So...whats for dinner?

Tonight was the last of the jump-ups, chili. Have to get creative again tomorrow!.

A couple of nights ago I broiled a marinated flank steak, and made some sauteed zucchini and brown rice to accompany. Leftover flank steak was a stir fry the next night with broccoli, red pepper, and carrot over yellow rice for DH, no rice for me. I had a weird day yesterday for timing of lunch, ended up eating tuna salad on gluten free crackers after a late afternoon doc appt, so I had no dinner and DH had penne with marinara and meatballs. No idea what dinner tonight will be - I had some cooked mahi mahi that should have been flaked over a salad for DH for lunch today, but he didn't eat yesterday's lunch, so I think that will be his dinner tonight - not sure what mine will be.

illimae - I recently bought this interesting lasagna pan that is rectangular, but is divided up into three long sections with walls so you can make three different kinds of lasagna in one pan! Each section is the exact size of one lasagna noodle, but I am sure you could use zucchini slices or anything else to make a noodle free one, or really make any kind of casserole or oven baked dish in small batches that you wanted to.

https://www.amazon.com/Chicago-Metallic-26783-Professional-12-5-Inch/dp/B00WDZOPII

Special, I saw that lasagna pan too. I’ve been thinking about it.

Tonight is leftovers, either from last night or from lunch later today with former coworkers.

More jump-ups tonight--the last of the seafood linguine (only the calamari rings remain in it), or maybe Bob's rigatoni Barese (tomato sauce, peppers, sausage). I'm not a big fan of pasta I can't twirl, so will likely stick with the former. Wanted the remaining falfel & hummus, but Bob snuck downstairs in the middle of the night Wed. and polished it off. So I might--if he hasn't killed those off too--have leftover babaghannouj & Jerusalem salad (with perhaps a frozen falafel). Carby, but these days I need hot comfort food (so a tuna sandwich won't cut it). Last night I stretched the linguine with cut-up broccolini and grated Parm. (which I didn't sprinkle on it until I'd finished the seafood).

Keto choc. chip waffle for brunch. Meh.

This was more of a dinner in the sense of the word when it was in transition from the mid day meal to the evening meal, but after a week being too busy to have a proper meal I had chicken noodle soup, turkey sausage and kale soup, roasted chicken breast, a Lebanese styled dolma, a slice of cake, two cookies, some strawberries, a few grape tomatoes and half a bagel with margerine. I feel like the hungry caterpillar.

carole - I'm also taking down the 20 year old window treatments that span the entire back of the house, which is mostly sliders and windows and replacing them with matchstick blinds, and cream linen drapes in the family room only, and painting additional parts of the house with the kitchen paint color, and refreshing the kitchen paint as well - a neutral latte shade. This has been coming for a while, but having spent the last 10 months in here looking at everything has spurred me to action. I had the same approach with the master a few years ago - I spent so much time in there during chemo and the million surgeries I had that I had one day when I snapped and took out the linens, the drapes, changed the color scheme - everything. Unfortunately, the day of snappage was the day before Thanksgiving and I had 20 people coming (oh the pre-Covid days...) so it was not an opportune time for redecoration. Somehow I managed to do both things, but was a bit fatigued on Black Friday, lol! I will be curious how you like the meal kits - I think moon tried a few and liked some of them quite a bit. Sorry about your neighbor and also sorry that we are all still in a situation that attending someone's service is dangerous. Ugh.

Salsa Chicken - Carole, I too have had excessive liquid a couple of times. I've started draining the beans - and while I'm at it rinsing them too just in case some of the sodium gets washed away. And I no longer use a whole jar of salsa.

I remember when Moon was talking about the meal kits. Hopefully she'll chime in and update us.

You are all soooooo ambitious. I can no longer paint straight lines due to neuropathy from chemo (or maybe just plain old age but I'll use any excuse) I had my outside painted last year and it looks great. I was planning to use the same guys this year to start on the inside. Unfortunately it will be more extensive as I have to have two ceilings replaced. But after two leaks last year that required replacing the water heater, I have arranged for my house to be re-piped - all the old galvanized pipes in the attic and walls will be replaced with PEX. I'm holding on that because I don't want a crew in my house during the virus. So I'm holding on the painting too because the plumbers will have to cut holes in some walls requiring sheet rock repairs. And of course holding on the floor & carpet replacement since it would be silly to do that before painting. Sigh.

Only 40 degrees here this morning. And rumors of possible snow flurries tomorrow. That's really cold for Houston.

Last night was the last of the linguine with calamari, cut in with the last of the broccolini. Tonight, Bob is too tired (after his second shot yesterday) to venture out to dine in a restaurant's tent--and still doesn't think it's safe for me to do so, however well-vented it may be. (His reaction is abating). Part of the lethargy is that the NFL playoffs are on TV and it's only halftime...

