So...whats for dinner?

I hit one key and a whole post disappears. I wish I knew which key, darn it!

I do not own the ravioli maker but made my ravioli by hand. It was really quite easy. Two identical strips of pasta dough. Little spoonfuls of filling at regular intervals. Spray with water. Cover with the 2nd strip. Shape a little with your fingers. Cut with a ridged roller cutter. To be on the safe side, I also used a tiny fork around the edges. You can also use one wider strip of pasta dough and fold it over.

The Kitchen Aid pasta roller attachment works very well. It allows you to use both hands to handle the strip of dough as it lengthens.

Thank you, Laurie, for your "oreo" inspiration! I bought two very nice eggplants today and used up the left-over ravioli filling by making eggplant parmesan. I was already planning to make spaghetti sauce for tomorrow so I made an extra large batch and used some of it.

And partly thanks to you, Lacey, I bought kale at the farmers' mkt! So far I am not a great fan of kale.

Thanks to Susan, I'll try brining a turkey breast to roast for sandwiches. I know the processed meats are not healthy.

I looked at beef roasts today but beef is so much more expensive than pork that I bought a Boston butt roast for about half the price. I usually cut a chuck roast into cubes for beef soup or beef stew.

All this cooking I've been doing the last two days and we're having DH's request tonight, the EASY MEAL. Ribeye, baked potatoes and salad.

In addition to the kale, I bought okra and turnips today. I was wondering if anyone makes roasted turnips.

Also bought a loaf of multigrain bread from a family that grinds their own wheat.

Vivian, I would like very much for you to share some Cuban recipes that you cook.

Carole,

Thanks for the input on the Kitchenaid roller. I think I'll skip the package that includes the ravioli attachment if it's pretty easy to do by hand! Probably will get the one that has the roller and 2 cutter attachments...

Possible reason for the 'poof post'... If you start typing your response on a page, page back to read/respond to earlier posts you will lose your response. Not sure if it happens on the page back or when you try to return to the page you were on when you started your response.

Vivian,

My Mom is from Cuba and came to the states in the '50's! I grew up eating many Cuban dishes! Big holiday get togethers with relatives (many times prepared by the men). Great food and even better memories! Small world..lol!

I don't dare buy candy I like, but I do buy the little bags of pretzels. Not quite so damaging.

Susan,

Oh my, isn't that the truth!

Susan, I wonder if that peanut butter could improve the kale lol!

The candy display at the local grocery store is mostly things adults like.  We have a city rdinance against trick or treating except in the businrss district.  20+ years ago Fire Department proposed it. 

 We have almost no  street lights and no sidewalks in the residentual area.  Instead the Fire Dept hosts a party at the Convention center where local businesses and organizations set up booths with games and hand out candy.

The olive oil cake (lemon) was terrific and quite a hit.

I keep a bar of Belgin dark chocolate in my desk drawer ar all times!

My folks called trick or treating glorified begging.  None until I was in the second grade then two neighbors that ware good friends of my parents until I was in the sixth grade.  After that it was trick or treat for UNICEF and a  a party at the Church..

Darn!!! Just lost another post......

Wll try again...abbreviated version...but never very abbreviated with me.

Never know how many kids we will get for H-ween, so we start well (over) prepared...and often do munch on snickers and such for the following weeks. We could have 5 or 105 kids in any given year. It was more predictable when our kids were young (105!) DH gets disappointed when we have low numbers. He loves going to the door, guessing the costumes (always wrong since he has no idea about kid pop culture), and letting the kids dive into the candy basket. When I see hordes of kids coming down the street I set limits on his generosity so we don't run out.

My favorite score as a child was the candy apples a woman in my neighborhood made.Heaven!!

Imagine what a parent would do with a child's candy apple nowadays!! I did make them one year for DH2's class birthday celebration ( he has a Halloween birthday). I ended up dripping some of the boiling candy syrup on my knuckle, it went deep, and I have a labor of love scar there to this day.

Last night we drove to the North shore to a dinner party....had to drive thru Salem to get there....you can magine how long that took!! The food was good...mainly mediterranean influence. Appetizers of grape leaves, hummus, spanikopita, mushroom tartes, cheeses, olives, etc. Dinner buffet included rare tuna, layered eggplant casserole, brown rice, kale salad with chickpeas, and things I forget. The hostess looks younger than I've ever seen her look, so I think this menu style must be a factor. It was a little rough being at a dinner party during the WS, but they did accommodate the crazed Sox fans with a TV in one of the rooms.

