Whats for Dinner? ~ Monday March 2nd

[Lucinda]

Ciao!

It's Italian night here in the 'burg. I'm testing another Olive Oil bread today and we're planning on Italian sausages with peppers & onions, with roasted garlic tomato sauce and spaghetti.

Che cosa avete per la cena?

[Inchworm]

1. A new invention!

I gotta get pics :rofl:

:blush:

[Lucinda]

4. Mystery dinner!

:)

[Inchworm]

11. It's umm.. Pizza Loaf .. yea.. thats it

:P

I sauteed some onion/bellpepper/butternutsquash I had in freezer.

Cubed a Granny Smith

I did all this because my sourdough ball wouldn't cooperate. I'd roll it out and it would bounce right back where it was. soooo...

I greased the lower 2/3 of a bread tin, and got the dough to stick to the top. I let it sit an hour or two so its own weight would make it fit the pan.

I schmeared spaghetti sauce all on the inside. (a little thick on bottom)

Added the sauteed vegetables and fruit. cracked pepper.

I had some sharp cheddar and monterey jack shredded from last week. Added it.

Sprinkled some crumbled Blue Cheese. (the kind in the tub that go on Trisquits)

added more sketti sauce.

Then I stretched the top and tried like hell to get it to seal shut. It did for the most part.

I was worried that the top would burn by the time the bread got done so I layered it with mozzerella/M.Jack/Cheddar..and goat cheese crumbles. I love the taste of burnt cheese. Added a few banana peppers. :P

Baked it for about 40 minutes. Voila! Pizzaloaf :rofl:





Maybe not conventional or even an actual thing, but omg it was YUMMY. :)

:9

[Tesha]

15. It sounds like you had a ball!

and you came out with something wonderful!

[The empressof all]

17. Looks like a Stromboli with bread dough

I like the Strombolis that look like Pregnant Pizzas but the loaf ones are great too. Yours looks very, very yummers.

[The empressof all]

18. Asparagus Gratin with.....

Individual Meatloaves and roast potatoes. Well that's for the SO....I'm having roasted Asparagus and a Turkey Lean Cuisine (the one under 200 calories)...This way I can splurge on one of those 100 calorie ice cream bars that are calling my name from the freezer.

Dieting sucks btw.....

And on edit: The food deprivation has obviously gone to my brain because I posted this out of normal rotation.

[Inchworm]

44. Dude!

My daughter suggested that name.

Did I make a stromboli?

:blush:

[The empressof all]

51. You did in fact

A stromboli is a "stuffed Pizza" It can lie flat and filled with whatever...(but usually Italian cold cuts and cheese with tomatoes or a little bit of sauce) then topped with another crust and baked. The top crust puffs up and it looks like a pregnant pizza. Sometimes they are rolled like strudels. They are really quite yummy.

Oh and BTW no one has ever called me Dude before...You're my "first" :rofl:

[Lucinda]

21. We're big fans of the "browned" cheeses too. Nuthin like it!

Your starter has a mind of its own, and mine still smells like its been on a three day bender. This potato stuff is scary! :D You got some great photos there!

[Inchworm]

45. The pics scared 'em in the Lounge

:rofl:

It ended up good though

:)

[Lucinda]

47. Well...it was the lounge.

:rofl:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

2. It's cold here, snow everywhere,

and the temperatures are dropping.

So, naturally, we are going to torture our local Thai place, and have dinner delivered.


Crispy Honey Roasted Duck - Slice honey roasted duck deep fried and sautéed with garlic, chili peppers and crispy basil leaves.

Drunken noodles - Choice of beef, chicken or pork stir-fried with soft wide rice noodles, basil and chili peppers.

Stir-fried spicy eggplant in a black bean sauce.

but there's grumbling here about Chinese, so these are the possibilities:

Dumpling * with red chili oil

Yu - Shiang Shrimp * jumbo shrimp stir - fried with water chestnut & black mushroom in spicy sauce

Shredded Beef Szechuan * shredded beef with shredded carrots in hot sauce

Crispy Eggplant*

I don't know. Maybe I should just fix some brownies.................................

