So...whats for dinner?

M0mmyof3

Hubby and I are doing low-key Valentine’s Day. So it’s a frozen pizza night.

eric95us

I must have over used my right hand middle finger while driving...or got a splinter that I can't find...or had a bug bite that I didn't notice....or got a scratch infected while planting the garden. Wednesday night and Thursday morning the finger was itching. By Thursday noon, it had turned into a bright red, overstuffed sausage and I was having chills, so I went to see the doctor. I had a 101F fever. The doctor prescribed Keflex and warm Epson Salt - water soaks and they didn't want to wait until Monday to re-check things, so they are coming in Saturday...just for me..to check it again. The chills have stopped, but not much else has changed.

Dinner last night was nothing. Sharon was skiing and ate at the ski lodge...and I didn't even feel like reheating leftovers. Today will likely be the leftovers that are still in the refrigerator.

I'm glad to hear about Susan. I, too, have been wondering about her.

And, everyone with 'the crud'....get well..soon.

SpecialK

mommy - DD got DH a heart shaped pizza for dinner, lol! Great minds think alike!

I made spaghetti with meat sauce, mostly because I needed to cook the ground beef. The pizza eaters did their own thing. I had a little of the spaghetti and a salad with avocado - which also needed to be used up.

eric - oh no! Hope you see improvement ASAP, that is scary, and yay for a doc that works on Saturday for you! I’m glad they are being attentive

CeliaC

Made seared scallops with lemon, garlic, butter sauce & paired with roasted brussels & carrots. Splashed some of the sauce on the veg as well. We are usually out of sync with main meal of the day as DH likes to eat heaviest meal around noon-1pm and I am usually out. So cold here today due to an arctic blast that I did not venture out for my normal Zumba Gold class, so we were in sync for once.

Eric - Hope you finger is ok. Sounds a bit scary.

MinusTwo

Oh Celia - seared scallops - YUM.

My timing is even stranger. I like to eat my main meal between 2-4pm, so that makes for a really weird day. If I'm meeting other people for lunch, I try to shoot for 1pm. If I'm meeting others for dinner I try to make it by 5pm. My body just works better on two meals a day and no big meal at night to sit on my stomach as I sleep.

Today was a personal pizza from my Italian restaurant that's closing. Tomorrow will be stuffed eggs covered with a cream sauce w/light curry, then sharp cheddar. then baked. More info later if it works - from the recipe I remember from my childhood. A friend of my Mothers used to make it in the 50s and one of her granddaughters got me the recipe through a cousin who is also now gone.

carolehalston

The described meals sound appealing. Minus, baked stuffed eggs? That's a novel idea for me. I like deviled eggs, our name for stuffed. Any time they're served at a gathering, they always disappear fast. They're so easy to eat and taste good, made ever so simply. I guess I just like boiled eggs.

Yesterday I had lunch at a Mexican restaurant with my youngest sister and her daughter. We were celebrating my niece's birthday. I brought a lunch home for dh. So we just snacked in place of having a full meal for dinner.

Tonight may be filet mignon from the freezer.

Eric, your finger infection sounds scary. Glad you're paying close attention to healing.

Joyce, we've had some of that warm, humid, windy weather here lately but are enjoying some cooler, dryer air presently. I think that our winter is soon to be over. I'm expecting pollen to make itself known soon.

auntienance

Yike Eric! That sounds scary - please take care.

Last night we went to the local diner to eat. They do several things very well - breakfast, fried chicken, fried walleye and a chopped sirloin with grilled onions. DH went with the sirloin and I had the chicken. There must have been a different cook last night because instead of the lightly breaded crispy chicken I usually get, I got a heavily battered version. I still enjoyed it (it's fried chicken after all) but I prefer the old version. Hopefully this is a temporary aberration. For dessert I picked up two giant chocolate dipped strawberries from the local candymaker. It's so ironic that we have very few decent restaurants in town but we have a candymaker who's been in business for one hundred years. (They're famous for their turtles) Priorities.

