March, what's on the menu??

Imelda HL · 26 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Fri Mar 04, 2022 11:04 pm

Imelda HL

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Join date : 2013-05-09

bethk wrote:The peapods in the Beef & Peapods Stir Fry were SO tasty! Fresh and small make for really tasty peas!

I picked up some grapes that were on sale at ALDI today and couldn't resist making the Grape 'Salad' for dessert. I'm trying to convince myself that since it's ONLY grapes that it's really a healthy dessert.....I left off the extra brown sugar garnish, reasoning the cream cheese, sour cream and white sugar 'dressing' was decadent enough!

I have already washed and cleaned my grapes, later tonight, I'm going to roast some of either pecan or walnut ( let's see what I have in my pantry ), tomorrow I'm going to make the dressing and mix them all. I have also prepped my spaghetti squash and carrot to be stir-fried tomorrow with onion and garlic. Tomorrow D will hose/wash table/chairs ( we'll be eating at the backyard ), he is going to clean up the grill too. I have bought 8 slices/ribs of Rib-eye, we only need 6. I'll put the rest in my freezer tomorrow after the dinner ( to be prepared if there is 1 or 2 surprise guests )

bethk · 27 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Fri Mar 04, 2022 11:20 pm

bethk

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Imelda, when I was beating the cream cheese, sour cream, sugar & vanilla together with my hand mixer it was REALLY thick. I just added some half & half to thin it out. It gets really stiff in the refrigerator.

(( and, YES, I had some after supper when I was watching TV...... ))

bethk · 28 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Sat Mar 05, 2022 4:07 pm

bethk

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I think of Lore every time I cook some dry garbanzo beans ~ They taste SO much better than the canned ones and are super easy to make. Sometimes I rinse them and then soak overnight. Other times, like today, I simply rinsed the dry beans and brought them to a boil in just plain water. I let them boil for 5 minutes and then turned them off and let them sit for an hour as I putzed around doing other stuff. When the timer went off (not that I need a reminder that I'm doing something and don't want to forget......LOL) I drained & rinsed the (still) hard beans and added fresh water and returned them to a boil ~ then down to a simmer for about 25 minutes. Finally, for the last 10 minutes more I added some salt and let them get to the tenderness I wanted.

I'm using them for a side salad for supper tonight. Garbanzo beans with cucumber, celery, sliced shallot (that got a soak in ice water to take away the strong, bitter taste), seeded tomatoes and will be finished with some chopped avocado. I'm going to play around with a creamy lemon/avocado dressing with lemon juice, a touch of rice vinegar, smashed avocado (for creaminess), a touch of honey to balance the flavors and some flavorless oil.

I have no idea how it'll be because I just made it up in my head ~ but I'm sure there's something out there on the internet that came up with the same idea years ago......I've never had an original thought ever! LOL

Imelda HL · 29 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Sat Mar 05, 2022 5:07 pm

Imelda HL

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bethk wrote:Imelda, when I was beating the cream cheese, sour cream, sugar & vanilla together with my hand mixer it was REALLY thick. I just added some half & half to thin it out. It gets really stiff in the refrigerator.

(( and, YES, I had some after supper when I was watching TV...... ))

I have already made the dressing, it was so good, I also added some honey, it was way too much, so I separated half of it and keep it in a small container to be used as my future salad dressing. My green grapes are a bit sour, the red ones are sweet. It's 1 PM here, by 2 o'clock, D is going to start the fire for his wood grill, we'll eat at 3 PM, everything is ready, except my spring rolls, I want to make them the last minutes before serving. Sauteed spaghetti squash/onion/carrot needs to be heated in the microwave for 1 minutes, Potato patties are in the oven, I'm going to toast them for 5 minutes to get the crisp.

bethk · 30 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Sat Mar 05, 2022 9:50 pm

bethk

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I'm sure everything will be delicious and beautiful, Imelda ~ Happy Birthday to your MIL!

