Three days later and we're still recovering from Thanksgiving dinner. My mom, as always, cooked an amazing meal: turkey and gravy, stuffing, green beans with garlic and lemo, and dessert (jumbo chocolate chip cookies and vanilla ice cream). "Bob" and I made the mashed potatoes and tangy cranberry dipping sauce. Both turned out great. The best part was Friday: turkey sandwiches on rye with plenty of mayo (Hellmann's...which reminds me: they still haven't answered my last query!) and another of mom's gigantic homemade chocolate chip cookies. I could use another sandwich and cookie right now, but there's nothing of the sort Chez moi et "Bob."
This week continues our efforts to clear the decks by getting through our food in the freezer. We're eager to make some new soups as well as a whole bunch of winter favorites: tomato sauce, meatballs, lasagna and/or raviolis, braciole, meatloaf, roast chicken, pot pies (yay!), and a lovely pork loin, along with the occasional foccaccia pizza and panini. I also want to try my hand at cassoulet and beef bourguignon. Though we aim to get through most of our soups and such, our ample supplies of frozen pesto and butternut squash ravioli will likely last us most of the winter.
Tonight we'll be making yet another dent in our neverending supply of Kitchen Sink Soup. Fortunately, it's a particularly tasty soup, so eating it ad nauseum isn't actually nauseating. We'll also be topping our salad with my first attempt at parmesean peppercorn dressing (which, like everything this past week, features a lot of mayo).
Menu 11/23/08 to 11/28/08
Sunday November 30, 2008
Tomato pasta soup (AKA kitchen sink soup) and tossed salad with parmesean peppercorn dressing
Monday December 1, 2008
Pasta with pesto and a tossed salad
Tuesday December 2, 2008
Tomato pasta soup (AKA kitchen sink soup)
Wednesday December 3, 2008
Chicken stir fry
Thursday December 4, 2008
Butternut squash ravioli and a tossed salad
Friday December 5, 2008
Chicken stir fry
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
It's My 100th Post, and I Celebrated (in Advance) by Going THERE Again
I just couldn't resist.
Armed with a coupon and accompanied by a couple of colleagues, I visited Fishs Eddy today. For the upcoming chicken pot pie experiments, I bought another four French onion soup bowls (which are very similar to four other bowls/bakers I bought months ago; these new ones are just a bit bigger).
I also bought a very interesting fruit platter. With about a dozen circular indentations, the platter is pretty cool looking. I also purchased a large white serving bowl. They have tons of these at the store and they're selling them for a pittance ($5.99 each).
With the coupon I got 20% off and three free Christmas ornaments. Unfortunately, my ornaments are less than satisfactory; instead of getting one each of a mini mug, teacup and saucer, and double-handled bowl, I got two bowls and one mug. Adding insult to injury: the mug has a rather large chip in it. I'm going back tomorrow to see if I can get a better set.
I lugged the bowls home, but the platter, large bowl, and ornaments are still at work. As soon as they make it on the long slog home via NJ Transit, I'll take and post pictures.
Dinner Update:
Tonight we had the herbed crepes with a simple tomato "relish" made from the last of the Roma tomatoes from my plants (I have no idea how these last few tomatoes ripened off the vine, but they did). The relish was made from two small Romas (diced very small), olive oil, dried basil leaves, Kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper. I mixed this all together and spooned it over the warm crepes. We also had a nice tossed salad with balsamic vinaigrette.
Armed with a coupon and accompanied by a couple of colleagues, I visited Fishs Eddy today. For the upcoming chicken pot pie experiments, I bought another four French onion soup bowls (which are very similar to four other bowls/bakers I bought months ago; these new ones are just a bit bigger).
I also bought a very interesting fruit platter. With about a dozen circular indentations, the platter is pretty cool looking. I also purchased a large white serving bowl. They have tons of these at the store and they're selling them for a pittance ($5.99 each).
With the coupon I got 20% off and three free Christmas ornaments. Unfortunately, my ornaments are less than satisfactory; instead of getting one each of a mini mug, teacup and saucer, and double-handled bowl, I got two bowls and one mug. Adding insult to injury: the mug has a rather large chip in it. I'm going back tomorrow to see if I can get a better set.
I lugged the bowls home, but the platter, large bowl, and ornaments are still at work. As soon as they make it on the long slog home via NJ Transit, I'll take and post pictures.
