I love it, Cathy. Using every last bit of everything is definitely the right way to go these days. It's like menu Tetris, which can be a fun challenge. When I incorporated some broccoli into last night's veggie saute, I also peeled up the stem and chopped it up into small enough pieces so that they would be done cooking when the rest of the vegetables were. Worked out great.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:Using every last bit of everything is definitely the right way to go these days.

Cathy2 wrote:At some point over the last few weeks, I saw a mention of using oatmeal as a basis for a congee type meal.

My dad taught me as a youngster to eat my oatmeal with salt and a pat of butter, so I'm hard-wired to go savory with my oatmeal, which I do 100% of the time. It's usually an early breakfast though, so I don't go as all out as you did. I dig the congee-esque route with sesame oil (or chili oil), sesame seeds, scallions, and maybe some ginger. To take it in a more risotto direction, I'll do a sprinkle of grated hard cheese. And I typically throw a runny yolk-ed egg on there.

Shin Ramyun Noodles Black w/egg and cheese = Social Distancing cooking




Shin Ramyun, count me a Fan!

G Wiv wrote:Line in the sand!

LOL . . . what is the likelihood of you having any baby corn on hand?

=R=

No time to prep for a virtual Seder, not going shopping this week, our Seder plate had a shank bone from the freezer from last year; parsley; garden chives; prepared horseradish; hard boiled egg; haroset made from diced dates, some wine from an open bottle of Pinot, honey and walnuts; last year's matzo; and a dried out tangerine (Google Seder plate oranges if you don't know). Dinner was the above and a platter of goat cheese, olives, rusted red peppers, and pickled turnip. Oh and popcorn for dessert.

Today the German side reared its head with Usinger's Knockwurst with braised cabbage and boiled potatoes with parsley and dill.

While I have sauerkraut on the shelf, I knew half the jar would rest in the refrigerator for a while. Whereas I had two heads of cabbage who needed whittling down.


I was inspired by this recipe from Martha Stewart for Knockwurst with Braised Cabbage and Apples. As usual, I had to make do: I accidentally refilled my apple cider vinegar bottle with red wine vinegar, so guess what went into the pan? No apple juice, but a partially used bottle of beer was used instead of juice. I used only two-pounds of cabbage and twice the amount of onion, because I really did not want any leftovers and really like onions. This also meant I could make everything in a 12-inch frying pan instead of a hefty Dutch oven.

We finally sat down to lunch at 4:00 pm, though we did eat a light dinner of salad and fruit around 8:00 pm.

The odd ambiguity of life during shelter at home has begun to mess our sleep cycles. Today I took a post-lunch pre-dinner nap, so guess who is not remotely sleepy? Losing track of time, too, because every day feels like any other and no need to go anywhere.

Regards,
Cathy2

NFriday wrote:Cathy mentioned Jerry's. There is no way I would step foot into Jerry's right now> I highly suspect they are not practicing social distancing right now, and most of the produce I am sure has been handled by customers multiple times. Hopefully I have enough groceries to last me another week.

My sister went to Jerry's today. They are staggering how many people go into the store. They wipe down the carts as you enter. You still may not go, though Jerry's - like everyone else - is getting with the program.

Regards,
Cathy2

Jerry's is on my list of places I won't go into for a while; I don't think you can be 6 feet away from anybody in there, the aisles are so narrow to begin with.

I felt sad when I saw that Freddy's in Cicero isn't open, but that's another place where there isn't enough room to stay far enough apart from other people.

Giovanna

A couple of recent meals . . .


Fried Bologna Sandwich
Made a round of these for the boyo and myself.


Flatiron Steak (Weber kettle, lump charcoal)
Had this with a combo of oven-roasted cauliflower & carrots, and potato kugel, the latter of which I really should have taken a picture.

=R=

G Wiv wrote:

ViennaSausageP7.jpg

LMAO!

GOYA brand Vienna sausages?

ronnie_suburban wrote:Had this with a combo of oven-roasted cauliflower & carrots, and potato kugel, the latter of which I really should have taken a picture

Better late than never. It was Leftoverpalooza at Chez Suburban tonight . . .


Day-Old Potato Kugel


Oven-Roasted Carrots & Cauliflower (2-day-old)


Spare Ribs (last leftover slab from when I smoked them on Sunday)


Spare Ribs


Sauteed Veggies (as seen earlier this week!)

