So...whats for dinner?
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I always do the stuffing out of the box for Thanksgiving whether it’s just me and the hubby or having family over. That’s the way my mom did it and that’s what she taught me.
Dinner tonight is steak, salad and baked potatoes
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Nancy: You can remove char from a scorched pan by using a liberal amount of table salt in water and boiling until it loosens. May take more than one application but no soaking or scrubbing necessary.
Love Stove top stuffing but will use Pepperidge farm bread cubes for turkey stuffing adding butter, celery, onions, sage, etc.
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Dinner tonight will be a pot of chili. It is in the 40s here(in the 80s 2 days ago) and very windy so time for comfort food. DH says that includes cornbread to go with.
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Illimae, I’m glad for you that you are getting off to your cabin and admiring your hardiness living there “camp style“. I hope, as you are thinking, that you have a good combo of meds to mitigate any Xeloda side effects.
Weighing in on the stuffing discussion, I used to use the boxed brands many years ago for stuffing with basic pork chop or turkey breast dinners, but for T-giv stuffing I use the Pepperidge Farm brand. I have never been so motivated as to replicate the from scratch stuffing my mother always made. And ever since I did Weight Watchers in the early 2000s, and realized how many calories I was consuming with stuffing, I have basically abandoned it from my plate. My high metabolized DH eats it liberally, so I make it for him and guests. I have not a clue about what T-giv will look like this crazy year.....
This week, DH contacted the dental practice to re-check the process and price of his upcoming major dental work.....and it resulted in his going today (!) to start the process. So tonight we had our turkey/kale meatballs (so light and delicious)with angel hair pasta, and I figured peas, tho an odd accompaniment, were a green enough “side”. I was busy all afternoon, and was tired, so I didn’t even bother to make myself a crunchy salad. If DH liked oatmeal, I would literally try to pass iff as a dinner on one of these soft food nights!
Tonight DS2 face-timed with us right before the toddler terror’s bed time, and as she was tearing around, I asked him what she was going to be for Halloween. Last year she was a cute little pineapple. Well, I almost dropped when he said she was going to be a BAT!!! What?!?! Backstory....Right after they moved in, they had a bat flying around inside their new suburban house, and I think they are still working through that experience! LOL Not sure where you get a BAT costume for a baby.
Carole, I do have some cute pix from when she was here last week.
#1 listening to advice from Dr. Fauci and hopeful for some hair growth ideas
#2 “Easy Rider”, 16 month versionWe look forward to seeing her and mom and dad this weekend since DS2’s birthday is Halloween!
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Lacey - what a beautiful baby!
Tonight was oven fried chicken, garlic-herb rice pilaf & steamed sweet peas. We had a gingerbread cookie for dessert. The temperature has dropped below 75 degrees here in N CA & no smoke. I feel sad for sisters in S CA & CO.
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Lacey, what a cutie! My vote for her costume is "Batgirl:" never too young to be a super-heroine,
Ilona, fingers crossed the spot isn't lepto. You've had false alarms before--hope this is yet another one. Enjoy the cabin, despite "roughing it." It's great to have a getaway option.
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I can't eat Stove Top stuffing. It gives me severe acid reflux, but I love the Mrs. Cubbison's Cornbread Stuffing.
Dinner was macaroni and cheese, broccoli, chicken, strawberries, half a chocolate croissant and two chocolate chip salted carmel cookies. I had to make up for the abomination I had last night.
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Stuffing (dressing), homemade cranberry sauce & relish, and my BFF's mom's "green slime" marshmallow-lime-fruit-walnut salad recipe are my T'day guilty pleasures. I make my dressing (or did, when I was eating carbs) with Pepperidge Farm bread cubes (or leftover sourdough), wild rice, shallots, rosemary, thyme, dried apricots, sausage & pecans. Sad that we will be doing Thanksgiving with just the two of us--simply not safe having friends nor even our son & his girlfriend over except perhaps shivering outside on the deck, masked & distanced. The city just banned indoor bar service & restaurant dining, starting this Friday and for at least 2 weeks until positivity-rate and hospital/ICU/ventilator-availability metrics approve.