[Lucinda]

3. I'd be all over the duck or the Beef Szechuan.

:rofl:
Course ya cant go wrong with brownies. :)

[Tangerine LaBamba]

5. I folded..

Just ordered the following Chinese (the place is really, really good):

2 steamed pork buns (these are for breakfast tomorrow)
10 fried dumplings
Shredded Beef Szechuan
Hunan Pork
Crispy Eggplant
Yu-Shiang Broccoli

While I'm waiting for delivery, I do believe I'll duck into the kitchen and whip up a batch of fabulous brownies. There is absolutely no reason not to go into a Food Coma when the weather out there is supposed to go down to 13 degrees tonight. ...................

[Lucinda]

7. Brownies are REQUIRED fuel for the body in all inclement weather situations.

You really have no choice. It's a law or something. I'm pretty sure.

If we want good Chinese food we have to make it ourselves or drive two towns over.
I have SERIOUS delivery envy goin on here.

[susanna]

63. DH and I have been spoiled by a Chinese place up by my F-I-L's house.

Utterly fantastic food; amazing flavors. Too far for us to go for carryout, though - over 40 minutes. We had been searching all over for a Chinese place near us with even half as good food, and were not having much luck. I stumbled across a place about 15 minutes away that's about 85% as good as the faraway place, and with the ginger, garlic, chili and sesame oils I had on hand I was able to get it 95% of the way there. It will have to do for when the cravings hit. Carryout/doctor up Chinese, I guess you could call it.

I vote that you also make brownies. I am going to start some danish dough tonight for a coffee date I have with a friend on Thursday. I may add chocolate to it. With a little cream cheese...

[yellerpup]

6. Beef pot roast and onion-mushroom gravy

whipped Idaho potatoes, and carrots stewed with the beef. Red lettuce salad with apples, walnuts & goat cheese with honey-mustard vinagrette. If I'm still standing after that, I'll try to make some biscuits, too. Recovering from the flu, snowed in but no work and no school today.

[Lucinda]

8. So YOU are the one that's responsible for my craving!?!

I swear I could smell roast beef cooking just a little while ago. And I WANTED some.
We are having Italian, but I would have switched in a heartbeat if I had any beef in the house.

Of course I could smell hair coloring the night before last... :eyes:
I'm not sure where that one came from.
I think my mind may be going...

[yellerpup]

10. What color is your hair today?

:rofl: I had to cook the roast today, I took it out of the freezer Friday morning, then came down with the flu. I'll make enough of everything (except salad) to last for a few days. When it's done, I'm going to make meatballs and spaghetti! You got me started on craving Italian.

[Lucinda]

19. No change on the hair front for me. LOL That's what makes it so weird.

Bill picked up beer brats instead of Italian sausages and I made them anyway. They rocked. I'd kill for fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and some fresh basil tonight, or some of your roast. :D But our dinner was good and I could actually taste it!

[yellerpup]

20. Glad you are on the mend.

Mr. Pup had my second slice of pot roast. He loves me SO MUCH at mealtime. He's almost like my kitties in that respect. Just kidding! He's a honey. I can't do cows milk cheese, but I do have fresh basil on hand that was a great little pick me up to the salad. Made big ol' cat-head biscuits, too, with the leftover cream in the fridge. Maybe I can taste the leftovers tomorrow. ;-)

[Lucinda]

22. I'm still only tasting the strong flavors. I could taste the butter mix that

I made for the garlic bread, but couldn't taste it at all AFTER it hit the bread. And it was strong. So weird.

Hope you are fully tastebudded again soon!

[cbayer]

9. I asked DH to take me out, but weather is not looking good for a walk.

So, I have chicken stock on the stove. I think I will cook some tortellini for the broth and make salad.

But.... that Chinese delivery order sounds really, really good.

:freak:

[Lucinda]

23. Sounds like a lovely light meal.

I didn't eat much but I'm stuffed. Probably overdid it tonight. :)

[cbayer]

34. We are going out!!! Yippee!

We are going to this wonderful Mediterranean place down the street that has "small plates". This is one of my favorite kinds of meals - lots of variety and just a few bites of each. We will be there for hours.

It has a wonderful atmosphere, great wine, excellent service and I could not be happier.

