<p>Now I feel like a terrible wife/mother. So much imagination in these lists. I console myself that my kids will think any wife/mother-in-law is the world’s best cook and that will be good for their family relations.</p>
<p>ellebud…there’s a huge difference where you live compared to me (actually I have no clue where you live but just going by your post 40 about your weekly food shopping excursions). I live in a rural town, though we at least have a supermarket (which is not true of all towns this small but I live in a resort area and so we have “services”). We have one locally owned supermarket and one chain supermarket. Well, we also have a natural foods store too. But that’s it. None of the specialty stores or chains you mention. No Whole Foods. No Trader Joe’s. Etc. I truly only go to the store once a week and I figure out all my dinners for the week and buy them all, as well as everything else. This was true even when the kids lived at home. Food shopping here is like a meet and greet your neighbor event, LOL. It can take a while to get out of the store because everyone seems to know who you are and wants to catch up and chat. :)</p>
<p>Whenever I go to a city or a suburb, I marvel at the supermarkets and the selections and then the prepared foods and the big salad and other “bars,” etc. Nothing like that here at all.</p>
<p>I admire you^^. I truly think that even if you had all the choices you’d still be together enough to shop once a week. But, even though we live in a big city we do the same thing: stopping and talking over everything. The weird thing is that the Farmer’s Market is the same place where my mother and grandfather bought their meat. Gelsons’s and Bristol Farms…be prepared to spend an extra fifteen minutes chatting.</p>
<p>I never thought about it before, but the situation described by the OP applies to us completely: we watch the Food Network just about daily and yet cook the same few things over and over again.</p>
<p>We do enjoy trying new things, and where we live, that means cooking at home. But we don’t do it nearly as often as we think about it!</p>
<p>Now I feel kind of pathetic, honestly. :(</p>
<p>What I meant about “meet and greet” at the market here is not just the workers and cashiers but every single person just about in the aisles! Like the whole town knows everyone and it is hard to go down an aisle without being stopped by someone you know or actually do not even know but who seems to know me and I don’t even know their name!</p>
<p>^^I drove the local store manager crazy one day because a friend and I were standing near the front of the store chatting and he thought he had a line. So now when I see him I ask whether any of my friends are in the store.</p>
<p>I knew what you meant! While I don’t know everyone, lots of people in the aisles to say hi to and ask about the family.</p>
<p>Aidells Chicken mango sausage is delicious even without a bun.</p>
<p>I really like to try recipes I find online, I have good luck with Bobby Flay & Emeril</p>
<p>We probably only average a good meal 3x a week, always with company or when the kids are home and easy cheap make-do meals otherwise</p>
<p>It depends on the season. but some of our old stand bys are:</p>
<p>Stew in the crock pot
Pasta sauce with any shape pasta, imitation Olive Garden style green salad & garlic bread
pulled pork
pot roast
apple brined pork roast with whiskey sauce
chicken enchiladas with green sauce & spanish rice
costco frozen halibut & any sides
BBQ chicken or teriaki chicken
mushroom swiss burgers on the BBQ
roast chicken, Tgivng style sides or stuffed with something different
seared scallops
french onion soup
bean soup from a ham bone
teri-yaki stir fry
asparagus mushroom barley risotto like dish
real risotto
spinach-cheese-egg casserole
salad bar
meal salad-cobb, chicken or fish with variations
blue cheese, candied nuts, fruits-grapes & mangos, dried cranberries, apple, cherries
steak & feta & tomato & red onion on romaine
spinach salads
seafood in a white wine cream sauce
BLT avo sandwich
varieties of grilled cheese
broiled asparagus
streamed mixed veggies with sauce
sweet potatoes, just a big ole sweet tater for dinner with a bit of cinnamon and butter
jalepeno poppers (baked not fried)
hummus & naan</p>
<p>breakfast for dinner
pancakes
french toast
omelettes
