Friday, 1/29/21

 Jason wanted to make his little pizza cups again. He is obsessed. So one batch had kielbasa, potato, onion and cheese, and the other one was taco-style. Not bad, although he perhaps pre-cooked them a little too long, as they were perhaps too crunchy. I like them well enough, but will be glad when he gets this out of his system.

Thursday, 1/28/21

 Broccoli cheddar quiche, made with Carter in mind (so no funky cheeses or sharp greens). No real recipe, just glanced at couple to get an idea about proportions of eggs and dairy. Jason made a loaf of bread to go with it. He won't stop making breads.

ps: Carter loved the quiche, so that totally worked.

Wednesday, 1/27/21

 Instant Pot chicken biryani, from The Ministry of Curry website. I followed the recipe quite closely, only using boneless chicken breast instead of drumsticks. Turned out absolutely amazing. Not sure why the chicken doesn't get dry (yogurt marinade, maybe), and how the rice is so perfectly cooked (1/2 hour soaking time?). Served with roasted cauliflower. Great dinner, which is good because it makes a LOT.

Tuesday, 1/26/21

 Yeasted waffles, sausage, salad. I make the batter in the morning and let it rise all day; the resulting waffles are so crispy but light and flavorful. I can eat them plain. The salad was fun because a stop at Trader Joe's meant I had hearts of palm and dried cranberries to pep it up a little.

Monday, 1/25/21

 All that mac & cheese and chili left us with a lot of leftovers. So leftovers it was.

Sunday, 1/24/21

 The same old macaroni and cheese from Martha Stewart (via Smitten Kitchen), but for some reason it seemed like a bigger batch than ever. Unfortunately, Jason got a look at how much cheese goes into this behemoth, and he was a pain in the ass about it. Even though he has happily eaten this a dozen times? And it makes a lot! Carter was happy, anyway. Especially since I let him have leftover green beans instead of the broccoli rabe Jason and I had. He is missing out: the bitterness of the rabe really sets off the richness of the macaroni and cheese. I guess it is a grown-up thing.

Saturday, 1/23/21

 Chili in the instant pot (no recipe), plus greens beans and dinner rolls from Jason. The chili was pretty good, but when there are fresh dinner rolls on the table it is hard not to play favorites.  BTW: 10 minutes high pressure, natural release. Worked fine.

Friday, 1/22/21

 Italian cold cut grinders (salami, provolone, proscuitto, etc). Jason made grinder rolls (he insisted, in fact). Carter was giving them the side-eye, but the sandwiches actually met with his approval.

Thursday, 1/21/21

 Pizza at Jason's parents. I wanted to make carrot cupcakes, but Jason wanted flan. Fine. At least it is easy to make and people seemed to like it. But I'll get my carrot cake eventually.

Wednesday, 1/20/21

Happy Inauguration! We had a 6pm Zoom with Jennie and David, so dinner was a little late: chicken meatballs soup, with orzo and spinach. I followed the recipe from SK pretty closely (although she used ground turkey. i don't think it makes any difference); the only real difference is that I cooked the orzo separately and added it to the bowls. I don't like it when pasta in soup gets all bloated and the soup gets too thick. This was really good---the meatballs are excellent (and so cute!). Would love to make it again with a homemade chicken stock, and I would add more greens. Jason made us some little bagel thingies...not quite mini bagels; they are more crescent roll shaped. Also cute. I guess that was our theme.

Tuesday, 1/19/21

 Loong day at work, so dinner wasn't exactly imaginative:  tofu, broccoli, rice (and that spicy-sweet old stand-by, Cravings sauce). Quick to make and happy boys.

Monday, 1/18/21

 A day off meant that I had time to make jap chae for dinner. It comes together pretty quickly, but there was lots of chopping. I used the recipe from Maangchi (except for shitake mushrooms which I didn't have/don't like). So good! Glad I splurged on a little hangar steak. It really added a nice flavor/texture.

