Friday, 12/29/23

 Dinner with Jay and Jodi....Zac and Sam made a really nice pasta with fresh mozzarella, basil, mushrooms and jalapenos. Jason brought bread, and I made a carrot cake (since Laurie sent us off with two bags of carrots Tuesday). I used a recipe from SK, with a couple of minor changes: I made it in a 9x13 pan (instead of two round layers) and made half of the frosting (shocking, right??). I also used a little less baking soda than was called for and think that was a mistake, but then again, carrot cake isn't known for it's light and fluffy crumb. The other problem I had was that the cream cheese frosting recipe called for mixing everything together all at once: this left me with little blobs of cream cheese that refused to incorporate. I even painstakingly ran the whole mess through a sieve, leaving me with at least smaller globs. Should I make this again, I would thoroughly beat the cream cheese and butter before adding the powdered sugar. Also, I don't even like cream cheese frosting! Fortunately the end product was good, moist and spicy. I think people liked it.

Thursday, 12/28/23

 Dinner at home! We had the tabled spaghetti and meat sauce. This seemed like a good meal, but as we were eating, we all noticed a strange taste, sort of an odd spice I wasn't expecting. Carter assumed that the sauce had gone bad and that we were poisoning him, but then he sniffed the actual noodles and realized that that was the culprit. I wrote it off as maybe it was a brand we hadn't tried before, but upon reflection, I remembered that the last thing we had cooked in that big pot was cinnamon popcorn. Well, I guess the pot didn't get cleaned enough and imparted a little zing of cinnamon to the spaghetti. Mystery solved, but what do we do with the remaining pound of weird tasting pasta??

Also, we had a salad.

Wednesday, 12/27/23

 Another last minute invitation, this time from Jen and John. So we scrapped our dinner plans (barley and broccoli bowls), Jason whipped up a batch of his garlic flatbreads, and off we went. 

John was inspired to make a dish from the NYT---creamy chicken with spinach and artichokes. I admit I was dubious when I saw the ingredients on the table: marinated artichoke hearts, cream cheese and celery?? But it was good! A little creamy, and tangy from the artichoke heart marinade, with a bit of heat from crushed red pepper.  John made some rice to go with it and I would call this a 100% success (we collaborated on it). There were leftover cookies for dessert, and a trivia game after (John and I creamed Jen and Jason. No surprise there).  Another fun night with friends...we are very lucky.

Tuesday, 12/26/23

 I made some meat sauce in the crock pot before work, but then we got a last minute dinner invitation from Laurie, so we left it to Carter (who apparently ate nearly a pound of pasta. Impressive) and headed to Sunderland, experimental bread in tow. We helped Laurie eat some of her leftovers, played a couple of games and generally had a very nice time. Jason is working on some kind of garlicky pull-apart bread that looks like a giant cinnamon roll. It was pretty good for a first effort.

Monday, 12/25/23

 Merry Christmas! Early dinner and games at Corrina's (extra fun with a toddler underfoot). We had cheese and crackers, garlic flatbread, brownies, sesame sticks, fancy tater tots and prosecco. OK, sure, it was a lot of starches and no vegetable to be seen, but it made for good snacking. I kind of love our tiny Christmas.

Sunday, 12/24/23

Dinner at Goten with Liz, my dad, Corrina, Zac and Ramona! It's a very fun way to spend Christmas Eve, and I unironically like the food. Ramona was impressed by all the ruckus, too. An excellent evening.

Saturday, 12/23/23

 Roasted tofu, rice and spinach. I marinated the tofu with soy sauce, maple syrup and chili crisp and I thought it turned out particularly well. I also tried out a peanut sauce from the NYT that claimed to be so good you would want to put it on everything. It was fine, but certainly nothing special. Maybe I will add a little tahini to the leftover to punch it up a bit. The spinach was a Korean side dish from Maangchi and I really like it....just blanched and then tossed with sesame oil, scallions, garlic and a little soy sauce.

Friday, 12/22/23

 Pizza night! Plain cheese for Carter; ours had ricotta, provolone and mozzarella, plus caramelized onions and cherry tomatoes. This was an ad hoc combo that I thought of in order to use up the ricotta, but it was surprisingly good. I bet a little bacon wouldn't hurt, either. For dessert I made a batch of caramel matzo crunch (from SK) to use up some ancient matzo (it never goes stale since it tastes stale from the get-go). We were a little shy on matzo so I added some saltines....they were so good! I thought they would be soggy but they are actually crispier and better than matzo. So I suspect that's how we will make it from now on.

Thursday, 12/21/23

Pinto beans and rice (pinto beans in the Instant Pot; came out perfectly) . Jason made corn tortillas, and I made some pickled red onion and jalapenos. Also had cheese and cherry tomatoes to round things out. Very tasty!

Wednesday, 12/20.23

 Just leftovers, Nothing to see here,

Tuesday, 12/19/23

 Broccoli cheddar soup, more or less from SK (nice but maybe would have been nicer with the 1/2&1/2 instead of milk but milk needed to be used up). I asked Jason to make this pull-apart rosemary garlic bread that I saw online somewhere. It was good but somehow too salty. Maybe skip the parmesan? I liked it fine, but prefer his dinner rolls.

Monday, 12/18/23

 Persian chicken and celery stew that I made on Sunday. From "The Bottom of the Pot" and as delicious as I remembered. Also a great way to use up a LOT of celery. We didn't have fresh mint, but I think the new dried mint that we bought added a lot of flavor (maybe our old jar was past its prime). We ate this with the leftover pita from Saturday and a cucumber-tomato salad. Carter had nothing to say but he ate everything.

Sunday, 12/17/23

 Delayed pizza night. A return to mushrooms and pepperoni for me and Jason (greasy but good), and a plain cheese for Carter. Jason is trying to make the pizza more to Carter's liking; Carter grudgingly agreed that it was "a little better". Charming boy.

Saturday, 12/16/23

 Crap Day! Corrina and I made various versions of rice krispie treats, including festive add-ins. There wasn't as much baking as there has been in the past, so I only came home with a few pizzelles and some cocktail mixers. But it was a really fun day; having Ramona for part of the time was so delightful! Lunch was snacks and dinner was grilled cheese (Jason remembered at some point that he had made a loaf of bread). Glad I took tomorrow off to recuperate from all this socializing.

Friday, 12/15/23

 Latke party at Jay and Jodi's! We used 10 pounds of potatoes and managed to eat them all. Jason's parents also brought donuts from Atkins, which was a real treat. We just brought some booze for Jodi.

Thursday, 12/14/23

 We picked up Carter from his dorm and had dinner at the DC. The sushi rolls were great, and the nachos were fine. Plus a little pad thai, I think? A weird blend. Welcome home Carter!

Wednesday, 12/13/23

 I just didn't feel like making rice and beans, so we just had cheesy tater tots and a salad.

Tuesday, 12/12/23

 A pasta dish from Ali Slage (author of my beloved "I Dream of Dinner") via the NYT. I was excited by what sounded like such a simple and delicious mix of brown butter, pasta and parmesan, but it didn't wow me. Maybe it's because I also added a whole bunch of broccoli? Anyhow, I concluded that if we are going to have pasta with broccoli I will stick to my Smitten Kitchen version.

Monday, 12/11/23

 A creamy chicken dish with a ridiculous name (Marry Me Chicken) from the NYT. Nothing revolutionary happening here: chicken breasts, cream, tomato pasta, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic  and oregano. I did not garner any proposals, but it was pretty good, in a rich way. I added most of a bag of baby spinach and should have used it all. I liked it quite a bit the first night, but it didn't reheat well. I served it over rice, but polenta or orzo would also have been good.

Sunday, 12/10/23

 Leftover cheese and crackers from Saturday night, plus pears from a gift box.

