Food Before and After Photos

[GreenTealael 24,857]

2 hours ago, Starwarsandcupcakes said:

Stopped into a local coffee shop after taking a kid to the eye doctor and OMG this Cookies and cream scone. I ended up eating about a 1/4 of it along with a cafe mocha. The rest of the scone went into the fridge.

Also, the bakery 2 doors down was just as amazing. I took 2 bites of the blackberry pie bar and divided the scones among kids. And the strawberry cheesecake cookie went straight to the eye glasses getting kiddo.

I ❤️ Scones! I think my favorites have always been lemon poppy or orange cranberry.

I haven’t had one in a couple of years because the bakery I went to stripped down their menu thanks to the pandemic. So I began to make them but along the way everyone in my family was over eating baked goods.

I still can’t believe we were all making sourdough starters and decadent confections. Now I get absolutely angry if a meal requires that I turn on the oven. 😂

Edited June 3, 2022 by GreenTealael

[ms.sss 14,662]

On 6/3/2022 at 11:43 AM, Starwarsandcupcakes said:

Stopped into a local coffee shop after taking a kid to the eye doctor and OMG this Cookies and cream scone. I ended up eating about a 1/4 of it along with a cafe mocha. The rest of the scone went into the fridge.

Also, the bakery 2 doors down was just as amazing. I took 2 bites of the blackberry pie bar and divided the scones among kids. And the strawberry cheesecake cookie went straight to the eye glasses getting kiddo.

Omg. Love the looks of these.

I looooooove going to bakeries and buying basically one of everything.

❤️

[Kris77 1,506]

Yes it all looks soooo good!!
My husband cooked up a new recipe he got from his brother. Apple Cake. Haven’t had any yet but I’ll send a pic of it. Sent over some to parents and they loved it.
This is all that’s left after parents/his Dan , one teen kid and still one to go….my guess is there will be none very soon lol

[ms.sss 14,662]

So i’ve been bugging Mr to grill me up a steak all week cuz i was terribly missing some good quality, well cooked meat since vacay (where the food was borderline terrible!)

Tonight, Mr. came through and prepared THREE of these babies!! Its hard to tell in the pic, but this Porterhouse is GIGANTIC. It was almost 2 inches thick raw, and weighed 2.35 lbs cooked. 😳. Did i mention he made THREE of these?!?!

Overkill is an understatement cuz I ate like 1 measly oz of it. Along with some roasted asparagus and portobello mushrooms. Cleaned my bowl: 345 calories, which included an espresso martini i drank beforehand (not shown).

Totally hit the spot!

Mr is gonna be rewarded for his efforts later (once my food is digested 😂😂😂😂)

[Kris77 1,506]

On 06/04/2022 at 17:02, ms.sss said:

So i’ve been bugging Mr to grill me up a steak all week cuz i was terribly missing some good quality, well cooked meat since vacay (where the food was borderline terrible!)

Tonight, Mr. came through and prepared THREE of these babies!! Its hard to tell in the pic, but this Porterhouse is GIGANTIC. It was almost 2 inches thick raw, and weighed 2.35 lbs cooked. 😳. Did i mention he made THREE of these?!?!

Overkill is an understatement cuz I ate like 1 measly oz of it. Along with some roasted asparagus and portobello mushrooms. Cleaned my bowl: 345 calories, which included an espresso martini i drank beforehand (not shown).

Totally hit the spot!

Mr is gonna be rewarded for his efforts later (once my food is digested 😂😂😂😂)

Omg that looks ammmmaaaazzziiinnnggggg!!
Yum!!

[Kris77 1,506]

Jonesing for a steak now! And asparagus w mushrooms!!! Except my fav cut is a fillet-not that that one didn’t look freaking delicious!!
Fillet here at the butcher meat counter is almost $40 a pound now. Crazy.

[Arabesque 6,470]

4 hours ago, Kris77 said:

Jonesing for a steak now! And asparagus w mushrooms!!! Except my fav cut is a fillet-not that that one didn’t look freaking delicious!!
Fillet here at the butcher meat counter is almost $40 a pound now. Crazy.

meat is crazy priced here too. $79.99 for lamb at my butcher. They do get in very high quality, very flavoursome, organic meats which is what you’re paying for. I usually justify it because two cutlets is an ample meal for me. I think I might buy some fillet steak (my favourite cut too) next week too now after seeing @ms.sss’s dinner. Mmmm

[Kris77 1,506]

On 06/04/2022 at 21:53, Arabesque said:

meat is crazy priced here too. $79.99 for lamb at my butcher. They do get in very high quality, very flavoursome, organic meats which is what you’re paying for. I usually justify it because two cutlets is an ample meal for me. I think I might buy some fillet steak (my favourite cut too) next week too now after seeing @ms.sss’s dinner. Mmmm

Wow that’s high!! Per pound or for two cutlets? Prices here for everything have gone up. I spend almost a $100 more at the grocery store now than I did 6 mos ago.
Use to spend like $200 a week and now it’s easily $300 and over.

