Continued cool in central Illinois; nature added another half inch to the rain gauge.

I have sauce from my garden's tomatoes simmering with chicken thighs. I'll remove the meat from the bone, add some veggies and serve it with something (possibly linguine) and a few drops (or more) of red wine.

It's been cool here in Ohio too. Some rain is expected tonight.

Leftovers graced my table tonight. Texas Beans and mac n cheese. I love having very few dishes. I do them by hand.

Shirley

That's a definitely benefit, of having leftovers Shirley! Hubby does the dishes (no dishwasher) so he's pleased when leftovers grace our table. (love the way you phrased that!) LOL
Jim your chicken with tomato sauce sounds pretty good. Wine is a wonderful addition!

Couldn't take it anymore, the castle is cold, furnace is on. Stupid weather. But planning a beach party Friday, and over the weekend to kiss summer goodbye. (That will be #19, a spectacular record.) Cooked up garden tomatoes, so will be having more superbly delicious Chili with extra Chili Powder and Jalapeno Peppers. A quick Nuclear warming means more time for Happy Hour. Back to the dentist tomorrow to pull the stitches.

Lasagna. Going to freeze part of it when it cools.

Barbecued chicken, spaghetti and salad. It was a beautiful day here. It started out cool and warmed up nicely. Rain is coming soon.

Today was bridge day. Asked Dh if he would like to go out for Chineseâ¦â¦never have to twist his arm. He loves to go out and he loves Chinese. I was going to make him a burger and slaw tonight but after thinking about it, I really did not want to cook tomorrow night because I have book club here on Wednesday morning. We always have leftovers for the next night when we go out. Always thinking!

We're getting ready to grill burgers. I'll saute' shitake mushrooms to go on top and we'll have a crunchy side salad.

It's still too warm here for me to want to turn the oven on, but that lasagna sure sounds good. I may have to make sure that I have all of the ingredients here in the event of a cool down.

It's miserably hot here in southern California. Dinner will be a cold salad. I cannot cook when it's this hot and I don't want to go out either. Please send me some of your cool air and rain. I desperately need both.

Yes, it is blistering hot in So. CA.....6:30 pm and it's still 100 degrees. Just miserable. I feel so sorry for the people who have to work outside, the trash people, roofers, postman, etc.

I made wantoretire's recipe she shared recently, Chef John's Beans and Greens. It calls for escarole, which the store did not have, so I substituted spinach. She doesn't put in the anchovie, but I did (even tho' the darn things were over $3!). The soup is very good.

Here is a link that might be useful: Chef John's Beans and Greens

Big garden salad made with lots of stuff from the CSA box and added my own tomatoes and some tender homegrown Swiss chard.
Also had some Dover sole left over from last night and added it on top of the salad.
I have really been enjoying my heart healthy meals and it is fun to be more creative with grains.
I am steadily losing about 1.5 pounds a week and exercising 5 days a week.
And I am never hungry.
DH is less than thrilled about the heart healthy diet so he is pretty much on his own. (His choice.)

Carol, can you share some of your heart-healthy meals/recipes?
I love it that you're never hungry. I'm *always* hungry. How do you use grains?

Carol, what's a CSA box? I'm getting produce delivered from Farm Fresh, but it's a little pricey for me. I'd probably be better off going to Whole Foods.

Fantastic weight loss Carol. You must be so happy with yourself! I did the same a couple years ago, finally dumping 30 lbs. For me the secret was lower carbs and a little more physical activity every day. The pounds came off slowly but have stayed off. Keep up the good work, Carol.

We had homemade Chicken Noodle soup with homemade noodles. It was so good and warming. It was kind of chilly here in Michigan all day.

socks, greens & beans is one of my go-to quick winter meals. I know from experience that kale makes an excellent substitute when I can't find escarole. :)

I was wondering about kale. There is an unbelievable amount of it in my store!

Party do you make it pretty much like the above recipe or do you add anything different?

socks, what I call greens & beans is not a soup. I just saute some garlic in olive oil, add the chopped escarole (or kale) and a little water or chicken stock (like 1/4-1/2 cup), then cover the pan to get it going. My pan is always overfilled w/ greens. :) Once the greens get cooked down enough I remove the cover, add the beans and heat it through. Simple and quick! Sometimes I'll also add sliced hot cherry peppers at the end. I serve it with grated parmesan, crushed red pepper, and sometimes like a little balsamic vinegar on it. :)

When I make a soup version, I really like it with hot turkey sausage, kale, beans, chicken stock, and some carrots & potatoes. yum!

Oh yeah! Although I like the vegetarian version, when I made it, I was thinking a little sautéed sausage would be good. Thanks for the reply.

I like this easy style of healthy cooking; DH, not so much. It's too bad.

socks, I discovered a local brand of turkey sausage that's better than any regular pork sausage we can get! FWIW, when I make my soup w/ greens I like to use dark red kidney beans rather than cannellini (white kidney beans). My version of soup is loosely based on a fabulous soup I had in the Azores.

I usually go more for veggies than meat too... try a nuked sweet potato as a side to greens & beans! Also try our 'local' version of greens... every restaurant has their own "famous award-winning" version. lol!

Here is a link that might be useful: Utica Greens