The What's For Dinner Thread - March '11 (recipe index in OP)

[Nancyg56]

Happy 4TH everyone!

Princess- your pics are awesome, just like that handsome son of yours! Thank you for sharing!

Glynis- stay cool!

Janice- you are finding the best recipes lately! I am hungry for that chicken!

Dinner was so good yesterday. Marisa raoasted veggies and our friend Jeannie brought a pasta/crab salad. Another one of her dishes that I am going to get the recipe to share with you.

My niece Debbie is coming today. She is babysitting my sister's Molly, who is deathly afraid of fireworks. Gail said she needs to be hugged, she is that frightened. Gail took Mike's Mom to Niagara Falls for the Holiday. They always used to have a huge party so I think she wanted to be away from home.

I have a simple meal for whoever shows up. Grilled chicken, burgers, hot dogs and turkey sausage. Salad, roasted peppers and onions, sauerkraut and watermelon.

 

[liamandcaili]

Happy Fourth everyone!

We had barbecued salmon, macaroni and cheese, grilled onions, corn on the cob, a big salad and crispy cod cheeks. Sounds weird, I know, but everyone loved them, even the kids.

Princess -- I'll send some heat as long as you agree to take the humidity too. That looks like a cool exhibit!

Robin -- We are getting excited for the next Harry Potter movie here too. I hope it is busy down there this year.

Kat -- Thanks!

Glynis -- I'm sorry about the AC. I hope that gets fixed soon.

Nancy -- Your holiday spreads always sound good.

Well, the kids are calling me away to play a game. Have a great night!

 

[TigerKat]

This was so good, had to share:

Grilled Artichokes with Smoked Tomato Vinaigrette

Ingredients

4 large artichokes
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Smoked Tomato Vinaigrette, recipe follows

Directions

Place artichokes, lemon juice, 2 tablespoons olive oil, salt, and fill pot with enough cold water to cover the artichokes in a large pot. Boil for 30 to 35 minutes or until tender. Remove artichokes from pot and let cool.

Preheat grill. When artichokes have cooled, slice in 1/2 lengthwise and remove the choke. Brush each half with the remaining oil, season with salt and pepper and grill cut-side down for 1 to 2 minutes. Turn over and grill an additional minute.
Smoked Tomato Vinaigrette:

5 plum tomatoes, smoked and chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
1/2 cup olive oil (I only used 1/4 c)

Place tomatoes, salt and pepper, vinegar, garlic and basil and olive oil in a blender and blend until smooth.

 

[HERSEY]

Going to go out later to feed the mosquitoes and hopefully see some fireworks. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate working the day after the 4th. I dislike having to come right home and jump in bed so I can be up a 5:00 am.

Laura I am glad you and the kids had a great 4th.

Kathy That recipe sounds good. I may make the vinaigrette for grill asparagus.

 

[bigmerle1966]

Long day, got home about an hour ago. I brought my youngest neice home with me Sunday and she, my cousins granddaughter and another little girl spent most of the day in the pool or on the trampoline. We got to see lots of fireworks, people in the neighborhoods all around his house set them off. I got in the pool with his sister and we spent a good amount of that time squirting the girls.

Well off to bed, have to work tomorrow.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Glynis - I hope your AC is fixed soon. That heat is not fun.

Janice - I'm going to HAVE to try that Kahlua chicken. Kahlua is one of my favourite imbibements! Hmmm....wonder how that chicken will taste if I add some chocolate to the mix?
Hope the fireworks were worth seeing.

Aimee - Hope you had fun shopping.

Nancy - That food sounds yum.

Laura - I'll take the heat and the humidity. It got to 55 F today and the winds hit 60 mph. Plus we had a mini earthquake...nothing major but 4.4 on the Richter scale is major for Melbourne. Me? Didn't feel a thing and I worked right through it all!

Marilyn - Sounds like you had a great day.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Tuna Pasta Salad


This recipe is a firm favourite in my home; particularly when I use Soya Mayonnaise and serve it warm. It is also delicious cold and leftovers don't last long in the fridge either!
The best thing? You only need to open tins and cook pasta to make this dish.


