So...whats for dinner?
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For those of us who don't have Eric's starter & magic baking expertise, or who don't live in San Francisco - Costco carries (sometimes) a product by The Essential Baking Company. It's organic, bake-at-home, shelf-stable, sourdough 12" loaves of bread. It comes in a 3 pack. I cooked another one today. OK - it's not Boudins - but really decent. One nice part is the loaves live cryo-packed on top of my fridge to use at will. The company is based in Seattle. I may get ambitious & try their mixture of sourdough, rosemary & Italian one day.
Oh - served with spaghetti & meat sauce. Tomorrow sourdough will be served with Ivar's Clam Chowder. And after two days of bread, I'll be hesitant to get on the scale again. I can eat cake, candy, cookies all day or drink a bunch of cokes and even eat a ton of butter - and never gain weight. But let me even look at bread - any kind - and I gain a pound per slice.
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Dinner tonight was meatloaf, mashed potatoes, sauteed spinach and tossed salad. Have leftovers to look forward to.
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If anyone is interested, I can try to mail some dried starter out and see how it responds to the shipping. Making the bread is the same as making regular yeast bread.
I found this on getting a starter going again.... https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/25714/rehydrating-dried-starter-after-traveling if anyone wants to try.
The bed is still here and about 1/4 of the furniture is still here...couch, recliner, TV, freezer, dresser and very antique stuff.
Dinner tonight was, between stirring up lots of dust, was a chilli soup. The soup was "prebuilt" and purchased from the deli counter at the local grocery store.
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Eric, I'm tempted on the starter but I don't like the concept of "feeding" it....
I've had those sourdough aseptic Costco ready-to-bake breads and they are quite tasty for how they are packaged.
The sous vide experiment was incredible. I'd swear I was eating tenderloin if I didn't know better.
Not sure what tomorrow will be...maybe vegetarian Indian food. The venison was so good, there are no leftovers.
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Eric - you are so wonderful to offer. Unfortunately I know I would not do well with the "care & feeding", nor can I deal with stirring & kneading any longer. (thank you LE) I'll just have to come break bread with you when you get settled if I ever get back to AZ.
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I never got into baking sourdough, but it's my understanding that Eric is right--you must "feed" the starter dough to keep it alive and kicking. (Sort of like eating prebiotic foods to keep your good gut bugs alive as well as any probiotics you may be taking). Some bakers even "anthropomorphize" it. I remember in Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential that his restaurant had a contract with a baker who baked sourdough for a number of eateries--the dough had to be fed daily to maintain it for baking. He was a real character--an eccentric & a stoner among other things--in a profession full of similarly odd ducks, He named the starter "the B**ch."One day the baker was sick--but when he left a message on Bourdain's answering machine, which consisted of a drunken growl: "Feed the B**ch!" Bourdain knew exactly what he meant, and ran down to the restaurant to feed and punch down the dough. If he missed even a day, there would be no bread for the next dinner service.
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My MIL doesn't like the idea of "feeding" a recipe either. I guess she doesn't believe me when I tell her it's easier than feeding her cat and that he would probabgly like the discard. :-) All feeding the starter, all of my cats have loved some of the leftovers.
Minus, I'm sorry about the LE dooming your bread kneading.
The bread is out of the oven and the dogs are disappointed that it turned out well. When I try baking something new, if it doesn't work out some of it gets turned into dog food and some is turned into bird food. :-)
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The pork roast cooking in the oven filled the house with a wonderful aroma yesterday. It tasted as good as it smelled. The gravy was delicious over brown rice. Large romaine salad with a whole avocado, compari tomatoes, and Kalamata olives rounded out the meal.
Minus, I love bread, too, and do not dare indulge myself with eating it regularly.
My 8 qt. multi-cooker has a sous vide feature but I have not used it. I don't own one of the machines to vacuum pack plastic bags.
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Your pork roast always sound so delicious Carole, as I know they are.
The chicken and dumplings came out perfect and very filling. The chicken was particularly flavorful - one of the small $5 birds I got on a special at a local chain. With chickens, smaller is definitely better I think. Wallycat- I have used the lemon juice/vinegar and milk in a pinch but I don't find the results to be as satisfactory as the real thing.
