[cwcdesign]

Joan, I'm so glad to hear your sister is home and doing better. COPD is such a bear.

The dust comes from all the frigging pollen we've had this year - I swear it is worse and going on for a longer period of time. And, also from having to turn on the AC. At least the last few nights have been nice and cool. That's low 60's to us, but I know to those of you up North it sounds like summer. I love it best when the temps are in the 60's to low 70's - after that it gets too hot!

Will made a nice pasta dish to celebrate my mom's birthday - she would have been 90 yesterday. I went to the cemetery to "see" her - I saw a bluebird in the tree and as I approached the niche where she is, I hear a rustle - it was a deer resting in a little open patch right across from her niche, there was another one as well. The deer stood and watched me for a little bit and moved off, but not too far. It's nice to know someone is looking after my mom.

[cwcdesign]

We had artichokes with homemade ranch dressing and grilled chicken sausages.

[cwcdesign]

Joan, I’m sorry to hear about your sister. I hope she is able to be comfortable.

Tomatillos were on sale at Harris Teeter, so I made enchiladas verdes (a day early). My recipe is usually just cheese, but we had leftover grilled chicken so I shredded that to add to the filling. Will made tortillas on Sunday so we used some of those.it was really good and we have leftovers for tomorrow.

[cwcdesign]

I do like kale, but I only like the Lacinato (dinosaur) variety. It’s something I always buy organic and we’re growing it in the garden. We shred it for salads and toss it in dinners with sauce like the butter chicken meatballs we like. I think it is more tender than other varieties. I’ve tried making kale chips once and they were ok, but they don’t hold their crispness.

[cwcdesign]

Mike, you can always sauté the spinach and use it as a topping. Ours was fresh from the garden and Will may have just chopped and put it on without precooking - it was good.

[cwcdesign]

The only time I tend to use it is when I'm looking for an old Gourmet recipe - doesn't happen too often.

My sister uses it a lot but the change won't bother her as they don't eat meat anyway - mostly chicken and fish.

I wonder if part of what went into their decision was the data on recipe searches - maybe there were fewer meat searches, so they thought it could be a good decision. Who knows

• This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by cwcdesign.

[cwcdesign]

Will made pizzas tonight. His dough was really slack - he may have mis-measured. So he made thin crusts, parbaked them a little and then added the toppings. It worked well- everything was delicious. He made his own cheese blend of smoked Gouda, fresh mozzarella, cheddar and Colby jack. He made one cheese, one with sautéed vegetables, a spinach and artichoke and one with fresh tomatoes and bacon - anew favorite. They all had a little pizza sauce (homemade of course)

[cwcdesign]

Italiancook you could use a version of Jim Leahy’s No-knead pizza dough. The one I use from Baking Steel is a version - a long ferment in the fridge. Will’s sourdough pizza dough is from Alexandra Cooks and it’s a stretch and fold method. So you you could have pizza in the meantime.

I found my food processor at an estate sale here.

[cwcdesign]

I made a chicken salad from the leftovers of the pesto chicken and potatoes. Since the chicken was a little dry, I used some mayo, whole milk Greek yogurt, the rest of the whipped feta and some of the vinaigrette to bind it. It was good. Will had lettuce fresh from the garden, but I ate before he got home. I’ll have some tomorrow with our pizzas.

[cwcdesign]

Even here the weather has been off and on. Last week Will was getting discouraged because some issues were cropping up (hah) such as spots on the chard - he pulled those out, but he's been using neem oil, hydrogen peroxide and copper regularly to help prevent various diseases. I've tried to buy disease resisistan seeds then possible.

Last night his efforts were rewarded when he discovered the cherry and beefsteak tomatoes, the peppers and eggplants as well as the squash were fruiting!

We are starting the debate as to weather we want to continue with the community plot or just grow enough for us in planters at the house. There are so many variables including having all the owners of our plot working - each season, the work has seemed to fall on one of us and we love it, but . . . and then there's sometimes not enough harvest for everyone based on the amount of work.

[cwcdesign]

Way back when B&M (which was the only brand of baked beans to buy) had a Boston Brown Bread in a can, we always had with our hot dogs and baked beans. Butter and/or cream cheese on it was also part of the ritual. We never found another brand that tasted as good.

Mike, I love your idea of using the pan de pie pan and I'll have to try it. I really didn't want to get into steaming it.

[cwcdesign]

I tried a new recipe from HBH yesterday. Several components, but each one was easy. It was for a pesto chicken and lemon potato sheet pan dinner. It included a sun-dried tomato vinaigrette and whipped feta, both are really good and can be used in other ways. Only issue I had was that for some reason my chicken oozed a lot of liquid onto the sheet pan, not sure if it was from the marinade or the chicken being too close together. I also think it was a tad overcooked. Based on one review, next time I will grill the chicken but still roast the potatoes in the oven. It won't take any more time and the chicken will have a good texture on the outside and not be over cooked. It will also help keep the potatoes crispy.

[cwcdesign]

BA the recipe that I posted is so simple, and you can easily sub in just about anything. If you’re interested in a video. Baking Steel has a YouTube Channel. Andris gets a little scattered in his talking but I usually get really helpful information from the videos that is not in the recipe- they’re usually about ½ hour or less and he answers questions in the video and the comments

[cwcdesign]

I like your style Kimbob!

We had leftover pasta and other odds and ends from the fridge to clear them all out.

[cwcdesign]

Isn't that what potatoes are for - to cover with butter and sour cream?

I found a recipe for a one pot penne dish I really wanted to make, but didn't have all the right ingredients - I used WW elbows instead of regular penne and some Kerrygold Dubliner from the freezer instead of parmesan - it was still really good, but Will and I both agree that we'd like to try it with the "right" ingredients.

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