MaryIsobel

That looks fabulous! I got a tortilla press for Christmas, so something Mexicanish is in our future so I can try it out.

Beef stew at husband's request. Not a pretty picture, but served with dumplings, filled the bill on a snowy night. My husband took a couple of servings to our 85 year old neighbour who still takes care of his 5 acre property and flock of sheep all by himself. I keep telling myself I'm going to learn to take better pictures of food!

One of the best fish dishes I've ever had was the lump crab stuffed pompano at GW Fins.

That looks fabulous. Having grown up on the west coast of Canada, I didn't try (nor had I heard of) red beans and rice until my first trip to New Orleans in my 40's. They are on permanent rotation here and a great freezer meal.

Way too soon. Such a wealth of information, supplied with humour and grace. RIP.

No matter what you call it, it looks good to me!

I really overbought this year. Combination of ending up with a much smaller gathering than originally anticipated and both my husband and I coming down with wretched colds over the holidays which left us with little to no appetite. Can't stand to see things go to waste.

I spent a lot of the day yesterday repurposing holiday food. Big vat of turkey soup, as I still had the thanksgiving carcass in the freezer. Combined with the Christmas one, there was a lot of stock. Chopped a ton of veggies, then split the soup in half; noodles in one half, barley in the other. Then I made fromage fort from all the leftover bits and bobs of cheese. It's a simple Jacques Pepin recipe; a pound of any cheeses you like, 3 or 4 garlic cloves and 1/2 a cup of white wine. Whirl it all together in the food processor and pack into crocks. I freeze it in 1/2 cup crocks for an easy impromptu appetizer. Serve with crackers or veggies or you can also spread it on toasted baguette slices and stick it under the broiler. Then I ground up all the leftover crackers to freeze and use to top casseroles or gratins or pasta or... Then I collapsed with a glass (maybe two) of wine and watched Perfect Storm which is one of my all time favourite movies. We had turkey soup and cheese toast for dinner. Tonight will be spaghetti, using some more veggies and a chopped salad to use the rest of the veggies on hand. Fridge is almost cleaned out.

Oh, sorry. I neglected to say I left out the garlic powder all together. Just didn't think it would be a good fit with turkey. Beef maybe.

This was my mom's go to for pot roast when she wouldn't be around to supervise her pressure cooker version. I made it for my husband when first married and it is his gold standard for pot roast. I tried to up my game in later years with red wine, shallots, mushrooms... anything but onion soup mix but it remains his #1 favourite pot roast. What can I say? He's easy to please.

I don't like grating cheese either and I can't even tell you why. I used to despise unloading the dishwasher until one day many years ago when I timed myself and found that it took about 3 minutes. After that I would just tell myself it takes 3 minutes! I get Alexa to play some favourite song and by the time the song is over, I'm usually done.

I'm in Canada and the asparagus roll-up were a staple at my mother's bridge parties in the 60's. I'm quite certain it was white bread spread with creams cheese. Cream cheese and maraschino cherry pinwheel sandwiches also made a frequent appearance at said parties. My mom would always make extra of those because to us kids, they were five-star food.

Had our family Christmas turkey dinner last night, due to a crazy work schedules of some. Having come down with a really wretched cold a few days prior (not Covid, was tested) I wanted to keep things as stress free for myself as possible. I have made make ahead mashed potatoes in the past but they take forever to heat up and usually develop a crust. Came across a recips for mashed potatoes in the Instapot, which said you can hold them on the keep warm setting for up to 3 hours. https://www.melskitchencafe.com/life-changing-instant-pot-mashed-potatoes/ What the hell said I. Not exagerating when I say they are the best, creamiest, easiest mashed potatoes I have ever made and every single one of the the 8 people present complimented the mashed potatoes. I can honestly say I don't ever remember being complimented on mashed potatoes before. I ended up keeping them on the keep warm setting for four hours and I'm pretty sure I will never make mashed potatoes for a crowd any other way. That said, I used all the butter and all the sour cream in the recipe for 5 pounds of potatoes, but probably only about 1/3 of the milk/cream and it wasn't necessary to add any more before serving.

I think your neice and I would get along famously! Sadly, one of the very few things my husband won't eat is any kind of curry. That and cilantro and peanut sauce (apparently tastes like someone spilled soy sauce in a jar of peanut butter) are about it as far as it goes for blacklisted food for him. Yes, I have explained to him that there are many flavours of curry but he has a mental block about it. Curry is always my "home alone" dinner and yours looks fabulous.

Thank you Night Scotsman, wherever you are. I have been making his recipe for vanilla marshmallows every Christmas for about 10 years. I finish them in toasted coconut and they are my 94-year-old father's favourite Christmas treat. It's funny, I have made crocombuche and buche noel and eleaborate Christmas treats, but people are blown away that I can make marshmallows! It's really quite simple as long as you have a candy thermometer and a sinkful of hot soapy water makes short work of the clean up.

Lots of cream cheese here. Light, regular, brick tub...Bricks are about 2.50 Cdn., same price as usual.

That is our traditional Christmas breakfast. Along with monkey bread and fruit salad for the one who doesns't like salmon or cream cheese! Pretty sure there was a mix up at the hospital with that one...

i have not. Just an assumption on my part.

They are definitley crunchy. I baked them longer than sugessted because i want them to be crunchy.

Second batch of biscotti for the local ER where my daughter is a CCRN. Almond and dried cherries plumped in cherry brandy. I'll send them in with her on her next set with a note thanking them. These great nurses and doctors and clerks works crazy hours and tons of overtime these days, yet keep their senses of humour. Cookies seems like little thanks, but I can't send in kegs of wine and bottles of scotch!

In our family it is "the sun is over the yard arm somewhere." (Irish railroader family equivalent to "it's five o'clock somewhere" but earlier of course!)

These ones were from Sally's Baking Addicition. https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/dark-chocolate-orange-biscotti/ There are so many recipes, some with no fat of any kind. These had a small amount of butter and oil and have a nice texture.

First batch of biscotti destined for the ER at the local hospital where my daughter works. Two dozen orange chocolate biscotti. Thinking I will do Ameretto Almond for the second batch.

My 25-year-old single daughter who is a CCRN at the local hospital's emerg, uses various meal kits, mainly Hello Fresh. She works 12 hour days and lots of overtime lately. This girls loves food and cooking and is not a fast food fan. She does some batch cooking on her days off, but also uses meal kits and she figures the saved time and lack of waste make it worthwhile for her. She chooses her meal orders judiciously, looking for recipes that will freeze or keep for a day or two. She often orders meals for 4 so that she can cook once and eat for 4 meals. Recently she has teamed up with a fellow single nurse working the same line as her, who also uses the meal kits, so they take turns providing each other with lunch (or dinner, depending on the shift.) Because she is a frequent flyer, she was able to get me 4 free meals for 2. I enjoyed the ease of prep and the recipes were quite good - I've saved a couple for future use. Also used some cuts of meat I don't normally buy (eg. scallops of turkey.) Because I have all the time in the world to prep and shop since I retired, I don't see myself making use of such a thing but for a single, working person who enjoys cooking and a variety of food, they are great.