What are you Cooking the Week of September 17, 2023?

[Mike Nolan]

Today is our 51st wedding anniversary, and we're probably having steak for supper.

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[cwcdesign]

Happy Anniversary, Mike and Diane! Enjoy your steak.

[Joan Simpson]

Happy Anniversary Mike and Diane enjoy your day!

No cooking for me I had a banana sandwich.

[BakerAunt]

Happy Anniversary, Mike and Diane!

I made chicken broth on Sunday from the bones of three roasted chickens that I had in the freezer. I plan to use it for soup tomorrow.

For Sunday dinner, I made Salmon and Couscous with Penzey's Greek Seasoning. We had it with microwaved fresh green beans from our garden.

[Joan Simpson]

I had a salami and tomato sandwich with fruit.

[BakerAunt]

I made a big pot of soup on Monday. I used the chicken broth that I made yesterday and added carrots, celery, yellow bell pepper, garlic, and mushrooms sauteed in olive oil and browned ground turkey and 1 ½ cups of Bob's Red Mill Vegi-Soup blend (red and brown lentils, split green and yellow peas; barley) dehydrated onions, and Penzey's Ozark seasoning. After it cooked for 40 minutes, I added a chopped large zucchini, and then some kale, along with a splash of cider vinegar. Although my husband keeps telling me we are headed for a warm spell this week, the forecasts do not appear to be correct so far.

[Mike Nolan]

One of the stores had kidney beans on sale, so I stocked up for chili season. I may make a pot this weekend if the weather breaks as forecast.

Tonight we had BLT's.

I think my zucchini are done for the season, I still see a few flower but it doesn't seem to be setting any fruit.

[RiversideLen]

Happy Anniversary, Mike!

On Sunday I made brats and boneless pork chops on the grill. Today I made a large salad with slices of pork chop on it.

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[Joan Simpson]

I had a hot dog with cottage cheese and a banana.

[BakerAunt]

You are eating a lot of hot dogs, Joan. Maybe that is why I am suddenly wanting one, or maybe it's nostalgia. Now, I wonder how it will taste with zucchini relish....

On Tuesday, I made and canned four jars of Zucchini Relish. I used the recipe in the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving (p. 89). I am not sure how well it went. The vegetables were floating in the sugar-vinegar mix after simmering at 180F for ten minutes. In the jars, they were at the top, and the liquid was at the bottom. I was expecting it to be thicker. I followed the directions, except that I used all red bell pepper rather than half green bell pepper. They are cooling overnight, and I will look at them and check the seals tomorrow. I used a large zucchini, and I am wondering if smaller ones might have worked better.

I have also decided that any future canning projects that require a stove will need to be done in my house kitchen rather than the Annex/Guest Quarters kitchen where I do my jam. (For jam, I have the automatic jam maker that does the stirring.) I do not think that the large electric burner is functioning correctly, as it was hard to stay at the temperature I wanted. I am used to gas burners in the house, but I also think that the large burner (other three are small) on the electric stove in the Annex has been used the most and is likely no longer working as well. Perhaps this is the time to talk my husband into a separate induction burner for out there, as canning in the house kitchen takes over the whole place.

[chocomouse]

BakerAunt, when I made zucchini relish a month ago or so, I shredded the zukes and let them sit in a colander to drain excess liquid before simmering them in the brine. One batch I even sprinkled with salt to help shed excess fluid, but then it was a chore to rinse off all that extra salt, so I didn't salt the second batch. However, that batch didn't have extra fluid so I'll not salt the zucchini in the future. Funny -- I bought a gigantic package of hot dogs, 2 dozen I think, a couple weeks ago because I was craving a hot dog! But I only like them when they're cooked on the grill or over a fire.

[Joan Simpson]

BakerAunt ,Yes I'm eating a lot of hot dogs ,I love them and I've been trying to lose some weight and have taken off 26 pounds since my husband died.Today has been 13 weeks since he passed.I've stayed busy doing so much that I never had to do before and going through stuff and getting rid of clothes.Plus the yard is still not right since the storm.The big cedar trunk is still in the front yard waiting on the guy that wanted it.I'm about ready to get one of my friends cut it up and move it.

[cwcdesign]

We had leftover falafel salad from last night's dinner. It was a version of falafel that I made from a Washington Post recipe. We really enjoyed it because it included some frozen vegetables and the recipe said to quickly sauté the veges, chickpeas and spices before transferring to the food processor. We liked the freshness it gave to the recipe.

Sometimes I enjoy reading the comments especially when someone says "that is NOT falafel" or you can't make falafel with canned chickpeas. It's like when people get upset about variations on Philly Cheesesteaks, especially when the recipe poster says this is my version. Oh well. It takes all kinds.

[BakerAunt]

Chocomouse--the recipe called for 2 Tbs. pickling salt to be sprinkled over the cut-up vegetables, then ice water poured over to just cover. After two hours, the water is drained, and the vegetables rinsed and drained. They are then added to the simmering sugar, vinegar, and spices. The recipe does say to use pickling salt. I did not have the Ball brand of pickling salt, but I did have the Morton brand. I'll report tomorrow on whether the vegetables are still separated. I did have about 1/2 cup of mostly liquid left after filling four 1-pint jars.

Re: hotdogs: someone was selling them at the farmers market about a month ago, and if it had been lunch time, I would have had one. I will check at the store next time I am there to see if there are that fit my current mode of eating. And yes, grilled would be good. I'm also craving baked beans.

[Mike Nolan]

We tend to have hot dogs for lunch a lot, especially when Diane is home (weekends and over school holidays and summer.)

I usually have mine on a bun, Diane varies, sometimes she'll have a bun, sometimes she'll have them with pork and beans and sometimes she'll have them with sauerkraut.

The zucchini dill relish I made is OK on a hot dog, but I was expecting something a bit more like pickles. Maybe it'll get that way over time, though.

Tonight we had tomato soup and fried cheese sandwiches.

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