Journal

2023 - Week 12 Cooking Results

Sausage

Last of the cheese brats.

Pollo alla Pizzaiola

So the tomato sauce, of “good quality” turned out to be what I had on hand (Kirkland), I added some herbs and spices to add a bit more flavor to it. I used the mozzarella that I had leftover from making pizza last week and it came together pretty quickly and well. Easy to do, pretty good to eat.

Egg and Sausage Sandwich

The little sausage rounds that I’ve been getting from Crooked Gap have been quite tasty and just calls to be used like this. Good things.

Roasted Potatoes, onions and Ring Bologna

I tossed roasted potatoes, onions and chopped ring bologna in olive oil and smoked paprika, pepper and a bit of salt. They were baked on a sheet pan. I kind of thing these should have gone over something, but I couldn’t thing what would make sense to me at the time. But the Ring Bologna added flavor to the potatoes and onions, making nice meal. I know the Ring Bologna is local, and I’m not quite sure where it came from, but in an effort of cleaning out the freezer, here we go.

Pork Tamale Pie

I’ve made this before, and will no doubt make it again. Easy to make, good tasting has a nice flavor to it.

Pan Seared Oven Roasted Pork Tenderloin

I had kept missing the few times that Crooked Gap had a pork tenderloin on hand (one per pig, kind of makes it hard to have an abundance of them, ever). I finally was able to obtain one and while this was my original plan, I kept thinking about a mustard pan sauce. So I adjusted what Iw as going to make.

I chopped potatoes and tossed them with olive oil and Momofuku Savory seasoning and baked them in the oven.

I added salt and pepper to the tenderloin, and then seared them off in a pan, getting all sides, and finishing them off with the lid on to get a nice sear on each side. I used butter and some leftover diced red onion, combined with flower, some white wine, stock and dijon mustard. Since I didn’t plan this I had to swap out 2% milk for cream. it made a nice topping for both the pork and potatoes.

Seared pork tenderloin with a drizzle of mustard 2% milk sauce

2023 - Week 11 Cooking Results

Sausage

Cheese Brats, Crooked Gap, Good things.

Pizza with Crooked Gap Pepperoni

My house is not warm enough. To get a proper rise, the house needs to be warmer. Since I keep the house around 67°, this makes it a bit of a problem. The rise on the dough wasn’t enough.

I liked the pepperoni, though.

Fettuccine Alfredo with Chicken

The grocery store that I go to has been re-arranging their store. It took me extra time to find the cream that I like. I get, at some point, that this is the point overall, but I like knowing where things are and being able to just find the brands I like for the staples. I still will walk through the store, most visits.

I followed the recipe pretty closely, I started off with the chicken and cut it precisely, and while I am ok with knives, I slowed down to make the breasts, which I don’t generally use, cut evenly. Seared these off, and let them finish. The sauce came together well and then had the water boiling by the time it was ready to go. We ate, watched the oscars. It was a good evening.

Tangy Chili Pork Noodles

I had to use a pack of another noodle as the spicy soy only had 2 left. I had to make some adaptations as the pork I took out of the freezer had not thawed yet. so I didn’t get as much of a sear that I wanted on the pork. Even so, easy to bring together, good to eat.

Shepherds Pie

This isn’t the first, second or third time I’ve made this. It’s always nice. I thought about making it yesterday, but when it comes down to it, it takes a bit more time then I would normally like for a dinner where we’ve worked all day. Today, I cleaned the kitchen, re-organized my spice drawer, caught up on bills, menu planned. Then after all that I made dinner. The grocery store didn’t have ground lamb, I ran out of ground lamb from local farmers and wouldn’t have a chance to get more by then. They did have hunks of lamb, so I got those and divided them up into similar sized pieces. It was a nice way to listen to podcasts and make food. Good dinner, nice way to close out the week.

2023 - Week 10 Cooking Results

Sausage

Skinless Cheese Brats from Crooked Gap. Good things

Taco Salad

Good as always.

Ham and Egg Scramble

I had some leftover cubed ham that I meant to use for something, but I forgot, so here we are. A quick dinner.

Lamb Burger

Lamb, good things.

Buttermilk Pancakes

So the whole point of having this week was the idea that we had a lot of leftovers, and we needed to catch up. This was a nice way to start off.

Spicy Creamy Chili Crunch Chicken

I am uncertain of my thinking, but because of that I made a few adjustments. I just assumed that the beans the were wanted were garbanzo beans, which I had on hand, so I used those. This was not the case. Maybe I was thinking about the coconut curry chicken noodle soup? Who knows. I had everything else, which worked out. I suppose it would be a bit different, but over all it was still enjoyable.

