What's for dinner? 🍳🥣🍲🍝🍗🥫🥦🥗🍱🥡

June 6, 2019 1:29 PM

Nearing the end of another week, let's talk about something else that is not related to politics. What are you having for dinner? Feel free to share a recipe or photos. Are you eating out? Leftovers? Cooking something easy and fast? Or fancy and complicated? Or maybe you're changing it up and trying something new? What's for dinner, I want to know. As always, be kind to yourself and to others. Cheers.
posted by Fizz to MetaFilter-Related at 1:29 PM (107 comments total)

We're having soba noodles & mixed vegetables. We wanted something fresh and cool. I'm excited for dinner. Will report back (with photos) later this evening. Bon Appétit!
posted by Fizz at 1:31 PM on June 6, 2019 [4 favorites]

We are having frozen pizzas topped with sliced fresh mushrooms, olive oil and oregano. Eaten in front of a book straight off a chopping board. Small glass of Czech lager to wash down. The regular "busy Thursday" meal in this house, and I love it.
posted by Balthamos at 1:39 PM on June 6, 2019 [4 favorites]

Little eirias has prescribed rice and frozen vegetables for me tonight. This is an improvement over this morning's Ritz cracker and banana diet, and a vast improvement over yesterday's food poisoning diet. 🤢
posted by eirias at 1:57 PM on June 6, 2019 [6 favorites]

I’m probably having English muffin pizzas topped with onion, mushroom, and green pepper. Will eat them with my cat staring at me hoping she’ll get a bite.
posted by bookmammal at 2:00 PM on June 6, 2019 [3 favorites]

I accidentally defrosted a steak yesterday, and I am craving Thai coleslaw, surely it isn't authentic, but I love shredded cabbage with vinegar, sugar, hot pepper, ginger, and garlic and it will go well with some panfried beef and rice noodles. The package of beef leapt out of the freezer, and one piece escaped my notice until a bit later. Then going to hear some Klezmer music and maybe dance a little.

I have a new-to-me Prius. It had mice nesting in it and was cleaned out, wiring repaired, and the shop used an unpleasant amount of Cheap Used Car Scent, so I keep leaving the doors and windows open. My dog likes to hang out in his bed in the passenger seat, clearly believing that I will be unable to go somewhere without him. I don't think he loves car rides so much as he hates being left behind. Anyway, he was in the car and did not find the chunk of beef. He's very well behaved, but food on the floor is Fair Game.

Oh, no eirias, I hope you are better.
posted by theora55 at 2:02 PM on June 6, 2019 [2 favorites]

DOT, Jr is headed to Transylvania in 5 days to spend the summer with his grandmother, so we're cramming in as many of his American junk food favorites as we can before he heads out: pizza, ice cream (there is plenty of both over there, but the quality is generally way, way lower), tacos, ramen, buttermilk biscuits, and even Hot Pockets.

He's a good traveler and a respectable eater. So he'll be more than happy to eat stuffed cabbage, roasted eggplant, various sausages, and all of the other lovely stuff they eat over there.

But he's also ten years old and smart enough to know we're gonna miss him, so he's milking it for a weeklong festival of garbage eating.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:02 PM on June 6, 2019 [16 favorites]

Dinner will include the first radishes from the garden! Also harvesting chamomile flowers every day and drying them for tea.
posted by Botanizer at 2:07 PM on June 6, 2019 [4 favorites]

I suspect that tonight will be "Make Your Own Damn Dinner" and that I will scurry over to the Market Basket to get something for myself. Normally, I am in complete charge of kitchen matters, but our daughter (who graduated from high school on Sunday) is working at the mall until 10:00 tonight and my wife has been on a particularly restrictive diet-and-exercise program for the last several months and so the entire idea of "what's for dinner" is in flux in our home. It will be even more up for grabs when the kid leaves for college at the end of the summer.
posted by briank at 2:11 PM on June 6, 2019 [1 favorite]

Tonight is leftover black beans & rice from last night. I haven't made it in a while and Mr Dork was very enthused to have it on the menu again, so I don't think he'll mind it as leftovers tonight. It's super easy to make. I use as many convenience items as I can because I am lazy as shit. This makes a pretty big pot.

1 medium onion, chopped (I used pre-chopped from the produce section)
16 oz of mini-cubed ham
couple of glugs of cold coffee from the morning pot for sauteeing the onion and ham (optional) or use water
3 cans of black beans, with liquid
1 T chili powder
2 packets microwave brown rice, cooked
Shredded cheese, sour cream & hot sauce (optional, for serving)

Sautee the onions and ham in the liquid until onions are translucent and ham is hot. Dump in the cans of beans with their liquid and add the chili powder. Cook over medium heat until hot and bubbling. Add the two packets of rice and stir in. Let set for a few minutes as some of the liquid will absorb into the rice. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with cheese, sour cream and hot sauce if desired.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 2:15 PM on June 6, 2019 [5 favorites]

I myself had the leftovers for breakfast, and just had a very late lunch consisting of artisanal pork rinds, an entire $12.99 container of Whole Foods tuna salad, and an $8 chocolate drink from the Real Good juice bar. This is why I am broke (but it was so fucking good!) I don't think I will need anything for dinner.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 2:20 PM on June 6, 2019 [2 favorites]

Tonight's dinner is catfish, a rare and slightly more expensive treat than usual. I've resolved to be vegetarian/pescetarian at home, and I've been trying out new recipes as a way of occupying my time/mind with something positive and productive. It also saves money, if you cook in big batches. Since I'm a night owl, I usually have a second dinner around 10 PM; tonight I'm torn between trying out Marcella Hazan's marinara recipe (the one that's just a can of tomatoes, half an onion with the stem on, and a lot of butter) or finishing off the pav bhaji I made the other day. Then again, it's been so disgustingly hot and humid that I may just want some fruit or something.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 2:25 PM on June 6, 2019 [4 favorites]

I want vaguely Vietnamese chicken and rice noodles, but my wife's appetite has been capricious lately (Adderall is a wonder drug in many ways and terrible in others) so we'll see if that sounds good when she gets home or if she defaults to breakfast. :)
posted by joycehealy at 2:46 PM on June 6, 2019 [2 favorites]

