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So...whats for dinner?

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  • specialk
    specialk Member Posts: 9,262

    carole - I have used eye of round roast in the crock pot on low, all day, with a can of French onion soup and some beef broth - or just beef broth and some onion, and made French dip sandwiches. If you cook it long enough it will self shred, or just need a little encouragement with two forks. I use horseradish mayo on French bread, then layer on the meat, use the liquid left in the crock pot as the au jus.

    Thought nobody but my friends on this site would be as amused by this as I seem to be - I have run out of regular elastic for masks so I am using old unused bra straps. During my rather extended tissue expander phase I bought a number of bandeau style bras but never used the detachable straps, and they are about 1/4 inch wide. Yay! I can’t wear those bras anymore because since I had exchange surgery they slide south and end up as a sort of cummerbund inside my shirt, lol! This happened once in the grocery store, and I am unaware because I have zero feeling on my chest so can’t feel it slipping... so, lemons into lemonade! Maybe? Anyway, I hope that makes someone laugh!

    Dinner will be a recipe from Hillshire Farm, a sausage Alfredo dish. I pulled the page from a magazine a few years ago, it is pasta, smoked sausage or kielbasa, heavy cream, Cajun seasoning, parm, and heavy cream. I have a partially used carton of heavy cream to use up, thus the choice. DH actually made this recipe after one of my surgeries and it was yummy.

    DD dropped her phone in the river, so had to go to the Verizon store and get a new one. On the plus side, she met a cute boy. More lemonade... this afternoon she is hiking with a friend - six feet apart, wearing the masks I made. I’m at home making more masks...

  • auntienance
    auntienance Member Posts: 3,924

    LOL Special, it definitely calls up a visual 🤣

    We actually have a contract on the house however the buyers’ buyers (two contingencies) have a house to sell so who the hell knows what will happen with all of this.

    Decided on precooked ribs from the freezer with baked beans and cole slaw.

  • magari
    magari Member Posts: 335

    This is what I would make if I had an eye of round roast: https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2013/01/hreb-crusted-round-roast-with-parmesan-black-pepper-popovers-recipe.html

    I had a large salad with shopped pears, walnuts and goat cheese for lunch.

    Think I am finally going to make nachos for dinner.

  • carolehalston
    carolehalston Member Posts: 8,352

    Love the bra straps repurposed!

    I cooked the eye of round roast on the grill and the result was good. I got the idea from google search. Sear the roast on all sides. Then roast off the burners at 350 for about 40 minutes until roast temps at 125. Rest for 30 minutes. An easy way to go without turning on the oven in the house.

    DH made a horseradish sauce with mayo, sour cream, Dejon mustard and, of course, horseradish. He emptied the jar so horseradish is on the list.

    Our side was a real treat for us. Potato salad made with leftover small red potatoes from the night before, plus boiled eggs, diced celery and the last of the jar of dill relish. Dressing was mayo and yellow mustard.

    The roast was 3 lbs so a big hunk of leftover beef. We probably ate 1/2 to 3/4 of a lb sliced thin.

    Interesting that tough cuts of beef have a good taste. I especially like skirt steak and flank steak. The latter has gotten pricey.

    No inspiration for dinner yet. Maybe pasta, always acceptable by DH. Is "by" the right preposition, Minus? Fellow English teacher, retired.

    Quarantining is definitely getting old but 45 minutes away people are suffering and dying in New Orleans hospitals. And we have some coronavirus cases in all but two parishes (counties) in the state. Our parish, St. Tammany, has between 600 and 700. I continue to be amazed at the contagiousness of this virus. I shake my head and wonder, "Can this all be real?"

  • minustwo
    minustwo Member Posts: 13,422

    Carole - maybe "acceptable to..." ?? I'll think on it.

