"September 2017" "What's for Dinner?"

I was reading about snakes and gators in the flood waters in Florida. Sewage too, so don't go in the water. I bet it starts to stink too. We had an algae bloom in a reservoir a couple of miles from our house and the stink lasted 3 weeks. It made me sick. I can't imagine how much worse it will be.

On a lighter side, I got a laugh from a commercial about a woman and her dog. Her dog's name was "Droolius Caesar". Too funny!

I called Lyn this morning and asked her if she wanted to go to the mall in Ocala.....just to get out of the house and away from Dane & Bill, who were both watching stupid syfi movies on TV. It drives me crazy and, apparently, Lyn as well ~ she jumped at the chance to 'Get Outta Dodge' with me!

We went to lunch at 'First Watch', a 'healthy breakfast/brunch' place and then to the mall where I found a cute pair of shoes on sale to wear to the wedding next month (October 6th in Ohio).

The four of us were suppose to leave today for a week in Hilton Head Island at a Mariott Time Share but, because of the storm, the resort cancelled. So, Ocala (20 minutes away) was our best alternative.

I didn't get home until 5:30 so there was no supper here. Dane 'found food' on his own and I wasn't hungry because of our late lunch.

Bugster2 wrote:I was reading about snakes and gators in the flood waters in Florida. Sewage too, so don't go in the water. I bet it starts to stink too. We had an algae bloom in a reservoir a couple of miles from our house and the stink lasted 3 weeks. It made me sick. I can't imagine how much worse it will be.

On a lighter side, I got a laugh from a commercial about a woman and her dog. Her dog's name was "Droolius Caesar". Too funny!

When hubby and I were in Florida a few years ago. I was surprised to see reports on the local TV news about a bounty on pythons............ dead or alive. We had no idea of why. When we took a tourist ride on one of those airboats in the Everglades the driver said that there were lots of them in the Everglades because some years ago something had been damaged with a hurricane which released baby snakes............. Any truth to that?????

Now, I used to think that snakeskin boots, purses etc. were terrible, but if they are really a menace, well..................... I think a pair of boots might just be what's on my wish list!

A few short days after a major hurricane and our lives are 'back to normal'.....or very close. We went out to eat with friends. I didn't feel like cooking and an invitation seemed like a fun time.

I had cod. He had salmon. We were both happy.

I would have been happy with either the cod or salmon. I just finished a chicken cutlet, salad of peppers, cukes, tomato, onion and parsley. A bit of fried rice, a combo of white, brown basmati and wild rice. I cooked the rices a while ago and have it in small packages in the freezer so I can take out basically about a cup full, warm it up in the bit of oil left in the pan after frying my breaded chicken. YUMM!

Welcome back Beth. Relieved to hear everything went pretty well over there.

Thanks. We're pretty happy about it, too!

Next thing on the agenda is a trip to Ohio for the October 6th wedding of Robin and Ben.

Amazingly, I found a Mother-of-the-bride dress and shoes before October 5th! That's a real feat for me! And even more amazing, Robin found a dress on the sale rack that she thinks is 'perfect' and she's not going to be stressed in the days leading up to her wedding.

It's 'slim pickin' for groceries around here. Many of the stores have not had a chance to get full shipments of everything they need. One of our WalMart stores lost power and ended up sending all the excess food to a local restaurant where it was cooked for 1st responders and volunteers ~ a feel good moment, to be sure. When I was walking through one of the stores today an employee stocking shelves said WalMart paid them for Sunday, Monday & Tuesday, even though they were closed to the public. She said she got double pay for Tuesday because she was there stocking shelves with what was available. I tried to make a point to say something like, "Thanks for being here for all the residents", when I walked through the store. Too often we forget the employees have to leave their families and obligations to report to work just so us old foggies can get some food to replenish our kitchens.

I was especially impressed with the local Aldi Food Store ~ they had fresh meats and vegetables. A lot of the stores were out of meat and dairy until their trucks can make it to them. It must be a logestical nightmare for some of those stores.

So, tonight we're having breaded pork chops (Aldi packages theirs 2 per), green beans, baked sweet potato and fried apples....oh, and some of the kale salad that WalMart carries as a 'kit', complete with dressing and 'sprinkle-on' dried cranberries and pumpkin seeds.

My breaded pork chops were amazing! Just what my mouth was ready for.....

I love when stores package just two nice bone-in, 'porterhouse cut' (with the tenderloin, loin and T-bone) pork chops. I seasoned the pork with just s&p, then lightly floured, into an egg wash with egg and sriracha and finally into panko crumbs. I try to let them sit for a good 10 - 15 minutes so the panko absorbs some of the egg mixture and then the breading doesn't fall off when they are browned in non-flavored oil (grapeseed) and then into the oven on a little rack to finish cooking.

