So...whats for dinner?

Usually I can just wipe the skillet out with a dry paper towel. If it's kind of "nasty', I'll put some water in it and rub with a paper towel. If it's *REALLY* nasty, I put some water in the skillet and use one of the nylon scrubbers. Maybe once per month I'll need to use the last option. No matter what, I'll put it back on the stove on low for a few minutes.

Sometimes I wish i had more time for hobbies, but that's OK. What I do saves quite a bit of money and will hopefully allow us to retire sooner than "normal" and then I can get back to my hobbies.

My mom is on antibiotics and despite the Imodium, she's needing lots of showers...sigh... The antibiotics and D train are causing the usual wild changes in effectiveness of Warfarin, so she's needing weekly "finger stick" INR measurements.

Moon, I've never tried the pre-planned / pre=packaged meals unless one wants to count MREs. Meals Ready to Eat.....

Hsant, that sucks about the collision. I'm glad no one was hurt. That's the most important. Next is the hope they have insurance and the insurance company will not be difficult.

For what it's worth, spring is here in Phoenix. I think it was 89F degrees today and is likely to be 90F tomorrow. It's actually very comfortable in the shade and not too bad in the sun. It's not anything like 90F in the Carolinas. Still, it's a busy time for the EMTs and paramedics. Baseball spring training season is here and lots of folks from elsewhere are here. While 90F is comfortable, one must drink water and eat a bit to not get dehydrated/electrolyte imbalanced. When folks don't, or drink too much beer instead, they get the attention of the medics.

Susan, I don't blame you for not launching an investigation. :-) That is neat about the painting, I like the colors. It sounds like things are starting to come together and will be in time for the new baby. Installing the electrical outlets, switches and the cover plates will go pretty quickly. Ceiling lights may take a bit longer, mostly because of moving a ladder around, but even that is still not too time consuming. Ceiling fans, depending on circumstances, can be OK or can cause an electrician to use words not heard around Sunday School.

Dinner tonight was a chicken that I cooked last night in a dutch oven. DD made it into a rice dish, and she prefers chicken for this to have a non crispy skin, so I just splash the chicken with Alder Smoked Salt, put it all in the dutch oven, cover it up and cook it at about 275F until it's done.

UhOh...MIL just called asking if we know about emergency vet hospitals. She has a cat and that's not a good question to be asking.

Had about half (mostly white meat) a roast chicken to finish or freeze, so I took the meat off and froze the carcass for eventually making stock. Decided to make a sort of chicken Cacciatore. Spiralized half a zucchini and half a yellow summer squash, nuked the “zoodles” 30 sec. and tossed them with salt and EVOO in a skillet I held over the pot in which my son’s spaghetti was boiling. In a large pan, sauteed a Cubanelle pepper cut into strips along with some minced garlic and EVOO. Added a sliced mushroom and a little red wine (about a Tbs. of a Bota Box blend), then the chicken, 3 sprigs of fresh oregano (stripped & chopped) and 1/2 c. Trader Giotto’s Marinara. Added a Tbs. of the pasta cooking water. Served half of it over my “zoodles” and stirred the spaghetti into the rest for my son. Served with 2 oz. of Etna Rosso brought back from Sicily (I love that Coravin--I have 3 bottles of really good red wines ready to sample whenever I want).

Oh, Sandy, you have reminded me that I need to try out the veggie spiralizer I bought some time ago.

Oh Susan, what a nice story after all the aggravation. Pretty green and I love the shower tile. It's exciting all the things that are coming together!

Just got back from the retina doc -- twice yearly check on the weird eye disease -- all is well with no changes. (I hate getting my eyes dilated. They will stay dilated through most of the evening. Ugh.) Now tomorrow if I can get through the cancer doc with the same report I'll be a happy camper.

