The What's for Dinner Thread- June 2012 (recipe index in OP)

[franandaj]

I couldn't deal with that kind of cold.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Running in and out. Will catch up later. We had Chinese New Year Eve's dinner one night early last night. Gives me a day to recover for tomorrow's feast.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Chinese New Year Eve Reunion Dinner (Wei Lu)



It's nearly Chinese New Year. To mark the occasion, New Year's Eve reunion dinner is normally held to say farewell to the old year; and to remember one's ancestors with a meal. Goodbye Year of the Snake.

My family like to have a Steam Boat or Chinese Fondue meal as it is simple and easy to cook and eat.

Our proteins.













My mother made some wontons - mince pork and prawn.








Cooking the food in hot stock. We use the rice cooker for the cooking implement.








When the pot is boiling, the fun starts. We fished out our proteins. My bowls of food!














At the end of the night, the stock is pretty 'sweet' from all the cooking. I like to crack an egg to poach in the pot and then eat it with noodles and more proteins. YUM!!!

 

[dgbg100106]

I couldn't deal with that kind of cold.

The bad part is it will be over 100 degrees in summer and 100% humidity

 

[dgbg100106]

I couldn't deal with that kind of cold.

Right now it is 1 with a feels like of -7....

We are way below normal..

 

[dgbg100106]

PIO-I want to come to your house for Chinese New Years Dinner.....

 

[EJ4Disney]

Morning ladies,

PIO ~ I agree - I want to come to your house for Chinese New Years Eve. Wow that just looks so good. I would love it.

Kimmar ~ stay warm

Brandi ~ Thanks I needed that vote of confidence. I have never ever had to watch my weight. If anything I had to be careful to keep it on. That was until I hit menopause - it really messed with my Thyroid. I am on medicine now but the extra 25 pounds is almost impossible to get off. But I have been told I look healthier now, but it really bothers me. But I do have to admit I feel better when I am active.

Alison ~ I love the 4 seasons. I couldn't live in the south with no winter, spring, summer and fall. I love each and every one of them. But I do complain at times.

We are forcasted for snow tonight into tomorrow. We are to get 3-5". I doubt we will get anything but we shall see. When I went out to start my car this morning it was 41. Almost balmy out. But I just heard on the radio that we have dropped 11 degrees in the last 45 minutes. I hate these temperature fluctuations. They are so hard on the livestock. It is only January and we usually get our worst snow storms/blizzards in Feb. and March. Smack dab in the middle of calving season.

I am going to plead with Melanie today to work on the legs and fanny. As my arms are really sore today. I don't think I could lift a weight today if my life depended on it.

WFDT ~ Hamburgers, sweet potato fries and cucumber salad

Make it a great day!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Kong Hee Fatt Choy!


Food coma


ps. You're all welcomed to come to MY house for CNY. But the real party's at my mother's.

 

[EJ4Disney]

Morning girls,

PIO ~ will be there!! I might be a bit late but I will be there Man how I wish I could. I love the land of OZ.

Well it is snowing!! It started last night about 8 and snowed all night. We have about 5 -6" and it is still snowing. It is so pretty and the great thing is there is no wind with it. Otherwise I would be at home, there would be no school and it would be a mess. But with no wind it is falling gently and is really nice.

Nothing exciting planned for the weekend - thank goodness. I am putting together a menu for the Super Bowl game on Sunday. So far here is what I have planned:
Black Bean sliders
7 layer dip
cheese ball
fruit pizza
Raspberry Chipolte dip
chips and crackers
Go Broncos!!!

WFDT ~ Meatloaf, baked potatoes and green beans.

Make it a great day and a wonderful weekend.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Morning. I ate so much that I'm still full.
2 slices of toast and a cup of tea. That's it for me this morning.

Ellen - menu sounds terrific! Is a fruit pizza effectively fruit salad? Stay warm. the snow sounds beautiful.

 

[franandaj]

I've been so busy our meals have suffered. Last night was supposed to be Dungeness crab but I was so tired we just had grilled skirt steak and tater tots. Hopefully crab tonight.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Alison - Hope you're getting some rest time inbetween all that busy activity.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Kong Hee Fatt Choy, Sun Nien Fai Lok




It's the Lunar New Year and time to welcome in the Year of the Horse! Goodbye Year of the Snake.

Chinese New Year celebrations, which begin on Friday, mark a new beginning. Tradition calls for:

• A clean sweep. (We cleaned our house on Thursday night!)
• Houses are aired out to get rid of last year’s bad luck, and they are decorated in red, which symbolizes good luck and fortune (Another tick for us. It's been so hot that we've left the doors open at night to cool it down. As for the red decoration; I do have touches of red in the house anyway.)
• Family members gather to give children red envelopes full of money for good luck. (Yes, believe it or not, I gave away money in the Ang Pows!!!)

And then there’s the food.

We had dinner at my mother's. We ended up with 29 people (including the teens) for dinner. I don't know how she does it.


Yee Sang. My contribution for the night.







It usually consists of strips of raw fish (salmon), mixed with shredded vegetables and a variety of sauces and condiments, among other ingredients. Yee Sang literally means "raw fish" but since "fish" is commonly intonated with its homophone "abundance", the yee sand dish is considered a symbol of abundance, prosperity and vigor.






