Tuesday, 9/26/23

 Broccoli-cheddar soup (from SK) that I had made over the weekend (a bit salty but good) plus fennel-onion bread from Jason. Jason was once again disappointed with the bread: too flat. Still perfectly good.

Monday, 9/25/23

 Ground pork with green chilis and crispy rice, from I Dream of Dinner. Not quite as good as the first time (although still very tasty!); the ground pork was somehow too porky tasting? Maybe it was a different cut? Anyway, not a quick dinner but a good one.

Sunday, 9/24/23

 Dinner with Jen and John. Jason was unhappy with his bread (again) and is considering his next steps. I made a sort of chocolate pudding cake from a NYT recipe that Jen had forwarded to me almost a year ago. So it had been sitting in my inbox all this time and I finally made it. People liked it but I felt it was slightly overcooked; also, it really benefits from some whipped cream. Overall successful though.

For dinner I  made a Blue Apron with pork loin, mashed potatoes and brussels sprouts. The good news is they have some sharp new knives;  the bad news is that their fancy pans stick and panfrying the pork loin was a messy business. A fun evening all around, though.

Saturday, 9/23/23

 We had lunch with Carter at the dining hall and didn't really have dinner. This always leaves me a bit irritable and I end up snacking too much. I made a batch of cinnamon crunch popcorn from the NYT and ate too much of it. Blah.

Also, lunch at the DC on Saturday features too many breakfast items for me (although there was some very good Indian food at least).

Friday, 9/22/23

 Guilty dinner: tater tots with cheese and gravy. Then we split an entire pint of Ben and Jerry's. What are we, teenagers? No, because we also had a salad, which is very mature.

Thursday, 9/21/23

 A week or so a weird pizza idea came to me in a dream, and Jason agreed to try it. It had a rye crust, cream cheese, smoked salmon, capers and red onions. Jason baked the naked crust fully, and then put the toppings on after it had slightly cooled. So in essence, a flat bagel. We really liked it! And easier than making bagels. Who knows what odd idea we will have next?

Wednesday, 9/20/23

 Leftovers. I added some random broccoli, lemon juice and  chili crisp to the red beans and rice and it really pepped up the whole situation. Broccoli seemed like a weird addition but it added a welcome crunch.

Tuesday, 9/19/23

 Patty melts, with Swiss and caramelized onions. I added some soy sauce, chopped onions and chili flake to the ground beef and cooked the whole shebang in the skillet. These (in my mind) were far superior to regular hamburgers. I think the skillet keeps them nice and juicy, as the drippings stay in the pan? Or maybe Swiss cheese and caramelized onions would perk anything up. Anyway, I really enjoyed them (along with another salad).

Monday, 9/18/23

 Red beans and rice, plus a salad. I cooked the beans in the Instant Pot, basically using a recipe from the NYT; I was only meh on the results. Too bean-y, which is hardly their fault! And there is so much of them...

I am hoping the leftovers will be better with maybe some lemon? Or hot sauce? Something crunchy?

Sunday, 9/17/23

 Rosh Hashanah dinner at Liz and Dad's! Jason made a rye bread (he keeps horning in on me and doing the baking. Grr.) that turned out beautifully. I was very excited to see brisket and mashed potatoes on the menu and even more so when they were so delicious.  Corrina made pumpkin cookies and there was even a Southern Comfort cake. A fun evening! And Ramona was UTTERLY DELIGHTFUL.

Saturday, 9/16/23

 I made enough baked pasta with spinach and Italian sausage to feed a family of 6. It seems that I literally don't know how to make a smaller batch. Of course it was tasty but I felt it needed more sauce. Polished off the strawberry cake for dessert.

Friday, 9/15/23

 Dinner with Jodi (and Carter, who in a surprise move agreed to come with us). Jason made pita and hummus....Jodi had been out mountain biking and had only the vaguest plan (pasta), so I took over and made pasta with cherry tomatoes, olive oil and fresh basil (it was slim pickings in the fridge with both kids at college). You don't go there for the food, but we had a fun time and played games. Even Carter was cheerful and we got to hear how school was going.

Thursday, 9/14/23

Pizza night, with the return of the potato pie. Here are the precise ingredients (for Jason, who keeps forgetting): dough, mozz, provolone, par-boiled new potato slices, red onions, fancy Romano cheese blend. It's not as wildly cheesy as it sounds! And a nice addition to our pizza repertoire. We also had a strawberry cake, from SK: the cake turned out very nice, but since some of the berries in the container had to be tossed, the strawberry layer wasn't as complete as I would have wanted. Surprise: we ate it anyway.

