So...whats for dinner?
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Eric, I love their organic blue chips but their corn tortillas are not 100% corn; they have additives. I don't know if the gums they add cause the easier dissolving of them when they get wet.
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Sort of threw together some udon noodles, canned shredded pork (costco), my tried-true "better than take-out" sauce, which is basically 2-3 ingredients. Tweaked a few things,2 garlic cloves, tossed in 1/2 bag of slaw mix, toasted sesame oil and called it dinner. SO good. I can still smell the garlic and it makes me hungry.
Long day tomorrow (DH's zoom call and the medigap angst/bank trip) so we may do a frozen 'za.
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I'm not sure what the "under 2%" for additives means. Is it all combined are under 2%, in which case it isn't too bad, or each one, individually, is under 2%, which is more of an issue.
We were at the grocery store today and I almost bought a 5lb bag of masa harina to make some tortillas (again), but didn't because I couldn't find my tortilla press. I think it's still in storage. :-(
It is possible to make them without the press, but it is *FAR* easier and very much faster with the press. I found them to be quite flexible and sturdy.
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I brought up the stuff in MIL's refrigerator and in there was some Polish sausage that was "near the end of life", so I cooked that tonight with some white and sweet potatoes, onion, basil, garlic,salt and pepper.
Sharon cooked some brussels sprouts in the air fryer.
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Hello all! Have been away from BCO for quite awhile due to the many issues logging in, etc. Finally read through posts and caught up. As usual, some wonderful cooking/dining out going on.
Yesterday, had a tuna melt made with havarti w/dill. Agree with several others in re: havarti being delish. Today, I polished off leftovers of a concoction made with Trader Joe's butternut squash gnocchi in brown butter sage sauce, cooked chicken breast, lots of mixed shrooms and haricots verts. Additional veg - roasted brussels sprouts.
Sometime this week, hubs and I will collaborate on a shrimp curry using Wild Caught Argentinian Shrimp (Trader Joe's), Rogan Josh curry sauce, basmati rice (sparingly used), lots of vegs (cauliflower, carrots, haricots verts, baby peas). Looking forward to it.
Will be attending the local Cancer Support Community's cooking class by a professional chef next Saturday - Non-traditional Thanksgiving Sides, so hope to get some inspiring recipes for the upcoming "feast".
Positive thoughts to everyone, and also good eats!
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Hello all! Have been away from BCO for quite awhile due to the many issues logging in, etc. Finally read through posts and caught up. As usual, some wonderful cooking/dining out going on.
Yesterday, had a tuna melt made with havarti w/dill. Agree with several others in re: havarti being delish. Today, I polished off leftovers of a concoction made with Trader Joe's butternut squash gnocchi in brown butter sage sauce, cooked chicken breast, lots of mixed shrooms and haricots verts. Additional veg - roasted brussels sprouts.
Sometime this week, hubs and I will collaborate on a shrimp curry using Wild Caught Argentinian Shrimp (Trader Joe's), Rogan Josh curry sauce, basmati rice (sparingly used), lots of vegs (cauliflower, carrots, haricots verts, baby peas). Looking forward to it.
Will be attending the local Cancer Support Community's cooking class by a professional chef next Saturday - Non-traditional Thanksgiving Sides, so hope to get some inspiring recipes for the upcoming "feast".
Positive thoughts to everyone, and also good eats!
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eric - I think Mission is a national brand - I had them in California, and we have them here in every grocery store in FL. We have La Banderita, which has some preservative and xantham gum - like you discovered the 2% conundrum. We also have a corn and wheat artisanal type one which actually has more extra stuff in them. I have been using GF almond flour tortillas from Trader Joe's with success. I don't need to dip them into the sauce before rolling, but I do nuke them ever so gently in the microwave to soften, then quickly roll.
Dinner tonight was a pork butt in the oven all day - on brioche rolls with hot sauce, spicy BBQ sauce, and cole slaw. It was a busy day so this was a perfect dinner solution, and there is a ton leftover. I made DH's lunch for tomorrow with some pulled pork over two small baked potatoes, topped with cole slaw, and drizzled with spicy BBQ sauce and ranch dressing. He is pretty excited about it. I went and picked up a new rug for the living room so we were hauling large rugs and furniture around. We have been searching for a new coffee table for the family room and it occurred to me that we could use an antique working table we have had for 35 years that was just idling in the study. We cut the legs off (probably an unpardonable sin...) and I used some dark wax and spruced up the stain on top - it is now perfect for the spot. Super happy about this solution. In other home improvement news - definitely not replacing the floors, too expensive, other than for the bedroom. Will look at a service that has dustless sanding and fast drying stain that is local here.
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We get Mission here too. I use their low-carb tortillas (3gm net small. 4gm large). Mr. Tortilla makes very small ones that are 1gm. net--sort of snack size (2 of them plus a slice of cheese make a "guilty pleasure" quesadilla).
