To honor the first Spring barbecue of the season....
We're having...

Barbecued ribs (with Weez's great sauce recipe)
Jillie's famous (in my own mind) potato salad
Mushrooms marinated in beef broth w/sauteed onions
Avocado & Tomato salad

Pina Coladas in the blender.....

I'm on my way!!


I would love to hear that potato salad recipe...

And explain the mushrooms????
(you take a beef broth and the cooked onions, and put the mushrooms in a bag/pan, and leave em for a bit??? What kind of beef broth?? Home made or a boullion cube do???)

Weezie

Big 'ol fresh mushrooms, quartered...Can of Campbell's beef broth...

Saute thinly-sliced onions in 1 TBS butter...add mushrooms & beef broth + 1/2 can O' water...simmer 20 min...Ooooh....
Here comes the potato salad recipe.....

well, supper at my house is:
jiffy's southernized saurkraut & chops with mashed potatoes. yum yum. of course, jillie, i'll be there for leftovers tomorrow, ok?

JILLIE'S POTATO SALAD

6 medium potatoes, BAKED for 1 hour, peeled, cut into 1/2" cubes

3/4 C diced Celery
1/4 C minced onion
2 hardboiled eggs, minced
2 small gherkins, diced
2 TBS Dill pickle, diced
3/4 C Best Foods/Hellman's Mayonaise (or more, depending on yer preference)
3 TBS Prepared mustard

Marinade (THIS is the BIGGIE ....and my "secret")

c'mon over, Jiff....After we eat at YOUR house....That dinner of yours sounds delish!!!


Weez, gotta place set fer ya...

You guys are making me salivate!!!
Yummmmmmmmmm, Yummmmmmm, Yummmmmmmmmmmm!!!

My husband and I are going to try a restaurant that has been here for ages but we haven't gone into yet. You see... it is very well known for its burgers BUT... it was also very very well known for its smoking environment, so I never wanted to go in there. Of all the stupid things they did a few years ago, they put in a non-smoking room as was the law then, but you had to walk through the bar and smoking room to get to it - NO THANKS!!!

So, now with the no smoking in any restaurant in NY we can finally try the food there! Yea!!! :rolleyes:

Ok Jillie set another plate....lol
It all sounds so yummy.

Okay, Peppermint....Done!

Jillie, you've made my stomach growl, and my mouth water......lol I want some too!!!!!

You got it, Laura!

Lynne, did you and your hub get to the restaurant you've been wanting to try???? How was it???

Yep - we did indeed get to the restaurant.
After a 25 minute wait at the bar - not too bad for 7:30 on a Saturday night... we were seated at a teeny table for 2 - the place was mobbed.
The food came out VERY quickly - hamburgers are their specialty - I got a spinach mushroom burger - what a MESS!!! But DELICIOUS!!!
My husband got a cheddar mushroom - also very good.
The most noticable thing was how very HOT the food came out. Often here we have to send the food back because it comes out ice cold - these burgers were sooooo hot that we could hardly bite into them for several minutes - wonderful!
The food was very inexpensive too, and the waitresses were bustling around like crazy - my husband left an extra generous tip - we could not believe how devoted they were to their jobs.

How was your dinner? Bet it was delicious!

A messy burger ALWAYS tastes better than a tidy one!!!! Glad you got to go. That place sounds wonderful....what a find!!

Dinner came out pretty goood...and, ribs and 'tater salad are always better the next day....

Thank goodness for delivery when you have to work late... Last nite:

Thin-crust pizza & antipasto & garlic bread....

Tonite: Prolly leftovers....

My phone never rang Jillie,
What happened??
I didn't know what time dinner was????

Does that place deliver too???

Weezie

Heck, Weez, I kept waiting for your knock on the door....

I was reading this post this afternoon and started getting SO hungry!
Then, I got to the post of "Jillie's Potato Salad". You know, it takes a long time to make this! So, I got started!!!!!
Oh, MAN!!! It was so good! Well worth the time!

