So...whats for dinner?
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Crabby oysters is my name for a local dish which involves oysters baked like Rockafellers but with crab 🦀 (probably more like crab dip it was so rich) with spinach and a little cheese, baked then broiled. I had them as my entrée but could only eat 4 of the 6. Pretty yummy 😋
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I am late to the party for cabbage rolls! I love them, grew up eating them and my mom used her mom's recipe. Pretty straightforward, blanched a whole head of cabbage and peeled off the leaves. Mixed up ground beef, some seasonings and cooked rice. Rolled the mixture in the cabbage leaves, topped with tomato sauce and baked, covered. My MIL made the same but topped with a mixture of tomato soup and sour cream - I don't know the origin of her recipe but my married name ends in ski so she may have co-opted this recipe from her 100% Polish MIL. I make mine the same way as both mom and MIL, use the tomato soup/sour cream topping, but I roughly chop the leftover cabbage and put it in the center of a large baking pan, arrange the rolls around the perimeter. I add roughly chopped potatoes to the cabbage in the center and top that with cooked bacon and onion. It is a somewhat labor intensive dish, but it makes a LOT and it is comfort food to the max - yummy and old school.
I have been distracted with continued back pain, which is now possibly not from the degenerated disks, but from my kidneys. I had my appointment with my new primary care - love her, she was worth the wait - and in the routine urinalysis there was blood. Her approach to this development was an abdominal CT scan, and several more in-depth labs. CT showed no alarming findings other than the disks, and some other incidentalomas that may require further looking, or may not. We have not yet discussed that. I may need to see my urologist now because the labs are not showing anything alarming other than continued blood. Bleh. Back still hurts, but not as bad.
In other health news, DD is having surgery on 11/22 for her sinus/nerve impingement issue - it is MRI guided robotic and hopefully will be outpatient. We are having Thanksgiving on 11/18 with DD/beau/beau's momma, and DH and I - am in the throes of planning and making my shopping list. We will have the usual Thanksgiving suspects, my only roadblock seems to be one planned dessert, as I cannot find soft ladyfingers to make a light layered cheesecake with cherry topping. I am making pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting and apple tart, but due to the ladyfinger embargo I am thinking maybe a chocolate silk pie, which is meant to be made ahead - yay!. We will now have T-Giv weekend to decorate for Xmas unfettered by cooking.
Dinners here have been hit or miss - we had to move our gravel driveway over very slightly at the downtown house as it was not inside the property line. This involved digging up the cemented paver edging and also moving the fence 9" closer to the house. We had to add a thin border of sod so that has needed daily watering after work for DH, and he has been eating his lunch late. We did go to a legendary local diner (has been there for 50 years) the other night after loading cars and watering and had chili dogs and real onion rings - OMG, so good. We moved all the furniture and decor out and into a storage unit to ultimately go to Colorado at some point. The fantastic news is that all is now done, that house is ready and empty and we close on Monday. Can't wait.
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Reader, those crabby oysters are now on my eating bucket list!! They sound wonderful. In New Orleans we have a broiled oyster in the shell doused in garlic butter and topped with grated parm. It's almost everybody's favorite, eaten with hot French bread to sop up the buttery sauce. I have ordered a dozen as my main dish.
SpecialK, French Silk Pie is my favorite cream pie. It's so decadent. Of course, I like lemon meringue a lot, too, and haven't had it in years. In years past when we visited dh's parents in Chicago area, we would buy a couple of pies for dessert when we were invited to his brother's house. Everybody likes berry pies, we were told. So we would buy a berry pie of some sort and a French Silk for us. Guess which pie got eaten? Not the good ole berry pie.
I was up and out to the local veggie stand this morning to buy three large bundles of mustard greens. So we're having greens cooked with pickled pork for dinner. With cornbread, of course.
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Love all this food talk!
Ended up having last night's leftovers for lunch and had a frozen burger with pork and beans, also green beans tonight. Tomorrow will be mahi-mahi and I may make it as a thai curry of sorts.