Sunday, 1/17/21

 Finally hauled a large pork shoulder out of the freezer and made bo ssam. Did condiments (bo ssam sauce and ginger-scallion sauce) in the morning, so it was just a matter of letting it cook all day. It makes a lot, but it came out really well! Everyone was a fan. Used the recipe from the Times; the only small change I made was to add a little cider vinegar to the finishing brown sugar rub, as suggested by a recipe commenter. It really did help it adhere better, so I will use that trick again.

Saturday, 1/16/21

 We had a lot of leftover potato filling from the samosas last week, so I had Jason make aloo paratha from a recipe at Serious eats. They were fine, kind of heavy. I don't know if it was the recipe or the execution, since Jason refuses to really follow a recipe...

I also made chicken korma, which was delicious (once I retrieved all the cardamom pods, whole cloves and bay leaves). Dessert was caramel pots de creme, from "Classic Home Desserts". would have been better had they cooked a little longer.

Friday, 1/15/21

 A very simple dinner of bread (Jason's raisin walnut) with ricotta cheese and a little salad. I honestly don't remember a thing more about ti.

Thursday, 1/14/21

 Black bean and sweet potato tacos with homemade corn tortillas. This seemed like a simple dinner, but between making the tortillas (Jason's job), cooking the beans, roasting the sweet potatoes, chopping cabbage and making guacamole and rice, it ended up being a fair amount of work. I wasn't even sure they would taste good. Plus, I was fairly confident Carter wouldn't be a fan.

Luckily, they were really good! Even little Mister Fussy ate three. And i even felt vaguely healthy. Yay for a dinner we all like, that Jason feels like he contributed to.

Wednesday, 1/13/21

 Just leftover gumbo and bread. Plus I made a double batch of SK blueberry muffins, but as a cake. In retrospect, I like them better as muffins

Tuesday, 1/12/21

 Jason happened upon something called a "Skirt Burger" and was inspired to make them. Burgers with extra cheese that gets melty and crispy? Sure! Sadly, this first foray did not produce the desired results. They were certainly cheesy, but not melty enough and certainly not crispy. The burgers were tasty, and we had fancy brioche buns (so Carter was happy), but overall I did not feel great about eating that much cheese (plus potato chips). At least there was a spinach salad?

I will let him try again (in the distant future!), with some modifications.

Monday, 1/11/21

Part of my Sunday cooking marathon was making an enormous pot of gumbo (again). Once again, I used the recipe from Serious Eats, then finished it up in the Instant Pot (about 15 minutes).  Since I was irritated with myself  for not giving more specific directions: I sauteed the sausage, then the chicken,  in the IP. Then the vegetables, then threw everything back in, including the roux, which I made separately. The one thing I am not happy with is that the roux seemingly separates, leaving a hefty layer of oil on top (in both cases, I skimmed it off, but what a waste!). I did read somewhere that heating up the stock keeps that from happening.....I probably will not be making gumbo again anytime soon, but if I do: Lace, add the stock directly to the roux, then add that to your meat and vegetables, OK?

Sunday, 1/10/21

 Couldn't decide whether to make potstickers or samosas so I went with both. For the potstickers, I followed the filling recipe from my dumpling cookbook, and I used the samosa recipe from an old Saveur recipe online. Made too much samosa filling (and somehow forgot the method for filling them, so they looked more like little hamantaschen), and not enough pork filling. Whoops. I also made mint-cilantro chutney, tamarind-date chutney, and Chinese broccoli that I stir-fried with butter, soy sauce, lemon and chili crisp.

The dumplings are good, and for once didn't stick. The samosas taste good (I baked them for about 20 minutes in a 400 oven instead of frying) but look ridiculous. I used the leftover dumpling wrappers to make a quick dessert: I sweetened some ricotta with powdered sugar, cinnamon, and orange peel, and made little sweet dumplings that I fried. It made a big mess and Jason grumbled. I don't know why he insists on cleaning the stove so often and then getting upset when it gets dirty again. Anyway, they are fine but not awesome. I was hoping for a cannoli-like thing, but the dumpling wrappers don't have quite the right texture.

