Today’s breakfast

Card Night

Most gatherings cause us to make more food then necessary, but we have learned to limit the dishes to a few items.

a recent card night brought out these dishes.

A nacho style shredded BBQ chicken dish from my daughter I dubbed “Taco Mountain”

Fruit and brownies

Smoked Salsa

Veggies with Serrano chilies that where smoked on the grill with mesquite and diced.

One tomato processed with a food processor and added for juice.

 

Foraging

Interesting website and app, for instance, if I knew fruit and berries were close to a walking path for foraging, I might be more inclined to go there. I’m still looking for an app that will  “facial recognize” a leaf, berry etc for identification as there are different types available outdoors  even around our yard.

Each location even contains a link to the USDA , the ability to upload a photo would be great to update the status so one would not arrive and find the location bare of fruit..

Labor Day weekend

photos yesterday

Fast food stop

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Candy store

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 Wrights dairy farm and bakery, North Smithfield, RI.

Parking lot at Wright’s farm, bakery was busy at this time.

Bakery purchases …sweets for the sweet tooth

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Farmers market , T. Johnson Farms , MA. and store purchases.   Fruits of labor 🍅🍎🍐🍑    ❤️😎

packing lunch

what ever the workday throws at you, be prepared….

fruit crisp

I’m sure everyone has made a version of this using different fruit.

add brown and white sugar together

flour

cut in butter

sprinkle the mixture over fruit

bake in a moderately hot oven

good alone , but better with ice cream, or (whipped) cream.

t bone etc.

fruit and vegetables are easy to prepare and can be served with anything including a T-bone Steak.

keeping the prep simple, simply salting and peppering a steak and serving it on a bed of lettuce, vegetables and a side of grapes.

3 to 5 minutes per side under the broiler.

some of the steak was left over for another meal.

some apricot tarts made by my daughter, simply squares of pie dough sandwiching dried apricots.

Dark Chocolate and pretzels pieces made by my wife

 

One pan breakfast

Breakfast sausage, diced potatoes, onions and garlic, fried egg with melon.
A basic one pan breakfast.
Scrub potatoes and dice.
Add about a cup of water in a skillet and add the potatoes and sausage, I had frozen sausages.
Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered ,parboiling the sausage, potatoes and letting the water evaporate.
Continue to cook adding a small amount of oil. You can also place the pan under the broiler and continue cooking till the potatoes and sausage are done.
The onions and garlic were sautéed separate .
Lastly an egg was fried in the same pan.
Plate up and season.
Serve with fruit.

sweet and sour sauce

What could be easier to make, with a simply recipe for a favorite dish.

(from a Kitchen Aid mixer cook book)

in a sauce pan, add,

1/3 cup juice, pineapple or other sweet juice

1/3 cup vinegar, plain white works good, or apple cider etc.

1/3 cup catsup (tomato)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (I use slivered garlic to taste)

bring to a boil and…

in a small bowl or mug, a 1/3 cup cold water and  mix into a paste 2 tablespoons corn starch

add the cornstarch paste to the pan cook until thick and translucent.

sweet & sour sauce

Aa you can see this is just a basic recipe, add what you like kick it up with some heat (hot pepper flakes etc.

that was just the sauce, we are not done yet !

the rice is easy 5-10-15 !

boil rice in double amount of water/rice with a bit of salt. (plain white rice, other varieties may require different timings)

BOIL : uncovered for 5 MINUTES

SIMMER : covered for 10 MINUTES

REST: covered for 15 MINUTES

sounds like a long time, but it’s a fool proof method, other using a stepped power level method in a microwave.

boiling rice 5 minutes

simmer covered 10 minutes

rest, off heat, covered 15 minutes

fluff up the rice

plate up the rice

add the beef and fresh fruit…

add the sweet and sour sauce

enjoy

Fruit jam, pancakes

Another use for fruits:
In a saucepan, heat fruit(s) till boiling (raspberries,strawberries,lemon juice, a bit of cornstarch, sugar, salt, to taste) .
Make pancakes.
Skim the boiling fruit, now over medium heat often to remove slime.
Put a plate in the fridge to get cold, as the fruit cooks, see how it coats back of a spoon. Place a small amount of the hot fruit mix on the cold plate and return the plate to the fridge for several minutes. Check the consistency of the mixture on the plate for proper thickness as desired. This could also be determined by a thermometer. The idea is to get the fruit to a proper thickness as desired for jam WHEN COOLED ! Yes, as I have done before I ended up with fruit hard candy instead of jam when cooled.

When the jam is of the proper consistency, put the pan in the back of the freezer, the permafrost region, for rapid cooling.

Pancakes ready…..

t
Jar up the jam…

Plate up the pancakes with jelly, again a splash of heavy cream (or whipped if you prefer)…

You can fancy it up with a drizzle of liquor…