What are you cooking or baking today?

Today I did not have to cook a thing, well except boil some eggs. I don't do a lot of cooking anyway. I heated up part of the breakfast I brought home from IHOP yesterday. I slept through lunch and had an early dinner (pictured below). The avocado, bought and ripened to perfection by my son, was sprinkled with lemon pepper seasoning. The egg salad contained dill weed, pink Himalayan salt and was sprinkled with paprika. I forgot to add a little relish. My son brought me a slice of pumpkin cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory, also a piece of carrot, so dessert is covered too. :D

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For yesterday's company, including my DIL who is epi-pen level allergic to both cumin and cilantro, because they would only be here for a couple of hours and were heading elsewhere for a late lunch immediately afterwards, I only offered light snacks. I made hummus a couple of days ago (but it had cumin), so I served that. Also put together a dip with fresh salsa (Aldi), defrosted corn and a can of black beans. So good and so easy. Unfortunately, the salsa had cilantro in it.

What to do, what to do for dear, very sweet DIL? Looked at some online recipes, used ideas from some of them, and came up with the folowing.

1 can of (drained) garbanzo beans
4 semi-frozen avocado halves, cut into about 1" pieces
2 T lime juice
1/4 cup tahini
1/2 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp of granulated garlic (garlic powder)

Put everything in the food processor and whir a few minutes till silken smooth. Add a little water as needed.

I'm here to tell you, it was the food star of the day! Everyone wanted the recipe.

Big bonus for me? About 2 years ago I bought a big bag of frozen avocado halves at Costco. Tried one in something and hated the texture - so they sat in my big freezer until yesterday when I took out two halves, zapped them for 15 so I could cut them up, then added them to the food processor. After tasting, I did the same with two more halves. So smooth and delicious, plus now there's a good way to use up those avocado halves!
 
For yesterday's company, including my DIL who is epi-pen level allergic to both cumin and cilantro, because they would only be here for a couple of hours and were heading elsewhere for a late lunch immediately afterwards, I only offered light snacks. I made hummus a couple of days ago (but it had cumin), so I served that. Also put together a dip with fresh salsa (Aldi), defrosted corn and a can of black beans. So good and so easy. Unfortunately, the salsa had cilantro in it.

What to do, what to do for dear, very sweet DIL? Looked at some online recipes, used ideas from some of them, and came up with the folowing.

1 can of (drained) garbanzo beans
4 semi-frozen avocado halves, cut into about 1" pieces
2 T lime juice
1/4 cup tahini
1/2 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp of granulated garlic (garlic powder)

Put everything in the food processor and whir a few minutes till silken smooth. Add a little water as needed.

I'm here to tell you, it was the food star of the day! Everyone wanted the recipe.

Big bonus for me? About 2 years ago I bought a big bag of frozen avocado halves at Costco. Tried one in something and hated the texture - so they sat in my big freezer until yesterday when I took out two halves, zapped them for 15 so I could cut them up, then added them to the food processor. After tasting, I did the same with two more halves. So smooth and delicious, plus now there's a good way to use up those avocado halves!
Perfect substitutions for hummus bi tahini. The avocado for the olive oil and lime for the lemon. Of course, garlic powder has saved the day many a time. Who needs cumin anyway?

Ever use za'atar sprinkled on top or sumac?
 
Perfect substitutions for hummus bi tahini. The avocado for the olive oil and lime for the lemon. Of course, garlic powder has saved the day many a time. Who needs cumin anyway?

Ever use za'atar sprinkled on top or sumac?
I sometimes sprinkle sumac over hummus, but have never bought or used za'atar. What else do you use it for?

I don't add olive oil to my regular hummus (whole food plant based diet with few added fats).

The recipe I've developed for my go-to hummus is just garbanzos, tahini, lemon juice, cumin, salt, a couple of garlic cloves and, if necessary, a little water.
 
I sometimes sprinkle sumac over hummus, but have never bought or used za'atar. What else do you use it for?

