This week in the kitchen

Monday/10-Jan-22: Made a loaf of Easy French Bread (Electric, p62) (Basic/Rapid/M/d/-). 

Dinner from the freezer tonight, some vaguely SE Asian tuna patties. Served with Thai-Style Dipping Sauce (web) as suggested. This was a bit salty and a bit sweet even though I cut back the sugar. Then there was, more or less, Cilantro-Lime Sweet Corn (web) with canned corn. And some whole-grain basmati trio rice. 

Tuesday/11-Jan-22: An old favorite for dinner, Warm Broccoli and Potato Salad (MDSalads, p15). This is my go-to recipe where there are potatoes and broccoli hanging around needing to be eaten. Good stuff.

Wednesday/12-Jan-22: Made a loaf of English Muffin Bread, (BigGerman, p15) (Basic/Rapid/M/d/-) this morning. Picked up an order from Intermarché Drive.

Dinner was Roasted Tilapia with Orange-Parsley Salsa (CL/mar09; web), using cod instead of tilapia, which generally isn't sold here. This was fairly boring, if pretty. Served with the last of some frozen mixed veggies. (What we didn't eat, Buddy was happy to finish.)

Thursday/13-Jan-22: This morning I started a batch of Crockpot Texas Chili from an old printout of chili recipes. This is supposedly from the Texas Beef Council. I haven't been able to find the recipe online. Meanwhile, it had to cook so long, I decided to make something else for tonight's dinner.

So we had Scallops in a Creamy Dill Sauce (RezaRice, p62). This was tasty, with a good sauce, if not as quick as I expected. Served with Gram Flour Coated Zucchini (P&S, p101). This is a recipe I saved from a recycled book. It's pretty good and not too hard. And brown basmati rice. Pretty good dinner.

Friday/14-Jan-22: So, it was Crockpot Texas Chili for dinner. Ed liked it; I didn't. The recipe is very similar to my standard one, except for the dark beer added. I think that's the taste I didn't like. There's lots of leftovers to freeze, sigh. Served with tortillas and guacamole and some English cheddar, which was the wrong cheese.

Saturday/15-Jan-22: Made a loaf of French Bread (Tender) (BMB, p21) (Basic/Rapid/S/d/-). This is apparently the first time I've made this loaf.

Dinner was Chicken Cutlets with Roasted Red Pepper & Arugula Relish (web). This was quite good. The relish/salsa was a nice touch. (I didn't add the extra sugar to that.) Served with some minted carrot coins and whole wheat penne. Good meal.

Sunday/16-Jan-22: Yesterday's French Bread (Tender) was quite good. It's a shame that it's a small loaf, like all the ones from that cookbook.

Inventory fail today. Went to get falafels from the freezer for dinner and there were none to be found. Ed went for pizza, in not the best weather, icy and foggy. It was much colder in Montbron than here. Will have to replan the falafels after our next Driver orders.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 4; #2 PHOTO: no
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #4 BACKLOG2: yes; #5 BACKLOG3: no; #6 RECYCLE: 0; #7 NEW: 2

This week in the kitchen

Monday/21-Dec-20: Picked up an order from Leclerc today.

Made three labels for the Chipotle-Fig Jam yesterday, but only two arrived downstairs. A mystery. The jam is more than set now, so the extra sugar with pectin wasn't needed. Oh well.

Dinner was a half recipe of Roasted Cauliflower Gigli with Pine Nuts and Currants (web), using cockscombs (galetti, I think) instead of gigli. This was interesting, with the currants. I wasn't sure, but it left a pleasant taste in the mouth. Then a salad. Then we finished the bread pudding.

Tuesday/22-Dec-20: Before dinner, I started a loaf of English Muffin Bread (BMB, p17). This loaf sank a lot again even though I reduced the amount of water. I've read before that sunken loave often have too much liquid, but I'll need to investigate that again. 

Leftover cornbread stuffing for dinner, with more gravy. HD mini ice cream cups for after. That's all.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/23-Dec-20: Using up my last skinless, boneless chicken thighs (not easily found here), dinner was a half recipes of Ginger Chicken (30MinInd, p42; cookbooker). Served with plain basmati rice and Karhai Broccoli (MJ@Home, p148). Some mini HD ice cream cups for after.

Overnight Bread on overnight.

Thursday/24-Dec-20: Baked off the Overnight Bread. So easy, so good.

Picked up an order from Intermarché Drive today. Ordered 200g of salmon; asked for 300-350g in the comment. (Next lump to order was 400g, too much for two.) We got 440g. Needed only 125g for dinner, so I froze the larger piece.

Dinner was a halfish recipe of Tagliatelles au Saumon et Poireau; (VPG); can find it on the web although the clipping says the recipe can be found on their site. Not. Still, it was easy and good. I used way more curry powder than asked for the full recipe. Then a salad. Some chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Didn't have the oomph to make the bûche for tomorrow. Hope I manage to get everything done on the day.

Friday/25-Dec-20: Started a bûche this morning, then discovered that Ed had neglected to get the next block of butter out of the freezer when he refilled the butter dish. Oops. Replan. This was our meal. 

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/26-Dec-20: 

I was busy all day cooking and pooped by the time we sat down to eat. This was our meal.

Should start bread to bake in the morning, but really have no energy.

Sunday/27-Dec-20: Made some 100% Whole Wheat Bread (BigGerman, p81) (WW/Rapid/M/-/-). Used the end of the jar of honey, about 3tbl rather than the 1/4cup asked. This was an improvement. The best whole wheat bread. 

For lunch we had meatloaf sandwiches and a slice of bûche.

Dinner was Chipotle-Lime Cauliflower Tacos (web). Sounds a bit weird but it was good. Served with some of my refried black bean mix, a quickie sort of guacamole, jalapeño strips, feta, cilantro, and corn tortillas. And another slice of bûche.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 4; #2 BACKLOG: yes
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #4 SHORT: no; #5 LONG: no
On-going: #6 READ; #7 RECYCLE; #8 NEW

This week in the kitchen

Monday/7-Dec-20: Baked off my Overnight Bread this morning. I left the kitchen and missed the dinger for taking the lid off; wandered back some time later. Took the lid off to find it nicely browned and nicely done. I thought that taking off the lid was for browning and crisping the crust, but now I'm not sure.

Picked up and order from Leclerc Drive today.

Dinner was a two-thirds-ish recipe of Ragoût d'Ignames—Lamb-and-Yam Stew (TLAfrica, p37). This took some time, but it was easy to do. Tasty, and not at all spicy. Served over some whole-wheat couscous, although I don't suppose that was really necessary. Finished the Crème au Chocolate for after.

