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What are you cooking for dinner this January?

Tonight we had baked butter and cream chicken, haricot vert and a nice salad with vinaigrette.

Dessert was an Asian pear, thinly sliced with a pour of cream.

Martha

Well, the weather here is the dreaded winter "inversion" so it's time for some yummy warm food ~ making spaghetti and marinara meat sauce with mushrooms for tomarrow night along with garlic french bread. Buying the bread but will add the butter and garlic!

I prepared a semi traditional News Years dinner on Jan 2. We went to the movies instead of cooking New Years Day.

I made 3 new recipes from the 2010 Southern Living Cookbook, with modifications.

1. New version Hoppin John Stew. I don't like black eyed peas and could not find any canned crowder peas or other type of peas when at the grocery so I used dried pintos. The recipe also used fresh peppers, cilantro and Rotel tomatoes. It came out really good even with my tweaks.

2. White Cheddar Cheese Grits - no adjustments except to cook longer before adding the cheese and they were awesome!

3. New Version of Collards. I had a bag of turnips I used instead of collards so they didn't have to cook as long.

I made corn muffins to finish off the plate. I served Hoppin John Stew over the grits with the greens on the side.

DH has already requested I make it again. Although except for the grits and greens there is plenty of the Hoppin John for later. I will freeze most of it for next time.

I am looking forward to cooking all January Learning to cook all over again and this time with a grown up kitchen!

Tonight I am cooking a roast chicken - evoo, s&p, herbs de provence, with a lemon and orange stuffed in cavity. Baked potato and some sprouts.

For Sunday Lunch we had herbs de provence lamb shanks, mashed potatoes and roasted haricot vert. King's Cake for tea this afternoon.

We adore lamb!

Martha

I made french onion soup and a salad with pears and candied pecans and a balsamic dressing.

Everything sounds so good!

New Year's Day menu was:
Oven Baked Stew
Black Eyed Peas
Coleslaw with Apples
Beer Bread
Lovelight Chocolate Chiffon Cake with 7 Minute Frosting (DH called it 7 Hour Frosting 'cause it took two tries and still wasn't quite right)but tasted good - no peaks though)

cassia, I just had to comment on your avatar. I've never seen that one before. When I was a kid, I saw all the Laurel and Hardy movies--they were my favorite team!

Bean soup with leftover Xmas ham bone - spinach salad - whole grain crusty bread - fruit/cookies . . . .

seaborne - i have a ham bone in the fridg...hoping I could figure out what to do with it.

Do you mind sharing your soup recipe.
I had one but lost my recipe folders in a computer crash a few yrs ago...trying to rebuild them)

I always make pea soup with a ham bone.

Tonight's dinner is chicken and noodles served over mashed potatos. I cheated and went by the donut shop this morning, so donuts for dessert. Wow, better be starting either NutriSystem or Weight Watchers back up soon, lol!

GypsyD - is that right? You put noodles over the mashed potatoes???

nance, yes we do. It's delish!

CA Lori, I like Laurel and Hardy but love Buster Keaton. When I chose that avatar I was looking for a "cheerful" one . GypsyDancer the noodles over mashed potatoes sounds like good ol' comfort food.

Cassia, that's exactly what it is.....and especially good on a cold, rainy day. It was yummy!

Okay! NOW I'm ready to start eating again!! I had a 24 hour bug when nothing stayed on my stomach...that left me sore and tender. Five days later I feel much better and about 6 pounds lighter!

I'm going to the grocery store today.

We are eating soups and salads mostly as we recover from all of the wonderful holiday meals. I don't particularly like soup, but I can tolerate it in winter.

Sherry, I would like to be six pounds lighter, but without being sick...lol. Glad you are feeling better.

I'm not going to voluntary go that route again! My step-son called it the chic fashion model's diet.

Ugh, I am such a dud in the kitchen. What you guys have made sounds so delicious. Honestly, some of the time I haven't even heard of what you're mentioning.

Tonight I heated up a roasted chicken I purchased from the store. I did make fried potatoes, fried tomatoes w/mozarella cheese, and a nice salad with homemade oj/evoo/red vinegar dressing. Also had bananas/straberries and BBQ potato chips. This is the first time I've ever given the kids BBQ potato chips. I just wanted something different (haven't had them myself in years).

