BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 27 Apr 08 - 12:10 PM

Roasting and packing up those pork steaks was just too much work.

Viola:

2 pork picnic shoulder roasts (boneless, in a string-netting bag) (about 15 pounds)
1 crockpot (TIGHT fit OK)
water to almost cover
splash of vinegar

Cook till fork tender or meat thermometer reads 200 degrees. Cool in broth and slice.

About half of it fell apart for foil packets of pulled pork in BBQ sauce. The other half sliced nicely. Two large ziplocs, each labeled sliced or pulled, stwoed on the pork shelf. Tossed a packet in the oven as I headed out for groceries. (Hockey game at 2.)

Yield: about 12 entrees for two, plus 2 quarts jellified pork stock for that next batch of pre-soaked beans.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 28 Apr 08 - 09:54 AM

Since Susan mentioned chicken soup, I thought I'd mention a Chicken Soup secret passed onto me from some friend of my mom's husband who was a rat bastard but a cook cook. He brought over some chicken soup once when I was sick and I remarked how good it was and he said "it's the turnip". I had no idea what he meant since no turnip was evident.

Eventually I asked his wife and she said that he had always told her to make extra mashed turnips at Thanksgiving or whenever they had them and freeze some in an ice-cube tray. Then, take them out, and put in a freezer bag. When he'd make his chicken soup, he'd plop at least 6 cubes of the finely mashed frozen turnip into the stock right at the end before adding back the de-boned chicken. it would instantly thaw, he'd swish it around and it sweetened the soup ever so slightly.

I've done that myself from time to time and really does add something to the soup.

P.S. Susan - I have my own version of "Snowball" hanging about my house right now who I'm attempting to lure into the cottage.   Guess what I'm calling him?

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 09 May 08 - 12:57 PM

I'm afraid to guess. :~)

Spenser's girlfriend Susan is portrayed as a tiny-morsel eater. I just slowly consumed a mini-meal in that syle with each bite no larger than your average green grape. It was chewy and satisfayiung, so this is a wiehjgt-loss tip as well as a bulk meal.


HEALTHY STRADA, ADAPTED

I make this in a large sheet pan. Most home kitchens don't have pans that big, so I'm dividing it here to a large-mixing-bowl size for your first, small batch. Next time you can multiply it back up for whatever larger pan you have. You also can adjust liquids and seasonings to approximate whaever flavors and textures you like. But be sure to try it first with the Oat Nut bread-- it's all-around good for you, AND tastes great. The method below dirties only one mixing bowl; you may prefer to clutter up your sink with more mixing containers your first few times doing this.)


Start with your largest mixing bowl. Into it crumble a third of a loaf of Oat Nut bread. (Cube the bread if you prefer; it will not matter.) If the bread is a little stale and dry, even better. Relax and play with your food-- cubes and crumbles of different sizes will simply give different textures. Use the heel of the loaf as well as the soft parts, but count up the slices.

Over that break one egg for each slice of bread you used. Toss it all around. Over that pour one cup of milk. Use whole or skim according to how you need to eat. Toss it around again to mix well. (If you prefer you can mix the egg and milk together in a jar first, and then pour them over.)

Now crumble in a cake of tofu. I like to use the firm stuff that comes already cubed-- pick whatever you like. Toss it all around. Relax about the texture-- it will just come out one way if you make the tofu fine and another way if it's coarse or cubed. Whatever! :~) You could even blend it with the egg, milk, and seasonings! [shrug]

Now season it and toss it some more. Which flavors.... where to start? Use a little more than you think you'll need, the first time you make this.... the bread and mlk and tofu are so bland that you really cannot overseason this except if you go crazy with the hot sauce. Slivered onions, garlic..... dry herbs, fresh herbs, frozen peas, mustard.... any of these..... a ground-up pork rind.... whatever you have in your spice cabinet.... I made an Indian one once and it was dee-lish.... sometimes I just like to toss in a packet of sugar-free instant pudding. The lemon flavor goes well with so many other flavors. Chocolate....... Let your nose be your guide.


When any milky puddles have disappeared into the bread, dump the whole thing into a greased pan. Cover tightly and bake at 350 degrees. Insert a knife to test doneness-- a 3-inch deep pan goes a good hour; your time will vary by pan, oven, and how full the pan is, etc. It holds GREAT overnight (unbaked) for early-AM group-brekky or bulk-brekky.

Portions are whatever cutting pattern gives you the same number of servings as the number of slices you used. You can figure about 200-400 calories per portion, dpending how you season and what grade of milk you use.

If your personal nutrition program allows you a few more calories at brekky, add a dollop of whatever, when you serve it; mine just now had a smear of Tahini (I'm heading out to a strenuous workout). I've also used jam, olive oil, spag sauce, steak sauce, chili sauce...... yogurt, sour cream... a tiny scoop of ice cream on the hot serving I'd made with butterscotch flavoring would be good..... buttermilk poured over..... it's all good.


This is good and sustaining as brekky, or a small lunch with a piece of fruit and a little soup. Use a baby spoon or fine-tined fork to eat it Susan-style, and discover how full you are and how happy your mouth is. Have another piece in 2 hours and you'll glide through your day amazingly well.


By keeping the portions bland, you have endless variety open to you at serving time. I freeze mine in single-portion packets of wax peper and label the large ziplocs containing them, with what flavoring they have. I may have 3 or 4 varieties at any one time, to choose from and further flavor at serving and/or nuking time. (? 3 ? min/serving hi-nuke)

They are fine hot or cold, and they carry well as fingerfood for the car (we have a lot of early- AM departures). In a cooler they keep the cooler contents cool but thaw in time for lunch. They're OK half-frozen, too.

I went a whole year once eating these for brekky and never got tired of them. Now I save this recipe for non-winter, since I like the oatmeal crockpot for winter brekky.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 17 May 08 - 11:27 AM

These really belog in this thread, not the Cornbread one.

