Author Topic: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?  (Read 950046 times)

OtherJen

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #750 on: April 05, 2019, 08:22:42 PM »
I don’t know yet if husband is visiting his friend tonight. If yes, the contents of our fridge suggest that I should sauté zucchini and mushrooms, add a can of white beans, the last of the tomato paste, and some Greek seasonings, and top the whole mess with feta.

If he’s home tonight, I suppose I could also add a can of oil-packed tuna, which would be an acceptable “meat” content for husband’s palate.

Husband stayed home and tested out his birthday gift from my parents: a carbon steel wok. We had pad krapow gai (spicy chicken with basil) over jasmine rice. Yum. Seriously, he can cook dinner whenever he wants.

jeninco

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #751 on: April 05, 2019, 09:29:25 PM »
OtherJen, that sounds wonderful!

We wound up with sort of "clean-out-the-fridge" chef's salads with oven fries, as we turned out to have plenty of salad ingredients, leftover chicken and pork, some leftover ham from lunches (I fried it), along with not-very-hard-cooked eggs. It was fine, and the fridge is now clean.

Also, I have a shopping list, so I'll go first thing tomorrow morning. Tomorrow night's dinner will probably be baja shrimp salad. (Depends on the ripeness of the on-sale avocados.)

sparkytheop

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #752 on: April 06, 2019, 04:02:14 AM »
Work was going to be too busy to do my usual night shift cooking (I keep a cast iron skillet at work), so I just threw some chicken nuggets in the oven while I took care of some of my duties, before throwing a salad together to take care of more duties (where I would not have any kitchen access for 6 hours).  Wasn't the best, but wasn't the worst, and I got to cook up some fried potatoes, a sausage patty, and an egg later in my shift.

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #753 on: April 06, 2019, 03:28:32 PM »
Tonight is the first night all of our new kitchen appliances are in. To celebrate I am stepping out of my comfort zone and cooked green tea soba noodles with seared scollops and ahi tuna with peanut sauce (cooked sous vide and seared).

OtherJen

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #754 on: April 06, 2019, 04:56:07 PM »
Tonight is the first night all of our new kitchen appliances are in. To celebrate I am stepping out of my comfort zone and cooked green tea soba noodles with seared scollops and ahi tuna with peanut sauce (cooked sous vide and seared).

YUM. Congrats on the new kitchen!

Our weather is fantastic today, so I think I'll have husband grill some chicken thighs. We'll have those with the zucchini/mushroom sauté and rice.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #755 on: April 07, 2019, 08:20:08 AM »
made Mushroom Carbonara last night from this recipe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3cJG44VPKU (I love Bon Appetit's youtube channel!)

It was goddamn delicious. We didn't do a great job of timing having the pasta ready to go when the mushrooms and shallots were done cooking, but even without doing so it made for a pretty quick weeknight dinner. Made about 5 servings so enough for leftovers for lunch today. If you don't like the video format, the full print recipe is here: https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/mushroom-carbonara

Thanks for the idea. I will try to make something similar. But with different mushrooms from my self picked stock, with different pasta shapes and with different cheese. Still hope that it will taste good.

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #756 on: April 07, 2019, 08:40:40 AM »
Sourdough bread and a big pot of chili.  We'll have salad first, and planning to eat leftover chili the next couple days.

Roadrunner53

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #757 on: April 07, 2019, 11:50:38 AM »
Made a turkey breast yesterday. Used the Reynolds oven cooking bags and turkey comes out perfect every time! So moist and tender.
Had some beets that I wrapped in foil and roasted them too.

Today, cut up a bunch of apples and two tiny pears and added to my slow cooker. Making apple sauce with cinnamon and a little brown sugar. Left the skins on and once apples are soft I will put it all in the Vita Mix and will blend it up so skins will be non existant!

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #758 on: April 07, 2019, 12:52:55 PM »
Maybe I'll have spaghetti tonight.

sparkytheop

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #759 on: April 07, 2019, 02:41:49 PM »
Nothing exciting tonight, just soaking pinto beans to make refried beans in the instant pot for tacos/burritos.  It makes a lot, but the beans freeze well so I can do that and use the rest later.

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #760 on: April 08, 2019, 06:23:55 PM »
Buffalo chicken sliders

Tyson

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #761 on: April 08, 2019, 06:31:16 PM »
Spicy Italian chicken sausage, roasted potatoes, mixed greens salad w/avocado ranch dressing.  Yum and pretty cheap. 

