What are you cooking today?

Here’s the new thread:
What are you cooking today? Part 2

I don’t know about you, but my husband and I often ask ourselves, “What should we cook today?”
Do you have a weekly meal plan? Or do you cook something different every day? Or do you follow Grandma’s recipe book?
Phew, it used to be pretty simple. These days, does every meal have to be something special?

Today we had homemade “gnocchi” made with cream cheese instead of potatoes, sautéed in a pan with bell peppers, tomatoes, and mascarpone.
Here’s what else is—or was—on our list right now:

• Italian-style stuffed baked potatoes
• Omelet
• Vegetable pasta bake
• Boiled potatoes, creamed kohlrabi, sausages
• Cheese waffles, tzatziki
• Tortellini with peas, ham, and cream sauce
  

Because of COVID-19 and working from home, we’ve gotten into the habit of making a weekly meal plan and doing our grocery shopping. This actually works pretty well; I found it even more stressful to constantly stop by the supermarket on my way home from work to pick up ingredients for the next two or three meals that I’d come up with on the spot. We’re now also getting our groceries delivered by PicNic.

I haven’t decided yet what I’ll cook or bake for my birthday next week.

We had homemade lasagna today—it always turns out well, it’s quick, and my husband’s birthday guests loved it.

Since I sometimes work early or late shifts, we have to mix it up with things that are quick to make.
Sometimes it’s stew from a can, sometimes the famous spirelli with tomato sauce, or rice with mushrooms, pizza, or a kebab.
It depends on the time of day and how hungry we are.
My husband wants to eat less again anyway, so a salad and some toast are enough for the two of us, or just a sausage sandwich or a banana slice.

But my famous fried sandwich (a recipe from my childhood) is quick to make and perfect for a snack
Per person, take 2 slices of bread (untoasted), spread mustard on one half and ketchup on the other.
Add 1–2 slices of sausage in between, depending on your taste, then fold it all together. Dip the whole thing in egg, then fry it in a pan on both sides.
We sure like it, anyway.
It doesn’t always have to be a feast. Sometimes pudding, semolina porridge, or rice pudding.
We even whip up a meal out of leftovers.
Back in the day, there was that “Hawaiian Toast”—toast with a slice of salami, a slice of pineapple, cheese on top, and into the oven. Mmmm, delicious.

Anyway, enough about food. I’m going to sleep now. Good night

Waaaaah! Yes, I know exactly what you mean. And there are three of us here, and for 17 years I (or my husband) have had to cook/bake egg-free and nut-free anyway, because our son has an anaphylactic reaction to both. And on top of that, we also work different shifts :-) 
So as a rule, I really do make a weekly meal plan, though it does sometimes get shifted around by a day or so. Since I remembered my grandma’s “plan” again, it’s been going even better :-) 
Because on certain days they always had the same thing: so Mondays were always leftovers from Sunday (that was the standard famous Sunday dinner), Tuesdays stew, Wednesdays casserole, Fridays fish, Saturdays there was soup and baking was done...
That way you definitely make pretty good progress. 
And we can’t just quickly go out to eat or pick up just anything because of the allergies. 
And I often look at cooking blogs to see what’s cookable there. Supermarkets and discount stores now also have meal plans/suggestions on their websites for what you can cook (it is, after all, the second most frequently googled question in the world) :-)) 

And to answer the question: today we’re having wraps.
Everyone can fill theirs however they like, and since we always go on “mother-son hikes” on Sundays, they’re easy to take along.
So, off we go! 

For two years now, my husband has been working from home, so he no longer eats in the cafeteria—instead, we cook dinner together almost every night.

I spend a lot of time on Pinterest and find lots of delicious recipes there. I look for ideas, then we go shopping for whatever we don’t have at home but need for the meal.

Last week I was looking for something with rice and vegetables, and it was super delicious.

It’s called “Quick Rice Skillet.” We eat a lot of vegetables, usually without meat.

By now, I have a lot of recipes saved in my Pinterest folder, so we have plenty to choose from. And I have to say, some of these dishes taste really exciting. 

