Skillet Turnips and Potatoes with Bacon

Delayed

Spaghetti With Rubies (via Cleverly Farms) 

I like beets.   I like beets in multiple forms, pickled, roasted, sauteed, etc.  The problem is my wife isn't the biggest fan of beets, so, when I make a beet dishes they have to be an optional side dish.  But in this case it worked out well, I added a bit of bacon and topped with a bit of parmesan, and it went over well.  There are several recipes around the internet for these, and I would suggest giving them a try.

Orecchiette with Caramelized Onions, Green Beans, Corn & Jalapeno

I don't know if it was that the jalapeno was just weak on the heat, or the preparation just drained the heat from the entire dish, but this wasn't as spicy as I thought. it might be.  Even so, farmers market fresh green beans (well a combination of green and others from Grade A Gardens) stood out in this dish.  The real winner here was the addition of Fiore Sardo S'atra Sardigna (another Cheese Shop inspired addition).  Used in place of the Pecorino Romano, this added a slight bit of cork smoke to the cheese.  Which just made this dish outstanding.

Old-School MeatLoaf

It has been a while since I've put meatloaf in a pan.  I generally like to keep it out of the pan so you can create more of the top crust, or cover it with bacon, or etc, but following the recipe as written (to a certain extent), has some strengths to it from time to time.  I think the real winner here  is the Chili Sauce, which was very tasty.  I've never bought the Sambal Oelek before, but after opening it (and it splattering on my undershirt), it has quite the nice flavor with a good amount of heat, but not too much.  Together these made for a good tasting meal (with some mashed potatoes made with chevre).

Cabbage & Carrot Stir Fry with Toasted Cumin and Lime

Adjusted, modified and delayed. 

This week I also broke out my recently purchased and signed  Bouchon Bakery cookbook.  I read a bit of the intro and a handful of the recipes in the book before settling on a chocolate chip / chunk recipe.  I did my best to follow the recipe with having to buy to many things (we were out of chocolate in the house, can you imagine?).  The idea of sifting the chopped chocolate chunks to keep a clean cut between the chocolate parts and the cookie, rather than having dust throughout the cookie to "cloud" the texture and appearance.  It gave me a bit to think about in the process of the other cookies I make, and how much little further effort can be taken to make the cookies a bit better.

The other thing I liked was the lower amount of sugar used, and the use of molasses.   I didn't have the blackstrap molasses like the recipe called for (only mild), I do plan to get some at some point to use that.  Some cookies are just to sweet.  I am looking forward to reading the whole thing, I just have to finish the book I've been struggling through.