So...whats for dinner?

Lacey12

Nance, we cross posted.....do you have the option of buying powdered buttermilk? I often keep that on my shelf in the event I need it for a baking recipe.

Our Christmas clean up should also be pretty quick due to minimalist set up. And I still love our small tree! Will always go this way....which will be the counterpoint to our future DDIL who goes over the top with decor for the holidays. We can enjoy her maxi decorating!

auntienance

What a nice menu Lacey, I would be tempted by the duck poutine, although I'm not mad for poutine as are so many others.

I do have the powdered buttermilk here but I'm not crazy about it. I'd rather just do the lemon juice in milk. Neither have the buttermilk flavor I like, hence my pleasure at the freezer success.

eric95us

I will have to try the frozen buttermilk too. The smallest container of buttermilk I can find is 1/2 gallon and the "use by date" is usually only week in the future, so a lot gets dumped out. I have the powdered buttermilk and I don't mind the taste, but I don't have much luck getting to lump free.

Cooking..I'd have to credit Mickey. She would come over to study as it was much more quiet (she had three other roommates in a two bedroom apartment, while I lived alone) and during a break, I cooked something..and she helped. And, slowly,cooking went from chore to study break, to quiet time together.

MinusTwo

Lacey - the entire menu sounds delicious. Nice to see the picture of you and DH.

Carrie - the clams casino sounds wonderful.

As for men cooking - my Dad was only in charge of the charcoal BBQ & grilling the meat growing up. His specialty was chickens cut in half and marinated with Trader Vic's French Dressing, or burgers - nothing else. My husband refused to enter a grocery store, let alone a kitchen. He didn't even want to grill but would watch meat on the grill if coerced. As a matter of fact, he didn't even want to pour his own iced tea that was already made in the fridge (another story). When I had to work late or travel, they went out. I made sure my DS learned to cook. He may not bake anymore, but he and my DIL make most of their meals together - sharing kitchen space quite naturally.

Nance - how is your Dad?

Eric - can you share the changes you see in your DD after the first semester "away"?

auntienance

Minus, dad is doing ok, thank you for asking. He suffers from on going diabetic foot problems and indeed, we are going to the doc for that tomorrow. The assisted living facility had a new years eve party for the residents that included a live band, beer and snacks. He enjoyed watching some of the residents dancing. He and my mom were quite the dancers back in the day. He said he didn't think there were many up at midnight lol!

Lacey12

Yikes, reading your posts about men cooking makes me realize that I totally did not give DH credit for his grilling skills...and he is the best at clean-up. Mea Culpa! He grills throughout the winter...even during our record snowfall two winters ago....until he broke his hip falling off the ladder on the way up to shovel the roof! So we are always attentive to shoveling a path to the grill after each snowstorm. And, DH will also make morning eggs and pancakes whenever the "kids" stay over. I almost never eat such breakfasts, but appreciate that he does that. Nightly dinner is the issue. I sometimes suggest he make eggs for dinner, but that rarely happens. My cooking dinner is clearly our unspoken "contract". Both of my sons are capable of cooking, yet I have never seen DS1 lift a pot since there have been three other adults fighting over cooking tasks in his home. DS2 equally shares cooking tasks with his fiancée .....warms my heart! He spent a few summers during college working in kitchens at local golf courses so he has some good basic food prep skills.

Happy, glad you joined our table! And welcome Kawigirl!

M0mmyof3

Seeing it's a cold damp day out today, I made a big pot of chili.

eric95us

Kawi...Where in the south did you grow up?

april485

Happy New Year!

Tradition in my Greek home is that my Mom always wrapped a half dollar in foil and hid it in Spanakopita or Tiropita (no one ever knew which it would be in) OR Pastsio (a Greek version of lasagna made with a béchamel as the top layer sort of like a moussaka but hubby does not like eggplant so that would not work for us. (and the person who got this money in their piece has good luck for the year).

I made the spanakopita/tiropita this year and since I make a thinner version, this works with the money (and perhaps why my Mom did make a thinner version than Susan does or some others but I think it is because everyone likes a lot of surface crunch from the phyllo dough personally...LOL)

The reason for the half dollar which is a larger coin is so that no one would inadvertently swallow it or not see it before it went in the mouth. Hubby was not happy that I used one of his prized half dollars (in this instance a Kennedy half which I returned to him as it was in my piece this year!! YAY!) as long as I did not use the one from 1881! I was careful when I chose it.

