So...whats for dinner?

Hello to everyone.

I don't seem like I post much..I usually read the posts on my phone when I'm waiting for...whatever it might be to finish....  It's easy to read, but difficult to type on the thing.

I spent today at my mom's house replacing some garage door trip and weather stripping, trimming bushes, workin on her lawn's sprinkler system and cutting the dead fronds off of her palm tree.  I drank over a gallon of water and had still "lost" weight..which has since been "regained". 

Sharon cooked breaded port chops and I had just a little bit of that and a small piece of sourdough bread...After working in the heat all day, I usually don't eat much.

Nance, if you fee like it, another chicken marinade to try is a couple of onions,  a few cups of orange juice and a bunch of fresh cilantro (coriander) that has been pureed in the blender. It looks absolutely disgusting, but gives a very subtle lime flavor to the chicken.  A little bit of salt can be added if needed.

I'm hoping that Michelle is improving. Michelle, if you're reading this, Hi!!!!!!!!!!!

Eric

Lacy, hope you find a good BLT!



My favorite breakfast sandwich is ham and bagel veggie spread on raisen toast. For some reason, I love that!

Eric, sounds like you are doing a lot for your Mom. It's hard to take care of two houses! Glad Sharon is up to cooking though!

Susan, rotisserie chicken is probably one if the best bargains there is. Glad you found a good use for it. I like to make a raspberry dressed chicken salad with it. I take red wine vinegar and olive oil, melt an equal amount of seedless raspberry jam whisk together. So much better than most raspberry dressings. And easy. Served over mixed greens, swiss or parmesan cheese, or even blue, or feta, LOL. So good for summer.

Praying for Michelle and family.

Much love to all.

susan - you are off the hook for the rotisserie chicken, trust me...  I am still sitting here slack-jawed at the all Susan-made BLT!

moon - love the raspberry salad dressing idea!  I have been doing a lot of roasting chicken breast still on the ribs just to have the meat available for exactly the kind of salad you describe.  It is so hot here in the summer we often do not eat hot food.  I also like to do a greek salad with chicken or leftover steak.

Pages of posts to catch up on reading today, so I need a Lacey post full of responses  to ditto!  SpecialK, hope your daughter recovers quickly and is able to eat soon.  Bedo, you sound good.  I hope you've overcome whatever was wrong with you that caused you to stop working.  Moon, you sound like you're coping with your intestinal problems.  Susan, dealing with your half pig seems like a massive undertaking with such a variety of processing and preparations.

Eric, you're a wonderful son in addition to being a good father and husband.  I hope your family are doing things for you, too.

The news about Michelle just made me heartsick.  I hate that she's moving out of her lake house, hate that she's having to wage a new battle with different drugs.  Hi, Michelle, I'm thinking about you.

A cold front came through north MN and it felt like winter in July.  Wind blasting out of the north.  Temps. struggling to get into the low 60's.  DH and I spent most of the weekend in our camper, which, fortunately, is large and comfortable enough to move around and not run into each other.  We also have satellite tv.  I cooked a pot of chicken and sausage gumbo which was/is delicious and really hit the spot.  I had andouille sausage in the freezer.  We switched from martinis to bourbon old-fashions for our pre-dinner cocktail.  The old-fashions are winter drinks for us!

Today is lovely, sunny and in the 70's.  We ventured out into the resort canoe with our fishing gear and got a little practice casting.  No bites but we floated within 20 feet of a beautiful mamma loon and her two babies.  There was almost no boat traffic on the lake so it was very peaceful with just the sound of our paddles dipping into the water.

Now we're at the library using the wifi.  Tonight's dinner will be store-made brats, the plain kind.  The selection is amazing.  With wild rice, with dill pickle, reuben brats with kraut, with cheese.  These ingredients are ground up with the meat and put into the casing.  I'll steam the brats in beer until they're cooked and then brown them in the skillet.  Or dh might want to brown them on the grill. 

For sides tonight, I have a choice of veggies I bought at the Farmer's Market on Sat.  Yellow squash, green beans, pea pods, broccoli.  Also new potatoes from the supermarket. 

Hugs to all.

Hey Minus, it would pretty much be getting dark. I will go back to work in Oct.  I spent a total of 16months in Barrow on and off in an Eskimo village that you had to fly into with Polar bears -40 on the edge of the arctic ocean.  It was for a CDC grant screening for breast cancer of all things. The pay is good and they pay for housing, meals, flights, everything because only lunatics go there, so you can take time off when you leave. My friends say, "Oooooh I'm so jealous!  All those men!"  Yes, the odds are good, but as they say, the goods are odd! I guess I should talk.

