Some fantastic shrimp!

 

Tarragon Shrimp

 

so easy and delicious!

 

for 2 – easily doubled etc

 

You'll need cooked hot rice for serving, if you need to start that.

Also some kind of vegetables – I had cooked mushrooms and also a green salad straight from my amazing Aerogarden!

 

Put into a skillet and sauté until close to done:

         1 tbl butter

         about 1 tbl olive oil

         2 shallots cut in half and then sliced

 

Add and cook until done:

         shrimp for 2 (if it has some "broth" to add, even better!)

 

Add

         salt

         pepper

         tarragon to taste

         about ¼ cup wine (I used red because that's all I had but I'm sure white would be lovely)

 

Simmer a bit til it's to the consistency you want.

 

Serve over hot rice.

Inspired by Baked Scallops with Herb Butter in Anne Willan's amazing In & Out of the Kitchen in 15 Minutes or Less!

 

The 1st of 12 installments of a wonderful new source of menus & recipes for you! JANUARY

Here's what I promised you! I've finished editing and am all ready for you -- a book of menus for every single menu for every single day including a lot of snacks! Here's the 1st installment -- it includes the "cover," table of contents, introductory pages including recipes I use a lot, and then JANUARY! Very many menus are very retro and often historical! though I have taken great pains to make the ideas doable, including ways to simplify as you wish.

Um, as you'll see when I offer February next month -- I'm scheduling everything to come out mid-month of the month ahead until the whole book is offered -- there are actually 366 days, since of course I'm offering Leap Day. This book much emphasizes holidays of one's own choosing! including of course many food holidays.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gBgdM3xDXsLuJldl26Jzgjj4aVBqSpSt/view?usp=sharing

The way I've worked with my copy is, print out the document double sided, punch holes with a handy 3-hole puncher, and insert it into a 3-ring notebook. I actually have a separate notebook for every month, because I use the same notebook to insert yet more menu ideas and recipes I want to try that would be especially nice in that month; then I shelve them with monthly cooking magazines I want to keep. This is set up for my country that uses 8.5x11 paper and 3-hole looseleaf notebooks -- if you use A4 (like most of the world!) and/or I think a different looseleaf arrangement, adjust accordingly -- I do give you permission to work with this in whatever way works for you, except selling it -- I would like to encourage everyone to have fun at every meal so have decided to offer this entire large book free.

Enjoy!!!

Coming soon to a computer near you!

 

 ...is a fascinating set of retro and other menus for every meal of every day for a year. I'm up to editing the last month, and then I plan to offer them to you hopefully in the last month of this year so you can plan ahead.

I apologize that I've been here so seldom; the quite sudden loss to cancer of my beloved brilliant scientist-husband has been a very long and difficult road to travel...

Breakfast!

I'm looking for what Portmeirion is calling a "breakfast cup," a pretty teacup that's not too tiny, like at https://www.portmeirion.com/60830.html , which is blissfully (for me) made in England:

-- and when I looked for a breakfast cup in general, I learned there's such a thing as a

breakfast table

breakfast pillow

! Who knew?! Well, obviously, many people, but not I. And then, as I touched on ages ago somewhere on this site!, if you look for

breakfast set

say on Etsy, you'll see all sorts of fascinating ideas for your morning comforts, from various cultures!

Caper Capsicum Eggs

 

Caper Capsicum Eggs

 

Sauté in about 1 tbl of olive oil until just beginning to become a little golden:

         red sweet/bell pepper (aka capsicum), somewhat small, cut up

Meanwhile mix up and be ready to pour into skillet:

         4 eggs

         about 2 tsp capers

         about 1.5 tbl caper juice

         about 2 oz cubed herbed cheese (I used havarti with dill)

         black pepper

Pour in when the capsicum is ready and cook and stir until done.

 

Somehow this reminded me of breakfasts I would get in Manhattan when we lived there!

 

 

 

Bar cookies to use up homemade "biscuit" mix

 

Homemade Biscuit Mix Bar Cookies

lovely for using up the last cup-ish of homemade Bisquick

 (You can see my by-far favorite recipe for that at http://favoritefoodthisweek.blogspot.com/2019/11/homemade-bisquick-mix-for-whole-grain.html )

 

Beat

         1 egg

Add

         ¼ cup walnut oil

         ¼ cup sugar

         about 3 tbl milk

         ½ tsp vanilla

Add and mix well

         1 cup Bisquick®

Add 1 cup of additions; I like

         ½ cup "big" natural coconut

         about 5 cut-up dates

         the rest pecans

Pour into a 9" cake pan lined with parchment paper; pour into the center of the pan.

