What's For Dinner? - 2019

[maggiedemi]

If I had known that the other veggie burgers was cooked on the same grill I would not have gotten them

It makes me wonder how my veggie omelet was cooked on Tuesday at that diner. I wonder if they cook it where the bacon & sausage cooks? It's just common sense to cook meat separately from non-meat, at least in my mind.

For breakfast I had a pink lady apple with Stilton blue cheese from Aldi... Stilton is usually my favorite cheese, but this was fruit flavored- mango & ginger. I don't think I like fruit flavored cheese. It didn't really taste like cheese to me. It was fun to try though. I'll try anything once.

 

[rubysmama]

I think as more people become vegetarian/vegan and sue, or boycott, restaurants for not preparing their foods separate from meat, the restaurants will have no choice but to change the way their kitchens are set up. But right now, I try not to think about it, like all the other gross things that might happen to our food while it's being prepared that we don't know about.

What kind of peanut butter do you guys use? Is it the healthy natural type?

I just use Kraft Smooth, which unfortunately has hydrogenated vegetable oil. This has me thinking though, and I my next peanut butter will be the all natural kind, just to see what it's like. I've had the all natural almond butter, though, and didn't love it.

Those look like little balls of veggie burgers. Is that what they taste like?

Not really sure what they taste like. Different from other veggie burgers/veggie balls. I like them though.

 

[maggiedemi]

I had my usual veggie sandwich for lunch. This bread doesn't say whole grains, but it does have whole wheat in it. Sara Lee Artesano Golden Wheat bread. It's not as big as I like and my sandwich fell apart.

Tomato, Lettuce, Hard Boiled Egg, Walnuts, Extra Sharp Cheese, Mayo...I love these Beef Steak Tomatoes!

I probably shouldn't be eating nuts, but I tried to chew on the other side of my mouth.

 

[ArchyCat]

For Thanksgiving,. I bought a smoked chicken from a local BBQ restaurant! That and some supermarket cranberry sauce.
My cats are anticipating their fair share of the chicken.

Mamanyt1953 -- Where are you from? That is the old fashioned way to make cornbread! Dates from waaaay back!

The bacon drippings (aka grease) was replaced by cooking oil when it came into use in the 20s.

And for anyone else, sugar should not be in cornbread!

 

[denice]

My Grandmother made bacon and eggs for breakfast every morning. She would pour the grease into a little covered pot on her stove, she would then use it when she cooked later on in the day. She lived to be 92. My mothers family was from deep in the Ozarks, the family was on both sides of the Arkansas/Missouri border.

 

[Kat0121]

I took the steak out to defrost last night. I have some mushrooms that I need to use. I think I'll saute them and have them with the steak. Probably some vegetables on the side.

 

[Winchester]

I came back here to the computer room to check on the turkey. Opened the door and it smells wonderful in here! Molli is back here, sniffing and sniffing and sniffing. You should see my girl's nose working! The stuffing is in the crock pot and I'm just waiting for 3:00, so that I can start putting side dishes in the oven and work on the green beans. Yum.

And my pumpkin pie didn't crack! Sometimes I get a crack in the center of the pie. Not today!

 

[artiemom]

Got a turkey en croute from Trader Joe’s. It is a tenderloin covered with stuffing and wrapped in puff pastry. It come with pouches if gravy and cranberry sauce. I do not care for these , so I did my own.

This turkey tenderloin, stuffing, gravy, squash, mashed potato, cranberry sauce with pumpkin pie for dessert. Also wine.

That is my T-day. And I am stuffed. No room for the pie!

It all came out really good. I plannned, took my time, got utensils out in advance. It came out so much better than last year.

It was just me. I could have gone to my cousins daughter’s house, but I would have to drive 2.5 hours, at least to get there. Could have gone to a different cousins, but I GI there for Christmas. Do not want to push myself into people. So it was me!

Here is my place setting

And with food

 

[denice]

I am stuffed too. We had turkey with all the trimmings. I haven't had dessert, that may wait until tomorrow. My daughter-in-law set aside a slice of cherry pie for me. I have been thinking about that cherry pie for a week but I don't have room for it now.

 

[rubysmama]

artiemom : That looks beautiful !!! And I love that you made yourself a festive place setting.
One question, though. Where's Geoffrey?

Canadian Thanksgiving was in October, so just a regular day here today.

I had some black beans left over from the black bean brownies I made yesterday, so I cooked up some onion, threw in some corn, chopped up and added a tomato, added a couple tablespoons of water and instant rice, seasoned with cumin, let sit for 5 minute or so, and ended up with this one pot, one serving meal.

 

[artiemom]

Thanks. Geoffrey was sleeping on my bed.

He came out as I was cleaning up. Ate some food, went back to my bed. He loves that room. Spend more time there than in the living room. Crazy cat.

 

[maggiedemi]

And for anyone else, sugar should not be in cornbread!

I had it with coconut sugar in it once, that was really good.

The stuffing is in the crock pot

Oh my, nothing better than a crock pot filled with stuffing.

And with food

Your mashed potatoes look so good. I like them whipped up like that instead of lumpy.

ended up with this one pot, one serving meal.

I wish I could just throw things together in a pot/pan like that. Maybe someday...

Since we don't celebrate Thanksgiving, I just had some Alfredo for dinner. The jarred sauce was good, it had spinach in it. The pasta was made of buckwheat & quinoa, so it was high in protein.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Have you tried these? They are very good for frozen. Way better than the ones in the can. I cannot stand those.

