So...whats for dinner?
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Minus, I hope you enjoyed your patty melt. I haven’t had one in ages.
Dinner tonight was leftover shepherd’s pie.
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I cooked a skillet dish for dinner last night that I enjoyed and dh commented that it was good. Boneless chicken thighs with artichoke hearts and lemon. Served over warmed up brown rice.
DH wants a wedge salad like we have ordered in restaurants. I will venture out to Winn Dixie today with a list and also go to Sam's Club for a few things including a prescription.
I went for a walk yesterday, the first exercise I've had other than a lot of walking in the house.
Saturday is a good day for PBS tv programs. With any luck PBS and NPR won't be eliminated by the current administration. Current events definitely don't promote a cheerful outlook on life.
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Carole your skillet dish sounds lovely. I love artichoke hearts and lemon, I might have to experiment with that too. Come up with a dish… Glad you could get out for walk, and take a rest from caregiving. I hope DH is healing well.
Last night I was actually craving a piece of chicken .. so funny, so DH bought home a roast chicken which I shared some with the cats. They were super happy. Me too. I made a vegetable and potato soup with a side salad of mesclun greens and baked whole wheat biscuits . Plus a piece of chicken… was cozy on a cold evening.
I’m teaching three classes this semester, and first week went well. In my graduate course on contemplative art practice, I work with Fashion MFA students, and one of them told me she was so happy she found me. Made my day.
After a week of insanity and bombardment with the current state of governance, or lack of… I’m looking forward to a day of sanity and calm. Facing things as is, and still welcoming the day with a good book. PBS and NPR too.Happy Saturday.
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Carole, It's a good sign that you could get out for a walk and a visit to the grocery store.
Rhonda, Your story of eating chicken with your cats brought back memories. When I was anemic while pregnant I would share chicken livers with my cat. I sautéed mine but he ate his raw.
While local NPR/PBS stations may not survive a national version probably will since half of the current funding comes from non-government sources. When I first lived in the UK commercial radio was illegal to give the BBC a monopoly. I remember listening to Radio Caroline, a pirate station on an off shore boat, broadcast a tape loop as the ship sank in the North Sea. The pendulum eventually swings the other way.
Dinner tonight was chicken in cranberry and apple sauce on noodles.
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I hear that the "new" FCC is taking aim at PBS & NPR for airing corporate sponsors' commercials (even just "credits") at the beginning and ending bumpers of their programs, claiming it violates their charters. Of course, Federal funding will dry up too, so public broadcasting is being punished for its perceived ideology. Time to dig deep and support our local public broadcast outlets even more than before. (More than that I can't say on this thread).
I remember reading about Radio Caroline during the first British Invasion of 1964-6; it was the stuff of legend.
BangBang is 12.8 lbs, which is not exactly light as a feather…maybe a big packing cube of tightly vacuum-compressed feathers encased in cement. She has begun to demand not just petting & ear "scritches," but full-on massages. Even dainty little Roxy is now 8 lbs., though when I pick her up she seems as delicate as a kitten—but when it comes to sibling rivalry she can dish it out as good as she gets & then some. They're both insanely fast, too. At bedtime they race up the stairs to the bedroom, eagerly awaiting a game of laser tag. I used to be able to aim the laser out the door and down the stairs, and then quickly shut the door so I can sleep in peace; but they've wised up.
Thursday night we went out for Restaurant Week to Café Touché in Edison Park (about as far NW as you can get and still be w/in Chicago city limits, so it's very popular with cops & firefighters). We started with salad Lyonnaise (frisee, bacon & poached egg). I had trout meuniere over julienne carrots & haricots verts; Bob had steak frites. For dessert I had a little slab of chocolate terrine (basically ganache) and Bob had bread pudding. Friday night I had my leftover trout & veggies, with a slice of sourdough to mop up the sauce that had precipitated out. Tonight at the Crystal Heart Ball we had poached pears over lollo rosso lettuce & red endive, and a surf & turf of tenderloin & branzino with a potato galette (IMHO, so bland as to be not worth the carbs). Dessert was a duo of ube (purple yam) cheesecake and a chocolate mousse "stone" covered with purple sugar, dotted with little blobs of amaretto creme anglaise surrounded by vanilla-bean streusel crumbs. I ate my salad but couldn't finish my entree or dessert. So I guess the Zepbound is still working. (Haven't stepped on a scale, but noted that the size 12 evening gown, altered down to a 10 Petite, was still a bit too big so I must be doing something right).
