Mmmmm...that sounds good Marilyn. Sweet Potato Fries...mmmm! Our lunchroom ladies served baked sweet potato fries to the kids...talk about some icky looks when they tried them. Actually, they weren't that bad...for cafeteria food.

I like taking potatoes, a bit of oil, and ranch dressing mix...coating them well and baking them. Not baaaaaaad.

Hmm...now that I think of it, someone posted that at some point on here.

*is on Lortab tonight for pain...so forgive my ramblings*

Grilled Cheese with Tomato, Peppers and Basil

INGREDIENTS

* 8 (1 ounce) slices bread
* 4 slices Cheddar cheese
* 1 large tomato, sliced
* 2 serrano peppers, seeded and thinly sliced
* 2 teaspoons dried basil
* salt and pepper to taste
* 2 tablespoons butter


DIRECTIONS

1. Butter one side of each slice of bread, and place 4 of the slices butter-side down on a griddle over medium heat.
2. On each piece of bread, place one slice of cheese, 1 slice of tomato, and a few slices of serrano pepper. Sprinkle dried basil and salt and pepper to taste. Top each sandwich with a slice of buttered bread, butter-side up.
3. Grill sandwiches until golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes each side.

mmm bread....

Oh Marilyn that bread looks wonderful. Karen thanks for posting the pictures of you and Kathryn, does look like a great place.

it is this recipe... I have made this bread before and it is sooo yummy...

Cream Cheese Yeast Bread (Bread Machine)

This is a wonderful tasting bread recipe with excellent texture that can also be used to make cinnamon rolls. Yum!

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 beaten egg
4 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1. Place the ingredients in the pan in the order as suggested by your bread machine manufacturer.
2. Process on dough cycle.
3. Remove from machine, form into a loaf and place in greased 9x5 loaf pan.
4. Cover and let rise until doubled.
5. Bake in a 350° oven for approximately 35 minutes.

* oh and when i take the loaf out of the pan I brush it with margarine or butter.. softens the crust a little...

http://www.recipezaar.com/85042

Marilyn,

Have you ever made this bread completely in the bread machine instead of taking it out and baking it in the oven? I use my bread machine regularly but I generally bake it in the machine as well.

no, I haven't... but only because the bread cycle on my machine is too long and tends to over cook the bread ....

I think the bread seems to come out more fluffier and stuff if you bake it in the oven...

When we move in to a house i'm definately buying a bread machine.

We had steak and shake last night, I had a burger and salad, it was good. Not sure what's for dinner tonight.

The meat I used in the stir fry the other night was so good, however, I had put the meat in bags and then in the freezer, so I have no idea which steak it was that I bought

i love the bread machine....... growing up I saw how much "fun" my mom had with all the kneading and the rising and stuff

I usually only make dough in the machine because like i said my machine's bread cycle is too long.. but it is easy.. once the dough is done you just kind of just shape it and throw it in a pan and let it rise and then bake it in the oven...

My mom tried baking her bread in the machine a couple of times, but we didn't like the consistency of it compared to baking the loaf in an oven. So she is like you, Marilyn, she lets the machine do all the kneading and bakes it in the oven. We made some whole wheat/seed bread while I was home in April that was delish!

Hmmm I'd love to get a bread machine although I have heard the same thing that the bread machine bread's consistency is different from the oven ones.....

Dinner tonight is Chicken Chili....slow cooker with black beans, corn, chicken breast, ground cumin, 2 jars of salsa verde. Adding chopped cilantro close to the end.

yeah that is true but like i said you can just make the dough in the machine and finish it off in the oven... the machine saves you from all the kneading and making sure the ingredients are the right temperature and stuff.. you can just throw everything in there and forget about it

last night I made Beef Stroganoff for dinner put it over whole wheat rotini for my mom and I and for my noodle-hatin husband I put his over garlic bread)

Right now we are staying with my mom until my husband can start working (hopefully sending out the AOS stuff end of next week)..my mom loves having us here because Im doing all the cooking.. LOL

tonight Im making Pork Fajitas..

who can hate noodles??? i love noodles ...lol

I'll have to recommend our bread machine model then - Breadman's Ultimate by Salton, Inc. - it does a great job of baking and the texture is wonderful - light when it is a white bread and even and dense when it is a heavier whole grain. I just love it! It has settings for crust control as well, whether you want it lighter or darker - and you can add in your own customized settings if you don't want something to bake as long or you have a preference with a certain recipe. They may well have newer models now - we have had ours for 3 years. We read all of the reviews and checked some out in person before we decided on this one and have never regretted the decision.

Tonight is Steak on the BBQ and fries. Maybe a veggie and maybe not.

