Journal

Week 32 Cooking Results

So this week, my schedule got put off a bit by a a little grill out. But I ended up getting pre-made burgers from Gateway, one being of George's blend, the other being George's blend with some tomatoes, peppers and etc. Both were tasty.

Flank Steak Salad with Chimichurri Dressing (p105 Bon Appétit June 2009)

Made this for movie night. I think it turned out well. I did have to go to 3 stores to get flank steak...which I found silly...but on 2nd trips around over the past week, I did see at more then one place...but it wasn't there before. I thought this was tasty, though I wished I could have sliced the steak a bit more consistently thinner.

Onion, Spinach, and Ricotta Frittata (p49 Bon Appétit June 2009)

Ok, so this turned into a Onion, Ricotta and La Quercia Prosciutto Frittata...but it was easy, quick and fantastic. I also topped it with a vague attempt at the salsa below.

Juan O'Sullivans Garden Salsa Verde (PDF)

Oh food processor, how I love you. I vaguely followed the recipe above. Though I added way more tomatoes and lacked other things... Though I thought the salsa was good tasting, had the right amount of heat (for me), generally it was too wet (and I added too much cilantro). In talking to Sean Sullivan at the farmer's market this past week, he talked about getting a lot of the juice out of the tomatoes. I also watched a video they did about flash sauteing the tomatillos in olive oil before using. I also read in Cook's Illustrated about baking or broiling produce in the oven. So I'll call this attempt one, and move forward.

Spicy Orange Chicken Stir-Fry (p104 Bon Appétit June 2009)

This was good, and easy to make. I have starting added more water to the rice when I cook it because Shannon likes it better (about an extra 33% water). But this turned out very well, and was easy. Maybe not exactly like the orange chicken you'd get at your standard Chinese food, but maybe that's not a bad thing.

Fresh Tomato Sauce with Rosemary and Bacon (p24 Entertaining Summer 2009)

I did not make this, it will be made over the coming week.

Week 31 Cooking Results

Smoky Black Bean & Cheddar Burrito with Baby Spinach

Mash up some beans, add some spices, cook for a bit, blammo. I do often wonder where they get the cans that they claim. Almost every can of beans that I see at the store is in 15oz quantities, however this calls for 20oz...so...I'm guessing it was a bit under spiced, but it was still good. Especially after reheating it. I had this 3 meals in a row (dinner, breakfast, and lunch).

Bulgur Salad with Grilled Chicken and Parsley Pesto (p47 Bon Appétit June 2009)

This was pretty good, though I was generally upset with the quality of the apricots from Hy-Vee, I knew I should've just ignored the "fresh" and gone for the canned. Cause the fresh were quite a bit past their prime.

Chile and Cheese Tart (p104 Bon Appétit June 2009)

Took a while to cook, but it was pretty easy to do...

Hoisin Pork Tenderloin with Asian Carrot Salad (p104 Bon Appétit June 2009)

It told me to buy an asian salad dressing, but since I've pretty much made the decision that buying salad dressing is silly, I made my own...based on a recipe I found. It turned out ok, The Pork was great, but the salad...dunno...

Orecchiette with Caramelized Onions, Sugar Snap Peas, and Ricotta Cheese (p49 Bon Appétit June 2009)

This was super simple and good too. This has made me wonder about who buys the pasta styles at the local stores here (Dahl's, Hy-Vee, Gateway Market). Several recipes that I have used have called for orecchiette, which I don't think I've ever seen stocked, but they had Campanelle..and I said really? Oh well. There was a call for leftover products from this meal to make a frittata, but I'll be doing it anyways (even though I didn't really have leftovers from this).

Week 30 Cooking Results

As always, the Eden Farms Hot Dogs were quite good. I think this is their finalized recipe, but over all, I've liked each version that they have produced.

Fusilli with Green Beans, Pancetta, and Parmigiano (p44 Fine Cooking June/July 2009)

So after the la Quercia pancetta cooked in the pan, the recipe told me to drain out all but 1 tablespoon of the fat in the pan...and I thought, why would I want to do that? Though when the leftovers were cooled down, it did lead to have some fatty deposits on the noodles and etc, but after heating it back up, it mixed in well.

Juan O'Sullivan's Enchiladas (pdf)

Recommended by Sean and Becky down at the farmers market. I did add quite a bit more cilantro then asked, in both the meat and on top...cause that is just how I roll. But this was so easy I had wondered why I had never made enchiladas before...or at least in this style. I may come back to this and fancy it up a bit (shredded chicken or pork, maybe put some bacon in it). Nice, simple...though with $9+ of their products in/on it, maybe the recommendation is a bit in their self interest, but no matter, friendly people, great products.

Mexican Black Bean Burgers

Even though this told me to refrigerate this for a few hours before cooking, I really didn't have the time to do that...I wonder if it would've helped them stay together better...but I think every time I've made something resembling a veggie burger, it just doesn't stay together that well. I did add more spice then the recipe called for, but it was quite good.

Almond-Crusted Chicken and Nectarine Salad with Buttermilk-Chive Dressing (p76 Fine Cooking June/July 2009)

The debate on if I was going to modify this recipe or not... I was thinking that perhaps Shannon wouldn't appreciate the nectarines, but it turned out that she was ok with that. It's always a fun when you get to pound out a piece of chicken and let a little aggression out. This was tasty, though it did take a while to make.

Pork Chops with Sweet-and-Sour Onions (p86 Fine Cooking June/July 2009)

I should learn my lesson and stop making flavored onions. Seems like no matter how they are altered, they're not that popular with the wife. But the Eden Farms pork chops were nice and I liked it...and ended up eating pretty much the entire onion.

