Whats For Dinner?

That’s my target date for everything getting back to normal here. Everyone, except me, heads back to work or school. I’m going to get back into a routine and (gasp) start making dinner again.

With everything going on, with the holidays and stuff, I’ve really gotten off track. When I found out we’d be hosting Christmas, all my efforts seemed to be for that.

I have a pile of coupons I need to cut out. I’m going to go shopping on Tuesday. I didn’t go this week with all the leftovers.

An update on the soup: it tasted great. Everyone had some too. I had half a box of tubetini (I think that’s what it’s called) and it was the perfect amount. So, I probably won’t have much left over, but what can you do.

Way back before the stomach bug hit our house, I had cut up some boneless chicken breast into bite size pieces. I had never cooked it. So I figured I had to do something with it.

I decided to make some chicken soup. I had 2 cans of chicken broth, then I filled the rest with water. I added the chicken and some very small, whole celery stalks that I grew in my garden last summer and put in the freezer because I didn’t know what else to do with it. Eventually I will fish the celery out and toss it but it smelled great so I’m hoping it gives some flavor. I also added garlic salt and some Mrs. Dash.

Tomorrow, I’ll add some type of pasta to the soup. I’ll try to use something that’s open already but if not, I think I have some soup pasta that I got when it was discontinued. It was like 50 cents for a box.

I almost felt that I was forced to make a pantry meal and this was the best I could come up with. Chances are, I’m going to be the only one in my house who will eat it.

I’m sitting here watching the Travel Channel, trying to think of what to post about today. Then, on comes, Man Vs Food.

This episode, they were in Texas. The first thing I see is the Hell Burger. It’s a huge burger covered with a cup of fresh jalapeno pepper slices, habenero sauce and 1 pound of cheddar and mozzarella cheese. Did I mention it comes with cheese fries? Only 2 pounds of fries covered with cheese and melted on top.

Then, they went to a meat auction place. In the place they have a restaurant who’s specialty is chicken fried steak. Those portions were manageable for most normal people.

Then the host was in a steak eating contest. The steak was 4 and a half pounds. Plus, sides have to be eaten too. There was a baked potato, salad and vegetable. The host, I think his name was Adam, ate it all in 29 minutes. It was disgusting.

Luckily it wasn’t a marathon of this show. I really don’t know how much more I could take. I’m still not eating too much since the stomach bug.

Well, yesterday I didn’t post because it was my turn with the stomach bug. Not a lot of fun, let me tell you. The only thing I ate, if you can consider it food, was a candy cane. It was a struggle even to drink something.

Today, even though I’m feeling better, I still haven’t eaten much. I had a bagel this morning and a small piece of cheese a couple of hours ago. Atleast I could make the kids dinner, which I couldn’t do last night. I guess with everything I’ve eaten from Christmas until Sunday, maybe a few days without food is a good thing.

So, it got me to thinking what’s the best things to eat when you’re not feeling so hot. I know a lot of people swear by chicken broth. A long time ago, you’d have a bullion cube in a cup of boiling water. Saltine crackers also go good with this, or just the crackers by itself.

Some people like to have toast. They say to have it dry but I think most people have to put a little butter on it.

You really need to stay away from dairy products. On the second day of one of the kids being sick, she had a yogurt and we saw it again real soon. Then she asked for a glass of milk. I had to veto that one.

If anyone has any good suggestions on what to eat to get back to normal, I’d love to hear it. Four of us have already been sick so there’s one more to go. She thinks she’s going to avoid it but I’m not so sure.

My favorite part of having a spiral ham is making ham salad. I cut off some of the chunks of meat around the bone. I chop it in a food processor to have nice small pieces of meat.

Then I use only enough mayonaise to stick the meat together. I add some relish, to give it a little pickle flavor. Then I add mustard, because nothing goes together better than ham and mustard.

I always use regular yellow mustard too. It’s the only way to go. It gives it a little kick that makes it not so bland.

Ham salad makes a great sandwich or is good eaten plain too. Also, you have to have potato chips with it. It’s a must. You don’t need a pickle since there’s already relish in it but you can’t go wrong with a pickle on the side.

Hopefully you get a chance to make some ham salad. It’s worth the time and effort to make it yourself. Enjoy!

