Monday/29-Apr-19: Today I listed all my kitchen projects that I could find and divided them into "quickies" that can be done in just a day or so, and "longies" that take some time to finish. One quickie, on the plan, is to make a galette des rois for next Kings' Day. That one starts with finding a nice fêve at a vide grenier this summer (rather than using one I already have). Have two longies in the mill for when the time is right, so maybe one of those will get done. Wondering if my goal should just be one of the longies?
Dinner was Four-Layer Polenta Casserole (Dreaded, p107), the layers being polenta; baked eggplant slices; a mixture of onions, garlic, oven-dried tomatoes, spinach, and herbs; and a final layer of polenta. Sprinkled some parmesan on top for the baking. Pretty good, especially with some tabasco.
For dessert, I used up some frozen cherries to make a kind of cherry crisp thing. It was pretty good, although my oatmeal is getting stale. Think I'll toss the rest of it.
Tuesday/30-Apr-19: Make some Spice-Rubbed Pork Loin, a recipe copied from a recycled cookbook. Delicious. Having a problem cooking it, though. After the appointed time, it wasn't done. But the meat thermometer said that it was more than done. A puzzle. I made half the rub, and used only about a third of it. Will freeze the rest. Good on pork, and probably on chicken or maybe even fish. Served with mushroom-flavored pasta tossed with garlic butter and chopped parsley. And steamed broccoli with shiitakes. No dessert needed.
Wednesday/1-May-19: Froze up gaboons of chicken stock this afternoon.
Dinner was a halfish dose of East-West Eggplant (BoldVeg, p136), except that I used all my eggplant on Monday, so I used zucchini instead. And good it was. Over brown rice. Mini ice creams for dessert.
Thursday/2-May-19: Shopping today.
Dinner was some lovely tuna steaks with charmoula marinade, barbecued, from the freezer. Served with polenta, Buttered Beet and Carrot Sauté (web), and Cucumber and Napa Cabbage Coleslaw (web). Both the salads were good. I didn't really measure anything for the coleslaw, just approximated. Ed thought it was too sour; I thought it was good. Some store-bought semoule au lait for dessert.
Friday/3-May-19: Off to Bordeaux today on a useless errand. (Ordered computer had been returned.) Our intended light lunch was more than expected so we didn't have the leftover quiche tonight. That moves to tomorrow. Tomorrow's planned meal moves to next week.
Yogurt on overnight.
Saturday/4-May-19: Made One Perfect Loaf (recipe; web), a Romertopf bread from a book that I don't yet have. (It's on order.) Used up some T80 flour (stone-ground? partly whole wheat) which was two months out of date. Smelled okay, but the bread doesn't taste as wonderful as you'd expect. Nice texture though.
For our meal we had the rest of the butternut squash quiche, followed by a big salad.
Sunday/5-May-19: Used three quail from the freezer to make a half recipe of Roast Quail with Raisins (Quaglie Arrosti) (ClayCook1, p30). This was ok. Only some of the potatoes were done after an hour in the oven Not bad, don't need to make again. Served with some steamed green beans. Mini ice cream bars for dessert.
Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 4 #3 COOKBOOK: n/a for April, yes for May
Cookbooks of the month: n/a for April, Romertopf cookbooks for May
This month: #4 PASTA: no for April, no for May; #5 BREAD: no for April; yes for May; #6 GUESTS: yes for April, no for May
This year: #7 PROJECT: no
Showing posts with label ~BoldVeg. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ~BoldVeg. Show all posts
Monday, April 29, 2019
Monday, April 22, 2019
This week in the kitchen
Monday/22-Apr-19: Off to the Pranzac Foire aux Vins today with Cath, then home for a bbq. There was Best Grilled Chicken Thighs with Mustard and Tarragon (CI/jul18, web). Very good these were. And some Dilled Potato-Cucumber Salad (VT; MC; web), an old favorite. And some of Corinne's broccoli, steamed and topped with a bit of garlic-flavored oil and lemon juice. Some of the Postre de Mango for after.
Tuesday/23-Apr-19: Worked on the meal plan today. Somehow all next week was meat, meat, meat, and needed to be jiggled more than I would have liked.
Tonight's meal was Aubergine and Sweet Potato Thai Red Curry (web). Easy to do, edible but nothing special. Served over rice. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each for dessert.
Wednesday/24-Apr-19: We meant to go to Bordeaux today, but the weather forecast was bad enough to keep us home. Bordeaux had incredible storms yesterday, while we had almost nothing.
Started a pot of chicken stock.
Dinner was a halfish recipe of Smoked Paprika Stroganoff (web). This is a pressure cooker recipe, easy, relatively fast, and tasty. For a starter, I made some Carrot and Apple Salad (Art, p26), although twice as much as stated for two people. It suggest serving with ricotta or cottage cheese. I had some fromage blanc needing to be used, so I did. I used a ring to assemble the dish, salad on the bottom with a creamy, wite topping. Picture worthy, but no camera was handy. Mini ice cream bars for dessert.
Yogurt on overnight.
Thursday/25-Apr-19: Yogurt on overnight, ha! Power went off at 9pm, returning about 3am. Dragged myself out of bed to go downstairs and restart the yogurt. Power off again about 9am for another six hours. I restarted the yogurt yet again, but can't imagine what it will be like and no one will be around to put it in the fridge.
Meanwhile we did our shopping. Bought another starter for yogurt. Before we left the store, the wind came up, making an enormous noise inside. As we were loading the car, it started hailing. Yipes! Apparently the same thing happened here. I went to ask a neighbor about the electricity and she had closed her shutters agains the wind and hail.
For dinner there was Asian Catfish Wraps (MC, web). Problem was that I thoughtlessly bought whole sole rather than filets, so we picked bones out of our wraps. Very tasty though. Some organic Gariguette strawberries and the rest of the fromage blanc for after.
Friday/26-Apr-19: Dinner was Spicy Pork Rolls with Satay Sauce (200Budget, p130). I've made the version of this with minted yogurt sauce with turkey scallops. This time I used veal scallops. One day I'll find pork scallops and remember to do this. It was yummy, including the satay sauce, which remained too thick in spite of extra coconut cream, but was really delicious. As a side there was Tumis Buncis (SriOwen, p195). Well, I more or less followed this recipe, but added carrots as described in Tumis Bunchis (MJFarEast, p175). Jaffrey uses more "real" spices, chilies, ginger, galangal, curry leaves, rather than powdered ginger and cayenne. Still, what I made was good. With plain basmati rice. HD mini ice cream cups for after.
Saturday/27-Apr-19: Really nice meal at a nearby restaurant this evening. Nothing happened in the kitchen.
Sunday/28-Apr-19: Chicken stock is still going. Need to freeze it up tomorrow.
Dinner was Gingery Squash Quiche (BoldVeg, p200; cookbooker). This was the best butternut squash quiche-y sort of thing I've had. Then a salad. Then a pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each.
Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 3; #3 COOKBOOK: n/a
Cookbooks of the month: n/a
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: yes
This year: #7 PROJECT: no
Tuesday/23-Apr-19: Worked on the meal plan today. Somehow all next week was meat, meat, meat, and needed to be jiggled more than I would have liked.
Tonight's meal was Aubergine and Sweet Potato Thai Red Curry (web). Easy to do, edible but nothing special. Served over rice. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each for dessert.
Wednesday/24-Apr-19: We meant to go to Bordeaux today, but the weather forecast was bad enough to keep us home. Bordeaux had incredible storms yesterday, while we had almost nothing.
Started a pot of chicken stock.
