BS: Recipes - what are we eating?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Oct 20 - 10:53 PM

I regularly make a dish with onion, green peppers, broken up Italian sausage, cut up zucchini or calabash or yellow squash, and tomato sauce. Instead of diced tomatoes I used a can of pureed tomatoes that needed to be used and it came out a bit thick and intense, so I cooked a pot of pasta to stir in and it came out pretty good. I also dropped some balls of mozzarella that needs to be used (fresh) and grated a fair amount of Parmesan to give it a little kick. It'll take a while for the skillet to soak before it all comes off.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 06 Oct 20 - 10:10 AM

That sounds like a delicious and healthful, recipe, SRS, especially on a cool autumn day like today.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 07 Oct 20 - 10:19 AM

Stilly, I would make your sorta frittata in a non-stick skillet, but I'm lazy like that.

I'm waiting for a dry day to try a new cooking technique: "smoke braising". I found an interesting recipe for lamb shanks with, as the author puts it, "Asian flavours"; the shanks are half-immersed in a spiced marinade of soy sauce, sesame oil and Shaoxing wine and cooked in a smoker burning at about 225 degrees Fahrenheit for 8 to 10 hours. I hate tending the barbecue in the rain so I have put it off twice, but even in the fridge the thawed lamb shanks won't keep much longer. Environment Canada promises only "30% chance of rain" tomorrow (it's raining pitchforks today), so here's hoping.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 07 Oct 20 - 10:55 AM

Sounds marvy.

Made tough beef again despite marinating and pounding. I should stick to other meats. Don't know what I do wrong with beef. The stew was *delish* though.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: sciencegeek
Date: 08 Oct 20 - 07:11 AM

hard meatballs or dumplings like matzo balls is directly tied to how much compression they receive... which is why so may commercially made meatballs are so tough - the machine squeezes them too much...

the mixture needs to be blended but not overworked... then take whatever amount you need for the size you want and lightly roll in your hands to shape them...

adding breadcrumbs or shredded bread will lighten them if they are allowed to soak up moisture prior to forming the balls and cooking... just like a boiled pudding or dumpling, outside moisture penetration requires along period of simmering to fully cook and that's tough on the meat because the natural fats get removed in the process... it's a balancing act... just like all the seasoning should be in the mix before cooking, they will only pick up a small amount of flavoring from the cooking water, sauce or gravy unless the cooking process is a long one ... though using a pressure cooker may have a different result - never used one for that

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 08 Oct 20 - 09:16 AM

Blue sky in Stratford, lamb shanks in the Kamado, fingers crossed.

I bought myself an electronic gadget that monitors both the cooking temperature inside the barbecue and the temperature inside the food. Today I’m giving it its maiden voyage. The leaflet that came with it says it was designed for “competition cooking” — what a laugh! I just care about not wasting some very expensive meat, not to speak of my valuable time.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 08 Oct 20 - 11:55 AM

I hope your device works, Charmion. Won't it be nice to have meat that's been perfectly barbecued?
==========
My newspaper and its relatives are running a recipe contest with a top prize of $500. I have submitted four:

Beef Arm Roast with Cranberries
Cornish Hens with Dill
Chili for the Choir
Basil Bread

The recipes have to be original or one's own adaptation. I figure the chili and the bread are different enough to be adaptations.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Oct 20 - 06:10 PM

Good luck with the competition!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 09 Oct 20 - 10:40 AM

Chili for the choir? Lotsa beans?

Ideas for my boar roast?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 09 Oct 20 - 12:11 PM

What cut is your hunk of boar, Mrrzy? Is it marbled with fat, or very lean? Does it have bones?

My experiment with electronic monitoring of the barbecue was more frustrating than helpful. The gadget has two probes, one for the food and the other for the air at grill level inside the barbecue. The aneroid thermometer mounted in the dome of the kamado has a sensor that reaches well into the interior space, but it is several inches above the grill and, of course, only about two inches from the inside of the dome itself, which was losing heat to the chilly outside air.

The electronic sensor clipped to the grill reported a temperature some 30 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit above the temperature shown on dome thermometer. What to think?

The lamb shanks were good. Not great, but good. Himself thought they were boffo, but his appreciation was not affected by the effort I had to invest in the preparation, not to speak of the (not inconsiderable) cost of the charcoal. The next time I cook lamb shanks like that, I'll put them in the oven and save myself a lot of trouble and mess.

