Friday, 12/30/22

 Pizza night at Jay and Jodi's. They came up with a lot of fun toppings: broccoli/onion, pineapple/fake bacon, mushroom/garlic. We made six smallish pies and had almost no leftovers. I am definitely thinking we should add broccoli to our pizza rotation.

Thursday, 12/29/22

 Jason's parents gave us a Channukah present that included a lot of dried fruits, nuts, salami and some dubious cheese. We rounded that out with more cheese and some crackers and called that dinner. News flash: I like dried apricots and dates, don't see the point of dried peaches.

Wednesday, 12/28/22

 Bagels (from the freezer, what else) with cream cheese and smoked salmon. I also roasted up some sweet potato wedges to round things out.

Tuesday, 12/27/22

 When Jason was fixing the freezer the other day I noticed that we had a forgotten bag of leftover falafel up there. Since we already had pita and hummus on hand, it seemed like a great dinner plan. I made mine into a sort of salad and it was a nice quick and tasty dinner. Since I didn't really do much planning for this week, I guess it's good that our freezer is like a Pandora's box of leftovers.

Monday, 12/26/22

 Another cold cold day. Sushi bowl for dinner, with  couple of new additions: edamame and some avocado that I marinated with lime, cilantro and red onion. Otherwise all the usual players. Another Carter favorite so that was nice of me.

Sunday, 12/25/22

 A very unstellar Christmas. It was super cold and Jason was feeling stuffy and grumpy. At least I made a delicious batch of chicken sausage gumbo, using the Serious Eats recipe and my own notes. Bah, humbug.

Saturday, 12/24/22

 A very very nice evening of baby, snacks, games, and presents at Zac and Corrina's. We kept it pretty simple with cheese and crackers, chips, pita and hummus, plus some chocolate chip cookies (that Corrina made more festive with mini M&Ms). An enjoyable Christmas Eve.

Right before the new shoes went into the mouth

Friday, 12/23/22

 Potato pancakes at Jay and Jodi's. We got there a little early and all bolted down some very strong mojitos so everyone was feeling pretty mellow through all that grating and frying. Sadly we now know that one bag of potatoes is NOT ENOUGH. A group this size could have eaten double that. Jason and I brought our cookies from Crap Day. They froze and thawed beautifully so that's good to know,

Thursday, 12/22/22

 Regular pizza. Jason made two: goat cheese and onion (at my request) and one with pepperoni and, oddly enough, some leftover brussels sprouts. It was better than it sounded, luckily. I am still not quite ready for a return of the pan pizza, but these were nice.

Wednesday, 12/21/22

 Jason and I had a long day going to Stamford and back. The good news is that we got one last lunch at Hope Pizza; the bad news is that we didn't know they are only doing take-out. So it was lunch in the back of the car! We ordered a large pizza and a Greek salad, but upon finding that we had somehow eaten the whole pizza, we saved the salad and that was dinner.

Pour one out for Bubbe

Tuesday, 12/20/22

 Jason wanted to make crab rangoon for some reason, so why not? We also made pork and cabbage dumplings. A lot of frying! I admit I was loath to try the rangoons because the cream cheese is super off-putting to me, but I was surprised to find that they are actually pretty good. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised because fried=tasty.

Monday, 12/19/22

 Spaghetti and meatballs, courtesy of Aldi. Well, I made the sauce, Aldi made the little meatballs. While I didn't like them quite as much as homemade, they were certainly good enough and so, so easy. We also had some brussels sprouts from the air fryer. Some of them tasted a little too cabbagy-y for me, but Jason (of course) ate them uncomplainingly.

Sunday, 12/18/22

 Our freezer is (AGAIN) utterly overstuffed. In an effort to start using up stuff, we had potatoes patties with cheese and gravy. Shameless. Also had salad, though so at least there was roughage.

Saturday, 12/17/22

 Crap Day in the morning meant I sort of snacked all day and we didn't really have dinner, just more snacks. This makes for some very tasty foods but is oddly unsatisfying.

Friday, 12/16/22

 Carter was here working on physics, so we drove him back to campus and had dinner at Berkshire. High point was some stirfried noodles and a sort of maple pudding. Low point was I accidentally grabbed some lamb.

Thursday, 12/15/22

 Leftover stromboli and leftover cake. Too, too filling.

Wednesday, 12/14/22

 Jason made us buy another giant ham (why???) and I got home from work a bit early so I made some biscuits and some cooked carrots to go with it. For some reason Jason didn't want glazed carrots (it was quite a kerfuffle) so they were very very plain. Also, I don't really like ham all that much. The biscuits were the bright spot. Thank you Sally's Baking Addiction!

Tuesday, 12/13/22

 Not technically leftovers, but leftover adjacent: Jason used up all the leftover calzone fillings to make an ersatz stromboli. Not so radically different from the calzone, but pleasant enough. I am growing weary of the whole pizza related family. How I long for a fresh vegetable.

Monday, 12/12/22

 Yes, more leftovers. We are up to the calzone.

Sunday, 12/11/22

 Leftovers: rye bread and baked ziti (now mercifully gone, except for the giant portion in the freezer). I had also made a box yellow cake with boring American buttercream (basically at Jason's request). I feel like I am being baking deprived! I was trying to be efficient so threw the cake in the oven along with some tomatoes I was roasting....it gave cake the cake an oddly steamed texture (but luckily not a tomato-y taste).

One more night of leftovers!

Saturday, 12/10/22

 After an afternoon of homework with his dad, we swapped Carter a ride back to his dorm for being swiped into the dining hall. We are learning not to stuff ourselves, so that's a plus. I had chana masala and some really good Korean noodles with beef and black beans. Jason ate primarily french fries.

Friday, 12/9/22

 Poor Roxanne has COVID and couldn't go to the town holiday party, so in what can only be a dream come true for Jason, he got to go instead. A buffet at Ginger Garden with a bunch of people he doesn't know?? Heaven!

Anyway, the food was good, and I maybe won a prize? But I gave it to Roxanne. The pre-gaming at home before the whole thing probably increased our enjoyment.

Thursday, 12/8/22

 I graciously allowed Jason to make calzone, even though we are still swimming in leftovers. We made them pretty small, with a bunch of mix and match fillings: spinach, ricotta, mushrooms, onions, pepperoni, sausage and roasted red peppers. This was honestly more effort than I wanted to put in after a week of work, but it went pretty quickly. They aren't classically pretty, but they do taste good (except for the ones that are too spinachy. Bleh).

Wednesday, 12/7/22

 Leftover biryani, plus we shared a toasted bialy. Toasting + butter made Jason warm up to them a bit.

Tuesday, 12/6/22

 I had made a giant pan of baked ziti (well, cavatappi) the previous evening, and Jason made us a loaf of bread. The pasta could have used more sauce and salt, but it was fine. We are NEVER going to run out of various leftovers. It seems like every time we get a handle on things I go crazy and cook too much again.

Monday, 12/5/22

Tofu, and some egg rolls from the freezer. I thoughtlessly hogged the taco-style ones, leaving Jason with the inferior rice noodle version. The tofu was blah; it needed more roasting time but I felt like Jason was in a hurry. A merely serviceable dinner.

Sunday, 12/4/22

 Hot Chocolate Run! This meant a big lunch at the Brewery (nachos and chicken fingers, as is Corrina's and my tradition) and no real dinner. Jason had some popcorn and I had a little leftover biryani. It was a super fun event, though!

Ramona was very interested in the Brewery!

Saturday, 12/3/22

 Chicken biryani, from Indian Instant Pot. Delicious (again) but makes so, so much. A really ridiculous amount. I also made a batch of bialys (from SK), but Jason was not satisfied. Since I don't think I have ever had one from a bakery, I am not sure what was missing. Maybe he doesn't know either...

Then dessert at Jay and Jodi's: we had ice cream sundaes and I brought a batch of peanut butter sauce. It was from Spruce Eats---so easy and a big hit! I knew Jodi would like it.

Friday, 12/2/22

 Dinner and haircuts in Whately....pizza and baklava from Holiday. And more time with this little nugget:

Thursday, 12/1/22

 Nothing much to say about pizza night, except that I think I have convinced Jason to try calzone next week. Stay tuned! Not even any interesing desserts because we are trying to use up one of our many boxes of Biscoff cookies.

Wednesday, 11/30/22

 Potato patties (in lieu of tater tots) with cheese and gravy. At least we had a batch of cauliflower to go with it. The air fryer is the perfect appliance for a single serving of roasted vegetables, as it turns out.

Tuesday, 11/29/22

 In another freezer mishap, what I thought was stuffed shells turned out to be macaroni and cheese. Oops. Oh well, it didn't really make that big a difference, dinner-wise. We also had the roasted carrot-sweet potato blend (so that bag won't trick anyone else again!).

Monday, 11/28/22

 Just leftover pizza, although I did make a batch of SK butterscotch pudding, so there was something to be excited about. The more batches of butterscotch pudding I make, the more I realize that what I really crave is the smooth taste of the kind in little cans of my youth. But it did use up the milk that Jason was fretting about.

Sunday, 11/27/22

 Dinner was suppsed to be a bag of this Aldi potato-green bean-mushroom blend, sauteed with halloumi cheese. But sadly what I thought was the potatoes was actually a bag of roasted carrots and sweet potatoes....very disappointing. So I improvised dinner with a bag of tiny pork and chive dumplings that I stir-fried with garlic, ginger and half a bag of spinach. Served over rice, it was not bad. Still sad about those potatoes, though. They are surprisingly good.

