September, 2019 ~ What's your meal plan?

No cooking at my house yesterday. It was Ladies' Luncheon day and one big meal a day is enough for me. Dane ended up with 'refrigerator luck' (much like 'pot luck' with less of a chance of something you really want to eat.......)

My no cooking days seem to outnumber the cooking ones lately. Taking sis to a medical appointment this afternoon, so we'll have lunch at one of our favourite places, The Black Forest Inn (Hamilton) YUMM!

I was scrolling through recipes and 'An Oldie But A Goodie' caught my eye.

Who remembers the huge fad of losing weight by eating 'Fat Burning Cabbage Soup'???

I know it didn't work then and it won't work today, but, truth be told, I really LIKE Cabbage Soup.  It's easy enough to throw together with whatever you happen to have in your vegetable drawer.  It's nothing more than a vegetable soup with a tomato juice base and some Onion Soup Mix and Beef Consomme or Broth as flavoring.  

So, anyway, that's what's cooking on my stove for lunch ~ Lunch today and a few days more.  The big plus is I know it's one that Dane will warm up to eat, too.  So it's a win-win situation for me.




Cabbage Fat-Burning Soup
Rated as 4.49 out of 5 Stars

   Prep 20 m,  Cook 25 m,   Ready In 45 m

Recipe By:Nell Marsh
"This tomato and cabbage soup was rumored, in days of old, to melt away those thighs."

Ingredients:

   5 carrots, chopped
   3 onions, chopped
   2 (16 ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes, with liquid
   1 large head cabbage, chopped
   1 (1 ounce) envelope dry onion soup mix

   1 (15 ounce) can cut green beans, drained
   2 quarts tomato juice
   2 green bell peppers, diced
   10 stalks celery, chopped
   1 (14 ounce) can beef broth

Directions:

   Place carrots, onions, tomatoes, cabbage, green beans, peppers, and celery in a large pot. Add onion soup mix, tomato juice, beef broth, and enough water to cover vegetables. Simmer until vegetables are tender. May be stored in the refrigerator for several days.

I thawed a package of chicken wings for supper. HE likes his with a really spicy hot BBQ sauce and I like mine with a slather of sweet chili sauce. So it's easy to keep track of which has which sauce, HE gets all the drummies and I get all the flappers. I cut the corn off a couple ears of corn and microwaved some broccoli. And that was supper.

I went to a local German/Austrian restaurant. 50+ years established. I had a delicious salad, with the creamiest, freshest dressing, I think yogurt/buttermilk; a huge schnitzel, hunter style, home fries and really nicely done carrots. That restaurant has probably 20 different styles of schnitzels. Hunter style is with a yummy, yummy mushroom sauce. Enough in the take home box for lunch tomorrow.

I have some ribs in the smoker. I made some potato salad, baked beans and grilled corn to go with it. It was blessedly cooler today - only 82 - so it isn't bad firing up the grill.

I bought a slim Christmas tree from Amazon. I had to put the thing together to make sure it wasn't defective so i could send it back within 30 days. It was messy - flocking all over the place. I strung the lights on it and took it upstairs to my room to wait for Christmas. There was no way I was going to take that thing apart. It now sits in a corner, all 7.5 feet of it, covered with a long white bag. It looks like a ghost. I hope I don't wake up some night, see it, and forget what it is and have it scare the wits out of me.

I have a friend in Junction City who has a Christmas tree set up and ready to go all year around. She keeps it covered and in a back room all year, rolls it out, all set up and turns it on for a month, then rolls it back til next year.

Niagara Visitor wrote:I went to a local German/Austrian restaurant.  50+ years established.  I had a delicious salad, with the creamiest, freshest dressing, I think yogurt/buttermilk; a huge schnitzel, hunter style, home fries and really nicely done carrots.  That restaurant has probably 20 different styles of schnitzels.  Hunter style is with a yummy, yummy mushroom sauce.  Enough in the take home box for lunch tomorrow.  

Leftovers didn't make it for lunch...................... I kept hearing that schnitzel calling my name. It was great re-heated. LOL

I had to ask for a suggestion because I was out of ideas today. After about 45 minutes HE came up with "seafood".....

And, of course, today being Monday, the local seafood market is closed. So, off to Fresh Market I went in search of something that looked good. I knew I could get a piece of salmon for him, as it's one of his favorites. But I'm not a fan. At all. So, I ended up with halibut because the less expensive cod didn't look very fresh to me. The halibut got slathered with Hellmann's mayo and then some panko crumbs pressed on. I cooked the fish on a grill mat outside because the smell in the house always drives me nuts. I have to say, it cooked nicely and neither piece fell apart. I like to temp it with my Thermapen and when it gets to 125° - 130° I pull it off and let it rest for a few minutes. Dane said his was "perfect" ~ so I must be on to something right. His salmon just gets seasoned with a bit of s&p and cooked on the skin side first (which he peels off as he's eating) and then just a short turn on the flesh side.

Fish looks good Beth!

I had two German veal sausages, and Tina had pizza.
DD is cooking for Her Honey. He will be in Philly a couple days; so she made a Quiche for him and his partner. Chili and whatever else....

