Saturday, 2/25/23

 It was too cold and snowy for our planned walk, so we had plenty of time to make dinner. Jason made naan, while I made a big batch of daal, some cauliflower and basmati rice. The lentil recipe came from Made in India, and I have to say I was really pleased with how it turned out. While I agree with Jason that you don't need a recipe, sometimes it's good to let someone else work out how to get a nice balanced flavor.

For dessert I made an apple skillet cake that I have made before (but don't know where the recipe came from). It called for two crusts but I skipped the bottom one (didn't matter). I also cut back on the sugar and I am glad I did since it is still very, very sweet. Should I have made apple crisp instead? Maybe.

Friday, 2/24/23

 Homemade mozzarella sticks in the air fryer (cheese sticks were good for this if annoying to unwrap), plus a big chopped salad with cherry peppers, tomatoes, some crispy pepperoni, olives and chick peas. Leftover caramel corn for dessert. I don't really think there is an upper limit for how many cheese sticks I can consume; using the air fryer made it a little less messy, at least.

Thursday, 2/23/23

 Pizza at Jodi's (mushroom and onion was the winner; broccoli and cherry tomato wasn't bad). Even a dessert pizza with Nutella and  fruit! How fancy.

Wednesday, 2/22/23

 We are trying to incorporate more leftovers into dinner, so it was more cabbage soup and bread. To enliven things, we did make another batch of caramel corn.

Tuesday, 2/21/23

I made up a soup using the half a head of cabbage I had plus some kielbasa from the freezer. Didn't seem like much of a stretch to make those into soup (along with onion, of course). Jason loved this; I was only meh. I think I should have put in potatoes, too. Anyway, nice enough with a loaf of bread from Jason and a fancy cheese spread from Trader Joe's.

Monday, 2/20/23

 A new pasta recipe from SK....broccoli cooked with the pasta all in one pot. This is certainly easy: just sauté garlic, crushed red pepper and lemon zest with broccoli, throw in some pasta and water and let it cook. I think, though, that it's worth the extra pot to just make her broccoli pesto, which features the same basic flavors (plus cream!). Some of the noodles ended up undercooked, and I think Jason was underwhelmed (it grew on me).

Sunday, 2/19/23

 I had planned rice and lentils for dinner ( I even made cilantro chutney), but Jason had a bee in his bonnet to go to the dining hall, so we traded Carter laundry for a swipe. It was fine (good tostadas) but I was looking forward to those lentils. Another night.

I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies with walnut brittle (from the new SK cookbook) but we were too full to try them. OK, yes, we had chocolate cake, key lime squares, and a Middle Eastern dessert called basbousa at the DC.

Saturday, 2/18/23

 We somehow ended up doing more shopping? But we did have fun poking around the Russian grocery store and picking out some fun things for dinner. We also grabbed a rotisserie chicken from BJ's, so that, plus some eggplant salad and a sort of cheese blintz thing from the Russian market were dinner (along with a couple of leftover rolls). More ice cream sundaes.

Friday, 2/17/23

 Started off the long weekend with lots of chores and errands (yes, I went to the dentist AND the RMV on the same day). It was windy and rainy all day and generally yucky. So we had nice cozy french fries and gravy for dinner. Plus a spinach salad. We picked up some vanilla ice cream during our travels, and I made some peanut butter sauce (the Spruce) so to top it off so there were sundaes. Then I conked out on the couch.

Thursday, 2/16/23

 If it's Thursday it must be pizza. We mixed up the deep dish idea a bit by cooking the same amount of dough in two pans, so as to make it slightly less deep dish-y. This, plus some extra sauce, made these an extra good batch, in my opinion. We ate an entire batch of homemade caramel corn in a day and a half, so there was no dessert. That was sad.

Wednesday, 2/15/23

 Roxanne and I tried the fancy new cocktail place in town (The Archives....a speakeasy 20 years after the speakeasy fad but still pretty cool). The Aviation was good and the setting is cozy. Then home for leftover split pea soup and Jason's rolls. The rolls were the highlight, of course.

Tuesday, 2/14/23

 A  recipe from SK via Bon Appetit for asparagus stir-fried with ground pork (I used beef since it was what we had), ginger, garlic, scallions, soy sauce (all the usual players). I did all the chopping at lunch time so this came together very quickly. I thought about throwing rice cakes in there but settled for plain  rice. I felt silly using non-local, out of season asparagus but this really is quite good.

