Journal

2010 - Week 41 Cooking Results

Oven-Toasted Ham, Brie and Apple Sandwiches (lets try this again)

After eating a chorizo, pepper and Manchego sandwich at the Mattas (they said it was from the Next Iron Chef) which was fantastic, I was hoping this turned out well.  It sure did.  It made for a tasty meal.  It was a very balanced taste, with sweet, tart, salty...really quite good.

Spaghetti and Meatballs (p84 October 2010 Bon Appétit)

I made this on Saturday.  It took a while to make, but turned out pretty well.  I started at a little after 4:PM and finished around 6:30 PM.  I found out that the immersion blender that I bought for this *cough* doesn't like being washed in the dishwasher and the blender attachment was, well, broken (I could've sworn I saw dishwasher safe somewhere).  So anyways, a little chunky sauce and braising the meatballs in the for a while and you come out with a wonderful dish of pasta.  Put on the side with some garlic toast and we're good to go.  Would I make it again?  The sauce was ok, but the meatballs were fantastic.  To the recipe writer:  Really?  Discard the onions?  Why?

Spaghetti and Meatballs with Garlic toast

Pork Chops with Bourbon-Apple pan sauce (RC October/November 2010 Cook's Country)

Some Blue Gate Farm Apple Butter, a bit of Cedar Ridge Distillery Iowa Bourbon and some lovely chops from Eden Farms.  How could it go wrong?  It can't.  It was a fantastic meal with a nice salad with a bit of my favorite feta on it and some corn on the side.  It turned out great.  The only thing I wished I did, was make a dressing for a salad..  I kind of wish I had the forethought to actually take a picture of the meal.

Pasta with Turkey Bolognese (p54 October/November 2010 Fine Cooking)

Since I had some ground chicken in the freezer, I used this to make the Bolognese.  I should've started earlier, but I fell a sleep on the couch, so when Shannon got home, I had to go up to make dinner.  Anyways, It turned out pretty well.  I liked the taste, I would like to actually make it with Turkey though.  I sort of rearranged how it was cooked, since I wanted to cook the raw ground chicken after the veggies and with them, so it was adjusted to meet those needs.

Turkey and Corn Quesadillas with Guacamole (p26 October/November 2010 Fine Cooking)

I used a roasted chicken (chipotle) from Gateway instead of the turkey.  And of course it turn out well.  How can you mess up Quesadillas?  Anyways, quick meal, the addition of the corn was nice.

Buttermilk Pancakes

So the thought was this week was either we wouldn't have enough time to cook dinner from coming back to Cedar Rapids, or we'd go out to La Mie, which is once again open for dinner.  Being that we're a bit behind on the budget, so the visit to La Mie for dinner, is getting delayed...again.  Anyways, I had some leftover buttermilk, so I whipped up some pancakes.  Quick meal.  However, if I read it right, which it is entirely possible that I did not, it did not have enough levener, which lead to very dense pancakes.