The What's For Dinner Tonight Chat

[IrishHeart]

Am loving your weekly meal plan posts...Have fun at the Q today

 

 

***NOTE*** those brownies I linked to? well, I made them and tasted one because if I don't like it, I am not serving it....and...

 

Not my cup o'tea at all. (blech) here's what I know about "skinny" recipes. They are skimpy on flavor/texture most of the time.

 

Those suckers are gonna need a healthy dollop of GELATO to make them worthy. 

[Adalaide]

I don't know what I managed to do on Monday night, but I set myself off with an allergic reaction to something early in the evening. I did still somehow find the energy to sit in the dirt on Tuesday (hubby's day off) and let him do all the real work while I did the putting seeds and plants in the ground. We also got our soaker hose in this year, so I won't be watering anything but the potted plants by hand. And I got another chocolate mint and put it in a ginormous 22" pot. (That sucker took a LOT of dirt! )

 

So anyway, most of this week I've been barely out of bed. I've been sleeping on and off and reading a lot and just resting while I get myself back together. Hopefully I can avoid anymore incidents. I felt sort of, nearly human yesterday and only napped a little. My MIL has been eying my rotisserie and finally asked if she bought a beef roast if I would cook it for her and I could take half. Sure! Sign me up! So I did that last night and it was divine. At least cooking things that was are insanely simple, just slap it in there and ignore it for a few hours then BAM! It's dinner.

 

Tonight we're having rib eye steaks. I didn't feel like making lunch so I threw a bag of Rudi's stuffing together so I guess I have that to go with steaks for me and he said he wants mac and cheese and will bring home some fresh corn for us. It practically sounds like a plan.

[LauraTX]

So lets see... what have I made the last few days?  Yesterday we went to a burger place for lunch and had grilled pork chops for dinner to test out the new gas grill my husband got for his birthday.  Today we grilled out steaks, mashed potatoes, corn, and salad.  Rained the whole time, we had done a cookout today because it was forecast to rain tomorrow!  Haha! Also in between all that we ate the birthday cake I made him.  

 

At some point last week I made a quinoa pizza crust recipe from http://mylifewithfoodallergies.com/index/quinoa-pizza-crust/#comment-8626 .  I thought it was going to be too simple with just quinoa, water, and leaveners, but it was pretty good.  Being all quinoa the taste stood out but I like its taste.  The hardest part was cleaning the little quinoa bits out of my food processor, but I will definitely make it again because it doesn't involve much with my arthritic hands.

 

I went to the senior water aerobics class Friday and hammed it up with a bunch of nice ladies.  Felt that workout, too.  But exercising in the water is definitely much much easier on my joints, I will continue it for sure.

[IrishHeart]

I went to the senior water aerobics class Friday and hammed it up with a bunch of nice ladies.  Felt that workout, too.  But exercising in the water is definitely much much easier on my joints, I will continue it for sure.

 

 now, that's what I'm talkin about! ms. laura doing the "pool thang"...whoohoo!

told ya it would be fun! So glad it's working out for you. 

I love working out my kinks in the water...even if it's just me in there every morning! I am trying to get some of the neighbors to join me.

I was walking one night with a woman with "fibro and IBS and anxiety" (ahem, yo! it's probably celiac hunny!) She says she is in pain and I said "me too--but here's how you can make it less painful". Gave her info on celiac testing. it's 50-50 whether she'll take my advice or not. 

but at least I tried. Hate to see so many people in pain and not finding answers. sigh.

 

 

 Memorial Day blessings on all those who serve (d) in the armed forces and as first responders.

My Dad was one of them. J's Dad too. And many of our friends and cousins.

 

Hope you guys all have a safe and happy holiday! 

[GottaSki]

My pool is my lifeline! Seriously, whether exercising in it or simply floating under an umbrella when the thermometer climbs (yes, I feel like Frosty the Snowman locked in the greenhouse). Our salt water generator cut out while Hubs and I were traveling so we returned to pond scum green pool...thankfully last week Hubs helped me drain and re-fill -- it is sparkling now and has a new salt water chlorinator -- so all is right in my little bubble.

