So...whats for dinner?

VerukaNY.  I hope you get the dumpling recipe.  I think it's a lot of fun to figure out a "handfull of this, handfull of that" recipes.

I've been doing that with my mom's grandmother's....not sure what to call it....notes on recipes...in German.  My mom is 96, so this is pretty old.

Veruka - I'd love the crustless egg quiche recipe if you're willing to share.  

Everything sounds so good.  I saw my MO this afteroon for the last time before he retires (sob).  Since I was still down in the Med Center at 6pm I decided to stop by one of my favorite restaurants & skip the traffic.  Treated myself to a glass of Estancia wine.  Then a grilled Rainbow trout w/French green lentils and sauteed spinach w/pecans.

Carole - did you try the popcorn in paper lunch bags on your trip?  If so, did it work for you?

I'm thinking this might be a nice change from Hoppin' John on new year's day:

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/10/black-e...

For some reason hasn't been much cooking going on at least nothing compared to the other creations on here. Last night was some frozen chicken sausages in onion hot dog buns not made by me. Tonight I made pepper steak with some cube steak. Turned out rather well. Recipe called for making a gravy and adding it back it. I have tons of extra so I see the 2 leftover chicken sausages being turned into potato topping tomorrow. I was anticipating a Chinese pepper steak; this was more downhome style but still good. I think I could make it with those frozen peppers in a pinch when peppers are sky high. Did manage to get freezer somewhat more organized using my 99 cent bags from Ross. At least you can kinda find vegies, meat, potatoes. I need to make things with a ton of frozen fruit from the store. Not sure what I had in mind. I think very few pkgs are blueberries - at least I coulda made muffins. Mixed berries and peaches I think are what most of them are. Any easy ideas?

MinusTwo - BlueBell has new Peppermint Crunch ice cream. My store has BB on sale this week - I'm on a hunt.

Nancy - the Black Eyed Pea Stew looks enticing. Do you plan on a trial run? I am probably the only one on here who has never had kale. I had a bag of frozen but never used it. My grocery has it fresh regularly.

They had fennel bulbs the other day. Again I doubt anyone in this seriously rural town even knows what they are. I always get looks from the clerk when I buy ginger like what is that stuff. Do wish they had organic carrots in something other than the water logged babies or 5#. That is one thing I think just tastes better organic and then I don't feel the need to peel them.

Left overs tonight.  Chicken, some pork, the spaghetti squash, some sourdough bread and a little bit of baked ziti.

I had a dentist appointment today--all was good...no problems other than the traffic jams.

Minus, I think the kale at the supermarket may be old and may be too mature.  If you grew your own and picked it young out of the garden, it might taste better.  I grew up eating mustard greens that were picked fresh from my dad's garden.  I know what young and fresh looks like and I enjoy mustard greens cooked with pickled pork and sprinkled liberally with pepper vinegar.  Someone buying them from a supermarket might find them nasty.   I miss my dad for more reasons than his garden but his garden was a blessing. 

Took dh to the radiology lab at the hospital this morning for a liver biopsy and will go back to pick him up later.  Two of his uncles had NASL--non-alcoholic cirrhosis (sp) of the liver.  Sure am hoping dh doesn't have this but his gastro dr. has been watching dh's bloodwork numbers.  As Rosanna Rosanna Dana said, It's always SOMETHING!  I think our genetics are the big health factor.  Those 114 yr. olds were lucky in picking their ancestors. 

On the food front, I will be cooking eggplant lasagna today to use the freebie eggplants.  I will also be cooking chicken sausage gumbo either today or tomorrow for Sunday dinner at my mother's house.  It occurred to me that cooking must be my "hobby" as well as a practical necessity.  I just wish I could cook and eat without regard for weight gain and health.  Boy, would I have fun!

Making Sloppy Joe Bake tonight

Good luck with the tiramisu Lacey, I'm betting you'll nail it. And how delicious. Are you making lady fingers or are you  lucky enough to have a ready made source? If I haven't been to the Italian market, I have to make them because in my little town asking for a ladyfinger would mean something entirely different lol!

Carole, I'm so sorry about dh, I hope it's something less scary. Like you, I grew up eating greens off all kinds (cooked with lots of pork fats) and still love them with that pepper vinegar -- dh, not so much. One of the reasons I love the gulf coast -- I can get seafood AND greens.

Off to the gym -- actually made it three times this week. Then back home to make bagels and more preserved lemons. At this point, dinner is still a mystery.

Carole - Hoping your DH's biopsy finds nothing of significance. Maybe we should pick spouses by genetic predisposition - only kidding (been watching too many eagle nests) but geesh we just don't know the future when we're young. I've never been a skinny minnie only for a short very depressed time right out of college when I weighed 102# and looked deathly. Then along came future DH and I've done nothing but eat since.

