Saturday, August 31st "What's Cookin'?"

[annrms]

Good morning! Clouds will be moving in later today. Right now it's clear and muggy.
Lunch with friends was great. We didn't know until we got to the restaurant that the lunch menu had changed. The usual salads were on the menu, but sandwiches and the one entrée offered at lunch was different. Yay! I had a shrimp lettuce wrap...something I had never had before. It was very good. Instead of tuna salad, there's chicken salad with cranberries and a turkey melt. All good.
We had soup last night that I ordered the day before. While grocery shopping, I spied 'street tortillas'...small flour tortillas. I made cheese quesadillas to go with it.
While housekeeping was in our place, I sat in the lobby and worked on a jigsaw with a neighbor.
My Penzey's order arrived while I was there. Got my Bavarian seasoning that I want to use on the potluck dish I'm going to make next Sunday. I also got some dehydrated chives, caraway seeds and some Middle Eastern spices.
Not sure what we will do for dinner. Probably will order up because of the crush of folks trying to use up their points before they expire.
No other plans for the moment. Hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend. Waving!

[cfniervt]

Good morning friends.

Was working yesterday and then had to go to Castleton from work to get DGD for the long weekend. Then Brian wanted to go play Bingo so we did. I never got home until after 8:30pm. So left the house a 7am and got home at 8:30pm! LOL Poor Dan had to fend for himself all day. I did all that on 1 hours sleep. So last night I slept a sold 8 hours and just got up! Drinking a nice hot Mocha right now and enjoying it immensely!

Ann- I have 2 duck breasts in the freezer and need to make Dan some Duck L'Orange as he really likes it.

Bet- Sorry about the hassle at the ob yesterday. How annoying to have it disappear in your time sheet too.

Birdy= Sounds like yua re really getting organized there. Good for you.

Elza- Have a good trip.

Mamma= That is quite a hike in electric rates! Wow!

Tasty- Glad the pain is so minimal for you.

Lori- Hope everything is going okay for you.

Elaine- Did your rates go up too?

Well I am going to see my cousin later today at a craft fair I decided not to d but she is. I will take her my side walls for her set up in case it does rain.

[wilderness]

Good morning.  It is 61°this morning and overcast.  Again maybe mid 70's and no sun.  However they have changed the Tstorms and they aren't suppose to start until around 4.  Would you believe my job from yesterday was on my time sheet this morning.  I didn't close it out yesterday so maybe it just wasn't showing when I go home yesterday afternoon.  I have one job that needs to be done by tomorrow but my plan is to do it today as the weather is suppose to be much nicer tomorrow.  Store doesn't open until 9 so don't have to leave until 8:30.  Plan is to be home by noon.  I want to shop Walmart before I come home but will see what the crowd looks like.  Nothing urgent there.

I figured up the savings yesterday between the shrimp for the November dinner and the chicken for another month I saved the $50. Now I have to get the chicken froze and vacuum sealed.  Am debating is I should re package the shrimp.

I have been off on a tangent.  Thinking about how I will use the chicken for the club.  I really want to make chicken parm so have been researching breading and freezing ahead of time and it appears to be possible.  You can actually bake them from the frozen state.  Wish I had thought of this sooner so I had time to give it a try before I freeze the chicken.

Ann, what size are street tortillas?  Glad you had a great lunch with friends.

Chris, glad you were able to get some good sleep last night.  Have fun at the craft fair.  Hopefully it won't rain.

Have a great day.

Bet

[mamma482]

Good morning everyone.

Hot and a bit more sticky this morning and through the weekend. But I'm not going anywhere. Karen asked me this morning if I wanted to go out for supper. But I opted not to, I just don't feel like going anywhere. I'ld rather stay home and do nothing than go out to eat.

Today I need to get to some cleaning, change to the fall bedspread, dust, and clean the fridge well. And I will work on making a couple Christmas cards or work on some new things with the cards. I may swing into Frys for the coffee that is on sale I forget what else they had on sale that I use if I am in the mood to leave the house. Although I doubt I will leave the house this weekend other than take Mandy out.

