What Did We Eat Today?

[harrie]

Last night was a BLT salad:  romaine, some shredded red cabbage (we had a tiny head in our garden), tomatoes, bacon, avocado, and a sprinkle of bleu cheese. Tonight is either meat loaf and veggie or gnocchi with a cherry tomato sauce thing, maybe a dollop of goat cheese as well.  

Edited September 10, 2015 by harrie

[ALenore]

Last night I used skinless, boneless chicken breasts to make curried chicken salad wraps.  They work great for that, very easy, I just poach the cutlets in chicken broth. When the breasts are cool, I chop up the meat and mix it with mayonnaise (half home made and half jarred), curry powder, chopped applies, sliced scallions, golden raisins, and toasted slivered almonds.  Put in flour tortillas to make a sandwich wrap.

 

Tonight I'm making Pan Roasted Pork Tenderloin and Peppers, served with polenta.  I've never made this recipe before, but it looks good.

[annzeepark914]

OK, tonight I finally made Marge's Porchetta Pork Chops but I sliced a tenderloin (about 1 to 1-1/4" thick slices).  This recipe is excellent!!  I also made baked pilaf and a tossed salad.  Something weird happened with the baked pilaf (when I took it out of the oven there was still too much chicken broth under the rice) so I put the rice back in the oven for 6 minutes w/o a cover and put the skillet w/ the pork slices on top of the stove near the vent from the oven, with a top on the skillet to keep them warm.  Everything turned out delicious.  This Porchetta Pork is a keeper.

[ALenore]

I made the pan roasted pork tenderloin with peppers, and that came out fine.  The polenta recipe, though had a typo, which I should have realized since I've made polenta many times before.  The recipe called for 1/2 cup cornmeal with 4 1/2 cups of liquid.  It didn't seem right, but I followed the directions.   I simmered it, and it just wasn't thickening up.  I gradually added more and more cornmeal, a little at a time, and it finally started to thicken.   Later on I checked the recipe at the Cooking Light website, and the amount of cornmeal was changed to 1 cup (I was using the physical magazine).   I should have gone with my instinct and checked another recipe, but I didn't.  Next time I will do at least a quick check when something doesn't seem right.

 

Tonight I'm making pizza with fresh tomatoes, grilled red peppers and onions.   

[grisgris]

I am finishing up a dish I made earlier this week. It's pasta and prosciutto in a bechamel sauce with Gruyere. Not a single calorie or fat gram in it, right? LOL!!

 

With it, I made a recipe I found with spinach, chickpeas flavored with garlic and smoked paprika. I'm not sure if those two go together that well, but the spinach dish cuts some of the richness of the pasta.

 

Today I made a Coca-cola cake with some leftover coke I used to prepare some ribs for Labor Day. They didn't turn out so well, as I didn't use the right kind of meat.

 

I've had a rough couple of weeks, plus it's cool and crisp here for the next few days before going back into the blast furnace. I guess comfort food was in store.

[QuelleC]

What kind of meat did you use?  Your weather sounds like ours. 

[Quof]

I made some tomato soup a couple of weeks ago, it was a rather thin bisque, which didn't really make me happy so I froze it to come up with a better idea. Today I defrosted it and stirred in a bunch of white bread to make a poor man's ribollita.  Yum.

[annzeepark914]

Speaking of tomato soup, I made my adapted version of the Barefoot Contessa's tomato soup (more seasonings; no orzo) and served with Brian Boitano's grilled cheese sandwiches (the ones with red onion "jam" inside the cheeses).  Had to celebrate some cool(er) weather with soup & sammies (fingers crossed that really hot weather won't return).

[Mountainair]

We are enjoying cooler weather here too. Lower 40's tonight mid 60's tomorrow. We had four cords of wood delivered today so we are ready for the cooler weather to stick around. I stayed busy doing crafts with the kids today, cleaning house, laundry and helping with the wood so I ordered pizza from a local pizza place for dinner.

