What did you make for dinner?

[Nuke]

if im making a stir fry and there are mushrooms in the fridge, im putting them in. they have a way of soaking up sauce that makes them delicious. 

[TheSaint]

I know, right? If it's Saturday pizza night at our house and there are no mushrooms it's cause for uprising. The kids shove me out the door and I'm not allowed back in the house until I can show them a pack of mushrooms.

14 hours ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

I grew up with mayo - or more correctly, Miracle Whip.  My dad's favorite topping for... Everything.

And, uh, I'm sorry to break this to you, but Miracle Whip != mayonnaise. And Miracle Whip does not cross the threshold of our home. (While we're at it, Cool Whip stays on the doorstep too.)

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

36 minutes ago, TheSaint said:

Miracle Whip does not cross the threshold

Anything in the MW - Mayo spectrum is banned by my wife. 

If my dad brings some over for a family meal, she very politely waits till he's gone to have me throw it out (she won't even touch the jar) 

38 minutes ago, TheSaint said:

pizza night

The problem is that you get 14 pieces of pepperoni and 7 pounds of mushrumps on any given pizza.  Them and black olives (my mother's favorite) are apparently sold for a dollar per ton vs the ounces of meat you get on a pie

[Nuke]

1 hour ago, TheSaint said:

I know, right? If it's Saturday pizza night at our house and there are no mushrooms it's cause for uprising. The kids shove me out the door and I'm not allowed back in the house until I can show them a pack of mushrooms.

And, uh, I'm sorry to break this to you, but Miracle Whip != mayonnaise. And Miracle Whip does not cross the threshold of our home. (While we're at it, Cool Whip stays on the doorstep too.)

il use cool whip in a pinch. in a town with two grocery stores its not uncommon to run out of things especially around the holidays. last thanksgiving i bought my whip cream 3 weeks in advance. the previous year i had to use cool whip because i didn't secure my supply. 

miracle whip on the other hand is disgusting,

[TheSaint]

1 hour ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

Anything in the MW - Mayo spectrum is banned by my wife. 

If my dad brings some over for a family meal, she very politely waits till he's gone to have me throw it out (she won't even touch the jar) 

My dad was the same way. No mayo in the house. It was weird.

1 hour ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

The problem is that you get 14 pieces of pepperoni and 7 pounds of mushrumps on any given pizza.  Them and black olives (my mother's favorite) are apparently sold for a dollar per ton vs the ounces of meat you get on a pie

Well, you see, that's why you have to make your own pizza. Then you get to decide what toppings go where and how much.

Olives are a divisive topic in our household. Thing #2 loves them. The spousal unit hates them. Everyone else is ambivalent.

[Nuke]

my sister made good pizza once. it was good because it was like one inch of crust/sauce, one inch of cheese, and 2 inches of toppings. most of which were meat various meats. there was 2 kinds of pepperoni, salami, 3 kinds of bacon (hickory, maple, and canadian), 4 kinds of saussage (pork, italian, moose and blackbear), hamburger, chicken, smoked salmon, wild mushrooms, onions, 3 different colors of bell pepper, black and green olives, and a few things i couldn't identify.

[TheSaint]

19 hours ago, Nuke said:

my sister made good pizza once. it was good because it was like one inch of crust/sauce, one inch of cheese, and 2 inches of toppings. most of which were meat various meats. there was 2 kinds of pepperoni, salami, 3 kinds of bacon (hickory, maple, and canadian), 4 kinds of saussage (pork, italian, moose and blackbear), hamburger, chicken, smoked salmon, wild mushrooms, onions, 3 different colors of bell pepper, black and green olives, and a few things i couldn't identify.

