So...whats for dinner?

Reader425

Hi Ladies i enjoy your foods and recipes and ChiSandy you are motivating me to diet. I lost weight post treatment but need to get back on the wagon!

Lacey12 I modified a recope from an Iranian cookbook I have ("Joon") It had bulgar, cucumber, tomato, fresh parsley, dried shallot and a honey olive oil dressing. Without the mint I thought I had it was probably not a "real" tabouleh. 🙂

Tonight hubby grilled marinated chicken and we assembled various leftover salads (cucumber salad and macaroni) and I did a foil packet zuchinni tomato onion mix) Heat index was 114 in DC so we ate inside! Oh and a delicious red wine called Jam Jar.

eric95us

In Whitebird, Idaho. Spaghetti tonight. Internet is about 1/5 of dialup, so can't post much.

Hi to everyone.

ChiSandy

Gordy & his GF Leslie made it to Hamilton, MT in record time--left Chicago Fri. morning and by Sat. aft., they were at the Sleeping Child Farm, where Leslie (who got a ULC mail-order ordination) performed her sister's wedding ceremony. (The newlyweds live in Anchorage). The Bitterroot Range is gorgeous.

Lazy day today. Over on the "drinking" thread, kept reading NativeMainer's posts about "lobstah rolls." Had no idea what to make tonight (last night was a couple of falafel, hummus, babaghannouj, red pepper and spinach-yogurt dips), and was ready to settle for another Greek salad--but just for giggles logged on to GrubHub and typed in "lobster roll." Lo & behold, an Asian seafood-centric joint up in Rogers Park had "New England Lobster Roll" for a nice price. So I ordered one--and it came on a potato bun with fries. (Into the fridge went the starches for Bob's wee-hours snacking). I scooped out the lobster salad into the lettuce leaves that came on the side, and used the lettuce as the "bun." Messy, but glorious. And no carbs. Believe it or not, the lobster was actual N. Atlantic lobster--claw & knuckle meat (the "Canadian" tail was reserved for a different, pricier entree), liberally studded with roe.

I will definitely order from that place again.

MinusTwo

Bad week for diets!! After the huge lunch Friday I met a friend at the Phoenicia Sunday. It's a huge Mediterranean/Middle Eastern market. We stopped first at the deli where you can order anything in petite/small/med/large bowls. My mistake was trying too many things - from exotic rice to lentils w/sauteed onions to curries to tabouli to shawarma to baklava. The market is as big as a Costco with halal, vegan, kosher, etc. I saw more cheeses in one store than I knew existed and couldn't read the labels on many of the products. I found some French Country Rolls that were as good as those on Martinique.

So first of the week - I'm going to be better, right? A neighbor picked me up for Chair Yoga yesterday since my car was in the shop. So far so good, but he insisted we stop & eat a HUGE meal at 3:15 at the Union Kitchen. I ordered French dip but only ate half. Then had to go to water aerobics last night. No breakfast for me. I'm off to Silver Sneakers and plan on only one meal today. And that will be a salad.

carolehalston

Happy Birthday, Nance! 71 sounds young to me. I turned 76 in March.

What a neighbor, Lacey!

We had several uncomfortably hot days here in north MN, requiring a/c during the day, but it was never too hot to sit outside in the shade. The last two nights the temperature fell into the 50's. I'm sitting here in a long-sleeve shirt and long pants but will dress in summer clothes for golf today at noon.

Last night I made pork piccata with half a pork tenderloin. It came out really good. The side was frozen sweet potato chunks and they were not great. Probably won't buy them again. Another side was a tossed salad. The cucumbers and tomatoes are coming in, FINALLY. Can't wait to get my fill of tomatoes.

Tonight will be fish tacos on Mary's deck next door. John from Texas will be supplying fresh fish and cooking them.

Magari

Hi, all -

I know it's hot just about everywhere else but here. We're having a bout of summer fog and highs in the mid 60s. So I've been using my Instant Pot and making big batches of beans: Navy bean soup with a ham bone I had in the freezer was super simple and a huge hit wth my husband. Last night I made red beans and rice and skillet corn bread. Lots of leftovers from both, which has been great to have.

