Any special cooking at your house today? Going out or expecting company?

Here it will be chicken and cornbread dressing along with mashed potatoes.
Undecided if it will include broccoli and cheese sauce or green beans. I'm
leaning toward green beans and a large plate will be shared with another
neighbor.

Dave, how did your cream puffs/eclairs turn out?

On 2024-03-31 12:52 p.m., ItsJoanNotJoAnn wrote:
> Any special cooking at your house today?  Going out or expecting company?
>
> Here it will be chicken and cornbread dressing along with mashed potatoes.
> Undecided if it will include broccoli and cheese sauce or green beans.  I'm
> leaning toward green beans and a large plate will be shared with another
> neighbor.

No dinner being cooked here because we are going to my brother's. His
wife is cooking one the dishes we have done for them and which they
loved, glazed peameal. Brunch was the big one for us today. My wife has
been on her Lenten fast so I made here a special treat. I made waffles
and fried up some side bacon and some peameal bacon to go with it.

> Dave, how did your cream puffs/eclairs turn out?

Well... I am not sure. I did say last night that everything was going o
easy, which I read as a harbinger of a problem. The instructions said
to book them 30-35 minutes so I set the timer for 32. They were nicely
browned...... but.... there was browned butter on the baking sheet which
seems to have leaked out of the cream puffs, and they didn't rise a lot.
I cut one in half and cut a little knob off one end of it. It tasted
fine. I think they are going to be okay. What the heck. They are cream
puffs and will be filled with whipped cream and topped with a chocolate
frosting. Who wouldn't like that even if they are a little different
than usual.

ItsJoanNotJoAnn wrote:

> Any special cooking at your house today? Going out or expecting company?

> Here it will be chicken and cornbread dressing along with mashed potatoes.
> Undecided if it will include broccoli and cheese sauce or green beans. I'm
> leaning toward green beans and a large plate will be shared with another
> neighbor.

Jumbo shrimp with cocktail sauce for an appetizer...

Then a small pork sirloin roast, baked tater, and asparagus on the menu...

Some Trader Joe's dulche de leche ice cream for dessert...

I've been getting most of me vittles via online/delivery from Wal-Mart, but I went to Trader Joe's Friday, and because of their decent quality and price point, will be going there more... they are pretty decent "value for money"...

Happy Easter, Joan - FYI I am currently lounging around in my BRIGHT pink bunny rabbit pajamas...!!!

:-D

--
GM

On 2024-03-31, ItsJoanNotJoAnn <ItsJoanNotJoAnn@webtv.net> wrote:
> Any special cooking at your house today? Going out or expecting company?

Nope. Just another day for us. I had vegetable soup, muenster cheese,
and bread for lunch. Dinner will almost certainly be salad with grilled
chicken on it.

--
Cindy Hamilton

Dave Smith wrote:

> On 2024-03-31 12:52 p.m., ItsJoanNotJoAnn wrote:
>
>> Dave, how did your cream puffs/eclairs turn out?

> Well... I am not sure. I did say last night that everything was going o
> easy, which I read as a harbinger of a problem. The instructions said
> to book them 30-35 minutes so I set the timer for 32. They were nicely
> browned...... but.... there was browned butter on the baking sheet which
> seems to have leaked out of the cream puffs, and they didn't rise a lot.
> I cut one in half and cut a little knob off one end of it. It tasted
> fine. I think they are going to be okay. What the heck. They are cream
> puffs and will be filled with whipped cream and topped with a chocolate
> frosting. Who wouldn't like that even if they are a little different
> than usual.
>
>
Did you end up cutting them in half as soon as they came out of the
oven like your wife wanted and then put them back in to dry out a
bit? Or did you wait a few minutes for them to cool??

