The Frazzled Family Dinner

Mini-quiches

2012-01-08T23:56:00.002-05:00

It was time-consuming, but the results were GOOD. I combined a Kraft spinach cheese bake recipe with a quiche recipe for the filling, and then used various additives in the different cups. Half were vegetarian with spinach, for my daughter; half had ham or bacon; half of the meat had vegetables added.

The mid-kid actually tried one of the no-vegetable ones, and even ate all of it - but then had a hot dog. Small man stuck with a hot dog.

The Lovely Daughter approved, and that's really what I was going for.

Pancakes

2012-01-07T20:16:00.002-05:00

Bacon for the carnivores, faux sausage for the vegetarian.

I was going to have grapes for the illusion of balance, but forgot to wash them and put them on the table. We can have them for dessert :)

Yesterday was a grab-whatever dinner, adjusting to the new karate schedule. I think in the future that on Fridays, I'll have to have diner with the mid-kid before leaving, and then let TMOTH and and Small Man eat when they get home. The Lovely Daughter can pick who to eat with :)

Steak and the trimmings

2012-01-05T09:05:00.000-05:00

For some reason, I *really* wanted asparagus today. So when I arrived in the produce department and they had some that looked nice, I bought it, even at $2.99 a pound.

We also had salad, baked potatoes, mushrooms & onions, and crescent rolls. Boys had tube steaks :) and the Lovely Daughter had some marinated tofu with her salad.

Ham

2012-01-04T20:23:00.001-05:00

I bought a big chunk o'ham yesterday, and sliced it up today. Two bags of slices and a little bag of chunks went into the freezer. I was making ham stock, but it burned :(

We also had mac-n-cheese, green beans, cucumber, and sliced apples.

Burgers

2012-01-03T19:16:00.000-05:00

With strawberries and cantaloupe on the side. Yum.

Garlic Shrimp

2012-01-01T21:42:00.002-05:00

From this recipe. http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

We also had fried potatoes and foccacia bread (yeah, a bit carb-heavy) and apple pie for dessert.

I had hoppin' John and greens at lunchtime :)

I got chicken thighs out of the freezer for tomorrow.

Tuesday: Pizza
Wednesday: Pork tenderloin/ham, broccoli & cheese sauce
Thursday: Steaks/burgers, baked potatoes
Friday: Cheese and crackers
Saturday: Quiches, salad
Sunday: BBQ pork sandwiches

Pepper Steak and Rice

2011-02-01T18:51:00.002-05:00

I forget how much I like pepper steak. Our blasted refrigerator has decided AGAIN that it wants to freeze everything, so I had a frozen bell pepper to slice up and use. Too bad that won't work with the frozen cucumber :( Maybe I can make cucumber soup if the weather is bad tomorrow - as long as I have yogurt.

Cheese and crackers

2011-01-23T20:34:00.002-05:00

We had KFC last night since I had to drive the Lovely Daughter about half an hour away to a Mystery Dinner. I tried the grilled chicken for a change of pace; it was actually pretty good. LOVE their green beans.

Omelettes

2011-01-21T21:45:00.001-05:00

Mushroom and bacon with cheese for us; just cheese for the kids.

I actually got a good cantaloupe today at the grocery.

Fish and shrimp

2011-01-20T22:40:00.002-05:00

Salad, flaky layers biscuits. Easy-peasy.

Good, since I couldn't do my pre-work shopping at the Safeway. NO manned checkout lanes. I just left my cart and went to the Giant. Who didn't have blueberries on sale :(

Steak!

2011-01-17T20:51:00.002-05:00

TMOTH fired up the grill tonight, so we had steak, with burgers for the boys. French bread and scalloped potatoes for starch, sliced cucumber and baby carrots.

Pork Tenderloin

2011-01-16T20:11:00.002-05:00

Sliced into medallions, browned a bit, then added Thai Green Curry Sauce from Trader Joe's. Made yellow rice using the Sazon I have to get in Florida because they don't carry it here! Veg from the freezer on the side.

I've come up with worse dinners on the quick :)

Cheese Ravioli

2011-01-15T22:01:00.001-05:00

From the freezer, with jarred sauce and bread from Panera.

Julliano's pizza

2011-01-14T20:42:00.001-05:00

Yummmmm. And garlic cheese bread (a.k.a. Julliano's crack). Even more yummmmmmm.

Soup and grilled cheese

2011-01-13T21:26:00.003-05:00

I was supposed to have a meeting tonight, starting at 7, 30 minutes away. So I went and met the other committee members and the clubhouse door was locked. Since there wasn't anything critical on the agenda we went home.