So about this olive oil cake.....are you saying that it should or should not be extra virgin variety? I'm eager to try this.....sounds delightful.....will go back to the links posted to see if I can answer my own question......

Carole, I've really been enjoying your cooking adventures! You are on a roll......:)

This AM I picked up a london broil on sale, so am marinating it for grilling. I will make baked acorn squash, roasted brussells sprouts and garden salad to go with the meat.

By the way, the eggplant rollatine with kale pesto brushed on it was very tasty. I domthink you need to do i teresting things with (to) kale since it is pretty non-descript in terms of taste.....or so I think. But it is such an innocuous, healthy addition to my morning smoothies.

Hahahaha....abbreviated??

Carole - I love the popcorn idea. I will have to get some tomorrow. I have the gigantic Pyrex bowl. I make a Mexican candy in it. I think somewhere I have a microwave bag of popcorn but for some reason DH never eats that. For the black bean recipe Seaside had posted one back on page 24. I copied off and put in my files to try.

Did you get storms today? We had a doozy last night and predicting severe weather on Wed.

I went back to page 25 and copied and pasted Seaside's black bean recipe. I have a black bean recipe on that page, too, that I got from AllRecipes and it is good. I haven't cooked it in a long time. Seaside's is undoubtedly more authentic Cuban. I plan to try it. I also saved her recipe for Chicken with Yellow Rice.

I noticed that we exchanged a lot more recipes in those earlier pages. And Michelle checked in daily. Caring thoughts to her and her family.

Luv, all we got was a light sprinkle of rain. Our weather has been cooler and very comfortable. You don't have to use a huge pyrex bowl. I just bought the nesting clear glass bowls with the lids and I used the second largest one tonight.

Seaside, what is your Cuban recipe for roast pork? I had that in a Cuban restaurant in Tampa and it was delicious along with the black beans. I think the pork was probably marinaded in some mixture with orange juice. I did some research on the internet and orange juice showed up often in the marinades.

Luv - we had terrific storms roar through here around 5:30am. Luckily my area didn't lose power but I understand many in Houston were without.

Carole - Thanks for the popcorn tip. I still make mine in a paper lunch bag. I used to eat popcorn at least 3 times a week & haven't had any since I started chemo last April. Tonight I had a huge bowl with REAL butter & lots of salt. It tasted almost like it used to.

Off tomorrow to get more blood work & meet with the MO to get Echo results before starting the new chemo cocktails on Wednesday. I think I'll stop at Fuddruckers on the way home. If this batch is anything like the last, I won't be eating again until January - except of course BRAT (bananas, rice, applesauce & toast) and maybe Cream of Wheat. Oh well, I've had 10 days I could actually eat & even taste some things. You can be sure my brain will still be enjoying all the food discussions & recipes on this thread.

(((Michelle)))

Laurie, I suspect that 20 years from now the "peanut butter pic" is your favorite school picture.

Carole,

When I was checking back to see where I posted the black bean recipe, I read through quite a few pages and it really was a bittersweet walk down memory lane. So much has happened in the last couple of years, both good and bad.

I agree! Seems like we posted more recipes back then. Maybe time to start again!

As for the pork, I have used the Goya Mojo that Luv mentioned and it is good! This is one I've made and it is also good.

10 Garlic Cloves, peeled

1 tsp Salt

1 cup Sour Orange Juice (or a 50-50 blend of sweet orange juice and lime juice)

1 cup Vegetable Oil

1. Mash the garlic and salt into a paste. (The original recipe calls for you to do this in a mortar and pestle but I just run the garlic through a garlic press and then mash the salt in with a fork).

2. Stir in the sour orange juice.

3. In a saucepan, heat the oil just to boiling amd remove it from the heat. Whisk in the orange juice/garlic mixtue until well blended. Caution: If you went a bit too hot on the oil, let it cool slightly before adding the juice so it doesn't spatter everywhere.

Use this to marinate your pork at least overnight. Many recipes are much larger scale and meant to do an entire pig...lol! I have used a pork shoulder butt in the crockpot with sliced onions with success but have not ever reproduced the incredible pork from the Tampa area. Could also do I'm sure in a heavy dutch oven and in a low and slow oven. Would probably be better in fact!

I'm sure Vivian has some of the absolute best in her neck of the woods, too!

This recipe, while not an official recipe, was ridiculously good! Like a Cuban Sandwich in a pork chop! http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/butterflied-cuban-style-pork-chops-recipe/index.html

Edited to add: Now that I look at Bobby Flay's recipe, the marinade from that would work for the pork roast, too!