O.T.F. Survey: What did you have for dinner?

[homevintner]

A salad of mixed greens from the farmer's market with carrots and radishes from there too, topped with raisins and craisins and a creamy garlic dressing, grilled garlic bread, a grilled, medium porterhouse steak, and sweet iced tea.

[Palomine]

Having had a fairly unproductive day in toto, with only a single brief highlight from an online pal (much appreciated btw ) I felt the need for some self-indulgence (some might say self-medication) via food. Thusly, in the space of a half hour total, I prepared a quick stir-fry of shrimp and veg in chili sauce over fried rice. I'll briefly describe the process in case anyone is also feeling a bit of the old wallow coming on and wants to boost morale in this fashion:

In a super-hot oiled wok (mine's on the BBQ with the grate removed so the bottom sits right in the flames, also as I was out of peanut oil I used grapeseed instead... any oil with a high smoke point is fine) the following ingredients were quickly cooked in batches... as usual the things that need the most cooking time (such as onions) go in first and the things that need the least cooking time (like shrimp) are done last.

So, first batch: red onions, orange chili pepper and japanese eggplant (leave the skin on)
Second batch: baby bok choy
Last batch: the shrimp, which has been tossed in chili/garlic paste (and a bit of left-over broccoli that was already cooked)

When the shrimp are almost done (literally will only take like two minutes) toss the other batches back in to mix everything together and add a bit more chili paste. Take it all out of the wok (into a bowl) and put a few drops of oil back into the empty wok. Then throw in the cooked rice (two cups of rinsed plain white rice in the rice cooker takes only about 15 minutes... it was going while I was out at the wok) and toss it all around fast... after a moment, crack two eggs into the bottom of the wok and let them sit for half a minute to set, and drizzle a bit of ponzu (soy/citrus) sauce on the rice... when the eggs firm up a bit, furiously toss the rice around to mix in the egg and crisp it up a bit.

Out comes the rice... plate it, put some of the shrimp and veg on top (I also added a drizzle of sweet chili sauce from a squeeze bottle since I needed the extra stimulation) and serve with ice cold lager with lime.

That's about it. You can basically do the same exact thing with chicken, or beef/pork or scallops or some kind of cubed firm fish. It's easy, and it tastes good and except for the white rice (I could have used brown but that takes longer in the rice maker) it's completely healthy. Suitable for a guest, or (if you're feeling a bit sorry for yourself and in need of a pick-me-up) it's good for the chef too.

Bon Appétit!

 

[pedonbio]

Caesar salad and a toasted cheese sandwich. Wife and daughter are out of town for a few days.

[luvdemwhoppers]

pot mush, but I'm really gonna enjoy the  dessert. I'm sure. ( Maria Zarring )

[pedonbio]

pot mush, but I'm really gonna enjoy the  dessert. I'm sure. ( Maria Zarring )

NO FAIR! That post is ON topic!

[luvdemwhoppers]

NO FAIR! That post is ON topic!

that's Mia Zarring. Dessert waits out back. I can show you. Always ask what's not on the menu.

[Bad Kitty]

I've used the gas grill a LOT this year, mostly to try and eat more healthy (yes really... lean meat & grilled veggies are good for you). I've been very into lean meats and veggies of late, also fruit. The results have been really dramatic on my weight and overall health.

Yesterday was 2 grilled eye of round steaks and 2 chicken breasts (1 of each for 2 people), the steak had Andrias steak sauce marinading it (very unique flavor, kinda oniony) and a little rosemary, for the chicken I used a garlic butter (i use a butter made from flaxseed oil) and cajun seasoning blend of my own design. Lightly salted grilled red, green, and yellow peppers, grilled onions, and a couple 'grill cooked' brownie nuggets (i just stick the mixture as a ball into foil wrap and grill it). Drinks were my own recipe for perfect margaritas.

Total calories was probably around 1000 for the meal itself. But the fat and non-fiber carbohydrates were very low (mostly just the 2 small brownie balls). So even though it was delicious and crammed with protein and extremely filling, the only calories which could possibly be made into body fat could be gotten rid of in 20 minutes on the elliptical machine.

Well, the margaritas were a bit more, often we have water though, and my margaritas are not 90% sweet&sour like most restaurants serve. I start with tequilla (1part), tripple sec(1/3part), real lime juice(1/3part), and ice(1part), and then just add sweet & sour until a couple ounces past the point where sipping it no longer has too much 'bite'. salt rim, on the rocks. fortunately nobody here has high blood pressure, so salt's not an issue.