Yogurt on overnight.

Tuesday/8-Dec-20: Dinner was, more or less, a halfish recipe of Croquettes de Thon aux Olives (VPG). Can't find this on the web. It's not really croquettes, as I know them, but tuna patties, with ricotta, parmesan, black olives, an egg, and flour. These are breaded, in the usual way, flour, beaten egg, and crunchy bit. Instead of chapelure, I used some crunchy stuff I made up recently (but can't remember what for) and didn't use up. These were pretty good. The veg was carrot, cauliflower, and broccoli with lemon juice and home-made herb salt. Some French "short spaghetti" as a go-with. And a pair of chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Wednesday/9-Dec-20: Dinner was Red Pork Curry—Gaeng Ped Muu (ThaiCC, p45). These was easy and good. Having no bamboo shoots on hand, I used zucchini, as suggested. Served with basmati rice and our favorite Thai Cucumber Salad with Peanuts (HandyBook; web). And a pair of chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Thursday/10-Dec-20: Forgot to start Overnight Bread last night, so I made some English Muffin Bread (BMB,  p17). Must have measure the 7/8cup water a bit long; the top is pretty caved in. But tasty.

Caught a mouse in the kitchen today.

This afternoon I added labels for all the breads I've baked this year, at least all the ones I've recorded. Since I know I'm making two or three loaves a week, it's clear I've not written all of them down. This is mostly to satisfy my curiosity about what I've been making.

Dinner was a halfish recipe of Sumac Chicken with Cauliflower and Carrots (CL/jan-feb17; web). This was a sheet-pan dinner, easy to do and very tasty. For after we shared a bit of cake we bought at a charity shop this afternoon.

Friday/11-Dec-20: Picked up an order from Intermarché Drive today.

We got our "gourmet panier" today from the commune, in lieu of this year's old folks meal. There were several jars of rillettes from a local shop. We opened one of those and snacked as I was cooking.

Dinner was a half recipe of Grilled Salmon with Avocado Salsa (web). Since the pieces we got were of different thicknesses, I baked them in the oven. Easy to make and very tasty. Served with trio rice and Zucchini with Cilantro Sauce (MWLowFat, p335; MC); that's an old favorite that well with the rest of the meal.

Made up the batter for Overnight Bread

Saturday/12-Dec-20: Baked the Overnight Bread.

Roasted a turkey leg today, on the way to making some cornbread stuffing for a meal. 

Dinner was Curried Fried Rice (MW@Home, p226), this time with curry powder rather than a Thai curry paste. An easy and comforting dish. Some HD mini ice cream cups for after.

Sunday/13-Dec-20: Picked the turkey leg this afternoon. The drumstick was pretty done, but the thigh was still pretty red. And I thought it was overdone yesterday. Tomorrow I'll measure and freeze it up in packets for later use.

Dinner was Curried Green Pea Soup (TooMany, p155), complete with turkey bits. This is an old favorite. We had some  rillettes on bread and crackers beforehand, so didn't need dessert.

Yogurt on overnight.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 3; #2 BACKLOG: yes
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #4 SHORT: no; #5 LONG: no
On-going: #6 READ; #7 RECYCLE; #8 NEW

This week in the kitchen

Monday/30-Nov-20: Picked up an order at Leclerc today. Dinner was a halfish version of A Night in Tunisia (web), which sounded good, but was only so-so. Followed by a big salad. And more pumpkin cake.

Tuesday/1-Dec-20: Yogurt on overday.

Dinner was a halfish dose of Gulai Udang Dengan Labu Kuning—Shrimp and Zucchini Curry (TLPacSEA, p81). I wonder what the veg should have been,since I don't think of zucchini as a Malayan veggie. And I bet the lemon juice should have been lime. Nevertheless, it was good stuff. Served over basmati rice. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Wednesday/2-Dec-20: We're out of bread, so this evening I made another loaf of English Muffin Bread (BMB, p17).

Dinner was a big half of Rigatoni with White Bolognese (Essential, p344; cookbooker). I used 5% ground beef and 8oz of Hazan's Italian sausage from the freezer, which made about a pound and a quarter altogether, when 2# was asked for the whole recipe. No celery in house; I added some dried celery leaves to the carrots and onions. Happened to have some rigatoni, so used that. Very good. Then a small salad. And a pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each for after.

Thursday/3-Dec-20: Dinner was about a third recipe of Braised Balsamic Chicken (web). This was pretty easy and pretty good. Took the skin off the thighs, since we don't like that braised. Nice sauce. Served with polenta and a little made-up salad of cuke and radish. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each for after (the last sack expiring tomorrow).

Friday/4-Dec-20: Made some Apple Chipotle Jelly (Raichlen1, p215) this morning. The recipe calls for an enormous amount of sugar. On the web, I found that jellies made with apple juice generally asked for +/- twice the amount of sugar as juice. (I used sucre pour confiture that has the pectin already added.) Given that cider vinegar was part of liquid (three cups in total), I used three cups of sugar. Tastes good, but it hasn't jelled up. 

 

Dinner was a halfish dose of Lasagne coi Gamberi e Canestrelli—Lasagne with Prawns and Scallops (ClassPasta, p142). This was barely seasoned, just tasty with the shellfish and the bechamel. Pretty good, but nothing special. Then a salad. Then some mini HD ice cream cups.

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/5-Dec-20: Made a loaf of Maple Oatmeal Bread (BMB, p41) (Basic/Rapid/S/m/-), using only 1/4cup maple syrup as my previous notes said. The loaf turned out very high; maybe cook as Medium, even though flour-wise it's Small. It's a tasty bread but too soft inside, which makes it hard to cut.

Picked up an order from Intermarché Drive today. Annoyingly several items were not included, even though they are still in the assortment on the site. Think someone was rushed and didn't feel like collecting the items. Ordered a bit of rumsteack for a beefy meal sometime; it's thin and the size of a small placemat! Ordered a turkey leg to roast for making gravy to go with a cornbread stuffing dinner we're going to have before long. Weighty thing, it's 1.638kg; I've had turkeys not much bigger than that!

 

Dinner was a halfish recipe of Boulettes de Poisson Blanc, Sauce Piquante (VPG; web; mine). I'm puzzled by what was piquante in the sauce, but it was good nevertheless. For the tomato sauce, I used a bit of Marcella Hazan's famous tomato sauce from the freezer; I added a bit of Cajun spice mix along the way. A marinara-ish sauce might work too. I used a moulinette to grind the (fresh, not frozen) fish, but I expect the cuisinart would work just fine. I added some cilantro to the fish. I did not add the oil to the pan before cooking the fish balls in the sauce. Served over long-grain brown rice (fiber!) with some lemon-sprinkled steamed broccoli. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each for after.

