Journal

2015 - Week 6 Cooking Results

Bangers & Mash

Simple and good as always.

T-Bone Pork Chops with Apple Sauce and Peas

Didn't have enough peas, so I supplemented some corn in there.  it was pretty good.  Nicely cooked (sear, sear, oven).  I haven't had apple sauce in forever.  Anyways, nice throwback meal.

Sweet Italian Sausage & Tomatoes pasta (not sure yet)

Used some canned tomatoes and tomato paste some spices and parmesan.  Then used 3 types of pasta that were mostly or partially used.  Yay for cleaning out the pantry.  It still was pretty good.

Green Onion Sausage Pizza

Delayed until today.

Pancakes

These were pretty good, not my favorite pancake recipe, but pretty good.

Chicken and Couscous with Chickpeas and Apricots

Apparently I had the wrong type of couscous...  So I made chicken sandwiches instead.

2015 - Week 5 Cooking Results

Chicken and Barley Stew with Dill and Lemon

So I know I always have to be be careful when using dill, because Shannon likes it, but not near as much as I like it.  So if it's there, saying hello, in the background, that's ok, but once it is out front and demanding attention, that's to much for her, but just the right amount for me.  So I went a little light on the dill that was called for at the end.  Other then that, this was actually a fairly simple, and weather appropriate as the temperatures fell this week.  Lots to savor, not to complicated, and one pot.  Though it may need a bit more liquid (for the leftovers).

Bacon And Scallion Farrotto

Simple, but time consuming.  I did buy extra bacon so I may or may not have had bacon to eat while making this.

Smoky Pork Burgers with Grilled Sweet Onion

So I made the burger with the spices it asked for but skipped the grilled onion part.  The pork burger patty with the spices and salt in it was quite good.  I topped mine with non-grilled onions...then I ran of to play arcade video games with Chris and Dave...  My hands and arms are so old.

Japanese-Style Stir-Fried Noodles with Beef

So I had to make a 2nd trip to get the noodles, and after, I swear looking over them 2 times I finally saw them on the shelf.  I used all 3 bundles of noodles in the package (which was fractions of ounces over what I needed).  This came together well...a nice combination of napa cabbage, other things and the beef and sauce.  I was pretty happy.

Skillet Penne with Sausage and Spinach

Simple, relatively quick and delicious.

2015 - Week 4 Cooking Results

Spicy Orange-Ginger Chicken

I increased the sauce a bit but this turned out pretty good overall.  I still wanted a bit more spice so I topped mine with sriracha.  Good stuffs.

Tacos de Chorizo y Papa

So I don't know why I delayed this last time, yes I was emotionally overwhelmed (for reasons I cannot go into), but it really was easy, boil diced potatoes for a bit, put in pan with chorizo.  Om nom nom nom.  Good stuffs.

Sesame-Ginger Chicken Meatballs

We both like the meatballs, I served them over some of the leftover rice from the spicy orange chicken.  Good stuffs.

Penne with Sausage, Fennel and Pecorino

So I didn't add fennel to the grocery list, yes one of the title ingredients, so when I went to go make this the first time, no such luck.  Second time around I stopped by the grocery store first, then brought it home to make the dish.  I'm pretty sure I've made this before, but it's pretty good and worth a second look or 3.  Good stuffs.

Cuban Quesadillas

Simple, good, quick

2015 - Week 3 Cooking Results

Chickpea Sloppy Joes

This had too much oregano.  End of story.  It just overwhelms everything else.  We reduced the veganiaty of this by adding cheese to the sloppy joes.  We also used it as a filler in the tacos.  And the oregano overwhelmed the chorizo.

Can this be adjusted to be a better combination of flavors?  Sure.  Easy to do?  Sure.  I may try it again, but there's no way I'm going to add that much oregano.

Spicy Orange-Ginger Chicken

Delayed until today.

Baked Potatoes

Simple, nom.

Tacos de Chorizo y Papa

I cut out the potatoes because after the news we got that day I didn't feel like putting in the effort.  So it just simplified into the normal chorizo tacos.

Grilled Cheese and Pepper Jelly based on this

Good again.  I maybe went a little light on the pepper jelly, because I was running out (had a small jar).  Nice mixture.

Bacon & Eggs & Toast

yep.

2015 - Week 2 Cooking Results

Grilled Cheese and Pepper Jelly based on this

So the cheese they wanted to use wasn't really available, so I I ended up using some Red Hawk from Cowgirl Creamery.  May not be as funky as the author wanted, but should be good enough.  I also supplemented with another cheese that I can't remember right now.  Anyways, it ended up being pretty good and if you see that bread?  Amazing on the color and taste.  Pretty happy with out this turned out and will do it again.  Since I have the cheese, probably next week.

Armenian Beef Flatbreads with Garlicky Yogurt

I had my doubts.  Basically a tiny amount of beef and a bunch of spices and etc.  But this was really good.  On the extra benefit, I found the first sighting of Templeton Red from Peace Tree (since I happened to run out to whole foods to get the sour dough / flat breads (flat bread selection sucks), this is because GWM is in this grey territory for me).  Anyways the flatbread combined with the yogurt and some pickled vegetables (ok, just hot yellow peppers) made for a quite good meal.

BA's Best Mac & Cheese

I've made a lot of mac and cheese, and use a lot of combinations of cheeses.  Was this the best?  No, not really, but it was pretty good.  I got a nice combination out of the Cheese Mix (Prairie Breeze, Kinsman Ridge, and Emmentaler) and it pretty much follows what I've been doing for a while, baked and etc.  I think the real key, which I haven't done, but could, is to put the cheese pasta mixture into a heat cast iron pan.  Anyways, pretty good, not that much different then what I do normally (Based on the Alton Brown recipe)

Garlic Roasted Cod with Mashed Potato Crust

I have cod, need to use the cod, but don't particularly want to do fish and chips.  Not that I don't like fish and chips, it's that I don't particularly like dealing leftover oil.  Anyways this was pretty easy to do.  Make mashed potatoes, put garlic and salt and fish under mashed potatoes, bake.  Pretty good.

Ham and Bean Soup

Started on Friday (Soaking beans), started in earnest around 2:PM, then was ready around 5.  Pretty good soup.  Simple, good flavors.  Combined with some good bread (La Mie), a salad (Holly) and pineapple (Holly).  Good date night dinner w/ the Hettingers.

Skillet Sausage and Peppers

Quick Sunday dinner.  Good stuffs.