Journal

2013 - Week 4 Cooking Results

No-boil Mac and Cheese with white truffle oil (slightly modified from p30 Bon Appetit January 2013)

This tured out pretty good.  I think it may have been a bit too spicy for Shannon, though she still ate it, because I added jalapeno powder and cayenne.  I did, however, forget to add the truffle oil.  This did defeat the purpose.  I guess I'll have to try this again (Shannon said so too).  The quantity that it wanted me to use was slightly bigger then the pans that I had, so I ended up having to split it up into two smaller baking dishes.  I did use extra bread crumbs and butter.  So we'll do this again, with less spice and actually put in the truffle oil.  I used Prairie Breeze.

Thai Chicken Curry (p30 Bon Appetit January 2013)

This was pretty easy to come together, other then having to take the extra trip to find the boneless skinless chicken thighs (come on Hy-Vee in Windsor Heights).  I used green curry paste, because I couldn't find the yellow that they wanted (I admit I didn't look that hard).  It was pretty good.  Served over some rice for a nice meal.  The herbs died in the fridge before they could make it on to the dish (cilantro looked gross).

Pan Roasted Brined Pork Chop (modified from p52 Bon Appetit January 2013)

Ok so maybe it's not fair to talk about how well this came together.  I didn't have bone in pork chops, but I did have Berkshire pork that I got from Big Boy Meats at the New Bo City Market in Cedar Rapids (visiting for my Mom's birthday).  I love the Berkshire taste, so adding that with the additional efforts to go through to make an extra good piece of meat.  Woah mama.  This really turned out good.  Without the bone, the times were drastically shortened, but it still had a nice color and crust on it.  I was very happy. I was originally going to make a full one for each of us, but I took out the second chop a little late, so it was still a bit frosty.  So I guess I'll have to do this again next week.

The potatoes were a combination of whole milk, butter and Harbison (Brett recommendation .  I then used the leftover butter in the pork pan, to cook some garlic and added that to the potatoes as well.  It made for quite the amazing (though not the best for you) side.  Oh...and wicked expensive to (the average food cost over the past year makes more and more sense).

I had a jar of apple sauce my mother made in the fridge, so I used that as well, along with some focaccia (I tried to buy something at La Mie, however the line was huge).

Excellent meal, just amazing over all.

Egg Salad with Sweet Pickles and Celery and Sriracha

I love egg salad from time to time, and this is one of those times.  Yes yes, people have been using Sriracha to excess, but there is a reason why.  It added a nice kick to the egg salad.  It was a nice, easy quick meal.  Good call, where ever I read that, good call.

Steak Mole with Cilantro

So, uh, this was skipped, I was recovering from a nap, Shannon was hungry, so I quick like made some steak sandwiches.  I used the steak from Omaha's and they turned out ok, I've certainly had a lot better, but it wasn't as bad as the hot dogs and hamburgers.  I still wouldn't recommend it.

Eggs on Toast with Chorizo

So I have this Chorizo Secco from Charlito's Cocina by way of The Cheese Shop.  I bought it on the recommendation of Brett.  I had sampled it once before and liked it so this is what I thought of.  It was good.  I think I'll do a dice and then do it with some scrambled eggs.  That should be good too.  The Chorizo Secco is delicious, the combination made for a great dinner too.

2013 - Week 3 Cooking Results

Beef and Barley Soup for Two (p28 Cook's Country December / January 2013)

Simple to put together, nice for a chilly evening, and not to much in the way of leftovers. I don't know about the statement for two, though I suppose it allows for a bigger bowl then what we had.

Omaha Steak's Hot Dogs (Just getting rid of them now)

Lucky for me, they didn't have anything in the package, so I ended up, buying some bratwurst.  So much better.

Omaha Steak's Burgers (Just getting rid of them now)

Added a bit more of the seasoning, and then it crossed a line.  So now not only did it not only have no beef flavor, it had to much of the dry crappy spice taste.  You can't win...you really can't.

Poulet Rouge Roast Chicken (Foxhollow)

Slow roasted.  I probably should have brined it first.  Over all, had an excellent taste.  I'm pretty happy with it.  I used some of the leftover chicken in the chicken salad.

