So...whats for dinner?
Comments
-
Yep the post are now filling up the whole page instead of on the right side. and the comments dont line up with who posted them. Hmmm?
Laurie So well said!
0 -
Very beautiful post Laurie.
0 -
Apple will be missed by so many of us, she touched many of us with her wit, wisdom , and her strength the piano video is wonderful. My thoughts are with her family.
0 -
So sad to hear about Apple...my heart goes out to her family.
0 -
Last night I cooked dinner....although my heart wasn't really in it. Still, we had to heat.
The chicken roaster was not quite tall enough, so I had to use....the dutch oven that is pictured in my avatar.
I did a whole chicken. It was a simple thing. Melt a quarter stick of (real) butter in the dutch oven at "just below where the butter smokes temperature"...almost "high" on my stove and brown the chicken skin. Then I turned down the heat to it's usual for the dutch oven, "low" on my stove, sprinkled garlic salt and pepper on the chicken and then added some wine...just enough to cover the bottom of the oven about 1/2 inch and "put the lid on". I drank the remainder of the wine myself. It was a white wine because that's what I had in those little 6 ounce bottles, so I only got 1/2 a glass. It took about an hour and a half to cook the chicken.
I also made jasmine rice..because I had it and because Chrissy *LOVES* it. Because there was so much juice in the bottom of the dutch oven, I added some corn starch and made gravey..if one can put gravy on potatoes, rice should be OK too! :-)
While that was going on, I was thinking about tonight's meal and decided on a middle eastern ground lamb "seems almost like meatloaf" dish. That got me thinking about Apple and her love of middle eastern cooking.
I can't find ground lamb, so I pulled out and cleaned my old LF&C vintage 1897 meat grinder in preparation of grinding some lamb meat.
Mickey insited that I play Bette Midler's The Rose when I scattered her ashes. She said it would both remind me of her so she could be with me forever and remind me to keep going despite...."things".... My guess is that Apple would choose this song for us...and for the same reasons..
It must have worked. I remember Mickey..and I now "have" Sharon and our DD.... :-)
Eric
0 -
Apple has been very much on my mind today and for some reason I too, Eric, have been thinking about her love of middle eastern cooking and her neighborhood grocer where she found so many interesting foods.
Last night, in spite of a nasty cold I'm brewing, I made my first batch of pasta. Oh boy, flour flour everywhere. But it turned to be very good, if not very pretty, and I can see how one could forsake store bought pasta forever. I'm now debating on whether to buy the cooks illustrated pasta book. Then again, how many variations on pasta dough are there? Seems to me it's mostly egg, flour and water. But what do I know . . .0 -
Hi Everyone,
Happy New Year!
I haven't been on in a while. Shocked to see the news and upset about the passing of Apple. Michelle, I missed the 6PM prayer shout out for you, but I sent you a few hugs a while ago and heartfelt prayers! You are often on my mind.
I just had my 1 year healthy-victory anniversary on 1/4/2013. I was out of sight and nervous leading up to it. Everything came out normal. I may have scared off one of the new interns at the Oncologist's office though. She was trying to talk to me, and get file updates as they were about to stick me with the needle. I'm someone who panics when I'm about to get the needle, and I needed to focus. My husband, the lab tech and myself were already in a very small room, and I can't believe she managed to come in and find a spot in there - we were so cramped. They usually ask for any updates further down the hall when I'm getting weighed. So as she persisted to ask questions, I finally blurted out that I needed her to just "chill out for a few minutes until I'm done in here." LOL That is how extremely stressed I was.
So in the what's for dinner topic, I need some help!
I'm thinking of making vegetable soup in the crockpot tomorrow. I've never made a soup before. We would like to have an uncomplicated time getting dinner ready as we want to be on the couch by 7PM to watch the new season of The Bachelor!
For the soup, what veggies do you all suggest? I have so far: zucchini, carrots. What else would go in to the soup? I'm planning on buying the 100% organic vegetable broth (low sodium), and 2 cans of diced tomatoes, with one of those being spicy.
Any ideas, please post here - I'll go get the items you all suggest in the morning.
Also, does anyone know if I'm allowed to have natural carbs from fruit? I got these dried figs and dried apricots from Trader Joe's. They are unsulfured and no chemicals in the drying process. Nothing added. Just the fruit. Are these okay, or are they considered fast carbs?
Thank you and have a great day everyone!
- Want to exercise and looking for support? Try visiting the "Let's post our Daily Exercise" forum!
0 -
Debra- I would add some diced potatoes, peas at the end, some kidney beans maybe corn? Just some thoughts. I never seem to do a straight veggie soup.
