So...whats for dinner?

Peggy - Can you not have bits of your diet along with hers? The cooking in olive oil sounds fine. I read some on Paleo (I think it must have been a Yahoo trending last week) and no grains on it. I'm with Susan, I know I would drive to the closest bakery/grocery and buy out the bread aisle. I think vegies are on it as well to the best of my memory. And I agree with her that 2 weeks on any diet so long as you have no food allergies/intolerances is doable. Enjoy the time with your daughter.

About those giant chickens - I pull off so much more fat but you're right about trouble finding even a 4 #er. Umm - fresh free range chicken. I've never had it but does sound yummy. I agree with never too much garlic or for that matter cooked onions in a dish.

The Mexican food (well Latin kitchen) Sat. night was good. I had a fish taco and a black bean/corn with vegies, refried bean and Cuban rice. Brought home good portion for lunch yest. The ice cream party was great too afterward. I made a 2nd set of wet walnuts with honey but not as good as the 1st ones. I think hosts had 7 1/2 gallon cartons but we had a large crowd too.

I have to dig in the freezer. Hopefully I can find something mostly done since I should be cooking in the mornings. Ah - great plans gone awry.

Praying for Michelle and hoping to hear good news today.

Peggy, the paleo diet should be fine.  It's how I basically eat, as I'm allergic to many grains.  Be sure to eat a LOT of vegetables, though.  Don't depend on the meat to make up most of your meals.  Some people call it a high protein diet, but it doesn't have to be - depend on vegetables for the main source of your meal rather than meat and you'll be fine.  I do, however, eat some yogurt as otherwise my stomach is unhappy from the letrozole.

Debbie, so good to " hear" from you! And wow what a dinner. That would be my DH's idea of heaven! I won't even tell him about it or he might try to get on a plane to Portland! I know what you mean about the disgusting color veggie smoothies can have, but I color mine with adding beets (also good for cleansing one's liver!) and the smoothies are a lovely raspberry color....definitely more appealing.



I have been researching blenders this week as I am tired of packing and bringing the vitamix to the lake house weekly. I bit the bullet and purchased a Breville thinking it could be comparable ( from the reviews about its smoothie making ability).....well, not with smoothies that have kale and other cruciferous veggies. The chunky texture was sort of gross to me, and a challenge to get through a straw. So I am sending it back and continuing the search...open to anyone's ideas and experiences with blenders that can pulverize those crucifers!!



We left NH today with a mission to get DH a new cell phone on the drive home. We planned to stop to get BLT's for dinner after getting the phone. Welllll, the service guy at the phone store convinced DH that he might want to wait until Sept when it is rumored tha the new model is coming out. He decided to do that...and we went on the hunt for the BLTs......ha ha. For all of the restaurants we usually pass when driving random places, tonight we passed none that would be a likely candidate for BLTs. Ultimately, we drove all the way home and for dinner, DH had a leftover steak sandwich and I had a large piece of watermelon (a well traveled one) along with some pomegranate yogurt and walnuts. Not exactly a BLT, but filled the tummy fine!

Happy birthday Nancy!  Laurie, so sorry to hear about your MIL.  But very happy to hear about your time to yourself!  Sounds like you 'spent' it just right.  I think you are very wise. Thinking of you and your family.

Moving this week!  Not a lot of cooking going on.  But I am keeping up with the thread, and thinking of all of you.  Eric, I smile to think of your DD driving!

Thanks again for all the birthday wishes, it was as much fun as turning 65 can be lol (hello medicare!)



Last nights Japanese grill was big fun. Tonight is tikka masala with naan, then tomorrow it's off to the Washington d.c. area for a few days to see my son receive a masters degree (#2). It's going to be a short trip with not much sightseeing involved unfortunately. It's been years since I've been there and lots I would like to see and revisit. But that's another trip. I'm hoping that all my slightly red blushing tomatoes will be ready to pick when I return on Saturday and that the critters behave themselves while I'm gone (ha!)

