This week in the kitchen

Monday/26-Sep-22: There was quite a bit of sauce left from Friday's dinner. It reappeared tonight in almost the same meal, sautéed kip filets, some pasta, and some steamed broccoli. Still good.

Tuesday/27-Sep-22: Indian-ish meal tonight, a bit scaled back from what was planned. I used three kip filets to make, sort of, Tandoori-Style Chicken (MJ1, p67). I wasn't organized to get the meat marinating last night, which was too bad. The meat was a bit dry, I'm sure the marinating would have helped that. The "tandoori-style" is create by baking the chickie bits in a hot oven. I was wondering if it might work better to put a cast iron Dutch oven in the hot oven and then put the chicken bits on skewer in the covered pot. Next time perhaps. (No surprise, I didn't use the food color.) Served with Rice with Peas (MJ1, p149), which was fine even without soaking the rice. And some Spicy Cucumber Wedges (MJ1, p172). No time for raita (p162) or cachumber (p172) or onion relish (p174), all of which would have been nice with the meal.

Wednesday/28-Sep-22: We'd planned to have a pizza while watching the Jan6 hearings this evening, but the hearing was cancelled. Ed went for pizzas later, only to find they're closed on Wed. (I didn't remember that.) And the hamburger place is also closed on Wed. So I rustled up a quick pasta dish, based on Fusilli with Olives and Cauliflower (Lorenza, p99) while Ed returned. Because Ed had mentioned he wanted some meat, I got some merguez de volaille from the freezer, broiled those, and added to the dish. Used whole wheat fusilli. It was pretty good overall.

Thursday/29-Sep-22: Feeling a bit better today, thank you naproxen. 

Dinner was Sheet-Pan Balsamic Parmesan Chicken (web). Last week I impulse-bought some grenailles, little new potatoes, so I added some of those to the veggies (broc, cauli, and shallots). Pretty easy to assemble and tasty.

Friday/30-Sep-22: Shopping today. No dinner thought. When it came time to cook, I really wasn't feeling like it.

Saturday/1-Oct-22: Dinner was Pavés de Truite en Croûte d'Amande et d'Herbes (web; VPG). (I got the recipe from a magazine, but the web site has the same photo.) Salmon trout, a bit bony, was what I got. We had something with a similar crust at a restaurant that was quite good, but this didn't match that. After baking, the topping was still a bit gooey, rather than crispy. Served with trio rice and steamed asparagus (impulse buy this week). A chocolate-covered madeleine each for after.

Sunday/2-Oct-22: How is it Sunday already? Just caught a mouse in a (live) trap in the open shelving. Looks like young one.Very active for a while, but has settled down now. I'm always puzzled why our cats haven't been very interested in trapped mice. 

Dinner was Tagine of Kofta and Eggs (Roden, p245). (Roden is one of. my rubber-band books; the spine has split, so the book is in several pieces.) I forgot to get my tagine down to make this; it would have been good. This is tasty little lamb meatballs (kofta) with poached eggs. Served over whole-wheat couscous. A chocolate-covered madeleine each for after.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 2; #2 PHOTO: no;
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #5 BACKLOG2: no; #6 BACKLOG3: no; #7 RECYCLE: 10; #8 NEW: 4

This week in the kitchen

Monday/19-Sep-22: We finished the leftover tamale pie for dinner, with some pretty tasty guacamole, for dinner. A chocolate-covered madeleine each for after.

Tuesday/20-Sep-22: Shopping is off track this week, and so is the meal plan. Dinner was something.

Wednesday/21-Sep-22: Realized today that our Intermarché Drive order was missing some critical bits for the next days' meals. 

Thursday/22-Sep-22: Dinner was Spicy Chicken Burgers (RezaSpice, p22). This made eight patties (to serve four). We ate seven of them. I didn't make the go-with Tomato and Ginger Chutney, so I served with sliced tomatoes and red onion on some hamburger bun-ish things I found at Leclerc on our last visit. And some Rice with Peas (MJ1, p149). 

Friday/23-Sep-22: A moldy-oldy for dinner, Sautéed Chicken in Lemon Cream Sauce (web). Served with Spaetzle (MW@Home, p203; HandyBook), which was great with the cream sauce. A chocolate-covered madeleine for after.

Saturday/24-Sep-22: Dinner was Lentils with Spinach (WofE, p93), served over "trio" Thai rice. Very tasty, comforting stuff. I don't think I ever had lentils as a child, but I sure do like them. Some mini ice cream cups for after.

Sunday/25-Sep-22: Dinner was chili from the freezer. I remember I didn't like this much when first made. Somewhat better tonight. I stirred into my serving a bit of crème fraîche topped with a bit of jalapeño tabasco. Also made some Vaqueros Jalapeno Beer Bread from a mix that Chris and Jacky brought us from Fredericksburg. This was surprisingly so-so. Not enough beer in-house, so used some stout that had been sitting around a while. I think Ed threw the rest of the bread away, while I was thinking of toasted cheese-and-onion sandwiches.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 3; #2 PHOTO: no;
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #5 BACKLOG2: no; #6 BACKLOG3: no; #7 RECYCLE: 10; #8 NEW: 4

This week in the kitchen

Monday/27-Jun-22: Dinner was a half recipe of Indian-Spiced Chicken with Coriander Chutney (BirdHand, p166). The kip filets were marinated in tomatoes and spices, then grilled. Yum! The Coriander Chutney was also good. Leftovers will appear in sandwiches later this week.  Served with two old favorites, Rice with Peas and Dill (Q&E, p103) and Tomato, Onion, and Green Coriander Relish—Cachumber (MJ1, p172). Used mint instead of coriander, as I learned from watching Jaffrey's TV version of this. All very tasty. A bit of leftover chocolate tapioca pudding for after. (Did I write yesterday that I made that?) 

Tuesday/28-Jun-22: Dinner was Spanish Pork Skewers (1Good, p191). I made the whole recipe with a varkenshaas just over 500g. Used ground oregano. Mixed the cumin, coriander, S&P, smoked paprika, and oregano together to rub on the pork slices, then rubbed them with the garlic/salt/oil mixture. These sat around at room temp for a couple of hours. I had some arparagus and haricot verts need to be used. A web search turned up a recipe for Sautéed Beans and Asparagus with Garlic and Chive Butter (web; GD). This is a horrible site that won't let you print a recipe without signing up. No thanks. I copied out the details for the Google Drive file linked above. And then there was polenta. For after, we finished the chocolate tapioca pudding.

