So...whats for dinner?
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Goldie, I thought my Easter was miserable but yours was worse. DH managed to hit a water pipe with the lawn mower. Home Depot was open so he went there for some supplies but the repair didn't go well. Yesterday morning he went out for more supplies and all is well again. We have water in the house.
I was able to take my shower and arrive clean for my appointment for the 2nd booster shot. Last night I had an awful night with chills and bad dreams. I assume I experienced a reaction to the vaccine. After some black coffee and strong Tylenol, I'm feeling better and plan to go to a medical appointment.
Last night's dinner was pork chops, baked sweet potatoes and bagged kale crunchy salad. Tonight may be Sub Way. DH is off to the golf course and will probably have lunch with the guys after his round.
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Specialk, I always make more than needed, but more so have some left overs. Now it's so I can freeze portions, so I don't have to cook so much. But not everything freezes well, so that's been a learning curve. I made some turkey tetrazinni from leftovers from TG, and that froze well, so I bought a turkey and did that. The mashed potatoes and gravy did well also. I don't like any of the jar/package gravys, so I always make my own.
Eric, cute story about the carrot cake. I assume, as a child, she thought it would taste like carrots! I would turn my nose up too. Same with zucchini bread. But neither taste like the veggie that is in them! Where are you guys in your move?
Minus, you are laughing at my DH, I'm laughing at you and the cilantro touching the radishes!
I love zucchini, and have several recipes. However, I can not grow it due to it ALWAYS getting squash bugs, no matter what I do!
Carol, so about the water pipe. Water issues are never any fun. Amazing how much you miss it when you don't have it. Can you imagine how back in the day, a lot of people had to haul their water by the buckets full. I know my DH's family had to do that and the spring was down a rather steep hill and not real close!
Yesterday was just some chicken in the air fryer, mashed taters and asparagus. I love my air fryer!
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Sorry dinner friends, I am not caught up at all and so tired. We drove all night to the cabin, too late to find an open grocery store and arrived at 4am. I slept a few hours, had crackers and peanut butter for breakfast and am planning on a package of ramen noodles for dinner. Heading to the big city tomorrow for treatment and hopefully a decent market. DH is cooking at a mountain man/pioneer type event this weekend, so plenty of Dutch oven foods. More on that later. Hi to all!
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Illimae, I love how you "roll with it" and figure it out....and don't stress about appointments. I may PM you for help.
I took the last of the sockeye (not enough for 2 good meals), flaked it and made a socca crust, topped it with chives and the flaked salmon, topped with cheddar cheese...my version of a salmon-melt. Leftovers tomorrow.
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I was away for a few days, but loved catching up on the posts (but wish the pages loaded faster, it takes forever!)
Specialk, I also make an orzo salad like yours. It’s so good!
Yesterday, I made potato kugel, asparagus, and baked salmon. I threw together a glaze for the salmon using whiskey, dark brown sugar, sumac and lemon juice. It’s a good combination that I will do again. I had something similar that was made with bourbon, but without the sumac. I didn’t have any bourbon on hand but the whiskey worked. I added the lemon as a counter to the sugar. Sumac has lemon-like overtones and I’ve used it on fish before and liked it
Tonight was an old standby because I was late getting started with dinner: steak, carrots and mashed potatoes.
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Wallycat, I’m happy to share tips but honestly, it’s my nature not to stress much. In middle school, my BFF told me her mom’s motto was EGBOK (everything’s gonna be ok), I kinda ran with it and made it my own.
The ramen was pretty good too, I loved it in high school and survived on it during chemo.
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Well - the ice maker that has been back ordered for 2 months for my "new" fridge was supposed to be delivered today at 7am. I got a confirmation email last week and actually called & talked with two different 'humans' in person to make sure. Unloaded the freezer. No show. When I called at 10am - "oh that's now back ordered until June".. GRRRRRR. So my ex-DH came up for a consult on balancing the freezer/fridge air which I haven't been able to get to work right and I took him to lunch at Pappadeaux. He had fried shrimp. I had a large Cobb salad with shrimp & crab. (very sad that they don't have Remoulade dressing nor even Thousand Island anymore) We went at 11am and the food was good, but by 11:30 we couldn't hear each other at all - even in a side booth w/plexiglass dividers. By the time we left at noon I was hoarse from shouting.
