So...whats for dinner?

deborye

Never had Catfish

Kay_G

Yikes I don't think there are enough hours on Sunday for me to catch up. Debbie, I am so sorry for your loss. ((((Hugs)))). Chabba, thanks for updating us.

I am loving the Downton Abbey talk. I just finished season 1 yesterday. Looking forward to finishing catching up on it. DH is working tonight, and I promised to wait for him, so it won't be tonight.

Laurie, those pretzels looked so good. Chocolate covered pretzels are my favorite food in the whole world. Eric, I can relate to your cookie dilemma. DH is starting to get it too. Today at Costco he bought a giant bag of trail mix, but he told me he's bringing them in to his office so he'll have it when he's working nights. It's very frustrating to work so hard at eating healthy and then feel like you blow it all pigging out on cookies. I don't mind having small amounts of treats in the kitchen for everyone, just don't want giant bags that sit around too long.



We feasted tonight! I cooked a filet mignon roast that came out perfectly. It was really a treat for my DS because I have not been cooking much red meat for a while. I made a sauce for it with leeks that i sauteed in a little bit of the bacon fat from the mashed potatoes, yummy! Of course DD had her Mickey Mouse chicken nuggets because she doesn't eat red meat. And she is 15! Michelle, I think your daughter is in for a long haul with those picky eaters. I made mashed potatoes with shallots, garlic, bacon, cheddar cheese and butter. We all thought they were delicious, except DD who didn't like the potato skins in there. Had a spring salad with tomatoes, dried cranberries, walnuts, and goat cheese and raspberry walnut vinagrette, some steamed broccoli with olive oil and garlic and a great crusty French bread. I think this thread rubbed off on me! And I am doing the enchiladas soon. I don't know why I am so scared to try it.



Lacey, enjoy your visit! Nancy, enjoy your trip as well, and Michelle hope you get great weather for your last day. Hope everyone enjoys their week. Can't wait to catch up again next Sunday. Unless I gave a medical emergency and have to check in sooner. Thanks for the dispensation Moon!

auntienance

I love fried catfish, and in fact had some for dinner tonight, along with boiled shrimp, sauteed spinach, pinto beans and fried okra. A southern fried extravaganza! (we are in Oklahoma) Tomorrow San Antonio and Tex Mex. Supposed to be in the 70's -- shorts weather for sure.



Kay, your dinner sounds awesome!



Susan, that's the recipe I use too. I'm not sure what publication it's from, it was given to me. An Italian grocery store in the city sells a high gluten bread flour that I love, but I use the kaf when I can get it (without paying the exorbitant shipping.)

Lacey12

Kay, you had me drooling with the description of your dinner feast tonight! Yum!



Today my sister drove up from South Jersey for a visit with us. She also now cares for my DS1's and DDIL's former giant dog, so brings her up to visit DS1, too. Always a fun time....DDIL and I made the slow roasted salmon I saw made on The Chew this week. It was delightful, but perhaps overkill to have a honey coriander glaze, pesto, AND an avacado relish on top of the salmon. We also had asparagus with parmesan and garlic, a very tasty wild/red rice mix, and garden salad. My sister brought one of her amazing pies...apple cranberry and some Italian cookies (tadales), so we ate a lot!



Tomorrow morning DS1 and DDIL will take baby Ava to the light fixture store with them and I will stay here to decorate my chocolate cookies with DGS. He is so much fun....love his little two year old sayings. But boy, Laurie, I have such renewed respect for you and others who care for these little ones 24/7.....often by yourself! They are adorable and exhausting! Guess it would help if I were still thirty! DH and I keep looking at each other wondering how we ever got through these years.



Better get some rest for the next chapter!

Have a good Presidents' Day everyone!

carolehalston

Yum to some "good eats" mentioned in posts.  Amen to Lacey's admiration of moms and dads coping with youngsters 24/7. 