Wednesday/29-v-22: Ed barbecued Grilled Chicken with Za'atar (web) for tonight's dinner. This was good and really easy, especially since I used za'atar from a jar in the cupboard rather than mixing it up myself. Served with Moroccan couscous (packet from a health food store) and Moroccan Carrots (1Good, p59), both old favorites. A chocolate-covered madeleine each for after.

Thursday/30-Jun-22: Shopped today, in Leclerc and at both Drives.

Dinner was Seared Tuna, Zucchini and Lemon Salad with Green Olive Smash (web). This was interesting, but not entirely successful. Although it's fun to slice zucchini ribbons with your mandolin it would have been nicer to slice them in round, maybe slightly diagonally. Ed didn't like the lemon sections at all; I thought they were best cut into smaller bits. A treat for after: we split of piece of cheesecake, gateau de fromage. Yum.

Friday/1-Jul-22: Crockpot on overnight with Slow Cooker Carnitas with Pickled Red Onions (MC). I've made this several times before; it was originally from a site that's no longer with us. The Pickled Red Onions here are way too sweet; I've split this part off and dinkered with it to make some really tasty pickled onions. The carnitas were good. Served with a throw-together salad of the canned bean that didn't get used last night, canned corn, avocado, tomato, radishes, cilantro, lime juice, a slog of olive oil, and a glop of crème fraîche. Turned out pretty good. Some store-bought chestnut mousse for after. Tastily full, we are.

Saturday/2-Jul-22: Dinner was Mushroom and Pea Lamb Broth Risotto with Gremolata (web). (Yes, that title needs some punctuation or re-writing or something to lose the pea lambs.) A few weeks ago, I made some stock of lamb and goat bone from the freezer. I used that to make the risotto. This was pretty good. Then a salad. Then some camembert. 

Sunday/3-Jul-22: Dinner was Neapolitan Zucchini Soup (Monastery, p111). This was simple and surprisingly taste in spite of that. Smaller zucchini, as asked, would be better, but I didn't really have any of those. (Sh! This cookbook is organized by month and, since April, I've been doing one of each month's soups.) We finished the camembert for after, then had a mini HD ice cream cup.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 3; #2 PHOTO: no;
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #5 BACKLOG2: no; #6 BACKLOG3: no; #7 RECYCLE: 0; #8 NEW: 3

This week in the kitchen

Monday/20-Jun-22: The chicken that didn't get cooked when it was too hot showed up tonight as Sesame-Crusted Roast Chicken (O&C, p416). Again, I did this in the Römertopf clay cooker. The huge chickie (1.7+kg) barely fit. This is a really nice, moist chicken. For a starter we had Greens Salad with Hard-Cooked Eggs and Fried Garlic (O&C, p268), with spinach at the green. Very nice salad. There were some whole wheat mini macaronis as a side for the chicken, to help sop up the nice sauce.

Tuesday/21-Jun-22: Whew, after two stormy, lightning nights, finally getting caught up here.

Dinner was Gnocchi de Printemps, a recipe I apparently collected online, but haven't been able to find back. This was easy and quite tasty. To make it easy, I used store-bought gnocchi, which weren't bad. A chocolate-covered madeleine each for after.

Wednesday/22-Jun-22: Dinner was, sort of, Tequila Fajitas (MC), with shrimp, a recipe I collected from EAT-L. Couldn't find the tortillas in the freezer, so used pita breads instead. We opened those and plopped the shrimp and veggies on top, plus some guacamole. I didn't grill the shrimp and veggies as asked, but wokked them instead. Some HD mini ice cream cups for after.

Thursday/23-Jun-22: Two Drives and a Leclerc visit today. 

Dinner was Haddock Baked in a Yoghurt Sauce (MJ1, p94), with lieu noir. Good stuff. Served with Gujerati-Style Green Beans (MJ1, p102), very good, and Mushroom Pullao (MJ1, p152), also good. For after there were some store-bought riz au laits tarted up with ground cardamon to give an Indian taste.

Friday/24-Jun-22: Dinner was a halfish dose of Southwestern Steak Salad (web; GD). Easy and very tasty. Used two sucrines (baby romaine) for the lettuce. Used some English cheddar and comté for the cheese. 

Saturday/25-Jun-22: Picked the chicken from Monday. Used a good chunk of that to make Chipotle Chicken & Chickpea Skillet with Sweet Potatoes (web). Some good tastes, but not enough to make again.  A chocolate-covered madeleine each for after.

Sunday/26-Jun-22: Dinner was White Wine Cream Sauce for Ravioli (web), with artichoke girsoles. This is kind for like tarted up ravioli alla panna. Good, but the sauce was maybe a trifle too thick. Then a salad. Then some chocolate tapioca pudding.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 4; #2 PHOTO: no;
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #5 BACKLOG2: yes; #6 BACKLOG3: yes; #7 RECYCLE: 0; #8 NEW: 3

This week in the kitchen

Monday/4-Apr-22: Dinner was a DMA, Red Lentil and Cauliflower Tomato Pulao (web; GD). Still good even though I forgot to salt it. (You can do that at the table, can't you?) Afterwards, I made an Oatmeal Cake (GB) to take to BookChatters tomorrow.  

Tuesday/5-Apr-22: My that's a good cake.

For dinner we had a jar of gourmet blanquette de poulet. We were surprised to find bones in it, since I don't recall them in blanquette de veau. Anyhow, it was very tasty. Served over some whole wheat linguine and roasted zucchini. And some oatmeal cake for after. 

Wednesday/6-Apr-22: Orders from both Drives today.

Dinner was Simple Cod Piccata (web). Cod "breaded" with almond flour, served with a lemony sauce with capers. As a side, I steamed the last bits of cauliflower along with a bit of this week's broccoli, then topped with some minced red bell pepper and garlic that had been sautéed to soften. And a bit of curly pasta to finish the plate. For after, we finished the oatmeal cake. 

Thursday/7-Apr-22: Dinner was Balsamic Chicken with Mushrooms (MC), which is an old favorite. I've finally gotten that liter bottle of balsamic I bought absent-mindedly under the halfway mark. Served with trio rice and steamed broccoli. Some store-bought chocolate mousses for after.