Hushpuppies!

2011-01-11T19:00:00.001-05:00

We had fish and shrimp REALLY because I wanted hushpuppies. The quick waffle dinner that we were supposed to have on Thursday happened early in the week, so now I still have to come up with something bast and good for then. Likely soup and sandwiches.

Waffles and bacon

2011-01-10T19:26:00.002-05:00

The middle kid has scouts tonight, so it had to be a fast dinner, and one that TMOTH could do on his own.

Chicken stir-fry

2011-01-09T20:44:00.001-05:00

I used frozen Safeway stir-fry veges with asparagus - which seemed to have all of the vegetables TMOTH really hates! Nevertheless, *I* liked it, and the Lovely Daughter ate the chicken and rice, at least. And the sides- shu mai and spring rolls from the freezer case.

The Karate Kid found this cherry tonight that looked like a duck:

I ate it anyway.

I also made some really yummy cookies today, from a Martha Stewart recipe: Lemon Icebox Cookies. They were easy and GOOD.

Leftover beef stew

2011-01-08T22:06:00.001-05:00

I made biscuits to go with this. Yummmmmm....I LOVE biscuits. Must be the southern upbringing.

Of course, this was not as planned :)

The chicken wasn't thawed, so I went to Plan B. We'll have the chicken tomorrow night, as a stir-fry.

Last night was pizza night

2011-01-08T10:20:00.002-05:00

So we picked up some Pizza Hut on the way home. NOT my favorite, but the kids like it, especially the middle kid who got stuffed crust pizza (a rare treat for him).

Menu planning for the week:

Tonight: Something chickenish/saucy over rice
Sunday: Pasta (alfredo?) with garlic breadsticks
Monday: Leftover beef stew, salad, french bread
Tuesday: Fish or seafood from the freezer; hush puppies
Wednesday: Soup from a can and grilled cheese sandwiches
Thursday: Waffles (FSQ Board meeting at 7)
Friday: Pigs in blankets

cheese and crackers

2011-01-06T19:04:00.001-05:00

Man, I looove cheese and crackers. I know it's not the healthiest dinner in the world, especially when we don't manage to have much fruit or veg to go with it, but with flat champagne left over from New Year's, on an evening when I REALLY don't want to cook, it's heavenly.

Pork chops

2011-01-05T20:22:00.001-05:00

with sauteed onions. Leftover dinner rolls from the weekend. Roasted potatoes. The Jolly Green Giant made the vegetables for me :)

Bean soup

2011-01-04T19:14:00.002-05:00

Very good.
They didn't have ham hocks at the grocery this weekend, but they did have smoked pork neck bones. They worked quite well.
I also didn't have any onions for the initial cook, so just browned some tonight and added them while reheating. Also worked out well, there was more definition to the onions.

Spaghetti and meatballs

2011-01-03T18:00:00.001-05:00

And still plenty of time left before Boy Scouts and Quilt guild!

Pancakes

2011-01-02T20:29:00.002-05:00

And bacon. Giant brand bacon. Not awful, but not too bad either. Still, on the post-dinner grocery run, Smithfield bacon was on sale at the Safeway. So I bought 4 pounds.

Not sure why I didn't post last night - we did indeed have beef stew, and "the good rolls." Both were yummy.

New year, new resolve

2010-12-31T22:40:00.003-05:00

Poor neglected blog.

One of the new year resolutions is menu planning. Again :)
Hopefully it will sink in this year.

For this week:

Weekend prep work: Grocery shopping
Make meatballs and garlic breadsticks for Monday
Soak beans and cook

Saturday: Hoppin' John for lunch for me, at least - nobody else likes black-eyed peas.
Dinner: beef stew with the "good" rolls

Sunday: Pancakes, breakfast meat, fruit

Monday: Pasta, breadsticks, maybe salad

Tuesday: Pork - depends on what's on sale; vegetables; roasted potatoes

Wednesday: Chicken in some sort of simmer sauce, rice, broccoli

Thursday: Bean soup

Friday: Pizza night

Chicken Rotini Alfredo

2010-03-29T21:53:00.002-04:00

Just like Stouffer's, only better :)

4 T butter
2 T flour
1/2 t crushed garlic
2 c half-and-half
1/2 c Romano cheese
1 c Parmesan cheese
1 lb rotini pasta
1.5 c mozzarella cheese

Next time, I'll make a little more sauce and back off on the mozzarella. Maybe a little less butter as well.

