Last night we had boned chicken thighs rolled around sage and onion stuffing, and wrapped in streaky bacon. £0 minutes in the oven at 170 degrees UK. Accompanied buy buttered cabbage.
Tonight it’s a beef curry from a batch I made a couple of weeks ago and froze. Steamed rice with that and bread and butter pudding with custard for afters.
Tacos al pastor, fried Brussels sprouts, black beans & rice, flan, and a margarita.
Damn, a FEAST!
I’d be envious, but I picked my favorite pizza place, Mama’s Pizza, for my birthday. We celebrated it early, and bought a large. So I have leftovers for at least tomorrow.
Carrots tend to imbue mellowness because of their ability to neutralize acidity, which is why they’re often used in pasta sauce. And onions are just tasty in their own right. Sounds like a great recipe!
I’m sure your pizzeria pizza is far better than anything I could make at home, but in a pinch I’ve discovered an amazingly good frozen pizza. It’s basically President’s Choice thin crust “Wood-Fired Deluxe” pizza with pepperoni, mushroom, and green pepper which has a slightly smoky flavour because of the wood-fired oven, which I squirt with a bit of garlicky pizza sauce mostly around the edges, and then add chopped onion. Red onion if I have it, otherwise white onion which I always have on hand.
Then bake on a pizza stone in a hot oven, and finally finish under the broiler for no more than 2 minutes. Every slice is heavily loaded with toppings and it’s the closest to real pizzeria pizza that I’ve yet had in a frozen pizza, with a perfect crust. It might be interesting sometime to try it with anchovies instead of onion.
Hehe, it’s better than anything I’ve ever made at home. I’ve reproduced the sauce (just tomatoes, garlic, basil and oregano), I don’t know if I could reproduce the crust without working there. I’ll probably try to do it someday, anyway. Eating the edge of the crust is like eating a soft pretzel bathed in garlic butter. Here’s a pic of our pizza that I sent to my brother to taunt hm while wishing him a happy birthday (it’s actually his birthday today, he would love to have this pizza, but he’s too far away).
They say it’s “east coast” pizza. Apparently the mama in question was from Naples by way of Connecticut. It doesn’t look like either of those styles to me. Either way, it’s my favorite.
In the world of frozen pizza, I’m beholden to HEB’s line of pizzas. Generally pretty great frozen pizzas. No real dress up needed, but you do normally need to rearrange the toppings and cheese on it before putting it in the oven, so maybe they’re almost a frozen pizza kit. If I have one complaint, the pepperoni could probably use a little more cheese. Near the edges of the crust, you can end up with just wet tomato-y bread on that particular one. I’ll probably suggest we throw a little extra mozzarella at it next time we decide on that.
That looks amazing! If it tastes anywhere near as good as it looks, you had a very fine birthday! All it needs is a fine bottle of Amarone della Valpolicella!
Heheh, I had Dr. Pepper. I’m sure it’s an equivalent.
You should be ashamed of yourself! 
My sleep schedule has somehow been shifted by about 12 hours, so there will be a post-midnight dinner. All this talk of pizza is tempting, but I have a Buffalo chicken rice bowl that’s going in the microwave, then big dollops of chunky salsa added on top!
Tonight is blackened salmon Caesar salad.
At risk of being repetitive (but hey, I’m a creature of habit!) once again chorizo sausages are in the offing. And I say again that, other than maybe the outdoor smoky barbecue, there’s no better way to make sausages indoors than this recipe that I somehow invented.
Preheat oven to 400F. Coat a shallow casserole dish with a thin layer of pizza sauce. Layer on top a bed of chopped white onion, and this time I remembered to get a green bell pepper, so slices of green pepper as well. Then place the sausages on top, and drizzle them with more pizza sauce. 20-22 minutes in a preheated 400F oven (for big fat sausages; obviously less time if they’re small).
