:notworthy

That is the ulimate in pickiness!

:D

Oh, I really miss having time and energy to cook real dinners these days. Most of the time I make something frozen or from a kit. I am trying to teach my kids to cook, too; we're starting with Hamburger Helper. :)

Tonight we had coneys (that's chili dogs with cheese) and macaroni and cheese. Real fancy stuff.

Tomorrow, though, I have no school - it's Veteran's Day. Got plenty of stuff to do, essay to finish editing, client work to do, but I'm going to make a nice meal for a change. Got a pork roast in the fridge. Still thinking about what to do with it, besides sticking it in the crockpot with some veggies. Which is certainly an option.

Oh and BTW I like green olives on my pizza too. My favorite pizza (well, one of them) is pepperoni and green olives from LaRosa's. I like all the veggie stuff on pizza - I'm not picky like SOME people. ;)

When we get pizza delivered here, we get a Large for the boys with a bunch of meat, and a medium for the girls with veggies - tomatoes, mushrooms (only if they use fresh, not canned), peppers, green and/or black olives. We've even gotten spinach on pizza; it's pretty good.

I also like Donatos' Mariachi Beef pizza. Yum.

Trader Joe's mac'n'cheese, sugar snap peas sauteed with shrimp.

Tonight I made a pot roast with baby carrots and onions in my brand new dutch oven. It turned out awesome!! Way better than the old crock pot.

We had chicken satay tonight. We make our own satay sauce though. I don't really like any of the bottled ones.

Just buffalo beef burgers with cheddar, maybe scalloped potatoes. I'm still thinking of another side, but no one seems to carry the hoagie rolls I want so I may have to slum it at albertsons for a few. I could also pick up the nasty mayo I like. Yep, slumming it in the unhealthy stores while my husband isn't around....

I also have an excuse to go buy a new coffee french press today!! Yea!! The other one apparently broke on my husband this morning because when I woke up I found the french press saran wrapped and rubber banded together? It was weird. So I have been using a rag as a filter and grinding the beans extra thin to make cups of coffee. Ghetto! Love it!

Anchovies are always available in the 'za joints in California -- I think it would cause shock and anger if they were not. The wife and I (and this is usually her idea) will have anchovies added to a veggie pizza as reinforcement, though we also get them from time to time with a meaty one. She dislikes pepperoni; says it's too greasy. Can't say as I see eye to eye there.

Except for being fish, anchovies otherwise hew to all the essentials of pizza animal protein: strongly flavored, and more or less oily. Too, Californians put sliced avocado on pizzas too. We would. Goes on right after the pizza comes out of the oven so the slices are well warmed but not brutally melted.

I haven't seen hardly anything in the way of green olives, though they're probably around. I'm very fond of black olive teamed with Italian sausage. An added sprinkle of green olives...? Hmm. And hot peppers give pizza macho: it does not slide apologetically down your gullet, but puts up a respectable battle. Sort of the buccal equivalent of mechanical bull riding.

I love a cheese pizza with black olives and anchovies. Need to make sure there's plenty of garlic in the sauce though. Most people think that sounds disgusting, but I'm telling you, it's a nice pizza.

Have you ever thought of a career as a food writer?

corn tortillas; cilantro chicken sausages, shredded and panfried; mango salsa; guacamole; shredded cabbage; black beans.

Oh, and I second limey's recommendation, UG. :thumb:

*slightly green around the gills* this was so the wrong thread to read in recovery. I ate olives the evening I started with the bug...I doubt they were connected, but right now I feel i'd be happy to never ever see another olive again.

Last night I made a real down home dinner. No capers, no splash of burgundy wine sauce, no half-shells, no hints of saffron, not even a melange, nothing balsamic, no endives, and not even a hint of jus.

I made a meatloaf, cheesy potatoes, green beans, and biscuits.

I saw everything I made, and I saw that it was good.

So I eated it. :yum:

Sounds good.
I had a meatloaf craving recently but have never made it and didn't feel adventurous. Is there a standard recipe? Do I have to buy soup mix or something? Would turkey burger work?

You know, I wing it every time, which is unlike me, and sometimes it turns out good and sometimes not. I just used seasonings, an egg, tomato sauce, and some bread crumbs. Oh, and ground round.