And, see, my pizza philosophy is that pizza is a flatbread. It's all about the crust. I spent a very long time getting my crust right. And since it is all about the crust, I don't over-top. I put down a layer of olive oil first. (To keep the sauce from making the crust soggy. Because it's all about the crust.) Then a thin layer of my wife's homemade pizza sauce. (Because the sauce is a condiment, not a course.) Then the topping, one per pizza. We usually split between pepperoni and mushroom pies, those are the favorites. Then a thin layer of mozzarella. Again, not too much, because if you put too much on it won't brown properly. Cooked in a hot oven on a stone until the cheese is GBD. We rarely have leftovers.

[Nuke]

leftover pizza? what are we, barbarians?

ive tried my own pizza but the results were not as good. it was pretty basic, i just did just pepperoni. my sister used frozen dough, but i made my own from scratch (i have some bread making experience). i thought i could save money over the local pizza joint. but i had 2 problems. one was that my oven doesn't get hot enough. the other was that i was spending enough on ingredients that it was cheaper just to leave it to the professionals.

 

 

[StrandedonEarth]

1 hour ago, Nuke said:

leftover pizza? what are we, barbarians?

ive tried my own pizza but the results were not as good. it was pretty basic, i just did just pepperoni. my sister used frozen dough, but i made my own from scratch (i have some bread making experience). i thought i could save money over the local pizza joint. but i had 2 problems. one was that my oven doesn't get hot enough. the other was that i was spending enough on ingredients that it was cheaper just to leave it to the professionals.

 

 

Yes, but for the ingredients you bought you could probably make a lot more pizzas. A 10kg bag of flour goes a long way. It also depends on what you bought.  Pre-shredded cheese and sliced pepperoni? Buy a big block of cheese and a big pepperoni sausage and shred/slice it yourself.

Granted, there’s the issue of using it all before it goes bad, and the pizza place has the advantage of buying in bulk. And I guess everything is more expensive in Alaska, especially fresh food. 

As an aside, we’ve found that leftover pizza reheated in the air fryer tastes just as good if not better than fresh-delivered. And pizza stones are awesome!

[Nuke]

22 hours ago, StrandedonEarth said:

Yes, but for the ingredients you bought you could probably make a lot more pizzas. A 10kg bag of flour goes a long way. It also depends on what you bought.  Pre-shredded cheese and sliced pepperoni? Buy a big block of cheese and a big pepperoni sausage and shred/slice it yourself.

Granted, there’s the issue of using it all before it goes bad, and the pizza place has the advantage of buying in bulk. And I guess everything is more expensive in Alaska, especially fresh food. 

As an aside, we’ve found that leftover pizza reheated in the air fryer tastes just as good if not better than fresh-delivered. And pizza stones are awesome!

i never use pre shredded cheese. its got so much corn starch in it that the cheese gets a gritty taste. i take my cheese seriously. that said i think i spent $18 for a 2 pound block. i had to go with pre sliced pepperoni as i couldn't get the whole sausage. sometimes i dont understand grocery store logic. they will have 6 brands of spaghetti sauce, each brand will have 8 flavors. 3 different brands of alfredo sauce (i make a mean chicken fettuccini), and 4 flavors each. then they will have one jar of pizza sauce, one brand, one flavor. im not so good at Italian sauces so i just buy it in a jar (and frankly reduced prego tastes better than the pizza sauce). i can end up making 2 medium sized pizzas for the price of ordering a large one. but our pizza joint is excellent. 

the big thing we cant get is produce. you can get it, but it has no shelf life an even if you eat it before it goes bad its not very good. things like citrus or melons barely survive a couple days. lots of stuff from california is especially low quality, stuff from washington is better. there is actually considerable farmland around anchorage and so a lot of stuff is grown in our state, its just the logistics from southeast alaska to the pacific us states is cheaper/faster and the goods are cheaper from there as well.

[StrandedonEarth]

2 hours ago, Nuke said:

its just the logistics from

Yeah, as a kid I lived in a remote mining camp/town in the Queen Charlottes Haida Gwaii where most stuff came in by barge. I suppose some stuff came in by Beaver, Otter, or the occasional Goose, but those three were mainly for passengers and probably mail. 

