So...whats for dinner?

Lol on the marshmallow chocolate graham cracker chicken! The honey chicken sounds delish!

I discovered microwave s'mores when my kids were in high school and decided I was a genius! It has been a long time since I have had one. I love the part where the marshmallow puffs up - so exciting!

Viv - wow on all the blender stuff! Yay!

moon - i like the use of leftover oven heat - very "green" of you - excellent!

Moon, passive oven heat s'mores....genius! 

And Special, if you like seeing the marshmallows expand with s'mores, you would love watching peeps do the same in the microwave. I learned that from DH, who loves peeps.

I just returned from a trip to TJMaxx returning something....always dangerous to return things. I should ask to be escorted out of the store! Ended up buying a white pencil skirt, some work out capris, and assorted other items...reading alert, Eric.....girl talk.....the white skirt is adorable (and it is a celebration that I can wear a straight white skirt now) but it meant that I needed to find a beige slip......did not exist there, so ended up with a beige spanxy sort of thing (I think.....I've never owned any spanx) that is a combo of pants with a slip piece sewn over it. 

As I was about to leave the store, we had a sudden frog strangler with thunder and lightening, and I used all my self control not to return to the clothing aisles while waiting the storm out.

So I got home late, and had noticed that DH texted me that he was off to his board dinner (I can't even tolerate listing the culinary choices they offer at this dinner), and I was so hungry, I forgot about preparing something here.....the joy of being alone.....and just ate plain peanut butter on some pieces of delicious challah bread From a local bakery I happened to park in front of while I was returning the sneakers I bought last Friday. I won't go into the sneaker saga, but need to find a new brand to replace my Brooks Ariels which have been redesigned badly for my feet. I learned that the redesign involved a narrower toe bed, which accounted for why I needed a bigger sneaker.

Oh,...... DH just face-timed and if I were not so stuffed with PB and challah, I would be quite envious of his buffet of shrimp, swordfish, beef, and pork tenderloin, surrounded by lots of fresh veggies and salads. Who needs animal protein anyway! The best news for me is that the board member who I was supposed to cook for wants to have all of us put a special meal together at his manse.....love it! That will save me a lot of "performance anxiety". And he has a special butcher who uses locally grown meats. This will be fun!

Off to make some cookies for a memorial service we will attend tomorrow....a man who was in DHs "men's group" in the eighties. They called  themselves Six Guys....now, sadly, ".....and then there were four".

Very nice Eric, where do you get the protein powder? I get hungry mid-day too

Sharon just relayed her dress shopping story to me.  We're going to a wedding tomorrow and she wanted a nice dress.  At the checkout counter, the clerk commented, "It was a challenge to find something that looked good on you...your chest....isn't quite right....."   I wish I had been there instead of at work; I learned quite a few Marine type comments that would have been very appropriate for the [many words deleted] clerk.. 

Wow, Eric and Sharon, that is totally gross. WTF!! Total ignorance!! 

And I thought I was having a bad store night when some doobee decided to surrender my half-full shopping cart to the dressing room gals, since it MUST have been abandoned....NOT (I was in the next aisle, and very surprised that my cart was gone). I recovered most things but just now realized that I never reclaimed a very cute sale item....oh well. The store will be there.....

I hope your store clerk won't!!

Lacey - Someone on BCO used pea protein powder, maybe SpecialK. This time of night I might not know my own name. I've always had a fear my cart would disappear when I'm in dressing room esp. when full of bargains.

Eric - Pox on that store clerk. Humph - "not quite right". Hopefully she will get a lesson soon in keeping her comments in check. Might be a store I wouldn't go back to. Bet the clerk's ID# or name is on her receipt. I called a Jack in the Box on their comment line. I waited/waited/waited with only1 other customer in the store, got my food, drove around the corner to my next nursing visit. Called saying I would drive 3 blocks out of my way to another fast food joint to never eat in that store again and in the remaining 6 months I worked that area I didn't. Don't know if it made any impression but got my anger out in a somewhat constructive way.

