So...whats for dinner?

ChiSandy

Chilly today, but no snow till tomorrow--and that'll be sporadic. (Of course, that's when I have to go up to Skokie Hosp. for my bimonthly weigh-in--no way am I stepping on that scale w/o shedding my layers & UGGs).

Made eggs shakshuka this morning (2/3 Rao's marinara, 1/3 mild harissa, 1/3 c. sliced kalamata olives, Aleppo pepper, black pepper, red pepper flakes, za'atar seasoning, 4 jumbo eggs. Simmered on stovetop till yolks set. No feta, alas--didn't have any on hand. Still delicious, though.

MinusTwo

AnnC - nice to see you at the table.

My Mother used to make half a hundred loafs of Applesauce Cake (in bread pans) that we took to all the neighbors & widows & orphans & shop keepers & mailmen & garbage men, etc. After I married, I used to make date-nut bread or banana bread for gifting since I was thoroughly tired of applesauce cake. This year I bought large containers of Sanders Dark Chocolate Carmels with Sea Salt and I've repackaged them for gifting. Not going to bake while my eyes are healing. I promised one neighbor a Lemon Meringue pie, but probably won't happen before Christmas.

Lacey - I'll take this occasion to thank you yet again. I had 3/4 of an onion, some chopped bell pepper that I'd frozen, some mushrooms & some leftover Raos that really needed to be used. I made your delicious COD dish. Turned the plain Raos into a rosa sauce by adding sour cream to stretch it. It still wasn't quite enough liquid since I'd cooked so darn many vegetables, so I added some vodka & simmered some more. Turned out delicious.

carolehalston

Welcome to our conversational kitchen, AnnC!

Nance, I'm always attracted to the goings on in your kitchen. Good things happen there.

I have a friend's recipe (she died in May) for lemon cake that she used to make in small loaves for Christmas presents. I made it one year. It's really delicious and easy to make. I have also made pralines and am toying with the notion to make some this year. Pralines are all about timing. After you add butter to the hot mixture and beat it, the exact moment comes when you have to quickly spoon the mixture onto sheets of wax paper. Otherwise you have one giant lump of praline in the pot!

Dinner last night was supposed to be beef stroganoff but I played golf, sweated a lot and was exhausted when I got home. Preparing dinner didn't have a lot of appeal so we shared a Subway sandwich instead. It tasted really good. I bought each of us two of their yummy cookies for dessert.

So the plan is to cook the stroganoff for tonight. I bought Shitake and Baby Bella mushrooms for the dish. I had forgotten about beef stroganoff until several years ago when a golf friend delivered a beef stroganoff meal after I had surgery.

I will probably return to WW in January along with hordes of other chubby (or obese) folks. I really hate the thought but my highest ever weight is sticking with me.

MinusTwo

Carole - I'd love to have your friend's lemon cake recipe. Lemon is my go to - usually even before chocolate. Not to mention that all my neighbors seem to have a surplus of Meyer lemons.

eric95us

Hi AnnC. Welcome!

Me too on the lemon cake. I have 3 or 4 tiny bread pans that are "looking for gainful employment". :-)

ChiSandy

Took the path of least resistance—ordered on GrubHub from a real Chinese restaurant a couple miles north. BBQ spareribs; hot & sour soup that was loaded with scallions, cloud ear mushrooms, egg, and tofu but almost no cornstarch; roast Cantonese duck; shrimp Kow (Cantonese-style shrimp-veg stir fry in a light white sauce); and Szechuan broccoli (the only dish in a brown sauce—I spurned it because I had no room for it). Bob conceded that now he understands why I think the pan-Asian joint around the corner is so lame!

Reader425

Carole - me three on the lemon cake recipe please!

Dinner tonight was a planned-over beef burgundy I made recently and pulled from the freezer, a lovely and large salad, and hubby and I split a Portuguese dinner roll.

Someone mentioned WW and i may have to go again as nothing much is motivating me to eat less lately. Evening Christmas cookies are not helpful either.

eric95us

I've been running 5-7 miles daily...and it's as if the scale can only read 192 (pounds). Seriously the weight does vary, but only by 1 or 2 pounds. My pace is getting faster, so something is happening. :-)

DD is done with school and has a day off work tomorrow, so she's coming home for a late Thanksgiving dinner. She's been trying veganism and she talked Sharon into trying it. I've been going along for the ride and it's not too bad. Anyway, since it's just the three of us, tomorrow is stuffed acorn squash, carrots glazed in agave syrup, mashed potatoes, a salad, pumpkin soup, cranberry sauce, mushroom gravy and the sourdough dinner rolls.

