So...whats for dinner?
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Our cost for the solar panels was $5000. The remainder was covered by the state incentive and the federal tax write off. Always the skeptic, I wasn't in favor. Always open to innovation, dh persuaded me. He checks the operation of the panels with an app on his phone. Recently he contacted the installation company Sunpro that one panel wasn't working. They went to our house to repair it and it is now back in operation. I had suspected Sunpro was a "fly by night" company. That was not the case.
The panels are on the south side of the house, visible from the street. Our house was built in the 70's and doesn't compare to the million dollar plus homes in a nearby subdivision. We updated the interior when we bought the house 35 years ago.
DH also checks the temperature in the house to make sure the a/c is working. I'm always careful to change the battery in the thermostat before we depart, a lesson learned when we came home to an un-air-conditioned house one October.
On topic, we had pasta last night. I used the bag of fettucini in the freezer and a jar of Paul Newman's garlic marinara and a package of sweet Italian sausage. The combination was delicious. So was the tossed salad. Rao's has become so popular that Walmart's didn't have any on the shelf that day I bought the Newman's.
Tonight's dinner is a blank.
Wally, I admire your variety of meals.
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goldie - wow! I admire your adventurous spirit! Living where you do, and how you do, is awesome! What is in your goulash? My MIL made a dish called Mulligan Stew - which was not a typical Irish stew recipe, not sure why she called it that - it was actually hamburger goulash. It is delish and had ground beef, large macaroni, green pepper, onion, tomato sauce/paste, canned tomatoes, herbs/spices.
eric - sounds like something a non-sober young Marine would say.... I have had that same type of feeling - totally sober and on my way to work in broad daylight - I was hit by a deer! I didn't hit the deer, it hit me! She ran out of the woods and straight into the back passenger side door, rolled off, fell down, jumped up, and ran back into the woods. I was like what just happened? It was a strange way to start the day!
carole - I like Newman's - it is often one of the lower sugar marinara sauces on the shelf. I like the flavor of Rao's but I find it is bit oily, while Newman's is less so. I usually have both in my pantry.
minus - When I grocery shop I buy what is on the list - which is predominantly the things I am out of and usually have - and then I wander around looking for new items, inspiration, or what is on sale. Often either rib eye or NY strip is on special so I grab some for the freezer. If I remember correctly, my store had standing rib roast on a fantastic sale at Easter - which I thought was odd as Easter seems like a ham or lamb situaton. Probably why it was on sale, right? I bought a large one and cut it into steaks and put them in the freezer wrapped in packages of two each - was far more economical than buying the steaks cut, but we have eaten our way through them as of now. For some reason I have a lot of ground beef in the freezer at the moment. I should make the above-mentioned Mulligan goulash thing.
So...I still have not made the pork tenderloin, lol! It will be a definite for tonight! with oven roasted sweet potato chunks and creamed spinach. We are going to CO in late Sept and I was looking for recipes for things to make in an Airbnb with few ingredients - or ingredients you can use up completely. I had recently come across a recipe for Swedish meatballs made with frozen meatballs and pantry ingredients. Decided to try it last night since I had all the stuff - frozen turkey meatballs, a little carton of stock, a can of cream of chicken soup, a pkg of Lipton onion soup mix, baby bella mushrooms sauteed with a little onion - this cooks on low for 4-6 hours in the crockpot (yay for not heating up the house!) then add some sour cream and parsley and heat through. I steamed some broccoli and already had some cooked brown rice. It was yummy, so maybe we will use this recipe on the trip. I like the set it and forget it aspect too - we can go off and do something fun and the dinner will be ready when we get back!
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Carole, thank you for the compliment. I have always liked "ethnic" food (in quotes because it is only ethnic in america, LOL) and when I practiced dietetics, I always studied up on different foods/ingredients so anything a patient was interested in, I could speak intelligently to. I also watch(ed) a BUTT-load of TV cooking shows. I'm fortunate DH is willing to try anything (not so very early in the marriage) so I feel less stressed about a ruined meal here or there.
Special, your Airbnb cooking plan reminds me of when we motorcycled across the country and never knew where we'd end up, so making meals in the motel room or campgrounds became a sort of game for me. Thank god for microwaves, LOL. There's also a cookbook solely for microwave cooking but it sounds like you will have access to a real house-setting.
Leftover Indian tonight. I may toss in a cup of green peas to last night's mix just to make it a little different.
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I'm heading to Phoenix in a few, and not taking my computer. My brother is coming in from MI tomorrow for a week.