Saturday night Bob was working late, so I heated up some "Soul Vegan" brand non-breaded eggplant parm that I got at WF. I did put tomato slices and Penzey's "Tuscan Sunset" herb blend atop it and heated it. Then I put about an ounce of whole-milk block mozzarella atop that and gave it 10 seconds to melt. Accompanied it with broccolini sauteed with lemon, EVOO, garlic & red pepper flakes.
Last night Bob wanted "a hunk of meat" but I didn't feel like grilling (or setting off the smoke alarm indoors), so we went out to The Barn in Evanston. Bob started with a Little Gem "wedge" salad (the usual wedge fixings but over those baby romaine leaves. My app was the "Grand Central caviar sandwich:" Mississippi bowfin roe and egg salad. I had it open-face so I could scrape it off the slices of white bread. Shared a dry-aged bone-in ribeye (Bob ate the mashed spuds), creamed Swiss chard and roasted Brussels sprouts. Dessert was a cheese plate to go with the leftover wine in our glasses.
Not sure about tonight. Might just have last night's leftovers and put the steak I'd planned to grill back into the freezer.
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I'm glad Mission Foods is a nationwide brand. They have a "manufacturing plant" 1 block from where I worked at Verizon and when they were making corn chips the whole area smelled like fresh corn chips....wow...it was great!
We were in town today to drop off a bunch of MIL's :"not needed stuff" (filled the entire back of the long bed pickup truck) to the senior center thrift store, so we ate a late lunch at a restaurant down the street from the thrift store. If we do eat dinner, it will be small and later in the evening.
Patrons in the thrift store were buying MIL's stuff as the staff was pulling it from boxes so they could inventory everything. This pleased me as we had gone through everything to make sure we didn't saddle them with junk.
Special, that has to feel good to be able to repurpose the old table. I've also been noticing the "are you kidding me???!!!" prices at the home improvement store and I'm sure the flooring is just as bad. The sanding and refinishing should make for some nice looking floors. I wonder how they manage to be dustless.
When I'm making the drive to Phoenix, I stop and get a sandwich that has Havarti cheese (I'm sitting here laughing because the auto correct tried to substitute "cathartic" for Havarti....sigh). I love Havarti.
Sandy...the broccoli with lemon. I've not tried broccoli with lemon. How much lemon...a lot, a little bit or 'some'? .0 -
Just a squeeze from a lemon wedge, Eric--about 1/4 of a lemon per 4 spears.
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Frozen burgers with leftover baked beans, and I roasted a head of cauliflower in pieces.
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Breaded pork chops, cauliflower mash and sauteed baby bella mushrooms.
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Thanks Sandy.....We're taking MIL to the grocery store today, with a stop at the hardware store, so we will get some broccoli and a lemon, and give it a try.
We're just unloaded the last of MIL's moving boxes. All we have left to unload are a table and chairs, and what we call "the coffin" (a large outdoor plastic storage container for garden tools that looks like a coffin).
She probably has a dozen boxes left to go before she's done. She's tired, but I think it's a good tired...her insomnia is no longer a problem. :-)
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Today I was a cooking fool. Dinner for us was a ham, cheddar, macaroni bake with three bean salad. I am taking a meal to a family from church tomorrow so I made beef barley soup for them. For both of us I made toll- house chocolate chip cookies in advance of DH birthday.
So tomorrow will be fancier - taking him out to a local family owned seafood restaurant. Small, nice atmosphere and fantastic food. I've eaten at one of their locations and now we're trying the other, closer one. Will report back.
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At a neighborhood sushi/Thai joint (Indie Cafe), apps were a shared spicy seaweed salad; shrimp siu mai for Bob and miso soup for me; and a mixed sashimi platter for me and chicken Pad Thai for Bob. Dessert, back home, was a sliver of a massive pumpkin pie Bob insisted on bringing home from Costco.
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Odds and ends that were leftover in the fridge.
Tonight, frozen pizza.
Elections have been a nail-biter. When did I start caring so much
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Mission tortillas here too. I almost always have some in the fridge. I used to get a corn/wheat combo from Trader Joe's that I really liked but I haven't seen them for a while.
Monday was our annual trip to "The Hill" (St. Louis's "Little Italy") to get my knives sharpened and enjoy all the delights there. After dropping the knives off, we went to the Italian market where I replenished my supply of cannelloni Florentine (spinach and veal) and manicotti. I also brought home Bulgarian feta, mixed olives. scamorza (an outstanding pizza cheese), dried pasta and some Volpi salami. Next stop was Vitale's Italian bakery. My usual Italian bakery choice is Missouri Baking Company but they are closed on Monday. We picked up cannoli, fresh Italian bread and some cuccidati, which were not nearly as good as Missouri Baking's but were good enough for me to eat all three of them.. By myself.
