It was a busy week this week with lots of guests. We had the Matta's stay the night on Thursday and then my Sister, her husband and child stopped by on their way to Ohio, for, if I remember right, graduate school. To keep my niece entertained, Ryan took her over into the store part of Gateway, and she came back bubbling about kiwi (kiiiiwiiiii). So after hearing this for a while I headed over there to get her one. Beyond that I fed them and sent them on their way to my parents. Now I'm not certain what was going on, but I think they had their entire lives in those two cars (including several plants). The Mattas were here and between all 3 girls when they visited the house Freyja and Loki did well. They were worn out by all the playing with the Mattas' kids, and they seemed to like the attention, for the most part, from Amelia.
Grilled Mustard Chicken with Fresh Corn Polenta (p71 August 2010 Bon Appétit)
I modified this, since I don't have a working grill. I cut the recipe in half, combined some Dijon mustard, lemon juice and cut out the garlic and scallions. I covered the chicken with the Dijon sauce and then cooked them in a pan, while making the fresh corn polenta. It turned out pretty good.
Quinoa with Black Beans and Cilantro
I used the leftover quinoa and made a bit more to make this dish. It made for a good lunch as leftovers too. I did add a bit of Frank's Red Hot sauce in the left overs. I think I would've added more spices then the recipe calls for. It was good, but a little bland.
Summer Corn Sauté with Tons of Herbs
So I got a, lets not call it a complaint, but a suggestion, that I wasn't using enough meat. So I used the leftover lamb (there was about 1.1 pounds and I had probably 0.4 pounds left) and added that to the sauté. It worked out well. I cut the recipe in half so we didn't have too many leftovers. I think with the addition of the lamb, it made it feel like more of a meal, rather then perhaps a side dish.
Dean & Deluca's Tuna Sandwich with Carrots, Red Onion, and Parsley
I am really starting to think that to make a tuna sandwich, I require mustard...of some kind or another. It's just not the same with out it. Oh you can add acid, you can replace flavors, but I know and it just seems lacking. That being said, this was a pretty good tuna salad.
Lamb Burgers
I added some red onions to the lamb, and it worked pretty nicely. I love lamb.
Pancakes, fruits, berries
This actually turned into a modified version of a recipe I found. The modification was that I added around half an onion (caramelized a bit). I used Gateway's breakfast sausage (I like the taste of it), but other then that it was pretty normal. The night before I had Nathan help me by slicing strawberries, while I put the rest of the pears they brought (for pear tarts) and some cantaloupe into the fruit salad. Covered with a bit of lemon juice and bam, breakfast was all prepped for the next morning. Due to the suspected timing, I thought I would have been able to take my morning walk, shower and then start cooking breakfast. But the Matta's girls got up earlier then normal so I moved things around a bit. We ate around 7:45 or so. it was a good breakfast with toast, egg casserole, and fruit salad. Good meal to send them back to Adventureland.