June, 2017 ~ What's for dinner?

I think you’re probably being too hard on yourself, Beth, about those grill mats. Your friend probably just assumed they were lousy since you didn’t mention them, as you’re too nice a person to say something if they didn’t work out. She’d probably have been embarrassed if they turned out to be worthless, which is why I’ll bet she asked you about them. I’m sure anyone would understand your forgetting to even try them out since they WERE brand new after all. I’ll bet she was glad to hear you liked them no matter when you tried them, as that’s really all that matters. I bet it would’ve been funny between the two of you even if they turned out to be a lemon! I know I would've laughed at that!

By the way, your meal looked delicious, especially those shrimp. My baby bok choy that’s I told y'all have been growing into “grown up” bok choy, got attacked by some bug – when I went to pull up a plant to cook as a veggie for dinner, I was shocked, as there were a zillion – no lie! – little holes all over them. I can no longer see that entire garden from the deck due to placement of the generator and my handy little “gardener's helper” Brian said, “Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you that it looked like something was eating them up.” I don’t know if other bugs “jumped on the bandwagon” once something ate holes in them, but I could see what looked like tiny little moths on them. I told Mr. Gardener’s Helper that he could pull them up for me, as I don’t want those bugs getting on me!!!

NormM wrote:I posted this before but I don't see it.  You can delete it if it is a double post.  Dinner tonight was some chicken salad with pecans and red grapes.  I added some chopped apricots too.

I had it in a bread bowl.

I didn't see it anywhere, either, Norm. Must be a phantom post!

Did you make the bread bowl? I always imagine myself sitting in front of the TV tearing away bits from a 'bread bowl' and dragging the pieces across a soft stick of butter......MY kind of heaven! LOL

I made the bread bowl with a store bought roll. I just cut off the top and pulled out some of the bread.

Crybaby wrote:I think you’re probably being too hard on yourself, Beth, about those grill mats.  Your friend probably just assumed they were lousy since you didn’t mention them, as you’re too nice a person to say something if they didn’t work out.  She’d probably have been embarrassed if they turned out to be worthless, which is why I’ll bet she asked you about them.  I’m sure anyone would understand your forgetting to even try them out since they WERE brand new after all.  I’ll bet she was glad to hear you liked them no matter when you tried them, as that’s really all that matters.  I bet it would’ve been funny between the two of you even if they turned out to be a lemon!  I know I would've laughed at that!

By the way, your meal looked delicious, especially those shrimp.  My baby bok choy that’s I told y'all have been growing into “grown up” bok choy, got attacked by some bug – when I went to pull up a plant to cook as a veggie for dinner, I was shocked, as there were a zillion – no lie! – little holes all over them.  I can no longer see that entire garden from the deck due to placement of the generator and my handy little “gardener's helper” Brian said, “Oh, yeah.  I forgot to tell you that it looked like something was eating them up.”  I don’t know if other bugs “jumped on the bandwagon” once something ate holes in them, but I could see what looked like tiny little moths on them.  I told Mr. Gardener’s Helper that he could pull them up for me, as I don’t want those bugs getting on me!!!

Yeah, Michelle, my friend forgave me for being a Lamebrain.....and I think I've convinced her to get some grill mats for herself. Silly woman only sent them to me, didn't get some for her house! Guess she wanted me to be the guinea pig to try 'em out.

Oh, Man! I would be mad, mad, MAD with those filthy bugs eating the bok choy! But I know how you feel. Every once in a while I'll get parsley worms ~ ugly little purple worms ~ and they destroy the entire pot of parsley overnight. One day you've got a bunch of parsley, the next you just have green 'sticks' with no curly leaves. Last time it happened I dropped the whole pot into a 5-gallon bucket of vinegar water. Needless to say, no parsley but also no more of the icky purple parsley worms!

I have had parsley planted next to chives for two years and no parsley worms. Chives is one plant that repels parsley worms. At least I think I read that somewhere. I can't find it now but I have not had anything bother my parsley in the last two years since I planted it right next to chives.

