If only we had the kind of BTU at home to create proper wok hay 
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I’ve seen this technique on social media a ton of late! Some suggest draining off the liquid halfway, others skip that step. Did you need to drain the pan?
I remember when I made sheet pan chicken adana kebab and also tepsi (pan) kebab, that a bunch of liquid was exuded during bakimg, but miraculously reabsorbed after a short rest.
Hello to everyone from the Twin Cities of MN where it is above 0F and it’s not supposed to snow for a few days! We keep getting these 1-3 inches of fluffy snow and it’s just annoying. Things have been kind of all over the place. My coworker is on light duty after a heart attack- he’s fine but my manager isn’t the best at communicating what hours she needs me for cause work is slow. . . Also the G key on my keyboard is sticky so if there are typos that is why in addition to my terrible spelling. Plus I’m playing mr Autumm for the first round of the fantasy football playoffs
Actuals and Plans for 2 adults and 2 growing girls:
Tues 9: Sheet pan french toast. I’m “never” making stove top french toast again. . . at least at my house. Breakfast sausages and fruit
Weds 10: Both kiddos skated. Due to hockey and holidays last lesson with their coach for the year. Riff on huevos rancheros. Stuck the pork shoulder (sale from last week) in the oven to just cook the darn thing and then froze most of it
Thurs 11: ground Turkey Sloppy Sloppy Joes, peas
Fri 12: Faux bahn mi with pork from the pork shoulder I didn’t freeze, assorted crudite
Sat 13: Picked up some hours at work so my monday would be manageable. Really cold grocery shop after and got home super late. Original plan was beef goulash to use up the chuck roast I had defrosted. Then work. Frozen pizzas for the win. I made the goulash after dinner. And some Italian beef for sandwiches as the roast was bigger than I thought.
Sun 14: Really freaking cold day. I did not leave the house. Sheet pan sausage and gnocchi with roasted red peppers. Side salads
Mon 15: Tonight! Leftoverish monday. Reheating the goulash I made Saturday night and adding the dumplings. Little one wanted chicken noodle soup. I will scrounge (I don’t like goulash but Mr Autumm does) https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/beef_goulash_with_dumplings/
Tues 16: Bi kiddo theater. The (turkey) meatballs with the lime/ginger/coconut broth over rice
Weds 17: No skating. But theater. Feeling something veggie forward but not sure now. Due for a big grocery shop so hoping inspiration will strike
Thurs 18: II have a skate board meeting. Most likely leftovers for them and I will scrounge after. Here’s to hoping Mr Autumm backs up my settings to the “learning laptop aka the one we bought for distance learning” as I’m filling in for the club secretary to do minutes and I need a working G key
Fri 19: There will be food. Specifics TBD Something with Shrimp?
Happy cooking and eating everyone! Very grateful for this community in this crazy world. . And for those of us in colder climates may it be just cold enough you can use the outdoors as a cooler for your beverages
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You could make an HO all-time favorite, the lemony shrimp and white bean stew 
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I didn’t drain the pan but was surprised how much liquid came out as I unrolled the rolls. Once I hacked the meat into pieces and crisped it up in a frying pan, it was fine.
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Thank you. Kind thoughts are appreciated.
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The tacos were really good! Results on the NYT COTM thread here.
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Greetings, People.
As the result of high winds, we woke up yesterday to a town-wide power outage. Thankfully, the loss of power was short-lived and fixed after about 5 hours (although internet service remained quite spotty for another 8 hours). We’ve gotten very good at getting used to these. We have a battery starter for our gas fireplace insert, four battery operated table lamps, a gas-burner and Melitta drip for making coffee and hot drinks, and a back-up battery for the router. We know where all these things are located in the house. Every time the power goes out, it takes us only about 5 minutes to make ourselves quite comfortable and able to go about our day. We also have a back-up generator for anything long term, but while we fire it up once a month to keep things in working order, we’ve (thankfully) not yet had to rely on it to power the freezers.
Cooking for two adults in the PNW.
FRI: New England style halibut chowder. Salad greens.
SAT: De-constructed Zuni Café chicken and bread salad (in the freezer there are leftover croutons from a Thanksgiving cranberry-pecan loaf).
SUN: Ikea’s Swedish meatballs from scratch. I haven’t made these since last holiday season. There will be mashed potatoes, baby peas, and homemade currant jelly.
MON: Shrimp bisque. Ciabatta. Salad greens
TUE: Repeat of the Swedish meatball dinner.
WED: Christmas celebrated at home. Fancy steaks with compound butter. Spinach gratin. Leftover mashed potatoes.