Saturday, 11/26/22

 Belated pizza night. It was a very good example of the genre, but I am getting ready for some changes. Maybe new toppings next week.

Friday, 11/25/22

 The return of Thanksgiving, which is to say, leftovers at Jay and Jodi's. Diminishing returns in both taste and fun but not bad.

Thursday, 11/24/22

 Thanksgiving at Jay and Jodi's. Pretty fun! The food was the usual mixed bag: the turkey that Jay grilled was excellent, and Jason cleverly re-heated the latkes on the stovetop which was a vast improvement. I eschewed the corn and the kale salad and the stuffing. The good news for me is that my gravy was a big hit! I have a feeling I will be required to make it henceforth. Unfortunately Carter was still feeling pretty crappy, but he rallied a bit.

Wednesday, 11/23/22

 I had frozen some grilled eggplant at the end of the season, so I pulled those out and made a repeat of involtini. Well, I am not sure was happened (the freezing process? Late season eggplant?)  but I found it inedibly bitter. I was so mad and disappointed! Jason agreed that it was bitter, but ate it anyway. I was not so forgiving and just filled up on bread and butter. I think Carter just had macaroni and cheese. I almost never make something really gross so it was a sad day for me and a waste of ricotta.

Tuesday, 11/22/22

 Combined picking up Carter with dinner at the dining hall. Turned out to be a good time to go, as most of the students had left (no lines!). Being able to eat free there is certainly a nice perk of having the boy at UMass.

Monday, 11/21/22

 Just leftovers. They do have a way of building up.

Sunday, 11/20/22

Smitten Kitchen won't stop bragging about her garlic-spinach pasta, so I finally made it. You roast whole garlic in butter, and then blend the whole mess (well, minus the skins of course) with a bag of spinach and some pasta water. Very garlicky, and a pretty green color to boot. I used angel hair pasta at her suggestion, and while it was not a bad choice, I think I would prefer a small shell or something. But Jason loves angel hair and rarely gets it, so it was a bonus for him.  I can definitely seeing this going into rotation; I like her suggestion of using broccoli, too. I am just hoping Jason never finds out about the whole stick of butter.

Saturday, 11/19/22

 It is unclear to me why I thought that tofu nuggets with sweet and sour dipping sauce was something that I needed to make. It is meant to replicate chicken nuggets and if that is what we wanted I would just make them. AND it created quite a mess and that sent Jason into a tizzy. I think he would like it if I somehow just cooked everything outside. The dipping sauce was nice enough, after I added more soy sauce and some sambal oekek, and the tofu was: fried tofu. I made fried rice to go with it (more mess!!). Overall, more trouble than it was worth (I am looking at you, Jason!)

Oh! And I made the buffalo dip as an appetizer. Very, very rich. It also takes nearly a half bottle of Frank's Red-Hot to get the desired zing. I think you could easily dial back the cream cheese by at least a third ( I mostly follwed a recipe from Bon Appetit because the less "fancy" recipes called for ranch or bleu cheese dressing, neither of which I was willing to buy).

Friday, 11/18/22

 In a clear instance of the tail wagging the dog, we had a rotisserie chicken in order to have buffalo chicken dip at some later point. I also (for Jason) made cheesy tater tots. Jason accompanied his stuff with kimchi; I went with the more quotidien BBQ sauce. Sadly, my last batch of salsa verde sat too long and got fizzy (and not in a good way) so that was not a viable condiment. But at least I made a salad to offset tots for dinner!

Thursday, 11/17/22

 Pizza night. I thought this round was a little doughy in the cener (and Jason agreed). Maybe we should alternate the pan pizza with a thinner crust? Although from Jason's point of view, the pan pizza is so much easier.  Clearly I am getting a bit disenchanted.

Wedesday, 11/16/22

 Sushi bowls with tuna and mango. This was tasty, as usual, although I thought that the tuna was a little unpleasantly chewy.

Tuesday, 11/15/22

 This SK kale salad with cheese crisps, almonds and apples sounded so good! But there is just no getting around the fact that I do not care for raw kale. Maybe had I dressed it when I was home for lunch it would have wilted more? Or maybe just subbing in spinach would work? Anyway, it was a fair amount of components for something that was just OK. We also had some crab cakes from Aldi. They were about as could as you would expect for the $3 that we spent on them. Pro tip: if you want good crab cakes, make your own.

Monday, 11/14/22

 Happy Birthday to my dad! To celebrate we brought pizza over to Whately and Liz got 2 (!) Atkins cakes. It was really nice having a longer visit with everyone. Sadly, Jason bored the baby to sleep:

Sunday, 11/13/22

 I was really looking forward to the potato-cheddar soup from the NYT, only to be a bit underwhelmed. The accompanying pickled jalapenos were too citrusy and the soup has an odd flavor (I blame the chili powder and would suggest using smoked paprika instead). We also had some roasted acorn squash and I am feeling pretty good about not letting it rot in the fridge!

Saturday, 11/12/22

Dinner with Jay and Jodi: Jason made bread and Jodi made a baked ziti that was really good. We played games and had a super-fun time. 

Friday, 11/11/22

 Regretfully left the Porches (after eating a ridiculously large breakfast). We did stop in Adams to take a walk, so that was a fun way to end our little trip. Home for pizza (and a return to real life). Jason added the last of the pulled pork which was a surprisingly tasty addition.

Weird grotto thing spotted in Adams. Also, did not know that Susan B. Anthony was from there

Thursday, 11/10/22

 Another room picnic, after a day of walking in North Adams (me) and visiting the Clark AND Mass MoCA. The weather has been perfect and Jason has been cooperative. It's a little eerie, honestly.

Wednesday, 11/9/22

 Mini vacation at the Porches! Trader Joe's supplied us with delicious snacks for an indoor picnic: fancy cheeses, crackers, cookie butter cookies (these are the BEST storebought cookies ever), Marcona almonds...I made a white bean salad and brought an apple so we could feel virtuous. It was nice to be back there after so many years.

They still have that janky old Scrabble set

Tuesday, 11/8/22

 A fettucine Alfredo variation from the NYT. The only real differences are a bunch of spinach and a healthy dollop of chili crisp. Very rich but the chili crisp really gives it a different character. Would repeat (but no recipe really necessary).

Monday, 11/7/22

 Fried rice with broccoli and leftover pulled pork. Pulled pork made for two people is ridiculous and you never run out. But the rice was good.

Sunday, 11/6/22

 Leftover polpetti and squash. Eating this again made me realize I don't think I will repeat it. Ricotta gnocchi are lighter and tastier.

Also, I don't know what went wrong but my baclava is too soggy. Oh well, no one should make three consecutive pans of baclava anyway.

Saturday, 11/5/22

 We had a late-ish lunch (thanks, Corrina!) and therefore weren't all that hungry, but I insisted on making dinner anyway. We had a reprise of a Blue Apron potato-kale hash (let's be clear: it is cheesy homefries with kale to make you feel better about it). We bravely managed to eat some, and some of the latest round of baclava (I know!). The eggs you bake on top were superfluous but I never say no to cheese + potatoes.

The baclava wasn't at it's best, as I think it really needs an overnight rest. Also I may have slightly underbaked it.

Friday, 11/4/22

 Ricotta polpetti, from the NYT...it sounded so intriguing! Meatballs....but with cheese! Not difficult to make: ricotta, parm, egg and breadcrumbs, rolled and poached in tomato sauce. I let the mixture sit in the fridge for a while to make it easier to handle and presumably for the bread crumbs t soak up moisture. These were pretty good, but they are basically stuffed shells with no shell and honestly I would rather have stuffed shells! I am also glad that for once I cut a recipe in half so that the leftovers are manageable.

Also had some butternut squash with maple syrup.

Thursday, 11/3/22

 At my request, Jason made a couple of regular pizzas: one with spinach & feta, one with pepperoni and red peppers. I wouldn't say I am sick of pan pizza, just needed a little change. Nice start to my weekend.

Wednesday, 11/2/22

 Pulled pork tacos, at Jason's excellent suggestion. He made a batch of corn tortillas, and I made some lightly pickled red cabbage. salsa verde and queso fresco to round it our. Really good!

Tuesday, 11/1/22

 Roasted tofu with ersatz Goten-style noodles with cabbage. Honestly I would be happy eating noodles every day.

Monday, 10/31/22

 Just leftovers, as things are piling up again.

Sunday, 10/30/22

 Pulled pork sandwiches (did the pork in the slow cooker; nothing exciting there), along with some brussels sprouts that Jason cooked for us in the air fryer. Turns out it is the ideal medium for brussels sprouts. Faster than roasting, not as messy as sautéing. I feel like we aren't making the most of the air fryer....maybe that can be an upcoming project.

Saturday, 10/29/22

 Unexpected lunch in Carter's dining hall meant that we were not super hungry for dinner. So Jason had ramen and I had some leftovers; then a game night at Jay and Jodi's and then home for some baklava I had made. Yes, we are on our second batch of baclava. I can't help it if it is delicious.

Friday, 10/28/22

 Finally felt ready to make the chicken, broccoli and pasta. Did an "Alfredo" in the Instant pot, which worked well (although I still had to cook the broccoli separately). This is undeniably tasty, but also feels like something a somewhat picky child would enjoy. I feel like we, as empty nesters, should be eating more daring flavors!

