Saturday, 11/28/20

 Jason and I had a busy day with home projects (why did I wait 15 years to install a towel rack and toilet paper holder in my bathroom? Who knows), so dinner was on the late side. I just made macaroni and cheese (from Smitten Kitchen who channeled Martha Stewart). This is a pretty reliable version of the classic baked style, which is Carter's favorite. Broccoli alongside to cut the richness. My only sorrow was that the only pasta in the house was penne whereas I prefer shells.

Friday, 11/27/20

 I had planned to make samosas, but never got around to it. Instead we had Mozzarella in Carrozza; aka grilled cheese. Made with mozzarella and cheap white bread, dipped in egg and bread crumbs and grilled. A little bland on their own, but I served them with some slow roasted tomatoes and that added a lot. I was surprised that Carter really liked them, but then again it was a lot like a mozzarella stick. Served with some leftover green bean casserole (I love it the first time, but it just doesn't reheat that well).

Thursday, 11/26/20

 Happy Thanksgiving! We delivered bread to Jason's parents and sister, and then pies (pumpkin and pecan) to Corrina, Zac and my dad. We ended up not eating until about 6 or so, then we had so. much. food. Enough for twice as many people: meatballs (from the freezer), IKEA gravy, mashed potatoes, roasted honeynut squash (with butter and brown sugar), green bean casserole (I eschewed the canned soup this time and made the version from SK instead, except I used the canned fried onions. It was good! And not really much harder to make), a corn pudding (also from SK; I think I was the only real fan), stuffing (made by Jodi's family), cranberry sauce from Beverly, Jason's Should-be-Famous dinner rolls, and the two aforementioned pies. I didn't do a great job with my crusts, but the pies themselves were nice. Pumpkin from David Lebovitz, pecan from SK (subbed in maple syrup for the Golden Syrup). I admit that I kind of missed the turkey, but it was still a great meal and a fun evening. Carter trounced us at Monopoly, so he was happy.

He even let us take his picture!

                                     

Wednesday, 11/25/20

 Once while at Aldi, Jason and I were really hungry and bought too much frozen pizza. So tonight we had the three meat rising crust (not bad; the sauce was a little sweet) and a white pizza with a cheddar-broccoli crust (?). That one was definitely only meh. Note to self: be careful when shopping hungry. I don't even really like frozen pizza.

Tuesday, 11/24/20

 Taco Tuesday...well, actually burrito, although I did find one lonesome taco shell up in the cupboard and ate it.  Nothing too radical, but we all liked it (even though I slightly scorched the bottom of my Mexican rice since I was in a hurry).

Monday, 11/23/20

 Jason wanted pancakes for dinner. My thoughts on breakfast for dinner are well known. I don't even want breakfast for breakfast. Anyway, they were fine. I had banana in mine for a little excitement. The boys had bacon.

Sunday, 11/22/20

 Big batch of chicken and sausage gumbo. I mostly followed a recipe from Serious Eats, but then cooked it in the Instant Pot. Lots and lots of chopping. It turned out really well, although since I had neither okra nor sassafras it didn't get as thick as I would have liked. Also a little greasy, but I was able to skim most of that off. Anyhow, I was gratified that Carter really loved it. Served with rice and some of the leftover focaccia.

Saturday, 11/21/20

 Chopped salad, more or less from Smitten. With the provolone and the salami, I wouldn't exactly call it a nice light salad (more of a bowl of cold cut grinder), but it is delicious. I also made a focaccia to go with it. I used the recipe from a book I own called "Hot Bread Kitchen". I have apparently made that recipe before because there was a bookmark at the spot? Worked perfectly, in any event, and was a good accompaniment.I was just feeling giddy that I got away with making bread, right under Jason's nose.

Friday, 11/20/20

 Jason and I just ate leftover pizza, since there was so much.