After picking up the knives, it was on to Favazza's for lunch. DH had the best pizza he's ever had and I had pasta tutto mare which while not the best I've ever had, was mighty tasty. Huge portions resulted in them being the next night's dinner as well.
Today was lunch out with two of DH's siblings and their spouses. We went to one of our favorite "divey" steakhouses that happens to have outstanding fried chicken as well as steak. In addition to three smallish pieces of chicken, my side was a baked sweet potato half drenched in butter. This place makes really good sweet potatoes that they grill and they're irresistible to a lover like me. I'm too stuffed at the moment to contemplate tonight's dinner. Sometimes I wish that there was just a dinner pill that you could take.
Tomorrow is the last of our Indian Summer as we get hit with an arctic blast that's supposed to last at least a week. I'm so not ready. Looking to make something rib-sticking like red beans and rice or gumbo.
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I found the tortilla press. But, we are heading to a Bluegrass festival tomorrow and I won't get to try it today. The only problem is that the wind is blowing so hard (50+mph) that we're afraid to put the camper up in the air high enough to get the truck under it. The wind is supposed to calm down tonight as it begins to rain, so we will likely end up putting the camper on the truck while wearing rain coats and using flashlights.
Lunch/Dinner was rice and chicken with salsa, pickled brussels sprouts and potato salad.
I took a knife sharpening class and I keep the knives *sharp*, but the teachers said it would be good to bring in the knives once a year to have the professionally sharpened. You reminded me that I need to do that as well. The only problem is the only knife sharpening place is in Phoenix (4 hours away) and it takes a couple of days to get the knives sharpened, so it's a multi day stay or a two eight hour drives.
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Eric - have fun at the Bluegrass Festival. I'll forward the 'communications' article.
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Nance, your description of your visit to the Hill made me incredibly envious.
We have Mission tortillas, too, but I'm not as pleased with them as some of you are. I bought masa yesterday and will resume making my own. I have a press and making them is very easy. I looked up the brand Wally mentioned but no store sells it in this entire area and the tortillas you can buy at the website are flour, not corn.
We had chicken cacciatore for dinner last night. First Nance mentioned having it and then my sister mentioned making it so I looked up a recipe. I tried to make just enough for dinner with four small boneless thighs and almost succeeded. Some of the sauce was left over and I will dump it. I can sense the disapproval coming from Wally and Minus but dh and I are not great at eating leftovers not adequate for another meal. I'm in the "refrigerate and later throw away" club.
We spooned the cacciatore sauce over warmed up Spanish rice. A side was roasted asparagus, which is now my favorite version of asparagus.
Tonight we plan to meet my sister and her dh for an early dinner at a casual restaurant of their choice. I'm looking forward to seeing them and to not cooking.
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LOL, I try not to toss but have also been in a situation where there simply isn't enough to make it worth figuring out a use for. I admire those that don't agonize over it, LOL.
Leftover frozen pizza. We tried the ultra thin from safeway and found it agreeable. Not too much yucky dough, which I suspect in frozen products made to last, are not the least-ingredient types of products. This was the Supreme and it was on sale for 2.50. Can't beat it.
I'm going to peruse some cookbooks for ideas for tomorrow. I'm leaning towards a mushroom risotto but we have nice big shrimp in the freezer and I'm also toying with egg foo yung, or my version of it, anyway.
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Dinner was a chicken sandwich and salad from my little hobby greenhouse. The salad was great but very small. Going to try out a countertop hydroponic unit soon since the amount of water I lugged around and used is ridiculous for the output.
Last week we were in Houston for scans and I only had 1 dinner since I had so much trouble finishing a single lunch. I had great results in body and brain, which is awesome but I’m hoping this next treatment will be kinder to me.
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Mae - GREAT news on the body & brain results.
Wally & Carole - I don't mind tossing leftovers, but living alone I've learned to make meals for 2 or 4 and freeze individual portions up front. I've frozen marinara for some time and I'm thrilled w/the result of freezing pasta before adding sauce. Thanks for that tip. My biggest problem is bananas. I love bananas - the greener the better - but even if I buy only two, at least one goes bad before I can use it.
Made it to Costco today. I buy what they call a 'shrimp cocktail' - good sized shrimp already boiled with just the tails on and it's enough for 3 meals for me. So shrimp for dinner with the residual scampi sauce served over a large portion of spaghetti. OK, OK - weird but good. Two portions of shrimp frozen. I pan roasted & steamed asparagus last night so it's ready for whatever. And I cleaned & picked the stems off a bag of spinach tonight as well as pre-cooking some rice - so fried rice tomorrow. Maybe with leftover Korean pork from the freezer?
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Mae glad for the good news!
