COVID, What's for Dinner?

An amazing photo my older brother took recently.  Thought it was worth a share.  

Equating this to the people who don't believe anyone should be told to wear a mask, or do social distancing.  Many say, the government doesn't have a right to tell them what to do.  

And virtual classes at home continue, thought some of you with children at home might get a kick out of this.

Have made some headway with my brown afghan, which thanks to suggestions in my previous post has been renamed, Espresso.  It's maybe twice as wide, but I didn't bother to take a picture...you really can't see much improvement or the design until I get to the opposite stitch block part.

Stuffed mushrooms were served during our cocktail hour last night.  Finely chopped zucchini, bacon bits (real bacon cut small and precooked, not the crunchy type), Parmesan cheese.  Cooked about 15 minutes on 400.  We had Old Fashions.  Showed you a picture of my mad cocktail talents in the previous post.

My version of chicken pastry.  One sheet of Pillsbury Crescent, but the sheet if you can get it.  Roll it out in lightly greased casserole/loaf type pan. Filet one large chicken breast (our use 2 thinly sliced pieces).  Put one piece down on the dough, salt and pepper and sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese, top with lots of fresh spinach leaves, add 2nd piece of chicken, add more cheese.

Bring sides of dough together and crimp ends closed.  Served with seasoned brussel sprouts (salt, pepper, olive oil and garlic powder or celery seed).  I used celery seed this evening.

Cook on 400 until pastry is nicely browned, sprouts soft, but a bit caramelized.  I'm not one that times things much...I can generally tell how things are coming along by the aroma while I'm sipping my cocktail........20-25 minutes would be my guess of how long it cooked.

Forgot to take a picture when I sliced the stuffed chicken.  Sorry.  But, when you slice it you get what looks like a chicken roll up with the spinach in the middle.  The pastry has a nice crunch/crust almost like a good bread crust, but moist inside.  The chicken comes out nice and moist.  I sometimes use a meat thermometer, chicken should be 160-165.  Since so many on social media are sharing pictures and recipes of their baked goodies, thought I'd share my dinner.  I don't bake.  Don't like it, and don't need the calories.

Linking up with Party in Your PJ's

Fun Dressing Up the Table

The family dinner table is an important part of family life. Sadly though it seems many families don't sit at the dinner table together as much as they did when I was a kid, or even as much as we did when my own daughter was a child. Many experts say that's a key thing missing in today's society and family structure.  Kids are busy with school and related sports activities and families eat on the go.  But, perhaps with the holidays approaching setting a nice table and sitting together as a family can be achieved.

My husband and I always eat in the dining room, except for Friday night which is traditionally pizza night at our house.  That night we sit in front of the boob tube.  I always use cloth napkins.  They're more environmentally friendly for one, and I like the feel of them over paper napkins.  I've not yet tried these folds, or anything beyond folding flat or rolling; but plan to.  I wonder if the napkins need to be fairly new so they're sorta stiff?

Do you use cloth napkins?  Have you tried these or other pretty/cute folds?  Do you eat at the dining room table?  Leave me your thoughts in the comments below.

This blog has been in moth balls for a while and I'm hoping to fix that.  I recently re-charged my travel blog, Traveling Suitcase, where I'm currently blogging about a wonderful trip to Ireland and Scotland.  I've managed to keep my charity blog, Bridge and Beyond, current.  But, back to napkins, I always pack cloth napkins when hubby and I travel domestically.  We stay in condo's/timeshares so do the bulk of our meals in. 

A Special Dinner

Our two Cooks, Mean and Stacie. We often join these lovely ladies for dinner and or drinks out. They had a nice surprise for Ernie and I. Said they wanted to cook us dinner. How cool is that folks. Don't they look adorable in aprons doing the dinner prep? Notice the 2 bottle of wine...they know me well.


Stacie cutting fresh strawberries to add to a yummy spinach salad.


Megan grating some fresh parmesian cheese to add to her stuff shells. The shells were awesome. Look out Giada!


While dinner was in the oven, we enjoyed wine, marinated mushrooms and Bruschetta . Conversation was lively, the food excellent, the company wonderful, AND they cleaned up. My kind of a nice evening.

Thank You, we really enjoyed ourselves!