Chicken Salad (I got a hankering)

A little chicken, some spices, some veggies, a little relish, an to inject some savoriness into it, a little Echo Mountain Blue from the Cheese Shop chopped up and added to the salad mixture.  Good stuffs.

Curried Split Pea Soup (adding Ham too)

Added a bit more liquid to account for the additional 1/4th pound of split peas, and perhaps I added a bit to much, but really, what the hell would I do with a 1/4th pound of split peas?  With the added ham and ham hocks it made for a good meal.  I used the leftover curry paste that I had, but ti didn't seem to stand out to much, perhaps I should've used more.  Even so, it ended up being a pretty good soup.

For game night I made some crackers.  This is my first attempt, I have been thinking about them for a long time.  They were a bit thick, but certainly a good start, because they had a nice taste to them.  I'll have to try again.

2013 - Week 2 Cooking Results

Skillet Teriyaki Beef and Vegetables (RC Cook's Country December / January 2013)

This turned out very well.  It was nice, balanced and tasty.  And pretty easy to put together.  It would've been even easier if I had not used the smaller carrots that I got from a local provider.

Beef and Barley Soup for Two (p28 Cook's Country December / January 2013)

Skipped for working on the lego project, doing next week.

Chorizo Tacos

So I heard at the cheese shop that a combination of Quark and Chorizo was very good.  They know their business there so I figured I'd give it a try.  So I combined Mexican style chorizo, onions, tomatoes, peppers and rice (I had left over rice).  Added with the quark, some spinach and a little yogurt on a soft tortilla.  They're right, this is really damn fantastic.  Good show, very good show.

Omaha Steak's Hot Dogs

meh.  Eden Farms still wins, this doesn't even come close.  Slightly above Oscar Meyer.

Omaha Steak's Burgers (try again)

I added the seasoning that I got with the box telling me that I had free stuff from Omaha Steaks.  this improved it a bit, but they're still quite bleah.

Poulet Rouge Roast Chicken (Foxhollow)

We had a late lunch with some friends at Woody's Smoke Shack (those ribs, damn they're good) and dessert at La Mie.  By the time we got done, and headed out to do errands  we weren't hungry for a large dinner, so we had one full of cheese, some La Mie bread.  Good stuffs.

2012 - Week 53 Cooking / 2013 - Week 1 Cooking Results

Corn Soup with Potatoes and Smoked Ham

Simple to make, I used the last of my Applewood Smoked Iowa White Spread (La Quercia) and a chunk of well smoked ham and you end up with a nice simple soup that makes for a good meal on a cold Sunday eve.

Thai Coconut Chicken Soup (RC Cook's Country December / January 2013)

So Shannon got home late, and when I said I was going to make soup, I got a bit of push back because there was an assumption that it woud take forever to do.  This came together pretty quickly.  And tasted pretty good to.  In fact, I still have another sweet potato, so I might make this again.

Skillet Teriyaki Beef and Vegetables (RC Cook's Country December / January 2013)

Pushed to next week.

Reduced Fat General Tso's Chicken (p29 Cook's Country December / January 2013)

My figure shows that I don't generally like reduced fat anything.  This, however, turned out very well.  Bringing everything together to a bit longer then I expected, but when it came down to it, it was still pretty speedy.  It tastes similar (but better) to what you'd order from the take out Chinese place.

Well's Fargo provided, Omaha Steak's Burgers

These were kind of pathetic.  It didn't stand up to the bacon, nor the Dunbarton Blue cheese.  Quite disappointing.

2012 - Week 52 Cooking Results

Ham and Potato Chip Tortilla (p144 Food & Wine December 2012)

So I do like to have some jalapeno potato chips from time to time, so to read another excuse to eat them, seemed like a good idea at the time.  It certainly does taste good and is very quick to make and is clearly not that good for you, but I sit here recovering where somewhere in my head there's a difficulty chewing.  So anything that takes excessive crunching or chewing leaves me with an itching pain in the middle of my head (I'm guessing where one of the two cuts in my nasal cavities were).  Even so, after getting through that (I've been doing that for days now) it was good.  Good on toast, good by itself, just good over all.  I apparently forgot to buy the scallions, it's clearly been a forgetful week, but even with out.  I used the holiday ham received from work for this (meh ham, but works as an ingredient).

