So...whats for dinner?

Mr. 02143 made the trek up to the Sausage store yesterday to stock up on bacon. As usual, he brought home some weisswurst and their pretzels frozen. So that is tonight's dinner. You serve these guys with a sweet Bavarian mustard, and I make a large pile of sauerkraut for me. [He won't touch the stuff.] It is a funny meal, but a nice distraction once every three pounds of bacon.

I have been craving the Turkish soup again, so I think that might be tomorrow night's supper. That is assuming that is still what I want tomorrow.

On the planning front, we have chosen the Magic Flute as the opera to attend in Paris. The other option is a Dvoçak opera, and the soprano doesn't sing after the first act! It has been at least 35 years since I have heard the Magic Flute live, so that is pretty exciting. Now I have to navigate the website in French to purchase the tickets.

*susan*

I'm Polish -but I really really dislike sauerkraut. And Mustard. And Sour Cream. LOL. I'll have to turn in my membership card! LOL

Susan, when my daughter was a flight attendant, she learned to travel with a few things in her bag. Chicken boullion. Instant oatmeal. And individual peanut butter packets. Sometimes they arrived way past restaurant times. Usually they could get hot water. Hence the boullion and oatmeal. Not the best food, or maybe not even real food, but something to keep her alive until the next day. LOL

Veruka, I hope your DO heals fast.

Mommy, KFC sounds pretty good to me! Extra crunchy for me! LOL

Much love to all.

Lacey, what a full, busy day you had.  It sounds like you enjoyed yourself.  Bummer that your son might be too ill to go to the Super Bowl game.  I read a little discussion about "deflate-gate" in Time magazine last night.  We'll be watching the game.  DH will probably favor the Patriots.  He always pulls for the older teams rather than the late comers. 

Veruka, I smiled at the idea that children have to eat and have snacks every single day! 

Moon, that's funny that you're Polish and don't like sauerkraut!  I do like it and should make a winter dish with it.  I had forgotten about a layered dish with sliced potatoes, sauerkraut and pork chops.  Cooked in the oven and very easy.  Most people would have sliced onions, too.  We eat it with mustard!  I also like sour cream. 

My Polish sister-in-law, who is now deceased, gave me her recipe for polish sausage and sauerkraut, which I really liked.  But she used fresh polish sausage, which isn't available here.  We don't have a Polish population but do have a lot of Italians, so fresh Italian sausage is available in all the supermarkets.   Plus it seems to be generally popular.

Susan, you're as good at trip planning as you are at everything you do.  I'm awed at how you consider every detail.  How wonderful that your mother is a part of the trip.  I suppose your daughter is too involved in studies to participate.  She'll probably make good use of your kitchen in your absence and will undoubtedly miss your cooking. 

Eric, I hope your mother recovers from her illness. 

Nothing exciting going on in my kitchen, plus I've been having my own private pity party.  Private because I have a lot more to be thankful for than to complain about.

A food pill is not a bad idea.  I think it would be a big money maker, Nance.

I also love the idea of a food pill! We should invent one that includes the sensation of chewing, varied tastes, nutrition, and, of course, resulting satiety. A money maker for sure!! If my DH didn't have to eat three meals a day like clock work, I would be quite happy to grab some non- cooked protein and fiber a couple times a day many days And be done with it! I think at this point in my life, I do spend too much time preparing food, but it seems I need to if it us going to be healthful eating. And yet, Veruka, I should not complain.....recalling those days of keeping the kiddies fueled! Full time food prep. I think that is often why moms gain weight during child rearing years.....always near food and replenishing oneself frequently while nurturing others twenty-four seven.....or at least it was that way in my generation of parenting. I think there is much more emphasis on keeping selves fit these days....and more healthful food choices for the whole family.

Sending a hug right smack in the middle of your pity party, Carole!

I like sauerkraut, but forget to ever buy it.....good idea!

Lacey, I appreciate that hug!  One thing to be thankful for is a lovely sunshiny day here.  I went to the gym and put in 30 min. on the elliptical and another 15 on an upright bike, plus my strength exercises on selected machines.  Now I'm thinking about going to the driving range.  DH is out playing golf in spite of his head congestion and cough. 

Dinner will feature catfish fillets that were thawed out for last night's dinner but went uncooked.  Instead I heated up chili out of the freezer.  Tonight I'll also roast some cauliflower that went unroasted last night and also make a salad.  We had a delicious salad last night:  romaine with cherry tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, blue cheese and kalamata olives for me, sweet onion for dh.  Remainder of a home-made vinaigrette that was quite good and simple.  Extra Virgin Olive oil, white balsamic vinegar, Grey Poupon mustard, and a bit of honey, all added to a bottle free hand and not measured.  So it will never be repeated!

