Dinner - What Are You Having? - Page 70

[colemom]

Happy Halloween!

Kids are having mummy dogs, oven fries, carrots, and warm homemade applesauce.

I'm making a meaty chili in the CP for dh and I to have after ToTing tonight, we'll top it with cheese, sour cream and avocado.

[kitchensqueen]

In honor of Halloween, I made pumpkin ale salisbury steak over egg noodles. 

[MrsKoehn]

Tonight I had a lonely sandwich by myself. He gets the same only with company when he gets home.

In other baking news, I made 2 pumpkin pies last night (to freeze one with the apple pie I have in there already) and 2 batches - which made 2 loaves, 2 mini loaves and 24 mini cup cakes of banana bread (no nuts in the house- say it ain't so!!!). All but the 4 minis I ate (hehe) and one loaf get frozen too. I'll have some baked things for when baby comes and I don't feel up to it. ; )

I started some pinto beans for a huge batch of chili. They'll be cooking overnight. I cooked some meat and seasoned it and have the jars of tomatoes ready to go in. I'll assemble it in the morning before I run to my midwife appt and I might start bread. Probably will just buy some since I don't trust that bread machine to bake it without me hear and I don't want to start it right as I'm walking out the door.

[Peggy O'Mara]

I just love this thread. It's always so comforting and inspiring to come back here. Aren't we coming up our second Thanksgiving on this thread? I remember that we shared our recipes last year. What a fabulous resource. 

I've been making comfort food, stuffed green peppers with baked potato and salad; Roasted chicken with green beans and brown rice and am just settling back into the kitchen after a long trip. I can't wait to try to duplicate a squash soup with poached pears that I had on my trip. More on that soon...

[kitchensqueen]

Originally Posted by Peggy O'Mara 

I just love this thread. It's always so comforting and inspiring to come back here. Aren't we coming up our second Thanksgiving on this thread? I remember that we shared our recipes last year. What a fabulous resource. 

We sure are! I've already been pondering this year's menu. We're on a tight budget, so I want to do a classic roundup with a few splurges, and I want to fit it into the regular budget. I'm thinking we'll do apple brined and smoked turkey again this year - that was incredible. 

Tonight we're having Zatarain's Cajun smothered chicken (cut with a little plain rice to stretch it and even out the saltiness with green beans and croissants. 

[Ragana]

Tonight was dinner out for my b-day: fried calamari, Korean seafood soup, Chinese broccoli with garlic sauce, pad thai, chicken satay, and beef dumplings. Leftovers tomorrow!

For Thanksgiving, we are going to a family/friends event, and everyone is contributing something. I am making lime coleslaw (red and green cabbage, shredded carrots & lime dressing: oil, lime juice, garlic, S&P, a little agave syrup) and some kind of pie. I was thinking maybe apple galette or apple-cranberry pie. My sister is making pumpkin, because it was requested & I'm not a fan.
 

[sociostud]

With the weather getting colder and colder, I'm really into soups at the moment, all kinds of soups... Yesterday, I made an amazing daal. I love making it, because I went to Nepal, and they taught me how to make it Nepali way, so it's always good memories to make it at home.

[colemom]

Originally Posted by sociostud 

With the weather getting colder and colder, I'm really into soups at the moment, all kinds of soups... Yesterday, I made an amazing daal. I love making it, because I went to Nepal, and they taught me how to make it Nepali way, so it's always good memories to make it at home.

Could you share your daal recipe? I've been looking for a good one and so far haven't been happy with the ones I've tried. Thanks!

[MrsKoehn]

This might be the first Thanksgiving in a long day I don't make anything. We go to my in-law's next door and everyone brings something. My MW said to expect this little one closer to Thanksgiving than my due date (the 7th). I'm sure not planning to make anything big if I do go!

Tonight is more chili from yesterday. I plan to freeze what ever's left.