Pork roast, noodles, spinach and asparagus:-) Was going to do mashed potatoes but I am tired of potatoes so noodles will do instead.

going to have chicken (maybe bbq'd if hubby will do it) and stir-fried rice and noodles with vegies..

I'm whipping Hamburger Helper tonight -- not exactly haute cuisine, but will do in a pinch.

We had fish & chips! Yay! Finally! It was soooo good to have some proper fish & chips again. They have not a clue how to make them in the US. Oh.... and with malt vinegar and salt, Warlord.

I have had some great fish and chips down here... there is a place right around the corner that has awesome fish and chips and deep fried zucchini and onion rings.. mmm mmm mmmm....

Yes, you are right, Marilyn. I have had some great fish & chips in California. Let me amend my post. The restaurants I have been to in FLA have not a clue. lol

we had bbq chicken , rice, tomato and lettuce sald with olive oil , more vegetables salad, and strawberries for dessert.

here is a a pic of the soup...

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm fish and chips! I've never had "proper" fish and chips since I've been in St. Louis. My mouth is watering!

We had shrimp alfredo on angel hair pasta last night. Salad and garlic bread to accompany.

Tonight it's perch, green beans and rice.

Wow. I haven't had perch since I went to Port Dover. Was starting to think you couldn't get it anywhere else.

Tonight I am meeting my daughter and our friends at the Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar in Toronto. If you'll recall.... the last time we had dinner in Toronto the tab was picked up by the GM, whom my friend, Wendy, knew, and we had a bottle of wine and a cheese tray sent over by another customer. I won't hold my breath that it'll happen again but I can still hope.

not srue what I am making today but i am leaning towards shepherds pie..

We're going to the Golden Corral tonight. An all you can eat buffet. It's my nephews 12th birthday and that boy can eat, so its a good place to take him. I think I'll spend more time with the desserts than anything else.

Mary

Last night we had more of the 'great steak' the one in the unidentifiable plastic bag in the freezer, with oven fries and some asparagus. We had kfc snackers for lunch, they were quite good, well at least the crunchy one was, the bbq one was....yes...wait for it....too sweet.

Not sure what's for dinner tonight, did pick up some nice pork chops the other day, maybe that and a salad and mashed potatoes.

yeah, I think I am going to make shepherds pie and maybe an apple salad...

We're having steaks on the grill, salad and sauteed mushrooms. And I'm going to suggest (read .... tell everyone we MUST do this) that we go to a little ice cream bar down the road for dessert.

we're having homemade pizza that our friend brought while I was laid up at home after day surgery. Amazing what you find when you are rummaging in the freezer!

Well the pork chops and potatoes are cooking. Decided to do steak fries, just put garlic, parsley and green onions on them, they do smell good! Salad is on the plate, hope this all cooks quickly, i'm hungry!

Oh and we are having English cucumber in the salad, the cucumber is from Ontario - krikit, let the Ontario folks know that their cucumbers taste great!

cold roast chicken, potato salad, caesar salad, pinto beans (one of Joe's favourites) and asparagus (one of my favourites!). An easy dinner after spending the day running errands and working in the garden. Have almost everything planted now except for some marigolds and one last patio tomato plant - and I might pick up another jalopeno pepper plant for Joe:-).

mmm, I just love Shepherd's pie...

I think we are going to have chili dogs today...

I was out during the afternoon to a bridge tournament, and there were lots of goodies there. Gene wasn't feeling too hungry either, so I put off making the perch, and we had grilled cheese sandwiches, cottage cheese and sliced tomatoes. Tonight we'll have the perch. I bought it fresh in Shop N' Save here in St. Louis. It says it's a product of Canada.

mmm that sounds good!

i have found that since i decided to make the move to be with david, i am eating all kinds of things that i know i'll miss once i leave toronto. especially the BAD poutine from the chip trucks around the downtown area. though for dinner tonight i'm going to have nachos at sneaky dee's. a much healthier option!

I love perch! Haven't found it here at all. In fact, the fish that are available here on a regular basis are totally different than back home - good, but different:-). Had my first trout in a long time in a French restaurant 2 weeks ago (yum!) but can't find it available in any supermarket. Ah well, tilapia anyone?

Yum! Love homemade pizza!

Something that I enjoy doing during the summer break from school is to make several pizza shells, loaves of bread, and casseroles for the freezer. I've started making my own bread on the weekends...basic whole wheat with variations....and freezing them. I have a mixer that mixes my dough, kneads it, and sounds a chime when the gluten is developed. Then, all I have to do is shape them into loaves or make pizza shells, bake, and then freeze. Well, all but one loaf. I've gotten to where I make at least four loaves every other weekend. Which reminds me, I have to grind my berries for flour Friday night so I can bake early Saturday.

