So...whats for dinner?
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Last night I had a hankering for one of my guiltiest junk food pleasures: Cantonese shrimp chips. Fried up a batch, and they were delicious. Today after my orthodontist appt. I went to the health food store to replenish some supplements (K2, GTF chromium, digestive enzymes) and found that the owner's wife had whipped up a batch of homemade Indian specialties. So I bought some lentil soup, eggplant, samosas (2 ea. potato & chickpea curry), herb wraps, and tapioca balls. I have a packet of saag paneer in the cupboard, along with half a container of leftover Chinese-takeout rice; so it looks like dinner tonight will be Indian vegetarian.
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Sandy, perhaps tonight's vegetarian dinner will offset the guilt from last night's Cantonese shrimp chips?
We too had an essentially ho-hum dinner with pan grilled chicken breasts, sweet potatoes, broccoli, and fresh fruit salad(apple, banana, grapes and orange).
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Special, what great ideas! Thank you! And really adorable caterpillar! It becomes very clear why you are a caterer and I am not.
And making a caterpillar with baked goods would certainly eliminate the grape choking worry. I’m thinking that the popcorn balls I make will be mini-sized and in paper cupcake holders, since I keep thinking about the “child friendly/safety” factor. I’ll know closer to the date how many very young kids are coming....could be a lot as DS2’s friends are almost all parenting at least two young children now.Carole, I will be quite envious if winter is really over for you. We’ve had fewer storms than usual for this time of year (unlike the midwest), just three minimal snow to sleet to rain events, which have just been more sloppy than anything. Hard to imagine we won’t get an actual “snow event” during the next month, but no complaints here if we are spared.
I’ve only made mac and cheese when kids have been here for dinner, and I like the method you describe, Carole. Will write that one down!
Minus, we also used to make green eggs and ham for our pre-school and kindergarten students on Dr. Seuss’ birthday. I was always fascinated to see the varied reactions the students had to actually eating that food from a favorite book.
Yesterday, DH and I went to the movie, Green Book, which was really well acted and compelling. After, we decided to pick up a pizza at our new (sort of) fave Italian style pizza place. We had the mushroom/onion pizza, with a garden salad I made, at home. And I realized why it’s just “sort of” my fave place..the tomato sauce is unusually sweet for a pizza. I think it’s the only sweet thing I’ve ever complained about.
My sleep has become so disordered that I almost wish I were still working when this was never an issue. At my last doc appt, I was prescribed a mild sleep aid, but after I tried it for a few days, I developed a strange vibrating in my left leg. I stopped the drug and the vibrating disappeared. I mentioned it to my MO who suggested I try it again to see if the same symptom re-appears. Reminds me of my poor track record with Tamoxifen and the many side effects I had. Decisions, decisions....
I’m hoping that Eric and Sharon are continuing to enjoy a safe road trip, and not being impacted by the latest crazy weather patterns.
Leftover chicken in this house tonight unless I get to the store, or maybe try a new recipe of Tuscan farro soup.
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My first home cooked meal in a couple weeks 😋
Seared chicken, sautéed cabbage/onions, northern beans with spinach and a spring/greens salad mix.
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Lacey: Sent you a PM about what works for me and for my friend Pat.
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We're in Memphis.
We were planning on driving highway I-40 to Flagstaff, AZ. However we will likely change our plans and drive through Little Rock and Dallas....the I-40, I-30, I-20 and I-10 route.
Sharon skis and is excited about the 3 feet of snow that Flagstaff, AZ received...even if it means we need to temporarily change our route.
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Last night's dinner was chicken enchiladas. The chicken was left over cooked chicken breast fillets and the sauce was Hatch brand green enchilada sauce. The cheese was bagged grated cheese so assembling the dish was quick and easy. The side salad was very good, with leafy lettuce, avocado, cucumber, and blue cheese. DH adds sweet onion to his serving.
Today's What's for Dinner? question is yet to be answered.