French bread pizza for supper or lunch. I just have to remember to take everything out of the freezer when I am done here. :)

[nybirder]

Bet, I hope work goes more smoothly today. Communications are really a problem aren't they?

Chris, that really was a long day! I was thinking of you the other day when our dining room ran out of hot chocolate and I got the bright idea of ordering some packets for Michelle (I don't know who she is but they are for myself!) LOL! I found some Ghirardelli brand online that is double chocolate. It sounded so good I ordered some. I will report back on that one. Since I can't put anything together for myself in the kitchen, it has got to be something made with either water or milk.

Ann, your food selections sound really good.

Just for a laugh, I will tell you what poor readers do with my food. I get mashed potatoes at every meal. My dietary slip has at the bottom to use Gravy. Well, the other day I got this huge dark green Mound on my plate. I couldn't figure out what it was so I asked the server. They had poured my pureed spinach, which I never eat since it is so nasty, over my mashed potatoes as gravy! That happened once before a month ago but then it was my cream of broccoli soup. That actually tasted pretty good! Bless her heart, the server took it back and brought back mashed potatoes with butter on them! I can't get too upset because once food is pureed it doesn't look much like it starts with.

Well, enough of that. Talk to you later!

Birdy

[annrms]

[mamma482]

OMG, Birdy, I almost lost my cookies reading what was on your mashed potatoes. Thank God they fixed it for you!!!! I could eat with the cream of broccoli soup with the tators, but spinach, yuck.

Ann, what is the link for?

[annrms]

I deleted that link and finally got postimage.com photo of the street tortillas. I made cheese quesadillas with them to go with homemade Baldwin soup.

[wilderness]

Thanks Ann.  I buy Mission all of the time but guess I have just never heard that term before.

Bet

[tasty]

Where did the morning go to???  I did strip the bed when we got up just after 6 so the sheets have been washed, dried and the bed remade.  I also took a walk over to the grocery store to stock up on butter while it is on sale (@ $4.99) for the canning group shortly after 7.  Grabbed some breakfast when I got back home then started baking ready for the market tomorrow.  I did goof there.  I had the first batch in the oven, the second batch was already, wet ingredients in one bowl and dry in a second when I started to prepare a small batch of a different loaf.  The dry ingredients were done and fine but I added the oil to the wet ingredients for the second batch - ugh!!!  Fortunately I had enough ingredients to make a third batch of the blueberry loaves but made that into 2 regular size loaves instead of the small ones which go to the market.   Silly mistake but all's well that ends well and it will just mean 2 loaves going into the freezer for ourselves.  Oven's summoning me again - hope to be back later!

[Jan in BC]

Good morning everyone.
   Not here the last couple days, just not much to say without boring you. 
    Was busy gathering ingredients for Italian Plum Loaf. Have it filed under quick breads, but texture is more cake like. Everybody seems to like it, DGD2’s very favourite. Seasonal, but as it freezes well, will make 2 batches, 2 loaves per batch. In the oven now, will make second batch tomorrow. Will be giving most of it away.
   DH wants some kind of fish burger tonight, have salmon patties in the freezer so will work with that. Have to think about the sides. Hmmm.
  Ann, talking about people using up their points reminded me that this is the last day of the month. Where did the summer go? Every year goes faster, it seems.
   Chris, boy, you sure had a busy day yesterday. Makes me tired just thinking about it.
   Bet, good to hear your job was on your timesheet. I’d be very annoyed if it wasn’t. Hope your work goes more smoothly for you today.
   Birdie, I gagged when I heard they put creamed spinach on your mashed potatoes too. Glad they replaced it for you.
   Mamma, that’s how I felt, would much prefer the broccoli on the potatoes rather than spinach. 
  Not much planned for the weekend, will take it as it comes.   Jan
   

[Jan in BC]

Hi tasty, thanks for reminding me of the butter on sale. Time to start stocking up on ingredients for the holidays. No idea how much I’ll make, but want to be prepared.  DD1 has already put in her request for her Christmas gift, wants me to make a big batch of my granola. Yikes! The holidays are surely creeping up on me fast.   Jan

