You may want to consider doing the chickpeas in some smaller batches than a full pound if that is more than you can eat in a day or two. The times we've made those, they seemed to lose their crunch pretty quickly.

bw77 wrote:You may want to consider doing the chickpeas in some smaller batches than a full pound if that is more than you can eat in a day or two. The times we've made those, they seemed to lose their crunch pretty quickly.

That's why I prefer to fry them. Make a bigger batch but they stay crunchy indefinitely. Of course, they're not nearly as healthful that way but they're much more delicious.

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Having pretty much everything I needed in the pantry/fridge/freezer, it was the availability of leeks that prompted me to make a batch of Mapo Tofu for dinner this evening . . .


Mapo mise en place
Per Fuchsia Dunlop, with a couple of very minor adjustments.


Mapo Tofu

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Cathy2 wrote:My one bow to panic buying, as we went into shelter-at-home, was garlic. I bought three or four bulbs at Jewel for a whopping price of just under $5. A few days later at the business Costco in Bedford Park, they had a three-pound bag for $5, too. In my whirl to get ready to close up and hide, I bought those, too.

The luck of the Cathy: there is now a garlic shortage.

“There is light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “Our harvest is going to start in three weeks. We expect to have a very good crop.”

The world is just so unbelievable lately.

Regards,
Cathy2

Adventures in fruit dusts.

Weirdish yet tasty dinner. Pan fried H Mart frozen dumplings, short grain rice resting on layer of almost past its prime arugula. Dipping sauce with a bit of this and that, done.



Dumplings, count me a Fan!

Our CSA, Tomato Mountain, offered this cold oven roast chicken recipe with the suggestion of roasting this week's turnips with the chicken. We obliged. Sauteed turnip greens on the side. Super easy and quite delicious

ronnie_suburban wrote:

bw77 wrote:You may want to consider doing the chickpeas in some smaller batches than a full pound if that is more than you can eat in a day or two. The times we've made those, they seemed to lose their crunch pretty quickly.

That's why I prefer to fry them. Make a bigger batch but they stay crunchy indefinitely. Of course, they're not nearly as healthful that way but they're much more delicious.

=R=

Thanks. I have some leftover re-hydrated chickpeas and will give frying a try instead this time.

Hi,

Knocked another outlier ingredient from the inventory this morning: canned creamed corn. I also cut into my rarely used cornmeal inventory, which has been reduced by 1.5 cups this week.

I made these into waffles roughly following the bacon and corn waffles recipe in the Joy of Cooking, 1976 or earlier. Of course, I made substitutions: instead of milk I used a 14.5 ounce can of creamed corn, instead of bacon fat I used beef fat leftover from Easter's rib roast. I did not add bacon slices to the waffles, though I did add a little milk to the batter to loosen it up.


Still have one more can of creamed corn to go, several cans of beets (no idea why they are here) and a perennial favorite: canned lotus root*. I have two #10 cans which need a battle plan before I begin to dig through: artichokes and black olives. I guess I love to challenge myself.

Regards,
Cathy2

*I corrected myself: it is root and not seeds.

I am making some turkey chowder that calls for creamed style corn. I have had the turkey legs in my freezer since Thanksgiving. I also use creamed style corn when I make creamed corn muffins, and I use the organic corn meal I bought at the farmer's market. I am almost out of that though.

Cathy2 wrote:The luck of the Cathy: there is now a garlic shortage.

“There is light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “Our harvest is going to start in three weeks. We expect to have a very good crop.”

The world is just so unbelievable lately.

Regards,
Cathy2

That is life in the produce industry, seriously.

You have eight straight weeks where the Florida strawberries are going for $8 per flat. And then two weeks where the strawberries are coming from overseas and are $40 a dlat and after that, they are back to $12 from Watsonville, CA.

I have seen iceburg go from $12 per case to $40 in one week after a bad Arizona storm.

It is going to be a fun time for the next 18 months. Some shortages and some oversupplies.

I had to go to Sams Club yesterday to pick up another prescription. This time there was no line to get into the store. Since I was not that far away, I decided to go to Aldi's to do some grocery shopping. I got there and found out that the store was only open until 7:00, and they had just closed. They had Driscoll strawberries for $1.19 and Jewel rarely carries Driscoll. I then went to Valli and all they had were Driscoll organic strawberries for $4.99. I was tempted, but I just got a gallon of milk for $1.99. I then went to Jewel to do the majority of my shopping, and they were out of strawberries, and so I just got some bananas, bread, ice cream, cheese, OJ, and some sparkling water. They had their store brand of sparkling water on sale for $2.99 a case. I might try to make it back to Aldi's tomorrow.