I'm having a banana, string cheese, and chocolate peanut butter cliff bar. This is one of my work till 5, class till 9:30 nights. I'm enjoying reading what y'all are having tho!
posted by lazaruslong at 3:03 PM on June 6, 2019 [2 favorites]

Mrs Dr coppermoss had emergency dental surgery today so dinner will be softly grilled cheeses (with pickles for me) and tomato soup, or maybe just ice cream. I will have a beer. She will have a Tylenol with codeine.
posted by coppermoss at 3:09 PM on June 6, 2019 [6 favorites]

My family and I are going to a restaurant in Fort Lauderdale and then going to see Weird Al in concert. We live in Massachusetts. This was my wife’s birthday present to me back in December. She rules.
posted by bondcliff at 3:09 PM on June 6, 2019 [7 favorites]

We got our blue apron yesterday but my partner had a empanadas for lunch (one of her favorite foods) so todays when we crack into it. I love the service every month or two because it narrows the thousands of choices we have for dinner into pick 1 of 3. We got seasame noodles, hot chicken, or enchiladas. Not sure what we're gonna pick but it's nice taking a break from grocy shopping and meal planning, so I'm looking forward to it.
posted by Carillon at 3:27 PM on June 6, 2019 [3 favorites]

Likely spinach ravioli from Costco with marinara and some extra veggies. Not as an exciting as last night’s dinner - Thai-ish tofu veggie stir fry with wide rice noodles. I felt very smug breaking out my leftovers in the break room at lunch today.
posted by obfuscation at 3:31 PM on June 6, 2019 [2 favorites]

Fuck if I know. I have melon salad in my fridge. I might eat melon salad for dinner. I am completely exhausted, because work is a hellscape, and I do not have the bandwidth to decide what I want to eat for dinner.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 3:32 PM on June 6, 2019 [6 favorites]

I was going to make flatbread pizza but i had to make a stop on the way home and so now i am eating Twistos with hummus and drinking a blood orange soda and i think that might be it for me?
posted by janepanic at 3:36 PM on June 6, 2019 [1 favorite]

I am making pan-seared halibut, with a creamy dill sauce, and boiled baby potatoes on the side, and blanched asparagus.

Sounds great, I know, but yesterday we went up for Mr. Mon Dieu's follow-up with the GP, he got wicked tired afterward, so I drove him to the deli and got him a reuben, and I got a cuban sub special, and we came home and both collapsed and watched several episodes of The Magicians on Netflix, then toddled off to bed.

Today, we went upta town and did laundry. He tried to help fold, but was obviously too weak yet to stand and do that, so I made him go sit down, and he also sat in the car when I went into the grocery store and bought said halibut. I know he's due to go back to work on Monday, but he's still very tired and weak, so am not so sure about this plan, after listening to the doctor saying how amazing it was he was there after all of his organs failed due to sepsis 2 weeks ago. I am trying to feed us more fish, as that's good for you, and my olive oil poaching of swordfish didn't go so well last time (I overcooked it), so tonight am trying something easier. Sticking with what I know, if you will. Poor guy, I hope he will be okay, and if he's still this tired by Monday, I'm not gonna let him go in.
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 3:43 PM on June 6, 2019 [4 favorites]

I got two huge pork tenderloins from Costco last night so will likely grill them up over the weekend.

Tonight it's veggie burgers for me and my son before heading out to see the latest RiffTrax. I should pop some popcorn here to avoid the temptation to spend an additional $70 at the theater.

I also have a coconut pumpkin soup recipe I've been wanting to try so will throw that together for lunch tomorrow.

My Paprika app runneth over.
posted by Twicketface at 3:47 PM on June 6, 2019 [2 favorites]

Just broke up with my SO so it's Raisin Bran and ice cream for me tonight!!

To be fair I had brown rice & veggies for lunch...
posted by cocoagirl at 3:48 PM on June 6, 2019 [17 favorites]

Tonight, an old favorite: Charlie Bird's Farro Salad (SLNYTcooking) because I have lots of mint that needs to be used.
posted by gyusan at 4:17 PM on June 6, 2019 [3 favorites]

I moved house, and now dinner is mostly vegan - the housemate who likes to cook A: is vegan and B: has issues eating food other people cook.

While I suspected it, it's clear that my reasons for not being vegan or vegetarian are not those of morality or flavour; I just don't know most of the tricks that go into cooking like that, and cooking generally has always been a tiring experience for me.
posted by solarion at 4:20 PM on June 6, 2019 [2 favorites]

Enchiladas Popeye, i.e. spinach and cheese enchiladas in green chile sauce. Just came out of the oven and smells really good.
posted by Daily Alice at 4:24 PM on June 6, 2019 [2 favorites]

As promised, picture of our dinner tonight.
posted by Fizz at 4:26 PM on June 6, 2019 [1 favorite]

Sorry, cocoagirl!
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 4:29 PM on June 6, 2019 [1 favorite]

Here is our dinner, the Mister liked it a lot!
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 4:32 PM on June 6, 2019 [2 favorites]

A strawberry-blueberry salad. Three days ago the strawberries were too tart, but now they're the perfect kind of sweet.
posted by mochapickle at 4:34 PM on June 6, 2019 [1 favorite]

Update: went to check on my garden plot (kale is coming up! Tomato plant still alive!) and that was a 20 minute round trip (walking) so now i am home again and making flatbread pizza for real.
posted by janepanic at 4:43 PM on June 6, 2019 [2 favorites]

Probably leftovers of tempeh and vegetables - marinated in soy sauce, ginger, cumin, oil and roasted in the oven. It's my first tempeh experiment and I was pretty happy with it. If anyone has any Excellent Tempeh Recipes Or Tips, please throw them at my face and I will catch them in my mouth.
posted by meemzi at 4:58 PM on June 6, 2019 [2 favorites]

I’m having a bbq this Sunday, and on the 29th, doing another event at a bar that’s invited me to come in and take over their kitchen a couple times a year, so today (my day off, he sobbed), I’ll be smoking 10kg of chipotle paprika bacon (for, uh, some friends), doing five pork shoulders for pulled pork, and making probably 7 kilos of kielbasa, while also cleaning the house and hopefully watching the Deadwood movie. Mrs Ghidorah is working tonight, so I have a feeling that my dinner will consist of little bits of pulled pork that I nibble while watching the movie as I pull the pork.

