Thursday, 4/9/26

 I wanted to make the roasted pepper bread salad from "I Dream of Dinner" again, since I felt rushed the last time we had it. The only changes I made were to slice the stems off the peppers for easier eating, and to be a little more generous with the olive oil. Oh, and I added some roasted plum tomatoes. Excellent! A real keeper of a recipe.

Wednesday, 4/8/26

 The last time we were in Big Y, there was a sale of something ambiguously called "Chinese brand sausage", which looked suspiciously like Italian sausage. We decided to give it a try, although I had no clear idea what it tasted like (it wasn't real Chinese sausage, which is typically cured and kind of small and dry) or what to do with it. So I went with a very neutral giant sheet pan of cabbage, green beans, potatoes and onions, with the sausage nestled in, and roasted it in a hot oven. I made a chili crisp vinaigrette to go with it, and it wasn't bad! The sausage is a little sweet, with maybe a 5 Spice powder taste? Honestly my favorite part was the potatoes, especially the ones on the bottom that got crispy, but it was a easy and fairly quick meal.

Tuesday, 4/7/26

 OK, I wouldn't call lemony dumplings with peas (NYT) a total flop, but it wasn't my best work. I think I made the dumplings (more like a large spaetzle and honestly I should have just made spaetzle instead) too big, and even though I added extra salt, pepper and some parsley, they were still a tiny bit bland. The lemon butter sauce was good; Jason said there were too many peas. They just sort of flopped all around in the water....not appealing to look at. Probably won't go into rotation.

Monday, 4/6/26

 Grilled chicken with a coconut-chipotle marinade, from the NYT. After looking at the comments, I added some lime and a little fish sauce to the marinade; I skipped the step of basting and flipping the chicken, opting to instead reduce the leftover marinade in a skillet and then add the cooked chicken to the sauce. Served with rice and some roasted broccoli. I wasn't sure how this would be---the marinade wasn't super delicious on its own, but it was actually very tasty. The chicken was nice and moist, even though I subbed in breasts for thighs.

Sunday, 4/5/26

 Carter and his friend Jayme came for dinner; we kept it pretty simple with pepperoni pizza, salad and some of the lemon cookies. I think it went well, although she didn't eat a lot miss always makes me nervous.

Saturday, 4/4/26

 Celebrated the end of a heck of a week with dinner with Jen and John. Two Blue Aprons , both sort of rice and chicken bowls with slightly different toppings. Jason made a rye bread and Jen had some very nice cheese to go with it. Lemon cookies from "Dorie's Cookies"....I followed my own advice from last time and added extra lemon zest and could have added even more. Watched a dumb movie and got home late.

Friday, 4/3/26

 After a very stressful day (back to back appointments with the tax people and the dental surgeon, yay) we had a peaceful evening at home with tomato soup and Yorkshire pudding (a little undercooked but probably just as well what with the dental stuff).