    I'm forcing myself to do at least an hour walk every morning. Carole - we can have a 'contest' to encourage each other if you want? I think Carole & I should get extra points since it's so hot & muggy. Supposed to be 90 again tomorrow and I'm still walking in levis. Not to mention that I'm walking at 7am and I HATE morning. I have always been a night person so this is REALLY hard. It messes up my mind and the rest of my day. Sigh.

    Putting off the grocery store. I need fresh greens, but I have salad for one more day and it's not an emergency. Maybe later this week.

  • minustwo
    minustwo Member Posts: 13,422

    Dinner was black beans & green chili salsa leftover from Laurie's Mexican Chicken, mixed with leftover Quinoa & Brown Rice mixture. Delicious.

    Did you all see this from another thread - virus humour: Half of us are going to come out of this quarantine as amazing cooks. The other half will come out with a drinking problem.

  • chisandy
    chisandy Member Posts: 11,414

    Tonight was a Seder dress rehearsal: gefilte fish, matzo ball soup, rotisserie chicken (Bob brought it home from Costco). Plus all the ritual food trimmings, of course. We did it tonight in case he has a long day tomorrow. (Can't imagine why, because patients aren't coming in and he promised to stay away from Little Co. of Mary--aka COVID Central--for two weeks). We're having Seder for just us two because--and I hate to sound morbid--it could be our last.

  • carolehalston
    carolehalston Member Posts: 8,352

    Sandy, I certainly hope you are being too pessimistic. What a dreadful time for you as Bob continues seeing patients. Did you read the Ruth Marcus piece in either the NYT or WAPO about how this year is so sad and different for Jewish people? I thought about you as I read it.

    Last night's dinner tasted really good and was easy to prepare. Linguine with Rao's enhanced with Italian sausage. Grated romano. A big tossed salad. The linguine was much thicker than usual and took longer to cook.

    I experimented with ordering groceries for delivery. There were substitutions and the delivery was at the end of the 5 hour period. There was added cost and the same concern about who had handled the items. I will probably continue to do my own shopping as quickly as possible, wearing salon gloves and cloth mask.

    We power washed the front walkway yesterday, using our small power washer which isn't powerful. It took a while and the results are nice.

    There is much-needed rain in the forecast.

  • moonflwr912
    moonflwr912 Member Posts: 5,938

    Ive joined the sewing crowd too. Making masks with things I managed to find around the house. Weve been on a purging kick since the basement flood 18 months ago. And I wasnt sure I had any appropiate fabric left. Managed to find some in one closet of craft things. But, then had to wash, dry, iron and cut, before I could sew. (The hole in the bucket routine, LOL! ) Found some quarter inch elastic too, score! So finally got to sewing, made one start to finish, to get an understanding of the process, and now going to finish 6 or more for my family. I used the pattern with a pocket for a filter, but you can wear them without. And if the ear elastic is uncomfortable to wear, you take a ribbon with buttons on each end to wear on the back of your head. The ear elastic goes over the buttons and saves your ears. Eric, you can do this too.

    Supper was something easy to make as I was hunting and gathering all day ( getting my sewing supplies ready, LOL) so it was sloppy joe and fresh green beans, to use up rolls going on 8 days old. LOL.

    It got up to 70 here, after last week in the 40s. Wisconsin is weird. My husband is the one who does the shopping because ive hunkered down here cause of my issues.

    We live on a corner and our neighbor hood is full of walkers. We see 90% of them swing by. Makes it feel less lonely. We have bears in our windows for the kids to count. ( Going on a bear hunt) . Putting hearts on them with the grands (hearts for the health care people) tomorrow.

    Gotta thaw something for dinner tonight, probably pork chops with salad and veg.

    Much love to all.

  • minustwo
    minustwo Member Posts: 13,422

    Moon - reading too fast and thought you said you were watching bears from your window. Oh my.

    Carole - I agree about doing my own shopping. I can get in & out in a hurry since I don't need much. My brother (who rarely speaks once a year) seems to think I need an N-95 mask and said he'll mail one.