Thursday, 11/19/20

 Jason made pizzas; we had two regulars (one cheese, one pepperoni + some leftover caramelized onions) and two debuts. One was ham & pineapple, which Jason was very excited for (I was surprised that I liked it more than I thought I would. The Aldi ham is really quite good). The other was a taco pizza, with ground beef (that I cooked up with onions, garlic and taco seasoning, which is trashy and delicious), cheddar, olives, jalapenos, and chopped tomatoes with green chilis. I don't know why we never made that one before; it was obvious going to be good, especially with a tiny bit of sour cream.

Wednesday, 11/18/20

 A big pot of lentils and rice. Made the lentils in the IP, with garlic, onions, ginger, coriander, cumin and turmeric. Also roasted cauliflower with pakora seasoning. Carter was underwhelmed, but I thought they were good. Certainly smelled up the house.

Tuesday, 11/17/20

 Grilled chicken sandwiches, with caramelized onions,  mayo (Jason and Carter), pepperoncinis  (Jason and me), and provolone. Jason insisted that he wanted to make the rolls, and he finally wore me down. They weren't quite what I wanted (a little chewy and too narrow), but they weren't bad. Especially since he refused to look at any recipes (stubborn brat). Leftover squash and some Fritos.

Monday, 11/16/20

 Sushi bowl, with all the fun stuff: tuna, avocados, surimi, some fried shallots, mango, various condiments.  The whole island was filled with bowls, but somehow managed to eat it all. I even got Carter to handle making his own. So brave.

Sunday, 11/15/20

 I wanted to use up the ham from last week, so I made biscuits for dinner. Ironically, I didn't use the ham (saving it for a future pizza) and used some cute little ham slices we picked up instead. I discovered half of a cooked butternut squash in the fridge (oops), and cubed that up, sauteed it in butter and glazed it with a little brown sugar and maple syrup. That, plus some cheese and jam, was dinner. I do make a fine biscuit, even without real buttermilk.

Saturday, 11/14/20

 I was casting about for a way to use up some ricotta, so I had Jason make a loaf of bread, and we had ricotta with honey and crushed red peppers. Plus some manchego and the last of the caponata. Dessert was leftover Snickerdoodle cake from my dad's birthday. Second time making this and I think it was even tastier than the first. I cut back the white sugar in the batter by a quarter cup (a shocking move from me!) and it wasn't missed. I was thrilled that my dad really liked it. Happy 74th!

Friday, 11/13/20

 Nothing too interesting....tofu, rice, cabbage. The sauce for the tofu varies a little each time, but this time primarily soy sauce, hoisin, sriracha and chili sauce, maybe? Plus garlic, ginger, scallions.

Thursday, 11/12/20

 Threw together a pasta for Jason and myself. Needed to use up mushrooms and spinach, so in they went, with chicken, marsala, stock, a little cream and some parm. Predictably tasty (see: cream and parmesan).

Wednesday, 11/11/20

 Corrina, Carter and I had the day off, so we did a cool, but long & challenging, hike:

Brother and sister on the Seven Sisters

So I was glad that we were having pizza with Jason's parents. I had made a batch of SK blondies the night before, and I wasn't entirely happy with them. I may not have cooked them quite long enough, and I think I don't love butterscotch chips (greasy and artificial tasting), so it was partly my fault. They were better after being refrigerated, but I still didn't love them. Oh well. The pizza was good.

Tuesday, 11/10/20

 Leftovers. That is all.

Monday, 11/9/20

 Jason's beloved Pizza Sliders. They turned out better than usual, though I can't pinpoint why. Maybe it was using less sauce? Maybe it was the base layer of provolone? Anyhow, slightly gross yet tasty, as expected. 

Sunday, 11/8/20

 Scalloped potatoes, ham and some vegetable medley from Aldi that I found in the freezer. I am always trying new scalloped potato recipes, looking for my platonic ideal. This one, from Food52, has caramelized onions, which was an excellent addition, but the sauce broke and it was a little underseasoned. Those things were both my fault, though: I added too much cheese, and I subbed in some half & half for the called-for heavy cream. I think a bechamel based (or Mornay) recipe is going to give me more of the results I want. Anyhow, creamy, oniony potatoes are never truly bad.

