So...whats for dinner?

DH made chicken soup with just about everything in it (chicken, broccoli, squash, zucchini, cauliflower, carrots, onion) and it’s so good. Fortunately, the AC is doing well, this is definitely not a summer soup.

Unpacking boxes. I think that will be my song for the unforeseeable future. Took 11 more 42 gallon contractor bags full of documents over to be shredded. Such a great deal. The company is only a couple of miles from my home & offers unlimited free shredding two afternoons a week. Our City trash is large rolling containers for automated PU. I filled my recycle container to the top for PU today. Filled my regular garbage container and my neighbors container. AND the nice garbage truck driver dumped my trash and then waited while I filled it back up & dumped it again. He got both a coke & a bottle of water. Salvation Army is scheduled to PU again on 8/3 and I already have 5 boxes full of stuff. And 3 boxes of books to donate to the Friends of the Library. And 3 boxes for the battered women's home. Whew.

Yesterday's meal was a large bowl of guacamole - 2 avocados & 2 tomatoes w/garlic, onion, salsa. Today will be a spinach salad. And since today was trash PU, I got sidetracked & cleaned out my garage freezer and the one w/the fridge in the kitchen. I defrosted a raspberry Kringle that I'd forgotten about for nibbling today and two pumpernickel bagels for tomorrow w/cream cheese & salmon. Also found a stack of single serving meals that I froze when they were originally created - beef & mushroom in cream sauce, spaghetti & meatballs, black-eyed pea casserole & several others. If they're still good once I defrost them, I'll slot them into upcoming meal plans.

Tonight was pan seared pork in a garlic cream sauce with spinach, roasted broccoli/cauliflower and a huge baked potato. It took over an hour to eat that potato but it was worth it.

Chicken & mushrooms. It thinned out in the freezer so I ate it more like soup/stew - served over penne pasta.

Unbelievably, I was able to get a keto-friendly breakfast at the O’Hare food court: scrambled egg, jack cheese, bacon & coffee—under $10 (tip included). No traffic getting here (I drove, Bob drove home, I’m taking the CTA home tomorrow). Nice not having to pay for rideshare/taxi or parking at this end, because cabs from LGA-Manhattan and back are likely to be about $100 each way. Unlike JFK, LGA still doesn’t have a rapid transit option. My flight is on time, as is my sis’ train from DC. She’ll get to NY first, as she only has to get to the hotel from Penn Station. TSA Pre was a snap, even with all the surgical metal in my body

Yesterday the kids came over for dinner - a combined birthday dinner of sorts for DDIL (the 4th) and me (tomorrow.) I fixed a sheet pan dinner of hoisin basted pork tenderloin roasted over brussels sprouts and tiny yukon gold potatoes, and topped with a garlic chive butter. I also made braised green beans, because neither DH nor DS would touch a brussels sprout if their hair was on fire and it was a fire extinguisher, and dinner rolls. DDIL's favorite dessert that I make is a white chocolate raspberry cheesecake, so I made a small one for dinner and another for her to take home. There were no leftovers except two small pieces of cheesecake.

Tonight is spaghetti and meatballs using most of a jar of Rao's and some meatballs from the freezer. We had a large lunch so I don't know if a salad will be added or not.

Tomorrow, my birthday dinner will consist of a small lobster and dungeness crab legs from a local seafood joint. This is my favorite birthday dinner, which will be followed by my favorite cake - white cake with white buttercream (aka wedding cake) and my second favorite ice cream - spumoni.

Three whole days without rain. Life is good.

Happy Birthday, Nance!!!

Your birthday dinner and that beautiful raspberry topped cheesecake looked/sounded so delish, as does your actual shellfish birthday dinner. Enjoy your day! I'm envious that you've had three dry days strung together! We have had one dry day in all of July so far. Ugh!

We're in NH briefly before heading home Thursday for my last concussion PT session, then to the Cape for a neighbor's son's wedding….then back here for a month. Need to do some serious planning for a mid-August multi dayvisit here with both sons' families, and possibly my sister. I am dreading having to set the limit of no canines (since there are four) but will need to since we'll have a houseful with just the human element.

Our recent meals have been pretty basic….grilled meats (marinated turkey tips, tonight a rare allowance of a steak, teriyaki chicken breasts) and sweet potato and salad. One night we decided to try a vegan pizza recently promoted at a House of Pizza, in anticipation of the “docvegans" being here in August. It was disgusting…and thus crossed off the food options list for them.

Tomorrow, if the sky is actually clear we may go blueberry picking.

Sandy, have a great trip!

Carole, I admire your restraint withholding a bun for your lamburger. DH has had a yen for lamburgers for the past two nights, but ground lamb not always easy to come by up here, and the pub that makes them was closed last night when we called. That's how we ended up with our red meat (steak) tonight.

Another belated Happy Birthday Nance. You do know that as we get older we can celebrate every day for an entire week. Lobster AND crab? Be still my heart.

