Daffodils, Fridge-Cleaning, Why I Need Recipes, and more
Yep. It's a miscellany day.
There's no other way all of those topics could possibly go together in one post. 😉
My daffodils are working out great.
You know how last fall I ordered a bunch of vole-resistant bulbs?
(I was sick and tired of buying tulips and regular hyacinths, only to have the voles gobble them up.)
My daffodils are in full swing now, and the fun thing about the pack I ordered is that it contained a wide variety of daffodils, so I have oranges and yellows and and orange-y blush-colored flowers, to name a few.
And it is delightful to know that these will pop right up again next year, since the voles will not be destroying the bulbs.
EXCELLENT.
(This is the bulb mix I bought.)
I seriously cleaned out my fridge.
I took all of the shelves out, took the glass out, and wiped every single surface down.
(I found a lollipop in the back of the fridge. Why did someone put a lollipop in the fridge?? We may never know.)
When I put everything back in, I noticed that the fridge had stopped running, and there was a faint burning smell.
I panicked a little, called my dad (Mr. FG was gone), left a message with my repairman, and then the refrigerator magically started running again.
I have no idea what happened, but it's been hunky-dory ever since.
Weird.
And it is CRAZY clean in there.
That's also weird.
I am not known for my excellent fridge-cleaning habits.
I made a cauliflower dish that we liked. (WHAT.)
My produce box sends me cauliflower on a semi-regular basis, and so far, I haven't managed to make anything with it that my family likes.
But as I browsed through my Cook's Illustrated cookbook the other day, I saw a recipe for stir-fried cauliflower with Thai red curry sauce, and I gave it a try.
I wasn't super optimistic, but it was really tasty! The cauliflower still had a bit of crunch to it, and since it cooks for a few minutes in the sauce, it takes on the flavor of the sauce quite nicely.
This reminded me why I need recipes.
Left to myself, I would never in a million years have thought that coconut milk, curry paste, fish sauce, and lime would come together to make a tasty sauce (indeed, I was doubtful as I mixed it up!), but somehow it all works together.
Even Joshua, who LOATHES cauliflower, thought that this was pretty good.
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And thus endeth this week's edition of miscellany.
I'll be back tomorrow with a menu post, plus an update on how my freezer challenge is coming along.
Deer and squirrels won't eat daffodils either. I only wished they bloomed all summer. I haven't seen a variety like in your picture. Very pretty.
That would be awesome! The pack I got is a variety, though, and they promise to bloom in waves, one after the other. We'll see how that works out. It seems like a LOT of them bloomed at the same time.
Add chicken and more veggies to that sauce- serve over rice! One of our fav dinners
I had that problem with the same brand fridge 4 years ago. Bought new house, fridge was GROSS. Took it all apart and cleaned it. Same faint burning smell then it started working again. A week later on move in day - dead fridge. Had to go buy a new fridge that day. So, I don't want to make you worry but I would keep an eye on it.
Well, nuts. I've been keeping a careful eye on it for sure, but I was starting to breathe a sigh of relief. I'll definitely watch (and sniff!)
The moral of the story: refrigerators just like to be dirty.
Ha.
Then my fridge is safe, ouff!!!!! Ahah
Now I'm nervous, too. My fridge (different brand) stopped working about a year ago. Some online research and a home fix meant it's working again. But it's at the end of its likely lifetime so it could break down any day now. Or several years from now.
The timing of how to frugally replace a fridge stumps me. I don't want to replace it before it's really dead, but who knows when that will be. Nor do I want to pay too much because I'm buying under semi-emergency circumstances.
Mine is less than 10 years old, so I feel like it shouldn't be getting ready to die.
Totally with you on how hard it is to replace a fridge. When should you be proactive? If only you could know exactly when it was going to go kaput!
My Fridge makes that Smell when I'm cleaning it out. I asked my My Hub if He thinks it's the Light bulb because Condinsation builds on it then when light is on Long it gets Hot & burns off the Condinsation.
That's What we con concluded bcuz other than that our fridge works fine. We have a Fridgeadaire side by side it's about 5-6yrs old
But of course Always keep an eye open just in case.
I am having that same thought about my water heater. If only I knew before-hand when it would start to leak... is it going to be today? next month? in 4 years? I don't want to replace it until I need to, but on the other hand I'd rather replace it before it starts to leak! and before it's a rush situation.
You may want to consider cleaning under and behind it really well as well as vacuumming all around the panels. I had no idea that could kill a fridge, but it can. My FIL fixed our non-working basement fridge that way.
I agree with Ani Mia, be sure to clean the condenser coils and fan (http://greenlivingideas.com/2014/07/22/clean-refrigerators-condenser-coils/). And always unplug your refrigerator before you clean it (leaving the doors open for too long will quickly burn out the motor).
Yep. All of this. We have pets and i need to vac the coils once a month at least. And deff turn off the fridge while cleaniing. I bet u just overheated the condensor temporairily.