After dinner out at La Provence on Saturday night and a southern noon dinner at my mother's house yesterday, I was happy to be up on the scales only 1 1/2 lbs this morning.  At La Provence I had the set dinner.  Salad with slices of pear, blue cheese, frilly salad greenery.  Entree of shrimp etouffe with large whole shrimp and a spicy (too salty for me) brown etouffe sauce over home-made pasta, little scoop shells.  Loved the pasta.  Dessert with fresh strawberries, scoop of cinnamon ice cream and a little cake. 

Yesterday's dinner was Boston butt pork roast stuffed with garlic and chopped green onions.  Mashed potatoes made with cream cheese.  Green beans cooked with a little bacon.  Dessert was home-made brownies and Blue Bell Neopolitan ice cream.  I made everything but the mashed potatoes.  My sister Michelle is the mashed potato queen in our family!  The brownies were made with a Ghirardelli boxed mix and they were moist and very dark.

Question voiced during dessert:  Why is a carton of chocolate, vanilla and strawberry ice cream called Neopolitan?

Refrigerator is full of left-overs, including a lentil soup that dh and I both agree is "just ok" and needs something, maybe a meatier taste.  DH followed a recipe from America's Test Kitchen and ingredients were French green lentils, bacon, onion, carrots, celery, tomatoes.  I plan to brown some ground beef and add that. 

Today is WW meeting. 

Have a great day, everyone!

Kaara

Morning everyone:  Had a wonderful Valentine's in the Florida Keys...overdid the eating and of course the Red Velvet Valentine's cake that my sweetie bought for me was delicious.  We ate every bite of it ourselves...took us three days...LOL!

Made a big pot of chicken vegetable soup for us to detox from all the high calorie foods we ate!  We've been feasting on that for two days.  Tonight I'll make a pork loin with fresh Florida sweet corn (first of the season) and some broccoli and a salad.

Ski trip coming up this weekend, so time to start finding my ski stuff!

SpecialK

carole - here is the deal on Neopolitan ice cream - it was a three color ice cream called "spumoni" in Naples and was usually cherry, pistachio and chocolate, when the 3 color ice cream idea came to the US it was called Neopolitan in honor of its origin.

For those unsure of enchiladas I have found it easier to use small-ish flour tortillas - faster and easier.

susan - I like the Frontera green sauce for fish tacos too - it is a nice product.

michelle - glad you are finally getting some good sun time!

debbie - sending you strength, miss you.

everyone else - sounds like everyone is busy with snow, vacations and soup!  I am way behind on this thread - I have been helping some friends renovate a condo.  They took it down to the bare walls so we have been buying tile, light fixtures, appliances, cabinets, wood flooring, carpet, etc.  My DH is thrilled that I am shoppping with someone else's money - I am thrilled that I am getting paid to do so!

LeeA

I love the Homeboy Industries green/verde salsa but it doesn't love me during chemo.  

In normal times, I like it on just about everything, including grilled chicken breast, vegetables, etc. 

SeasideMemories

SpecialK,



Thanks for the research on where Neopolitan ice cream gets its name from! Love interesting factoids like that...

SeasideMemories

We did our belated Valentine's dinner on Saturday and had way to many mussels for the two of us to finish so DH is making some kind of mussel bisque for dinner tonight! Saturday's mussels and antipasto were delicious but, I think I overcooked the chocolate souffles. I didn't have the right size ramekins and used bigger ones with a bit more of the mixture in each and upped the baking time and I think I upped it too much... They were still good, good though!



To All.....



I got a PM from Debbie yesterday.... She wanted me to tell you that she is thinking of and missing us all but is not to the point where she is able to post just yet...Her Dad will be having his surgery for esophagal cancer on the 28th and she is very worried about him.



If you are one who prays, please include him and Debbie's family in your thoughts and prayers.



Debbie,



We all love ya and miss you! Look forward to hearing from you again...

carolehalston

SpecialK, ditto thanks on the Neopolitan background.  The original sounds wonderful!  I love pistachio ice cream and seldom see it.  Cherry, pistachio and chocolate would be a delicious combination.

