I'm fine thanks Beth. Christmas was nice. Your plans for dinner tonight sound wonderful and I love hearing about you cooking again, chickie. I imagine you have the Dutch oven; have you made the no-knead bread in it yet? Happy Le Creuset!
Yes, I have the dutch oven and was on a roll with the no-knead bread a couple of years ago. I remember when that was all the rage. Now I mostly use my bread machine but you've got me thinking that I should make some again. I hope you have a happy, healthy New Year, chick!
@Beth Gallagher - last years dismal findings, did not last and here you are 2022 gonna bake bread ! Awesome
G--You and I have been through hell with health issues and we're still standing! Hopefully this will be a healthy year for us, and for everyone on SoC! (Today I'll make cornbread to go with the peas and cabbage!) Happy New Year.
Today is a beautiful COLD day. I'm doing some laundry and thinking about dusting the wood blinds but seem to have adopted the "dust can wait" attitude these days. I took the remnants of prime rib and cut most of the meat off the bones; I will make stroganoff for dinner with some of it. The remainder has been vacuum-sealed and is in the freezer for another day. I put the meaty ribs into a heavy pot and sauteed them a couple of minutes with an onion, 2 carrots and 2 stalks of celery. Covered everything with water, added salt and pepper, and have it simmering for the next 4 hours or so. When done I'll strain it and that should make a really good soup base for later in the week. So I pretty much got our money's worth from that roast. Yesterday I received the last of my Le Creuset binge; something everyone needs... a rice pot. (OK, I know... but it's so CUTE.) I just got it washed and will try it out later this week. I usually make rice once or twice a week so it's something I actually will use. I also bought that nifty little rice paddle/server; it's made from olive wood and is perfect with the pot. My husband and I are planning to drive across town to the outlet mall one day this week. It's an open-air mall so mostly outdoors and hopefully the Christmas returns crowd will have dissipated. Schools start back tomorrow so at least we won't have a bunch of kids running everywhere. Conveniently, there is a Le Creuset outlet store there so who knows what treasures await. It will be fun to get out for a while if only for the drive; it's about an hour away.
My daughter also loves the Le Creuset cookware and has collected some pieces of it, and hers are in the orange color. It looks like beautiful cookware, but it looks like it would be heavy to use ?
Yes, it's ceramic coated cast iron, so it's heavy. I've actually been a collector for years; I bought my first piece back in the 90's and have added pieces over the years. I have a rack in the kitchen for the larger dutch ovens and stuff...
Beautiful collection Beth! I had their 4 1/2 qt and 9 qt dutch oven that I used for chili. It had the cast-iron quality of holding heat but the ceramic coating didn't allow the reaction to the acid of the tomatoes like bare iron. I could leave it on for days and even at night when the wood stove wasn't as hot, it held enough heat that the chili never cooled down to any level that might invite bacteria. The 9 qt was great for making Basque sourdough shepherd's bread. I once thought of collecting it in different colors to go with my Fiesta collection, but no room.
Thanks; I have "issues" when it comes to kitchen stuff. Wow, a 9 qt.! My largest dutch oven is a 7 qt and the weight is almost more than I can handle when it's full. I seldom use larger than the 5.5 qt nowadays but the 7 qt got a workout when the kids were home. The largest piece I own is the wok, and the pieces I use most are grill pans.
Yesterday was a gorgeous day; sunny and in the 70's. The better half and I decided to drive over to the outlet mall which is about an hour away across town. We didn't have anything particular in mind but I know there's a Le Creuset outlet store there. It is an open air type mall where walking between stores is all outdoors and it wasn't crowded, but we wore masks anyhow. I only went into the Le Creuset store and after making my purchases I mostly sat out on the sidewalk benches while hubby went into the Levis store, a book store, and a shoe store. He didn't buy a single thing. Here are my new treasures; a stoneware crock for my kitchen tools, a stoneware covered casserole dish, a teabag holder that I will use as a spoon rest, and a stainless magnet for my refrigerator that has a chart of kitchen measure conversions. (The wooden tools didn't come with the crock; I already had those.) I worked in the yard a bit today; trimming stuff and cleaning out some leaves in the flower beds. It's nice to be outside and feels like springtime out there. Our coldest days are usually in February so I know there's more winter to come; it will be in the 30's tonight. We have a red tip bush that is dying and will need to be removed. That will be part of my "re-landscaping" effort in the front yard this spring. I took the last of the New Years Eve prime rib out of the freezer to make quesadillas for dinner. There wasn't much left but it will be plenty for quesadillas. I made a nice amount of beef broth with the bones from that roast and will be making a pot of soup at some point. So I really got our money's worth out of that piece of meat!
Today was a good day. I finally got around to doing some kitchen cabinet cleanout, as well as my "overflow" cabinet in the garage. I culled enough stuff that we filled the entire back of the Jeep (with the rear seat down.) All of it is on the way to Goodwill. I ditched several new or like-new small appliances; a Ninja cooker still in the box, a "spirolizer" (what the heck was I thinking that day??), a Nesco electric roaster, and tons of other stuff. I also had filled a 30-gallon trash bag with clothing pulled from my closet that had to ride in the front passenger seat. Getting all that "stuff" outta here feels good, man! Tomorrow I'll be in the garage, wiping down the dust and rearranging the things left in the overflow area. I have some gigantic Tupperware containers out there that are seldom used but I can't let them go. You know how once in a blue moon you need a gigantic bowl for something?? Yeah. That's why. Also have Tupperware cake and pie savers that are space hogs, so the overflow area comes in handy. When I was rooting around in the back recesses of the kitchen cabinets, I found a Magnalite cast aluminum covered roasting pan that must be 40 years old. I had totally forgotten about that thing; I remember when they were all the rage. I'm going to see if one of the kids wants it as an heirloom.