They really should update the "calorie" measuring system for foods. Simply put, only certain kinds of calories are physically capable of being made into body fat. calories from non-fiber carbs (sugars, starches, pasta, grains, etc), and calories from fats. All other calories (protein, fiber, alcohol) are utterly harmless to your waistline. So when you eat some fat free beef jerky that has 200 calories worth of protein, the 200 calories don't even exist as far as your body fat ratio is concerned. Literally you could eat 20 pounds of fat free beef jerky a day and lose body fat like you're in a concentration camp. They need to come up with a "diet-meaningful" calorie count for foods, so you don't have to calculate the math of the grams of carbs, fats, etc. vs. other types of calories in a food you're buying. Especially alcohol, alcoholic drinks are quite hard to figure out (generally the higher the alcohol content and the lower the overall calories, the better).

[pedonbio]

Bow-tie pasta, alfredo sauce with 'srooms and olives, and cauliflower. Yum!

[Palomine]

It's a quarter past six in the late September pee-emm and I'm sitting here in a lawn chair con ThinkPad, next to my BBQ as daylight wanes... wearing hiking shorts and a fleece pull-over, waiting for the damn brown jasmine in the rice maker.

I'll soon (God willing) be grilling a nice thick salmon steak in a ginger-intensive teriyaki glaze, to be served with grilled veggies (already done) and the aforementioned brown rice which, if ever ready, will be mixed with tabouleh and a little butter. But I'll be plastered by then, as I'm killing time with Pinot Grigo as I sit here next to my ancient Char-Broil, cold legs and all.

I'll attach a pic if it ever gets to that point.

Added later:

[Bad Kitty]

round of eye steaks, sliced into strips. scallop potatoes. a whole sweet onion chopped into large slices. 2 garlic cloves. pinch of salt. pinch of brown sugar. fresh ground black pepper. pinch of cajun seasoning blend. sauteed in butter & olive oil. and a small amount of leftover alfredo sauce sprinkled on the scallops.

served with mixed drinks consisting of monster energy drinks plus about 1/3 (by final drink volume) UV blue raspberry vodka, oh, and ice. (they make a beautiful brilliant cool green color, and taste amazingly good for the high alcohol content.

[MissChievous]

Palomine said tasty things.

Hey, you gonna eat all that? Where's mine?

I had a pizza. It was a lovely, proper one. Sometimes you don't need more than mozzarella cheese, tomatoes and herbs. Also a lime slushy because HELL YEAH LIME SLUSHY!!!

Also Palomine, might interest you that i'm a vegetarian these days. Not for any moral reason, I just decided to since everything meaty I ate didn't taste as good as anything else. Been that way for a couple of years now, I did try some chicken not so long ago just to remind myself but my body outright rejected it and I ended up praying to the porcelain god all night. Interesting thing the human body, it adapts to nearly anything.... facinating.

[Palomine]

MissChievous said HELL YEAH LIME SLUSHY!!! and other things about vegetables and regurgiation...

Though I'm an omnivore MissC, I'm a huge fan of growing, preparing and eating veggies. The open invitation I extended to you for dinner years ago still stands... feel free to take me up on it any time.

[robclassact]

Two sliders with fries.

Nom.

[pedonbio]

Radiatori pasta with a marinara sauce to which I added olives, 'shrooms, and more onions.

[Bad Kitty]

mango-habanero glazed chicken

[gOOber]

How to peel garlic in less than 10 seconds.

http://vimeo.com/29605182

[solvegas]

How to peel garlic in less than 10 seconds.

http://vimeo.com/29605182

That is great !! 

[pedonbio]

Pizza. Not home-made.

[luvdemwhoppers]

dogs legs and feet, economy is a bitch

[Palomine]

An early dinner today, since I missed lunch... opting instead to move major appliances halfway across town for a friend (in a borrowed truck no less).

A marinated-and-grilled chicken breast served on top of lightly-buttered herb pasta (basil, parsley, Kyoto peppers and garlic... all but the garlic from my own garden) along with a mixed salad with Danish blue cheese and a balsamic vinaigrette.

Sadly, I've got nothing for dessert in the house, so I'm making do with a lager having half an entire lime squeezed into it... more of a shandy at this point than what any Yank would consider to be beer.

[gOOber]

Marinated tuna, grilled artichoke, tamarind paste, fresh mango.

[Bad Kitty]

I am sick, so I had pizza.
sort of a comfort food thing, and didn't want to cook.

[Palomine]

This is only my second attempt at making pizza at home (on the BBQ, which gets up to about 500°F). It was delicious, but aesthetically challenged, given my lack of experience stretching pizza dough.

I enjoyed it with a couple of wheat beers, while switching between the evening news on Fox (where I watched Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter describe the Occupy Wall St. protesters as homeless, criminals and trust fund babies) and MSNBC (where I watched Rachel Maddow explain to Mitt Romney why his 'absolute' support of a 'life begins at conception' constitutional amendment would actually ban the majority of birth-control methods used in America, including The Pill).

No more news for today.  

