thanks Leida. I don't have orange juice in the house but I might still try it without. (I have all other ingredients) I know what you mean about the hand held blender. If one makes soups to any degree it is a "must have"

Tonight I made split pea soup and home made bread. The soup is so yummy. I also made a crust-less pumpkin pie.

Okay, where is everyone?

pork chops and brown rice with green beans tonight. Nothing exciting.

Sorry Shannon, between Halloween and my daughter falling sick I lost track of everything.

I did a light appetizer for Halloween - it's called cheese bites, basically just rolled whole wheat bread with a bit of cheese, butter, onion, yogurt & spices stuffing in them.

My husband is still working on goulash, and I made a veggie soup for myself since I am staying home with my daughter and afraid to eat anything heavy.

Leida, give your baby girl a hug for me!

Had the niece and nephew for dinner so did a big pot roast and carrots and potatoes, with cottage cheese.

Getting ready to do some more chocolate meringues. They help SO much with late night snacking.

I am so glad they are working for you, Shannon! The meringues, lol. I will have to do a dessert for my husbands 'thank you' lunch for the teachers in the school they are placed for this semester in his program. I am thinking I will go for chocolate fudge cookies, almond-lemon waffers with raspberry filling and marshmellow&peanut butter squares. It should give a variety of colors on the platter.

Anyway, today I am cooking, and will be experimenting with some hoisin flavored ground beef, bell peppers & squash in the SC for my husband, and I will have boiled borccoli and cauliflour soup unless I feel that I can afford the meat entree. Which I probably can't, with my stupid gain.

I absolutely love anything with raspberry filling! Raspberries are my favorite fruit.

Let me know how the hoisin beef turns out.

Tonight is fasulia. (that mid-eastern beef and green bean stew) It is in the crock pot and is smelling pretty good.

This thread looks like fun! I love sharing my cooking recipes and learning some new ones in the process! Room for one more??

Heck yeah, Chelsea - welcome! What types of food do you like to cook?

The fasulia tonight was extra good. (hubby and I were wondering if it was because we ate later than usual and were extra hungry-ha) I also made side salads of iceberg lettuce, tomato, avocado, and feta cheese.

Thanks for the welcome Shannon! As far as cooking, anything I can get my hands on! Haha. But unfortunately because if our budget it's fairly limited. But I've found some awesome recipes for chicken and ground buffalo! Plus what my Hubby came equipped with, he's a great cook. Yesterday was his birthday so we splurged and bought a porterhouse steak. He loves them! The butcher at our local whole foods is a fountain of delicious recipes, so we folloewd his instructions and it was perfect: stirfry pan with a small amount of olive oil, pre heated. Salt and pepper the steak. 5 or 6 min on each side for a steak that thick, and during the last couple minutes on the last side, throw in about an ounce of spiced rum (captain is GREAT). Sided it with stir fried baby bol choy. Small amount of oil, minced garlic (fresh is best) sautee garlic until soft, add chopped bok choy. It only needs like 2-3 min, but check to make sure the whites are soft enough for your taste. Add salt and pepper, and we like a sprinkle of paprika to give the ole matabolism a boost.

Another favorite recipe (from the butcher as well!): apple porkchops.

Get 2 or 3 sweet apples, gala, honey, etc. Preheat oven to 350. Gat a glass pan, deep enough so the porkchops are below the lip. Core the apples and slice THIN. Layer the bottom of the pan in apples in an even coat. For the chops, sprinkle with salt, peppe, paprika, cayanne if you want, cinnamon, nutmeg, and a pinch of garlic powder. I like to sprinkle both sides. Lay chops on apples and layer another set of apples on top of the chops. Cover with foil, but don't do it flat if the chops and apples are higher than the lip of the glass. The foil actually erodes slightly when heated and it alters the flavors of the food, so I prefer using pans with covers or making sure the foil doesn't touch the food. Cook about 30-45 min or until cooked through. That's sever best with stirfried veggies like snow peas, carrot, brocolli, peppers, and mushrooms. I like to spice them with salt, pepper, garlic powder, cinnamon and paprika for this dish. A little bit if nutmeg is nice too.

Tomorrow I'm making a buffalo roast stew! Can't wait!!!