Yesterday's temperature was 70's and Weather Bug sent out a High Pollen Alert message to my cell phone. It's Mardi Gras season and parades are rolling in New Orleans and here on the North Shore. Our rainy season continues. The water table must be well replenished by now. My second 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle is about half completed.
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Dinner was supposed to be catfish fillets with veggie side and salad. Instead it was take-out pizza with Italian sausage, black olives, mushrooms and extra cheese.
So dinner tonight will be the catfish fillets.
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Tonight we are hosting a small group dinner and doing "make your own pizza" with homemade crusts and a variety of toppings provided. Guests are bringing an appetizer and a salad. Dessert will be choice of cheesecake: almondine or chocolate amaretto (or both!).
Auto correct wants to change amaretto to spaghetti!
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Eric - based on the snow reports, I hope you are finding clear highways at least. The snow in Flag is amazing.
Dinner was 'light snacks' provided at a wine tasting class - New Wines of the Old World. These classes are so much fun and we got 1/2 price tickets this time. Where else can you taste 8 or 9 wine, learn about the history of not only the grapes but the countries, and get dinner for $10.00.
So diner was meatballs, crackers & cheese, several tapanades w/mini breads (mushroom & truffles was the best but artichoke & Parmesan was a close second), extensive antipasto platters of veggies & meats (loved the addition of asparagus), strawberries, raspberries & blackberries, delicious mini pastries, and more - YUM.
Going to meet a friend at a rep play this afternoon and then we'll see how my favorite Asian restaurant survived the move to a different location. Hope the menu hasn't changed much. Or the previous quality.
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We spent the night about 100 miles west of Dallas on I-20. It rained fairly hard from Memphis to Dallas and when the rain stopped, the fog started. But, the fog didn't lower to the ground..Rather it made the lights on the tall buildings and radio towers look eerie.
Now it's clear and sunny but the 45mph and stronger gusty crosswinds on I-20.are making the drive both noisy and "wiggly". It reminds me of driving in Palm Springs when I was a teenager. :-)
Oh, Sharon is driving right now. :-)
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Tonight was Balsamic Pork with sautéed onions and cauliflower mac n cheese.
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Rained on & off here most of the day--now, due to temps in the low 40s it's extremely foggy and a thunderstorm is starting. (We had a short smog alert last night till the rain washed the particulates out of the air). Starting around midnight, we're getting a high-wind warning for steady-state winds over 20mph with gusts as high as 60. There will be some snow in the morning, with the wind causing white-out conditions.
Thurs. night we went to see Joe Jackson at Thalia Hall, and ate next door at the adjacent Michelin-starred Dusek's Beer & Board. Unpretentious and reasonable, but locavore and seasonal. Had a variety of their housemade breads (olive fougasse, sourdough Pullman loaf, round country loaf) with their housemade pimiento cheese. I never could get excited about the stuff, but Dusek's was amazing. Main course was chicken-fried rabbit thigh over Hoppin' John risotto, with sauteed okra and chicory greens. Sadly, we couldn't take leftovers into the theater (though I did notice some folks furtively slipping plastic bags beneath their seats). Couldn't put them in the car, either, as we had valet-parked and there were only 2 attendants for >100 cars.
Last night Bob brought home leftover Home Run Inn pizza from the office, and is bringing home dinner for me from Maggiano's in Oak Brook, where he had a medical staff meeting. Not sure which kind of parmigiana it'll be--eggplant, veal or chicken. Tomorrow is Cellars' Oscar Party, with a buffet of dishes themed after various nominees. We saw only two nominated films this year, so we'll rely on NYTimes and Entertainment Weekly's predictions. Whoever gets the most right (tie-breaker is the closest guess to the time end credits will roll) gets a bottle or two of wine and their name inscribed on the "Oscar Wiener" (an inflated Oscar Mayer Wienermobile displayed above the bar). Bob won twice. I almost did last year, but was 2 minutes too late on the tie-breaker.
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ChiSandy, How was the show? DH knows someone on this tour and I wanted to go but there were no Houston dates until now, added to the end of May. Curious about the performance.
