So...whats for dinner?
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Hope all are doing well. I hear San Antonio got a LOT of snow. Ouch! Stay warm everyone. Think I'm making those pork chops with butternut squash and a baked potato. Or maybe just a baked sweet potato. I guess it will depend on what my DH brings home from the store. LOL
Stay warm and much love
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Moonflwr, I'm in New Braunfels and the snow was heavier here than in SA; according to the news SA has around 2 inches, we have up to 7-- hard to tell because the winds led to deep drifts and almost bare spots on the ground. The below freezing temps are probably creating more problems than the snow itself -- ice under the snow, frozen water pipes, power outages due in part to increased demand for electricity. Definitely not business as usual in South Central Texas.
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I'm with you on the rib thing Sandy. I prefer spareribs, more meat and more chew. I find myself buying and preparing baby backs when I'm short on time or they're on sale.
A sheet pan dinner tonight - a hoisin glazed pork tenderloin on a bed of tiny potatoes. I have some broccoli that needs using so that will probably be the green element.
Snow snow and more snow. It's 3 degrees right now, the hottest part of the day. I was shocked to see a picture of Galveston with snow onthe sea wall and beach. Strange times.
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Leftover veggies & salad from last night, then freezer-foraged: a few chunks of turkey breast and a couple of rib tips, and the last two lumpia (Filipino mini-spring rolls). Bennison's Bakery delivered a half-dozen paczki before the snow got too bad--had I known when I'd ordered them that I'd be home alone (no HK, no Bob) for at least 2, maybe 3 days I'd never have bought that many. I had a chocolate custard-filled one (with a carb-blocker chaser) tonight. My snow guy will enjoy at least two when he returns tomorrow--it got so bad by rush hour tonight he & his crew had to knock off & go home--the blowing & drifting are too much for even the most powerful snowblower and even plows. Bob made it to his hotel tonight (in time for the free wine & hors d'oeuvres), and the plows are having a devil of a time keeping parking lots clear. We've gotten a foot since yesterday, getting another 6" overnight and possibly over 20" by the time this winds down tomorrow evening. Tonight, now that the wind has died down, I'm comfy in the drafty front room wearing just a shelf-bra camisole & long johns under my thermal-knit PJs--finally able to take off the sherpa fleece jacket.
Avocado toast & an egg tomorrow morning. Keto-bread grilled cheese for brunch today. Sunday I made us steel-cut Irish oatmeal for the first time since it was (sparingly) reintroduced to my diet. Forgot how much better it is than even rolled oats, much less the instant stuff. I gave Bob real maple syrup, and imitation (Stevia/erythritol) for mine.
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Well, we lost power last night, hopefully it’s back by the time I have to think about dinner. Minus hasn’t been around in a couple days, I assume she’s out too. We are ok with the fireplace but definitely aren’t prepared for this kind of weather. Brrr.
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Illimae, just talked with my son who lives in Magnolia. Their power was out for 24 hours but is back on now. They and none of their neighbors have water. We are still dealing with rolling blackouts and no water. It's a Texas mess! Stay warm and hope for a hot meal!
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Wow warm wishes for all our Texas friends. This is brutal. We ended up with 7 inches of snow. It's now 8 degrees and (yay) sunny - the warmest it's been in a couple of days. Our "pod" friends in our old neighborhood lost heat because the new furnace quit in the middle of the night. Yike! When I went to bed at midnight the HOA guy was out shoveling our driveway and sidewalk. Yay for the HOA. I'm done with winter. But perhaps I'm repeating myself, Carole - how did you guys fare?
Dinner will be jambalaya, garlic bread and a salad. Happy Mardi Gras y'all.
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We got 18" by this morning, with a total of 21" on the ground since the weekend. Factoring in shoveling, plowing and wind-drifting, our "snow mountains" are anywhere between 3-4 ft. high. Supposed to get a little more tomorrow night into Thurs., then a mix on Sun., then Mother Nature is supposed to start having mercy on us. (Not looking forward to flooding and water-over-ice skidding due to the impending abrupt thaw, as happened in 2014).
Brunch was guacamole toast with chopped tomato, onion & cilantro, topped with a fried egg. Snack was half a cream-cheese paczki (can't freeze it because of the powdered sugar--will freeze the other ones which have fondant icing. Gave two to our snow guy). Dinner tonight will be tossing those thawed-out turkey breast chunks in pesto, with sides of seared asparagus & roasted fennel (ATK recipe).
