Food Chit Chat

[EtheltoTillie]

A topic for anyone to discuss random thoughts about food and cooking that don't fit into the other topics. 

[Anela]

I discovered the world of people eating food on youtube, after a local girl's father was killed a month ago, and she does this sort of thing as a living. It's making me hungry, and I don't even like some of the food I've seen. 

I want to make a pumpkin cheesecake, but I'd be the only one eating it, so I'll wait, and maybe make some for thanksgiving. 

[PRgal]

1 hour ago, Anela said:

I discovered the world of people eating food on youtube, after a local girl's father was killed a month ago, and she does this sort of thing as a living. It's making me hungry, and I don't even like some of the food I've seen. 

I want to make a pumpkin cheesecake, but I'd be the only one eating it, so I'll wait, and maybe make some for thanksgiving. 

I made pumpkin corn muffins for Thanksgiving (I'm Canadian, so it was this past weekend for us) and used the remaining puree (I only used half a can) to make breakfast squares.  My son had some today and said he loved them! :) (this is unlike my husband, who isn't a big fan of pumpkin anything). The squares are loosely based on two ingredient banana/oat cookies (basically oats and mashed, over-ripe bananas plus add-ons), but I overdid the oats, so I had to thin it out with a bit of milk.  Still worked!

[Bastet]

3 hours ago, Anela said:

I discovered the world of people eating food on youtube,

My brain initially skipped over "food" when I read that, making for a very disturbing statement!

[WendyCR72]

On 10/11/2022 at 9:28 PM, Bastet said:

My brain initially skipped over "food" when I read that, making for a very disturbing statement!

Well, it is the Halloween/spooky season, so it would fit!

[PRgal]

Who here hates Halloween candy and prefers “fancier” sweets? I only buy the stuff because my husband likes them (in fact, he goes through an entire box of 50 fun sized pieces in about two weeks)!  We live in a condo so we don’t get trick or treaters.  I suppose he’s going to get to steal our son’s treats since we’re taking him to a nearby neighbourhood to trick or treat this year… haha

[isalicat]

I like some Halloween candy (those miniature Three Musketeers are delicious frozen) but generally don't eat it and don't need to buy it because we don't get trick or treaters in my neighborhood (it is restricted to over 55 residents so the families tend to stick to their own areas). I don't actually eat much in the way of sweets at all - if I am going to eat something I should not it would be a fresh baguette of sourdough with lots of butter.

May I comment though: Your husband will give himself diabetes if he keeps that up. Don't bring it into the house and when your son gets home from trick or treating I would confiscate his loot (my parents used to dole the candy out like war rations so it lasted until Thanksgiving) and tell him it belongs to your kid for the sake of his (your husband's) health.

[Mondrianyone]

Or, alternatively . . . tell husband you hid the treats in the fixtures that need a new bulb, and for every bulb he changes, he can have the candy in there! (More than one way to skin a cat.)

[SuprSuprElevated]

Or let the man live his life the way he likely will regardless of what you do or say, making certain that the health and life insurance policies have an appropriate number of commas.  Wish I had done that last part.  

Edited October 19, 2022 by SuprSuprElevated

[SuprSuprElevated]

[roseha]

My mom used to lock up our Halloween candy, she had a lock installed on one of the cupboards.  Well at least none of us got diabetes!

[Browncoat]

You don't actually get diabetes just from eating sugar.

[SuprSuprElevated]

[annzeepark914]

Good grief! Two guys are suing Barilla because they say the company is misleading about their pasta being Italy's #1 pasta (when it's produced in the US). Giada doesn't seem to have a problem with Barilla... it's the pasta she always uses. 

[chessiegal]

ATK says once you put sauce on spaghetti, taste is not a factor, but texture is. They rate De Cecco as #1 and include Barilla as one of several recommended brands.

But I agree, suing Barilla - Good Grief indeed!

[WendyCR72]

5 hours ago, annzeepark914 said:

Good grief! Two guys are suing Barilla because they say the company is misleading about their pasta being Italy's #1 pasta (when it's produced in the US). Giada doesn't seem to have a problem with Barilla... it's the pasta she always uses. 

Anything for $$$$$$$, I guess!

[larapu2000]

So weird.  Barilla has plants in Italy and in the US, so it's not just produced in the United States.  This is anecdotal, obviously, but when I was in Italy, we rented rooms from an Italian family in Siena and she used Barilla pasta exclusively, so it's not like it's trash pasta in Italy. 