Monday, 2/13/23

On SaturdayI finally used up the giant ham bone in the freezer; I thought I was going to make black-eyed peas, but even though Jason and I both could have sworn there was a bag downstairs, we had to conclude that there was not. There was a bag of split peas, though (a natural combo). I pretty much just used the recipe for soup on the bag (more water, since I don't like it too gloopy) and it's not bad. Add some Jiffy cornbread muffins and you have a pretty good dinner. Especially with another batch of caramel corn for dessert.

Sunday, 2/12/23

 Pierogies (loosely based on a NYT recipe), cabbage, kielbasa. The pierogies were a little doughy, I thought, but they sauteed up nicely. A bit of a project for a weeknight, even with the dough and filling already prepped.

Saturday, 2/11/23

 Dinner with Jay and Jodi; Jason made a very good loaf of rye, I made cinnamon popcorn from the NYT, and we all worked on potato pancakes. Last time didn't feel like enough; this time there were SO many. Jason was frying for what felt like hours and the house was a smoky mess. Still, what's not to like about a fried potato?

Then we all went to the high school to see a series of short plays that Sam was involved in. Very fun even if our elderly ears couldn't hear everything.

Friday, 2/10/23

 Dinner in Whately, which was super fun. BBQ from Zach's, salad, Southern Comfort cake. I think those of us who hadn't had it before (everyone but dad and me) were underwhelmed by the cake. Jason made a loaf of bread that he accidentally used too high a temperature on for part of the cooking....but he ended up being happy with the results. It made for a nice chewy crust. Ramona was happy to sit in her high chair and make adorable sounds.

Thursday, 2/9/23

 Return of the deep dish pizza, this time with pepperoni and mushrooms. The mushrooms were a good addition, but the whole shebang still feels a little heavy. We are working on a new plan for next week.

Wednesday, 2/8/23

 I wanted to make chaat, Jason preferred nachos, so we compromised on nachos. Chaat is a bit of a production for a weeknight, anyway.

Tuesday, 2/7/23

 Leftover pasta with sausage and spinach from the freezer. Better than I remembered, especially with the bit of extra sauce I added to mine.

Monday, 2/6/23

 Night two of leftovers: more cauliflower toast. Plus Jason made a yellow cake (from a box) with some leftover frosting hiding in the back of the fridge.

Sunday, 2/5/23

 Beginning a week of leftovers with the chicken and orzo. 

Saturday, 2/4/23

 Farm party....Jason made bread (I would love to know why I never get to bring anything anywhere anymore??) and there was tons of food. I made a pig of myself with the roast beef. Who ever has roast beef? It would be my whole paycheck.  Anyway, it was pretty fun.

Friday, 2/3/23

 Dinner with Jay and Jodi....Jason made pita bread and we picked up some hummus; pasta and salad from Jodi. It was a COLD COLD COLD night, so I spent as much time as I could in front of the wood stove.

I also made a batch of caramel corn (from a site called Divas Can Cook) that was so good that Jason and I thought we would have to lock it in the trunk of the car.

Thursday, 2/2/23

 Pizza night: one with pepperoni, one with tomato-feta-spinach. Both delicious. 

Wednesday, 2/1/23

 Cauliflower toast (NYT), with more leftover tomato soup. Poor Jason---something went tragically wrong with his first loaf of bread and he had to make an emergency loaf. It was good, even if he felt it was rushed. Cauliflower toast is remarkably rich and filling....maybe due to the whole container of ricotta?

Tuesday, 1/31/23

 Chicken with mushrooms, white wine, lemon and butter, with orzo and a salad. my favorite kind of meal, although I seldom make it. Here is one thing I learned: Jason is much better than I am at pounding the chicken into nice cutlets, and henceforth it will be his job. For dessert Jason tried out a recipe that is basically rice krispie treats with popcorn in lieu of rice krispies. They taste pretty good but I exhaustingly chewy.

Monday, 1/30/23

 Tofu with ginger/orange sauce, from Food52.  This wasn't difficult, but it was time consuming and messy. Two things: cut back on the rice vinegar, and Lace, stop buying two packages of tofu! It is too much for just you and Jason! I am having a hard time with not making too much of everything.  I threw in green beans but broccoli might have been better.

Sunday, 1/29/23

Leftover soup from Jay and Jodi, with some dinner rolls.

Saturday, 1/28/23

 Dinner with Jay and Jodi. Jason made a batch of bagels and they made a comically large pot of tomato soup. So much that we were sent home with two containers to add to our already packed fridge. Fun but I am still getting tired pretty early.