Friday/8-Apr-22: Dinner was One-Pan Lemon Garlic Shrimp Pasta (web). This was good, although there was too much pasta. (I used whole wheat.) The recipe asks 8oz (for two), I used 7oz; 6oz would have been better. Then a salad. We were full. 

Saturday/9-Apr-22: Soup and sandwich for dinner. The soup was Pea and Carrot Minted Soup (Monastery*, p110). This was very good. I made a whole recipe (4-6 servings), so we have lots left. Because peas and carrots are naturally sweet, I didn't add the extra sugar to the soup. It was fine, or even better than fine. I addressed my bell pepper superfluidity with the sandwich. I roasted one red pepper and cut it into strips. I defrosted a ball of mozzarella and a little tupperware of pesto. Cut some "sandwiches" from a bread. Spread a bit of olive oil on the inside surfaces and toasted the bread on a griddle. Then spread with a bit of pesto and topped with mozzarella bit and roasted red bell pepper strips. Good stuff. One chocolate-covered madeleine each for after.

* This book offers soups by month. I have the idea to make a soup per month from it. We'll see how that goes.

Sunday/10-Apr-22: Our main tonight was Lamb with Spinach—Saag Gosht (Q&E, p36). I've made this several times, good stuff. Served with Rice and Peas with Garam Masala (SpiceKitch, p65) and Yoghurt with Cucumber and Mint (MJ1, p162), which is my standard recipe for raita. We ate well.    

Ah well, another week, no pictures. Sigh.  

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 4; #2 PHOTO: no;
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #5 BACKLOG2: no; #6 BACKLOG3: no; #7 RECYCLE: 0; #8 NEW: 2

This week in the kitchen

Monday/31-Jan-22: Made a loaf of Carole Walberg's White Wheat Bread (MC) (WW/Rapid/M/-/-). This is a nice WW bread with good taste and texture. 

Dinner was a half dose of Chicken a la Nueces de la India (Chicken with Creamy Cashew Sauce) (web; EW/oct21). This wasn't bad. I cut the honey way back, but still found the sauce too sweet. And I wonder why not use cashew butter, rather than buzzing the cashews. Served with brown basmati rice and Karhai Broccoli (MJ@Home, p148), which is my standard Indian-ish broccoli dish.

Tuesday/1-Feb-22: In honor of Chinese new year, we had Sliced Pork with Tiger Sauce (Kuo, p33). Garlicky yum. Served with Stir-Fried Shredded Cabbage with Carrots (Kuo, p391) and plain basmati rice. I noticed tonight that what Kuo calls "Chinese cabbage" is bok choy; what I call Chineeskool is her "celery cabbage". Tonight's dish was supposed to be with green cabbage, but was great with Chineeskool. I do need to think about planning more Chinese meals from this excellent book.

Wednesday/2-Feb-22: Picked up an Intermarché Drive order today. I asked for 300-350g salmon, but got 205g, so the salmon for dinner was a bit short.

And dinner was 20-Minute Creamy Tomato Salmon Skillet (web; GD). This was really good and really quick. I served over a small bit of whole wheat spaghetti, not a full main dish serving, but I felt like it needed something to sop up the sauce. Some store-bought peach-mango yogurts for after.

Thursday/3-Feb-22: Picked up an order at the Leclerc Drive today.

Went to make dinner and discovered I'd neglected to buy an important ingredient and it was too late to improvise. So what's needing to be used? There were two squares of pastry, some roquefort needing to be used, an oldish leek, a questionable broccoli, some walnuts in the freezer. We had a sort if broccoli quiche-y thing. Pretty good, if filling.

Friday/4-Feb-22: Dinner was Filled Zucchini Roll (web; GD). This was not bad at all. The instructions in the video are not very good. Mine was too thick, so it didn't roll properly. It should have been cooked in a bigger dish. Still, tasty.

Started an Overnight Boule (GD).

Saturday/5-Feb-22: Baked off the Overnight Boule. Yum.

Discovered in the afternoon that I'd forgotten to get some necessary ingredients for the planned evening meal. Oops. Instead, Ed had the leftover pork and cabbage with some basmati rice. I had some whole-wheat fusilli with pesto from the freezer. Simple, but good. 

Sunday/6-Feb-22: Forgot to take kip filets out of the freezer for tonight's dinner. So tonight we had Monday's dinner. We had Shrimp with Zucchini—Jhinga aur Ghia (MJ1, p90). It's always odd to me to find another winner recipe from such a well-used cookbook. Not sure why I've never made this. It's definitely good. I used frozen, cooked shrimped (thawed, of course), adding them with the spices and stuff after cooking the zuke. This is actually fairly quick to prepare. Cutting up the zucchini is a bit tedious, but doesn't really take all that long. The recipe neglects to mention what to do with the cayenne, tomatoes, and ginger; I just added those with the other ingredients. As suggested, served with Spiced Basmati Rice (MJ1), p148), a quarter recipe, which is good. 

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 4; #2 PHOTO: no;
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #5 BACKLOG2: yes; #6 BACKLOG3: no; #7 RECYCLE: 0; #8 NEW: 2

This week in the kitchen

Monday/18-Oct-21: Finished the Spinach and Artichoke Macaroni and Cheese casserole for dinner tonight. On the side we had Moroccan Carrots (1Good, p59). We've had this before; it's indeed One Good Dish. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each for after.

Amazon Associates informed me (and all their customers) that I should have a disclosure on the site if I include their links. So I've started a project of removing them from the Cookbooks page. I don't think I'll remove them from individual posts; that's just too much useless and error-prone work. 

I'm adding Ratio and Fast, Fresh & Spicy Vegetarian to the books I'm currently reading. It seems I never finished Ratio, and I'm not sure about FF&S. I'm pretty well done with Ratio this time, and will start on FF&S next. I'm going to mark The Book Lover's Cookbook as done too, and move it to the recycle stack. The only recipe I made from this was a bit of a failure, and the book doesn't appeal all that much.

Tuesday/19-Oct-21: Dinner was Runner Beany Herb Linguine (web; GD). Except for slicing up the snijbonen (oh for a Dutch greengrocer who does this for you!), this is easy to do. And very tasty. I thoughtlessly made this with tagliatelle rather than linguine, but it was fine. Onto the DMA list with this one. 

HD mini cups (chocolate) for after.

Wednesday/20-Oct-21: Shopping today. In the veggie section, there was a sign for a "demi-chou," a half cabbage, which would be nice, but there were none to be seen. I miss our Dutch greengrocer where we could get half a cabbage or cauliflower.

