So...whats for dinner?

Tonight was steak, baked potato, Swiss chard and garlic bread. Everything was a treat!

Tonight's dinner was perfect, but not for the cuisine. We had our grandchildren over after school for some swim & sunshine. I texted their folks to see if they could stay for dinner (on a school night) & they said sure. So, we grilled hot dogs with GF buns, baked beans, watermelon (Whaat? It's April) & beautiful strawberries. It's a dinner that should be in July but we had so much fun. Everyone ate heartily after swimming all afternoon. My husband & I couldn't get a word in edgewise with all those kids had to tell us.

Again - just perfect!

Celia forgot to say your Brussels Sprouts dinner sounded great. I probably could have skipped everything else.

Oh, how I miss mac & cheese, real crackers, dried fruit, fried chicken (those McDonald's chicken sandwich commercials drive me nuts), corned beef hash, real pasta (semolina, not "zoodles" or shirataki), Nabisco Marshmallow Pinwheels, fish & chips, gelato & sorbet, really good donuts, etc. Closest I've come to "fast food" since June 2019 is when Bob goes through the drive-thru at Boston Market...to bring home roast chicken & veggies. (I admit I cheated with pazcki for Fat Tuesday and hamantashen for Purim, plus a single glazed Krispy Kreme I got for free by showing my vaccination card). I cook low-carb. When I go to restaurants (or order out), except for winemaker dinners (few & far between during the pandemic), I order as keto as they offer (and our fave places know and accommodate my dietary restrictions). I fill up fast, so my body naturally dictates portion control. (I always bring home leftovers, and sometimes they last two more nights). My undoing, due to cravings, is snacking, especially late at night, when the keto-friendly stuff just doesn't cut it. Chocolate and starch...sigh...But I can't relate to people who claim to eat a pint of ice cream or polish off a bag of cookies in one sitting. I can't eat that much without getting queasy. I simply eat the wrong things...at the wrong time.

I can get full on salads, but that's just my stomach (and the "fullness" may actually be boredom with the food). My brain & my mouth still want taste & texture...and I don't find veggies delicious. And any fruit I really enjoy has too much sugar. The only fruits I'm allowed (berries, cantaloupe, the occasional citrus), taste nearly unripe to me. Some people may talk about "pandemic fatigue," but I'm experiencing low-carb fatigue. I wish I didn't constantly have to read nutritional info labels before I buy something new.

And did I mention I detest exercise? Wish hypnotists offered to make one crave physical activity, not just avoid inappropriate eating.

I hope they don't weigh me at the MO's office tomorrow.

carole - I get the ETSY hassle - my son also does some woodworking, but his projects are large - headboards and bookshelves, particularly reclaimed wood - and he closed his shop on there as well because it was hard to package those big things. He sent one project to my SIL and it was stolen off her porch, and he was done after that. He delivers in person now, which limits things, lol!

I stopped buying rotisserie chicken for the most part, for the sodium reason but also because I really don't like pulling the chicken off all the different parts of a whole bird. I do like to buy breasts that are bone in, skin on. I rub them with olive oil and sprinkle with my "house seasoning" which is seasoned salt/pepper/granulated garlic in a shaker. Then I roast them for an hour at 350 F and pull the meat off and remove the skin. Easier because it is a breast but you still get the flavor since it is roasted with skin and bone. The seasoning flavor penetrates but a lot of the salt stays on the skin which I don't use. There is a large yield of usable chicken because those breasts - at least at my Publix - are huge. I usually get a package of four and cook all, then bag the portions and freeze them so they are cooked and ready to use. The meat stays very moist if it is bagged and frozen right away. I occasionally buy a big package of legs, but do that less lately.

I have made veggie lasagna with zucchini and like it too. The technique of par cooking the zucchini first seems to help with the dish not becoming too watery.

minus - re-excision is scheduled for the 29th, with a covid test on the 27th. Will report in but not expecting it to be any worse than the wide excision. The local tends to wear off right as they are ready to stitch, pretty consistently. So, there is a slight delay while they get more ready. Prob not an issue with MOHS because it is phased by nature with the final stitching done after the clean path report. As my derm says, they want the procedure to be as pain free as possible because they want everyone to come see them for their skin cancer removal needs, lol! My temptation is to ask for a big chunk off the bat so I don't have to sit around longer than the first round of pathology - seems to take an hour for that for all the ones I have had done so far. I already submitted to a wide excision so what is the difference? if it was my face I wouldn't do that but I already have a four inch scar where they will be working.