~S~

=====

Cornbread from Pancake Mix
From: WYSIWYG

So what I did for the first try was:

3 C Buttermilk Pancake Mix
3 C Stoneground Cormneal
3 C 2% Milk
6 Eggs (large)

It was a little on the wet side, but it baked up in 30 minutes. I can't tell if it didn't rise "enough" or is just a smaller batch than the "usual," but I am sure it will be edible and may only need a tweak for the next try. And it smells GREAT to have fresh cornbread in the house again!

My favorite local grocery store (an IGA run by a total foodie) went out of business and this was what led me to stop getting the very affordable 6-muffin mix boxes. Looks like Mr. Big Ole Pancake Mix will have a happy life in cornbread!

It was edible, non-sweet, and ready to absorb syrup or milk. It did rise "enough," and had good texture. It did need some taste enhancement, but not an adjustment in the actual proportions.

Bulk freezing it in calorie-counted portions, I wait to flavor it till I thaw it.

A friend of mine had a cornbread that went over VERY well at parish suppers: she simply dropped spoonfuls of cream cheese into the batter before baking, spaced strategically so that each cut piece of cornbread would get one or two pieces of cream cheese.

~Susan

=====

27 Oct 07 - 08:14 PM (#2180699)
Subject: RE: BS: Cornbread from Pancake Mix
From: GUEST,pattyClink

Interesting thread, Susan.   Sounds like you are three miles ahead of me on stretching food money. Have you already done a thread on 'how we still manage to eat on not much money'?

Inflation and other problems have got us really getting serious about cooking dry beans, baking to use up a ton of staples on hand, etc.    I got some good ideas from the "Hillbilly Housewife" site, but sheez it takes a lot of forethought to eat decently while broke.

=====

27 Oct 07 - 10:03 PM (#2180751)
Subject: RE: BS: Cornbread from Pancake Mix
From: WYSIWYG

"it takes a lot of forethought to eat decently while broke"


I disagree. It takes creativity and a devil-may-care attitude, and it also takes the ability to TAKE and to harvest the bizarre opportunities that come along. [Sometimes those opportunities come in the form of cash to stock up and start the bulk-thinking process. Sometimes the food items themselves "fall out of the sky."]

[People in our part of RuralLand routinely leave one another produce surprises (or field-dressed deer) on the back porch anonymously.]

I'll relate someone else's experience to illustrate. When we were struggling to feed the three growth-spurting teens, one winter, a parish family's privation came to our attention very suddenly one evening. One minute I was reaching for Stovetop Stuffing, and the next I was hearing Hardi's tale of a parish family on the skids and in one move, that box of Stuffing went instead into a carton-- along with everythig else I had in that pantry.

That week, from I-have-no-idea-where, various grocery bags had turned up on our back porch in the country, respecting-privacy way. When I learned of this family's plight, I had, for the first time I could recall in several years, a full pantry. So I emptied it into a couple of boxes and drove Hardi to the frozen, windswept rendezvous point where he had asked the teenager in that family to meet him on the sly. I was in [happy] tears-- so grateful to be in a position to help-- and so grateful that I threw a frozen turkey in there as well-- one of the 3 we'd raised, skinned, and quartered to fit in the freezer.

The receiving teen had no idea why Father had asked him to come-- or he'd not have come-- but cried in gratitude to lift those heavy boxes with items tumbling out in the headlights, once he realized it was FOOD. Hardi simply said, "Hey, buddy, thanks for coming-- can you help me get rid of this?" "Sure!" the boy blubbered. "Don't tell them where you got it," Hardi cautioned. "OK!" was the reply blown away in the winter wind as the kid disappeared up the slippery path to their trailer, where our car could not have traveled. We left the other boxes on the ground and left before he got back for the next load, because we figured that by then he'd be feeling embarrassed and might appreciate some privacy. But that boy, that night-- HE was the provider for his family.


My point is that to do bulk cooking, which is how to eat cheap, you have to have a starter-pantryfull or freezerfull to fit the new on-sale items into as they come up. I KNOW that when you're really poor, you cannot fund that starter-load yourself. But-- you can harvest it when it comes.

And it comes faster if you first give away what you have. I have SEEN this happen over and over, in our home and others'. If you are in serious need, give something away. Quick. More will soon come to replenish it.

People don't give to us because we're the clergy family. We get our turn, but so do other families in the parish. Big parish supper, lots of leftovers? They go to the seminarian, or to the new parents, or to a recently-widowed widower, or to someone else who can "get rid of it." Or I take it to the local homeless men's shelter where the men know I'm just one of them, and always make sure I'm OK, too, when I drop things off.


Be one of the "ones who give," and very quickly you will be cared for as one of the "ones who need." It's just a matter of taking one's turn in both ends of that dynamic. REALLY.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 17 May 08 - 11:38 AM

Thanks to a rare, leisurely day off for Hardi yesterday, a bulk buy on meats became a shared cookathon and kitchen cleanathon.


I put up 16 entrees-for-two out of Italian Sausage links cooked in the crockpots. In small Ziplocs, they are more than enough for the protein component in a supper for two, plus at least one lunch portion. They can be taken to a local park for a quick BBQ, sliced thinly into baked ziti, stuffed frozen into buns and tossed into a lunchbox cooler to keep the iced coffee cold for a car meal or 2 pool mini-meals.... flavored Italian or Greek or Whatever... ground up cooked for spag sauce or stuffed peppers.... so much of the salt and fat already cooked out.... so versatile! I cooked about half of what we bought and froze the rest for a future crockpotting or whatever.

Today, it will be 2 XL batches of the above cornbread, made in the sunny, clean, cleared kitchen. Pans? The two that are now holding the 20 pounds of cooked chicken I'll cut up later and freeze. Cornbread in pre-greased pans-- the tad of chicken fat flavor that will cling to them-- I already drained off the stock and fat when the pans were hot last night.