Wednesday, 9/13/23

 Jason made us a loaf of raisin walnut bread and we had that with cheese and a spinach salad. The Aldi version of Trader Joe's Unexpected Cheddar isn't quite as good, but it is still cheese so how bad could it be?

Tuesday, 9/12/23

 Chicken noodle soup, made from the leftover rotisserie chicken. Perfectly fine if not exciting.

Monday, 9/11/23

 Tofu and eggplant, with the weird (but inoffensive) addition of some chard from the farm. Jason picked me up a few cute little Japanese eggplants, and they turned out so silky and tasty. Seasoned with soy sauce, brown sugar and chili crisp, and then served with spicy peanut sauce from the NYT.  All tastier than I expected and I was happy to be using the skillet even if I was consigned to the porch.

Sunday, 9/10/23

 Finally got around to pizza night, featuring pepperoni, mushrooms and pepperoncini. The additional days of the dough sitting around meant that the yeast lost some of it's joie de vivre, resulting in a fairly flat crust. Not a problem and at tasted fine.

Saturday, 9/9/23

 Taste of Northampton with Jen, John and Laurie. And then Zac and Corrina and Ramona were there too so it was extra fun. I tried some tacos (excellent) from a place in Florence, a few bites of crabcake (good) and some gumbo that I didn't love. Then the skies opened so we hurried back to J & J's for drinks and games. Jason joined us at that point; a super fun evening albeit on the late side for me. Worth it!

Friday, 9/8/23

 Fun day with Ramona!

So we were glad to have an easy dinner on tap: a rotisserie chicken and some leftover potatoes. Plus some glazed donuts from the store.

Thursday, 9/7/23

 By this time we had quite a lot of leftovers so that was dinner.

Wednesday, 9/6/23

 Home fries with kale and lots of cheese. The electric skillet (and the Instant Pot for par-cooking the potatoes) worked well for this. The only (very minor!) disappointment was that our cheddar was on the bland side. Nothing a little Frank's hot sauce couldn't cure.

Tuesday, 9/5/23

 Cold noodle salad with spicy peanut sauce (basically from the NYT), with the addition of some ground pork that I cooked up with garlic, ginger and chili crisp. I had carrots, cucumber, zucchini and herbs on hand....it made a really good combo (even if the noodles were a tiny bit sticky. Rice noodles are challenging).

Monday, 9/4/23

 Chicken biryani in the Instant Pot, only somewhat successful. I used a recipe from the Ministry of Curry that I believe I had used before, but the flavor profile seemed different. I also inadvertently overcooked it by one (!) minute and the chicken was dry and the rice a little gummy. Too bad since it makes A LOT. We also finally got around to eating a gulab jamun poundcake that I made on Saturday. I felt it could have used more cardamom but it was nevertheless quite good and I would make it again (https://tasty.co/recipe/gulab-jamun-cake-as-made-by-hetal-vasavada.)

Sunday, 9/3/23

 Happy wedding day to my dad and Liz! Late, large lunch=no dinner. To be honest, we had giant pieces of cake for dinner.

So fun seeing everyone and it was a lovely afternoon.

Saturday, 9/2/23

 Got the kid off to school in the morning, and then we attended a piano/cello concert in the afternoon. How fancy! Anyway, it was at Bill and Connie's and there were substantial snacks after so that was dinner. I enjoyed the music well enough but it is somewhat wasted on me.

New year, new dorm

Friday, 9/1/23

 Pizza....a new variety with provolone, mozz, potatoes and red onion. I think Jason was (again) a little unsure but it was a good combo. It is difficult for me to come up with new ideas every week. Carter liked it, too. But maybe he was just grateful for a switch from his usual pepperoni.

Thursday, 8/31/23

 Dinner with Jay and Jodi and Sam who is headed off to college (pasta and salad). Jason made a loaf of bread; he has seemingly fixed his flatness problem and we ate every bit.

Wednesday, 8/30/23

 Eggplant parm (from the freezer). Jason had discovered how to cook pasta in the Instant Pot and he is pretty pleased about it. Anyway, the eggplant reheated very well and everyone was happy.