What's for Dinner, Wed., Jan. 7, 2015

[NJCher]

The Resident Gourmand returns from his Christmas holiday in Switzerland, so we're having dinner at our favorite Portuguese restaurant. I think it will be garlic shrimp tonight.



Cher

[bif]

1. Veggie pizza

I may roast them for more flavor.

[Galileo126]

2. Leftover meatballs & sausage

The sauce is a little thick, so while reheating I'll need to add an oz or two of H20. Some ziti for the pasta, with a Caesar salad side.



ps: made a great salsa verde this morning. Everything for it was on sale at the store - so, it begged to be made. I think I put in one too many serranos, though.

[cbayer]

5. I am becoming increasingly appreciative of fresh peppers

and the evil some of them come with.

More lime juice sometimes helps.

[Galileo126]

12. Good call!

I forgot the lime juice originally, so I added some. About an hr later I tasted it again, and it became a little more "tame".



Nice.

[greatauntoftriplets]

3. It's colder than a well digger's arse here - - +1

I'm making pot roast with carrots, onions and green beans. Saffron rice on the side.

[noamnety]

8. That sounds like a perfect winter meal!

I wouldn't have thought to put saffron in a dish with pot roast - but I like the idea.

[greatauntoftriplets]

9. It was very good.

I love saffron rice!

[cbayer]

4. Welcome home to the RG! Hope you brought you some chocolate.

The potatoes I made yesterday came out great, which is good news because we have a large amount left over.

BLT's with that, I think. Need to eat this bacon and have fresh guac left over to put on it.

Enjoy your night out!

[noamnety]

10. oooh, I haven't had a blt in years.

I need to put that back on my radar.

[cbayer]

11. OH yes you definitely should.

It's easy and oh, so delicious.

[NJCher]

19. heartburn

at 10:40 p.m.

Oh oh oh.


Cher

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

6. Mostly coffee.

Although I did have an ounce or two of leftover formed ham that was cooked 3-4 days back. The housemate is just having cookies I think.

We went out and got an ultrasound done on the dog who has been having pancreatic issues and a really slow recovery since New Year's. He's got 'somethings', either cysts or tumors of multiple lobes of his liver, his kidneys, and his pancreas. The doc who did the ultrasound said with his history of chronic pancreatitis, it's a 50-50 shot that they're residual damage related to the various pancreatic attacks over the years, with the alternative being cancer. He weighed in at 22.5 lbs today, down a pound and a half even from a couple of days ago, given that he yarfed up most of what he ate yesterday. He's managed to keep everything we've given him down today, and we're trying to give him just a little every hour or so at most this afternoon. If he can continue to keep it down, we'll try to increase him back to normal feedings, but it really doesn't look so hot, no matter which way it goes. We'll talk more with our vet after the ultrasound doc has sent his report over to her.

[japple]

14. So sorry about your dog. Our pets are so much like our children. It is hard

to watch them suffer and not be able to do anything. I hope he is healing and that you don't have to make that awful decision. Bless you and your boy. Take care of yourself, too.

[NJCher]

20. loving care

to the pup-dog.


Cher

[noamnety]

7. Dinner is being dictated by the sales.

We're having a baked/stir fry thing of tofu, eggplant and wax beans in an asian sort of sauce, over rice.

Can I take a minute to brag about my eggplant purchase?

I bought a gallon of milk, and three 19.5oz packages of turkey (ground, and sausage) at Kmart, using the points I earned from biking, instead of real money. There was a dollar coupon though, and the register decided instead of charging me less points, I needed an actual dollar in change. Then I went to the veggie market and for a dollar I was able to get a case of 9 medium eggplants, and 6 of those little gourmet egg shaped ones. In the end, all this was free:



One week into the month, and I've spent $13.41 so far for the two of us. We will be eating eggplant and wax beans for a long time though!

[japple]

15. Dang! I'm impressed. You have done much better than my late mother who

was a champeen couponer. Congrats!

