Not related to the post content, just giving the thread a pic.


I picked up some monster apricots at Great Wall in Germantown yesterday. Today, I got a nice piece of london broil at Lidl. So, tonight is pepper steak.

Thinly sliced london broil, vidalia onion, sweet orange and yellow peppers, ginger and apricot over konjac noodles.

Rick, that sounds delicious. After a long tiring day of working in the gardens, I didn't make any dinner. I just heated up Mike's leftover spaghetti and meatballs. Quick and hit the spot, but not on my low carb diet. I ate a small portion though, which is really the one portion size definition. Our American portions are supersized - that one serving of spaghetti and meatballs takeout is equivalent to four portion sizes

Were the apricots good ? I bought some from Costco last year, but they were not very sweet.

I had a chicken pot pie that I got too tired to have for dinner last night so I baked it for breakfast this morning instead

The apricots had a good flavor, but weren't overly sweet. They may be sweeter today after sitting for a couple days, but I'm headed up that way today and hope to get more.

I got to Great Wall just in time for the reduced bags of fruit and veg. I got 5 pounds of roma tomatoes for $1.50, 2 pounds of celery for $1.50 and 15 limes, also for $1.50. And I did manage to get more apricots, too.

From there, I finally got an oil change and then headed to Giant where I got the 90/10 ground beef that's on sale for $3.99/lb and some black cherries for $2.88/lb.

Now, what to make for dinner? My options are:
- Chili
- Pasta w/ meat sauce
- Chicken Alfredo
- Pulled Pork

Such decisions!

I'll know better after I clean the gutters.

Say, what did you pay for an oil change? Got a quote for $80, seems kinda high.
Made great chicken Parm tonight from a reliable cookbook.

I think it was $54. But, I only use conventional (aka REAL) oil, no synthetic stuff. It's just way to crazy expensive.

I go to the Lube Center in Germantown.

I can ask Jim, but I do know the synthetic oil he's been having them put in is more expensive... however, you can go longer between oil changes with it.

Too nice outside to cook today, so I offered 4 options from the freezer. Jim & Joyanna decided they'd rather get takeout from the new(ish) kebab place. I had an enormous pita wrap with 2 skewers of ground lamb, grilled tomatoes, peppers and lettuce that I added, and tatziki sauce. It was delicious!

Joyanna and I are having cold watermelon for an evening snack. (Thanks, Rick!)

Mark does oil change at home (after about 47,296 more oil changes, the garage will pay for itself lol)
He likes synthetic and is paying 4-5 dollars a qt to get it. His friend likes regular oil but has had trouble finding it to buy, so he got synthetic. Yes, synthetic can go longer between changes.
We are returning today from a short trip and our son has been home. Our power went out on Friday afternoon, in the court of five house, everyone else got restored in a few hours as normal, it seems our house may have never gotten restored and they are working in the court this morning. I think we'll be trashing some food. We are very surprised at the length of this outage and the fact our house alone is left. So we didn't take any proactive steps like adding ice to the fridge on Friday/Saturday.

How does Mark dispose of the used oil? That mess is the main reason I've always paid somebody to do it.

Sorry you came home to a power outage. Hopefully you'll be able to rescue some freezer contents. If you ever have a big loss, I think that's potentially covered by your homeowner's insurance... may not be worthwhile unless you just stashed a quarter of beef in the deep freeze.

With the weather so nice, dinners the next couple days will be "whatever is easy." Maybe Jim will grill something...

Advance Auto Parts in Leesburg will accept your used oil and the old filter. I've always taken mine there after I change the oil. They will also test and recharge your battery. No cost for any of that.

Our landfill takes used oil.
And he likes Advance too.

I think my freezer food is ok.

I've been trying different pasta options.

Red Lentil fusili from Lidl
Terrible! The package says ready in 6-9 minutes. After 15 minutes it still very al dente. I added grilled chicken, peas, carrots and a 4-cheese sauce. The pasta taste was still too present and not good.

Konjac or Shirataki
Not bad. There is an off smell when you open the package, but a quick, but thorough rinse takes care of that. I boiled it for a few minutes and it was ready to go. It doesn't have much taste on its own but sucks up what ever it's with. I hit mine with some lemon pepper seasoning and it was actually pretty good. Konjac also comes in a 'cake' for that can be sliced down and used in other things such as stir fry.

Konjac is very low in calories and very high in a form similar to dietary fiber.

Tried to make chicken schnitzel with waffle-like coating known as "prompt" or "soufflé" technique. No poofy results but ultimately still tasty cutlets. Hear that brushing cutlet with vodka before breading gives you the air pocket I'm looking for. DH says it's a waste of vodka. Will try again next week.

I seem to recall that basting continuously helps.

Thanks Rick. Getting a handle on making schnitzel. Not a recipe, it is a technique.

I didn't realize the coating on schnitzel was supposed to poof up. My mom's schnitzel was just floured/breaded thin slices of meat, browned in a little oil. I learned something new again!

Leftovers, here. Joyanna was at a friend's Quinceanera, and Jim is coming down with a cold, so not much interest in cooking tonight. Leftover Caribbean curry for me!

Dinner tonight:

Carnitas Burritos w/ Fresh Mango/Red Onion Salsa

And, no, I didn't cook a pork shoulder. I got some ribs at the Amish Market last week. They were pricey at $13/lb, but they were fully cooked and well seasoned.

I scraped the meat off of the bones and threw it into a hot skillet along with some sliced yellow onion and a splash of lime juice with cilantro at the end.. Just to give a bit extra, I added a couple of tablespoons of Sweet Baby Rays Honey & Hickory Smoke sauce.