The What's For Dinner Thread - August '09(recipe index in OP)

[Aimeedyan]

Aimee - Were you able to keep track of recipes posted while I was gone? If not, it's OK, I'll get to it tomorrow.

Yipper skipper! I have it in a Word document right now but can copy and paste it into a PM. What is easiest on you?

 

[kimmar067]

.....I haven't posted here in a long time, but BOY oh BOY, did I make the most delicious ribs in my crock pot today......YUMMY!!!

 

[HERSEY]

Kimmar Would you share the rib recipe. I am always looking for ways to cook ribs.

Kathy Glad you are home. How was your trip? Did you like universal? I am anxious to hear we would like to do the Harry Potter part.

I am getting tired of the rain. I know the farmers would love a few days break also.

I'll be back later.

 

[TheBeadPirate]

Alrighty folks, we're down to the last few pictures that I have. When DCL redid their website this excursion was added. When I saw it I did the "oh oh oh we gotta go!" dance. This was about the same time that Wine Spectator came out with their food/wine issue- so when I showed Rick the excursion and the write up about Graycliff's wine cellars- I got the go ahead to book it. It was kinda pricey- $189 a person!

But I have to tell ya, I'd pay it again in a heartbeat!

Our group was to meet at Cadillac Lounge at 1:15, then head into Nassau to Graycliff. Well, at 1:15 we sat staring at our cruise activity staff person, Christine, and came to the realization that we were the "group"- just Rick and I!

We were escorted down and introduced to Tiana who would be taking us over to Graycliff resort. Not far from the dock, Graycliff is located in the historic district on a street next to the Governor's house.

Governor's House-

We pulled up in our taxi and realized.....everything in Nassau has a wall around it! Walked into the resort and really began to wonder about this. Graycliff is one of the oldest resorts in the Bahamas, in fact it had the first swimming pool in the Bahamas (just refurbished even- all handpainted tiles!). It's really an estate that was converted to cottages and B&B kind of thing with beautiful gardens and steakhouse, cigar factory, etc, etc, etc.... but that's not why we came here.

We were led back to the main dining room and prsented with champagne cocktails to sip while we did the cellar tour. This was totally amazing. The oldest bottle in the cellar is an Armagnac from 1721. It was absolutely stunning. Rick had to be drug out of the Port cellar. Extensive doesn't even come close to describing it.

After this we were led back to the sitting room. These are shelves that divide sitting room/main dining room containing cognacs, armagnacs, ports-

And met up with Chef Beaux, who would be doing our cheese pairing along with Gary, the wine steward. The usual cheese sommelier wasn't there, as he was travelling. This is where we made the connection- the cheese guy, the one that usually did these tastings, is actually the owner of Graycliff!

Jinkies! But Chef has done quite a few things in our home state(Louisiana) so we had quite a few things in common and a great rapport, so I'm kinda glad it was him.

We sat down and started with a square plate with 9 indentations each with a different cheese. Also supplemented with quince paste, violet jelly, a malbec reduction jelly, and another jam that I can't remember now. We also had crackers and grapes- a full bevy of whatever we might want to pair with our tasting!

Our first row of cheese were an aged parmesan, a dutch aged cheddar, and a Spanish aged Manchego. All hard cheeses, all great in their own way but the Dutch cheddar was my favorite. These were each paired with a pinot grigio(De Stefani), a sauvingon blanc, and a chardonnay(Montes- Argentina).

The second row were a bit softer- a fontina, a provolone, and an italian truffled cheese. These were paired with a pinot noir, merlot, and cabernet sauingon. The truffle cheese was amazing! Needless to say when we got to pick what we wanted another taste of that was mine! We had a nice little discussion about truffles and how that affected the wine and the cheese and Chef said hang on a minute and went to the kitchen- came back with spoons for each of us and a jar of tuffled HONEY! Talk about decadent...

Anyway, (just thinking about it makes me able to taste it) back to the pairings- the third row were all blue cheeses- a gorgonzola, that was fairly young and had alot of bite to it, a Danish blue- that was very mellow and balanced, with an almost sweet aftertaste- Gary, the wine steward, and I agreed it was the best blue by far, and an English stilton, that Rick liked best. It had some age to it and a more refined bite. These were paired with a cabernet and a Kaiken malbec from Argentina.

After this we thought we were done.....nope! We got another plate with 4 more offerings- palate cleansers and dessert cheeses! The first was a goat cheese with olive oil and fresh cracked pepper with a Sancerre, the buffalo mozzarella with homemade tomato jam, next was cream cheese with fresh honeycomb- just to show that even philly cream cheese can be flavorful and elegant, and last was a marscapone cheese blended with honey with a lemon zest biscotti with a nice, sweet Sauterne.