SpecialK, it's basically hamburger, pasta, veggies, tomato sauce. Many dif. variations you can do. Basically what you said.
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Wow. Huge thunderstorm. The weather radar color code shows we are in the "purple" area. Purple is the heaviest rain. In 15 minutes we've had 0.58 inches of rain.
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WOW, Eric! It definitely is "desert monsoon season:" watching footage of rain coming in through the casino ceilings at Caesar's & Planet Hollywood, and the Strip looking like a river, with cars floating. Guess we'll hold off visiting our timeshare till Nov.
Embarrassed to say it, but we've had perfect weather here by the lakefront--highs in the 70s, lows near 60. Maybe some sprinkles overnight tonight (have had to water the plants & lawn) and a shower or two tomorrow. Beginning to see a bumper crop of tomatoes--ripening as fast as we can possibly use them.
Last night I made 3 courses for dinner. Appetizer (no recipe, seat-of-the-pants) was bay scallops in a saffron beurre blanc finished with cream. Salad was homegrown tomatoes & basil over arugula (no mozzarella, as we had protein galore). Entree was reheated NY strip, garlic green beans & Brussels sprouts. I nuked an ear of bicolor corn and ate the end 2" of it, giving the rest to Bob.
This afternoon for brunch, I tried Bon Appetit's recipe for Fujian scrambled eggs & tomatoes, with plenty of homegrown scallions (from the root ends I'd started in water indoors during the winter and transferred to an outdoor planter). I used House of Tsang garlic-ginger stir-fry oil and a minced clove of garlic; scrambled the eggs with coconut aminos & Chinese cooking wine (mirin would have been too sweet). Made the kitchen smell like a Chinese restaurant ( a good thing). Tonight we walked to Regalia. We shared apps of tuna carpaccio with jalapeños and crab cake in saffron cream. (Saffron 2 nights in a row--who knew)? Bob's entree was veal scallopini in green peppercorn sauce over garlic mashed potatoes. Mine was pan seared branzino with cherry tomatoes and toasted cauliflower florets Calabrese-style. Lickety Split (the corner frozen custard parlor) finally had a flavor-of-the-week Bob likes (peach), so I stole a couple of spoonfuls of that for dessert, with a sugar-free milk chocolate "mint meltaway." (It only reinforced the notion that to me if it's not dark, it doesn't register as "chocolate," just "candy").
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Boy do I miss our local WI custard stands. And YUM on fresh tomatoes and raw tuna. Drool. I read an interesting article on glycemic index a year or so back, when I was super low-carbing. One study pointed to a woman who followed low carb to the letter but could not lose weight or get into ketosis. It turned out that tomatoes, of all things, which are considered low carb, spiked her insulin/sugars through the roof. Mystery solved in her case. I wonder how many of us have a food that doesn't play by the rules inside our bodies.
We have also had guiltily-good weather; a little something for everyone. No 90s this year (so far! it is still august!!) and only 4 or so days in the 82s. Seattle, on the other hand, may hit 90 again next week. That will break their record for 90s in a year.
And we had the mother of all thunderstorms last week. Almost like a real mid-west summer storm. Lightening, thunder, pouring rain. So rare out here. Lightening did not help the dry, dry areas at all. It only lasted 1/2 hour, but what a memory-trigger. I hope all those in the monsoon areas will be safe.
I have boneless skinless chicken thighs and all this talk of Chinese food has made me decide to make 3-cup-chicken. Easy and quick. I'll probably serve it with sweet potato, instead of rice, and cauliflower.
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Wally - had to look up 3-cup chicken. It does sound easy. Goldie - hope you are having a great time with your brother. Think I'll mix up ingredients from two creamy orzo recipes to use leftover sauteed asparagus and fresh sauteed mushrooms.
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minus - looks like rain coming your way, right? Creamy orzo with assorted veggies sounds like a good storm riding out dish. DH is over at DD's house putting up a new side of the fence (with her beau helping - yay that I don't have to!) that blew down mid-week, last week, in a storm here. It was the only part of the whole fence not replaced since we bought that house and it was pretty dilapidated. We had planned to replace it when the weather cooled off, but mother nature handled the demo for us. Fortunately the chickens had enough sense to stay in the yard but DD saw this happen on the security camera and was worried all the way home from work that she would have to try to find them, but they were all there. She has some new young chickens that haven't spent much time outside of the coop, so they did a good job!
Tonight is finally the pork tenderloin and sweet potatoes, which I didn't thaw until today, and creamed spinach - DH brought his lunch home yesterday and ate it for dinner and I had a salad.
