I made two pies yesterday to take to our girlfriend’s luncheon today. One is pecan and the other chocolate cream. I still have to do the whipped cream for the chocolate pie before I leave this morning, but I’m done. I made chicken divan for dinner Wednesday night. It doesn’t really take too long and it does give us leftovers for another meal tonight.

This week, I've made a pound cake, a pear pie and morning rolls for a Chamber function.

Nothing special. Just everyday ho hum stuff. Made hamburger steak and gravy, mashed potatoes, and SOs favorite green beans with bacon and onions for dinner last night with rolls.

We split a sausage,bacon egg and cheese sandwich before he left for work this morning.

No excitment here.

I tackled potato skins last night, Wow were they good. Everyone loved them. It is time consuming but worth it. Elizabeth, I am with you on the cookie thing. I very rarely make them, it is just such a boring job.

Baked butternut squash with butter and a little sprinkle of sugar. It is amazing how something so simple can be so good.

I made Salisbury steak in the crockpot yesterday so I'll have some of that today along with a salad and vegetable. Froze two helpings of it for a quick meal another time.

Since moving here, I have cooked constantly. After not having a real kitchen for years, I have gone overboard, to the extent Jody asked me to slow down, because we are both gaining weight. I have made cookies several times....a meringue cookie called Black Walnut Drops and another meringue cookie that is brown sugar and pecans, and my all time favorite Pecan Meltaways, which is a sand tart/Mexican wedding cakes/Snowball type, which is made with half cornstarch. I love to make cookies, and have a lot of favorite recipes that I haven't made since my daughter was small, but, I intend to make most of them between now and Christmas. I think I will wait until after the first of the year to worry about my weight. (Actually I don't think I will worry about it at all, because that has never worked for me.)

I also made my fruitcake, which is not a traditional fruitcake...just cherries and pineapple and 4 cups of walnuts.

As far as regular food...I fixed red beans, sausage and rice...my husbsnd's favorite. I go back down to Alvin to buy sausage from Greak's at Froberg's Farm. I never cared much for sausage one way or another, but theirs is so good, I don't cook anything with sausage unless I have theirs. So I am willing to drive 300 miles round trip to get it.

Another thing I have cooked a lot of is various home made soups. I love soup and could eat it every day.

It's babysit-the-grandkids weekend so I've got leftover pork stirfry from Wednesday night for tonight and leftover tuna casserole for tomorrow. Sunday dinner is going to be chicken and dumplings (not a babysitting day) then Monday and Tuesday, which are both babysitting days, will be whatever I can dig out of the freezer. Then Wednesday, it's back to the grocery store (senior citizens get a 5% discount on Wednesdays. Yay!) Still have a bunch of cookies in the freezer so will take a few over for the grandkids. Tomorrow morning is breadmaking if I can get out of bed early enough.

I just had some meals delivered to me. My oldest daughter and her husband just brought me mashed potatoes, chicken and noodles, dark meat chicken and a piece of chocolate cake. I ate all the cake and still have enough food for two more meals. It was really good, the whole meal!

Sue

Since Thanksgiving, I made a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough. I baked one dozen cookies and froze the rest (in individual cookie size) for future cookies. I like freezing them because I can bake two or three at a time to satisfy a cookie craving without having a dozen or two to tempt us.

We've also made carne asada tacos with rice and beans and meatloaf with brussels sprouts and white and wild rice pilaf. Both of those made a couple of dinners. Last night we went out for pizza. The next things we'll be making are chicken corn chowder with roasted poblano peppers and a stir fry with pork dumplings and rice as sides.

I just made the annual turkey soup with "cream" (1% milk this year, still tastes good) in it. But my attention is now focused on making Sharon's peppermint bark for work on Monday. Both my son and I want to make so much more, but if I do I know who will end up eating it. You guessed it, US! We both want to lose weight. So it was a back and forth for a few minutes of wrestling the issue until we both came to the conclusion it was smarter not to. Aww, man. I really wanted Lars' toffee (son did too).

sour cream banana bread and cheese bites

Just finished a turkey, cranberry sauce sandwich on rye and heated chicken broth with ditalini pasta.

I made potato salad, am sending some home with my oldest daughter when they get back. She is doing our grocery shopping. I don't shop in stores any more.

Sue

I am making duck soup, with the stock I made from the carcass of Saturday's dinner.

Last night I cooked a stir fry with the frozen veggie mix from Kroger, some chicken and my favorite imported ramen noodles. I think they are from Korea, but not sure since I can't read the package! Had the leftovers for my brunch today.

We are getting good old fashioned cheeseburgers and onion rings at a great neighborhood diner. So I am not cooking anything.

Last night I cooked 2 stuffed chicken breast, stuffed with crawfish jambalaya. Boiled red potatoes and yellow squash to go with it. Very good.

