So...whats for dinner?

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  • ChiSandy
    ChiSandy Member Posts: 12,133
    edited August 2016

    The seared scallops over pesto zoodles were wonderful. Only problem is I had to split the zoodles into two equal portions--and because I keep forgetting to cut the spirals every so often as they emerge, I have to use kitchen shears to cut the finished, cooked ones. Finally, an exception to the Italian rule “never serve fish with cheese.” I dusted the scallops lightly with Old Bay before searing, and topped each with a dollop of pesto. Gotta harvest some basil so I can make more. I need to grate the cheese more finely and use more olive oil.

    Accompanying them with 3 oz. of 2007 Mumm Napa Santana “Supernatural” Brut Rosé. (Very small flute looks full with only 3 oz.).

  • MinusTwo
    MinusTwo Member Posts: 16,634
    edited August 2016

    Susan - lovely meals.

    Lunch was left over Mandarin Orange Chicken from Costco. Dinner was spiralized zucchini & yellow squash steamed w/garlic salt & butter along with leftover fresh Olathe corn that i had cooked & cut off the cob earlier this week. And last but not least, some cubes of fresh watermelon. All this was served with a lovely Malbec wine.

    I so need to clean out my garage freezer, but it's still over 90 most days & I can't force myself to go work in the heat.

  • susan_02143
    susan_02143 Member Posts: 7,209
    edited August 2016

    Minus, Not sure that my Costco offers Mandarin Orange Chicken. Haven't seen a zucchini in a few weeks. Maybe I should get a few more at market. We really enjoyed the "ad hoc" spirals I did for several weeks. 90º is way too hot to be playing with freezers. Surely life will cool down soon enough?

    Special, do you have an MRI reading yet?

    Bedo, how is the new gig?

    Eric appears to be driving buses, taking care of phone connectivity, and who all knows what else. No time to report his creations!

    *susan*

  • SpecialK
    SpecialK Member Posts: 16,486
    edited August 2016

    susan- I checked at 5:30 to see if the report was on my online chart and it was not. My MO receives an email with the report attached and if he has read it, and it is a normal-ish report, he uploads it right then. With the last PET I got a phone call first.I'm hoping he sees it tomorrow morning - they are only there until noon on Fridays. Thanks for asking - I will keep you posted!

  • susan_02143
    susan_02143 Member Posts: 7,209
    edited August 2016

    Special, Well I, for one, am impatient and want results now! *susan*

  • MinusTwo
    MinusTwo Member Posts: 16,634
    edited August 2016

    April - interesting. I just recently read something else about par boiling veggies before roasting. It was actually for a skillet chicken dish, to reduce the total cooking time & avoid turning on the oven. Looks like I'm atypical since I like veggies that are steamed or raw.

    Special - I agree with Susan. Hope you're getting good news as we speak.

  • ChiSandy
    ChiSandy Member Posts: 12,133
    edited August 2016

    I have a dirty little secret: as an alternative to blanching or parboiling vegetables, I rinse them on the perforated plate of a microwave steamer, put the steamer together, and nuke on high for 30 seconds; then if I’m not going to cook them right away, I shock them in a bowl of ice water.

  • SpecialK
    SpecialK Member Posts: 16,486
    edited August 2016

    susan and minus - thanks for worrying with me, I called and just got off the phone with the imaging center because I had not heard from my MO and there was no post in my online chart - all is well! My center has no oncologists after noon on Fri so even though the report was sent this afternoon there was no doc to receive it. The nurse in the imaging center was sensitive enough to the fact that this is Fri afternoon and I would have to wait all weekend that she hunted down the report herself and assured me that it all looked fine. That was so nice, right? Yay!

    Tonight will be spent at the Bucs game and I will be selective in what I eat - the MRI contrast has played havoc with my GI system. I haven't eaten in about 24 hours, but I have been hydrating. Not an ideal situation but I will make the best of it and enjoy the evening, especially in light of the good MRI news!

