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

[Goofyluver]

Jen – I really like your date night in idea!

I love date nights in. Unplugging is the key!

First, I'm so sorry you didn't get any rain! BOO!!!

Second, though the recipe was a flop, your food pic looks fantastic!!

That wasn't my picture.

Good Morning!

My computer is acting up so I am very spotty here. I have been able to read but until Donny comes to fix this mess

Dinner was baked pork chops, mashed potatoes and gravy, squash casserole, cucumber and onion salad and peach crumb pie and Italian cookies for dessert. Yup- I jumped off of the diet train yesterday.

Jen- how are you feeling?


I have food network star on my DVR and will watch it later this morning. I think I want Susie but I bet they all will have a show, no matter who wins!

So Buddy got most of our crop in this weekend. We started Friday and got all but one little block done on Sunday. That piece was not ready.IT was hectic!

Tired and a titch bit sore, but I survived the day! I may, or may not, have nodded off a bit during convocation.

We're watching food network star tonight! I accidentally on purpose saw who won though. Let me know what you think of the result!

Y'all are killing me with the duck talk and duck pics...I LOVE duck!!!!!

We'll be taking off work tomorrow so we can get up at 5:30 am to be ready to call & book our F&W events at 6. We have our landline and two cells ready on speed dial. We'll be on live chat with Sheryl & Bob on facebook since we're booking the same events, so whoever gets through first can start booking. It's crazy what we'll do for good food & booze!

How exciting! I hope to get there someday!

Too bad we can't truck the rain waters to other parts of the country. Figure out a way to collect it as it falls and send it out. We got so much this weekend and it has rained again today. Some places here in MD got 7 inches on Saturday alone.

The broken down sloppy joe's looked good to me. One of my favorite dishes when I was younger was Manwhich sloppy joes on spaghetti. Haven't had that in more than a decade.

I love sloppy joe's!!!

These were not sloppy joe's.

Jen ~ I hope your first day of work goes smoothly and painfree. I will be thinking of you today.

We had a really fun weekend. Saturday I cleaned house all day - it felt so good. Doug was in a golf tournament and there was a dinner at the Country Club after, so that was fun. But I must have overdone it, because around 9:00 I was fading fast. So we called it an early night.

Sunday the girls and I put 28 quarts of corn up. We had so much fun, but the total conversation was about babies - Imagine that. I pretty much just listened - it was a blast. The guys got done golfing around 4 and fired up the gril. We ended up with everyone there except Matthew. Oh the fun we had and the conversation never lulled. These are my absolute favorite times.

Guess what????? Doug is going to Zumba with me tonight!! I can't wait. He has said he would for months now and tonight is the night. I have a friend whos husband is going also, so since there will be another guy, Doug said he will go to. They both have decided tonight is the night. I will let you know how it goes.

WFDT ~ Something real light after class - I am thinking Chicken salad stuffed tomatoes, crackers and sun tea.

Make it a great day everyone.

I hope you took pictures of Zumba.

And thank you for the thoughts.

Day 1 of back to school clothes shopping is done! Katie has enough clothes, now, to get through most of the fall. We'll have to do more in the winter, but I'm ok with waiting until then. We did have a hectic time, but it was nice. I'm exhausted, though!

Dinner tonight will be a recipe I found on Pinterest... cheesy chicken spaghetti.

Kat and Sheryl - Good luck with the booking tomorrow morning! I hope you get everything you want!

Jen - I hope your first day back went well!

Ellen - I can't wait to hear what Doug has to say about Zumba!

Laura and Becky - WELCOME BACK!!! I'm so glad the kids had a good time! I don't know about the Caribbean over Disney, though. Guess I'll have to check out the Caribbean sometime so I can make an accurate report!

Have a great evening everyone!

It did go well. I'm exhausted, but happy to be back doing what I love again.

School clothes shopping......glad you survived!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last night's dinner ended up being loaded mashed potatoes. That's it. Sometimes, you just need comforting foods for dinner.