Dinner was a halfish recipe of Smoked Paprika Stroganoff (web). This is a pressure cooker recipe, easy, relatively fast, and tasty. For a starter, I made some Carrot and Apple Salad (Art, p26), although twice as much as stated for two people. It suggest serving with ricotta or cottage cheese. I had some fromage blanc needing to be used, so I did. I used a ring to assemble the dish, salad on the bottom with a creamy, wite topping. Picture worthy, but no camera was handy. Mini ice cream bars for dessert.
Yogurt on overnight.
Thursday/25-Apr-19: Yogurt on overnight, ha! Power went off at 9pm, returning about 3am. Dragged myself out of bed to go downstairs and restart the yogurt. Power off again about 9am for another six hours. I restarted the yogurt yet again, but can't imagine what it will be like and no one will be around to put it in the fridge.
Meanwhile we did our shopping. Bought another starter for yogurt. Before we left the store, the wind came up, making an enormous noise inside. As we were loading the car, it started hailing. Yipes! Apparently the same thing happened here. I went to ask a neighbor about the electricity and she had closed her shutters agains the wind and hail.
For dinner there was Asian Catfish Wraps (MC, web). Problem was that I thoughtlessly bought whole sole rather than filets, so we picked bones out of our wraps. Very tasty though. Some organic Gariguette strawberries and the rest of the fromage blanc for after.
Friday/26-Apr-19: Dinner was Spicy Pork Rolls with Satay Sauce (200Budget, p130). I've made the version of this with minted yogurt sauce with turkey scallops. This time I used veal scallops. One day I'll find pork scallops and remember to do this. It was yummy, including the satay sauce, which remained too thick in spite of extra coconut cream, but was really delicious. As a side there was Tumis Buncis (SriOwen, p195). Well, I more or less followed this recipe, but added carrots as described in Tumis Bunchis (MJFarEast, p175). Jaffrey uses more "real" spices, chilies, ginger, galangal, curry leaves, rather than powdered ginger and cayenne. Still, what I made was good. With plain basmati rice. HD mini ice cream cups for after.
Saturday/27-Apr-19: Really nice meal at a nearby restaurant this evening. Nothing happened in the kitchen.
Sunday/28-Apr-19: Chicken stock is still going. Need to freeze it up tomorrow.
Dinner was Gingery Squash Quiche (BoldVeg, p200; cookbooker). This was the best butternut squash quiche-y sort of thing I've had. Then a salad. Then a pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each.
Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 3; #3 COOKBOOK: n/a
Cookbooks of the month: n/a
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: yes
This year: #7 PROJECT: no
Monday, December 31, 2018
This week in the kitchen
Monday/31-Dec-18: Saucisses Lentilles au Chou Romanesco (VPG) was on the menu tonight, but yesterday I cooked too much broccoli, so I decided to substitute that for the romanesco. Then, forgetting about the lentils, I started cooking brown rice. So, no lentils. We grated some gruyère onto the dish at table, and also added some green tabasco. Pretty good it was. We finished the Chocolate-Chestnut bûche for after.
Started some lamb stock with the lamb bone from tweede kerstdag.
I made up some guacamole for our new year's eve treat.
Tuesday/1-Jan-18: Finished off the lamb stock and froze it. Made some Oven-Dried Tomatoes (HandyBook) and froze them.
Our meal for new year's day has its own post here.
Wednesday/2-Jan-18: Shopping today. The store wasn't the madhouse that it was last two weeks. We purposely didn't shop on Mondays before the Tuesday holidays. Apparently it was really bad those days. We shopped on the Fridays and it was still overfull. A relatively small shopping today. Trying not to set another record this year for our monthly average on grocery shopping.
Dinner was Fish Pie with Salmon, Smoked Salmon and Savoy Cabbage (web). We ate just over half of this. I froze the rest to serve over rice or pasta. Then a salad. Then some store-bought riz au laits. Then a pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each. Yes, we were piggies.
Thursday/3-Jan-18: Oscar got his stitches out today. Got home to find Sophie limping severely. Called the vet, hoping to go back directly, but they just said to give her painkiller for two or three days and let them know. She's been very inactive all afternoon. Worrying.
Dinner was a half dose of Fragrant Red Lentils with Basmati Rice and Broccoli Romanesco (VegSups, p156). This was pretty good in spite of the fact that I forgot to add the coconut milk to the lentils. No wonder they were a bit dry. Pretty presentation, though.
Mini ice cream bars for dessert.
Haven't really decided if I'm going to continue with my kitchen goals. Haven't chosen a book for this month, and have planned only books that have already been explored.
Also I haven't been keeping up with the cookbooks I'm currently reading section on the blog, so I guess I should remove that. Have just finished looking through Soups from Time-Life's The Good Cook series, recently bought at a charity shop. I wasn't very impressed with this one, compared with my other soup cookbooks. Not sure if I'll keep it or not. Other books in the series have been more interesting on a quick look.
Friday/4-Jan-18: Lunch out today before we went to a small art exhibit at an Orthodox monastery not too far away. Nothing further happened in the kitchen.
Saturday/5-Jan-18: Dinner was Yam and Chick-Pea Masala (BoldVeg, p145; cookbooker). This was supposed to be a side dish, but the variation with chickpeas make it a main. Served over brown rice, with a topping of Cachumber (MJ1, p172). Mini ice cream cups for dessert.
Sunday/6-Jan-18: Dinner was a half dose of Mushroom- & Cranberry-Stuffed Turkey Cutlets (EW/nov-dec14; web*). The turkey scallops I expected to find in the freezer weren't there, so I used chicken scallops instead. A bit time-consuming, but not especially hard to do. Having no poultry seasoning in the cabinet, I found a recipe online and made up a bit to use. Served with Dusoulier's Perfect Roasted Potatoes (HandyBook; web). I had a few potatoes to use up and a bit of duck fat from the Magret Wellington. There were really yummy. And some steamed snijbonen which weren't quite done. Chocolate bonbons for dessert.
* I notice the web verison includes branded ingredients. Is this a new feature? I don't recall seeing it before and it's not in the magazine. Maybe this is the future?
Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 4; #3 COOKBOOK: ???
Cookbooks of the month: ???
This month: #4 PASTA: no for December, no for January; #5 BREAD: no for December, no for January; #6 GUESTS: yes for December, no for January
Started some lamb stock with the lamb bone from tweede kerstdag.
I made up some guacamole for our new year's eve treat.
Tuesday/1-Jan-18: Finished off the lamb stock and froze it. Made some Oven-Dried Tomatoes (HandyBook) and froze them.
Our meal for new year's day has its own post here.
Wednesday/2-Jan-18: Shopping today. The store wasn't the madhouse that it was last two weeks. We purposely didn't shop on Mondays before the Tuesday holidays. Apparently it was really bad those days. We shopped on the Fridays and it was still overfull. A relatively small shopping today. Trying not to set another record this year for our monthly average on grocery shopping.
Dinner was Fish Pie with Salmon, Smoked Salmon and Savoy Cabbage (web). We ate just over half of this. I froze the rest to serve over rice or pasta. Then a salad. Then some store-bought riz au laits. Then a pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each. Yes, we were piggies.
Thursday/3-Jan-18: Oscar got his stitches out today. Got home to find Sophie limping severely. Called the vet, hoping to go back directly, but they just said to give her painkiller for two or three days and let them know. She's been very inactive all afternoon. Worrying.
Dinner was a half dose of Fragrant Red Lentils with Basmati Rice and Broccoli Romanesco (VegSups, p156). This was pretty good in spite of the fact that I forgot to add the coconut milk to the lentils. No wonder they were a bit dry. Pretty presentation, though.
