So...whats for dinner?

MinusTwo

Nance - I too have CIPN. Once you find a style at a local store that fits you well & you have some wearing history, the Hokas web site has occasional sales - especially when the next year's colors are shipping to the stores. I saved $50 on my last pair since I didn't care about the color changes.

I'm so glad to have a Costco within reasonable distance. And yes, when I was in the store last Thursday every employee had a mask & registers had plexiglass "walls". Now it's just about that 50% of customers who didn't wear masks, or had them hanging around their necks.

Dinner was a huge salad. 1/2 a bag of Dole Pomegranate mix with added cucumbers, celery, avocado, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, olives. The other half will get treated with sliced apples, etc.

I bought another package of hot dog buns so need to take the wieners out of the freezer. Nothing too exciting.

MinusTwo

Lacey - I love the idea of a box of mystery produce. When I first moved to Texas, a group of women in the apartments formed a sort of co-op. Two women went to the farmer's market every other week while the rest of us watch their kids. Since the women were from all over the country, we got to try things new to each of us. I introduced many of them to fresh pineapples & coconuts. In turn I discovered I don't much care for eggplant and wouldn't eat okra if it was the last food on earth. At least it challenged us to learn to cook something new.

Sorry the pollen is getting the better of you this year. Sounds like a long battle.

Eric - interesting about the turnip casserole. The mother of a long ago friend from England (WWII generation) always grated turnips & carrots together with various spices. It was delicious.

SpecialK

Dinner tonight will be a layered ground beef and noodle recipe that has a creamy layer and tomato sauce. Kind of a deconstructed lasagna but the creamy layer is cream cheese, sour cream, and green onion rather than ricotta. I made this a lot for my parents when I visited. I always spent a day making large quantities of things they liked, then portioned into containers and stacked in the freezer. I made this also for my MIL because it is high in protein and was also enjoyed by whichever of her kids served as caretakers as they took turns after she was diagnosed with acute leukemia. It freezes well, and is one of DH’s faves. Considering making a zucchini cake also since I have some that needs using. I have cream cheese and lemons too for frosting.

Termites at DD’s house are hopefully eradicated as of yesterday with a non-tenting treatment for the underground variety. My first real outing in about 40 days was hanging at her house while they treated outside as she had an appointment with the boat builder to consider a new custom build. Someone unexpectedly offered her a great price on her current boat that would allow her to pay off the loan and not incur a new one to get a new boat. She is pro staff for the boat maker, so they are deeply discounting for her.Kind of a no-brainer.

MinusTwo

Special - that creamy sauce sounds delicious. Would you share the recipe?

SpecialK

minus - absolutely! Cook a package of ground beef, drain off any fat. Add a small can of tomato sauce, a can of undrained diced tomatoes, some garlic, 1 tsp of sugar, and 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper to the pan with the ground beef. Bring to a simmer and cook for 15 mins. Meanwhile cook a package of wide egg noodles al dente and drain. Combine a package of softened cream cheese, and 1 cup of sour cream until smooth, and add several chopped green onions, to taste. In a casserole dish (deep) layer half of noodles, half of cream cheese mixture (I spoon it on and try to spread it a bit, then half of sauce. Repeat, then top with 1 cup grated cheese - I usually use cheddar. Bake 30 mins at 350 F. This is a pretty rich casserole, so it goes a long way. You can definitely freeze the leftovers

M0mmyof3

Made spaghetti and homemade meatballs for dinner.

Went to the store to pick up a few things we were out of earlier, hubby and I adhered to the advisory about wearing masks or a face covering. Was so mad that while I was doing the right thing, some lady was walking around shopping with her mask down around her chin and yapping away on her cell phone! I so wanted to go up to her and giver her a piece of my mind! People like that make my head hurt!

Magari

Greetings, all! It's been a while. Hope you and your families are staying well during this crazy time.

