In a coincidence, just yesterday I found chef Brian Lagerstrom's 4-year old recipe for 1 hour pizza. He came up with an ingenious method for rolling out the pizza dough between two sheets of oiled parchment and baking it on the bottom parchment that seems to be really convenient and much less messy. I need to try it for the next pizza we have.
Tonight will be some form of Cajun-seasoned chicken in pasta. I grabbed a 12 oz package of precooked seasoned chicken strips a month back that were marked way down for being five days from their "best before" date, and immediately froze them when I got them home. Don't know yet what I'm making for the side, and I probably need to bake another dessert for Dad.
I got a Ninja Air Fryer for Christmas. One of these days I'll get rid of the 12 year old Breville Toaster Oven sitting on my counter and set up the Ninja.
That Breville was really useful in my classroom at my old school, because I could do baking projects with the children, like making mini-muffins for snack. And when the school cook went on vacation, we would make pizzas.
If I had room for it, I'd keep both.
Are you any good with sculpting in clay, or are you friendly with someone who is good at it? You could make miniature characters, critters, and terrain for your Pathfinder games out of Sculpey (polymer clay) and then finish bake/"fire" them in your old toaster oven. You don't want to bake them off in any oven you concurrently use for food prep as polymer clay gives of toxic gases during the heating process, contaminating everything in the oven with it; the final hardened clay pieces will be inert and safe. And the toaster oven can be moved to your open back porch or into a well-ventilated garage/shed before use so the gases dissipate harmlessly outside while baking.
Last night's dinner was just tacos, nothing fancy.
Tonight was NY strip steaks, baked russets, "antioxidant mix" (carrots, broccoli, red bell pepper) sauced veg, and brown & serve rolls. This time I blade-tenderized the steaks, dry-brined them for an hour in unami mushroom seasoning, and then reverse-seared them. As the steaks were finishing up searing in the pan, I made a simple butter sauce with some more of the mushroom seasoning. Steak was very tasty, would make it again this way. Dad's verdict was "tastes good, but a little tough"... which yeah, that's what happens when you have to have it well done. I prefer to cook it just medium, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Tomorrow will probably be leftovers, Dad has half his steak still, and I can eat leftover taco.
So awhile ago I accidentally bought too many carrots, and recently despite trying to use them, I found I still had too many carrots and they were getting old. And I also recently made some homemade chicken stock (which used some but not enough of the carrots).
They seem to freeze up ok, if that's an option. Also, carrot cake?
Mom used to make bran muffins using the recipe on the box of all bran cereal. I made a variation once where I also used bananas (& honey) in the bran muffins. So, would carrot bran muffins work?
Tonight was just a 2 1/2 lb butt pork roast slow-braised with chunks of russet potatoes cooking in the onion-herb au jus, leftover cream corn, and applesauce. Enough for leftovers tomorrow.
I'm feeling a bit ambitious, so I'm tentatively planning on making lasagna for tomorrow. I picked up Italian sausage and fresh whole milk mozzarella on sale today, I'd grabbed ricotta and a nice fresh French loaf (for garlic bread) on Monday, and I already had everything else. I also need to make a dessert for Dad, leaning toward peach cobbler or pineapple upside-down cake.
I was running around Monday afternoon making a pet run and getting groceries, and it was closing on 4PM when I finally got home. So lasagna got postponed yet again until Tuesday, and since the weather was cool, I warmed up a jar of chicken noodle soup and made grilled cheese sandwiches with it. The soup is already well seasoned, but I added 4 oz of chicken stock, 1-1/2 oz of egg noodles, and a 4-1/2 oz can of chicken breast; Dad prefers his soup with plenty of noodles and chicken, and there's now enough left over he can warm it up for lunch Wednesday or Thursday.
Today (Tuesday) was finally lasagna night, and it went even better than I expected. Dad complimented it after the first two bites, so YAY! I'm definitely using fresh whole milk mozzarella from now on; the difference over the regular skim mozzarella and even non-fresh whole milk mozzarella is very noticeable. It takes a bit longer to cook the onions down past translucent until they're caramelizing (with no extra sugar or baking powder used), but it is a definite improvement in flavor. And instead of making one giant baking dish lasagna, I instead assembled them in three deep bread loaf pans. It's basically the same amount of work to make lasagna regardless of size. But this way, the two of us went through half a small lasagna tonight, we'll finish the other half tomorrow, and I still have two more prepped in the freezer for future dinners: just put them in the fridge the night before to thaw, remove the plastic wrap, recover with foil, and stick them in the oven to bake.
Jeez, DQ. I was already pissed off about that WH malcompetance, but now I'm boiling again. I wish you any luck needed, plus all the grace and serenity to navigate this unnecessary spiteful bullpucky.
Also, very glad to hear you dad is recovering well.
I'm feeling a bit ambitious, so I'm tentatively planning on making lasagna for tomorrow. I picked up Italian sausage and fresh whole milk mozzarella on sale today, I'd grabbed ricotta and a nice fresh French loaf (for garlic bread) on Monday, and I already had everything else. I also need to make a dessert for Dad, leaning toward peach cobbler or pineapple upside-down cake.
Changed plans to put a bit of space between tomato-y chili and tomato-y lasagna and pushed lasagna to tomorrow. Tonight was instead chicken-fried steak, milk gravy & mashed russets, and creamed corn. Pineapple-upside down cake is in the oven now.
Freehold-Gator: Cake will be in the porch fridge if you need a late night snack. If you are accosted by an Ewok, that's actually just the still-growing boy cat. All he wants is pets and scritches, though he is a solid chunk of cat and will trip you to stop you from leaving.
Tonight we're just having leftovers for dinner. We've got leftover fried spam, baked beans, and box mac n' cheese from last night, and there's also still chili leftover from Wednesday. Damn, I just now remembered that I forgot to get more dried guajillo chilis when I was at the store earlier today.