2023 - Week 9 Cooking Results

Sausage

Skinless Garlic Brats from Crooked Gap, last set of the package

Southwest Sausage Burgers (Lucky George)

Slowly cleaning out the freezer, some odds and ends, here and there. These were good. Yellow mustard and good things.

Turkey Sheet Pan Fajitas

The other half of the turkey breast, combined with veggies. Tossed with oil, lime juice herbs and spices. Good things.

Spaghetti with Sausage and Peppers

This came together, quickly, and worked out pretty well.

Ginger Scallion Shrimp with Crispy Coconut Rice

I had assumed that my wife would not want to watch Creed, which was this weeks AMS. So when she mentioned it, I was a bit behind, as I was unwinding from work a bit longer than normal. I missed the opening window by a bit, but the dinner worked out pretty well. I used some leftover frozen shrimp and new frozen shrimp to get to that pound mark. Over all it was pretty easy to do and came out pretty tasty. I do like the idea of broiling the shrimp over the rice as a way to finish things off.

Red Beans and Rice

I may have added too much water to the beans, so I kept reducing it down afterwards. Other than it being a bit more soupy than I wanted, it was pretty good. Perhaps it needed a bit more salt and pepper, but that’s on me. I added some hot sauce after I started eating my bowl and that enhanced everything. I useed Crooked Gap Andouille Sausage

2023 - Week 8 Cooking Results

Chana Masala

A pretty good vegetarian dish. It came together pretty quickly and I added more spice and an only one Thai chilie.

Pasta Alla Zozzona

So, um wow. This was fantastic. I had some guanciale that I had dropped in the freezer quite a bit ago (Red Table Meats). I cut off about half of it and then cut them into small pieces. I used part of a segment of hot Italian sausage from Crooked Gap. I made a bit of adjustments, I added a bit more tomato sauce, since I couldn’t find tomato pasta, and used a whole pound of rigatoni. This tasted really good, highlighting the guanciale, and just making a really good dish as a whole.

Macaroni and Cheese with Kielbasa and Mustard

Since I was using Kielbasa later in the week, I thought this would also make sense. I know mac & cheese is always popular in this house, so this seems like a good variation. I was trying to finish something and AMS was going to start, so I had to rush and get this done, so I ended up using two pots, instead of one so I could cut the time down. I got it in the oven, baked off and served with plenty of time to watch Man on Fire.

It was pretty good, I think adding some dash of hot sauce makes it even better.

Simplified Cassoulet with Pork and Kielbasa

So I had a plan to make something like this for a Movie night, years ago. The directions were long, and not divided up into enough steps, which is a common problem with Cooks Illustrated, but they had you mostly constantly working during the entire set. I had the rest of the pound of Kielbasa, some CostCo chicken, a Lucky George pork roast, from the freezer. I had bought a bag of flageolet beans from the internet to make the dish.

I started the chicken brining, thinking I’d end up with one pot, I put the beans in my pretty pot to heat. I made the bread crumbs…where I was supposed to make croutons. But that didn’t work out cause I didn’t read that well, and the mac & cheese earlier in the week, it sounds like the same thing so I basically did that.

The rest of it I followed pretty closely. I had to make some adjustments on the herbs, but not too much. But it kept me up and working until the end where the beans were finishing their cooking and the meat and stock were finishing there’s.

Once combined and in the stove, is when Ir really noticed that I should’ve made croutons, but in the oven for a bit, then rested. I started just a little after one and finished a little before 5.

This was worth the effort. I served with the rest of the wine that I used in the dish, and also a surprisingly dry and delightful Prosecco (yes really).

Baked Potato

Used several smaller potatoes, fried off some bacon, served with sour cream, cheese, salt, pepper and butter.

Sausage

Skinless Garlic Brats from Crooked Gap, good things.

2023 - Week 8 Cooking

While the temperature just waggles about all over the place, with no design or pattern, we’ve had a few issues show up around the house. First, I stepped through the 3rd from the bottom step. It was not built to modern standards, and while the board is thicker then normal, it’s just barely supported on the sides and one side just came off. We are trying to get a general idea of costs, and had a few people think about it, but no bids yet (at least one no show, cause yay!).

Also, about half of the TVs backlight went out…or got dimmer. We debated and chatted and did some research and ended up going with an OLED model, which is quite an upgrade and much crisper then the old one, even though they are both 4k. It was a few hundred dollars off due to a sale, which was convenient.