May, 2019 What's in the kitchen?

I roasted some red beets this morning so I could peel them and cube for a couple meals. Tonight I made some chicken cutlets, simply sliced a breast in half and lightly pounded to even it out, seasoned with some of the Cajun seasoning & a dusting of flour and browned in a bit of oil & butter. Reheated the red beets, cooked the asparagus in the microwave for 3 minutes and used a head of romaine lettuce for a wilted lettuce salad.

Everything perfectly sized for NO LEFTOVERS! Yea!!!

Poor Tina! Katie had that done a couple of years ago. The surgery was a breeze. It did take some time to get back to normal though.

Joe is on my poo-poo list. I had a bowl of small bite-sized Hershey's chocolates sitting on the end table. I reached for one and found an empty bowl. OK, no problem. I have a container of chocolate covered peanuts. Nope! It is empty and I just put some in yesterday. I go for some ice cream. I brought in a pint from the freezer two days ago. I had two bites. The container was gone. Joe had beat me to it. So much for his diet. I am going to have to start hiding my eats.

Jimmy, prayers for Tina....and you, too, to hold it all together as she heals. Let her know we're all thinking of her.

Thanks Beth and Debbie..... I will tell her.

We are all up, and soon be leaving. I'm more of a nervous wreck than the patient is.

Oh Jimmy, Please Give Tina my love.. Ask someone to get a ton of extra large ice packs for her.. I hope her doctor ordered an ice machine for Tina...It is a Godsend.

If no extra large ice packs, you can make some from water with alcohol, in a regular zip-lock bag with you freeze..
1 cup alcohol
2 cups water.

Place in a double freezer zip-lock bag.. Keep it on..

Ice and her meds will be her friend.
Tell her to be proactive, BEFORE the pain starts..

I am glad She has both you and Maria around.

Is it her dominant arm?

There is a facebook group: Shoulder and Rotator cuff .. which has a ton of helpful information on it.

Too bad you did not mention this before.. Plenty of tips in there.. even for taking a shower.. Put an empty soda bottle under her arm, to help.... and such..
I got the ice pack idea from them.

She will be living in her recliner for a while.

My friend, at 84 years old, had a total shoulder replacement.. he is doing great.

Sending tons, of love, wishes, and prayers Tina and your way...

So happy Ms. Tina was able to come home instead of catching some strange bugs at the hospital! She'll rest easier, albeit not completely comfortable, at home. Just be careful she's cocooned in bubble wrap ~ never ceases to amaze me how family gets close enough to help and then slips and gives a tiny nudge to the wrong place. It's Murphy's Law!

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Another low carb night. Funny, but I think carbs are a lot like sugar.....once you start to really cut down you don't mind so much. Now don't get me wrong ~ I'll probably have potatoes and rice and noodles for the next 3 meals but 2 outta 5 is better than 0 outta 5.

I did my 'usual' braised pork steaks, made some braised sweet & sour cabbage with a tiny bit of sugar and cider vinegar and a combo of the colored zucchinis w/onion.

You might want to consider Miralax for Tina. Codeine tends to bring all movement to a halt.

Thanks everyone.
Dulcolax was given to her. Now I know what it is for.
You would not believe how all three of the kitty's want to jump in bed with her.
One little one is allowed, but not the other two.
The ice bags have 2 6 x 12 packs and it's two hours on and two hours off. That gives us time to freeze them in between applications.
Cindy, that is a great tip on making one's own ice packs. Thanks!

I am really craving some pasta with meat sauce.

Charlie requested Martini Chicken with egg noodles and Alfredo sauce so that is what we had.

Norm, your supper looks delicious! I'm now really hungry for Fettucini Alfredo.....((sigh)) I hope you enjoyed every single bite!

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Jimmy, it's good to have whatever she wants. At least she ate something. You can snack on something when she's sleeping ~ just be QUIET about it! (Day 3 is usually the worst.....fingers crossed she isn't bothered with the pain too much.)

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I asked Dane for a suggestion for supper. After about 20 minutes he came up with 'Boiled Dinner' so that's what we had. This afternoon I was talking with one of our neighbors out at the driveway and mentioned having a boiled dinner for supper and would she like to come? She jumped at the chance, and I don't even think she was sure what it was. Turns out cooked cabbage is one of her all time favorites. Strange how that sort of thing works out.

Thanks Beth.  This is one of our favorite dinners.