Mary B's Buttermilk Biscuits, 20 ct, 44 oz - Walmart.com

YEP! They taste like homemade, and are my go-to when I don't feel like baking from scratch! I keep them on hand for those occasions!

Mamanyt1953 Mamanyt1953 -- Where are you from? That is the old fashioned way to make cornbread! Dates from waaaay back!

Deep South. My mom is from South Georgia, and my dad from North Alabama. Both below the Spanish Moss Line. For those of you who don't know, if you live in an area where Spanish Moss flourishes, you're in the Deep South. LOL, some of us consider "Above the Spanish Moss Line but below the Mason-Dixon Line to be "real polite Yankees." I can't bring myself to make cornbread without bacon drippings!

And for anyone else, sugar should not be in cornbread!

GOD NO! It isn't a dratted dessert. That's why I make it from scratch. Most of the mixes are sweet.

I did ALL my prep cooking yesterday, and it got out of hand. I made three pies (one for me, the rest for others), baked a caramel cake, baked the cornbread, got it crumbled, and set my white bread out to get stale along with the cornbread for the dressing. NO, I do not stuff my bird. MOST southerners don't. We learned this from our mothers, who learned from THEIR mothers, who cooked turkeys in a warm climate without refrigeration. We do not stuff the bird. That can kill you. Now, we know in our heads that isn't the case now, but our blood remembers! I also cooked my green beans, so that they'd be ready for the casserole. OH...the pies are bourbon pumpkin pie. I do want to try a sweet potato pie with a little spiced rum in it...hmmmmmmm...

I'm sitting here now, at about 7:00pm, waiting on the bird to get done. I don't eat until around 8:00, ever. That's pretty much my first meal of the day any day. But what I'm having is turkey breast (with onions and apples cooked in the cavity...you don't eat them, they just add flavor), dressing, gravy, creamed corn, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce and a pumpkin pie.

If you want an easy way to really season your bird, mix your seasonings with butter or margarine, then very carefully lift the skin away from the back of the turkey, and insert the herbed butter between the skin and the meat. That way, the seasonings cook into the turkey, rather than sitting on top of the skin.

 

[LTS3]

Well, the chicken and rice dish came out less than ideal After 50 minutes of baking, I took the foil off and found the still raw chicken swimming in broth and uncooked rice. Another half hour in the oven resulted in the chicken being cooked but still swimming in broth and partially cooked rice. I put the chicken on a plate and put the rice back in the oven for another half hour. The result was cooked rice but really mushy and wet. I don't know what went wrong Maybe the 3 quart dish I used was too small? The recipe calls for a 10 x 15 dish but in my other thread several people said the 3 quart dish would work just fine. The chicken itself was pretty bland.

 

[lizzie]

We had dinner around 3 and dessert around 5 and our son left for home a few minutes ago.....with plenty of leftovers so they don't have to cook tomorrow.Neither do I!

 

[artiemom]

Your mashed potatoes look so good. I like them whipped up like that

It was just boiled potato, mashed with a hand masher. Added nutty and a large scoop of cream cheese.
Easy for one person. One large russet potato.

 

[Winchester]

artiemom How pretty! I love your plates and napkins!
rubysmama Your black bean dinner looks so good!
LTS3 I wonder if, maybe, the casserole was too deep for the chicken and rice? With a shallower pan, maybe the rice would have cooked better. I don't know; I thought a casserole would work, too.

I put maple syrup in my Vermont corn bread.

Dinner was planned for 4:00 yesterday and Rick was carving the turkey at 3:55, so it worked. Unfortunately I really screwed the mashed potatoes. I added way too much cream. As soon as I did it, I realized what I did. Crap. They were really good, but there was absolutely no texture to them at all. Thankfully, Rick ate them anyway. I googled runny mashed potatoes this morning and found out I could have saved them. Didn't even think about google yesterday. But now I know if it happens again.

Anyway, dinner tonight will be leftovers from yesterday, including runny mashed potatoes.

Oh, last year, somebody mentioned that you can freeze leftover stuffing. My crock pot stuffing makes a ton and Rick loves the stuff, so I put extra in the freezer last night.

 

[rubysmama]

I wish I could just throw things together in a pot/pan like that. Maybe someday...

You'll get there someday, for sure. Just keep trying different recipes and seeing what you like, then modify them to your own preferences, i.e. adding hot sauce. . I'm a big fan of one pot meals, and I usually even manage to cook instant rice in the same pot as everything else. As long as there's enough liquid, the rice will absorb it and soften.

rubysmama rubysmama Your black bean dinner looks so good!

Thanks. I literally decided what to throw in as I went along, so was happy it was edible.

 

[LTS3]

LTS3 I wonder if, maybe, the casserole was too deep for the chicken and rice? With a shallower pan, maybe the rice would have cooked better. I don't know; I thought a casserole would work, too.

I posted in the other thread with thoughts. Some of the commenters also said that there was way too much liquid after the entire baking time and following the recipe exactly so I assume that means the same sized pan the recipe author used

Dinner tonight is the leftovers. I'll have to add extra spice to the bland chicken somehow and try to dry the rice out in a pan.

 

[maggiedemi]

Maybe the 3 quart dish I used was too small?

We always use a round casserole dish to cook rice, it brings the water up over the rice.

For breakfast I had a Plantain and the rest of that mango ginger Stilton cheese. The Plantain looks just like a banana, but it doesn't peel like a banana! It was hard to peel. I used a knife, but maybe a vegetable peeler would work? It tasted like a crunchy banana. Next time I will try cooking it in a frying pan with some butter. They were only 33 cents! I love a good bargain.