Sunday/6-Dec-20: Didn't feel like making what was one the plan, and the cooking of that will work better tomorrow, so I made a halfish dose of Shrimp and Leek Spaghetti (CL; web). This was easy, quick, and good. While I was making that, I also made some Crème au Chocolate Express (mine). We should have had three nights of these, but I managed to drop one of the  bakjes as I put it away, leaving a half-ful dish and a mess on the floor. Ed ate the remaining half and we'll make two servings from the remaining three dishes. 

 

Made the batter for Overnight Bread.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 5; #2 BACKLOG: yes 

This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #4 SHORT: no; #5 LONG: no
On-going: #6 READ; #7 RECYCLE; #8 NEW

This week in the kitchen

Monday/23-Nov-20: Made some Cranberry-Port Relish (MC; web) for Thanksgiving. Prepped the pork for tomorrow's meal.

Dinner was from a food truck—yay, no cooking!

Yogurt on overnight.

Tuesday/24-Nov-20: Dinner was Pork Vindaloo (Q&E, p33). Cooked this off in the crockpot, since we were away a good part of the day. Served with plain basmati rice, Pan-Grilled Zucchini (MJFamily, p173) (cooked in a cast iron skillet with no extra oil), and Yoghurt with Cucumber and Mint—Kheere ka Raita (MJ1, p162). All are old favorites.

Wednesday/25-Nov-20: Made a loaf of English Muffin Bread (BMB, p17) in the morning. Delicious bread, but tiny 2# loaf.

Made up the roulades for tomorrow's meal. Baked a pumpkin cake.

Dinner from the freezer, chicken adobo stew, served over brown rice, with a salad. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Thursday/26-Nov-20: Yes, it's Thanksgiving, with a doctor's appointment in the middle of the day, which limited what could be done.

For the table, I trimmed the little tulips we got from Intermarché last week. They have held up remarkably well. Dutch tulips in a Delftware vase.

We started with Smoked Salmon with Dill-Mustard Sauce, (VegHarv, p4). I've made this nice little starter before. The rolls of salmon look pretty lonely on the plate some I added some sliced cucumbers, which go nicely with the sauce.

For our main, we again had mini versions Shane's Turkey Roll using turkey scallops. I really do have to write up his recipe to save it properly. These were accompanied by: 

• Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Cranberries & Pecans (web). Picked the sprouts up at a Drive this morning, so didn't have time for marinating as I often do. (We like marinated roasted sprouts as a starter.) This was a new recipe and definitely a keeper. I thought I'd ordered 500g of sprouts, but it was only 250g (and ended up being on sale, although the quality was fine, just a mix of sizes, big and small), which is barely enough for two.
• Started out to make Tornado Potatoes (web), but failed at the cutting, so I turned them into hasselback potatoes with the same coating. (I've got lots of the coating left. It might end up on something else in the next days.) And, of course, there was ...
• Cranberry-Port Relish (MC, web), which is my standard recipe, much liked here and very easy. Unfortunately took the picture before I added cranberry sauce to the plate, so it looks a bit colorless.

For dessert, there was Pumpkin Cake (MC), another favorite, although not so old. We'll be eating it for days, but it keeps well. 

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/27-Nov-20: Dinner was, sort of, Salmon Leek Pie with Lemon Dill Crust (PotPies, p132). I had bits of salmon and of lieu noir in the freezer, so I used those together rather than all salmon. Instead of the lemon-dill crust, I used smashed potatoes with dill and lemon zest added. Pretty good it was. Followed by a salad. Then some pumpkin pie. 

Forgot to make bread during the day, so

Saturday/28-Nov-20: I used a new recipe to make blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Oops, recipe didn't work very well. I poured all the batter in the pan and made a kind of pancake cake. Edible, but not pretty.

Scallops were supposed to be on the menu tonight. But the two packages that were supposed to be freezer weren't to be found. I'm puzzled where they've gone since we haven't had scallops in a while. While rummaging through the freezer, I found a package of gyozas, pork-and-kimchi, that I found at Leclerc Drive. I steamed those, made some rice, a bit of dipping sauce (web), and a salad of shredded chineeskool, broccoli stems, carrot, and red onion, with a ginger-sesame dressing. All was pretty good. Have another package of plain pork gyozas for another night. Pumpkin cake for after.

Made up some batter for Overnight Bread.

Sunday/29-Nov-20: Baked the Overnight Bread this morning. Ed insists this is his all-time favorite. He also said I could do the pancake cake again. 

An easy dinner, Curried Fried Rice (MW@Home, p226), which is an old favorite. I didn't cook the rice ahead and chill it as one should; I just cooled it on a big plate. Used red Thai curry paste for the curry bit. It was good. Some mini ice cream cups for after.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 2; #2 BACKLOG: yes
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #4 SHORT: no; #5 LONG: no
On-going: #6 READ; #7 RECYCLE; #8 NEW

This week in the kitchen

Monday/19-Oct-20: Picked up an order at Leclerc Drive today. 

Dinner was a half dose of Pasta Cream Bean Dream (Ainsley3, p148). The beans were some of the snijbonen we got at Carrefour last week. This was easy, fast, and yummy. Some chocolate-covered madeleines for after. 

Mixed beans to soak for tomorrow.

Tuesday/20-Oct-20: Off for new glasses this morning and to the doctor this afternoon. 

Made a beany soup with ancho-soaking liquid from the freezer. Good stuff. I also defrosted some pork-cooking liquid, but it was too much for the beans I have. Later. Some store-bought chocolate mousses for after.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/21-Oct-20: Made a loaf of English Muffin Bread (BMB, p17). Even though I  measured the water short as I usually do, the loaf was still caved in. But tasty. I'll cut it back further still next time. Would like to make this as a larger loaf; the only thing I don't like about this book is that all the loaves are small.

I couldn't find the cookbook I was meant to cook dinner from, so quickly assembled another menu. We had Cajun Salmon Burgers (web), as patties, without a bun. And Mama's Garlic Coleslaw (HandyBook). And some grits. Some store-bought riz au laits for after. Still haven't found the cookbook.

Thursday/22-Oct-20: Dinner was Cauliflower, Garlic and Turmeric Soup (web). On her site, lots of people liked it, but I didn't find it a Nigella hit. The potato made it gooey. It was in desperate need of salt and pepper (my bouillon cube was salt-free). A good shot of jalapeño tabasco didn't hurt (Ed used regular tabasco). Served with tuna salad sandwiches.

Friday/23-Oct-20: Made a loaf of English Muffin Bread (BigGerman, p15) (Basic/Rapid/M/d). This is very similar, but bigger, than the loaf from BMB. It’s one I used to make a lot in NL. 

