I don't know what's for dinner tonight, but last night I made chicken pot pie and I'm looking forward to leftovers for lunch today.

We tend to eat fish on Mondays, because that's when I do grocery shopping. And today we are running around all over the city (well, right now I am working while my husband and the kid are at a museum) so we are having a quick dinner. Baked snapper, mashed sweet potatoes and leftover broccoli risotto as a side.

I'm sick right now and all I've eaten today is some grapes, but when I finally get my head around making dinner, I'm going to make Mexican steak, served with a green salad. That is, if I'm not in bed in the next half hour, which is looking likely.

For lunch I had leftovers from last night's dinner, which was delicious: a Spanish tortilla-style omelette (in my head, at least, as I've only been to Spain once) with chorizo, onion, green pepper and tarragon. Low-ish carb and lovely.

Senyar, how do you make Mexican steak? Sounds like an idea I can get behind.

For lunch, the last bowl of my slow-cooked beef & brown rice soup. For supper, a couple turkey sausages on buns (Chicago-dog style) with a salad made from a big red bell pepper and carrot shavings. I also have two pretty red pears for snacking throughout the day. Possibly some albacore tuna* salad on saltines if I need to eat something before I take my evening meds.

* Regular tuna is expensive enough now that I pay the extra quarter for albacore. Plus, Sookie always gets her share of the can.

I had a bagel for breakfast, and a bowl of chili made with pork left over from my Christmas tamales. Now I'm enjoying an early afternoon beer, because I can.

Pan fried salmon with steamed spinach and potato bake for dinner, but it's gonna hurt. Senyar gave me a cold last week that is kicking my ass!

(Senyar didn't really give me a cold, I just want to blame someone for my misery)

Alto, you make a marinade as follows:

1/2 cup packed fresh cilantro leaves (coriander - UK)
3 medium scallions, chopped coarse (spring onions - UK)
3 medium garlic cloves, chopped coarse
1 medium jalapeño chile - take out the ribs and seeds if you don't like it too hot
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon lime juice

Pulse the cilantro, scallions, garlic, jalapeño, and cumin together in the food processor until finely chopped, 10 to 12 pulses, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the oil and process until the mixture is smooth and resembles pesto, about 15 seconds, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.

If you're using a thick piece of steak (such as rump) prick it all over with a fork. If it's a thinner cut, no need to do that. Rub a little salt on the meat and rub the marinade all over it. Put the steak in a dish, cover with cling film and marinate it in the fridge for about an hour.

Before cooking the steak, wipe off the cilantro paste with paper towels. Then, and this sounds weird but it works, mix half a teaspoon of black pepper with half a teaspoon of sugar and sprinkle it over the steak.

Heat a skillet - preferably cast-iron - and add a little vegetable oil (rape/canola or sunflower, but not olive oil, which has too strong a flavour). Cook the steak to taste. Remember to rest it before serving.

If you want to, while it's resting, you can stir-fry onions and peppers in the steak pan along with some garlic and ground cumin. Then you can slice the steak thinly and you have fajitas you can serve with soft tortillas.

I forgot to say, add the lime juice into the 'pesto' when you add the oil. One of those mini-choppers is good for this.

Anyway, my steak is now marinating in the fridge, but I think it's unlikely I'll be able to eat it tonight. I think today will need to be a fruit day.

Aloo gobi (cauliflower and potatoes) and then a spinach tomato zucchini dish that has sort of evolved. Yogurt and chutney on the side.

I'm trying to get back into more cooking and whatnot (and so am currently trolling AskMe for ideas).

Tonight I have a friend from high school coming over for dinner and I'm making stuffed shells and she's bringing some sort of vegetable side dish (because my version of making vegetables is putting one of those frozen steamer bags in the microwave).

As seen over at NPR today: Cooking Up Change how food helped fuel the human rights movement.

I just nuked some readymade chilli in the microwave. Had it with nice fresh sourdough bread from a local bakery though.

Gonna re-heat some soy-based Sloppy Joe's from last night. Maybe have a salad, too. Then it's gallons of hot hot tea to keep me warm.

The fish dishes above sound yummy, even the marinade which I am gonna write down for chicken.

I haven't cooked anything more complicated than tea and toast for a couple of weeks. (I got hit with a nasty cold, and I'm still dragging.) But tonight I'm going to return to the kitchen and make a simple dinner: mushroom ravioli (bought, on hand in the fridge) with broccoli and lemon. Maybe garlic bread on the side.

The Fella made enchiladas Sat night (SO GOOD), which means we have a big pint of sour cream just waiting to go bad in the fridge, so I think I'll make mom's sour cream coffee cake, too.

We're both working today, but I prepped for grilled brined chicken with chimichurri sauce. I plan on making roasted fingerling potatoes and green beans tossed with lime juice, garlic, and cheese (Manchego if we still have some in the fridge, otherwise parmesan). And arugula salad with pickled shallots.

(We are recovering from having house guests with a toddler for the weekend and are looking forward to a grown-up dinner where no one screams or throws food on the floor.)

(We are recovering from having house guests with a toddler for the weekend and are looking forward to a grown-up dinner where no one screams or throws food on the floor.)

So that's why I never get invited to your place for dinner.

There's a pot roast in the slow cooker where it's been all day with some onions and celery and wine and stuff. Hopefully it will not kill us: even though it was only one day past its sell by date, it was looking kind of dubious. Askme probably would have thrown it but me? I am tough. Anyway, it smelled mostly okay and, hell, I can't afford to toss that much food. So we shall see. And there are potatoes in the oven to go with it and frozen broccoli in a bag, whoo.

The intention is to stop glutting myself like I'm gaining weight for a movie role, and yet still I'm delighted to appreciate food again. Just stocked up madly at the grocery store. Ooh, options.

Avoiding carbs all this time, only to find out it's not that big of a deal.
Bread is amazing stuff.

Made Baked egg boats for breakfast and had a cold one for lunch. So yummy. Have puppy class at 5 so dinner will be something easy, probably spaghetti. Stuffed bell peppers planned for tomorrow.

So that's why I never get invited to your place for dinner.

Hee. At this point I'm not sure we'll ever have anyone over ever again. :-/

Until I get new bank cards and credit cards I'm eatin on the cheap, so I had Hot Dogs !!

I worked today, but when things were slow over the weekend I pored over youtube cooking videos and sorted out some recipes. Tomorrow, I will try a batch of scones, and braise some of the pork I have in the freezer in cider with apples and onions and rosemary, to be eaten with spaetzle. On Wednesday, I have to go into Squirrel Hill for an appointment, and will look for some nice leeks for pasta, as well as some beef bones and a tiny bit of steak from the kosher butcher (an old-style place, which I have so far been too intimidated to enter) for attempting a very basic pho on Thursday. It's been so nice to have some flexibility in the food budget lately.

I bought the makings for a pot roast but won't have the opportunity to make it until tomorrow (rump roast, a can of cream of mushroom soop, a dollop of white wine and some seasonings; throw it in a crock pot for eight hours and cry at the beauty when you get home from work.) Steam some carrots and oven-roast some red taters and I have a happy workerhusband.

For the second time in as many weeks, I made a Thai Pork Noodle soup that I found in a Real Simple magazine. I doctored it up by adding glass noodles (vermicelli), baby bok choy, and a little more splash of fish sauce and soy sauce to the printed recipe, and oh my, ever so yummy. I do think it's one of those dishes that taste better the next day (plus I can scoop out those disgusting little globules of fat that float on top).