So...whats for dinner?

Dinner tonight, thanks to Eric, was our version of lasagna soup and the recipe is a keeper.

Oh, Special, the meals at our house would be changed dramatically without tomatoes! Hope you aren't having to give them up!

Dinner tonight was Subway takeout. I did make some more sourdough tonight and I took a loaf over to the grocery store manager. She is one of those "all around wonderful" people and I thought it would be a nice thing to do.

Beav, I'm glad the recipe idea worked. Sharon found it "somewhere" and made it. I then decided to make another batch and freeze it for those nights when we get home late from hiking and don't feel like cooking. I agree with you on lack of tomatoes for cooking. I don't know what I'd do without them!

So, Special, I hope it's not tomatoes!

Seven hundred and fifty pounds.....I've got a Hamilton Beach commercial electric juicer. I put the juice into half gallon (2 liter) mason jars and freeze it. There's enough juice to keep us, DD and MIL supplied for a year. :-)

I am wondering if it is nightshades in general that are causing me problems - I often eat peppers and tomatoes together, especially in Horiatiki salad, so I need to experiment by separating them. I am not a lover of eggplant, so am ok with not having it. Don't eat a lot of spicy chilies, and can live without white potatoes. This seems to be related to both raw and cooked tomato things, grrrrr. I will be pretty sad if I can't eat peppers and tomatoes anymore! I too will be hard pressed to find things to cook without them!

chisandy - I don't like tomato seeds, so have always removed them, so it is not that. They have always weirded me out - no idea why, lol! Have not had a problem with diverticulitis/osis issues, but DH does. Little seeds are his nemesis, flax particularly. I feel your pain on the primary care - almost all my medical care is specialty. I am seen in Family Practice on a military base, when needed. For the last year the base clinic has been almost 100% devoted to COVID testing, and their patients were just farmed out to local urgent care. They are back to telemedicine and limited appointments now, but I am glad they only periodically manage my referrals to specialty care and I really don't need them for any ongoing routine care. I usually have active duty docs who rotate out to the next assignment before I have even met them. It is a bummer when you get a good one and they leave, but conversely if you get one that is not great, they will soon be on their way.

We certainly are tomato fans on this thread, right? My two fave cuisines are Italian and Mexican, so tomatoes are a must. Hopefully I was just in a digestive slump and can continue to enjoy tomatoes in every form. I have found that probiotics make a huge difference for me, so I’m hoping that will hold me steady.

auntie - kitchen is looking good! What is the plan for the floor? We put vinyl plank in the office of the downtown house and it is super easy and fast to lay down and durable and waterproof. I really like it and it comes in such a variety of colors. We chose a blonde oak look with a bit of gray in it.

I put some Traeger rub with extra garlic and brown sugar on a Boston butt and put it in a 250F oven mid-morning. Let it go all day until it was super tender. Had delicious pulled pork sandwiches for dinner with vinegar based NC style sauce and slaw on the sandwich, and some corn on the cob. I had pulled pork for the first time in Salisbury, NC in 1984 and that is the kind of sauce they used - I had never made it myself but it’s super easy. Just combined apple cider vinegar, some brown sugar, just a little ketchup, a little Frank’s hot sauce, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. So good!

Special, I also hope it isn’t tomatoes!

Nance, love the kitchen! So light and crisp looking...and at least you have two opposite counters for two people to use if need be. That is gold!

I got my second Pfizer shot yesterday and am giddy with glee that I only have a sore arm, which is actually even abating already. What a relief! I now think the nurse from the last shot may have struck “something” that caused the inordinate painful arm paralysis for a few days. DH got his today and he seems fine so far. I feel privileged and relieved. Had my yearly onc appt this week and learned from her that she was surprised to see me on the DF list of invitees to be vaccinated since they were supposedly not including patients in remission. But she said they obviously received more vaccine and expanded the list. Made me feel like less of an imposter! In any event, I am vaccinated and thankful. I think the J+J vaccine roll out will really help the distribution of shots as we go forward now.

We had pizza from one of our fave local mom and pop delis tonight, and my typical salad. This place makes an Italian style pizza which is really good and brings us back to our NY and Philly roots. It was good.

