So...whats for dinner?
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WallyCat, I'll take dibs on one of those!
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Oh my Wally - I'd take the whole pan.... Delicious.
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Happy anniversary, Nancy! And happy extended birthday, Carole. As Simon & Garfunkel sang in the "lost verse" of "The Boxer" (performed only in concert), "I am older than I once was, but younger than I'll be--that's not unusual..."
Illimae, I haven't fired up my oven in years (it stores all my cast iron), ever since I got a Breville Smart Oven Air. If the pan won't fit inside, I'm not baking it.
Mon. brunch at Brennan's we had giant biscuits, crawfish quiche and eggs Sardou (a Benedict on artichoke bottoms instead of English muffins). By the time we hit the airport, we were pretty much "beigneted-out." Good thing--since Bob wasn't TSA Pre, it took him an hour to get through security and we barely made the first leg of the flight home. Ditto the last leg in Austin (cut it pretty close), though all the pre-boards bought us some time.
I hit the ground running upon my return. Tues. I had a 2pm ocular onc checkup. He'd moved to UIC's new specialty care building, which has valet parking. Had to wait 10 min. in line till the valet came for my car keys. Got my imaging (retinal photography, US of my tumor) done before 2, so I waited...and waited...and waited. Since previous appts. had taken less than an hour, start to finish. I'd expected to be back up north to pick up my Hooked on Fish order (sushi grade ahi, and grouper Tom Kha soup) by 5, when the shop closes; but by 4pm I realized it'd be impossible. (The shop owner agreed to let me pick it up Wed.. rather than donating it to a food bank). By 4:30 I was really panicking, as the valet shuts down at 6 and I'd not only be charged the overnight rate but have to grab a cab home (or to nearby Union Health if Bob was still there). I threw myself on the mercy of the nurses, and finally got seen at 4:40--the ocular onc usually has 2 residents and a fellow tailing him, but this time he only had the fellow. Didn't check out till 5:15. At least the news was good: maculas were dry & compact, no detachments, and the tumor had shrank 2/10 of a mm. Bob called at 5:30 to say he was hitting Costco (in the Medical District) and bringing home a rotisserie chicken and a giant spinach salad.
Wed. I had my monthly PT followup--only now are my muscles quieting down after the resistance work. Was supposed to have dinner with our broker...but he came down with a cold, so he had to reschedule. I picked up the fish order and made a composed Niçoise, with the Tom Kha soup as a starter. Yesterday, I had my monthly facial downtown. I teetotaled with dinner, which was more rotisserie chicken and a Caprese on Little Gem lettuce leaves. Today I stayed home as a geriatric-cat-servant.
Tonight we walked to a new (since January) neighborhood bistro--Brasserie by C&C (which used to be a mediocre semi-Mex. taco joint & bar called Cookies & Carnitas--it had cookies but no carnitas). The Trib & Chicago Mag. both raved about it. It was excellent, albeit even pricier than Regalia. It was Lent, so Bob had to stick with seafood. He had wild-fish ceviche with plantain chips (even better than housemade tortilla chips), and I had foie gras croquettes (which came with a slice of seared foie gras, not the paté). I ate two of the croquettes (potato, on a confit of blackberries & basil) and gave Bob the third. We split a house salad: mesclun, roasted butternut squash cubes, pistachios, onion, feta, Pink Lady apple slices, and a Dijon vinaigrette. His entree was seared salmon; mine was chicken cassoulet. It was quite different from the classic Gascon version we had in Jan. at Publican--a half of a small chicken instead of duck, smaller beans, a bit brothier. But the beans were perfectly crisp-tender, the sausage excellent, and there were lots of veggies and fresh herbs. (Took half home, including the chicken breast). For dessert (comped) we split a creme brulee, crust still hot from the salamander.
I'm not buying Birch Benders "0 gm sugar" frozen waffles any more. They used to be labeled "Keto" and had 7 gm. net carb per 2 waffles. Now the box says "Carb Friendly" and each waffle is 15 gm. net. Nope. If I want waffles I'll make them from keto pancake mix (or almond/coconut flour blend) on a waffle iron.