Bone in skin on chicken breasts are hard to find around here except at butcher shops. When you do find them they are HUGE. I don’t but Costco rotisserie chickens often but I do buy them because they are versatile and delicious in spite of whatever all is added to them. Or maybe because of it.

Floors are done! Yay! The installers were great and very efficient. Thankfully their taste in music wasn’t hip hop but instead it was heavy metal. After seven straight hours yesterday I determined that I really despise AC/DC. As far as the floor is concerned, It’s amazing how much sound travels now without the carpet. It will take some getting used to. I’m especially happy with the kitchen. Happy to have no more big projects for a while. Whew! It’s exhausting. The weekend will be spent putting stuff back where it came from.

Tonight is gyros and a Greek salad. I might make pilaf if I can muster up the energy.

Those rotisserie chickens are always tempting, but I have mostly avoided them due to the info about sodium level. Special, I like your idea for having cooked chicken at the ready...but you are much more organized than I, and my cooked chicken could easily be covered in freezer burn before I remembered to rescue it from there!

Tonight we had rolled chicken breasts stuffed with sundried tomatoes, pesto, and mozarella cheese. Sides were marinara sauce over angel hair pasta and garden salad with horseradish vinaigrette. I rarely serve pasta as a side, and it sure tasted yummy tonight!
Last week I made a similar chicken recipe, but with feta cheese instead of mozzarella. When our grand toddler came to visit on Monday when her daycare was closed, I fixed her a lunch that included some of that leftover chicken. The week before, she’d enjoyed grilled chicken, so we figured she would also like this. Well! Forget chicken with feta cheese! She eagerly popped a piece in her mouth, and promptly looked horrified, took it out, and vigorously tried to wipe down her tongue and mouth. Sensory systems are so fascinating. We got the message!

Carole, the eggplant pizzas I made were actually from two medium sized eggplants that I sliced longwise for ease of the process...I could make fewer. They are good, but as a leftover, not so much due to texture degrading. The zucchini lasagna sounds good. Have not made it in years!

One day this week we ate coconut shrimp from Trader’s that DH picked up. They were easy and really good with a cocktail sauce I made.

I am so impressed with all of the home renos nearing completion...and Minus, I really hope you have your whole house back to yourself very soon! You have my total admiration for your ability to go through that process. Nance, I laughed at the music tolerance issue, but how nice that your workers did an efficient, nice job. Our son just had new floors put in the renovated wing of their house, and have yet to get them “finished”. Their project seems to be going on forever. And they work from home mostly now, so are never away from it. So witnessing that puts me in touch with what many of you are going through. And your reward is that you will have great spaces in the end! Yay!

Special, I hope the re-excision goes well!

Tonight’s dinner pi. No idea about weekend food...maybe pizza, after your inspiration, Mae!

Nance, Yay on the completed flooring! How do you make gyros? I had them at restaurants many years ago and couldn't quite figure out what the meat was. Some lamb mixture?

The modified Chicken Salsa dish, made with pork instead of chicken, was successful. I think I like the combination of black beans and salsa better with pork than with chicken. I sprinkled grated Mexican blend cheese on top at the last minute. We also added sour cream to our servings. Tortillas would have been good but would have added carbs.

Lacey, I enjoyed your description of the toddler's reaction to an unfamiliar taste.

It's true that the skin on and bone in chicken breasts are always huge.

I have a box of nice mushrooms that I want to use in tonight's dinner. All I can think of so far is beef stroganoff which would involve noodles. Undecided.

Carole - I like your idea of the pork instead in the Chicken Salsa and will make that soon. I too have a box of mushrooms that I HOPE can still at least still be sauteed. The plan is for them to top a Naan pizza tonight with some black olives added.

Good to see you Lacey.

I've not been on in awhile. Sharon and I have been doing home improvements/repairs, like many others on here and then we went with some friends to camp out...they in their trailer and us in our truck camper.

Your note on the 16th, Illimae....that just sucks. I'm hoping that it's not a big deal.

Hi Bedo...Long time no hear. Second grandkid....cool! :-)

Special. Hope it goes well on the 29th. My mom had Moh's done for a lesion on her nose. This was when her mind was still intact and she managed to convince them to add to the "numb" while they were checking to see if they needed another pass. She said that one "eye watering experience" to get initially numb was enough!