Of course I’m in my standard pre-bbq, having friends who I really cherish and don’t see often enough deep funk, where I’m just sitting here, procrastinating, trying to avoid thinking about how I don’t honestly know why I do this stuff anymore, and trying to not think about the central question of “do I really enjoy doing this, and if no, why do I keep doing it?” that I’ve been doing my best to ignore for a long time.

I know that deep down, there was definitely an element of praise seeking behind my learning to cook, seeing it as some sort of way to get acknowledgment, but somewhere along the lines, I’ve just become incredibly distrustful of praise, that it’s just people trying to be nice, or whatever, to the point that I find myself uncomfortable when people tell me they like what I did, because it brings me back to that desperate for praise version of myself that now is kind of like an embarrassment. Here’s a friend, a good, earnest friend, telling me they like what I did, or even a complete stranger telling me the burger they bought from me is the best they’ve ever had, and hell yes, I want to treasure that, but at the same time, there’s this swell of embarrassment about having that needy, thrilled inner response, like a dog wagging its tail after a pat on the head.

But, even with all of that, I’m going to get up, go downstairs, and get to work, because if I don’t, no one else will do it, which seems to be more and more the theme of what I do, doing stuff because it needs doing, rather than doing anything I’d actually want to do.
posted by Ghidorah at 5:04 PM on June 6, 2019 [6 favorites]

I decided for June to not have processed foods or sugary drinks. So far so good. To make it easier for myself, I've just been Instapotting everything. Flavor is not really my purpose, but convenience. (I'm an excellent cook but depression and living alone do not compel me to treat myself.)

So three times a day I throw a handful each of broccoli, butternut squash, brussells sprouts, and peas into the pot and use scissors to cut up bite-sized portions of marinated steak or chicken breast and set it to cook for 1 minute with a 1 minute cool down. I pour everything onto a bed of greens or shredded cabbage and stir it up with salt and pepper.

Since the pot takes about 8 minutes to heat up, I'm eating a healthy meal in about 10 minutes. It tastes pretty good -- just not amazing. It's June 6 and 6 days without eating a single meal out or having a cocktail is a big deal.
posted by dobbs at 5:18 PM on June 6, 2019 [11 favorites]

I'm having leftovers; at the beginning of the week I had batches made up of both a mung bean curry and a Turkish chicken stew, and I've been swapping back and forth between them over the course of the week because they both go easily over a small bowl of couscous, which is in turn super-easy to make (bring water to a boil, dump in the couscous, turn off the heat and wait five minutes; which is just enough time to heat up a portion of something in the microwave). It gets dinner on the table in just a few minutes.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:19 PM on June 6, 2019 [2 favorites]

One of the downsides of living alone is that as much as I love food and enjoy cooking, it can often be difficult for me to work up the gumption to pull together a Meal For One every evening. I try to work around that by getting inspired on weekends to either try something fancy or make a big batch of a favorite thing, to divide up into single portions and/or freeze some. That mostly lets me avoid succumbing to unhealthy snacking or splurging for delivery food (although that often ends up being enough for 2-3 meals, so I can at least feel 50-66% better about my laziness free-will choices).

The Warm Weather Food Metatalktail post from a couple weeks ago got me thinking about brisket - among many other enticing ideas - and last weekend I noticed that my local grocery store had a fairly small brisket flat (the less-fatty part of a full huge brisket) available...but also a more-marbled 2.5lb piece of tri-tip; so I got that instead and smoked it on Sunday. It's more of a steak cut than the kind of cut that really needs the low-and-slow cooking to falling-apart stage (like brisket, for example), so it didn't take as long as a brisket would. The result wasn't anything like brisket, but it was at least a very nice medium-rare Chunk O' Meat with lots of flavor and a lovely hint of smokiness. Since my first dinner of big tender slices with grilled veggies that evening I've been nibbling on it during the week in various guises, from a post-work pre-dinner snack of tiny swipes of Dijon mustard on paper-thin warmed-up slices to dicing some up to throw in with veggies and pasta. I've still got close to half left so I may need to freeze the rest lest it go bad, which would be a shame. Maybe I'll have some with mashed potatoes and peas before I do that.

but maybe I'll say 'brisket' a few more times first...
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:38 PM on June 6, 2019 [5 favorites]

I am recuperating from eating a truly inappropriately huge take-out serving of ma la tofu from the nearby and excellent pan-Asian grocery store United Noodles - like, it was really unhealthily stomach-strainingly too much, the container looked smaller in the store, but it was really, really good in a take-out-diner-ma la way.

I was going to make another clafoutis but I feel that I must recline for a few hours or I'll rupture.
posted by Frowner at 5:48 PM on June 6, 2019 [5 favorites]

We’re also doing English muffin pizza. The boys get to “order” so it’s pepperoni and cheese. And salad in a bag for the grown-ups. That’s about the speed we’re moving at today.
posted by not_the_water at 5:49 PM on June 6, 2019 [1 favorite]

Work is being DEEPLY INFURIATING so I drowned my sorrows in an accidental nap followed by a lot of cherries for dinner. They were delicious and distracting but now I am uncomfortably full of cherries and still annoyed.

