@jym626 -did we miss your birthday?! Happy belated birthday ? ? !!
thanks!
We just got back from camping for a couple of nights at an NJ state park and we brought food for two days. We have a car awning room and a pop-up tent so we have just been doing short getaways since we aren’t going to travel anywhere anytime soon. So we made hot dogs and hamburgers over the fire pit (of course) and I also made dill-and-new- potato salad and baked beans in the instant pot to bring along:
https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/instant-pot-baked-beans/
For dessert we made bananas with chunky peanut butter and dark chocolate pieces (slice the banana on the concave side, insert pb and chocolate, wrap with foil, and place in embers or on top of grate until banana is soft). Yummy.
I’ve been doing quick stuff the past several days but put a little more effort into tonight’s dinner.
Mint-crusted rack of lamb ($9.99 sale this week!)
Scalloped potatoes w/gruyere
Sauteed zucchini and onions
Last night was Honey Baked ham I had in the freezer with potatoes salad made in the instapot and a five bean salad DH makes from canned beans. A nice cold dinner for a hot night.
I haven’t cooked since Thursday night, so I definitely need to tonight. I made the mistake yesterday of having a big chocolate chip cookie around 4pm - and if I’m not hungry around dinner time, I have no motivation to cook. I had a bowl of cottage cheese with sliced freestone peaches around 9pm and H made himself a baked potato.
Thinking refried bean enchiladas and salad - which was what I planned to do last night.
Last night we ordered pizza but I made an asian salad and some mini bite sized cheesecakes to go with it.
Right now I have the greek chicken sheet pan dinner in the oven. Chicken, potatoes, red pepper, asparagus, onions with with lots of spice and herbs and lemon slices topped when baking. Will top with a feta and sun dried tomato mixture after taking out of the oven.
Soooo, I was going to make one of the apple cakes today, but we had brownies here that were delivered from friends earlier int he week (and I’d baked some before knowing they were being sent), then had leftover cake from last night’s socially distanced birthday dinner, AND then neighbors brought over a coconut cake for my birthday! So we are awash in cake at the moment (well… not many brownies are left…)
I did make my first air fryer attempt. Sliced a zucchini withe the mandoline gizmo and then used the preset temp/time on the air fryer. They seemed a bit wet so I added a few minutes (like 4-5) and it was a tad too many, and some chips then got a little overdone. So the first attempt wasn’t a fail, but wasn’t perfect. I did discover that the little cleaning brush that came with the mandoline worked great to clean the little squares of the air fryer rack. That was convenient.
So will eat our way through the dinner and dessert leftovers and then think about cooking or frying.
Last night was a Meatless Monday repeat, but it’s oh so good and flavorful - we use a mix of sweet potatoes and small red/white potatoes. The dressing is wow!
https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/kale-caesar-salad/
This morning I made this breakfast food before D2 left back to home. It’s a muffin recipe but I 1/2 the recipe and baked it in an 8/8 pan, swirling in the PB and Jelly. Not too much sugar and I did a mix of coconut oil and butter. Yes, I made A LOT of recipes from Half Baked Harvest - nearly all are winners for me!
https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/pbj-oat-streusel-muffins/
Not sure about tonight. Back down to the two of us so it will be something in the freezer that says, “I can be ready in about 10 minutes”. 
I had rhubarb in my produce box yesterday and made a rhubarb clafoutis. A few years ago, I went to a cooking demonstration at a Boston restaurant (Stir) and learned about clafoutis. It’s a French baked dessert (usually made with cherries) where the fruit is covered with a custard-like batter. I didn’t have enough rhubarb, so I added strawberries to get the amount of fruit I needed for the recipe. It was really yummy.
This is Julia Child’s recipe for clafoutis:
https://www.food.com/recipe/julia-childs-cherry-clafouti-239454
@abasket - that salad is going on my “make soon” list. Looks delicious!
Tonight’s menu: Grilled yellowfin tuna steaks, arugula salad and sautéed zucchini.
Tonight’s dinner was a new recipe, and it’s a keeper: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/8701/chicken-breasts-with-balsamic-vinegar-and-garlic/
I didn’t have mushrooms, so subbed in red onion instead. It was so good! I served it with this salad: https://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/greek-quinoa-salad/
Baked ciabatta bread today for the first time. Was a big hit, came out great. I was worried because the dough is so loose. - 80% hydration.
Ripped some lettuce and herbs out of the patio box and made salads with whatever veggies I had in the fridge. Served with some leftover smoked trout for protein and called it dinner.
After dinner, we went for a walk to the store to fetch some sour cream. The store had half-flats of local raspberries on sale… that is our dessert tonight. Sitting on the deck and enjoying peace and quiet.
I relied on the grill some this week for no-nonsense dinners. Burgers one night, brats another. Last night tacos.
Anyone have 4th of July items they are making? Not much celebrating here.
Our 4th plans include fajitas, homemade tortillas, guacamole, and roasted Mexican street corn. Also making dulce de leche ice cream. For the first time in years we’ll spend some time in our pool. Oh, yah, and some margaritas …
@jym626 What is the apple cake you mentioned above? It ‘sounds’ so yummy, I want to try it!
2 posters posted yummy sounding recipes about a week or so ago upthread here. I’ll have to look upthread.
@momo2x2018 - look at page 76 for apple cake.
4th restaurant meal since March 16. D and SIL are here for the 4th so we carried out from everyone’s favorite place. Parmesan crusted chicken, grilled peach salad, lasagna, and crab melt were the choices. I made brownies for dessert.