Made the rice/bean stuffed peppers again and forgot to saute the onions/garlic b4. Didn't make any difference but I did use green onions rather than reg. sweet onion. They were just as good as last time. I didn't write down how I did them last time - the orig. is for stuffed tomatoes and doesn't have the rice. I did this time though. DH off today and we snacked around. Have ground beef for meatloaf but need to get in it pretty early. Getting hot here. Also some kind of new BallPark hot dogs.The chicken kebabs look divine.

Bedo - clams cooked in beer with beer. Ha. Do you use the clam liquid leftovers - you can see I know nada about clams. Only ones I know are in Campbells clam chowder.

Tazzy Get a bottle of beer or two and boil them. Put in scrubbed clams.  Boil. Eat. Drink "leftover" beer. I hope you are healing well

Lacey I was shocked and then burst out laughing, I thought your  " Gross.. WTF.. ." comment was meant about the whey at first  But

 seriously Eric, that woman is not quite right in the head.  I would call the manager. She needs to learn to  keep her trap shut.

Going hiking

Making brown rice, black bean tomato concoction for dinner.

Have a great day everyone

Tazzy, it's great to hear from you!  Glad you enjoyed your trip to NO.

Eric, the chicken kebobs look delicious.  I am furious at that clerk!  It comes through your posts what pleasure you get from your DD.  That's so nice. 

Lacey, your dh seems to enjoy a lot of good meals with his meetings! 

Moon, your chicken and rice sounds good but the s'more sounds better! 

Nancy, hi to you.  Is your pastry station finished and are you making pastries and breads?  Be careful with those sharp knives!

Bedo, I'm sure I would enjoy those clams. 

We had a "I'm all out of ideas of what to cook" meal last night.  I sliced boneless pork chops into strips for stir-frying.  The veggies were sugar snap peas, julienned  carrots, little colored peppers in strips.  Cooked the pork and the veggies separately and mixed everything together.  Veggies a little overcooked.  Sprinkled balsamic vinegar on my serving and grated some asiago cheese.  DH doused his with soy sauce. 

It was dinner.  We had Edie's French Silk ice cream for dessert with sugarfree chocolate syrup.  My serving was TINY, but tasted yummy.  Not as good as Moon's dessert, I'm sure!!!

It's still raining today.  We've had 7 in. and counting over 3 days.  I'm taking my niece and her two daughters (8 and 4) to lunch at my niece's favorite cheapie Mexican restaurant.  I heard through my mom that my niece has decided to go vegetarian so this should be interesting.  My niece could count the number of veggies she eats on one hand!  She's back in treatment for her mental illness and addictions and has become interested in Buddhism.  I'm in favor of anything to give her some stability.  Her good periods never last long.

Happy Saturday.

Eric! That was awful! Tell Sharon we're so p*ssed for her. Wasn't the scarring enough of a clue for the dimwat? Even if it was covered up, we all know you don't say anything about people's body. It's kind of like sayjng " I had a hard time fitting you with one leg so much shorter than the other". Or "your hump in the back is so hard to fit" or even "gee, you'd be so pretty, if it wasn't for that ugly scar on your face" Can you picture anyone saying those things? Sharon needs to call or email the store and make them aware of the liability they have on their staff!

BTW, I used Dove DARK chocolate in the s'mores and they were pretty good! LOL

Much love to all. 

Trying to learn to do links 

I hit the little link sign & copied the URL and selected 'insert link'.  But I can't get it to come up in the post.  Has anyone else done it?   In the mean time, you'll have to copy & paste the Beneprotein link into your browser.

I was at work, so I didn't have the opportunity to say anything to the clerk.  Sharon said it was one of those, "Did she just say that" things that left her speechless.  

I have offered my opinions to folks before when I felt it was needed....only one time did security show up.  :-)

In other news, I've been reading the blog at Shesimmers.com.  It is a Thai food blog.  