Saturday, 12/9/23

 Jason and I have been saving up found money and rolled coins for a while, with the idea of using that money for something fun. We decided to splurge on making ourselves a fancy dinner. So we picked up some (excellent) kielbasa from the BBA Market, a pack of hard cider for me, a Porterhouse steak and a few cheeses. I also made roasted potatoes (following the Serious Eats technique) and a salad. Fun dinner--the only disappointment was the cheese. Big Y used to have a really good selection, but now it is pretty lackluster so my choices were nothing special. I should have insisted on Whole Foods!

Dessert was some semi-failed cookies. They are supposed to be molasses thumbprint cookies with caramel filling, but I think I overmixed the cookie dough and they all turned out flat; there was no way I could fill them with anything. So now we have a lot of merely serviceable molasses cookies which isn't the worst thing in the world.

Friday, 12/8/23

 I went to the town holiday party (at Ginger Garden) and Jason grabbed dinner with Carter at the DC. I think he got the better deal, although talking to my co-workers was fun, and I won a door prize (a bottle of merlot that is almost certainly nicer than the stuff I usually buy). The food wasn't bad, but they aren't exactly bringing out the interesting stuff. Think crab rangoon and fried rice.

Thursday, 12/7/23

 Another Thursday, another pizza. This time we tried a white pie with ricotta (Jason punched it up with lemon zest, garlic and crushed red pepper), provolone, mozzarella and a little parmesan. To add some flavor we topped it with cherry tomatoes and roasted red peppers. I really liked this one! It's a little heavy, but not overly so. I would maybe add a few more cherry tomatoes; sun-dried tomatoes would also be good.

Wednesday, 12/6/23

 Tofu rice bowls, with carrot, cucumber, avocado and two sauces (sweet-spicy gochujang and ginger-scallion vinaigrette. I just free-styled them this time). I used some of the gochujang to marinate the tofu and it turned out really well. A favorite dinner of Jason's.

Tuesday, 12/5/23

 We celebrated the anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition with a cocktail and then just had leftovers for dinner. The lentil-barley dish was not bad with a little tinkering.

Monday, 12/4/23

 Baked ziti from the freezer which heated up surprisingly well. It had spinach and mushrooms and sausage, so it seemed like enough of a meal unto itself.

Sunday, 12/3/23

 Soggy, cold Hot Chocolate Run in the morning. Picking up trash in the rain by myself was not super fun, but it's for a good cause! Then brunch at Jen and John's...I made the Richard Sax coffee cake that I have made a billion times and for the second time I wasn't thrilled with it. I may have overcooked it a little?

Dinner was saag paneer (from Indian-ish) that I prepped on Saturday afternoon, along with some pita that Jason made. Good, if a little bit too rich somehow. Anyway it used up my homemade paneer and some queso fresco that was in the freezer. Jason was worried because he accidentally used some rye flour in the pita, but if anything it was an improvement.

Saturday, 12/2/23

A recipe from the NYT for farro (I used barley) and lentils baked in a tomato sauce and then topped with feta cheese and broiled. Obviously I cannot resist a recipe that calls for broiled feta. This took so, so so long to cook (90 minutes, maybe?) and a lot more water that called for. It was good enough, in a Moosewood Cookbook kind of way. The cauliflower that I served with it added a necessary crunch (thanks to toasty panko and parmesan). I don't think I see this going into rotation....too monotonous and heavy.

Friday, 12/1/23

 Dinner with Jay and Jodi. Jason made corn tortillas for black bean tacos, and I made a flan. Jodi of course spurned dessert, but the rest of us managed to polish it off.

Thursday, 11/30/23

 Pizza with BBQ chicken (I froze some from our last Costco chicken), red onion, cherry tomatoes, mozzarella and smoked gruyere. Jason's crust was unusually good this time.

Wednesday, 11/29/23

 Leftover hash brown casserole. Oddly enough we thought it was even more delicious reheated (I would not have predicted that).

Tuesday, 11/28/23

 A couple of bags of Aldi smoked mozzarella ravioli (highly recommend!) with sauce we had on hand. I also pulled a out a bag of frozen cauliflower that we got from who knows where and meant to roast it, but it looked weird and freezer burned. Jason insisted on cooking it anyway (boiled gross looking frozen cauliflower, yum!) and claimed it was fine, but I opted to risk scurvy instead.

Monday, 11/27/23

 How could I resist something called hash brown casserole? I couldn't. From the NYT; I made a few changes (more like additions). I added peas, a can of green chilis, a yellow pepper and some sriracha. I also sauteed the onion and pepper instead of using them raw. It's pretty much a veloute, a bag of frozen hash browns and a bunch of cheese. Apparently you can make it with a can of cream soup but this was easy enough and hard to stop eating, in a Midwestern kind of way.

Sunday, 11/26/23

Lazy Sunday dinner of nachos. Tomatoes, jalapenos and avocados are going to have to do, vegetable-wise.

Saturday, 11/25/23

 Another round of dosas (we both blended the batter more and let it sit longer...not sure how big a difference that made) with a repeat of the NYT potato filling. I also made paneer but it wasn't super noticeable added to everything else. I would say Jason has the cooking down pretty well. Now he will never take me out for Indian again 😟. Dessert was also from the NYT: namoura (or basbousa, depending on your country of origin). I made a couple of minor changes to very good results: the first time I made this I cut down on the sugar; this time I used the full amount; I used sour cream instead of yogurt because that is what we had, and I used a larger pan. The result was a denser (in a good way) product with more of the delicious syrupyness. And very very easy to make. I also didn't bother with the slivered almonds which weren't bringing anything to the party.

Friday, 11/24/23

 Jason's parents kindly treated everyone to Beuno y Sano for dinner at Jodi's (note to self: spicy BBQ chicken bowl FTW). We were tired from two social days and so it was an early night.

Thursday, 11/23/23

 Thanksgiving at Jay and Jodi's. I brought pecan-maple shortbread (from the NYT) that is pretty much pecan pie bars; Jason made a couple of loaves of bread and I made gravy. The turkey was my favorite part, followed by brussels sprouts that were roasted with parmesan (it created a delicious crispy cheesy layer) and macaroni and cheese from Kristen. I also ate much more than my fair share of the cheese plate. It was fun seeing everyone and nice to go home to a quiet house.

Wednesday, 11/22/23

 Pre-Thanksgiving get-together at Jen and John's. Jason made many, many pizzas and Jen had a couple of pumpkin pies. News flash: even though I was rooting for the Costco pie (so economical!) the Pie Bar one was better. I guess that is what something like 3x the price will get you.

Tuesday, 11/21/23

 Since we were picking Carter up from school, we had dinner at the dining common. I didn't make the best choices (cold french fries are so sad) but the sushi and spring rolls were good.

Monday, 11/20/23

 I was flipping through a book I brought home (A Splash of Soy) and was inspired to make tofu-rice bowls. I didn't really follow the recipe; more the spirit. Roasted tofu, carrots, cucumber, a gochujang sauce and a scallion vinaigrette (from SK who took it from David Chang). This was kind of a riff on bibimbap and it turned out really well. I wished I had had avocado, but otherwise a nice light feeling meal (with no leftovers).

Sunday, 11/19/23

 A desire not to create more leftovers (with the fridge about to fill up with various doughs) meant that we just had leftover pizza and a spinach salad. That pizza is good but very heavy. What do you expect with mashed potatoes and kielbasa on it, though?

Saturday, 11/18/23

 We finally had the time (we needed to start the ingredients soaking and whatnot the day before) and all the ingredients to make our homemade dosas. I made a potato filling from the NYT, tamarind chutney from "Made in India" and a not-very-good cilantro chutney from various sources. I think the late harvest cilantro from the farm was to blame, but it also could have been user error.  So, the dosas. The first few were a bitch to get off out fancy new pan, but after a couple it got easier. The texture was very close; I think we could have blended the batter even smoother but it wasn't bad. They didn't taste quite right to me, but with the filling and chutneys it was close enough. I would call it basically successful (Jason, of course, thought they were great). Jason got the recipe from some YouTube guy (who made it look so easy!)....I am wondering if I bought the wrong kind of lentils, maybe? Anyway, much better than my first attempt years ago.  We also had roasted broccoli (fine) and had to eat standing at the island as the dosas came off the tawa.

