Journal

2010 - Week 32 Cooking Results

Running a bit late today, We went to go to the fair with Shannon's parents.  After a long day there (and me being extra good (pork tenderlin, Bauder's ice cream sandwhich and water, and that's it), we ended up going out to eat at the Gateway Market for dinner.  They had a special where they have 3 fair favorites, but their vegitarian counterparts.  Shannon had a Seitan Gyro and I had the State Fair Veggie Grinder.  Both were very good and I realized that it was my 4 veggie dinner in a row (movie night (Holly's turn), Gazpacho, Quinoa Salad, and then at Gateway).  Not that I'm thinking about that, but it is a interesting turn of events.  I heard a story on NPR about meatless Mondays and perhaps I'll implement that into my planning, but I doubt it.

Quinoa, Garbanzo, and Spinach Salad with Smoked Paprika Dressing (p48 June 2010 Bon Appétit)

 I used all my cucumber to make the Gazpacho, so I really didn't have it for this, but over this turned out ok.  I did like the dressing, though I did make a bit to much quinoa so I'll have to figure out something to do with it next week.

Potato Salad with Pancetta, Rosemary, and Lemon (p84 June 2010 Bon Appétit) (creamy, and uncured apple wood smoked bacon instead of pancetta) with Eden Farms Apple wood smoked hot dogs and Bratwurst

 I think I added to much lemon juice...or perhaps I just missed the mustard...but it still tasted good.  Oh that and I used bacon instead of Pancetta.

Tomato-Cucumber Gazpacho

 It was very hot, I didn't want to turn on an oven, so this wokred out well.  I used low sodium V8 as the base and then added tomatoes, cucumbers, skipped the onion (forgot to buy it), but I also added some spicy peppers to make it a bit warmer.  I used some poblanos and a couple of these peppers that are orange and red and similar to heat as a jalepeno.  I keep forgetting to write down what kind it is.  I think it turned out great.  I wasn't going to buy store bought croutons, so I served it with toast.

Pork Burgers

 Fatty porky goodness.  Need I say more?

2010 - Week 31 Cooking Results

Southwestern Grilled Chicken Salad with Tomato and Black Bean Salsa (p58 August/September 2010 Fine Cooking)

Easy, quickish, done.

Thai-Style Spicy Chicken in Lettuce Cups (p25 August/September 2010 Fine Cooking)

Unless I want to make a special run, lemon grass is a tough find in the bigger stores in the metro. I've made this before, and it always turns out pretty well. I really liked the way this turned out. It had a nice balance of flavors and made fore a relatively simple recipe.

Spaghetti Frittata with Arugula and Fresh Herbs (p57 August/September 2010 Fine Cooking)

This sounded strange, and almost didn't take the list of I should make this. But it did, and it actually turned out pretty well. It also demonstrated that my stove is clearly no where close to being balanced. Why put pasta in it? I have no idea, it didn't really add a ton to the texture, though the arugula (actually a mix of baby greens, Hy-Vee didn't have anything that was JUST arugula) cooked down, but because it was in the egg, it didn't get that odd texture. Anyways, it turned out well.

Spaghetti Frittata with Arugula and Fresh Herbs (look at the nice crust every where but that back corner...)

Ground Goat Kofta (meatballs made with onions, garlic, cilantro, jalapeno and spices) on rice

So I didn't end up using the rice...or garlic. But I did use a nice combination of Jalapeno, and several types of spicy peppers from Juan O'Sullivans Pepper Gardens along with a dash or 3 of hot paprika, some onion, leftover scallions, pepper and bacon (adds salt and fat) and an egg. When I was thinking about making this yesterday, as I was walking around the Farmer's market and I was thinking, do I really want to have this on rice? The answer came back as no, and I hoped that Carly from Proof was there so I could buy some flat bread (I like the new website). Could I have made my own? Sure, I suppose so, though I haven't ever, but since she was there, I bought from her instead (I suppose I would've had to start it the day before though). I was going to make a yogurt sauce (yogurt, cucumbers, tahini, some spices) and I actually started. Another part of my brain said this would go well simmered in a tomato sauce, but I didn't have enough tomatoes (canned or otherwise), so I started making a tomato sauce. So I have this start of a tomato sauce (can of fire roasted diced tomatoes, some tomato paste (left over), and a mix of O'Sullivan peppers) and a start of a yogurt sauce (without the spices and tahini). So I think, hey, you can make a tomato cream sauce, so why not a yogurt sauce? Though the cucumbers (bought that morning at the farmer's market, little stubby ones, but fragrant and delicious), might hold me back a little. I figure, why not risk it. I think it turned out well. So all in all, the dinner came together pretty well, and cleaned out a whole lot of stuff from the fridge (tomato paste, scallions, onions, diced peppers from earlier in the week). I guess the only draw back here, was that I had to much vegetable matter in the meat and they didn't hold together that well (made them hard to rotate while cooking in the pan. I suppose it would've been better if the onions were a fine dice like the peppers and scallions were. So after the sauce had cooked out a lot of the liquid (clearly not quite enough, from the water coming out of it, and the meat balls were cooked. I put the meat balls on the flat bread, topped with the sauce then added feta (at Shannon's suggestion) and some baby greens. It tasted pretty good. It still have some nice cucumber flavor through the sauce. I'm looking forward to having some of the leftovers for brunch or lunch, depending on when I get to it.