This weekend I'm going back to Columbus for a ballet friend's wedding! I'm going to see a lot of people (including my PhD supervisor) and drink a good amount of cheap but tasty beer and take my first ballet class in a full 5 months.
posted by ChuraChura at 6:25 PM on June 6, 2019 [2 favorites]

(If anyone has any good ideas for managing a terrible and toxic boss in academia ... send them my way!)
posted by ChuraChura at 6:27 PM on June 6, 2019 [2 favorites]

Cocoagirl, this might be a terrible idea but

What if you put the raisin bran

ON

the ice cream
posted by meemzi at 6:33 PM on June 6, 2019 [7 favorites]

As per that image, meemzi, I've decided to cut out the middleman and put the ice cream on my back legs.
posted by cocoagirl at 6:41 PM on June 6, 2019 [11 favorites]

Snap peas, because I’ve grown an unreasonable number of snap peas in the garden. When my kid or friends aren’t here to help devour them, the number of snap peas I need to eat is kind of ridiculous. I’ll eat something else with them, but it’ll be secondary to the peas.
posted by centrifugal at 6:58 PM on June 6, 2019 [3 favorites]

Grilled chicken (marinated in balsamic vinaigrette) and campanelle with (black) peppery alfredo sauce and garlic bread. I have mostly done salads this week so felt like pasta and bread.

ETA: Actually eating this meal right now at 10:12pm.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 7:10 PM on June 6, 2019 [1 favorite]

I've been trying to cut down on how much I spend on food, so that means taking more leftovers to work for the next day (many of my dinners lately are simple and not very portable, anyway). This week has been yakisoba with a fried egg on top; and it's great that I love it, because it's more or less all I've been eating this week.

Did not love opening my cabbage to find a slug. :(
posted by lesser weasel at 7:18 PM on June 6, 2019 [1 favorite]

Tonight I cooked up baked tilapia tenderloins, roasted brussels sprouts, jasmine rice and garlic bread.
The fish I bake with just a light dusting of bread crumbs and some slices of lemon. The brussels sprouts roast with vidalia onions, garlic, and sliced mushrooms, and then I finish it with a quick dousing of balsamic vinegar when it comes out of the oven.

I've been on a jasmine rice kick for awhile. It's probably going to become my default rice. It smells pleasant while cooking, and cooks quicker than regular long-grain white rice.
posted by Cookiebastard at 7:29 PM on June 6, 2019 [1 favorite]

Leftover better than burger and leftover home fries and red wine, so, exactly the same as yesterday, which is good because it’s comfort food and I need that right now. It’s been a fucking long day, sigh, and the next two weeks are just going to be insane as we close in on the first big event I’ve done at this job. It’s the first event, actually, I’ve done in a long time and the first one I’ve ever done basically completely by myself. I am exhausted and very much not loving my job right now.
posted by mygothlaundry at 7:38 PM on June 6, 2019 [4 favorites]

Turns out my wife had Weird Al for dinner.
posted by bondcliff at 7:39 PM on June 6, 2019 [14 favorites]

Forgot to mention that my new mini fryer is delivering tomorrow, and I'm really looking forward to making french fries instead of buying potatoes and then never using them up. But also: donuts, onion rings, fried chicken where I get to determine how much fat is on the meat, tonkatsu, tempura (read: fried mushrooms because yum).

I also recently imported a 3-qt Instant Pot to Japan and despite the slightly longer warm-up time due to voltage, it's been working just fine and I'm glad I bought it.
posted by lesser weasel at 7:44 PM on June 6, 2019 [2 favorites]

I made kibbeh and kibbeh nayeh, hummus, pide, and cucumber salad. Yum.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 7:48 PM on June 6, 2019 [4 favorites]

I know it's wrong but I had instant oatmeal with dried cherries and peanut butter in it. It's wrong because a) it's kind of gross, b) it's lazy, and c) it's carby. Wrong, but glorious.

In other news, I haven't had the nerve to weigh myself yet, but I for sure have lost weight by doing nothing more than restricting my eating hours to 9 am to 7 pm. I eat anything I want in between (to wit: ^) but I think I end up eating less overall. It's so great to have my familiar body back.
posted by HotToddy at 8:01 PM on June 6, 2019 [3 favorites]

Tonight was “eat leftover stuff ‘cause we won’t be here for a few days” day. Wife had the last of the burrito makings, I had the last of the chicken salad. Flying to Colorado tomorrow. Have no idea what dinner will be. Any Mefites in Gunnison?

On a much cooler dInner-ish subject...My son runs the kitchen of this little, out-in-the-middle-of-amishland pub in northern Indiana. When he was last home, he asked if I had any recipes he could try and introduce. I gave him a couple of go-to recipes. Last week, his wife posts a pic of the specials board at the pub. One of my recipes was up there! He said they sold out of it the first night.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:29 PM on June 6, 2019 [11 favorites]

I'm having trouble getting myself to eat recently. It's a symptom of some OCD issues that I have that come up every so often. Losing my appetite is very rare for me, though, and it is not good. I had some popcorn and some Halo Top for dinner. I didn't finish either of them.

My appearance has really improved since I've lost a good chunk of weight this year, and I'm pleased, but I think I'm not adjusting well to how food should work now. I still am not exactly wasting away over here, so I will be fine as soon as I figure it out.
posted by Countess Elena at 8:31 PM on June 6, 2019 [5 favorites]

I made creamy pasta with thyme and rosemary and lots of garlic, with green beans and fried oyster mushrooms that a neighbor gave me. Salad tonight was greens from the garden, and pickled chive blossoms I made last week.

My bf made a pudding from chia seeds, homemade coconut milk, frozen strawberries, and cacao our friends grow and process in Nicaragua. They kindly shipped us a bag of cacao powder last week and it's so good.
posted by ananci at 9:20 PM on June 6, 2019 [3 favorites]

Good cacao powder is SO worth it!!
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:22 PM on June 6, 2019 [3 favorites]

I’m choosing an ever so slightly in the past dinner — yesterday. Yesterday was my birthday and is the custom where I work, I took the day off. I think it’s because Kiwis expect you to shout on your birthday (take everyone out for lunch or buy everyone treats). Hence, the staying home! So with a free day at home, I made the chocolate torte from The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum.

For dinner, was meat popsicles. That’s what I call rack of lamb. This version was coated with mustard-garlic and panko crumbs. Accompanied by soopah cheesy potatoes.

No pics because no leftovers and my team mates landed all over the cake today.

Tonight is fav pizza + sci-fi.