Friday, 11/17/23

  Dinner at Jay and Jodi's; Jason made a loaf of bread and I made a double batch of cinnamon popcorn from the NYT (devoured). Just pasta and sauce, as usual. Plus drinks and games and talking about all our boys coming home next week.

Thursday, 11/16/23

Pizza with onions, kielbasa, provolone, cheddar and leftover mashed potatoes. Yes, it sounds weird, but it worked. My notes: cook the onions longer, almost to caramelized; use a sharper cheddar, slice the kielbasa thinner. Otherwise I liked it, especially with our fancy double smoked sausage from the Polish market.

Wednesday, 11/15/23

 Chana dal, from "Made in India". The only change i made was to add a lot of spinach (that, typically, didn't even seem like much in the finished product). Dal is so homey and economical; I can see why an entire continent has it all the time. Of course I made way too much so the fridge is filling up again.

Tuesday, 11/14/23

 A totally serviceable dinner of eggplant parm grinders (more stuff gone from freezer!). The only excitement was that I had time to make dessert, a Middle Eastern semolina cake called basbousa or mamoura, depending on whether you are from Egypt or Lebanon. I used a recipe from the NYT and it's a simple batter of semolina and yogurt that is topped with a rosewater and orange blossom scented simple syrup after baking.  I am glad I heeded the comments and checked it early, as it was done a good 10 minutes before the baking time. It was good but I am thinking that sitting overnight will improve it.

Monday, 11/13/23

 I am glad to note that this was much better than Sunday's dinner. A simple chicken and rice soup (made with the rest of the rotisserie chicken), dinner rolls from Jason, and a delicious spinach salad with roasted butternut squash, feta, tomatoes and candied pecans. I scoured all my various sources and couldn't find how I made spiced nuts in the past, so for the record I just sizzled some pecans in butter, added brown sugar, salt and cayenne, and tossed it around until the sugar was melty and the nuts were toasted. I know I have a real recipe but damned if I know where.

Sunday, 11/12/23

 Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, broccoli. All, in my mind, disappointing (it's at times like this that I am glad Jason is so unfussy about food). The mashed potatoes were a tiny bit lumpy (I was in a hurry), the broccoli was overcooked and I just didn't like the meatloaf, even though I have made the recipe (from SK) before with good results. Maybe it's because what I thought was ground pork in one of the packages was ground beef? Maybe I just needed to keep tinkering with the glaze? I was grumpy about this whole thing.

Saturday, 11/11/23

 A sort of last-minute trip up to Williamstown to watch Carter play Ultimate meant that we got home in the late afternoon, cold and hungry. So we just had leftover pizza (and hot showers).

Friday, 11/10/23

 We had a fun day just doing errands with Corrina and Ramona. We picked up a rotisserie chicken in our travels, and so changed our pizza plans to include that. Jason made a second, superfluous pizza as an experiment in a new pan we bought: the BBQ chicken pie was excellent; the other one (with mushrooms, pepperoni and pepperoncini) needs some adjustment. Less dough, maybe. It reminded me of a pan pizza which wasn't what we were after.

Thursday, 11/9/23

 I had an afternoon appointment at UMass, so Carter swiped us into the dining hall. I hadn't been to Franklin before---it has a homier feel than the newer, shinier DCs.  Sushi rolls and nachos with some kind of pulled pork were the highlights.

Wednesday, 11/8/23

Chicken tenders in the air fryer, leftover rice, and cauliflower. The cauliflower, oddly, was the only thing I was really looking forward to: I roasted it with dates, almonds and feta. That could have been my whole meal. Those fancy Aldi chicken fingers are pretty good, but not as crunchy as I hoped. 

Tuesday, 11/7/23

 Doggedly still plowing through the contents of the freezer. At least tonight the mini calzones we expected were in fact mini calzones. They heated up nicely, although I wish there was less sausage and spinach and more onion and mushroom. 

Monday, 11/6/23

Another night of freezer stupidity (and yes, we have resolved to start labeling everything).  So, we originally planned to have kielbasa plus pierogis from the freezer, but on closer inspection Jason felt that they were dumplings. I made a little ginger-soy dip, heated up the leftover broccoli, and Jason made rice. But when I started to par-boil the dumplings, Surprise! They were samosas. So once again there I was with inappropriate sauce, not to mention soggy weird samosas. I gamely went ahead and boiled them, then threw them in a hot skillet like a potsticker. Not bad, actually! Some tamarind chutney would have been nice, but the meal wasn't a total disaster.

Sunday, 11/5/23

What we thought was a weird ersatz stromboli  was, in fact, a weird ersatz Cornish pasty. So the tomato sauce we heated up to go with it was not an asset. As I recall, this was better with the original (smoky cheddar) pastry crust. And gravy. But a little mustard helped and now that's another mysterious freezer object gone.

Saturday, 11/4/23

 Chicken buldak, with broccoli on the side. Spicy, cheesy and a little funky....my only sorrow is that I didn't get to have the leftovers because I was having salad all week. Flan for dessert which was a nice creamy counterpoint.

Friday, 11/3/23

 I was lucky enough to watch Ramona all day, so I didn't have time to plan much dinner. I could have made macaroni and cheese, but in the end the simple tastiness of nachos won out. If I put tomatoes and olives on them they are basically a salad.

Thursday, 11/2/23

 Pizza with hot Italian sausage, mushrooms and red peppers. Nothing too innovative this week, but the crust was good and the toppings were in perfect proportion.

Wednesday, 11/1/23

 Leftover baked ziti from the giant batch.

Tuesday, 13/31/23

 Saag paneer (from Indian-ish) with rice and leftover pita. I made my own paneer (while I was making ricotta) and used two full bags of spinach. This is not a light dish (despite all those greens) but it is really flavorful and good. Add more cumin seeds next time.

Monday, 10/30/23

 Black bean soup from "I Dream of Dinner". This was an interesting variation; the black beans were mostly left whole, and a hefty dose of chilis in adobo really provided a fun, smoky flavor. And quick to make with canned black beans. She recommended that you serve it with Fritos and it was a good choice. I made green beans to go with it and I never  knew Jason was anti green beans. Now I know. 

Sunday, 10/29/23

 I made SO MUCH baked ziti that you would thing we were a family of 10. I even froze a third and there is still so much. I felt that adding extra sauce was an improvement; there was also sausage, peppers, spinach, mushrooms and homemade ricotta (milk was so cheap that it was less expensive to make my own). I felt bad that there were only two of us to peck away at it.

Saturday, 10/28/23

 Pizza at Jen and John's including a dessert pizza with apples. Honestly, Jason and John are still struggling to get that damn Ooni right. The dessert ones, being the last of the night, turn out the best. Anyway, it was still a fun time.

Friday, 10/27/ 23

 We had a lot of leftovers, so that was dinner. We did have a fun lunch, though: we picked up a rice bowl from a new Korean deli in Sunderland, and some kielbasa with onions and peppers from the BBA Market and had a little picnic.

Yes, we also had a donut

Thursday, 10/26/23

 "Taco" pizza, with ground beef with janky taco seasoning (deliciously reminiscent of school lunch tacos), tomatoes, olives, jalapenos and cheddar. A little heavier than recent pizzas we have made. But not bad!

Wednesday, 10/25/23

 Falafel (from the freezer), fresh pita, yogurt-tahini sauce and the usual condiments . I ate mine salad style with spinach and pita on the side. We are going to be eating that Costco sheet cake until I retire, at least.

Tuesday, 10/24/23

 Rice noodles salad, with ground pork, daikon, carrots, cucumbers and a sort of Vietnamese dressing that I free-styled (fish sauce, lime, ginger, sugar, and . Really tasty even though I forgot peanuts to go on top, and that we didn't have any herbs. Ground pork comes through again.