Once the cornbread cools and is put up, I'll use the same pans for the breakfast casseroles.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 17 May 08 - 12:39 PM

Patty Clink,

Hardi and I were chatting yesterday about why the bulk process is working so smoothly for us, and what's so mysterious about it for others. One thing we identified is that we never head off to the store thinking about what we're going to make with the stuff we'll buy-- it's not menu-driven at all. The shopping function, storage function, and cooking functions are all totally separate, or it would be overwhelming. This is one area where multi-tasking-type thinking doesn't work so well.

When I'm shopping, I am totally price and quality driven and I am going to make hard choices, like a supply sergeant. When I'm prepping items for the freezer, that also is a single-minded task and I am harvest-driven, wasting not an iota of chicken fat for example but also not wasting my time and energy on the prep or the cleanup. When I thaw an item to make something for a workout brekky or lunch, I am totally thinking training nutrition principles. When I'm putting a supper together, I'm thinking about pleasing my husband and myself (and any guests present).

Now, these separate thinking processes do eventually integrate over time. Thus, because training nutrition is a high priority which has brought rich rewards, that training nutrition drives the shopping choices, the portion sizes when I pack for the freezer, and the way I prepare the eventual meals. But at the time I am doing each function, that's the only function I am thinking about consciously.

It gets smarter over time.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 30 May 08 - 10:36 AM

We live in a rural area where there are few gourmet shops. A friend with "wasabi" in part of her screen name inspired me this AM. I'll take the gallon size of mayo that's easy to get (I found a good one), and break it down into various flavors in small jars.

Already in the fridge:

Roasted garlic mayo

To come:
Wasabi mayo
Honey mustard mayo
Pickle mayo
Olive mayo

.....

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 29 Jun 08 - 12:33 PM

On the HEALTHY STRADA, ADAPTED, below, I got tired of sorting out different flavors in the freezer and getting bored with the flavors on hand-- so I deleted the flavors! Now I think of it as a plain french toast (casserole) with added protein. It can be eaten cold as-is a hot day, or fried up with nonstick spray on a cold day, and then ANY flavoring can be added. On the recent hot days, it's been really good with a spalsh of nonfat yogurt and a teaspoon of sweet chili sauce. (Of course Hardi soaks HIS in maple syrup.) One day I sprinked it with a little leftover taco meat on top of some smeared-on leftover refritos.

It's also quite portable as car food for early departures, or as pool food (plain) with a side of fruit.

(!) [lightbulb] I'm thinking of using iced coffee for the milk next time.... that would be SO wrong....

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 10:58 AM

The above cornbread-from-pancake mix needed a little more tweaking. Since I am moving from tiny mini-meals to larger, less-frequent mini-meals, I decided in favor of a TINY amount of sweetening.

But first I had to pack up some winter (canned, unfortunately) fruit:

1 bag frozen fresh cranberries cooked in 1 C mandarin orange light syrup
4 cans (Campbell-soup size) drained and rough-chopped mandarin oranges (were in light syrup)
1 #10 can peaches, drained and chopped (were in heavy syrup).

Mix all well and pack into 1/2-cup ziplocs (snack size), flattened out to make squeeze pops when eaten frozen. Freeze. When hard, pack all into gallon-sized freezer bags. (Also = a single-serve lunchbox pak if eaten thawed.)

Yield: 26 1/2-cup portions. Can take anywhere. Cut off a corner to use as a squeeze-pop.

===

So I saved all that syrup (labeled as to "flavor") along with the juices that emerged as each fruit was chopped. I'll mix it with dry milk powder to make up the equivalent amount of milk for the bulk cornbread recipe.

The amount of "sugar" added to each fruit portion, is, I understand, negligible. These will be supplemented by fresh fruit in season, and of course there will be another mix of the frozen-canned stuff for variety. I'm thinking fruit cocktail with added raisins or pineapple.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 10:29 AM

Wysiwig, I'm glad to hear that you, too, enjoy the Spenser novels. I particularly like the language jokes between him and Hawk.

I do wonder how those foods get into his refrigerator when he never seems to shop.

I don't envy him his undisciplined dog, however. And his lover, Susan, is simply too perfect to be believed. Except that she cooks wih Miracle Whip.
=========

Somebody mentioned buying barbecue sauce. I don't buy it, I make it.

Best made ahead. Stir together:

1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
1 1/2 tablespoons vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons molasses
ground black pepper to taste (red pepper disagrees with me)

Choose a secret ingedient and stir it in, such as

1/4 tsp ground cloves OR
1 teaspoon grated orange peel (I buy this in the spice dept.)OR
1 teaspoon rosemary

It seems more important to make it ahead if using orange peel. It seems to take a while for the orange flavor to disseminate.

Every barbecue sauce needs a secret ingredient. It's part of the culture. It's also part of the culture that a BBQ sauce needs about 12 ingredients, but I repudiate that.

Add water (a few tablespoons) as needed for the consistency desired.
======
To use up the molasses faster, make gingerbread.

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: Maryrrf
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 10:40 AM

This thread is so full of good ideas! I can't wait to try the fruit squeeze pops (well maybe when the weather is a little warmer - right now warm stewed fruit compote sounds more like it). Susay you are so resourceful!

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 01:41 PM

Thanks, ladies.

We used to make our own BBQ sauce, maybe we will sometime again. Home made sugars not a priority right now.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 04:41 PM

I can't wait to try the fruit squeeze pops (well maybe when the weather is a little warmer - right now warm stewed fruit compote sounds more like it).

I can't tell if you already see this, but I will say it again just in case because I can NOT say it enough: I do NOT set out to "make fruit pops."

I set out to make PORTIONS that--at a moment's notice-- can serve in any capacity.

Take brekky this AM for example-- I thawed two portions while Hardi bustled about starting his Fri. Brekky routine. (My role was just to remind us both to include fruit in some way.) As serving time drew near, I said that I'd had in mind to combine the two flavors I'd thawed, and divide them in half-- for fruit cups.