A bit calorific for every day, but for an occasional treat, yum yum yum.
And garlic bread, of course.

Steaks

2010-03-10T21:33:00.002-05:00

T-bones, which TMOTH doesn't especially like for some reason. (He likes rib-eyes, which I don't especially like because of the huge chunks of fat.) We had mushrooms, biscuits, cucumber, canteloupe, and strawberries.

The Lovely Daughter's rehearsal schedule is making dinnertime more hell than usual. She doesn't get out until close to 6 (they got released at 5:30 today, so we got home at 6).

No clue what to have tomorrow night. Maybe fish.

Lasagna Pong

2010-03-09T19:06:00.002-05:00

What happens when the pan is too big for the microwave.

Leftover por roast

2010-03-03T20:26:00.002-05:00

Cut into chunks, added to Korma simmer sauce from Trader Joe's, served over rice.

Last night was chicken alfredo pasta. We had strawberries, but they weren't all that great.

Cheese & Crackers

2010-02-25T18:57:00.000-05:00

With a nice cheap Italian red wine. Ahh.

Scrambled eggs

2010-02-24T23:00:00.002-05:00

The mid-kid has decided he wants to learn to cook, so tonight he did the scrambled eggs. There were only a few shells :) Bacon and sausage and toast, oh my.

Last night he heated up the soup and boiled the pasta for dinner.

Maybe tomorrow night I can get him to form hamburger patties!

Pizza Hut

2010-02-22T22:36:00.002-05:00

We lost power tonight from about 5 minutes after I got home, just before 6, until after 8. The leftover gumbo that was on the menu wasn't gonna happen, so we went with Pizza Hut. The kidlets were happy they told me to order thick crust, and I was happy everybody got fed with a minimum of fuss and bother.

We can always have the gumbo tomorrow :)

Chicken shish-kababs and rice

2010-02-05T19:24:00.003-05:00

Boys, of course, would have nothing to do with the chicken. The Small Man tasted a pieced and pronounced it "good" but wouldn't eat any more of it. Karate Boy had corndogs; they both had rice and bread. Small Man will probably be hungry later, although he's been eating pretty steadily all day long.

Menu planning has fallen off. Not much choice this weekend!

TMOTH has chili makings for one day - it will likely be Sunday for the SuperBowl, although he may make the chili tomorrow and then we'll have snacky bits on Sunday. Anyway, that's the weekend covered, one way or the other.

Monday, we're likely to still be snowed in. I have plenty of choices for soup, though. There's also lots of pasta in the house, and if we're snowed in on Monday I can make breadsticks to go with them. If we're not snowed in, and I have to go to work, it'll be garlic bread instead.

Eggs one night as well.

Aack - long time no post

2010-02-04T22:12:00.002-05:00

Tonight - we had butterfly shrimp. Not something I would buy again - the breading was a little too thick and weird.

Last night was cheese and crackers; we'd stayed at home all day for a snow day. I had a beastly headache that didn't help matters any.

Tuesday night was the Small Man's birthday, and he chose pizza for dinner. It was snowing by then, so we chose to have Pizza Hut deliver :)

Monday night we had a Stouffer's chicken alfredo pasta bake that was actually pretty good. I think I could make a home-made version better, but the whole pick it up at the grocery/throw it in the oven thing is nearly irresistible some nights.

Grilled chicken

2010-01-24T20:17:00.001-05:00

I marinated the chicken with some teriyaki marinade and lime juice, then grilled. Broccoli with cheese sauce and challah bread to go with it. AND I remembered to take the burgers out of the freezer for tomorrow!

Hot dogs!

2010-01-23T20:41:00.003-05:00

I don't think I've kept up with menu planning very well the past couple of days. Today was very busy, and I've been fighting a headache pretty much since I woke up. So it was a stop for hot dog buns on the way home from taking The Lovely Daughter to a birthday party. She needs picked up at 10:00, and it's about half an hour from home.

Last night, we ordered pizza from Julliano's. Yum.

Beef and bell peppers over rice

2010-01-21T20:22:00.002-05:00

With a spring roll from the freezer, even. The bell peppers were on sale for $1.00 a pound at Magruders, and the sirloin was also on sale yesterday at the Giant. AND it was quite tasty. Buying sirloin can be iffy sometimes - a good sirloin is really good, but there's the occasional dud out there.

Kids had pasta tonight, so we probably won't have the soup planned for tomorrow night. Maybe pizza instead?