Dinner was Creamy Coq au Vin with Mustard and Mushrooms (Mustard, p161). I used only two kip filets, but made all the very yummy sauce. This was very good. Served with long-grain brown rice and some carrots and snijbonen chunks with lemon juice and home-made seasoned salt. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines for after. 

Saturday/24-Oct-20: Picked up an order from Intermarché doay, so there was fish for dinner tonight. We had Seared Salmon with Pesto Fettuccine (web). This was easy-easy and a passable meal. Lacking  whole wheat fettuccine, we had whole wheat spaghetti. Then there was one of those Frenchish grated carrot salad. And mini HD ice cream cups for after.

Sunday/25-Oct-20: Dinner was, sort of, Papa's Posole (MC). Shortly before the computer that ran Mastercook died, I had moved Soups&Stews from my main cookbook to a separate cookbook. And forgot about it, causing a small panic when I was looking for this recipe. I made a halfish recipe using the last of the sauté de porc that I bought recently. (The rest got made into some of Hazan's Italian Sausage.) Used some pork-cooking juice from the freezer for the stock. Started in the morning and finished the cooking in the crockpot while we were out. Some guacamole and tortillas as go-withs.

Yogurt on overnight. Overnight Bread on, yes, overnight.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 4; #2 BACKLOG: no
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #4 SHORT: no; #5 LONG: no
On-going: #6 READ; #7 RECYCLE; #8 NEW

This week in the kitchen

Monday/5-Oct-20: I didn't go to French today, and Ed ended up picking up our order at Leclerc.

Dinner was a third recipe of Tajine de Calamars au Tandoori (Régal hor-série #17), using this recipe for the tandoori spice. Served over basmati rice. Okay, nothing special. Some mini ice cream cups for after.

Tuesday/6-Oct-20: Replenished my stock of Ground Roasted Cumin (MJ1, p17). Can't do too much because it's rather difficult to find cumin seeds at the convenient Drives.

Dinner was leftover Toulouse sausages and roasted veggies. Pretty good stuff. Then a salad. Then the rest of the Far de Pruneaux.

Wednesday/7-Oct-20: Made a loaf of English Muffin Bread (BMB, p17). This bread has such a nice texture.

Dinner was Nigel Slater's recipe for Aubergine with Feta, Cashews, and Ras el Hanout (web). I printed this on 16-Jun; on 18-Jun, it was amended to included cashew in the instructions. Can't say I missed them. This was easy and very satisfying. Served over brown rice. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Blogger has "improved" their format and editing. It's all horrible and things just don't work. E.g., can''t add a tag because that bit is broken. Think it's time to consider wordpress, which is where most bloggers seem to be working these days.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/8-Oct-20: Picked up an order from Intermarché this afternoon, 

Made some of Guilano Hazan's Homemade Sausage (30MinPasta, p161). Used most of the sauté de porc we got this week, freezing a bit of it for a stew or curry. 

Didn't have the oomph to make what was on the plan. Instead I made a quick one from the Do-me-again list, Baked Salmon with Cucumber Relish (web). The fish is yummy; thought the relish was a bit too sweet even though I cut back the honey. Served with trio rice. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Friday/9-Oct-20: Finished reading A Tuscan in the Kitchen on the way to and from Civray this afternoon. I picked this up because someone receommended it, but can't remember who.  It's definitely a good read. An interesting style of presentation for the ingredients, grouped into Pantry, Cold Storage, and Market. Have marked just a few recipes to try. This is a candidate for recycling, but I think I'll keep it for at least one more round because it's such an enjoyable book.

Dinner was a two-serving can of Langue de Boeuf Sauce Piquante, piquant being with mustard, not with anything truly piquant. Served with Whole Wheat Spaetzle (web). This was okay but not as good as my regular (white flour) recipe. The batter was very runny and had no need of being pushed through the spaetzle gadget. Might try my regular recipe with whole wheat flour and maybe add a tad extra milk if it's seems too thick. Butter cookies for after.

Saturday/10-Oct-20: Dilly-dallied in the afternoon and didn't have time or energy to make what was on the plan. Instead I defrosted some chicken sausages to grill and made some potato salad à la Joy of Cooking. Some mini ice cream cups for after.

Yogurt on overnight. Started Overnight Bread.

Sunday/11-Oct-20: Baked off the bread this morning. Really didn't feel like cooking this afternoon. We had pizza instead.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 3; #2 BACKLOG: no
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #4 SHORT: no; #5 LONG: no
On-going: #6 READ; #7 RECYCLE; #8 NEW

This week in the kitchen

Monday/21-Sep-20: The leftover zucchini ravioli got re-warmed to serve as a side dish for some grilled boneless pork chops, along with the last bits of an odd pasta shape. (Trying to reduce my collection of pastas.) Pretty good, and Buddy enjoyed much plate licking. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each for after.

Tuesday/22-Sep-20: Use-up-veggies night. The potatoes we got yesterday are pretty eye-y, so I trimmed those back to make a sort of scalloped potatoes based on French Scalloped Potatoes (BEFCC, p51), with blue cheese stirred into the sauce before baking. Topped with some steamed broccoli. Pretty tasty stuff. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each for after.

Wednesday/23-Sep-20: Made another loaf of English Muffin Bread (BMB, p17); such good stuff.

Made Cinnamon Fluff Cake (MC). Tore into two pieces coming out of the bundt pan. Still tastes good.

Dinner was Chipotle Turkey and Corn Soup (MC). Good stuff.

Thursday/24-Sep-20: Dinner was based on Coconut Curry Shrimp (web). I made about a third recipe, and added frozen peas with the shrimp at the end for some vegetable matter. Used just a dab of honey but that was too much. Totally unnecessary I think. Some Cinnamon Fluff Cake for after.

Friday/25-Sep-20: Picked up an order at Intermarché. It appears I forgot to remove sardines from my basket, so we'll have fish two nights in a row here.

Tonight's dinner was Grilled Lemon-Soy Salmon (MC; CL/oct03; web). This is easy and good. Annoying that the poissonière gave me a tail bit and a regular body bit, and the thinner tail cooked much faster. Served with some steam-sautéed potatoes, but I started with too much water, so they were only steamed. And some steamed carrots and broccoli. We finished the Cinnamon Fluff Cake for after.

Saturday/26-Sep-20: Tonight we had the sardines that I bought inadvertently, Sarde Frites (TuscKitch, p148); I used polenta rather than bread crumbs for the crunchy bit. I sliced up a lemon as suggested and entrusted them to Ed to bring to table, but he forgot. Instead we used sriracha (Ed) and jalapeño Tabasco (me) to bring up the taste. Served with corn, crozets, and a sliced tomato.