    Dinner will be a salad with the last of the greens & fresh veggies. Oh - and maybe a hot dog since I have a package of buns with 2 left. Considering the store tomorrow - or I could start raiding the freezer.

  • minustwo
    minustwo Member Posts: 13,422

    Here's my 'virus wear' for the grocery store. I knew all those BUFFs I used when I had no hair would come in handy.

    image

  • auntienance
    auntienance Member Posts: 3,924

    Looking good Minus!

    Spent the morning cleaning out the front flower bed and ordering plants from my local greenhouse. It’s amazing how stiff and sore I can get in such a short amount of time. Won’t be able to plant anything for a bit though. While it’s 86 degrees today, the next 10 days are going to be cold with lows near or below freezing. Wisconsin isn’t the only weird weather locale Monica

    Ordering out from the local diner tonight - catfish dinner for me and pork tenderloin dinner for dh.

  • eric95us
    eric95us Member Posts: 3,182

    When I was working in San Diego, the cleaning crew that did the thrice daily cleaning was used to dealing with asbestos removal, lead paint removal, mold clean up and similar stuff. Rather than use up the hospital grade PPE (personal protective equipment), they used their "PPE. It was much more than needed, but as long as the extra PPE doesn't cause problems while working (heat, being able to see hazards, manipulating controls, etc.) it's not a huge deal.

    image


    Anyway, a nurse and I were removing our PPE when we noticed one of the cleaning crew step out of a Port-A-Jon before they entered the "hot zone"...dressed like that. "Wow. Don't use that one. It must be *REALLLLLLLY* bad!."

    It made for a good laugh.

  • eric95us
    eric95us Member Posts: 3,182

    I was able to sit down for awhile and catch up on more than just the past couple of posts.

    I, too, very much hope you're being overly pessimistic, Sandy. A time to gather and remember...interrupted....:-( Tell Bob from me (and all of us on here) to be safe and stay well.

    My "evil twin" has some heart issues and is considered more vulnerable should she catch the coronavirus. I offered to shop for her...but, "no"...so I took her some N95s, gloves and a set of (reusable) goggles, and showed her the tricks of the trade for donning and offing the stuff. Hopefully it will either have been unnecessary, or enough to keep her safe.

    The colors even match, Minus. 90F already???!!! Wow and "blah"!


    Dinner is likely to be random leftovers. With DD at home, the food quantities needed are different and we end up with a lot of "not quite enough for everyone to have a 2nd meal" from the leftovers, so it becomes a "each person eats something different" so we can clear space out in the refrigerator.


    Things are not bad here. We've been either at home and me doing home projects, out running the trails or out on the hiking trails We choose the deserted places so we can go out for a few hours of hiking without seeing *anyone* or go running for an hour and not see anyone within 100 yards, so that meets the distance recommendations.

  • beaverntx
    beaverntx Member Posts: 2,962

    Sandy, seconding what Eric said and it is a scary time for all of us, isn't it?

    Tonight was leftovers here, too. I had 2/3 of leftover "goololli"; DH had the other 1/3 and a grilled cheese sandwich (which was what he really wanted!).

    Heat index here this afternoon hit 102! The humidity is crazy with possible severe storms forecast for tomorrow. Yuck!

  • mountainmia
    mountainmia Member Posts: 857

    I was going to make tacos with ground beef and black beans for filling. I took the meat from the freezer to thaw, and took the can of beans from the pantry. In the fridge I had most of a white onion already chopped, and some jalapeño peppers in the freezer. When I got ready to actually cook it, I realized the ground beef was actually ground turkey. And the can of black beans was actually pinto beans. Which is ALL FINE! Just not what I expected. :) The tacos were good and there is plenty of filling left to use as a start for a pot of chili.

    After dinner, we started working on our tax prep. Got about half done with the federal part before stopping for the night, to go watch teevee.

