What Did We Eat Today?

[PRgal]

Turkey meatballs with quinoa tonight! :) 

[Bastet]

I have some breast meat left from roasted chicken, so I'm going to make some alfredo sauce to pour over whole wheat fettucine (dry, not homemade), chicken, broccoli and the small bit of cremini mushrooms I have left.

[DeLurker]

Attempting shepherd's pie (first time).

Edited January 17, 2015 by DeLurker

[EllieH]

Grilled chicken fajitas and a margarita!

[harrie]

Beef vegetable soup, homemade.   A good match for our cold, rainy day.

[sunshinelover]

Tonight I'm making a shepherd's pie variation. Starting with ground turkey. My vegetable portion is a mix of whatever I've got lying around so celery, onion, peas, asparagus, maybe some carrot...Top layer is mashed sweet potato.

[photo fox]

Dinner today was catfish filets, baked potato, sweet corn, and a green salad. With Breton butter cake for dessert. Yum!

Since I baked today and did a big homemade dinner and a breakfast casserole, supper will be pizza. ;-)

[backformore]

Italian sausage, potatoes, onion.  Cut up, put on a cookie sheet.  top with salt, pepper, olive oil, italian seasoning.  Bake at 375 for 45 minutes, stir a few times for even browning.   Add a 10 oz bag of peas, thawed, cook for another 15 minutes.  Delicious.

[ALenore]

I had planned to make Italian style  pulled pork in the slow cooker yesterday, but due to  icy conditions I didn't get my groceries delivered until late in the afternoon (it was just a coincidence that I was getting the groceries delivered yesterday, I only get them delivered occasionally, but it's a good thing I did since I still can't get out of my driveway).   So I'm working late tonight and I started the pork this morning.  Today when I get home from work I'll shred the pork and serve it over polenta.  

[mansonlamps]

Please share your recipe. Who doesn't love pulled pork, but Italian style? That has to be amazing.

[harrie]

Lemon chicken and rice tonight.  Tomorrow, veggie burgers.

[Sweets McGee]

Oh man, I love cooking and trying new recipes. My addiction is buying cookbooks at used bookstores! Can't. Stop.

 

Tonight I'm going to try flank steak and onion in the skillet, with some red potatoes with butter and lemon juice in the slow cooker (already did the potatoes once before and it worked great).

[harrie]

Totally off-topic, but I love your cat, Sweets McGee. 

[ALenore]

masonlamps, here's the recipe for the Italian style pulled pork. http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/italian-braised-pork-polenta It did come out really good.   The pork shoulder I bought was 6 1/2 pounds, the recipe calls for 1 1/2 pounds, but I didn't have enough of the other ingredients to expand it by 4 times, so I cut a 1 1/2 pound chunk out of it and froze the rest.  It think next time I'll just use the whole rest of it and add more tomatoes.   

 

Sweets McGee, I love buying used cookbooks too.   My library has them on sale all the time, so I figure it's good thing,  I'm supplying my addiction while helping out the library at the same time.     

[mansonlamps]

Thanks ALenore, nice different take on pulled pork I need to try.

[EllieH]

Scrambled eggs with spinach, and hash browns

[ALenore]

I made a really good Mexican style chicken soup called Chupe de Pollo con Chipotle  http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/chupe-de-pollo-con-chipotle-chicken-chowder-with-chipotle.  It makes 8 servings, so I froze half of it for future meals.   I served it with tortillas and avocado.  I want to make sure to use up the avocados I got before they go bad, I ordered groceries and wound up getting 8 avocados  (2 packages of 4) instead of the 2 avocados I ordered, (though I got charged the same).  Fortunately, when I got them none of them were ripe yet, and they don't all seem to be ripening at once, so I'm hoping I'll be able to eat them 1 or 2 at a time. 

[mansonlamps]

Too many avocados is never a bad thing in my opinion.

[Bastet]

Yeah, 8 avocados = my standard week.

 

A friend gave me some spinach and cheese (I'm not sure what kind of cheese, but whatever it is I'll be happy) ravioli she made a big batch of, and I have a defrosted chicken breast I didn't wind up using when I thought I would and thus need to cook tonight, so I made an oil and herb marinade for the chicken and stuck that in the oven.  When it's done, I'll add it to the pasta and use more of the oil/herb mixture as a sauce.