I have a sous vide setup and use it sporadically. I love how it cooks but my machine started making a weird whining noise - most annoying - so I haven't used it in a while. The last thing I cooked in it - a rib roast - took almost 24hours. That was too long to listen to the whine.
No clue about dinner. Possibly fish of some flavor.
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chisandy - I actually have Just Egg in my fridge! I also loved the Just Mayo by the same company, excellent taste and texture considering it was free from all the usual ingredients in mayo - namely eggs and soy - and it was available inexpensively all over town - Publix, Target, and Whole Foods. The company (Hampton Creek) had some issue with the mayo, I believe related to food safety - eeeks! - and it disappeared from everywhere except Whole Foods, but it is in a much smaller container now - same size as the Vegenaise from Follow Your Heart.
Dinner last night was chili. Was supposed to have DD, her beau, and visiting mom of beau over for dinner on Sat, and I made a whole pan of real deal scratch lasagna. I had planned to have extra sauce with spag squash and bypass the beautiful lasagna, but beau's mom brought a suspected symptomatic case of Covid with her so the dinner was cancelled. I put the as yet unfrosted cake layers in the freezer for another day, and sent the lasagna to DD's house to have there, along with some garlic knots. DH went to work and got an instant test (they have a supply - can't find them in any stores here at all) and beau's mom tested sort of negative. Full neg line on top, edge of a pos line underneath. She is unvaxxed....ugh. She went ahead and flew home so I will stay tuned to hear how she does. DH met her (everyone masked and distanced) to administer the test, but I didn't want to risk exposure so will have to meet her another time.
Dinner tonight is the spag squash with leftover meat sauce and probably a salad.
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Indian ...used up veggies that were in the fridge--cauliflower, spinach, added canned tomatoes and canned beans. Quick and yummy. I discovered if I microwave a full head of cauliflower before cutting it, there's less of those annoying little cauliflower bits everywhere. Also, the meal cooks faster
.I'm wondering if anyone has a favorite hot sauce. I thought I hated hot sauce.Tabasco is not to my liking, but it was all I had tasted for years. Fast forward to trying Frank's and liking it. Then I read about Crystal hot sauce. Never heard of it. Walmart carried it out here in boonsville. I'm in love!! Anyone have preferences?
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I'll have to remember the cauliflower trick.
My favorite hot sauces are a Siracha sauce made by Huy Fong Food, Frank's Original and Cholula Original hot sauce.
About an hour before "my" medical team got on the transport plane to go to from Atlanta to Puerto Rico (Hurricane Maria), I asked the team commander about stopping at a grocery store to get some Tabasco Sauce. The team commander had already decided to do exactly that, and the bus stopped at a grocery store. The store only had some of the "itty-bitty" bottles of Tabasco, so we all picked up several large bottles of Franks. It was a couple of weeks before something other than MREs were available, and Frank's became one of my favorite hot sauces.
MRE designers seem to have "built" the MREs to the least common denominator as far as spicy. They are BLAND! The ones I got did have a ketchup like packet of Tabasco, but it was not enough to get it spicy enough to overcome "the bland". :-)
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Crystal and Siracha are our faves although we always seem to have an assortment of others, including Franks.
Tonight ended up being carry out - pizza for DH and a chef’s salad for me. Not terribly exciting but the salad was loaded, enough for lunch tomorrow.
Tomorrow is a Costco run. We’ll seewhat that turns up.
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Eric95us - first off thank you for your service in Puerto Rico. My father lives there and Maria truly was devastating.
Re: hot sauce, my family sends me hot sauce from Puerto Rico as nothing here (in WI) is spicy enough for me, with the exception of anything made with ghost pepper; can't handle it, but also do not like the taste of it.
I had a salad, not much of an appetite today. My son wanted pasta so I made him some baked ziti with garlic bread.
Tomorrow he'll have leftovers assuming he doesn't want to join my SIL and I for Mexican.
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Sriracha has sugar, right? I like the vinegar/pepper only, though the Sambal Oelek (chile garlic sauce, same mfg of the sriracha) is to-die-for.
Costco sells Cholula-- we are also making a costco run tomorrow; maybe I'll try it. Thanks!