Tomorrow I've got hamburger vaegetable soup ready to go in the crockpot and I'll make cheesey buiscuits to go with.

[MargeGunderson]

It's starting to feel like fall, so I made one of my favorite pasta dishes. It is crumbled sweet Italian sausage, portobello mushrooms and rigatoni in a pumpkin sage sauce. I had some asparagus in the fridge so I tossed that in too. I can't wait until it cools down and I can make all of my fall favorites.

[harrie]

Tonight was whole wheat linguine with clam sauce - very yummy. Tomorrow is giambatta - taters, peppers, mushrooms and sausage.  

[ALenore]

It's a bit cooler here in Connecticut today, though not quite fall like.  Yesterday I made grilled tandoori chicken thighs, Indian-style green beans, rice, served along with raita.    Tonight I'm making Summer Squash and Corn Chowder (using fresh corn), tomato salad, and home made bread.  It was supposed to be cooler today than it wound up being, but it's not really too warm for the chowder.

[annzeepark914]

@ALenore:  What are Indian-style green beans?  Are they in a tomato type sauce w/ Indian seasonings?  I love Indian food!

[ALenore]

The green beans are Gujarati Style Green Beans from Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking.  They don't have a tomato sauce (though another green bean recipe in the book does.  These just have black mustard seeds, ginger, and garlic, plus oil, salt and sugar.   

 

I love Indian food too.  There aren't any Indian restaurants in my town, so if I want it I have to make it myself. 

Edited September 13, 2015 by ALenore

[mansonlamps]

Football season and football weather call for pot roast in the crock pot to start the season off right.

[ALenore]

It's finally gotten a little cooler here the past few days.  Yesterday I made sausage and pepper grinders from a nice easy recipe. I used twice the peppers and onions the recipe called for.  Tonight it's Broccoli Bacon Mac & Cheese, with probably some tomatoes on the side.   It's going to get warm again the next few days, but at least the mornings are staying pretty cool.   

[harrie]

Hot dogs and beans!  Woohooooo!!

[WendyCR72]

Hot dogs and beans!  Woohooooo!!

 

Same here! Spooky. :-P

[DeLurker]

Tonight was baked chicken thighs marinated in a Visalia onion salad dressing I bought but did not care for. Worked out well as a marinade though.

[ALenore]

Last night I had Chicken Shawarma (made from that NY Times recipe someone posted recently.   It was very good, I'll make the recipe again.   There's no place in my town that sells Chicken Shawarma, 80% of the restaurants in town are Italian, we've got  2 Mexican restaurants and 1 German restaurant.  

 

Tonight I made grilled tuna steaks with pineapple salsa, creamed spinach, and roasted potato wedges.  One interesting thing I noticed about the tuna steaks.   I bought 4 of them at the supermarket, they were frozen vacuum packed. The label on each one said it was 5 ounces, but to me they seemed to be different sizes.  I weighed two of the larger ones, and one was 6 ounces, and the other 7 ounces, so I cooked just those for dinner.   I got them a couple of weeks ago, so I don't know if I was charged the same for all the steaks, or if they were just priced according to the label.  They did taste good. 

[annzeepark914]

I took a shortcut for tonight's supper...a bag of Bertolli's chicken & penne.  If you sprinkle some Mural of Flavor (Penzey's) over these bagged frozen dinners before they start cooking, they're pretty decent.  My favorite is shrimp & asparagus w/ penne but I can't find it in any of my supermarkets (the sauce is delicious).

[harrie]

Strip steak, shiitake mushrooms, and (possibly the last of this year's) green beans.  Tomorrow is tomatoes stuffed with tuna salad before we go see Jeff Daniels play.

Edited September 18, 2015 by harrie

[Mountainair]

Was listening to ESPN radio this morning while running errands and was informed that today is national cheeseburger day. So, I drove straight to the store and picked up two fresh patties from the butcher to throw on the grill tonight. I'll make some onion rings to go with.

[harrie]

Last lobsters for dinner for a while tonight.  The state shuts down lobster harvest for a couple of months every year, so we felt like we had to splurge - lobster and corn, the basic summertime meal, on this semi-late September night. 

