Cooking when you’re Staying home

So, we had lamb tonight as well. H made lamb shanks rogan josh. The recipe was from a cookbook called Braise by Daniel Boulud. They lamb shanks were excellent. I made rice pilaf and my D made a green salad.

Last week DH ate every banana. This week he ate one, so I made banana bread, which he is scarfing up.

Otherwise I might be annoyed. DH can be quite wasteful sometimes.

Bananas freeze well for smoothies and baking later as well.

I’ve had mixed results with the no knead bread but one thing that I’ve learned is to do the second rise on parchment, which I then lift and place into the pot. If I dump it from a bowl, it deflates and never rises while baking.

I have four people in my house making smoothies, with at least three who eat them every day. I bought three bunches of bananas (at Sam’s Club so they were big bunches). I let them ripen then I peel and put them in the freezer. I also buy their big bags of frozen strawberries and mixed berries. I think the engine on my blender is going to burn out by the time we are able to freely leave the house.

Fettuccine Alfredo and salad.

Tonight is chicken gyros, parmesan garlic home fries, watermelon and cucumbers.

Don’t forget the tzatziki!!

Plan on making these for breakfast on Saturday:

https://natashaskitchen.com/oladi-with-apples-russian-buttermilk-pancakes/

Acquired yeast and buttermilk last night. Is it Friday yet? :slight_smile:

^^^Those look delicious - but I want to put the apple IN the pancake!

For lunch I invented some shrimp lettuce wraps using up some ingredients I had on hand - cooked shrimp, diced mango, spicy corn relish, green onions, a little hot pepper jelly, chopped cilantro in lettuce cups.

Dinner was lasagna soup.

I placed a big grocery order stocking up on a lot of pantry items. I used to just shop when I ran out but for items that keep, I’m trying to avoid running out by building up a little pantry in the basement. I finally got hoisin after putting it on every order so far with no luck. But, whole chickens are not available again and no fresh garlic. And I can never get lamb either. Usually I don’t freeze meat and my freezer is usually pretty empty but I did order extra this time to freeze and have on hand just in case…

Today I made tomato soup and put it out with all the leftovers in the fridge for an eat what you want dinner! My birthday is tomorrow so my S and DIL are making dinner.

Happy early B-Day @runnersmom! I can always go for a good bowl of tomato soup. I like to put fresh shredded parm or similar sharp cheese in mine. Sprinkled on top.

@runnersmom Wishing you a wonderful birthday tomorrow! Having others prepare you a meal is always a nice treat.

Thanks! @abasket, my D put yesterday’s mac & cheese in hers!

Yesterday was leftovers for lunch and dinner. What a nice break, and I feel good we ate everything.

I was annoyed this morning when I saw S had an egg roll snack last night. Those are for another dinner! I took what’s left (which are enough), and hid them.

Tonight is baked Chicken and a hot broccoli casserole I’ve never made before.

Dinner last night was barely edible. I’m not sure what went wrong - shrimp, rice, some spices - nothing I haven’t made before…

Sigh. I can relate @conmama. I should have hidden the leftover sourdough bread. I successfully revived a loaf using the water and high heat method but there were leftovers everyone agreed would be used for onion soup. DH decided to have half of it with breakfast. So not enough now for all the servings.

Tip:
I have too gotten upset when an item I was planning for a meal is now in someone’s tummy. :slight_smile: Especially right now when some of us are planning in overdrive!

  1. You must have made some very good choices or be a good cook for your family members to want to eat your food! Try to take that as a compliment to your choices.
  2. Make those same family members part of the solution process. "Oh I see you ate the ____ blank last night that I thought we would have Friday night for a simple dinner. Sit down and let's figure out what WE can now plan in it's place. Don't make someone feel guilty for a largely innocent snack in their own home. But make everyone be part of fixing the problem.
  3. Post it notes. I literally have used post it notes to ask for "hands off" certain items that I had a real purpose for or have used post it notes to say "hands on - feel free to enjoy this as a snack!". I know that may seem a bit extreme but I was having an issue with retired H eating my pre-prepared take to work lunch. That's how we solved it - if it had a post it note on it (even with no writing) he was free to eat it. Or vice versa.

@Singersmom07 now I read your post again - your H abused the plan!!! :slight_smile: Was that his way of saying “I’ll take my onion soup breadless”???

Around twenty years ago my husband evolved to “HouseChatte, is there a plan for this morsel of [exact morsel content] in the fridge?” I’m afraid I melted down a couple of times when he had stealth-eaten a crucial ingredient. For my part, I evolved to buying more than what I needed for a given recipe.

I am so lucky. My husband does not eat random morsels from the fridge… he patiently waits until I plate the food for him. :slight_smile: He raids the fruit basket though and the walnuts and almonds supply in the pantry.