[Sandman87]

You know what they say: Avocado is better than none at all.

 

Thank you, I'll be here all week.

[ALenore]

Tonight  I made Hoppin' John, a Southern dish of rice, black-eyed peas and ham hocks.   It's traditionally supposed to be served on New Year's Day to bring good luck, but I didn't notice this recipe until recently, so I made it tonight.  I just used canned beans, and a quick brown rice, and added ham I had in the freezer.  It did come out good, although a little too spicy for my husband, even though I cut the red pepper by down by more than half.   

[Bastet]

I picked up a ribeye steak at the butcher shop Monday (it called my name while I was waiting for the tri-tip I went in there to get to be packaged), so I'll be grilling that tonight.  The steak is too big for one serving, yet I know I'll eat the whole thing anyway, so I think just some roasted Brussels sprouts and a side mixed greens salad with it.

[Sweets McGee]

Tonight  I made Hoppin' John, a Southern dish of rice, black-eyed peas and ham hocks.   It's traditionally supposed to be served on New Year's Day to bring good luck, but I didn't notice this recipe until recently, so I made it tonight.  I just used canned beans, and a quick brown rice, and added ham I had in the freezer.  It did come out good, although a little too spicy for my husband, even though I cut the red pepper by down by more than half.   

 

I like this idea, considering I have ham in the freezer that needs to be used up, and my husband loves spicy!

[DeLurker]

Just got done making a marinade for some chicken leg quarters - soy sauce, veg oil, garlic, lime juice and mirin.  On one piece I have marinating separately I rubbed it with miso paste first - watched Masterchef Jr this week and one of the kids did a steak rub with miso paste in it so it gave me an idea to try.

[Mountainair]

Still making two dinners. I even declined joining a meal train at preschool for a new mom because frankly, cooking two dinners, two lunches and my kids breakfast every day is enough. I'm done cooking.

Any way, tonight I made kielbasa, Mac and cheese and salad and no one even ate it! One of my favorite meals, I didn't take a bite but no one else did either. Last night, I made another favorite, breakfast. I didn't even eat a piece of bacon :( I had salmon, asaparagus and quinoa. Tonight I added some grilled chicken to the salad for my dinner.

I've really fallen in love with fresh artichokes! So yummy! I've been eating at least three a week for lunch!

[harrie]

Also a big fan of artichokes.  Loaded with fiber and they take a long time to eat.  And they're yummy. 

 

Tonight is homemade clam chowder with a (delicious!) purchased ciabatta.   Just right for our snowy/rainy/icy day.  

[PRgal]

Still making two dinners. I even declined joining a meal train at preschool for a new mom because frankly, cooking two dinners, two lunches and my kids breakfast every day is enough. I'm done cooking.

Any way, tonight I made kielbasa, Mac and cheese and salad and no one even ate it! One of my favorite meals, I didn't take a bite but no one else did either. Last night, I made another favorite, breakfast. I didn't even eat a piece of bacon :( I had salmon, asaparagus and quinoa. Tonight I added some grilled chicken to the salad for my dinner.

I've really fallen in love with fresh artichokes! So yummy! I've been eating at least three a week for lunch!

 

I HATE it when people don't eat something you made!  When I was 10 or 11, I made a fruit punch for a barbecue my parents were hosting and NO ONE drank it!  Not the kids or the grown-ups.  And I often worry about making what my husband calls "PRgal" food for some of my relatives - recently, my parents said that it's "probably not a good idea" for me to make an entire meal for my relatives because they might not "like" my quinoa dressing ("dressing" as in turkey stuffing that has never been stuffed IN the turkey).  Non-relatives tell me my quinoa dressing is good.  My parents think so, as does my husband.  It's just that it's a "PRgal" dish and not something more...Chinese.

[jenh526]

Stir-fried shrimp and broccoli with homemade toasted coconut gelato for dessert. Got the recipes out of the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. It was fun making the gelato but the downside of homemade ice cream is that it gets ice crystals and I don't know how to prevent that. Anyway it's tasty, and I plan on eating it while watching the Great British Bake Off tonight after an afternoon of US Nationals figure skating.

