Tomato Aspic Tuesday Our Daily Dinner

Tomato Aspic Tuesday

chuckieb 9 years ago
Good Morning Everybody! How is everyone doing today? AGAIN a gorgeous summer day here in Ottawa. I am chomping at the bit to get outside and finish the lawn mowing. It's cool right now and I could be done in a flash. But I got a call yesterday from the company that installed all our new patio doors and windows a few years ago. Ever since the first winter with them we had excessive frost build-up on the patio door in the family room and we've been bugging them and bugging them and bugging them to fix it. We've had them out a few times and perhaps today will be the day something actually gets done? One can hope. :)
Tried my Gazpacho out last night. FANTASTIC!
So....Tomato Aspic. I'm not sure that I've ever had it. Although it certainly looks like similar jelly salad things my Mom used to put out on special occasions that I would totally shy away from. A vegetable jello just isn't my thing, but hey...maybe if I tried it. (Kind of doubt it though)
Apart from mowing and hopefully getting the patio door fixed up I'm pretty much footloose and fancy-free today. Jim had a 6 a.m. call and then headed into work early. They are having executive meetings today and they're being held at the Chateau Laurier, a very nice Hotel right down town Ottawa. You may remember Joce and Den going there for a Christmas Party. :)
Plus, he's going out for dinner with the crew as well so I'm on my own tonight. Just have to think of something fun to eat? I could look in the freezer.
Wishing everyone a great day! :)
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notyourmomma 9 years ago said:

I actually like tomato aspic. I used to make it at Le Pompano. We served it with sliced cucumbers dressed in our herbal dressing piled in the center of the aspic. We had the smallest ring molds, about the size of saucer. It was much more tasty than any jello flavor. It was very popular in the early 80's. Darn, I'm old.

Karen, I like you tomato ketchup post. Good use of an abundance of tomatoes. I think it is neat that you can can! giggle. Have you ever canned beans? I want to can can too.

I have a doctor's appointment. I'm not so sure I can even walk into the office. I'm as stiff as a board. I'm the Sta-Puff Marshmallow man. I think I figured out why my cpap isn't working, my nasal passages are swollen and I need to get a different sized mask. Maybe then I can keep breathing overnight.

Dinner is creamed mushrooms and chicken on toast. Blasted tomatoes. I have two containers of small portobellos. I'll halve them, saute, flame them with a bit of brandy, add leftover roast chicken and finish with heavy cream, thyme and salt & pepper. I'll saute some spinach with lemon and garlic. I love garlic in spinach.

Enjoy your footloose and fancy free day, Janet.

Happy day to everyone!

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chuckieb 9 years ago said:

Tina...I would totally try a Tomato Aspic that you made. :) Goodness at being the Sta-Puff Marshmallow man. And goodness on your swollen nasal passages. Breathing overnight is a good thing. Feel better. Your dinner sounds nummy.
The Patio Door Man just left. He wasn't given adequate information so a) not only did he get lost getting here as they didn't give him the right directions but b) it's a two person job as they need to remove the patio door and they only sent one man (and he looks to be in his late '70's). I felt bad for him coming all this way (it's over an hour's drive) for nothing but also bad for us as nothing was rectified. Patience is a virtue right? :)
So....out to the lawn I go. My Mom called and we had a nice chat.

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Good4U 9 years ago said:

I don't like Tomato Aspic in anyway shape or form, Janet! I am quite sure you tasted just a little bit when you were a kid, and got turned off. Yup you are right it was served up on special occasions and is a sort of throw back from the 40's and 50's, along with other wild jellied salad creations. GROSS ME GREEN YUCK! Good luck with figuring out your patio door condensation build up. 90% of the time, it is due to circulation problems and too much humidity built up inside the house though. Finding the actual source sometimes can be very tough. today. Enjoy your puttering around outside again today it is another good day to work outside. I am quite sure you will find something Jim doesn't
fancy, but for you it is a treat for this evening. Oops! I almost missed you! Weird why they would need to remove the patio door? Did they not install properly the first time?
Too bad the poor man had no idea about what was supposed to be done:(

Tina, I hope you can get a new cpap mask that fits you better today. Good luck at the doctor too! Creamed mushrooms and chicken on toast, with blasted tomatoes and garlic sauteed spinach. Sounds like a very yummy dinner to me:) I might be tempted to try a small wee bit of the Tomato Aspic, you described. It sounds really good and I bet I would be surprised!

Karen, Your Blender Ketchup is very much like a recipe I used to make to have as a condiment for French Canadian Tourtiere meat pie or any meat pie. Nice post and congratulation on it being featured:)

Michelle, How did Bri's first day at school go? Also did Micheal get out of Jury Duty? What are you cooking today?

