The What's for Dinner Thread - August 2014 (recipe index in OP)

[EJ4Disney]

Good morning girlies,

PIO ~ I hope your days are better. I don't like to see you not happy.

Alison~ Sometimes those kind of dinners turn out to be the best. There is a packaged Orange Chicken I get from Trader Joes that is so good. I have tried to make it homemade and we both agree it is better out of the package.

Brandi ~ Thanks, Lilly is really a great big sister.

I left work a bit early yesterday as I HAD to go do a bit of shopping for Harper. The girl didn't have a thing to wear. I got 3 little sleeper outfits - one of them was like a ballerina outfit, complete with toe shoes on the little feet. Lilly has started dance so she will love that one. Stephanie said she was going to bring her home from the hospital today in it. Marty got word that he will have next week off also. They both work for the same company and they really take care of their people. It will also be off paid. I was thrilled and a bit jealous as this way I won't be needed. They had asked me to come for a few days once they got home and now I will just go after work. Truly I am just kidding as I am thrilled they will be together!! This is just what they need. As soon as I get out of here today I am going to go pick Lilly up from Elizabeth's and we will head to Kearney. She is so excited to see "her" baby sister. Marty and Stephanie are ready for their little family to be together again.

WFDT ~ I am roasting a chicken here today at the church, mashed potatoes, corn and a green salad. I will take it to Kearney so she doesn't have to worry about dinner tonight. I can't wait!!

Make it a great day!!

 

[dgbg100106]

Love to hear about the family and how well they are doing. Keep the stories coming
and I would love to see her in the outfit with the little toe shoes.

WFDT potato with black beans, onions, mushrooms, and "Cheese" sauce with tomatoes and peppers

 

[PrincessInOz]

Friday night and I'm just relaxing at home. I picked up some hand rolls and we had sushi for dinner.

Ellen - I hope you enjoyed your Harper shopping. So much fun buying little people clothes! Are you managing to stay away?

Brandi - Hope you and David are doing well. I'm managing to eat colourful vegies for about 4 days in the week. I'm hoping to get to a 5/2 week next week.

 

[PrincessInOz]

I think it's Asian cook-off weekend this weekend!

Hope to see your recipes and meals!

 

[EJ4Disney]

I can't believe it is already Friday. Good grief this week went fast!

Brandi ~ I will put the picture up on FB.

PIO ~ You are doing so good.

I didn't go up last night but I did on Wednesday and it was a bit of a hot mess. Lilly was beside herself and didn't want to leave Harper's side. I mean literally. We couldn't even get her to go to dance. She threw a tantrum that I had NEVER seen before. Oh MY!! Needless to say she spent a bit in her bedroom. She would go from happy to unhappy in 1.2 seconds - came right out of the blue. After dinner Marty took Harper and went to the basement, I did the dishes and cleaned up and Stephanie gave Lilly a bath and read books till bedtime. I think she was overwhelmed, over tired, a bit jealous and all out of sorts. Before I left Stephanie was in tears, I was in tears and poor Marty didn't know what to do with either one of us. On one hand I couldn't wait to leave and on the other hand I didn't want to leave. But I do know they are going to have to figure it all out, and they will. It is just going to take some time and LOTS of patience. I did tell them that they needed to take Lilly to Hanna's (Day care provider). I really think Lilly needs some normal.

I have thrown my back out. It has hurt since last Sunday, so as soon as I got off work yesterday I went and had an adjustment. It feels better this morning. I hate it when that happens. I am heading to Kearney as soon as I get off of work. I can't wait - it has been a whole day since I have seen that baby and Lilly. Plus I think Stephanie is ready for some help. When I talked to her she asked when I was coming.

WFDT ~ spaghetti with meatballs, bread sticks and a green salad. That was the request from Lilly bug!!

Make it a great day!

 

[franandaj]

I think it's Asian cook-off weekend this weekend!

Hope to see your recipes and meals!

Rut-roh! I thought it was next weekend! I'm gonna see if I can swap next Friday's dinner for tonight, but I'll need to visit the grocery store.

 

[franandaj]

Ellen - I hope things settle down soon. That's gotta be tough for poor Lilly. Take care!

 

[kimmar067]

....off-topic, but this is going out to the Tag Fairy:

I FINISHED MY TRIP REPORT ~ NOW GIVE ME MY NEW TAGS!!!





































....whew! I feel so much better.....

 

[PrincessInOz]

....off-topic, but this is going out to the Tag Fairy:

I FINISHED MY TRIP REPORT ~ NOW GIVE ME MY NEW TAGS!!!




....whew! I feel so much better.....

I don't think the Tag Fairy lurks here.

 

[dgbg100106]

Friday night and I'm just relaxing at home. I picked up some hand rolls and we had sushi for dinner.

Ellen - I hope you enjoyed your Harper shopping. So much fun buying little people clothes! Are you managing to stay away?

Brandi - Hope you and David are doing well. I'm managing to eat colourful vegies for about 4 days in the week. I'm hoping to get to a 5/2 week next week.

David and I are doing great, and I am glad to hear you are doing great!

 

[dgbg100106]

I think it's Asian cook-off weekend this weekend!

Hope to see your recipes and meals!

oh, I thought it was the last weekend in Jan also. Umm, I can do something I think...

 

[dgbg100106]

I can't believe it is already Friday. Good grief this week went fast!

Brandi ~ I will put the picture up on FB.

PIO ~ You are doing so good.

