So...whats for dinner?

MinusTwo

Illi - The only Rice Epicurian Market left in town is the only place in town with a full See's counter selection. Fountain View just south of San Felipe. I just found out they WILL take the email coupons that I've been throwing away since it says "company stores only".

DodgersGirl

Illimae—. Don’t have a See’s near me either after moving from So Cal, so I now order online and it arrives right to my door!!! See’s packs their chocolate very well with lots of cold packs.

illimae

Oh my god, ordering See’s online never occurred to me! This could be dangerous, lol. Thanks!!!

SpecialK

illimae - I already checked it out - pretty exciting that we can order See’s! Also, my babyhood home was Manhattan Beach

illimae

Me too, lol! My molasses bars and lollipops will arrive on Wednesday 😋

DodgersGirl

illimae, have you tried See’s Polar Bear paws? They are my DD’s favorite

Moonflwr912

Happy Easter and Passover to everyone!

MinusTwo

Moon - great to hear from you. Hope you are doing well.

MinusTwo

Eggs for Easter right? So I had an omelette with a ton of fresh steamed asparagus pieces & some cheese. Actually I think I read that a frittata has more veggies than eggs, so that's probably what I whipped up - although I cooked it covered on the stove top instead of turning on the oven. Delicious and 1/2 left over for tomorrow.

For supper I finished off a jar of marinated herring in sour cream & onions. That was followed by cup of cheese straws.

ChiSandy

No breakfast, as we were going to a mega-brunch atop the Hancock. (One guest was stuck in St. Louis with her folks, so we were a party of only 14). My entree was walleye pike atop lentils; buffet included oysters, shrimp, crab legs, salads, grilled veggies, fruits, leg of lamb, lobster bisque and various desserts. Because it was Passover, I “passed over” all the pastrie, breads & cakes. (No comment on the shellfish). All I could handle for late dinner was matzo, cheese, and some Passover candy.

eric95us

The wedding was aboard the MV Electra (a 50-60 foot yacht). It was a fairly small wedding, with only 30 or so people in attendance--mostly family. Sharon was laughing about, "I almost lost my balance while dancing. Was it the wine or the deck moving?" :-)

Dinner was chicken and rice in a lime sauce, squash-eggplant-cucumber vegetables and scalloped potatoes. It was quite good. The Electra's owner hosts private parties and weddings, so they know what to do.

I don't know what was going on yesterday with the driving. Despite no adverse driving conditions, there were three single car rollover crashes on roadways during the 7 (normally 5-1/2) hour drive home. If everyone in the cars was wearing their safety belts, I think they all will walk out of the hospital after a short examination. Without safety belts, the results would likely be much worse.

Dinner tonight is going to be some cauliflower and pasta, plus some spices--from a recipe that I found and adapted to use the spices that I have or can easily get.

Right now I'm cooking brown rice in sauce pan, beans in the pressure cooker and chicken in the dutch oven...for Sharon's lunches.

SpecialK

Couple of photos from our FriendsEaster - made these cute deviled egg chicks, and another with a plate (roast lamb, ham, asparagus with hollandaise, roasted carrots with soy honey glaze, vegan au gratin potatoes, spinach salad) that had a little of everything.Also, desserts - lemon cupcakes from me and a Bailey's cake roll from one of our guests. Also, kind of a lot of white sangria and champagne. DH will be feeling it allll daaaay today, lol!

eric95us

I printed out a picture of the egg "chicks" and put it in my notebook. I like the fun looking foods.

I've made fun looking foods for the "test daughters", DD, and test daughters' boys, so that skill has come in handy. I feel like grandpa! :-)

SpecialK

eric - fun food is fun, lol! The beaks are a piece of shredded carrot and the eyes are black olive - I used a skinny drinking straw on a black olive half and just pinched the end to dislodge the olive disk. The original instruction was to use peppercorns but I felt that would not end well if someone ate them! Just cut a small part of the egg bottom off so they sit flat. The instructions also had shredded carrot pieces for feet but that was too much hassle.

Magari

A lot of great sounding/looking Easter meals!