It's 11 pm right now. Think I'll go have some more!

AFGrey, I'm sooo glad you tried it and liked it...

Toooo funny!

I've been known to get up in the middle of the night and just take a big 'ole spoon and sneak into the bowl....

BTW, that sauce recipe Weez posted is a GREAT compliment to my 'tater salad.....

Last night:

Ladystress's Chicken fingers & ranch dressing fer dippin'
Baked 'taters with the works
Steamed asparagus

Lastnight for me:

Panera Bread for a girl's night out. I got the broccoli chedder soup and half a turkey sandwhich (no tomoatoes, no mustard. extra sprouts). Sidenote: hubby in Pittsburg for work.

Tonight:

Salmon in the oven inside of an aluminum foil pouch. Small red potatoes roasted, green beans, and my very favorite cranberry tea.

What' times the salmon ready Jennifer?
Sounds good!!!

around 6. can you make it by then?

I'll gas up the jet!!!

And I love CREAM OF BROCCOLI SOUP!!
One of my most favorites!!
Haven't worked up the nerve to make any yet!!!

I know this almost sounds terrible, but I love the cream of broccoli soup from McDonald's served only in the winter time here!!

Weezie

Jillie,
What kind of Ranch Dressing do you use???
I love the one you make up from Hidden Valley Ranch!!
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!

Weezie

Hey Weezie... can you swing that jet a bit southward on your way west? I'd love to join ya!

Wish some of you would come here and cook for us!
If I say PRETTY PLEASE?!?

My mother and I did a needlepoint wallhanging for her kitchen when I was a teen - it said:
SCREW HOMECOOKING! <img border="0" alt="[perplexed]" title="" src="graemlins/confused.gif" />

I am not kidding - she has a great sense of humor, but hated to cook! When we lived with my parents when our son was 2-4 years old he would ask her what the picture said and she told him
"Grandma doesn't like to cook!"
I'll never forget that!

WEEZ!!!!

oops...double-post....help, hostesses...

The Mickey D's here in Pa. has it. And they have the new chicken nuggets made out of only white meat...I swear they've changed the breading on those too because we

A thought that just entered my mind...

Did anyone see one of the Oprah's last week...she did a chicken recipe. You basically take a whole roasting chicken and cut the back out of it and then put it in a gallon ziplock bag. Put some olive oil in it, salt and pepper, some rosemary that has been pulled apart a little bit, and a red onion cut up. Put it in the frig from 2 hours to 2 days (the longer the more flavor it soaks up). Then you just dump it all into a cassarole dish, cover with foil and bake......voila...dinner. I did that on Monday and it was sooooo good. I cut up some yellow and red peppers with it too. And did some yukon gold potatoes made into mashed potatoes (those make thebest, ya know!!) Its definately a time saver ofa recipe! Oh yeah.....put some lemon juice in that bag too.

Oh, man, Jennifer....that sounds GREAT......I LOVE Rosemary-seasoned chicken.....

Gotta try that recipe....

oh yeah...it was great....and sooooo tender!!!

Left over *pizza
*Salad with romaine lettuce
with mozzerella cheese, green olives, tomatoes, crouton's and a tiny bit of Italian Dressing.
*Garlic Bread
with butter, garlic powder and mozzerella cheese on the top, done under the broiler or little toaster oven.

Yum~Yum!!!

Weezie

Chicken breasts baked in the oven, asparagus, mashed yukon gold potatoes (my fav), and salad made of romaine, iceburg, green leaf, and boston lettuces. No dessert unless I feel like making it (which I totally doubt!)

We had a Fish Fry with French Fries, Cole Slaw,
and Rolls w/butter!!!
So gooooooooood!!!

Weezie

Man, that fish sounds good! I could eat fish everyday for the rest of my life and not get tired of it! (Especially fresh Walleye!!!)
Yummmmm....

