What's For Dinner #113 - the Holiday Cookie Frenzy Edition - December 2024

Sunshine is feeling a little better today. I made some (iron rich) breaded beef liver tonight. Baked Potato and green beans were the sides.

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Tomato soup and grilled cheese. I read a bunch of recipes and then did my own thing. Drained a can of plum tomatoes and roasted in oo with onion, shallot, garlic, carrot, s&pm thyme. When everything was charred I add it to the juice with a small potato and a pinch of rpf, simmered until everything was tender and pureed. Added some chicken broth to thin, cream and served with a sprinkle of dried basil. Grilled cheese was a mix of sharp cheddar, gouda, talggio and spicy caramelized onion jam. Everything was good, soup was a little spicy, my pinch was probably too big.

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This time it was salsa, Rotel, taco seasoning, ranch seasoning, bay leaves, Goya Sazon, chipotle en adobo, dried onion, garlic powder, olive oil… Nothing gourmet. Chicken breasts simmered in the sauce until pullable.

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Egg fried rice

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Yes, never enuf lemon! :lemon: Best of luck with your appointment tomorrow. :smile_cat:

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Happy Post-Thanksgiving! have a lot of catching up here to do. Super busy last 5 days or so, at my sister’s most of the time helping her with dog boarding. We cooked various things over the Thxgiving week:

Thxgiving day was snack time:

I made a pseudo french onion dip with smoked salmon and capers that turned out well. mortadella, olives, truffled marcona almonds, cheese, chips, baguette. (We eat everything over the stove as there were 25 dogs in the house this year!)

Thxgiving dinner was marinated lamb lollipops (garlic, rosemary, olive oil, lemon zest) and dauphinoise gratin (my sister’s) - both delicious, but so rich we only ate one chop each and saved the other two for other meals. roasted red pepper boats with garlic and anchovies for veg.

We also had some of my ONE-YEAR-OLD eggnog i made LAST YEAR (12/2/23 actually) and it was great but so incredibly boozy that we had to mix it with store-bought eggnog, and Trader Joe’s is the best store-bought one I’ve had in years. Crazy. Hope they bring it back next year.

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I made my very first focaccia and my sister made her very first banana bread (with chopped walnuts inside and on top, mixed with sugar.) both A+! I love how easy the focaccia is to make.

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One of the nights was our yearly sashimi feast, courtesy of Tokyo Fish (in Berkeley) and my sister’s knife skills…

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And Saturday night was my tonkatsu:

First time making this at home, I was incredibly pleased at how well it turned out. Super delicious, tender and juicy inside, perfectly crispity/cronchity outside. The traditional accompaniment of finely shredded cabbage with a (incredibly delicious/store-bought) sesame dressing, and some Japanese pickles on the side.

There was much snacking in between, pink bubbly, etc., ate the other two lamb chops for bfast/lunch the other days, had some unremarkable take-out Vietnamese last night at my sister’s, but now I’m back to business: Salad for dinner tonight, courtesy of the BF.

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that’s a grilled cheese I can get behind!

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Details please! That all looks wonderful. Your focaccia was much more successful than mine this year! I think our kegerator is just too cold for dough. Multiple fails for both me and DH and the common denominator being slow ferments in there.

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I had something like 5 minutes to throw this in the instant pot on slow cook yesterday, but usually I will add freshly chopped onion and minced garlic as well.

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this is the dressing, ordered from Japanese Taste:

Only to find out the Japanese store near my sister carries it! Bigger bottles of it, and no shipping! :roll_eyes: :roll_eyes: :roll_eyes:

re the focaccia - i struggled with finding active dry yeast that wasn’t stale/dead - i tried 4 different packs before one bubbled up (some older, but some newer, and from the same batch/year as the one that worked). Luckily that was before adding in any dry ingredients. I added no sugar to the yeast, per the recipe i followed, even though the packet said to.

I ended up leaving the dough in my fridge for about 16 hours, then transporting it to my sister’s (20 mins.), then leaving it in her fridge for another 24. It was super bubbly! I also used more evoo than called for to cover the dough in the first long proofing, then about 3.5 hours for the 2nd proof out of the fridge.

i followed this recipe, but would add roasted garlic next time, maybe…

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Have you tried proving the dough using the yogurt setting in your IP?

(Before that I used a mug of boiling water in the microwave as a proofing box.)

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My oven has a proving setting so, I usually use that.

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Thanks for both!

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Vaguely inspired by this simplistic Food & Wine recipe, I made Italian wedding-ish soup using leftover chicken burger mix for meatballs, carrots rescued from the short-rib braise, as well as onion, garlic, herbs, spinach, chicken broth, and whole wheat orzo. Hit the spot. The kiddo helped chop and stir.

Truth be told, this was lunch. We are getting pizza for dinner before winter lights.

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Fettuccine with Mushrooms, Mint and Chili Oil from Back Pocket Pasta - Mix of mushrooms (portobello, king oyster, shiitake, oyster) and thyme gets sautéed before adding and cooking down red wine and finishing with parsley, mint, egg yolks and chili oil. Served with fettuccine

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What a great improvisation and fun to hear that the kid is helping out more. I hope you enjoy winter lights.

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Tacos of sole stuffed with cheddar, jalapeno, tomato, and bacon, topped with garlic panko, sort of a riff on jalapeno popper flavors.

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Tonight’s dinner was hamburger-casserole stroganoff with steamed, buttered beans and carrots.

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Caramelized 3lbs of onions, had some leftover short rib, made a grilled cheese on flaxseed sourdough with jalapeno Havarti, some of those onions and some All Dressed chips on the side.
Side note, my TV finally bit the dust tonight, just as I was sitting down to devour this delicious sammich :man_facepalming: :sob:

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Terrible night of sleep at the hotel for some reason, despite poppin’ ½ a melatonin :woman_shrugging:t2:

The trigger point needling wasn’t pleasant & for now seems to have made the pain worse, but hopefully that will improve over time. If not, I get to do it all again in 6-8 weeks :partying_face:

Our drive back after a relatively disappointing brunch was uneventful, and little traffic to contend with even on Skull Kill. Chonkster was delirious with joy about our return, as evidenced by a well-timed welcome poop :smiley:

Lazy dinner of that luscious salmon curry & leftover jasmine rice. After 3 nights in 3 different hotels within 5 days, it’ll sure be nice to be in our pad for a while.

If any of you missed it, our dear leader Linda is currently in the hospital for a heart attack. She is in good hands, but keep her in your thoughts, if you would <3 :pray:t2:

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