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ChiSandy:
Sounds like a good meal! My family tends to turn Thanksgiving in to a comical fiasco so this year, regardless of family, I was also going to make my own little Thanksgiving meal and eat it in peace.
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Oh Lacey, what a cutie!
Carole, I’m sorry you all are facing yet another storm. 2020 can’t end soon enough.
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The salt content in Stovetop is eye popping. Even the reduced sodium, which isn't easy to find, is very high. Otherwise I could easily include it in meals. Dressing is my favorite Thanksgiving dinner food. I was surprised to learn that others put it on sandwiches, too!
I'm afraid Thanksgiving will be very gloomy for dh. It's his favorite holiday and he loves joining a big gathering of his family to celebrate. His sister was a great Thanksgiving hostess, but her decline in health made it necessary for her daughter to take on the hostess role. The daughter and a nephew began taking turns. But, sadly, dh's sister died earlier this year and now Covid. There has been no mention of a family gathering and I would not attend. It would be great to see all the nieces and nephews and their families but I wouldn't feel safe and wouldn't relax and enjoy myself.
Small turkeys will probably be in great demand this year. I've seen articles about the fears of turkey growers, that they've raised too many large turkeys.
Last night was mainly leftovers. DH ate at his computer as he attended a Zoom woodworkers meeting.
Zeta is supposed to hit about noon and bring high winds. People have been advised to pick up their outdoor Halloween decorations. I have a cloth scarecrow hanging beside the front door. I guess I should bring him in. We have storm shutters on all the windows and will roll them down. It will turn the house into a dark cave. I haven't ridden out a hurricane in years.
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Sandy, I like the idea of BatGirl!
Carole, I do hope you remain safe from Zeta. It sounds like you are well prepared with your storm shutters, despite the darkness. Yes, this year’s Thanksgiving will certainly present further loss for so many, and is particularly laden with that for your DH. I hope you can together share some wonderful memories of T-givings past. For sure this holiday season is going to be challenging for so many people and require us to be creative to nurture ourselves in ways that we, and those close to us, need.
Had my yearly mammo yesterday, and just rec’d the results which were reported as good news. The bad news is that I’m not sure if I totally believe that since it’s the first time in 15 years that the radiologist didn’t ask for more pix to examine certain concerning dense areas more closely. (this year, patients were not allowed to wait for results and possible additional images due to hospital Covid safety policies, so additional imaging Is less easy) so I am wondering if the person reading it was a new doc, and may have missed what the docs who usually read my images always examine more closely. I will call my PC or MO to run through that worry to put it to rest. Ha!
Looks like Halloween is going to be a frigid one here. After some Zeta related snow on Friday, the forecast is 30’s temps for Sat trick or treat hours. :< I bought a few bags of candy yesterday for the trick or treaters and better make a plan for it lest we be tempted to consume the likely leftovers. Happy Halloween everyone!
Tonight will be more soft food of some sort. We are headed to Wegman’s to get supplies, so hope to get inspired with food visuals there.
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Carole, if you add black olives, ground black pepper, red chili flakes, a little red wine vinegar (not balsamic) and more onion to marinara, you get a reasonable facsimile of puttanesca. Take out the olives, vinegar and extra onion and double up on the red & black pepper and you have arrabbiata.
Cellars e-mailed me yesterday afternoon that a staffer (who worked only last Thurs., the night we went to their French bistro wine dinner) just had a positive test result, so the place is closed for a week until it's disinfected and all staffers get the all-clear. The staffer reported "mild" symptoms but nobody else had symptoms. We ate completely outdoors (not even in the tent) and kept our masks on when not actively eating & drinking; I went inside only once, to put in our pick-up wine order. I hope the guy who was doing those wasn't the staffer in question (our favorite waiter, he'd been out for a while with a broken leg), but he probably worked Wed. night's wine dinner too; and I had my mask on the whole time I was inside (and hand-sanitized before going back outside).
Bob got his negative test result this morning--but not in time for me to notify the allergy clinic, so yet another penicillin/cipro allergy-challenge postponement till next Wed... when I'll be a nervous wreck for another (and more obvious & universal) reason. Union Health is staying closed till next week.