  • chisandy
    chisandy Member Posts: 11,414

    MountainMia, adding a can of tomatillos would have made for a neat chile salsa verde. I went through my pantry today and was shocked that I had both sofrito for paella and romesco sauce, as well as another jar of harissa and two more of Rao's.

    Tonight was actual Seder--same food as last night, but subbing palak paneer as green veg. and adding rice for Bob--hey, if it's okay with Roman Jews...We still have a lot of Indian leftovers: mixed tandoori grill, samosas, fritters, pakoras, and a bonus container of butter chicken. I'm sticking the naan in the freezer and the low-carb bread in the fridge so it doesn't get moldy (or tempt me during Passover). I may do matzo brei for brunch--or maybe add a little matzo meal to my Birch Benders keto pancake mix. I will definitely need to watch the calories and walk more till this holiday is over. My next weigh-in is on 4/22--and though it's a phone consult and the NP can't see me, I won't lie--it'd catch up with me in June.

    Dragging our feet on the tax prep--we have all the docs gathered but I noticed some omissions on the worksheets. We'll fax it to our CPA, who e-files. Almost certainly gonna owe a whopping sum again.

  • carolehalston
    carolehalston Member Posts: 8,352

    Last night's dinner was a skillet dish with boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into pieces, fresh mushrooms, artichoke hearts, leftover brown rice and part of a can of chicken soup thinned with water. We considered making a salad and decided against it. DH brought the soy sauce to the table and I got out hand-grated romano. To each his/her own.

    I plan to venture to Sam's Club this morning during the 7-9 seniors shopping time slot. The real mission is to pick up prescriptions but I will make some purchases, too. This will be my first time to wear one of the home-made masks.

    Lookin' good, Minus!

    We got excited when we saw a sign in front of Crabby Shack that curbside pickup would be available at the nearby Keith Young's steakhouse restaurant, which owns Crabby Shack. Young's is very upscale with prices to match. I called the number, looked up the menu and to our disappointment the choices are all from Young's menu, not Crabby Shack's. We think they would do a lot more business with the Crabby Shack menu. But they didn't ask us.

  • specialk
    specialk Member Posts: 9,262

    Still making masks, but have slowed down a bit. DH took masks in for his office today. My neighbor just made some to send to her DD, an ER resident in Dallas. She made 15 to send for her and her fellow residents. My friend and I did a set of masks hand off with social distancing - I put them in the back of my car, we met in a parking lot, I parked and opened the back of the car with my remote, she grabbed the masks and left me three bottles of wine (yay!) and off we went. Felt like a clandestine drug deal... she has given some of hers away to her neighbors so I need to make more for her

    Dinner was steak Caesar salads. Not exciting, but quick and easy.

    minus - I like your color coordinated shirt/buff incognito bank robber look! Cute! I look like a crazypants in my mask, especially the one with ties. Like I’m doing surgery in my kitchen. Reminds me of one of my surgeries - I had to be painted 360 degrees with betadine scrub because my PS was fat grafting from the back of both hips. He decided it was easiest for me to stand in the OR, be painted, then get on the table. So, no happy drugs until I was laying down. I was stone cold unmedicated, nothing on except a shower hat, being painted and attended to by folks who were covered except for their eyes. The anesthesiologist could tell I was somewhat unnerved, so he knocked me out ASAP once I was horizontal. Very weird experience.

  • minustwo
    minustwo Member Posts: 13,422

    I went to Kroger at 7:30. My surmise turned out to be true. All the other seniors were fighting it out at WalMart, Target, Costco, FoodARama, etc. - all the stores with senior hours. Maybe a total of 15 people in the entire Kroger store w/no senior hours. No lines, no waiting. They had everything I wanted except mushrooms (1st world problem). They even had water & TP - which i didn't need.

    So by the time I got home, changed clothes, & put away the frozen & fridge stuff, I didn't start my daily walk until 9:30. I was definitely soaking by the time I finished at 10:45 at 90 degrees. Then took my hedge trimmers down to a neighbors to trim some bushes that have been driving him nuts. Changed clothes again and ate a hot dog. Whew.