My starting ingredients:

• Pasta, about 100g per person. Spirals work best but I used Rigatoni for this meal
• Crab stick or seafood extender, about 100g per person
• Canned Cream Corn, 1 tin
• Young Cut Corn, 1 tin – drained
• Tuna, in brine or springwater, 1 tin – drained
• Mayonnaise – to taste. I used normal mayonnaise for this meal but trust me – this recipe is much better if you use Soya Mayonnaise instead.
• Salt and Pepper

Cook the pasta as per instruction.

Open all the tins and put all the other ingredients into a large salad bowl. Season with salt and pepper.

When the pasta is cooked, drain and immediately transfer to the bowl. Add the mayonnaise to taste.

Mix until all the ingredients have combined. You can serve this salad warm or cold.

My dinner!

 

[Nancyg56]

Going to go out later to feed the mosquitoes and hopefully see some fireworks. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate working the day after the 4th. I dislike having to come right home and jump in bed so I can be up a 5:00 am.

.

I know how you feel. I want to go back to bed!!!!!!!!!!

Long day, got home about an hour ago. I brought my youngest neice home with me Sunday and she, my cousins granddaughter and another little girl spent most of the day in the pool or on the trampoline. We got to see lots of fireworks, people in the neighborhoods all around his house set them off. I got in the pool with his sister and we spent a good amount of that time squirting the girls.

.

Sounds like a great weekend!

Laura - I'll take the heat and the humidity. It got to 55 F today and the winds hit 60 mph. Plus we had a mini earthquake...nothing major but 4.4 on the Richter scale is major for Melbourne. Me? Didn't feel a thing and I worked right through it all!

.

Tuna Pasta Salad

Looks so good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love any pasta salad and will use soy in place of mayo for Marisa and myself.

Robin -- We are getting excited for the next Harry Potter movie here too. I hope it is busy down there this year.

Cannot wait! The kids want to plan a road trip to RI to see it on that humongous screen!

I am not sure about dinner tonight. Buddy is going with Donny and Dan for tuxes so I may just have leftovers. We have plenty in the fridge.

BBL!

 

[TigerKat]

Good morning, quick fly by to say I may not be on the computer much this week because my employee is on vacation and I'll be extra busy.

WFD - Leftovers from yesterday.

 

[HERSEY]

WFD is leftovers.

The beer can chicken and ribs turned out really good. I may grill some veggies and make a salad out of the chicken leftovers.

NancyWe put on so much bug spray I don't think the bugs could have gotten with in a 20 mile radius. Good luck to you and Marisa on your diets

Princess Since that sauce is a glaze I am not sure about the chocolate is might get bitter.

I so want to crawl back in bed. The neighborhood was extra active with the firecrackers. I am so glad someone has the money to buy those things

 

[Nancyg56]

Janice- my sister and her DH always had a 4th of July party. It started as a birthday party for Gail but every year it expanded and always ended with a little fireworks display. Well the fireworks display turned into the highlight for Mike and Donny. They always planned the display together and my "frugal" (read that as "cheap") son would go on the fireworks gathering expedition and open his wallet to pay for the finale. It was their thing. I missed last's year extravaganza but Donny told me he was going to go bigger and could not wait for the annual road trip with Mike.

This year it was a silent year, Gail took her DMIL and two of Mike's cousins to Niagara Falls so she would not be home and Donny was wishing he could pry open that wallet

 

[liamsaunt]

Hello! I hope everyone enjoyed thier weekend. It is incredibly hot here today. Luckily I don't have to cook. My mom gave me some cold fried chicken, potato salad, and cole slaw to have for dinner tonight.

 

[liamsaunt]

I didn't get to finish my last message.
Glynis, I hope you are able to stay cool and that the AC is fixed completely tomorrow!
Princess, nice pictures. Your son is very cute.

Here are pictures from the weekend. The massaged kale salad was defnitely interesting. I think next time I would use a little less honey in the dressing. Note that I took the picture before adding the pepitas for some reason:

This is a picture of fresh fava beans with ricotta salata. I got four pounds of favas in my CSA box last week. It was kind of a pain to deal with --each bean has to be individually peeled--but the flavor was incredible. John and Laura helped me peel them so it went fairly quickly:

the cod cheeks Laura mentioned:

Adult beverage time! Mango-cucumber wine coolers (recipe from current Bon Appetit):

Dessert! Strawberry-blueberry lime curd tart:

 

[Nancyg56]

Becky- I have to avoid alcohol on this diet (it was the reason I took so long to decide to try it.no wine makes me grumpy!) but would you share the recipe for the wine coolers?