[KnoxForPres]

I HATE it when people don't eat something you made! When I was 10 or 11, I made a fruit punch for a barbecue my parents were hosting and NO ONE drank it! Not the kids or the grown-ups. And I often worry about making what my husband calls "PRgal" food for some of my relatives - recently, my parents said that it's "probably not a good idea" for me to make an entire meal for my relatives because they might not "like" my quinoa dressing ("dressing" as in turkey stuffing that has never been stuffed IN the turkey). Non-relatives tell me my quinoa dressing is good. My parents think so, as does my husband. It's just that it's a "PRgal" dish and not something more...Chinese.

I hear you! Similar, though not exact my mom gets really weird on doing anything "too much". I live alone and love to cook and she will call on me but always says the disclaimer with "let's keep it simple, please". It's so odd. I'm not an exotic cook, I find recipes well rated and make them. She does the same thing to my dad. For story purpose, money is not a limiter. But you'd think I show up with chicken thighs in an apricot glaze with a cilantro foam from a machine. In fact I make lasagna etc, haha. It's an oddity. It is.

[harrie]

I've had the same experience with my in-laws.  One year I was allowed to bring something to Thanksgiving: cranberry sauce.  I made three kinds -- regular, with citrus, and something else.  Without even tasting any of them, my MIL asks if I mind if she serves a can of cranberry sauce she has pulled out from a cupboard.  Of course I didn't mind, what could I say?  My sauces didn't even make it to the table. For the record, my husband loves my cranberry sauce, it's not that I make a bad one or anything (plus, it's berries, sugar and water, so what's to mess up?).

 

Tonight is bean and crumbles enchiladas with homemade guac on the side.   

[mansonlamps]

Wow I am pretty even tempered but that would have pissed me off to no end harrie. If they wanted the canned crap they should have told you to bring that only, but to not even serve what you made is unforgivable.

[Mountainair]

Yes, that would've made me sooooooo mad! I hold grudges too so, yea, no one ever better do that to me. :/ when no one ate my food the other the night at least it was because I was serving my kids, not grown assed adults!

Going off diet for dinner tonight. I've been eating fish and chicken all week and by the end of the week I am seriously craving beef! Tonight I'm making French dips. The roast has been in the crock pot all day smelling devine! Can't wait for dinner!

[Bastet]

I'm still blown away by the cooking two different dinners every night thing.  Your family should kiss your feet daily.

 

Last night I went to a restaurant I love but hadn't been to in a while and noticed some changes to their menu, but thankfully their Cajun pasta - my craving for which was the reason we picked that restaurant - was still being offered.  My friend had an Italian chicken pasta that was really good, too, so we ate out of each others' bowls half the time.  Some calamari to start, a goat cheese and spinach salad to split for our side salads, a terrific seasonal ale, and leftovers to boot -- I can't wait for lunch.

 

Right now I am having a Bloody Mary for breakfast.

[harrie]

Wow I am pretty even tempered but that would have pissed me off to no end harrie. If they wanted the canned crap they should have told you to bring that only, but to not even serve what you made is unforgivable.

 

Yes, that would've made me sooooooo mad! I hold grudges too so, yea, no one ever better do that to me. :/ when no one ate my food the other the night at least it was because I was serving my kids, not grown assed adults!

 

 

Eh, I'm the DIL who will never be good enough for my husband (even if he is the family bad boy), so by that time it just kind of rolled off my back. My mother was the same way towards my two sisters' husbands, so I've seen the other side of the coin.  After a while, you realize that not showing any irritation bothers the offending party more than reacting, so I just smile and nod a lot.

I'm still blown away by the cooking two different dinners every night thing.  Your family should kiss your feet daily.

 

 

Indeed!

Edited January 25, 2015 by harrie

[ALenore]

There's a big storm headed our way tomorrow, so  I'm making chicken and dumplings for dinner tonight, to (psychologically) prepare for all the snow I'm going to have to shovel.

[backformore]

I've had the same experience with my in-laws.  One year I was allowed to bring something to Thanksgiving: cranberry sauce.  I made three kinds -- regular, with citrus, and something else.  Without even tasting any of them, my MIL asks if I mind if she serves a can of cranberry sauce she has pulled out from a cupboard.  Of course I didn't mind, what could I say?  My sauces didn't even make it to the table. For the record, my husband loves my cranberry sauce, it's not that I make a bad one or anything (plus, it's berries, sugar and water, so what's to mess up?).