    I did food prep & getting ready for garbage PU tomorrow. Boiled a bunch of eggs. Made some cooked chocolate pudding. Re-packaged my ground meat into hamburger steaks for the freezer - or maybe it will turn out to be meatloaf. Cleaned the celery and wrapped in tin foil. I'd planned to sit down with a book but instead called several people that I felt needed to be checked on. Luckily all were OK.

    My planned supper of fried potatoes & onions with eggs didn't happen. Had 1/2 a cucumber with ranch dip and 4 radishes. Then ate one of my chocolate puddings. I think my bedtime libation will be a glass of Amarula.

    Mia- love your re-vamped dinner. Beaver - we can certainly agree it's HOT in Texas. Are you up by Dallas? My friend there said they had record highs. Hope the cool front comes through tomorrow since I bought an eye or the round I want to cook in the oven.

  • beaverntx
    beaverntx Member Posts: 2,962

    Minus, no not Dallas, I'm near San Antonio. Did a grocery run to HEB this week and was pleased to find some shelves once again stocked-- such as cereal, pasta sauce, maple syrup, even a little bit of Kleenex and indications that there had been paper towels had I been there earlier! Used a bandana for a mask. Guesstimate is that about half of the shoppers wore masks of some sort, much smaller percentage of employees. With the announcement today that three HEB employees in San Antonio have tested positive (from three different store locations) may change that. The store I went to was exerting traffic control by requiring entrance through one door and exit through the other-- opposite ends of the store. I'll park closer to the exit door next time.

    Dinner tonight was a favorite from long ago, a salad with pork tenderloin, Angel hair pasta, broccoli in a sauce with dark sesame oil, garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes, soy sauce, rice vinegar and grated orange peel. Each serving topped with cashews and sliced radish.

  • carolehalston
    carolehalston Member Posts: 8,352

    The trip to Sam's Club yesterday went well. The store wasn't crowded and senior shoppers were almost all wearing masks, everyone keeping distance apart. I learned when I picked up prescriptions that we could arrange to pick up curbside. The only item on my list missing was avocados. A worker said they were on a pallet in the back. We definitely have enough bread, butter and eggs to last us quite a while.

    Dinner last night was pork chops (more like small pork steaks) breaded with Italian bread crumbs and cooked in air fryer. Side was large tossed salad.

    Tonight will probably be left over beef roast in some kind of preparation, maybe stroganoff. But I did see on the Young's restaurant facebook page that fried softshell crabs are a special offering that can be ordered for pickup tonight. Tempting.

    We had storms last night that caused a power outage. I was awakened by the house generator starting up. It is located outside our master bath so a bit noisy. But it does what it's meant to do.

    After reading a lot of reviews of washing machines, mine included, I called an appliance repairman and told him I was undecided about having our 8 year old washing machine repaired. I had read repairs could be more expensive than buying a new machine. He assured me repairs would be reasonable. Also that he and his assistant would arrive with gloves and masks. The laundry room can be entered from a door off the carport so they won't have to walk into the rest of the house. We shall see. I either have to get this pricey machine working again or buy another one, which will NOT be energy efficient. I would like a top loader with an agitator that uses enough water to clean.

  • specialk
    specialk Member Posts: 9,262

    Today is my last day of mask making - by the end of the day I will be out of fabric. The good news is that I can move on to other projects. When all is said and done, I will have made and distributed 40 masks.

    Dinner tonight will be stroganoff with extra mushrooms, over noodles, with some yellow squash and a kale salad as sides. I have some previously made cupcakes taking up valuable freezer room so we may have to eat them to make space. Poor us, lol!