For a long time we got the store bought roasted chickens and, even though I *LOVE* salt, I thought they were much too salty. So, I would make my own....pressure cook and then some oven time to crisp the skin. Then we could spice it like we wanted. I kept noticing that spices seemed to lose their taste in the pressure cooker and I found I had to just about double up on the amount of spices to get it tasting right. I mentioned it to my mom and, "Oh. Yes. Compared what you use in an oven recipe....double it for a pressure cooker..." I guess I should have asked first! :-)

We used to keep cooked chicken in the refrigerator, but since turning "kinda-sorta-somewhat-a-little-bit" vegan, we have switched to rice and beans. The rice gets cooked in some home made salt free chicken (or turkey) broth and the beans are either white tepary, black, pinto or "chick peas".

Chi, that's interesting about the changing diet advice. Sharon tried WW several times over the past 25 years and each time, it sort of worked. I would follow along and it would sort of work for me too. Both of us would lose some weight and then the loss would stop. I find if I run 20-30 miles a week , I'll lose 2-3 pounds a week. Then, after a month, I'll "plateau" for a month and then I'll resume the 2-3 pounds a week loss...for another month....

Nance, I'll bet you're glad the flooring is done! You, too, Minus, with your repair stuff.

It will be interesting when we move. We have 14 seven foot tall, five foot wide book cases full of books. I'm considering buying a used box truck with a hydraulic lift on the back so I can slide, instead of lift, all the heavy stuff. When we get done moving, we can then sell the truck. Used ones that are "good enough to get the job done" are around $10,000 and when we are done, we can sell the truck.

I'm a huge fan of cast iron cookware. About the only way to hurt it is to get it "screaming hot" and then pour water into it, or drop it onto the floor. Once it's well seasoned, it's quite non-stick.

When my mom was in her mid 90s, she gave me her cast iron cookware. She pointed out the stuff she bought, the stuff her mom gave her and the stuff her grandmother gave her. So, a lot of what I have is well over 100 years old. The only issue is weight.

I forgot the glass front bookcase. It's about 5 feet tall, 4 feet wide, with 4 shelves and doors that flip up to slide in above the books.

We're hoping to put everything into storage in the next few months and get the house interior updated/painted/etc. while living in our camper (with two dogs!). Once the house sells and we know how much money we have to work with, we'll start looking in earnest (again while living in the camper). We're hoping to stay in Arizona, but, if that doesn't work out, then we're open to other states.

We were camping with friends at a state park just north of Tucson. They were winter residents from Naperville, IL and moved her full time about 3-4 years ago. We met at a bluegrass festival.

From the campsite north of Tucson, we took them to Mt Lemon, Tombstone and Kartchner Caverns.

Mt Lemon is one of the southeast Arizona "sky islands" where the climate/terrain goes from low Sonoran desert to sub-alpine forests in a short drive.

Tombstone needs no description.

Kartchner Caverns is a large cave complex that became a state park. After the private landowners discovered the cave, they offered the land to the state and the legislation to create the park was passed unanimously in just one afternoon. Both houses of the legislature met simultaneously and the governor was on hand between the two legislative chambers to sign the bill. I'm guessing this was the fastest "bill to law" legislation ever and I'm quite certain it was the only time both political parties agreed on ANYTHING. :-)

celia - how was your farm to table?

jhl - yay for a grandchildren and grandparent get together - how fun!

auntie - glad your floors are done! I'm still waiting on the new fridge and three new glass doors - slider, French, and a big glass door to the lanai. All of these are tall - since the house has high ceilings. Hope my install guy can deal because they will be heavy.

lacey - I keep the bagged chicken in a specific place but I also have a shallow side by side - so it is harder to lose things since it is small. I certainly have had that happen with normal freezers though! How is your back doing? Your granddaughter's reaction to feta sounds very much like my son's reaction to coconut at that same age. Lots of tongue scraping, a shake of the head like after a tequila shot, and a look at us like we were trying to poison him. Lol!

mommy - are you doing ok?

bedo - hi, hi, hi!!! Yay for grand #2!

eric - DS bought a trailer for his move from VA to CO in December, with plans to sell it once there. He parked it in the apartment parking lot while he got established at work, went out to get it ready to show someone, and it had been stolen! He called the police and miraculously they found it 7 hours later! He just sold it last week with a $400 profit. Amen to the extra numbing, especially on the face. I've had one extensive MOHS to the side of my nose and I can testify it smarts to get that first numbing.

carole - my DH has experienced a similar situation with his sibs and the loss of the last parent. I think the only way all five will see each other in the same spot is a wedding or a funeral, and that is not even a guarantee. Three live In FL, two in NC. Is the meal plan for your bro Optifast? My mom did that and it worked well.

mommy - excellent! Feels good to be vaccinated, right?

Feels great.