Food and Recipes while under Coronavirus quarantine #4

[RusselSprout]

12 large free range eggs are £2.55 at my local supermarket. I love eggs and actually wouldn't mind paying more for eggs, if it meant the farmers would get more money, same goes for milk. I could easily spend £3 on one rubbish ready meal, but think how many great healthy meals you can make with 12 eggs.

The British Free Range Egg Producers Association (BFREPA) said many of its members were losing money due to high chicken feed prices and energy costs.
Farmers have called for a 40p increase for a dozen eggs to help meet costs.
But supermarkets said they were "constrained" by how much cost they could pass onto customers.
Farmers claim that despite the price of a dozen eggs rising by about 45p in the supermarkets since March, they've only received between 5p to 10p of that increase.

Egg farmers squeezed as costs rise

Some farmers have accused supermarkets of not paying them a fair price for their eggs.

www.google.com

 

[IceIce9]

Today was gluten free enchiladas day. Mine had turkey! They were good, just a slightly different taste than the chicken enchiladas. I used refried beans with Monterey Jack cheese mixed in. Black beans with salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder mixed in. Tomatoes, black olives, fresh spinach from the garden and colby jack cheese. I stuffed them so full that I can only eat half of one per meal. My kiddo was starving at lunch and ate one entire enchilada (no turkey in hers).

Sounds wonderful!

We love enchiladas, we make them with cheese, beans, and whatever fresh vegetables we happen to have on hand. A good way to use up bits of assorted vegetables.

 

[iamshadow21]

As promised, a picture of yesterday's dinner.

Lamb, can't remember if it was leg or shoulder. Only a small one, 1.6kg.

Potatoes, sweet potatoes, butternut pumpkin, those wedges of cabbage I cooked a little longer, after we took everything out, because they weren't quite done at this point, and the rest was. We also had steamed beans, carrot, and broccoli, and partner made proper gravy from the pan juices. Oh, and the lamb had rosemary stuck in it, and rhubarb under it, both from our garden. The rhubarb went into the gravy, because it was mush after six or so hours in the oven at 150C, and it added a nice sharp counterpoint to the rich fattiness of the gravy.

 

[PayrollNerd]

As promised, a picture of yesterday's dinner.

View attachment 385877

Lamb, can't remember if it was leg or shoulder. Only a small one, 1.6kg.

Potatoes, sweet potatoes, butternut pumpkin, those wedges of cabbage I cooked a little longer, after we took everything out, because they weren't quite done at this point, and the rest was. We also had steamed beans, carrot, and broccoli, and partner made proper gravy from the pan juices. Oh, and the lamb had rosemary stuck in it, and rhubarb under it, both from our garden. The rhubarb went into the gravy, because it was mush after six or so hours in the oven at 150C, and it added a nice sharp counterpoint to the rich fattiness of the gravy.

That looks and sounds amazing like I could eat it for breakfast. I literally just rolled out of bed, swallowed a swig of Diet Pepsi and opened my laptop. Back to my Ritz crackers......

 

[RusselSprout]

That looks phenomenal @iamshadow21 ! Lamb is such a treat, I love mint jelly on the side.

Chorizo omelette for lunch today ps do you like my new plates

 

[iamshadow21]

That looks phenomenal @iamshadow21 ! Lamb is such a treat, I love mint jelly on the side.

Chorizo omelette for lunch today ps do you like my new plates

I'm not a mint fan, my partner likes it though. (I can handle peppermint, I like that, but I dislike regular mint, and despise spearmint. I absolutely floored a Lush employee when I could absolutely smell spearmint in a product she showed me. She works there, and didn't realise it was in there until I told her it definitely was, and she checked the label! It was a ways down the ingredients list, and she'd never picked up on it in the aroma.)

I thought it was a pizza from the thumbnail! Love the plates. Are they melamine, glass, or ceramic?

 

[HongKongPhooey]

That looks phenomenal @iamshadow21 ! Lamb is such a treat, I love mint jelly on the side.

Chorizo omelette for lunch today ps do you like my new plates

Love them, v patriotic!

 

[RusselSprout]

I thought it was a pizza from the thumbnail! Love the plates. Are they melamine, glass, or ceramic?

Ha yes my omelettes are known to look like pizzas sometimes, i think its because i have plenty of things in it and i finish it off under the grill.

Em im not sure what my plates are made of, they are just bog standard plates. They are actually not new plates, they were my 'good plates' which were stored away in the dresser, but having people over and sitting at the dining table with the 'good plates' and the 'good cutlery', its a thing of the past for me since my gran went in the care home. I was clearing out the dresser this week and thought hey im going to use these nice plates as my every day plates and i gave my old set to the charity shop, along with a massive box of random stuff i found in the dresser. The amount of place mats i pulled out the dresser, there were stacks and stacks of them!

