Wednesday, 4/27/15

Seared tuna steaks, basmati rice, and a cucumber-avocado salad. A quick dinner before Jason had to work. We just switched back to basmati rice and it was a welcome return.

Tuesday, April 26

Pasta w/ chiles, lemon, and cherry tomatoes, from a Giada de Laurentis recipe. It called for a type of chile paste that I couldn't find, so I used sambal oelek (to good effect, I think). It calls for cooking the pasta in a small amount of water, which was nice because you then use just one pan for the whole shebang, but it does mean a lot of vigilance with stirring. I liked the flavors quite a bit and will be particularly interesting in trying it again n tomato season.
We also had italian sausage, plus some sauteed zucchini with sun-dried tomatoes. I threw the leftover zucchini in with some pasta for a good lunch the next day.

Monday, 4/25/16

French toast, to the delight of Jason and Carter. Honestly, though, they only wanted the bacon. There was also a fruit salad.

Sunday, 4/24/16

Pizza by Jason---cheese for Carter, mushroom, provolone, salami and hot peppers for Jason and me. My only regret is that I didn't buy more provolone.

Saturday, 4/23/16

Dinner at home on a Saturday! Jason and I had chicken-sweet potato thai green curry (NYT). I was afraid it would be too spicy and erred on the side of not spicy enough. May add a bit more of the green curry paste to the rest.
We also had a loaf of bread that we ate with butter and more bacon jam.

Friday, 4/22/16

Grilled cheeses of many varieties: manchego and bacon jam; cheddar and actual bacon, some with avocado, some with cherry tomatoes---one even had chopped dates, but I don't think anyone noticed. All using up some experimental bread that Jason made using the starter we tried to cultivate. I would call the starter a failure overall (breads didn't rise too well) but the resulting sandwiches were great.
Might try another starter with a different recipe.

Thursday, 4/21/16

Just leftovers.

Wednesday, 4/20/16

Feast at my parents: mexican meatballs, queso with chorizo, corn pudding...all delicious. We brought some chocolate cookies (from SK: "browniest chocolate cookies) that I was not a fan of. Why not just have brownies, I say.

Tuesday, 4/19/19

Happy Birthday Carter! Roasted chicken shawarma (NYT) with Trader Joe's naan, cucumbers, feta, tomatoes, avocados and a yogurt-tahini sauce.It turned out really well, and Carter liked it, but then he said he had meant to ask for Chicken Tinga. Oh well....

Monday, 4/18/16

Pizza and french fries for dinner, since we were staying at the Porches for Carter's birthday.

So much TV!

Sunday, 4/17/16

Dinner with Jen and John: beef stew (fine), Hungry Ghost bread, the leftover chocoflan. I still didn't love it, but at least it is gone now.

Saturday, 4/16/16

Dinner with Jennie and David. I made something called, variously, Impossible Flan or Chocoflan. It is a mexican dessert that combines a chocolate cake batter and flan ingredients that separate into their respective layers as they bake. The flan was a bit rubbery, I thought. The best part was the layer of dulce de leche, so I say, just make a flan and eat some dulche de leche with a spoon. Not exactly disappointing, but...

Friday, 4/15/16

Broccoli fritters (more pancake-y, actually) from SK, tortillas de tiesto (from Hot Bread Kitchen), and a chick pea and feta salad (from my own head). The fritters were great, once I messed around with the proportions a bit. Maybe I used too much broccoli, because I found myself adding a couple more eggs and some flour. They are good with pecorino (as I made them), but I think feta would be even better.

The tortillas are, essentially,  a yeasted, cheese-filled flat bread, made with a combination of whole wheat and regular flour. I used cotija cheese, which was nice if not particularly flavorful. These were good but a little doughy. Better the next day after a slow re-heating, with a little salsa.

The chick pea salad used up some odds and ends, including some crumbled feta, chopped jalapenos, green olives and cherry tomatoes. The kind of thing I can eat all day.

Thursday, 4/14/16

Spaghetti with meat sauce, broccoli. Delicious, if not interesting to report.

Wednesday, 4/13/16

Chinese takeout with my parents; I made lemon coolers that could have been lemony-er (from SE). I will add a little extract next time to bump the flavor.

