Whats for Dinner in this December 2014?

Niagra, your vacation sounds dee-vine! All that clear warm water to swim in. AHHH...

I made beef stew last night. I have been using Emeril's recipe and suddenly I have decided I don't like it. I need to find another one. Suggestions would be welcome.
I bought a bottle of thyme from the Savory Spice shop and believe it or not, it is too strong. It is overpowering. I have found their spices to be a little too unrefined or too whole. I am going to have to pull them out and give them a bit of a grind with a pestle and mortar. I will go back to buying my spices from the local Sprouts Market or use McCormick's. I guess I will toss it or hold on to it for a few years until it gets stale enough to use. Too fresh I guess. LOL.

I think this stew is very good. No kidding! It has no tomatoes.

JOHN MADDEN'S STEW
1/2 t. pepper
1/4 t. salt
2 1/2 lb. round steak (cut into 1/2"cubes)
2-3 T oil
2 Lg. onions, chopped
2 Sm. bell peppers, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 Lg. clove garlic, chopped
3 Lg. carrots, chopped
4 Med. potatoes, cubed
1 Sm. turnip, chopped
1 Sm. rutabaga, chopped
3 cans Swanson beef broth
5-6 drops Tabasco sauce (more or less to taste)
1/8 t. leaf savory, crumbled
1/8 t. leaf marjoram, crumbled
3 T. parsley, chopped

Fry meat. Remove. Saute' onion, pepper, celery, and garlic 10 minutes. Place those veggies
into a stew pot and add carrots, potatoes, turnip, rutabaga, broth , Tabasco, savory, and
marjoram. Bring to boil, add meat. Cover and simmer 1 1/2 hours!

Thanks Norm. I am sure it is good but I would have to leave out the bell pepper 'cause roomie is allergic. I wonder how much the taste would be affected?

Roomie and DH have gone to the beach. Can you believe it in December? I can't take just sitting for 6 hours and freezing my rear end off so I stayed home, again.

I guess grilled cheese will be dinner since I don't know when they will get home. Serves 'em right if I wasn't home at all. They would have to fend for themselves.

My sister and her hubby just bought another home directly across the bay from their house. A 3 million dollar fixer. It has great bones, beautiful woodwork but it belongs in an English tudor home, not a wood-sided house. It will be interesting to see what they can work around, with and what has to be torn out. Prolly another half mil for that. It has a 100 foot dock, a pool and Jacuzzi which they have always wanted. Right on the bay. Sigh. They are going to rent it out while they draw up plans. I was hoping it would be vacant this summer so I could use the pool. When they do move in I bet they leave their adult kids back at the other house. LOL. One is working and the other isn't. The employed kid is making $77,000/yr and says he can't afford to move out. HA! It is because he so spoiled and can't imagine living on less and in lesser circumstances. My sister pays for their $50,000 cars, cell phones, food and more. I should be so poor. LOL.

BBQ chicken thighs.

Norm, it sounds like a great recipe! I am going to copy and print it!

I have my mom's but this sounds great also....

BBQ thighs! YUM! I think I will just have to have some this week.

Bugster2 wrote:BBQ thighs! YUM! I think I will just have to have some this week.

another thing I have found are bagged veggies you zap for 4 minutes in the microw & they turn out perfect.lol

Barb, the thighs look super yummy. Sure looks to me like you're getting your strength back. Good for you!

At 3:00 this afternoon Dane asked me if I wanted to drive to our favorite shrimp dinner restaurant - it's an hour and a quarter drive but through the Ocala National Forest and lovely if you're not caught in a thunder storm. Today it was in the high 70's and beautiful blue skies - perfect for a leisurly drive. We had our shrimp dinners - $6.25 / 12 shrimp with 2 sides. It's the 'special' everyday from 3-6 p.m. It's nothing fancy but the shrimp are fresh and super sweet with just a very light coating.

I suppose you could leave out the bell peppers. I doubt it will affect the taste much.

I love chicken thighs, my favourite part of the chicken is dark meat!

Jimmy, yes, I do have bags of river shrimp in my freezer. Frozen in quart size zip bags.

It takes me a good 2 to 2 1/2 hours of standing at the sink to clean 'em when I want to cook them. I end up with about 3 c. of cleaned shrimp. It wouldn't be so bad if they were larger and from the open ocean ~ but since they come out of the river where who-knows-what has been dumped, I have to peel them and then remove every bit of the top vein AND the bottom tendon/vein. I don't want to ingest what the bottom-feeders had for their last meal!

But, once they are cleaned, they are the sweetest bits of seafood goodness you could ask for. I'm thinking I should get a bag out to thaw.....maybe add them to a nice jambalaya over rice later in the week.

Niagara Visitor wrote:I love chicken thighs, my favourite part of the chicken is dark meat!

So do I. DH and roomie eat only white meat. I don't care for drumsticks though. Too many ligaments to chew through. I love wings and the crispy skin.

It is 3:30 in the morning and I can't sleep and am feeling cranky. I wish grocery stores were open at this hour so I could start my errands. MY DH would have a fit though. Too dangerous to be out at this hour. He is right. Too many drunks and pervs out and about.

Some of the grocery stores here are open 24/7.

I love chicken thigh too.. no breast/white meat for me... my DH loves white meat, so we are good if we buy whole chicken, he eats his parts and I eat mine, win win but he eats thigh too, exp KFC

here is my baked chicken thigh, spicy and crispy skin.. Dirk ate it too but without the skin

lol I am with Dirk. White meat for me. I do like wings & thighs tho..

Soooo, what you're saying is....

you don't like the legs!

I'm with you. But the thigh is my favorite ~ after the wings, that is.

Not me. I do not like any leg on on any poultry.If it is fried I eat the breading lol.Last time I had KFC I was sick for 2 days from the grease.Same with Churches. Gross.I had some Hardies a while ago === Good FC..Love the biscuits too.So soft..

I know what you mean about the grease. I was sick for days after eating some H. Salt Fish & Chips. I can't tolerate really greasy foods.

Leftovers make great salad dinners.