Powdered skim milk, never any fresh milk….

[TheSaint]

Made waffles with Bananas Foster topping today for breakfast. So delicious. Sorry, no pictures, they got eaten too fast.

[Nuke]

on mothers day i threw a couple rib steaks on the grill. now our grill is terrible, its one of those little camping grills that takes a coleman propane canister, less than 2 square feet of grill space and absolutely zero thermal control. i keep wanting to get a better one. had my eye on this beautiful hybrid grill that can do propane, charcoal or wood based on what you are cooking at the time (cedar grilled salmon is to die for). i could drop bank on that thing right now and it would show up in four to fourteen days. but mom keeps talking about moving up further up north. wanderlust was always a problem with that one. its why i was never able to cultivate meaningful relationships growing up and why to this day i still live out of cardboard boxes, im always 5 minutes with a tape gun from being packed and ready to go. being her care giver in her senior years has given me some sway and i really like how easy this small town is with everything being in walking distance. mom does have a valid point about being closer to medical care, being an hour from anchorage by road is a lot better than being 4 hours by plane. and we would move near where my sister lives so she can sometimes see some of the grandchildren. but i still hate moving because it means throwing away half my stuff now that i have a desk i like and work benches and some large power tools. not to mention our own washer and dryer (i hate doing laundromat runs and everyone seeing my underpants). not to mention knocking me back 10 years in accumulated projects. wait i was talking about meat...

beautiful meat, it almost cooks itself. but i did my usual light seasoning with onion powder, pepper and the slightest dash of garlic powder.  now these steaks were gargantuan, but i found a way to get both of them on the grill at the same time. mom likes hers well done. i mean my opinions on the matter are as follows:

but we make exceptions for family. so i made sure to start hers several minutes before i put mine on (rare of course). serve with a baked potato and grillin beans. i usually prefer ranch beans with steak as the grillin beans tend to be too sweet, but mom wanted them and thats all that matters. still i got to eat a ginormous perfectly marbled and delicious rib steak so i guess it works out for everyone involved.

Edited May 11, 2022 by Nuke

[TheSaint]

Well, I just got done pitting eight pounds of cherries. Later my wife will begin converting them into the best cocktail cherries in the world. Have to reup the supply so I can keep myself in Old Fashioneds for the next year.

[tater]

On 6/2/2022 at 8:47 PM, TheSaint said:

Well, I just got done pitting eight pounds of cherries. Later my wife will begin converting them into the best cocktail cherries in the world. Have to reup the supply so I can keep myself in Old Fashioneds for the next year.

recipe? Friends brought fresh cherries today.

[TheSaint]

49 minutes ago, tater said:

recipe? Friends brought fresh cherries today.

The original recipe, which we can no longer find on the Internet:

TLoe’s Maraschino Cherry Recipe

I make these cherries in small batches because I generally only need a few at a time. I store them in the refrigerator for up to 6 weeks rather than can them. I have instructions for water bath processing below, but the 25-minute process time does change the texture of the cherry somewhat (softer). So I rarely can them.

This recipe is for one pint-sized jar. You can easily double or triple the recipe if you wish to make more at a time. I tell you what to add to “each jar”, in case you are doubling the recipe.

Makes just 1 pint-sized jar

Ingredients:
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp, fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 cups fresh cherries

To each jar add:
• 1 small (or piece of) cinnamon stick
• 4 whole allspice
• 1/4 tsp. almond extract

1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine water and sugar. Heat until sugar is dissolved, stirring gently.
2. Set aside and let cool to room temperature.
3. Add lemon juice and vanilla and stir again.
4. Wash cherries, leaving on the stems.
5. Pit the cherries.
6. Add the cinnamon, allspice and almond extract to each jar.
7. Fill your jar with the pitted cherries, leaving a 3/4 inch headspace.
8. Pack the cherries in tightly without smashing.
9. Pour in the flavored syrup, leaving a 1/2 inch headspace.
10. Use a wooden skewer around the edges of the jar to dislodge any bubbles
11. Wipe the rim and place on the jar lid.
12. At this point, you can store the cherries in the refrigerator for up to 6 weeks or water bath process them for 25 minutes for longer storage. Just note that the water bath does change their texture a bit. They will darken and get softer.
13. Either way, the flavor will take at least 3 days to soak into the cherries and then they are ready to eat.

