Journal

Week 8 Cooking

In continuing with the short easy meal, I'll be cooking out of How to Cook Everything : Quick Cooking...which is basically a subset of How To Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food, but with all the quick stuff put together. I'm finding this is not uncommon, though it does make for some easy reference. For movie night, however, I'll be using a recipe from La Quercia for movie night. In no particular order:

  • Pasta with Sausage (p 26)
  • Crunchy Curried Chicken Breasts (p 55)
  • Chicken Satay (p 57)
  • Sauteed Pork Chops (p 72)
  • Lamburgers with Smoked Mozzarella (p 80)
  • La Quercia Prosciutto Americano Lasagne (movie night)

Week 7 Cooking Results

Over all, I wasn't generally impressed with the recipes in the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book. They were all generally fairly bland. It seemed very disjointed, some placed calling for dried spices (like garlic) and others calling for fresh. They often didn't specify at what level things should cook at on the stove top, which can change the recipe a lot. Other then that, it was fairly simple to cook out of, though I guess I did go out of my way for the easy cooking route.

Huevos Rancheros (p 227)

This was actually pretty easy, though I could have made it a lot fresher. I don't mind canned tomatoes, but if I can use fresh spicy peppers, I would prefer to. You basically soft boil the eggs in tomato mixture. I think it could have done better w/ a fresh jalapeno pepper, and some more spices. Though I did basically learn how to make a fairly simple chip...

Garlic Chicken (p 395)

This would've been a lot better if I had pounded out the chicken and then rolled it. The two piece that I had were of differing sizes, so while the thickest part of the breast was still needing cooking the smallest part was done...or getting over done. It did taste good though. That was a lot of garlic...and I mean a lot. Though it didn't taste bad.

Scalloped Mac and Ham (p 355)

This was pretty good, I added some cheese too it at the end.

Spicy Black Beans and Rice (p 61)

Spicy, my left foot. Even after adding more spices then it called for it was still on a fairly mild part of the spicy scale

Chili Mac Skillet (p 331)

This was easy to make...and if I would've thought about it, I could have made it in one pan. It was no where near as good as the chili that I made last year. It was basically a very simple chili with noodles added and cheese on top.

In conclusion for a end all be all cookbook, I prefer How To Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food over the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book,

Week 7 Cooking

This week I'll be cooking out of the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book. Though, it is not the 2006 version that I have linked to, but the 2000 edition. right off the bat, looking through this cookbook and the soup recipes just struck me as not as good as I've been growing used to. Bullion? yeah I don't think so. Anyways, this is one of Shannon's cookbooks, not one I picked out. I really tried to go out of the Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook, but between not being sure I could get the ingredients and some of them I know not being in season or even available, I went with this one. I think this will be a good break though, most of these recipes are fairly simple...and after spending 2+ hours on some of the recipes in the past...It'll be nice to be a bit more simple

  • Spicy Black Beans and Rice (p 61)
  • Huevos Rancheros (p 227)
  • Garlic Chicken (p 395)
  • Scalloped Mac and Ham (p 355)
  • Chili Mac Skillet (p 331)

Week 6 Cooking Results

Rigatoni with Tomatoes and Vodka (p 193)

This was so good...and just shockingly better then a vodka sauce that comes in a jar. Considering how easy it was to make, I doubt very much I'll ever buy a jarred vodka sauce again. Of course I'm finding that about most sauces. They sound complicated, but when it comes down to it, they really aren't. In checking my cupboard, there really is only one jarred sauce left. I was thinking about using it (along with a few of the tomato based leftovers from this week) just to clear out the fridge and open a bit of space in the cupboard.

Polenta with Sausage and Asiago (p 240)

This tasted very good. I'm still uncomfortable with polenta, because I don't know if I am getting the texture right. I almost thought it might be better just to make it like a cornbread with all the stuff in there in it. Any time you have big chunks of Asiago in something, it can't be too bad.