ChiSandy

Forgot all about customs—still have those cans of black-eyed peas & collard greens in the pantry. We ate leftovers from our restaurant dinner party and the munchies everyone was still too full to eat after coming back to our place. Dinner at B’way Cellars was an amuse-bouche of tuna poke with avocado. App was shrimp, scallop & mango ceviche with house-made tortilla chips (which are like crack). Entree was barolo-braised brisket with roasted Brussels sprouts and mashed acorn squash. Dessert was dark chocolate terrine with raspberry coulis.

Found out why Bob didn’t do much about housekeeping after coming home from NY and while I was in DC. Though he first told me about his cold Fri. night when I called him from Reagan Airport and he was checking in to the Oak Lawn Hilton so he could get to work early enough Sat. to make our dinner & party, when he got home Sat. night he admitted he’d been sick since Tuesday night. And today he was diagnosed with walking (right lower lobar) pneumonia—so he’s on Levaquin and at bedtime, Phenergan syrup with codeine. (He can’t take it during the day because it’d make him too drowsy to drive, so he’s on Mucinex DM during the daytime). His one concession to “rest?” Canceling office hours.

Tonight, per Bob’s request, more antipasti (shrimp, prosciutto, salami, crudites, salmon roe, cheeses) and football.

HappyHammer

Sandy- Sure hope Bob gets well quickly and with no complications.  Had had pneumonia and it's nothing to play around with and it took a good while to regain stamina. Healing mercies to him!

Anonymous

april - That looks delicious!

My husband does almost all the cooking even when I was a stay home mom. I can bake, but cooking is different. He was away for 2 weeks once, and my younger daughter begged him to come home. She told him I was making "prison" food. Now she will cook dinner if she knows my husband wil be late.

His cooking started when we were in university. He was a poor graduate student. I would buy the food, and he would cook. It doesn't help that I've accidentally started kitchen fires. Twice.

Lacey12

Welcome Serenity....HaHa....I guess starting kitchen fires is a great way to bag out of cooking. However you did it, there are a few of us on this thread who are envious of you!

Chi, so sorry to hear about your husband's pneumonia! Hope he chases it fast. No doubt it will be hard for him to take off the time he really needs to get proper rest. Healing thoughts.....

April, your spanikopita looks wonderful!

Two days ago I bought some whole wheat pizza dough from Traders, so decided to make pizza with pesto sauce tonight. The dough was enough for three smallishpizzas, so I made one with fresh spinach, onions, tomatoes, mint and feta, one with pesto, butternut squash and onions, with mozzarella, and one with pesto, shrimp and mozzarella. They were all tasty, if not very cooperative about being removed from the pans! We have enough leftovers for another meal with salad. Yay!

ChiSandy

Bob says he’s feeling better, taking respiratory therapy breaks all day. And my housekeeper called to say that she doesn’t have pneumonia and will be in tomorrow—though a tornado passing by the Birmingham airport delayed her flight home by several hours.

SpecialK

We had late breaking dinner plans with friends coming over - pulled ribeyes cut from the whole roast we had for Christmas dinner out of the freezer, made a spicy mustard red potato salad, a green salad with red bell pepper, black olives and goat cheese, and also whiskey glazed carrots. Made hot artichoke heart dip with crackers for an app, and made some brownies with vanilla bean gelato and strawberries for dessert. The good news is leftovers for DH a small he returns to work this week

carberry

So the DH told me last night that he would buy me any of the tools I need to keep me cooking....OMG he knows how helpless he is in the kitchen...makes me laugh. Daughter, being in a fairly new relationship, has decided that when the boyfriend moved in, he would take some responsibility in the kitchen because she would not fall in the trap that I am in. They now have "Blue Apron" showing up on their doorstep every Sunday and he has learned how to read and follow directions....I also got him a subscription to Food Network magazine for Christmas.

Using the last of the steak tonight sliced in a fajita or quesadilla. Still not getting to NC for the winter, a little bummed, but making the best of it. Signed up for some per diem nursing work and getting the DH motivated to clean out his office and get it organized. Good winter work.

