I did not get through all the items in the freezer that I wanted to.
So I picked up a few things yesterday (milk, juice, etc) and I'm not even doing a full shopping trip this week. This week will probably include getting rid of that last of the jarred pasta sauces that I will probably buy.
I guess we'll see how it turns out.
So during leftover week here, we went through a number of things in the freezer and emptied out a good chunk of the fridge as well.
I used some of the leftover meat that I couldn't put into the loaf pan, mad them into patties and we had Pork Burgers with Pineapple. It turned out very well...though Shannon didn't have any of the pineapple on hers. They had just put some pineapple out at Hy-Vee so I bought a whole one. The price difference between cut pineapple and whole pineapple is amazing. I was left with a large amount of pineapple leftover that I ate throughout the week. This would've been the first time I've chopped up a whole pineapple as well...
I also used the pork again and the leftover hummus put it on the pitas I bought for game night. It was simple to make and delicious. And then the pork was gone!
The country pate that was leftover, I then sliced, pan seared it, and made sandwiches out of it...Yes...this is the week of a whole lotta pork...
For movie night, I made Roasted rack of lamb with parsleyed breadcrumbs (p 319) out of The Bon Appetit Cookbook. I had told Shannon the night before, that I had planned on leaving work as early as possible so I would have plenty of time to make dinner. I didn't get home until 5:30 (obviously not leaving early)...so I was rushed to say the least. What was interesting about the rack of lamb is that there was only 2 bones coming out of the main section of the meat...which was weird. I think maybe I'm not really ready to clean up lamb like that...though it really wasn't that I hard I guess, it was just not something I've done before. It wasn't near as pretty as the Frenched racks I've bought before. I cooked them on the same pan with a bunch of quartered red potatoes (Shannon washed, cut them up, and coated them in olive oil).
Oh baked potatoes...so easy to make...
Last night I used some leftover beef from a while ago (frozen then rethawed). Cut it off the big hunk, sauteed them, and then cut them into small pieces. Used some purchased horseraddish sauce, some of the baby greens and the pitas again. It turned out very well.
My fridge is mostly full, already, and there are many leftovers to go through. I also want to get the meat that has been in the freezer used, before it spends too long in there.
For movie night, I'll be making Roasted rack of lamb with parsleyed breadcrumbs (p 319) out of The Bon Appetit Cookbook.
We'll see how the week goes.
It went pretty well out of The New Best Recipe: All-New Edition. Simple, clear, and concise directions that make the whole thing pretty easy to do..
Curried Egg Salad (p 122)
This was really good, simple and easy to make, we had them on the South Union ciabatta buns for quite a bit of combined flavors. I bought a new curry powder, that is quite fragrant and spicier then the curry powder/paste that I made last week.
Quick Turkey Burgers (p 381)
These didn't turn out as well as I thought it would. The problem was that It wanted me to use 1.25 pounds of ground turkey, and I didn't reduce the rest of the recipe to match the only a pound of ground turkey that I used...so it was fairly crumbly. The taste was good though.
Creamy Sweet Pea Soup (p 47)
This was very simple and bright in flavors and a very bright green in color. It really accentuated the peas with slight back flavor of cream.
Orecchiette with Broccoli, Sausage and Roasted Peppers (p 266)
I used less broccoli and more sausage and cheese then this asked for. I liked it. The one thing about it, that I had never really seen before, since I really hadn't paid much attention to the cooking of broccoli before is how it magically changes color. I watched it, through the lid, steam. And it just hit this magically point where it went from the dull green color to this magical bright color...that signifies it's done. It was interesting to watch.
Broiled Chicken Thighs with Spicy Jamaican Jerk Dipping Sauce (p 327)
This was good, and simple. cover pan, put chicken thighs on pan, cook, turn over, cook more, move up closer to the broiler, get a nice crust on the skin side (left it a bit to long, some got a bit of a char). Done! I did modify the sauce and added tomato paste and pureed it as well. It came out as a sort of spicy ketchup.