  • ChiSandy
    ChiSandy Member Posts: 12,133
    edited August 2016

    Stadium food is always a challenge--I usually skip the bun and eat the sausage; sometimes there is real, healthy stuff available (United Center has a sit-down “Carvery” where I can get a turkey sandwich with lettuce/tomato/onion/pickle, and a diet Coke or bottle of water). Some stadiums have ethnic food concessions--I had “elotes” (corn kernels with chile powder, lime juice & a little mayo) once at Wrigley Field.

  • MinusTwo
    MinusTwo Member Posts: 16,634
    edited August 2016

    Special - Hooray!!! Aren't concerned nurses wonderful. Now to get your GI tract back on track (pun intended). Enjoy the game.

  • april485
    april485 Member Posts: 3,257
    edited August 2016

    YAY for good test results! Enjoy that game and your weekend.

    Tonight my daughter is cooking as she is here using my house as the hotel on the way to a party tomorrow with one of her friends..LOL I don't mind. I get her tonight at least. She should be here any minute. She is making pan seared scallops (she found some beauties at Whole Paycheck she said) with some beautiful farm veggies (she did not say what) and some quinoa. Yum! I love it when I don't cook, especially after working all week and on a Friday night! Gotta run, she just drove in. She lives in the Boston area (she used to live in Sommerville for 8 years and now she lives in another town (name escapes me) but it starts with an M. Have not seen her new place but I hear it is beautiful.

  • ChiSandy
    ChiSandy Member Posts: 12,133
    edited August 2016

    SpecialK, have fun at the Bucs game. Who are they playing?

    I made those Whole Paycheck scallops last night. The fish guy said they were Nantucket day-boat dry scallops, and they were amazingly sweet.

    Late lunch was half a can of sardines over arugula with a homegrown tomato that was getting overripe, basil, the oil from the sardines and lemon juice. Went outside to check and perhaps rescue my four remaining tomatoes, but they’re still too small, hard & green for me to justify picking them yet. (I know I’m playing Russian roulette with the squirrels. Remember when I said my neighbor two doors down--who got some of our bumper crop while we were in Italy--was also going to Italy and his brother would bring us some zucchini that needed picking in my neighbor’s absence? Well, the brother never checked the garden, and the squirrels got all the zucchini). After lunch, I was out on the deck with my kitchen shears and a baggie, trimming off the blossom spikes from our basil plants lest they get too leggy & woody from going to seed. (I strip off the white flowers and use the green buds from the spikes in pesto). This did not sit well with a bee that was browsing the menu, so I had to run inside without having trimmed even a third of the plants.

    Tonight will be grilled pork chops with fresh rosemary (America’s Test Kitchen has a yummy-sounding recipe for a skillet pork chops with apples & maple-sage butter, but too much sugar for me to dare try), pan-roasted Brussels sprouts finished with truffle salt & balsamic vinegar, and half a sweet potato each with salt, pepper, a dab of butter and cinnamon.

  • auntienance
    auntienance Member Posts: 4,216
    edited August 2016

    Minus, I think I missed exactly when your birthday is was or to be, but I hope it is was or will be the happiest! Wishing you many many more.

    Sandy, you touched on why I dread the thought of knee replacement -- the pain management. I try to take as few painkillers as I can get by without. Having said that, the meloxicam is working wonderfully well in the short term anyway. I also suffer from the hot pokers in my feet, especially at night. My doc has offered gabapentin, but I have avoided it thus far.

    Special, yay on the test results! So glad you don't have to wait anxiously through the weekend.

    The past two days have been busy. Yesterday, I made meatballs and sauce for the freezer, then made some thick spaghetti and that was dinner. We also dug the rest of the potatoes and got a fair number. Much better than last year. Today I cleaned the potatoes, started curing some wild caught salmon from Costco, made mascarpone and ricotta for some cannolis this weekend, and grilled a couple of strip steaks. Sides were salted potatoes and a couple of sliced Brandywine tomatoes lightly dressed with some olive oil and torn basil. I desperately need to get to my basil like Sandy. They are all in bloom and I have been neglectful. I need to plant a pot of herbs to bring indoors for the winter. This time I'm including thai basil for pho this winter.

    I hate that I'm thinking about winter already. I'm also distressed about how much earlier it's getting dark. I'm not ready!!

  • susan_02143
    susan_02143 Member Posts: 7,209
    edited August 2016

    Special, Yea for nurses that still have compassion!