We sometimes do Easter brunch with friends but the main group were out of town this year. I was recently going through old magazines before recycling them for recipes and garden ideas, and found several worth saving from Sunset. There was a whole Jamaican menu, so my husband got some charcoal and we did a spatchcocked jerk chicken on the Weber. I made pan fried plantains for the first time ever. (Have enjoyed them in restaurants but never attempted to cook them at home.) And adapted the recipe for "peas and rice" for my Instant Pot so that I could use the dried red beans I had in the pantry. Everything came out great, which is good since we have plenty of leftovers!

Tonight we're having miso marinated black cod with Asian cucumber salad and rice.

ChiSandy

Tonight was leftover roast chicken (the "airline breast" half), mashed potatoes and peas--the leftovers from Thurs. night's dinner out. Probably going to Greektown tomorrow for dinner after Bob's finished with his shift at Union Health Care. (Most likely Santorini or Pegasus). Still Passover, so no bread, pastitsio or baklava (Greek Jews do eat rice during Passover, though).

eric95us

Tonight I made a cauliflower, onion, hot pepper, garlic, shrimp and pasta dish. My mouth is still "humming" as the hot pepper was JUST RIGHT.

M0mmyof3

Tonight is leftovers from Easter dinner

MinusTwo

Eric - I might not do quite as many hot peppers, but I'd like to hear more about your concoction w/cauliflower/shrimp/pasta.

eric95us

I cooked most of a box of pasta shells...the pound box was probably 2/3 full and was what was left over from another recipe. When it was done and drained, I added a tablespoon of olive oil and tossed the pasta around.

I cooked a 1/2 pound (more or less...again it was leftovers from some other recipe) of shrimp.

I broke a cauliflower head into its small pieces (florets??) and steamed it until it was tender.

I diced a large onion and cooked that in olive oil in my large cast iron skillet until the onion was soft. I then added a minced clove of garlic and a couple of teaspoons of crushed dried Serrano peppers (from my pepper plant in the back yard). I added to the skillet a couple of tablespoons of water and the cauliflower and cooked it for a few more minutes..so the pepper "heat" would be more evenly distributed. . While this was cooking, I was tasting it and adding salt until I liked it.

I then added the onion-garlic-cauliflower mixture to the pasta, along with the shrimp, tossed it a bit and served it.

This was an experiment that combined several recipes . One recipe was angel hair pasta with shrimp, another was pasta shells and broccoli, another was rice, shrimp and pepper, and yet another used small elbow macaroni with cauliflower and a tomato sauce. All the recipes were "busy", with every stove spot being used at the same time--this one was too. So, I got everything ready, the skillets hot and the water boiling, before I started cooking.

With everything ready to go, I got things pretty well timed so that it all was finished at about the same time and it was still hot when I served it.

Cooking times are about 10 minutes for the pasta, 5 minutes for the shrimp, 5 minutes for the onion, 3-4 minutes for steaming the cauliflower, plus a couple more minutes with the onion cooking with the cauliflower.

To my surprise, it turned out pretty well the first time. I'm not sure what I'd change, if anything, the next time i make it.

carolehalston

Lacey, I cooked the breaded eggplant slices in the air fryer last night for a side dish. The result was tasty but much drier than the breaded eggplant cooked in oil. Dh and I agreed that a good marinara as a dipping sauce would be good. This preparation would definitely work well for making an eggplant parmesan.

Tonight I will cook the second eggplant, spread a little Rao's marinara on top of the slices, spinkled with mozzarella cheese, and melt the cheese. The 2nd step will not be in the fryer but probably in the toaster oven.

The meat last night was roasted pork tenderloin, marinated in a mixture of olive oil, chopped rosemary, minced garlic, salt, and onion power. The tenderloin was cooked perfectly, moist and pink on the inside. Now how do I incorporate the leftover half into another meal without ending up with tough pork? Any ideas?

On Monday night I over cooked breaded veal cutlets in the air fryer. I seldom buy veal and meant to replicate a delicious paneed veal dish I had in a restaurant, but it was served with a butter sauce and I wanted to cut some fat and calories, now that I've rejoined WW and am back "on the wagon" and motivated to drop some lbs.