Tomorrow will be Filipino BBQ pork (already marinating) and homemade longanisa (sausages). We’re in the midst of gale force winter winds so craving comfort food.
posted by lemon_icing at 9:26 PM on June 6, 2019 [5 favorites]

homemade longanisa

I love longanisa. Even commercial. But homemade? YES.

Happy belated birthday!
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:14 PM on June 6, 2019 [2 favorites]

We ordered a pizza because it'd been a long day and we were both too tired to cook. Tasty pie with basil and sun dried tomatoes, from a newish place in the neighborhood that I'm warming up to; our old neighborhood standby, Vinnies, shut down in the last year or two and I'm still not really over it.

Vinnies didn't make particularly good pizza but it was a good kind of not particularly good, and they were nice as hell and cheap besides and had been a reliable answer to Let's Just Order A Pizza kinds of days for a solid decade.

This new place makes unambiguously good pizza, and give 'em another decade and I'll probably be fully on-board.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:54 PM on June 6, 2019 [5 favorites]

Too hot and muggy to cook. I made my infamous lazyass 3P salad. Now New & Improved with the addition of yet another P! I take a big bowl of deli made POTATO salad, tump in a can of green PEAS, and mix in a couple big spoonfuls of PIMIENTO cheese spread, and voila! 3P salad.

Tonight I was inspired by the blandness of the P'tater salad, to slip in a 4th P – PICKLES. I'll bring home an onion tomorrow and add that to the pot, making it a 4P & O salad.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 11:08 PM on June 6, 2019 [3 favorites]

Cooked rice and beans yesterday. Warmed them up and finished them off tonight.
posted by Tenuki at 11:17 PM on June 6, 2019 [3 favorites]

A box of Trader Joe's 99-cent mac and cheese. I miss my husband. Fuck wildfires.
posted by Snacks at 11:29 PM on June 6, 2019 [8 favorites]

I had an omelette fresh from the coop because I am way too irritable to cook a proper dinner. Mr. Sophie had leftover pizza, which was fine by him.
posted by Sophie1 at 11:43 PM on June 6, 2019 [3 favorites]

Cherry snack pie and DGAF.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:14 AM on June 7, 2019 [5 favorites]

I just bought an Instant Pot and ohmygosh so many new curries to try! ~vindaloo~
posted by aw jeez at 12:33 AM on June 7, 2019 [3 favorites]

I ended up falling asleep on the couch, then woke up a little before midnight and was wide awake. It was too late and I was too tired for marinara or pav bhaji, so I made some Quorn fake chicken nuggets and baked a yam. It is now 3:30 and I’m still sort of hungry, but ugh, what do you do in the middle of the night? I might try to stay up and reset my sleep cycle (which never works, but beats the drudgery of lying in bed uselessly), in which case I’ll make some hot cereal — I recently discovered the Bob’s Red Mill cereals, which are pretty cheap and hearty. I have 7 grain cereal, but I might be feeling frisky and go for the 10 grain cereal. That’s 3 more grains! (Most noticeable is the addition of grits.)

Anyway, this is a pilot post for my new blog, “Nobody Will Care But I’m Writing This Anyway.”
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 12:39 AM on June 7, 2019 [7 favorites]

I've just made a cheese toastie (a cheese sandwich popped onto the oven grill for a few minutes until there is melted cheese everywhere). It tasted good, but it's slightly annoying as am in an airbnb so there will be significant washing up shortly. The inspiration for doing this came from a twitter thread about a microwave-based toastie maker, which I've just turned into a post on the front page, because cheese and sandwich and toastie and hungry MeFites.
posted by Wordshore at 3:46 AM on June 7, 2019 [3 favorites]

I’ve gotten into a very good habit (for once!) of buying a bunch of different locally grown lettuces at the farmers’ market, washing them all together, and dumping them into big bowls covered by paper towels in my fridge, so I can come home from work, pull out three handfulls of greens, dress them with a little olive oil, salt and pepper, and vinegar, and eat something good for me with whatever dinner I otherwise throw together (which is sometimes lowest-effort-possible cheese and crackers). It’s really stunning what a difference there is between supermarket prewash salad greens and these ones, they make bagged lettuce mix taste like paper.
posted by sallybrown at 4:50 AM on June 7, 2019 [4 favorites]

I made myself a veggie burger in the toaster oven because I was trying to do 100 things before leaving to go watch slightly-less-new-now dude play guitar. I should probably do better than that for myself. For some reason, I want all of the mushrooms mentioned upthread.
posted by wellred at 5:05 AM on June 7, 2019 [2 favorites]

I spent the afternoon out on Country with some of our local Elders (I gate-crashed an end of term Ecology class a colleague was running out there), and we ate a bunch of bush foods, some of which one of the Aunties literally hid up her sleeves so the rangers wouldn't notice she had picked them. (She said she wears a bulky jumper specifically for this purpose).

We also ate a lot of sausages and pikelets with billy tea, and when I got home I was too stuffed to want any dinner. But now it's 11pm and my stomach has woken up again and I can't be arsed cooking and there's no junk food in the cupboard and I am debating what to do about this terrible state of affairs
posted by lollusc at 5:58 AM on June 7, 2019 [6 favorites]

And there's a post on the blue about cheese toasties, which almost solved my dilemma, but then it actually made everything worse when I realised we are out of cheese.
posted by lollusc at 5:59 AM on June 7, 2019 [4 favorites]

We're in the precious few weeks of late spring/early summer where the grocery store stocks fresh fava beans. We got a hunk of lamb shoulder in the meat CSA last week, so over the weekend I made a braise of the lamb, beans, some new potatoes, and the few radishes in the garden that were large enough to pick. It was delicious and looked like something you would pay $$$ at a fancy restaurant, so I was pleased.

After a pretty mediocre meal at a Mediterranean place downtown, we had a craving for some dips and feta cheese. I got the easy job and made some hummus, tzatziki, and tapenade while my wife made a Turkish-style flatbread which was wonderful. It all really hit the spot when it got warmer later in the week and we didn't feel like turning the stove on.
posted by backseatpilot at 6:28 AM on June 7, 2019 [3 favorites]

Good cacao powder is SO worth it!!

