WHAT DID YOU HAVE FOR DINNER!!

[SnowyShiloh]

That eggplant parmigiana sounds good! I've been meaning to try it sometime, I've never actually cooked with eggplant. Since we are tofu loving folk, I was actually planning to make tofu parmigiana for dinner. I know that idea will probably horrify a lot of people, but oh well. I forgot to put the tofu in the freezer last night though so I couldn't make it (you have to freeze the tofu, thaw it and then press the excess water out so it's firmier). I ended up buying a package of vegetarian Italian seasoned "chicken" cutlets and used those in place of the tofu.

This is the sauce recipe I used, it's SO delicious and great just with spaghetti:

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup pitted black olives, minced
2 tablespoons capers
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
a big dash of red pepper flakes
28 ounce can good quality crushed tomatoes

Saute the onion garlic in the olive oil until tender. Add the olives, capers, salt and red pepper flakes and saute for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and simmer for about 20 minutes.

I cooked the "chicken" cutlets in a small glass dish, then covered them with the sauce and some mozzarella and baked until the cheese was melted. We had it with spaghetti on the side.

 

[mouse_chalk]

Oh how I missed this thread!!!


Umm, let's see. Lots of eating out happened this weekend lol.

Friday night we ate in the hotel we were staying in- we splashed out a bit for Steve's birthday. I had prawn apple and celery starter, and Steve had grilled goat's cheese, roasted cherry tomatoes and balsamic glaze. For main I had pan-fried seabass fillets, crispy stir-fried green vegetables, lemon-caper butter, with seasonal veg and new potatoes on the side. Steve had steak, chips, mushroom and the biggest onion rings I've ever seen.

Saturday we were at my aunt's house all day celebrating so we had a buffet of cold roast pork, a whole roast salmon, mushroom and black bean curry, dahl, (my dad made those- he makes the best curries ever!) rice, homemade coleslaw, mushroom risotto, potato dauphinoise, mixed salads, and baked potatoes. They became a bit of a joke, because my aunty made far too many and hardly anyone ate one, so she was asking all day if anyone wanted a jacket potato lol! She also still had a sack of potatoes that she had nothing to do with! :rofl:



Tonight I'm taking Steve out for another birthday meal- he spent all day on his birthday with my family so I have some making up to do lol. We're going here:

http://www.zizzi.co.uk/index.html

And I have to go get ready now!



I will SOOOOO be trying that eggplant recipe though (or aubergine as we call them here lol) it sounds yummy! :biggrin2:

 

[hartleybun]

had lunch out today with cousin and her family. lovely roast beef with trimmings - roasted butternut squash, gratin of parsnip, swede, brocoli,potatoes. the white chocolate cheesecake i was forced to eat for dessert was delicious

nice pub surroundings too

 

[trailsend]

hartleybun wrote:

the white chocolate cheesecake i was forced to eat for dessert was delicious

I bet that was terrible being forced to eat that dessert.

Jen your dinners sound great! I love Eggplant Parmesan we have it a lot here. Lots of fresh mozzarella with ours.

We have been so busy and not eating very well, we've had quick meals a lot, ate out twice this week which never ever happens. Otherwise we've had BBQ meat with veggies and spagetti. Tonight I am making Black Bean chili, corn bread, fresh guacamole, broccoli and we might have corn tortilla's with it too.

 

[trailsend]

Instead of the guacamole - I made a sour cream/avocado/lime/cilantro cream to top off the chili! It's delicious It's all done except for the corn bread and I cannot wait to eat when the chores are done tonight!

 

[SnowyShiloh]

I know this isn't dinner, but I have the BEST waffle recipe ever if anyone wants it. We have them almost every Sunday. This morning I made extras to put in the fridge so I can just pop them in the toaster during the week.

We're having white chili tonight. I forgot to soak the beans overnight, but I had a lot of canned beans so used them instead. The chili is cooking away in the crock pot right now. I'm going to make cornbread to go with it and we'll have a salad with salsa dressing too. Trailsend's idea for cilantro/lime/avocado cream sounds amazing for on top of the chili, but unfortunately I fed all the cilantro to the bunnies last night!

 

[Leaf]

I am having left over stuffed crust pizza. It has ham, jalapenos, cheese, pineapple and mushrooms.

 

[BethM]

My little rosemary starter plant had grown a lot, but it's still too cold at night to plant it outside. So I trimmed it up, and made what might be my favorite pasta dish ever.

Penne with Rosemary Cream Sauce

1/2 pound penne pasta
1/8 cup fresh rosemary, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 cup tomato puree
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Cook the penne in water until al dente. In the meantime, saute the rosemary in the oil in a saucepan over low heat for 3 minutes. Add the tomato puree. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 15 minutes. Pour in the cream and Parmesan, stirring until heated through. Drain pasta and toss with cream sauce.
Makes 2 generous servings.

I simply adore this recipe, it's from a cookbook called InterCourses. (It's supposed to be an aphrodisiac cookbook. I don't know about all that, but there are some really excellent recipes in it.)

I had a salad of mixed baby greens on the side, and some toasted buttered rosemary sourdough bread. (It was a very rosemary dinner tonight!) Some fresh pineapple for dessert, and I've got a serving of ginger ice cream I might just finish up.

 

[BethM]

SnowyShiloh wrote:

That eggplant parmigiana sounds good! I've been meaning to try it sometime, I've never actually cooked with eggplant. Since we are tofu loving folk, I was actually planning to make tofu parmigiana for dinner. I know that idea will probably horrify a lot of people, but oh well.

I am also a tofu-loving person!

