So...whats for dinner?

carolehalston

Sandy, love the Italian beef sandwiches with sweet and hot peppers at Portillo's in Chicago land. We always try to eat at Portillo's or order from there when we visit family in the Chicago area.

Last night was easy and not too healthy dinner. Hot dogs, Bush Original beans and napa cabbage and fresh pineapple slaw.

Tonight's dinner is undecided. Probably chicken prepared in some manner with a veggie and salad. Vague enough?! LOL.

It's in the 50's this morning and the wind is popping outside.

ChiSandy

75 everywhere this morning but (all together now) "cooler by the lake." And that temp. (or amt. of lake effect snow) is never specified, so we have no idea whether a light jacket will be enough. Bob has a haircut at 12:30, and we have a brunch res. atop the Hancock at 1:30. He's going on ahead of me, as I need more time to dry & style my hair and deal with the effects of my morning meds (actually, the glass of water) and coffee--can't hurry Mother Nature, and I ignore her only at my peril. (GI doc read me the riot act). So when she calls, I listen. I am not very hungry, so I will definitely not be eating my money's worth at the sumptuous buffet. Bob just left, I will Uber it down there in an hour.

MinusTwo

Lunch was California Roll. I had tossed in a frozen package of steamable Brussels Sprouts in the microwave for dessert. Imagine my surprise when I slit the package & poured it into the colander. It was broccoli. Oh yes, the bag clearly said broccoli but in my mind I've been thinking it was sprouts for a week & really looking forward to them. It said broccoli when I took the bag out of the freezer, when I massaged it to break apart the frozen clumps, when I put it in the microwave, when I set it on the cupboard for the 1 minutes rest.. Sigh. Just severe operator error that it was right in front of my eyes that many times & I missed or ignored it.

auntienance

Beautiful day with 80 degrees and low humidity today. Cool enough to brave the oven with chicken pot pies made with puff pastry. The chicken breast is now in the sous vide bath.

I took advantage of the nice weather by weeding the garden and dead heading. While I was in the garden, I looked up in time to see a small fawn on my neighbor's front porch. My neighbors came out of their side door about the same time and he scampered off to the woods. I had just noticed that the deer had eaten one of my pepper plants halfway as well as all of the red roses (but not the yellow) so I expect mamma deer has been pointing out all the best places to eat. We also have baby bunnies, but so far their damage has been confined to the back yard where I watch them snack on the water lily leaves that the squirrels have pulled off and discarded. Friday we spotted a red fox carrying something in her mouth back to her den. The bunnies are all accounted for. I hope it was a squirrel.

ChiSandy

Warmed up to the low 70s today, even lakeside--but with a stiff onshore breeze. Went to the Signature Rm. atop the Hancock for brunch. We got the corner table, with great views. Buffet included tomato-basil soup, salads, smoked salmon, seafood bar (king crab legs, shrimp, oysters), omelet station, "Cuban spring rolls" (like a Cuban sandwich inside a spring roll wrapper and deep-fried), mini-pastries, yogurt parfaits, sundae bar, and crème brulée. (I didn't try the omelet station or sundae bar). For our entrees, Bob had steak & eggs, and I had pan-fried barramundi over quinoa and topped with pickled radishes & red peppers. It was considerably cheaper than at Easter--no carving station today. Had we still been hungry after our entrees, we could have ordered second ones. (No taking home leftovers; although in the past, sometimes at the end of the last seating they've relented and even offered whole second entrees to take home, lest the food go to waste after service was done).

Since Bob is treating today as advance Father's Day (he's working next two weekends), he has requested deep-dish pizza for dinner. So we'll order out.

SpecialK

minus - in an effort to make you feel better I am going to make three operator error eyeglasses related confessions - 1) wearing sunglasses into the house and then wondering why it was so dark, 2) putting a second pair of reading glasses on when I was already wearing a pair, and 3) the classic, looking for the glasses that I am wearing on top of my head. The bad news - I am doing these things with increasing frequency, lol!

auntie - chicken pot pie - be still my heart... I too hope it was a squirrel. Although that makes me sad too, even though squirrels are really just fancy rats...

I made stuffed shells with grated fresh mozz on top and neither DH or I ate them - too full of sliced apple, grapes, and Gouda on crackers that we had at 4pm. I usually make lunch for DH with leftovers from dinner, so at least some was used for that. Moved the last of DD's stuff out of her place yesterday and into the storage unit, and got everything cleaned up - mopped my way out of the door and locked it! DH and DD handled the furniture and I just ordered them around and organized the smaller stuff. I am looking forward to putting the seats back up in my car, and NO driving downtown every day - sometimes twice!

eric95us

Warmed up to 110F/43C. Today Sharon made a chilled chickpea-quinoa-cucumber-date salad from the "How to Not to Die" cookbook. I liked it a lot.

Today is day 55 (in a row) of moving more than 5-1/2 miles a day. It's been a combination of some running, some hiking and some walking the dogs.

The dogs are loving it. :-)

MinusTwo

Oh my word Eric. You must be in great shape. Retirement seems to suit you.