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I had a left over hamburger steak enhanced by Korean BBQ sauce - served with my coleslaw & fresh spinach that was on it's last legs. Tomorrow I have to get busy eating the left overs from the big dinner. I froze the brisket & sausage but still have significant quantities of mac & cheese & their delicious coleslaw.
Feast or famine. Last week I bought a package of Bob Evans roasted garlic Mashed Cauliflower from the deli that was marked down for quick sale, and still have half a basket of strawberries. Also still have 5 avocados (after I already made guacamole with 3). Normally I wouldn't have bought that many but the bag of 8 was an unbelievable $1.99, when the loose avocados were selling at 2 for $3.00. Just didn't make sense not to pick them up.
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A "not dinner related" brag…..
Sharon placed 3rd in the Arizona state banjo championship.
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Congrats to Sharon.
Minus, you can freeze guac. Refrigerate the 'cados to slow their ripening.
Still trying to figure out if I want a fish stew (Italian style) or thai curry fish with coconut milk…the fish will be mahi mahi.
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Eric - BIG congrats to Sharon. That's quite an accomplishment for the whole state!!!
Wally - Yup - avocados are in the fridge. Tomorrow I'll make lime jello salad whipped with a bit of mayo when partly firm then add avocados & cashew nuts & crushed pineapple.
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Eric, mazel tov to Sharon! Does she play frailing/clawhammer, bluegrass or both? (I used to commit attempted clawhammer before I decided to concentrate on guitar, dulcimer & bass).
Sorry for my absence—between the trip (went well), Bar Show rehearsals & music woodshedding, dealing with Heidi's accelerated aging, and an unexpected hand injury (from trying to carry too many plastic grocery bags with the fingers of one hand) I've been a bit busy.
My 94-yr-old cousin is as sharp as a tack. (We didn't get to meet his 84-yr-old girlfriend because she was working and we had to leave too early on Friday. She was a family friend who was his & his late wife's BFF, whom I did meet >40 years ago when she & they visited Chicago. She runs a travel agency specializing in luxury tours to Africa). He lives in an independent-living 55+ all-inclusive rental community, much nicer than my mom's condo retirement village. We ate there in the full-service dining room as his guest, along with the two ladies who are his dining companions when he's not with his girlfriend. The food was surprisingly good—pumpkin bisque, panzanella salad, battered fish & chips (crisp, fries done perfectly), and pecan pie. Next day my sis & I went to a bagel bakery and I had a ginormous sesame bagel with "the works." (I ate the other half at the airport, where I had an insane amount of time to kill). My sister bought a dozen bagels to take home—she doesn't have a good bagel bakery near her in Arlington (VA), but we have a terrific one in Lincolnwood.
Wed. aft. we went to the Walnut Room at Macy's (ex-Marshall Field) to see the giant tree and for Bob to have their famous chicken pot pie he's been craving. I had lobster bisque and grilled salmon over a very weird Caesar salad (more like chopped iceberg with dressing & flaked Parm). I was weak—we shared a slice of Frango mint ice cream pie for dessert. (I'd have liked it better had it been chiffon or mousse pie instead).
Went to Regalia last night for the first time in nearly a month. Special appetizer was "burratini:" panko-coated herb-stuffed burrata over arugula, with artichokes and grape tomatoes. My entree was halibut piccata over Calabrese roast cauliflower. (Took home half—portion was much larger than usual).
Last night I carb-binged again, especially on Garrett's caramel corn—the shop is across the street from the Bar Assn., where we rehearsed; even the smallest size is addictive and therefore destructive. (Spent some time online today surfing for a shrink who specializes in both weight control/binge disorder and onco-anxiety). So I had little to no appetite most of the day. Bob went downtown for his haircut—we usually go to lunch afterward but my tummy was too touchy (and I was too sore from yesterday's choreography rehearsal) for me to want to dine out (the place we'd wanted, Le Colonial, wanted a credit card deposit that was non-refundable). So he went to Gibson's instead—it was too crowded and service was slow, so he ordered take-home while sitting at the bar eating oysters. He brought home a T-bone, sauteed spinach, mushrooms and a twice-baked potato (he ate the latter as soon as he got home). I divvied up the rest (he got the filet side, I half the rib side). Trying desperately to avoid dessert tonight—sugar is my trigger; actually even sugar-free sweets open the floodgates. I'm taking swigs of ice water to distract from the cravings, but it's not working.
