So...whats for dinner?
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Thanks for all the Costco feedback! I thought I’d go check it out and get my new glasses there last week, then read that a membership would be required to order glasses…so I caved. My other reservation is “buying too much” since I am not a smart freezer user and waste foor that I freeze. But I like the descriptions you all gave, so I should seriously consider joining it again! Wine would be nice, too….tho we have a “ house wine” we absolutely adore that we get at Wegman’s for 6.99. Lordy, Ripple was probably more expensive in the 70s!
We stopped at Wegman’s after the opticians, and after selecting a lot of produce, our cart disappeared. I had that experience once before there. So frustrating. After an extensive 5 pm (!) search, we found it with some of our selections missing. WTH?! So we re-shopped and finally made it home by 6pm I managed to put tne groceries away and make baked pesto chicken breasts with roasted grape tomatoes with some mozzarella melted on top. Very good…tho we may just have been starving!
Side was a romaine and arugula salad with the regular veggies, cukes, red cabbage, carrots, kalamata olives, and cauliflower pieces. We also enjoyed the signature super crusty sour dough bread leftover from Sweet Basil’s lamb shank dinner, and still have more left for tomorrow. Not sure if I had not seen the recipes on Momma C’s blog, if I would have been inspired to make that pesto chicken. Oh, and it was made easy by having purchased the pesto from Sweet Basil, too, since they sell it by the pint. I usually make my own, but this looked like a smart idea…will freeze most of it in cubes and take out as needed for such recipes.0 -
We do not have the Costco option. We shop at a nearby Sam’s Club and use the pharmacy for prescriptions.
The shard (chard?) was Swiss shard but I drew a blank on Swiss when I was writing yesterday’s post. The leaves were large and glossy. I cut out the red veins and sliced the leaves, sautéed with olive oil, garlic and pepper flakes. Sprinkled with vinegar.
The result was bitter but still rather tasty. A good side with our crab cakes. And it felt healthy eating it!Yes, I think the correct name is Swiss chard. I’ll look it up. Normally I’m a good speller.
I’m envious of Lacey and Sandy who enjoy such a range of takeout meals
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Carol, try adding a bit of cream to the chard after it’s soft. I really helps, I use it for kale too.
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Carol, sorry...I should have figured that out. My brain has been stressed so no doubt, on pause. We try to include chard a few times/year, but it is "earthy" tasting and I have to force myself. We grew it a few times and just had too much. Lemon juice helps. Illimae, that is a great idea with the cream. I've done that with kale and should try it with other veggies that are more pronounced.
We are going to have the leftover Tennessee Corn Pone tonight.
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Sandy, Wonderful relief from scananxiety with the great news that ocular melanoma has shrunk a bit. When MO said a year or so ago that he was quite certain I wouldn’t die from BC- I knew he was saying it because I’m so old- I still felt the weight roll off my shoulders or wherever. But tomorrow I see the cute BS and some of it is back. PTSD et al.
I ordered dinner tonight from Andries tonight- they deliver to Evanston. Just sautéed spinach with garbanzos, feta and dill rice, salad with feta, cucumber, dill, hummus and harissa too. Haven’t been to Eataly in years. Would if it were not downtown.
Off to Kohler on Tuesday for Thanksgiving. We, too, go to movies now, though carefully, early in the afternoon when there is no crowd. Saw Belfast and was very informed and moved by it.
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Sandy, I missed your mention of the scan. Having just had re-tests on various labs, I know the anxiety too well. So happy to hear things are improving. Reading your posts is such a foodie-experience; I love reading every speck you post! Happy Chanukah!!
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WallyCat - I'm just joining you with the daily dried prunes.
Nance - great to hear from you. Have you completely emptied your storage space? What are you doing for Thanksgiving?