Goldie - hope you are feeling better today. Carole - what a challenging ordeal.
Love the salmon dishes from Wally & Cyathea
Edited to say - Mae, you have made & shared so many delicious dishes, you deserve a break - and you get a pass.
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Illimae, good luck to your DH cooking at the mountain man event. Can't wait to hear about it. Is it a competition and will you be going? For treatments today, is that your H/P?
Minus, that is horrible about your ice maker. And why couldn't they let you know sooner??? It must be on that slow boat from China! I am feeling better, thank you.
I think I'll just pull out some spaghetti that I froze, but made from tomatoes that I canned from my garden last year. Windy windy here, with 2 fires now burning. Not good when it's so windy. Well, it never good, but they spread so fast with the winds. Human caused no doubt as we have not had any rain.
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I find that I'm missing some posts since the design changes. Several times after comments that had no meaning I have gone back and found unread posts. One recent example was Eric's daughter's reaction to carrot cake. Not sure why this is happening.
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Serendipity, so sorry for the loss of your step-MIL. Complaining about Chicago's bipolar weather seems trivial compared to what PR has been going through the past few years.
No dining out (at least not me--Bob sometimes ate at the hospitals or stuff drug reps brought to the office) from our return from NOLA into Easter. Lots of fridge/freezer-foraging (especially when weeding out the "science projects"), plus pan-seared fish from Hooked on Fish (last week was walleye and Scottish salmon) and one evening I was able to grill a ribeye late Sat. night along with jarred gefilte fish and matzo ball soup from a mix (soup was from base plus some herbs & garlic and I added seltzer to the matzo ball batter to make them fluffy), plus shmura matzo, which Bob loves. No real Seder--Bob & the kids were working both nights. Made matzo brei twice (once from a leftover piece of shmura), and it shows on the scale, alas.
We did an abbreviated Easter brunch with the kids at a restaurant (Port & Park) near their home. Earliest res we could get was 1:30 and they had work meetings online at 3, so we didn't have much time together. Had calamari app for the table, plus a "Chicago skillet" (bacon, sausage, peppers, onions, spinach, cheeses, diced potatoes topped with 2 supposedly "sunny-side" eggs which turned out to be "over-hard"). They were crowded so I didn't make a fuss. The sparkling rose was flat--and though I'd ordered 6-oz. pours they brought 9-ouncers (and charged us for them). Not going back. At least we parked for free (no Cubs game that day, so no permit necessary) in front of the kids' house and walked there.
Mon. night I ordered out for tandoori chicken and palak paneer from Little India in the neighborhood. Actually, quite good, reasonable, & fast. Last night I sauteed skate wings I'd picked up from Hooked on Fish in the afternoon--you need to cook them the same day because they go bad relatively quickly. Browned butter in a splash of olive oil. As soon as the wings "seized up," I flipped them and added sherry vinegar & capers. I reduced the sauce and poured it over the wings when I plated them. Also sauteed broccolini (Bob's request) and made a fresh tomato/windowsill-basil salad over Little Gem lettuce leaves with a lemon-balsamic vinaigrette.
Going out to Regalia (in a likely rainstorm) tonight--Bob's favorite bartender from Cellars, the Pumping Co., and Hugo's now works there.
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Goldie, yup, it’s treatment day, just the H though, we dropped perjeta when I switched to the Herceptin/Xeloda/Tukysa combo to help control the brain mets. It’s a 3 hour drive each way, ugh, I know you know how that is.
I’m going but not competing, even though DH renamed me illi oakley after my first time shooting, lol.
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Tonight was “sweet and sour” brisket, buttered turnips and leftover roasted carrots and a simple salad. The brisket was a friend’s recipe and, for once, my brisket wasn’t tough or dry. (Yay! Small victories.). The brisket sat on a bed of browned onions, grated carrots and grated parsnips. The sauce had a shocking amount of dark brown sugar and ketchup (half cup and full cup, respectively), but the flavor wasn’t at all what I expected. The wine, vinegar and Worcester sauce cut the sugary sweetness.
Chrisandy, I’ve been making matzo brei as well. You’re not kidding that it is not kind to my weight!
Mae, I hope your treatment day wasn’t too bad. I only had 2 infusions of Perjeta since I had some issues with THCP. I know the relief of not having the digestive side effects. The 3-hour drive sounds tough. I would be exhausted just from the driving!