I also made another baclava and it is fabulous.

Thursday, 10/27/22

 We had this fancy Aldi pizza up in the freezer for a while, so we decided to forgo the usual pizza night and had that instead. I remembered liking the pepperoni and hot honey with a pretzel crust before, but either my memory was faulty, or this one was not as good? Either way, not our best pizza night. I didn't even enjoy our pre-dinner snacks because those beer potato chips are kind of nasty. Thanks a lot, Aldi!

Wednesday, 10/26/22

 I was planning to do something with chicken, broccoli and pasta, but for some reason it didn't appeal. So instead (at Jason's suggestion) I cooked some of the chicken with a little Goya seasoning and made nachos instead. With a salad, it was a pretty satisfying meal. Plus guacamole because I forgot I had avocados.

Tuesday, 10/25/22

 Another meal from "I Dream of Dinner", this one not quite as successful. Doesn't "green beans and farro with gochujang butter" sound good? It did to me; then as I was reading it I thought the execution was weird...but I followed the recipe anyway. I would not have cooked the green beans and farro together; I wouldn't have added the vinegar/gochujang mix at the beginning, and I would not have called it "gochujang butter" when in fact thet were separate components added at different times. Anyway, it was fine (but better as leftovers with the addition of feta and some pickled red onions).

Monday, 10/24/22

 Jessica and I met some of her old friends at the Northampton Brewery. All we had was some nachos but we weren't super hungry anyway. Then we went by the house and had some bread and pie. I demoed caramel making but Jessica still seemed dubious about her chances of success.

Sunday, 10/23/22

 Dinner at Blue Heron!

• french fries
• ricotta toast (my favorite)
• wild mushroom salad (needed more dressing)
• scallops with lentils
• chicken with polenta
• roasted olives
• roasted broccoli (too crunchy!)
• pear tart (delicious!)
• cheese board

They were doing a booming business there. Jason behaved himself pretty well but of course I was left wondering why I brought him anyway. He hates fancy restaurants! Jessica and I enjoyed it.

Saturday, 10/22/22

 In honor of Jessica visiting, Jason made pizza (while Jessica and I snacked on chips and sipped Aviations). Then apple pie for dessert (it was only fine. A little dry and the crust wasn't too crispy after a day in the fridge).

Friday, 10/21/22

Carter graciously allowed us to come eat at the Dining Hall. He had not yet tried Berkshire (it's the farthest from his dorm) and was pleasantly surprised at how good it is. I ate:

Sushi

Some pasta and meatballs

A little artichoke salad

Potato Curry

Butter chicken (excellent)

Mini samosas

Some oatmilk soft serve with Butterfingers

and some kind of chewy oat bars that were delicious. Reminiscent of British flapjacks.

Then we just rolled on home.

Thursday, 10/20/22

Pizza?

Wednesday, 10/19/22

Just regular old stuffed shells, with a spinach-ricotta filling. Tasted good, but I wished I had used some tomato paste in my sauce to make it thicker/richer tasting. And now we have tons of leftovers again. Maybe I should start figuring out how to cook for two. 

Tuesday, 10/18/22

Another meal from "I Dream of Dinner"; another rice dish, this time with lots of spinach and herbs in it (I used chard and sorrel, since that's what we had), with broiled feta. There was supposed to be quick picked radishes, but I didn't have any so I did red onions instead and it was a good choice. The fancy feta I picked up was really worth it. This feels very adaptable and I wouldn't need to look at the recipe next time.

Still going on the baklava but we are making an embarrassingly large dent in it. 

Monday, 10/17/22

 We are swimming in eggs, so I made a big batch of egg salad for Jason and a few deviled eggs for myself. We had that with some grilled eggplant (from the weekend), leftover bread and ham (for Jason, anyway). Still have three dozen eggs, though. Nothing like not feeding a teenage boy every day to reduce egg consumption.

Sunday, 10/16/22

 I brought home a cookbook called "I Dream of Dinner (So you don't have to) and was immediately inspired to make several things, including, oddly enough, this recipe for tempeh and rice. I don't like tempeh as a rule, but her description was so alluring that I decided to give it a try. You sear tempeh (I added a bunch of chard) and make a quick sauce with maple syrup, turmeric, rice vinegar and pepper. Served over rice. While I still don't love the texture of tempeh this was pretty good! Carter was home getting some math help and he was grateful that he didn't have to eat it.

Saturday, 10/15/22

 When I asked Jason to find something for me in the freezer a few days ago, he reported that there was a "big piece of meat with some some of seasoning packet" back there. I guessed that it was a corned beef brisket that I had forgotten about, told him to throw it in the fridge, and planned accordingly. Well, when I looked this morning, it was NOT a brisket; it was the last of an enormous ham still hanging around up there. So, change of plans. Ham and macaroni and cheese. The mac & cheese was the Martha Stewart recipe and it makes so, so much. Even after freezing a third, we had tons of leftovers (I threw a couple of heads of broccoli in there, which made it even bigger). Jason felt compelled to comment on how it is made; I hate it when he watches me cook and this is why. Anyway, it is delicious, especially with the broccoli (I can take or leave ham).

Dessert was the baklava I make yesterday and it is really good. I saved the recipe to my NYT account and would definitely make it again. The only change I made was to add a tiny bit of rosewater to the syrup. 

Friday, 10/14/22

 Dinner with Jay and Jodi (pasta and sauce, salad). Jason made bread, and I made a double batch of cinnamon crunch popcorn from the NYT, since I knew Jodi would like it. I also spent some time in the afternoon grilling eggplant and making a giant baklava.

Thursday, 10/13/22

Thursday=Pan Pizza. The big shake-up was that we daringly added some wild mushrooms that Jason's farm pals had foraged (and assured us were not poison even though they strongly resembled a poisonous variety). Spoiler: they were not poisonous! And very tasty, to boot. The were called brick caps and it was almost a shame to waste them on a pizza. Now Jason seems very gung-ho about mushroom foraging, which could certainly add some excitement to dinner.

Wednesday, 10/12/22

 Cabbage soup from Monday, which was nice, but all I really wanted was the dinner rolls that Jason made at my request. They really are the best.

Tuesday, 10/11/22

 I looked into the fridge, saw all those leftovers (pizza, rice and beans, pasta) and jettisoned the planned macaroni and cheese. So it was a leftover buffet.

Monday, 10/10/22

 Used the day off to make (NYT) cinnamon rolls (good even though I forogt the egg in the dough), make a pot of cabbage soup, grill a bunch of eggplant and make a batch of coleslaw for Jason. Oh, plus a big batch of pasta with broccoli rabe for our lunch. Dinner was rice and beans (black beans in the Instant Pot), burrito bowl style. Plenty of avocado, salsa verde, tomatoes and cheese. 

Sunday, 10/9/22

Pizza and cake with Jason's family at Jay and Jodi's.  Carter even graced us with his presence! Pre-gaming was (as usual) the key to a successful evening.

Saturday, 10/8/22

 Biy Y was having a sale on burgers from their butcher, so we splurged on a couple of giant ones. I roasted some regular and sweet potatoes from the farm, and also grilled some eggplant. I tossed the eggplant with crushed red pepper, garlic, olive oil and red wine vinegar and it is quite nice. Might be the last of the season but who knows?

Friday, 10/7/22

Farm dinner....no lobster this time but there was lasagna and it was pretty great. Maybe better than lobster. Jason made a loaf of bread and there were lots of good salads and appetizers.

Thursday, 10/6/22

 Pizza night! So that I wouldn't forget/get too lazy, I made a salad in the morning. So there was that.

Wednesday, 10/5/22

 I took the undesirable leftover chicken, stripped it of its bacon, chopped it up, and turned it into a creamy sauce with a lot of green beans to serve over rice. Then I crisped up the bacon and served it on the side. Much better! I am a sucker for any creamy chicken dish, though.

Tuesday, 10/4/22

 Cauliflower toasts from the NYT with a loaf of bread that Jason made for us. I realized too late that I had neither the mascarpone nor ricotta that the recipe called for; luckily I had a log of goat cheese that stepped in and worked nicely. Skipped the nutmeg, added diced jalapenos. This doesn't seem like a lot of dinner, but it was terribly rich.

Monday, 10/3/22

Hamburgers, which we haven't had in forever, plus tots and a salad. Obviously, we put cheese on the tots because we are living dangerously.

Sunday, 10/2/22

 Roasted tofu and green beans with chili crisp, from the NYT.  I didn't bother to pan roast the green beans; I just sauteed them with ginger and a little soy sauce. It's weird cooking for just Jason and me: we only needed one block of tofu and a cup of rice. I also took my own suggestion and marinated the tofu longer and with more marinade. Jason made chocolate cookies for dessert.

Saturday, 10/1/22

 i tried to repeat a chicken dish from "Dinner, then Dessert" that I remembered liking  (chicken wrapped in bacon with jalapeno slices, then roasted) but it was not entirely successful. The chicken was quite dry and would really have benefitted from a brine or marinade. Oh well, bacon and jalapenos taste good and maybe I can salvage it in another application. We also had Serious Eats roasted potatoes (this was actually part of my problem: two dishes that needed the oven at two different temperatures. Poor planning). Plus another salad (hooray for the return of lettuce at Jason's farm).

