Food and Recipes while under Coronavirus quarantine #4

[PayrollNerd]

This morning I went to the church for the food pick up. They hadn’t seen me for a number of weeks. They are so sweet and always want to know how I’m doing. They gave us some cinnamon crisps that we’d never heard of. I can’t eat them, but the youngest likes them. There’s a whole chicken that I’ll put on my rotisserie. The cute cupcake was vegan! Kiddo was excited about that. The hamburger buns were vegan too!

They did give us some things we can’t eat. Such as peanut butter, a couple bags of whole almonds, 2 lbs each. So we started another Free Food box to sit on the curb.

The big quarterly food distribution was at the stadium today. I went to it also and that helps us a lot to stock up on basics. Lots of canned goods: soups, tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce, beets, mandarin oranges black olives, etc. I was thrilled to get 2 burgers, chicken breasts, & a big pack of ground turkey.

The only thing we had to toss was the fresh green beans. Kiddo roasted the 4 giant red peppers. I now have 4 cabbages so I need to blanch them for the freezer. Two packs of Romaine lettuce, bananas and 5lbs of russet potatoes. A huge case of water bottles which is always great. A couple bottles of Gatorade and a big carton of juice.

We are reading recipes to decide what to do with this huge rectangular box of white cheese. It’s not sliced and tastes like American cheese. It has to be 3 lbs. Kiddo made 6 breakfast sandwiches with it and some of the croissants. My aunt says to add other cheeses and make macaroni and cheese.

There are 3 little bags of Indian Coconut Squash Dal I’ve never seen. A little block of Havarti cheese with dill. Lots of other things too. We will be good for awhile. Tomorrow we will meal plan and get things ready for the week.

As always so grateful for the generosity of others. These food pickups truly help keep our head above water.

 

[Puzzles8]

Apricot soy glazed country ribs in air fryer with a big Greek salad for dinner. DH is having Mac and cheese instead of salad. Had our usual breakfast of bacon and an egg for breakfast and started building interior. DH dropped me off to get hair cut and he took longer than he thought it would so instead of making salon stay open for me while I waited, I walked down to tap house and had a pineapple apple hard cider and a blackberry sage hard cider. Blackberry sage was really good. Haven’t had alcohol in awhile so those two 5% ciders with lack of food sort of went to my head.

Apples, mango and grapes should be finishing up in freeze dryer tonight. Have a bunch of mixed vegetables to do next.

How is a freeze dryer differ from an air dryer - aside from temperature of course!

Pineapple Apple Hard Cider sounds amazing.

 

[Tbone144]

How is a freeze dryer differ from an air dryer - aside from temperature of course!

Pineapple Apple Hard Cider sounds amazing.

Freeze dryer uses lower temperatures, freezing and then warming and vacuum to remove moisture. I can store them with oxygen absorbers and Mylar bags for up to 25 years for some of them. Supposed to retain nutrients better. Basically I’m making my own MREs.

 

[Puzzles8]

Freeze dryer uses lower temperatures, freezing and then warming and vacuum to remove moisture. I can store them with oxygen absorbers and Mylar bags for up to 25 years for some of them. Supposed to retain nutrients better. Basically I’m making my own MREs.

How long and how do you store air dried foods? Are they better for certain types of foods?

I've never done either.

 

[Tbone144]

How long and how do you store air dried foods? Are they better for certain types of foods?

I've never done either.

I’ve not done dehydrated foods. This sort of explains it.

Freeze Dried Vs Dehydrated | What's the Difference Between Freeze Drying and Dehydrating? - Valley Food Storage

Learn about the debate between freeze-dried vs. dehydrated food. Each strategy preserves food for a long time. But there is a difference between freeze-dried and dehydrated food. Learn which is best for you with Valley Food Storage.

valleyfoodstorage.com

Things I can’t do in freeze dryer are:
Honey
Peanut butter
Butter
High sugar foods
Low moisture foods don’t work well.
Twizzlers and sour patch kids don’t work well.

 

[PayrollNerd]

I’ve not done dehydrated foods. This sort of explains it.

Freeze Dried Vs Dehydrated | What's the Difference Between Freeze Drying and Dehydrating? - Valley Food Storage

Learn about the debate between freeze-dried vs. dehydrated food. Each strategy preserves food for a long time. But there is a difference between freeze-dried and dehydrated food. Learn which is best for you with Valley Food Storage.

valleyfoodstorage.com

Things I can’t do in freeze dryer are:
Honey
Peanut butter
Butter
High sugar foods
Low moisture foods don’t work well.
Twizzlers and sour patch kids don’t work well.

Candy actually lasts long enough in your house to be able to freeze dry it? That would not happen here. LOL!

