For dinner ... Cheese Burger top with roasted red peppers, Homemade Coleslaw, Cape Cod Kettle Potato Chips and A&W Root Beer Soda. Dinner: Eggplant Parmesan ... its made NOT with traditional bread crumbs but with flour ... this makes it light and melts in your mouth. Ooh la la delicious! So simple to make ... just wash and peel the eggplant. Cut into thin slices. Cover with flour and then in the egg mixture. Heat up the frying pan with lite olive oil made for baking and frying. Keep in the hot oil until light brown. Layer corning-ware glass dish with tomato sauce, eggplant, mozzarella cheese. Put dish in the microwave for 1 - 2 minutes to melt the cheese and warm up the sauce and Voila. Looks like it will be Tacos tonight and Apple Crisp with 1 scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream for dessert. I skipped breakfast and lunch ... made homemade pizza at 3:00 so that is my early dinner. Also made an Ice Cream Float ... with Root Beer Soda and 2 scoops of Vanilla Ice Cream. What is your greatest dish that you make? Do you enjoy cooking, or just prepare quick meals to satisfy? If I were to show up for dinner, what would you fix? Guess who's not coming for dinner, but would like to? TR I keep it simple ... only Italian and normal American meals. I stick with easy meals and cut the recipe in half so I don’t OD on one particular food. I sometimes use the crock pot - makes great comfort meals like ... beef stew and a few chicken dishes. My motto is “I stay away from all fish, turkey and sausage” :whistle: I make meatball sandwiches with French bread - my dog’s favorite. I break up the bread and just give him small pieces to go with his meatball. I don’t bother making homemade tomato sauce because I found the best sauce already prepared in a jar called “Rao’s” Marinara Sauce. They have a NYC restaurant and another one out in Las Vegas so perhaps a local grocery store on the West Coast sells it too? Its costly though but well worth it. About $9.00 - $10.00 a jar so I wait for a sale - $7.00 - $8.00 and then stock up. I only use half a jar per meal and freeze the other half. Its been a while (4 years) since I last made roast beef, prime ribs, or ham so if I go out to a restaurant that has a smorgasbord ... this is what you will see on my plate! I tend to make a lot of chicken parmesan, eggplant parmesan, various pasta meals (stuff shells vs. lasagna) because they are quick and easy to control the portion sizes. My favorite fun meal to prepare would have to be pizza. :yes: If having guests over ... I would ask a head of time what they feel like having. I actually prefer baking desserts over cooking. I make Italian Struffoli a lot. Its cinnamon dough rolled into tiny balls and fried quickly in olive oil ... its not soggy at all ... then you melt honey and pour on top and then shake some tiny candy sprinkles on top. Yum! My family goes nuts for it. I’m using Dom DeLuise’s recipe ... because his calls for cinnamon. I can’t find my cookbook (its in one of the many moving plastic containers in the basement) ... and I’m craving carrot cake right now. I bake small batches of brownies - Betty Crocker has the packages for only 99 cents and you just add 1 egg, small amount of oil, 2 tablespoons of water and walnuts. That is it. I also have an out of this world Chocolate Cake recipe to die for ... so moist ... taste like pudding inside. Love to make homemade sponge cake as well - both cakes are decorated with 2 layers of whipping cream, strawberries, pineapple, peaches. Yum! I also love to bake all kinds of cookies, ginger bread/ ginger snaps are my favorite. In heaven I rather be baking desserts and being a judge in tasting meals and desserts. : ) Oh and one of my favorite salads is called “Where’s Waldorf? Salad” by Rachel Ray - the recipe is still online, if you google it. It is soooo good ... taste almost like a dessert. I left out the ground cardamom and it still turned out great. B-) Always start with dessert, we could be outta here at any time! Those Italian desserts sound wonderful. Ever try sugar instead of sprinkles. One of my favorite doughnuts is brown sugar cinnamon! Also like powdered sugar doughnuts and double dipped glazed sugar! Chocolate truffle is also a great topping. Given your fare for Italian food, are you Italian? My daughter makes a decent carrot cake, but I like spice cake even more. I love most pastries as a rule. The flakier the better! Chocolate milk is one of my favorite drinks, I drink a lot of soda's as well. I could down a quart of milk with each meal. Love beef, chicken, pork and ham, and gravies! Potatoes of every ilk, baked scalloped, tater tots, hash browns, etc. Love cole slaw, rice, squashes, salads. I'll eat anything with onions and garlic in it! You just can't beat simple food that is well cooked and prepared! TR LOL desserts first indeed. I couldn’t agree more! :good: Ditto with the jelly donuts with brown sugar on top ... then 2nd favorite are jelly donuts with the white powdered sugar and then the glazed donuts especially from Krispy Kreme. Mmmm ... Chocolate Truffle topping sounds delicious too. I haven’t made Zeppole in a while - that is more like a donut that you fill with either custard, jelly or gasp ... “anchovy” :negative: and then sprinkle powdered sugar on top. I love flaky pastries too ... apple turnovers, etc. Yum! Yes, I have Italian and Sicilian heritage so pasta meals were always on the table along side with the turkey for Thanksgiving ... Roast Beef or Ham and pasta dishes for Christmas and Ham and pasta dishes for Easter. We were fortunate to have Italian bakeries near by while growing up so we would pick up the French loaf bread and Italian pastries for those family gatherings. I love them all ... cannoli’s, biscotti cookies, etc. Wow, you really love milk! LOL I don’t think I ever had spice cake ... I will have to check out the ingredients and see what the difference is between that and carrot