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I like Siracha and I like Sambal Oelek. I have just purchased Gochujang and am looking forward to trying it. And I like Lao Gan Ma Spicy Chili Crisp. But after my years in New Mexico, my go to is always green chili salsa. Hatch if I can get it or Mrs. Renfro's if not. I purchased some Gringo Bandito Hot Sauce for my son for Christmas but I don't think he's tried it yet. I bought it as much for what what is says on the label by the nutrition facts as anything else:
"Hot sauce really doesn't have nutritional value. It's vinegar and peppers, for God's sake. What did you expect? Why are you even trying to determine the nutritional value of Hot Sauce? Just enjoy it."
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Crystal is more popular than Tabasco in New Orleans, so that is my regular hot sauce for cooking (although I always keep a mini-bottle of Tabasco in my purse for when restaurant food is too bland--order either oysters or room service breakfast often enough and you can amass quite a collection). But my favorite hot sauce as a condiment is Panola. It's cooked so it is much more complex. Downside is that it's tough to find in stores outside NOLA--so I've had to order it online. There's now also a jalapeno and even a clear version (I guess for when you want to bring the heat but not alter the color of the dish).
Went to the Lincoln Park WF yesterday, so dinner plans changed. Instead of a salmon burger I had a real old-fashioned natural-casing long hot dog (pasture-raised beef, no less). Closest thing I've found yet to the ones on the griddle in the kosher delis of my childhood--puts both Nathan's & Hebrew National skinless to shame. Had it on a Healthy Life keto bun with Dijon mustard and garlic sauerkraut. Nothing like that juicy "snap" of a natural casing. So hard to find anything but skinless unless you go to a butcher shop--so I was surprosed to find these in the hot dog section at WF.
Tonight I hit Trader Joe's en route home from getting bloodwork at Evanston Hospital. Hit & miss--no saltines (Bob's fave) nor even cilantro (so I had to go to Jewel across the street for those), but I found their own brand of ultra-filtered low-carb milk, old-fashioned chicken soup (no noodles or potatoes) and a frozen shrimp stir fry. I also noticed they carry pasture-raised eggs for $2 less than other stores around here (and even have 18-egg cartons of them).
So dinner tonight was chicken soup, pickled herring and blistered shishito peppers. I never can tell till I bite into one whether it'll be the 1-in-10 that's spicy--but in my experience it's more like 1-in-4. Then Bob came home with food gifts from patients: tamales from a guy who owns a stand in Back of the Yards, and 8 Polish tarts (round powdered-sugar-dusted flaky cream-cheese-dough pastries with raspberry & apricot jam and custard & cheese in the middle. Sort of like a cross between Danish & kolaćky). Did manage to have one just inside my 8-hr eating window (trying to re-start intermittent fasting).
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Crystal is typical Louisiana hot sauce, available in all grocery stores. We use it and do not use Tobasco because it is like liquid fire. Hot sauce has a good flavor with some heat. DH says that he does not like his mouth to burn while he is eating. My dad sprinkled hot sauce on many foods, including eggs for breakfast.
Dinner last night was Salsa Chicken with chicken thighs, bone in, skin removed. The salsa was a combination of red and green open in the refrigerator. Served with brown rice, sour cream and shredded sharp cheddar. Also a tossed salad with avocado.
Tonight will be catfish fillets.
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Sandy - Re: Eggs - I usually buy the Vital Farms brand, but recently bought some of the pasture raised organic ones TJs carries. You may be disappointed in the ones from TJs as the yolk is not as orange as the Vital Farms. Will only pick up the TJs in a pinch. Even though they are less $, prefer the Vital Farms brand over most others I have tried.
Dinner tonight will be a salad - chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, chicken breast, avocado, shrooms. Lunch was last night's dinner leftovers - TJs Cheese Filled Fiocchetti w/Pink Sauce and added sauteed baby bellas + chicken sausage along with some steamed broccoli & cauli for veg. It was easier to eat dinner for lunch today as I have Silver Sneakers exercise classes (via Zoom) starting at 4:30.
