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

[EJ4Disney]

Happy Hump day all,

Yesterday was a hard one. I was glad when I laid my head down. First off I ran to Kearney (not literally) for a scheduled dermatologist appointment (8:30). They got me in right at 8 and I was back in Lexington by 9. The Freedom riders were here and just getting ready to line up. Oh girls, what a sight that was, there were 37. I posted some pictures of FB. The church was packed and as they left for the cemetery they rode off in the "Missing Man" formation. I was standing with our Head of the Trustees and I was trying to hold it together but when I saw tears flowing from Derek, I lost it. What a wonderful send off for a wonderful man. We served over 125 for lunch.
I had a hair appointment at 5 - back in Kearney, so I left a bit early. Then Doug met me there and we parked my car and took off for Grand Island and the Nebraska State Fair. We had a good time but dang I was tired. We decided we would go back tonight to take in a few things we missed last night.

I do want to share with you a sad, sad story. More for me, as I really need to process it all. On Tuesday night, Doug was out mowing and around 8:40 he came in and said he needed gas and would I like to ride with him into town - he would also buy me an ice cream come. Heck yes, I never pass up ice cream. As we headed to town, there is a stretch of road (paved) that walkers and runners use a LOT. We saw 2 young girls pushing a stroller and Doug remarked that he wished people would not be on the road at this time. It was getting dark and there are no lights. We have MANY times seen people out running in pitch dark. Well we headed to town, got the gas and an ice cream and headed back home. When we got to our road there were law enforcement EVERYWHERE and we couldn't get through. We just KNEW what had happened. Yesterday morning we found out that the Aunt (32) was pushing a 2 month old baby in a stroller and her Mother was beside them. The Aunt was killed and the baby was air lifted to Omaha, the Mother was not hurt. Then we found out - we were all holding our breath yesterday - who the driver was. We were all so sad for the driver - can you imagine? Well it turned out to be a best friend of Matthew. She is 25 and a super super young lady. My heart is just breaking for both families. The Aunt sat on our Library Board, she will be missed, no word on the baby yet this morning. I only hope they rule this as an accident - as it was. Chrystal couldn't have seen them - they should have never been on this road - it was pitch dark by now. My heart is just breaking and this has been a BIG blow for our little town. Thanks for letting me write about it - I really appreciate it!!

Brandi ~ I am so glad to read a smile is back on your beautiful face. If David is anything like Doug, and I think they are a lot alike - he feeds off of your emotions. If I am in a bad or gloomy mood so is Doug, but when I am happy he is also. I love your attitude - keep it up!! After all worrying is NOT going to do either of you any good - It is what it is!! Happy planning!!

Alison ~ That meatloaf looked so good! I loved your lunch of brownies. Last Sunday Doug and I had ice cream for dinner. I see nothing wrong with it at all . I am getting so excited for your trip. I love to see that the 2 of you are also. You both SO deserve this trip.

PIO ~ How are you feeling? The bandwagon is always a good thing.

WFDT ~ I am fixing lunch boxes tonight for Doug and I to eat on the way to the fair. Last night we spent 45 minutes eating and tonight we don't have time for that. So I am taking roast beef sliders, frog eye salad, pea salad - for Doug not me - YUCK, and chips.

Make it a great day!! And hug the ones you love - it can all be gone in a split second!!

 

[dgbg100106]

Afternoon everyone, it has been a busy few days here at the office, and when I get home I just dont feel like opening my computer up.

Hope everyone is doing well.

I am doing better, trying to stay positive.

So Tuesday night for dinner was cauliflower, peppers, tomatoes, cucumber. Add Chicken for David
Wednesday night was pinto beans, Mexican corn, peppers, tomatoes, cucumber.Add Chicken for David
Tonight is Taco Salad lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, peppers, tvp, pinto beans, and avocado.

 

[dgbg100106]

Ellen, so sorry to hear the tragic news, it is hard on everyone, on both sides of the tragedy. Prayers for the families and friends.

 

[EJ4Disney]

Brandi ~ Thanks for the comfort, you are the best!!
You are so right it is hard on both families!! People just don't use their heads. Plus most people on this road feel they are entitled to be there and us - as drivers - are to yield to them. This was just an accident waiting to happen. It was inevitable.

We dined on turkey sandwiches, salads and chips on the way to the fair last night. It really worked out ok as it got us there a bit after 6. We were able to walk all of the exhibits. Doug and I purchased a new hot tub. We have been talking about this for years and last night the deal was just to good to be true. We are so darn excited!! We have some wiring to do before it can be delivered, and that will be completed in the next month. We got a 6 seater, with one recline, stereo with Bluetooth, interchangeable jets, cover, steps, upgraded exterior and mood lighting (I'm excited about this - teehee). After our purchase we just roamed and had a ball. We didn't get home till almost 11pm and I am so sleepy today.

