So...whats for dinner?

I appreciate your posting the recipe, Minus. 

Lacey, I'm so glad to have some alcohol-deprived company on this forum!  I am aware that regular consumption of alcohol is frowned upon for bc survivors, but there are so many women who have never drunk alcohol and still developed bc.  There are women who breast-fed 5 or 6 children and developed bc.  Skinny women who have never been overweight and who are physically fit who--you guessed it--developed bc.  Something turns on that genetic switch.  Women with none of the risk factors are at risk.  But I can't blame anyone for playing the odds as recommended by medical experts. 

I just knew that if I gave up alcohol and lived to some ripe old age when the big conclusion was drawn that alcohol has nothing to do with bc, I was going to be super p*ssed!   Now if I abstain voluntarily out of spousal solidarity or to cut out some calories, that's a whole different matter. 

Lacey, the lentil soup w/winter squash sounds good.

Minus, I have yet to make it this fall but recall us devouring it in the past. Hope you like it if you try...and I bet it would be a good soup to freeze in single portions.

Typical generational funny......DH was saying goodbye to a thirty something after his conference today.The young man asked, any special plans for the weekend? DH replied with enthusiasm, "We're going to see Judy Collins tomorrow night." Blank stare.....

We are dinosaurs. Glad some of our beloved dinosaur entertainers are still around.

My grandfather told me he started smoking at age 13 and continued to age 72 (when I was born). He said at first he didn't have the concept of "pack" as he rolled his own cigarettes--the the point of buying a rolling machine--but that later, when packs were the norm, it was 4-6 packs a day. He also loved his bourbon and fried foods. He lived to be 94.

Mickey was 5 foot 10 inches tall, weighed 130 pounds, ran 10-15 miles a day, loved to swim and ate healthy...She missed her 22nd birthday.

A sample of two doesn't prove anything, but it is enough to trigger my cynicism.

I exercise (move weights up and down, run, bicycle..etc.) and eat healthy. I don't do it in hopes of living longer, I do it so my body will be able to do what I want it to do.

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I wonder how much kids' vegetable likes are shaped by school meals. I don't think it's easy to mass produce well prepared vegetables. I can remember spinach in grade school. It was limp "goo". I found out later that it was steamed at a central kitchen and transported by truck to the cafeteria where the foods were reheated and served. Adding to the "insult to the spinach"....what wasn't used one day was saved and served the next day. It was 8-10 years before I discovered that spinach was not limp, rotten "goo".

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I'm staring at "The Food and Cooking of the Middle East" cookbook. There are a bunch of yellow Post-It notes in it, placed there as bookmarks by DD. I think that's what I'll do tonight. The other thing I'm looking at are two small pumpkins.....Pumpkin pie and Mideast food.....I think Apple would smile at the combination.

Absolutely agreed with the school lunch. Moved to Hawaii when I went into the 4th grade. A staple lunch there was lamb (most likely mutton) curry. Despised it. Curry was not a SW food and neither was lamb. The only day I made and I mean insisted I was taking my lunch. Seems I bought it more when we lived there. Might have been due to the price of food. Have not had lamb to this day. Use curry sparingly. But then again they had mahi mahi regularly. On those days I was allowed to buy seconds. Yum. I don't remember the food being esp. bad except for the curry. My mom pretty much insisted that when we went to friends' houses or the occas. luau (dad's work acquaintances) that we try a bit of everything. DD was raised to be an adventurous eater. Took her a long time to even like pizza or lasagna. Weird. Pretty sure I would not want to eat today's school lunches. DD did not until HS and then only sparingly. But she would have a tough time today as a fav was peanut butter/jelly.

Do you like to buy CB's that have pieces of paper stuck in them? Always make me wonder when the recipe marked doesn't appeal to me.

Last night was tacos which was supposed to be for tonight when DD was due to come out which isn't happening. Plan on watering down the leftover taco meat and topping leftover cornbread with it. Tomorrow is pork loin. Not sure what I'm going to do with it.

Eric - or pumpkin in the Middle Eastern food. Pie does sound good. Miss Apple and Michelle. I actually played Apple's YouTube the other day and found another one of her and her Estonia piano.

I do buy cookbooks from Goodwill. My favorites are the ones put together by a local group. Since many people come from all over the country to retire here "local" can be from anywhere in the country.

A couple of weeks ago I played Apple's Youtube videos and looked at Michelle's posts.

Sometimes I wish that the easily available visual/audio recording technology existed back in the early 80s and then I'm glad it didn't exist.

I almost canceled dinner tonight! :-) I decided to do a thorough refrigerator cleaning.....eeeewwwwwwww...enough to gross out a forensic entomologist...... How does that stuff manage to hide so well????????

