So...whats for dinner?
Comments
-
Susan, what a lovely dinner....and those meze (s). Ou la la! Are those the kind of things that your Turkish restaurant offers? Do you think we might meet up there one of these days when you are feeling well?
And what a coincidence that our kids both attended UCL! I liked that his program was more integrated in the general university rather than a separate American "pod" within a university like some schools offer. We met lots of American students while in line for theatre tickets each day while visiting and learned that lots of them just had three days of classes each week with lots of recreational and travel time. My pre-med artist guy had a daily grind and waited until his program was completed to travel for a month with friends he made there. It was a good experience...and fun for us to visit!
I baked my pizza pies in a 500 degree oven last nite with good result. And, Luv, I think the dough recipe DH ended up using was Giada's....after researching just about every one in Googleland to find one that was supposed to ferment overnite in fridgge. In the end we learned about why that is useful, and that it can be done with just about any of the pizza dough recipes. Also we used all purpose flour since I worried that my 00 was too old. Must get more once I have a plan to use it! We are such baking neophytes....he is an all around kitchen neophyte. But a great clean up guy!
DH is trying to attempt some dinner cooking efforts, and does best when I leave the kitchen. My control issues really hit the fan when I am in eyeshot! I was not too excited about the flour dispersal during his pizza dough effort. After seeing your pictures of pasta making, I will not be suggesting he try that! LOL
Nance your pic reveals some elaborate looking ergonomic devices on your counters. I feel like I am looking at a food/lab/workshop!
How will you ever part with all of that equipment when you get your 15 minute pasta maker?Tomorrow night I am going to a knife skills workshop at our town library. The chef from Volante's is demonstrating. He's a great guy. It should be fun....and maybe save me a future trip to the hand surgeon! I did get a new zester with a handle for Christmas....my old one doesn't have one, which has always been a bit challenging.
About to try my new "My Pillow" out....
Eric, congrats and good wishes to DD on her school choices. It's always such an exciting developmental time in a family's life...made nicer these days by scholarship $$$!
0 -
Oh, for tonight's dinner DH had the leftover seafood fra diavlo, and I had the one puece of leftover puzza, leftover caramelized shallot soup, and a spinach salad with pecans, red onions and maple vinaigrette. The rest of the day I consumed way too much sugar!
0 -
Ooooohhh: pizza! pasta! artisanal bread! gelato! (Talenti has ambushed my diet more times than I care to admit). My cruise ended less than 2 weeks ago and it already seems like a lifetime now that I have had to resume eating “dead animals and leaves" (the only way I've ever been able to lose weight and keep it off long-term).
Had scrambled egg whites with chevre, basil, & sundried tomatoes for brunch, along with unsweetened cucumber salad. Was going to do a roast duck half tonight when Bob (DH) phoned and said he was finishing up rounds and would meet me at Calo (the Italian restaurant one neighborhood south--Andersonville--we've been frequenting for 36 yrs) to share a zuppa di pesce (Italian bouillabaisse). I was surprised at the discipline I was able to exert: San Pellegrino instead of prosecco or Pinot Grigio; shunning the bread basket (which contained tomato foccaccia); having a Caesar salad without croutons; ignoring the side of cappellini; and slurping the broth with a spoon instead of sopping it up with the included garlic crostini. Just the steamed clams, mussels. calamari, shrimp, scallops, crab legs and half a lobster tail. (“Just"). We still had more leftovers than Gordy (DS) could handle when we got home. For dessert (2 hr later), plain Greek yogurt with vanilla and fresh raspberries, and a decaf espresso.
Carole, I am an unabashed coffee geek. (I even used to roast my own beans). How do you make your cappuccino? When I have the time & patience I make espresso with my prosumer rig (Mazzer Mini grinder found dirt cheap on eBay from a cafe that went out of business, and an Andreja Premium heat-exchanger lever espresso machine I got 6 yrs. ago at an Italian specialty coffee wholesaler, as an anniv. present). I steam a mixture of cream, low-carb (FairLife no-hormone no-lactose) milk, and a little unsweetened vanilla-almond milk for flavor without sweetener. But when I'm lazy I use a little Nespresso Pixie capsule machine for the espresso and an Aeroccino automatic frother for the milk (it won't work with cream, skim, almond, or coconut--just whole or 2% FairLife, or 1% Horizon Organic--the latter no more than 3 days opened but too carby for me). With the Pixie and Aeroccino, it comes out more like a cross between a cappuccino and an espresso macchiato. I used to be able to free-pour latte art like leaves and rosettas, but these days it's a big deal if I can pour a simple heart. I actually took a full-day barista training course at the Intelligentsia roastery. Barrister, barista...