:toast:

[Lucinda]

39. Sounds like a great way to spend the evening!

Hope you had/have a wonderful time!

[lisa58]

12. I made a vat of sausage and peppers yesterday...

...my husband went shopping to stock up before the snow and the sausage was $1.99 a pound, the onions were a hugh (mismarked) bag for $2.00 and the peppers were $1.99 a pound.

The universe apparently wanted us to make sausage and peppers: it was good last night - it's great tonight!

[Lucinda]

24. Our were great too.

We have a bit left for tomorrows lunch.

[ginnyinWI]

13. rice, Tangerine LaBamba style, of course!

and baked chicken breast and artisan bread and steamed cauliflower with cheese. Leftover banana cake for dessert.

[Lucinda]

25. Sounds very yummy! All this banana bread and cake talk has inspired me.

Gotta make some soon!

[hippywife]

14. Really simple Monday night fare.

I'm defrosting a pound of organic ground beef for sloppy joes, with some organic frozen fries from WF, and some of the fresh corn I froze last summer.

[Lucinda]

26. Bill makes killer sloppy joes. We should have them more often.

I never think of them. Sweet and spicy at the same time. Yummy stuff.

[troubleinwinter]

28. I'd LOVE his recipe!

[Lucinda]

30. I'll ask him, but he may not know.

He just throws things in the pan, and says he never makes it the same way twice, but I think it's pretty much the same great flavor every time.


He's off the phone now so I just asked...he said:
Onion, garlic, black pepper, ketchup, mustard, molasses or brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce...and he has no idea how much of anything. depends on the amount of beef he's making sauce for.

It cooks down to a pretty dark color, but his temperature and time depends on how fast we want to eat.

I know....not much help is it? :rofl:

[troubleinwinter]

33. Yes, thank you (thank Bill!), it IS a lot of help!

I would not have thought of molasses. I have some in the cupboard for the rye bread! I also would not haave thought of w sauce. COOL.

It's like my 'pink sauce' for pasta. It's roma tomatoes, bulk Italian sausage, a LOTTT of basil, and a LOTTTTTT of garlic, and cream. Writing the recipe for a non-cook was so hard, trying to say how much, when, how long, etc. It's only 5 ingredients!

[Lucinda]

43. Yup. Same principal as your pink sauce.

I like it a little spicy and sweet. The molasses adds a lot of complexity and not just sweetness.

[troubleinwinter]

53. I mixed up a batch of Lucinda

Ain5 dill-rye last night. I was thinkin' about the molasses. I really like molasses. It is not very sweet at all. I hadn't bought any in a few years, til getting it for the bread. I noticed I was down to a half bottle (been using it for the glaze), & thought, "OMG! I better get another bottle to have on hand."

I like to mix some into pancake syrup (when the family aint around to say "ew", I use it straight). Less sweet, but very deeply flavorful.

[Lucinda]

55. Bet it's great on pancakes! I started buying it again when I began making Molasses Crisp cookies

I rarely make pancakes because they never taste as good as they smell, so I'm usually over it after a couple of bites... BUT I plan on trying sourdough pancakes if my potato starter works. I'll take the molasses out for a spin on those. :) I KNOW there is a good pancake out there for me, I just haven't found the recipe yet. :D

[troubleinwinter]

59. I don't much care for American style pancakes....

the puffy, fluffy, cake-like things.

I like something almost like a crepe. Swedish pancakes. Thin, with a lot of egg.



salt
1 cup flour
4 eggs
1/4 cup melted butter
1-1/2 cups milk

Even if I use Bisquick, I thin it a lot with milk and add extra eggs.

[Lucinda]

60. I never thought of thinning pancake batter

I'll give this a try!

[elleng]

64. We always have 'thin' pancakes, a-la Dad's recipe;

add plain yogurt, and milk 'til its thin enough.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

35. I love Sloppy Joes

My recipe - never the same twice -is much like Bill's, except I found that using chili sauce instead of ketchup makes a big difference. And I use brown sugar, because we never have molasses around here. I think that's the big trick with Sloppy Joes - the sweetness.

And chopped onions to start - lots and lots of chopped onions. A little bit before serving, I throw in some banana pepper rings, which give it a nice little twist.

