recipe swap :)

I just bung the pork shoulder into the slow cooker, and simply pour over a jar of salsa (I normally buy Mrs Renfro's jalapeno salsa, or La Preferida salsa jalapeno).

I have never heard of it being made with salsa! I will have to try that!

HMS_seahorse - wow...that recipe sounds nothing short of Epic!!

Soft Molasses Cookies  (makes about 2 dozen) - adapted for British spices/butter, etc....

1 cup all-purpose white flour (not self-rising)
1 cup rolled oatmeal (original recipe calls for 2 cups flour, no oats - trying to sneak some "healthy" into it here)
1 teaspoon xanthan gum (I always add it when substituting a non-gluten ingredient for wheat flour, to help the product hold together)
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 cup molasses (make sure it's not blackstrap, which has some bitter to it)
2 heaping teaspoons powdered ginger (1 if you don't like ginger)
2 heaping teaspoons powdered cinnamon (ditto)
1/4th teaspoon salt
1/2 cup currants or sultanas or raisins (again, sneaking some "healthy" in)

Preheat oven to 200-fann (just under 400F).  Grease cookie sheets.
In one large bowl, mix all dry ingredients first (except fruit), then add liquid ingredients, Mix until thoroughly combined. Add currants/raisins/sultanas last.

The dough should be very moist, but stay on a spoon and hold its form when spooned onto a cookie sheet. If it seems excessively dry, you can add cold water, a tablespoon at a time until you like the texture. Drop by spoonsfull onto cookie sheet.  Bake 8 to 10 minutes, until the top springs back when lightly pressed with your finger. Remove cookies to wire racks to cool.

Recntly made paccheri pasta with roasted pumpkin & gorgonzola
I love this hearty paccheri pasta with roasted pumpkin dish which is simple but really warming and tasty.

Ingredients for 4 people

320g Paccheri Pasta
400g pumpkin
100g gorgonzola dolce
200g button mushrooms
1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese
Dried rosemary and thyme
Olive oil, salt and pepper to taste

Method:

- Slice or chop the pumpkin and place on greased baking paper, pat dry and then sprinkle with parmesan and rosemary
- Roast in the oven on 200 degrees for 20 minutes
- Once ready mash roughly with a fork or cut into small pieces with a knife.
- Meanwhile gently cook the chopped mushrooms in a large frying pan with a drizzle of olive oil, the thyme and half a clove of garlic. Add the pumpkin and cook until lightly browned.
- Add the drained Paccheri Pasta which you will have cooked in a large pan of salted boiling water, add the gorgonzola and mix gently to allow the flavours
- Buon Appetito!

proper English Muffins (American Style )

https://kalynbrooke.com/frugal-foodie/homemade-english-muffins/

My wife started a food blog and she posts a lot of recipes there. Most of them are good old American soul food adapted to the British lifestyle (= our local Tesco express ). I can vouch for every single recipe on there! It makes all the running around for various ingredients worth while. You can find it here - https://www.hungryforlifeblog.com/my-blog (Instagram: @hungryfor_life_)

Hope this helps!

This chat has been dark for a while...

So I planted fennel in my garden. Last year I planted six, expecting to harvest at least 4 of the bulbs to make chicken & fennel soup, or leek and fennel soup. They were doing very well, and just hit the bulbing stage when the weather turned south and we got way too much rain and they rotted in place.

This year I thought I was planting 8 fennel seedlings, thinking if I got half of them I'd be happy, It turned out that each little seedling was, apparently, three little seedlings, and they are all just about ready to harvest. I've made fennel and garlic soup, fennel and leek soup, given fennel away to a co-worker.... I'm running out of ideas as to what to do with the fennel!

We don't care for it raw in salads.  I ~think~ the bulb can be cut into bits and frozen, and I know the lovely fronds can be dried and used as an herb. So I have more than enough drying, and still have quite a lot of fennel that needs a purpose. (The food bank won't take perishable food.)  Any good recipes for using fennel bulb?