Making stuffed shells for dinner to use up the rest of the homemade sauce. I am just doing a straight cheese mixture that the boys like of ricotta, mozzarella and parm, nothing fancy. I bought some nice garlic bread sticks to go with it. If I am motivated I will make a salad to go with it. Right now Dh is watching the Patriots play, the boys are over tired and off the wall and I am doing laundry and picking up while the shells boil.
0 -
Debra,
If you're looking for a really good soup that's got tons of vegetables and beans are OK for you, Nancy (AuntieNance) posted an excellent recipe for Minestrone back on page 352. I have made it a few times and, while I didn't use the crockpot, I can't see why that wouldn't work out just fine... I did use more of each vegetable and added a little but of cooked sausage that I wanted to use up but, it would have been just as good without...
If you do make it, Nancy's suggestion a couple posts after the recipe to boil the pasta separately and add to individual bowls at serving time was a good one if you won't be eating it all in one night. Otherwise the pasta sucks up all the liquid...0 -
Ok... This posts not lining up thing is making me a little nuts here.....lol!
Laurie,
No need to apologise for sharing how you feel here, ever.... we all are in a very emotional state right now and rightfully so... As for dropping the 'strong face', sometimes a glass of wine or two allows us to just be who we really are and feel what we're really feeling if just for a moment before getting back to the business of being invincible women.... lol... Edited to clarify.... I just re-read this post and hope it didn't come across as we should all get back to business but, more that, for me, I have slipped my 'strong face mask' that we so often present to the rest of the world back on even though I'm crying inside... Sure felt good to drop the facade for just a little while...
PS... I had had a couple myself last night before I posted as well... Thank goodness there's not a breathalyzer on my Ipad...lol!0 -
Seaside- thank you and you are 100% correct on everything. You are one smart lady. I sulked for half the day and rallied around 1 and as you put it-got back to business.
0 -
I seem to have stockpiled many ingredients in the fridge and figured that today I'd cook up some of them so we'll have some meals ready for this week when we have some construction happening in our kitchen. So,if it is a mess, we are all set for meals. I made a chicken and white bean chili which was nice and spicy. We just ate it in the family room as we watch the Patriots game....good indoor tailgating dish!
Also made a beef stew that included typical veggies as well as butternut squash and spices like cumin and cinnamon. I'm letting that cook a long time..."slow cooker on the range" motif.
I hardly ever make beef stews.
Last evening when we ate at a tapas restaurant, one of the many tasty little selections was a dish of scallops in saffron sauce. Oh my....yum! I googled it and found a recipe that looked close to what we had..It would really be a nice meal to serve guests.
I enjoy Middle Eastern food also, and will miss Apple's chat and stories about her experiences with her grocer and her recipes. There was something just so authentic, open, and creative about Apple! The piano tape is hauntingly beautiful.....0 -
Hi - I love all the suggestions. This might end up being a $30 soup. LOL
Why is this post page showing this in landscape view instead of portrait view? This is driving me batty!
0 -
My screen display of the thread was messed up this morning, then it got better and now is messed up again. It looks fine when everything is presented to my Android phone.
I haven't done an all vegetable soup before.
I usually start the soups with some sort of "de-fatted" soup stock...I will boil chicken, turkey or (toasted) beef bones, run it trhrough a strainer, and then let the stock cool so I can skim off the fat. I heat the stock back up and then add in whatever I happen to have in the fridge...leeks, carrots, celery, garlic chives from the pot outside, some rosemary also from an outside plant. Spices are usually salt, pepper, thyme, fresh basil if I have it (or from the jar if that's all I have). If the hot pepper plants have anything on them, I'll add a minced serrano (just one) pepper for a bit of "tang". A few hours at a very low simmer in a covered pot
The amounts change based on what I have and my mood. The dried stuff is usually a 1/2 teaspoon, the fresh spices (rosemary, basil, garlic chives) are in the "couple of tablespoon" amounts, (more f I don't taste it) and the carrots and celery is dependent on whether I want it "thick/stew like or thin".
My dad, when he was alive, was on a very salt restricted diet, so it would be zero salt and everyone else could add in what they wanted. Over the years, everyone went from adding a teaspoon or more of salt to a bowl of soup (so it's as salty as the canned soups) to virtually no salt at all.
One thing that I may try the next time I make some soup (happen to have last night's chicken bones in the freezer) is some fresh cilantro.
As for dinner tonight, the kibbeh (middle eastern lamb meatloaf) was awesome. It's another, "type it up and make it again" recipe. I was amazed at how well it swallowed up the onion. 3 of them in a "serves 4" recipe and the onion wasn't over powering. I'll post the recipe later.