Our Chinese dinner was so good, I don't plan on ever being hungry again. No brownies tonight.

Tomorrow, for sure............................

[Lucinda]

46. Glad Chinese was yummy! Brown sugar is a sub for us if there is no molasses

Gotta have some sweetness.

I've never tried SJ's with chili sauce before. I'll pass it along. He cooks the ketchupiness out of our's because we don't want an overriding tomato flavor, so I'm curious to see what the chili sauce does. Sounds like a good fit.

[elleng]

65. Isn't there molasses IN brown sugar?

.

[Lucinda]

66. Yes there is.

But they don't taste the same in recipes and you usually add more liquid of you sub brown sugar for molasses.

[elleng]

67. Sure.

Just occurred to me, as molasses became a subject of discussion!

[hippywife]

38. Ha!

We use the same recipe. :rofl:

I'm headin' off to bed. You get to feelin' better, ya hear? :hug:

[Lucinda]

42. Nite! Hope you're both snoozing peacefully!

:)

[troubleinwinter]

54. Oh, cool. I have wondered for years just how to make it.

Tangerine's clue on lots of onions sounds GOOOOD to me!

[Lucinda]

56. Yup. They add "onion-y" and sweetness.

:)

[grasswire]

29. on a Krispy Kreme?

Isn't that the latest fad?

[Lucinda]

31. One of these days I'm gonna try it.

:rofl:
We have to drive the the next town for fresh KK's though.

[hippywife]

32. That's why I like it, too.

I don't make it often because we only order a couple of pounds a month, along with a couple of pounds of ground buffalo which makes some killer meatloaf.

When I do make it I revert back to my first cooking attempts as a kid. Brown the beef with some salt, pepper, and granulated garlic, mix in some Worcestershire, ketchup, yellow mustard, and brown sugar. The only adult addition is a few shots of Frank's Red Hot. Sometimes if I feel like it, a little diced green pepper and onion.

What's Bill put in his?

[Lucinda]

48. Onion, garlic, black pepper, ketchup, mustard, molasses or brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce

And he also may snip in dried chili depending on how much heat we want.

How do you keep the buffalo meatloaf moist?

[grasswire]

16. ground beef soft tacos, mexican-style rice, grapefruit-avocado salad

....and probably a pan of gingerbread.

Oh, and I'm sorry to say that it is 58 degrees here and sunny, and the crocus are up and even a few daffodils are blooming.

[Lucinda]

27. Yeah, yeah, yeah...go ahead and gloat.

:P

You've got grapefruit AND avocado AND early blooms?
If you weren't so nice I'd be really jealous. :D

[Tangerine LaBamba]

36. We've got snow everywhere -

the whole world out there is glowing, and it's just beautiful. So cold, too.

We're under a "black ice" alert on the roads, too. Fun times here in the Nation's Capitol.

A month from now is the Cherry Blossom Parade. One month. I remember one year when it snowed on the cherry blossoms - I took photos of snow-covered flowers. Gorgeous.....................

[Lucinda]

50. We got nailed today too, and then later the skies were a gorgeous solid blue

Looking out through the living room windows up into the snowy treetops backed by that amazing light and the blue sky was a real treat. Absolutely beautiful.

[grasswire]

52. one of my funniest driving anecdotes ever was in NoVa

There was a light snow -- maybe two inches, and ice. At that time, I drove every day from Reston down to Fair Oaks and then across Route 50 and on to Alexandria. I was getting gas, and I heard one woman say to another: "It's easy to drive in this. You just put your wheels on the real shiny spots and stay there."

Ha!

[Tangerine LaBamba]

57. She's still driving here

She's out in every storm, doing exactly that. Was she Asian? Because I've concluded that the scariest thing in existence is an Asian woman behind the wheel of a car and on the side of the door there is a sign that reads "Student Driver."

I think maybe your lady owns a driving school here.

Not as bad as Massachusetts, but pretty bad drivers here. Not a clue what to do in any kind of wet weather. Even here in Alexandria, a place so left, it's dark, dark blue, the cops are dimwits behind the wheel in snow.

