Food and Recipes while under Coronavirus quarantine #8

[iamshadow21]

This American loves lamb! Rack of lamb is my favorite food. I also like ground lamb.

My partner does an amazing bone in roast of leg or shoulder. Slow in the oven, about six or eight hours depending on the weight. Delicious. Cook the potatoes and that along side it. They don't crisp up the way they would in a dry pan or just in oil, but they soak up all the meat juices.

 

[PayrollNerd]

Prepping the garden for the incoming cold front, expecting 39 degrees on Tuesday morning. Initially I thought it was Monday morning so I was scrambling today. Whew!

Found 2 zucchini and was so excited! First time I’ve had them produce. In the past the powdery mildew ruined the plants. I planted them out front and I’ve been pruning off the really damaged leaves, watering right down by the base instead of letting the top leaves get so wet. I’ll cover them with a sheet tomorrow night.

Picked up another piece of salmon since it was still $10.99/lb. Yes, it’s farm raised and Norwegian but when it’s all you can afford, it’s a super food regardless. This piece will be 3 meals for me. I’ll eat it cold on a Cesar salad too.

I sautéed the zucchini in a little butter, added diced carrots & tomatoes, garlic, onion, salt & pepper.

 

[iamshadow21]

Prepping the garden for the incoming cold front, expecting 39 degrees on Tuesday morning. Initially I thought it was Monday morning so I was scrambling today. Whew!

Found 2 zucchini and was so excited! First time I’ve had them produce. In the past the powdery mildew ruined the plants. I planted them out front and I’ve been pruning off the really damaged leaves, watering right down by the base instead of letting the top leaves get so wet. I’ll cover them with a sheet tomorrow night.

Picked up another piece of salmon since it was still $10.99/lb. Yes, it’s farm raised and Norwegian but when it’s all you can afford, it’s a super food regardless. This piece will be 3 meals for me. I’ll eat it cold on a Cesar salad too.

I sautéed the zucchini in a little butter, added diced carrots & tomatoes, garlic, onion, salt & pepper.

Those zucchini look great! We use them in most things. A meal that's going to be thoroughly cooked, I tend to start with a base of carrot, zucchini and broccoli. No onion, and only rarely celery, because of partner's FODMAP issues.

Yesterday, I made drunken risotto, because it's delicious and because partner had an extraction over a week ago and still needs softer things to eat. I used carrot, zucchini , broccoli, and green beans. The original recipe was by Rachael Ray many moons ago, but we've altered it for our tastes and availability.

Here's the original on someone's blog: Recipe Sharing: Drunken Risotto with Sausage and Spinach

We use half a cured chorizo sausage cut up rather than sausage meat, use port rather than red wine (less of, obviously, half a bottle of port, roughly one and a half cups), no nutmeg - instead paprika, smokey paprika, chili flakes, rosemary, sage, basil, and plenty of black pepper, and we add haloumi cheese at the end when the parmesan, butter and spinach go in. The original recipe is completely stovetop, too. I begin on the stovetop, add everything gradually, cooking the vegetables to tender, then putting in the herbs and spices, rice, and chorizo, then the liquids, then allow ten minutes with the lid on, taste and balance, then it goes in the oven for half an hour at 180C, then the butter, parmesan, haloumi and spinach go in, five more minutes and it's done.

 

[Knox]

Those zucchini look great! We use them in most things. A meal that's going to be thoroughly cooked, I tend to start with a base of carrot, zucchini and broccoli. No onion, and only rarely celery, because of partner's FODMAP issues.

Yesterday, I made drunken risotto, because it's delicious and because partner had an extraction over a week ago and still needs softer things to eat. I used carrot, zucchini , broccoli, and green beans. The original recipe was by Rachael Ray many moons ago, but we've altered it for our tastes and availability.

Here's the original on someone's blog: Recipe Sharing: Drunken Risotto with Sausage and Spinach

We use half a cured chorizo sausage cut up rather than sausage meat, use port rather than red wine (less of, obviously, half a bottle of port, roughly one and a half cups), no nutmeg - instead paprika, smokey paprika, chili flakes, rosemary, sage, basil, and plenty of black pepper, and we add haloumi cheese at the end when the parmesan, butter and spinach go in. The original recipe is completely stovetop, too. I begin on the stovetop, add everything gradually, cooking the vegetables to tender, then putting in the herbs and spices, rice, and chorizo, then the liquids, then allow ten minutes with the lid on, taste and balance, then it goes in the oven for half an hour at 180C, then the butter, parmesan, haloumi and spinach go in, five more minutes and it's done.

