So...whats for dinner?
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Hey all. Had a long day spent picking up my brother at the airport, going to a church family event and so on. Tonite my dh made clam strips (razor clams from one our digs), homemade onion rings, lots of steamed veggies--cauliflower/broccoli with a bit of cheese sprinkled on top. My brother is from Utah and says he doesn't get to eat good seafood very often, so it looks like I'll be changing some future plans to include some things from the sea for his enjoyment while he is here. Would love new ideas for halibut, sea bass, tuna, and ling cod. (My dh fishes and we have a whole freezer full of these items.)
Minustwo--That's about where I am, minus working outside the home. We have such a busy life that I have to do the calendar in order to keep my head above water, and because I can keep anything straight unless I keep endless lists.
Auntienance--I like the idea of a more relaxed cooking style after the kids are grown and gone. I'm far from that as yet, but it sounds nice to cook on a whim more. There's lots to look forward to in the empty nest years.
Thinkingpositive--I am seeing an oncological naturopath. He is helping me change my diet and learn what is best to eat, along with prescribing supplements that can help me fight too. What I like about him is that he will tell me straight what he thinks I should do, but is accepting of the fact that I don't want to make completely radical changes. So he's helping me find a balance between the two. I'm figuring out how to eat pretty healthy, without completely giving up every speck of enjoyment.
Carolehalston--I worry about a second type of cancer coming to get me too. I know the stats in an all too real way because it happened to my dad. I agree with you a bit. I'm making a lot of healthy changes to my eating style, but I want to balance it with living a full life that I can enjoy. So I don't want to get too carried away with the health nut stuff. I think that's what you were saying?
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Susan, I can see why you love that "pantry" too. Thought of you as we enjoyed the H and H string players tonight. They were fabulous as were the vocalists. What was particularly nice was that the bass player gave a bit of history related to Bach and said that it was delightful to play in our newly renovated concert hall which in size and decor reminded him of the one where Bach spent his last performing years in Leipzig. It really is a wonderful concert hall, and the town is making great use of it. It is also interesting to see many couples who we knew when our kids were all growing up....since the crowd was heavily filled with "boomers". And most of them were talking on the way out about how wonderful it was that we didn't have to trek out of the city to go home. Yes, tonight that was a plus!
Susan, I may be sounding like your grandmother by tomorrow after our dinner!
Tonight's dinner was okay. I really like the modern atmosphere and service at Blue, but the duck over ricewas not special, tho the leek/mushroom side was. The kale/romaine salad with maple dressing and pumpkin seeds was very nice...another idea for kale....heehee.
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I thought I posted here earlier this evening. But it's not there. So, I'll start over
Hi Positive and MombieZ. I'll add my welcome too.
Sharon is more of the plan ahead for cooking while I'm more of the "figure it out as it happens." I got good at this in college. Back then the "what can I make with what I have" was due to budget issues. Now, when that happens, it's more of a, "neither of us want to drive to the grocery store."
I'm in awe of the kitchens and pantries. There aren't a lot of counters in the kitchen--it's small, so there isn't a lot of cabinets. I have a 2 foot by 4 foot pantry space that holds the dry food//spices and the not so beautiful cookware stored in there.
The dutch ovens, one is on the stove pretty much all time and the other two double as coffee and end table decorations!
When we retire, I'd like my grandmother's kitchen sink (twice as big as modern sinks, plus a 2 foot long drain area on either side of the basins), a walk in pantry, 6 burner stove, center island and 2 ovens. The sink is certainly long gone, but maybe another one can be found.
Moon. The expression on GD's face made me laugh. She looks skeptical. Almost like someone told her the camera flash won't be bright! :-)
Oh, I had to look up olive boats as well. I've never heard of them before.
Tonight's dinner was centered around a pork roast and came from a 2 line recipe from my great-great-grandmother's written in German cookbook. I didn't write it down as I was driving when she told it to me. "1 salt, 3 pepper, 3 brown sugar, 3 rosemary chopped/minced (she wasn't sure). Make enough to rub thickly on pork roast. Medium (she thought) oven.