Think we'll order out for either Indian, Mexican, Lebanese or BBQ. The Lebanese & Mexican restaurants are a block away and doing curbside; the Indian & BBQ joints are offering delivery. Whatever we eat I can supplement with salad (to sub for the starches). I'm getting too close to my immediate-pre-pandemic weight (instead of gaining a "quarantine 15" last spring, I lost it!), so it's time to "bring the hammer down" on the comfort-food carbs. Darn that leftover Christmas candy...

Ordered out from Pearl's Southern Comfort last night: pulled pork & red beans & rice for Bob, spare ribs & collard greens for me; mustard cole slaw for both of us. More of the same tonight for dinner. Brunch (which Bob brought home from Beard & Belly down the street) was quiche Lorraine and mesclun salad, plus one chicken sausage link. Killed me to throw out the crust, but a gal's gotta do what a gal's gotta do. (Bob had a sausage & green chile hand pie with 2 more sausages on the side).

Tonight was baked Cod, seared Scallops, a cauliflower dirty rice and sautéed asparagus.

We ordered from Middle Eastern Bakery & Grocery: mixed kebabs/kofta, hummus, babaghannouj, Jerusalem salad, tabbouleh, pita and and falafel (Bob had the rice from the mixed-meat plate). Plenty of leftovers for tomorrow night.

Brunch was a French herb-gruyere omelet. Hadn't made one in quite a while.

The chicken enchiladas made with leftover Salsa Chicken were good. So was the guacamole dh made. No leftovers.

My appointment for the first shot of vaccine is today at 12:50.

It's cold and overcast. We're having winter in January.

Oh my - slow day here. My meal of the day before an involved Zoom meeting was Tonkotsu Ramen, premium noodle soup - to which I added mushrooms. After the meeting I had some rosemary/raisin crackers from Trader Joes with Boursin chive & shallot cheese. Too late for desert now so I've been sipping a small glass of Tuaca as I read emails.

We didn't end up with snow, but the counties to the North & West did have light snow falls. Our temperature hit 31 last night and I don't think my tomato plant is happy, even though I had covered it.

Well, I’m really impressed with all of the home improvements that are being undertaken by a few of you. I felt my anxiety rise just reading about them. My motivation for undertaking such projects/upgrades is sorely lacking, and the idea of having anyone come into our house “bubble” now to do it terrifies me, so we just “make do”. My rationalization is that we are easy on our environment, so not much wear and tear shows, and also, I am able to tolerate the way I decorated things years ago. Whenever I allow a decor change idea to float into my head, I chase it by figuring that if we ever move to a smaller place, our house will likely be a “tear down”, replaced by a mega mansion, which is true for almost every 100+ aged house in our town that has enough land to accommodate that (and sometimes just barely enough!). So...why bother! ;/ My grands will get to experience the “grandparents old house” feeling of the olden days. Not quite the “arsenic and old lace” look, but to them it could feel that way! LOL

Meanwhile, local son and wife have decided that they love living in chaos so much after spending the past six months having the bathrooms, and basement areas reconstructed in their new house, that they are NOT going to wait to demo and reconstruct their kitchen and dining room, so off they go! I believe they have no idea what it is going to be like to have no kitchen through the winter in MA. And I’m keeping my mouth shut!
I have a feeling they may land in our NH house for at least some time during that process.

Dinners here have returned to those cooked by me. My drive home from PT sessions twice a week takes me right past Volante Farms where I have enjoyed (dared?) stopping to get their nice fresh veggies and delicious breads. The fish truck was also there on the days I have gone, so I’ve been buying salmon and scallops to integrate into our menu cycle. On a less healthful note, yesterday I also treated us to some carrot cake “balls” that caught my eye. Volante’s has a wonderful chef/baker husband and wife team, so their vast store is loaded with tempting baked goods and prepared meals. While I’m never tempted to buy prepared entrees, their baked goods are hard to pass up, especially in small quantities.

I’m posting a pic of a dinner we had with sea scallops, mushrooms, onions and shrimp over linguine a few days ago. We loved it, but will try to create something without pasta to use the scallops I picked up yesterday.

Last night we had baked salmon filets and salad, along with farro tossed with shallots, diced carrot, kalamata olives and diced portabellos topped with a bit of feta.
Tonight we’ll have marinated grilled chicken breasts, maybe microwaved yams, and a multi greenssalad.

Sending peaceful thoughts to all as we navigate through this turbulent time...

The meatloaf last night was as good as I've ever made. I think the difference was not cooking too long. The sides were frozen kernel corn cooked with butter in the microwave and bagged kale crunchy salad with the addition of an avocado.

Now I've used the ground beef in the freezer.

Tonight? To be decided.