That's CRAZY!!!!!   So when they asked you to bring cranberries, they expected you to just pick up a can at the store?   Who does that?  If your contribution to the dinner was cranberries, and you brought three varieties -  I'd be thrilled is you were at my house!  Cranberries are pretty easy, but if I'm cooking the turkey, anyone bring a side dish that it ready to serve is appreciated. 

 

My pet peeve is one relative, who always offers to bring a dish - but then shows up right on time, and her dish is half-made, if that!   So, she comes to my house, and wants a pot, a dish, a potato peeler, can she use the colander?  Where is the vegetable brush?  Is there room in the freezer for her dessert ?(no)  So, while I'm making last minute preparations for a dinner, she's taking over my counter, utensils, small appliances, etc.  

I even tried having her bring something that can be made ahead - a cake, some dessert -  but she baked  it at the last minute,  needed to chill the cake, and then use my mixer for the frosting, frost the cake on the counter.   

 

Now, I usually just ask her to bring wine.   She still persists.

[ALenore]

I hear you! Similar, though not exact my mom gets really weird on doing anything "too much". I live alone and love to cook and she will call on me but always says the disclaimer with "let's keep it simple, please".

 

I hear this all time time too, but I think some people when they say they want "something simple," they really mean something familiar, the type of food they grew up eating.   I remember once I was in the cafeteria line at work and someone next to me was complaining about the "weird food" the cafeteria was serving.  The dish she was complaining about was a salad with chicken and cantelope.   She pointed to a what someone else had (I think purchased outside) and said "Why can't they sell simple things, like that?"  The dish she was pointing at was an eggplant parmesan hero.   Now that sandwich is a lot more "complex," at least by the number of ingredients, than the chicken salad, which had maybe 3 or 4 ingredients.   What she really meant was that she'd never seen a salad with chicken and cantelope before, but she'd had things like eggplant parmesan heroes plenty of times before and liked them.  

 

Some of the people I work with think I make "weird food" when I bring in something like fish tacos, they've only had Taco Bell-style tacos, and can't imagine how anything else could be any good. 

Edited January 26, 2015 by ALenore

[DeLurker]

Damn it!  Now I want fish tacos!

[sunshinelover]

I've got two chicken breasts for dinner tonight.  With salad, sweet potato and asparagus. But I'm not sure what I'm gonna do with my chicken...any ideas?  Something fairly simple.

[Quof]

I cooked boneless turkey breasts yesterday, marinated for 30 minutes in maple syrup, olive oil, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper.  Mmm.  Give it a try with your chicken. 

[DeLurker]

When in doubt or lazy, I always opt for marinating or just coating chicken with Italian dressing - the oily stuff - then bake. If I only have a balsamic Italian dressing, that works too.

[Bastet]

Other than a marinade, my most common ways of fixing quick and easy chicken breasts are to either bread them with a mixture of bread crumbs, parmesan, parsley, and garlic and bake them (I dip them in butter before the crumb mixture and pour a little extra of that melted butter over the top, then baste them with the drippings as they cook), or to sauté some mushrooms and onion, then simmer with a little chicken stock and balsamic vinegar, then pour that over breasts that have been seasoned with garlic and thyme and baked.

[grisgris]

I'm making one of my favorite recipes from Giada DeLaurentiis (ducks!) It's shredded brussels sprouts and crimini mushrooms. The sauce has garlic, lemon juice/zest (of course), creme fraiche and vegetable broth. Serve with toasted sliced almonds and grated Parmesan. Last time I made it, I used mascarpone because I couldn't find creme fraiche (which GDL said you could substitute.) I think I like the mascarpone version better.

 

Speaking of comfort food from home, my mother used to make one of those lemon pies where the crust is meringue and the filling has lemonade concentrate in it. (Funny. I don't really care for traditional lemon meringue pie...) It was a summertime treat for us, so I decided to make it in the dead of winter. (I am soooooo... tired of chocolate and spice-flavored treats.) I put the meringue crust in the oven to dry out overnight. After I put the filling in, the crust more or less dissolved. It was sticky, not many crunchy bits. I mean it's OK and edible. I am wondering what I did wrong. It was my first time using my KA mixer to beat egg whites.