[ethalfrida]

Veggies and cornbread. Blackeyes, squash casserole, beet pickles, mashed potatoes, turnip greens. Leftover fried okra from Church's Chicken. Tomorrow will be whatever was left over plus fresh fill-ins: grilled zucchini, roasted red potatoes, sliced 'maters.

You made me revise my shopping list. That sure does sound good

Edited September 20, 2015 by ethalfrida

[ALenore]

Tonight I'm making Crispy Chicken Cutlets with Butter Chive Pasta http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/crispy-chicken-cutlets-butter-chive-pasta.  I made it once earlier this year and really liked it.  The recipe calls for a green salad side dish, but I'm going with a tomato salad since I bought some really nice tomatoes at the Farmers' Market, and I know nice fresh tomatoes won't be around for much longer.    I'm also going to use scallions instead of chives, since I have scallions and they're less expensive than chives.  

[backformore]

I'm making turkey chili from a recipe Clinton Kelly did on The Chew this week.  It's on their website.  I'll let you know how it turns out.  

We're also having corn on the cob because there's a farmer's market in town on Saturday mornings. 

[backformore]

 

*Skinless, boneless breasts.  Way back, someone asked why people eat skinless, boneless chicken breasts.  In my case, because the nutritionist and physician act like it's the only thing I should eat (except for broiled fish with steamed vegetables, of course).  

For me, it was an experience eating chicken off the bone when I was a kid - a thigh, or back piece, I don't recall.   But there was a huge VEIN in it that grossed me out so much I didn't eat chicken for a long time after that.   SO now I eat boneless chicken breasts. 

[Bastet]

My favorite is shrimp & asparagus w/ penne but I can't find it in any of my supermarkets (the sauce is delicious).

 

I always keep one of those Bertolli meals in the freezer, and the shrimp, asparagus & penne is my favorite, too.  I also like the chicken Florentine & farfalle.  But I'm really annoyed at how little shrimp/chicken is in them now compared to when they first came out.  Cheap bastards.

[mansonlamps]

For me, it was an experience eating chicken off the bone when I was a kid - a thigh, or back piece, I don't recall.   But there was a huge VEIN in it that grossed me out so much I didn't eat chicken for a long time after that.   SO now I eat boneless chicken breasts.

Lol, ahhh memories of my childhood, the disgusting things found in dark meat chicken, sausage, ribs or various other meat products. I have gotten past a lot of it in adulthood, but I did coin the term "grote" for anything that fell into that category and people that knew me as a child, to this day, still use that term in my honour.

[MargeGunderson]

I made chicken enchiladas. Too spicy for me! The husband liked them though, which is good since there are a lot of leftovers.

[harrie]

Chard, beans and mushrooms tonight.  Very yummy thanks to lots of garlic

[QuelleC]

 

I'm also going to use scallions instead of chives, since I have scallions and they're less expensive than chives.

 

ALenore if you start a chive plant you will have chives forever.  I started mine from seed what, 17 years ago now, and every time my son mows under my window the entire room smells like chives!  Granted some "escaped" into the lawn. We're zone 4 so they can take a hard winter. That reminds me I need to make a compound butter with some for the freezer, I've mentioned that before. I planted scallions one year from seed and they came up for the next few years. 

 

OK, the sesame seeds don't get to me but the chicken thing does. I can't afford organic but the bonless/skinless frozen ones have at least 8% "solution" listed on the package. These days I can afford the economy bag of chicken leg quarters only, and even those have gone up, but they make a great chicken soup and it's hard to overcook them on the grill.   (Guess what's for supper?)

 

When I was little my mom used to get us something called cubed steaks that had little holes punched in them to tenderize it I guess.  Well, they weren't and I used to hide pieces in houseplant dirt because it sort of looked the same to 6 year old me.  I wonder if she ever found out.