"We're a little past that now," he replied. "Oh, OK...." and in a few minutes out came French toast for two, with panini-grilled fruit on top and in betweeen the slices. His was drizzled with maple syrup, mine was not. (For my program the fruiit is all the sugar I need. He was on his way out to plow, so he needed that little bit more calories.)

Again, the point was that we were pre-prepped with exactly the right thing.

You, for example, could thaw yours and run it thru the frypan in a little butter and spices. Bingo, compote. You could nuke it in some herb tea-- boom, flavored tea with chewy bits of fiber left at bottom.

We enjoyed ours last night, even having been cold all evening, as pops for a teensy (allowed) snack at bedtime.

The point is to STOCK THE FREEZER, not to think, while stocking, that you are "making" anything. The making comes later.

If yer in a hurry, you eat to live. If you have a little more time, you do more prep, and live to eat. Tomorrow I might stew some in some nice wine we have, for Sunday brunch. But it's THERE. :~)

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 20 Dec 08 - 11:25 AM

This older post is a better restatement of the above (added line breaks):

When I'm shopping, I am totally price and quality driven and I am going to make hard choices, like a supply sergeant.

When I'm prepping items for the freezer, that also is a single-minded task and I am harvest-driven, wasting not an iota of chicken fat for example but also not wasting my time and energy on the prep or the cleanup.

When I thaw an item to make something for a workout brekky or lunch, I am totally thinking training nutrition principles.

When I'm putting a supper together, I'm thinking about pleasing my husband and myself (and any guests present).

Now, these separate thinking processes do eventually integrate over time. Thus, because training nutrition is a high priority which has brought rich rewards, that training nutrition drives the shopping choices, the portion sizes when I pack for the freezer, and the way I prepare the eventual meals. But at the time I am doing each function, that's the only function I am thinking about consciously.

It gets smarter over time.

===

A persisent issue here has been brekkies on time and without prep. I thought I had posted the following item earliuer, but I guess not. Topday it was yummy cold brekky. Next time, nuked warm.

INSTANT RICE PUDDING
Amazingly, almost as good as my Mom's all-day, egg-custard-vanilla heaven!!!
<> Instant sugar-free pudding
<> Milk to taste (skim or full fat; quantity as called for on box, or less depending on desired texture)
<> Leftover cooked rice (still moist) folded into the above. Proportions are up to you.
<> Nuts, raisins, M&Ms, granola, etc. sprinked on top at serving are also good if your plan allows the calories.


Yesterday's snow-plowing eats included a rice-cookerfull for leftovers, so I made a triple batch of the pud last night before we went to bed that will stay creamy for days. The lemon flavor is DELISH, the butterscotch is not bad, and the fudge chocolate-- OH MY! Pistachio also good, but it IS green. :~)

Sugar-free flavors tend to dissipate over time, but a squeeze of lemon or honey when served brings it right back.

Add the thawed fruit, and VIOLA! Ooh, Hardi's running late on Sat. lunch-- I need another serving......

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 23 Dec 08 - 02:30 PM

Oops, those cheap chix thighs on sale-- I grabbed the wrong item and got boneless and skinless thighs, oh well! Boy was THAT easy to portion up outta the oven. I'd covered 'em all in foil so the lack of skin wouldn't hurt them, and the leftover juice is going straight into the perpetual winter soup crockpot-- too much chix juice in the freezer anyways, and I'm hungry!

Rice pudding is EXCELLENT in soup, BTW, as an added starch and thickener. Esp. lemon-pudding'ed rice in zippy Mexican soup!

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 29 Dec 08 - 10:50 AM

Here are the three squeeze-pop fruit combos I am going to go with:

Cranapple
1 #10 can appplesauce
1-2 bags fresh cranberries in season, cooked IN a bit of the applesause (or 2-3 cans of whole-cran sauce)
(Might add a little oat flakes (baby cereal) to correct fiber/texture)

GrapeApple
Same as above with fresh grapes in season. They freeze without further processing.)

Pineapple Cocktail
1 #10 can fruit cocktail
4 cans (Campbell-soup size) drained, chopped pineapple

Peach Mandarin
1 #10 can sliced peaches, rough-chopped
4 cans (Campbell-soup size) drained and rough-chopped mandarin oranges

Melon Cocktail
See Pineapple above, use chopped honeydew in season.


NOTES
For all of the above, remove as much syrup as easily possible and freeze for other uses. "Rough-chop" means just a tad bigger than fruit-cocktail-sz chunks-- think med. grape size. Be sure to de-chem any fresh fruits used before processing.

FOOD IS YOUR FRIEND.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 30 Dec 08 - 09:31 AM

Yesterday:

20 lbs pork steaks for barbecue
1 spiral ham
4 lbs liver
2 fruit pop batches as above

All processed for the freezer, hambone and pork cooking juices into stock and lentil soup started. Kitchen was clean when we started and clean when we finished-- THAT is a first and I did ALL the washing. Hardi had the day off and was able to help quite a bit.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: maeve
Date: 30 Dec 08 - 09:44 AM

Go, Susan!

maeve

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 30 Dec 08 - 10:32 AM

Thanks, maeve-- doing bulk laundry yet?


The cran-apple fruit pops turned out GREAT.

The cran cooking instrux on the bag are a LIE. Sugar is NOT needed if they will be combined with a sweet fruit. I crockpotted two bags in just enough water to cover and, when the crans popped, put them and the hot, juicy water right into the applesauce. The mix was warm when I bagged it up. Some of the crans are totally shredded, some are whole, all are yummy and all the sourness went thruout the applesauce. And I hate commercial applesauce-- runny and bland, no texture, eeeew. Frozen though-- solid cider.

The increased water content made for a slightly larger-than-half-cup serving, and a harder pop. More like a popsicle, pink, and yummy. I like sour fruits, so I did not miss the crans being sweet-- the applesauce in the #10 can is sweetened a little.