Tonight we went to a Chinese Buffet with
a bit of Italian/Amereican food mixed in the buffet line.......

I only eat the mixed veggies with the Broccoli and white rice, but then I tried a couple of other veggie dishes, and I LOVE those hard noodles with the soy sauce...

Hubby and Father~in~Law had shrimp (about 5 different ways), and meatballs, and something on a stick but I don't want to know!!! Something squwishy looking that was chicken and honey sauce or something,...
Desserts were fresh watermelon, musk and cantalope, pineapples, and apples, jello, chocolate pudding and of course those fortune cookies!!! (Each one of the fortune's inside HIT each of us right on the button, it was ironic!!)

Oh, My, Gosh, open both sets of doors and roll us out!!! YUMMMMY!!!!

Weezie

We had a simple meal tonight......fish, and mac and cheese, and apple cobbler.....

But, later today will be a feast. Dennys for my free BD meal in the morning(it's a tradion--and why not, it's free?), BBQ in the afternoon, and dinner at the in laws a little after that.....time for the elastic waisted pants maybe......lol

Tonight was chicken and salad....although I opted for cereal for some reason. I just didn't feel like eating the chicken that I had made.

Hey Weezie...wanna know the fun thing about fortune cookie messages??? Add the phrase "in bed" to the end of any of them and it makes them halarious!!!

Tomorrow I am making salmon. I don't know how tho. Anyone have an idea?? My father-in-law was in Alaska during salmon season, so we have a freezer full of salmon fillets. Its soo good fresh like that. Not like the stuff you get at
the fish market.

So, this week is the last week of "freedom" for us. Next week we plan to start the South Beach Diet. The first 2 weeks of it is no dairy, bread, fruit, sugar.....very rough. But after that its good...they reintroduce all of that stuff then. We really need to loose the weight (and never find it again! ) So wish us luck!

I am so beat from a long weekend in the garden I do not feel like cooking anything at all....time to order pizza. We have a place called bubba's that has the best deep dish dinosaur pizza I have ever eaten. It has a 2 inch thick garlic & butter crust, fresh green peppers, mushrooms, onion & pepperoni with 3 cheeses....YUMMY, I have gained 5 pounds just thinking about it.

Tonight, leftover Chinese for us. General Tso's Chicken and pork fried rice for him and Bourbon Chicken with vegetable fried rice for me. Maybe salad too...dunno yet.

Stuffed green peppers, mashed potatoes, dinner rolls & chocolate cheese cake for dessert...I am stuffed. The weather finally turned around, rain has stopped, so I need to get out in the garden & work this meal off lol

Jennifer,
Did you do those salmon things yet???
I don't do the steaks or anything,
but my neighbor used to,
and she used to put her's on the grill
in one of those tinfoil bags...
*I think she made her own bag really*,
laid a big flat sheet on the counter top
and put the steaks in the middle and pulled
the sheet up over the sides!!!
I don't remeber exactly what she used to put in them, I should email her and ask!
Maybe something just like white wine...
I'll repost if she let's me know!

Weezie

(*I do salmon patties with the red~salmon
in the can with crackers and egg)

Chrissy that sounds good.....

We had the turkey deli wrap meals from McDonalds tonight.....only because I've had a severe headache all day and didn't want to cook.....They are actually really good....

For the millionth time I had a build-it-yerself-everything-in-the-world-on-it salad at Cedars-Sinai Hospital cafeteria...with about a half-gallon of Ranch..

I've gained 9 lbs since JoAnn's been sick..

Jillie,
After eating salad for the millionth time,
I like to start mixin' my salad dressings
as a change!

I mix a little French with Italian (sometimes too with Green Olive juice).
A little each of Ranch, French and Blue Cheese.
Blue cheese and Ranch.

That way it's like you're eating a different
type of salad everytime, and you don't tire them as easily!!

