What's for Dinner? ~ Saturday March 7th

[Lucinda]

I've had a pretty painful week, so it will likely be soft food for me.
Maybe an omlette. Or chicken soup.
And I have bread rising.


What's for dinner where you are?

[AwakeAtLast]

1. Sorry about your week

I defrosted some sirloin steaks that need to be used. Probably Montreal seasoning on the grill pan - medium rare of course!

Haven't decided on the rest - probably Au gratin potatoes and green beans or carrots (or both!).

[Lucinda]

4. Thank you! Au gratin potatoes sound yummy.

Another dish I love that I never think to make...

[soleiri]

2. I have 2 little creeps begging for spinach gnocchi

So, spinach gnocchi it shall be.

I hope you feel better soon!

[Lucinda]

5. Yum. I should make some too.

Maybe tomorrow...

[hippywife]

3. Probably a big green salad

with chilled golden beets and lentils, other stuff as I see fit to throw in it, and some bread.

Stop having these bad days, m'kay?

[Lucinda]

6. I'm gonna have a huge salad for lunch tomorrow. I really wanted one today

but I just couldn't do it. I don't think I've ever had golden beets. Sounds purty.

[bicentennial_baby]

7. We have several options:

Leftover Carbonara (what I want)

1/2 Leftover Meatloaf Club Sandwich and Fries from lunch out today

Most of a leftover Margherita Pizza, also leftover from lunch.

[Lucinda]

9. I LOVE cold pizza...but the carbonara sounds yummy too.

[bicentennial_baby]

11. I could basically subsist on a combo of pasta, bacon, eggs, and

parmesan. Oh, and garlic and onion. Seriously. Yum.

[Lucinda]

12. Yup. Especially the fresh parmesan.

I love it. It's a staple for me.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

8. Big sirloins, marinated

in soy sauce, ginger marmalade, beer, orange juice, minced garlic and onions, chili oil, sesame oil, and dry mustard.

They were terrific, along with carmelized onions and garlic cloves and mushrooms in a balsamic-honey reduction.

With grilled eggplant and zucchini, just lightly salted.

Big fat dinner. It was great.

[Lucinda]

10. Yum. I like sound of a balsamic honey reduction too.

I've never paired them together.

[pengillian101]

13. Sorry you are feeling punky...

Neighbor pal dropped off a ham/bone/meat and asked me to make the split pea soup we love. What's not to like about that.

Wish I could send you a big mug! It goes something like this.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups dried split peas

8 cups water + chicken bouillon or just start out with 8 cups of chicken broth

1 lb smoked ham shank or ham hocks or 1 ham bone or similar

1 medium onion

1 cup celery

1 sprig parsley (*I use dried parsley)

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 medium carrots

a bit of chopped garlic in a jar, 1/4 tsp thyme, a bay leaf or two, and a generous pinch of cayenne pepper.

DIRECTIONS

In large saucepan or Dutch oven, heat peas and water (bouillon) to
boiling; boil 2 minutes.

Remove from heat; cover and let stand 1 hour. (Not mandatory.)

Add bone-in ham, onion, celery, parsley and pepper; heat to
boiling. (*add carrots and my additions - chopped garlic in a jar, 1/4 tsp thyme, a bay leaf or two, and a generous pinch+ of cayenne pepper.)

Reduce heat; cover and simmer at least 1-1/2 hours.

Remove ham and bone.

If you want a really creamy variation, use a Braun type hand blender in the pot before adding the cut-up ham back in. Or if you don't have a hand blender, put the soup through a regular food processor or blender.

For a thinner consistency, stir milk or water into soup.
Season to taste.

[Lucinda]

14. Thank you! And thanks for posting the recipe.

I don't have a good one and this sounds delicious!

[eridani]

15. That's similar what we're having--thawed out from our freezer again

We use ham stock left over from simmering large uncooked hams that we get from a local grass-fed pasture ranch, and then reducing the volume. (Cooking hams is the only scratch cooking DH does--his other contributions to kitchen acitivites are doing the dishwashing and reheating already prepared dishes. He enjoys doing the clove/cinnamon/sugar glaze and basting it in the oven after the initial simmering stage.) Also, we add some cut up potatoes--reds or Yukon Golds.

Those big suckers give about a year's worth of leftovers.