We’ve been married for 30 years and really love each other, buuuut… when it comes to food, we’re totally incompatible. There are very few things we both like; otherwise, we just cook separately. I don’t make a plan—I shop for fresh groceries once or twice a week, and I always have something in the house for “emergencies,” usually frozen.
My husband is a total meat lover—he even once told our family doctor that he doesn’t eat meat every day because ham, sausages, fish, and poultry don’t count at all.... *eye roll*
I love vegetables and salads, but also pasta, so last night I had a vegetable stir-fry with pasta, and he had Ragout Fin (not homemade—unlike me, he’s lucky enough to like and tolerate ready-made products).
When we eat together, we have poultry (we both like everything made with it), occasionally a trout (I don’t eat any other fish), tarte flambée, asparagus, lamb, or spaghetti Bolognese.
There’s a very hearty casserole that he loves—I always make a huge batch and then freeze it in individual portions, because it’s not worth the effort for just one serving. I do the same with meat rolls or beef soup.

There are a lot of great tips here for me.
We haven’t had trout in ages, and I’m going to try making a rice skillet sometime, too.
And… I’m going to try making a meal plan. Maybe then it’ll be less stressful :)

I’m having pot roast today, with baked pasta on the side—my husband really loves that. But there’s also a salad; I need some greens with my meal 😁

Love, Inge

Today we’re having spaghetti Bolognese.

I “have” to be a little careful here to cook meals that the kids will like as much as possible (though with the bunch of kids we have here, there’s always one who’s a picky eater 🤪—but I stick to the motto, “No one’s ever starved from having a full plate” 😁).
I like to make oven-roasted vegetables with herb quark. Just peel the mixed vegetables if necessary, cut everything into roughly equal-sized pieces, put them in a veeeery large bowl, drizzle with olive oil, and season (salt, pepper, vegetable broth, or herbes de Provence), then roast in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius on the convection setting for a good half hour.
Season the quark and jazz it up with fresh or frozen herbs.

We all love a rice stir-fry with ground meat and mixed vegetables, too.
Just brown the ground meat and season it well, add the mixed vegetables from the freezer, season with herb butter if desired, and cook until almost done.
Then—if you’re in a hurry—fill it with these quick-and-easy microwave rice pouches; otherwise, fill it with rice that’s almost done cooking, add cooking cream, and finish cooking everything. Taste and adjust seasoning again—delicious.

Pancakes with jam, or apple or cherry pancakes, are always a hit, too.
Eggs in mustard sauce with potatoes, mashed potatoes with scrambled eggs and a salad, lentil soup with sausages, bratwurst with potatoes, peas, and carrots, turkey cutlets, etc.—we love eating things like that here.
And on Sundays, we sometimes make more elaborate dishes like roasts, meat rolls, etc.
But during the week, it usually has to be quick.

And no, I don’t make a weekly meal plan.

I’m curious about these microwave rice pouches—they’d be handy, but is there really just rice in them? Does it taste plain and neutral? I haven’t dared to try them yet.

@ veronika-t15: They come as plain rice or in different flavors. I once made it Greek-style with ćevapčići. That was quite okay.

@Veronika

You can get a lot of different kinds these days.
I usually go for the regular long-grain kind, which I also buy as “uncooked” rice.
Of course, this rice isn’t salted, but if you season the rest of the dish properly, it’s totally fine.
It’s just really expensive relative to the amount you get, but I always keep a few bags on hand in case I need rice really fast and don’t have another 20 minutes to cook it. Or if my son has to heat something up for himself…

I’ll definitely give that a try—thanks.

Well, I usually cook creatively on the fly—using whatever I have on hand. And that’s mostly vegetables, combined with whole-grain pasta, rice, millet, or quinoa.

I chop up leftover vegetables—sometimes along with diced potatoes—and toss them with olive oil, herbs, and salt. If you like, you can add some sheep’s milk cheese. Then I put it all on a baking sheet as roasted vegetables. 15 minutes at 250 degrees—so delicious! And best of all, it’s quick (except for the chopping).

Today we’re having the leftover pizza from yesterday—homemade, of course, with vegetables on top.

What are you eating today?

Today we actually agreed—we were both in the mood for baked cheese with baguette.

