So...whats for dinner?
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Hi Deb! Great picture - such a cutie.
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Deb, what a great picture!
Today I feel like I am on chemo. Ugh. C and I went to Lexington and Concord where everything was basically closed. We walked on trails with ice, had cold air blown over us from the water, had a lovely lunch, and enjoyed both the North Bridge and the local museum. The kids, including C, went out. The girl arranged for a whole group of folks to go out to dinner and then onto some clubs. Of course, she will not be drinking. The p'Nut is not of age yet!
Dinner was a simple leek and potato soup. Perfect after a week of eating some really heavy foods.
*susan*
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Deb, what a great pic and darling granson! Happy New Year!
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Deb, so good to "see" you! Your grandson is adorable and he does resemble you. Maybe you could return and include words with the picture? :-)
Susan, hope you have recovered from the sightseeing and are feeling better today.
DH joined my mother and sister and me for lunch yesterday so we had a light dinner last night. I retrieved the eggplant parm casserole from the freezer and thawed/heated it. He had some leftover cabbage slaw. The eggplant dish was vegetarian and was delicious. Rao's sauce.
I'm thinking home-made pizza for tonight. And I have some red lentils in the pantry that may hop into a soup.
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Carole, how funny! We're having pizza tonight too (the dough has done an overnight in the fridge) and Turkish red lentil soup is on the menu for tomorrow. Great minds think alike!
Woke up to snow this morning, which wasn't supposed to start until this afternoon. Then single digits tonight. Ugh! I have to go into town this morning to pick up eggs so I'll have to drive in the stuff. Bah humbug I hate winter.
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Hi all,
Actually, I do cook, but just for me, and I try to make it very healthy, which, is boring. I cook fish and chicken mostly, with salads and vegetables. Nothing fancy. I love to cook and bake. I made several different Christmas cookies and goodies, but gave them all away.
Do any of you do Pinterest? I do and collect recipes! Maybe someday.......
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Sunshine, maybe you could tutor me in Pininterest. I've made a couple of unsuccessful efforts to "do" it and I don't understand how it works.
Nance, that is funny! My pizza dough isn't made yet. I use the pizza yeast that Mary Ann Esposito recommends. The dough doesn't have to rise in advance. Not always easy to find the yeast. I will use her whole wheat pizza crust recipe but may include some all purpose as well. I like the whole wheat taste and using it supports my illusion that I'm being healthy eating pizza. Instead of buying Italian sausage, I will attempt to make our sausage from The Pig taste like Italian sausage. This was dh's idea and I liked it.
Winter is mainly a word so far this year. I got back from the gym and changed from my workout shorts and tee shirt (wet with perspiration) to dry shorts and tee shirt. I toyed with the idea of washing my dirty little Prius (which I continue to love) after breakfast but instead I'll procrastinate and finish the round of stores in search of navy slacks. These days I only check out a couple of stores before I'm ready to call it quits. There are two left, Belk and Kohl's. The pickings are slim but what's there is marked down. Of course my hope is that I'll lose some weight and these clothes I'm buying will be too big. Having them on hand is the backup plan!
I recently started getting the NYT food newsletter in e-mail form. This morning I printed out a recipe for roast beef for sandwiches. I plan to give it a try next week. Winn-Dixie had rump roast on sale for $3.50 a lb. The recipe calls for top sirloin but it was twice the price and I decided to give the humble rump roast a chance to shine.
Tomorrow's Sunday dinner (ho hum) is probably #3 of the rotation of no more than 10 meals. Boiled smoked shoulder ham, sweet potato mash with butter and Splenda brown sugar mixture, and baked cabbage. For some reason baking the cabbage makes it very sweet. I'll use a little home-made chicken broth and some pats of butter on top. And I may throw in some carrots.
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Carole, tell me about boiled ham. My only attempt was somewhat of a failure.
I use Pinterest a lot but only as a storage place for recipes or techniques or ideas that I pick up from other sites. I don't get many recipes from Pinterest itself because I found it to be too time consuming (easy to waste a whole day). I do find it useful for diy projects and decorating ideas.