ChiSandy

Tonight I’ll heat up and slice that smoked duck breast, roast some Brussels sprouts, and nuke a sweet potato.

eric95us

I have a duck in the freezer....Maybe this weekend.....

M0mmyof3

made a little pasta to mixin with the leftover chili.

Anonymous

I love duck. My husband, the cook, will roast a whole one whenever we run out of duck fat.

eric95us

I've never cooked duck before. Are there any things I should do or not do when "cooking" it?

Anonymous

Save the fat! These are my husband's instructions. Please let me know if anything is unclear. He doesn't follow recipes.

1. Trim off extra fat
2. Score duck skin front and back
3. Dry the duck
4. Place in 325 degree oven one hour
5. Prick duck skin all over to release fat
6. Turn over
7. Cook for one hour
8. Repeat 6&7
9. Turn on convection oven
10. Raise temperature 400 degrees
11. Cook for 30 minutes
12. Apply glaze to duck
13. Cook for 20 minutes

After dinner, I pour the fat from the pan through a sieve into a tall jar. Put the jar in the fridge until the fat solidifies. Then I scoop out the white fat into another jar making sure to leave the brown jus at the bottom. Or you could use one of those gravy separator cups, but I don't have one.

SpecialK

My mom used to stuff whole duck with cut oranges and then cooked them on the rotisserie

HappyHammer

Wow, the duck cooking looks like way too many steps for me, haha!  Eric, please let us know what you do with yours and how it turns out.

Started "Whole 30" today so no sugar (main reason to do this), dairy, soy, legumes, alcohol for 30 days to "reset" the body. With all of that- supper was a new recipe- beef and sweet potato stew. It was really very good. Will make it again and DH really liked it!  Yay.

I am going make veggie soup and ? to prepare for the upcoming week or so of 30-ish degree days starting on Friday. They are forecasting...I kid you not...1" to 16 or more inches of snow for us on Saturday. While I know it depends on how the low develops, yada yada yada...seriously 1-16 inches??? 

eric95us

Thanks Serenity. I will try that, hopefully this weekend.

carolehalston

Welcome, Serenity. You are creating major envy with the talk about your dh's cooking. He sounds more like a chef than a cook.

I stepped on the scales this morning. Said, "That CAN'T be right." Moved the scale around the bathroom and couldn't coax it to be more "accurate." So while drinking my morning coffee, I said to dh, "No drink for me tonight." I know myself well enough to expect determination to weaken by 5 pm.

So... I'll get out a package of turkey/spinach meatballs tonight. Sides will be veggie and salad. Veggie to be determined, possibly purchased.

Temptation will present itself at lunch. I am meeting some older golf ladies who no longer play golf for lunch at a very good restaurant.

SpecialK

carole - my scale seems to go through batteries quickly - that flat type that looks like a nickel. When the battery needs changing it won't register an actual weight, just displays the word "LO" which it did last time I stepped on it. My interpretation at this point (post-holiday in which there was wayyy toooo much fudge!), is that I prefer the word LO to the actual weight, lol! I finished my exercise class that was gratis at the wellness center, but today I am going to start a membership because I know the scale - if it was displaying properly - would show me a number I really don't want to see!

MinusTwo

Special - love the 'lo' scale reading. I need to have that same problem. Haven't been to the gym in 3 weeks.

auntienance

Count me among those who haven't seen the inside of the gym for a while. Was planning to go tomorrow but we're supposed to get 3" of snow tonight and tomorrow. Not so much, but enough to keep my non-front-wheel-drive car in the garage.

Yesterday was a long day with dad, so dinner last night was a waffle with smoked ham and applesauce. Yum! Today I'm fixing chicken and dumplings (slicks) and the stock is at this moment simmering away in the pressure cooker. I might try to make a cucumber salad to go with it.

You all are making me want to fix a duck. Can't find it here, but Aldi in the next town over frequently has them. I now must pick one up soon. I'm still craving greens so I need to get some of those as well.

All of these cookies around this house must go today.

carberry

Same here Nance...cookies going in the trash, but in reality I have eaten all the good ones anyways. Now I am down to the peanut butter ones with the kisses on top...well I don't like peanut butter, so I have successfully snapped the kisses off the tops and all that's left is the cookie, DH is baffled as to whats happening with the cookies.

Tonight is chicken Florentine, haven't decided on a side, but maybe just a green salad.