[ashleyhaugh]

catch up time again.... tuesday we had chicken sandwiches and salad, wednesday, my mom and ds ate at the fall fastival at church (i had to work, boo ) i ate a salad while waiting for them to come home, then we went trick or treating. thursday we had sausage and mac and cheese, and friday we had the other pizza from the fundraising kit. today was grocery shopping day. i cleaned up at my local "junk store" (what my grammy called the scratch and dent place near her house)- an over flowing basket for $83xx... including an 11lb pork loin for $1.50/lb. between that, the 99cent store, bountiful baskets, and the bakery outlet i went to for the first time today, i hate shopping at regular grocery stores anymore.

anyway, we were going to have chicken soup from the freezer for dinner, but one of my cans of cresent rolls popped open in the bag, so we had cheesy hot dog cresents- not so much healthy, but comfort food. not sure what to do for tomorrow yet. i made a meal list, more than a plan, for the month, so i'll just pick somthing. i've also got some new freezer recipes i want to try that i want to prep tomorrow, i love cooking, but between work and school, dont have much time, so weekends are when we have our bigger meals, usually something i can stretch out for a couple of days.

im not too sure about thanksgiving this year. ds will be spending the week with his dad (last time before his dad gets stations in hawaii at the end of the month) after that he'll only get too see him in the summers. my cousins have suggested maybe my mom and i go to their house, but they might be going out of town. i suggested going out for chinese food, lol. im not looking forward to the week, honestly. my work will be closed on black friday for the first time (now that im part time and dont get holiday pay, of course, lol) and i realized with my school schedule, i'll be lucky to get 13 hours that week. im kind of freaking out. i put an ad on craigslist for black friday baby sitting, so hopefully someone has money to spend on that, becaause i put the rates pretty high, at least for me

in other news, i made the honor roll at school last semester, and get to participate in an honors ceremony in 2 weeks

[Lisoula]

Haven't posted lately - we've been eating out waaaaay too much.  I'm bound and determined to get back to cooking, though, especially since it's getting chilly out.

Last night I made cheesy vegetable noodle soup, which we'll eat for a couple days for lunch & as a side because it makes a lot.  Tonight I'm putting together some quick sloppy joes - not a homemade sauce though.  Found a jarred kind other than Manwich, so I'm giving it a try.  I work tomorrow and Tuesday so the kids will have poor man's lasagne and broccoli tomorrow, and probably eggs & pancakes the next day.  Except I just realized I forgot to buy more eggs....darn it!

[CookiePie]

I spent too much on groceries last month!  So for Nov. I'm really trying to be strategic and conscious of using up leftovers and using things that I have on hand and filling in with newly purchased things.  Tonight is a great example of using up stuff in the fridge.  Mainly a boneless lamb roast and some veggies.  So I came up with a Lamb Bolognese over whole wheat penne pasta.  Dh is making a nice antipasto salad with artichokes, roasted red peppers, olives, and Italian cheeses and a little salami & pepperoni.        

[MrsKoehn]

in other news, i made the honor roll at school last semester, and get to participate in an honors ceremony in 2 weeks

Good for you!!!

Tonight I'm planning a nice chicken salad but his sisters and dad have been gone elk hunting all week and just got back. They invited us over for supper so I don't know. Hubby was wanting to work on putting the rest of the concrete walk way in tonight, or at least a few squares of it. I text him but he must be super busy or not getting reception. I don't think he's had a break since this AM or he'd already text. SO I don't know what we're having. If it's there it'll be something Mexican I'm sure.

[kitchensqueen]

Last night husband and I actually went on a date. It was our son's first overnight with Grandma. We went to a local pub and I had a great pulled pork sandwich on a pretzel roll with fries, and husband had beef brisket on a pretzel roll with onion fries. Everything was amazing. And now that the weather is getting colder, beer sounds good to me again - I like the dark stuff like nut brown ales, stouts and porters so I really only drink beer in the colder months. I had a "Bonfire Brown" last night that an incredible brown ale - tasted just like a bonfire! It was awesome. And we saw Wreck It Ralph at an actual theater (with my free Schick razor tickets that I got this summer) and it was a great film. Awesome date night out. 

Tonight we're doing pork chops with sauteed apples and onions, with the last of the egg noodles alongside. 

[colemom]

It's nearly 80 here so dh got the propane filled for the grill (plus it's good to have full going into winter for power outages)

Bbq pork ribs

foil packet with sliced red potatoes, onions, garlic and brussels sprouts

broccoli and rice for kids

Yesterday we had a taco bar.