Speaking of rotisserie chicken, I gave in today and gave Heidi a few morsels of plain chicken breast--her first encounter with "people-food." I want to make sure she eats enough, since she is so quirkily finicky from meal to meal. But I have to exercise discipline and restrict it to "occasional treat" status lest she expect it all the time.
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Thanks for the food photos, Wally. Now I understand why you have leftovers!
I bought a Sam's Club rotisserie chicken yesterday because I was hungry. I ate a leg and a wing for lunch.
I had already taken out a package of steak strips for dinner, with multiple possibilities for using them. I ended up making salads on dinner plates and topping the salads with the seared steak strips.
Today the whole wheat einkorn flour is supposed to be delivered. I have one slice of bread left and will probably make another loaf of bread.
Dinner to be decided.
Today is the day before the "transition" begins. I hope all the regulars on our forum will hang in there. If nothing else it will be interesting to see if we lose the blank left side of the page.
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I had eggs Sardou at Brennans on my very first trip to New Orleans back in the 70s. Along with bananas foster. I remember it like it was yesterday. That trip, and others to follow, was the inspiration for me to learn to cook. Maybe I need to get back to get an inspiration recharge, as I certainly don’t have any these days.
Speaking of which, no idea about dinner tonight. This usually means pizza or pasta on a Saturday. Neither of those are appealing at the moment so we’ll see.
Hoping to meet again on the othe side!
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Sandy, great news on your medical stuff. I did not realize you still had a tumor in your eye. That was a surprise but glad all is well.
Carole, seeeeeeeeee, I told you we do not eat small portions!!
I'm making a frittata tonight.
I feel for anyone with finicky cats...opened 6 cans yesterday and all were rejected. I think he nibbled on some dry. So hard to watch. Never mind one of the cans he'd eaten completely in 2 trips; same flavor/brand the next day...nope. Ugh.
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A menu for tonight is taking shape. Chicken salad, using the rotisserie chicken, flavored with curry powder. I have grapes and celery and some raisins that may be too old. And fresh baked bread and butter. I also have asparagus that would be good steamed and served cold with a mayo dressing.
We could be at Brennan's in an hour or less but I've eaten there only a few times, always with visitors. Their breakfast specialties with poached eggs have always been good. I love poached eggs. The eggs benedict and eggs sardou are served in other restaurants in the area, including here on the north shore.
One of the best poached egg breakfasts I have eaten was in Alaska at a very popular restaurant. We had to wait probably an hour for a table. I had poached eggs on crab cakes made with Dungeness crab meat. There was also a rich yummy sauce. That was in Anchorage.
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Oh Carole - Dungeness crab.... Be still my heart.
As a consolation prize, I bought some Lukes wild caught frozen Maine lobster meat for a ridiculous price. Not as expensive as a flight to either coast, but now I have to figure out what to do with it. I'm not a fan of 'thermadore', but lobster mac & cheese doesn't really sound extravagant enough. Ideas?
I occasionally buy a Costco rotisserie chicken. First meal is 2 wings and maybe part of one leg eaten while I'm dismembering the bird. The huge breasts get frozen separately - sometimes even in 4 packages - and I have at least 4 more packages of meat. As you can see, I get 6 or 8 meals from one bird.
I've been reading about Adzuki beans. Another thing new to me. Has anyone else ever cooked them? Any good recipes? I think I'll try them cold in a salad first.
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Minus, I made adzuki beans eons ago and don't recall much about the meal. They are typically used for sweets in Japan. And YUM on your lobster!
I'm still a rotisserie chicken virgin.
Carole...drool on that Anchorage meal. DH and I motorcycled through Alaska/Yukon Territory and eloped in Glen Allen; our first meal as husband and wife was in Haines and we ordered the king crab legs. holy ef were those incredible. ..and aptly named...ginormous is an understatement.
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Dinner was a large green salad with cauliflower, radishes & black olives and ranch dressing. I also spent some time chopping fruits & veggies to make up dishes for the fridge - both fruit salad & guacamole. Monday is supposed to be down to the 70's so cool enough to cook a pork loin. Will serve with boiled petite potatoes. Need to get celery & green onions so I can make up some potato salad for later.
