Week 27

This is quick. I have decided to have mac'n'cheese showdown, so this week will include the first recipe. Martinmas celebration - potluck: taking a gratin and a galette.

Oh, and buckeyes.

Meals:

Chicken and Dumplings, still haven't made...

Mushroom and Cabbage Galette - almost made last week but the mushrooms were in a real bad way.

Kale and Bean Soup, plus no-knead bread

Easiest Mac and Cheese. Spinach.

Slow Cooker Enchiladas. Green salad.

Sweet Potato Gratin.

Buckeyes.

Week 26

Halloween is winding down, too much sugar means a need for more savory. However, I am itching to make a pie. I've never made a pie, and now that we are in a new house with a new kitchen, I do believe a pie ought to be made. It just seems right. Other than that, the slime soup was better than expected. Mr. H wanted nothing to do with it, but it was the novelty that mattered, right? And the cookies were pretty good. I realize that I only have a few years of Mr. H's enthusiasm for sugar cookies, so I need to milk it while I can. It is getting pretty chilly, winter is slowly making its way in, which always brings more enthusiasm for baking and cooking. So that is what I plan to do.

Here we are:

Mushroom and cabbage Galette. Mixed greens, side. I have made a galette before, a zuchini, and it was pretty smashing. We will see how this goes.

Pumpkin Ricotta Casserole. Side? I never know what to eat with casseroles. Greens? Sauteed peppers?

Chicken and dumplings or is it dumplins'? I remember this being pretty tedious. But I haven't made it in awhile, and it was pretty, pretty, pretty good, as Larry David would say.

Garden Burgers and sweet pot fries

Salmon patties and roasted acorn squash

Gyoza and edamame - the grand backup

Grape and red onion tart - still haven't made that one.

I am in quite the breakfast rut at the moment. So I think I might try these out, Josh would probably dig them as well

Oatmeal breakfast Clafoutis. I have never heard of a clafoutis before, but I like it. I think it would be a great name for a dog. Always a good predictor when it comes to food. Syllabub, also good dog name.

Week 25

Halloween is honing in on me. I haven't been the best about it, with the house in shambles, there have been no decorations put up, no handmade costumes, not even the promised cookies. Pumpkins are on the porch, but uncarved. So there is much to do, at the moment we are shooting for the main floor to be done by Christmas. That means, I will most likely be spending time on the house, painting, stripping (and not in that sense, naughty), and re-thinking all of my color choices. So to make up for my half-arsed Halloween, I am attempting a Halloween meal. Hooray for moi.

Also, I finally broke down and bought a cookbook, _Feast_ by Nigella Lawson. Strangely enough, this cookbook makes me laugh out loud. She not only makes great food, but great reading. This is coming from a girl who reads cookbooks before bed. I am a nerd. This cookbook is nice in that it is divided up into celebrations/holidays. As someone who is actively trying to create tradition and memories for my little family, she includes some great ideas. Plus, I fancy the word Feast, love everything it is about.

Here we are then:

Slow-cooker BBQ chicken sandwiches
Roasted Carrots

Supper tart of red onion, greens, and grapes - from Splendid Table
Brussel sprouts braised in cream - from Orangette - just had these tonight, awesome.

Gyoza and Edamame - still hanging around the freezer. Always there for you when you need them.

Garden burgers with fried cheese
Cabbage salad with apples and walnuts - Smitten Kitchen, good stuff, although I can never manage to find savoy cabbage.

Halloween Meal - wait for it - SLIME soup (really pea soup, from Nigella Lawson)
Grilled ham and MONSTER (really, muenster, I know, now I am just getting silly) cheese cut in Halloween cookie cutter shapes.

Halloween Cookies. For the reals.

Hot chocolate - found on Orangette. It's getting to be that time.

Week 24

Still working away on the house, and living in it. Good times, bad times. So here we are for the week. Yippery Skippery.

Meals as follows:

Mushroom lasagna. Roasted green beans. I don't really like lasagna, sometimes it feels like a cooking marathon. So many people seem to think it is easy, but the idea of it seems to be forever stuck in my brain as unpleasant. Also, my mom had an extended frozen lasagna period, maybe this has something to do with it. I think of burnt-out mom. But mushrooms are pretty awesome, so I will give it the ole college try.

Cauliflower soup - based on the Cafe Zupa's recipe (of the great state of Utah). Blue cheese wedge salad, the retro nature of it makes it all the more appealing.

Gyoza and edamame, though H has now decided he doesn't like either. Good grief.

Tortilla Espanola. Kale. Brussel sprouts.

Pepper steak with grainy mustard sauce. Sweet potato fries.

Oh, yesh. And Halloween cookies, of course.

