Southwestern Grilled Chicken Salad with Tomato and Black Bean Salsa (p58 August/September 2010 Fine Cooking)

Easy, quickish, done.

Thai-Style Spicy Chicken in Lettuce Cups (p25 August/September 2010 Fine Cooking)

Unless I want to make a special run, lemon grass is a tough find in the bigger stores in the metro. I've made this before, and it always turns out pretty well. I really liked the way this turned out. It had a nice balance of flavors and made fore a relatively simple recipe.

Spaghetti Frittata with Arugula and Fresh Herbs (p57 August/September 2010 Fine Cooking)

This sounded strange, and almost didn't take the list of I should make this. But it did, and it actually turned out pretty well. It also demonstrated that my stove is clearly no where close to being balanced. Why put pasta in it? I have no idea, it didn't really add a ton to the texture, though the arugula (actually a mix of baby greens, Hy-Vee didn't have anything that was JUST arugula) cooked down, but because it was in the egg, it didn't get that odd texture. Anyways, it turned out well.

Spaghetti Frittata with Arugula and Fresh Herbs (look at the nice crust every where but that back corner...)

Ground Goat Kofta (meatballs made with onions, garlic, cilantro, jalapeno and spices) on rice

So I didn't end up using the rice...or garlic. But I did use a nice combination of Jalapeno, and several types of spicy peppers from Juan O'Sullivans Pepper Gardens along with a dash or 3 of hot paprika, some onion, leftover scallions, pepper and bacon (adds salt and fat) and an egg. When I was thinking about making this yesterday, as I was walking around the Farmer's market and I was thinking, do I really want to have this on rice? The answer came back as no, and I hoped that Carly from Proof was there so I could buy some flat bread (I like the new website). Could I have made my own? Sure, I suppose so, though I haven't ever, but since she was there, I bought from her instead (I suppose I would've had to start it the day before though). I was going to make a yogurt sauce (yogurt, cucumbers, tahini, some spices) and I actually started. Another part of my brain said this would go well simmered in a tomato sauce, but I didn't have enough tomatoes (canned or otherwise), so I started making a tomato sauce. So I have this start of a tomato sauce (can of fire roasted diced tomatoes, some tomato paste (left over), and a mix of O'Sullivan peppers) and a start of a yogurt sauce (without the spices and tahini). So I think, hey, you can make a tomato cream sauce, so why not a yogurt sauce? Though the cucumbers (bought that morning at the farmer's market, little stubby ones, but fragrant and delicious), might hold me back a little. I figure, why not risk it. I think it turned out well. So all in all, the dinner came together pretty well, and cleaned out a whole lot of stuff from the fridge (tomato paste, scallions, onions, diced peppers from earlier in the week). I guess the only draw back here, was that I had to much vegetable matter in the meat and they didn't hold together that well (made them hard to rotate while cooking in the pan. I suppose it would've been better if the onions were a fine dice like the peppers and scallions were. So after the sauce had cooked out a lot of the liquid (clearly not quite enough, from the water coming out of it, and the meat balls were cooked. I put the meat balls on the flat bread, topped with the sauce then added feta (at Shannon's suggestion) and some baby greens. It tasted pretty good. It still have some nice cucumber flavor through the sauce. I'm looking forward to having some of the leftovers for brunch or lunch, depending on when I get to it.

Goat meat balls with onion peppers, scallions, hot paprika with Feta and mixed baby greens on a Proof Flatbread

Tuna Salad with Sweet Pickle and Egg (p17 August/September 2010 Cook's Country)

I followed the recipe to a point. And the point here? I added mustard. I added some poblano peppers. It was pretty good.

Hamburgers with Poblano Peppers

I got some poblanos from Sean and Becki and figured they'd be a nice addition there. And it worked out well. I think, though, it could've used a bit more pepper to add taste to it, and perhaps a pepper relish after the fact. At some point, though, I suppose it might push the boundaries of Shannon's spicy tolerance. Anyways, simple but good combination.