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I made German meat patty's spatzle and black russian pumpernickle rolls. It was pretty good. I spent most of the day fussing around in the kitchen. Sue

Danish hash with eggs

Well mine doesn't exactly qualify as a wonder. I made a pot of chili and grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for dinner, per my husbands request. Went to 3different stores to find the chili bean mix that I use in MI(Brooks chili mix)and not one store carried their product, so I had to sub for a different brand. Oh well, just another product I can't find down here in FL. Chalk it up to regional differences.

Soft shell beef tacos ~ mine had beef, Velvetta cheese (yes, Velvetta even though we have at least 6 other types of "real" cheese in the refrigerator), tomatoes, lettuce, avocadoes and sour cream. DH's had beef, real Cheddar cheese, onions, black olives, tomatoes, lettuce and DH's homemade salsa which is hot enough to heat up the kitchen without turning on the oven.

He mistakenly planted Habanero chilies instead of Jalapenos in his garden this year and is determined to use up all of them rather than admit he messed up!

Halloween has been cancelled twice in our town because of the hurricane, the nor'easter and all the flooding we have had. So tonight was the night for trick or treating! We actually have snow on the ground! So I made a big pot of beef stew with dumplings. The stew was great, but we had very few kids ring the bell so I have bags of left over candy to shove in the freezer before I consume them!

Made slow roasted beef tenderloin with a horseradish sauce, roasted new potatoes with rosemary, and frozen peas.

Martha

So far from last night we have:
Sue MI and her German meat patty's spatzle and black russian pumpernickle rolls,
sms29266's Danish hash
IR's tacos,
Mamspoon's Chili,
Jo-CT stew and
Martha's beef tenderloin.

If we are going to be tempting other posters with intriguing sounding dishes we need to make this a recipe exchange!

Me, tonight DH is away with the girls so DS and I had our first girls' night since she moved back to the beach. Instead of ordering out we had boiled shrimp, Tyson's anytizers and a veggie tray. I smade a couple of different drink recipes and we watched movies.

The beef tenderloin is from Ina Garten's new cookbook. Instead of roasting a beef tenderloin at 400 for 10 minutes (high and quick anyway) you roast it at 275 for 1 1/2 hours for medium rare. Dry the meat, rub with olive oil, salt and pepper the meat, then she suggested tying tarragon on to the meat. It was dark and I didn't want to go out in the garden with my flashlight so I just sprinkled it with dried tarragon. Put in the 275 oven for 1 1/2 hours. She served hers with a basil parmesan sauce -- I chose the traditional horseradish. It was very good and very tender and of course, I love the smell of meat cooking in the house!

Leftovers will be sandwiches and I may make a pesto parmesan mayo to serve on them.

Martha

We had a small meatloaf (very good) and DH had mac & cheese and I had a baked potato. Also a very nice dish of fresh fruit (pears from my friend's tree, orange, apple, dried cranberries and figs)

I love Spatzle but don't know how to cook it. My paternal grandmother was first generation American but her parents were German (this in 1840) my Dad said she used to cut the spatzle off a spoon into boiling water. I would also love the Russian pumpernickle rolls. I love dark dense breads.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: lady of shallot,

I've got turkey chili almost prepared.

The rest of the beef tenderloin was made into French dip sandwiches for dinner tonight.

Martha

Lady of S, here you go.
Spatzle
1 1/2 Cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp nutmeg
2 eggs
1/2 cup of milk.
Mix together will be a sticky mess.

Do you have a plastic collander? Or one with fairly decent holes in it? If so over a pot of boiling salted water push dough through the holes with the back of a spoon. When the little dumplings float they are done. Drain them and put butter on them I had gravey from the meat pattys so it was good.
I was reading someplace you can fry them in butter, till lightly brown..(bet that would be good, smothered in sour cream even better.) Good luck.

Do you really want the Pumpernickle bread recipe if so will post tomorrow. Sue

I baked a ham, and baked potatoes and a green salad.

I am going to cut the extra meat off the bone and freeze that to make ham and eggs next week when I have a lot of family company for Thanksgiving weekend. Then I am also going to make a split pea soup with the ham bone for next week's company. Tonight we just sliced off as much as we wanted. We haven't had ham for several months so it was sure enjoyed!

We had meatloaf -- a new recipe -- Ina Garten's 1770 meatloaf, mashed potatoes with garlic sauce over all and a green salad. What I'm looking forward to most is the meat loaf sandwich today for lunch!

Martha

Oh, I had company for lunch yesterday as well (it was a cooking day I'd say) and fixed butternut squash soup, chicken with capers and cream and white and wild rice and a pear and almond tart.

