So...whats for dinner?

Congrats on the 10 lbs. Is your DH eating what you are so you don't have to cook two meals?

Oh I don't ask my son about marriage either. He and his girl will have been together for 21 years in March. Yup - twenty one years. Many marriages don't last that long.

I missed a couple of posts. I thought I was old enough to be married at age 22, so 24 is certainly old enough to decide "such things". I'm going not going to ask either! :-)

My older brother retired today at age 67. He has been together with his "very, very significant other" since 1973. Both had very high paying jobs and there were tax advantages to not being married. He has talked about marriage after the income drops, so we'll see what happens with them. :-)

Long break between exercise classes today, so made a big lunch. Brussels tossed w/olive oil & balsamic glaze, then roasted plus a somewhat shroomy based pasta. TJs (Trader Joes) Truffle Picante Sauce (tomato based, with a kick), combined with leftover organic chicken sausage, a bit of chopped cooked chicken, sauteed shrooms & mixed with TJs Mushroom Ravioli. Very yummy and enough pasta left for 2 more meals. Plenty of sprouts left as well, so will be a repeat over the next couple of days.

Yesterday's dinner was a repeat of lobster rolls and broccoli slaw.

Hubs went out to do a big grocery shop today as we are looking at Weds being rain, to freezing & then morphing into snow for Thurs & possibly into Friday. Another storm advancing towards a lot of the US. Stay warm & safe!

Still working on the sausage pasta. Love having a reheat dinner.

Anyone who owns an air fryer...do you love it enough that you'd rebuy it? also, which brand. I'm on the fence with that and an Instant Pot. too many gadgets, not enough time.

Wallycat, I have both an air fryer and an instant pot ( both instant pot brand) and use them regularly. If I had to choose one or the other, I think I would take the versatility of the multicooker. That said, the air fryer is fantastic when one does not want to have the oven on. My engineer DH chose the brand of air fryer over the one I had picked out -- and he made a good choice! Happy shopping!

Which one did he select? I'm on the fence because our oven has "convection" and I've read that that is basically the same thing...but yea, the size. I have a countertop cuisinart steam/convection oven. I suppose I should try that out before hand

The air fryer is a convection oven. If you already have a convection oven, you probably don't need an air fryer. I bought mine at Sam's club for about $90. It's very light in weight but is bulky in size. It works great and I have used it quite a few times over several years. But I favor stovetop skillet cooking. My younger sister has two air fryers so that she can cook a meat and oven fries at the same time.

I have a multi-cooker that is not an Instant Pot and it works very well, too, but I've probably used it less than a dozen times. It's second nature to me to cook a pot of dry beans on the stovetop or a pot roast in the oven. I bought the 8 qt. size and wish I'd bought the 6 qt.

They're both very good appliances.

Last night's dinner was a pork tenderloin. I "slathered" it with a mixture of chopped fresh herbs, garlic and olive oil and roasted it at 425 degrees to an internal temperature of 145.. It was juicy and quite good. DH ate his with a copious amount of jarred chutney. The sides were baked sweet potato and tossed romaine salad with all our favored ingredients.

Tonight will be salmon topped with a yogurt dill mixture. I have a luxuriant dill plant in the herb garden so the dill will be fresh. The veggie will be asparagus or cauliflower mash. Salad may feature slices of pear and strawberry. It will be interesting to see if dh puts sweet onion on his. For him salad equals sweet onion.

Appreciate the feedback, all. Eric, your comment on spreading out in the kitchen made me smile. Although I tend to like spreading out on the counter, it reminded me of office politics and how women sit vs. how men sit...they always spread out to take the most amount of space .

I guess before I buy anything, I'll try the convection. I do have a pressure cooker that is stove top and induction usable (we have induction cooktop here) so I best get busy.

Sandy, please update us on how you are doing!

I'm making a tuna melt with raclette cheese on Naan bread. Also going to do something with cauliflower for a side but not sure how I'll prep it. If anyone has a great cauli recipe, feel free to share.