We've been sheltering in place for 6 weeks now, and SF and surrounding counties have extended the order for another month. Rumor has it that mid-June is more likely. My office was woefully unprepared to have us all work remotely, so I've been on paid furlough. But there's been pressure for those of us without the tools to work remotely to go into the office, which is infuriating. Especially because supervisors are all safely at home and it's support staff who are being asked to risk their health and safety to do what the office calls "essential work". I don't think either the Mayor or the Governor would agree on that.

I'm a public employee and we're all Disaster Service Workers. So for the past week or so I've been doing remote training (via Zoom) to be a contact tracer for the Dept of Pubic Health. It's pretty disorganized because the whole thing is being figured out as they go. But it's exciting to think that I can be part of doing something concrete to help, instead of my usual office job. I will probably begin shadowing another tracer for a few days and then start making my own calls next week.

As for cooking: I made homemade chipotle mac & cheese last night, with leftover flank steak to go with it. Have also made roast spatchcocked chicken, black beans with linguica, Asian peanut sauce noodles, soba noodles with cucumber and cilantro, and leftover meat has used for salads, sandwiches, and tacos. Speaking of which, I bought pork shoulder from our neighborhood butcher and will be making carnitas with that tomorrow.

Beaverntx

Tonight's take out from a local Thai restaurant; I'm having chicken pad thai, DH moo goo gai chicken. There will be enough for at least two meals each; so glad to eat someone else's cooking!

ChiSandy

Last night I ended up making the scampi Greek style, as I had fresh oregano & lemon I needed to use up, along with sauteed sugar snap peas. Dessert was a chunk of brie. Tonight, I made the remaining half-pound of shrimp with the last of some leftover remoulade sauce, as well as America's Test Kitchen's "Buttery Spring Vegetables." Had to wing it, as I had only the snap peas, radishes (which I had to trim considerably), and asparagus. But it came out great. Nuked some Uncle Ben's (don't judge) instant brown & wild rice for Bob.

Lucked out with my Whole Foods delivery today--this time everything was in stock. I've gotten into the rhythm of ordering a spare of whatever food I've started using--neither panic buying nor hoarding. So far, so good sticking to my diet without feeling deprived. Exercise, alas, is limited to the stair climbing & walking inherent in housework, trash/recycling disposal, laundry and cat care (especially litter-sifting). My housekeeper & her DH are finishing up day 14 of self-isolation, and he's getting re-tested tomorrow at dialysis. They still won't test her without symptoms, but she & I are glad she doesn't have any. She is going stir-crazy at home though. I used to think I'd never last without her for a week when she was on vacation, and even 3-day weekends seemed rough. Amazing that except for a few hrs. the day before the stay-home order took effect, I'm managing to hang in there. I am and have always been a terrible housekeeper!

eric95us

Did housekeepers husband show symptoms?

I vacuumed the house today and moved a lot of the furniture to vacuum there as well. There was enough dog hair under the furniture to "build another dog", so that was a worthwhile effort.

Project two involved a trip to the hardware store to get some gaskets to fix a drip under the kitchen sink. I guess I don't have the Covid19 possible symptom of anosmia because what made me aware of the leak was a slight damp smell. The drip was likely only a few minutes old as it only took two "sponge loads" to get the water up off of the cabinet bottom. Nothing much was wet, but I'm leaving the cabinet doors open so it can dry out.

Magari, what do you normally do?

ChiSandy

My housekeeper's DH was asymptomatic. But when one patient at the V.A.'s dialysis center came down with COVID, all the patients got tested. He was shocked at the result.

eric95us

That's good he didn't go through "the wringer".

MinusTwo

Sandy - I routinely nuke packages of rice. It's the only way to go for one person. I like Seeds of Change Brown Rice w/Quinoa. Haven't tried the Aromatic Jasmine Rice yet. I like their simmer sauces too - like Ginger Teriyaki and the Mushroom Simmer Sauce.

Reader425

Special I will have to add that recipe to my rotation. Sounds delish. Thank you for sharing.