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Greetings from somewhere in the Caribbean bound for Fort Lauderdale. It's a gorgeous day, sunny and warm, calm seas with some whitecaps. Days at sea are always my favorite times on cruises: Relaxing, do as much or as little as you want, can't get off the ship, so relax and enjoy.

We were getting bored with our room service breakfasts after five days and decided to get pastries from the International Cafe instead. I love the almond croissant - rich and buttery inside, topped with sliced almonds and powdered. Heavenly! When I could do dairy, I used to get a coffee card that entitled pax to enjoy 15 coffee beverages during the cruise. The prepaid voucher included cappuccino, frappe, iced coffees, specialty teas, espresso, hot chocolate, as well as unlimited fresh brewed coffee. I usually had a cappuccino with an almond croissant or a fruit/muesli/yogurt parfait for breakfast. Due to the lactose thing, I can't do the cappuccino or yogurt parfait any more

I haven't done any onboard shopping yet and will probably do that today. Shops will be very busy tomorrow as it's the last day of the voyage. Disembarkation information and luggage tags were delivered last night after dinner. You pack and set your luggage out for pickup before you go to dinner tomorrow night, keeping what you need for the morning. Our dining reservation tomorrow is at 5:20, so we'll have to pack early.

Off to do some ship shopping...

 

[raja]

Greetings from somewhere in the Caribbean bound for Fort Lauderdale. It's a gorgeous day, sunny and warm, calm seas with some whitecaps. Days at sea are always my favorite times on cruises: Relaxing, do as much or as little as you want, can't get off the ship, so relax and enjoy.

We were getting bored with our room service breakfasts after five days and decided to get pastries from the International Cafe instead. I love the almond croissant - rich and buttery inside, topped with sliced almonds and powdered. Heavenly! When I could do dairy, I used to get a coffee card that entitled pax to enjoy 15 coffee beverages during the cruise. The prepaid voucher included cappuccino, frappe, iced coffees, specialty teas, espresso, hot chocolate, as well as unlimited fresh brewed coffee. I usually had a cappuccino with an almond croissant or a fruit/muesli/yogurt parfait for breakfast. Due to the lactose thing, I can't do the cappuccino or yogurt parfait any more

I haven't done any onboard shopping yet and will probably do that today. Shops will be very busy tomorrow as it's the last day of the voyage. Disembarkation information and luggage tags were delivered last night after dinner. You pack and set your luggage out for pickup before you go to dinner tomorrow night, keeping what you need for the morning. Our dining reservation tomorrow is at 5:20, so we'll have to pack early.

Off to do some ship shopping...

My husband and I were on a cruise once and the last nite we packed our bags. Now I admit we may have had an extra cocktail or two because it was our last nite. The next morning after our bags were picked up we realized we had packed all of my husbands shoes. He had to were the slippers from the bathroom provided as we went thru all the disembarking procedures. He was so embarrassed and I couldn’t help but laugh at him.

 

[Tbone144]

Football food tonight even though there was no football on. Sunday nights we like to do wings, Queso, pigs in a blanket (none for me), and fresh veggies. I did have a hotdog with mustard.

Mixed veggies, strawberries, bananas and grapes in the freeze dryer. Grapes are on their second run as they only got about half done on first run. Going to try freeze dry the sauerkraut soup. The kielbasa sausage may be a problem as fat doesn’t freeze dry. My husband would like to be able to travel with it though.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

My husband and I were on a cruise once and the last nite we packed our bags. Now I admit we may have had an extra cocktail or two because it was our last nite. The next morning after our bags were picked up we realized we had packed all of my husbands shoes. He had to were the slippers from the bathroom provided as we went thru all the disembarking procedures. He was so embarrassed and I couldn’t help but laugh at him.

Look at it this way. Things could have been much worse if your DH had packed all of his pants

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

I realized after I posted that I did so on the food thread (I've followed your cruise updates on more than one thread). So I should have perhaps posted on a different thread, or at a minimum at least mentioned (post now edited) that I also enjoyed your reports about the food and the variety of restaurants and other food options available on the ship.

Out of respect for TOS, I posted about food and dining on this forum and Covid protocols on that forum.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

We enjoyed our dinner in Crown Grill last night. I had the scallop appetizer and lamb chops. DH had the tiger prawn appetizer, the spinach/goat cheese salad, and the NY strip steak. We shared grilled asparagus. Not Ruth's Chris Steakhouse but a nice meal. The red blend wine - Prisoner - was amazing! We both had the creme brulee cheesecake for dessert with a glass of Champagne. One of the ship's sommeliers stopped at our table a couple of times during dinner and chatted with us about wine when he saw us drinking Prisoner. He served our Champagne for dessert, as well. We didn't attend wine tastings on this cruise but told the sommelier that the selection of wines in the package of seven were excellent.

