What's for Dinner? August!

I just realized we hadn't started a new thread this month. Too hot to cook?

Last night I made the yummiest seafood pasta (shrimp and crab) in a pink vodka sauce. I had a half-dozen ripe roma tomatoes and it turned out delicious!

I haven't decided about tonight, yet. DH is out-of-town. The DDS and I are going off to our council's GS camp facility where I'll be in a training class and they'll be out having Girl Scout fun this afternoon. I may stop for fresh corn on the way home, though. The DDs and I can make a meal out of just corn-on-the-cob when it's in season!

There! decision made! We'll have fresh corn and whatever else looks good at the farm stand! I have a couple of cucumbers ready to pick, and bell peppers, too. I'm making stuffed peppers tomorrow (assuming DH will be home.) If he won't, I'll wait until the week-end. (He loves them!)

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

Stuffed peppers (with extra for the freezer)
mashed potatoes
more corn!
cut veges
biscuts

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

It's so hot here, everything & everyone is cookin'! LOL!!

Seriously, tonight we're having baked pork chops, squash casserole, purple hull peas, baked sweet potatoes, and homemade Hawaiian bread.

CMT has been running Hee Haw lately. Brings back memories from childhood! When I was typing what I was cooking tonight, I thought about the segment "Hey, grandpa, what's for supper?" and then he'd give out his menu in a rhyme.

Y'all have a good day!
Vonnie

Clairee: The only thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize.

"Steel Magnolias"

Tuna, pasta, mushrooms, onions in a garlicky sauce with melted cheese on top. Yum.

but my appetite isn't. We've eaten out and we've eaten in and I still can't really get up the enthusiasm for food. I was virtually comatose when we got home last night and DH threw dinner together - cheese tortellini with tomato sauce, mushrooms and bacon. I managed to finish eating before I fell asleep, but only just!

I thought it was only the hot weather stopping me from eating, but it's gone back down to something sensible here (with rain and I'm still not feeling like eating.

Kerri.

I'm leaving sausages (Italian) for DH to grill for sausage sandwiches...the rest is up to them!

I'm going to a party for the teacher I did my student teaching with last fall (now a good friend!). She's just earned her Master's degree.

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

Pasta with homemade pesto
Green salad
Sauteed squash and carrots with breadcrumbs
White wine (much)

This was an easy meal to put together after flying back home today. Everyone ate it, even the kids. Yum.

This week so far:
Sunday-Pasta with Homemade Marinara
Monday-Mexican Lasagna
Tuesday-Chicken Cordon Bleu
Wednesday-Pork Chops marinated in Italian dressing and worcestershire, with scalloped potatoes, and corn on the cob
Thursday-Chicken Breasts and Rice
Friday-Chicken Fried Steak with mashed potatoes and gravy

Here's my week so far:
Sunday: grilled chicken breast, green beans and rice
Monday: Italian Sausage with tomato/red pepper sauce in the skillet, whole wheat pasta with goat cheese, steamed broccoli
Tuesday: Tacos, White Rice, and Salad
Wednesday: Grilled steak and chicken thighs, herbed chicken couscous (box), green bean salad, corn on the cob
Thursday: grilled salmon, whole wheat pasta with goat cheese, steamed broccoli
Friday: Whole chicken on the grill, corn casserole, green salad, maybe grilled asparagus (company night)
Saturday: go out

I feel like I"m getting in a rut with this grilling thing!

I don't think we eat any more. I know DH and I shared some Jack Daniels ribs and potato skins yesterday after a business meeting but the rest of the month is a bit of a blur!

I wanna come to all your houses and eat for a while because I think I've forgotten what real food tastes like!

Kerri.

That's a waste of good whisky!

