WHAT'S FOR DINNER TONIGHT?

[BEAVERMAN]

I don't know about dinner tonight but I made Maple Onion Bacon Jam today. interesting flavor, trying it on different things. I like it better warm than cold.

Mark, sounds like some delicious spread to me!

[The Miner '49er]

This is a twofer reply. Last night's and tonight's dinners are paired because today is my wife's birthday. She dearly loves seafood, especially crab legs, but lobster is in second place merely by a whisker. Our local Red Lobster had a crab legs special last night, which we did. Tonight is round two, surf and turf special. The standing family joke is that you can tell if she's really enjoying the meal if you see drawn butter dripping from the tips of her elbows. While that might be an exaggeration it isn't too far off the mark! Last night the waitress wouldn't do what I asked. It was so simple too. I hoped she would have my wife put on an eye patch and pirate's hat, straddle a stick seahorse, then run through the place singing sea shanties.  No such luck! Happy birthday to her on the xx anniversary of her 29th birthday.

[Bigsmoke]

Miner, I think that would be worth the price of admission to see the 6 o'clock ride of that mutineer.  (Pardon the pun)

John (Bigsmoke)

[Winter Hawk]

You would say that, John! Shame on you! 

Made blueberry-sourdough pancakes for breakfast, which turned out pretty tasty.  I threw some whole wheat flour into the batter, and they almost look burned.  I've noticed that before; if I use only all-purpose flour they come out nice, golden brown. Add whole wheat and they get almost black.  Tasty, though!

Dinner was spaghetti.  Sauce base was tomato sauce I made up last summer from our garden, with extra tomatoes out of the freezer. Added a jalapeno pepper and bell pepper, also from the freezer, some cut up mushrooms, onion and celery from the grocery store plus a bit of turkey sausage and the whole thing came out pretty tasty over organic spaghetti noodles.

~Kees~

[BEAVERMAN]

Boss Lady instructed me that tonight she wants some burgers off the grill and salad, fine by me, easy peasy and tasty! chicken soup can wait until tomorrow, going to use Gnocchi instead of egg drop dumplings.

[Bigsmoke]

You would say that, John! Shame on you! 

Made blueberry-sourdough pancakes for breakfast, which turned out pretty tasty.  I threw some whole wheat flour into the batter, and they almost look burned.  I've noticed that before; if I use only all-purpose flour they come out nice, golden brown. Add whole wheat and they get almost black.  Tasty, though!

Dinner was spaghetti.  Sauce base was tomato sauce I made up last summer from our garden, with extra tomatoes out of the freezer. Added a jalapeno pepper and bell pepper, also from the freezer, some cut up mushrooms, onion and celery from the grocery store plus a bit of turkey sausage and the whole thing came out pretty tasty over organic spaghetti noodles.

~Kees~

Kees, your spaghetti sauce (or gravy) sounds pretty good.  It might be kinda difficult to find in your area, but I really think Fresno chilis would give a better taste than jalapeņo does, and they are also a bit hotter.  They rank about the same as a jalapeņo on the Scoville scale, although they can be just a tad hotter.  The Jalapeņo is about 2,000 to 8,000 SHU whereas the Fresno is 2,500 - 10,000 SHU and in my humble opinion it has a better flavor.  For comparison, the infamous Ghost Pepper is 1,041,427 SHU.  Break out the fire extinguishers, boys, it a hot one tonight.
John 

[The Miner '49er]

Captain's log: 02/19/2025 @ 1730 hours, Red Lobster restaurant near the OKI (Ohio, Ky, Indiana) triangle.        Decks are awash in drawn butter. Many of the crew and passengers are taking to the lifeboats. One passenger apparently will go down with the ship but she has a big grin on her face. Mayday, mayday, mayday!

[BEAVERMAN]

Captain's log: 02/19/2025 @ 1730 hours, Red Lobster restaurant near the OKI (Ohio, Ky, Indiana) triangle.        Decks are awash in drawn butter. Many of the crew and passengers are taking to the lifeboats. One passenger apparently will go down with the ship but she has a big grin on her face. Mayday, mayday, mayday!

