MaryIsobel

I signed up for a promo with Chef's Plate (apparently same parent company as Hello Fresh) as I thought it would be helpful for meal planning while I am somewhat out of comission. I can cook just fine for the most part, doing a lot of prep sitting down and in spurts and having help taking things on or off the stove or in or out of the oven. It's the shopping that is problematic. My husband is willing to go but doesn't "think on his feet" like I do when shopping, so we get some rather "unusual" substitutions which sometimes makae my planned meal impossible. Anyway, I ordered 3 meals for 4 people and it was 48.00 Cdn. They were fine at that price but I would not pay the normal price, which is twice that. All were recipes that I would make again and I did glean a great tip; when using ground turkey for meatballs, add chicken bouillon too ramp up the flavour. Being an experienced cook, I largely ignored their prep instructions, but they were a bit odd. For a Cajun Dirty Rice dish, they had you making the rice and once it was cooked, to start cooking the meat and veg which would be added. Obviously cooking the meat and veg WHILE the rice was cooking is a more streamlined approach.

I have never had frozen custard, I've never seen it for sale in these parts. I'll have to remedy that somehow. You had me a Ozark Turtle. My husband has given me a box of Turtles every Christmas since we met - that's a lot of turtles and I relished every one.

Something has been bothering me. Perhaps I was wrong to whine about hospital food. Even though I did use the word inedible, I suppose it really wasn't, it just wasn't up to my standards. When there are so many people who don't know where their next meal will come from, I guess I was just being persnickety. As I mentioned, there were 4 people in our room and one polished off her meals each time. Maybe that's the way she cooks at home. Given that my hospital stay, surgery and the ensuing physio did not and will not cost me a cent, I am feeling guilty about ridiculing the meals. However, I now have a great idea for a small gift for anyone facing a hospital stay (given they don't have any dietary restrictions.) A miniature pepper grinder, some salt, individual packets of butter, some hot sauce, hp sauce, soy sauce, ketchup...

Apparently. I was in a quad room and 3 of the 4 of us relied on outside food or went without.

A less than graceful move on my part caused me to spend 7 days in the hospital. Got home this past Thursday. I was truly gob-smacked by how really awful the food was. The first three days I was in, I was waiting for surgery so was fasting every day until about 9 pm when I would be advised "sorry, no surgery today, but it should be tomorrow." At that point I would be allowed to eat and drink until midnight. Problem was by that time, my visitors had gone home, the meal trays had been delivered and the nurses would resort to scrounging up food which usually consisted of either arrowroot or digestive biscuits, sometimes cheese portions and unsalted saltines. Fortunately I didn't have much appetite, as I had been laying pretty much flat on my back, bed bound (fractured hip) but I have never enjoyed a digestive biscuit as much as I did on those evenings. When I finally had surgery, I eagerly anticipated my breakfast tray the next morning. I had no idea it was possible to make toast badly. Served in a wax paper envelope to trap all the condensation, dripping with margarine and barely warm, it was to me, practically inedible. This was accompanied by grape jelly and a scoop of scrambled eggs which held it's shape perfectly. No salt or pepper to be seen. Another day was similar breakfast but a warm hard boiled egg with chalky yolk. Pepper was provided, no salt. I then discovered that I was on a renal failure diet. I have no kidney issues but apparently being dehydrated can cause a spike in renal numbers. I was dehydrated because I had been fasting for 3 days! Got that sorted and thought the meals would improve. Nope. First non RF meal was a scoop of plain rice, dried out and crunchy on the bottom (and not in a good way) a huge portion of plain corn and six 1" dia meatballs that were probably 50% cereal in a sauce that seemed to be corn syrup with smoked paprika. I then decided that I would rely on my friends and family to bring me food. Unfortunately there was no way to not get served all 3 meals. They all went back untouched but for the orange juice at breakfast and the fresh fruit on the two days it was offered. Such a terrible waste. I didn't take many pictures, but here is one breakfast and the meatball dinner. Slightly off topic - but I have nothing but good things to sa about every single staff member from cleaners to doctors, that I encountered.

Thanks @Shelby. That was going to be my next question for @Norm Matthews. But I went to Costco and then had to take to my bed. Costco is exhausting but those noodles look great and are something that I have never made.

Are those homemade noodles too? They look scrumptious.

Thanks, I'll get my mojo back, this happens once in a while, a self imposed break I suppose...

Everything looks so delicious. I have defintely slid into a cooking funk. Husband, post surgery and long hospital stay has zero appetite and frankly I am getting tired of trying.Oddly enough today we were talking about camping and hot dogs came up and he lit up. So I guess we're having hot dogs tomorrow. Found top-split brioche buns and bought European weiners. We have sourkraut and I'll do carmelized onions. May be the best meal we've had in weeks.

