Wednesday, 2/25/26

 Last week Ramona said she wanted to "have pizza at my house with Grandma, Kiki, and Carter" and I was only too glad to make that happen. We picked up a couple from Frontier and had a very pleasant time.

Tuesday, 2/24/26

 Jason made us a loaf of fennel-onion bread, and I had made a pot of tomato-lentil soup from the NYT over the weekend. I also had Jason roast us some carrots....I didn't want to micromanage but I should have told him to cut them all into equal sized pieces. we got there eventually. The soup caught my eye for the inclusion of zaatar and goat cheese (even though I used feta) and that plus lemon zest added at the end were really what made it tasty. It had also somehow been a while since we had our own fresh bread so that was nice.

Monday, 2/23/26

 Snow day and I couldn't even do any cooking! Well, I did make a pan of basbousa from a mix that one of Jason's farm friends brought us from Egypt. It is kind of a funny mix since as far as I can tell it is just semolina flour and sugar and you have to add everything else (butter, yogurt, baking powder and a simple syrup). Dinner was pasta with spinach meatballs from the NYT (from my weekend cooking). Did I really need a meatball recipe? No, but they made a persuasive case for adding spinach to meatballs and they are quite good. Finished up the broccoli, too.

Sunday, 2/22/26

 It was with a sad glance at our utterly stuffed refrigerator that we headed to Jodi's for Bueno y Sano with Jason's parents. I inhaled my chicken burrito bowl. Even though it is pretty big, I always still feel a little bit hungry after.

Saturday, 2/21/26

 Over the course of Friday and Saturday, I made a LOT of food. So when we sat down to chana dal, samosas, cauliflower and both cilantro and date chutneys, I was dismayed with myself. Do I really need to cook enough for a family of 8? Anyway, I freestyled the filling for the samosas and used a recipe from The Ministry of Curry for the pastry. even though I made 1.5x the recipe, we still had way to much filling. They were also quite petite (not a problem) and had difficulty staying sealed. Luckily this wasn't a problem since we baked them, but still frustrating. so I would say double the pastry (or make less filling?) and pinch the hell out of them.

Friday, 2/20/25

 Stovetop macaroni and cheese, from Serious Eats. I usually like this, but it wasn't my favorite batch. Probably because I forgot to buy cheese and had to scrounge around in the freezer for some and the mixture was only meh. Served with steamed broccoli and various spicy toppings. Cilantro chutney was my favorite.

Thursday, 2/19/26

Jason made another round of the crispy pizza from KAF, this time with our own sauce, some pepperoni and provolone. Good, but I don't think it needs to be our default dough. I enjoy the variety, though.

Wednesday, 2/18/26

 I was all excited to make a brown butter pasta from the NYT, until a little research revealed that I made it a few months ago and wasn't delighted. So I kind of mashed up a few pasta ideas: grated zucchini (a win because it was looking a bit tired), browned butter, onion, garlic, parmesan, sun-dried tomatoes and plenty of Calabrian chilis. The brown butter flavor doesn't really come through so may not be worth it; otherwise very good. Jason had some kielbasa with his but I didn't need it.

Tuesday, 2/17/26

 Tofu and broccoli (roasted together for simplicity), rice, peanut sauce. I used the peanut sauce recipe from the NYT that goes with the dumpling salad, with plenty of chili crisp. Delicious.

Monday, 2/16/26

 Pita, eggplant (the amazing never ending bag of fried eggplant from the freezer), cucumbers, roasted tomatoes, yogurt-tahini sauce. Our new favorite way to eat fried eggplant  (sorry, Parm).

Sunday, 2/15/26

 Priya for lunch=no dinner. Particularly tasty options there today, but Carter was sad because the chicken Tikka masala was a bit too spicy for him.

Saturday, 2/14/26

 Who doesn't want to spend Valentine's making kimbap with their sweetheart? Maybe not so romantic, but it was good. Usual ingredients.