    Dinner tonight was not what i had planned. I have Xeloda GI today.... let us say that I lost everything. So made some Jasmine rice for my dinner and Mr. 02143 had a roast beef sandwich in a pita with some Emmanthaler. I have to say, this mets and mets drug crap is getting old! Of course, I don't really have a choice. So this is my life!

    *susan*

  • eric95us
    eric95us Member Posts: 2,845
    edited August 2016

    You are so right about me Susan. If I leave right at 5pm from work, I get home around 7pm and if I work out before heading home, I'm home around 7:30. I get up at 4:30am and I'm in bed by 8:30. Combine that with Sharon eating Jenny Craig's meals and DD being off at college, my culinary adventures have been as daring as a piece of cheese or a "nuked" potato. It is good from a weight loss point of view though as I'm down about 8 pounds in 2-1/2 weeks.

    I'm sorry that the Xeolda is causing you problems...don't know what else to say about that.


    Special. That is wonderful news and was so nice of the nurse to give you the results.

    Chi, Shadow, our first dog, a Belgian Shepard Dog, did a good job at keeping the pests out of the garden...but he charged for his services. He would very gently pull many (most) of the ripe tomatoes from the vine. He left everything else alone, and once I figured out he was eating the tomatoes, I just planted more plants to make up for the "tax". :-)

    I bought a pan that will hold vegetables, but has a lot of holes in it to let the flame from the grill get to the vegetables. I put a tiny bit of smoke flavored salt on the cut up vegetables and grill them over a full flame until the vegetable skins blister a bit. We don't need to use any oil, so it addresses the "free radical, flavor, etc." stuff mentioned in the NY times article.


    April, enjoy the time with your daughter.


    My salmon is caught at Costco. :-) I have some in the freezer and I may pull it out so I can do something with it tomorrow. I'll have to look around for something to try.

    I can tell it's going to be a wild Friday night...8pm and I'm about ready to head to bed... :-)


    Good night everyone.


  • SpecialK
    SpecialK Member Posts: 16,486
    edited August 2016

    chisandy - my DH mans one of the attack flags at the top of Raymond James stadium for the Buc's games - along with other members of Special Operations Command so we have been attending home games since before I was diagnosed - there was a period where the attack flag credential allowed us into the club section - they had much better food! I have not been in there for a couple of years but they used to have a carvery with beef and turkey, nice salads, and a baked potato bar with every topping under the sun. You could also get unsweetened iced tea and they had an espresso bar as well. Now that we are not allowed access it is pretty much usual stadium fare. Our ethnic fare at the stadium consists of Cuban sandwiches - yummy, but probably not the best for the waistline! We walk a mile from our parking spot (St. Joseph's Hospital) and then climb the steps to the upper rim of the stadium, and it was warm so I figured I should have some salt so I opted for a cheeseburger and skin-on fries - not the best but I needed the protein and the blandness of the bread and potato. I did ok, it didn't rain on us and there was even a decent breeze, and we won! It was Buc's vs Cleveland Browns. The pirate flags go up inside the red zone and for scores - it was a relatively high scoring game and at one point my husband went downstairs and my friend, and former boss, Janet and I had to hoist the flag (which is huge and it is windy!) for a surprise run back score from a punt - it was a scramble, but we did it!

    chisandy - I pan sear pork chops and then take them out and cook sliced apple and onions in the fat and brown bits - yummy, and the caramelized apples and onions don't contribute too much sugar but you get some sweetness from the cooking method. Sometimes I take the apples/onion out and deglaze the pan for a little sauce too.

    Tonight I am not cooking but we are attending a surprise retirement dinner - the dinner , not the retirement, lol! My friend Gaby is retiring after working for 47 years in Transfusion Services, her last day was yesterday - she is 77 and sharp as a tack! She worked as a med tech doing type and screens, and cross-matching for units of blood. She thinks that the little party they had at the lab yesterday was it and she thinks she is going out to dinner tonight with friends, and what she doesn't know is that at least 50 people will be waiting to show their appreciation for how long and hard she has worked, all in an effort to help others. Gaby is originally from France so another friend and I are giving her a basket with crystal flutes and a nice bottle of Veuve Cliequot to celebrate her new opportunity to relax and enjoy some free time.