For my next trick, by Monday I have to confect a Thanksgiving dessert that is (a) portable and (b) not pie. Suggestions?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Oct 20 - 12:21 PM

You could do hand pies. Apple turnovers. Cranberry bars.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 09 Oct 20 - 12:58 PM

It says it is a roast. I think it might be twined so it might also be rolled. No bone. About 2 lbs.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 09 Oct 20 - 07:37 PM

If it’s twined, it’s rolled. If you don’t see any fat innit, I suggest wrapping it with bacon and roasting it gently in a low oven, about 300F. Use a meat thermometer to ensure that it’s well done but not overdone.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 09 Oct 20 - 11:31 PM

I am reporting back.

So I read a lot of recipes and then did my own thing, which was to sear the roast on all sides in duck fat then put it in a loaf pan on top of some sliced onion and shallot. Then I put on top onion powder and garlic powder to thicken the eventual gravy, and marjoram oregano savory, stuck a tomato in chunks down the sides, and poured in red wine about 2/3 up, lid on, into 275 oven. After about 45 mn I flipped it, took it out of the oven after about another 45 mn, took roast out onto foil and poured sauce into saucepan to boil down while I sauteed some asparagus in snail butter. Sliced roast into 4, put the two middle underdone slices back into the oven for 15 mn while guest and I ate the ends which were perfect with the asparagus and soubise [render onions in butter, toast rice, add (2xrice, the more rice the less liquid) hot broth, reduce to low, cook 20mn without lifting lid]. So that was at about 7:30 that I turned the oven and asparagus and sauce burners off and we ate.

And it was *delish* - chewy but not tough, not all all dry. Asparagus rules, soubise sopped sauce, success.

Then we had some chocolate-covered things and watched an odd Australian movie, then we talked about grief for a while, then we had some ice cream, then guest left at about 11. At which point I realized I had never turned off the burner under the rice.

Luckily I always make a lot of rice so there will be leftovers for fried rice. And the burner was on Low...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 10 Oct 20 - 02:51 PM

Said rescued leftover rice, with its odor of the burned bottom, tasted like it had been cooked on the barbie. Wonderful! *Not* recommending the recipe, however.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Oct 20 - 03:53 PM

Rice cooked to crisp not quite scorched condition on the the bottom of the pan is called "pegao" and is fought over in Puerto Rican families. The rice is scooped onto a plate and the crisp part is set on top and everyone dives for it when the plate is set on the table. Woe to the cook who puts that pot in the sink before the rice is chipped out!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Oct 20 - 01:27 PM

Today is the day to make dill pickles.

My garden produced mostly tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers this year. I'm freezing peppers (the poblano are really happy right now and growing profusely; I'll pick them right before the first frost to get the most size on them). Last night I made chicken fajitas with a bunch of those poblanos, onion, and shredded chicken. The garlic in it was also from my garden. There were some years when the onions were also from the garden, but this year they're a bit too deep and behaving more like leeks.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Oct 20 - 04:39 PM

I'm blessed with white rot fungus in my soil, which has black spores that live for twenty years. So I can't grow onions, leeks or garlic. I can buy pretty good leeks and onions these days, but I lament the quality of shop garlic. Very hit or miss.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: sciencegeek
Date: 11 Oct 20 - 07:16 PM

Steve... I had a similar problem with damp clay soils and cold wet spring weather that changes to baking heat - so I went to raised beds and container cropping... I found non woven growing bags of differing sizes and grow my Egyptian onions, garlic and other kitchen crops in them using potting mix, sand and compost... they are easy to fill, move around and being porous they don't drown my seedlings and not expensive to buy in bulk. I just put in 100 saffron crocus bulbs in a bunch of them and they are taking off just fine.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 12 Oct 20 - 02:17 AM

I buy garlic at any Asian grocers stall in Westgate Market in Bradford, it's 5 times the quality and 10 times cheaper than any British supermarket, they sell it by the pound, not 30 or 35 pence per clove which is a total rip off.

Dave H

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Oct 20 - 10:38 AM

Well Dave, there are many glories in this beautiful, remote bit of north Cornwall, but, sadly, Asian grocers' stalls are not among them. Maybe I should convert a piece of flower bed that's never seen an Allium into a garlic patch...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 12 Oct 20 - 04:26 PM

I did hope I had accidentally made pegao! But no.

And it is not coming out. Tricks? It was a new pot.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Oct 20 - 08:28 PM

It would be interesting to hear others' takes on ragu/bolognese sauce recipes. What meat? Milk? Chicken livers? Wine? Herbs?