Eric
0 -
Has anyone contacted the mods about the sudden, weird layout here? As far as I've seen the only thread that's out of whck is this one.... If no one has, I will do it....
0 -
60 degrees today and I finally found my grill!! Yahoo took advantage and did some steaks for dinner and some chicken breast for later in the week. Marinated the chicken with lots of fresh lemons...very lemony chicken. Made some scalloped potatos with sauteed bits of bacon and carmelized onions all in the skillet on top of the stove, used the little yukon gold baby potatos, came out yummy. Also made a pasta salad with stuff from the olive bar at the grocery store (just because it looked so darn good) Got the greek olives, marinated artichokes and marinated sun dried tomatos, all I had to do when I got home was add some tri-colored pasta. cubed cheese and oil and vinegar with some spices.
Ok really overextended myself in one day with the cooking....I think I'm done now for a couple of days.
0 -
Havt had time to read the post just got back from laying out in the sun and getting ready to go to dinner in the way up to the room I bought a lei and tomorrow morning I will put it in the ocean and say a prayer for Apple. Hope every one is feeling better And hope Michelle is having a great time in her trip. Can you believe a Bloody Mary is 10 bucks here ? Gresham gonna have to switch to beer. Lol
0 -
Suppose to be geesh! Ha!
0 -
Debbie,
Your idea with the lei sounds lovely.... That stupid autocorrect tends to be more of a pain than it's worth but sometimes those (mis)corrections are pretty funny! As for the $10 Bloody Mary... money well spent! That is my AM drink of choice when we are on vacation... Hope you and Chuck are having a great time! PS.... I sent off a PM to the mods to see if the formatting strangeness can be corrected....0 -
Seaside, it looks better on this new page... Thanks!
0 -
We've fixed the funky formatting on the previous page - thanks for letting us know!
• Your Mods
0 -
Lacey,
Hopefully it continues..lol! Guess I found out how regimented I've become because, while I kept trying to talk myself into the position that it wasn't bothering me because, after all I could figure it all out, even though the formatting was wrong and the avatars weren't matching... Truth is it was driving me CRAZY.....lol!
Laurie,
This reminds me of a post many moons ago on this thread where those who were willing to 'fess up to 're-arranging' our family's placement of dishes in the dishwasher did so.... Lol...
I swear, there isn't alot that gets to me but, I guess I do have my little quirks...lol0 -
Oh wow, thanks for the quick response mods! You all are the best!!!!
0 -
Seaside- I am laughing, I remember that and I think of it every time I rearrange the dishwasher. When DH and I went away last weekend I spent over an hour putting things in their right place (including the dishwasher) when I got home. I have come to kind of accept the fact that I am a bit OCD when it comes to my home. I wish I wasn't- but it BUGS me beyond belief!!!!
0 -
I must have missed the dishwasher re-arranging post - I totally do it! DH has a creative approach to loading it - me, not so much, lol!
0 -
Oh Laurie... I sooo know what you are talking about.... DH was off of work for the week between Christmas and New Years (which was wonderful) BUT between him putting dishes where he thought they should go and having Christmas Dinner here with my in-laws and kids helping with the dishes, I think I have just now this week finally sorted everything back out into where I can find what I need where it's 'supposed' to be....lol
0 -
For those wondering what the heck we're talking about re the dishwasher... the conversation took place waaaaaay back on page 134.... Too funny!
0 -
The only thing that I'm really OCD about is the kitchen cleanliness. The rest of the house can be "the dogs and cat do a pretty good job keeping it clean." But the kitchen *MUST* be clean.
I could go on for days about spell check and auto-correct mishaps. I've seen some pretty funny things.....
60 degrees in upstate New York???!???. That sounds like what it usually is here. This week is going to be cold for this area...below freezing every night and low 40F degree high temperatures. I can see the warm stuff on the Hawaiian beaches.... :-)
The kibbeh, again, was wonderful. I'm too lazy right now to go get the paper with the recipe on it...but i will. There are a couple of things I may change the next time around; like not using the food processor on the onions. I was in a huge hurry this afternoon so I "mushed" the onions in the food processor. It tasted OK, but the texture didn't seem right.
Eric
0 -
Yes, DH and I load the dishwasher very differently. He will nest the bowls, etc. Drives me nuts! LOL
0 -
My DH doesn't even try to arrange stuff in the dishwasher. He just puts stuff anywhere because he knows I'm going to rearrange it. I did suggest to him that he could learn the correct placement but so far he had been unreceptive to the suggestion.
Tonight is eleven bean soup (don't know what happened to the other 4 beans lol) in the crockpot. I'm going to be at my dad's all day unpacking boxes in his new apartment and with this wicked cold, I won't have the will or the energy to do much else.0