Friday, 9/30/22

 Sadly, we had to eat leftover pizza from LAST week, because it was just languishing too long. So not very exciting, although at least I made a salad this time. That made me feel a little better about myself.

Thursday, 9/29/22

 Pizza night, plus Jason made a sheet cake and I frosted it with some leftover icing from last time. As Jason pointed out, we are like a couple of 7 year olds at a birthday party, eating pizza and cake every week. Just with bourbon instead of Sprite.

Wednesday, 9/28/22

 Bagels with cream cheese, fresh chives and smoked salmon, plus some corn that Jason brought home. We have no idea where it came from, but it was actually really good. Mystery corn...

Tuesday, 9/27/22

 Another new dish! I feel like I am finally getting out of a slump...the cooler weather helps.

Pepperoni-garlic pasta, from the NYT. Sautéed up what seemed like an absurd amount of pepperoni, along with garlic (and in my case, half a bag of spinach) and tomato paste; seasoned with crushed red pepper, lemon zest and fennel seed, finished with parm. This was so flavorful! And the fennel gave it an interesting sweetness. With a pound of pasta, it didn't seem like too much pepperoni at all. The spinach got lost in there---I could have used a whole bag--but overall very satisfactory. Would absolutely make again.

And I almost forgot---Jason pulled out the air fryer and made us some sweet potato fries for an appetizer.

Monday, 9/26/22

 Farro bowls with roasted mushrooms and halloumi, from the NYT. This didn't seem like a recipe one had to follow super strictly, so I added a bunch of spinach to the farro, and served it with salsa verde instead of the olive yogurt, and added some avocado. One of my favorite kinds of meals. 

For dessert I baked the cookie dough I made Saturday (maple-brown sugar with pecans). While Sally said these were some of the best cookies she had ever made, Jason and I were not blown away. They were fine, and the maple glaze was good, but I myself have made many a better cookie. It didn't stop us from eating a lot of them, though.

Sunday, 9/25/22

 When I got home from work Jason was merrily frying up the falafel; unfortunately, the first batch or so completely disintegrated (I had a bad feeling that I should have food-processed it longer), but the rest turned out fine. And the fried crumbs actually made a better topping for the salad (cucumber, cherry tomatoes, the picked turnip and carrots). But now I am back to having leftover falafel in the freezer.

Saturday, 9/24/22

 I spent the morning doing a lot of prep for dinner (marinating a pork tenderloin and making the lime dressing for it) and doing various cooking projects:

-Made a big batch of hot pepper jelly (a bit runny as my pectin somehow went bad?)

-Pickled some turnips

-Made falafel mix for tomorrow's dinner

-Made the tahini dressing (see above)

-Grilled and froze eggplants for later use

-Made a cookie dough (Maple-Pecan from Sally's Baking Addiction) for dessert later in the week

And maybe something else I can't remember. Happily puttered around until after 1, at which point we decided to go for a walk AND go to Costco. Unsurprisingly, this was too ambitious a plan. especially since Costco didn't have what we needed and we ended up going to BJ's, too. So we didn't get home until about 6...I threw the pork into the oven as quickly as I could and prepped the rest of dinner. It was supposed to be served over cellophane noodles but I just went with rice; I also just used whatever vegetables I wanted (carrots, yellow pepper, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and purple cabbage) and so essentially we had rice bowls. The pork loin was the unexpected star...the recipe was from SK and if I ever find myself in possession of another tenderloin I would make it again. The hoisin marinade added a lot of flavor and it wasn't at all dry like I feared it would be.

Friday, 9/23/22

 Dinner with Jen and John....bread from Jason, Smore's cups from me. A recipe I made a lot last summer (from Dinner than Dessert). I noted at the time that there were too many graham crackers but not how much to cut out. Annoying Past Lace! Anyhow, I cut it by a third and still felt it was too much, as the crumbs just fell apart when they were removed from the muffin pans. I am kind of over this dessert but feel compelled to make it again, if only to use up the marshmallows and graham crackers and get the darn proportions right.

Anyhow, dinner was a Blue Apron with skirt steak, mashed potatoes and roasted carrots. Always so good, those Blue Aprons.

Thursday, 9/22/22

 Pan Pizza.... now on Thursday!

Wednesday, 9/21/22

 Leftover pizza, just in time for a new pizza tomorrow night.

Tuesday, 9/20/22

 Bagels and cream cheese. I really have nothing to say about this except for it used up a couple of bagels?Plus at least I made a salad.

Monday, 9/19/22

 Used up some falafel from the freezer and made falafel salad with a tahini dressing, tomatoes, pickled cucumbers, feta and avocado. Quite good! Almost better than a falafel wrap, in fact.

Sunday, 9/18/22

 Eggplant involtini, from Smitten Kitchen (no changes), plus a loaf of bread from Jason. So good! I made it a couple of days earlier, and it held up beautifully. I think I almost like it better than stuffed shells (well, maybe not). And it is good to have yet another eggplant dish in the mix! For dessert I made a mochi butter cake; I had long been fascinated by this---the name sounds so good! However, it is only OK. Since I have never actually tried it, I don't know if  the problem is with my rendition, or the recipe in general. In any event, VERY bouncy. Not gross, just not super-appealing.

Saturday, 9/17/22

 Birthday/Block party for our neighbor Mary. Jason made his flatbread (despite my protests that I should be allowed to make something for once. Admittedly, people like it). Lots of fun food and music, plus a good chance to talk to neighbors I don't usually see.                                                                                                                                

Friday, 9/16/22

 Dinner with Jason's parents at Jodi's. They brought kimchi pancakes which were surprisingly good. Jodi made a salad and we brought a flan, which was well-recieved. A pleasant evening.

Thursday, 9/15/22

 In an exciting twist we had Pan Pizza Night on a Thursday! Jason was worried because we were low on pepperoni; it was still great. Another night where I really should have added a salad, though.

Wednesday, 9/14/22

 Another round of eggplant grinders; this time I added some peperoncines at Jason's suggestion. That, plus a little more sauce made these a little better than the last round. Still, glad to be done for now.

Tuesday, 9/13/22

 Grilled cheese sandwiches with tomatoes; working on a loaf of bread. We are making very little headway in the freezer/fridge reduction plan, somehow.

Monday, 9/12/22

 Another treat that we bought at the Simple Gifts store was a big container of fancy local yogurt and a bag of (similarly fancy & local) granola. So that was our weird dinner (with chips and homemade salsa as an appetizer). It's the same yogurt and granola they serve at the Porches, so it was bittersweet....

Sunday, 9/11/22

 Pulled  a loaf of Jason's bread out of the freezer and had that with the remaining cheese from our picnic. I also made a couple of deviled eggs for myself and egg salad for Jason. As a last minute addition I threw together a pot of curried carrot soup in the Instant Pot before I went to work. The carrot situation was almost as dire as the freezer situation so I was glad to use up a bunch. For dessert Jason made a box mix sheet cake and I made a plain American buttercream for it (thank you, Sally's Baking Addiction for the proportions).  It turned out fine....now Jason can eat sheet cake without ponying up $15 at the store.

Anyway, it was a pretty good dinner, what with all that cheese.

Saturday, 9/10/22

 Jason and I finally used my Simple Gifts gift card---we splurged on lots of fancy cheese and went and had ourselves a picnic. It was a lovely day for it.

Somewhere in Belchertown

For dinner, more freezer items: used some leftover already fried eggplant to make grinders. I was also happy to use up a few red peppers in the fridge that were starting to look a little sketchy. Served with tortilla chips because I had made two batches of salsas (one green, one red) because we also had too many tomatoes. Will it all ever end???

Friday, 9/9/22

 Pizza, with a french fry appetizer. We were suckered into buying a bag of beer-battered frozen fries at Aldi. They were fine, but the beer batter aspect didn't really come through. Pizza was great as always.

Thursday, 9/8/22

 Commencing the freezer cleanout. It isn't exactly zipping along, as Jason made a couple of dozen bagel for some reason. Anyway, reheated egg rolls for dinner. Meh. Jason is right that we should have used some pork and more cabbage and omitted the rice noodles in the filling. We also had some spaghetti squash that Jason cooked in the Instant Pot for me. I served it with butter and parm with was fine but an odd choice to go with the egg rolls.

Wednesday, 9/7/22

 Just leftovers. And more tomatoes.

Tuesday, 9/6/22

 A reprise of salt and pepper pork with rice cakes, only moderately successful. I subbed in ground beef, and while it didn't make a huge difference, ground pork would have been better. Plus I was in a hurry and also working on a dessert, so my stir-frying was a little haphazard. Oh well, chili crisp and extra soy sauce covers a multitude of sins.

But the dessert was good! An "Amish Friendship Bread" from Cook's Country that had been rejiggered enough so that it really just a cinnamon quick bread. Think zucchini bread without all those dumb vegetables. Dusting the pan and the top of the loaf with cinnamon sugar really added a nice crunch. Putting this one in the files!

Monday, 9/5/22

 Finally had time (and a cool enough day) to do some cooking! I made a stuffed eggplant dish, courtesy of auntie Donna. I took a couple of liberties, of course: I was unexpectedly out of black olives, so omitted them. I did add a jalapeno because we have so many, and I was too lazy to actually stuff the eggplants so I just baked the whole thing in a casserole dish. This was SO TASTY! I don't know if it was the nice fresh eggplants and tomatoes, or just my heavy hand with the parmesan, but I really loved it. We served it with a little bit of rice, but bread would be good, too. Always good to have another eggplant recipe in your arsenal.

