So...whats for dinner?

Is everybody fasting?

I spent the last two days painting our master bathroom. What a huge job. No wonder I put it off a couple of years. Cranberry red is gone and green/blue has replaced it. The chip looked quieter than the actual color but it's a sea color, which is what I wanted. In a day or two we'll get the bathroom restored to its usable former self.

Last night's dinner was baked sweet potatoes and stuffed pepper halves.

Tonight will be sea scallops and scalloped potatoes. Lots of "scallop"!! Maybe a salad, too.

So what's cooking?

Stuffed bell peppers. I've been doing lots of yard work. It's 80F/25C here at 3:30pm...might as well do it before the summertime oven like temperatures arrive.

Might make annellini al forno (I was able to find annelini on Amazon, though not at Eataly). Seems that unlike other pastas, in Sicily it's never served al dente with sauce, but always baked with not just tomato sauce but also ground meats, cheese and sometimes (in Sardinia) eggplant. Or I might just order out, I dunno. Not really hungry right now. Bob's down in Oak Lawn tonight, and Gordy has a raft of leftovers to eat.

Cherry..

Orange???? That looks really good.

I still have lots of oranges,

Hi Chi...I don't like cooking for one..so if u I were in that situation, I'd probably order out... ( I was typing on my smart phone and meant to say "I" not "u" like it said before...oops)

And hi to DodgersGirl.

Hi,

Anyone try Chipotle black bean burgers? They are frozen and have a nice seasoning bite. For a no meat option, they are pretty good. I make some quinoa, sautee some peppers and throw the burger and all on some butter lettuce.

It's quick for me to do this for myself and cook something else for the rest of the family.

minus - Spaghetti-os is still DD's favorite, lol! Nutty D'Angelo sounds amaze-balls!

MIL/FIL's cremated remains are being interred tomorrow afternoon at the Florida National Cemetery with a reception at my house to follow. My son built a beautiful ash and red oak box to hold them in together, I had a plate made for the top with their names, and we added their wedding picture, and the preserved buttionere and part of the wedding bouquet tonight and sealed the box and had a glass of wine to toast them. Tomorrow will be a difficult day, but it will bring some closure and finality - my FIL passed away Nov 2016, MIL Dec 2017. We will have military honors tomorrow (again, some of you may remember that there was a 21-gun snafu last time), and a chaplain. I am sure the gathering afterward will be full of stories and laughter - just like they would want.

I am making loaded deviled eggs, Hawaiian Roll sliders (ham/turkey), a Greek orzo salad, fruit platter with Kahlua dip, veg platter with sour cream based dip, spinach artichoke dip with crackers, a bacon cheese ring with strawberry jam (sounds awful but is wickedly delicious!), a chocolate cake, some cupcakes, peach sangria, and pitchers of Arnold Palmers. Red wine, white wine, and beer. This will not be a big crowd, but they are eaters/drinkers!

I never could stomach Spaghetti-Os, nor any canned pasta for that matter. Tinny sauce, mushy pasta. Funny, when we took our 2015 Mediterranean cruise and had our group lunch in a Palermo restaurant, we were served individual portions of annelini al forno (baked in large ramekins and inverted onto our plates). Our tour guide proclaimed it was a Palermo specialty, but all I could think was "ugh--Spaghetti-Os? Do they think we just fell off the turnip truck?" Then I stuck my fork into it, and took a bite--al dente, meaty & just enough cheese to hold it together. Never saw it anywhere else after that--I drove the staff at Eataly crazy looking for it, and for two years the only Amazon listing was "out of stock." Now I had two brands from which to choose, neither one cheap. I picked Rusticella d'Abruzzo (made with bronze dies), because I like its bucatini, spaghetti and linguine. (Whole Foods and Italian groceries sell the brand).

Tonight I ordered from Coalfire Pizza in Lakeview (about 4 mi. s.), considered the city's best Neapolitan (at least the best one that delivers). While I waited, I roasted broccolini with olive oil, lemon juice, garlic & salt. The pizza toppings I chose were Berkshire sausage, seasonal mushrooms and sweet peppers. I added my own basil leaves. I realize now why the other wood-oven pizzerias (especially Antica and Spacca Napoli, Chicago's best dine-in) don't deliver: that style of Neapolitan thin-crust doesn't travel well, especially in winter. It arrived lukewarm, so I had to reheat it in a covered skillet. Delicious, and though small (14"), quite filling. But I think next time I will bundle up & drive to Spacca Napoli. (It's sort of "wet" in the middle, requiring a knife and fork). But I noticed that the pizzas at Eataly looked pretty good too, so maybe the next time we return we'll split one.

My 'can of choice' for quick camping or emergency eating with only a spoon needed (which you could dip in the river & wipe clean on your levis) was always Beenie Weenies.

Eric - my SIL & DH & another couple are going on a cruise based trip with five different stops. They have this thing about making it to the last of all the continents left on their list.

Special - I'd love to see the handmade box if you're willing to post a picture here. The food sounds marvelous - and chosen for perfect standing & telling stories. I hope everything goes smoothly.

When I'd go camping, we'd usually take a Lipton freeze-dried entree or REI "astronaut meal" and cook it over the fire or a backpacking stove. But when we were poor grad. students in Seattle, living in married-student housing with no air conditioning (and inadequate wiring and the wrong windows to install it), on (the few) hot summer nights we would go across the street to the Genetics & Biochem bldg. (which was air-conditioned), cook that stuff over a Bunsen burner, and then take it up to the lounge with a bottle of wine and enjoy the view of the sun setting over the city & Mt. Rainier. Ah, Lipton Chicken Supreme or Beef Stroganoff....tastes like grad school...

april485, gosh, thanks for checking on the ginger dressing. I'm in the southeast and I shop both at Publix and Walmart but neither carry it any longer in the stores near me. I'm not much of an online shopper, and this is a refrigerated item anyway. Now that I've been talking about it, I really want some...so I will pressure the Publix manager a little harder! They are more responsive than Walmart, who won't even stock Israeli couscous that my kids adore (but Publix does!).