Mini ice cream bars for dessert.
Haven't really decided if I'm going to continue with my kitchen goals. Haven't chosen a book for this month, and have planned only books that have already been explored.
Also I haven't been keeping up with the cookbooks I'm currently reading section on the blog, so I guess I should remove that. Have just finished looking through Soups from Time-Life's The Good Cook series, recently bought at a charity shop. I wasn't very impressed with this one, compared with my other soup cookbooks. Not sure if I'll keep it or not. Other books in the series have been more interesting on a quick look.
Friday/4-Jan-18: Lunch out today before we went to a small art exhibit at an Orthodox monastery not too far away. Nothing further happened in the kitchen.
Saturday/5-Jan-18: Dinner was Yam and Chick-Pea Masala (BoldVeg, p145; cookbooker). This was supposed to be a side dish, but the variation with chickpeas make it a main. Served over brown rice, with a topping of Cachumber (MJ1, p172). Mini ice cream cups for dessert.
Sunday/6-Jan-18: Dinner was a half dose of Mushroom- & Cranberry-Stuffed Turkey Cutlets (EW/nov-dec14; web*). The turkey scallops I expected to find in the freezer weren't there, so I used chicken scallops instead. A bit time-consuming, but not especially hard to do. Having no poultry seasoning in the cabinet, I found a recipe online and made up a bit to use. Served with Dusoulier's Perfect Roasted Potatoes (HandyBook; web). I had a few potatoes to use up and a bit of duck fat from the Magret Wellington. There were really yummy. And some steamed snijbonen which weren't quite done. Chocolate bonbons for dessert.
* I notice the web verison includes branded ingredients. Is this a new feature? I don't recall seeing it before and it's not in the magazine. Maybe this is the future?
Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 4; #3 COOKBOOK: ???
Cookbooks of the month: ???
This month: #4 PASTA: no for December, no for January; #5 BREAD: no for December, no for January; #6 GUESTS: yes for December, no for January
Monday, December 10, 2018
This week in the kitchen
Monday/10-Dec-18: Made two loaves of Pumpkin Cranberry Bread (MC), one to take to BookChatters tomorrow, another for us. Needed four eggs; had only three. Looks ok, though, and smelt good.
Dinner was Peas and Potatoes in a Pocket (BoldVeg, p98). I made all the filling for the two of us. We had one (oval) pita each and ate the rest on our plate. Good idea, but the potato-pea mixture was way under-seasoned. Then we had some bread pudding.
Tuesday/11-Dec-18: Cheese enchiladas (made with Hollandse geitenkaas), made as a layered casserole in a square pan, plus Mama's Spanish rice, plus guacamole, plus (a first) some Instant Refried Beans, which weren't very successful. I ran across an old printout of this recipe recently and thought I'd give it a try. My blender didn't manage to grind the beans to flour. I've found the recipe online (that link is cached, since Genius Kitchen doesn't share with Europe) and it suggested using a coffee grinder. I'll regrind my extra bit for the leftovers and see how it goes. Then we finished the bread pudding. We're stuffed.
Yogurt on overnight.
Wednesday/12-Dec-18: Lunch out today. Then Ed sang carols in Guéret, far, far away, with a group from Cantique. Nothing happened in the kitchen.
Thursday/13-Dec-18: For dinner there were Tuscan-Style Beans from the freezer, followed by a big salad. Then a big salad. Then some mini ice creams from the freezer.
Friday/14-Dec-18: Shopping today, a bit later than normal. Then coping with Mac update that didn't work.
Dinner was a half recipe of Lemony Roasted Salmon with White Wine Couscous (CL/may16; web). This was good stuff, although I think they asked for the salmon to be cooked a bit too long. I shortened by a minute in the oven. Then a mâche salad with croutons. Then some store-bought chocolate custards with vanilla cream. Yum.
Yogurt on overnight.
Saturday/15-Dec-18: Dinner was pizza out after a nice concert in a very cold church.
Sunday/16-Dec-18: Worked, rather unsuccessfully, on our xmas menus today. Dinner was a half dose of Pasta with Baby Red Lentils and Ginger (VegPlanet, p289; cookbooker). Pretty good stuff. Then a mâche salad. Then some of the mountain cheeses we shared with Bill. Then some chocolate roses. We're full.
Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 5; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: Vegetarian Planet
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: no
Dinner was Peas and Potatoes in a Pocket (BoldVeg, p98). I made all the filling for the two of us. We had one (oval) pita each and ate the rest on our plate. Good idea, but the potato-pea mixture was way under-seasoned. Then we had some bread pudding.
Tuesday/11-Dec-18: Cheese enchiladas (made with Hollandse geitenkaas), made as a layered casserole in a square pan, plus Mama's Spanish rice, plus guacamole, plus (a first) some Instant Refried Beans, which weren't very successful. I ran across an old printout of this recipe recently and thought I'd give it a try. My blender didn't manage to grind the beans to flour. I've found the recipe online (that link is cached, since Genius Kitchen doesn't share with Europe) and it suggested using a coffee grinder. I'll regrind my extra bit for the leftovers and see how it goes. Then we finished the bread pudding. We're stuffed.
Yogurt on overnight.
Wednesday/12-Dec-18: Lunch out today. Then Ed sang carols in Guéret, far, far away, with a group from Cantique. Nothing happened in the kitchen.
Thursday/13-Dec-18: For dinner there were Tuscan-Style Beans from the freezer, followed by a big salad. Then a big salad. Then some mini ice creams from the freezer.
Friday/14-Dec-18: Shopping today, a bit later than normal. Then coping with Mac update that didn't work.
Dinner was a half recipe of Lemony Roasted Salmon with White Wine Couscous (CL/may16; web). This was good stuff, although I think they asked for the salmon to be cooked a bit too long. I shortened by a minute in the oven. Then a mâche salad with croutons. Then some store-bought chocolate custards with vanilla cream. Yum.
Yogurt on overnight.
Saturday/15-Dec-18: Dinner was pizza out after a nice concert in a very cold church.
Sunday/16-Dec-18: Worked, rather unsuccessfully, on our xmas menus today. Dinner was a half dose of Pasta with Baby Red Lentils and Ginger (VegPlanet, p289; cookbooker). Pretty good stuff. Then a mâche salad. Then some of the mountain cheeses we shared with Bill. Then some chocolate roses. We're full.
Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 5; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: Vegetarian Planet
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: no
Monday, May 28, 2018
This week in the kitchen
Monday/28-May-18: Started another batch of Ratio bread.
Our dinner was a half-dose of Bobotie (200Budget, p136; cookbooker), made up in individual casserole dishes. A bit odd, but very tasty. Followed by salad. Then some chocolate corn flake cookies.
Tuesday/29-May-18: Pizza tonight. It always takes longer than I expect, but I never remember to start earlier. And a problem with the pizza dough made it even longer. I made, more or less, Artichoke, Goat Cheese, and Olive Pizza (BoldVeg, p195; cookbooker). That's all we had.
Wednesday/30-May-18: Shopping today. Some impulse buys with sale stuff. The season for green asparagus seems to be over; still some fat white ones, but we prefer the green ones.
Dinner was Salmon with Yogurt-Curry Sauce (web); pretty good stuff. Served with polenta and peas with pearl onions.
Thursday/31-May-18: Jiggled the meal plan today and ended up with Mediterranean Shrimp Pie with Feta Crust (PotPies, p152). Not really a pot pie, but tasty. Because feta doesn't really make a satisfying crust, we sliced some bread for soppy. Then a big salad. For dessert, some locally made chocolate-dipped madeleines that were on sale this week.
