So...whats for dinner?

Sandy and HH, The whole city is stoked over Gonzaga being in the finals tonight. I've followed the Zags for years - I follow only 3 or 4 teams in the brackets. I think that if the Zags PLAY 40 minutes they can win. Sometimes they feel like they need a nap during the game and don't wake up in time I'll be glued to the TV, probably alone since #2DS is feeling rotten with a cold and I don't want it. Don't need anything interfering with my first cataract surgery on the 11th! I'll probably have a frozen pizza for dinner. I'll cook tomorrow

HUGS!

Will probably pan-sear the other whitefish fillet (if I don’t simply freeze it), perhaps “meuniere” using almond or chickpea flour to keep the carbs to a minimum. Whether it’s that or salmon, accompaniment will be snap peas, as per the ATK recipe.

Welcome to the table, Celia!  Baked spaghetti was a hit with DH after coming of of almost 2 weeks away for work.

Also, just registered for 30 miles on 3 islands for Sept with my sister and cousin.  Will start training in earnest this weekend.  Anyone else headed our way for this event?  Would love to gather if so!

WW meeting yesterday morning. Down 1.4 for the week and a total of 4.8. Slow but the right direction. Some waistbands fitting more comfortably. 👍

So... we had ribeye and small baked potato for dinner last night. Butter, sour cream and grated cheddar for potato toppings.

Stuffed peppers out of the freezer tonight

Had a rolled French herb omelette this morning—2 eggs+1yolk; skipped ATK’s step of adding frozen diced butter to the beaten eggs, as well as using grated Gruyere. I did start low & slow, in an 8” omelette pan (Calphalon Kitchen Essentials, under $20 at Tar-zhay), using their method of stirring the eggs with chopsticks till curds form. I think I didn’t use enough butter in the pan, and let too many curds form, because it did brown (although it was pretty) and stuck a little bit though it did roll out on to the plate. Per Ludo Lefebvre, I added the minced herbs (chives and thyme—Lord, I HATE stripping thyme leaves, even with a tool for that purpose) to the beaten eggs and I was going to pipe Boursin down the middle, but my Boursin was on its way to the great dairy case in the sky—fortunately, I have a little tub of spreadable plain chêvre, which I piped instead. It was still delicious.

Tonight I will do a choucroute garnie: raw sauerkraut rinsed and simmered with sauteed diced bacon, juniper berries, caraway seeds and a little chardonnay (not gonna open or Coravin a bottle of riesling). I have both chicken and heirloom pork brats, veal hot dogs, and a port-infused duck sausage; might add a slice of ham as well. I used up all my coarse ground mustard, so will add some gently crushed seeds to my Dijon.

I made choucroute garnie tonight, as I described, except for one normal (no ham) and one weird difference: when I opened the jar of raw sauerkraut (which seemed much smaller than I expected, just as small as a 15-oz. can of Frank's Kraut), I thought at first that it surely must have begun to break down to the point of spoilage—it looked like a spreadable mush. Then I read the label—it was ground before bottling! The label suggests using it as a condiment, canape spread or dip; and urges that after taking some out, one should tamp the remaining contents down with a spoon, and cap and re-refrigerate it immediately lest those little probiotic cultures give up the ghost. (Well, considering I was about to cook the stuff, bye-bye bugs). The bacon in the pan, juniper berries, caraway seeds and the ounce of Chardonnay I poured into the near-empty jar to shake loose the rest of what hadn't fallen into the pan made it taste great, and the texture ceased to be an issue.

Next time, though, I’ll buy a jar of Ba-Tamp-Te or a bag of Boar’s Head. Cheaper than the mushy stuff, fewer calories than the canned stuff, and a more acceptable conventional texture. Probably a lot more fiber too. (For eating raw, there’s a bagged brand WF sells,The Brinery, with a pre-seasoned variety called “Stimulus Package.” Yummy but pricey). Speaking of your neighbors who would make their own kraut and age it in the backyard, when we lived in married student housing at UW in Seattle we had a Korean downstairs neighbor who made her own kimchi and buried it in the ornamental garden in front of the building for at least six months. Potent stuff!

Just finished making 80 meatballs. Oh my! That is known as using steroids for good. Turned into dinner. There was no way I was making a different meal. Again, appetite is nothing at all but I ate enough to get by. The remaining 75 meatballs are in the freezer on a tray and then I will foodsaver them in the new zipper bags I purchased. Man are those great for things that you will need to open again and again. Don't work well for seeds and herbs sadly but meat, cheese, etc are great.

So, the collective kitchen table can help with a question. I have exactly 1 more pound of loin flap ground beef. Very low in fat content. I think making a meatloaf would be good. I have used Alton Brown's recipe in the past which is fine. But, I bet one or two of you have a great and flavorful meatloaf recipe. Willing to share? Bonus points for horseradish. If your recipe needs higher fat, I have some home-cured guanciale that I could grind and mix with the beef.