Sunday, 9/4/22

 Spent the day with Gus and Jen at IKEA (Shake Shack for lunch!!). We kept it simple for dinner: some frozen mini samosas from the freezer that I forgot to cook on my birthday, plus a tomato-feta salad. Our project over the next couple of months is to start using up all that random frozen stuff up there.

Saturday, 9/3/22

 We ended up having a very late lunch with my dad and Liz (Black Cow Burger Bar in Turners. Great food! Will definitely return and hope that they aren't so short staffed next time). So Jason made our deferred pan pizza, but it was all we could do to each eat a slice and then lumber off to bed in a stupor. It was no fault of the pizza, though.

Friday, 9/2/22

 Dinner with Jen. Jason made a loaf of rye, and I made a batch of Smitten chocolate pudding. I wasn't too thrilled with it...Nestle's chocolate chips just don't cut it for me. Snob!

Dinner was a Blue Apron with roasted tofu and curried vegetables. Tasty as always.

Thursday, 9/1/22

So, this happened:

How is he so tall??

I didn't expect the house to feel so weird and empty when we got home! Jason and just ate some leftover bread and caponata. Start of a new era, I guess. Spaghetti pie every night? It's the only thing I can think of off the top of my head that the boy truly hates.

 

Wednesday, 8/31/22

I had a meeting after work, so had tepid pizza (but free! NO complaints here!) there. I guess Carter and Jason just fended for themselves. 

Tuesday, 8/30/22

 When asked for any last dinner requests for before he left home, Carter picked spaghetti (specifically spaghetti! Not some other pasta) with meat sauce. Then he wasn't home for dinner! But then, it isn't like he sits down to chat anyway. He was content to eat his dinner warmed up after Ultimate. Jason and I also had leftover caponata and flatbreads plus tomatoes because Jason brought home MORE tomatoes even though I warned him not to.

Monday, 8/29/22

 Jason and I had a late, large lunch in Brattleboro. Why I just picked a random pizza place for my birthday, I don't know. And then ordered a calzone? Sigh. It wasn't bad at all, I just should have set my sights higher. At least my sundae from Herrell's was A+. It was too hot for the walk we had planned.

So anyway, dinner was a chaat spread, with potatoes, chutney's, chick peas, etc. Something was missing, but I can't put my finger on what. Dessert was a caramel tres leches cake from Costco that I have had my eyes on for a while. It's good, but we all agreed that the tuxedo cake is a little better. But now my curiosity has been satisfied, so that's good!

Sunday, 8/28/22

Carter and I had a a nice hike and lunch out (Taco Bell and Poke, sitting in the car, just how we like it); it was his early birthday present to me. To be clear, I bought lunch; simply spending time with his old mother was the gift. Where did I go wrong with that one?? Corrina is fine!

Anyway, even though Carter did not request tots with cheese (totchos?) for dinner, I knew he would like them. He did, and even ate some tomato on my request. 

Saturday, 8/27/22

I had made a big batch of caponata, because Jason is relentless with the eggplants, so we had that, along with some hummus that I made and fresh pita. Also pickled peppers.Oh, and yet another tomato-mozz salad. I am going to miss summer produce! 

Friday, 8/26/22

 Wine, snacks, pizza, bad movie. Ideal Friday night, although maybe a good movie would be better?

Thursday, 8/25/22

 Corn fritters (Paula Deen recipe: as usual I added a hefty teaspooon of baking powder, and, this time, some diced jalapenos), tomato mozzarella salad, kielbasa. Say what you will about Paula Deen, but those fritters turn out perfectly every time.

Wednesday, 8/24/22

 Another round of flatbreads, and farro with feta, tomatoes, olives, and corn. No recipe, I just kind of thought it up. Farro cooks up nicely in the rice cooker, and is pleasantly nutty and chewy. Carter was only meh on this combo, but he ate it. I bet he is looking forward to all that dining hall bounty at UMass!

Tuesday, 8/23/22

 Open faced provolone and tomato sandwiches., plus some corn. This coudn't be easier, except I was on the porch using our new burner to grill the provolone, and it was a little slow. Also, getting brown, melty cheese off a skillet and onto a slice of bread neatly is not easy! Anyway, a delicious use for peak tomatoes and Jason bread.

Monday, 8/22/22

 Jason's rice and squash dish again. It isn't the most delicious thing in the world, but it is fine and certainly very thrifty. He is proud of himself for thinking it up.

Sunday, 8/21/22

 Eggplant parm, but in the deep fryer! Still a big old pain to bread it all, but the frying is much easier, faster, and less burning. Jason is tickled, because he can take over the frying, AND save his precious stove from use. I also fried up a few cheese sticks for the hell of it. There is a small part of me that would always rather be eating fried cheese.

Saturday, 8/20/22

The delayed pizza (as we say every week, "I think this was the best one so far!". Except that one that was too salty). I also made another batch of peanut butter bars: cut back the graham crackers, don't stint on the peanut butter, and make a ganache instead of just melting chips.

Did I mention that we visited Ramona and her parents?

Entranced by his tiny niece

Friday, 8/19/22

Dinner with Jen and John. Jason made garlicky flatbreads AGAIN (they are delicious), plus we brought tomatoes and corn and watermelon from the farm. Made a Blue Apron with rice , broccoli and chicken with miso. After dinner we were sad to realiz that there was no dessert, so Gus gamely biked to the store for ice cream. Fun evening as always.

Thursday, 8/18/22

 Macaroni and cheese (Serious Eats stovetop recipe), corn, tomatoes. Nice enough. Carter ate his dinner utterly without comment (in his defense, he had just gotten home from Ultimate and was probably starving).

Wednesday, 8/17/22

 Since Carter was at work, I made a batch of chicken buldak for Jason and my enjoyment. It wasn't quite as spicy as I would have liked.....I guess you really can put in an entire 1/2 cup of chili flakes. My kimchi of a few weeks ago was a good add on. I just wish I had made rice to soak up some of the sauce.

Oh, and this happened

Perfect little Ramona Katherine!

Tuesday, 8/16/22

 Ugh, I spent WAY too long making black pepper tofu and eggplant, only to have it be fairly unattractive and only fine. Mistake 1: trying to cook all of the eggplant at once instead of batches. Too mushy as a result.  2. Let Jason see how much butter and soy sauce go into this dish (funny how he always likes my cooking until he sees how it is made. Why did he think it was so tasty??) Anyway, the kitchen and I were both a greasy mess and I need to find a way to keep Jason out of the kitchen. Tough when your downstairs is all one room.

Monday, 8/15/22

 So it turns out that our new hot plate takes a long, long time to boil a big pot of water, so what I thought would be a quick dinner did take a bit longer than I hoped. Oh well. Anyway, pasta with creamy broccoli sauce, plus some fresh tomatoes. Worth the wait.

Sunday, 8/14/22

 Two BBQ's. First, a birthday party for Jason's farm boss, Bill---we were only able to stay for a bit (which is a shame, because everything looked pretty tasty) before we headed to Jay and Jodi's for a family dinner. Burgers plus we brought watermelon and zucchini & eggplant to grill. Jason, if you are reading this: I TOLD you we should have grilled them at home. Doofus. So they weren't what I would have hoped but whatever. Fun to see Jay & Jodi and the boys.

Saturday, 8/13/22

 We had a big lunch (burgers and fries at some random place in West Springfield), so didn't really eat any dinner to speak of. I think I had some tomato-mozzarella salad and watermelon and Jason had some cottage cheese and cantaloupe?

Unmemorable, apparently.

Friday, 8/12/22

 Pizza. That is all.

Thursday, 8/11/22

 Jason had a vision of a rice and squash dish, with cashews. So why not?  we had an acorn squash just sitting there, so we Instant Potted it, cooked up some rice, and gave it a try. Pretty good! We added some shredded parm mixture at the table; I also went with sriracha while Jason added raisins and provolone to his. The cashews were a fancy touch...a good sort of tabula rasa. Carter didn't say what he thought, but he ate it. So that's something. Also more tomatoes.

Wednesday, 8/10/22

 I tried a controversial dish from the NYT, a celery and chicken salad with a wasabi/tahini dressing. Despite all the whiners on the comment session, I did not find this too spicy at all. Who just blithely adds two tablespoons of wasabi to a dish if you don't love spicy food? The only change I made was to grill the chicken rather than poach it. Since Jason was grilling up another delicious flatbread (two, actually, since we devoured the single earlier in the week) it was just easier to have him grill the chicken too. Anyway, this was fun. Probably would not repeat; if I really want a chicken and celery dish I will make that Persian stew. Served with the aforementioned flatbreads and some tomatoes.

Tuesday, 8/9/22

 Aldi finally restocked the frozen tuna, so it was the return of the sushi bowl. I missed avocadoes, but it was otherwise normal: delicious and no leftovers.

Monday, 8/8/22

 The tomatoes from Jason's farm are finally starting to come in (and be actually good), so we had a tomato-mozzarella salad for dinner. I bade Jason  make one of his garlicky flatbreads, and that really stole the show. We ate the whole thing with dispatch. it is so good when it is still warm from the grill. More watermelon and peanut-butter bars.