Sunday/27-Sep-20: Dinner was Braised Veal, Carrot, Olives and Capers (web). This was pretty good. I had more than enough meat, so we'll have an extra meal of it. Served over smashed potatoes. Followed by a big salad. Then a pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each.

Yogurt on overnight. Overnight bread on overnight too.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 4 #2 BACKLOG: no
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #4 SHORT: no; #5 LONG: no
On-going: #6 READ; #7 RECYCLE; #8 NEW

This week in the kitchen

Monday/14-Sep-20: Dinner was a halfish dose of Chicken, Red Lentils, and Green Beans in One Pot (Q&E, p58), which seems to be one of the few recipes I've tried from this book that I've found distinctly blah. I used four chicken thighs (skinned) and some tough green beans. Over basmati rice. Chocolate covered madeleines for after

Yogurt on overnight.

Tuesday/15-Sep-20: Our first meal in a restaurant since the Covid-19 emergency started. Hoping it was an ok thing to do.

Some fruit and madeleines in the evening.

Wednesday/16-Sep-20: Tonight there was store-boughten gnocchi with Hazan's famous tomato sauce from the freezer. Here's a photo, for the Cooking Marcella Hazan group on Facebook.

Followed by a big salad. Some cookies for after. 

Thursday/17-Sep-20: Picked up an order from Intermarché Drive today, so it was fish for dinner.

We had a halfish recipe of Vissalade me Komijn-Mosterddressing (Del). Can't find it on the web anywhere. It was okay, but not worth copying. Fish (cod tonight), watercress (arugla, since I've rarely seen watercress here), orzo/risoni, currants, and pine nuts, in a dressing with coarse mustard and cumin (I used ground roasted, rather than whole seeds). A nice, light meal on a hot night. Some cookies for after.

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/18-Sep-20: Made a loaf of English Muffin Bread (BMB, p17).

For dinner I defrosted some sauce from chicken paprikash. Flattened a pair of kip filets, S&P, a bit of smoked paprika, dredged in flour, then sautéed in butter and olive oil. Served with tagliatelle and steamed broccoli. Good stuff.

Saturday/19-Sep-20: Spent the afternoon waiting for Orange to come to fix the phone. They called Corinne (my French teacher who has been helping contact Orange in the last days) to tell her it was working. She said, No, go to the house. So a guy came, after the end of the appointed period. Everything's ok, but not the tonalité; what that means in this situation, I don't know. Anyhow, it's something that Orange can fix at the office. Which won't be open till Monday. He said he'd call to be sure it was fixed. How nice.

Dinner was Zucchini Ravioli (web), about a half recipe. I very loosely followed this recipe for the marinara sauce. Forgot to take the dried chili out when I removed the basil spring. I got it in my serving — ouch! The "ravioli" were okay, nothing special. Then a small salad. Then some mini ice cream cups.

Start some Overnight Bread.

Sunday/20-Sep-20: Bake Overnight Bread. Good stuff.

Dinner was Enchiladas Verdes (Green Enchiladas) (web), with some modifications of course. For a start, two kip filets weigh a lot less than one pound. I ended up with eight enchiladas. I mixed some crème fraîche with the salsa verde left after rolling the tortillas. No queso fresco; I used some tomme des Pyrenees, a mild cow cheese. Made up some Spanish rice, with carrots, peas, corn, and red bell pepper from the freezer; used the chicken poaching juice for the water. Forgot to salt, so that had to be done at table. Pretty good stuff.

Yogurt on overnight.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 3; #2 BACKLOG: no
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #4 SHORT: no; #5 LONG: no
On-going: #6 READ; #7 RECYCLE; #8 NEW

This week in the kitchen

Monday/24-Aug-20: Made a loaf of English Muffin Bread (BMB, p17) this morning. Good stuff.

Leftover pizza for dinner. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each for after.

Yogurt on overnight.

Tuesday/25-Aug-20: Started Crock Pot Picadillo (web). I had 700g of 5% ground beef, so made about a 2/3 recipe. Pretty good stuff. I didn't serve over brown rice as suggested, but with corn tortillas (now that I've found some good mail-order ones). And a side of guacamole. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each later.

Wednesday/26-Aug-20: Dinner was about a third of Ayam Masak Rose—Braised Chicken and Peas in a Coconut-and-Chili Sauce (TLPacSea, p61), using four thighs. This was really good. The meat is not browned, which I found a surprise. I think I would take the skin off before cooking; I did remove it before serving. Served over basmati rice. Ed said it's a 5-star dish.

Served with our favorite Thai Cucumber Salad with Peanuts (web). I got the chili out of the freezer, but forgot to cut it up, so the salad was quite soothing after the chicken dish.

Thursday/27-Aug-20: Made the 1-3/4-2# loaf of Classic Whole Wheat Bread (BigGerman, p81) (WW/Rapid/L/-/-). That was a seriously big loaf. I expect the 1-1/2# loaf will still be big. Tasty.

Made a batch of Mango Plum Jam (SmallBatch, p51; cookbooker). Used only 2 cups sucre de confiture, which was a good amount tastewise, even though it's a bit runny.

Dinner was Carrot and Coriander Soup (Fancy, p39). Delicious. A whole recipe served two as a dinner soup. Would be a nice soup in small cups as a starter.

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/28-Aug-20: Finished reading Pure&Simple last night. Wasn't very impressed. Have marked a few recipes to try. There are lots of ingredients, primarily veggies, that aren't available here and I don't recall seeing them in NL. Oh well.

Pick up an order at Intermarché today. I ordered carrots when we didn't need any. Maybe we'll have lots and lots of Carrot and Coriander Soup.

Dinner was Asian Grilled Salmon (web), on the bbq. This was easy, fast, and tasty. Served with trio rice and Chinese Eggplant with Garlic Sauce (web). I used most of the white eggplants from the potager. (Bought by mistake, these are much better the the tiny white "ur" eggplants which are very bitter). Having no black vinegar right now, I used malt vinegar, which seemed to work quite well. Anyhow, this was tingly and tasty. We're full.

Saturday/29-Aug-20: Made a batch of Marcella Hazan's famous Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter (ClassicItal, p152) from my over-bought stash of grappe tomate. Soon I need to start making sauce (passata, I think) from the tomatoes from the potager.

Dinner was Indonesian Beef Satay (Wolfert, p72). The bbq chef burnt one side so the meat was pretty overcooked. No pindasaus, since neither of us especially like it. Difficult to say much more about it. Used some green beans to make a halfish recipe of Tumi Buncis (SriOwen, p195). Pretty good, although my beans were a bit old. Dressed up the remains of yesterday's eggplant sort of like Gorentg Terong—Fried Aubergines (SriOwen, p192). Worked pretty good. And some basmati rice. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each for after.

