Lou and Beth were in the Chef seats last night and they excelled. The vegetable beef soup was perfect for a cold day, and Beth made some tasty biscuits to go with it. I am sure the addition of some left over prime rib didn’t hurt.
Today, Lou treated us all to breakfast sandwiches:
I had to drop the dogs off at the groomers and do some errands. Beth helped Lou with the dump run while Catherine took care of work duties. I came back to the house, picked up Beth, and we went back to town for more errands, some lunch pick-up, and finished up by retrieving the dogs.
Beth and Catherine are very happy with the lobster rolls and the lobster stew. 🦞🦞
The dogs supervised my bike ride:
it was my turn to do dinner tonight. Went with the old standby, salad and pizza. It seemed to go over well. We ordered Lou’s regular pepperoni, sausage, and jalapeño pizza. We also got the special of the week, ”Kale Yeah.” This was basically a vegetable pizza with weird stuff. It was okay, but not my favorite.
This concludes our busy day, although some might be tempted by dessert.
We have been eating all of our meals at home, except for a couple of visits to Young’s Lobster Pound. At Young’s, the girls got takeout, and also ate their lunch in the car. The weather has been too cold to sit at the picnic tables. Our other favorite restaurants, like The Hichborn, are closed until spring.
We have been eating well, and Lou made sure that would continue by assigning everyone a night to do the meal of their choice. Last night, Catherine & Beth showed me how to make Sesame Chicken. Tonight, Lou and Beth are making Vegetable Soup, I am in charge of takeout tomorrow, and Lou and Catherine are doing pork tenderloin on Friday.
Sesame Chicken & Fried Rice
I wanted someone to show me how to make one of the Asian recipes from The Guiltfree Gourmet. This is one of the food gurus I follow who makes low calorie, low sugar recipes. These are also low in WW points. Click for the full sized images.
Beth and Catherine agreed to show me how to make this, even though they had never made it. Presumably, their cooking skills are much more advanced than mine.
There was some grumbling about the large number of ingredients, but they stayed true to the recipe. I tried to assure them that The Guiltfree Gourmet did extensive testing, and had a reason for all of his ingredients.
The secret to keeping the sesame chicken crisp is to mix it with the sauce just before serving. Catherine did this masterfully 👍. Catherine started the fried rice, and Beth finished it up. Shhhh, don’t tell anyone, but this was cauliflower rice and it was g-o-o-d. Even Lou ate some.
There were a lot of steps. The breading called for crunched rice crispy cereal with a bit of panko and breadcrumbs. This mixture was then toasted in a pan on the stove. The sauce was made from several types of soy sauce, oyster sauce, chicken broth, and multiple spices. The chicken pieces were cut into bite-sized pieces, then marinated in a baking soda solution for 15-20 minutes to tenderize the chicken. Each piece of chicken was individually breaded. No shake and bake allowed! We had more chicken than the recipe called for, so the chef extended the breading with more panko. The tray of chicken bakes for 14 minutes, then each chicken piece is expertly flipped (that was my job) and returned to the oven for 6 minutes.
Thank you, Catherine and Beth, for helping me learn to cook sesame chicken! I will definitely use this recipe again to make the other variations on The Guiltfree Gourmet’s website. And the fried rice was an excellent way to showcase the versatility of cauliflower rice.
is a sad day for the Girls from California. So far, I believe today (Tuesday) is the second day they have gone without their crustacean fix. Yesterday was just too rainy and windy to go out, and Catherine had some school work to do today.
Don’t be sad, we are still eating well. Lou treated us to his special blueberry pancakes and they were yummy..
We have also had a couple of nice dinners. Lou made spaghetti and meat sauce one night, and we had that with a big salad. Tasty! This was actually the first of our Christmas-in-January dinners. After dinner the girls gave us some nice presents and we had a mini Christmas. (We did not have any presents for them, because we don’t like to spoil them 😄).
And our collection of fun gifts:
One of these gifts deserves a closer look. Catherine did the painting of the dogs for her Dad. It reminded her of a painting she did for her Dad when she was six years old.
We will share more excitement as the week continues.
We had a very special day, celebrating Beth’s birthday today. It started with blueberry pancakes for breakfast, followed by Oysters and Lobster rolls for lunch. Will share some photos of those feasts tomorrow.
Tonight we will focus on the Birthday dinner. Catherine took over chef duties, and everything was delicious. You might be surprised to know lobster was on the menu. Stuffed mushroom appetizers were served before dinner:
The lobsters soon followed:
What’s a birthday celebration without cake?
Happy Birthday, Beth. We are delighted to get to share your special day here in Maine.
Stay safe, and stay tuned for more lobster adventures.
The Sisters left early Friday morning from California, and arrived by 8 PM. All went well with their flights and it was great to see them both.
They made a quick visit to the hot tub last night, and discovered what single digit temps really mean. Catherine said her drink froze before she got in the hot water.
After Dad cooked a breakfast of bacon and eggs, the girls headed into town for a shopping trip. They came back with their lunch, and Sisters’ Trip 2022 was off to an official start.
So today, I took a flying sprawl on the fresh snow covering the driveway. I was going out to help Lou bring in the groceries, and just happened to step in a spot of snow with solid ice underneath. What is that about no good deed going unpunished? My feet went straight out from under me, I landed on my back, then bounced my head and elbow off the ice. Fortunately, my heavy coat took the brunt of the fall on my back. I am a little sore tonight, but not too bad.
In other news, I have a sneak peek at one of Lou’s secondary projects. He is having a door put in, replacing a window in the loft that overlooks the small deck in the front. Andy and his apprentice are working diligently to get it done before the girls get here on Friday.
You just never know what Lou will come up with next.
There are some new posts in the Diabetes Denied blog. I did the Test Kitchen assignment on Lasagna for Chrisie, and there are a couple of postings about my new Peloton Bike (thank you, Santa).
We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of Beth and Catherine. They are set to arrive on Friday evening. Yay!
Stay Safe !!!
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Kathy on Cooking Class: “That looks delicious and like it came straight from a restaurant kitchen!” Jan 20, 08:45
smd on Happy Birthday, Beth 🎂🎉💐: “It was a combo cake – carrot cake, red velvet, Carmel something, and decadent chocolate.” Jan 17, 08:28
Chrisie on Happy Birthday, Beth 🎂🎉💐: “Happy birthday! That cake looks amazing! What is it? Have a great day” Jan 17, 06:45
Chrisie on Lobsters in Peril 🦞🦞: “Looks great! Glad they arrived safely” Jan 16, 09:19
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