So...whats for dinner?

Special, I vote for Picture No. 1.  I was appalled by how heavy I looked in our AUS/NZ pictures.  Not to mention the discomfort of those tight waistbands.

I may have shrunk, too!  I'll have to measure my height.  A good friend of ours (victim of ovarian cancer) used to say that old couples got smaller and smaller until they were like little s & p shakers up on a shelf. 

Bedo, that was a pic of your daughter?  She must resemble you. 

Dinner will be as planned this morning.  Lovely lamb loin chops, veggies in a microwave bag, probably green beans, and salad with romaine, cucumber, tomatoes, avocado and onion in dh's salad.  Maybe some blue cheese.  Vinaigrette dressing.

Sure hope our missing dinner cooks check in soon and let us know they're ok. 

Laurie, kind of a gift from your MIL...... And good that it's been a strongly blended week. You were wise not to take a quick trip...lots to process, and you've been doing that. Safe trip home! Don't forget to pack some warm  weather!

Meatloaf for dinner.  A recipe I cooked a couple of months ago but modified by substituting ground turkey for ground beef.  This time I used 1 lb of ground turkey and 8 oz ground beef.  1 lb of cremini mushrooms finely minced, green onions substituted for regular onions, 6 cloves of garlic, fresh thyme (from my patio!).  Recipe called for dry sherry but I don't have any so omitted it.  I made a lot so there we could use leftovers for sandwiches.

One side is cauliflower mash.  Second side is roasted asparagus.  After tonight, I'm out of asparagus! 

Laurie, good to hear from you.  Hope you and your dh and boys can transition back to your happy life. 

Sorry, Eric.  What a bummer! 

Dinner tonight is a glass of chardonnay.  Later on some strawberries.  My mother and I went to lunch after church to New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood.  Fried seafood heaven.  We shared a seafood platter with thin catfish fillets, shrimp, oysters and a crab cake.  Everything was delish except the crab cake.  It had a taste neither of us liked.  Probably a Cajun seasoning.  It was SO inferior to my crab cakes! 

We ate about two thirds of the platter (piled high) and brought a third home to her house.  Both of us enjoy the dessert at NOH&S.  Little waffle cups and vanilla soft-serve ice cream.  You serve yourself. 

DH stayed home today.  His lunch was a meatloaf sandwich.  He divulged that he is not crazy about the meatloaf with the minced mushrooms.  I think he probably doesn't like the taste of the ground turkey.  So the next time I make meatloaf I'll probably use primarily red ground meat.

I went to Sam's late this afternoon for a few needed items and spotted the Nutribullet for $89.  I bought one and am reading the user guide and recipe book.  I unpacked the various parts carefully and will give it a try.  If I don't like it, I'll return it. 

At a girl, Carole crabcake pride! Excited for you with your Nutribullet...hope you love it. I like the small container idea...tho I do save time with my Vitamix by making a large jar of smoothies and pouring it into four glasses which I finish up over the following few days. 

Thanks for the cheerlead, Nance. I did get many things made for the church coffee...and yes there were TONS of people there to check out the minister candidate (who, tho only 29 years old, is soooo mature, accomplished for so few years....already started a school in India (!), ...exceptionally intelligent, and gifted with the best social skills with a beautiful low preaching voice, ta boot!). I see why she was selected from many very qualified candidates. Some of the older folks voiced concern that she is....a) so young, and.....b) not a man. A bit surprising for a Unitarian group! But it is clear she will grow on them, and she was wise to address these issues in a beautiful way in her sermon. Would that I could have possessed such maturity, clarity and courage at that age!

So anyway, I found out that I was sharing this coffee duty with another couple who hit Costco and got lots of baked goods and fruit and cheeses there. I ended up making a cinnamon apple raisin bread, banana walnut muffins and loaf,  many dozens of oatmeal cranberry cookies, tons of egg salad sandwiches in Trader's mini pita pockets, (very cute!) and tons of cucumber/cream cheese with dill tea sandwiches. These last two were labor intensive time wise (so many small pieces to assemble) but they were devoured by the first wave of hungry people... so, worth the effort! I was happy to get it all done, and especially because it meant that I had enough energy to do it over a two and a half day period. Each day I am convincing myself to avoid the anti-estrogen drugs, so I can function more like this....close to my old self! We'll see.....