Dinner wan Naan pizzas with the last batch of meat sauce from the freezer from my favorite Italian restaurant that closed in 2020. Toppings - black olives, fresh mushrooms & sweet onion slivers. I buy the smaller four pack of Naan - so I have two leftover. And there's enough of the meat sauce left to add what's left in a bag of Trader Joe's flame broiled meat balls and serve with pasta in the next few days. I know, I know - and I do actually have a Spaghetti Squash on hand - but I'm likely to use REAL pasta.
I still haven't decided about Thanksgiving, but I took a very small Hormel Cure 81 ham piece out of the freezer to defrost (1.34 lbs). I'm hungry for summery things - three bean salad, potato salad, etc. - but I will make some hot sides of some kind.
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Dinner last night was half of a roast chicken. Side was very large tossed salad. I do like roast chicken, dh probably not so much, but he doesn't complain. Oh, we had fresh cranberry sauce as a condiment
Thanks for suggestions on mellowing the bitterness of the chard. It reminds me of collard greens which I bypass for mustard greens during the winter when greens are available fresh out of the garden. I think younger chard leaves are preferable, probably fresh picked.
Illimae, your food photography made a snack plate look gourmet!
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Broiled sockeye (I tried the same recipe as for cod and it turned out quite good!), corn and broccoli.
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Broccoli for me too with cauliflower, salad and 1/2 a steak. Only easy meals at the cabin until thanksgiving when we’ll borrow a neighbors kitchen.
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Nibbles early tonight (cheeses--Midnight Moon, Spring Goat Gouda, Fontina Val d'Aosta, Le Petit Brie) and mixed nuts to go with the Beauj. Nouveau. Later when Bob gets home I'll likely reheat the two leftover beef ribs & creamed spinach (and he'll be bringing wings from the restaurant near the hospital where he's having dinner). My brunch today was a 2-egg omelet with mixed bell & poblano peppers, red onion, mushrooms & a slice of cheddar; with the last slice of the "Healthy Life" 0-carb keto-friendly "Hawaiian" bread.
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I sauteed onions & garlic & some zucchini slices. When they were almost done I added some Hoisin sauce and served on top of left over "Ancient Grains". It was a great combination.
Since I'm still hungry for what I traditionally think of as 'summer' things & enjoyed my fruit salad so much two weeks ago, I gave in again today. Made cucumbers & onions in sour cream & dill sauce that's "proving" in the fridge, and deviled eggs. Tomorrow I'll make potato salad. I have spinach that needs too be cooked so I'm thinking about sauteed shrimp with spinach & pasta. But I also have leftover spaghetti meat sauce so I may hold on the pasta with shrimp.
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Sharon and I spent most of last week and some of this week at a Bluegrass festival. We were with the two other couples that are part of the weekly jams. All of us brought our RVs (camper, converted bus and small travel trailer), so we cooked all of our meals and ate "family style" in a sort of a pot luck.
Minus, it's still warm enough here to appreciate "summer foods".As for Costco. The membership has two cards. Sharon has one and DD (in Michigan) has the other. When I had one of the cards, I never went there alone, so giving the one to DD isn't a big deal....DD uses her card a lot. We don't buy any produce there either. Mostly it's paper products, sugar and flour as even the canned goods come in "family of 35" sized cans.
The timer just chimed. I've got pinto beans in the pressure cooker....Sharon is making enchiladas and I'm working on a Spanish rice dish that needs pinto beans.
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Eric - so glad you are enjoying the Bluegrass festival. I'm guessing that means your MIL is doing OK on her own again. Good news.
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She was in the hospital for a couple of days to get the c-diff under control and then a week in sort of step down facility to continue the tests/antibiotics. She came back to her home yesterday. We offered to have her at our place for awhile, but she was insistent about being at her place.
I've been reading about the Thanksgiving plans..
The music jam group is getting together for Thanksgiving. MIL is invited and the 90 year old father is also going to be there (he and MIL get along great!) so there will be 8 of us there. We're doing the non-turkey baking...dinner rolls, the garlic-cheese biscuits, pumpkin and apple pies.