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I just now have internet capability again, hi everyone! Still out of power and just lost our water but we’re prepared, I even tapped into my emergency cocktail mixers, lol.
I’m grateful to have good shelter, clothing and emergency preps (food, water, booze). Unfortunately, there are many in the city without, we’re ok and can wait it out. I prefer to think of this as a big 2021 adventure.
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Dinner (microwave baked potato with butter, sour cream, Italian seasoned ground turkey [precooked, from the freezer] and shredded cheddar) with canned apricot halves for dessert was finished shortly before the next rolling power outage. We do not have internet when we do not have power. The ones during the day today have been about 1.5 hours each. With the freezing rain weather forecast, have no idea what the morning will bring. Expect at least one outage overnight. Are we having fun yet? Still concerned about propane, the local office is closed and trucks are not running due to dangerous road conditions. So much for our "regularly scheduled" delivery on Feb. 1 5.
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To all the Texan friends at this kitchen table - hang in there and keep warm! I may live in Florida now, but I lived in Spokane, WA during the coldest/snowiest winter in 100 years, 12 years in southern and northern VA, where snow and cold happens but every now and then a whopper occurs, but also spent four winters in upstate NY, including giving birth to my firstborn during a blizzard where the high was 18 F, and the low was -14 F, with wind chill was much colder. I didn’t want to bring my 7 lb newborn outside of the hospital to get in the car to go home! I sympathize with everyone as they try to stay warm in trying conditions! Be careful!
Dinner tonight was pork tenderloin with a sour cream mustard sauce, taco potatoes, and chopped and sautéed spinach. Last night was beef and veggie stir fry over ramen noodles.
Tomorrow will be the last dinner I cook on my old gas Kitchenaid cooktop. My new one goes in on Thursday. That stove has been a fantastic workhorse, and many great celebrations - including DH’s retirement party from active duty and DD’s college grad party -15 years of holiday dinners and brunches, and many other parties had food prepared on it. I just recently did a thorough clean, but will touch it up and then take it to the Habitat for Humanity Restore where hopefully someone will continue to enjoy it!
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When DD was born in Jan 1998, my in-laws (and brand new grandparents) were EXTREMELY frustrated because they were unable to share the good news. All of Sharon's family lives in upstate New York family and the early 1998 ice storm power outages/evacuations meant everyone was out of touch.
Stay safe, and warm everyone in the areas that have been transported to north of the Arctic Circle.
I won't talk about the weather here.
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Holding our Texas kitchen table-mates in my thoughts with hopes for you to be done with this terrible weather scourge soon! Our news channel featured a picture of a bathtub of frozen solid water in a Texas home that had “prepared” for the storm. Yikes! Mae, I love your approach to this crisis. And I hope everyone remains safe and warm. Would love to hear from Minus, and hope that her silence is only due to the internet being interrupted with the power outages.
Nance, good choice of your new residence....does the HOA staff rake roofs, too, to prevent ice dams? We finally hired landscape “guys” to clear our driveway and walks of snow, and DH sold the snowblower. But our big weather related warning now is for the ice dams that form on snowy roof edges after a “warm up” (yesterday) followed by a freeze (now) and then another warm up, forcing melting snow back up under roof shingles and down the house’s inside walls. Not fun damage. So as I was preparing dinner, DH was out raking snow off our family room roof, (while he was firmly planted on the ground!), which is the roof most vulnerable to our forecasted weather.Dinner last night was Trader’s spanakopita with my regular garden salad and a side of roasted brussels sprouts, onions, and portobello mushrooms. I must remember to make that side more often, as we really enjoyed it.
Late next week I go for my second vaccine shot, and am hoping by then the muscles in my left arm are no longer sore so that another injection is not compounding that pain, which has yet to abate. Has anyone else received a second Pfizer shot? Reactions?Sending kind implorings to Mo Nature that she ease up on folks soon.
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We're doing fine. Thanks for the inquiry. Ran a dribble of water the past two nights to prevent pipe freezing. No electricity loss so the all house generator hasn't come into use.
Lacey, I didn't feel good the day after my second Pfizer shot. I kept an appointment with the dermatologist for an incision to remove a skin cancer on my arm and was checked for fever and cleared for the procedure. DH, however, felt fine and played golf.
We've been having meals including the last of the meal kits but I've been lazy about writing posts.
I intended to return to the gym today but it's still freezing and the advice is to stay off the streets.
