Thursday, 12/30/21

 Home again. Another Carter favorite for dinner, sushi rolls. Nothing fancy, just surimi, cucumber and pineapple in a few (weird but good).

Wednesday, 12/29/21

 Took an amazing hike through the dunes in the morning; only got a tiny bit lost so that was good! Did not see another soul. Why would anyone come here in the summer?

Anyway, dinner was nachos and we devoured them.

Tuesday, 12/27/21

 Lemony red lentil soup (NYT) and Jason bread. Lots of walking and exploring.

Monday, 12/27/21

 First night of our little Provincetown vacation. I made a lot of stuff at home to keep it simple; tonight was spaghetti with meat sauce (Carter's request) and garlic bread. The kitchen; indeed the whole cottage, is small but well-equipped.

Steps so steep that Carter had to take the upstairs bedroom

Sunday, 12/26/21

 Jason made another round of pizza cups. He gets really into an idea and keeps repeating it until we all want to scream. They were pretty good, though (not sure Carter would agree).

Saturday, 12/25/21

 A much merrier Christmas than last year, even though the weather was dreadful. snacks, games and a jigsaw puzzle, plus a Yankee Swap. Fairly low-key but very enjoyable. Jason made pizza cups that didn't turn out like he expected, but honestly I thought they were better. The only thing missing was chips and dip. Next year. No real dinner.

The puzzle-doers. Smart Corrina kept us to 500 pieces

Friday, 12/24/21

Christmas Eve dinner with the family at Goten. Fun and delicious and thank you dad for dinner!  The only downside is that you can't really talk to everyone at those long and noisy tables. But it is worth it to see Jason and Zac catching those shrimp.

(I just looked back and saw that I had the same exact comments two years ago!)

Thursday, 12/23/21

 I was not planning to get caught without a dinner idea again: ham (used up the last of the ham that has been lurking in the freezer; it tasted fine but the texture was really starting to suffer a bit), biscuits (Sally's Baking Addiction) with pepper jelly and a spinach salad. Finally a dinner I enjoyed! How could you not like a meal with biscuits?

Wednesday, 12/22/21

 I somehow had no plan for dinner, and in my moment of weakness Jason jumped and insisted that we make pancakes. I just wanted to order a pizza. I VERY VERY ungraciously made pancakes which were perfectly OK but honestly why can't a tired working woman just order a @#$%&^% pizza once in a while? At least we used up the pancake mix so I am off the hook for a while. 

Tuesday, 12/21/21

 Lentils (from Made in India; turmeric everywhere), rice, cabbage. We  got a ridiculous cabbage weeks ago, and finally used it all up. It felt like an accomplishment for sure. Again, not so exciting, but better than tofu I guess.

Monday, 12/20/21

 Tofu with broccoli and noodles. It was okay, but not my best work. A little soggy tasting to me. Eh, I couldn't get excited about tofu for dinner anyway.

Sunday, 12/19/21

 Went to Jay and Jodi's for a quick dinner. They made a (really excellent) lentil soup; we brought a loaf of bread and some of the Crap Day cookies. I was kind of tired, so we tapped out early, but it was still nice.

Saturday, 12/18/21

 Crap Day! Corrina and I made penuche and regular fudge; luckily I made the penuche  the day before, because cooking down such a large batch took literally hours. Worth all the stirring, though. Jason made grilled cheeses for lunch, and we stuck around for dinner (along with Laurie): a Blue Apron that was a lentil and cauliflower salad with soft-boiled eggs. We added extra eggs and cauliflower and it was really tasty. Long, long day.

Friday, 12/17/21

 Jason and I had quite a large lunch at Tom's, so we were not super hungry. I had made some turkey soup with the last bit of turkey scraps (and some nice rich stock); I threw in some egg noodles and that was pretty much dinner. I had also at some point during the day made a batch of cinnamon rolls (usual recipe from the NYT) so we had those, too.

Thursday, 12/16/21

 Jason night: bagels with cream cheese and smoked salmon, plus some pineapple. I had a late, large lunch so I was only able to eat one, but it was good (and quick, which was good cause Carter and I were out getting his booster shot).

Wednesday, 12/15/21

 A Jason request: tots with cheese and gravy. Leftover green beans for health. We bought a nice big sheet pan a couple of weeks ago, and it worked perfectly in that the tots don't get crowded. Yes, we went to a restaurant supply store and bought a professional sheet pan to improve our tater tot game.

But hey, it worked!

Tuesday, 12 14/21

 Rice and bean bowls: black beans in the pressure cooker, rice with a little Goya seasoning, and taco-y condiments: avocado, jalapenos, cheese, salsa, etc...

Calling it a bowl makes it more fun.

Monday, 12/13/21

 Finally, a 100% successful dinner: ditalini (so cute and fun to eat!) with regular old meat sauce that for some reason was extra good. Garlicky green beans to go with. Carter hoovered it right up and I don't blame him.

