Tonight is a brat fest, I have habanero and green chile brats, cheddar and jalapeno brats, and pineapple and jalapeno brats, which are going to be pan seared in a skillet and finished with some Shiner bock and/or hard apple cider. Some good quality kraut has been secured, going to make some homemade sweet potato fries, and plenty of alcohol and sweet/salty snacks for myself, the wife (who is going to have a non-meat option) and our out-of-town guest.
I’ve got a swordfish steak marinating in a soy-lemon juice-ginger mix. Gonna grill that along with some snow peas and zucchini.
Have just put about a 3-1/2 pound of brisket on the smoker, Will be up all night tending the fire (natural maple wood), but will be ready in time for mama coming home from seeing the kids in San Diego. Will have a salad from the greens growing in mama’s garden tower.
Yesterday was a potluck with homemade dolmas, caprese salad, several other salads made with quinoa and vegetables, watermelon feta mint salad, other odds and ends, and the pièce de resistance, Snickers Salad. First time I’ve seen one in the wild. Evidently it’s a big Midwestern potluck standard. For those of you who’ve never encountered it, it’s made of chopped snickers bars, chopped Granny Smith apples, vanilla pudding mix, and Cool Whip. I tasted a piece of apple - it tasted like a taffy apple.
Tonight was Mapo Tofu with more Sichuan peppercorn than I’ve ever had in my life. It was an experience. My fortune cookie read: “Those with good consciences have short memories”.
Thanks to venturing out a little farther than usual to one of my favourite upscale supermarkets yesterday, there are some nice prepared goodies for a few future dinners.
Tonight will be a prepared tray of roast beef with peppercorn gravy, mashed potatoes, onions, and green beans that I will pop in the oven. To which I will add a dollop of super-hot horseradish – the kind served by a roast beef and steak restaurant, which I was never able to find until the restaurant itself started marketing it at retail. Judge me if you will, but roast beef and mashed for one is a real PITA to make from scratch and results in a lot of wasted food, and I’m glad to have access to a decent ready-made equivalent.
For dessert, either an ice cream sandwich or a Haagen-Dazs milk chocolate vanilla ice cream bar.
Two ears of microwave-steamed corn on the cob, and some very thinly sliced soppressata.
Nothing too exciting here, my version of nachos. A layer of refried beans, seasoned ground beef and onions, baked with cheese and corn chips stuck in, then topped with fresh lettuce, cilantro, chopped tomato, green onions, olives, sour cream and salsa.
Today was grocery day, but I came home with less protein critters than usual - even the ground pork/beef blend was up in price, and the boneless chicken options were only Red Bird / Perdue which is great, but pricier than I was willing to pay - I’ll hit Costco over the weekend and get some value packs to use/store.
So I made ground turkey (less than the beef!) crumbles, with many, many chopped jalapenos, fresh onion, fresh garlic, and hoisin sauce - as a one skillet meal. Ate it as mini-wraps using an entire heart of romaine lettuce, which while less fun than some options cut calories and added fiber along with extra crunch.
I do have a cryovac’d half pork loin that I’ll break down into a mix of chops (to be brined) and cubes/strips for stir fry or pork souvlaki this week, and will look for some fish at Costco for the coming week as well.
That all sounds very nice! I like lettuce wraps enough to be quite happy with your recipe. 
I made a lemon olive oil cake with almond flour yesterday. It’s delicious and will be dessert later. I froze half of it for another time and still have 2 pieces left for tomorrow and Sunday.
I made meatloaf which I haven’t made in probably over a year. It was delicious. The mashed potatoes and gravy just helped make it a comfort meal.
Grilled chicken breast with California Mix vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots). A Popsicle for dessert.
I’ve been craving meatloaf! It’ll have to wait until the temperatures go back down, though, because I don’t have A/C.
Much food prep done today, so lottery for goodies during the week. Prepped main dishes include:
Pork chops (2 small) in Hatch Green Chile Powder, Smoked Salt, Onion and Garlic powder (now vacuum sealed and in freezer)
Pork chops (2 small) in Santa Maria Seasoned Salt, Dried Green Onion slices, Red Pepper Flakes, many many many grinds of Black pepper (vacuum sealed and in freezer)
Trimmed, sliced pork strips, marinating in soy sauce, yuzu ponzu sauce, minced garlic, red pepper flakes, and ginger (in fridge marinating).
Trimmed, cubed pork Cubano-style, marinating in lime juice, orange juice, garlic (lots), cilantro, red pepper flake, and a dash of my homemade peach-habanero hot sauce (in fridge marinating).
That was the result of much work in breaking down the half pork loin I mentioned upthread.
I also got about 3 lbs of fresh rockfish fillets from Costco today. I’m pondering applications, as I’ll probably freeze 2/3 of it after portioning and seasoning. I’m leaning towards one batch with a chiffonade of markut lime leaves, lemongrass paste, garlic and just enough coconut milk to bring it together.
I think I’ll do another batch with some of my Better than Bouillon Lobster base, fresh lemon juice, and some Aleppo pepper.
But the last? Well, we’ll see what inspiration strikes tomorrow!
We went to Black’s barbecue today. Great sliced brisket, regular and jalapeno+sausage, and pork ribs. Not the best I’ve had, but very nice.
Tomorrow will be home made buckwheat soba noodles with spicy fried tofu. It’s always delicious, and we’ll eat on it for a few days.
I went to pull the car into the garage earlier because of predicted heavy thunderstorms with the possibility of hail, and figured I may as well tool down to the supermarket a couple of blocks away and see what’s what. Yay!! They had a vast amount of my #1 favourite rice bowl, Szechuan Beef! I got three, and put two in the freezer because I have other stuff to get through.
Tonight will be grilled chicken souvlaki with tzatziki for dipping and Greek style rice, and coincidentally Greek salad with feta dressing. I don’t strive for ethnic consistency – I could just as happily have had Caesar salad – but that’s just how it luckily turned out.
The Szechuan Beef will be tomorrow night. I will add some chopped scallions and maybe a dollop of Huy Fong chili garlic sauce and soy.
Yesterday was Chinese beef & broccoli. The beef was extremely tender and the broccoli was cooked exactly as much as I prefer it.
Tonight will be a blue cheese burger, cooked rare, with cole slaw on the side. Appetizer will be corn “spears” with elote seasoning.
Tonight will be sauteed Alaska sockeye salmon and corn on the cob. Tomorrow we’ll be making dinner for the niece and husband, which will be coconut milk gazpacho, caprese salad, toasted baguette, a nice rosé, and a dessert of sherbet.
The long heat wave has finally ended. It’s nice and cool, patio doors and windows have finally been flung open for fresh air, and the oven is fired up to bake steak & mushroom pie which will be had with fries from the air fryer, with maybe a Greek salad on the side. An ice cream sandwich will be dessert.
Tonight is pizza with a little red sauce, pesto, gorgonzola, eggplant, red bell peppers, kalamata olives, and butternut squash. I thought I had some sopressata left to add, but it’s disappeared, so no protein on it.
It’s still hot here, though not nearly as hot as it was yesterday and the day before. Still, I had no interest in cooking – or even grilling.
Defrosted some chili con carne I made awhile back, topped it with some salsa verde, shredded cheese, sour cream and cilantro. Enjoyed with some corn chips alongside and a Negra Modelo. Simple – and the kitchen stays clean and cool!