0 -
Dinner last night was marinated rib eyes and big baked potatoes - at someone else's house! Our friends who just finished a big kitchen/family room remodel invited us over, so off we went! It was delish!
eric - congrats to your DD and yay for scholarship $$$!
All the pizza and pasta look yummy!
I was a barista at Starbucks a long time ago, probably at least 15 years ago. I took that job when my kids were young because they had computerized scheduling and I could work while they were at school. Back then I had to attend "coffee college" but I don't think they do that anymore. This was when they sold whole beans from bins and we had to be able to converse about the individual varieties sold. I have a friend with a Pixie and frother - my Christmas gift to her this year was big wide and shallow cappuccino cups and two bags of Hiline pods.
0 -
the linguini was good although dense, I think if anyone gets the bug to do it again, I will go down a number or two to get thinner noodles. tonight we will go to friends house (my ADD friend who had the bright idea to make pasta) and try her lasagna noodles. I will bring a tossed salad, not sure if I can do anymore pasta this week.
Luv and bedo...I knew I recognized that nursing sense of humor....same here. Our motto as a nurse was "if you don't laugh, you will cry" Plus when you are on hr 16, you get a little punchy.
The bread recipes sound soo good but also dangerous for me. I could really stand to cut some breads outta my diet...and I use the term diet loosely,as I don't really have a diet.
0 -
Eric, congratulations to your DD! I get such a pleasure out of your pleasure in her.
Susan, your mezze meal sounds like a meal I would definitely enjoy.
ChiSandy, I am definitely NOT a barista but I am a coffee-a-holic. Last year I purchased a small expresso maker with a mllk foaming attachment. The brand is DeLonghi. It cost about $100 and doesn't take up a lot of space on my counter. We have three coffee making appliances on the counter, a common drip coffee maker, a mini Keurig and the expresso maker.
For dinner I am thawing two chicken legs and plan to try a recipe I printed from a NYT site. Braised chicken thighs with meyer lemon. I have two lovely meyer lemons that came in a gift box to my mother. She had no use for them. I'm not sure what the side will be tonight. The produce dept. at the Winn Dixie today was a sad sight. I bought sweet potatoes, tiny white potatoes, an acorn squash, and carrots. I also bought some frozen veggies as back ups.
I recently watched an interesting documentary with Michael Pollan called In Defense of Food. The recommendation is to eat primarily a plant based diet with meat as seasoning or for enjoyment but not every day. It seems to me a meat based diet is easier. A good vegetarian cookbook would probably offer some ideas.
0 -
I would think that for someone with no metabolic issues a plant-based diet would probably be the most prudent. But I screwed up my metabolism for so many years with yo-yo dieting and gain-loss-gain cycles (WW, Stillman, Atkins, Pritikin, Jenny Craig, Seattle Sutton, you name it) that only a sensibly low-carb diet (no refined carbs, starchy veggies, sugary fruits, juices, or full-lactose dairy) has ever worked for me over time. I regained only because I let overindulgence (foreign travel and the post-mammo pity-party) back into my life. The only sources of starch or sugar in my diet now are very-low-net-carb (high-fibe, 2-4 gm. net per slice) bread (and not every day), extremely dark chocolate, a very occasional piece of tropical or citrus fruit and a tiny occasional bit of pure honey, maple syrup--from a friend's grove--or a drop or two of pomegranate molasses, and carb-reduced (not just lactose-free) full-fat dairy (FairLife milk and Fage Greek yogurt with nothing in it but milk and cultures). Until my dx I would have a glass of wine with dinner (when in a fine-dining restaurant, sometimes a different one for app & entree)--in fact, I would often decide what to cook based on what I wanted to drink. Now I have to limit my wine to 2 or 3 5-oz glasses per week, so I either teetotal or go for short (2 or 3 oz.) pours a few times a week and rarely finish drinking them. I find that once I've eaten my entree protein I have no need to drink the rest of what's in my glass.
