Home › Forums › Cooking — (other than baking) › What are you Cooking the Week of December 7, 2025?
RiversideLen.I had breakfast for supper.Bacon, eggs, grits and buttermilk biscuits. I hadn't made biscuits since my husband passed but they were delicious. I'll have the leftovers for breakfast tomorrow.
We had more of the rotisserie chicken and potato salad, although we put the potato salad on some mixed greens. We made a short trip to the Botanical Gardens this morning, but it has been raining a lot in Florida today. The Botanical Gardens looked dry, so the rain is greatly needed.
Joan--Did you get my email from last week? Would it be better to text you? If you are available, Scott and I would love to see you when we head back from our vacation.
BakerAunt I'm glad you posted this I've been looking to see when your trip to Florida was going to be.I'm excited to see you all again!Bring it on!, Joan!I did send you an email. texting is better for me I don't do email on my phone.
Today I reheated up leftovers from yesterday , I had biscuits for breakfast and the rest for supper with grits and eggs and bacon.
For dinner on Monday, I used the bones from the rotisserie chicken to make broth. I cooked faro in some of the broth, while I sauteed chopped carrots and celery, and sliced green onions and mushrooms. I added the leftover broth to the vegetables, along with the leftover chicken. As the farro neared the end of its cooking time, I added some frozen peas. I then mixed the chicken and vegetables in with the farro mixture, along with a bit more poultry seasoning.
I had two challenges. I needed to rinse the farro before cooking, and the holes in the colander were too large. I ended up swishing it in a bowl, then carefully draining, using my hand to keep the farro from falling out. I also needed to strain the chicken broth, and again, the colander's holes are too large. I still strained it and was careful about bones, but I told Scott to eat carefully. We set some broth and chicken aside for Annie to make sure she did not get any bones. I think that I need a collapsable fine mesh strainer to take on trips. I will have to do a Google search to see if anyone makes such a kitchen device. If no one does, I will suggest it to the nice people at Joseph Joseph.
I think we're having mushroom soup and tuna fish sandwiches for supper.
Yesterday I made "my" mac and cheese from James Beard's recipe. After all these years it's still my favorite. I made a half batch since it was just me. I decided I wanted to add broccoli to it just to give me some vege. They didn't have broccoli crowns at HT, so I bought a bag of fresh Green Giant florets in the produce section which a friend had recommended. I steamed it in the microwave. After I put the broccoli in the pan, I realized I better make a full batch of the cheese sauce. I gradually added the sauce to the broccoli and pasta until I thought it had enough. I had 2 cups of sauce left over and I made a huge amount of mac and cheese. I froze the extra sauce and 2 1 pound packages of mac and cheese. I still have enough for a couple more meals.
Next time I would use 4 ounces pasta and ½ bag of broccoli. I also would not use mozzarella for some of the cheese - it was a little bland. But, I am enjoying it.
For old times sake we will have ground beef and rice a roni from my husbands bachelor days. Will see if he still likes it!
I'm taking the easy route tonight grilled cheese sandwich and chicken noodle soup.
BakerAunt, so you could enjoy your vacation, I searched for a collapsible fine mesh collander for you. I found the following one at Sur la Table:
https://www.surlatable.com/product/sur-la-table-collapsible-colander-steamer/9021668
The reviews don't mention size of holes in relation to farro, but they don't look fine mesh to me. Below is what I do whenever I need to strain chicken broth:
I line the collander with cheese cloth to make sure nothing unwanted seeps through the holes. I don't own a fine mesh collander. The cheesecloth catches all the bones, veggies & debris such as peppercorns. I buy cheesecloth at a local grocery store, but I imagine it's available online. One package of it isn't very much cloth, so I always have 3 or 4 packages in the kitchen. If you took it on a trip, you'd also need to pack clean scissors to cut it. I use my kitchen sheers.
The following online stores did NOT have a collapsible collander: Lehman's, Vermont Country Store, Williams-Sonoma -- at least it didn't pop-up for me.
Thank you for your efforts, Italian Cook. I suspect that most people do not like cleaning fine mesh sieves or colanders. (I clean by using a brush on the outside and strong water pressure.) I have a lovely large one at home that I purchased years ago from Williams Sonoma, but it is too big for transport. However, I have some smaller ones, not quite as fine that might work, at least for rinsing the farro and catching more of the chicken bones. I might be able to pack a small one inside the rice cooker I use for warming up soup in motel rooms and for making rice at rental places. The cheesecloth is a good idea. I just hate losing any of my lovely broth that it might soak up.
For dinner on Tuesday, we had more of the farro combo from last night with cornbread muffins.
I have a very nice 8" fine mesh bouillon funnel/strainer and I use it frequently, I also have several coarser mesh canning strainers, so they store stacked inside each other for storage.
We had the last of the turkey pot pies for supper tonight.
I repeated grilled cheese and chicken noodle soup.
We finished the Farro Stir-Fry on Wednesday, had some more cornbread muffins, and we also had a salad of spinach and vegetables.
