Food and Recipes while under Coronavirus quarantine #5

[ilovewings]

Good morning from my home in Rochester Hills, MI. No room service this morning. No awesome almond croissant from the International Cafe. No dinner reservations at a specialty restaurant. Our flight arrived early in Detroit, but we sat on a taxiway for 15 minutes while another arriving flight parked. Collected our bags, hopped on shuttle to parking, and were the second to last of five parties to get to our vehicle. Lots of rush hour traffic on the way home, so we were a little behind schedule but arrived home safely at 4:45. Took a Nino's Margherita pizza out of the freezer while DH went to Kroger for some staples. Did some minimal unpacking but will finish today. Enjoyed pizza while watching Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! that we missed while we were away. Went to bed shortly thereafter. Travel is tiring.

Our dinner at Sabatini's on the last night of the cruise turned out to be the best meal of the voyage. We were so glad to have been able to get a reservation! We have always gone to Sabatini's on every cruise and would have missed it terribly if we hadn't been able to enjoy a dinner there. Princess ships are built in Italy, and the head chefs have always been Italian, so there is a lot of Italian influence in the onboard cuisine. Sabatini's showcases Princess' prowess in Italian cuisine - our favorite. While not as good as Picano's, the food is a close rival with some menu items equal to what we'd get at our favorite local Italian restaurant.

We started our meal with a lovely Chianti recommended by the sommelier. We considered a couple of the pricier super Tuscan wines, but the sommelier said if we like Chiantis, we should go with his recommendation. We were pleased with the wine that was a perfect accompaniment to our wonderful dinner. Waiter delivered a bread basket and two large arancini (cheese-stuffed rice balls) with marinara. We each had one and waiter asked if we wanted more. No; we had to save room for the rest of the meal We skipped the appetizer course, but both had the house salad. We each ordered a pasta dish: DH had seafood linguine in a light lemon-wine sauce. I had pasta primavera with asparagus, broccoli, zucchini, yellow squash, cherry tomatoes in a light tomato-wine sauce. We asked for small portions so we could order main dishes, but the pastas could have easily been a meal. Both were delicious! DH ordered Osso Bucco with saffron risotto for his main course, and I had chicken in rosemary-wine sauce. I didn't want mashed potatoes (they're usually made with milk and butter), so waiter promised me extra veggies. The dish included three chicken breast medallions with plenty of lovely sauteed vegetables. For dessert, we both chose Chocolate Journeys that is a sampler of four different chocolate concoctions, all of which are amazing. We both deemed the vanilla zabaglione with chocolate covered berries the best of the four. We would ordinarily finish our dinner in Sabatini's with a shot of limoncello but were told that the supply for this cruise was exhausted. We finished our Chianti instead of taking the bottle back to our stateroom.

The restaurant manager was a gorgeous young woman from Romania who visited our table a couple of times while we were dining. DH told her how disappointed we'd have been if we hadn't been able to enjoy at least one dinner in Sabatini's and that our dinner there had been the best of the cruise. She thanked us for the compliments, and we later learned that she comped our dinners ($25pp)! We had also received a $50 credit because our laptop wouldn't work in our stateroom. We were sitting at a table in Bistro Sur La Mer for most of our internet use - the same table where we sat for dinner twice. No further cruise food reports. Thanks for following.

I am reading about your culinary experiences belatedly--- mouth watering divine goodness---- Sounds like a dream cruise especially after spending 3 years in 'confinement" at home---- Now we wait for the ice storm- reality is a b-------.

 

[Catmommy]

At my chorus rehearsal tonight, a member brought King Cakes (for Mardi Gras) to share. Delicious! They looked something like this:
View attachment 404611

Ahhh, galette des rois. Did you get the baby?

 

[PayrollNerd]

@RussellSprout Look at my baby Brussels Sprouts! My first time growing them. They are so cute! I have 4 plants and they do not get enough sun on the end of the planter. Next time I will locate them better.

 

[anneg]

Ahhh, galette des rois. Did you get the baby?

No, I didn't!

 

[iamshadow21]

@RussellSprout Look at my baby Brussels Sprouts! My first time growing them. They are so cute! I have 4 plants and they do not get enough sun on the end of the planter. Next time I will locate them better.

Oh my god, I should try to grow my own.

I grow tuscan kale. My plants tend to winter over, so I end up with these mutant kale bushes; they're amazing.

 

[RusselSprout]

Hi all, another one of my pizza looking omelettes, I've been eating these all week for lunch, pastrami, pea and leek. I really like the leek in it, much better than onion I think.