On 2024-03-31 3:03 p.m., ItsJoanNotJoAnn wrote:
> Dave Smith wrote:

>> Well... I am not sure.  I did say last night that everything was going
>> o easy, which I read as a harbinger of a problem.  The instructions
>> said to book them 30-35 minutes so I set the timer for 32. They were
>> nicely browned...... but.... there was browned butter on the baking
>> sheet which seems to have leaked out of the cream puffs, and they
>> didn't rise a lot.    I cut one in half and cut a little knob off one
>> end of it. It tasted fine.  I think they are going to be okay.  What
>> the heck. They are cream puffs and will be filled with whipped cream
>> and topped with a chocolate frosting. Who wouldn't like that even if
>> they are a little different than usual.
>>
>>
> Did you end up cutting them in half as soon as they came out of the
> oven like your wife wanted and then put them back in to dry out a
> bit?  Or did you wait a few minutes for them to cool??

No. I did not cut them in half. I let them cool a little and cut one. It
was nicely cooked through so I figured there was no need to worry about
them being wet.

This afternoon she whipped some cream and made chocolate icing. I sliced
the in half and the cuts were nice and smooth and without distorting the
shells. I put a nice big spoonful of cream on the bottoms, replaced the
tops and then used a fork to put globs of the chocolate icing in top and
then the tines to drag a simple pattern.

Due to the time, we were committed to using these puffs. There are
dozens of variations of choux pastry so I figured I could not go too far
wrong. Never the less, I was compelled to eat one. I took the smallest
one and cut it in half and shared it with my wife. As it turned out, we
had no worries. It was excellent. It also turned out that the platter my
wife had selected was just the right size for the remainder. I had made
16, and I had trouble get number 15 on there.

On 3/31/2024 12:52 PM, ItsJoanNotJoAnn wrote:
> Any special cooking at your house today?  Going out or expecting company?
>
> Here it will be chicken and cornbread dressing along with mashed potatoes.
> Undecided if it will include broccoli and cheese sauce or green beans.  I'm
> leaning toward green beans and a large plate will be shared with another
> neighbor.
>
Nothing to do with Easter but I'm cooking braised lamb shanks with
barley. It's a lovely Spring day here, temps are close to 80°F but
there is a nice breeze and it's not humid outside yet.

Jill

In article <3c022fd92c1c4db05806c5abb767995c@www.novabbs.org>,
gregorymorrow@msn.com writes:
>Some Trader Joe's dulche de leche ice cream for dessert...
Good to know my screen reader didn't mispronounce "dulce"; it wasn't spelled
correctly.
I made a brazed boneless leg of lamb, some kouskous with chickpeas and my
first-ever ratatouille! The only shortcut from Julia Child's recipe I took was
not individually sauteing the eggplant, zucchini, squash and mushrooms. I
roasted them all, bagged them up for the next day, prepared the tomato sauce,
then blended unsalted butter with the Cuban mojo de ajo I always keep around.
That constituted the compound garlic&herb butter.
The resultss were, dare I admit, spectacular. Even after a second simmering in
the sauce, those roasted veggies held their structure without getting watery or
soggy. The lamb was exquisite the first day, but dried out upon reheating. It
also seemed oblivious to all my spices and yogurt in its marinade. It tasted
aas it wanted to tastte.
The chickpeas and kouskous got more salt than my mama thought appropriate, and
what I affectionately call "sofrito chino" (garlic, ginger, serrano chiles,
scallions and cilantro, soy sauce and sesame oil, blended to a smooth paste. I
envisioned it as a Wygur or some other Chinese Muslim minority would prepare
it, hence the Chinese aromatics and a swirled sauce of taahinni, lemon juice
and plain yogurt. My only error was initiating the saute in ghi and sesame oil.
The ghi's flavor was too strong.

Orlando Enrique Fiol wrote:

> Good to know my screen reader didn't mispronounce "dulce"; it wasn't
> spelled correctly.

LOL, I forgot you use one!

> I made a brazed boneless leg of lamb, some kouskous with chickpeas
> and my first-ever ratatouille! The only shortcut from Julia Child's
> recipe I took was not individually sauteing the eggplant, zucchini,
> squash and mushrooms. I roasted them all, bagged them up for the next
> day, prepared the tomato sauce, then blended unsalted butter with the
> Cuban mojo de ajo I always keep around. That constituted the
> compound garlic&herb butter. The resultss were, dare I admit,
> spectacular. Even after a second simmering in the sauce, those
> roasted veggies held their structure without getting watery or soggy.
> The lamb was exquisite the first day, but dried out upon reheating.

