What's for dinner?

cd - meatballs and spaghetti is always good. You have quite a load at home with your kids and your mother.

pam - I haven't tried the smoked beef ones but I like all the ones I have tried. We must get a grill. Only gas grills/bbqs allowed here.

eva -I've never done fresh tuna though I have eaten it seared. Must try it. How do you prepare it?

Tonight was pan fried fresh salmon, tartar sauce, garlic herbed roasted baby potatoes, peas, wilted cucumber salad.

Golden,
Me too, love borscht as well,
and fresh salmon, big difference between fresh and frozen.
Today dinner is fresh tuna and quinoa salad and greek salad. Also will make banana bread with dates for hubby, his favorite.

Golden they were the smoked beef ones, they stay so juicy on the grill. I love all their flavors! They were great on the grill!

We had meatballs and spaghetti leftovers last night and my husband will make a fresh round today.

@Geaton

Borscht with the pork, sour cream and the pumpernickel bread. That's exactly how my MIL used to do it. Sometimes she'd get the marbled pumpernickel with rye. It was so good.

How do you do your pork? She'd do a pork shoulder. Boil that meat for a long time with bay leaves, salt and pepper then trim the fat and finish it in the oven with garlic and onion. It was delicious. I haven't had borscht with the pork in years.

Love borsht!

Ali - I've taken to only buying fresh salmon. I find there is a big enough difference between that and frozen salmon to make it worthwhile for me. it's one of my favourite foods!!! I buy a large piece and enjoy it both hot and cold.

Ali, I don't eat fish, but I defrost of my frozen meat, I thaw it by putting it in very cold water, in a sealed baggie, and change the water every so often. You could try that.

Lemon meringue cheesecake 🤤!!

reheated pizza :D

Lemon meringue cheesecake, mmmmm! I've never heard of that, but I love lemon and cheesecake.

Borscht, pork, sour cream... that sounds really good.

I made baked salmon tonight. Simple, easy, and always tasty. I've got to get better at defrosting the frozen fillets so they aren't soggy, though. The key is drainage and paper towels, I'm thinking. Lay them on paper towels on a rack in the frig instead of letting them thaw on a plate. Or I might start buying fresh instead of frozen. It's so convenient having a big bag of individual frozen fillets, though.

Borscht with pork and sour cream, with pumpernickel bread. Haven't made that in a long time... perfect for this cold and super rainy day.

Lemon Meringue Cheesecake

Rotisserie Chicken from Costco.

Golden,

Yes, the Italian sausage is so yummy! I make sausage and peppers over pasta for my Italian husband! So good 😊.

I can’t wait for my bell pepper plants to produce peppers 🫑.

Love Johnsonville sausages. They are allergy free for me. I especially like the hot Italian ones!!! Which ones is hubby grilling, Pam?

I fed R a good chicken dinner with gravy, quinoa, corn on the cob, cranberry preserves and a version of Greek salad. I wasn't hungry so I had warm milk with collagen powder and a few raw veggies. The Greek salad is out for me due to the feta.

Hubs is grilling Johnsonville sausage! Also we have fried potatoes and peas. Finally done with the pot pie!!

IRS Form 4868 in the U.S. is an extension to file
for those of us who just could not get it all done in time.

But the Pizza was great, arrived in only 20 minutes!

We have to celebrate something.

Quesadillas with fresh mushrooms, tomatoes, salsa. onion and cheese. Mom loved them.

Sometimes, it is not the cooks fault!
Differences in temperature, humidity, air pressure can change your recipe.
It is the science of cooking.

