wrong thread - reposting in correct spot.
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Cucumber ideas -
This Greek Chicken tortellini salad worked well for us . I used a standard cucumber with seeds removed.
We really like this Joy of Cooking crab or shrimp quick soup. I usually make with a homemade equivalent of cream of soup.
P. 192 Joy of Cooking “Quick Cucumber Soup Cockaigne”
Makes about 5 cups
2 ½ C. strong chicken broth (I used 14 oz can, a bit less than 2 C)
1 ½ C. pared, seeded and diced cucumbers (1 extra- large)
10 oz Can condensed cream of chicken soup
½ C. crab meat or shrimp (I use crab delights, or frozen cooked shrimp, thawed)
1 tsp. fresh parsley or chervil (1/4 tsp. dried)
Bring chicken broth to a boil. Drop in cucumber. Simmer about 15 minutes, until cucumber is translucent. Add canned cream of chicken soup and bring to a boil. Add crab or shrimp, and herbs.
Heat but don’t boil. Serve at once.
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Hello everyone it’s a dreary day in Ottawa, Canada where the temperature is finally comfortable but it has been overcast and drizzling all morning. We could use the rain though. Now that my pay has been sorted out I can get out a little more and enjoy what is left of the summer. There is an Asian festival on this weekend so I will probably head up tomorrow night. It’s on Sparks Street - our outdoor pedestrian mall downtown - and they have food trucks set up the length of the mall with some unique Asian dishes on offer. I really enjoyed the bbq’d squid I had last year and I hope it’s available again this year. Onto my menus for a solo diner this week:
Today: Take out lunch is a meatball sandwich from a nearby deli. I haven’t had one since last year and it tastes so good! 
Dinner tonight will be a salad - probably a potato salad since I got a bumper crop in my CSA yesterday.
Saturday: Off to the Asian festival in search of squid. If I don’t find any I’m sure I’ll find something I like!
Sunday: The last serving of shrimp in the freezer. Either shrimp sautéed in garlic with pan fried zucchini with pesto sauce or shrimp curry with the bok choy left in the fridge.
Monday: Pork chop and potato casserole from my Harrowsmith cookbook, the last of the squash in the freezer on the side.
Tuesday: Vegetarian peanut soup.
Wednesday: Pasta puttanesca, veggies tbd.
Thursday: The last Korean short rib in the freezer, tomato potato salad with capers.
Have a nice week everyone and hopefully you are surviving the heat/rain/smoke.
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@Autumm2 I use cucumbers most often in Greek food - eg tzatziki or a cucumber-tomato salad to go with gyros or souvlaki. Or the cucumbers vinaigrette recipe from Moosewood Low-Fat which I no longer have (the cookbook, not the fat) but saved to Recipe Keeper before donating:
2 English cucumbers (or equivalent length of regular cucumbers, peeled and seeded), sliced thinly - I use the Cuisinart
1/4 C apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar
1 1/2 T sugar
1/2 t dried mustard
1/2 t dried dill or 1 1/2 T fresh dill
S&P to taste
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There’s a good cucumber salad with mustard and dill in the Gourmet Today cookbook. For one English cucumber (or equivalent), halved, seeded, cut in 1/4-inch slices, the dressing is 2 tsp white wines vinegar, 2 tsp Dijon mustard (I use 1 T), 1 1/2 tsp sugar (I use 1 tsp honey for a honey mustard variation), 1/2 tsp salt or to taste, 1 T mild olive oil, / T chopped fresh dill.
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Laughed out loud.
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Oops, got busy and can’t edit anymore. Should read 2 T chopped dill (but really, however much you like, obviously).
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Oh the feet! The toe injuries are so acute! And the girls swimming and ice skating! So good the renovators force field is holding…do you think they would come to Boston to give us one?
We are finally getting an actual thunderstorm here with all the components: thunder, lightning, and rain. These are rare in Boston. One of the few things I miss about growing up in the south.
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Love the Greek pasta salad idea- big kiddo has to pack lunches for skate camp next week and that will be perfect as I’m presuming it’s pretty good at semi-chilled temperature.
Except for Mr Autumm we love cucumbers just sliced but I have to be careful as they can turn into low calorie fiber bombs my GI tract can’t handle as well as it used to.
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Gyros with tzatziki - and probably zucchini fritters with tzatziki - are on my plans- I just need to get to Costco to pick up a pack of the gyros meat.
And I too have lost the cookbook but the fat lingers
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My cousin went to Boston College after growing up near Denver. The lack of thunderstorms was very strange for her. Storms keep missing us- which the last round of storms produced egg to softball sized hail- so I am very okay with not getting that. Fortunately our CSA is doing better than us and getting some rain- I would rather the veggies get it than our creeping charlie.
And yes toes are sooo sensitive! I’m so glad Mr Autumm could handle skating duties this week- my poor feet would have froze in sandals there
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We are mostly settled back in and learning about the new appliances and house in general. I keep reminding myself I have had 3 kitchens in under a year - original house, very quirky apartment, and now new house, so there has been a lot of learning curves. And big kiddo is itching to “learn to cook” I’m like I’m still learning to cook here!
We still need to finish painting, but I’m not sure of what color I want into the adjacent family room we are holding off on that. My dad is going to build us a buffet table for the original eat in area and we need to figure out storage for coats/shoes/back packs, but it is so good to be Home!
Some pics from this evening- I realized I never shared and to keep this on topic that is some CSA zucchini in the skillet
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Your kitchen is beautiful! It must have been worth the wait.
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WOW, Wow, WOW - beautiful kitchen! Love all the windows and light. You’ll have fun teaching the girls to cook in such a great space.
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Gorgeous kitchen!
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Costco on a Saturday is awful… this souvlaki recipe might tide you over!
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Hi everyone! It’s been a wonderful week with barely any cooking, and there will be even less next week. We spent a couple days in NYC for our 20th, as I had mentioned before, and it was perfect. Roses and Moet waiting in the room, two nice dinners out, lots of alone time, and way too much fun at Bemelan’s bar, which led to a somewhat painful flight home on Friday. Yesterday he won the toss, and we went to see Oppenheimer (we liked it) and then had dinner out. Lulu comes home today, and we leave on family vacation on Tuesday.
Mon: pasta with roasted mushrooms and chive oil. An old favorite of his, nice to surprise him with it.
Tues: shrimp and corn sautéed in butter with basil, green onions, and chilies, baguette
Wed/Thurs: NYC
Fri: brain hurt, ordered pizza
Sat: post movie dinner out
Sun: LLD might cook, or we might just go straight from picking Lulu up at the airport to dinner out.
Hope everyone has a wonderful week!
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This sounds great. I found a few versions on-line, and will try something similar.
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(post deleted by author)
Yes, that is basically it! It’s very easy, and the mushrooms are fantastic. Honestly, just roast a bunch of mushrooms in olive oil and S&P, and be delighted. They’re good with anything.
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