MaryIsobel

I have tri tip envy. It is not a cut that is available here. My Mom used to buy something called a shellbone roast which was triangular in shape and very beefy. I asked a butcher about tri tip once and he said there is no demand for it here. I suggested that that was perhaps due to lack of marketing - he shrugged.

Looks not too far from Puttanesca!

As one who cannot abide one tiny fleck of brown on any type of eggs, this looks absolutely perfect to me.

I am surprised (in a good way at the prices on the menu - they seem quite reasonable for a tourist destination. As always, I am traveling vicariously - thanks for taking me along!

Fabulous! Placing all those scales must have been a job and a half in itself.

Had the occaision to spend a couple of days in hospital. I was in the ER for the duration of my stay as they tried to figure out what the heck was wrong with me. I was fed in a timely manner though. I only have one photo and that was dinner on my first night there. Fortunately my daughters were there and brought me a fig jam, brie and apple pannini from the cafeteria. Lunches and breakfasts were great. Breakfast was yogurt and fresh fruit and granola with a muffin (and that strange liquid that they pass off as tea.) Lunch was a homemade tasting soup, a warm whole wheat roll, a salad (with radiccio!) with balsamic dressing and canned diced pears. Lucky for me there is a Starbucks in the lobby so whenever a visitor asked if they could bring me anything, I always got a London Fog.

Now I want this - right now! This was one of our "mom's out tonight, dad is making dinner" meals. I've always loved it.

I really like those crackers too! For me, TJ's is an across the us/Canada border trip, about an hour each way, so I rarely went until my daughters started going south of the 49th regularly to shop. They know that if they are going to TJ's, to call me and I drop everything to go.

Our across the street neighbour just dropped of these mushrooms. The box is the same size as a beer flat. I will pickle the small ones and slice and sauté the big ones, then freeze what's left from what we have for dinner.

My instinct was to stir it more than say, spaghetti or penne so I did but maybe not enough.

In the cooking water? I never use oil because I find that the sauce doesn't stick (for hot pasta.) I did add the vinagarette to the pasta while it was stil a little warm but that didn't help with the separation issue.

I bought some orecchiette pasta from Amazon. The brand la Molisana, product of Italy. I could not find orecchiette pasta locally and there is a sausage and peas recipe that I wanted to try. In the recipe photo the bits of sausage and peas just nestled in the little ears. Yesterday my daughter and son-in-law came over and spent a few hours doing some chores that are difficult for me and impossible for my husband since he is currently in a wheelchair. I wanted to make them lunch without going to the store so thought I would use the pasta to make an antipasto type salad. Anyway.... boiled the pasta, which took about 12 minutes. The water very starchy, which would be great for pasta sauce. When I drained the pasta, a LOT of the little ears were nestled into each other; 2,3,4 or 5 at a time. My question is, is this normal for orecchiette pasta? I probably spent 15 minutes separating them. Since it was for pasta salad, I ran cold water over the pasta when I drained it - I could not have separated them when they were hot.

I too have myself a curry fest when my husband is away. It's one of the few things that he doesn't care for.

I love the idea of baked vs. frying. The frying is what holds me back.

What a feast! Happy Birthday to Charlie and kudos to Dad for putting on such an amazing spread. I need to make some Scotch Eggs one of these days. Those and oatcakes and date squares are what my Dad always requested in his twilight years. I made them so much that I haven't made them since he died a couple of years ago. His birthday was August 4th, so perhaps I will make some of his favourites in his honour.

I'm happy you found it useful. It's new to me and I too thought that it was a great idea. Simple for one to do and simple for the recipient. On my way home from dropping the meals off, I remebered that my daughters use silicone liners in their crockpots and that had I included one, she wouldn't even have to deal with lifting and washing her crockpot insert. I'll order one from the Big A and have it delivered to her.

i would love to come to yours for lunch!

Delivered the crockpot dump meals to my friend today. She honestly cried when I gave them to her and admitted that she has been living on canned soup, toast and cereal for the last couple of months. Told her to let me know when they were done and I will bring more. She is in such pain, it hurts my heart. Such a simple thing for me to do that will make her life better.

Made a couple of red plum and peach crisps today. One for me and one for my friend that I will be taking crockpot meals to tomorrow. (These are not crockpot - baked in the oven.) Anyway last fall, I had an epiphany when I was making a pear and cranberry crisp. Why not double or triple or quadruple the topping and freeze it. So I did - actually made 6x the recipe. Just a standard (for me ) crisp topping; oats, flour, brown sugar, butter and some toasted pecans. I just used the last of my batch for these two crisps so will definitely be making another big batch for the freezer. Makes for a quick and easy dessert. I made these in loaf pans because we are only two - same with my friend who lives with her sister.

That is a fairly decent price around here. (I'm also in Canada, not too far from Ann.) I would say the average price for a decent 2 or 3 pound chicken (which we call fryers) is around 15.00. More per pound for roasters which are bigger, plumper chickens.

Ann is in Canada so Canadian dollars.

Blackberries are rampant here - I have a love hate relationship with them! In the second to last photo in the above post, do you know what the plant with the pink/purple flowers is? I have one - it attracts bees like crazy but I have not been able to successfully identify it.

Hard vegetables do take a while in the crockpot. I don't see why you couldn't partially cook the squash and then freeze it with the other components.

Raw garlic and raw onion get frozen with the meat so I doubt that they would have a chance to permeate the meat too much. I suppose dried onion and garlic would work You start with raw ingredients (or frozen chicken breast or thighs) because ifyou used cooked chicken, it would be overcookedafter crockpotting Iti s advised that you thaw the bag in the fridge overnight.

Eat whatever you want! Calories in will likely make you feel better all around. We spend so many years watching our calories and fat and carbs... I'm 64 and while I eat relatively healthily for the most part, I feel no guilt in eating anything I get a craving for. I've worked long and hard for the right to be fat and sassy.