Hi what's cooking, Monday July 23rd

[Tasty]

Good morning all

Tonight we will have the London broils we didn't eat last night.

Will come back later.  Going golfing this morning 🙂

[nybirder]

Good morning, all. It is very, very humid right now with a chance of hitting 85 later in the day. Goody! I discovered that the dehumidify setting on my portable A/C is good for this kind of weather. It isn't all that hot right now but I can dry off the air without turning the room into an icebox.

That single boneless pork chop finally got cooked last evening for supper in the Instant Pot. I'm going to do a separate post since I may experiment with this again later. For a first try, it wasn't bad but I think I can improve on the method.

I haven't figured out what I'll make for supper tonight. Whatever it is, I should use something from the freezer. I'm gradually clearing it out. I should check this morning and thaw something for the Instant Pot adventure series! LOL!

Have a good day, all.

Birdy

[redsoxmom]

Good morning. 

We are back from LA and UCLA orientation.  It went very well for dd and she enjoyed living on campus for a few days.  She has her class and she is very happy. 

Today is the first day of high school for youngest dd so we are off and running.  

Very bad heat wave starting today.  Should be 93 today and getting hotter until Thursday. 

Not sure what dinner will be yet.  DS and DDIL are joining us for dinner. 

I need to get dd to school so I need to run. 

Have a great day. 

Betsy

[wilderness]

Good Morning, I think. Tell you better if I really wake up. Worked last night and didn't get home until 10:30 after 8 1/2 hours on my feet. Got to be around midnight but couldn't fall asleep. Had to be up at 7:30 for Addison to arrive. Working tonight filling in for the other hostess and then my regular shift tomorrow night.

It was 68 here overnight and showers. The humidity is at 100% so not very comfortable. Birdy, like you 90% chance of rain and in 24 hours we got less than .2". This is suppose to go on until Saturday then be nice Saturday and Sunday but that is no help to me as I have to work both days. Even today my little weather station that I have is showing clear weather for today so it will probably turn sunny this afternoon the same as it did yesterday.

I have no plans to do anything today except help Addison with a sewing project. She is learning to sew and I surprised myself I do still have the patients for teaching and it has and it has been over 40 years since I taught school. Her ability to stay focused is limited so I have to take my time with her.

Betsy, glad your trip went well and DD enjoyed orientation.  I can't believe your DD is starting school already.  We don't go back t school until after Labor Day but then we don't get out until almost the end of June.  Our students are in classes  180 days a year.

Have a great day.

Bet

[marjo]

Glad to hear your DD had a good time at college Betsy. I am sure she will do very good there. I know we worry when away from home but sounds like it will be just fine for her. My twin DGGD's Left for Colorado yesterday to run. I hope they like the camp and will help them. But of course I worry they get there and back home safely!

My septic light came on Thursday and called the guy who put in this expensive thing but his health is not good now and did not think it was a pump in it. Will the light is still on as I shut off the siren that was screaming. So I called another guy to come and look at it. If it isn't one things its another!! I have hated this system after we spent $6,000 put it in. We did not have trouble with old septic system, another thing my DH did!! If you don't have trouble with it why fix it??

I have things out to make some more Strawberry/Rhubarb jam. My DS will be coming next month and I want to send some home for them to have in the freezer. It is too easy to make so no troubles to do. I need to get out and pull the last of rhubarb too. I might do that this morning. It is cloudy out and would be a good time to do it.

Bet you are going to wear yourself out. Not getting to sleep after you get home does not work either. Is hard to wind down after working that hard. When we went out Friday night I had reservations for 6:30 we had to wait outside for awhile. It is in old depot station rooms are small and they pack it tight. Such wonderful food now I hear its for sale so that will be the only place good to get a good meal. Feel sorry for the gal she has been a worker and can hardly walk her hips are so bad. Her DH is so lazy too. She works at the Care Center every day then restaurant Wed. thru Sat. nights.

Take care everyone.

Marlene

[marjo]

The guy was just here and he said pump was not working. So he put in new pump and hope it fixes the problem! So now I know who to call that Gary can't do it. I hope for the best for Gary as his days are numbered he is on Hospice now too. So Jan has her hands full too. He has always done my water problems and always done good. Now will have to be this new guy which he seems to be fine too. Our times change and is hard to get started with someone new but has to be.