 

We moved into a real house when I was 10.  Before everything got set up she had a corning ware hot plate with matching cassorole dish.  She made spaghetti the first day (I'm really happy I grew up before jarred sauce) and to this day I can smell those onions and garlic sweating in butter.  Of course I still have the hot plate.

[harrie]

I'm taking some classes, so for the weeks I cook I have to come up with stuff that's not complicated and that will keep for a couple of hours.  The hub is a great cook, but there's no reason he should have to cook during my week or eat at 9pm a couple of nights a week.  So tonight was this chicken recipe in the slow cooker, with roasted beets and (our own) sliced heirloom tomatoes on the side.  To be honest,  I don't know why the apricots are needed in the chicken recipe; they seemed to contribute nothing, but then then it's difficult to compete with 40 cloves of garlic. 

 

Tomorrow night is reheated cream of broccoli soup, made with some of the broccoli we grew this summer. 

[ALenore]

My cereal had lots of flax seeds (yum!) and when I poured the cereal into the bowl, static electricity made the little flax seeds jump up and cling to the side. Kind of looked like little bugs moving, so of course I had to come share that with y'all. You can thank me later.  ;)

 

Thank you for this.  I have a canister of flax seeds, and I noticed that some of them were clinging to the sides of the container.  I had moths get into a container of wheat berries, so I was afraid that they'd gotten into the flax seeds too.   I opened it up and didn't see any, but I was still suspicious. Thank you for relieving my suspicions, I now know I can eat the flax seeds.  

 

I made panko crusted chicken cutlets the other day, and they came out good, but I made them in two batches, and the first batch was unevenly browned, which was a little disappointing since I wanted them to look good. When I cooked the second batch, I figured out what to do, I took the heavy mallet I has used to flatten the cutlets and pressed it down on them in the pan for around 30 seconds or so on each side. They came out perfectly browned, I guess because the coating got pressed tightly to the surface of the pan. 

 

Tonight I'm making a cooler weather dish, pierogi with kielbasa, peppers, and onions.   I made chocolate chip cookies for dessert, which I haven't made in a long time.   

Edited September 22, 2015 by ALenore

[annzeepark914]

Once again, it's Ina's Eggplant au Gratin with some thin spaghetti on the side w/ extra sauce + a tossed salad.  Hope I don't get sick of this eggplant dish cause I just love it.

[ALenore]

I'm making kale, chickpea, and chicken soup.  I actually doubled the recipe because I had a good-sized bunch of kale I got at the Farmers' Market, and I had enough of the other ingredients to be able to double it. I'll freeze it for future meals.  I also made baguette to go along with it.   

[MargeGunderson]

Italian sausages, acorn squash, and red onion roasted together, then sprinkled with Asiago cheese, sage and dried cherries. Very easy and delicious!

[harrie]

Lamb Kefta patties with tzatziki and corn.  Corn is the one of these things that's not like the others, but it's getting late in the season and why not. 

[annzeepark914]

Lamb Kefta patties with tzatziki and corn.  Corn is the one of these things that's not like the others, but it's getting late in the season and why not. 

@harrie: Is it possible to make with ground beef instead of lamb?  (by the way, I'm still thinking about lobsters!!)

[harrie]

@annzeepark914:  Yes you can.    That particular recipe asks for ground sirloin, but any ground beef will work. Just a note, but I'm cilantro-averse (tastes like soap!), so I substitute parsley.  

 

re the lobsters, we buy fish from the same guy/woman every week; it's usually clams or lobsters. Last week, Captain Jack made a point of saying the lobster shutdown was coming up, so we picked them.  It's more like the Colonial times, with lobster as poor person's food*, than the Robin Leach lobster, caviar and champagne experience. Gotta admit It's still delicious though.

 

*To clarify that thought, since we're regulars the fish people often give us their best-looking lobsters for a flat price of $10 each; it usually works out to about the same as if the supermarket had them on sale at $4.99-$5.99 a pound. It's still an expensive dinner, but it's also a very good deal in a way.  (And we get some free oysters a lot of the time too, so...)