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Ha yes my omelettes are known to look like pizzas sometimes, i think its because i have plenty of things in it and i finish it off under the grill...

Your omelet is actually more like a frittata. Omelets are usually folded and may or may not have veggies, meat, and/or cheese in the center but not blended in with the eggs. Frittatas do tend to look like pizzas.

What Is the Difference Between Omelets and Frittatas?

Omelets are made by folding the cooked egg around the filling; frittatas involve mixing the filling into the raw egg mixture and cooking it together.

www.thespruceeats.com

 

[kalvis]

Let’s talk ham! I am going to bake a ham for Christmas dinner. I have not baked many hams and they tend to be dry. So, I would like some recommendations from y’all about your favorite brand of ham, do you prefer bone in or boneless, and how to cook?

Looking forward to my favorite foodies opinions

 

[PayrollNerd]

Ham is the classic work smarter, not harder meat. I always buy a spiral sliced precooked ham. Honey Baked Ham used to be the only place you'd find them years and years ago. But now, the grocery stores carry them, our local Amish Mennonite store carries them, etc.

You don't bake it because that dries it out. Take it out of the fridge about an hour before the meal. Leave it in it's package. Right before the meal, pull off a bunch of slices, put them on the platter, pop it in the microwave for 1 minute to warm it. The rest is de-boned, bagged and frozen. I do not use the seasoning packet it comes with. It's too sweet for us.

If you want a raw uncooked ham, someone else can chime in on that. I would never buy one, too tricky for me and I'd worry it wasn't done.

 

[Laughing]

Try using a slow cooker/Crock Pot:

How to Make Your Holiday Ham in a Crock-Pot

Follow our step-by-step guide to make ham in the slow cooker.

www.tasteofhome.com

Taste of Home is usually reliable, I use the directions in the booklet that came with the thing. Ham & brown sugar, mostly. If you have the liner bags, I do recommend 'em!

Ah well, a story. Since lovely posters mentioned rhubarb & more formal living patterns, herein read

The One & Only Time I Ever Saw My Grandma Mad At My Granddaddy:

Granddaddy grew rhubarb in the garden. We were visiting, Grandma went somewhere. Now I am older, my Grandma put on her hat and gloves and went somewhere.

Granddaddy took us out into the garden. He cut stalks of rhubarb & put them in a basket.

We went back into the house & into the dining room. We sat at the dining room table -- my feet didn't reach the floor.

Granddaddy tucked white table napkins under our chins, slid the sugar bowl across the white tablecloth so we could reach, and handed us rhubarb stalks. He demonstrated how to dip the stalk into the sugar bowl & take a bite.

That's where Grandma found us.

I think the tablecloth & napkins were the problem?

I miss Grandma & Granddaddy ( an my grandparents on the other side.) The table, chairs, and tablecloth are now in my dining room. NO stains on the tablecloth, either.

Best, Laughing

 

[killarney rose]

The best ham I ever cooked(and this is more of an anecdote than a recipe-). For a long time I had wanted a vintage Wearever roasting pan on eBay. One finally came up in the right condition at the right price and I bought it. I baked the Christmas ham in it. I was seeking the perfect ham so I scored the outside and decorated it with pineapple rings, maraschino cherries and whole cloves, covered it in a brown sugar glaze and baked it in the 70 year old roaster that had come to me in new condition in its original box. That was indeed the perfect ham and I will always cook my hams this way in the future. It was tender, tasty, and pretty.

 

[Laughing]

The best ham I ever cooked(and this is more of an anecdote than a recipe-). For a long time I had wanted a vintage Wearever roasting pan on eBay. One finally came up in the right condition at the right price and I bought it. I baked the Christmas ham in it. I was seeking the perfect ham so I scored the outside and decorated it with pineapple rings, maraschino cherries and whole cloves, covered it in a brown sugar glaze and baked it in the 70 year old roaster that had come to me in new condition in its original box. That was indeed the perfect ham and I will always cook my hams this way in the future. It was tender, tasty, and pretty.

Now you're channeling my Grandma!!!

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Honey Baked Ham

www.honeybaked.com

We used to get Honey Baked Hams every year for Christmas and Easter. The company originated in Detroit and for many years was headquartered in Troy where we lived for 19 years. When another local meat company started producing their own spiral-sliced hams, we tried the Dearborn Brand and never got HBH again. Our History - Dearborn Brand

We prefer ham served at room temperature. Best accompaniment is the Potatoes Dauphin recipe that I posted previously.