A very nice dinner tonight. Dinner was a half dose of Salmon with Onion Confit, Spanish Style (Seaver2, p95; cookbooker). I cooked in individual dishes, probably not necessary, then plated the contents. Served with long-grain brown rice and a little salad loosely based on this recipe, with nothing measured; some peas, the end of my flat cabbage, and the dilly vinaigrette. Good it was. 

Some store-bought riz au lait nature for after.

Thursday/21-Oct-21: Dinner was a half dose for Ground Meat with Peas (MJ1, p44); I made it with ground beef and all the spices. Served it over brown basmati rice with Onion Relish (MJ1, p174). The meat and the relish were especially good together. (I have to make this relish more often. It's easy and really good. Would be good on a ham sandwich, or with scrambled eggs perhaps.) Some HD mini ice cream cups for after.

Friday/22-Oct-21: Off for haircut today. 

Dinner was pork chops, rubbed with some of the pork rub I made a while ago. And some mashed sweet potatoes (with crème fraîche, orange juice, and ground chipotle).  And Simply Sizzled Cucumber (MC). Really simple, pretty good, made a pretty plate with the pork chop and sweet potato. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Saturday/23-Oct-21: Made a loaf of Easy French Bread, (Electric, p62).

Leftovers for dinner. We had Green Eggs and Ham Soup from the freezer, thinned with chicken stock and tarted up with some Tabasco sauce, and tuna salad sandwiches. That's all.

Sunday/24-Oct-21: Dinner was a half recipe of Aiguillettes de Canard Caramélisées* (web; GD), made with escalopes de canard, rather than aiguillettes. (Aiguillettes are needles, thus the long narrow "filet" off the back of the breast.) Served with orzo and a Raw Beet Salad (web; GD), which was very good and easy. For after there was Sarah Lee's Crumb Cake (MC; GD)

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 3; #2 PHOTO: yes; #3 *DMA: yes
This month: #4 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #5 BACKLOG1: yes; #6 BACKLOG2: yes; #7 RECYCLE: 11; #8 NEW: 4

This week in the kitchen

Monday/12-Jul-21: Early doctor appointment this morning. On the way home, we stopped at a boulangerie for bread and little quiches for lunch. Had an early lunch, then a nap.

Dinner was a halfish dose of Vodka Marinated Steak (web). The halfish dose was a bit too much; doing a third would have been better. The meat was marinated for three days, and then seared. The piece was thin enough it didn't need the extra cooking. As suggested, I served this with boiled potatoes, with a bitter butter and some dill, and a tomato salad. Some chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Tuesday/13-Jul-21: Another early doctor appointment today. Again, stopped at a boulangerie for bread and croissant sandwiches for lunch and toetjes for dinner. An early lunch, a bit of cleaning, and a nap.

Dinner was Curried Chicken with Mango Salad* (web; GD). This was good again; pretty easy to make too. Served with long-grain brown rice and the mango salad. Toetjes for after.

Wednesday/14-Jul-21: Ed made an appt with DHL to pick up a package tomorrow, so shopping day is pushed till Friday. Which is kind of OK because I'm having trouble getting into meal planning.

Internet down all afternoon except for brief (i.e., 2-minute) periods; have had three of those.

Dinner was Shrimp Biryani (MJ@Home, p214). Served with Date-Banana Chutney from the freezer and Cachumber—Tomato, Onion and Green Coriander Relish (MJ1, p172). For after there was plain tapioca pudding.

Thursday/15-Jul-21: Dinner was Easy Egg Curry with Urad Dal and Tamarind* (web; GD), served over plain basmati rice. With Date-Banana Chutney again. And the rest of the tapioca for after.

Friday/16-Jul-21: Belated shopping today. Leclerc's veggie department was out of a lot of stuff, so I bought another chunk of fish to replace a meal and juggled the meal plan when we got home.

Dinner was Sautéed Fish Fillets (OtherHalf, p126). I made a half dose of the egg white coating using an egg white from the freezer. This was very good. One egg white, 2tbl oil, 2tbl water, salt, and freshly ground white pepper. The fish was dipped in flour, the egg white coating, then bread crumbs; I used panko. I used butter and olive oil for cooking, rather than straight butter. Served this with some boiled potatoes and Parmesan Carrots with Lemon-Parsley Dressing (CL/mar17; web). The carrots were very good. Some apple tarts sections from the boulangerie for after.

Put swordfish on to marinate for tomorrow's dinner.

Saturday/17-Jul-21: Dinner was a halfish dose of Spicy Mustard Swordfish and Artichoke* (web; GD). Yum. Served this over tagliatelle, with a side of shredded carrot salad.

Sunday/1-8Jul-21: Dinner was Grilled Lamb Skewers with Apricots (License, p116). Delicious both times I've made this. Served with my store-bought Moroccan couscous mix; plain couscous would have been better, since the flavors were wasted here. Served with a half dose of Moroccan Carrots (1Good, p59). Used homemade ground roasted cumin seeds and ground coriander.  Too lazy for the preserved lemon tonight, but that would have been good. Good stuff anyhow. 

Some store-bought riz-au-laits for after.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 4; #2 PHOTO: yes; #3 *DMA: yes
This month: #4 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #5 BACKLOG1: yes; #6 BACKLOG2: no; #7 RECYCLE: 11; #8 NEW: 4

This week in the kitchen

Monday/10-May-21: Feeling recovered from my vaccination today. Whew, that was two days lost.

Made yet another loaf of Easy French bread (Electric, p62) (Basic/Rapid/M/d/-) today. Yes, we really like this one.

Dinner was Balsamic Chicken with Mushrooms (MC), we've liked before. Served with trio rice which contributed to the overall brownness of the plate; orzo would have been better. And some steamed broccoli and cauliflower, tossed with a bit of lemon juice. Strawberries and cream for after.

Tuesday/11-May-21: I spent all afternoon trying to get our two orders for the Drives done, slow internet driving me nuts. I sent Ed out on a pizza mission for dinner. It was after the curfew time, but the truck was crowded and Ed said a maskless gendarme joined the group. As Ed left the house, I said we'd have a race if I'd get the second order placed before he got back. We tied. This was a new pizza truck for us. They were OK. 

Wednesday/12-May-21: Yogurt on overday.

Yes, made Easy French bread (Electric, p62) (Basic/Rapid/M/d/-) again, this time with my last bit of rye flour (1/4-1/3cup) to use that up.