We got salmon for our fish CSA last week. So we did that on the grill with corn, some of which I made into a salsa for the fish.

I had my revision surgery with fat grafting this past Thursday. The first 3 days were pretty uncomfortable, but I am feeling more or less back to normal now. The worst part at this point is the compression shorts; I feel like a sausage! But am grateful that at least the weather has been cool. Bandages come off on Thursday and I can't wait to see my results, even though I know it will be a while before swelling is gone.

Reader425

Hi all, (sorry I said ladies previously) - I had yogurt and canteloupe for lunch. Since I have book group tonight I will pick up a small 5 guys burger, no fries on the way there.

Last night was a homemade ziti casserole with a side of veggies we grilled the night before.

auntienance

Minus, you're right about the bad week for diets - we've been frolicking with birthday cake and tonight we go to a friend's house for more birthday cake (hers). I'll be glad when all the cake is over!

Beautiful perfect day here - high in the upper 70s and low humidity. A rarity for this time of year but welcome after last weeks brutal heat. I took advantage of the weather to track down and annihilate the army of Japanese beetles that have invaded here.

Tonight will be drunken noodles with spicy Italian sausage and some sliced cucumbers from a friend's garden.

eric95us

I'm glad you're starting to feel more normal, Magari.

The diet is not good here either. We stopped in Juntira, Oregon for milk shakes and I ordered some french fries too. I think they gave us 4 or 5 pounds of french fries and gallon milk shakes. It was easily 5 times bigger than the large 5 guys fries! :-) They were good, but the two of us could eat less than half of the order. The rest of the fries is in a "to go" box for making into hash browns.

I guess the meal today is making up for yesterday's run.

We are currently in Burns, Oregon for the night.

Since DD has been at home watching the dogs, she's been using the pressure cooker to cook dried beans and she's giving "hints" about an Instant Pot for a Christmas gift. :-)

Lacey12

Minus, glad you enjoyed yourself...that food emporium sounded great!

Carole and Magari, I love hearing about your fresh fish “dinner gifts”. And just this weekend, while we sweltered on the NH beach we were talking about the uniqueness (to us) of SF’s summer climate. One of our friend’s sons moved there one July eager to enjoy his first summer in his new city, despite missing his Boston and NH summer activities. He was shocked to miss the East Coast heat. But he sure loved SF Fall weather! Meanwhile, it is pretty chilly here tonight...makes packing for the Vineyard a challenge...I’d planned on no warm clothes after this past steamy week.

We were supposed to book it off to MV today, but it was torrentially pouring this morning, and then had tornadic activity on the Cape, so we postponed our trip to my friend’s until tomorrow. I am a tired traveler at this point, so will be happy to spend just a few days there, return Friday in time to have dinner in Boston with DIL2’s parents who will be here visiting their granddaughter. We won't head to the lake until late Tuesday....and hopefully stay put there for a while.

DH picked up some nice sea scallops today, to avoid having omelettes for dinner. 😉 So I made a sauté with them and onion, fresh red pepper, garlic, and some chopped kale flavored with a bit of balsamic and soy. Served it with nuked sweet potatoes (since I had them) and a romaine salad with cuke slices, carrot, red onion, mushroomsand horseradish dressing. I indulged in some Sees molasses chips for dessert...the one “sweet thing” I brought home from our California trip.

ChiSandy

Nice & cool today. Bob brought home tavern-style anchovy pizza from the office last night, so tonight's dinner was the toppings from it (I hate that kind of thin crust anyway) plus some corned beef, pastrami & roast beef. Last night was a small tuna sandwich with homegrown tomato on low-carb (<2gm net per slice), and a small salad.

Tommorow I find out if I will need "refinement" trays for my Invisalign Express, or whether I will be getting a retainer. Since we were going not for perfection but for stabilizing my top front teeth (and keeping my lowers from continuing to splay them outward like the two-headed love child of Freddie Mercury & Mr. Ed), I am very happy with my results thus far--and if I can keep this nice, straight smile for the rest of my life, I'll be delighted. I no longer have to smile with my mouth shut. So if given the choice as to whether to fine-tune or get a retainer, I'm opting for the retainer. Either way, I will be staying with tray #7 until whatever comes off the 3-D printer in Uruguay arrives in my orthodontist's office.