Dinner Update:
Tonight we had the herbed crepes with a simple tomato "relish" made from the last of the Roma tomatoes from my plants (I have no idea how these last few tomatoes ripened off the vine, but they did). The relish was made from two small Romas (diced very small), olive oil, dried basil leaves, Kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper. I mixed this all together and spooned it over the warm crepes. We also had a nice tossed salad with balsamic vinaigrette.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
A Sunday Like Many Others
After doing a bunch of chores, we defrosted a batch of "Kitchen Sink" soup, toasted up some rye bread, and settled in for a nice, quiet Sunday dinner. The strips of ziti held up quite well in the soup, they weren't at all soggy. But the soup suffered from a problem I've noticed with so many of our soups that have spent some time frozen: not enough salt.
After the usual extra dashes of Kosher, it still wasn't seasoned enough, so we added a few pinches of celery salt. Perfection. The celery salt perked up the soup's overall flavor and even added a certain "smokiness" to it too. Honestly, I'd been strangely reluctant to add anything "different" to the soup, but I came to my senses and realized that just because a spice wasn't in the original list of ingredients, didn't preclude its addition to the leftovers.
I considered baking some chocolate cupcakes with vanilla bean buttercream frosting, but after relaxing over dinner, I thought better of it. Maybe this coming weekend I'll placate my sweet tooth.
After the usual extra dashes of Kosher, it still wasn't seasoned enough, so we added a few pinches of celery salt. Perfection. The celery salt perked up the soup's overall flavor and even added a certain "smokiness" to it too. Honestly, I'd been strangely reluctant to add anything "different" to the soup, but I came to my senses and realized that just because a spice wasn't in the original list of ingredients, didn't preclude its addition to the leftovers.
I considered baking some chocolate cupcakes with vanilla bean buttercream frosting, but after relaxing over dinner, I thought better of it. Maybe this coming weekend I'll placate my sweet tooth.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Menu a la Week: 11/23/08 - 11/28/08
A short week (Thanksgiving) deserves a down and dirty menu. We've still got plenty of goodies in the freezer, including herbed crepes, pesto, butternut squash ravioli, and plenty of soup. Despite all those welcome choices, I still can't wait for turkey!
Menu 11/23/08 to 11/28/08
Sunday November 23, 2008
Tomato pasta soup (AKA kitchen sink soup)
Monday November 24, 2008
Herbed crepes with ricotta (topped with a fresh plum tomato relish) and a tossed salad
Tuesday November 25, 2008
Tomato pasta soup (AKA kitchen sink soup)
Wednesday November 26, 2008
Butternut squash ravioli and a tossed salad
Thursday November 27, 2008
Thanksgiving
Friday November 28, 2008
Leftover turkey sandwiches (if we're lucky!)
Menu 11/23/08 to 11/28/08
Sunday November 23, 2008
Tomato pasta soup (AKA kitchen sink soup)
Monday November 24, 2008
Herbed crepes with ricotta (topped with a fresh plum tomato relish) and a tossed salad
Tuesday November 25, 2008
Tomato pasta soup (AKA kitchen sink soup)
Wednesday November 26, 2008
Butternut squash ravioli and a tossed salad
Thursday November 27, 2008
Thanksgiving
Friday November 28, 2008
Leftover turkey sandwiches (if we're lucky!)
The Last Month: Things Happened and Mistakes Were Made
There' s a few things I wanted to mention:
If you shop at ShopRite you can get coupons from their web site: http://www.shoprite.com/. (Thanks Rebecky!)
When you make the squash and potato torte, bake first, then freeze. After assembling the tortes a few months ago, I froze one, and we baked and ate the other one that same night. I baked the frozen one a few weeks ago. It went straight from the freezer to the oven. Then straight from the oven to the garbage can. After baking, the torte was a hot, wet (and gray) mess. What a waste of food, time, and energy.
The CSA? Done. I told "Bob" that he didn't have to go to all the distributions at the end of the season. So he didn't. We wasted about three weeks' worth of money, but it was better than him beating someone about the head and body with a yellow squash out of sheer frustration with the wilty moldy lettuce and rotting onions. There was a survey, but I begged him not to complete it. No need to have such animosity on record somewhere.
What else?