YMMV. Gosh, I wish I had known all of this when the teens lived here-- some of it I discovered after they were gone. I'm sad that they didn't get in on the fruit pops-- we never did figger out how to get "enough" affordable fruit into their diets. :~(

My mom, didn't, either, when I was a kid. But I turned out all right. :~)

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: maeve
Date: 30 Dec 08 - 10:42 AM

No bulk laundry yet. Lots of sad clearing to finish and plumbing to install first.

I've been doing lots of bulk dehydration this year in addition to the usual bulk freezing; mushrooms, apples, carrots, herbs. Next for me will be turning some of the frozen strawberries, plums, and wild fruits into fruit spreads to open up some freezer space.

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 31 Dec 08 - 11:29 AM

Mmm, good plan! :~)

Lessee, I think it was an anniversary supper that caused the leftovers sitting in the fridge a few very-busy days later-- spinach potatoes. These are usually box "mashed" taters with friz spinach and sour cream, folded together. The current batch was nuked boilers, fresh spinach cooked down, some leftover smoked-Gouda fondue, and a a little cream cheese. Not sure what else Hardi put in there, but it maished into a lovely, green-flecked bouquet of flavors.

Concurrently there is a crockpot of hambone stock with pork-baking juice, into which soaked lentils went--also a few days ago. The stock did not reduce as much as I thought it would in the crock, so a little later I will spoon some off to add to the spinach-taters. Object: soup. If I can't get to the store for more smoky gouda before snow precludes driving, I'll just add some shredded cheddar, too.

There are leftover chilled shrimps from a dinner party we attended last night, to dip into the hot soup. Some more of the stock will be used to pressure-cook the carrots and onions that should have gone into the lentil-soup pot but didn't, in time. We'll just cook 'em up and put 'em in, and then put up some of the soup in quart jars-- this time of year I like to have some "sick soup" on hand for flu victims (us some years).

And whatever doesn't fit in the jars on hand will combine with the spinach-potatoes soup pot as it gets room for additions. There are croutons left over from the fondue brunch, too. Yesterday, Hardi picked out a new snowblower. By the time it is delivered for me to run (while Hardi plows), we'll be all set with people-warmers.

I love this ecology of our household. The longer we do things this way, the more effortlessly flows.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 10 Jan 09 - 04:58 PM

I love leftovers. In fact I think I am the Queen of Leftovers.

In the crockpot:

<> Couple of canned jalapeno chiles, shredded fine.
<> Leftover spag sauce (Hardi's).
<> The BBQ sauce left over when I had to stretch the remains of the bulk bottle for the last BBQ bulk-pack. Too much cloves, and I thinned it with some pork stock-- gotta use it up quick.
<> The last (gnarly) carrots and onions.
<> Leftover stewed tomaters that are ALMOST as good as the ones I make.
<> 3/4" cubes of the last bulk panful of cornbread that cooked too long, turned itself into very dry and crunchy crusts. About a 6x8" slab cut up.

And OMG it smells so good I gotta mugful now, cooling to eating temp.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 10 Jan 09 - 09:07 PM

PS, and beef stock. Stewy soup.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 09:44 PM

It turns out a 10-lb box of rope sausage WILL fit in a tall pasta-pot and strainer, and steams in just an hour or two while making a nice cooking juice for that next batch of beans or that next batch of cornbread.

It turns out home-boned chix makes a lot of good chix filets and that the crap you leave on the bones boils to a nice pulled-chix pate to mix with egg salad.

Love the quarterly meat sale! Above, 35 pounds for $45 and two gallons stock/cooking juice.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 13 May 09 - 02:35 PM

I didn't plan this; it just worked out, but now that BBQ, smoker, and grilling season is here, the bulk freezer is just about empty and ready to defrost until prep for Fall ministry requires starting back up. I hope I remember to look here for all the tips I left myself! :~)

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 08 Sep 09 - 10:42 AM

I got tired of dragging in heavy milk gallons from grocery shopping, so I have started doing, at home, what we do while camping. That is, I mix a gallon of filtered water with dry milk powder and let it stand in the fridge overnight which greatly improves flavor. Then I add about a half-cup of cream and shake gently. You use only as much cream as it takes to make the milk taste and feel right; a po' folks version I was taught features blending vegetable oil into the milk powder so I adapted that for what we can afford now. (We use whole milk because the rest of our diet is so low-fat that we actually need the milkfat for vitamin absorption.)

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 08 Sep 09 - 02:42 PM

Nabbed a bit of sausage ydy at a VERY good price, from a trusted butcher's unadvertised special:

2 10-lb boxes of Italian rope sausage, cooked now and about to freeze. Can be converted to any cuisine at mealtime.

10 lbs of good, homestyle Kielbasa (heavenly recipe they have), cooking now for the freezer.

===

A new trick this year is rapid-cooling of cooked meats so there is less of a load on the freezer when I load them in there. I put them willy-nilly (no fuss) into a large flat pan with medium-high sides (cooking-oil-sprayed first for easier cleanup), cover well with a cotton cloth and set on a stool in front of the kitchen's tower fan set on "blast." We started doing this on vacay with the small box fan, to pre-cool leftover dinners for the camping cooler. Goes fast and makes it all so much easier. The meat piles up in the cooling pan and then the pan goes in the holding fridge to be processed over the next 2 days for the freezer. There is NO WAY I could do it all in one day, and this breaks it up into manageable tasks.

By tomorrow Hardi will be over his cold, and can thus safely breathe on all these meats to pack them up under my direction.

The Fall meat sale at our butcher's is Oct. 6-8. Can't wait to see what they have this time. We're defrosting the upright freezer this week-- standing it in the open doorway to drain down the back steps, with a weighted towel hanging out the bottom to direct the drip/flow. That door is dead ahead of the freezer, so I'm adopting Uncle Bob again.

