Journal

2020 - Week 47 Cooking Results

A little bit of cooking for a Cheese Bar Thanksgiving, while drinking Champagne and chatting with family over a teams call (or listening). It was simple to prepare, and I made some adjustments.

I also got a chance to finally start the Cranberry Apple Shrub. It should have its last shake and strain, soon, and then we can have it. I like a good shrub, and this seems seasonally appropriate..

Steak and Broccoli Stir-Fry

After a lazy thanksgiving (only cooking the Cheese Bar’s pre-pared food), This was a good follow up for a lazy Friday. It came together well after I prepped everything. Some of the flank steak was a bit too wide, but as I got a bit further in I got a bit better as I cut through the steak. It came out well, in the end. A bit of Jasmine Rice to serve over and good eating. I ate the left overs the next day for breakfast.

Split Pea and Ham Soup

This is my go to when we have ham to use. It takes time, but I always enjoy a good split pea soup. This was one that was quite nice and I think I’ve made it before. I added a bit more ham than called for, and it turned out well. There are lots of leftovers, and that’s not a bad thing.

Macaroni and Beef Casserole

Something sort of like Hamburger Helper, I suppose, though I don’t have a lot of experience with that. My big complaint about this was the amount of dishes that were used. Where, for times sake, I suppose it was necessary, but filling up the entire bottom rack and then some with used pots was kind of a pain. I did make some on the fly adjustments (more tomatoes). As things seemed to get a bit dryer then they should. Baked and pretty good, and the leftovers were nice too.

Ham and Egg Sandwich (yes again)

I ran out of the English muffins I had had been using, so I improvised a bit and used a larger bun. It worked ok, but wasn’t quite the same as what I wanted. But now I am low on ham and I won’t get new English muffins til Thursday. However I do have coupons for new ham, so…there is that.

Leftovers (Sandwich of Excess)

2020 - Week 47 Cooking

Simple week coming up. One night will be the Cheese Shop (pre-Thanksgiving), another will be the Cheese Bar (Thanksgiving). We’re both taking time off this week, like we normally would, but not the same amount. I will admit that I’ve been thinking about making a Thanksgiving plan, but end up tossing those ideas away. I have been reminded of the efforts that I have made over past years, and I miss it.

2020 - Week 46 Cooking Results

Why All the ham? We get gift certificates for a free choice of a handful of items, and we (me) usually end up choosing ham. We still had a ham from last year in the freezer, so before adding two more hams… Ham dishes!

Chicken and Cauliflower in Garam Masala–Tomato Sauce

I had to make a couple of adjustments as I was working my way through this. I, perhaps, had more chicken (the CostCo packs don’t always line up, so I either go more or less, depending), so I adjusted the garam masala up, I ended up having to add a bit more tomatoes, as the chicken would’ve not been fully covered. At the end I added a bit more cream. Pretty good, I suspect I’ll be eating this for a few days.

Fried Rice with Ham and Peas

In listening to recent podcasts, about the whitening of a thing, and I through this seems like perhaps a prime example of this. But what do I know, I’m not an expert at the history of fried rice, but it was a thought that came into my head. It still was good. I made extra rice for the Chicken and Cauliflower dish (using the last of the basmati rice), to use for the fried rice. I then prepped everything and executed. A good and easy Saturday meal.

Ham and Egg Sandwich

Simple, good.

Pasta

This is a thing I just make. It usually consists of sausage, onion, tomatoes, Italian herbs or one type or another. I may augment it with things on hand, or not, depending if my brain thinks they might go together or not.

Fish (for real this time, probably)

Yellowfin tuna, Simple preparation, a little bit of salt, a bit of oil, turn a couple of times (underestimated the length of time to get to an internal temp of done). Served with a simple salad. Good meal.

2020 - Week 45 Cooking Results

Arroz Caldo

I will admit, I didn’t make the oil in the way they called for, cause I’m lazy. But even so, with a couple of shortcuts (dried garlic, ginger), and it came together pretty quickly and was quite tasty. Comforting when the warmer weather turned back into something a bit more seasonally appropriate.

Chickpea Curry

Last week when I was making the Italian sausage and white bean braise, I accidentally opened two cans of chickpeas, cause…you know, reading is hard. So I put them in a storage container, stuck them in the fridge and found actual white beans in the stack of canned foods. So I needed something to get through the chickpeas. Nice, warming, vegetarian.

Fish

I didn’t buy fish. I thought I had fish. I didn’t. Shannon wanted to order out anyways, so we did.

Pork Tenderloin Stroganoff

The first of two heavy mushroom dishes this week, making for a good source of Vitamin D. I may have forgotten to pick up some wide noodles, so we ended having them with some elbow macaroni. I thought about using the half pound that I had out of one box, but thought it wouldn’t be enough and used a whole pound box. This was too much. While there was leftovers, I ended up having some noddles for lunch one of the days.

Tater Tot Hotdish

Beef, mushrooms, onion and garlic, simmered down a bit, some flour as a thickener, then some milk and stock, peas and corn. I suspect I used way nicer Parmesan then they probably used. Then it was covered in tots.

I was supposed to serve it with ketchup, but didn’t. I added a dash or two of hot sauce for myself.

2020 - Week 44 Cooking Results

Potatoes and Sausage

I made the potatoes in a similar matter as the Chicken and Potatoes from the week before, flipping them mid way through, covering them in olive oil and spices. I used some of Lucky George’s wonderful banger styles of sausages and baked them. Easy to prepare.

Taco Salad

Good as always. More beans, less meat.

Egg & Sausage biscuits

Sausage? What Sausage.

Italian Sausage & White Bean Braise

I thought I had taken Italian sausage out of the freezer, but I didn’t. I didn’t actually have any in the freezer, so I ended up using the sauce I meant for the Egg and Sauce Biscuits. I adjusted the flavoring a bit with some seasoning, and it turned out ok. I served it with some toasted sourdough.

Arroz Caldo

The week got warm, so I decided to delay this until next week.

2020 - Week 43 Cooking Results

Sous Vide Carnitas for Tacos (Finish Sunday)

This was a fantastic way to a large amount of wonderful pork for tacos. After shredding the pork, I put it away for a bit, then pulled it out and spread it on a half sheet pan and broiled it, turning the pork from time to time to get it a bit crispy on all sides. It made for a good meal and I will say that I had a taco salad a number of days after, for lunch, which was also nice.

I ended up being in a bit of a rush, trying to make a batch of pumpkin bread and finishing off tacos for dinner. I let the bread batter sit a bit longer then I wanted to since. I don’t think they rose as much as they should have, but the taste was there. I used pie pumpkins, but only got two, as opposed to my normal set of a ton.

Before baking, chocolate chunk pumpkin bread

I put the pork in before the bread to make sure I could serve dinner first.

Harissa Chicken with Leeks, Potatoes, and Yogurt

Added a bit of extra harissa, checked out the leeks and they had dried out a bit too much, so it ended up just being chicken and potatoes. Even so, it was a pretty easy meal.

Pimento Mac And Cheese

It added a whole lot of pimento, which makes sense after you taste it. It wasn’t as creamy as the Cheese Bar version, but it was still quite good. It baked up nice and was good for a couple of days after.

Pimento Mac and Cheese

Stracciatella alla Romana

This, uh…I’m not sure how this was really supposed to be. Maybe it is right that it would be better with homemade stock, but it was kind of vaguely odd with the the egg and cheese blend, basically boiled in stock. Not sure I’ll need to make this again.