One year, in a snowstorm, I went around a corner and found a police cruiser sideways in the middle of the street. It was a little hill, and they were spinning their wheels, trying to get the car out of the way and back into their lane.

I went partly around the police car, and asked them if they wanted a push. They said "Hell, yeah!" So I backed up enough to be facing the back of their car, got a nice touch on it, and, as they steered like a couple of blind old ladies, straightened them out and pushed them to the top of the hill.

I got a nice loud and quick "WHAAA!" from their siren as they drove away. I felt like such a pro that day........

[soleiri]

37. leftovers!

Last night's dal turned out deliciously. I'm making frozen gnocchi with a spinach/cream sauce for the boys since there isn't enough dal to share.

[Lucinda]

40. I just got a nice big bunch of fresh spinach yesterday. Or manybe the day before?

Anyway....Haven't decided what I want to do with it yet but spinach and gnocchi sounds very goooood.

[soleiri]

41. It's the only way I could possibly

get two teenager boys to willingly eat spinach.

[Lucinda]

49. Understandable.

:)
I wasn't a fan until I was an adult. Now I'm almost a spinach addict. I love it in salads.

[eridani]

58. Leftover chicken ramen with broccoli, carrots, snap peas and garbage soup stock

Interesting experiment with that Depression era favorite. Just throw all veggie and herb trimmings, bones, water from steaming veggies into a quart yogurt container and freeze. If it wasn't rotten or spoiled, it went in. When you fill up 4 of them, put them in a pressure cooker, cover with water, add bay leaves and/or an onion half and cook for an hour. When the lid is off, skim any excess fat or scum. filter through a couple of layers of cheesecloth in a colander and cool. There was some sediment at the bottom anyway after cooling, but I repoured the stock into various sized containers and froze it, excluding most of the sediment.

The stock had sort of a weird reddish color from beet trimmings, and a sulfurous odor probably from broccoli and Brussels sprouts water. After unthawing tonight's chunk of stock, that mostly went away. Some boiling produces a little more scum, which I scooped out with a shallow spoon chilled in cold water before adding chicken, veggies and ramen. It was a pretty pungent soup, somewhat resembling hot and sour. I use an occasional Serrano pepper in cooking, and put the seeds and ribs in the original stash. That added a nice kick. Hubby liked it despite the fact that he doesn't go for really hot dishes.

[Lucinda]

61. This is interesting.

I don't really have enough ground to compost properly and we do have enough trimmings to make this something I can experiment with. Glad you posted this!

[susanna]

62. Leftover pot roast sandwiches.

With the last of the roasted vegetable soup I made a few days back. Yesterday was garbage night and tomorrow's shopping day, so we're down to what's in the fridge/pantry. Goody for me that I love cold pot roast sandwiches with mustard. DH likes them open-faced and hot, so I saved some gravy for his. We're both happy. :-)

[Lucinda]

68. Bill is like your husband, with most leftovers...

There are lots of things I like cold, like pizza, but he prefers almost everything reheated.

[susanna]

69. I love cold pizza.

...and cold chicken, cold pot roast, the list goes on. DH is definitely a warmed-food guy. He watches me eat the cold stuff like "ewww." I never thought it was weird, so I used to get a little defensive. Now he leaves me alone. :-)

[Lucinda]

72. Yup. I get the "ewww" over cold pizza too.

But like you, I manage to enjoy it anyway. :D

[hippywife]

70. Oh man!

I love them hot with a little salt on the meat and butter on the bread. The butter melts around the meat and it's soooo good! When I was a teenager, my dad used to say I'd make a butter sandwich out of about anything coz I would that with any meat my mom put on the table. :9

[susanna]

71. I love butter on them, too.

Sometimes I go mayonnaise, but butter and meat (or, goodness help my arteries, butter and cheese) are some of my favorite sandwiches.

We have a historical attraction around here called Greenfield Village with an old tavern that used to be a stagecoach stop. They serve food that is reminiscent of that era. I once had the best cold sandwich there: butter and roast turkey on homemade (of course) bread. It was a hot summer day and we were walking through the village. Just stopped to eat and I was a happy girl with that offering!

Here's a sample menu. Neat place:

http://www.thehenryford.org/village/eaglemenu.aspx