Magari

We made Rick Bayless' Mexican Roadside Chicken (a favorite recipe) and some corn on the Weber tonight. Tomorrow will likely be tacos with some of the leftovers.

Will be trying out a new Eastern Mediterranean restaurant that's been getting a lot of buzz for lunch after my appointment with my surgeon on Thursday. The food looks great in photos and there are some unusual items, so looking forward to that.

carolehalston

The fish tacos were delicious. John made a separate pico de gallo (sp) for me with no onions. The ingredients were cilantro, chopped tomatoes, jalapeno, lime juice and olive oil. I will definitely make this for myself in the future when I'm cooking fish. He also made a cole slaw with angel hair cabbage, olive oil and lime juice. The tortillas were wheat and there was also sliced avocado.

I had never noticed angel hair cabbage in the supermarket.

Instead of fish fry coating, John used corn starch with cayenne pepper. The fish wasn't brown but was cooked and delicious. This was one of my favorite meals this summer at Pinehollow Resort.

No decision yet about tonight's dinner.

MinusTwo

Magari - hope all goes well at the surgeon's appointment. Please do let us know. And I'm sure you know - just take it easy.

Lacey - ohhhhhh SEES. An excellent reason for paying for the plane fare to California.

Hard to believe summer is half over. And Lacey talking about warmer clothes & Carole sitting around in a sweat shirt. Hopefully Eric is enjoying cooler weather in Oregon. It actually was cooler here yesterday. Only 95.

Lacey12

Magari, I also hope everything goes well with your appt today, and that lunch at the new restaurant is as good as the hype! Do keep us posted....on both!

Minus, I obviously took a page from the “not a good diet week” book yesterday, once we arrived on the island. Our hostess/friend who is usually a devout WW point follower, must just wait for our arrival to toss that regimen away! She knows we enjoy food. So as soon as we arrived yesterday, she shuttled us off to our favorite fish store where we picked up lobster rolls (the kind with melted butter, not mayo) and DH also ordered clam chowder for lunch. Since we had raced out of our house really early to get to the Cape to catch the ferry, I never even had coffee or any food, so I would have to say this was my first lobster roll breakfast! Not sure how I feel about that...but it was delish.

For dinner, we went to this lovely small restaurant, the Little Cottage Cafe, where I just had an assorted greens salad with pecans and goat cheese and a bowl of clam chowder, despite the many other wonderful looking offerings. The salad could have had a tangy-er dressing but the chowder was great! DH had their delicious lamb burger which had eggplant and lettuce/tomato and a white cheese sauce of some kind that looked messy, but he reports was delicious. Our friend had a watermelon and arugula salad and chowder also.

After the play we saw, DH could not let the evening end without heading to “Back Door Donuts” in Oak Bluffs, where we dutifully stood in the parking lot line for 20 minutes to order our sinful carb treats! Remember, my DH is the “bone on bone” hip sufferer (awaiting replacement surgery) who can barely walk fifty paces, or stand for long! He really pushed his limits for these donuts! LOL

So this is how we grossly ended our “grande bouffe” day...

The apple fritters were amazing...and still warm and the other favorite is the bacon maple donut. Supporting cast there were buttercrunch, raspberry filled, and cider cinnamon. Not sure I can look at these again today. Tonight we will dine at an Inn with a highly recommended prix fix menu. Our friend selected the spot as it holds memories of happy days with her husband.

Just in case we haven't reached the point of exploding by tomorrow, we are zooming back on the ferry, driving home, doing the quick change act, then driving into Boston to have dinner at Babbo (whose founder shall remain nameless) with DS2, DDIL2 and her parents, who are here to visit their new grandchild. I will be happy to fast after this week.....and to SLOW DOWN.