Today went great at work. I took it easy. I'm very tired, but I feel wonderful. It was nice being back at work. I got my caseload of kids for the year, and I'm going to be in middle school! I like the younger ones, so I need to adjust my way of thinking for these older kids. But, I'm excited!!!

Tonight's dinner, made by UncleR, was potato pancakes. I love potato pancakes.

Tomorrow, I'm making stroganoff. Let's see if I have the energy.

Missed everyone today. Hope your day was wonderful!

 

[Glynis]

School clothes shopping......glad you survived!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last night's dinner ended up being loaded mashed potatoes. That's it. Sometimes, you just need comforting foods for dinner.

Tonight's dinner, made by UncleR, was potato pancakes. I love potato pancakes.

Tomorrow, I'm making stroganoff. Let's see if I have the energy.

Missed everyone today. Hope your day was wonderful!

Glad to hear your day went well.

I love shopping with my son and my twins! They haven't developed any attitude about it, yet. However, shopping with a 14 year old girl, who is not the stick figure that all her friends are, is a bit hard. I told her that she should be grateful for her curves. There's not much she can do about them, so she just needs to accept them. Sigh! 14 is so hard!

Do you eat your potato pancakes with applesauce or sour cream? I have a neighbor who introduced me to them, and she loves them with applesauce. I have always had them with sour cream, so the applesauce was a new experience for me.

 

[Goofyluver]

Glad to hear your day went well.

I love shopping with my son and my twins! They haven't developed any attitude about it, yet. However, shopping with a 14 year old girl, who is not the stick figure that all her friends are, is a bit hard. I told her that she should be grateful for her curves. There's not much she can do about them, so she just needs to accept them. Sigh! 14 is so hard!

Do you eat your potato pancakes with applesauce or sour cream? I have a neighbor who introduced me to them, and she loves them with applesauce. I have always had them with sour cream, so the applesauce was a new experience for me.

I think I just hate shopping. And you're right, 14 is a rough age.

I love applesauce with my potato pancakes. That comes from my mother. She's Jewish, and during Passover, etc. when we would eat traditional dishes, applesauce is what is offered with the latkes.

But, we didn't have applesauce tonight. So, I used sour cream.

UncleR likes hers with syrup, which I had never seen before I fell in love with her. I tasted it though, and it's pretty good. But, I'd still rather have sour cream or applesauce.

They were delish!

 

[Aimeedyan]

Hello, Laura and I are back! We got in at 2:30 AM yesterday morning. It was a fantastic vacation. The kids told me they don't want to go to Disney anymore, they want to go back to the Caribbean again instead!

I am just going to jump back in since we were gone for so long. We tried to check in here but our house's internet connection was horrible! We could not get on the DIS at all. Posting a photo to facebook took 14 hours to load! And I could see my newsfeed but not respond to anything on it unless I was using John's iphone (my iphone didn't work down there since I have Verizon).

I hope you all have been well!

WFD: oven bbq chicken, corn on the cob, and tomato salad.

Yay! SO glad y'all had a great trip - I'm so jealous!!! Sounds wonderful. You both have been missed!



I'm sure I missed something... I'm sorry. I was tapped to serve on a national steering committee for a huge convention this next summer and they are meeting three days this week. SO. I worked in the office for an hour and ran to meetings until 8pm tonight. Tomorrow I get to repeat it It really is a great exp to be a part of it but just a bad week workwise to squish it all in.

I ate with the committee at the hotel. It was okay.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Princess- your pics make my mouth water. I saw you were taking a tour yesterday...had fun?

Yes I did. It was nice to have an afternoon messing about with other photonuts. If I had one complaint....it wasn't long enough!

Y'all are killing me with the duck talk and duck pics...I LOVE duck!!!!!

Me too. Now....if only they would make a dessert with duck....!

Guess what????? Doug is going to Zumba with me tonight!! I can't wait. He has said he would for months now and tonight is the night. I have a friend whos husband is going also, so since there will be another guy, Doug said he will go to. They both have decided tonight is the night. I will let you know how it goes.

