Are you tired of tips yet? - Saving salad....

When I make a tossed salad of raw vegetables, I usually make quite a bit, and it lasts for a few days for us.  Then, once in a while, it doesn't get eaten before it starts to oxidize and look rather pathetic. It would not be a bad thing to eat it, but it just doesn't look very nice, if you understand...

This morning, I chopped up some oyster mushrooms that I had gathered and part of a red onion that was in the refrigerator and mixed it together with the salad (leaf lettuce, onion, radish, sweet peppers, celery, carrots) and I stir fried it all in extra-virgin olive oil.  I cooked some brown rice in my Instant Pot and served it with Soy Sauce.

It was very good.  :)

Frying Chicken for two and what is going on here today...

My daughter bought me one of these nice little 2-quart Lodge Logic cast iron Dutch Ovens.  I also have a very large Lodge deep skillet that I use for frying chicken. Today though, just for the two of us, I wanted to fry just two chicken drumsticks.  If I use a regular skillet, then lard will get all over the stove because a regular skillet is too shallow.  But it occurred to me to use the 2-quart Dutch Oven, and that worked very well!  I always use kettle-rendered lard to fry our chicken.

About 3 years ago, I started a simple quilt and then life intervened and I didn't get to finish it.  Finally, I've been working on it again.  I am doing hand quilting, sitting here at our kitchen island.  Hopefully, I will complete it before too long.

We had a break in the weather and I actually found a few oyster mushrooms outside today!

Ghee

Have you heard of "Ghee?" It is clarified butter. That means that all the water has been simmered out of the butter and the milk solids removed. If kept in an airtight container, it can be kept at room temperature, and it is suitable for much higher heat cooking than butter, as the milk solids are the part that burn when you fry with butter. It is composed almost entirely of fat and is very high in Vitamins A and D and can contribute to eye and bone health. It is also a delicious cooking oil and has been used in India, Egypt and some other countries for a long long time.

I have been reading about ghee, and watched some YouTube videos on how to make it, but it just seemed rather complicated.... until! Last week, on the wonderful Simple Lives Thursday, at the GNOWFGLINS blog, I found instructions on how to make ghee using a Crock Pot! Here is the link.

Above is a picture of the 1 gallon Crock Pot that I used. Before I went to bed I put 3 pounds of butter (mine was salted, but unsalted is usually recommended) into the Crock Pot and I set it on low, with the lid OFF and let it cook all night.

Here is what it looked like the next morning:



I placed a piece of paper toweling into a stainless steel strainer, and that into a canning funnel on top of a glass jar:



Then I carefully ladled in the liquid:



The clear ghee flowed slowly into the jar:



Here is a jar full. I got about 2.5 pints from the 3# of butter:



I asked the lady who posted the recipe what kind of paper towel she used because I had problems. She said she used a 100% recycled paper towel that was 2-ply. I am going to look for that kind, because I had to keep changing the towel, as the flow would stop before long. I also tried 2 types of paper coffee filters and they did not work either. Other than that, this was extremely easy to do.

If you have ever priced ghee, you will know it is expensive! So, now you can easily make your own.

Many many thanks to Yolks, Kefir & Gristle!