Well, according to Dane, I 'out did' myself on supper tonight.

I needed to see if there were any fresh vegetables at the store and I happened upon some beautifully fresh collard greens. That's all I needed to get me started on a menu for tonight. As soon as I picked them up I headed back to the meat department for some St. Louis ribs I knew were on sale. All I need is a half rack for the two of us so I have the other half rack seasoned with some of my homemade rib rub, wrapped in plastic and heavy duty foil and stashed in the freezer for some other time.

I also picked up a package of smoked hocks as I knew I was out. I have ham stock in the freezer but I wanted a bit of that soft cooked hock meat in the collard cooking pot. The collards got stripped of the stems, washed twice before being cut into strips and then washed two more times just to be sure there was no lingering sand. Nothing ruins a good pot of collard greens faster than a mouth full of grit! And somewhere I read that the two washings/sloshings after being cut gives sweeter and less bitter greens. I do know the first time I sloshed them around in the sink full of water and then carefully lifted them out that the water was tinted green. I think that was the bitterness that washed off ~ for the second sloshing left clear water.....and no noticeable grit in the bottom of the sink.

The corn muffins were an afterthought.....After I had everything cooked I thought to look in the pantry and discovered I had a package of Jiffy Mix.

The ribs were put on a rack in a foil covered quarter sheet pan, Coca Cola was added to be the steaming liquid and then covered and sealed well. 300° oven for about 1-1/2 hours or so, then back in the same temperature for another half hour to dry out a bit. Finally, when it was time to put the temp up to 400° for the muffins the half rack got a light slather of Sweet Baby Ray's sauce and left to sticky-up for the 20 minutes the muffins baked.

Niagara Visitor wrote:My no cooking days seem to outnumber the cooking ones lately.  Taking sis to a medical appointment this afternoon, so we'll have lunch at one of our favourite places, The Black Forest Inn (Hamilton)  YUMM!

How's your sister doing, Lore? I think of her often especially with Brian going through chemo. I'm still saying prayers for both of you. It's nice that you can take her to appointments and the two of you enjoy lunch afterwards. Does she still have a good appetite? I sure hope so but even if she doesn't, I'm sure you two enjoy your time together.

bethk wrote:I was scrolling through recipes and 'An Oldie But A Goodie' caught my eye.

Who remembers the huge fad of losing weight by eating 'Fat Burning Cabbage Soup'???

I do remember that soup craze, Beth, though I never made it nor tasted it. I do remember hearing a couple of people complaining when people heated it up at work though as they said it permeated the whole office!

bethk wrote:Well, according to Dane, I 'out did' myself on supper tonight.

I needed to see if there were any fresh vegetables at the store and I happened upon some beautifully fresh collard greens.  That's all I needed to get me started on a menu for tonight.  


 

Looks good, Beth. I adore any type of greens but I think collard greens are my favorite. Brian's not much of a greens guy so I rarely make them but when I did, it didn't bother me in the slightest that he didn't eat them as I'd eat them all myself! Down here we call the drippings in the bottom of the greens "pot liquor." Is that what y'all call it too?

NormM wrote:I have a friend in Junction City who has a Christmas tree set up and ready to go all year around. She keeps it covered and in a back room all year, rolls it out, all set up and turns it on for a month, then rolls it back til next year.

Seems like everyone you speak to down here knows someone who has a tree up all year around here. They usually change the decorations on it to reflect the season -- Christmas, then Mardi Gras, Easter, Fourth of July, etc. We don't put a tree up any longer as we're just not up to lugging one home, into the house and then having to get it out of the house when all is done. It's just too much for us now. I do put up some Christmas decorations and just got a couple of bunches of white glittery branches with little LED lights all over them to use in a big vase instead of a tree. We've got a corner gas fireplace in the living room so I can put a big vase of twinkling branches on top of the fireplace this year to make it a bit more festive. I do miss having a Christmas tree every year though; I've got some beautiful ornaments and even have some really pretty ornate ones I made myself. I usually pick out some of the prettiest ornaments every year and put a big bowl of them hear and there in the house so it looks like Christmas...

Brian is currently eating like crazy though he does have days, usually about 3 to 5 days after a chemo dose, that he doesn't want much, if anything. He'll usually agree to some chicken soup and just like a kid, he seems to always have some room and some appetite for sweets, especially ice cream to which he is addicted! But it has helped keep his weight up and his doctors and nurses are tickled with that aspect of his current health.

Friday I dropped him off at the hospital for chemo and headed home. He had to get there by 9 a.m. to see his oncologist first -- they're always busy so he always has to wait but they take their time with each patient so you just grin and bear it. Normally, he'll then go back out to the waiting room and they'll usually call him into the chemo room by 11 or 11:30 a.m. Then the mixing of his meds begins (they don't begin mixing his chemo meds until he's in the chair) and depending on what they're giving him (how many bags), he'll be there until 2, 2:30 or 3 p.m. It's a long day for anyone and it's grueling for someone who's already weak.