NormM wrote:Charlie and I made Bahn Mi sandwiches today.  

I love those, Norm. I can still remember the first time I had one at a Vietnamese farmer's market I went to. We had to show up just at daylight to have time to look around before it closed. I think I had my sandwich at about 8 a.m. -- my brother-in-law and I both got one and no one else got a thing. I loved them right off the bat!

Bugster2 wrote:I was thinking about the mats. You probably don't get any smoke flavor because there is nothing to drip into the flames to create smoke or a brief flare-up.

Debbie, we used the Weber like an oven on Sunday as we often do and put an entire tray of stuffed bell peppers on the grill. Of course, Brian didn't put them over the charcoal but made an indirect fire with all the coals on the other side of the grill. You still get tons of smoke flavor without stuff dripping onto the flames. To be honest, he kept after me to let him cook them on the grill while I stuffed them because he wanted that smoky flavor he loved the last time we did that to avoid heating up the kitchen in mid summer. They really turn out delicious that way (and browned on top, too) and were no different on Sunday. We had leftover peppers tonight with macaroni and cheese and they were even better leftover we decided!

Besides, Beth often puts sticky stuff on aluminum foil so she doesn't have to clean her grill afterward and she still gets grilled flavor -- why wouldn't stuff cooked on the grill mats be any different?

UNCLE JIMMY wrote:I / We are doing NO Cooking tomorrow. We are having Take Out Chinese for supper .

We will celebrate Fathers Day too!

BTW... "Happy Fathers Day, to all the Fathers Out There!"

You cracked me up, Jimmy, as Brian's birthday is Thursday and he wants Chinese take-out, too. He said he'd rather go pick it up and eat it at home than eat it there. We always over order so we can have a bunch of different things and then we have lots of leftovers, so I guess he's picturing all those little boxes spread out on the island just waiting for him to dig in!

Initially, about a month ago when I asked him what he wanted to eat for his birthday, he said he felt like smoking a turkey. Just try to find a turkey right now -- we couldn't find a single one and checked a couple of different stores. I told him we could phone Whole Foods and they would probably order one for us but he didn't want to do that. I asked him if a turkey breast would suffice and he said it would; when he finally found one of those when he was at the grocery, he said they wanted over $3 a pound (I'm pretty sure he said it was $3.49/lb.) and he refused to pay it (I was stunned as normally J. Paul Getty doesn't look at the price of ANYTHING). I told him I'd go back and get it as it was for his birthday and he said he really didn't want to pay that, as it was a rip off. I had to agree.

He said he'd think about what he wanted and yesterday I told him to hurry up so I could go to the grocery and he came up with Chinese food. Sure will be easy and he insists on going to pick it up himself, so it's really easy peasy!

Crybaby wrote:

Bugster2 wrote:I was thinking about the mats. You probably don't get any smoke flavor because there is nothing to drip into the flames to create smoke or a brief flare-up.

Debbie, we used the Weber like an oven on Sunday as we often do and put an entire tray of stuffed bell peppers on the grill.  Of course, Brian didn't put them over the charcoal but made an indirect fire with all the coals on the other side of the grill.  You still get tons of smoke flavor without stuff dripping onto the flames.  To be honest, he kept after me to let him cook them on the grill while I stuffed them because he wanted that smoky flavor he loved the last time we did that to avoid heating up the kitchen in mid summer.  They really turn out delicious that way (and browned on top, too) and were no different on Sunday.  We had leftover peppers tonight with macaroni and cheese and they were even better leftover we decided!

Besides, Beth often puts sticky stuff on aluminum foil so she doesn't have to clean her grill afterward and she still gets grilled flavor -- why wouldn't stuff cooked on the grill mats be any different?

I just can't believe you can get grill flavor from foil either. I am going to give it a try with foil and come back with my opinion.

bethk wrote:

Niagara Visitor wrote: Pizza, wings and salads.  Yumm!  I had not had a piece of pizza since February.  