I'm making pinto beans in my new instant pot. I looked up a recipe on line but their cooking time was different than the instant pot's so I used the instant pot's "bean" button.

While in Wal-mart last night, or rather very early morning after I got off work, I was in the baking isle looking for cornbread mix and saw coffee flavored chips. So, then I bought all the ingredients for "chocolate chip" cookies only they will be coffee chip cookies. I may wait until Monday to make those, though. I have to go to bed in a few hours and have a ton of Christmas gifts to wrap. They all came today. Fun.

saw coffee flavored chips..I thought you were talking about potato chips and I thought mmmm, that might be something I can get behind.

Pizza -- it turned out well, yay! Then because the oven was hot, baked a tray of cookies. Then a second tray of cookies. Then was good and froze the rest of the cookie dough for later.

Not much! Feeling pretty lousy - just can't breath. Minimal cooking only for subsistance.

Coffee chips? I never heard of them. I could use those in a caramel macchiato cheesecake. They could flavor a New York style cheesecake and then I would drizzle caramel on top followed by a drizzle of chocolate ganache. Served with whipped cream.

Anglophilia, I hope the flare up is easing, or you have gotten to the ED for help. Not being able to breath is the worst feeling!

Sorry to see this, Anglophilia. I hope you are able to find relief and start to feel better soon.

Ditto, anglo. I hope you feel better soon.

I am not cooking for us , I am cooking for the birds. I save all my fat trimmings to make suet balls in the winter. Did not do it last year so I had a lot of fat to cut and grind. I put it all in a pot in the oven with water and put the oven on low. Set it outside to chill and pour the water off. I have deluxe birdseed that I mix with the suet and the rendered ground bits and make up big balls to hang outside. The birds love it. My house smells like boiled beef.

Not much cooking happens in my kitchen these days. I cannot do much anymore and am hating it. Rely to much on frozen entrees or meals. I can add a decent salad, but I am tired of the mediocre main dishes from the freezer. Last night I did make my own meatloaf that we were both wanting, but after the effort put into the meatloaf, the sides had to be something from the freezer.

The leftover meatloaf will allow me to make something more pleasing to go with it for dinner tonight. That is how I try to plan meals, so that parts of each meal moves on the a next meal. That way I don't get overwhelmed with to much to do daily.

I made pancakes for breakfast. Tostados for dinner.

I made stuffed collard leaves day before yesterday and they came out so good. I had also bought some Basmatti rice for another new dish and I really like it. I used some for the stuffing. So today I'm going to be cooking up the rest of the collards along with another new thing for us - mayocoba beans. I might cook some more of that rice, too. Of course I'll be making cornbread to go with them. The only thing I've got planned special after this is on Tuesday - DIL is having her birthday and she LOVES pork and saurkraut and potatoes so I'll be making that for her.

Two kinds of winter squash: Buttercup cooked in the microwave (probably the only thing I actually cook in the microwave) and butternut cubes tossed in olive oil, garlic, and seasonings roasting in the oven. Both from my son's garden. I'm going to freeze the cooked buttercup.

I made a soup with beyond meat hot Italian sausage, potatoes, kale, and cream. Vegetarian version of the Olive Garden soup. Tomorrow I'm going to make chili and veggie taco meat for the week.

I baked Amish Potato rolls today it made 18. I sent twelve over to my youngest and her family. I also baked a sugar cream pie, I sent most of it there too.

Sue

Today I just loaded up the pressure cooker with the ingredients for chili. I bought some really good coarse ground beef to use. It's not cold but we have both been hungry for chili.

French toast this morning, and this evening everything but the kitchen sink soup. Ground beef, cabbage, green beans, carrots, onions, tomato soup, beef broth, and corn.

Last night a proper gratin dauphinois. Forget how good it is!

split pea soup ...

Islay, I made that as well last nightI Mine accompanied roasted chicken, glazed carrots, and watercress salad.

PS Maybe I'll make tartiflette next week, just in case I need to gain some weight.

Roast chicken with tiny potatoes and carrots tonight which turned into a simmering chicken soup as I sit here.

Chicken Bone Broth

Finished turning my duck stock into soup, very happy with the result. At the moment, resisting the temptation to make gingerbread -- I've had so many treats already the past 2 weeks! The gray skies and dropping temps really make me crave something like that.

DH said he wanted to grill some lamb chops with a side of imported tagliatelle and homemade marinara. I have bronchitis. Not sure how much I will eat, but I appreciate his preparing dinner tonight.

We have a ton of asian greens growing at the moment. Last night we used our bok choy to make a shrimp stir fry. Tonight we are going to use some more plus our totsoi to make asian hot pot. We will thinly slice pork for fast cooking in the stock.