Ilona, tucked away in my spice cabinet I just found a little sachet (in plastic, inside an embroidered red cloth sack) of hot paprika I bought in Budapest in 2012...probably tastes like sawdust by now. I do have fresher Penzey's sweet and half-sharp Hungarian paprikas, as well as smoked Spanish. (Tastes like a milder version of chipotle powder).
Brunch this a.m. was shakshuka (WF's 365 sauce, sliced Greek olives, feta crumbles, chopped parsley with a jumbo egg simmered on top). Not bad, but I think I like my own kludge version (2 parts Rao's marinara to 1 part Mina harissa, sprinkled with za'atar) better. Still spicy and delicious, though--and filling.
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Lacey - what a cutie. Thanks for sharing. Great news on the mammo. I see my MO next Monday for the first time in 18 months. Since he's a replacement for my beloved doc who retired, I never expect much of interest from him.
My good news is the biopsy from the side of my nose came back benign. It was on top of the scar from a previous MOHS surgery and my derm was worried it might be a recurrence or a new cancer. I've had my head in the sand for the last 10 days since there's no more skin to pull over & cover a new surgery, so this was a relief.
Carole - I never thought to look at the sodium content in Stove Top, although that's usually the first thing I check. Oh well, I only make it two or three times a year. Hope Zeta is a mild event.
Nance - any update on when you might be moving?
WC3 - it's cold here today and mac & cheese sounds delicious. May pull a box Stauffers from the freezer to go with my Hawaiian Roll turkey & ham sliders.
jhl - where are you in No Cal? My son recently moved back to San Rafael from SF. I was raised on the Peninsula.
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Made Chicken Alfredo with pasta tonight. Made enough for another night, so one less night of cooking!
Well it looks like I might succeed in challenging myself to learn how to crochet for my upcoming birthday. Finally got the gist of how to do the easiest stitch. So I might just finish my first project, which is a cover for the top of my dresser, well before my birthday!
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Wow Mommy - what a great project. I have so many lovely things my Grandmother crocheted - but I never learned how. My DIL does needlepoint. I read. Well, everyone needs a hobby.
Tonight, I did in fact eat Staufer's mac & cheese after reading WC3's post. Desert will be two old fashioned chocolate cake doughnuts with a glass of red wine.
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Minus, congrats on the benign skin biopsy!
Bob will be late tonight, so I will haul scallops out of the freezer, saute the remaining broccolini, toss a few cherry tomatoes with olive oil and the remaining still-alive non-frostbitten basil, and give him the rest of the Ancient Grains mixture. I had shakshuka this a.m., along with my daily piece of low-carb toast.
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Thanks Sandy. Yum - scallops
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Minus, I do plastic canvas and latch hook rugs and now crochet.
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I learned to crochet when I was young, still living at home with my parents. A couple of years ago I taught myself to knit. The urge to crochet comes and goes. It is presently in the "gone" stage. As with all crafts, one creates things that must be given away or sold or whatever.
Zeta came and went without delivering damage to us. Today the sun is shining and cooler air has arrived, a blessing to those without power.
I was in no mood to cook last night. Dinner was a grilled cheese sandwich and canned soup. The soup was cream of chicken. DH asked, What kind soup is this? He was making fun of the lack of chicken. The cheese was a good sharp cheddar.
Sandy, thanks for the tips on modifying the Rao's.
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Carole, so glad to learn that Zeta spared you any hardship!
Last night DH grilled chicken breasts that I’d pounded and marinated with a fajita sauce. I had a side salad and made our resident semi softie eater some tiny microwaved potatoes, and well-cooked summer squash with onions. I think he’ll be fine with baked salmon tonight with sweet potatoes and not sure what else. I’ll have a side salad tonight. I realize how rarely we eat soft foods as I tryto follow this week's regimen!
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Carole, I could have learned years ago from my mom but I never felt ready to learn. Making a cover for my dresser and if all goes well, one for my husband’s and our nightstands.
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Taco's for Thursday, we had something different for Tuesday (which is our usual taco night).
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Carole, I forgot that puttanesca also has capers, so you might want to add those too!