Today was an adventure. It was my first venture into any business since March much less a grocery store. I finally stopped at my local Middle-eastern store/deli to get za'atar seasoning, olives and reasonably priced pita bread ($0.99 for six loaves). It did shatter my illusion, however. I thought they made the pita bread regionally only to find that it was a frozen product out of Buffalo, NY.

I have been at home for the last eight weeks. In the first two weeks, it was stressful as we had little fresh food in the house and few vegetables. In the second two weeks, we managed to really start pounding the pantry but we were able to get enough fresh food it. The next two weeks was spent trying to make sure that I had all of the meat required to get into August. Finally, in the last two weeks, we are at the point where we have all we need and can start planning completely regular meals consistently.

jlawrence01 wrote:Finally, in the last two weeks, we are at the point where we have all we need and can start planning completely regular meals consistently.

Which, of course, would be absolutely impossible without za'atar seasoning. I like your style.

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@ronnie_s: cool cutting board! End-grain maple? Mind sharing where it's from?

@Cathy: what a waffle! It's been a while, but creamed corn was among my favorite canned veggie sides as a kid.

Guotie assembly line-

Hi,

I admire you make your own skins. Long ago at a bakery in Chinatown, they used a tortilla press to help make the skins.

I did a quick search to learn guotie is also a name for pot stickers.

Looks absolutely delicious and inspiring!

Regards,
Cathy2

bw77 wrote:Guotie assembly line-

This is singing to me. Nicely done!

Thanks! The tortilla press sounds like a good idea.

G Wiv wrote:

bw77 wrote:Guotie assembly line-

This is singing to me. Nicely done!

Yep, tantalizing!

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Bok Choy Jr wrote:@ronnie_s: cool cutting board! End-grain maple? Mind sharing where it's from?

Yep, billed as maple and behaves like it, too. I got it from HomeProShops via Etsy. It's a nice board. I have other end-grain boards but this size, especially its thickness (and weight), makes it ideal for the space it's in. And it's also light enough to move it around the kitchen easily. So, I can take it to the cooktop and also over to the garbage for an easy wipe-down.

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Cathy2 wrote: there is now a garlic shortage.

We've had only one or two heads of garlic in the house over the course of sheltering at home. It has been erratically supplied when I've gone into a grocery store. I made an unplanned trip to Costco yesterday and grabbed one of their big bags of garlic. We should be fine for a few more months now.

The GP wrote:

Cathy2 wrote: there is now a garlic shortage.

We've had only one or two heads of garlic in the house over the course of sheltering at home. It has been erratically supplied when I've gone into a grocery store. I made an unplanned trip to Costco yesterday and grabbed one of their big bags of garlic. We should be fine for a few more months now.

Every time I’ve bought a quantity of garlic like that, most has been unusable well before I needed it, unless I was making a large garlic-consuming recipe. Might want to pull the cloves of some of them and freeze—especially if you have a food saver or something to that effect.

boudreaulicious wrote:Every time I’ve bought a quantity of garlic like that, most has been unusable well before I needed it, unless I was making a large garlic-consuming recipe. Might want to pull the cloves of some of them and freeze—especially if you have a food saver or something to that effect.

I was planning on storing it in our basement, where it's dark and cool. I'll look at some other ways of saving it too. Thanks for the tip.

I also got a five pound bag of limes at Costco. We'll have no problem going through those with our cocktail game.

What's for lunch: sauteed pea shoots with garlic (one clove down!), red pepper flakes, egg over medium because I got distracted, cheesy herb biscuit from Smack Dab, sliced cheddar under egg.

The GP wrote:What's for lunch: sauteed pea shoots with garlic (one clove down!), red pepper flakes, egg over medium because I got distracted, cheesy herb biscuit from Smack Dab, sliced cheddar under egg.

I thought I recognized that biscuit from Smak Dab! They are such a gem. Nice looking biscuit sandwich!

Tough to keep fresh fruit around with infrequent grocery visits, got to enjoy it while I can!

I give up . . .

today's breakfast

annak wrote:today's breakfast

Haha, helluva breakfast!

Tonight's dinner. Got it on and off before the monsoon came . . .

Grilled Purple Asparagus . . .


Before


During


After

and hanger steak . . .


Yes, there was meat, too

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