Martha

Easy dinner tonight. DH and I rode our bikes up to a local place for a burger and fries on the deck.

LOL - It was almost dark by the time we got back home.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Charming,

quote:

Originally posted by Linderhof:
We had meatloaf -- a new recipe -- Ina Garten's 1770 meatloaf, mashed potatoes with garlic sauce over all and a green salad. What I'm looking forward to most is the meat loaf sandwich today for lunch!

Martha

I've been wanting to make this meatloaf ever since I saw her make with the chef from 1770, it looked delicious, how did yours turn out? Was it as good as it looked?

Not dinner tonight but lunch on Monday -- a pear and almond tart for dessert.

Martha

For dinner tonight -- a chicken and macaroni casserole -- I fixed the whole recipe and we ate one tonight and I froze one for the busy time in December.

Martha

I am always so filled with comfort when I read the food boards. Ah, I wish all of you lived near me!

Tonight I made some chicken breasts in a pan with cream of chicken soup. I was reading about some eastern food and how they use more spices than we do (and seem to be healthier than we are). I want to try using more spices now so I added some rosemary, savory, and thyme. I let it simmer for an hour or so. It was pretty good. I did google "spices to use for chicken" because I don't have a clue.

Also made a packaged rice/pasta dish and added some tomatoes. I really liked it but was the only one who really liked it.

Had salad, mandarin oranges, pickles, shredded parmesan cheese, and tortilla chips, too.

Tilapia with a lemon herb sauce, brown rice pilaf, romaine & orange salad with raspberry-hazelnut vinaigrette and roasted hazelnuts.

Then cracked open another 1# of hazelnuts for the winter. Will toast them tomorrow and freeze for later use - some in biscotti at Christmastime.

Oh, Martha, that casserole looks wonderful! Would you share the recipe, please?

FFG -- sure

It's easy.


CHICKEN AND MACARONI CASSEROLE

2 Tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups light cream
2 cups chicken broth, divided
3/4 pound process American cheese, cubed (or you can use Velveeta shreds)
1 pound ziti, cooked and drained
3 cups cubed cooked chicken
2 ounce jar pimientos, drained
1 teaspoon each salt and black pepper
Snipped fresh parsley, optional

In a large saucepan, melt butter. Stir in flour until combined. Add cream and 1 1/2 cups chicken broth all at once, stir until smooth. Cook and stir until smooth and bubbly -- cook and stir 2 minutes more. Remove from heat and add the cheese and stir until melted. Stir in macaroni, chicken, pimentos salt and pepper. Add additional 1/2 cup broth, if needed. Pour into a 3 quart baking dish.

Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 40 minutes or until heated through. Sprinkle with parsley, if desired.
6-8 Servings

BTW, you can use your favorite kind of pasta.

Martha

Chocolate dump cake I made for a funeral but brought three pieces home. Made a great snack with a class of milk.

Martha

Dinner tonight was left over BBQ ribs, creamy coleslaw and corn on the cob -- sounds more like a summer meal than a pre Thanksgiving meal doesn't it?

Martha

Ham and cheese omelet with half an avocado on the side.

We were gone over the weekend so I put that sinfully delicious pie in the refrigerator. Had the last slices for dessert.

Beef stroganoff with mushrooms served over egg noodles !!!

Probably the last beef we will have for a while since Thanksgiving is almost here. Funny story ~ I casually suggested to DH a few nights ago that we really should get a 10-12 pound turkey this year (last year's was over 22 pounds ) and you would have thought that I had just told him that there was no Santa Claus!

Well, he came home with "just" a 17 pound one this year and I had to laugh at his "sacrifice" ~ now, realize that the turkey, stuffing and gravy is his thing and I do the mashed potatoes, green beans (no, never had "that" casserole), shrimp salad and rolls ~ sure glad that turkey freezes well and it pretty versatile as well.

I'm really going to enjoy the stroganoff during the next few days!

IR -- what is it about men and turkeys? My DH also thinks you should cook a 22 pounder even for just the two of us!

Martha

Thank goodness turkey is not a big thing with DH, although he does prefer that as the protein on Thanksgiving.

I still prefer to smoke our turkey, so smaller is better. For me that is much more versatile than baked. I can use the wings and legs in place of smoked pork in vegetables, I shred the thighs for turkey que and I can split the breast and serve it several times.

Dinner tonight was a Mexican salad for we had guests for lunch --

Butternut squash and sage quiche for an entree

Martha

And a cranberry orange pecan cake with cream cheese frosting.

Martha

I made smoked sausage with potatoes and kraut.

