Friday, 10/30/20

 A Carter work night seemed like a good time to try out a NYT recipe of pasta with brussels sprouts, toasted chick peas,capers and parmesan. That basically describes the whole dish.  I took the advice of commenters and was liberal with the parm and the lemon. Glad I sliced all those brussels sprouts in the morning as that was the most time consuming part. I liked this well enough, but it wasn't exactly groundbreaking, flavor-wise.

Thursday, 10/29/20

 Jason made us a loaf of bread, and he and I had that with caponata (goodbye, farm share eggplant, tomatoes and peppers), cheese, and butter. Also a little thinly sliced fresh garlic....so good  with bread and salted butter. Worth the lingering garlic breath.

Wednesday, 10/28/20

 I made a big batch of chick pea curry in the morning, with potatoes, spinach, cauliflower, carrots and some more of the broccolini (new farm share coming Thursday; need to empty that crisper). Carter thought it needed chicken; I thought it was great, and besides, it's nice to be accidentally vegan once in a while. For dessert, the boy requested rice pudding, so I busted out the Instant Pot again and made a batch (the same old Melissa Clark recipe). Cozy, for the cooler days.

Tuesday, 10/27/20

 Leftovers of the tater tot casserole. They actually heated up better than the original, which surprised me. I added some steamed broccolini to mine (plus Frank's Red Hot), to brighten it up a bit.

Monday, 10/26/20

 Leftover blintzes (from the freezer; they were taking up too much room) and roasted acorn squash. The blintzes heated up really well in a 375 oven on a buttered Silpat. So much easier and cleaner than sauteeing.

Sunday, 10/25/20

 I made a giant casserole from a new  cookbook: "Hot Cheese: Over 50 Gooey, Oozy, Melty Recipes". Who could resist that?  Anyway, it was a glorified hot dish; a creamy ground beef base with a tater tot lid and some sharp cheddar. You make your own bechamel, but it is otherwise pretty straighforward. Jason claimed to like it, but he had lots of ideas for improvement, like cooking the tots separately and adding them near the end of cooking, so they would stay crispy. I think that wasn't really the idea, but OK. Not sure I would bother making this again, as it is huge and not super flavorful. 

Saturday, 10/24/20

 Dinner with Jen and John. We enjoyed cocktails by their new fire pit, and a nice dinner of a squash & wild rice casserole (with dried cranberries and a kind of ginger orange vinaigrette. Jen found the recipe at Food52 and I might have to try it myself). Jason made bread and I made two kinds of cookies: jam thumbprints and chocolate thumbprints, both recipes I have made before. The chocolate ones are from Martha Stewart and are good enough to make me forget that chocolate is not my favorite cookie flavor.

Friday, 10/23/20

 Happy wedding day to Corrina and Zac!  It was a lovely evening, and the food (from Blue Heron) was delicious....pulled pork, short ribs, mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts, macaroni and cheese, coleslaw and cornbread. So good. Cupcakes for dessert. Small and sweet.

Thursday, 10/22/20

 Tortilla soup, made from leftover chicken and homemade stock. No real recipe. For me, it's all about the garnishes: avocado, queso fresco, limes, salsa verde. I threw in a can of hominy since I was out of black beans. They added a nice extra corn flavor.

Wednesday, 10/21/20

 Dinner with Jason's parents: burrito bowls (or actual burritos) from Bueno y Sano. Surprisingly delicious! We bought a Snickerdoodle bundt cake that was definitely a keeper. A simple cake with a later of cinnamon sugar running through the middle. How was I to know that they also had a tiramisu? We bravely ate both.

Tuesday, 10/20/20

 Tofu sauteed with ginger, scallions, garlic and tofu, broccolini. Made a sauce with soy sauce (light & dark), a little brown sugar, some oyster sauce, rice vinegar and a hefty spoonful of chili crisp. Then, since it was overly saucy, I tossed  noodles with butter, soy sauce and a bit of sriracha in the hot wok. I could have eaten just the noodles, honestly, but the whole thing was good. A dish I make often that is always the same and always a little different.

Monday, 10/19/20

 As Arlo Guthrie would say, we had another Thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat. That is to say, leftovers. Still pretty good, except for green bean casserole which doesn't retain its crispy topping.

