What Are You Having For Dinner

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I'm the cook in the family these days. My daughter is far better, but she's in Hawaii. And the remainder of my family will never give me any ideas what they want me to cook.

So for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day my meal plan is "no plan". I just got back from the store and bought everything I didn't already have on hand, and I'll choose what to make once people have gathered and say "What's for dinner?, I'm hungry!" At that time, I will list off what I have to use. If they don't leave me enough time, I will only list ingredients I have that can be cooked on the Blackstone so I can cook it all together in a short amount of time (but rice cooker and air fryer could be used along with the Blackstone if required).

Honey Baked Ham Store roast turkey breast. Ribeye steaks. Chicken breasts. Shrimp. Ham. Ground beef. Andouille sausage. Salmon. Tilalpia. Center cut bone-in pork chops. Eggs.

Green beans. Asparagus. Yellow Squash. Zuchinni. Mushrooms. Bell peppers. Golden potatoes. Red potatoes. Sweet potatoes. Corn. Stuffing. A variety of different beans. Flavored noodles. Mac & Cheese. Jasmine rice. Just about everything you can think of to put into a salad concoction. Cottage cheese. Fruit cocktail. Refrigerator biscuits. Sourdough bread.

Cherry pie. Ice cream. A variety of cookies. Everything needed to make fruit smoothies.

For breakfast tomorrow I can do a traditional big breakfast - eggs, hashbrowns, bacon/sausage/ham, pancakes/waffles - of some Mexican Huevos Rancheros - eggs, chili, beans, tortillas, cheese, avocado, grilled chicken, sour creme.

It is kind of free'ing to realize that all the bases are covered. I can make anything they would most likely ask for (I do have other staples for making common things like spaghetti laying around as well).

Tonight, my vote would go for the grilled pork chops with grilled asparagus and roasted potatoes. Cherry pie for dessert. But I'll let everybody else choose and only make what I want if nobody has any preferences/suggestions. The cherry pie is a cheater - it's a frozen Marie Callender's concoction. Those are pretty good for frozen pies though. A pie from scratch would take too long when started at the last minute. Ditto for the beans - those are canned cheaters. No time to soak dried beans. I can't imagine anyone in my family asking for beans though, except for the huevos rancheros. We usually have those with burgers or other BBQ stuff, not with the things I listed above.

Tomorrow, I'd pick the huevos rancheros for breakfast and turkey breast, stuffing, green beans, salad, biscuits and ice cream for the later meal. We'll see if I win the lotto or if the others pick something different.

Of course, I picked up a wide variety of my favorite beers and those are chilling now. Two friends dropped off some Christmas cookie assortments they just baked, and one of them brought a quart of his homemade eggnog as well.

We're set! I am totally stress free at the moment. And I'm set for dinners for the next week almost.
 
My dinner tonight ...was good
For once I took the time to relax --- I fed the gang before I sat :p

Chicken - cranberries- coleslaw- 2 green onions - gouda cheese pieces

Dessert : cheesecake

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Making omelettes for brunch ... onion, red and green bell peppers, mushrooms, sausage, hash browns, all chopped up and mixed together.

For dinner, boneless pork chops, breaded and baked, deep fried potato cubes, green beans, roasted raspberry chipotle sauce.

Also home made sarmale (pickled cabbage leaves stuffed with ground pork and beef).
 
Tonight, my vote would go for the grilled pork chops with grilled asparagus and roasted potatoes. Cherry pie for dessert.
I came out pretty good on this on. The only substitution they asked for was green beans replacing the asparagus. I can live with that.
Tomorrow ... turkey breast, stuffing, green beans, salad, biscuits and ice cream for the later meal.
Man, I got skunked on this one. They want turkey, mac-and-cheese, and biscuits. What kind of Neanderthal family am I party to? I'm going to cook some green vegetables whether they like it or not. If they don't eat them, I'm gonna walk over there and stir them into their mac-n-cheese.
 
Well... the Christmas duck is still half frozen... and I put it in the refer Mon morning. Oops. So Mrs. is making eggplant parmesan with mashed potatoes and the last pumpkin pie for later tonight. Guess it'll be duck tomorrow. LOL Merry Christmas!
 
Well... the Christmas duck is still half frozen... and I put it in the refer Mon morning. Oops. So Mrs. is making eggplant parmesan with mashed potatoes and the last pumpkin pie for later tonight. Guess it'll be duck tomorrow. LOL Merry Christmas!
Uh oh!! You better DUCK!!
 
We had Stuffed cabbage rolls ( Halupki) mashed potatoes with the tomato sauce gravy.
Wife had asparagus, I had green beans as side veggies.
 
I had my son and daughter over last night, along with my 21 year old grandson. I cooked a beautiful prime rib using the "high heat sear, then low and slow" method. I will never cook a prime rib any other way. Once I began to cut it open, I got so excited that I forgot to take pictures.
 
Last night was prime rib for us as well, fantastic. Although I will admit I prefer it cooked in the smoker versus the oven. But it was a perfect medium rare with a dark flavorful crust.

Tonight the girl is cooking homemade macaroni and cheese. She got this recipe from her boyfriend's mother, who is a chef. It uses cheddar, gouda and gruyere cheese and sounds really good.
 
Well, we cooked the duck. Never, effing ever again! It looks great - there was NO meat, barely enough for two. I literally carved two slices on each side and the breast was... gone. Got about 3 bites from a leg. $20 wasted. I'm not big on duck anyway. From now on we shoot our own.
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Something with leftover turkey and prime rib. Probably the last night of it tho. I made a loaf of milk and honey wheat bread yesterday so son and gf could bring prime rib sandwiches on the train, which they did. So probably making a 9 grain loaf today. We had bought a 15.5 lb prime rib, and I put 4lbs of it in the freezer for New Years. It was excellent. High heat seared, then I slow roasted it. Seasoned it with butter, garlic, pepper, and herbs de provence.
 

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