Today we had pan-fried pasta and iceberg lettuce. I had plenty of pasta left over from yesterday, so I fried it up until crispy with onions and sausage, topped it with cheese, and served it with a salad—simple and delicious.
Tomorrow we’re having pizza with mushrooms and lots of cheese, plus a salad.

Hugs, Inge

Veronika, we love oven-baked cheese too.

We had to improvise today because of a mix-up on the shopping list. I’m working a lot right now, so my husband was supposed to go grocery shopping. The shopping list said “1 leek” (for leek spaghetti). The greengrocer was closed. At the supermarket’s produce section: “The green stuff I thought was leek was labeled ‘Porree’. So I brought that home. It had ‘leek’ written on it, and we’ve cooked with that before.” Beaming with joy, he presented me with spring onions. Oh dear. So I quickly asked Ecosia, and then we had a new dish. It was very tasty.

A slightly runny batter is made from flour, water, salt, egg and yeast. Almost all the spring onions and some mountain cheese went into it. The whole thing went onto a baking sheet, and dollops of crème fraîche and cheese were added on top. After 30 minutes in the oven, it was absolutely delicious. The whole thing is called “Spring Onion Tray Bake”.

Before cell phones were invented, I once had a leg in a cast. So he went grocery shopping, and since that often went wrong, we bought walkie-talkies. I’d ride along to the store, stay in the car, and whenever there was any confusion, we’d start talking on the walkie-talkies. :))))
And there were a few guys who took note of that when they were standing next to my husband in the store....

Since our daughter came over for lunch with the baby and I was actually scheduled for cafeteria duty (which was canceled due to a COVID-19 case), I had to make something relatively simple today: spaghetti with roasted squash, served with a big bowl of salad and chocolate-covered pears for dessert. It took a little while, though, to get the squash cut up and onto the baking sheet…

We’re having potato pancakes for dinner later. I’m not a huge fan of potatoes, but I’ll eat them anyway. He likes salmon with them; I like apple compote.

Today we had mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs (from our chickens, of course 😊), and cucumber salad.

I had a spit-roast, Brussels sprouts, and Bavarian dumplings

Kind regards, Inge

Hi,
we had homemade (raw) Leberkäs, served with some fresh rolls—that’s it.

Since my husband went grocery shopping, it’s another very meat-heavy meal (our son is happy).
So tomorrow it’s bratwurst with mashed potatoes and cucumber salad
The day after tomorrow, the ring of meat sausage will probably get used up to make sausage salad
He also bought some smoked pork loin—so I guess we’ll have that with sauerkraut and potatoes
Let’s see what else the fridge has to offer; maybe just a simple cold snack.

Hi everyone,

Today we had a sweet potato quiche, at our son’s repeated request 😁 … it was very delicious, even though I’m known as a self-confessed “meat lover” too 😂 

Wishing you all a lovely evening,
Silvia

So, today I tried this ready-to-eat rice, and I have to say, that was a great tip. It really does taste like freshly cooked rice, isn’t too mushy (which I’d been worried about), and it’s super quick. I’ll definitely be buying it again from time to time.

Veronika-t15,
I also made that as a side dish with a stir-fry. It was delicious 😋 

Yesterday, for our 40th anniversary, we treated ourselves—at my husband’s request—to pork knuckle with sauerkraut and bread dumplings; today, though, we just had a pizza with ham, mushrooms, and grated cheese—and on my half of the pizza, there’s always a lot more cheese :)

Love, Inge

@Inge, that’s how it is at our house, too. Half of it is loaded with cheese. That way, I can use up the various cheeses that are still hanging around in the fridge. My husband loves it. I’m not so crazy about it. But that’s the beauty of pizza—you can put whatever you like on it for everyone.

As far as I’m concerned, all I’d need on top of that is all kinds of cheese—nothing else.

For me, today’s menu is chicken drumsticks with rice, tomato sauce, and a salad

Best regards, Inge

Yesterday we had steamed trout with cucumbers, potatoes, and vegetables.

Today we had to make something quick, so we just had hot dogs with rolls 😉

@ Susanne: What’s a cucumber-potato vegetable dish?

@Ursula
I tried it for the first time on Sunday and thought it was good.