There's no room service tomorrow morning, so we had continental stateroom breakfast on our last sea day. Juice, croissant, decaf, and a banana that I have for an afternoon snack. I'll probably skip lunch today because we're going to Sabatini's for dinner tonight. The multi-course meal is quite filling, and the breads/rolls are always wonderful. We will order a super Tuscan wine for our last night onboard.

We have until 8:00PM to put our luggage our for collection, so we will put one bag out before dinner and the other out after dinner. We keep the carry-on shoulder bag for items that we pack in the morning. Staterooms must be vacated by 8:30AM with everyone off the ship by 9:00 so the ship can be readied for the next sailing by noon. We take a taxi to the airport; our flight is at 11:44AM and gets into Detroit at 2:50PM. Baggage claim, shuttle to parking, home in 45 minutes. The end.

 

[anneg]

We enjoyed our dinner in Crown Grill last night. I had the scallop appetizer and lamb chops. DH had the tiger prawn appetizer, the spinach/goat cheese salad, and the NY strip steak. We shared grilled asparagus. Not Ruth's Chris Steakhouse but a nice meal. The red blend wine - Prisoner - was amazing! We both had the creme brulee cheesecake for dessert with a glass of Champagne. One of the ship's sommeliers stopped at our table a couple of times during dinner and chatted with us about wine when he saw us drinking Prisoner. He served our Champagne for dessert, as well. We didn't attend wine tastings on this cruise but told the sommelier that the selection of wines in the package of seven were excellent.

There's no room service tomorrow morning, so we had continental stateroom breakfast on our last sea day. Juice, croissant, decaf, and a banana that I have for an afternoon snack. I'll probably skip lunch today because we're going to Sabatini's for dinner tonight. The multi-course meal is quite filling, and the breads/rolls are always wonderful. We will order a super Tuscan wine for our last night onboard.

We have until 8:00PM to put our luggage our for collection, so we will put one bag out before dinner and the other out after dinner. We keep the carry-on shoulder bag for items that we pack in the morning. Staterooms must be vacated by 8:30AM with everyone off the ship by 9:00 so the ship can be readied for the next sailing by noon. We take a taxi to the airport; our flight is at 11:44AM and gets into Detroit at 2:50PM. Baggage claim, shuttle to parking, home in 45 minutes. The end.

That dinner sounds wonderful. Creme brulee cheesecake--oooh!

 

[Quiet Time]

We enjoyed our dinner in Crown Grill last night. I had the scallop appetizer and lamb chops. DH had the tiger prawn appetizer, the spinach/goat cheese salad, and the NY strip steak. We shared grilled asparagus. Not Ruth's Chris Steakhouse but a nice meal. The red blend wine - Prisoner - was amazing! We both had the creme brulee cheesecake for dessert with a glass of Champagne. One of the ship's sommeliers stopped at our table a couple of times during dinner and chatted with us about wine when he saw us drinking Prisoner. He served our Champagne for dessert, as well. We didn't attend wine tastings on this cruise but told the sommelier that the selection of wines in the package of seven were excellent.

There's no room service tomorrow morning, so we had continental stateroom breakfast on our last sea day. Juice, croissant, decaf, and a banana that I have for an afternoon snack. I'll probably skip lunch today because we're going to Sabatini's for dinner tonight. The multi-course meal is quite filling, and the breads/rolls are always wonderful. We will order a super Tuscan wine for our last night onboard.

We have until 8:00PM to put our luggage our for collection, so we will put one bag out before dinner and the other out after dinner. We keep the carry-on shoulder bag for items that we pack in the morning. Staterooms must be vacated by 8:30AM with everyone off the ship by 9:00 so the ship can be readied for the next sailing by noon. We take a taxi to the airport; our flight is at 11:44AM and gets into Detroit at 2:50PM. Baggage claim, shuttle to parking, home in 45 minutes. The end.

Dang..you had me at the scallop appetizer and lamb chops..

 

[PayrollNerd]

My goodness we’re about ready for a new thread! I learn so much here and appreciate everyone’s input!

 

[JerseyGirl]

New thread:

Food and Recipes while under Coronavirus quarantine #5

If any of you are low on food or trunk to stretch your supply, this is a great recipe Best Loaded Slow-Cooker Potatoes Recipe-How To Make Loaded Slow-Cooker Potatoes—Delish.com I guess I’m allowed to post it as I’ve seen a few other recipes and grocery lists. Hopefully all of us will have...

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