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

[PrincessInOz]

Hello Ladies! :wave1:

Princess has been suggesting that I join in on this thread for some time now. I love to cook and have been doing so since I was a child. My cooking skills really took off in college as I was dirt poor but loved to eat on a champagne budget! I learned to recreate a lot of fancy restaurant meals at home on my meager budget. Over the years my cooking has evolved. Whereas I started out making fancy small portions, since meeting my spouse about 15 years ago, I have been introduced to what I call "large meat" and American Comfort Food while also expanding my international food tastes.

I have a Turkey in the oven as I type and that's dinner for tonight along with Gravy, Green Beans and a Dinner Salad.

I read the last few pages and I'm already excited to try the Balsamic Chicken. I have something I call Balsamic Chicken, but it's much more simple.

Anyways, I hope I can share in some of the fun and dinner!

You made it! I see you are already talking Turkey....

Are introductions in order??? Oh well.....

PrincessInOz - usually living in a different timezone and gravity field. I own a wok, numerous pots and pans and a camera. No crock (pot or otherwise) ... okay, maybe sometimes!. Food porn is always guaranteed, good, bad or indifferent; and then some. Here to cook....and LAST.


And ladies.....I humbly beg your apology and indulgence now (just remember that I did this up front in the future). Alison and I....tend to work on tangents in our conversation. I think I've been mostly 'clean and polite....til now.

 

[Goofyluver]

I just got in from the rehearsal dinner. It was lovely. Maybe 30 of us for a great meal. I made Malbec and a Voigner to give as gifts and also had some sparkling cider. I will take some pics and post on FB ( I can now that i have the fancy new phone )

For Anna's gift from me, I rented the B&B for her family and bridal party. Lorraine will take good care of them. The happy couple will spend Saturday night there and when I suggested that Donny check for Sunday night openings Lorraine invited them to stay as her gift. SHe took so much off of my shoulders today, even packing food up for Buddy and the boys tomorrow. I am not sure I will check in, I am a bit scattered btu will catch up on SUnday.

I'm glad things are going well!

You made it! I see you are already talking Turkey....

Are introductions in order??? Oh well.....

PrincessInOz - usually living in a different timezone and gravity field. I own a wok, numerous pots and pans and a camera. No crock (pot or otherwise) ... okay, maybe sometimes!. Food porn is always guaranteed, good, bad or indifferent; and then some. Here to cook....and LAST.


And ladies.....I humbly beg your apology and indulgence now (just remember that I did this up front in the future). Alison and I....tend to work on tangents in our conversation. I think I've been mostly 'clean and polite....til now.

Ohhhhh nooooooo!

But this is the one place I try to behave!

Wait...what do we mean by "NOT clean and polite"?

 

[PrincessInOz]

I'm glad things are going well!



Ohhhhh nooooooo!

But this is the one place I try to behave!

Wait...what do we mean by "NOT clean and polite"?

What's that tag???





Toilet paper is dangerous.....(or lack there of)....


As I've recently said on another thread, snarkiness gets you tags...niceness makes you friends.



In keeping with the niceness and supportiveness of this thread, I'll try and behave (most of the time).

 

[Goofyluver]

What's that tag???





Toilet paper is dangerous.....(or lack there of)....


As I've recently said on another thread, snarkiness gets you tags...niceness makes you friends.



In keeping with the niceness and supportiveness of this thread, I'll try and behave (most of the time).

I'm in for whatever.

And "Toilet paper is dangerous"...

I once broke my nose reaching for the toilet paper when it fell off the sink. I smacked my face on the edge of the counter. I wish it was snarky. Instead, it was just me being clumsy. Of course, that was only nose-break 1 out of 4.

 

[PrincessInOz]

I'm in for whatever.

And "Toilet paper is dangerous"...

I once broke my nose reaching for the toilet paper when it fell off the sink. I smacked my face on the edge of the counter. I wish it was snarky. Instead, it was just me being clumsy. Of course, that was only nose-break 1 out of 4.

I can tell you're a Fast learner!


