So...whats for dinner?

Hi Fiaranch1! That recipe sounds like fun. 

Deb, dark chocolate is actually good for your DH. Gotta be at leat 60% though. Or you can eat 5 Hershey kisses for 1 carb serving. If you suck on them they last a nice long time! LOL and that way the craving can be nipped in the bud. 

Much love to all. 

Carole, your dinner plan for tomorrow night sounds delish to me....and a happy one for scale check in on Saturday!

Tomorrow a friend is coming here for early lunch....after her morning mammogram and before my afternoon oncology appt. I did make the Irish soda bread with cardamom instead of caraway (I obviously threw my old caraway seeds out...searched a long time), and it tastes very nice. So we will have that with the baby kale, feta, walnuts,  pomegranate arils, and wild rice salad. I ended up making the shallot/honey/orange dressing that  the recipe called for but I think the next time I'd make my own concoction.

Luv, I always used to make meatballs when the boys were young. To add to your collection of meatball recipes...... My Italian mother's recipe called for:

1lb ground beef ; 1slightly beaten egg ; 1/2 cup bread crmbs ; 1/4 cup grated cheese (parm) ; 1medium onion ; 1 minced clove  garlic ; 1tablespoon chopped parsley (fresh or dry) ; salt to taste....these days a half teaspoon; half teaspoon black pepper. 

 Place breadcrumbs in bowl you plan to mix meat in. Add chopped parsley, salt, pepper and grated cheese. Put 1/4 cup water in a blender and puree onion ad garlic. Pour this over bread crumb mixture and let sit a few minutes. add slightly beaten egg and meat. mix thoroughly and form into large or small meatballs...your choice! My mother made big ones. I used to make kid sized ones and freeze them in sandwich bags, ready to be added to spaghetti sauce. My mother, back in the day fried them in oil, then added to sauce, for at least two hours. I never did that....but either baked them or for a real quick way to cook them used the microwave....they actually browned nicely...and kids and DH never complained....or even cared about my new fangled meatball cooking ways. . My mother would have been horrified. Enjoy your spaghetti and meatballs!

Chabba, hope days feel brighter soon....and that you can once again Taste!!

Debbie, holding you in my thoughts as you wait for DH's diagnostic news. 

Special glad you are being "watched" so you don't overdue with all your wonderful energy!

I've been in a funk lately because of my DH's health. For months his health has been deteriorating but I could not get him to a Dr.  Three weeks ago today he got so bad he was sleeping 20 to 22 hes a day and had edema so bad fluid was literally oozing from his pores. Took him to hospital by ambulance.  He was in emergency for 6 hours and ICU for 5 days. He is still not out of the woods but is slowly improving.

By the way, it was 48 years ago today that he proposed to me. We had met 2/22/66. On Mothers birthday 3/11/66 we had gone to Spokane so he could meet my parents.On the 13th  when we got back to my apartment in Olympia he proposed.

chabba - sending healing energy to you both!  That was a quick romance - must have been love at first sight!  So sweet!

Chabba, so glad you got your DH to get treatment. Hoping he continues to improve.  Sending lots of healing thoughts your way.

We had a whirlwind romance too, started dating in August, he proposed in November and married in March. We are 34 years and counting!

Oh Chabba, now we all understand the cause of your funk. Thank you for sharing....am also sending healing thoughts your way. How very painful for a long time partner to be in such worrisome health. Please know you both are held in my caring thoughts.

Today, after her mammogram (which was over way too early...I was yet to shower!) my lunch friend enjoyed the pomegranate, kale etc. salad and soda bread, as did DH, who joined us.

After, I took off to my MO appt. She agreed for me to take a break from Tamoxifen for a few weeks....and she also convinced me to then try an AI which she insists has been gentler on some of her patients who found Tamox gave them a lot of SEs (like me). So we will see. I worry about AIs and weight gain after my rigorous year of reduction, but she insisted (nicely....since she is absolutely lovely) that Tamox causes more weight gain than the AIs. We'll see. My other concern is  possible exacerbation of my chronic joint pain, but as she said,  I can stop it and return to Tamox if any of those SEs present as a problem. 

So tonight I rediscovered some things in the fridge that I had forgotten since we were away......like a container of arugula. Made a wonderful easy arugula pesto with it while DH was having dinner with the search committee. This would be so good on baked chicken or fish! My dinner ended up being some light brie slices and arugula pesto on some french bread.

This afternoon, I saw the son of a neighbor who said that his grandfather just died and his mom (my neighbor) would be moving his grandmother from NH to MA. Now I have the perfect menu idea to help her out...it will include arugula pesto and chicken. I recall with such fondness the wonderful meals she brought to us when I was working full time and undergoing surgeries and radiation. People are so kind......

Nance, so glad that your stomach is calming down....

Isn't it amazing how some relationships just are meant to be?! DH and I were together from August thru the following August when we planned our Nov counter culture wedding (we did not even know that it was a weird month in which to marry by common standards!). As I mentioned last fall, we have been together for forty years.

Lacey, were you serious about "light" brie?  I didn't know there was such a cheese.  Your meal sounds delicious.  Good luck with finding a better alternative to tamoxifen. 

My baked cod and brussel sprouts dinner last night wasn't an A plus.  More like a C.  The brussel sprouts were too raw even though I halved them.  I should have blanched them prior to roasting.  Maybe the problem was not tossing them liberally with olive oil.  Instead I spritzed them.  They were somewhat brown when I took them out, at which point I sprinkled grated romano cheese.