Tonight friends are coming for dinner. The main dish is beef bourguignon. I forgot how many steps are involved in this dish but at least once it's put together it's pretty hands off.

ChiSandy

Eric, bummer about what looks like a nasty cellulitis in your finger. The Keflex should knock it out, but make sure to take the whole bottle. I had a similar incident all week: last Sat. I went to Target and opened a plastic box to see what a certain "wet/dry detangler" hairbrush looked like inside its protective zippered cover; when I got back into my car and touched the steering wheel I got a sharp, shocky pain in my R middle finger that felt just like a splinter. But no redness nor swelling. My 10X lighted magnifier showed nothing, and the Immediate Care nurse I saw on Tues. couldn't see anything either. Had an x-ray, and...nada. (Whatever was in there---if anything--wasn't radio-opaque). So I was told to do hot water soaks and apply Bacitracin ointment (was given a bunch of packets). Didn't help. Suddenly, on Wed., the same thing happened in my L thumb. Bob (my DH, a cardiologist) posited that maybe I was developing gout due to my high-protein diet and heredity (my mom's first kidney stones were uric acid). The other theory--diabetic neuropathy--didn't work, as my glucose is normal and my a1c is only 5.4. But Thurs. morning the thumb pain disappeared, and yesterday so did the finger pain. (Either the sliver of plastic worked its way out, my body "sequestered" it, or it was a sort of neuropathy to begin with).

Last night (Valentine's Day) after seeing Madame Butterfly at the Lyric Opera, we went to Avec--a Mediterranean-themed restaurant in the W. Loop where we used to be regulars over a decade ago but hadn't been back since its original chef married Food Network's Anne Burrell and moved to NYC. The menu hadn't changed: their signature dish, which they pretty much invented, chorizo-stuffed bacon-wrapped dates, was still on the menu. We also had a chicory-radicchio salad with fried duck egg, wood-roasted "Mer Bleu" NB oysters, and a braised pork shoulder with fava beans, linguiça and morçilla (blood) sausages, rock shrimp and a tomato broth. No room for dessert. By the time the opera was over, it was a frigid 9F out (-1 at dawn), but we lucked out and got a cab to the restaurant right away.

Tonight, since it was a balmy 30F, we walked to Cellars for a belated Valentine's menu: shared an arugula/prosciutto/asparagus/poached egg salad app. with dried cherries (Bob ate the latter). For entrees, he had filet mignon Oscar (more asparagus & crabmeat) with mashed potatoes; I had bourbon-glazed Scottish salmon over julienne veggies and grilled sweet potato. For dessert we shared a cheese & fruit platter: Granny Smith apples, grapes, ghost pepper apricot jam, more dried cherries, water crackers; and brie, Kerrygold cheddar, and Manchego. (He had the fruit, crackers & jam).

Bob's working tomorrow, so I'll drive back there for brunch (likely have the "Fitness Trainer" scramble of egg whites, chêvre, sundried tomatoes and a side of cucumber salad) so I can pick up the 10 bottles of wine we bought at the last winemaker dinner. Our next one will be a belated Mardi Gras Cajun/Creola dinner with French wine pairings on the 27th.

Here's a pic of "My Big Fat Greek...Salad" I made Wed. night--little gem, bibb & red leaf lettuces with kalamata olives, mushrooms, feta, red onion, heirloom cherry tomatoes, anchovies and a lemon-olive oil vinaigrette:

ChiSandy

Oh, and I have thrown in the towel about grocery-store basil. Bought 1 pkg ea. of Meyer Farms and Gotham Greens (Chicago greenhouse-grown), cut the stems (such as they were) on the bias, and put them in small glasses of bottled room-temp spring water. Within a day, all but one sprig had wilted; a day later, the wilted leaves had shriveled & dried up. I called our local garden store, Gethsemane (yeah, I know the irony), and to my surprise they had basil, thyme, sage, oregano, rosemary and even catnip plants in the greenhouse. So today I bought two 4" pots of basil and one of thyme. As instructed, I put them by the kitchen window where they'll get sunlight, but not close enough to the glass to suffer cold damage. I can easily keep the other herbs fresh in my fridge (and my cats like dried catnip, of which I have a whole jar), so didn't buy the others.

