What's for dinner?

[custosnox]

As I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner tonight, it became glaringly apparent that we are have gotten ourselves stuck in a rut.  We seem to be having trouble coming up with new things for dinner, always going back to the old fallbacks.  So I figured I would come here and see what the others of TNF eat for their meals and see if any ideas would come up.  And since I've seen others ask for ideas for dinner, I'm not the only one that has this problem.  So, to start this off, we finally decided on a homemade stragonoff.  Now as something different I made some chocolate pudding for desert.

[RecycleMichael]

I took the family to Speedy's Mexican tonight. Dinner for four for $35 including tip.

Most nights I grill steak, chicked or burgers. We also make homemade pizza often. On Sundays, I fill up the smoker with chicken or pork and we eat leftovers for three days.

[nathanm]

Plantain shepherd's pie. Basically, it's shepherd's pie, but with sweet plantain instead of mashed potatoes. Be sure to let the plantains get fully ripe first. Yes, that means completely black. I presume you already know how to season ground beef.

Fried sweet plantains with a cinnamon/sugar/butter sauce-type-thing are a great dessert. The Dominicans don't think that it's a dessert dish, but I do.

Here's a fantastic appetizer, if you can find a reasonably priced cheese. Typically I use Manchego, but it's gotten rather expensive. Albertson's used to sell it for a reasonable price, but Reasors is very high on it. A decent Cheddar would probably work OK also. You probably don't want to use super sharp, though, as it depends on the lightness of the flavors to really work and a super sharp Cheddar would totally overwhelm the rest.

Ingredients: Crusty long bread loaf, I just buy whatever, good medium texture cheese, a few cloves of garlic, decent olive oil, decent tomatoes, and whatever salt you prefer.

Preparation: Slice loaf on the bias into 1/2-3/4 inch slices. Toast the slices in the oven at 350-400, it doesn't really matter, until they're golden brown.

Peel garlic, slice in half. Liberally rub garlic clove over bread slices, you should get 3-4 slices per clove. If you hate garlic, use less.
Quarter the tomatoes and squeeze the over the toasted, garlicked bread, leave the pulp, with or without skin on the bread.
Salt to taste, drizzle with olive oil.
Slice the cheese (the slicer on the side of a box grater works well) and place the slice on top of the tomato.

Set your oven to broil, let it heat up, and toss the slices under the broiler until it starts bubbling.

Remove, wait a couple of moments to avoid a third degree burn of the mouth, and enjoy.

[AquaMan]

I love the sound of that appetizer Nathan. And it looks fairly simple.

We are trying to eat smaller evening dinners and are moving away from heavy meat centered dishes. Sometimes it works, sometimes we backslide. But for Friday the 13th we went minimalist. Snacked on leftover chicken burrito stuffing (sliced onions, sliced bell peppers, thin chicken strips, seasonings all sauteed in a fry pan). We were too tired to wrap it in in tortillas. We just heated it up, slopped on some sour cream and picante sauce and mixed up a couple rum/cokes and bourbon/cokes. Then fired up the DVR to see some old movies from Turner Classics. Crawled to sleepy time pretty early.

Big evening at the aqua-terium.

[Red Arrow]

Before you said you were gravitating away from meat dishes, I was going to suggest some Cajun style Gumbo.  There are a lot of variations but my favorite includes Smoked Andouille (available at Hebert's), grilled chicken thighs (no bones in the Gumbo though), and shrimp for the meat portion. The remainder is roux (dark brown, use canola oil not olive oil), onion, celery, bell pepper, okra, chicken broth/stock and the appropriate seasonings. Seasonings are black pepper, paprika, garlic, cayenne, basil, and oregano. Add some salt if you find it necessary.  Cook the rice separately and serve the Gumbo over the rice.  Add a bit of File powder at the plate.  Do not add the File powder to the cooking Gumbo since the okra will do the thickening.  I had some help from a friend originally from southern Louisiana in adjusting a recipe I found on the internet

One-pot meals can be easy and different every time.  A cast iron kettle/Dutch Oven works really nicely.  We usually start with some chopped or ground meat but you could skip or minimize that. Then the basics added include onion, mushroom, a can of diced tomatoes, pinto and black beans (strain off the juice and rinse if you use canned ones), and either rice or pearled barley. Add water to get a soup like consistency and avoid burning and sticking.  Season to suit.  Simmer for a while then eat.  I usually add some grated Parmesan cheese and my own dried, ground up hot peppers.  The basic recipe is really to put in whatever looks good to you.  Left overs keep in the fridge and can be a side dish or lunch later on.