ChiSandy

En route to my orthodontist yesterday, I saw to my chagrin that Do-Rite Donuts has opened across Addison St. from Wrigley Field. Due to its inconvenient (Loop & W. Loop aka Restaurant Row) locations and inconvenient hours (only the W. Loop store is open past 3pm, and by late evening it runs out of the best ones), it was the most elusive quarry on my Donut Quest. Now that they are ultra no-nos for me (two bites can set my diet back by a couple of days)....

About said orthodontist: aligner "tray" #7 is now my temporary retainer! I can take it out more often to eat or drink, and leave it out longer (like for home-whitening my teeth), I needn't worry about staining it or damaging it from hot-ish beverages--just suck hard on it and rinse several times with ice water. Had some more "equilibration" done to even out my two upper central incisors, and some polishing. My retainers (Vivera, set of 4) should be ready in a couple of weeks. They're thicker harder plastic and stain-and-heat-proof--the supply of 4 should last 3 years.

eric95us

Was near Redding, CA last night and now about 100 miles north of San Francisco on the aPacific Coast Hwy. The internet is nearly non existent, so I don't know if this will post

MinusTwo

Ah... Eureka, Mendocino, the Russian River Valley, Bodega Bay, Muir Woods (going south of course) I am so jealous. Hope you're eating some Dungness Crab for me.

SpecialK

And drinking some wine...

Edited to add - or a beer!

Reader425

White chicken chili from one of Holly Clegg's cookbooks ("Cooking for Arthritis " I think) was on the menu tonight. I put it in the crockpot to be even easier. Pretty tasty over store bought mini-cornbread loaves!

carolehalston

Last night's dinner was a pork steak and fresh corn cut off the cob and sautéed in butter.

Tonight will be dinner with the couples golf group at a Mexican restaurant.

Beaverntx

Last night was leftovers: chicken with vegs and dinner rolls (from my ladies' night out meal Tues) for DH and potato salad, corn on the cob and honeydew melon for me. Not real exciting but the refrigerator is looking less crowded!

Eric, enjoying your travelogues. What a wonderful trip, thanks for sharing.

MinusTwo

Cooking a pot of Anasazi beans w/onions, celery & some leftover ham. They are so much sweeter than any other bean I've tasted. Will likely eat them with a couple of flour tortillas. I'm sure they probably have as many or more calories as bread but when I just warm them in the microwave, they feel so much thinner.

Going to baby-sit my 3 year old grand-niece tomorrow afternoon so my nephew & his wife can go see The Farewell. I sure wish they'd figure out some regular baby sitters so I could take them both.

auntienance

Tonight's star - fresh peach pie

auntienance

Tonight's star - fresh peach pie

Beaverntx

Nance, and what a star! Looks yummy. A favorite memory is my mother's warm peach pie.

We are having fish and chips with roasted vegs (cauliflower, carrots, red bell pepper), a one oven dinner and thank goodness for air conditioning!

Lacey12

Oh, Nance! Envying your DH right now...YUM! 😉

Our dinner at The Outermost Inn the last night on MV was totally delightful, if bank account breaking. This inn is very big on good service, and the setting is just so lovely that it is worth the expense...once in a blue moon! We enjoyed a glass of wine on the back lawn that sits over a huge meadow where there is a distant osprey nest, and lots of beautiful birds, deer and other local wildlife that make intermittent appearances. Beyond the trees the ocean peeps through. The dining room looks over the same setting, so our enjoyment of that scene and a magnificent sunset continued through dinner. The food was just wonderful...and not huge portions which we appreciated! I had the scallop app, and the filet mignon entree. Both were absolutely delicious! I chose Panna Cotta for dessert, which was a bit less wonderful than the other courses. But all in all, it was a true dining experience which we all loved!

So yesterday we ferried from MV and drove home before heading into Boston to meet DDS2 and crew for dinner. Every restaurant in the waaaaaay overdeveloped Seaport district is teaming with young professionals, so we shared space at Babbo with many of them. DDS2 suggested we order some pizza for an app to share, then individual entrees. We had a four cheese pizza as well as a fig and arugula one. I tried that...and was disappointed since it had way too much fig spread all over the pizza. For my entree I had salmon over a flavorful array of green peas, onions, and beans. It was pretty tasty, and I took half home. DH had a bolognese with linguini which he liked.