OtherJen

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #762 on: April 08, 2019, 07:51:03 PM »
Stuck-pot rice with lentils (we're a bit obsessed with this recipe), grilled salmon, and steamed broccoli and cauliflower (from frozen).

jeninco

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #763 on: April 09, 2019, 03:14:03 PM »
Black bean and corn salad in a lime chipotle dressing, with red peppers, pickled onions, and avocados. Probably with homemade tortilla chips, out of some crappy freezer-burnt corn tortillas.

Possibly steamed artichokes -- they were an impulse purchase yesterday.

OtherJen

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #764 on: April 09, 2019, 04:37:21 PM »
Frozen gluten-free pizza from Costco and side salad. We both slept really horribly last night and I wore myself out with a nature walk, so our usual dinners feel insurmountable tonight.

jeninco

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #765 on: April 09, 2019, 05:28:48 PM »
Frozen gluten-free pizza from Costco and side salad. We both slept really horribly last night and I wore myself out with a nature walk, so our usual dinners feel insurmountable tonight.

That actually sounds really good as a "let's just eat dinner" fairly healthy dinner.  I can't wait until I'm not feeding hordes of starving teenagers (OK, just two, but it feels like a horde!) and we can have normal human-being suppers like that!

OtherJen

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #766 on: April 09, 2019, 07:11:19 PM »
Frozen gluten-free pizza from Costco and side salad. We both slept really horribly last night and I wore myself out with a nature walk, so our usual dinners feel insurmountable tonight.

That actually sounds really good as a "let's just eat dinner" fairly healthy dinner.  I can't wait until I'm not feeding hordes of starving teenagers (OK, just two, but it feels like a horde!) and we can have normal human-being suppers like that!

2 teenagers = at least 4 adults. And yes, this is one of our sanity-saving meals.

Roadrunner53

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #767 on: April 10, 2019, 08:09:11 AM »
Having my second corned beef and cabbage with carrots, taters, onion, garlic. Always have one St. Patrick's day and then another one a month down the road. Just got it all into the crockpot. Cabbage will be put in towards the end.

OtherJen

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #768 on: April 10, 2019, 08:19:02 AM »
Having my second corned beef and cabbage with carrots, taters, onion, garlic. Always have one St. Patrick's day and then another one a month down the road. Just got it all into the crockpot. Cabbage will be put in towards the end.

Yum. We love corned beef but never think to make it except around St. Pat's day. I really need to stock up the freezer when the corned briskets are on sale.

Roadrunner53

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #769 on: April 10, 2019, 08:54:34 AM »
I usually buy two in March. The expiration date is pretty long so I don't freeze the second one. I don't get it why people only eat corned beef on ST. Patrick's day! It is a good crockpot easy peasy dinner! But they cost more during the rest of the year. Next year maybe I will pick up 5 and freeze three of them!


Tyson

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #770 on: April 10, 2019, 10:02:01 AM »
I have some leftover Italian chicken sausages, I'm going to make some rice and frozen mixed veggies, and use a green curry sauce I have in the fridge. 

Poundwise

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #771 on: April 10, 2019, 02:21:20 PM »
My SIL does this awesome Vietnamese noodle dish with mushrooms and egg noodles and vegetables and stuff. She's somehow very cagey when I ask her for the recipe... I think she just makes it up as she goes along. I tried to watch her closely last time she made it.  I got Maggi sauce, Vietnamese fish sauce, and the noodles.  Let's see if my industrial espionage pays off!

turketron

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #772 on: April 10, 2019, 02:39:31 PM »
My SIL does this awesome Vietnamese noodle dish with mushrooms and egg noodles and vegetables and stuff. She's somehow very cagey when I ask her for the recipe... I think she just makes it up as she goes along. I tried to watch her closely last time she made it.  I got Maggi sauce, Vietnamese fish sauce, and the noodles.  Let's see if my industrial espionage pays off!

That sounds super tasty! Report back with your findings please :D

OtherJen

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #773 on: April 10, 2019, 07:04:37 PM »
Ugh. Dealt with roof replacement all day while trying to work at home. Dinner was Costco rotisserie chicken, roasted potatoes, and broccoli/cauliflower mix (from frozen).

Poundwise

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #774 on: April 10, 2019, 07:18:18 PM »
My SIL does this awesome Vietnamese noodle dish with mushrooms and egg noodles and vegetables and stuff. She's somehow very cagey when I ask her for the recipe... I think she just makes it up as she goes along. I tried to watch her closely last time she made it.  I got Maggi sauce, Vietnamese fish sauce, and the noodles.  Let's see if my industrial espionage pays off!