Eric, thank you for all you do—and I hope your current task won't be too gruesome. Are you being assigned to DC or Philadelphia?
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I have 8 large cartons of white mushrooms on my island counter in the kitchen, delivered by my sister and her dh yesterday. Not clear on the history of the gift other than they came off a truck. Main concern is what to do with them. I'll drop several cartons on my neighbors.
We had the wedge salads for dinner and they were good. I had two wedges and dh had one. Bought blue cheese dressing, bought bacon chips, and tiny tomatoes. Tonight I'll need to cook two pork chops thawed yesterday.
Soon I'll cook dh's breakfast. I am mastering hash browns using the bagged frozen. Last night I ordered a press. Breakfast is his main meal. He has been eating so little that he must be losing weight.
It's a lovely sunny Sunday, starting out at 49 degrees but will be warming up. I may take a walk in the neighborhood later.
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For me…neither place…fortunately. It was just a note from the higher ups keeping us informed of what was going on.
The last time for me was Moore, Oklahoma in 2013. We were staged near an elementary school that was destroyed by a tornado. Thankfully we weren't needed. I think 7-8 kids were killed which is still horrible.
When I drove a school bus, I considered the riders to be kids and also "dreams and hopes for the future". This was also the case for those 7 or 8 in Oklahoma. If they were in 1st grade at the time, they'd be graduating high school.
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Those plane crashes are particularly horrifying. I try not to think about being a passenger.
I did some online research on freezing mushrooms and learned that it's best to sauté them first and freeze in dividual pieces on a sheetpan. So I cleaned and sliced four big quart cartons and sautéed in a mixture of butter and oil. Each carton filled a large sauté pan. I tasted some slices and they are delicious. I layered the mushrooms on a pan, separating the layers with parchment paper. The pan is in the freezer of the outside refrigerator. The recommendation is to use the mushrooms in cooking without thawing. There's one carton left and I will cook it for dinner as a side for the porkchops.
This day, like most days, has gone by so fast.
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Glad to hear you were spared this latest tragic duty, Eric.
Carole, where I come from (mid-century Brooklyn) "it came off a truck" (more like "…fell off a truck") has an entirely different meaning, usually none-too-innocent.
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Carole, Mushrooms are a great way to expand recipes made with ground beef since the texture works well and they take up the same flavors. Adding 1/2 lb mushrooms to one lb of ground beef is a good ratio. I also like them sautéed in butter/EVO as a side veg, in omelets and raw in salads. Would breakfast for dinner encourage your DH to eat more?
Sandy, If you can wear a 10P it doesn't matter what the scale says. You are doing great with your routine which seems to allow some really delicious food.
We're stuck in another deep freeze. I spent yesterday trying to make a dent in the nighttime wintry mix which has become ice that won't melt with road salt since we're sub zero. The front walk is treacherous but the driveway is passable. More snow tonight.
Dinner tonight was enchiladas, refried beans and salad with guacamole.
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Went to the Palm for dinner, for Restaurant Week (which runs through this Friday). We both started with lobster bisque (theirs is always the best). Bob ordered a "Gigi" salad on the side (lettuce, tomato, hard boiled egg, green beans, bacon, avocado and shrimp) and convinced me to take a little of it. His entree was the 8 oz filet mignon; mine was the 14 oz. NY strip so we could have leftovers tomorrow night. Both steaks came with a head of roasted garlic. We both had creamed spinach as our sides. But we were so full that I packed all of my entree (meat & spinach) and we both packed our desserts (Bob had Junior's NY cheesecake with caramel sauce, I chose tiramisu). That bisque was incredibly filling; I made brunch around 12:30 (bacon—Bob had 3 strips, i one; he has two protein waffles to my one; and I had an olive-oil-fried egg). Our other mistake was eating from the bread basket. But I won't have to cook tomorrow night (except maybe nuke some instant grains).