I have no instant pot and no airfryer - I am seriously behind on the latest kitchen gizmos. I don't even use my slow cooker very much, I really should get it together, lol!

chisandy - we are worried about you - hope you're hanging in there.

wally - I am a big fan of oven roasting vegetables - try doing your cauliflower in decent sized florets, toss with salt, pepper, olive oil on a sheet pan. Roast for about half an hour, depending on floret size, at 350 F. When the cauliflower is done you can eat it as is, or sprinkle cheese of choice on and return to the oven until it just melts. Easy and yummy.

auntie - your DH is a wise man, indeed! When mine thinks he doesn't like something he says it is "interesting" because he won't come right out and say he doesn't like it. He will occasionally say he "doesn't prefer" it, and I am always what the heck does that even mean? His only outright refusal is raw tomatoes - otherwise he is pretty game to try whatever I give him.

minus - you had asked me if DH is eating the anti-inflammatory diet also - he is. One of the reasons we embarked on this again (he also did it the first time and lost weight then as well) is because his onc endocrinologist suggested that Hashimoto's patients do better without gluten. He has also lost about 10 lbs., and is very happy that his pants are more comfortable! So far we are both happy with eating this way and we both feel better, so it is easy to commit to staying the course.

Tonight is a Hungryroot Winter veggie/chickpea curry bowl. It’s a tasty meatless option, although the curry is a little spicy for me.

I don’t check this thread very often, but I stopped by to share some tidbits. I’ve been making quinoa more than rice lately. I make a large pot and then freeze it in 1-2 cup portions for easier dinners. I add stuff to fill out the meal.

I found two really yummy “adds” this week. I rough cubed a large container of Costco mushrooms, put them on a tin foil covered baking sheet, and added a quarter cup of balsamic vinegar and a few splashes of olive oil. I roasted them in a hot oven (425 for US ovens)for about 30 minutes and then tossed them in the quinoa. I had some leftover chicken breasts as well, but my DH said we didn’t need that because the mushrooms and quinoa were so good. I added a sprinkle of Parmesan and parsley to finish the dish.

Tonight I mixed lentils, quinoa, sun-dried tomatoes, scallions and fresh parsley with a few crumbles of blue cheese on top. I’m looking forward to leftovers for lunch.

cyathea - thanks for your post & your ideas. It's a lot like the way I eat. I'll look for the Costco mushrooms.

I've found the quinoa tastes bland, but like tofu, the secret is in the "what it's cooked in/with". Sharon and I are still experimenting. We like spicy, so some Serrano peppers are always part of the mix.

It's sunny but cold enough that I need to put on shoes to comfortably go outside and I can hear/see all the "world's tiniest violins" playing their sad song for me. As I've said earlier, you can tell me all about the weather when I walk outside at 8pm and it's still 110F/45C. :-)

It looks like 2 boxes of oranges makes a bit more than 12 gallons of orange juice and we, so far, have just picked the oranges we can reach from the ground. Looking at it today, I'm guessing we are not even 20% done with the picking.

I managed to clear more freezer space, so I'm going on "The great jar hunt" to get more 1/2 gallon mason jars. MIlL said that while we're moving, we can put the freezer at her house....as long as she can drink some of the orange juice. :-) So, we won't have to wonder what to do with all the juice as we move.

I'm doing fine--just lost a very long post, dunno how. More later.

Funny how busy one can be while (technically) sick! Except for my visit last Sat. 1/29 to Immediate Care for my PCR test & then to pick up Paxlovid, and then a return visit Tues. 2/1 to have my cat bite checked out and get a tetanus shot, I was basically quarantined since Sun. 1/23 (my birthday) when Bob rapid-tested positive. Couldn't let my housekeeper come in, postponed the exterminator & manicure; and was basically a cat-servant, short-order cook for Bob, and an endless cycle of trying to stay ahead of dishes, messes, etc. Rapid-tested negative every other day no matter how tired I felt. And just as Bob was feeling better I began to get feverish and post-nasal-drippy. But the usual paperwork, bills, gathering tax stuff, etc, don't stand still for a virus. Of course, I felt just mildly crummy enough to have to nap on & off all day. Add to that dealing with arranging for snow management, grocery & pharma shopping, etc., and that left little time for going online. Not just that--Bob went back to work for exactly one day before we got snowed in again. He actually took CTA (three different trains) to get to work at Union Health; half his support staff was stuck at home, unable to get out of their alleys and (unlike us) not within slogging-through-the-snow-distance to public transit.

So back on track now. Housekeeper finally dug her car out and her neighbors plowed out the alley, so she's coming in tomorrow for the first time since 1/21. We'll be tag-teaming laundry and washing salt-stains off the floors. And she will be cleaning the litterboxes, as I could just barely keep up with scooping before the lid of my Litter Genie broke off. She admonished me not to mess with laundry or emptying & washing the litterboxes, as she has a system (of which I am in awe).

Dinner was leftover chow fun & shrimp Kow Bob brought home from the so-so pan-Asian place around the corner.