Yesterday I found a one pound piece of fresh salmon so I decided to cure it. Since I had the salmon, of course I decided I need bagels so they are now doing their first rise. They will spend the night in the refrigerator to be made tomorrow or Monday.
All of this has made a mess of the kitchen so I'll spend the next few hours trying to get it into order before it's time to make a mess with the pizza.
Carole, I make homemade sausage all the time. It's easy and delicious. Alton Brown had a good recipe.
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Nance, I put the smoked shoulder ham in a big stock pot with water and boil it for 2 to 3 hours, until a big fork pushes into it easily. Take it out and let it cool off a little and slice it up. I guess it's a country thing. You can't always find those smoked shoulders. It's my mother's favorite ham, and I have to agree with her that ham heated in the oven is not as good. I'm not a big fan of ham but the boiled ham is juicy and a little less salty than baked ham.
DH has a sandwich for lunch most days so if there are leftovers, as there should be, he can use this ham instead of buying the sliced ham at the supermarket.
ChiSandy, I saw that kind of milk that you mentioned. It was at Sam's Club but it was chocolate. Funny how we don't notice a product until it's somehow brought to our attention.
Nance, I will check out Alton Brown on the sausage. The several recipes I read called for the same seasonings, among them fennel seed. Interestingly, they also called for a little red wine. That was a surprising ingredient. A couple called for anise but I don't have that on hand and am not sure exactly what the taste is.
I didn't intend to eat lunch out but as I was checking out at Belk's, I suddenly felt light-headed and weak. So I went to a little barbecue place several stores down and had a brisket sandwich. The meat was quite good but the bread disappointingly ordinary. Now I feel okay.
It has turned into a pretty sunshiny day.
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Took my friend from NOLA out for dinner last night (for lunch, we made the rounds of Costco’s free samples). Went to B’way Cellars. She had veg-beef-bean soup and roast chicken w/chardonnay sauce, broccoli and mashed potatoes. I had salmon rillettes, pork shank in mole sauce and sauteed spinach. Dessert was sugar-free chocolates from Lickety Split on our corner.
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Boy, you miss two days and feel like the world as turned. I won't try to comment on all your posts, but I enjoyed reading what everyone is doing. Some good news & some good food.
My cousin was here from Phoenix again for her daughter to have more scans at MD Anderson. It still doesn't look good for this lovely 40 year old girl with liposarcoma. She can't have any more radiation and more surgery is out of the question since the latest tumors have encircled the organs in her gut & are growing fast enough to break her ribs. The latest chemo has only slowed down the growth.
On the plus side, this is their 3rd or 4th trip to Houston. I haven't seen this cousin except briefly at out-of-town funerals since the late 1960s. We have had a marvelous time getting re-acquainted and sharing old memories of grand-parents and parents long gone. She doesn't have a car & I'm driving to the medical center, so we've been eating out.
One day we ate French Dip made w/prime rib. Devine!!! Another evening I had cannolini with spinach & basil red sauce and she had fettuccine with chicken strips & mushrooms. Also last week I had a "real" patty melt at an old Mom & Pop market opened in1939 that started making sangys & burgers in the 70s and introduced one "plate lunch special" in the 80's along w/burgers. Still the same family. The tables are basically in what was once their garage & patio. On their menu it says: "We have nothing small, nothing healthy & nothing fast." They serve burgers & a few sandwiches & sides AND homemade pies & cobblers. Each burger is way more than 1/2 a pound & I had to force myself to finish my patty melt - but I wasn't going to leave anything so tasty. BTW - it's cash only & always a line out the door.
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Carole, thanks for the ham info. I like the taste of the ham I boiled and the fact that it was less salty but I think I boiled it too long. Didn't care for the texture. This was a large smoked shank. I don't often see shoulders. I don't care for baked ham either. I usually just serve it at room temperature, although I might glaze it with a kitchen torch. It sounds like you had a low blood sugar episode. Take care!