I went to the 'fresh' seafood market today. I usually don't shop there because, even though their fish is fresh and top quality, it's usually more expensive than I want to spend. But today I wanted FISH ~ ~ and I'm glad I just decided to 'bite-the-bullet' on the price. I saw the grouper and thought immediately that was what I wanted....damn the price! Actually, it was less than the last time I bought some there. The piece I chose ended up being a pound and a half and at $36 was more than I EVER pay for a protein, but I ended up inviting a neighbor to join us so it was about $12/person for a restaurant quality meal.

I debated how I wanted to cook the fish. I decided to use the gas grill and use my cast iron skillet. I put the skillet on the clean grill and closed the cover and heated the dry skillet at 500 degrees for about 5 minutes, added enough olive oil to just lube it and added the whole piece of fish. I had spread each side with Hellmann's Mayo and then patted on panko crumbs and allowed it to sit for a good 15 minutes for the panko to absorb moisture from the mayo and then it doesn't come off when you pan fry/roast it. I was even able to turn the whole piece without it falling apart ~ so proud! Once the fish was in the pan I turned the burners down to low and closed the lid. It stayed at about 400 degrees. One side got a little darker than I planned but it wasn't burned by any means.

The potatoes were cooked before the fish went on, in a foil packet with some chopped onions and just olive oil and s&p. Then I just laid the foil pack on a quarter sheet pan and held it in a 250 degree oven while I finished up the meal. The asparagus got grilled on some non-stick foil on the grill while the fish was cooking. It got done so all I had to do was fold half the foil over, slide it on to a plate and stick it in the warm oven to hold for a few minutes. The coleslaw was fresh but I used some bottled Marzetti Slaw Dressing, mainly because I really like the taste of it ~ it's what I grew up eating.

And this afternoon I made a batch of homemade tartar sauce....or NON-tartar sauce as we like to call it, huh, Norm? Hahahahahaha

There is nothing better tthan homemade tartar sauce. I use Emeril's recipe. I swear I could just eat it by the spoonful (but I don't).

I just looked up Emeril's tartar sauce recipe. Surprisingly, what I make is very similar, although not exactly the same as his recipe.

I used about 1/2 c. Hellmann's Mayo, 1/2 c. Miracle Whip, 1 dill pickle, diced small, 1 Tbsp. of drained capers, 1-1/2 T. Sweet Relish, 1 Tbsp. chopped chives, 1 Tbsp. chopped parsley & a couple dashes of Crystal Hot Sauce. I've used some chopped tarragon in the past but didn't think to snip some today. Even though everything is chopped up I blitz it in a little mini chopper so there aren't any really discernable bits ~ just combined flavors.

I like it on fish, obviously, but also on chicken sandwiches......on occasion Dane will be in the mood for KFC, the white meat meal with mashed potatoes & green beans. I'm not much of a fan but I do like their little 'Chicken Little' Sandwiches ~ a KFC chicken tender with mayo & a dill pickle chip on a soft dinner roll. I usually get myself two and it's enough to fill me up ($1.39 each I think). When I bring our food home I'll slap some of my homemade tartar sauce on both sides of the bun and savor every bite. LOL

I don't like tartar sauce. Growing up, we would get haddock fillet breaded and fried, and they served it with tartar sauce. The fish sticks too. We never ate the tartar sauce, but would keep it mixed into the sandwich relish spread so as not to waste it.
On bologna sandwiches, then we would eat it. Not on the fish though.

I made a big pot of minestrone and threw in some turkey meatballs. It is raining here and will all week. Good soup weather. Really weird weather for us. Lightning, thunder, hail, snow in the higher elevations. Palm Springs got snow in their mountains.

That looks like a big pan of 'Jimmy'.....you should just rename it that. (I would have joined you for that meal if you had used a red sweet pepper instead of the green ~ the green peppers mess with my stomach.)

Poor Ms. Tina probably still has anesthesia mouth...….nothing will taste good for a while. So make her some chicken feet soup just the way she likes it. She needs nourishment.

bethk wrote:That looks like a big pan of 'Jimmy'.....you should just rename it that.  (I would have joined you for that meal if you had used a red sweet pepper instead of the green ~ the green peppers mess with my stomach.)

Poor Ms. Tina probably still has anesthesia mouth...….nothing will taste good for a while.  So make her some chicken feet soup just the way she likes it.  She needs nourishment.

She's in no mood to even eat. She is in such pain, and this AM, is back to Dr for post op check-up. Thank god it's only like 8 minutes away.