Roast Beef Sandwiches with Whole Grain Mustard and Cranberries (Bon Appétit August 2009)

This reminded me of the turnberry sandwich at Palmer's Deli, except with roast beef. I liked it, It made for easy cooking after a rough day.

Chicken, Green Bean, Corn, and Farro Salad with Goat Cheese (Bon Appétit August 2009)

This was simple, delicious and full of veggies, which even though I have made efforts (not that hard I suppose), we still don't get enough of, in my opinion. Using the feta from Reichert's just added abit of deliciousness. I guess the only thing I'd really add was something to add a bit more heat, I suppose...maybe a diced fresh jalapeno.

Coffee-Rubbed Cheeseburgers with Texas Barbecue Sauce (Bon Appétit July 2009)

I put a lot of effort in to cooking on Friday, before I even started to make this (made oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies). The important part here was timing. I wanted to have the oven baked fries, burgers and etc to be done right after the Matta's arrived from their trip from Cedar Rapids to visit us. It did work out very well. While waiting for the cookies to bake, I did a lot of the prep work (made spice mix, bbq sauce, etc). And then based on the information they were just passing Newton, I used that information to time the fries...roll up the burgers (bigger ones for the adults, smaller ones for the kids). And within about 5-10 minutes of them getting here, a piping hot dinner was on the table! I did like the burgers, though by that time, only the strong flavors were getting though, since my sore throat was starting to set in.

The next morning, after taking my shower, I fed the girls (Taylor and Cali) breakfast (while everyone else got ready), made up some coffee for the older Matta's (and me) in my new coffee press and spice/coffee grinder. I got the Mars Blend beans from Mars Cafe. This is far more convenient then having to run out in the morning, plus from time to time (thinking of later this week when I'll need to be in Cedar Rapids by 8:30 AM), it'd be nice to be able to get that kind of caffeine kick in the morning. Afterward we all set off to the Downtown Des Moines Farmer's Market. After many samples some buying of various things we headed home and had a mid-morning snack of goats cheese (not from Reichert's, but a place in eastern Iowa, that the Matta's had brought), some elk jerky and olive spread on some slices of a La Mie baguette (yes the girls (5 and 3?) ate this too). Afterwards, they headed off to Adventureland and we cleaned up a bit, and did a whole lot of laundry.