My dad was stationed in China for many years and spoke a couple of dialects of Chinese. Growing up, I remember two varieties of Chinese food. Good, and not so good. The "good stuff" came from places where dad had to do the talking for us. :-)

ChiSandy

Eric, I'm sure you're burning fat but building muscle, which not only weighs more but is more compact. Ignore the scale--haul out the tape measure. (I had my bimonthly weigh-in this morning, and I was afraid the NP would be p.o.ed that I lost only 8 lbs. instead of the 12 I averaged previously. But she was delighted that my waistline shrank 3-1/2", saying that was a truer measure of success),

We went to China on a medical society tour back in '94. Gordy's pediatrician had gone the year before and warned us that the food wasn't very good, not of the quality to which we were accustomed. Boy, howdy--you can say that again, and in a good way. No egg rolls, puu puu platters, orange chicken, egg foo young, wonton soup, etc. We had an amazing array of regional cuisines--Shanghai (changed the way I thought about squid, plus tasted snake and frog too), truly classic Beijing (Gen. Tso was nowhere to be found), Xi'an, Guilin/river towns, and true Cantonese--including kinds of dim sum & pastries I'd never seen before.

So tonight as I picked my way through last night's leftovers (rinsing the starchy sauces off), Bob walked in after office hours with a huge bag of assorted Filipino dishes. His medical partner is an amazing cook: she made pansit, lumpia, sweet spring rolls, chicken adobo skewers, and a marvelous marinated calamari--with a seasoning I can't quite identify but was still yummy. (Totally unlike Italian, Greek or Spanish). I shunned the lumpia & spring rolls, but took a starch blocker so I could have a little of that pansit (vermicelli with veg & chicken).

carolehalston

Will look up the lemon cake recipe and post it, maybe a little later today. DH is ready to go to the gym and sits patiently waiting.

The beef stroganoff last night was "nice," not especially memorable. A tossed salad was good.

HappyHammer

Carole- I would love to have your lemon cake recipe as well.

Eric- wow, you are doing serious running! That is great...do your clothes fit differently? That would let you know of progress as well.

All of the cookie baking talk is really making me think next weekend I will do some of the same for neighbor gifts and Christmas day. You all are so impressive with the variety of baking you do!

If all goes to plan, we will go to my sister and BIL's early Christmas morning- spend the day and night and go home the next day. We will have Low Country Christmas meal- shrimp, flounder, big tossed salad, and homemade coleslaw, tartar sauce and cocktail sauce. Looks like it wlil be around 60 so we may be able to eat outside. Not doing any kind of big Christmas gift giving. We have everything we need and most of what we want. Time together is the best. (We have all grown children and no grands yet- I imagine this gift policy will change when grands appear).

MinusTwo

Hammer -I want your Christmas dinner. Shrimp, flounder, coleslaw - YUM

Due to eyes still healing (and improving BTW), I've about decided I'm not going to drive 4 hours to San Antonio to spend Christmas with my niece. I was thinking about a pork loin, but I may have to at least put together a shrimp cocktail.

carolehalston

Sylvia's Lemon Cake:

1 Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme Cake Mix, 4 eggs, 1 cup apricot nectar (located in juice section), 2/3 cup oil, 1/2 cup sugar.

Mix well. Use high speed for 3 to 4 min. Spoon batter into well-oiled or greased loaf pans or bundt pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 50 min. (bundt cake) or 45 min (loaf pans)

GLAZE: Juice of one lemon, 1 cup confectioner's sugar, Small amount of rum or flavoring

Pour GLAZE over hot cake when you take cake out of oven. Remove cake from pan as soon as it cools.

carolehalston

I just wrote a post and deleted with one mysterious key click. Eric? It's better that nobody heard my language.

Here we go again. Last night's dinner was chili made with ground beef and l lb. of pinto beans that resisted cooking to the tender stage. I had quick soaked them but they may have been old. A few beans still had a little too much bite but I enjoyed the chili. Condiments were grated Tillamook cheddar and light sour cream. Dinner will probably be warmed up leftover chili.

I have the house to myself today since dh ventured out to play golf. I did the preliminary work for the cheese spread I'm taking to a Christmas dinner party tomorrow night. A well-known old supermarket in New Orleans called Langenstein's sold this spread (maybe still does) and the recipe is in an excellent recipe collection by the Times Picayune newspaper (NO) titled Cooking Up a Storm. The recipe is published so I don't see any problem with sharing it. I halved the ingredients but am giving the whole amounts.

