What's for dinner ( or lunch )

I am thinking of picking up the ingredients for tuna and noodles. I want to try making it in the Instant Pot. It just won't have a crunchy topping unless I put in the oven, which I won't be doing (I do not use the oven), but that is actually good for me. I have to eat softer foods or my mouth gets sore. So tuna and noodles and fruit for supper.
 
JaniceM said:
I don't know what I'll have for dinner. Planned to have shredded chicken with barbecue sauce, but didn't think to take it out of the freezer in time. So I'll probably have it tomorrow, and unsure of tonight.
Lunch was 2 yogurt cups and a glass of milk.
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I have a vacuum sealer I make extensive use of. I not only use the freezer bags, but I have a bunch of vacuum canisters. I've been doing this since the days of the Seal-A-Meal in the 70s. I use it for frozen foods, make-ahead salads, and fresh fruit for my cereal. I easily use it 6 times a day, more if I'm bulk-freezing.

Anyway, the largest benefit to me is the ability to pull something vacuum sealed out of the freezer and put it in a bowl of cold tap water to defrost (air tight = water tight.) Raw and cooked foods defrost quickly this way. Raw chicken parts take maybe 45 minutes, a single steak takes maybe 20 minutes, seafood is less time than that. If I have something frozen that I want to defrost but I did not already seal, I'll seal it in a bag solely to defrost it in the bowl of water. I keep shredded chicken in a large bag, and then vacuum a single serving to defrost as needed. This frees me up to have whatever I feel like having for dinner without having to plan ahead, except for fresh produce...I make whatever I feel like having in that moment. I can start cooking a half hour after I pull it out of the freezer. (I don't like using the microwave to defrost, especially raw foods.)

I use a large stainless bowl and weigh the stuff down with a round cake cooling rack so as to keep the bags submerged. Either put a can of vegetables on top, or if you use a steel bowl, put a series of magnets around the perimeter (10, 2 and 6 o'clock positions) to hold the cake rack down. Lots of ways to do this. When I'm defrosting chicken or fish, I'll put the bowl in the fridge just to be safe.

Sorry for the long dissertation, but if you freeze meals (or raw stuff) ahead and want to get rid of the "I wish I had taken it out of the freezer sooner" dilemma, this will do it for you. I never have to think to defrost ahead of time. For lunch today I pulled frozen Mexican pork and frozen refries from the freezer and let them sit in the water for 15-20 minutes...then I warmed them up. You can buy the bags on Amazon or Walmart.com for about 1/3 the cost that the Food Saver site charges. I see that Amazon sells a lot of different manufacturers. I've got extensive positive experience with Food Saver brand. You don't need anything fancy.
 
RadishRose said:
I had a jar of Tikka Masala "simmering sauce" I'd never tried before. So I cooked some chicken breasts in it, added some broccoli at the end and made a small amount of rice.

It was pretty good.
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What brand was it? We use Patak's. They have several curry sauces, and you only need to use a little of it, so it lasts a long time.
 
RadishRose said:
I had a jar of Tikka Masala "simmering sauce" I'd never tried before. So I cooked some chicken breasts in it, added some broccoli at the end and made a small amount of rice.

It was pretty good.
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Ha !! I was thinking of having that tonight strangely..:). I have a jar of Butter chicken curry sauce and some chicken thighs in the freezer, and was gonna make butter chicken curry , but decided to keep the chicken for another day..

Mine is Sharwoods... (the sauce)...
 
Having salmon fillets for lunch along with broccoli, always have the broccoli as a side so I can squirt the lemon over it and the salmon.

Dinner is breaded pork chops, roasted sheet pan garlic potatoes and the last of the sugar snap peas from the freezer.
 
Today a new dish inspired by a Polish lady.

Cabbage and onions.
I was supposed to use noodles as well. It's supposed to be a depression dish.

But I just had the cabbage an onions and I used a sweet and sour sauce. I'm going to make this one again. I just loved it.
 
In The Sticks said:
I like fennel. I'll toast the seeds in a pan before adding them to the dish. Supposed to be good for digestive issues.

It's not used nearly enough in our cuisine.
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Oh darn. Good idea. I’ve got sesame seeds too.
Fennel is nice. I like that licorice flavour. For a vegetable it’s tasty. I forgot to add that I also had those mini corn cobs . They are yummy too. Normally I add garlic but forgot it.
Ginger is great for the digestive system too.
It’s so soothing. I use it with lemon in my Twinings ginger & lemon tea. It’s instantly soothing.
 
No I wasn’t talking about fennel seeds. While I like and use them , I was referring to fresh fennel root as a vegetable. Tastes like licorice.
 

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