What else they got on the menu at that hospitol??
My mom loves eating at our local one, she says
they have some nice selections there.!!
(she's been not feeling well the last couple of
days either, and went for a doct. appt. and she
had to eat dinner there!)

Weezie

Oh, man, Weez, they have a cafeteria AND a restaurant. Everything and every type of food you can imagine, and it's good! The salad bar was always quicker. I love the idea of mixing....especially the green olive juice

Weezie~ we make our own foil pouches too. Its way easy and sooo much cheaper than going out and buying them already done. Side note...I don't think the bought pouches would be long enough anyways. The salmon that was caught in Alaska is about 2 foot long!!! Anyways, Stephen made some sort of seasoning by mixing up a bunch of stuff and rubbing it on the salmon and then fried it up in a pan. I usually put it in a pouch and put some chopped rosemary leaves on it, some salt and pepper, some lemon juice...or thinly sliced lemon....and sometimes some dill. Thats about it.

So you were talking about salad up above and it hit close to home. Since we started our diet (which is a really nice one, by the way) we eat salad EVERYDAY. It goes with everything that we make for dinner. We're not aloud to have any sugar at all(there is sugar in dressings), so its hard for me to be happy with salad because I like ranch (which has dairy in it and we're not aloud to have dairy right now) and I like Italian, which has sugar in it. I'm going to go out and look for sugar free italian. ANYWAYS, I've gotten a little creative with my salads. Lately its been different lettuces, eggs, 1 slice of turkey lunchmeat, no more than 12 almonds, broccoli, chopped zucchini, sliced asparagus, and a home made dressing that really isn't too bad. Oh....and since we started the diet on Monday, I'm pleased to announce that I've already lost 3 pounds!!! We're only supposed to get on the scale once a week...but I HAD to look to see!!!

Jennifer,
Congrat's on loosing the pounds (could you
loose a few for me too while you're at it! )

In the summer I love Romaine
*which is the best for you,
roughage wise and nutrients*
and then
Apple Cider Vinegar
*which is great for loosing weight*
and then I sprinkle Kosher Salt.
I like the coarseness of it, but not too
much if you're watching your salt....

I could eat 10lbs of that salad!!!

Weezie

I'm not watching my salt...I actually have LOW sodium! I will try your dressing sometime this week or next week. I just have to get to the store and get apple cider vinegar.

The diet is prety easy and I recommend it to anyone who wants to lose. The South Beach Diet. There is a book out that explains all sorts of stuff....but its pretty easy to live with and your never hungry......unless you make yourself hungry!!! The first two weeks are hard, but if you can get through that, then its cake from there.....literally!!

I need to go on a diet...but I love to eat way too much to ever stick to one. I always cheat lol Tonight for dinner I had a sweet tooth so I made homemade belgium waffles with blueberries, strawberries & whip cream. Yummy!!! Good thing gardening weather is here...I need to get back to eating fresh veggies again...I have been craving fresh green peppers & ripe tomatoes like mad. You just can't buy them in the grocery store like you can get them out of the garden.

Chrissy have any leftovers? That sounds good.....

We had spaghetti and meatballs tonight with garlic bread and a salad.....hubby didn't get home until 7:30, which is late for him--so I made it all around 6 and we just heated it all up. I wish he got home at the same time each day so I could have dinner cooking when he got home.

Oh and dessert was an oreo cream pie....lol I don't diet anymore, just eat whatever I want in moderation and exercise.....Exercise is one of the most important parts......treamill is really helping out.

Yummmm, spaghetti sounds good Loz, that is one of my favorites:) I

tonight, eggs and canadian bacon.

P.S. another pound bites the dust

Sooo tired...cooking is out of the question...


Ordered Chinese:

Crispy Szechuan Beef
Crispy Orange Chicken
BBQ Pork with Snow Peas
Fried Wonton
Crab Puffs
Fried Rice
Egg Roll
Fried Shrimp
Won Ton Soup


Ahhhh..

