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So what are you cooking for Dinner this February?

We had dinner out -- at a favorite fried chicken restaurant. We're getting ready for a long trip and the kitchen was clean!!!!

Martha

DH and I decided we wanted hamburgers from a local place so headed there mid-afternoon. Yummy. And the 3rd day in a row I haven't had to cook!! And tomorrow too - friends called and asked us to meet them. I'm a happy girl.

Tilapia with a lemon cream sauce, brown rice pilaf, Romaine salad and cornbread muffins.

My version of Olive Garden's Zuppa Tuscana...Italian potato soup...and garlic bread.

Last night, I got crackin'.
Whole Dungeness crab is on sale (3 days only!), so I bought 2 and cracked/cleaned them. I used most of the meat in Crab Louis salads for dinner, which we had with a shared sour dough baguette. The remainder I used in DH's eggs this am with just enough left for a crab cocktail this evening.

We had "superman sausage" Thursday night, sloppy Joes last night. I will reconstitute the Superman sausage for tonight.

Tomorrow will be snacks for the game. I tend to cook a lot of soups and stews this time of year.

We are going out for dinner Friday for a combination BD and anniversary dinner. I've been jonseing for a slab of prime rib for about a year now.. so I'll probably have that.

People have mentioned London Broil, chilli and roast chicken recently so they are all likely possibilities.

I've got a piece of brisket thawing in the frige right now. I'll put it in the crock pot tomorrow morning.

Tonight we just grabbed some fried chicken from a local chicken place. I had some cole slaw with mine and DH had some mashed potatos and gravy. Tomorrow I'm making some fried Pollock and french fries, along with my left over cole slaw from today. Something small for dessert, don't know what yet.

We picked up some Sushi, seaweed salad, small bowl of Tom Yum Talay and fried soft shell crabs.

We're in the city tonight -- had dinner at one of our favorite places -- Stroud's -- fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, home fries, green beans, cinnamon rolls -- yum! Here's the link:

http://www.stroudsrestaurant.com

Martha

farm girl - can you believe I've never cooked a brisket. do you cook it like a chuck roast?
I see it a lot on menus but never ordered it. How is it different than other roasts?

No, its not cooked like other roasts. I don't have the patience to cook brisket on a true smoker which takes hours and hours. So, I use this easy way. Oh, and if there's excess fat, I trim some of it off before starting to cook it.

Sear the brisket on both sides in a bit of olive oil. Place brisket in crock. In a small bowl, mix 12 oz. chili sauce (found in the condiments section of grocery store), 1 pkg of onion soup mix and a 12 oz. cola. Mix well. Pour over the brisket and cook on low heat for 8 to 10 hours. When its done, remove brisket and let it rest on a plate. You can thicken the sauce using cornstarch or leave it as is. Slice the brisket across the grain and serve. We love it with mashed potatoes on the side.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Florida Farm Girl,

Nance -- I've cooked at least a "cow" of brisket (200 pounds alone for our DD's wedding) -- I use this method

sprinkle the brisket with garlic SALT, celery SALT, onion SALT (not the powders), then pour a good pour of liquid smoke over all. Wrap in foil and bake at 250 about 6 hours. (I sometimes cook it all night) -- it should be tender and flavorful.

I usually trim it then, then refrigerate it and the "juice" from the cooking and the next day I slice it thinly, put it back in the juice and warm in a 350 oven until heated through. I serve BBQ sauce oN THE SIDE or with horseradish sauce.

Yum!

A friend told me about another method and I tried it but like the original way better -- 1 can of whole cranberry sauce, mixed with 1 envelope of onion soup mix, slathered over the brisket and cooked as above.

Martha

In my house, brisket is always cooked in the smoker...slowly...all day. DH does a dry rub and lets it marinate while the charcoal fire is getting ready. He puts some oak (preferably live oak) in a bucket of water to use for the smoke.

