So...whats for dinner?

I found this last night when I went looking for a recipe for it. I think I may spend some time surfing on their recipes.

http://www.yankeemagazine.com/new-england-traditio...

Made Bedo's white lasagna night before last. Don't know if Bedo adds to it but I spiced it up and added more cheese and leftover chicken though I think it's supposed to be a vegetarian alternative. It was good. Had it last night again. Not sure if we will try for one more night or switch off to something else. I have a couple of yellow/zucchini squashes in refrig and still have the forlorn acorn squash. Maybe squash something (?) and pork cutlets. Can you panfry it if you precook it a little? I have a pkg of seasoning for squash/pasta - makes a skillet dish. Are acorn's hard to cut?

Thanksgiving I've been assigned my usual cheese/cracker tray. Will also bring some type of jello salad. I think I will make my mother's old standby of black cherry jello, cherries, cream cheese. Neither SIL or I seem to have the recipe but numerous variations on the net. I remember her's had green olives in it. DH confirmed that but SIL doesn't recall it. Olives are out, nephews won't eat them. Probably make some other cold salad too. SIL makes all the hot dishes, she has a kitchen to die for. I do better taking cold stuff since overall the trip there takes about 2.5-3 hours with brief stop to pick up DD. It's about an hour to her place and then on to Allen which is N of Dallas. I'll prob. also make some kind of bar cookie that I can make a day or 2 early. So Monday I'm off to the big city of Ft. Worth for major shopping.

I don't remember if I've asked this b4. I have just about ruined another 9x9" pan cutting stuff out of it. Starting to rust under the rolled edges but now rusting in the cut marks. This is not Teflon more that Silverstone stuff. I've got Pyrex but really prefer metal. Any recommendations or do I just need to get over my dislike of Pyrex. Several years ago I had a Pyrex pan shatter just out of the oven. Not crazy about them since then and they are so darned heavy. I just bought a Wilton 9 x 13 and have threatened if I see a sharp instrument near it. Maybe I need to look for ceramic. The restaurant supply store is on the list of stops but may have to be a quick one. I def. need some food prep. gloves - my hands are suffering in the dry weather. Doggy will be up in her crate and not sure how long she can hold it.

Nancy - I just found Aldi's ads on line. I get a rare one in a newspaper. Might work in a quick stop there. Need to remember my cash and stash of WalMart plastic bags. What do you like there besides the little chickens?

luv, besides the chickens, I mainly buy produce and dark chocolate (particularly the Orange almond bars) I particularly like their potatoes -- they are large and uniform and most of all, they don't sprout! (I hope I don't find out they do something horrible to them to make them that way). Don't forget to take your own bags if you go, otherwise you have to pay for them.

Lacey - what version of the cherry salad did your mom make? I've seen ones with DreamWhip, Cool Whip or cream cheese. My mom's had little balls of cream cheese. I think the recipe was pre-Cool Whip days. I think DreamWhip predates Cool Whip. I know the olives sound weird. I found one similar version with olives. I think the salty bite negates some of the sweetness. In the past I think I've had (or she had) a hard time finding the black cherry jello. I found one recipe that called for concord grape jello, don't think they make it anymore. That sure sounds good. Also have seen it with adding in coca cola. Don't think that was in mom's recipe. I remember just the dark, dark jello.

I found a couple of baked acorn squash recipes. This one looked particularly good. I might have to scarf some sunflower seeds out of trail mix though seems I bought a package I didn't use not too long ago. Might have given them to DH for snack. Will have to search. But I think I will leave that for DH to cut tomorrow. Expecting lots of rain starting tonight into tomorrow afternoon. I am planted until Sunday.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/robin-miller/ma...

I guess those younguns hearing is better. I would have been lost in such a place. Know my hearing is not the greatest but it's down the line on things to fix. Old age and too loud music.

I think I'm going to make a simple cobber in a bit. Have a can of mixed berry pie filling that needs using up. I found a recipe using a Jiffy cake mix (9 oz). They were 89 cents. Already have reg. box cake mix. I'll just measure out 1/2 mix and save the other 1/2. DH has so much overtime he'll be home early that is unless they decide to pay him for it. Won't know until about 5-5:30. Have a wonderful can of squirt whip cream in refrig.

OO Nancy orange almond bars. Wonderful. Our potatoes are horrible. Giant things and yes they sprout very easily. I will take my bags. Have a large stash of WalMart bags. We contract trash out here so no recycling. Periodically DH makes a run to the county barn with excess bags so I always have some around. Even have some hoarded paper bags. Might put a few of those in too.

Momof2 - sounds yummy. Guess we'll eat up the last of the lasagna tonight and have the cutlets tomorrow. But I do need to use up - I know sounds crazy - some bacon so need to have a bacon/pancake night soon.

The Great Butterflied Dry-Brined Turkey Experiment is under way!  I sabotaged the effort, though, by buying the wrong kind of turkey (already injected with solution), but I proceeded anyway.  I'm using the camper refrigerator so the turkey is uncovered.  I used a very sharp chef's knife and a wooden mallet to cut out the backbone.  It worked well.  The turkey will be cooked Sunday morning for the family Thanksgiving-before-Thanksgiving.  Next year I will head off this scheme in advance! 

