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I need to try marinating chicken in Italian dressing sometime. I don't usually have dressing on hand but I could probably make some or buy it for the occasion. Sounds like it'd be super tasty.
I roasted potatoes and sliced trumpet mushrooms (I stopped by a mushroom farm and they were on sale because they had a bumper crop), and pan-cooked some spicy Italian-style chicken sausage, and then in the same pan the sausage cooked in, sauteed some spinach and dressed it with lemon zest and juice. Super yummy as a Sunday night meal and any leftovers I don't eat tomorrow I'll cook into a fritatta later this week.
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Got my hands on some kosher for passover cucumber salad that I have added some tomatoes to. Cooked up several boneless chicken thighs cooked in drinkable chicken broth with pinto beans to eat over water rice(I need to replace it with brown rice, I know. I'm not there yet but I'm getting there). Will have two brioche buns for the breakfast part of my bento box(getting there with the bread free life, am eating up the last of it, I really need a bread replacement).
So lunch tomorrow is:
Breakfast- two brioche buns, maybe with cheese.
Lunch- Cucumber salad with tomato, chicken thighs cut up cooked in chicken broth and pinto beans over white rice.
Dinner- Leftovers from Rysky's Restaurant.
Dessert- Cut up cantaloupe.
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Tonight was braised BBQ boneless porkloin chops, (canned) green beans, (jarred) applesauce, and last two pieces of (frozen) garlic toast.
Was going to make enough for leftovers tomorrow, but I was down to last two chops in the freezer, so I'll have to figure out something new for tomorrow's dinner. I've still got two salisbury steak patties that I made & froze a couple months or so back, so we'll probably have them with the usual sides and those nice Aldi-brand ciabatta rolls I bought.
In the freezer, I've got a couple footlong ham bones with a bunch of meat still attached that I need to saw up into chunks for Dad's beans. It doesn't seem to matter in the beans if the ham/bones are smoked or not, but even Dad's duller tastebuds can instantly taste whether I used just smoked pork & fat, or if I use bones. Must be the marrow and the minerals the bone adds to the bean broth.
I was going to finally bake a dessert today, but I got sidetracked looking up copy-cat recipes for (Captiva's own) Bubble Room orange cake. I think I've cobbled together something workable for a first attempt, and I'm eager to bake an experiment once I've picked up the couple ingredients I don't have on hand.
UGH
UGH
UGH
IT LEAKED EVERYWHERE
MY KONOSUBA PATCHES ON MY NOTEBOOK WERE ALMOST RUINED
And it leaked AGAIN today!! I may have to get a new Axis Order patch!!!
I am ordering a new bento box that should deal with this problem.
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Sorry to hear about the blahs. Sunshine might give a good dose of vitamin D. (And sorry about your patches, Freehold!)
Got food poisoning eating out about 9 days ago, so it's been mostly simple foods for the last week or so. But this said recently (post the worst of it) someone gave me four steamed (Maryland Blue) crabs leftover from their crab feast, so I picked them and made crab cakes. I didn't use a recipe and need to be sure I use more panko next time to bind them together, but it was good: crab, panko, mayo, and some of the Old Bay brushed off the the shells. You don't have to get fancy with them and they will be good.
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The girlfriend and I had an extra day off Monday, so we made:
Hummus
beet deep
tzatziki sauce
pickled radishes/beets (google doc with recipes I stole from various places on the internet)
She lives off veggies and dip, and I'll snack on them occasionally, so it worked really well to feed her for the week.
I then made mapo tofu, replacing the pork with diced mushrooms. I haven't made that in a little while, and I love it. I made some chili oil a couple weeks ago, so I used that and I was very happy. I've fallen in love with Korean red pepper powder. It's flavorful and has some heat, but not too much. I roasted some broccoli to go on the side. Tossed it in salt, pepper, and olive oil, roasted for 25 minutes at 400 degrees, and it was nice and crispy.
I've also probably made too much egg fried rice this week. I've been using brown rice and JUST egg, so it's a bit healthier. I had some extra mushrooms one day, then extra carrots another. Seasoned with my homemade chili oil and a touch of oyster sauce. Garnished with sprouts to make myself feel better about it.