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The meals sound delicious. Maggie's and Sandy's. I would happily pull up a chair.
I have a cabbage in the refrigerator and some cabbage recipes in food emails. I've been wanting cabbage so we'll see how these factors come together.
The good news is that dh seems to have turned a recovery corner, like the snap of fingers. I couldn't be happier to see the change.
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Last night I made a bed of spinach, sweet onion and white bean saute and laid out 4 fillet of sole, dotted with butter and garlic powder. Leftovers tonight. DH must be getting used to all the spicy food I'd been making as he said this was a tad "bland."
Carole, when we have a huge haul of foraged chanterrelle, I microwave them in batches till they are just wilted, then ziplock in portion sizes and freeze. Works great. If I buy too many white mushrooms, I microwave, let cool and they can sit in the fridge much longer than fresh. Lucky gal to get all those 'shrooms. I love them. You can pickle them too!!
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wow I had no idea about cooking and freezing mushrooms . And pickled too ! Lol @chisandy I also grew up with “stuff falling off the truck”.
Have been too tired to cook much, and just finished teaching so tonight was kale, zucchini and onion omelet. Simple and good.2 -
Carole, Good to hear your DH has turned the corner.
Wally, Yum on the sole. I love it because it takes on the flavor of just about anything you want to cook it with but tastes delicious with only butter and lemon juice.
Dinner tonight was chicken and asparagus in cream sauce.
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Carole, there's a new painkiller—Journavx—designed for post-op pain, that is as powerful as opioids but nonaddictive (and unlike the claims made for oxy, this one's for real because it doesn't induce euphoria. It acts via a different signal pathway that doesn't involve endorphin receptors). It'll be a game-changer for joint replacement recovery because it doesn't require a weaning-off deadline (and unlike NSIADs is easier on the gut). Of course, it's much costlier than Tylenol+Motrin, requires an Rx, and is likely too new to be on any Part D insurers' formularies…yet.
Brunch after my fina; PT session was tomato soup and a tossed salad at Nordstrom's Cafe. We were going to reheat last night's steak & creamed spinach and add some rice tonight, but the weather was so bleak, chilly & raw that all we wanted to do was nap. When I awoke, I nuked frozen leftover spaghetti Bolognese. (Bob grabbed some Chunky Soup before his nap). I'm about to turn back in but Bob's sleeping through because he's an early riser now.
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DH's surgeon has a three-tiered approach to pain management. Two Tylenol for Arthritis every 8 hours. Add a tramadol in an hour if needed. The third tier is to add a 5mg oxy every 4 to 6 hours as needed. The tramadol makes dh sleepy so he takes it at night. The last couple of days he has gotten by with the Tylenol during the day. During the first couple of days post-surgery, we doubled the oxy to 10mg.
I printed out three cabbage recipes yesterday but that was the extent of cooking cabbage for dinner. DH had a slice of meatloaf out of the freezer, small helping of mac and cheese and a small wedge salad. Surprisingly he ate it all. I had a larger wedge salad since my lunch was leftover chicken lemon dish with rice.
Tonight a cabbage dish.
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Simple cooking continues with steamed carrots and broccoli, with black beans sautéed with garlic, ginger and onions with brown rice. I’ve been experimenting with loose leaf green teas, bought a sampler pack and today made a pot of watermelon oolong . Low caffeine and refreshing for a long day of meetings.
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Carole, What cabbage recipe did you decide on?
Rhonda, I like oolong tea but didn’t know there was a watermelon variety. I’ll have to look out for it.
Dinner tonight was stir fried beef, spring onions, mushrooms and snow peas in oyster sauce on rice. I used the rest of the carne asada velveted with baking soda, something I had never tried before. It worked out well.
