Journal

2021 - Week 10 Cooking Results

Taco salad

I may have over cooked things a bit at the beginning (I think I was reading an article), was able to recover, and make it pretty good.

Cashew Chicken Ding With Jicama, Celery, and Red Bell Pepper

So I should’ve brined the chicken a bit earlier, like the previous night, but I did start early enough to make the timing work out. It was pretty good. I’m not sure how I’m supposed to store jicama, so I eded up cutting off quite a bit of the edges, as they were a bit sliming, and used the remaining in the dish. I may have added more things volume wise, then the sauce could account for. Even so, pretty tasty.

Egg, Smoked Salmon, and Dill Sandwiches

I only vaguely glanced at this recipe. I used a bit of dill in the yogurt, which Shannon skipped, but used a fried egg and a toasted bagel instead. For the rest of the week I had Smoked salmon over bagels and cream cheese, which was delicious for breakfast. I may have to add smoked salmon to the occasional things to get.

Quinoa Pilaf with Chipotle, Queso Fresco, and Peanuts

Simple, tasty and filling. Probably could use more spices.

Lobster Fettuccine Alfredo with Cheesy Garlic Bread

Got about a half pound of Lobster to add to the standard dish. I did the effort to get the bread going, the noodles ready and make sure everything would finish about the same time. A little delay to heating up the lobster in the boiling pasta water. After Shannon finished talking to her father, a pretty good birthday dinner.

2021 - Week 9 Cooking Results

Keema Matar

Did I want to make my own garam masala, I understand why one would, but in the case of a weeknight dinner, it seems like the better choice for speed to just use the blend I had on hand. Also, Kashmiri pepper? Where would I find that (online apparently). Even my local spice shop didn’t have that. So this worked out really well, tasty. Also a good use of ground beef, which I had bought a second 5 pound package of local ground beef, before using the first one. Served over rice (I chose Jasmine over Basmati). I had leftovers fo lunch for a couple of days.

Hot Dogs

All pork, all good.

Taco salad

I made the chili, had a bit of leftover chili, and decided it wouldn’t fit into the schedule for the week, so we had Dirt Burger.

Cashew Chicken Ding With Jicama, Celery, and Red Bell Pepper

Delayed, had the Cheese Bar’s take home lasagna, which was fantastic, instead. Will make Sunday.

Spicy Turkey and Quinoa Chili

I adjusted the spices a bit, using a combo of jalapeño and chipotle powder (yes I know there the same pepper). I rinsed the quinoa, because you are supposed to rinse quinoa. I was pretty good, came together in just about an hour.

2021 - Week 8 Cooking Results

Buttermilk Pancakes

I’m pretty sure I’ve made this before, but I am not sure I always have waited for the dough to rest a bit. I’m not sure if it mad a difference or not. I would’ve had to had them closer together. Good meal though.

Pasta Ai Quattro Formaggi

So, using a large dollar amount of cheese, but it is oh so worth it. Creamy, smooth, flavorful with distinction and a blending of the cheeses. I ended up with bowties, cause the fusilli wasn’t anywhere to be found. Fantastic.

Keema Matar

I was tired, delayed.

Pasta and Bean Soup

I ended up with twice the meat, because I had a whole pound out from the freezer, but other then that I followed the recipe pretty closely. I used some leftover pasta, orecchiette, and it worked out pretty good. Leftovers were nice too.

Egg & bacon Sandwich

I may have gotten tired of breakfast for a bit. So I ran out and got burgers. I’m also running out of eggs.

2021 - Week 7 Cooking Results

The start of the week was quite stressful. Due to the extremely low temperature, our furnace had an issue running properly, specifically going from stage 1 heat to stage 2 heat. After another visit, well worth it, the HVAC technician, allowed for air to come from inside the house, rather then sucking in the -10 to -18 from outside, causing the chamber to have problems. Once we had that in place, things started to work properly again. He was forward thinking to allow me to re-engage the fresh air intake, once it got to be not so silly outside. So we’re on fresh air again, as the temperature is 27F. I was able to export data from the tracking of the thermostat, and you could basically see how things were struggling.