I think my GM ate greens but for my DM it was canned spinach with hard boiled eggs. I agree Nancy about the ladyfingers. Sometimes I see them filled but then only rarely even that. Italian market is not something we have. Used to have a decent Greek one though small but it's now a restaurant. Know some stuff is interchangeable. Back in the olden days mid 1990's we could still cook stuff in the schools in FW. DD's 3rd grade and I think the whole school district did lessons on Egypt. We cooked Egyptian food in the classroom. Quite an experience. My introduction to lentils (though I had a parent precook those). We tripped the circuit breaker with our elec. skillets. When I discovered the Greek store. Pre-internet so finding recipes was not easy.

M0mmyof2 - sloppy joe bake sounds good. We were going to have meatloaf earlier in the week but the 2nd # of ground beef smelled off. So I was left with 1# of ground pork. We had pizza bake I think it was called. Pork, macaroni shells, cheese, lots of seasonings, poor can of spag. sauce needed using up. DH said it was good. I said it reminded me of kids' food. But again it used some stuff up. That's my mantra right now. Use It Up.

Minus - I haven't tried the salted caramel. I heard the blackberry cobbler was good. We had several of the Butter Crunch with Butterfingers in it. I had the name of the new kind slight off. It's Peppermint Bark not Crunch. Wonder what November's will be?

MM those black eyed pea stews sound very good. DH tolerates my need for black eyes on NY day, DD is never here and when she was grudgingly ate a few so maybe I will make some ahead of time and send her with some frozen for NY day. She needs to make some life decisions this next year job related to get her moving in her career so maybe that will help.

Aww missing the daily roo pics. Special - wishing your DD best of luck in her new job. Has she already started?

Fun or work, Susan? Either way, have a safe and enjoyable trip! And yes, it is good to see the sun here...will save some up for your return.

Susan - have a good trip.  We'll look forward to hearing about the meals.

I bought a DVD at Target a month and it came with a free pizza.  It may be total crap but pulled it out of the freezer & the oven is heating for pepperoni.  Maybe I'll decorate with some mushrooms.  I'll add a salad & make do w/salad alone if the pizza is cardboard.

carole - hope DH's biopsy is inconsequential.  My DH just had his physical at the military facility on base and must have both a shoulder x-ray for continued pain, and a CT of the abdomen due to some previous discomfort that he had for a while, but has now resolved.  The doc wants a look, but it is nerve wracking.  We just lost a friend suddenly at the end of last week, so we are both on edge - she didn't feel good for a couple of days prior, but not bad enough to go to the ER, then she collapsed and died on the bathroom floor.  She was in her mid-50's - don't know exactly what happened yet.  DH's physical was the next day, so he consented to the abdominal imaging, needless to say.  When I cook for a crowd or a party I lose interest in the food for myself - don't know why.  I almost never eat at my own parties other than tasting while I cook.

So! The Tuscan Kitchen was really good. They pride themselves on everything being made from scratch. It is rather classic Italian in decor, and large, but the way the tables are arranged (and they have a lot of  nicely designed booths to allow for conversation amid the din), it is pretty comfortable.                 There is a neat market with all sorts of homemade Italian baking products, and pastas, ravs, meats, cookies, gelato, etc. I scored some 00 flour which made me very happy. After dinner we picked up some Italian macaroons in case our Saturday evening dessert guests tonight didn't like the tiramisu. 

Dinner was great....the fried calamari, most tender I have ever tasted, came with crispy cherry peppers and a wonderful lemon basil sauce. DH thought he was ordering a gnocci appetizer, but it was not gnocci at all, but a tray of fried dough (our interpretation) with the best prosciutto and fig jam. For entrees, DS2 had the lobster ravioli which was chuck full of lobster pieces, DH had cod steak with saffron risotto, and I had flank steak with a saffron rice cake. All of the dinners were so tasty, if a bit heavy on the salt. I must remember to ask waitstaff to request no extra salt for me!

Once home, I finished making the tiramisu for tonight so it could sit overnight.  It was not really hard at all, just more assembling than anything else. I like that I now know how to make sabayon (sp?).So the   tiramisu turned out well, our friends liked it a lot, and went home with an extra container of it. Need to give away more to neighbors. Way too easy to eat!

We walked up to Sweet Basil tonight for dinner....more calamari (pretty standard), a delicious maple laced gnocci appetizer, which was great, and then their typical huge entrees:   Lamb shank with veggies and polenta, creamy rosemary chicken over ziti, and a tomato sauced veal dish with farfalle. We all took a lot home. We had a travelogue of Italy along with our tiramisu. Fun evening. These friends were supposed to be in Hawaii now but postponed their trip due to the hurricane, and are especially happy they are not there given the volcano eruptions!

Edited later for spelling errors and such!

lacey - thanks, it was such a shock and she was what I consider still young. She had stayed home from work for a day, felt better the next day and went shopping with a friend, next morning not so good, so her DH said lets go to the ER. She was getting ready and collapsed, he did CPR, but whatever happened it was catastrophic and she couldn't be revived. I'm worried for her DH (he used to work for my DH), he was treated for blood clots in his lungs a couple of years ago. They have no children so now he will be on his own, and they were very close. It is just so sad.