Tuesday, 4/28/20

After our big outing to the grocery stores, I was in a funk because there were no chicken breasts to be found. So I let Jason choose our dinner which turned out to be chicken nuggets, french fries and a salad. Well, I chose the salad (obviously). Fine.

Monday, 4/27/20

I felt sad that we couldn't take Carter to IKEA for his birthday, so when I saw that they had released their Swedish meatball recipe, of course we had to try them. It's a pretty basic recipe (pork, beef, bread crumbs, onion), but the creamy gravy is what makes them. Served with mashed potatoes and buttered green beans, plus raspberry jam since we didn't have any lingonberry. Very nice, as anything with gravy is in my book. The best part was that Carter LOVED it. He said it was one of the best meals I ever made, and wished I would make it every week. Very gratifying.

Sunday, 4/26/20

I made noodles with peanut sauce (adapted from SK) for Jason and myself, and  macaroni and cheese for Carter.  I also sauteed up the last of our tofu with some leftover cabbage and punched it up a bit. It was really delicious. Carter looked over and asked (plaintively) Why don't I get that? I reminded him that he has never liked peanut sauce but he claims that that was when he was little. So we'll see what happens next time I offer it to him.

Saturday, 4/25/20

For some reason, Jason really wanted peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. This was not my idea of dinner, but he talked me into it by agreeing that I could make a loaf of sandwich bread for the sandwiches (getting to make bread is a hotly contested prize at our house). So I made a loaf from the NYT (the recipe made two; I only made one and regret it but freezer space is at a premium). Then we really leaned into it and had potato chips and carrot sticks too. Is having PB & J for dinner any more respectable if you have homemade bread and raspberry jam from your own berries? Probably not.

I also made some oat bars from Smitten to round out the school lunch aesthetic.

Friday, 4/24/20

Fried chicken, at Jason's request (brined boneless chicken breasts, breaded with lots of spices), plus some biscuits and an ersatz Caesar salad. Everyone was happy (except Carter said the salad dressing was too tart. What does he know).

Thursday, 4/23/20

I am starting to run out of respectable dinner ideas. We had roasted potatoes with garlic and rosemary, scrambled eggs,  and fruit. I think we are down to just cabbage as a vegetable option, so I am going to have to get creative with that soon.

Wednesday, 4/22/20

Jason made us some pizza: plain cheese for Carter, and for us one with some chopped up leftover breaded chicken cutlets (after making too many a while back, I froze some), ricotta, and Frank's Hot Sauce.  It was actually just what I imagined and quite tasty.

Tuesday, 4/21/20

Jason was itching to make a loaf of bread. Ironically, we are making less bread these days, while everyone else seems to be making more. So I made a batch of tomato soup to go with it (from a Martha Stewart recipe I have used many times; this time I pureed it a little more thoroughly and then added black beans). For dessert I finally got around to making a Twinkie Bundt cake from Smitten that I have had my eye on for a while.  We liked it, but Jason and I agreed that next time I would cut it in half, make a little trough and fill it that way, so there would be more (and better distributed) cream filling. Then again, we are now out of Fluff, so who knows when that will happen.

Monday, 4/20/20

I needed something lighter after yesterdays cheeseburger and french fries. So I made a batch of fried rice with tofu, and a whole bunch of cabbage sauteed with onions. I don't know if it was exactly light and healthy, but at least it was vegan?

Sunday, 4/19/20

Happy 16th, Carter!

Since we couldn't really do much for his birthday, I tried to make as many favorite foods as we could. So: crepes for breakfast, hotdogs and salt and vinegar chips for lunch, and french fries and hamburgers for dinner. My boy does not have fancy taste.  Overall it was a pleasant day, although eating all those french fries made me feel a little unwell.

Saturday, 4/18/20

We had two consecutive Zoom gatherings (sign of the times), so I needed to make a dinner that could sit for a while. We had stovetop macaroni and cheese (from SE), made with pepper jack cheese, and with buttered panko on the side.  We had asparagus on the side (just steamed, at Jason's request). For dessert I had made a big pan of cinnamon rolls from a NYT recipe that I have used before. I may have eaten more than one. Good thing I have plenty of time to exercise these days.

Friday, 4/17/20

Weird mix: Sloppy Joes (from Pioneer Woman, cut back the sugar and ketchup; added sriracha and a little cider vinegar), baked potatoes, and grilled zucchini and onions with spicy fish sauce sauce. It seems like all I make these days are comfort foods, but here we are. Anyway, the people loved the Sloppy Joes (naturally).

Thursday, 4/16/20

In a panic at BJ's we bought an enormous bag of frozen ravioli. It was occupying a lot of precious freezer space, so I cooked up the bag and we had that for dinner. I also made some broccoli rabe for Jason and me, and regular broccoli for Carter. However, Carter said his broccoli tasted off, and I had to agree. Jason said it was fine but I don't trust his palate. So Carter tried the rabe and kind of liked it. I was very surprised, as it is so bitter. Better than weird broccoli though, I guess.

Wednesday, 4-15-20

I don't know what I was reading, (Twitter, maybe?) but someone was looking for what to do with cabbage, and someone else suggested sauteeing it and serving with egg noodles. It sounded like such a delicious combination that I had to try it (when did I become a cabbage-lover??). So I sauteed onions and cabbage slowly until they were both soft and sweet, and tossed them with the egg noodles and some butter. It was all I hoped. We also had some kielbasa which was fine.