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Lately the What's for dinner question has been like a lifelong sentence. Yesterday I took a bag of Camellia cannellini beans out of the pantry and a package of smoked ham hock slices out of the freezer and introduced them to each other. Additions were onion, garlic, carrot, celery, bay leaves and fresh thyme. The result was tasty. We spooned the beans over brown jasmine rice and enjoyed slices of French bread with butter.
Today I may take a package of ground lamb from the freezer and introduce it to potatoes, carrots and peas to make shepherd's pie. The freezer's offerings are limited as should be the case.
Except for a still-sore arm at the injection site, I am feeling back to "normal" after my booster shot on Monday.
To cheer myself up, I ordered new glasses with red frames.
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Illimae, thank you for your kind post. I suspect my demeanor isn't set up for going with the flow, even though that is my only choice.
Carole, I ordered Camellia's cannellini beans a few times and love them!
Tonight will be a tofu noodle stir fry...either broccoli or spinach as the veg.
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carolehalston, your “introductions” made me smile. I will be making similar inquiries of my pantry and fridge for inspiration and introductions. 😁
I’m thinking that leftover brisket should meet quinoa and some roasted veggies.
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ChiSandy - thank you!
illimae - hope everything went well!
I have no idea to what make anymore. My taste buds are off and nothing tastes the same, I think it's the Xeloda. You'd think I'd have lost some weight...nope! Going back through the pages to get some inspiration on different things to cook. When food tastes good I love cooking, not so much lately.
Tonight was a Caesar salad with a thin chicken breast seasoned with a bit of adobo, organo and garlic.
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Last night at Regalia we shared an app of grilled baby octopus (tender & delicious) over baby arugula, and the house Mediterranean salad. Bob had veal marsala with garlic mashed potatoes. I had braised lamb shank with grilled veggies.Treated myself to pistachio gelato for dessert--it was worth the carbs.
Today for lunch (after returning from the MO and Subaru dealership) I fried a "Happy Eggs" blue-shelled/deep-orange-yolk egg in olive oil, with the remaining salad that Bob put back into the fridge (along with the bones from the last of the tandoori chicken which was his wee-hours snack)--used the green raita dressing that came with it. Had my Talmudically-mandated small chunk of bran matzo to help with the yolk.
Tonight was surf & turf. The "turf" was the other half of last night's lamb shank and the remaining palak paneer. Started with a small Caprese (Buf brand fresh mozz) over arugula. The "surf" was Pacific striped bass in foil with olive oil, green peppers, and fresh herbs--cooked the packet on the grill. Also marinated large asparagus spears in olive oil & balsamic before grilling them too. Topped the fish at the table with mango-habanero salsa.
Can't grill tomorrow night--gonna storm again. Warm & dry Sat.....till showers begin at (of course) dinner time. Will rain all day Sun. till about 9pm--then the temps will plunge into the 40s for highs but (fingers crossed) dry on Mon, Tues. & Wed. (according to one local forecaster). Other forecasters predict alternating mild rain and cold dry days clear up into May. My deck's been sanded--hope it doesn't rot before we can have the two dry days in a row to stain & seal it.
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Illimae, love the Illi Oakley! So, this is a competition that DH is in? What's he cooking?
Carol, I too like your "introductions" of the food. Did you pick that up somewhere, or coin it yourself??
Serendipity, I took Xeloda for 5 years, never affected my taste. But then again, SE's are different for everyone.
Speaking of quinoa, I can't seem to find a good way to use it, other than using it for a filler for certain things/sauces. It's doesn't really have a taste to me, just takes on the flavor of whatever it's cooking with. My brother and kids came to visit me shortly after my DH passed. On the way home they wanted to stop for groceries. I didn't go in, and told them not to get much, cuz I have EVERYTHING. They spent over $100, and probably 80 of that was stuff I had! Quinoa being one of them. So I am over loaded with the stuff. And I hate to throw it out.
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No cooking yesterday since a friend brought me a huge broccoli salad from Chicken Salad Chick. Boy those are delicious. Time to get serious with fresh asparagus, zucchini, tomatoes & spinach before they turn. And what I really want is a pizza... Sigh.
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minustwo - pizza sounds so good right now!
goldie0827 - I feel like such a wimp, Xeloda has really kicked my butt.
I think tonight's dinner is going to be a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios as I really don't have the energy to cook.