Monday, 10/23/23

 Tofu with eggplant in an ersatz garlic sauce. I was a little concerned when I accidentally added some baking soda instead of corn starch (yes, they are clearly labeled) but it wasn't noticeable in the finished product. Served with rice. I think Jason liked this a bit more than I did (I wished I had roasted the tofu in the oven instead of pan-frying it) but it was as good a way as any to use up the last few tiny eggplants of the season.

Sunday, 10/22/23

 A nice invitation from my dad and Liz meant BBQ at their place. Jason made (superfluous) bread and garlic flatbreads. It was nice to see everyone and I got to sit next to the baby AND Carter so I was pretty happy. Wildwood BBQ isn't, in my opinion, as good as the place in Millers but it would be churlish to complain.

Saturday, 10/21/23

 Dinner with Jodi and Jay. We had a fun time, but it's not about the food: pasta with jarred sauce and onions and peppers. Jason did make a very nice loaf of bread, though.

Friday, 10/20/23

 Another health-packed meal: tater tots with cheese, salsa and guacamole. At least guacamole is a vegetable.

Thursday, 10/19/23

 Pasta with pepperoni, from the NYT. To make it a one dish situation, I also added spinach and mushrooms.  For just a few ingredients (pepperoni, tomato paste, fennel and crushed red pepper) this is very flavorful. I only use about half of the called for pepperoni, but it's plenty. Still working on the Costco cake.

Wednesday, 10/18/23

 Tortilla soup, that I made with the remaining rotisserie chicken and bones. I loosely followed a recipe from SK (I wasn't searching for extreme authenticity here) and added some zucchini for health. Served with queso fresco, avocados and some salsa verde that I made. Jason doesn't love eating soup but he was gracious about it. Plenty of leftovers for me!

Tuesday, 10/17/23

 I knew I would be exhausted after my first day back at work, so I was glad we had made arrangements to meet Jason's old work pal, Gabe, at Frontier. Somehow the three of us finished off a large cheese and a small special. How Jason and I managed to eat cake when we got home is a mystery.

Monday, 10/16/23

 I had the day off and an appointment in West Springfield, so we stopped at Costco and picked up a rotisserie chicken (no need to mention the cake, potato chips and Biscoff cookies). We used it as the base for a Monday night pizza: chicken in BBQ sauce, red onions, mozzarella, cherry tomatoes and a little smoked gruyere. This was SO GOOD. It was a riff on a pizza my parents used to get at a now defunct place in Providence called Bob & Timmy's. Jason and I agreed it was one of our best ever. Dessert was some of the sheet cake (good but we didn't know it had a cheesecake layer in the middle. That's what you get for buying mystery cakes at Costco).

Sunday, 10/15/23

 Carter kindly took us to the dining hall for a very late lunch; after having tofu, a salad, some homefries, a few french fries and a small piece of funfetti cake, I definitely didn't need dinner. I could have skipped the french fries but everything else was good.

Saturday, 10/14/23

 Pizza night at Jen and John's. Jason and John are still working out the ins and outs of their pizza oven, but by pie #3 we had success (the first couple had soggy bottoms).  The final pizza had apple and cinnamon and while I was dismissive, it was delicious. Like Jason needed more encouragement. Then board games and home late, late, late.

Friday, 10/13/23

 I took a a nice walk in the morning before checking out. The location of this rental was really hard to beat. We were delighted to find our car still at the Park and Ride (I don't think we had a plan in place for if it was stolen or vandalized...) so that worked out well. We stopped at IKEA to cheer me up with meatballs and a new bathmat (we are quite the shoppers). Then home. I made haluski for dinner (basically noodles, onions, cabbage and butter...could use some tweaking) along with some breaded chicken tenders from Aldi. It was a fun trip but I know Jason was happy to be home!

Thursday, 10/12/23

 Our last full day! We took the bus over toward the Back Bay and had brunch at The Friendly Toast. This is a ridiculous place, so I ordered a ridiculous meal, chicken and waffles:

A fluffy Belgian waffle infused with bacon, fire roasted poblano corn & jalapeno jack cheese - layered with our rice crispy coated chicken breast & topped with hot honey, chipotle maple sour cream, pickled onions & scallions."

Yes, it was over the top but it actually all worked. Jason went more conventional, with a burger and fries, but he said they were excellent. My only sorrow was not being able to also eat the stuffed tater tots and the chiliquiles. Another time.  Then onward to check out the Mary Baker Eddy Library which I was only somewhat enthused about but it turned out to be a really impressive complex with a lot of interesting buildings to look at. Also, very fancy bathrooms!:

Finally I went to the MFA to check out the Sargent exhibit while Jason sat and read his book. It was beautiful but crowded and a bit overwhelming. Then we walked mostly home, just jumping on a bus for the boring section.   Dinner was the same old sandwiches, salad and cookies, but our last evening walk was so beautiful:

Old Harbor at Sunset. Who knew Southie was so pretty?

Wednesday, 10/11/23

 Started the day in Charlestown, where I demanded we look at the Bunker Hill Memorial for no good reason. Then I wanted to look at (but not pay to board) the USS Constitution, which we did. More interesting to me was the USS Cassin, a WWII destroyer that you could walk all over at will. I love being on a boat, even a stationary one. Then we walked back to the North End, which turned out to be a remarkably quick walk. Oops. Lunch was at Pizzeria Regina. Jason and I greedily ate an entire large cheese. No regrets.

OK, one regret: I burned the hell out of my mouth

We wandered around downtown and called it a day on the early side. Home for sandwich and salad. Oh, I also stopped at Flour for a treat. My cinnamon roll tasted pretty good, but seemed a bit stale. I had really hyped up this place in my head and it was a tiny letdown. Oh well, even a so-so cinnamon roll is a treat.

Waiting for the bus

Tuesday, 10/10/23

 I had the bright (?) idea to take the T out to Porter Square and walk back. It was mostly successful: we ended up in Harvard Square for more time than I would think that two people who have no interest in Harvard would. Lunch was more dosa for me! There is a branch of Madras Dosa Co. in Harvard Square, so I went back for another. This branch was far superior: no loud music, friendlier staff, better chairs. Turns out I can easily eat a whole dosa by myself. Then we took Jason to a nearby place called Tasty Burger, because who can resist a $12 special of burger, fries and a beer?  I didn't try the burger, but Jason reports it was excellent. Then we were fortified enough to hit the Harvard Art Museum, which was quite impressive. Walked back to South Station where we had to sprint (successfully!) for the bus.

Dinner was ramen,  plus salad for me, another bun from the Chinese bakery and some coleslaw for Jason.

Monday, 10/9/23

We took the train out to Cambridge, but Jason was dismayed to find that the MIT Museum is not free, as he believed. And the Harvard Museums ARE free, but were closed for the holiday. And Harvard Square was a zoo. But Shake Shack wasn't too crowded and was as good as ever:

I wanted to go to H Mart, which was cool! We picked up some assorted pajeon to go with dinner, a big bag of panko (very light, luckily) and some ramen. We then wandered around a bit aimlessly (I really don't know Boston) before heading back. Home by 3 or so to relax.

Dinner was the pancakes: the flavors seemed to be kimchee, surimi, scallion, some kind of fish and a mystery flavor. I also had a salad and Jason had a scallion bun and some tuna. We had stopped in a Chinese bakery yesterday and picked up a few different baked goods. The scallion bun looked good, but was filled with mayo! Needless to say, I let Jason have the rest. Of the others we tried, the cream bun was my favorite.

Sunday, 10/8/23

Coffee machine mastered and thus fortified we headed out for the day! Walked all over South Boston to the seaport area, where we had lunch at Madras Dosa Co. The bad news: VERY loud music in there, which may be why they missed part of our order. So we ended up with just one dosa (potato and paneer) and an aloo tikka masala. The dosa was, fortunately, enormous and delicious and served with a trio of condiments that we hadn't tried before. I didn't like the chaat as much as I hoped, but I would love to go back for another dosa.