*******************

The garbanzo bean/avocado salad was really tasty. I had put some of the dressing on the beans/vegetables to let the flavors meld and then added the cubed avocado at the last minute. I think the addition of the cubed avocado really sucked the tart lemon flavor. If I make it again I'll use more lemon juice so it's a more pronounced flavor.

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I grilled the pork chops over charcoal ~ they were not brined (because I'm lazy sometimes) ~ and they were dry and tough. The flavor was just OK. I'm going to go back to my sliced pork shoulder (pork steaks) from now on. They have more flavor, more fat and don't overcook or get tough.

I also grilled a couple slices of the Tuscan bread....a treat for both of us!

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bethk · 31 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Sun Mar 06, 2022 8:19 am

bethk

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From Lore"

"Dinner Tonight. Nope, I didn’t cook. I paid. I wanted to go out for a nice dinner with my children. So, we went to a really nice steakhouse. Me in the middle, to my right my youngest son Danny and his wife Lisa. My left son Michael and his wife Amy. Monday is my late daughter, Cindy’s birthday. She would be 57 years old. We try to do something for her birthday every year. I had a great ribeye steak with leftovers for tomorrow. Fun evening."

Lore, it's wonderful your boys and daughter-in-laws continue the family tradition honoring the sister they miss. Grief is a never ending cycle but at least you have fabulous company for a lovely meal you didn't have to cook!

Last edited by bethk on Sun Mar 06, 2022 5:35 pm; edited 1 time in total

bethk · 32 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Sun Mar 06, 2022 1:06 pm

bethk

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I'm presiding over our final Villa Social Club Meeting tomorrow night. I know we have a full schedule with a car appointment and another meeting in the afternoon so I decided if I wanted to take a snack to share I'd better get it made today.

A Texas Sheet Cake is a cross between a light brownie and a candy bar ~ I left nuts out of the frosting for 1/3 of the cake because I know we have some who cannot eat nuts. Then, unfortunately, the frosting I stirred the chopped pecans into got cooled down in a hurry. So it kind of clumped and tore up the top of the cake a bit.

But, you know what, I'll bet NO ONE NOTICES!

I'll cut it into 2" squares and put it on a couple nice plates and it'll be gone by the end of the meeting.

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bethk · 33 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Sun Mar 06, 2022 5:32 pm

bethk

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Before I had to put myself in a 'search & find' mission of deciding what to fix for supper, neighbor Jim called and asked if we wanted to go out to eat tonight. Apparently Dane fixed something at Jim's house and wouldn't take $$ for the request. So, Jim's answer is always, "Well, we'll just have to go out to supper then!"

So, we get to go out and enjoy his company and he gets to feel as if he's 'paying' for a minor repair done around his house.

Win ~ Win for all of us (and more so for ME!)

LOL

bethk · 34 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Sun Mar 06, 2022 9:22 pm

bethk

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From Lore:

"Dinner Tonight. The last of the couscous from a couple of days ago and some stuffed mushrooms. Stuffing was sautéed onions and pepper, chopped shrimp and scallops, lots of parsley, some butter and breadcrumbs. Pictures before and after they went in the oven."

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UNCLE JIMMY · 35 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Sun Mar 06, 2022 10:21 pm

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Lunch was home made chicken soup that Tina made.
Supper was roasted pork tenderloin. cauliflower. and carrots.

bethk · 36 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Mon Mar 07, 2022 11:44 am

bethk

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UNCLE JIMMY wrote:Lunch was home made chicken soup that Tina made.
Supper was roasted pork tenderloin. cauliflower. and carrots.

Sounds like the girls are taking good care of you, Jimmy. That's a sure way to get your strength back and have plenty of time to getting back to being able to participate in all the things you enjoy. Keep up the good work!

**********************************

We've got a ton of stuff going on today. Dane's on his way now to take the car in for some pre-paid service. I'm trying to get a couple loads of laundry done. Then we have an appointment this afternoon and a social club meeting this evening.