Eric, so sad that the virus is travelling through the familial intestines. May it have a speedy trip!

Off to watch Madmen....

$#&$(#(  I had quite a post going and then I accidentally closed the browser and lost it.

We'll miss you Bedo, but I understand.  I have to work hard sometimes to not get stuck in a dark place.  This thread is BCO's "no cancer" (as much as possible) place, which is why I pretty much limit myself to posting here.

6 in one bed.  Sharon and I have 2 dogs and 1 cat and that was crowded enough that we bought a huge dog bed for the three animals and enforced a "no dogs or cats up here" policy. 

Sharon is trying to get some work done and just asked for some water.....she says she feels as bad as during the AC chemo..... I hate it when either her or DD feel bad......and there isn't much I can do to help.....

Bedo, you have to do what's best for Bedo.  We'll miss you but it makes me happy to think of you out there enjoying your journey. 

Lacey, what an enormous amount of work and preparation for the church reception!  I know it must have been appreciated.  So much easier to go to Costco and fill up a cart.  But maybe that was what that couple was capable of doing. 

I'll miss my WW meeting this morning.  My mother has an apptment at the pain clinic.  I'll go by the WW meeting place and pick up the weekly publication. 

Lacey, the Nutribullet isn't in the same category as your Vitamix.  But I don't use a blender enough to pay $500 for a super one.  I use the stick blender for soups.  I have two food processors, a large and a small.  And a stand mixer.  If the Nutribullet works well, I'll take it along on the summer rv trip.  If it doesn't work well, I'll pack it up and return it.  I don't make a smoothie everyday.  Some mornings I want toast and almond butter for breakfast or an egg and a couple of strips of center cut bacon.  Or wheat pancakes. 

SpecialK, thanks for introducing me to almond milk.  I really like it and it's lower in ww pts. than dairy lowfat milk.  I find that odd because almonds are pretty high in pts as are walnuts. 

Not sure what's for dinner tonight.  But I bought a big package of asparagus at Sam's yesterday!

Happy Monday!

Bedo - If in your wanderings you ever get to Texas please PM me. I envy your freedom. Please if not a regular check in occasionally. Love you witty posts and
sincerely think you (as are most of the general members of BCO) are
someone I would love to get to know more. You've tossed out a bunch of choices since coming back from AK. Maybe take a job, save like a pack rat, buy the RV and travel the US. Own a truck?

There are many days after I swallow that little pill that I just don't think about BC. Attribute many aches/pains to getting older and the osteopenia I had anyway (which I found out via message from PCP is still only osteopenia funny the things we are grateful for). I never was into exercise even knowing what it could/would do for me. I count cleaning a flower bed, bending/putting away clothes, just anything to get me up.

Was surfing on another page and saw a post by Seaside. We miss you and Chabba and Naiviv and Joyce and Momine and many others I know I'm forgetting.

Laurie I hope your Monday morning routines click in. That you, DH and kids came back healthy. Pray that family came together in their grief and squabbles were minimal.

Hope nobody gets what they had in OK/KA/MO/AR yesterday. Praying for those communities. We need rain desperately esp. west out towards Abilene/Wichita Falls just not the tornadoes. Hail is hail here, we expect it and as long as you're not caught outside in it. Eventually it gets everyone's roof. We've lost 3 to hail but not recently. Prob. due. Big push in DFW for tornado safe rooms. If I built a house I for sure would do it. There is a rebate prog. but the waiting list is long. Guess that means you build it and wait for your money back. It is a pain in the you-know-what to get in our in-ground one. I don't think they were even making the safe rooms when we bought it not too long after we moved here. Of the 8 houses on the cul-de-sac we have the only one.