Needed it yesterday...never got the creme brulee in the crock -- just went for my short walk and then to pick up a couple things for Mom -- forgot to put my sunshade up in the parking lot - well actually thought I'm just running in for three items..how hot can my car get? Answer, hot enough to cause the flipping allergic reaction that required all my meds and inhalers except for epi and the ER -- so that is fun.

Did manage to get chicken breasts in the crock with hubs help - layered with fresh chopped rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper -- so simple yet so delicious! Hubs made my favorite carrots to go along with the chicken : )

Tonight will be steak and stuff!

Happy Memorial Day Dinner Peeps - thank a Soldier or Veteran today - Freedom does not come for free

[Adalaide]

I really wish we had a pool here at home. We don't even have the fitness center pool because they're doing construction to upgrade some things there. But, when they're done it'll be nicer. And in the fall they'll have an additional second pool too.

 

I indulged tonight for dinner. We had spaghetti and meatballs. We don't often go beyond the bulk penne I can get for $1.58 a pound, but sometimes we just want some freakin spaghetti! So we went for it tonight. I think I'm finding a good balance with my food and the increasing heat (after my incident ) and tomatoes seem to have been on my sort of okay list all winter as long as I didn't overindulge.

 

Also made chocolate cookies with mini M&M's today. Used the Nestle recipe for chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips and just subbed my PG flour in them. They're soft and chewy and so perfect that even I don't feel like I need to dunk them. And I am the queen of cookie dunking, even dunking my Grammy's soft sugar cookies just because I could. Those will be dessert/late night snack tonight. Mmmmmm........ break out the fat pants.

[GottaSki]

Good Morning dinner peeps...feeling stronger today...although I'm awake at 3am cuz I was out too early yesterday and since we switched bedrooms....my husband refuses to shut the bedroom door so when son comes in from late shift at the movie theater he makes himself a second dinner....doh! Now I can't get back to sleep so I shall wait until Home Depot opens and go purchase an automatic door closer

Skipped dinner last night...hubs went out with remaining kid.

Tonight is:

Turkey Meatloaf

Mashed Sweet Potato

Petite Peas for the men, Broccoli for me

Perhaps something sweet for dessert....stumbled upon Betty Crocker cake mixes for 1.99 the other day....I use her brownie mix, but usually use BRM for my cakes....hmmmm pineapple upside down cake sounds good

[BlessedMommy]

I'm having a craving for more stir fry. We've been having a lot of stir fry since we bought a wok. Yum!

 

Loving the San-J gluten free stir fry sauces....we have orange, mongolian, thai peanut, teriyaki, and szechuan styles in the fridge. 

[LauraTX]

Ugh Addy why do you have to flip my craving switch by mentioning M&M cookies?!   I want some now!  LOL

 

Sunday we grilled out steak, and on Monday I made myself steak nachos while my husband and his friend got pizza.  Steak nachos> pizza.  Yesterday I made shredded chicken tacos with Stubbs green chile sauce, was really good and will be eating that for lunches the next few days.  Tonight I will probably make grilled chicken and some veggies.

[moosemalibu]

Been sticking with grilled chicken, rice/potatoes and veggies lately. However I did make a pretty fantastic lasagna a few weeks ago. But the cheese proved to be too much for my poor GI to handle. I am very dairy light these days. Figured out I have an egg intolerance which makes me sad... but at least I don't have crazy GI issues from it anymore.

[cyclinglady]

Jamie,

Glad you are back!

I can not have eggs either, but can eat them in baked goods. I keep testing it (last 20 years) but no luck! Made a soft-boiled egg two weeks ago or so, and it made me sick. Ugh!

Tonight is grilled pork tenderloin, salad and some asparagus.

[cyclinglady]

I went to the senior water aerobics class Friday and hammed it up with a bunch of nice ladies. Felt that workout, too. But exercising in the water is definitely much much easier on my joints, I will continue it for sure.

[moosemalibu]

Jamie,

Glad you are back!

I can not have eggs either, but can eat them in baked goods. I keep testing it (last 20 years) but no luck! Made a soft-boiled egg two weeks ago or so, and it made me sick. Ugh!

Tonight is grilled pork tenderloin, salad and some asparagus.

 

Yeah.. I seem to have the same fate with eggs as you. I can eat them when "mixed and diluted out" in baked goods. But I used to eat egg whites every morning and I love a good fried egg. *sigh*

[Adalaide]

Even when I've had to give up foods, once I got over my hissy fit it was nice to know what was making me feel unwell (in whatever way) so I could get feeling better. I'm glad you know so you can feel better.