Friday/1-Jun-18: Ed worked at Cath's doing some tiling today while I did stuff around the house. She fed up so he wasn't very hungry for dinner.
Which was Sriracha-Soy Sauce over Egg Noodles (VT; web; cookbooker). Used 300g of fresh tagliatelle with all the sauce. This was a good dinner for two, although Ed couldn't eat all of his, so I'll have it cold for lunch tomorrow.
Saturday/2-Jun-18: Ed did more tiling today and came home pooped. I defrosted the chest freezer, also pooped. (The leftover noodles from yesterday were good cold.)
Dinner was Thai Green Curry Pork Tenderloin (web). This was supposed to served three, but the two of us did a fine job on it. The meat and its sauce were delicious. Served with Chinese 4-Ingredient Fried Cabbage (web), which was pretty so-so. And rice. For dessert, a mixed fruit salad. We ate tastily.
Sunday/3-Jun-18: Dinner was Buttery Garlic Herb Chicken with Zucchini (web; cookbooker). Easy and very yummy. Served with Clotilde Dusoulier's Perfect Roasted Potatoes (web; HandyBook). Nice dinner, outside under the pergola, watching the rain.
Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH:4; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: BoldVeg and 200Budget for May/bye for June
This month: #4 PASTA: yes for May/bye June; #5 BREAD: yes for May/bye for June; #6 GUESTS: yes for May/bye for June
Our dinner was a half-dose of Bobotie (200Budget, p136; cookbooker), made up in individual casserole dishes. A bit odd, but very tasty. Followed by salad. Then some chocolate corn flake cookies.
Tuesday/29-May-18: Pizza tonight. It always takes longer than I expect, but I never remember to start earlier. And a problem with the pizza dough made it even longer. I made, more or less, Artichoke, Goat Cheese, and Olive Pizza (BoldVeg, p195; cookbooker). That's all we had.
Wednesday/30-May-18: Shopping today. Some impulse buys with sale stuff. The season for green asparagus seems to be over; still some fat white ones, but we prefer the green ones.
Dinner was Salmon with Yogurt-Curry Sauce (web); pretty good stuff. Served with polenta and peas with pearl onions.
Thursday/31-May-18: Jiggled the meal plan today and ended up with Mediterranean Shrimp Pie with Feta Crust (PotPies, p152). Not really a pot pie, but tasty. Because feta doesn't really make a satisfying crust, we sliced some bread for soppy. Then a big salad. For dessert, some locally made chocolate-dipped madeleines that were on sale this week.
Friday/1-Jun-18: Ed worked at Cath's doing some tiling today while I did stuff around the house. She fed up so he wasn't very hungry for dinner.
Which was Sriracha-Soy Sauce over Egg Noodles (VT; web; cookbooker). Used 300g of fresh tagliatelle with all the sauce. This was a good dinner for two, although Ed couldn't eat all of his, so I'll have it cold for lunch tomorrow.
Saturday/2-Jun-18: Ed did more tiling today and came home pooped. I defrosted the chest freezer, also pooped. (The leftover noodles from yesterday were good cold.)
Dinner was Thai Green Curry Pork Tenderloin (web). This was supposed to served three, but the two of us did a fine job on it. The meat and its sauce were delicious. Served with Chinese 4-Ingredient Fried Cabbage (web), which was pretty so-so. And rice. For dessert, a mixed fruit salad. We ate tastily.
Sunday/3-Jun-18: Dinner was Buttery Garlic Herb Chicken with Zucchini (web; cookbooker). Easy and very yummy. Served with Clotilde Dusoulier's Perfect Roasted Potatoes (web; HandyBook). Nice dinner, outside under the pergola, watching the rain.
Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH:4; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: BoldVeg and 200Budget for May/bye for June
This month: #4 PASTA: yes for May/bye June; #5 BREAD: yes for May/bye for June; #6 GUESTS: yes for May/bye for June
Monday, May 21, 2018
This week in the kitcchen
Monday/21-May-18: Stormy day today, with a swarm of bees, who disappeared just before the beekeeper arrived, just to make it interesting.
Our meal was Carrot-Lentil Soup with(out) Rosemary-Garlic Croutons (BoldVeg, p52). (Didn't have the oomph for the croutons, but it wasn't a big problem.) Pretty good soup. Served with Baguette Sandwiches with Asparagus (web; cookbooker). All good.
Tuesday/22-May-18: Our meal was a half recipe of Chipotle Shrimp Coleslaw (web), served over long-grain brown rice. We bought thought the coleslaw might be a bit weird, but very good. The brown rice gave a nice underlying chew to go with the crunch. I had just less than 150g of frozen cooked shrimp and was too lazy to open another package. More would have been better. Still, a tasty and enjoyable meal. Mini ice cream bars for dessert
Wednesday/23-May-18: Shopping today.
When we got home, I made some guacamole to eat with Doritos that Cath got us.
For our meal we had Fish in a Green Sauce (Foolproof, p50), made with tuna. This was yummy. The sauce was a bit runny because I added too much water. As sides there were Stir-Fried Cauliflower with Green Chilies (Foolproof, p90) and Potatoes with Cumin (Foolproof, p94). The cauliflower was good. My medium cauliflower, though, was about 1.7kg; I'm wondering where Jaffrey finds large ones weighing 450g? I used about 300g of florets, which was a bit much for the two of us. I had some nice newish potatoes, so didn't peel them. No matter. We ate generously and well.
Thursday/24-May-18: Pasta today. I made Southwestern Corn Pasta (PastaMach, p73; cookbooker). Served with Cilantro Pesto from the freezer. Pretty good stuff. Then a big salad. Then Ed made a little fruit salad (apples, strawberries, and banana) with mascarpone cream. We ate yummily.
Friday/25-May-18: Our meal today was Stir-Fried Thai Green Curry Chicken with Aubergines (HomTrav, p152), over rice. This was quite tasty. I used about half the meat (skinless, boneless thighs) with more or less all the sauce. Fast if you don't count roasting the eggplant, which you can do ahead. Ice cream for dessert.
Yogurt on overnight
Saturday/26-May-18: Stormy day today. Many electric outages. There was an outage of several second which turned the stove clock off. When stove clock isn’t set the ovens don't work. Oops.
I started a loaf of bread based on Ratio. I'd typed out the recipe, but managed to get the ingredients not in order of use, so ended up with too little salt, and almost too much yeast. (That's when I realized something was wrong.) The yeast seems to be working at least a bit in the loaf-to-be. The bread is in the fridge overnight to be baked tomorrow. Think my yeast is on its last legs. There is a bit of activity in the bread, but I couldn’t get much proofing action in. Will toss it.
Our dinner was Spicy Pork Rolls with Minted Yogurt (200Budget, p130; cookbooker). This was super yummy with turkey scallops, rather than pork, and no minted yogurt. We're a bit short on veg this week, but I found this easy and delicious recipe for Roasted Thai Curry Cauliflower (web). And then there was rice. We ate well. Even though we've had Thai two nights in a row.
Sunday/27-May-18: Finished off the Ratio bread. Pretty darn good stuff.
More storms this afternoon.
Our meal was Ten-Minute Asparagus and Brown Rice (web). Nothing 10-minute about it if you make your own brown rice. I liked this; Ed didn't. Oh well.
Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 5; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: BoldVeg and 200Budget
This month: #4 PASTA: yes; #5 BREAD: yes; #6 GUESTS: yes
Our meal was Carrot-Lentil Soup with(out) Rosemary-Garlic Croutons (BoldVeg, p52). (Didn't have the oomph for the croutons, but it wasn't a big problem.) Pretty good soup. Served with Baguette Sandwiches with Asparagus (web; cookbooker). All good.