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I was taught in pre-op "joint replacement school" to stay ahead of the pain: it's easier to maintain a pain level of 3 (out of 10) than to take a 6 down to 3. Plain Tylenol (500mg per pill) wears off after 6 hrs. If I had been limited to Tylenol q.8h with an occasional tramadol and oxy only 2 weeks post-op you'd have heard me screaming into the next town over. Both my rehabs were (for the most part, when an actual RN or LPN was on duty) very strict about adhering to 2 7.5/325 mg Norco q.6h, probably to ensure I could tolerate PT 2x/day and daily OT; for the first week I took one hydromorphone twice a day as well as tramadol; I was sent home after 2 weeks with a schedule for tapering off the Norco, then the gabapentin. I gave up the tramadol pretty quickly because it caused sudden weird limb movements (like the other leg kicking or my arm flying up).
Protein-loaded my brunch: 2 egg+1 white Swiss cheese/mushroom omelet, a slice of bacon and a keto English muffin. Dinner tonight was the leftover steak & creamed spinach and nuked baby potatoes. Even after sharing it there's still about 2 oz. of steak remaining, Tomorrow evening we're expecting an ice storm, so in the afternoon I will season my paella pan (while it cools, I'll salt the driveway & sidewalk) and then make a paella con mariscos with jumbo shrimp & tinned mussels.
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The cabbage recipe was stuffed cabbage skillet dish. It was good and had some unexpected ingredients like pepper flakes, caraway seeds, and balsamic vinegar. A lot of leftovers, not a good thing for us. Our record on using up leftovers isn't great.
Tonight will be a stir fry with steak, onions, and colored bell pepper. I may make some tortillas. Haven't decided. A couple of ripe avocados in the refrigerator should make a good guacamole. DH usually makes our guacamole and I like my simpler version better, something I haven't shared with him.
I'm baking a loaf of Einkorn whole grain bread even though it isn't oven weather. The Gulf Whatever Its Name is gifting us with humidity to go along with temperatures in the high 70's. I hope those Super Bowl fans brought some shorts and tee shirts.
A lot of New Orleans folks are more excited about Taylor Swift attending than about the football. I clamping my mouth shut on comments about any other famous attendees.
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Oh my - oven weather. It was 84 here yesterday and 83 today. I had wanted to make a meatloaf this week, but I did have to turn on the A/C today so we'll see. Tonight is a large salad.
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Sandy, Cooking and eating paella is a good antidote to an ice storm. I spent Monday, the only day in a while it has gone above freezing, chopping out ice on the driveway with a maul. It's still a useful tool even though we don't split wood anymore. Now we'll have just the new ice to contend with.
Carole, Homemade bread will be worth heating up your kitchen. I wish you could send it (the heat and a slice of bread) my way.
I had two crowns done today so didn’t eat much.
Dinner tonight was baked salmon with curry and lime, acorn squash and sautéed baby potatoes.
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DH and I made the dreaded Edmonds/Seattle trip today. So many emotions that I dare not post them now.
I had popcorn for dinner and red wine. Not sure what else I'll consume.
We did manage to get to Ranch 99—a huge asian grocery store. Found a few reasonably priced items and some new to me items. I packed snacks/lunch in case time got away from us or we missed the ferry…
Enroute home, there was snow. GLORIOUS SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! REAL SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It made the whole trip worth it. Magical and gorgeous. Glad we still have our Wisconsin driving skills.
Now we wait for the report from the scan so we can determine a game plan. Hope he can skip the bone biopsy.
Editing an update…
DH's bones have more lesions. Some is not PSMA-marked (which is not a good thing) but enough with PSMA-markers that he can choose the ugly Pluvicto treatment, again, or try a PARP inhibitor (his cancer has a brca mutation). We see his local onco on the 12th and have to make some decisions. Still no organ involvement…a blessing.
Pluvicto means 3 days of no contact plus the dreaded schlep back to Seattle.