Ellen - sounds like you had a great weekend. How did Zumba class go?

Hello, Laura and I are back!

Welcome back - both of you. Now I'm going to be sorry that I'm not on FB. Bet your pictures are great!

Day 1 of back to school clothes shopping is done! Katie has enough clothes, now, to get through most of the fall. We'll have to do more in the winter, but I'm ok with waiting until then. We did have a hectic time, but it was nice. I'm exhausted, though!

Back to school routine. Will this mean that you'll have more time in between drop off and pick up for yourself?

We are going tomorrow to get the boys school shoes.
He is going into P7 and he says they are allowed to wear training shoes ( sneakers)........I dont think so.


The boy was at a big breakin comp this weekend, he wasnt competing because he had not trained for so long with his sore foot.
He did get to meet and spend some more time with his new crew.
I also got to know them better,its one thing knowing they are good dancers ,but to trust them with ma boy I had to make sure they were good lads.
I dont need to worry,they are great guys.
The guy we spent most time with is from Paris and he made the boy feel so welcome,he even gave him his crew sweatshirt....the boy was sooooo hyped.

Its the boys last week of holidays so Colin and I have taken the week off.
The boy is at a breakin summer school in the mornings but we have plans for the afternoons.

Hope the weather is good,it has rain lots this summer...fingers crossed.

Hope the boy's foot gets better soon. Enjoy your week off.

Today went great at work. I took it easy. I'm very tired, but I feel wonderful. It was nice being back at work. I got my caseload of kids for the year, and I'm going to be in middle school! I like the younger ones, so I need to adjust my way of thinking for these older kids. But, I'm excited!!!

Back to school for you too. Does this mean you'll have LESS time for you between drop off and pick up??




It's Tuesday night here. DH put on baked potatoes for dinner tonight.

It's over to mum for dinner tomorrow night.

 

[TigerKat]

Good morning!

Laura – I’m so happy you and the kids had such a great time, welcome back!

Jen – I am thrilled Jeff won. I think Suzy & Vic will also have a future on the food network! Glad to hear your first day back at work went well.

Sheryl got in right at 6:00 this morning and booked us for all of the events we wanted for Food & Wine. We're so excited!!!!!!

WFD - Creamy Cajun chicken & pasta, green beans and a salad.

 

[EJ4Disney]

I'm sure I missed something... I'm sorry. I was tapped to serve on a national steering committee for a huge convention this next summer and they are meeting three days this week. SO. I worked in the office for an hour and ran to meetings until 8pm tonight. Tomorrow I get to repeat it It really is a great exp to be a part of it but just a bad week workwise to squish it all in.

I ate with the committee at the hotel. It was okay.

Good for you. I am sure you will totally enjoy it.

Good morning!
Sheryl got in right at 6:00 this morning and booked us for all of the events we wanted for Food & Wine. We're so excited!!!!!!

GREAT NEWS!!! Now I just wish I was coming!!

Becky & Laura ~ Welcome home!! You were so missed. I have always loved St Martin better than St. John, but seeing your pictures and hearing your stories I think I might change my mind. So glad you all had a great time. You SO deserved the time away.

Glynis ~ I also checked out your link. WOW that is a wonderful site and those roasted tomatoes look amazing. I can't wait to try them.
Would you please share your chicken spaghetti recipe? Sounds good.
Glad your shopping with Katie was fun.

Vic ~ enjoy your week with your boy? Sounds like fun.

Jen ~ glad your first day back was ok. I am with UncleR on the syrup on the potato pancakes. I guess you do what your Momma did, as she always served them with syrup.

And NO I didn't take pictures of Doug at Zumba - heck I didn't dare even look at him. He was in the corner behind me.


Well Doug didn't die last night at Zumba. Actually he said he enjoyed it. Was a bit lost, but says he wants to go back. So I will take that as a BIG victory.

The jungle didn't get mowed last night so tonight we HAVE to mow. YEA!!!!