Leftover Pork Loin

2010-01-20T20:34:00.001-05:00

With crescent rolls from a can. Kids had chicken fingers or fish. (I got home late. It was the best I could do.)

Eggs

2010-01-19T20:07:00.002-05:00

With bacon, sausage, toast, and coffee. Yummy.

Last night we had pasta. I had a stressful afternoon with The Lovely Daughter, and pasta was about all I could manage.

I need a new menu plan.
Wednesday: leftover pork roast
Thursday: Stir fry - beef with peppers and onions
Friday: Soup and sandwiches
Saturday: Burgers
Sunday: Chicken

Crockpot pork loin roast

2010-01-17T20:03:00.002-05:00

This was a pork sirloin roast that I used a recipe for one of my online friends (Thanks, Micki!!) gave me. Green onions, garlic, soy sauce, cinnamon, and allspice in addition to the usual crockpot stuff. It also called for fresh cilantro, which I didn't have. I added a little dried chervil instead. It came out pretty well, I think - I was afraid it would be too salty, but the meat itself wasn't. We also had biscuits, roast potatoes, and broccoli. The boys had hot dogs/corn dogs.

Tacos, etc.

2010-01-16T21:18:00.002-05:00

I made taco filling using (1) ground turkey, and (2) shredded leftover beef. The mid-kid also made burritos, and the Small Man had a lettuce (!) burrito. We did get him to try a taco, but he didn't want to eat it for some reason - likely because it falls apart when you bite into it. He finally wound up eating a "cheese and ham" sandwich.

Last night we wound up having cheese and crackers. I had to drive to Poolesville to pick up The Lovely Daughter and didn't get home until fairly late. I had Mexican food for lunch yesterday and didn't want tacos last night!

I bought a pork roast today to try a new crockpot recipe tomorrow.

Fish

2010-01-14T19:18:00.004-05:00

Not "real" fish, but from the freezer case. TMOTH and I had Phillips Panko-coated crab cakes. Not bad for freezer crab cakes. The mid-kid had crispy fish filets. The Teen Diva and Small Man had chicken fingers. Baked potatoes and cantaloupe to go with all of the fishy and chickeny goodness.

Last night was freezer food too - lasagna, and garlic bread to go with it.

Menu plan:
Sunday: Pancakes
Monday: Soup & sandwiches
Tuesday: ~~Chicken~~ fast food
Wednesday: Pasta - ~~hopefully~~ lasagna
Thursday: ~~Tacos~~ Fish
Friday: ~~Fish~~ Tacos
Saturday: look into crockpot recipes (Pork loin)
Sunday: Chicken
Monday (MLK holiday, so time to cook): Homemade bread, for sure, some kind of meat?

Fast Food

2010-01-12T21:06:00.002-05:00

Subway and McDonald's. Small Man had a "Winter Gala" at his preschool that started at 6(!), so most of us ate Subway before while Small Man had McDonald's afterward. He really likes the Alvin and the Chipmunks toys they have right now :)

Stew/soup

2010-01-11T19:33:00.000-05:00

We had the leftover pot roast with added broth, with seashell pasta. Tomato soup for the boys.

Pot roast

2010-01-09T21:19:00.000-05:00

Man, I love my crockpot for pot roast! With potatoes and carrots, cheated using mushroom and onion soup mix but added extra onions. Homemade rolls, too!

Pizza night

2010-01-08T20:38:00.003-05:00

The Lovely Daughter had a late rehearsal, so I had to drive to Poolesville to pick her up. That meant I didn't get home until about 6, and didn't get to the grocery store as planned. I did take a pot roast out of the freezer to cook tomorrow.

Menu plan:
Sunday: Pancakes
Monday: Soup & sandwiches
Tuesday: Chicken
Wednesday: Pasta - hopefully lasagna
Thursday: Tacos
Friday: Fish
Saturday: look into crockpot recipes

Pasta

2010-01-07T20:01:00.002-05:00

Rotelle pasta with sauce, garlic bread, salad. A favorite dinner.

Chicken shish-kebab

2010-01-06T22:56:00.003-05:00

Fondly known as "lizard on a stick" at our house. Chicken thigh chunks, mushrooms, green pepper, onion; grilled and served with cous cous.

The menu plan needs tweaking as well, since we had omelettes last night. We can still have pasta tomorrow, but don't want to have soup the next night (since our soup almost always has pasta in it!). Soup can move to Saturday or Sunday. Friday, we can have...pork chops?

Omelettes

2010-01-05T20:52:00.002-05:00

TMOTH and I had ours with bacon and mushrooms and cheese; just cheese for the kidlets. Bacon and/or sausage, toast or bagel.

