So...whats for dinner?

ChiSandy

Rained the past few nights at (my accustomed) dinner time, so the grill hasn’t been an option. Last night after I was on a panel (about freelancers’ contractual issues), pizza was served—but I’d have had to go to the loo, remove my Invisalign and then go back and brush/floss before reinserting it—thin crust Chicago party-cut pizza isn’t worth it for me. So when I got home, I nuked some chicken wings and had the usual celery sticks & blue cheese dressing. WF is having a sale on rotisserie chickens (Costo is always cheaper, but WF is around the corner), I have a head of Romesco broccoli I’d like to try roasting, and the remainder of a romaine heart that will go nicely with Green Goddess dressing and what’s left of a beefsteak tomato. So tonight will be a chicken-&-veg dinner, hold the starch. (Okay, maybe a matcha-strawberry cruller from Cacao for dessert).

Tues. night the northern NJ suburbs were under a tornado warning. This weatheris insane. (I still remember the twister that plowed through Brooklyn & Queens a decade ago). I guess everywhere is now “tornado alley.”

illimae

Tonight I made my very first marinara from scratch and man, it’s a tough job, my back killing me. It turned out good but I didn’t expect it to be so pale in color and the texture is more like salsa than sauce. I’m open to any recommendations for other sauce recipes or tweaks, it’s so close to being great.

Hope everyone is well, trying to stay up to date here but haven’t been cooking much lately.

auntienance

illimae, I make mine in the pressure cooker then finish it on the stove top. It gets very dark and thick and has a great depth of flavor.

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/10/pressure-cooker-tomato-sauce.html

There is also a version that is slow cooked in the oven that is marvelous.

auntienance

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/09/the-best-slow-cooked-italian-american-tomato-sauce-red-sauce-recipe.html

illimae

Thanks, I appreciate it!

carolehalston

Last night's dinner was a pork and rice skillet dish and a tossed salad.  The pork was pork tenderloin cut into medallions and then into strips, seasoned and sautéed in olive oil.  The rice was a four rice mixture that I had cooked earlier in the afternoon.  The salad greens were from the same large bag that has been providing the greens for our salads but I dug out a pouch with croutons and a thick sweet balsamic dressing.

A quick preparation and satisfactory.

Tonight dinner will be at LaPasta Restaurant in the tiny village of Dorset following Couples Golf.  

auntienance

Carole, I like the sound of the four rice mixture. Tell me more - what kinds of rice?

carolehalston

White rice, red rice, brown rice and wild rice.  It comes in a plastic container and is very pretty (a bit pricey).  I followed the cooking directions and the result was fluffy rice.

auntienance

Thanks Carole, I'll try it. It's actually sold in my local store (astonishing.)

Tonight is grilled pork steaks, grilled corn on the cob and leftover baked beans. I should fix a salad but I'm tired - we finished the last of the windows today (yay!) so I'm taking the path of least resistance.

eric95us

Dinner tonight was a vegetable stir fry and noodles with a peanut sauce plus a fruit salad....and a HUGE glass of water.

I keep thinking I'll be ready to paint and I keep finding things to fix before I finish the painting. Once the work is finally all done, it will be less than an hour to actually paint the remaining parts of the house. It's getting hot, so I'll need to be ready to paint at sunup so the paint can dry before it gets above 95F degrees.

Last night, until the bugs got so bad (Deep Woods Off wasn't strong enough), I was fixing cracks in the drywall ceiling of the back porch. I discovered that whoever did the original work did not do it correctly, so this morning I took care of that problem. I'm now waiting for the drywall joint compound (mud) to dry so I can sand it and put down another coat of "mud". After that, I'll be adding the texture finish and I can then paint that.

I thought getting the side door to the garage (never use it ) ready to be painted would be an easy thing. The door frame was in such bad condition that I ended up taking the door off, ripping out the old door frame, building a new one and rehanging the door. It was 98F/37C in the shade and by the time I started on the door, it was in full sun. Building a door frame for an existing door or installing a new door in an existing door frame is one of those picky jobs that never seems to go quickly, so I was in the sun for a couple of hours. Anyway, it's all done, the door works and it will look great when the new wood gets primed and painted.

