Journal

2016 - Week 17 Cooking Results

Bourbon Mac & Cheese

This did have quite the distinctive flavor.  I'm still debating on if I liked it or not, I think I should make it again, just to be sure.

Turkey Spinach Sliders ... using flatbread quarters!

I really liked these.  It was a nice way to add taste and nutrition to semi-bland turkey.

Carrot and Chickpea Salad with spiced ground pork on flatbread with hummus

The salad was ok.  Paired wiell with the ground pork on flatbread.

Hummus Flatbread Pizza with Feta and fresh veggies

Quick, easy, and good for you.

2016 - Week 17 Cooking

For game night last night, I made two types of Hummus.  First I roasted some spring garlic with salt, pepper and olive oil, added some of it to be processed with the rest of the ingredients, then stirred in a bit more to have those flecks in there later.  That turned out pretty good.  I also made a jalapeños version, while still pretty good, it needs a bit more work (and fresh jalapeños).  But now I have a lot of leftover hummus.  So let see what we can do with it.

2016 - Week 16 Cooking Results

Spring Garlic and Chickpea Tartine

I used some of the spring garlic that I got from Grade A Gardens for this.  This turned out pretty good, though perhaps not for a dinner, but more for an appetizer.  Though, thinking about it, we really didn't eat that much after it, so I guess it turned out ok.

Tuna Salad (Probably Modified)

I don't think I modified it to much, but this was ok, not a bad recipie.

Green Onion Sausage Risotto (based on basic risotto), had to increase servings per dish (6) (Carbs! *shakes fist*) - prosciutto + .75# green onion sausage

So unlike the nice big plate of risotto, I had a portion...and a salad.  It did taste pretty good, and the green onion sausage resonated with this dish pretty well.  Maybe not a straight up Italian concept, but good none the less.

Reduced Fat Potato and Egg Breakfast Casserole - Canadian bacon + breakfast sausage (Large black pig) -low fat cheese (who eats this crap?) + Prairie Breeze

I kind of made this not reduced fat, I suppose.  But it tasted good.  So I suppose that is the point.  I did have this as leftovers once or twice.

Brautwurst Burgers

This was from a new producer (Flying Pig Farms, I believe), and they were pretty good.  Certainly not far away above other things, but certainly better then your off the shelf stuff.

2016 - Week 15 Cooking Results

Chicken Burritos with Poblanos and Corn

Corn is full of carbohydrates, so corn (and peas) can no longer count as a acceptable vegetable side.  However, they can go into things, and this was a good thing to put it in.  So the roasted poblanos is really that expected flavor that you get in the standard Mexican restaurant.  This worked very well.  Could there be some things that are trimmed out?  Sure, but this worked.

A warm pan of Chickpeas, Chorizo, and Chevre

Simple, and good.  I thought I had chorizo, but didn't, so I used some spicy Italian sausage, which worked.  I may have forgotten to add the chevre, but I did use it with the burritos...

Mortadella Reubens with Lemon Aioli

OMGWTFBBQ!  This was amazingly good.  To be fair I used some really excellent ingredients.  Iowa Sourdough from Wild Yeast Bakery, Fresh eggs (from young hens) from Grade A Gardens, Blue Earth Brie (Minnesota), some fine quality Mortadella (not sure from where, but bought at the cheese shop, so you know it's good), and some Sauerkraut from The Brinery.  I added some pickles to mine as well, but overall, wowza.  

Stir Fried Sichuan Green Beans

Probably should've been served over rice, but didn't.  Even so, this made for a filling, tasty, low carb meal.

Hot Chicken Salad

This was...quite tasty, but really not good for you in the slightest....but really tasty...  Shannon and I had a dispute over the last serving of it (she won).  I cooked the chicken myself, but beyond that this was easy to put together, but did take a while (of non-active time) to cook.

2016 - Week 15 Cooking

Weight loss once again continues.  Loss:  13.37% / 9.44% (Peak / 2016).  Even though I didn't get in the walks that I should've (trip to madison, some oversleeping).  I did mow the lawn for the first time this year (crab grass grows faster then grass), even though the weather keeps messing with the plants.  Anyways, less snacks.  I even had a modicum of self control when we went to a Mexican restaurant after volunteering at the Planned Parenthood book sale, and only ate a few tortilla chips (rather then bowl after bowl of them).  Also had a taste of the chips that came with my lunch in Madison (no other healthy options) and just left the rest.