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Tonight was stuffed pork loin, mashed potatoes, roasted carrots and a fruit salad with strawberries, white nectarines and fresh, sweet pineapple. I made the stuffing with panko, carmelized onions, garlic, cumin, coriander, fresh thyme and parsley, and pistachios. I made a sauce with cranberries and orange peel since the pork was a little over cooked, but the stuffing was good. Tomorrow will be Barramundi with Za'Atar and a chickpea salad.
Yesterday I made Taqueria Pork Bowls with Corn Esquites, Sour Cream and Cilantro. It’s a HelloFresh meal, which we don’t get often, but it’s a nice change a pace to try something new since we don’t go out to eat as much now. I had never had corn like that with rice and pork, and I wasn’t sure we would like it. The mayo-lime sauce on the browned/slightly charred corn was surprisingly good.
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Sorry, but it's bad enough I have to give up sugar and starch and restrict the "window" of time I can eat. When I hear stuff like "if you're plateauing, give up tomatoes (red bell peppers, broccoli, etc.)" that the Hellers (who wrote those infamous late-'90s Carb Addicts Diet books) sanctimoniously advised, I wanna scream. Enough with feeling like Cinderalla terrified of her coach turning into a pumpkin come midnight. I am tempted to just say the hell with it and eat "intuitively:" what I want within reason and not eating when I'm not hungry. This business of "my 8-hour window is closing, so I'd better get that last bite in before it's too late" is beyond infuriating. (And Dr. Stephen Gundry, with his cockamamie demonization of "lectins," is at the head of my s**t list).
I just read an article in the "The Receipt" food-spending column in online version of Bon Appetit on how a 27-year-old in DC can dine out every night (not to mention trendy cocktail-bar-hopping) on a mere $225K a year (her job was very vaguely described but didn't seem to involve much actual work unless she left out a lot of details).. She doesn't cook, because she grew up with her parents serving pasta most nights. Poor baby--resorting to having her parents pay for her cellphone on their family plan and her friends including her in their family streaming plans so she can pay for her exclusive private club membership and $3100/mo. mortgage. (She has no student loan debt because her folks paid her tuition). Most of the places she & her boyfriend dine are upscale and some even Michelin-starred. Her average weekly dinner tab is >$600-700 (some meals >$400) but her groceries about $35 (mostly massive quantities of berries for snacking from farmers' markets plus $16/lb. coffee beans). She orders five entrees at a time and never brings home leftovers--the only leftovers she eats are from expensive pastries she buys during the day. She uses a $1300 Breville espresso machine with all the bells & whistles to make just Americanos (espresso plus hot water). And I thought our eating & spending habits are extravagant! But for her thrice-weekly early morning squash games, she'd be well on her way to "diabesity." After all those cocktail hours, I'd hate to see her liver enzymes 20 years from now. (When I was 27 we lived in a $100/mo furnished 1BR student housing apt. in Seattle--and got sticker shock when we moved here and had to pay more than twice that for just the four walls).
Didn't eat much today--two sugar-free milk chocolate candies and a handful of nuts at the close of my 8-hr "window" last night, plus more veg. than usual at brunch & dinner, had unwelcome digestive consequences, albeit temporary. Since I didn't even eat today till after 4pm (an egg and a small chunk of steak after we got home from the Immersive Monet exhibit), I was able to wait till after 9 for dinner (ordered out from Suol & Smoke for BBQ--one large sparerib, half a baked sweet potato, 1/2 c. of collard greens and a couple of cherry tomatoes; dessert was a handful of assorted berries).
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Sandy, I hear you. I gave up low carbing because I plateaued and for myself, did not think I could do it long term without giving up food groups that I know to be healthy. I think the same will happen to me with the Itermit. fasting, so I am not religious about it. I do know that the body adjusts to dramatic calorie reductions by slowing the metabolism down, thinking famine is about to befall it; I try to mix it up when fast...but even then, I know my plateau will happen. I'm unwilling to give up quality of life for the scale unless I were morbidly obese and even then, only of my labs were bad. The pic you posted here of you at your son's wedding, you looked great, if that means anything coming from a stranger, LOL.
I fear my body has reached its set-point and I have to try reeeeally hard. I keep thinking my thyroid is on the fritz (everyone in my family had hypothyroid) but no...I got cancer instead and so far, a good thyroid, LOL.
Yikes on the story of that gal you read about. I grew up poor. Numbers like that still send shivers that there are people fortunate enough to be able to do that sort of life-style. I still buy on sale and clip coupons.