Last summer, my okra and eggplants grew well.  One mix I like is okra, onion, black-eyed peas, and roast Anaheim style chile cooked in a frying pan with some olive oil, add garlic, cilantro and maybe a touch of butter.  Eggplant and diced tomato either boiled or sauted with your favorite seasonings is good.

[Teatownclown]

I took the family to Speedy's Mexican tonight. Dinner for four for $35 including tip.

Most nights I grill steak, chicked or burgers. We also make homemade pizza often. On Sundays, I fill up the smoker with chicken or pork and we eat leftovers for three days.

Saw you on the tube the other night.... how can you work so hard for a clean environment but seem so detached from a healthy lifestyle? 

I commend you for your efforts....

I also commend UT (which I've never done) for addressing the issues of a quality life in Oklahoma in this weeks issue.

Look at the growing state economies where healthy lifestyle living is their main ingredient. Here, it's oil and gas.... anybody noticed the price of gas lately?

[AquaMan]

Before you said you were gravitating away from meat dishes, I was going to suggest some Cajun style Gumbo.  There are a lot of variations but my favorite includes Smoked Andouille (available at Hebert's), grilled chicken thighs (no bones in the Gumbo though), and shrimp for the meat portion. The remainder is roux (dark brown, use canola oil not olive oil), onion, celery, bell pepper, okra, chicken broth/stock and the appropriate seasonings. Seasonings are black pepper, paprika, garlic, cayenne, basil, and oregano. Add some salt if you find it necessary.  Cook the rice separately and serve the Gumbo over the rice.  Add a bit of File powder at the plate.  Do not add the File powder to the cooking Gumbo since the okra will do the thickening.  I had some help from a friend originally from southern Louisiana in adjusting a recipe I found on the internet

One-pot meals can be easy and different every time.  A cast iron kettle/Dutch Oven works really nicely.  We usually start with some chopped or ground meat but you could skip or minimize that. Then the basics added include onion, mushroom, a can of diced tomatoes, pinto and black beans (strain off the juice and rinse if you use canned ones), and either rice or pearled barley. Add water to get a soup like consistency and avoid burning and sticking.  Season to suit.  Simmer for a while then eat.  I usually add some grated Parmesan cheese and my own dried, ground up hot peppers.  The basic recipe is really to put in whatever looks good to you.  Left overs keep in the fridge and can be a side dish or lunch later on.

Last summer, my okra and eggplants grew well.  One mix I like is okra, onion, black-eyed peas, and roast Anaheim style chile cooked in a frying pan with some olive oil, add garlic, cilantro and maybe a touch of butter.  Eggplant and diced tomato either boiled or sauted with your favorite seasonings is good.

I dearly love Cajun food. Picked up that bad habit while serving some time there at the Cities Service refinery. I'm anxious to try your Gumbo. History has it that the variety of food ingredients in Cajun cooking is due to the early residents using anything that grew from the ground, moved over the ground, or swam in the water since they were so poor. They then improved the taste with the spices. Creoles on the other hand were better off and utilized more upper class Spanish recipes.

[custosnox]

The Cajun sounds great, but I might have a bit of a time convincing She-who-dislikes-sea-food of its merits.  I'm just glad I'm winning her over one thing at a time (she is growing to really enjoy my fish). 

Nathen, that sound really good, and would go well with an Italian dish, which we do often around here, so I might have to try that out. 

I just tried one of those Campbell soups for New England Clam Chowder (the select whatever that costs more), and I've decided I think I'll wait until I go back up to the NE before getting more. It just isn't the same.  But tonight I'm thinking of firing up the grill and putting the Salmon my mom sent home with me on it. 

