MaryIsobel

I too am an unashamed Cheeze Whiz fan. I love all kinds of great cheese but Cheese Whiz holds a special place. Also, Cheese Whiz and peanut butter on toast is a great combo. (Waiting to have my e-gullet membership revoked...)

Here's the recipe from the cookbook I made for my daughters. "Grandma with the sore knee" was their name for my mom who had just had her second knee replacement when they began to talk. The title was used to differentiate between her and Grandma Roro - their grandma who lived in Ontarion.

Interesting - when I researched, several sources said that kidney beans are not the same as red beans. The brand that I can buy just over the border are the Camellia that you mentioned. They are noticeably smaller, darker and rounder than kidney beans. Having grown up in the pacific northwest, beans were never a huge part of our diet so I acquiesce to those of you with more bean knowledge. Canned pork 'n beans, kidney beans for chili and the dreaded lima beans as a side dish were the extent of my bean experience growing up.

Well, if you're going to bastardize, go big or go home. Along with above mentioned abominations, I also dumped a pound and a half of languishing spinach in at the end. It was suprisingly good. Lots of leftovers, not a bad thing. I am doing a half-hearted shop the pantry/shop the freezer this month and this meal met those parameters.

Dinner is in progress. We'll call it British Columbia Red Beans and Rice. British Columbia because I cannot find red beans here. I can buy them just a few miles away, in Lynden WA, but that involves a trip across the border and today is a snow day so making do. I used kidney beans, put to soak last night. Also had to use turkey keilbassa instead of andouille because that's what I had and even if I cared to venture out, andouille is not to be found within a 30 mile radius. Funny story on that; we have a great local butcher whom we love to patronize. They are great for custom cuts and I can get veal shanks there with a day or two's notice. They also smoke a lot of their own meat - their bacon is fabulous. A while ago I called them and asked if they had or would have andouille. The young woman who answered my call said "no, but we have chorizo and I think that's the same thing." Bless their hearts - they are great community supporters and hire a lot of local kids. Smoked ham hocks are increasingly difficult to find and again, snow day so using a few rashers of double smoked bacon from said butcher. Using some smoked paprika to up the smokey taste - I'll let you know...

30 minutes at 425. Second pic is a quick flip to show the underside. Cut a square off the corner to taste. Crispy, salty - perfect in my humble opinion, considering the little time involved.

Ready to go into the oven at 425 for 30 minutes. Was going to incorporate olives but concerned about how salty it might be so left them out.

I have had ricotta gnocchi in restaurants, but have only ever made the potato ones at home. Do you or your daughter have a recipe that you'd be willing to share?

Decided this morning with no forethought, that I want foccacia to go with our "soup from the freezer" dinner tonight. The basis of this is the King Arthur recipe for No Fuss Foccacia. I have bastardized it to death many times to align with how much time I have from start to table. I adjust the amount of yeast and the temperature environment where I let it rise, depending on how much time I have. I have also adopted Siman Nosrat's method of pouring a salt water brine over the dough prior to the second rise. 15 minutes into the second rise and it is getting lovely bubbles.

I've had it but only in restaurants - I've never seen it sold anywhere. It's called sea asparagus around here, but whatever you call it, I love it and wish it were more accessible.

Full disclosure - packaged gravy, stovetop stuffing (gotta bend to my husbands food quirks since he bends to mine.) As I was getting out the package of McCormick gravy mix - which is really not too bad, I saw that I had 4 packages of McCormick hollandaise, so what the heck? We'll diet tomorrow!

Oh yes please! Now I don't want my planned dinner - I want yours!

I'm just going to slice them and cover them in gravy. Dressing and lemon garlic broccoli to go with. I'm sure there will be no complaints since I explained to my husband that without skin, a "crispy" exterior will ruin them.

I think I will just slice and cover with gravy. Searing is not the answer in this case. My husband wanted a turkey dinner, so dressing, gravy over turkey and lemon butter broccoli will suffice.

Experiment in progress. Before I forbade my husband from buying any more "meat for the freezer because it was a good deal" he bought these "turkey breast fillets." They are skinless, boneless and have a tendon running through them (which I removed after the photo once I saw them, so I think they are turkey tenders.) I'm doing them sous vide at 145 for 4 hours. Coated them in the Trader Joes Everything But the Leftovers seasoning blend that my daughter gave me as a stocking stuffer. It is very sage forward so I think it will work. Making (packaged) gravy, so I don't think I will sear them as that would probably just dry out the outside. We shall see.

I googled a bunch about it, since when I make gumbo, it is an investment of time and money. Apparently the darker the roux, the more chance of it breaking. Not quoting any sources because I don't know how trustworthy they are but seems like it happens and doesn't bother a lot of people. On that note, I often make gumbo a day ahead (minus the shrimp.) It gets better sitting in the fridge overnight.

Last time I made gumbo, it was my best ever and I attribute that to having made the (oven) roux ahead of time and refrigerating it, since I was traveling about 4 hours before I could complete the gumbo at my sister's house. I didn't have an oil separation issue.

Co-op had 10 pounds of red onions for 5.00, so quick pickled onions were the order of the day. Big jar for the house and smaller jar for my nephew who apparently "puts it on everything except cereal." Still have 5 pounds left. Fish tacos tonight.

Just like the Sopranos!

While rummaging through the freezer for inspiration, I came across a small amount of diced pancetta. Found a couple of slices of thick cut bacon from our butcher to add to it and dinner was carbonara. Just eggs, egg yolk, pecorino romano, and pepper along with the meat. Pardon the messy bowl - forgot to take a picture before we started eating. Had a salad of spinach, roasted red pepper and artichoke hearts with a lemon forward vinagrette to cut the richness.

My daughter's fiancee is a whisky lover (a very restrained whisky lover) so for Christmas, I went to our local government liquor store and asked for a "decent bottle of whiskey, under $100.00. The fellow there recommended Auchentoshan 12. The recipient was delighted with it and I was delighted when I saw a bottle in @Duvel's collection.

I'd love to try that but pretty sure that both the Génépy and the Pineau Charentes would be impossible to find in my town. I'll peruse the BCLDB website and may venure further afield one of these days if they are available within a 50 km radius. I love anything with bitters - big Negroni fan. Thanks once again for the inspiration.

I freeze buttermilk in 1 cup amounts. Flat in a baggie in the freezer, it takes up no room and works just fine in biscuits, pancakes and marinades. I can never use a whole litre at once.

Both meals look great. We we venture down to Bellingam, WA (we're about 10k from the Canada/US border) I always eye the marinated al pastor in the Mexican markets but we are not permitted to bring raw meat across the border. Your stew looks delicious. If you did use mutton, I will have to withdraw my comment but I do know that that is the authentic meat to use.

Kim, I envy the choices you have for eating out. In our town there is very bad Chinese, quite a few pizza places and a few Indian places, of which one is okay. We do have a falafel/shwarma place nearby which is always my choice but only for take out, as there are just a few plastic tables and chairs so not a lot of ambience. The food is quite good though not my husband's first choice. It's where I order from on the odd occaision that I am on my own. https://holyfalafel.ca/