I had cherry pie for the first time last night, I don't bake so it was shop bought, but it was lovely. I dont know what they add to it but it tasted like my grans bakewell tart. Maybe almond essence or something, it just had that flavour.

 

[PayrollNerd]

At the produce pick up Wed. they asked if I wanted extra tomatoes. I’d never turn them down. I’ll find a way to use them. So 16 pints of grape tomatoes!

I used 8 pints and 6 of my Roma tomatoes and made marinara. I used the fresh garlic & fresh basil they gave me too. I added a dash of red pepper, dash of oregano, kosher salt. The recipe called for canned tomatoes with a cup of water. I did add a cup of water but next batch I won’t add as much. I simmered it and smashed the tomatoes.

I put 2 containers, 3 cups each, in the freezer. I made the last of the fettuccine we had and added some Parmesan cheese. It’s very good. It made 2 meals. I have enough ingredients to make another batch.

Classic Marinara Sauce Recipe

Homemade marinara is almost as fast and tastes immeasurably better than even the best supermarket sauce — and it's made with basic pantry ingredients All the tricks to a bright red, lively-tasting sauce, made just as it is in the south of Italy (no butter, no onions) are in this recipe Use a...

cooking.nytimes.com

 

[iamshadow21]

Made homemade pizzas for dinner. Now watching the Sydney Mardi Gras special playlist on rage. Closest I've come to actually going in the last five years. Before then, I'd gone almost every year since I was nineteen.

Gloria Gaynor right now. Plenty of eighties and seventies queer anthems. Thinking of the good bits of past parades with nostalgia. Not missing the homophobia, the heavy police presence, the commericalisation of what used to be all about celebrating the community orgs that kept us all together.

 

[Tbone144]

Finally got to make my asparagus onion and pork stir-fry last night. So busy and enough leftovers we kept putting it off. DH didn’t want to eat it and we have been together long enough I don’t care any longer. Either he eats what I make or he makes himself something. I don’t go out of my way to make things he doesn’t like, don’t get me wrong. He’s a bit fickle at times so I just have stopped getting worried about it.

Had power outage on hearts and livers for dog treats, just a flicker will reset the machine. Will have to look into uninterrupted power source for it. It defaults to staying frozen so that’s not a big deal. I pulled them out and stuck them in freezer, defrosted machine and will try again today. Still need to portion up the yogurt. My opal apples are on sale again so more apple chips in the future. I like them as a snack at my desk. Ate a freeze dried bag of peaches this week and apples this week as snacks. Need to do some more eggs soon. My ducks, geese and chickens are laying well enough right now I have about 4 dozen duck eggs, 10 dozen chicken eggs and half a dozen goose eggs. I can do 6 dozen at a time in the freeze dryer. Friend I gave some FD chicken eggs to, tried them and said they tasted just like normal eggs.

 

[Auntie Cipation]

Finally got to make my asparagus onion and pork stir-fry last night. So busy and enough leftovers we kept putting it off. DH didn’t want to eat it and we have been together long enough I don’t care any longer. Either he eats what I make or he makes himself something. I don’t go out of my way to make things he doesn’t like, don’t get me wrong. He’s a bit fickle at times so I just have stopped getting worried about it.

Had power outage on hearts and livers for dog treats, just a flicker will reset the machine. Will have to look into uninterrupted power source for it. It defaults to staying frozen so that’s not a big deal. I pulled them out and stuck them in freezer, defrosted machine and will try again today. Still need to portion up the yogurt. My opal apples are on sale again so more apple chips in the future. I like them as a snack at my desk. Ate a freeze dried bag of peaches this week and apples this week as snacks. Need to do some more eggs soon. My ducks, geese and chickens are laying well enough right now I have about 4 dozen duck eggs, 10 dozen chicken eggs and half a dozen goose eggs. I can do 6 dozen at a time in the freeze dryer. Friend I gave some FD chicken eggs to, tried them and said they tasted just like normal eggs.

Do you ever take photos of what various things look like after freeze drying? Would love to see some if you do.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Oat, soy and almond drinks can keep calling themselves milk, the FDA says

Dairy producers for years have called for the FDA to crack down on plant-based drinks that they say masquerade as animal-based foods and cloud the real meaning of “milk.”

www.nbcnews.com

Soy, oat, almond and other drinks that bill themselves as “milk” can keep using the name, according to draft federal rules released Wednesday.

Food and Drug Administration officials issued guidance that says plant-based beverages don’t pretend to be from dairy animals — and that U.S. consumers aren’t confused by the difference.

Dairy producers for years have called for the FDA to crack down on plant-based drinks and other products that they say masquerade as animal-based foods and cloud the real meaning of “milk.”