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Special - no rain today. Unlikely tonight at 20%. Maybe tomorrow at 40% - but still unlikely. Sigh. Really good luck that the chickens "didn't cross the road". Love both you & Cyathea cooking pork.
The creamy orzo: cooked in chicken broth & heavy cream with garlic & mushrooms & asparagus - and then shrimp on the top. Even with my notation from last time I made it with spinach to add more garlic, it was pretty bland. Looks like orzo isn't fated to be my favorite pasta - or even a go to pasta.
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A campground potluck dinner last night was Italian. Lasagna and an alfredo dish made with penne were the two main offerings. I took a large romaine salad I called Caesar salad. Everything tasted good and the gathering around a campfire was pleasant. We were the oldest ones there and the first to depart at 9 pm.
Friday night was a ribeye and tossed salad with favorite components.
I need to focus on losing weight. Again. I just cancelled my online WW subscription. Just paying the monthly fee didn't net me one lost lb. LOL.
Tonight may be frozen pizza. We plan to bicycle a part of the Heartland Trail today. That should tire us out.
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Dinner last night was home made chicken soup made by our hosts. Sharon and I went to Flagstaff, AZ so Sharon could jam (music) with the folks she used to play with on a twice weekly basis.
After everyone had their fill of soup, the leftovers went to Frankie (our dog). At first he wasn't sure of it, but after one "slurp" he enthusiastically devoured the remaining soup. :-)
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Left over 3-cup chicken. YUM!
Tomorrow, tuna steaks. DH wants his cooked (really?); I'm making Poke with mine. Blue potato chips and avocado sides. There's leftover brussel's sprouts if he wants more veg. (potato chips are my heroin. I'm very happy there is only one small bag. And I have to share it. It is pathetic how much I am looking forward to them.)
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Here goes a repeat of a post that disappeared into lost posts dimension. Last night's dinner wasn't pizza. I thawed three fresh brats, 2 cheddar and 1 cheddar and jalapeno. I simmered them in beer and then browned them in the skillet when the liquid was gone. Side was a delicious composed salad of tomato, cucumber, avocado, blue cheese and sweet onion on dh's.
Tonight is meatloaf Monday at Clancy's. I'm looking forward to another grilled cheese brisket sandwich unless I change my mind and have broasted chicken.
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Carole, your composed salad sounds delicious! I adore blue cheese! And DROOL on brisket.
I cannot believe how much I loved our dinner tonight. Tomorrow will be a Caprese salad. We stopped at the farmers' market on Sunday and bought tomatoes (ouch$$$) and hope they are good (also basil).
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I learned "composed salad" from Susan. The brisket sandwich tasted good last night and dh enjoyed his meatloaf dinner.
Tonight will be baby back ribs. I plan to tenderize them in the slow cooker.
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Carole - nice to hear mention of Susan. I miss her. She taught us so many things. Fresh cinnamon rolls every morning!!! I was privileged to meet her on a trip to Boston - along with Lacey, who I really must email.
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I miss Susan too--every time I read of bed & breakfasts, I think of her.
Sun. night I gathered & reheated leftovers: ribs, steak, branzino, mac & cheese, collard greens; I also made a cherry-tomato Caprese over arugula. Our tomatoes are ripening faster than we can use them--except for one green one that fell off into my hand when picking a red one; will likely wait another week and if it stays green then slice & dip it in beaten egg and almond flour and pan-fry it with a little remoulade on top.
Last night I had a small Chilean sea bass filet I had to use up, so I jury-rigged a little pan out of tinfoil and grapeseed-oiled it. S&P on the "pan" and atop the fish, baked on the gas grill along with grilled eggplant slices (S&P, EVOO and herbes de Provence) and blistered shishito peppers. Dessert was nuts & berries, with a square of 78% dark chocolate (no artificial sweeteners so no unwanted consequences). Tonight if Bob is working late again I will either nuke chicken wings or grill a hot dog or brat with sauerkraut on a keto bun. Because I had a 1pm ocular onc appt. (all is well) and stopped eating at 11 pm last night (had brunch at 3 yesterday), I didn't eat today till I got home at 4pm: low-carb "everything" bagel with cream cheese, lox, tomato, red onion, dill & capers. Since we're going to a special 1pm lunch tomorrow (which, because it's a set French menu, will involve cheating), I have to be done eating tonight by 9-ish, unless I don't mind having a fast tomorrow of only 13-14 hrs. or so.
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I'm fast...at eating.
