What's for dinner? Feb. 13

I feel bad being the first to post for the week, as I have absolutely no dinner planned today!

I have a dinner meeting this evening and DH and the DDS will eat out of the 'fridge.

Not a stellar beginning for the week, however, I'm doing something "fancy" for tomorrow (romantic dinner for four? ) and have invited our (relatively new) pastor and his wife for dinner on Saturday. That should make up for slacking off today!

Blessings,
Lenora
"...if woman's work is never done, why bother about how much of it [isn't] getting done at any given moment?"
~ Claire Fraser in The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon

I finally got round to planning till Friday, and then didn't notice what the time was till 5:30pm (I was helping DS to blitz his room), so I had to pull a fast one. I ended up switching in tomorrow's dinner which was tuna casserole. Tomorrow's dinner will now be the meatloaf I'm cooking at the moment. It wasn't something I could throw together at quite such short notice and still have time to bake. Tuna casserole almost makes it in under 30mins because it's the time it takes to boil the pasta (while I throw the other ingredients in a baking dish) then the 20mins it takes to heat through and brown the cheese topping!

At least I'm one step ahead for tomorrow... unless I burn the meatloaf now!

Kerri.

Sun: Roast Chicken
Garlic Mashed Potates
Roasted Veggies
Mon: Chicken Enchiladas (with leftover chicken)
Steamed Rice
Green Salad
Tue: Pulled Pork Sandwiches (crockpot)
Wed: Chili
Thu: Red Curry Shrimp with Noodles (Taste of Thai recipe)
Fri: takeout

...cooked in a crockpot with red wine and an onion. Turned out fabulous. I'll be cutting up the remainder, and using the cooking juice to make a soup with beets and whatever else is in the fridge that needs eaten.

Lynn Siprelle, Editor

I let DH do the grocery shopping this week. What was I thinking!?!

We have lots of eggs, milk, beer, ice cream and regular white macaroni.

He bought chicken breasts, which are marinating, but not ready for tonight.

He bought a big roast for the crockpot tomorrow.

No other meat though, no fresh veggies except broccoli, no skim milk, no yogurt.

Whatever will HE make for dinner tonight?

I'm also on laundry strike...
-Jo

Glad I didn't get to post until tonight, because I had nothing planned until this afternoon!

We had rice with onions and pinenuts, puy lentils, brocolli and tomatoes.

Tomorrow night is mussel soup (the cream and butter kind, made by DH Yummmmmmmmm).

Then cabbage and rice soup, something beany in the slow cooker, something else and something else.

Hmmmmmm. Not got it quite together yet, have I?

Zillah

We're having that tonight. I'm pan-frying some corn tortillas from the freezer to go along with it. We're low on rice.

What can I say, DH really, really likes chili and it's cheap. Tonight I'm at least putting some chicken in it instead of beef. Mm, variety. Oh well.

Last night we went out to dinner for pre-Valentine's day. Mexican food, of course.

Love chili, any kind with any meat! I am making it this week too Becky! With a beef-pork-veal blend that Wegmans sells - almost as cheap as ground beef.

Courtesy of DH who bought it, but hid it in the back of the fridge.

fillet mignon
baked potatoes
asparagus
flourless chocolate cake
strawberries
a fine cabernet-sauvinon

I think he's cooking too!

Chicken fajitas, rice and sweetcorn and sweet 'n' sour sauce! Mixing my mexican with my chinese

yes, it was a pretty unusual dinner and not terrifically romantic I didn't think. We had potatoes and carrots with the meatloaf, and gravy of course. Nice but not spectacular.

sometimes I love chili and sometimes I hate the thought of it. Mind you, I've been doing it without any chili powder for years - started off being because of the kids and I just never hought to buy any. I often do it a bit drier for inside tortillas, and we add on guacamole, sour cream and salad... if I'm well-prepared enough. I use beef but I use cannelini beans instead of red kidney beans because the skins aren't so tough. None of my lot would eat it if I used kidney beans. So what's chili about it?? Well probably only the huge quantity of cumin and the heavy dash of lime juice really. Otherwise it's almost spag bol with beans!

Kerri.

Onion Soup with crouton and cheese (house already smells great!)
Grilled steak (sun is shining!)
greenbeans
baked potatoes (DH and DD15.5)
Rice pilaf (me and DD10.99)
Meringue shells with berries and whipped cream

Blessings,
Lenora
"...if woman's work is never done, why bother about how much of it [isn't] getting done at any given moment?"
~ Claire Fraser in The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon

Salad (for DH), zucchini (me), heart-shaped pizza with bacon topping (we have leftover bacon), and heart-shaped pink cookies with pink frosting.

Well, my Thai Valentine's Day Dinner was a bust. Super spicy, almost too hot to eat! And I love spicy food. I have never cooked with red curry paste and may have put too much in??? It was a Taste of Thai recipe.

I've come across a number of people who have tried to use a curry paste in a similar way to they would use the premixed sauce. I know it might sound daft but it's not impossible. Or else some spice pastes are just a LOT spicier that others - if you've never used it before it's wiser to go easy to start with. You can always add more if necessary.

my plan tells me we're having baked potatoes tonight with a turkey and leek gratin kind of dish. We'll see how it goes. DD almost certainly has measles and ate very little last night. She might be even less keen on the gratin plan, so I could keep it simple with yet more sausages to go with our potatoes, which is always popular. Or maybe just cheese on her potato!

Kerri.

I'm posting both at once bexause DH is gone so the DDS and I will just scrounge around!

I need to choose a menu for Saturday dinner, too, as our pastor and his wife will be coming to dinner...suggestions?

