Thursday, 9/26/24

 Pizza night with an old favorite: salami, cherry peppers, provolone and mushrooms. Turned out very well; a  sort of copycat idea from Bertucci's (RIP, forever in our hearts). We had extra milk laying around so while the pizza was baking I made a batch of SK chocolate pudding that is as easy as it is delicious.

Wednesday, 9/25/24

 A big swing for me: roasted salmon with a gochujang glaze (NYT). I don't love salmon generally, but I figured everyone else in the world does, so maybe I was wrong? Nope, still don't love it, but it may be partly due to the fact that I slightly overcooked our very thin filets. Oh well, at least the accompanying noodles with spinach, garlic, bok choy and scallions were excellent.

Tuesday, 9/24/24

 Roasted cabbage and tofu, with both some chili crisp vinaigrette (which I obviously am in love with) and hoisin-tahini sauce (maybe a bit too sweet). Rice on the side. Such an easy and tasty way to cook cabbage.

Monday, 9/23/24

 We had spent some time on Saturday making a big batch of blintzes, and so invited Carter to dinner since he loves them so much. We had a little trouble with the filling, as our recipe called for a pound of farmers cheese, which we didn't have (and only rarely do?) so we added extra cottage cheese and cream cheese, but it was still a little drippy. Jason reluctantly added a bit of flour at my urging, which helped. but I think we need to:

a. pony up for the farmers cheese

b. drain the cottage cheese

or

c. add more cream cheese

Anyway, they turned out fine, Carter was happy, and baking them in a 400 degree oven on an oiled sheet pan worked perfectly. I am not afraid to fry, but if the results are just as good, why bother? Also, we ended up with an extra crepe because my first few are always a bit small. 

Sunday, 9/22/24

 Bread and cheese (thanks, Corrina) and pickles and some of the last of the season tomatoes. A dinner we both love.

Saturday, 9/21/24

 One of Jason's farm friends sent him a video of an eggplant recipe that didn't appeal to me, but he was insistent, so...

Anyhow, you roast whole eggplant, and then peel them and carefully flatten them out. A quick dip in egg and a flour/breadcrumb mix, and fry them until they are nice and crunchy. I thought the sauce choice was weird (sour cream, mayo, soy sauce and garlic) but OK. This was was better than I expected, and pretty easy, but Jason raved about it and wants me to make it again over the weekend. I might add a tomato sauce this time, though.

Friday, 9/20/24

 Jason had been longing for the fried chicken up at the Village Smokehouse again, but since they don't open for lunch, we went and had an early dinner (so uncharacteristic!). So we just split an order of fried chicken and lot of fried cheese curds. Do I feel good about this meal? I do not. Was it delicious? Yes it was.

Thursday, 9/19/24

 A new pizza idea...I basically thought it up, but so did the NYT so I just  followed their recipe for chicken buldak pizza. Spicy tomato sauce, chicken, plenty of mozzarella, hot peppers and red onions. Not as spicy as I feared and super tasty! You do need to marinate the chicken overnight, so it takes a bit of planning, but otherwise pretty basic. Another successful combo.

Wednesday, 9/18/24

 A creamy cauliflower pasta dish, from the NYT. You were supposed to sauté the cauliflower, but that just seemed impractical so I roasted it. I also used ricotta instead of heavy cream (we let some heavy cream go bad and now I am not allowed to buy any more since it is over $5 a quart). Oh, and I never have shallots but a small yellow onion worked fine. So it was more the idea of the dish. Although I did make the crunchy pecorino breadcrumbs, which were excellent. In the end this didn't end up being too different from other cauliflower dishes I have made, but it was very good nonetheless.

Tuesday, 9/17/24

 Deeply unattractive homefries. The swiss chard and leftover pinto beans I added did nothing to help, looks-wise. That didn't stop those potatoes from being delicious because potatoes + cheese = recipe for success. 

Monday, 9/16/24

 A nice quick dinner of a grilled eggplant salad (with peppers, cherry tomatoes and garlic), hummus and pita bread. One of our favorite ways to eat---a little of this and that.

Sunday, 9/15/24

 I had intended to make kung pao chicken, but I didn't really have the kind of chilis called for, so I just made kung pao-ish chicken, with scallions, ginger, garlic, bok choy, peanuts and chili crisp vinaigrette (which it seems I am happy to eat on basically everything). I did keep the step of "velveting" the chicken with cornstarch, which does indeed produce a lovely, tender texture. Plus rice. It was very good! Jason was sad that I cooked inside on the wok, but one cannot let the idea of the stove getting dirty utterly prevent you from using it.

Saturday, 9/14/24

 Our day took a turn when Jeff and Sue texted that they would be in town and wondered if we were around. Dinner was easy enough to postpone, so we took a nice hike with them and then had dinner at UMass.  My sushi and ramen were great, but I should have skipped the nachos. There is always one dish that is a bridge too far. I should remember that but I get greedy. I don't see too many more dining hall meals in our future, so thanks, Asa!

Friday, 9/13/24

 Dinner with Jen (no John, who was working). Bread from Jason, plus two Blue Aprons (both variations on chicken and curry, both delicious). While Jason and Jen were working on a sewing project I made a batch of SK Blondies (figuring correctly that the ingredients were basic enough to be on hand) that were well received if very slightly overcooked.

Thursday, 9/12/24

 I owed Jason a pepper and onion pizza, so I let him produce the whole thing without my interference. Even though sausage, raw peppers and onions will never be my favorite pizza topping, it wasn't bad. It reminded me of a Frontier special; we might as well have thrown on pepperoni, too.

Wednesday, 9/11/24

 Dinner with Jay and Jodi, to say goodbye to Sam who was heading back to college. We just made some pasta with onions and cherry tomatoes; Jason made bread and I brought a sampler of our many pickles. Carter came too, so it was nice to see the boys.