We found out this week that our grocery-delivery mainstay, Peapod, is ceasing Midwest operations this coming Tues. Ironically, they were founded in Evanston 26 years ago. But Amazon Fresh (which uses Whole Foods as its supplier) and InstaCart (Mariano's, Plum Market, Pete's, H Mart) were too difficult against which to compete, as Peapod--which hasn't had a "partner" grocer since Jewel bowed out a decade earlier when Dutch company Ahold bought it--needs 1-2 days to deliver while the others can do so within hours. Not just that, but the others offer pickup options, which Peapod can't because it lacks a brick-and-mortar store. Peapod will still operate back east because Ahold owns the East Coast Food Lion, Giant and Stop&Shop chains. So it looks as if I'll be venturing out to shop for stuff Whole Foods doesn't carry and InstaCart won't deliver in my ZIP code. (Peapod's corporate offices & tech operations are staying here in Chicago). We've been using Peapod since you had to use their software on a 3-1/2' floppy disk and dial-up (pre-Internet). Oh, well, nothing lasts forever.

eric95us

Thanks. The doctor increased the antibiotic dose from 1 gr per day to 2gr per day because "he wasn't impressed with its effectiveness". I go back on Tuesday for another followup.

My fever is gone and I'm not shivering, so that's good...even if my finger still looks "ugly".

Dinner tonight was actually a kind of late lunch. We met with some friends that I've known for 35 years (Sharon has known them for 31 years) and had a picnic lunch. During the day it was 71F degrees, but got a bit "cool" (mid 50F range) after sunset. We were all glad to have our jackets with us.

carolehalston

Last night was filet mignon, butternut squash mash and a romaine salad with additions. The fillets were cooked on a new grill DH bought assembled. He was happy about that but reported that the old grill was much hotter. We were both happy to notice yesterday that the someone had loaded up the old grill and taken it away.

Tonight will be speckled butter beans cooked with pickled pork and served over brown rice. Also leftover eggplant layered dish and possibly another salad. Our produce markets sell frozen butter beans and field peas and other frozen veggies. DH went to the nearby produce stand today and bought the butter beans, which I have gotten there before.

Nance, I wish we had a local diner that serves a good breakfast and good fried chicken. We go out to breakfast often during the summers in MN but not here at home.

Eric, keep us posted on the infected finger.

Lacey12

Backing up to Valentine’s Day...DH had ordered tickets to a “Stories From the Stage” event at WBGH (local public TV station), so we had dinner near the studio at a restaurant at which I last ate fifty years ago! A mid level steak house which hasn’t changed much. The staff was great, the place was mobbed, and we got in and out exactly as quickly as we hoped. I ordered salmon with asparagus and risotto, which was quite good. DH had baked scallops and shrimp with rice, and we shared a lovely arugula salad.
At WGBH we were greeted with champagne, and delightful small desserts. The selection of “stories” were obviously on the topic of love and were quite good...they would need to be to hold my attention, which was waning given my ongoing fatigue. I finished my Zpac and figured I’d be feeling a ton better, but it is going slowly.

Meanwhile, we have DGD here thru tomorrow since her daycare is closed for the holiday and both of her parents have to work. When we bring her home, DS2 and DDIL are serving us dinner as a “thank you” for caring for her during their “getaway” before DS2 started his new position. He is cooking for us. I love that he often cooks! And I cannot take any credit for teaching him, since I was rather territorial about the kitchen and meals. During his college summers, he worked in food prep at local country clubs...and since then has been quite comfortable and competent in the kitchen.

The baby’s bedtime coincided with tonight’s dinner hour so it was fragmented. DH finally finished off the remaining turkey leg, with gravy and rice, and I had leftover chicken noodle soup and fresh sour dough bread since my appetite was waning. Last night we had turkey meatballs with penne pasta and a large side salad. I froze a lot of the meatballs for quick pasta meals in the future...or for meatball subs for DH.