I am going for a massage right after work then for a mani & pedi. Doug is golfing so I am on my own tonight. I have to get packed, as we are headed to Lincoln tomorrow at noon. I can't believe College football starts tonight. I will be watching for sure.

WFDT ~ grilled chicken salad with some crackers.

Make it a great day!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Ellen - I'm so sorry to read about the news. That's so sad and what a tragedy for both families....and for you all. I wish you all peace. I hope the baby is all right.

 

[dgbg100106]

Ellen, have you heard any news on the baby?

I skipped making dinner last night, after the massage David took me out to the Indian place...

 

[dgbg100106]

I saw that South Carolina barely beat North Carolina, and TCU was not looking like a number 2 team with that awful win over Minnesota

 

[EJ4Disney]

Good morning all,

Brandi ~ I watched the TCU game (future DIL graduated from TCU) and I agree they were struggling.

PIO ~ Thanks so much your words were a real comfort.

No word on the baby yet. But at this point no news is good news. She must be getting along or we would have hear.

I have just another hour till I am off work and can get this weekend started. I/we are so excited. I have made reservations at a restaurant down on the bricks in the rail yard. Then we will head to the Wick Center for some fun. We kick off tomorrow at 2:30 and they are saying it will be over 100 degrees. I am not looking forward to that!! We will stay till Monday and you can better believe on Sunday I will be by the pool.

GO BIG RED!!!

You all play nice and have a great holiday weekend.

 

[franandaj]

Ellen - That is awful news about the folks on the highway. Things like that happen every day here, but only because people are walking around with their heads in their phones not paying attention to what is going on around them. I used to be amazed at the fact that people were hit in cross walks, but now we hear about hit and runs every day. It's so sad that they are commonplace. Yours is even worse since you live in such a close knit community and the parties involved have less than six degrees of separation.

Brandi - Good luck on staying positive! I'm not sure how I would be able to do on the DIS if I had a real job. The fact that I spend most of my time at home on the computer makes it easy. If I had to go out every day and do stuff, I probably wouldn't have time for the DIS! I'm glad you can at least make it back here sometimes!

Last night I made us Crab Melt sandwiches for dinner.



Tonight we were cooking like mad. We are having a party tomorrow night and our friend David will be making burgers, but Fran and I are making the rest of the stuff. She made Potato Salad, I made some Blueberry Cream Cheese Cookies with Graham Cracker Crust, and we made some cream cheese and artichoke hearts filling that will be put on toast points with some tomato chunks for an appetizer. Plus tomorrow I will make summer salad and a crock pot molten chocolate cake. I think that's it, we should eat pretty good tomorrow night.

I addition, I made Balsamic chicken thighs for our dinner along with bacon and mushroom risotto and we had watermelon for our salad. I won't be around tomorrow as we have to clean off the patio furniture and put out the cushions. It's a lot of work to make the Barbeque area ready to use as well as the tables. The spiders move in really quickly and it takes some serious cleaning to make sure it's OK for us to sit and dine.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Good morning Diners!

Brandi - Good for you for taking a different attitude. I think of you and keep you in my prayers.

Ellen - Hope you are keeping well.

Alison - That crab melt looks delicious!




It's the first Sunday in September here....which means Father's Day! DH wanted to do an early meditation session this morning....one of those across the world simultaneous timing thing....so he got up EARLY!!!
So, I made sure that the rest of the Sunday morning things were done....attending to the cats (feeding, clearing out the cat litter boxes) and DS (feeding, clearing up after his mess ). I also ducked out to get some croissants and a fresh loaf of bread so that I could feed the humans their breakfast.

We have a music masterclass to take DS to this morning and this afternoon, my parents will come round for afternoon tea. I am going to 'cheat'.....and bought a cake to serve them this afternoon. I won't have time to bake one.

My diet? It was going well until last night. I managed to make 5 days of no or very low-carb meals before last night. With all the running around, we didn't have time to plan for dinner. And there was a new Asian restaurant opened in shopping strip near us. Well....I ended up getting a Briyani rice with sambal prawns. What with the croissant for breakfast this morning, that's two meals of carbs in a row!
Oh well. Back to the bandwagon!



On other news, the radio was talking about an Aussie ex-NFL player being picked up by the San Francisco 49'ers. I'll assume that this is one of those things.....news in Australia is not necessarily news in the US.




WFDT?

I'm going to check the freezer. I'm hoping that I have some white fish in the freezer. I feel like having one of those fish parcels that I used to make.


Have a good day everyone.