Tonight was a made up on the spot dinner of seared pork chop with Montreal steak seasoning, finished in the oven with a sauteed onion and mushroom cream sauce, then served over brown rice with roasted carrots. Pretty darn good, really tender, and super easy! DD came home from college feeling under the weather but at least she ate a good dinner.

Eric, orange right, you have a lot of those, here comes the recipe. I increased amount of flour and doubled the zest, added one more egg for the recipe and used real melted butter (Minus))) instead of coconut oil, I do not like the latter in particular. Cranberry are not very common here but I always buy them when I see in the stores because as soon as I get a certain inflammation I mash some with sugar and just eat it. Orange cranberry is a well-known US combo, I remember when I first came to NY with my eldest on the last day of our vacation I bought these huge muffins in a deli nearby for DH, he devoured them all even though they traveled at least 12 hours, but cranberry orange was his favorite. So, many years later I finely baked it, it was gone the day after, moist and tender.

https://www.joyfulhealthyeats.com/moist-orange-cra...

My paternal grandfather was in World War II, 21 years old, already had eight men under him, they were in artillery, battle of Moscow in December 1941. he got a piece of shrapnel in his head between the eye that somehow did not leave him disabled but he did not return to the front after that. The only thing that he missed was his sense of smell and he always complained that the food did not taste the same because of it. I actually look like him, he lived until he was 79, we were very close.

SpecialK, this is very beautiful that the grandchildren are so engaged in the life in in that case in the dead of their grandparents. And you, well, it sounds that you are about to open a restaurant. I also wanted to make those Hawaiian sliders but we do not have any Hawaiian rolls here, in that case I have to bake them myself, I really need this Artisan to get here soon). May I have your recipe of this bacon cheese strawberry ring, I actually had to read it twice trying to visualize it but you are saying it is delicious and I believe you and am willing to try.

I actually did look up annelini too, Chi Sandy, the casserole (or I would call it a casserole) you described we had it with different types of pasta. We stayed at a large all-inclusive but we never opt for the full pension because we want to dine out too but this time we had so called "semi-pension" where the dinner was included and we did not regret it, every single night I said to myself, no, you will eat salad, you have to look good in these bikinis for the vacation pictures and every time I was standing there holding this deep plate to my chest looking at these different delicious pastas unable to walk away. I swear I have never ever had a better spaghetti even though it looked like all it contained was olive oil, garlic and chili flakes, but when you ate it it was an explosion of the flavors. I found the picture of these eggplants they used on the boat to cook Pasta alla Norma for the whole bunch of people in this tiny cockpit during our trip to Panarea. It is hard to see on the picture but they were huge in size.

When we were poor students and I left my former husband and moved together with future DH our canned food was canned tuna, I used it in pasta putana, in the salads, spreads. This is the only fish product the eldest likes maybe because she is so used to it. She did started to eat salmon because I basically forced her to and also fried cod like fish fingers but when I buy a nice piece of cod file and do it the Swedish way with bechamel and diced hard boiled egg on top she would say, neh..))

Yesterday I decided to bake whole-wheat pizza and ended up with the dough enough for four of them only to find out that DH ans the youghest were going to the movies with her cousin and they were eating out. So, by 7 PM I was sitting there with one Tex Mex pizza (utilizing leftovers), one mozzarella&parmizziano, one white pizza with porcini and the last one with sliced shallots and red onions, red bell pepper and sliced tomatoes for myself, and no one to eat those, well, except for me. So now plenty of leftovers pizza, the rest of the family is skating somewhere and eating out again I suspect, so more pizza for me, yay. I can only add that the vegetarian pizza got too sweet, one has to add something sour or salty like anchovy or probably capers.

Lacey, may I have your bourbon glaze recipe, please.

I still have my artichokes and will make something called artichokes barigoule inspired stew I found on Food52, it contains fava beans, sugar peas, peas, onions and then a curried mayo for the leaves. I have not been eating any meat for a week and frankly I do not miss it but tomorrow I will.

Dinner tonight was part of my Christmas present from my DS. Clam Chowder and Original San Francisco Sourdough bread from Boudins. Yum!!!

Tomorrow will be pork medallions in Brandy cream sauce - probably on noodles. Next day will be Lacey's cod in marinara. We don't have a grocery store anywhere close to me so if I want to do "real meals" I pretty much have to plan menus for a week before I make the trek to shop. This is probably one reason I often have strange meals.

Yesterday was a mini-salad with chopped English cucumber, chopped black olives, julienne canned beets and a handful of leftover lettuce/cabbage mix tossed with ranch. That was accompanied by a bowl of macaroni in butter. Much to my dismay, that dish caused me to realize I bought butter that is "unsalted". I have 3 cubes left that I'll have to add salt.

Making chili tonight

The ceremony was very nice, no problems this time. We had good weather, not hot or cold. I think finally getting to this step, with both parents together provided needed closure and peacefulness for all. We had a nice gathering at the house afterward. Here are a couple of photos:

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Snowing on & off since last night--the first inch was pocked by rain, then more snow flurries. About 2" thus far. Will still prove slick footing, so I will take my cane with the removable rubber tip (which reveals a tungsten carbide ice-breaker tip). Gonna go get ready for the party.