I really wanted some lemon pound cake and found a recipe that uses a lot of eggs since I am drowning in them again. I will definitely be making this again, it was perfect. https://www.plainchicken.com/lemon-pound-cake/
Question: how do you idiots organize your spices? I have an odd shaped cabinet and it's a jumbled mess. If there existed an oval lazy Susan, that would be the ticket. For now I rely on memory of where I put something last. I would take a picture but it's embarrassing.
The trend on tiktok is buying (of course) a set of matching spice jars along with a set of labels and a rack for your drawer. Mine are on a lazy susan in a cupboard. I'd go their route but there is no drawer near the stove top and the cupboard is directly over it.
We just have a drawer next to the stove that pulls out and we have all the spices in there top-down with the names on the top of the lids.
Most of mine are in racks alphabetized (ish) affixed to the wall between the counter and the cupboards where civilized people would have a backsplash. It is not the prettiest but our kitchen is garbage and it’s what works. When they were in the pantry, I would always have some assortment cluttering up the counter because I am a lazy chaos person who isn’t great at putting things away, and there wasn’t quite enough room for them anyways. Now that the racks are out, they get put back right away. The stuff that doesn’t fit or gets used really infrequently is still in the pantry though.
I have a whole 2 cupboard cabinet full of various herbs, spices, and hot sauces. It's a bit overkill, but it works for me. I recently turned a spare bedroom into a pantry and that's really helped me enjoy the kitchen much more and freed up a lot of cabinet overcrowding.
I am a clutter magnet anyway so open spice racks are not my thing. I try to keep things visually clear because clutter makes me crazy. Since I am an aforementioned clutter magnet I am perpetually a little nuts. I'm thinking just some of those simple wire tiered spice shelves might help, maybe even a lady susan in the back to keep from reaching into the abyss. The cabinet is in a corner so it's deep to one end. Spoiler My spice cabinet is like an iceburg.You can only see about 10% of what's in there.
Finally decided to sell my old propane grill and trade it in for a brand new Blackstone flat-top griddle. Anybody have any recommendations or go-to things to make on this? So far I've only done the basic bacon, eggs, and hashbrowns breakfast and some quick and dirty pulled pork tacos.
I also got rid of my propane grill last year for a blackstone. I cook with one 4-5x a week. Smash burgers are the absolute best thing that they do. Once you get good at them it will change your life. Breakfast is great. Cheese burgers are great. Any sort of grilled sandwich. It works well with veggies. I use it a lot with the sous vide (prepare sides on the blackstone. Sear the whatever on it to finish. Won’t work with things like prime rib obviously). I also like to pretend like I’m a hibachi chef a couple times a month. I even do the onion volcano.
Sort of a French onion soup base but also with mushrooms, Swiss chard, and sausage. The earthiness of the chard is really balanced, and I used a LOT of chard. The Swiss chard is going bonkers in the garden and it's my personal challenge to find ways to incorporate it into meals.
@jdoogie Here's a rough recipe. I started with a partial stick of unsalted butter, probably around 5T. Caramelized a chopped onion and chopped ribs of the chard as well as a good sprinkle of thyme. Once that was done, I dusted the whole mix really well with AP flour, mixed it up, cooked for a few minutes at med temp to get the raw flour taste out. Added 8oz sliced brown mushrooms, cook on med low while stirring another few minutes. Added about 500mL red wine, increased temp and cooked most of it off until it was very thick and viscous. This took awhile. Added granulated garlic here because I forgot to peel and chop some earlier, as well as fresh black pepper. Added the chopped Swiss chard leaves and continued cooking down the wine a little. Then added beef broth. I used water and better than bullion paste. Once this liquid was added I dumped in a lb of browned and broken up Jimmy dean sausage. Once all incorporated, temp was cut back and I added a good glug or three of heavy cream.
That sounds really tasty! Swiss chard is the only thing that seems to be working in the garden this year (or at least is far enough along that I expect any reasonable harvest), so will definitely be trying this out. Had some Swiss chard last night, actually... my usual prep is to saute it... separate and slice up the stalks like you did, a shallot, a bit of butter, bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, and just med heat to reduce and cook it until it reduces and gets close to done. I then add a few healthy dashes of a really good balsamic vinegar I have and let it cook until it begins to caramelize. Sometimes I also add some halfed cherry tomatoes early on and let them sweeten up as they cook as well. Sometimes I finish it with a few parmasean petals. So much flavour, so easy to do.
Yeah, the Swiss chard is just crazy this year. I over planted and then transplanted the thinned seedlings somewhere else so I probably have close to 20 plants. I've had one bolt that I pulled and fed to the ducks, but the rest are looking good. Yeah, I cooked some that way based on your req and it sure was good. I think the key to balancing its strong flavor is fruity + acidic. The balsamic vinegar works that way in your recipe, and the red wine works in mine. I think mushrooms are fantastic with it as well.
Yes! Isn't it awesome? I didn't manage to overwinter any from last season (the ducks went to town on the cut back chard crowns and it damaged them too much) but I did have a lot of kale that came back. You get a nice early follow up harvest the next year.