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What's for Dinner? Part 79 (Old)

And we're up to the 79th incarnation of what's cookin' at your abode. It's Monday; it's springtime, when all our thoughts turn to......local asparagus and wild fiddleheads! :-D

(Although it *is* snowing lightly here in New England, but thankfully, not sticking to the roads!)

So what IS cooking?

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  1. My wife is off helping our youngest daughter with twin toddlers today, and won't be home for dinner. I foresaw this situation and took a container of frozen chili out to defrost. That's for dinner tonight (21Mar11) along with sweet potato flavored tortilla chips and beer.

    BTW, I'm the chili cook. My wife is unable to ingest the incendiary comestible that's made with a couple of 'ghost peppers' (Bhut Jolokia) native to India plus some other incendiary chiles.

    6 Replies
    1. re: ChiliDude

      OK, sweet potato-flavored tortilla chips? Do tell?

      1. re: ChiliDude

        We'd have expected no less from a "ChiliDude"!! ; - ) I'm w Linda, those sweet-potato tortillas sure do sound yummy too!

        1. re: Breadcrumbs

          FOOD SHOULD TASTE GOOD in Needham, MA. There is a website. Bought 'em at BJs.

          1. re: ChiliDude

            Oh, now I'm SERIOUSLY psyched that they're local to me! Woo hoo!!!!! Even better that I have a BJ's shopping list started! Double Woo hoo!!!!!!

            1. re: LindaWhit

              We have a relatively new BJs near us that has a deli counter at which one can have cold cuts sliced to order.

            2. re: ChiliDude

              There is a BJ's near me as well. I don't shop there, because it is just so....big. I really don't like the feel of "big box" grocery shopping, although i know that they do carry some items I would probably like to have, and that I can't get anyplace else. Also, I already go to three ( count 'em..three!) grocery stores pretty regularly ( as in almost weekly!) and don't really want to add yet another one to my "rounds". i do Walmart, although i don't really like to do that either, because of the significant difference in prices on some items, but i don't like to buy meat or produce there ( oddly enough, except for scallions and cilantro, because I find theirs to be fresher and stay fresher longer than the other grocery stores), Price Chopper every week, because they offer a 10 cent per gallon discount on gas for every $50 spent, and they have good produce, and Hannaford for some items I am unable to get at Walmart or Price Chopper. I'm also not thrilled with the Price Chopper deli, since they converted to all Boar's Head brand products...they are ok, but I don't find them worth the price difference for most things.

        2. Leftover Cantonese-style roast pork with super-crispy skin will be reheated in the oven. Side is cukes with sesame oil dressing and stir-fried Chinese cabbage. Yumboski.

          4 Replies
            1. re: buttertart

              We got two orders for "us." I finished off an entire order by myself yesterday.... >sigh<

              But yeah. One more order of succulent, crispy, porky goodness is still around to be savored.

              1. re: linguafood

                I love cucumbers w sesame oil and a little rice wine vinegar linguafood. . . ahhhh, memories of summers past! Dinner sounds delicious!

                1. re: Breadcrumbs

                  thank you! i usually like my cukes with a dill dressing, but given the other actors in tonight's dinner, i figured i'd have to asianize it '-)

          1. Because the weather is so crappy and snowy and rainy and not spring-like at all, I decided to say the hell with all that and make pesto. I found some nice basil at a local Shop Rite, and the pesto is waiting in the fridge. I got some unbelievably delicious tomatoes at Costco, so I with make a big salad with romaine and tomatoes to eat after the pasta.

            3 Replies
            1. re: roxlet

              I like how you're thinking roxlet, weather be damned, I'm eating summer!! Enjoy!

              . . . btw, looks like that weather is hitting us tomorrow night into Wednesday.... ughhh!

              1. re: Breadcrumbs

                If it's any consolation, the snow didn't amount to much. The temperatures were well in the 40s, so the snow that stuck is mainly gone already. I hope your weather snow storm does the same.

              2. A cool and cloudy day in Phoenix calls for comfort food tonight. Making Paul Prudhomme's Cajun Meatloaf and spinach gratin.

                4 Replies
                1. re: Rubee

                  Oh yum Rubee. I'd forgotten all about that Meatloaf. I bought PP's book because of all the raves here about that recipe and I don't think I ever made it! (at least a quick EYB search doesn't show a review or bookmark so I mustn't have). I'll definitely have to put that on the list. Enjoy!

                  1. re: Rubee

                    I love that meal loaf, Rubee! Spinach gratin sounds perfect with it too!

                    1. re: sunflwrsdh

                      @sunflwersdhn I love it too. Every time I try a new recipe, we both agree nothing beats Prudhomme's!

                      @Breadcrumbs. You must try it. I just posted the recipe link and details (below). It's so good - moist, nice heat, and lots of flavor. Great for sandwiches.


                      1. re: Rubee

                        Oh Rubee, this looks spectacular! Yum! I will most definitely try it!

                  2. I'm not cooking a thing tonight. We've got leftover food galore and we're going to have to eat it up.

                    8 Replies
                    1. re: MellieMag

                      ditto that, Mellie. I'll have spaghetti and meat sauce tonight; will finish up last night's chicken tomorrow. But that doesn't mean I don't enjoy reading what everyone ELSE is cooking! :-)

                      1. re: MellieMag

                        Leftovers here too - I'm making corned beef hash w/ leftover St. Patty's day beef (made on Saturday). Along with should be whole wheat bagels and sliced clementines. Will add diced onions to the has which, oddly enough, I did not have any when I went to put it in the crock pot. Right shoulder's rotator's cuff is giving me grief so I've enlisted DS to come over and chop for me.

                        1. re: JerryMe

                          Is St. Patty's Day an American spelling - I've seen it spelled like that here on Chow and on Slashfood, but never anywhere else? Here in the UK and in Ireland it's always St. Paddy's Day (the Irish shorten Patrick to Paddy, not Patty, probably due to the Irish spelling of Patrick as Padraig). It's just making me giggle a little, because I get a mental image of St. Patty - a nice, friendly little old lady in curlers :)

                          1. re: Isobel_A

                            Think it must be, Isobel.

                            Go in any Irish bar in Manchester and call someone Patty and your next visit is the local hospital A & E department. Unless your Patty was a woman, of course.

                            1. re: Harters

                              It's just a bastardization - I've always called it St. Paddy's Day (Patrick = Padraig) - but many take the "Pat" and extend it to "Patty's".

                              1. re: LindaWhit

                                i've never heard St. Patty's - only St. Paddy's, and we have quite a large Irish community here....

                              2. re: Harters

                                My Patty is indeed a woman. Thanks for the chuckle tho.

                          2. re: MellieMag

                            me too. at dad's house, my sister made a big pot of her spag sauce, so i boiled the pasta for him, made a salad, and that was his dinner. heated up a chicken leg from one of those supermarket roasted chickens he'd bought over the weekend. the leg and a leftover steamed artichoke with sauce gribiche my sister made was my dinner. my dinner is boring me silly.