2024 What's for Dinner Tonight?

[chiver78]

I'm finally doing the pork chops and colcannon tonight. the chops are cooking right now, and the colcannon is delish! 

Iggy - when I was travelling to Ireland for my first work trips, I was a pretty strict pescatarian (fin fish only, thanks allergies  ) and colcannon was my savior in a lot of situations. it's a nice nod to nostalgia when I do make it. and I made about 3lbs' worth of potatoes of it. so the rest of this week will be tasty 

[wvugurl26]

Saturday night we ordered out.

Sunday we had an early dinner for Easter with DH's family. It felt weird but they said they needed nothing so that's what we did.

Monday night we ate at the baseball game. I'm thankful our ticket package gives us a 30% discount off concession prices.

Tuesday night taco salads.

The rest of the week I need to figure out. It's going to be another heavy rain day Wednesday so maybe comfort food.

[daisylu]

Apr 2, 2024 7:06:11 GMT -5 daisylu said:

Had a late lunch with my manager yesterday, so skipped dinner. Need to finish up those cubed pork chops tonight. Still leaning toward just coating with a BBQ sauce and throwing them in the oven, add some noodles and a veg and be done.

We have way too much food in this house for 2 people, so I am going to focus on getting out the old. Just opening the freezer and grabbing blindly has led to some interesting meals. 

Finished up the chops. DH loved it but did not eat much of the vegetables. We are on day 4 of thunderstorms, so maybe soup? My car is in the shop for an oil change and have to pick it up later.

[Iggy aka IG]

chiver78 sounds perfect!  Cook once and eat twice (or more!) is so efficient.  

wvugurl26 nice to hear about the 30% off.  Things are so expensive these days!  This past Sunday's fast food late lunch for two was over $28.  

daisylu those chops sound tasty!

Last night's pairing down of the fridge supper went well.  EW's tuna avocado spinach salad recipe called for one can per serving.  DH and I both saved half for our lunches today.

I'm going to go for it:  I was going to pick up a grocery order next Tuesday, but I may wait until the following Tuesday, April 16th.  I spent A LOT last month between regular groceries and the Sam's Club order.  If DH wants fresh produce for his lunches, he can buy it, LOL.

[wvugurl26]

I prefer to have leftovers for at least my lunch the following day(s). DH takes sandwiches by his choice. As iggy noted everything is expensive and some of it isn't that good. I do certainly get tired of cooking but most of what I make is cheaper and better.

Of course some places are the exception but the budget doesn't extend to eating at those daily.

Wednesday is rain all day so dinner will be the leftover ham from Easter that was shared with us, mashed potatoes and asparagus.

[chiver78]

depending on what it is, I generally way over-prep something on Sunday to be able to have small lunches during the week. for example, when prepping BSCB to cook I will cut each one in half the short way and then slice a cutlet out of the thicker round end. if it's a huge BSCB, the triangle becomes two slices and the round becomes three. the only time I ever cook BSCB whole is in the crock pot for black bean pulled chicken and then it all gets shredded anyway.      I'm with wvu - most of what I make is cheaper and better as well. 


mid-day errands brought me Cape side today, and I picked up a big filet of cod to split with the pups. I haven't decided if I want to coat mine in seasoned bread crumbs or some other spices, but I'm going to roast Brussels sprouts and reheat colcannon for sides. the pups will get their naked cod with breakfast.

[snapdragon]

Tonight was roasted asparagus, Brussel sprouts, potatoes, cauliflower, and bell pepper.

Tomorrow I am having lunch with a friend so looking forward to that. 

[daisylu]

I ended up stopping and picking up chicken and dumplings from the nearest gas station. Their soup is always good and this was no exception. 

Took some venison sausage out last night to make chili today. I am over the dampness that settled in Saturday night.

[chiver78]

yum, snapdragon. well, except the cauliflower. you can have mine      I love roasting a bunch of veggies like that and tossing them all in some pesto after they are cooked. 

[Iggy aka IG]

Apr 4, 2024 8:00:15 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

yum, snapdragon. well, except the cauliflower. you can have mine      I love roasting a bunch of veggies like that and tossing them all in some pesto after they are cooked. 

This is brilliant!  Thank you for the idea, Chive.  Last month I bought pesto and cannot remember why.  Perhaps for one of the Eating Well recipes...?  Anyway, I also love roasted veggies and will try them with the pesto.  Am thinking I'll roast chicken with the veggies.  Yum!

[Iggy aka IG]

Years ago, for the most part I went from buying prepared frozen food to buying proteins.  For instance, last month the $10 I would have spent on a frozen pizza back in the day (I still occasionally buy Quest and Caulipower pizzas, however) went toward a $10.25 on-sale package of two pork loins.  Here is how I'll stretch one:  Meal for two last night, lunch for DH today, I'll put some onto tonight's Quest pizza and we'll have some for supper this weekend.  I'll freeze the second tenderloin to be used at a later date in a pasta dish, and whatever creative recipes I can find.  