I didn't get to my windows yesterday, so they will have to be done today. I also need to clean the BBQ, not a task I enjoy, I can assure you of that! We are having Salmon Souffle with cucumber and dill sauce with a big salad and sliced beefsteak tomatoes. If I get industrious today, I might make some sort of potato puffs with leftover potatoes in the oven as well.

Wishing everyone a great day!

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MissouriFarmWife 9 years ago said:

Janet - Hopefully your doors will be fixed soonest. We are still waiting on the minor sun room fixes that are needed..

Tina - The kitchen is the cleanest it has ever been. I can't can anything today or bake until the cabinet people have come and gone. So it will stay clean. At least for today.

Tina - is this the doctor you mentioned in an earlier post? The one with the nice manners etc.? We still don't have one assigned, since our Dr. was killed in a motorcycle crash, but I don't mind the wait, internal medicine specialists are not that plentiful and it is a small clinic in a small town, so that makes it harder. We could be assigned to a family practice doctor but prefer an internist.

The ketchup recipe is quite different. We don't use it so much as ketchup, but to flavor other things. It makes an el cheapo can of spaghetti sauce take on a new flavor. With prices what they are for the "good" stuff, I take advantage of sales - Hunts Spaghetti sauce, basil and tomato flavor or 4 cheese flavor, was on sale of 69 cents so I bought a bunch and still have some. We have spaghetti and other pasta a lot around here, esp. when I am short on time.

I perused Pinterest yesterday and now have 5,000,000 pins to check out, half of which have to do with zucchini.

I am seriously thinking of trying banana peppers in jelly. Maybe with a few green peppers for flavor? We have appts. tomorrow so won't be able to can it until Thursday. I am anxious to start.

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chuckieb 9 years ago said:

The company that manufactured the windows was out in Feb. looking at the frost problem Joce and they said that the window was a-one okay and that the problem with the frost build up was due to lack of insulation at the bottom and sides of the patio door when it was installed. So no, they weren't installed properly. The old patio doors that we had before this were 35 years old and never had a spot of frost on them in the winter ROFL Karen at having 5,000,000 pins to check out and most to do with zucchini. Love it.

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notyourmomma 9 years ago said:

Salmon Souffle Oh yummy! Aw, Joce, how sweet to take a taste of my tomato aspic....I actually had a heck of time getting it out of those molds. The ones I ruined became a snack for the kitchen help. I had line cooks tell me to mess a few up so they had a cool treat to eat. Good luck on the window washing. My patio door has nose tracks from high to low depending on which dog was painting his nose art at the time.

Janet, you deserve to fix a little goodie that Jim does not like. Good luck on the mowing. Glad you have a sunny pretty day. Bummer on the patio door fix being delayed.

I'm home so quick from my appointment because I drove around the building for a half hour and could not find a place to park. There were no handicapped spots and the street parking was full for blocks. My legs were tingly and numb in the car, no way I could walk to the door. I nearly fell getting up from my chair this morning. I've got a call to reschedule. What a mess.

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chuckieb 9 years ago said:

OMG. I'm done. Thank Goodness. I'm melting. :) (Best wicked witch voice)
Would sriracha work in a tomato aspic? :)
LOL @ the nose tracks on the windows Tina. I'd forgotten about that. Our cats used to leave those all the time too. They were kind of cute really. :) Aw, so sorry you didn't make your appointment. Weird on no handicap spots. Hope they reschedule you asap.

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notyourmomma 9 years ago said:

Karen, good for you on the clean kitchen. My stove is a sorry sight. I have a smooth top electric and the spill over of the pasta water needs to be cleaned off. That means super fine steel wool and ceramic cleanser. I have a big canner, the tongs, the inspiration but no gumption. I like your dollar stretching blender sauce, now, the amount of cloves looks a little scary for me. I suppose I could cut back the amount, taste and adjust accordingly.

Sorry that you have a lack of choice in a physician. I've had a few that I knew were not competent. It is a relief to make a choice.

No, today's doctor was not Dr. Bell. Dr. Bell is a neurologist. He referred me to a sleep disorder specialist. I can't believe the lack of parking at the building. There were five lots in the back...1/2 of one was blocked off for construction, the others were jammed full and the only space available was reserved for police parking only. I'll try again.

So my mask was a small, so I'm ordering an extra small. The durable goods medical is mailing it to me by priority mail. We shall see.