My wife's customization is that she also adds two whole cloves to each jar as well. We do can ours, we currently have 11 jars sitting in the pantry. They're still amazing.

[tater]

32 minutes ago, TheSaint said:

The original recipe, which we can no longer find on the Internet:

Cool, I have all that.

A quick recipe I found subs a little citric acid for the lemon juice, and for the alternate flavors subs about an ounce (per jar) of Luxardo maraschino liqueur—which the almond is there for in the above for sure, it has a sort of bitter, nutty flavor, not "cherry" really at all, very almond-adjacent.

[TheSaint]

1 hour ago, tater said:

Cool, I have all that.

A quick recipe I found subs a little citric acid for the lemon juice, and for the alternate flavors subs about an ounce (per jar) of Luxardo maraschino liqueur—which the almond is there for in the above for sure, it has a sort of bitter, nutty flavor, not "cherry" really at all, very almond-adjacent.

Yup. One of my wife's favorite cocktails is a shot of rye with a half shot of maraschino liqueur.

[tater]

44 minutes ago, TheSaint said:

Yup. One of my wife's favorite cocktails is a shot of rye with a half shot of maraschino liqueur.

Sort of an improved Old Fashioned with the luxardo as the sugar. Sounds good.

I just made 1 test jar each of 2 different recipes. One was the one you posted above, the second is my own take on 2 different recipes I found, largely based on the "Steve the bartender" youtube recipe with luxardo, but I made the simple with tart cherry juice to notch up the cherry flavor.

I think both are gonna be good.

[StrandedonEarth]

Kabobs!

On 6/2/2022 at 7:47 PM, TheSaint said:

Well, I just got done pitting eight pounds of cherries.

Hope you have a cherry pitter!

[Superluminal Gremlin]

i saw this thread, now im hungry.

I had a tuna pasta bake. Not sure if any knows what that is, its just pasta, tuna, pasta bake sauce, mushrooms and capsicum.

yum.

[TheSaint]

3 hours ago, StrandedonEarth said:

Hope you have a cherry pitter!

A well worn one, yes.

6 hours ago, tater said:

Sort of an improved Old Fashioned with the luxardo as the sugar. Sounds good.

I just made 1 test jar each of 2 different recipes. One was the one you posted above, the second is my own take on 2 different recipes I found, largely based on the "Steve the bartender" youtube recipe with luxardo, but I made the simple with tart cherry juice to notch up the cherry flavor.

I think both are gonna be good.

The best recipe is your recipe. Actually, strike that. The best recipe is always your wife's recipe. But yours is a close second.

[tater]

Most difficult part is waiting to taste them…

[TheSaint]

11 hours ago, tater said:

Most difficult part is waiting to taste them…

 

[kylieavery95]

On 2/11/2022 at 4:34 PM, tater said:

The pork keeps well in the fridge, you can scoop out as many servings as you need, instant tacos, whatever. Note since it has no seasoning except salt, you can play with it. You can, but don't have to crisp it—it's like pulled pork otherwise, which is also delicious. Add those sorts of flavors if you like, or add cumin, or smoked paprika, etc. Really versatile. Pork shoulder is cheap as dirt, too (for some reason called "Boston butt" in our grocery store).

My pico is some chopped tomatillos, chopped tomato, chopped red onion (all about the same size pieces, sorta small), some cilantro, chop a jalepeño or 2 and put it in there, and super fine mince a habanero as well (alternately use serano instead). Squeeze of lime juice and some salt. No idea how authentic it is, I just sorta made it up after years of eating pico here.

Wow Wow Wow