Hummus (p 13) (For game night)
Again...going to the point that this is easy as hell to make. Rinse, rinse, add, add, processor to a creamy goodness. Spice it up...taste...spice it up...taste. The thing I learned here is that with the cayenne pepper...and probably the other spices, when it sits together it kind of grows in spice. So instead of the forward taste of chickpeas, followed by the bright taste of the lemon juice and then a bit of a kick with the cayenne pepper, it was more of a smack in the face with the cayenne pepper and the more that you ate, the more the cayenne pepper took over and just dominated the whole flavor profile.
So...less cayenne pepper.
Pâté de Campagne (Country Pâté)
I'm running a bit behind in my magazines (Just started with February issues), so I read this article about pâté and the description buy the author, Molly Wizenberg, in the January issue of Bon Appetit, made me really want to try it. The way that she described is kind of like the way that I heard wine described. Once you find one that you like, you can expand your tastes from there. Getting over that sort of wtf is this, to the holy bajesus this was good. I was worried though. It's not something I've ever made, it seems extra snooty, a the thought of it was just kind of wierd. But the list of ingredients, pork, bacon, ham, how could it be bad? So I put out feelers to see if people would at least try it....Proctor sounded very enthusiastic others said they would try it...so I moved forward.
I understand that this is the country version, so it's not like smooth paste type of pâté that I had read about in the December issue of Bon Appetit, but this was really good.
When I got home from work on Friday I made the hummus, and started on the pâté. I sealed it up, put away, quickly made dinner and came back to it later. And because I did this I messed a few things up...so I had it all layered and packed together in the loaf pan and thought, "Crap...I forgot the eggs" So I unpacked everything, added the eggs to the meat and then repacked and layered everything.
It cooked a long time (2.25 hours) and I pulled it out of the oven around midnight, and put it in the fridge....A bit before the party started, I took it out...warmed it up a bit in hot water, and then got it out of the pan. It came out with this load of congealed combined pork and bacon fat. Which I proceeded to wipe off and I ended up with this beautiful loaf lined with bacon. Presentation alone it was very appealing.. With the bacon alternated colors...just a thing to behold.
I cut off a few slices and stuck them with my other GF stash for Courtney and tried a slice for myself. It was quite good, no weird odd flavors, just a wonderful combination...and on bread with the Dijon mustard...freaking fantastic.
It went over really well at game night too...I was very happy.
I'll be cooking out of The New Best Recipe: All-New Edition this week. In no particular order:
For game night, I will make some Hummus (p 13) from this cookbook as well...I may also make something else...but at least this.
Another week of cooking out of The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper: Recipes, Stories, and Opinions from Public Radio's Award-Winning Food Show turned out pretty well...I'm still fairly impressed with this cookbook. It's quite the collection.
Chicken Curry with Gentle Spices (p 205)
This was light, delicate and flavorful. I wasn't so strong that it left the lingering curry smell in the house. I did make my own paste, which was interesting...I may experiment with this further in the future. It talked about breaking the paste, which is to have the oils separate out. I think I accomplished this but seeing a picture of it would be kind of handy. I also could make my own mix of curry powered...hmmm...The only problems with thinking about this experiments is that you often have to test things one after another after another, so when it comes down to it, you may be eating the same thing over and over...it would be kind of obnoxious. I also am starting to enjoy the chicken thigh. Cheaper and more flavorful then the breasts. However my problem with it is that at Hy-Vee they don't have chicken thighs in the lower sodium, organic chicken.
Scilian Corkscrews with White Beans (p 159)
This is like many of the white beans + pasta that I've made this year. Who knew something so simple could be good? I do tend to add things on top of this, but it's good buy itself.
Filipino-Style Chicken Adobo (Chicken in tart Garlic sauce) (p 208)
I marinated the chicken for about 24 hours. This again used the marinade to reduce down and make a sauce. It was quite good, tasty and definitely tart. Holy smokes. The only issue that I had with this is when I reduced the sauce (by half or so) I had a lot of that smell just sort of permeate the kitchen... The kitchen still vaguely smells of this.
Black Pepper-Honey Steak (p 252)
This was good, simple and quick. I did cook steak at a medium, rather then the medium rare that I was going for, but even with that it created a nice crust and a flavorful taste to it. I served it with fries.
Tamarind-Glazed Pork Chops (p 239)
On this, I couldn't find the Tamarind paste...I found nectar (juice) and bought it, but beyond that I was unable to find this at Dahls, Hy-Vee, or Gateway Market. I know there is an asian market around here somewhere, but I'm not sure where. So I ended up not making this.