Speaking of clean, I better get on with my cleaning. DH is on his way home....I need to make sure the house is the model of domesticity when he returns.

 

[franandaj]

Nancy - enjoy your fabulous wedding weekend! I hope everything goes off as planned and you have a wonderful time!

Jen / PIO - The turkey was really yummy! I made Green Beans and Gravy, the leftover gravy will be for Sunday night when I serve the rest of the bird to members of our Swing Band after rehearsal Sunday night.

I'm sipping the last of my wine while enjoying my triptophan high!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Nancy - Enjoy the wedding. I'm glad you're checking in....but really....go enjoy the wedding. Will we see photos of you?


Alison - I look forward to PICTURES!!!!


Jen - This is the one place I behave too.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Blueberry Muffins


This is another item that my son likes in his lunchbox, for morning tea. I only made a ½ batch this week…normally I would double all ingredients. This recipe yielded 10 small to medium sized muffins. A full batch would make 10 large Texas sized muffins!

My starting ingredients:

• Butter, ¼ cup
• Sugar, ¼ cup
• Egg, 1
• Milk, ½ cup
• Lemon juice, ⅛ cup
• Blueberries, 100 – 150 g fresh
• Self-raising flour, 1¼ cup

Preheat oven to 200 C.

Add the lemon juice to the milk (Yes, the milk will curdle).

Cream softened butter with the sugar.

When light and fluffy, beat in the egg….

….and then the milk.

Fold the flour into the mixture. I don’t sift my flour for muffins. I find it needs to be slightly lumpy to give it muffin texture.

Add the blueberries and gently fold them into the mixture. You can use frozen or tinned blueberries instead of fresh.

Place a little muffin mix into a muffin pan. I’ve used muffin cases to line my muffin pan, eliminating the need to grease the pan beforehand.

Bake for 20 – 25 minutes until golden brown.

Allow to cool on a baking rack. Enjoy!

 

[PrincessInOz]

It's Saturday night over here and at time of writing, I'm guessing that DH is somewhere over Tahiti by now and on his way home.

Life with DH continues as normal...with the chauffer activities, school work, activities, cooking and cleaning, cats....as life does with or without a partner. DS and I have survived the week together, without killing each other, and not too surprisingly enjoying our time together. The family unit is strong albeit the long distance absence of one member. We've gotten to the end of the week and both DS and I are really looking forward to the homecoming tomorrow.

And I know I've gotten 'goodies". Today, I got an urgent message from our bank asking me to call back. Turns out they were checking if the unusual spending on our credit card in America was real or fraudulent. I don't know if the American banks do the same sort of monitoring; but the Aussie banks...or the bank we bank with....do. I asked where and how much was being spent. Judging by the amount spent in Best Buys, I'm pretty certain that aside from the leather briefcase, I'm getting a new macro lens for my camera.

Is that sad that I'm more excited about (the soon-to-be) my new lens than the briefcase?
Once upon a time, I would have been tapdancing on the ceiling if DH went to look for clothes in Banana Republic for me.


WFDT? Before the pesca-vegetarian comes home, DS and I split a steak, with mushroom gravy, vegetables and potato dauphinoise. Yes, I have food porn...together with the banana cake that I've made today. Better head off to unpack them and upload into Photobucket!

Have a great day all.

 

[HERSEY]

Good morning! I see we have a new friend, Hi Allison.

I am Janice with a 16 yr old turkey aka Mr A. Mr are meat lovers here, big meat little meat any meat. Of course we eat most anything though.

Princess those blueberry muffins look good. I have blueberries

Last night I made some pumpkin spice syrup and huddled up to a hot mug of coffee. We are in a cold snap here and I am not liking it. I refuse to put my furnance on in Sept.

WFD is beef stew I think I am going to splurge and dig up my recipe from Tyler Florence's beef stew. It calls for Cabernet and I don't have cheap taste when it comes to wine.

 

[Goofyluver]

Nancy - enjoy your fabulous wedding weekend! I hope everything goes off as planned and you have a wonderful time!