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lacey - my DH has had his second Pfizer, it produced the same response as the first, just a sore arm and a little fatigue.
carole - I was just about to post wondering where you were - glad to hear from you!
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Carole, good to hear you folks are OK. We have water again but pressure is low never thought I would be so happy to wash my hands with soap and water after 2+ days of only hand sanitizer! Guess one benefit of the pandemic is having lots of sanitizer on hand. Still doing quick to prepare meals as power is still off and on.
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Ugh - really hope you guys get relief soon. I have two nieces in Texas - one in Houston area and one in San Antonio. They both have water but power is intermittent. Would really like to hear from Minus. Hope she’s able to check in soon.
Chicken enchiladas tonight using frozen rotisserie chicken taking up space in my freezer. Might throw ia couple of frozen tamales into the meal. Wish I had an avocado but sadly I don’t. Will have to make do. Side will undoubtedly be beans since we had rice last night in the jambalaya. The jambalaya was unsatisfactory. Too many tomatoes - not something I say often.
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Glad to learn that you are safe and warm, Carole! I hope things remain that way for you over these next days.
Thank you, Carole and Special for the Pfizer SE feedback!
This past weekend I decided to make a meal with grits to bring to DS2’s family since they are without a kitchen for the next few months and I’m going to try to make a few meals to make their life easier. Were I them, I would probably have delayed the kitchen project until they could go to restaurants again, or were not eating every meal at home due to remote work. Anyway...DDIL2 is southern so I thought a grits meal would be nice, but she doesn’t eat seafood....so no shrimp and grits.
After a bit of googly research, I found a chicken and grits casserole I decided to make. We had it the night I made it, and I found it a bit too much after mixing all the grits and cheeses and sour cream. But that may also be my typical reaction to eating something I’ve cooked all day. We also ate it two days later and I enjoyed it more then! The report from the constantly being renovated house residents is that they also liked it. Next I’ll make something more familiar...lasagna, which I know they eat, and then maybe turkey chili, and the turkey/kale meatballs they enjoyed recently. Always a challenge for me to cook meals for DDIL who is such a selective eater...and DS2 who is the non-mammal eater. Oy! Yet their toddler has yet to meet a food she doesn’t enjoy scarfing down! Tonight I’m making chicken....probably marsala since I have mushrooms on hand. Salad will be the side along with spaghetti squash
I hope everyone is able to remain safe and warm until the awful weather pattern passes. Hope to hear from Minus soon!
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Hope all you TX, LA, MO & points SW sisters (and brother) are staying safe and have enough layers & blankets. Got up to 23 here today, another couple inches of snow expected overnight into tomorrow. Bob made it home today but didn't want to chance getting stuck in the alley (the city doesn't plow them) so parked on-street. HK made it out to take her DH to & from dialysis, and will street-park here tomorrow (we'll use my Outback for the trip to & from the nail salon because if I drove myself I might not be able to park there; en route home I will drop her off at her car).
It's Ash Wed., so Bob insists on fish. So I got a tuna poke bowl delivered with our groceries, which I will supplement with canned crab bisque, Asian slaw & veggies. Comes with brown rice & avocado. Might make my share of the tuna into fish tacos with low-carb whole wheat tortillas. One pazcki (apricot) remaining, which Bob says he'll eat in the morning (however stale it'll be). They don't freeze well. Resisted ordering hamantashen--the grocery sells only the cookie-dough kind, and so does the bakery that made the pazcki. If they're not yeast-raised, they're not "carb-worthy."
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Thanks to everyone for thinking of me. I'm OK. We lost power Sunday night & didn't come back on until Tuesday. I was able to get the house warmed back up from 45 degrees (brrrr), then power went out again this morning. No phone since Monday morning so no internet, since I use a desk top with a DSL line. But no power anyway, so... Luckily I have lots of sweaters & quilts. And battery hurricane camping lanterns, so I could sit in my recliner & read. We have no water but fortunately no burst pipes either. In Houston pipes are in the attics and outside walls with no insulation. Seems most of my neighbors have had ceilings come down. I ate all the perishables (think salad & fruit) the first two days. I remembered hurricane times and drew several gallons of water for kitchen use before we lost the water & all my buckets full so I can flush commodes. Fortunately I have a gas cook top so I've been able to heat water and make such delicacies as egg drop soup and grilled cheese sandwiches and omelettes. Lunch was a can of BeenieWeenies. At least two more nights in the 20s. Fingers crossed my pipes hold.