We had a takeaway at lunchtime, so just cheese and onion on toast this evening.

it also had even more of a kick than I usually associate with my mate Jack! Definitely made an interesting change from BBQ ribs.

yesterday was my usual party food - pasta salad, potato salad, etc, along with sausages and burgers. Any thoughts of aBBQ were off since it was raining heavily all day, but that was fine - I hadn't really expected to be barbecuing the meat, based on the weather in the last couple of weeks.

and of course, today will be much the same too... except with some award-winning pork pies instead of sausages and burgers. I sent DH to a good butcher's near us for the burgers and inevitably he couldn't resist a few extras!

Kerri.

I know why Lenora's not eating real meals, but what's everyone else's excuse?? We ate at my MIL's last night, so her gorgeous meatballs and battered prawns were a bit feature of the menu, plus a fried fish for DD, some green veg and pork rib and lotus root soup. DH had subtly remind my MIL which were our favourites... silly boy, as if his mother didn't know!

we had meatballs and prawns for lunch too, plus some 'dragon meat' grabbed on the way round the shopping mall as a snack. Lots of protein and not a lot of veg for us this week I reckon.

tonight we're off to a local Thai Chinese restaurant with my PILs and my 2nd BIL's family. I really hope the food's good, because a large chunk of the company isn't (this would be the spectacularly dumb SIL and her antisocial son). DH said it was nice, or he may just have said how much mum enjoy it, which could be a different kettle of fish head curry altogether!

and tomorrow... Better go call up my dinner date for tomorrow - I need someone to share the kids with and he's great with them (he's also DD's godfather!).

Kerri.

Just no time to type about it!

Monday: french onion soup and sandwiches
Tuesday: DD11 and I ate out while running hither-and-yon!
Wednesday: angelhair pasta w garlic butter and crab
Thursday: Meatball subs (had those mballs already in the freezer!)
Friday: jumbo shrimp cooked with onions, garlic and fresh basil and roma tomatoes (both from my "deck garden") and fresh sweet corn-on-the-cob
Saturday: Tilapia, brown rice pilaf
...so there!

Tonight we're eating at my mom's. The rest of this week is yet-to-be-determined...but menue planning is on the todo list for later today. I'm trying to get back to my Sunday afternoon "planning time."
Blessings,
Lenora
" The teacher is just a boat to take the student over the river."
Gautama Buddha

I'm not doing a lot of homemaking this semester! I'm working part-time and in school over-time, and DH is working full-time and in school full-time as well. Home is where I collapse and sleep for ten to twelve hours a day. But today I did manage to put a frozen crockpot mix into the crockpot. It's supposed to be chicken and dumplings. I also might boil up some corn on the cob, if I feel ambitious.

You are very busy Becky - I don't blame you for not doing much homemaking! I've tried those crockpot mixes and have liked most of them. Very easy and you still feel like you're cooking.

We are having peanut coated chicken baked, corn on the cob, whole grain bread, and steamed veggies.

is next semester going to be any easier on you?? I can identify with the sleeping - it seems to have been my top priority for the last few months, and this week I'm living the dream and sleeping late every morning. Should stop me getting jet lag when I get home!

I had Frosties for lunch, but I did add some organic dried cranberries!! We had my favourites for dinner last night - chicken wings, Hokkien mee and satay - all by the beach. Tonight I'm taking my PILs to a restaurant I've never been to that apparently serves Hokkien favourites - my PILs are Hokkien by dialect group, which means that their ancestors came from Fujian province in China, like many in S E Asia. It will either go down really well because it's things they might love, or my MIL will hate it because she could have done it all better. And DH failed to email me to comment so I'm putting any blame on him!

Tomorrow I'm thinking would be a good night for Thai!

Kerri.

Monday: New Orleans Red Beans and Rice, veggie dip tray
Tuesday: Fruity Beef Stir Fry in an almond rice crust, fresh cantalope
Wednesday: Tomato soup, grilled cheese sandwiches
Thursday: Polish sausague, saurkraut, steamed veggies
Friday: Crockpot chicken, probably the Tuscan recipe, summer veggie salad
Saturday: Seafood chowder
Sunday: dunno yet

Lennora, where can I find a recipe for that seafood pasta in pink vodka sauce? It sounds divine and my DH would probably love it.