I think we'll have leftovers for supper ~ there's a quart of the stir fry sitting in the refrigerator that will reheat just fine for a really quick meal.

Imelda HL · 37 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Mon Mar 07, 2022 2:32 pm

Imelda HL

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My MiL's birthday dinner was a success, her friends were so happy to see her, they had a lot to catch up, even though they live 4 houses apart, but they did not see each other often, only say hi and a little chat when they were out walking around the neighborhood. It was 7 PM when they left.

They liked the salad, and they asked me what I put on the dressing

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bethk · 38 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Mon Mar 07, 2022 7:21 pm

bethk

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Imelda, everything looks DELICIOUS !!!

I can only imagine how happy your MIL was to have a fuss made over her ~ you're a wonderful daughter-in-law to take such good care of her.

****************

Supper was the reheated stir fry from the other night ~ I did slice and steam a bit of cabbage to stretch it a bit since it didn't look like a full meal when I put it into the skillet to reheat. Turns out I was wrong and there was more than enough for the two of us.

I'm just happy it's now gone and I don't have to look at it sitting there, wondering when one of us is going to reheat it and have it for a lunch.

bethk · 39 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Mon Mar 07, 2022 10:27 pm

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From Lore:

"Dinner Tonight. Steak salad using the leftover rib eye from Saturday. Great salad!"

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NormM · 40 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Mon Mar 07, 2022 10:30 pm

NormM

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I made a one pot dish with chicken thighs, green beans, little tomatoes, red onions and white wine.

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bethk · 41 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Tue Mar 08, 2022 5:23 pm

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Chicken thighs are my favorite for meals like that, Norm. So much flavor and you virtually cannot over cook them, even if you end up having to 'hold' the meal for a while.

I was just looking at a Greek Lemon Chicken & Potato sheet pan recipe with fresh green beans added to the sheet pan in the last bit of baking. It sounded really good to me so we'll see if I remember it the next time I decide on chicken for supper.......

(( not that MY short term memory is practically non existent these days...... LOL ))

bethk · 42 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Tue Mar 08, 2022 7:47 pm

bethk

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Dane came up with tonight's supper suggestion!

I just didn't know what to fix and he said, "Chili Dogs!"

So, I pulled some hot dogs & top-split buns out of the freezer.....rooted around until I found the bag that had the 'Jimmy's Greek Hot Dog Sauce'......Good to go!

I ended up making another dish of macaroni salad because the one last week was so very good ~ I'm a macaroni salad junkie, for sure! Maybe it's because I cut back on the regular menu rotation of pasta.....I don't know. But I just really LIKE macaroni. I used the medium shells again ~ almost went with the traditional elbows but wanted a more substantial shell. I made a bit more than the last time ~ I'll have enough for my 'breakfast' (yes, I'm THAT bad.....) and maybe an afternoon snack.

When I make a batch of Jimmy's Greek Chili Sauce I store it in the little 4 oz. KFC sides containers ~ makes for the perfect amount for a couple (or 4) hot dogs. I still have 2 containers in a freezer bag so I'm good for a while. When I run out I have to go to Fresh Market on their Tuesday ground chuck special day and request TRIPLE ground chuck. I always ask for 1 - 1/2 lb. and they end up giving me 2 pounds which works just fine for the recipe. It's a long simmer but it's SO good!

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bethk · 43 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Wed Mar 09, 2022 7:59 pm

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I saw a recipe on allrecipes.com for a Chicken & Spinach Casserole that sounded interesting to me. Of course, I didn't have ALL the correct amounts of ingredients but decided to 'wing it' and make it anyway.