I'm feeling a bit ambitious, so I'm tentatively planning on making lasagna for tomorrow. I picked up Italian sausage and fresh whole milk mozzarella on sale today, I'd grabbed ricotta and a nice fresh French loaf (for garlic bread) on Monday, and I already had everything else. I also need to make a dessert for Dad, leaning toward peach cobbler or pineapple upside-down cake.
(I hate typing up entries in mobile Chrome. Lost my first try with the keyboard app being stupid, had to retype.)
Tonight for dinner, I'm making baked pork chops, baked potatoes, and a veg. I'm having a cheaper cut sirloin chop for myself, and Dad is having a nicer center cut pork chop because he's pickier more discerning. I dry-brined the chops for an hour, then sprinkled both sides with Montreal seasoning & a little olive oil before going in the oven. The potatoes are just plain old russets baked in their skins. The veg is a can of seasoned pintos I'm trying with a little added bacon fat, and then reheated on the stovetop. Unless they're in chili, pintos aren't Dad's favorite, so I've also got a little single-serve 4 oz cup of green peas if he'd rather have that.
Not sure what we're having tomorrow, but it'll have to be something quick & easy after pet checking and running errands, maybe cheeseburgers?
Last night was a homemade-ish chicken pot pie with biscuit topping and a fresh batch of cooked apples. I should have added more salt, it needed a tablespoon or so more of cornstarch to thicken up the gravy/sauce, and I needed to have started it earlier at a higher temperature. Still, it came out well enough that Dad commented it was good and went back for seconds. I got the apples bang on, but they're basically idiot-proof.
The squirrels got crumbled-up stale sugar cookies this morning, leftover from Christmas. If I wanted to start a squirrel civil war/purge, sugar cookies would be the mechanism I'd use. They are loudly vocally chattering, their tails semaphoring like an ultra-caffeinated John Moschitta, as they zoom up and down the tree... and they're furious at each other that they've already eaten all the cookies.
On the positive side, we've now got a small circular tin. I assume I just need to leave it under my pillow for the Joann fairy to visit tonight and fill it with sewing notions.
Sunday, I tried freshly fried pickles for the first time. I do not like them. Yesterday morning, the local squirrels tried leftover fried pickles for the first time. They loved them. They loved them so much they fought over them.
A little while back, I bought some lemon creme-filled cookies that I tried for the first time. I did not care for them. This morning, the squirrels are trying for the first time some of those leftover cookies broken up. So far, no brawls, but they seem to enjoy them.
One of these days soon, I'm going to need to focus and dig in to Ptery's Discworld. I've been meaning to for years now, but my scatterbrain struggled through The Colour of Magic (though I've heard it gets easier once he gets into his groove a few books later). I feel particularly guilty as I have experienced so little of his works, but I've read everything from Neil Gaiman, and now that his mask is off... ugh.
Been low on spoons the last several days and not sleeping well either, so dinners have been more challenging. Last night was just cheeseburgers and chips. Thankfully after dinner I had the foresight to put a couple frozen chicken breasts in the fridge to start defrosting.
I had planned on making a chicken pot pie for tonight, but the energy to make it just wasn't there. So I improvised a chicken mozzarella thing. I combined a can of diced tomatoes and half a can of tomato paste with Italian seasoning, garlic powder, dried onions, sweet paprika, salt & pepper, then poured it as the bottom layer in a buttered baking dish. I filleted both chicken breasts, sprinkled them with Montreal chicken seasoning on both sides, and placed them atop the tomatoes base. Halfway through baking, I flipped the chicken over, sprinkled with grated parm and fresh shredded mozzarella, and put it back in. No side veg, but I still had half a package of frozen cheddar biscuits, so I baked them next to the chicken. Came out pretty good all things considered, and there's leftovers for tomorrow.
Today's lunch was a can of (uncondensed) chicken carbonara soup and plain saltines. The chicken carbonara soup was neither chicken-y nor carbonara-ry; the chicken was sparse at best, and there was no taste of pancetta/bacon or egg or Parmesan. It was creamy industrial food service goop and sporadic bits of pasta, with an overpowering flavor of liquid smoke. That's it. No, wait. There were a ton of green peas. Green peas, in carbonara?! I imagine they had to be there to get the nutritional numbers up, but ugh, no, just no.
I ate three-quarters of the can because I was starving, because I didn't want to waste the money, and because the saltines were doing the heavy lifting for flavor. Terrible goop soup, would not buy again, and makes me seriously side-eye this company's other soup offerings.
Dinner last night was leftover sloppy joes and potato chips. The night before, I made fresh french fries instead of the chips, but fries don't do well as leftovers. I used a pound of 85/15 ground turkey instead of the usual ground chuck (cheaper on sale and a little healthier), and just mixed in a teaspoon of BtB reduced-sodium beef paste while cooking to give it a bit more flavor.
On Monday, I picked up a shaker of umami mushroom seasoning blend that was on sale. Its ingredients are: salt, garlic, porcini mushroom powder, turmeric, crushed red pepper, black pepper, ground mustard, onion, thyme leaves. I need to make up some meatloafs to freeze for later, so I'll mix some of it in too along with the usual flavor boosters like BtB beef, caramelized onions, worcestershire sauce, and garlic. Now I just need to figure out how much to add into a meatloaf recipe with making the finished loafs too salty.
One I figure the amount out, I'd like to try in in hamburgers, some braised chicken dish, maybe even hide a little in chili.
I was doing well with increasing exercise and lowering salt--mostly--and the BP was going down. Then this week hit. Not going to go into details, but yeah... the week's events had a direct impact on me, and BP was up the other day (but no, I am not a federal employee). Haven't checked it today. But just trying to take care of myself as best I can.
You're definitely not the only one feeling that way, DQ. Yeah, the current "move fast, break things" dynamic now in DC is definitely stressing me and my dad too. And that's likely as much as I can say here.
DeathQuaker wrote:
At least for the time being, yes to both.
In the meanwhile, still cooking for my own dad at least once a week. He's been craving my coleslaw so made that for him to eat with some other stuff he had in the fridge. I try to keep the mayo and salt content lower and it's at least high in nutrients!