I have a BBQ sauce recipe from an old man who did the grilling for DHs family when they had a big to-do. (DHs dad, a cattle rancher and rice farmer - actually killed the fatted calf.) The man never gave his recipe out; however, since DHs family paid for everything, his mother had the shopping list for the ingredients. Just a little bit of work, every cook has come up with a reasonable facsimile. (Story - Years ago DHs now-ex was heating up some leftover bbq in the teacher's lounge. A woman popped her head in the door inhaling the delicious aroma and commented that she hadn't had bbq that smelled that good since her uncle Joe passed. Ex told her it was her uncle Joe's recipe. The woman said he'd never shared that recipe with any of his own family. Ex explained about the shopping list. - I hope she gave the list/recipe to the woman.)

Years ago I did the smoking instead of 1st DH. I used a cajun cooker - one of the tall smokers that had a water pan in it. I still think this is the best method of smoking a large piece of beef.

Please note the correction to the amount of the chili sauce in the above recipe!!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Florida Farm Girl,

Linderhof, my mom has always done our briskets the same way you do. Soooo good! I've never attempted it yet, but think I might before too long.

That recipe is the way my Mom fixed it too -- from the 60's I think. Perhaps it was before "onion soup"!

Martha

I'll not be posting much in February Dinners thread for my dinners will either be on a cruise ship in the middle of the Atlantic or in Italy. I do know that on the cruise ship, I won't spend the money for their slow internet service and I'm not sure once we hit Italy how good or how frequent the internet service will be.

So I'm not mad -- just not connected!

Martha

Happy cruising, Martha!

Yesterday, I fixed Loaded Baked Potato Soup. This particular recipe was best I've tried. I love the soup, but not the recipes.

I think the potatoes made the difference. Instead of russets, I used Klondike Rose in the microwavable bags and cooked them 6 minutes in the microwave.

While they were cooking, did the rest of the cream soup, and then added the potatoes at the end, after chunking and smashing a them just bit.

Then, topped with the usual suspects.

That soup sounds wonderful! And I like that the potatoes are cooked first.

Martha

Martha, hope you have a fabulous trip. We'll look forward to hearing all about it when you get home. Be safe.

Tonight made a hearty Swiss Cheeseburger Soup, Romaine with pears, avocado, almonds, onion and sweet poppy seed dressing served with crusty loaf of sesame bread. Prepared for us here at home and for the housemates of my daughter at college.

Ooooh! Something I've never cooked before!

I sauteed some onions in olive oil, add some chopped kale and some diced water chestnuts. A bit of salt and pepper.

Lacking a meat pounder, I used a small cast iron skillet to pound four small chicken breasts (tenderloins I think the package stated). Seasoned them, then spread with the kale mixture. Topped with bits of fresh mozzarella. Then I rolled them up and wrapped with bacon. Secured with toothpicks. Baked at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes.

And...something I made first for our Christmas dinner (trying to get away from the sweet dessert-like casseroles...
Peeled and sliced sweet potatoes layered in a casserole dish sprinkled with a pinch of salt between layers. Then I drizzled olive oil, spread a few sliver pats of butter around. Sprinkled with Craisins and walnuts and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Then drizzled with maple syrup. Baked at 400 degrees for about 30-35 minutes with foil on. Removed the foil and baked another 10-15 minutes until the potatoes were tender.

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

Other than the liquid smoke, Martha's recipe sounds really good. I will have to try it.

For meals - I recently cooked a center cut ham slice and had green beans and red skin potatoes cooked with a ham hock for flavor, applesauce and corn muffins on the side.

Another night I sliced some of the center cut ham and used in a variation of a recipe using ham, canned soup (I use cream of mushroom) peas, onions, etc served over noodles. Came out pretty good and was really fast. To freshen it up I through in a handful of fresh herbs.

Tonight I'm making Bouillabaisse, it's my husbands Birthday and I make it for him every year, he loves it... I don't I put shrimp, scallops, clams, lobster and snapper in it. I made a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting that is oh-so-good! Yesterday I made braised pork shanks that we'll have tomorrow night!