I cut the sausage into 1 inch slices and roughly chopped potatoes into about inch square pieces. put them all into home made kraut in a big pan, added a cup of water and simmered it covered, for about 45 minutes.

Ohhhh yummy

Oh, y'all are making me hungry again! Martha, thanks for the recipe. It's saved already.

And, I had a turkey sandwich with mayo and dill pickles.

quote:

Originally posted by Linderhof:
IR -- what is it about men and turkeys? My DH also thinks you should cook a 22 pounder even for just the two of us!

Martha

Loved your comment, linderhof! I waited until DH was carving his "measley" little 17 pound turkey before I relayed it to him ~ took a while before he stopped laughing and was able to resume the all-important-job of carving!

quote:

Originally posted by Kathy_in_wlsv:
I made smoked sausage with potatoes and kraut.

Definitely yummy!

DH fussed the one time I purchased and baked 'just' a turkey breast. eyeroll This is the man who does not like leftovers... double eyeroll A couple of years ago we went to Luby's...perfect for me but he said he'd never do that again.

Last night we had sauteed chicken breasts, buttered carrots, and fried cabbage.

I've got Italian sausages simmering in tomato sauce now. We'll have steamed asparagus with that and green salads.

The best part of Thanksgiving is the turkey sandwich (with mayo and cranberry sauce) and a big icy glass of milk.

We were guests Thanksgiving day and so I fixed a turkey breast and all the "trimmings" for Sunday Lunch.

This was supper.

Martha

One of the after Thanksgiving "givens" is turkey and noodles -- that was dinner tonight.

The last of the Thanksgiving left-overs!

Tomarrow I'll start the freezing process ~ my plan for tomarrow night is Cashew Shrimp Scampi (our own original recipe developed through the years) served over wild rice.

NY Strip steaks with a shallot cream sauce and Delmonico potatoes - an old recipe I fixed for the first time that definetely needs tweaking.

Gosh, I wish you guys lived closer to me! I had the other half of a whopper that I saved from lunch.

quote:

Originally posted by Charcoalsmom:
Gosh, I wish you guys lived closer to me! I had the other half of a whopper that I saved from lunch.

I wished you lived closer too ~ I so enjoy your posts and I love Whoppers ~ can't remember the last time I had one! I have "fast food" maybe once a year - don't get out much - but when I do it's Burger King for sure!

Gave up on McDonalds years ago when they promoted the 2-sided burger that left the cheese on the "cold" size and the counter person told me that they couldn't put the cheese on the warm size (where it would melt) because it would violate their patent. Say what??! Left the drive-in without ordering and haven't been back since.

Tonight was a big pot of home made potato soup and I baked choco chip cookies for dessert.

Tomorrow night will be pork loin, sauerkraut and mashed potatos. Yum!

Another turkey casserole experiment. This time it was a variation on King Ranch Mac and Chicken from the Januray 2012 Southern Living magazine.

I had some Velveeta cheese (not something I keep on hand but was going to try one of Martha's recipes), turkey, Cavatapi, cream mushroom soup, green peppers, Ro-Tel tomatoes, onions, red banana peppers, sour cream, etc.

Cook the macaroni (the larger heartier Cavatapi or even a ziti is a good choice) and drain. Cook the onion, green pepper, add the ingredients in the order given then stir in the macaroni. Pour into a greased baking pan. Sprinkle with cheese and bake about 25 minutes till bubbly.

Came out good, I have never had it with chicken so I didn't have that taste comparison to overcome and the flavors were pretty strong to hide the turkey taste.

At last - I will not take the rest of the leftover turkey breast, and freeze it for a dinner sometime this winter. I will also freeze the casserole with dressing to use at a later date also.

Thank you Sea A Meal.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Charming,

We had turkey meat pie!!! It was heavenly!

Yummy thread!

Making easy, easy taco soup tonight. G is putting up Christmas lights, and requested this soup for later. We crumble chips on it, so no cornbread that I usually make with soups.

It wasn't dinner but I taught a "Kansas" Kroquembouche class last night for a group of women -- mini cream puffs made into a tower with royal icing and decorated with fun Christmas candies and sprinkles. These are the completed trees for it was a hands on class -- we called it the Kroquembouche forest -- everyone seemed to have a good time!

Martha

Tonight, I making cold sesame/peanut noodles with leftover rotisserie chicken from last night, garnished with fresh cilantro and sliced cucumber and red bell pepper.

Today is unseasonably warm, so this dish, which requires very little cooking, will be cool and refreshing. Especially with a glass (or two) of Chardonnay.

Tonight my favorite - Reservations!

I haven't cooked a thing in almost two weeks!! That's about the best thing about going visiting -- no cooking.