Yum, thanks for sharing that recipe, like your alterations better too~

 

[iamshadow21]

Yum, thanks for sharing that recipe, like your alterations better too~

It's really good, and very nice as leftovers. I'm sorry I can't give more exact measurements, it's one of those meals that's evolved over time and I don't really measure anything but the liquids and the rice. The herbs and spices I generally measure out using the spice jar lids or a regular teaspoon, using the 'that's about the right amount' gauge of eyeballing it.

 

[IceIce9]

We got 3 inches of snow overnight. It was forecast to be light flurries but turned into real snow. Very early in the season for us. Just yesterday I still could still pick tomatoes and peppers from my garden.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

We got 3 inches of snow overnight. It was forecast to be light flurries but turned into real snow. Very early in the season for us. Just yesterday I still could still pick tomatoes and peppers from my garden.

We got our first snow, too, but only a dusting - maybe half an inch. It has also turned quite cold.

I'm always looking for recipes for acorn squash and tried a new one yesterday. We had two small acorn squash that were cut in half, seeds scooped out, roasted flesh side down for 25 minutes at 375*. While the squash was baking, I cooked a cup of white rice, sauteed 3/4# of Italian sausage, and chopped a couple of handfuls of baby spinach. When the squash cooled a bit, I added a pat of butter, salt, pepper, and a little nutmeg to each half, then spooned in the sausage/rice/spinach mixture. Topped each half with shredded Parm. Continued roasting the squash for another 35 minutes until flesh was soft and cheese was beginning to brown. Absolutely delicious! This one is a keeper, for sure.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Thanksgiving is a little less than two weeks away, but I have already been making lists of grocery items I'll need for our post-Turkey Day dinner. I always enjoyed hosting family gatherings when DH and I were younger, and we were the only family members who had a nice home for entertaining. As we've aged, it's no longer fun and becomes too stressful. The thought of making a traditional Thanksgiving feast seems quite daunting now, and I can't imagine accomplishing this without major anxiety Like last year, DH and I will spend Thanksgiving Day at home, watch the parade and football, maybe a holiday movie and do some prep for the family dinner that we'll host on Saturday. It will be low-keyed with much less food than a traditional turkey feast and much less stress (hopefully). I plan to make turkey meatballs and gravy with cranberry sauce and a spinach/ricotta/fresh mozzarella/marinara rigatoni pasta casserole (stuffed shells recipe without the labor-intensive stuffing of pasta shells). I'm thinking about deviled eggs and mini bagel pizzas for appetizers, and Costco pumpkin cheesecake for dessert.

ILooking forward to reading about your Thanksgiving menus...

 

[PayrollNerd]

Well, at the moment no plans for Tday. My aunt & uncle haven’t officially invited me but they did mention that I was due for a visit. (Barefoot Bay, FL) Sometimes they have a holiday party and I go over and help them. Cookie baking, cleaning, etc. it’s always fun.

Kiddo isn’t coming home until May 2026. (End of year 2)

The oldest and her boyfriend are going to St Augustine. They may come here for Christmas tho.

It was Fish Filet slider night. I’m stuffed!

In 2018, I went to NH to visit the same aunt & uncle that now lives in Barefoot Bay. While I was there, a snowstorm blew in. 6” of snow and 17 degrees! My uncle moved Captains little bed closer to the fire!

 

[anneg]

Thanksgiving is a little less than two weeks away, but I have already been making lists of grocery items I'll need for our post-Turkey Day dinner. I always enjoyed hosting family gatherings when DH and I were younger, and we were the only family members who had a nice home for entertaining. As we've aged, it's no longer fun and becomes too stressful. The thought of making a traditional Thanksgiving feast seems quite daunting now, and I can't imagine accomplishing this without major anxiety Like last year, DH and I will spend Thanksgiving Day at home, watch the parade and football, maybe a holiday movie and do some prep for the family dinner that we'll host on Saturday. It will be low-keyed with much less food than a traditional turkey feast and much less stress (hopefully). I plan to make turkey meatballs and gravy with cranberry sauce and a spinach/ricotta/fresh mozzarella/marinara rigatoni pasta casserole (stuffed shells recipe without the labor-intensive stuffing of pasta shells). I'm thinking about deviled eggs and mini bagel pizzas for appetizers, and Costco pumpkin cheesecake for dessert.