Blessings,
Lenora
"...if woman's work is never done, why bother about how much of it [isn't] getting done at any given moment?"
~ Claire Fraser in The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon

DS14 is at the cinema with my Dad. When he gets home about 7pm, he'll be stuffed full of popcorn and lemonade so he will only want a sandwich at most. I will probably cook the haddock I have in the freezer (DS isn't keen on it), or have the Covent garden soup I bought today - plum tomato and creme fraiche. Sadly I have no crusty bread, so I will have to make do with plastic white bread

I remember that!

Thanks for the reminder!

it may not be any healthier but at least it's less soggy that way! Actually toasted white plastic bread and proper butter make quite a tasty treat occasionally. Very occasionally since I rarely have the plastic stuff in.

I smell a lack of fancy food coming up to go with the potatoes later. Maybe I can get the bacon medallions out instead and maybe fry up the leeks in butter. Or I could just chop them up for the freezer and find a less demanding vegetable altogether. Like yet more canned sweetcorn. The sweetcorn this week may not be doing me much good though, so perhaps not. And baked beans aren't much safer, but we'll see.

I found some black grapes in the fridge to pig out on. Unusual since I usually find them once they've gone mouldy!

Kerri.

It looked really nice, but the texture was grainy and horrible. Had one spoonful and threw the rest down the sink. Back to the haddock plan, I think.

Yeah. Didn't happen. We're having it with dinner tonight. Also: corn (I'm risking it too Kerri), and Swedish meatballs over noodles.

well okay it wasn't so much vegetarian as lacking in meat. Baked potatoes, baked beans and grated cheese. Everyone ate, nobody threw up so I figure I'm on a winner! Supposed to be Honey's lentil, sausage and apple stew tonight, with rice I think. Perfect timing as the birds can't eat all my slightly soggy apples. They've gone just that bit too soft for me to be happy eating them. And I bought extra for the birds the other day anyway... just picked up a cheap pack.

I wonder whether you overheated the soup Honey... with the creme fraiche, maybe it didn't like it too much and started to curdle. It's more likely with cream than creme fraiche, but it's possible I suppose. Creme fraiche is usually goodnatured though.

Kerri.

...that although it was a posh Covent Garden soup it was in a cup that you are supposed to microwave. Which I duly did and it was horrible.

I poached the haddock in milk, but the result was dry. I had it with mash and petits pois, those were nice at least.

Tonight's little effort will be pie (a frozen veggie thing pretending to be minced beef pie), with some kind of vegetables. Whatever's in the freezer. Bit of a lazy dinner tonight then

I am planning to make a nice comforting soup -- our usual cheddar corn chowder -- but we'll see if I can actually bring myself to do it. The thing is, we've had take-out type food 2x already in the past week. I got a pizza and salad bar at Whole Foods one night, and SuperTarget deli -- do you Target shoppers have D'amico and Sons in your SuperTarget? It is a local thing, very nice Italian-type stuff. They have a great "dinner for two" deal that, with a little noodle or something on the side, did just fine for us and the 2 girls. Excellent grilled asparagus, chicken parmesan, fruit salad, mixed greens w/ cherry tomatoes.

Remainder of week:
Zucchini Quesadillas
Shrimp Scampi linguini
Portabello mushroom rigatoni (another SuperTarget/Archer Farms find)
Cinci chili

Waffles, bacon, possibly eggs if I can spare them, and potatoes. Also fruit.

I reckon it must be the lentils that put them off, although I did add a few drops of garlic peri-peri sauce to add a little flavour. As it happened I'd run out of chicken stock (note to self: have some chicken stock cubes in for emergencies!) so I had to all kinds of things for flavour, including brown sugar and Worcester sauce. And THEN I remembered the box of apple juice in the pantry! That was after the last splash of white wine went in and I was wishing I had some cider - duh! Personally I thought it was rather tasty although I'm feeling rather stuffed now!

Supposed to be fish and chips tomorrow but I've got mushrooms and cabbage and leeks that all need eating up, as well as some little carrots. Might put the chish and fips off till Saturday or Sunday.

Kerri.

That's what we went for in the end too, so the veggie pies have been postponed. Actually saveloy and chips for DS and just chips for me. Yeah I know, where's the protein? I can't afford fish right now, and I don't much like the other things on offer in the chip shop.

Salad, asst veg, some kinda starch or other.

Lynn Siprelle, Editor

With hot dogs or sausage (haven't decided which). And I might make an apple pie, if I feel like it, but I probably won't feel like it.

I suppose. I don't have any pepperoni on hand but I've got cheese, Italian sausage, a red pepper and a sweet onion. I may hit the grocery store just before the DDs get home (once I determine what I need for tomorrow's company dinner) and might grab a pack of pepperoni...I can use the extra for a cheese and cracker appetizer! Yeah! That's the ticket!

Tomorrow evening we have guests coming so:

Lynn's new salad recipe
Chicken Kiev (oven baked, not fried)
Wide noodles with roasted (red and yellow) peppers in cream sauce
Fresh green beans

I havn't completely decided on dessert, yet...Probably crepes (easy)...possibly banana-caramel with whipped cream... I can make both the crepes and the caramel sauce today and then just give the bananas a quick sautee, zap the crepes and sauce in the microwave and roll it all together while the coffee is brewing after dinner....it's looking pretty high in points, though...maybe the sauteed bananas and toasted pecans (have to do for salad anyway) in my pretty glass dessert dishes drizzled with a bit of caramel and just a squirt of whipped cream? (Better!)

Any other thoughts?

Blessings,
Lenora
"...if woman's work is never done, why bother about how much of it [isn't] getting done at any given moment?"
~ Claire Fraser in The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon