Capitol Hill Blue Forums Misc. Topics Food, Drink and Cooking What's for dinner?

Saturday April 11, 2020

• Stuffed Bell Peppers
• - Bell Peppers
• - Brown Rice
• - Ground Lean Beef
• - Grilled Asparagus
• - Cherry Tomatoes
• - Garlic
• - Onions
• - Cheddar Cheese

I think you're crazy not to have chickens if you can have them. I get more than half my protein from eggs, they contain all nine essential amino acids and a bevy of vitamins and nutrients.

When I move to town the first thing I'll do is build a chicken coop, most towns allow small flocks now as long as certain requirements are met. No roosters though...I'll miss roosters...said no one ever.

All ya gotta do is fence them off a section and build or buy a coop.

If they have enough room to forage you hardly even have to feed them

Chickens are probably like toilet paper right now. My chicken lady usually has daily offerings but her Facebook has gone quiet.

Rick, do you plan your meals out like a lunchlady?

I have no idea yet what I'm having but I think it's gona be fried chicken, or maybe just a salad...

Or maybe...a fried chicken salad!



With bacon.

I spoke too soon about my chicken lady. She says...

Naw mang...like yesterday, I woke up and Nicoise salad came to mind. And I thought...sounds good for dinner.

I pulled some chicken out of the freezer today, but it wouldn't be thawed until tomorrow night (Sunday) for dinner.

So I needed to think fo something for tonight's meal, and I happened by the frozen section at the store today, I saw the Stouffers stuffed bell peppers and I thought I could do that and make it myself.

I pulled up the recipe on my new smart phone while at the store, saw a Food Network recipe and started following that. The Food Network recipe called for zucchini and I knew I had asparagus in the 'fridge at home, so I would sub grilled asp for zucchini.

I was inspired by Ina Garten being on News Hour last night when she said to use whatever you have in the 'fridge and pantry and don't be scared to make substitutions.

...and now you know the rest of the story.

My Momma, rest her soul, was a lunch lady, too.

That's why I want to put in a vegetable garden, so the chickens have some place to forage. We get plenty of bugs here. Might as well have something that can convert them to useful protein. Serendipity! The only thing I would not like is killing them when they retire from laying. I killed far too many animals back when I worked in medical research. Now, I don't even kill spiders I find in the house. Besides, I get Foster Farms chicken breasts for $0.99 / lb on sale and put a pile in the freezer after cooking. So I don't really need the meat. I get eggs for <$1 / dozen at Aldi's so chickens may not pencil out. Thanks for the scoop on duck eggs, Greger.

Dinner last night: Cleaning out the freezer because the fridge is failing slowly. Freezer has stopped making ice and I notice the stuff is starting to get a bit soft. New refrigerator delivered on Wednesday. Meanwhile I had a big smoked sausage with barbeque sauce and saurkraut, and stringbeans on the side.

Stringbeans were part of the Nicoise salad I made on Friday. I blanched the stringbeans in hot water for 4 mins, then cooled immediately with running cold water. They came out slightly firm and really sweet.

You gotta fence 'em out of the vegetable garden! They'll strip every plant to bare stems. They don't just eat bugs y'know! It's like letting your foxes in the henhouse to forage.