Fall Swap at Sallyg's FOOD thread

YUMMMMMM! I can imagine, cuz it was all good the first time around.

It sure was! What a ton of food and everything so very good. Thank you everyone especially Sally for hosting. What a great new kitchen she has and loved seeing your gardens.

Man, you're not kidding, I haven't eaten like that in well over a month!! Oooooh, and let's not forget Coleup's garlic, Mmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!! Thank you everyone for all your yummy contributions, and for making my jeans fit tighter once again!

I missed the garlic tasting. Coleup, how did you conduct that?

Happy, I missed giving you your plants as well. Sent them with SSG.

Holly -- thank you so much! We flew out of there -- we were late for our next date. I hate leaving swaps early....

Happy, sorry for anyone having missed our first MAF Garlic Tasting! Sallyg had wondered on our Garlic Thread if there would be enough garlic to sniff and compare the varieties of garlic we wre lucky enough to bring to the swap to share. Originally, I jokingly volunteered to roast 30 heads of garlic so every one could try them as my food contribution. At the last minute having focused on plants (among other things) I was pulling together for the swap, I realized that I had 'forgotten to make anything.

So, as soon as I finished my paper route early Sat. am, I rushed home to cut up heads of garlic and roast them. While they roasted, I loaded the van and then delivered their steamy pungentness to Sally along with my first load of plants hastily deposited in the front yard.

After that I lost track (of most everything!) of the roasted garlic i until Sally brought them out from her (gorgeous) kitchen for us to taste. I did a quick "Hear ye. Hear ye All Garlic Lovers Gather Round" and removed their foil cover. "Let the tasting begin" and so it did. I think we had some bread and potato rolls there, too. Very informal.

Here is a link to a very simple roasting method complete with pictures!

http://fxcuisine.com/Default.asp?Display=151

I hadn't seen that method before -- I like it! I always wrap the whole clove in aluminum foil to roast it (first taking a small slice off the top), but this method is much better. Do you find the "tops" really did lift off easily?

And then you spread it on bread and potato rolls? Yum. Was it easy to tell the differences in flavor? I would have thought the garlic would be so strong that the first bites might have obscured the second and third ones.

Might have to sacrifice some of my garlic heads to give it a try!

Happy, if you do roast some of your heads, be sure to invite ssgardener over as she has the most amazingly descriptive language re "tasting"! I think she 'practices' on wine! Seriously, she will also fill you in on Korean garlic customs and usage which I hope she will share on our MAF Garlic Lovers thread here
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1278258/

Yes, the 'clove wrappers' came off quite easily! See Gita's picture of the remains on the 'After word' thread. Sallyg will have to tell us how she used the left overs, but there were rumors of 'soup'.

PS Because there were lovers and nonlovers present, I went with the roast over the raw tasting.

Oh, yes. Ssgardeners descriptions were spot on. It was such fun.

Confess I scraped the rest of the garlic and oil into a container to save no tsure what for but it will be good. It was all very mellow, IMHO.

Sally---

for garlic mashed potatoes---of course....I did all this once and made that.
Oh, my God!!! To die for--just like in the restaurants.

Use Yukon Golds, BTW....Gita

Will do!
But the first batch might be Aldi Whites.

Heehee. I had to think about that for a second.

I just had some more cake...wonderful frosting Jan!

Hey Ric...I was trying to find your Okinawa Teriyaki recipe.

Glad you liked it!

Hey- coleup- keep meaning to say- Too bad we didn't get much into the bread, but I took a loaf to work and everybody raved about how good it was and about Great Harvest Bread, in Annapolis in general being, well, great!

Sally figured you wouldn't mind my leaving those loaves there! I'll pass on the kudos to Wayne et al.

Also, the fruity Bday cake was baked by Speedie! Excellent I might say.

Left overs, one of the perks of hosting!

One more thing, I think you said you kept the roasted garlic cloves and oil for later use....please be aware that there are some reports of botulism in garlic and oil if not properly cooked and stored (freeze). Just read this http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/harvest/msg0601504218240.html

Oh my goodness Judy, I had NO idea there was a risk of botulism with roasted garlic like this!! No worries here, however, the stuff never lasts past 1 meal here. =)

Oh yeah, and thank you for mentioning the cake. I had been meaning to confess post here that I'd made it, but instead, I sent Sally a D-mail. It was the easist thing in the world to make! Thank you for the generous compliment! =)

So will you share the recipe?.....