Minus I'm so sorry about your cousin, that is so tragic. I'm glad you can spend some quality time together. Love the mom and pop place description.
The pizza was really good. There are leftovers for lunch tomorrow.
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Minus, I too am so sorry about your cousin's daughter. But is a blessing to have the silver lining of you and your cousin being able to re-connect in meaningful ways.
Carole and Nance...love how your "great foodie minds" work! And how I do love leftover homemade pizza!
Sunshine, this evening I managed to have a heyday on Pinterest on topics about sewing. The excess of food pins is absolutely mind blowing! I love perusing their choices! Carole, I think you would enjoy joining it!
Today we ventured into the city to see DS2's and DGF's new digs. They amaze me with what they have accomplished in a couple of days to get the place to comfortable living status! It is all new and a very nice living design, but I do have to say, the high end gentrification of this area has me stunned! This morning they drove out to Western Mass to buy an old large desk that she plans to refinish, and they commented on the large houses they kept passing with loads of land, which are probably 1/3 the price they paid to live in their squished little area. Looks like there are lots of young couples on their tiny dense street...so clearly inner city Boston rocks for this generation! One of their couple friends who also bought in the area stopped in with their darling newborn, and when we left they were expecting the couple who put them up for the past few weeks who also bought an overpriced place back in their old Southie neighborhood. So all seems good on that front!
Tonight, since DH is "cutting back" on his daily carb intake, I made my favorite healthy dinner of chard, two kinds of kale, garlic, onions, mushrooms, and peppers, with fried eggs in the middle, and feta sprinkled over. I blended in some orzo knowing that he would be craving carbs to some extent. We are using my really karge cast iron skillet for many of our meals now, and DH has gotten the hang of cleaning it.
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I don't have the energy to respond to everyone, but please know that I have very much enjoyed reading all your posts. Today was the last day of my 14 day chemo cycle. It shows. My feet hurt. My hands are starting to get dry and are threatening to chap. I am wildly exhausted. Day after day of 8am meetings with the "trades" at the condo." It is time for some sleep!
Today we went to the Peabody Essex museum, which is one of my most favorites. The museum has a complete Chinese house that was moved here in 1991. To me this is really fascinating, and C. loved it too. Tomorrow she is off to the Museum of Science with tickets to the Pixar Exhibit and the girl child is going with her.
Though I was completely exhausted, I managed to go to the Korean store and buy some pork chops. I made those with a mustard sauce, steamed some asparagus, cooked up some Jasmine rice and made a large salad. Tomorrow, buttermilk pancakes [I mean, can you visit the USA and not have pancakes?] for brunch after she attends church and then for dinner, a simple vegetable soup.
Monday I take her to NH to spend a few nights with my Mother. C's mother and aunt spent summer days in this town and have told C many many stories. She wants to see this magical place for herself. I fear that winter, north of the White Mountains, will not meet her expectations. But you know, this young woman is full of surprises and maybe she will "get" the raw beauty.
*susan*
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Susan, I am glad that despite your physical exhaustion and other SE symptoms, you are able to enjoy this cousin's visit as much as you are. She is fortunate that you carry on in your amazing energizer bunny style. It will be interesting to see what she thinks of pancakes! Enjoy breakfast!!
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Making the turkey that my mom gave me at Christmas for dinner.
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Got cream cheese?
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Aaand Japanese milk bread rolls.
My work is done.
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Nance - Bagels & rolls both look great.
I've got cream cheese!! Several months ago I learned that Philadelphia Cream Cheese made with real vine-ripe strawberries is absolutely wonderful for dipping apple slices. Last week I was wandering a grocery store with my cousin and stumbled on Philadelphia Cream Cheese made with real smoked Pacific Salmon. Oh my goodness. The main course of my suppers the last two nights has been this delicious, long missed salmon/cream cheese on Triscuits (since I had no bagels). For sides I had a fresh pear and an orange. Desert was one chocolate truffle from my Harry & David Christmas stash.