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Stuffed pork chop (1, gigantic) from the Amish market, with mashed potato and gravy and applesauce. That was dinner. Not very green, and I know we're heading out for Italian tomorrow. All the last few meals you gals have noted look so healthy. I need to keep working on making our meals more nutritious.
Also hoping for the best for this transition!! 🙏 👍🫨
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black bean and diced spam frittata tonight and leftovers tomorrow.
Minus, 70 degrees already. Ugh. We had bright sun today and I felt like crawling right back into bed.
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Tonight’s dinner tastes awesome! It’s a slow cooker pork tenderloin with gravy over mashed potatoes and spinach and carrots. I’m freezing 1/2 to eat another time.
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As always Illimae, looks wonderful! What did you use for your gravy? I'm always interested in different ways to make gravy, I refuse to use the packaged or jar stuff.
Yesterday I had chicken kabobs. Marinated the cut chicken pieces in Zesty Italian dressing. Made the kabobs with chicken, red bell pepper and onion. Cooked on the grill, also a baked potato on the grill, French bread/butter. I don't remember if I had a veggie or not! Tonight, was leftover kabob with some homemade stuffing I had made and froze, along with some steamed Brussel sprouts, that I then seared in butter to brown a bit.
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Goldie, the gravy was the slow cooker juice with added corn starch. Here’s the recipe, I highly recommend it. DH said this dinner was extra special good.
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I cooked a tri tip roast, 2 1/2 lbs, for dinner last night, my first time to buy and cook this cut of beef. I threw together a mixture of soy sauce, worcestershire, honey, dijon mustard, onion and garlic powder, s & p and marinated the roast for a couple of hours. I cooked it to medium rare in a 400 degree oven. It was tasty, sliced across the grain, very much like London broil and flank steak. DH mixed up a horseradish sauce with sour cream.
The side was a potato gratin dish using up potatoes that were sprouting and required heavy peeling.
Now I'm wondering how to use the leftover half of the roast. I'll google for inspiration.
Yay. We're in the 50's this morning.
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Illimae, thank you for the recipe. I have a pork loin in the freezer I need to cook and this looks quite easy, as well as tasty.
Carole, I'm always looking on the internet for recipes, ALWAYS! I like to make chili with nicer cuts of beef, instead of hamburger. Quesadilla's or fajitas?
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Tonight's dinner was a chicken tortilla soup from the freezer along with dinner rolls and applesauce. My husband wasn't feeling good tonight and this seemed to be something he would enjoy. He did. He covid tested negative Tonight and we'll do one again tomorrow to be sure.
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Reader, here's hoping your DH continues to test negative--colds have been so rare these past three years that now that they're circulating again they can feel worse than we remember.
Last night's dinner was the remainder of the grouper tom kha soup, with a chaser of chopped liver on hi-fiber multigrain and taramosalata on 1 net carb Healthy Life keto 5-seed bread. I went to Costco for gas en route home from my Medicare Wellness Visit with my PCP out in Mt. Prospect; they had Irish soda bread with currants on sale (10" round for the same price as a 6-incher at Jewel). Popped a couple carb-blockers (veritable horse pills) and cut myself a slice. Mmm...had another for breakfast today (with another couple of csrb-blockers) before heading to the dentist. (My usual lox & schmear, or guacamole toast, would have been torture for the hygienist). But that's it for me as far as non-keto-friendly carbs. My next weigh-in is the 23d, and I want to stay on the good side of my BMI. My PCP was understanding about my dietary diversions in NOLA, but the weight-mgmt. NP won't be. (When I complain about not being able to eat like a normal person, she says "I'll see your cravings and raise you my T1 diabetes and celiac").