BETTER CHEDDAR (makes about 2 lbs.)

1 lb. smoked gouda, shredded. 1 lb. sharp white cheddar, shredded. 3 green onions, chopped (white and green parts). 1 cup walnuts, chopped. Homemade Creole Mayonaise.

Mix 1st four ingredients with enough Creole Mayonaise to get consistency of a cheese spread.

HOMEMADE CREOLE MAYONAISE (makes about 1 1/2 cups)

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil. 1 large egg. 1 Tablespoon coarse grainy brown mustard. 1 1/2 Tablespoon white vinegar. 1 1/2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice. 1/4 teaspoon paprika. 1 teaspoon yellow mustard. 1 teaspoon salt. Dash of tabasco.

Pour 1/4 cup oil into blender. Add the other ingredients and blend. Add the remaining 1 1/4 cup oil in steady stream with blender running.

Note: I think you could doctor up a good mayo with some of the ingredients for a version of creole mayo.

MinusTwo

Carole: Thanks for the recipe. Once I read the Apricot Nectar, I realized I had a similar recipe from a lady I worked with years ago. There are only a couple of differences: She called for 3/4 cup of oil instead of 2/3, and she did not add the extra 1/2 cup sugar to the cake. She used juice from two lemons instead of one for the glaze. She used to bring it to work in a 9 x 13 pan (my old notes say bake 30-35 min in that pan).

I think I'll try it without the extra sugar. But now it's back to the grocery store for apricot nectar. Sigh.

The cheese spread sounds great. I was considering a salmon spread for a gathering I have to attend.

auntienance

The lemon cake sounds lovely. So does the cheese spread.

Today I made sliced apple rings for Christmas eve dinner. Which unlike every previous year, will be lunch. The kids expressed a desire to have the larger meal earlier in the day. So instead of our usual hunk of beef, we'll go old school and have cornish hens with an orange/cranberry glaze, citrusy haricots verts and scalloped potatoes. Dinner will be a grazing event - a meat and cheese board with the appropriate accompaniments - bread, crackers, fruit, nuts, etc. Desserts will be the yet to be baked cookies, assorted sweet breads and a chocolate cake with mascarpone icing. Tomorrow I get to go shopping for all this. That should be fun (not.)

We had chili yesterday too. I had two small containers of black and pinto beans on the freezer which I used. I'll have to replenish those supplies now. Tonight spaghetti and meatballs is on the menu. We'll have a salad if I can work up enough energy to make one. I used all mine up wrapping presents today.

Beaverntx

I have a recipe for what my friend called lemon bread that I think is similar, will have to try to find it to compare!

Nance, I have the baking done but nary a gift wrapped. Does that make us even? 😁I

Dinner tonight was leftovers from a Chinese buffet from last night's dinner meeting.

carolehalston

No cooking tonight since dinner will be at a Christmas dinner party.

ChiSandy

Faux-phô (bone broth, kelp noodles, bean sprouts, basil, roast beef), seaweed salad and a couple of Filipino chicken skewers for dinner last night. Brunch today was a veggie egg foo yung (no gravy). Not sure about dinner tonight--Asian leftovers are beginning to bore me. Will def. make a Caprese out of one of our last homegrown and a purchased Cherokee Purple tomatoes, plus perhaps a no-croutons Caesar. Gotta push those veggies!

MinusTwo

My lunch was at an old hole in the wall Italian place that is closing forever in the new year. It has been in business since 1954 and it was the first "real" restaurant we visited when I moved to Houston. Sad to say, when the original parents died the kids didn't agree what to do. The youngest took it over planning to have a sports restaurant. Really....this was always a family restaurant, a place people took their grandchildren, and then they grew up & took theirs. Needless to say his big screen TVs on all the walls failed since everyone told him they would never be back. It reverted to type- small, family restaurant - no more than 25 tables - salads, pizzas, pastas, specialty sandwiches. Outside window for big take out crowds for lunches.

A neighbor & I wanted to say a last farewell since we'd been eating there for 50 years. We had "Spaghetti Works". Pasta piled with meat sauce with mushrooms and meatballs, cheese on top melted in. The best red sauce I've ever eaten anywhere - including any I've tried to make myself. Delicious garlic bread. Would you believe "no calories"? Hmmm, thought not.