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Ilona, do whatever you can to score tickets before they sell out (which they will). Jackson was in fine voice (and genial mood with the audience, unlike his angry-young-New-Wave-man days), and his touring band was tight and terrific. (He has his original bassist Graham Maby). It's the 40th anniv. of his 1979 debut "Look Sharp" album, and he has chosen one album from each decade to feature. The two best-represented were 1982's "Night & Day" (IMHO, edging out U2's "The Joshua Tree" for best album of the '80s) and his newest, "Fool." Of course, that meant some of my faves didn't get played, but with only 2 hrs. you can't have everything. The highlight was "Steppin' Out," played live in concert for the first time. He played all the instruments on the song in the studio but until now didn't have the technology to pull it off in real time with a small band. He even brought out the original Korg drum machine he used on the album, with the drummer doubling it, the guitarist playing keys, Maby looping synth bass while playing glockenspiel, and Jackson playing piano & organ. It worked beautifully. ("Fool" may well be his best album in over 20 yrs.).
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Last night's breaded small catfish fillets came out especially good. I sprayed the fish, breaded with Louisiana fish fry, with olive oil spray and cooked in a very hot oven until brown and crispy. The cauliflower/potato mash tasted good but came out a little "gluey" with the addition of the potatoes. I always add some butter and reduced fat cream cheese for flavor and blend in my large food processor. The boiled cauliflower fluffs up with the blending but not the potatoes.
Tonight will be half of a pork tenderloin. The veggie will be either sweet potato or butternut squash. There's enough leaf lettuce for another yummy tossed salad.
Leaves are appearing on the bare deciduous trees. We have a high pollen alert. Spring is definitely here even though we turned on the heat this morning to take the chill out of the air. The past few days we've had to run the a/c.
Eric, have you had any especially good food on your road trip? Yesterday as I enjoyed a naval orange, I wondered whether you still had oranges on your trees! LOL.
Illimae, I'll have to remember the cauliflower mac and cheese.
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Sandy, great tip, thanks!
Carole, I like the SparkRecipes verbest, enjoy
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Beave, the make your own pizza party sounds like fun!. Glad you caught the auto correct....eyebrows might have been raised at chocolate spaghetti for dessert!
I have managed to avoid going to the store so far all week, (tho will be headed there today) so the past few night’s meals have been put togethers from things I found in cabinets or freezer. Last night we had a Trader Joe’s spanakopita pretty “tough”, an Alessi lentil soup to which I added some pre-cooked Italian chicken sausage (quite tasty), and a salad with whatever greens I had left in the fridge. It all worked. I’m posting a pic of a salad I made the night before with arugula, farro pilaf with onion and mushrooms, and avocado. It was unusual and tasty.
Sandy, I hope you are starting to pay attention to the Bulls now. The very young star hopefuls have suddenly started to show their talent (new coach, too?) and decimated my complicated Celtics last night. Looking like an attractive team to watch for next season and beyond.
I may get around to start a few sewing projects this week, a Red Sox taggie for a neighbor’s new grandson, and neck warmers for my grands. It’s no where near Spring here yet, despite our minimal snow cover.
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Lacey - looks delicious. I have an avocado in the fridge that wants eating tomorrow.
Of course the restaurant has changed. Same owners, smaller less "warm" setting and smaller menu. But they still had my favorite - special LoMain. It has shrimp, pork, chicken & beef. Really enough for two but I ate the whole thing.
Today was cod fillets dipped in lemon & butter and rolled in Panko - then baked. Served with Brussels sprouts. I did bake another 1/2 loaf of the Boudin's Sourdough bread from the freezer (my son's Christmas present), but I was too full to even slice it. Maybe dessert later tonight.
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We're home. We can get back to cooking. :-)
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Lacey - I thought of you during the play yesterday. Basically about how advertising rules our lives and our perception of ourselves, justaposed with the objectification of women. And what job one might have to do just to survive & pay the rent. First act was at a men's mag. A 14 year old girl (who had DDD boobs) and her 15 year old boy friend forged her documents & entered the centerfold contest. She won - with various repercussions. Are you still working with the female abduction group?