Dinner was Judy Heuman's Indian Fried Fish (Eat-L; GD), with cod. I'm not good at these breaded things, but it was delicious. Served with Karhai Broccoli (MJ@Home, p148), an old favorite, and Potato and Pea Chaat (MJ@Home, p166), which is a variation on her plain Potato Chaat, which is always good. Ed said is was a 5* meal. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines for after; boring, but good.

Thursday/13-May-21: Dinner was Sweet Potato and Lentil This Curry (web) served over brown rice. This was tasty but without texture except for the cashews sprinkled on top. It does indeed serve three; we'll split the last serving for lunch one day soon. Some store-bought vanilla yogurts for after.

Friday/14-May-21: Dinner was Eggs with Fresh Green Herbs—Hare masale ka omlate (Q&E, p44).  As a side, there was Carrot and Onion Salad—Gajar aur pyaz ka salad (MJ1, p171), a favorite. 

For after we had strawaberries and cream.

Saturday/15-May-21: Dinner was Apricot-Curry Glazed Chicken with Potatoes & Asparagus (web). This was pretty good, and there's nothing wrong with a one-dish meal. Not enough potatoes in the recipes as given, but that's easy to fix. Some HD mini ice cream cups for after.

Sunday/16-May-21: Dinner was Tuna Cutlets (Tuna Patties)* (web; GD), which were good. Served with plain basmati and Pan-Grilled Zucchini (MJ@Home, p173). We ate while watching Anneleen hosting a (non-)marching band. 

A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 4; #2 PHOTO: yes; #3 *DMA: yes
This month: #4 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #5 BACKLOG1: yes; #6 BACKLOG2: no; #7 RECYCLE: 11; #8 NEW: 3

This week in the kitchen

Monday/12-Apr-21: Baked the Overnight Boule this morning.

Dinner was a half dose of Spicy Eggplant Stew with Potatoes, Mushrooms, and Chickpeas (WorldVeg, p196) served over brown rice. A half recipe, but all the spices and a bit short on salt, as is normal for Jaffrey's recipes. Some pear cake with cream for after.

Tuesday/13-Apr-21: Dinner was a halfish dose of Veal Scaloppine with Marsala (ClassicItal, p361). This was easy and good. Served with smashed potatoes and steamed veggies, cleaning out the fridge, asparagus, haricots verts, and broccoli stems. 

We both had a chocolate itch, so we had chocolate-covered madeleines for after. 

Wednesday/14-Apr-21: Dinner was a half recipe of Baked Salmon with Cucumber Relish* (web). Pretty tasty, although the cucumber relish needed salad. I tossed the red onions and dill with the relish. Served with a side of whole-wheat spaghetti. It was good. We're full, having had leftovers for lunch after Ed brought back groceries from two Drives.

Thursday/15-Apr-21: Easy dinner tonight. We ate (most of) the Simple Beef Curry I made last week. Served over plain basmati rice, with Cachumber—Tomato, Onion and Green Coriander Relish (MJ1, p172) as a side/relish. Some store-bought vanilla yogurts for after.

Friday/16-Apr-21: Dinner was a halfish recipe of Drunken Shrimp (web). Served over a bit of pasta. Not bad, not great. Followed by a bit salad. No dessert needed.

Saturday/17-Apr-21: Made up a half recipe of Red Pepper Sauce (Flavours, p11) for tomorrow's dinner.

Dinner was Thai Red Chicken Curry (web). This was pretty good. Recipe needs a bit of work: Way too much rice for two; I used 2/3cup but thought that was too much. Too much liquid; would match the 200ml packet of coconut mild with the chicken stock. We also thought it could have used 4tsp of red curry paste, rather than 2or 3, to be just the right heat. The recipe encourages you to use vegetable as available. I had green beans, so used those in place of the zucchini. Didn't have any basil, which might have been nice. Followed by Thai Cucumber Salad with Peanuts (web), which is a favorite. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Sunday/18-Apr-21: For breakfast we split Manny's Lemon "Pancake" (CtryCityEgg, p85). This was like a Dutch baby, topped with lemon juice and a bit of powdered sugar.

Made a loaf of Dennis's Blarney-Stone Bread (Magic, p70) (Basic/Rapid/M/d/-) this morning. It's a funny misshapen loaf. Curious how it will be when we cut into it.

Started to make the gnocchi for the sauce I made yesterday, but just didn't feel like it. Instead I used mafalda for the pasta and mixed a bit of the Roquefort that should have been in the gnocchi into the drained pasta. It was okay, nothing special. Then a big salad. Then a part of chocolate-covered madeleines. 

Seem to have decided on two more books to recycle, CtryCityEgg and Flavours (after copying a few recipes). The egg book is attractive, but not enough interesting recipes. Flavours should have been good, but most of the recipes I've tried have been decidedly so-so. Need to reduce.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 4; #2 PHOTO: yes; #3 *DMA: yes    
This month: #4 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #5 BACKLOG1: no; #6 BACKLOG2: no; #7 RECYCLE: 1; #8 NEW: 3

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/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/22-Jun-20: Dinner was a half dose of Curry-Scented Grilled Beef Lettuce Wraps (web). We had plates with the mini hamburgers, piles of rice noodles, lettuce leaves, and mint&cilantro leaves, as well as a small bowl of the sauce. It was pretty darn good.

Tuesday/23-Jun-20: We were supposed to barbecue a chicken today, but I forgot to put it on to marinate overnight, so that has to be postponed. For a starter (munchies while dinner finished up), we had Spicy Cucumber Wedges (MJ1, p172). For the main, there was a half dose of Squid in Spinach-Tomato Curry Sauce (Q&E, p72). As usual with Jaffrey, I used all the spices for a half recipe. Served over basmati rice. Yummy. Some mango sorbet for after.

Wednesday/24-Jun-20: The chicken that was supposed to be barbecued turned into Sesame-Crusted Roast Chicken (O&C, p416). Needing a close-fitting casserole with a lid, I soaked a Römertopf and used that. The chicken was delicious. Served with Oven-Fried Potatoes with Oregano and Lemon (O&C, p280). These were good as always; I really like the zing of the lemon juice added near the end of the cooking. And there was Beet Tzatziki (O&C, p467). Also good again. It was late and we were full, so no afters.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/25-Jun-20: Dinner was Smoked Salmon & Peas with Creamy Gnocchi (web). This was easy-peasy and delicious. Followed by a big salad. Some chocolate squares for after.

