Pasta Carbonara. No meat in the freezer but bacon AND a wedge if pecorino romano. I do not have parsley growing in my herb garden but I do have sweet basil. I think this’ll be delicious.
Leftovers!
I decided it was time to eat all the bits in the refrigerator leftover from prior meals. So… it was burritoes, pepper steak, salad, greens-and-pasta… not a full serving left of any of it, so it was all mix-n-match.
I now have enough room in the refrigerator I can resume cooking.
Leftover parfait.
‘It’s even worse than it sounds! Once a week Mom cleans out the fridge. Anything that doesn’t have something growing on it gets served for dinner… Sunday, Saturday, Friday.
It finally happened! The fifth level of this week’s leftover parfait… is last week’s leftover parfait!’
I couldn’t bring myself to read the other thread or even participate in it for weeks. I tried to several times but…couldn’t. Thanks for starting a new thread, Alice.
We were out of town most of last week and seemingly ate with my parents and his the rest of the time. It reminded me that going out to eat is a “treat” - for your body. Even though we ate as healthy as possible on the road and out of town, nothing beats making your own food.
Today I made Dill Potato Saladwith red skinned potatoes and a TON of dill. They said 3 tablespoons, I must have used 1/3 of a cup. Totally delicious - and light; instead of all mayo it’s sour cream + mayo. Also put in more hardboiled eggs cause they’re awesome.
While that was sitting in the fridge, flavors marinating, I made Grilled Tilapia and Summer Vegetable Packets. Foil packets with tilapia (I used cod since it was on sale) grilled for only 5 minutes with a ton of veggies and lemon juice. Instead of squash (neither of us like squash) I used bell peppers, which were okay. Overall it was delicious. I used lemon slices (in rounds) underneath the fish which helped it steam very nicely. I used far more vegetables and just upped it to 7 minutes of grilling.
Yesterday I had a tossed green salad with black beans and corn with this Creamy Curry dressing I sort of adapted from EatingWell.
Here’s what the EatingWell one calls for:
Puree in blender till smooth:
1/2 cup each nonfat plain yogurt and low fat mayo
3 tbsp lemon juice
-2 tbsp water
-1 tbsp honey
-1 tsp curry powder
-1/4 tsp salt
I couldn’t find curry powder so I used cumin instead and more lemon juice. I also added a bunch - maybe a teaspoon - of Penzey’s Salsa seasoning which has sugar, ancho chili pepper, cumin, black pepper, cayenne, cilantro and other good stuff in there. The lemon juice and the honey really made the flavors sing and the black beans and corn were just perfect. No need it blend it either, just whisk whisk whisk.
This may be a really, really stupid question, but is there a reason you use half 10% and half 20% instead of straight 15%? Just what you had on hand, or does it make a taste/texture difference?
I’m making a chocolate cheesecake with an almond cookie crumb crust for a co-worker’s birthday tomorrow. I’ve never tried this particular type of crust before, I picked up the cookies at the dollar store cuz they sounded interesting. They’re very similar to the cookies my favorite Chinese restaurant gives out.
Right this second, nothing. I’m chowing my way through CSA strawberries & smoked gouda from my little farmers market.
Tonight, though! Tonight I’m taking the most recent Cooks’ Illustrated & making their salmon cakes. I’m going to have butter-poached radishes as a side, and probably a green salad. If I buy a springform pan, I might even make the Cooks’ Illustrated peach cake too, from the last of peaches frozen from last season.
I need peaches to come into season again already.
Mmm, peach cake. That sounds good. Salmon cakes sound good, too, but last time I made them, my youngest son got a rash and I can’t be sure he’s not allergic, so no salmon patties for us, come back next year!
Did you know, Dr., that my birthday is coming up??
Right now I’m marinating pork chops in lemon juice, garlic, oregano, salt, pepper, and oil. Later I’ll cook them up on the grill. I’m not sure about the sides yet - probably the broccoli I have in the fridge and some sort of potato. Suggestions welcome.
Hood strawberries are here! Super sweet, locally grown, a bit of heaven early in the summer. Strawberry shortcake coming up today.
I eat low carb, and pretty much have to cook every single meal. I’ve been teaching myself to cook, and concentrate on mastering techniques. Recently, I’ve been working on sauces - I make a pretty decent Hollandaise. Had it on my steak and broccoli last night.
I’m hoping the cake is good. If I make it. I’m going going shopping for another half hour or so, and it takes ~2h to bake (and requires I buy a pan), so I may decide it’s not worth the trouble.
Bummer on the possible allergy! I hope he doesn’t have one, or he grows out of it. Salmon’s my favorite fish, by far, so I am sad for him.
Tonight is chicken thighs, deboned and skinned, dipped in butter and garlic and breaded with breadcrumbs and Parmesan (and some pecorino romano-- why not?) and put in the oven. I’m not cooking that this very moment, however.
Right now I’m chopping onion and garlic and tomatoes to go into the basmati rice I’m cooking. Later, I’m gonna put the cooked rice in a baking dish, cover it with the chicken, put some shredded mozzarella on top and put it in the oven until the cheese melts.
Tonight I’m trying a new turkey meatloaf recipe: this one.
I mean, it’s mostly just a standard turkey meatloaf recipe, but the whole tobasco ketchup sauce thing is new to me. I’ll probably chop up some veggies to add to the loaf though, so as to make it a little healthier. Anywho, I found this recipe while trying to figure out how to get my freaking turkey meatloaf crispy. Anyone have any tips?
Personally, I would do a sugary glaze of some sort. Maybe even run it under that broiler, if I had to.
Tonight was sliced beef sausage, “wild mushroom” instant couscous mix, fresh garden peas, and rainier cherries with everything nuked in the microwave except the cherries. Largely because I’d been hanging drywall for 9 hours and was frickin’ exhausted.
I do now, Alice! 
Not much cooking tonight, needed to clean so I just made some rice. I think tomorrow I’m gonna put together some twice-baked potato casserole. It’s something that’s easy to double, so I can take some out to my poor stuck-on-bed-rest pregnant sister. Her husband has been handling the cooking and he’s a decent cook but he has a limited range of what he can make. Mostly grilled stuff, and little sis is getting tired of hamburgers.
Last night we had potato soup and salad. The potato soup turns out differently every time I make it, because I like to think of the recipe as just a guideline, or suggestion… So anyway, it turned out fine, but there’s just so damn much of it. We’re having leftovers tonight for sure.
Last night was Pike Place clam chowder, and a microwaved Ball Park frank in a piece of bread. Roomie works the next couple of nights, so the next couple of meals will be similar ‘foraging’ in the fridge. This weekend I’ll either make Chefguy’s lamb balls with couscous, or else Cajun salmon with mac’n’cheese and broccoli.