Have a tasty weekend, everyone.  I really appreciate you being here. 

[snapdragon]

Tonight was Pupas. Just saw them the last time I was at Costco. Really yummy I actually do a dry Coleslaw mix, than stuffed pupas topping it with extras. 2 was plenty. 

Supposed to rain tomorrow so I am thinking of baked rice and veggies with fzn cooked chicken. I can do that for lunch and dinner.  

[Artemis Windsong]

Garlic brown sugar chicken thighs.  It's a splattery recipe because the thighs are browned then baked in the oven.  My taster is off but H. enjoyed them.

I made a cheddar broccoli side that was too runny.  Maybe it will set up in the fridge.  Salad was available but we passed on that as we had it for lunch.

I dropped 5 lbs fast by eating 1 serving of cottage cheese with egg whites for breakfast 190 calories , soup 250 calories for lunch then 3 oz. steak and a side of potatoes and greens beans for dinner. About 350 calories No snacks, no chips zero desserts.  At bedtime I did have yogurt mixed with low carb protein bar 270 calories.  Very high protein 28 grams..  I repeated that for 3 days.

Yesterday I goofed and had cottage cheese and potato chips for a fast meal.  I did add 1 lb. back.  I hope today's meals continue  for the decrease of 1 lb. a day. 

[wvugurl26]

Friday night I made a sheet pan meal with roasted vegetables and chicken sausage.

[chiver78]

I'm probably done for tonight, had a late lunch with a huge Caesar salad w/grilled salmon that I couldn't even finish. it was phenomenal, though. that, and two adult beverages was $45, including tip. I can live with that once in awhile. 

tomorrow's grocery run will include either chicken or turkey cutlets which will become piccata next week. that will be at least two, if not three meals. another meal will be a small chicken pot pie from the fresh case, with a use by date of 4/17. and there's a lot of broccoli and asparagus in the fridge, so I'll be roasting veggies as sides. 

happy weekend, everyone! 

[soupandstew]

It was supposed to be pork tenderloin and sugar snap peas but we filled up at lunch so we don't want dinner.  I'll punt the tenderloin to next Wednesday and string some of the peas for DH to use tomorrow with the steak he's grilling.  

[wvugurl26]

Saturday night www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/chicken-street-corn-skillet-12629731

Sunday night will be chicken sausage zucchini bolognese with salad and garlic bread.

Monday night if there aren't enough leftovers I'll make something.

Tuesday night Budget Bytes unstuffed bell peppers. This will be dinner Tuesday night and lunch Wednesday.

Wednesday evening we leave for a trip.

I finally peeled the sad apples in the crisper drawer to make applesauce. I'm waiting on frozen rolls to rise to make pepperoni rolls.

I think the ham and cheese scones will be tomorrow. I'm trying to use things up before we leave.

[soupandstew]

DH grilled a small ribeye steak to share and cooked some sugar snap peas for 2 minutes so they were still nicely crisp.  Great meal.

[Artemis Windsong]

I used left over ground meat to make a small, low carb taco pizza. 

[Iggy aka IG]

Up 2.4 pounds from a weekend away.  Holy carbs and sodium, Batman!  Anyway....  I'm holding myself to not going to the store until next week so this week will feature frozen and canned veggies:

Tonight:  Leftover pork tenderloin and frozen okra.
Tues:  Slow cooker beef roast, air fried sweet potato fries, canned green beans.
Wed:  Oven fried keto chicken legs and broccoli and cauliflower the freezer.
Thurs:  Soup made of mini wontons and frozen mixed vegetables, Elote-style pickles.
Fri:  Takeout
Sat:  Something easy or Eating Well cod tacos in cheddar shells, veggies from the freezer.
Sun:  Smoked salmon and veggies.
 

[countrygirl2]

Made DD and I had fried chicken drumsticks last night, hubs fixed himself , I don't remember what. They were the toughest things I've ever eaten on a chicken, have no idea why they looked good, yuck. But they are gone from the freezer. I should have put them in the ninja cooker for say 5 minutes but mine had mushroom soup on them and hers were plain.

Tonight odds and ends again. I found about a cup of bean soup in the freezer and ate it, was really good. DD is going to have an individual pizza. Hubs is having a baked potato loaded and I boiled me a couple of eggs. We will be eating up stuff I have around for sometime. Some of it only enough for an individual serving. He said he will top his potato with the left over taco filling we have.  Tomorrow night, I have strip steaks I'm thawing. They were the last of the prior meat left to cook. Will fix them on the grill, the best way. With salad, possibly fried potatoes or french fries and some other veggie, we will all 3 eat that.  I'm still in that not wanting to cook rut and using up stuff in the freezers situation.  I think we will be doing a lot of odds and ends meals for some time.