Eric - my BFF's son used to call me to come clean out his Mom's fridge every couple of months. She saved leftovers from every meal but never ate any of them. Just pushed them further & further towards the back.

Lacey - great to see you. Do you feel like the concussion PT has helped? I didn't even know there was such a thing. Wow - all of those people at one time. It will be fun to have everyone together but I agree that four dogs would be over the top.

Special - how was your trip to VA? Do I remember correctly that you went with your DD?

Carole - and do I remember reading that you are considering stopping your northern sojourns and this may be the last year?

Yesterday was Hawaiian Sliders with roasted turkey & Monterrey Jack since I didn't have ham or Swiss. I buy the 4 packs of Hawaiian sweet rolls since I like them for tuna sandwiches & w/meals but often they don't get eaten. This was a good way to use up the package that was drying out. Delicious baked with the melted butter, onion, dijon mustard & worchestershire. I meant to eat two but ate all four.

Minus, at our age/s (78 and 82) everything is on a year to year basis. Climate change is definitely affecting the summer weather in northern MN. This is the first summer in 9 years that we're dependent on the a/c units in the camper. During some past summers, we rarely turned on the a/c. Also, the air quality has been poor this summer because of fires in Canada. I have been experiencing scratchy throat, chest tightness and dry coughing the last few days. Watching the weather report this morning, I learned that these are common symptoms from breathing the smoky air. I was on the verge of having a Covid test.

Last night was a summer "cop out" dinner. Hot dogs with buns (Lacey won't admire me!) and a salad of fresh beets and delicious cucumbers bought from a farmer. DH's salad included sliced onion.

In this hot weather I do get hungry and eat, but I don't have a lot of interest in food. I lack inspiration. Yesterday I read a WW article about using a cast iron skillet for one-dish dinners cooked on the outdoor grill. I have a cast iron skillet I purchased during a visit with a bc.org friend in Thunder Bay some years ago. I found it at a church fundraising sale. Maybe I'll put the skillet to use. I haven't used it a lot.

Eric - sorry to hear about Sharon's aunt.

Have fun at your music jam. What kind of instruments to you field? Do people sing too?

Oh - edited to say dinner was a delicious omlette with fresh mushrooms & green onions.

Eric,

Condolences on the passing of your aunt-in-law. It is never easy.

Jane

Thanks for the condolences.

I've done that with Gypsy, our soon to be 14 years old, lab dog. She'll be sleeping and I'll reach down and give her a pet and she'll sort of jump. Then she'll realize whats happening, relax and stretch out. Frankie is such a light sleeper that as soon as I move my hand, he stretches out so I can more easily pet him.

Last night, for the jam, I made some "cheesy bread biscuits" based on the recipe at https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/260622/red-lobster-cheddar-biscuits/ . I've increased the cheese by about 50%, reduced the salt by about 50% and I had to increase the 'after basting with butter' baking time by about 5 minutes. From "I think I'll make some to out of the oven and cooling down" is around 30 minutes, so it works out well for a quick snack food for the jams.

One of the folks at the jam is a type 2 diabetic and was (after eating the 4th biscuit) saying he'd need to be careful after eating them. So, next time I'm going to try one of Sharon's spinach-artichoke dip recipes and surround it various vegetable "sticks".

That's too bad about the lack of enthusiasm for the pesto zoodles. To me, most things (except maple syrup or a nice ale) are better with pesto. I'd make the zoodles anyway and let everyone else figure out dinner on their own.

Sandy, the wife of one of the "jammers", considers bell peppers to be at the upper end of her heat tolerance, so I wouldn't have added peppers--even if I had thought of it. I didn't think of the peppers, which kind of surprises me as I like spice in that kind of stuff.

When the Hatch Chili season arrives it's pretty obvious here. I'm guessing it's the same there. I'll get 5-6 pounds of the hottest ones I can get, slice them and then can them. I'd have to check, but I think it's 5 parts vinegar, 1 part water and 1 tsp of canning salt per cup of the vinegar-water liquid. After a month in the jars, the liquid is perfect for a salad dressing and the pepper slices are good on the salads (or by themselves).

I love to fly, but not on airlines. A "tail-dragger" doing acrobatics is a great time. :-) Besides the flying at government expense, I've flown on an airliner twice in, I think, 16 years.

Minus, we, too, are going through a cleanup-cleanout-pack it up phase. I wish we could be done packing and moved in a a single day as a house with no books is kind of depressing.

Carole, cast iron on the grill works *VERY* well.

I can eat junk food, even if it is a "bad idea". :-)

What I meant by the "obvious" when it's Hatch chili season, is that the stores put out displays of 40-50 pounds of chilis and then have a bunch of large burlap sacks, also full of chilis, around the display. Last year the nearby store had a "roaster" in the parking lot that charged by the pound. The smell of roasting chilis was *amazing*.