Jillie,
Where did you put it all????????
YIKES!!!

I like Broccoli in Garlic Sauce and
Chinese Vegetables in Garlic Sauce,
I get both, mix 'em up and save the
left over's for 2 more lunches and 1 dinner!
(I love the dried noodle things with the soy sauce.) YUM!!


We had last night was...............

Smoked Pork Chops, with home made coleslaw
(2 ways one with Mayo one with
Miracle Whip :p )
Green Beans and Noodles and gravey.

Weezie

Anyone here like Salmon on the grill????? Just marinate it with whatever you like and voila! Or tuna steak, or swordfish, you get the idea....yum!!!!! With some really crispy baked potatoes and a salad...what could be better???

You are all making me hungry! I've got corned beef and cabbage on the stove now and i am soooo hungry!!

Barb, I love swordfish on the grill...we rarely get any in the markets around here, but when I see it it's mine:)

Tonight I am making my famous way too hot too let the little ones eat chili. Yummmy, I can't wait. I will regret later, but I will eat the heck out of it anyway lol

Tonight we had salmon in the oven. Actually, the hubby ate it. I was too full from our really late lunch that we had. I made chili tonight too!! It is cooking in the crock pot over night so that Stephen can take it to work with him tomorrow.

So today marked 7 days on the diet. I weighed myself.....are you ready for this???? I lost 11 pounds!!! WooHoo!! (party hat) And that was even without exercising. I think we'll start walking in the evening. I'd love to do something more cardiovascular, but my knees cannot do that right now (I need surgery on both of them). Anyways.... that was all just a side note. I'm just soo excited!

Congrats Jennifer!! woohooo! That is awesome. Hmmm a diet that works even without exercize...I may have to check into that one myself:)

Its not a hard one either...you eat salad with almost every lunch and dinner, but I didn't even do that (started getting a little tired of salads by Friday). You totally cut out dairy, breads, and sugar for the first week or two. That was rough because I love ice cream...but I can have sugar-free ice pops, so that curbed that craving. The guy who came up with the diet is a cardiologist and he was trying to find a way to help his pateints lower their colesterol, triglicerides, and something else. After a month of the diet, all of their levels were down to regular levels (even people who had a colesterol of almost 300!!!) and as a by prodeuct, were losing weight! You should get the book...its really good!!

Wow Jennifer,that is wonderful! What is the name of the diet? My neighbor has been on a low carb diet for 2 weeks now and has dropped 1 dress size. She wont go anywhere near a scale,she goes by the way her clothes fit,so I have no idea how much weight she has lost.
Tonight I'm grilling ham slices,probably will fix some green beans,sweet potatos and cornbread. Good ole'fashioned southern comfort foods.

Karen

The South Beach Diet. Its not really a low-carb diet. Well, it could be, I guess. For the first week or 2 weeks you don't eat dairy, breads, or anything with sugar (no fruit, candy, anything). You basically eat salads, lean meats and most vegetables. That is done to reset your insulin. Alot of people who are overweight are insulin resistent....if they diet, it doesn't really work because their insulin has to go up and down depending what they eat. With this diet, your glucose levels pretty much stay the same instead of jumping up high when you eat a piece of bread and them plumoting down and causing you to get a craving. I wasn't hungry at all...you eat as much as you want...no measuring portions. The book is really good, like I said before. I learned alot.

Jennifer,

I am going to be your online diet buddy....maybe we can start a club here!

I was doing South Beach last summer, and doin' Taebo too....I felt great, but didn't stick to it and gained again. It is great because you eat whenever you are hungry, but once you are used to the lack of carbs (which is my mainstay unfortunately) and sugars, you feel pretty good and not deprived.

I love a diet where you can eat string cheese!!