Minus I love your meal ideas. Creative!
Carole I too am often a member of the refrigerate and throw away club. Nonetheless tonight I reheated beef barley soup I had made, pulled a half loaf of purchased pesto bread from the freezer to warm, and added a small side salad. Dh had no complaints. He typically only wants leftovers for lunches. So a success.
Thank you to all on this thread who served, remembering this Veterans day.
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So glad to hear Mae’s good news. Mae, I hope your mets remain stable for many years!
Dinner was sheet pan chicken breast with a panko topping with a little Frank’s Red Hot and grated Parmesan. I roasted new potatoes with the chicken breast andmade a side of green beans with a pat of butter and sumac.
Last night I made a variation of lemony thin spaghetti with shredded Brussels sprouts. I substituted leeks for the Brussels sprouts since they have a lower Vitamin K amount for DH. I only used one leek, but I should have used two. I sprinkle toasted panko with Parmesan over the pasta. DH had two extra servings, so I think that is a keeper.
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Good news, Mae.
DH and I met my sister and her dh for a pig out fried seafood platter dinner at Pontchartrain Poboy. It was good to spend the time with them. The popular casual restaurant is not so crowded on a Thursday night so we weren't crowded or rushed.
My BIL works for a big construction company and always knows what is being built. We learned that a Costco is in our future, finally. It will be interesting to compare it to Sam's Club. We currently use the Sam's Club pharmacy for our prescription meds.
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I agree Mae. That *is* good news.
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Illimae, fabulous news. I wish you could bottle and sell your optimism and calm.
I pan fried about $20.00 worth of maitake 'shrooms last night and had some of those as a side with the leftover 'za. The rest will be doled out in our lunch salads.
Tonight, I am making coconut cauliflower curry. Think cream of cauliflower soup on Asian steroids, LOL.
A neighbor just gave us 5 dungeness crabs, freshly caught, prepped and frozen, so I will plan at least 2 into our menu this week. Maybe I'll make potato salad to go with. No doubt not till Sunday as I'm sure there will be leftovers from tonight.
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Oh Wally - Dungeness crabs!!! The only way I can get them here is $200 for two. And unfortunately my trip to San Francisco is coming just as they extended the start date for Dungness season in the bay area from the 5th to the 15th. Wouldn't matter anyway since I come home on the 3rd. Can I justify $200?? Well it's certainly cheaper than a plane ticket & a rental car & a hotel room. But still.....
Fried rice was delicious. Brown rice with garlic, onions, water chestnuts, fresh mushrooms, fresh spinach, eggs and just a hint of soy.
Forgot to say - Costco has something on sale that I find absolutely irresistible. Snack Factory - Pretzel Crisps. Thin crunchy pretzels dipped in white creame and sprinkled with peppermint candy pieces. It's hard for me to stop eating them.
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Mae, hooray for the great results!
Yesterday I had to convince Bob not to buy 2 lbs. of frozen king crab legs on sale at Costco for "only" $80. We have no room in our freezer. (Tues. he brought home the 15" Pumpkin Pie that Ate Chicago--most of which he ended up trying to palm off on his office staff). Wed. after my facial I visited the new "Dom's Market & Kitchen" in the old Plum Market space in Old Town. Not much difference I could see, except slightly nicer produce and an expanded ready-to-eat section (incl. a "Bonci" Roman square-pizza-by-the-slice counter). Bob had a drug co. dinner at Ditka's, so I bought myself some roasted pork tenderloin & curried cauliflower to reheat--but he brought home a large boneless ribeye (medium, alas) with a the remainder of his Caesar salad, a huge baked potato & green beans. So I had about 3 oz. of the steak and some of the green beans & salad.
Last night was the finale of our 4-day Indian summer, so we walked to Chengdu Impression. It was their official Grand Opening, and we were heartened to see it still 2/3 full a bit more than an hour before closing. Still BYOB, so we brought a pre-chilled Fess Parker 2016 dry Riesling (Paso Robles AVA) and vowed to have at least one spicy dish to go with it. We started with the soup dumplings (xiao long bao), cold ginger spinach, BBQ spare ribs (next time I'll ask for my two to be sauceless) and finally the cumin lamb. At last--spicy! But we had enough sense to set the dried whole chiles aside. (The jalapeño rings were thoughtfully stripped of their ribs & seeds). It was the kind of spicy that you eat very carefully, without trying to talk until some of the fuego fades a little. The Riesling, though dry, had an acidity that went beautifully with the lamb. I'd never associated cumin with Chinese food, but it was delicious. We still have yet to try anything containing the legendary Sichuan peppercorns (simultaneously hot & numbing) but will ask our server the next time.
Tonight will be the previous two nights' leftovers (reheating the meats in the countertop oven, the veggies in the microwave, and frying the brown rice for Bob).
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