Wednesday, 11/27/19

Michael, Kristen and Mercer came for dinner---Jason made pizzas (including my favorite, salami, pepperoncini and provolone), and I made an angel cake and some caramel sauce (usual SK recipe). I thought angel cake would be nice and light, considering all the pies and Thanksgiving foods coming up. Indeed, we ate it all. Always fun to see Mercer---he is very cute and charming.

Tuesday, 11/26/19

Chicken parmesan, a spinach salad, and garlic bread (bread ends were really accruing in the fridge). Good, if messy.

Monday, 11/25/19

Chili in the IP,  from the Melissa Clark cookbook (Comfort in an Instant). Really basic recipe (I added some carrots, a little cocoa powder and a pinch of cinnamon), but the Instant Pot really did a good job. Jason made us a batch of Jiffy mix cornbread, and I served the chili with some avocado, lime, and spicy cheese from Aldi.

Sunday, 11/24/19

We just had leftover pork, plus zucchini fritters (awesome), with a sour cream-garlic sauce. Jason also made a loaf of bread, and we got to enjoy it still a little warm. Delicious!

Saturday, 11/23/19

Dinner with Jen and John. Laurie wanted to make the dinner (coq au vin), so I made a chocolate dessert at Jen's request. I trotted out an old favorite, chocolate tart (from The Craft of Baking). It's pretty simple: a chocolate sable dough crust and a rich chocolate filling) but people love it. Served with whipped cream and a caramel sauce (from SK). Jason thought the caramel would be extraneous, but he was wrong.

Friday, 11/22/19

I had a giant pork should from BJ's, so I decided to bo ssam it up. Cooked all day long. It was fine, but I am beginning to prefer the slow cooker (or Instant Pot) method, as it is moister. I also tried my hand at making brioche buns to go with it. I used a recipe from King Arthur that had stellar reviews, but mine were only OK. They looked, smelled and tasted good, but the texture wasn't fluffy enough, and they sort of crumbled when exposed to the pork. Oh well. They were were good the next day, toasted with butter.

Thursday, 11/21/19

Crumbled tofu got the Chrissie Teigen treatment; it wasn't quite as tasty as ground pork, but the flavors and textures worked just fine. I added broccoli  (and remembered the mushrooms) and we had it over rice. The endlessly adaptable chicken lettuce cups (that didn't have chicken or lettuce this time ) abide.

Wednesday, 11/20/19

Bread (from Jason) was amassing, so we had grilled cheeses and some leftover black bean soup from the freezer, plus some green beans. Nothing much to be said about that.

Tuesday, 11/19/19

Jason night. No surprises: burgers and acorn squash, both made in the IP. Tater tots (he hasn't figured out to out those in the IP yet. The squash turns out well, but Carter and I are begging for regular old grilled burgers again. These were dry and somewhat unappealing. But he is on a mission!

Monday, 11/18/19

Dinner in Whately: two Blue Aprons, one a baked cod with roasted honeycup squash (loved the squash), the other chicken cutlets and a "Pizzeria style" salad, which just meant it had olives and some oregano in the dressing. A nice concept, but my (similar) chopped salad is more fun. Provolone and pepperoncini make a difference! Jason made some really nice bread, and I duplicated the Smitten oat bars from Friday. A hit.

Sunday, 11/17/19

Another Instant Pot recipe from Melissa Clark. I am beginning to think I don't love this book. This was a curry with potato, peas, and cauliflower. There was nothing wrong with it, is just wasn't exciting. I think a little tamarind chutney would have done wonders (but we are out). Jason made some pita bread to go with it. LOTS of leftovers.

Saturday, 11/16/19

We had no dinner plans, so I convinced Jason (eventually) to go to Priya for lunch. Since lunch was so big, we didn't really have dinner. I had some Flamin' Hot Cheetos and a piece of cake (shameful); I made Carter a grilled cheese and some apples.

Friday, 11/15/19

Dinner with Jen and John: bread from Jason (we turned it into cheese bread), a Blue Apron (roasted chickpeas mixed with zucchini and red peppers, with salmon. The only takeaway idea is roasting the chickpeas----they were my favorite part), and I made gooey oat bars from the second Smitten Kitchen book. This time I put in milk and dark chocolate chunks and mini marshmallows. I think it is safe to say that they were a big hit.

Thursday, 11/14/19

Jason was giving an exam; Carter and I just ate leftovers and looked at our respective screens.

Wednesday, 11/13/19

Another Instant Pot recipe from "Comfort in an Instant". This one was for a pasta alla Amitriciana. It was fine. For many many years I have been trying to recreate the pasta amitriciana I had in Italy, and it has never worked. Maybe I need to buy actual giancule? Or just go back to Sienna? Anyway, this didn't lend itself particularly well to the IP (AND I got another stupid burn alert)but it was OK.

Tuesday, 11/12/19

Pizza from Jason. One with cheese, the other with spinach, onions, pepperoni and feta. A little salty but still good.

Monday, 11/11/19

Since we all had the day off, we had lunch in Whately instead of dinner. We had a Blue Apron Italian wedding soup that was delicious...I want to steal the recipe so here it goes:
10 oz Ground Pork
6 oz Ditali Pasta
6 oz Carrots
2 cloves Garlic
1 bunch Kale
2 Scallions
1 bunch Rosemary
2 Tbsps Chicken Demi-Glace
¼ cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
2 Tbsps Red Wine Vinegar
2 Tbsps Tomato Paste
1 Tbsp Italian Seasoning (Whole Dried Basil, Sage, Oregano, Savory, Rosemary, Thyme & Marjoram)

Mix the rosemary, chopped garlic & sliced scallions

Make the meatballs (pork, cheese S & P), saute them up, saute carrots in the same pot, and garlic and kale. Add the garlic mixture, tomato pasta, stock and water. Add a little vinegar and serve over the ditalini with a little olive oil and parm

I brought some cookies from Bon Appetit that they had the nerve to call Snickerdoodles. Snickerdoodles they were not, but they are tasty. A brown butter/sugar cookie with chopped up Skor bars, rolled in cornflakes and then in cinnamon sugar. A delicious misnomer.