Sunday, 10/18/20

 I had been meaning to roast a chicken for a while, and since I had time, I also made mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole stuffing (Aldi's from a box, but I added my own carrots, celery and onions. Actually not bad) and bade Jason make his beloved dinner rolls (which he only somewhat begrudgingly did). So, early Thanksgiving! Carter was delighted which is good because there is a lot left over. The only sad part was dessert: I had a made a pumpkin pie the day before (tried a recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction this time), but as I was taking it out of the over it slipped off the baking sheet and went splat! all over the floor. Made a giant mess (as it turned out, it was a bit underdone still), but luckily my pie dish didn't break. I salvaged a little of the outer crust to eat by itself---I had also tried a pie crust recipe from Sally's and it turned out really well----super flaky. So then I was even sadder. The bright spot was that the recipe makes so much filling that I filled 3 custard cups and baked those (with no dropping). So at  least we had a pumpkin dessert.

I was also very pleased with my mashed potatoes and gravy, but that is bittersweet since they make me think of my mom.

Saturday, 10/17/20

 I  wanted to make a Big Lasagna, from a recipe from Sameen Nosrat at the NYT. well, we  made a big lasagna, anyway. I didn't use her sauce recipe, ditched the bechamel, added mushrooms, used a different fresh pasta recipe....Anyway, if was still pretty good, except that I should have made more tomato sauce, and I am not sure that using fresh pasta sheets is worth it. They aren't so hard to make, but under all that cheese and everything, they just got lost. It was a fun project, at least.

Friday, 10/16/20

 Jason made a loaf of his bread, I made one of my standby tomato soups (from Martha Stewart; spicy! with red onion, cilantro stems and jalapeno), plus we have some fancy cheese that Jason very sweetly bought for me (St. Angel. Very creamy. It was a nice, soft, only somewhat funky cheese). Dessert was Ben & Jerry's, also an unexpected surprise from my boy Jason. I had made a chocolate skillet cake (from Serious Eats; totally delicious and I don't really even love chocolate cake) but Jason can't handle chocolate in the evening because we are old.

Thursday, 10/15/20

 Jason and I ate the leftover empanadas, the leftover cheesy rice cakes, plus I made a salad. Empanadas re-heated nicely; I served the rice cakes (really, they are cylinders) with some tomato sauce and they were like very chewy mozzarella sticks.

Wednesday, 10/14/20

Since we didn't go grocery shopping this week, I had no real dinner plan (although plenty of food). Decided on the walk home to make some Aldi potstickers from the freezer, rice, and cabbage sauteed with leeks, garlic and peppers. Not bad for such an off the cuff meal.

Tuesday, 10/13/20

 We didn't do justice to the pizza on Sunday, so leftovers tonight. I made another batch of those Bravetart Oreos; slice and bake this time. Much easier.

Monday, 10/12/20

 I wanted to make these empanadas from Serious Eats, but I realized that my masa had a funky, rancid smell, so that wasn't going to pan out. So I made the filling anyway, and used a wrapping recipe from Smitten Kitchen instead. Bonus: these weren't fried so that was easier. Jason helped me stuff them, and they turned out really well! The only change I made to the filling recipe was to add some chopped green olives (to Carter's chagrin). Served with the leftover spaghetti squash that I sauteed with a little garlic, plus salsa verde.

Sunday, 10/11/20

 Jason made us four pizzas: fresh tomato & mozz, goat cheese, spinach, feta and sun-dried tomato; salami, pickled jalapenos and provolone; and goat cheese with caramelized onions. They were all great (esp. the fresh mozz), but I had a late-ish, enormous lunch with Corrina (Bombay Royale), plus I burned the roof of my mouth on a samosa, so I couldn't do the pizza justice. but that means we'll have plenty of leftovers for another night.

Saturday, 10/10/20

I spent the day doing all kinds of cooking: grilled vegetables, roasted cauliflower, made some salsa verde, a batch of coleslaw for Jason, cooked my beets, made a batch of Oreo cookies from Bravetart (just the wafers, though, not the filling. Jason ate almost half of them in one sitting). Plus cinnamon rolls from the NYT (I have made them before; stuck to the recipe pretty closely). I may have done more stuff, but I can't even remember.