After dinner we watched/listened to a Zoom a cappella concert from the local HS and some colleges, which was delightful. And now we are about to enjoy a Zoom Moth session coming from California. Now sure why DH thought it was a good idea to watch a 10:30 performance. Hope the stories are captivating!

This has been our weekend to enjoy and participate in Zoom performing arts. DH acted in Our Town last night, and I am in it next Friday and the following one. The director has arranged for each Friday night to feature one act. It went well last night. Hope for the same next week!

Minus and the rest of our Southwest crew... I hope things are getting close to beingback to “normal” for you now.

Thanks for the picture Nance. I'm trying to decide what to do about a backsplash.

Mae - Yup - I was in flip flops & shorts today too. From 12 degrees to 82 degrees in a week. Weird.

I decided I should start eating some of the meals I've been freezing. I will NEVER learn to cook for one, so I have a lot of good choices. Tonight was my previously frozen vegetarian "shepherd's pie" with lentils instead of meat. Delicious.

My favorite is the vinegar based sauce too. That make me weird since I live in Texas.

My nephew & his wife & 4 year old daughter came up today for a picnic at our neighborhood park. They picked up a big bucket of original, greasy KFC w/biscuits, mac & cheese & coleslaw. I dearly love KFC but don't think I've had any in probably 10 years. AND it was really nice that it was all their idea and their treat. Interesting that my nephew is a vegetarian so he packed his own lunch. The 4 year old brought her bike to ride the paths and had a good time on the playground equipment. After awhile, we returned to my back porch and she played with my exercise ball and ended up coloring state maps while we visited. It was a lovely afternoon.

Thank you all, as I said I’m getting used to the kitchen but I dearly miss my 8 foot island!

Had a bit of side effect from the Pfizer - a bout of nausea very early this morning that woke me up. Unlike Monica, I broke out the zofran and by mid morning I was fine. I wasn’t really expecting this with the first one so I guess we’ll see what happens with number two.

Dinner was a pot roast with celery, onions carrots and potatoes and a side of applesauce from the freezer.

Nance, love your choices for your kitchen. Also do understand missing your 8ft island. Our kitchen is wide enough that we added a rolling cart as an island, it is moved out when we have a group dinner. If course have not had one of those for a long time!

Dinner tonight was jump up of lasagna soup. Like the casserole for which it is named, even better the second time around.

Love Sunny Paris, especially in eggs but I use it everywhere a lot.

Today is our41st anniversary so no cooking for me. Can’t decide where to carry out though Not in the mood for steak. We don’t have the variety that Sandy enjoys without driving miles and miles. DH’s seafood tolerance is limited. We may end up picking up a walleye dinner from a new place not far from us. Stay tuned, it could change.

Carole, I know what you mean. But I’m usually behind the trends - hence the granite counters. I was mostly thinking of resale value without investing tons of money since at our age, I don’t know how long we’ll be here. But who knows what the “in” stuff will be by then. What we’ve done and will do is pretty “middle of the road”. So I’m hoping that and the area (Lake community) will be enough to keep it desirable.

Happy 41st, Nance and DH! I hope your dinner choice is worthy of that celebration!

I’ll enjoy appreciating the kitchen upgrades everyone posts, while staying in our somewhat dated digs. We redid our kitchen fifteen years ago, and the one thing I regret is not being able to add an island, or even a peninsula due to the main chimney being “in the way” on one side. So for as large as it seems, it is really not a comfortable two person prep kitchen. We have wonderful ideas about how it could be expanded and grand with a great room, but figure that is best left to the next owners or the developer who razes and rebuilds!That is basically what is happening in this town with 100 yesr old homes.

Last night I made a balsamic honey sheet pan dinner with chicken, sweet potatoes and lots of veggies, along with a cuke salad. Leftovers tonight.

Happy Anniversary, Nance! Hope the meal was tasty.

We are more than two weeks past our 2nd Pfizer shot so Saturday night we ventured out to the club for a prime rib dinner. The tables were spaced apart and the servers wore masks. The dinner was very good.

thinking omelettes and a salad

Tonight was a tenderloin steak, steamed broccoli, roasted squash/zucchini/red onion and a small arugula salad.