Friday, 2/13/26

 Dinner with Jen and John. Jason made bread and I made a very subpar gingerbread from Sally's Baking. Dry as hell, even though I pulled it a good 10 minutes early. The comments were pretty mixed, but I forged on anyway....should have stuck to SK. Oh well, big dollops pf maple whipped cream helped. Dinner was two Blue Aprons: a beef and carrot thing served over a curried rice (looked blah, tasted great) and ravioli with a Bolognese (I forgot the spinach, oops). The sauce was really good----I would have just served it over regular pasta if it were me. Fire and Olympics watching.

Thursday, 2/12/26

 I was looking forward to this roasted carrot dish from a newsletter I get.  While the description waxed rhapsodic about lovely winter carrots from the farmer's market, guess what? A bag of baby carrots from Aldi (it's all they had) worked fine. I also didn't have harissa but Calabrian chilis worked perfectly. Oh, and I left out the cinnamon.  Obviously didn't use vegan feta, either. Despite my lowbrow ways, this was truly delicious. Jason made pita for us, and I also had some oven-dried tomatoes. I can't wait to make it again.

500g small carrots, washed, trimmed and halved lengthwise
extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Salt and pepper
2 15-ounces/425g cans chickpeas, drained
2 tablespoons harissa paste
2 tablespoons maple syrup (or honey)
1 block (170g to 200g) vegan or dairy feta
juice and zest of 1 lemon (4 tablespoons juice, 1 tablespoon zest)
bread, to serve (optional)

Preheat oven to 425˚F / 220˚C.

Place the carrots onto a baking sheet and drizzle generously with olive oil. Add the cumin, cinnamon and season well with salt and pepper. Roast for 20 minutes.

Place the chickpeas into a bowl. Drizzle generously with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. Toss to coat.

Remove the carrots from the oven and give the tray a shake. Add the chickpeas and return the baking sheet to the oven until the carrots are golden and tender.

To make the whipped feta, place the feta, lemon juice and 4 tablespoons of water into a small blender or food processor. Blend until smooth and airy. If it’s too thick, add a touch more water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it is smooth and spreadable. Season with black pepper.

In a small bowl. Combine the harissa and maple syrup (or honey).

Remove the carrots and chickpeas from the oven and spoon over the harissa and maple mixture. Toss to coat the carrots and chickpeas.

Wednesday, 2/11/26

 I didn't actually make kielbasa-barley soup from the NYT; I just loosely used the idea. It did feature kielbasa, but we served it over egg noodles. This was fine, nothing special. Maybe the barley was actually the key.

Tuesday, 2/10/26

 Our planned Thursday dinner with Jodi got moved to tonight; she made burrito fillings and we brought chips and guacamole. The kielbasa soup will wait.

Monday, 2/9/26

 Even though it isn't complicated, the stupidly named Marry Me chicken (from the NYT) felt like too much for a week night. It did not help one tiny bit to be on the cold porch, possibly getting chilblains. There are just so many ingredients (tomato paste, cream, onions, garlic, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes plus my own additions of mushrooms and calabrian chilis) and it just needs some futzing to balance the flavors. I also made it with chicken thighs instead of breasts (as that is what we had) and I don't think it was an improvement. Anyhow, the end product was pretty good; served with regular rice.

Sunday, 2/8/26

 Tacos dorados, inspired by a recipe from the NYT. I see that I have actually made this twice before; I didn't like it the first time so I wonder why I tried again? Anyhow, we seem to have it down now, because they came together pretty quickly, despite all the steps. I had made the potato filling on Saturday, and chopped some sweet potatoes beforehand as well, to speed things along. Served with guacamole and some salsa that Jodi refused to eat and so gave to us.

Saturday, 2/7/25

 We finally got around to making a pizza recipe from King Arthur Flour (their recipe of the year, no less). It's basically a slapdash puff pastry crust (only one round of folding). I liked it, but I wasn't blown away. I think we should try again and let is rise for longer, and hydrate the dough a little more. I also used some  store bought sauce since we had it on hand and I think homemade is better on a pizza.