Tonight DH wanted to make dinner again! He made a great chili recipe from the back of the packet of McCormick's low sodium chili mix. Just add ground beef, beans and tomatoes. Actually quite good and I didn't have to cook it. Win-win. 👍😉

MinusTwo

Thanks Special - cream cheese is now on my grocery list.

SpecialK

You're welcome - it is a pretty forgiving recipe as well, you can change up the topping cheese, or use leftover marinara, sub sausage or ground turkey for ground beef, use different noodles, or fat free cream cheese and sour cream. The recipe makes a 13x9 pan, so you can also cut it down if you don't need that much!

carolehalston

Your casserole/hot dish sounds good, SpecialK. I like the idea of the white sauce made with those ingredients rather than a bechamel.

I enjoyed our simple meal last night, which started with thawing a large chicken breast, boneless skinless. I cut it into three pieces the way I saw on a cooking show some years ago. The pointed end about 1/3 of breast. Then the remainder sliced into two thinner pieces. Flattened all three, seasoned them, brushed them with a small amount of egg beater, and lightly breaded with Italian bread crumbs. Browned in small amount of grape seed oil. May be my favorite use of not-too-flavorful chicken breast.

Side was white cheddar mac and cheese. From a box, Cracker Barrel. Dh made a wonderful salad of many ingredients. I put out the two salad plates and requested, Just make a reasonable size salad. But as the ingredients were added, the two plates were mounded up.

Tonight's dinner may be the last package of shrimp in the freezer.

auntienance

Last nights meal was orange chicken and fried rice, made by me and egg rolls, courtesy of Trader Joe's. There was too much prep for me to want to make it often but since one of our two Chinese restaurants closed, making it myself is the better option for orange chicken. It's DH's favorite Chinese dish.

Yesterday I went to the local butcher in search of baby back ribs. It's a small store but they do their own processing so it's the only place in town where you can order exactly what you want. I buy most of my beef at Costco but pork is prevalent and good here so I get that locally. I was met with a fairly long line of people spaced 6 feet apart, half with masks, and a guy at the door letting people in as people left. That was new. Apparently because the local stores had limited meat supply this business is picking up the slack. Good for them.

Anyway dinner is, of course, baby back ribs, corn on the cob and a small salad. It's going to be in the 80s today - too warm for the first of May.

SpecialK

carole - yes, making the white sauce out of cream cheese and sour cream also doesn't heat up the kitchen with the stove or take as much time - you just have to be sure the cream cheese is room temp first so they mix. I have found that dropping spoonfuls over the top of the noodles and then smearing with the back of a spoon or offset spatula works best for that layer.

We too had chicken breast last night - roasted, with a kale salad with julienned apple, macadamia nuts and a creamy balsamic dressing, and yellow squash sautéed, smashed and combined with a beaten egg, a little milk, some grated cheddar, and seasoned panko crumbs, then baked.

Florida is slated to come off stay-at-home orders on Monday, with a phased approach. Restaurants can open with 25% occupancy and socially distant table arrangement, although the restaurants say they can't turn a profit with that, so not sure what will happen. Hair and nail salons can't open yet. DH's workplace opening requires 14 days of sequentially lower cases reported, and testing is now more readily available locally, with no insurance requirement, which is good. The military base may relax that 14 day requirement, but not sure. We had a conversation with my SIL last night, she is a nurse for a plastic surgeon in NC, who does breast recon as well as elective cosmetic procedures. They have had no work so she was asked if she would be willing to work on COVID floors and elsewhere in the hospital. She declined - due to her age, she turns 66 this year - so is home, having to use her accrued vacation to get paid. Her fellow non-nurse colleagues all volunteered to work elsewhere in the hospital. They accepted because they knew they would not be utilized due to not being nurses, so they are staying at home and being paid without using their paid time off. Not fair. I have been home, with the exception of going to DD's house for the termite treatment, for 45 days. As we were having this conversation with my SIL I mentioned my low WBC on my last blood tests, and that this was the reason I have stayed home and been such a freak about laundry and masks and no visitors, etc.. DH was aghast - this has been mentioned about 100 times, lol and apparently he just absorbed this info. SMH. There is a breakout of cases online yesterday by zip code in the county I live in, and ours had the second highest number of positive cases. This zip is predominantly suburban single fam homes and condos, but not particularly densely packed. I was surprised to see this, but also confirms why it makes sense to be careful. I am a bit worried that this phased opening is going to cause a spike, but not sure what the alternative is. Bleh... DD's boss has indicated that travel will resume for her and her fellow regional sales managers on June 1st. Her first destination will be Miami, the epicenter of infection in FL, not great, but she also needs her job. She will just have to be super careful and hope she is lucky.