Girl Power! (Hardi say "Whaaaaatttt.....? No appliance dolly this time....?)

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 16 Nov 09 - 05:07 PM

Roaster chickens, 88 cents per pound. Got ten, 6-8 lbs each.
<> Split 4 of them into halves for smoking (later). Giblets reserved for stock. Livers for AM brekky with eggs.
<> Two will smoke tonight and tomorrow.
<> Four will freeze whole.

Chicken thighs, 58 cents per pound. Two big trays. All cooked. Some for supper tonight. Rest to freeze for various options.

Two spiral-cut hams. Best I ever tasted. One has been sliced down and packed for dinners, sandwiches. One has been frizzen. REALLY good smoky flavor and GREAT texture-- will send Hardi after 2 more tomorrow if budget allows. They were just over a buck a pound and I needed bones for doggiez out there in Dog World. These come with glaze/flavor packets (too sugary for everyday) that will be saved for other uses like pork roasts, BBQ, etc.

$114. Including plastic to bag up all the wax-paper bundles.

Hardi is just pulling in, to discover the smell of all this and a 40-lb case of whole chix yet to haul in-- I brought in all the rest. Taters are nuking.....

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: Maryrrf
Date: 17 Nov 09 - 10:25 AM

Susan, you are a real inspiration! I don't freeze near on the scale as you, but it has given me a lot of great ideas. I'll be all set as long as the power doesn't go off this winter - at which point it would be an unpleasant and messy meltdown. I particularly like the idea of freezing cooked items that can simply be defrosted and served in a variety of ways.

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: MMario
Date: 17 Nov 09 - 10:44 AM

I've been driooling over these posts.

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Nov 09 - 10:50 AM

I found chickens the same price yesterday, but only picked up two (so far). The fridge is getting the Sears repair treatment today (repair guy thinks the problem is the computer--who knew?--contributing to the cascade of problems.) When I know it's working, I'll pick up a few more. I found a wonderful recipe in the December 2009 Martha Stewart Living that I want to try. Pan sauteed and deglazed with red wine vinegar.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 17 Nov 09 - 11:22 AM

I've been thinking about getting a decent freezer and doing a bit more freezing ahead. At the mo' we only have a really tiddly ickle thing, which currently houses organic petite pois, baby broad beans and sweetcorn, as well as some veggie Tivall frankfurters and Quorn chunks. So not *quite* on the WISYWIGS mass scale!

Cooked, frozen and defrosted meat, tastes awfully bland and watery to me tho'. Like the taste & texture has been sucked straight out of it. Doesn't anyone else notice that? I get the same with most vegetables too (not starchy ones), and definitely get it with pasta dishes which seem to turn into icky baby food when reheated.

However I definitley like certain things in the freezer, as long as they don't include too much in the way of vegetables or meat.

Mainly pasta sauces, lentil stews, beany stews/burgers (especially as these take so long to prepare in the first place). Raw pastry dishes can work pretty well too.

It's also a good place to house leftovers for making stocks (peelings and carcasses/bones), summer herbs (put straight into bag *unchopped* then smash bag when frozen), breadcrumbs, raw pastry, pre-boiled pulses, spinach (which wilts down when used anyway), pureed garlic chili & ginger fresh spice base for curries (process & freeze in ice cube trays.)

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 17 Nov 09 - 12:26 PM

For me making this aLL feasible boils down to a cOuple of simple principles.

I'll summarize some of the stuff I have learned along the way. Without these tips, I could not have managed the over-buy of yesterday-- 30-35 lbs is our usual limit for a processing day, and yesterday was more like 60+. Because there were some nice surprises at the meat case.

The first is the balance factor-- making sure we have plenty of variety. That means being familiar with what the usual prices are, and having the budget flexibility to jump on a good price when I see it. It also means that no matter how much I may have a taste for particular item, if it isn't a good price and if it isn't variety, I don't buy.

Another factor is that we do eat out a lot in this crazy ministry life. So I know that if home coking is plain and simple, the times we eat out can balance that with pizzazz.

A BIG factor has been knowing my limits-- how many pounds can I lift, cut, cook, cool, pack up, at a stretch. And often I will end up doing it all alone-- if Hardi's schedule goes nuts I better have a plan I can do on my own, because having committed the bucks, I better not have the meats go bad while I figure out a plan.

Another big help has been the 4 essential large pans we have. One pair is really big and the other is even bigger. Pans as big as the oven walls will holds, in other words, so that there are fewer trips back and forth in the steps to deal with all the results.

Wax paper is a HUGE help in packing up large quantities in portion sizes, and cheap.

There is always a mix of qualities-- i.e. really good and expensive beef balanced with el cheapo chicken. What makes this work is that the fresh foods and dressings or sauces served on the side give the pizzazz when the meat is plain. This also means that it matters that Hardi can pressure-cook, grill, and smoke like a pro, not to mention his outdoor dutch-oven cookery. If the beef on sale is not the great stuff, we know how to make the pot roast really wonderful.

Finally, I know enough about the cuisines Hardi and I can cover to trust that no matter how same-same the freezer's contents may look, we are free to go "offroad" and "off-recipe" and just have fun with what we do with what we thaw. It's a no-brainer to thaw something in the AM that we have not eaten in the day or two before, with no idea what it will become at suppertime. One of us will be hungry enough at cooking time to hunt up some pretty good flavoring options and serve a fun meal out of it-- sometimes a definite cuisine or sometimes our own goofy fusion.

===

One myth that we consider totally busted is the myth that "it's hard to buy for one or two people." It's usually just laziness of planning. There are just us two, but we still buy in 10-15 lb. packages. We just break them down after we get them home-- cooked or raw as meat quality dictates. A portion is a portion is a portion-- no matter what size the pkg was before it was broken down.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 21 Nov 09 - 10:07 AM

CHICKEN IN THE PASTA POT.

