So...whats for dinner?

Serenity- current forecast is now at 2-4 inches but they will tweak and/or completely change the forecast several times I would imagine before Saturday.

:Heated up the turkey/spinach meatballs last night. They were frozen in small amount of marinara. One side was a romaine salad with avocado and grape tomatoes dressed with sprinkle of white balsamic and splash of EVOO. The other side was a layered eggplant dish with marinara and grated Asiago cheese. I found two nice eggplants at the supermarket, surprising at this time of year. Half of the eggplant dish is left over, enough for another meal. It freezes well, too.

Tonight will be seared catfish fillets, seasoned with s & p, garlic powder, onion powder and cayenne. Side veggie will be one of the several fresh veggies I bought yesterday: turnips, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, sweet potatoes. Not the sweet potatoes. Not a good match with fish.

Carrie, I love your daughter's determination not to get stuck with the cook role. I not only cook most nights but clean up, too. How dumb is that?

Carole - I think the cooking/clean up thing is definitely generational. My brother had to mow the lawn and wash the car, but never cook or wash the dishes. (exception was Christmas cookies w/cookie cutters when we were little).

My husband was the same generation. I may have said this here before, but when we moved to Houston I went to the nearby grocery store to get a check cashing approval card and they asked if I wanted to put my husband on the account. I politely told them to please call the police if they ever saw him in the store because I would be dead. Showing my age here for those who don't remember check cashing cards. No one really had 'credit cards' except some business American Express cards. BankAmericard was in it's infancy. Otherwise there were 'charge cards' for gas stations & some stores like Sears, but they were site specific & were due at the end of every month.

On the other hand, when my son asked for more milk or iced tea, I reminded him that he knew where the fridge was. My Mother would have jumped up before anyone could ask if the glass even looked half empty. My DS usually shares kitchen duties with his DGF, one slices & preps and the other stirs.

Sorry for the digression. I'm sincerely hoping it's generational and younger people are not as rigidly slotted into gender determined tasks.

I cook, dh does pots and pans. Lately DH has taken on breakfast making, which suits me fine, in which case, I clean up. The reality is that I do a lot of the cooking cleanup too. But dh does his share, he does his own laundry and ironing, as well as changing the bed linens and laundering sheets. He also does all of the mowing and string trimming and car maintenance. He is very much a handyman which is good because I am not good on ladders. He is also the trash guy. Either one of us will make lunch. Oh yeah, he likes the vacuum too -- yay!

DS is not a tidy guy, so it's good that he married a similar personality. She is a trained chef, but he has learned to cook because she works long hours. I don't know who cleans up because neither one does it here. They will help if asked, but no one offers. Don't know what's up with that. Neither one was raised that way.

Three inches of powdery snow this morning. The birds are going crazy. I have some leftover pizza dough that must be used, so calzones and salad for dinner.

Minus--so funny---Pancakes was my dad's specialty, along with frying fish. or cooking game. Otherwise he steered clear of the kitchen till my Mom said "come and get it."/

We had a dusting of maybe 2 inches of powdery snow. But bitter cold yesterday. Only stuck my head out to go to NH in evening and it was way below zero with the 25 mph winds. Colder today but not so much wind, and tomorrow supposed to be the coldest.. But I can't complain. I haven't had to pay for snow removal yet this year.....course we have 3 more months, right. Suppose I have just jinxed myself. Friend Melodie and I went to local sports bar and had the best burgers 2 nights ago---I hadn't been there since I retired and the prices had really gone up. We were the only ones eating--everyone else was at bar. I had a Buffalo Burger--beef but with Buffalo wing sauce on it along with cheese and onion. and a side of ranch dressing. Melodie had a Duke burger that came with 2 kinds of cheese and bacon,......Now I want to go back......it's like a craving that is set on a thermostat that wants to kick on now.....evey day....

And I haven't seen the gym in well---I'd have to go buy a membership...let's leave it at that....