Check out black cocoa powder. A couple years back I got the tip to get a package of that and mix it with regular cocoa powder to amp up the richness, and I've switched to that being my default state of being permanently.

I am one week away from my CSA starting up, and the weekly distributions do a lot to dictate my cooking over the course of the week each week; so I'm a little reluctant to buy a lot of food for this week's menus. It'll be a bit of an interesting challenge. (I've also finished off the mung bean curry and should be killing off the chicken stew tonight....)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:12 AM on June 7, 2019 [2 favorites]

This new place makes unambiguously good pizza, and give 'em another decade and I'll probably be fully on-board.

I'm a big believer that pizza places get better and better as the years go by and carbonized funk and residual aromas accumulate in their ovens.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:19 AM on June 7, 2019 [2 favorites]

For health reasons (him) and ethical reasons (me), we normally eat meat once a day, if at all, but just wrapped up a three week period where we were with family (multiple kinds of meat every meal, every day) and at a kiddie water park in the deep red part of our state (you just try and find protein that isn't meat or cheese).

And now we're at home, and my husband said, with a sigh of relief, "I'm making pasta with roast vegetables for tonight."

"Can we have chickpeas?" I asked.

"Yes, we can definitely have chickpeas."

I am pre-emptively relieved.
posted by joyceanmachine at 7:54 AM on June 7, 2019 [8 favorites]

Like Botanizer, my radishes are ready to harvest. We went out to dinner last night, but tonight is my wife's turn to cook, and she's planning on a cold Asian noodle dish with cucumber and possibly some of the radishes.
posted by serathen at 8:41 AM on June 7, 2019 [2 favorites]

Serathen - save the radish greens for pesto if you haven't already tried that!
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:48 AM on June 7, 2019 [3 favorites]

My partner and I have gotten into meal prepping lately, and this Thai quinoa salad with peanut dressing is a winner.
posted by sugarbomb at 9:08 AM on June 7, 2019 [3 favorites]

I had cocktail nibbles at a fundraiser--it was good but not enough food.

For breakfast, I had Swiss cheese with lots of mustard on rye, grilled in lots of butter.

I expect for dinner, we'll butt up against the "I have no plan and don't want to think about it" problem.
posted by crush at 9:08 AM on June 7, 2019 [1 favorite]

ooooh. The Thai peanut salad reminded me that it may be a good idea to make up a batch of Sichuan noodles, that keeps well and I can work with it for meals. (And if I make a double batch I will be prepared for my roommate nibbling at it as well.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:19 AM on June 7, 2019 [1 favorite]

OH AND I CAN DIP INTO MY FANCY CHINESE COOKBOOK LIKE I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DOING FOR A NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION okay my meal plan for the week is sorted thank you for your support i will not be taking questions at this time
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:26 AM on June 7, 2019 [3 favorites]

This is terrible but a new Burger King opened up down the street yesterday and I really love Burger King and against my better judgement (new places take time to get stuff going correctly) we went. The drive thru was taking forever so I opened the sunroof and a bee flew in and stung me on my finger. I didn't do anything to the bee, it just stung me! It was my first time being stung and holy shit it hurts sooo bad.

Also when I was being stung I apparently took my foot off the brake slightly and very low speed hit the guy in front of me. His car was fine, my car was fine, and when I told him I got stung by a bee, he was very nice about the whole thing.

So, when we got home and went to eat my burger had cheese and I am super duper lactose intolerant so I attempted to cut the cheese part off the patty and of course that failed. I had tiny little slices of burger on my, well, burger. Thankfully I got bacon too.

Today my finger is a little swollen and sore, much better than I was expecting. And I'm not going back to Burger King for at least 2 weeks. : )
posted by shmurley at 9:54 AM on June 7, 2019 [3 favorites]

While it was still hitting below-freezing temperatures at night I got a basil seedling going in my counter-top hydroponics unit. I planted it in a window box once it got warm and now I'm having my fresh mozzarella and fresh basil sandwiches on fancy bakery bread. Really just those three ingredients, I can't get enough of them... it's a game of brinkmanship, trying to avoid harvesting basil leaves too fast and killing my little plant.
posted by XMLicious at 10:49 AM on June 7, 2019 [3 favorites]

thursday night here is always (take out) burrito night. lately I have been eating half my 'rito for dinner and saving the other half for friday special treat brekkie. this is extra awesome because I have a 2 hour video call meeting every friday morning. the burrito keeps it from getting too bleak :)
posted by supermedusa at 10:53 AM on June 7, 2019 [2 favorites]

I actually have something to contribute this week: garlic scapes!

This may be an old wives' tale, but I heard that planting garlic was supposed to deter aphids in neighbouring plants. So I have garlic in a few of my garden pots, and this year two of them have formed scapes. It had been years since I'd had a garlic scape, but they are amazingly delicious.

This morning I had THE BEST DAMN SCRAMBLED EGGS EVER because I fried a scape briefly in olive oil before whisking in the eggs and milk. I have one scape left, and I'm thinking of making a nice risotto tonight-- or maybe just fry it and pour the oil over pasta?

In conclusion, if someone offers you a garlic scape, eat it. They also make an amazingly good pesto pounded up raw with pinenuts and Parmesan.
posted by Pallas Athena at 11:04 AM on June 7, 2019 [3 favorites]

Last night: Wraps made with brie, strawberry jam and fancy peanut butter, then whatever early berries I could find.

Right now I'm competing with the birds for the salmonberries. I keep spotting ones that will be ripe and not too tart by maybe tomorrow, but then they're gone because the birds like them just fine when they're so tart they make my face hurt.

So, on the property I've had, oh maybe four salmon berries. No, wait, six! I just had two more, and they were so tart I could feel it in my ears! And hiking in to town yesterday I had about two dozen perfectly ripe ones and I would have stopped to feast on as many as I could find, but then I would have missed the bus into town.

If you haven't had a salmonberry, it has a very floral and citrusy sort of taste, with a texture like a slightly toothier raspberry, but not as pulpy or woody as a blackberry. When properly and fully ripened they can be very soft and fragile like a thimbleberry or raspberry and get much sweeter and less tart. They kind of remind me of a mimosa, fruity and floral but also crisp.