We got 3" of snow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😍💃😁 Also spotted a coyote down our driveway last night.
Leftovers from what should have been dinner last night, tonight.
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Wally - so sorry to hear about your DH's update. Damn. Hard decisions. Fun to have snow.
Maggie - yuck for the crowns - and two at a time???? Hope at least they were on the same side.
Carole - sorry to hear that your DH will need you to chauffeur longer since he can't drive for 4 weeks after surgery. But sounds like at least he's making progress with sleeping.
Still trying to get my head above water from the "terrible, horrible, awful, very bad January" (in honor of those of you who read about Alexander's day to your kids). I think I'm almost caught up with the HOA/Civic Club stuff - at least for a day or two. Now I'll try to wade through piles of my own stuff - bills, tax prep, Valentine cards…. I'm hoping when I get to the bottom of the piles that I'll be able to sleep more than 4 hours w/o jolting awake with lists running through my head. Got up at 4am today since there was no point in lying there and managed to push through w/o napping. Mostly on the computer for 8-10 hours. But likely to be asleep by 7pm.
Absolute disaster - I forgot to buy butter at Costco on Monday and just discovered I only have 2 sticks left. Upcoming emergency run to Kroger will be scheduled. I can't imagine how I missed this since I am NEVER without at least 2 lbs in the freezer.
Full 3 course dinner tonight. I used meal prep & cooking off and on during the day as a way to stay awake. Meatloaf, boiled new potatoes and sauteed zucchini with onions. Served with a decent Garnacha.
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Wally, I’m glad the snow you were longing for was something positive from that trip you would prefer not to make. I'm sorry you and your DH have to make those tough decisions.
Minus, The crowns were on the same side but still not fun or cheap. I've got to be able to chew, though. Your 3 course meal sounds delicious.
Unlike Wally I was not thrilled with today's snow. We watched the weather radar and snowblowed what had fallen before the wintry mix started. Another 6-9" is forecast for Sunday.
Dinner tonight was stuffed peppers and mashed potatoes.
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Wally, sorry for more bad news. At least you had the pleasure of snow. A coyote? They must be everywhere.
Recently I was buying Greek yogurt and put a large carton of plain 2 per cent in my basket because there was no 0 percent, which I usually buy. The difference was incredible. That 2 percent of fat was worth the extra WW points. Now I've changed my buying habit. For lunch I often have fruit and berries with yogurt and dh likes that lunch, too. The strawberries from Florida are really delicious lately. I feel like a traitor because the Louisiana strawberries are coming on the market but, sadly, they don't taste as good. In my humble opinion. Back when my father grew strawberries, they were delicious when picked and eaten in the field.
Dinner last night was leftover skillet stuffed cabbage dish warmed up in a skillet. It was better, maybe because of little burned bits on the bottom. We also had a wedge salad.
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Appreciate the empathy. It is so hard to watch him struggle with what is "next." I remind him that quality of life is paramount. So easy to say but hard to implement when fighting the beast.
I was also surprised how good the strawberries were when I got them a few weeks ago. Almost as if they are soaking them in sugar water, LOL. Wish I could find those tiny alpine ones. We grew them, but out here, not very successful.
I only ever buy full fat stuff. I was doing no-fat/low-fat when I lived in Paris and I could just kick myself now!! Never again.
I have Chinese spinach to use and not sure what I'll do…a tofu stir fry or maybe an udon soup bowl.
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Wally…sorry to hear the news about DH. :-( Emotions, hopes, possibilities and facts, all intertwined together, make "next", as you said, "So easy to say, but hard to implement".
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Carole, I noticed that about the FL strawberries recently. Besides tasting better a bit of dairy fat is supposed to help with weight loss by making you feel fuller and stabilizing blood sugar. I could live on yogurt and berries. We had fresh strawberries once when we moved into a new home but didn't replant for the following year.
Wally, Did you get the Chinese spinach in the Asian market you stopped at? I like it but hardly ever see it for sale.
Dinner tonight was chicken in sour cream and onion sauce.
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