What's for dinner?

Pam,

Yeah, your area has fantastic crab cakes! I love fresh seafood! We have great seafood too. Coastal areas are the best!

My daughter missed our seafood when she was living in Denver. She is eventually going to move back to Denver though because she loves it there.

Pam: I hear you on the chain restaurants. One time we got a Panera pizza, which we ended up throwing in the trash.

We have chain Mexican resturants here. I love the bright fun decor & a Margarita, sure, but I'd rather try more authentic Mexican & South American food.

I used to love Indian food in London. There were so many family run restaurants & many included their regional dishes & flavours.

I did try English cuisine too.. cottage pie, shepard's pie, cornish pastie (now a traditional pastie is a good meal) & clotted cream on scones. Simple fish (fresh) & chips in Cornwall was excellent! But smoked cod for breakfast was not really my thing.

Wish me luck. DH is making something new for dinner.. I see chilli & mushroooms.

Spinach lasagna. 😋 Yum!

Today was better on the food front! A local church fundraiser was a chicken fry , and we got 12 pieces, delicious!! Then grabbed some sides from the local mom and pop grocery, dropped 1/2 of everything off at DDs, meal for 4 and we all will have leftovers, for about 25$. Also gave them a loaf of chocolate banana bread and some home made jerky.. she was so happy to come home to a meal they didn't have to cook. And we helped a local church! The cats did enjoy the nasty fish, part 2 tonight so its all gone!

Pam: A gal from my work use to run church suppers with chicken or fish. Always delicious and very reasonable.

Our church fish fries for Lent are terrific! They have broadened their menu to include shrimp as well. Plus you can ask for grilled instead of fried. Wonderful sides with a dessert and a drink!

Oh, and several churches even have drive through service!

I cooked dinner for just myself tonight. I have been dieting and trying to eat healthier and cleaner for the past 1.5 years and have lost 60 pounds (and counting) and have drastically improved my bloodwork numbers, avoiding a diabetes diagnosis. Yay!

So earlier tonight I cooked a quick vegetable stir fry (shredded carrots, sliced mushrooms, ribbons of zucchini and squash, thinly sliced red onion, skinny asparagus cut into 2-inch-long pieces, and thin slices of sweet red bell pepper) with already cooked (peeled, deveined, tails off) pre-seasoned shrimp from Kroger in some This Little Goat Went to Tokyo Sweet & Salty Everything Sauce all served over some Uncle Ben’s Ready Jasmine Rice…plus a mid-sized salad of tossed lettuce and baby spinach, chopped campari tomatoes, shredded carrots, a sliced and halved mini cucumber, a tiny bit of freshly shredded cheese, and a low-calorie Stonewall Kitchen sesame ginger dressing that I absolutely love. It was all so good and healthy, and I enjoyed it very much!

This, after living with and taking care of my 81-year-old mother and her every need, desire, and whim for the past 7 years (and counting) ever since my dad passed away and after she so ungratefully called me a horrendous, extremely insulting, completely baseless name just to lash out and hurt me nearly a week ago over something extraordinarily petty and insignificant while I was taking her to a doctor appointment. Her sanctimonious self-righteousness is overwhelming and emotionally exhausting for me, especially as her only child and remaining immediate family member. So I have removed myself from her by staying and sleeping in a different part of the house, especially since she refuses to apologize sincerely to me without caveats or a litany of further accusations tacked on. “I’m sorry, BUT…” is *not* a sincere apology! And is an apology actually a real apology when you have to ask, beg, and demand for one? I don’t think so.

So I exercised some much needed self-care by cooking a healthy, fulfilling meal for just myself instead of going through the daily, 2-3-hour-long “What do you want for dinner, Mom?” argument and cooking according to her preferences. And, as terrible and selfish as it all sounds, I enjoyed every bit of cooking for just myself and savoring every bite of *my* dinner. I am completely burned out (and deeply hurt) by my mother. So she’s on her own in terms of feeding herself…for now.