Friday/26-Jun-20: Ed picked up shopping today. We'll have fish tomorrow.

Tonight we had a halfish dose of Grilled Polenta & Vegetables with Lemon-Caper Vinaigrette (web; EW/may-jun16). I used polenta squares from the freezer. This is a really nice way to get a bunch of veggies. For after, we finished the mango sorbet with some strawberries.

Saturday/27-Jun-20: I’ve been failing in my bread duties. A bit belatedly, this afternoon I stated a loaf of Abm Whole Wheat Bread (MC), which is one we like a lot.

Dinner was Filet de Cabillaud en Croûte d’Amande (VPG; web, sort of, strangely this is the same photo but the ingredients are not quite the same). Don’t tell anybody, I forget to halve the parmesan so there was twice too much cheese. Never mind, it was good. The pink peppercorns on top at the end were nice. Served with some carrot and red lentil pasta. I didn’t like this much when it was done, so added a bit of butter. That and some freshly ground pepper made it pretty tasty. And some steamed broccoli. We were full.

Yogurt on overnight.

Sunday/28-Jun-20: Before dinner I started a pan of Vanilla Shortbread (file). This was really simple to assemble and get into the oven.

Dinner was a halfish dose of Sauté de Veau Piquant à la Mangue (web; VPG; again, the same picture, but a slightly different recipe; weird). I didn't deseed the chili, no surprise. This was easy and not ba. Served with Thai Cucumber Salad with Peanuts (web), which is my favorite Thai-ish cuke salad these days. For dessert we had the rest of the strawberries over shortbread with some cream. Yum. The shortbread is really "sandy" and very tasty.

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/6-Apr-20: When I ordered rumsteak at Intermarché, I neglected to say that I wanted a thick cut. What arrived was quite thin, so I searched for something else for dinner. I made Savoury Beef with Asparagus (HotWok, p98). I used to use this book a lot, but not so much since we've moved here. This was an untried recipe, perfect since we have a lot of asparagus right now. Pretty good it was. Then we had last night's salad, which I forgot at lunchtime. No dessert so far.

Tuesday/7-Apr-20: Used up the last bit of cabbage and the bird sausages from the freezer to make Sausage and Cabbage Pasta (web). This was easy and pretty good. Some chocolate-covered madeleine for after. We're getting low on these, and no way to replenish the stock.

Wednesday/8-Apr-20: Placed another order with Intermarché Drive, to be picked up Saturday.

Made some English Muffin Bread (MC) for tomorrow.

Dinner was, vaguely, Asparagus and Leeks on Toast (VegSups, p183). I used a (French) ciabatta for the bread. Goat cheese for the Fontina. Frozen spinach for fresh. Forgot the lemon juice at the end. Still it wasn't bad, surprisingly good even. Some chocolate-covered madeleines for after. These are getting scarce. We can't replenish till we can go into Leclerc.

Thursday/9-Apr-20: Made a loaf of Bill Hatcher's Italian Bread (MC) today.

Our first fresco meal today. Dinner was a halfish recipe of Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Lemon Tahini Dressing (web). This was unusual but good. I served over big lettuce leaves; used frozen parsley because I forgot to order the real stuff last time. It looks like I ordered plain vanilla ice cream, but we got vanilla pecan; we had that for after.

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/10-Apr-20: This morning, I went off to pick up a package with flour and rice at a package depot place. The first time I've had proper shoes or jeans on in weeks. Five kilos of flour fills up my Tupperware Cake Taker.

Dinner was a half recipe of Linguine with Tuna Fish Sauce (PastaCarlu, p24), which we've had several times and remains good. Then a big salad. Then Nigella's Emergency Brownies (web; GoogleDrive), which were quite good. Ed had his with cream; I didn't.

Saturday/11-Apr-20: Ed picked up the Intermarché Drive order today. No strawberries, but we've got asparagus again. And fish for two nights.

While dinner was in the making, we munched on some Spicy Cucumber Wedges (MJ1, p172). We have a surplus of cukes for the next week or so. This is a start on using them up.

First of our fish dinners was Grilled Masala Salmon (MJ@Home, p46) cooked on the bbq. We've enjoyed this before; it's still good. Served with Potato Chaat (MJ@Home, p165) and Zucchini and Yellow Summer Squash with Cumin (MJ@Home, p174) (only zucchini). We've had both of these before too, and they were still good. For dessert there was Vermicelli Kheer (MJ@Home, p274). I've made a half recipe of this before, and remarked that it never really thickened. This time it set like glue. I think the store-bought vermicelli are not thin enough. Tastes good, though.

Sunday/12-Apr-20: Made some Authentic French Bread (Magic, p22) for our next bread.

Dinner was Fish Kebabs—Spicy Cod and Salmon Patties (web). This was good, but hard to believe it would serve four. I thought it might serve three; Ed said, No way, it's perfect for two. Served with plain basmati rice and Carrot and Onion Salad (MJ1, p171). For dessert we had some of the Vermicelli Kheer with cream. Good taste, bad texture.

Yogurt on overnight.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 5; #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-Feb-20: Yesterday afternoon, I started the batter for a no-knead bread that I got from an EAT-L friend. The recipe is slightly different from Lahey's classic, and it's still a puddle bread, but the timing works better for me. This morning I put the oven and casserole on the heat, then dumped the bread and formed a (flat) ball. After 30 minutes, into the oven to cook, 30 minutes covered and 15 minutes uncovered. I used T110 flour which is a close relative of whole wheat flour (T150). Not sure of the difference, but it's definitely a brown bread, with not much rise. Very tasty though and I like the schedule.

For dinner we had skinless, boneless chicken thighs, sprinkled with Penzey's Quebec Spice mix (a bit too salty) and grilled under the broiler. Then some "short spaghetti" with garlic butter and some snijbonen. Then some Häagen-Dazs mini ice cream cups for dessert.

Tuesday/25-Feb-20: Ed went off to the dentist this afternoon and came back saying he had to have mushy, cool food for dinner. So no magret, that was planned. I did a quick shuffle of the meal plan and we had a half recipe of Curried Lentils with Coconut Milk (web; cookbooker). This was easy and extra delicious; no hot stuff, but full of taste. Then we had some Abondance. Then a pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/26-Feb-20: Nice dinner tonight. There was Magret de Canard à la Sauce Rose (web). I used Patricia Wells method for cooking the magret, which is the best. In the afternoon, I boiled some potatoes, then sautéed them in the rendered duck fat. There were also some steamed carrot coins, with parsley and lemon juice, and a little salad of grated broccoli stems, which was really good. In the afternoon, I made a half recipe of an Easy Blueberry Cobbler (MC) that wasn't bad. We ate well.