Lacey's iPad hates bro.org. Makes it hard to post. Last I heard, she was still looking for the mother of the groom dress. I should get in touch with her soon, to see if she has found the ONE.

I wouldn't mind a meatloaf recipes. 80 meatballs...wow....that's a lot of meatballs.

Tonight we had chicken in the cream-yogurt-shallot-lime juice--cilantro- garlic-chicken/turkey broth-tomato-corn starch "gravy". It is slightly tart from the lime juice and cilantro...and we love it.

Susan, our local watering hole makes a killer meatloaf with Gorgonzola cheese. Might try to wriggle the recipe out of them for you.

Dinner tonight was the path of least resistance. Nothing nukable in the freezer except branzino, and I’ve had fish two nights out of the past three. Had a focus group interview downtown tonight, was paid in cash (the better to pay for the parking fee, which was still cheaper than a cab or “surge-priced” rush hour Uber or Lyft) and the weather was (and continues to be) awful—raw, howling winds (waves threatening to break over the NB lanes of Lake Shore Drive), pouring rain. So plan B—run into WF en route home for a rotisserie chicken—was a no-go. Therefore, went with plan C: logged on to GrubHub, clicked on Dak Korean Wings, and ordered wings (came with “moo,” pickled radish cubes), bibim bap (came with rice, was supposed to come with kimchi but didn’t and I wasn’t gonna send the poor delivery guy out in this weather to pick up a $3 side dish), and spring rolls. When Gordy comes home, he gets the stuff I didn’t eat, and I’ll put a fried egg atop the bibim bap, as per tradition.

Winds were so high a couple of hrs. ago that the bells of two neighborhood churches were ringing like crazy when it wasn’t time for them to do so. I’m used to car alarms, thunderclaps, roaring winds and even an occasional tornado siren, but this was a first in all the 30 yrs. we’ve lived in this house. I know there’s a superstition that ringing church bells during a storm is supposed to bring calmer weather, but we’ve had dozens of storms here before without church bells ringing.

Thinking chicken tonight

80 Meatballs! Wowzer, that is some serious rolling..LOL. You will have them for the forseeable future and not have to make them so this works for me.

Tonight we will have clean out the fridge night which likely means stir fry. I have some ground lamb so maybe burgers..who knows?

The weather Sandy described is here on the east coast now. YUKKY out there today. But the wind has died down at least.

Damn, I just lost my post. Will try again tomorrow.

Special, we passed so many inlets and islands on our way to Fripp. What a lovely laid back area. We loved it. Previously we always went to Hilton Head or Kiawah Island.

Dinner last night was cubed steak, tomato gravy and rice.

Sandy, I had the wonderful opportunity to see Hamilton in NYC with Lin Manuel. I didn't know what to expect as it was not as widely known then, but WOW is the word. Some of the lyrics were hard to follow but I enjoyed it immensely.

Ah crawfish. Would love to get invited to a crawfish boil.

The crawfish at Crabby Shack were good. I took a container with my Hellman's light mayo to make the sauce we like. I added ketchup, hot sauce and horseradish at the restaurant. I had one tray of "mud bugs" with two potatoes that I ate and one corn on the cob segment that I didn't eat. It was mushy.

Dh had two trays and two Abitamber beers. I had one draft light beer. I'm not a real beer drinker so don't mind the light beer. Dh would as soon drink water.

Tonight's meat is a large boneless chicken breast. Sides will be carrots and salad. Haven't decided what the chicken preparation will be. But today is Friday and Monday WW meeting is in the near future! 😏

Wish I could appreciate the food reports as they include many of my favorites but I've been plagued with stomach issues since Tuesday. I thought it was a stomach bug that the kids left (and I was worried about a cold) but the fact that it's lasted this long and the symptoms now feel very much like those of a previous ulcer, lead me to believe that this is more than a bug. At any rate, the only thing I seem to be able to choke down is chicken noodle soup, from a can no less, the occasional piece of cheese and a little toast. Today I stocked up on a probiotic drink and I have been guzzling as much as that as I can tolerate. PPIs aren't helping much. I have absolutely no interest in food. Poor DH, he's had to fend for himself and is also taking care of me. I think I'll tell him to order pizza for himself tonight. He deserves a reward. He is such a peach, definitely a keeper. If I don't see significant improvement this weekend I'll be calling the gastro doc. The only problem is that it's takes so long to see him, I'm usually ok by the time I get in.

Carole, I used to like WW meetings on Monday, they kept me honest on weekends 😇

I gave up on crawfish. I love them but they're just too much work (to eat). I haven't had the jumbo ones so maybe they would change my mind. I'm never in the South this time of year anymore and of course they're unheard of around here. I can get the frozen shelled meat but I've never tried it. Can't really do a "boil" with that lol.

Really lovely day today after two solid weeks of rain and clouds. Seriously depressing. I managed to get out and cut some things back and pull a few weeds. So much more to do but I'm ready!

Hope Lacey has found "the dress" by now. I'm missing her and her newsy posts too.

Susan, sounds like you are managing taxol. I'm so glad.