We walked around the seaport area, checked out the Contemporary Art Institute and Chinatown and figured out the transit system enough to take a bus home. Dinner was more sandwiches, although I elected to take my fillings (salami, provolone, spinach, roasted zucchini and red peppers) and make them into a salad instead. I also baked a batch of cookies (some peanut butter and some oatmeal, both from standard SK recipes) from dough that I had made at home (sheesh). I even talked Jason into a little evening walk by the beach:  

Fun first day of vacation

Saturday, 10/7/23

 After getting a late start (that was uncharacteristically  my fault) and a stop at a Trader Joe's, we finally arrived at our Boston Airbnb. It was already 5pm at that point, so we just sampled some of our TJ's cheap hooch and made sandwiches for dinner. Yes, against my wishes we brought a whole cooler full of food from home. Figuring out the TV situation was a struggle, as was finding the coasters (there are many, many rules for the apartment), but the couch is comfy and the location seems great.

Friday, 10/6/23

 Pizza night! I have been feeling the pressure to come up with new toppings. This week was puttanesca: olives, capers, garlic, crushed red pepper, and anchovies (on Jason's half). Light mozzarella and provolone, heavy on the sauce and a sprinkle of parm blend on top. Another success! I am going to have to start combing pizza menus for more inspiration...

Thursday, 10/5/23

 Raucous night at Jen and John's with her mom, brother and SIL. Jason made a load of bread (of course) and John made a rice and butternut squash casserole. Somehow two vegans, one celiac and a few omnivores made it work.  Maybe because liquor is vegan and gluten free?

Wednesday, 10/4/23

 I realized that if we are going away for a week, I better slow down on food production, so tonight's planned pasta was jettisoned in favor of leftovers. Those lentils and eggplant will never be gone, I don't think.

Tuesday, 10/3/23

 Another recipe from "I Dream of Dinner": smoky roasted cauliflower and white beans. Pretty simple: toss the beans and cauliflower with olive oil, tomato paste and smoked paprika, then top with herbs. I added feta cheese for some extra flavor. This was good the first night, but oddly enough even better for lunch the day. A funny thing is that we actually had a dinner guest! Our friend Laurie stopped by to drop something off as I was putting dinner on the table, and lord knows I always make too much. I think she liked it....it's weird serving food to people when you were only cooking for yourself. I didn't feel as confident.

Monday, 10/2/23

I made a big pot of lentils with eggplant over the weekend so we had that with rice and pita. It looked prettier in the recipe from the Times, because they used red lentils and I only had brown. So it was pretty drab looking and also benefited from some hot sauce. I was happy that the last eggplant of the season didn't go bad. 

Sunday, 10/1/23

 Dinner with Jay and Jodi: Jason made corn tortillas, I made caramel popcorn (https://divascancook.com/caramel-popcorn-recipe-caramel-corn/)---the only change is we use slightly more popcorn. It is still very very sweet and very hard to stop eating. Jay and Jodi made a kind of bean salad and that was our taco filling. 

Saturday, 9/30/23

 Big lunch at Priya , no dinner. I prepared myself mentally so I wouldn't feel disappointed but it helped that I was genuinely not hungry. It was a LOT of lunch.

Friday, 9/29/23

 Very decadent dinner of spicy pasta alfredo and tiramisu. The pasta recipe is from the NYT: I could have doubled the spinach but honestly, no complaints. My only regret is that Jason ate the leftovers.

Thursday, 9/28/23

 Pizza with leftover eggplant parm on top.. Super tasty.

Wednesday, 9/27/23

 Just leftovers, since they were piling up in a big way. I also made a tiramisu (from the NYT) while I was home for lunch so at least dessert was fun and new.

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.

Tuesday, 8/29/23

 We had Ramona all day, which was awesome! Got my free sundae from Herrell's and even let her have some of the whipped cream. Dinner with the family at Mi Tierra, which sadly was only OK.  My chili relleno seemed like it had been prepared some time ago. But it was better than no chili relleno and a really fun time.

Yes, I took the baby to AutoZone for my birthday

Monday, 8/28/23

 Burgers, tots, broccoli. I overcooked the burgers just a smidge. Still getting used to the giant new grill. 

Sunday, 8/27/23

 Dinner with Jen and John. Jason's bread turned out beyond flat; I have seen taller frisbees. He had to make another loaf on the fly and was incredibly cranky. He thinks he had maybe cut back too much on the yeast. I made another cake (just box yellow cake this time which was at least better). We made Ruebens (yuck), BLTs and a grilled cheese for me. A fun and tasty evening, but it was a work night so we were home pretty early.

Saturday, 8/26/23

 Kevin had us over for a little potluck for Corrina's birthday. He made almost everything: salad, grilled chicken, watermelon and corn; Jason made bread (he was disappointed with its flatness but it was well received anyway). I made an Aldi chocolate box cake (honestly, very very blah) with white icing. At least the icing was pretty good and I give credit to the Cabot butter instead of our usual cheap stuff. Anyway, it was a very nice afternoon by the lake and we were still too full for dinner.

Friday, 8/25/23

 Pizza night! I convinced Jason to try one that he was a little skeptical about: pepperoni, crushed red pepper, and a drizzle of honey at the table. He was surprised to find it so delicious (I wasn't)

Thursday, 8/24/23

 Rice and beans: rice in the rice cooker with a little Goya packet, smoky black beans from the NYT (with chilis in adobo instead of smoked paprika). I made this a little too spicy, but not inedibly so. Served with avocado, tomatoes and salsa. 

Wednesday, 8/23/23

 Finally, a dinner I could get excited about. Jason made a loaf of very good bread, and we had open faced sandwiches with grilled provolone and tomatoes. Truly delicious. I just made a regular grilled cheese for Carter. Since Jason made the bread and brought home the tomato (and planted it, for all I know) I give him most of the credit.

Tuesday, 8/22/23

 Another night, another somewhat lackluster meal. I made alfredo in the Instant Pot, knowing Carter would like it. It was fine. Served with broccoli (it's a rut I can't seem to break out of) that was a little too crunchy. Except for not heating up the kitchen, I am not sure what making the pasta this way accomplishes.  I don't even think it is any faster.

Monday, 8/21/23

 Grilled chicken, grilled potatoes (par-cooked, and then wrapped in foil with onions and rosemary; could have used more time), and some vegetable that I am forgetting. Pickles and tomatoes, probably. I was too lazy to make a proper marinade and used a bottle of teriyaki I found in the back of the fridge. The taste was OK but it gave the chicken a strange bouncy texture. I blame the pineapple juice in the marinade. Overall somewhat disappointing.

Sunday, 8/20/23

 Jason's parents took us to Bombay Royale for lunch, so we weren't really hungry for dinner. So we just had some tomatoes and corn off-the-cob. The corn was our first of the season and maybe only since it's so pricey this year. Tough summer for farmers.

Saturday, 8/19/23

 Since we still had a half bag of chickpeas and many pickled things, I made another batch of falafel. Jason has perfected the frying and I like a meal that has lots of condiments.  We froze the leftovers, though so as not to overdo it, The NYT recipe works well with a couple of minor adjustments: use a lot more fresh herbs and spices; grind the chickpeas separately and in batches (I should have bought a bigger food processor) and be sure to pack the mix tightly when frying.

Friday, 8/18/23

 Another deep dish pizza with eggplant. This one wasn't quite as doughy as the previous week, and the flavors are good. I think I am still more in the mood for thinner crust, though.

Thursday, 8/17/23

 Leftover falafels, with all the various toppings. It was a good batch, and now our fridge is nearly leftover-free.

Wednesday, 8/16/23

 "Spiced rice with vermicelli" (well, spaghetti), served with the leftover chicken and various pickled condiments. My timing making this in the Instant Pot wasn't perfect, and in adding more time we got the dreaded burn notice. However, if came out fine, not actually burnt. Honestly, except for the chicken I am a bit lukewarm on these recipes so far. Not sure if it is my execution or what.