Oh gosh, certainly!! EASY PEEEEEZY!!

Angel food cake mix, 1 box. Follow mixing instructions on box. Pour into a large, UNGREASED, sheet cake pan. (This would look like a super deep, extra-large cookie sheet). Bake at the prescribed temperature for approximately 23 minutes. Allow to cool completely. Gently, using a non-metal spatula, cut in in half, then 'scrape' one half out of the pan, keeping it intact. Place this half on the serving plate. Frost one side of it with lemon frosting, and the other side of it with strawberry frosting. Now, gently 'scrape" that other half of the cake from the pan (also keeping it intact... it's a LOT easier than it sounds!!) and lay it on top of that first half. Again, frost one side with lemon frosting, and the other side with strawberry frosting. Now, decorate with sliced strawberries, tucking some slices into the edge between the layers, on the strawberry side, and decorate the lemon side with some slices of oranges of your choice, tucking some slices into the edge between the layers. All done! =)

I hope that came out sounding as easy as it was to do. If you have any questions, please D-mail me, I'll be happy to 'splain what I've missed. =)

Speedie the strawberries you used on the cake were very tasty, best I had all season.

And I have a confession and apology cause I ate the last three of Donner's dumplings. The one I inadvertantly dipped in your tangy BBQ sauce was quite good. too. Thanks Paul and Donner.

I'm just glad the cake turned out ok, it was an 'epiphany' I'd had one day, and I just ran with it. ;)

Those dumplings of Donners were soooooo yummyyyyy!!! Donner, is there a recipe for those you could share please?

Tomorrow is game day, which means it's wings and MMMeatball day!! I CAN'T WAIT for more MMMMMMMeatballs!!!! < =D **happy dance!**

speedie--

Hope your meatballs turn out yummy! Can't really go wrong...

Donner buys those dumplings. She does not make them. However--she may well have the recipe....
They have become her "signature dish" to bring....
In just a few more minutes it will, officially, be fall. I think---10:49AM.

Boo Hoo.......Where has the year gone????

I know everybody will love the MMMeatballs! We have them for dinner sometimes, also, over rice. Just don't mention the word "sauerkraut" until people have tasted it. It's funny to read down that DG recipe thread I started and see the number of avowed sauerkraut haters (including our Dave) who love these meatballs. LOL

Just made MMMMeatballs. Oh. My. Appetite. Yummmmmmmmm can't describe them. Looking forward to dinner. Will be roasting some cauliflower and potatoes, too. I'll be freezing some of the balls for another time. May have to bring them to a covered dish dinner sometime.

Critter, Ooooops!! I already let the cat out of the bag and told DH about the sauerkraut in the MMMMMMMeatballs, and had to convince him, "But they are soooooooooooo yummmmmmmmyyyy, I SWEAR you'll NEVER know it's in there, just you wait and see!!", and he said "Okey dokey, now I GOTTA try 'em!" =) The good news is, I'm making the entire recipe for just the two of us. Left-overs? ALL FOR MMMMEEEEEE!!!!!!! < =D **oink!**

Funny, I'm one of those "avowed sauerkraut haters", but I'm a weird one; I like to find the recipes where you can't really tell sauerkraut is in it, like Reubens... I love those things! =)

ppst speedie you are not a real true sauerkraut hater LOL

Leftovers freeze really well. We even picked up some shallow square semi-disposable (gladware, I think) containers just for that purpose! Once I start rolling meatballs I'm willing to keep going a little longer, so we usually make at least a double or triple batch.

Unlike Gita, I'm not a fan of freezing the meatballs before they've been cooked in the sauce. As with the ann lander's meatloaf recipe we love, we've found that freezing them does something not so yummy to the texture and even seems to affect the flavor a little, maybe changes the way the meat picks up the flavor of the sauce later. Making the meatballs is the time consuming part of the recipe, anyway, the rest is just measure & dump, so once you've got the meatballs ready, it's easy enough to cook them up and then put them in the freezer. (I think Gita and I have agreed to disagree about this! LOL)

This is actually the continuation of the original thread where I first shared this recipe with DG, but the recipe is still in the top post: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/816929/

Well, Jill---

That error was made a few years ago.. I know better now.
Having to throw out a bag full of meatballs is a good way to learn.
There is another bag-full of Swedish Meatballs from IKEA. Probably just as bad.....