Barb

Well I am going to have to seriously check into this south beach diet...sounds easier than any other I have ever tried. But I am a notorious diet cheater...so we shall see if I can make it through this one lol:)

Tonight I was lazy in the kitchen, been spending so much time working at my mom's place I did not feel like cooking at all. We had smokey links & tater tots lol:) The kids loved it, my husband was a little bit unhappy, but I think he'll survive

:p diets imo stink.I decided 7 years ago to stop being mean to myself.I don't own a scale.I'm gonna be 40 next month and I feel fine.
I'm 5/7 and a size 9.Diets only work as long as your on them.I had to find a diet I could eat every day of my life.I love meat and veggies.So that's what I eat.I don't like sweets that much,I know ,what a weirdo?
Do I eat bread and potatoes?Oh yes ,but not every day.New potatoes,fresh bread out of the oven,yes indeedy.I've been fat,in my minds eye I'm still that girl,but again,be KIND to yourself first

HI EVERYONE..WE JUST HAVE THE WORST TIME EVERY WEEK TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT TO EAT THAT WE HAVENT JUST HAD. BEEF, CHICKEN, MORE BEEF, MORE CHICKEN, PORK, SALADS, SPUDS, BUT WE REALLY NEED HELP FIGURING IT OUT WHAT TO EAT WITH OUT PULLING OUR HAIR OUT. <img border="0" alt="[perplexed]" title="" src="graemlins/confused.gif" /> OR GOING A LITTLE LOOPY. I KNOW IT WILL BE EASIER WHEN ALL THE VEGIES ARE READY. UNTILL THEN... SUGGESTIONS ANYONE ?? IM NOT TOO KEEN ON THE CHINESE FOOD OR OF THE SORTS. PHIL IS O.K. WITH MORE THEN I AM. HELP.. LAURA

Laura,
Have you looked at any of those crock pot recipes the wonderful people here were so kind to share with me? I have tried a lot of them already. That "Salsa Soup" one was TOO easy, and so good! Best thing is, it's cooking all day while you are out working, and ready to eat when you walk in the house HUNGRY!

Cindy, You know what is funny..I have a bookcase full of cookbooks and simply like to look at them. Laura.

That's the reason I posted for crock pot recipes - tired of the same thing EVERY night. It was either pork chops and mashed potatoes, chicken and mashed potatoes, roast and mashed potatoes...

I was in the market for something DIFFERENT every night! Plus, with working in the yard all the time I didn't want to have to come in and spend an hour or so cooking something when I could be outside.

And you know what? I have shelves and shelves of awesome cookbooks displayed in my kitchen! When people see them they are amazed. And, I do the same thing you do...I look at them all the time and then go make some pork chops and mashed potatoes for supper!!!

We had Brat's on the grill tonight. Raw fries w/onion's and corn. We were working outside in the yard as much as we could after the drenching we got last night. Had the kitchen cleaned and dishes done and really didn't want to get alot dirty. Sunday skirt steak. Laura

Yummmmm!
I really wish you hadn't posted that! I'm starving to death right now!
(Spent all my grocery money on PLANTS!!! )

had chicken breasts that were marinated in a mixture of soy sauce, worchestershire sauce, white wine, minced garlic, onion powder and water. I cut the breasts into stripes (the long way), stabbed them with a fork and let them sit for about an hour then threaded them onto skewers and onto the grill they went. I coasted them with olive oil and a bit of mrs. dash while they were grilling. Then I made mashed cauliflower (tastes like potatoes). That was it....was going to have salad, but didn't feel like it.

Today we had grilled chicken breast over salad.

Yummmmmm......
I figure reading about yummy food is better than eating it and gaining a hundred pounds! I am absolutely dying for some fried green tomatoes! Oooh...with mashed potatoes. And fresh green beans.....

Oh I love fried green tomatoes too Cindy:) Now you are making me hungry for them...since my tomatoes aren't even growing yet I guess I am going to have to search the grocery store for green tomatoes...I never have much luck finding them though