I made a butter lemon garlic sauce for the cod and spread it on the raw fish in addition to s & p.  Covered with foil and cooked in 350 oven for 20 min.  Served with the remainder of the sauce.  It was good but not wonderful.    There was a lot of liquid in the baking dish that seeped out of the cooking fish.  Cod is very white.  Any suggestions or comments welcome.  If I buy it again next Fri. I'll try a different cooking method, pan searing.  DH didn't complain and he ate a 2nd serving of the cod.

Tonight is the first Abita Opry performance of the spring season.  Dinner will be a chili dog and maybe a brownie.  I've already figured out the WW points! 

Today I'm making a huge batch of red meat sauce, some of which will be for tomorrow's noon meal at my mother's house.  Spaghetti with meat sauce is the main dish.  I'll freeze the surplus sauce.  Originally my sister and I had decided to have bought pizzas.  But then I figured out the WW points for a slice of meat lovers' pizza and nixed that menu.  Pizza is a rare treat for me and I would have eaten two slices.  Not worth it to sabotage my week.

Happy Saturday!

Carole when I make cod, sometimes I use a salsa as a sauce. But i like the fruity ones like a peach salsa. Serve it with rice and it's delicious.  It goes well with a lime margarita type sauce too like you'd put on shrimp. 

Chabba- So sorry about your DH, I hope he continues to improve. Wow, you have been together for 48 years! That's amazing! Sending you lots of hugs!

Eric- Hope you get your computer back soon. Did you like your fake crab after cooking it? I find that it is better cold, usually make a crab salad with cooked but cold broccoli, cold pasta and some mayo.

Monica- That is exactly what we eat is the 60% chocolate, I buy Ghirardelli And  love it. At night we have one square. I'm finding counting carbs can be quite tedious looking at all the packages all the time. Today we had a turkey wrap on low carb ww wrap, it was pretty good. Is there a cheese that is lower than the rest as far as carbs go? I put half a slice of provolone on it for him and for me I had jack.

Carole- I love cod and cook it quite often that and salmon. I always saute mine in a pan it never gets mushy. I either put a blackened seasoning on it and sear it with a little evoo or I put a lemon pepper seasoning on it (lots) in a little evoo when it is almost done I put in a little butter, capers and lemon juice. 

Specialk- Oh that sounds like it is painful? Seems like you have been dealing with this for quite a while. Hope it heals soon for you. 

Paula- Some times we have baked potatoes for dinner for our only meal- If I have left overs of a meal I will put that in there like chili, strogganoff, broccoli etc.. 

Nancy, since I have missed so many posts I don't know if you found the root of your stomach problems I remember that you were having a hard time with it. Have you been checked for any thing like gluten or dairy? Wish I could help. Hope you feel better soon.

Lacey- Your so sweet to think of your neighbors that are going through a tough time.I have never made an arugula pesto sounds really good though. And OMG on your wedding LOL! If I didn't know better I would of said to you back then is this a sign? But 40 years later here you are!! 

I met my DH in Hawaii I just had gone through a divorce and went to live with my sister, she worked at the Sheraton Waikiki hotel so I would go visit her every day and lay out in the sun, then I would mosey on up to the outside bar and have a coctail or two. I would see Chuck sitting across from the bar from me every day and thought he was so cute, another guy walked up to me and started talking to me and I pulled out a cigarette, ( when I used to smoke) and the guy was getting ready to light my cigarette when Chuck steps in and lights it first. The guy said "What an ass hole" and walked away, Chuck had told me he had his eyes on me as well and the rest is history. Been together 24 years and married 20. 

Sending love prayers and hugs to all that are going through tough times.

debbie - yes, I have been doing this for a while - too long! But this is the last time I can handle a revision of this magnitude. My skin just can't take it. It appears to be resolving so I'm still keeping my fingers crossed! I'm not in that much discomfort - the one time the numbness comes in handy! I have some muscle pain from the pocket work but its not bad - I'm off all pain meds.

Boy, has it been quiet here. Hope you all are out having fun and/or eating delicious food. 

Tonight is eye of round roast with roasted potatoes and tomatoes and maybe some snap peas for contrast.

We  had (fried) chicken with roasted veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, and butternut squash). I remember why I never fry things (aside from it not being healthy)--my whole house smells like chicken. There are worse things, right? LOL

All your dinners sound good.

I had a noon dinner today, wheat rotini with meat sauce, overcooked brussel sprouts (yuk) the way my mother likes them.  The other family members had white spaghetti with their meat sauce and garlic Texas toast, the frozen bread that you heat in the oven.  One BIL always says that bread is one of the major food groups! 

My food tonight was popcorn with butter-flavored spray and Swiss Miss hot chocolate.  I'm still amazed that popping popcorn is so easy in the microwave, no oil.  Just kernals in a glass bowl--mine is pyrex--covered by a plate.  The bowl doesn't even get soiled!  All those years buying the bags of Smart Pop by Redenbacher.  I did buy a container of his kernel popcorn. 

Ditto on appreciating the microwave popcorn tip, Carole! I must try it since I hate the junk that is in the bags, and that is what we buy. Do you just push the "popcorn" pad and the dry kernels magically pop up as though you had oil or butter in it? Very cool! It is probably worth it to get the good kernels like you do. Silly question....how many kernels in what size pyrex dish?  Thanks!

Happy St. Patrick's day all! Today is the traditional corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, Irish soda bread with some homemade butter (a new adventure), and Bailey's Irish cream cheesecake for dessert. And since dh absolutely hates this boiled dinner, he will have shepherd's pie. Friends are coming to help eat this annual fare and I very wisely made two mini cheesecakes and froze one.