Tuesday, 4/12/16

Grilled chicken tacos with homemade flour tortillas, cotija cheese, and guacamole. Those tortillas may be closer to a naan or a pita but we don't care! We love them.

Monday, 4/11/16

Baked fish and chips, from the NYT. The fish was really good: dipped in a egg/mustard mixture, then coated with panko that had been toasted in a skillet with a little garlic (it called for fresh thyme, but I didn't bother). You just bake them on a wire rack and they are remarkably crunchy and flavorful. I will definitely use this method again. The fries were fine, but kind of a pain tossing and turning them. It is actually easier just to fry those suckers. For dessert I threw together a cheaters chocolate mousse: lightly sweetened whipped cream folded with melted chocolate. Jason was scared but Carter and I liked it.

Sunday, 4/10/16

A pinto bean curry from SK. A little too much like chili for me, but serviceable. I threw some roasted cauliflower in and we had it over rice. I don't think anyone will be clamoring for a repeat. Although I wish I had taken a picture of that pretty purple cauliflower.

Saturday,4/9/16

Dinner with Jennie and David. A great loaf of bread from Jason, and the return of sampita from me (from the NYT). This dessert is ridiculous: so much gooey meringue, so sweet. But somehow I crave it. A point worth remembering is that is is better the next day.

Friday, 4/8/16

Potato and cheese pierogis, kielbasa, sauerkraut (but only Jason ate that). The pierogis were quite an undertaking, since I think we made about 100 of them (a simple potato and farmers cheese filling). The filling and pinching took quite a while...who knows when we finally ate dinner?
Then dessert took quite a geographical leap to Asia: sticky rice with coconut custard and mangoes (from SE). I was hoping for something akin to a dessert I loved at a Loation restaurant in Lowell, and this was close. They used purple rice, which is more dramatic, and I think their coconut custard was better. Still, this was a good first effort. In fact, Jason and I ate all of it.

Thursday, 4/7/16

Jason was off giving an exam, so Carter and I were on our own. We did not sit around and eat leftovers (although we did watch a fair number of stupid youtube videos). Chicken cutlets with lemon, parsley and butter sauce, green beans with fried shallots and sherry vinegar (not as tasty as it sounds), pilaf. Good, but time consuming. I don't think Carter approves of almonds in the rice.

Wednesday, 4/6/16

Dinner with my parents. I am sad to report that I was too lazy/busy/uninspired to bake anything. Luckily, my mom had made some orange cupcakes that we all had fun sampling with different frosting. There was also soup (yum!), salad and bread. Potato soup is another thing that my mother does better than I do.

Tuesday, 4/5/16

Biscuits and gravy, at Jason's request. We bought a box of pancake mix that Carter deemed un-tasty, so we decided to try making biscuits with it instead. Surprisingly not bad! The sausage gravy was fine. Still not as good as my mother's.

Monday, 4/4/16

Surprise snow day! I baked some bread:

We had tofu with chinese broccoli and noodles for dinner. I had intended to fry the tofu, but thought roasting might be a good idea after last night's french fries. I tried to make an orange sauce; Jason liked it, I thought it was only OK, Carter was NOT a fan. Could have used more chilis and a little cornstarch for body.

I tried to resist any more dessert making, but common sense lost and gluttony won. The resulting chocolate pudding is so, so good, though!

Sunday, 4/3/16

Carter and Jason's choice: hamburgers and french fries. Lots of condiments. Cole slaw for the boys.

Saturday, 4/2/16

Dinner with Jennie and David. Bread, of course, and a pumpkin pie (from Davis Lebowitz) with a gingersnap crust and maple whipped cream. I think a regular pastry crust would have set off the other flavors better. Next time.

Friday, 4/1/16

Family favorite eggplant parmesan. I agree with Jason that they were unusually good (not sure why). We also had some perfunctory zucchini. Here they are, pre-cheese:

I thought I needed more pictures, but this isn't helping.

Thursday, 3/31/16

In what has become a dull refrain, leftovers on Thursday. I am actually planning to cook next Thursday, full fridge be damned.