[PRgal]

Okay, I know it's past 10/31, but I'm sure many of us still have candy left over.  So what's everyone's favourite?  I'm not typically a Halloween candy kind of person, but if I had to choose, I'd say KitKat or Coffee Crisp (not sure if the latter is available in the US, though).  

[chessiegal]

My favorite is Reese's peanut butter cups. Looks like that's the favorite of our trick and treaters, because that's mostly gone. They had an option of Reese's, Butter Fingers, and Kit Kats. I only bought candy I like.

And I bought too much. I told the kids they could take as much as they wanted. One little girl went to reach for another, then stopped. She said, no just one. Must have heard a parent's voice in her head. Any suggestions on where to unload the leftovers other than the trash?

[SuprSuprElevated]

27 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

My favorite is Reese's peanut butter cups. Looks like that's the favorite of our trick and treaters, because that's mostly gone. They had an option of Reese's, Butter Fingers, and Kit Kats. I only bought candy I like.

And I bought too much. I told the kids they could take as much as they wanted. One little girl went to reach for another, then stopped. She said, no just one. Must have heard a parent's voice in her head. Any suggestions on where to unload the leftovers other than the trash?

If allowed, I would think any homeless shelter, perhaps nursing homes, police/fire stations.  I'm thinking food banks would rather focus on healthy options, but its worth a call.

[SoMuchTV]

28 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

Any suggestions on where to unload the leftovers other than the trash?

Freezer, to be available for an occasional treat?  Do you know any teachers or other school staff?  I’m assuming you don’t work where there are coworkers or customers? Surely there’s a better option than the trash!

[chessiegal]

Yes, I'm retired, and so is my husband. Library is a possibility. I'll check with the local shelter for the chronically homeless. I'm assuming the gym my husband goes to 6 days a week won't want it. 😂

[PRgal]

1 hour ago, chessiegal said:

My favorite is Reese's peanut butter cups. Looks like that's the favorite of our trick and treaters, because that's mostly gone. They had an option of Reese's, Butter Fingers, and Kit Kats. I only bought candy I like.

And I bought too much. I told the kids they could take as much as they wanted. One little girl went to reach for another, then stopped. She said, no just one. Must have heard a parent's voice in her head. Any suggestions on where to unload the leftovers other than the trash?

Maybe she was worried about running out of room in her bag/basket/bucket.  

[Spunkygal]

1 hour ago, chessiegal said:

My favorite is Reese's peanut butter cups. Looks like that's the favorite of our trick and treaters, because that's mostly gone. They had an option of Reese's, Butter Fingers, and Kit Kats. I only bought candy I like.

And I bought too much. I told the kids they could take as much as they wanted. One little girl went to reach for another, then stopped. She said, no just one. Must have heard a parent's voice in her head. Any suggestions on where to unload the leftovers other than the trash?

A school in your area! I volunteer at our elementary school and I sponsor a candy basket for the staff in the school office. I can’t tell you how much the staff appreciates grabbing a sweet treat to get them through the day. I guarantee you that if you go into the staff office and offer leftover candy, they’ll love you. Maybe in the future you could put out the word in your neighborhood for others to do the same. 

[chessiegal]

20 minutes ago, Spunkygal said:

A school in your area! I volunteer at our elementary school and I sponsor a candy basket for the staff in the school office. I can’t tell you how much the staff appreciates grabbing a sweet treat to get them through the day. I guarantee you that if you go into the staff office and offer leftover candy, they’ll love you. Maybe in the future you could put out the word in your neighborhood for others to do the same. 

Thanks.  Elementary school is 4 blocks away.

[annzeepark914]

We hardly have any leftovers (71 kids!) but if we did, I'd take them to the nearby fire/police station. I was guilty of rummaging through the *huge* bowl the day before and retrieving Almond Joys 😎.

[Lovecat]

On 11/2/2022 at 2:46 PM, PRgal said:

Okay, I know it's past 10/31, but I'm sure many of us still have candy left over.  So what's everyone's favourite?  I'm not typically a Halloween candy kind of person, but if I had to choose, I'd say KitKat or Coffee Crisp (not sure if the latter is available in the US, though).  

Coffee Crisp is my favorite, and alas, it is not readily available in the US!  You can sometimes find it in the "imported" section in some stores.  Whenever I go to Canada, I always come home with a metric crapton of Coffee Crisp.  Maybe next year I need to plan on trick-or-treating in Canada?

[Anela]

I was going to freeze any spinach and artichoke dip, that goes uneaten, but now I'm thinking about using it in twice-baked potatoes. I'll try it once, and see.