[ms.sss 14,662]

18 hours ago, Kris77 said:

Jonesing for a steak now! And asparagus w mushrooms!!! Except my fav cut is a fillet-not that that one didn’t look freaking delicious!!
Fillet here at the butcher meat counter is almost $40 a pound now. Crazy.

Fun fact: the Porterhouse (not to be confused with a T-bone steak, but essentially similar) that Mr prepared are actually 2 steaks in one, composite steaks that is made up of a Top Loin (aka strip steak) on one side of the centre bone and a Tenderloin/Fillet on the other (the smaller side). I ate my 1oz from the tenderloin/fillet side which was butter soft, OMG.

BUT my fave cut is the Ribeye hands down cuz I like my steaks fatty and rich tasting! Once or twice a year Mr will bring home the fancy Tomahawk ribeye from the butcher and grills it to perfection…i’ll take a pic the next time he does…it’s a work of effing art lol.

Edited June 5, 2022 by ms.sss

[Dave In Houston 199]

I like ribeye the best, but my wife doesn't like to chew much, so she appreciates how tender the tenderloin steaks are.

If I'm paying full price, I usually buy the USDA Choice tenderloins from costco. I think they're about $20/pound now. But if I happen to see a ribeye or strip marked down because it's been around a bit too long, I'll buy it.

Whichever I buy, I'll season it, vacuum pack it, and freeze it. Then it can go straight from the freezer into the sous vide Water bath. Sous vide is the best way to prepare a steak, IMHO.

[ms.sss 14,662]

49 minutes ago, Dave In Houston said:

Then it can go straight from the freezer into the sous vide Water bath. Sous vide is the best way to prepare a steak, IMHO.

Fellow ribeye-lovers unite! Lol

We had a philosophical discussion about steak cooking techniques that dinnertime….

Mr. did sous vide those Porterhouses, and while i loooove how a perfectly perfect the temp was achieved throughout, i always find sous-vided steaks too “wet” for my liking, and just not quite enough crust created in finishing before it starts to get dangerously close to Medium.

How do you finish your sous vided steaks? Do you get a crust on them???

I generally like it when Mr. uses the reverse sear method…what he may lose in perfectly consistent cook from out to in, he makes up for in spades with golden crust…yum.

He also uses the grill when we get steaks that are just too big to fit in any of our cast irons, but i find theres alot of room for error here.

Edited June 5, 2022 by ms.sss

[Kris77 1,506]

I love all cuts of steaks actually but my top is fillet. Kids and hub too so for us we buy four of those when we cook. My husband cooks them both ways too. Sometimes cast Iron and sometimes the grill.
I’m at the gym now dreaming of steak now @ms.sss!!🤤🤤🤤🤤(drool emoji)

[Dave In Houston 199]

I have a cast Iron pizza pan that I use as a griddle. (It never leaves the stove top and is used at least once a day.)

I heat it to 500 degrees or so. I spray the steak with an olive oil spray, then put it on the griddle with a weight on it. Thirty seconds on each side with the weight gets a pretty good sear, but not quite a crust. I usually cook them at 124 degrees, so if it's a thick steak it's still a long way from medium after 30 seconds a side.

Since my surgery, we never eat more than 3.5 ounces each. Sliced and artfully arranged on the plate, a rare steak is pretty beautiful. A steak house would be soaking it in butter. I generally leave that off.

I have a torch, but I've never used it.

[Kris77 1,506]

Yum!! @daveinhouston you live in my area so you prob have the same costs as me here in Houston. Well I’m south of Houston in suburbs Crazy prices huh

[Dave In Houston 199]

20 minutes ago, Kris77 said:

Yum!! @daveinhouston you live in my area so you prob have the same costs as me here in Houston. Well I’m south of Houston in suburbs Crazy prices huh

We're actually in Sugar Land. Sugar Land costco is just one exit further out 59 from where we live.

The USDA Prime tenderloins used to be $20/pound and now they're $30. I also like the pork tenderloins at Costco. They used to be $1.99 and now they are $2.89. We're retired and we don't drive much, so gas prices don't affect us much, but the inflation in meat prices induces anguish.

First-world problem: I've had to change my usual steak from the USDA Prime tenderloin to the USDA Choice tenderloin. And I always watch the meat counter for those yellow stickers showing a package that's had the price reduced.

When I compare our situation to the people in Uvalde or Ukraine, we've really got it pretty damn good. I do my best to remember that.