I have this magazine that I bought but haven't looked at yet. It's Taste of Home and has 5 Ingredient Recipes, Delicious Superfast Dinners, and 100+ prep in 15 min. or less right on the front. Hope this gives me some good ideas.

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

Everything sounds so yummy. I have been doing very little cooking this month; just getting by on salads, deli roasted chicken and soups.

Our home is under contract (in one day and a 30-day closing!!!) so I want to keep my kitchen clean and the house free of cooking odors as much as possible. So, nothing elaborate for us until we move in to our next home.

Cutting down on what we eat has been beneficial. I had been under the weather for a couple of weeks, so my appetite had diminished...temporarily, at least.

It was my turn to host quilt group this month. I made "turkey breast of wonder" (pinterest), wild rice, broccoli/cauliflower salad, bloomin' onion bread, and chocolate pie with coconut crust.



aychihuahua, congrats on selling your house, and hope you feel better.

Tonight it was a pineapple & anise brined pork loin roast with gravy for mashed potatoes, fresh green beans and julienne carrots, made fresh multi-grain & seeded rolls and a homemade banana cream pie.

Sounds yum! and Annon that bread looks delish!

we've had chili 2 nights in a row, Chicken stoup with dumplings, eggs for supper, cold cut sandwiches, and tonight is "granny taters."

that's a casserole of mild italian sausage.. 3 links, breakfast sausage 3 or 4 links, chopped onions and peppers and 5 big chopped potatoes, cooked together with cheese melted over it..

I can taste it now. we've been anticipating it for 3 days now.

Okay, Lurah. I'm on my way to your house. Nothing I prepare can match your meals.

quote:

made fresh multi-grain & seeded rolls

Lurah, could you share the recipe for these, please??? I have been looking for a nice multi grain bread or rolls

Bean soup recipes - lots all over the place. One of the best ones is on the pkg. of 10-bean soup mix - or on any bag of Great Northern dried beans. But when I don't have time to start with dried beans, then I use "Bear Creek" Country Kitchens dried soup mix. Then, I add additional ingredients - like chopped onions, celery, carrots and a can of seasoned diced tomatoes and additional canned beans. I'm not much of a cut-and-dried recipe cook - I improvise with ingredients I have on hand. Start with sauteing the aromatics (onions, celery, carrots) - then add the ham bone and beans (if dried, soaked overnight), and liquid (I always use chicken broth) - and cook until it's a consistency you prefer. Season with S/P, thyme, bay leaf. Sometimes, I add a diced potato toward the last half hour or so of cooking. And take out the ham bone when the meat is starting to fall off the bone - dice, and return to soup.

quote:

Originally posted by Annon:
It was my turn to host quilt group this month. I made "turkey breast of wonder" (pinterest), wild rice, broccoli/cauliflower salad, bloomin' onion bread, and chocolate pie with coconut crust.



aychihuahua, congrats on selling your house, and hope you feel better.

Thanks, Annon. You ladies are killing me with all these wonderful meals. Boy, I can hardly wait until things normalize so we can get cooking.

Last night was navy bean and ham soup with cornbread.

Tonight I served 5-cheese tortellini with olive oil/butter herb sauce, mixed vegetables, avocado drizzled with red wine vinegar.

It's nice to be able to eat and not hurt my tummy.

quote:

Originally posted by Florida Farm Girl:
Okay, Lurah. I'm on my way to your house. Nothing I prepare can match your meals.

Notice that I don't post menus every day, for a reason. Other nights this week it was chili. Tonight we went out for German cuisine, at the Sr. community complex dining room where they have Escoffier trained chef everyday! Lucky ducks.

quote:

Originally posted by nance425:
Lurah, could you share the recipe for these, please??? I have been looking for a nice multi grain bread or rolls

I was inspired by mountainbeach's recipe on another post and did some research. The jury is still out on how I did. I baked 6 rolls from the batch and wasn't pleased. So I reworked the dough and have it in the refrig. as I hope to have a better fresh loaf ready for a door prize drawing on Monday.