Whaaaaat.....?!?!?!?

The last two of the ten chix (big ones planned for the smoker) turned out to get a different treatment, and it offers much promise. I had sliced a finger badly, in breaking down the spiral ham, and didn't want to burn it by roasting them or cut it again by halving them. So...... I chose wet.

We steamed/stewed one lying on its back, in the basket of the tall pasta pot. The tight fit made for minimal water in with it.... We brought it to the boil and then turned it down to simmer for several hours. When it was done, its timer popped up-- bonus!

And the meat was DELISH, tho we did it this time with zero flavorings.

When the first was done the second one went in, so the resulting water is VERY chickeny.

In between these (which will go to the freezer now, pulled off the bone), a half-chicken from recent roasting got briefly re-warmed for dinner. The roasting pan THAT one had sat in got deglazed into the boiling stock for additional flavor.

The doggies then got that roasting pan (and ten cut-up, cooked gizzards) with their dinner: I was introducing a new kibble and of course the chix smell made it VERY palatable! :~)


Don't forget to take out the giblets! :~)

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 21 Nov 09 - 12:28 PM

LO-CARB LOWFAT ZIPPY-SOUP for 2
Lovely golden color from the egg.


Combine:

2 C. Chix stock (de-fatted, reserve fat for doggies)
1 C. Minced chicken (the eensy bits left from major carvings/processings)
1/2 C. Brown Jasmine Rice, cooked (leftovers of course)
1 Jalapeno-pickeld egg, chopped
2 T. Jalapeno-pickling juice
1 shake oregano

Season to taste. Second egg OK if more protein/zip needed. I'm not on lo-carb so I added a bit more rice to mine at serving time (cools soup).

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 23 Nov 09 - 04:29 PM

We're so lucky to have a near-freezer-temp shelf in our spare fridge. Those two 8-lb. stewed chix sat there till I could process them into the system, today. I brought it all out to my recliner to work on it.....


They yielded:

1 whole, huge breast-meat hunk for tonight's supper and tomrrow's lunches. Sliceable, and/or can be added in chunks to stir-fry, etc.
3 more of same, wrapped individually and frozen together in one gallon-sz., labeled "BRST" freezer-Ziploc bag.
A gallon-sized freezer bag of wrapped dark-meat chunks, each pkt a dinner for two, labled "DARK."
2 gallons of rich, "unflavored" stock (bones from the above are in it now for a reboil. That will all break down into 1-1/2 qt.-sz bags for individual pots of soup base as needed. The chix had been brined, so we added flavor instead of reducing the stock as we often do-- the salt content right now is perfect for soup, as-is.

It all goes on the "poultry shelf" of the freezer.

Of course the pans containing the above were rinsed into the stockpot. Sorry, doggies!

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 23 Nov 09 - 04:49 PM

Poem 93 of 230: ONE-POT COOKING

While living as a bachelor,
    I've cooked in just one pot -
Cast iron with a wooden handle,
    It can hold quite a lot:

Slices of potato and carrot
    Are boiled a while,
Before a thinly-chopped onion
    Is mixed with the pile;

Then I drain off most of the water,
    Add canned lentils and beans,
Stir with spice and tomato sauce -
    To an end, it's a means.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: GUEST,WYS-out
Date: 19 Jan 10 - 11:46 PM

Refresh for RIP, Parker (creator of Spenser series).

Walkies, I'm gonna copy that recipe into the Kitchenless thread, OK?

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: Riginslinger
Date: 20 Jan 10 - 09:41 PM

I always thought is was funny--and kind of neat too--that Spenser always had all of those things in his refrigerator, so he could just pull them out and chop them up to fix one concoction or another.
             I was kind of like the way Ward Cleaver went to work, he never went shopping, he just always seemed to have things.

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 03 Feb 10 - 07:11 PM

Meat sale was today.

20 lbs Italian Sausage (Sweet)
20 lbs Delmonicos (1" ribeye steaks)
10 lbs spiral-cut ham (precooked)
12 lbs country pork ribs

$150

===

Sausage is wet, simmering in the turkey roaster now. Half is still in rope form. Half has been cut into 1-1/2" pieces. It will all be cut before wrapping in single-serving portions.

===

Split a Delmonico for supper. Needed a tad flavoring. Marinade will be:

1 part worcestershire sauce
1 part hot water to rinse bottle
1/2 part cranberry vinaigrette
1/2 part water to rinse bottle
2 parts blackstrap molasses (highest in molasses in flavor, iron; lowest in sugar)
2 parts soy sauce (we bought the quart size 14 years ago!)
1 part splenda powder (or sugar)
1 part canola oil
1/2 part minced garlic

The above are cooked to dissolve and purify all.

Then add: 1/2 part corn starch (to encourage it to go into meat fibers), when it cools.

(I'm aLLEWGIC TO GINGER OR THAT WOULD HAVE GONE IN TOO)

The meat will slosh in all that for several hours and then be packed, raw, into individual sandwich-size ziplocs. When those freeze they'll be chucked into freezer-weight gallon-sz Ziplocs.

===

The country ribs will get their turn in the wet bath in the AM, after the sausage cools and is removed. When they cool they'll be packed in BBQ sauce, in foil, for slow reheats on hockey nights. The foil packs will be chucked into freezer-weight gallon-sz Ziplocs.

===

The ham will be sliced off the bone, sloshed in spiced, cornstarch-thickened, sugar-free maple syrup, and be packed into lunch and dinner portions.

===

Nailed two surprise deals-- evaporated WHOLE milk, a buck a can, got 5 (I use them in the home office kitchen's mini-fridge as cream.) Progresso soups, a buck a can, got 12. Half to go up, half for Saturday Subway habit.