I totally forgot Olivia is taking Fred and me to Trivia night at the Horse and Jockey tonight. Her group has decided they need the input of a couple of old farts to help on stuff before 1990. I better not take the pain meds or I'll just sit there and drool. Not much help in that state.

Today's newspaper had a feature on........."Zucchini Fries" to rival any french fry.
The glut of zucchini is overtaking the country. LOL I just saw Bobby Deen fix a double stuffed zucchini boat, filled with onion, garlic, zucchini guts, faro and red peppers. It looked good too.

I'm going to be on the phone for a few hours to reschedule and update my disability status. I'm going to fit in a nap. We had lemon biscotti with fruit yogurt for breakfast. 15 calorie biscotti! It was good.

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notyourmomma 9 years ago said:

Janet, your zucchini blossoms look lovely. I'm sure if you flavor the filling, you'll enjoy them.

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MissouriFarmWife 9 years ago said:

I see I missed 2 SP posts. Such is life.

Joce - I was amazed to see the tomato ketchup recipe featured. Still have no idea who or what decides that, especially with some of the weird stuff that has been on the other parts of the site lately. Robots, maybe? LOL.

The cabinet people have come and gone. All is finished in my kitchen. Yippee! They said they have suggested to perspective clients to try some of the things I requested, and they really did like the cupboard at the end of the refrigerator ( about 12 shelves the right depth for bottles and cans). They replaced some hinges with all self-seal, and installed the top shelves and the ones in the cabinet beside the broom closet.

So - there was plenty of time to can jelly! I made a mixed pepper jelly. It made 3 half pints and 5 small jars of jelly, ready for Christmas gifts. I put the recipe on GR. It is a bit vinegar-ish for my taste but next time I will decrease it or use lemon juice for some of the vinegar. I think I could have used all banana peppers but the extra work involved in prep discouraged the thought. All those itty bitty seeds just like to hang on to hands, leap into the bowl of diced peppers, etc. I was afraid it would not gel but it seems to be doing OK. Probably because I used Certo that was not expired - ha ha. For a change.

Janet - I am now down to 4,999,999 pins to check. It is a slow process.

Tina - we have two layers of nose prints on the sun room doors. Cat level and dog level. It is part of the joy of pet ownership, sort of like all furniture covered so it doesn't get scratched by naughty little kitties. Too bad about your Dr. appt. - good luck reschedulling.

If I ever get back to writing again, I think a good book would be the tale of zucchini taking over the world one plant at a time. In the perfect world, I would take my laptop (with a 24 hour battery life, natch!) to the gazebo and write it there. Sigh. With no interruptions, ever. Yeah, right. LOL.

My kitchen needs attention - it is no longer clean. It took forever to clean the spilled jelly off of the the stove top. The sink is crying for dirty dish removal. So it is off I go.

See you later.

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mommyluvs2cook 9 years ago said:

Hi all!! Like always I am jealous of ANY cool weather you are getting Janet, even if it's only in the morning! From the second we wake up it's just sticky, hot and sunny, like not beautiful sunny, like dreadfully sunny. Glad the Gazpacho turned out fabulous, I haven't made any in forever, I should get on that!! Anything Aspic reminds me of the movie Julie and Julia where she attempts to make an Aspic over and over :) Never had it though, I just can't imagine a savory jello type substance being good, but can't knock it till' I try it! To bad your door man had to leave after all that trouble? It seems they should have known to send two people, weird?!

Hi Tina, Oh wow about not making it into your appt. Is there no way you can maybe call the doctor and let them to know to meet you out with a wheel chair? I'm sure they have some? Creamed mushrooms on toast with the blasted tomatoes sounds absolutely delicious!!! Hope you have a good time a Trivia night :)

Lol at your hate of Tomato Aspic Joce!! I guess I'm lucky I didn't grow up in the days when Mom's made that kind of stuff. Bri said she had a great first day!! She already made really good friends with one of the girls that sits next to her, she is one of those kind of people that makes friends so easily. She also has a girl from her GS troop in her class, so that's cool! Michael didn't get picked for jury duty, so that's a relief. He says they seem to pick people that have a lot to say when asked a question, so he tries not to say too much lol! Especially with this trial, the judge had came out and said that it would last at least a month! Yum on Salmon Souffle! I'm liking the idea of potato puffs, sounds neat :)

Karen I have never made homemade ketchup before! I can't have bottled ketchup on Paleo, but I know I can make it myself and in your recipe Blender Ketchup I think I could easily change out the regular sugar for coconut sugar with no problem. Coconut sugar taste nothing like coconut, almost more like light brown sugar. Glad to hear your getting around on Pinterest better, I was a little confused at first but once you catch on it's so easy, and VERY useful. Yay on your kitchen being all done :)