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Congratulations to Sharon! I love banjo music.
Last night was pork country ribs cooked in the oven with barbecue sauce. Side was a Hungry Root packet of rice, quinoa and lentils. I like this mixture a lot.
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I'm typing on the cell phone, so the posts are short.
She does Bluegrass…using picks for the banjo.
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BBQ chicken socca "pizza"
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Greetings fellow eaters. All your meals sound wonderful! Meals here are still hit or miss. Yesterday I made six dozen crescent rolls for Thanksgiving dinner at DH's sister's house. It's my usual contribution but the first time since the back problems. Due to the extensive amount of time standing in one place, rolling out 72 pieces of dough I aggravated the back mightily. So tonight is a slow cooker meal of a chuck roast with Louie's Italian seasoning I'll serve it on hoagie rolls with a side salad Any leftover beef will go into beef and noodles later this week.
Incidentally, today I had six injections into my lower back to deaden the nerves. I'll have one more series and if it still works to alleviate the pain I can have an ablation to cauterize the nerves. I will probably have the procedure although the deadened nerves were a strange feeling similar to novocaine. But at least I could clean my kitchen without having to sit down every ten minutes.
Several years ago I gave up the hassle of cabbage rolls and went to "unstuffed" cabbage. Haven't made that in a while so I'll put that on the to do list.
Carole - based on your review I tried the Walmart original bbq sauce and really like it. I wish it didn't use high fructose corn syrup though.
Wally I hope your DH has gotten some relief.
Special - I'm not surprised your back hurts with all the stuff you accomplish!
Sandy - I injured my hand once the same way. It took a long time for the nerves to heal. No fun!
Eric- congrats to Sharon. Way cool!
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Surf & turf leftovers tonight: halibut & steak plus veggies (cauliflower, spinach & mushrooms). For brunch, a half-slice of nature's perfect food: reheated NY-style pizza (sausage, peppers, anchovies). All major food groups. It's the only kind whose crust I'll eat because it's so good. Deep-dish is a casserole in a bread bowl (thanks, Jon Stewart) and tavern-cut S. Side thin crust is tasteless beneath the toppings. If I'm gonna eat starch, it's gotta taste fantastic. So unless it's NY or Neapolitan, I'm eating only the toppings.
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Nance, I hope you get some lasting relief from the back pain. I agree with you about SpecialK. She is a dynamo. I didn't notice the corn syrup in the barbecue sauce. I don't use barbecue sauce a lot.
I made chicken salad a few weeks ago using rotisserie chicken and I cut the chicken in small dice by hand. It was just ok. This weekend I roasted a large chicken in the oven in the Pampered Chef clay baker. I used the food processor to chop the chicken and I like the result much better than hand chopping. Plus the chicken tastes better than the rotisserie chicken.
Last night's dinner was one of our favorites. Pasta with Rao's sauce with the addition of ground beef. Side was a romaine salad with additions and oil and vinegar dressing. The pasta was out of the freezer. What a convenience!
Wally, I've been on the lookout for a meal from you with socco pizza crust. I have a couple of bags of the chickpea flour in my outside refrigerator. I'll have to try again.
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I'm saving the other half for tomorrow as I have a later appointment and don't want to come home and cook. So, tonight, I'll make liver and onions. Tomorrow will be the socca 'za leftovers. I love that stuff! Of course, it isn't a real pizza, but it is mighty tasty!
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This is one of those busy weeks with appointments. Most days have one, some days have two and one day has three appointments.
Sigh…..
Dinner is leftover spaghetti from this weekend.
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My mother loved liver and onions. Two church friends would come to her house with a package of liver and my mother would cook their lunch. That was such a good time for her because they laughed a lot. A nice memory for me.