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eric95us--Thanks for the welcome. What do you do with your dutch ovens? I have one but know little about using it. Might be fun to learn something new.
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Susan, I love windows. Your kitchen is probably well-lighted by nature. My kitchen is not. I have to use artificial light on any day however bright it is outdoors. I love the idea that you're a caretaker/owner of an historic house.
MombieZ, Eric is the perfect person to tell you about Dutch oven cooking.
Here is our pantry. DH came up with the idea of the wooden rack inside the door. He designed and built it.
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Carole, NICE!!!!! My friend's husband also built a rack like this for her tiny pantry. It expands the amount of storage space so much. If your husband needs a new career, I bet he could make these. People would buy them as fast as he could build them.
Dutch Ovens... love my dutch ovens. My mother always made mac/cheese in one, but I rarely do. Things I make in a dutch oven: stews, braises, soups, polenta, big batches of tomato sauce [mine are ceramic lined, not raw cast iron], anything deep fried though I use a wok more and more for this, chicken in a pot, dolmas, all kinds of legumes, and of course, no-knead bread (but again, don't make this much anymore.) I was taught to make my braises and stews on the stovetop, but have moved to only browning on the stovetop and cooking in the oven. Much better control of the temperature. Somehow things tend to boil on the stovetop and I want the food to have a sauna.
English muffin bread is out of the oven. Mr. 02143's bread is thawing for French toast. The sous-vide machine is warming up the water and soon, I will put in my eggs. We had planned to smoke a turkey breast today, but man is it cold out there. We will let it continue to dry-brine for an extra day and smoke tomorrow. Dinner is now some kind of pork and mustard green stir-fry. "Land of Plenty" has an interesting pork with cloud ear recipe which might win. Side stir fry with the greens, and of course, some rice.
*susan*
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The kitchen is U-shaped, about 12 x 12 feet. The previous owner/builders had their kitchen table in the middle. DH built a large island, 5 1/2 ft. by 35 in. with drawers and cabinets on each side and bookshelves on one end. No outlets so appliances have to be used on countertop areas. The layout didn't lend itself to seating. Wall cabinets go to 8 ft. ceiling and top cabinets are glass-fronted. Wood is cypress. Counter top is formica. Would love to change to off-white quartz but it's too much trouble. Checked into it a few years ago.
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Another photo.
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Additional storage in a lovely little pie safe that dh built several years ago. He punched out the designs on the tin panels. A fun project for him.
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Absolutely LOVE the kitchen photos! I need more!
Carole, your kitchen is lovely! It's so wonderful to have a DH who is handy with wood and yours is especially talented!
OK -- here's mine:
I despise the microwave over the stove thing but kitchen arrangement prohibits being able to do much about it.
The back of my house is entirely windows so I have lots of natural light. This is the breakfast area. A large oak tree is right outside the window so in the summer it feels like you're eating in a tree house.
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To the right is a large out of control rosemary plant that resides in the kitchen during the winter.
The island has outlets on both ends so I can use appliances here.
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Last one
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Love these photos!! Carole, I thought I was looking at my own kitchen with yours exceot for the wonderful DH created woodwork and island. Green with envy here. Will do my pix later....have to get organized here
Nance, I was looking for your new pastry area....is that it on the end?
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It appears that I need to clean my camera lens ;-)
So Wednesday while the guys were painting, DSIL and I decided to go on a food safari. I had read about an Asian food and fresh seafood market in St. Louis county that I wanted to visit and as my DSIL is always game for an adventure, off we went. I had been familiar with the area as I had worked there for a number of years before we moved here in 1998. It had always been a large primarily Jewish community with lots of good delis, one of which was a Sunday morning haunt of mine (before DH) for their most excellent cheese and onion omelets and nova lox and fresh bagels from the bagel factory next door. Much to my surprise, it is now a large Asian community with numerous markets and restaurants, with Jamaican, sushi and Mexican restaurants thrown in for a little eclectic variety. What was once my favorite deli now housed a Pho restaurant! Be still my heart! It too, was most excellent with some of the most delicately flavored and delicious broth I've ever had. What a find!
