Journal

2013 - Week 14 Cooking

​Last night was this month's game night.  It was sparsely attended, but I wanted to have something to coincide with Table Top Day.  I made chocolate sugar cookies, and they they tasted good, but didn't look great.  So I'll have to make them again.  It didn't help that I had to take several breaks to hand stir them. and even though I was pretty sure there were lumps of sugar left in there.  I didn't get the crackled surface like the recipe indicated.  Oh well.  I'll try again, when I have time.

Thanks to all who came to the game night!​

​I continue with the simple meals, because I still have way to much stuff to do, to get home at a reasonable hour and cook for a couple of hours on a weeknight.  I was going to buy a ham, but I really didn't need a whole hame, and didn't really want to pay as much as was listed for the partial hams.  I would've liked to pick up an Eden Farms ham, but, I really don't need a whole ham.

Oh crud...cheese shop closed several days this week.  Must change plans.​

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2013 - Week 13 Cooking Results

Skillet Broccoli Macaroni and Cheese (RC Cook's Country April / May 2013)

Came together easy, after a long day of work, tasted pretty good.  It a creamy sauce and just right broccoli.  Good thing.​

indoor Burgers with Crispy Onions (RC Cook's Country April / May 2013)

So I didn't make the crispy onions, and instead of using america cheese, I used Holland Family Farm's 18 month Gouda and some La Quercia Tamworth Smoked Pancetta.  It did make a tasty burger.

So on a side note I understand why the fine folks at La Quercia have renamed the bacon to smoked pancetta (it's hard to justify the $/pound if someone thinks it is just bacon), but I don't really agree with it.  It really is diluting the idea of pancetta.  It still tastes good though.​

Hawaiian Fried Rice (p5 Cook's Country April / May 2013)

This is pretty much as expected.  Tasted good, came together quickly fit in well for the week.​

Hot Pepper Noodles (p22 Bon Appetit March 2013)

I made this on Friday.  Friday was the first day of the week that I actually got home at a reasonable hour, and I proceeded to nap instead of just coming home and starting to make dinner.​  This led to another late dinner like the rest of the week, but I sure felt good about it.

Soft Chicken Tacos

​Good repeat meal.  I used the Milton Creamery's Quark, like I did last time.  It was another wonderful suggestion from the Cheese Shop.

2013 - Week 13 Cooking

​So last week was crazy busy, this week is looking to be the same, along with the next few weeks.  So at that point we're going to simplify for the purpose of being able to survive the weeks ahead.

  • Skillet Broccoli Macaroni and Cheese (RC Cook's Country April / May 2013)
  • ​indoor Burgers with Crispy Onions (RC Cook's Country April / May 2013)
  • Hawaiian Fried Rice (p5 Cook's Country April / May 2013)​
  • Hot Pepper Noodles (p22 Bon Appetit March 2013)​
  • Soft Chicken Tacos

2013 - Week 12 Cooking Results

Ditalini with Chickpeas and Garlic Rosemary Oil

So this ended up being pretty good, it was filling, vegetarian and ​relatively quick to make.  Which was good.  Though I still struggled with timing all this week because of how busy I've been.  I added a bit of hot sauce, Shannon did not, we both were happy.

Avgolemono Chicken Soup

Such a simple set of ingredients, a ​simple but delicious flavor.  I used a chipotle rotisserie chicken and some leftover rice and it was a good quick combination.

Spiced Pumpkin Pancakes

Finally made it right, came out good, quick meal before we ran off to do something else.​

Moroccan Slow-Cooked Lamb

Skipped, for a good reason.​  We had eggs on toast instead.

Soft Chicken Tacos

​I love tacos, and during this time I added a new salsa I tried (Renfro's Jalapeno Green Salsa).  It really tied everything together nicely.  I may have to do this again... 

2013 - Week 11 Cooking Results

Pasta with Abruzzi-Style Lamb Sauce (p98 Food & Wine March 2013)​

This is the second meal made out of a shoulder of lamb.  I can probably do one more.  I really liked how this came together, the only draw back, was that I didn't season it enough early on.  So it definitely had a lack of salt to it.​  Adding salt after the fact was good enough, but not totally ideal.  I do try to use as little salt as possible in my cooking, because of my blood pressure, but that often leads to a bit of a borderline that sometimes you are on the under-seasoned side.

Ditalini with Chickpeas and Garlic Rosemary Oil

Delayed until next week.​

Avgolemono Chicken Soup

Delayed until next week.​

Egg Salad with Pickled Celery ​and Course Dijon

So I made my first, I think, pickled thing, It was pretty simple and quick and tasted pretty good, and made a nice addition to the simple egg salad that was here.  Plus I'm not sure if it was this method fo hard boiling eggs, or the eggs themselves, but they turned out just right and were pretty easy to get out of the shell.  I'd make this again.