I think you could stir fry
rubber innThai red curry sauce and it would be good! We had it last night with chicken and broccoli.
I think there was a divine refrigerator intervention that occurred! Maybe the fridge needed to adjust to being so sparkly clean!
Daffodils are awesome, plus they are native to our state (I try to plant mostly native things). Plus daffodils are also deer resistant (we have a lot of deer in our area)
We had several daffodil clumps that I transplanted 4 years ago. First year no daffodils, next year just leaves came up, last year leaves, stems, and buds that never bloomed, this year, real daffodils! Took them awhile!
Have you tried to mash the cauliflower? My 3 year old hates mashed potatoes (what?) but looooves mashed cauliflower. I steam the heck out of it (and usually throw in a couple cloves of garlic to steam with it), and dump it in the blender with a bit of butter and cream cheese. Super delish. Sometimes I'll pour all of that into a baking dish and top with bacon and cheese and broil it for a few minutes.
CI has a great recipe for pan-roasted cauliflower. Short version: rend bacon, brown panko in the grease, remove. Brown cauli in more bacon grease, cook till done, toss with bacony panko.
Before this recipe I barely tolerated cauli - and that was a vast improvement over my previous loathing of it. After this recipe I started trying other recipes. Now I usually have some in the fridge because it lasts so long, and will pan roast, stir fry, even mash.
Ooh, ok! I'll look that up. Thanks for the recommendation.
I have the same problem with cauliflower (weekly produce box) and have one recipe that my whole family will eat (it's a miracle!). It's from Faith Willinger's fantastic Italian vegetable cookbook, "Red, White & Greens" and is called Torquato's Cauliflower and Sausage.
Basically, cut the cauliflower down to flowerets and boil them for about 5 minutes in a big pot of salted water. Drain and refresh the cauliflower in cold water. Save cooking water.
Saute 4-6 mild Italian sausages, casings removed, until browned. Then just add the cauliflower to the sausage with a couple cloves of chopped garlic (and the recipe calls for hot pepper flakes, which I omit) and about a half cup of dry white wine. Add cauliflower cooking water if needed, and salt/pepper to taste. Bring up to high heat to evaporate wine, cook until cauliflower is tender, and ta-da! "It's not cauliflower, kids, it's *sausage.* With cauliflower."
I serve it over egg noodles and it goes over pretty well.
Regarding the lollipop in the fridge. I've seen the same thing. There's a time that kids all think the fridge is a magical place, and anything you put in there will stay good forever. My older boys (12 and 9) went through that, and I'm sure my 3-year-old and the baby will go through that phase at some point, too. Kids are funny 🙂
So funny, when I read your ingredients for the caulifower recipe I realized that I read a recipe for chicken that uses the exact same ingredients. Yum!
Oh, and you can always boil the cauliflower in chicken broth and make some buttery faux mashed potatoes.
Not crazy about cauliflower eighter. But I found a recipe on Pinterest called something like Cauliflower garlic Alfredo sauce. I left the garlic out and added mire cheese, but it's basically an Alfredo sauce made with just cauliflower, cheese and milk. I was very septic, but mixed with pasta and shrimps or chicken it's pretty close to the reak thing! Just an idea...
* more cheese
* real thing...
geez, what's up with my auto correct today ?!?
I have found that some cauliflower has a stronger flavor than others. Not sure how you discover how to pick out a milder one.
I bought cute little sweet peppers on sale this week at Aldi--I'm guessing that's where yours (in the container picture) came from?
I love those cute little peppers, and they last a LONG time! I have a recipe that actually calls for sweet mini peppers so I bought a package. Had some left over, so I topped a store- bought meat pizza with some thinly sliced ones. and some red onion. Jazzed it up a bit!
ATK featured a creamy cauliflower soup that I loved, but I love cauliflower ANY way. Season 14 episode 12 on Netflix
Yes to cauliflower soup. My husband hates cauliflower, but when it's roasted with onions and blended with chicken broth, he likes the resulting soup!
I use a cauliflower/cheddar cheese soup recipe from Williams Sonoma's vegetarian recipes (although we're not vegetarian) that so far everyone has really liked. And mashed cauliflower. And cauliflower/cheese casserole.
We replaced our refrigerator this past winter. It was 20 years old, and although it ran fine, the interior was breaking up. One of the drawer glides gave up the ghost, the shelves on the freezer door broke off, another drawer broke into parts and refused to go back together. So, we moved it to our laundry room -- we had to make room for it -- and put a new one in the kitchen. Now it serves as extra freezer space to store bulk flours and grains, etc., and a handy place for cold drinks and an extra gallon of milk, a place to put chickens while they thaw, a place to store the 3-layer cake made for the holiday the next day, a place to store our saved garden seeds till next year (we have bags full of them), a place to store my husband's insulin, and a place to put the turkey while it brines. It won't last forever, but we sure use it -- it is never empty. It means our kitchen fridge is not so packed and we aren't shoving things around to make room for a big item.