The only problem was the pork chop was way larger than I usually eat so now I have salad and fried apples leftover for tomorrow. But I'm thinking a little warm up in the microwave with the apples, just to take the chill off and then on top of a big bowl of vanilla yogurt ~ Breakfast of Champions! And the kale salad is just fine the next day. The kale and broccoli slaw fixin's hold over without going to mush.

I'm really glad I finally made the decision to make what I feel like and not try to constantly make low carb meals. Mr. Amazing is definately holding his own on the weight front (unlike me ~ but I don't care) so if he gets stuck eating a breaded pork chop instead of a baked loin chop, so be it. He hasn't complained so I think he knows it's MY way or the highway! LOL

I made enchiladas for dinner tonight and a southern oven fried chicken last night.

I feel puny today so I don't really feel like eating. Joe and Katie went for happy hour at a local restaurant and the are driving to a music museum for a concert. Sounds fun.
I have just been informed that my 24-year old nephew beat out 800 applicants to become the assistant to Keya Morgan.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1708243/bio

Mr. Morgan is going to start filming a documentary on the "murder" of Marilyn Monroe. This is so exciting. My nephew is on his way to bigger and better things.

Amazing, Jimmy, that you actually ate some of the turkey breast you cooked. That's unusual for you, but I'll bet it was good!

I picked up a whole chicken at Aldi yesterday and spatchcocked it to grill. I cut out all the rib bones and keel bone & whatever from the underside of the chicken and then rubbed it with evoo and seasoned it liberally with my Hungarian Steak Seasoning. I cooked it inside down on a piece of non-stick foil and then over on the skin side to finish it off. It was completely done (no big surprise there, huh, Jimmy?) and I picked at the bits stuck to the foil ~ the chicken-y, salty bits that are so good. I'm just glad no one was there to see me picking away at the bits of sticky goodness!

I had some of the little tri-color potatoes, yellow, red & purple....the ones they sell that are about the size of walnuts. I steamed them and then smushed them with a glass and browned them in some evoo & butter, seasoned with s&p. Mr. Amazing made some comment about 'white' potatoes and I tried to say the purple ones were really good for something like arthritis...I ended up just saying he didn't have to eat them, he could just ignore them on the table. You can guess how that ended up. I have to say, they were EXCELLENT! They were buttery on the inside and crunchy on the outside and really sweet tasting. I also made some mixed vegetables (frozen) which I like and we finished up the kale/broccoli slaw salad from yesterday. Just as I suspected, it was even better today than when it was freshly dressed yesterday.

Gee, Jimmy....that looks a lot like Cincinnati Chili to me. But I bet you didn't put the cinnamon and alspice in YOUR sauce. So many people like Cincinnati Chili but I think it's a real 'had-to-grow-up-eating-it' sort of thing. The taste, to me, is rather off-putting and nothing I would try again.

But I do like 'real' chili on top of spaghetti, although I want a pile of fresh chopped onions on mine. Dane likes his with onions and cheese, oh, but that was before he decided spaghetti noodles were EVIL!

LOL

That does look good Jimmy. I am with Beth on Cincinnati Chili but I tried it more than once because I couldn't believe that something that so many people like could be so disagreeable to me so I made it again with another recipe... still didn't like it.

Boy, I can remember some rather 'heated' discussions about chili in past forums ~ and I ain't talkin' about spice. Hahahahahaha

Funny, but I don't think the subject of Cincinnati Chili EVER came up, but, Lawdy, there was a lot of discussion about the use of beans....and what meat 'had' to be used. I think that was the first time I really, really got into the fray just because some were insisting it was their way or the highway. That is NOT the way I approach cooking and I found out a lot of people agreed with me.

Of course, a lot of people DISAGREED with me, too.

But I didn't invite them to this forum.

Hahahahahahaha!

(I kill me! LOL)

I was clueless about supper tonight. Something about making a big meal two nights in a row and my mind goes to mush and I cannot make a decision.

I wanted to use the leftover grilled chicken breast and Dane suggested cold chicken sandwiches ~ sounded good to me. The day before the hurricane was to hit we went to the grocery store to get the last few things we thought we might need, not knowing how long it would be before we would be able to get out and about. The only bread they had at Publix was Wonder White Bread. They had a fairly good supply but it was the only bread they had received in their shipment and, other than that, the shelves were empty.

So, when was the last time any of you have had Wonder White Bread? I know it's been a long time for me. It was as soft and mushy as I remembered but the crumb seemed much more 'holey' and the texture seemed off. I'll be glad when the loaf is gone and I can go back to something else.

Texans and people who think Texans know best are the ones who have inflexible opinions about Chili. Most of us know better. Kind of like I told someone once that I was glad the French didn't invent BBQ sauce because if they did, there'd only be one kind. We were talking about tartar sauce at the time as I recall.