Sunday, 11/10/19

I brought home a new cookbook from Melissa Clark, "Comfort in an Instant". So many things looked good, but my first recipe was a mixed success. Probably not the fault of the recipe---it was a Cuban chicken and rice dish and I probably should have deglazed the bottom better. Got the dreaded burn notice. Bit it still turned out pretty well and I'll be more careful next time. I think the chopped green olives were my (and Jason's) favorite part; otherwise it was a pretty standard mix of chicken thighs, peppers, onions, garlic and tomato paste.

Saturday, 11/9/19

Dinner with Jennie and David. Jason made bread and I made a spice cake from Sally's Baking Addiction, meant to use up all the leftover cream cheese frosting. It did, and was delicious to boot.

We also had brunch in Longmeadow for Florence's birthday. I was asked to made a noodle kugel, so I did. I don't know if I overcooked it or what, but I was not a fan. I don't think Smitten Kitchen was to blame, I think I just don't like sweet kugel.

Friday, 11/8/19

It was a Smitten Kitchen meal. Macaroni and cheese (her interpretation of a Martha Stewart recipe). I used panko instead of chopped up bread, and a wild combination of leftover cheeses, including a block of delicious cheddar with Hatch chiles (from Aldi). Need to get some more of that before they run out.
We also had cauliflower fritters with feta and pomegranate. I added some chopped parsley and cilantro, but otherwise no changes. I love Friday afternoons when I have the time for cooking projects!

Thursday, 11/7/19

Jason night---hamburgers and tots. I like the concept of burgers sort of steamed in the Instant Pot, but mine was a little overdone. It's a work in progress. At least he didn't try cooking the tots in there?
Also a small amount of leftover cabbage, as a nod to vegetables.

Wednesday, 11/6/19

Tried a new tofu dish from Bon Appetit. Shallow fried slices of tofu, then added a sauce with soy, sriracha, honey and rice vinegar to the pan to make a sauce. Then you add a little tahini and some soba noodles and voila. There were also cucumbers quick picked in ginger and vinegar. Plus I  sauteed some cabbage with garlic, ginger, and spicy chili crisp. The tofu turned out nice and crispy---You just dry it off and pan fry it. I think the only thing I would change is rinsing the soba, as it was a bit gloppy. And make even more sauce.

Tuesday, 11/5/19

Dinner in Whately. Two Blue Aprons (one a pasta with sausage and kale, the other spicy burgers with roasted potatoes), both good! Plus my dad had one of his meals (salmon with cold sesame noodles), I brought the leftover pumpkin cake, and Jason made a really good loaf of bread.

Monday, 11/4/19

I somehow forgot to plan anything for dinner. So, I cooked up some white beans  (with garlic and onion) in the Instant Pot, and Jason and I had salads with white beans, tuna, lemon and romaine. Very atypical, but good! We had some leftover bread alongside, and Carter had macaroni and cheese. Although he would have eaten the salad, I think.

Sunday, 11/3/19

I used the Instant Pot in the morning to make pork for carnitas, and we had them with tortillas, lime-y onions, salsa and avocado for dinner. I wish I had had more pork, as there were no leftovers. I also made a little salad with romaine and leftover dressing from the time-consuming green beans.

Saturday, 11/2/19

Dinner with Jen, Gus and Laurie. Jason made bread (he wan't happy with it; he keeps tinkering), and I made a pumpkin cake with brown butter-cream cheese frosting (from Sally's Baking Addiction, a very reliable source). Jen had two Blue Aprons---one a shakshuka repeat, and the other a sauteed cod with squash and cabbage with a kind of cilantro sauce. Not my favorites, but maybe I have just not done a good job cooking them. Perhaps Laurie's bourbon-cider cocktails didn't help?
Anyway, the cake was essentially pumpkin bread with frosting. Nothing wrong with that (and it used the whole can of pumpkin puree; recipes that only use part irritate me) ! I don't normally love cream cheese frosting but it was nice and creamy and not overly tangy. I would make both again, for sure. I have enough leftover frosting to maybe make a spice cake next weekend.

Friday, 11/1/19

    Spent the afternoon tinkering in the kitchen. We had fish cakes (from the NYT). As usual, I didn't feel like boiling a potato so I used potato flakes; plus for once I actually remembered to make the mixture a few hours ahead. I found that it didn't want to cohere as much as I might like, but they still fried up nicely. Served them with sour cream mixed with chipotle and lime. We also had roasted potatoes (from Serious Eats; as I did the last couple of times, I tossed them with olive oil, rosemary and garlic after roasting. Jason loves these). AND I tried to recreate the delicious green beans I had in Chicago at The Girl & the Goat. They weren't quite as good (I should have cooked them in the wok at a higher heat), and it felt like a lot of steps, but they were pretty tasty (they make excellent cold leftovers).
Finally, I threw together flan. Never fails and we ate way too much of it.

Thursday, 10/31/19

Burritos with beef and beans, ostensibly as a favor to Carter. But honestly, it's a meal the whole family can get behind. Nothing fancy.