Ham and Leek Frittata (Splendid Table Weeknight Kitchen)

This was pretty easy to make, I suppose I've made enough frittatas that it is starting to become more of a second nature, and pretty good. They were ham chunks, but more diced up ham deli slices. Anyways, good, relatively quick (took me longer to move the dishes along) and for lunch on Friday, I used a couple of pieces (about 1/4rd of it) and made a sandwich with mustard and some greents. It made for a good sandwich.

The Best Tuna Salad (p17 August/September 2010 Cook's Country)

This was, in now way shape and form, the best tuna salad. Where's the mustard? Anytype of mustard? To me, mustard is a integral ingredient to any tuna salad. Anyways, it was still good. They added acid by adding lemon juice, which added a sort of bright flavor backnote, however, event with that, it just didn't have the flavor like I wanted. I remember a recipe from a while ago where I was much more satisfied with the results as a whole.

The Best Tuna Salad (according to Cook's Country) with Carrots, Celery and Yogurt with Strawberries

Jalapeno Burgers with Avocados

I diced up 2 jalapeno, combined them with some George's Grind from Gateway and fried them up in a pan. Because of the fat and the heat, the peppers loose most of their heat. I suppose this could be adjusted but adding peppers on top, but I didn't do that. Even so. It had a nice taste and was quick to make. I like the avocado addition because it's just a nice taste to have.

Emu Bratwurst with Tex-Mex Rice (p15 August/September 2010 Cook's Country)

I believe I stated that I liked Emu Brats, but I liked pork ones better. The rice worked out pretty well, it reminded me of the rice that my mom would make, though a bit different. It worked well. I had it as part of my lunch (with sour cream, which added a whole new level of tastiness), and we had it as a side for dinner later. I did however, overheat it perhaps a bit. I didn't turn he flame down enough while it was simmering to have the rice absorb the tomato juice and chicken stock (I think my original thought was that I would speed it up, but then I didn't adjust the time).

Roasted Pork Loin with Hobo Packs (p18 August/September 2010 Cook's Country)

So I used a small section of a pork loin that I had in my freezer from Eden Farms. It had a nice fat cap on the top of it. I covered the pork in salt, pepper and hot paprika (to tie in with the potatoes). I then put a little oil in a pan, and seared the loin on all sides for about 4 minutes per side. and then stuck it in the oven at 350° for a while. This was the result:

Roasted Eden Farms Pork Loin

Before this, I glanced at the hobo packs recipe, vaguely, and then just kind of made roasted potatoes. I cleaned the new potatoes from Emmack farms. I tried to use some other potatoes that I had bought, but they had turned, so they went in the trash. To about 3 pounds of potato, I added two diced jalapeno, two diced hatch chilies, some salt, pepper, tossed it with some olive oil and into a baking pan and into the oven.

I also made a simple mustard vinaigrette (Ad Hoc at Home) though I had to replace about half of the olive oil with canola oil, because I ran out. Which turned out well (usually I use more vinegar then I should which makes it too tart for most peoples' tastes. I tossed together some arugula and some Reichert's Basil Feta and set a little bowl of dressing on the side. I had Shannon pick up some bread from La Mie and we called that a dinner. The goal here was to try have the majority of dinner being eaten by everyone (one item not vegetarian friendly, one item not celiac friendly). So this was the dinner as set:

Roasted Pork loin with salt pepper and hot paprika, roasted potatoes, Arugla and basil feta salad, mustard vinaigrette, La Mie bread and Jasper Winery Behind the Shed RedNow, for the issue. Everything turned out really well, except the pork. This is really my own fault, since I cooked it a bit too long. I checked it when there was about half an hour left, and the temperature was looking good, but then when I took it out the next time, it was over the point where I wanted it. *sigh* This has been my problem for many of my medium sized hunks of meat... It was still good, even though it was a bit dry.

Roast Chicken

The whole point of all these chickens is for me to practice roasting chickens. And now that I'm getting that down, I decided that I need to practice carving the chicken. So with this I tried to cut off the breasts for the sandwiches that I was going to make with it. The chicken, good, me cutting off the breasts? ehh...not so much. More practice needed. They did make good sandwiches though.

With the left over check, some leftover pork and a bit of tuna some dice celery and onion some of the mustard vinaigrette, mayo and mustard, I made a mixtures of this to make a salad to put on bread. It was pretty good.