What's for dinner? ~ Tuesday the 20th edition!

[Lucinda]

I FINALLY had the dinner I intended to last night. Pizza.

Let's see what happens tonight.
I'm planning on Mexican food tonight. If so, it will be beef and bean burritos with chunky salsa and pepperjack.


What's for dinner where you are?

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. Spaghetti squash with roasted tomato sauce....

Will roast then scoop the squash, toss with some pesto, then some sauteed sweet peppers, onion and garlic -and top with some of the roasted tomato sauce we canned from last year's garden - and a grating of Parmesan Reggiano.

[Lucinda]

2. Sounds delicious! Italian was my other option. I have a nice pesto

calling my name, but I think that will be tomorrow's dinner.

I rarely eat spaghetti, and most often do sauces with ravioli or garlic bread, but I do love spaghetti squash. Good stuff.

[daleanime]

3. Veg strew with ranch style corn bread.

and a cold one.

[Lucinda]

4. Ranch style cornbread sounds intriguing.

Is it the kind with whole corn?

[daleanime]

5. Yeah...

plus peppers(green and/or red).

[Lucinda]

18. I have to be careful with corn, but I love it.

Sounds great with the peppers!

[WhollyHeretic]

6. Not entirely sure but I know there will be latkes

. Going over my parents for the first night of Hanukkah

[HappyMe]

8. Happy Hanukka!

Enjoy!

[Lucinda]

19. Happy Hanukkah!

[Lugnut]

22. Happy Hanukka!

I love latkes! I could eat about a dozen of them right now.

[HappyMe]

7. It's leftover night.

Leftover chicken cheesey sauce from last night and I have some beef barley stew.
Just enough left of each for 1 person.


Chili on the stove for manana.

[Lucinda]

24. Good warm comfort food. :)

It's really cold and rainy today. I could use some of that stew.

[Le Taz Hot]

9. Nice big pot of Beef Stew

and fresh homemade wheat bread. Finished eating (almost) all the leftovers yesterday. (Still have a little bit of split pea soup left.)

[Lucinda]

25. HappyMe mentioned stew too. I have meal envy.

I've been trying to work out what to have the rest of the week....a nice post of stew is a definite contender.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

10. roasted turkey

mashed potatoes and parsnip (I haven't tried it before..)
steamed carrots/broccoli/cauliflower
Yams

That turkey will be dinner for the next few nights (in various incantations) so I can focus on Christmas cookies and pies.


ho ho ho!

[Lucinda]

26. Smart planning on the turkey!

The veggies sound wonderful. I'm thinking of a stew maybe to get me through the next few nights, then making Turkey on Sunday.

Still haven't decided what cookies to bake...

[Viva_La_Revolution]

34. if you like lemon, Lemon Dreams are so good..

cream cheese sugarish cookie with lemon icing.
melt in your mouth good with a little tang

the list this year (so far)
cookie bouquet style (for decorating)
gingerbread men
lemon dream
ginger-nuts
shortbread trees

I really wanna try truffles too, if I have time..

[Lucinda]

37. I'll look for them! I like the sound of your list.

I use a really easy truffle recipe adapted from Ina Garten. The technique video is here:

I actually like to use a less expensive chocolate. I use Hershey's Special Dark, omit the alcohol, and roll in a variety of things. Espresso powder, powdered sugar, nuts. I've tried it with more expensive chocolates, and really like the Special dark best.

[pinto]

11. Rice, beans, avocado, salsa...

and a burger.

[Lucinda]

27. Yummm.

Some of my favorite things.

[Inchworm]

12. A sack of real bacon bits the size of a pillow "fell off a truck"

Hehe, no kidding about the size. It wouldn't fit in a normal plastic bag like you get a grocery store. A truck driver bud of mine had an extra box of these sacks when he delivered. The people at delivery point only take what is on the paper, soooo... he ended up with 40-50 pounds of bacon bits lol. My dad drove a truck and this happened quite often.

Oh, I need to remember what the question was. I tend to babble. I'm just having a good week.

Pizza with bacon, shrooms, green pepper, and onion

[Lucinda]

28. LOL. THAT is a new one.

Truck bacon.

[Lucinda]

29. Sauerkraut is another one of those things I love and never think of

when I'm planning meals. Good stuff.

[cbayer]

14. Old fashioned chicken and dumplings.

Still enjoying my provisions and plan to continue making the most of it until it is gone.

Burritos sound great! I might do that tomorrow.

[Lucinda]

30. Another perfect meal for my cold rainy weather.

I always think of my grandmother when I make chicken and dumplings. She made it for me often when I came to visit. Great memories.

Burritos were pretty good! I'm on to Italian tonight!

[cbayer]

32. Came out great and we will be eating it again tonight.

Used Bisquick for the dumplings and they were yummy.