Jamaican Jerk Burgers with Orange-Chipotle Mayonnaise (p 182)

Josh and Lindsay came over to have this. It said to make it on the grill, but since my grill is basically falling apart that didn't happen. Probably would've been better though. With the marinade that went on the burgers (it had brown sugar in it) it quickly gave off a quite a bit of smoke (window had to be opened) and quickly blackened the outer layer of beef on the burgers. It tasted pretty good. though. The may was really simple to make, just a bit of chipotle a small bit of orange juice and some mayo...how simple is that? And it tasted really good.

Falafel with Cilantro Yogurt in Pita Bread (p 259-260)

Movie night ended up not happening, however, I still made the falafel. I don't know if I made these right. It said I was supposed to be able to form patties of sorts out of the mixture...it was far too liquidy to do that. Though I was able to get a flour side down, brown, warm solidify the falafel a bit more. It turned out really good though. Spicy, tasty and I'm guessing good for you (no bad fats, not a lot of salt).

Chicken Paprikas (p 333-4)

I made this last night. It used a lot of paprika (5 teaspoons of sweet and 1/2 teaspoon of hot), which is how, I understand, paprika is used. It turned out very well, good tender flavorful chicken with a thick spicy sauce of onions, peppers, and garlic. The only draw back here, is that it said to slice the red peppers, which I know Shannon doesn't like large pieces of bell peppers. So I cut them down a bit. It worked well.

Week 6 Cooking

This week I'll be cooking out of The Bon Appetit Cookbook. I read their magazine (along with a few others), and cook out of it from time to time.

This week it'll be, in no particular order:

  • Jamaican Jerk Burgers with Orange-Chipotle Mayonnaise (p 182)
  • Rigatoni with Tomatoes and Vodka (p 193)
  • Polenta with Sausage and Asiago (p 240)
  • Falafel with Cilantro Yogurt in Pita Bread (p 259-260) (Movie Night)
  • Chicken Paprikas (p 333-4)

Week 5 Cooking Results

So this week, I was cooking out of The Irish Spirit: Recipes Inspired by the Legendary Drinks of Ireland. I gotta say that I've never cooked with so much alcohol i my life. Sometimes I use it here or there, but never to this extent. The week started off very good, but then went down hill...as far as Shannon was concerned. The last two she didn't like so much.

Oh I did like the Irish Mist...It was like a decent whiskey combined with honey and some spices, dangerously easy to drink.

Gaelic Steak (p 17)

The sauce that went over the steak had a bit of whiskey in it...it called for Irish...but I used some Scotch whiskey instead (since I have many bottles). I actually purposely used mushrooms...which, is, shall we say, quite uncommon for me. Since neither Shannon nor I are big fans. But this turned out quite well.

Chicken Cashel Blue (p 24)

I made bread crumbs (basically took an entire La Mie ciabatta, food processored it, toasted them and put the leftovers in the freezer), and it had a wonderful crust on it when I was done. I didn't use Cashel Blue, but Maytag blue (not near as expensive). I do think I could have made it better, but it turned out well.

Beef in Ale with Cheese Cobbler (p 54)

I liked this quite a bit. Though when it was cold and I warned up some leftovers for lunch, the ale undertones were overbearing...but when warmed up again. It was quite good again. I quite understand whey Shannon didn't like it. if it was less ale and more beef broth, I think it would've gone over better. I used Boulevard Irish Red Ale. We both, however, really loved the cheese cobbler. These were fairly similar to the muffin things that Holly makes from time to time. I think the cobbler with the stew was quite good.

Tulach Mhor Lamb Casserole (p 112)

This one I didn't get at all. It said slice, I did, it said combine chicken broth and Irish Mist, I did. It said cover, I covered, it said bake for a long time. It said uncover and bake some more, I did.

I think if I made cubes of potates, diced the unions and mixed it all together...added less liquid (like lamb isn't gonna give off a lot of juices anyways) and then pretty much do it the same way...but maybe some cheese and bread crumbs on top to finish with, it'd be a lot better.

Week 5 Cooking

This week I'll be cooking out of The Irish Spirit: Recipes Inspired by the Legendary Drinks of Ireland. One of the things I really wanted to make, Medieval Stew with Stout (p 51), was very time consuming...so I'll have to do it some other time when I have lots of time to cook...or for a movie night. There are quite a number of desserts that I'd like to make out of there too.