Part of the goodness of this is the freshness of the store-made sausages. Leftovers are great for another dinner, or can be sliced, reheated, dabbed with Dijon mustard, and presto! – stick toothpicks in 'em and you gots some hors d’oeuvres! Tonight I’m having one or two with baked mac & cheese, the others maybe with beans and fries later. Whatever, they always disappear quickly!
From now on I’m gonna make it a point to always have a pack in the freezer!
That sounds great… peppers and onions stewed with tomato and sausage juices. Kind of like an Italian “one pot” version of a basic sausage and peppers combo.
Maybe it makes me unsophisticated, but sausages of most varieties are almost always my favorite way to consume meat. Rich, salty, flavored with herbs or spices, and almost impossible to screw up the cook on.
Last night was leftover blackened salmon with newly roasted asparagus.
You’ve got the idea. After baking, the onions become nicely browned and deeply flavoured with garlicky tomato sauce and are a perfect accompaniment to the sausage, whether served with mac & cheese or beans and roast potatoes or whatever else. The green pepper just makes this recipe a bit more interesting – it’s the onions that really power it.
I think the only reason that things like sausages and hamburgers get a bad rap is that it’s possible to make them cheaply and badly, but at their best they’re wonderfully tasty comfort foods.
There’s a terrific upscale boutique grocery that I used to live close to – but now it’s a bit too far to drive to very frequently – that makes a chicken & veal sausage with fennel that is to die for! It’s always very good when done on the outdoor grill, but when paired with this recipe, it’s just heavenly! 
My mother had us over for chicken and dumplings and it was fantastic on a cold, grey Tuesday!
That sounds delicious, and you didn’t even have to cook!
Tonight was a bun-less blue cheese burger (rare) and a mango. Later, some popcorn.
Last night was what has become one of our easy dinners, which is rice with stuff on it (often stuff that needs to be eaten before it goes bad). Our collection of toppings was:
Quorn brand meatless “chicken” cutlet
Broccoli steamed with soy sauce and garlic
Delicata squash roasted with curry powder
A sauce of soy sauce, rice vinegar (small amount), honey (small amount), chopped scallions, grated ginger, grated garlic, and Japanese red pepper
This is one of my favorite Asian-style go-to sauces. I often make a sauce like this, or close variations, either as a dipping sauce, a marinade or a stir-fry sauce. A few drops of toasted sesame seed oil really work in this sauce too, if ya got it.
I saw a recipe online that’s in the weekday rotation now, and I made it last night. Take some hot Italian sausage (either not in the casing, or remove it from the casing while raw). Fry it up in a pan with some veggies of choice- garlic, of course; then maybe onion and a chopped red bell pepper. I had some leftover pico de gallo that I threw in-- finely chopped tomatoes, jalapenos, red onion and garlic-- that worked great. Add a can or two of crushed tomatoes, and some fresh basil toward the end, if you have it (but the basil really works in this). Mix in with some penne or other pasta, and serve with lots of grated parmesan.
Chili.
I’ve been using Carroll Shelby’s Chili Fixin’s (which are no longer sold under that name) for 40-odd years now. Today I used 2.5 pounds of hamburger (usually I cut up a beef or pork roast, but I didn’t want to take the time for that), chopped up an onion, a jalapeño, and a couple of habaneros, added a tin of original-style Ro-Tel and one of diced fire-roasted tomatoes with garlic, and threw in my usual heaping tablespoon of cocoa powder. After it had been simmering for a while I set aside a couple of servings for my daughter, then added a tin of black beans and one of pintos. Turned out quite satisfactorily, though not as hot as I’d expected it to be. Maybe a few more habaneros next time…
“Rice with stuff on it” is now a regular offering at the local supermarket in the form of “rice bowls”, and I love 'em! Sometimes they’re noodle bowls instead. My faves are Buffalo chicken, Mexican beef, and General Tao chicken. Also Indian butter chicken and many others. They’re always generously loaded with fine ingredients and are a great value in fast food!
Tonight is Salisbury steak and chocolate raspberry cappuccino cake (chocolate cake, raspberry jam filling, coffee Swiss buttercream, chocolate glaze).