So...whats for dinner?
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For a jarred sauce. I like Classico, especially the tomato and basil. Not too expensive but it tastes pretty good.
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For people looking for ways to eat/use up kale I have heard that people really like kale chips, but I have not tried them yet. Here is a simple recipe from the Food Network:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/melissa-darabian/crispy-kale-chips-recipe/index.html
For cabbage: good in soups, or braised in a pan as a side veggy. I like to saute it with carrots and onion and have it with asian noodles and a dash of hot pepper sauce and a dash of soy sauce. Also - this might be weird, but sometimes you find pulled pork sandwiches with spicy cole slaw actually in the sandwich - I love them! If you build the sandwich with bottom bun, pulled pork, extra BBQ sauce (I like the thin N. Carolina style), then the cole slaw, then crunchy fried onions that are like really skinny onion rings, then the top bun - OMG delicious! Not healthy necessarily, but delicious!
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Carrie- I found the polenta to be very easy and very good.
Susan- I made the polenta with ragu this evening. Havn't tasted the final dish but tasted the ragu and the polenta and it was delicious. When my dad comes I will assemble it and bake to warm it. I will let you know how he liked it, which I know he will. Thanks so much!
Deb- That is a great recipe! I made that earlier today and ended up having some for dinner tonight DH loved it too. The only thing I changed was I used veg stock instead of chx stock Thank-you
.Thank-you Laurie for the Idea. My dad will no doubt have some good meals while he is here. I thought about the cheesy shells but not sure how long he is staying and don't want to many leftovers.
Welcome hopingfitch! As far as coffee goes I think anything in moderation is OK!
Lacey- That is too funny!
Nancy- Our dads are kind of the opposite ha! You wouldn't think cooking vegetarian is hard but it really is or at least now since he can't swallow. Have a great visit with your dad.
Luvmygoats- I have had the tube polenta a long time ago and didn't like it. They might of improved it though.
Laurie- Glad your feeling a little better and hope the little ones are fine by morning too. My stomach has been doing flip flops all day and I have had to make a lot of trips to the bathroom, started with a headache early this morning. Is that what you had too? I just hope I feel better by tomorrow when I have to meet my dad for his Dr appointment also don't want him getting sick.
Carole- I love oyster poor boys! Yum!
Moon- I also use classico when Im in a hurry, I buy the garlic and cheese one.
Specialk- You should try the baked kale it is really good.
I got all my dishes done!! I made the potatoe and leek soup, polenta and ragu, macaroni salad- a yam dish with butter, cinamon and a little brown sugar.Probably grill some cheese sandwiches for lunch to go with the soup. I also made some blueberry muffins out of a box I usually make them from scratch but had to much to do. I accidently put in 1 3/4 cup of water instead of just 3/4 it was so watery and soupy so I added about 3 cups of oatmeal it looks good but dont know yet what it is going to taste like LOL! Thanks everyone for your ideas it really does help.
Will be leaving in the morning to meet my dad at a rest stop so he can follow us to the hospital in Portland he has to drive 5 hours for this appointment at the hospital. We will spend the night and he will follow us back to our house on Tuesday. So glad I can help him in any way I can. See you all Tuesday!
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Debbie, you were busy! Now hopefully you get to relax and enjoy time with your dad. The soup and the polenta sound good. I want to try them too!
Lacey, I loved the story too! I bet Laurie's idea would go over well too. He probably eats fancy all the time, I bet he'd really enjoy some simple comfort food. Is the sauce from Vermont Dell'Amore? It says from Vermont on the label. I bought some at Costco because they were sampling it, and I liked it. I also like the Barilla, it that the same thing as Classico? My family like it best when I make my mother's sauce though. My DS didn't win any points when we were having spaghetti at my MIL's and he announced it was good, but his other Mom Mom's sauce was better. Yikes!
I have never had oysters except for the raw one I tried but didn't like on New Year's Eve. Would love to try an oyster po' boy. Wish we could share food through this thread. DH made jambalaya last night with sausage, chicken and shrimp and quinoa instead of rice. DH and I loved it, but not DS or DD. win some, lose some I guess.
Have a wonderful day everyone!0 -
Kay, the jambalaya with quinoa sounds like an interesting variation. I use brown rice but quinoa would be faster.
Deb, you party hard and you cook hard! Stovetop polenta is very quick and good. I have a recipe for rosemary polenta that's delicious. I like it with braised lamb shanks.
WW lifers are required to weigh in each calendar month in order to get the free E-tools. We can attend meetings free as long as we are in good standing, which means within 2 lbs of goal weight. My weekend was disastrous as far as the scale is concerned. Tonight's dinner will be pan-seared fish and lo-cal veggie and salad. I'm perfectly happy and satisfied eating simpler food in smaller quantities but every now and then I switch back into the "eating for the sake of eating."
I would put my bottled spaghetti sauce, Sal & Judy's Heart Healthy, up against home-made but it is pricey. Between $4 and $5 for a jar that's probably not quite a quart. But it tastes great, is low in fat and sodium, and I use it when I want a quick, satisfying meal. I keep our favorite store-made Italian sausage in the freezer in the right portions. All I have to do is pop the sausage into a saute pan, cook it and pour in the sauce and heat while the linguine is cooking. Sprinkle on a hand-grated cheese.