 

[dgbg100106]

Good morning all,

Brandi ~ I watched the TCU game (future DIL graduated from TCU) and I agree they were struggling.

PIO ~ Thanks so much your words were a real comfort.

No word on the baby yet. But at this point no news is good news. She must be getting along or we would have hear.

I have just another hour till I am off work and can get this weekend started. I/we are so excited. I have made reservations at a restaurant down on the bricks in the rail yard. Then we will head to the Wick Center for some fun. We kick off tomorrow at 2:30 and they are saying it will be over 100 degrees. I am not looking forward to that!! We will stay till Monday and you can better believe on Sunday I will be by the pool.

GO BIG RED!!!

You all play nice and have a great holiday weekend.

Ellen,

Sorry your team did not pull out a victory this past Saturday, but the kids in their gear were very cute.

Hope your weekend was wonderful otherwise!

 

[dgbg100106]

Ellen - That is awful news about the folks on the highway. Things like that happen every day here, but only because people are walking around with their heads in their phones not paying attention to what is going on around them. I used to be amazed at the fact that people were hit in cross walks, but now we hear about hit and runs every day. It's so sad that they are commonplace. Yours is even worse since you live in such a close knit community and the parties involved have less than six degrees of separation.

Brandi - Good luck on staying positive! I'm not sure how I would be able to do on the DIS if I had a real job. The fact that I spend most of my time at home on the computer makes it easy. If I had to go out every day and do stuff, I probably wouldn't have time for the DIS! I'm glad you can at least make it back here sometimes!

Last night I made us Crab Melt sandwiches for dinner.



Tonight we were cooking like mad. We are having a party tomorrow night and our friend David will be making burgers, but Fran and I are making the rest of the stuff. She made Potato Salad, I made some Blueberry Cream Cheese Cookies with Graham Cracker Crust, and we made some cream cheese and artichoke hearts filling that will be put on toast points with some tomato chunks for an appetizer. Plus tomorrow I will make summer salad and a crock pot molten chocolate cake. I think that's it, we should eat pretty good tomorrow night.

I addition, I made Balsamic chicken thighs for our dinner along with bacon and mushroom risotto and we had watermelon for our salad. I won't be around tomorrow as we have to clean off the patio furniture and put out the cushions. It's a lot of work to make the Barbeque area ready to use as well as the tables. The spiders move in really quickly and it takes some serious cleaning to make sure it's OK for us to sit and dine.

Alison, that crab melt, looks like something David would devour.
ummm, I need to see these "Blueberry Cream Cheese Cookies with Graham Cracker Crust"

Hope you had a great party, sounds like the food was really really appetizing.

 

[dgbg100106]

Good morning Diners!

Brandi - Good for you for taking a different attitude. I think of you and keep you in my prayers.

Ellen - Hope you are keeping well.

Alison - That crab melt looks delicious!




It's the first Sunday in September here....which means Father's Day! DH wanted to do an early meditation session this morning....one of those across the world simultaneous timing thing....so he got up EARLY!!!
So, I made sure that the rest of the Sunday morning things were done....attending to the cats (feeding, clearing out the cat litter boxes) and DS (feeding, clearing up after his mess ). I also ducked out to get some croissants and a fresh loaf of bread so that I could feed the humans their breakfast.

We have a music masterclass to take DS to this morning and this afternoon, my parents will come round for afternoon tea. I am going to 'cheat'.....and bought a cake to serve them this afternoon. I won't have time to bake one.

My diet? It was going well until last night. I managed to make 5 days of no or very low-carb meals before last night. With all the running around, we didn't have time to plan for dinner. And there was a new Asian restaurant opened in shopping strip near us. Well....I ended up getting a Briyani rice with sambal prawns. What with the croissant for breakfast this morning, that's two meals of carbs in a row!
Oh well. Back to the bandwagon!



On other news, the radio was talking about an Aussie ex-NFL player being picked up by the San Francisco 49'ers. I'll assume that this is one of those things.....news in Australia is not necessarily news in the US.




WFDT?

I'm going to check the freezer. I'm hoping that I have some white fish in the freezer. I feel like having one of those fish parcels that I used to make.


Have a good day everyone.

Happy Father's day to your Dad and DH.

Hope you had a great weekend. No worries on the Cheat, hopefully it tasted up to par.

 

[dgbg100106]

well 10 days from now I will be in the air flying home to Texas. I have been trying to make sure we had everything we needed for our trip and planning out all our to do's before we leave.
The packing for this trip will be a little different, we cannot take much in the way of clothes, so everything needs to b able to be washed in the shower and dry out quickly. plus we need layers, getting cold at night but hot during the day.

So this will be a fun challenge. Need lots of hiking clothes, plus in public clothes for the games and family.... What oh what shall I do. I only get one carry!