[NJCher]

21. wow

the eggplants look beautifully fresh. I was craving eggplant today.

And ground turkey can be quite delicious. I'm making what The Meatloaf Bakery cookbook calls an "herb turkey loaf." That's on the agenda for the next day or so.



Cher

[Nac Mac Feegle]

24. One of my favorite methods of "disposing" of eggplant

Baba Ganouj.

Pierce skin of whole eggplants many times with a fork and coat lightly with cooking oil. Place on BBQ grill over indirect heat for 30 to 40 minutes, turning 1/4 turn about every 8 to 10 minutes, until flesh is soft and roasted. Skin may char, but that's OK. Place aside to let cool until they can be handled.

While cooling, assemble:
1 tsp lemon juice per eggplant
1 garlic clove per plant (or more)
1Tbsp tahini per plant (or more, if you want)
1 oz olive oil per plant
Koshering salt

Skin and roughly chop the garlic. Put a heavy pinch or two (depending in finger size and amount of garlic) of salt on it while still on cutting board. Then, using the flat side of a knife, crush the salt and garlic together a few times until you have a paste. Set aside.

Slice open the eggplants, and scrape out the flesh onto a stack of 3 or 4 paper towels. Fold over towels and squeeze out excess moisture and place flesh into food processor or blender. Process until a rough paste. Add Lemon juice, garlic, tahini, and oil, then process into a smooth paste. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.

Serve by putting into a shallow bowl or a dinner plate. Make a shallow well in the middle and fill with olive oil. Serve with warm pita triangles.

[grasswire]

25. yum yum

we've been making our own hummus regularly, so I have tahini in the house. I haven't made baba ganouj for a while. It's time. Thanks for the reminder.

[noamnety]

28. I think I'm going to do that with a lot of it.

Luckily I got tahini as one of my free items on small business Saturday.

I read that it's better to blend and freeze the eggplant alone, rather than ganoujisize it first, since it might lose some flavor in the freezing.

Thanks for posting the recipe - I hadn't looked one up yet, it's nice to have a recommendation.

[grasswire]

26. points for biking?

what's that?

[noamnety]

27. OK, stick with me here.

First, you need a sears/kmart loyalty card thing. Register here: Shopyourway.com

Second, you need to register on their store sponsored fitness site: fitstudio.com and link that to your shopyourway account.

Then you have to use some sort of fitness tracker. I use the free runkeeper app on my smartphone but there are other options like jawbone or fitbit. There's a spot on fitstudio under the rewards tab to connect your device. For 2015 you get $5 in points for every 15 miles you log, running, walking or biking, with a maximum of $5 per week, or you can track calories instead, and get the $5 for burning 1500 calories.

You can use the points at sears or kmart, in store or online. The only catch is that the points are only good for one week - so you can't compound them to get something for like fifty bucks. The most you can do is get $10 at once, by timing it right - earn the five at the end of one week, and early in the next, so you have two sets at once that haven't expired yet.

[pscot]

13. Leek and potato soup

and hotdogs.

[fizzgig]

16. talked the husband into taking me out for pho

[japple]

17. Red beans, kale, fried potatoes/onions, a tomato/pepper salad

and the last few bites of leftover grilled chicken.

[hobbit709]

18. Salmon patties with cheddar and jalapeno. Baked beans.

Cheese and crackers afterwards.

[Lugnut]

22. Ham and bean soup.

I'm trying to use up all the leftover ham from Christmas. It's so frigid here the soup was welcome.

[grasswire]

23. I too, have ham to use up

I'm thinking of making a soup with cauliflower, potatoes, cheddar, some diced onion, and ham cubes. Using the cauliflower will cut the carbs instead of using all potato.

[Lugnut]

29. That sounds good.

I love cauliflower so I'd probably enjoy that combo.

I found a really old recipe my sister gave me for ham and cheese pie with a crescent roll crust. I think I'll use some of the ham for one of those.

[SheilaT]

30. curried chicken.

Enough for about four meals.