I didn't go up last night but I did on Wednesday and it was a bit of a hot mess. Lilly was beside herself and didn't want to leave Harper's side. I mean literally. We couldn't even get her to go to dance. She threw a tantrum that I had NEVER seen before. Oh MY!! Needless to say she spent a bit in her bedroom. She would go from happy to unhappy in 1.2 seconds - came right out of the blue. After dinner Marty took Harper and went to the basement, I did the dishes and cleaned up and Stephanie gave Lilly a bath and read books till bedtime. I think she was overwhelmed, over tired, a bit jealous and all out of sorts. Before I left Stephanie was in tears, I was in tears and poor Marty didn't know what to do with either one of us. On one hand I couldn't wait to leave and on the other hand I didn't want to leave. But I do know they are going to have to figure it all out, and they will. It is just going to take some time and LOTS of patience. I did tell them that they needed to take Lilly to Hanna's (Day care provider). I really think Lilly needs some normal.

I have thrown my back out. It has hurt since last Sunday, so as soon as I got off work yesterday I went and had an adjustment. It feels better this morning. I hate it when that happens. I am heading to Kearney as soon as I get off of work. I can't wait - it has been a whole day since I have seen that baby and Lilly. Plus I think Stephanie is ready for some help. When I talked to her she asked when I was coming.

WFDT ~ spaghetti with meatballs, bread sticks and a green salad. That was the request from Lilly bug!!

Make it a great day!

poor baby, I am sure Lilly will get the hang of it. I agree she just needs some normal and she will get back into the groove of things. Hugs for everyone and little pixie dust.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Ellen - I hope Lily starts to feel more normal soon. It's hard to get used to sharing attention. Is your back better? I hope so!

Alison and Brandi - Maybe I got my weekends mixed up! Sorry. You could cook Asian next weekend if you prefer.

Kimmar - You mentioned something about ignoring carbs on another thread. It gave me the idea of doing a Carb Free meal next month. Plus I think I'm going to go as carb-free as possible for February. The only exception will be Chinese New Year; which is the 19th Feb. Otherwise, I'm going to pull out my vegetarian cookbooks and figure out as many meals as possible for Feb.



It's drizzly rain this morning. This weather is unexpected. We were expecting blue skies and only a 20% chance of rain. So glad that I spent Saturday and Sunday in the garden clearing up what I wanted to clear up. We are having someone come in this weekend to put in a cat run along one side of the house. DH couldn't understand why I started to do the clearing up activity on Friday night after I got home from work. He wasn't too pleased when I pushed him out yesterday to help with the heavy lifting either. Oh well. It's done now and all ready for work to start.

 

[kimmar067]

PiO, what time is it there?

 

[kimmar067]

Kimmar - You mentioned something about ignoring carbs on another thread. It gave me the idea of doing a Carb Free meal next month. Plus I think I'm going to go as carb-free as possible for February. The only exception will be Chinese New Year; which is the 19th Feb. Otherwise, I'm going to pull out my vegetarian cookbooks and figure out as many meals as possible for Feb....

...I would have great difficulty going carb-free.....

 

[kimmar067]

....they're so tasty.

 

[PrincessInOz]

....they're so tasty.

That's why I picked February. It only has 28 days in the month.

 

[PrincessInOz]

...I would have great difficulty going carb-free.....

I am the same.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Ramen Soup Noodles; the Low-Cook Way



This month, we're off to Asia! Sadly for me, when I got to Asian weekend, I discovered that there was so much activity going on that I didn't have much time left to spend in the kitchen.
So I ended up picking one of those ubiquitous soup noodle dishes that you can find in most street corners in Asia; and re-worked it so that there was little cooking involved. All in all, I spent about 5 minutes preparation time and 5 - 10 minutes 'cooking' time on this meal.


My starting ingredients:

• Ramen noodles - there are 3 bundles in the packet. Each bundle feeds 2; so I used 2 of them for this dinner.
• Chicken stock - the better the quality, the better the soup. You probably want about 250 - 300 ml of stock per person.
• Baby bok choy - about 2 plants per person, washed and cut in half. This was the only thing in the ingredients list that I had to prepare.
• BBQ Pork or Char Siew - I picked this up from a local restaurant. If you don't have this handy, you could substitute with poached chicken breast and/or shrimp.

Place the bok choy in a boiling pot and allow to cook for 2 - 3 minutes.







Remove the vegetables from the pot when done and set aside.







I used the same pot of boiling water to cook the ramen.







The instructions on my pack said to boil for 2 minutes and then drain.






In a separate pot, I emptied the stock and had it heating up whilst I was cooking the veg and the ramen. It was totally at a rolling boil when the ramen was finished cooking.






Place some ramen and top with the vegetables in a large bowl.







Add the BBQ pork and ladle some stock over everything. My dinner!








I may not have laboured hard in the kitchen to make this meal, but it did take me back to my childhood....sitting under a shady tree, in the heat and humidity....enjoying a simple meal with my family.

 

[franandaj]

Alison and Brandi - Maybe I got my weekends mixed up! Sorry. You could cook Asian next weekend if you prefer.

It gave me the idea of doing a Carb Free meal next month.

I'm going to have to do it next weekend. I never made it to the store on Friday to get the necessary veg for my stir fry and both Saturday and Sunday's meals were locked into place. In hindsight I could have done it yesterday but Fran and I thought we were going to a party at a bar for our friend's CD release party, but in the end she decided to stay home. I'd already made us a late lunch of burgers, Cole slaw and potato salad.

Tonight I'm just getting a turkey in the oven. This is #2 of 11. Only nine more to go until next Thanksgiving! Woo hoo!

So rather than Carb Free, can we just go for Low Carb? Even when you're doing Atkins you're allowed 20 carbs per day, which still isn't much, but I'm not sure how many carb free recipes that I have. Although one does come to mind!