Isn't it amazing that you really do OK on avoiding certain foods when you're trying to drop some weight......but then the opportunity arises for you to have something like pizza and you remember WHY you enjoy it so much?  I'm that way with something we pulled out of the freezer last night....the olive bread.  Andrea made a bruschetta type topping to go on the slices of toasted kalamata olive slices....I knew I could eat the whole half loaf but I also knew if I was good and just savored ONE small slice I would also be happy.  Personally, I would have liked butter slathered on the toasted bread instead of the olive oil....but, hey, the bread was enough of an indulgence without going overboard.

Mmm, sounds delicious, Beth! Loved the T-shirts BTW and your lunches at that place all looked divine, your fried green tomatoes looked so good but sounded even better when I read all that was included. I don't know how Andrea got her fingers around that big grouper sandwich but it, too, looked super. Nothing better than homemade fries of chips, too!

Sounds like you guys had a great day together. How sweet she was to fly down to see you -- short visits are often the best visits, too.

bethk wrote:

NormM wrote:I love the way you make the bacon for BLT's.  They probably have good tomatoes by now at the farmer's market.  I'll have to  remember to make some of those.

Thanks, Norm.  Now that I've made the woven bacon for sandwiches on a fairly regular basis, Dane expects it!  LOL  He likes that the bacon stays in his sandwich and doesn't fall apart on his plate.

I usually get 5 from a package of bacon....be sure to use thin sliced or it'll take FOREVER to bake off.  Then I cut it in half and weave on a rack over a foil covered sheet pan (because I hate the clean up - this way the foil gets tossed and all I have to do is soak/wash my racks and just a quick soapy swish to clean up the tray.)  I also place another rack upside down (smooth side down) on top of the bacon weaves to keep them flat.  It usually takes about 45 minutes in a 350° oven but that can vary a lot depending upon the bacon, how thick it is and your oven....so watch it carefully the first time or so.  I only let it get done to the point that it's 'sticking' together and most of the fat has rendered out.  Then after they're cooled I can wrap & freeze if I'm not going to use them all.  

Just before serving I place the pre-cooked weaves between some paper towels and microwave on high for about 35 - 45 seconds to crisp them up.

You told me before how you did it but THIS TIME I copied it and put it with my recipes in Word (I already have a picture of it saved which Brian just loved). I'll have to surprise him one day and make some of those for us to try and also to freeze! Thanks, Beth!

NormM wrote:I did a test run on the braided bacon.  I only did one and I have a bacon press that I used.  I only have thick bacon at the moment and I cook it in the oven (unbraided) on foil @ 450º for 20 minutes. This one cooked for 25 minutes at 450.  I can see it isn't done yet but I am going to try finishing it in the microwave later.

You did better than I expect I will, Norm. I'm with you, as I like it crispy too. The nice thing about it is that it's "edge to edge" on the sandwich bread, too!

We're preparing for gale force winds at the very least with the storm in the Gulf starting tomorrow at the earliest. That might keep us busy trying to make those bacon weaves. The nice thing is we have the generator now so we don't have to worry about losing power (or air conditioning!). We've always had a gas stove so that's been no problem but lights and A/C will be a welcome blessing, and we can go ahead and finish them in the nuker, too!

We won't mind having cable TV either, as the local channels have NOTHING on but storm weather coverage constantly. It makes people crazy after a while. When I was a kid, they'd play a move, interrupt it for maybe 15 or 20 minutes at a time, and then go back to the movie. I think it makes people too nervous to just run the same reports over and over and over, especially since Katrina...

NormM wrote:I posted this before but I don't see it.  You can delete it if it is a double post.  Dinner tonight was some chicken salad with pecans and red grapes.  I added some chopped apricots too.


I had it in a bread bowl.

Yummy, Norm -- that looked so darn cute, too!

NormM wrote:I made the bread bowl with a store bought roll. I just cut off the top and pulled out some of the bread.