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Can't remember who posted the artichoke & orzo recipe and this site is too slow to go back & look - but THANKS. I used Jarlsberg instead of Parm because that's what I had. Nice consistency & a mellow combination. I would likely add garlic next time to make it a bit more 'authoritative'.
Special - so I sauteed the zucchini & onions & garlic & tossed in a couple of tomatoes. Then what did your Mom do? I put the mixture in a pyrex dish & topped with Panko and then shredded cheese. Again - Jarlsberg because I was trying to use up the last of the HUGE old Costco piece. I'll bake it long enough this weekend to warm & melt the cheese.
I'm trying to use up fresh veggies today. I also I made a potato salad w/celery, onions, hard boiled eggs, dill, and mayo & sour cream. I'm not a fan of mustard potato salad. And I sliced English cucumbers & sweet onions, added dill & sour cream and that's marinating. And I parboiled a couple of the bigger potatoes to bake Hasselback Potatoes later this week with butter & rosemary.
Off topic - I HATE my new hearing aids. They won't even stay in my ears of I yawn or swallow. If I pee it sounds like Niagra Falls and the A/C sounds like I'm next to a jet engine on the runway. Frustrating tears earlier today before I yanked them out. I'll try again tomorrow.
Edited because I forgot to add the large bowl of guacamole I made..
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goldie0827, I use quinoa in recipes that call for rice. It’s versatile and healthy. Last night I sautéed some leeks in olive oil and then added my cooked quinoa with fresh lemon zest and juice. Simple and very satisfying. I also made a salad and Barramundi fillets with a dusting of turmeric, coriander and cumin.
minustwo, your zucchini bake sounds delicious. The combination of Panko and cheese makes everything better!
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Minus, you created your own buffet with all that food!
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Leftovers last night; it was a long day, taking DH to a pain clinic in Silverdale....and we get to go back for his cortisone shot, which sounds super-scary when you're anywhere near the spine. Interestingly, his pain is from stenosis and a bulging disk and not his cancer.
Tonight, I will broil up some portobello mushrooms, fill them with prosciutto and melt cheese over it. Add a side of broccoli.
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Goldie, the guys weren't prepared to camp out at the rendezvous this time, so we're just here for the afternoon and not cooking.
I use quinoa as a side like rice, often adding some seasoning and garlic and really like it with roasted pork tenderloin. I've used it in bowls too with chickpeas, red onion, cucumber.
Dinner tonight will be easy RV food, a rotisserie chicken and a bag of Cesar salad.
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Illimae, oh how f un! Are you tenting it? Keep the pictures coming, and let us know "what's cookin"!
Have fun!
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Illi, when I was in law school my best buddy & I would go out to the dump at Brown's Point just north of Tacoma and shoot pellet guns and .357 Magnums. (Even loaded my own bullets back then). We 'killed" discarded refrigerators, cardboard wardrobe cartons, and cereal boxes. (Don't wanna boast, but Tony the Tiger is singing soprano now). My nickname was "Dirty Harriet." Fast-forward 25 years--we were at a resort in Goodyear (outside Phoenix) for a pacemaker-review course. In the afternoon, we all piled into Jeeps for a tour of the Sonoran desert, led by an Italian spaghetti-western extra. Part of the tour was a shooting lesson: he had set up pyramids of soda-pop cans atop rocks. I watched person after person miss consistently, because they were shooting one-handed and aiming at the centers of the cans. I remembered my law school experience, took a three-point stance, and aimed the sights at the bottom of the cans. I went 3-for-3. "Any questions?" I asked. Gordy looked at me and whispered "I'll keep my room clean, Mom, I promise."
Bob walked to Beard & Belly and brought back quiche and salad. (I discarded the crust--I am back on near-keto, to get my glucose down and slam the brakes on, if not actually reverse, the weight re-gain. New Orleans & then Passover took their toll).
So today was nice and warm (albeit very windy--this is Chicago, where unseasonable warmth always comes at a price). We decided it was a great evening to drive north to Winnetka and try Avli, which came highly recommended by keywestfan. Lovely drive, but had to park 2 blocks away.