Tuesday/22-May-18: Our meal was a half recipe of Chipotle Shrimp Coleslaw (web), served over long-grain brown rice. We bought thought the coleslaw might be a bit weird, but very good. The brown rice gave a nice underlying chew to go with the crunch. I had just less than 150g of frozen cooked shrimp and was too lazy to open another package. More would have been better. Still, a tasty and enjoyable meal. Mini ice cream bars for dessert
Wednesday/23-May-18: Shopping today.
When we got home, I made some guacamole to eat with Doritos that Cath got us.
For our meal we had Fish in a Green Sauce (Foolproof, p50), made with tuna. This was yummy. The sauce was a bit runny because I added too much water. As sides there were Stir-Fried Cauliflower with Green Chilies (Foolproof, p90) and Potatoes with Cumin (Foolproof, p94). The cauliflower was good. My medium cauliflower, though, was about 1.7kg; I'm wondering where Jaffrey finds large ones weighing 450g? I used about 300g of florets, which was a bit much for the two of us. I had some nice newish potatoes, so didn't peel them. No matter. We ate generously and well.
Thursday/24-May-18: Pasta today. I made Southwestern Corn Pasta (PastaMach, p73; cookbooker). Served with Cilantro Pesto from the freezer. Pretty good stuff. Then a big salad. Then Ed made a little fruit salad (apples, strawberries, and banana) with mascarpone cream. We ate yummily.
Friday/25-May-18: Our meal today was Stir-Fried Thai Green Curry Chicken with Aubergines (HomTrav, p152), over rice. This was quite tasty. I used about half the meat (skinless, boneless thighs) with more or less all the sauce. Fast if you don't count roasting the eggplant, which you can do ahead. Ice cream for dessert.
Yogurt on overnight
Saturday/26-May-18: Stormy day today. Many electric outages. There was an outage of several second which turned the stove clock off. When stove clock isn’t set the ovens don't work. Oops.
I started a loaf of bread based on Ratio. I'd typed out the recipe, but managed to get the ingredients not in order of use, so ended up with too little salt, and almost too much yeast. (That's when I realized something was wrong.) The yeast seems to be working at least a bit in the loaf-to-be. The bread is in the fridge overnight to be baked tomorrow. Think my yeast is on its last legs. There is a bit of activity in the bread, but I couldn’t get much proofing action in. Will toss it.
Our dinner was Spicy Pork Rolls with Minted Yogurt (200Budget, p130; cookbooker). This was super yummy with turkey scallops, rather than pork, and no minted yogurt. We're a bit short on veg this week, but I found this easy and delicious recipe for Roasted Thai Curry Cauliflower (web). And then there was rice. We ate well. Even though we've had Thai two nights in a row.
Sunday/27-May-18: Finished off the Ratio bread. Pretty darn good stuff.
More storms this afternoon.
Our meal was Ten-Minute Asparagus and Brown Rice (web). Nothing 10-minute about it if you make your own brown rice. I liked this; Ed didn't. Oh well.
Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 5; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: BoldVeg and 200Budget
This month: #4 PASTA: yes; #5 BREAD: yes; #6 GUESTS: yes
Monday, May 14, 2018
This week in the kitchen
Monday/14-May-18: For tonight's meal we had Sweet-and-Sour Cabbage with Peanut Sauce (BoldVeg, p135; cookbooker) with Red and Green Polenta (BoldVeg, p176; cookbooker) as suggested. The cabbage was an interesting dish, a little weird at first, but grew on you. Mini ice cream bars for dessert.
Tuesday/15-May-18: Worked on the meal plan (and list) today, trying to use up as many of the veggies in the fridge as possible.
For our meal, we had Pasta with Asparagus-Lemon Sauce (web). This was quite good. I made all the sauce with half the pasta. The pasta (malfada) was generously sauced, but not excessive. Following some of the comments, I used the zest of a whole lemon and added the juice to the sauce, and I roasted the tips with a minced shallot and garlic cloves. Very tasty. Served with a made-up salad of grated carrot, cuke that was quartered and finely sliced, radish, and a bit of onion, all with a lemon vinaigrette. Quite good it was. Some goat cheese for dessert.
Yogurt on overnight.
Wednesday/16-May-18: Shopping today.
When we got home, to use up some of the buttermilk, I made Buttermilk Coffeecake (TLSouth, p119).
Our dinner was Salmon with Lime Courgettes (200Budget, p178). The salmon was ok, but the zucchini was very good fun, cut in long thin strips, sautéed, and tossed with lime zest, juice, and chopped mint. Served with orzo. The coffeecake for dessert was a hit.
Thursday/17-May-18: Breakfast for dinner today. I made Ned and Crescent's Favorite Multigrain Pancakes (Gospels, p205)—a whole dose and then froze half for another meal. Served with some of the chamomile syrup from Saturday.
Friday/18-May-18: Busy afternoon cooking:
Yogurt on overnight.
Saturday/19-May-18: We went to Gamm Vert today and bought some plants, geraniums, three hanging pots, etc. For our meal, I marinated two kip filets as in Chile-Soaked Grilled Chicken (BigFlav, p180), without the accompanying the Indonesian Catsup, that we didn't think was needed last time I made this. The chicken was good. Served with asparagus, simply grilled with salt and pepper, and penne of red lentils and carrots. Then a salad of romaine lettuce. Then some Buttermilk Ice Cream (MC), kind of tan colored because I used sucre de canne, rather than white sugar.
Sunday/20-May-18: We lunched at La Bellone today, before going to Chalais for a concert. Nothing happened in the kitchen.
Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 4; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: BoldVeg and 200Budget
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: yes
Tuesday/15-May-18: Worked on the meal plan (and list) today, trying to use up as many of the veggies in the fridge as possible.
For our meal, we had Pasta with Asparagus-Lemon Sauce (web). This was quite good. I made all the sauce with half the pasta. The pasta (malfada) was generously sauced, but not excessive. Following some of the comments, I used the zest of a whole lemon and added the juice to the sauce, and I roasted the tips with a minced shallot and garlic cloves. Very tasty. Served with a made-up salad of grated carrot, cuke that was quartered and finely sliced, radish, and a bit of onion, all with a lemon vinaigrette. Quite good it was. Some goat cheese for dessert.
Yogurt on overnight.
Wednesday/16-May-18: Shopping today.
When we got home, to use up some of the buttermilk, I made Buttermilk Coffeecake (TLSouth, p119).
Our dinner was Salmon with Lime Courgettes (200Budget, p178). The salmon was ok, but the zucchini was very good fun, cut in long thin strips, sautéed, and tossed with lime zest, juice, and chopped mint. Served with orzo. The coffeecake for dessert was a hit.
Thursday/17-May-18: Breakfast for dinner today. I made Ned and Crescent's Favorite Multigrain Pancakes (Gospels, p205)—a whole dose and then froze half for another meal. Served with some of the chamomile syrup from Saturday.
Friday/18-May-18: Busy afternoon cooking:
- Made some Favas and Pearl Onions with Olives and Herbs (VegA2Z, p66). Favas from the store this week; pearl onions left from last week. This recipe has in interesting way to treat the onions. You pour boiling water over them, then cut off the bottom and peel. (I only cut off the top if it was "ugly.") Peeling is much easier this way—hooray! The favas were cooked (steam-sautéed) without peeling the individual beans. I added extra olives because I thought the dshes needed them; Ed thought it was too much. This was an okay dish. Think I prefer my favas peeled and bright green.
- Mama's Garlic Coleslaw (MC; HandyBook).