Under the draft rules, the agency recommends that beverage makers label their products clearly by the plant source of the food, such as “soy milk” or “cashew milk.”...

 

[Tbone144]

Do you ever take photos of what various things look like after freeze drying? Would love to see some if you do.

I haven’t taken and pictures after freeze drying, just one of rehydrated chicken vindaloo. Eggs, apple sauce, form a film that works best to powder. Everything looks pretty similar unless they explode or grow (mochi, skittles, caramels, marshmallows)

I have asparagus and orange slices in the freezer now. The yogurt has a bit of time before it goes bad so I’m using the fresh stuff first.

I haven’t tried any of the juices yet, supposed to be able to do lemon, lime and orange juice.

 

[Tbone144]

Fired up the smoker today. Smoked one of those buy one get one pork loins and some pork ribs. Fresh veggies and funeral potatoes for sides. Should get us through the week for lunch as well. Last night we made breaded pork tenderloin sandwiches with half of the tenderloin. Snickerdoodles for dessert, quickly becoming on of my favorite cookies.

Freeze dryer is still running the hearts and livers for the dog, those should be finishing up tonight. I’ll defrost it overnight and then get the asparagus, oranges, gravy and apples going tomorrow.

 

[fridaybaker]

Never waded in here before, but have been lurking for quite some time. I love reading about food and menus and all things related.

Tonight we had a soup I’ve been making for many years and it’s universally commented on whenever I serve it, so I thought maybe some of you here might be interested.

It’s actually a “copy cat” recipe of the Olive Garden’s Zuppa Toscana. It’s simple, peasant food, but delicious and so very satisfying on a cold, winter day.

I make some slight variations on the recipe and always use homemade chicken stock. I’d be happy to post the recipe if anyone is interested.

 

[PayrollNerd]

Made my own CranGrape to flush my system. My friend gave me a 6 pack of cranberry juice. So I bought a 6 pack of grape juice. This is a big glass of juice!

It’s nice with separate bottles so I can use them over time. I can never finish a big bottle of juice.

 

[155etta]

My go to seasoning for burgers is Lawry's Seasoned Salt.

My favorite for burgers is Penzey's Beef Roast Seasoning.

 

[155etta]

I ordered Lou Malnati’s pizza, we had friends over who preferred thin crust so I ordered a deep dish and a thin crust. Lou’s is my favorite Chicago style pizza but in all the years I have been eating their pizza I had never tried the thin crust.

It was really good, still prefer their Chicago style deep dish but it was one of the best thin crust pizzas I have ever had.

On our drive to AZ we stayed in Henderson Nevada. It was late and we wanted to order something delivered to the hotel so we tried Blaze Pizza. Oh my was it good! I'd never even heard of it. We couldn't stop thinking about it on our trip and now that we're back I've just found out that there is one about 25 minutes from our home. We can't wait to have it again.

 

[Tbone144]

Never waded in here before, but have been lurking for quite some time. I love reading about food and menus and all things related.

Tonight we had a soup I’ve been making for many years and it’s universally commented on whenever I serve it, so I thought maybe some of you here might be interested.

It’s actually a “copy cat” recipe of the Olive Garden’s Zuppa Toscana. It’s simple, peasant food, but delicious and so very satisfying on a cold, winter day.

I make some slight variations on the recipe and always use homemade chicken stock. I’d be happy to post the recipe if anyone is interested.

Always looking for new takes on good soups.

 

[IceIce9]

On our drive to AZ we stayed in Henderson Nevada. It was late and we wanted to order something delivered to the hotel so we tried Blaze Pizza. Oh my was it good! I'd never even heard of it. We couldn't stop thinking about it on our trip and now that we're back I've just found out that there is one about 25 minutes from our home. We can't wait to have it again.

My daughter had Blaze Pizza while visiting family in California probably 7 or 8 years ago and couldn’t stop talking about it. Then about three years ago Blaze opened several locations in our area, including one just three miles from our house. It’s really good!

 

[PayrollNerd]

We were happy to get a Blaze Pizza here. They’re one of the few places we can get a gluten free pizza safely. It’s always custom made with new gloves. They take it seriously compared to other places.

Many times the workers don’t believe you need it due to allergies. Too many people think excluding gluten is a healthy diet and it’s not.

Yesterday at the candy shop they had a mocha fudge that was new. The lady couldn’t tell me the ingredients. It looked like it had white chips in it. But it could have been nuts. She said the guy just whipped it up because he wanted to try it. Maybe next time I go they’ll have perfected the recipe.

I bought a square of plain chocolate and a square of strawberry chocolate. Both are fresh and very good.