I was introduced to Thai food by a bunch of Thai engineers.  After they went home I continued going to the restaurant they had found.  For a long time the language barrier made it very interesting to order.  I eventually learned enough Thai to at least know what would show up on the table.  Their children working there and 25 years time have eliminated the language barrier.  The food is just as good as always and they even remember me from "back then".

Uh Oh,

I put 5 1/2 cups of water, 3 vegetable cubes, half a package of "baby" carrots, some onion things from the garden, 1 1/2 cups of brown rice, a 16 oz can of "fire roasted" tomatoes, about 1/2 teaspoon fresh rosemary and thyme  and a garlic clove in the slow cooker and put it on high for 3 hours. I plan to put in 1/2 a bag of spinach close to the end. I wanted to use up what's in the fridge.

I made up the recipe. I have always strictly followed the rules before.

What do you think?

Any suggestions?

I could always put ketchup or hot sauce on it

Great to see a lively thread!

Tazzy, so good to see you and to learn that you are doing well.

Nance, you have been a busy girl....directing the guys making the baking center, I suppose? It looks great, and I love your mixer...commercial variety? I rarely put my appliances away....inspiration, ya know! Tho you probably need less inspiration than I.  

Very late last night, (or more accurately, early this morning) I decided to make cookies for the memorial reception today, and decided on a recipe with which I could avoid the mixer.  When I got it all mixed, the familiar batter looked way too loose, (my guess was that I mistakenly left out a half cup of flour)so I kept adding flour until it looked right. Meanwhile, it was 1:30AM and I was fading, so I put it all in the fridge, and baked them early this morning. Whew! Kept my fingers crossed and they came out fine. I should really take a baking course some day...

Eric, so glad you sent the email to the store mgmt. If nothing else, the clerks might get some inservice on how to act like a respectful human being....if being one doesn't come naturally!

Nance, I am so envious of all of your garden "early bounty".....as I have mentioned I have yet to even put a flower in down here. I will probably pop some fleurs and veggies in pots up north. Of course here, now that our resident poppy addict has destroyed my entire poppy bed, he is nowhere to be seen. We are not amused! 

Also, Nance, the mention of your bunnies reminds me that we have not seen any for several weeks. I read that woodchucks kill them....so maybe we have been relieved of the cuter little pests....but at this point it does not even matter. 

DH is back home....he made it here five minutes before the memorial service for his friend started, and it was a beautiful memorial....especially because a good friend of the man who died is an accomplished pianist. I must become friends with a great musician before I expire....if for no other reason than to have beautiful music at my service.....tho in truth, I have often thought that it would be great to have my favorite r+r and r+b and classical pieces played on CD. Since DH is a good DJ, we could probably work that out!

So tonight I felt that it would be a great idea for DH to make (translate "order") dinner since I only felt motivated to make a salad, and was busy sorting tons of my too big clothes to give to the homeless (yes it is still quite cold here on the Boston Common at night), which a friend will deliver directly this week. 

So....we decided to order from Not Your Average Joe's here in town. Maybe I was just hungry, but WOW my cod in a saffron broth (oops, there was a milky appearance to it) with chopped spring garden vegetables over a crab cake was delicious! DH's jambaylaya with andouille sausage, chicken, and shrimp was also delightful. I made an arugula salad with mushrooms, red onion, grape tomatoes, carrot, kalamata olives, and Italian dressing. Sound familiar?   Went well with our main dishes.

Tomorrow evening we are celebrating with the rest of the ministerial search committee, spouses, and the new minister and her husband. The group decided to do apps (tho I am making two salads to add a bit of fiber!) and desserts to keep it casual. Three other meals out this week....unusual for me.                                          June is always a crazy busy time of year.....are my fellow Geminis getting ready to celebrate?!?!        

  We are going to meet DS2 on the twelfth at a neat newer seafood place (Row 34, in Fort Point) near his neighborhood for a fish! fish! fish! dinner. I may even go for the fresh fried oysters...a departure from my broiled favorites!

As usual, I have rambled on....apologies.

Actually Eric, it's thermoplastic made to look like stainless steel. I really like it.  Lacey, the mixer is a cuisinart. Not professional.