My mom instilled in me a compulsion to save plastic resealable food containers. If you have the freezer space, they are handy for freezing up meals of extra dinner portions, especially the ones that held 8 oz of pre-sliced deli meats. Once frozen, they'll keep in an insulated lunch bag from morning until lunch without needing an ice pack and reheat handily in a microwave. The best part is once you've pre-prepped them, it's easy to grab and go in the hustle before leaving for work. And if the container is irreversibly stained by tomato sauce or lost/forgotten, you didn't lose one of your good plastic containers. (You probably know all this already.)
You might also be interested in a recipe for make ahead "instant" ramen, though you'd likely have to heat them in something sturdy. Could also maybe work using fully cooked beans and/or parboiled rice too.
Breakfast this morning was a 14 oz mocha coffee and a banana, so definitely hungry by lunchtime. The plain ol' banana was perfectly ripe (bright all yellow peel just starting to get the tiny brown spots) but it was so sweet it blew out my taste buds. I'll have to go back to eating them when they are still a bit green and less sweet.
Lunch was a couple thin slices of "rotisserie-seasoned" deli chicken in a toasted sourdough English muffin, a handful of cheetos, and a 4 oz cup of Noosa blueberry yogurt. Not sure I'll make to dinner without something else, but I guess we'll see.
It's my own fault, really. If I'd just had my normal big coffee and skipped breakfast as usual, I'd likely have been fine til 3 or 4 PM. But, nooooo. Instead I had half a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast with my coffee, and now I'm I was ravenous. Or maybe this morning's writing had made my one brain cell extra hungry.
Anyway, lunch was a couple English muffins, toasted, with a little mayo, stuffed with 4oz of canned mackerel to produce two muffin sandwiches. I hadn't even tried canned mackerel or canned sardines until last year, but I've discovered I love them both. These were "Mediterranean style:" boneless, skinless, packed in olive oil with little bits of olives and red bell pepper. It's a definite step up in tastiness from plain canned mackerel. I had my mini-sandwiches with a good handful of cheetos, not quite a dozen spicy pickle chips, and a glass of ice cold water (bleh, want sugar, sugaaaarrrrr). I'm now stuffed.
Still not doing anything exciting mealwise. Last night was fried spam and pork & beans, which Dad really enjoys. My sis would be upset if she knew he ate processed meat, so neither of us are going to tell her. He only has something like it once every four to six weeks now instead of a complete ban like she wants, and I think that keeps his cravings from getting out of hand.
Tonight, I started early with diced onions in olive oil in the crock pot on High, and started some rolls rising. Once the onions had softened up for a half hour, I plunked in the small chuck roast. After I'd peeled & cubed the russets for mashed, I peeled, cored, and sliced up 2 lb of apples (with brown sugar, orange blossom honey, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, pinch of salt) to cook up a fresh batch. I got to use the heat from the bowl of cooked apples to help to rolls rise. The chuck roast burbled on Low for about 5-1/2 hours, turning twice (with a couple cubes of frozen garlic & one of ginger; worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, black pepper, & dried oregano; a tsp of BtB beef base paste; and 4 oz of chicken stock). Strained the roast juices of the veggie bits and most of the fat, and thickened it with cornstarch for gravy. I had pouch of steam-in-bag vegetable medley & sauce in the freezer, but... I forgot to make it.
Wow, it's been awhile. Hope everyone is doing good, or at least ok-ish.
DeathQuaker wrote:
In other news, between job stress and perimenopause, I officially have high blood pressure. I'm working on diet and exercise before going on the beta blocker, because otherwise I'll just be lazy and rely on the pill. (It's fine if I get the habit down and then it turns out I still need the pill, because it's still good to try to move more and eat healthier regardless.)
Ugh. Hope you're doing ok managing it these days, especially in these stressful times. I imagine my cholesterol and blood pressure are also likely in the concerning zones, and I'm overdue for a colonoscopy with my Dad's cancer history. But I haven't been to a doctor in many years now, so it'll have to continue to wait.
DeathQuaker wrote:
For me, I can manage low sodium cooking and healthier foods at home. The problem is I just get lazy and eat out too much. So working on some meal plans where I can cook a few things on a weekend and recycle them into different meals through the week.
I've always been a "low salter" before I took over cooking. When I started cooking for Dad & Mom, I'd use more salt to keep them satisfied, but I realized they both would salt their food at the table anyways, so now I just cook reduced sodium and let Dad have his shaker.
I'm at the point where most fast food borders on being too salty, especially french fries, which is good because I can't afford to eat out. I still have to have a withdrawal Big Mac every 6-9 months, but I feel ugh afterward. Last Big Mac, I broke down and got a Dr Pepper too... and that soda made me feel terrible for like 24 hours after. Also, with my reduced sugar diet, the Big Mac bun was too sweet and the Pepper tasted like they'd made it double-strength sweet.
DeathQuaker wrote:
The hard part is actually remembering to take what I make to work instead of forget and then buy lunch. Maybe I should just keep some peanut butter, jelly, and bread at work just in case... any other ideas?
Reduced sodium rules out instant ramen, and while the shelf-stable Hormel Compleats entrees aren't bad, they're salt bombs. If you had a thermos, I'd suggest bringing hot soup and not-too-salty versions of crackers. (Oh god, I've just been hit by a massive craving for Chicken in a Biskit crackers. I haven't eaten them in years. I'm not even sure they're made anymore.) Walgreens had their nuts on sale this week, so I picked up more cashews for Dad; their Nice storebrand reduced/lightly sea salted cashews and peanuts are good if you care for them. They have six or so different varieties of premixed trail mixes/nut mixes too. I accidentally got Dad addicted to their milk chocolate-dipped cashews.
Do you have access to a work fridge, or an insulated lunch bag that also hold an ice pack?
Here in SW Florida, our current momma & poppa bald eagle couple laid a pair of eggs, and the first of them hatched just this morning(local streaming eagle cam).