Marlene

[annrms]

Afternoon, friends! It's soupy muggy here with alternating sunshine and showers. Went on a grocery run after attending the senior center. Just finished making a batch of Easy Gazpacho. Went into the cabinet where I store onions and potatoes and smelled something awful...yep...a rotten potato. DH took over since I was busy chopping and the container is now all cleaned up. Nasty!!!
Tonight we are having ratatouille, grains, and leftover pork and beef.
Time to get back into the kitchen; will check in later.

[tamaralynn]

Good Afternoon!

Betsy, so glad your trip went well. It sounds like she will settle in well.

I have brownies baking now, and hopefully I will get more cake balls made this afternoon. I had thought of going to the coffee shop, possibly also going to see Helen, but DH sent a message to the rv repairman who installed that bedroom ac back in March, so he said he will stop by, so I may be housebound all day. None of my errands were critical, so staying home today is ok. So far I have an open week for the mostpart. A lady at church is having some ladies over for lunch and a dvd on Wednesday. I need to come up with a hostess gift for her.

DH came home for lunch, but decided to eat leftovers from the Care center instead of leftovers at home! They were having chicken fried steak. I had leftovers from my supper last night. We went to a new place (new to us) that is located on the lake. DH got chicken fried steak there and said it was good. I had beef tips over rice.

Bet, sewing is a good skill to have. I hope you sleep better tonight.

Ann, rotten potatoes do stick terrible! Glad that is all cleaned up.

I bought some boneless beef rib meat, I plan on cooking it in the Instant Pot. Not 100% sure what I wil do but I'll come up with something.

There is my timer going off...must run. Have a good afternoon!

[nybirder]

Tammy--I'll be interested to hear how your beef turns out.

I decided at the last minute to clear out some more from the freezer and found three chicken thighs that needed to be used. My mother's cacciatore recipe uses thighs so I thought I'd try adapting the recipe to the Instant pot. The sauce is made with tomato paste which I was afraid would be a little too thick to use for the steam pressure, so I cooked it Pot in Pot in a stainless bowl on top of the trivet. I had to brown the chicken and vegetables in a frying pan before putting them in the cooker. The sauce is thinned with water in the original recipe so I cut that down to be thicker since the chicken juices would thin it a bit.

Other recipes cook thighs for 10 minutes but I think having them close together in the inner pot slowed it down a bit. Plus, one thigh was much larger and may not have been totally thawed. To make a long story short, I had to put them back in the pot a couple of times and bring up to pressure for a minute or two until they tested 165° or over with an instant thermometer. Next time, I'll have to figure out a better placement in the inner pot. The sauce was pretty thick, too, so I'll thin it out when I reheat them. All in all, it seemed to work out well. I can easily take a couple of hours fussing with that recipe made the old way and this only took half that time from start to finish.

It's icky sticky here, too, Ann. They say it's 85 but my reading is 90 at the house--with no sun. The air is just plain soupy. It's hard to understand how this could be when we haven't had any rain today at all, unlike some other places around here. These pop-up showers are missing this part of the state constantly--and we really do need the rain. I do some chores in the house and then come and sit in front of the A/C for a while before going back to finish them. The humidity is just plain awful. 

Nothing worse than a rotten potato. I had one roll into one of my bottom cabinets and get missed--until I smelled it and had to hunt for the source. Ach!

Now that I've spent that time fussing with the cacciatore, I don't have much appetite. So it's stored away for tomorrow. I think a BLT would taste good for supper--and it's easy.

Have a good evening, all.

Birdy

[helen]

Popping in to say hi. We have several rooms sorted, several more to go. Another showing tonite so we had crab legs at Outback. Yum. I am beat. Sweet dreams.

[cooktocook]

Another quick hello friends.  I made chicken with mushrooms and a roasted potato and zucchini casserole for dinner. 

Lori

[emr]

Popping in before I head off to bed. DH & I celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary with a nice dinner out. Tell you about it tomorrow!

[Tasty]

35 years - congrats to you both, Elza 🎂 🍾.