Maison Rustique

I subbed kale for the usual greens in my black eyed peas this year. Couldn't easily find mustard or collard greens and had kale. I'm sure we will survive. Edited. I forgot to say that I signed up for both Misfits and Imperfect at the same time. There are good things and bad things about both. Still evaluating, but will probably cancel Misfits and go with Imperfect as a fill in for stuff I can't get at Aldi or the grocer where I do curbside pick up. A big issue for me has been that in the deliveries I have gotten so far, on the days of delivery, things have gotten too cold from the weather. It doesn't sit on my porch--it is from the time spent on the delivery trucks. Frozen tomatoes, lettuce, etc. are not a good thing.

After using one online recipe service and losing everything I had stored there, I gave up. I now just save everything as a pdf on my pc. Easy to email to anyone or if they want, I can take a snapshot of the pdf and give it to them as an image.

That egg salad!

Seems like good idea, but I don't see it catching on. Many of our grocers here won't even sell wheatgrass because of the liability of salmonella, listeria, etc. For those of you who grow indoors, how do you control the gnats/fruit flies that come with it? I've given up trying. The pests aren't worth it.

I saw that and did not buy it because I couldn't figure out how I'd use it either.

I buy any and all versions of their Spekulatius cookies. Yum. Bought our spiral-sliced ham there, too. I got the brown sugar glazed version.

We also do not have a decent Chinese restaurant, but we do have locally-owned Thai and Indian places that we patronize. There are also some newer Vietnamese places that we want to try soon.

I have a much earlier version of this Braun immersion blender with food processor attachments. I'm not sure I've dragged out my Cuisinart in the 25 or so years that I've had this. I also have a heavy duty blender and hand mixer. I find these serves most of my needs. I also have a Kitchen Aid stand mixer that almost never gets used. Many of you cook a lot more and have different needs than I do, so might not work for you, but I find appliances that combine tasks are space-saving in my small kitchen with limited storage.

Good choices! My favorite cookies. 🙂 I got one of the frozen ducks last year and it was very good. Last time I was at my Aldi, they also had roasted frozen duck halves at a pretty good price. If I had room in my freezer, I'd have gotten a couple of them to keep on hand for making salads or "instant" cassoulet.

I had some Fromage Pave from Trader Joe's with LGD for lunch today. Great combination!

Yes, I am a huge fan of the Fromage Pave, too! I bought some when I went recently. Might just need to have some for lunch today.

It was been a different sort of week for eating since I was cooking for Thanksgiving, so I haven't used LGD as I might have under normal circumstances. For lunch the other day, I pulled out a Goat Cheddar (Aldi) and the LGD and crackers and dove in. It was delicious! We did not have a family dinner yesterday but I cooked some things and so did one of my sisters. We both portioned everything out. She brought all her stuff and I had mine. We exchanged foods and took dinner to our other sister and nephews. While she was here, I had her taste the LGD and showed her the book. She loved the LGD, as I knew she would. I told her she could borrow the book at some point, after I've made a few more things. She looked at me and said, "Well, I think that book would be a great Christmas gift!" So, I will order and can knock off part of my Christmas shopping.

Those crackers look so good. I'm a sucker for carbs.

It must have been one of those weekends because I also made my first batch of LGD. With the arthritis and tendon issues I've got in my hands and wrists, I was more than happy to use a food processor. I did not break out my Cuisinart, but used the bowl/blade attachment for my Braun stick blender. It worked perfectly. I did take a photo, but don't have it on this device (Chromebook) so will try to remember to add it later when I'm on my PC. I love the olives, but think I now must have 6 open jars of various types of olives in the fridge. ☺️ I tasted it right after I made it, but not since. At that time, I felt like there could have been more anchovy in it, but maybe it will come through today.

I'd be happy to trade places with those of you where it is too warm for your kraut. It was 31 degrees here this morning. While we have the furnace running, the basement is cool and the garage even cooler. 😉 Or, you could just send your kraut for safe storage. Ha, ha yeah. Like it would ever make its way back to you!

Trader Joe's sells a kraut that has Persian cucumbers in it--it is one of my favorite krauts!

I picked up the olives at Costco. Ordering the other ingredients at the local supermarket for curbside pick up tomorrow.

Well, I hope you're all happy. My order of both "Cooking with This..." and "Deep Run Roots" has arrived. Now I have to figure out where I can find room for them. Deep Run Roots is big!

I'm so sorry to hear this. Many condolences to all his family and friends. Thanks for letting us know, Jason.

That looks delicious!!

I'd say to take a look at some of the herbal jelly recipes out there. I bought a rosemary jelly that was mostly savory, but it had an apple base for the sugar. It was not terribly sweet and was amazing on a ham sandwich. My goal is to duplicate that some day. So, maybe use a fruit juice for the sweetness?

When I heard pickle juice jelly, I was thinking dill pickles. The link that Anna provided is for watermelon rind pickle juice. I've never had watermelon rind pickles--are they sweet or ???

I hate you all. I really do not need more cookbooks, but now I think I need 2. One of you owes me a new bookcase. 😁

Mom always made milk toast for us when we were sick. We loved it because she made it with cinnamon toast. 🙂 I want to hear about the cottage cheese sandwiches on brown bread. That sounds pretty tasty! I have a lot of these booklets, too. My sister probably has them in the hundreds.

I do the same.