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Thanks for the update Eric. I'm glad she's OK & was able to go back to her own home. I think that's what most of us want.
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Tonight was leftover honey lime pork chops with a steam/sautéed veg medley.
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Tonight was the leftover salmon.
We managed to (finally!!!!) score Mary's free range turkey thighs. Last year, they were impossible to find at the co-op. We went there yesterday, after going to an art gallery, and voila...the only 2 sitting there; we grabbed them!
I don't like keeping poultry for longer than a day or so, uncooked, and rather than freezing/thawing (since we don't know if they have already been thawed), I'll cook them tomorrow.
I just made mashed potatoes (have not had those in decades!) and will make wild mushroom gravy tomorrow; I'll use our foraged chanterelle and some dried porcini. Not sure if it will be green beans or broccoli or who knows, but that's it ....I've baked a few apple desserts for DH, using up the apples from our trees, so not sure if he wants more. He actually said NO to canned cranberries this year! Maybe I'll make a cherry/cranberry relish/side of some sort using port. And we have ice cream in the freezer :-)
T-day, we scored Copper River salmon, so we'll make salmon on Thursday. Easy sides. Easy prep.
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This was Friday night’s dinner. I made this Hello Fresh dish with my own ingredients but used brown rice. It was just as delicious as the original was months ago, but there are leftover ingredients. That’s the advantage of the kit meals.
The rice is cooked with sautéed white part of green onions. The second layer is a black beans skillet mixture of sautéed poblano pepper dice, green salsa, and a spice mix of cumin and chili powder. Another addition is fresh tomato salsa of diced tomato, olive oil and green onion dice. Also a crema of sour cream and spice mix with enough water to make a looser consistency. Finally, grated pepper jack. It is actually sprinkled on the bean mixture.
Quite a prep but goes together quickly.
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This is last night’s dinner, shrimp scampi with linguine. Ingredients were olive oil, butter, lots of chopped garlic, lemon zest and juice, and grated parmesan to sprinkle on top
Side was large romaine salad with tomato, cucumber, avocado, kalamato olives.
Linguine was cooked and frozen. So convenient! Thank you, SpecialK.
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cooked and frozen linguini that isn't mushy? Do tell! I must have missed the post. It all looks so delicious. I've had breakfast and am hungry already.
I do a simple "mexican rice" similar to what you describe except I just take a 1/2 cup to a cup of jarred salsa.
Eric, so happy to hear your MIL is on the mend!
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I have not posted much because meals have been boring here due to DH's dental surgery and trying to stay on our restricted eating plan. Last night was lentil pasta with marinara that had ground turkey added in. I had a little salad of cucumber, grape tomatoes, sliced beets, and kalamata olives along side. This has been an interesting experiment for DH - his endocrinologist suggested going gluten free to see if he felt better (Hashimoto's) and by day 6 with no gluten he had no joint pain. He has lost 8 pandemic pounds, I have lost 6. We are feeling good as well, not missing the things we are not allowed to eat. Because I never went back to eating a lot of sugar I did not have the cravings this time, and I generally felt fine cutting everything out. Last time I had that malaise type feeling for a couple of weeks. I am leaning more plant based this time. I am making all of my usual T-Giv dishes since DD and her beau will be here, but I am sending the leftovers home with her. I have an extra turkey breast for us and one for her, in addition to the whole bird. I am substituting some ingredients that will allow us to eat some things like alternative brown sugar in the cranberry sauce and sweet potatoes and gluten free flour to make the pan gravy, but I probably won't eat everything.The good thing about most of what I make is that it is vegetables - yay! I am getting my booster tomorrow, and hoping I don't feel bad afterward. When I got my initial vaccines I was fine after the first one, didn't even have a sore arm, but did have a mild case of shingles. After the second, I had flu like symptoms starting the evening of, and lasting for about 36 hours. Not the best timing for a cooking marathon, but I will roll with it.
eric - glad to hear your MIL is back home, hoping she is on the mend.
carole - yay for frozen linguine! I love how fast a meal can come together using it. I have not found a compromise in the texture, at least with short pasta types. What did you think about that with the longer pasta?