Sal is Chef Sal Impastato, owner of a northshore Italian restaurant that has been in operation for at least 40 years. He is from Italy. We seldom eat there because it's crowded and noisy and you need a reservation because it's so popular. The last time I ate there I had oysters and pasta and it was delicious. The sauce was a garlicky olive oil and the portion was much too large. I brought half of it home.
Today I have to inventory the refrigerator and separate the keep from the throwaway.
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Lacey,
It took a little bit of doing but, while I didn't find Michelle's original post with her sauce recipe. I found where Laurie re-posted it! It is back on page 351 dated Oct 18th!
I have made it and it really is quite good! In fact I doubled it last time and froze half... I finally got sick of searching for it so wound up writing it down last time... And the name I gave it in my recipe collection is Michelle's Meat Sauce so it now is officially famous!
Debbie,
Hope your visit with your Dad goes well and that he is able to enjoy all of the great foods you've made for him. What a great post but, holy cow, it must have taken you forever to remember each person individually!! Very impressive.....
Chabba,
I was laughing so hard reading your post about pasta, pasta everywhere!! Reminded me of some of the old I Love Lucy episodes (like the bread one)... Too funny!
Nancy,
I must have missed where you starting making your own pasta! That is something that I have never tried to do but a couple of the local Italian places here make their own and it is sooooooo good! I'll have to back and see if I can find your post....
Woke up to it snowing like crazy this AM and now it's sleeting and trying to change over to ice/rain! Of course today is the day both of the college's here begin their spring semester and both of my kids will be driving in it.... makes me soooooo nervous!0 -
When using store-bought pasta sauce, which I do a lot of the time, my current favorite is a mix of Classico tomato and basil and Classico 4 cheese. Just don't tell my family that that is what they refer to as Mom's Spaghetti Sauce...lol!
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seaside - lol on the Mom's sauce! I like Paul Newman's Marinara for a particular recipe I make because it is very smooth. The recipe is one I started making a long time ago and modeled after a dish I had in a restaurant. It is homemade crepes that are filled with ricotta, spinach and ham, then topped with marinara and mozzarella and parmesan and baked. They are a bit like a Florentine enchilada I guess. If I don't have time to make sauce I use the Paul Newman's.
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I like Classico, too. And Hunts has a pretty good canned sauce with garlic and oil - just add meat and you've got a decent quickie sauce.
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Ooooh SpecialK,
That recipe sounds delicious! Would you mind sharing the recipe?0 -
Oh - my mouth is drooling with these recipes. Special K, I 2nd Seaside's request for the crepes recipe. Taste of Home this month has a build a sandwich article with the coleslaw on it.
Debbie - I've been reluctant to try something expensive (relatively) like the polenta without knowing how it would taste. I have no doubt I would like it if it was good. I will have to add the ingredients to shopping list for Wednesday in Fort Worth. I see a Central Market trip. Wow, lots of cooking done for you. Now you can have a good visit with your dad.
Carole - Your rosemary polenta sounds good too. Have a rosemary bush out front. Mind sharing the recipe? Hope my fig tree survived the early cold snap; still tightly bundled. We're due for severe storms tomorrow. It feels like April out there. Bet you are in line for overnight or early Wednesday.
Laurie - I hope your tummy is better this morning and your DS is not ill today.
I have had squirrels playing chase across my roof all morning. BAM sounds like a car door followed by the pitter-patter of feet. He-ing and she-ing as my mother used to call it.
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Some good news to share, for a change. Saw the RO this morning and most of my brain mets have resolved themselves. There are still 5, all but one very small, and she is confident that they will continue to shrink away. The one bigger met is just 1 cm and has a bit of swelling around it. So I am taking a tiny dose of decadron to help get rid of the swelling. I'll have another MRI in a couple of months unless something changes.
This is the first good news we've had in months and you can just imagine the relief we are all feeling right now!
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That's GREAT news Michelle!!!!
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Michelle,
That is GREAT news. Couldn't be happier at ALL.
*susan*
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Yay Michelle. Great news. What a way to start the week!!!
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I am very pleased Michelle. No..make that thrilled..... for you! :-)
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michelle - YAY!!!!! Awesome news!
As for the crepes recipe, I usually make this when I have leftover ham but you could certainly just get some ham. If I do that I go to the deli and ask for about a 1" piece of black forest ham. This is one of those recipes I do by sight so these measurements are approximate, except for the crepes. The filling is pretty forgiving, if it seems to sloshy (technical term, lol!) I just add some more mozzarella to bulk it up.
Crepes: 2 eggs, 1/2 c. all purpose flour, 1/4 t. salt, 1/3 c. milk, 1 T. melted butter. Combine eggs, flour, salt and milk in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Whisk in the melted butter. Heat a skillet and brush some oil or melted butter, or spray with cooking spray. The recipe says use 2-3 T. per crepe but I usually use a dry measure 1/4 c. measuring cup for each crepe. Pour in the batter and tilt the pan around or use the back of a wooden spoon to spread the batter. Cook until the edges look a little dry, then flip. Stack the cooked crepe between waxed paper pieces. You can definitely substitute any crepe recipe, or buy ready-made ones. These are easy and not too fragile.
