Happy New Year! Here's to more great eats no matter what the year throws at us.

Saving my space here and wishing everyone a very happy new year!

Happy new year ..may we all have good eats.

Good Morning all,

Happy New Year to all. Sounds as if we all celebrated well with lots of good food and friends. The husband and I just cozied up on the couch, sipped champagne and watched t.v. until 10:30 last night. Neither of us were particularly hungry so just nibbled on some cheese and crackers and had shrimp cocktail. Did save a little of the champagne for Mimosas this morning.

Cold and rainy here this morning. Have to go out and re-cover the plants. We will be making Chinese food today. Pics to come later.

Happy Day All.
AG

Happy New Year to all. Keep posting those tempting photos for everyone to enjoy.

Happy New Year everyone!!🥂 Wishing you all good health, happiness, and good eats in 2022!

Tom, I agree about that photo of Bell, it is adorable, she is a beautiful cat.

I took a lazy day, dinner was grilled cheese and tomato soup, it was delicious!

Today we are having dinner at my sister and BIL house, I sure hope they serve a decent meal this year that we don't have to suffer through like the past couple of years.

JB, thanks for posting, we were getting worried about you. Sorry about all the food going to waste, hopefully your pate will taste delicious despite being frozen.

Here is the sweet spicy dry rub or coating? recipe it is from Dinner at the Zoo



Put a little oil on boneless chicken thighs and a good sprinkle of this and mushed em around, probably wanted more on top once on the baking sheet. Half hour at 400 convection oven

Eggs Benedict and Bloody Marys make for a nice way to begin the New Year 🙂

Wow, Sean, nice brekkie, with hashbrowns? I had a blueberry scone with my homemade ginger, lemon pear jam.

Sean.. wow. Nice.

I think it was warmer here today than for AG.
Mid 50s and the rain stopped. Was very damp almost foggy but I was glad to get outside.
My first ever cinnamon raisin version of sourdough biscuits is a success. Less successful (but stopped the whining) was a quick dinner with ramen noodles, shrimp, frozen peas and carrots. Kind of a Ramen Helper dinner .

Leftover beef stew. temps dropping to below zero tonight so good for the bones.

Freshly cooked meat loaf. But I have enough for 6 more meals. I bought a family pack of extra lean ground beef a couple of days ago. I have two small loaves and one large one which I will cut into 4 pieces. All ready to grab from the freezer for a fast meal. Plus we ate a third small loaf for dinner along with corn.

We WILL indulge later in a piece of the Christmas cheesecake which has been in the freezer.

A lot of good food going on all around.

I made Creole seasoned shrimp and rice for dinner tonight. Sipping some Riesling and watching the snow fall. Very windy today from the North, and temps falling all day. Heading into a cold week here with lots of wind.

Margaret, yes, with hashbrowns.

We remain on the mild side for another day, then it's the cold, but then relief. See-saw weather.

Tonight was a riff on Vietnamese-style porkchops (a NY Times recipe). It's basically a lemon grass, garlic, honey, oil, soy marinade. Roasted cubed potatoes and Brussel sprouts with blistered tomatoes on the side. We both enjoyed it. Farm House Red.




BTW... @Newyorkrita, @critterologist, @JBarstool, we're here now. ;-)

Good evening all,

Sounds like we all had a good day and a good start to the New Year.

It is cold and miserable here. High today was about 48 but we had such fierce winds they said it felt more like it was in the 30s with the wind chill. It will be just as cold if not colder tonight and tomorrow night. Re-covered my plants and had to duct tape the covers to the pots to keep them on in these winds! Good news is we will warm up and dry up by the end of the week. Just have 2 days of this to put up with.

Sean...Beautiful English Breakfast. That's fit for Downton Abbey!

Margaret...lemon, ginger, pear jam sounds like something I would be most interested in! Would you please post the recipe for me if you don't mind?
My favorite tea, that I drink almost daily, is a lemon-ginger flavor. I also just love pears cooked (not raw) especially with ginger and other Asian flavors. It sounds interesting.

Sally...Yes, you are right. You probably are warmer and drier than we are right now. Winters here were always weird. Either we are super dry, arid, cold and frigid or we are warmer and it rains a lot. No happy medium. It has been forever since I've seen fog. I know it is dangerous to drive in but I still think it is cool. I'd love to see it again. Last time was when I was in London. That was a long, long time ago.

Ann....Glad you made some good meatloaf. YUM! Always a winner meal. That sounds good and I just may have to make some soon.
Good for you for making some 'grab-n-go' meals for later days. I love having them on hand for busy days or just when I am running short on time, idea, or ingredients.

Amanda...Beef stew, Oh big yum! I love it and need to make more for the freezer so I can have for later days.

Sounds like easy meals and Asian inspired were the choices for today. YUM! We had Chinese food. It was most excellent. Menu was Asian style BBQed pork spare ribs, steamed broccoli, won-ton-soup and the appetizer was pan fried pork and vegetable filled mini dumplings.

Appetizers were 6 mini won-tons pan fried. I made a soy sauce with ginger, lime, cilantro, scallion, sesame seed and chili to be used as a dipping sauce. We had this about 45 minutes before dinner.


Since I had home made chicken stock on hand (from former deli chicken) decided to use that. Also had leftover Shiitake mushrooms and onions from the omelet the other day. Tossed that in a pan with some garlic, baby bok choy and grated carrot. Sautéed a bit before adding to the stock and some extra water. Let boil a minute or so and then reduced to a simmer. Added the mini dumplings and let cook about 7 minutes or so before serving up with more cilantro, soy sauce and sliced green onions. ,


The ribs were exceptional. Just as good as any Chinese restaurant. The husband outdid himself on these! Big yum and just enough. Some left over for tomorrow.