 

We added new exercises for my arm/shoulder/neck yesterday in PT. While there was mild discomfort, there wasn't pain and the others started that way and have gotten mildly better so I thought nothing of it. Today I can barely move my arm at all. I have full range of motion at and below my elbow but at my shoulder it took a massive buttload of sportscreme to get enough relief to be able to get a shirt on. I will not be repeating today, or my regular ones today since I literally can't lift my arm. Hopefully with some time with the heating pad it'll feel better tomorrow and I can see if doing less of them maybe will not be so bad or something. I want to be better, not 4 tramadol a day from the pain PT leaves me in. (soreness and pain may be the road to recovery for other issues, I was there with my knee, but it is never okay for treatment of CRPS)

 

Anywho... apparently the last time I made spaghetti my husband told me that there was too much meat in his sauce. I was questioning whether or not my husband had be abducted by aliens and replaced with an imposter until he insisted I still put his sauce in the blender so that it had no chunks of tomatoes or other vegetables. Yup, still my husband. He's been craving pizza, so I told him to pick up a frozen pizza he can cook in his mother's oven (ain't no way, no how that poisonous crap is going in MY oven!) and I'm making a mini meatloaf out of the leftover meat. Some corn on the cob, mashed taters and I think that's dinner. I'm off to see how much sewing/work I can get done with 1.5 arms.

[BlessedMommy]

Tofu stir fry with brown rice tonight. We have a ton of different sauces on hand, so I cook it plain and then everyone seasons their own.

[LauraTX]

 ...he insisted I still put his sauce in the blender so that it had no chunks of tomatoes or other vegetables. Yup, still my husband.

 

That is hilarious, I thought only my husband was that way!  I bought an immersion blender just for his pickyness, LOL!  

[kareng]

Tofu stir fry with brown rice tonight. We have a ton of different sauces on hand, so I cook it plain and then everyone seasons their own.

I saw you mentioned somewhere that you had a lot of San J sauces. I think this is a great idea! I have one that wants peanut sauce and one that really doesn't. This could work...

That is hilarious, I thought only my husband was that way! I bought an immersion blender just for his pickyness, LOL!

My hub eats the chunks because he is an adult and thinks he should. but he hates them. The boys ( who are technically adults) pick out the big pieces.

[Adalaide]

My hub eats the chunks because he is an adult and thinks he should. but he hates them. The boys ( who are technically adults) pick out the big pieces.

 

My husband was raised by a woman who thought that the fact that he was diabetic meant that he never had to go hungry, never had to be told to eat what was on his plate, never had to be forced or taught to eat vegetables. Blending his sauce so that it is chunk free is our compromise, he eats veggies in his sauce but doesn't have to look at or chew them. I'm slowly training him. By the time he's 60 or 70 I may get an actual vegetable in him.

[Adalaide]

A cousin found an old pic and I just wanted to share because I'm so amused. I'm the 5 year old in pigtails on my mom's lap hiding. My brother is totally the dorky one on the bench on the left. I can't believe someone is digging up pics this ancient. I'm sure my mom and her hair want to forget the early 80's!

 

[LauraTX]

Addy I am sure you are still just as cute!  hehe!

[GottaSki]

Good Morning dinner peeps...feeling stronger today...although I'm awake at 3am cuz I was out too early yesterday and since we switched bedrooms....my husband refuses to shut the bedroom door so when son comes in from late shift at the movie theater he makes himself a second dinner....doh! Now I can't get back to sleep so I shall wait until Home Depot opens and go purchase an automatic door closer

Skipped dinner last night...hubs went out with remaining kid.

Tonight is:

Turkey Meatloaf

Mashed Sweet Potato

Petite Peas for the men, Broccoli for me

Perhaps something sweet for dessert....stumbled upon Betty Crocker cake mixes for 1.99 the other day....I use her brownie mix, but usually use BRM for my cakes....hmmmm pineapple upside down cake sounds good

So best layed plans change. Made paleo pizza with cream cheese this morning and had about 8 oz left on the cutting board....so....men have a very nice small chocolate cheesecake...mixed the cheese with an egg, some sugar, touch of vanilla and some cocoa....best yet...had an indivdual pack of shar graham cookies that I threw in the dish for impromptu crust.