Anyway, for dinner I made that Korean rice cake/grilled cheese again (Tteokbokki) , plus a spaghetti squah (east to cook in the Instant Pot). I think I actually browned the cheese too much, which I didn't think was a thing. Still tasted good, just a little chewy.

Friday, 10/9/20

  Zucchini grilled cheese, from SK. Just grated sharp cheddar, grated squeezed zucchini and a loaf of bread from Jason. It was nice, but not as good as I was picturing in my head. Very rich.  The leftover filling was good just grilled in a nonstick pan (the cheese got all brown and tasty). Also had some of the (probably) last-of-the-season heirloom tomatoes from the farm share.

Thursday, 10/8/20

Pasta with broccoli rabe, garlic and olive oil (from Smitten Kitchen). The only thing I changed was to add some ricotta cheese at the end. Served with sliced tomatoes (that actually added a nice sweetness/acidity to the pasta. Very quick and easy; a good choice for a night when Carter is working. Bitter greens can be a hard sell.

Wednesday, 10/7/20

 I pulled some chili from the freezer, made a double batch of Jiffy cornbread, grated some cheese and called it dinner. I had some beet greens in mine (for health). Quick and good.

Tuesday, 10/6/20

 Pierogies (from Aldi; nothing special but fine), kielbasa, and baked zucchini-cheddar fritters. I was honestly only there for the zucchini. But I need to remember (this is the third or fourth time I have made them?) that they are actually too cheesy as written (even though that doesn't seem like a thing). Anyway, they were delicious. I ate a very small piece of kielbasa and snuck the rest off my plate. Don't see the appeal.

Monday, 10/5/20

 Quick Monday night dinner of ground pork sauteed with garlic, ginger, scallions and greens. Sauce with hoisin, soy, chili flake and a little sesame oil, all over rice. Easy and delicious and no leftovers.

Sunday, 1/04/20

 Took advantage of being home most of the day to make something I knew Carter would like, popcorn chicken. Brined the chicken in milk for most of the day, and then double-dipped the pieces in flour and pulled out the old fryolator. Of course they were delicious. How bad can little pieces of fried chicken be? I tossed some of them in buffalo sauce and that was my favorite part. Mashed potatoes were only OK; I was in a rush and they could have used more everything. But those purple potatoes from the farm certainly do look pretty. Plus broccoli. Jason also made a batch of fried dough, since we were frying anyway. we all hate to give him credit, but it was delicious. He really nailed it this time.

ps Carter loved the chicken.

Saturday, 10/3/20

 When I saw a recipe in the Times for a pasta inspired by eggplant caponata, I thought it was right up my alley. Unfortunately, it didn't have that sweet/sour taste, plus I always forget that I find eggplant in pasta dished overly heavy and blah. It's too bad, especially since we went to the trouble of making homemade pasta. I tried a new recipe (from 100 Cookbooks, I think) that had the advantage of using only two whole eggs, instead the the 2 eggs and 4 yolks in my usual Serious Eats one. It worked out well, except I would add a bit more flour, as the noodles were quite sticky. But the point is, homemade noodles are so nice, we should eat them with just butter or something. Will I ever learn?

I made a second round of butterscotch pie from TASTE: I doubled the filling, subbed in half brown sugar and dialed back the molasses a tiny bit. The flavors are now great, but it wasn't as creamy and smooth as I might like. Maybe less cornstarch and another egg? I also may have overcooked the filling a little. In any event, we happily ate it.

Friday, 10/2/20

 We just cobbled dinner together out of various leftovers. I wasn't planning on Carter being home, but he had a sniffle and Amherst didn't want him. 

Not exciting.

Thursday, 10/1/20

 Jason made bagels, so I upped the ante and made cream cheese (thanks, SK!). Actually super easy: exactly the same as making fresh ricotta, but you thrown is in the food processor after it is done draining. I added scallions and green olives. I can't honestly say that it is that much better than store bought (unless you are worried about stabilizers and/or preservatives) but it is simple enough, milk is cheap, and you can flavor it however you like. We also had salads and acorn squash. The vegetable drawers are literally overflowing. If I could ever design my own fridge, it would have more room for cheese and vegetables. Maybe I just need a bigger refrigerator?

Wednesday, 9/30/20

 Dinner (pizza) with Jason's parents. I made Smitten Kitchen's peanut butter cookies, because they are always good. They were.