Steak fajitas in homemade marinade with peppers and onions. Black bean and corn salsa with peppers, red onion, etc. A favorite my daughter and her housemates request every chance they get when I don't have anything in mind. They like the softer puffier tortillas.
I convection roasted the marinated meat slices and veggies in the oven and turned out just as they woould on the Holland grill.
I'll see if they noticed the hint of honey I added to the salsa. Can't find recipe I originally used that included honey.

Prepping for a big dinner theatre event this weekend so that was probably my big cooking expedition for the week at home.

Hamburger steaks with onions and mushrooms in a butter/wine sauce.
Asparagus in lemon butter.
Avocado (mine straight up - DH drowns his in red wine vinegar)

I had to rearrange my weekend menus -- ran out of time yesterday so I cooked tonights dinner last night. Now I need to get busy and fix last night's tonight.

I found an interesting and very easy and very healthy meal in the curren Bon Appetit - Pan roasted Salmon served with collards and raddish raita. I didn't want to do the raita but had Tzatziki on hand - similar flavors and worked quite well. Then the big splurge - calorie and cooking wise - DH wanted scalloped potatoes. So that was dinner.

I used the bagged collards - sauteed in a little garlic and olive oil then just before serving added about 1 - 2 tbsp white wine vinegar. The salmon - marinated a few minutes in Teriyaki sauce. All came together very well.

We're in Venice tonight -- walked through St. Mark's Square to a little restaurant where we had bowls of really good pasta, great bread, all washed down with Chianti. We walked "home" and a full moon was out and shining on the canals.

Martha

My local store had salmon on sale - country of origin was China so I passed on it. Rats.

I did purchase some Texas Gulf brownies (shrimp). I bought a 5 pound bag of them frozen. Anxious to get into them.

A lady came into the courthouse Friday selling hot tamales. I don't buy from just anyone, but my boss knows this lady and told me that she her kitchen is clean. I visited with the tamale lady the last time she was in the courthouse. Her husband is putting together a concession trailer for her. Anyway - I purchased a dozen pork tamales from her. Husband and I ate half of them Friday night. They are good!

Great food in Italy

Dinner last night

Salad with oil and vinegar
Lentil soup
Pasta with mushrooms and adparagus
Veal in wine sauce and cauliflower gratin
Florence cake. (A custard in a crust with raisins)

Portions small. Probably total nootr food than at most American restaurants. Just served in different courses.

Looking for that cake recipe

Martha

Martha, that last meal sounds to die for. Think of us once in a while, will you?

Last night I did filet steaks, baked potatoes and grilled onions. It was SO good..I used Barefoot Contessa's recipe...it was restaurant quality tasting!

Oh, wow, Feb is almost over and I am just now seeing this thread. Ack!

Tonight I made hamburgers. Not too well received. Double ack! Tomorrow night we will have the leftover pizza from last night.

On Sunday I prepared the pork roast I was going to make on Saturday. I used a mix of 2 recipes for the marinade. I wanted to do orange so I used an Emiril and a Paula Deen. Between the 2 it came out really good. Lot's of left overs. I froze the meat to serve another day. On the side I reheated the scalloped potatoes and the left over collards from Saturday. I found a good recipe for garlic bread in the current Bon Appetit - double yum.

Last night I made potato soup. I didn't have a specific recipe - chopped bacon and browned it and added chopped sweet onions and thinly sliced carrots. I sweated them added the bacon back and a can of chicken broth. Then I added the peeled and cubed potatoes, water to cover and brought to a boil. When the liquid cooked down and the potatoes were tender I added some half and half. Just before serving I chopped and stirred in fresh Italian Parsely to lighten the flavor.

It was a little thick just before I added the parsley I add about 1/2 cup skim milk.

Great flavor.

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

Went on a Tuscan wine tasting adventure today. Lunch was in a trattoria in a little village -- ravioli filled with spinach and topped with pecorino (a speciality of that town) along with artichokes cooked simply and served in olive oil and herbs and cannelini beans with white onion

Martha

The ravioli

The artichokes