At the seafood market across the street I found lots and lots and lots of fresh fish. Unfortunately, I didn't know what most of them were. I recognized a few, like pompano and grouper (whole), but the rest were a mystery to me as they were written in Chinese. The guy behind the counter didn't speak English so I passed on the fish until I could research it a little more. Some of the fish I was interested in didn't look the freshest (a lot of sunken dull eyes) so I was a little wary. I ended up with the mahi mahi at another (more expensive) fish monger down the street. Couldn't see the eyes as they were fillets lol.
At the Asian market, I did end up buying some very fresh pork shanks that were spiit. They were advertised as hocks, which they clearly weren't. I bought a bunch of them and will braise them soon. They had my favorite (expensive) fish sauce - Red Boat, and lots of other staples for Chinese cooking. Fresh produce included baby bok choy, Thai basil, Japanese sweet potatoes (very dark red and delicious) and a whole pound bag of shallots for $1.49. Wow! I loaded up on udon, soba and lo mein noodles too.
Since I'm shallot rich, tonight is a whole chicken roasted on a bed of shallots and baby potatoes. I have a kale/ spinach mix that I'll saute as well.
I'm window washing today. Now that it's starting to be spring I thought it might be nice to actually see it through the glass.
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Yep Lacey - it's next to the blackboard.
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Carol--I like your pantry space. We use something hanging from the door to maximize space usage too. It's only one of those hang-on-the-door shoe things with all the plastic pockets in them right now. We haven't had time or money to remodel that part of the house, but it's first on the agenda. I'll be showing your door shelves to my dh.
Susan--Your pork sounds good.
I am loving the beautiful kitchens!! That's one thing I have in my new house is a bigger kitchen. This one needs remodeling (20 years old) but I'm grateful because my last one was the size of a postage stamp. I am envious of the stainless steel appliances in the photos here. Makes things look so nice and clean. Maybe some day.....
Auntienance--Love your talk about that interesting market. Looking forward to what things you learn about those fish. Cooking fish in different types and ways is another thing I want to learn.
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Nance, I LOVE your dining space by the windows. Really like the chairs. So elegant. And I have refrigerator envy, seeing yours. I want one of those models with the double tops doors and bottom freezer. Mine is a side by side Kenmore. Also like your seating at your large island. We couldn't have outlets on the island because this is an old house, 1970's, built on a slab and the location of our island was just open space in the former kitchen.
My last kitchen had beautiful natural lighting and I do miss that. It was a more "upscale" kitchen with Subzero fridge and downdraft stove (brand name excapes me). But this house works for us as a couple of ole retirees. It's especially nice that it's paid for!
Here's another of dh's pieces of furniture with handy storage. It will soon be replaced by the one out in his shop. He decided this one was too klunky. He built the meat carving board propped on the wall and along the right side is a nice bread kneading board he made for me. It's good exercise picking it up and carrying it over to the island when I'm making bread. The top of this buffet (and also our dining table) is made from the oak table tops of library tables that were in the school his father attended in Oak Forest, IL.
Notice the little round things on a paper plate on the left side of the buffet. A couple of dried limes and a dried lemon! Monkey read, monkey experiment!
The runner on the buffet was hand-woven by dh's niece, who is a talented weaver in Milwaukee.
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Wow to all the kitchens. We manage to do OK, so I guess I shouldn't complain. However, I am keeping mental notes on what I would change when/if we move.
The dutch ovens. The small dutch oven that is my avatar has sentimental value and will remain mine until I'm incapable of holding onto it. :-) The others are tools only. I have that little one, a bigger one and a huge one that are all plain cast iron. I also have a medium sized one that is ceramic (I guess) coated.