Part of the appeal is that everyone needs to complete the Prosperity Toss, also known as "lo hei" to mix the components up.






My plate.







My parents cooked all the dishes (except one) this time.

Beef Rendang.






Assam Sambal.....






.....to scoop on top of the deep fried anchovies.






Chicken Curry







Sambal prawns







Mushroom vegetables







My favourite is the Achar, pickled spicy vegetables. It's pretty labour intensive and my mum does it every year as a labour of love!







Chicken with oyster sauce. For the teens/tweens attending that night.







Egg curry, cooked in an Indian style curry - tamarind based sauce.






The only dish my parent's didn't cook was the roast (soya) chicken. Far easier to get this from the local Chinese BBQ place.






My dinner plate!







I'm still in a food coma from this night's dinner.

 

[PrincessInOz]

WFDT? I made a batch of those zucchini and haloumi fritters for dinner. I stress tested it tonight....
1. Forgot to squeeze out the excess water in the zucchini (and had to do a quick fix).
2. Put in less flour; just to see. Nope. It didn't bind, so I ended up adding the flour back....and then some because of the wet zucchini.

It was still delicious!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Moroccan Salmon


My starting ingredients:

• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• Juice of 1 lime (or lemon)
• 1 clove garlic, left whole but scored to release the flavour
• 1.5 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1.5 teaspoons ground cumin
• Salt and pepper
• Skinless salmon fillets

You may have noticed that the salmon was all packaged up. I don't know how this ended up in our freezer. It’s actually pretty good. I think there’s about 100 grams (or about 4 ounces) in each individual package.






Mix the yogurt, lemon juice, garlic, coriander, cumin, salt and pepper to taste in a small bowl.






Reserve half of the yoghurt mix as a dressing for the salmon.






Use half of the sauce to marinade the salmon for about 20 – 30 minutes.






Remove the salmon from the marinade and blot off excess yogurt with paper towels. Lightly oil a frying pan and add the salmon. Cook for 3 – 4 minutes on one side (depending on thickness).






Turn and cook for another 3 – 4 minutes on the other side (depending on thickness).






Serve with the reserved yogurt sauce and whatever sides you like. My dinner!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Hello everyone! Hope you've been well.

It's the first day of my Quit Sugar program and today has been a little bit more difficult than I thought. I guess I must have had a few more sweets and sugary things over the Chinese New Year period.

I've not had any sugar for a 24 hour period and at the 18 hour mark, I was feeling very testy and emotional. I ended up a little teary around the time I was preparing dinner and am feeling quite sensitive right now.

The good news is that it's past 9 pm here; and I think I might just head into bed early before I end up raiding the pantry.

Here's to a better day tomorrow.

 

[Nancyg56]

PIO- it takes a few days to purge those sugar cravings from your system. Around the third or forth day you may get a terrible headache, but after that, you should be okay. Good Luck!

I just wanted to update or week. Buddy is HOME!!! He came home yesterday and boy am I glad! He is experiencing a bad headache still, but it is managed with medication. My big burly husband is a bit unsteady, and I think that is making him a bit nervous, he is not used to relying on anyone else's arm to steady himself, but that should go away soon. Right now he is using a walker but the difference a day makes is really wonderful, so I expect that as soon as he can adjust his balance he will be fine. I want to thank you all! You made a stressful time so much easier to bear. God Bless you!

 

[dgbg100106]

Nancy I am so glad Buddy is home and improving everyday! That is truly a blessing. Prayers will continue for a speedy recovery!

 

[EJ4Disney]

Morning all,

PIO ~ Your meals look just awesome. Bless your Mom for all of the love cooking she does for her family. Man oh man it all looked really good.
A fruit pizza is just like a real pizza - but a bit different. The crust is a sugar cookie crust with a cream cheese spread then fruit on top. Real yummy.

Alison ~ You take care lady.

Nan ~ I am so glad Buddy is home, like I told you yesterday, now the REAL healing will begin.

Brandi ~

Girls, I need some of your powerful prayers. I have a very important Dr. appt. tomorrow in Omaha (3 1/2 hours to the East). We are in for a really bad snow storm. They are predicting 6-12" for Lincoln and Omaha starting early tomorrow. We are going to go ahead and go as I really can't miss this one. We are going to go into Lincoln tonight and stay with Matthew. And get up in the morning and go on into Omaha (about 50 miles further east) and then right back home. Doug is driving (thank goodness - otherwise I wouldn't go) and he is very very cautious, but I will be a nervous wreck. I hate - with a capital H - snow and ice. Please pray that we get there and back safely. Stephanie and Lilly were going with us for a nice day together. I called her this morning and told her to stay home. We just couldn't risk something happening with them with us.

I will check in when I can!!

 

[franandaj]

Nancy - that's great news about Buddy. So glad he us home, he'll just have to get used to being taken care of!

Ellen - I hope you have a safe trip. That would definitely scare me to drive so far in the snow. I hope you also get good news.

PIO - Your meals always look so tasty! Even if I don't like salmon!

Tonight is the last night that I have to cook for a few days. We are taking a couple nights out at DL so I get to enjoy some dinners out. Then after a couple nights back at home we're going up to my folks for a couple of days. I can use the break!