We ordered a large Greek salad to share, flaming saganaki appetizer, shared entrees of grilled branzino (dandelion greens as a side) and beef skewers with Greek rice as the side, per the menu. Bitterly disappointed with the service--took 20 minutes for the wine (Greek sparkling rose) to arrive. (Bob reports the bread was great, but I couldn't avail myself of it so I was getting rather hangry). Waiter then returned after another 15 minutes and took our order...and 30 min. later, ALL the dishes arrived SIMULTANEOUSLY!
The salad was nothing to write home about (just barely dressed tomato wedges, half-discs of cucumber, a few red onion slices, three little cubes--!!!--of feta and a few olives). We had to ask for actual dinner plates, as they apparently expected us to use our little bread plates for everything. We decided to eat in the sequence we'd ordered, so the waiter flamed our saganaki so we could at least eat it while it was still hot. He fileted the branzino but left several large bones and took away the skin (the best part of a grilled fish, IMHO). Both the fish & the dandelion greens were completely bland--desperately needed lemon & olive oil (and of course salt). The beef skewers came not with the promised rice (for Bob) but steamed spinach. The spinach was also bland, the beef was a bit over-salted as well as dry & tough (couldn't slide the chunks off the skewers and by then, ice-cold). Bob doesn't like to make a fuss, and we had waited quite long for our food, so I kept my frustration to myself. (I passive-aggressively told Bob that under the circumstances, figuring out the tip was his job, not mine, tonight).
The place was packed, because tonight was the first true patio-friendly weather of the season (we ate indoors because our reservation option on Tock didn't include a choice of indoor or patio)--but IMHO restaurants have no business booking more tables than they have staff (front of house or kitchen) to competently handle them. Our waiter was obviously inexperienced--a good waiter wouldn't have put all the dishes in on a single ticket without specifying appetizer vs. entree. He also took Bob's order for a red wine to go with the beef...and promptly forgot. (We had to remind him 15 minutes later, and at least he comped us the glass), If we go back to an Avli it'll be either the one in River North or at Millennium Park. Ever since emerging from the pandemic, the North Shore seems to have lost much if not most of its fine dining options, so Avli doesn't have much competition for butts-in-seats.
Next time we want Greek, we'll either go back to Barbi Yianni in Lincoln Square (and hope we can park nearby, as spaces are limited), revisit Grecian Psisteria in Lincolnwood (they have a valet) or a reopened (under new management) place in (what's left of) Greektown, Athena. There's always Greek Islands, but that's sort of a cliche (although now that the tourists have deserted Greektown it's no longer hokey). Our fave, Santorini, closed down just before the pandemic and the building was finally razed this past Feb. Parthenon (both Greektown & Devon Ave), Diana's Opaa, Pegasus, Roditys, and (further north) Papagus...all gone. (Is there even a Greek community in the neighborhood any more? A bit far for UIC students to walk; and it looks like it's gentrifying--at least from all the new rental bldgs., supermarkets, clinics & dispensaries--like crazy now that the S. Loop and W. Loop/Fulton Mkt/ River North have become even less affordable than they were pre-pandemic).
Tomorrow morning, matzo brei for Bob and keto French toast (same egg batter) for me. Dinner at Fogo de Chao--Bob loves the place, I can stay keto but can never eat my money's worth at these all-you-can-eat churrascarias.
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Minus, sorry about the hearing aids, but I was laughing over "Niagra Falls"!
Sandy, cute story there Dirty Harriet! And a great comment to top it off. Funny about Gordy promising to keep his room clean.
I bought some chicken thighs and made 3 of them in wine/garlic sauce. I also made some potato soup, to use up some of the potatoes and milk I had. Milk expriring tomorrow and Monday I leave to have treatment in Phoenix and fly out Tuesday to MI.
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Goldie, my tent camping days are long gone, I’m RV only now, I need the comfort of the bed and convenience of the toilet.
Sandy, great story, way to go dirty Harriet.
We’re heading back to Houston today to finish clearing out, dinner with be whatever sounds goods on the road.
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I found a recipe for chicken thighs in curry sauce and made it for dinner last night. It included broccoli and cauliflower, pre-steamed and added at the last minute. The side was a tossed salad with spring mix and goat cheese. This recipe is probably not a keeper. DH made complimentary remarks but he may have been appreciative of my efforts. I have been trying to include curry in our meals because he says he likes curry. My inclination is always lemon and garlic with chicken.
Tonight's dinner will probably be a leftovers buffet.
Sandy, you may have missed your calling as a restaurant critic. I always envy your many choices of take out and delivery.
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