To finish everything off we got to try their homemade chocolates (they're adding a chocolate factory across the street) dark chocolate nibs, dark chocolate covered pineapple, and covered guava with a champagne.

Needless to say, we had a great time. And what was scheduled for 1.5 hour excursion was more of 2.5 hours. We had a great chat- we are by no means experts or wine snobs- we like what we like and sometimes that's a $50 bottle and sometimes it's a $10 bottle. It was a great learning experience, and I would do this again (and again, and again, and again)

(Glad I wasn't doing dishes!)

Just thought I would share our Nassau excursion with peeps that I knew would enjoy it!

 

[Nancyg56]

Welcome Home Kathy!

Lori- OMG! What a wonderful experience that must have been!

Ann- I don't blame you for canceling the trip. I would not want to travel with two little ones with the flu in such high gear.

Steph- I saw your post on FB. Long night that must have been

Laura- Gosh, Caili did so well! I hope that you have pics of Liam ans Caili dressed for Halloween

Glynis- glad that you had a great time

Kimmar- good to see you again!

Okay I give up, I am still behind

I have a lot to get done today, I want to get more cleaning done, the more I do the more I realize I have more to do Then I have to get all of the paperwork that I have accumulated for Buddy together so that I can keep it all straight. I have added mike onto his Hipaa forms so that hew can untangle what we just do not understand. DInner is up in the air for now, I need to check the fridge and see what we have in there. I am trying not to toss so much out.

Last night I made Buddy sauerkraut and he requested hot dogs to go with it. I had kielbasa but he vetoed that I made it the way I usded to so he really enjoyed it which is a good thing. When it is gone he is not getting it again for a long time...........his Dr would have strangled me!

BBL Ladies. have a great day!

 

[Disney Ron]

Ann -- Rump roast is wonderful oven roasted. That is my favorite cut for roast beef. (My mom's roast times are posted on here somewhere...I always have to call her when I make roast beef.) I also really like roasted cauliflower. It gets a sweet, nutty flavor. My kids love it. I just toss it in olive oil, salt and pepper and roast at 400 for about 20 minutes.

Laura, thanks for tip with cauliflower. That is how I am going to try it.
I made mashed once for DH and it was not his favorite. He likes when I fix cauliflower with a homemade cheese sauce and make it Au Gratin.

Is this Mom's roast ????

Mom's old-fashioned roast (for medium-rare):

For all roasts, coat with flour and season well with salt & pepper. Mom also either adds garlic powder or makes small slits in the roast and inserts garlic slices. She puts fresh rosemary on top. She roasts in a regular baking dish.

Weekday roast: Cook a rump roast for 26 minutes/pound at 325. Rest, loosely covered with foil for 20 minutes.

Weekend roast: Cook sirloin roast for 21 minutes/pound at 325. Rest, loosely covered with foil for 20 minutes.

Special Occasion Roast: Cook tenderloin roast 21 minutes/pound at 325. Rest, loosely covered with foil for 20 minutes

My DM usually rubs her roast with Kitchen Bouquet, S&P. The flour thing sound strange but I may give it a whirl.

WFD- roastbeef with gravy, mashed potatoes, and roasted cauliflower.

 

[FormrCastMbr]

quick hi...baby just flung himself back and owwwwww my hand is hurting so no long post for me.

ann, the flour should give a nice crust and seal juices. yum

tom is home but going back tonight. i have a glynis roast, potatoes ans carrots in the crock.

have a great day all

 

[TigerKat]

Yipper skipper! I have it in a Word document right now but can copy and paste it into a PM. What is easiest on you?

Either way is fine, I'll pm you my e-mail address. Thanks so much for helping!!!!!

Kathy Glad you are home. How was your trip? Did you like universal? I am anxious to hear we would like to do the Harry Potter part.

We really enjoyed Universal, the Harry Potter area is going to be awesome and huge!!!!! We loved the front of the line express pass and did the new coaster Rip, Ride, Rockit!!

Have to get in touch with my dentist today to have him complete my root canal and call the body shop to get my car back....bbl...

WFD - Red beans & rice and grilled chicken sausages.

 

[liamandcaili]

Lori -- That wine tasting sounds fabulous! Thanks for sharing!

Ann -- Yes, that is the right roast recipe. It sounds like a great meal you have planned tonight.

Kathy -- I can't wait to hear more about your trip.

Lauren -- How did the Open House go?

Nancy -- You really have been doing so much cleaning lately. Don't overwork yourself.

I think I am making soup for dinner tonight, although it will depend on how far I get putting Caili's costume together. She is starting to worry that I won't have it finished by Saturday.

 

[Rogue26]

Well I'm back after a bit of electical trouble (actually more than "a bit") but everything is good now. We are actually very fortunate we didn't have a fire.

Hope you all had a good weekend, we got so much done. We are onto splitting next years firewood and got lots of yard work done.