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Beth, glad to know we're not the only one! Soybean curd may sound like an odd ingredient in a lot of western recipes, but I'm just not a big meat eater. I've even substituted tofu for ricotta cheese in lasagna and no one knew the difference. I'm going to have to make that rosemary cream sauce, rosemary is my favorite herb. That recipe sounds sooo good!

 

[BethM]

SnowyShiloh wrote:

Beth, glad to know we're not the only one! Soybean curd may sound like an odd ingredient in a lot of western recipes, but I'm just not a big meat eater. I've even substituted tofu for ricotta cheese in lasagna and no one knew the difference. I'm going to have to make that rosemary cream sauce, rosemary is my favorite herb. That recipe sounds sooo good!

I know a lot of people who are very against tofu. I have always been fine with it. Now that I don't eat much meat anymore, I eat lots of tofu. It's so versatile, and can carry flavors well.

Rosemary is also my favorite herb. Tonight I doubled the recipe, so I will have some leftovers.
Be careful, it is easy to burn the rosemary when it's sauteeing in the oil, I recommend not leaving it during that time. (I've burned it 2 or 3 times in the past!)

 

[hartleybun]

trailsend wrote:

hartleybun wrote:

the white chocolate cheesecake i was forced to eat for dessert was delicious

I bet that was terrible being forced to eat that dessert.

it was! definitely 'cruelty to donnas':biggrin2:

am having bolognese tonight. im a fan of tofu and quorn - luckily tesco does stock them.

 

[mouse_chalk]

*makes note to try that pasta with rosemary cream sauce soon with new rosemary plant*

I LOVE rosemary! That sauce sounds nice, and very easy.


Last night we had a lovely meal out. I had mussels in a garlic, shallot and white wine sauce to start, while Steve had garlic bread with cheese. Then I had a pizza with mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, rocket, mountain ham and grana padano, and Steve had a four-cheese pizza. Then I had a rasperry cheesecake for desert, and Steve thought it was hilarious because I pronounced raspberries sort of wrong so it came out 'raaaaaaa sperries' and it was pretty much all he said for the rest of the evening. The waiter kept coming over to ask if our food was ok etc, but he'd come up behind me and make me jump every time. He might as well have just said 'BOO!' each time!

Probably chicken tonight or something healthy, after all that eating out! Plus we have grocery shopping to get later....

 

[trailsend]

hartleybun wrote:

it was! definitely 'cruelty to donnas':biggrin2:

NOT cruelty to "Donna's!" lol. I have to say cheesecake is my favorite dessert of all time. Especially cherry.

I like tofu too - although I do not use it as much as I used to. We really enjoy it with rice or in stir frys. The rosemary cream sauce does sound delcious. That pizza sounds yummy Jen.

We are having Sweet Potato chowder for dinner tonight, one of our winter favorites. It's freezing out today and super windy and damp, so it's a good time to have it before it warms up. I use sweet potatoes, potatoes, vegetable broth, minced onion, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, seasoned salt, oregano, parsley and pepper. It's spicy and I love it that way - although I can't overdo the spices because Kevin cannot handle it. Then you add 1/4 c flor and 2 cups of milk- and it gets thick and it's super delicious and comforting

 

[trailsend]

Yikes! No one else has replied.

I'm excited because tonight we are having pasta with baby bok choy, broccoli, red chili sauce, pork, and grape tomatoes Yum!

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Tonight I am making quiche! Last night I made white chili, cornbread and salad.

 

[mouse_chalk]

Eeek! *jumps in to rescue thread*

I have been really busy/feeling crappy the last couple of days so not posting much...

Anyway, on Monday night I had a bit of a disasterous dinner. Tried to make the aubergine dish but tried to skip the egg and breadcrumb part and ended up majorly underdoing the cooking of the aubergines, way overdoing the cheese and simping too much on the sauce! Steve twisted his ankle Monday evening so I ended up running round after him all night with not much time to cook for myself.

Tuesday night, I had the Tuscan Lemon Chicken again, with Anya potatoes and coleslaw made with celeriac instead of cabbage and lots of lemon juice instead of too much mayo. Yummy!

Last night we were lazy again :blushan: And got a takeaway pizza!


Tonight I've been on my own as Steve has been in London for the day, so I made spaghetti with chilli and garlic prawns. I adapted this recipe:

http://www.recipezaar.com/Garlic-Shrimp-Pasta-121066

I fried the garlic in a bit of butter, but added a fresh red chilli minced, instead of the dried flakes. Then added the prawns, then a splash of chicken stock, juice of half a lemon, some salt and pepper, and loads of lemon zest and a tiny bit of olive oil, then tossed with the spaghetti. It was quite hot, but oh so nice! Had to go and clean my teeth afterwards so I don't stink of chilli and garlic when Steve returns home with his business partner/friend/best man who is staying the night LOL!


Tomorrow night I'm on my own again as Steve will be at a conference down in Cornwall all day with Joel (business partner) so I only have to cook for myself! *sniff sniff* :cry2

 

[trailsend]

We had pork burritos for dinner tonight. It's easy and delicious. I use whole wheat tortilla's - first I put on some sour cream/sweet chili sauce, then some cooked jasmine rice, my ground beef, tamari and shredded zucchini mixture... then some sliced scallions and shredded cheddar.

Tomorrow I think we are going to have catfish.

 

[hartleybun]

patchwork group last night and twilight classes for both kids so had stirfry with noodles.

haggis tonight tho'

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Had the last of the white chili and cornbread tonight. I ended up not making the quiche the other night because I didn't feel like having that for dinner. We had rice for dinner instead, which we do on occasion. Paul put soy sauce and chili sauce on his rice, I sprinkled my rice with lemon juice and salt, then topped it with canned tuna and some shredded cheddar cheese. That probably sounds weird but every once in a while I get a craving for it!