Happily, my dad is doing great! The stent has done wonders. The foot ulcers have healed, he is walking more and more each day, he no longer needs oxygen and he is much more his old self. I'm very hopeful he can be released soon. The Senior Services caseworker visited dad yesterday and said he would qualify for extra help when he is discharged, at least for the first few weeks he is home. That's great news for me (and him.) We had a bit of a scare when, like Eric's mom, dad developed pretty severe diarrhea. They tested him for C diff, a potential side effect of all the antibiotics he's been taking, but thankfully, it came back negative. He seems to be over it now. I hope your mom gets over hers soon too Eric. I worry so much about dehydration with them. Red, how is your dad doing with assisted living?

I admire everyone's food discipline. I'm all over the place with eating, grabbing way too much fast food and snacks instead of real meals. Monica, I too am interested in your delivered food report. It sounds like it might be a good thing for one or two.

Oh Lacey, Meyer lemon madeleines. I can just taste them!

I love Thai food although I can't convince DH that he would. I keep telling him that it's spicy but he remains unconvinced. Although all of the Pad Thai I've had has been too sweet for my taste, so has not been a favorite of mine. But I probably need to try it somewhere a little more upscale than the corner carryout places I've gotten it from. I love noodles so much, it pains me to give up on it.

DH has strict instructions to wash the cast iron only with water and paper towels. Don't tell him, but I have been known to use a tiny bit of soap on really stubborn stuff with no ill effects. My cast iron is pretty well seasoned.

I killed my sourdough starter finally through neglect. I felt guilty for several days but happy not to have it's care hanging over my head. Rye starter is a different matter. Susan - at least Mr. 02143 cleans out the fridge. I am constantly looking at jelly or pickle jars with 1/4 tsp or half of a lone pickle in them. It makes me crazy! I don't remember the last time DH threw out something that was unrecognizable. On the other hand, he disposes of the birds that kill themselves flying into the windows, even though it makes him very sad, so maybe it's a fair trade.

I am actually sort of cooking tonight -- grilled ham steak, sauteed asparagus with lemon and parm, applesauce and some scalloped potatoes.

Small starter update. Yesterday's bake was not a complete success. Today, I pulled the other half of the dough from the fridge this morning and nothing happened for hours. I was shocked after 8 hrs that the dough was still really cold! I fired up the bread proofer and let the dough hang out in the sauna, and it rose! It doubled! So it was alive! A second rise and bake. It might actually be edible bread! I will find out in the AM. With Mr. 02143's Costco run, we now have smoked salmon, so that will be breakfast.

After my last post, I received confirmation that the floors were done today, so tomorrow I will paint the closets. The electrician will finish the second floor outlets, lights, and switches. And between 1-5 we are expecting the washer/dryer. This is Mr. 02143 and my housewarming gift to the kids. Now the kids have to start packing! Inch by inch....

*susan*

Bob had a focus group in Oakbrook tonight, so we met for dinner at Mon Ami Gabi. I’d been primed for steak frites, but he’d been eating on and off all day and wanted something light. So we had house salads and shared a chilled seafood platter (lobster, oysters, shrimp and salmon-avocado tartare). Unfortunately, I was ambushed by a wonderful freshly-baked crusty-chewy baguette.

OH my Carole those sound delightful. I found the chicken recipe on the net. Don't know why my DH doesn't care for orzo but he does love his rice. I even have some whole wheat orzo.

Made another stir fry the smoked sausage one and we ate on it for a couple of days. Tuesday night I took a friend to vote and then left her there for her Bible study. We were in line almost an hour, amazing for a small town. Thank goodness the assoc. pastor had left the wheelchair for her to get in and out. I'm not up to getting hers in/out of the car. So I think we snacked around Tues night. Last night was totally unhealthy hot dogs. I must find something better tonight. It might be the chicken fajita salad which not great is better than hot dogs.

Oh Susan I am loving the totally boring house updates. Sounds like real progress. When is peanut due to arrive? Agree with Carole kitchen pictures or anything else you want to send.