HUMIDITY
Changes in humidity can affect how cookies, cakes, breads, and other pastries turn out in a few different ways.
Dry ingredients (like flour, sugar, baking powder, etc.) can often absorb some of the extra moisture in the air when it’s humid and muggy. Experts say that removing a fraction of the liquid that a recipe calls for could help make sure that there’s not too much moisture in your dough.
A good rule of thumb if baking on a humid day is to start by removing a quarter of the total amount (so use 3/4 cup of liquid if your recipe calls for a full cup), and then add some of the moisture back in (one tablespoon at a time) if it looks like your dough or batter has not yet reached the ideal consistency.
You may also need to add on a few minutes to the overall bake time in order to remove the excess moisture. Start by adding an additional three to five minutes to the total cook time before checking to see if your product is done. If your cake or bread is still undercooked, keep adding time in two-to-three minute intervals until cooked through. For cookies, experts say to only add additional time in one minute intervals since they’re easier to overbake.
Another trick to prevent dry ingredients from absorbing excess moisture in the air is to store them in the fridge or freezer. If you choose to go this route, take them out about an hour before baking to allow the ingredients to warm up to room temperature.
Higher humidity also prevents baked goods from rising efficiently. Roseann Ximenez, owner of RX Baked Goods, knows this concept all to well. “If it’s really humid and we are making chocolate chip cookies, they will flatten out faster (instead of rising up more first) when baked,” Ximenez said.
AIR TEMPERATURE
Differences in air temperature can also impact how your treats turn out.
If your kitchen is hot, experts say that using chilled liquid ingredients can help slow the melting of butter or any other fats you may be using. Cooling the air temperature in your kitchen by closing the windows and/or turning on the air conditioner can help lower the amount of excess moisture in the air.
Chilling your cookie dough by placing it in the fridge can also help prevent the butter from melting faster, which can end up causing cookies to flatten out more when baking.
AIR PRESSURE
If you’re traveling to a location at a higher altitude to spend the holidays with family, your sweets and treats may turn out differently if baked there compared to here (author) in South Texas.
Air pressure falls as altitude increases, and can cause baked goods to rise easier and lose moisture quicker. As the rising process occurs at a faster rate, large bubbles can form in cakes and breads, creating a coarse-textured product. The pressure inside a quickly rising cake can increase so much that the cake bursts and then falls during the baking process.

Anxiety,

😋 Yummy! Verti Marte in the quarter has great sandwiches! When you come into town, check them out. They are on Royal Street.

Send,

That’s a good way to celebrate! Enjoy your pizza!

To celebrate filing IRS Form 4868, lol....
we ordered pizza from Toppers.

Cooked a corn beef brisket in crockpot, making Rubens for dinner.

The corn beef came out so nice and tender, hard to get a good Ruben.

Red beans and rice.

We like to support our local churches when they have carry out meals, and today we got chicken pot pie and country ham sammies! Got 4 quarts of slippery pot pie and 4 sammies, gave half to DD and her partner, so we will all be eating good for a few meals! Her partner is 6 foot 6 inches and that man can eat!! Country ham is hit or miss for me, sometimes it's too salty, but hubs said this is really good. And a very sweet man helped me carry it to my truck as my back is still iffy! Service with a smile..

Burnt,

I totally agree. Swiss meringue is the best and worth the effort!

Hm, Swiss meringue is very similar to the seven minute frosting my grandmother used with her angel food cakes, that's something I'll consider if I'm ever baking for someone I want to impress!

@cwillie

Use a Swiss meringue recipe and a kitchen torch to toast the peaks. Guarenteed it will be perfect every time.

Somewhere along the way I lost my ability do make the kind of meringue that tops so many pies - it shrinks, it deflates or it burns (or it does all three). I picked off the really burned bits (most of the peaks) and it was surprisingly okay, it tasted like campfire marshmallows.

cw,

One time I burned sweet potatoes with the marshmallow topping! Somehow the thing caught on fire.

LOL 😆 I had no idea that marshmallows were so flammable!

I think that I ended up scraping off the marshmallow topping. Even experienced cooks goof up once in a while.

Is your entire pie burned or just the top? Lemon pie is delicious. Sorry your pie was ruined.

I finally got around to making my lemon meringue pie and now my house smells like burnt meringue 😢

thx itrr. For sure as we get older it's all about achieving the same basic thing with less effort - working smarter not harder.

May God bless your day in a special way,

ETA All this talk of potlucks has brought back some great memories. I used to entertain - lots of people (mostly from work) and loads for food which I did myself. My policy was to cook till the first visitor arrived. I did the main dishes then experimented with new things in the last hours. and it was all good. People remembered my parties. The house was packed but it worked. Couldn't do it now. 😊