2024 What's for Dinner Tonight?

[Iggy aka IG]

countrygirl2 tomato soup and oyster crackers are one of my top 10 comfort foods.  

Thank you for your eggplant Milanese report, Chive.  I found a recipe online and added eggplant and plain yogurt to next week's grocery list.

Instead of oven frying last night's chicken legs, I made sort of an old school Shake 'N Bake via My Life Cookbook's keto air fryer drumsticks recipe.  Delish.  And I'm pleased to report au gratin potatoes (well, the homemade ones I make) freeze, thaw, and warm up quite well.

[chiver78]

curious what the yogurt is for? Milanese as I grew up with (didn't actually like it til adulthood, though...) is a salad of arugula and tomato with shredded parmigiana, tossed with lemon, on top of fried cutlets of your choice. I add thin sliced red onion to my salad, b/c that's just a given for me     but I'm curious what recipe you found. 

[countrygirl2]

We are working on using food from the freezer, pantry, and fridge freezer.

Tonight hubs and I split the other steak and he had a baked potato. DD will eat it but not a big steak person, well, unless
its fillet mignon. She loves that, who wouldn't, LOL!

I added a package of frozen cauliflower and cheese sauce to my steak.

DD had a bread pizza and has one more to eat later. There isn't enough of any one thing so we are using and
eating what works out at the time. I don't want to throw all this stuff away, so trying to get it used up. Also donating
some things we likely won't eat. It's slow but moving forward. I bought some tuna at Sams and can't say we really like it
so donating some of that. Think I will see if the cats want some, I think cat food costs more than it does anymore.

I'm not sure why son called today, this morning actually. He was in Salem, Oregon for a few days. Helping implement new
equipment and upgrades. He was sure in a good mood. Said he left early but had to wait till his hotel room was ready before
he checked in so was driving around looking at the scenery, said it was really pretty there. He is trying to get a head start and get
all the stuff done before deadlines,  he said he had till mid 2025 but was not going to wait till last minute, so is traveling a ton this year.

I'm thinking he is sleeping better after his tonsil surgery, he was always tired before, I sure hope it is helping. He wasn't coughing either 
like he used to do. 

I'm trying to kind of start out again eliminating certain foods to also see if that helps my side ache. I haven't had coffee for a couple
of days then I fixed a cup this morning. I just took a few sips and am thinking. The pain is better so could that be one of the issues?
I didn't drink anymore of it. Now I realize why I'm so tired. Dropping the caffeine from that for 2 or 3 days must be effecting me.

[soupandstew]

It was DH's night and he served some of the 15-bean soup from the freezer that he put back several weeks ago, along with great sourdough bread from the farmers market.


Tomorrow is baked tilapia with a panko crust, and mixed cauliflower and broccoli.  


countrygirl2 You can count me in the group that doesn't like filet mignon-I just don't like the flavor or texture as much as a good ribeye or New York strip but that's just me.

[snapdragon]

Dinner is spaghetti and I will be adding roasted veggies on the side along with extra mushrooms and artichokes in the sauce. 

Tomorrow I will pull out the quiche and cook that for the weekend. I am going to make scones too. I need to send something over to the neighbors, as a thank you. 

[Iggy aka IG]

Apr 11, 2024 14:15:38 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

curious what the yogurt is for? Milanese as I grew up with (didn't actually like it til adulthood, though...) is a salad of arugula and tomato with shredded parmigiana, tossed with lemon, on top of fried cutlets of your choice. I add thin sliced red onion to my salad, b/c that's just a given for me     but I'm curious what recipe you found. 

The recipe I found uses it in the lemon dressing....?  Eggplant Milanese

[Iggy aka IG]

snapdragon those extra vegetables in the sauce sounds like a great idea!

I arrived home late yesterday evening from an extended happy hour after cussing and discussing an upcoming business change with my neighbors.  (More on that later as it becomes reality.)  Instead of making the mini wonton soup, I lightly fried the wontons and served them with a bag of microwave vegetables from the freezer.  We snacked on pork rinds and the dip I made last weekend we didn't get to while the main course cooked.  Easy-peasy.

Tomorrow will be either cod tacos in cheddar cheese "shells" or the pork roast the neighbors are cooking for their daughter's party.

I realized I haven't listed meal prices for a long time.  Hmmmm...  Last night was around $5.36 for the two of us.  Figure 1/4 bag of the wontons, the bag of veggies, and the small amount of sour cream and ranch used for the dip.

Happy weekend, everyone!

[chiver78]

Apr 12, 2024 15:27:51 GMT -5 Iggy aka IG said:

Apr 11, 2024 14:15:38 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

curious what the yogurt is for? Milanese as I grew up with (didn't actually like it til adulthood, though...) is a salad of arugula and tomato with shredded parmigiana, tossed with lemon, on top of fried cutlets of your choice. I add thin sliced red onion to my salad, b/c that's just a given for me     but I'm curious what recipe you found. 