Smoked Turkey Sandwiches

Still very good, nice quick Sunday meal.

Light and Fluffy Baked Apple Pancake (p160 Food & Wine December 2012)

So years ago, I got a bug in my head to make a pancake cake, it worked out pretty well, but I quickly let it go.  This is a much better way to entertain that idea.  It works with the same idea as an upside down cake, where you put the topping on first then cook pancake on top.  I really liked how this turned out.  The combination of the apples and maple on top then the fluffy pancake?  Worth another go without a doubt.  Easy to do, as well.

Monte Cristo Strata (p158 Food & Wine December 2012)

I got part of the center of the Gruyere from the cheese shop and luckily I had enough to feel the recipe needs (didn't write down what I needed).  So it was nice and layered and again used the free ham from work.  It might have been better to be served with fresh fruit or jam on the side, but it was nice and savory (I did use more mustard then the recipe called for).  The broiled cheese on the top, was quite good.  Good use of the Gruyere.

2012 - Week 51 Cooking Results

Cheese Latkes

Also good the second time around.

Smoked Turkey Brats

I am guessing that Foxhollow had a couple of extra leftover turkeys, and decided to do a bit with it.  So the smoked brats were pretty good, even if they were turkey.  It has a nice smokey flavor, they should have these more regularly.

Smoked Turkey breast Sandwiches

Good taste, nice sandwiches, I still have some left, and it was good.

Grandma B's World Famous Enchiladas

I added more to this then the recipe called for.  I added some onion, garlic, a bit of dried jalapeno pepper.  It turned out well, though I should've heated up the tortillas a bit to make them, say, not break while I was rolling them up.  It still worked out well and tasted pretty good.  It was a great use of the Enchilada sauce.

Spicy Carrot Sandwiches

nom nom nom.  I used Grinnell Heritage Farms carrots, which have had the best carrots I have ever eaten (2 seasons ago, I think, so good I remember and still talk about then :) ).  It worked well with the sandwiches, I still wish there was a better sourdough bread around.  I really should look for one.

Bucatini all'Amatriciana (p115 Food & Wine September 2012) (cook pancetta first, take out and let rest and put in at the end)

Ok, so you change the order, and it goes from meh, to splendid.  So you cook the pancetta first until crisp, set it aside on paper towels, augment the rendered fat with some olive oil and continue the recipe as planned (minus the parts about Pancetta.

I used Pancetta Tesa from La Quercia and Pecorino Reserva.  I also got bucatini (thick long noodle with a whole in the middle).  The way this ended up working I got nice crisp salty pancetta, good cheese flavor and the tomato covered noodles.  Good stuffs, this way.

2012 - Week 50 Cooking Results

Bucatini all'Amatriciana (p115 Food & Wine September 2012) (cook pancetta first, take out and let rest and put in at the end)

delayed until next week.

Cheese Latkes

Simple and very good.  After the utter failure of another recipe from PBS's food blog, this was a very good recovery.  They were good plain, good with honey and good with strawberry rhubarb jam.  While looking for jam / jelly to put on this, we realized we had 9 different kinds of jam (two of strawberry rhubarb).  As Shannon was looking for strawberry jam, we came to the realization that we didn't have any.  So I bought 3 jars of strawberry today (and 2 more Drunken Fig, and chocolate cherry) at winter market.  I'll make this again, so Shannon can have it the way she wanted.

Marja's Mac & Cheese

This was ok.  It was an interesting and easy way to make it (mix ingredients and put it in the oven), it sure as shoot looks pretty.  But it didn't have that creamy texture that you get when you actually make a sauce.  It also goes to a pet peeve of mine with recipes   Pasta comes in a pound, and when you ask me to use 3/4ths of a pound, what, pray tell, am I going to do with 1/4th a pound of elbow macaroni?  I wouldn't make this again.

Thai Chicken with Basil

The fresh basil went gross, so I used dried basil, even so it was pretty good.  Not enough sauce for my taste, and I wish I would have made more rice, cause then I could've actually made a lunch out of it the next day.  It wasn't too spicy (I've been crossing the boundary again with Shannon).  And I added a bit of Sriracha to it, and was just about perfect on the heat.