Eric...hope you are healed soon! On a less serious finger note.....I have developed a very swollen ring finger knuckle in recent months which is pretty clearly related to my arthritis. At some point (soon) I should see a rheumatologist and see what I can do about it (not looking forward to an injection) so I can wear my rings again. Since it gets painful using it, I’ve taken to taping it to my pinky finger for “use prevention” and it seems to work for now....except that on cold days, I can’t wear my gloves. 🥴 So as my oldbody falls apart, I am taping it together.

eric95us

Ahh, WGBH. That brings back some good college memories. The local Arizona PBS station, KAET, would air many cooking shows that were produced by WGBH and those shows were sometimes inspiration for some kitchen experimentation.

The finger is unchanged. I see the doctor on Tuesday about an hour before normal office hours. If the doc came in on a day off and is coming in early on another day, I must be interesting. Personally, this is one of those cases where it would be better to be boring. :-)

I keep herbs growing when I can. Rosemary, garlic chives and the mints do quite well. The remainder of the herbs either need extra care to survive year around, or like cilantro, die in the summertime.

MinusTwo

Eric - gee, sorry that the finger is still unchanged. Please let us know what the doc says tomorrow. I don't remember - dominant hand or not? I'm sure you're not kneading bread or stirring large bowls of stuff.

eric95us

Yes, it's my dominant hand...and I'm not making any bread right now. We're going to have to *buy* some bread..oh the horror!!!!!!!! :-)

carolehalston

I bought a loaf of sour dough bread at Fresh Market recently and it really did have a sour taste. Is that typical?

Last night we ate at our nearby seafood place, Crabby Shack. I thoroughly enjoyed our meal and was delighted not to have to cook. We shared a dozen raw oysters. Then we shared a seafood basket with fried oysters and shrimp and fries. As always the shrimp and oysters were cooked perfectly.

I was planning to roast a chicken for dinner tonight but I put it back into the refrigerator when I learned that dh has a woodworkers' guild meeting tonight. We'll have a tossed salad and leftover butter beans and brown rice.

eric95us

This morning...the finger was somewhat better and the doctor thought so too. So I'm continuing on the same antibiotic at the 2gram a day dose..

DD was over today and we made orange marmalade. My tail is dragging..but it's a good dragging.. :-)

ChiSandy

The taste of sourdough bread depends on the acidity of the starter—some commercial ones that add yeasts instead of relying on the ambient yeast can have batches that are really, really sour (Boudin was so sour once that my aunt couldn’t eat it).

eric95us

Carole, I didn't see your post. I *MUST* be tired. :-)

Yes sourdough is sour (tangy). The "sourness" of the bread depends on the starter used and the temperature of the dough during the rise process .

Lower temperatures make for longer rise times and this gives time for the lactobacillus (the "sour bacteria) to make things more sour.

I have two starters. Depending on the starter I use and whether I have the dough rise in the refrigerator or a warm oven.....I can make bread "kind of sour" all the way to "almost painfully sour". :-) The painfully sour bread takes about 3 days to make and the kind of sour bread can be made in a few hours.

Edited to add...

I've seen some commercial "sourdough" breads that added ascorbic acid (vitamin C) to make the bread taste more sour...sigh...

For what it's worth, I tend to think of sourdough bread made with bakers yeast to be faux sourdough.

carolehalston

Good explanations on the sour taste of the sour dough bread. I didn't really like the taste of my bought bread.

I plan to butterfly the large fryer I've been thawing and will roast it for dinner tonight. A side will be roasted potato chunks. I bought a packet of seasoning for the potatoes, an impulse buy, that will probably be too salty as most prepared seasoning mixes are.

Alas, it's actually too warm to use the oven. Our weather changes so fast and so drastically that it's hard to time using the oven.

MinusTwo

I grew up in the SF Bay area, so of course I love real SOURdough. One the best gifts is when my son sends a couple loaves of Boudin's SF Sourdough.

Carole - I'm with you on the seasoning packets. I usually just use 1/2 of most packages.