We're having Cowboy Casserole tonight....baked beans (from the can), ground beef topped with cornbread mix and cheese, baked in the oven. Smells good...maybe it'll be a keeper.

i do one kind of similar to that but you mix the beef with salsa and fiesta chili beef soup which I never can find so I use beef vegetable and some other things and then you top it off with corn bread...

We almost had grilled cheese! However, we went out to drive by a few houses for sale and have been talking about trying out Keller's Real Smoked Bar-B-Q.

It's a restaurant just up the road. Soooo we do and it was so NOT smoked and not Bar B Q - I read a review about the place when I got home and it said the meat is just a vehicle for their sauce - cool - except they didn't give us any BBQ sauce.

So basically I put some miracle whip, ketchup and mustard on it and had a pork sandwich.

Garlic bread my Husband had was too greasy to eat and the fries were lame.

On the upside, we picked up a menu for the Thai place up the street - they have satay which is in my top 5 foods, so i'm just hoping it's really really good!

Stir fried beef with onions, bok choy,peppers, carrots, broccoli, zucchini, yellow squash, and mushrooms in a garlic ginger sauce served over rice:-)

I just found this recipe .. mmm looks good.. might have to try it...... not today though.. we are having chili dogs today...

Italian Zucchini Lasagna

* 3 or 4 lg. zucchini
* 1 lb. lasagna noodles, cooked
* 1 16oz can(1 lb.) stewed tomatoes
* grated Parmesan cheese
* 1/2 lb. mozzarella cheese, shredded
* 3/4 C. chopped onion
* 4 to 6 cloves garlic, chopped or minced
* 1 sm. can tomato paste
* 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
* 1 lb. lean ground beef
* 1/2 tsp. oregano
* 1/4 tsp. thyme
* 1/4 cup fresh basil/chopped
* ground pepper
* optional: 1/4 cup red wine

Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions or until tender but still firm. Drain, keep warm. Meanwhile, to make lasagna sauce, saute ground beef, garlic and onion is a large heavy fry pan or cast iron skillet until beef is done. Add stewed tomatoes, tomato paste, mushrooms, oregano, thyme, basil, wine or 1/4 cup water, touch of pepper and mix well. Simmer 45 to 50 minutes.

To prepare Zucchini, cut in half or cook whole in a large covered pot with 1 to 2 inches of water. Boil gently for about 5 minutes, drain and cut lengthwise into 1/4 inch slices. Grease a 15 x 12 or larger, deep sided lasagna pan. Arrange a first layer of lasagna noodles so the ends hang over both sides of the pan. These will be folded back-over the top on the final layer which will help to hold serving portions together when cutting. Next, add a layer of the cooked zucchini, a layer of sauce, a layer of mozzarella cheese. Repeat but this time lay the pasta lengthwise in the pan. For the top layer, fold the ends of the pasta from the first layer over the top and add more sauce. Top with parmesan cheese and cover with foil. Bake at 350 degrees for about 35 to 40 minutes, uncover and bake until brown, approximately 10 minutes. Serve this Zucchini Lasagna with sour dough french bread and have additional parmesan cheese at the table.

* i like mine with cottage cheese.. I wonder if it would work in this recipe....

my hubby keeps bugging me to make pecan pie.. but I have never have made it before... I found a bunch of recipes on recipezaar and the majority of them have the same ingredients... margarine, corn syrup, eggs, vanilla and of course pecans.... I found one recipe that used brown sugar... which to me might be better.. the corn syrup might be too sweet...

what do you all think? do you have a good recipe for pecan pie? I just need the filling part. I already have a crust recipe that hubby really likes...

I can't remember if I have ever made one, but I agree with you, go with the brown sugar

oh and I forgot most of the recipes call for corn syrup and white sugar...

yeah I like the idea of using brown sugar... that recipe got good reviews too....

Pecan Pie Recipe

1/2 cup margarine
2 cups light brown sugar, packed
3 eggs
1 9 inch pie shell
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups pecans, chopped

1. In a saucepan, melt margarine with brown sugar. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
2. Add eggs, salt, and vanilla and mix well.
3. Add pecans.
4. Pour mixture into an unbaked pie shell.
5. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

We had Chinese tonight from a new restaurant we had never tried. Pretty good, but not as good as the one we usually go to. Mom, hubby and I shared lo mein, crab rangoon, sesame beef and chicken with vegetables.

Day surgery? Big hugs Cassie..hope things went well. It's wonderful to have such nice friends who bring you goodies!

We're having grilled steak tonight, with twice baked potatoes, and a grilled vegetable medly...asparagus, zuchinni, mushrooms, onions.