The lizard on a stick will have to wait until tomorrow.

Last night was burgers and tots. The burgers were really good - I bought a pound each of 80/20 and 93/7 beef - for some reason, at Safeway this week, the mid-range beef was way more expensive. The mixture was really really good.

Pizza

2010-01-03T20:38:00.002-05:00

I made pizza dough from a recipe I got from a Washington Post online forum about 10 years ago. I added italian seasoning to the dough. The sauce was just tomato sauce from a can with some italian seasoning and garlic added. I'd been using spaghetti sauce from a jar, but it's a little chunky for pizza sauce. One of the small cans was enough for 6 individual-sized pizzas. That way everyone can get what they want! I'd like to grow enough sauce tomatoes this year to can tomato sauce again.

Shepherd's Pie

2010-01-02T20:30:00.002-05:00

Made with leftover lamb and chicken, onions, mushrooms, carrots, and celeriac. A little parmesan on top of the mashed potatoes. Just exactly the right thing for a very very cold day.

Menu planning

2010-01-02T14:43:00.003-05:00

Saturday: ~~Omelettes, bacon & sausage, toast~~ Shepherd's Pie; pasta for kids
Sunday: ~~Pork loin roast, fried apples, canned biscuits~~ Pizza
Monday: need something fast and easy - both Boy Scouts and Quilt Guild meet that night. Burgers and tater tots!
Tuesday: Lizard on a stick, rice or couscous, some sort of vegetable.
Wednesday: Pasta of some sort, salad, garlic bread
Thursday: Omelettes, bacon & sausage, toast
Friday: Soup

Hoppin' John and bok choy

2010-01-01T21:22:00.002-05:00

Hopefully the bok choy is "green" enough to work for wealth in the new year!

The rest of the family had hot dogs or corn dogs. Carrot "coins" were their way of ensuring wealth ;^) We also had kiwi as well.

Appetizers - and strawberries

2009-12-31T19:12:00.003-05:00

New Year's Eve dinner in the living room of appetizer-y things: pizza rolls, mozzarella sticks, spring rolls, rangoons, taco dip with tortilla chips, the summer sausage TMOTH got from Santa, and pickles. Plus, Safeway had Florida strawberries at buy 1 get 1 free, so we had some not-so-terrible-for-winter strawberries as well. I thought about miso soup but didn't get started early enough - nearly everything else was just pull out of the freezer and stick in the oven.

Leftover leg of lamb

2009-12-30T23:44:00.002-05:00

Just warmed up the roast lamb. Made broccoli, pasta, and had some summer squash from the freezer. Rolls from a can.

The lamb then got taken apart. We now have a nice-sized piece and a package of big cubes for kebabs in the freezer, and a few leftover bits to combine with leftover chicken for something - shepherd's pie, perhaps?

Menu planning

2009-12-29T19:50:00.004-05:00

Wednesday: Not much leftover chicken, so we'll be having the leftover lamb. Probably make a focaccia to go with it. Sauteed bok choy and broccoli. Au gratin potatoes or rice.
Thursday: Appetizer buffet (goes well with the champagne!)
Friday: ? Hard to plan for this - we'll be in DC most of the day at the Terra Cotta Warrior exhibit, and don't know what time we'll get home. Maybe dinner out at Red Hot and Blue or takeout from somewhere. Need to have hoppin' John!!
Saturday: Omelettes, bacon & sausage, toast
Sunday: Pork loin roast, fried apples, canned biscuits
Monday: need something fast and easy - both Boy Scouts and Quilt Guild meet that night. Burgers and tater tots!
Tuesday: Lizard on a stick, rice or couscous, some sort of vegetable.

Stuffed flounder

2009-12-29T19:44:00.002-05:00

It was...interesting. I made the filling with some onion and celery, chopped shrimp and artichoke hearts, and crushed wheat thins. I went to add some sherry to the mixture, and - what the HECK just went into my pan?!?! That's a little too dark and thick for sherry!!! Turns out the last time TMOTH bought sherry, he bought the wrong kind - some kind of sweet sherry that didn't turn the dish inedible, but didn't help all that much. A little bit too sweet. I think I'd make it again, only with a dry sherry.

I also made coleslaw, even though I'm the only one that eats it, and hushpuppies. Heathen kids had frozen fish filets or frozen chicken fingers (well, they were cooked, but they started out frozen).

Roasted chicken leg quarters

2009-12-28T20:21:00.002-05:00

And the chicken was eaten by all but one kid!