ChiSandy

None of Bob's nurses will go near patients--no BPs, EKGs, pacer checks, etc. I don't know why he doesn't just close up the practice and call it a day--except his partner won't agree (she wants to keep her insurance till she goes on Medicare, which I can understand, but she can afford private insurance). Nevertheless, when the $ stops coming in, the practice will shut down. Meanwhile, he's back at Little Co. of Mary this weekend, so I won't see him till tomorrow night because I make him stay at a hotel. (He left this morning w/o taking out the garbage, picking up my prescription, or even trying on the belts he insisted I buy him).

We ordered out from Cellars last night: tomato-bean soup (meh), crab cakes (1 for me, 2 for him) and fish & chips. (4 pieces, so he had 3 and I let myself have one plus a handful of fries to celebrate hitting goal). We had a large salad he brought home Thursday from Pompei, so that (plus the mesclun with the crab cakes and the slaw with the fish) was our veg.

Tonight I may dig out a couple of burgers to grill, as it's warm & sunny out. Tomorrow, Cellars will be doing brunch again, so I will order him bagel & lox (which he'll eat when he gets home) and a DIY Bloody Mary kit, plus quiche and salad for me.

M0mmyof3

Meatball grinders

Magari

Last night's carnitas turned out really well. I cooked the chunks of pork shoulder in my Instant Pot with the aromatics, drained them, basted them with a bit of the fat skimmed off the liquid and then crisped the pieces under the broiler. Only took about an hour start to finish, and we have loads of leftovers.

I have lots of bits and pieces of bread taking up space in my freezer, so pulled them out along with a couple of Italian sausages and will be making a strata tonight.

Eric - I'm a paralegal at the SF City Attorney's Office. My group deals solely with civil litigation (i.e., money cases) and the courts are more or less closed for that. So not exactly "essential" work in my opinion. I told my supervisor that it's not right to instruct support staff to go into the office, thereby risking their health and safety and that of their families simply because the office hasn't provided them with the tools to work remotely, while the attorneys remain safely at home. Got no real response to that. I'm also being asked to try to figure things our from home without remote access. Which is incredibly inefficient and frustrating - I'm being sent documents via e-mail that aren't searchable, and I don't even have a printer.

I'm thrilled to be part of the contact tracing assignment. Much more important right now. And we made the news!

San Francisco recruits army of social workers, librarians and investigators to track Covid-19

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/01/san-francisco-contact-tracing-coronavirus-california

ChiSandy

Magari, I'm so glad I retired from active law practice a few years ago. Working from home is a PITA, but I can't imagine going to court under these conditions. Bad enough Bob won't retire (and this is his Little Company of Mary--aka SW Side COVID snake pit--weekend). True, we can't do what we had planned to during retirement (restaurants, movies, concerts, theater, travel), but safety first. There's always Netflix, reading, and walking.

Breakfast was two fried eggs, one strip of bacon and a small piece of buttered toast with coffee. Lunch (after getting back from errands) was half a tuna sandwich. I bought two basil seedlings to replace the plants that died suddenly from root-rot due to being pot-bound, plus another package of basil leaves (the one I bought two days ago croaked despite my putting it in water by the windowsill). I'm hoping the new stuff can last a few days in a smaller glass of water on the middle island, with a plastic bag over it. Also got three tomato seedlings to transplant into the large pots our landscaper brought up on to the deck. (Alas, his crew screwed up and pulled up my chives, mistaking them for weeds. At least they saved the parsley and strawberries).