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Dinner today was more leftovers - broccoli florets with mushrooms & water chestnuts - topped with a quick white sauce that I modified with the addition of Better than Bouillon vegetable concentrate. I meant to add cheese but a phone call interrupted the stirring of the sauce & I forgot.
Still have two leftover Naan pizzas for tomorrow and 1/2 a cup of above sauce for something the next day... (pasta? shrimp?) I plan to make French toast with some of the sourdough bread. I so rarely meals of 'sweet' things that I had to set the syrup out on the counter so I don't forget.
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Thanks for the heads-up, Celia. My go-to is also Vital Farms (the only pasture-raised jumbos I can find). For regular (large) I get the Happy Eggs Heritage when they're on sale--the blue shells have darker yolks than the brown ones. 365's pasture-raised eggs have paler yolks than the Vital Farms ones, I bought a dozen "Helpful Hens" large pasture-raised eggs--haven't tried them yet but might crack one tomorrow. Today I fried a Vital Farms jumbo--and it had a double yolk (albeit the extra yolk being "pullet" sized). I put it over (what else?) avocado toast. (Homemade guac over arugula, topped with cilantro, shallot & tomato). As an early dinner/late lunch, the other half container of TJ's chicken soup (I added some chopped dill). Bob says he'll want tamales when he gets home--I will steam them and perhaps "gut" the filling from mine and stuff it into red & white Belgian endive leaves with more avocado, pico de gallo & a little sour cream.
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We had leftover Indian tonight; It's always such a long drive to our Costco that I don't feel like making anything fresh.
I have not seen Jumbo sized Vital Farms eggs. I read somewhere that small eggs are tastier (and easier, less painful for the chicken) but try as I might, I have been unable to secure small eggs from any store/brand. I have not noticed a taste difference between the rich, orange-y yolks and the mundane-yellows so far. I sometimes wonder if they are being fed marigolds, similar to feeding carotenoids to farmed salmon or they'd be white.
I ended up not buying the cholula hot sauce since they were 2-packs and I wasn't sure if I'd like them...even though Costco has a generous return policy. I did get another Crystal at walmart (across the street from costco). I didn't find the Cholula at walmart. I'll have to check locally.
I'm broiling copper river salmon tomorrow. Maybe I'll make sweet potatoes and who knows what green thing I'll think of.
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I always have Frank's - it is a pantry staple for us. I have also used Crystal over the years, I find them to be fairly similar. I also have sambal oelek, regular taco sauce, tabasco - which I usually just cook with but don't use as sauce. I also have a variety of salsa on hand most of the time - green, red, pico, etc. There is a salsa with green olives I particularly like by Nuevo Tex Mex Salpica - made with green olives, cilantro and hatch green chilies. I like most sriracha sauces, but like the smoothness of Ninja Squirrel, which I have only seen at Whole Foods. I had used Cholula over the years but bought a small bottle from Cost Plus to take to Colorado in Sept, purchased specifically because of the small size. I found I really liked it on things as a sauce so have now purchased the regular large size.
DD's chickens stopped laying eggs when the daylight savings time changed. Apparently, this is common? She just got a new much larger coop with a dedicated nesting box which is separate from the perching/sleeping box. The chickens have started to lay eggs again, but the two that lay green/blue eggs are producing smaller eggs than the other four that make eggs that are shades of beige. These eggs are super fresh, often are used within a couple of days of laying and the yolks are definitely a gold/orange color. I have not needed eggs lately - which coincided nicely with the lack of them from her chickens - since we eliminated them from cooking and eating. I did use some to make some oatmeal flour waffles for DH the other day - he is interested in trying them to see if he can add eggs back in. I am not craving eggs, and have tested allergic to whites, so I doubt I will add them. I am not eating anything yet where I need them as an ingredient either so, for now, I am good without them.