I have also cut WAY back on mammalian and processed meat. I used to have a slice or two of good bacon or sausage with my breakfast eggs, but have switched to lox or cheese instead and added some sort of green veggie or tomato at every meal. I haven't had mammal meat since Dec. 30. (Just realized that now).
This morning, instead of making a pour-over, espresso or Keurig cup, I decided to revisit the Aeropress (with which I travel to Europe with beans, hand-crank mini-grinder and travel kettle). It looks sort of like a manual breast pump: two interlocking cylinders, the inner one with a rubber bottom that allows for a very tight seal. The outer cylinder has a cap and filter (paper disc or reusable mesh) at its bottom. (There’s also an optional funnel adaptor for small-diameter mugs or cups). You take the included scoop and measure out and grind a scoopful of beans, screw the cap & filter on to the bottom of the outer cylinder, and dump in the ground coffee. Top with water just off the boil to your desired strength (1-2 oz. for pseudo-espresso, 3-4 oz. for regular coffee), stir 10 seconds. Insert the inner cylinder and plunge it down firmly and steadily until you hear a hiss and the plunger descends without resistance. Remove the apparatus, unscrew the cap and filter and eject the “puck” of grounds into the trash, disposal or toilet. Add more hot water to your desired volume. Easier cleanup than French press and no sediment in the cup. Tastes pure and full-bodied. Unfortunately, I pressed down a bit too hard using my right arm and I hope I didn’t trigger a flareup of LE or cording. (Will find out when I see the LE doc tomorrow). Yummy enough, though, that it might have been worth it.
0 -
Carole, check this out:
How to Be a Barista series--tips on frothing milk
0 -
I will say Chi, that you make low carb sound tantalizing.
We actually made it to the gym today and to my surprise, I was able to do my whole weight routine with only slight modification, in spite of my somewhat lengthy absence. It felt good and I'm happy to be back.
I feel like I won the lottery. I stopped at the butcher today to get some sausage casings and asked about soup bones. They don't always have them, but I got lucky in that today was beef processing day and I scored at least 15 pounds of beef knuckle and other kinds of bones all for $1.95! I now have some happily cooking away in the pressure cooker for beef stock. I have gotten to the point that I just can't stomach canned beef broth so I need to have homemade on hand always.
DH decided that he wants to grill hamburgers for dinner so he and his flashlight are doing the cooking. I will make a salad and cut up the condiments. I might throw a potato in the oven too. Or not. Two of yesterday's buns were left out from the freezer for the occasion.
Eric - congrats to DD! I know how proud you are of her.
I was an (ovo-lacto) vegetarian for about 7 years. Back then there weren't as many options are there are now, especially in restaurants. It was a lot of trouble. I get tired of meat sometimes and don't miss it but it's hard to be diabetic and not eat meat, although people do it I know. I don't know what I would do without eggs. Chi, I'm shocked at the price of your eggs. I pay $2.00 a dozen for cage free farm eggs! At least one advantage of living in the country close to the food source I guess.
Have you ever heard of a vaculator coffee maker? I have one of these which hasn't been used for years, but it makes divine coffee. Here's some infor about them if you're interested.
0 -
Nance, that is the height of luxury. Home-made buns for hamburgers. Lucky you to get all those bones for stock. I need to make chicken stock and beef stock. You're right about the bought beef stock not tasting good. I need to review stock making. I don't remember whether you roast veggies with the beef bones.
ChiSandy, thanks for the link. I haven't been chilling my milk pitcher and that would be easy to do. I want to buy a little metal pitcher. I've been using a crockery cream pitcher from a coffee set from Ireland.
I have a little dish with minced garlic, chopped rosemary, crushed fennel seeds and coarse pepper flakes all ready for seasoning the chicken legs. I also dug out the Pampered Chef clay cooker. All the cooking is in the oven. In addition to the meyer lemon wedges the recipe calls for olives. Sounds very similar to the chicken recipe with the salt-cured lemons.
