For my birthday dinner, I selected "Tarragon Chicken, Mushrooms, and Rice." I have not made this recipe since last spring, when I made it for a visiting friend. I had some stomach upset afterwards (no one else did, so I thankfully ruled out food poisoning) and reluctantly concluded that the fat from the chicken skins causes an issue for me due to the statin I now take. I wanted to find a way to be able to make this recipe, as it is a favorite, and makes a stunning presentation when I do have company. This time, Scott skinned the chicken thighs for me. I rubbed them with some low-fat mayonnaise, then coated the tops with Panko. That reduced the fat that would end up when the thighs roast on the bed of rice, and the Panko kept the skinned thighs from drying out.

Happy Birthday BA! Your dinner sounds delish!

Happy Birthday, BA!

Thank you for the birthday wishes, everyone. My cake was Bischofsbrot, which is a cake baked in a long loaf pan with walnuts, maraschino cherries, and regular and golden raisins.

For lunch on Monday and the rest of this week, I made a Spaghetti Squash and Mushroom Quiche, an adaptation of Ken Haedrich's recipe in The Harvest Baker. My version has a lot less saturated fat. I make it for my weekly lunches since it requires onion, which my husband cannot eat. It is one of my favorite recipes for spaghetti squash, and I look forward to making it once or twice a season.

For dinner, we had the rest of the turkey-zucchini loaf and bulgur stir-fry.

Happy belated birthday, BA.
Well, my husband ended up in the ER Saturday evening with pneumonia. He's still in the hospital. I've been eating leftover moo shu pork (finished it last night), cheese doodles and ice cream! Looks like another ice cream dinner tonight. 😂

Sorry to hear this Kimbob praying he'll get better soon.Take care!

I had more chili and a hot dog.

Yes, Kimbob, may your husband heal completely, quickly.

Mike, a few weeks ago, Sam's had the low-fat pre-grated mozzarella cheese in stock that you have mentioned. I wasn't prepared for how much 5 pounds would actually look like. It seemed massive when it was unpacked!

I've had it a few weeks -- long enough that I dreamed all last night about processing it before it wastes. To my surprise, after I pulled it out of the fridge, I couldn't find an expiration date on it. Is that normal? The cheese looked and tasted fine, so I put it in 5 oz. packages for the freezer. It's been so long since I made pizza that I can't remember how much mozzarella I use. So I put 10 oz. in a plastic container for the refrigerator. Before breakfast tomorrow, I'll make pizza dough to rise in the fridge. We'll have pizza on Thursday. At that time, I'll weigh how much cheese I have leftover. I'll mark the weight on the recipe.

Mike, is there a rhyme or reason to when Sam's carries these 5 pound bags of mozzarella. This was the first time they had it in stock at my warehouse when I've looked for it (online). I'm wondering if it's a winter-only product.

Thanks for telling us about this product. I like the appearance of the cheese shreds.