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Minus - Per your request, here's a link to the black coconut rice w/shrimp recipe: https://www.bhg.com/recipe/lime-coconut-shrimp-ric...
I had leftover rice and re-made the "shrimp" and asparagus part of the recipe to go with it using chicken, about double the ginger and added some chili garlic sauce to zip it up a bit.
Tonight I'm making Asian peanut sauce noodles with shredded leftover chicken added.
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Tonight is a belated birthday dinner prepared by a chef friend. It’s a NY strip, Honey glazed Asparagus, sautéed squash & zucchini with a Parmesan risotto and mini crab cakes with a mango sauce.
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So, Eric, did Sharon get to ski? Am figuring that it must be hard for snow to survive in AZ.
Minus, this year, I decided to leave the Persons Against Trafficking Humans group, since I was finding that we weren't getting much done. It was a small group. After two plus years, I was not finding the opportunity to do the education/awareness work I felt important to offer the local students and parents, so decided to take at least a leave. I was also feeling frustrated that whatever we were doing was in no way impacting the demand for perpetuating trafficking which is the "buyers". So, for now, at least, I am not officially a part of that group. The recent Florida massage parlor sting has my attention not just because the Patriots owner was named in it, along with other billionaire businessmen, but because it seems that maybe someone is getting serious about arresting buyers as a deterrent. We'll see!
I did make it to the store late this afternoon for a major food shopping trip (waited for the rain to lighten up), and returned home to learn that DH didn't hear me ask him to defrost a veggie pasta casserole (in microwave) that we took out of the freezer earlier. So I found a still frozen dish, which I managed to defrost and heat up...but we didn't eat until 8 PM. We just had that, a salad with several different greens, tomato, and avocado, along with crusty bread. I'm trying to clear out my freezer a bit so that I have room for cookie dough.
I was disappointed that Glenn Close didn't get the award for "The Wife". She was so good in her role. We just saw "Green Book" last week, and it as so well acted and compelling that I was glad it won, despite the fact that there were other good movies nominated.
Illimae, that sounds like a delightfil meal! HB to you....or whoever celebrated.
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Oh, yum, Ilona!
Lacey, the (at-first-maligned) trade that sent Ben Portis away in exchange for Otto Porter seems to have completely energized the "Baby Bulls." Porter is a veritable Swiss-Army Knife of a player, and he clicked immediately (especially with Lauri Markkanen and Zach LaVine). Looks like they may even finish above .500 this year. Sorry about what they did to your Celtics...not really. (But the Blackhawks seem to be melting down of late).
Last night's parm turned out to be chicken, with spaghetti marinara (unfortunately, mushy instead of al dente--but I was starving). This morning I made cherry blintzes, eggs over easy and bacon. (Bob had two blintzes, a jumbo egg and three slices of bacon; I had one blintz, a "large" egg and one slice of bacon). Tonight we went to Cellars' Oscar party and had a great time. Buffet was nominee-themed. Among the dishes were fried chicken (Green Book); a charcuterie platter dubbed "Lady Gaga's Meat Dress" and "In Your Face" chocolate tartlets (A Star is Born); mini-moon pies (First Man); fish & chips (Mary Poppins Returns), pierogi and kolachky (Bohemian Rhapsody); BBQ ribs (BlackkKlansman); chuckwagon chili (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs); lemon-berry trifle (The Favourite); "Vibranium" Potato Salad (Black Panther); egg rolls (Crazy Rich Asians--yeah, yeah, not nominated, I know); shrimp quesadillas (Roma); and grilled quail salad (Vice). Bob came within one point of winning the Oscar contest--had he picked Olivia Colman instead of Glenn Close or Green Book over Roma, he'd have won. It'd have been his third win. Funny thing was that the last pic we watched before heading over to the party was The Favourite, and we were talking on the way over about how Olivia Colman's performance was amazing and Oscar-worthy, but that Glenn Close was "owed" an Oscar after all these years!
