Ron and I had a wonderful Christmas day. We had good food, we had good times. Here is a couple pictures of me sharping our knives, including serrated ones you can do if you are careful.
Then there was the jolly elf in the kitchen working to prepare enough food for 10 people. How he misses the days we held being holiday gatherings. I helped on and off like doing the cooking and peeling of the eggs for the deviled eggs. Here is the elf at work.
And then there is the result of all the work. The food.
I can’t wait to make this cottage pie; I love them, especially with mushrooms instead of beef. But I’ll follow the recipe the first time I make it. I usually make cottage pie for Meal Trains, and just for us, and also like to make one with leftover ham, peas, and sweet potatoes. Meanwhile, this brioche is beautiful. I don’t keep white flour, but will buy some (brioche isn’t brioche when it’s whole wheat.) And the salad! It won’t be too many weeks, and we’ll be wanting cooler foods. Enjoy, everyone.
make a post about the noshies. I have a few minutes, so lets see if I can do it.
The other day, I exchanged treats with another good friend-we’ve been exchanging gifts family to family for 31 years. Sometimes crafty things, sometimes foodstuff treats, sometimes seasonal decorations, whatever. We don’t decide ahead of time, we just do what we feel. The past few years, we are older, of course, and it’s been foodstuffs because it’s easy to just make extra of what we’re making for our own households, then give it away. This year, I made up the afore-mentioned peppermint bark and snickerdoodles, and did up some candy-cane-dusted chocolate covered pretzels. I took photos:
The one on the left hand side is what we received, and holycowthisisaddictive. The photo on the right shows our gift with the lid on, and the snickerdoodles I shared; we have a few left over. Our gifts to give are packed up in boxes similar to the one we received. I’m sorry about no bark photo; every morsel of it is given away. It was dark chocolate, crushed candycanes, white “chocolate” layered on top, with more candy cane dust. Pretzels are pretzels.
OK, so. Yesterday I mentioned I ate a donut. The day before, I put a hurt (for me, anyway,) on the snack mix we received. I’m a nosher, and usually keep fresh veggies around so that when I’ve got enough calories, I can still nosh. I read the best thing in Yoga Journal one time: vegetables do not make a person fat. It’s the truth. Better for us raw, but even cooked, if it’s only veggies-no dip, cheese, butter, etc.-you can eat what you like, and they don’t make you fat. And as to dip, salsa is permissible, because, again, it’s vegetables. Raw carrots are delicious dipped in salsa, but likely as I did, you’ll have to find out by trying it, because I didn’t believe it, either. Anyway, I’m not including potatoes or corn as veggies; I mean veggies a person would eat raw. The thing is, they have lots of water along with all the wonderful nutrients, and even if a person eats a whole bag of carrots or bell peppers or turnips or celery, etc., it won’t make them fat. It would also take a long, long time. I read all this back then in a magazine I trust. Most people won’t eat that much at a time, and will lose their naughty craving well before they’ve polished off all the little carrots.
Well, I needed a nosh, went for the carrots and saw I’d picked up a package of a blend of various lettuces and spinach, and thought, cool! Chips. So, I spread out a cup (1 serving is a cup, fwiw. It fits on my sheet) and sprinkled a bit of water, then seasoned the leaves while I was waiting for the oven to heat to 375.
The photo on the right hand shows the raw leaves, and the seasoning I used. I like salt-free seasoning; veggies have flavor on their own that I enjoy plus plenty of sodium, but chips need a little oomph. This time it was Florida Hope Seasoned Pepper (which really needs to be in everything savory,) and a garlic salt called Justice that has shallots, garlic, onion, green peppercorns, chives, and green onion, but No Salt. It has the salty texture, though. It’s awesome on popcorn.
The photo on the lefthand is of the chips when I took them out of the oven (375 degrees, 15 minutes. Ovens will vary.) They are light, crispy, will not dip, but really solve that chips craving a person might get. And even with the water roasted out, you can eat as many of these as you can, and not get fat.
Well, time to see how this looks, and get it put up. I hope everyone has some fun exploring what they like to do to avoid overeating the delicious rich treats we have this time of year. And I hope Scottie maybe finds this a way he can get a little more nutrition in when he loses his appetite!
I need a tagline, the way Julia and Lidia have taglines. But I can’t steal those, of course. So, here’s to a great afternoon. Also, to anyone who’s made kale chips: this mixture does not contain kale, so the aroma kale produces turning into chips will not be present. Yay!
Yet Johnson had the time to slam in at the last minute with no committee hearings or being addressed by the entire House an add on to the end of year must pass military budget that would block the military from granting gender affirming care to dependents of service members. If that remains it will hurt moral and hit retention. Family with trans kids will leave the military to get the care their kids need. Plus again it is based on ideology and religion, not science. Ok the link above was gotten from Ten Bears’ site, the link will be below because of how fucked up WordPress has gotten. Hugs
Over the weekend, House Republicans once again failed to secure a deal to fund the federal government. The deadline for approving a spending bill is Dec. 20 and without its passage there could be another shutdown, which has happened before on the GOP’s watch.
Speaker Mike Johnson has been unable to get members of his own party representing farm districts to back the legislation currently being negotiated. Politico reports that Republicans planned to circulate the text of the bill among members on Sunday, but that soft deadline has passed without a solution and now leadership may reach out to Democrats for help.