Ok, that cleaned out the refrigerator pretty darned nicely. Tomorrow, ingredient acquisition begins again.

=R=

Broccoli and cheese soup from Cook’s Illustrated and homemade bread. I thought this would be just ok and that I would not keep the recipe, but it was quite good and I will be making it again

Crispy shallots

Crispy shallots are a staple in our house. Here they are cooling off and crisping up. We haven been going through them like crazy the last 3 weeks.

lougord99 wrote:

74100466-39DC-454D-8889-D6C5AB15E196.jpeg

Crispy shallots are a staple in our house. Here they are cooling off and crisping up. We haven been going through them like crazy the last 3 weeks.

Not sure why photo is sideways.

Those look great! Do you fry or bake? How do you store and long do they last?

Al Ehrhardt wrote:

lougord99 wrote:

74100466-39DC-454D-8889-D6C5AB15E196.jpeg

Crispy shallots are a staple in our house. Here they are cooling off and crisping up. We haven been going through them like crazy the last 3 weeks.

Not sure why photo is sideways.

Those look great! Do you fry or bake? How do you store and long do they last?

They are great. We are almost never without them and there are very few things that are not improved with some sprinkled on top. We always put them in our salads and lunch sandwiches. They are crispy, sweet and oniony.

You slice them thin. You should use a mandolin, but I am incapable of using a mandolin ( I have tried ). Put them in a pot with oil that comes about half way up to the level of the onions. Put on a medium flame and stir periodically until they start to turn color. The oil will bubble as water is released. As the onions shrink in size, the oil should cover the onions. If not add a little. When they start to turn color stir constantly until the 'right' color and then drain and blot with paper towels and then let cool. A good tutorial is here: https://www.seriouseats.com/2019/05/how ... llots.html

I store them in the fridge in a mason jar. I have always used them up in 2-3 weeks, but I suspect they will last much longer.

Hi,

Last week, I bought milk for my sister and I for 99 cents a gallon each. My household drank most of it, until a faint smell of sourness was detected. My sister noticed her milk was spoiling, too. I pour the two containers of milk into one container and left it on the counter overnight to sour more.

In the morning, I began simmering the milk to see if it sufficiently soured to separate into curds and whey. I was prepared to add a lemon juice supplement to bump it along. At 190 degrees, the curds were like a solid raft over the whey. I let it cool to 110 before I began removing the curds to drain. I ended up with about a pound of ricotta cheese.


I was debating between lasagna or manicotti or even stuffed shells. I settled on manicotti because a friend dropped off a partially used box of manicotti shells. I was certain it was not enough, though I could make crepes to make the remaining manicotti. This was also an excellent opportunity to see which casing would work best: pasta shell or crepe. I was pretty sure which would be better, but who knows, maybe I am wrong.

The filling of ricotta, drained chopped spinach, egg, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese was stuffed into the shells or rolled into a crepe. I had some Muir Glen sauce on the shelf.

The crepe filled manicotti on the left was a more refined and unobtrusive casing as opposed to the more robust pasta tube. The crepe was easier to handle than the pasta tube, which was preboiled for five minutes. It really takes no time to make crepes and the manicotti pasta tubes were in plastic trays in an oversized box.

There was no hint of sourness in the ricotta, if that should be a passing thought. This was really a nice dish for company or just us hanging around the house waiting for the cloud over our lives to roll away.

Regards,
Cathy2

Very resourceful Cathy!

As the seeds of the last harvest are sown for the next, so do the scraps of BBQ create the next meal. Leftover smoked spare rib trimmings:


Form the base for the next batch of collard and mustard greens. The smoked rib bones make a fantastic stock for pot liquor:


And the greens go great with smoked chicken thighs:


And the cycle continues...

Cathy2 wrote:Today the German side reared its head with Usinger's Knockwurst with braised cabbage and boiled potatoes with parsley and dill.

While I have sauerkraut on the shelf, I knew half the jar would rest in the refrigerator for a while. Whereas I had two heads of cabbage who needed whittling down.