[SuprSuprElevated]

6 hours ago, Anela said:

I was going to freeze any spinach and artichoke dip, that goes uneaten, but now I'm thinking about using it in twice-baked potatoes. I'll try it once, and see.

Wondering if that could work in a quiche too?

[SuprSuprElevated]

😆

[SuprSuprElevated]

[chessiegal]

Anyone else seeing a shortage of half and half? I don't drink coffee, but my husband does, with cream and sugar. Last week the grocery store had none, so I bought light cream. Today they had exactly 4 quarts of their store brand organic half and half.

Last week I bought a dozen Eggland's Best extra-large eggs - regular price $3.99 on sale for $3.50. 🤷‍♀️

[Bastet]

1 hour ago, chessiegal said:

Anyone else seeing a shortage of half and half?

It's not something I buy other than occasionally, and I haven't bought any since shortly before Christmas, when I was going to be making a couple of gratins; there were no issues then, and a quick internet search doesn't yield results about any new shortage.  Maybe something specific - weather, perhaps? - to the supply chain in your area?

1 hour ago, chessiegal said:

Last week I bought a dozen Eggland's Best extra-large eggs - regular price $3.99 on sale for $3.50. 🤷‍♀️

I buy eggs at $6 per dozen from a neighbor who raises chickens.  That's now less than what retail price has jumped to here (having practically doubled the usual average price), but she has not raised her own prices in light of the scarcity (a bird flu has wiped out much of the supply in general, and only eggs from cage-free hens can be sold in CA to begin with [as of last year]).  So now people are paying more for factory-farmed eggs (again, only eggs from cage-free hens can be sold here, but there are still awful practices allowed) what I'm still paying for fresh eggs from happy chickens.

The exacerbating problem is specificity, where public assistance vouchers are only good on a very few egg options -- so, as usual, low-income people are hit hardest; eggs are normally a low cost per calorie source of healthy protein, but not now because of the overall increase and the additional availability limitations they face. 

Edited January 10, 2023 by Bastet

[isalicat]

On 1/10/2023 at 11:48 AM, chessiegal said:

Anyone else seeing a shortage of half and half? I don't drink coffee, but my husband does, with cream and sugar. Last week the grocery store had none, so I bought light cream. Today they had exactly 4 quarts of their store brand organic half and half.

Last week I bought a dozen Eggland's Best extra-large eggs - regular price $3.99 on sale for $3.50. 🤷‍♀️

I think the wild weather is disrupting a lot of food product stocking. However, here in California we are generally paying upwards of $7.00 per dozen except at places like Aldi's and Walmart, which are using eggs as a "loss leader" to get people in the store (so they are $4-5 per dozen but you can only buy one dozen). The food pantry at which I work just had our board meeting this morning and we are paying $7.00 per dozen buying them in bulk, so can now only give a half dozen per small family (we give a full dozen if there are over 4 people in the household by request). This is really hitting these very low income people hard as meat in every form has got so so expensive. Fortunately we just got a big shipment of gallons of milk in so we can at least give people milk at the moment....the supplies of staples ebbs and flows but I have to give a big shout out to the Latter Day Saints Church which gives us real butter and cheese in plentiful supply for FREE on an ongoing basis.

[chessiegal]

I normally shop at a Mid-Atlantic chain because it's 5 miles from home and offers gas rewards at Shell (there is a station across the street from the store). I filled up yesterday (over 12 gallons) and got $1.30 off per gallon. I'm not sure, but the half-and-half issue may be with their distribution. I haven't been to Safeway or Weiss lately. Sometimes they are well stocked with items my Giant doesn't have. I tend to avoid those stores because they don't have enough check-out counters open. They steer customers to self-checkout to the point there are lines for self-checkout. I do like The Fresh Market but haven't been there for a few weeks.

I was just curious if there was some kind of cream shortage.

[SuprSuprElevated]

I haven't noticed a big problem with cream, but it isn't something I often buy. Milk isn't back to pre-pandmic stocking levels, so perhaps the cows are just too lazy to work.

 

Edited January 12, 2023 by SuprSuprElevated

[Anela]

On 1/10/2023 at 2:48 PM, chessiegal said:

Anyone else seeing a shortage of half and half? I don't drink coffee, but my husband does, with cream and sugar. Last week the grocery store had none, so I bought light cream. Today they had exactly 4 quarts of their store brand organic half and half.

Last week I bought a dozen Eggland's Best extra-large eggs - regular price $3.99 on sale for $3.50. 🤷‍♀️

I don't think so, but by the time I get to the store, most of the half and half is gone. 

