Saturday, August 4th What's Cookin'

[annrms]

Morning! Flash flood warnings are in effect today. Looks like Bet and Birdy are getting the brunt of the heavy rain right now. Stay safe! Chris, you will be next!!!
Back later...time for Saturday breakfast with mom! Waving! Please welcome browneyedbaker who posted yesterday.

[marjo]

Welcome Browneyedbaker! I am from IA. and live on a farm. Now with just my cat, Red. DH passed away 3 years ago. Hope you join in with us. Thank you Ann for starting us today.

I have been up a long time only because my buddy wanted me up! It is raining a little and they say will be more on Monday as we have not got much today.

I am going to have a pedicure and manicure today. I am taking Chuck and Linda out for supper tonight. So hope the food will be good for all of us. They like fish and I will eat Shrimp and Lobster so will see on the price of lobster? They worked so hard on helping me clean out house of folks. It would still not be done for me if I had not had the help I had. Thank God for good friends!!

Everyone take care and have a good week end!!

Marlene

[cooktocook]

Good morning and hello to all.  Today we are celebrating National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day.  This got me wondering...I use the recipe on the back of the Nestle chips when I make them, but was just curious if anyone uses a different recipe?  Do you add any other/special ingredients to your recipe from those listed?  9/10 times I add nuts--pecans--haven't used walnuts since moving south 35 years ago.

Thanks Ann for starting us off today.  Hope you and your DM had a good visit during breakfast together.

Welcome to browneyedbaker.  Hope you'll stop in often to post with us.  On the old TOH site I also went by cooktocook.

It's going to be another blazing day here.  It 6AM it was already 80* with a feel like of 87*.  We are on our way to 95* which will make us feel like 105* or better today.  After DH gets out of work at noon, he plans to cut the lawn.  Hope he'll use the riding mower today, but it's still going to be mighty hot and uncomfortable.

I got an early start on my cooking today.  I have a pot of split pea soup on the stove and before that I made up some egg salad for sandwiches at lunch.  Getting ready to go prep my meat and veggies for another pot of soup--Chicken Vegetable.  I think with two big pots that will take care of DH's lunches for a few weeks.

Planning to make Chinese for our dinner this evening.  At Lucky's Market I picked up some fresh Island Vegan Rolls (spring rolls) that are made locally.  To that I'll make some fried rice to use up the leftover pork roast that I pulled from the freezer.  Dessert will be grilled peaches with vanilla pudding.

Off to the kitchen I go.  Have a great day everyone.

Lori

Hi Marlene.  Yes, you are blessed with great friends--they do so much for you, but you do so much for them in return.  Hope you have a good time together at dinner.

[redsoxmom]

Good morning. 

I am up early to do some laundry and start cooking for tomorrow.  I need to clean the downstairs and then I will be ready.  My dd's will decorate.  

Lori, I make a CC cookie recipe that I have adjusted over the years. I have tried many, many and finally settled on my own and adjusting to the recipes to have the result we wanted. I am working on a recipe cookbook for my son and his wife for Christmas.  My dd heard me say that the other day and she wants one, too.  

Birdy, thank for the recipe. What a great idea to make potato salad in the Instapot.  I am using mine today to make the meats for the sliders.  Hopefully I will remain calm. :)

Welcome, Browneyedbaker. I am in CA, too.  What part do you live in?  I am in San Diego. 

We are eating out today since I have a lot to do. 

Waving to all. 

Betsy

[nancycooksnj]

Good morning friends.

Ann, We are having the same weather. Our phones were going off alerting us that there was a flash flood warning in effect until 10:45. As for the 50th wedding party your attending, at least you don't have to get dressed up too fancy. I did pick up the Blue Bloods cookbook yesterday but will look through it today. I will let you know if I see anything good.

Speaking of Blue Bloods, I was watching an episode yesterday and Linda Reagan made scalloped potatoes. I think our dinner tonight will consist of that and maybe pork chops.

Helen, Your new purse sounds cute.

Lori, It's funny you mentioned split peas yesterday. Last night I had a dream that I was working back the deli and my boss told me to write on the board "split pea soup". LOL have no idea why I had a dream about that and I didn't see your post until this morning. The strange things I dream about .

Elaine, Halloween in August?

Tammy, Happy to hear your battery was charged and that your car is working again.

Welcome brown eyed baker. I am Nancy and I've lived in N.J. all my life. Visiting California is on my bucket list especially getting on The Price Is Right! I was on TOH of home as well and I went by Nancy_NJ.

Last night DH and I ate out at one of usual places. For an appetizer we split sausage, potatoes, broccoli rabe and sausage. He had a grilled chicken sandwich and I had a cheesesteak.