Minus I missed your leaving time. Hope you have a fantastic trip and get all the seafood you can handle. And yummy sourdough.

DD's "boyfriend" in Boston uses a meal service. She could not remember the name - I said "Blue Plate" because that's the one I was seeing advertised at the time. She said yes but I think it could have been any of them. I'm sure it works out for him being single though I do think he can cook OK for a guy. I think they might have had one of the meals when she was there.

Carrie - I identify with the mailbox dilemma. We've had ours knocked down once I'm quite certain by the teen down the street. Not flattened but enough DH had to temp. reset it while I shopped for a new one. I have the kind with the flag on it to let you know mail has been delivered. Not that far out to it but when it's nasty outside it is very helpful. I also have a PO Box in town. We got that a month b4 we closed on the house so we had something to start getting stuff sent to. I prefer anything that is important go there. Do not trust being out here even though we are not on the main road. I've expressed to DH whether they will try to lump us into a community mailbox when the new houses just to our N get finished. He says no but I'm not certain of that. Will just wait to see. I know some routes that do not have indiv. delivery and they are certainly not new houses by any stretch - much older than ours.

Sandy - haha. Ambushed by bread. Thats the stuff that happens to me.

Haha, Carrie, you are hysterical! And nice to have a sense of humor about a poorly rated dish!

Minus, have a wonderful trip....and enjoy the sour dough and fish to the fullest, along with the time with you son, of course!

Carole, that meal sounded really good. I always like the fact that WW encourages "customers" to eat real food, and not nibble carrots into states of felt deprivation. And by the way, I really do like orzo....might try to switch off to a whole wheat one for better nutrition, but sure do like that regular white one.

I had planned to make a dijon sauced baked chicken dish tonight, but a friend called to check to see if we we're still on for going out for an early dinner tonight. Oops! Why yes, now we are. So we'll go to Not Your Avg Joe's, where I can get something decently low cal, she can get her veggie burger, and our other friend can satisfy her carnivorous palate. So DH will be on his own for dinner and assures me that he will be fine...probably because I will be out of the kitchen.

I received my madeleine baking tins, so I should get moving to make them....tho what a temptation to have those little babies lingering around the house! Maybe I should wait until I have a dessert to make for someone.

Susan, such great progress....yay!

Back to the kindergarteners...the morning group was like a sea of jumping fish. Wish I had more minutes to go over our social emotional skills lessons...they could use it!The afternoon group tends to be much more self-regulated.

Congrats Eric! We celebrated our 36th on March 1st!

Sandy, we like Dreamfield pasta. The author of South Beach Diet recommended it. I started buying it when I was eating low carb and dh really likes it a lot better than whole wheat. I like whole wheat anything and everything.

Recently I printed out a recipe for pork carnitas that looked interesting. I had dh do stage one of the recipe today which involved cubing a pork roast (The Pig) and cooking it at low temperature in the oven with orange juice, lime juice, cumin, oregano, onion, bay leaves. I'm not sure whether I'll do stage two which calls for spreading the pork on a baking sheet and browning it under the broiler. We won't be using it in tortillas but as a meat serving. One side will be cubed butternut squash. I think I will drizzle some maple syrup on the cubes and either bake or cook in the microwave. The salad will be jicama and carrot cut into tiny sticks and cilantro. Dressing is fresh lime juice and olive oil. A bit of honey would be good, too.

Luv, we have our primary election on Saturday. I know we don't talk politics but I have to say this election cycle definitely is not lacking drama. If the outcome weren't such a serious matter, one could just pull up a chair and watch with interest.

Carrie, some of my tried and trusty recipes are WW recipes

Hey everyone......Yesterday I moved my Dad to assisted living. I was exhausted by the end of the day. A guy I went to grade school with and two of his friends did all the heavy moving for me. I wan t this to work, but I just don't know......its sort of hard to give up and let others step in and not worry that they won't do it right. Going around with the nursing home about the weheel chair that was supposedly ordered but not been delivered and they won't give me the contact info , but said they would 're-contact" with the person as it is a personel cell number.....None of it makes sense to me. Spent two hours with medicare who for some reason thin ks his fall in the living room is related to a car accident 5 years ago.....Attorneyh is going to deal with them, hopefully better than I was able to.