Nancy,

Funny you should ask.... I am looking at primal cut diagrams now, trying to decide what cuts I want. We have already decided that we want the 14 pork chops instead of tenderloin/ribs. Of course I want the fat back, liver, hooves, etc. I don't believe in waste. I should get one jowl which I will cure. The pork belly I will start to cure and then smoke for bacon. My big question is what to do with the shoulder and ham. I want to cut those into more manageable sizes, but how? The hocks will turn into soup. This still leaves a lot of pig to butcher. All the bits and pieces I will grind for sausage and Chinese food. Dan dan noodles! Will let you know what I decide, but the beauty of this is, you get to decide what you get.

*susan*

Don't forget the pigs head!  I don't remember what she did with the brains and eyes but the rest of it got put in a big pot with water to cover and apropiate spices and cooked until the  meat fell off the bone.  I was only 12 the last time she made it.  The meat was shreded and packed loosely into loaf pans.  The broth was cooked down until there was just enough to cover the meat.  It would gell when it was chilled and make the best lunch meat.

DH and I ate scrapple somewhere in PA one year.  We didn't particularly like it, but it might have been different from yours, gardengumby.

All the supermarkets and grocery stores in south Louisiana sell hogshead cheese.  My mother used to make it when my father butchered a hog.  She still loves it, especially the home-made.  It's kind of a country person's pate!

Today after playing golf, dh and I went to the West Forty restaurant in Park Rapids, which has lunch specials every day.  We ordered the roast beef and gravy with mashed potatoes and carrots and told the waitress we would share the meal, to bring us an extra plate.  Instead they divided the meal into two platters in the kitchen, and each platter was ample for a meal, especially since we ordered side salads extra.  We knew from last year how much food was loaded onto a plate when you ordered the special.

I had to smile at your mention of BLTs, Lacey.  Yesterday dh and drove to Brainerd, MN, and biked a portion of the Paul Bunyan Trail.  We stopped at Merrifield, a little town, and had lunch at a place that was a bar/grill.  We ordered Extreme Blts, not realizing they were TRIPLE deckers!  On Texas toast.  They were delicious but must have had a half pound of bacon on each sandwich.  And the serving of French fries was absurd.  I've never had a tastier BLT but we weren't hungry for dinner last night, just had a snack.

Tonight I'll cook some pork medallions that were thawed for last night.  I'll do a pork piquant with lemony sauce and capers, a really good WW recipe.  I also need to cook some broccoli and cauliflower that are aging in the refrigerator.

Thinking of Michelle and Debbie's Dad and Carrie's parents and Laurie's MIL.

Laurie and Eric - my dad also taught me in a straight-stick pickup truck.  But he didn't think it was at ALL funny when I started to laugh as I jerked across the parking lot.  Driving was seriously business.  He made me so nervous that I went and signed up for drivers ed. 

Enjoying the stories about learning to drive....I learned on a 1953 stick on the column....no power anything. It was a monster and my friends and I lurched a lot that first summer. I can still picture us giggling. Managing stopping and starting on the hills was a riot....and very anxiety provoking if a car came up behind me while I tried to master the stick, clutch, brake, gas challenge!



Carole, that sandwich sounded great. I have yet to satisfy my yen for a BLT, but may try a new restaurant in town that is bound to have them.



Tonight we (dh) grilled halved chicken breasts with my new favorite marinade...teriyaki with extra garlic, fresh ginger and chili pepper sauce for some spice/heat. Marinated some summer squash and onions in that flavor too. But the highlight of the meal was grilled beets with a drizzle of fig infused balsamic. Yum!


Susan, thanks for the ninja tip. I do worry about all those high blades and washing it w/o slicing my hands. Waring has a good one that I am talking to the mfgr about...have to pack up and return the Breville tomorrow.


Fascinated by all the butchering prowess in this group! Never even got close to learning those techniques from my family. I'm impressed, ladies....and maybe a bit grossed out, too. ;/

Hugs to all.....

Me too Laurie! When I left this morning there were half a dozen starting to turn. Here's hoping for ripe tomatoes when I get back Saturday!

Momma mia! Thatsa lotta meatballs!

Susan you may have a death wish, but you are going to go out on a bed of meatballs! They sound seriously delicious!



We are having steak and salad, with fresh boysenberries for dessert.

Ah gumby, you live in the land of boysenberries. Lucky you!

In that case, you had better eat as many as you can :-)