Journal

2019 - Week 48 Cooking Results

Pumpkin Soup with Sage and Ham

This was ok. More liquid than stuff. I think if it had more stuff in it it would probably be better. So more stewish, the soupish I suppose.

West Indian Rice and Beans Recipe

When I arrived home, I didn’t feel like cooking, which was strange since I wasn’t cooking that much this week. So we ordered out. So, Delayed.

Menemen

Simple to put together. I couldn’t find the pepper it called for so I swapped out a jalapeño. That being said I used a grade a onion as part of it. Adds more vegetables and reduces the eggs. Though it still has more eggs then what I should probably eat. I liked the flavor combination and very quick to make.

Vegan Coconut Lentil Soup

Delayed.

Irish Stew, still debating for this or this

I ended up making Soda Bread with pepitas as well. It was a simple recipe and seemed like a good match for the stew. I made it earlier in the day. I started to make the stew about an hour or so later and most of it was just letting it simmer on its own in the oven. I had some mutton from lucky George and just went from there. Did I have the bones? No. But even so it turned out to have that nice rich taste to it. Good to eat while we have a slightly before December lightning storm.

On butter.

While I didn’t make the thanksgiving meal this year, I was asked to make a couple of types of butter. While only citrus butter was asked for, I thought for a couple of things. It was hard to search for, since so many things contain butter. Eventually I found a few things to base off of, but I also rolled with my gut.

I had a couple of thick slices of extra fatty La Quercia prosciutto. I used this to render the fat off of them in a pan. I then chopped off the prosciutto a bit then processed the butter, rendered fat, and prosciutto. I ended up adding a bit of salt, then maybe a bit more, and even then I think I could’ve added another thick slice to to add more prosciutto flavor. It was gentle, in flavor, and was overpowered by strong bread.

I made my standard honey butter.

So on the citrus butter front. I found a recipe (removed the tarragon), added a bit more citrus zest and juice and then mixed it up. This one stood out the most. It was a quite good addition. That being said, going to the Mattas’ and having a nice meal was quite nice, they clearly run a tighter thanksgiving ship then I do. I was glad that I got to try the cornnut stuffing that I heard about.

2019 - Week 48 Cooking

There is a clear dual feeling I’ve been having over the last few weeks. I feel as if I should be planning and about to finalize a big meal plan, and I also feel the relief of not having to do so. As I, however, look at how much money is available to spend on this, I completely understand why I made this choice. That being said, I’m still debating on taking some time off, though there is something about working on that Friday after Thanksgiving (when almost nobody will be there) that will be inherently productive. I’ll probably make the call later in the week. I volunteered to take on call this week, as it’s the first time I’ve felt I’ve been able to in a long while.

2019 - Week 47 Cooking Results

Pumpkin and Yellow Split Pea Soup (Green split peas, checked multiple stores, no yellow)

I added a bit more cook time, since I missed the part that I should soak them. It was…ok. Not great, not bad. I ate leftovers for the next while for lunch since it was quite a lot. There is still some left.

Pasta with Creamy Pumpkin Sauce and Toasted Hazelnuts

I liked this quite a bit. After searching the store for hazelnuts, I googled and found out they were also called filberts (and apparently cobnuts). They had filberts in the store. I suppose hazelnuts are a prettier name. I really enjoyed this dish. It was relatively quick to do (longest part was rubbing the skin off the hazelnuts). I do love a good pumpkin dish.

Easy Teriyaki-Glazed Salmon, Cucumber, and Avocado Rice Bowls

This was easy! Though the salmon didn’t glaze as I thought it might. The teriyaki was a little more liquid then I suspect the one they used was. So that was probably why. It was easy to do though. And made for a good dinner.

Chicken over salad

This turned into sandwiches, per request. I tossed the sliced sous vide chicken with a little bit of barbecue sauce (not much at all) to add some salt to them (as I didn’t while cooking) and we had them on nice buns. I had a nice big side salad.

Single Brat per person (I gotta slowly eat this pork)

I miss pork.

2019 - Week 46 Cooking Results

Chickpea Pot Pie er to much dairy fat Chicken Pot Pie, Modified

So I’ve been trying to make one really worthwhile dish a week. And this was it. I was going to shorten some steps (mainly the strengthening of the stock) but I ended up following the recipe fully. I will state that I do like that they had weights in it, as I have a scale and it does make things easier to replicate. It really turned out out delicious. I’m still uncertain about the biscuits, even if they tasted good. I’m not quite sure I got the texture right, or if there is a shortcut method to easily integrate butter into the flour mixture.

Light and Fluffy Buttermilk Pancakes

When you think yeah, that’ll be good, we haven’t had pancakes in a while, then when starting to execute you see whisking to stiff peaks, then you shrug and just continue as normal. Still good, no egg separation or whisking (beyond the mixing). Still good. I skipped adding butter to mine and added just a bit of syrup (bourbon barrel aged).

