WHAT DID YOU HAVE FOR DINNER!!

[SnowyShiloh]

Beth, sorry to hear the etoufee wasn't great, but those menu items sound wonderful! I wish we had a Cajun restaurant up here.

Let's see... Last night Paul's parents got here, they'll be here for the weekend. We had a very fun dinner. There isn't an Arby's up here, and Arby's is probably our fast food place of choice (I know a lot of people hate Arby's, but we like it!). His parents stopped at Arby's on their way out of town and bought roast beef sandwiches, with the buns and meat separate and put them in the cooler. They surprised us with Arby's sandwiches on toasted buns with curly fries (they fried them of course, 8 hour old fries would be icky), salad and pudding for dessert. They even brought Arby's sauce and napkins and the little paper things that go on the tray. It was definitely the most memorable Arby's meal I've had!

Tonight I cooked dinner for the four of us. I made what was essentially lasagna except used rotini noodles. I made the sauce recipe up myself using asiago-red pepper sausage and cremini mushrooms. I knew it would take a while to make so I also made a small dish of spinach artichoke dip to have while I was cooking. The 3 of them ate the whole thing!

Then tomorrow for breakfast I'm going to make us a yummy corned beef and potato casserole (it's become a new family tradition to make this casserole on Christmas morning but Paul's parents have never had it) and sauteed apples.

 

[degrassi]

Yesterday we had chicken breast done on the BBQ, steamed broccoli, sauted mushroom and couscous. The couscous was really good. I cooked it with chicken stock and then stirred in some sauted onion. Pretty good side dish and quick since it only takes 5 mins to cook it.

Tonight we had moose stew. My dad is a hunter so we eat a lot of game meat. We make a yummy stew with moose, carrots, celery, green beans, mushrooms and tunip, served over potatoes. The house smelled soooooo good this afternoon while it cooked. We made a HUGE pot so we'll have leftovers for a week.

 

[BethM]

I made a veggie lasagna, with spinach and mushrooms. It turned out really good, and Jason said he liked it as much as a lasagna with meat in it. Yay!
I used about a pound of spinach, and a pound of mushrooms. I did half portabella mushrooms, and half cremini. I did a full pan, so we'll be having leftovers for dinner tomorrow, as well.

 

[BethM]

I made Nigella Lawson's Sweet Corn Chowder (just the soup, no tortilla chips), and these sauteed green beans.

 

[kirbyultra]

Beth, you cook so much excellent stuff! I'm so envious...and hungry...

 

[degrassi]

Today was a bit rushed so I just threw together some brown rice(added green onion to it), steamed up some broccoli and pan fried some Cod fillets. It was ok, nothing fancy.

Yesterday I made a big pot of beef,vegetable and barley soup. I like to make a batch of soup each week as it makes for quick healthy lunches.

 

[SnowyShiloh]

That corn chowder sounds so good! I'm going to have to make it soon.

We've been having leftovers all week. I actually have enough food for leftovers all the way until Saturday!

 

[BethM]

SnowyShiloh wrote:

That corn chowder sounds so good! I'm going to have to make it soon.

As written, the recipe is a bit bland. I recommend using a good quality frozen sweet corn, as it really showcases the corn flavor. It's also very light, so I try to serve it alongside something with a bit of fat, or I'll sometimes stir in just a small amount (1/2 cup) of heavy cream.
In the past, I will occasionally add a small jalapeno, to give it a little kick. I made it to recipe this time, but when I have the leftovers I will add some red pepper flakes before reheating.

If you don't like spicy, you could just add some salt and pepper, or any other spice you like with corn.

 

[BethM]

It was cool and rainy all day today, so I was in the mood for some hearty soup. I made a minestrone-inspired soup with stuff I found in my kitchen.
A can of cannellini beans, a can of kidney beans, a can of diced tomatoes, went into a pot with two cans of vegetable stock. I added one carrot, diced, and simmered that while I prepped the rest of the veggies. Added a big handful of fresh green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces, and some dry thyme, basil, a bay leaf, and a pinch of sugar. After a few more minutes, I added a medium zucchini, chopped, and brought back to a boil. Added a cup of mini bowtie pasta, and boiled for 7 minutes. I then removed the bay leaf, and stirred in about two cups of finely chopped fresh spinach, and turned of the heat.

I thought it turned out "pretty good," and Jason really liked it, so I will probably make it again. It was really flavorful, and hearty, awesome for such a dreary day. It was also really easy, and fast!

 

[pinksalamander]

I forgot to photograph it, but I had a bacon sarnie smothered in tommy sauce and a nice kippertie

 

[trailsend]

Last night we had corn chowder from Paula Deen's recipe - go to foodnetwork.com and then type in "Captain Jack's corn chowder." It's my fav corn chowder recipe but I do not use all the butter she calls for and I don't add it at the end like she says to lol.
Tonight I'm making two dinners since the other half cannot eat poultry. He's having beef. I'm making chicken and dumplings from scratch, as well as roasted ambercup squash and blue potatoes. It's a miserable day here too so that calls for comfort food. Plus I've been working on apple jelly/sauce/butter/cider for a week now and I'm just about finished so I can cook something else!