Weather has been insane. On the bright side, we missed getting any precipitation (the rain fell to the south, the snow to the north and the city was in between). Last night at this time it was 57F. Now it's 13, plunging to 7 (and subzero windchills) by morning--fortunately, the winds have died down a bit. During the wee hours Sunday morning a 50+mph gust trashed one of our attic windows (fortunately, covered with plastic and a curtain, which I have since duct-taped taut to the wall). We haven't lost anything off our deck (it's all bungeed to the railings) and our tree limbs have held up. Our poor magnolia tree's buds are probably thinking "WTF?"
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No spring here either - not by a long shot. The temp right now is 17°. Predictions are for well below normal temperatures for us until the middle of March. Worst. Winter. Ever. The only thing that's keeping me marginally sane is that after the middle of the month, spring is supposed to come on like gangbusters. Well see.
It's probably just as well that the weather is supposed to be crappy, March is dedicated to getting the house ready to sell. This means a major PURGE. I'm at a loss as to what to do with all of the depression glass and other vintage dishes that I have. Nobody in the family wants it, I hate to just donate it to goodwill since they break most of it for recycling. It pains me, but I'm definitely not moving it.
We've pretty much decided that we're going to try to buy a small house closer to the city and then be "snowbirds" for the winter. Hopefully next winter we'll be enjoying Carole's springtime temperatures.
Something simple for dinner, possibly toasted ravioli or leftover potato leek soup and cheddar biscuits from last night. Or both. Tomorrow we're going to the city for an overnight with some friends. This will include a trip to a civil war museum (mild yawn) and ending with a night at the casino (yay) with a nice dinner thrown in. DH and the other dh are both civil war buffs so it will please them the most.
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Nance - see if you can find a 'Blue Bird Circle' or Junior League resale shop. You may not get anything for the glass, but if they'll take it, they won't break it. It's my understanding that resale shops across the country have stopped accepting donations. Temporarily I hope. Apparently the Netflix special with Marie Kondo has pushed a ton of people to get rid of their "stuff". I waited too long - sigh.
Edited to add: Because you are right. Most of our kids don't want our 'stuff'. The young ones don't get excited anymore about getting the oak buffet from grandma or the mahogany table from auntie sue. It breaks my heart that all the well made, solid wood furniture is being trashed in favor of plastic from Ikea and 'rooms to go' that all match. Oh well. I know I'm a dinosaur.
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Reading about your commitment to “purge” got me stirred up, Nance. I need to deal with same, but it feels overwhelming. And as you mention, Minus, it’s not only making peace with parting with the “stuff” (that our children don’t want) but also finding useful landing spots for it! A newer troubling bit of info I learned recently from students at Olin College is that US resale stores are inundated with so many donations that they ship tons of it to countries in Africa where the access to the garments is putting cottage industries making clothing for locals out of business. So the tenticles of our consumerism reach far beyond our homes. The college engineers were coming up with ideas for how to recycle cast off clothing without it all landing in resale stores.
Sandy, those winds have arrived here, and I worry about property damage since they are gusting at 65-70mph. Scary! I keep waiting to hear the top of our very tall chimney fall....but hope not! Lots of trees down in the area already. Mother Nature is really ticked off at us!
Tonight I might make Italian stuffed artichokes in tomato sauce like my mother used to make. Sadly I don’t have her recipe (if she even used one!), but some on the internet look close enough to try. Chicken cutlets are another option for tonight if I get lazy. And my salad fixins’ are replenished since the store visit.
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I'm a dinosaur too Minus. I have a large hutch made by my grandfather that I don't know what to do with. No one in my family wants it. If I keep it, whoever has to pack me up to send me to the nursing home will have to deal with it, so I don't know what to do.
We had those 60 mph winds too which made me very thankful that we had the two large dead oak trees at the side of our house removed the day before!
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When my mom died.....my brother and I gathered the few things we wanted. Then the test daughters, friends and neighbors came over (in that order) and gathered what they wanted.
Very little landed at the thrift stores or ended up in the landfill.
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