Year's ago I tried a multiseeded roll with a variety of flours, it made a huge batch and I was taking them to a bake sale. I packaged them all and delivered to the church event, went & had our dinner. When I returned to the bake sale room all of my rolls were gone. I was too embarrassed to ask if they all sold or one of they ladies working bought some, tried them and decided to ditch them all

So if they turn out, I'll post my exact recipe.
Warning: lots of ingredients in the list.

Last night we had homemade pizza. We don't have it very often but it is so much better than what we get out here. Always with a salad of mixed baby greens and vinaigrette.

Martha

We had a classic roast chicken, green beans gremolata and roasted cauliflower with bread crumbs and Parm cheese. Coconut cake for dessert!

Martha

Groan...I've been wanting a good homemade coconut cake! I started to make one for Christmas, but everyone asked for pies.

I'm trying to stay away from sweets this month...well at least an excess of sweets. Perhaps I'll bake a coconut cake in February.

I have made a few big pots of soup this January. Also a big lasagna dinner for one of my son's birthday. (our only unmarried child)

Cocok -- that always my DD's birthday dinner when she was growing up -- lasagna! I made it for so many years!

Martha

Would you care to share a good lasagna recipe here? It sounds yummy and I'd love to make some.

Charcoalsmom -- I'm almost ashamed to say it's from the Betty Crocker cookbook (which, actually, now is fitting because DD works for Betty Crocker!)

It's meatless (which is why we like it so, I think) and she (Betty) recommended serving meatballs alongside, but we never did.

It's marinara sauce, Mozarella, Parm, lasagna noodles and ricotta mixed with an egg and oregano.

Layer marainara sauce, a layer of noodles, ricotta mixture, mozarella, parm, repeat two more times. I then add another layer of sauce and some more mozarella, parm. Bake at 350 until it's hot and bubbly.

You can use regular lasagna noodles, boil to soften or you can use the non cook kind.

I don't make my own sauce, preferring to buy the jar kind -- I've used Ragu and I also like the Hunt's in a can. But if something is on sale and it's a name brand, I'll buy and use that instead.

For years before we had ricotta available in my little town, we used cottage cheese -- and it's so much better with the ricotta! So was happy to be able to purchase it here! (For years, our little town was ingredient challenged -- couldn't even find flat leaf parsley!)

Enjoy.

BTW, her birthday is in a couple of weeks -- for old times sake, I just may make lasagna!

Martha

Not dinner but lunch -- for I had company yesterday (and dinner was leftovers from lunch!) -- carrot and coriander soup, creamy herbed chicken (chicken and mushrooms and pasta in a creamy sauce and baked), herbed biscuits and pear (with the last of the Harry and David pears), apple and cranberry crisp with good pours of cream!

Martha

Cheese Ravioli ala Florentine, Romaine with fresh pears & toasted almonds salad and homemade pear vinaigrette, multi-grain & seeded loaf of fresh bread and picked up a favorite ice cream cake from the niche dairy. Took all to my daughter's home for she & her housemates in honor of her birthday.

Fresh Caesar Salad made with eggs, anchovies, fresh croutons, the whole shebang. Linguine and white clam sauce with white wine and garlic, and of course the liquor from the fresh clams. Only problem is I need to stop cooking like I have 9 people still in the house when it's only the two of us!

When it's really cold outside I love to make one of those big pot meals that take all day; homemade chili, red beans/white beans and rice with sausage or homemade soup.

Still waiting for it to get really cold.

Lady, you may get your wish. It got up to a whole 43 degrees here today, but at least the sun is finally shining after weeks of gray and dreary.

Beautiful day here - temps reached mid 50s.
I'm fixing roasted chicken, steamed artichokes, and I will saute garlic and cherry tomatoes.

Dinner tonight was chicken pot pie with a puff pastry crust, salad of mixed baby greens and little puff pastry triangles filled with cream cheese and jam for dessert with coffee.

Martha

A favorite cold weather meal is chicken corn soup (a PA Dutch staple). That is what we had tonight. It was yummy!

Sunday Lunch -- roast beef, horseradish sauce, potatoes, carrots, parsnips and onions cooked in with the beef.

Martha

I had leftover dirty rice for dinner tonight, but I did make a cheesecake to serve the girls tomorrow night.