Hmm, but I bet there is a soup packet that would be good, and I'm sure turkey burger would work too. I'll have to try that sometime; I used to use turkey substitute meats a lot more.

I like meatloaf with some chopped onion in it.

I make meatloaf with ground turkey every time, jinx. Better texture and less grease.

Specifically, it's a pound of turkey, 1/2 cup breadcrumbs, 1 egg, 1/4 cup sour cream, 1/4 cup chili sauce or ketchup, and 1/2 an onion. 45 minutes at 350.

Do you cook yours in a bread loaf pan, or form it into a loaf shape on a baking sheet so the grease has a way to drip out?

In a loaf pan. But with the turkey, there's basically no grease. I might try it without a pan if I ever use ground beef again.

I make a turkey meatloaf mixture, then cook it in patties in a skillet over medium heat, covered. Very fast, and little grease.

1 lb ground turkey
1 egg
1/4 c breadcrumbs
salt
seasonings

You can go wild with the seasonings. I've listed some combos I like below. Be sure to adjust the salt appropriately to compensate for the salt in the seasonings.

* Worcestershire sauce, dijon mustard and minced onion
-- (classic meatloaf tastes, add sides of broccoli & mashers)

* Green curry paste, garlic and chili sauce
-- (serve with lime wedges, shredded cabbage & peanut salad)

* Fresh herbs, parmesan, sundried tomatoes & minced olives
-- (cover in marinara and melt some mozzarella over it!)

* Adobo seasoning, grated queso anejo, cilantro and chilies
-- (serve with frijoles negros and your favorite salsa)

Traitor to the homeland.

You could use salsa in your meatloaf. Onion soup mix is good in it too. I like onions and green peppers in mine.

I made myself a very delightful jacket spud with butter and a little grated cheddar and chopped spring onions (can't recall what you guys call them now). Mmmm. Very tasty.

@ Dana green onions?

I made spinach stuffed chicken breasts. Mayonnaise, feta, spinach, and garlic nestled inside a butterflied chicken breast wrapped in... BACON!

*shakes head* no, was something else. It was mentioned recently, but I can't remember the word.

They're long and thin with a little onion bulb at the end.

[eta] Griff, right now I would cheerfully sell my soul to eat that chicken lol

scallions.

Yes! Thankyou. That's the one.

Doesn't sound as appetising to me as spring onions :P Ithink because it makes me think of both scally wags and scullions.

I made this weird lasagna-in-a-box kit because I was in a hurry and didn't feel like cooking anything major.

But I burned it, because I got sidetracked scooping the cats' litter boxes and scrubbing the laundry room floor they peed all over. Yuck. Then I had to take out the trash, and I noticed that they'd peed on the rug by the front door too. Then my son asked me for help with his math homework, DH's friend came over to pick up an old oil tank...went back to the kitchen, smelled the lovely aroma of scorched tomato. Crap.

So I made stuffing and gravy and heated up the leftover pork roast from yesterday. Oh well.

Oh hey, how was that pork roast yesterday? You sounded quite excited atthe idea of doing the full home-cooked works:)

It was OK, nothing special. I just sprinkled on some pepper and shoved it into the oven. At the last minute I brushed on some (homemade) peach preserves. Not bad.

But I got sidetracked (this is a recurring theme) by a project for a client of mine and neglected the side dishes. I'd meant to make roasted potatoes to go with it, but ended up "baking" some in the microwave instead.

I think it's time to dig out the crockpot!

The peach preserve sounds like a cool idea.

Should I start by writing about Key Lime Pie, do you suppose?

No idea why they keep making the things with regular piecrust when there is graham cracker crumb crust out there, the natural partner of citrus/condensed milk fillings. Or gingersnap crumb crust.

Key Lime Pie! Last time I had that was in Key West. Good stuff.

Bonefish grill, a chain restaurant, has surprisingly good key lime pie. I wish I had a piece now actually...

I think I'll roast and scoop my squashes for thurday to take my mind off the pie.

I didn't get around to making the pumpkin pie for Turkey Day. We ate late, and not overmuch. But tasty. Scratchbuilt reduced fat mashed potatoes, and a rather radical vegetable dish of squash, eggplant, and sweetened hot peppers with spinach leaves. Maybe not quite enough sage stuffing for leftover turkey sandwiches, though. Darn.