Jen / PIO - The turkey was really yummy! I made Green Beans and Gravy, the leftover gravy will be for Sunday night when I serve the rest of the bird to members of our Swing Band after rehearsal Sunday night.

I'm sipping the last of my wine while enjoying my triptophan high!

It took me a while to decipher with PIO meant. I couldn't figure out exactly what you were calling me.

Glad the turkey did y'all well.

And...ummm...swing band????

And I know I've gotten 'goodies". Today, I got an urgent message from our bank asking me to call back. Turns out they were checking if the unusual spending on our credit card in America was real or fraudulent. I don't know if the American banks do the same sort of monitoring; but the Aussie banks...or the bank we bank with....do. I asked where and how much was being spent. Judging by the amount spent in Best Buys, I'm pretty certain that aside from the leather briefcase, I'm getting a new macro lens for my camera.

Is that sad that I'm more excited about (the soon-to-be) my new lens than the briefcase?
Once upon a time, I would have been tapdancing on the ceiling if DH went to look for clothes in Banana Republic for me.


WFDT? Before the pesca-vegetarian comes home, DS and I split a steak, with mushroom gravy, vegetables and potato dauphinoise. Yes, I have food porn...together with the banana cake that I've made today. Better head off to unpack them and upload into Photobucket!

Have a great day all.

Honey, what once I relished, now I don't. Where once I drooled over shoes and clothes, now I covet the latest cooking appliance or cell phone doodad. So, I'm with ya'.

Glad the pesca-vegetarian is coming home....and with gifts to boot! Enjoy your steak.

Last night I made some pumpkin spice syrup and huddled up to a hot mug of coffee. We are in a cold snap here and I am not liking it. I refuse to put my furnance on in Sept.

WFD is beef stew I think I am going to splurge and dig up my recipe from Tyler Florence's beef stew. It calls for Cabernet and I don't have cheap taste when it comes to wine.

We're in a cold snap too. It's only supposed to get up to the high 80's or low 90's for the next few days. Although...it rained for about 10 minutes last night!!!! We stood on the front porch and I reached my hand out and touched it to remember what it felt like. It's cloudy right now. I hope we get more!

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

It's Saturday.

Tooter woke me up by rubbing all over me. She was requesting a good pet.

Today is snack day in the UncleR/G-Luv house. We're having cucumber sammies, tuna sammies, Aimee's sinful bites of joy/cocktail weinies, and some pastry wrapped green olive bites.

We do snack days every once in a while. They're my fav. I'll post recipes and pics later.

Hope everyone has a wonderful rest of your weekend!

 

[TigerKat]

I'm Alison, but sometimes people call me AJ too!

Welcome to our thread!!!

I'm Kathy, married to Johnny, mother of Kyle and food & wine junkie!

I just got in from the rehearsal dinner. It was lovely. Maybe 30 of us for a great meal. I made Malbec and a Voigner to give as gifts and also had some sparkling cider. I will take some pics and post on FB ( I can now that i have the fancy new phone )

For Anna's gift from me, I rented the B&B for her family and bridal party. Lorraine will take good care of them. The happy couple will spend Saturday night there and when I suggested that Donny check for Sunday night openings Lorraine invited them to stay as her gift. SHe took so much off of my shoulders today, even packing food up for Buddy and the boys tomorrow. I am not sure I will check in, I am a bit scattered btu will catch up on SUnday.

Sounds like everything is going great. Enjoy, my friend. Can't wait to see the pics! (I still don't know how to use the stupid camera on my smart phone)

And ladies.....I humbly beg your apology and indulgence now (just remember that I did this up front in the future). Alison and I....tend to work on tangents in our conversation. I think I've been mostly 'clean and polite....til now.

Sounds like you've been holding back on us woman!

I'm in for whatever.

And "Toilet paper is dangerous"...

I once broke my nose reaching for the toilet paper when it fell off the sink. I smacked my face on the edge of the counter. I wish it was snarky. Instead, it was just me being clumsy. Of course, that was only nose-break 1 out of 4.

You have me .

WFD - Boiled shrimp with corn, potatoes, smoked sausages and garlic.