Tuesday, 8/15/23

 Falafel (from the Times: extra herbs and spices, otherwise as written). Served with pita, pickled turnips, tahini-yogurt sauce, cucumbers and tomatoes.  Jason did a good job frying them up. For dessert we (in a very nearly unprecedented move) went over to Big Y and bought a cake. Aren't we fancy!

Monday, 8/14/23

 Another meal from Arabiyya: meatballs and sauce. I wish I had served these with rice instead of spaghetti as Carter and I both suffered from cognitive dissonance: it looked like spaghetti and meatballs, but tasted like cumin, cinnamon and cloves. The meatballs were also not as tender as I would have liked (no binders, maybe that's why). Anyway, not bad but not my favorite.

Sunday, 8/13/23

 I worked on a lot of little cooking projects over the weekend: pickled turnip, pickled cauliflower, made a big batch of bean salad for my lunches, prepped meatballs and sauce, and also made dinner: a sumac flavored chicken dish from a cookbook called Arabiyya (cooking from the Arab diaspora). I made a couple of changes to the recipe: chicken breasts instead of thighs (when did thighs get more expensive?), cooked the chicken in the skillet instead of the oven, and served with homemade pita instead of tortillas (I hadn't looked at the last paragraph and apparently these were meant to be folded up like a burrito and then lightly toasted. Oops). I went light on the pomegranate molasses, since Carter doesn't love  it, so we just added more at the table.  However, I stayed true to the flavors and the sumac and warm spices added an interesting new spin on chicken for us. I plan to cook a lot from this book this week; I can see that I will be going through a lot of onions.

Saturday, 8/12/23

 It was Ramona's birthday party, so that meant a late lunch (pizza and cake, yay!). So no dinner for us (although Carter, of course, needed to eat again)

Frosting everywhere!

Friday, 8/11/23

 A return to deep dish pizza. Jason wanted to re-create a topping he used to make a long time ago, where he cooked eggplant and tomato together. It's fairly heavy, so he thought the thicker-deep dish format would be good. He also added Italian sausage this time around. I liked the flavors, but we both agreed that it was a bit doughy. Not to worry, I am sure he will make it again next week.

Thursday, 8/10/23

 I didn't feel like cooking the zucchini pasta I had planned, so I found some pierogis in the freezer and we had those and salad for dinner. Jason thought it would be an interesting experiment to cook them in the air fryer; I was a little dubious but what the heck. They came out more like little knishes but I would call it a success. It's also always nice to clear out the freezer a bit.

Wednesday, 8/9/23

 Ground pork with mushrooms, zucchini, yellow pepper and Cravings sauce, plus rice. I did a ton of prep before work so it came together quickly and was devoured. The skillet continues to work well, but now the mosquitos outside make it a toss-up about which is worse.

Tuesday, 8/8/23

 Eggplant parm grinders, which would have been quite good if the grinder rolls we picked up weren't so squishy and blah. Oh well, the eggplant was fine. Carter ate nearly three.

Monday, 8/7/23

Sushi bowl with the usual suspects: tuna, surimi, mango, cucumber, etc.  No surprises here.

Sunday, 8/6/23

 I thought it would be great to use up some ricotta cheese by making gnocchi. I was wrong.

Firstly, it takes forever to bring a large pot of water to a boil on the hot plate; then it won't keep a boil while you add gnocchi.

Secondly, in our hot  kitchen the  %$#@! gnocchi were sticky and wouldn't hold their shape. Jason had to help me quickly roll them in flour again before I boiled them (now indoors; luckily it doesn't take long). They flopped around and looked terrible and some were too big and gooey in the middle and I was very, very irritated. It will be years before I make these again. I didn't even make a vegetable because I had had it.

(They didn't taste too bad, though)

Saturday, 8/5/23

 Chopped salad (variation of a recipe from SK. My only complaint was that the dressing is aggressively garlicky, even though I didn't use as much as directed) and cheese sticks in the air fryer. We bought an enormous box of mozzarella sticks at BJ's and went through half of them (mostly thanks to Carter). i don't think we will buy them again, as it is worth it to make your own if you are craving mozzarella sticks.

Friday, 8/4/23

 Pizza night. We topped it with spinach, feta and cherry tomato and it was very successful. Jason was extremely pleased after last week's, which he felt was subpar.

Thursday, 8/3/23

 Dinner at Jodi's. She made pasta with soy curls, roasted red peppers and sun-dried tomatoes. A little weird, but it worked. Jason made a loaf of bread, since for once it wasn't a million degrees out. He is also experimenting with an Egyptian dessert called basbousa: this first iteration was OK but needs some tinkering.

Wednesday, 8/2/23

 I did some cooking over the weekend, so I was glad to come home after an exceedingly tiring day at work to dinner basically already made. Potato-leek soup, marinated mushrooms, and caponata. I think I overcooked the eggplant in the caponata, but it's not bad. Jason was just happy to be eating oyster crackers.

Tuesday, 8/1/23

 Cold noodle salad with peanut sauce, from the NYT. Really just noodles with raw vegetables (in my case cucumbers, yellow pepper, Chinese cabbage and scallions). This would have been a great meal for one of the really hot days we had last week; I liked the flavors but it could have used some chicken or tofu or something to bulk it up.

Monday, 7/31/23

 Pesto pizza with tomatoes and provolone. Jason wasn't happy with it (I thought it was a little doughy but pretty good). He is chasing the memory of a really good pesto pizza he made earlier in the summer, but there is a good chance he was  tipsy that night and that's why it was so good? Anyway, I enjoyed it.

Sunday, 7/30/23

 Chicken cutlets, sauteed with lemon and butter, with a bunch of leftover broccoli thrown in. I wasn't happy with the texture of the sauce (too thin) and the chicken wasn't as tender as I would have liked. B- at best.

Saturday, 7/29/23

 Jason wanted to make a big batch of eggplant parm, and I was happy to do so, but I didn't expect 5 eggplants. It took quite some time to bread and fry all that.  They did turn out well (thanks, electric skillet) and we now have a freezer full of eggplant ready to go. For dessert I made  no-bake chocolate mousse bars from the NYT.  I used an Oreo crust instead of graham cracker, and I stand by that choice, but the crust wasn't thick enough (I used the crust recipe from last week's peanut butter bars; I cut the butter in half and that worked, but that recipe was only a 8x8 dish and this was a 9x13. I could have doubled the Oreos). They were still a hit, though. VERY chocolate-y.

Friday, 7/28/23

 Jason's parents rented a house down in Waterford, CT....after a lot of prodding he was convinced to go down for at least the day (the place was huge....we totally should have spent at least one night). After a day at the beach (Jason and I both somehow got sunburned) we were lucky enough to have dinner prepared by Kristen. Spaghetti pangrattato from SK was delicious and it was actually pretty fun having everyone together for dinner. 

View from the back deck

Thursday, 7/27/23

 I had somehow never gotten around to planning something for dinner, and by the time I got home from work I just gave up and we had nachos (in the microwave, no less). Not my best showing.

Wednesday, 7/26/23

 Fried rice with tofu, broccoli, and some green beans Jason brought home from the farm. If I have to be on the porch, at least I had my fancy electric skillet and a glass of wine.

That's $50 of sriracha right there

Tuesday, 7/25/23

 Zucchini fritters, from SK. I skipped scallions but added feta and nigella seeds. Jason toiled out on the porch over the deep fryer and they turned out perfectly. Carter turned up his nose at zucchini but had to admit that they really just taste like fried deliciousness. Jason also made some pita bread and hummus,and I made pickles over the weekend (too spicy, BTW). Still working on the too-rich peanut butter-Oreo bars.