I've been working at the Superbowl venue all week. It's been busy.

Putting NFL game day frequency coordinators in any of the search engines will tell quite nicely what the lead coordinator does. My job title is assistant frequency coordinator. What I do is whatever the lead coordinator asks me to do....

I would like the recipe for the red lentil soup, too, if there's a link, Susan.  I bought red lentils and haven't cooked them.  Lamb stew sounds perfect for a Super Bowl supper.

Omitted the salad last night and had two veggies instead.  The roasted cauliflower and a separate dish of roasted golden beets.  The latter I peeled and sliced and dressed with a thick balsamic sauce from a bottle.  Someone gave it to me and I noticed it in the refrigerator.  DH especially liked the beets.  He's very fond of balsamic vinegar.

A large stuffed Boston butt pork roast was cooking in the big Crock Pot overnight.  I had to close the bedroom door because I don't like to smell food cooking when I'm in bed.  The roast will be noon dinner at my mother's house along with some baked sweet potatoes she is making and the rest of the cauliflower steamed and sauced with cheese sauce.  A white sauce with lots of grated cheddar.  I'll have to overcook the cauliflower to suit my mother.

Susan, Cooking Light magazine has a Meatless Monday feature.

Bedo, I love the idea of your vacuum cleaner robot!  I don't vacuum until it's visibly necessary.

Aww Red, that's sweet, but I'm not worthy! But as they say at the academy awards, it's an honor to be nominated with this fine group of cooks.

No superbowl parties here, so it's chicken and "slicks" (dumplings) with some brown butter cornbread and maybe a greens mix on the side. Southern comfort!

Speaking of which, Carole wish I was there to (pity) party with you. Hope you enjoyed an adult beverage or two to make it better. ((Hugs))

When I got here it was foggy. This was taken about 150 yards from the stadium.

Today I played with my Christmas gift for the first time... a sous vide machine. For my "brunch" I made soft boiled eggs. Oh do I love a well cooked soft boiled egg. Since the egg just hangs out in the sauna, cutting the top off was easy since the egg wasn't that hot. We too had Italian sausages for dinner, but with a quick marinara sauce and some pasta. I used the sous vide water bath to cook them, and then just browned them on the stovetop. Mr. 02143 made the request for "red sauce." Sadly, the box of spinach I bought at the end of the week was busy rotting, so no salad for dinner. Since the snow should start soon, there will be no salad tomorrow either. Looks like the world will be shutting down tomorrow.

The rest of the house is watching the game. I can't quite gather enough interest.

*susan*

I think I have posted a link to this recipe before, but here it is without a link. This Turkish soup just makes me so very happy! Will be the basis for tomorrow's dinner. This recipe makes 8 cups, and when I serve it as a main course soup, I serve up 2 cups per person. When part of a larger meze meal, I serve about 3/4 cups. The original ingredients are not changed, but my modifications are below. My changes make it better. :-)

I gave up on the dried mint from stores; just tastes dusty to me. When I use my own dried mint, it is good. Next summer, i will dry a TON more mint for this soup. The lemons are essential, squeezed at the table.

Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

• • 1 cup red lentils, washed and drained
  • 1 medium potato, peeled, washed and cut into 1 inch / 2.5 cm dices
  • 1 medium carrot, thoroughly washed and cut into 1 inch / 2.5 cm dices
  • 1 medium onion, peeled and cut into 1 inch / 2.5 cm dices
  • 6 cups water
  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp fine sea salt
  • 4 tbsp butter
  • 2 tsp all-purpose flour
  • dry mint, for serving
  • red pepper flakes, for serving
  • 1/4 cup toasted sunflower seeds, for serving (optional)
  • melted butter / olive oil, for serving
  • ==
  • susan's changes
  • 1 tbl tomato paste with the vegetables
  • 2 tablespoons fresh parsley
  • 1.5 tsp cumin, divided, .5 tsp with the vegetables
  • 1 tsp Allepo peppers, divided, .5 with vegetables
  • 2 tsp Urfa peppers, with salt and cumin
  • added dry mint with salt mixture
  • lemon wedges at the table
  • no sunflower seeds
  • roux is not needed for at home dinners, just 2 tbl butter at the end