Glad it worked well! I've picked out a roasted dish to try once my
garden starts producing. That will be 2-3 months.

> It also seemed oblivious to all my spices and yogurt in its marinade.
> It tasted aas it wanted to tastte. The chickpeas and kouskous got
> more salt than my mama thought appropriate, and what I affectionately
> call "sofrito chino" (garlic, ginger, serrano chiles, scallions and
> cilantro, soy sauce and sesame oil, blended to a smooth paste. I
> envisioned it as a Wygur or some other Chinese Muslim minority would
> prepare it, hence the Chinese aromatics and a swirled sauce of
> taahinni, lemon juice and plain yogurt. My only error was initiating
> the saute in ghi and sesame oil. The ghi's flavor was too strong.

Ah, sounds lovely just the same!

Tonight, we are having a simple home made version of 'shake-n-bake'
oven fried chicken thighs matched with a home made version of 'stove
top stuffing' with a white pepper gravy and steamed bok choy with
butter. At 4:10 the dough will be ready for final hour rise then
baking so by 5:10 in oven and by 5:30 start the chicken. Dinner by
6:30. Lots of time to play in the interum.

On 4/4/2024 2:51 PM, cshenk wrote:
> Orlando Enrique Fiol wrote:
>
>> Good to know my screen reader didn't mispronounce "dulce"; it wasn't
>> spelled correctly.
>
> LOL, I forgot you use one!
>
>> I made a brazed boneless leg of lamb, some kouskous with chickpeas
>> and my first-ever ratatouille! The only shortcut from Julia Child's
>> recipe I took was not individually sauteing the eggplant, zucchini,
>> squash and mushrooms. I roasted them all, bagged them up for the next
>> day, prepared the tomato sauce, then blended unsalted butter with the
>> Cuban mojo de ajo I always keep around. That constituted the
>> compound garlic&herb butter. The resultss were, dare I admit,
>> spectacular. Even after a second simmering in the sauce, those
>> roasted veggies held their structure without getting watery or soggy.
>> The lamb was exquisite the first day, but dried out upon reheating.
>
> Glad it worked well! I've picked out a roasted dish to try once my
> garden starts producing. That will be 2-3 months.
>
>> It also seemed oblivious to all my spices and yogurt in its marinade.
>> It tasted aas it wanted to tastte. The chickpeas and kouskous got
>> more salt than my mama thought appropriate, and what I affectionately
>> call "sofrito chino" (garlic, ginger, serrano chiles, scallions and
>> cilantro, soy sauce and sesame oil, blended to a smooth paste. I
>> envisioned it as a Wygur or some other Chinese Muslim minority would
>> prepare it, hence the Chinese aromatics and a swirled sauce of
>> taahinni, lemon juice and plain yogurt. My only error was initiating
>> the saute in ghi and sesame oil. The ghi's flavor was too strong.
>
> Ah, sounds lovely just the same!
>
> Tonight, we are having a simple home made version of 'shake-n-bake'
> oven fried chicken thighs matched with a home made version of 'stove
> top stuffing' with a white pepper gravy and steamed bok choy with
> butter. At 4:10 the dough will be ready for final hour rise then
> baking so by 5:10 in oven and by 5:30 start the chicken. Dinner by
> 6:30. Lots of time to play in the interum.
>
Time for your invalid spouse to lick your asshole, while he still can.

--
--Bryan
For your safety and protection, this sig. has been thoroughly
tested on laboratory animals.

"Most of the food described here is nauseating.
We're just too courteous to say so."
-- Cindy Hamilton

In article <Plmdndy6R-gqmZL7nZ2dnZfqnPadnZ2d@giganews.com>, cshenk@virginia-
beach.net writes:
>Tonight, we are having a simple home made version of 'shake-n-bake'
>oven fried chicken thighs matched with a home made version of 'stove
>top stuffing' with a white pepper gravy and steamed bok choy with
>butter. At 4:10 the dough will be ready for final hour rise then
>baking so by 5:10 in oven and by 5:30 start the chicken. Dinner by
>6:30. Lots of time to play in the interum.