The last few days have been high 70s. Woke up yesterday with the house at 75 - with no heating or air. Like Carole - way too warm to use the oven. This morning it's 56 outside and won't get much higher.

Went for the last time to the restaurant that's closing with my old Chickenfoot group. Had one of the old staples - Heartland Salad. Originally it had breaded chicken with the greens & avocacos, eggs, tomatoes, etc. Now an alternate for healthier grilled chicken, but I had the old stand by for memories sake. Of course wonderful garlic bread. Two of my friends had the delicious shrimp salad and one had a huge poor boy.

Another friend is driving today to check out a "new" used bookstore. It's NW of town so we'll eat at the PF Changs out there and hit Total Wine. Oops more about wine later since I need to put on my shoes before she gets here.

eric95us

When I *buy* sourdough I always compare it to what I make. So far, mine nearly always wins out. Mickey, with her microbiology undergrad degree, taught me enough about sourdough to know what's going on with it and also what to do to encourage it to do what I want.

I slept about 13 hours last night/this morning and my energy level has returned with a vengeance....even if my finger is only about 3/4 of the way back to normal. Today I picked 250 pounds (110kilos) of oranges and juiced them. I had already picked that amount early last week and I think I only need another 100 pounds of oranges to fill the freezer with orange juice. So, I'm getting close to being finished

If I don't get deployed, I'll get the tree as bare as possible and let DD take them back to her apartment for her friends and roommates. Last night she took back about 15 pounds of oranges and she said "they disappeared within about 10 minutes".

It was 80F degrees today, so it's warming up here too and I think it's supposed to get warmer tomorrow. Winter may be done here...we'll see. When it gets too hot to use the oven inside, I switch to the outside oven. I am so happy that I have a 2nd kitchen range!!!!!!!!!!!

Seasoning. I *LOVE* salt, but with high blood pressure, I have to be careful. So I usually make my own seasonings. I've found dried and nearly powdered lemon peel does a good job at brightening up the flavor without the salt.

carolehalston

The roasted chicken and potatoes were good. I used a little less than half of the seasoning packet and did not find the potatoes too salty. The entire breast is left since we both like the dark meat. I will probably use part of the leftovers for chicken enchiladas.

I stopped off at a Rouse's supermarket on my way home from the gym yesterday. It's a fairly new store and not my "usual" supermarket. The seafood counter had Louisiana oysters. I bought a carton for making oysters Mosca (Italian oysters), probably tomorrow night.

Eric, that's a lot of orange juice. I have been buying navel oranges and eat them for snacks.

ChiSandy

Had my weigh-in yesterday and am only 8 lbs from goal. NP is happy with my "only" 6 lbs-in-9-wks loss, and is beginning to transition my diet to include the occasional real whole wheat bread, brown rice/quinoa/other whole grains, whole wheat pasta and citrus fruits 3x/wk. At goal, I will switch to a low-carb version of Mediterranean, which would make me limit red meat & sat fats but allow me 1-2 servings a day of whole grain stuff--plus increase legumes to count as a limited veg rather than a carb. Bob is relieved that we can still go to steakhouses, but corn & white spuds will remain "forever-nevers." 1-2 drinks/day, but I average only 3/wk (a scant pint of wine) to keep my MO happy.

Today he called from work and asked if I wanted him to bring me home a pačzki--and I said no thanks (he had 2!). I've learned that the slightest slipup of a trigger food (like pastries & donuts) will cause me to plateau for a week, or even gain. This will be my first Mardi Gras in a decade w/o pačzki or king cake (and my first hamantaschen-less Purim). But I don't mind. (Would have killed me, though, to have been in NOLA for Folk Alliance and had to forgo beignets & oyster po'boys).

Not sure about dinner tonight--depends on when Bob gets home or if he wants me to Uber it down to Greektown after my Apple Store appt. (this time for a cracked iPadPro screen after it fell off my lap and separated from its case this morning--one day after getting back my MacBookPro for a replacement of its cranky keyboard).