IMG_0226.JPG

I was inspired by this recipe from Martha Stewart for Knockwurst with Braised Cabbage and Apples. As usual, I had to make do: I accidentally refilled my apple cider vinegar bottle with red wine vinegar, so guess what went into the pan? No apple juice, but a partially used bottle of beer was used instead of juice. I used only two-pounds of cabbage and twice the amount of onion, because I really did not want any leftovers and really like onions. This also meant I could make everything in a 12-inch frying pan instead of a hefty Dutch oven.

Regards,
Cathy2

I had some Usinger Smoked Bratwurst from last year's shipment. However, I did not have any cabbage in the house, so I pulled out a jar of sauerkraut.

I seared the bratwurst for the marks. I added onions, a small can of hard cider, Aldi's German sauerkraut and sliced Gala apples into the frying pan.

It turned out quite well.

eating while walking wrote:Very resourceful Cathy!

As the seeds of the last harvest are sown for the next, so do the scraps of BBQ create the next meal. Leftover smoked spare rib trimmings:

Form the base for the next batch of collard and mustard greens. The smoked rib bones make a fantastic stock for pot liquor:

And the greens go great with smoked chicken thighs:

And the cycle continues...

Hi,

You are quite good at being resourceful, too!

On Vivian Howards new PBS program on Southern cooking, they tackled dumplings. Her Mother made greens, then added (biscuit style) dumplings at the end. This addition made those greens a meal.

I was aware of Chicken and Dumplings, though I was unaware of Greens and Dumplings. You might want to experiment with a small batch to see if you like it.

Regards,
CAthy2

ronnie_suburban wrote:A couple of recent meals . . .


Fried Bologna Sandwich
Made a round of these for the boyo and myself.


Flatiron Steak (Weber kettle, lump charcoal)
Had this with a combo of oven-roasted cauliflower & carrots, and potato kugel, the latter of which I really should have taken a picture.

=R=

Inspired by this post, I am making fried bologna sandwiches which I have not had in decades; another version, and one I make on occasion is the Argentinian fried mortadella sandwich on a kaiser roll. Also, I have beef in the dehydrator jerkying(is that a word?).

Banana muffin & drop biscuit morning.



Biscuits, muffins, count me a Fan!

Christopher Gordon wrote:. . . I am making fried bologna sandwiches which I have not had in decades; another version, and one I make on occasion is the Argentinian fried mortadella sandwich on a kaiser roll. Also, I have beef in the dehydrator jerkying (is that a word?).

Nice and yes, it is now!

=R=

GWiv wrote:Sounds tasty, thanks. My plan was to eat them out of the can with a toothpick while trying to see the bottom of a 12-pack of PBR. Maybe a 1/2-pint of Rock & Rye on the side.

GWiv wrote:Shit just got real!

Okay Gary, I couldn't help noticing the absence of your almost-obligatory tagline. Can we count you a fan of the li'l weenies? I ask because I used to eat them as a kid. Not very often, and they weren't a big favorite, but I did enjoy them from time to time. Every five years or so (about as often as I peruse the supermarket potted meat section) I think about buying a can for old times' sake, but just can't pull the trigger. I have a feeling this is one hazy memory that's better left firmly in the past.

chicagostyledog wrote:I never ate a Vienna canned wiener. However, we used them as bait when we went fishing in Canada with the Sea Explorers back in my teen days.

Ah yes, fishing and Vienna sausage, a classic combination.

Rene G wrote:Okay Gary, I couldn't help noticing the absence of your almost-obligatory tagline.

This was not an oversight on my part. ~

ronnie_suburban wrote:A couple of recent meals . . .


Fried Bologna Sandwich
Made a round of these for the boyo and myself.

=R=

Every April and October for the last 43 years I have gone to North Carolina for 10 days. This year it has been canceled. When there, I always have fried bologna sandwiches a couple of times. I guess I will need to do this myself this time around

Christopher Gordon wrote:Inspired by this post, I am making fried bologna sandwiches which I have not had in decades; another version, and one I make on occasion is the Argentinian fried mortadella sandwich on a kaiser roll. Also, I have beef in the dehydrator jerkying(is that a word?).

Now I'm intrigued about mortadella jerky

Dinner, last night. Managed to get on and off the grill before the rain showed up . . .


NY Strip Steaks
A few minutes (on both sides) over the coals and then over to the indirect side, covered to finish them up.


Plated
Steak, roasted cauliflower, sauteed zucchini and the last of that damned potato kugel!


Interior
Pulled these off the grill when they reached 117 F.

=R=