Recently it was nice out so I cooked over a plain old campfire and threw some sweet potatoes into foil on the coals, then roasted a bunch of apples, onion slabs and garlic in a hand basket grill. Fire roasted garlic is the best roasted garlic. I also just found a grilling basket in a free box in town, and I have plans to build a mini portable schwanker for doing more of this kind of rustic cooking.

Wait, what's a schwanker? It's a tripod with a grill that swings over a fire, usually a wide circular grill held up by a metal chain or cable. The fancier ones often have a winch or cable to easily raise and lower the grill, and a gimbal or swivel to allow the grill to rotate and swing.

For some reason they're really popular in the PNW, and (I've heard) also in parts of Texas. Possibly German and German-American in origin.
posted by loquacious at 11:51 AM on June 7, 2019 [5 favorites]

Last night I went to my boyfriend's sister's mendhi, Pictures here.. The food was great! A good mixture of Indian (different pakoras, saag paneer, chicken tikka masala) and American (chicken marsala, salad, a pasta bar). I've never been to a non-Christian (or secular, but following the Christian ceremony format) wedding before, and it was a blast. Her nikah was earlier today, and I'm going to the reception for that later tonight - I heard that the menu this evening is steak and lobster, and I'm all about that.
posted by Fig at 1:13 PM on June 7, 2019 [7 favorites]

This thread is bringing me a lot of joy this week, for some reason.

The wife did, in fact, vote for waffles, which were very tasty. However, tonight, we are having salad dammit. And maybe some popovers if I can find the motivation.
posted by joycehealy at 1:53 PM on June 7, 2019 [1 favorite]

I marinated some chicken in mango pickle oil and soy sauce and shallow fried it with sliced bell peppers and garlic.
It was surprisingly good.
posted by Nieshka at 2:18 PM on June 7, 2019 [1 favorite]

It's Friday, I'm tired & so is spouse. I'm drinking a beer and waiting for pizza to be delivered.
posted by biggreenplant at 3:48 PM on June 7, 2019 [1 favorite]

I am slowly learning to own that
A) I don’t actually like cooking that much, at least not in my current kitchen configuration, and
B) Spending a little extra money on food is worth it if it buys things that I am guaranteed to eat. Cans of beans might lie around forever (see Part a), but good cheese, smoked or canned fish, peanut butter, and edamame will get eaten and those are proteins too. Getting pre-cut veggies means fhey’re less likely to spoil because chopping is too much after a long day of work. If a frozen dinner is the difference for you between eating a meal and not, please buy the damn frozen dinner and take advantage of the fact that you make a living wage. Etc.

To that end, I did a huge Trader Joe’s run on Monday. Tonight’s dinner was smoked trout and avocado on toast from the amazing bakery around the corner, with a can of seltzer. Peak millennial tastes delicious.
posted by ActionPopulated at 9:23 PM on June 7, 2019 [3 favorites]

Last night was rather good fish and chips for me and salmon on white beans for ms scruss, followed by crème brûlée and ice cream for the two of us. This was in Reykjavik, so came in at roughly the same as our entire weekly food spend in Toronto. Nice chips, tho'.
posted by scruss at 2:56 AM on June 8, 2019 [1 favorite]

One of my grandmother's most sought after recipes, spaghetti & cheese. Yes, spaghetti none of your macaroni here. Some parts are approximated.

1 pound spaghetti
1 pound extra sharp cheddar cheese
1 can Campbell's cheese soup
1 can milk or cream, optional, for creamier sauce
1 teaspoon nutmeg (can be less according to taste)
Dry breadcrumbs

Boil spaghetti according to directions
Shred cheese & melt into soup, add nutmeg
Place spaghetti in oven-safe dish
Stir cheese sauce into spaghetti
Bake for 1 hour
Add breadcrumbs to cover top
Turn up oven, bake until crumbs are toasted, maybe 10 minutes depending on temp
Serve.
posted by scalefree at 5:19 AM on June 8, 2019 [5 favorites]

I'm going to keep it simple, grilling up some mushrooms and peppers (which I have to go chop at some point) and some locally-made sausages. Maybe some pasta to go with it, depending on how hungry we're feeling.
posted by emelenjr at 12:09 PM on June 8, 2019

This is why I never post to the What I Had For Dinner group on FB. Dinner for me is usually spinster chow like tonight's beans on toast in front of the teevee. Lunch is usually the main meal of the day.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 3:53 PM on June 8, 2019 [2 favorites]

I may have gone on a bit of a cooking binge this afternoon.

Dinner was pizza with corn, green chili peppers, shallots, mozzarella, feta and cilantro.

I also made an apricot frangipane tart (we're off to have lunch with my grandparents tomorrow, and either my parents or Dr Bored for Science and I bring dessert, and I volunteered).

Made a batch of vanilla ice cream base that I'll mix with stewed rhubarb to make rhubarb & custard ice cream later.

...and I'm contemplating making lime macarons and filling them with blackcurrant jam, just because I haven't done enough in the kitchen today.
posted by Making You Bored For Science at 4:42 PM on June 8, 2019 [3 favorites]

I got married on an island reachable by ferry. A week before the wedding, I had a dream that my dress was in a suitcase that fell overboard; I dove in to get it and it kept pulling me down. But did I listen to this dream? Nooooooo.

When Evil Sexist Boss was making my life miserable, I kept dreaming of him show up at my house; my brain's recognition that he was a danger to me, and I did pay attention.