If anyone needs a little eyebleach, the cam is up and running this year with two fuzzy baby eaglets, though you may have to be patient if there's a parent sitting on top.
Not all that hungry, but needed to eat something. Rummaging through the pantry, I found three cans of namebrand chicken & rice condensed soup given to us post-Hurricane Ian. It expired back in April 2024 (Dad won't eat rice), but the can wasn't bulging and it smelled & tasted fine (and bland, as expected) when opened. So I reconstituted it with water, and while it was heating up on the stovetop, I chucked in: a half-teaspoon-ish of roasted garlic base & chicken base, a teaspoon of frozen ginger, some dried thyme & rosemary, and several grinds of black pepper. Once it came up to a simmer, I made a basic grilled cheese (American cheese singles in plastic, white bread, margarine) in a small skillet.
Nothing remarkable, but not bad, especially on a cool winter afternoon.
Other option is if you happen to see fresh herbs on sale, buy them, chop them all up, mix with a little water, and make frozen herb cubes yourself.
It's not as good as fresh but is good in a pinch. Mind, I usually forget to do this and leave the herbs to turn into green slime in my fridge (i.e., I hear you about trying to use them up and get your money's worth).
Nope, their site doesn't list any retailers in my area that sells their frozen herbs. But now I'll keep an eye out for them when I swing by the freezer sections. I've been pretty happy with Target's brand of frozen crushed garlic and ginger, and they're sold in nearly identical packaging to Dorot Garden's frozen herbs.
DeathQuaker wrote:
As for dried fruit and rolled oats: Just FYI another option is make granola: Toss leftover oats in a little oil and liquid sugar (i.e., maple syrup or whatever), salt, cinnamon, and any nuts or seeds if you have any. Bake for 20 minutes in oven at 325 degrees, stirring once. Once cool, stir in your dried fruit.
Alternately, it's Christmas season, so you could make a fruit cake for all your enemies.
I don't think I've ever had fruitcake, but to me the concept still sounds delicious. The cranberries and raisins problem is resolving itself. I had a powerful late night craving for the cranberries and finished the whole 6oz bag off in one go. I'm making slower headway through the raisins. Not sure if I had a nutritional deficiency that created the craving or I was just stress eating what was on hand. I still have one huge unopened canister of oats in the freezer, but I've been feeding the open canister of slightly-stale oats to the squirrels in the morning. They are really enjoying them, along with occasional servings of now stale peanuts or stale broken-up bread.
Friday night's dinner was the beef shoulder roast, egg noodles cooked in the beef juice, and creamed corn leftover from Thursday. Last night's dinner was a frozen meat lovers pizza.
When Hurricane Milton came through, my brother and his wife got two foot of flooding in their home. In the immediate aftermath, they gave my Dad & I a bunch of still solidly-frozen food from their freezer. They got power back on a day or so later, and after they'd waited another two days for the fridge to dry out, it still worked when plugged back in. I tried to return the frozen food, but they refused, so I've since been working though it. I mostly defrosted a 2-1/2 lb package of boneless skinless chicken thighs and a ~2 lb package of breast tenders overnight in the fridge -- she just chucks the unopened supermarket butcher's package whole in the freezer without separating them out like I do, so they freeze into a solid unworkable block -- then refroze two of the thighs and half the tenders. With the rest of the thawed chicken, I'm attempting a teriyaki-ish chicken in the slow cooker for dinner tonight, with baked potatoes (Dad won't eat rice or lo mein noodles) and something else I have decided yet.
While not necessarily cheaper, per se, I wonder if it would be worth trying to recreate the cilantro lime chicken from scratch. Chop up some chicken, toss in salt and lime juice and saute. While it cooks, make a chimichurri out of cilantro, garlic, and lime and other spices as desired (could also use parsley instead of cilantro). Toss cooked chicken in chimichurri, serve. If you used thighs and looked for sales it would probably by $10 or less and you'd have more chicken and sauce for the price.
Oops, missed this comment previously. I'd wanted to try a chimichurri-based chicken recipe for a while, especially as they seemed so simple and straightforward. My holdup had been my limited access to affordable fresh herbs. None of the supermarkets around me offer them affordably nor particularly fresh. The local farmers market was open only one one day a week, and I lack the energy many days to tend to growing herbs. And once you have fresh herbs picked/bought, the clock is ticking for you to use them, and again, there aren't always enough "spoons in the drawer" for an involved prepping & cooking meal, plus cleanup.
DeathQuaker wrote:
I've got a recipe somewhere for mixing sour cream, paprika, and tomato, slathering it over chicken, and then baking it. It's really good. What seasonings did you use in yours?
I'll have to look at my handwritten notes and get back to you.
DeathQuaker wrote:
(Bummer about the McCormick change. Fun fact, I live about a half hour from a McCormick factory. Some days the whole region smells like cinnamon or roasted garlic.)
My dad's sister and niece used to work at a Nestle plant up in Ohio. It wasn't long until they were nauseated by the smell of both ground coffee and cocoa.
DeathQuaker wrote:
Some liquor stores sell the 4-packs of single serve wine. I love to buy those for cooking as one bottle is just enough.
Yeah, there's a Total Wine store on my route to my pet-watching gig, and I've seen the 4 packs of mini-bottles there. I'll probably pick them up next time I go by along with maybe a small bottle of bourbon...
I picked up a bunch of raisins and dried cranberries cheap last week, and I've got a pound of shelled pecans I need to use too. I was thinking about soaking the fruit in bourbon (or rum) to rehydrate and then making a bread out of them. I've got a bunch of non-instant oats I need to use up too. Dad had wanted oatmeal, so I grabbed a pair of the 42oz canisters on sale BOGOF; he had 4 breakfast servings of them and hasn't been hungry for them since. >:( So I'm thinking about attempting some fruit bread (or cake).
