Thursday, 7/28/16

A repeat of a pasta that I tried back in April; I didn't have the called-for Calabrian chile paste then but I do now. Also had tomatoes, parm and lemon zest, plus I threw in a bit of leftover ricotta. Only pretty good. It was a bit too salty, and I think my tomatoes were just so-so. Served with corn and chicken-chipotle sausage.

Wednesday, 7/27/16

Picnic dinner and a concert behind the Whately Library with my folks. All we brought was brownies (a new recipe from the Times that was no real improvement on my regular recipe. No need to repeat it), but my Mom made a lovely pesto chicken and pasta salad, plus pretzels, grapes, pickles and crackers. We enjoyed the view and some cowboy music.

Tuesday, 7/26/16

Penultimate night of SULA....Carter had a friend come over after and Jason made a quick pizza for everyone. Basic and tasty. It was kind of nice to have a pizza with no leftovers for once.

Monday, 7/25/16

I have been enjoying reading "A Super Upsetting Cookbook About Sandwiches", and finally got around to making one of the creations tonight. This sandwich involved a few sub-recipes: avocado-ricotta (and a sub-sub recipe, making the ricotta), fried shallots, spicy cucumber pickles, but the assembly was quick. Jason made a loaf of bread and we melted good cheddar on the slices, and then topped each slice with the ricotta, pickles and shallots. I loved the flavor combination, Carter said it was "fine". I would make it again, but maybe just pick up some fried shallots from Mom's. Will use the pickle brine for other stuff, though. And the avocado-ricotta mixture was really lush and creamy.

Even with a new phone, this does not do justice. I need to read up on food photography.

Sunday, 7/24/16

A repeat of the fried chicken tenders, at the request (demand?) of Jason and Carter. I was worried they wouldn't be as good, because I'm really just winging the brine, but they both seemed happy. There was also salad, and some croutons that I found too crunchy. Oh, and watermelon.

Saturday, 7/23/16

Slow cooker pulled pork tacos, with homemade flour tortillas and a corn-avocado salsa, plus some corn off-the-cob. Making pork shoulder in the slow cooker is remarkably easy and delicious, and produces plenty of leftovers. An all-around win.

Friday, 7/22/16

Dinner at Jennie and David's: Jason brought his latest bread iteration (now with flax!) and I made a pie of my own invention: Nilla wafer crust, pastry cream and lots of fresh (uncooked) blueberries. it was pretty good! But I wish I could have put even more blueberries on top.