The recipe I found uses it in the lemon dressing....?  Eggplant Milanese

oh! that makes sense, if you're gonna use a full-on dressing for the arugula salad. I've personally never seen it done as a dressing, just lemon juice, spices, and all of the veggies. I was trying to wrap my brain around why you'd be marinating eggplant in yogurt lol... definitely please report back how that recipe turned out! 

[countrygirl2]

I have said I'm in one of those no cooking moods. It's lasted a lot longer this time.

DD fixed her a sandwich for lunch, I had bacon and eggs, hubs had his cereal.  Well, we each got what we wanted.  Now dinner, we were going to go out but the restaurant we like is Amish or religious and is closed today, so now I'm stuck. I want to go out but I don't want to if that makes sense. I don't meal plan, its usually just spontaneous and today I don't want to cook, sigh.

I do have breaded shrimp and could fix up some french fries from the potatoes I have left, then could pop a salad together. Guess that would work. I just don't wanna. Makes it bad when you have a family and really don't want to cook. I would be happy to open a can of pineapple and eat it for dinner, than have some oranges later for a snack. That's the one thing I am really tired of doing is cooking and having to clean up afterwards.

Will likely fix the shrimp.

[soupandstew]

I wrote out the week's menus

Monday - Lamb and rice stuff grape leaves (freezer) with lemon garlic hummus and pita bread
Tuesday - Chicken Italian sausages with marinara sauce and pasta
Wednesday - Boneless pork chops, green beans
Thursday - DH's night, probably soup because we have a luncheon that day
Friday - Grilled shrimp, crab cake, and some veggie that catches my eye at the store, maybe broccoli
Saturday - ?  maybe a cauliflower-crust veggie pizza from Aldi
Sunday - DH's day

[countrygirl2]

Smart way to do it Soup and Stew. I'm getting lazy in my old age I guess. 

[soupandstew]

Apr 14, 2024 15:39:01 GMT -5 countrygirl2 said:

Smart way to do it Soup and Stew. I'm getting lazy in my old age I guess. 

The system works for us.  I only have an apartment-sized side-by-side fridge/freezer, don't want to spend much time to shop, and grew up far too poor and hungry to throw out food.  I think my last ten years of juggling volunteer commitments and Covid shortages helped me get more organized so I can fulfill my part of our marital contract to put food on the table 5 nights a week.  

[countrygirl2]

Dinner did turn out well. Had fresh items for the salad. Got the grease really good and hot so the shrimp were fried quickly, crispy, not greasy. The home fries I did the same, hubs normally likes frozen ones but said these were good. Deep fried, fast and quick. Used up the rest of my potatoes so they wouldn't

DD helped me put some things on the table. I'm going to make her do more and more little things like that. I worked for so many years when she was growing up that it was quicker than trying to spend long periods of time teaching her, so I was very remiss in teaching her things she should have learned to help. And then for years she fought me and did not want to do anything. Now she is doing better, I told her I was getting older and I will need her help for her to stay with us. That I would get to the point, I could not do it all myself someday. I think she is taking that to heart. At least she doesn't argue and scream anymore when I ask for her help with something. So that is a vast improvement.

But dinner came out good and everything is cleaned up and dishes are washing.

[jerseygirl]

Good for your DD to do more, she will feel more confident . My mom didn’t let sister help. When she passed, sister started to do more and was proud that she could. Now I see many stores that have kids working who are like my sister. That wasn’t available for her and mom probably wouldn’t have let her. But working would have been good for her. She enjoyed being with people

[countrygirl2]

We tried long ago to have her work, but in the daycare she played with the kids. And she just didn't know what to do in a restaurant, so they didn't try anymore.

[wvugurl26]

Monday night we had the first grilled hot dogs of the season. Served with mini tots. I was going to do a salad but when I went to the store to grab buns and romaine hearts they had zero lettuce.

Still working out my plan for the rest of the week.

[Iggy aka IG]

I made it to tonight's grocery store pick up!  I hadn't been to the store for food since March 28th.

Sunday: We grilled Sam's Club beef franks since I forgot to thaw salmon.  We had the rest of the frozen breaded okra, green beans infused with healthy garlic and turmeric, and a few leftover curly fries on the side.  The remaining bread slices serviced as "buns."

Last night:  Locally raised beef rump roast slow cooked in a homemade sauce of teriyaki, honey, 1 cup leftover low sodium chicken broth and seasonings.  On the side was rice cooked with the remaining box of chicken broth and seasoned with onion, garlic and turmeric powders.

Tonight:  Grocery store rotisserie chicken with a side salad and Elote style pickles on the side.  The latter will hopefully finish the bag of cotija cheese.  I'd been putting off making them as we were out of sour cream.