So in no particular order:

  • Gaelic Steak (p 17)
  • Chicken Cashel Blue (p 24)
  • Beef in Ale with Cheese Cobbler (p 54)
  • Tulach Mhor Lamb Casserole (p 112)

Week 4 Cooking Results

So in cooking this week using The Best Light Recipe cookbook...there was quite a bit of prep, but it generally went pretty well.

Corn Chowder (p 84)

Since I didn't have fresh corn (being that it's the middle of winter), I used frozen, thawed corn. Then food processored about half of it (like the recipe called for). But it went well...tasted good.

Quinoa Pilaf with Corn and Jalapenos (p 149)

The cooking class I went to last week, they told me they used it in their cooking and being that it is a pseudocereal and high nutritive value, I figured I'd make this. Since it is a side, I made simple pork chops with them. This took longer then I expected. But it turned out well, and quite tasty. I do believe I'll be doing more this type of thing later.

Barley Risotto (p 138)

This was quite good. Creamy, a bit of a chew and some fresh herbal flavors. I combined it with a a cut up sauted chicken breast. It was nice...I even had it on it's own as a lunch. It took a lot longer then I expected however, so much so that I actually served the last of our good cheeses and some crackers to myself and Shannon before I was done.

Pasta with Beans and Greens (p 170)

Now this was a struggle. Just over an hour of prep. The fresh kale was annoying as all get out (I've never used it before). Cut out the rib of the leaf, over and over and over, cut it into small segments. Ugh. Anyways after I was finally done with prep, I started cooking and had about another hour under my belt before I was finally done. I think it was good. The kale, which had entirely filled my big Chantal pot to over flowing, reduced down fairly well.

I think maybe it would have been better with fresh tender leaves of spinach combined at the end.

Over all this week was a week of new things. I've never really worked with barley, quinoa or kale before....so it was interesting to say the least.

In the future I may have to change when I plan dinners. I know I want to include going to the farmers market in my shopping for foods (it's on Saturday mornings). Plus there are times, like this weekend, where I cannot keep the schedule. so maybe I'll have to plan during the week, get ready and then do the shopping broken up between the farmers market and regular shopping. This week, I've still not planned what we're eating for the week and plan on going shopping tomorrow after work.

Week 3 Cooking Results

How To Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food (Original 1998 edition) proved to be as good as I thought it would be. In the past, I have often used it as a starting point for recipes, and this week was no change to that...though with half of the recipes from the book that I used with this week just modified them flat out.

Black Beans with Niman Ranch Chorizo & Rice (card)

This card turned out to be very good. It was a nice combination of meat rice, and vegtable matter. Maybe it could have been a bit spicier...if that's what you are looking for I suppose

Chicken Soup with Rice (p. 73)

This one wasn't really meant to be a main course. So I added peas, corn, carrots and more chicken to make it more of a stew, then a soup. I suppose the soup would turn out to be pretty good, though, if you were sickly and just wanted something nice, simple and warming.

Spaghetti alla Carbonara (p. 141)

Anything that uses bacon fat in the recipe can't be that bad. I really enjoyed how simple this was to make and how good it tasted. though I doubt very much I'd ever order this in a restaurant again...cause it was seriously super easy.

Bean and Tomato Casserole (p 512)

I started out with the idea to remain true to this recipe, but when I was in the store, I thought more about making into a sort of Mexican type lasagna. So I layered it not only with the tomatoes, but also with tortillas. I added diced tomatoes and left over turkey that I cooked up to the beans, and lessened the amount of beans that I used to get around the total of 6 cups of filling that it called for. I also added two jalapeno peppers.

Spicy Tofu with Ground Pork (p 526)

I've used tofu before, but not very often...so something with so much tofu was a bit daunting at first. But it turned out OK. I think that if I was able to flavor the tofu before hand, it might have been better. Also, I was a bit surprised by what it called for right of the bat. The recipe said that it'd take about half an hour, but the first instruction was to firm up the firm tofu by letting it get dryer for about an hour. I think an hour is a bit hard to fit into 30 minutes, though this is not the first recipe to do this...and I guess that's what I get for not reading the whole thing before making it.