I steamed 500g of diced potatoes, seasoned 100g of the potatoes well with cream and broth, and then stirred in a sliced (peeled and seeded) cucumber with the remaining potatoes.

I’ll definitely make this again with something pan-fried 😉—it was a good amount for two people.

Today we had homemade tarte flambée; tomorrow I’ll probably make stew.

We experimented here today. Can we agree on a dish, or adapt something so that we both like it?
He would have liked (as so often) broccoli-potato-Mettwurst-bacon casserole,
while I was more in the mood for a bell pepper pizza. Well, we can manage that, it’s almost
the same thing .... 
Bell peppers are a no-go for him, potatoes are a no-go for me. He likes pizza,
I like broccoli, so there must be a way. So I made
a kind of pizza roll with a broccoli-Mettwurst filling.
Well, it was okay; he missed the potatoes, I missed the bell peppers. :-))

Veronika, there are definitely even more combinations possible with so many ingredients. But pizza rolls are so versatile—you can fill them with all kinds of different things.

For our family dinner on Thursday, we had Schupfnudeln, mushrooms, and broccoli in a cream sauce. It was super delicious, and if you don’t count the time spent chopping, it was ready in no time. 

Oh, I don’t mind cooking two different things either—I was just giving it a try.
Tonight we’re having vitello tonnato; the roast veal is done and resting right now, so dinner will be ready in no time.

Today I had pizza—one half with tuna and onions, and the other with mushrooms and a thick layer of cheese :-)

Love, Inge

This morning we finished tidying up my in-laws’ grave. It looks nice again, and this time we added lots of colorful flowers.
That’s why we went to the Lühe pier at lunchtime and had a currywurst and fries. Afterward, we had an ice cream sundae.
My waistline says hello...

Oh yeah, a currywurst with fries and mayo!!!! I haven’t had that in ages.

Hi,
we had pan-fried potatoes and pan-seared hunting sausage today, with a side of salad.

Yesterday, on the spur of the moment, we had meatballs au gratin with tomatoes and feta (actually mozzarella, but I didn’t have any at home 😉), served with pasta.

Yesterday we had steamed dumplings with vanilla sauce—both homemade. Along with cucumber salad, diced potatoes from the air fryer, and soy cutlets.
I’m curious to see how they taste; ever since we’ve had PicNic—the supermarket delivery service—we’ve been trying out a bit of the veggie selection every now and then.

We had white cabbage with ground beef, cabbage sausage, and boiled potatoes. There’s still enough left for tomorrow, even though I actually wanted to prepare a great birthday dinner for him. But he doesn’t want that—not even a nice cake. He’d rather have muffins.
Go figure men...

Who had a good meal?

Today we just had a light snack.
Yesterday we had chicken drumsticks with roasted vegetables and potato wedges 😋

Today we had potato soup with sausages in it

Love, Inge

Today we just had cream of asparagus soup for lunch, and for dinner we had rolls and hard-boiled eggs (right now my hens are laying like crazy—we can barely keep up with eating all the eggs. On Saturday, the kids gave eggs to half the neighborhood so they wouldn’t go to waste 🙈).
On Saturday we had sea bream (see photo).

Today we had tuna toast topped with cheese.

Today we had the leftover rolls from the weekend. They taste almost even better when toasted.

Yesterday I had chicken fricassee with rice.

The sea bream look great. How long do they go in the oven?

Right now, we’re having asparagus every other day!
Sometimes with ham, sometimes with schnitzel, sometimes with scrambled eggs....

Yes, we’re enjoying asparagus season, too. But today we had spaghetti with ground beef.

I envy everyone who can enjoy asparagus—unfortunately, it triggers severe gout in me, and the pain in my feet is so bad I can’t walk for days.

L G Inge

That’s the big risk with asparagus. If we eat it very often, I do notice it a little, but once or twice a week is fine. That said, I also take medication for my gout attacks.

@ursulapetra
45 minutes at 180 degrees with top/bottom heat.

Today we pretended we were on vacation and whipped up some paella:

What did you cook?

For dinner, I had chicken drumsticks in a mixed herb sauce, Bavarian dumplings, and a mixed salad

Best regards, Inge

I miscalculated while grocery shopping and forgot about Sunday, so there was nothing left in the house today. We didn’t have to go hungry, though—there’s a farm shop nearby that’s also open on Sundays, and besides bread rolls, strawberries, and cold cuts, I also brought home a chicken, which was then going round and round by evening....