Last night was beans and greens. The greens were leftover and I cooked speckled butterbeans from the freezer. Also brown jasmine rice. The latter is another favorite product that I buy at Walmart. Mahatma brown jasmine rice. I have brown basmati rice but I like the jasmine better.
Nance, I checked the ingredients in the barbecue sauce and the high fructose corn syrup is first on the list.
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Well, looks like we’ll be having a turkey after all. DH successfully wired in the outlet for the stove and found the correct breaker. Last night was a test, he cooked pork spareribs, which were really good, I added steamed spinach and cheesy cauliflower. It’s an induction oven, so I had to buy a new cookware set and stockpot, our current set will used in the travel trailer. DH is supposed to be making banana bread too, yum!
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If the spare electric range were not still in the back of the last storage unit, I'd be getting it out for Thanksgiving. Sharon invited a bunch (eight) folks over for Thanksgiving dinner. Unfortunately the oven is currently unreachable, so it will be some juggling and using the covered grill.
Everyone coming has been our friends "forever", so it will be fun. I haven't done a "kinda-sorta-somewhat" formal dinner in forever.
I've been joking about using paper and plastic for the formal place settings. Large paper plate for a charger plate, different colored Solo Cups, smaller plates as needed, paper salad bowls, plastic tableware, etc. Oh, and paper towels for the napkins. :-)
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Tonight was a big salad topped with grated cheese, ranch dressing and chicken breast. Dessert was banana bread that DH made, so yummy.
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Sharon makes banana bread…and, it too, is so yummy. :-)
That is good news about the range/stove and being able to "cook" a turkey.
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We have found a delightful Thai Fusion type place here, so tonight was the rest of Monday night's dinner out. Thai fried rice loaded with veggies and shrimp. Very yum. We ate very early ( I skipped lunch to accommodate it) then went to a well attended HOA meeting. Civic duty and all.
Thanksgiving will be spent with my brother and some of their friends. I am bringing 2 homemade pies. I think a pumpkin chiffon and maybe apple. My brother loves my mom's pies and I do make it similar. I am taking a green bean vinaigrette thing to a community friendsgiving this weekend. Will be nice to meet more neighbors.
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Last night Bob got home too late to do both dinner & a movie, so we opted for dinner at Jilly's French Bistro in Evanston. We split escargot and an arugula salad and each had our own portion of bouillabaisse. It was huge. Bob finished all of his, I took half mine home.
Went to the hand surgeon today, and he confirmed that what's wrong with my finger is merely OA. I got home too late to do brunch & movie (the ortho clinic was running way behind) and Bob went out for breakfast. Said movie is "Killers of the Flower Moon," which is 3-1/2 hrs. long. Problematic, because its showtimes are either too early for Bob to get to the theater after work or too late the night before an early morning. Today's his day off, but my hand surgeon appt. threw a monkey wrench into our plans.
So we decided to split the outing in two. Dinner tonight, 6pm movie tomorrow. We ate at Eataly (took the train) and I cheated quite enjoyably: split a "Grande Antipasto" (took half home), "Milano" salad (lolla rosso and Little Gem lettuces, frisee, almonds and Gorgonzola dolce), which we finished; then a Neapolitan Margherita pizza (took home half) and the special pasta feature: tagliarone (like a thinner linguine, but fresh pasta rather than dried) with truffle butter, Parm-Reg., and a shaving of white truffle. We split that (was a rather small portion for the price) and it was well worth the carbs. Made sure to eat every crumb! Tomorrow we're catching the 6pm showing at an AMC dine-in theater (they'll bring us our food). Most of the offerings are burgers, flatbreads and fried things, but I will zero in on the chopped Cobb salad. He gets off work at 4:30 and will drive, and I will take the train down again (it's a block & a half from Eataly). That'll give us time to order our food & drinks, take our seats, and have dinner delivered to our seats. I only hope we can, uh, hold it in—there is no intermission. Last movie that had my teeth floating in my kidneys was "Munich," which was 4 hrs. long. (There is something to be said for streaming or renting-on-demand).