Week 30 Cooking

Wow! It's been 30 weeks?...

Bought some of the Eden Farms Hot Dogs, bacon and pork chops yesterday. So we'll be having some of that during the week.

Week 29 Cooking Results

Italian Grilled Cheese Sandwich (RC, Cook's Country June/July 2009)

This was very simple...well for me it was basically an excuse to eat pepperoni. One thing in the recipe stood out and often does stand out. A quick trip in the microwave to render out some of fat of thin meats. The pepperoni that was bought (at the deli counter) was a lot better then the normal stuff you get in the great big hormel package...but I guess you get what you pay for. The one problem I had was the bottom of the pan I was using to squish down the sandwiches, when it got hot, the bread started to stick to it...so next time, maybe a bit of oil or spray on the weight pan.

Portuguese-Style Grilled Pork Cutlets (RC, Cook's Country June/July 2009)

This created a spicy tart sauce. Fun too, cause you get to pound out the meat...which can be fun. It was made extra cheap since the pork was leftover (and I still have more leftover pork loin).

Tex-Mex Chicken with Chiles and Cheese (p86 Fine Cooking June/July 2009)

I used a jalapeño pepper that was given to me from a co-workers garden. It had a decent, but not over powering heat and a nice veggie flavor to it. Given my recent transactions with hot pans from the oven, I'm surprised that I didn't end up burning myself... Anyways, taste...probably would've been better over a bit of spanish rice...or something like that, but was still quite good.

Week 29 Cooking

For the next week, I'm using some leftovers and some pork leftover from the pork loin (though it's nice and frozen solid now).

  • Italian Grilled Cheese Sandwich (RC, Cook's Country June/July 2009)
  • Portuguese-Style Grilled Pork Cutlets (RC, Cook's Country June/July 2009)
  • Tex-Mex Chicken with Chiles and Cheese (p86 Fine Cooking June/July 2009)

Week 28 Cooking Results

Cheese Course (some of my favorite Iowa Cheeses, optional)

Feta was the most popular with the kids, since it had the gentlest flavor. But I had out the Feta, two kinds of Frisian Farms Gouda (cumin and smoked), some Maytag Blue and some Maytag Havarti.

Chive and Onion Stuffed Pork Loin

I over stuffed it. And the stuffing was a bit too loose. But beyond that it tasted good. But it was hard to serve. I'd do it again though. Especially now that I have butcher's twine and have done it before. It also couldn't hurt to get extra practice opening up the pork loin...since it was a bit hacked in some places.

Olive Oil, Parmesan, Chive, covered roasted new potatoes (Yukon and red, Iowa Grown)

I think I over stuffed the pan here. But they still turned out well, but I don't think they dried enough.

Salad of Iowa grown fresh greens and feta, with a balsamic dijon mustard vinaigrette

I layered the salad with greens, feta, tomatoes, and it worked for me. The vinaigrette turned out well

Duroc Pork Italian Sausage w/ tomatoes and Parmesan over pasta

This was from Vande Rose Farms...I forgot the parmesan though...but even so it turned out well. The sausage was tasty, but doesn't supplant my favorite (Graziano's).

Pasta with Chicken Tomatoes and Feta (RC, Cook's Country June/July 2009)

This was simple. I found it funny last night, that It took longer to boil the water and cook the pasta, then it did for the rest of the meal, including cooking the chicken. But this was simple and tasty. Very fresh.

Green Chile Cheeseburgers (p23 Cook's Country June/July 2009)

Shannon didn't want the topping (too spicy), but over all this was pretty good. I've used some of the leftovers to make Green Chile Cheesburgers Pizza on Friday. I still have leftovers, so we'll be having this again this next week.

2.5 Chocolate Cookies

This was based on a triple chocolate cookie, but I used white chocolate (had it in the cupboard), so...that doesn't really count as a full chocolate count. They turned out well. And one of the things I liked the most, is that unlike the cookies I normally make, these ones have a much shorter cook time, so instead of spending the entire evening baking, I was done in about 2 hours.

Week 28 Cooking

Well this will be another of the books week for the most part. I'm going to vaguley follow ideas from Grilled Rosemary Garlic Pork Roast (p18 Cook's Country June/July 2009)...but not really. Tonight Isaac will be back, along with my sister, a couple of her kids, and my parents, for dinner. I had a couple of ideas for doing this pork roast. One being using the chives out in the garden, some chives, onions and some other stuff. And doing a similar sort of treatment to the roasted potatoes. And make a salad as well. My other idea was to do a similar treatment, but replace the chives with chipotle peppers and adobo sauce...but I think maybe I'll do that for a movie night some night...since that might crank of the spice a bit to much.

So for tonight I'm planning:

  • Cheese Course (some of my favorite Iowa Cheeses, optional)
  • Chive and Onion Stuffed Pork Loin
  • Olive Oil, Parmesan, Chive, covered roasted new potatoes (Yukon and red, Iowa Grown)
  • Salad of Iowa grown fresh greens and feta, with a balsamic dijon mustard vinegrette
  • German Chocolate Cake (from Let Them Eat Cake) and Vanilla Ice Cream

Whew...

For the rest of the week:

  • Duroc Pork Italian Sausage w/ tomatoes and Parmesan over pasta
  • Pasta with Chicken Tomatoes and Feta (RC, Cook's Country June/July 2009)
  • Green Chile Cheeseburgers (p23 Cook's Country June/July 2009)

Oh and Thanks Proof for refilling my desire to cook, I was kinda just going through the motions, but proof kind of set me off in a new direction.

If anyone knows where to get fresh figs around here, let me know.