January 2018, Whats for Dinner??

Last night I made tacos for dinner. Nothing different from what we usually eat. Three hours later, Joe gets the hives. He hasn't been outside so it might be what he ate. I guess after he recovers I will have him eat one of the foods that we ate last night and see if he has a reaction. Dosed him with Benadryl, so I hope he slept ok.
I didn't get a flu shot. I never get a flu shot because the last time I did I got the flu three times. All of our friends have the flu and the hospital ER's are packed. They did get a flu shot and still got the flu. I wonder if we should get one? IDK.

Niagara Visitor wrote:I've always loved to make pizza, but haven't made it now for a long time.  Home made pizza was the first "real" dinner that my daughter learned to make.  She was barely 10, not tall enough to be able to knead the dough properly, so hubby made her a little step stool to stand on.  

Her pizzas became legendary!  

Sad, funny story.  When she was in 7th. grade she announced one day that they had cooking classes in school.  She was all excited.  Came home the day of the cooking, and when I asked her what they made, she said "Disgusting pizza."  I said, "but Cindy, you love making pizza."  She said that they took a plain, white piece of Wonderbread, smeared ketchup on it, and then a slice of processed cheese........... "It was the most disgusting thing I've ever seen, Mom!"  I had to agree with her.

Cindy was a smart cookie, Lore, even in 7th grade! She was cooking early, just like I did as a kid!

NormM wrote:

We had our traditional New Years Day dinner: Ham, black eyed peas, corn bread, collard greens and Povitica bread.

Goodness, Norm -- this looked SOOOO good that I had to run that photo once again. And the cake looks like a magazine shot. Yummy for you guys. Like I've said before, Charlie is one lucky man!

Thank you Michelle

Bugster2 wrote:Just saw the stealth bomber fly over the parade route. So cool.

I know what you mean, Debbie, as it's quite exciting to see one of those cool planes. When people were flying over to clear out the Suez Canal back in the '70s, I was friends with a bunch of people who were professional divers so they were flying out of the local Naval Base in Belle Chasse, which is the Base at which we now have shopping privileges. Anyway, while there, I got to see a Harrier jet both land AND take off -- you know the kind where they stop in midair and then descend in place like a helicopter! I swear, I stood there with my mouth open as it was AMAZING -- just really defied your imagination. I truly felt like my eyes were being tricked somehow!

Another time I was gobsmacked over aircraft was when the World War II Museum opened in New Orleans on June 6, 2000, which was the 56th "anniversary" of D-Day . (It originally debuted as the D-Day Museum but pretty quickly rebranded itself as the World War II Museum. The museum was being deluged with items from veterans who had saved things from WWII. Some had items they'd removed from say a dead Japanese man -- they felt kind of bad in retrospect for taking such items and really didn't want to throw the item away out of respect.)

Anyway, they had a parade and got special permission to do flyovers of various WWII airplanes really low over the Central Business District (CBD), the perimeter of which is where the museum is located. I was working and the firm was on the parade route so they gave all the employees from our four story building) small American flags to wave and told us to get out there and watch. It was one of the best parades ever, as they flew in tons of WWII veterans who were riding on floats, on the backs of convertibles, etc., some of them in their old uniforms. I cried my eyes out, as did the parade goers and parade participants. People were shouting "Thank you" to all the old Veterans and they were crying and blowing kisses to everyone -- it was the most patriotic exhibit I've ever seen in my life and I cannot imagine how anything could ever top it. Today people tend to quickly say "Thank you for your service," but it wasn't the same for those returning from the war. Brian, a Vietnam Veteran who is very proud to be a Veteran though he was a draftee, something most people were over the course of that very long war, and had not volunteered, as some did, though nowhere near the volunteers amassed once we entered WWII (Pearl Harbor, of course, played an integral part of that which it should have; but even with the surge in patriotism, they still instituted a draft in September 1940.)

They even had some Code Talkers riding in open air jeeps and the whole parade moved very slowly by, which was perfect because it encouraged so many to shout out; people had time to be right up near the floats hollering out thank-yous and also throwing kisses to all the men on the floats. Flags were waving ALL OVER THE PLACE. I found out so many people had no clue at the time about the Indian Code Talkers and what a valuable part they played during the war so I explained who the Code Talkers were and what they did, to lots of people all around me. They'd heard me shout out "Look, it's the Code Talkers," and then EVERYONE of us in the crowd saw the Veterans' absolute glee at being recognized -- you LITERALLY saw their faces light up in surprise and happiness, just a very sudden change and just a very obvious reaction to my shout-out! All the Indian talkers, both males AND females, were nodding their heads, smiling, waving and giving me several thumbs up -- obviously absolutely thrilled that someone knew their story. It was really an amazing moment, as it seemed like there were only two things there: just the code talkers AND the crowd -- "them" and "us" --and for just a couple of seconds everyone seemed on the same page, those beaming in pride at having served OR those beaming and shouting gratitude with pride from the crowd, with the talkers just enjoying the way they were showered with and shown such displays of heart-warming gratitude from so many people. It really felt like an honor just being there that day.