Edited September 24, 2015 by harrie

[EllieH]

Smashed up avocado on toast, quick and easy!

[DeLurker]

Last night was my normal breakfast drink - 1 1/2 c kale/spinach/chard, sliver of ginger, 10 frozen cranberries and a couple of oranges/Mandarines/Clementines/whatever is readily available in the NutriBlender.  Result is a highly unattractive green drink, an acquired taste but a drink my body started to crave after having it a few times. 

 

Plus a couple of potstickers.

[annzeepark914]

Dinner last night was Cottage Pie (Shepherd's Pie made with ground beef) so I could use up some leftover mashed potatoes.  I remember loving this as a kid.  I've got so many leftovers now in the fridge that tonight's supper will be (in Mr. P914's words) "a free for all".

[Mountainair]

These cravings are killing me. For lunch today I made crab cakes and crab stuffed mushrooms. I was craving some seafood evidently. The last two weeks I have not been able to stomach white meat. Pork and chicken both make me gag? A common theme in my dreams lately has been food so last night I dreamt about tacos with the hard shells (haven't had a hard shell in ages) so I'm making oven baked tacos. Prepare the ground beef filling with chiles, seasoning,onion, tomato sauce and refried beans. Fill up taco shells with it, top with cheese and bake in casserole dish for about 20 minutes. Load up with your favorite toppings afterward. The kids have never actually had tacos. I always make them quessidillas. Interested to see how they manage :)

[ALenore]

I making grilled salmon, brown rice, and snow peas, with pickled radishes on the side.  The salmon is marinating right now in a mixture of soy sauce, rice vinegar, and honey.   It looks good, hope it tastes good.

[chessiegal]

I making grilled salmon, brown rice, and snow peas, with pickled radishes on the side.  The salmon is marinating right now in a mixture of soy sauce, rice vinegar, and honey.   It looks good, hope it tastes good.

 

We're having grilled salmon. I marinate it in olive oil, soy sauce, lemon juice, and dill. Your marinade sounds good. Let us know how you liked it. We have the salmon with steamed asparagus and a baked potato. I top the potato with plain nonfat Greek yogurt, and tonight some chives since I have some left over from making a dip for a pot luck lunch today. I also like to put some lemon juice on the the aspargus and salmon after it's cooked.

[harrie]

Chicken and black bean burritos tonight, using leftover slow cooker chicken from the other day.  Something with seafood tomorrow, I think.

[Mountainair]

These cravings are killing me. For lunch today I made crab cakes and crab stuffed mushrooms. I was craving some seafood evidently. The last two weeks I have not been able to stomach white meat. Pork and chicken both make me gag? A common theme in my dreams lately has been food so last night I dreamt about tacos with the hard shells (haven't had a hard shell in ages) so I'm making oven baked tacos. Prepare the ground beef filling with chiles, seasoning,onion, tomato sauce and refried beans. Fill up taco shells with it, top with cheese and bake in casserole dish for about 20 minutes. Load up with your favorite toppings afterward. The kids have never actually had tacos. I always make them quessidillas. Interested to see how they manage :)

Quoting myself here but Taco Night was a hit! The three of us polished off one casserole dish full of tacos so I had to make more before my husband got home! The boys never eat like that at dinner! They even proclaimed Taco night their favorite next to Pizza night. I made 2 1/2 pounds worth of meat so we have plenty for leftovers tonight as well!

Just did my shopping for the next week and purchased over ten pounds of red meat. Couldn't even walk by the poultry section. Good thing my family likes red meat.

And continuing the seafood for lunch theme, I still have stuff to make more stuffed mushrooms today and I'm going to make clam chowder with extra clams to go with. It's a cold and rainy day here so soup sounds perfect!

[ALenore]

The marinade I used for the salmon was just 3 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon rice vinegar, and 2 tablespoons honey.  Half of this mixture is used to marinate the salmon, the other half is drizzled on after it is cooked.   The salmon did come out pretty good, although I overcooked it slightly on the first side.