ALL your breads look good, Norm -- homemade or store-bought baked at home. You're an expert when it comes to bread, my friend.

Oh, and to you and Jimmy, what Beth said about Father's Day!

NormM wrote:I have had parsley planted next to chives for two years and no parsley worms. Chives is one plant that repels parsley worms.  At least I think I read that somewhere. I can't find it now but I have not had anything bother my parsley in the last two years since I planted it right next to chives.

I've never had a problem with any bugs on my parsley so I hope you two haven't jinxed me! I do have two big pots of garlic chives, though they usually aren't near one another. But for some reason a while back, Brian moved one of the pots of chives near the parsley -- I never even bothered to ask him why he did it. Those garlic chive plants have to be about 10 years old by now; I did read several years ago that they're really not the same plants as chives are but they sure are to us, just with a mild garlic flavor. They sure do take a lot of abuse.

Last year I came out and both pots of chives were all of a sudden only about 3 inches high -- I freaked out. Brian, for some reason, said he decided they needed a "haircut." Trust me, he won't be giving anything else a haircut as I flipped out; I knew they'd grow back but I don't know why the heck he did that as it just seemed so darn stupid to me. At first, he looked chagrined when he saw I was ticked off but then the idiot kept laughing about it so I gave up, shook my head and told him he was indeed an idiot. He agreed and laughed some more!

Bugster2 wrote:

Crybaby wrote:

Bugster2 wrote:I was thinking about the mats. You probably don't get any smoke flavor because there is nothing to drip into the flames to create smoke or a brief flare-up.

Debbie, we used the Weber like an oven on Sunday as we often do and put an entire tray of stuffed bell peppers on the grill.  Of course, Brian didn't put them over the charcoal but made an indirect fire with all the coals on the other side of the grill.  You still get tons of smoke flavor without stuff dripping onto the flames.  To be honest, he kept after me to let him cook them on the grill while I stuffed them because he wanted that smoky flavor he loved the last time we did that to avoid heating up the kitchen in mid summer.  They really turn out delicious that way (and browned on top, too) and were no different on Sunday.  We had leftover peppers tonight with macaroni and cheese and they were even better leftover we decided!

Besides, Beth often puts sticky stuff on aluminum foil so she doesn't have to clean her grill afterward and she still gets grilled flavor -- why wouldn't stuff cooked on the grill mats be any different?

I just can't believe you can get grill flavor from foil either. I am going to give it a try with foil and come back with my opinion.

You're a real doubting Thomas tonight, no?!  You go, girl, but I doubt you will change someone else's opinion if your opinion goes the other way so you might want to save your foil!

Bugster2 wrote:

I just can't believe you can get grill flavor from foil either. I am going to give it a try with foil and come back with my opinion.

Debbie ~ I use foil on a gas grill.  I can truthfully say I've NEVER noticed any real 'grill flavor' on my gas grill.  It's a CharBroil Infared Grill with a "W" shaped grate UNDER the cast iron grates, and that grate traps the fats and juices and prevents flame ups from stuff dripping on the gas flames.  IF I wanted grill flavor, which I think comes from hardwood charcoal / wood, I would be using a charcoal grill or (like I could ever afford it......) one of those fabulous Big Green Egg insulated grill / smokers.  

I grill to keep the mess and cooking smoke/smells out of my kitchen & house.  I can cook over a hot flame / grate and not have the smell in my tightly insulated house for days on end.  I do a lot of chicken and we all know what a mess sputtering chicken skin does on a cooktop or in an oven !  