0 -
Carole - I would think your clay cooker would act the same as a tagine. Thanks for reminding me about the preserved lemons. I need to use them. As far as roasting the vegs -- some do, some don't. I prefer them unroasted.
0 -
Eric - fantastic news about your DD's scholarships. I know you're proud.
Nance - the pictures of the flood damage in your area has been awful.
Carrie - if I cut out breads, I wouldn't need to diet. But that's not likely to happen.
I had too many things defrosted over the weekend due to invitations to play dominoes & eat out. So one day I had 2 broiled coldwater lobster tails w/drawn butter for lunch and still had to cook the Eye of the Round roast. Dinner last night was black eyed peas & coleslaw. Dinner tonight was a roast beef sandwich on a lovely egg roll. I probably need to freeze the rest of the roast.
Funny how our eating patterns change. My Dad wanted meat & potatoes every night. I don't have beef even one night month, and the same with pork. I might have either chicken or fish once a week.
0 -
Joyce, thank you for the reports on the wedding. Filled me with such sadness, but great happiness for this young woman as well. I am glad that Rick has found someone who makes him happy; and again, sad that he needed to. I am so glad that you were included in this celebration. Have a safe journey back to West Palm.
Eric, way to go EricDD. She has a whole kitchen cloche rooting for her!
Minus, love your food descriptions. Clearly one of the great things about feeding only you is you can eat whatever the hell sounds good to you that day. What freedom!
My day was soooooo long. The girl and I left at 9:30am and didn't get home again until 5:30. We headed to IKEA where we checked out some potential house items, and then zeroed into the light department. Bought lights for closets and hallways, but the regular overhead lights she wanted were sold out. No delivery date in the computer and they are disconnected as of April 1. Hmmmm.... she will keep looking. Headed back to Watertown and went to the Bath store. We actually picked out the three toilets and a 42" vanity. Then to a Starbucks so I could have a conference phone call before finishing at the tile store. The kitchen tile is ordered, and I have paid for all three orders in full. [how quickly money is flowing outward.]
Believe it or not, another French cousin arrives tomorrow. The temperatures have plummeted in the low 20º's. Brrrrr..... I can't imagine doing the Freedom Trail in this weather with the wind whipping off the ocean. Perhaps she likes museums. We shall see when she gets here.
Dinner tonight was a Chinese feast at Zoes'. Not enough time after 5:30 to make a real dinner. Must go to the market tomorrow so we can feed the cousin.
*susan*
0 -
The chicken was very good. DH liked it a lot, too. And so easy. The side was two baked sweet potatoes that lived up to the "sweet." I made a pan sauce with the drippings from the chicken by transferring the drippings to a small skillet and reducing by half.
Minus, if I lived alone I probably would eat the way you do.
Good shopping trip, Susan. Hope the visiting cousin isn't too much of a drain on your energy.
Joyce, we're glad you're back.
0 -
Two Dutch ovens of simmering stock, chicken on the right, beef on the left.
0 -
Roasted beef bones and veggies.
0 -
Roasted chicken backs with veggies.
0 -
Miz Inez Jake's yeast rolls at Christmas.
0 -
The kitchen has smelled wonderful all day. The oven is working overtime. Later this afternoon I'll let the two pots of stock cool and put them in the outside refrigerator to chill so that I can skim the fat off.
Dinner will be a pork chop cabbage oven dish. I looked up some recipes but didn't find anything I liked. I'll brown the pork chops and put them on the bottom of a baking dish. Sliced onions on top of the chops. Then potatoes, carrots and sliced cabbage on top. Chicken broth poured over the contents. Pats of butter on top. Seal tightly and bake for an hour and a half. Serve with dark grain mustard.
0 -
oh I am so hungry now Carole...........I am cooking squash ravioli that has been in the freezer to long.... And trying to get mu courage up to go put the car in the garage. I took the trash and recycle to curb w/o my coat on and it is bitter outside...