Sunday/30-Aug-20: Took a load of stuff off to a charity shop today. Ed managed to lose one of his hearing aids along the way!

Dinner was a halfish dose of Garlic, Caper & Lemon Linguine (magazine clipping from Jamie, I guess; scanned). Easy and tasty. For a side, I sliced up one of our home-grown tomatoes, topped with a bit of olive oil, S&P, and torn basil. Yum. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each for after.

I'm reading my next cookbook at night right now. This works because it's a rather small book. Won't be handy at all for a bigger one. Will have to find another solution for cookbook reading.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 4; #2 BACKLOG: no
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #4 SHORT: no; #5 LONG: no
On-going: #6 READ; #7 RECYCLE; #8 NEW

This week in the kitchen

Monday/10-Aug-20: I picked up an order from Leclerc today after my French lesson.

The sweltering heat continues. We had a big thunderstorm this morning, and may have more in the next days. Thursday it should start cooling off.

Dinner was a half dose of Basil, Shrimp & Zucchini Pasta (web). Pretty good stuff, made with surprisingly little tomato sauce. (I buzzed the proper amount of canned tomato pulp to make the sauce, and froze the rest.) Peaches&cream ice cream for after.

Tuesday/11-Aug-20: Made another loaf of English Muffin Bread (BMB, p17), this time using less water. This is a delicious bread and smells wonderful while it's baking. Although most breads smell wonderful.

Dinner was a halfish dose of Tomatoes and Eggplant over Couscous with Caper Sauce (VegPlanet, p257). I used a preserved lemon for the lemon juice and peel. Feta on top at serving. Quite good, but not quite well-seasoned enough. Finished the peaches and cream ice cream for after. Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/12-Aug-20: No phone and internet briefly in the morning. Dinner was Roasted Masala Lamb Chops with Pistachio & Pomegranate (Jamie). This was good. Didn't serve on flatbread (bone-in lamb chops on flatbread?), but served with Moroccan couscous (from the organic shop) and Crushed Spiced Carrot Salad (Morocco, p78), a tasty favorite. Some chocolate-covered madeleines for after. (Leclerc Drive has finally started carrying these!)

Thursday/13-Aug-20: Neglected to defrost something for dinner and my mind was a blank, even though there's lots of veg in the fridge. Pizza it was, with the rest of the package of chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Started some Overnight Bread.

Friday/14-Aug-20: Baked up the Overnight Bread in the morning.

Dinner was Spicy Turkey Salad (PatSalads, p102). (Wish I'd remembered this book when it was seriously hot.) I had about 300g of turkey scallops (two of them) and minced those rather than grinding. Interesting that the meat is cooked in a mixture of lime juice, lemongrass, and garlic, with no oil involved. It was a bit short on meat, but otherwise I did a whole recipe. A very light meal for two, not four. We started a new packet of chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/15-Aug-20: Picked up an order from Intermarché Drive today. Lots of fruit; not much veg, which we're over-endowed with right now.

Dinner was Sweet-and-Sour Salmon in Almond Prune Sauce (Essential, p431). This sounded a bit odd (sauce of prunes, honey, dijon, etc.), but turned out delicious. I'm not sure, but I think everything with pomegranate molasses might be delicious. Served with trio rice and some steamed haricots verts. Store-bought crème caramels for after.

Sunday/16-M Aug on-20: Used more of our plums to make Plum Amaretto Jam (SmallBatch, p50). About a pound of plums (maybe a teeny bit more) make two AH jars. Tastes good. Into the freezer with them.

Dinner was Corn with Cauliflower (WorldVeg, p173), which sounded a bit odd, but worked quite well. Served over short-grained brown rice. The rest of the store-bought crème caramels for after.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 4; #2 BACKLOG: no
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #4 SHORT: no; #5 LONG: no
On-going: #6 READ; #7 RECYCLE; #8 NEW

This week in the kitchen

Monday/3-Aug-20: Tthis afternoon Ed said how much he liked yesterday's dessert. Surprise. He especially liked the misbegotten dumpling-ish things on the top of the peaches.

Started some Abm Whole Wheat Bread (MC) (WW/Rapid/L/-/-). My goodness this smells good when it's baking!

Dinner was a halfish dose of Baked Greek Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta (web; cookbooker). Used 300g of cooked shrimp (with covered tails) that I added more or less frozen. Served over orzo.

Peach cobbler with ice cream and cream for dessert.

Tuesday/4-Aug-20: Off to BookChatters today. Only four of us, but a long discussion.

Dinner was a half dose of Artichoke Purée with Olives, Capers, and Oregano (PeV, p33), served over linguine. Good stuff. We finished off the peach cobbler with plain ice cream for after.

Wednesday/5-Aug-20: This was vet day. Sophie had her shots and seems not to have kidney failure or diabetes as we'd feared. Oscar isn't doing well and probably won't be long with us. :-(

Dinner was Grilled Chicken with Peach and Onion Relish (MC; web), a third of the meat with half the relish. The relish was delicious; I used half the sugar I should have. Have lots of this left for something else. It was served with very plain kip filets, where it could have used a more flavorful meat, chicken thighs, pork something? Served with short spaghetti and some steam-sautéed mixed veggies (carrots, broccoli, zucchini, eggplant), cleaning out the fridge a bit. They were good, with lots of lemon juice at the end. We're full and satisfied.

Thursday/6-Aug-20: Dinner was a close version of Shakshouka with Potatoes (web). Easy and pretty tasty. Filling on a hot hot day.

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/7-Aug-20: Buckwheat Bread (BMB, p49) this morning (WW/Rapid/S/-/-). A small loaf, as are all in this book, but quite delicious.

Dinner was Eggs on Curried Rice (Rodale2, p113; MC). Short grain brown rice. Old recipe. Good stuff. Then a bit of salad.

It's occurred to me that my cookbook reading has largely ground to a halt. I was reading as we travelled to and from the grocery store. But that's not happening any more, and likely won't for quite some time, so I need to find another way to work this into my schedule.

Saturday/8-Aug-20: Another hot hot day. I don't do hot well.

Ed picked up an order from Intermarché, so it's fish for dinner.

Which was Coconut Fish Curry (web). No coconut oil or coconut aminos. It was okay. We got a mango in the groceries, but I decided not to make that fish dish. Instead I made Cucumber Mango Salad (web), a recipe printout I found tucked in a book last night. This was pretty good. I stirred in some cilantro, which only made it better. I made up the broth for some ice cream and macerated some peaches and nectarines, but didn't feel like freezing it. Tomorrow.

