So...whats for dinner?
Comments
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Nice thought that this thread is about chatting in the kitchen.
Nancy, the restaurant was one you listed, Cunetto House of Pasta. I hope to go there again sometime.
Monica, it sounds as though those freezer meals work great for you.
My chicken and dumplings turned out good. But I ended up eating only a small bowl and indulged in some fast food fried chicken. That greasy, salty awful food tasted good!
This afternoon I bought some dark chocolate Heavenly Hash "eggs" and dark-chocolate gold brick eggs. They're both made by a local candy company, Elmer's, and are big favorites for Easter candy.
SpecialK, your trip for the family wedding sounds like great fun.
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Carole, Cunetto's is my favorite. Their tutto mare is to die for. And lucky me, I have the recipe!
I hope you ate Popeye's, the spicy is also my favorite.0 -
Yikes Auntie Nance, sorry to learn that your weather is so wintry (wintery?). Hopefully it will melt quickly....and stay south of us as I just heard predicted. Your skillet pizza sounds perfect for a snowy day.
We had take out since I just didn't feel like cooking after my long late afternoon walk.
Ordered in from Not Your Average Joes...crab cakes, caesar salad, roasted red pepper and artichoke pizza.....definitely could not hold a candle to last week's Brooklyn pizza.
Seaside, what a wonderful opportunity for DD! But I know how you must be pining (worrying) for her. At a similar age, our DS2 took off for Africa by himself to help a village get the accounting end of a foundation established. This guy never even liked to fly, but felt compelled to do this after graduating from college. It was a couple of years after 9/11, and a high security alert time.....as we waited in line to check in at Logan for his flight to Heathrow, we were behind a guy who had minimal luggage and nervous shifty eyes. Oy! DS2 and I could barely look at each other with our same worried thoughts. Of course he made it to Heathrow perfectly fine, and then to Kampala, eventually the village, and back home several weeks later. Had a wonderful, life changing experience. I hope your DD fully enjoys herself and learns a lot.
You probably already know this, but Costa Rica is a very popular spot these days for people to visit for accelerated Spanish programs....tho probably not in the rain forest.
Do you recall when we were young travelers and had no easy or inexpensive way to let our parents know how we were or what we were up to? We are so more easily connected these days, and expected to be. You almost have to go to the rain forest (or Butiru, Uganda) to experience real youthful independence in a totally different environment.0 -
Nance, could you say more about Tutto Mare? Don't know it....
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Lacey, Cunetto's version is a seafood pasta (shrimp, clams, crab and lobster) in a garlic butter broth.
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carole - I am so looking forward to it - this is my first cousin getting married. He lives in London, as does his mom (she was married to my mom's twin - he married a much younger woman and had these children late) and his sister. They are the only family I have left, so maintaining ties is very important. He is an architect and spent some time in NYC working for a firm there - we were able to get together a couple of times, and he has been to my house in FL - we ran a half-marathon together here. My biggest challenge is coordinating flying us in from different locations, traveling to different locations while there and all the hotel arrangements, then I need to stop on my way back in Washington, D.C. for my vaccine trial appointment. Yeesh!
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Lacey,
Thanks for the support!! In my heart I am so happy that she has this incredible opportunity but as my Momma genes kick in I worry. So funny how we have evolved into a society where we get worried when can't get in touch with others (or be gotten ahold of) 24/7... Back in the day our parents didn't have any of the contact options that we have today but, here we are, no worse for wear..... lol!0 -
SpecialK, if anybody can manage all those arrangements, you can! I've come to admire your efficiency and many talents that shine through your posts.
Nancy, what toppings did you put on your deep dish pizza? I'm thinking I may make pizza for dinner tonight, but not deep dish.
It's unseasonably cold here this week. I signed up for a 3 day golf tournament that begins tomorrow and tomorrow's high is supposed to be 58 with some wind. Tonight's temp will get down to freezing. I'm thinking I'll have to get out the long underwear! It will be sunny, though, and that will help. I'm not a "cold" female, especially on arimidex. Some of the ladies here hate cold weather and will show up with ear muffs on!
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Carole, I topped it with sweet Italian turkey sausage (that's all I had), green pepper and mushrooms along with cheese, of course.
We ended up getting at least a foot of snow. It's drifted much higher in some places. :-(0 -
It's a beautiful morning here in Seattle. I'm sitting in my highrise office looking out at the Cascades. Gorgeous. When it's sunny here, there's no place more beautiful IMHO.
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We lived in Seattle in the late 60's, then spent 20+ years in Olympia where we had the same views of the Olympics and of "The Mountain", Mt Rainer. I have to agree it is a spectacularly beautifull part of the world. I do feel, however, that except for the areas that have been despoiled by man, most of the world is a place of great beauty and wonder.
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Dinner tonight represents my mixed feelings about my current thyroid status. On the one hand, I will have to fight gaining weight so I made a vegetarian leek and potato soup. But, I wanted flavor so I made cheddar cheese-dill biscuits. I am getting tired easily and feel just a bit unsteady. But not tired enough to actually fall asleep. To be honest, I think I am just plain bored to tears.