Got a negative Covid test last night (yay!) in prep for my MOHS tomorrow at the crack of dawn. I had to go about 30 miles away to get the combination of rapid result and 48 hours prior to the procedure, but it was a controlled environment - which was excellent. I was the only one there and the person administering the test was totally behind a plexi shield. I held up my ID, and insurance card, and reservation number on the outside of the shield - the only thing that crossed to me was the test swab and tube to drop it into when done. I also get my stitches out from the wrist MOHS two weeks ago. Stitch removal will sting since it is a running type the whole 3cm length. They cut the end knot and pull! Hoping I will again be the only one in the MOHS holding pen waiting room since tomorrow is not a usual MOHS day. They accommodated me on the stitch removal day since they neglected to mention that I needed a Covid test for the facial spot. I will be getting up early - I want to wash my hair before since I can't get that area wet for 48 hours afterward! I am thinking I may want to plan dinner today for tomorrow since I may not feel like cooking tomorrow evening. It has been chilly here the last couple of days - for Florida - so maybe a beef stew situation in the crockpot would be a good idea.
Dinner tonight is TBD - DH grabbed some TJ's GF hamburger buns - so maybe cheeseburgers and sweet potato fries. Funny about the hot sauce convo - when we have sweet potato fries I always make spicy sauce out of sriracha and vegan mayo. I might do a chicken and potato chowder - will decide later.
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Special - so stitch removal & new slices at the same time? Good luck tomorrow. Hope they don't have to take too much.
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minus - yes, although I think they will do the initial excision for the MOHS, and start on the pathology, then do the unstitch while I’m waiting on that first pass. The unstitch is pretty quick, has that been your experience too? I’m hoping this can stay smallish, it’s right on the middle of my cheek equidistant between nose and ear - not a great spot for camouflaging.
Also, I wanted to ask you - what labs do you have done in advance of Prolia? My BFF in CA who is osteoporotic started Prolia yesterday. Her endo is doing some labs beforehand but I wondered if they were the same as yours and how the choices pertained
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Yes about the 'unstitching'. Great term. I agree - hope the new spot doesn't turn out too large.
As for labs, the doc requires full panels - CBC diff w/Platelets and Comprehensive Metabolic, in addition a Vit D 25-hydroxy total. The previous doc said at minimum they want to see calcium & Vit D before each Prolia shot. But since I have to make special accommodations to find someone who will do an ankle blood draw, I make sure all my other docs pile on with whatever tests they might be interested in reviewing. For me that means Bone Specific Alk Phosphatase for the osteopenia/osteoporosis. And for the CIPN (neuropathy) - B-6/Plasma, B-12, TSH & T4 Free. Several of my docs have requested C-Reactive protein & Sed Rate. And since I'm there anyway - a lipid panel is added. Obviously the latter is not bone related, but due to a continuing argument with my cardiologist that I don't want to take statins. Oh, and because I've already had one BC recurrence, they run the CA27.29.
For food thoughts - it's going to be in the 20s by Friday so I think I'll take a pork roast out of the freezer. And I did buy the chocolate cookie pie crust to make the 'boozy' chocolate pie.
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Dinner tonight was pork chops (cooked in the air fryer as they were still frozen after 48 hours in the fridge!), asparagus with brown butter sauce, baked sweet potato, and tossed salad. In the high 70s today, forecast to stay in the 30s tomorrow plan is for a pot of chili and possibly lasagna on Friday...
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Last night was pan seared catfish fillets and a side of cabbage and carrots cooked together. Both very tasty. DH made his tartar sauce. My preference for a condiment is a squeeze of fresh lemon.
I did some google research on making whole grain bread yesterday and decided to keep buying it for dh, who has come out of the closet as not a fan of whole wheat.
We and my foodie friends in Texas are in for some serious winter weather. On the plus side, it shouldn't last more than a couple of days.
Time for Lacey to check in.
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Carole - saw your comment about 5 gallon buckets to cover the Knock Out roses. Good idea & I have a couple. Probably also available at paint stores like Sherwin Williams. I'll need bricks to hold them down. I usually use old blankets but I'm concerned about the wind. Two nights at freezing & below in my neck of the woods - oooo eeee.
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On tonight's menu...PR Beef stew with root vegetables with rice for my son. The stew is very hearty that I don't need anything else with it, other than a slice, or two, of avocado and a couple splashes of some homemade hot sauce.
I ordered a baking decorating kit during the pandemic and never used it because I was in treatment and isn't feel well , plus no taste buds. Anywho, going to make some cupcakes and try and decorate them pretty, we'll see. I'll keep a few for my son and give the rest to my neighbor and my niece who had three little ones.
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