So, what's for supper? I'm cooking SPECIAL tonight.

[Richard Steele]

Today is my Mom's birthday, so I'm at her place
cooking supper right now.

I told her she could request ANYTHING she wanted,
and she asked for pasta.

So, I'm making some spicy pickled-garlic farfalle
with a tomato & cream sauce,
and my famous "fried green tomato style" eggplant parmesan.
My vegetarian Niece is here, so both recipes are meatless.

I brought my own homemade pickled garlic, and some fresh cilantro
from my garden.

It's smelling GREAT!

[The empressof all]

1. Clean out the fridge soup here

I just threw a cauliflower, some celery and a couple of onions into the pressure cooker with about 6 cups of water and some Better than Bouillon. I'll cook it down and use the immersion blender on it. Later I'll add some left over ham steak and swiss to a bowl for the SO and some parm and fat free Sour Cream to a bowl for me.

I'm gonna make a rainer cherry sugarfree claufotis for dessert and serve it with some sweetened almond flavored greek yogurt

[kentauros]

2. Seeing as it's still 84F Indoors here

it'll have to be something cold.

(I live on the second floor of a flat-roofed 2-storey apartment and the a/c simply can't keep up.)

[kfred]

4. Sounds like a good day for gazpacho

Ugh - I don't do well in heat. Fruitcicle'd be good also. We just tried Edy's strawberry (all fruit) ones. They are terrific, so are the lemonade ones.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

5. That's exactly what we had,

along with hot dogs and burgers on the grill, and some braised shitake mushrooms with chopped scallions.

I always forget how damn good this gazpacho recipe is. Totally yummy.............

[kfred]

3. Leftover Lasagna for two of us and

a Thai noodle with a ton of vegies salad for hubby. He grabbed and ate the lasagna for lunch before asking me, so I made the salad so he can have that instead. I had intended to use it for his "take to work lunch" off and on this week. It was a sortof clean out the frig - just as the lasagna was.

The noodle salad has chopped carrots, cauliflower, broccali, chinese cabbage, green pepper, green onion, cellophasne noodles, bamboo shoots and almond slivers. The dressing is chili sauce, peanut sauce, red wine vinegar, a bit of olive and sesame oil, I usually top it with peanuts right before serving.

Lasagna was just lasagna, though it was basil from the garden, some meat - less than usual - mozz, parm, cottage cheese and the usual stuff. I sure like those noboil noodles!

[hibbing]

6. pickled garlic question

Hi,
Your dinner sounds wonderful. Just a quick dumb question about the pickled garlic, is it like really pickled as in the whole process or just a quick pickling process with no boiling and that whole thing? Recipe?

Peace

[Richard Steele]

8. No boiling, no nothing but 2 hours of PEELING.

I peeled enough fresh garlic to almost fill a quart jar,
topped it off with 1/2 of a small diced tomato, threw in
a few tablespoons of dried basil & rosemary....
then I filled the jar with white vinegar, screwed the lid on,
and put it on a dark shelf for 6 weeks.

You don't need to BOIL things if you put them in 100% vinegar.
I have an antique 1/2 gallon "Ball" canning jar on that same shelf
full of "spicy pickled eggs"...I hard-boiled the eggs to start with,
but then they went right into the jar with a some basil & cumin,
2 TBS of red pepper flakes and a diced habanero.
Then I filled the jar with white vinegar.
They'll be coming into their own in another month or two.

Nothing that is harmful to humans can LIVE in good 100% vinegar.
Once my pickled garlic is used up, I'm gonna re-use the liquid
for another batch of pickled eggs.

[hibbing]

15. thank you

Hi,
Thanks, certainly sounds interesting. I always wanted to try eating a pickled egg but for some reason I am squeamish.

Peace

[pengillian101]

16. Thanks for the pickling info! n/t

[pengillian101]

7. I brought my own homemade pickled garlic, and some fresh cilantro from my garden.

"I told her she could request ANYTHING she wanted, and she asked for pasta.
__________________

"I brought my own homemade pickled garlic, and some fresh cilantro from my garden.
__________________


Hope she liked it.

[Richard Steele]

9. It was very well recieved by everyone present. Mom LOVED it.

Several members of the group had NEVER eaten eggplant before,
and were a bit trepidatious about trying it...but they all
cleaned their plates QUICKLY after their first timid bite.

[eridani]

10. I hauled out some frozen cilantro pesto and frozen ricotta/almond paste

Then I made tortellini from the paste with homemade pasta, boiled it, and served with the pesto mixed with a small can of tomato sauce. Romaine in the side.

[Warpy]

11. I bought a pound of besan

(chickpea flour) from the international grocer and I've got some prawns thawing. I'll be trying Bitmann's tortillitas.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/01/dining/01mini.html

[The empressof all]

12. Oh Wow...Those look sooooo good

Are you going to use all Chickpea flour or go with the half and half? Let us know how they come out please. When I start "really" cooking again...I'm so gonna make those.

[yellerpup]

14. Ohh! I don't know how I missed that one!

We are having a wonderful Spanish couple over in a few weeks and this looks like a perfect appetizer to serve them. Do you use the mixture of flours or the whole besan version of the recipe?

[eridani]

17. I want to know that too

I've gotten really into homemade tortillas lately.

[yellerpup]

18. Homemade tortillas!

Aren't they the greatest?! I make both masa and flour tortillas. I use the press for the masa tortillas. I've tried patting them out and I have never succeeded.

[yellerpup]

13. Beautiful, big salad.

Farmer's market Romaine and purple leaf lettuce, leaves of basil and flat parsley, home pickled sweet yellow and orange peppers, grated carrot, purple onions, English cucumbers, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, pine nuts and a sprinkle of goat cheese. Serving with a French roll alongside. I'm going to go make a nice, simple vinaigrette dressing to toss with it now. Hubby gets my restaurant leftovers of radiatore in a lamb Bolognese sauce. Happy summer when the farmer's market comes to town!