- Baked Potatoes on the Grill (MC), but cooked in the toaster oven. Two smallish potatoes for the two of us. I found it way too much.
- Craig Claiborne's Ultimate Hamburger (Tabasco, p88). Still a good way to do a hamburger.
Yogurt on overnight.
Saturday/19-May-18: We went to Gamm Vert today and bought some plants, geraniums, three hanging pots, etc. For our meal, I marinated two kip filets as in Chile-Soaked Grilled Chicken (BigFlav, p180), without the accompanying the Indonesian Catsup, that we didn't think was needed last time I made this. The chicken was good. Served with asparagus, simply grilled with salt and pepper, and penne of red lentils and carrots. Then a salad of romaine lettuce. Then some Buttermilk Ice Cream (MC), kind of tan colored because I used sucre de canne, rather than white sugar.
Sunday/20-May-18: We lunched at La Bellone today, before going to Chalais for a concert. Nothing happened in the kitchen.
Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 4; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: BoldVeg and 200Budget
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: yes
Monday, April 30, 2018
This week in the kitchen
Monday/30-Apr-18: Our meal today was Barbecued Poussins with Za'atar and Roast Pumpkin Houmous (BirdHand, p160). Well, sort of. I used one coquelet for a half recipe, rather than two poussins, and grilled under the broiler. There was no pumpkin or other winter squash in the shop last week, so I smerged a couple of on-line recipes for plain chickpea hummus, which turned out pretty good. And roast asparagus. We ate well.
Made the meal plan (and list!) for next week this afternoon. Planned on using BoldVeg for May's cookbook, but noticed I also had a number of recipes for 200Budget planned. Decided I'll try to use both throughout the month. We'll see.
Tuesday/1-May-18: Looks like BookChatters is moving to the first Tuesday. This month and next month moved just because, but it turns out to be easier for our meeting locale if we stay on the first Tuesday. Meeting today caught me a bit off-stride, since it was the first day of the month.
Our meal was Slow-Cooked Lamb and Spinach Curry (MadeIndia, p107), which was quite yummy. Easy to make, but does take quite some time, most of it unattended. Served with Caramelized Onions and Jeera Rice (MadeIndia, p155). Ice cream bars for after.
Wednesday/2-May-18: Out meal was Chickpea Dumplings in Sweet Potato Gravy (web), served over brown rice. Fairly so-so. Didn't use vegetable suet (sounds horrible) for the dumplings, but yogurt, water, and a small slog of oil.
Thursday/3-May-18: Shopping today.
Soup and sandwiches for dinner. The soup was Salmon Soup with Tomato, Dill, and Garlic (CL/may16; web). Ed liked this, I didn't especially. There was no reason to "brown" the salmon in a skillet before cooking in the soup. Interesting that the recipe used water and fish sauce for the broth rather than fish stock. It was edible, but no a do-me-agai. The sandwiches were, sort of, Creamy Avocado/Guacamole Egg Salad Sandwiches (web), These were okay. Some millefeuilles from the boulangerie for dessert.
Yogurt on overnight.
Friday/4-May-18: Our meal today was Rice Noodles with Lemon Chicken (200Budget, p144; cookbooker). This was easy and quite tasty. Some store-bought, packaged brownies for dessert.
Saturday/5-May-18: Today I made Italian Herb Baked Meatballs (web). I used 500g of ground beef (a big pound), made 20 meatballs, and froze half for a later meal. I used tomato paste instead of marinara and frozen chopped basil. For a sauce, there was Tomato and Red Wine Sauce from the freezer, topped up with the last of my accidental tomato paste (which probably wasn't needed). As a side there was Thyme-Garlic Roasted Asparagus (CL/jun07; web). Mini ice cream bars for after.
Sunday/6-May-18: Our meal was Thai Tortellini (BoldVeg, p189). Thai/Italian, an odd combination, but it worked. The recipe asked 1/2-3/4 Thai yellow curry paste. This is way to little; that amount was almost tasteless. When I added the coconut milk, I added another long tablespoon of curry paste to bring up the flavor. Kirchner suggests serving with steamed carrots, so I did, but I think a salad sort of thing would have been better. For dessert, there was Chocolate-Glazed Banana Cake (BoldVeg, p242; cookbooker), as suggested. Definitely edible, this.
Yogurt on overnight.
Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: yes; #2 VEG/FISH: 3; #3 COOKBOOK: yes for April, yes for May
Cookbooks of the month: BirdHand for April, BoldVeg and 200Budget for May
This month: #4 PASTA: no for April, no for May; #5 BREAD: no for April, no for May; #6 GUESTS: yes for April, no for May
Made the meal plan (and list!) for next week this afternoon. Planned on using BoldVeg for May's cookbook, but noticed I also had a number of recipes for 200Budget planned. Decided I'll try to use both throughout the month. We'll see.
Tuesday/1-May-18: Looks like BookChatters is moving to the first Tuesday. This month and next month moved just because, but it turns out to be easier for our meeting locale if we stay on the first Tuesday. Meeting today caught me a bit off-stride, since it was the first day of the month.
Our meal was Slow-Cooked Lamb and Spinach Curry (MadeIndia, p107), which was quite yummy. Easy to make, but does take quite some time, most of it unattended. Served with Caramelized Onions and Jeera Rice (MadeIndia, p155). Ice cream bars for after.
Wednesday/2-May-18: Out meal was Chickpea Dumplings in Sweet Potato Gravy (web), served over brown rice. Fairly so-so. Didn't use vegetable suet (sounds horrible) for the dumplings, but yogurt, water, and a small slog of oil.
Thursday/3-May-18: Shopping today.
Soup and sandwiches for dinner. The soup was Salmon Soup with Tomato, Dill, and Garlic (CL/may16; web). Ed liked this, I didn't especially. There was no reason to "brown" the salmon in a skillet before cooking in the soup. Interesting that the recipe used water and fish sauce for the broth rather than fish stock. It was edible, but no a do-me-agai. The sandwiches were, sort of, Creamy Avocado/Guacamole Egg Salad Sandwiches (web), These were okay. Some millefeuilles from the boulangerie for dessert.
Yogurt on overnight.
Friday/4-May-18: Our meal today was Rice Noodles with Lemon Chicken (200Budget, p144; cookbooker). This was easy and quite tasty. Some store-bought, packaged brownies for dessert.
Saturday/5-May-18: Today I made Italian Herb Baked Meatballs (web). I used 500g of ground beef (a big pound), made 20 meatballs, and froze half for a later meal. I used tomato paste instead of marinara and frozen chopped basil. For a sauce, there was Tomato and Red Wine Sauce from the freezer, topped up with the last of my accidental tomato paste (which probably wasn't needed). As a side there was Thyme-Garlic Roasted Asparagus (CL/jun07; web). Mini ice cream bars for after.
Sunday/6-May-18: Our meal was Thai Tortellini (BoldVeg, p189). Thai/Italian, an odd combination, but it worked. The recipe asked 1/2-3/4 Thai yellow curry paste. This is way to little; that amount was almost tasteless. When I added the coconut milk, I added another long tablespoon of curry paste to bring up the flavor. Kirchner suggests serving with steamed carrots, so I did, but I think a salad sort of thing would have been better. For dessert, there was Chocolate-Glazed Banana Cake (BoldVeg, p242; cookbooker), as suggested. Definitely edible, this.
Yogurt on overnight.
Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: yes; #2 VEG/FISH: 3; #3 COOKBOOK: yes for April, yes for May
Cookbooks of the month: BirdHand for April, BoldVeg and 200Budget for May
This month: #4 PASTA: no for April, no for May; #5 BREAD: no for April, no for May; #6 GUESTS: yes for April, no for May
Monday, May 29, 2017
This week in the kitchen
Monday/29-May-17: Early meal today. We had a halfish recipe of Spicy Jerk Pork Chicken with Pepper Fried Rice (BHG/apr13; web) Well, it would have been pork if I'd defrosted that. Instead I defrosted a baggieful of boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Used a red bell pepper and one of the French vaguely spicy pepper/chiles for the banana pepper, and shaoxing wine for the white wine or dry sherry. Very good and easy.
Discovered I have lots of ground almonds in the fridge freezer. Need to use those up.
Tuesday/30-May-17: We were supposed to eat out today, but Ed forgot, so I made a clean-out-the-fridge meal. Searched for broccoli tomato sauce blue cheese and came up with this, which I did very loosely, using roasted broccoli instead of spinach. Had some leftover tomato sauce and filled that out with two tomatoes. Wasn't bad.
Wednesday/31-May-17: Shopping today. Our dishwasher is on the fritz. Ed's been working on it but without much success. First it was saying it was clogged up, as it does occasionally, then it's saying it's leaking. On-going issue.
Dinner was a halfish recipe of Grilled Salmon with White Bean and Arugula Salad (CL/jun16; web). Very nice dinner salad. I'm going to stick the recipe in Pat's salad book, since it fits right in with that.
We went to sit outside to eat and it immediately started drizzling. Because of the forecast high winds (which haven't happened so far), the pergola is furled. So we had a slightly damp dinner. But tasty.
Yogurt on overnight.
Thursday/1-Jun-17: Dinner tonight was a halfish recipe of Pollo all'Arribiata—'Enraged' Chicken (TuscTable, p123). Good it was. Was surprised to find a bottle of chianti (Piccini) at Leclercc to use for the sauce. We finished the rest of it, so feel a bit happy tonight. Lots of sauce left, which we'll have over pasta for lunch one of these days. Served with tagliatelle (end of a multi-grain one plus some regular) with olive oil and chopped parsley as suggested.
Ed fixed the dishwasher today -- yay!
Friday/2-Jun-17:Lunch out today, so not much happened in the kitchen. Replanned our menus a bit, since we had steaks for lunch and there was more beef due up in a few days.
Oops, dishwasher not fixed. In moving it back in place, a connection came loose. Ed found this and plugged it back in. In the wrong place. Electric fizz. No more dishwasher. Back to hand washing for a bit.
Made a half recipe of Two-Tomato Jam (BoldVeg, p232), which is a go-with for tomorrow's meal.
Yogurt on overnight in anticipation of something needing yogurt in a few days.
Saturday/3-Jun-17: Interesting meal today. Our main was a half recipe of Grilled Eggplant and Toasted Pecan Salad (BoldVeg, p78). I see belatedly that this is supposed to be a salad or side dish; that explains why it seemed so skimpy. Served it over brown rice. It was good, but nothing extra special, but ... The recommended Two-Tomato Jam go-with (really a chutney) that I made last night was a star, definitely a keeper. To fill up the plate, I made Spiced Beets (30MinInd, p88), which I made several times already. Pretty and tasty. For dessert there was Carrot-Apple Halwa (BoldVeg, p240). This was pretty good and easy enough to do while other things a happening.
Sunday/4-Jun-17: Early meal today, a half recipe of Pasta Pentimento (EatingTog, p170; cookbooker). A really yummy pasta dish. Then a salad. Then the last of the halwa.
Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 4
This month: #3 PASTA: yes for May, no for Jun; #4 BREAD: no for May, no for Jun
Discovered I have lots of ground almonds in the fridge freezer. Need to use those up.
Tuesday/30-May-17: We were supposed to eat out today, but Ed forgot, so I made a clean-out-the-fridge meal. Searched for broccoli tomato sauce blue cheese and came up with this, which I did very loosely, using roasted broccoli instead of spinach. Had some leftover tomato sauce and filled that out with two tomatoes. Wasn't bad.
Wednesday/31-May-17: Shopping today. Our dishwasher is on the fritz. Ed's been working on it but without much success. First it was saying it was clogged up, as it does occasionally, then it's saying it's leaking. On-going issue.
Dinner was a halfish recipe of Grilled Salmon with White Bean and Arugula Salad (CL/jun16; web). Very nice dinner salad. I'm going to stick the recipe in Pat's salad book, since it fits right in with that.
We went to sit outside to eat and it immediately started drizzling. Because of the forecast high winds (which haven't happened so far), the pergola is furled. So we had a slightly damp dinner. But tasty.
Yogurt on overnight.
Thursday/1-Jun-17: Dinner tonight was a halfish recipe of Pollo all'Arribiata—'Enraged' Chicken (TuscTable, p123). Good it was. Was surprised to find a bottle of chianti (Piccini) at Leclercc to use for the sauce. We finished the rest of it, so feel a bit happy tonight. Lots of sauce left, which we'll have over pasta for lunch one of these days. Served with tagliatelle (end of a multi-grain one plus some regular) with olive oil and chopped parsley as suggested.
Ed fixed the dishwasher today -- yay!
Friday/2-Jun-17:Lunch out today, so not much happened in the kitchen. Replanned our menus a bit, since we had steaks for lunch and there was more beef due up in a few days.
Oops, dishwasher not fixed. In moving it back in place, a connection came loose. Ed found this and plugged it back in. In the wrong place. Electric fizz. No more dishwasher. Back to hand washing for a bit.
Made a half recipe of Two-Tomato Jam (BoldVeg, p232), which is a go-with for tomorrow's meal.
Yogurt on overnight in anticipation of something needing yogurt in a few days.
Saturday/3-Jun-17: Interesting meal today. Our main was a half recipe of Grilled Eggplant and Toasted Pecan Salad (BoldVeg, p78). I see belatedly that this is supposed to be a salad or side dish; that explains why it seemed so skimpy. Served it over brown rice. It was good, but nothing extra special, but ... The recommended Two-Tomato Jam go-with (really a chutney) that I made last night was a star, definitely a keeper. To fill up the plate, I made Spiced Beets (30MinInd, p88), which I made several times already. Pretty and tasty. For dessert there was Carrot-Apple Halwa (BoldVeg, p240). This was pretty good and easy enough to do while other things a happening.
Sunday/4-Jun-17: Early meal today, a half recipe of Pasta Pentimento (EatingTog, p170; cookbooker). A really yummy pasta dish. Then a salad. Then the last of the halwa.
Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 4
This month: #3 PASTA: yes for May, no for Jun; #4 BREAD: no for May, no for Jun
Monday, March 27, 2017
This week in the kitchen
Monday/27-Mar-17: A bit of bad planning since we had shrimp two nights ago. But tonight, there was a half dose of Crevettes au Curry et Concombre au Gingembre (C&V, but irritatingly and unfortunately not findable on their site). A shame, since it was good and easy. Came with a nice little salad of shaved cucumber with a neutral oil, sesame oil, lemon juice, and sesame seeds (and I added a pinch of cayenne). For dessert there was, sort of, Peach Parfait with Amaretto Cream (MW@Home, p318); I used canned peaches and we ended up eating all of it. Yum.
Tuesday/28-Mar-17: Discovered we have a new mouse in the kitchen. This one likes a new mushroom-flavored pasta that I've recently bought and haven't tried yet. Likes it some much that he/she opened the sack, then wandered around inside it, pooping as he/she went. Had to throw the whole sack away, sadly.