 

I would think with the bone-dry heated air, it would be fine. A weather front passed through that day after I took it out of the oven, so it got humid enough to generate some light rain, so I'm wondering if that could be the problem???

[Bastet]

I was planning on roasting a whole chicken tonight, but got home late, so instead I cut it up, browned it in a pan for about 10 minutes and stuck in it in a baking dish.  I made a roux out of the butter and drippings, then added milk and Swiss cheese to make a sauce.  I poured that over the chicken, topped with some Parmigiano-Reggiano and bread crumbs, and put it in the oven to bake.  I just put some Brussels sprouts in to roast (seasoned and tossed with some chili pepper-infused olive oil) and made a mixed-greens salad, so now I'm having a martini while I wait.  The chicken looks and smells quite good, so I hope it comes out just as well -- I sort of threw stuff together based on what I had in the fridge.

[harrie]

I was planning on roasting a whole chicken tonight, but got home late, so instead I cut it up, browned it in a pan for about 10 minutes and stuck in it in a baking dish.  I made a roux out of the butter and drippings, then added milk and Swiss cheese to make a sauce.  I poured that over the chicken, topped with some Parmigiano-Reggiano and bread crumbs, and put it in the oven to bake.  I just put some Brussels sprouts in to roast (seasoned and tossed with some chili pepper-infused olive oil) and made a mixed-greens salad, so now I'm having a martini while I wait.  The chicken looks and smells quite good, so I hope it comes out just as well -- I sort of threw stuff together based on what I had in the fridge.

 

Often that's the stuff that works out the best. Sounds very yummy!

[JTMacc99]

Well, I was hoping to have a blizzard created day off today, but the snow decided that "North and West of the city" was not where it was going this time. (And honestly, a day at work is well worth not having to deal with 18 inches of snow.) So instead of something interesting, I was thinking about making pasta with meat sauce since I saw it on Good Eats the other day, it now looks like it is Taco Tuesday!  Not that anybody will complain about that when I get home from work.

 

I'm making one of my favorite recipes from Giada DeLaurentiis (ducks!)

Hey, Giada threw out quite a few good recipes just as many good ideas I've used over the years. I've got a few in the regular rotation, and like you, I modify them to my likes. I think it is fair to say that most of them came from 2004-2007. By the end of that range, Food Network was taking advantage of her popularity, like they do with everybody, and kept producing shows faster than she could possibly keep coming up with new ideas. 

[ALenore]

I did get the day off work, even though the blizzard wasn't quite as bad as they predicted, maybe 8 inches or so, but there was a lot of wind.  I stayed inside in the morning and made sort of "Egg McMuffins" for breakfast, then made a baguette for later in the week.   Then I baked brownies, and went out to shovel snow.    I came back inside, ate some brownies to fortify myself, and am about to go back outside to shovel more (we've got a long driveway,) and also have to shovel out back a path to the field next to the cemetery so I can walk to work.  When I come back in I'm making fish tacos for dinner.  

[Sweets McGee]

Tonight's dinner is broiled red potatoes and ground beef patties with onion and cheese.

 

I shoveled today too, but not enough to deserve brownies. :)

[ramble]

Back when I used to have in-laws I was asked to bring a dessert or two for Thanksgiving one year. I made traditional pumpkin & pecan pie, plus a chocolate chess one & then took hours making a spice cake shaped like a pumpkin with dark orange frosting, a green fondant stem & little fall leave decorations. My MIL took one look at it & said it looked like I wasted a lot of time on a cake for a holiday that only needed pies & set the cake in an out of the way spot in the kitchen. Thank goodness I don't have that to mess with anymore.

The past few weeks my oldest has wanted fish so she's been experimenting with seasonings on mahi mahi & tilapia. Dill with butter & lemon peel, some blend of salt & parsley something she concocted, along with a couple of others, one involving garlic. She's pretty good at coming up with ideas. My youngest eats salmon during fish meals but she likes it simple & barely seasoned. I feel like it's been a fish dance of late & I'm learning spice moves. Cha-cha-cha.

[sunshinelover]

Thanks for all your suggestiosns with my chicken breast.  What I ended up doing was rubbing it with chili powder, salt and pepper.  I baked it.  Then I made a sauce of Greek yogurt and avocado blended with garlic salt.  The sauce was drizzled on top.  So simple...but one of the best meals I've had in awhile!