When Bob & I got married, the only credit cards we could get were store charge cards for the Bon Marche & Penney’s, and a Shell gas card. Didn’t get a credit card till I started working as a lawyer! Back then when we lived in Seattle, Safeway & QFC let us write checks by presenting a driver’s license….and Bob didn’t drive yet! So guess who did all the grocery shopping till our bank finally brought in an ATM? Here in Chicago, we got check-writing cards from Jewel & Dominick’s, but we used them also for discounts. Dominick’s is gone, but I use the Whole Foods app and Mariano’s keychain tag for discounts, and the debit or rewards-points cards for most purchases too big for cash. And ApplePay at WF. Most people who do personal services for us prefer PayPal anyway.

Jan. 3 I ended up getting a whole rack of spareribs for $12 and some baked beans with BBQ burnt ends at the BBQ dept. at Mariano’s. Got 3 meals out of it and still have leftovers. Also pan-roasted Brussels sprouts two nights in a row. Sick of BBQ by now. So I used up the little bit of Bolognese sauce in the fridge and had it over whole-wheat spaghetti sprinkled with Parmigiano-Reggiano. The smoked duck breast will last…it’s smoked and still Cryovac’ed. But I might thaw some frozen duck confit legs and make cassoulet tomorrow if Bob wants to stay in for dinner.

Leftovers tonight. Jump ups? I forgot who called them that. Eggplant dish, black eyed peas and brown rice and romaine salad or coleslaw.

I am sitting in the dermatologist's waiting room until it's time for the blue light treatment. We're having some winter weather. It may be a mix of rain and sleet by noon. I'm hoping to be home by 12:30 or 1 pm. Staying out of sunlight for 48 hours shouldn't be a challenge

74F on Sunday. It will be in the upper 60F range tomorrow.

Laurie's special Mexican Chicken is in the oven. The wonderful meal that can not fail from our original founder. I was going to the store to get tortillas & other things, but it hasn't gotten over 36 with a nasty rain so I decided I will wait and get them tomorrow for my leftovers. The next two nights are supposed to be 26. Brrrr. That's cold for Houston.

Meatballs & soup & Gruyere sangys all sound great.

OK, now I'm jealous of your weather! It's 8F now. The sun was shining, and it melted some snow so we have icy sidewalks and streets. Snow removal is great here, so everything keeps going as usual.

It's Sushi Friday. Ate a lot since dinner was my only meal today. Then a daughter made brownies. Yum!

My husband is the usual cook, but I can make breads and desserts. I can make pancakes, waffles, and crepes (or breakfast desserts). And I know how to put out fires. ;

It's 1° right now, but zero last night. My skin feels like alligator skin and I can't keep enough lip balm on to keep my lips from cracking. Looking forward to the predicted 50° on Monday.

We have about 3 inches of snow on the ground and the birds have been holding a full frontal assault on the feeders. Imagine our surprise to see a very large red tailed hawk sitting in the tree right in the middle of the feeding area. This guy was huge! Even more surprising was the fact that none of the birds were paying him any attention, several perched within a foot of him. The hawk was very persistent and kept returning to the middle of the activity in spite of our chasing him off repeatedly. This is so unusual because usually when there's a hawk around anywhere, the birds disappear or become completely motionless until the coast is clear. Today they acted as if he was invisible. Don't know if the drive for food was too strong or what, but it was weird.

Tonight was gumbo with smoked sausage, some andouille and shrimp. Brown rice and a few garlic bread sticks went with it.

The Big Guy

HappyHammer - copy of Laurie's post above but I can't seem to insert quote marks or add italics or even space it differently. Just so everyone knows, each word is Laurie's.

And of course now that I see it in writing again, I forgot to add sour cream tonight. Darn - it was in my brain to remember but I guess it smelled so good & I was so hungry, I just scarfed it up. I didn't shred the chicken this time and served a whole breast topped w/beans & sauce & cheese.

Tonight I tried a recipe that showed up on my Facebook feed and it was really good! Lemon Chicken and Spaghetti Squash. Guilt-free dinner. I made it just like the recipe, but added shredded Parmesan cheese on top, and a lot more garlic. I think next summer I'll try it with some fresh basil from my garden.

Welcome, Siciliana! Speaking of Sicily (I assume that’s your heritage?) was briefly considering making fake cannoli out of low-carb bread toasted around tubes and stuffing them with ricotta, mascarpone, cream, fior di Sicilia extract, sugar-free apricot jam and a little Xylitol. Then Bob walked in the door with a Boston Kreme…cronut!!! (Only one, lest I be too tempted). Bless him!