Journal

2014 - Week 39 Cooking Results

Pumpkin and Chicken Curry (vaguely based on this)

So I looked at the recipe, kinda used it as a guide, but then went on a tangent.  So I had some leftover curry stuffs (red curry paste, Madras curry powder) and used those to create the curry flavor.  It ended up being really good.  I've been enjoying eating it for lunch as leftovers.

Egg & Sausage on open faced bagels

So the bagels we have aren't the best, but sometimes you just want a bagel.  These are a little on the tough side, making the combination a bit hard to eat (or even fork through).  Still good, just difficult to get through.

Pumpkin Mac & Cheese

So on the one hand I'm making mac and cheese (boiling water, making sauce) and on the other I decide to use up some leftover pork, onions, and then the homemade pumpkin puree. to combine together.  I took the finished large elbow noodles and stirred them in with the pumpkin puree / pork / onion mixture.  Then when the cheese sauce finished (combo of Prairie Breeze and Scharfe Maxx, with mustard and jalapeno powder (along with the normal flour, butter and Whole Milk)), I combined that, put it in my 9x13 lasagna pan, topped with ~6 oz of breadcrumbs combined with milted butter.  good stuffs.

Pork Burgers

Good buns, good pork good toppings.  Good stuffs.

Sloppy Sammys

Never the same twice, less spicy, but pretty good all the same.  Used a can of whole tomatoes that I had intended for pizza but started roasting tomatoes instead.  Worked out well.

Pizza!  (You will submit to me yeast!)

The dough is looking good, it has already risen quite a bit in the fridge and is out warming up for usage later today.  Of course that means it was delayed.  This means I probably had grabbed the normal yeast instead of the rapid rise yeast.  So that would at least explain it.

2014 - Week 39 Cooking

  • Pumpkin and Chicken Curry (vaguely based on this)
  • Egg & Sausage on open faced bagels
  • Pumpkin Mac & Cheese
  • Pork Burgers
  • Sloppy Sammys
  • Pizza!  (You will submit to me yeast!)

2014 - Week 38 Cooking Results

Baked Lentils with Sausage

It was still chilly out when I made this, it was pretty good.  Even better with a bit of hot sauce on it, the next day.

Pancakes

Skipped...due to warm weather

All Pork Hot dogs from Crooked Gap

good stuffs.  I should've bought more Garlic and Dill Kraut, but my farmers market time got shortened.

Corn Chowder with Chorizo and Chilies

Turned into tacos...cause well it was too warm for chowder.

Hamburgers

Combined some Crooked Gap Dexter beef with some salt and pepper and seared them relatively low and slow.  The issue here is that the dexter beef tends to be a bit low on the fat, so doing a high heat, tends to burn rather than sear.  Unless you augment it (sometimes with ground pork or bacon or the like).  These turned out really good.  I was quite happy with them.

Seared Chicken Sandwiches

Quick and simple, used the chicken that was bought for the pulled chicken but I swapped out for a rotisserie chicken later in the week.

Other Things

We took the last trip to Snookies for the season.  We got chocolate instead of vanilla in our arctic blasts.  Good stuffs.

While watching the parade yesterday, I had a Bloody Mary (provided by a neighbor) so I started adding bourbon to my coffee.  That's actually really quite good.  I had nice conversations with the two people that live behind me, as well as the house (on another street) behind them.  

It was nice to do after the stress of the cats (see facebook).

2014 - Week 37 Cooking Results

Coppa Americana Grilled Cheese (trying to do it right this time)

So I used a bit of Miette and a bit of Coppa, and some whole wheat (South Union) and it came out to be a pretty good sandwich.  Next time I think I'll dice the Coppa, so you don't accidentally pull out a whole slice (not that it's bad, but it's just leaves a bit of the sandwich without Coppa).

Pizza, with roasted tomatoes (delayed from last week)

It was the fresh tomato that added the extra brightness to the sauce.  So probably the best thing to do is to mix a bit of roasted and a bit fresh.  That being said, I was pretty furious at my pizza dough.  I was pretty sure I made it right, but it failed to rise...hardly at all.  Perhaps it is because I may have selected the normal yeast, instead of the rapid rise yeast (right next to each other).  I honestly don't remember.  But it ruined it for me.

BELTs

Good, as always.