This chat has been dark for a while...

So I planted fennel in my garden. Last year I planted six, expecting to harvest at least 4 of the bulbs to make chicken & fennel soup, or leek and fennel soup. They were doing very well, and just hit the bulbing stage when the weather turned south and we got way too much rain and they rotted in place.

This year I thought I was planting 8 fennel seedlings, thinking if I got half of them I'd be happy, It turned out that each little seedling was, apparently, three little seedlings, and they are all just about ready to harvest. I've made fennel and garlic soup, fennel and leek soup, given fennel away to a co-worker.... I'm running out of ideas as to what to do with the fennel!

We don't care for it raw in salads.  I ~think~ the bulb can be cut into bits and frozen, and I know the lovely fronds can be dried and used as an herb. So I have more than enough drying, and still have quite a lot of fennel that needs a purpose. (The food bank won't take perishable food.)  Any good recipes for using fennel bulb?

Well done with producing fennel, I tried some last year and don't think I even managed to get the seeds germinated!
I've only had fennel as a vegetable accompaniment, just boiled or braised, but it was delicious. You could roast it too or sauté.
Here are a few recipe ideas though. The gratin looks good!
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/fennel-gratin
https://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/slideshow/fennel-recipes

Hmm. I hadn't thought of roasting it. Perhaps what we just brought home this morning will be on for supper, roasted. We are otherwise having fresh green beans and a bit of sirloin that we cooked a few days ago on the charcoal grill out at the gardens, warmed up again. (Surprising that more people don't take advantage of the grills out there - they are up on a rise that overlooks the whole garden, under some lovely dense shade trees. Always a slight breeze up there, even on a hot day!)

The recipes do look good. I have  found tons of recipes, though, and am hoping someone can give advice on one they have actually tried?

I have no idea why the fennel took off this year as it did. It is a different variety, and I put it in a bed that had not been manured as much this year.... could be either or both of those things, or that we have not had very much rain at all this season. Neighbor says he has had the same thing. Says his didn't even bulb up last year, but that this year it's going well. Just one of those things, I guess? That and the soil temperature has been a lot slower to warm up this year - our corn and beans are really coming up and taking off late this year.

The recipes do look good. I have  found tons of recipes, though, and am hoping someone can give advice on one they have actually tried?

Sorry Nan, I remembered after I posted that you prefer actual recommendations to just some random links!  All I can say is it was served as an accompaniment to sautéed breaded pork filet and they went together really nicely.

Thanks anyway.  I have over four dozen cookbooks on my shelves (I collect vintage cookbooks) and very few have anything dealing with fennel as a vegetable in them - as an herb, yes, but veggie, no. It seems to be more of an Italian thing, maybe? Tons of recipes online, but it's kind of hit-or-miss with them as some folks will put anything up to get the clicks. 

So tonight we try roasted. I have read that it gets sweeter when you cook it, which is a kind of a strange thing to me, but.. hey, why not? I have to do SOMETHING with it! Just made some focaccia bread, so might try chopping the fennel up with some garlic we pulled, and put it on toasted bread with some mozzarella and olive oil, and running it under the broiler for a bit, and have that for starters.

Sounds lovely!

It was interesting. I'm not sure I'd make it again. And cooking it did change the flavor. (Not better, not worse - I think it might be an acquired taste.)

Have done a little research and some of my fellow gardeners do, indeed, freeze the bulbs (after cutting them into small pieces) and then use them in soups later on. The texture goes, from the freezing, so not good for much else, but they do work in soups.  We're planning to cut the tops off and dry as much of it as we think we'll need for the year (which isn't a lot), compost the rest, and freeze what bulbs we don't immediately soup-ify.

Really good recipe for Chili Colorado from the Angus Beef Board that we just tried... (see attached).

That chilli sounds good Nan!

It's quite tasty. And made with cubed beef instead of ground beef, the longer it's in the crock pot, the better it gets.   Nice on a cold dreary day.