Damn that sounds good.
So good news, the new bento box works!
Bad news I BROKE IT ALREADY
I am ordering a replacement through amazon, which should be here today.
I have taken the extra step and have elmininated sugar, bread, and rice from my diet.
Breakfast is fresh fruit, dried fruit, and nuts.
Lunch is fish/chicken/chili/whatever I cooked with more veggies and a rice replacement. I am enjoying these a great deal.
There is no dessert. I may seek out Amby or DQ for their company, perhaps, but my sweet tooth will remain unsatisfied for the foreseeable future.
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Scint and I have been trying out HelloFresh for the past few months and it's been pretty good about getting us to eat something other than grilled cheese sandwiches and fast food. It helps I enjoy cooking and the meals rarely take longer than an hour to make.
I took a lot of inspiration from HelloFresh. I had to cancel my subscription when I had to reduce carbs and meat (their veggie meals are heavy on pasta/potatoes/rice, cheap starches to fill you up).
That said, I'm still using some of the things I learned from their recipes, and it is a really good, easy way to improve confidence and skill at cooking.
I'm absolutely loving making the egg fried rice. Since I don't measure anything, it turns out slightly different every time. We roasted a bunch of broccoli, cauliflower, and bell pepper to add the fiber I needed.
I've also been living off KIND bars recently. They have a little bit of added sugar, but it's only a couple of grams, and there's so much fiber, I think I can get away with it.
Otherwise, I've been really lazy and ordered way too much delivery/takeout. Definitely did not maintain my goals the past 7-10 days.
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I have procured millet and made some in my rice cooker.
It is a win. Will be eating this daily from now on. Will also be mixing in frozen veggies. And hell a few fresh ones too, why not.
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So this is what i am doing now.
Breakfast is some type of non-wheat based homemade bread(cornbread) and two hard boiled eggs with tea. Lots of fruit is chopped up into the cornbread.
Lunch is my main meal of the day and is millet with fish, and veggies. Often those veggies are some kind of alternate potato/rice/starch thing, which are pricey but some of them are freaking genius,especially the "onion rings" and "gnocchi".
Dinner is usually leftovers from lunch(millet with veggies) and some kind of protein to make up the lack.
Dessert is...nonexistent. Tea, maybe?
I know I have been posting this a lot but I think this really, really is it. This is me going forward.
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I'm glad you're finding a healthy plan, Freehold, especially as you sound like a more adventurous eater than my parents.
Orthos! {waves excitedly}
Sorry you're still fighting this cycle of depression, Mark. If I didn't need to be cooking and shopping for my Dad, my eating habits would be absolutely terrible. As it is, I have to make a deliberate effort to make myself eat breakfast and lunch every day and at the same time. It's tough. I'm rooting for you.
Sorry you got food poisoning, DQ, but glad you're feeling somewhat better. I'm pretty sure that outside of the possibility of it lurking in some seafood salad from the supermarket deli (too expensive usually), I've never had crab, certainly not crab cakes. Neither Dad or Mom were much on any shellfish, except Mom's love of shrimp. That sounds really good.
---
Monday was leftover thin-sliced steak pasta alfredo and some little Hawaiian rolls.
Tuesday was grilled hamburgers and potato chips.
Wednesday, Dad ate dinner with my brother and his wife, and her eldest son and his girlfriend. She made her usual spaghetti and salad, which... she hates tomatoes, so she uses some sort of tomato sauce powder that reconstitutes into a bland, half-forgotten memory of an actual tomato sauce. I made two batches of box brownie mixes, adding in a 1/3 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips & 1/4 cup crushed pecans to each. I sent one batch of brownies out with Dad for their dinner and kept one here for him to snack on.
Thursday night was chicken noodle soup (canned condensed) and grilled (American) cheese sandwiches. I made the soup per directions, dumping in a 5 oz can of chunked chicken breast including the pack-in juice, and added some celery salt + a bay leaf + dried oregano. I could make better from scratch, or buy a better brand, but that's how Dad likes it, so
Last night was just sloppy joes (Manwich), baked beans (canned), and potato chips.
