A word on Sambal Oelek.  So one of my favorite things has been the Wickles Pickles Hoagie and Sub Relish.  The problem with it, is that my body doesn't like it when I eat it, not in the slightest.  So the meat loaf recipe from a couple of weeks ago called for the Sambal Oelek, and this has a very similar taste profile, without the wrenching gut pain (probably an allergy or maybe I'm just getting old?) that the Relish causes me.  So I'm a fan of Sambal Oelek, other then that it stained one of my newer shirts in a more permanent fashion...

Red Beans and Rice (Modified)

So I bought an 11 pound bag of Basmati rice. from CostCo.  This was an odd purchase for me, but I had encouraged Joseph to buy a big old bag of rice there as well (well I suppose I bought that for him, but whatever).  And this was the first use of this.  It is a bit different than some of the other Basmatis that I have used, but still works out, generally.  Decent flavor and fragrance.

So this was fun.  I used the Andouille sausage that I helped the Mattas make, Some pork hocks (not cured) from Big Boy meats in Cedar Rapids, some jowl bacon from Crooked Gap.  I used the general vegetables combination in the recipe, but didn't pickle the pork.  I didn't have cayenne pepper (need to make a run to Allspice), so I used one of the other ground spicy peppers...I can't remember right now, but maybe De Arbol, anyways.  It simmered most of the day, the pork hock broke up nicely and left a nice brown sauce that soaked right into the rice.

Good stuffs.  Maybe I'll follow a more reasonable recipe, or, as I think, this may be in the 3rd book from the Alton Brown series, that I don't have yet. 

Cucumber Sandwiches with Dill Chevre

Suggested by Lois as a way to use the Dill Chevre, so I made a meal out of it.  I picked up a loaf of, I don't want to call it white bread, because it certainly had a lot more flavor than that, but it had a nice crust, and a white inside, but with a semi-dense but still fluffy interior.  La Mie for the win.  Anyways, a bit of that bread, some dill chevre and a cucumber from Table Top.  Very good, so simple.

Dill Chicken Salad

So this was trying to balance out the needs of Shannon and my own needs.  She doesn't want a lot of dill, I want a crap ton of dill.  So I bend to her will, because I have to feed both of us, and ended up with a nice general balance.  I used some leftover cucumber slices (diced) to add a bit of flavor.  Last night, since we didn't have anything left on our menu plan, I made an egg salad using the same general formula, and that worked out too.  So we have, cucumbers, celery, dill, dijon mustard, mayo, a bit of Sambal Oelek (to add a bit of spice).  For the Eggs salad, I didn't have cucumbers, so I added what was left of my jar of sweet pickle relish. and for the chicken salad, I added ~2oz of the dill chevre that was left too as well as a bit of Chiriboga Blue (quite good).  It added an extra bit of creaminess.  Good stuffs all around.

Crooked Gap Brats

nom

Crooked Gap Pork Burgers

nom

Black Bean & Goat Cheese Quesadillas with Guacamole

Fixed the link...well added the link, Quick, easy, I used some red pepper chevre from Reichert's.  It was a nice simple meal.