Journal

2014 - Week 29 Cooking Results

Moroccan Chicken Burgers with feta and Carrot Slaw

Little basil feta, some carrot slaw, it made for a good meal.  Sped up the process by using the food processor to grate the carrots.  Made off good.

Sloppy Joes (Local grass fed beef, local onions)

Made it a bit less spicy than I normally do.  Just didn't feel up to it that day.  But it was a combination of the spices I used.  Asian and Latin, but without a lot of heat.

Farfalle with Sausage and Fennel

I liked this.  I added some of the fennel fronds to the dish to make it more fennely.  Perhaps not so popular with the wife.  I thought it was a good combination.  Maybe without the fronds...

Pizza (some type to be determined)

So after going after some mozzarella (fresh), failing, and getting some great suggestions for alternatives from CJ and Brent at the cheese shop (very good by the way).  I later really decided that I did have my heart set on the Green Onion Sausage Pizza, so I headed over to a secondary source of mozzarella (not as good).  But it did have a good end, however, I still will follow the advice and CJ and Brent, because it sounds amazing.  Next week though.  I may have added too much cheese to the pizza...  Good anyways.

Lamb Burgers (probably in flat bread)

I added some of the harissa and some salt and pepper to the lamb.  Then we had them with in the flatbread...good stuffs.

Reading back over these these descriptions are kind of crappy.  I dunno I don't feel up to it.  I had a good day.  I delivered some bacon to a friend at the market (ran into him later said it was the first good bacon he had in months).  This made me feel pretty good.  Next week I'll probably be delivering some cheese for another friend at the market.

2014 - Week 28 Cooking Results

Cream Sauce with Sausage and Peas

So, funny thing.  I bought a bottle of wine (which has been more and more of a rare thing for me, since I've gone down the beer rabbit hole).  I opened the wine for the making of the dish, and didn't notice that this small piece from the lip of the bottle had fallen to the floor.

Quite a bit later, I stepped on this tiny piece of glass with my right foot.  The skin on the bottom of my feet have a very tough skin, so I just thought ti was maybe something like a piece of a gnawed off cat claw or something.  So take my right foot to brush off on the top of my left foot and proceed to cut the hell out of my big toe on my left foot.

I start bleeding quite a bit, so much so I that I had to call Shannon up to help (I didn't want to track blood all over the house).  There were spills and droplets all over the kitchen.  After a bit of cleanup and some wound care (who knew that first aid kit my parents gave me would come in handy?) the blood was no longer coming out rapidly.  And after a little bandage tape to keep the bandage on, the problem was reduced.  I then had quick clean the floor in the kitchen and bathroom, as not to let the cats get the taste for human blood (Loki was curious, Freyja was no where to be found).  After all that, I could finish cooking dinner.

That being said, this may or may not have come out quite right, but it was good.  Nothing like the mixture that I made in the dark the previous week.  Good things.  Admittedly we didn't find out exactly where the glass came from until much later, so we hopefully didn't eat any glass (I ended up pouring out most of the bottle of wine).

Pasta with Chorizo and Chickpeas

This, was fantastic.  This was the favorite thing that I've made with the Crooked Gap + Story City Locker Chorizo.  It really brings out the flavors of the chorizo.  Quite quite good.

Moroccan Chicken Burgers with feta and Carrot Slaw

Delayed!

Grobe Bratwurst (Strudl Haus)

So I've been slowly working down the list of these, and I like the Grobe (so much I brought some home for a dinner).  So yeah, good things.  Though it does look like the cut off part of one so that it came out as exactly a pound.  A bit silly.

Slaughterhouse Burgers

These were pretty good.  A differing formulation of the standard Gateway burger.  I'd have it again, but I really like forming my own for the most part.

2014 - Week 28 Cooking

I go early to the Des Moines Downtown Farmers' Market to generally avoid the crowds.  However this past Saturday, shortly after I checked to see if they were going to delay, they announced a delay.  Since I was not aware of this, I headed down to the market.  I, umbrella in hand, made it over to Grade A Gardens.  Since the market was closed, the vendors were bracing for the rain, wind, thunder and lightning and I was told that people couldn't sell until 10.  Not sure what to do for the next 3 hours, I eventually made my way home.

I was more than willing splash my way through the puddles (some minor street flooding too) to make my rounds, but I don't think everyone would've been willing to transact with me (especially with the warning not to from the DTFM group).

The day before (Independence Day) we headed over to a BBQ hosted (at least it seems to be (CJ & Kari's house, invited by Brett)) by CJ, Kari & Brett.  Food people always have the best get togethers.  Only a handful of items were purchased, most lovingly made.  This included the best potato salad I've ever had, a whole roast pork (into tacos, crisp skin into my mouth).  I got compliments on the cookies I made (even though I wasn't super happy with them) and Joseph got compliments on his (for the short time they were there).  A little boy (3 or 4?) followed me as soon as he saw us arrive, to where I put them down, and then grabbed one.  It was a nice combination of people that I knew(ish) but may not remember their names (not an uncommon experience for me) and a handful of people that I've had a several year mild friendship with (similar interests, shared spaces).