Enjoy your day.

Nancy

 

[wilderness]

Good morning. 65 and sunny but the humidity is still at 100% I don't think it has been below 90% in about 2 weeks. I stop by and read every morning but don't usually have time to chat and by evening I am too tired to even read lately.

Nothing much new here. Just work and kids Also trying to get weeding done but it seems it rains on the days that I could be outside working. We haven't gotten a lot of rain but just enough to make it rather uncomfortable trying to work in wet weeds.

Need to start getting ready for work.

Have a great day.

Bet

[tamaralynn]

Good Morning !

Welcome browneyedbaker. It's nice to have you join in. I am a baker too. I bake for a local coffee shop. Because I do not have a commercial kitchen (in fact, I live in an rv), we can't sell the baked goods outright for profit. We sell them as a fund raiser for our church. Sort of like a bake sale. I am married (for 49 years), we have 3 sons and 8 grandkids. We live in eastern Texas.

Today is almost a perfect Saturday morning. I am sipping coffee, watching my cooking shows on the food network. I am in no rush to get anything done. Our 1 remaining ac is working, thankful for that. We will be in the high 90's today. DH said the ac repairman will be coming Tuesday. Hopefully they can fix it and won't have to order parts, but it may be that the entire unit will need replacing. It should be covered under warranty. To make my morning perfect, I would need donuts. However we will stop on the way to church tomorrow since our friend is out of town and won't be riding with us.

I think I saw the owner of the house next door over there last night, so hope to hear from him today about coming over and taking another look at the house and getting to see the garage apartment.

I will have to make a quick run to the store, but other than that I just plan on doing some baking today for the event at the coffee shop on Wednesday. Actually, I can make some no bake cookies and hospitality pie without turning the oven on. Those are things I can make and freeze. I will also make some individual tiramisu, but not today. Did I mention that I use the store bought shortcakes instead of ladyfingers? I can't find ladyfingers in this podunk town, but the shortcakes work great! Next week there is a trip planned to Huntsville (Texas not Alabama). We will visit a local museum, have lunch, and shop at a mega size store that just opened recently.

I'm watching Trisha's show and I wish she would stop with all the alcoholic drinks. I want to see food and recipes, not mixed beverages. It seems like she has to make a drink every single week. Probably not that often, but it seems like it to me.

I hope Chris is enjoying her get away.

Marlene, enjoy your meal out. My favorite thing at Red Lobster is the cheddar biscuit!

Lori, I use the recipe on the package, too.

Birdy, thanks for sharing the recipe. It sounds good. I will have to pop over to yesterday's thread and copy it.

I have a pound of ground beef that must be used today. I am not certain what I will do with it. I have buns, so it may be cheeseburgers. I will let you know tomorrow (if I remember). Byeee!!

[annrms]

Back! So far no rain, but a little further south on the MA-CT border moving towards Boston, there are tornado warnings.
DH and I just finished the weekend housekeeping chores, and I'm now watching the Cooking Channel's Food: Fact or Fiction? Cooks are making a cake getting directions ingredients and directions from the Bible!!! Fun! They also talked about Ezekiel bread!
Tonight we are having Pork Stroganoff. I looked up a recipe and just pre-cooked the main ingredients. I don't use paprika in beef stroganoff, and this recipe calls for regular sweet and hot smoked. So, looking at what I have prepared already, it is more like a Hungarian Goulash or similar, I think. At any rate, it has a nice aroma. I will reheat and finish adding the ingredients...lemon juice, sour cream, pepper and salt, to taste. We are having it with porcini flavored noodles and steamed broccoli.
Nancy - I just found a website with 7 Blue Bloods recipes...I like the look of the Brussels Sprouts and Roasted Potatoes! LINK I would never splurge on a Crown Roast of Lamb again...I did once, and there was so much fat and so little meat that I was very disappointed! I do like Crown Roast of Pork, though! When I make pea soup, I add more veggies...rutabaga, parsnips, and potatoes. Oh, and I found "Frank Reagan's Mother's Day Mash"...drooling on that one!! LINK
Lori - Does soaking the split peas reduce the cooking time of the soup? I've never thought of doing that.
Marlene - Enjoy your lobster or shrimp dinner!!!
Betsy - Hope you have a good dinner out.
Bet - Good to see you.
We've had to turn on the lights; it's really dark outside. Best batten down the hatches! Waving!
PS: G'day Tammy! Oh, hope the AC is fixable! That's neat that there is a garage apartment; hope you get the guy to sell the house to you and DH. I don't know why this popped into my head, but what about Marlene's Iowa Loose Meat Sandwiches using that burger!?!?!? It seems that many cooking shows now have a featured mixed drink...most of them don't appeal, though!!!