===

Another store had a great fish deal last week. Mystery from Viet Nam. It looks, tastes, and behaves like tilapia, but each filet (1/2 fish) is individually packed in vacuum shrinkwraps. Came six shrinkwraps to a ziploc bag. These thaw in about 1/2 hour on top of an upside-down cast iron skillet under a warming light. They were great pan-poached. The next try will be sliced, then cajun-battered and fried as fish fingers.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 04 Feb 10 - 10:43 AM

PS to the sausage-cooking liquid I re-used for the country ribs, I added a LOT of lemon juice, a good bit of red pepper flakes, and a hunk of crushed garlic, plus liberal Splenda.

===

The Delmonico's did not all fit in one pan, so we may freeze a few unflavored....

===

The Italian sausage-- it was SO GOOD as a bedtime snack with bread, lemon juice, olive oil, and a little cooking liquid that we will chop/food-process some, later, for sausage-salad (olives, oil, lemon juice), which will be frozen in small quantities. I did some beef salad for sammiches that way once and it turned out great, so this is a great way to do what meatloaf does for the food plan, but easier and just as yummy. I have a bunch of tiny bowls that can be used as molds or containers. The contents can be added to ramen, too, for a nice, hot lunch in the home office.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 04 Feb 10 - 12:51 PM

Yum-OH, Maeve!

===

We have a second upright.... we think it's going to the church kitchen.... but I could see filling it with fruit and veggies..... we'll see. Costs a lot to run that one-- old, not efficient.

===

The pork-cooking liquid made a superb luncheon soup with ramen and a bit of the sausage. Just as it was. Planning to bottle it when we take the country ribs out. And freeze it of course.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: Riginslinger
Date: 04 Feb 10 - 04:08 PM

That sounds like Spenser on steroids!

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 05 Feb 10 - 04:12 PM

No, the meat stuff is normal, totally. The SOUP is the steroids version tho-- it grew. :~) It's cooling now, waiting to be packed.

I added another gallon of sausage-cooking liquid from the freezer, and several bags of frozen soup-type veg, including chopped OKRA. And a liberal splash of cider vinegar for its diabetic-friendly properties, to re-sour it once I'd increased the liquid.

This will be frozen in the same manner as the fruit-bars upthread, for instant-use in a nuked mug. No carb-- they can be added as needed for whatever the day's carb count has been. A solution to the late-aftn slump or that last fill-us-up after a small lunch. And a portable, cheap replacement for canned soups loaded with sugars, artifood, and sodium.

I may have to make this sometime on purpose. :~) With mushrooms.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 05 Feb 10 - 11:17 PM

PS, the soups cost out to the cost of vegetables ONLY, because everything else was a byproduct of the larger process. We portioned them in mug-sz portions, and I told Hardi to hear the "ka-ching" every time a soup-for-pennies went into the freezer in place of the unhealthy=for=us Progresso I had just gotten at $1.50 a CAN (2 svgs) on SALE.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 06 Feb 10 - 08:46 PM

Sorry - couldn't resist!

Pot Noodles Can't Be Beat!

:-)

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 11 May 10 - 01:27 PM

As the nukerator chimes, I want to share a tip that's been keeping me going for months now, after two years of trying to resolve a pesky food storage issue.

On Alton Brown's "Good Eats" program one day, on making miso soup, he showed a newish tofu product I had never heard of-- it does not need refrigeration till opened. No more messy, smelly cakes of tofu moldering away. I generally find it in the produce section near the regular tofu, and unnecessarily refrigerated, but in my home office mini-kitchen so far from the house's real kitchen, it sits waiting for real need. 1/3 of a box is a serving, and then I chill the rest in the tiny heat-pump-style micro-fridge where it keeps for almost a week as needed.

Today it's with some wholegrain bread, lemon juice, and herbs (from the metal anti-rodent breadbox) in a small glass pot that is small enough to fit in the small nukerator and big enough to make lunch for two. Yet it is small and cool-handled enough to serve also as the bowl to eat from. It has been brekky (with cinnamon) many times, too, for a quick healthy meal before picking up where I left off the night before on desk work.

No more excuses not to eat, while photos for the church website upload, with these on hand!

The glass pot was a real steal at Sal. Army, too-- WITH dome lid even!

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: wysiwyg
Date: 13 Jul 10 - 05:41 PM

Cold soup for a hot day, with lefotvers.

Boil a bag of frozen sliced carrots while some taters nuke. Cut up some yellow squash and toss it in with the carrots. Cut up an orange and toss it in a blender that can grind up ice.

To that blender add all the ingredients as they come ready. A handful of curried lima beans goes well in there too, for more starchy creaminess. I cooled off the cooked taters in cold water while I did other stuff then sliced them in as well. A bit of leftover canned fruit, a good dollop of sweet chili sauce, and a good big handful of that good store-bought ice.

Whiz the full blender slowly till the ice and warm just-cooked veggies make enough liquid to blend it all smooth. Yogurt could also go well in there.

Season to taste. I'm on low salt, so I'll prolly use a dash of vinegar instead. Tomorrow this will be further blended with a box of soft tofu for a sauce to pour over cold brown rice for hot weather munch-small-amounts-all-day fare.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: Leadfingers
Date: 13 Jul 10 - 09:43 PM

Just glanced at this , and though I cant add a recipe it reminded me of one of the best places to eat I ever found - Pop's Kima Shop in Jalan Kayu , Singapore !
Just outside RAF Seletar Main Gate , Pop's was THE place for a late night snack - ONLY Kima (Curried Mutton Mince and Potato) and a Half Roti (Indian bread) was an excellent way to end an evening after four or five pints of Anchor or Tiger Beer !
I still recall the night we went in and were met by a VERY Sorrowful Pop ! " Kima NOT good today - VERY busy last night , so Kima only been cooking twelve hours !"

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking Spenser & Sophie Style
From: GUEST,Riginslinger
Date: 13 Jul 10 - 10:08 PM

Of course, Spenser is always cooking the meals and Susan Silverman nibbles at them. She's a character who is really hard to get into, it seems to me.