Oh wow - thank you. My daughter lives in Surrey but I haven't explored it much. I'll check it out.

Lovely, thanks. Not aware of a Brit shop near me, but next time I visit Victoria I'm sure I can find them. Great memories. The great aunts also had those hard little animal shaped cookies that were iced in pink or white with non-pareils for special occasions. They probably tasted horrible, but any "store bought" cookies were such a novelty to us that they seemed like a luxury.

I haven't thought of Garibaldi biscuits for years. My great aunts always had them on hand for out after church visits for tea. They called them currant biscuits. Were these purchased in Canada?

My daughters are in their late 20's and are university educated. When I told them what actual Tupperware was and how there used to be parties to buy it at, they laughed convulsively about "what a wild night out - lets go buy some plastic containers - yee haw!" Cheeky brats. I have always called all the plastic containers tupperware and I have a tupperware drawer that they grew up with but they honestly did not know that Tupperware was a brand name.

I always do the same when attempting to use leftovers or clean out the freezer... "I just need to run and get XXX protein to use up this leftover XXX. Either that or I do a fridge and freezer clean out and make a huge batch of something of which the leftovers take up more room in the freezer than what I cleared out!

I bought a spiral ham once and never again. Like you say, dry edges and no ability to make "chunks." Ham is pretty easy to carve so I don't get the attraction.

We buy a similar shelf stable fondue. I add a little extra splash of wine when heating. It makes for a great camping meal using our old fondue pot and a can of Sterno. Very hoity toity for camping according to some of our friends but it is just as easy to make as Kraft dinner or hot dogs!

Well, if you're making eggs Benedict for 8 people on Christmas morning and they all choose to gather in the kitchen while you are trying to poach 16 eggs and toast English muffins, and kiss and hug and put coats away, every little bit helps.

I agree. Even the smell of their chicken makes me feel ill - it is so greasy! But I could eat a serving for 4 of their coleslaw no problem.

On a simiilar note, it was life-changing for me when I read about making hollandaise a couple of hours ahead and keeping it in a pre-warmed vacuum flask. Holds beautifully in a decent vacuum flask. Why had I never thought of that?!

Very similar to what I do - i use a pyrex bowl, and it seems to work very well. I think the key is low and slow with some type of insulation (ie. water bath)

The salmon fishery has been in trouble for a few years now on the west coast. The reason that my husband always got more salmon and ling cod than halibut is that you have to go much further out to get halibut. Like 10 miles offshore from where they camped. The weather on the west coast of Vancouver Island is unpredictable at times so if it was the least little bit iffy, they didn't venture out. Perfect Storm and all that...

I have gone off salmon as well. Sounds whiney but when my husband and buddies used to spend a week on the west coast of Vancouver Island, our freezer was always full of salmon and it got to be "I guess we should have salmon this week." It has never been my favourite fish, I much prefer ling cod or halibut or sablefish and that coupled with the fact that I felt forced to cook it has turned me off completely. I have seen salmon fish and chips on menus, and thought "no thanks, I'll have the cod." I do like a salmon sandwich, made much the same way as a tuna sandwich and I have one recipe where the salmon is marinated in soy sauce, rye whiskey, pepper, oil and garlic and then grilled which I do quite like and another for salmon cakes made with cubes of fresh salmon. Those two recipes are the only way I will eat salmon anymore. Oh - and smoked salmon or lox is fine too.

I do understand Jessica's enthusiasm. I used to tend to go overboard on offerings but after so many years, I know what will be consumed and we will be eting for an eternity after the fact. There are no little kids yet to indulge in a myriad of sweets and most of us are fairly diet concious now so that has heped me immensely in paring down the menu.

Saturday brunch was the day and time that worked for both daughters and their SOs. We will have ham which both daughters and my husband love. I look more forward to making soup from the bone. We have to have the hasbrown casserole (aka funeral potatoes -- lovely name.) I rue the day that I first made it as a young cook because now it is insisted upon and there are so many more interesting potato dishes. Ah well. Will have a veggie/cheese/egg casserole for the low carbers, Green Green spring vegetables (Ina Garten) and the cream cheese danish I posted about earlier. Pavlova for dessert. Avacado Shrimp Salsa with chips and cucumber slices to nibble on beforehand. Mimosa bar and craft beer.

I made cream cheese Danish today, recipe courtesy of Ann_T. I have made this a couple of times a few years ago and decided it would be a nice addition to our Easter brunch. I put a thin layer of seedless raspberry jam under the cream cheese on two of them. One exploded but that is likely due to not pinching it together well enough or over filling. My husband and nephew and I will devour it for dessert tonight none the less. Have stowed the other three in the freezer until this weekend. I will glaze them and add the sliced almonds once they are thawed.