I made jam filled butter cookies as well, with chokecherry jelly we got in Montana. Because it is Thanksgiving here in Canada I'm going to do a big dinner on Sunday night - but I'll save the turkey for November. We'll celebrate the American Thanksgiving too - since hubby's family is American. I'm making lots of goodies though - Polish Kolaczki, which is a jam filled cookie as well, pumpkin pie with fresh pumpkin, and Apricot Rugelach which I usually save for Christmas, but I figure we might as well get it as many times as we can!

 

[kirbyultra]

Mmmm I love apricot rugelach! And chocolate rugelach

I had lemon butter chicken and noodles - Nutrisystem dinner. It was ok for what it was. lol

 

[Wabbitdad12]

Left over pizza and a donut. Nutritious eh?

 

[mouse_chalk]

I made the most delicious chicken curry tonight! It was sooo easy, quick and very healthy too. From the same book that I cook most of my curries from.

I sliced up chicken breasts, and browned them in my le creuset casserole dish (Steve's mum gave it to us and I love it, but rarely use it because it's so heavy LOL). Meanwhile chopped up ginger and whizz it up in my mini-blender with some water to make a paste. Then you remove the browned chicken (the recipe says to use joints but it works really well with breast too) into a separate bowl, and fry 4-5 chopped garlic cloves (for 4 people, I used 3 for my 2-serving dish) in the hot oil. Add the ginger paste just before the garlic turns brown, along with a chopped whole green chilli (I used half), 1tsp of turmeric, 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1tsp ground coriander, 2tsp ground cumin powder, 1tsp salt and a biiiig handful of chopped fresh coriander/cilantro. Then 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice (diet fail I know!), and 200ml of water. Cover it for about 20mins or until the water has been absorbed a bit- if it gets too dry, add a bit more water, or if it's too watery, cook it out with the lid off for a bit.

The best bit about this is there's no over or under-cooking- it can be ready whenever you like as long as the chicken's cooked. I added loads more coriander fresh when it was done and had it with spiced basmati rice- that I cooked in our brand new wedding present microwave!

We had all our wedding presents delivered today and as well as the spaceship-come-microwave, we also got some amazingly good knives, including the best cook's knife EVER, some really nice wine glasses, a lovely old-fashioned mixing bowl and a pizza stone. I can't wait to do more cooking with them!

It was the first thing I've properly cooked in a while that wasn't a known recipe of mine to save time, or just an easy pasta dish.


I've just noticed that this has been a really long post. I guess I'm just in a food kind of mood lol!

 

[kirbyultra]

Hmmm that sounds like a lovely curry. I bet if you used dark meat chicken it would be just divinely juicy. But the flavors sound lovely regardless!

 

[mouse_chalk]

kirbyultra wrote:

Hmmm that sounds like a lovely curry. I bet if you used dark meat chicken it would be just divinely juicy. But the flavors sound lovely regardless!

It really, really was! It was lemony, and fresh, but quite spicy as well. I just loved the fact that other than a small amount of oil to brown the chicken, there was no fat in it whatsoever! I could eat it all again I think lol...

I never thought of it like that with the chicken- will definitely try it with thighs next time I think!

 

[Wabbitdad12]

Mr. Nutrition here, left over pizza and french fries! I can almost hear my arteries clogging now.

 

[kirbyultra]

Broke my diet. Had half a small papa johns Hawaiian BBQ chicken pizza wih Italian robusto sauce. SO good. I was havin a really weird day. My cold is making my stomach all weird. Now I am exhausted, and goin to bed. I think I violated 28 diet rules in one meal.

 

[BethM]

I made the canned bean/fresh veggie/pasta soup that I made last week. I needed something easy, that would leave me with enough leftovers for lunch tomorrow and Friday.
I used more fresh veggies this time, and it was really good.

 

[degrassi]

We had BBQed smokies(sausages) in a bun, some french fries, and a garden salad.

Yesterday we ordered Vietnamese food from my favorite local vietnamese restaurant. I tried the "Ribs in black bean stew". It was super yummy! It was more of a soup then what I would consider a stew. It had a fairly spicy black bean broth, rice noodles, bean sprouts, beef ribs and lots of green onions. I think I may have found my new favorite dish!

My mom ordered my second favorite thing the "lemon grass chicken vermicelli bowl". Its lemon grass chicken served over rice noodles, bean sprouts and lettuce. You pour some nuoc cham(rice vinegar/fishsauce stuff) and mix it all together. So yummy! We seriously eat from there like once a week. The family that owns it is so sweet and nice. I was so happy when they opened, as we didn't have any good restaurants close by.