Time to get caught up on the food porn! Yesterday was a very foody kind of day!

First … the breads:

I have finally matched the goldenness and softness of store bought bread … without the added chemicals and poor ingredients. The main loaf is going to be the perfect sandwich bread! To the back of the photo, you can see the turkey roll loaf and the raisin loaf. Considering I was completely experimenting and winging it the whole way while making these, this is being called a grand success!

Behind the cut, last night’s dinner (which turned out pretty awesome) and Lin’s lunch today (which turned out sort of odd).

For dinner last night I fried up the shrimp with some leftover rice, made that box of organic Kraft Mac-N-Cheese, and of course, the totally off-season garden salad.

The organic mac-n-cheese was good, but it doesn’t have the same kick as the less-healthy version. Apparently the thing that makes mac-n-cheese so addictive is the addition of the chemicals, too much sodium, and food colorings. It was still tasty, and I will buy it again, but yes … a little bland. Or maybe it’s been so long since I had boxed mac-n-cheese I have forgotten what it tastes like. I find that unlikely though, seeing as I used to live on the stuff. :D

I used a new product I found on the rice and shrimp. It’s called Sazón Goya, and around here it is found in the Latino section of the grocery store (being a product of Mexico). I bought the tomato and cilantro (coriander) flavor. I wanted something like the dried spices and such that I see being used to mix or sprinkle of rice balls in bento boxes, but I a) didn’t want to spend as much as the Korean market wanted for them and b) am always nervous about trying new spices owing to my being very allergic to some. I haven’t found one yet that will kill me, but I don’t like to take chances, and upsetting my stomach is never any fun. Also, there are some flavors commonly used in Asian food that I just can’t stand, so no buying things without knowing if I will like them or not (not at those prices anyway). I had seen these Goya products for ages, but never once thought about getting them. I am so glad I decided to go ahead and make the leap!

The box contains a bunch of little individual packets, and since one packet is supposed to flavor enough rice for a large family, I just sprinkled enough onto the frying rice and shrimp (with butter) to make it nice a red. You can always add more, right? Turns out, that was a great way to judge it, because I ended up with just enough tomato, salt and cilantro flavoring to add to the dish without it being all about tomato and cilantro! This is my new favorite product! Next time I am on a big shopping trip, I am going to pick up some other flavors. I can see all sorts of uses for these.

Word of warning: they do contain MSG, so if you are sensitive to that, stay away.

Next up is Lin’s lunch today. It turned out a little odd, because I don’t really have anything to make lunches with. Normally I would have gone shopping yesterday, but well, with the truck being illegal and all, and me being too damn lazy to walk a mile to the store and a mile back with bags, I had to make do with what I had.

Now you get to see the turkey roll and raisin loaves cut open! When the bread was rising in the oven, it pulled away from the turkey on the side with no cheese, so my plan to make a sandwich with tomato slices, lettuce and condiments didn’t work. Next time I try this, I will have to remember to put cheese down under the turkey as well to glue it all together. Didn’t effect the flavor at all. It still tastes fine, even though it has a huge air bubble running through it. The raisin loaf came out a little dry, but with a bit of butter on it, it’s fine.

Then I also tossed in some carrot and cucumber sticks, two quickly boiled eggs which were an afterthought (so no time to shape them), and some leftover mac-n-cheese. And grapes. I don’t know if Lin even likes having the grapes or not. I keep putting them in, and someone is eating them. :D

See those straws in there? The two small ones contain salt and pepper. The two large ones contain mustard. It’s something I learned to do in Girl Scouts. It’s not so easy to explain how I made condiment containers out of straws without photos, so I am going to have to sit down and put together a tutorial. It’s super easy and works great for camping or lunches. I had completely forgotten about the technique until I was in the kitchen the other day trying to figure out how to send salt and pepper along with Lin’s lunch without having to buy the little packages or sending along a whole shaker. I’ll try to get to writing that post today or tomorrow, sunlight depending. Right now it’s too darn dark in the house to take good photos of small things like straws. They aren’t calling for rain today, but you could have fooled me. The sky seems really overcast.

And that sums up today’s massive food post! The food around here may get pretty boring the next few days, because we haven’t been to the market in two weeks (longer maybe) and I certainly didn’t buy as much food at the grocery last week as I would have had I realized I wasn’t going to get back first thing this week. Hopefully Lin will have some time in a day or two to help me get street legal again. My pantry and freezer is in danger of running empty!