0 -
Nancy, I’m well aware of vaccum brewers--but being a klutz with two cats I’m nervous about all that glass. (My voice teacher used one to brew a pot and it was divine). We very rarely make coffee by the pot any more--the Keurig is quicker for my “I want it now” guys, and I like the control (and discipline) of making one cup at a time manually or as espresso.
0 -
Wonderful things happening in your kitchen Carole, yum!
Chi, the vaculator is a fair amount of trouble and the glass is worrisome but it's a fun thing to break out at a dinner party to impress your guests lol. That's how we got one. A favorite restaurant would bring one to the table with a hot plate and brew it in front of you and serve it with real cream. We are so impressionable.
0 -
Nothing terribly exciting here for dinner. Broiled cod, some mac and cheese (actually ziti and cheese) using some odds and ends of cheese from holiday cheese platters and steamed broccoli.
Today's pressure cooker experiment is Greek yogurt. It's incubating now, so we'll see.
0 -
Tonight is burgers that were rescued from the freezer debacle, on Hawaiian rolls with chipotle gouda and the usual toppings. To accompany having some baked potato salad.
0 -
Nance, how do you shape the hamburger buns?
0 -
Carole, the dough I use is soft, so it's easy to shape each piece into a ball. Then I use an English muffin ring to ensure they're all the same size and not too misshapen.
0 -
Do you flatten the ball of dough? I was wondering if I could turn a batch of yeast roll dough into buns.
0 -
You could, that's what the dough I use is. After I form them, I flatten them as much as possible. This particular dough is very active so I mash them pretty flat. They bake up just right.
0 -
I ordered out for Japanese food--but sashimi, not sushi. Miso soup to start, then octopus on seaweed salad, then the sashimi platter: salmon, tuna, halibut and hamachi, plus ikura (salmon roe) and tamago (flying fish roe). But instead of being served on a bed of rice (which I discard or put away for Gordy) or tasteless shredded daikon (meh) or beet (too carby for me and my guys refuse to eat beets), it came with half an avocado, little hollowed-out cucumber boats for the roe, and mesclun salad. The wasabi was a terrific decongestant. If it weren't so wildly indulgent I'd do this every week.
I feel full, satisfied...and virtuous. (Nutritionally, not fiscally).
0 -
Gosh such yummy things everyone is baking.
We had cheesy scalloped potatoes and pan fried thin pork chops last night. Enough for leftovers tonight which DH had. I came home late from a church funeral to find the trash not picked up. Turns out we never got a January bill though the real cause of the pickup failure was driver broke an axle and was 4 hours behind. Never got here. We are the only pickup on this cul-de-sac. One disadvantage of being a county, not city, resident is arranging own trash service. Anyways I was starving after dealing with that debacle. I ate the last of the chicken and dumplings from Sunday's deli deal. Just a little bit ago I had a huge salad mostly greens with a bit of gorgonzola and some yummy baby tomatoes. I'll have my dinner leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Supposed to be turning nasty rainy tomorrow and then much colder Sunday or Monday. Hint of maybe a dusting of snow.
I did forget to get instant yeast to make that KA bread. Not something I buy regularly lol. Not sure I have any yeast that's even in date.
I put a Mr. Coffee French press pot in our Mexican Christmas gift exchange. Bought it and never used it. DH says the ladies at his work were talking about French press coffee. The person that got seemed really pleased with it. I just heat water in the micro and use one of those Melita drip cones if I make a cup during the day. Otherwise I usually drink hot tea, the stronger the better.
Bought more chicken breasts so tomorrow night will surely be the chicken stir fry. I have enough rice and Japanese noodles of different varieties to start a shop.
Eric - wonderful news about DD's scholarship offers.
Susan - I hope you've found something indoors for French cousin. Does sound you and DD made lots of progress on house fixins'
Joyce - you may find me a stowaway in your luggage.
Carole - I love your hats. They look for warm and cozy. Seeing your stock pots I should have picked up the pkgs. of chicken wings the grocery was discounting. That would have made some good stock. I do have a turkey breast carcass frozen. Maybe I'll get that done over the weekend so it can go out with Tuesday's trash - fingers crossed for no more broken axles. DH did mail them a check for this month.
0