Mine has half pork, half beef, one 400g tin of tomatoes for every pound of meat, about 50g diced pancetta per pound of meat, a large white onion per pound of meat and some bashed garlic cloves (never minced or crushed). I start off with a soffritto of fairly finely-chopped carrots, celery and that white onion in equal amounts. The pancetta goes in with that as well. After about twenty minutes the meat goes in, stirred and broken up until it's browned all through, then the garlic. Then the tomatoes go in, with a teaspoon of sugar, along with about 130ml chicken stock to each pound of meat and some seasoning. I'm a bit reluctant to add wine so I don't add much, and red or white, who cares. I don't add any herbs until the very end when I chuck in some torn basil leaves. The whole lot is simmered for about three hours uncovered. No milk or chicken livers for me.

There are heated family disputes here. If it were down to me I'd leave out the garlic, but I've had to compromise, adding it bashed but never crushed. I refuse to add any dried herbs. No compromise there. They insist on red wine, so I use it, but a splash only. My son objects to the pork (not on religious grounds), but he doesn't seem to notice that I've used it. My five-year-old grandson objects to the "green bits" (the basil), as Daddy uses the horrendous dried stuff which doesn't show up green. And they all want it served on spaghetti, which is anathema. It has to be pappardelle or fettuccine for me, but I lost that one long ago. I throw the pasta into the sauce and mix thoroughly, whereas my son heaps the sauce onto the middle of a pile of spaghetti. Useless. And there's only one way to eat it, and that's slurped with a fork only. I smirk in the general direction of anyone employing a spoon, or, worse, a knife. At least we're all agreed that freshly grated Parmesan is de rigeur. None of that inferior grana padano muck, and definely never ready-grated. A little drizzle of the best olive oil on top is nice, along with a little scattering of baby basil leaves, but such things are optional.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 12 Oct 20 - 09:31 PM

What is your distinction between bashing and crushing? I bash mine *to* crush them. Or did you mean like in a garlic press? Infernal machines, those.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 13 Oct 20 - 04:31 AM

Either bashing it with my meat mallet (putting cling film on top first) or squashing it with the flat of a knife. The second method is more eco-friendly, thought I'm so clumsy that bits of garlic usually end up shooting all over the kitchen. There's a garlic crusher in the drawer somewhere but it rarely sees the light of day.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 13 Oct 20 - 05:34 AM

Someone once bought me a tiny ceramic dish with a very rough inner surface, to be used for rubbing garlic cloves. It's a lovely ornament full stop. One very useful piece of kit I have is a flexible silicone tube about three inches long. You put an unpeeled clove into it then roll it on the worktop. Miraculously, the clove emerges perfectly peeled and your fingers remain untainted.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 13 Oct 20 - 06:11 AM

Incidentally, I abhor the practice of putting a bowl of grated Parmesan on the table to be passed around. The cook grates on the Parmesan, preferably at the table, but in the kitchen will do. And I don't expect to be asked for extra! Again, this is a battle I lost long ago...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 13 Oct 20 - 07:15 AM

Right now I’m hardly eating at all. Stress does that to me.

The regular crew here knows what’s happened in my part of the forest, so I won’t say more on that.

I’m looking at a pantry, fridge and freezer packed with food I know I will never eat now — starting with all that brisket, now vacuum-sealed and neatly frozen. Big tins of tomatoes and chickpeas can go to the food bank, but what about two kilos of moong dal in a canister? Four kilos of bread flour?

I know I will eventually start making and eating bread again, but right now the very idea makes me feel ill. Whole-wheat flour is perishable ... What to do?

Suggestions would be welcome.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Raggytash
Date: 13 Oct 20 - 07:24 AM

If you have the space in the freezer make bread and freeze it.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 13 Oct 20 - 07:26 AM

Howdy Charmion...

For what it's worth, I've always found that the use-by dates on bags of bread flour this end can be ignored for two or three months. Mind you, I use a bread machine. Dunno whether that makes any difference.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jeri
Date: 13 Oct 20 - 08:39 AM

If you keep the flour away from moisture and insects, it'll last forever. "Use by" dates are when the company that makes them will ensure quality, because they can't guarantee your storage conditions.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 13 Oct 20 - 09:20 AM

I love my silicone tube garlic peely thing.
Charmion, thank you for posting. I am thinking of suggestions but they all come up against the pandemic, like inviting peple over to cook something, or asking around the soup kitchens. I will keep thinking.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jos
Date: 13 Oct 20 - 02:48 PM

Charmion, I know you will be feeling as if life has come to an end, but it hasn't. There will come a time when there will be friends to invite and cook for. You needn't dispose of everything. Just keep them for later on.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Oct 20 - 06:03 PM

Whole wheat flour turns rancid unlike white flour; I would bag it in freezer ziplock bags and put it in the freezer.