We met Old Sam (older dog (I heard 12 and 13 years old over the course of the party)) and Bam (younger dog) who were both very good natured.  Anyway we had a good time and felt good to be included.  We had a good time.

2014 - Week 27 Cooking Results

Pork Larb Lettuce Wrap

I saw how beautiful and delicious the heads of lettuce from Cleverley Farms were looking extra delicious (and early to the market).  So the first thing in my head was the Larb.  Now there were a number of recipes for larb, and I chose this one, because of the user of pork, which is our primary meat source right now.

So a side note here.  It seems almost random as to the heat level of jalapeno peppers.  Some you get that are as mild as a green pepper and other's closing other actually very hot peppers.  It is annoying to deal with.

Anyways, after 3 stores (normal, one I went to for bread and the one just a couple of blocks over), no thai chilies would avail themselves to be found, so I swapped with jalapenos.  It was a pretty good meal, the problem being with the heat level control.

Cream Sauce with Sausage and Peas

So this night was a total mess.  Leave work late, get a call late, then a random power outage (the store was over, almost finished with the work from home everything loses power.  Anyways by the fading light of day, because Verizon's service decided to go from the normal LTE I can get outside, to basically no data.  Can't load a recipe so I basically threw something together.  I'll have to make this again.

Pork Burgers

Om nom nom.

Cashew Pork with Snow Peas and Ginger

Good stuffs.  fresh snow peas.  I added a bit of broccoli that I had gotten that day.  Came together pretty quickly.

Pasta with Chorizo and Chickpeas

Delayed.

2014 - Week 26 Cooking Results

Grilled Cheese with Garlic Scapes

Ok so I still had some of the chive blossom chevre left, so I used that, but I still have the Garlic Scapes Chevre, so yeah this'll get done next week.  I'm really liking the way these are turning out.  Basically it's Country Italian with Prairie Breeze and differing flavors of Chevre.  Good stuffs.

Lemongrass Chicken

So this was easier than I thought, though, when I went to go make it on Friday, it said you need to marinate the meat for a couple of hours to 24 hours.  So I packed it up, to marinate, and a bit after getting back from the Des Moines Art Festival, I cooked them up.  Good stuffs.  Simple, nice quick.

Chipotle Rubbed Salmon Tacos

After starting the Lemongrass Chicken, this is what I moved to.  This also came together quickly.  I could've sworn I had some chipotle powder, but looking in the drawer, I did not, so I swapped out for Jalapeno powder.  This, of course, added a similar amount of heat, but not the smokiness.  I suppose I could've added a spice that had been smoked, but I didn't really think about it at the time.  These turned out pretty good and that takes us to the end of the Salmon.

Chicken Salad

I've been craving chicken salad, especially chicken salad with dill.  I added a good amount (not to much) and it made for a good meal.

Stir fry with Curry Sauce

So I thought I had soy sauce, but I only had a tiny amount left, so I winged it.  Not that this recipe didn't already call for winging it to some extent.  So I just vaguely followed the directions and riffed with what was in the fridge.  It worked out pretty well.

2014 - Week 25 Cooking Results

Lemongrass Ginger Sliders

I really liked this.  I used some of the Crooked Gap pork and then mixed in the spice mixture.  Good stuffs.  I used some of the leftover meat and had a sort of tacos on Saturday for lunch.  But the meat combine with some greens and a bit of mayo on ciabatta buns.  Good stuffs.

Lemongrass Chicken

Delayed...  We had Grilled cheese with the Prairie Breeze and Chevre.  We were both a bit tired.

Sloppy Sammys (Yay I went to the spice store)

Yay!  Om nom nom.

Roast Chicken Tacos

So I used some of the leftover tomato from the Lemongrass sliders and chopped them up, and used it to help reheat the rotisserie chicken from the day before then added a bunch of spices.  I remembered to pick up Quark this time and made some delicious tacos.

Spicy Orange Chicken Stirfry

Fresh sugar snap peas...that's all that really matters here.  It was a good, a nice recipe.

2014 - Week 24 Cooking Results

Tortilla Española

Ok I'm going to have to give up on this a bit.  On Friday, after not eating (just got distracted) and working in the yard for a good chunk of they day, Shannon picked something up on the way home, because I just was totally spent.  After eating and drinking literally a gallon of water, I felt quite a bit better, but still pretty much gone.

Green Onion Sausage and Green Onion Pizza

Double green onion...mmm...pizza.

Grilled Cheese w/ Chive Blossom Chevre

So I had some of the wonderful Country Italian Bread from South Union Bakery (my brother is now a supervisor there), some Prairie Breeze, and some of Lois's Chive Blossom Chevre.  This led to some wonderful combination of that savory cheddar style flavor from the Prairie Breeze and some of that creaminess from the chevre, plus a little of that chive blossom flavor.  It was a good combination of flavors.  I've got a little bit of the chive blossom chevre left so I'll probably sneak another round in here, maybe for a breakfast.

Lamb Burgers

om nom nom nom.

Pancakes with Breakfast Sausage

It was warm, I just couldn't see doing pancakes, so I made egg and sausage sandwiches.

Balsamic-Glazed Pork Cutlets

This turned out very well.  It worked well with the Crooked Gap pork cutlets.