Tonight, we're having a modified chicken & dumplings recipe in the slow cooker. I got off to a slow start, so we'll probably be eating late. I'm not a fan of the slow cooker recipes based off of condensed soup, so this is mostly scratch except for the half bag of frozen mixed vegetables and the minced garlic cloves (frozen!!!, Target's brand). I've been missing Mom's braised paprika chicken, so I set off to attempt a creamy version of that. Mom's version was just the old McCormick cook-in-a-bag pouch kit, but the last time I made it a year or more ago McCormick had changed the recipe making it significantly blander. Besides both kinds of paprika, I wanted it creamy too, and... that's how I discovered just today what chicken paprikash is, which is weird. So anyway, the not-chicken paprikash is bubbling away and I'm about to start on making the small dumplings to drop on top. Also, I learned what quenelle-ing is.
It came out pretty well, seasoning was bang on or close enough.
* The dumplings were a bit too dense/heavy, but I've got an idea how to fix that.
* It'd definitely be better if I'd used chicken thighs instead of breasts, but Dad refuses to eat dark meat. And texturally, I should have shredded the chicken instead of bite-size chunks.
* I need to try it using half & half in place of the whole milk.
* I think it'd been better if I replaced some of the chicken stock with some dry white wine. I don't ever keep wine on hand, so I'll need to pick up a small bottle.
Last night for dinner, Dad finished off the last of his pot of great northern beans & ham. I just threw a frozen thin-crust supreme pizza in the oven, then quietly gorged myself eating half of it myself.
Tonight, we're having a modified chicken & dumplings recipe in the slow cooker. I got off to a slow start, so we'll probably be eating late. I'm not a fan of the slow cooker recipes based off of condensed soup, so this is mostly scratch except for the half bag of frozen mixed vegetables and the minced garlic cloves (frozen!!!, Target's brand). I've been missing Mom's braised paprika chicken, so I set off to attempt a creamy version of that. Mom's version was just the old McCormick cook-in-a-bag pouch kit, but the last time I made it a year or more ago McCormick had changed the recipe making it significantly blander. Besides both kinds of paprika, I wanted it creamy too, and... that's how I discovered just today what chicken paprikash is, which is weird. So anyway, the not-chicken paprikash is bubbling away and I'm about to start on making the small dumplings to drop on top. Also, I learned what quenelle-ing is.
Late teens through early twenties Me knew that horrors would await Old Me in my later life, but she had no clue how deviously evil and psychologically devastating they'd be.
Old Me found herself surprisingly delighted over purchasing a set of really good heat-resistant silicone spatulas. I can cook with them without them melting! I can scoop out the bottoms of tall jars!!
This week, OM was literally exuberant being able to buy several new t-shirts and underwear -- not sexy, not stylish, just basic comfy clothes. They're soft! They were on super sale!! I bought enough to get free shipping!!! And even a pair of shorts!?!? Young Me loathed shorts and hated being forced to wear them in phys-ed classes; she'd rather sweat to dehydration levels than be caught in shorts elsewhere. But now, they're still unflatteringly dorky-looking on my beanpole frame, but eh, who cares.
My health care and disability income are going to be taken away.
I am so sorry. I'm sure you had to fight like hell to get even that assistance.
I don't know the details of your current housing and employment situations, but is there any possibility of you relocating to a state with shield laws*? I know it would be far from ideal and would likely be a difficult undertaking (especially financially), but is there a possibility?
* Edit: Looks like their web server is overloaded right now.
Edit 2: Couple other sites are getting hammered too. A lot of worried folks out there. I did find Erin Reed's current map; at the bottom of the article is a map with the states that have the strongest state protections for LGBTIQ+ folk. Maybe a place to start researching.
I'm so sorry for staying away from this thread for a couple years now.
Cindy, Orthos, and others: This morning, I'm still more than a bit stunned myself after last night's results. I'm coming up empty on anything even mildly reassuring. All I can offer right now is that I hope you can all find safe paths through what will be very challenging years ahead, and don't feel bad in the slightest in doing whatever you need to do to keep yourself safe, whole, and true. You are all important, you each effect the people & world in positive ways. You matter.
Thursday night's dinner was nothing really new, just a 2-1/2 lb (beef) chuck roast from the slow-cooker with cubed russet potatoes adding in to the liquid an hour before it was done. It was the first time I in years that I didn't cheat using a packet of instant mushroom gravy, instead thickening up the seasoned liquid into a pan sauce with tempered corn starch. It tasted noticeably better than using the instant gravy would have, so I guess I'll need to make it this way now. We had it with Mom's recipe for cooked apples and some store-bought brown rolls that were on sale & had a $1 off coupon. Dad wasn't keen on the rolls, but I'm enjoying them. Last night (Friday) we had leftovers, and I warmed up a frozen pecan pie for Dad to snack on the next several days.
One of the days last week, I made county-style pork ribs (from the pork shoulder, not actual ribs) in the slow cooker. I seasoned them with a 3-in-1 beef marinade packet making the "Garlic Asian" version (the other options are "Sweet & Savory" or a "Steakhouse" versions) by adding reduced-sodium soy sauce & unsalted chicken stock. Instead of marinading and discarding the liquid, I just poured it into the slow cooker to baste the cooking pork. It came out very tasty, with the finished cooking liquid making an excellent drizzle sauce, though it'd be too intense to turn into a pan sauce or gravy over mashed potatoes.
Pre-Hurricane Helene, I had picked up a refrigerated package of pre-cooked cilantro lime chicken for over half-off at Target and stuck it in the freezer. Tonight, I warmed up it in a skillet with a side of white cheddar mac & cheese from a box; the chicken came out really delicious. I was a bit disappointed that there was only 11 oz of actual chicken in the package along with the 7 oz packet of cilantro lime sauce, and while quite tasty, there's no way I could budget buying it at the regular price of nearly $10.
Squirrels are like mice and rats in that they will eat bits of stale bagels, stale whole grain cheerios, stale all bran cereal, and stale raw oats that have been lurking for 2-3 years in the depths of your (my) fridge/freezer.