Lacey12

I am filled with “orange envy”, listening to you, Eric. Although, I’m not sure I would not feel quite overwhelmed looking at trees with so many oranges that needed picking/juicing. Admiring your renewed energy!

Talk about Rao's sauce seems to have inspired our menus this week. We had Rao's marinara with turkey meatballs and penne pasta on Tues, and last night had the leftovers of that, heated with mozzarella added as a topping. Tonight we had Rao’s puttanesca sauce with sautéed veggies and baked pollack over little ear pasta. While I enjoyed those dinners, I’ll be happy not to have pasta for a while. We had side salads with all of those meals.

Tomorrow night we will attend a Celtics’ “Watch Party” at their new practice center (they’ll be playing in MN), where a casual dinner will be served. Yay...no cooking for me!

I feel like I am finally over that virus, but DH seems like he’s on round two (which he probably caught from our little sweet germ factory who was coughing and dripping the whole time she was with us earlier this week). After taking her home, I disinfected everywhere, and sanitized the many toys she used. Fingers crossed that DH gets over his symptoms quickly, and I escape them!

Congrats on the weigh loss, Sandy.

carolehalston

Weight loss envy. Good for you, Sandy. I admire your discipline.

The chicken enchiladas last night were good. I spread the center of the tortillas liberally with a canned refried beans before adding the chicken and diced mild chili filling. Canned Hatch enchilada sauce and packaged Mexican cheese blend. Condiments were home-made (by dh) guacamole and sour cream. Easy meal that was enjoyed by both of us.

Tonight will be oysters Mosca with French bread and a romaine salad. I use the recipe in Cooking Up a Storm.

eric95us

Good job, Chi.

I've still got 17-18 pounds to go.

And, I'm all done with the oranges. I've got 35 gallons of orange juice freezing/frozen. Tomorrow I'm going to take a bunch of whole oranges and some orange juice to DD.

As for eating the oranges. If I eat anymore, my hair will turn orange. :-)

MinusTwo

Very disappointed with PF Changs last week. If it wasn't innovative, you could always count on a decent meal. The egg drop soup was cold. The appetizer ribs were great big honking 6-8"Texas beef ribs (WTH - chinese appetizer ribs?) and the meat was really tough. The vegetable spring rolls had absolutely no taste - even dipped in the chili sauce. I brought home my order of Singapore noodles and will be having tonight. Hopefully they are edible.

Eric - do you do Meyer Lemons too? People keep bring me lemons. I've juiced more than my freezer can hold so my latest experiment is cutting them in quarters, tossing them in a bag & freezing them that way.

Carole - I always forget to put beans INSIDE my enchiladas. Thanks for the reminder. Lacey - oh my, sorry to hear you are still passing the germs back & forth. Hope DH doesn't give it back to you but you can hardly ask him to sleep on the couch. Joyce - good to hear from you back in Florida. Hard choices - heat or snow. Celia - hope the arctic air has moved on. Nance - how did the beef bourguignon turn out?

Special - we miss you.

auntienance

Minus, have you tried preserving the lemons? It's very easy and they last forever.

The beef Borguignon was outstanding. It was even better the next day. Tonight was stroganoff made with a piece of beef tenderloin from the freezer. Living high on the hog here.

It's supposed to be in the 50s tomorrow. I think I'll grill chicken.

I have orange envy too Eric.

eric95us

My MIL told me to go get a bunch of lemons off of her tree. As near as I can tell, they are Lisbon Lemons. It's not legal to sell Meyer Lemons in Arizona as, according to the University of Arizona, that variety can carry the Citrus Tristeza Virus. Apparently that virus is devastating to the varieties of citrus grown in Arizona.

I used some to make orange marmalade and juiced the rest. I think I got a quart of juice from about 30 lemons, which I froze in 1/2 pint mason jars.

DD has both strep throat and the flu..confirmed by lab tests. She's taking both an antiviral and an antibiotic. We took a care package to her today and also took special care to minimize our exposure to "the cooties". She called tonight and said she's sweating like crazy and her fever has dropped to 100F degrees. So, hopefully the meds are doing the job.