    Thanks all for the well wishes on the good MRI - and, yes, the imaging center nurse was the best! She volunteered to find the report and check it for me - I didn't have to ask. The staff of the imaging center has a bake sale in October and while I usually try to avoid pink hoopla I do bake for them - and I will this October too, with a personal thank you. The nurse navigator works out of this center too and received a boatload of prosthetics from a closing location of ACS. There have been two occasions I had been aware of when BCO members have needed prosthetics due to sudden removal of implants due to infection and their insurance either didn't cover, or in one case the member had just been fired after her umpteenth surgery, lost coverage with her job and was about to have nowhere to live and still had drains! The NN and I found appropriate sized prosthetics and I mailed them to these ladies - they have been super helpful in allowing me to assist people who are not their direct constituents.

    april - enjoy your DD and the scallops!

    eric - a tomato eating dog? So funny! Take care of yourself and make sure you eat!

    susan - sorry the Xeloda is not treating you well from the GI perspective, glad it is doing the job but wish it was gentler for you.

    auntie - wow - busy!

  • ChiSandy
    ChiSandy Member Posts: 12,133
    edited August 2016

    The Zometa faux-flu is gone, but the four bruises on my L arm remain as a souvenir. Maybe now my MO will have enough “ammo” for a prior auth for Prolia to get approved. Otherwise, we’ll keep playing the lotto to pay for it. (Just kidding...maybe).

    I rubbed the pork chops with a cut clove of garlic, then seasoned them with olive oil (they were pasture-raised so quite lean), S&P, and chopped fresh rosemary. Grilled them, along with “nuke-blanched” broccolini with olive oil, lemon juice, salt & red pepper flakes (top rack), and a halved sweet potato rubbed with S&P and cinnamon (no butter necessary). Served with the last of that Santana Brut Rosé. Late dessert of small scoop ea. of dark choc. and macchiato gelato.

    We may go out late tonight, probably for steaks or seafood. If not, will probably pull some shrimp out of the freezer to stir-fry with snow peas, scallions & shiratake spaghetti for “Faux-Mein.” (I like to use Tsang Stir-Fry Oil, which already has ginger & garlic, and make a sauce of mirin, a dash of Vietnamese fish sauce, five-spice, Ponzu, a dash of sriracha, and toasted sesame oil to stir in just before serving. If it’s not just for me, I set my portion of the sauce aside and add a cornstarch slurry for the guys. I like light-colored sauces for seafood stir-fries--maybe it’s the Brooklyn kid in me who grew up with old-school Cantonese-American Jewish neighborhood restaurants...whose chefs would have cringed at the thought of fish sauce, Ponzu instead of soy, and especially sriracha).

  • bedo
    bedo Member Posts: 1,866
    edited August 2016

    Special I am so glad about the good news


    Susan I I'm sorry that that regime is kicking your butt at present I hope that it comes and goes or rather that it goes and goes in the future


    My job is good the people are really nice I just have the August blahs Seems that the last two weeks of August have always been hard for me kind of like the opposite of winter seasonal affective disorder

    Plus I'm still using my phone


    I'm letting my daughter and my best friend decorate my apartment as they are the ones who have to look at it haha and I don't care

  • susan_02143
    susan_02143 Member Posts: 7,209
    edited August 2016

    Looks likes dinner will be smoked chicken wings and thighs. Inside I am going to make some corn [sauteed lightly with fresh onions and chives] and either a big salad or green beans we picked up at market this morning. Banana bread is in the oven, one of the side effects of having fruit for guests. Considering making some biscuits to have with dinner for no good reason but they sound good!

    Olivia has rolled over! None of think that this was an accident.

