MaryIsobel

Using cottage cheese instead of salad dressing is brilliant. I usually just eat it with fruit or tomatoes and basil or spread on toast with lots of pepper. I really, really like cottage cheese - always have.

Welcome from a fellow Canadian. We are very familiar with the Island - lots of friends and relatives there. My husband landed in Ucluelt from Ontario. He fished commercially for a year or two and then realized that that life would kill him early!

I have two mister bottles - one for olive oil and another for vegetable oil. I bought ones for my daughters for Christmas; you can either pour from the spout or mist. No idea how long they will last - but they weren't expensive. They were from the big A.

Wow - that is calling my name!

You are a force to be reckoned with when it comes to cooking!

I buy the 10 calorie/cup cranberry cocktail and mix it 25% juice/75% water - definitely drink more of that than plain water. Yesterday I found a SunRype mango/passion fruit 10 calorie juice and that was a nice change.

Thanks - now I have no need to eat for the rest of the day

I haven't posted in a long while on this topic but I have been cooking. I just never think to take pictures until it's too late and since Christmas my husband and I have been eating like paupers. Tried this tonight in an ongoing effort to clean out the pantry and freezer. Served with a salad, it was a very enjoyable dinner. I cut the recipe in 1/2 but it still would have served 6 in my world. Not a problem - just another meal for another day. Just tossed a few Swiss cheese slices on top as yesterday I used all the bits and bobs of Christmas cheese to make fromage fort. https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/one-pot-creamy-french-onion-pasta-bake/

Very good advice about the canning jars. They are also much more effective at keeping out bugs!

Wine gums were a relatively cheap confection when I was a kid so I chose them often. Definitely not comparable to gummies - much chewier but not as sticky in the teeth as gummies. Now I'll have to seek out a roll (that's how they came when I was young.)

Gorgeous looking loaf. Roughly, what ratio of white to ww flour did you use? I've tried to recreate the "brown bread" that was served with soup in Irish pubs. Most pubs in the Repbublic (I haven't been to Northern Island) always have a seafood or fish chowder and a creamy vegetable soup on offer.I don't have access to the wholemeal flour they use in Ireland and I'm sure that is the difference. I've made a few attempts using the white/ww flour combo in different proportions but haven't got it quite right yet. I was planning on trying a bit of oat flour (rolled oats given a few spins in the food processor) and a couple of tablespoons of bran for my next attempt. All versions have been edible and enjoyable but just not right to my memory.

The spinach dip was a bit of a b***h to clean up, but when the greek yogurt hit the floor, it was Charlie Dog to the rescue!

Those are absolutely fabulous! You are truly an artist.

I'm prepping things for our Christmas Eve finger food dinner. Made spinach dip, transferred to a container, wiped off the container and as I was moving it to the fridge, it slipped out of my hand, hit the floor, the lid came off and covered me, the fridge, the floor and the island in spinach dip. I rallied and decided to make ranch dip instead. Believe it or not, when I took the greek yogurt out of the fridge, I dropped it. The container split and I had a replay of the spinach dip incident. Perhaps dips were not in the cards for me. I'm kind of afraid to attempt anything else today.

Well, everyone except me apparently! As I mentioned we don't eat a lot of sausages, mainly because I don't care for them and I'm the cook! I like the flavour of some but I just find them too rich. Is that a poem that you memorized in school or are you a poet?

Thanks everyone. I know my daughter will be delighted.

When my daughter went to uni in Galway, Ireland, she developed an obsession with bangers. She has tried what claim to be bangers here but said they just taste like giant breakfast sausages. I happened to see on a local reddit page that a butcher I frequent sells them and apparently they are the real deal. I'd like to surprise her with them for Christmas breakfast. We don't normally eat sausages and the few times we have, it is just the breakfast link type so I googled how to cook bangers. A lot of recipes, including Martha Stewart's call from browning them for a couple of minutes and then adding chicken stock, peppercorns and garlic and simmering them for about 10 minutes. Am I on the right track?

Ahh - I see, thanks.

Lovely plate! What is shamrock sauce?

Gorgeous!

I always made mince tarts because my Dad loved them, then found out that my boss did too but his wife thought they were disgusting so never had them in the house (?) Then my dad died and I retired and since I'm the only one in the family that likes them now, I quit making them. I honestly never thought about buying a few for myself so thanks for the thought! I could live on digestives and sharp cheddar, sometimes with a sliced apple or pear.

My sweet Nana (my Dad's Mom) must have used the same recipe as your ex-MIL. Bless her heart, she always put on a big spread for family - sometimes 4 different pies but all with the same inedible pastry. Honestly, you couldn't cut it with a fork and although I never tried, pretty sure a knife wouldn't work either. She was also very proud of her own seasoning mix, which we all called "Nana Spice." Unfortunately she used it in everything, so everything from devilled eggs, to bread, to mashed potatoes, to veggies all tasted the same. None the less, what I wouldn't give to sit at her table again.

That's a nice idea. There are 4 out of the twelve of us that don't like chocolate (cretins!) but the other 8 would fight over such a gift.