Chicken & Spinach Casserole
Allrecipes.com

Ingredients
Original recipe yields 6 servings
• 2 cups cubed boneless chicken breast
• 1 cup Italian salad dressing, or as needed
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ¼ teaspoon lemon pepper
• 1 (8 ounce) package fresh spinach
• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• ½ cup chopped fresh chives
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 pinch salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions
Place chicken in a bowl and pour in enough Italian salad dressing to coat. Marinate in the refrigerator, 2 to 3 hours.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Drain and discard marinade from chicken and season chicken with garlic powder and lemon pepper. Transfer seasoned chicken to a casserole dish. Layer spinach over chicken.
Mix cream cheese, chives, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper together in a bowl. Slowly pour chicken broth into cream cheese mixture, stirring until mixture is smooth; pour over chicken and spinach. Cover casserole dish with aluminum foil.
Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Remove foil and top chicken mixture with mozzarella cheese; cook until chicken is no longer pink in the center and cheese is melted, 15 to 20 minutes.

I thought I had a whole package of cream cheese but only had a little less than half....oh well, I'd just have to make do! LOL I ended up using too much chicken stock to thin out the cream cheese and it baked up really soupy but it had good flavor.

The most interesting taste was the residual flavor from marinating raw cubed chicken in bottled Italian salad dressing ~ after 2-3 hours it gets drained off. It resulted in a flavor where you can't quite figure out what the flavor is but it's familiar.....it was tasty & a trick I'll probably try again.

I don't have lemon pepper seasoning in my pantry (I'm not usually a fan....) so I added a bit of lemon zest & a couple grinds of pepper to the drained chicken.

I had a whole 8 oz. package of fresh baby spinach that was a lot so I steamed it in the microwave for 1 minute to wilt it just a bit before placing it on top of the marinated chicken before adding the cream cheese 'sauce'.

I didn't have shredded mozzarella cheese so I just put some slices on top and let it melt ~ not a bad substitute.

The farfale was boiled and then I made about 1 Tbsp. of butter, a bit of lemon zest, a tsp. of lemon juice & maybe 1 1/2 tsp. of chicken stock (heated in the microwave to melt the butter) ~ the 'lemon' sauce kept the farfale from sticking together and gave it just a hint of lemon.

The casserole after baking covered w/foil before adding the mozzarella cheese:

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The casserole just out of the oven with the melted mozzarella (and a sprinkle of chopped parsley that I added just because I grow it.

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My plate with the casserole spooned over the lemony farfale pasta:

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I told my daughter I was going to go on allrecipes.com and put a 'review' listing ALL the substitutions I made and then be really critical because it didn't come out as it should of.

LOL

She and I are always commenting about those people who change the original recipe and then state all the things wrong with it.

I always want to make a comment about, "IF you're not going to review the original recipe as written then you're an idiot!"

But I just scroll past and try to remember Grandma saying, "If you can't say something nice then say nothing at all."

UNCLE JIMMY · 44 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Wed Mar 09, 2022 8:43 pm

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Had Salmon patties, wilted spinach, and 1/2 cup of cup ditalini macaroni with butter.

bethk · 45 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Thu Mar 10, 2022 10:03 am

bethk

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They're keeping you on the 'healthy eating' path, Jimmy.

I sure hope you're enjoying all the pampering.

UNCLE JIMMY · 46 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Thu Mar 10, 2022 3:04 pm

UNCLE JIMMY

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I could now taste the food, and not the salt or sweeet in the food.
tonight the kids are coming for breaded fried chicken cutlets.

Tina just got back from her uncles to take his income tax info. to the H/R Block near him. She is wiped. Age is catching up to her, she said.

Cookin Lore · 47 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Thu Mar 10, 2022 4:27 pm

Cookin Lore

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Join date : 2019-10-26

No pictures for a couple of days. I found a new to me market yesterday which had great food. But, what I bought for myself for lunch will definitely never be bought again. A pulled pork sandwich. There was enough pork for a family of five, I think, and I didn't like the flavour. So, live and learn. They have a new customer welcome package which included some roast beef and gravy so that will be dinner tomorrow. Tonight it's going to be a big salad, 'cause I already had chili for lunch.

bethk · 48 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Thu Mar 10, 2022 4:50 pm

bethk

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We're on our second day of thunder storms ~ 2 1/2" of rain in the last two days......which, for this area, really isn't all that much. And since winter is the 'dry' season this continued rain is a good thing.

