What's for Dinner? Jan. 16

At my high school we always had hamburgers on Martin Luther King Day. But we're having meatloaf, which I figure is close enough.

It was in Massachusetts. I think maybe they just wanted to serve "three-day-weekend" type food, which would be burgers and hot dogs.

I am lurking along Kerri, and I did post somewhere yesterday what we had for dinner. Probably on the wrong thread

DS14's friend is staying for a few days and he's a pain to feed, very fussy. This time though, he arrived with a couple of bags of groceries, which was rather a nice thought by his Mum. I do have him here at least once a fortnight, often for three days or so, so it was thoughtful of her. Plus the added bonus that as his Mum has supplied it, it must be stuff he eats! There are a few boxes of cakes, some crisps, pizzas, frozen southern fried chicken, sausage rolls, minced beef pies, chocolate mousse, and tinned fruit. So that's what we're eating for the next three days!

That sounds great Jo! You are using your grill in the winter?

We are having Crockpot Chuck Roast, garlic smashed potatoes, and a salad or veggie or both.

It's been chilly-ish. So we're having carrots and potatoes again, but this time with chicken rather than meatloaf. And this time I think I am going to put the carrots and potatoes in for half an hour before the chicken, because the chicken pieces cook faster than meatloaf and I like my root vegetables very cooked. In case anyone cared!

Well, I start back to school tonight so I think oatmeal pancakes and scrambled eggs sounds nice and easy!

Tomorrow I think we will have Pork Tacos. They sound like a yummy way to use up the rest of the pork tenderloin. Then I will make Quick A Wink Soup for the rest of the leftover pork for this weekend. Can you tell a) I am trying to make good use of the leftovers and B) I have been researching recipes online!

Jana

I am going to make mac & cheese with whole wheat elbows and extra-sharp cheddar. Recently I have thrown in a can of fire-roasted tomatoes and everyone seems to like that. I also have some beet greens that need cooking.

Tomorrow we will have soy-sesame-maple-garlic marinated London Broil, so I need to throw together that marinade and get in on the meat too.

What is Quick A Wink Soup? I love soup.

Yesterday we ended up going out, so we're having the chicken and carrots and potatoes tonight instead.

DH and I ended up far from home eating noodles and fried rice, while one of our offspring ate at the grandparents' and the other just threw up there instead.

Tonight's dinner, as per the ongoing planning, was pizza, salad and the mushrooms that didn't get eaten yesterday.

I need to get a few more simple meals planned for after we come back so that I don't let it slide.

Kerri.

Nachos with:

black bean dip
ground beef for the boys-yuck!
black olives
fresh salsa
avacado
sour cream
fresh jalepeno

I bake the chips with cheese and everyone piles on top what they like to make their own personal concoction. Good for a raw, rainy Friday.

I like your nacho ideas. We have nachos pretty regularly and I am always making several dishes to get everyones tastes. I like your idea.

Kerri - what are jacket potatoes? I envision little potatoes with tuxedos on!

Jana

I realised afterwards that I couldn't remember any Americans saying 'jacket' potatoes!

tonight was gingered turkey with rice - one of Mum's recipes. Nice to have it in my head because we went shopping today and came back quite late. Normally I might have given in to DH wheedling about Indian restaurants but I knew what we were having and I was sticking to it! Good for me.

tomorrow this cook gets the day off because Mum called this morning and invited us over. Not sure what we're having since she said she needed to go shopping. I'd had roast lamb on my menu, but I can still do Tuesday's moussaka because I have plenty of lamb mince in the freezer. Need to get a few more meals listed down for our return so I get a few days' grace before I have to think much. Tuna casserole first off because it needs nothing that I haven't got in the cupboard, except cheese which will last far more than the week we're away!

Kerri.

In the UK kung pao chicken is NOTHING like what I know (in Singapore and China) as kung pao chicken. What is it like in the US??

Tonight I proved to myself the importance of meal planning. Tonight's meal somehow got missed and we ended up with breaded chicken stuff, tinned baked beans and chips (fries - I'm not THAT bad!). I was supposed to be emptying the fridge before we go away for a week yet not one of those items contributed to that goal, and I realised that I couldn't be bothered to think AND cook all in the same hour or two. Lesson learned!

also forgot to buy the eggplant for tomorrow's moussaka. I was already planning to add some of our fresh spinach which needs using up, but now it might be a substitute!

Kerri.

I found a great Singapore recipe for it (I assume it's right for what I normally have anyway) but as they point out, cashew nuts aren't native to China - they are very weird and hang at the bottom of a fruit thing in places like Thailand (use your search engine because they really are surprising for 'nuts'!). I'm sure though that this is also what I had in Beijing. I think this link may take you to the main index and you'll need to click on the first poultry recipe.

http://www.makantime.com/cookbook/index.htm

lots of other recipes there that might be worth a try. Some are making me drool and long to get back in fact, amazingly! Anyway, what's familiar to me is dried chillis and cashew nuts with a sauce that is a little spicy but not too potent, a little sweet but not as much as sweet and sour, and a little salty. The dried chillis make most of the difference. Over here the kung pao sauce is like sweet and sour. Not a dried chilli in sight!

I guess I've been pampered and spoilt. My BIL has expensive taste and eating out in Singapore happens at least twice a week or more. Not measly fast food joints either.

Shaun, your oven-fried catfish sounds nice. I never thought I'd say this but I miss good quality seafood! I've always been hopeless at cooking fish myself so I've just relied on my wonderful MIL and lotsof extremely good restaurants for fabulous prawns and fish (still don't like lobster, crab, squid, cuttlefish, baby octopus, etc).

Nice to know there's something to go back to Singapore for, other than family! Food is a national obsession there though.

Kerri.

...we had a skate and chips take away tonight. Well, it was my Grandad's birthday

aren't they a lot of fiddling though?? Are they the ones that need to be wrapped up and deep-fried?? I have a recipe along wit a delicious looking picture but I've never dared!

the fish and chips sounds wonderful too... we haven't got up the guts yet to try the nearby chip shop although everyone we've spoken to says it's quite reasonable. There's supposed to be an award-winning place on the other side of town, but my neighbour said she didn't like it because they fry in lard I think she said.

tonight is altered reality moussaka... no eggplant still. I came out of the health centre with NO time left on my parking and no money to put any more on, so the eggplant stayed in the grrengrocer's! The kids will probably be happy - they prefer spinach to eggplant anyway!

Kerri.