Monday, 7/24/23

 Butter chicken, adapted a bit from The Ministry of Curry (more spices, skipped the coconut milk). Pretty good, although the chicken was a little too tough for my liking. I think it makes sense to leave it in bigger pieces and then cut it up. I also added an entire bag of spinach which seemed excessive but of course cooked down to nothing. Basmati rice and some mini samosas from Aldi to round things out.

Sunday, 7/23/23

 Potato-kale hash (loosely adapted from a Blue Apron recipe) with bacon and cheese. Let's face it, they are homefries and they are one of my favorite things for dinner. Potatoes+melted cheese is always a winner in my book. And with kale it is delightfully healthy.

For dessert I made no-bake peanut-butter Oreo bars (from Food52). These were very, very rich. I think you could cut back the butter in the crust by a third; I also didn't care for the tanginess that the cream cheese added to the peanut butter layer. So while these were pretty easy I am not sure I will be making them again.

Saturday, 7/22/23

 Dinner with Jen and John. John is still obsessed with his Ooni, so we had steak and chicken grilled in there, along with zucchini, onions and peppers (from the farm) and a surprise but brilliant addition of pineapple. In my opinion, John is overcrowding the pan, but everything was delicious so who cares. Jason made garlic flatbreads and they were amazing in the Ooni. I now believe that really good pizza from it is in our reach. For dessert Jen made some brownies (you cannot beat the Ghirardelli mix) and we had them with raspberries and whipped cream. And Carter even came with us so that was nice.

Friday, 7/21/23

 Pesto pizza, with provolone and tomatoes. Funny how Jason was allowed to use the oven....

Anyway, it was pretty good and no complaints. I am hoping good local tomatoes show up soon, but July has been tough, weather-wise.

Thursday, 7/20/23

 Dinner with Jay and Jodi to celebrate Jodi's half Ironman (yikes!). Zac and Sam made pasta salad with various customizations: lemon, feta, bacon, lots of fresh herbs. It was a fun meal....I just wish Carter could have come.  

Wednesday, 7/19/23

 Cheese and crackers, along with watermelon and potato salad for Jason and me. We also had caramel milkshakes, which had a sad ending when I noticed that our blender has a crack in it. Of course it was literally 3 days past the warrantee. At least they sold us a half price replacement canister.

Tuesday, 7/18/23

 We tried out the chicken tenders from Aldi, after the big success with the Target brand. Not quite as cood, in my opinion, but not bad. We also had rice, and Jason and I finished up a cherry salad I had made (more like a relish but calling it a salad seems more nutritious).

Monday, 7/17/23

 Still living off the largesse of the weekend, we had sandwiches with cold cuts, plus potato salad (and cole slaw for Jason). Jason and Carter were scared of the ciabatta rolls, but they were perfect after a little trip to the toaster oven.

Sunday, 7/16/23

 Rice noodle bowls, with sautéed pork (with ginger, garlic and scallions). I thought we had chicken in the freezer, but no. Ground pork is tastier anyway. For garnished we had: carrots, cucumbers, mint, cilantro, basic, peanuts and nuoc cham, plus hoisin and chili crisp. A nice cool dinner on a hot night! Actually it was better than I hoped so that was a nice surprise.

And all done on the porch (you are welcome, Jason).

Saturday. 7/15/23

 Burgers and potato salad and regular salad for dinner (thanks for overbuying, aunties!). Carter was full of praise for my burger, but sadly there was only enough ground beef for one burger each, so he had to have beans and franks for second dinner. Poor hungry boy.

Friday, 7/14/23

 More family dinner! I was sad that Corrina still wasn't feeling great, but she was able to join us for a while. Lots of tasty sandwiches and whatnot, but the best part is seeing everyone. I was also happy to hear from my dad the next day that he had really enjoyed it.

Hard to say goodbye, but we consoled ourselves with a LOT of leftovers.

Thursday, 7/13/23

 Family dinner in Whately! Snacks and pizza and so much fun.

A few of my favorite people

Wednesday, 7/12/23

 We had a lot of leftover homemade bagels, so Jason and I had bagels and watermelon for dinner. Jason was tired of smoked salmon, so we tried prosciutto instead. It was nice, but felt a little bit like a waste of prosciutto.

ps we are allowed to use the toaster oven indoors

Tuesday, 7/11/23

 Since Carter was having dinner with his grandparents, I made pasta with zucchini (from SK) for Jason and myself. Honestly, though, it just tastes like garlic, parm and butter by the time it's done. We broke out our new electric skillet to use on the porch and it was very successful, except that we can't use it at the same time as the hot plate, so I had to cook the pasta first and this really prolonged dinner making. It is getting ridiculous and I bet the neighbors think I am very eccentric. If this is my future for every summer, I will pay for splits myself.

Monday, 7/10/23

As a treat for Carter I made burritos with hamburger and refried beans, how he likes them. He gratifyingly ate 3. That taco seasoning from Aldi may not scream "authentic" but it really gives the beef that cheap Mexican restaurant flavor we secretly love. Raspberry shortcake for dessert (now THAT heated up the house) with drop biscuits from SK and the last of our berries. It was a prolific year and I am sad to see the season end.

Sunday, 7/9/23

 Leftover peanut sauce with rice and grilled tofu. Grilling the tofu worked fine, which is good since Jason won't let me cook in the house. I fear he is going to install some kind of outdoor oven and make me wash up with the hose, too. He says it is so we don't heat up the kitchen, but I think he just doesn't want me using his nice clean stove.

Saturday, 7/8/23

 I read an article somewhere that said that Target had the best frozen chicken tenders. I love a chicken tender, and knew that we could also cook them in the air fryer (outside!) so we picked some up and had them for dinner with a salad. They were so good! Better and easier than making my own. But at $8 for a bag that barely fed the three of us, it will probably not be a regular occurrence. 

Friday, 7/7/23

Giant breakfast of bacon, eggs and bagels, all done up in the Ooni. I was dubious but everything turned out really well! Then another hike, lunch (bread and cheese, mostly) in Shelburne and home for a LOT of showering.  We weren't hungry for dinner so just had some S'mores.

Thursday, 7/6/23

 Camping and hiking in Savoy with Jen and John! John bought a fancy little Ooni pizza oven and was determined to use it. The good: sausage and steak grilled up beautifully (the NY strip from Pekarski's was just so flavorful and tender. It didn't need anything). The pizza was not what I would call a success. The dough was maybe too warm, and there should have been a lot more fuel prepped for the oven. Also, Jason maybe should not have had the bourbon before cooking.  Anyway, a couple of the pizzas were edible, but not amazing. I think another trial while not camping is warranted. S'mores for dessert. The grill came in handy when the power went out (we had been feeling so smug for having the only cabin with electricity!) and John was able to boil water for coffee the next morning.

The view of Adams

Wednesday, 7/5/23

 Jason and I had the leftover chicken and peanut sauce, but with rice instead of noodles. We agreed that rice was an improvement.

ps: raspberry fool does NOT hold up well and cannot be re-whipped.

Tuesday, 7/4/23

 Grilled chicken (with a soy/fish sauce/lime marinade from the NYT), plus noodles with peanut sauce (no recipe). Served with some quick cucumber pickled and sugar snap peas. Carter is still indifferent to peanut sauce. I made raspberry fool for dessert (roughly from a Pioneer Woman recipe) but the boys weren't very impressed. I liked it but agreed that it could have used more sugar.

Monday, 7/3/23

 Leftover pizza. Meh.

Sunday, 7/2/23

 Jason is so paranoid about cooking in the heat and overheating the kitchen that we set up a whole crazy situation on the porch. Pinto beans going in the Instant Pot (45 minutes, 20 minutes natural release---perfectly done; 3:1 water to beans), rice in the rice cooker, and zucchini fritters (SK: skipped scallions, added feta) in the deep fryer. I find all of this fairly contrived, but if he is willing to stand out there (in the heat, I might add) then OK. So, rice and beans for dinner plus the fritters which were quite good. Actually less greasy than pan-frying! Our only note is to make them a bit smaller so that they cook through more thoroughly. I think I am seeing an electric skillet in our future; we are going to need a bigger porch.