So I'll continue to use the grill mats.  Something like my Huli Huli Chicken might continue to be cooked on non-stick foil just because I know what a horrible mess the really sweet glaze makes and I'd rather toss a piece of foil than make a sticky black charred on mess on my mats.  But I think they will work wonderfully for fish, as they were great for the shrimps.  Usually I have to put shrimps on bamboo skewers so I can easily flip them, and even then the edges get stuck on the hot grill and tear off.  With the grill mats I was able to turn the individual shrimps and not have any stick or pull apart ~ have you ever left half a shrimp on the grill because it was attached?  The vegetables were great, also.  I can imagine being able to brown cauliflower or broccoli, without sticking, and then just picking up the mats (with hot pads because they DO get hot) and sliding the vegetables onto a serving dish.  Ohhhhh, I'm giving myself a ton of ideas just talking about them!  Woo Hoo!

bethk wrote:

Bugster2 wrote:

I just can't believe you can get grill flavor from foil either. I am going to give it a try with foil and come back with my opinion.

Debbie ~ I use foil on a gas grill.  I can truthfully say I've NEVER noticed any real 'grill flavor' on my gas grill.  It's a CharBroil Infared Grill with a "W" shaped grate UNDER the cast iron grates, and that grate traps the fats and juices and prevents flame ups from stuff dripping on the gas flames.  IF I wanted grill flavor, which I think comes from hardwood charcoal / wood, I would be using a charcoal grill or (like I could ever afford it......) one of those fabulous Big Green Egg insulated grill / smokers. 

Beth, don't you think you could tell by smell and taste if your chicken was cooked inside in your oven or on your grill? I've never worked with gas except to help someone out on her husband's gas grill when she was having a meltdown cooking dinner, but I would think you would still get some grill flavor just from having it on the gas grill period. No?

Some of you use gas grills, don't you? Jimmy, don't you? Recently when I was here I was actually surprised by how many people did use gas. If you do, please chime in and solve this dilemma. I'm sure Debbie will tell us what she thinks after her foil test. Debbie, do you use a gas or a charcoal grill?

We only use regular charcoal (not lump) on both our Weber grill and our smoker and we still get lots of grilled flavor. There's no way someone wouldn't know something was cooked on the grill outside, even those stuffed bell peppers. Boy, I wish I could serve each and every one of you one of those stuffed peppers -- I think you would love them!

I had about 6 shrimps left over from the grilled meal the other night and I was trying to come up with an idea to use them....came up with Shrimp Fried Rice.

Yesterday I cooked up a cup of the Trader Joe Brown Rice with Barley & Radish Seeds....interesting taste....and it's now been chilled down in the refrigerator overnight. I remember one time I tried to make fried rice with hot, fresh rice ~ WHAT A MESS! The rice all stuck together in a gummy mess. But it should be fine with cold rice.

I blanched some chopped pea pods and shredded carrots and made an egg pancake (just a beaten egg cooked in a skillet and then cut into pieces).

I made a flavoring sauce of sweet soy sauce, regular soy sauce, sambal oeleck, and fish sauce....I'll probably thin it out a little with some chicken stock and use some sesame oil when I stir fry the vegetables.

It'll be interesting to see if just a plate of fried rice is enough for Mr. Amazing to be satisfied for supper......

Your shrimp fried rice sounds yummy, Beth! I so wish Brian liked seafood, especially shrimp and crabmeat, as they're both so darn versatile.

I just made a batch of fresh sprouts using a new batch of seed mix and one of the seeds was radish seeds. The seeds didn't do a thing for a couple of days and then just exploded with growth -- I had to move them to a bigger jar twice, ending with a whole half-gallon canning jar full of sprouts. Nothing like fresh sprouts on a sandwich and in a salad -- just nice fresh tasting crunch. Our local grocery makes a good chicken salad for a reasonable price and in lieu of lettuce, I often top the chicken salad sandwiches we have with a nice layer of sprouts well seasoned with Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Makes the sandwich taste soooo much better and fresher, too.

I had so many jalapenos on my lone jalapeno plant that I picked up some Certo the other day when I went to the grocery and made some pepper jelly for the first time in years. Boy, I'd forgotten how good it was. I actually thought of you, Beth, when I was using my mom's old cast iron Montgomery Ward hand grinder. I had to attach its clamp to the thickest wooden cutting board I have to use it and then put something on the floor underneath where I use it as it drips when you are grinding the jalapenos and the red bell pepper for the jelly. This time the system I rigged up worked a bit better than usual, since very little dripped on the floor. If memory serves me right, you had similar problems when you used your grater.