Dinner from the freezer, West Indies Salmon Patties (MC; web), which were quite good. Served with West Indies Green Beans (web), also good, and Caribbean Yellow Rice and Pigeon Peas (MW@Home, p154). I made a half recipe with yellow split peas, which I cooked at lunch time, for the pigeon peas. I think this is meant as a main course because we have more left than we ate. Was tasty though. Mini magnums for dessert.
Wednesday/29-Mar-17: No sign of our latest mouse friend this morning.
Shopping today. After putting up the groceries, I made a Prune Cake (MC), an easy cake, using up some of my surplus of walnuts.
Dinner was Papillote de Cabillaud à la Courgette, Citron Confit et Sauce au Yaourt (VPG; haven't found on web). It was pretty good. Forgetting about the zucchini under the cod, I roasted some of the asparagus I bought today. Reheated some of the Caribbean Yellow Rice as a side.
Yogurt on overnight.
Thursday/30-Mar-17: Early meal today, since we're out this evening.
Heard the first cuckoo of the year today.
We had Easy Smoked Sausage Skillet (web). This is from a Hillshire Farm ad in CL, I'd guess. Of course, there's no Hillshire Farm here; I used a morteau sausage. No frozen broccoli; used fresh and cooked that bit a bit longer which didn't hurt at all. Brown rice instead of instant rice. Turned out good. Serves 4-6? No. Three would be a good number. Four if you served it with a salad or some such. But it's pretty much a one-dish meal, so that seemed like too much trouble. Tasty it was.
Friday/31-Mar-17: Early dinner tonight. Sesame Eggplant and Spaghetti (BoldVeg, p180; cookbooker); a full recipe is dinner for two and that's what I did. Followed by a salad. We're both stuffed.
After an intense rainfall, we had water dripping in the living room and small puddle in the office. Looks like it's coming down inside the wall. Sigh. No damage, but annoying.
Saturday/1-Apr-17: Dinner was One-Pan Chicken Thighs with Cilantro-Lime Black Bean Rice (web). This was quite good, and easy to put together. I meant to cook up a batch of black beans, to use and to freeze, but didn't do it, so used canned. I think the recipe is meant for four, with only one thigh per person. That seems a bit skimpy; I usually serve two per person. I made it all; we ate four thighs; and there's a bunch of rice left. Followed by a salad. No dessert for me; Ed's having a mini magnum.
Yogurt on overnight.
Sunday/2-Apr-17: Ed was at choir practice today, and I defrosted the chest freezer; one of my favorite chores—not. But it's much easier when it's routine, rather than all iced up. Will try to keep to a 6-month schedule now.
Worked on merging and clearing out the "bird" part of my active stacks of recipe clippings today. Too many to try; every one looks good. Have to put on a throw-it-out hat to finish up this part. Almost 200 clippings in birds.
Dinner was Tournedos de Gigot au Citron Confit (VPG; web); strangely, while I got this recipe for VPG, the only on-line version I've found is from C&V, and it's the same recipe. Very odd. The idea is that you tie some slices of gigot up to make them look like tournedos. Well, ok. Topped with a sauce of chopped preserved lemon, lemon juice, rosemary pine nuts (too many), olive oil, honey, and S&P. Turned out pretty good, actually, if a bit of trouble to make. Served with steam-sautéed potatoes and shrooms with shallots and garlic; good stuff. Made too much, but Ed did an excellent job of finishing them off. Also had some Haricots Verts with Warm Mustard Vinaigrette (CL/jan-feb16; web), simple and tasty.
Haven't found further trace of our latest mouse. It's found its own way out or been eaten by a cat.
Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: yes; #2 VEG/FISH: 4
This month: #3 PASTA: yes for March, no for April; #4 BREAD: no for March, no for April
Tuesday/28-Mar-17: Discovered we have a new mouse in the kitchen. This one likes a new mushroom-flavored pasta that I've recently bought and haven't tried yet. Likes it some much that he/she opened the sack, then wandered around inside it, pooping as he/she went. Had to throw the whole sack away, sadly.
Dinner from the freezer, West Indies Salmon Patties (MC; web), which were quite good. Served with West Indies Green Beans (web), also good, and Caribbean Yellow Rice and Pigeon Peas (MW@Home, p154). I made a half recipe with yellow split peas, which I cooked at lunch time, for the pigeon peas. I think this is meant as a main course because we have more left than we ate. Was tasty though. Mini magnums for dessert.
Wednesday/29-Mar-17: No sign of our latest mouse friend this morning.
Shopping today. After putting up the groceries, I made a Prune Cake (MC), an easy cake, using up some of my surplus of walnuts.
Dinner was Papillote de Cabillaud à la Courgette, Citron Confit et Sauce au Yaourt (VPG; haven't found on web). It was pretty good. Forgetting about the zucchini under the cod, I roasted some of the asparagus I bought today. Reheated some of the Caribbean Yellow Rice as a side.
Yogurt on overnight.
Thursday/30-Mar-17: Early meal today, since we're out this evening.
Heard the first cuckoo of the year today.
We had Easy Smoked Sausage Skillet (web). This is from a Hillshire Farm ad in CL, I'd guess. Of course, there's no Hillshire Farm here; I used a morteau sausage. No frozen broccoli; used fresh and cooked that bit a bit longer which didn't hurt at all. Brown rice instead of instant rice. Turned out good. Serves 4-6? No. Three would be a good number. Four if you served it with a salad or some such. But it's pretty much a one-dish meal, so that seemed like too much trouble. Tasty it was.
Friday/31-Mar-17: Early dinner tonight. Sesame Eggplant and Spaghetti (BoldVeg, p180; cookbooker); a full recipe is dinner for two and that's what I did. Followed by a salad. We're both stuffed.
After an intense rainfall, we had water dripping in the living room and small puddle in the office. Looks like it's coming down inside the wall. Sigh. No damage, but annoying.
Saturday/1-Apr-17: Dinner was One-Pan Chicken Thighs with Cilantro-Lime Black Bean Rice (web). This was quite good, and easy to put together. I meant to cook up a batch of black beans, to use and to freeze, but didn't do it, so used canned. I think the recipe is meant for four, with only one thigh per person. That seems a bit skimpy; I usually serve two per person. I made it all; we ate four thighs; and there's a bunch of rice left. Followed by a salad. No dessert for me; Ed's having a mini magnum.
Yogurt on overnight.
Sunday/2-Apr-17: Ed was at choir practice today, and I defrosted the chest freezer; one of my favorite chores—not. But it's much easier when it's routine, rather than all iced up. Will try to keep to a 6-month schedule now.
Worked on merging and clearing out the "bird" part of my active stacks of recipe clippings today. Too many to try; every one looks good. Have to put on a throw-it-out hat to finish up this part. Almost 200 clippings in birds.
Dinner was Tournedos de Gigot au Citron Confit (VPG; web); strangely, while I got this recipe for VPG, the only on-line version I've found is from C&V, and it's the same recipe. Very odd. The idea is that you tie some slices of gigot up to make them look like tournedos. Well, ok. Topped with a sauce of chopped preserved lemon, lemon juice, rosemary pine nuts (too many), olive oil, honey, and S&P. Turned out pretty good, actually, if a bit of trouble to make. Served with steam-sautéed potatoes and shrooms with shallots and garlic; good stuff. Made too much, but Ed did an excellent job of finishing them off. Also had some Haricots Verts with Warm Mustard Vinaigrette (CL/jan-feb16; web), simple and tasty.
Haven't found further trace of our latest mouse. It's found its own way out or been eaten by a cat.
Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: yes; #2 VEG/FISH: 4
This month: #3 PASTA: yes for March, no for April; #4 BREAD: no for March, no for April
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