Bake at 400 for about 21 minutes.

 

 

very adapted from oldrecipebook.com

 

DIYish glass water filter!

I've been looking for a glass (or safe ceramic) filtering water pitcher but have been dismayed by the very high price...but meanwhile three of my plastic filtering water pitchers cracked in the last few months! and I really didn't want to buy another. But last evening I realized I could simply set the filtering mechanism into most of my pitchers I already had! Yes, it looks a little odd, but actually better than the plastic ever did, and now I don't have to worry about any consequences of my water sitting in plastic for ages.

a picture that shows you the setup:

my retro setup:

You can see a bit of a candle in the room where I had breakfast today...my "hourglass" 5-minute timer...my odd homemade bread...my covering up of the too-bright light from the anachronistic microwave...and much prettier pitchers for my filtered water.

You too can cook eggs without nonstick!

I read that some people are more likely to have an allergic reaction to A Certain Vaccine if they've been using nonstick pans recently, because the pans give extra exposure to the same thing to which they're probably reacting. So before getting vaccinated I tried to find a truly safe omelet pan -- that and a big griddle for making pancakes are my only nonsticks. Anyway, my omelet pan was losing its coating, always an unwanted feature.

......After looking and looking I thought, Hey, I used to just use stainless steel, why can't I do that now? and I found a high quality but not high priced pan:

www.target.com/p/cuisinart-classic-10--34--stainless-steel-skillet---8322-24/-/A-53171702

and used it this morning to fry eggs and it was fantastic! I swear the eggs tasted better than in nonstick! And it wasn't awful cleanup; I did soak the pan when it was cool but there were just very lightly-stuck bits. 

I had had the great fortune to see a recipe in an old cookbook that was perfect for this approach; note you'll need a decent-fitting lid which I was fortunate already to have:

...Use adequate oil and/or butter.

...You can start at a highish heat if you want.

...When it's hot, break in your eggs.

...When their whites are turning, well, white, turn the heat to low and add per egg 1/2 tsp of water and cover the pan. Set a timer to check if they're done, turn if you like, and keep checking...

The water makes them less likely to stick but is so little it won't make them weirdly wet; it also prevents hard fried eggs, which I don't like -- but many people do, so you decide!

Oh dear. I see Target at least is out of the pan already at least at the moment! Apparently others have had a similar idea!

Marvelous Masala Chai (milky spiced Indian tea)

My Favorite Masala Chai

like my love of my life made for me!!

I've included tips on preventing hard-to-clean-up stovetop boil-overs! Though there is cleanup of the pot, it is very much worth it.

Put into a high-sided pan (I love a Turkish coffee pan because it really helps milk not boil over; I found a high-quality Cuisinox Turkish Coffee Pot on Wayfair in stainless steel; I like a 3-cup for one serving, because it gives plenty of room to prevent accidents; note you do want this made fresh, not leftover).

If possible, add a thermometer that will beep when you're near boiling if you've set it properly ­– I use a ThermoWorks Dot set to 210F (if you anticipate being a room away from your stove, I'd set it a little lower; also I wouldn't go farther away; you can tell I've had a million boil-overs!). (Note there are many counterfeit, overpriced "ThermoWorks"; instead buy directly from ThermoWorks at their official site).

Put into the pan and put over a medium heat/flame:

heaping ¼ tsp ground cardamom

¼ tsp ground cinnamon

1 small grind black pepper

½" fresh ginger sliced (or if necessary a generous shake of ground ginger)

1 heaping tsp sugar

1 cup milk

2 Tbl water

1 tsp whole leaf Assam tea (or 1 teabag of favorite black tea is fine)

When it has come to a boil, remove the thermometer, turn down the heat to make it barely simmer, and let it simmer for 8 minutes.

Serve into a cup or mug through a strainer.

Much adapted from Mallika Basu's recipe in Miss Masala. Note that whole spices are easier to clean up, but I actually prefer this with the ground.