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Yay, nice to see you minus! Sounds like an ordeal but very glad you were prepared.
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So glad to hear the update Minus and that you are hanging in there, so to speak. My nephew's family in Dallas had to go to a warming center for a bit due to their 3 month old infant. In pictures she just looked like the cutest bundle, but scary to have to worry about heat.
Tonight was Ranch baked chicken, coleslaw and baked sweet potatos. Tomorrow will be Chili. We have ice and snow coming in so appropriate.
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Glad to hear from you Minus and happy to hear you were so prepared! Stay warm my friends
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Adding to the good to hear from you Minus..
Glad you're OK.
Stay warm, everyone.
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DH was chef last night and re-created a HelloFresh kit meal that we had enjoyed. Among the ingredients were Italian sausage and big tube pasta. It was good again and very good to have him do the cooking.
Today is gray and gloomy and cold outside, but warm and comfortable inside.
Yesterday I returned to the gym and was very happy to walk 30 minutes on the treadmill. It was early afternoon and the gym was almost empty. This afternoon I'm hoping to attend the Chair Yoga class for the first time in weeks. I stopped going to the gym when our covid positives rose in this parish/county. It's now two weeks since my second vaccine shot so I'm venturing out again.
Glad you are faring ok, Minus.
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Had power long enough last evening that dinner was chicken corn chowder made in the Instant Pot. Eric, still planning to make your Lasagna Soup when I can use the cooktop to cook the pasta!
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So glad to know that Minus’ survivalist skills are working well for her to withstand the Texas weather crisis. May it pass soon!
We are entering another snow phase, which unless we get 2 feet is just an annoyance here.
I am enjoying hearing about your DH’s cooking adventures, Carole. If my back doesn’t get better my DH may need to move in that direction. His interests in cooking/baking are pretty hilarious. Right now, for some reason, he is smitten with the idea of making a king cake. ????? So he is off at the grocery store buying ingredients (along with the throng of pre-snow storm panicking milk and bread shoppers!) to make a king cake. I am just rolling with this. Lent observers would probably be horrified at his late showing on this interest.
Oh.....and if any of you who bake (you know who you are....) have advice or a favorite recipe for king cake baking, please share. He has (independently) been watching lots of videos to learn how to make one. So far I am just watching him become obsessed with this new interest.
We ended up having rosemary/balsamic grilled chicken last night with a cuke salad and more roasted veggies. DH was motivated to shovel out a path to the grill which had been snowed in for several weeks. I appreciate having that option for dinner prep0 -
https://www.swankyrecipes.com/mardi-gras-cream-cheese-king-cake.html.
Lacey, I’ve always used KAF’s recipe with excellent results but this time I used simple recipe from Pinterest that was pretty easy and tasted pretty darned good.
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MinusTwo! I came to look to see if you were okay, and so glad to hear that you are! Once your house gets heat, it will warm up that attic pretty nicely, but without 😳, not so good. Glad to see that Illimae and Beaverntx are faring well also! Mae, I cracked up when I read you said you had all the essentials, including booze. Still a little concerned about JavaJana in Woodville, because she hasn't posted but BCO says she signed on today, so that's a good sign. I'll PM her.
Like you, I'm grateful for a gas stove. At least we weren't hungry AND cold. Our eldest daughter (33 years old today) has an all electric house, so I'm buying her a propane stove TODAY. Fortunately they had neighbor friends with a generator who helped them out greatly.
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minus - glad you aren't frozen! And that you have a gas stove! Crossing my fingers that your pipes stay good - we were stationed in central CA during an unseasonably cold snap - down to 18 F - right as all the guys left for the first Gulf War, and many wives were dealing with burst pipes in the ceilings/crawlspaces - my DH was not yet deployed so he ran from house to house helping clean up wet ceilings that had come down and fixing broken irrigation pipes. One wife had a dog that was having puppies as all this was going on...
Yay for all our other Texans being ok, and prepared with alcohol! Smart!
lacey - is your DH also purchasing a small plastic baby to put in the King cake?
Dinner tonight is an unknown. I cleaned the stove all ready to have it pulled out today so I could donate it. Apparently the appliance store has the incorrect email for the external installation folks, so they never got the word. I finally called and while my sales guy thought I had an install today, the actual installation people were totally unaware, lol! Long story short - had to put the stove back together and the new one now is coming on Monday. Don't really want to cook on it though because it is super clean, so maybe we will grill this weekend and have salads or things done in the oven until Monday.
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