Spiced Pumpkin Pancakes

​So uh...I forgot to add the pumpkin to these.  This wasn't the biggest deal I suppose, but it would've made the pancakes a bit fluffier.  Even so, they were good.  but I'll probably make them again, to get rid of that last can of pumpkin.  So they weren't as fluffy, but they did still have a nice flavor (bought some pumpkin pie spice mix).

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2013 - Week 10 Cooking Results

Chicken Goulash with Biscuit Dumplings (p64 Food & Wine March 2013)

​So this was very good.  It's not very often that my local Hy-Vee has boneless chicken thighs  so when they do, I tend to buy up as much as can fit in my freezer.  Since my freezer is still fairly full, I didn't buy to much, and ended up using it in this dish.  This came together pretty well, though it's sauce was a bit to thin (perhaps I should've added more flour), but when it was time to add it, I thought that perhaps the dumplings would've soaked up a bit of the liquidness.  And they did, in the bowl, but it was still necessary to use a spoon, instead of a fork.  Even so, this was quite good, and worth another doing.

Country-Style Potato-Leek Soup with Kielbasa (p39 Entertaining Spring 2013)

I wish I would've had better Kielbasa, but I did have a coupon, so I guess that's ok.  Plus it saved me a trip.  But even so this came together well.  After I bought the amount of leeks that I needed, Shannon expressed concerns about having that many leeks in one dish, but after the reduction of the water in the leeks, it just reduced to be not near as much as one would expect by just looking.  When all was said and done, it came together quickly and tested pretty good, except for the lame Kielbasa (Johnsonville).

​Spicy Sichuan-Style Lamb with Cumin (p61 Food & Wine February 2013)

This was spicy, certainly spicier then I think either of us was expecting.  Certainly the heat with the lamb flavor was a bit unexpected, but still very good.  I suppose I would keep it the same way, but turn it down a bit for Shannon.  It's not often that I'd say this, but I think this could've used more vegetables.  A red bell pepper maybe?

Pasta with Abruzzi-Style Lamb Sauce (p98 Food & Wine March 2013)

Delayed until next week.​  We were coming back from Heath's first birthday, and decided on burritos (of the bandit variety) instead of me cooking.  Which I suppose is the 3rd night this week we've done so (Baru 66's La Quercia Dinner and eating separately while I was off prepping instructions and boxes for Chris's Brick Built Science Center of Iowa thing).

2013 - Week 9 Cooking Results

Pasta with Roasted Onions, Radicchio and Blue Cheese (RC Cook's Country February / March 2013)

Very quick to make, used Chiriboga Blue Cheese (a mild, but still quite flavorful blue) and this turned out very well.  Shannon wasn't a fan of the mildly bitter aftertaste of the radicchio, which I can understand, but over all, it was still a very good dish.​

Chicken Cordon Bleu for Two ​(p28 Cook's Country February / March 2013)

So I ended up having a cheese explosion and so they didn't look as pretty as I'd like, thus no pictures, but it still was quite tasty and not that tough to do.  I used a very nice Gruyere, and a not so nice slices of ham.  It came together very well.  I'll certainly try to make this again sometime, perhaps with better ham.

Creamy Pappardelle with Leeks and Bacon (p75 Bon Appetit February 2013)

So this is a sort of play on a carbonara and it works.  It had a nice combination of flavors and textures.  What was depressing about this meal is that I opened up some mixed herbal greens (store bought) well within the supposed expiration date, and was overwhelmed with rankness.  I miss farm fresh greens.

Spiced Pumpkin Pancake

I didn't have any pumpkin pie spice, so I used a combination of spices that make up pumpkin pie spice and made this.  It turned out well, though because of the color of the batter, and the consistency, it was a bit difficult to tell ​the doneness, so I may have overcooked a couple.  Even so, it was still a nice dinner and a good use of the leftover pumpkin that I have.

Rigatoni with Spicy Calabrese-style Pork Ragu (p72 Bon Appetit February 2013)​ (Friday)

This was really damn fantastic.​  So does it need the 4 hour simmer?  Who knows?  I alternated between using water and tomato juice to keep the liquid there, and used a couple of extra spices, but really, this is probably the best tasting pasta sauce I've made.  Worth the time?  I'm not sure, but considering I'd stir, set the alarm on my phone, and watch tv / nap and then come back and stir some more when it went off, it wasn't that much of a burden, other then the time to have to start.  So I guess it makes for a nice weekend meal.

Crispy Lentils with Ground Lamb

So this was really good.  What I didn't like is the assumption that I would have just cooked lentils on hand and there were no suggestions as to how to prepare them.  So I guessed, added some spices and went from there.  and it ended up working out.  A little lamb supplemented with a bunch of lentils, it works out well.

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