Bought a nifty pot today.  Triple decker.  Bottom is an 8 qt. pot, middle is a pasta strainer and top is a steamer pan.  I plan to use the pot later to boil/poach a chicken for chicken salad and broth.  Dh's cardiac exercise class is having a reunion tomorrow, a potluck lunch.  Doesn't that sound rollicking!  I'm making curry chicken salad. 

Tazzy

Debbie:  (((hugs))) thinking of you !

eric95us

Mussel bound????

SeasideMemories

Lol Eric.... That we were!



The bisque came out really good but we went from some leftover mussels to a big pot of soup... Didn't cut back on the food but increased it... I guess I know What's For Dinner for the next few nights...lol

auntienance

Love love love spumoni. I've already found a gelato shop and a haagen dasz. Love San Antonio!



Tonights dinner was a really wonderful Camarones a la Diabla (Spicy Shrimp), garlic and chipotle-buttered huge grilled shrimp served over cilantro rice and roasted cream corn pico. Can't wait to see what we find tomorrow.

SpecialK

On the Neopolitan subject - Italians really, really love gelato - it is everywhere in Italy! And it is not just the tourists eating it.  We went to the craziest gelato shop in Rome, you paid up front by the size, went to the back of the store where there were 100 flavors - the guys scooping did not speak english, there was no organization or line you just had to yell and point - it was hilarious! I did not spend much time in Naples, but it is definitely a food oriented place - as is the whole country!  I wish I had tried the cherry, pistachio and chocolate combo.

auntienance

Did I mention it was 83 today? We actual dined al fresco. Love that the most!

eric95us

Today, it was in the upper 70F degree range here. Tomorrow it is supposed to be just slightly cooler. Wednesday, I'll be working outside all day at the National Guard armory and it is supposed to be in the low 50F range and raining. I guess it will make the training better...or something... :-).



The forecast for Thursday is warm and sunny......



Eric

carberry

My DD boss in NYC is straight from Italy and in the summer he will say to her..".hop on the vespa,

we are going to get some gelato"..and he willl treat the office.(must tell this story in your best italian accent)

Nance and Eric  soooo jealous of your warm weather,  I guess though if we lived there, we may take it for granted?

We are house hunting in NC for our future retirement, so may have a warm trip coming up in March. Dont really care where we go, I just need some sunshine to boost my mood here!

Last night was just plain old cheeseburgers and FF.  I havent had a burger in forever...never order them out...but just felt the need to have one..I had it on a bun too which I dont usually do.

Now to figure out dinner for tonight..hmmmm?

curveball

Last night I made chicken Puttanesca, which is chicken in a tomato sauce with artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, mushrooms and (supposed to be) anchovies. I had planned to make it to use up a bottle of spicy marinated artichoke hearts, which my mom had gotten by mistake instead of the plain ones, and the anchovies, which had been sitting in the pantry way too long. Alas, when I took the can of anchovies out of the box, the top was bulging, and when I opened it the liquid inside flew in every direction. I decided "better safe than sorry" and tossed them. The anchovies would have given just the right finishing touch, but even without them the dish turned out OK. I didn't measure anything so I can't tell you the exact recipe, but there are dozens of versions online. The sauce is supposed to have a bit of heat to it, and I thought the spicy artichoke hearts would provide it, but they were not enough to do the job. Next time I should add a little red pepper. But all in all it was a successful experiment.

Laurie08

 curveball- your  dinner sounds good.  I love artichoke hearts, but I think I am the only on ein the house that does.

Carrie- Happy house hunting!  I hope you have a wonderful time looking at places and are able to find the perfect one for you to relax in.

I have been fighting the ear thing again, back to the EN&T Dr tomorrow.  I am very frustrated.  I spent the whole weekend trying to keep up with my family while feeling like poo.  Last night we had salads with grilled chicken for dinner, tonight was meatloaf.