SpecialK

carole - I think this could work - cut slices of your leftover tenderloin. Put some olive oil in a skillet and briefly sauté your pork medallions, just for a moment on each side. Remove from the pan, and add 1/3 c. broth or stock and 1/3 c. mild vinegar to the pan. Scrape up any brown bits and reduce by half, about 5 mins. Lower the heat and stir in some dried tarragon, or herb of choice, a couple of teaspoons of Dijon mustard or other grainy mustard that you like, and 1/4 c. cream. Reduce again by half until thickened, add the pork slices back and re-heat them briefly, or if you have kept the pork warm just pour the sauce over. Because you only need a little stock for this recipe I usually make pilaf with rice and broken angel hair pasta and use the rest of the box of stock for that, and have a green vegetable or salad. Another thing I do, as I often have leftover pork tenderloin, is to do a stir fry of whatever vegetables I have on hand, and julienne the pork and add when the vegetables are almost done, cook just long enough to heat it through, add a bottled sauce like sweet Thai chile or Hoisin, and serve over rice noodles or brown rice.

carolehalston

Great ideas, SpecialK. Thanks for sharing them.

The eggplant dish is prepped and ready to finish in the oven at dinner time. I bought a black drum fillet (fish!) at the Winn Dixie today. Also a package of chicken breast fillets and another package of boneless skinless chicken thighs. I'll let dh decide between chicken and fish. Salad will be baby spinach with additions.

ChiSandy

Path of least resistance tonight: seared grass-fed ribeye, plus kosher-for-Passover broccoli kugel and butternut squash souffle. And (sigh) more matzo.

Magari

Last night was leftover jerk chicken, fried plantains and rice and peas.

We'd roasted an eggplant on the grill when we made the chicken on Sunday. So I just made the eggplant spread from Joshua McFadden's "Six Seasons" cookbook and will be making an adaptation of the Carta di Musica with Roasted Eggplant Spread, Herbs, and Ricotta Salad https://www.joshuamcfadden.com/recipes/ (it's the photo on the top right - pretty no?) for dinner tonight. I'm just going to split and toast pita bread brushed with a bit of olive oil to use as the cracker base. My girlfriend gave me this cookbook for Xmas and it's given me quite a few new ideas for different things to do with vegetables. (Recipes are vegetable-centric, but not completely vegetarian, which I like.)

My husband bought queso anejo the other day that I will sub for the ricotta salata. I will make a little mezze plate of olives, dolmas and whatever else I can round up to have on the side.

illimae

DH cooked a chicken on the rotisserie and I cut and steamed broccoli and cauliflower. The juices from the chicken were extra special good!

eric95us

Brown Tepary Beans.

And I thought bananas had a a lot of potassium per serving!

They have a vague nut like flavor. I followed the package suggestion and used onion, garlic, some of my hot peppers and cumin when I cooked the beans.

I'm "hooked". These were grown at Ramona Farms, just south of Phoenix and are available online. At $5.40 a pound, they aren't cheap though.

My doctor encourages folks to modify their diet if it is likely that it would help "whatever ails them". She says that the few that actually follow through do benefit.

Even if there are no medical benefits, the new flavors that Sharon and I are finding are worth it.

ChiSandy

Ai-eeeee---410 cal. per half-cup with nothing added?

eric95us

I'm guessing it's a dry 1/2 cup...but beans do not expand like happens with rice.

I was in a hurry this morning--going kayaking--and I ate a 1/2 cup of beans around 8am. It's 3pm and I'm just now starting to get hungry.......so it "lasts" a long time......

carolehalston

Tonight is the black drum fillet lightly breaded in fish fry mixture and sautéed in a little olive oil and ghee (clarified butter) I bought a jar of ghee today when I stopped off at a Rouse's supermarket on the way home to buy scallops, which will also be sautéed with no breading. Also bought a lb of lump crab meat for crab cakes tomorrow night. I may use a small amount of the crab meat as topping for the fish.

Side is zucchini cooked in a small amount of Rao sauce and pepper flakes and fresh garlic. Last minute sprinkling of romano.

Maybe a side salad.