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The turkey came out perfect. Made mashed potatoes, stuffing and steamed broccoli to go with it. Hubby and I just finished getting all the meat off the bird that we could. He's going to take the leftover turkey for sandwiches this week.
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What a beautiful baking day Nance! My French cousin has shown some interest in trying a non-French bagel. I have the salmon. Now I just need to make the bagels. How do you get all those seeds to stay on the bagel? Mine often fall off when I cut them.
Joyce, glad to hear you are back in the warmth. Looks like another cold spell is on its way here. Chicken on the grill..... such a wonderful way to cook those little birds.
Mommy, sounds like you made the perfect meal for you and your family.
Dinner here was a vegetable-tomato soup which was really very hearty. After our large "brunch" it seemed like the right kind of dinner. Tomorrow, I drive to NH and drop C. off with my mother. We meet about half-way, have some lunch together, and then turn around having swapped the cousin.
*susan*
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Minus - I have not heard of the salmon cream cheese. I might have to go to a higher end grocery to find that. Mine surely doesn't have it. My DM loved the pineapple cream cheese in the little jars but now Kraft is making it in the resealable tubs - much more economical. Funny I bought pears at local grocery. DH had one the other day - he likes them rock hard. Said it had no taste - hmm I'm thinking because they're not quite ripe yet. Then he went on to say how good the other ones I had were though the last one was a bit soft. They came from Fiesta Mart. They have some varieties of pears I've never seen and really good prices. I asked my cashier why so many and she didn't know but we got into discussion of how many kinds of bananas they have. Evidently some tiny very expensive ones. And they had giant fairy tale squashes - why I do not know and neither did she. But she was not Hispanic, older Caucasian lady. Prayers for your cousin's daughter. Hate cancer!
Nancy - love those rolls. Just slobbering on the computer screen. DH is not a "bready" person. Plain while stuff for sammies. Occas. biscuits. Not really anything else much. We didn't have rolls at Thanksgiving or Christmas. I just end up feeding them to the goats. But I come from a long line of bread lovers.
Susan - so glad you have enjoyed French cousin's visit. Hoping you had a good day today and have an easy drive to NH your mother's tomorrow. When is she due back in France? Hoping you catch up on your sleep this week.
Mommy - funny about turkey. I didn't have near the leftovers I usually do but I made a breast only. Reminds me I want to get the carcass out and process for stock so it can go out the Tues. garbage.
Joyce - glad you had a good trip back.
Finally got the chicken stir fry done last night (different chicken those breasts went for Shake 'N Bake lol). I gave DH a choice of sauces and he chose House of Tsang Sweet Cherry Chili. Well it did have a bit of a kick to it. Good thing I made lots of extra rice to cut the spice some for me. He thought it was perfect. Loaded with vegies. Ate it for leftovers tonight and at least 2 more servings most likely lunch. Tomorrow I suspect it will be burgers. He has a dentist appt and I have a church visitation I need to attend. Maybe - fingers crossed - I can get him to cook the burgers while I'm gone there. Tuesday I think I'll make a pork stew. I bought about 1.5# of "pork brisket stew meat". Not sure what part that is from but it ought to make good stew. DH gets stuck picking me up a single of some kind of ale tomorrow to go in it. The dentist is around the corner from a decent liquor store that I think sells singles.
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Luv - I found these at Randalls in the refrigerated section - but of course almost all of the Randalls stores have closed. Unlike the Kraft (and I buy the Pimento), they are all natural ingredients with no sulfites or preservatives. I'll be on the look out at Kroger & HEB and let you know. It won't be long since I've already eaten 1/2 a 'tub'.
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Tonight was Turkish red lentil soup, an Italian chopped salad and the Japanese milk rolls. How's that for an international menu? The Italian salad had romaine hearts, dry salami, fresh mozzarella with olives, artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers and red onion in a red wine vinaigrette. It was surprisingly nice with the soup.
Susan, I use an egg wash, but some still fall off, which is why there are so many on there. I try to over compensate lol. It sounds like the French cousin's visit has been a resounding success.