Squirrels are apparently like small human children in that they will happily devour and fight over (with much squeaking) sugary food, in this case 2-3 year-old stale raisin bran* from the fridge, especially the bits covered in sugar. They seem to convert it internally directly into rocket fuel.
* OK, I can't imagine little kids fighting over raisin bran.
Thursday, I reheated a rotisserie chicken I'd grabbed at Target's deli when it was on sale ($3.99!!) at frozen. I made a small batch of mashed potatoes and a cup of chicken gravy. We had it with some basic, but very nice, dinner rolls that were also on sale ($1.69!) from Target's bakery. Nothing fancy, but it really hit the spot. We had leftovers of it all again on Friday.
Tonight, I'm making chili (with pinto beans) in the slow cooker. I'd picked up a jar of chipotle base months ago that Publix had on clearance because it was too good to pass up at the price. I cracked it open to try in the chili... and it's pretty good. Not as good as rehydrated dried chili, but quick and consistent in controlling spicy heat levels. I forgot to make a small batch of rice to pour it over, but Dad wouldn't have eaten the rice anyway.
That's not math, those aren't "great than" signs. Those are little (Florida) gator mouths, scooting after Whining Amby because the whines are noisy -2 penalties to Stealth checks.
(Dang it, I haven't been to a Waffle House since my drunken late teens-early twenties. Now I have a powerful craving for hot fresh waffles & syrup and pork sausage.)
Not to boast or salt the wounds of my fellow Floridians, but
MY HOME INTERNET IS BACK UP!!! Woo-hoo! An instant +4 bonus to my SAN checks! Now I'm going to soak my parched self into the cool waters pouring from The Series of Tubes until my brain is rehydrated and all prune-y again!
There's really too much for me to summarize, but...
Here in Lee County (Ft Myers, Cape Coral, Ft Myers Beach, Sanibel, Captiva, Pine Island) were still experiencing steady 50-65 mph winds from the Gulf 4 hours after Milton made landfall and moved inland. Property along the Gulf and on the Caloosahatchee River has seen various levels of flooding. Ft Myers Beach, Sanibel, and Captiva similarly had flooding. Downtown Fort Myers had over 5 feet of flooding, over the roads and into buildings. Reports are that most of McGregor Blvd along the river in Ft Myers has had at least some flooding, as well as western and lower- elevation parts of Cape Coral, Naples, Estero, and Marco Island. Thankfully storm surge along the Caloosahatchee and Charlotte Harbor was lower than projected.
Our power here kept flickering throughout last night but it stayed on. 200K customers (roughly 50%) in Lee County are currently without power, many reports of transformers blowing. 67% or more are without power in Charlotte County, and a million or so without in Sarasota & Tampa. In addition to the thousands of local FP&L and LCEC power restoration lineman, there are a few tens of thousands more from other states. They were camped in state before the storm, and they started power restoration efforts this morning after the sustained winds dropped. A cold front came in on Milton's heels, so high temps are in the mid 80s and humidity has dropped, so it's not bad for everyone working and cleaning up, especially those without power for air conditioning.
When the first outer bands of Milton came on shore, they spun up a dozen or so centers of atmospheric rotation across Lee, and there were at least 3-4 confirmed tornados with severe damage to several homes. Today I believe the official number was 34-36 confirmed tornados ahead and around Hurricane Milton, with four confirmed deaths from them so far. Tornadic rotation ahead of hurricanes is normal, and it's not uncommon during summer thunderstorms, but that only would spin up one, rarely two tornados; this many tornados is completely new behavior to see here.
All of this is happening in area where many people are still attempting to rebuild from the flooding and wind damage of Hurricane Ian two years ago, and the flooding from Hurricane Helene just two weeks ago. Most of the hardest hit people from Milton, Helene, and Ian are fixed-income retirees and poor/working class folk living in non-elevated homes built in the 1960s & 70s. While some wind damage mitigation can be retrofitted (hurricane clips, roofing meeting the new building codes, storm shutters), flood damage is significantly more expensive to mitigate. Elevating an old cinderblock home is rarely feasible, especially for those living in them; similarly, a full demolition & rebuild on pilings or higher foundation is prohibitively expensive. And home insurance for many is becoming a financial hardship. {Angry politics & insurance ranting deleted}
Both of the housecats were a bit freaked out -- especially the one that showed up right after Hurricane Ian and probably rode out that hurricane by himself -- but them seem relaxed now. Our local grocery stores are reopening, gas is available, but there are too many people on the roads just out gawking at the damage. I can't shouldn't complain, but our home Internet went out at 3AM, and I'm burning though my budget cell plan's data and local cellular connectivity is frequently overloaded right now. Whine, whine, whine
Milton officially made landfall as of 8:30PM Eastern at Siesta Key (Sarasota) as a mid-Cat 3. Storm surge will continue to rise with flooding through midnight.
Thanks for the thread, WE Ray. Hope you and your loved ones are settling in, and that you all can ride out the storm safely. After the loss of life and massive devastation from Helene, I'm still (unrealistically) hoping Milton won't be as bad as projected.
My Dad and I are about 75-80 miles south of Sarasota in Lee County, so we're expecting to be hit by tropical storm to Cat 1 force winds and rain. We're not far from the Caloosahatchee River, so we're most concerned about the projected storm surge levels and possibly a tornado. My brother's home will sadly very likely be flooded again similar to how they were during Hurricane Ian two years ago; they moved everything they could as high as possible and thankfully evacuated south to a friend's house in inland Estero early Monday. Most everyone else I know either lived inland or were able to evacuate inland. Local officials all seem to be competently executing plans (and unlike others in Tallahassee, ignoring opportunities to politically grandstand) to keep people and infrastructure as safe as possible. Local shelters are all open with room available. Residents and visitors alike seem to be taking warnings very seriously and getting out of the way, as evidenced by slow-moving heavy traffic heading south I75 and heading east across Alligator Alley.
For all the Paizoians in Florida, hope you and yours stay safe. I'll try to pop in here again post-landfall as soon as I'm able.
