Journal

2017 - Week 32 Cooking Results

BLTs

Om nom nom nom.

Black Bean Breakfast Tacos

Simple, easy, pretty good.

London Bangers

This had a nice flavor to this.  Served these with a simple spinach salad.

Spiced Beef Pitas

I didn't make patties, I made loose meat, and it worked out pretty well.  Surprisingly good with the spice mixture, certainly something to use the leftover pumpkin pie spice.

Chicken Salad with a bit of Fennel, maybe separate fennel

I used a little bit of fennel.  a lot of asian type of flavors.  Turned out pretty well.

Gochujang Marinated Skirt Steak

I didn't have the paste, I had a sauce.  I allowed the meat to marinate for a day or so.  That being said, it had a nice flavor to it.  I enjoyed the little taco type of thing that I had.  Good stuffs.

2017 - Week 32 Cooking

Tomato season is here!  Tomato Season is here!

Tomatoes this week from Butcher Crick Farms.

Yesterday I parked in the 4th and Grand parking garage to go to the market.  It was much easier to get into and out of then the 3rd and Court garage.  Though there is a short walk across Cowles Commons, I think this may be my new choice of parking

2017 - Week 31 Cooking Results

Queso Fundido Burgers

Interesting process.  The idea of cooking the chorizo part first to add the burger later is a pretty good one.  It worked out pretty well, the timing would've probably worked better making for 4 instead of 2 (as in making it worth the effort), even so, good stuff.

Italian Tomato Hoagie

So, I've been on a mortadella kick for a bit, so I added mortadella to it.  It was a good sandwich with beautifully fresh tomatoes.

Brats Patties (Lucky George) with Cherry Tomato Salad

I was mistaken, the tomato salad was made with tomatoes from Blue Gate.  It turned out great, though I made to much for the two of us, to be sure.  I used mozzarella from the Cheese Shop.

Blistered Shishito Peppers on Hot Dogs (All Pork, Crooked Gap) and Spicy Mayo

Grade A Gardens peppers, a little bit of olive oil, some very aged balsamic vinegar.  And then I put those on hot dogs (yes seriously).  I admit I ate quite a few on my own as well.  The combination of those, the mayo and the all pork hot dogs?  Good stuffs.

Chorizo Tacos, not salad this time.

I stuck to my guns.  Though to be fair my internal thought was I'm less likely to over eat when it's tortillas (not chips) then tortilla chips.  And frankly, it's not true.  Though I I do enjoy the difference with almost the same ingredients.  

For Josh's birthday celebration, I started at the market this morning looking at these wonderful potatoes from Wabi Sabi, so I picked up a few small boxes and thought of a recipe I had stored in my feedly list and then I kind of worked through a number of other things. and settled on Easy Fingerling Potato Salad with Dill Dressing.  It was a nice victory.  I swapped out white wine vinegar with apple cider vinegar and added celery (since my 2X of the recipe was a little lite on potatoes).  I wasn't willing to hit multiple stores to get fresh dill (cause for whatever reason Hy-Vee didn't have any), so I got some dried dill weed.  So I don't think it was quite a dill enhanced as it could be, which may have worked well for Shannon (not as big of a dill fan as I am).  It went over well at the party, even though we were a bit late due to Moonshadow's slow and needing to be accompanied eating process.

2017 - Week 31 Cooking

I'm starting to let me cooking magazines fall by the wayside.  I don't get as much enjoyment out of them as I used to.  I'll let then go as they expire.  I still plan on keeping up the digital subscriptions I have.  I have a stack of magazines I haven't even cracked open.  Maybe cause I've been worried about other things?  Who knows.  Maybe I'll make a different call later.

Tomatoes this time around are from Grade A Gardens.

2017 - Week 30 Cooking Results

Beer - Marinated Roast Chicken

I used some chicken thighs that we had in the freezer, and marinated them with some Sam Adams Boston Lager (good enough, but not too expensive to marinate chicken in) and some nice oranges.  I then roasted the chicken.  It had a minor beer flavor (minor enough that Shannon didn't comment on it).  I thought aleppo pepper, but I don't think it made the last spice drawer cut, so I just used some simple salt and pepper.

Roast Chicken Salad with cucumber

Little greek yogurt (using leftovers), some Grade A Gardens cucumbers, and some other things to clean out the fridge a bit.  Good stuffs.

Pork Larb

Salty flavorful pork combined with clean greens.  Good stuffs.

White Park Hamburgers

That white park beef is good.  The last time I made hamburgers before that I was a bit frustrated and just bought some really terrible pre-made patties at the store nearest me.  Mostly flavorless, bad texture.  I'm reminded why I buy meat that is a. grown right; b. is clearly distinctive; and c. butchered at a place that actually cares (Story City Locker).

Brats!

Easy.  Done.

2017 - Week 30 Cooking

So it has been interesting watching what my own anxiety be effected by external events and them drop like rock as soon as understanding happens.  Having a relatively accurate heart rate monitor and being able to watch my anxiety push my heart rate above my exercise rate (purposeful walking) and then see it drop as soon as the need of anxiety was alleviated.  

Anyways enough of that.  It was a good weekend, and life can get back to me obsessing over my own, not near as dire, normal problems, while continuing to be helpful.

2017 - Week 29 Cooking Results

Pepperoni (Underground Meats) Pizza

OMGWTFBBQ!  A successful return to pizza making after having my food processor out of commission due to a recall for so long.  I also had a new oven to contend with, since my old oven, was, less then accurate on both the temperature and maintaining a temperature.  I used the cleanest it's been since I bought it half sheet pan (thanks brother in law Eric!) and got a near ideal crust and Fresh Mozzarella...oh man, I have missed you.

That pepperoni, though.  Probably some of the best I've had.  I struggle to find a comparison to it.

Jamaican Curry Goat (Lucky George)

So maybe not The Goat curry, but similar to it.  It was to hot to do the whole thing, so I ran out got some flat bread, braised the goat meat in a spiced tomato sauce, topped it with some onions, cheese curds (I unexpectedly used all my other cheese) and arugula.  I had a bit (about a spoon full) of ghost pepper salsa on it as well.  Good stuffs

Pork Hot Dogs (Lucky George)

Good things.  You should get all pork hot dogs.

Spicy Carrot Sandwiches

These are so good, though I don't have good enough bread for them anymore.

Lincolnshire Honey (Lucky George)

Served with a simple salad.  Quick easy dinner.  Good things.  I may have had a bit of mustard with it.

Spicy Chicken Thighs Tacos

Seared, braised with tomatoes onions and beans, then we had salad style.  Turned out pretty good.

2017 - Week 29 Cooking

For Chris's 40th birthday party, I made some chocolate chunk pumpkin bread and some chocolate stout brownies (vaguely based on).  The brownies were a bit of an experiment and need some more work before I am satisfied with them, but they taste good (little to soft and crumbley).  I want to play with the stout concentration and flavor as well.  I used Bell's Expedition Stout.

2017 - Week 28 Cooking Results

Garlic Chile Ground Pork

This was a lot easier then I thought it would be, though I don't even know why I thought it would be hard.  Maybe not spicy enough?  Anyways still pretty good.

Pepperoni (Underground Meats) Pizza (FINALLY got my replacement blade for my food processor)

Dough is on it's final rise done, didn't start it early enough in the week to have it this week, so Today is the day!

Bratwurst with Sautéed Cabbage with Chile and Peanuts

Didn't end up making the cabbage, I was tired.

White Park Hamburger

good as always.