That looks amazing. Beautiful plate!
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Tonight was a $13.99 dinner. Broiled Nigerian fish (corvina) which is a peanut butter paste with various peppers, curry powder, garlic, ginger and thyme. Sides were roasted sweet potatoes with coriander and sauteed spinach with onion slivers, dried cranberries re-hydrated in orange juice garnished with toasted pine nuts. She said it would have been $15.99 if there had been more spinach!
Made a clear out the fridge chicken casserole the other night with a side of steamed broccoli. $9.99 diner special.
Iâm finding the dollar value hysterical. I come up with a price in my mind and we are usually pretty damn close.
Looks like the bad polar vortex weather will just miss our area. Left extra food and water for the kitties just in case I canât get home tomorrow night. Stay warm and safe all of you to the north!
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DH is away and a friend dropped in for an impromptu dinner instead! I had a gorgeous rack of lamb in the freezer and leftover Romesco sauce in the fridge, so I rubbed the lamb with cumin and served it with the Romesco, curry-roasted cauliflower and basmati rice on the side. I think we also managed to eat about a pound of cheese between the two of us with a lovely bottle of red pre-dinner. Crispy lamb fat is pure heaven!
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I laughed when I read your post. I told my wife the scallop dinner I posted pics on last week was a $10.00 meal. 5 bucks each. I like to sometimes think about how cheaply one can eat at home and eat very well. A recent dinner we had was about $3.00 per plate.
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I view the daily dinner as my own version of âChoppedâ but not with time but $s. I try for <$10 for a dinner for the 2 of us, including salad, entree, sides and a good dose of Jazz on the Sonos.
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To you and @jfood, I got my hair cut today. She and I have been together for a quite a few years. She told me today about âBlue Apronâ where you get three dinners a week for $60. I thought that was VERY expensive. But I quickly backed off (because I care for her and I get GREAT hair care!). $20/day every day for dinner does not work for me. @hungryonion move this if you wish.
Weâre off to the local zoo this evening for a concert. Itâs a favourite band of ours thatâs a collaboration of bunch of NZ musicians. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=K3P0AQgKBMo
They only play a couple of times a year so weâre excited to be going and it almost makes up for missing out on Prince tickets released on Friday. Despite a dedicated effort to procure some we missed out. All were sold within ten minutes of being on sale - such is life in the antipodes.
Itâs a chilled out picnic dinner affair at the concert tonight and our picnic rug is groaning with leftovers from last night (BBQ lamb leg, chick pea salad, aubergine and yoghurt, peanut butter brownie) as well as a tart I made today. Zucchini, smoked cheddar, finely diced red onion and thyme were the fillings. Weâve sampled it and decided itâs a good combination. 
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Last night I made some pasta with the King Arthur Pasta blend for the first time. This blend makes for a slightly more robust and textural pasta which was actually perfect for my pasta plans. Aging farm milk was turned into ricotta fresca. To this I added some fresh zucchini squeezed to dry it out, some mozzarella, pecorino romano cheese, egg and Italian dried oregano. I cut my long pasta sheets into 5" lengths and formed some fresh manicotti. Too lazy to make the tomato sauce, so I pulled a Raoâs roasted garlic sauce from the pantry, placed a bit on the bottom of the casserole, lined the manicottis into a row, and topped each manicotti with a bit more sauce and then some parmesan cheese. A few Italian sausages were browned and then simmered in a bit more sauce as the side.
This was a beautiful dish of food, and it tasted really good. Though I made five, we only ate three of these guys. I know what we are having for lunch today!
Have some lamb shoulder chops thawing, but my kitchen is so cold that I donât think we will be able to eat them until tomorrow. They simply wonât thaw in time to braise for a long enough time. Tomorrow promises to be VERY cold so a nice lamb braise will be perfect.
