhood when, I kid you not, I used to sneak into my dad's kitchen at night and eat it out of the jar. With a spoon.

Took out a chub of hot chicken Italian sausage and a bag of mixed vegetables to make shepherd's pie with (delicious topped with mashed butternut squash instead of potatoes). Put in a bag of blueberries and a pint of Ben and Jerry's. So, pretty much a wash, I guess.

It does, indeed, Anna N! Mostly, I am pleased that I have so far not stuck anything new in either freezer.

Pulled a little ribeye out of my freezer for last night's dinner. This whole project is kind of slow, since there's only me to feed here, but I shall persevere!

Huh. My favorite local coffee shop does a version of these, but savory. Two versions, actually. One is called a bodi roll (no, I've no idea why, or even if that's the correct spelling) but they are that shape, with the lovely laminated texture of a croissant, with a ribbon of pepper jack cheese baked in. And the other is the same dough, only filled with cream cheese and then sprinkled with everything seasoning (and called, appropriately enough, an everything roll). I am mildly addicted to the first version, especially when slightly warmed.

Tonight's dinner is kind of tangentially associated with this challenge, in that I am using this bag of ham hocks that say 'use or freeze by 01/13/19' to make bean soup with rather than stuffing them in the freezer!

Oh, thanks for the response, heidhi! I am in Corvallis, OR. And these beans do look like a lot like the Pinquitos, though darker. I cooked them up with an onion and a bay leaf, and they are a nice, firm bean, nothing extraordinary (though in fairness, they’re pretty old) but good, with a decent bean-liquor. I shall use them in a soup or a chili-ish something, I think.

Oh, that sounds fabulous.

I have a bag of 'gaucho' beans I picked up at my local farmers market, probably last summer, because hey! Local beans! They are very small (like quarter-inch average), reddish-brown beans, and there is no indication on the bag what sort of cooked beans they make (e.g. do they hold their shape, what sort of texture do they have, what applications are they suitable for). A google search gives me a couple entries from seed sites that say they are from Argentina, ripen early, and give good yields--nice to know, but not really helpful in a culinary sense. Obviously I can just cook them up simply and see what I end up with, but I figured I'd see if anybody has experience of this variety before I start experimenting. Thanks in advance for any insights!

I made a skillet version using mild chicken Italian sausage recently, a variation of a recipe I found in WaPo? NYT Cooking? I don't remember for sure. It was a really simple filling with the sausage, onions, garlic, chicken stock, and a little tomato paste, roasted and mashed roasted sweet potatoes mixed with a little bit of butter and half-and half on top. Made in an oven-proof skillet. Very easy and fast to put together, and it made several nice meals.

Here is a bad phone picture of my decidedly unfancy but tasty (and challenge compliant! last night's dinner,) brought to you courtesy of my disgraceful freezer and the letter 'P': Pork chop with Penzey's Arizona Dreaming, roasted sweet Potato, and frozen buttered Peas.

I adore English muffins, and have one for breakfast almost every day. And I have loved crumpets ever since I stumbled across a package on the day old/discounted shelf at a grocery store. Before that, I thought they were invented by writers of Regency novels. I used to only eat them toasted with way too much butter. Then a friend in England told me she eats hers with sliced cheese on. They are so good with a little smear of butter and a decent slice of whatever cheese is handy (mostly sharp cheddar of some sort).

I was so sad I missed these at my TJ's, but really, in hindsight, it's probably for the best. Just by the descriptions I would have probably devoured them by the handful.

Okay, I've read through this topic so many times thinking, 'I really ought to do this!' And I really, really ought. I only have a small chest freezer and the ever-impending avalanche that is on the top of my refrigerator, but they are both entirely stuffed full of perfectly good (well mostly) food that I need to eat. So I have begun by actually taking a pork chop out to thaw, which will be accompanied by a sweet potato and some sort of frozen veg, of which I have enough to ensure my five-a-day for many weeks even if I never left my apartment. I choose to count 'potato, sweet' as also beginning with 'p' for extra self-motivational 'you are doing the thing. Go you!' points.