 

[BEAVERMAN]

Tonight, it's Chicago style Italian Beef sammys, usually I buy thin slice beef from the deli, not at 12 bux a pound !! so I'm used a 3lb top round roast in the slow cooker using the instructions on the gravy package, then Ill add some sliced sweet peppers ( frozen from last summers garden) a couple hours it's finished cooking, shred and serve on a crusty 6" roll, served wet on the bread with the sweet peppers and ad a couple Sicilian style medium heat sport peppers on mine with a side of the gravy for dunking and a tossed salad, I'm salivating while I type this, below is the link for the au jus/ gravy packet.

https://www.amazon.com/Louies-Italian-Beef-Seasoning/dp/B00KPX1XHG/ref=sr_1_1_pp?crid=1RYOPT3XFV44D&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.xJLJGZsJNXY9tDmTa7nbM2p_1yiWjrm3JZcmElO5HAvdafKUwhflSd2NIYmExjdsbPxapGBABU3CUyNwp6AGqouYgFO1AR0qA3xIzsRufcE-5h_5WGoTUKPUeCj_Vy07r3rCmMwHIU-iWrpd5PE-fOpqqsVl5OC5GsW9ca7O-Lfu5qrqj_fJ-RQmLAsw4ZZLrLi51avHgrGBH_Bfzq1onJNktQizzeaE4oZaoSodaVVpUvd2Nvr1figswuF1fGUbcW6JPziK_IDP0FlICyUzK3QJfaAU9xvz36zt78N7RMJ9TUMyPnWNXdR7WpHFCmEUmhmnW1XeJMeT-OSvluNejon9ArG6ViSOzijJskYl2pM3NfNCQ-0gu7YexZklhJcZoK_nM0IZNA-CvciniT33MDMabooaBhdT9CNyaJNv58JcJiI7mX-rtE2eKA4kDeWo.QVysLnHG2vO5nO2hvgqq8Gzg1WzXylOlL9cJEIEkfC4&dib_tag=se&keywords=italian+beef+seasoning&qid=1740169439&sprefix=Ialian+beef%2Caps%2C2593&sr=8-1

[Bigsmoke]

Jim, that sando sure brought back some great memories for me.
My mom used to cook up something like that, only with round steak sliced like carne asada, onions, Italian sweet peppers and tomatoes.   I think she might have added some Italian sausage as well.   She had a big, square electric fry pan that she cooked it in.  I wonder what ever happened to it?
I am going to have to gather up some things and give it a try.  In thinking about it, no way I am ever going to find those peppers this time of year, so I guess I will go with some Anaheim peppers instead.  Should be almost as good.
Yeah, I'm drooling on the keyboard myself.
John

[Winter Hawk]

Kees, your spaghetti sauce (or gravy) sounds pretty good.  It might be kinda difficult to find in your area, but I really think Fresno chilis would give a better taste than jalapeņo does, and they are also a bit hotter.

John, I'll see if I can find Fresno chili seeds to plant this year.  What came out of the freezer was what I harvested last year from the garden, bagged up and froze.  Tomato sauce was what I put up in jars.  I have a number of gallon Zip-Loc bags with tomatoes frozen also.  I take what I need out and put in a bowl with hot tap water; a couple of minutes later I squeeze the fruit and it pops right out of the skin.  Transfer it to the cutting board and dice it.
(Carefully, the frozen tomato wants to roll under the knife!)  My cooking tip of the day...

~Kees~[/size]

[Bigsmoke]

Kees, my cooking tip of the day is to do the slicing and the dicing (especially if you are using a mandolin) before you have a couple of your favorite adult beverages, not after.  It's poor form to bleed all over the veggies, doncha know?   
If you must imbibe first, it maybe a good idea to use cut resistant gloves.
John

Strangely enough, at this point of time, 4:30 PM, I have no clue what I am going to fix for dinner tonight.  Looks like I will probably warm up some penne that I cooked last night.  I was going to go to the store and get the fixings for some Italian Pepper Steak sandos, but, as they say, the road to perdition is paved with good intentions.  Just never got there.

[Winter Hawk]

I have a mandolin I bought years ago, but have never used it.  I generally use a "chef's" knife, or the slicing side of the box grater.  I may have to try the mandolin out one of these days.

I do have a minstrel harp my Sweetie (her b-day today) bought me many years ago and I play it once in a while although most of the time it is just an ornament on one of the bookshelves.  I have no idea how I would use it to slice & dice, though! 

~Kees~

[dmarsh]

Meatloaf and mashed potatoes with corn on the side.  My wife's favorite.  I use my mandolin about once a week but before Happy Hour.

[No Powder]

My favorite too Dave. If your mandolin becomes out of tune, use it after Happy Hour and you won't notice it as much.