I made the lentil soup and had a serving for lunch with a splash of white balsamic vinegar and a sprinkle of shredded asiago.  The soup is very good.  I didn't blend it because it thickened on its own with a nice texture. 

Nance, do you make your own pita bread?  I'm intrigued with the notion of making my own corn tortillas.  That would involve buying a press.  I could store it with the ricer and food mill that I just had to acquire!  I have used the ricer a few times but the food mill not at all. 

Luv, that must have been interesting to live in Hawaii.  How many years did you live there? 

I have bought cookbooks at Good Will but none with notes in them.  I have quite a few of those collections published by various churches or organizations.  Most of the recipes are from someone's old cookbook or collection of recipes clipped from magazines or newspapers.  

ooh I love old cookbooks. I buy the local church or community ones whenever we travel. That's how you find out how people really eat! LOL

Supper tonight was finally the smoked pork stew. I added onion, garlic, no celery, I thought I had some, oh well! LOL. Carrots, butternut squash, potatoes and some frozen peas that were in the freezer for who knows how long. It smells pretty good. Just thinking I won't add the kielbasa though. I'll use it for another meal. Need o go rockery shopping. Not much left....

Much love

Made some tandoori chicken, lentils and rice last night for dinner. Cold grilling weather, but the chicken tastes so much better when fire is involved. I have been making pita breads for years. I make two different recipes. For the thin style that puffs I use this recipe which I have tweaked over the years: http://www.pepperplate.com/sharedrecipe.aspx?id=e3...

I very often use Atta flour which is a very finely ground Indian wheat flour. Whole wheat pastry flour is a close substitute, but regular whole wheat works well too. The trick is to knead the bread until it is very soft and doesn't tear at all.

For the thicker pita that you roll around sandwich fillings, I made this. http://www.pepperplate.com/sharedrecipe.aspx?id=28...

Both are very reliable recipes.

My laptop is back from the mothership with a new logic board. Need to re-organize my desk, re-route some cords, and get to work!

*susan*

I think pita is SO much easier than making naan. The amount of stretch is not as important, and the dough is far more forgiving. I used to make naan until Costco started selling some really excellent naan bread. We stuff it in the freezer and grill it when we are ready to eat some. Simplifies my Indian dinners so I can make a chutney or some other pickle factor. Though lately, I have been too lazy to do even that. I do need to make some date-tamarind chutney though. Tons of samosa meat in the freezer and no one will eat it without the date-tamarind chutney. Ungrateful people! [ :-) ]

*susan*

Hahaha, Nance! The real story is that when the waitress heard I was allergic to mangoes and cashews, (after she asked) she became deleriously excited because she has that same allergy. I think there was a total boundary loss going on, thus the extreme care taking. LOL I really did feel like We were auditioning for SNL.

Am totally mired in filling out medical forms....the one for the colonoscopy on Wed, and another long family history form for my genetic counseling session in a few weeks. Sadly, I do not know a lot of my mother's family members' medical conditions and not even many specifics about the ones who had bc. That generation in my family didn't share much....especially with the neice who chose grad school in New England....and stayed! Sort of like being a traitor to Philly Italian-Americans. Am about to call my sister (another traitor, but who was much closer to our mother and one of our many, many cousins) who probably has some data for me. We'll see. Fingers crossed!

For dinner, I will be preparing some more bouillion and jello for DH and in "relative" solidarity, I will have some too, along with a nice pan of sauteed kale/onions/peppers/and onions just for me! Not a bad idea after all of our meals out!

making an old family favorite: Hot Dish

This is real easy to make its just lb. ground beef, jar of spag. sauce, box of pasta. Cook & drain ground beef, cook pasta until done and drain. Combine cooked ground beef, pasta and spag. sauce in one pan.

My very favorite lentil soup uses red lentils and is a very common soup in Turkey and the Middle East. I have a really "vague" recipe given to me by a Turkish friend but I have not had the time to turn into something reproducible. As you can imagine given the area of the world, there is no pork in this recipe at all. In fact, it is generally vegetarian [actually vegan.] Lacey, nice version can be found at Pasha in Arlington Center [with loads of parking in the back.]

Tonight the turkey met the end of its lifespan. Last night I threw the carcass into a dutch oven with some water and baked overnight. For dinner, I made the stock, leftover meat, and lots of vegetables into a stew served over some leftover rice. It wasn't bad at all. Sunday night is always a lighter meal since our Sunday "brunch" is rather robust. Consequently, there is plenty leftover.

*susan*

If anyone knows a US Marine, wish them a happy birthday tomorrow. I guarantee it will bring a smile. All marines have two birthdays; their own and November 10..the US Marine Corps birthday.

My dad was, twice, the oldest marine present at the birthday ceremony held in Phoenix.

Oh, and Carole, thanks so much for your lentil soup recipe!