Parmesean Peppercorn and Pix

As promised: a picture (Tomato Pasta soup) and a recipe (for Parmesean Peppercorn Dressing).


Parmesean Peppercorn Dressing

1 cup mayo (lowfat) OR 3/4 cup mayo
1/4 cup sour cream
2 tsp white vinegar (or more to taste)
1/4 tsp dried basil (or Italian seasoning)
1/8 tsp garlic powder OR 1/2 to 1 tsp minced garlic
1/4 cup grated parmesean 1/2 tsp (or more to taste)
ground peppercorn (cracked or ground)
1 to 2 Tablespoon milk (lowfat; or more to taste)
Kosher salt to taste

Directions
1. Mix all ingredients (but milk) together.
2. Whisk in milk last (add additional milk depending on desired consistency).

Menu a la Week: 12/8/08 - 12/12/08

Okay, this won't be a straight copy of last week. We have some turkey needing attention and that tomato pasta soup just doesn't seem to end. It's yummy, but this is getting ridiculous.

Menu 11/23/08 to 11/28/08
Monday December 8, 2008
Tomato pasta soup (AKA kitchen sink soup) and tossed salad

Tuesday December 9, 2008
Turkey Tetrazzini

Wednesday December 10, 2008

Tomato pasta soup and tossed salad

Thursday December 11, 2008
Turkey Tetrazzini

Friday December 12, 2008
Butternut squash ravioli and a tossed salad

Menu a la Week: 11/30/08 -12/5/08

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

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.

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!)

A Little Behind and a Big Ass...

That's how I find myself weeks after my trip to Russia and England, specifically: a little behind (on the blog) and a big ass (both figuratively, for cooking way too much last weekend, and literally, for eating too much too).

Though the blog has suffered for posts in the last few weeks, let me assure you, we’ve been picking up our produce from the CSA and cooking. Two weeks ago, "Bob" made a wonderful Kitchen Sink Soup out of everything and anything that looked like it was hanging around too long (including, homemade chicken stock from a carcasse in the freezer, carrots, onions, a can of beans, a can of diced tomatoes, a swiftly decomposing squash, some rigatoni, and some whole wheat spaghetti). Then, last Thursday (October 2) at the CSA, “Bob” took home quite a few things: carrots, radishes, escarole, butternut squash, melons (not ripe), tomatoes, romaine lettuce, some herbs (oregano and marjoram), a few small eggplants, some green peppers, and corn.

Because I was a little homesick for some home cooking, and a wee bit overambitious, we overdid it with our cooking for the weekend: stuffed peppers, lentil and turkey sausage soup with escarole, homemade butternut squash ravioli (with homemade semolina pasta), herbed crepes with tomato sauce, and eggplant caviar (from a Chocolate & Zucchini recipe). I still can’t believe I fit everything into the freezer by the time we finished on Sunday (I made a bit more room by donating our long-frozen, and none-too-popular spinach pie to Iz's dog Kiki).

I’ve also updated the “in season” list to the left. It’s like September never happened.

The Menu a la Week for October 2 through October 10 went something like this:

Menu 10/2/08 - 10/10/08
Saturday October 4, 2008
Kitchen Sink Soup

Sunday October 5, 2008
Eggplant caviar for lunch
Pasta patches leftover from ravioli making and selected butternut squash ravioli not suitable for freezing

Monday October 6, 2008
Greek-style stuffed peppers and tossed salad

Tuesday October 7, 2008
Lentil soup with Italian sausage and escarole and a tossed salad

Wednesday October 8, 2008
Herbed crepes with ricotta, green bell pepper, and spring tomato sauce and a tossed salad

Thursday October 9, 2008
Lentil soup with Italian sausage and escarole and a tossed salad

Friday October 10, 2008
Eggplant caviar (for snacks)
Lentil soup with Italian sausage and escarole and corn on the cob