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Weâre just back from the annual three week holiday in Tenerife - where itâs been shorts and T-short weather. Weâve eaten out every night. Itâs a touristy area, catering to those of us from colder, more northern European countries, so not exactly gastro-land. Its cheaper to eat out that try to cook in but I really am sick of chips (thatâs Brit chips, not Yank chips). We used to come back sick of Canarian potatoes - papas arrugadas - that would appear on virtually every plate but it seems most places now go for chips (presumably cheaper/easier to prepare)
As for our first dinner at home, thereâs to be slow roast lamb shoulder, along with Chantenay carrots, the first of the purple sprouting brocolli and new potatoes. Mrs H, who is cooking tonight (due to my indisposition with what is politely known as a âtummy upsetâ), assures me thereâll be gravy as well.
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Welcome back, Harters! How I/we have missed you! Hope you did at least eat some fine JamĂłn besides Canarian potatoes.
Slow roast lamb shoulder sounds rather nice. Ginger tea later for your upset tummy, perhaps.
Hey, Iâm just back, too, from the pub. 
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Good to hear youâre back with your adventures! HO seems quiet without you! Hope you feel better soon and get adjusted to the northern weather.
@Gio Kimchee on the side of pasta?! How interesting!
@Frizzle I LOVE me some West African peanut soup/stew. A good reminder that I havenât made it in some time and with the polar vortex upon us in Boston, it will hit the spot. I tend to go heavy on ginger and chiles in my version (I also have cobbled together parts of a few different recipes).
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Yessiree. Iâll take Kimchi anyplace I think it would be tasty, and I think that could be anywhere. That was for breakfast, remember.
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A wonderful return home dinner - and I do hope your âtummy upsetâ goes away quickly!
A lazy day mostly hanging around the house (wasnât feeling all that hot). I did take a nice nap. (After the boyz were fed their breakfast, of course.) Missed out on a brunch with some lovely ladies and one fine gentleman. (Lucky gent amongst the lovely ladies!)
But I figured Iâd best head out to pick up a few things since Iâm NOT going outside tomorrowâŠso off I went to Wegmans. First stop? Restocking the wine supply. 
The place was a madhouse in the afternoon - scores of men staring blankly at the wall of various boxed chocolates and the florist area was very busy. People stocking up with all the accoutrements of tomorrowâs Hallmark holiday.
I had decided on a âuse upâ dinner - leftover roasted chicken and a single pie crust. Chicken pot pie to the rescue. Chopped carrots and potatoes were cooked in a cup of chicken stock for about 5 minutes, removed the veg, and I then made a sauce by whisking in a butter/flour roux, and added some heavy cream and simmering until thickened.
Celery and onions and garlic were sauteed and seasoned with salt, pepper, and dried thyme. Chopped chicken and the veg were added to two small baking dishes, and both were sprinkled with some frozen peas. Sauce was poured over both dishes. I jury-rigged a crust over both (round crusts trying to fit on square baking dishes ainât easy!), cut a steam-release cross, brushed them with an egg wash, and into the oven at 375° on a baking sheet for about 30-35 minutes, until the crusts were glossy and nicely browned.
Not too shabby. There was some wine alongside, since I restocked the supplies.
For those of us in the Big Chill, stay warm! Temps went from 25° to 15° in just a couple of hours while I was out and about when the sun was out. The thermometer on my sliding window in the living room is currently reading 5° at 8 p.m. EST. BrrrrrrrâŠ
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I never post on the wfd thread . Maybe itâs time to start . Potato Lyonnaise sausage , Latkes , and Rotkohl .
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They were not kidding about this âarctic blastâ! Yikes is it cold here!!
I decided to take on these spinach hominy enchiladas from serious eats for an afternoon project- I reduced the soucy stuff significantly because i am a total wimp, and also added some crumbled tempeh to the filling. Well worth the effort, the cashew cream i could eat with a spoon!
Made plenty for some freezer meals too.
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Sorry for the PPQ (poor picture quality)
Almond crusted chicken topped with crumbled feta served over sautéed spinach with a side of brown rice rissotto. (a first for me using brown rice)
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It is pretty amazing how much less you spend eating at home. The delicious rack of lamb and cauliflower dinner I served last night cost about $20 total for the two of us. I happened to eat lunch at Applebeeâs today (donât ask) and had a thoroughly wretched steak with vegetables that ended up costing $20 for just me. I understand what youâre paying for when you eat out, but itâs still annoying when you know how much better you can do at home!
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