To those who have served or are currently serving...dinner

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Have you ever thought of a career as a food writer?

Oh, and I second limey's recommendation, UG.

Should I start by writing about Key Lime Pie, do you suppose?

No idea why they keep making the things with regular piecrust when there is graham cracker crumb crust out there, the natural partner of citrus/condensed milk fillings. Or gingersnap crumb crust.

[sweetwater]

Key Lime Pie! Last time I had that was in Key West. Good stuff.

[jinx]

Bonefish grill, a chain restaurant, has surprisingly good key lime pie. I wish I had a piece now actually...

I think I'll roast and scoop my squashes for thurday to take my mind off the pie.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

I didn't get around to making the pumpkin pie for Turkey Day. We ate late, and not overmuch. But tasty. Scratchbuilt reduced fat mashed potatoes, and a rather radical vegetable dish of squash, eggplant, and sweetened hot peppers with spinach leaves. Maybe not quite enough sage stuffing for leftover turkey sandwiches, though. Darn.

I don't know if Australians go for this much, but there are few leftovers better than a sandwich filled with a slice of turkey breast, a quarter inch slather of sage turkey stuffing, and a similar layer of jellied cranberry. Mm-mmm! Not a sammich I'd take to work, though, as the cranberry jelly will probably make the bread soggy by lunchtime.

[Aliantha]

My mum used to like stuffing and chicken sandwiches. She sometimes used to put chutney on the bread. I'm not too fond of stuffing myself, but one of my boys likes it.

[Loukianos]

Nothing very exciting was on the menu tonight, just some macaroni and a batch of black-eyed peas stewed up with cabbage, celery, and a lot of spices. I kind of wish I'd had some cheddar to sprinkle over the top.

[Aliantha]

We're going to make some steak and bacon pies and have one for dinner. Mmmmmm...now that sounds yummy..with some salad on the side.

[Iggy]

I made goulash today. Ground beef, chopped onions and green peppers, garlic, diced tomatoes and tomato sauce, chili powder... and I cooked the elbow macaroni in with everything else (I added some water for the pasta). Good times.

I think I now know why I'm so much bigger than everyone else... it is my cooking. If I cook, it is "down home cooking". For meat loaf, you can actually buy seasoning packets. Those are handy when I don't have a lot of seasonings on hand. I've made it from scratch many times too. Some of the spices I put in it usually are garlic, parsley, and sage. Sometimes I throw in random spices as well. I also make my meatloaf with 1 lb of ground hamburger and 1 lb if sausage. It makes for AWESOME meatloaf. I always drain the fat though. And I always add chopped onion and green peppers to my meatloaf. I usually have potatoes of some sort with my dinner... but I'm really picky with vegetables. Usually we end up eating green beans, corn, or salad. hehehe All the meals everyone else makes sound so exotic and healthy compared to mine!

I'm also good at beef stroganoff... beef, cream of mushroom soup, and sourcream basically. And you just put it over cooked pasta. Oh, and I season my beef while I brown it and add onions and garlic. Yum!

[wolf]

Since I can't actually cook at work, I end up ordering out a lot.

Tonight my favorite delivery restaurant had one of my favorite specials ... the "Cowboy Cheesesteak."

It's a regular Philly Cheesesteak that is made just that much better by the addition of bacon, onion rings, and A-1 Steak Sauce.

Ooh yumishness.

[dar512]

Mrs. dar made a lasagne. It was very tasty. I like mine cheeeesy.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Mm, yesss... good flavorsome ricotta, that truly makes a lasagna. Tomato paste is pretty much tomato paste, ground beast is still ground beast.

Since I like a lasagna not to slide apart on the plate, I layer it up with the uncooked lasagne. They get done in the baking and control excessive moisture in the final product.

[dar512]

That's too dry for me, UG. I like mine sloppy.

[Pie]

I like mine well-structured, with extra sauce. Sloppy-ness should come from the sauce, not extra water.

[classicman]

I pat the noodles dry an/or put them in the salad spinner - keeps things together very nicely!

Oh and UG - Tomato paste IS NOT Tomato paste!

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Well, I'm always willing to hear about a better somethingorother. But be advised my palate is not frightfully subtle. I may have real trouble distinguishing one canned tomato paste from another.

Sloppy migrates to my shirt front much too easily. And only camouflage trousers can hide a similar misfortune below the beltline.

I can get at a Smart & Final, Albertson's, Ralphs, Trader Joe's, a WholeFoods with a bit of a hike, and numerous Mexican grocery stores, even the Vallarta chain.