Got up this morning, made a huge breakfast, got Bri off to school and then started doing my MOUNTAINS of laundry. Everyone's laundry baskets were completely full, so I guess it was time lol! Michael took Caiden to run errands so I could get it all done in peace :) I even had time to make some sweet potato buns
http://www.thespunkycoconut.com/2009/11/bread-with-rosemary-garlic-gfcf-grain-free-gluten-free/
Won't find out how they taste until dinner time, but they smelled delicious while cooking! Have a beef roast going in the slow cooker along with baby carrots, onions and cubed sweet potatoes. My stomach is growling thinking about it plus the aroma is killing me lol! Hope everyone is having a wonderful day!!

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mommyluvs2cook 9 years ago said:

Forgot to say Easy Shrimp Stir Fry was so easy and delicious last night! I'll review in the IMI in a bit :)

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chuckieb 9 years ago said:

I have eaten an entire litre of Gazpacho myself so far today. I'm so addicted.
Have fun at the Trivia night Tina. Jim is great at such games. Me, not so much. Hope you managed to get your disability status updated without any hassles.
Karen I like your Avatar pic. Nice to put a face to the name. :) I honestly think that if you post a recipe with a picture it will get featured. No robots involved. Well maybe one. :) Hurray for your kitchen being all completo! :) Your jelly is just lovely looking. Infact, you're inspiring me for the very first time to actually think about maybe making my own Hot Pepper jelly one day. I've heard the hardest part is to get the little bits evenly distributed in the jar as opposed to floating to the top?
How lovely that Bri had such a nice first day at school Michelle. :) Love it. Glad to hear Michael didn't have to pull jury duty. Neat on coconut sugar. I've never made Homemade ketchup before either. That being said I am a die hard Heinz Ketchup fan through and through. There are no other kinds once you've tasted Heinz, that's what I'm sayin'. :) LOL. Your dinner sounds amazing. Pass some of that Roast beef my way please.
Found some leftover Indian food in the freezer. Not even quite sure what it is but here's hoping. Jim called and shouldn't be home too, too late. I've had a lazy day. Caught up on all the Big Brother episodes I'd missed the last two weeks and now I'm on to Masterchef. :)

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laurieg 9 years ago said:

Hey all! What a day!
Woke up this morning to a dead fridge :(. None of the tempature lights where on so I reset it. 68 degrees was the fridge temp inside. Not even slightly cold. Everything is gone pretty much. The freezer was still reading 4 degrees so everything was still frozen. But by afternoon it was reading 17 so we moved everything to the deep freeze in the garage. We had a service contract becUse we always have issues with this fridge (it was in the house when we bought it 8 years ago) but the tech came and said it was the compressor which isn't covered and about 900 for a new one not worth fixing :(
Wow are they expensive. Ugh! And because the tax free weekend was the weekend before last the soonest we can get a new fridge delivered is Saturday.
We had pasta with some sauce I found in the freezer while shuffling things around .

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MissouriFarmWife 9 years ago said:

Michelle - good Michael did not not end up on the jury! We use the ketchup recipe to flavor bland sauces, esp. spaghetti sauce. It is very sweet, so you may want to lower the amount of sugar. Since we use it for sauces, I leave the seeds in. Lots less work. It is not a difficult recipe and I've made it quite often. Just follow directions and you will be fine. My laundry is still waiting impatiently. You have inspired me - maybe.

Janet - true, most of the pepper bits in mine are clustered toward the top - ha ha . Next time I will add another half cup or so of banana peppers and see if that helps distribute them. The recipe is not difficult, except I hate having to seed the banana peppers! Other pepper recipes call for jalapenos and / or green peppers, but I wanted to do something different.

The avatar is me and my youngest grandson checking on the progress of the garage roof. I am so glad that is finished. I panicked every time someone went on the roof. Wayne's buddy didn't let him go because of his balance not being so good, and told Wayne that if he fell they would both die because I would kill him. LOL.

Laurie - refrigerators are a pain. So are freezers. Our zillion-year old freezer that came with the house died on us but we managed to salvage most stuff and bought a new one, it lasted all of 5 years, so we bought another one and so far so good. I googled manual frost freezers until I found the one I wanted. Food lasts longer. Even if it is a pain to defrost them.

The refrigerators are priced high, I must agree. Looked at some that were over $3,000 but the square footage was deceptive - lots of dead space. We like the one we got, except it is lacking in space for tall items.

Have fun at Trivia night, Tina!

See you later.

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