Roasted root vegetables! Just put them in the oven and can’t wait for them to be done:
Sweet potatoes, sweet yellow onion, parsnips, a whole garlic root (5 big cloves), beets, with an olive oil and lemon coating with sea salt and tricolor pepper. I just chopped stuff until my 12-inch cast iron skillet was full. Hope it’s good. Smelled great even before cooking!
Still have two big eggplants I’m still deciding what to do with…
Friday was burgers on (Pittsburghers, take note!) Allegro Hearth kaiser rolls with lettuce, tomato onions ketchup and mayo. I broiled (since the grill was on the fritz) skewers of bell pepper and onions. I forgot what an appetite a 16 year old boy has; he ate a 3/4 pound burger, an ear of corn and 5 skewers of onions and peppers and then an hour later had a big cereal bowl full of broccoli and carrots in ranch dressing, a bowl of fruit and a bowl of cereal.
Saturday was dinner out.
Sunday the SO cooked - he’s cooking every other night these days, doing quite well actually - simple Whole Foods w/w penne in an organic tomato sauce with garlic and sweet onions cooked to death. Add freshly ground pepper and lots of red pepper flakes and parm added at the end.
Tonight the SO wants EatingWell’s pulled chicken but think I’d rather have the Pioneer Woman’s Chicken Tacos. I’ve never deep-fried in my life so I’m moderately afraid to do so. Plus, isn’t that a big waste of oil?
Those aren’t technically deep-fried (they’re not completely submerged in oil, so far as I can tell), but if you do deep fry or are worrying about the waste of oil, don’t. Let the oil cool down, strain it, store it in a jug, and use it next time you deep fry something. You can recycle the oil at least three or four times; Alton Brown says seven times. I find that the first time you reuse the oil, it actually deep fries better than fresh oil, but after that or the second time, I start mixing it with more and more fresh oil.
Now the only question is where to get an empty jug on short notice…
Just use any old plastic or glass container. I use an old plastic vegetable oil bottle.
I had a super-busy and tiring day, including the major grocery shopping for the week. Later in the week, we will be having more ambitious meals like pork loin roast, and rosemary roasted chicken with baby red potatoes; but for tonight, it was lazy and simple: I bought one of those DiGiorno frozen pizzas that comes complete with Tollhouse cookies. I think that as far as frozen pizza goes, DiGiorno isn’t bad, especially after I add extra cheese (about halfway through baking); the fact that I had a coupon and it came with cookies? Bonus!
I figured out what to do with those eggplants!
Lentil and eggplant chili mole, with cornbread I even have all of the ingredients save for a red pepper and coriander, which I will be picking up on the way home. I’m very interested to see how this will turn out.
Tonight I made an Indian dish from Julie Sahni’s cookbook, fish in a velvet yogurt sauce, which was awesome. We had brown rice and some simple steamed broccoli with it.
My own version of asparagus and mushroom crepes with cottage bacon.
This turned out to be excellent. While I’ve made plenty of soups and stews in my time, I realized I’ve never made chili before! And while I had cumin in my pantry already, I never put together the cumin=chili thing before last night. The second I added the cumin, I smelled it and went, “ah, now that smells like chili!” I’m such a dork.
Braised short ribs tacos today. I braised short ribs in a bit of tamarind nectar, some Herdez salsa ranchera, cumin, and Mexican oregano, along with some water and half a shrimp stock cube. Turned out pretty well. Served with a salsa made from roasted xoconostles (sour cactus fruit), onion, garlic, and cilantro. I didn’t clean the xoconostles out well enough, so there were a few seeds left in them, but otherwise, turned out very well, overall.
ETA: duh, forgot the was some chile de arbol in the salsa.
Made this pasta today (penne with butternut squash and goat cheese). I was a little apprehensive because it seemed like such a weird mix of flavors, and I’d accidentally bought two kinds of goat cheese, thinking they were the same kind. But it turned out really, really well, and even my boyfriend (who hates squash) was raving about it. I have a ton of leftovers, though, so I’ll have to make another meal of it.
Last night I grilled some ribeyes, and had baked potatoes, mushrooms, and steamed asparagus.
Broasted chicken, spring potato salad, green beans and a gf snickerdoodle for dessert.
I made Southwestern Stuffed Peppers tonight. Basically, taco meat in steamed bell pepper halves, with shredded cheese on top, baked until the cheese melted. With Zucchini/Corn “medley” with bacon.
Tonight, chicken parmigiana, basically nuggets cut from chicken breast fillets, breaded in bread crumbs with Italian seasoning (I use unseasoned bread crumbs, and add my own seasonings), then baked; then I put it on a bed of cooked angel hair pasta tossed with some marinara sauce I pulled from the freezer; top the chicken with more marinara sauce then shredded mozzarella, and bake until the cheese is all melted. Super easy, and the kids love it! I use Barilla Plus pasta for added nutrition.
Phở đặc biệt.
I wanted it for lunch, but I couldn’t resist the bánh xèo. So I had bánh xèo for lunch and took an order of phở đặc biệt home with me to share with the roomie. I heated up the broth and meatballs, and divvied up the meats (no tripe – I prefer the Mexican kind) and foliage into two bowls. Mine got chopped-up jalapeños. The noodles and the sprouts went into the pot to warm up, and then into the bowls.
Dang, I like phở!
I’ve had a hankerin’ for grilled cheese and tomato soup for about a week now. I bought bread and cheese today just for that.
Tonight it’s cevapcici made with 50-50 lamb and beef (unfortunately, I had to pan fry them), along with ajvar and onions, but also with an accompaniment of braised cabbage. I’m not entirely sure what I did today that’s different, but the texture of these things is perfect for once–kind of spongy and juicy, the way I remember them being in the Balkans. Usually, they turn out with a more typical, firm sausage texture. Maybe it was that little bit of baking soda that gave it a lift, but I could swear I’ve done that before.
You’re the phở king!