Seriously, y’all, that This Little Goat Went to Tokyo Everything Sauce is EVERYTHING! So, so yummy and so easy to use in a stir fry! I encourage you to try it. And, if you can’t find it in a store near you, it is available on Amazon as well as directly from thislittlegoat.com website. Plus, they have other flavors that I have yet to try but are definitely on my wish list.

Another cooking gem I recently discovered and used is Campbell’s FlavorUp! cooking concentrates, which come in 3 different flavors—Caramelized Onion and Burgandy Wine, Rich Garlic and Herb, and Savory Mushroom and Herb, A little goes a very long way and can be used on just about anything! Last week I sautéed a carton of sliced mushrooms in the Savory Mushroom and Herb flavor and, OMGoodness, those mushrooms were better than any I have ever had from a restaurant, even the fancy steakhouses! And, because these are all so low-cal, they work beautifully in my diet. I highly recommend these, and they can be found at Kroger, Walmart, Amazon, and other stores and websites.

Clotaire,

Sounds delicious! I cook healthy meals too.

I love making healthy soups! It’s relaxing to cook delicious meals that we enjoy eating.

How wonderful that you have lost so much weight! Congratulations!

I was clearing out expired items in the pantry and some never opened salad dressing led me to check the open bottles in my fridge, I was shocked to see one expired in 2021! I knew I hadn't used it for a while, but I never imagined YEARS past date... is this another sign of old age creeping in?

Cwillie,
I have started writing the date on stuff when i open them, Mayo especially lol

Willie, I think that's common. Mayo and mustard come to mind. Somewhere along the line I must have figured neither ever expired. Yep...............

cw,

Your story about expired salad dressing reminds me of my husband’s grandmother.

She served expired salad dressing for Sunday dinners. When we noticed it and pointed it out to her, she decided to rip the date off of the bottles! I never ate salad again at her home! 😁

She was an impulsive shopper. She overbought so many products, especially toilet paper. She had an entire closet full of toilet paper. She also bought a ton of ketchup. There was no way that she could eat all of the ketchup that she bought.

When she died she had tons of toilet paper in her closet. Along with clothes galore! She wouldn’t just buy one pair of black pants. She would buy a dozen pairs at the time! She also bought navy, gray, beige and white pants in bulk. Plus a bazillion blouses to coordinate with them.

Somewhat of a hoarder but very neat, clean and organized.

Left over pot roast made into soup. It's snowing and colder so soup is good this week. Just finished the hot, sweet, and sour.

My grandmother bought tea pots to last through WW2 and they lasted many years later. I think she bought linens too.

I will buy a few pairs of shoes or anything else that works well in different colours but then I have them for years. It's time to cull my wardrobe again for things I am not wearing here.

cw - On a different subject some time ago you mentioned having cold arms when you read in bed. I found that here more than my previous house, so I bought a few cute nighties with long sleeves but just thigh length from Amazon. Does the job well!!!

Anxiety,

Yum!

I feel like a salad. I am going to order this Mediterranean salad with shrimp that I like. I love to cook but I am taking the day off!

My daughters are coming over later on after work.

Must be bread pudding season! My hubs made that this week too!

Pam,

I love bread pudding! I make it the way my mom and grandma did. They were excellent southern cooks!

Regional cooking is interesting. We are known for our bread pudding. We are huge rice growers in Louisiana but rice pudding isn’t a thing here.

It makes sense though that we are great at making bread pudding because we make delicious French bread and that is what we make with our leftover bread.

We have a fine dining restaurant here, in an uptown neighborhood called Commander’s Palace. It’s one of the Brennan’s restaurants that makes a bread pudding soufflé that is to die for!

Many of our restaurants serve excellent bread pudding and everyone’s mom and grandma makes wonderful bread pudding!

My daughter had to travel to Iowa for business and she came home and said that their food was awful! LOL 😆, no offense to any Iowa posters.

Anyway, there are definitely regional differences in food. One day I decided to look up cities and states with the best and worst food. Iowa made the list for having boring food!

Sorry to the wonderful people of Scotland.. but the worst meal I ever had was on route to the commedy festival in Edinburgh.