And of course, there were some WWII nurses, some of which could still fit in their uniforms, and my mom was an army nurse in WWII (served in both South Africa and Italy) so I was doubly proud to see them, hollering out, "My mom served right there with you! Thank you!," "South Africa? Italy service?" as often as I had the chance. (My mom was still alive and just starting to show signs of becoming a bit "dotty" -- that word sounds like something a Southern old lady would say, doesn't it, but it fit my mom to a T around then. A friend of my late sister knew of my mom's service and actually got her two tickets to the VIP "bleachers" at the big opening ceremony, with speeches, military bands playing each military branch's anthem -- lots of pomp and circumstance, too, which the old veterans seemed to love, I know my mom sure did.

As usual, I digress. The flyover of the planes included this HUGE monster of a plane flying low right over where we were standing -- it looked like one of Howard Hughes' big monstrosities. While I was standing there with my mouth open, I said, "What in God's name is THAT?" And lucky for me, there was an older man standing nearby who said, "That's a B52 bomber, lady!" Poor Brian was home recuperating from cancer surgery watching the live coverage of the parade on TV. Since our home is right across the river from the French Quarter and the CBD, he would see the planes on television and then would limp to the back kitchen door, where he would see them flying right over our house on the way back to the Base in Belle Chasse!

At this point, I really should hang my head while remembering this is a cooking forum and say that I didn't see where there were any people selling food -- unusual in New Orleans but this was the museum's parade and it was on a workday. I don't know if they expected it or not, as I remembered there was a plea made by someone in the public eye, perhaps the mayor or the museum director, for companies to let their employees out to attend the parade since 15,000 veterans and their families were in town for a sold-out grand opening celebration at the New Orleans Arena and I think about 600 were actually taking part in the parade. So it was a pretty nice crowd but you'd have thought peanut and popcorn vendors would have descended but I don't remember seeing one! Or maybe I was just mesmerized by the whole thing. So much for my "food" contribution in this email...

bethk wrote:And since it was a 'special occasion' (truly, the only thing really 'special' was that I had cake and ice cream in the freezer.....) we had Double Chocolate Cake and Chocolate Covered Strawberries Ice Cream (which was, in reality, strawberry ice cream with chocolate chunks ~ yummy)

This deserved a replay, too, Beth. I'm purposely not showing "Mr. Dessert this photo!

NormM wrote:

bethk wrote:Great soup, Imelda!  And it's so nice to have a human eating machine so you don't have to deal with little bits of leftovers!  Good Luck will come your way in 2018!

Black eyed peas and human eating machine.  One of the reasons black eyed peas are lucky is because during the Civil war, Sherman's men did not destroy them because they didn't think they were fit for humans.  They thought they were livestock food.

This seemed vaguely familiar, Norm, and I ended up figuring I must're read it somewhere once. Fun fact for sure. Thanks for posting it.

bethk wrote:That reminds me of a friend I met in the 1970's....she was from Germany (married a US soldier).  She couldn't stomach any kind of corn.....sweet corn on the cob was probably the most repulsive to her.  Where she grew up, all corn was fed to the hogs on the farm.  LOL

That's funny!  And it's particularly funny when you're from New Orleans. There's a joke that goes around that says we're the only zoo in the country where all the willdlife enclosures -- in our very, very nice "not in cages anymore" zoo -- have TWO markers out front. One is a nameplate containing some facts about the species. The other contains a recipe!

bethk wrote:I also grew up eating raw Kohl Rabi, Lore.  My father's mother was born on the ship that brought her family from Germany in the early 1900's, or earlier as I'm not sure when she was born.  She always had a large garden and grew what her parents grew.  We had a lot of rutabaga and turnips, the latter were eaten boiled when small and raw when they got larger, with a sprinkle of salt.  I don't remember her growing green beans, but a lot of root vegetables.  After my grandfather passed away in his early 50's she planted a huge asparagus patch which she used as a 'cash crop' to sell to the town people who would travel the mile out of town to purchase from her.  