Charmion, if you're not feeling like cooking or baking for yourself, do yourself the favor of picking up a couple of small baked good next time you're out, and a take-out meal or two. Or check the freezer section for some prepared foods - they've gotten better over the years. Having something ready to go, to toast or microwave or bake makes eating easier and more tempting. You probably won't ever eat lamb shanks again, so set those aside.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 13 Oct 20 - 09:32 PM

Found this in the Peeves thread, from the 11th:


Ok forgot to get asparagus so there I was with my crab, and no crab and asparagus soup on this cold and rainy day. So farmers' market lettuce and tomatoes, crab, half an avocado, a handful of almonds and my vinaigrette made a great salad. But I am still cold, and it is still rainy. Poor Charmion.

Addendum: today was gorgeous but my heart is still rainy. Sauteed mushrooms with half the leftover boar with thyme and a little white wine. Pas mal.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 14 Oct 20 - 04:13 PM

Here's something new. A number of American newspapers are having a contest for original recipes, either main dish, side dish or dessert. The recipe can be one you invented from scratch or modified from an existing recipe.

There are several prizes of $100 and one of $500. I have submitted four so far, mostly for the fun of it and for something to do. It will be nice if some of my creations show up in a national cookbook.

You can submit here: https://www.kansascity.com/stuffyourpockets
=================
Charmion, I'm sorry to hear of your troubles.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Raggytash
Date: 15 Oct 20 - 06:49 AM

With regard to flour it does deteriorate quite dramatically if not used within a very short period.

If I haven't used flour within 3 months of purchase I tend to bin it.

I know the "shelf life" is supposed to be 12 months but I wouldn't dream of using flour that old.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 15 Oct 20 - 07:20 AM

Raggytash, when you write that, do you mean all flour, whether white or whole-grain?

I keep the whole-wheat and rye flours in airtight plastic containers in the refrigerator to reduce the risk of weevils and rancidity. We have always gone through bread flour (high-gluten white from hard wheat) at a fair clip, so I store that in a three-gallon earthenware crock on the pantry shelf.

If I really have to bin it, how would you go about disposing of six or so kilos of flour?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 15 Oct 20 - 08:01 AM

Keeping it airtight is a good idea, but I wouldn't keep it in the fridge. Every time you open a bag of cold flour a certain amount of condensation will ensue, which will shorten its shelf life.

As for disposing of flour, have you got any friends who may be going to Republican rallies? ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Raggytash
Date: 15 Oct 20 - 08:47 AM

In my kitchen Charmion that means all flour. Having said that I throw very little away!!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 15 Oct 20 - 09:18 AM

I keep flour for years as I rarely use it. Never had it be weird. In Abidjan you had to sift the worms out but not here...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 15 Oct 20 - 10:06 AM

Thanks for the tip, Steve. Okay, I'll move it to the pantry, and start baking again when I feel like eating again. I'm giving myself a fortnight to stay freaked out before I set about the un-freaking process.

I can put ground caraway in the rye bread now, and have steamed spinach for super. Edmund hated caraway and cooked spinach.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Raedwulf
Date: 15 Oct 20 - 01:18 PM

Charmion - I've got flour in my cupboard that's rather more than a decade old, still in the packet, still fine. As for bread flour, I only make bread intermittently these past few years because I eat so little of it now (it's easier to stick a "reduced" sliced loaf in the freezer, even if it is commercial cardboard! ;-) ). But I stopped using bread flour long ago.

Have you ever tried using ordinary flour? The gluten is only there to aid the 'rise'. If you use ordinary flour, you simply get a denser, chewier loaf. It's still perfectly good bread! One possible use for that 10lbs+ (what is this kilo thing, woman? ;-) ). Add cheese! Add onions! Add mustard, pepper, anything you like! If the only alternative is the compost bin (or fork it straight into the veg patch; I'm assuming one or t'other is available), you might as well experiment, right? ;-)

P.S. Worked out the Edmund reference after a pause. Condolences. My appetite, too, is the first thing that disappears when I feel manky. But what would you want him to do if things were reversed? Get on with things? Take a deep breath and... Keep reminding yourself that he still lives, if only in many people's hearts! ;-)

P.P.S. I'm still trying to use up last year's onions (so 14 months old). Lunch today was a couple of onions, some red cabbage & celery (ditto to the 'eating up'), spinach that was only on the field 3 days ago, stock, plenty of tarragon, and a smoked haddock fillet. All souped with a couple of tsps of (ordinary!) flour to thicken a little. Tasted alright to me! But I shan't submit to Kansas City - I'm sure I'd be disqualified (under Trumpery) as a 'bloody foreigner'! ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 15 Oct 20 - 02:56 PM

In Canada, Raedwulf, we are kinda sorta metric -- bulk foodstuffs such as flour are sold by the kilo, and we use American recipes so we measure out eight-ounce cups of it to make up our bread dough. Unless we have been to cooking school, in which case we do everything by weight and measure it out by the kilo and the gram, thus saving a heck of a lot of washing-up. I'm lazy like that, so, when I went to the Stratford Chef School to learn sourdough baking, I adopted the scale method with a glad cry.