Goat meat balls with onion peppers, scallions, hot paprika with Feta and mixed baby greens on a Proof Flatbread

Tuna Salad with Sweet Pickle and Egg (p17 August/September 2010 Cook's Country)

I followed the recipe to a point. And the point here? I added mustard. I added some poblano peppers. It was pretty good.

Hamburgers with Poblano Peppers

I got some poblanos from Sean and Becki and figured they'd be a nice addition there. And it worked out well. I think, though, it could've used a bit more pepper to add taste to it, and perhaps a pepper relish after the fact. At some point, though, I suppose it might push the boundaries of Shannon's spicy tolerance. Anyways, simple but good combination.

2010 - Week 31 Cooking

2010 - Week 30 Cooking Results

Ham and Leek Frittata (Splendid Table Weeknight Kitchen)

 This was pretty easy to make, I suppose I've made enough frittatas that it is starting to become more of a second nature, and pretty good.  They were ham chunks, but more diced up ham deli slices.  Anyways, good, relatively quick (took me longer to move the dishes along) and for lunch on Friday, I used a couple of pieces (about 1/4rd of it) and made a sandwich with mustard and some greents.  It made for a good sandwich.

The Best Tuna Salad (p17 August/September 2010 Cook's Country)

This was, in now way shape and form, the best tuna salad.  Where's the mustard?  Anytype of mustard?  To me, mustard is a integral ingredient to any tuna salad.  Anyways, it was still good.  They added acid by adding lemon juice, which added a sort of bright flavor backnote, however, event with that, it just didn't have the flavor like I wanted.  I remember a recipe from a while ago where I was much more satisfied with the results as a whole.

The Best Tuna Salad (according to Cook's Country) with Carrots, Celery and Yogurt with Strawberries

Jalapeno Burgers with Avocados

 I diced up 2 jalapeno, combined them with some George's Grind from Gateway and fried them up in a pan.  Because of the fat and the heat, the peppers loose most of their heat.  I suppose this could be adjusted but adding peppers on top, but I didn't do that.  Even so.  It had a nice taste and was quick to make.  I like the avocado addition because it's just a nice taste to have.

Emu Bratwurst with Tex-Mex Rice (p15 August/September 2010 Cook's Country)

 I believe I stated that I liked Emu Brats, but I liked pork ones better.  The rice worked out pretty well, it reminded me of the rice that my mom would make, though a bit different.  It worked well.  I had it as part of my lunch (with sour cream, which added a whole new level of tastiness), and we had it as a side for dinner later.  I did however, overheat it perhaps a bit.  I didn't turn he flame down enough while it was simmering to have the rice absorb the tomato juice and chicken stock (I think my original thought was that I would speed it up, but then I didn't adjust the time).

Roasted Pork Loin with Hobo Packs (p18 August/September 2010 Cook's Country)

 So I used a small section of a pork loin that I had in my freezer from Eden Farms.  It had a nice fat cap on the top of it.  I covered the pork in salt, pepper and hot paprika (to tie in with the potatoes).  I then put a little oil in a pan, and seared the loin on all sides for about 4 minutes per side. and then stuck it in the oven at 350° for a while.  This was the result:

Roasted Eden Farms Pork Loin

Before this, I glanced at the hobo packs recipe, vaguely, and then just kind of made roasted potatoes.  I cleaned the new potatoes from Emmack farms.  I tried to use some other potatoes that I had bought, but they had turned, so they went in the trash.  To about 3 pounds of potato, I added two diced jalapeno, two diced hatch chilies, some salt, pepper, tossed it with some olive oil and into a baking pan and into the oven.