Yesterday we had bread dumplings with mushroom sauce. We really like it. With a salad on the side 

We had asparagus again today. And I’ve already frozen a few portions, since the season will be over soon.

We had asparagus today, too. I love asparagus.
@Veronika: How do you freeze the asparagus? I haven’t dared to try it yet.

Raw, but peeled. Works great and tastes just like fresh.

You can also freeze leftovers that have already been cooked, but they’ll get a little softer. If there are any leftovers, I cut them into pieces and freeze them in small portions, which I then use for soup.

I’ll give that a try then. I’m curious to see if it really tastes just like the seasonal version.
Thanks!

Oh oh—I’ll admit it: I absolutely hate asparagus :-)))

Especially the white kind. I just think it tastes like absolutely nothing—except for the sides that come with it.
Plus, after eating it, I don’t want to go to the bathroom for days (or only with a mask) *yuck*—nope, not at all. I do buy green asparagus, though; I like it nicely pan-fried with little potatoes :-)

So, anyway:

On Saturdays we make homemade hamburgers with all the trimmings (bacon and cheddar and all that),
on Sundays we have battered fried fish with potato salad,
on Mondays langos with tzatziki
, on Tuesdays creamed herring with boiled potatoes, and
on Wednesdays bratwurst spirals with savoy cabbage and potatoes

. Everything’s homemade, of course, and it just occurred to me: I DO like potatoes :-))))

Hope this inspires you ♥

What’s on the menu at your house today?

Hey there.

Anton and I have the house to ourselves today. For lunch today, we’re just having a light snack: watermelon with feta cheese. My husband doesn’t like that at all. But we do. 😃

And tonight I’m making homemade spinach spaetzle with Gorgonzola sauce. I’m in the mood for it again, and Anton absolutely loves spinach.

Enjoy your meal :-)

What’s planned for the next few days (in flexible order):

* Flammkuchen
* Tagliatelle with vegetables (mushrooms, zucchini, etc.)
* Potato salad with Wiener sausages
* Pizza :-)


Bon appétit :-*

Are you having sauce with the tagliatelle too?

I was given some beans this morning. Now I’m planning to make beans, tomato sauce, and spaghetti. I still need to find a suitable recipe. 

We didn’t eat anything at all for two days—Sunday, and even worse, Monday—it was so stifling here, almost unbearable; his circulation was all over the place, and I felt nauseous.
Now everything’s fine again, and today we had those baked tuna toasts again, because they have tomatoes on top too. The tomato harvest on the balcony is in full swing; tomorrow we’re having tomato salad.

@Josefa: Yeah, sure :-) Just toss the ribbon noodles and the vegetables together in the pan afterward. That automatically makes a sauce :-)))

All of that sounds good.

My first bean salad, served with fresh bread and sun-dried 🍅



Let’s see if it turned out well

Today we had a vegetable tart (or “Wähe,” as it’s also called there in Switzerland) with zucchini from the garden, bell peppers, and cherry tomatoes. It also had little bacon bits hidden inside, and my portion even had grated cheese on top. Tomorrow I’m going to try a new recipe with beans from our own harvest, tomatoes, and potatoes, and for Sunday I’m planning a green paella—also a first for me.
On Sunday, I’ll also be baking: For Monday’s National Day, I need to make two braided loaves and two loaf cakes. So I definitely won’t be bored, but maybe a little hot!

Hi Petra: what else is in that bean salad? Onions, cheese? It looks delicious. Do you have the recipe for us?
What kind of bread is that?

We had pancakes last night. Anton asked for them—with apples, cinnamon, and sugar for him; with onions, salami, and cheese for my husband; and with ham, onions, and cheese for me—and tonight we had lasagna. 

I’m currently making a vegan herring salad with eggplant, wakame, and soy cream.

I don’t have any meal plans, since I rarely know days in advance what I want to eat or when.

Sandra, the beans have shepherd’s cheese and sun-dried tomatoes in them—recipe from Pinterest.