My jelly came out perfect -- all the peppers were well suspended in the jelly and I was cleaning up in the kitchen when I started hearing those canning jar tops snapping shut! We had pepper jelly on Thomas English muffins this morning, and the other day, I made Thomas everything bagels nicely toasted with a healthy schmear of cream cheese and I spread some pepper jelly on top of the cream cheese -- boy, fattening as all get out but absolutely delicious.

Brian is now taking his new cancer medicine which he has to take on an empty stomach in the morning at the same time he takes a steroid pill -- thank goodness he can have coffee. He has to wait an hour prior to eating and by the time the hour was up, his stomach was a little queasy, though he did indeed want another cup of coffee. I said I'd whip us up something to eat, which I was able to tote back upstairs with a second cup of coffee for both of us. Boy, he sure liked that bagel, cream cheese, pepper jelly combo -- all I could hear for a couple minutes was, "Mmm, this is soooo good!"

I think I mentioned the pepper jelly recipe is the only one I don't give out as I promised the woman who gave it to me I wouldn't share it. I've worked with people who tried it (I made homemade jellies for Christmas presents years ago) and got ticked at me, saying the woman would never even know that I gave it away. But a promise is a promise and I was finally able to convince her to give it to me. Simple recipe, not hard at all, and she was seriously STUNNED the first time I made jelly and it came out perfect. She almost seemed disappointed, telling me that no one ever seemed to have success with the recipe. I told her I followed her directions to a tee like she told me to and had no problems; she said THAT was usually others' problem, that they didn't follow it exactly as written. I'd never made jelly before so I'd had no choice!

Supper was good.....I liked the rice better this time than the first time I made it. The cooked radish seeds just sort of popped when you ate them....very interesting texture. Only problem Mr. Amazing had was trying to calculate his caloric intake ~ and, quite honestly, "I don't give a damn, my dear!"

LOL

Your pepper jelly sounds really tasty, Michelle! And, yes, when I used the hand grinder for potato pancakes it always made a huge mess ~ but that didn't stop me from using it!

There's a hot raspberry/pepper jelly that I usually buy at the holidays to have with cream cheese...I don't think it's a Rothchild's, but it could be. It was always a shock for some people who never expect a spicy sweet jam.

I can remember doing a lot of canning many years ago. There's nothing better than hearing the jars 'pop ~ pop ~ pop' and know you got it right! I did lots of red beet, pickled beets, pickles, relish and (the girls' favorite) peaches. I use to be able to buy them from orchards by Lake Erie for $20 a bushel and I'd buy two (had to save for a month for that $40!) and we'd eat half a bushel and then I'd spend a long day canning the rest. In addition to the peaches I'd have to have 10 pound bags of sugar. It was always a long hard day but it was always wonderful to have those jars in the cabinet in December and January.

What kind of seeds do you usually grow? Mung beans?

A favorite of mine is a stir fry of mung bean sprouts, chili peppers and some sesame oil....just a bit for flavor (I usually stir fry with a neutral oil like grapeseed). The first serving of the hot sprouts is tasty and then when they sit in the hot chili flavored oil they become super spicy.....seconds are amazing!

Do you buy your seed locally or from the internet? I've not grown them so maybe you'll tutor us!

What's cooking today???? I made a meatloaf. Made one in a regular loaf pan to give to my son and DIL, and a small one for myself. I may have asked about this here before, but here I go again.............. the flavour of my meatloafs (Meatloaves???) is always good. My children love it, tell me "Mom, it's great, what are you worried about???" I don't like the consistency of it. It doesn't slice nicely for a sandwich, I find that it is not what I would call "smooth".

Today I used half beef, half pork, two eggs, one package of onion soup mix. For flavour I added some Worchesteshire sauce, some horseradish, salt, pepper. I think it was dry. good flavour, but dry.

Any hints/help????