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Mae - I saw on another thread that your DH is making creamy, garlic Brussels sprouts for T-day. I'd love to have that recipe.
Carole - Oh shrimp linguine. Be still my heart. I have so many things backed up that as much as I've been dying for shrimp, I didn't buy any this week. Nor did I buy the wild caught lobster tails - 2 for $12.
Special - Good to see you. Lots of good news there. I too forgot you told us about freezing leftover pasta. Any special instructions?
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Minus, I found an older post, enjoy!
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Thanks Mae. This time I actually copied the recipe to a word document & printed it out. Maybe I'll remember.
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Friday night we had semi-homemade cheese pizza. “Semi” because I picked up the dough from the deli section of the local fancy supermarket. It was good enough but certainly doesn’t compare to a homemade crust. Can’t beat the convenience though.
Yesterday I made red beans and rice and an apple crumble with gingersnap/walnut/oat topping. I had a bag of apples from last years harvest that needed using. Nothing lol cal about any of that (except that we didn’t put ice cream on it.)
Minus, we are down to 1 1/2 storage units. We could probably get down to one if we could dedicate a few days winnowing out more stuff from the main unit. We are suffering from a definite lack of enthusiasm especially with colder weather now. We did retrieve much of the Christmas decor which helped a bit.
I’m feeling more enthusiastic about the holidays this year. Last year we did the bare minimum because of COVID and as we were in the midst of moving would have been happy to skip the whole thing. This year, I’ve even finished both Christmas shopping AND wrapping. Unheard of!
Looking forward to thanksgiving day at dh’s sister’s home, where I’ll be contributing dinner rolls and a fruit and cheese board. The rolls are dh’s great grandmother’s recipe (aka “Ganny”, whom I never knew) and they are always a nostalgic hit. Don’t know how the only person who never ate hers turned out to be the one who always makes them but I’ve been doing it for many years. We will have a smaller turkey dinner with the kids on Sunday. DDIL is contributing the dressing so that’s one less hassle. It’s my least favorite part of the meal to both fix and eat.
Kudos to you and the hubs Special. Glad you are both reaping the health benefits.
So glad your mil is on the mend Eric!
As usual Carole, I’m having seafood envy. I’m missing the gulf coast more than ever.
Tonight is pork scallopine with buttered noodles and roasted golden beets and carrots.
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Nance - great to hear from you. Glad to hear there was some progress on the storage units. I agree - interesting that you are the custodian of the ancient family roll recipe.
I finished the Christmas shopping a week or two ago, except for a Starbucks gift card I got for my DIL Friday. The plan was to wrap this weekend so I could mail or ship next week (almost none of my family live in the same state. Well that didn't happen - but I do at least have everything spread around the living room floor in piles for the appropriate families. Maybe tomorrow.....
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Mae,
I tried the broiled cod tonight and its really yummy. This will be included in our rotation. We all loved it. Thanks for sharing.
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Dinner tonight was soup. Chicken noodle with vegetables, white beans and ground turkey.
Thanksgiving this year will be a multi day affair, split between my uncle's and my mother's. The main dinner will be at my uncle's with just a few family members, and I think it will be catered. At my mothers we plan to make a green bean casserole and stuffing, maybe a small turkey, but buy the mashed potatoes pre-made. So far it will just be me, my mother, her boyfriend, and probably my aunt and other uncle, but I fully expect my siblings to show up at the last minute.
I've been short on time but I might make a pumpkin pie. The store bought ones are a bit sweet for my taste. I'll still eat them but I prefer to make them from scratch, with less sugar and more spice.
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The frozen linguine is fine. Not mushy at all. I now cook a full package and freeze half of it, tossed with a drizzle of olive oil.
Last night's dinner was pork roast, stuffed with mixture of green onion, garlic, red pepper, salt. Side was baked sweet potatoes
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