I have done a lot of gardening, mowed the front lawn, raked a bit. Maine is finally warming up and we've had some sunny days, so there are all sorts of seedlings. There are also very many blackflies (vicious little biters) and skeeters, and they don't care that I am wearing clothing sprayed lavishly with DEET, and oil of lemon eucalyptus lotion on exposed wrists, ankles, face, etc.; they will find that small section you missed, and blackflies will just fly at your face because that's what they do. I even have bites on my knee from something that flew up my pants leg. The blackflies will be gone soon and it will get drier and the mosquitoes will be less plentiful. I'm one of those people that gets big welts, eyes get red and itchy. I've watched people get bitten by mosquitoes and have 0 reaction. I love being outdoors, but I have to suit up, spray, etc.
posted by theora55 at 5:09 PM on June 8, 2019

Tonight I made a rice/black bean/peppers/onion/cheese concoction that turned out really well. Dessert was chocolate ice cream with raspberry sauce. So good!
posted by bookmammal at 5:58 PM on June 8, 2019 [2 favorites]

Did I post on the wrong thread? Why, yes, yes I did.
posted by theora55 at 10:53 AM on June 9, 2019 [8 favorites]

MORELS ARE IN SEASON. The restaurant I work for is currently getting in 80lbs a week. It's heavenly.
posted by Grandysaur at 11:06 AM on June 9, 2019 [2 favorites]

I bought licorice and Thai basils at the market. I decided to make pesto with some of it. I always have pumpkin seeds around and I toasted them in some of the olive oil and garlic from the recipe quantity. I decided I wanted the pesto to be more durable than the two day prediction from pesto recipes, so I threw the basil into the sautee pan too. I blended up everything and the pesto is good. I had a rotisserie chicken I wanted to save some of. So, I cubed a lot of the white meat, rolled it in a modest amount of the pesto and froze it in servings for one, enough for a salad, or a serving of pasta. The pesto in the fridge is still good a week later, the frozen chicken chunks stayed moist and fresh not crystallized by freezing.

I made this dish for my lunch just now. Using a new rotisserie chicken.

Sautee a large garlic clove in 1 Tbs EV Olive oil
Add a few leaves fresh basil
1 cup fresh washed green beans
1 ear of fresh corn kernels
stir this in the sautee pan
1/2 tsp hot smoked paprika
1/2 tsp ground cumin
Stir again
Add 1 Tbs mayonnaise, stir
Add 1/4 cup cabernet syrah or whatever dry white or red you have
Cut two thicker slices of chicken breast from a pre cooked chicken
Smear them with pesto on one side, put those sides together and cube the chicken,
Put the chicken in the pan and stir.
1 meyer lemon's juice, then chop 1/4 of the skin of the meyer lemon and add it to the pan.

If the sautee is too dry add a little more wine. This should be juicy but not soupy.

Steam for a couple of minutes in the pan. Spriinkle on a little seasoned salt, Spike, and eat this. It has nice high fiber carb from the quasi street corn, the beans should still be crisp. It is a good well rounded meal. Maybe a little fatty, oh darn. I need to sit here and sip my coffee and let the fullness set in so I skip dessert.
posted by Oyéah at 1:31 PM on June 9, 2019

I would like food. But, instead, I have catlap.

Cat toes are nommy but not very sustainable nutrition.

Help
posted by mightshould at 2:04 PM on June 9, 2019 [5 favorites]

So, guys - I just discovered this thing called "African Chicken". Which is not from any African nation at all. Instead, it's a chicken stew from Macau which was probably adapted from the Portuguese colonists when they founded Macau and no doubt the Portuguese themselves had already further adapted it from stuff they picked up along their East African trade routes.

It's got chicken and potato and bell pepper and a sauce made of peanut butter and coconut milk and garilc and you can add either paprika or curry or Chinese five-spice powder too and it's a pretty easy one-pot meal with rice and it makes your house smell A. MAZ. ING.

This is not the recipe I followed, but it's close enough and I'm intrigued by the differences that I may play around and try this one later. I made about half as much as that recipe calls for and it will make for plenty leftovers.

This is from my resolution to try out more recipes in a Chinese cookbook I bought but have rarely used until now. I'm not certain why all the recipes I've gone for so far have all been different regional Chinese fusion-type interpretations of other world cuisines; have recently also made something called "Portuguese Chicken", which was a simpler chicken-and-potato curry, and "Russian soup", an oxtail borscht. There's another recipe hiding in the book that is basically ratatouille with ginger.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:12 PM on June 9, 2019 [4 favorites]

In the land of all the fresh ocean fish you can imagine, I had a hard craving for some of my mom's old country style salmon patties.

You pick over a large can of keta salmon, soak two slices of white bread torn to pieces with an egg and enough half and half to make a cup, and saute about two tablespoons of diced onion and two of bell pepper until translucent. Let the o&p cool while the bread soaks, then fold everything together into a chunky viscous mixture with a little salt and pepper and two dashes of tobasco. Make four four inch patties, should be a little runny.

Pan fry in a little butter or Olive oil over medium heat for about five minutes per side, just to Brown and crisp the outside, and drain on paper towels.

I had some Dill sour cream, so I added a scrape of nutmeg, and a side salad with basic vinaigrette, and that was a delicious and fond memory of her today, and sandwiches tomorrow.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 5:57 PM on June 9, 2019 [2 favorites]

Green beans and [meat of your choice, i use chicken or pork] in black pepper sauce with white rice.
posted by infini at 7:21 AM on June 10, 2019

We explore how African chicken ended up becoming Macau’s national dish, and recommend the best places to try it.
posted by infini at 7:22 AM on June 10, 2019 [1 favorite]

Made a bigass pot of chile verde over the weekend, and ate the last of it over a fried egg for breakfast. It was pretty damn good, but I wish I could get better green chiles on this side of the country - really need to start roasting/freezing big batches during the brief window they come through, so I'm not reduced to canned.
posted by aspersioncast at 4:55 AM on June 11, 2019

I made self-saucing sticky date pudding twice whilst visiting friends over the long weekend. I haven't made it forever, because it takes awhile, feeds an army, and generally results in a very sticky kitchen. But making it twice in three days meant that I was willing to try tweaking the recipe, and I added some orange rind, reduced the sugar, and increased the sauce volume, and it was even better the second time. Just got to write down what I did for next time.
posted by kjs4 at 5:12 PM on June 12, 2019 [1 favorite]

I feel like if I want to actually cook I first need to clean the kitchen, specifically the refrigerator and all the cabinets, removing things that have expired. I do not feel it is fair as I did not create that problem. So instead I am looking into pizza.
posted by koucha at 2:26 PM on June 21, 2019 [1 favorite]