Laura- We need to get moving on the costume too, I think we are doing that this afternoon. Glad Caili skated well.

Kathy- My husband loves universal studios, we only went once but he is such a huge spiderman fan and the spiderman ride is one of the best. When the kiddo is more comfortable with rollercoasters we'll go back.

Lauren- I'm glad Riley is on the mend, your still planning on going on your vacation right?

Ann- I think you made the right choice, I don't think you'd be able to enjoy your vacation if you were worried. It will just make next year extra special. Maybe you could take the kiddos to the zoo or something fun instead. I know it's not the same, but why not make the best of it.

Nancy- Your house must be sparkling, or really huge. That's a lot of cleaning you've been doing. Your house must look great for halloween.

I know I missed alot so I hope everyone is well and had a great vacation. I have a bit of laundry to catch up on.

Dinner tonight is Chuckwagon casserole, thanks for the recipe Nancy, my husband loves it.

 

[liamsaunt]

Becky What is the name of the magazine your picture is in?

Caribbean Travel and Life

It was a sad day in our house last night. We mutually decided to cancel our upcoming trip to WDW.

I am sorry that you felt you had to cancel. At least you rebooked and have that trip to look forward to.

Has anyone oven roasted cauliflower???

LOVE roasted cauliflower. Make sure that you let it cook until parts of it are browned and crispy.

Haven't caught up yet but wanted to let y'all know we made it home safely.

Welcome home!

Gretchen, I am sorry that your trip was so difficult. I hope you are feeling better.

Lori, thanks for sharing your wine and cheese tasting! It looks incredible!

I am home sick from work today. I've had this really bad cold for almost two weeks now and have not been able to sleep well because of it. I thought maybe taking a day off to relax might help kick it...we'll see.

Here are some pictures from the weekend. Friday night I made chicken parmesean, spaghetti, and garlic bread:

Saturday was my father's birthday and he wanted a variety of pizzas.

Sausage pepper and onion

Here is a picture of the fig pizza I was talking about on facebook. I ended up making it with fig, proscuitto, goat cheese, feta cheese, and olives. I was really worried that it was going to be so gross, but it actually was not bad. I would not go out of my way to make it again, but Dad liked it and it's what he wanted so...

Pepperoni

margharita

I also made a white pizza and a mushroom pizza, but I did not take pics of them.

Dinner tonight is either tomato soup or indian food. Right now I am so congested that I don't feel like eating anything!

 

[Aimeedyan]

Just thought I would share our Nassau excursion with peeps that I knew would enjoy it!

Sounds fantastic!

Well I'm back after a bit of electical trouble (actually more than "a bit") but everything is good now. We are actually very fortunate we didn't have a fire.

Eek!!!


Kathy - I am anxious to hear how you liked Tchoup Chop! I have reservations for our Dec trip but since it'll be by far the priciest meal we have, I want to make sure it's good!



We have no groceries, and DH is scared to take his two wee ones to the grocery store alone I am not sure about dinner

 

[Nancyg56]

Ann- The roast recipe is the only one I use now. The flour makes a nice crust.

Becky- Sorry you are not feeling well, that cold is a nightmare so take a few days off and let it work itself out of your system.

Laura- I am cleaning and cleaning but I have to admit I have terrible time management since I am home so I probably should have been able to get this done weeks ago. Buddy thinks I am a working fool though (well he knows better than to say I am watching TV all day ) so I will not let him know it should have been done already.

Robin- That sounds scarey!

 

[zipuzee]

Hi there all! Hope everyone had a good weekend.

Laura - glad Caili skated well!

Becky - rest yourself! Hope you feel better.

Robin - scary about the electrical problem. We used to live in an old house and that was my biggest fear. I'm still leery about things going bad.

Nancy - I agree you must have a huge house for all the cleaning you have going on.

Ann, I'm sorry you cancelled your trip, but I would have done the same. Better be safe with the little ones. We'll be at WL October 2010. Have you stayed there yet? Its beautiful and so peaceful.
The roast recipe from Becky and Laura's Mom is the best!

I know I missed a lot - I always have trouble catching up after the weekend.
I'm not sure whats for dinner, it will either be meatloaf or smothered cabbage.

 

[Nancyg56]

Lauri- my house is tiny. That is part of the problem, there is not a lot of room to move things so I tend to move things from place to place. In addition to mismanaging time I am also organizationally challenged

 

[bigmerle1966]

Wow, that is a long race for a 9 year-old! She must have good endurance.

I guess we will see, that is if she does it. My sister said she would probably quit when she found out. Haven't been able to talk to my sister to see what happened last Friday at practice.

Anyway, it's good to be back home sick or not.

Feel better.

Ann- sorry you had to cancel.