Home-made bread (which said kid made up on), mashed potatoes (courtesy of TMOTH) and gravy, cantaloupe, and cucumber.

I think I forgot the leftover lamb on the menu planning. It needs to get re-eaten the next few days.

Soup

2009-12-27T19:58:00.001-05:00

Potato soup for me and TMOTH, tomato or cheese for the kids. Yum.

Menu planning

2009-12-26T11:42:00.002-05:00

One of the resolutions for 2010. Again.

I have almost a week to "practice" before the rubber hits the road, so I'm going to give it a go. Only the main dishes to start with; no need to go crazy :)

Saturday: Pizza
Sunday: Potato soup
Monday: Roast chicken
Tuesday: Fish
Wednesday: Quesadillas (with leftover chicken)
Thursday: Appetizer buffet (goes well with the champagne!)

Christmas dinner

2009-12-26T11:40:00.001-05:00

Roast leg of lamb, macaroni & cheese, roasted potatoes, roasted carrots, raw carrot sticks, sweet potato casserole, and home-made rolls. Stocking candy for dessert!

And Jeff - get yourself a g-mail account so I know for sure it's you when you comment!!

Lasagna

2009-12-22T20:25:00.001-05:00

Thankfully, DH cooked dinner; lasagna and garlic bread. Dinner planning will be one of my 2010 goals...

Leftover turkey

2009-12-01T20:24:00.002-05:00

Probably the last dinner appearance of the old bird :) Leftover dressing, macaroni & cheese, sweet potatoes, green beans, canned biscuits.

Kona got the rest of the cornbread dressing and Cletus got the rest of the green beans.

Last night was pizza, to get everybody fed before Boy Scouts.

Turkey noodle soup

2009-11-29T20:37:00.002-05:00

Aaah, leftovers. One of the best parts of Thanksgiving.

Tonight we had a turkey noodle soup - homemade turkey stock from the turkey carcass, onions, celery, carrots, turkey, and egg noodles. The big kind, of course.

I spent most of the day making Christmas cookies. Nearly all of the recipes come from my first edition Betty Crocker, published in 1950. It has a LOT more recipes than the newer edition. My favorite Christmas cookie recipe is an alternative to the "key" recipe.

Merry Christmas Cookies - Light Dough
1/3 c shortening
1/3 c sugar
1 egg
2/3 c honey
2 3/4 c sifted flour (I don't sift and it works fine)
1 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
(the recipe calls for 1 tsp lemon extract, but I like the cookies better without it)

Cream shortening and sugar, add egg and honey and mix well. Sift together flour, soda, and salt and add slowly to wet ingredients. (I do sift at this point so I don't wind up with a big clump of soda in my cookies.)

Chill, roll out and cut into shapes. Bake until lightly browned. Cool and decorate if desired.

This is a very forgiving dough - the instructions call for rolling thick (1/4"), but I usually roll thinner. It holds together very well when rolling - I always roll between two sheets of wax paper - without too much added flour.

I love these cookies, but the rest of my family doesn't care for them much. So, I bake them at Christmas, enjoy and share them.

Cheese & Crackers

2009-11-27T21:43:00.002-05:00

Really, who wants to seriously cook the day after Thanksgiving???

Thanksgiving dinner was great - turkey, macaroni & cheese, 2 kinds of dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, asparagus, and raw vegetables. Three pies - pecan, chocolate, and lemon. All taste wonderful, but the lemon meringue filling is not as firm as it could be.

Soup and Salad

2009-11-20T19:27:00.003-05:00

Brought to you courtesy of Small Man. I'm not sure what prompted this - it was the Cars soup for the soup, but he told me "I LOVE lettuce!" in the produce aisle, which I had no idea about. And he ate a whole bowl of lettuce. TMOTH and I had fancy greens for our salad, and Phillips cream of crab soup. Yum :)

Dinner has been going steadily downhill lately, and I've tried to reverse it starting this week. Posting on here should at least keep me accountable.

For Thanksgiving, I have the turkey in the freezer and need to go clean out the fridge to make room for it to thaw. I have cornmeal to make cornbread for dressing and Wednesday night bean soup. I have an Oreo crust and humongo chocolate bars from Trader Joe's to make chocolate pie. I have potatoes and sweet potatoes and marshmallows and green beans. (No cream of mushroom soup, though. Real mushrooms and white sauce for MY green bean casserole.) I need to check on the supply of eggs and flour and sugar, and I know I need cream.