WFDT ~ Eggplant lazagna, garlic bread sticks and a tomato mozzarella salad.

Make it a great day my friends.

 

[NOLAdisneymom]

Good morning!

Laura – I’m so happy you and the kids had such a great time, welcome back!

Jen – I am thrilled Jeff won. I think Suzy & Vic will also have a future on the food network! Glad to hear your first day back at work went well.

Sheryl got in right at 6:00 this morning and booked us for all of the events we wanted for Food & Wine. We're so excited!!!!!!

WFD - Creamy Cajun chicken & pasta, green beans and a salad.

You got a recipe to share for that Pasta??

 

[TigerKat]

You got a recipe to share for that Pasta??

Yep!

Creamy Cajun Chicken & Pasta

1 tsp. minced garlic
2 Tbsp. butter or margarine
12 oz. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/4 tsp. each onion powder, black pepper and white pepper
pinch of cayenne
1/3 c. chopped green onions
1 c. heavy cream (I use fat free half & half)
12 oz. angel hair pasta, cooked
2 Tbsp. chopped parsley
Freshly grated parmesan cheese

Saute garlic in butter over medium high heat for 1 minute. Stir in chicken and seasonings, cook until lightly browned. Stir in green onions and cook 3 minutes. Add cream, increase heat to high and boil until slightly thickened, about two minutes. Combine chicken mixture, pasta and parsley in large serving bowl and pass the parm!

 

[NOLAdisneymom]

Yep!

Creamy Cajun Chicken & Pasta

1 tsp. minced garlic
2 Tbsp. butter or margarine
12 oz. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/4 tsp. each onion powder, black pepper and white pepper
pinch of cayenne
1/3 c. chopped green onions
1 c. heavy cream (I use fat free half & half)
12 oz. angel hair pasta, cooked
2 Tbsp. chopped parsley
Freshly grated parmesan cheese

Saute garlic in butter over medium high heat for 1 minute. Stir in chicken and seasonings, cook until lightly browned. Stir in green onions and cook 3 minutes. Add cream, increase heat to high and boil until slightly thickened, about two minutes. Combine chicken mixture, pasta and parsley in large serving bowl and pass the parm!

Omg, yum! Going to make it this weekend!

 

[Rogue26]

Kathy- Your chicken recipe sounds similiar to my creamy ranch chicken, just different seasoning.

Ellen- Glad Doug had fun with you at zumba! Is eggplant lasagna the same as eggplant parm?

Kathy and Sheryl- Glad you all got the reservations you wanted! Food and wine is on my to do list some day, also the garden festival.

Princess- I'm not on facebook either, maybe some day. I'd love to share more of my life with my what's for dinner friends, but I'm still not sold on facebook.

Laura and Becky- Sorry your vacation had to come to an end, but it's good to have you back. Sounds like it was just what you all needed. Congrats to the kiddos on their swimming. My daughter isn't the best swimmer no matter how hard she tries, I'm sure all the awsome snorkling was a great incentive.

All right, I need to get some work done around the house. Okay, a lot of work. Leftovers for dinner, we have hotdogs, creamy ranch chicken, spaghetti and sausage- plenty of choices.

 

[shovan]

Morning Y'all,

It was an early one here! I'm going to be one tired Nana today. Well I already am & Jude hasn't arrived yet.

As I said to my F&W friends on fb:
"You must be a WDW foodie if you set your clock to wake at 0 hour, start dialing on 3 phones. Then feel super lucky & accomplished that Disney will allow you the pleasure of spending over $1000 to dine there!"

Welcome Home Laura & Becky!! So glad everyone had a great time!

Jen, Glad your day at work went well!

Ellen, I am shocked that Doug went to zumba & liked it!!

Kathy, We sure got lucky this morning!!

Alexis starts school tomorrow. She likes the teacher she has been assigned & is looking forward to it. I however am not! I am already tired from being up at 5 this morning. But she has been on the floor playing with Jude for over an hour! Going to miss my helper during the day!