I don't know if Australians go for this much, but there are few leftovers better than a sandwich filled with a slice of turkey breast, a quarter inch slather of sage turkey stuffing, and a similar layer of jellied cranberry. Mm-mmm! Not a sammich I'd take to work, though, as the cranberry jelly will probably make the bread soggy by lunchtime.

My mum used to like stuffing and chicken sandwiches. She sometimes used to put chutney on the bread. I'm not too fond of stuffing myself, but one of my boys likes it.

Nothing very exciting was on the menu tonight, just some macaroni and a batch of black-eyed peas stewed up with cabbage, celery, and a lot of spices. I kind of wish I'd had some cheddar to sprinkle over the top.

We're going to make some steak and bacon pies and have one for dinner. :) Mmmmmm...now that sounds yummy..with some salad on the side.

I made goulash today. Ground beef, chopped onions and green peppers, garlic, diced tomatoes and tomato sauce, chili powder... and I cooked the elbow macaroni in with everything else (I added some water for the pasta). Good times.

I think I now know why I'm so much bigger than everyone else... it is my cooking. If I cook, it is "down home cooking". For meat loaf, you can actually buy seasoning packets. Those are handy when I don't have a lot of seasonings on hand. I've made it from scratch many times too. Some of the spices I put in it usually are garlic, parsley, and sage. Sometimes I throw in random spices as well. I also make my meatloaf with 1 lb of ground hamburger and 1 lb if sausage. It makes for AWESOME meatloaf. I always drain the fat though. And I always add chopped onion and green peppers to my meatloaf. I usually have potatoes of some sort with my dinner... but I'm really picky with vegetables. Usually we end up eating green beans, corn, or salad. hehehe All the meals everyone else makes sound so exotic and healthy compared to mine!

I'm also good at beef stroganoff... beef, cream of mushroom soup, and sourcream basically. And you just put it over cooked pasta. Oh, and I season my beef while I brown it and add onions and garlic. Yum!

Since I can't actually cook at work, I end up ordering out a lot.

Tonight my favorite delivery restaurant had one of my favorite specials ... the "Cowboy Cheesesteak."

It's a regular Philly Cheesesteak that is made just that much better by the addition of bacon, onion rings, and A-1 Steak Sauce.

Ooh yumishness.

Mrs. dar made a lasagne. It was very tasty. I like mine cheeeesy.

Mm, yesss... good flavorsome ricotta, that truly makes a lasagna. Tomato paste is pretty much tomato paste, ground beast is still ground beast.

Since I like a lasagna not to slide apart on the plate, I layer it up with the uncooked lasagne. They get done in the baking and control excessive moisture in the final product.

That's too dry for me, UG. I like mine sloppy. :D

I like mine well-structured, with extra sauce. Sloppy-ness should come from the sauce, not extra water.

I pat the noodles dry an/or put them in the salad spinner - keeps things together very nicely!

Oh and UG - Tomato paste IS NOT Tomato paste!

Well, I'm always willing to hear about a better somethingorother. But be advised my palate is not frightfully subtle. I may have real trouble distinguishing one canned tomato paste from another.

Sloppy migrates to my shirt front much too easily. And only camouflage trousers can hide a similar misfortune below the beltline.

I can get at a Smart & Final, Albertson's, Ralphs, Trader Joe's, a WholeFoods with a bit of a hike, and numerous Mexican grocery stores, even the Vallarta chain.

My parents are out visiting graves today, so I've had an orgy of Christmas wrapping. Well, it counts as an orgy in my book as I was left sweaty, exhausted with sticky fingers, and I kept having to yell at Diz to keep out the damn way.

They're bringing back pie n mash for themselves - I will be having a healthier tea and feeling quite virtuous for it. Mackerel and rocket fishcakes, sliced Charlotte potatoes (blitzed for 7 mins in the microwave) and baked beans.

Not exactly what Gordon Ramsey will be dishing up tonight, but good enough for me. Utilising 3 different cooking methods (hob, oven, microwave) counts as cooking in my book.