Pork

2009-04-20T20:04:00.000-04:00

chops & ham. Some like one, some like the other. Fried potatoes, carrots & cucumber, and french bread. Strawberries with vanilla cupcakes for dessert.

Lasagna and chicken nuggets

2009-01-17T00:21:00.001-05:00

When one family member is not yet 4, chicken nuggets can be a part of ANY meal.

TMOTH is away, so the lasagna asked for by the teen and endorsed by the mid-kid went over well.

Chicken

2008-10-14T21:06:00.002-04:00

Have to give TMOTH the credit - he made this tonight:
BAKED CHICKEN WITH POTATOES LYONNAISE

French bread from the grocery and black grapes to go with. Chicken nuggets and macaroni & cheese for the rugrats.

Catfish and hushpuppies

2008-05-13T21:03:00.000-04:00

A good southern meal! They periodically have "catfish nuggets" at the Giant, and I like these much better than the bigger pieces. Season, roll in cornmeal, fry. Yum.

A Romantic Dinner with the Small Man

2008-05-03T18:26:00.001-04:00

Just me and the toddler at home tonight - we had leftover chicken, macaroni & cheese, cucumber, honeydew, and Armenian flatbread.

Chili

2008-05-01T21:24:00.001-04:00

TMOTH cooked chili! YAY! No cooking for me!

AND, the farmer's market started up again! DOUBLE YAY!!! Still early, so not a whole bunch of stuff, but I now have weekly convenient access to free range eggs. Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum. Omelets for dinner tomorrow!

Cook-out!

2008-04-30T20:04:00.001-04:00

The weather isn't sunny, but dinner was. Hamburgers (from the last grinding) and hot dogs, with chips. I forgot the watermelon; we'll have some for dessert.

Poor neglected dinner blog...

2008-04-29T22:15:00.002-04:00

We're just such boring eaters these days. We had frozen TJ's fish filets or frozen french bread pizza for dinner, with bake and serve rolls (also from TJ's).

At least last night we had watermelon with dinner (cheese and ham and crackers).

The Small Man wants to "play on the playground" (our playset) when he gets home, and we mostly do. Tonight there was a big tent in the yard, so he had to go in and out all evening.

Lasagna

2008-04-26T20:23:00.002-04:00

Home-made lasagna tonight; another pan in the freezer, along with a pan of stuffed shells. Garlic bread and watermelon as well.

Pancakes and waffles

2008-04-17T20:59:00.002-04:00

With strawberries from Florida.
Last night we ate out at Red Hot and Blue - the tween and I both had to get new glasses. She needs new glasses, I just need new frames - the coating on the metal temples of mine are coming off. Not good.

Potato soup

2008-04-15T21:03:00.001-04:00

With onions and crispy bacon sprinkled on top. And Ritz crackers, of course. Kidlets had tomato soup, silly things that they are.

Hot dogs and popcorn chicken

2008-04-02T20:03:00.001-04:00

and the mid-kid and TMOTH were still going to be late for Cub Scouts. They were bringing a hammer, so who knows what will come home.

Back from vacation

2008-03-30T21:25:00.001-04:00

Tonight we had grilled pork tenderloin (YUM - I bought it at a different grocery; don't know if the brand made a difference, but it was really good), biscuits, and cantaloupe.

Meals are a bit constrained - no water. Pump died. Ick.

Ravioli

2008-03-20T21:42:00.000-04:00

Something everyone likes!
TMOTH made chicken leg quarters last night; very yummy.

Ribs? Macaroni?

2008-03-18T21:27:00.002-04:00

I think that's what the family had. I was at a review meeting, so dinner consisted of 2 bottles of Pepsi, a brownie, and a cookie. I had some toasted biscuits and a glass of milk when I got home. NOT a healthful dinner on my part.

Ham

2008-03-16T20:59:00.001-04:00

With roasted potatoes, pineapple, and biscuits.

Last night TMOTH made fish chowder from a Queer Eye recipe. We'd made it before, but this time DIDN'T put in the habenero pepper. We're just wimps.

A terrible dinner

2008-03-14T21:40:00.003-04:00

TMOTH bought some "pinwheel steaks" a few days ago.
They were awful - tough and badly seasoned and also probably a little old.
Anyway, Kona ate well tonight.
We had carbs - french bread, rice-a-roni, baked potato. The toddler and I shared a cucumber.

Hot dogs

2008-03-06T21:07:00.001-05:00

With chili for me and TMOTH. I took the tween to Target to get a birthday present for her BFF and we were a little late getting home.