I'm sorry about your recurrance.  I hope your doc comes up with an excellent plan and the Gods of health smile on you! I haven't kept up. Do you have a plan?

That gig sounds interesting Bedo.....I can see you lovin it!

Meanwhile, you got me stirred up about the tatoos....I noticed today that mine are totally visible when I wear a bathing suit! Not sure why I had not noticed this before you mentioned it....but it would be nice to get them removed.



So.....eureka! I finally found a very acceptable BLT on our drive home tonight. We drove thru Nashua since I decided to break the bank (again!)and buy the lowest level Vita Mix I could get for our NH house. I got sick of dragging the home one up there, and worried we'd end up dropping it and have to get another one anyway. So, on the way to BB and B where I got the Vitamix with a 20% coupon, (yay !), we spotted a Friendly's. What more likely place to serve that elusive (to me) BLT?! It was lovely....on a nice lightly toasted sour dough bread that was not too authentic, so it tasted like regular bread , the bacon was nicely browned, the tomatoes were actually tasty and lettuce was fresh and crisp. It did hit the spot. I still think the one I had at the lobster roll place in NH last summer was better...and exactly half the price of tonight's!



DH decided that we must access some really tasty tomatoes at our farmer's market, buy some excellent bacon, (can I shop at your house, Susan?;) homemade bread (not from this home) and maybe use our friend's Australian green leaf lettuce and make our own, with mayo I could easily make in my new VM! I agreed we will do that next. So enough about the BLT search!



Tomorrow is my deceased mother's birthday. She died four years ago after living a long life, and was one of the few sisters in her large Italian family who did not have breast cancer. My younger single sister who lived with her during her last years just sold the family house, and plans to move up North. I'll talk with her tomorrow since I suspect this will be an emotional day...as she plans to leave the house she grew up in with all the memories of her close relationship with mom.



((((((Hugs)))))) to all.....

Gardengumby - It's been too hot to cook much so we are having lots of reruns here too. I made spaghetti with alfredo sauce (Newmans Own jarred) Sat. Sunday put 8 chicken thighs in crockpot and made some sauteed potatoes/green beans. Yesterday it was chicken with leftover spaghetti. Tonight who knows. Maybe smoked sausage saute with peppers, onion, squashes. Maybe just finish off bits of chicken and alfredo. Going to be 100-103 for next few days. DM used to make chicken and cellophane noodles - assume that is much the same. I've tried it but mine never tasted the same and DH/DD did not much like. UMMM - fresh fish. What does DH fish for?

Michelle - I too hope your new chemo kicks those buggers. Thinking of you and your family.

Carole - I am entirely jealous of your weather. I can't strip too many more clothes off - LOL. I wish we had farmers' market here in town. Closest one is 20 miles and wayyyy too much shopping enticement there.

Went to Ft. Worth yest for mammo on lefty. Radiologist there and no problems. Love her. I always make appt on day I know she is there. Went to Central Market but spent only limited amount. Did splure on fresh figs and their coffee. I bought a Mr. Coffee French press coffeemaker yesterday. I'm sure I will like it; not so sure about DH but his loss.

Dinner tonight was Caeser Salad with sliced steak and French Onion Soup - I had an ecess of onions hanging around.  The good news - DD ate some of the soup - yay!

laurie - give me the skinny on how you handled the tonsillectomy patient!

Checking in to see if any news on MIchelle! I am thinking of you!

Lacey- I am sorry about your DM- Those anniversarys of there passing is very hard. Sending hugs to you. Glad you got your BLT (finally) Yay!

Laurie- Your dinner for your friend sounds yummy. Love eggplant especially when it's fresh like that.

Minus- Sorry about your recurrance, I didn't know since I havn't been on to much lately. I hope you have good results with your tx's

Luvmygoats- I echo what the others said about having a clean mamo.

Eric- There are dozens of fires here in Oregon and one in particular is the largest in the nation in Douglas Co. and that many fire fighters and help was coming and one of the places was Arizonia was wondering if you might be called?

Was planning on driving to see my dad Thursday but was told that the smoke and ash is terrible that you can't see the neighbors homes and the cars were full of ash, So with my asthma I was thinking I should wait until the air cleared, that it was very dangerous and the air quality was bad. Still trying to decide what to do guess I will wait until tomorrow to see if it is better.