Ordered out tonight from Chez Simo (it's their last night of indoor service, but wasn't willing to risk it--especially solo). Coq au vin with carrots & mushrooms; and "canard deux fois" (a split and grilled breast and confit of leg) with fresh spinach and julienned veg. Had about half the chicken and one piece of the duck breast, with half the veggies from both dishes. The remainder is in the fridge for Bob--and if he already ate at work, then for my dinner tomorrow night.
Because everyone at Union Health tested negative, they reopened today. So he's back to super-long days.
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WC3 - your "regrettable" comment made me literally LOL! I can always tell if my DH finds something I made regrettable, he will say "hmmm...interesting..." and then I never make it again. The good news is that has happened only occasionally.
minus - the kids job changes are exciting, but a little nerve wracking, cuz.. I'm the mom and my job is worrying, ha! DS has long wanted to move to CO, and just had to wait for a lateral job offer to do so. I am hoping he will settle down there, the girl he is currently dating long distance lives just outside of Denver. Because he is in VA now, it is a plane ride for us to visit in any case, this is just a slightly longer one, but there are plenty of non-stop flights from Tampa to Denver, so it is all good. DH and I used to say we wanted one house at the beach and one in the mountains, so this just might work out! DS has logistics to work out - getting his stuff to CO, himself, and his large and fluffy dog. DH is flying to VA, and DS got one of those POD things to move his stuff. DH, DS, and grand-dog will drive in his truck together and then DH will help him get set up. Hopefully he will have found a place before they start on the journey. DD's situation is easier - she just needs new clothes. She has worn shorts and jeans with a work polo and flip flops for the last four years, now will need nice pants and shoes - like cute neutral flats, but will still wear a company branded button down or polo. She has to be able to crawl around a boat but still look professional. And a purse - she is a reluctant purse carrier, but I loaned her one of mine for her interview and she liked having it! She is focused on getting details about when her health insurance ends, how to move her 401(k), etc., right now. She starts the new job 11/9.
Dinner has been meh, or nonexistent, around here lately, but we had a nice time on Tuesday for DH's birthday. He had an appt in the morning with the ophthalmologist after his imaging and labs, all were fine, doc says ocular migraines. DD took us out on her new boat for the afternoon - we had mimosas and cruised down the Hillsborough river at idle speed looking at the beautiful houses and listening to music, and even took the dog (who loves the boat!), it was really nice and relaxing. We saw a bunch of the crew boats for Tampa Catholic (which all had the names of saints and nuns!) and enjoyed waving at the girls rowing. Afterward we grilled steaks on DD's Traeger, and had sauteed yellow squash and broccoli, Alfredo angel hair, and I made yellow cake cupcakes with milk chocolate frosting. We all went in together and got DH a cordless rechargeable weed whacker - he was very happy! We are all about the functional gifts in this family - he and I are discussing new appliances for the kitchen and doing that in lieu of Christmas gifts. I think I finally found the built in stainless wall oven and microwave combo from Kitchenaid that has been out of stock (it is 27") and hard to find. We would get a new side by side counter depth fridge, and downdraft gas cooktop that is 30" - also hard to find - all stainless Kitchenaid. My existing gas cooktop is Kitchenaid and when we took out the electric cooktop with downdraft we just went without the venting, but if we sell this house at some point we need it, so the downdraft replacement makes sense now 14 years later. We already have a newer stainless Kitchenaid dishwasher with no exterior handle so we don't need to worry about matching.
Planning to opt out of Halloween. DD will be dog sitting, and DH is going over to her house to stay, in case of neighborhood shenanigans. It will be good not to be tempted by leftover Halloween candy!
illimae - glad you can get to your cabin for some relaxing, and hoping this finding is a blip.
lacey - your DGD is adorbs! She is growing so fast! Is that actually a Dr. Fauci bobblehead? Love it!
carole - glad you had no storm damage - LA has to be getting tired of this weather nonsense! What a crazy hurricane season this has been.
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Last night I finally cooked the salmon fillets I was supposed to cook several days ago. The side was steamed broccoli. Another side was romaine salad with additions. I cooked the fillets in the oven topped with a sour cream/mustard/dill sauce. I have leftover salmon for lunch food for me. DH is not a fan of salmon.
Dinner will be a ribeye and baked potatoes.
Halloween is always a non event for us. I do have candy on our grocery list. We're out of dark chocolate.