For Shannon's birthday week, I will once again, be cooking out of The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper: Recipes, Stories, and Opinions from Public Radio's Award-Winning Food Show.
In no particular order:
After a relatively short list from The No-Salt, Lowest-Sodium Cookbook, it turned out to be not to bad. Though most things needed a little more salt. It was a good use lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. The recipes were simple, and easy, but mostly spiced pretty tamely. Though I suppose it's a general cookbook for older folks with bland tastes.
Hummus (p 142) with Whole Wheat or Pita Bread (p 275)
The hummus was easy to make and pretty good. Though I added a bit more stuff then the recipe asked for, including some Franks Red Hot and Chipotle Tabasco. It was so easy that I was shocked that I actually have paid for this before. I guess you live and you learn. But it made a nice pita wrap and I actually used it a couple of days this week as a sandwich filling (with pepper jack and yellow mustard, pretty good) for my lunch.
Scrambled Eggs with Peppers and Mushrooms (p 127)
No milk, but lots of veggies...funny enough I think it was actually more veggies then eggs and I added an extra egg. But this actually still worked. And there was actual garlic in there too...I remember when I had a garlic egg combo catastrophe (what I did, no recipe, was gross). But it was ok...especially after I added a dash of salt on the top.
Leon's Pita Salad (p 192)
This was pretty good too. Adding a small amount of oil and lemon to it created a good dressing and made a good salad...though it doesn't stick with you very long. Both Thursday night and for me after eating it for lunch on Friday it was followed by some pita chips and the hummus.
Cajun Season Chicken with Mustard and Lemon (p 96)
I uh...didn't buy enough lemon at the beginning of the week. So I vaguely followed this recipe. The Cajun seasoning and then adding mustard after the first pass, actually enhanced the flavor. I served it with corn.
I bought The No-Salt, Lowest-Sodium Cookbook right after I was diagnosed with hypertension.
I never actually used the cookbook, but instead opted to make more things from scratch, read more labels and select things based on their sodium content.
So in no particular order:
Cooking out of How to Cook Everything : Quick Cooking, turned out pretty good.
Lamburgers with Smoked Mozzarella (p 80)
The smoked mozzarella that I bought was not near as smokey as some of the others that I've had, but it did make for a nice meal. I bought ground lamb for the first time from Hy-Vee, since they actually had it in stock. Normally I go to the Dahl's on Ingersol or Gateway Market to get the lamb.
Pasta with Sausage (p 26)
This was easy and super quick to make. Tasty...reheated though for leftovers, it left something to be desired. While originally worm, the fat and juices from the sausage clung well to the pasta, but after cooling and being reheated, I was left with fat on the bottom...Though I did modify this, by using twice as much sausage (bought it for something else and ended up using something else) and added a lot more cheese then it asked for (what can I say, I love cheese).
Sauteed Pork Chops (p 72)
I bought two beautiful Iowa pork chops to make this, but ended up only using one. I thought I could do it in my 10" pan, but to my findings, there was no way I could get the two pork chops to hind in there. After it was cooked, and I made a dijon mustard sauce for the chop, I cut it off the bone and put the sauce on it. It tasted very good and was very tender.
Chicken Satay (p 57)
This was probably, by far and away, the saltiest thing I made this week... It did something that I was actually surprised that it would tell you to do. I've only read warnings about using a marinade as a dip, but this actually had you cook the marinade down. Broiling the pieces of chicken thighs that had been in the marinade was fun and quick too. Anyways the dip was good, and neither of us got sick, so I'm guessing the length of time that it spent on the stove probably killed any germs that may have been there.
La Quercia Prosciutto Americano Lasagne (movie night)
I cannot state enough how good this was. Props to who ever came up with this. The Prosciutto was amazingly good in this application. I only wish there were more leftovers.
Crunchy Curried Chicken Breasts (p 55)
Even though I didn't batter them right (I think my batter was too thick) I think these turned out very well, taste wise. Having the curry spices between chicken and the batter probably just gave them enough heat to have them jump out and be fantastic. I also made a honey mustard dipping sauce with some Frank's Red Hot sauce in it...made a nice combination.