Saturday, 11/7/20

 Dinner was a celebratory bottle of Prosecco and a wild rice/butternut squash casserole. It was one from Food 52 that we made at Jen and John's a few weeks ago. I added gruyere cheese, but otherwise followed the recipe pretty closely. It made a LOT, so it's lucky that it's good at room temperature for work lunches.

Dessert was a maple custard pie in an oatmeal cookie crust. How irresistible does that sound?? It was from the NYT, and I took the advice from commenters and added a couple of extra tablespoons of butter to the crust. Even so, I found it a little too dry and there was too much of it. I will make it again (the maple custard was amazing), but cut back on the oats by a cup.

Friday, 11/6/20

 Grilled pizza at Jen and John's. Jason and John adapted their fire pit for pizza cooking. After one trial (half burnt), the rest turned out really well! Two with cheese, one with onions, pine nut and goat cheese. Fun and delicious. For dessert, I brought cupcakes (at Jason's insistence; from a box) with a frosting from Sally's Baking Addiction. It was OK, even though I tried my best to mess it up: accidentally used twice as much butter as called for, and then kept adding more and more powdered sugar...then it broke, of course. Anyway, I finally made it basically usable and piped it on so at least they looked cute. After all that, I was prepared for disaster, but they were actually not bad. Go figure. Why I chose that recipe is a mystery anyway, since I don't like American buttercream and I get really annoyed with things that describe themselves as "caramel" when they are really just brown sugar and melted butter....

Anyway, it was a lovely night:

Thursday, 11/5/20

 Jason made some pita bread, so I made a batch if hummus to go with it (painstakingly peeling all those chickpeas. Does it really make a difference? I hope so), plus a little cucumber salad. I also pulled out the caponata. Felt like a refreshing summer dinner (which is apt because summer weather abruptly returned today). To make up for all those vegetables, I made a flan for dessert that we really put quite an amazing dent in.

Wednesday, 11/4/20

 Butter chicken in the Instant Pot (from Ministry of Curry); a little too saucy but not bad. Skipped the tomato sauce altogether, added more spices (and butter); served with basmati rice and roasted cauliflower. Nothing groundbreaking.

Tuesday, 11/3/20

 Spaghetti and meatballs, done old style, in the slow cooker. The Instant Pot can be tricky with tomato stuff. Anyway, I always love meatballs, so that was good. Last of the season tomato-mozzarella salad to go with it.

Monday, 11/2/20

 Busy day at work, so I was glad to just have leftovers for dinner. Curry, calzones and pulled pork gone. Time to do some more cooking.

Sunday, 11/1/20

 Pulled pork sandwiches (pork shoulder in the Instant Pot, seasoned with onions, bourbon, Liquid Smoke and the small amount of Texas Pete green pepper sauce) on semi-fancy buns, with a salad (broccoli for Carter). It was fine, but nothing special. At least I cooked it long enough this time (75 minutes, 15 minutes natural release). 

Saturday, 10/31/20

 Jason seemed like he really wanted to be involved with dinner, so I suggested mini calzones. I am normally only somewhat of a fan, but these turned out unusually well! I don't know if the filling (a whatever we had in the fridge mixture of ricotta, mozzarella, peppers, onions, spinach, garlic and salami) was extra tasty, or if it was brushing them with a little butter and a splrinkle of salt before baking. Anyway, very good, and we froze half for another night. 

For desssert I made a rum cake (from Food52) that I have made a couple of times before.It involves a box of cake mix and a box of vanilla pudding mix (weird); what makes it tasty is the rum glaze and the coating of toasty nuts on the outside. My box mix called for a cup of oil; I subbed in a cup of melted butter and I think it was a little on the dry side? Plus, i can still taste that  cake mix-y taste that I don't love. Anyway, we still put away quite a bit.