I don't add olive oil to my regular hummus (whole food plant based diet with few added fats).

The recipe I've developed for my go-to hummus is just garbanzos, tahini, lemon juice, cumin, salt, a couple of garlic cloves and, if necessary, a little water.
Za'atar can be an all purpose thing. It's nice in potato salad, sprinkled on French fries, any kind of meat/roast especially lamb, in salad dressings and baked on a kind of soft fluffy mini-pita with of course, olive oil. Can't remember the name of it.

I guess you don't really need extra oil; the tahini has enough.

Oh, I found it-
Za'atar Manaqish Recipe | The Mediterranean Dish
 
Za'atar can be an all purpose thing. It's nice in potato salad, sprinkled on French fries, any kind of meat/roast especially lamb, in salad dressings and baked on a kind of soft fluffy mini-pita with of course, olive oil. Can't remember the name of it.

I guess you don't really need extra oil; the tahini has enough.

Oh, I found it-
Za'atar Manaqish Recipe | The Mediterranean Dish
Wow - that looks delicious!
 
I am going to make another cream of mushroom soup tonight and freeze some. Crimini's were on sale at Aldi, I bought a pound and a half. No sherry left over from the last time, I drank it all, hahaha *hic*.

I'm also thinking of boiling some cleaned small shrimp and make a salad to stuff into small croissants with lettuce. Hah, and maybe some za'atar. So far, thinking minced-
Onion
Celery
Cilantro
S & P
Za'atar
Hellman's mayo
 
I am going to make another cream of mushroom soup tonight and freeze some. Crimini's were on sale at Aldi, I bought a pound and a half. No sherry left over from the last time, I drank it all, hahaha *hic*.
We have the same idea Rose. I just went to Aldi today & bought mushrooms too. That price was too good to pass up. I want to make some Hungarian mushroom soup for the freezer. This one is heavier with a lot of paprika & sour cream in it & I like it in winter.
 
Pork Tenderloin. I sliced them into medallions. Put in my favourite soy/ginger marinade. The ginger was still frozen so I threw it in chucks. If this works, I‘ll do it every time. It has always been a pain to sieve out the grated garlic. Only cooked enough for our dinner, because it usually is better with an overnight soaking. The rest will be done tomorrow.
 
I made a double batch this afternoon of Apple Pie Jam. I still had apples from my tree that I needed to use up & had found this recipe a while back & wanted to try it. It turned out good. I filled 11 half-pint jar, but couldn't get any more in the canner. What was left was put in a pint jar & left out to cool. Hubby & I ate about 1/4 of it with a spoon. I see a batch of biscuits tomorrow morning with jam on them.
 
Freshly made turkey burgers

My husband and I saw turkey burgers advertised in the flyer , made by Presidents Choice and decided to get them ………
until we saw the price. They were $15.00 for 4😱
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No way were we paying that so we bought some minced turkey on sale for $600 a package.

This recipe requires seasoned stuffing or dried seasoned bread crumbs, celery and onion and an egg. I got 8 large turkey burgers and they were good. Fries cooked in air fryer.
Topped with canned turkey gravy and cranberry jelly.

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Yesterday DW and I shredded 4 heads of cabbage, Mashed and mixed in salt , stuffed 9 Qt jars to ferment into sauerkraut.
Last night the Thanksgiving hambone and split peas went into our largest slow cooker, Taters and Carrots added about noon today, and after dinner, we will either freeze or pressure can the leftovers.
 
Just picked up our pig from butchers on Friday. Took out some of the plain ground pork & thinking about making "pork burgers" for dinner today & some roasted potatoes.

Edit: Pork burgers with salt/pepper were good. Tossed the taters with olive oil, salt/pepper & Dijon mustard for roasting. Stuffed now, time for a nap.
 
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Baked three batches of biscotti last night - roughly 180 biscotti altogether. They're big cookies that take a long time to bake. Probably will make molasses/ginger cookies tonight. Fortunately, I made the dough up for those about two weeks ago and moved it from the freezer to the fridge yesterday.
 
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