INSTRUCTIONS

• 1. Place the red lentils, diced potato, carrot and onion in a pressure cooker. Pour over 6 cups water, close the pressure cooker tightly, bring to a simmer, reduce the heat to a minimum and cook for 30 min. Release all the steam before removing the lid. If not using a pressure cooker, cook the lentils and vegetables in a pot with a tightly fitting lead for 50-60 min, until the lentils turn into a smooth puree. Once done, remove from the heat, add cumin and sea salt. With an immersion blender puree the soup into the homogeneous creamy texture without any lumps.
  2. In a small pan melt the butter in the medium heat and once it starts sizzling stir in the flour. Continue stirring as the roux changes its color from golden to light caramel. At the roux starts browning slightly (after about 2 min), pour it in the soup and stir with the blender. Place the soup pot on the stove, bring to a simmer and let cook for 2-3 minutes on a low heat to let the flour thicken the soup into its comforting velvety state.
  3. Serve immediately, sprinkled with the dry mint, red pepper flakes, toasted sunflower seeds and drizzled with a bit of melted butter / olive oil. You can also temper it with infused butter like here. After being refrigerated overnight the soup thickens; you might want to add a bit of water when reheating it.

Thanks! What are urfa and allepo peppers and what does .5 mean? And are there suitable substitutes if I can't find them? Also, how do I dry mint from the store?

Thanks! Can't wait to try.

I can't believe you are reading Turkish.

Yes, Susan, you did share that recipe previously.  I saved it into my documents.  I'll try to put a footnote into my brain!  After our houseguests depart this week, I'll make it. 

They should arrive this afternoon, returning to NO from their brief cruise.  Our weather has turned cold this week.  It's windy outside and in the 40's.  Dinner will be shrimp and linguine and tossed salad.  The shrimp recipe is a simple scampi with butter, EVOO, garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice and grated romano.  The salad is romaine with typical salad ingredients.

Susan, do you like the sous vide machine?  I googled sous vide and learned that the cooking technique is widely used in commercial food preparation.  I, too, really like soft boiled eggs and it's always a challenge to get them perfect with soft yolk and cooked white.  I don't like a runny white.  I have not mastered poaching eggs and haven't tried often.  I usually order a fancy poached egg dish on those occasions when we eat out at a good breakfast restaurant.  I'm salivating as I remember poached eggs and crabcakes in Anchorage. 

Pressure cookers are back in favor.  I used one years ago when we lived on a sailboat.  The new ones are fancier and have safeguards.  Mine just had a little toggle that waggled once the cooker was up to steam.  To release the steam, you held the toggle in one position until the pressure had all hissed away.  I can sense Bedo gagging as I divulge that I used the cooker to cook beef tongue back in those days when we ate really cheap.  The tongue cost almost nothing and tasted great sliced up on sandwiches.

Nance, how was the chicken and "slicks"?  I watched that episode of ATK and have the recipe printed out.  That was when I learned that the MS dumplings I grew up eating are a type of home-made noodle.  It had always puzzled me that so-called "dumplings" in other areas of the country are blobs dropped into broth.  My mother is from MS and I learned to make chicken and dumplings watching her cook up a big pot for our large family. 

The Super Bowl game was thrilling!  And I didn't care who won.  It was like a parable of the ups and downs of life. 

Eric, how is your mom?

Susan -- the e-muffin bread will be a worthy delivery system no doubt! I don't get sous vide. I know it's wildly popular but from what little I know about it, it seems like it's a lot of trouble and takes too long. The end result must be well worth it. I know Kenji Lopez-Alt LOVES sous-vide. He is my Serious Eats idol.

Carole - the slicks were wonderful. I found that I have the best result when I use butter instead of shortening or lard. I'm not familiar with the ATK recipe. I'm not even sure I remember where I got this recipe. All I know is, after much trial and error, they are the closest I've been able to get to my great grandmother's which for me, is the standard by which all others are judged. She was one of those marvelous southern cooks who never measured or wrote down anything so most of her wonderful dishes have been lost to me. I was 19 when she died and cooking was the farthest thing from my mind at that time. Stupid me. One thing I discovered about "slicks" is that if you cover the pot, you get an entirely different product.

I love soft boiled and poached eggs. I'm better at poached than soft boiled. Can never get the top off right. Unike DH, who likes his whites very set and the yolks firm, as long as the white is opaque and the yolk warm, I'm good. I just watched a food and wine video that explained how to poach a dozen eggs in a muffin tin in the oven. I might give that a try. It's easy to reheat poached eggs in a water bath. One of the very first dishes I ate my first time in New Orleans was Eggs Sardou at Brennan's. Wowza!

I got nothin' for dinner. It's either leftovers or eat out.

Dinner will be something from the bowling alley----burger? grilled chicken? fries, of course, unless we all spring for a PIZZA......