Last night we just had salad topped with chicken. I still have leftovers from the barbecue this past weekend but I'm pretty tired of it. So we'll see.

 

[liamsaunt]

Do you eat your potato pancakes with applesauce or sour cream? I have a neighbor who introduced me to them, and she loves them with applesauce. I have always had them with sour cream, so the applesauce was a new experience for me.

I love them with applesauce AND sour cream together!

Sheryl got in right at 6:00 this morning and booked us for all of the events we wanted for Food & Wine. We're so excited!!!!!!

Awesome!!

I have always loved St Martin better than St. John

I can see that--the islands are really, really different. Do you visit Anguilla when you visit St. Maarten? I have been thinking about going there (Anguilla).

I completely bailed on making dinner last night and we just had BLTs. Still too tired from traveling, I think. So tonight is last night's planned grilled chicken, with the corn on the cob, and a wedge salad.

 

[TigerKat]

Angie - I hope y'all enjoy the Cajun pasta dish!

Elin – I wish you were joining us too, maybe next year.

Robin – I love leftover nights, you have a nice assortment there.

Sheryl – I was so happy that you got through this morning, after all the years you’ve watched the others get through, it must have felt good! I was a nervous wreck. I know you're going to miss your helper, I hope she has a great school year!

 

[Glynis]

Ellen - Here is the link for the chicken spaghetti. It was really good, but a bit more time consuming than I usually do. Next time, I'll just use a rotisserie chicken! http://www.mommyskitchen.net/2008/06/old-fashioned-chicken-spaghetti.html Let me know if the link doesn't work for you and I'll copy it out the old fashioned way!

Well, day 2 of back to school shopping is done! Today was Mary's turn. She's much easier to please than Katie! We really had a good time, and she got some cute stuff.

Kat and Sheryl - I'm glad you got all the things you wanted for your trip. I'm super jealous!

Princess - I certainly hope that with the start of school I'll have more time for me! That's the hope. I really need to reclaim this house! We've kind of let it fall apart this summer.

We have a man coming over on Friday morning to finally install our wood burning stove!!! I'm really excited!!! Once that's done, Alan can finish the whole project and I'll finally get my bannister back!!! Then, we need to do some furniture shopping to get stuff to go around the stove (think easy chairs, I think.).

No idea about dinner tonight. Something easy, though.

 

[Goofyluver]

Back to school for you too. Does this mean you'll have LESS time for you between drop off and pick up??

Just a bit.

Jen – I am thrilled Jeff won. I think Suzy & Vic will also have a future on the food network! Glad to hear your first day back at work went well.

Sheryl got in right at 6:00 this morning and booked us for all of the events we wanted for Food & Wine. We're so excited!!!!!!

WFD - Creamy Cajun chicken & pasta, green beans and a salad.

I'm so glad he won!!! We watched last night. His show starts this weekend, and we'll be watching.

And for getting all of your Food and Wine events!!!

Jen ~ glad your first day back was ok. I am with UncleR on the syrup on the potato pancakes. I guess you do what your Momma did, as she always served them with syrup.

And NO I didn't take pictures of Doug at Zumba - heck I didn't dare even look at him. He was in the corner behind me.


Well Doug didn't die last night at Zumba. Actually he said he enjoyed it. Was a bit lost, but says he wants to go back. So I will take that as a BIG victory.

The jungle didn't get mowed last night so tonight we HAVE to mow. YEA!!!!

WFDT ~ Eggplant lazagna, garlic bread sticks and a tomato mozzarella salad.

Make it a great day my friends.

Darn. And I was hoping for some pictures.

Glad everyone had a good time!

Morning Y'all,

It was an early one here! I'm going to be one tired Nana today. Well I already am & Jude hasn't arrived yet.

As I said to my F&W friends on fb:
"You must be a WDW foodie if you set your clock to wake at 0 hour, start dialing on 3 phones. Then feel super lucky & accomplished that Disney will allow you the pleasure of spending over $1000 to dine there!"