Eric - hope all the puny ones are on the road to recovery.

Carole - interested in your Nutribullet review esp. how easy to clean. I have an ancient avocado green Oster blender, a small stick blender and a food processor I've used maybe 2x. DH would use the Nutribullet for milkshakes.

Luv, I make casserole shaped loaves usually. Sometimes, baguettes.Tonight is taco salad. 

Nancy - I neglected to thank you for your reply. What are your favorite bread add-ins?

Glad to be reminded of that easy breadmaking option.....rosemary and garlic would be superb as a start! 

Tonight I got home to make dinner from stretching class after a stop at Trader's. Lordy do they have a lot of dairy and or soy in their products! At this rate I am seriously going to be competing with our woodchuck (should name the monster!) for greens in the yard pretty soon....certainly for the kale if I ever get it planted. Very cold here today! But I feel so fortunate that we do not get tornadoes at this time of year very much. Thoughts with those poor families in Arkansas and Oklahoma. Such devastation and familial loss.

Anyway, back to dinner.....we finished up the ratatoille along with a salad of arugula with grilled chicken flavored with lemon and mint (leftovers from the memorial celebration event at a friend's house yesterday).... And I dressed up the arugula salad with shaved carrots, red peppers, really sweet smallish tomatoes, and kalamata olives. Loved it....mainly because of the chicken flavor in the salad. Would have been perfect topped with some feta. . Is this like drug withdrawal??

Carole, the Vitamix I got at B B and Beyond with my coupon was a mere 300! I totally "get" anyone not wanting to spend so much on a blender, but I got so obsessive about my smoothies that it felt worth it. And I use it for soups....it even makes them hot when blended for a while! By the way, I have been adding xherry juice and tart cherries (canned, unsweetened) to my smoothies...so delicious and good for you!

I think that the nutri bullet will be a better fit for your RV, and should fit the bill nicely for DH's milkshakes.

Luv, good luck with the storms. Hail can really be so damaging! We get it in NH and it is more destructive  than one would think.

A friend just texted to ask me if I would be interested in taking over for a fellow colleague while she takes maternity leave. It would be from late May thru November. Yikes! I would be nuts, but it is tempting now that I have some energy and miss working. No! It is a crazy idea!!! 

bedo - do your thing - we will be here. You are such a character, and have a refreshing free spirit and sense of humor and adventure, I love to hear from you - anytime, and anywhere you are.  Do what is best for you, and take care!

Laurie, what a cute story!  Sorry about your headache but glad to hear that your life is getting back to normal.

We have a tornado watch until 9 pm but have avoided the bad weather so far.  I actually got in round one of a 2-day golf tournament today, playing part of the time in a rain jacket.  Tomorrow is supposed to be better weather.

When I looked into the chest freezer this morning, I spotted a package of spaghetti sauce and took it out.  We'll have wheat linguini with red sauce and grated romano cheese and a salad with romaine, yellow cherry tomatoes, cucumber, avocado and blue cheese. 

The Nutribullet works well.  The addition of cherries to your smoothies sounds good, Lacey.  I'm going to try adding some kale to mine when I get a chance to buy some organic kale. 

laurie - hilarious on the fast food "law" - actually, it is a great idea!  Glad you are home and getting back into the routine.

carole - thanks for the nutribullet report - I might have to get one.

lacey - I just looked up the food inhalant cross reactivity thing - it does go along with the diet I am on - the idea is that the seven things you give up are the foods people are most likely to be sensitive to, if not allergic to, and a number of them are on the cross-reactivity list.  I am allergic to every pollen out there - years ago my allergist's resident looked at my test results and exclaimed, wow!  If it is a plant I am allergic to it.  I later developed allergies to adhesive, the surfactant (lathering agents) in shampoo, bar soap, and laundry soap, epoxy resin, sawdust, some plastics, anti-bacterial topicals, many antibiotics, some essential oils, the list goes on.  I need to live in a bubble.  Maybe with you!