In general--I have to STOP buying and freezing things.--especially meats...
Somehow--they never get used up in god time--and then it is freezer burn.....

Heehee, I have had my share of freezer burn.

We had some for dinner, some in frig for tomorrow, and 2 meals worth in freezer. Jeff really liked them. Woot, woot! Now, to stock up on chili sauce when I think of it. I mixed ground beef and turkey. I know the recipe says 'Don't change anything' , but we don't eat a lot of beef. Oh, I also forgot to get the onion soup mix, so I just used onion powder. Hopefully I won't be strung up by my heels and shot. ;)

Nope, no stringing up by the heels, especially since you liked them. I really do mess with most recipes, but I haven't been happy with the results on the few occasions I've had to make substitutions with this one. The people who bug me are those who try a recipe and say, "I don't see what's so great about this recipe. I followed the directions, although I didn't have any shrimp, so I used a can of tuna, and I forgot to get curry powder, so I substituted double the amount of turmeric, since I know that's in curry powder, and we don't really eat green peas, but I thought corn would work just fine... and it was just awful, nobody in my family would eat it." LOL

Heehee I usually mess with recipes also. Or just make them up. I learned from my mom. Surely do miss her.

Well---so many recipes sound SO good--even on Cooks.com, etc--and then you read the ingredients and it is:
A can of this--and 2 cans of that--and 2 envelopes of Lipton Onion Soup mix--
1/4 cup of Soy sauce, a cup of "Cheezit' on top---etc...etc.... (making all this up). But--you get the idea....

I try NOT to use canned or processed ingredients. The amount of Sodium freaks me out.
I have read some recipes for Crock Pot roast beef that i would never follow--just for this reason.

I think the "younger generation" do not see Sodium as so much a threat to their health as we "oldies" do--
and I use that term loosely--They are immortal---don't care what they eat...have no idea what is on the back of each can!

I really am glad that there is an awareness, even among the younger ones, of healthy eating.
But--many of them still subsist of Burger King and McDonalds, and Arbys, and all those places.
Every day for lunch and dinner....the NON cooking people....The $$$ they waste!!!! Could start a nice college fund
for their future children.

OK! I better quit--I sense I am getting too high on my soap box....... Gita

This is the same reason why I alter most recipes myself. I also like to make my own dip using lots of spices, onion powder, granulated garlic, TONS of dill, and about 6 grains of salt... KOSHER salt, which has less sodium "per/volume" than other salts. (due to their grain size being so much bigger). And, ya know those pre-bottled "seasoned salt" things? I make my own. I have an 8-oz. sized shaker bottle that's 99.8% seasonings (mostly Paprika, heehee), and 0.1% actual salt. (the rest is air so I can shake it up). =) The list goes on and on... Gita, move over please, I need to stand up on that soap box with you! (and, do you mind if I paint it pink please??) < =D

I have been using coarse Sea Salt now for several years. Love the really coarse one--
such a surprise to bite into one of those grains when you eat it...

How is the Sodium content in that compared to regular salt?
I have heard it is much less????

You may get more salt taste pleasure by tasting it directly like that, than by having it permeated into your food.

Sugar too- sugar of some kind in so many prepared things.
(got my toes on the corner of that box...)

Gita: Kosher and sea salts are often cut differently. So they are equally salty ounce for ounce, but some kosher and sea salts take up much greater volume, ounce for ounce. I am hooked on Diamond salt, and it is about "half" as salty as Morton's, by volume. So I double the volume of salt if I use Diamond in recipes.

I love the way Diamond tastes. I don't like the bitterness of iodized salt, but my husband does worry that I will develop a goiter or cretinism (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iodine_deficiency)....

Hmm, wikipedia also says that iodine deficiency iodine deficiency gives rise to hypothyroidism, symptoms of which are extreme fatigue, goiter, mental slowing, depression, weight gain, and low basal body temperatures. I wonder...

Happy--

I never heard of Diamond salt. is that a brand?

I am aware of the iodine issue--but I like to think that all the foods we buy that have salt in them--
they probably use the regular iodized salt. Yes? No?

Something for coleup to research. She is so good at it.
I believe Iodine can also be found in some foods. Is it fish? Seafood in general?
Yoooo-Hoooo---coleup!!!! Inquiring minds want to know!

Gita