Journal

2018 - Week 32 Cooking Results

Brats (Lucky George) and Insalata Caprese (Butcher Crick, Wabi Sabi)

This is what an Iowa based dinner should be like. the salad was wonderful as I let it marinate together for a bit.  The mozzarella (Lost Lake Farm) combined well with the tomatoes and basil to be a delicious combination.  Then brats done right.  Good things.

Grilled Cheese with Nduja and Tomatoes

Stole the idea from the Cheese Shop and added tomatoes.  It was quite good on a fairly generic sourdough.

BLT Wrap (sorta following this)

I meant to buy flour tortillas, but clearly reading is hard, and bought white corn tortillas.  basically a BLT wrapped in a white corn tortilla (including toasted breadcrumbs).

Pork Meatball Banh Mi

I've been really busy at work, and have started taking short naps when I get home (15-30 minutes (sometimes i don't sleep I just close my eyes)) just to set a line in the day and separate my thoughts.  But Thursday and Friday I was pushed a bit beyond and was just tired.

So For this night I took the pork and made pork burgers.

Gong Bao Ji Ding

This night I took an extra nap while the chicken was cooking in the oven and we had diced chicken sandwiches. 

2018 - Week 32 Cooking

Tomato season begins!  With a little here and there suddenly we'll be in a river of tomatoes.  Butcher Crick Farms had their first pickings, meaning it's like for real this time.  I've got a few tomatoes and am ready to eat my way through the season.

2018 - Week 31 Cooking Results

Italian Tomato Hoagie (Modified)

So this was a bit complicated, but ended up being pretty good.  I added chicken to increase the protein.  Good stuff.

Chicken Salad with Tomatoes

I forgot to add the tomatoes to this, I was in a bit of a rush.

Hamburgers

Fresh Tomatoes, Decent bread and I forgot cheese.  Still quite good.

Baked Eggs with Crushed Chickpeas, Chorizo, and Breadcrumbs

Filling meal.  Simple to put together, mostly waiting for things.  Easy dinner on a Friday where I was tired.

Thai Style Red Curry Chicken and Vegetables

I vaguely followed the recipe, allow a little more here and a little less there.  It could've been used more heat.  I added some sambal oelek after to my own dish.

2018 - Week 31 Cooking

This past week I went to a steak house for the first time in a long while.  I do like a big hunk of meat from time to time.  Shannon, not so much, so I don't get that very often (especially steak).  It was nice to go out and do that (and not have to pay for it, it was a work thank you).  We have come to a someone of a disagreement as to what is an acceptable repetitive meal (and by repetitive I mean weekly(ish)).  While I agree we may have BLTs frequently during tomato season, I do not think they are to often.  But I am willing to compromise to find other way to eat fresh grown in Iowa dirt tomatoes.

2018 - Week 30 Cooking Results

Pancetta, Robiola, on english muffins (maybe with egg?)

While the robiola wasn't as good as Lois', it was pretty good and the combination.  I made some with an egg on top and some without.

Eggs with piment d’Esplette

I'm not sure if I didn't add enough piment or my taste buds were starting to go to hell, but I'm not sure what flavor I was looking for.  I may have to try this again.

Broccoli Bolognese with Orecchiette

The Broccoli was less then fresh by the time this came around, and we were both under the weather (and tired), so I made a simple red sauce with Italian sausage, and used the noodles I had on hand.  Not necessarily the best use, but it fit the need.

Taco Salad

Good as always.

Sub, vaguely following this

These turned out pretty well.  Relatively easy to put together, some fresh mozzarella from Lost Lake.  And while I didn't have basil based pesto on hand, I did have a jar of sun dried tomato pesto that I used instead.  Other then turning the oven on pretty high on a warmer day, it was a low effort meal.

Black Pepper Brats (Lucky George)

I really enjoyed these.  Nice pepper heat and bit to them.  Maybe a little off then what you expect from a brat, but right up my alley as far as a taste profile goes.

2018 - Week 29 Cooking Results

BLT (Lucky George bacon, Wabi Sabi Tomatoes)

Early tomatoes, good bacon, not very local spinach.  Still, quite good.

Eggs with piment d’Esplette

Delayed.  Grade A Gardens had fresh corn on the cob, and as I have been generally avoiding corn (hi starch and sugar), it was the opportune time to have some fresh (so good).  We had burgers on (mediocre) sourdough buns.

Skillet Ziti with Sausage and Summer Squash

Some wonderful summer squash (Zephyr) from Wabi Sabi farm, combined with some Italian Sausage from Lucky George.  Where can you go wrong?  Good things.

All Day IPA Brats (Lucky George)

Gentle IPA flavor with a very good brat mixture.  Good Things.

Grilled Pork Banh Mi

I had the pork brine in the sauce for quite a bit longer then the recipe called for.  This was clearly a mistake.  But lets be honest here, when starting dinner 2-4 hours before, it's kind of hard when you have work in the way.  That being said, it was till pretty good, just a little strong on the fish sauce flavor.

Lemony Chicken Stir Fry

I've made this previously, and this time around it was just as relatively easy.  It was far to lemony, though.  So to mellow that out a bit I added some Gochujang sauce, which was quite a nice add.

2018 - Week 28 Cooking Results

Chicken Salad

Easy peasy.

Spicy Lamb Meatballs with Raisin Pesto

I used some older mutton (as in the age at time of slaughter) and this came together well.  I used a bunch of fresh mint from the side yard.  I was pretty happy with how all this turned out.  It has been on my list of things to make, but now that the mint has exploded in growth, it's easy to harvest.

Grilled Cheese & Kimchi

So...This is quite fantastic.  It's quite important to remember when building something that the ingredients all matter.  My general lunch sandwiches use a... lackluster bread.  It's OK, but not what I really like.  I couldn't imagine how this would fall down with lesser bread, lesser kimchi or lousy cheese.  Yes I'm sure it'd probably be good, but not near as good.  I chopped the kimchi into smaller parts.  Wonderful.

Skillet Ziti with Sausage and Summer Squash

Timing did not allow this to happen.

Bacon Burger

ground pork + bacon = good