    What are your plans for the holiday, my fellow kitchen table friends? I think it will just be DH and lil ole me - DD needs to stay home since she has had more contact with the outside world than we have. I had the presence of mind to get basket ingredients a month ago, so DH will be going to rake leaves at her house tomorrow and will be the Easter Bunny for me. I did buy a corned beef when I shopped mid-March that is still in the garage fridge, but nearing the use by date. So,we may have St Patrick’s dinner for Easter. I have cabbage and potatoes as well, so I think that is my plan.

  • auntienance
    auntienance Member Posts: 3,924

    So intent was I on getting in and out of the grocery store the other day, I totally blanked on Easter. No chocolate bunnies, no ham, no asparagus or scalloped potatoes. So tonight I’m fixing a rather large chuck roast which will serve as French dip sandwiches for dinner. The rest of it will be used in a beef and homemade noodle dish for Sunday.

    I made dark chocolate peanut clusters for DH (since as I said, no chocolate bunnies this year.). Some hot cross buns came out of the freezer today. If I have all of the ingredients I may make a one layer carrot cake for Sunday dessert. Oops, scratch that - no cream cheese. Maybe an olive oil lemon cake.

    Kudos to you and Lacey Special for all your mask making efforts!

  • celiac
    celiac Member Posts: 1,260

    DH and I used up some of a curry dish ( a standard "go to" for me) made with tikka masala sauce, cooked chicken, package of frozen Trader Joe's mixed shrooms, riced cauli/brocc/carrots. Add ins for DH's serving were sauteed onions & garlic, curry powder (he likes it hot!) and basmati rice. We both had naan as well.

    On my quick foray to Fresh Thyme on Weds, was able to pick up Easter candy (I never forget candy!) on sale: 2 bags M&Ms, Solid Milk Chocolate Bunny for DH and Dark Chocolate for me. Thinking of scallops as the protein for Easter Sunday + a yummy Trader Joe's gratin (potatoes, sweet potatoes, shrooms) + jazzed up brussels. Wish I had thought about getting some ham.

    auntienance - Interested in the olive oil lemon cake recipe, if you can share.

  • auntienance
    auntienance Member Posts: 3,924

    https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2009/02/almond-olive-oil-cake-recipe-torta-di-mandorla-italian-desserts.html

    Sub lemon juice and zest instead of orange (although both versions are good

  • minustwo
    minustwo Member Posts: 13,422

    I love that two people are talking about stroganoff. I snagged an "eye of the round" roast yesterday, which is done & 'resting' according to Carole's prep. So stroganoff is in my future too.

    No Easter candy here. Actually I forgot to even consider candy. Sigh.

    Beaver - my niece & her DH are both San Antonio PD. And unfortunately both have Covid-19. She's in worse shape than he is, but with a 3 and 5 year old home - oh my.

    I sent Pitman Davis citrus to that bunch and my nephew's family in Houston. They both said it was a welcome treat.

  • mountainmia
    mountainmia Member Posts: 857

    SpecialK, stroganoff sounds wonderful. My husband grilled a NY strip steak for tonight, and fresh asparagus on the grill with it. Very good, though my favorite steak is rib eye.

    We have no plans for Easter. Most years we head to a big family gathering of in-laws for a pot luck. There is always ham, turkey, mashed potatoes, etc. This year of course we aren't getting together. And since we don't ever have a celebration here (and aren't religious anyway,) it didn't occur to me to do something special. We have lots to choose from, though. Could have ham or pork chops or I could make that chili, or homemade pizza sounds very good. :)

    Last night we had leftover homemade chicken noodle soup and a salad. Earlier in the day I made a spiced prune quick bread that is very good. I'd give you a link for the recipe, but the recipe was bad and it's only because I know how to make quick breads that it worked out.

  • beaverntx
    beaverntx Member Posts: 2,962

    Minus, oh, my, prayers for their recovery! Announcement today is that there is a Bexar county inmate who has tested positive.

  • auntienance
    auntienance Member Posts: 3,924

    Oh no Minus, how scary. Hoping for a complete recovery for both