That was such a neat story, Beth! I remember I never saw fresh asparagus in the store as a child. I loved the canned kind -- both the green and the white ones. But I read a lot about food in food magazines when I was young so I knew what I wanted to get even when it wasn't available. And even back then, I knew fresh vegetables tasted better than canned, although canned is what we were served as kids. We didn't grow anything so you got your fresh veggies when you went to the store and often times the canned ones were a lot cheaper than the fresh and, of course, convenience was everything back then. My mom used a lot of them but I never knew some people just opened up the can and heated, say, canned spinach. We always sautéed onions and minced garlic to which we added bacon or some other seasoning meat -- that's how we prepared many types of canned vegetables. And there's always "pickle pork" and stuff like that available in small amounts in the meat case at most stores since so many people use them when making fresh veggies, too. And a good amount of fresh veggies like eggplant and other available squash are served as main dishes down here when cooked with meat and things like ham hocks and ham bones -- and we usually serve them over rice just to add carbs to your vegetables!

It was indeed fun to see lots of fresh veggies appear in supermarkets -- I still appreciate it as you can't always get to a stand or one of the markets held on different days all over the city where vendors sell their fruit or veggies direct, along with other goodies made from freshly grown items like jams, jellies, etc. It's so much fun but it's lovely when you can get good looking fresh produce from your local grocery.

The only sad thing about my grandmother's asparagus patch was she would never, ever give any to my dad for our family. He helped her in her garden, plowed and ran the disc over her huge plot, but she would never 'GIVE' any of her cash crop to family (unless they wanted to purchase at her price).

She was a tough one, to be sure.

bethk wrote:The only sad thing about my grandmother's asparagus patch was she would never, ever give any to my dad for our family.  He helped her in her garden, plowed and ran the disc over her huge plot, but she would never 'GIVE' any of her cash crop to family (unless they wanted to purchase at her price).

She was a tough one, to be sure.

Your dad was a sweetie to do all that for her but I guess he was used to the way his mom was or just wouldn't say anything he probably considered to be disrespectful to her about it.  Am laughing over here.  Did your family speak of grandma's failure to do so amongst yourselves, Beth?   It would've been brought up all the time in my family with us kids giggling at our parents talking about their relative.

Oh, the stories I could tell..... (and have on occasion)

Grandmother owned the farm our home sat on. She 'allowed' my father to purchase and move a house on to the property. Let me say, she did NOT like my mother because she was a Lutheran and to Grandmother, it was horrible that my father married a non-Catholic. That was just the way she was. But she allowed Dad to put a house on her farm property (my Grandfather dropped dead with a heart attack in his early 50's so all the property belonged to her and my father was expected to farm it all for her benefit, paying him what she thought his work was worth). She wasn't exactly kind, to say the least. One time I asked her if she would help us get a bathroom, a proper bathroom like she had, put in our house. She told me there was no way a septic system was going to be dug on HER property because when we grew up and moved out she intended to turn our property back into farm land and that wouldn't be possible if it had a septic field......

((sigh))

I told you she was a tough one......

Tonight was a good cold weather meal.....

Meatloaf, baked Kobacha squash, green beans and fresh Focaccia bread.

DD#1 was going to make cinnamon rolls when she was here (but that didn't happen) so we bought some bread flour. It's been sitting on my countertop because I was too lazy to wrap it and try to find space in the freezer for it. And I've been staring at the recipe on the back cover for Greek Focaccia Bread. So, today, that's what I made. It's got Greek oregano, kalmata olives and red onion ~ and, SURPRISE!, I did a pretty decent job of it. Even Mr. Amazing the 'No-Carb-for-Me' nutcase had two pieces.

I would definately make it again ~ good stuff.



After it was baked it was pretty enough for company:



Supper:

bethk wrote:Oh, the stories I could tell..... (and have on occasion)

Grandmother owned the farm our home sat on.  She 'allowed' my father to purchase and move a house on to the property.  Let me say, she did NOT like my mother because she was a Lutheran and to Grandmother, it was horrible that my father married a non-Catholic.  That was just the way she was.  But she allowed Dad to put a house on her farm property (my Grandfather dropped dead with a heart attack in his early 50's so all the property belonged to her and my father was expected to farm it all for her benefit, paying him what she thought his work was worth).  She wasn't exactly kind, to say the least.  One time I asked her if she would help us get a bathroom, a proper bathroom like she had, put in our house.  She told me there was no way a septic system was going to be dug on HER property because when we grew up and moved out she intended to turn our property back into farm land and that wouldn't be possible if it had a septic field......