THUR: Christmas celebrated away with extended family. There will be – without a doubt - The Roast Beast with all the fixings and too much wine.
Happy Holidays to All!
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I wish I could!
I made it a few months ago and it was a pity eat. None of my crowd liked it but they couldn’t identify why they didn’t like it
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Oh, what a bummer! And weird that they couldn’t say why … the smoked paprika? the lemon?
How about this?
I plan on making this for dinner Sunday.
I wasn’t thrilled with it either 
Hello everyone the countdown is on! Only 3 hours until my two week staycation starts. I already have a list of museum visits I would like to take in as well as a couple of movies. The only things written in stone so far is a meetup with a silent book club on Sunday afternoon and brunch then art gallery visit with a friend. I don’t think we’ve seen each other since the summer so I am looking forward to meeting up with her and catching up on all her news. I also have five books I’d like to read while I’m off but I also realize I’m off for two weeks so we’ll see if that happens! This is what I have planned for this week:
Today: Trying to concentrate on work for the rest of the afternoon. Wish me luck! 
I bought a quinoa salad for lunch from a nearby gourmet food shop so I will have a much smaller green bean and tomato salad for dinner.
Tomorrow: I have a few random chores left to do that I didn’t get to last Saturday so I will get everything done today. I plan on having peanut butter noodles with cucumber to finish up the half a cucumber in the fridge.
Sunday: I plan on heading out early to go to the farmers market for ground beef to make stuffed squash at some point. I would also like to pick up some apple cider to have with Christmas dinner and I would also like to pick up another fancy drink to have with diners during my week off. The farmers market I go to sells kombucha, cider, different kinds of juice etc. so I will pick something out to try while I’m off. This afternoon I will meet up with a silent book club for an early afternoon gathering so I will a coffee or hot chocolate. I will have dinner when I get home so I will make a stirfried chicken and zucchini using a really large zucchini in the fridge.
Monday: Brunch then the art gallery with my friend. I will have a quinoa salad for dinner to which I will add more zucchini.
Tuesday: Off to the west end to pick up Christmas dinner at one store then dessert at another. There is a deli in the area that makes really good cheesecakes so that will be my Christmas dessert. I will have a pork and green bean stirfry to work on a ton of green beans in the fridge.
Wednesday: When my parents were alive, my mom used to make a light dinner on Christmas eve in preparation for the eatfest the next day, usually making fish. I continue this tradition so I will poach the last basa fillet in the freezer in a tomato sauce with olives and capers. I haven’t decided yet which veggies yet to have on the side.
Thursday: Merry Christmas! I will have my prepared Christmas dinner tonight. I forgot to ask what they will be making this year but it’s usually turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and roasted veggies. And cheesecake for dessert
Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukka to you all!
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Your holiday meals sound great! xmas eve is also a lighter / seafood meal for us, traditionally. Our friends are making turkey for xmas day.
Enjoy your 2 week staycation — looks like you have a lot of fun things on the agenda
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HO HO HO, fellow HOs!
It’s beginning to look a lot like… 
PARTY season! We are total heathens & don’t participate in the insanity that is xmas shopping, so the holidays are just a swell reason to eat & drink the good stuff & hang with our friends.
Despite all those faaaaabulous dinner plans I scribbled down here last week, Sunday’s skrompshiss pork shoulder roast fed us nearly every day, sometimes lunch and dinner —talk about a thrifty & delicious success!
Today is our 24th wedding anniversary. We’d go out to our favorite fancy restaurant in town & celebrate IF my poor PIC weren’t still feeling awful. He’s been hacking away for 2 weeks now. Hopefully the antibiotics he got Thursday will finally start doing their magic 
, but a fancy meal would truly be wasted RN. I’m thinking Talluto’s pillowy ricotta ravs with marinara and a simple arugula salad with lemon dressing and parm will have to do. I will probz also have to figure out what I need to pick up for our xmas eve soiree & get that out of the way. I’m pretty sure I want to make shrimp cocktail and gravlax, but the fishie for that (and the forest of dill required) has yet to be purchased. So… some food shopping is on the agenda.
Tomorrow it’s Sssssspicy Sssssunday again. After a week’s break from All Asian Foods 
I have my eyes set on the Madhur Jaffrey recipe for Goan shrimp curry @amandarama shared here before she sadly left this site. A friend gifted me “very spicy” kashmiri chile powder. Let’s put that to the test mañana
Monday could finally be that Greek roasted chicken breast if I remember to take it out of the deep-freeze, along with tender haricots verts & Greek lemon potatoes.