And the bread is my own creation this time, made with 00 flour, sun-dried tomatoes, and oregano. 

We had pizza today. Tuna for him, tomato and bell pepper for me.

I’m having turkey with meadow mushrooms and freshly harvested potatoes today.
My neighbor’s cow pasture is glowing white with all the meadow mushrooms.
The cows eat the grass and leave the mushrooms behind.
You don’t even have to look for them—just pick them. In 10 minutes, you’ve got a basket full.

The bread looks great—I’ll have to try that sometime, too.

Oh joansi, that sounds good. The mushrooms are growing right into your basket, or rather your frying pan. Great.

We’re harvesting fresh from the meadow today too. In my garden, new fresh arugula is growing everywhere; it self-seeded over the summer. The new little leaves are super tender and taste wonderfully peppery. And that’s why today I’m making a lukewarm arugula and potato salad. It’s dressed with broth, cream, and mustard. Along with that, crispy fried bacon and onions deglazed sweet-and-sour. Let it all sit together and soak up the flavors—a hearty treat. With it, we’re having fried eggs from our hens.

Best, Ina

Right now, I like to cook for two days at a time to save on electricity. Yesterday I made a big baking sheet of ground meat and feta casserole with potatoes and cherry tomatoes—there’s still enough left for today.

For the past few weeks, we’ve been having nothing but pureed soups. My husband is having trouble with his upper dentures, and the dentist just got back from vacation. We have an appointment on Friday for gum treatment. So it’s still all kinds of soups.
I’ve already tried various combinations. Today we had pumpkin soup with apples, root vegetables, bell peppers, and sweet potatoes. That made almost three liters.
Before that, we had potatoes, root vegetables, celery, and fennel. Another mix was potatoes and beets.
We also had Labskaus, a bit more liquid than usual, and tomato soup made from our own tomatoes.
It usually makes three to four meals, but it can sit in the fridge for a few days without going bad, so we have some variety.
Tomorrow it’s kohlrabi, root vegetables, and potatoes, and after that, rutabaga and the like are on the menu.
I’m turning into a total soup nut… lol.

Oh dear, well, get well soon!

We often have sandwiches or salad, sometimes just fruit. It’s still very humid and very warm, so our appetites suffer. And our desire to cook, too.

Even though grating the potatoes is always a lot of work, I love fresh, crispy potato pancakes. Just add some applesauce and you’re done. Mmm, that was delicious.

Oh, potato pancakes—so delicious! But we’ll have to go without them for a while longer, since we’re on Weight Watchers right now. And the lower-fat version just tastes awful.

Surprisingly, the weather turned out to be quite nice today.

Stuffed pancakes—cooked in our outdoor kitchen



Served with homemade ciabatta

I had braised roast today, with potato dumplings and buttered vegetables—it was sooo delicious :-)

Love, Inge

I made a bean stew the other day. My husband loved it—he likes hearty food.
Fresh beans, carrots, potatoes, onions, garlic, Mettwurst (a delicious sausage, in my opinion), bacon, salt, pepper, bay leaves, savory, thyme... done

[image removed]

Today I had goulash, pasta, and salad

Best regards, Inge

@Inge, goulash with noodles is one of my favorite meals 

We went to dance class again today and had lunch there right away.
Of course, schnitzel with fresh mushrooms and fries, with a side of green beans. Delicious.
My husband had his favorite currywurst with fries.
At least I didn’t have to cook for once.

We had goulash last week for a birthday dinner. Delicious

Yesterday we had spaghetti with eggplant from Sicily. A friend was home for two weeks and brought back some of the harvest. 

This thread is really handy, because I’m sitting here staring at my shopping list, feeling a bit uninspired, and just like that, I’ve already got some new ideas for dinner. :-)

Today we had onion tart and Federweißer.

Veronika, we had the same thing yesterday.
Today we just had the leftovers from the onion tart.
Because I processed about 20 liters of milk today.
First I made butter and quark.
Then I used the quark to make an apple cake.
With the remaining milk, I made Kasweckerl.
They have to dry out slowly now. Back in the day, the farmwives used to make them so they’d have cheese even in winter.

Here’s Part 2 of the thread:
What are you cooking today? Part 2