So...whats for dinner?

Was jonesing for pasta last night, so made whole wheat spaghettini with fresh tomatoes, green peppers, onions, mushrooms and fresh basil, tossed in olive oil and sprinkled with Parm. Reg. I normally detest the gritty texture of whole-wheat pasta (plus it goes from undercooked to mushy with no “al dente" in between), but I found Bionature brand (America's Test Kitchen top-rated it) to achieve a passable al dente texture and decent flavor. Expensive for pasta, but still much cheaper than other main dishes. Dessert was eggnog gelato with preserved cherries (a flop, as they taste like cough syrup and are too sweet). Also had sourdough crostini with chopped tomatoes, basil and fresh mozzarella a bit later in the evening, accompanied by . Brunch this morning was tuna salad (WF's lemon-dill) on WF “seeduction" hi-fiber whole grain bread with lettuce. We'll probably go out tonight for a late dinner.

Last night with the crostini I had 2 oz. of Pinot Noir. Amazing how much that is when you're not using it to chase down a good steak! But also distressing how little even 3 oz. of champagne is!

red - that sounds like a radiation schedule, any chance they were confusing the rads frequency with the chemo schedule?

Yes, SK. I don't think you even told us what you were serving. Hope everything went without a hitch.

Dinner ended up being the last of the lasagna and half of a small baguette. Chops will be another night this week.

red - hope things go well for her, whatever the schedule ends up being.

The party was a great success - there was even dancing out on the pool deck!  One of the women from DH's office brought a great mix CD with awesome upbeat dance music.  At one point DD led the crowd in the Macarena after just coming in the door - she still had her work nametag on, lol!  I had some tried and true stuff, but also did some new things - which I know is risky but they turned out well.  I did some turkey and cranberry on mini corn muffins, roast beef with horseradish sauce on Hawaiian rolls, ham and cheese sliders with an /butter/onion/worchestershire sauce you paint on and then briefly bake the sliders until the cheese melts, mini quiches in two flavors (ham & cheddar and artichoke/bacon/jack cheese), sweet and sour meatballs, antipasto platter, fruit tray with Kahlua dip, veggies with dip, Mexican cheesecake with chips, spinach artichoke dip, curried chicken salad on mini croissants, deviled eggs, and a jalapeno popper filing in little filo cups, and a spicy bacon/cheese spread ( I have long called it a heart attack on a cracker) which was the hands down fave on the night .  For sweets I did brownie bites with chocolate frosting, lemon curd mini tarts, and raspberry cheesecake squares.  DH's admin asst brought cupcakes with the Special Operations Command seal on them.  We had a display on the dining room table of all of the letters of congrats sent to her from all of the generals she worked for, and one from the President, a flag flown over the command in her honor, which was a bear to get in the triangle flag box!  There were also photos and the customized commander coins given to her, and her medal for service.

I am tired but not sleeping well, but do have PT today and looking forward to the massage and heat - my party muscles are sore.  I didn't even know I had party muscles, but I am sore in weird places, lol!  A lot of carrying and bending - and my hands are sore - probably Femara.  I went to the Buc's game yesterday and took a long hot bath when I came home!

auntie - wish you could have been there!  Wouldn't it be fun to have a party with everyone from this thread?  If we could ever put that together I volunteer my house! The food was good and plentiful - DH was worried I had way too much but I didn't make a ton of everything, just decent amounts of each, and I have enough leftovers that I didn't have to cook last night and sent some for lunch with DH - yay!  I wish I had taken a photo of the food before everyone dived in but I was too distracted and forgot!

FYI - it dawned on me that I could make a bunch of little sammies on Hawaiian rolls (although, everyone but me may already know this!!) because the rolls are all joined together.  This would work with any rolls that are like this.  I just used a long serrated bread knife and cut horizontally with the rolls still hooked together so I had a bottom and top.  I spread out mayo on the bottom, made a layer of the shaved roast beef, salt and pepper, then spread out the horseradish sauce (mayo/sour cream/horseradish), put the top back on.  Then cut along the roll perforations, and voila - 24 little sandwiches - took about 5 mins!

Special - Yum!! What a lot of choices. I'm with Nance - one of each.

Redhead - I think most of the stage III folks skip around to lots of threads. When I was in active treatment I really prized the current chemo & rads thread w/people doing the same thing at the same time. I've participated in some specialized HER2+, LE & Neuropathy threads. Encourage her to find things relevant to her treatment and not just her stage.

SpecialK, that is quite a spread! Your DH's office are might lucky that you are so generous and kind.

Dinner tonight is chicken parmesan. Monday is one of the nights I tend to cook enough so that the kids get a decent meal. The chicken breast I bought today was HUGE, so I know that we will have enough chicken cooked for chicken sandwiches for us tomorrow and some protein snacks for the girl-child. We have heard the heartbeat and the "peanut" needs protein!