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I picked up a vacuum-packed 8lb bone-in pork shoulder Wednesday at the only supermarket (Save A Lot) left nearby. It was only $1.29/lb, but they don't have an on-staff butcher, so I couldn't ask them to bone saw it into 2 or 3 smaller chunks. I spent almost an hour this morning dulling a good knife trying to get that massive humerus bone out of one half of the roast. That finally done, I stabbed little pockets in each half to tuck in whole garlic cloves (about 2/3 of a head of garlic each half) and tied them both back into a roast shape with butcher's twine.
I seasoned the inside of the 3.1 lb deboned chunk with Monterey seasoning blend before tying it up, then wrapped it in plastic, bagged it, and stuck it in the freezer for some later dinner. The seasoning is a good all-around blend that'll add flavor but it won't clash with any seasoning I decide to cook it for the future dinner; and whole garlic cloves slow-roasted in pork juices are heavenly.
The remaining chunk -- not quite 5 lb total with that 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 lb bone still in it -- I didn't season inside at all, other than the garlic. I stuck it in a gallon zipper bag, dumped in a 12 oz bottle of mojo marinade I picked up Friday on the way home, and let it marinade about 45 minutes on each side in the fridge. I couldn't find fresh key limes or I would have made the marinade from scratch, but I've wanted to try that brand anyway after seeing it in the local products section at Publix for a year now. I just now stuck it in the oven (in my dutch oven) at 275F where it'll slow-roast for 3 hours, then I'll increase the temp to 325F to roast for another 3 hours basting it every hour with the marinade juices. Dad won't eat rice or black beans, so instead I'll just make a basic salad, then start boiling eggs for deviled eggs. I've still got 8 Hawaiian rolls in the freezer, so I'll defrost them to serve with it. Hopefully it will go well, and there will be enough for leftovers tomorrow night.
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I took a lot of inspiration from HelloFresh. I had to cancel my subscription when I had to reduce carbs and meat (their veggie meals are heavy on pasta/potatoes/rice, cheap starches to fill you up).
That said, I'm still using some of the things I learned from their recipes, and it is a really good, easy way to improve confidence and skill at cooking.
We've been collecting the recipe sheets in our cookbooks, so if we ever need/want to cancel, we have all the recipes to pull from going forward.
Orthos! {waves excitedly}
Heyah =) Long time no see.
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Hello Fresh and the like have never been something we could do, as we'd be leaving out undesired items like onions, while not being able to upscale portions for the rest of the house. Glad it works as a learning tool though.
Been doing a lot of crockpot recipes that can be doled out into serving containers and stored in the fridge until people are hungry. With our work schedules getting a bit more aligned, that might be less necessary. Still nice to be able to pop something in the oven for reheating though.
I spent almost an hour this morning dulling a good knife trying to get that massive humerus bone out of one half of the roast.
For christmas, I got myself a cheap set of sharpening stones and have been working on learning to sharpen my knives. I'm slowly getting better at it, and it's kind of fun to do while watching TV.
I picked up a vacuum-packed 8lb bone-in pork shoulder Wednesday at the only supermarket (Save A Lot) left nearby. It was only $1.29/lb, but they don't have an on-staff butcher, so I couldn't ask them to bone saw it into 2 or 3 smaller chunks. I spent almost an hour this morning dulling a good knife trying to get that massive humerus bone out of one half of the roast. That finally done, I stabbed little pockets in each half to tuck in whole garlic cloves (about 2/3 of a head of garlic each half) and tied them both back into a roast shape with butcher's twine.
I seasoned the inside of the 3.1 lb deboned chunk with Monterey seasoning blend before tying it up, then wrapped it in plastic, bagged it, and stuck it in the freezer for some later dinner. The seasoning is a good all-around blend that'll add flavor but it won't clash with any seasoning I decide to cook it for the future dinner; and whole garlic cloves slow-roasted in pork juices are heavenly.