Today after my dental appt. (checkup & cleaning) I picked up my Hooked on Fish order of wild striped bass and a pint of that tom kha soup (this time made with branzino). Marinated the fish in miso before pan-searing it. Jewel had boiled crawfish (previously-frozen), so I served them as an appetizer. Should have tossed them in Old Bay or Tony Chachere's seasoning, as they were pretty bland. Salad was heirloom Caprese on Little Gem leaves with aged DOP balsamico, basil & Spanish "Drizzle" olive oil (a gift from the kids, as a set with a bottle of the same brand's "Sizzle"). Nuked Tasty Bite basmati rice for Bob, seasoned with a little salt butter & herbes de Provence. Speaking of Jewel, they had "Carb Smart" English muffins (7 gm net per muffin), so I think I will use up the prosciutto and have a Benedict tomorrow morning. Bob is having dinner with our broker at Wildfire in Oak Brook tomorrow night, while I have the orientation reception at the Chi. Bar Assn. for next month's continuing legal ed. trip to Ireland.
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Last night's dinner was tortellini (little hats) in Rao's. It was quite tasty with a Caesar salad. Leftovers.
Monday night was takeout pizza.
I've been working on a giant pruning job. When I did the landscaping about 30 years ago, I planted huge beds of azaleas that become the target of invasive trees and wicked vines. When I finish this bed, there are two more not quite as big. My limit per day is 2 to 3 hours. I need to get some gardening help, easier said than done.
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Hi all - I have been MIA, I know! I am a bad girl! Have been super busy, but that is no excuse not to check in with all of you!
Belated wishes for Happy Anniversary and Happy Birthday to those who were celebrating!
I got caught up in DD's annual out-of-town off-roading event this year and that is largely responsible for my absence, but now dealing with potential roof replacement and finally laying floors in our bedroom next week. This necessitates removing all of the exceptionally large furniture from the room and ripping out the carpet. Glad to see it go, this is the last room with carpet in the house, but this is going to be some work for us! We are moving the furniture out on Saturday and ripping out the carpet. Will take a bit to cut it up into pieces that fit in the car to go to the county disposal site. We will sleep in the guest room for a few nights, but thankfully this should be a one day job (the day is Wednesday) as this new floor is floating with quarter round installed at the seams between floor and baseboard. I will have to paint the quarter round but that should be it. Time consuming removal of things on surfaces, and under the bed, lol! Then I need to bring in the flooring, which has been living in the garage since early December, for a few days of acclimation to temp and humidity in the house. Now that DD's event is over and all of the attendant large boxes of deliveries, and the flooring out - maybe I can park in the garage again? What a luxury that will be! Right now my car has been a pollenmobile...
Dinners have been not very exciting - we grilled hot dogs and burgers last Sunday and had some baked potato salad and broccoli slaw with ranch dressing, and I made the naughty meatloaf as well (not on the same night, lol!) - which has supplied some leftovers this week. Tonight is the last night for meatloaf sammies and then it is gone. This weekend will be some cauliflower pasta with meatballs and marinara, and maybe some chicken on the other night. We will need some hearty chow to fuel the room clearing and carpet destruction!
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DH made chicken and dumplings, which was perfect for today since a storm is blowing through with 20mph winds, rain and a 25 degree temperature drop. Looks like snow this weekend.
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Oh yes - the yellow pollen. ERGH. Will it ever end??? Edited to say - Mae - please send some rain this way. They keep promising, but...
I went out for patty melts today at my favorite hole in the wall cafe for lunch w/my ex-DH. Truly marvelous w/sauteed onions & mushrooms & cheese & beef & REAL rye bread. Almost 2" tall. And of course french fries. Needless to say I'm not eating anything tonight, but I did get some potato salad made for tomorrow. I still have guacamole in the fridge, but I finished the fruit salad. Pork sandwich yesterday and then I froze the rest of the loin for pork fried rice later.
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SpecialK, you're definitely excused from checking in with all that activity in your life!
It's dark here this morning as we wait for a rain and wind event that has been much talked about. We need the rain since it's very dry and the trees are full of pollen.
We had leftover tortellini last night and I made a salad for dh. I wasn't very hungry since I had lunch with a friend at Panera's and ordered a chef's special sandwich that was delicious. Sliced tomato, slices of soft cheese, arugula and aioli on baguette bread. A sandwich version of the salad whose name escapes me at the moment.