scrambled egg on cheese on toast
eggs benedict or florentine</p>
<p>I work in basic categories as follows:</p>
<p>recipes made with boneless, skinless chicken breasts
recipes made with pork chops
recipes made with ground beef
pasta
crock pot recipes
frozen dinners that I put together at “Let’s Dish”
anything H (or S once in awhile) will cook</p>
<p>Yes, it was the Aidells chicken sausage that I had - and not in a bun! Great alone or with some sauteed veggies on the side (and not in the bun!) Kind of expensive though and it seems it never goes on sale!</p>
<p>Hi everyone, I have posted a new thread “Share a favorite Recipe” for those of you who would like to pass along a great idea for dinner or dessert or a great cooking tip. Seems as if alot of us are always searching for something new for dinner. </p>
<p>Mantori, your post made me laugh, you aren’t “pathetic” at all! The thing that struck me when I read the article was that I thought to myself “hey, this guys is right, I love to watch cooking shows but then always say I don’t know what to make for dinner”. I am always looking for fairly simple, tasty ideas to change up the same old same old. I guess it is always easy to go back to the things we know. Hopefully we can all get some good ideas with the new thread…so get your fingers typing!</p>
<p>I buy Aidells chicken sausages at Costco, 2 ten-packs. Our store has them in many flavors: apple, artichoke, sundried tomato, etc. No bun needed, indeed!</p>
<p>I’ve never looked at Costco for it! Another thing to add to my Costco list - I bet it’s a lot cheaper - I paid $5.99 for 4 I believe.</p>
<p>The Aidells are much cheaper at Costco. My problem is that I like the mango the best and they only carry it at one market in my area. I also paid 5.99 for 4. Vons sometimes has it on Vons Club and you save a little.</p>
<p>I love Costco and I do only very fast stuff or buy it prepared/cokked. I do not see any reason to cook chicken, for example. I love:
-smoked salmon (lox), no bagel, no cream cheese, eat straigt out of store package (no dishes, except fork)
-salad, this one is the longest though. I use tripple washed “Green leaves” - romain lettuce, tons of ginger (with skin, do not want to clean), avocado, feta cheese, dried cranberies.
-fried sweet potatos (with skin, of course) that my H. does for 8 -9 days, after they go to freezer. He uses tons of onion and we add lot of garlic when oven is turned off. Actually most veggies go with onions and garlic
-mushroom soup. H. fries mushrooms and onions. I boil barley and carrots (graded with skins). When barley is done, add mushrooms and onions. Yummmm! Just had it few minutes ago.
-Hummus which I eat with salsa (I know weird, bu I do not like pita)
-Fried in olive oil whole grain bread with italian seasonning. Nobody can resist this one when I cook it. I love it with fried eggs. I eat eggs for dinner becuase I do not like them for breakfast and they say that we should eat eggs, very nutricious. Well if you ask what I eat for breakfast - always the same, 2 squares of dark chocolate, banana and coffee with lots of powder unsweetened chocolate and honey, no cooking at all, just peel banana.</p>
<p>I love some other stuff, priamrily from Costco. They have awesome nuts and dried fruits. I eat them sipping rum from a shot, the best desert, no cooking.</p>
<p>This is fun, in a really voyeuristic way, seeing what everyone else is eating. Well, tonight is our dinner out - good old Southern cookin’ that I don’t take the time to do at home, collard greens, black-eyed peas, cornbread and whatever meat is on special tonight. H is out of town, so S gets to pick dinners for the next few days. Tomorrow is baked tilapia with lemon and basil, Friday is homemade pizza and Sat is chicken fried steak.</p>
<p>^I love tilapia, Costco has seasoned one, it is really good. Too bad, no space in freezer at the moment.</p>
<p>Tonight we are having lamb shanks in white beans flavored with sage. It’s a Bittman recipe. Pretty good though lamb shanks aren’t really my favorite. We’ll have sauted mushrooms on the side as the Fairway market that moved into Westchester has an amazing selection. And salad will have lots of heirloom tomatoes from the Farmer’s market and basil from the garden.</p>
<p>WARNING: Do not read this thread when hungry! :eek:</p>