 

[Glynis]

Morning, all. Our plans last night changed dramatically! We got hit with a HUGE thunderstorm, which cancelled the father's/son's campout. Seriously, who wants to camp in 4 inches of mud??? So, Alan and I went out to dinner, instead! Cafe Zupas! I had yummy cauliflower soup and a Thai peanut salad. Alan had Tortilla soup and pesto chicken sandwich. The kids fended for themselves!

Today, we are cleaning the basement. I'm just taking a break to say hi! Then, the twins are off to a birthday party, Katie and I are going to the second showing of the concert we were supposed to go to last night, and Jacob and Alan will watch the big rivalry football game here at the house with Timothy. Dinner will be snacky type things for the football guys, and Katie and I will have BLAT's.

Allison - Hi!! Welcome to our family! I'm Glynis, a SAHM mom to 5 kids ranging in age from 14 to almost 3. Looking forward to getting to know you!

Princess - I'm glad your DH is on his way, gifts in hand!!!

Nancy - Enjoy the wedding!!! I can't wait to see the pictures!

Kathy - Anything fun on the weekend agenda?

Make it a great day, everyone! I'm back to the basement to talk my kids out of keeping the broken fooseball table!

 

[HERSEY]

I am taking a break from my fall cleaning. I love a clean house, too bad all my friends are out.

I am washing curtains now. The floors and windows are washed. I have to run to the store and get some more cleaning supplies.

Jen I heard you had some rain. Some parts more than others it seems. I suppose you and Uncle R did not do the raindance.

 

[Goofyluver]

I am taking a break from my fall cleaning. I love a clean house, too bad all my friends are out.

I am washing curtains now. The floors and windows are washed. I have to run to the store and get some more cleaning supplies.

Jen I heard you had some rain. Some parts more than others it seems. I suppose you and Uncle R did not do the raindance.

It only rained for 10 minutes. And nooooo...I didn't do the rain dance...but UncleR did.

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

So, we're stuffed from our "snack day".

I made:

Egg salad sammies
Tuna sammies
Cucumber sammies
Aimee's Sinful Bites of Joy
Olive Pastry Bites

Olive Bites

Ingredients

1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup grated Cheddar
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
20 olives stuffed with pimientos

Directions

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour and butter until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Mix in the Cheddar and Parmesan and knead lightly to combine. Form the mixture into a disk. Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Unwrap the dough, take a small piece and cover an olive, making sure the pastry surrounds the olive and there are no gaps. Flour your hands and roll the olive-encased pastry into a ball; put it on an ungreased baking sheet. Repeat the process with the remaining pastry and olives. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. (Can be made a day ahead and held in the refrigerator.)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Put the baking sheets on the middle shelf of the oven and bake until the pastries are light golden, about 10 minutes. Remove the bites from the oven and arrange on a serving platter.

Tuna and egg salad sammies.

Cucumber Sandwiches

Ingredients:

2 packages softened cream cheese
1 package dry italian dressing
1 large or 2 small cucumbers
Rye bread (or whatever bread you want to use)

Mix the cream cheese and italian dressing and let sit for at least a few hours. Peel and slice cucs thin. Spread cream cheese mix on bread and top with cucs.

Aimee's Sinful Bites of Joy





Aimee...those were so easy and delicious! I'm thinking of taking them for our next luncheon at work. How do you serve yours if you're taking them somewhere? Do you remove them from the pan and put them on a serving dish?

Our bellies are full and happy. Hope everyone's having a wonderful weekend!

 

[TigerKat]

Morning, all. Our plans last night changed dramatically! We got hit with a HUGE thunderstorm, which cancelled the father's/son's campout. Seriously, who wants to camp in 4 inches of mud??? So, Alan and I went out to dinner, instead! Cafe Zupas! I had yummy cauliflower soup and a Thai peanut salad. Alan had Tortilla soup and pesto chicken sandwich. The kids fended for themselves!

Kathy - Anything fun on the weekend agenda?

I'm sorry the thunderstorm ruined all of the plans y'all had.