Sides were the soup of course and some steamed broccoli with a sprinkling of cayenne and coriander. Very good and lovely side. The crisp greenness was a nice contrast. I opted for a nice glass of crisp white. My newest favorite the Ménage et Trois "Limelight". Complimented the Asian flavors well.



This was a lot fancier than what we had yesterday and definitely most excellent. It was also a great way to have 'pork, cabbage and some form of noodles' for the New Years! Like this 'version' a whole lot better than the traditional Eastern European fare I grew up on , I must admit. Still made me feel good I could squeeze in a tradition but give it a new twist.

Hope all have a good night and good eats.
AG

Hi Yall!

Happy 2022 to All!

Thanks for well wishes and birthday blessings!

I enjoyed the 2021 messages, and tasty treats!
I enjoyed the food and fotos!
Also enjoyed the side stories about weather and holiday celebrations!

Whoever said you can hide behind computer screen is wrong!
You all figured me out just about right!

Sally, you were right that I haven't done much cooking!
And no internet connection on the road!

AG, fortunately, it wasn't work that was overwhelming,
it was December! I thought I had 2 extra days off to
visit family in TX. Though boss said she needed me to
come to work. We made a U turn and came home.
So I understand the work schedule.
Thank-fully, I saved vacation time and put $ in the bank!
Mr. TT would have been glad to see his brothers.
Though they talked plenty on phone and stayed healthy!

Mom and I enjoyed our birthday visit!
She was happy that in her 80s she is still healthy
to donate blood.
We were happy that we are healthy
to make blood donation gifts!
The blood center provided movie tickets.
So we enjoyed family movie outing to American Underdog!

While at Mom's house, I learned a new slow cooker recipe to share!
I didn't get her exact recipe, though she made modifications.
I found a recipe that is similar for a spicy cheesy broccoli soup!
She thought her soup was too "brothy". and added condensed soup.
This recipe uses cornstarch.
Also, mom's recipe added shrimp. She had frozen Gulf shrimp.
I said I could have brought fresh shrimp to her!
When the shrimp was slightly defrosted, she cut them with scissors,
adding the shrimp pieces to the cheesy soup. Flavors blended well!

I think she forgot about having hungry travelers come to visit.
I kept refilling our bowls.
I heard her tell her friend she didn't have extra soup to share.
That she would make more soup to share after we left!

She used mild Rotel tomatoes, still plenty of spice.
In fridge I saw WM brand of cheese similar to Velveeta.

When I saw her replenish the slow cooker,
this healthy? spicy soup looks easy to make
and a perfect warm-up for these cool/cold days.

She used Rotel tomatoes, melted cheese,
frozen broccoli, chicken broth and shrimp.
Her friend says you can add crawfish.
I thought potatoes will be tasty in cheesy soup!

Here is a link to a similar recipe without shrimp.
the recipe looks like it is cooked on stove.
mom had hers in crock pot so it was easy to heat and eat!

Spicy Broccoli Cheese Soup (with Shrimp)

Ingredients: (You can add frozen shrimp, cut in smaller pieces if desired)

2 Tablespoons cornstarch (I use organic cornstarch, due to GMO's – you can find it at your local grocery in the same section just look for NON GMO)

1/4 cup cold water

4 cups reduced sodium chicken broth (convenient 32 ounce box is exact measurement)

1 (10 ounce) can Ro-Tel (you can use mild if you do not want it too spicy)

1 (10 ounce) box of frozen broccoli cuts (cut larger pieces into bite size)

1 (8 ounce) package Velveeta cheese, cubed (you can use 2%)

Directions:

In a bowl, mix cornstarch with 1/4 cup cold water and set aside.

In a large saucepan, over high heat, combine chicken broth and Ro-Tel and bring to a simmer.

Add broccoli and cook until tender (about 5 minutes).

Reduce heat to low.

Add cheese and stir until melted.

Slowly add the cornstarch and cook until soup is slightly thickened, stirring frequently.

You can always omit the Ro-Tel if you don't want any spice, but my motto is always to live life with a little spice!

Enjoy!!!

source: http://www.crockpotempire.com/...

Hi TT, happy to see you posting, sorry your time off was cut short. Sounds like you had a nice visit with your Mom.

Sounds and looks like really good eats tonight.

We survived dinner at DS & BILs, it was actually pretty good tonight. We had roast pork, BIL asked for my opinion on the doneness of the roast, a few pointers and it turned out perfectly cooked with a hint of pink, apple sauce, smashed potatoes, can't say they were mashed as they were rather lumpy, mixed peas and carrots, green beans cooked pretty good, again with a little help from me, and sweet potato, everything needed more salt, and I am not a big salt person. Dessert was Tuxedo cake with ice cream. We had very warm white wine before dinner, and a warm Syrah (Shiraz) with dinner, he is not a big wine drinker, he keeps his wine over the stove.

Here are a couple pix of my goodie table for our first "enlarged deck party".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

I'll comment on everyone's' food and goodies later. Was doing some cleaning and heard it on the radio. Forgot how excellent a song this was so I thought I'd share it. I thought we could all use it.

Definitely a low calorie function, Anna.

Tonight I roasted a chicken thigh and leg on a bed of potatoes, carrots and onions, all seasoned with rosemary and garlic. It was very good. I shared some of the chicken with my dear Lylah as it was quite a large portion. Of course Riesling was the accompanying wine. I didn't share that with her though.