Florentine and Ham Crepes: Mix a med. container of ricotta cheese (or use homemade), 3 eggs, chopped basil to taste, cooked spinach - I cook it with onion and garlic - probably about a cup of cooked or 1 pkg. of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry, about a cup of ham chopped into small pieces, salt to taste (remember you already have ham that is salty), ground black pepper, about a cup of mozzarella. If you don't cook your own spinach, saute about 1/2 c. chopped onion and a t. of chopped garlic in some olive oil and add to the mix. You need the cheese/spinach/ham mixture to be a little thick so it stays inside the rolled crepe. To assemble: put about 1/2 c. of the filling in a crepe and put it seam side down either in an individual baking dish - pictured below and hold two or three, or in a square or oblong shallow casserole dish. Once the crepes are filled and in the dish or dishes, put about 1/4 c. of any marinara sauce you like on the top and sprinkle a little mozzarella and parmesan on top. Bake at 350F. for about 30 minutes, or until completely heated through and a little bubbly.
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Yay Michelle!!! Your news makes my day! So happy for you and your family
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Special K - That sounds heavenly. I will have to look for premade crepes. Don't see it on my agenda and knowing me would never get around to doing it. Thanks so much for sharing.
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Special K the recipe sounds yummy, but I agree. I might need to find pre made crepes- sounds like something I would flub up. Which reminds me, I want to try making egg rolls...I know they make those wraps pre made...
So maybe DS2 yucky belly was car sickness? He was not sick during the night last night as I feared (lots of nightmares but not sick.) My belly is doing better today finally too. I actually feel like cooking and making dinner. But I am going to keep it simple since DH finished my bread crumbs last night for the chicken parm and just have cubed steak and mashed potatoes with gravy.
It is snowing here again, but not as cold. They are only expecting around 4 inches. Hopefully it's enough for the kids to slide on!
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Yay Michelle!
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Yaaaaaay Michelle!! That is GREAT news!
SpecialK,
Thanks for posting your recipe! I can't wait to try it.... One question, is the medium size ricotta the 15-oz size?
Laurie,
Glad it was just car sickness and that your stomach is starting to come around! We had a snow day here today. Started with snow, moved on to sleet and now freezing rain. Supposedly the temps are supposed to rise overnight and we'll eventually be getting rain! Basically a big ol' bucket of ugly! Blech!0 -
Wonderful news, Michelle.
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Michelle - I'm so glad I looked at this thread today! That's the greatest news!!!
I've been kind of avoiding this thread because of the post-chemo days queasies and food talk but so glad I opened it to get that news (as well as your meat sauce recipe on page 351 and now SpecialK's recipe as well - but most importantly the receding mets news!!).
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Thanks everyone! Needless to say we are all thrilled as this is the first good news since I was told I was NED in October 2011 then the Mets news the following May. And I'm glad you all are enjoying my sauce recipe! We had spaghetti tonight but it was Paul Newman's Cabernet Marinara sauce, DH added some ground beef and cooked the Dreamfields, and I ate a whole serving of it. He was a happy man as my eating has been pretty skimpy. He told me I can have chocolate ice cream for dessert...LOL!
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GEESH!! I can't keep up with you guys.
Don't know where my Potato Leek Soup recipe went.
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I always make my own sauce and usually freeze it (this, since marrying my Italian husband back in the late nineties) but some of these sauces sound really good - i.e. the Paul Newman's Cabernet Marinara as well as the smooth one SpecialK mentioned. I think I may try the Paul Newman's Cabernet Marinara with some penne.
Have any of you ever tried the little cubes of frozen spices from Trader Joe's? I don't think I could cook without them - well, I could - but they sure do make cooking easier (at least for me). They're in the frozen food section and the ones I use all the time are garlic, basil and now ginger. I think they also have cilantro.
Here's a link to what they look like. The brand name is Dorot:
http://www.notmartha.org/images/other/2012feb/dorot.jpg
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WOOHOO! Your news made my whole week Michelle! I am so happy for you.
Deborey, no worries, I saved that potato leek soup recipe. I can't wait to try it.
We had DH's chicken masala tonight. It was leftover from last week. Had it with a salad and some naan. I am not a big fan of leftovers either, but I think things that are in a lot of sauce (I.e. spaghetti sauce, soups) are actually better the second time.
Deb, can't wait to hear how your dad liked all those things you made for him. Laurie, glad to hear all is improving in your house. LeeA, you are handling chemo extremely well. You'll be done before you know it.0 -
LeeA - Well another reason to return to Trader Joes. No, I haven't seen them but the ginger sounds interesting. TJs sent me their newsletter today - 5 nachos, 5 beer pairings. Do yah think SuperBowl is coming up????
Enjoy the chocolate ice cream, Michelle. Great day!!
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Now I'm back at work, I just cant keep up with you guys.
Michelle... that is the most excellent news - wonderful.
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