So...whats for dinner?

bedo- your dinner sounds yum! DH doesn't like cucumbers or raw tomatoes so I never make cucumber soup or gazpacho, but I love them. I need to come eat with you

I caught up to page 775 yesterday but I read several pages I had already read. May not catch up completely until Sunday or Monday. MO appt tomorrow and shopping.

DD is coming Saturday - I think. You never know. It is her 28th birthday. We are not big at celebrating anything and she rarely makes it out here anyway. I have a 1# bag of Tony Chachere's frozen shrimp. No recipes on the bag and I think it has drifted down a bit in freezer. (Note to self - don't buy another chest freezer, even a small one like I have) I don't think they are cooked and I would be hesitant to use them straight out of the bag even if cooked. Any quick and easy suggestions esp. for stovetop? Last time I wanted to make chicken and she chose stir fry and took all the leftovers home. We have been eating the leftovers and not freezing anything mostly because the freezer is stuffed. She cleverly brought her frozen blue ice and cooler and I had nothing for her to take home. But then again she says she really hasn't eaten much of what I've sent. She did take up cooking herself. Have rec'd a couple of pics of pork roast then oven fried catfish.

Carole - never heard of mustard for leg cramps. Wonder what the secret ingredient is? I'm sure the answer is in the pages I have yet to read but is this place in MN the same place you have been going? And I did read you're leaving the 5th wheel, right - which makes sense since you say DH is building a deck today. My gosh 60 degrees. It was nice yesterday after the pourdown but think today will be much closer to normal TX weather. Expecting our 1st 100 later this week. I saw your note about chicken and potato prices. Sounds good. We just barely manage to eat up 5# of potatoes b4 they go bad. The last bag I had did much better. I guess I should make a note of the packer and try to buy same again.

Special - we have been the worst at keeping up when something was done to the house like what year. Just had a discussion of when the roof was replaced, no clue of the year. Maybe get your DH to climb up ladder (or ask repairman) to read you those #'s and file away. I'm getting better the last year or 2 with keeping up with those things.

Bedo - Special and I will be arriving for dinner. DH eats cucumbers but not his favorite and he will not eat raw tomatoes. The cold buttermilk soup sounds good. Goats tolerate the heat so long as they have plenty of water. There are lots of herds in Arizona. These are African origin rather than Swiss so they are a bit better at it. The breeze has been exceptional during the afternoons. Mostly they try to find a shady spot or go in the barn and nap.

Nancy and Red - sounds like the rain has shifted up y'alls way though it did pour further out west/NW yesterday with more flood warnings. A cold front weather guy said. I think rain turns off and then we get hot. But long range forecast for August is very atypical upper 80's. I'll believe it when I feel it.

Nancy - same with us and fish. Local grocer has a small fish counter. Not inticing. DH tolerates fish OK but certainly not his first choice. And then when I do find good fish it is so exorbitant in price for something he could take or leave. Just as soon buy chicken.

OK wordy enough for now. Must get up and cleaning. Can't even get in doorway of DD's room lol.

Oh but wanted to say Lacey where ever those vacay pictures are looks lovely.

luv - I have shrimp in the freezer all the time -usually cooked and tail off for speedy dinners. I never know when DH will arrive home, so something fast is good. I do sweet and sour shrimp stir fry with whatever vegetables are in the fridge - I usually have peppers, onion, carrot and celery on hand. You can add water chestnuts too. I quick thaw the shrimp in water while cooking the veggies. I combine the juice from a container of fresh pineapple with some chili sauce, a bit of ketchup, brown sugar, Worchestershire, a couple T. Of cornstarch, same of vinegar. Whisk and thin with water and add to the veggies with the shrimp, some of the pineapple, and boil briefly to activate the corn starch and thicken the sauce. I serve this over brown rice but it is forgiving- you can use ramen, quinoa, and sub almost any cooked protein.

Lol! I was on the ladder and the phone with DH relaying the silly tiny numbers to the AC repair guy while he was at the parts place. I have begun to take pics of those types of numbers with my cell phone because I can enlarge the screen after and make the numbers bigger. Also good for awkward spots like my router on the floor under the desk

SpecialK, I shall copy your quick meal sauce and save it. Do you carry that recipe in your head or have it written down?

Nance, as always your dinner sounds highly appetizing.

Luv, I have some frozen shrimp in the freezer, too, peeled, deveined and quick frozen individually. I bought them from a seafood place in LA. I used some of them recently in jambalaya. I made a poaching liquid with s & p, red pepper, granulated onion and garlic. At home I would probably have used the real veggies, onion, garlic and maybe some celery. You bring the poaching liquid to a boil, dump in the shrimp, bring back to a boil and then leave the shrimp in the pot for a few minutes so that they absorb the seasoning but don't overcook. Then you can use them in stir fry or a rice dish and they have flavor rather than being bland.