The remaining chunk -- not quite 5 lb total with that 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 lb bone still in it -- I didn't season inside at all, other than the garlic. I stuck it in a gallon zipper bag, dumped in a 12 oz bottle of mojo marinade I picked up Friday on the way home, and let it marinade about 45 minutes on each side in the fridge. I couldn't find fresh key limes or I would have made the marinade from scratch, but I've wanted to try that brand anyway after seeing it in the local products section at Publix for a year now. I just now stuck it in the oven (in my dutch oven) at 275F where it'll slow-roast for 3 hours, then I'll increase the temp to 325F to roast for another 3 hours basting it every hour with the marinade juices. Dad won't eat rice or black beans, so instead I'll just make a basic salad, then start boiling eggs for deviled eggs. I've still got 8 Hawaiian rolls in the freezer, so I'll defrost them to serve...
How could this NOT work?
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I have procured millet and made some in my rice cooker.
It is a win. Will be eating this daily from now on. Will also be mixing in frozen veggies. And hell a few fresh ones too, why not.
I love millet and you are reminding me that I have a bunch I should use up.
Two of my favorite things to do with it:
Make porridge: cook with more liquid than usual and as it swells and cooks down, add some milk. Can mix in whatever you like to mix in oatmeal (while one can be indulgent with stuff like cream and sweet things, when focusing on care for one's health, moderate quantities of nuts or nut butters and/or fresh berries are also lovely). Can be made savory too, mixing in whatever you'd usually add to grits or polenta.
Skillet meal: sear seasoned chicken breast, add chopped broccoli florets around, add liquid enough (like chicken broth) to absorb about 1/2 C millet and bring to simmer, then add millet, cover, and cook on low till millet cooks thru. Temp your chicken just in case but it should be fully cooked through by the time the millet is done.
God that sounds good.
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How could this NOT work?
Bring me down a decent smoker -- not top of the line but decent -- and not only you can pull up a chair at the dinner table, I'll send you home with plastic containers full of food.
---
Mojo pork was good, but I'd set my expectations higher. If I'd been able to slow smoke it, it would have been outstanding.
---
I've already got the russets peeled and cubed for mashed potatoes, and started prep for roast spatchcocked chicken tonight. Unlike Kenji's version, I'll be stuffing butter + herbs under the skin for more flavor, and limiting the seasoning on the outside (herbs more likely to burn) of the skin to just salt, pepper, and a little baking powder (lowers pH to improve browning), then rubbed with a bit of non-ev olive oil (higher smoke point). Will use the chicken juices for the gravy, probably have baby carrots in sauce or boiled corn-on-the-cob for other veg.
I would have preferred to grill the chicken, but the grill's gas burner is falling to bits, so anything grilled needs frequent attention to make sure it isn't turning to charcoal.
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I am going to try to make oatbread tonight. It may be better than cornbread.
Anyone have some good sheer-exhaustion-and-hunger dinner ideas? As in "I'm so tired and hungry right now I just want to eat cold cereal" sort of dinners, but not cold cereal as I've already figured that one out.
I love cooking but I still eat out too much when I don't feel like it, and need to find home alternatives to save some money. (Not that I am having difficulties, but it's a bad habit to get into.) Need some very minimal-prep and/or no cook dinner ideas. Doesn't have to be gourmet or traditional, but something that has some vague actual nutrition content.
Anyone have some good sheer-exhaustion-and-hunger dinner ideas? As in "I'm so tired and hungry right now I just want to eat cold cereal" sort of dinnersYou should totally have a bowl of cold
but not cold cereal as I've already figured that one out.
Awww....
I love cooking but I still eat out too much when I don't feel like it, and need to find home alternatives to save some money. (Not that I am having difficulties, but it's a bad habit to get into.) Need some very minimal-prep and/or no cook dinner ideas. Doesn't have to be gourmet or traditional, but something that has some vague actual nutrition content.
Beryl on YouTube has allllll sorts of "I'm lazy" or "rainy day" recipes. Some are quite awesome.
Thanks both!