Saturday, 1/9/21

 A late day invitation to hang out at the fire pit at 60 North meant that our dinner plans got tabled. Jason made up some pita, we grabbed a container of jalapeno-artichoke spread from Aldi (note: if they ever have it again, buy it all) and headed over. That ended up being diner, along with a flan that we ate when we got home. Embarrassing. But tasty.

Friday, 1/8/21

 We had sausage, egg & cheese muffins, which I would not call my favorite dinner, but I do applaud Jason for taking up the mantle of learning to make hollandaise. It was an unusual method (from Serious Eats, where else), but it did the job! They did not have immersion blenders at the ready back in my day, not would I have dreamed of using unclarified butter, but who can argue with results?

Thursday, 1/7/21

 Pizza at Jason's parents house (which felt a little weird). Jason insisted on making chocolate chip cookies. Whatever.

Wednesday, 1/6/21

 Well, it was a hell of a day. Our democracy is in shambles, but the sushi bowls I made for dinner were good! Honestly, they were. Nothing new: tuna, avocado, mango, surimi, cucumber, condiments. It was nice to see Carter so enthused about dinner.

Tuesday, 1/5/21

 Spaghetti with tomato sauce and Italian sausage, made in the slow cooker. Carter inexplicably didn't like it; he said it had a funny taste, even though we only used mild sausage on his account! It maybe did cook a little too long, but he doesn't have to be such a little prima donna. Anyway, Jason and I liked it. I also made brussels sprouts that I tossed in some bacon grease and roasted. Kind of soggy, bleh.

Monday, 1/3/21

 Roasted butternut squash soup, from a Rachael Ray recipe that Jen makes at Thanksgiving. I thought it was too thick and too sweet, so when I eat the leftovers I think I will thin it down with more chicken stock. The best part is the spicy-sweet toasted pecans that go with it. Actually, the best part was that Jason made us dinner rolls. I had made a tiramisu the day before, so it was ready to go and I ate WAY too much of it. Felt gross for the rest of the evening but it was so creamy and good! From a recipe at Bon Appetit that uses a sponge cake instead of ladyfingers (https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/del-postos-tiramisu). Definitely worth making again; the only change I made was to add a bit of Kahlua to the coffee soaking liquid.

Sunday, 1/2/21

Kielbasa, roasted potatoes (followed the directions at Serious Eats; nice and crunchy), cabbage. Not super exciting, but fine. I just don't understand why people like kielbasa so much? I let the boys have all of it.

Saturday, 1/2/21

 Just a big pot of lentils with coconut milk, served over basmati rice. Roasted cauliflower on the side. I may have cooked the lentils a little too long (they lost any resemblance to their former shape), but the taste was good. I don't think anyone was particularly delighted by dinner, but nobody didn't like it.

Friday, 1/1/21

 Simple one dish dinner: pasta with broccoli pesto, from SK. Honestly, it is more like a creamy broccoli sauce. Anyway, Carter looked at it askance, but once he started eating, he remembered that he liked it. I don't know where I got these mini fusilli, but they are a fun shape, and good at holding on to the sauce.

Thursday, 12/31/20

 It was a wild New Year's Eve! We.....

stayed home, of course. Another appetizer night; this time Carter picked the classic little wieners in BBQ sauce (which I taught him to make himself), I made fried mozzarella (although, in a twist, I actually baked it! I sauteed the panko in a little olive oil before breading, and then did the usual breading steps and baked then on a Silpat in a hot oven. It worked pretty well....I overcooked them a tiny bit but otherwise much easier than pan-frying and pretty much just as tasty), and Jason reprised his pizza cup experiment. This time he went with half true pizza style (cheese, sauce, pepperoni) and half pirogi inspired (potatoes, cheese, caramelized onions). I tried to be encouraging, just on principle, but luckily they are genuinely good. Dessert was a pandoro that we picked up at BJ's for the ludicrously low price of $2.50. I should have bought more.

Glad to see the end of this year.