    *susan*

  • MinusTwo
    MinusTwo Member Posts: 16,634
    edited August 2016

    The dinner w/my girl friend Julia at Eddie V's was delicious. Her birthday is tomorrow & this was part of my continuing celebration for last Thursday. We both skipped lunch & went at 4:30pm. Started with a cocktail - gin & tonic for me, margarita for her. We each had a Jumbo Lump crab cake sauteed Maryland style with spicy chive remoulade. They were the size of giant muffins. Lots of crab, not too much breading, not greasy, excellent. Oh oh, I'm already full. Then we split an order of Maine lobster & shrimp bisque with cream & cognac - served to us in separate bowls with a large loaf of sour dough bread. Oh my - who has room for any more? So we split an order of Crab fried rice with mushrooms & scallions. Both of us were full as ticks. We told the waitress we were too full for dessert, so they treated us to a B-day surprise and took off the cost for our drinks. Good food, good service, home before dark.

  • HappyHammer
    HappyHammer Member Posts: 1,247
    edited August 2016

    Back on the low carb thing so tonight...baked lemon chicken, roasted okra, sautéed yellow squash/onions and a broccoli "casserole" ( eggs, cottage cheese and mozzarella).  It was delish!


  • ChiSandy
    ChiSandy Member Posts: 12,133
    edited August 2016

    Back to second day in a row of finding my breakfast egg was in fact a double-yolker. Had it with one strip of bacon and a slice of low-carb toast. About to make myself an iced decaf unsweetened vanilla coconut-almond milk latte (not cool enough out to want a hot one) and eat a square of Ghirardelli 86% dark chocolate. Not sure what I want for dinner. Bob’s working late, Gordy went to a concert (we have Springsteen tix for tomorrow). Might order out, might raid the freezer for shrimp.

  • bedo
    bedo Member Posts: 1,866
    edited August 2016

    Susan what a milestone


    Sandy I may have to get some Lobster now today


    Today I'll go to Brenton Point State Park in Newport with friends to see the kites and sailboats and ocean You can buy a kite there and picnic it's very beautiful

    Maybe some whole bellies too.

  • Lacey12
    Lacey12 Member Posts: 2,951
    edited August 2016

    Sounds like a fun plan for the day, Bedo!

    I read through the last page getting very hungry. You have all been enjoying some interesting and delicious sounding meals. Yum.

    I can't recall when I last posted, but think it was before our dinner out for DH's birthday. There DH had a haddock dish and I had a rather large broiled lobster tail, an arugula salad and some veggie sides. They were both fine. We chatted with our lovely waitress at the end of our meal since the place was uncharacteristically empty, and learned that she is entering her senior year at a college in Boston and will be looking for a position working with children before applying to social work grad school. We exchanged contact info since I could help her network when she starts to look seriously. Then we talked about the great pastry chef the restaurant has, recalling the amazing chocolate cake she made for our 70th birthday celebration dinner last year. Lucky us! There was one piece of a similar chocolate cake left, so we had it boxed up and took it home to have with the mini carrot cake I bought earlier.....a very satisfying combo for our sweet teeth!

    Since then we have been home and back, having dinners like lamburgers, caprese salads, grilled chicken and arugula salad....nothing too inventive.

    Last evening we had apps and drinks on the beach after our association "fall meeting", so we were sated enough that popcorn was for dinner.

    Not sure what we'll do for dinner since I have been too busy watching hummingbirds to get something out of the freezer. I would do well to have just a salad, but DH could never live with that. ;)

    Sweet that Olivia is already showing that she is a mover and shaker, Susan!

  • Lacey12
    Lacey12 Member Posts: 2,951
    edited August 2016

    Oh, and Special, I am so glad that you received good news...and from a compassionate nurse!

    Chi, I do hope that your MO can nudge your ins co along. When we were home this week, we received a 13 page document from ins coclarifying why they would not approve a lidocaine patch for DH's back. 13 pages!!

    I just had my five year "cancerversary" on Friday and was reminded of the very clear, compassionate, and optomistic way the radiologist shared that news that none of us want to hear. I think that her delivery made a big difference in the way I first approached my treatment plan. I may have mentioned here that I saw her for my mammo reading this May, and loved having a chance to thank (maybe again!) her for that.


  • ChiSandy
    ChiSandy Member Posts: 12,133
    edited August 2016

    Lidoderm was denied? Oy! My ins. approved it a couple of years ago for hip bursitis. Would they cover Flector (diclofenac) patches, or Voltaren (diclofenac) gel? I buy those OTC for 1/4 the price whenever I go abroad.