I have some spinach that needs eating, so I might throw that in the leftovers.

Good luck with your Italian night!

[Luciferous]

15. Yum! We almost had beef and bean burritos tonight, but I made tacos instead.

[Lucinda]

31. Tacos are a regular around here.

Fast, easy, spicy, yummy. Full of win.

[soleiri]

16. I'm cooking for one this week

and we just went gluten free, so I'm experimenting.
I wanted to make something that would act as a pizza substitute, something that would hold toppings, but not necessarily be a gf version of pizza.
I've also decided to NOT shop this week, so I'm only using what I have on hand.
Tonight, I made polenta, fried it up, covered it with marinara sauce, cheese and caramelized pears. I was going to add spinach, but I forgot.
It was really good!

[Lucinda]

33. That does sound like a good alternative!

And the caramelized pears made my mouth water. I love pears. A lot.

Happy experimenting this week. I'd love to hear about any good gluten free dishes you come up with. My doctor has suggested reducing gluten to see what effects it has on my joint pain.

[soleiri]

40. Italian food is what worries me most.

I'm part Mexican and I'm most comfortable preparing Mexican food.
Luckily, the cuisine is very GF friendly (except for flour tortilla),
so I have a good solid base to go from, along with a lot of Asian cuisines.


Going GF helped a lot, we went GF for my son, but it ended up stopping the pain I was having from endometriosis.
I didn't even realize that I could live w/o the chronic pain.

[Lucinda]

41. It's wonderful to hear how much it has helped you.

I am finding some relief from joint pain with concentrated cherry, and it would be great to find other ways to reduce the need for pain pills.

I'm not sure if you prefer making your own pastas, or are interested in gluten free pre-made options, but you can find a lot of reviews at Amazon.com for different brands. I haven't researched much yet, but I have run across several options there when looking at pasta making supplies. A lot of the reviews there are really detailed.

Have you seen the gluten free section at All Recipes?
http://allrecipes.com/recipes/healthy-recipes/gluten-free/

And I think there are some options for Italian at Gluten Free Goddess too:
http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/

Luc

[Blues Heron]

17. Minestrone Soup

Turkey stock, cannellini beans, zuchini, onion, celery, tomato (chopped and paste), swiss chard, tubetti pasta, carrots, garlic, spices

thought the beans might stay hard and gravelly they took so long to cook, but at the 2 hour mark they were creamy and good! whew! This was one good soup!

[Lucinda]

35. It really sounds delicious. I used to use one of those

13 bean (cant remember how many, but it's a lot) packages (omitting their seasonings) and add a similar vegetable mix and whatever spices sounded good at the moment. I never make it anymore, but I really should. So delicious.

[fizzgig]

20. lazy dinner tonight

baked bbq chicken thighs, instant mashed and frozen peas. today was day seven in a row at work, so i'm out of steam.

[Lucinda]

36. Ack. I'm sorry. Hope you get a little time to relax soon.

Dinner sounds good though. BBQ wakes up your tastebuds and the peas and potatoes are comfort food. Sounds perfect for when you are tired.

[Lugnut]

21. Meatloaf.

Baked potatoes and mixed veggies, too. DH called it comfort food and it really is.

I made a big batch of pasta fagioli this afternoon. It tastes better the next day when the garlic and Romano permeates the pasta and beans. I got a loaf of rustic Tuscan bread at the store that will be a great accompaniment for supper on a rainy day.

[Lucinda]

38. Both meals sound wonderful.

I wish I had a good source for fresh baked bread. I've got some great recipes now, and make pretty darned good bread, but there are times when it would be nice to just go to the market and pick out a great loaf.

[Lugnut]

42. I want to try to make bread.

I've made machine bread that turned out really well. I want to figure out how to make a rustic bread that's not full of big air holes. There's a regional chain store and an independent store where I shop that both sell very nice bread but I want to make my own. I'll give it whirl after the holidays.

[Lucinda]

43. We did a big bunch of no-knead bread trials a while back in C&B and a few of us tested recipes

for Peter Reinhart's Artisan Bread's Every Day cookbook. There are some great recipes floating around the group archives if you decide to try the no knead technique when you get ready.

[eridani]

23. Salmon chowder

I froze the liquid from when I poached the remainder of my large fish, plus some salmon scraps. Boiled a couple of small potatoes with some sliced carrots, put about a third of it in a blender, then added corn, salt, pepper, marjoram and thyme and reduced volume. Big hit with DH.

[Lucinda]

39. I can almost taste this. A whole different twist on comfort food.

We keep trying the salmon here, every 6 months or so and are always disappointed. This just isn't a great place for any sort of fish, unless it's trout. And I'm not a bog trout fan.