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After he made the change, you could see the dramatic difference in performance, where it would maintain a temp within a few degrees. I slept through the night 2 days later (without getting up multiple times to check the temp). So thanks to Thrasher for keeping me in a mostly good frame of mind.

Sloppy Sammys (for real this time)

Good stuff.

Cheddar and Pickled Jalapenos Breakfast Scramble

I don’t know why I needed a recipe for this. Pickled jalapeños would have been something that I would’ve put on an egg sandwich previously, so to mix them into eggs…sure fine. It was ok. I would’ve had more peppers.

Chicken Fried Rice

I used some of the chicken tenderloins to do this, and I think that was a good call. Low in fat, having the flavors added to it from the fried rice ingredients mad for a good dish. A bit of prep up front, and then a bunch of execution, To have a quick dinner.

Bacon, Egg, & Cheese Breakfast Potatoes

I ended up using just over 2 pounds of potatoes, a good portion of the Momofuku Spicy seasoned salt, bacon, eggs and a bit of grated Prairie Breeze. I splattered some chili crunch over it at the end. Quite tasty. Not a lot of effort. I got out my mandolin, but ended up putting it away, so no extra tools used. Crisp on the outside potatoes, for the most part, but steamy soft on the inside. A bit of heat and a wonderful combination of flavors.

Stove top Mac and Cheese

I used around 3 oz of Hooks 10 year, and the rest was Prairie Breeze. I think with that mix it made for a nice smooth but with quite the punch of cheddar. I like the process, where you have parts. I tried to skip the last step, but that really is necessary to thicken up the sauce. Good things.

2021 - Week 7 Cooking

I’ve been craving to take my big camera out for a photo session. But with the weather as it is (and Covid), I don’t really want to leave the house. Hopefully spring will be here soon and I can walk and take photos of blooms. I also think last night I was in the mood for breakfast.

2021 - Week 6 Cooking Results

Ultimate Beef Stew

I meant to start a bit earlier, but I took a short nap. I got to work, taking a number of pictures and posting them along the way. I knew that I didn’t get a few things (purposefully swapped whiskey for brandy (want to buy brandy, just not in the cards right now). I apparently forgot to buy fennel, and I like fennel. I added a red onion and then ground up some fennel seeds. I made some adaptations, since I knew it called for boneless short ribs. So after the first oven stage, I pulled the bones out of the meat and chopped the beef up into manageable pieces. All in all, I don’t know about “ultimate” but I do know it was pretty fantastic. I suspect there was a bit of flavor missed out on, since I had to adjust the cooking method since my smoke detector went off a couple of times, and that was an extra problem, because Shannon was napping. I really do need an exhaust fan.

Macaroni and Cheese With Black Beans and Chipotle

So, the beans from the can needed a bit more time and the way this worked out, they were still a bit dense. I thought it detracted from it. Perhaps more time? But there’s always the balance to not over cook the noodles (to much). Pre cook them in the pasta water? I should try this again. I thought I’d have leftovers, but they disappeared before I could eat lunch (Shannon).

Kimchi and Spam Fried Rice

I knew Spam was fatty and it certainly is, but it fried up really nice with crisp skin. I had some Brinery kimchi and dinner came together very quickly (noting that I made there rice the previous day). It was pretty good.

Sloppy Sammys

We had some leftovers form the snack Sunday. So little change up and we had taco salad. As a side note, I said something about pulling it out my ass, then there were lots of butt jokes and that turned into ass salad jokes. Anyways, taco salad with beef. Good things.

Bangers over Potatoes and onions

Less onions then when I made the fish dish, but still an easy to do sheet pan dinner. Lucky George bangers for the win.