Ed brought in a bucket full of purple plums, so tomorrow is probably jam-making day.

Sunday/9-Aug-20: Busy day in the kitchen. Started out making a loaf English Muffin Bread (BMB, p17). The dough must have been a bit too wet and the top sank. Tastes great, though, so I'll try again.

I used about half of the bucket of plums (quetsches) to make Plum Jam (FancyPant, p92). I was also looking at Classic Plum Jam (PutEmFruit, p211). I used the amount of sugar (sucre de confiture with pectin included) from PutEmFruit and omitted the lemon juice. Followed FancyPant's procedure of softening the plums with the pits in, then putting them through a food mill to remove them. That didn't work very well, and I ended up picking them out by hand. Have four jars of jam now, three in the freezer.

For dinner, we had hamburger patties, plain hamburger dressed up with tamari, garlic, and Tabasco. Served these with the Peach and Onion Relish from earlier in the week. Over-roasted the remains of some mandolined potatoes. Made up a broccoli salad. And for after we had some peaches and cream ice cream. We're full.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 4; #2 BACKLOG: no
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #4 SHORT: no; #5 LONG: no
On-going: #6 READ; #7 RECYCLE; #8 NEW

This week in the kitchen

Monday/23-Mar-20: The Semolina Bread I made yesterday is good, but quite crumbly. It's not dry, it just crumbles.

Dinner was Bacon Wrapped Spring Chicken (web), definitely a hit. Instead of an jalapeño, I used one of the long chiles that Leclerc sometimes has in the summer; yellow, it was, and I probably added a trifle too much cayenne to compensate for it not being the proper thing. No matter. Delicious was the result. Served with trio rice and steamed broccoli. The sauce went well with everything. Some St Felicien for dessert.

Tuesday/24-Mar-20: Made up some garlic oil, vaguely following a internet recipe: Put 80ml olive oil and three smallish garlic cloves in a small saucepan. Bring to oil to a boil, turn the heat down and simmer about 5min; the garlic cloves will brown. Turn the heat off; the garlic continues to cook. Put the oil in a small jar; an old spice jar works. (The instructions said to slice the garlic and put it in the oil. I didn't do this.)

Make up a batch of taco seasoning (HB). Might make some chicken taco meat with some of it soon.

Dinner was Pasta with Porcini Mushroom Sauce (MW@Home, p192), using up some of the shrooms I have on hand. Pretty good it was. We finished the St Felicien for after. Then we finished the chocolate-covered corn flakes. We're nicely full.

Wednesday/25-Mar-20: Ed went to get our order at Intermarché Drive this morning. We disinfected all and put most of it up.

Made a loaf of Oat Bread (BigGerman, p29). Made a medium loaf ; my oat bran was expired, but smelt ok so I used it; used the vital gluten. Very high loaf, very tasty. It was so good, we had it for dessert.

Dinner was Rocky Road Potato Cod (Ainsley3, p89). Used lardons for the streaky bacon. Good it was. Bread for dessert.

Thursday/26-Mar-20: My, my, is that Oat Bread good.

Dinner was Teriyaki Salmon & Mango Salsa (web). This was pretty good, although the salsa was pretty assertive, since I didn't deseed the chili. Served with real basmati rice, and steam broccoli. Some HD mini ice cream cups were just the thing for dessert.

Friday/27-Mar-20: Made up some Prune Bread (BMB, p96), first time. Why don't people like prunes. I had to eat some while pitting and quartering them.

For dinner, I used my last three lasagna noodles to make, more or less, a third recipe of Lasagna with Spicy Roasted Cauliflower (web). For the marinara sauce, I made a half recipe of this, also from NYT and very good. Then a salad. Yay! Thank you, Intermarché Drive*. I used the ricotta to make, sort of, Coffee Ricotta Mousse (MW@Home, p307). Used a bit of Kahlua for this. Pretty good, although the texture was a bit grainy since the ricotta had been frozen.

*I'm a bit worried because I haven't had an email from Leclerc Drive for the order I placed to be delivered Monday. Can't get to the site; they simply can't keep up with demand right now, and haven't been able to fix the situation in the last week and a half.

Saturday/28-Mar-20: In the afternoon, I made some Easy Chocolate Shortbread (MC), a recipe that worked the last time I made it, but not this time. The dough wouldn't come together, so I added some cream cheese (maybe 2tbl) to make that happen. The result is tasty, but like eating chocolate-flavored sand.

Dinner was Stir-Fried Pork and Green Beans—Muu Pad Tua Fak Yaw (ThaiCC, p42). This was pretty good. Made a small dent in the huge pile of green beans we got from Intermarché Driver, and used the tail of the varkenshaas, the rest of which will appear somehow in the next days. For after, we had chocolate sand with vanilla ice cream.

Sunday/29-Mar-20: Made up another loaf of Authentic French Bread (Magic, p22), Med/Rapid/Dark, with 100% T65 (bread) flour. Dark, it’s not. And a bit of a lumpy, one-sided loaf; maybe it wanted a bit more water.

I used up the last bits of cauliflower and broccoli to make a half dose of Penne with Cauliflower Sauce (PastaHarv p68). I used cascareccia, although I think the mini-lasagnas, mafaldas, might have been better. Still, it was a pretty good. For dessert, we covered the rest of the chocolate shortcaket things with cream and gobbled them up.

Yogurt on overnight.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 4; #2 BACKLOG: no
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #4 SHORT: no; #5 LONG: no
On-going: #6 READ; #7 RECYCLE; #8 NEW

This week in the kitchen

Monday/21-Mar-11: Cleaning out the freezer week. Tonight was Potatoes with Chorizo and Onions (somewhere on the web). It was supposed to be a recipe for Spanish chorizo, but I'm not so sure about that. The recipe was OK, the technique interesting and adaptable. First you brown some thinly sliced chorizo or other tasty, hard salami-like thing in a skillet and remove them to paper towels. Then you add to the pan a mess of thinly sliced potatoes and onion (thank you, mandoline!). Toss these with some salt and pepper and a goodly dash of paprika. Put the sausage on top. Put a smaller skillet on top of the food and press down; weight it down with some heavy cans. Cook for 10 minutes, then remove the weights and cook a few minutes more. Served topped with chopped parsley. I expect this could be done with most any kind of meat or protein, as long as it has some flavor. Easily adaptable up or down in size. I served with a salad.