Anhata
www.familynaturally.com
Your Family's General Store, Naturally

It was just me and the kids today so i gave them a choice and they chose a restaurant concept created by Movenpick (the ice-cream people) which is one of their favourites. We shared a plate of rosti, DD had a whole plate of deep fried soft shell crab (can't begin to tell you how out of character that choice is for her) and DS had a pizza (no surprises there). I felt full after just a tiny slice of pizza and one piece of crab so DD failed to finish hers. DD and I had ice cream for desert while DS had a custard filled crepe with strawberries.

we never made it to the Hokkien restaurant - it was raining too much. Went to a quite fancy dim sum restaurant, and I failed to pay quick enough and ended up in my PILs' bad books. Not a good evening. Highlights of the Thai food were of course green curry and pineapple rice, along with garlic chicken and asparagus. One failed dish - DS insisted he wanted mango fish. He won't eat fish normally but he loves mango. I finally gave in with the proviso that he paid if he couldn't finish... the mango sauce was covered in chilli and he struggled through three large pieces of battered fish before admitting defeat. It was a brilliant win-win situation for me, complete with a moral lesson on greed!!

and people say I've wasted my law degree on motherhood!

Kerri.

Last night Joe had steak and fries (our aunt gave us a present of two large sirloin steaks) and I had chickpea curry with rice.

I chopped up the other steak and along with onion, mushrooms, carrots, potatoes, threw it in the slow cooker this morning. We'll see what it tastes like in about a half hour, when I've cooked some cabbage to go with.

I am making an effort with our meals. Bought only wholemeal rolls and bread this week, and I am planning on changing over at least partially to brown rice. It's been in the cupboard for a while, I'm just working up the courage

Brown rice is much less different from white, than wholemeal bread is from white.

I actually plan to cook real food tonight, which will be a welcome change for both me and DH. Baked chicken legs with carrots and potatoes, cornbread, and possibly corn on the cob. I also am going to make banana-chocolate chip cake with peanut butter instead of oil, but that might become breakfast tomorrow rather than dessert tonight.

Tonight we had bread (wholemeal of course), with cheese, tomato and cucumber salad, ham, beetroot and various other bits and pieces that were lurking in the fridge.

Tonite: pork tenderloin in the crockpot, green salad, whole wheat pasta with ricotta, crab cakes for an appetizer

I have been cooking more with brown rice and whole wheat pasta. It is not that much of a change really. Also more couscous. I'm following a Weight Watchers plan and these are encouraged. When I was low carbing I did miss my starches, so this is nice.

Upcoming meals:
Sunday: salmon with curry glaze
Monday: some type of chicken???

Need to go shopping on Monday for the rest of the week, which will be my first full work week.

Mixing the brown rice makes it far more edible and gentler on the digestive tract!

we had bacon, (instant!) mash and a 'salad' of baby spinach and rocket. It's the nearest I've come to cooking in a while. DS has decided he wants to try bubble and squeak again thanks to a kiddy programme he saw recently, so I've picked up a cabbage, and I shall pick a nice cold day to do that. I don't think I can do bacon, potatoes and greens two days in a row though! Also bought some pizza bases at the request of the kids, so I shall have to get round to that at some point, probably a weekend. For DD's party last year my cousin had the kids all making their own pizzas from the various bits she'd chopped up ready. Clever woman my cousin!

Kerri.

Make-Your-Own Pizza is a favourite with DS' visiting friends! I prepare bowls of whatever is lurking in the fridge, and let the kids get on with it.

Tonight I had lentils with tomato salad and beansprouts. I love lentils

Honey.

Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

- The Dalai Llama

I use small pieces of bacon to add flavour and top with a fried egg... quite traditional but not essential. Less traditional would be the fact that I cook it in a wok! That's what we had last night in the end. Tonight we're having a Thai buffet with my parents.

Kerri.