ChiSandy

Hmm.....maybe browning some tomato paste (the Maillard effect, which ups the umami factor too) first along with some of the tomatoes might make it darker instead of a "salsa cruda," which is still pretty good. Tomatoes are still not at their ripe best--which is why most marinara recipes call for canned San Marzano (plum) tomatoes--which have more firm flesh & gel and less mushy mealy pulp. Slicer tomatoes don't make a very good sauce, I've found. (This morning I tried to dice some for my avocado toast, and they were pale & mealy).

MinusTwo

Nance - I often fix Seeds of Change rice combos. Some are a four rice mix, others have quinoa or etc. I find them in the organic section at my store.

Eric - ah yes the heat. I didn't get my frangipanis (plumarias) planted until Wednesday morning. By the time I finished digging holes & dragging out 8 plants (mostly over 5 ft tall) it was noon & I was wringing wet. Yeah - I know they should have been in the ground in March. Two were actually blooming sitting on the shed floor. Our average day time temps have been mid to high 90s for some time. And the humidity is a killer.

I drove 1-1/2 hours North Thursday morning to help my BFF pack before she closes on the sale of her house by Lake Conroe next week. With everything at 6's & 7's - lunch yesterday was What-A-Burger. Dinner was at a family owned Italian restaurant. I had an individual pizza. BFF has a strawberry & walnut salad. Her grown son had also driven to town to load up some stuff he is taking, and had a large spinach salad. Today I ate my leftover pizza in the middle of packing. Back home now & supper was a very large gin & tonic and some Spanish peanuts. I had planned an omelette, but since we packed last night until 2am & started again today at 7am - it was all I could do to drive the distance home at 7pm tonight.

Lacey12

Just popping in quickly to say that our new little grand daughter was born last evening. After a scary start, the labor and delivery went really well, and she arrived within a “civilized” time for a new older mother! She is super cute and of course I am grossly biased. So far she seems to be a contented little one, sleeping, nursing, and posing cutely in her swaddled blanket! I am so relieved for this happy result after the very stressful “two” pregnancies over this past year. Whew!

Meals have been disjointed this week since I’ve been dealing with a painful dislicated jaw,(TMJ?) rendering me a chewless hungry person. I make chew food (chicken, salad, potatoes) for DH and I have oatmeal or mashed squash or whatever else I can tolerate. Hoping it will resolve in a few more days. Tonight I’m hoping I can score some soft food at a family graduation party, after another trip in to see the sweetbambino. Tomorrow I hope to get a bunch of meals cooked for our new parents so they have some healthful options once home.

I hope everyone is staying safe from the dangers this crazy nationwide weather has been posing.

Our new sweet little one:

eric95us

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-)

auntienance

Oh Lacey, how sweet! So happy for you all! But boo hiss on the jaw troubles - hope that resolves quickly.

More housework today - repairing some grout. The stuff is incredibly slow going. Ready to be done!

Chopped steak, mashed potatoes and some fresh garden spinach from a friend tonight.

eric95us

I saw the birth announcement/picture and I didn't read all of your post, Lacey. I, too, hope your jaw gets "rejointed". A chewless diet can not be any fun.

The "housework" is still ongoing here as well.

carolehalston

Congratulations on the sweet new granddaughter, Lacey.  Bummer on the jaw.  Will the problem resolve itself without medical help?  

Last night's dinner choice at LaPasta was a baked penne and cheese with Italian sausage.  It was so hot from the oven that the dish should have "rested" for 10 or 15 minutes.  Very cheesy and tasty but I was hoping for a bigger presence of the Italian sausage.  The chianti wine was very good.  There was birthday cake for dessert, thanks to the husband of the woman celebrating her birthday.  

Tonight was hamburgers topped with blue cheese on wheat buns and potato salad.  It's hard to beat good home-cooked meals.  I cooked the hamburgers on the stove in a heated cast iron skillet instead of outdoors on the grill because it has been very windy today.  The potato salad was warm and delicious.  

MinusTwo

Lacey - beautiful baby. Congrats. Adding my commiseration about your jaw. Darn.

Drove 60 miles the opposite direction today to have lunch with my niece and her family who were in town from out by San Antonio. My nephew's family came too. Stair-step kids (2, 3, & 4) playing in the pool with their parents. I drank wine with the older crowd. I need to find out where the hamburger patties came from - maybe Perrys or Killen's. It was the best tasting beef I've had in ages. One of the neighbors brought Asian Ramen Coleslaw w/additions. Because my niece's B-day is Tuesday, the desserts were over the top. Two chocolate meringue pies, a key lime pie, a coconut cream pie and a mango cream cake. Needless to say I had to taste them all and will probably never need to eat again.

ChiSandy

Lacey, what a cutie. But bummer about your jaw. Refried beans, maybe? Omelets or decadent soft-scrambled eggs with lots of butter (and maybe truffle oil or salt)? Avgolemono soup (but with soft rice)? "Loose meat" sandwiches, hold the bun? Patés or rillettes? I'm flashing back to the days when I had wisdom teeth extracted--and then 40 yrs. later, when I had to cook for Gordy after he had his out.

Last night Bob got home too late for us to grill salmon (I'd planned to cedar-plank it again) before the storms. The Copper River sockeye I bought again was half the price it was last week, and was selling like crazy. (The $39/lb. Copper River king? Nobody was buying). So I cut the piece in half (froze the rest) and pan-seared it, along with roasted Romanesco florets (that crazy veggie that looks like a head of green cauliflower that sprouted fractals, and tastes like a nutty, light broccoli) and leftover corn-off-the-cob elotes. Dessert was the last of the Cassata Siciliana gelato.

Holy Cross hospital banquet tonight--way more downscale than its old glory days when the Archdiocese still owned it and enough Sisters of St. Casimir were still alive to run it. No more glam venues (top hotels, museums, Navy Pier--now in a lowbrow suburban "family travelers'" semi-hotel), passed-around appetizers, clergy delivering the benediction, keynote speakers, live bands (or even DJs), printed menu/program books or imaginatively-plated multi-course (salad, soup, entrees) dinners or sweet tables, full bar service with good wines. Nope--three boring non-vintage wines, a bartender who had to go to the kitchen to fetch a lemon slice for my club soda because there wasn't a lime in the place, two chafing dishes of serve-yourself pakoras & seekh kebab (not worth removing my Invisalign for); and a bland and boring dinner of plain green salad with the ubiquitous "creamy garlic" and "Italian" dressings, the entrees (choice of filet mignon or sea bass identically plated atop mashed potatoes and ringed with oversteamed and unseasoned broccoli florets--the vegetarians got mushy penne primavera), and a slab of fudge cake (simultaneously gooey & dry) with boring vanilla ice cream for dessert. Lukewarm coffee was served with (I kid you not) those little aseptic-packaged containers of "creamer." (Bob reports the Scotch was top-drawer, however). The ballroom was too small for even a tiny dance floor--so the "music" was whatever Muzak was piped in by the hotel. At least my Chilean sea bass, while unevenly cooked (parts were dry, parts were perfect), was a large enough portion for me to take most of it home. (No idea what to do with it--reheating it would overcook it, and not sure how good a salad it would make served cold). No keynote speaker. Saddest of all, no clergy, nun nor even hospital administrator to deliver the benediction--just one of the doctors who mumbled it perfunctorily as if he'd drawn the short straw.

At least good brunch tomorrow.

auntienance

Discovered a baby milk snake on the front porch yesterday evening. Very small and very pretty. After admiring him I explained the rule about no snakes on the porch and he very quickly, of his own volition, became a snake in the grass. He was so small, I'm glad I didn't have to "broom" him.

Grilled brats, corn on the cob and cole slaw tonight. Yawn.

eric95us

A nice snake, acting nicely.

I like watching snakes...the venomous ones from a greater distance. It's warming up enough that I should start seeing snakes when I run at night.

I keep finding "weird things" with the house that need to be fixed so that the small repairs will last more than a year. I have three left to do unless I find more things to do.

Dinner tonight was spaghetti and a marinara sauce that Sharon augmented with lots of other stuff and we ate the last of the sourdough rolls that I had made a few days ago.

carolehalston

We played in the Pink Shoe golf tournament at Headwaters Golf Course yesterday.  This is the second year we are members.  On every hole a pink shoe designates an additional tee where the highest handicapped member of a fivesome tees off.  Guess who teed off from the pink shoe in our pairing.  Yep.  Me.  Our score was 8 under par but the winner was 10 under par.  We did win a "skin" for an eagle on a par 5.  

Lunch afterwards was a chicken salad croissant sandwich with chips.  The chicken salad was visibly chockablock full of red onion.  I scraped off the salad and ate the bread and a few chips with a glass of Black Box cabernet, which really is drinkable.  That was lunch.

Dinner was the warmed up leftover from LaPasta, penne with cheese and Italian sausage.  It tasted better than when it was served fresh.  I think I was hungry.  DH had warmed up spaghetti from LaPasta with green onions and a butter garlic sauce.

He is going to a medical clinic today.  His coughing is horrible.  I'm convinced he's having another bout of bronchitis.  I have some sinus congestion with headache, thanks to all the pollen, but so far no cough.  I started taking zinc daily after my pneumonia in January.  Not sure whether it's helping with preventing colds but it's not expensive and not difficult to swallow.

No thoughts yet on dinner tonight.

Lacey12

Thanks for the "lockjaw sympathy". It seems to be slowly resolving, and I can hardly wait to actually chew again. The hardest food, aside from meat, is salad since that really needs to be chewed thoroughly. Too painful!! I was really sad at a graduation party this weekend to leave every bit of salad on my plate. And I really appreciated the inclusion of Mac and Cheese on their buffet table (for the graduating students mainly with other way more delightful foods that I couldn't eat.

Last night I made my fave meal of cod in Rao's Puttanesca sauce with the addition of sauteed onion, mushroom, red peppers and yellow squash, over orzo. Am glad there are leftovers so I can enjoy it again tonight.

Carole, I always find that tomato sauced pasta meals taste better the next day as leftovers. It may not be that you were extra hungry!

This week, I have a crazy schedule, including coming up with ideas for, and making, several meals to bring to DS2's new family. I'm always stymied by DDIL's selective eating style. Oy! And the docvegans and co. may arrive to meet the new baby this weekend, so some serious prep needs to happen in case they stay here.

Not sure if I mentioned here that for my imminent birthday, I'd like to ask my boys and spouses to give me the gift of writing down all the foods they do and do not eat (!) to relieve me of all the guess work I struggle through when making or sending food to them. I really hope they will do that for me. As I am approaching 74, I find that I do need some things to be less challenging! And it seems that my kids and their spouses really have widely varying diets.

DH is at a physiatrist appt for a debilitating leg pain and muscle weakness that has stopped him in his tracks....poor guy. He rarely complains, but this has been a real problem for a while. It may be hip related more than a nerve issue emanating from his spine. That would probably be a good thing. We'll see.

So new grandbaby is home with her parents since yesterday, and I have yet to check in today as I always err on the side of leaving be if not needed....

Oops....just had a text from DS2 that they are already at the pediatrician since baby stopped eating and has gotten jaundiced. Reminded me of how jaundiced DS2 was when he came home from the hospital...and my peds said only to bring him in if he got as bright orange as a pumpkin! But then.. this is a first baby.....😉 Let the parenting fun begin!

carolehalston

My nephew Jacob was a jaundiced baby.  He was exposed to the light of a special lamp to help with the condition.  He was a little gold infant.  My sister had a caesarean so I had to take him to pediatrician's appointments.  That felt odd.

Hope your dh gets an accurate diagnosis and treatment, Lacey.  Getting older is such fun.  Just this last year, I have begun feeling my age, 76.  I like the idea of the pill that gives the same benefit as working out at the gym.

Our new grill came in a big cardboard box and is in pieces waiting to be assembled.  I used the old grill last night as an oven to cook a version of chicken salsa.  I used boneless chicken thighs, rinsed black beans, a small can of mild chilis, and two kinds of salsa, Paul Newman's mild and Marketside fresh jalapeno salsa, medium.  Including the latter was a mistake because the fresh salsa has too much liquid.  I heated some corn tortillas and got out the light sour cream and shredded Mexican cheese packet.

We were soon full and satisfied.  I like a dinner that can cook while we're next door at the neighbor's deck enjoying Happy Hour.

Moonflwr912

lacey, Congratulations! Shes beautiful. Im sure they are treating her with the lights by now. It helps fast. If they dont send a light home, do what we did in the old days, go out side and let them in the sun for a bit. Let them sleep in front of a window too.

Sorry about your jaw, that sucks. But try a milkshake with baby food for the hunger, or even just eat the baby food, the meat is nice and soft and not stringy. Youll have to add seasoning though. LOL

Here's who's visiting Port Washington rightnow. Pelicans. Pretty cool!

MinusTwo

Carole - great minds...I took some left over frozen rotisserie chicken out of the freezer this morning with the intent to make Lori's Mexican Chicken. Instead I had the last hot dog and some strawberries my favorite way - rolled in sour cream and dipped in brown sugar for my noon meal. Saturday my niece gave me fresh eggs from their chickens so I made deviled eggs with the older eggs for supper. Tonight I'll have a couple of those and some slices off the big hunk of Jarlsberg I bought at Costco.