Other than having leftovers of proper dinners, I don't know what else to suggest. Our go-to dinner for something good and (mostly) healthy is just a quick stir fry of frozen vegetables in red curry and coconut milk. Cook up some rice or have leftover. Actual time spent at the stove is 10-15 minutes, but that might take a bit longer than you want to spend on it.
I have been trying to have more frozen stuff on hand for a quick meal (or to stir into something like mac n cheese to make it slightly more nutritious).
I've tried keeping coconut milk and I can never use up the contents of the whole can. I do like it in a curry but can never figure out what to do with the portion that doesn't go into the curry. I guess I could make a larger batch and freeze it, though there's always a 50/50 chance anything that gets put in my freezer gets forgotten forever. If it's tasty though...
My dinner basically every day while I was at university was just pasta with sauce from a jar. This was easy to make but might not fulfill the nutrition requirement, unless you are just interested in a full belly.
That's not terrible actually and again the main challenge there is just using it all up. The sauce itself isn't that bad for you... it's all vegetables and little oil, key issue is sodium. You can also easily add meat and/or extra frozen veggies for more.
Probably what I need to improve (and I've known this for awhile) is menu planning. If I do jarred sauce + pasta, plan to make a lasagna or mini pizzas with leftover sauce. I was starting to get good at planning my menus and then the pandemic hit (and then I got a new job) and all my routines went out of the water. I've been rebuilding them but I have ADHD so it is an achingly slow process.
How about hot cereal? Get a good muesli (low sugar, high grain), milk, microwave for a minute or so, plop on some berries or maybe a blob of jam.
Basically like making porridge, only faster.
Oooh. I was planning on making homemade granola this week. It was going to be for topping yogurt but this would be a good application too. Maybe I'll make a double batch.
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Sorry, DQ, don't have any real suggestions. Generally when I'm exhausted, I also procrastinate, so there's little time left for me to actually cook something not-terrible-for-us fat/sugar/salt-wise. Tilapia baked in parchment (en papillote) is stupid easy and takes 35-40 minutes @ 400F if I start with frozen tilapia fillets. An hour before dinner, into the 400F heated oven, I stick in a baked potato with the skin rubbed in olive oil on a quarter-size cookie sheet; if it's large, poke it halfway through 2-3 times with a toothpick so steam can escape (big potatoes might explode otherwise). Then about 45 minutes before, I start assembling the still frozen fish in parchment in a baking dish so it can bake alongside the potato.
I'm sure boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs would also probably work well baked this way, though you'd first need to cut them in half horizontally and maybe pound them a bit thinner.
Mom used to make McCormick's paprika chicken in an oven cooking bag, and would throw in fresh green beans and small halved new potatoes to bake with it. I made it once about a year ago, but they've changed their recipe so it's not nearly as good as it was. You could likely make something similar from scratch in a cooking bag or in a big foil pouch.
I like slow cooker meals like chili where I can just dump everything into the slow cooker and check/stir occasionally, but that's something that has to be started 4-6 hours before the meal. I still need to attempt homemade red beans & rice. My local Popeyes is getting really flaky in service & food quality; I can live without their (delicious) spicy chicken but I need my occasional fix of their red beans & rice.
Thursday night Dad finished off his leftover beans & ham. I slept through dinner.
Last night was burgers on the grill & potato chips.
Tonight I'm attempting to make baked balsamic-marinated chicken for the first time, cobbling together a couple recipes I found. Will serve it along with canned green beans (with added butter, beef base, salt & pepper) & a new brand (new in this area anyway) of boxed mac & cheese that was on sale.
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I took a canoe trip the past few days.
I've been doing canoe-camping trips almost my whole life (my first trip was probably 37 years ago, my first solo trip was almost 13 years ago). Normally I do boil-in-bag premade meals, but trying to be healthier I attempted to actually cook this time. It went horribly wrong. Both meals I couldn't get the rice cooked AND I burned it. I used a light-weight cooking pot with an MSR pocket-rocket, and even with the burner turned all the way down (sometimes accidentally turning it off), I still burned two meals. The third dinner was packaged ramen, and it's hard to burn water.