[nathanm]

Campbell's Split pea with ham and bacon makes a good adjunct to almost any meal, and I say this as someone who freakin' hates green peas. Oh, and if you get tired of mashed potatoes as a side, but still want here's a "recipe" for rosemary roasted potatoes. Put aluminum foil on the cookie sheet if you don't want tough cleanup:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/rosemary-roasted-potatoes-recipe/index.html

However, I strongly suggest that you alter the recipe with a liberal coating of paprika (paprika makes everything better, kind of like butter). I usually am too lazy to peel the garlic, so I just use a good dousing of garlic salt. Also, I never bother to flip them. You can substitute yukon gold potatoes chopped into 1 inch(ish) chunks. If we happen to get some small potatoes, I'll use them, but I don't really seek them out.

If I remember, I'll consult with SWMBO about her roasted broccoli. I'm one of those people who can happily eat broccoli raw, but when you roast it with olive oil, salt, and some other stuff I don't remember it's freakin' delicious.

AquaMan, we've got to get together sometime if you're a rum and coke person. I have the perfect rum for it.

[AquaMan]

Rum and Coke with a twist of lime. Favorite drink of the Beatles back in the 60's.

For me it fits with my Aqua/Pirate persona.

[nathanm]

Rum and Coke with a twist of lime. Favorite drink of the Beatles back in the 60's.

Cuba Libre, as they say. But yes, this Dominican rum is fantastic for that.

[Red Arrow]

I dearly love Cajun food. Picked up that bad habit while serving some time there at the Cities Service refinery. I'm anxious to try your Gumbo. History has it that the variety of food ingredients in Cajun cooking is due to the early residents using anything that grew from the ground, moved over the ground, or swam in the water since they were so poor. They then improved the taste with the spices. Creoles on the other hand were better off and utilized more upper class Spanish recipes.

I have read pretty much the same history.  One trend appears to be more tomatoes in Creole recipes.  "My" Gumbo has no tomatoes per my Cajun advisor.  Also, Gumbo does not appear to have only one fixed recipe which adds to the concept of using whatever food was available.

[Red Arrow]

The Cajun sounds great, but I might have a bit of a time convincing She-who-dislikes-sea-food of its merits.

Then leave out the shrimp or substitute your fish. 

I just tried one of those Campbell soups for New England Clam Chowder (the select whatever that costs more), and I've decided I think I'll wait until I go back up to the NE before getting more. It just isn't the same.   

I generally liked the Campbell Manhatten Clam Chowder better that the New England (tomato base rather than milk) but have avoided Campbell products since they stopped making Pepper Pot soup.

[RecycleMichael]

True cajun life a century ago meant having two pots on the stove year round. Called roux, one was darker and used for meats (chicken, sausage or alligator...whatever could be found) and the other a lighter roux used for whatever seafood could be caught (catfish, shrimp, etc..)  Each morning you light the fire and thicken the roux while under low heat. Most gumbos are with a light roux, but not all. The word gumbo originally meant okra, which serves as a thickening agent and an inexpensive additive (like hamburger helper).

A third pot of rice and vegetables was usually made fresh for dinner.

[Red Arrow]

Cuba Libre, as they say. But yes, this Dominican rum is fantastic for that.

My favorite sipping rum (but I have to cut it, or any booze, with water to taste the flavor rather than the alcohol) at the moment is Maui Gold by Haleakala Distillery.  http://www.haleakaladistillers.com/

Otherwise I have been somewhat self limited in my rum explorations to the aged Bacardi products and Bacardi Black since I like them.  I noticed the other day that one of the Bacardi aged rum varieties is made in Mexico rather than Puerto Rico.  I have tried a few Jamaican rums but didn't care for them, even when mixed with Coke.  There are probably some good ones but I haven't tried them.  What is the brand of "your" Dominican rum?

Tequila is another area where I am no expert but I do like Cuervo Tradicional. It's 100% Blue Agave tequila, rested in white oak casks (but they don't say how long on the bottle label).  A friend likes Cabo Wabo but that's a bit too expensive for my palate.