Tuesday, 3/31/15

Deviled eggs, chick pea fries, assorted Trader Joe's from freezer. The chick pea fries recipe came from "Dinner, a Love Story", but I am going to email the recipe to myself. So good! I tarted up some sour cream with lime and sriracha as a dip. Will definitely make these again.

Monday, 3/30/15

Burgers and fries. Nothing to say about that. I also had dukkah-roasted cauliflower (from "My Paris Kitchen"), which I liked but if I ever make dukkah again I will NOT put in whole peppercorns as they do not get ground up in the food processor. I had to pick them out and then crush them in the mortar and pestle (I do not recommend this; grind the pepper first next time).

Sunday, 3/29/15

Pasta alla Genovese from NYT. Jason liked it, but I was very underwhelmed after all that onion chopping and purchasing of chuck roast. I felt it could have used something to brighten it up (maybe a gremolata?). Served with sauteed zucchini with cherry tomatoes. Also only so-so, since I was in a hurry. Ugh. Not my best effort.

Saturday, 3/28/15

Dinner at J & D. So, kouign amman....The dough didn't really come together properly; the butter chunks stayed really big and didn't work into the dough at all. It got sort of weepy in the fridge (from the sugar, I guess). Also, if you are going to use a springform pan, for pete's sake put another pan underneath. The acrid, burning butter smell was most unpleasant. I threw a major fit. The finished product was OK, but I feel like another effort is in order. I would just use regular old butter next time, frankly.

I also made a artichoke heart tapenade from David Lebovitz' "My Paris Kitchen" which was easy and tasty.

Friday, 3/27/15

Time consuming chicken nachos from Serious Eats. I skip frying my own chips and use the big round ones instead. I also skip the radishes on top. This time I didn't bother with pickled jalapenos and sort of missed them. A delicious if guilty pleasure.

Thursday, 3/26/15

Garlicky Chicken with Lemon  from the NYT; served this with some tiny pasta and zucchini that I sauteed with leeks, red bell pepper and crappy cherry tomatoes. Really good all together. I might cut the chicken up and serve it that way next time.

Wednesday, 3/24/15

Made an italian ricotta cheesecake (migliocco) from the NYT. First of all, I didn't have an 11" cake pan (who does??), so subbed in the deeper springform. I think it would have made more sense to just scale down the recipe, which was weird---more like making a polenta. I didn't love it, but it wasn't horrible. I don't think I would make it again, but if I did, I would 1/2 the recipe, add way more lemon and/or orange, and maybe add more ricotta, too.

Tuesday, 3/24/15

Basic (but tasty) supper--spaghetti with meat sauce, leftover zucchini. Still finishing the coconut cake. I also baked chocolate chip cookies from NYT for Carter's lunch (the complicated recipe). Overbaked the first batch so I thought they were a bit too crunchy.

Monday, 3/23/15

Fish cakes w/ sour cream-cilantro dip (sauce?)*, adapted from NYT and "Dinner, A Love Story". I used a couple of packages of Trader Joe's tilapia. Served them with a salad and boiled new potatoes. Salad was meh, but the fish cakes were awesome. Also, I thought the plain broiled tilapia was good and I should make that some night.
*sour cream, lime juice, sriracha, cilantro, a bit of sugar

Sunday, 3/22/15

Spicy ginger-orange tofu (F52), rice, broccoli. This was really good, although I think it would have been better with firmer tofu. Trader Joe's was out of the usual and the replacement was closer to silken. I also used twice the amount of tofu that the recipe called for, so I think I would scale up all the other ingredients even more next time.

Saturday, 3/21/15

Dinner at Jennie and David's; brought bread and coconut layer cake from NYT. Skipped cream cheese frosting and made creamy rum butter cream from recipe folder instead. Good, if a bit dense. Recipe called for baking 45-60 minutes! I only baked them about 35 minutes. Also, the amount of coconut weight seemed very high.

Friday, 3/20/15

Family Relaxation Night!
Broccoli Rabe Lasagne (NYT) with lemon ricotta, plus a salad. Really good; would definitely make again. Maybe add a bit more broccoli rabe and omit the butter on top.

Thursday 3/19/15

Vegetarian Chili (with chick peas and half a can of pintos because I ran out of other beans)
Zucchini
Quesadillas (to use up various tortillas)

Wednesday 3/18/15

dinner with parents
brought chocolate pudding (SK) and hamantaschen (BA)

Tuesday 3/17/15

Lamb Meatballs (from NYT). Used half hamburger; everyone really liked them
Bread
Roasted Cauliflower

Monday 3/16/15

Leftovers. So many leftovers

Sunday 3/15/15

eggplant parm and salad (pity dinner!)

Saturday 3/14/15

Dinner w/ Jennie and David
Black Bottomed Pie from SK (really good as is)
Ottolenghi leek fritters

Friday 3/13/15

Hush Puppies from mix mom brought me (meh)
Big salad w/ mango vinaigrette
Kielbasa
Sweet wontons (from SE; subbed ricotta for cream cheese. delicious! But will strain the ricotta next time)