 

[HongKongPhooey]

We went to a Christmas market today, the stalls are set out in the grounds of this National Trust house which is local to us. We haven’t been to the market since before the pandemic. Lots of craft and foodie stalls and the setting is always beautiful. We have a hard frost here so everything was white and icy.

We bought some local spiced apple gin liqueur, smoked garlic mayo (from the Isle of Wight, where they grow lots) and a couple of small plates which have a raised centre, so you can grate garlic straight onto them. Good for making aioli I thought, or tzatziki because you could grate the cucumber on as well. I’ll give one to my son for Christmas.

There are food stalls to buy hot food too, bbq, wurst, hot bowls of loaded brisket etc. Lots of mulled cider and wine, and something I hadn’t seen before and was v glad to try - mulled caipirinha. The stall holder was Brazilian too.

It was nice to be back after the past few years, but we left when we could see it getting v busy. Also, it was -2 degrees C which is v cold for us in the south!

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Let's talk turkey. We had a boneless rolled turkey breast for dinner last night with cranberry sauce, stuffing, and gravy. I made the cranberry sauce in the morning: fresh cranberries, orange zest and juice, turbinado sugar, a cinnamon stick, whole cloves, and star anise. Easy to make and much better than canned cranberry sauce or that awful jellied stuff. Nino's didn't have their premade stuffing, so DH got a bag of Nino's bread cube stuffing mix with herbs and broth seasonings. The seasonings are heavy on onion and sage, so I didn't include onion in my add-ins. I chopped carrots and celery and also added dried cherries and chopped walnuts. I used a carton of turkey stock along with hot water to moisten the bread cube and veggie mixture, then spread the stuffing in a lasagna pan. I made gravy with the turkey pan drippings, butter, flour, a splash of Courvoisier to deglaze, and turkey stock. A very nice Saturday supper, and there are plenty of leftovers for another turkey-stuffing-cranberry sauce meal, and then I'll make turkey noodle soup.

We had planned to go to Picano's last week but ended up staying home. We are going this evening and will make reservations for Christmas Eve, after which we'll watch It's a Wonderful Life like always.

 

[anneg]

We went to a Christmas market today, the stalls are set out in the grounds of this National Trust house which is local to us. We haven’t been to the market since before the pandemic. Lots of craft and foodie stalls and the setting is always beautiful. We have a hard frost here so everything was white and icy.

We bought some local spiced apple gin liqueur, smoked garlic mayo (from the Isle of Wight, where they grow lots) and a couple of small plates which have a raised centre, so you can grate garlic straight onto them. Good for making aioli I thought, or tzatziki because you could grate the cucumber on as well. I’ll give one to my son for Christmas.

There are food stalls to buy hot food too, bbq, wurst, hot bowls of loaded brisket etc. Lots of mulled cider and wine, and something I hadn’t seen before and was v glad to try - mulled caipirinha. The stall holder was Brazilian too.

It was nice to be back after the past few years, but we left when we could see it getting v busy. Also, it was -2 degrees C which is v cold for us in the south!

Sounds lovely, although a bit warmer would be nice. I had to look up caipirinha. The house looks amazing--have you been inside?

 

[HongKongPhooey]

Sounds lovely, although a bit warmer would be nice. I had to look up caipirinha. The house looks amazing--have you been inside?

Yes, over the years but not for a while actually. It’s about 20 mins drive for us and we pay for annual National Trust membership (basically allows you to visit any NT properties and gardens). They have a festival of light type thing over Christmas where the inside is decorated and the grounds have a light display. We havent been to that - it gets booked up crazy early.

It also has a restaurant and separate tea room/cafe, as well as the year round shop and wine cellar. So for foodies, you can either go cake and coffee, or formal three courses, depending on what you want.

This particular property was a holiday home for the Rothschilds. I’d recommend most NT properties for a visit if anyone ever ventures over here.

 

[anneg]

Yes, over the years but not for a while actually. It’s about 20 mins drive for us and we pay for annual National Trust membership (basically allows you to visit any NT properties and gardens). They have a festival of light type thing over Christmas where the inside is decorated and the grounds have a light display. We havent been to that - it gets booked up crazy early.

It also has a restaurant and separate tea room/cafe, as well as the year round shop and wine cellar. So for foodies, you can either go cake and coffee, or formal three courses, depending on what you want.

This particular property was a holiday home for the Rothschilds. I’d recommend most NT properties for a visit if anyone ever ventures over here.

In NC, we have Biltmore Estate in Asheville, in the mountains. I've toured it twice, once during the holiday season when it's decorated beautifully.

Biltmore

Visit Biltmore, America's Largest Home, built by George Vanderbilt. Explore the 8,000-acre estate in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Asheville, NC.

www.biltmore.com