The food strategy program that I'm semi-required to participate in makes me continue to roll my eyes at the misuse of statistics, combination of science terms and total bullshit.  Oh well.  I keep having hopes out there, and looking around and even some that claim to be science based seem to to have a sprinkling of science here and there, then, feelings and nonsense.

2016 - Week 14 Cooking Results

 

Dublin Coddle (late, yes, but didn't have the bangers)

Directions are good, the ingredients, good stuffs.  It came together well.  Need bangers?  Contact the Story City Locker, or The Iowa Food Coop, or the farmer directly, Lucky George.  A hearty dinner, to be sure.

Open Face Steak Sandwich with Parmesan Dressing

Simple, came together quick, everything was all fine and dandy until I set the plate down and it rolled a bit to the side, and dumped a lot of the toppings on to the floor.  So treat that as a warning.  This would of been a lot better with fresh, grown in the ground nearby arugula.  Farmers market is almost 27 days away...though with the weather being as variable as it is being, who knows if we'll be able to get anything in that first few markets...

I used a Ciabatta from Wild Yeast Bakery to be the basis of this.

Thai Larb

Reading can be hard sometimes.  I basically combined all of it together, instead of making a dressing to go on it after.  Even so it turned out ok...maybe a bit dry.  Oh well, I still like Larb, this one was clearly on me.

Apple-Fennel Chicken Salad

Pretty good, even cut small, raw fennel can be pretty tough.  Maybe if there was a bit of a softening of fennel first, it would've ended up better.  That being said, I had it for a lunch or two and maybe a snack or two for a bit.

Celery with Meat Sauce

So this would be a fridge clearer for family meal at a restaurant.  Which makes sense and what I did.  I had leftover meats and then one pound of new meat, to make the combination.  I did have a problem with how they specify the amount of celery.  Stalk vs Rib.  Stalk is a unclear definition where it could refer to the whole stalk of celery or a single rib of celery.  So it seems like a bad thing to refer to something as.  It has to be ribs, because the other way around makes no god damn sense.

That being said, this was pretty good, low in the carbs (though we had it with some ciabatta garlic toast).  I'd make it again, though maybe this time I'd add a different set of meats.

2016 - Week 14 Cooking

3 tickets so far this weekend, 2 required a ton of effort.  Reminds me of the old day of being on call, and that I don't like it.

Anyways, I may have snacked on fairly inappropriate snack items and may have had a breakfast or two that had way more calories then I have been having.  This was the first week in quite a while I didn't loose any weight, so I have to lock my mind back down and stop screwing around again.  Still at a 12.47% total loss (8.5% since the beginning of the year)

2016 - Week 13 Cooking Results

Dublin Coddle (late, yes, but didn't have the bangers)

Delayed

Chipped Chopped Ham Sandwiches

Halved the recipe, Turned out pretty good.  Swapped out Comte for American cheese (not worth eating).  I used Wild Yeast Bakery sourdough buns.  I had a few pickles on top of mine (opened after baking).

Chorizo Sweet Potato Breakfast Tacos

I really liked these.  While I didn't use honest Mexican chorizo, but rather some from Story City Locker / Crooked Gap.  The problem with doing something like this is that I have leftover tortillas...and sour cream...and this is one of my go to snacks.  They're not that good for you.  Anyways, totally make these.  Good stuffs.

Pan Seared Chicken with Spicy Pinto Beans

The pinto beans didn't come quite together, maybe I should have let them cook longer then the recipe called for.  The chicken turned out pretty good, used my new thermometer to measure it.  I also halved this recipe (less leftovers).

Grilled Cheese with Kimchi

Shannon skipped the Kimchi, I added more.  It was a good combination.  You should try stuff from The Brinery, they're more often then not, fantastic.

Sloppy Sammy's with Kimchi and/or Sauerkraut

Translated to burgers, per Shannon's request.  Local beef, good stuffs.