We went to an art nouveau jewelry exhibit earlier this month at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Too beautiful and very intimidating craftsmanship.
R.I.P. Precious (2001 - 2008). Our beautiful Leopard Gecko died this past week after a prolonged illness.
I have to update the "'Tis the season..." section of this blog. I expect it'll be mostly an exercise in using the delete button.
There was a "home economics" article in The New York Times this week:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/garden/20math.html
The people featured in the article are the usual cast of entitled rich people that N.Y. Times journalists tend to pal around with (and think of as "regular" folks) . Read the comments section for better tips and a much broader demographic.
Both Ina Garten and Giada de Laurentiis came out with new cookbooks. I hope I get them for Christmas (hear that Santa "Bob"?).
We'll be making some dishes to bring to mom's for Thanksgiving: Martha's Mashed Potatoes (yes, that Martha) and cranberry dipping sauce (c/o Alton Brown). Stay tuned.
If you shop at ShopRite you can get coupons from their web site: http://www.shoprite.com/. (Thanks Rebecky!)
When you make the squash and potato torte, bake first, then freeze. After assembling the tortes a few months ago, I froze one, and we baked and ate the other one that same night. I baked the frozen one a few weeks ago. It went straight from the freezer to the oven. Then straight from the oven to the garbage can. After baking, the torte was a hot, wet (and gray) mess. What a waste of food, time, and energy.
The CSA? Done. I told "Bob" that he didn't have to go to all the distributions at the end of the season. So he didn't. We wasted about three weeks' worth of money, but it was better than him beating someone about the head and body with a yellow squash out of sheer frustration with the wilty moldy lettuce and rotting onions. There was a survey, but I begged him not to complete it. No need to have such animosity on record somewhere.
What else?
We went to an art nouveau jewelry exhibit earlier this month at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Too beautiful and very intimidating craftsmanship.
R.I.P. Precious (2001 - 2008). Our beautiful Leopard Gecko died this past week after a prolonged illness.
I have to update the "'Tis the season..." section of this blog. I expect it'll be mostly an exercise in using the delete button.
There was a "home economics" article in The New York Times this week:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/garden/20math.html
The people featured in the article are the usual cast of entitled rich people that N.Y. Times journalists tend to pal around with (and think of as "regular" folks) . Read the comments section for better tips and a much broader demographic.
Both Ina Garten and Giada de Laurentiis came out with new cookbooks. I hope I get them for Christmas (hear that Santa "Bob"?).
We'll be making some dishes to bring to mom's for Thanksgiving: Martha's Mashed Potatoes (yes, that Martha) and cranberry dipping sauce (c/o Alton Brown). Stay tuned.
Psyche!
I'm back! I realized that this blog added more to our lives than it subtracted from my time or impinged on other activities. So, this time, I'll try and inject some sanity into my blogging (specifically, imposing some limits on time and effort expended), while extracting all the benefits. And what are the benefits of this crazy, little-read blog?
1. We waste less food because we plan our meals
2. There's a record of our recipes
3. I can easily share recipes/home stuff with friends and colleagues
4. Lots of what I do is experimental, and not reporting on the results is a bit of a bummer (what, no archived records? The meal might as well not have even happened!)
5. I use my camera more
6. I remember to keep up with some new interesting activities (like composting, etc.)
So, expect more posts. I'll also find some way of archiving the recipes easily. (Linking to a recipe from another source is really easy, but what if the site disappears or the link goes dead?)
Expect a new Menu a la Week by tomorrow (Sunday) and some recipes during the week, plus some new links (like the very unappetizingly named FatSecret). As for that compost pile? STILL no compost! I must be layering all wrong.
1. We waste less food because we plan our meals
2. There's a record of our recipes
3. I can easily share recipes/home stuff with friends and colleagues
4. Lots of what I do is experimental, and not reporting on the results is a bit of a bummer (what, no archived records? The meal might as well not have even happened!)
5. I use my camera more
6. I remember to keep up with some new interesting activities (like composting, etc.)
So, expect more posts. I'll also find some way of archiving the recipes easily. (Linking to a recipe from another source is really easy, but what if the site disappears or the link goes dead?)
Expect a new Menu a la Week by tomorrow (Sunday) and some recipes during the week, plus some new links (like the very unappetizingly named FatSecret). As for that compost pile? STILL no compost! I must be layering all wrong.
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