*susan*
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carole - what a nice thing to say, and a vote of confidence! Good luck with the golf tournament - sounds like it could be some challenging conditions, especially with the wind!
susan - your dinner sounds yummy - we had tortilla soup tonight - must be a soup night! I always hate that limbo between recovery from surgery and feeling good - you are tired but can't sleep, also can't concentrate on anything. Anesthesia hangover - it is a bummer!
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Susan, sorry to learn of your boring recovery process and thyroid "menu dilemma". Will you be taking a med (I can't even believe I am talking meds given my current disdain for all things pharm) that will help regulate your metabolism so you can cook the wonderful way you typically do? Sending wishful thoughts for you to heal fast....and maybe find a good book to pass the time?
I learned today that my "step mother" (awkward name for her since she married my dad when I was already grown up, but am very fond of her) who is nearing 86 years and in great shape, just had her kidney and a ureter removed due to cancer in her kidney. We visited her two weeks before the surgery and she was as fit as a 60 year old and eager to take care of business. Well, of course her poor body has been traumatized from a four and a half hour surgery and she is struggling...needs to stay in the hospital for a few more days before going to a rehab center since she is so weak. This makes us so sad. Just hoping that her pathology report comes back clean. Sadly, she is too weak to return to her home and may also not be able to go to the rehab center that is down the street from her home ( and where she volunteers weekly! ) if there is not a bed available when she is ready to be discharged....and also depending on lots of other bureaucratic ins. matters. Seems terribly unfortunate since that would be the place she will most likely heal the fastest. I feel so badly for her....and plan to make a bunch of meals she can have in her freezer, which I'll bring down (CT) for when she is able to be at home. Any ideas for such freezable food are welcome...and best ways to freeze such travelling meals ( other than my haphazard way for us ).She is a pretty unadventurous eater on a regular day....mainly chicken and fish of a non-spicy variety.
Tonight we had shredded salsa chicken in flour tortillas and a really interesting tuscan kale salad with pears, brussells sprouts and walnuts. Didn't really go with the salsa chicken, but was quite tasty!0 -
Lacey,
Oh, I am so sorry to hear this. I will think of some freezer-friendly meals that fit into this category. Give me something to do tomorrow. Right now, I need to crawl into bed.
*susan*
p.s. Yes. I will get a pill, but all indications are that they will give me as little as possible. I negotiate well.
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Hopefully the pathology report comes back clean. That is a taxing surgery for anyone.
When I cook turkey, I freeze the leftovers and it seems to freeze well. I would think chicken would freeze as well as the turkey.
Mom and I spent from a bit before noon until 5:45pm today doing doctor stuff for her surgery tomorrow. Before that, it was blood draws for lab work. It's minor surgery (battery pack replacements), but I guess they're being careful....she's almost 95 years old.
I told her she's getting new Energizer Bunnies just in time for Easter.0 -
Fast casserole you can freeze.
Small bag of OBrian potatos (onion and peppers)
1 can creamed corn
Couple pieces Bacon(may use, turkey bacon or veggie sausage, cooked) toss all together while potatos remain frozen. Put all in freezer bag. freeze. To use, Place in oven at 350 for about 40 minutes, or until bubbly. Or, use microwave for 30 minutes on high.
Can also add small bag of butternut squash diced, frozen.
Total comfort food.
Of course you can do it all from scratch, but it is real fast using the stuff above. I have had it all the ways above, my fav is with real Bacon, but the veggie breakfast sausage is also good. This really is better than it sounds.0 -
Hey there everyone:
You are all so sweet for saying I could talk about SX issues in the kitchen! Dinner tonight: 1/2 individual-sized frozen vegan mac and cheese. (unfrozen)
Spent all day at the hospital today (alone! Yikes) seeing BS. It seems the road to MX will contain multiple surgeries for me. BS is doing an excisional biopsy next Friday. The lesion is 11cm, so it will be full-on surgery -- general anasthetic, etc. It won't be for treatment purposes; they're going to take the whole thing out to biopsy it. I had partial MX 2008; this new surgery will disfigure the breast, which has already had a lot of tissue removed from it; after biopsy results, we will determine the next step.
I am in contact with my BS from PA; she is consulting. She's pretty fabulous. She advocates MX; new BS is all about "conservation." Yikes. There's not going to be much left to conserve, and then she wants to reconstruct it. Pretty calm, but not sleeping or eating much. I've been misdiagnosed so many times with this -- I've got a rare cancer, not ductal or lobular -- so all the testing I'm doing doesn't mean much, since doctors very often misinterpret what's going on. For instance, my kind never shows up on mammography, so when I have a mammo, doctors run around shouting, "It's normal!" Then they catch up to what's going on with me specifically. At least, I hope they do.
Hope you all are well. Lacey, I will try to think of freezer casseroles. What about homemade baked beans with miso and apple butter? What about a baked (real, not vegan) macaroni and cheese?
Moonflower I love you, but that casserole does not sound good to me
In fact, though, nothing sounds good to me, so it's not your casserole's fault.0 -
For the freezable chicken recipe - what about Chicken Tetrazini? I think the creamy aspect would make it easy to freeze.
http://www.marthastewart.com/343648/chicken-tetrazzini
Also maybe chicken and rice, such as this one, although I would use fresh mushrooms and maybe a bechamel instead of the canned soup unless you are in a hurry:
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/crispy-chicken-and-rice-casserole-10000000480111/
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My mom is out of surgery.