Tomorrow I plan to bake cornbread and put together the Jimmy Dean dressing.  Make Lee Drummond's no-knead cloverleaf rolls.  Bake some sweet potatoes and make a sweet potato mash without any marshmallow topping.  Do some prep for the cream spinach dish that my younger sister loves.  The meal will be at this sister's house.  She is cooking a small turkey, too.  Mashed potatoes with cream cheese.  And cooked fresh cranberries.  The sister who is travelling 3 hrs. (and probably will cancel if the weather is bad Sun. morning) is supposed to bring home-made cheese cake and a pumpkin pie. 

Another SIL is bringing banana pudding made with sugar-free pudding for the diabetics.  This is the same SIL who brings the awful green bean casserole for Christmas dinner, made with canned so-called "French" beans and canned mushroom soup and canned fried onions.  Shudder....

We always called that American Chop Suey dish goulash.  I made versions of it many times in younger days when weight control was so easy. 

Eric, the book like yours (Middle Eastern cooking) arrived today and it looks as good as new.  It cost less than $1 with $3.99 shipping. 

Dinner tonight is filet mignon, baked russet potatoes and either brussel sprouts or salad.  I was ready for beef and we've used up the rib eyes. 

I grocery shopped today for Thanksgiving - was very well behaved - had a gentleman who works in the meat department lift the turkey, and the bagger kids put it in the car for me - got home just in time for DH to get it out.  I got a 16 lb. turkey, and three breasts, two for DH's office lunch and one for us to have extra sandwich fixings.  I got a rotisserie chicken for dinner - cooked some wide egg noodles, sauteed some onion, mushrooms and garlic, added some chicken gravy, sour cream, and the breast meat from the chicken and put it over the noodles.  It was quick and easy, I was worn out!  Had my port flushed this morning and ran some other errands.  I have a lunch tomorrow with the Tampa BCO ladies, and a party tomorrow night with DH at the home of his boss - a one-star General pinning on his second star.  They are having it catered so it will be interesting to see what they have - this is a new boss, have not met him (or his wife) yet.

carole - I'm not sure I could overdo it if I wanted to, lol!  I am running out of gas pretty easily at this point! I usually just roast the turkey breast (they are whole) after rubbing them with olive oil and sprinkling with my go-to mixture of garlic powder, seasoned salt and pepper.  The two for DH's office party on Tuesday I will slice the meat off and put on a platter.

Susan - love it - "I need a wife" !!!

$21 a pound?????? I just bought a lamb at $4 a pound hanging weight. So the rack of lamb is $4 a pound. The shanks are $4 a pound. The legs are $4 a pound. If I calculated what that would cost retail, I am getting the loin chops, shoulder, and all the bits that are ground for free.

::fainting:: ::$21 a poind for lamb!:::

*susan*

What is Golytely?

It is 17º right now in tundra-land. No risk of the lamb thawing in those temperatures. I am packing an extra sweater or two!

*susan*

Well, Eric, your refridge is sounding ready for your turkey lurkey! Not exactly what I can say about mine! And tomorrow we will get temperature relief, when I had hoped that we might store the turkey in the, up to now, very cold garage. Oh well, somehow it will all work out.

Today I picked up some extra spicy lamb lamejan for dinner, along with one that has just veggies on it, and a third one that has some bright orange creamy food item on it which will be a total surprise to us! I could not understand what the vendor told me it was....maybe there is a pic of it in one of your new cookbooks, Carole! Pairing these with an arugula salad.

Sadness! My trusty Ipad is on its very last legs...had it for three years, and i guess I didn't expect that itnwould ever fail me. I can hardly get into any sites and on this one, I am often losing my posts after typing them.

DH thinks I should get a Surface to replace this....I dunno....just hate needing to go through another tech change....what a technophobe I am!

Minus, here is the recipe for the creamed spinach/artichoke heart dish.

Ingredients:  4 pkgs frozen chopped spinach; 1 pkg. (8oz) cream cheese; 1 stick butter;  2 cans artichoke hearts, halved; 1 can sliced water chestnuts; seasoned bread crumbs.

Directions:  Cook spinach according to pkg directions.  Drain well.  Melt cream cheese and butter together in sauce pan.  Add spinach and blend well.  Place artichoke hearts and water chestnuts in bottom of casserole.  Pour spinach mixture over top and sprinkle with seasoned bread crumbs.  Bake at 350 degrees about 20 min. or until bubbly. 

I am making this recipe for tomorrow and am omitting the water chestnuts and mixing quartered artichoke hearts with the spinach mixture instead of following the recipe directions.  You can't go wrong with a whole block of cream cheese and a stick of butter!  The creamed spinach is delicious.   

Thanks Carole. Sounds like a great comfort recipe to me. I'd have to add some hot spices for my son.

I am one of those no roll people for Thanksgiving.  Then again, I have always been a rebel, lol!

carole - yay for DH's HIO!  That is an impressive feat!

auntie - I love that you are using a generations old recipe for the rolls - how awesome is that?  I agree about the little sammies - they are great!  For me, the rolls get ignored partly because of my already crowded oven situation.  If I had a large crowd coming I might find a way to do them, but I also grew up with parents who came to the U.S. from other countries as adults so not much Thanksgiving tradition.