Tuesday/22-Mar-11: A midday meal today. For a starter, I used the last two artichoke bottoms from a jar, spread with black tapenade, topped with a slice of Petit Billy, then popped under the grill till the cheese was nicely done. For the main, I used up most of the open jar of roasted red bell peppers with Ravioli with Roasted Red Pepper Cream (Desperation, p178) with ricotta-spinach raviolis from the freezer. Really good for a dish that goes together in minutes.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/23-Mar-11: There's a defrosted leg of lamb in the fridge, but it's turn didn't come today. So, dinner was an old favorite, Warm Broccoli and Potato Salad (MDSalads, p15). We both really like this yummy salad.

Made the "broth" for some vanilla ice milk. Now chilling, to be frozen tomorrow. I've never made ice milk before, so I'm curious how it turns out.

Oops, nobody went to the boulanger. Bran Bread (BMB, p44) on overnight.

Thursday/24-Mar-11: Toupargel delivered today and the freezer is full-full-full. And lots of meat from the winter sales to be eaten up.

Just when I'm thinking I could easily live as a pescivegetarian, along comes some meat that changes my mind. Dinner was a Slow-Roast Lamb (Diaries, p62), the 21-February entry. Wow, this was a success, thank you Nigel Slater! A lovely rub (lots of mortar and pestel work), then cooked long and slow. The house smelled wonderful while it was cooking and the results were really good, tasty, tender meat. To go with, I made lots of Dusolier's Perfect Roast Potatoes, always good. Then a salad. Then ice milk on toasted Belgian waffles, topped with (thawed) mixed berries. The vanilla ice milk wasn't bad, but ice cream is better. :-)

Friday/25-Mar-11: Yogurt on overday. Shopping; bought some tuna steaks for dinner. Cooked them under the broiler, trying to save a pan. Mistake. Much better on a grill pan. Served with Carrot Pilaf (MC) and Italian Grilled Zucchini and Red Onion (MC), both moldy-oldies. The salad seemed especially tasty tonight. Ice milk with (French) strawberries for dessert.

Saturday/26-Mar-11: Served dinner just in time for Earth Hour—dinner by candlelight tonight. It was Taglitelle with Peas (30MinPasta, p53), very tasty and very simple, and, yes, done in 30 minutes. Followed by a salad. Followed by ice milk and strawberries again.

Ice milk, it seems to me, is best when you think of it as a milk sherbert/sorbet, rather than as a poor man's or diet version of ice cream. Ice cream is luxuriously creamy; ice milk doesn't even try for that, so it's best to change your expectations.

Sunday/27-Mar-11: Yes, yes, I've joined a new on-line cooking group. Today's meal was a Caribbean one you can read about here.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: yes, #2 SOUP: no, #3 MIDDAY: yes
This month: #4 PASTA: yes

This week in the kitchen

Monday/14-Feb-11: Hmm ... next thing up on the freezer list (oldest, to be used soon) is two small containers of spicy apricot chutney, a recipe from CLmag. Now, what I remember is that we didn't especially like this and spicy, it wasn't. Dilemma: should I try to salvage these or just toss them?

Valentine's day lunch at Montemboeuf's Cafe de la Mairie today. No need for further food today!

Tuesday/15-Feb-11: Yogurt on overday. No one wanted to go to the boulanger, so I made Bran Bread (BMB, p44), a nice dense bread. Early in the day, I did the chop-chop for Squash and Corn Chowder (Soups4Seas, p34) and we had that for dinner. Not bad.

Wednesday/16-Feb-11: Finished the travelogue part of Auberge last night. On to the recipes now. Today's post at Gherkins and Tomatoes was about this book. How about that for a bit of serendipity?

Dinner was Chiles Rellenos Casserole (CL90, p147), a TNT recipe I haven't made in a long time. Recently some recipes billed as chiles rellenos casseroles were shared on EAT-L, but they included chopped chiles rather than whole stuffed ones. That made me think of this oldie. Not bad. I make it with two of those little cans of whole chilies, which usually contain three chilies. This time one of the cans had only two chilies, and I can't say either was especially big. We ate half of the casserole with a big salad. Neither of us especially hungry, so no dessert.

Thursday/17-Feb-11: Shopping today. Avoided most impulse purchases.

Before dinner, I baked some of the finger-food "packets" that I got for new year's eve, but we didn't eat. They were surprisingly good, and all the flavors were tasty. Dinner was Spaghetti all'Amatriciana with Eggplant (MedHot, p77). This was rather similar to Cooking Italy's recent-ish Eggplant Sauce with Tomato and Red Chili Pepper. We might have liked tonight's better, since it was less oily. The eggplant was cut in cubes, salted, drained, then tossed with flour before frying, which gave it a nice crisper outer surface. Followed by a salad, then by some rice gelato.

Friday/18-Feb-11: A day in the kitchen.

• Yogurt on overday.
• Made some apple-kiwi butter. How will that be, I wonder?
• For our midday meal, we had Lamb Shanks with Mustard and Mash (Diaries, p44). (It's a year project to read through Diaries following through the year.) I cooked the shanks in the oven longer and slower than asked, like the Cajun-spiced shanks I did last July. For a starter there was Zucchini and Feta Cheese Salad (WorldVeg, p648), which we've enjoyed before.
• Made 13 meringue cups (pavlovas, I think they can be called), following recipe in CL88. We had a couple as a belated dessert with some raspberries. The cups didn't work as well as the last time I did them; they're remarkably similar to marshmallows. Hoping the freezer will perk them up.
• Made a double dose of pâte brisée (Tenth, p256) for the freezer.
• Used the rest of a jar of roasted red peppers to make some faux pizza sauce for the freezer.
• Chopped a red chili really fine and macerated this is a bit of rice vinegar. Then I stirred it into one of the containers of not-so-Spicy Apricot Chutney. If it perks up, we'll use it; if not, they both get tossed.

Saturday/19-Feb-11: Leftover chile relleno casserole for dinner, followed by a big salad. Forgot to take the rice gelato out of the freezer beforehand, so we had some cookies for dessert, kind of hazelnut sandies. Tiny cookies, and we ended up eating the whole box. Oink, oink.

Sunday/20-Feb-11: Finished off the jar of fig jam at breakfast, so tomorrow we'll see how the apple-kiwi butter worked.

Dinner was Zucchini Pancakes (Q&EVeg, p220), an old favorite. When I was considering exactly what to do for this, I realized that many zucchini pancake recipes are really pancakes with some zucchini thrown in, while this recipe is zucchini. Since I'm trying to use up some, that's what I chose. This time the bread crumbs I got from the freezer still had some biggish bits in them; those turned out really nice and chewy. For dessert we finished off the rice gelato.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: yes, #2 SOUP: yes, #3 MIDDAY: yes
This month: #4 PASTA: not yet