I wish there was a manual on how to take care of old people......

the cupcakes looked divine, Carole I am glad you are safe, and Susan, the tumor marker news is FABULOUS. Eric, prayers for your mom....and for the other dad and mom (sounds just like my parents, and my mom did manage to go first).....Chi-I love Frutti de mare linquine....better than any o ther pasta.....

Red, I do hope the transition improves and that your dad settles in to his assisted living well with good care.

My unkind scale is motivating me to log in more gym time....thus another trip there today...wish it resulted in increased energy.

Tonight I made a lemony red lentil soup with butternut squash lending a bit of sweet to it...a good hardy soup.

We also had chicken breasts with a dijon maple sauce, which were pretty good, along with a cuke salad and orzo. We'll be having the chicken for a few more nights, given the leftovers.

But tomorrow night we are going out to dinner with friends before attending a concert uptown. It works well that our little town has really expanded restaurant options over the past few years. I guess the young families moving into all the new McMansions need places to eat when they tire of using their super colossal kitchens!

Tonight, since I was en route to Jackson for the MI BCO meetup, I stopped for takeout grilled chicken Caesar, hold the croutons. Ate it in my room, because I knew nothing would be open by the time I arrived and the stuff in the hotel's "corner mart" was that carby, salty, prefab nukable crap. This morning I picked the meat out of the leftover lobster carcasses, mixed it with a little mayo and some low carb bread made into crumbs, parsley and Old Bay; I shaped it into patties and pan-seared them in olive oil. Plated it on a bed of arugula. The remaining shells went into the freezer to be made into stock.

Seconding the hope that Minus is having a great trip!

Carole, yes, I know about the 80/20 business. Actually, even with eating out when we go to Celtics games or plays/concerts (and it must seem that I eat out a lot from what I post here) I feel like I am tied to my kitchen counter most nights. If I left it up to DH we would be ingesting restaurant food constantly, (like we did many years ago when dating) and I really prefer being in better charge of the ingredients I eat.

We almost never go to a restaurant just to "go out to eat" without another purpose. In fact, last night we even decided to forego this year's "Big Night" event at LaMorra, despite the fact that they are holding it at their restaurant this year. They have been holding it at a larger function facility for the past two years and the quality of the night....food and service....was clearly just not the same. That said, I decided that I do not need to indulge in such a high calorie extravaganza again.....we've gone four times! I know the movie by heart and now that I can make all the dishes, including the timpano, felt no need to attend this year. DH agreed, fortunately. I do enjoy going there for a celebratory meal from their regular menu. :

Another Home chef meal tonight.My DH was home today and we had bought a smart TV. He set it up and decided it wasn't what he wanted. So he undid everything packed it up and took it back. The one good thing about it is the corner where the computer was us now very clean and eat. The Web of cords is gone and down from 15 to 3. LOL. We had 3 computers, 2 hard drives, a WII, DVR, and Video recorder there. Plus all the cords and some that weren't connected to anything. LOL now there are only 3. LOL

Sorry got distracted by the neat corner. Onto dinner #2.

2 servings, 9.95 each

Fontina stuffed chicken breasts with spinach and fingerling garlic and rosemary potatoes . The first pic is how the food arrives. I took it out of the insulated box and out of the labeled dinner bag. The spinach was in the box but I didn't take it out of the refrigerator with the other stuff so it missed it's chance to star in the pic! LOL

The bag contained: 1 lb potatoes, 2 chicken breasts, fontina cheese, about 2 cups spinach, a small container of rosemary sprigs, and 3 cloves of garlic and a lemon