Saturday, 3/29/25

 It turned out to be a cold and rainy day, so I was glad to stay in for the most part and do some cooking projects. Dinner was a recipe from the NYT that was more of an inspiration: potato tacos. I added some chipotles to the potato filling, and swapped in queso fresco for the cheddar. I also ignored their salsa recipe in favor of quick-pickling some red onions, jalapenos and radishes. We made our own corn tortillas, but have gotten pretty efficient at that. You fill the tacos and then pan fry them (Jason insisted on doing that step on the skillet, so he is the one who had to stand outside in the cold). These were so good! The method was the real star, and any number of fillings would be good. We should definitely make these again.

Friday, 3/28/25

 Jay and Jodi's for.....pizza! Jason made many kinds, but my favorite had cream cheese, scallions, jalapenos and furikake. Dessert pizza with Nutella and strawberries was good.

Thursday, 3/27/25

 Deep dish pizza with sausage, peppers and onions, and ricotta. Not the lightest pizza we have ever made, and Jason was never truly convinced that it was fully cooked in the middle. I think I am looking forward to a no sauce pizza next week, although this was very nice.

Wednesday, 3/26/25

 Fish and chips, at Jason's request. The rest of our fish filets in the oven, french fries in the air fryer, and a cucumber-radish salad on the side. This was fine if not my favorite. I think I would rather have a tater tot over a french fry (at home, anyway). More reliable.

Tuesday, 3/25/25

 We bought corned beef when if was on sale last week, and I cooked it up with potatoes and carrots over the weekend. For once it wasn't overly salty (I remembered to rinse the meat well) and the dutch oven worked perfectly. I also roasted some cabbage to go with it, but we were in a hurry so I think it could have used more time. The oddest thing was that I made a small batch of brown gravy....from a packet. I was reading some food newsletter and the guy was praising them, and I have to admit it was good, in that very industrial, nostalgic way. I bet it would be perfect on poutine, My brisket is always a bit stringy, but I am just there for the potatoes anyway.

Monday, 3/24/25

 Took the day off to play with Ramona and Corrina. It was gross out, so we ending up exploring the Holyoke Mall which was pretty fun. Dinner was rice with spinach and broiled feta (from I Dream of Dinner) which I have apparently made at least 4 times now. I can't resist broiled feta, I guess.  As delicious as I remembered.

Sunday, 3/23/25

 Another dinner out? Why yes! I couldn't say no to Jen and John. Bread from Jason, blondies from me (SK; browned the butter and sprinkled with coarse salt). Blue Apron with chicken with a cherry-dijon sauce and roasted potatoes and carrots. A little wine, a little Top Chef.

Saturday, 3/22/25

 Dinner #2 with Jay and Jodi. This time Jason made pita and hummus and I made cinnamon popcorn. Then we all worked a little on an orzo dish with spinach and feta that Jodi got from Zack. It all seemed remarkably familiar and I realized that I made the same dish (from the NYT) about a month ago. I was only meh on my version but this one was somehow better. 

Friday, 3/21/25

 Somewhat surprise invitation from Jason's parents for dinner at Miss Saigon (#60 for our whole family, with various proteins and udon noodles for me. Good but needed more spice). I made a "Lazy-Daisy" cake from the NYT and people really liked it! It's a bit like a sponge cake, with a topping made from brown sugar, butter and coconut that you pour on once the cake is baked and then broil until nice and toasty.  Jason of course wanted to know why we can't make it with cake mix instead and I suppose we could but it was so easy anyway. A pretty good pay-off for not much work.

Thursday, 3/20/25

 A pizza that SOUNDED good: chicken, pesto, roasted red peppers and sun-dried tomatoes. And it wasn't bad by any means; I don't think our pesto was the best ever, and who knows how long it has been in the freezer. So we liked it but it wasn't one that we couldn't stop eating.

Wednesday, 3/19/25

 We had a busy day, including a stop at Primo's for Year of Pizza: Not Good. So much for a hidden gem nearby. So I was glad to just come home and eat leftover cabbage soup, unglamorous as it was.

Tuesday, 3/18/25

 I made an enormous (is there any other kind?)  pot of gumbo over the weekend, and since it is one of Carter's favorites, he came over. Funny how much more you appreciate home cooking when you live on your own. NAyway, I can never remember quite how I do it, so Lace, here you go:

I use the proportions from Serious Eats (although I just make do with however much sausage I have on hand)

I made the roux on the stovetop  in the Dutch oven

I separately cooked the sausage, chicken and vegetables (in this case on the porch using the electric skillet...brr!)

Heated up some chicken stock and added it to the roux once it was nice and dark (I could have gone darker but the clock was ticking), then  added everything to the dutch oven.

This worked well in preventing the roux from separating; overall I thought it could have been a little thicker, but then I never add okra or file powder so that's on me? I used andouille this time but a nice dark kielbasa also works. Anyway, we all enjoyed it over rice with some scallions and Frank's Red Hot.

Monday, 3/17/25

 One of the two huge pots of food I prepared over the weekend, cabbage soup (no recipe, just onions, carrots and cabbage). Jason made us our very own bread, which we had with some leftover ricotta and honey. I thought the soup could have used a little something more...sausage? Potatoes? But it's not bad and there is certainly plenty of it.

