Journal

2016 - Week 2 Cooking Results

Spicy Carrot Fried Rice (more leftover rice)

This was not as filling or as spicy as I thought it might be.  I was actually kind of disappointed in it.  It was fine, it's relatively good for you, but maybe with some chicken on there?  I dunno.

Salami Americano, Tomatoes and Parmesan Pasta

Usage of ingredients in the house.  Finished off the last of the Salami Americano that I bought.  It was pretty good, though I could've cut the salami a bit smaller and had a bit more.  Maybe added some onion too.

Glazed Meatloaf

I modified this a bit, since I was, surprisingly, out of ground pork (even with a freezer stuffed frozen local meat).  So Italian sausage, FTW.  On Friday, when I was thinking about making this, I don't know if I was more excited to have the meatloaf with mashed potatoes (which I under salted) or meatloaf sandwiches...  This did come together very well and I was pleased with the results (other then the mashed potatoes).  And it did make quite good sandwiches.

Spiced Lamb Burger

Followed the directions, except for the grilling part, then diverted a bit, because of the side I wanted to serve.  So i turned out cutting the thick pitas in half and had the meat end up being cooked on the stove top. And instead of being burgers, they were kind of loose meat.  Anyways, flavor profile was good.

Cuban Style Black Beans and Rice (Saturday)

I started cooking dinner around 3...ok maybe a bit later (had trouble finishing off the game I was playing).  Lots of pauses (enough for me to run take a shower, thanks lazy Saturday).  Good things.  It was worth the timing and effort and we had it as our main.

2016 - Week 1 Cooking Results

Chicken Burrito with Brown Rice

Relatively simple, nothing to exciting, but still good.  Made extra rice to use for the fried rice.

Fried Brown Rice with Scallions and Eggs

Simple, quick (since rice was already was made).  Pretty tasty, nice simple meal.

Herbed Chickpeas over Noodles

I was supposed to dry the chickpeas, this was supposed to crisp them up.  I didn't, however do that, so there wasn't any crispy chickpea bits.  Even so, it was filling, kind of bland but filling.  I had to get parsley late in the week, the chives looked way to thick to be chives.  I did, however, find the battery that I was looking for (HDMI switcher remote).

Pizza!

So I broke out some leftover (bought it for New Years) Salami Americano to top the pizza.  It tastes so good and cubes up nicely.  I had forgot / was to busy to make dough early enough in the week to have this on Friday, so we had it on Saturday.

There is always some difficulty when using a new meat on pizza.  You want to make sure that the meat doesn't exude to much fat, but you want it to use some.  So if you pre-cook the meat, you make cook it to much, so when you put it in the oven, it over cooks.  But if you don't, the meat may exude to many juices and run over the side of the crust and make the edges soggy.

So we ended up with some soggy edges (to be fair, the kitchen was cold so the pizza dough didn't rise as much as it should've.  Even so, good things.  Very good things.

Cuban Style Black Beans and Rice (Saturday)

Week got weird and busy with some late work nights, delayed.

2016 - Week 1 Cooking, Turning a page

With Shannon's diagnosis last year, I because extremely indulgent in my cooking.  More focused on the comfort food, then eating well and semi-healthy.  It is time to revert back to a more reasonable menu.  That in no way means that we won't have indulgent things from time to time, just not as often.