Sounds excellent! Play at what in the meantime? Do you bake your chicken at a
constant temperature or vary it? I like cranking the oven temperature past 400
for the first half hour to crisp up the skin, then drop it to 350 to finish
cooking it through. And, breast meat would dry out under such treatment.

Orlando Enrique Fiol wrote:

> In article <Plmdndy6R-gqmZL7nZ2dnZfqnPadnZ2d@giganews.com>,
> cshenk@virginia- beach.net writes:
> > Tonight, we are having a simple home made version of 'shake-n-bake'
> > oven fried chicken thighs matched with a home made version of 'stove
> > top stuffing' with a white pepper gravy and steamed bok choy with
> > butter. At 4:10 the dough will be ready for final hour rise then
> > baking so by 5:10 in oven and by 5:30 start the chicken. Dinner by
> > 6:30. Lots of time to play in the interum.
>
> Sounds excellent! Play at what in the meantime? Do you bake your
> chicken at a constant temperature or vary it? I like cranking the
> oven temperature past 400 for the first half hour to crisp up the
> skin, then drop it to 350 to finish cooking it through. And, breast
> meat would dry out under such treatment.

For the 'home made shake-n-bake' (leftover bread crumbs, lots of
seasoning, lightly mayo the chicken then dip in breading crumbs to
coat), 350 for about 35 minutes.

I rarely bake a whole chicken but I do use the rotisserie on them about
every 3-4 months. Dry rub for those. We have developed some minimal
uses for chicken breasts for stir frys but other wise it's either pet
food or chicken salad. We get mostly thighs and leg quarters which are
separared to thighs and drumsticks.

Right now, we have 6 frozen thighs (each in own ziplock inside a bigger
ziplock) in the freezer. Scored a family pack at 1.09lb. They are big
enough that 1 is a meal per person.

I have bread drying in a cold oven for crutons and crumbs. I made more
than we ate last week so I dry it to shelf stable and use it as needed.

On 4/7/2024 11:15 AM, cshenk wrote:

>
> I rarely bake a whole chicken but I do use the rotisserie on them about
> every 3-4 months. Dry rub for those. We have developed some minimal
> uses for chicken breasts for stir frys but other wise it's either pet
> food or chicken salad. We get mostly thighs and leg quarters which are
> separared to thighs and drumsticks.
>

I used to rotisserie a chicken often for many years. Then I tried one
spatchcocked. That has been the preference ever since. Takes about an
hour on the grill.

Most often now, it is bone in thighs.

On 2024-04-07 11:42 a.m., Ed P wrote:
> On 4/7/2024 11:15 AM, cshenk wrote:
>
>>
>> I rarely bake a whole chicken but I do use the rotisserie on them about
>> every 3-4 months.  Dry rub for those.  We have developed some minimal
>> uses for chicken breasts for stir frys but other wise it's either pet
>> food or chicken salad.  We get mostly thighs and leg quarters which are
>> separared to thighs and drumsticks.
>>
>
> I used to rotisserie a chicken often for many years.  Then I tried one
> spatchcocked.  That has been the preference ever since. Takes about an
> hour on the grill.
>
> Most often now, it is bone in thighs.
>

We used to use the spit on the gas grill and always had nice results.
Then I heard so much about spatchcocking that I had to give it a try and
it has become the default style.

If you want to give rotisserie another try, or if there is someone to
impress, you should try the Indian style chicken that I have done many
times and which my wife loves. Throw a good sized onion and a couple
cloves of garlic into a food processor or blender along with some salt,
pepper and a good dose of ground cumin. Whiz it up and then smear it
inside and all over the chicken and let it sit for an hour or two, Then
cook it on a spit in the BBQ and baste with melted butter. It is amazing.