Sunday, 12/12/21

 French toast, made with some of the challah from the freezer. Meh. I cut the slices too thick and maybe I should have soaked each one longer or maybe they were a little overcooked or maybe I just do not love breakfast for dinner? Anyway, we also had sausage links, which were good. And some pears, I think?

Saturday, 12/11/21

 Butter chicken in the Instant Pot, adapted from The Ministry of Curry recipe. I can't pinpoint what I did differently (more spices? less cream?) but it was particularly flavorful and tender. Served over basmati rice; unimaginative cauliflower on the side, and Jason made naan. Kind of. This was one of those times when I really wished he would deign to follow a recipe, but it was fine. I had meant to make samosas, too, but the day got away from me.

Friday, 12/10/21

 Leftover pizza and a pretty good antipasto-style salad. Surprisingly unambitious, considering that we spent the afternoon watching "Julie & Julia'.

Thursday, 12/9/21

 Grilled cheese (there was a loaf of Jason bread taking up a lot of real estate in the freezer) and some of our fancy pears. We mixed it up a bit, adding pesto to one and pepper jam to another. I do love a pepper jam and always look for an excuse to eat it.

Wednesday, 12/8/21

 It was a Jason pizza day. Four pies: plain cheese, spinach/feta, pepperoni/provolone, and taco. The crust was a particularly good texture, and he wasn't as manic as usual, so that was nice.

Tuesday, 12/7/21

 Half-assed turkey divan over rice. Mushrooms, peas, turkey....just a way to use up some of the giant batch of turkey stock. It was OK, but there is something in the taste of leftover roasted poultry that I don't love. I also wished I had used egg noodles instead of rice. The boys liked it well enough. Roasted brussels sprouts to go with it.

Monday, 12/6/21

 Jason's parents kindly sent us a gift tower for Hanukkah, so we busted that out and noshed for dinner. Luckily, there were cheese and crackers, mixed nuts and some excellent pears so it wasn't just candy for dinner. Actually, the candy was the least successful component. But a really ripe pear is a treat, for sure.

Good job, Costco!

Sunday, 12/5/21

 HCR in the morning meant late lunch at the Brewery which meant Jason and I weren't really hungry. So I gave Carter leftovers, I made myself a tiny turkey sandwich on a roll, and pecan pie all around. Then early bed.

Saturday, 12/4/21

 The return of Thanksgiving, my sort of annual tradition. Didn't mess with the menu much: green bean casserole (from SK, but French's onions all the way), sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, gravy, turkey (dry brined to limited success), canned cranberry sauce ,doctored up box stuffing (it is growing on me) and of course Jason's dinner rolls (always my favorite part). I had notes: the green beans were too mushy; I used too much milk in the mashed potatoes, and I thought the turkey was a bit dry. Carter and Jason were happy, though. Maybe letdown is inevitable after all the work?

Also a pecan pie (another SK recipe; as usual I used maple syrup instead of Golden Syrup or Karo) which was excellent.

That looks terrible

Friday, 12/3/21

 We had an exciting afternoon exploring Agawam and West Springfield, including a stop at a Russian grocery store. The prepared foods we picked up from there made up our dinner: a couple of blintzes (drier and sweeter than ours), a chicken burek (meh) and a eggplant-sweet pepper salad that was the surprise star. I could have eaten a giant bowl of it. Lots of other tempting looking salads there so I think we need to go back.

Thursday, 12/2/21

 Jason wanted to make churros for dinner for some reason. He is getting very pushy in his retirement. sadly, he had never seen or tasted one so they were like little strings of fried dough? He was VERY put out that I was unimpressed. I mean, whatever it was that he produced was fine, but it wasn't a churro. Anyway, I made a antipasto style salad to go with it, and we had some kielbasa. The good news was that he was also inspired to make yeast donuts, and those were quite good.

Wednesday, 12/1/21

 I glamorously went out for a drink after work, leaving Jason to make stovetop macaroni and cheese from my usual Serious Eats recipe. He couldn't resist tinkering, of course, adding some leftover ramen seasoning to part of it. It wasn't bad, and overall I think he succeeded! Leftover broccoli to go with it.

Tuesday, 11/30/21

 Family favorite sushi bowl. Surimi, cucumber, avocado, etc (didn't have any tuna but it was not a problem). Quick and delicious, if a little bowl intensive.

Monday, 11/29/21

 Smitten's baked chickpeas with pita chips, tahini-yogurt sauce and a little cucumber-tomato salad. I didn't actually bake the chickpeas; I just let them simmer on the stove while I prepped everything else. It was a little too cumin-y and salty, but the various condiments add a lot. carter ate it uncomplainingly even though he didn't love it last time (a fact I did not see fit to remind him of0.

Sunday, 11/28/21

 Fried rice with tofu, zucchini and broccoli 9plus fresh eggs from Jason's farm. They were too enormous to use for baking). I did most of the chopping before work but it was still a surprisingly time consuming meal. All that separate stir-frying. In the end, it was pretty good but needed more soy sauce.