Steak

2008-03-03T23:11:00.002-05:00

The tween informed me last night that we hadn't had steak "in forever." When we did have steak last night, she complained that it wasn't done enough. There's no making a pre-teen happy. We had frozen stuffed potatoes, broccoli, and strawberries, and french bread from Trader Joe's.

Leftover chicken piccata

2008-03-02T22:02:00.001-05:00

This time over orzo pasta. Leftover Pizza Hut breadsticks and grapes to go with.

And, we have hot water! YAY!

Pizza Hut

2008-03-01T19:34:00.002-05:00

The title pretty much says it all ;>)

To be fair, we've been without water since mid-morning - water heater blew out. TMOTH went to Home Depot early afternoon and bought a new one and is in the process of installing it. While I have confidence in his ability to do this, I wasn't sure it would be done by the end of the weekend. Fingers crossed!

Fish and hushpuppies

2008-02-29T21:30:00.001-05:00

TMOTH bought some frozen battered fish fillets at Trader Joe's and we had those with hushpuppies and a salad.

Breakfast for dinner

2008-02-27T19:51:00.002-05:00

Eggs with bacon for me, sausage for TMOTH and the toddler. The mid-kid had waffles. Hash browns for TMOTH, toasted biscuits left over from last night for me.

Last night was chicken piccata, a Green Giant vegetable mixture, grapes, and biscuits.

Stuffed peppers

2008-02-23T21:36:00.001-05:00

I used the leftover beef shank/mushroom stuff, added some barley, onions, carrots, celery, garlic, and parmesan cheese. Some gouda on top (that oddly never melted, but still tasted good), and in the oven. TMOTH bought some partially cooked baguettes at Trader Joe's, so I thawed those and cooked them. Fruit kebabs to go with. A very nice meal.

Last night was quesadillas, again with leftover meat (chicken). Very very good.

Beef shanks with mushrooms over rice

2008-02-21T21:05:00.002-05:00

TMOTH cooked again, this time in the pressure cooker. It was quite yummy.

Last night was chili dogs! The night before, waffles. I was even able to eat a sausage link without throwing up all night.

Leftover chicken

2008-02-17T19:43:00.003-05:00

BUT, we had it with roasted asparagus. Yummmmm. Also biscuits, and mac & cheese for the kidlets.

Last night was chili. I'd been craving chili for a few days now, and when they had ground beef on sale, well, it was clearly time! A day in the crockpot, and dinner is ready.

Fish

2008-02-15T21:41:00.002-05:00

Fish sticks, fish filets, and chicken tenders for the tween who refuses to eat fish. O'Brien potatoes and french bread for carbs, carrot and celery sticks for "salad," and broccoli with cheese sauce.

This was our Valentine's dinner last night - cheese and crackers:

Ignore all of the junk on the table.
TMOTH went to Whole Foods, so GOOD cheese!

Also, a nice wine:

Also, a happy belated Valentine to everybody - a virtual cookie:

Hamburgers/cheeseburgers

2008-02-11T21:21:00.000-05:00

Requested by the mid-kid.

Barbecue beef sandwich

2008-02-10T22:21:00.000-05:00

Yes, again :>)
TMOTH is on an overnight, so I didn't bother to cook for myself. Macaroni & cheese for the kids. Strawberries for everybody! (PLANT CITY strawberries, YAY!)

Tortellini

2008-02-09T19:51:00.000-05:00

Just regular old Barilla tortellini with either red sauce or cheese melted on top. Home-made breadsticks and a nice big salad.

I think I need to start looking for a new bread machine. I only use it for making dough, but I do use it pretty frequently. It seemed to be producing a "motor going bad" smell tonight. I see them all the time at the thrift stores, so I think I'll buy one the next time I see one that looks little used.

Barbecue beef sandwiches

2008-02-08T20:36:00.001-05:00

We used the roast beef to make barbecue sandwiches. Very good.

I've been sick as a dog, and cooking as little as possible.

Appetizers

2008-02-03T22:13:00.000-05:00

For the Super Bowl, we always set out a buffet on the coffee table so we can eat and watch. We had quesadillas, pupusas, mozzarella sticks, jalapeno poppers, pizza rolls, clam strips, ham and cheese roll-ups, and carrot and celery sticks with ranch dressing. Definitely a cheese theme.

Yay Giants for beating the Patriots!

Leftover roast beef

2008-02-02T23:47:00.001-05:00

with mashed potatoes, squash from the freezer, yeast rolls, carrot and celery sticks. Birthday cake for dessert!