I have a couple of days of turn-around and we're doing a car-camping trip that starts on Friday, so I have until then to see what solutions I can come up with. We need to cook all our own meals to save money so we can pay for gas. At least this time I can bring heavier cookware.
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My backpacking cookbook recommends minute rice for camping since its hard to sustain proper heat and liquid levels with a camp stove.
(And have you ever backpacked, DQ? No, but by golly I've got the cookbook should I decide to.)
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My backpacking cookbook recommends minute rice for camping since its hard to sustain proper heat and liquid levels with a camp stove.
(And have you ever backpacked, DQ? No, but by golly I've got the cookbook should I decide to.)
DW ÷ AMBY BACKPACK ADVENTURES!
I took a canoe trip the past few days.
I've been doing canoe-camping trips almost my whole life (my first trip was probably 37 years ago, my first solo trip was almost 13 years ago). Normally I do boil-in-bag premade meals, but trying to be healthier I attempted to actually cook this time. It went horribly wrong. Both meals I couldn't get the rice cooked AND I burned it. I used a light-weight cooking pot with an MSR pocket-rocket, and even with the burner turned all the way down (sometimes accidentally turning it off), I still burned two meals. The third dinner was packaged ramen, and it's hard to burn water.
I have a couple of days of turn-around and we're doing a car-camping trip that starts on Friday, so I have until then to see what solutions I can come up with. We need to cook all our own meals to save money so we can pay for gas. At least this time I can bring heavier cookware.
Oh wow.
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Still doing the bento box thing. My life is mostly breadless save for the occasional treat. Taking my various medications regularly, and trying to avoid sugar and excess salt. The former is easier than the latter.
I actually had a hard couple of days at work last week(I didn't think it was possible either), so I broke down and got some sweets. But I got granola bars instead of what I would normally get(krispy kreme, I admit it), we will see what happens.
I also got some falafel and fish to add to my bento box.
So...
Breakfast- Strawberries and a cut up banana,1 hard boiled egg
Lunch- Cheese, baby carrots, sugar snap peas with hummus. I love hummus.
Dinner- Falafel and fish and the other hard boiled egg.
Snack-
Loooooooooots of seltzer, tea and water.
I DO feel better, but I need to drink more water overall.
I am going to start working out this week, but at home. I am NOT confident of the covid situation at my gym.
I love making hummus. Sometimes I may have eaten the bowl in one sitting.
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Hummus and pita chips has become my go-to snack the past year. Helps me cut down on less-healthy stuff like chocolate and candy and such.
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Saturday's balsamic chicken recipe I bodged together from other recipes on the Internet was a bust. I suspect it's because I added too much chicken stock (to keep the chicken breast from drying out) and because I didn't add any tomato paste. I wasn't opening a 6 oz can just to use a third of it and stick the rest in the freezer to be forgotten about. Sigh. The new boxed mac & cheese was very good for boxed mac & cheese, easily better than the usual Kraft version.
Monday was a frozen meat lover's pizza.
Tuesday was baked pork chops, canned yams, and stuffing. The yams were from a large 40 oz can I'd previously split into thirds and then froze the remaining two portions. Problem was the original can was almost half liquid syrup-juice, so that didn't leave much actual yam to be eaten per third. Next time, I'm just buying raw yams, peeling & cubing them, and freezing up; I can make the glaze-juice easily enough from scratch. The stuffing was just half a 79¢ box from Aldi; not exciting, but does the job.
Last night I made for Dad baked tilapia in parchment, a baked potato, and frozen hushpuppies. Earlier, I also finally made that blueberry cobbler and a small pouch of orange-cranberry muffins. Turns out, Dad isn't all that fond of blueberries, something I wish I'd known sooner. Still, he ate some warmed up for breakfast, so I'll try to pawn some off on others so it doesn't hang around too long. I was tired, so I took a nap after dinner and woke up after 1AM, so no dinner for me.
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Tonight for dinner I've started chili in the slow cooker. I've seen several recipes call for adding a bit of balsamic vinegar to chili. I'd tried it with that marinated chicken, and I added some into the blueberry cobbler (which came out wonderful, BTW, I'm just not a big sweet eater these days), so I'll sneak a little into the chili to see how it goes.
