Food What's For Dinner Tonight?

Tonight will be leftover beef stew.

Last night was baked chicken breasts coated in a batter of egg, flour, garlic, Italian seasoning, & crumbled fried onions. With steamed broccoli, and rice cooked with mixed veggies and Italian seasoning.

 

We made chili cheese burgers with Fritos, I am stuffed. I like all food but comfort food is what we eat mostly.

 

Tonight we went out to one of our favorite restaurants.

Mrs. Levite had the fluffiest fresh potato gnocchi with baby basil pesto, baked ricotta salata, haricots verts, mini potato crisps, and parmigiano reggiano; and a bowl of stunningly good Minestrone with toast and fresh mozzerella slice garnish. She had, along with it, a drink called the Jack Rose, comprised of applejack, house made grenadine, and lemon, garnished with Amarena cherries.

I had the best executed rainbow trout I have ever had-- perfectly filleted, perfectly deboned, subtly seasoned, and done to the perfect balance of crisp and moist-- served with a white wine sauce, crispy cauliflower, haricots verts, and caramelized Granny Smith apple. I drank a nice '12 Nebbiolo to go with it.

We shared, for dessert, a chocolate banana cake with malted milk gelato, honey gelato, and strawberry gelato, and a banana chocolate budino, garnished with chocolate malted milk crispy bits. Along with it, we shared a glass of Malmsey Madeira.

Incredible. It was like food was having sex in my mouth.

 

Ballaro, in Highwood, on Green Bay Road. Never been to Francesca's.

 

Yeah, I've heard of it. TBH, I disregarded it because I tend to automatically avoid chains, unless I get word to not do so (like I do enjoy Lou Malnati's). But if you say it's worth it, I'll add it to the list. Not sure when we'd get a chance to try it-- we tend to go down to the city for dinner only rarely, and usually it's to explore the great classic places or the hidden gems. But I will definitely add it to the list.

 

BabyDaddy's Daddy is in town. I'm hoping I can persuade the BD to go to a brewery this evening so his father can taste some local beers. By the looks of our glass recycling this morning, I see that the two of them enjoyed some beers after I went to bed. If not, I have a lovely Tempranillo saved for this occasion. I don't know what we'd eat for dinner if we don't go to a brewery, but we would have some tasty wine at least.

 

Cottage pie (ground beef) with plenty of onion, green peas, & seasonings.
Carrot, raisin, & apple salad.
Desert will be homemade cheesecake topped with Oregon Three Berry Pie Filling.

 

I believe I will attempt to make that ( thought it was made with ground lamb ) or Sheppard pie not sure now will google later. I enjoy this thread. TFPers post all sorts of foods I never heard of. Taking for example that obviously wonderful and expensive dinner @Levite posted

 

It was wonderful, but for high-end restaurant food, it was actually quite affordable. Under $100, even with tip.

 

Sandy and I enjoy The Charleston in Tulsa we spend the same. So we go on special occasions

 

Generally speaking, real Shepherd's Pie is made with lamb; Cottage Pie covers just about any other meat. The only time we make real SP (rarely) is if we have some leftover lamb roast. BTW my wife spices up the CP quite a bit compared to most recipes.

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The cost of eating out at a nice restaurant is relative to ones disposable income and/or the willingness to splurge.

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Tonight's dinner will be beef roast. I tenderized it by stabbing the hell out of it across the grain on both sides (note--when Kroger puts beef on sale for a really good price it's usually because the beef is tougher than an an old bull). I covered it with a package of onion soup mix, lots of garlic, mushrooms, Worcestershire sauce, & low sodium veggie juice. The veggies will be corn seasoned with red bell pepper, and green beans.

 

The Purple Pig was a let down Saturday, unfortunately. I've been hearing about it for years. I just want normal food tonight. We had decent Korean in Arlington Heights last night after surviving IKEA. I really just want to sit down and have someone make me a really good soup. This is the last move, thank goodness.

 

I also hate moving, and love a good soup or stew. I can make a great soup from the fridge leftovers.

 

I made a good beef stew earlier in the week; for once I actually included enough carrots!

 

Meal Prep Sunday!

2.65 lbs of 93/7 ground beef (6oz patties)
2.65 lbs of chicken (6oz per meal)
3 cups of rice cooking. (Curry with extra pepper)
2# of frozen chopped Broccoli

2 Meals are liquid (breakfast and post-workout)
1/2c of liquid egg whites
Scoop of Protein Powder
1tbls peanut butter

Make my meals and eat them during the week. M-F are in the fridge and saturday is in the freezer. Sunday I eat as I cook.