Leftover bouillabaisse for my breakfast tomorrow—life is tough. Have to remember before bed to make Bob his chopped-liver-on-rye sandwich and bagel & lox to take to work for lunch (he's been spending a lot at either a Thai or Italian restaurant w/in walking distance of Union Health—and the large old-school red-sauce Italian restaurant portions are not doing his midsection any favors, making it harder & harder for him to find the receptacle into which to click his seatbelt. (My moment of ugly truth came in spring 2019 when the scale at the spa locker room at the Dead Sea read 211—and I nearly needed a seat-belt extender on the flight home). He has an early morning tomorrow, so I also have to make sure to show him tonight exactly where in the fridge I'm putting his lunch—more than once he's dashed out of the house without remembering to take it, or forgot where in the fridge it was. (Typical guy thing: if it's not front & center, it doesn't exist. I don't have to tell you how many times I've admonished "look with your hands, not just your eyes" to no avail).
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Last night I used the air fryer to "pan fry" flattened chicken breast fillets breaded with Italian breadcrumbs. The result was edible but not as good as the genuine pan fry with oil and butter. Side was a white cheese mac and cheese from a tub, the second of the BOGO special a week ago. I really liked it and appreciated the ease of warming it in the microwave.
LOL on your formal place settings, Eric. My family wouldn't think twice about using paper plates for a holiday meal but not dh's family. Holiday meals are times for the good china and the good crystal and the silver table ware. Everything to be hand washed afterwards. I should say "were" times since his sister, the ultimate Thanksgiving hostess, has been dead now for three years. We'll be having Thanksgiving dinner this year with Bonnie's daughter, who is more informal but still wouldn't dream of using paper plates. She's devoted to using the dishwasher for cleanup.
In truth, we use paper plates for sandwiches but otherwise prefer regular plates even for every day meals.
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Tonight will be quesadillas, probably with some seasoned chopped pork.
I’ve also made my online See’s candies order. I got a custom chocolate box, dark chocolate balls, peanut brittle and sugar free peanut brittle for DH. I can easily ration mine for several weeks.
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I can easily ration my See's candies for a few hours. :-)
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Agree with Eric about the See's lasting a few hours. I'll be ordering Victoria Toffee which is only available at Christmas - but oh yes Peanut Brittle. Not to mention a box of custom choices like Butterscotch Squares. And maybe Molasses Chips. Funny story - last year I hid an extra 1 lb box of Victoria Toffee since I had a "next to" the front tooth break off the first of the year. I have been working on prep for an implant ever since. The bone apparently still needs to grow more attached. Since hard candy was off my radar, I totally forgot the box. Found it in time for Halloween - but I sure didn't share with trick or treaters. Maybe not at the "peak of freshness", but it didn't last a week.
I went to a new (to me) hole in the wall restaurant yesterday - World of Sourdough on I-10 in the lower Heights. I had a cup of decent Boston Clam Chowder and bought a par-baked baguette to bring home. Bread is good but doesn't have that San Francisco Sourdough flavor. I'm tempted to order bread from Boudin's, but if I do that will for sure be what my son sends me for Christmas.
Tonight was left over Mac & Cheese and left over coleslaw. Dessert will be left over strawberries.
Wally - I popped some of the guacamole in the freezer. We'll see how it works.
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I did the same, Minus. Mine was costco stuff. I've done it before and it works OK. Better than force feeding myself or tossing it, for sure.
Leftover liver and onions. I tried using instant mashed potatoes. Not ideal but it made nice "potato sauce" to go with the liver.
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Wally - Force feeding reminds me of foie gras - especially since you were having liver (LOL)
I've discovered that Bob Evans mashed potatoes from the refrigerated section are really quite good. Just a couple of minutes in the microwave. I'll fix some later this week when I pull some of the leftover brisket out of the freezer.
Discovered an author new to me - Robert Pobi. He won an award for the best foreign crime novel in 2020 with his Lucas Page character. Hard to put the books down.
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