Sunday, 8/7/22

 A new experiment: a cold noodles salad, from The Department of Salad newsletter. I used Korean sweet potato noodles (fun and bouncy!); the sauce is made with chopped kimchi, gochijang, sesame oil and rice vinegar. Topped with hard boiled oggs and cucumbers. A couple of notes: 8 minutes in the pressure cooker is too long if you are looking for medium cooked boiled eggs. Try 6 minutes. I made my own kimchi, which is fine, but I only made it on Saturday, so it didn't really have time to develop those funky flavors. This was pretty spicy! I drizzled mine with some hoisin which added a nice sweetness.  I also grilled (well, Jason did) some flank steak to go with it. I think I am the only one who really likes flank steak, but it was really flavorful. Jason is just too lazy to chew.

Dessert was some no-bake peanut butter/chocolate bars. Kind of like peanut butter balls but WAY easier. The only thing I might change is making a ganache for the topping instead of straight melted chocolate. Still, no-bake FTW (from a cookbook I checked out called "Celebrate with Babs"). 

Saturday, 8/6/22

  We bravely made pan pizza, in spite of the heat. Another delicious pizza! There should be a betting pool to see how long before we get tired of it. And how will we know? Will we eat a slice, look at each other, and shrug? "Meh. I can take it or leave it". But for now, it is still a thumbs up.

Friday, 8/5/22

An unexpected dinner invitation meant that instead of having our usual pizza night, we went to Jason's farm friends house for lobster. Fancy! It was a big mess, of course. There was also cole slaw, potato salad, tomato-mozzarella salad, bread and pie. Quite the summer feast! Jason made an appetizer of his garlicky flatbread that was well received. I think I prefer a lobster roll, on balance.

Thursday, 8/4/22

 I found a "recipe" for cooking pasta in the Instant Pot. It was not an unbridled success. Burn notice! The bottom layer did burn and stick, but there was plenty that was salvageable (and actually perfectly cooked). More water, I think?

Anyway, I tossed the pasta with some grilled eggplant and peepers I had made on Sunday, plus some tomatoes and parmesan cheese. Jason and I liked it, but Carter categorically refused to try it. He only likes eggplant when it is in eggplant parm, I guess. Anyway, it was good, although I think feta or fresh mozzarella would have been a nice add-on.

Wednesday, 8/3/22

 There were enough leftover components to make Caesar salad again (and Carter was at work), so that's what I did. Looking forward to someday being allowed to use the stove again, although I fear that even when it isn't too hot, Jason will find some other reason why I can't use his precious, clean stove.

Poor Carter just keeps getting random meals (I think tonight was chicken nuggets?). He will be happy to get to college and eat at the dining hall.

Tuesday, 8/2/22

 Since Jason won't let us cook, I reheated some egg rolls from the freezer (well, some were fried spring rolls and some were those taco filling ones) and served that with tomatoes and pickles. I was impatient with the toaster oven, so they weren't as crispy as one might like. Farm watermelons are coming in and they are gorgeous, so dessert was way too much watermelon.

Monday, 8/1/22

 I grilled extra chicken over the weekend in order to have some leftover for grilled checken Caesar salad. Turned out very well except Jason made sauteed breadcrumbs instead of croutons. He is so weird and stubborn sometimes! Anyhow, the dressing was good and it was a quick dinner (that didn't heat up the kitchen).

Sunday, 7/31/22

 Instant Pot pasta Alfredo, which, to be clear, is just very rich macaroni and cheese. Plus Jason made us get more Big Y corn (for the record, it's fine, but I don't understand why we can't go to a farm stand like normal people) and a tomato from the farm. I added extra cream and chicken broth in order to make a full pound of pasta: nice filling leftovers for the teenager.

Saturday, 7/30/22

Grilled chicken sandwiches, plus some watermelon that Jason and I lugged home from the farm. I find seeded watermelon a little frustrating, but they were definitely superior to the Aldi ones I have been getting.

Friday, 7/29/22

Pan pizza, of couse. Better than last week: less salty and a fluffier texture. I wonder when we will get tired of it? What will be the tipping point?

Thursday, 7/28/22

Return of the oppresive heat, so I just made rice in the rice cooker with some Goya seasoning, heat up some black beans and voila: taco bowls. Leftover zucchini, salsa, pickled jalapenos and cheddar rounded out the meal. We all love a customizable meal.

Wednesday, 7/27/22

We have a fridge full of snack-y leftovers, so Jason baked a loaf of bread and we had cheese, hummus, pickles etc. More s'mores for dessert.

Tuesday, 7/26/22

Jason's parents brought over Popeye's which was pretty nice of them (no biscuits, sadly, but Jason was happy with all the french fries). They requested a salad, but we didn't have any lettuce. So we grilled zucchini and onions instead. Carter was civil....heck, even Jason and I were civil!

Monday, 7/25/22

 Jason reluctantly fired up the oven to make his postponed pan pizza. It was as good as ever, though a bit salty. All I can say is that it's good that I eat vegetables at lunch!

Sunday, 7/24/22

 Leftover BBQ, of course. And toaster oven S'Mores for dessert. 

Saturday, 7/23/22

 So, it would have been nice if it wasn't 95 degrees, right? But it wasn't so bad in the shade, with a little breeze. What Corrina and I learned from the catered food: get FAR fewer ribs and double the macaroni and cheese. Everything was tasty, though. So many leftovers! The BJ's cake was better than I though it would be, at least. We could not have done this without all my aunts swooping in!

Looking so cute! Thanks, Donna!

Dinner was steak, baked potatoes, corn, tomatoes and zucchini at Deb & Donna's swanky Airbnb. Jason and I had a super enjoyable evening laughing, talking and playing a silly board game. I am one lucky niece.

ps: note from Corrina: Never throw another party

Friday, 7/22/22

 Busy day shopping and getting ready for Corrina's party! Dinner was at my dad's. The aunts brought tons of tasty appetizers and snacks (plus there was pizza). I am sorry to say that it was too hot to bake so we brought cookies from the store. I was hoping that BJ's would at least have a nice Pepperidge Farm assortment, but alas, no. It's always a fun time when the family is in town!

Thursday, 7/21/22

 Rice and lentils in the rice cooker; I don't like cooking them together like that but Jason does so.... fine. It needed a lot of condiments in my opinion (luckily, we have a LOT of condiments!). I think we also had some grilled summer squash but that might have been Wednesday. Doing everything we could not to heat up the kitchen.

Wednesday, 7/20/22

Still too hot to cook. I knew Jason wouldn't bite on take-out, so I refused to make anything but nachos. And not even fancy ones. Microwave nachos. I can't say I feel good about it, but it (along with a hefty glass of cold white wine) was a pretty satisfying dinner.

Tuesday, 7/19/22

 To make it up to everyone for the blah tofu, I made salisbury steaks with onion gravy, mashed potatoes and salad. Much more enthusiasm. We did the meat on the grill and used the Instant Pot for the potatoes to try not to heat the kitchen up quite so much. 

Monday, 7/18/22

 Really unmemorable tofu, rice & broccoli. The tofu crumbled all up, and the teryaki marinade (from Aldi) that I used was only fine. That's what I get for cheating and using a bottled marinade.

Sunday, 7/17/22

 After a very lazy day, I finally got around to making the postponed pupusas. I didn't make the curtido, but I did serve them with some pickled peppers that I made. I don't know what I did differently from the last time I made them, but they turned out really well! I  put a tiny bit of extra salt in the dough, added some green chiles to the filling, and cooked them nice and slow. Anyway, I was pleased with the results. More work than nachos, but not by a lot.

Saturday, 7/16/22

 Back to Jodi's. This time we had more of a plan: bread from Jason again, a brown sugar cake from me, and Jodi picked up the ingredients for tempeh-onion-pineapple skewers. In retrospect we ought to have marinated everything, but it was still quite good (with various sauces on the side). Tempeh still isn't my favorite but it is pretty unobjectionable.

Friday, 7/15/22

 An unexpected dinner invitation from Jen meant that we took our show on the road and baked our usual pan pizza over there. Jason made some chocolate chip cookies and we stayed out way too late.

Thursday, 7/14/22

 We went over to Jodi's to keep her company. We just has some pasta (with some unknown, but tasty, fake meat); Jason brought some bread and cucumbers.  It was nice out on their deck instead of in our hot little kitchen.

Wednesday, 7/13/22

 I had a late meeting that provided pizza; I think Jason and Carter had spam and ramen? I don't know when Carter last ate a vegetable but he appears pretty robust.

Tuesday, 7/12/22

 Aldi had some smoked knockwurst that Jason liked the look of, so I grilled that, along with some summer squash. Fine. I also made homefries, but I wasn't happy with their lack of crispiness. I blame it on not using the cast iron pan. They tasted pretty good, though, as potatoes and onions basically always will.

Monday, 7/11/22

 There was so much leftover fried stuff. We just threw it in the toaster oven and had it again. Then I felt a bit gross but managed to eat some ice cream anyway.

Sunday, 7/10/22

 For some reason Jason wanted to make egg rolls with unusual fillings? So I made a taco meat and pinto bean mixture and we wrapped those babies up. Ersatz taquitos? Alt-eggrolls? While we had the fryer going we also did up a couple of zucchini and some onion rings. All this took a long time and made a big mess. This is why people just go to TGI Fridays, I guess. There was a ton of food and most of it was cold by the time we sat down. So we'll have the leftovers tomorrow, properly warmed up in the oven.