Pulled Chicken Sandwiches with Slaw

Using a rotisserie chicken this was an easy, but a bit time consuming meal.  I suspect the flavor of this would change quite a bit based on the BBQ sauce (I used the Big Daddy's Applelicious).  I used some of the bollios that they make at South Union, and it worked out pretty good.  

Sausage and Peppers

Used a number of the peppers I had and some delicious sausage.  Put it on a roll and called it diner.  I also added some roasted tomatoes too.  Ended up pretty good.

Thai Fried Omelet

So these are really simple.  The fun part about it is the cornstarch and what that does to the way the eggs cook.  Just fun to watch.  folded the eggs and put them on the Bollios, and topped with some peppers, sambal oelek, mayo and arugula.  Good stuffs, and simple and quick.

All Pork Hot Dogs from Crooked Gap

Good stuffs.  After chatting with Ethan for a good chunk of the summer, we finally got these last time he was in front of the Cheese Shop.  So I had one with just yellow mustard and another with this garlic dill kraut that I've been loving recently.  Just by itself it had a good flavor and smell, and the kraut added a bit to the other one.  I'm happy they finally came out, but wish they would've been here earlier in the summer.

2014 - Week 36 Cooking Results

Coppa Americana Grilled Cheese

So apparently I left the Coppa, sliced, for far too long in the fridge.  So no coppa, just grilled cheese.  Still good, but I'll have to get some Coppa to try this again.

Pizza, with roasted tomatoes

So I roasted tomatoes, but because of timing the Pizza got delayed to today.  We'll see if this gets the right flavor combination of flavors, without the ripe tomato in the mix.

BELTs

Good stuffs.

Chicken Fajitas with Red Pepper, Onion & Lime

Even though I added a bit too much lime juice at the end and I didn't have chili powder (used jalapeno instead) these were delicious.  Simple, quick and good.  Those are often the perfect combination for a weeknight dinner.

Sausage, Potato and Onion Hobo Packs (in the oven)

Added some fresh fennel to the "pack"  (roasting dish covered in foil), and other than the salt, pepper and Olive Oil, the furthest thing for this was Just outside of Knoxville.  Anyways, it was delicious.

2014 - Week 35 Cooking Results

CBATs

They turned out well.  running low on bacon.  I've only got bacon ends left.

Banh Mi Inspired Breakfast Sandwich (modified, simplified)

Used the Canadian Bacon, added some tomato slices.  Didn't use Miso (didn't want to buy it).  I think it had quite a nice flavor.  The mildly pickled shredded veggies, sriracha mayo and a nice runny egg.  Good stuffs.

Lamb Burgers with Tzatziki and Arugula

So I didn't make the Tzatziki exactly right (not enough draining), but it was still pretty good.  Basically it's like many other Lamb burgers we've had, except for adding Tzatziki on it.

Pizza

Shannon wanted some pizza.  She wanted me to use some of the La Quercia Borsellino Sausage.  So I thought hey, I could roast some tomatoes.  So I bought a couple of pounds of tomatoes from Butcher Crick Farms, roasted them with a bit of olive oil and salt and pepper.  Then pureed them and moved forward with my normal pizza sauce recipe.  Now the only issue here is that I didn't have quite a pound and a half of tomatoes, which was probably fine.  But I added a whole fresh tomato anyways.  So I'm not sure if the slightly sweet and bright flavor was from the fresh tomato or if it was the freshly roasted tomatoes (or a combination of both).  Either way it added a nice combined flavored.

Anyways, I'm totally going to have to do this again, what sucks is I'm not sure how many more times I'll get to do this before tomato season is over.

Mac & Multi-Cheese

So I was planning on using some combined cheese leftover from a Cheese & Boulevard Beer class.  Cause you know...cheese.  Anyways, I brought it home and it didn't sound like Shannon wanted it and that's where the plan formed.  But apparently she did eat them (which is perfectly fine) but then I was left struggling to find cheese to use.

But I'm still me.

So where to find 1.5 pounds of cheese.  I had some leftover blue, Gorgonzola Dolce, couple of half used containers of chevre, I bought some extra cheeses at the Cheese clase, and when all was said and done, I cut some mozzarella out to make that last couple of ounces.  I did that to avoid using Robiola.

Made the sauce, added tomatoes (had a couple left).  Clearly I probably shouldn't have doubled the recipe, but who doesn't like leftover mac & cheese.  All being said, it was a good meal.  Sauce tasted good everything came together well.