So...whats for dinner?

Tonight I made spaghetti with sauce...but with a twist.

The sauce was green onion, soy, red pepper, ginger peanut butter and some vinegar.It was good. Sharon ate a huge helping and then got some more for her lunch tomorrow.

I wasn't sure how it was going to taste, but it turned out well. Sharon ate a huge helping and then got some more for her lunch tomorrow.

Special - yes we should. I've been considering taking the train from Washington State to San Diego with stops along the way. Be still my heart!!!

Eric - mind posting your recipe? That sauce sounds fabulous!

Coho salmon en papillote with fresh herbs (thyme, tarragon, parsley, dill and homegrown scallion) and rainbow bell pepper; sauteed snap peas; Dr. Prager's zucchini latke:

Here’s the Creamy Shrimp Pasta recipe

https://www.google.com/amp/s/recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail-amp.asp%3frecipe=137028

Eric - thank you! Loved the green onion reference, use em’ or lose em’ happens in my kitchen regularly. Also love no fuss recipes, will be trying tomorrow night, thanks again

Really easy, Eric, and it works with any fish fillet--branzino, flounder, trout, steelhead, etc. The key is to use kitchen parchment--tear off a square, fold it in quarters and cut, then unfold to make sort of a squared circle (there's a way to fold it even further to make a near-perfect circle, but I'm not that persnickety). Fold in half, then reopen. Sprinkle a little olive oil on the parchment, place the (salted & peppered) filet just below the crease, and add whatever herbs you have on hand. Then cut a few thin bell pepper rings, layer on top of the fish & herbs, sprinkle some sliced green onion tops. Make a packet by closing the parchment and crimp the edges, then make about 4 small slits.Nuke on high for 90 seconds (2 minutes actually overcooked my fish). Open the packet to let the steam escape, finish with a few flakes of sea salt, and dig in!

On Monday night at Crabby Shack, a dozen raw oysters is $6. We shared a dozen and they were delicious dipped in a horseradish, ketchup and hot sauce mixture. Haven't eaten raw oysters in years. We each had a 2 lb order of boiled crawfish. So I've had my crawfish fix. Now to drink lots of water and flush out the salt.

Tonight it's back to cooking. UNLESS I weaken and we go to a restaurant in a neighboring town, Mandeville, that has a grilled oyster special on Tuesday night. Maybe next week.

Minus, your vacation in CA sounds well planned! Hope you enjoy every minute and every bite of sourdough bread. I have eaten at Antoine's a few times through the years. A nice part of the experience is the veteran waiters who have made their work a dignified profession.

Sandy, enjoy all those lobster and oyster meals in Boston.

Minus, on the weight issue, I might do better if I omitted the empty calorie alcohol intake, but I enjoy my evening cocktail sometimes followed by a glass of wine. I eat very little bread which is easier when really good bread is not within arm reach. I can't pass up the bread basket at a good restaurant or bypass the dish of butter pats.

bedo - hi!!! Good to see you! Sounds like you have been busy! I have NOT started to the couch to 5K either, so there's that! I am at the seven year point too - so yay for us!

The last couple of nights consisted of leftovers - sandwiches from the naughty meatloaf and a chuck roast I cooked in my slow cooker. This is a new All-Clad slow cooker that DH got me Christmas before last. Ashamed to admit this is the first time I have used it - mainly because it was on a shelf in the garage that I couldn't reach (no room to store in inside) and I just kept using the old one. I like the feature on this one that shows a digital display countdown. Now that I have it in a more manageable spot I look forward to exploring the more user-friendly features on it, my old one was just a warm/low/high basic model. To the chuck roast I added beef broth and French onion soup and a whole sliced onion initially. At about the 2 hours to go point I added bacon (leftover from the naughty meatloaf - prob about 1/4 of the package) that was diced and cooked, then a package of baby bella mushrooms cooked in scant bacon fat. I served this with cut up russet potatoes, oven roasted after tossing in olive oil and part of a package of taco seasoning, plus carrots partially cooked then finished in a mixture of Jack Daniels, honey and a little bit of butter. Tonight is the last of the chuck roast - probably with steamed broccoli and buttered noodles with parsley. DH is having a vascular leg procedure tomorrow morning, so will be home but not NPO, so will use the rest of the taco potatoes as home fries and make him an omelet. I was at Whole Foods yesterday and got a package of four baguette bagels - they looked intriguing and were very good! Not as dense as a regular bagel and with good baguette-like texture, I will get them again.

Bedo - so glad to hear from you. We miss you when you're out on your job tours. It really does sound like you're have a grand time. Hope to see you more often.

Busy work & life schedule has us working into the evening lately. I ran out and picked up a rotisserie chicken and salad. It had to be the DRIEST poultry ive ever had the displeasure of eating...the sands of the Sahara have more moisture than that ball of sawdust we ate tonight! I think I can still feel it stuck in my throat! *cough* l thought I'd find some relief in the salad until I saw 'it'. I won't go into great detail, let's just say it resembled something grown in a Petrie dish. Tossed it, fought back nausea. Drank a ton of water and ate some raw almonds then back to work. Tomorrow will be different....we will eat again!!

Nice warm day, so I fired up the gas grill to preheat my cast iron skillet screaming hot. Put in a grass-fed ribeye; on the cool side of the grill I placed a knob onion, slit down the middle. But it was so windy that the flame blew out, so I turned off the burners and cooked indoors on the stove instead. Win some, lose some. Served with leftover carrots, fingerling potatoes, and green beans.

Lacey, that orecchiette pasta looks really yummy. (So does the soup). What's the weather forecast for Boston this Fri-Tues? (Headed out there for an echocardiography course). Hope the pain from the implant procedure abates pretty quickly--remember it's easier to stay ahead of it and maintain a steady moderate level than to bring it down from severe to moderate.

MinusTwo - Like you I found the Costco chickens the best going. Always juicy, even the next day, even the breast meat was juicy after being refrigerated! Always the best choice. It got me to thinking.....how the heck do they do it? So I did a little research and found that they inject their chickens with a brine of:

Water, seasoning (salt, sodium phosphate, modified food starch (potato, tapioca), potato dextrin, carrageenan, sugar, dextrose, spice extractives).

Don't quote me on this, but I did read that the Costco US also adds soy oil.

Carrageenan(thickener) has been FDA approved, but studies show that it's an inflammatory and specifically notes it can cause gastro issues if consumed regularly, not what anyone wants, especially if you suffer any type of gastro issues (I do). Spikes insulin levels.

Sugar - well we all know that's not good....why the heck do I need sugar in my chicken?

Salt - see above, sodium levels are nuts per serving.

Ok so I realize I'm spoiling everyone's day here with what may seem like a fanatical rant on processed foods, and I realize that occasionally eating the chicken probably won't kill us. I'm only posting it as my reason for opting out of Costco chickens. I don't like a pile of salt, sugar and inflammatories as a side dish when I set out to buy a simple chicken. The one I bought yesterday was low sodium, no additives, hormone free organic, NO FLAVOR, NO MOISTURE (lol). I guess I better just stick to roasting my own, but oh yeah, the Costco chicken definitely wins the prize for juicy & tasty, hands down.