I miss Susan, and Apple and LuvRvn.....
We made another "get stuff" trip yesterday and drove home today. Most of what was brought up belongs to MIL, so she's getting close to being up here.
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Eric - is your MIL going to live with you? Or in a separate house/apartment?
Dinner was leftover creamy orzo/asparagus/mushrooms - with extra sauteed mushrooms to use them up. And for "afters" - Godiva chocolate pudding made with heavy cream & Tia Maria added to the milk. Yum!!!
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Dinner dinner tonight was called "Navy Chicken " probably because it was so simple (chicken, BBQ sauce and onion soup mix - I used a natural one) cover tight and bake for an hour. Along with corn on the cob, tomatoes and potatoes, it was pretty good.
Since starting a new weight loss effort ("Noom") the meal fit in well today since I had a lot of vegetables and fruit earlier. The carbs and protein hit the spot.
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I've made chicken that way, Reader and it has always turned out well. The dutch oven is perfect for this.
We converted what would have been the garage into a MIL suite. It turned out very well.
And, to make up for the lack of a garage, we are having a detached built--one large enough for the truck/cars/hobbies. The concrete work is done, so now it's just waiting until the concrete hardens enough before continuing.
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I'm cooking up a pot of pinto beans in a sofrito seasoning (carrots, celery, red onion and fennel) and will "poach" eggs into the mix when it is cooked through. A bean shakshuka, of sorts.
Editing to add...ACK ...we're having another (for us) heat wave...84. October, anybody?
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I’m in a chicken and fish “rut”. Monday was chicken cutlet with apricot, lemon and sumac with roast veggies and Bulgar wheat. Yesterday was Barramundi with roasted and stuffed mushrooms. I stuffed the mushrooms with quinoa, carmelized onion, garlic, mushroom, toasted Panko, thyme and parsley (I made too much toasted Panko when I stuffed the pork loin.). Today we had Branzino with a lime, parsley and grilled pineapple sauce with leftover mushrooms and quinoa. I made a Caprese salad since we need to eat the tomatoes before they go bad.
For dessert, we split a Heavenfull stroopwaffle ice cream sandwich that DH picked up at Costco yesterday. OMG is that good!
reader425, I hope Noom is helpful for you. I also use the app and am focused on maintenance and health after losing 34 pounds. I could lose more weight but I’m no longer trying to speed up the process, so I still enjoy eating snacks and dessert. I’m not thin but I fit into all my clothes that I wore before I was diagnosed, so that’s a win. 🙂. I refuse to give up butter and cheese, but I do watch my portion sizes carefully.
I started a new medication yesterday and my throat feels a little better. I’m not having the headaches that I had with the Diflucan, but I’m still struggling to feel healthy. Cancer treatment is such a long process
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Today was the "Monet & Rosé" wine pairing luncheon on the patio at Mon Ami Gabi. It started at 1pm, and I hadn't had anything but meds & water since 10pm last night, so perhaps the aperitif cocktail (a sparkling rosé "martini" with a blob of lemongrass sorbet as a stirrer) on an empty stomach was not the wisest idea. The food was rather light, so three more 3-oz. pours of different rosês were even less "wise."
First course (after a quite welcome bit of sourdough baguette) was cold cucumber vichyssoise with cucumber rounds, leaves & edible flowers in the style of Monet's lily pond at Giverny. Next were seared sea scallops with slices of assorted stone fruits & melons. Dessert was three large cream-filled macarons topped with pastel sugar in the colors of Monet's palette. Definite carb-cheat day, with an impending carb-coma--I had to fight the urge to sleep (as I'd already had 9 hrs overnight). For dinner (much, much later), I made a small BLT on wholegrain hi-fiber toast with ripe tomato and half a rapidly-ripening avocado. I realized that part of what I was feeling (besides the day-drinking) was also reactive hypoglycemia. So I've decided that largely shunning sugar & starch is what my body's gotten used to; and I have no desire to day-drink like that again. (Perhaps that's why so many heavy drinkers also get hypoglycemic).
The luncheon was meant to be a salute to the Immersive Monet & the Impressionists exhibit; but the producer sent a local representative instead who didn't do much talking,
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Last night's dinner was chicken thighs cooked in the slow cooker with salsa and black beans, a version of Laurie's chicken salsa. Brown rice out of the freezer, a bit "gummy." Fresh beans, green and yellow, cooked with new potatoes. Condiments: grated cheese and sour cream.
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Hot dogs and potato salad tonight. And, I just took the sourdough from the oven.
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