It's going to be another long day at work so I'm sure whatever it is it will be something easy!

and some kind of good sauce. I have one green pepper and some carrots left.

I had put chicken thighs on my grocery list, but DH apparently doesn't know the difference.

I'm sure you'll whip up something gobbling good with what you have on hand. I'm sure you do it all the time!

put together a good stir fry with leftover pork chops, green pepper and cashews. He loved it and we had zero leftovers, something that makes me very happy!

And he's coming back tonight!

Hope you and yours are well, yellerpup.

You'll forget all about having tummy troubles when you fill your tummy with chili.

Mr. Pup is going to launch his Kickstarter project (Nightcallers) tomorrow and we're going out to chat it up among our friends in the neighborhood. We'll probably have sushi then drop into the pub, then the other pub, then another pub...hehe. Wish I could take all of C&B with us on our pub crawl!

Have a great time and pace yourself!

which is why two is my limit for drinks. If I've eaten well, I may have a third if I head for home the second it's finished. I'm a terrible drinker, but I can always count to two. After three, I lose ability to count.

I'm going to cook them in the Actifry with a little olive oil, a fresh Orange tomato and some ground buffalo. Probably will serve it with or over a green salad....

are insanely good. We don't have them very often (not so easy to find), but when we do, I'm a very happy girl.


Cher

I wish I bought another pound. I'm going to be out and about tomorrow and hopefully will find some at the market.

Too much carb for me, so I will have a small feta omelet and small portion of tabbouli and lots of tzatziki. So nice to have greek oregano and mint right outside the door!

The vintage Lebanese cookbook that I picked up at rummage the other day calls for some cinnamon in the tabbouli. That sounds strange to me, but I think I will sprinkle a little bit on a separate spoonful to see what it's like.

Cinnamon in the tabouli......will have to try that. I've been trying to recreate the tastes from a Lebanese restaurant we used to go to in Pgh. in the 70's (it's been gone for 30 years). Anyway, maybe cinnamon is the key! I would kill for their hummus . I still haven't hit on that secret, but I remember the taste.

The hummus recipe:

1 can garbanzo beans drained
3 T tahini
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 clove garlic
1/2 t salt
water
finely chopped parsley for garnish
sumac powder


Now, when I make hummus I include olive oil in it, and then I float more olive oil in a pool in the middle.

Can you get sumac powder? I've never bought it, but my favorite Lebanese restaurant sprinkles it on hummus and various other dishes.

my sister has a small Middle Eastern grocer near her (100 miles from me) where she buys tahini for me. I'll have to ask her to check for sumac powder. That's probably what is missing. I use olive oil just as you do. That's the way that restaurant did it, with a pool of oil in the middle....

At casa de Ultra. Sometimes Meatless Mondays last all week.

Been lurking for years. Thanks for the hospitality!

I love all in one pan dishes. Browned the bacon a bit, added diced tomato, onion and garlic. Flipped to coat all in the bacon drippings. Got all toasting together. Added enough water to cook the pasta and some basil. Cooked the pasta in all till done. Plated and topped with ground parmesan.

My wife observed we had no spaghetti sauce in the pantry, and suggested I make some from scratch.

So, I've been interested in trying this recipe I had marked off some time ago. And I'm adding a little to it.

This is the original recipe:

Marcella Hazan's Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter

Serves 6, enough to sauce 1 to 1 1/2 pounds pasta

2 pounds fresh, ripe tomatoes, prepared as described below, or 2 cups canned imported Italian tomatoes, cut up, with their juice
5 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, peeled and cut in half
Salt to taste

1. If using fresh tomatoes: Plunge the tomatoes in boiling water for a minute or less. Drain them and, as soon as they are cool enough to handle, skin them, and cut them into coarse pieces. OR: Freeze tomatoes on a baking sheet until hard. Thaw again, either on the counter or under running water. Skin them and cut them into coarse pieces.

2. Put either the prepared fresh tomatoes or the canned in a saucepan, add the butter, onion, and salt, and cook uncovered at a very slow, but steady simmer for about 45 minutes, or until it is thickened to your liking and the fat floats free from the tomato.

3. Stir from time to time, mashing up any large pieces of tomato with the back of a wooden spoon.

4. Taste and correct for salt. Discard the onion before tossing with pasta. Serve with freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese for the table.

What am I adding to it? Well, a friend just gave me a bunch of fresh garlic that she had grown - the kind that weeps garlic juice when you cut - so that's going in.



And for the butter, I'm using this stuff, which is phenomenal, often wins top awards, and apparently is used by Thomas Keller. It is yummy stuff.


And finally, of course, this stuff:


I'll let you know how it goes!

....about putting a fresh tomato leaf in the simmering sauce. It's reported to add some very tomato-y flavor.

Texture was off, but more importantly, I screwed it up; it needed salt, but all I could find was some larger grain sea salt, and that was too overpowering.

I saute onions, garlic, peppers and either sweet italian sausage or ground beef in olive oil.
Add a couple of cans of diced tomatoes, small can of tomato paste, salt and pepper, and whatever italian herbs (dried or fresh) I have around.

Add water or broth, then cook the daylights out of it for a couple of hours, adding liquid and stirring whenever it looks like it needs it.

Take out the bay leafs, season to taste and I am pretty much done.

but wanted to try this way, which was touted as quick and easy to set up (true) and delicious (ummm, maybe not so much).

Still, it wasn't a bad base concept, but it definitely needs some refinement. I'll futz with it over the next month or so and if I can get it signifcantly better, I'll post the result.

So are you saying it's too salty now?


Cher

Saute veggies in olive oil in order of time needed to get just get soft - carrots, bell peppers, garlic, onion, etc. Add whatever meat, cut to the size of the veggies you're using for the sauce. Turn up flame to high and toss all till the meat gets a crust. Add a jar of sauce. Basil, oregano and a touch of cinnamon. Turn all. Cover tight, turn off heat, let set while you cook pasta. Top with grated parmesan on the plate.

All in all it's about 20-30 minutes.

It really influenced my menus over the years.

That chicken looks especially delicious. That might be my Sunday dinner this week!

jr bacon cheeseburger, small fries and a small pepsi. it was so tasty

It has been a very long time since I've had a pepsi. I don't like diet drinks and I can't drink real ones. That little fizz moment when it hits your nose....that's the best part.

i might get a can or two a week out of the machine at work, but i rarely drink soda now.

Today was my birthday so I got a break from cooking. I'm planning to do as little cooking as I can for the whole weekend to celebrate.

So far, so good on the little cooking thing.