Friday will probably be leftovers, still need to think of something for Saturday dinner.
Neither my sis and my brother's wife are planning anything for Father's Day on Sunday, so I'll fix a small beef shoulder roast with egg noodles cooked in the beefy juices. And I picked up a pre-made pie crust, so I can make Dad's fav cherry pie.
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One more day and I will have kept up my current menu for a week.
This has REALLY been working for me. The cost savings are considerable. Which is a true blessing in these times.
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I've been something rather boring, but effective this summer-
At least three days a week, Operation Eat Like a Person takes place, where I leave a piece of meat (bison steak is favored) marinating when I head in to work (typical marinade is a bit of olive oil, a bit of balsamic vinegar, and then some chopped garlic). Then I cook it up when I get home, put some blue cheese on it, make some instant mashed spuds and steam some asparagus or broccolini.
Low-effort, but it can really be a morale booster.
And when I have the house to myself, I can add a bit more variety to the mix and cook up some more involved dishes- I made a red wine demiglace for some venison a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed it thoroughly.
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I talked my sister into bringing home some of the chili and blueberry cobbler for her and her husband, as they don't cook much now that both kids are increasingly either at their jobs or with friends. However both nephews returned home in time to steal the cobbler.
Saturday was chicken noodle soup (canned condensed soup with a 5 oz can of chicken breast & juice dumped in, plus some extra seasoning) & grilled cheese sandwiches. I can make better soup from scratch, but Dad prefers the canned.
Sunday was slow braised 1.75 lb top round beef roast (salt & pepper, 1 tbsp olive oil, a couple quartered onions, some chicken stock, and a bay leaf), with a warmed up can of green peas (butter + salt & pepper) and store bought hawaiian rolls. Once the roast was done, I plattered it to rest, and then whisked a 1 oz pouch of mushroom gravy mix into the roast juice. I dumped 4 oz of egg noodles into that and returned it to the oven for 17 minutes until they were cooked. My brother's wife dropped off a giant cookie Saturday for Dad, and my sis dropped off a bunch of candy for him on Sunday, so I waited to make dessert.
Tonight was leftover roast & stuff, and today I threw together a cherry pie for Dad. Just storebought pie crusts and pie filling, but that's how Mom made it, so he was happy with it.
Probably making BBQ chicken tomorrow.
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Tuesday wasn't BBQ chicken, but fried spam & baked beans from a can. Dad also ate the last two straggler hawaiian rolls.
Sis is making a delayed Father's Day dinner at her house this Sunday but doesn't know what she/they will be making (Ugh, the endless circular discussion of Sis: "What do yon want?" vs Dad: "Whatever you'll fix?"). She makes a pretty good lasagna, and her husband is pretty good on the grill & smoker, so I'm betting it's something along either of those lines.
That's why I nixed BBQ chicken for last night, and tonight I'm instead making fried chicken (breasts), crinkle cut french fries, and corn on the half-cobs. I've got the chicken breasts mostly thawed, split in half to thin them down, lightly scored them for marinade penetration, and now marinating in an improvised Italian dressing-lemon juice-soy sauce mix. When I'm ready, I'll just double-dredge them in some flour I seasoned & egg, and shallow fry on the stovetop next to the (frozen) french fries in another pan. Marinating isn't necessary, but chicken breasts have so little flavor on their own; if I had pickle juice to spare, I would have made Kenji's Chick-fil-A recipe.
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Just put together a green salad and toss the strawberries in.
You can do the same with a green slaad, I can't say the results will be the same.
Hey, anyone got any good suggestions to use up strawberries?
Just eat 'em!
Otherwise, Freehold is correct that they go well in green salads (they make a good counterpoint to greens like spinach, in particular), and I also chop them up on cold cereal.
They also go well with butter cookies or the like, depending on just how many you're trying to use up.
It's the beginning of summer and I am building a small wall and then paving completely around a swimming pool so dinner is strictly outside contractors (takeout) for a bit while I get s!@~ done.
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You could also cook them down into a sauce for ice cream.