Bedo- Had to chuckle about the " Odds are good" But the "Goods are Odd" too cute! You are very adventurous, Alaska is quite a ways from home for you, would love to go some day.

Hugs to everyone and thinking of all those dealing with sad news right now.

Lacey,

If you choose the BLT at home method, a drive up to Karl's Sausage Kitchen for their bacon is well worth your time. They smoke it in house, and will slice it to order at the thickness you want. At $6.99 a pound, it is a bargain. They have a small cafe now [new building] and the soups, etc are delicious. When I eat there on my own, I get a soup with some bread. When husband is in tow, we split a sandwich and a cucumber salad.

I am on the outer Cape right now. We went out to dinner last night at an expensive, but not great, restaurant. I mean it wasn't bad, but I expect a bit more for those prices. Tonight, we will grill up the prime Steaks we brought with a big ole salad. Tomorrow night is some bluefish on the grill that our hostess caught yesterday.

*susan*

Gardengumby - OHH fresh salmon. Don't think I've ever had it. Most of our fish even at Albertsons/Krogers is thawed frozen. Now the hoity-toity Central Market is another thing but I could not afford it often. That and its 45 minutes away. We do have a wonderful cooler called a Yeti that DH won in a raffle that I load up with frozen blue blocks. That and for a while I was on mail order meds only and my glaucoma eyedrops came with lovely ice packs. So even on these 100+ days I can get at least refrig. stuff and keep for sev. hours.

Have you tried a giant health food store for gluten free? We have one in FW that has a wonderful food section and also a great frozen section. I know there are several kinds out there. Prob. just trial and error. Maybe making small batch so only waste would be the unused pasta. Seems to be plenty of recipes to google - even Martha Stewart. Sorry you have to go thru this but I know you say you feel better wheat free. And Whole Foods I bet has a bunch. It is just too far away from me so I never go there. Central Mkt, Trader Joes and Sprouts are within 4 miles of each other on westside. Plus the health food store. Once you find a brand you like I would think you could mail order if the drive is too far.

So far from my measly garden I've gotten 4 peppers and about 1/2 dozen peaches. I think I'm in the market for a new fruit tree this fall. Texas is so weird - drought/hot or late freezes or not enough chilling to set fruit (less likely). I had good long talk with fig bush. Hope the nubs I'm seeing are figs and just not new leaves. Darn it.

Tonight will be the sausage/squash stir fry but I've got to start eating earlier than when DH comes home. I think - well know - that eating at 10 pm is worsening my weight. He is not picky if it is hot/fresh as long as it's edible.

Goats, congratulations on lefty!

Debbie, I hope that your Dad is doing better and that things are going better for you and Chuck too.

Carrie, I hope that your Dad's appt went OK.

No more yellow squash! Stoooppppp! I have to figure out a casserole. Fat chance. Too lazy.  I'll just boil them in the microwave and smash them with butter, salt and pepper. Now to find a recipe for beet greens vegetarian. I truely have to, clean up this place, practice vibrato, go to garden, print off AK renewal form. Buy some groceries.

Wow Bedo sounds like a busy and a good day. Hope you are feeling well from your recent troubles. Wow - Alaska. We have thought about Alaska, DH's company opening a store there but heck I think we're too old. Now if it was Albuquerque or Santa Fe we'd be in line. LOL. I admire your fortitude. Get mister Google going for squash recipes.

SpecialK - this the recipe. I always up the veggies some. My DH and I love cooked onions. I have made this with 1/2# smoked sausage to decrease fat even more. I have used Birdseye Pepper Stir Fry in the winter when fresh peppers are outrageous here esp. the red/orange ones. It makes great leftovers - jumpups.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/lite-sausage-primavera/detail.aspx

Tonight we are having fresh fish: but this time it's black cod - my personal favorite.    I'll roll it in rice flour and fry it in butter - which is not my favorite way of having it, but I'm not getting out the grill tonight - I get home too late - and hubby will be fishing late, so I can't coerce him into doing it.  He's going to eat late - I'll probably already be in bed and asleep by the time he gets in.

With it I'll make a green salad and either coconut rice or fried taters' I'm not sure which, yet.  Probably coconut rice, as that re-heats better.

Specialk, is your DD doing any better? Doesn't sound like it. I hate when the kids are sick, and its worse when they are older. Cause then they tell you what's bothering them, OVER AND OVER! LOL good luck!