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Hope things went well Eric. Lacey, wishing your step mom a speedy recovery and the same goes for you Susan.
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Eric,
I hope that your mother has no complications and is ready to go quickly.
*susan*
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Lacey,
The things that my father and mother enjoyed having in their freezer [supplied by me] were many. In no particular order: "flavor" packs of frozen smoked turkey legs and a bag of herbs and beans, chicken stock with a pack of lentils with frozen diced vegetables [made the house smell good], chicken pot pie without the crust, slices of meatloaf, meatballs with frozen sauce with a box of pasta, chicken parmegian, lasagna, and shepards pie. For fish, I would think that you could buy those frozen cod fillets and put them in parchment paper with vegetables, wine, oil, and potatoes. Then she could just pop the packages onto a sheet pan to cook. My favorite chicken recipes don't really freeze well, so I am drawing a bit of a blank there. Oh, how about a cacciatore? Or cabbage rolls?
The hard part is getting enough variety like vegetables into the diet. Soups are the best way that I have found.
Hope this helps,
*susan*
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Lacey,
I second Susan on the soups. The non-cream based ones tend to freeze really well and are very comforting when you don't feel well!
Another idea if she has a crockpot is to package all the ingredients for a crockpot meal into a freezer bag. Then all she has to do is dump it in the crockpot (from what I read seems you don't even have to thaw it, although I think I would be cautious if it has raw meat in it) slap a cover on and forget about it until dinner time. If you google slow cooker freezer meals you'll find lots of ideas! Seems many people do this type of food prep and freeze all in one day and then have meals ready to go for a couple of weeks..... Who knew? lol
Eric,
Glad you Mom's out of surgery... Hoping for an easy recovery for her!0 -
My mom is home now. She said the Tramadol wasn't working well...but as soon as she laid down, she fell asleep. She can take one every 4 to 6 hours. It's been four hours, but I'm not going to wake her.
The surgeon made two 2-1/2 inch incisions, one on each side of her chest.
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Eric, a big sigh of relief that your mom has her surgery behind her. Here's hoping she has an easy recovery.
Sorry, I don't have any suggestions on the frozen meals. All I've ever frozen is leftovers. Foods like chili and sliced beef roast and gravy are good out of the freezer. I just remembered I have cooked a couple of different casseroles for freezing. Eggplant parmesan and a yellow squash casserole with beaten eggs and boxed dressing mix. The eggplant parmesan was the better of the two. The yellow squash concoction is better eaten when cooked.
The homemade pizza last night was good, but dh played a dirty trick on me. To be fair, it was accidental. My half of the pizza did not have onions. His half did. When he got up to get his second slice, he took one of my slices! All I wanted to eat was two slices but I didn't have a leftover slice. He had two leftover slices.
I still have enough dough for another pizza or for calzones. I'm thinking a filling of spinach and ricotta cheese with some melting cheese, too, would be good.
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Eric,
You probably already know but, tramadol can be rough on the stomach so if you can get your Mom to eat before her meds that will help... Also the pain meds get you on the other side as well in that they can be pretty constipating... So maybe some higher fiber foods like prunes, prune juice or pumpkin until her body kind of jump-starts from the aneasthesia and pain meds....Sending healing thoughts for your Mom...0 -
Ladies and gent, thank you for those all of those wonderful ideas! They give me some good direction, and help me get out of my creative dilemma of not thinking I can come up with things to make for her since we are such very different eaters! Soups sound great, tho I guess I have to leave out any pasta products if I am freezing them, eh? Love the idea of prepping slow cooker meals....and It might be nice to buy her a small slow cooker as a coming home gift, along with the packaged veggie/bean ingredients. Will definitely check out on google for specific ideas. I think she would be a chicken pot pie person, so that is a great idea, too. Chicken rice dishes probably make great sense. I will check out that link, Special. All of your ideas are excellent and so appreciated! Thanks so much!!
I think I will be able to come up with a nice variety of things within her limited palate...just hoping she gets out of that damn hospital soon!
On my way home from an appt today, I stopped to pick up some glass freezer containers, but the woman in the store convinced me to go with Sterlite, which were good for freezing, had varied sizes, and allegedly no BPA and microwave safe. They were closing the store so I went with her suggestion w/o thinking much about it. Can always return them. Tonight I'm doing some baking for Anne, so better get back to it.
Glad to hear your mom had an expeditious battery change, Eric. Best to her for getting back to her usual amazing routine.
Bobo, I feel for you having to have that appt alone yesterday. If you think it could be of any comfort to you at all, as you go through what sounds like a complicated process, keep us "abreast" of your procedure dates and we can accompany you as pocket support! Sometimes, just having that supportive energy can feel good. Good luck!0 -
Sleep is the best thing post-surgery as I have just been reminded. If there is pain, she will wake. *susan*
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eric - glad that your mom is home and resting - hope she continues to do well.
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