cake. I wonder if its the same ingredients but just missing the carrots? I also like Zucchini Bread ... to me it taste a lot like carrot cake. Yep, the staple foods - beef, chicken, pork and ham are the best and can’t go wrong! I love potatoes prepared all different ways too. Baked with all the toppings, French Fries, Mashed, Scallop or Au Gratin. I do like rice and miss the Chicken fried rice from Chinese restaurants. I should learn how to make that at home since I refuse to go to the restaurants ever since I heard about them using road kill animals. :wacko: I’ve been doing more cole slaw salads lately because a head of lettuce around here is over $2.50 and a bag of cole slaw is only $1.50. Yes, sweet onions and garlic are needed to enhance the dishes. If the stores have sales on frozen meals - sometimes I will pick up a few of those. I keep plenty of soups on hand for days I don’t feel like cooking - its always a good stand by. And, of course, jars of peanut butter and jelly. B-) All this talk about food ... I’m getting hungry now ... I skipped lunch so I will have to figure out what to have for dinner ... I’m thinking of a baked potato with sour cream, chives, butter and cheddar cheese. What about veal parmeseano?! I'm not good at Italian but let me try this: Ti violo bani or ti ama amour! Caio bella! Molta bueno. I liked Dom Deluise and my favorite growing up was Dean Martin. Forgive my butchering of the Italian language. I love linguine and marinara sauce. Then some finely chopped garlic in olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping my French bread into. Don't forget the olives! Again some scampi is awesome. Thankfully I have a small appetite and fortunately I'm not a big or heavy person. I'm French all the way. My family has at least 10 generations in Canada. My last name is traced back to a region in southern France called Aix en Provence. French was my first language, I haven't kept up on it! We moved to Calif when I was three years old. Being born in the 7th month I was sickly as a child. My health was used as an excuse to migrate west. Been here ever since. If and when I eat fish apart from shrimp or lobster, it must be fresh water, and then again not that often! Let's not forget about carob! Or divinity! Love fudge also! Thanks for the appetite booster. TR Veal parmesan? Nope, totally off the list. Not too many like that cut of meat. Those that do like it seem to order it when they are at a restaurant. No worries ... I don’t speak Italiano ... except for “Mama Mia” and if someone is annoying me I will tell them “you’re really giving me Agita” Linguine and marinara sauce ... Yum! One time at a Cape Cod restaurant someone at my table dared me to at least try one tiny bite of lobster dip in butter and breaded shrimp on their plate - I accepted the dare and .... boy was I extremely glad I ordered thee juicy Prime Ribs that night. Finely chopped garlic in olive oil and balsamic vinegar and a side dish of olives with French bread ... oh yeah ... now you’re talking! Good Stuff. How about Bruschetta? Sliced Mozzarella, onions, tomatoes, arugula all coated in olive oil on top of toasted French Bread? Hmmm delicious! Sometimes I make a small Bruschetta pizza pie. Cool that you were able to do your heritage linking back to south France! Do you eat a lot of French meals? My knowledge of French foods is very limited ... I love French Toast, French Fries, French Bread, French pastries. Both Carob and Fudge sound divine! I’m 100% positive all kinds of chocolate will be inside the gates of heaven! B-) Just had early dinner ... not very hungry ... cooked a small batch of spaghetti ... no tomato sauce ... just sprinkled some Romano Cheese on top and small glass of Raspberry Lemonade. I just had some linguine and marinara sauce for lunch. Don't eat Parisian french, mostly American. Given the clues you gave I figured you to have some Italian blood. At some time we were probably neighbors! Oh well. I tried what little Italian I knew. "I love you" in northern and southern Italian dialects. You could probably figure out the rest. I don't find self esteem in my ancestral line, but rather will glory in whatever ancestors were Godly! I can imagine that at the marriage supper of the Lamb, the Lord will have each of our favorite dishes spread out before us! And not have to worry about weight, calories or cholestoral. God has given us many things that we take pleasure in, food is but one of them! TR Nice lunch :good: Ha ... yeah distant neighbors of long ago ... the way I look at it ... we were all distant cousins from one of Noah’s 3 sons. :yes: I can’t wait to see the lineage books in the library in heaven. Looking forward to reading the family tree and the testimonies of those who got saved. Yep its going to be grand to have all our favorite dishes and desserts at the marriage banquet table and not having to worry about calories or if the food will cause agita. B-) Again, it will be cool to break bread with all the saints. I have no doubt that we all have some not so pleasant relatives in our family tree's. But what a joy to go back to Adam and Eve! Wonder what their favorite food was? So many things to wonder about since man was created! So many things to learn when we get to Heaven about eternity past, present and future! Later Cuz! TR I would imagine early on Adam and Eve’s diet was mainly fruits, nuts and veggies and perhaps eggs and I’m sure they were milking the cows so they must have enjoyed drinking fresh milk and/or the fruit juices. I wonder if they learned how to make butter, sour cream, cream cheese, etc to spread on their bread? And how about ice cream? Then after the fall ... they added lamb, chicken, deer, cow meat to their dinner plates. :yes: Today is my puppy dog’s birthday! So I’m going to spoil him with some steak and garlic mash potatoes. :whistle: Bark, bark. Can I have some? How old is your dog? What breed? What's his name? TR