That sounds super tasty! Report back with your findings please :D

It was okay, but not as good as what she does.  Unfortunately my fresh lo mein noodles (the egg ones) had gone bad so I had to dig out some dry rice noodles, like are used in pho, from the pantry. While the noodles were boiling,
I sliced oyster and shiitake mushrooms, then sauteed in oil. She also used enoki mushrooms and some other fancy wild mushrooms but I had to work with what was available at my grocery store.  Separately, I sauteed slice chicken breast (she used some processed meat that is unfamiliar to me). 

Then, I made a sauce and this is where I think I went wrong. I can't remember what liquid she used as base... maybe it should have been chicken broth, but I used a half cup of mirin cooking wine. I added splashes of soy sauce, Maggi, and fish sauce. Then I added maybe a quarter cup of sugar.  Thinking back, maybe I should have sauted ginger and green onion in the oil that I used to cook the chicken. Garlic might also have been a good idea, and bell pepper.

Anyway, I tossed all the cooked ingredients together, plus some fresh spinach leaves, warmed them slightly in the pan, and added the sauce.

It was okay but not really the same dish that she cooked. Family ate well.  It's been a few months since we had the original meal at my brother-in-law's house, so I'll have to hope she makes it again next time we see them!

@OtherJen, sometimes we just have to keep body and soul together.  You pulled through and put another hot meal on the table, and that's what matters!


OtherJen

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #775 on: April 11, 2019, 09:06:18 PM »
I redeemed myself by making chicken stock from the Costco chicken, and then chicken vegetable soup for dinner.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #776 on: April 12, 2019, 06:10:46 AM »
Yesterday I warmed up a freezer portion of beans and lentils. Tonight I will eat a freezer portion of potato, cabbage and maybe some meat. The freezer had 2 portions of potato and cabbage left.

That will be the last day of being home alone and eating leftovers each day.

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #777 on: April 12, 2019, 07:15:17 AM »
Had some leftover sardine salad and baked sweet potato, so I used an egg as a binder and made fishcakes.  They came out... okay.  I've never made fishcakes before so I probably need more practice/more ideal ingredient ratios.

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #778 on: April 12, 2019, 10:13:17 AM »
Yesterday we had some leftover rotisserie chicken, so I sauteed some shallots and mushrooms while cooking some pasta in the Instant Pot.  Added broccoli and shredded chicken, plus some grated parm and chile flakes.  It was a treat since we don't eat pasta very often.

Tonight will probably brats with carrots, cabbage and homemade sauerkraut.

Roadrunner53

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #779 on: April 12, 2019, 10:57:14 AM »
Having stuffed peppers. I subscribe to Misfits Market organic veggie delivery and I get one big box every two weeks. I try to use up my allotment during the two weeks for two people. It is working out pretty good but I have to be diligent in using up the veggies. Right now I have two English cukes, two eggplants, 3 turnips, two butternut squash and 4 oranges, one grapefruit to use up before Tuesday. The peppers were one of the veggies in my box so now that is being used up. I will slice, bread and bake the eggplant and probably freeze. The cukes I will make a cuke, sour cream, dill, sugar, vinegar salad out of. The turnips, I will boil/mash with a tater to make a mock mashed tater side dish. Butternut squash I could bake up or make a soup. Any Butternut squash suggestions?

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #780 on: April 12, 2019, 12:32:14 PM »
Frozen pizza if my husband makes his connection and can pick up the kids (we are out of frozen pizza, so I have to buy it first)

If not...I dunno.

Cool Friend

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #781 on: April 12, 2019, 12:41:19 PM »
Frozen pizza if my husband makes his connection and can pick up the kids (we are out of frozen pizza, so I have to buy it first)

If not...I dunno.

Got anything else in the pantry or fridge if pizza doesn’t pan out?

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #782 on: April 12, 2019, 12:51:45 PM »
I'll bake a whole sweet potato in the microwave, then top it with some pulled bbq chicken, raw spinache and red onions.

OtherJen

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #783 on: April 12, 2019, 05:28:44 PM »
Husband is attempting pad see ew in his new wok. Mmm, rice noodles.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #784 on: April 13, 2019, 12:07:45 PM »
Potatoes cut in diced and fried. Cooked cauliflower. Chorizo burgers and fried cailiflower leaves.

WhiteTrashCash

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #785 on: April 13, 2019, 01:42:33 PM »
It's the weekend so homemade pizza night! And maybe we'll get crazy and watch some episodes of "The Flash" that we recorded on our over-the-air DVR. We just got caught up on "Black Lightning" last night, so time to move on to the next superhero show.