Edit: We expect to lose power, cable/DSL Internet, and possibly cell service for some extended duration. For anyone interested in staying informed about Charlotte and Lee counties (south of Tampa & Sarasota/Hillsborough county), you can probably check in with the WINK (CBS) and WBBH (NBC) local news stations feeds on Youtube. Info from them will be much more accurate than trying to sift through all the deliberate misinformation being pumped out on Facebook and Xitter.
Soon-to-be Hurricane Helene will pass well offshore west of us here, though we'll see a good bit of wind and rain, and maybe short power outages, on Thursday as it moves past. Dad & I are well-prepared and alert but not worried, and we'll be fine. Dad may even be secretly hoping for a power outage as an excuse to crack open a can of doctor-forbidden Spam.
Please be safe. Helene is no joke.
TriOmegaZero wrote:
Our Florida restaurants are closed for the storm. Hoping everyone there stays safe.
DeathQuaker wrote:
Yes, indeed, I hope you stay safe. I know you know what you're doing, but I expect we will worry nonetheless. :)
Thanks for the well wishes. My immediately family and I came out fine from Helene, just a mild annoyance for us. So much devastation and death for so very many others though. There were a lot of coastal areas from Naples northward that got flooded, Punta Gorda was particularly bad. My brother & his wife's home far inland isn't far from the Caloosahatchee river, and the water rose over the banks, over their road, and crept up to the foundation of their house before it started to recede; they lost almost everything in their house from Hurricane Ian, so they were understandably a bit freaked out.
But this looks like the new normal. Milton is now teed up to hit us sometime Wednesday. We'll probably have a better estimate how bad on Monday as the forecast cone gets more precise from updated data. Ugh.
Nothing ambitious dinner-wise. Wednesday dinner was chicken noodle soup from a jar & grilled cheese, Thursday dinner was frozen pizza, and last night was beans & ham for Dad.
Last night's dinner was pineapple-bacon pork sausage hoagies with box mac & cheese. The sausages were freshly-ground locally, so no preservatives or curing additives which Dad's doctor told him to avoid. They were on sale with a coupon off on top of it, as were the hoagie rolls (technically bolillo rolls) from the bakery. The gas knob on grill is now sticking hard, but I forced it to work. I don't know if WD40 or 3-N-1 penetrating oil will fix it or not, but the burner has only worked on the left side for a year now and the whole thing is rusting apart, so a better fix is probably just getting a new grill.
Tonight's dinner will be beef top round in the slow cooker with onions, potatoes, carrots, and green beans cooked around it in the au jus (which I'll thicken into a beefy mushroom gravy). I've got a half-dozen hawaiian minirolls thawing too. It's a 2.7 lb roast, so there will be more than enough for leftovers tomorrow too.
Soon-to-be Hurricane Helene will pass well offshore west of us here, though we'll see a good bit of wind and rain, and maybe short power outages, on Thursday as it moves past. Dad & I are well-prepared and alert but not worried, and we'll be fine. Dad may even be secretly hoping for a power outage as an excuse to crack open a can of doctor-forbidden Spam.
Cold War:
Sis is starting to panic because of the hurricane; I don't know why. My gut is warning me anything I might say to reassure her runs a good risk of being interpreted as dismissive of her concerns... so I'm going to leave her to it: just let her do what she thinks she needs to do in order to hopefully defuse her fears/anxiety/lack of control and burn through her nervous energy.
I've never considered cubing (as opposed to halving/quartering, depending on size) potatoes to make mash, but it makes sense - they'd cook quicker, and the mashing part would be easier.
I never really thought about it much, just that's what I watched Mom do to boil potatoes, so that's how I learned to do it. Mashed potatoes and "brown gravy"* maybe the first thing Mom taught me to make. I don't really cube the potatoes so much as cut them into ~3/4" chunks all roughly the same size so they all cook at the same rate. They're usually done after a good 20-25 minute stovetop boil in salted water, then can be made into mashed** or buttered potatoes (after draining off the water, add a few tbsp of butter, salt, and ground pepper, stir gently to coat, and serve immediately). I've tried boiling smaller-sized chunks, but then the russets tend to fall apart while boiling and I lose too much draining them in the sink. Red potatoes and similar waxier potatoes would probably hold up a lot better, but I don't keep other potatoes on hand as I have a hard enough time just going through a 5 lb bag of russets before the starch turns into sugar (I have to keep raw potatoes in the fridge) or they get mushy.
*: Mom's & Grandmom's "brown gravy" isn't what everyone else calls brown gravy. It's instead a gravy with a roux of bacon drippings and flour cooked to caramel-brown, then slowly stir in the milk; it's very close to the sausage gravy you'd have over (American) biscuits.
**: Mom's & Grandmom technically didn't mash their potatoes either (or put them through a ricer). Instead they always used a hand mixer, so it's actually whipped potatoes.
DeathQuaker wrote:
I made really great polenta and braised tomatoes and peppers Weds and then got insanely busy yesterday and today and now due to other obligations won't have a chabce to eat the rest until Sunday night. You think it might be alright or should I chuck it? I was gonna make shakshuka with the leftover sauce and fry the polenta as a side.
I think your polenta & roasted veg is probably fine for a couple days in the fridge, but if it was me, I'd stuff them in the freezer until Sunday morning.
DeathQuaker wrote:
Woo! So glad you have not yet been carted off.
Have you ever tried blending minced mushroom into ground meat to lower the fat/calorie content? I believe its 1 part mushroom to two or three parts meat. It tastes good to me the few times I've tasted it. The idea is it sustains a savory flavor and moisture so it doesn't taste fakey. Would be particularly good for ground turkey with lower fat content because it would keep it moist.