I've been in a major cooking rut and making too many separate meals for the kids as I try out new recipes for dh and I. They are not bad or unhealthy meals at all, but still separate. I don't mind doing that once a week, but last week was ridiculous.

On the menu this week:

CP chicken cacciatore, wheat pasta, spaghetti squash

Baked chicken breasts stuffed with feta and spinach, roasted cauliflower, wild rice

CP bbq chicken thighs, baked potatoes, broccoli

Steaks with sauteed mushrooms and onions, roasted red and sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts

Sauteed kielbasa, onions, peppers and zucchini, garlic mashed potatoes, baked acorn squash

CP pork roast with onion mushroom gravy, roasted butternut squash, garlic mashed potatoes, 

Salisbury steaks, baked potatoes, broccoli

 

 

[ashleyhaugh]

tonight we're having chicken strips, mashed potatoes and gravy with corn (carrots for ds)

I'm wanting to make salisbury steak in the crockpot. i would think i could put the chopped steaks, soup (we use french onion) and beef broth in the crock pot, cook on low (or should it be high?) for 4-5 hours (basically put it in on my lunch break, lol), then thicken it up before serving with a cornstarch slurry. does that sound about right? im worried about the patties turning to mush

[colemom]

Originally Posted by ashleyhaugh 
I'm wanting to make salisbury steak in the crockpot. i would think i could put the chopped steaks, soup (we use french onion) and beef broth in the crock pot, cook on low (or should it be high?) for 4-5 hours (basically put it in on my lunch break, lol), then thicken it up before serving with a cornstarch slurry. does that sound about right? im worried about the patties turning to mush

I've never tried to make salisbury steak in the CP. I think you would really need to beef up the patties and make sure they are strong, so lots of breadcrumbs and egg to bind it and definitely brown them first. I also would only use the french onion soup and not add broth, that may be too much liquid (but I don't use broth on the stovetop either, just the soup, a little water, ketchup, worchestire, and a couple tablespoons of flour). 

[kitchensqueen]

Originally Posted by ashleyhaugh 

I'm wanting to make salisbury steak in the crockpot. i would think i could put the chopped steaks, soup (we use french onion) and beef broth in the crock pot, cook on low (or should it be high?) for 4-5 hours (basically put it in on my lunch break, lol), then thicken it up before serving with a cornstarch slurry. does that sound about right? im worried about the patties turning to mush

I usually do my salisbury steak with ground beef or leftover burgers, which aren't exactly conducive to crockpot cooking, but you could use a cheap cut of steak and adapt the recipe I use as follows - put a layer of sliced onion on the bottom of the crockpot. Put a couple of cheap steak cuts or a small roast on top. Pour one bottle of dark ale and one cup of beef stock over the onions and steak. Season with salt, pepper and thyme. Cook on low for four - six hours. Thicken with a cornstarch slurry in the last 15 minutes of cooking and serve over egg noodles. 

So you're right about the cornstarch slurry - you might need to do that on the stovetop at the end, but that would only take a few minutes. But the ground beef probably won't work too well in the crockpot. Though salisbury steak only takes 20-30 minutes on the stovetop, if that's any help. :-)

[ashleyhaugh]

drat, lol...

my mom lives with us, and thankfully has taken over a lot of the weeknight cooking, since i dont get out of work til 630. but shes in class too this semester, and rides the bus all the way across town on tues/thurs and doesnt get home til about 6ish and shes exhausted at that point. about 5 hours on the bus (round trip) for a class that usually doesnt even last an hour. with church on wednesday, we've got three busy days in a row, and i'm trying to plan better on those days. its not so much eating out like it was last semester (plus i budgeted my fin. aid better lest semester, and had more hours at work, so there were actually funds available for that, lol) but we've fallen into a fish stick/chicken nugget/mac and cheese/cold sandwich rut on those nights.

anybody want to share some tried and tue (and slightly-picky-but-getting-better-kid-friendly) crock pot meals?

[Mom31]

Loveandgarbage- I tried to eat vegan for a while when my kids were babies and found this wonderful sauce with mushrooms and nutmeg and coconut milk that was like a cream alfredo type sauce...

It was in a vegetarian times magazine and I just went thru the website and can't find it... it was one of those magazines I kept to- I will see if I can find it-

It's not red sauce but it is pasta and it is so yum.

I want to make it NOW!