Michelle- Glad you made it home safe and sound

auntienance

Finally jumped on the enchiladas verdes bandwagon tonight. Quite good, if not fancy, with a side of pinto beans. And of course lots of beer! Dessert was scoops of limeinnacoconut and pistachio gelato. yum!



Although it was cooler today, it was still near 70 and mostly sunny. We were able to eat outdoors on the Riverwalk, which is lovely at night.



Tomorrow we head to Galveston. So far it looks like rain for 5 of the first 6 days :-( oh well, it will be perfect weather for a visit to my favorite pho restaurant.



Hope everyone is doing well. Laurie I'm sorry you're down again, hope your doc can fix you up.

curveball

@Laurie08, I am a huge artichoke fan! They are my favorite vegetable of all, closely followed by asparagus. They have gotten so expensive now I hardly ever buy them, but the house I bought to live in after I retire (soon!) has a nice big yard and I plan to try my hand at growing them. They are not reliably perennial this far north but will survive the winter sometimes, and there are varieties that are supposed to produce a crop in a year from seed--sow in the spring for 'chokes in the fall. I hope that's not all a bunch of seed-catalog hype. Asparagus will grow in much colder parts of the country than this, so even if I get no tasty thistles, at least I'll have some of my second-favorite veggie in the garde.

carberry

Curveball  our local grocery store makes a sauce called Puttanesca that has all of the ingredients right in it, capers also along with the artichokes and olives.  It is by far my favorite sauce, although a little on the salty side, which is probably why I like it so much. Very ambitious of you to try and grow these veges. My sis that just retired has the same goal of having an amazing garden this spring, now that she has the time.

Last night was tilapia on a bed of spinach and some cheesy potatoes. Hubby did the "where's the tartar sauce?" routine. He actually ate it without and said it was very good.

Snowy here today, so if we dont go out tonight it will be mac n cheese.

auntienance

Curve, we grow asparagus quite well here in the Midwest. I'm sure you'll have no problems. I love asparagus and artichokes too. I don't know why I never planted asparagus since I always have a garden. I think two years to get a harvest always seemed like such a commitment :-)

carolehalston

Why are artichokes so expensive?  I stopped buying them, too.  They can cost as much as $2 or $3 each.  I like them a lot, too, and also asparagus, which is more reasonably priced.

Nancy, sorry about the rainy weather.  Texas weather and Louisiana weather are very similar.  Usually the weather systems from Texas move east toward us.  I'm sick of rain.  This winter has been usually wet, so much so that golf has become the sport I used to enjoy.  Our terrain is so flat that our golf courses don't drain as quickly as hilly areas.  I refuse to play when my shoes get muddy and my clothes, too.

Dinner tonight will be fish, a steamed veggie and a salad.  All the "occasion" eating has done me in.  Yesterday's potluck lunch with the cardiac exercise "classes" was a real spread and I ended up eating home-made desserts.  Yes, plural!  My chicken salad was consumed and I had compliments but no leftovers.

My next food adventure will be making orechiette, the "little ears" pasta.  I've been looking up recipes and it seems fairly easy.  I also saw an episode of America's Test Kitchen that demonstrated a method of making pasta that doesn't require a pasta machine.  I don't have a storage place for another kitchen appliance.

LeeA

I'm going to try to make macadamia nut encrusted mahi mahi tonight.  I have no idea how it will turn out.  

My husband's grandmother (Italian) used to make little ears by hand.  He remembers them sitting around the table and making them as a child. 

gardengumby

LeeA - IMO the trick to macadamia nut (or any nut) encrusted fish is to cook it at a low enough temperature that the fish cooks before the nuts burn.

LeeA

Thanks for that tip, gardengumby!  I bought mahi mahi but I think it has skin on the bottom.  

chabba

Carol, when I started making my own pasta I said the same thing but we quickly got hooked on it.  Six months and I had my own machine and have made it almost weekly for almost 30 years.