Southwest Chicken Casserole

I planned to make this Friday. Work ran over quite a bit (left work 2 hours after I intended to). So this’ll have to be delayed or rethought.

Pumpkin and Yellow Split Pea Soup

I uh…missed the part where this will take 4 hours. This is a weekend thing. I already had my Saturday selected one to go, maybe Sunday?

Taco Salad

Good quick, used bison.

Fish

Some tuna steaks, a little over done in the oven (trying a new recipe). I’ll have to try again.

Sloppy Bison

In the random levels of the ingredients that I use for this, it was pretty good. Do you loose something with out having as much pork or beef fat, sure, but the tomatoes and other spices make up for it I think. I went ahead and ordered some bison from an Iowa herd (this set was from CostCo) from the Iowa Food Coop. Surprisingly, it was a very similar price to my local grocery store. More bison will make the way into things.

2019 - Week 45 Cooking Results

I found it humorous. When buying meat for my sandwiches they didn’t have quite enough already cut for me, so I stated that I wouldn’t need as much because I should have leftovers once or twice. I ate leftovers every day.

We went to RI Friday night. The Apple dessert was fantastic. Well thought out, curious and pleasing to the palate.

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili Recipe

I got a directive (non-medical) to put more beans in my diet, this works out pretty well. I adjusted it a bit more chipotle Chile (finished off what was leftover, 3 peppers), besides that I mostly stayed true to the recipe. It was quite good. The stout added a flavor that was kind of unexpected. When it gets mixed in with other liquid, it seems to loose something. Good things. I had this as leftovers.

Coconut Chicken Curry in a Hurry

It was a quick dish and certainly a way good way to use chicken. I had to start the rice first (it took longer to cook). Everything came together simply and it tasted good.

Spaghetti Squash Pasta

It was a quick dish and certainly a way good way to use chicken. I had to start the rice first (it took longer to cook). Everything came together simply and it tasted good.


Spaghetti Squash Pasta

This was the first meal I cooked after the dishwasher was fixed. The Drain hose was in a shape, were in some segments you could just bend it a little and it would break. I’m not sure what this was from, but it could have to do with the broken rinse agent dispenser, or that it’s older or whatever. Anyways, fixed!

This was using my standard “use half the meat” formula, and was still quite good. I had enough squash leftover it outlasted the sauce and I put the last of the black been and sweet potato chili over it (also good).

Red Pepper, Potato, and Peanut Sabzi

This was real easy, and pretty good. We treated it as a main, but I suppose it could’ve been part of wrap or a breakfast taco (as the intro apparently says). Either way, simple and good.

Smoky Pumpkin and Tomato Soup

This was a multi-staged affair, the hardest part was breaking down the pumpkin, and while I have done this in the past, sometimes in bulk, it’s still a chore. Though, unlike when you break down 5 in a row, my muscles didn’t cramp up or were even that strained. Which is a good thing. I started by roasting the pumpkin, then the pepitas and started to bring the soup together. I added a little more smoked paprika then the recipe asked for (as it only asked for paprika). All and all it was a nice Saturday cooking experience.

2019 - Week 44 Cooking Results

Cooking this week was challenging. While I don’t particularly mind loading the dishwasher, I don’t particularly like washing dishes by hand. We found out that the dishwasher was leaking (we thought in one place) so that prevented us from using it. So I figured I’ll get someone to come and fix it in a couple of days and it should be all good. I had a plumber come out to also repair the sink and he found multiple tears (including one huge one) in the drain hose. After a bit of work and a part order, he recommended getting an appliance repair person coming in (which they will next week). So instead of adding dishes, we’ve been getting a lot of take away food for home. After Thursday, however, I was forced to do dishes, as we were running low on spoons and little bowls (that we use to feed the cats). As we have enough plates to have a reasonably large guest list or multiple courses with fresh plates, we still had plenty of dishes to use. I ended up using multiple sinks worth of washing water and got through all the dishes after a few loads. The appliance repair guy should be here on Wednesday, and hopefully after that we should be good for a bit (if not, time to replace the dishwasher, I guess).

Easy Chicken Fajitas

I may have added a bit more chicken to this then required, and perhaps that’s why I added to add a bit more time to the cook time. All and all it seems like a good way to create that feel to the chicken, a bit of brining a bit of cornstarch to make the right texture. It made for a pretty quick meal

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili Recipe

Delayed

Cheese-Free Sweet Potato "Quesadillas" Recipe

This was quite nice. Baked the sweet potato until nice and soft (I’ll have to make sure I keep note of the baking time and temp as it is not the same as a potato) and then added it to the quesadilla. It was a nice combination and made for a filling meatless meal.

Indian Peanutty Noodles

I doubled the recipe and it made for a good meal with leftovers. I may have added more of the peanut chutney then asked for (as I had quite a bit left from last time). In fact I used the rest of it. It was quite filling after that.

Coconut Chicken Curry in a Hurry

Delayed

Spaghetti Squash Pasta

Delayed