Special - do I have to admit that it took me several minutes Saturday to remember the name of 'vice-grips'? I know that as well as my own hand, but I had to phone someone to bring a pair up to the community pool where I was working & the name had wandered. I felt substantially better when the guy I called brought plain old pliers. For heavens sake - he didn't know what they were. I already had pliers AND channel locks that weren't doing the job.

Glad to hear you've got your daughter's clean-out behind you. Maybe you can just enjoy your pool for awhile? And dinner's already made for tomorrow - stuffed shells!!!

Nance - What a nice group of wildlife you have. I hope it was a squirrel too. My pecan tree has been gone three years but now the squirrels are bringing acorns & figs to my yard and still digging in all the potted plants.

SpecialK

minus - when I struggle to remember what something is called, I tend to uselessly say “you know, the things...argghhh, what are they called? Those things, that you use for you know....” and then everyone looks at me like I’ve lost it. It is totally ridiculous. You are not alone! And yes, dinner is done for tomorrow night - way to play the glad game!! I should get in the pool - my lymphedema arm is not happy due to the DD moving frenzy, plus it is hot and sticky out. I am not ready for summer in Florida. Every year I am not ready and it happens anyway Ugh!

Egads007

Special & Minus - I call the word forgetting thing ‘tip-of-the-tongue-itis’.

SpecialK

egads - exactly!

ChiSandy

I have a friend who wrote a song called "My Rememberer is Broke, But My Forgetter is Getting Better." He was 45 at the time.

SpecialK

chisandy - that sums it up rather succinctly!

eric95us

The gizmo that fits on the thing on the whatchamacallit. ?????

carolehalston

Nance, I enjoyed seeing all your wild creatures second hand. I know we have deer in the woods here and they do venture into the campground but I have never seen them. They probably come too early! They have eaten flowers especially those in sites close to the woods. DH and I saw a pretty doe on the golf course last week.

Specialk, stuffed shells was one of the dishes that Laurie cooked quite a bit.

Eric, you adjusted to retirement almost instantly! You sound very happy.

I bought a couple of eggplants today at Walmart and some ricotta (not the whole milk--sorry, Nance!). Also some ground turkey. Later at home I made two layered eggplant dishes, one to freeze. The red sauce was 1/2 lb of ground turkey made into Italian sausage and a jar of Rao marinara. I peeled, sliced, and cooked the eggplant on a flat grill pan. Instead of brushing the slices with olive oil, I sprayed them with canola spray. First time I've ever done this. I layered the eggplant with sauce, ricotta and grated mozzarella mixed with grated romano. It's also the first time I used ricotta in this dish.

My choices for heating the casserole or hot dish, in MN lingo, is the grill or the convection/microwave oven. I'll probably use the grill as an oven. The side will be a romaine salad with lots of good additions like we had last night.

Outside is a lot of machinery noises. The street through the campground is being asphalted.

Beautiful day here today. High in the low 70's. The weekenders would have loved having this day for their Saturday or Sunday.

Magari

We grilled a whole spatchcocked chicken with rosemary and lemon and some fresh corn on the Weber last night.

Tonight we'll be having lamb chops and roasted carrots with harissa and greek yogurt.

ChiSandy

Leftover deep-dish pizza. Path of least resistance.

I finally tried Galbani brand whole-milk ricotta. Wow--smooth, creamy & sweet. I'd always thought ricotta (even the hand-dipped kind) was inherently grainy, but this stuff is fantastic. I used it to make fake cannoli--mixed with a bit of crushed pineapple, sugar-free apricot jam and rum extract, on toast. (Old WW recipe). No mascarpone necessary.

carolehalston

Magari, I'm a self-invited guest! Your dinners sound wonderful.

The eggplant lasagna-type dish was delicious but the ricotta was not a taste enhancement. I will leave it out in the future. Maybe if I had used Sandy's whole milk version, I would have a different opinion! Using the outdoor grill as an oven worked fine. I lit only the main burner and even turned it down a bit. Normally I light all three burners to heat up the interior grill space. Not necessary.

Today is Tuesday, ww meeting at 5:30 pm. Afterwards dh and I will eat out at a restaurant that is "new" for us.

illimae

Tonight is “jump ups”, lol. I’ll be having leftover lasagna and salad. Not sure about tomorrow, maybe fish tacos 😀

SpecialK

Tonight was cheeseburgers with chipotle gouda on flat bread and sweet potato fries. Tomorrow is brats and red potato salad, with maybe some green beans with dill. I have a skin cancer removal surgery in the morning and will be wanting something easy for dinner.

MinusTwo

I had to speak at City Council this afternoon & I have a full battery of blood tests tomorrow - so dunch was an omelette with leftover mushrooms & broccoli. Even though I'm not fasting until after midnight, I thought I'd go easy on my choices today. My PCP has thrown in more tests on top of my MO's orders. Oh well, this should be the last 6 month appointment. If everything goes well, I should be moved to once a year follow-ups.

