Hubby grilled burgers...I made cheese fries. Sigh...you guys ever get to the point where nothing sounds good? When trying to decide what to cook becomes a chore? It seems I've run out of ideas for meals and I have tons of cookbooks. Nothing sounds good. Bleh.

I usually stare into my fridge until inspiration hits. Actually, what I do is look in the fridge to see what veggies I have, then I run through a list of possible things to do with them. If I draw a blank with the fridge, I'll rummage through the freezer. If that doesn't work, I'll run through a list of types of meals in my head to see if that gives me a craving. Like I'll think "Do I want something tomatoey? (lasagna, spaghetti, etc)" If no... "Do I want something all in one pot or separate?" If it's all-in-one do I want stew, curry, chili, hotpot.....? If it's separate do I want chicken, pork, steak, fish....? So.... now you know my secret. Don't tell anyone or I will have to kill you.

My lips (and fingers) are sealed!

that is what I do too..

Tonight, hubby made supper. He went online and found a recipe for Swiss Chalet Chicken. OH.MY.GOODNESS!!! It was sooooo good! I can't believe he's not taken me to this place yet...he promises that the next time we're back home we'll go. MMMMM....

i really wish my hubby would take the initiative and cook dinner sometime.. he always says he doesn't know how to cook but I know he does... he made my recipe of Chicken tortilla soup one time when I was on bed-rest and it came out better then mine...

That was luck

well, that was one example.... he has cooked a few other times too and it was good... he just likes to say he can't cook so he doesn't have to do it

Mmmm..... that's what I'd like to have. I microwaved a frozen lasagne... it was'nt bad.

I sure miss my wife's borsch!! Miss my wife too!

We had the pizza hut macaroni and cheese - it really is VERY good.

I had ordered one when we had pizza last week then froze it.

Tonight I am making Mediterranean cous cous and lemon chicken.


My husband can cook any meal, but he sucks at something as simple as breakfast, I had to take over this morning, because the first pancakes he dropped on the grill were deformed.

Recipe for Mediterranean cous cous Sprailenes - insert question mark here - my keyboard is acting up

Okay, I don't have an exact recipe but this is what I do...

Cook some cous cous in chicken broth

Chop up a pint of cherry tomatoes in half
Chop up a bunch of scallions
Chop up some parsley -- I use about 2 tables spoons of chopped parsley

Once cous cous is cooked, remove it from stove and place it into a large mixing bowl or serving bowl
Add a bit of olive oil
Mix it all of your chopped veggies in
Squeeze in a lil lemon (1/2)

And there it is.

Not much cooking involved, just a lot of cutting.

MMMm Sprailenes that sounds like what I make as a salad for myself except I through in some sliced black olives, cucumbers, feta cheese, and some diced chicken as well! That's one of my favorite lunches. I've never thought of using it as a side dish! Great idea!

I found a Polish deli (finally) about 20 miles from here and picked up some of their borscht. Haven't tried it yet, though.



I buy the frozen Stouffer's macaroni & cheese. It's really good.



I'm pretty sure my husband can cook. I just haven't seen an example of it since we married.

Not once?? Hey aren't you supposed to be driving??

Thanks for the recipe Sprailenes !

I want the Borscht! I will have an early snack -- frozen lasagne again.... really, Stouffer's, its good. Later, out for dinner....maybe fish or steak with mashed potatoes - extra butter - steamed veges - iced tea w/ extra lemon - cheese cake or blueberry pie for desert!

I was just smelling the fresh dill - and it reminded me of my den mother's dill pickles. And that made me think of her borscht and pyrogies. I want to go to her house tonight for dinner. I wonder what she's cooking?

Sprailenes - thank you for the recipe, I've decided to give the couscous a try for dinner. Sounds delish.

Krikit - I know what you mean!

I just found this recipe.. it looks good.. I wish I had the ingredients to make it right now...

Dump Cake

1 can cherry pie filling
1 can crushed pineapple
1 box yellow cake mix (white works, too)
1 stick margarine
1/2 stick butter
Whipped Cream

Dump cherry pie filling and crushed pineapple into baking dish. Stir together. Sprinkle cake mix over the top of the fruit. Slice margarine and butter and distribute over the surface of the cake mix. Bake this sacrilege at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Then, to redeem yourself and become the person your high school history teacher always wanted you to be, whip some cream and put a dollup on top.



http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/04...ckers-paradise/

Cutting down on the amount of water or broth used, more veggies that hold up, such as peppers and celery and shredded carrots and you've got tabouli. (Spelled different ways), a middle eastern cold salad. I also used coriander in mine. I make it almost weekly.

Tonight I'm making stuffed peppers and we're having some corn on the cob with that.

So, another garden dinner tonight - kind of a chicken gumbo:-)

everything except the garlic, celery, onions and chicken came from the garden:-). Combined garlic, onions and celery in 2 Tbsp olive oil and sauteed. Added eggplant, zucchini (frozen from when we harvested it last month), a few green beans, okra, lots and lots of tomatoes, basil and oregano, then simmered it all together. Then added left over roast chicken shredded from the bones and served it all over pasta. Yum!

They really should change the name of that cake.

I had leftovers because my hubby is working late tonight.

I was thinking the same thing

yeah the name isn't the greatest but it does look yummy

Thanks for talking about borscht guys .... now I am craving some and there is nowhere close to buy some I also want varenyky. I can make that though, if I ever get off my butt and do more involved cooking, i.e., more than just boiling water and throwing pasta in. It is much harder to cook complicated meals now that I have a little one!!!