[emr]

Good morning! It's a beautiful sunny morning here in upstate SC, very welcome after a full week of rain and thunderstorms.

DH & I are going to get out and have a "goof-off" day (his words). I need to clean the house and buy groceries, but that can be done later. Once the semester starts, he will be busy with grading.  I realized if he wants to spend the day with me, I should just be glad and enjoy the opportunity to do that while we can! So I think we are headed out to shop, eat, and go to the movies.

Welcome to browneyedbaker! I was emr on the TOH boards but my name is Elza. I live in a small town in the upstate of South Carolina with my DH. He teaches at the university here in town. We have 2 grown sons, both grad students, one in NC and one in southern Indiana. They are coming next week for a visit and I am really looking forward to that. 

[Tasty]

Good morning all.  Welcome browneyedbaker!  Nice to have you join us.  I live in Ontario, in a little town on  the lake that just blossoms in summer but is very quiet in winter.

I've had a busy morning so far - 4 loads of laundry, some banking for us and some for Mum too.  I also cleaned out the fridge and pulled out all the zucchini and got them grated ready for zucchini bread.  The breadmaker is also working hard this morning and I'm grabbing a few quiet minutes while it finishes its cycle.

We picked up frozen chicken breasts (the healthy ones not pumped up with sodium) from our friend and also got a whole chicken that hubby will bbq later on.  Potato salad and a green salad with h/g tomatoes will round out our meal.

It's very humid here but no sign of rain unfortunately.  Have a great w/e 😎

[emr]

So far ... we saw the movie "Eighth Grade" -- as DH said, it was "painfully good." Hard to watch in many ways, as it brought back all that teenage middle-school angst, but a really well made movie. 
Had a late lunch at the Flat Rock Grill -- DH had a club sandwich & fries, and I had plum sauced chicken thighs, served with black beans & rice and fried plantains. Since we were there fairly late, the chicken was overcooked, but I still enjoyed my meal. The sauce was very tasty and I loved the fried plantains.
We went to Trader Joes, so I got to stock up on marinara sauce, dark chocolate, and those tiny little frozen green beans that I love. Also picked up frozen stir-fry vegetables and freeze-dried Honeycrisp apple chips.
Now I've got laundry started and will get some cleaning done in a bit. A good day.

[cooktocook]

Ann, IMHO, yes, I think soaking dry beans overnight in water does indeed reduce the cooking time.  My Grandmother and Mother always soaked them so it 's always been a given for me.  I saw last year that the husband to my niece soaked dry black beans.  When I questioned him about it he said that was what his Grandmother and Mother back in Mexico had taught him.  On another note, years ago while waiting for a doctor appointment I also read that the soaking of the beans helps to reduce the gasy feeling some experience with eating beans.

Since I was making soup today, I made a nice big batch of vegetable broth using a bag of assorted veggies I've been saving up all winter.  Between the two soups and all the broth, I filled up an entire smaller shelf in the freezer.

Elza, sounds as if you had a lovely afternoon with DH.

Tasty, bar-b-q chicken sounds yummy.  Hope you got your breads all baked today.

Tammy, did you get another chance to look at the house next door?  Is it what you and DH are looking for?

Nancy, did you make the Blue Blood scalloped potatoes?  If so, hope they were good.

Bet, hope the day at work went quickly for you.  Hope the next free day you have that the rain won't fall and you can get your weeding taken care of.  DH and I need to work on that here too, but with the heat it's taking a backseat right about now.  Even at this hour of the evening, 8PM,  it's 88* with a feel like of 96*, so the weeds can stay for another day.

DH is fast asleep in his Lazy Boy, so I think I'll read awhile yet this evening before I turn in.  Sweet dreams.

Lori

[tamaralynn]

Yes, we were able to go over this afternoon and take another look. It is a perfect house for us. I checked to see if it had a dishwasher-it does. Also a disposal. It has a garden tub but it is not jetted. The garage apartment has a large open area and at the back it is evenly divided into a kitchen and a bathroom, which is where a washer and dryer go. It does have several ceiling fans which we love. We got his email address so DH is going to work on a price to offer him. I told him maybe the next time he comes down we can present a contract and write a check for earnest money.

We just did cheeseburgers on the grill for supper. It rained this afternoon but had stopped by the time we were ready to eat. I will keep in mind about the maid rite sadwiches. I love the real ones and tried to make them once with a recipe from the internet and did not care for them. Once you have tried the real thing.....