It's time to make chicken stock. I'll make it tomorrow in the pressure cooker using a different method than I usually do. It involves pressure cooking a whole chicken, removing the meat from the bones, returning the broken down bones to the stock then pressure cooking again until all the good stuff is extracted from the bones. I don't know if this will produce a clear stock, but I'm going to give it a try anyway. I suppose this is the ubiquitous "bone broth". The nice thing about this method is that the chicken meat is usable once cooked.
Minus, I admire your discipline in eating one chocolate truffle.
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Ah Minus I went to the Randalls site. Both Randalls and Tom Thumb are owned by Safeway. Their logos are very similar. Tom Thumb would have been one of the stores I would have tried - definitely higher end regular grocery store. I'll have to look later in the month. Don't plan a Ft Worth trip for a while.
I did get yeast and pizza yeast. Now to get cooking. I did make the chai snickerdoodles yesterday, only 1/2 recipe. I had a small packet of David Rio Tiger Spice chai tea (you roll the dough in it) which I used for most. But I want to make this for church meeting this week so I made 2 small samples - one was TJ's salted caramel chai mix and the other was a Pacific chai latte (which turned rather dark brown when cooked). DH liked neither of these saying the 1st batches (with the D.R. which I had no more of) were the best. I liked the TJ's salted caramel taste but agreed it was lacking the zip of the D.R. one. Easy to fix I'll just add some I guess ginger and cloves back in to it. Already has cinnamon chips so don't want to overdo that. Here's the recipe - certainly not diet food.
http://www.centralmarket.com/recipe/desserts/Chai-...
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Thanks for the bread porn, Nance! Beautiful! I like Turkish lentil soup, and that salad sound divine!
Interestingly, DH decided last week that he needed to "get off" bread since his weight was up...and he eats a lot of bread daily. So we've been having "lighter" and breadless meals for this past week. And tonight I went all out for his diet wish and made a variation of that famous cabbage weight loss soup. We both enjoyed it with a side of roasted butternut squash. He also had a bit of leftover chicken teriyaki. I seriously suspect that this "diet" will be short term and that it will end on Tuesday when his friends are here for dinner.
Luv, I suspect your goats must get excited around the holidays, knowing that bread/rolls are not far off!
Joyce, nice to hear that you are getting settled in Warm, Warm, Warm! Good timing...
Minus, I would eat just like you if there wasn't (weren't?) another (hungry!) mouth to feed here. But, smoked salmon is not one of my favorites. Nice that it comes available in the cream cheese, tho...easy dinner!
Susan, have a safe trip tomorrow. I'm glad it wasn't today with all this driving rain!
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It is easy to make your own cream cheese with salmon. I suggest whipping the cream cheese with a bit of cream. Meanwhile, chop up some smoked salmon. Fold into the cream cheese, and you have cream cheese with salmon! Some people enjoy a bit of chive in the mixture as well.
I have never done an egg wash on a bagel. I just boil them, and then hope the seeds stick to the residual water. And they do, up to a point. Is your egg wash made with a complete egg, just egg white, or just yolk?
Lacey, the four day is very popular in January!!! :-)
*susan*
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This is my DD Rebekah and my grandson Jasper Robert. He is the love of my life. It's been 2 1/2 yeas since my DH passed away and I am doing good. As long as I have a job, I will be able to stay in the house I was brought up in. I am keeping active thanks to a bunch of high school friends I connected with on FB.
I have been on one date with a HS friend had a great time but he has not asked me out again but we keep in touch via FB.
I'm ready for the dating scene, thinking of going on e-harmony, my daughter did.
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I made a smoked salmon with cream cheese spread for the holidays pretty much as Susan described. I used a tin of wild Alaskan smoked salmon that had been given to me and added some chopped capers and green onion. It was awesome and was consumed quickly. I served it with bagel chips.
Susan, I use egg white only thinned with water before they go into the oven.
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Deb, we cross posted. What a beautiful family. And good for you!
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