Unfortunately, nothing fun here lately. Having to buy a new TV and $2000 in truck repairs leaves not much $$$ for fun but we'll make up for it in 33 days at F&W!!!!

 

[TigerKat]

Princess – You are a very lucky lady to have such a thoughtful DH!

Jen – I love the “snack day” idea! Your pics are great, thanks for sharing!

Janice – Want to come clean my house?

 

[PrincessInOz]

Mornin' everyone.


I think DH's plane lands in about 10 minutes.

Sounds like everyone has a full weekend this weekend.

Jen - love the food porn. Snack day sounds great! Maybe I need to have one of those in my food schedule.

Kat - Only 33 days before you feed your Food and Wine addiction. I'll be counting down with you.


We are heading out today to the Taste of Melbourne festival. Just waiting to see how DH goes through customs before deciding whether to meet him there or to wait for him to come home.
I have no idea if I'll have any porn worthy shots today....we'll have to see how it goes.

We had tix for last year's event; but I was real sick with the cough and cold and couldn't go. Looking forward to making up for the lost experience today!


Have a great day all.

 

[Aimeedyan]

Hello Ladies! :wave1:

Princess has been suggesting that I join in on this thread for some time now.

Welcome!

And to the rest of you...today has been quite a day! I'll leave it at that. I'm about to settle down with a nice bloody mary to dull the pain from the week.

I just got in from the rehearsal dinner. It was lovely. Maybe 30 of us for a great meal. I made Malbec and a Voigner to give as gifts and also had some sparkling cider. I will take some pics and post on FB ( I can now that i have the fancy new phone )

For Anna's gift from me, I rented the B&B for her family and bridal party. Lorraine will take good care of them. The happy couple will spend Saturday night there and when I suggested that Donny check for Sunday night openings Lorraine invited them to stay as her gift. SHe took so much off of my shoulders today, even packing food up for Buddy and the boys tomorrow. I am not sure I will check in, I am a bit scattered btu will catch up on SUnday.

Nancy I'm so glad things are going well!! I can't wait to see pics from the weekend!

And I know I've gotten 'goodies". Today, I got an urgent message from our bank asking me to call back. Turns out they were checking if the unusual spending on our credit card in America was real or fraudulent. I don't know if the American banks do the same sort of monitoring; but the Aussie banks...or the bank we bank with....do. I asked where and how much was being spent. Judging by the amount spent in Best Buys, I'm pretty certain that aside from the leather briefcase, I'm getting a new macro lens for my camera.

Is that sad that I'm more excited about (the soon-to-be) my new lens than the briefcase?
Once upon a time, I would have been tapdancing on the ceiling if DH went to look for clothes in Banana Republic for me.

Awesome that you got a head's up on the goodies coming your way!

We're in a cold snap too. It's only supposed to get up to the high 80's or low 90's for the next few days. Although...it rained for about 10 minutes last night!!!! We stood on the front porch and I reached my hand out and touched it to remember what it felt like. It's cloudy right now. I hope we get more!

Oh, it rained GOOD here for a few hours last night! It was amazing. AMAZING. Thunder and lightening, too! Nephews football game was even canceled. I'm sorry it didn't get any further south, though. Y'all need it badly, too.

Aimee...those were so easy and delicious! I'm thinking of taking them for our next luncheon at work. How do you serve yours if you're taking them somewhere? Do you remove them from the pan and put them on a serving dish?

Our bellies are full and happy. Hope everyone's having a wonderful weekend!

Man, your goodies sound delicious! I have tried to remove them to serve but they are super sticky and messy. So, now I just make them for people that will dig them straight out of the pan and lick their fingers clean




I refused to spend my whole birthday at home so we ventured out to see The Help, finally - oh man, I loved it. So glad I caught it before it left the theaters. May have to reread it now! We ate lunch there at the movie theater and then hit Costco. I'm beat and now resting a bit.

Tonight we're going out for sushi.

 

[TigerKat]

Aimee - I'm so glad you were feeling well enough to venture out for a while for your birthday!