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Carole - very relieved to hear you escaped storm damage. It appears that some of our favorite gulf coast haunts were not so lucky.
Yesterday was a Costco run so of course that meant meatloaf for dinner (DH accompanied me.). There is enough left for two days of lunches and a quantity of mashed potatoes that will be destined for something like shepherds pie. We also went to Fresh Thyme which resulted in a porterhouse steak for tonight’s dinner. T bones were on sale but they were out so they gave me a porterhouse for the same price. Good deal! They also had whole Maine lobsters (cooked) for 6.99 a pound. I picked up the largest one I could find, now it’s steak and lobster night here.
Special - I’m shopping for all new appliances too. Are you happy with Frigidaire? My positive appliance experiences are mainly with Whirlpool except for my GE profile gas range which I loved. Worst experiences were with Samsung (which seem to be dominating the market here.). I have no experience with LG appliances. I welcome any input on the stuff. I am not looking for particularly high end appliances like sub zero.
We’re having second thoughts about hosting the kids for thanksgiving dinner. I’m just not sure it’s wise. The title company is doing curbside closing next Friday but even so we’re going to have to be around people more than we like. DS and DDIL both are back to work full time and even though their jobs take precautions I worry about exposure. No Halloween for us either. Saddens me because I always enjoy the kiddos.
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auntie - I have a weird mix of appliances at my main house now. This house was built with all Jenn-Air, and pretty built in, fridge goes into a cabinet, wall oven and micro combo built in, and stove top in the large island. We replaced the stovetop immediately - the previous owner didn't care for it, so it was not in great condition and it was electric, and I just can't with electric - I'm a gas stove girl. The house was fitted with gas capped off in the cabinet under the island when built five years earlier, so we dropped the Kitchenaid gas cooktop in. It has been a workhorse and I love it, but it is showing age and if we are replacing appliances I want a cohesive and new looking situation. The fridge went first and we replaced with Samsung because that is what fit. Microwave went next, but it is married to the still-working oven, so I have been waiting for the oven to break before replacing, but now that I realize the 27" combo is hard to find, I need to move fast before I can't get it. Dishwasher was never great, so I found a Kitchenaid with a dent on the back for half price and nobody will see the back of a built in dishwasher, so yay! I wouldn't have paid over $1K for it, but I would pay half that. So, the plan is to go all stainless Kitchenaid, only keeping the newer dishwasher. I did find that I could do GE Profile for all except the stovetop in the fingerprint resistant bronze type color, but I really have no need to replace the dishwasher. It would have looked nice with my existing granite. The downtown house has all Frigidaire from the remodel in 2018. The stove seems pretty solid, it is a glasstop range. The oven heats evenly, and while I am not fond of electric this one seems easier than most to cook on as it is responsive and heats evenly and pretty quickly. It has a high powered burner for big pots of stuff like pasta. The fridge is roomy and seems good too, particularly for a side by side - it is also built in - the filter cartridges are pricey though. We have had to repair the dishwasher already as it is the type with all controls hidden on the top edge and somehow the previous owner damaged the latch so the dishwasher thought the door was closed - when you started it the water started spraying as if the door was shut! Eeeks! DD freaked out when that happened (at 11pm - and of course called me in a tizzy) as this was right after the washer leak and floor damage debacle. The bright soul who did this remodel put glueless laminate in the whole house - it doesn't play well with water, so not the best choice for the kitchen, but it is open concept, so looks nice - just not really functional. I had an old school Kenmore fridge that was our extra garage fridge - standard freezer top, fridge bottom - that finally gave out after almost 30 years. I replaced it with a Whirlpool that had a catastrophic failure at 4 years, and I replaced it with a Frigidaire "outdoor" rated model which is humming along well.
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Tonight was leftovers
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Dinner tonight is a soup using pretty much every vegetable I had in the refrigerator. The recipe, modified based on what I had on hand, came from here. I'm hoping that will go with the sourdough I baked today.
Carole, I'm glad the Zeta didn't cause you damage. I hope it doesn't get to "Hurricane Omega".
Good news on the biopsy Minus. My mom was always getting some sort of something removed, except hers were always "glad we got them off you".
And, MIL just called. She's being released from "solitary". So this is a short post...
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