I use the small one for most any food that does not need to be cooked in something else. A lot of it has to do with "it's already out on the stove top", but "It contains the splatters so cleanup is easier" and "it cooks fast" are also factors.
I do use it a lot in the oven...for the same reasons Susan mentioned.
When we first moved, one of the stove electric elements didn't work and I thought I fixed it....it turned out the stove's parts manual had a misprint, and I got the wrong heating element. The one element now goes from almost warm to low....what would be low on the other elements is maximum on this one. I was going to fix it correctly, but I left it alone when I discovered the usefulness of "the mistake".
Since a dutch oven doesn't need a lot of heat to cook, that "mistake element" is where the dutch oven does most of its work.
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So I have a Jenn-Air in the kitchen of my new house. It came with quite a pile of different inserts for cooking different ways. I have the option of heat coils, glass cook top, the solid metal burners a thing to grill meats, a griddle insert, etc. I need to get pots that suit the glass top and don't know a good brand. Also, I haven't a clue what the solid metal burners are good for. Help?
Carole--Your dh made that? And he's making more? You are lucky! So beautiful. We've had too many financial bumps in our road to ever acquire quality wooden furniture in any of our rooms. So nice that your dh can make things for you.
Eric--Thanks for your thoughts on dutch oven usage. Please share favorite recipes if possible. We do have one dutch oven that we have never used. I just kind of thought of it as something for camping and cooking over a fire. I do use an antique brand of cookware by Guardian Service that works like you are describing though. I can cook on the stove or in the oven with it and I guess it works like a dutch oven. They have huge, heavy domed glass lids so you can see how things are doing inside. I might have been a dutch oven cook of sorts all these years without knowing it!
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There are a lot of things I would change about my kitchen and we have done some already. I doubt that we will do too much more unless it's countertop. I detest the tile countertop at least on the island. No matter how many times it's sealed, it stains and I worry about the porous tile holding onto bacteria, which is why I have the bleach and disinfectant routine. I may not keep my house spic and span but I'm religious about the food prep area. I too, would like to have a large piece of quartz on the island, but it's too expensive and DH is unwilling to do the tearing out of the old one. From time to time, I investigate alternatives, but seem to agree with you Carole -- it's too much trouble. The cabinets are too tall to be functional. I have to use a stool to reach the top shelves. I guess it's a good place to store little used items. It would be nice to have all of my spices in one place like Susan and Carole. I have one whole cabinet to the right of the sink, but that's only some of them. The rest are in baskets in the pantry.
MZ, not familiar with Jenn Air electric stoves, so no idea what solid burners are for. Someone here probably does. I wanted a larger stove with two ovens (I wanted a Viking) but decided I didn't want to spend the money and ended up with this GE Profile 5 burner. It's a gas stove but the bottom is an electric oven. The only thing I really use the bottom oven for is heating rolls or side dishes at thanksgiving. I do most of my cooking on two burners and the big oven. So in this instance, I'm glad I settled. I used to use the griddle insert (VERY heavy) until I bought a very inexpensive electric griddle. It's bigger and much easier to clean and use than the stove insert.
Monte did a fantastic job on your furniture Carolyn. Can't wait to see the new one! By the way, I wanted to tell you how much everyone enjoyed your pork roast recipe. Although I cook with lots of onions (almost 3 pounds a week), and I always have green onions, I rarely used them cooked in anything. They really gave the roast a nice flavor along with the garlic. I'll be using them again in that fashion. So thanks!
Sending warm wishes to everyone and hope you're cooking something good.
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That's the brand of stove I had, MZ, Jenn Air. I guess it must have been electric because I remember having some extra components like a grill. I liked the down draft function. We didn't need a hood. Our house was raised as in high enough so that we parked on the first level. I love my gas stove. It's a GE and has worked beautifully for the 20 years we've been in this house The electronics module had to be replaced some years back. DH ordered the part and installed it himself. He's a handy fellow. The stove has a self-cleaning function but I've used it only twice.