Saturday, 7/1/23

 Dinner with Jay and Jodi. We brought bread and some zucchini from the farm; Jodi made a pasta with the zucchini, onions, and tempeh. I wasn't sure how Carter would feel about that but he was a fan. I don't bother bringing a dessert since Jodi never eats any. Instead we came home and finished off the shortcakes (with raspberries from the yard).

Friday, 6/30/23

 Back on the mushroom/pepperoni pizza. Good even if Jason forgot the pepperoncini.

Thursday, 6/29/23

 I knew Carter would be home for dinner so I went with a surefire winner of sushi bowl. No surprises: tuna, surimi, avocado, edamame, mango.

Wednesday, 6/28/23

 Leftover pizza, salad, and strawberry shortcake. I used the drop biscuit recipe from SK and they were very easy and good if a little flat.

Tuesday, 6/27/23

 I made an absolutely enormous batch of macaroni and cheese, with the idea that Carter would be able to eat the leftovers through the week. Used proportion from Pioneer Woman, but basically just pretty straightforward. Served with peas.

Monday, 6/26/23

 Green rice with feta, from "I Dream of Dinner". I was feeling rushed, so I don't think it turned out as well as the first time. I didn't have any radishes, but a salsa verde that I made over the weekend was a good accompaniment. Carter ate it, but it didn't look like he was enjoying it.

Sunday, 6/25/23

 Huge lunch at Priya (thanks to Jason's parents) meant that we were still too full for dinner. We did manage to rouse ourselves from stupor to go to Maple Scoops at the Silo, since they were offering free ice cream for people named Jason (a nice coincidence on his birthday).

Saturday, 6/24/23

We had some leftover gravy....the only natural thing to have with it was tater tots and cheese. Fear not: I also made a salad with the last of the early summer lettuce from the farm. Carter even got home from work early enough to have some, so that was nice. 

Friday, 6/23/23

 A new variety of pizza! Jason came up with the starting point of ricotta and scallions (we have a LOT of scallions), and I proposed sauteed ground pork to go with it. It sounds a bit odd but was surprisingly successful. I think ground pork is so much tastier than beef. Anyway, a good dinner with the last of the lemon spice cake with raspberries from our yard.

Thursday, 6/22/23

 Dinner at Laurie's with Jen. Jason made both garlic flatbreads and pita, to go with Laurie's various dips and whatnot. Jen brought the makings for strawberry shortcake; I was glad to get some this summer (even if homemade might have been a little better {snob}). It was a lovely evening to sit out on the porch, snacking and admiring the kittens.

Wednesday, 6/21/23

 Tortilla soup, using up the leftover rotisserie chicken. I more or less followed a recipe from Smitten Kitchen, but added a little chiles in adobo for smoke & heat, and a small can of green chiles because why not?

Tasty and customizable with avocado, lime, cotija and cilantro.

Tuesday, 6/20/23

 Leftover pizza (Jason was in charge of re-heating) , plus a treat from one of Jason's farm friends: zangzi. These are a bit like tamales...sticky rice with a sweet or savory filling (pork in this case) steamed in bamboo leaves. Apparently you make them for the Dragon Boat festival. In any case, they were a nice side dish, and not something we had tried before.

I also made another lemon spice cake for dessert.

Monday, 6/19/23

 Day off meant we had time for dinner with Jen and John. We started off with a cocktail from SK that I had been wanting to try that featured black pepper syrup and muddled strawberries. John tinkered with it a bit and the results were nice! He also picked up steaks (!) for dinner; I just seared them in a hot pan with salt and pepper and then sliced them up. Chunky mashed potatoes and sauteed snap peas rounded things out (and of course bread from Jason). Dessert was a lemon spice cake from the NYT. It called for a loaf pan but I used a square cake pan (faster cooking FTW) and think it was a good call. I cooked it for 40 minutes but could probably have stopped at 35. Anyway, people liked it, especially with some of the leftover strawberries.

Sunday, 6/18/23

 Lots of errands in the morning, then watching Carter in a local tournament:

Before the sunburn

We picked up a rotisserie chicken on our travels, and had that for dinner along with a salad, a rosemary bread that Jason made, and a quick gravy. 

ps: that was one tired boy

Saturday, 6/17/23

 Long day going to a bar mitzvah in Lawrence. Aside from the rainy drive, it was pretty good: Will did a good job, there was ample food (Italian buffet; I wish I could have filled a doggie bag with all that leftover salumi), seeing Jeff and Sue, open bar. Plus we were right next to the New Balance outlet and had time to stock up before coming home.

 

Friday, 6/16/23

 Back on the pepperoni/mushroom pizza. Nothing to see here, folks.

Thursday, 6/15/23

 Panjeon, from a recipe from the Times. I omitted the kimchi and used a lot more scallions. This (plus the slightly too sesame-oily sauce) made up dinner. I wish they had been crispier (more oil is always the answer), but they were pretty good. Carter came home tired and sweaty from Ultimate and ate his without comment so I have no idea what he thought.

Wednesday, 6/14/23

 Pasta with pepperoni from the NYT (I have made it a couple of times before). A lot of flavor from not many ingredients. The only change I made was adding rosemary and cutting back on the fennel seeds (which can take over the dish). The recipe calls for 6 ounces of pepperoni and I never use that much but I can see how it would be good. I also made a salad with nice farm lettuce.

Tuesday, 6/13/23

 Jason made some corn tortillas, and we used some of the leftover pork to make tacos. This was a more fun use for the pork (and disguised it's shortcomings), thanks to all the condiments: pickled onions, feta cheese, avocado and tomatoes. Messy but delicious.

Monday, 6/12/23

 Leftover pizza. Jason was visibly shaken that I used what he considered to be a too thick baking sheet. He would NOT let it go. Sadly, he was right: in my attempt to keep the bottom from burning, it was a bit floppy.

How hard can it be to heat up pizza? Maybe I shouldn't be in charge of it anymore. I am like a failed Goldilocks.

Sunday, 6/11/23

 Pulled pork sandwiches; I did the pork shoulder in the Instant Pot (85 minutes, 10 minutes  natural release----I think 5 more minutes would have been an improvement) and while it was basically fine, I still think the slow cooker or oven is better. Stop trying to make it happen, Lace!

We also made another giant batch of hamantaschen....used up the prune, tried out rhubarb (from the SK cookbook) and more dulce de leche. For a recipe that makes 81 cookies we sure do blow through them quickly. Especially since Carter doesn't seem to be eating them.

Saturday, 6/10/23

 Dinner with Jen, John, Laurie and the new kittens:

Unnamed cutie

Laurie made a baked brie, and Jason made bread. And then we (I) scrounged uo dinner: hamburgers, asparagus, and a pasta with garlic, Asiago and cherry tomatoes. I made a cake from Food52 that was SO highly rated that it could never live up to its advance hype. Kind of like a chiffon cake with lots of cardamom seeds. I liked it, but it was almost too cardamom-y for me. I would maybe make it again with some of the other suggested flavorings (like maybe an orange-blossom syrup?). I do love a cake that doesn't need softened butter though. Anyway, super fun evening.

Friday, 6/9/23

 Pizza night, debuting a new topping: sausage, pepper and onion. Well, we have probably had that at some point in the past, but nonetheless it was a change of pace. Jason was all tuckered out from a day of babysitting, but he rallied.

Having a fine time at Maple Farms

Thursday, 6/8/23

 I keep planning rice and beans and then not making it. So we just had nachos for dinner (although I did use a can of black beans so that's something).

We have eaten a disturbing number of the hamantaschen.

Wednesday, 6/7/23

Jason won't stop bringing home lettuce from the farm, so I used some of the  leftover gochujang chicken, avocados and cherry tomatoes to make salads for us, using the sauce as a dressing. Pretty good! We also had a loaf of bread to round out the meal.