[chiver78]

I snacked this afternoon, which just f'd me up. I'm not travelling anywhere once I get back from vacation/work trip so I'll reset myself then.

tonight was a roasted diced russet, topped with a package of frozen cheesy broccoli and some canned chicken. the pups will take care of the rest of the can with breakfast.

tomorrow morning, I'm going to do a produce run before my landscapers show up. I parked my car in the driveway of an abandoned house across the street today, so I can't easily.just throw the pups in the car and go for a drive while they are here. but, I need shit. lol... I made a grocery list this afternoon, and clicked on the digital coupons. those don't show up til a few hours later, or I'd have gone tonight. it's fine though.

making the list, I decided tomorrow nights dinner - eggplant Milanese. very likely side would be prosciutto-wrapped asparagus for some protein.

[soupandstew]

I had a meeting tonight so I heated up Patak's Butter Chickpeas with veggies and rice.  Very tasty.  We're going out tomorrow for a wine dinner.  Wednesday I'll roast a pork tenderloin and side with rutabagas and sugar snap peas.  Thursday DH is doing leftover 15-bean soup from the freezer.  Friday I'll do baked tilapia and a cauliflower/broccoli mix.  Saturday I'm smoking the beautiful chicken I bought at the farmers market a couple of weeks ago.  I'll serve a veggie, whatever looks good at the market Saturday morning.  Sunday DH is going to make (with my tutoring) Japanese beef curry and egg noodles.

[Iggy aka IG]

Not having fresh produce is going fairly well.   For nutrients, I snacked on olives and some salsa (for tomato purposes) with pork rinds last night before supper.  DH bought apples, baby carrots, and mini peppers for his lunches.

The slow cooker pot roast recipe I chose for tonight is from Sweet and Savory Meals' website and includes 2 cups red wine.  I am thankful to get the certain bottle of red out of the fridge and am looking forward to tasting the beef this evening.  Added:  Also for anti-inflammatory purposes, I'll add garlic and ginger to tonight's green beans.  Oh, and some diet cranberry juice to my cocktail. 

[wvugurl26]

I actually followed my plan! I do much better when I put a plan on paper. Trying to work it out in my head does not work for me.

The scones turned out well. The 3 remaining ones will go in the freezer on Wednesday before I leave. I'm pleased with what we were able to use up with some planning.

[Iggy aka IG]

wvugurl26 those scones sound amazing.  Glad they turned out well.

soupandstew I love your chicken description.    The tutoring your DH sounds fun.

chiver78 how was the eggplant?

Last night's beef was tender.  I made sure to bookmark the recipe.  I forgot to add the cranberry juice to last night's cocktail, but there is always tonight.    I did add garlic and ginger to the green beans for anti-inflammatory purposes.

I'd forgotten that I already cooked the frozen broccoli and cauliflower a few weeks ago, so tonight will be a different frozen veggie along with leftover Easter au gratin potatoes I tossed in the freezer prior to leaving town a few weeks ago.

I haven't bought groceries since the last week of March and am still surviving.  

[chiver78]

thanks for asking, Iggy. I didn't end up making it b/c I needed my big fry pan to cook off some ground beef and kale for the pups. it's now the plan for tonight, and I'll report back tomorrow. the Milanese salad is the highlight of the dish for sure, I expect it will be delish. 

[snapdragon]

Tonight is going to be roasted asparagus, brussel sprouts and carrot which I will add to some cheese tortellini and chopped chicken. I am taking a page from chiver78 and using pesto. It sounds good and I will be working on eating healthier. I finally unpacked the scale and the number wasn't pretty. 

I might attempt to do a soup for the weekend. Or a crockpot meal. I just don't have the bandwidth at the moment to think about it. 

[countrygirl2]

DD had a can of raviolis, dad canned vegetable soup and pepper cheese, I am having a can of tomato soup with milk mixed in and oyster crackers.

Last night was rib eye steak, baked potatoes, and salad.

DD and I ate lunch out today after our blood draw.

[chiver78]

I'm winding down finally, and I wanted to check back in. I got a late start on breading and frying tonight, so I ate while still cooking. OMG, eggplant Milanese was heavenly. 😍🤤 crispy yet light eggplant covered in a delish lemony arugula salad.

there's no way I could ever do this well for a group just based on logistics of frying eggplant in a home kitchen, but I can absolutely treat myself while cranking out holiday frying!


ETA: I figured out the next few days this morning. I didn't have any small containers of sauce in the freezer in order to make a small eggplant parm tray, so I pulled a large one. the large ones are enough sauce to cover a veggie lasagna and have a little extra for reheating. well, I thawed that this morning and "diluted" it with another can of crushed tomatoes. it's all simmering on the stove now. tonight will be eggplant parm and a salad, I'll put together the veggie lasagna tomorrow to pick from over the weekend. I just got back from a quick run for ricotta and the frozen spinach I always include in a veggie lasagna.