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^ That vinaigrette looks great. How did you make it?

Last night was crostini and mojitos after a hot day working in the yard. One was sun dried tomato and feta, and the other was herbed chevre, sprouts, and avocado, both on toasted Pugliese bread from Costco. I figure I get about an 8.5 on the granola-meter for growing my own sprouts.

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^ That vinaigrette looks great. How did you make it?

Last night was crostini and mojitos after a hot day working in the yard. One was sun dried tomato and feta, and the other was herbed chevre, sprouts, and avocado, both on toasted Pugliese bread from Costco. I figure I get about an 8.5 on the granola-meter for growing my own sprouts.

Thanks lperry, and sure, I'm open to adoption!!

The vinaigrette was a little gem that I gleaned from Rachael Ray (I know, I know :lol: )* She basically took oven-roasted tomatoes and smashed them up and put them into a pretty standard dressing.

I happened to have a bunch of Costco's campari tomatoes on my counter and thought "what the heck?". So I roasted them with evoo, s&p and smashed them up and put the tomatoes (along with the oil and juices that gathered on the baking sheet) into my basic vinaigrette of evoo, balsamic, dijon, s&p.

In the photo above, I took my stick blender to the mix to really make it creamy-and that's the thing that the roasted tomatoes do; make the dressing thick, creamy and clingy.

This dressing is great for those salads that you want cling and heft-kinda like when you want a big, burly blue cheese dressing clinging on to a wedge of iceberg lettuce.

So, it's your basic vinaigrette, whatever yours may be, and add roasted tomatoes. Smash or blend. It's a revelation.

*as Mr. MV says, "even a bling squirrel finds a nut once in a while"

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The vinaigrette was a little gem that I gleaned from Rachael Ray (I know, I know :lol: )

I am among the few who are indifferent to Rachael Ray. I don't go out of my way to watch her, but I don't hate her either. If she comes up with something good, I'll try it!

Last night was flatbreads on the grill. I finally came up with a dough technique that makes that crispy, cracker-like crust. Flatbread/pizza #1 was topped with chevre then cold sprouts and avocado. Flatbread/pizza #2 was smeared with green garlic pesto while the second side cooked. This pesto was wonderful, and the green garlic flavor is just incredible. Mild, fresh, "green," and delicious. I used 2 parts green garlic, 1 part Locatelli, and 1 part pistachios. A little salt, pepper and olive oil to hold it together, and we were eating it out of the food processor. The best part is, no lingering garlic-ness this morning.

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Brisket Burgers w/ Edam, Arugula, Caramelized Onions, Smoked Bacon, and Horseradish Mayo

Caprese Pasta Salad

Assorted Skewered Meats (Kielbasa, Sirloin, Chicken) and Vegetables

Cheddar Brats

Ribs (Dry-rubbed and slow-cooked on the grill)

Lots of beer

BBQs with a bunch of cooks trying to one up each other are fun.

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Mr. lperry wants to lose some weight, so light dinners are in my future. Tonight:

Tuscan kale from the garden, shredded and dressed with lemon, salt, a small bit of garlic, pepper, parmagiano reggiano, and a small amount of olive oil.

Grilled sweet potatoes and sweet onions with sage leaves, dressed with evoo, salt, and pepper. The sage leaves were wonderful. It's almost worth grilling them alone.

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Taco night! Ordinary ground beef tacos, with refried beans (canned), guacamole, sour cream, chopped tomatoes, iceberg lettuce, tomatillo taco sauce, and cilantro from my herb garden. I use the beef recipe from The Well-Filled Tortilla. Accompanied by the finest Whole Foods organic lowfat milk.

Ice cream sandwiches for dessert.

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I use the beef recipe from The Well-Filled Tortilla.

I love that cookbook. It sits right on the shelves in my kitchen. I'm not sure if I've made the beef tacos or not, but thanks for the recommendation :lol: .

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I love that cookbook. It sits right on the shelves in my kitchen. I'm not sure if I've made the beef tacos or not, but thanks for the recommendation :lol: .

I bought it years ago, and everything I've made from it has been delicious. The beef is super easy: ground chuck, red wine, garlic, Mexican oregano, & I like ground cumin & coriander in mine.

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taco night at my house, too!

tacos al carbon with Eco-Friendly flat iron steak marinated in garlic, cumin and lime

rajas de poblanos

La Costeña refried beans mixed with chorizo

lettuce, tomatoes, grated cheddar, cilantro, lime wedges

roasted tomato/tomatillo salsa

HD dulce de leche

Pacifico

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La Frittadella, i.e., Sicilian version of a springtime stew that's closely related to Rome's vignarola, only it's utterly vegan.

Artichokes (Trader Joe's frozen hearts) braised in gobs of olive oil with spring onions, fava beans, freshly shelled peas and as a substitute for wild fennel (which you can find in Northern California), over a cup of the chopped fronds of a fennel bulb that I think ought to go in the pot too.

Corn muffin. Blackberries (meh, on sale at Giant) for dessert.

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^ Hope you feel better soon.

Grilled flatbread with green garlic pesto

Grilled broccoli with shaved parmesan

Chocolate mint sorbet, adapted from David Lebovitz's chocolate sorbet to use up a bunch of mint and satisfy a chocolate craving. It's like a thick, rich, creamy, Girl Scout thin mint cookie. Yum. The remainder of the leftover mint simple is going into a mint julep that shall be mixed shortly.