Huevos Rancheros

I really liked the way this turned out, I got the eggs to be just the right amount of softness (which I am getting better at), but also found that a part of my 10" non-stick pan isn't so non-stick anymore.  So this adds to the list of things that I need to replace (cookie sheets, half sheet pans, 9x13 baking dish, etc).  I ate the egg I broke, Shannon and Joseph had the better ones.  Pretty good, fairly simple.

Sloppy Joes

It was interesting, and gave me thoughts.  The beans were an interesting addition, certainly added more nutrients to the mixture then the standard mix.  The texture was a bit different, but it was still pretty good.  I admit, though, I tend to like mine a bit spicier, but over all, I'd call it ok. On Fine Cooking's site, it seems either a love or hate (1 or 5 stars), but I think beans are a decent idea for an addition and will probably be incorporated in the future, though I probably won't follow the recipe (who wants their sloppy joes to be the same way twice?), but I may incorporate molasses, beans and vinegar as ingredients may rotate in and out.

2012 - Week 49 Cooking Results

Spaghettini with Garlic and Dried Chili (p101 Bon Appetit September 2012)

So I found dried ground chiles de árbol, but no whole ones.  I had no idea how much should go in, and clearly I guessed wrong.  Way to spicy.  Oh well.  It was simple enough.  Perhaps I should've looked up to see how tiny the chilies were.

Chicken Sausage Lettuce Wraps (p40 Bon Appetit September 2012)

This is where I'm going to whine a bit about missing farm fresh lettuce.  It makes me sad that I can't get something closer, but it is Iowa and in "winter".  So unless I want local greenhouse greens, I don't have much choice.  

This recipe reminded me I need to organize my cupboards again.  As I was making the sauce for this, a bag of raw sugar fell out and flipped the bowl of dipping sauce on the counter.  I was not pleased.  It can be expected, though, when you have a couple of bags of brown sugar, raw sugar, some powdered sugar all precariously positioned inside the cupboard.  I recovered as best I could, but had to remake the sauce.

Even with the splatter effect in the middle, the wraps turned out pretty well.  Nice flavor the sauce was, even remade, pretty good too.

Skillet Chicken Fajitas (p9 Cook's Illustrated September & October 2012)

This was a long process, because of what it wanted to do to.  I roasted some peppers in the oven with the broiler (note to self, when handling peppers, wash your hand before and after using the bathroom).  All these steps were pretty simple and most could be done at the same time, and I have to say, was worth it.  The chicken was excellent (I'm guessing it didn't hurt that I pulled out some of the Foxhollow chicken breasts out of the freezer to make it).  It was a nice meal.

Bucatini all'Amatriciana (p115 Food & Wine September 2012)

After having the mistake of a pasta the night before, this was a nice recovery.  Simple, and good.  though I think it could be better.  If you change the order of things, you can have crisp pancetta and use the pancetta fat in replacement of a good chunk of the olive oil.  In fact I think I'm going to do so.  I used Pecorino Riserva, instead of Romano.

Lamb Burgers with Green Harissa (p91 Food & Wine September 2012)

Made this with the additional guest of Joseph (over doing laundry).  I was shocked (and I mean shocked) that I found naan at Hy-Vee.  I guess I was lucky that I couldn't find pitas (they've been reorganizing) and found these in the organic freezer section.  The green harissa was fantastic and the mixture of everything was also very good.  Quite the good meal.

Non-Cow Milk Pizza try 2 (try 1 )

Ok, so I messed this up a middle.  I don't know where my brain was.  I got the dough all stretched out and started sprinkling cheese on it...before I put the sauce on there.  Anyways, this is about the right combination.  I topped it with some La Quercia prosciutto (last of the stuff from thanksgiving) and it was good.  I think the mixture is good enough for the pizza for the Jerry and Renee & family pizza night.

2012 - Week 48 Cooking Results

Grilled Cheese And Creamy Tomato Soup (p56 Bon Appetit October 2012)

So I find myself after Thanksgiving, with a number of cheeses left, but not enough to make mac and cheese (and that would be a very super excessive mac and cheese), so I thought that would work too.  I also had some of the La Quercia Speck Americano and Tamworth Prosciutto.  So what better to do then to combine the two to make a sandwich.  My original thought was to have the Shropshire Blue in the mix, but, I uh, ate it all, so I picked up a bit more at the Cheese Shop.