Thursday/2Feb-20: As we were leaving to do our weekly grocery shopping, I reached for RezaSpice and couldn't find it. Instead, having recently felt the need for some more interesting vegetarian meals, I grabbed A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen, by Jack Bishop. It turns out I've used this a bit, but not recently. Nevertheless, I've found quite a number of interesting recipes so far.

Dinner was Baked Fish with Kumquats and Ginger (Uncommon, p273), with salmon. I've made this a few times and since kumquats have been at Leclerc for the last few weeks, I thought it was time again. Served with some "short spaghetti" and steamed asparagus. The rest of the blueberry cobbler for after.

Friday/28-Feb-20: Early in the day, I made up a batch of Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter (ClassicItal, p152). At dinner time I made Spinach and Ricotta Dumplings (web). I made up a full recipe have frozen half, along with a goodly chunk of the tomato sauce. I used really parmesan, of course. Also, had to add at least double the amount of flour to get something that would hold together into a "dumpling." Served with a big salad. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each for after.

Saturday/29-Feb-20: Dinner was Ooroomas Badun—Fried Pork Curry (Solomon1, p138. This was yummy. Served with basmati rice and Gujerati Carrot Salad (MJ1, p170). For munchies we had Spicy Cucumber Wedges (MJ1, p172. For dessert, there was Faux Kheer of store-bought riz au lait, topped with chopped pistachios and ground cardamom.We're full.

Yogurt on overnight.

Sunday/1-Mar-20: Dinner was Lex's Roast Chicken (MC; web). I used two dejeunettes (half baguettes for the bread. The cuisinart did a good job for the sliced onions and celery. Yum. Served with a salad, using up the rest of yesterday's carrot salad. And some chocolate-covered madeleines for dessert.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/14-Oct-19: Dinner was a half dose of Fragrant Chicken Pilaf (web), which was quite tasty. Served with Gujerati Carrot Salad (MJ1, p170), so we'd have a bit more vegetable matter with dinner. A pair of (out-of-date!) chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Tuesday/15-Oct-19: Yogurt on overday.

We had lunch out today, so nothing happened in the kitchen. Out for a performance in the evening.

Wednesday/16-Oct-19: Dinner was pork chops, along with some steamed veggies (broccoli, romanesco, and the remains of a red bell pepper) and trio rice. Chocolate-covered madeleines for dessert. We're full.

Thursday/17-Oct-19: Shopping today.

Dinner was Mediterranean Cod (web). With cod, since that was on sale today. Definitely a keeper, this was very good. Served with Green Bean, Feta, and Black Olive Salad (web; CL/nov10; cookbooker). Another keeper. Made a salad, but we didn't feel like eating it. Then some mini ice creams.

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/18-Oct-19: We delivered lots of stuff to charity shop today, stopping for sweet and savory treats on the way. We weren't especially hungry after that, so we had last night's salad followed by some P'tit Basque cheese for dinner. Off the plan already. Oh well, that's what they're for.

Saturday/19-Oct-19: Dinner was Chef John's Spicy Shrimp Cakes (web). I had 300g of cooked shrimp (instead of raw) and used them to make about a half recipe, which made eight small yummy patties. Served with plain rice and a half recipe of Mom's Cabbage Salad (MaiPham, p96). All good stuff. Ice cream after, a mini cup for me and a mini ice cream bar for Ed.

Sunday/20-Oct-19: Dinner very late. I should have made up the crust for tonight's dinner yesterday. We had Mushroom and Leek Galette with Gorgonzola (CI/jan-feb12; web; cookbooker). Delicious it was. Then a big salad. And a chocolate square. We're full.

Yogurt will wait till tomorrow; the dishwasher's full tonight.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 4; #3 COOKBOOK: n/a
Cookbooks of the month: none
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: no
This year: #7 PROJECT: no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/8-Jul-19: For starters there were insalatas caprese. For a main I used much of the orange cauliflower I bought last week to make a half recipe of Grilled Cauliflower "Steaks" with Tonnato Sauce and Walnut Salsa (web). This was good, if a bit light for a main course. Ottolenghi does say it's a starter and it would be good like that. Ed liked the tonnato sauce and the walnut salsa (especially), but didn't like them together. I thought they were fine together. For afters I had a HD ice cream cup and Ed had a mini Magnum bar.

This is the first "steak" cut from the cauliflower following Ottolenghi's instructions, i.e., only two steaks per head, cut from the center. This means each steaks has a substantial part of the stem to hold it together.

The completed dish, with the steak sitting on tonnato sauce and topped with walnut salsa, looked like this.

Tuesday/9-Jul-19: Dinner was kind of late because in the afternoon I made myself a simple tuna salad sandwich with tuna leftover from yesterday.

The orange cauliflower appeared again today as Cauliflower with Tomatoes, Green Olives, and Capers (PeV, p96). Served this over whole wheat pasta, which maybe wasn't the best choice. But the sauce was good.

Then a big salad. Then some chocolate-covered corn flakes. It's late and we're stuffed.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/10-Jul-19: Dinner was, sort of, Roasted Veggie Pasta Salad (web). I used the last of my orange cauliflower, a red bell pepper, a zucchini, a carrot, garlic cloves, and some ~1" pieces of snijbonen. About 10min before these were done, I added a handful of fresh peas (those that didn't make it into the risotto), some kalamata-ish olives, and some oven-dried tomatoes (seedless) from the freezer. Served over malfada corta. Made the dressing in the recipe, more or less; I think it would have been better with all lemon juice and no red wine vinegar. Didn't wait for anything to cool, just served it all up after the veggies came out of the oven. Good stuff. Some mini ice cream bars for dessert. We're full.

Thursday/11-Jul-19: Shopping today.