Tuesday, 4-14-20

Jason requested yeasted waffles, so I mixed those up in the morning, and we had them for dinner along with some bacon and the last of some fancy pineapple I picked up,

Monday, 4/13/20

In contrast to last night's very light seeming meal, tonight I made a batch of fire chicken (from Maangchi's blog), along with some quick kimchi (same source). Packed with fermented chile paste, garlic, ginger, soy sauce and Korean pepper flakes (plus, oh yeah, a pound of mozzarella) this is a real flavor bomb. The melty cheese really makes it hard to stop eating, though. Carter demurred (he tried it the last two times and wasn't a fan; too spicy and funky) and had some ravioli instead.

Sunday, 4/12/20

Seared tuna steaks, rice (regular; I am out of sushi rice and not making a special trip out for it), and a smashed cucumber salad. Very light and pretty:

Saturday, 4/11/20

Jason wanted another round of Pizza Sliders. OK. These were slightly better than the last batch: less garlic butter, lighter on the sauce, more pepperoni. I may have also baked them a bit longer and lower. Some relatively plain green beans to go with.

Friday, 4/10/20

Just leftovers, since the fridge was getting pretty full (especially after our big expedition to the grocery stores. What a strange experience. Stocks of certain things are low, like frozen french fries, but prices for some things are way down. And some people still aren't getting that whole 6 feet apart thing).

Thursday, 4/9/20

Oven roasted tofu with black-pepper sauce, noodles, and broccoli. I think the tofu was actually too crunchy, but the sauce and noodles were good. Lots of garlic, lots of ginger. Thawed frozen tofu has a whole other texture that I am still adapting to.

Wednesday, 4/8/20

I made a medium sized batch of kushari, substituting kidney beans for the impossible-to-find lentils. Who knew people would be hoarding lentils? But having an Instant Pot for the beans and a rice cooker made preparing all the various components much easier. I could have maybe doubled the onions, but overall it was very tasty. Carter was dubious, but in the end gave it the thumbs up. After preparing beans, rice, pasta, onions and a spicy tomato sauce, I could not be bothered to come up with a vegetable.
For dessert I made these white chocolate things with pretzels and peanuts. I don't know what they are called, but you melt the white chocolate, stir in the peanuts (or cashews, which would have been good) and pretzels, and plop into little patties. Our Aldi pretzels are not quite salty enough, but that didn't stop me from eating too many.

Tuesday, 4/7/20

Jason made us some nice popovers, and grilled up some bratwurst (not a fan), and I made a smallish batch of Ina Garten's zucchini gratin (grating the zucchini instead of slicing, and using Swiss because that is what we had). I could eat all of the gratin all by myself.

Monday, 4/6/20

I always claim that I serve burritos for Carter's benefit, and it is true that it is one of his favorite dinners. But really, we all like them. Usual toppings, although I was sad not to have any guacamole. Well, we all have to make sacrifices in this difficult time.
Flan for dessert.

Sunday, 4/5/20

Made a batch of chicken curry from SK. Only a couple of tiny changes: she used chicken thighs, but i used boneless breast (and I grilled them after marinating). I added a little heavy cream at the end, too. The effect was more like a chicken tikka masala, but a very good one. I also made some naan and sauteed cabbage (and rice). A batch of Instant Pot rice pudding for dessert.

Saturday, 4/4/20

Jason had a vision of pita with chicken nuggets instead of falafel. OK, what the hell. So he made some pita, I made hummus, and heated up some chicken nuggets from Aldi that are actually fairly decent. Served with: cucumbers, tomatoes, cilantro, yogurt, feta,  and sambal oelek. Surprisingly good! The nuggets were nice and crunchy, and certainly easier than making falafel.

Friday, 4/3/20

I had originally planed to make homemade ravioli, but as the time approached, I just couldn't be bothered. So I made ricotta gnocchi instead, and served it with some leftover tomato sauce. Jason kindly made a loaf of bread (it was a bit of a rush job, but it turned out well), and I made a batch of caponata. I didn't really use a recipe, just looked at a few to settle on ingredients (eggplant, celery, capers, olives, onions, garlic, chopped tomatoes). I was really happy with the results. For dessert I made a flourless cocoa cookie from the Times. They are nice and chocolaty and chewy, but you have to be careful to not overcook them. I can't believe I can make a successful baked good with no flour OR butter!

Gnocchi! No recipe, just keep adding flour until it feels OK

Thursday, 4/2/20

Nachos. Just regular old beans, cheese and some tomatoes. No leftovers.

Wednesday, 4/1/20

Carter requested popovers, so we had those along with a Caesar salad with grilled chicken. Jason put me in charge of greasing the muffin pan this time, and I was VERY thorough, so there was less swearing. And no leftovers.

Tuesday, 3/31/20

I saw a recipe in the Times for "French Onion Grilled Cheese" and the picture was so pretty. So I had Jason make up a loaf of bread and started caramelizing onions. I made a carrot soup to go with it (gathering inspiration from a couple of different SK recipes), with crispy chick peas and a tahini-garlic-yogurt swirl.
Anyway, the grilled cheese was good, but Carter didn't love the onions. And honestly, nobody really likes carrot soup (but it was fine! And it used up a lot of carrots). Any old grilled cheese on homemade crusty bread can't really fail.

Monday, 3/30/20

We finally gathered up our reserves of bravery and headed out to do a big shop. Since Jason was convinced by his physics colleagues that mask wearing was a good idea, he made us a couple and insisted that we wear them. Let me tell you, that takes all the fun out of grocery shopping.
Anyhow, he also came across some crazy recipe on the Internet for some kind of pizza sliders. You buy a whole package of dinner rolls, slice them horizontally, fill with cheese, sauce and pepperoni, brush with WAY too much garlic butter and bake. Of course they were delicious, in a guilty sort of way. Like buffalo chicken dip. I made a bunch of broccoli to go with it.