Wed:  Eating Well's salmon stuffed avocados and the eggplant Milanese.  

Thurs:  Air fried red Argentine shrimp and mozzarella stuffed portobellos and at least one other veggie.

Fri:  IDK yet

Sat:  Cheeseburgers made from locally raised beef, veggies.

Sun:  IDK yet

[Iggy aka IG]

Me again.  Not for supper, per se, but for lunch I am currently enjoying a take on Fresh N Lean's turmeric dill tuna salad I made Sunday.  The slight use of cayenne pepper gives it flavor and the right amount of kick.     I don't subscribe to FNL, their recipe popped up when I was researching turmeric recipes.

[wvugurl26]

Due to DH's in office days, we had the second serving of hot dogs Tuesday night. I would have preferred to have them for lunch but he's in office Tues-Thurs.

Wednesday/Thursday - southwest chicken foil packets. The packets will have chicken, rice, bell pepper, zucchini, corn, black beans, salsa and cheese. This will allow me to use up some more of the queso fresco I bought for the street corn dish. I struggle to use it up and I'm trying to be better about using up odds and ends.

Friday - instant pot spaghetti with garlic bread. Somehow I have 2 open boxes of garlic bread.

[snapdragon]

Tonight is going to be onion rings in the air fryer along with the last of the brussel sprouts and some carrot. If I am still hungry I will have some cheese spread and crackers or the last of the quiche. 

[wvugurl26]

Friday night we ended up going out with DH's family to a local Italian place.

Leftovers were a late lunch on Saturday.

Sunday night we grilled steaks. Sides were salads and baked potatoes topped with broccoli and cheese.

[haapai]

I dunno. 

I have leftover ham in the freezer, so I might make collards.

I have an uncooked bit of corned beef left over from Saint Patrick's Day. 

It's also Passover, so maybe someone will invite me over.

But whatever I eat, I'll pretty much be celebrating the same thing.  

Happy Pesach y'all. 

[Iggy aka IG]

Happy Passover, haapai!

Last night:  Bacon avocado cheeseburgers with leftover takeout fries and eggplant from last week's eggplant Milanese.  YUM!

Tonight:  Stir-fry consisting of leftover beef sausage from camping and yellow squash, zucchini and kale.

Tues:  Smoked salmon on top of sauteed baby spinach and bacon wrapped asparagus on the side.

Wed:  Ketogasm.com's keto oven fried chicken recipe I haven't yet gotten to.  I started to last time but ended up cooking them in the air fryer.

Thurs:  Good Housekeeping's lentil Bolognese spaghetti w/ veggies.  DH wants to explore more lentil recipes so I thought this would be a safe start.

Fri:  Takeout from?

Sat and Sun:  IDK yet.

[wvugurl26]

Monday night instant pot spaghetti and garlic bread. Vegetables in the spaghetti include carrots, zucchini, celery and bell pepper.

[Artemis Windsong]

chicken casserole.

[soupandstew]

Tonight was a sandwich because I had a 6 pm meeting.

Tuesday - Sauteed chicken tenders, rutabaga, last of sugar snap peas
Wednesday - Ground beef tostadas
Thursday - DH's night, he hasn't decided, we may have a late lunch and skip dinner
Friday - Baked turkey tenderloin with new potatoes and green beans
Saturday - Tuna steaks with whatever veggie looks good at the store
Sunday - DH's night, the last of the 15-bean soup from the freezer with a good bread

[countrygirl2]

We had Subway tonight, DD had a raspberry cookie and an apple Danish. I had a Danish with my sandwich. Had enough energy to work outside. Have to eat a bit more when doing heavy work.

[chiver78]

I think dinner tonight will be the pretzels on the plane in a couple hours. stick a fork in me, I'm done. tomorrow willprobably be takeout or a can of soup. I need to figure out a grocery list tomorrow at some point.

[wvugurl26]

Tuesday night Budget Bytes black bean beef tacos. I only bake half the tacos in the shell now on the first night. Makes for much better leftovers to just put the filling in the shells and bake them fresh.

[chiver78]

heh, 1h flight meant nothing but a quick cup of water offered. I landed at 630pm, and between baggage, bus to my car and 45min drive home....I got home at about 845pm. pups melted down, parents hit the road, and I was in bed by 9. I know I just got off an NCL cruise though, I was only finally getting hungry by lunch today after not eating since lunch yesterday on-site. so I guess the next few days will be some light eating. lol.... 

today's lunch adventure with the pups was a grocery run. $100 later, they will be well-stocked on stuff haha. I picked up a small package of BSCB for myself, and some veggies to add to risotto tonight. that doesn't require a lot of brainpower, just some chopping. today's been a long day already.