Tuesday a friend is hosting her annual Festivus party. She always provides a ham & fixins, and the guests contribute a dish to share. Thinking of making a cambozola dip that’s hugely popular in my Fb WFD group. The Airing of Grievances pole should be absolutely plastered with post-its this year 
, but we tend to avoid the Feats of Strength.
Wednesday is krimmeh eve. We’ll be hosting our closest friends plus possibly a few orphaned stragglers for our “traditional” seafood soirée: I’m thinking black tiger shrimp cocktail, gravlax, escargots, mabez our friends wanna bring some oysters to shuck (at which we sucketh), and one of them makes a killer Crab Louie. Bubbles to drank with. If my PIC’s up for it, there will be 'stachio ice cream for dessert. Here’s hoping, it’s 
.
Thursday our friends are having us and a few others over for an early afternoon xmas potluck. They’re providing apps, turkey, mashed, gravy, and green beans. I’m the salad qween, so I’ll make that, and maybe my boo wants to contribute Claudia Roden’s orange almond cake again. So moisssst 
Friday might be sushi takeout, or we could finally try a local Jamaican lady’s oxtails / jerk wings / other sundry items I’ve been meaning to try ever since she started her business.
Saturday poker?
Sunday shall be spicy. That is all.
Wishing you all a festive, pleasant, stress-free, harmonious, happy holiday week with fabulous foods, lovely libations & and caring company 
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Happy Anniversary!
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Thank you! Hard to believe it’s been that long, as it seems like the time practically flew by… but there’s a LOT of life that happened in those years.
It won’t be the most festive evening, but we can always celebrate later when he’s feeling up for it
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It’s time to nominate books for COTM for 2026 – join in!
Hi everyone
We are at full capacity here for the holidays, with the usual fun, chaos, cross-conversations, and rolling jet lag that entails. Plus a new twist: two of our vegetarians are no longer such. So, the bulk of my menu planning needs to be adjusted, though it is actually much easier, and it’s great fun to introduce the kids to all the family favorites now!
We will have our usual big Chinese restaurant feast on Christmas Eve this year, as we lose a couple of people for a couple of days after that (and probably return there for New Year too). Christmas Day will be a smaller group, so we’ll base it on what the kid staying back with us wants to eat.
Actuals for the past week plus:
— Frankies (chicken, soya mock chicken)
— Cheesetoast in the sandwich toaster, masala cheese toast open-faced
— Paneer with peas, moong dal, Shami kababs + parathas & rice
— Kheema with peas, masoor dal + fresh bread (pav) & rice
— Mom’s mutton korma, cut salad + parathas & rice, Idlis & chutney for the vegetarians
— Out for North Indian — tandoori chicken, chicken malai kabab, mutton seekh kabab, butter chicken, paneer makhani, palak paneer, naan, rumali roti
— Ordered in our favorite mutton biryani + mom’s favorite soya mock chicken biryani for the vegetarians
Upcoming:
— Puris + potato + chhole (chickpeas) + mango juice + shrikhand / sweet yogurt
— Intro to seafood for the new eaters — probably homemade U5 prawns, my favorite fried Bombay duck from a coastal place, and fish tikka from my dad’s favorite tandoori place (with backup tandoori chicken in case the seafood doesn’t resonate yet)
— Favorite kababs and beef & bone marrow curry with naan
— Mom’s roast chicken & potatoes, and probably also her roast leg of kid/goat.
After that I need to think some more, or we will repeat the favorites.
Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas to those celebrating, and a calm and happy easing into the new year for everyone.
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Hi friends. Feeding 3 in the Boston burbs, where I’m in a “don’t wanna cook” mindset again, but alas, people need to eat. Grrr.
Sun: I had an odd hankering for pot roast, so made Ree Drummond’s recipe which has no cream-of-yuck soup in it, served with buttered noodles and green beans. It was tasty and a keeper; I splurged for fresh herbs and I think that made the difference. I also made a batch of chicken, leek, and rice soup (SK) for lunches this week.
Mon: SK Keepers black bean chili, which I’ve modified a lot and reported on elsewhere. Tostitos on the side.
Tues: spaghetti and meatballs, red sauce, broccoli
Weds: Chinese takeout (we usually host friends but aren’t up for it this year)
Thurs: ham. Crispy roasted potatoes (SK again). Brussels sprouts and apple slaw (NYT) for me, peas for DS, and one of the two for DH. I’ll probably also make some sort of baked good - maybe a pull-apart bread? - for breakfast.
Happy everything to our little corner of the world!
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