[MissChievous]

What a delicious looking Shoggoth you have there Pal.

[Palomine]

What a delicious looking Shoggoth you have there Pal.

Shoggoth, so good.

The stuff on top are thinly sliced red onions and a bit of basil added towards the end. I think the dough shouldn't be so cold... if it were closer to room temperature I suspect it would be easier to stretch into a thin, uniform crust. I'm still learning.

[homevintner]

It's been so long since I made a pizza crust I'm not sure that would help or not.

[Palomine]

I was at a fancy pizza place the other night and while my dinner companions (I was the youngest one there by at least 15 years) were discussing things and people I knew little about I was watching the guy working the dough by the wood-fired oven. I think I picked up some pointers and my next pizza on the BBQ will be the better for it.

Tonight: I never order nachos when I'm out or eat them at home... nothing wrong with them, I just prefer other kinds of comfort food. But I got home from work tonight and since I had three avocados all ripe at the same time, I had little choice. The only non-standard ingredient is the substitution of chorizo (which I usually have a bit of in the fridge for eggs) with diced smoked bacon ends.

I know it looks a little gross, but I am a bachelor so I hope you'll forgive me.

[solvegas]

I know it looks a little gross, but I am a bachelor so I hope you'll forgive me.

I think it looks pretty good. What kind of cheese did you use and what salsa ? 

[Palomine]

Sorry not to have replied earlier... um, I think it was smoked gouda and cheddar, which is what I had in the house at the time.

I'm sitting out here by the BBQ, laptop in lap, wheat beer in hand and Dylan on the radio, while dinner is started on the grill. A big grill pan is filled with a couple pounds of new white potatoes and Italian squash, along with red onions, garlic, red bell and jalapeno peppers, and rosemary and cilantro. That'll take a while since I didn't par-boil the potatoes first, but simply cubed them. When that's close to done, I'll throw a couple of chicken breasts on (they've been marinating in oyster sauce and a bit of chili) and there's 3 cups of Basmati in the ricemaker ready to go.

Long day painting the house and pruning trees (I now have a blister that's cutting at least 30wpm from my normal typing speed)... happy to be showered, wearing clean clothes and heading towards sustenance.

Looking forward to the third 'Case Histories' with the Kate Atkinson's detective Jackson Brodie on Masterpiece Mysteries tonight.

[homevintner]

Home made choc. chip cookies and a glass of skim milk.

[luvdemwhoppers]

budget tight
Don Q rum and a half a box of CHEEZ ITS hot and spicy, they were on sale

[Palomine]

No dinner guests (for a change) the past couple of days, so just me myself being cooked for and frankly the following 10-minute dinner (assuming some leftover rice in the fridge, otherwise add 15 minutes more for the rice cooker to do a couple cups of Basmati or whatever you prefer):

Filet (previously frozen) of Swai (aka Basa): dusted with Cajun seasoning, sauteed in a bit of (grapeseed) oil for just a couple minutes per side in a very hot pan. Served with Pico de Gallo on top. You could substitute any firm white-fleshed fish that you like, but IMO Swai/Basa is miles ahead of Tilapia or Pollock or other similar 'basic' frozen filets in terms of both taste and texture. A 5 lb. bag of individually frozen Swai filets can be had for as little as $10. on sale and just left in the freezer for when you're in the mood for fish.

Brussel sprouts: two minutes in the microwave with a dab of water and salt, then just a bit of butter when done. If you're using the rice cooker, and it has a steamer tray on top like mine, whole sprouts (don't halve them, just trim the stems) cook just right in the time it takes to do 2 cups of rice.

Rice (the aforementioned leftovers) sauteed in the pan with the fish... a little bit of water helps re-hydrate (though I like the crisp bits) and tonight I added a little dollop of Hosin sauce too (last night was crumbles of Queso Fresco).

Beer (from Trader Joe's in my case: TJ's Dark Lager with lime... the extreme maltyness cut with the citrus is like Kool-Aid for adults).

Two nights in a row: I scarfed, marveling yet again at how delicious (and frankly, suitable for guests) it was considering it took no more time than making a pasta. While I like to cook and love to eat, I do at times worry about enjoying my own cooking a bit too much given my metabolism isn't that of a teenager's anymore.

[pedonbio]

Family night out at Chipotle. Sinfully good food made simply.

[Palomine]

Perfectly al dente Pennette with young asparagus and shreds of smoked ham, quickly carmelized with onions and yellow peppers in a very hot pan. A wee bit of butter and just a dusting of parmesan and viola: ecstasy. Served with a nice Merlot from Trader Joe's and Joshua Tree (an earlyish U2 album).

[pedonbio]

Farfella smoothered in homemade Alfredo sauce.

My perverted brownies for dessert. "Perverted" because they are legal in all 50 states.