My pizza stone has turned very dark but it doesn't smell bad.
We went to a birthday party crawfish boil today at the home of a niece. Her husband was turning 50. The crawfish were very good. Spicy but not oversalted. Potatoes, corn on the cob, mushrooms, green beans, and slices of sausage were all cooked in the highly seasoned boiling water. The birthday cake was a home-made red velvet cake. Haven't had red velvet cake in a long time and I enjoyed two pieces!
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Mombie, does the dutch oven have legs, or is it just flat on the bottom? If it has 3 legs, and a lid with a big lip around the edge, then it's designed to be heated with wood (or charcoal) coals. The flat bottom one with a domed lid is the kitchen kind, but can be hung over a fire.
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Tonight, we just were not hungry, so the stir-fry's were delayed. Instead I made a large salad and some tactines [French for grilled bread] with last summer's pesto with some goat cheese. Perfect supper. I guess our bodies are getting ready for spring.
The stir fry will have to wait until tomorrow night.
I gave my footed dutch ovens to a friend who goes camping regularly. It was an inheritance from my Uncle. One of the many from him, but one of the few I have given to someone else. I found it too hard to deal with given my cooking equipment.
*susan*
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Eric--I haven't looked at it. It's in a box in the garage. We haven't even camped with it because life got crazy and busy. I'll have to see if I can find it and check. It's currently in the "I don't know where it is" category because we are still unpacking boxes after moving here. I'll have to season it when I find it too.
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When I need to cook, but don't feel like it...I'll put several pieces of chicken breasts or thighs in the dutch oven, add a couple of cans of beans and a couple of jars of BBQ sauce...and cook covered, on low, until the chicken is done. I try to not let the stuff boil.
The biggest dutch oven I have makes a great chicken roaster. I have some trivets (I guess that's what they're called) that sit in the bottom of the dutch oven so the thing being cooked doesn't rest directly on the bottom. I'll toss in some rosemary, garlic, onion and/or an apple depending on m mood.
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Thanks for the kitchen pictures. I am so jealous!!!
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That sounds super yummy, Eric. Might have to try that. I love to cook a pork roast in my Guardian Service. I rub it with clove and rosemary, smother it in fresh finely minced garlic and cover with large cut sweet onion. I like to serve this over rice. But it's also good with seasoned, cubed oven baked potatoes. I like to include steamed green beans with a greek dressing from a one of a kind restaurant up in Bellingham, WA. I go there just to buy that dressing!
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Your kitchens are all so beautiful! I finished up my two days of volunteering and am headed to Atlanta to see friends. I will raid my storage and get my cuisinart and copper bottom pots and pans and Then I will take a picture of my almost 5x8 kitchen. It will win the ugly kitchen contest. You will laugh. I will laugh. I hope that I am able to post it!
this morning I it took me two seconds to slip back into southern modeI I broke down and ate a piece of bacon of and a biscuit with white gravy with certainly has some kind of grease in it it was goooood. so much for being vegetarian And then I put on some Southern music and oogled a Harley that surely must have cost over $100,000 the owner said everything here you see is for sale. Everything. So I said really? Then stopped before his woman slapped me
so here I am on the road at a truck stop to Chattanooga being a southern I don't know what
Hope everyone has a beautiful beginning of Spring week!
I I am having fun!
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Well, bedo, one thing we know you aren't is a GRITS! (Girl Raised In The South_
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Well Bedo, no one will ever accuse you of being a GRITS, that's for sure. (Girl Raised in The South)
friend of mine is on spring break from her job at a local school and she posted a picture of her homemande biscuits and gravy. I don't know how people eat that .....seriously......But I couldn't be where you are and not eat some BBQ or some Fried Chicken with all the fixins.....
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