Maison Rustique

Whenever I go to Trader Joe's, I get asked about my bags, as many are from 35 or so years ago when we lived in California. Since TJs has only been in this area for fewer than 10 years, they've never seen them. I'll have to dig them out one day and take pix.

Now I have a new place on my to-go list. Thanks for letting us know about Edisto Island, @Katie Meadow. A friend dropped off some fresh herbs from her garden yesterday morning. I planned to have some with tomatoes and cottage cheese for supper since I had my leftover half burger for lunch. Well, turned out my cottage cheese had gone bad. So, I pulled out a Snapdragon instant pho and made it with a spoonful of the leftover sitr-fry from a couple of nights ago. Was tasty but I still need to eat my herbs. Soon.

The Boston Celtics game was coming on at 6 pm, so it was fast food for me.

Make an Asian peanut salad dressing!!

@gulfporter, I saved that Moroccan Chicken Thigh recipe and just like that, my food gifting friend showed up with a huge package of chicken thighs for me. Now I just need to shop for the rest of the ingredients and wait until this rainy spell is over so I can grill them.

Like @MetsFan5, I do it with mustard frequently. Well, more frequently when I was going through mustard faster.

I've never had the stovetop burners degrade, but twice I've had the oven burners go bad--two different ovens. The second one literally fried--I saw a flash in the oven and shut it down quickly. The guy who came to repair it said I was lucky not to have had a serious fire. Who knew this kind of stuff could happen! And they say gas ranges are bad for you. Hunh!!!

@Smithy, I swear we must be related. My freezers are the same. I have been an over-buyer for decades. I remember my Mom asking once if she had somehow made me food-insecure because I was a food hoarder. I did go through some times in my adult life as a newly divorced single person when I lived on fried egg sandwiches because that was all I could afford. I think it might be more of a FOMO--I see something new or interesting and worry that I'll never find it again so need to buy it even if I have no plans to cook/eat it. I'm not sure how I got like this, but I'm really trying to change my ways.

I had the tortilla shapers, had not used them in over 5 years, so donated them recently.

I found what is supposed to be their recipe. Pretzel Shortbread

Me, too!!

I subbed blue cheese for the Parm and used my own pecans & freeze-dried blueberries.

Porotta topped with bacon, eggs, cheese and tomatoes.

Those marinated beans sound great. Thanks for posting that recipe. I've got some Rancho Gordo limas that need to get used one of these years, so maybe I'll try that. Good use of all your need-to-gos!!

Somehow I suspect for many, the little bags are just something to brag on social media that they were able to get. I have to wonder how many of these bags are just going to get stuffed into storage closets.

I'm also not a fan of sweet potato salads. And we must be on the same wavelength. I just bought a box of Triscuits and I couldn't tell you the last time I did. And, I had no idea prickly pear fruit were called tunas!!

I agree with Tdev on hard veggies. When I was getting a CSA and had lots of stuff regularly, I'd take all the leafy stuff, wash it well, leave wet and enclose in large muslin clean kitchen towels and store that way in the crisper drawer. It would last a very long while. I'd check each time I was using something and if it was getting dry, I'd sprinkle with a little water before re-wrapping the towel.

Using leftovers. Sauerkraut, smoked sausage, dill pickles and provolone on grainy nutty bread. Very good, but if I do the same again (there's still some left), I will put mustard on it, too.

Last night was some grilled smoked sausage from the freezer with dill sauerkraut. I want to try those Madhur Jaffrey chicken bits and that okra salad. Doubt I would cut the veggies like that (my hands!) but might adapt the recipe somehow.

Recently, I got a frozen pizza from my milkman. I baked it a few days ago. I doctored it, but it was still dreadful--dry and no flavor. I tried a second time with leftovers and I still couldn't like it. Trying hard not to waste food, yesterday I cut it into pieces, Put in a baking dish with more olives, tomatoes and onions, and poured over eggs, milk and copious seasonings. Topped with mozzarella about halfway through baking. A pizza strata. Not the best strata I've ever made but it was vastly better than the original pizza.

Oh, @MetsFan5, I am so sorry for your loss. And then Maisey, too. I know that both @Smithy and I can relate since we both have gone through losses this past year as well. My eating habits changed long before I lost my husband. The stress of caring for him during the time he was home caused my appetite to diminish. Then when he went into memory care, I mostly kept a baggie of crackers in my car and ate them on the way there and back and called it food. I lost a tremendous amount of weight. 3 weeks after my husband died, I had a hip replacement. After that, my appetite just left and I could barely eat without getting sick. I think it must have been a reaction to the anesthesia. At any rate, people literally thought I was dying. During all this time, people continued to bring me all sorts of food and occasionally take me out. I just couldn't stomach more than a bite of two. Then I lost the cat a week before Christmas. It hit me hard, but I realized that I had to try harder to eat. Instead of worrying about eating good food, I started eating snack food--chips mostly, which I've never really done in my life. But somehow the salt sat well in my stomach. Once I got enough salt and carbs in me (potatoes and gravy sound great!!), I gradually began to feel better and have started eating and gaining back some weight. I still will pick salt and carbs If I'm stressed, but am gradually trying to eat real food again. I'm not sure I'll ever get my cooking mojo back, but at least I'm better than I was a few months ago. Hang in there!!!

@liuzhou, if you can believe it, the life insurance company we had (I am now done with them except for some tax info they owe me), would only use snail mail for any correspondence. They wouldn't provide info via phone or email and do not have a customer website. I spent the better of 7 months making daily or semi-weekly phone calls to them and racing out to my mailbox looking for info. I asked them when they were going to move into the current century. Also, my husband's credit card companies mostly want to correspond via mail. Crazy, considering these are major banks.

Thanks for reviving this @Shelby. I'd forgotten all about LGD. Mind you, my cookbooks are packed so I don't have the recipe and likely wouldn't make it right now anyway. I keep meaning to tell you after reading about how many tomato plants your husband is putting out that I plan to head west and raid your garden when they start producing. LOL!!