[helen]

Hello All. I have been thinking of FL lately, well mostly Hubby in FL I guess. Weather is moderating here from high 90s to mostly 80s next week. Nice change. Incompetence is so aggravating isn't it, Bet? Not being perfect either, I guess I should leave it at that. Pet peeve, though. Elaine, good call I think. Chris, glad you got caught up on sleep. You don't let much slow you down. Ann, you've reminded me to have another look at that bonanza of Penzy spices I got as a Christmas gift one year. Some, I've used a lot but others not so much just because I forget about them, I guess. Elza, have a safe trip. Campbell's Chunky Chili Mac is for supper tonite. Buttered saltines on the side. I should get cracking on my smoked sausage fixin's yet today for the remainder of the holiday weekend. Sweet dreams

[weebill]

Hi.

Elza- that church that your friend will be pastor at is right down street from me. Once they get here I will check it out. It's close I can walk there.

We ended up giving 2 different neighbors the ham. We did have cold sandwiches, scalloped potatoes and ham, an egg bake, grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. Plus, the night it was made with baked potatoes. So we decided to share. I will try ham balls the next time as they sound good.

Chris- yes , our electric rates went up so did our cable and internet bills.

Birdy- I love creamed spinach. But, I've never had it on mashed potatoes .
Glad your room is coming together.

Elaine

[wilderness]

Mamma, how is everything working since you got it back.  Hope you got some cards done today.  With your heat I wouldn't want to go out to eat either.

Birdy, you getting to be quite the gourmet with your drinks.  Are you allowed a blender in your room.  There are some good dried meals and soups that all they require is water and maybe a little butter that are microwavable that you could puree.  I am sure some of them would taste a lot better than what you get there.

Tasty, I bought butter yesterday also.  It was $4.99 a pound but if you bought 3 it was $3.99 each.  I have made some errors cooking lately when I have been reading 2 different recipes I want to make that day and get the ingredients mixed up.  Madding when I do that.  Hope you have a good market tomorrow.  If you have the weather we are suppose to have it will be perfect.

Jan, I don't think you ramble on.  Not half as bad as I do.  I enjoy reading what you are able to do.   Hope I am as good in the next 5 years.  Knock on work at this point I have my health going for me.

Helen, I know those days when I spend too much time thinking about the past.  This past week has been one of them.  The 25th was 17 years that DH has been gone.  Enjoy your smoked sausage.  What do you use for sausage and what to you have with them?

Elaine, I forgot to mention ham salad sandwiches. I make them when I have leftovers. It is simple if you have a grinder but you could do it in a food processor. Just add sweet relish, a little mustard and mayonnaise.

Work when great this morning.  The store had already done the job.  I had to check it knowing this store they did it there way so glad I didn't do it.  However the Lead who was working is just not with it.  I still needed all of the paper work and it took me for ever to make him understand there we a couple of more pages that I needed.  He does these revisions and should have known.  When I finished there I went to Walmart and only go a few things that were on my list.  Nothing for the Dinner next month.  It was just too busy.  I was home by 11:30.

Since I had been up since 4 I after I had something to eat I was so sleepy I couldn't keep my eyes open.  This is why I don't eat lunch. I laid down about 12:30 and never heard a thing after that.  Since then I have been in the kitchen or reading recipes on the computer.  I pulled a large chicken breast from the freezer and decided to try breading in and freezing it to cook later.  That is done and in the freezer so guess I will be eating chicken parm sometime in the near future.  I have also been working on dinner for tonight.  It is one of my crazy ones mostly appetizers.  I made Shrimp Bisque since I sous vided some extra shrimp with I made the Cajun lime shrimp last night.  I found burrata which I haven't seen here in years so that will be Caprese salad with fresh tomatoes from my garden.  I have made roasted red peppers sauteed in olive oil and garlic.  Have a loaf of french bread from the freezer and will make garlic bread and that will be dinner.

Enjoy your evening.

Bet