OtherJen

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #786 on: April 13, 2019, 05:41:00 PM »
Taco rice.

jeninco

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #787 on: April 14, 2019, 02:00:17 PM »
Having stuffed peppers. I subscribe to Misfits Market organic veggie delivery and I get one big box every two weeks. I try to use up my allotment during the two weeks for two people. It is working out pretty good but I have to be diligent in using up the veggies. Right now I have two English cukes, two eggplants, 3 turnips, two butternut squash and 4 oranges, one grapefruit to use up before Tuesday. The peppers were one of the veggies in my box so now that is being used up. I will slice, bread and bake the eggplant and probably freeze. The cukes I will make a cuke, sour cream, dill, sugar, vinegar salad out of. The turnips, I will boil/mash with a tater to make a mock mashed tater side dish. Butternut squash I could bake up or make a soup. Any Butternut squash suggestions?

Cube the squash, toss with some oil and bake, then make into a roasted squash salad. Google for ideas, but I like this one:https://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/roasted-winter-squash-salad-recipe.html

turketron

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #788 on: April 14, 2019, 02:25:15 PM »
Having my parents over for dinner, making eggplant parmesan from a Serious Eats recipe that's one of my all-time favorites. Also just got some ramekins for a wedding gift so we're experimenting with Molten Chocolate cake for dessert. Let's hope it turns out ok!

OtherJen

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #789 on: April 14, 2019, 04:56:05 PM »
Homemade tomato sauce (Marcella Hazan's recipe) with ground beef, mushrooms, and garlic over penne pasta.

Parizade

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #790 on: April 14, 2019, 06:45:28 PM »
Ground turkey stir fry over brown rice.
https://www.budgetbytes.com/ground-turkey-stir-fry/

OtherJen

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #791 on: April 14, 2019, 07:21:25 PM »
Crockpot sesame beef (budget bytes recipe) with broiled asparagus and kimchi fried rice -- the latter was mainly to use up a bunch of rice that was languishing in the fridge, but boy was it tasty!  Used this recipe-- https://mykoreankitchen.com/kimchi-fried-rice/ -- and substituted plain old cremini mushrooms (that were also languishing in the fridge) for the enoki mushrooms.  It was a big hit and will be going into the meal rotation on a regular basis.

That sesame beef recipe is one of our favorites. Thanks for sharing the kimchi rice recipe! It sounds delicious and I know my husband would love it.

jeninco

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #792 on: April 16, 2019, 05:47:25 PM »
Shepherd & shepherdess pie!

(Shepherd is traditionally with lamb, shepherdess is traditionally vegetarian: I'm using both red lentils AND some shredded beef from making stock a week or so ago -- it was in the freezer. Onion, carrot, probably edamame, as I don't much like peas. Leftover baked potatoes, mashed with stuff.) Also, salad.

OtherJen

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #793 on: April 16, 2019, 07:24:40 PM »
Crustless quiche with onion, red bell pepper, bacon, and Swiss cheese and roasted potatoes.

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #794 on: April 17, 2019, 06:26:30 AM »
I have all the stuff to make a big thing of vegetarian curry. I was going to make it last night but I got home late and so was so tired I wasn't hungry. So tonight it is (fresh califlower, cabbage, also bag of frozen veggies), rice on the side.

My kids and I love the mango lassi. I want to learn how to make that. 

OtherJen

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #795 on: April 17, 2019, 09:13:30 PM »
Husband made a chicken and veg stir fry with brown rice (I worked until 9 pm).

Tyson

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #796 on: April 17, 2019, 09:34:41 PM »
Street tacos using ground turkey breast (99 cent/lb).  And I used this home made taco seasoning recipe someone here linked to earlier:

https://www.rachelcooks.com/2011/10/28/homemade-taco-seasoning/

Had half an avocado left over from the salad last night so used that & some shredded cheese and lettuce.  Yummy.  My 12 year old daughter approved, too!

Dicey

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #797 on: April 17, 2019, 11:21:55 PM »
Burrrrritos, using 1/3 of the batch of taco meat we batch cooked the other day. Today's Secret Ingredient was  sliced and sauteed onions, as we have many to use up. Yummy!

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #798 on: April 18, 2019, 07:20:00 AM »

My kids and I love the mango lassi. I want to learn how to make that.

The secret to restaurant-style mango lassi, I find, is to get canned mango pulp from an Indian grocery store.  I've tried using frozen mango chunks but it's just not the same.

soccerluvof4

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Re: Watcha making for dinner tonight!?
« Reply #799 on: April 18, 2019, 11:28:21 AM »
Making salmon tonight. We are making an effort to increase our fish intake to at least twice a week.