Had a busy weekend. Went and helped with pancake breakfast set-up on Friday evening. Saturday was the breakfast, helped with clean-up, the parade, then the game. It started raining right before the parade started and rained off and on all day. Less then a minute to half-time it started thundering and lightening and they ended up postponing the rest of the game until today. Luckily it wasn't cold Saturday so it wasn't too bad out there.

Dinner tonight will be turkey meatloaf, baked potato and green beans.

 

[EJ4Disney]

Hi ladies,

Ann ~ I am so sorry you have canceled your trip but I do understand.

Kat ~ Welcome home!! You have been missed

Nancy ~ when can you start? My house needs a good cleaning also. I just never seen to have the time to do the deep stuff anymore.

Gretchen ~ I hope you and Haley are feeling better today.

Lori ~ thanks for the mini TR I loved it. You are right - that would so be something we all would like. Thanks!!

Laura ~ to Caili. Way to go!!

Robin ~ I am so glad you got the electricity fixed. So scary!!

Aimee ~ glad you got some rest in.

Ok I have answered the phone 3 times since I started this post and now I have no idea what I was going to say. Sorry, I am sure I missed someone.

We had a nice weekend - we lost our football game - but other than that is was nice to get away with the kids. We got home at about 7 last night and neither Doug or I was very hungry. We had had a big brunch that held us over so I ended up just having a glass of milk before bed.

Matthew is doing ok. He spent the whole weekend with us. He would be his old self and then he would be different - sort of snappy and sullen - then quite. I am sure it will take some time to get over this as he really did love her. But I do see him sort of getting stronger, if that makes any sence. I feel so bad for him There has been no word on the National golf standings yet so we have no idea what is going on there either. Thanks for asking.

WFDT ~ Pork Chops, cornbread stuffing, green beans and applesauce.

 

[kimmar067]

Kimmar Would you share the rib recipe. I am always looking for ways to cook ribs.....

...sure, no prob....and it was so easy:

Sprinkle some salt, black pepper, and garlic powder on 3 to 3-1/2 lbs. ribs (raw). Place in a shallow pan (like a cookie sheet) and heat in broiler for about 20 minutes, when they begin to get golden. Meanwhile, preheat crockpot for 15-20 minutes. Slice a medium onion and place in crockpot. Sprinkle on 1/4 c. brown sugar (I use light brown, but I guess dark brown is okay too) , 1 oz water, and 2 tablespoons honey. In a bowl, mix 8-10 oz. Stubbs Honey Pecan BBQ sauce, 2 oz. Heinz ketchup, and 2 tablespoons soy sauce. Take ribs out from broiler and place each rib in crockpot, on top of onion mixture, putting half of the ribs and pouring half of the BBQ sauce mixture on top. Add the rest of the ribs and pour the rest of the sauce on top. Cover and cook on 'HIGH' for 4 hours.

I served them with sauteed string beans and red potatoes....yum-O!

 

[shovan]

Hey y'all,

So sorry I am not keeping up! The trip tired me out, then we went to the farmer's market Saturday morning & a play Saturday night with DD & DSIL. Rocky Horror! What a hoot that was!!! Church yesterday then SisIL & Miss A came over for lunch. Nice weekend, but now I feel like I'm coming down with something. Hopefully it's just the weather changing.

Gretchen, I'm so sorry you all have the flu! Not a great ending to the trip. Thanks so much to Kenny & the girls for letting us hang out in your room, he's a good man! Also please tell your Mom how much we enjoyed meeting her too! You have a wonderful family! I hope the flu goes away quickly!

Lori, Wow that looks soo good!! We really are going to have to join you two on one of those cruises. I'm so glad we met for year 3, but we'll have to plan another visit with y'all, we really didn't get to spend enough time visiting.

Kathy, I hope your dentist visit is painless! You've had enough haven't you?!

Robin, I'm glad you didn't have a fire, that's scary!

Ellen, I'm very sorry Matthew has a broken heart!

Becky, Beautiful pizzas!!!

Well that's all I can absorb right now. Gotta start dinner & then pick up my girl. (I was so happy to see that child yesterday! I really missed her.) Dinner is going to be down home southern, mustard greens & pork chops, hopefully some corn bread too. I want to get back to eating healthy, but mustard greens just don't work. I bought them fresh at the market so I need to cook them today. Oh I have gotten back on my treadmill since the trip, not doing too much, but it's something.

 

[TigerKat]

Aimee - You will love Tchoup Chop!!!!!! We had the tasting menu with the wine pairings...incredible! When I get my pics uploaded I'll post them if you like. Our top five restaurants this trip were...

Tchoup Chop (degustation menu w/wine pairing)
Emeril's Orlando (degustation menu w/wine pairing)
Mama Della's
Citricos (best meal of the trip for me)
Flying Fish

Sheryl - My dentist is on vacation and won't be back until 11/9. They tell me I should be OK to wait that long, I sure hope they're right.