I also made a simple mustard vinaigrette (Ad Hoc at Home) though I had to replace about half of the olive oil with canola oil, because I ran out.  Which turned out well (usually I use more vinegar then I should which makes it too tart for most peoples' tastes.  I tossed together some arugula and some Reichert's Basil Feta and set a little bowl of dressing on the side.  I had Shannon pick up some bread from La Mie and we called that a dinner.  The goal here was to try have the majority of dinner being eaten by everyone (one item not vegetarian friendly, one item not celiac friendly).  So this was the dinner as set:

Roasted Pork loin with salt pepper and hot paprika, roasted potatoes, Arugla and basil feta salad, mustard vinaigrette, La Mie bread and Jasper Winery Behind the Shed RedNow, for the issue.  Everything turned out really well, except the pork.  This is really my own fault, since I cooked it a bit too long.  I checked it when there was about half an hour left, and the temperature was looking good, but then when I took it out the next time, it was over the point where I wanted it.  *sigh*  This has been my problem for many of my medium sized hunks of meat...  It was still good, even though it was a bit dry.

Roast Chicken

The whole point of all these chickens is for me to practice roasting chickens.  And now that I'm getting that down, I decided that I need to practice carving the chicken.  So with this I tried to cut off the breasts for the sandwiches that I was going to make with it.  The chicken, good, me cutting off the breasts?  ehh...not so much.  More practice needed.  They did make good sandwiches though.

With the left over check, some leftover pork and a bit of tuna some dice celery and onion some of the mustard vinaigrette, mayo and mustard, I made a mixtures of this to make a salad to put on bread.  It was pretty good.

2010 - Week 30 Cooking

Week 30?  Already?

So Generally, for game night, I've allowed myself to indulge my excessive tendencies and buy the things that I wouldn't normally buy.  Things like dill pickle potato chips or etc.  I limited it to some chevre from Reichert's Dairy and then cut up some carrots and celery.  I suppose I'm trying to be good to some extent.  But even so, it's still tough.  Walking through THAT isle to get the pretzels was difficult, none the less.  So we'll go from there.

Last night we had our game night.  The attendance was lower then normal with only 3 Guests (Chris, Holly and Will).  But we had fun none the less.  Chris brought over LEGO Creationary and we played that first.  The point is to use legos to build something and have other people guess (or teams, the rules vary based on how you want to play.  It was interesting to see what was guessed on what.  I think my favorite was the the satellite truck that will tried to build.  He had wheels he pulled out a dish looking piece and there was the guess.  Will ended up winning that.  I imagine it would be a lot harder if you only had one guess.  Afterwards we played Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture, which, afterwards, we called it a night.  Glad to have it.  It always refreshes the batteries a bit.

 Lois also had a new culture for her robiola which gave it a whole new delicious taste.  I'm looking forward to getting some next week (the only reason why I didn't get one this week was because of the game night purchases).  I had a nice time at the market, cloudy (which I prefer), but not too humid and no rain...which is different from most of the other weekends so far.

Fox Hollow Farms had game hens, which I thoughtfully considered buying yesterday, but ended up not.  I am getting better with the roast chicken, but it's not quite good enough yet...but it's getting there.

  • Ham and Leek Frittata (Splendid Table Weeknight Kitchen)
  • The Best Tuna Salad (p17 August/September 2010 Cook's Country)
  • Jalapeno Burgers with Avocados
  • Emu Bratwurst with Tex-Mex Rice (p15 August/September 2010 Cook's Country)
  • Roasted Pork Loin with Hobo Packs (p18 August/September 2010 Cook's Country)
  • Roast Chicken

2010 - Week 29 Cooking Results

Fettuccine with Creamy Tomato and Sausage Sauce

 This recipe was ok, though I did like the rigatoni from two weeks ago better, but the big stand out here was the Mild Italian Sausage that it called for.  Being that they had a meat sale last week at Gateway, I got a pound of the Italian Sausage from there.  I thought it was quite good.  The fennel seeds that it had in there really added to the flavor profile.  So I may have to get that again.  Though I don't think it'll replace the place in my heart that the Graziano's Hot Italian Sausage has.

Hot Picadillo Sandwiches

 Why Not just call this Sloppy Joe's?  Or a fanciful one.  I do like the raisins and the mixture.  It did have a nice balanced taste.  It was a nice, relatively simple dinner, overall.  Add a little cheese to the sandwich, some arugula, and a little mustard and you got a delightful little meal.