ILooking forward to reading about your Thanksgiving menus...

I made a small pasta casserole today similar to yours but made a meat sauce for it and used penne instead of rigatoni. We ate half of it tonight and will have the other half Monday or Tuesday. We usually eat out with friends on Sunday evenings. Not sure what we will do for Thanksgiving. Your menu sounds good!

 

[anneg]

Well, at the moment no plans for Tday. My aunt & uncle haven’t officially invited me but they did mention that I was due for a visit. (Barefoot Bay, FL) Sometimes they have a holiday party and I go over and help them. Cookie baking, cleaning, etc. it’s always fun.

Kiddo isn’t coming home until May 2026. (End of year 2)

The oldest and her boyfriend are going to St Augustine. They may come here for Christmas tho.

It was Fish Filet slider night. I’m stuffed!

In 2018, I went to NH to visit the same aunt & uncle that now lives in Barefoot Bay. While I was there, a snowstorm blew in. 6” of snow and 17 degrees! My uncle moved Captains little bed closer to the fire!

Captain had a nice cozy bed close to the fire on a cold night.

Our son was here for 4 1/2 days recently but he wants to come down with his truck so he can take DH's portable table saw and other tools home with him. I hope DIL comes with him, but she hates the long drive so she might fly down. Our younger grandson would probably come with him, which would be great!

 

[iamshadow21]

Today I felt like baking, and my freezer is groaning with STUFF, so, here's what I used up. Three frozen bananas and the very old end of a bag of frozen blueberries. (Freezing bananas that are getting too ripe is a brilliant thing. They keep well in the skins - you don't have to bag them, and they're perfectly mushy for baking with when they defrost. Freeze your bananas, people! These must have been literally years in the freezer, with how deep I had to dig to find them.)

I used these in my absolutely rock solid banana bread recipe. I usually put nuts in, most often pecans, but there were a couple of handfuls of the blueberries, so I left out the nuts.

Partner has already had a slice and says it's a winner! I expect it to go quickly, because I've offered it to both mum and our housemate.

 

[Puzzles8]

This years Thanksgiving will be a first. I normally host Thanksgiving, but this year my daughters decided they will host. I am happily passing on the baton!

Their original plan was to get a Whole Foods prepared turkey and just reheat it. Then my daughter made an executive decision, we are going to get a Popeye's deep fried turkey. At first I thought she was kidding, but she was dead serious. The bird is deep fried and flash frozen. You defrost it for several days and reheat on Thanksgiving. After I got over the shock I started googling reviews on the Popeye's bird. Surprisingly it got good, I'll even say rave reviews. I'll give you my review after Thanksgiving

I am making swiss carrot casserole - carrots, swiss cheese, a little sherry and breadcrumbs. I am taking Rhodes dinner rolls to bake there. Also making my favorite pumpkin pie - the secret is the pecan crust and Green beans with slivered almonds.
I'm sure I'll end up making more last minute.

Wishing you all a healthy and happy Thanksgiving!

 

[anneg]

This years Thanksgiving will be a first. I normally host Thanksgiving, but this year my daughters decided they will host. I am happily passing on the baton!

Their original plan was to get a Whole Foods prepared turkey and just reheat it. Then my daughter made an executive decision, we are going to get a Popeye's deep fried turkey. At first I thought she was kidding, but she was dead serious. The bird is deep fried and flash frozen. You defrost it for several days and reheat on Thanksgiving. After I got over the shock I started googling reviews on the Popeye's bird. Surprisingly it got good, I'll even say rave reviews. I'll give you my review after Thanksgiving

I am making swiss carrot casserole - carrots, swiss cheese, a little sherry and breadcrumbs. I am taking Rhodes dinner rolls to bake there. Also making my favorite pumpkin pie - the secret is the pecan crust and Green beans with slivered almonds.
I'm sure I'll end up making more last minute.

Wishing you all a healthy and happy Thanksgiving!

How nice that your daughters are taking over hosting for Thanksgiving dinner! Sounds like the food will be delicious. The pecan crust for the pie sounds interesting.