Yeah, I like to sneak in mushrooms into gravies and ground meat by rough chopping them, then using the little food processor to turn them into a minced paste. They do add a good boost of umami and probably a bit of nutrition, but I have to hide them as Dad hates the texture of cooked mushrooms. The problem is I skipped picking them up in the store because they weren't on sale when I went over the last couple months, and they fell off my mental shopping list so I stopped adding them to my actual shopping lists. Also, I've been fully converted to Better than Bouillon pastes, and they have a good umami boost from the meat and yeast extracts in them. But I need to start getting mushrooms again.
Weirdly, I now also want to try using crushed Wheaties cereal in ground turkey and ground chicken.
Thanks for your concern and all your well wishes. I didn't get put on The Cart. :) Personal life-wise, things have settled into a sort-of Cold War standing {is briefly distracted by thoughts of Charlize Theron in Atomic Blonde} except I'm not sure the other realizes (or would care) we're in a Cold War.
Hope all is reasonably ok, or better, with you all too.
Anyways, I'm mostly just sticking to Dad's standard menu preferences for dinners. I did start trying occasionally using ground turkey as a slightly more affordable replacement for ground chuck, but I've been using the 85% lean/15% fat blend with dark meat (for flavor) so it isn't likely any healthier. It was fine in sloppy joes, and it worked really well in turkey "Salisbury steak" patties seasoned with tradition Thanksgiving seasonings (even though I forgot to mix in the caramelized onions and diced apple).
Tonight for dinner, I'm finally making "marry me" chicken for the first time except I'm trying adapting it to a slow cooker. It has been been bubbling away for a bit now, my russets are peeled & cubed for making mashed potatoes, and I've got some basic dinner rolls standing by. I made a bunch of cooked aples this morning, so we'll also have that too.
In case you were ever curious, an escaped baby duck has a surprising vertical leap, runs only slightly slower than a gazelle, and has the escape artist skills of Houdini.
As always, panic and adrenaline will wake you up better than several cups of coffee.
Tonight was just leftover spaghetti & meatballs for Dad, and a small peanut butter sandwich for me. I don't have an appetite but I need to eat something. I'll probably go grocery shopping tomorrow and overhaul my meal planning to account for more meal prep & cooking from scratch.
Family drama:
After recent interactions with my sis the last several weeks that escalated again tonight, I just...
I'm doing the best I can with my limited mental & financial resources, and I was already on empty helping Dad care for Mom before she passed. Whatever energy I can find in a day, 99% of it goes into looking after Dad (and the two not-mine cats). But sis is now making it her priority to muscle in and try to micromanage Dad & me both, and deliberately maneuvering herself between us, especially when it comes to managing his health. I'm tired of her accusations that I'm both incompetent and lazy, and that I don't care enough about Dad. I'm tired of trying to manage her frustration and anger and fears while getting next to nothing back, and trying not to push her buttons while ignoring when she mashes mine. I'm tired of conversations where as I speak, I can watch as her gears turn in real time to weaponize my words against me, and somehow I'm the one picking a fight or being a b**** "pissy" ("Oh, you knew what I meant.") when I'm honestly seeking clarification and specifics; I like precision, I like granularity, I need lists to function. I'm tired of every conversation I have with her always becoming how I am disappointing in various ways, how my worsening depression & anxiety aren't real, that my worsening arthritis and vengeful uterus and exhaustion aren't real, and how I'm always not meeting her ever-changing expectations. Pushing back even lightly now just turns it into yet another fight that she needs to win, and fighting (or "winning" the fight) doesn't do anything to resolve the challenges or help Dad.
And sweet Jesu, I'm exhausted of being asked to explain and justify to her every food choice, every budget consideration, every moment of my time in a day.
Dad has vocally been fine with me and my levels of care, and has been telling me that I should continue to stick with what I've been doing. He's been pretty even-keeled and slow to take offense, but even he is now expressing that she's coming up against his limits with her. I need her knowledge and experience with the medical system to care for Dad, and even if I could cut her out of the loop, I don't want to I shouldn't.
I've known for a while now that when Dad eventually passes and the estate is settled (thank heavens for his will and the trust he & Mom set up), that although I love her, I was going to need to go no contact with her for several months. As of this evening, I am so f'ing done with her (and her MAGA cultist husband) that I could make that no contact permanent, gleefully pack up a UHaul to several states away, and never look back. The relationship feels broken now in a way it never was before, and the only thing the bothers me is knowing that I should care about the connection when I don't anymore.
Before I bought a bag of masa harina, I use to obliterate tortilla chips or fritos in our small food processor until they were very fine crumbles, then sprinkle/stir that into the chili to thicken. Not exactly healthy, but tasty.
(I'm not quoting because it is too much of a cluttered mess to edit on my phone.)
The addition of oats wasn't for thickening, but to sneak in more oats. Dad needs to get his cholesterol down; he will eat non-instant oats for breakfast, but only one-two days a week is not enough. Oats in meatloaf recipes is already common, and Taco Bell sneaks oats into their ground beef, so I figure I'll try sneaking it in chili (and meatloaf).
When I need to thicken chili, my preferred option is masa harina. It adds a little something flavorwise too. (And I always have beans in chili.) I'd love to make tamales too, but again, Dad is an unadventurous eater.
After over a week of 97°F-98°F in the shade + humidity, it finally starting raining last night and on & off most of today. So tonight, I'm making yet-another-slight-variation of chili with beans. Remembered to do the soaking/par-cooking pintos right this time.
Which brings up a question. It's too late now for me to try it in this batch, but next time, has anyone tried adding raw oats to their chili early in the cooking? If so, did you like it? Have any recommendations?
DeathQuaker wrote:
Turkey and two beans! And fairly spicy for my tolerance level (needed to clear some sinuses), thanks to some chipotle in adobo, which is one of my favorite things to throw in chili and other stuff. Also added in some new ancho chili powder, which is less spicy, but has a nice rich flavor.
So far, I always use Publix's chili powder blend, which is anchos with cumin, oregano, garlic, and salt (I think), because that's what Mom always used. I've heard really good things about aleppo/halaby peppers (Penzeys,Spice Jungle), so that's what I want to try soon in place of anchos.