Turkey meat loaf got delayed a day as well...had a whole chicken with earlier exp date so threw in the crock with cumin,etc for tacos.

So...tomorrow we are having what I posted at the crack of dawn this morning...now I am poring another glass of vino...cheers!

[Adalaide]

I have trouble making plans because they end up changed all the time. Tonight I made garlic bread with Hodgson Mill pizza crust mix. We just plain old don't like Chebe. But the Hodgson Mill was great, if sticky to work with. Can't wait to make a pizza. I'm just glad my arm was fully functional (if still sore) today so I could cook.

 

Tomorrow I'm making a roast in the rotisserie. Baked sweet potato and corn on the cob with it probably. We have a watermelon that I may find the ambition to cut up tonight or it may wait until tomorrow. Who knows! Either way it'll eventually be dessert sometime.

[BlessedMommy]

I saw you mentioned somewhere that you had a lot of San J sauces. I think this is a great idea! I have one that wants peanut sauce and one that really doesn't. This could work...

My hub eats the chunks because he is an adult and thinks he should. but he hates them. The boys ( who are technically adults) pick out the big pieces.

Yes, I do. I keep Mongolian sauce, orange sauce, szechuan sauce, terikyaki sauce, and thai peanut sauce on hand. (as well as San J gluten free soy sauce too) I borrowed the idea from when we went out to BD's Mongolian grill. I figured that people will have a better chance of enjoying their stir fry if they can pick their own sauces.

 

Last night, we had veggie wraps and hubby and littlest chowed on a gluten-free pizza. I stopped at Aldi's to get some gluten-free pasta and ended up coming home with one of their gluten-free pizzas for my hubby and youngest to try (oldest, middle kid, and I don't eat dairy). Since it was gluten free, hubby can throw it on my pizza stone and do whatever he wants without worrying about CC at all, which was nice.

 

The veggie wraps that we made were really, really good. I used the teff millet tortillas and warmed them in the oven. http://www.latortillafactory.com/view/products/gluten-free-wheat-free-wraps/

 

We had microgreens, lettuce, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, soy cheese, vegenaise, and hummus. Yum, so good! I bought the new variety pack of hummus at Aldi's. https://www.google.com/search?q=aldi+hummus+quartet&espv=2&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=pm2IU872O4W1yATd7IDADw&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAg&biw=1680&bih=965#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=qYTADkx5J9wDLM%253A%3BZIpAACNAZQhjwM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fhungrygatorgal.files.wordpress.com%252F2012%252F12%252Fsam_2839.webp%253Fw%253D768%2526h%253D1024%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fhungrygatorgal.wordpress.com%252F2012%252F12%252F13%252Fblazing-buffalo-chicken-melt%252F%3B768%3B1024

 

I'm not vegan, but I buy vegenaise mostly because I enjoy the flavor better than traditional mayo. I like the grapeseed oil variety best. And all Follow Your Heart mayo substitutes are gluten free and clearly marked on the label.

 

http://store.followyourheart.com/product-p/02016.htm

 

Speaking of stir fry, I'm going to make some for BREAKFAST this morning. LOL! I just bought some organic white basmati rice and I have some super firm tofu, mushrooms, green beans, and asparagus. My kids have been going through a phase where they are having a harder time eating traditional breakfast options so it helps to vary things up a little. My oldest loves stir fry for breakfast! 

 

One breakfast we found that was a real hit was Bob's Red Mill Muesli though! I'm going to have to order it in a multi pack on Amazon to save money. 

[GottaSki]

Bike to Work Day in San Diego -- heading out now -- cheating a bit as I haven't been strong enough for my race bike yet so I am parking at the bottom of our hill and one of my boys is on stand-by if I need a ride -- but Hubs is proud of me none the less so life is good : )

 

Had the meatloaf dinner with pineapple upside down dump cake yesterday.

 

Today is Pork Roast in the Crock -- using cream of mushroom base with a few spices for this one.

 

Happy Friday Dinner Peeps

[BlessedMommy]

Can you share your pineapple upside down cake recipe Lisa?

 

Which cream of mushroom soup do you use? Pacific Foods? Or a different one?