 

[EJ4Disney]

Good morning all,

Brandi ~ Quite the game huh? We have been on the other end of those Hail Mary's. Over all the talk is very positive for Riley and the team. We looked pretty good but there are places we need to work on. All in all a good game. Watch Alabama - and well what can I say but, you guys are good!! We will be back someday!
Happy packing!!

Alison ~ Oh my goodness that crab melt looked sooooooo good. I'm glad to see you and Fran enjoying your home and pool. It has been a long time coming and you both SO deserve it.

PIO ~ Glad you are feeling better. I love that you do afternoon tea. Don't beat yourself up over the slip. You got right back on the wagon. Those time happen.

We had a great weekend. It was just nice to get away for awhile. We stayed till Monday and that extra day was nice. We did some shopping. I needed a new pair of walking shoes. Even got a great deal on my favorite brand. Matthew and Katlin grilled for us last night. It was yummy!!

Can you all keep a secret? You can't tell!! On Sunday afternoon, Matthew bought a diamond for Katlin. It is beautiful. He wanted us to go with him - how cool is that. We looked at a couple of stores and he just wasn't finding what he wanted. He was just looking after all. Well the last store we went to he found THE one. Was in his budget and now it is safely tucked away in his closet waiting for the right time. It is beautiful!! We couldn't be happier!

WFDT ~ Tilapia, roasted potatoes and Brussel sprouts.

Make it a great day!

 

[dgbg100106]

Oh that is exciting news, congratulations......

 

[PrincessInOz]

Brandi - Your GC trip is getting real close. I'm so excited to be living vicariously through your travels!!

Ellen - What AMAZING news! Congratulations. I look forward to finding out how it all went. Oooh! So happy for you.



So work is comfortably busy. That's good, right? I'm still tired when I come home and I suspect I may need a couple of early nights to catch up on rest. Lately, I haven't really been sleeping well through the night. Too many disrupted nights sleep because of the furbabies and DH. He had a whole week of work meetings that he wanted to attend. As they were held in the US, that meant a 1 am wake-up for him....and me.

The furbabies are positively delightful...for me. I don't know if the white cat likes having two other younger ones running around and the vet thinks he's stressed! The Bengal has been a bit more cuddly lately. I think she sees how the Siamese cat muscles his way into what used to be her 100% attention...and I don't think she likes it much. So, she's starting to be a bit more assertive about wanting 'her time' and also with getting her pats and cuddles. Not that I'm complaining. The Siamese just wants to be where I am when I'm home.

WFDT? It was dinner at mum's.

 

[dgbg100106]

PIO - I hope my body is ready for all the hiking... I have PT again this morning, this is the first one with the injection stuff...

We will see, fingers crossed.

 

[EJ4Disney]

Pay day Wednesday

PIO ~ Oh life at your house must be so much fun right now. Every one is vying for your attention. I say that with tongue in cheek but in all honesty it has to be fun with all of those fur babies.
You need a few nights of good sleep and then you will feel better. I hadn't slept good while we were at Matthew's but have slept like a baby since home. The older I get the longer it takes to catch up.

Brandi ~ Good luck today!! I really hope this injection will be the magic bullet for you. You have suffered way to long and you are right - you have a wonderful vacation to be ready for. Prayers are with you today!!

I am really trying not to panic right now. I went to send a text to Doug when I got to work this morning and all of my contacts are gone. I have done numerous things and they aren't working. The cloud was backed up on Sept 5th so I know they are there but I can't get them to download. I guess I will be heading to Verizon to let them figure it out. I am just smart enough to be dangerous with all of this stuff. But dang, I hate it when it doesn't work.

I forgot to tell you all yesterday - we bought a new hot tub. We are SO excited for it. Doug has some wiring to do and then we will have it delivered. I can't wait to sit out in it when the snow is falling. It is blue toothed so we can stream our music and watch TV, it has a waterfall and mood lightening. This is something I have wanted for a long time. We got a 6 seater and one is a recline. With my back that hurts most of the time and Doug's knees, this will be heavenly. I will post pictures when we get it.

WFDT ~ Spaghetti with fresh tomato basil sauce, green salad and bread sticks.

Make it a great day!

 

[dgbg100106]

ladies

Well I am back from PT. To says that was interesting is mild understatement.

They put the electronic device that is hooked up to pad, placed this on me. It sends the meds with tiny needles and electronic pulses into my hip. It charged for three minutes and will do this for two hours. So I am sitting here at my desk, with my shorts on, get this stuff injected for the next two hours. It tingles, but does not hurt. She told me that most people can feel the difference after the third or fourth visit. I get my third treatment two days before I leave for vacation, then I come back and get it 8 more times. So, time will only tell.