When I got back to my car this afternoon, it was 107 degrees. By the time i got home 40 minutes later it had cooled down to 100 degrees - but that was the actual temperature on my back porch in the shade. Long hot summer ahead. And there's a name from the past - an old 1958 movie with Paul Newman & Joanne Woodward that my Mother would not allow me to see. Soundtrack sung by Jimmie Rodgers. (think Honeycomb and Kisses Sweeter than Wine and Oh,Oh I'm Fallin' In Love Again)

SpecialK

minus - I always loved Paul Newman's quote about cheating on his wife - he said something to the effect of why go out for a hamburger when you have steak at home. Seems fitting for this thread...

ChiSandy

Yesterday we made it up to 80. At bedtime it was 70, so I turned on the fan but not the AC. Late this morning, I awoke shivering, thinking I had a fever. Nope--my phone's weather app said 52...projected high of 60...which we'd already had before dawn. When even the TV weatherman utters the phrase "pneumonia front"...it was a hot oatmeal kinda morning. In June.

Dinner was leftover Vietnamese beef stir-fry with rice. I crisped up the rice separately, put the beef chunks & greens on top, and topped it with a fried egg. Voilà: a blander version of bibim bap. (The latter is Korean, I know).

carolehalston

I was down .6 lbs at ww weigh in yesterday afternoon for a total of 7.8 lbs. Not exactly a ww poster child! LOL. I was prepared for a slight gain or maintenance. I enjoy the meeting but it's so different from my Louisiana meeting where people speak up and share. These MN ladies are more reticent. The leader makes a good effort to get a discussion going. In Louisiana the meeting is more of a support group. I am making an effort to sit with different people each meeting. There are two men who attend regularly.

After the meeting we went to Boulders restaurant for the first time. It has a nice main room with large windows on three sides. Tablecloths and rather formal. I had a by-the-glass cabernet, Grayson from Napa Valley, and liked it a lot. $9 a glass so I had only one. I ordered a lemon pepper walleye which came with a tasty tartar sauce, slice of lemon, steamed veggies that were almost raw, and a wild rice blend with cranberries.

Dh ordered a night's special, lamb shank which was served with a gravy-like sauce on the side and mint jelly. His side was mashed potatoes which he said were ordinary. He enjoyed the lamb which you're not likely to find on most menus up here.

We both enjoyed a hot roll, medium to small size, dipped into an olive oil and seasoned parmesan mixture.

My conclusion was that Boulders is pricey but does offer some more "sophisticated" menu choices you won't find at most local restaurants. We won't be going there every Tuesday after the ww meeting.

Tonight will be ribeye steak and baked potato and salad.

Today I'm playing golf with the 18 hole women's group at Headwaters Golf Club.

Valstim52

Hello Ladies:

I lurk mostly... but would like your input on the cut of beef to use for Beef Stroganoff. I want it tender. Any suggestions? A friend is ill, and is requesting my old recipe. Wellllll, can't find it. Haven't made it in decades. I remember my secret ingredient for my sauce, but can't remember the cut of steak/beef I used.

Help!!!!

SpecialK

val - hey! Missed you! Hope you're doing well. I can't really help on the stroganoff quest - but someone will come along who can I am sure. I usually use leftover rib-eye that is somewhat rare, slice it n strips, and add it toward the end just to warm though. I rely on larger quartered mushrooms cooked over high heat to be the start of the sauce, with some Wochestershire, sour cream, and a teeny bit of tomato paste.

Valstim52

Ah tomato paste sounds great. I was thinking ribeye.

It’s nice to be missed. I’m doing well.

Va

eric95us

Tenderloin for the Stroganoff???

PatsyKB

I love checking in to see what everyone's eating! And hey, SpecialK, your burgers sound soooo enticing...but because of doctor's orders, I have to remain faithfully (primarily) plant-based, so our dinner tonight (while I fantasize about your chipotle gouda...) will be a favorite recipe from a friend who's an expert on cooking for lots of conditions. Her sons have various dietary needs and she has celiac. I don't share any of those conditions but I love her recipes! So we're having this tasty Quinoa Taco Salad and I'm bumping up the protein with some black beans; husband will sprinkle on some shredded mexican cheeses and we'll both enhance with favorite salsas! I also changed the greens to spinach instead of romaine. http://bit.ly/GFGQuinoaTacoSalad

I'm making enough for 2 meals because we have to be in Phoenix all day tomorrow for my RO post-brachytherapy checkup and my MO appointment (getting the word on what treatment/s he's putting me on; also my OncotypeDX results). Since we are leaving at 7am and not returning til dinner time (it's 2 hours away) I want dinner DONE. So leftovers will do.

Bon appétit, everyone!

MinusTwo - hope your blood tests went well; and I hope your skin cancer removal went smoothly, SpecialK.

To finish off your day, folks, here are some lovely blooms from the hotel where we stayed during my SAVI brachytherapy last week. I have no idea what they are except beautiful.

MinusTwo

Patsy - flowers are lovely. Good luck tomorrow. Let us know.

Blood draw went well. Results down the road.

Val - I'm glad to see you too. We've missed you. I usually use round steak for Stroganoff.

Food today was cottage cheese with leftover canned peach slices. I may have a green salad after water aerobics, but maybe just some watermellon.