Sunday I sauteed onions & fresh mushrooms with lemon & oil & spices and then added 4 thinly sliced zucchini and steamed. Delicious served with club crackers. Yesterday I had a large green salad with everything left in the fridge (including left over Brussels sprouts) and added black olives and shoestring beets.

Lacey - I love your cod dish. I bought a package of Campari tomatoes and a green pepper so it's on my list for this week. I looked back & noted you were getting Rao's on sale for $6. I haven't seen it for less than $7.99 lately. But I haven't been to WalMart either.

Moon - gorgeous pelicans. Vanilla Baby Custard used to be one of my favorite quick treats - until they reconfigured all the recipes & took out the salt.

auntienance

I would like a pill, some days, for food and every day for exercise.

Love the pelicans Monica, we get them in the winter along with the eagles.

Today was second cataract surgery. Yay! Dear friend brought dinner of pulled chicken, cole slaw, jello salad and best of all, freshly baked apple turnovers.

Our power mysteriously went out lat night between 11 pm and 12:30 am. This caused me an undue amount of stress due to having to get up at 4:45 am faced with no alarm clock and a depleted phone battery. Even after it came back on, I was so keyed up that I ended up getting only 2 ½ hours of sleep.

DHs falling apart! My DH went to the doc today with a very inflamed sore toe. Seems trivial compared to Carole and Lacey's husband issues, but with diabetes, around here we don't mess around with foot issues. He came back with a round of prednisone. Hope everyone else's hubs get better soon.

ChiSandy

Lazy day today--spent most of it online and playing with my new toy: an ultrasonic cleaner. Trying to see if it will have any more luck than Retainer Brite, Invisalign crystals or 50-50 water/peroxide in getting the yellow out of my previous aligners. (Not gonna try to mess yetwith the one I'm wearing, as I don't get a new one till next Thurs.). Bob is slowly getting over a cough from what he swears is a cold, but considering the tree and grass pollens (and until today, mold spores) are sky-high, I think he may have developed an allergy. He says he feels fine, though.

Cool pelicans, Monica! Didn't know they live this far north.

Probably going for pasta primavera & salad tonight--nothing's defrosted, don't wanna grill in the dark, so pasta & salad are the path of least resistance. Haven't had pasta in over a week, and I have some nice ripe organic slicer tomatoes, romaine and a bottle of Green Goddess.

EDIT: Decided to give cacio e pepe one more try, now that I have some cornstarch, per the Milk St. TV recipe. Voilà: instead of a clumpy mess, a creamy, cheesy sauce. Used what little pecorino I had, plus asiago and Parm-Regg, lots of black pepper and both black truffle oil and a drizzle of truffle salt over Dreamfields carb-controlled spaghetti. The Green Goddess salad was great, too. (By this time next week I will likely be back on low-carb, if not outright keto--my MO insisted I see the N. Shore cardiologist who specializes in bariatric medicine, and I see him Monday. I draw the line at surgery, however. Nobody of my acquaintance was happy they had it--and one friend was so terrified of dumping syndrome and possibly regaining the weight that he couldn't keep losing--and died at only 57 of liver failure).

Di2012

Sandy.....DIET NEVER WORKED FOR ME

.I am one that has had bariatric surgery when I was 54, that was 18 years ago ...I lost 129 lbs....it was a bit too much weight lost since size 0 is hard to find and so ended up wearing boys jeans....I now wear a P2 or P4 in jeans/slacks...medium-to large tops due to two BIG IMPLANTS! 😣 I can eat most anything....but I am lactose intolerant.....I did have my tummy skin, ( that hung almost to my knees), removed a year after my weight loss surgery.

Di

Waving HI to Carole, Moon, Minus.....and that beautiful beautiful baby....

ChiSandy

The key thing to "eating anything you want" is what it is you want. (For me, that'd take major hypnosis). Gastronomy, travel (which includes gastronomy) and music are my passions. Had to give up playing music while my hand, wrist and arms healed last year after surgery necessitated by a couple of falls, and it nearly drove me off the deep end. I suspect I am also not the greatest surgical risk. (Although a lipo & tummy-tuck would go a long way toward normalizing my weight--I have the infamous abdominal "pouch" caused by lower abs weakened by C-section; would also eliminate the intertrigo--blistering yeast infections--that pop up from time to time in the groin and lower ab creases).