Tonight hubby threw Italian sausages on the grill. We also had a big salad.

i made 3 cheese manicotti was yummy but made enough to last a week lol

My stuffed peppers and corn was really good last night. This talk of pasta has me thinking maybe stuffed jumbo shells and a big green salad for tonight. I'm going to think about this more first. I am however going to make a strawberry rhubarb crisp for dessert.

Everyone over to Carlas place for dessert!! That sounds really good.

Pasta hmmm, I would actually concoct a pasta dish tonight, except I tool porky chops out last night so really should use them today - as we had Fried chicken yesterday.

I'm in for dessert at Carla's! We're having steak, baked potato, onions and mushrooms. Gotta get rid of the veggies in my fridge because I can guarantee you they'd still be in there (in some form or another ) when I get back. My husband's going to have a field day while I'm gone. He'll be hitting all those places I won't go to.

Now wouldn't that be cool? Getting together for coffee and dessert!

It's lazy night, hot dogs and home made french fries.

Fish tacos

we have having sgetti and a fruit salad for dessert... I just cut up some cantaloupe, nectarines and oranges and threw them in a bowl...

Ham and tomato quiche (have to use up tomatoes now, hehehe) with a lettuce and tomato sandwich. Watermelon for dessert.

brats, with Garlic mash,..and some sorta veggies,....

We had bow tie pasta with a light garlic herb sauce. tons of veggies in the pasta as well....slivered zuchinni and yellow squash, celery, onions, orange and red bell peppers, peas, and garlic. The veggies were stir fried to be still crispy before putting them in the pasta and sauce. Mmmmmmmmmmm very tasty.

I have to go to Costco this afternoon, so I'm going to see what catches my eye for supper. I do know that I'm going to make some beef brisket chilli this weekend.

We both need to learn how to be better cooks.

Going to check out a new Mexican spot tonight -- hope it's good!

Carla - that sounds lovely!

Tonight we had pork chops baked with onions, fresh tomatoes and tomato soup poured over top, baked potatoes and broccoli.

we are having chicken.. what a surprise

grilled chicken for us with PEI garden veggies compliments of momma... she even scrubbed them clean so the Boarder guards wouldn't seize them... she asked me to BEG them to take them home to eat if they did confiscate them at the border. tee hee.. They asked us what we had.. we told them veggies, and they let us through.. we've been enjoying mommas veggies like you wouldn't believe!

I am trying out this recipe today...

Homemade Rice a Roni Recipe

* 1/2 cup raw spaghetti, broken into 1 inch pieces
* 3/4 cup raw white rice
* 14 1/2 ounces broth (any flavor)
* 2 tablespoons butter or margarine

1. In medium skillet saute' broken spaghetti pieces in butter, stirring constantly, until the spaghetti begins to brown.
2. Add rice, stirring until the rice is well coated with the butter and the spaghetti browns a little more Carefully pour in broth.
3. Simmer until liquid is absorbed.

Hubbys work is throwing a family afternoon evening,..with a BBQ. So, that's our dinner for tonight,....and its FREE so I am not complaining, plus we get to see what he does for work when he's out in the pretend Iraqi scenario cities, that are on base, when they train the troops.

We went to a BBQ tonight so we had .... steak that I had marinated overnight in a honey teriyaki sauce, pasta salad, grilled kielbasa, raw carrots and celery, and the yummiest dip I have ever eaten. It was a buffalo chicken dip ... all the flavors and ingredients of buffalo wings mixed up together with the addition of cream cheese and cheddar cheese. MMMMMMMM

AAAAAAAAAARRRGGHHHHH!!!!!!! I had NOTHING!

And now I'm really starving because everyone's dinner sounds so yummy.

Nothing! You need to grab your food before you get to the hotel ms krikit - I see you got in late though.

Marilyn, never thought of making home made rice a roni, sounds like an interesting idea, so how was it?

it was good but I had to add extra water because the rice wasn't cooked after the liquid was absorbed... hubby really liked it...

and you could jazz it up anyways you want to...

I just fried up a little onion and garlic and then added the sgetti....

A free BBQ makes for one A-1 meal!

You must get the recipe for that dip to share with us!



Oh dear...I feel so helpless! I wouldn't be able to sleep without something to eat. They must have delivery available, can you order something?


Sounds good Marilyn!

Hmmm...Fish and chips tonight!! use mahi-mahi and potato wedges for the chips..

We just whipped up a quick philly cheese steak sandwich last night, sans the cheese

Discovered we didn't have any when everything else was done - oh well - it was really good none-the-less.

I saw this on barefoot contessa the other day and HAVE to make it, it looks so good!

Carrot and Pineapple Cake



For the cake:
2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 pound carrots, grated
1/2 cup diced fresh pineapple
For the frosting:
3/4 pound cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 pound confectioners' sugar, sifted

For the decoration:
1/2 cup diced fresh pineapple

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Butter 2 (8-inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

For the cake:
Beat the sugar, oil, and eggs together in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light yellow. Add the vanilla. In another bowl, sift together 2 1/2 cups flour, the cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Toss the raisins and walnuts with 1 tablespoon flour. Fold in the carrots and pineapple. Add to the batter and mix well.

Divide the batter equally between the 2 pans. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool completely in the pans set over a wire rack.

For the frosting:
Mix the cream cheese, butter and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until just combined. Add the sugar and mix until smooth.

Place 1 layer, flat-side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake. Decorate with diced pineapple.

Show: Barefoot Contessa
Episode: Pots and Plans

If anyone has a good ground turkey recipe, I'm all ears