    Almost gave in and opened the corned beef hash or made the bucatini all’Amatriciana I’ve been craving (ever since learning of the devastation of Amatrice, which was going to have its spaghetti fest this weekend), but when I opened the freezer there were some Copper R. salmon filets I’d frozen this June. So I defrosted and pan-seared them, served them with sauteed Brussels sprouts with balsamic & truffle salt, and buttered jasmine rice for Gordy. Another dbl-yolk egg for brunch--no toast because we’ll be eating stadium food tonight--Springsteen at the United Center. Tough to avoid carbs there--hope to get there in time to eat at the Carvery downstairs; otherwise, a bratwurst or maybe even try to see if the Publican or Little Goat Diner are still open after the show.

  • susan_02143
    susan_02143 Member Posts: 7,209
    edited August 2016

    We enjoyed some of last night's chicken along with a black bean and corn salsa. I used all local ingredients with the exception of the lime and black beans. Limes and New England do not belong in the same sentence. Black beans don't grow well around here either. It was delicious. And yes, there is enough leftover to have at least one more meal.

    Today was a nightmare. Someone posted an apartment for rent at our address. All over the web, my house is now listed as a 3 bed, 2 bath apartment for rent at $3,200/month. I have been in touch with the sleazy real estate broker, zillow, trulia, and I am still seeing the problem. Turns out, this is the house next door. The one that begged us not to report their non-conforming roof deck since they would be staying "forever." So, tomorrow, I will be in touch with the Zoning Commission to get that roof deck fixed. Can you image having tenants with a roof deck less than 15' from our bedroom window?

    Not a great day to be honest. And my feet are oozing. But the good news is my GI system, which I am treating gingerly, hasn't caused any issues today.

    *susan*

  • MinusTwo
    MinusTwo Member Posts: 16,634
    edited August 2016

    I'm still trying to finish up a mini-watermelon & 1/2 a cantaloupe from last week and ended up throwing away some raspberries that I didn't finish in time. It's hard to buy more than one fruit per week when you live alone.

    I'm trying really hard to clean out the freezer some & I needed to cook for the coming week. Grilled two huge bone in rib eyes tonight and only ate around the edges. One night will be beef strips w/brandy cream sauce. One night will probably be stir fry. But I love to just gnaw on a good piece of beef right from the fridge - steak or prime rib or whatever. Funny that I probably don't eat beef even once a month anymore. I have two rotisserie chicken breasts that I froze and 1/2 of a frozen pork loin that is already cooked. I used the spiralizer to 'process' zucchini & yellow squash ready to saute or nuke later this week. Cooked some Brussels sprouts al dente to warm up or toss in salads. Cooked the last ears of the Olathe sweet corn, cut the kernels off the cob & tucked them into the fridge.

    Lacey - I want your chocolate cake. Sandy - when is your trigger thumb surgery? Susan - what a mess with your house listed in error. I agree about calling the zoning people right away. Sorry to hear about your feet. Eric - what do you hear from DD?

  • Lacey12
    Lacey12 Member Posts: 2,951
    edited August 2016

    Oh Susan, I am so sad to learn that you are managing oozing feet while also having to deal with a sleazy realtor and the potential for quality of life reduction given the neighbors' dishonesty. Our across the street neighbor seems to be wielding his dishonest approach to housebuilding, which we have been trying to ignore by extended stays at the lake. It was a shock when we stopped at home last week to see the huge scale of this home compared to the rest of the neighborhood houses. I've pretty much decided to expect the worst and hopefully be surprised that it will be tolerable in the end. However, there is no roofdeck outside of our bedroom!

    Tonight I was not wanting to cook, so we had a spinach salad with my favorite horseradish vinaigrette, hummus and wheat pita bread, and two nuked ears of corn. Tomorrow we are heading to see Cabaret (a second time since the performance was so outstanding, if riveting, two weeks ago) and on the way will stop at one of the Common Man diners and have BLTs.

    Minus, I would say that you are pretty well set for the rest of abeefy week!!! :)

    Also interested in hearing how DD is doing Eric. This is such a punctuated time for all of you.....hope it is going well.

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