I have noticed that heavy cream is selling out more, and that the price shot up. I had to buy a big carton, when I only wanted a little one, so I might try making creme brulee (which I just recently tried, and googled for a recipe). I've heard that you can make your own butter from heavy cream, so that might be part of the reason. There was apparently a butter shortage.

[SoMuchTV]

24 minutes ago, Anela said:

I have noticed that heavy cream is selling out more, and that the price shot up. I had to buy a big carton, when I only wanted a little one, so I might try making creme brulee (which I just recently tried, and googled for a recipe). I've heard that you can make your own butter from heavy cream, so that might be part of the reason. There was apparently a butter shortage.

Oh, yeah - if you don't end up with another way to use it up, you can definitely make butter.  A fun project if you have kids you can Tom Sawyer into doing the work, but basically just put it in a clean glass jar and shake shake shake. Keep going until you have a solid lump, rinse it off, and slather it up!

 

[chessiegal]

Yesterday I got an email from Williams Sonoma saying they now have a meal delivery service, fully prepared, just heat in the oven. They are expensive! One option was this 5-meal offering for $229.95 (making it $45.99/dish). 😲

Here's the description:

Quote

Beef Lasagna: A savory ragu made with a combination of local beef and pork, vine-ripened tomatoes and fresh herbs, layered with tender lasagna noodles and soft herbed cheese, and topped off with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. (2 lb. 4 oz.)

Beef Stroganoff: Tender slices of locally sourced Piedmontese beef, mushrooms and tender egg noodles in a tangy, cream sauce with notes of mustard seed, sour cream, and brandy. (2 lb. 2 oz.)

Meatloaf: Locally sourced beef and Andouille sausage, egg and vegetables – bound with herbed breadcrumbs – and smothered with ketchup. (2 lb.)

Polenta Dolcetta: Bob's Red Mill polenta mixed with pungent Gorgonzola dolce, then layered with a pleasantly spicy tomato sauce and gooey fontina cheese. (2 lb. 6 oz.)

Zuni Stew: A Southwestern mixture of roasted butternut squash, corn, Blue Lake beans and tomato, in a thick, spicy sauce, coated with locally sourced cheese. (2 lb. 1 oz.)

Includes five entrées (approx. 10 lb. 11 oz. total).

Each entrée serves 2–4.

Shipped frozen.

 

[SuprSuprElevated]

^Those Staub dishes should be included for that kinda cheddah. Also, that inserted spoon pictured in the stroganoff is a fair depiction of size. 

WS hasn't gotten the inflation memo. Is their base really that insulated? Maybe...

Edited January 24, 2023 by SuprSuprElevated

[letusprocrastinate]

"Each entrée serves 2–4".

Or 1 teenage boy until he eats the next entree sometime between immediately and 5 hours later.

[chessiegal]

The thing about those WS meals is they say they are 2.1 pounds. At 4 oz. for one serving, that's 8 servings. Still ridiculously expensive.

[SuprSuprElevated]

2 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

The thing about those WS meals is they say they are 2.1 pounds. At 4 oz. for one serving, that's 8 servings. Still ridiculously expensive.

If you can be satisfied with 4oz of food for a main meal, we can't be friends.

[chessiegal]

You wouldn't just be serving the lasagna. I'd be serving it with a salad and probably bread.

[Bastet]

I don't even like most of those WS offerings (so much beef and tomato sauce!), but, setting aside personal taste, the ingredients and portions mean those meals are ridiculously over-priced.  There's a convenience fee, and then there's highway robbery.

Edited January 25, 2023 by Bastet

[ebk57]

"Beef lasagna" with beef and pork is not "beef" lasagna. 

And that's just the start of what's wrong there. 

[isalicat]

The profit margin on those W&S meals must be huge! You are getting mostly pasta or corn meal (the meatloaf is probably the only reasonable meal of the lot as far as I can see) or assorted cheap vegies for quite a lot of money. And all those things are easy enough to make if you really wanted to, or you can buy a lot of this at your local supermarket now, freshly cooked (both the major markets near me now have in-house prepared main dishes plus rotisserie chickens made fresh every day). Well, there must be someone who wants this...

[SuprSuprElevated]

Have we reached our limit of pricey egg memes yet?  Nah.

 

[SoMuchTV]

As annoying as current egg prices are,  I have to wonder if there’s some kind of calculator where you can plug in egg prices vs other things (chicken, steak, tofu, cheese…) and compare price per calorie or per gram of protein. 

Edited January 26, 2023 by SoMuchTV

[SuprSuprElevated]