We’ve been working on the Christmas leftovers for the last 2 days. It makes things a little easier when the leftovers are beef tenderloin and spiral ham and not a pork chop.

I have a ton of the baked potato casserole left over. It’s still good as long as I get it hot enough. There’s nothing like having a side of scallops wrapped in bacon.

People didn’t really take a lot home, mostly stuff that I knew we wouldn’t eat here. Last year we had so much food, everyone took a ton home and we still had way too much. This year we toned down the amount of food and there was still way more than enough.

Of course, we have a lot of desserts left over too. Once I finish posting this, I’m going for a piece of lemon merangue pie. It’s never a problem having too many desserts.

Also, I bought the kids an ice cream maker and we made some vanilla ice cream yesterday. It came out so good, and I’m not one for ice cream. I only have it a few times a year.

It’s nice to have really good leftovers for a change. Can’t wait to make some ham salad.

Christmas dinner went off without a hitch. Well, there was almost one problem. My mom was cooking the ham at her house and she lost power for about an hour. But, it came back on and all was well.

The ham and beef tenderloin came out great. I had baked ziti, with meatballs on the side as the third entree.

For sides, I had a baked potato casserole. It’s a Paula Deen recipe, so not very low in fat. I also had green bean salad, corn and creamed carrots. There was salad and fruit salad and many types of pickles.

Everyone seemed to eat a ton and there was a good amount of food leftover. Not as much as last year but enough. I’m glad I decided not to make a fourth entree. We really didn’t need it.

Everything came out wonderful. I had someone call me when she got home to tell me how good everything was. It makes it all worth the effort.

I hope everyone had a great holiday, filled with great food.

I cook lobster, often actually. I only cook it one way and that’s it. We have lobster several times a year, including tonight.

The way I cook it is boil it. I have a huge pan that I think has only had lobster in it. I fill it up about 2/3 of the way with water. Then I add a little cider vinegar to the water. Then I cover the pan and bring it to a boil.

Then my assistant puts the lobsters in the boiling water. I cook them for exactly 20 minutes. Then I take them out of the water and put them into the special lobster bowl. Why is it special? It has lobsters on it. Then it has lobsters in it.

I melt one stick of butter (always real butter, never the fake crap) for 1 minute in the microwave. Only my oldest daughter eats lobster (it’s her favorite actually) and now that she’s 10, she can open it mostly by herself.

We never order lobster out at a restaurant. The closest we get is a lobster roll and it can only be from certain places.

Most people won’t cook lobster because they are too intimitated by it. It’s really not that hard. The hardest part is making sure you have a big enough pan.

Today, a friend was looking for ideas for appetizers to make as a meal for Christmas Eve. Strangely enough, most of the suggestions involved wrapping bacon around something.

There was bacon wrapped mini hot dogs, bacon wrapped tater tots and bacon wrapped chicken wings. Then there is always the classic bacon wrapped scallops.

Definately the most unusual was bacon wrapped pretzel rods. Spread brown sugar onto bacon. With sugar side up, wrap bacon around pretzels. Broil until bacon is crispy, turning frequently.

Bacon, is there anything better than bacon? It just goes so well with so many things you just can’t get enough.

I finalized my Christmas menu and will do a bulk of the shopping tomorrow. I got the ham last week because they were $1.29 per pound.

Along with the ham, someone is bringing a beef tenderloin (not bad, huh). I will also be making baked ziti and meatballs (on the side).

I’m making a salad and someone else is bringing fruit salad. I’m making this awesome baked potato casserole. It’s a Paula Deen recipe so it includes butter, cream cheese and sour cream. It’s not really good for you but I only make it once a year.

I’m making a cold green bean salad with tomatoes and cheese. We’ll also have corn and glazed carrots. I’ll have pineapples to go with the ham and cranberry sauce too. I’ll have a pickle tray too.

For dessert there will be a ton of cookies, a pie or 2, mini cheesecakes, and other things that people might bring with them.

We’ll have a ton of food and be eating leftovers for atleast a week after. If you’re a regular reader, you know how much my family likes leftovers (NOT). Hopefully tomorrow I won’t forget anything at the store but I will need to go out on Wednesday to get rolls and french bread. I’ll probably go to a bakery for that.

Hopefully no one will leave my house hungry on Christmas.