Friday, 2/6/26

 Sadly, we had to come home from the Porches (I almost convinced Jason to spend an extra night). To ease back in we just had Chex Mix (I made a giant batch on Tuesday) and ravioli with Aldi sauce from a jar, plus some leftover broccoli salad. I had read that the Aldi special sauce was the same as Rao's and TBH, it was pretty good.

Thursday, 2/5/26

 Ample breakfast at Porches made lunch unnecessary. We checked out Mass MoCA, took a little walk around town, and picked up some Big Y sushi for me (Jason was still working on the grinders). Fireplace, wine, Scrabble, hot tub. What else could I need?

Jason enjoying (or escaping?) art

Wednesday, 2/4/25

 A little mid-week getaway to North Adams! We stopped in Pittsfield on the way up for Year of Pizza (Crust....Jason was dubious but it was very good). A little visit to the Clark and then we were able to check in early. Dinner was Chex mix, grinders from home, and a broccoli salad with smoked almonds, dried cranberries and goat cheese (OK, not amazing). Chocolate chip welcome cookie for dessert. The room was a bit small but we made it work.

Tuesday, 2/3/26

 We just had leftovers for dinner....going away for a couple of nights so trying to get the fridge cleaned out somewhat.

Monday, 2/2/25

 "Lasagne Soup", from the NYT. Not a traditional red sauce type, but creamy, with Italian sausage and sage (skipped that). I liked this a lot, although  I would add even more cream next time (it was a bit thin, I though). I didn't use lasagne noodles (that felt like a dumb gimmick....cavatappi was fine) and followed the commentariat's suggestion of just adding the spinach at the time of stirring from keeping it from getting too wilty. 

Sunday, 2/1/26

 We had dinner with Jodi; she gamely tried the sweet potato and tofu curry that I made, but I wouldn't say she was a fan. It was from the NYT, and I thought it was really good what with the coconut and peanut butter. Would definitely make it again, especially as it seems pretty versatile (for example, I added the last of some mini peppers and a partial bag of green beans). Jason made a batch of pretzels that were better received. He used the King Arthur Flour and I would say they were a step up from when he wings it.

Saturday, 1/31/26

 Dinner with Jen and John and Laurie...an interesting Blue Apron of a sort of pierogi soup with spinach and dill. We let it sit a bit too long while gabbing and drinking, so the pierogis got a little mushy and the spinach lost its joie de vivre, but the flavors were good, especially with a little sour cream swirled in. Laurie brought some parm, olive oil and Balsamic from her recent tip to Italy---really nice with Jason's bread. I wanted to make something easy and comforting, so I did a boxed yellow cake with chocolate frosting (American buttercream from Sally's Baking Addiction; the cocoa powder tamps the sweetness). Turns out everyone was in the mood for a nostalgic cake. Home late again, bit at least it was a shorter drive!

Friday, 1/30/26

 Our Game Night friends invited us up to Stockbridge to check out their new condo, so that was an adventure. We all met for dinner in Lenox at a pizza place called Boema. I liked it, Jason was predictably underwhelmed. We shared some meatballs and a cheese pizza. Too late, I remembered that they offered  free hot honey as an add-on; I think it would have been an excellent addition. it was my turn to make dessert and I made Mexican hot chocolate cookies from the NYT. I think they went over well, especially with Scott. Games were fun, but we got home LATE. Maybe we should have taken them up on the offer to sleep over?

Thursday, 1/29/26

 Killed a small bag of wedge fries from the freezer, plus the last of an elderly loaf of cranberry-walnut bread. Turned out we also had three kinds of cheddar opened? I roasted some broccoli to tie it all together.

Wednesday, 1/28/26

 Sometimes I don't know what draws me to a recipe....what was it about  "One-Pot Cheesy Orecchiette With Cabbage and Paprika" that made me think it would be delicious? The word cheesy? I have no idea. It was fine, but the sour cream you add at the end (or in my case, yogurt) made it unpleasantly soupy. I might make it again with no yogurt and more cabbage and something to brighten it up a bit. Oddly enough, Jason loved it. You never know what will grab him

ps the leftovers, having soaked up the sauce, were better

pps didn't have orecchiette and used cavatappi