Welcome Home Laura & Becky!! So glad everyone had a great time!

Jen, Glad your day at work went well!

Ellen, I am shocked that Doug went to zumba & liked it!!

Kathy, We sure got lucky this morning!!

Alexis starts school tomorrow. She likes the teacher she has been assigned & is looking forward to it. I however am not! I am already tired from being up at 5 this morning. But she has been on the floor playing with Jude for over an hour! Going to miss my helper during the day!


Last night we just had salad topped with chicken. I still have leftovers from the barbecue this past weekend but I'm pretty tired of it. So we'll see.

Glad you got through and got all of your reservations!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2nd day of work is done. I'm home. Not as tired as yesterday, but still wanting to be back on summer hours.

Dinner tonight is on UncleR again. She's making homemade stir fry.

Hope everyone has had a wonderful Tuesday.

 

[bigmerle1966]

My daughter isn't the best swimmer no matter how hard she tries, I'm sure all the awsome snorkling was a great incentive.

How old is she? My sister started my oldest DN in swim team when she was 6 because she was afraid of the water and would freak out if her face got wet. Worked wonders.

Going to my Aunt's tonight to visit for a little while so I am not sure what is for dinner. They had crabs last night so maybe they will offer up some leftovers.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Kat and Sheryl - Congrats on your bookings at F&W. Something to consider. Aside from the $$$, Disney have worked out that most of us Disers like to think about eating our meals at least 180 days in advance. In true Disney service and style, they have most graciously allowed us the pleasure of being able to wake up at an ungodly hour so that we can go on line or ring up to book the Table Service restaurant of our choice at the 180 day advance mark. Such is the demand for this pleasure that it would seem that many of us have now taken to camping in front of our PCs or phones so that we can be the first transaction or call taken by the CMs in the rush to ensure that we get the restaurant and time of our choice.

Assuming that most Disers make the 180 day mark, this would mean that by the time we get to the restaurant, we would have spent at least the equivalent of
· 4,320 hours; or
· 259,200 minutes; or
· 15,522,000 seconds
salivating over a meal that we might not feel like eating by the time we get to the parks.

I don't know about you but I'm pretty sure that my tastebuds would be sick of tasting the meal for this amount of time.

These bud-tingling timeframes of course do not include any of the time that we may have spent in advance determining which menu and restaurant we would like to eat at and so the actual time it takes us to chew the fat of our meal may actually be longer!

Despite this, I would trade places with you ANYTIME during those 15,522,000 seconds to be heading to F&W at the World. Enjoy!



Ellen - Glad that Doug enjoyed Zumba.

Glynis - Have you got that time back yet? Or is it still another week to go?

Jen - Hope you settle into the routine quickly.

Merle - How were the leftover crabs, assuming you got some?

To everyone else - Happy Hump Day.




Hope to catch up tomorrow.

 

[TigerKat]

Glynis - I would love to have a wood burning stove, you are one lucky lady!

WFD - Pulled pork sandwiches, cole slaw and sweet potato fries.

 

[Rogue26]

Kathy- I love my wood stove, but I'm not sure that you need one! If it makes you feel better they make a pretty big mess.

Glynis- Even though wood stoves are messy, they are worth it. I didn't know you were still waiting to get yours installed. This will be our third winter with it and I'm pretty sure it's paid for it's self with the amount of money we've saved on oil. I should post a picture of our wood pile, it's pretty impressive.

Marilyn- My daughter just turned 11. She knows how to swim and loves being in the water, she just stinks at it. Considering where we live I'd like her to have stronger skills though. She's taken lessons at the local gym for a few years, but the teachers always change and they are never consistent. They touch on each type of stroke, but never stuck with one long enough to learn it.

Goofy- Glad the second day of work was a little easier.

Sheryl- Hope Alexis has a great first day of school. That poor kid is due for a great teacher and year.

Not sure on dinner tonight, I have to go to BJ's and Trader Joe's, so I'm sure I'll come up with something. Have a great day all.