Since your daughter likes stir fry, SpecialK's shrimp stir fry might be perfect.

We played golf this afternoon and finished about 7 pm. Dinner was a hamburger at the Royal Bar in Park Rapids. The Royal is known for its burgers with 1/3 lb patties. Beverage was an ice-cold draught beer. Mine was Coors light and it tasted so good. DH always orders dark beer. I know I've been eating a lot of burgers lately but a good hamburger is one of my favorite foods.

auntie - love green beans roasted with old school French dressing and bacon pieces.

carole - I used to have to read the recipe card but now I have made it so many times I just have it in my head. It is a good recipe for using stuff up in the fridge.

susan - no need to explain - you have a lot going on

We're off to Detroit Lakes later this morning to meet Puffin from Fargo for lunch at Shorty's. Puffin is a bc.org friend from the Oldies discussion forum. She suggested we meet at DL, kind of a midway point.

Susan, the plans for your young relative sound like a lot of fun. On the real estate subject, I hope you and dd and dh find the perfect property you're looking for. Most of all, I hope that new med is doing its job.

Just came across this yummy sounding recipe for shrimp:

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/peel-and-eat-grilled-shrimp-with-harissa

DH won't eat a bi-valve, mollusk or crustacean so I may make this for my birthday dinner later this month. He can have a steak. I used to be able to get live lobsters at a supermarket in St. Louis to cook at home for my birthday dinner, but that, sadly, is no longer the case.

Susan, I so agree with what Lacey so eloquently said. I'm happy with whatever tidbits you can manage to share. And like Carole, I hope lbrance is doing it's job.

Carole, how much mustard does one eat for muscle cramps?

I think it is the potassium and salt in vinegar (in a teaspoon of mustard) that helps with cramping. Some people also use pickle juice. It is a home remedy because most people have pickles or mustard, or even vinegar, in their house - but probably not potassium supplements.

Potatoes contain a ton of potassium - more than other fruits and veggies, so a good reason to eat them too! Even medium rare -

Now that I take magnesium supplements, I get far fewer, but when I do get them, they are severe. I can actually see the offending muscle contorting in my leg. Heat helps but I'm always looking for anything that works.

Today I'm making ricotta and marinara for stuffed shells for dinner. Some grilled garlic bread and somebody else's tomatoes (mine are still green) sliced and drizzled with olive oil and fresh basil will complete the meal.

Yay road trip for buttermilk cucumber soup!

DD brought home a giant bag of freshly picked Florida blueberries (weird, I know!) and I am a blueberry processing factory - muffins, pancake syrup, freezing them on a sheet pan for later use, washed and dried a pint for fresh use. I am down to the last couple of cups - I am thinking blueberry tartlets.

How on earth did I not know that homemade ricotta is so much better than store bought??? Maybe because I didn't know it was so easy. Definitely my bad!

SK, I want to be at your house.

So, interesting.... I can post if I force the URL to back up, but not if I just find this thread directly. Minus, Bedo and I are not able to post through the "normal" methods. I was going to write a long post about making lunch for my high school best friend who arrives tomorrow, and instead, got mired in technical stuff.

This site must not like these LONG LONG threads.

*susan*

Yes, Nance home made ricotta is so superior to store brought. And how did I not know that you had yet to discover that?! MY bad because you are so versatile in the kitchen... I just assumed it!

Never rained today so not much of an iphone post to share some of our interesting meals. Had our long walk into town, coffee in center, bus ride back and afternoon laze on our bayside beach which is really beautiful this year.

Back to town to Cafe Heaven for dinner where DH had his bouillabaisse and I had a " lobster martini" ( a large mound of lobster meat atop diced tomato, avocado and arugula in a large martini- like glass) Very delish. Also had a Greek salad. Warm peach blueberry crisp with fresh cream for dessert.

On our way to dinner we passed a gallery with a "Public Invited" opening, so we stopped in, had some champagne and wonderful chats with a few P-town artists whose work I really liked. It was such a lovely serendipitous pre-dinner event!

Tomorrow a day at the oceanside beach...forecasted to be hot! We will probably see seals and hopefully not sharks since we'll want to swim.

Pic of DH inside Cafe Heaven which is adorably whimsical, yet tame for P-town.

Happy man with a tummy full of seafood!

testing - I still can't change pages or select anything I copy, or submit a post

YES YES YES!!!!!!