Week 23

The weather around here has been decidedly more summer than fall. In fact, it was a sunny 90 degrees last week. This always affect my cooking mood. I get ready for some fall cooking only to have sassy summerness right back in my face. Anyway, the peanut butter chocolate cake was super awesome. Not pretty - it was hard to keep together, very crumbly, but it was delicious. I decided, though, that I don't much like baking. Too precise, too high-maintenance. So much time for such a small piece of a meal. This week I am feeling a bit overwhelmed. The house still has so many projects left undone. So I hope this will be an easy cooking week. There are a few repeats since we have all been passing a stomach bug around, fun times.

Garlic soup and bread. Ha, ha, one day this will happen.

Macaroni and cheese. Kale.

Slow-cooker enchiladas. Ensalada

Japadog, dombori (I have no idea how to spell it), and lemon tart - my birthday meal, courtesy of Josh

Chicken in Milk, roasted carrots, wild rice.

Week 22

Wow, it's been a long time. Finally into the new house, with a somewhat working kitchen. Running water is so fabulous, and let us not forget the miracle of the dishwasher. Also, some shiny new butcher block counter tops. Huzzah. So this week is birthday week, Josh and I are October pals. So he is SUPPOSED to be making me a birthday dinner. This hasn't panned out in the last two years. I love Josh, despite this. So perhaps it may this year. I will let him decide, but just in case, back-up plans are always good.

Fewer meals than usual this week, birthday dinners out and Halloween events, the reason be.

Here we are, and there it is:

Spring Vegetables and White Beans plus roasted beets

Josh's Birthday Awesome Meal - Corn Chowder (Barefoot Contessa, challah, and peanut butter chocolate cake (from Smitten Kitchen)

Rigatoni alla Pastora

Garlic Soup (from Smitten Kitchen) with bread

Chicken in Milk (Jamie Oliver) and wild rice and veg

Week 21

Really trying to stay on the less meat train, as a former vegetarian, this shouldn't be a big deal, but it can be hard to get creative. My brain immediately goes to pasta, and I would be the size of a hippo if I went all pasta, so I am trying to more beans and grains. The farmer's market is in full swing, so that makes veggie eating a bit easier.

So here it is:

Sloppy Joe's and side - probably cantaloupe or other melon

Tabbouleh with pita bread and greens

Garden Burgers with tomatoes and mozzarella

Zuchini Galette with greens

JO spinach and mascarpone pasta

and some challah

Week 20

We have a lot going on this week, so I have tried to keep it simple. I am also going to try and actually "learn" recipes, so I can eventually just cook without always needing some sort of guide. I am sure that will speed up the process. In order to learn a recipe, I am going to repeat it every week. This month: frittatas - not really hard and leaves a lot of wiggle room to add different elements into it.

cauliflower soup and bread

mac n cheese and greens

beans and cornbread

frittata and mixed greens

potstickers and edamame

chicken in marmalade glaze and roasted mushrooms, kale salad

burritos

Week 19

Whew, it's been a while, pardners. I had a month of a broken dishwasher (and thus a broken heart), so there wasn't a whole lotta cooking going on. Plus, other busy things have been keeping me from my beloved kitchen. But I am back, and this week I re-checked out one of my favorite cookbooks - The Splendid Table's: How to Eat Supper. I have recently stopped buying cookbooks, only because I think I want to buy ALL of them, and I don't quite have the space, and my wallet (read: husband) are much happier by using my very awesome library instead.

So this week, I have taken mostly from that book. Hooray for spring, it's been a long time coming. Also, I keep thinking I am going to give up meat, for health, environmental, and cost reasons, but it keeps pulling me back in. Especially that darn brisket that pairs so well with the uncooked tortillas from Costco. Holy Moses.

Frittata - kale and cheddar with grilled aparagus and scallion salad (p. 31 ST), so excited to use the grill once again.

brisket and slaw

avocado seafood cocktail with bittersweet chipotle dressing (p. 36 - ST) and curried cauliflower soup (p. 71 - ST)

tart - red onions, grapes and greens (p.131 - ST)

spring veg and white beans with fresh bay and greens (p. 147 - ST)

salmon patties and veg

veggie burgers and broccoli salad - a recipe I found on Tasty Kitchen.

Week 18

Nothing to see here, folks. I'm not doing much new this week and most of it is carried over from last week. I was cooked out, but now I am squarely back on the wagon. What good is a wagon if one can't fall off of it now and again?

So here goes:

Salmon Patties, Squash

Sweet Potato Kugel with Broccoli

Apple and Parsnip Soup - made this tonight, I think I am more of a fan of how the word "parsnip" sounds rather than how it tastes. But I made an awesome ceasar salad with it, using the recipe for Deb's dressing off of Smitten Kitchen. In deference to the other members of the household, I left the anchoives out. But I can eat my share of anchovies. I added some walnuts, granny smith apple cut up, and blue cheese. Delight.