Saturday, 7/9/22

 Family dinner at Jay and Jodi's. Jason's parents brought Bueno y Sano (I liked my burrito bowl just fine, but Carter and Jason found their choices to be only meh), plus a tuxedo cake from Costco. Pleasant enough evening (especially because of the pre-gaming?).

Friday, 7/8/22

 Yes, it was pizza, and yes, it was delicious. So good that I had a third slice instead of dessert.

Thursday, 7/7/22

 A loaf of bread, some cheese, a salad and deviled eggs (me and Carter) and egg salad (Jason). I make the egg salad but never taste it, so I have no idea how it is. Jason eats it happliy enough, though. More s'mores for dessert.

Wednesday, 7/6/22

 Another weekend project, sloppy joes (basically via Pioneer Woman). I added carrot and celery, but didn't have any bell peppers. I think that they actually add that "sloppy joe"  taste, so I kind of missed them. The usual summertime salad with a basil vinaigrette. Toaster oven s'mores for dessert, using some hot fudge in lieu of the chocolate. Since the fudge is so firm when it is cold, that worked out well. Altogether a very messy meal, though.

Tuesday, 7/5/22

 I made a batch of Instant Pot butter chicken over the weekend, so we had that with basmati rice and cauliflower. I used the Ministry of Curry recipe, but skipped the coconut milk altogether, opting to go the butter/cream route. It was only OK when I tasted it on the day I made it, but benefitted from the sitting and re-heating. Ice cream with hot fudge for dessert.

Monday, 7/4/22

 Nothing says Happy Fourth of July like....another zucchini-ricotta tart. Well, I needed to use up the rest of my homemade ricotta AND it is undeniably delicious. Carter was off playing soccer(?), so he just ate some macaroni and cheese when he got home (of one several things I cooked in the morning, along with sloppy joe mix and butter chicken for the week's meals).

Sunday, 7/3/22

 I finally convinced Jason to go to Bombay Royale only to have it disappoint a little bit. The chaat station is my favorite part and they don't have it anymore, I guess. I need to remember that and just make the effort to assemble my own at home. The upshot is that we were still too full at dinnertime for the (already postponed once) zucchini galette. So Jason had snacks and I had a watermelon salad with feta. We bravely mustered up the appetite for dessert, though (ice cream with hot fudge). I made a different hot fudge sauce from SK, and though she claims it is better than the other one (that I made a couple of weeks ago), I disagree. Her older recipe, with unsweetened chocolate, had a bitter edge that was an improvement, I thought.

Saturday, 7/2/22

 Went to Jay and Jodi's and there was no real dinner. Thankfully, Jason made some garlic flatbread to bring so we didn't starve. I TOLD him it wasn't a dinner invitation! Anyway, we had a fun time playing board games and then went home and ate some of Carter's leftover pizza.

Friday, 7/1/22

 After a very busy day running with Jen, picnicking by a lake, exploring the Savoy area and hiking up to High Ledges, we finally got home in time for Pizza Night. Jason is dismayed that the technique that produces the best results also produces a mess on the bottom of the stove, but it's worth it (well for me, certainly. I don't clean the stove).

Hoosac Tunnel

Thursday, 6/30/22

 Impromptu camping trip with Jen and John! Burgers, sausage, s'mores and maybe a bit too much wine. We stayed in a very cool cabin up in the Savoy State Park. Would definitely do again.

Cozy!

Wednesday, 6/29/22

 I had every intention of making pupusas for dinner; even going so far as to replenish our masa harina. But somehow I just didn't feel up to it. So it was nachos with black beans for dinner, plus a salad. I'll make those pupusas eventually, maybe just not on a weeknight.

Tuesday, 6/28/22

 Curried tomato soup (I pulled out the neglected Instant Pot), grilled cheese. The soup was a bit too spicy, but otherwise a pleasant meal. Nothing remarkable.

Monday, 6/27/22

 For some reason we had two partial cabbages in the crisper, and they were not looking too spry. Also looking sad and a bit wizened? Potatoes. So we picked up some kielbasa, sauteed the cabbage and made homefries. Now I feel better about the contents of the fridge, at least. I hate that guilty feeling when you know there is some sad ingredient that you really need to take care of lurking in there.

I was only in it for the homefries, and they were good. The cabbage was too crunchy for my taste, but Jason will eat the leftovers. He simply doesn't care.

Sunday, 6/26/22

 Carter had requested grilled chicken and pilaf for some reason (I had no idea he liked grilled chicken that much). Anyway, the chicken spent the day in a lemon garlic marinade, and it turned out really well; surprisingly flavorful. I credit Jason with grilling without burning (he is far more patient than I am). Pilaf in the rice cooker turned out fine, and there was, of course, salad. More cookies for dessert.

Saturday, 6/25/22

 We made (honestly) about 170 hamantaschen...rhubarb, apricot and dulce de leche. Nice activity for a super hot summer day.

Dinner was a zucchini galette (adapted slightly from SK); I made my own ricotta because we overbought milk, and Jason had brought home some lovely little zucchini from the farm. I think I could have eaten the whole thing myself. I figured since it had vegetables right on it, we didn't need anything else. 

Friday, 6/24/22

 Pizza and salad, salad and pizza. Jason reverted to his previous baking method (he had been trying something new that he hoped wouldn't make a mess in the oven, but it wasn't worth it). Happy Friday!

Thursday, 6/23/22

 Jason kept pestering me to make falafel for dinner. He brought home a ton of herbs from the farm, and then even went to the store for chick peas, so my hand was forced. OK buddy, falalel on a weeknight it is. I used (basically) a recipe from the NTY. So....soak the chick peas. Make a tahini sauce. Make some raita. Make a batch of pita bread (luckily, Jason did that while I was at work). Chop a million herbs. Blend, taste, Blend, taste. Fry falafels for hours (Jason wanted me to add that he used a combination ice cream scoop/spatula process for shaping that worked very well).  It is a PRODUCTION for a weeknight. I don't think we ate until 7? Anyway, luckily they were quite good! Even grumpy Carter was complimentary. But this is a meal better left for a weekend.

Wednesday, 6/22/22

 Poor planning for the week meant that I was forced to make pancakes for dinner. The good news was it used up a shady looking banana. The bad news is that of course it isn't my favorite. I made myself a small batch of nachos for dessert.

Tuesday, 6/21/22

 Burritos and tostadas. Absolutely nothing new and also everyone enjoyed it.

Monday, 6/20/22

 Another day off meant I had time to cook (again). I was tired of all my usual tofu preparations, so I just roasted it with a little sriracha and salt, cooked up some broccoli and made a peanut sauce. It was good, but better the next day as leftovers.

Sunday, 6/19/22

 Since I had time to actually cook, I made "Popeye's style" fried chicken fingers (brined them in spicy milk for most of the day), plus rice pilaf at Carter's request. Plus a salad, which I am pretty sure only Jason and I ate. I thought the rice was a little bland, but the chicken was a hit. Jasaon wanted to make popovers with ice cream for dessert (so he did). I made hot fudge to go with it, because just popovers and vanilla ice cream sounded a bit blah. He poo-pooed me but I was right. Topped with peanuts it was actually pretty good.

Saturday, 6/18/22

Dinner with Jen, John and a bonus Corrina! Jason made bread, Corrina brought cheese, and I brought a (now ubiquitous) rhubarb pie. We punched up a Blue Apron of stuffed peppers....tasty as always. 

Friday, 6/17/22

 Another Friday, another pan pizza. Jason and I agreed that leftover meat sauce produces the best results. I am also pretty sure we had another rhubarb pie? They just seem to appear....

Thursday, 6/16/22

I honestly had no idea what to make for dinner. How does this happen? Anyway, at some point in the morning I decided that fried rice would fit the bill; we had a lot of broccoli and a lot of eggs.  I alsoused up some dodgy red peppers and unloved frozen peas. Perfectly fine,

Wednesday, 6/15/22

 A dish from the NYT caught my eye: Smashed Zucchini with Chickpeas and Peanuts. This dish has a lot of potential, but needs tweaking. For one thing, I ought to have salted the zucchini more, marinated it longer, used more jalapenos and cut it smaller. Then, cotija cheese brings nothing to the table, flavor-wise. Feta would be better (or grilled halloumi). More lime, more sumac (or za'atar?). Anyway, I would like to try it again with modifications.

I didn't even try to get Carter to eat this; he had leftover pasta. Oh, and Jason made naan on Carter's request.

Tuesday, 6/13/22

  Pasta with meat sauce, plus sautéed summer squash from the farm.

Monday, 6/12/22

We have way too much salami on hand, so used some of it to make grinders (plus provolone, pepperoncini, lettuce, tomato etc). Quick and tasty. I remembered that Carter doesn't like oil and vinegar on his, so he was happy with his mayonnaise.

Sunday, 6/11/22

 Dinner with Jay an Jodi (and Carter!). Jason brought a garlicky flatbread (I thought it would have been better if he had waited to cook it; I think it gets too chewy as it cools but no one listens to me). Then we furtively went home and ate almost half of ANOTHER rhubarb custard pie. Dessert of the summer!

Saturday, 6/11/22

 We moved pan pizza night to Saturday. The verdict was: still delicious; the salami isn't quite as good as pepperoni; and the bottom needed a little more browning. But those are only quibbles.