A fast food place was open. I order a cheese burger. Figured it couldn't JUST be a patty (as I had experienced with ordering a plain 'burger' before).

Picturing a burger, you know? Bun, meat patty, cheese all melty, onion, salad, maybe tomato sause.. 😋
DH ordered ribs.

Paid, collected order, went outside to eat in the street (no tables). In the cold. Unwrapped our newspapered & greaseproof paper parcels.

DH had what appeared go be a brown-grey small rib-shaped blob of processed sausage meat. Shock & disappointment was an understandment.. but his hunger took over & he ate it.

My 'burger' was a processed meat patty with a slice of processed cheese in the middle of it. Most of it was hot enough to have the grease slide down my arms, but the middle was still a bit frozen.

If we succumb to 'mad cow disease' in the future, my money would be on that meal.

Beatty,

Ooooooh, gross 🤮!

A night out with me wife to Alexander Steakhouse! With phone on silent and only TRULY emergency calls from facility would be answered!

I made a big pot of cabbage beef soup on this rainy day. It is delish! And hubs is brining a 8 lb pork butt to smoke tomorrow. He plans to feed the painters on Monday ( hooray its the last day of this mess), and DD and sig other will be over in the evening to get some, and it freezes well. Some of the soup will go to our neighbor at the river. DD and I have a baby shower for my bonus DD at lunch, should be a good food day! And I'll get some ideas for DDs baby shower, luckily 3 of her friends are helping me. I am hoping this means I just pass out cash and they do the work.. LOL

Pam - I love cabbage beef soup!!! Have fun with the shower.

Tonight was buffalo hamburger steaks with mushroom onion gravy, roasted carrots and onions, and baby potatoes.

Please share your favorite ways to eat avocados.

I am not usually an impulsive shopper.

I am careful about not buying more than we need, but I bought five avocados in a bag because the price was great! They were cheaper than buying two of them individually.

Avocados have gone up in price a lot, and I was excited to get Hass avocados at a good price.

NHWM,, in a salad, sliced on a sammy, turn it into guacamole,, I love them!!

Who here cooks big batches of stuff and freezes it?

Best thing we did in pandemic times was get a small freezer. It's on the back porch and I love that thing. Gone are the days I have to stand in T-Joe's wondering if I have room for one of two frozen tilapias.

So I cook big batches. Spaghetti and spicy meatballs, chili, lasagna and tuna casserole, my mom's favorite cheese casserole. And since cooking seldom registers high on my to-do list, when the spirit hits I can make huge things of baked beans and bratwurst.

Some things don't freeze, like my Thai Basil Chicken or my Buffalo hot chicken wing pasta sauce. But most do.


Who else does big batches, and of what?

I usually don’t cook big batches . I just can’t always be bothered cutting down a recipe now that it’s just 2 of us in the house. So at times I freeze ….
Lasagna, Italian meatballs , Swedish meatballs , Teriyaki chicken , pot roast , macaroni and cheese , chicken noodle or vegetable beef soup , pulled bbq pork or chicken , mashed potatoes , Garden chicken.
DH is a pill about liking his food fresh. He’s not a leftover lover . However I am pushing to do more cooking ahead and freezing because DH’s appetite is unpredictable from day to day and meal to meal on Trulicity , even though it’s been almost 6 months . It’s caused too much waste of good food .

Anxiety, I am coming to your house. I won't be eating a lot of broccoli but you may need to put a lock on the barbeque.

Thank you for providing a pleasant much needed change of pace / focus than what we usually face. Hubs does not care for leftovers so not much point in big batch/freezer…sometimes! Yesterday - fresh blackberries from Costco into cobbler in old black cast iron skillet . A little remained - had it for supper later. This evening - stewed apples and toast - simple.

I started cooking big batches when I worked full time. It was a great way to save time and money. I didn’t want to grab fast food if I didn’t have food prepared.

I didn’t have a lot of extra money when I was younger to eat out often. Very often I would be really tired after work, so taking something out of the freezer was a great solution.