Journal

2017 - Week 50 Cooking Results

Curried Turkey-Peanut Soup

I really enjoyed this,  I had planned on using closer to two pounds of ground turkey, since I didn’t have leftover turkey, but I used one of the pounds to make turkey burgers.  This came together without much effort and tasted pretty good.  The Peanut butter added a nice peanut flavor and smoothness to the dish.

Pizza with Chicago Style Italian Sausage (Remnant Hills)

I still have quite a bit of flour that is used for bread making, generally, so I used the last of the King Arthur bread flour and combined that with, I think King Arthur High Gluten bread flour.  It was a much darker dough, with quite a bit more elasticity.  I actually had to have it rest 4 times while I was stretching it out to fill the half sheet pan (normally it's 2 times).  I used mozzarella from Lost Lake Farm, since my normal supply was out for the time being and I learned my lesson about using lesser mozzarella.  I also picked up some of their Camembert, which I'm looking forward to trying.

This was also combined with a special mix of Italian sausage.  Over all, everything really turned out well, the mozzarella was fantastic, sausage was a bit more herbed then I was expecting, but quite good. and the crust turned out fantastic.

Kung Pao Chickpeas

Delayed.

Lamb & Fennel Sausage (Lucky George) and Salad

Good Quick Done

Eggs and Maple Sausage (Lucky George)

I may have over cooked the maple sausage a bit, well to high.  We had them with bagels. 

2017 - Week 49 Cooking Results

Thai Coconut Chicken Soup (Previously done 2013 Week 1)

Came together quickly, as previously stated.  I used a surprisingly large Sweet potato.  The problem came about when I went to the storage rack and there was no more chicken stock.  Usually I buy a box of cartons of CostCo, but apparently I had ran out at some point.  I had half a carton (2 cups left) so added water for the rest.  I need to do some restocking.

Quick Tomato Chicken Curry

I started early, because we went to see Waitress at the Civic Center last night.  It came together pretty quickly and I was able to chill out quite a bit while it simmered and finished.  Not to bad, though I didn't have all the spices I needed (could've sworn I had some garam masala in my spice stash), so I did a bit of replacement here and there may not have measured everything exactly.  Even so, my house smells like curry, as it does.

Hot Dogs! (I think that's the stash, I'll have to reorganize the frozen items)

Nom nom.  I think we are done for now.

Cheese Free Sweet Potato Quesadillas (May add meat & cheese, cause I'm me and protein)

I cooked the beef chorizo, mashed the sweet potatoes and combined all the ingredients and the cheese.  Turned out pretty well.

Chorizo Taco Salad

Never the same twice, always pretty good.

Trying to change a pattern

As I struggle with my brain, I want to take a chance to publicly thank my partner in life, Shannon, as she keeps up the behaviors and requirements that make us successful participants in society.  Even though I've not been not very helpful, she keeps on and I really do appreciate it.

I have started to enact a plan, where I will use my phone or laptop to take notes throughout the week to make writing the notes on cooking more accurate and recently thought about and also take notes about what to cook for the next week.  This will also reduce the burden and time commitment on Sundays.

 

2017 - Week 48 Cooking Results

Green Chile Turkey Enchiladas

I used ground turkey, as I didn’t have any leftover turkey, but these turned out pretty well.  There wasn’t anything astounding about them, but it was clear that it was well thought out and pretty good overall.

Spaghetti Squash with Red Sauce

I was a little cautious with the red pepper flakes this time around.  I have made it a bit too spicy for expectations.  This was a nice balance of flavors.

Roast Chicken Thighs over Root Vegetables (Carrots, parsnips, etc)

I really like root vegetables.  In here we had some carrots, parsnips, turnips, radishes, and potatoes.  Turned out pretty well.  Good things.

Lamb Burgers

Pretzel Buns, and Black Betty…such a good combination.

Pork Hot Dogs!

Hooray!

Egg something or other

I had leftover egg whites from making a bunch of custard.  So that, combined with a few other eggs, some ham and put on bagels.  Ta Da!  Breakfast for dinner.

2017 - Week 48 Cooking

Cooking magazines are starting to expire.  Lucky Peach was replaced by a magazine that I never really liked (seems more focused on travel and shit I'll never afford, and the food is a side note).  I stopped the auto-renewal of all of them...I guess I'll only keep my multi-website subscription to Cooks Illustrated, as the recipes are fairly handy (and they're a good organization to support).  Maybe my brain will get cleaned out or inspired, but for now, I have to follow it to where it wants to go, within reason.

  • Green Chile Turkey Enchiladas
  • Spaghetti Squash with Red Sauce
  • Roast Chicken Thighs over Root Vegetables (Carrots, parsnips, etc)
  • Lamb Burgers
  • Pork Hot Dogs!
  • Egg something or other.

2017 - Week 47 Cooking Results

Pork Burgers

Easy, good, done.

Hot Dogs

...cause I have a lot of hot dogs left.  These are still all pork hot dogs.

Chipotle Chicken Thighs

So I made chipotle mayonnaise, and then we had sandwiches, it was quick, it was pretty good, it was super easy.

Thanksgiving

I think this went off OK.  I had a few challenges here and there, but for the most part, it was a fairly familiar menu.  Seems like people had a good time, lots of conversations.  Objectively, I should've felt relatively accomplished.  I was however exhausted into the next day.  I also got to use a blowtorch, which was interesting.  I think I need more practice to get the golden brown sugar color, like it should have...or get the gas that has a lower temperature.  I think there may be more usage of this as time goes on.  It makes me curious to get that really high heat and use it to perhaps finish something.  I guess we'll see how it goes.

So who won?  I'll first start of by saying, I love ham, and both hams were on a level far exceeding the hams that you would buy in the super market.  There is a clear care for both the animals and the process of making the ham.  I know Ethan and Crooked Gap and I've met many of his Hereford pigs.  I've had a growing relationship with Jason at Lucky George, and while I haven't visited his farm, I get the impression that they are lucky Large Black pigs to be there.  I've met some of the staff at Story City Locker (the processor for both farms that I prefer).  So that all being said, you'd be lucky to have either ham on your table.  But I'd give an edge to the Large Black pigs.  I liked the fat, just a bit better (yes this is not a common thing), but it had a slightly better texture at the edge.  Both hams did have a beautiful fat cap.

With a number of leftovers I made a ham soup.  Using ham from both and the ham bones from both.

2017 - Week 47 Cooking

As it will be a busy cooking week, it'll be an extra simple meal week.  Though thinking about it, it has been generally simple for a while, with flairs here and there.  It'll be a short week, as I'm taking some time off (first since early September).  I guess we'll see how it goes.  I'll do my main shopping tomorrow, I picked up a number of things at Winter Market, some for Thanksgiving, some for ourselves.  Should be a good cooking week.

  • Pork Burgers
  • Hot Dogs
  • Cipotle Chicken Thighs

Thanksgiving 2017

Appetizers

  • Carrots, Celery, Cornichons - Tuesday

  • Classic Cheddar Cheese Ball - Tuesday

  • Underground Meats Summer Sausage? (if available) - Thursday

  • Crackers

Bread

Mains

Desserts

  • Pumpkin Swirl Brownies - Wednesday

  • Pumpkin Creme Brûlée - Start Wednesday, Finish as needed

  • Ice Cream - bought