Friday, 6/10/22

 Graduation! I did not get a single good picture. But here he is in the morning:

I came home from work early and we just had bread & cheese and salad. Congratulations Carter!

Thursday, 6/9/22

 Another Ultimate event? Why, yes! Team dinner at a parent house. Jason made a couple of loaves of bread. It was a beautiful evening and those boys just can't seem to say goodbye. The highlight for me was a really good Greek salad with big slabs of feta, and a peanut noodle dish. I don't really need to talk to any other parents for a while, though.

Wednesday, 6/8/22

 Another dinner that won high praise from Carter: sushi bowl. Quick and tasty, although I was sorrywe didn't have avocadoes. 

Tuesday, 6/7/22

 Quick dinner of ersatz poutine before Carter's Ultimate dessert buffet. How many Ultimate post-season events can there be? Anyway, it was pretty fun. By the time we got to the dessert table it was fairly picked over, but a few tasty things remained.

(I meant to have some vegetables with the fries but it just didn't happen. I ate some strawberries at the thing though, so maybe that counts?)

Monday, 6/6/22

 Carter had Senior Dinner at the high school ("boring but the lasagna was pretty good'), so I made rice and lentils plus cabbage for Jason and myself. It's not that Carter won't eat lentils, they just aren't his favorite. It's weird to think that we won't  be considering his preferences much longer. I wonder how that will effect dinners?

Sunday, 6/5/22

 Stovetop macaroni and cheese, with yet more salad. Not my very best rendition, but I am not sure why. Good enough, however.

Saturday, 6/4/22

 Big Y was having an amazing sale on London broil, so we splurged on steak for dinner. I made a chimichurri style marinade, and did foil wrapped potatoes on the grill, too. It's salad season, so there was the ubiquitious salad as well. Another rhubarb custard pie for dessert.

Friday, 6/3/22

 Friday night pizza. We agreed it wasn't the best one. Maybe because we were light on sauce and added some chopped tomatoes? Maybe the new salami? Maybe it was all the Scotch Jason had? Anyway, it was still good, just a bit lacking.

Thursday, 6/2/22

 ANOTHER Ultimate game wasn't going to stop me from preparing my tofu and broccoli. Nothing exciting: used up some leftover rice noodles (overcooked, unfortunately). Serviceable. I also insisted on making a rhubarb custard pie ( I had prepped the rhubarb and made a crust when I came home for lunch). So good! One of my favorite rhubarb desserts so far. I saved the recipe from The Spruce Eats. Also, I added a bit of almond extract and I think it was a good call.

Wednesday, 6/1/22

 A home game for Carter! So Jason and I quickly ate a ersatz Salade Nicoise (lettuce, cherry tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, pepperoncinis and tuna) with some leftover bread. Then we bought Carter some post-game Big Y sushi.

Tuesday, 5/31/22

 I took the leftover chicken cutlets and plain pasta from the chicken parm and turned them into chicken and nooldes with gravy. Voila, a whole new meal! Plus a salad for Jason and myself....and two leftovers gone.

Monday, 5/30/22

 You know what? This weekend hadn't been tiring enough. So after working on the Whately house a little more, we went to Jen and John's for dinner. Jason made a garlick-y flatbread and some chocolate chip cookie dough; I bought asparagus, and John made cheeseburgers. That plus a mojito (and maybe some rose, too....) took the edge off. 

Sunday, 5/29/22

 Long day at Carter's final tournament, followed by helping Corrina and Zac a bit with moving. Corrina thoughtfully provided pizza (for which I am eternally grateful); Jason went to a farm potluck.

All the proud parents photographing the State Champions!

Saturday, 5/28/22

 Egg rolls (with tofu, cabbage and rice noodle stuffing) and really, that was it. I mean, it did cover all the major food groups? And we had been at Ultimate all day.

Friday, 5/27/22

 Pan Pizza Night!

Now and forever, I guess?

Thursday, 5/26/22

 Finally feeling a bit more ambitious, so I made chicken parmesan. A bit of an effort for a weeknight, but pretty good. Pasta and another lame salad.

Wednesday, 5/25/22

 Jason brought home spring onions and eggs from the farm, so it seemed like a good time to make a frittata. No real recipe....just sauteed up the onions with some spinach and one sad little zucchini. Rice and a big handful of parmesan-romano and: Voila. Dinner.

Tuesday, 5/24/22

 Finally got in around 1; no breakfast, no lunch, no real sleep. So I was feeling amazing. Took a nap and then realized it was back to meal planning. Nachos and a half-assed salad.

Monday, 5/23/22

 Last day, ugh.

Breakfast was a serviceable but wildly overpriced fancy little cafe called Maison Daniel. Jessica had eggs benedict, I had quiche and we split a basket of mini pastries. I regretted not just getting a salade nicoise like I wanted to. I have no explanation.

Then, so we didn't get gloomy, we took the ferry to Sausalito and had lunch at a Mexican place called Copita; we shared a chicken tamale and each had tacos. Delicious...we then ran to the ferry and went right back. Soft serv in the Ferry Building then an endless traipse to Fisherman's Wharf (why? why? why?) while I looked for souvenirs. What an idiot.

For dinner we headed back to the Richmond for the much delayed Mandalay. Disaster! They were closed, for no apparent reason. So we went to Burma Superstar instead, and is was inferior in everyway. We shared platha with curry dip (the highlight and it went downhill from there), tea leaf salad, and chicken with mint (OK, but it had big pieces of weird tasteless garlic). None of this helped our grumpiness.

Then off to the airport. Missed my flight from Atlanta to Hartford (I KNEW that connection was too tight!) but was pretty easily re-booked and otherwise uneventful.

Sunday, 5/22/22

 Well, it was my big idea to take Reed's Mini Tour all the way to Monterey and Carmel. I don't think I had any idea

a. How far it was

b. How cold a convertible is on the highway

c. How cramped the back of a Mini is after several hours

d. How touristy Monterey is

e. How different the brunch buffet at El Torito would be from the one back in Rhode Island in the late 80's (either my hindsight is rose-tinted or this was just half-assed. The tacos were good, anyway)

And most importantly:

f. That the Mini would get a flat and leave us nearly stranded in Santa Cruz. We gamely took a (comfortable!) Lyft home and didn't lose much time. It was an adventure!

I also wish I had been more assertive about actually wanting to stop along the 17 Mile Drive, because is was gorgeous.

Anyway, we decided to stay local for dinner after all that, and walked over to Kuma Sushi, which was a really contender for favorite meal. We shared a hamachi appetizer, a sweet potato roll, some tuna and maybe a flying fish nigiri? And I had the nigiri tasting (outstanding. I could have eaten two, even though the tiny firefly squid freaked me out a bit) and Jessica had the sushi. Amazing meal, right there in the Tenderloin. I just wish we had sushi like that around here.

Saturday, 5/21/22

 For breakfast we headed to the Ferry Building to a place I had read about called  Le Grande Creperie (le Complet for Jessica, La Forestiere for me). Super delicious buckwheat crepes. While we were there we picked up empanadas to take home for lunch, along with some strawberries and pastries for the road. (donuts, coffee cake, and a mini cherry galette).

I decided to take a walk and let Jessica rest so of course I got completely lost.

From atop one of the many steep hills I unintentionally
 climbed

Dinner was Perbacco:

fritto misto (the best of the lot)

burrata with white asparagus, fava beans and truffle cream (oddly bland)

fried shishito peppers (unnecessary)

Papardelle with short rib ragu and fresh horseradish for me (delicious, if not exactly spring-y)

What looked like wagon wheels with potatoes, mushrooms, pine nuts and ramp pesto (somewhat ugly and disappointing)

I had a caramel budino with coffee foam (meh) and candied orange (yum)

Jessica had pistachio brown butter cake with meringue, a strawberry/rhubarb compote AND strawberry sorbet with little meringue shards. A lot going on there.

We could have made better choices (like eating inside! A cold wind came up), but the fritto misto and my pasta were both really good.

Obligatory cocktail shot

Friday 5/20/20

For breakfast we walked to a place in the neighborhood called Lapisara (nothing exciting, but I did have a burger and fries so that was fun). Jessica had a standard sort of eggs/bacon/toast meal.

We didn't have much on the agenda today, but we did make our way over to the Marina to share an Italian sandwich from Lucca (good but not awesome; the bread I picked was not ideally squishy). I had read glowing reviews about the place and while it was a good sandwich, it's not like you couldn't produce it on your own. We also stopped for ice cream from Salt & Straw (I never say no to salted caramel or a waffle cone).

For dinner we took a long and rowdy bus ride (who knew there was a baseball AND a basketball game happening??) out to a weird industrial neighborhood to a place called Besharam:

MALAI KOFTAS makhani sauce, paneer croquettes 

DRUNKEN PANI PURI semolina puffs, chaat, potatoes, lemon tamarind water, mint, gin 

MASKA PANEER whipped house made cheese, spiced spinach sauce, garam masala, silk chili oil

BESHARAM SAMOSAS potato, peas, mint cilantro chutney 

MAWA BEIGNETS toffee sauce, nutmeg  

Two little pani puris left. I reluctanly shared

It was all super tasty (no regrets) but the pani puri was my favorite. I could have eaten the whole thing by myself. The only little downside to this very hip place was very uncomfortable chairs. We did take a train home which I loved.