He hates for me to go with him because it's usually about 5 or more hours of my having to sit in a very uncomfortable chair, so we compromise; I drop him off, get his walker out of the trunk for him and when the last bag of meds are hung up, he calls me to start heading to the hospital to pick him up. That way he doesn't have to wait on me. Thank goodness he gets to relax in a comfy recliner while he gets the infusion, but he's still exhausted when I pick him up. If he hasn't called by 2 p.m., I usually head over anyway because the traffic will start building up and I don't want him to have to wait on me for a minute.

But last Friday he called right after he saw the doctor around 11:15 a.m. -- they wanted to do more blood work before his chemo -- because they said he was too sick for them to proceed with the chemo. His white blood count is wayyyy off so they didn't think he was physically up to a dose. He's now wearing a mask when he goes into the hospital to avoid getting sick and they don't want him going anywhere in public if possible to avoid getting ill. I heard that one of the drug stores is already giving flu shots so I'm going to get one tomorrow rather than wait until I see my own doctor next month. He looks like he's aged 20 years this past year -- sometimes when he's sleeping, I just stare at him and pray that he's still right there next year at this time. I'm a nervous wreck over all this but there's nothing I can do except enjoy whatever time we have left together and pretend I'm not worried at all, just like Brian pretends to me! Today is Day 136 since either of us smoked a cigarette. While I'm praying, I ask God to please help me not smoke no matter how worried I am. The last couple days I've been REALLY wanting a cigarette but I know I'll still be a nervous wreck and miserable after I have one so why do it?! I know I'll just end up disappointed with myself if I break down and have one plus I don't want Brian to have one. So I'm practicing that "good for the goose/gander" stuff as best as I can.

Sorry if I sound like I'm whining -- just blowing off some steam...

A friend of mine's husband is starting the whole chemo thing. He also has prostate cancer and it has started to spread. This last year has been hell for the both of them: he had a breakdown of sorts and was almost catatonic for months. He finally came out of it and then started spending money. After all these years of ups and downs he was finally diagnosed as manic-depressive. Whatever doctors they were seeing were idiots. I told her he was bipolar but she wouldn't listen. So, now he is stabilized and on the right meds.

I was very busy today with x-rays, Trader Joe's, Costco, Nordstrom Rack, Sprouts. I made a lasagna yesterday and so all I had to do was throw it in the oven. It was ok, nothing special.

Crybaby wrote:

Looks good, Beth. I adore any type of greens but I think collard greens are my favorite. Brian's not much of a greens guy so I rarely make them but when I did, it didn't bother me in the slightest that he didn't eat them as I'd eat them all myself! Down here we call the drippings in the bottom of the greens "pot liquor." Is that what y'all call it too?

I know enough about southern cooking that the cooking liquid is the 'liquor'.....but since I didn't grow up with them, actually never had them until I was grown and that's when I learned to really like them, so I still think of the cooking liquid as 'juices'. But if you ask me, I'll definately SAY, "pot liquor - or pot licker' just because I wouldn't want to offend. I don't usually drink or spoon it up, even though I do the unimaginable ~ I DE-FAT my cooking liquid. Yup, cook the hocks or bone the day before (or day of and use a defatting cup) so I can spoon off all the fat layer. My sisters-in-law both cook their greens with all the fat and it's just not something I enjoy.

My brother's wife, in Georgia, is a born & bred Southern gal, through & through. She's a fabulous cook and for special occasions still cooks all the Southern favorites for big family meals. Her best loved meal includes mixed greens (collards, mustards & another variety) with the fat back left in the pot and a big slice of unsweetened cornbread just hanging on the edge of the bowl getting soaked from the bottom up with the pot licker......

I think I've mentioned a number of times about Grandma's habit of making most things sweet, or, in the least, adding just a bit of sugar to so many things. Cornbread is no different. We didn't have it often, but when we did, it was on the sweet side and usually served with butter, honey or syrup. Southern cornbread is an entirely different flavor and I can appreciate how letting it soak up the 'pot licker' would be the thing to do. So when I'm at my brother's and Elaine is doing the cooking, I do follow suit and eat my cornbread from the bottom as it gets soft from all that liquor ~ and it is pretty good stuff!

Ohio friend, Barb, called me this morning to ask about directions to her doctor's office on my side of town. She was going to be driving her golf cart and wasn't sure about which golf cart trails to take. I've shown her a couple times but I know it can be confusing so I told her to just stop and pick me up and I'd direct her again. I knew that was what she hoped I would do but didn't want to impose and ask.

So I spent a couple hours or so sitting in a medical office while she got things checked out. By the time I got home it was past my normal prep time to make supper so I just threw together a quickie meal ~ Korean BBQ Sauced chicken thigh meat and a squash/onion saute that were both quick and easy.

I didn't get rave reviews like the ribs/greens night, but it wasn't too bad.

I was planning to make a breaded and fried piece of pork or beef and then I saw Lore's post about Hunters schnitzel and it sounded good so I made that for dinner with a German style potato salad and cucumber salad.  I thought about making spatzel but chickened out and made egg noodles instead. Charlie loves those noodles and I was not sure how he'd take to spatzel.