Dinner was the rest of the salad we ate last night, plus four grape tomatoes and a couple ounces of lox. Used the last of the vinaigrette for the greens, and squeezed lemon over the lox before garnishing it with fresh dill. (Not gonna try to grow any of that, as I've never had any luck with it). I'm defrosting a pork tenderloin to grill tomorrow night should I have room left after the brunch broccoli-cheddar quiche I'm ordering from Cellars, and Bob wants more than the bagel & lox I'm ordering for him. (I've been dreaming about their quiche since March: it's mile-high and insanely fluffy, like a soufflé).

Gonna do clothing laundry tomorrow (today was linens & towels), and maybe walk over to Whole Foods to buy a packet of chives to tide me over till the garden center gets less crowded when the novelty wears off.

carolehalston

Dinner last night was a hot dish/casserole with the leftover white cheddar mac and cheese, steamed asparagus cut into pieces, and sauteed shrimp, half a can of cream of chicken soup and some water for "loosening." The shrimp were large so I cut them in half or in thirds. The dish was quite pretty and tasty.

The side was our usual tossed romaine salad absent an avocado since we are out of avocados. DH abandoned the two plates saying that he finds it easier to throw everything into a bowl.

Tonight's dinner will probably be meatloaf with ground beef and ground pork out of the freezer. A cauliflower will probably become cauliflower mash.

M0mmyof3

Tonight was Baked Potato Soup and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

MinusTwo

Friday was delicious French toast from a leftover loaf of San Francisco Sourdough that has been hiding in the back of my fridge. Yesterday was a big green salad. Today was 1/2 cup egg salad, a fairly large piece of chocolate pudding cake, and tonight 1/2 cup of Spanish peanuts. Finished the last 6 oz in a bottle of Espelt Garnacha from Spain. That is a delicious wine & not eligible to shop to Texas. What a shame.

Reader425

Yesterday's dinner was a sorry excuse for a normally delicious red stuffed pepper dish. I tried to make it in a stovetop electric skillet I rarely use. Results were meh so we compensated by washing it down with a sweet Niagara wine.🍷

Tonight no experiments. We picked up Indian takeout. Chicken Korma and garlic naan. Yum!

carolehalston

The meatloaf, a mixture of ground beef and pork, was cooked on the outdoor grill. It had/has a good flavor. The side, cauliflower mash, was good, too. I've learned that the mash is not hot enough out of the food processor so I transfer it to a casserole dish and heat it in the microwave.

Today I will cook dry navy beans, maybe only half the bag. The seasoning will be a couple of slices of smoked pork hocks out of the freezer.

I am feeling relieved about the tree removal job. A man from a reputable company came and gave a quote that we immediately accepted. It will be pricey but the tree is a danger and must be removed.

MinusTwo

Carole - such good news about the tree removal. Hope the process goes smoothly.

Dinner was another large salad. Pretty much everything leftover in the fridge got chopped & added. Citrus/Onion dressing. Opened a bottle of Estancia Meritage - a red blend wine I had been saving. I'd forgotten, this one's from Paso Robles too. Yum to one glass while chopping & one glass while eating.

I'm having a hard time finding Vitamin C tabs. I only take 500mg and what I can find is 1000mg. Tomorrow I'm going to hit Walgreens and if necessary, CVS.

auntienance

Homemade cheese pizza tonight (our current favorite) and an unimaginative side salad with a garlicky vinaigrette.

Had to make an unanticipated trip to the store today to get forgotten peppers so I can make fajitas for cinco de Mayo. Since today was the first day of lifting of restrictions I fully anticipated a lot of nut jobs rushing to the store, throwing caution to the winds and declaring the pandemic “over.” I was pleasantly surprised to find the usual half masked small crowd and handful of crazies. The big crowd was at the local garden center which just fully opened today. Those gardeners have been going through withdrawal