Indonesian Chicken and Collard Greens (I'm not overly confident in how to make this, but will soldier through.)

Garden burgers with paprika oven fries

Tortilla Espanol and Mixed Greens

Week 17

Hey ho, it's Kermit the cook here, reporting from the depths of cold grey winter. February just kills me every month. Valentine's day serves as my Obi-Wan-Kanobi, as in save me, you are my only hope. So thus Pink food shall be a part of this week, which makes me a happy hoppy bird - for Valentine's Day, huzzah!

Also, Josh is working nights, so we will be living in a state of zombie brain. This will mean, low maintenance, so definitely not Cafe Rio pork salad. I have heard really good things about the chicken in milk and I have a new dutch oven that needs to be used. Chicken and milk sounds strange, but a good strange.

Meals

salmon patties, squash

Sweet potato kugel with broccoli - Hubso keeled over when he had the kugel, so we must have it again. It was good, but I don't like grating sweet potatoes.

V-day meal:

beet gnocchi with a prosciutto, pomegranate, fennel and arugula salad. Oh, and HOMEMADE Oreos, get down. The beet gnocchi is from a recipe book I checked out called _Apples for Jam_ (p. 148). This is a very sweet cookbook wherein all the recipes are arranged by color, which I find undeniably appealing.

Chili and cornbread - new chili recipe to try from 101 Cookbooks, a great vegetarian cooking blog.

Apple and parsnip soup and challah

Chicken in milk with roasted veg - Jamie Oliver

frozen meal backup - orange chicken and brown rice - Costco.

Looking over this, I am not sure if it is so zombie brain friendly. This always happens.

Week 16

So this is in retrospect, but I thought I would post it anyway, for the old memory's sake.

Mushroom Bourguignon - From Smitten Kitchen

Cauliflower soup and cesar salad - Also, from Smitten Kitchen

Challah - finally made it and it was awesome!

Baked chicken meatballs with roasted maple butternut squash

gyoza and edamame

Cafe Rio pork salad (this was good, but it took forever to make, there were a lot of components going on.)

Week 15

Hmmm, I am trying to be a good little rabbit and stick to my budget. The husband and I had a come-to-Jesus meeting, you see. Thus, I must put my shoulder to the wallet (or wheel) and get to work. These meals are not necessarily budget-friendly, but they are an attempt.

kitchen sink quesadillas

sweet potato kugel

roasted veg and chicken thighs (repeat)

challah

pumpkin tortilla soup and bread

veggie burgers and broccoli salad

tomato and pasta and squash

Week 14

Week of meals, y'all

salmon patties and butternut squash/acorn squash

salmon and lentils

roasted veg and chicken thighs


tomato sauce and pasta and cabbage salad

black bean soup

curried udon stir-fry

Week 13

In the midst of cold, cold winter. Thusly (and I don't think that is a word, but it should be) I am craving comfort and slow-cooked meals that fill the kitchen with smells that make me happy to be indoors. And thusly (again) here is the menu. Also, I have been making granola once a week, that will make you feel cozy.

And a word about resolutions for the big twenty-ten: I am going to try and get healthier, with only one meat meal per week. And limiting red meat quite a bit - to maybe a few times a month. And I am giving up soda, this is hard for me. It shouldn't be, but to completely give something up is tricky for a gal like myself. Also, I am going to attempt to make bread, the whole-wheat, good-for-you type. Oh, and pies of course. I have never made my own pie crust and think that might be a good thing for me to do.

Okay, here it is:

Beef Brisket - channeling the husband's Amarillo roots, here. Served with tortillas and purple cabbage cole slaw. Taken from Smitten Kitchen - such a great site.

Leek and lemon soup plus brown soda bread

garden burgers and sweet potato fries - we had this last week, good and easy.

Curried udon noodle stiry-fry

Frittata - leek and prosciutto.

And Pumpkin Muffins - hey-o.

Week 12

Back from cooking vacation. This Christmas included lots of puking, so needless to say, food and Christmas was not a pleasant thought. Right now the house is filled with treats, so I am trying to get back to real food. Ari is on a horrible night-waking streak, so I am trying to devote less energy to cooking this week.

Tortilla Espanol -I had this on the menu last week, but I never got to it.

Burritos - basic.

Carrot-Fennel soup and bread - No more carrots at the farmer's market, but I am going to attempt it with some from the market, I don't know if it will be as good...

Veggie burgers and sweet potato fries - Sweet potato fries from the Moosewood cookbook - basically sweet potatoes cut into fry size, tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, and paprika. Then roasted.

Chili and Cornbread

Pasta with pistachio and lemon pesto served with roasted butternut squash - Pasta recipe from the new Moosewood cookbook that I just checked out from the library.