 

[EJ4Disney]

Hi everyone!! I hope you all had a great 4th.

Glynis ~ I am so hoping you get the AC fixed real soon. I do NOT do hot!! AT ALL!! My family knows that if Momma gets hot all he** breaks loose. So they keep me pretty cool most of the time.

Princes ~ I loved the pictures of DS and the exhibt. Looked like a lot of fun.

Nan ~ good luck on the diet.

Wow, we had a late night. The town fireworks didn't even start until 10:30. So it was after midnight before we got home. I am a bit tired today. I guess I should have taken today off to.

Today is the BIG day!! Elizabeth and Jay should find out what they are having. I want a little girl but Ethan wants a boy - we shall see who is right. She is thinking of doing a reveal party. I guess the doctor writes the sex on a piece of paper and seals it in an envelope. Then Elizabeth will take it to the bakery and they will bake a cake either blue or pink. It is totally frosted so you won't know until you cut into it. Her birthday is July 28, so she is thinking of doing it then. Kind of a neat way to do it - but I really want to know today.

WFDT ~ BBQ spare ribs (on the grill) baked potatoes and pasta salad.

Make it a great day everyone!!!

 

[bigmerle1966]

Ellen, that sounds like a great way to reveal it.

I am so ticked, they found Cassie Anthony not guilty!

 

[Aimeedyan]

Hey friends! BUSY week this week but I'm blowing through my to-do list fairly quickly so far.

Tonight I'm trying my hand at crepes - I've never made them before but they look easy enough? I'm doing some fresh veggie crepes to go alongside grilled chicken. Another Pinterest recipe I found. While they suggest serving it with a salad, I knew DH would have a cow if I didn't add some protein to the mix!

I made a few great dishes lately and I'm behind on updating my blog. I'm trying to have enough content to update once a day and not overwhelm it with updates but now I have a backlog! I'll post them in the second post.

And can I just say something about the Casey Anthony case? I'm surprised - as I think most of us are - about the verdict. However, some of the most outspoken friends I have about this verdict are also the same people who will do anything to get out of jury duty. Many are stay at home moms or moms with young kids. All of them get an exemption when their number is called. I just can't help thinking that if a few moms were on that jury, perhaps the verdict might have been different. And maybe there were young moms on the jury, I don't know, but I sorta doubt it. I'd like to say 'the next time you get called for jury duty, think twice before getting out of it. we need people like YOU on our jury's. esp when children are involved.' rant over.

 

[Rogue26]

I didn't know they reached a verdict until I came here. I'm sure everyone on that jury know in their hearts she is guilty, they just can't prove it 100%.

Aimee- Around here having young kids doesn't get you out of jury duty. Good luck with the crepes!

Ellen- July 28 is so far away, I hope you find out today!

Princess- I make a macaroni salad with elbow macaroni, diced onion, tuna, and mayo. My husband thought I was pretty weird the first time I made it, but I grew up with it. I call it macaroni salad if it has mayo, pasta salad if it's with a vinagrette. I loved the lego pictures, and your never to old for legos.

Kathy- I have some frozen artichokes, do you think I could skip the part where you boil them and just continue with the recipe?

Laura- It is sooo busy here. Last year was so crowded I was nervous people would pick somewhere else to go for vacation. It is so crowded I really don't know how it could be enjoyable. The grocery store is really awful though, it takes me at least twice as long to get my shopping done.

I'm not really sure what's for dinner, I did some shopping today but mostly got thing for my kiddo's birthday party. I forgot about dinner (again).

 

[TigerKat]

Quick fly by, was hoping for an update on Lauri's Dad. I am sick to my stomach over the verdict.

 

[Nancyg56]

E

I am so ticked, they found Cassie Anthony not guilty!

Me too.

I am sick to my stomach over the verdict.

No justice for babies