Roast Chicken Enchiladas (kinda based on this, but not really)

Ok, not at all based on that recipe that I linked too.  So I roast the chicken, like I normally have been, let it cool took off the chicken and shredded it a bit, and then started to soak it in the Juan O'Sullivans Enchilada Sauce.  I then took some tamatillos, and a few kinds of peppers that I got from Juan O'Sullivans,
some farmer's market tomatoes and an onion or so, and start to saute them in a bit of oil, just to get a good chunk of the water to get out of the ingrediants.  So then I took the ingrediants that I had cooked in a pan.  I used a little more of the enchilada sauce and blended everything to a nice and small chunked salsa and added that in to the chicken.  Apprently I didn't cook them down long enough, because it was still a bit too wet, so I added some cheese to it to try to get it all to bind together well, and it looked like it would do well enough.  So I put everything together, added some sauce and pepper jack on top and cooked them for a while in a covered pan, then a while longer without a cover.  The taste was pretty good, but they were too wet.  Fall apart wet, not like they should be.  So I suppose I should've cooked it a bit longer uncovered, though by the time we ate it was getting a bit late, so we ate it perhaps a bit early.

Roast Chicken Salad

It was very hot and humid when I made this.  It made for a good break from a hot meal.

Tagliatelle with Fresh Corn Pesto

 This was surprisingly easy and surprisingly good.  It made for a good end of the week.

2010 - Week 29 Cooking

So after being so excited at the possibility of Iowa and Des Moines being featured in a No Reservations episode, we were led astray.  Even though two places are featured on the episode's web page, there was nothing in the episode about it.  They included such midwestern cities as Austin and Denver.  Honestly I don't see how Austin and Denver are in the "Heartland".  But that's just me.  Anyways I was disappoainted even more so because I actually watched it live, and that, is a rare occasion, a rare occasion indeed.

I am always happy to see promotion of my town in one way or another, and to get some exposure on a nation program, hopefully not in a bad light.  Des Moines has made quite the strides even since I moved here.  I am glad to see it grown into more and more of a city that I love to live in.

It got real warm and humid real fast at the market this morning.  I suppose it didnt help that I was wearing black shorts and a black t-shirt.  I really need to rethink my clothing, though my collection of black shirts is kind of large, so it would be a major shift.  By the time I had my shopping done, I was getting very uncomfortable, so I headed home, did a few more chores and then procided to hide in the basement.

I have slowly been reducing the frozen meats and etc in my freezer and I finally got tired of it, luckily for me there was a meat sale, and I stocked up.  Beef, elk, emu, buffalo, all have a home again in my freezer.  It's nice to see if mostly full.  Maybe I'll allow myself to stock up on pork, though I think I'll probably wait until the end of the regular market season to do that.

I'm doing this a bit early so I can make my grocery list, and get my shopping done early so we can go to my parents to visit w/ my oldest sister.

2010 - Week 28 Cooking Results

Buttered Farro (p219 Ad Hoc at Home)

This was interesting.  It was farily simple to do, but the new concept was to not let the Farro soak up all the liquid you cook it in.  Add more then it needs, then stop it when it's done.  I suppose it could work for rice too.  I should probably try that.  Anyways, I didn't fully follow the recipie, since I wasn't able to get all the ingrediants.  I riffed a bit.  Even so it was quite good.  We had this twice, once as it's own dinner and then on the side of the Pork Medallions.

Mustard-Seed-Crusted Pork Medallions with Red Wine Sauce

 So I suppose I would have preferred to had the red wine to drink, rather then make the sauce.  But even so, it was ok.  Shannon preferred to make sandwhiches out of these, so we took the pork medallions put them on some La Mie multi-grain bread.  We put a little cheddar cheese on them, arugula some dijonn mustard.  They were pretty good.  I used the onions in the suace, but not really the sauce...

Black-Bean Tostados with Roasted Tomatillo Sauce

So I was looking around for recipies that had Tamatillos in them...since I got some from the Sullivans.  The vast majorities of them were salsa...there has to be more out there.  Anyways, I made this nice vegitarian dish and it turned out pretty well.  I adjusted the tamatillio sauce a bit added a few things and what not, and it turned out pretty well.  It had a bit of heat, but not too much.

Yellowfin Tuna (sandwiches perhaps?)

We did end up having sandwhiches.  The tuna thawed out pretty well and cooked up nice and made for a decent sandwhich.

Cool and Creamy Macaroni Salad (p17 Summer 2010 Entertaining) with Bratwurst

For the salad, I added the leftover tamatillo sauce (to use it) and we ended up having this with the Tuna, and bratwurst again later in the week.