It's a good thing for the grass and the water table but it makes me cranky and out of sorts ~ I much prefer sunshine. But I'll buck up and get through it.

Since I knew it was going to rain (yes, I do sometimes check the weather reports......) I pulled a half rack of pork ribs out of the freezer to thaw. They'll go into the oven all covered within a nice foil packet on a 1/4 sheet pan covered in foil. They'll steam for about an hour, hour & 15 minutes, and then get uncovered to dry a bit.

Finally they'll get a few swipes of whatever type of BBQ sauce I throw together. It's usually a bit of pureed peach preserves (that I bought by mistake and wanted to find a use for), a small squeeze of Sweet Baby Rays, same for some of the "BEST" (their advertising, not my opinion....) Japanese BBQ Sauce, maybe a bit of ketchup and probably a small spoonful of sambal oelek garlic chili paste.

I have the blanched green beans from the other night ~ I'm thinking of browning up a slice of bacon to go with them on reheat, maybe some onion.....I don't know for sure. There's a medium sized sweet potato on the counter that looks like it's asking to be baked with the ribs.

Oh, and I sliced up the rest of the English cucumber and some onion that I doused in some of Grandma's Vinegar Syrup and additional cider vinegar. It seems the cucumbers just don't last as long as they use to in the vegetable drawer even though they're wrapped well. It's like they're old when sold and they just turn soft and mushy in no time at all. No more BOGO sales for me. Last time the 'free' cucumber was icky before I even had a chance to cut it.

NormM · 49 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Thu Mar 10, 2022 8:30 pm

NormM

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Dinner today was pork chops, corn, and twice baked potato. All recipes are the same as used before except I used Kentucky Kernel seasoned flour with the chops instead of seasoning plain flour like usual.

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bethk · 50 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Thu Mar 10, 2022 10:04 pm

bethk

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It's pork night!

Baby Back Ribs, Baked Sweet Potato, Green Beans w/Bacon & Onion and a Cucumber/Onion Salad

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March, what's on the menu??

26 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Fri Mar 04, 2022 11:04 pm

Imelda HL

27 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Fri Mar 04, 2022 11:20 pm

bethk

28 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Sat Mar 05, 2022 4:07 pm

bethk

29 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Sat Mar 05, 2022 5:07 pm

Imelda HL

30 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Sat Mar 05, 2022 9:50 pm

bethk

31 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Sun Mar 06, 2022 8:19 am

bethk

32 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Sun Mar 06, 2022 1:06 pm

bethk

33 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Sun Mar 06, 2022 5:32 pm

bethk

34 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Sun Mar 06, 2022 9:22 pm

bethk

35 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Sun Mar 06, 2022 10:21 pm

UNCLE JIMMY

36 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Mon Mar 07, 2022 11:44 am

bethk

37 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Mon Mar 07, 2022 2:32 pm

Imelda HL

38 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Mon Mar 07, 2022 7:21 pm

bethk

39 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Mon Mar 07, 2022 10:27 pm

bethk

40 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Mon Mar 07, 2022 10:30 pm

NormM

41 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Tue Mar 08, 2022 5:23 pm

bethk

42 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Tue Mar 08, 2022 7:47 pm

bethk

43 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Wed Mar 09, 2022 7:59 pm

bethk

44 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Wed Mar 09, 2022 8:43 pm

UNCLE JIMMY

45 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Thu Mar 10, 2022 10:03 am

bethk

46 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Thu Mar 10, 2022 3:04 pm

UNCLE JIMMY

47 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Thu Mar 10, 2022 4:27 pm

Cookin Lore

48 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Thu Mar 10, 2022 4:50 pm

bethk

49 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Thu Mar 10, 2022 8:30 pm

NormM

50 Re: March, what's on the menu?? Thu Mar 10, 2022 10:04 pm

bethk

51 Re: March, what's on the menu??

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