Jenn Dolari @dolari@driveinsaturday.org

While things are better here than in Texas when it comes to LGBT attitudes, it's still not perfect:

https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/bellingham-teens-arrested-alleged-violent-hate-crimes/GCBG42K3R5AAPHJCASAQS4ACBI/

Spaghetti Casserol Revelation:

Any meal with peas can be made infinitely better by removing said peas.

Good productive, if domestic, day today. Got three meals done, made some ice cream, decluttered the house and reorganized. Hoping I don't pay for it tomorrow.

That said, my neck has been doing pretty good this week. I haven't needed the pain killers or muscle relaxants this week, and while the pain hasn't gone away, it's a dull ache most of the time.

Even the cough has started to go away. Now that I know what's causing it, and that I can sort of control what's happening in my throat, I haven't coughed much anymore.

Still going to pursue the physical therapy for both issues, though. I'd rather get them fixed than just forget about them only to have them flare up again.

This Week's Fancy Pants Meal: Chicken Spaghetti Casserole

The recipe says this was from 1978, and it certainly looks like a 1978 Sunday Night Family Dinner. It's actually pretty decent if a tiny bit bland. Definitely needs salt and pepper (the recipe didn't have any, and I didn't add any thinking the Velveeta would be salty enough), and maybe a dash of hot sauce to spice it up.

This is the original recipe, which is far larger than my scaled down dish. The recipe says "Feeds 18-20!."

# Chicken Spaghetti Casserole

Fredericksburg Home Kitchen Cook Book

0.25 pound butter
1.0 cup onion (chopped)
1.0 cup celery (chopped)
1.0 clove garlic (minced)
4.0 ounces mushrooms (canned)
4.0 tbsp flour
4.0 cups chicken stock
2.0 pounds Velveeta (grated)
2.5 cups tomatoes (stewed)
2.5 cups peas (drained)
4.0 ounces pimentos (canned)
5.0 pounds chicken thighs (cooked) (diced)
16.0 ounces spaghetti (boiled) (drained)

1 - Saute at medium high heat the onion, celery, garlic and mushrooms until soft and slightly brown.
2 - Add flour and stir until well blended.
3 - Add chicken stock slowly and stir until thickened.
4 - Add cheese, tomatoes. pimiento and peas, stir until cheese melts.
5 - Add chicken and spaghetti and mix well with other ingredients.
6 - Place in greased casseroles and refrigerate overnight.
7 - Put in cold oven and bake at 375 degrees F. for 35 minutes.

#thisweeksmeals #cooking

I got a care package from North Hibiki the other day, and in it were a small collection of coins. This penny is 99 years old. If I have my number correct, one of my grandparents (maybe two) weren't even born yet when this was minted.

Cooked two meals, made ice cream, now taking a break before making to more meals, and decluttering the house. Goal? Go out tomorrow and touch some grass.

This Week's Bread: Luby's (sorta) Yeast Rolls

Finally! Some proper yeast rolls. Still not 100% what I got in school but I think that's because they buttered the tops before baking.

Also, they came out perfectly moist. I tried something different this time by mixing the dough ONLY until it all came together instead of until it was firm. I think I've been over working my bread doughs. When I try the struan bread again, I'll try mixing the dough until it JUST comes together. Might get a bigger rise doing that.

Not quite Luby's yeast rolls cause I didn't do the little mushroom cloverleaf ball thing, but THEY'RE STILL SO GOOD.

# Luby's Dinner Rolls
18 rolls

Luby's Recipes & Memories

1.3333333333333333 cups warm water
2.0 tbsp active dry yeast
0.5 cup sugar
3.0 whole eggs
4.0 tbsp butter (melted)
0.3333333333333333 cup nonfat dry milk
1.0 tsp salt
5.0 cups all-purpose flour
vegetable oil (as needed)

1 - In the bowl of an electric mixer, blend water, yeast and sugar. Set aside 5 minutes to allow yeast
mixture to become frothy.
2 - Add eggs and butter.
3 - Using the dough hook of the electric mixer, beat on medium speed until blended.
4 - Add dry milk and salt. Mix well.
5 - Add flour, one cup at a time, mixing until dough begins to pull away from sides of bowl.
6 - Leaving dough in bowl, lightly grease top of dough ball with oil.
7 - Cover loosely and let rise in a warm place 1 hour or until doubled in size.
8 - Lightly grease a muffin pan.
9 - Punch dough down and divide it evenly into the number of portions you want.
10 - Gently roll each piece into a ball and place one ball into each muffin cup.
11 - Let rise in a warm place 1 hour or until rolls have doubled in size.
12 - Preheat oven to 350°F.
13 - Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.

#thisweeksmeals #cooking #baking

"Wow...this meal screams 1970s Sunday Night Family Dinner."

::looks at recipe::

"Ah...1974...I think this jar of pimentos I bought for it is from then. Anyone even USE pimentos anymore?"

Business Idea: A supermarket with portion sizes for people who live alone, so you don't have to by a 10 oz can of tomatoes when you only need 1 oz, and your freezer is packed with frozen leftoer ingredients.

::chops celery for a recipe::

"I may make some good food, but if you saw my knife skills you'd wonder how I have any fingertips left."

This Week's Meals (Bonus!): Teaberry Ice Cream!

The wonderful wintergreen flavor of Pepto-Bismol in an ice cream. ❤

# Homemade Teaberry Ice Cream

A Coalcracker in the Kitchen

1.5 cups milk
1.5 cups heavy cream
4.0 large egg yolks
0.6666666666666666 cup granulated sugar
1.0 teaspoon teaberry extract
0.5 tsp vanilla extract
3.0 drops red food coloring
0.0625 tsp salt
4.0 cups ice cubes
1.0 drop blue food coloring

1 - Place ice cubes into a large metal bowl and fill about a third of the way with cold water. Put bowl in fridge.
2 - Place a mesh strainer over a glass bowl nearby.
3 - Heat the milk and cream in a medium saucepan over low heat until it just begins to bubble; do not boil.
4 - Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl until pale yellow.
5 - Once the milk and cream are ready, remove from heat.
6 - Stir in the salt, extracts and food colorings.
7 - Temper the eggs by taking about 1/3 of the warmed milk mixture and slowly stream it into the egg yolks, whisking constantly.
8 - Slowly pour the tempered yolks back into the saucepan while stirring then return to the heat on low and stir with a spatula scraping down the sides of the pan as well.
9 - Cook until an instant-read thermometer reads 170 degrees F.
10 - Pour the cooked custard into the strainer you set up over the glass bowl, then put the bowl into the ice water.
11 - Stir the custard until it cools.
12 - Once cool, cover the bowl with the custard with plastic and chill in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.
13 - Pour the chilled custard into an ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturer’s instructions for your maker.

#thisweeksmeals #cooking

Fun Fact: I've made garum flavored ramen.

If you're hiring Fae, I'm withdrawing my application. You're not getting my name....

I just realized that I fully moved over to Linux about ten years ago now. I still keep feeling that "it's just temporary" like back when I first started dabbling in it, but I'm fully running Linux Mint 99% of the time now.