Dinner was Salmon Wrapped in Spinach Leaves with Caper, Lemon, and Olive Sauce (VegHarv, p86; cookbooker). There was no large-leaved spinach today, so I used sorrel instead. Tried to parboil this as directed for the spinach, but it turned ugly quite quickly, so I just used the raw leaves. The shorter time, 3 minutes, was good for my thinner end of the salmon back; Ed's thicker end could have used another 30 seconds or so. A bit surprised that the sauce ingredients were not blended before or after simmering. Served with gnocchi and spaetzle from the freezer. And there was a simple grated carrot salad; I used the spiralizer thing to "grate" the carrots. Some store-bought semoule au lait for dessert. We're full.

Decided on next month's cookbook, took it to read on the way to and from shopping, and discovered that I've already used it a bit and didn't remember. Duh. Wondering if I should continue, or do Nigella Lawson's How To Eat, which I've recently finished reading. Hmm...

Friday/12-Jul-19: Early dinner tonight so we could go to the Folk Galerie. We started with that old favorite, Spicy Cucumber Wedges (MJ1, p172). For our main, there was Squid or Scallops in Spinach-Tomato Curry Sauce (Q&E, p72), with scallops, over plain rice. (I really have to make this with squid sometime.) Some mini ice creams for after.

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/13-Jul-19: For dinner there was Chicken Breasts with Mint, Capers, and White Wine (VegHarv p110). This was simple and good. For a side, I augmented the leftover gnocchi and spaetzle with the caper-lemon-olive sauce with some onion and red bell pepper and olive oil and lemon juice to make a pretty good salad. We were meant to have Zucchini Carpaccio with Avocado, Lemon Thyme, and Pistachio Oil (VegHarv, p214) as a starter, but it ended up following the main. Really like this salad. Then some silver medal Langres. Then some chocolate-covered madeleines. We're stuffed.

Sunday/14-Jul-19: Dinner was Sesame Peanut Noodles (web) which was greatly improvee by a liberal dose of my "fiery" hot sauce. I forgot to add the sesame seeds and the chopped coriander. Used spiralized zucchini for the bean sprouts; spiralized carrot for the red bell pepper, which I used up yesterday; and chunk of lightly steamed snijbonen for the mangetout. Then some chocolate-covered madeleines.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 6; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: Vegetable Harvest
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: no
This year: #7 PROJECT: no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/1-Jul-19: The hot has gone away, but it's still humid.

Dinner was Lamb or Pork Vindaloo (Q&E, p33) made with pork. Served with rice, using up the coconut milk as part of the liquid. And Gujerati Carrot Salad (MJ1, p170). For dessert we had some ice cream with a splash of crème de cacao.

Tuesday/2-Jul-19: Dinner was a curried chicken salad, very loosely based on (Rosie, p34). Added asparagus, kiwi for the fruit, chineeskool for a lettuce-y bit. Pretty good. Chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Wednesday/3-Jul-19: Dinner was a half dose of Vietnamese Rice-Noodle Salad (VegPlanet, p275). Pretty good this was. I did manage to grate another knuckle, just after the last one healed up. I had a mini ice cream bar for dessert.

Thursday/4-Jul-19: Shopping today.

Dinner was broiled lieu noir with Lemon, Chive, and Dill Sauce, a recipe I collected in 1999 from EAT-L. Served with a side of pasta, to soak up the extra sauce. For a veg there was Zucchini Carpaccio with Avocado, Lemon Thyme, and Pistachio Oil (VegHarv, p214; cookbooker). For dessert there were some little yogurt-custard things with salted caramel sauce from La Fermière that were in the anit-gaspi cooler for 30% off. We ate well.

Friday/5-Jul-19: Another hot day. Ed cleaned and waxed the kitchen floor. Hard work, and it looks gorgeous.

Dinner was Barbeque [sic] Shrimp a [sic] la Marguerite (web). Used the white wine Worcestershire sauce, whatever it's called these day. Served over grits. Then a big salad. For afters, I had a mini Häagen-Dasz cup and Ed had a mini Magnum.

Saturday/6-Jul-19: Dinner was Pea and Mint Risotto (VegHarv, p140), with fresh peas. Good stuff. Followed by a salad. Then some strawberries and cream. We're full.

Sunday/7-Jul-19: Pizza tonight after Ed's concert. Nothing further happened in the kitchen.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 4; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: Vegetable Harvest
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD:  no; #6 GUESTS: no
This year: #7 PROJECT: no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/10-Jun-19: Dinner was Turkey Pitas (web; CL/jul14). I had what was probably half the meat, but used all the spices and accompanying tahini-yogurt sauce. We used four pitas to make the sandwiches, instead of one each. I bought some mini-romaines, I think for the accompanying salad, but forgot to make it.

Tuesday/11-Jun-19: Peg&Jim arrived late this afternoon, so we had a late dinner after apéros and munchies. There was Exotic-Flavored Chicken Thighs with Tomato-Mint Salad (License, p205; cookbooker). Barbecuing the chicken had to be delayed a bit since they weren't quite defrosted after two days in the fridge. The chicken is spiced only with ground cardamon, salt, and black pepper. Delicious. Accompanied this by Carrot and Pistachio Salad (web), which we all liked. I forgot to make rice to accompany this, so we sliced some bread for the soppy.

Dessert was A Peach Shortcake for Lizzie (BigFlav, p430), which was excellent. I used cream & mascarpone for the cream.

Wednesday/12-Jun-19: Another late meal. For a starter we had Smoked Salmon Salad with Dill (BEFCC, p35), which is an old favorite. Then there was Chicken Saltimbocca (ClayCook2, p63), which was pretty good, along with a side of whole wheat spaghetti. For dessert there was the rest of the peach shortcake with mascarpone whipped cream. All good.

Thursday/13-Jun-19: Shopping today. Peg&Jim are leaving Saturday :-( and I have no meal plan beyond that. Just bought a bunch of veggies and we'll see what turns up.

We started tonight with Spicy Cucumber Wedges (MJ1, p172), a pretty standard dish now. Our main was Salmon Poached with Spinach and Bengali Five-Spice Mixture (SpiceKitch, p76), served basmati rice. Yummy stuff. For dessert there was lazy-cook's kheer, riz au lait doctored with chopped pistachios and cardamom.

Friday/14-Jun-19: Lunch out today, and a visit to Aubeterre. Cheese and other nibbles in the evening.

Saturday/15-Jun-19: Peg&Jim left today. We had pasta and broccoli with a roquefort-cream cheese sauce. And ice cream for dessert

Sunday/16-Jun-19: A bit salad for dinner and chocolate covered madeleines for dessert.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 3; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: Römertopf cookbooks
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: yes
 This year: #7 PROJECT: no