I cut up some of the Shropshire Blue, Rupert and 4 year old Boerenkaas Gouda.  Combined it with a pile of both kinds of prosciutto, and grilled them off in a pan (was going to try the oven method talked about in Bon Appetit, but didn't).

This was an absolute stunner.  The combination of the savory flavors, a bit of the unmelted cheese with some of the crystals left and the sharpness of the blue and the complete meaty savoriness of the Prosciutto.  I wonder if it would be better on some bread that is better then just decent.

The soup was pretty good too, though it made a lot, though paired with the method of doing large amounts of grilled cheese, does make sense.  Took a while, but better then Campbells any day of the week.

Spicy Brown Rice Salad with Chicken and Peanuts (Weeknight Kitchen)

So the recipe says use 1 to 2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes (2 if you want it hotter).  This was great for me, but way to hot for Shannon.  It came together in the time that the rice took to cook.  Which was perfect.  I skipped the mushrooms.  I found black mushrooms, but not the mushrooms that were mentioned in the recipe.  So after soaking them, tasting them, I well, didn't use them.  We've had a bad experience or two with mushrooms recently, so this seemed like the choice to make.

Shannon ended up having some peanut butter on english muffins.  I finished off her plate.

Buttermilk Pancakes

I has just enough buttermilk left to make the pancakes.  It worked, I added some cream to the mix (was about to expire) and we ate them.

Steak Sandwiches with Spicy Horseradish Mayo

You take a big ole chunk of flank steak, spice it a bit, sear it off, slice it up, eat it up.  This was a nice combination on ciabatta roles, the steak, Some of the last of my Spinach from Larry.  Good stuffs.

Ham Steak w/ Mashed Potatoes

So I intended to use the last of the gravy from Thanksgiving for the mashed potatoes, that didn't work out (some got used, some got dumped out).  But it was pretty good, the ham tasted pretty good and had a nice sear, and the mashed potatoes had a nice flavor too.

Sloppy Sammys

Never the same twice, used a lot of the spices I bought for chili to try to bring out some of that fresh pepper taste that is in the non-smoked dried peppers.  It worked out pretty well.  I thought Shannon would complain about the heat about on this...but to my surprise, she didn't.  Good stuffs.

2012 - Week 47 Cooking Results

Goat Bratwurst

Pretty, good, nice and simple.  Easy meal after a long day.

Grilled Cheese And Creamy Tomato Soup (p56 Bon Appetit October 2012)

Skipped, doing next week.

Grass Fed Beef Burgers

again, simple, following up.

Turkey Soup

So I planned to make turkey soup on Friday, but after the work day, I didn't.  So the Bones and leftover meat on the carcass slowly simmered for a couple of days.  It created a nice stock.  Flavored with some of the left over spices from the meat.  I added water to as it steamed out.  To make the soup I added a red onion, a couple of white onions (diced), some carrots (chopped), celery (chopped), some spices (salt, pepper, szechuan pepper, dried jalapeno), some peppers some ground turkey (didn't have a ton of actual turkey left) and some turkey.  It turned out pretty well.

Thanksgiving

So things turned out well, I was generally happy.  The sweet potatoes ended up being more of a roasted dish, I forgot I was using brandy, and used the bourbon instead.  I over did the roasted carrots, which was a shame, the really smelled good.  But I had forgotten to make the gravy and in my haste to get that done, the carrots spent a little to much time in the oven.  I really liked the biscuit dressing.  The orange cranberry sauce was perhaps a bit to orangey.  I was only a little late (2:30, dinner was supposed to be served at 2) but I didn't have to stay up til 3:AM.  The cheese was a nice mixture, if I do say so myself, and I think the most eaten was the 4 year old gouda (which was fantastic).  I finished off the Shropshire Blue.  The mixture was:

  • Cabot Cloth Bound Cheddar
  • Rupert
  • Shropshire Blue
  • 4 year old Boerenkass Gouda
  • La Quercia Speck and Tamworth Prosciutto

It was easier to cook for 7, but putting in that much work, it is always nice to have more around to enjoy.