Tuesday, 9/10/24

 Eggplant grinders, at Jason's request. The last time we had them, we tried using fresh tomatoes instead of tomato sauce and both regretted it. So I made sure mine was plenty saucy and cheesy and it was great. Served with some of  our  many pickle varieties.

Monday, 9/9/24

 A dinner I was looking forward to and it did not disappoint. Chicken tacos with crispy cheddar....words I could not resist. I marinated the chicken with a sort of adobe mix and grilled it on Sunday evening; Jason made corn tortillas, and there was also a little sort-of pickled red onion element. But I was really here for the crispy cheddar, which couldn't be easier. Just put little mounds of shredded cheese on a sheetpan and bake until they are crispy discs. Really made the whole dish (even with just so-so supermarket pre-grated cheese). I wish I had taken a picture---they were so golden brown a good. Will definitely make these again.

Sunday, 9/8/24

 Just pancakes, sausage and bananas. More Jason's favorite than mine, but I owed him after the great pizza disappointment, I guess. We also had some zucchini (well, summer squash) bread that I made Saturday from an SK recipe. Finally used up all the summer squash; now to dispatch some cucumbers and eggplant.

Saturday, 9/7/24

 Long awaited birthday dinner at the North Village Smokehouse! Even Carter came along (and enjoyed it). My pulled pork sandwich was excellent, but honestly I was there for the company and the fried cheese curds. Hard to say which was better...

I have done a fair amount of pickling lately and wanted to remember all the sources:

Zucchini (or in this case, summer squash: https://www.browneyedbaker.com/zucchini-refrigerator-pickles-recipe/

Pickles: Smitten Kitchen

Hot and sweet peppers: https://www.loveandlemons.com/pickled-jalapenos/

Okra (sleeper hit): Bon Appetit

We eat the peppers on almost anything that needs a little hit of spice or acid. Thank you Sunset Farm for giving me too many vegetables!

And here is an obligatory shot of my two cuties:

He likes her but doesn't know what to do with her

Friday, 9/6/24

 Friday night at home! So nice to have ample time to cook dinner. I made a tofu and cabbage sheet pan situation, looking at various recipes to get a sense of it; we served it with rice and a hoisin-tahini sauce (NYT) that I couldn't resist. This turned out to be a great way to cook cabbage and we ate everything up. Dessert (I got to bake!) was maple-pecan shortbread bars from the NTY that was fantastic (Jason compares them favorably with pecan pie, but then he isn't a pie crust guy) if maybe a tiny bit undercooked. Nothing that chilling won't fix.

Thursday, 9/5/24

 Jason was out all day and didn't get home until after 6:30; luckily all our pizza ingredients were prepped and ready to go (green pepper and onion and pepperoni). I thought it was great; Jason was  slightly disappointed because he was picturing raw peppers and onions, and I had cooked them up, sausage grinder style. I promised him a redo for next week. Sadly we will never agree on raw onions and peppers on a pizza.

Wednesday, 9/4/24

 I realized that we could just have leftovers, so we did.

Tuesday, 9/3/24

 A roasted corn and chickpea salad with lime crema, from the NYT. My changes: used yogurt instead of sour cream for the crema, and I added some more ingredients to the salad for more joie de vivre: cucumber, cherry tomatoes, leftover grilled chicken and jalapenos. I liked it quite a bit the first day and even better for lunch the second day. I would also consider black bean over chickpeas.

Monday, 9/2/24

 Made the green chili macaroni and cheese with the whole megillah. Made my own salsa verde (spicy!) and marinated and grilled the chicken (the recipe called for poached but grilled was more flavorful). Jason used the Instant Pot to cook the pasta and I realized I could finish the whole thing in it using the saute function. This was my best idea yet, honestly. It's a nice deep pot and so it was easy to mix everything up. I had been tabling this recipe for a couple of weeks so I am glad to finally get around to making it.

(PS: doubled the pasta)

Sunday, 9/1/24

 Dinner with Jen....a Blue Apron with steak and mashed potatoes; oddly my favorite part was the roasted carrots. They were just roasted with olive oil and salt and pepper so I am not sure what made them so good. Time, probably. Jason made bread and I brought a cake. It was just a yellow cake from a mix with a coffee flavored ermine icing. How that icing vexed me. Too warm, too cool, too curdle-y. It was a whole production and was only barely not broken when I finally had to give up and frost the damn cake. Tasted good, though (and only I really knew, probably).

Saturday, 8/31/24

 Dinner with Jay and Jodi (plus Carter and Sam). Jason of course made bread and I made a double batch of the hot fudge sauce that Jodi likes. Jay made a simple but delicious pasta with onions and cherry tomatoes from their garden. It was nice having the boys there.

Friday, 8/30/24

 We were invited to a farm dinner at one of Jason's "co-workers". They have an amazing hidden back yard in South Amherst and there was a lot of tasty food and interesting people. Jason made a loaf of bread but I didn't even try it. I was too invested in the pulled chicken sliders.

Thursday, 8/29/24

 After much deliberation, I picked La Veracruzana for my birthday dinner. Carter joined us and we enjoyed queso fundido as an app and I had my favorite chiles rellenos and a spicy margarita. It wasn't the most exciting birthday ever but dinner was nice.

Wednesday, 8/28/24

 Grilled chicken thighs that I marinated with an old favorite from the NTY, a spicy, lime-y marinade with fish sauce, soy sauce and sesame. They grilled up beautifully ( I can't believe that I used to hate chicken thighs so much); we had them with some corn fritters from the freezer that we heated up in the air fryer and some tomatoes from the farm. I really love summer meals.