Sunday, 3/16/25

 A repeat of lentils diavolo, served over cavatappi. I had forgotten that I added feta last time, but didn't miss it. This is so good, especially for the very small amount of work. My only note is to add more jalapenos if you really want it spicy. We also had some roasted cauliflower. I boldly threw it right in.

Saturday, 3/15/25

 We had enormous grinders from Jersey Mike's (thank you, BOGO coupon) for lunch....I ate only half and had the rest for dinner. Jason cleaned out a few various leftovers

Friday, 3/14/25

 Busy and fun day with Ramona, and pizza for dinner. Tomato sauce, ricotta, artichoke hearts, and roasted red peppers. A little soggy but great nonetheless.

Thursday, 3/13/25

 Dinner with Jay and Jodi (and Zack!). We did a reprise of spring rolls with tofu. Jason: bread. Me: dipping sauce which was good but I didn't make quite enough.

Wednesday, 3/12/25

 Biscuit topped chicken pot pie, from the NYT. In the end I just decided to serve the biscuits separately. And since the commentariat didn't seem fond of the biscuit recipe, I just used my usual from from Sally's Baking Addiction (which had the bonus of not needing an egg). This was good but not amazing: partly user error (I didn't thicken the sauce enough) and partly the recipe---I just didn't love the chicken thighs in this application. I would have preferred breasts or rotisserie chicken. But still, creamy chicken over a delicious biscuit can't be all bad. We also had a Caesar-ish salad, with tomatoes, cucumbers and roasted red peppers.

Tuesday, 3/11/25

Dinner with dad, Liz and the kids! We enjoyed some lasagna, salad and chocolate pie; Jason made bread and we brought some hamantaschen too. Nice to see everyone, even if Carter had to dash out early for practice.

Monday, 3/10/25

 I just wasn't feeling broccoli and tofu, but had to soldier on anyway. Made a batch of sauce from Cravings and just sauteed the tofu, added par-boiled broccoli and the sauce, and served it all over spaghetti noodles. I crowded the pan so the tofu didn't crisp up (should have roasted it) and it didn't look lovely, but it was fine. Not my best work but nothing a little chili crisp couldn't fix.

Sunday, 3/9/25

 Pinto beans (50 minutes in the Instant pot and 15 minutes natural release=perfect), rice with a Goya packet, plus pickled red onions, pepperjack, salsa verde and cherry tomatoes. We also made some corn tortillas but I should have been  patient and gotten more color on them. Still a very good dinner....somewhere between tacos and a rice bowl.

Saturday, 3/8/25

 Dinner with Jen and John....John made cocktails, Jen grocery shopped, Jason made bread and I made the resulting grilled cheese. We were too lazy to have anything more healthful than that. A reprise of the hamantaschen (we made SO MANY).

Friday, 3/7/25

Dinner with Jay and Jodi; spring rolls with tofu, cabbage and brown rice. Jason made a superfluous bread, and we also made a lot of hamantaschen (1.5x the Bon Appetit recipe, homemade prune filling and dulce de leche).  The cookies were a big hit, even with Jodi! Maybe it takes her back to childhood Purim celebrations?

Thursday, 3/6/25

 Pizza night, but I wasn't feeling too inventive. So pepperoni, mozz, provolone and sun-dried tomatoes it was. Pretty good; even better re-heated for lunch.

Wednesday, 3/5/25

 Quinoa bowls with roasted zucchini, mushrooms and tofu, with peanut sauce. We also had a side of enoki mushrooms. Jodi gave them to us since she didn't know what to do with them; it turns out I don't either so I marinated them with Ponzu sauce, rice vinegar and sesame oil. They don't have a super ot of flavor, but the texture was fun, almost like a pasta.

Tuesday, 3/4/25

Crispy rice salad with halloumi and ginger-lime vinaigrette, from the NYT. OK, so I did made some changes (out of necessity): I used spinach instead of mixed greens, lemon because I was out of limes, feta instead of halloumi, and added cherry tomatoes. The feta was nice and flavorful, but didn't really hold up to grilling the way halloumi does; the vinaigrette was a bit too tart and oniony, but the crispy rice was very nice and overall I really liked it. No leftovers! And very quick to put together since the rice is made in advance (and I made the vinaigrette when I was home for lunch).

Monday, 3/3/25

 I let Jason run wild with his dinner request of fish and chips (Aldi fish fillets in the oven; a bag of crinkle cuts in the deep fryer). The fish was actually pretty good with some cocktail sauce (and tartar sauce for Jason), the fries were fine, and the tomato-cucumber salad I made to balance things out was crunchy and refreshing. 

Sunday, 3/2/25

 I prepped some leftover white beans with salsa verde and zucchini when I was home for lunch, and Jason made rice, so that we had time to decompress with a snack and a drink when I got home from work. Then I just popped the beans under the broiler with some pepperjack and dinner was ready. Perfectly fine and I am glad to have used up another freezer item.

Saturday, 3/1/25

Another very cold day of watching Ultimate, although at least it was at UMass so we could pop home for lunch. We lost every game so that didn't help. Then off to my dad and Liz's to go over some various legal stuff and pizza for dinner. I think that is four days of pizza in a row, which is high even for us. 

Friday, 2/28/25

Dinner with Jodi (Jay is off in Mexico and to hell with him); we made a stir-fry with whatever was hanging around, and Jason made a loaf of sesame-wheat bread.