A full but good day today.
Tea with milk for breakfast.
Joy of Cooking research (more on that below).
A quick lunch that my Husband thought of:
left over pulled pork with cheese on corn tortilla chips:
nachos basically!
Errands including PT.
A quick nap and then off to our special restaurant in our neighbouring town.
I am not sure when we were last there; many months ago I think, maybe a year.
It was really good to be back; at the same time, I am aware that
we are at a different spot in our lives than when we were there more often,
before we moved... and that some of our own "hard" has destroyed the sense
of happiness and security I once felt. But this is not fully bad
and I am trying to deal with our "hard" in the best ways possible...
***
The meal itself though:
Delicious! The early dinner is more affordable than later on,
it's very good and quite nice decor. My Husband and I still, however,
miss the "big band" music they used to play years ago,
including a song about 'a horse and carriage and marriage' all in it...
****
Then we went to the grocery store in this town
on an epic grocery run. We both had carts.
Husband felt it was as bad as going to IKEA. poor sweetie.
We are home now and fine, did our prayers etc.
***
Joy of Cooking research info that I posted elsewhere...:
So the Joy of Cooking recipe for vegetable pot pie calls for chicken or veggie broth baked in with the browned vegetables before the top goes on. There is really no thick broth for this version, though butter and olive oil is to be used to brown the vegetables.... The biscuit topping is to have cheese in with it. However, I am not fully convinced yet.......
Also the recipe has parsnips and squash but no potatoes. I have a feeling I will be re-jigging this recipe as my Husband, when he heard that there were no potatoes in it said: but no potatoes! that's like a year without Christmas! (similar of course to the White Witch in Narnia who makes it winter but never Christmas).
Reporting on my vegetable pot pie research a la "Joy of Cooking": I have 4 (yes 4!) editions of Joy of Cooking (VNA rummage sale scores + one was given to me from a dear Matushka's daughter whose mother I used to visit when she was living !). I have a 1953, one from 1967, the one my parents gave me for my golden birthday (11 nearly 12 years ago but the book is older, 1997) and one that goes past this one (75th anniversary 2006). So I wondered if the oldest Joy of Cooking (that I have) had a different take on this dish. Boy did it! Instead of roasting vegetables, it uses canned meat and vegetables + flour and butter. I am not going to go with canned stuff (though I don't think less of those who do, practical, economical and quick!) The 1953 suggests dough to cover this. The 1967 only has a meat pie (no mention of veggies) and suggests creamed meats (with pg # for recipe) and precooked pie crust shells (with pg # for recipe). The 1997 one is the one I began with (with vegetables but no meat) and the 2006 one does NOT have one with vegetables but has various options for savory pies including one that is leek tart that sounds good. And Shepard's Pie, which they say is only with ground lamb and if it is with beef then it is "Cottage Pie".... And they all include something to "thicken" the pie with. Their idea (the 2006) of using a beef stew as the pie filling for "beef pie" sounds really good too! I am still interested in doing the 1997 vegetable pie, their idea of browning vegetables and then roasting them in a covered dish is something I want to experiment with! But I am going to do something to make sure there is a thickener and change the vegetable ratio so that my Husband's (very understandable) love of potatoes is included!
***
And that is all for today!
Hoping for a quiet day tomorrow...
Thursday is another NYC day.
We still have unbloggable HARD stuff going on,
it's not going to change that quickly,
just like life is, right?
***
I hope to remember to write up a great conversation I had with
my Grandma about how she deals with getting older
and such (key detail being rest).
***
Hope you all are in God's peace,
no matter what HARD you are in.
We are all in it together...
"We are all in it together"....Glory be to Jesus Christ for each precious 'other'that we are 'in this with'.
ReplyDeleteI pray for you both and your challenges, my God be with you :) I have wonderful memories of favorite restaurants that are no more. What fun they were!! Now it's hard pressed to find that favorite...I'm too picky?? Anyways, thinking of you!!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, my pot pie involves canned things and frozen pie crust. 😬
ReplyDeleteAh well. Everything I make can't be wonderful. Sometimes it's just sufficient!
Lovely pictures. ❤️
I loved reading about your Joy of Cooking recipe research. I only have one edition from 1975; the year I got married. I'm a big fan of Ina Garten and here's her recipe for vegetable pot pie: http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/ina-garten/vegetable-pot-pie-2013970
ReplyDeleteI've used this recipe and have tweaked a few ingredients. But it does have potatoes! Praying for you dear Elizabeth. Hugs, Pat
I have to laugh, if anyone would have 4 different editions of the Joy of Cooking, it would be you. Love seeing all the China patterns. There's nothing like English dishware!
ReplyDeleteHello Elizabeth, Wow! that is a lot of research on pot pie, so interesting to see how cooking evolves as our culture changes. I am with your husband in believing a good pot pie needs a few potatoes. I really like your neighborhood restaurant, lovely dishes and table settings, the decor. I can almost feel the atmosphere. I pray that as this year is slowing drawing to it's close that these last few months of your year will be filled with good things and the hard stuff will start to become a thing in the past. Blessings to you.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth, do you really need a recipe for pot pie? I just figure on two cups of cooked meat, same of cooked veg, and two cups worth of "gravy". So, for veggie pie you'd need four cups or so of veg. I just use the medium white sauce recipe in my Betty Crocker cookbook but use broth instead of milk, and put in some herbs and flavorings I want. Put the crust or biscuit on and bake it! Unless you want a particular recipe for a specific reason, I say just make it up yourself - it's easier and less aggravation. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone for your encouragement, your comments mean a lot to me!!!
ReplyDeleteLisa ~ well, you are more of an expert than I! I need cookbooks sometimes to learn how things are done/get ideas/figure out my thoughts. Your conclusion is pretty much where I have landed, but you see, the cookbooks (and social media, FB etc) gave me the understanding of cooking the vegetables first and of the various ways of doing it. Partly though, it's because I love research! I love seeing how recipes change! I love reading cookbooks just for the joy of reading them and getting new ideas. I still have a lot to learn about cooking and baking and reading cookbooks is like continuing my self-education of cooking (or baking if that's what I am doing). Simple things like remembering to flour berries before baking them in a sweet bread or to use broth instead of milk with the butter and flour for a thickening 'gravy' in a pot pie is something I am just learning now (or re-remembering, can't remember how I made my last chicken pot pie!) .... I love cooking and baking, but honestly still after 5 years of marriage and being 40 years old, I feel that I still have a lot to learn! :) And I don't have the best memory, so cookbooks are super helpful for me to remind me of the various parts of a recipe! :) Someday I hope to be better and cooking and be able to wing it more! When I am familiar with something (often something I bake, like cookie variations) then I can wing it and understand it! :) And thanks for your comment as reading the concept of substitute broth for cream is really helpful to me! thanks again! :) ps: what herbs do you use?
Elizabeth, I also love to try new recipes and like you, learn a lot from them - that's how I've learned whatever I know. I'm not such a great cook, believe me! :D But for pot pie, I only make it when I have leftovers, otherwise it would be more work than I care to do! Although I've wanted to make a veg one for ages, and that would probably be from scratch entirely. As for herbs, I often put them in on a whim of the moment! :D But the seasons affect my choice: I like sage in winter, rosemary in spring. Thyme is always nice, and I love marjoram and savory. (If you like Simon and Garfunkel, you can use parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.) I also have a couple of charts which list herbs that go well with certain foods, and that's very helpful.
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