Minus, my dh loves patty melts.
I bought a corned beef brisket but will hold off cooking it until Sunday. Tonight may be a pork tenderloin.
So far I see no change in the appearance of our discussion forum.
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Hard to describe how this year’s gone so far. Different family things sort of all converging at the same time and I’ve been taking deep breaths and telling myself, this is how life works sometimes.
I’m not Irish but dh and ds are—they have a grandfather generations back who immigrated to the U.S. from Ireland and fought in the Revolutionary War. I have a corned beef brisket in the slow cooker today and it already smells terrific. I will also stuff into the cooker as much cabbage as I can because I totally love it and will add carrots and potatoes. I love this meal. Last St. Patrick’s Day it was so good I made it again a week later. It’s the only time of year I make it or it loses its specialness.
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Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!
Like divine, I fix corned beef and cabbage once a year (DH of course hates it). However this year, the couple we usually share this meal with cannot come due to the husband’s recovering from a quadruple by pass. He is on the mend though so I have promised to postpone until he is ready. I have the brisket which can be frozen if necessary. we may be eating it this summer lol.
Tonight we’ll be having something more to DHs taste - an Irish stew with beef. The only side will be Irish soda bread which I did not bake.
We are having a frigidly cold spell of several hard freezes in a row which will undoubtedly literally nip the flowering trees in the bud. I find this so depressing. When I control the universe spring will progress in a orderly fashion.
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Divine, I have not cooked corned beef brisket in a slow cooker, only on the stove top and in a pressure cooker/multi cooker. You've given me something to think about and you've also made me regret not cooking my brisket today!
The sandwich was a caprese sandwich. I thought of the name after I posted.
It is raining. Yah for the needed moisture.
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I am also a fan of patty melts - I sometimes make them at home but it is a multi-step process and not a good meal idea if you are in any kind of hurry. The longest part is caramelizing the onions, but maybe I will try doing that in bulk and freezing. Rye bread is one of my faves, along with sourdough. Pretty much all other bread I can leave behind. I did recently try patty melts on Dave's Rye - the bread is sturdy and can handle a patty melt and it has a lot of flavor, but it is def not GF, so I have to eat it sparingly. I am struggling more with issues after consuming gluten and I should prob get a definitive yes or no on the celiac - I do have a genetic variant for it, but have not pursued a diagnosis as of yet. Just had a chat about it with my MO at my annual appt - he also has a variant and his son has celiac.
I am clearing the bedroom in prep for carpet removal tomorrow - I definitely have too many purses and shoes... all hiding under the bed in boot boxes. I am an accessories girl - I will own that statement...
Tonight I am thinking either stir fry with cauliflower rice, or small steaks, wild rice, and with a romaine salad that has strawberries, bacon, pecans and goat cheese. I should use up the strawberries, so I think that will be it!
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Nance - hope you take control soon!!!! We did get 1-1/2" rain last night so I hope most of the pollen has been washed out of the trees. But it's weird that the high today might only get to 50 when we've had many days of mid 80s already.
I haven't cooked corned beef in ages. It's hard to make it small enough for one. Leftovers again today. Guacamole on La Brea Rosemary/Olive Oil toast; 1/2 a bag of American Blend green salad w/carrots & radishes & I'll add a hard boiled egg, black olives, Campari tomatoes & sunflower seeds. If I'm still hungry I might warm up an Antie Chun's Udon noodle soup.
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Totally forgot for a min that today is St. Patty's - my mom always made corned beef and cabbage - I also love it! Today is also my SIL's b-day, she gets to party like she's Irish! I made an oven baked version of corned beef a few years ago and I am torn between it and the old school version. The oven baked version has a brown sugar and mustard crust, and the cabbage is sauteed separately, plus oven roasted potatoes and carrots. I will wait and get the supplies over the weekend - and they likely will be on sale since I will be late, lol! Yay for being oblivious and/or procrastinating!
auntie - can I please order some rain? I think you should be in charge!
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