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Seared pork chops* over sautéed mushrooms with shallot, tarragon, and stone-ground mustard, splash of white wine

Roasted green beans

Random California cab

(I'm still feeling nostalgic after this weekend, so read the following, which is just tangentially related to dinner, only if you feel so inclined.)

When my parents were first married and treading the boards in Chicago, they had, essentially, no income of which to speak. My incredibly beloved maternal grandmother back in St. Louis was convinced they were starving -- which may not have been far off the mark; in his dancing days, my father subsisted on baked potatoes for the better part of a year, and little to nothing else -- so she went to her butcher and sent my parents care packages full of meat. [There's also the great story of her coming to visit their first apartment and being so horrified that she was rendered, literally, speechless, an event that happened never before and never after, and that's saying something.]

My mother decided to continue this tradition, starting when I lived in Maine, and she would send boxes from
. Recently, she was given a gift certificate to Omaha Steaks and decided to use it to fill my freezer. Not that I couldn't get better/tastier/cheaper/fill-in-your-comparative-adjective-here steaks and meats locally, but really, it's the thought that counts. Tonight's pork chops were from that massive cooler, and given that I refused to work over my vacation, I've been swamped the past two days and didn't even have time to run the three flights down to Harris Teeter to shop today, they were most welcome. And not too bad.

Although I have to say I miss the Lobel's, all things being equal and assuming my mother wants to continue sending me meat.

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iceberg salad with cucumber, lightly steamed English peas, scallions and pine nuts, vinaigrette

linguine with mushroom sauce, Eco-Friendly hot Italian sausage (my daughter is not eating meat, again, so the sausage was on the side)

coconut popsicles

2008 C. Zaccagnini montepulciano

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Because last year's garden was really productive, I am not having a pumpkin shortage, so I made the pumpkin grits from the Wednesday WaPo food section. With a bit of hot sauce and fresh sage, they were really good. I also made pan grilled asparagus (weather prevented grilling outdoors) topped with over-easy eggs. Breakfast for dinner. :lol:

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I also made pan grilled asparagus (weather prevented grilling outdoors) topped with over-easy eggs. Breakfast for dinner. :lol:

I make a Mario Batali recipe like that, but the asparagus isn't grilled. Topped with fried eggs and Parmesan.

Tonight:

Dates stuffed with Mirabo cheese

Frisee topped with grated hard cooked egg; vinagrette

Broiled filet mignon

Baked potatoes with sour cream and chives

Corn pudding

The steak and corn pudding were thawed from the freezer.

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black-eyed pea cakes

remoulade sauce

oven-roasted asparagus

basmati rice

HD vanilla with dulce de leche

2009 Beaudry-Dutour chinon rosé

Sounds like a veggie-daughter dinner. You may have to sneak a gateway protein into her food to get her to come over to the dark side again :lol:

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[Going through the many "saved" recipes from various websites and blogs...]

Last night: Manhattan; Truck Patch pork spare ribs marinated (Chinese Five Spice, cayenne pepper and brown sugar) and braised (rice wine vinegar, chicken stock, brown sugar, fish sauce, Chinese five spice, and cayenne); Savoy cabbage salad with apples, walnuts and blue cheese dressing

Tonight: Aperol Sunset; Madhur Jaffrey's Israeli Couscous with Asparagus, Spinach and Mushrooms

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Well-Filled Tortilla Beef tacos

Refried beans (Rancho Gordo pinto)

Leftover corn pudding

My husband loved the flavor of the beef in the tacos. I don't think I've ever seen red wine called for a recipe like this before, but it really works. Thanks again for the tip, Heather :lol:

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Cod fillets baked under a tomato sauce with white onion, garlic, bay leaves, parsley, oregano, chopped green olives, capers

Served with a salad of baby greens, basil, dill, radishes, cucumbers, red peppers, dressed with WF Organic Italian dressing.

I never, ever use 'bottled' dressing -- I've been making my own dressing for at least 20 years. A couple of weeks ago I was at an event where they used the WF 365 Italian Dressing and I was really impressed. So I bought a bottle and have been using it. It's really quite good and has only a few of those objectionable ingredients like 'gum'. I imagine once it's empty I will return to making my own dressing (EVOO, lemon juice, mashed garlic, salt and pepper). In the meantime, it's nice not to have to make fresh dressing every night.

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blue cheese and parmesan gougères

rosemary-lemon marinated olives

roast leg of lamb persillade (thanks, Mark Bittman)

ancho-honey glazed carrots (needed more ancho)

minted pea purée

syrah

cannolis (from Eastern Market)

who knows what's next?

dinner for a good friend before he moves away. brilliant.

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Betty's Beef Kabobs from the White Dog Cafe cookbook: sirloin cubes, mushrooms, red and yellow pepper cubes, grape tomatoes, onions. Steak cubes and mushroom caps were marinated in soy sauce, oil, mustard, lemon juice and garlic.

Spinach salad with strawberries, Brie, and slivered almonds, dressed with a red wine/basil/olive oil vinaigrette

Baguette

Peach pie

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[Continuing to comb through all those "saved" recipes...]

Last night: Chardonnay; roasted miso glazed steelhead trout; roasted asparagus. A definite keeper.

Tonight: Aperol Sunset; Cardamon Honey Chicken Thighs; roasted asparagus; new potatoes with butter. The house smells of cardamon, which is not a bad thing. However, this was just "okay;" nothing to write home about.

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