 

[Puzzles8]

How nice that your daughters are taking over hosting for Thanksgiving dinner! Sounds like the food will be delicious. The pecan crust for the pie sounds interesting.

The pecan crust ready makes the pie. Though I would share the recipe.

Pecan Pumpkin Pie
Crust
1/2 cup butter, cubed
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup well chopped pecans
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix flour with salt and baking soda.
Cut in butter, brown sugar, and flour mixture, until crumbly. Add vanilla and pecans.
No need to precook the crust. Use 9.5" deep pie pan.

For filling, I use the recipe on the side of the Libby's can!

Bake at 425 for 15 minutes. Then turn temperature down to 350 and bake for another 45-55 minutes. Let cool.

Don't forget copious amounts of whipped cream!

 

[anneg]

The pecan crust ready makes the pie. Though I would share the recipe.

Pecan Pumpkin Pie
Crust
1/2 cup butter, cubed
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup well chopped pecans
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix flour with salt and baking soda.
Cut in butter, brown sugar, and flour mixture, until crumbly. Add vanilla and pecans.
No need to precook the crust. Use 9.5" deep pie pan.

For filling, I use the recipe on the side of the Libby's can!

Bake at 425 for 15 minutes. Then turn temperature down to 350 and bake for another 45-55 minutes. Let cool.

Don't forget copious amounts of whipped cream!

Thank you! Sounds wonderful!

 

[PayrollNerd]

Today was the first Tday food pickup from the food bank. There’s another one next week if anyone on here is in Sarasota County.

I have not been going lately. I felt like so many other families, particularly those with children, needed help more.

I arrived at the ball field at 3:00 and there were at least 50 cars in line. They started at 3:45 once they helped all the ones walking and on bicycles. The place was crawling with police, the media, the ball fields mascot, lots of volunteers.

On their FB page last week a lady posted she only received 2 items. She wanted to know why she wasn’t allowed to go to another pick up the same day. We used to be able to but I guess they stopped that. the need is too great. So I’m glad I hadn’t gone for a bit.

I was very surprised at the apple pie ingredients and a biscuit mix too. I gave the 1/2 gallon of 2% milk to my neighbor for his grandson. The turkey is 13.5 lbs so plenty big.

 

[iamshadow21]

Well, months after my actual birthday, I might actually be going to getting around to making my birthday cake.

Why?

Because the elves who packed my grocery delivery goofed, and instead of giving me the 1.5kg bag of carrots I'd asked for, gave me the 5kg bag intended for people who are zealots for their juicing machines instead. (They only charged me for the smaller bag, though, so there's that.)

And, as virtuous as we can try to be, I think it's going to take dedication and creativity for the four of us to eat all of them before they get sad and bendy.

The recipe I'd chosen to make was a coffee and walnut cake from Red Velvet and Chocolate Heartache that has a bunch of grated carrot as the base, so baking it will just be doing my bit to conquer Mount Carrot and reclaim the full half of the veg drawer in mum's fridge that is completely carrots right now.

Also planning to do a potato bake that is a bit of potato, a decent amount of sweet potato, but mostly carrot, probably.

Any good carrot recipes, shoot them my way. Sweet or savoury, it doesn't matter. The only thing I probably won't do is hardcore canning/bottling, I am not dusting off mum's Vacola and risking trying to get it to pressure, but I may have to dig out The Preserving Book and see if it has a good carrot relish or chutney. I can do that in my cast iron Dutch oven pot.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

^ Carrot cake is a favorite, but I don't necessarily like the fuss of baking a cake. I've made carrot bread using a zucchini bread recipe and substituting carrots for the zucchini. Here's a recipe for carrot bread. Much easier than baking a cake and no need to frost. Freezes well, too.

Carrot Cake Loaf (Quick Bread) - Sally's Baking

This carrot cake loaf is somewhere between a cake and quick bread. It tastes incredible plain or with cinnamon cream cheese frosting on top.

sallysbakingaddiction.com

 

[PayrollNerd]

I have found that Honeyed Carrots freeze well. I peel them, then cut them in strips about 3” long. This allows seasonings to reach the bitter center. I roast them at 400 deg. I stir them 1/2 way thru and add a little real butter to keep them moist while roasting. When they are fork tender, I drizzle a little honey and stir them.