Advocacy groups and lobbyists representing farming interests have been pushing Congress to include farm relief in the funding bill.
“Our country will suffer the consequences if Congress takes farmers & our food supply for granted. I call on members of Congress who represent ag to stand with farmers by insisting the supplemental spending bill include economic aid for farmers and voting it down if it doesn’t,” Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation wrote.
Ironically, one reason farms are seeking relief is that they are still dealing with the economic fallout from Donald Trump’s trade war, which led to decreased sales of U.S. farm products on the international market. Trump has proposed similar trade policies, including tariffs, for his second term despite the economic risk to millions of consumers.
While the House fumbled this key deadline, Johnson was not at the Capitol. On Saturday he instead attended the Army-Navy football game along with Trump, Vice President-elect JD Vance, and Trump benefactor Elon Musk.
Since taking the House in the 2022 midterm elections, Republicans have governed in a state of almost perennial chaos. The party could not decide on a consensus speaker and then after Kevin McCarthy was selected, he was removed from power.
Because McCarthy and now Johnson have had such a hard time getting the party in line, they have had to rely on Democratic votes to pass key legislation keeping the nation funded. Even after Republicans held on to the House in the 2024 election, the margin of the party’s control will be virtually unchanged from two years ago.
The incoming administration hopes to implement many of the unpopular ideas in Project 2025 (despite Trump’s claims that he had no connection to the conservative agenda), but the party’s track record of legislative incompetence may show another path forward.
Republicans had unified control in Trump’s first two years of the presidency and the party failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) or pass an infrastructure bill (President Joe Biden did). Now they cannot even agree on a spending bill with just a few days to go.
The future, even with Republicans in control of the House, Senate, and White House, does not look bright for Johnson and his party in Congress.
I’m making Peppermint Bark for gifts today, so you go to Breaking News USA, read whatever you want, and bookmark the page if you care to. It’s a fine resource, that’s for sure! (I don’t know why the link says Breaking Test on WP’s embed.) Everyone enjoy your day! BBL.
(I’m not sure my bark will be as uniform as this photo shows. However, it will taste as good, because how can it not?)
I’ve been following this cook and author on Substack, though I don’t read her often. I know she’s there! She shares Sri Lankan dishes. Maybe you’ll like this, maybe you’ll find some other recipe you enjoy, on her page.
(Urad and Chana Dals are available online with regular stores, or your own lentils and split chickpeas may be substituted. I use all lentils; I love hummus, don’t care for the unsmashed whole legume!)
============================================
Potato masala: the antidote to boring, bland potatoes by Ranji Thangiah
A deceptively easy recipe that packs a flavour punchRead on Substack
This recipe for potato masala is my antidote to boring, bland potatoes.
When it comes to potatoes, they need to pop because, unless they are fried into chips or cooked with spices, I find potatoes deeply boring.
I know many people love potatoes and consider them the ultimate comfort food. Yet, I can’t muster up the enthusiasm to start cooking potatoes if all I’m going to do is add a bit of butter and salt.
I’m haunted by memories of my school dinners. I lived in dread of the weekly helping of mashed potatoes. School mash was served up dry and lumpy, likely to get stuck in your throat. It was always accompanied by a tedious minced meat pie and green beans boiled to a pale, sickly green.
And then there was Smash. This 1970s “wonder food” found its way into our kitchen because it negated the need for boiling and peeling potatoes. As kids, we fell for the charm of the Smash aliens, who popped up on our TV screens to convince us to eat rehydrated potato granules, trading flavor and nutrition for convenience.
Nowadays, if I’m going to make potatoes, my style is to rev up the flavor and make them pop.
This potato masala recipe is deceptively easy and quick to make. The dals, which don’t need pre-soaking, and the cashew nuts give this dish a pleasant and satisfying crunch. You need to add this recipe to your collection for those times when you want your potatoes to pack a flavor punch.
Make potato masala to stuff your freshly made dosa, serve as a side with a plateful of curries, or enjoy it with a fried egg and a generous dollop of lime pickle.
How to make potato masala
Utensils
Have the following to hand: a saucepan for boiling the potatoes and a large frying pan.
Serves 4 as a side
Ingredients
400g new potatoes skins on (chop the larger ones in half)
2 tbs vegetable oil
1 tbsp urad dal
1 tbsp chana dal
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 sprig of fresh curry leaves
1 green chilli, finely chopped – remove the seeds to reduce the heat
1 red onion, sliced
3 garlic cloves chopped
10g ginger, chopped
½ tsp turmeric
A pinch of salt
1 tsp cashew nuts, chopped
A few coriander leaves for garnish
First boil the potatoes until tender. Drain drain then set aside.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan, spoon in the dals, fry for a minute then add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When they start to crackle, add the curry leaves and chilli, fry for two minutes then add the onion followed by the garlic and ginger.
Add the potatoes stir into the spices and when the onions start to become translucent sprinkle over the turmeric and salt. Stir the cashew nuts, and continue to stir until the turmeric covers the potatoes evenly. When the cashew nuts start to brown, take off the heat, garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves and serve immediately.
Speaker Mike Johnson
Scottie's Playtime 