In re: bread flour vs. all-purpose flour -- Most Canadian wheat is the hard, cold-climate type (Durum) that is particularly high in gluten, which is why mass-produced pasta the world over is generally made of Canadian flour. All-purpose flour here is half Durum and half soft wheat that could come from pretty well anywhere. If I buy flour from the mill at Arva about 40 km down the highway, which I try to do whenever I need flour, it's local Durum.

As for Edmund and feeling manky, in the 25 years I knew him, he was never manky once, let alone manky enough to be off his feed. The night he died, he put away most of a rib-eye steak with a heap of stir-fried veg and half a bottle of rather decent claret, and looked around for dessert before remembering that we had both taken a solemn vow to lose the five or so kilos of flab we put on while the whole province was locked down and the gyms were closed. But you're quite right; he always fussed and fumed when I was sick with bronchitis and not eating because the disease knocked out my olfactory functions.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Raedwulf
Date: 15 Oct 20 - 03:35 PM

Yeah, I know all that, Charmion. In Canada, you're kinda sorta, well, you're Canada, ain'tcha? ;-) The point being that (laugh! I'm teasing!! ;-) ) you might as well experiment with that flour as bin it. Even if you don't currently feel in Evil Ruler of the World mode, you can always experiment on whoever's nearby by feeding them your latest etcetera, right? ;-) And you never know. You can hardly not be tempted to have a little nibble yourself, and maybe things start to fire again...

Take a deep breath & go for it, girl! Little as I knew him here, I'm bloody sure CET will be cheering you on! ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 15 Oct 20 - 04:19 PM

Charmion, how about calling up a food pantry and asking if they would like the food, either for clients or for staff. If they come and get it, you will be saved some hard work.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 15 Oct 20 - 10:57 PM

Leeneia, I would, but the stuff I’m most concerned about isn’t in its original packaging, but in big Mason jars and plastic canisters with airtight lids. Would the food bank accept two kilos of moong dal in a large jar, especially if I want my jar back?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 16 Oct 20 - 09:05 AM

I would ask the food bank.

I tried to go apple picking but they would only let you pick a peck and I did not want 10lbs of apples so I wandered through the store and decuded to taste-test a bunch of unfamiliar apples. I took pix of the signs but when I got them home realized I can't tell the 3 reddish varieties apart. I think one is Stayman one Jonagold one Winesap. I recognize the Ambrosia and the Candy Crisp.
So far I ate one small reddish... Quite apple-y but a little astringent, excellent crunxh and juiciness. Next time I'll mark them or something.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 17 Oct 20 - 12:57 PM

Charmion, I've been thinking back to when my father died, and my mother was overwhelmed. She got help from a local Senior Center, who often counseled her that it was too soon for her to deal with the things she was worried about. And she thought it over and agreed.

Right now I think it is too soon for you to be worrying about the food. It will wait a couple of months. For the few things that won't keep, put it in a Ziploc bag and give it to someone you know.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Oct 20 - 07:50 PM

Dinner tonight - I have a few packages of Hillshire Farms cheddarwurst that I picked up from the freezer section in my local gourmet discount grocery. They're ok on occasion - today I buttered and added garlic powder to a split roll (like a hoagie of bolillo rolls) that I broiled then added a couple of spears of my homemade tart garlic fresh pickles on the bun. Pickles really improved the experience, the tart with the salty cheesy of the sausage. Washed down with a Negra Modelo beer.

Meanwhile, on the stove a big pot of beans is simmering, so far the red kidney beans, water, bay leaf from my tree in the yard, and a ham hock. I'll add the sofrito and meat and such later. This is the big pot that will later be measured into 12 ounce jars and frozen. I used to take a jar to work for lunch along with a container of rice. It still makes sense to measure it out this way because those meals can be eaten at home and it's way too many beans to try to eat in a few days. And who knows how to make a small batch of beans, anyway?

The beans will have peppers from the garden (the poblano are producing heavily right now). I have canned tomatoes from last summer to use also.