Today’s Specials-UGH!

Why dedicate almost a full post to food and cooking? Because that is all I seem to be doing.  At times, I feel like I am running a small restaurant.

Seeing that I pay for this domain and the name, I should be justifying the expense by posting something.  ANYTHING!

Lately, I have been craving fresh raspberries to put on a green salad with grilled citrus chicken drizzled with raspberry vinaigrette then sprinkled with semi-toasted almond slices. This evening, for supper, I satisfied that craving-

With vanilla ice cream and the leftover raspberries, I topped slices of the Torta di Arancia/Orange Cake I made the day before-

I had more raspberries in the bowl, but Brian ate most of them before I could snap a picture.

The Torta is a sponge-like cake. The recipe calls for all-purpose flour, but I omitted ¼ cup of the all-purpose and used ¼ almond flour instead. It came out delicious and so moist. I use the recipe from this book-

Because eating out isn’t in the budget, I do all cooking and baking here. Most days, it’s a lot of heavy cooking.  Beside, around here, the only restaurants and bakeries to speak of are McDonald’s, Burger Kings, Pizza Hut and many BBQ joints and supermarket bakeries…Well, you get the idea.

My daughter, who moved back to New England a few years ago, shipped down to us a quart of shucked clams and fresh haddock from Ipswich Fish Market in Massachusetts for Father’s Day.

The Friday before Father’s Day, we fried clams and haddock along with french fries and a side of coleslaw. Sometime we crave the tastes of back home. I froze the rest of the haddock and for Father’s Day, I made baked stuffed haddock. That’s the day I made fresh cinnamon rolls.

Last week I wanted a gyro. Knowing that I wouldn’t get one around this area unless I made one, I did just that-

Unable to get ground lamb (or any lamb) around here, I substituted the lamb with hamburger and ground pork for the meat. I made tzatziki and the pita bread.

A couple of days later, so as not to waste the leftover yogurt used to make the tzatziki, I made a Greek-type blueberry yogurt.  Into a coffee filter, I strained the plain yogurt into a strainer for a little over an hour until it was thick and creamy, added a little sugar and vanilla and added blueberries (thawed) that I had in the freezer.

Waste not, want not!

Also with the  frozen blueberries, I made a blueberry buckle-

I am tired I tell yah! Tired of cooking and tired of meal planning.  But, If I want something other than frozen or prepared foods, I have to cook and or bake. Like today, we are making homemade pizza. We have the pizza sauce all made. All we have to do is make the dough.

I am tired I tell yah!