Gorgeous fall day here today. Mr. 02143 even went out on a ladder to paint some window frames. I should have spent more time outside, but my trip to the chicken store and the Whole Foods was the extent of my outdoor activities.

*susan*

susan - labor of love - the lady retiring was a good friend! I am so excited that you have heard the heartbeat - has to be music to your ears! My dad always called me peanut. I love that you have a "chicken store"

auntie - wear a hazmat suit so you can stay dry all over! Be careful! It is not raining here but I was sitting waiting for my left turn green arrow and witnessed a rear ender this afternoon! Silly people - green light means go but only if the people in front of you are going!

carole/auntie/susan - I want all of your dinners. Tonight I made some brown rice, put the sweet and sour meatballs (leftover party food) and sauce on top, and some green beans with bacon sauced tomato paste mixed with a little sugar and vinaigrette. DH has an out of town trip over the next few days - I gave him mini quiches (leftover party food) for his on-the-road breakfast!

Same here Red. But at least it's 60°. No cooking plans for me, we're eating at a local joint tonight. Nothing fancy, but it's good stuff. There is fried chicken in my future.

Wind and rain here today. Flood watches were in effect last week and again now. I'm making bean soup. Need hearty warmth!!!

daisy and garden - sounds yummy and comforting!  Nobody is home tonight so not making any dinner - just started on my list for Thanksgiving.  Sent DD to work with a couple of curried chicken salad sammies on rolls, and I ate the rest of it, sans roll, for lunch!

Hope all with windy/rainy weather stay safe!  DH may not be able to come home tomorrow - the weather in Lexington, KY is supposed to be bad about the time he is scheduled to take off.  Our weather here is warm, but fairly dry and pleasant - it is the time of year that we are happy to be in FL.

Tonight I'm having what Minus had-yum

This Friday I'm making
"busy day chicken" in the crockpot and taking it to a friend's workplace for her to plug in so dinner will be ready when she gets home. She is my age and now has custody of a 4 and a 6 year old.

You are all a bunch of party animals.

Especially you, Special.

Susan, I hate that you have a "nausea phase". I'm glad soup makes it better.

What a good friend you are Bedo!

The rain has finally stopped -- 4 1/2 inches! The Costco run was a soggy one. I'm digging some lamb shanks out of the freezer for lamb shanks and beans. I'll cook the beans in the pressure cooker. I also need to start some more baguettes. Soup weather is on the way, temps this weekend down to 20s. Ugh.

I agree with Special that Susan's uninspired meal sounds like common fare in this house! Your party food sounded wonderful, Special! It's always nice to have those leftovers to cover a few days of lunches and/or dinners after the busy days of prep. I can't even imagine prepping such a party menu these days. The guest of honor must have been thrilled and so appreciative.

This past weekend I made up two large vegetable and dip platters for a local auction event. Also made lemon brownies for a dessert item. The platters were so much more work than I ever realized.....mainly because I am so compulsive about cleaning the veggies. Since I overbought, we have been having veggie stir fries for meals for a couple of days. The lemon brownies are REALLY LEMONY....and hard to eat just one! I've been distributing extras to neighbors since it would be dangerous to keep the leftovers here.

Yes, it is finally soup making weather here. I would so prefer to be focusing on just that rather than doing our Thanksgiving menu. I realize that I am truly not a cook/hostess when I think about how much I would like to avoid all the prep and set up that Thanksgiving requires. This is when I miss having a few daughters to help. Maybe I am just getting old and tired. DH and DS2 always appreciate my efforts, and this year DGF will be joining us. I hope she will at least eat some turkey. I don't want to make more items. As I write this I am realizing that I need a quick attitude adjustment to bump up my planning and prep energy!

After spending time at the car dealership for regular maintenance yesterday morning, then food shopping for next week, we had roast chicken sandwiches here before attending a Moth "slam" in Hvd Sq., which was great fun. It is quite a challenge to score tickets for these popular sessions but DH was persistent enough this time (after missing out this summer by trying 5 minutes after they were up for sale!) and we got to enjoy some interesting stories. The winner was a young man who told his story about growing up on the Autism Spectrum in a very authentic and poignant manner.

Today, I am lazing about, will probably walk soon...then attending a neighbor's yearly food gathering tea. She works closely with the Haitian community in Boston and delivers all the gathered food to them tomorrow. I'll help her sort tonight but won't be trekking into town since I'll be in my K classes tomorrow.

Hope your nausea goes packing soon, Susan.

special--is there any other liquid in the crock pot stew? Sounds good. to me. And I could share that with DAd....