((sigh))

I told you she was a tough one......

She was indeed, Beth. I've got to ask: How old was Granny when she passed away, as she obviously planned to stay here a while.

bethk wrote:Tonight was a good cold weather meal.....

Meatloaf, baked Kobacha squash, green beans and fresh Focaccia bread.

DD#1 was going to make cinnamon rolls when she was here (but that didn't happen) so we bought some bread flour.  It's been sitting on my countertop because I was too lazy to wrap it and try to find space in the freezer for it.  And I've been staring at the recipe on the back cover for Greek Focaccia Bread.  So, today, that's what I made.  It's got Greek oregano, kalmata olives and red onion ~ and, SURPRISE!, I did a pretty decent job of it.  Even Mr. Amazing the 'No-Carb-for-Me' nutcase had two pieces.  

I would definately make it again ~ good stuff.

After it was baked it was pretty enough for company:

I love focaccia bread, too, Beth, and have contemplated making it all the time.  I've watched Lidia Bastianich make it on television so often and i always "plan" to make it the very next day -- I watch her at all hours of the night when I can't sleep. The recipe I always want to make has rosemary and Kalamata olives in it -- I also think it's a beautiful bread, as is yours!  Nothing like the smell of bread baking in the oven, too, especially on a chilly day!

The bread was really tasty. The recipe called for kalmata olives AND feta......guess what I left out??? It was easy to make, most of the kneading was done in my Kitchen Aid mixer. After the first rise the instructions said to knead in the olives, feta & oregano. I must have missed something because I put the oregano in with the dough when it was kneading the first time.

The red onion got a soak in ice water, as I usually do, to take the 'bite' away. If I make it again I'll stay with the 1/3 -1/2 c. of kalmatas and increase the onion, maybe knead some onion in with the olives so it's not all on top. There was also a healthy sprinkle of Kosher / sea salt on the top after a good drizzle of EVOO.

It was easy an really didn't take too much time ~ I even let it sit in a turned off oven for the rise while I went grocery shopping. The best part was pulling off the plastic wrap and that 'whiff' of fresh yeast. Well, that and the feel of the dough.....nothing like playing with your food!

Crybaby wrote:

She was indeed, Beth.  I've got to ask:  How old was Granny when she passed away, as she obviously planned to stay here a while.

She was only in her 70's. In the late 1960's the State bought the majority of her farm to put the interstate through. She ended up buying a small house in town for her final years, although she wasn't very happy about it. She did, however, like to plan who would get how much of her estate when she was gone. It's a real shame the attorney she chose (who ended up being the executor of her estate) made a huge profit and the family got a little less than half of what she originally was paid for the farm. He was the kind of attorney that gives lawyers a bad name.

Going to make a chicken breast for myself today, and some plain veggies.............. Unfortunately, of the 30 lbs. that I lost last winter, 8 of those suckers have found me again.............. I kinda thought they were gone forever, sort of like my lost youth, but no, they can sneak back in somewhere. So, it's back to plain, plain, plain.

Well, my good intentions went right out the proverbial window with a text from my son......................"Mom, Lisa has a migrane, do you feel like going out to eat................ So, of course I said yes. Turned the oven off (It had not reached temperature yet) put the chicken back in the fridge and went out with my son.

I had a piece of delicious cedar plank salmon, roasted potatoes and perfectly grilled veggies. However, I asked the waiter.......... "Did a cedar tree have to die for this piece of plank??? If it did, next time please let the tree live, cause I surely couldn't tell any difference between a regularly done salmon and one done on a cedar plank." However, it was good, I had a great meal and lovely time with my son, so no complaints.

Chicken will be fine tomorrow.

Joe and Katie may go out for dinner. Depending upon where they are going, I may or may not go with them.
Everyone I know who got the flu shot has got the flu. They are as sick as dogs. California has been hit hard this year. I am going to go out as little as possible in hopes that I don't get it. I didn't get a flu shot because the last time I got one, I got the flu 3 times. I was reading that the shot is only effective 32% of the time and the flu that is going around is the one that the vaccine doesn't work against. Wonderful. On second thought, maybe I won't go out. LOL.

HE'S having soft tacos tonight. I'm having a taco salad.

I may be sorry tomorrow ~ ~ all day I've had that 'funny' feeling in the back of my throat, like I'm coming down with something. Had the start of a cough, a lot of sneezing.....

But, tonight I'm having a taco salad.

Let the chips fall where they will!

(well, I don't want the chips to fall on the floor.......)

Yup....gonna be sorry.

But at least I could still taste some of it.