Today, I'm thinking sausage gravy over macaroni, steamed broccoli on the side. My strange version of comfort food.
Now, I just have to find "lite" or poultry breakfast sausage at the wasteland that is my local supermarket. (That's been the one significant downside to this whole Maryland thing -- shitty supermarkets.)

Ain't they got TJ's in MD? Annapolis still has its Graul's, no? And try scouring the Rte 1 corridor in the Laurel area, and downtown Baltimore for little old health-food groceries.

See if WholeFoods' website would inform you of any stores in your part of central MD.

Tonight we're having roast chicken. Rather than make a stuffing, I usually put a couple of peeled whole lemons and fresh rosemary in the cavity. Makes for the best ever gravy for the meat and veges.

In the way of veges we're having potatoes, onions, garlic, eggplant and zucchini. All roasted. And we're also having honey roasted carrots.

Yummy. Smells delish. And it's all just so easy.

My shopping pattern is to drop by the store most nights on my way home (since I usually don't know what I want to make till an hour or two before hand.) That means the store I go to needs to be close to home.

There is a TJ's, but they don't have the type of "ethnic" items I'm looking for. I agree that what they have is good; the selection is just smaller than I'd wish. Whole Paycheck is ridiculously expensive, and I will not support their Machiavellian ambitions. (There's another place called "Roots" that is about the same thing.)

Damnit, I just want my Wegmans. I hear that one will be opening up in the next year or so, and my life will be complete. :love: It will also spur healthy competition and improvements in the existing stores (I saw that exact effect when W came to my old neighborhood.)

For "ethnics" I'd definitely scour central Balto, then.

I just baked what feels like a ten pound dish of ziti (Soprano's Family Cookbook recipe---crispy, cheesy, noodly goodness) and now sugar cookies are in the oven. It's snowing ever so softly and there's no place like the cellar for the holidays.

I made the most awesome pizza the other night. The sauce was 1/4 cup ranch, 1/4 cup hot wing sauce, and about 2 Tbs cream cheese all mixed together. Mozzarella cheese, and chicken on top. I meant to put some green onions on too but I forgot until after I'd already put it in the oven.

Hot sliced turkey over pumpernickel bread, cranberry sauce and gravy. Green beans on the side.

/No, I didn't get enough Thanksgiving
//They're making ham for Christmas, so that's no help.

Interesting. Is that your own invention, or did you read it somewhere?

It's based on a coworker's invention from back when I worked at a Domino's pizza as a teen. You can get real creative when you only have a set number of ingredients to eat from every day.

We used to just smear together one ranch packet and the wing sauce from the hot wings we sold--but Domino's wing sauce isn't nearly as spicy as the stuff I had in my house, and mellowing it with more ranch just made it too ranchy, so I tried cream cheese instead. We used to pull the meat off the chicken wings and toss it on the pizza, but now I just cut up a boiled chicken breast instead.

The other invention I remember fondly from those days was a "Clodfobble* special:" one pepperoni, topped with a jalapeno and a squirt of barbecue wing sauce. Perfect for a busy night when you didn't have time to make a real pizza for yourself. Most people agreed it was really yummy, once I finally convinced them one by one to try it. I don't think my digestive system could stand up to very many of them these days though...

*[insert real name here]

I thought last night was full of great comfort food, but my roomy only had half the plate. I ate the whole plate...but I guess my roomy is a tough customer. I have this theory that it was too rich of food, and I should tone it down next time.

New York Strip steak, with red onion and mushrooms sauteed on top. Smoked Mozzarella and Sundried tomato pasta salad, zucchini and squash with fresh garlic (light baste and cook time), and gourmet organic baby red potatoes, with a lick of sweet butter.

sounds yummy cloud


Last night I made stuffed pasta shells with ricotta cheese, mushrooms and spinach smothered in a sweet thick spaghetti sauce.

Did you just call me Cloud?

Alright, I'm going to change my name with the moderators approval.

Cloud is awesome, but this is getting ridiculous!

laughs out loud alot

sorry cic...my mind was someplace else. Probably drooling over New York Strip steak, with red onion and mushrooms sauteed on top. Smoked Mozzarella and Sundried tomato pasta salad.

While I was at the grocery store I picked up mushrooms to sautee but honestly wouldn't have been able to recall who posted that tempting dish. sorry again