ChiSandy

If Bob doesn't come home early enough for us to go out to dinner, I will make a stir-fry out of the last of the Szechuan broccoli (rinsed & drained), bean sprouts, bell pepper, celery, scallions, the heel of a small homegrown tomato, snow peas, duck, and shredded chicken breast over cauliflower "rice."

Beaverntx

Tonight was cold weather comfort food--meatloaf, baked sweet potatoes, green beans, tossed salad with a choice of Christmas cookies for dessert. Have leftover for meatloaf sandwiches! Feeding 7 tonight, goes up to 14 on Sunday. It is good to have family around, both sons with their families, including all 8 grandchildren.

MinusTwo

I keep buying all this food to cook and getting invaded with holiday dunch events. Monday lunch with my DS. Tuesday lunch at the Med Center. Today Italian. Tomorrow I'll have a delicious Patty Melt at another local country cafe with my ex-DH. Saturday my nephew & niece are taking me out after an afternoon concert - heavy appetizers at Eddie V's. Hope the salad stuff in the fridge will last - and the sourdough bread my son sent from San Francisco. I gritted my teeth and froze 1-1/2 loaves. But you can't freeze salad.

HappyHammer

Time to get finished with making/baking for the holiday. So, am making a beef roast in the crock pot for supper. Will then make the leftovers into a beef stew for the weekend.

That lemon cake recipe looks great. Was tempted to add it to my list but stopped myself...maybe in the New Year.

ChiSandy

Going to a dessert party tomorrow night; the annual tray of baklava arrived yesterday from Shattila Near East Bakery near Detroit--a gift from the "shrink" group at Holy Cross Hosp. This year I can't have any, so a platter of 'em is coming with me to the party. My friend usually hosts it to clear out leftover cheesecakes from Eli's outlet (can't eat those either). So I'm gonna drink my dessert: either champagne, Cognac or single-malt Scotch.

Tonight I may nuke some wings and crunch through celery; or make a big Caprese. Getting tired of leftover Filipino chicken skewers and marinated squid; and shouldn't have any more lumpia (fried mini-spring rolls) and pansit (pan-fried rice vermicelli).

eric95us

I printed the recipe out and will try it..maybe today, but likely tomorrow.

My clothes fit is not changing, so maybe I'm out eating my exercise. It's easy enough to do. I just got back from running 6.3 miles today. It felt pretty good today with the temperature around 60F degrees. The nearby high school is on Christmas break, but the distance runners on the track team were out doing a long and slow run today. They just breezed by me and it reminded me of 40 years ago! :-)

What I've decided happens with the disappearing posts is somehow the entire post gets highlighted (such as managing to hit the alt key, followed by the "a" key) and the next character replaces all the highlighted text. My alt key is next to the space bar and I'll sometimes hit that when tapping the space bar. I, too, mutter unkind things when I delete an entire post. :-)

auntienance

Grueling day today finishing up food shopping. It's crazy out there! I'd like to think I won't have to face the grocery store till 2020, but I know that's wishful thinking.

I had my first much-hyped cosmic crisp apple the other day. My opinion is that it's better than a honeycrisp but not as good as a sweet tango (my current favorite.) The one I had was huge - too big for one person and the skin was very thick and somewhat off putting. I've since seen smaller ones so maybe it was just that particular batch.

We brought home a pizza for dinner. Tomorrow is baking day. At least I don't have to go out.

Minus, I'm sad for you about the Italian restaurant. I love those places. There's one in St. Louis that closed after eons in business. After a couple of years, happily, the kids remodeled and reopened it with many of the old recipes on the menu. I hope they can make a success of it.

ChiSandy

I am in a quandary. Hanukkah is coming up, and obviously I can't eat potato latkes (or sufganyot, aka jelly donuts fried in oil). Because of the (possibly apocryphal) "miracle of the oil" burning for 8 days, it is imperative on Hanukkah to eat stuff fried in oil. I can have sweet potatoes, but sweet potato pancake mixes are loaded with sugar, flour and cornstarch. Now, I could make sweet potato latkes from scratch (as I did a few years ago for "Thanksgivukkah") but I have only a giant sweet potato--about 2 lbs. (Miscommunication between Amazon Fresh & me--I thought "2 lbs." meant a 2 lb. bag of em). I don't think any of my cleavers are strong & sharp enough to cut it into pieces that'd fit into my Cuisinart's feed tube. And I don't have the freezer space to hold the excess. I guess I could take a carb-blocker and eat one potato latke...or fry a slice of low-carb bread...

eric95us

A two pound sweet potato?!? Wow.

Would a box grater work?

ChiSandy

Probably, but I'd need a week of personal training first.