Tonight, since today I totally avoided going to the food store to fill our mostly empty fridge, we had a “mature" romaine lettuce salad and another version of my little ears pasta salad. Every time I make this pasta salad, I enjoy adding new ingredients. We both enjoyed it.

DH is dying to head to the Red Sox/Yankee fourth game of the series, tomorrow, since we are actually home for a change, so we are going to eat “dinner" there. Of course since the Sox won three games in this series so far we may well be watching a losing effort...unless the pin stripe guys are just tired. I'm hoping I can find something healthful to eat at the ballpark.

Pix from Thursday dinner at Outermost Inn. This place is owned and run by James Taylor's brother and wife, which makes it a popular spot on the Vineyard...for special occasions, I would say.

The filet pic looks pretty awful, but it was amazingly perfect!

illimae

Pies, scallops and steak, oh my. Looks great!

auntienance

That filet looks huge and delicious. DH would love it as it's his favorite steak.

Although I'm not a huge fan of cooked peaches (love them fresh), the pie was tasty. DH, however loved it. I would much prefer blackberry if I could find some around here. Dinner was actually a blast from the past - mostaccioli with a meat sauce.

ChiSandy

Pie......mmmm......

Yesterday was a win-some, lose-some food day. Our friends came in from Colorado Springs, and we made our way down to the Loop via CTA Red Line train to catch a Grant Park Symphony concert in Millennium Park. We ate a late lunch (for us, early dinner for them) across Michigan Ave at the Gage gastropub. The four of us shared two portions of mussels in white wine broth with fennel and Fresno chiles (much milder when cooked). It took all the discipline I could muster not to eat any of those artisanal bread "croutons." Bob & I had a kale-arugula salad, and our friends had coconut curry with sea scallops over jasmine rice. That was the upside.

After the concert (which was lovely--Dvorak's 7th in Dm), we hung around the park--taking selfies in front of "the Bean" and watching the portrait fountain wall change expressions and then spit out streams of water, delighting the little kids--one of them on a disability scooter--splashing around in it. (Chicago parks are not just iconic but very accessible). I was feeling kind of "twinkly" (dehydrated from sitting out in the early evening sun) so we went to Panera for some soft drinks until it was time to head to the Signature Room atop the Hancock for our dinner reservation. Perfect timing--we were seated right away, Bob & I were quite hungry, and the a la carte menu looked great.

And then we noticed it at the bottom of the page: "Each guest must order at least one full entree." (We'd always gone for Sunday brunch, Thanksgiving dinner, or a private party, so were totally unaware--and OpenTable didn't mention it). Our friends were not hungry enough for that--and even though it was already 10 pm, the waiter would not relent and let us order two entrees, two apps and one dessert. So we were banished upstairs to the 96th floor Signature Lounge--still a great view, but extremely noisy (especially at one table where one millennial patron would shriek every time she laughed). The bar food menu was way overpriced, extremely limited and carby as all get-out, except for a ho-hum hummus plate (the hummus I ate at home the night before was awesome) and a "raw bar for 2," consisting of a pound of crab legs, four oysters, six shrimp and (supposedly) "half a Maine lobster." As to our friends, he doesn't like raw oysters and she only wanted dessert--so we ordered the dessert of her choice (there were only 3, neither of which she liked) and split the raw bar 3 ways--Bob & I had the oysters, and we were able to each have a crab leg and two shrimp. But the "half a Maine lobster?" All we saw was half a tiny tail. Lifted it up and saw one tiny claw. So our friend had the claw and we divided the tail three ways.

The only time we'd previously been to the Lounge was to wait for our brunch table to be ready--it was quiet, there were free croissants & coffee and flavored fruit waters. So now we know to beware of bars popular with drunken millennial tourists at night.

Tonight Bob got home in time for dinner and we had two wine-pairing dinners' worth of wines to pick up, so we drove to Cellars (too hot to walk, no way to get 2 cases of wine home on foot). Bob had a salad and cavatappi Bolognese; I had a Caesar (no croutons) and half a roast chicken (no gravy) and peas. Took half of it home (the entree, that is--I wolfed down the salad).