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Romaine, roma tomatoes, cucumber, radishes, red bell pepper, feta, black olives, and vinaigrette

Roasted whole chicken

Rice pilaf

I did the chicken on the convection setting again (about 380F) and it was wonderful and moist on the inside, and well-crisped on the outside. It was an organic one (about 3 1/2 lbs) they had on sale at Whole Foods. The wrapper went out in the trash but I'm now wondering if the price was miscalculated or mislabeled. I had thought it was a great bargain at just over $7 for a whole chicken, but that means it was 50 cents a pound :). I hadn't been planning to buy a whole chicken but it was just big enough and pretty cheap, so I grabbed it without paying any further attention to price per pound.

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Korean food of sorts. Spicy mustard salad with ham instead of shrimp or jellyfish (or spam). Chicken stir fried with squash and carrots (better with pork, but I used what I had). Everything eaten with rice. Korean mustard sauce is sweet and sour, garlicy and sinus clearing.

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^Sounds like a wonderful combination. How do you make Korean mustard sauce?

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Sunday: fried catfish using a buttermilk base (also use for mashed potatoes, salad dressing, fried chicken--I just was curious about white sauce) and last of the spinach rice stretched w red onion, red bell pepper, kale and carrots. Vanilla ice cream w banana, toasted walnuts and the last of the homemade caramel sauce.

Monday: rockfish on bed of spinach w potato-leek gratin.

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Last night

More of the romaine salad

Pita and hummus

Chicken, andouille, and shrimp gumbo

Leftover rice pilaf

I made a smaller amount of roux this time than I have making this in the past, and the gumbo didn't thicken up as well. It was still pretty good, though.

(And I totally got my math backwards on the size of that chicken. it was a good price but more like $2/lb. than 50 cents. Thanks, AB :) )

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^Sounds like a wonderful combination. How do you make Korean mustard sauce?

Here's how I learned to make it from a Korean friend. Mix a 1:1 ratio of Korean mustard powder with warm water, 1 1/2 tablespoons each in this case. Then you need to cover it and leave it in a warm place for a least an hour. A rice cooker on warm is a good place, or a radiator in the winter. When you first mix the powder and water it is really bitter, but after it sits it seems to taste much better. Then you mix the mustard with sugar, vinegar, garlic and salt. The ratio is 1:3:3:1/2:1/3 (that's how it was taught to me, anyway). So in this case it was 3 tablespoons mustard mixture, 9 tablespoons of sugar, 9 tablespoons of vinegar, 1 1/2 tsp. of fresh garlic (chopped or ground), and 1 tablespoon of salt. It's thin like a salad dressing and even with all the sugar it's quite potent. You don't need too much. I have a lot left over so I'll be making this again tonight.

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Pan-seared chicken with lemon-chive pan sauce

Zucchini and yellow squash sauteed with shallots and garlic

Steamed broccoli

Can you tell it's diet time at my house? :) I broke my ankle two weeks ago, so since I cannot exercise the way I usually do, I'm forced to really evaluate my eating habits. The good news is that we're going into my favorite produce seasons, so eating more fruits and veggies shouldn't be as difficult.

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roasted garlic chicken en casserole with Israeli couscous--a fair amount of prep work, and I did modify it a bit*, based on reading the comments section and my own cooking instincts, but this was a HUGE hit. Next time I make it, I'll probably just use bone-in skin-on chicken thighs, because the white meat was a teeny bit dry compared to the dark meat and that'd eliminate one step--cutting up a whole chicken.

Momofuku crack pie

2009 Licia albariño

*I had a smaller chicken and an 8 oz. pkg of Israeli couscous from Trader Joe's, which wasn't as much as the recipe called for. Also used chopped broccolini instead of zucchini. the main modifications were: in the marinade paste, I used 3 (small) heads of roasted garlic instead of 2, added aleppo pepper instead of red pepper flakes, and some parsley to the fresh thyme. I didn't brown the chicken very darkly, to avoid burning the garlic paste in the pan--moved the casserole up under the broiler for a few minutes to finish and further brown the chicken just before serving, and I added the roasted garlic/herb paste remaining in the ziplock bag to the dish, prior to adding the chicken stock and brought it to a boil before returning the chicken to the casserole. I tucked in a couple of fresh bay leaves and some Italian parsley stems before sticking it in the oven.

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Tuesday night

Romaine, plum tomatoes, black olives, radishes, cucumber, red bell pepper, avocado, feta, and Caesar dressing

Leftover pork chops

Braised swiss chard with white balsamic vinegar and dry vermouth

Leftover rice pilaf

Last night:

Avocado stuffed with shrimp and Russian dressing

Chicken salad sandwich on rye toast

Leftover chicken, shrimp and andouille gumbo

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something I rarely do-- cooking from recipes-- two days in a row, and two winning dinners as a result.

fluke filets baked in mustard sauce. (it's always a treat to get super positive feedback from J. when I cook fish other than salmon, which is the only fish he will volunteer a fondness for.) I added some chopped fresh dill, chives and parsley when it came out of the oven. this is amazingly tasty for a dish that is so easy to put together.

mashed potatoes with chives

frozen peas

toasted baguette--used for mopping up the sauce from the casserole, which was too good to lose.

crack pie

2009 botani dry moscato

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Romaine, garlic croutons, grated Parmesan, and Caesar dressing

Chicken leg (last of the roasted whole chicken, reheated)

Sauteed baby spinach, bacon, and button mushrooms with a little light soy sauce

Baked potatoes with sour cream

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Penne tossed with wilted spinach, sauteed creminis, toasted pine nuts, sun-dried tomatoes, lots of olive oils, a touch of parm, and basil and parsley. It was fine but definitely needed a sauce of some sort to bring it all together.

sometimes all you need to do is add a splash of white wine and some of the water that the pasta cooked in to make a sauce. looking at your ingredients, unless you were specifically looking to make a low-calorie dish, you could have cooked your veg in some heavy cream before adding the pasta. and if you didn't just leave it off your list, some garlic might have provided more flavor.

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sometimes all you need to do is add a splash of white wine and some of the water that the pasta cooked in to make a sauce. looking at your ingredients, unless you were specifically looking to make a low-calorie dish, you could have cooked your veg in some heavy cream before adding the pasta. and if you didn't just leave it off your list, some garlic might have provided more flavor.

Thanks, Zora! I did add a splash of white wine, but that evaporated away too quickly, and we were definitely missing the garlic. I vaguely remember now that you mention it that many recipes call for reserving some pasta cooking water, so that would probably be the ticket to creating a light sauce. That and more wine...

The other night, we made a different pasta dish - orecchiette "little ears" pasta with a roasted red pepper sauce (pureed peppers, pine nuts, milk, garlic, onion, basil, and parm) that was quite good. Guess I'm a sauce person.

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choucroute garnie made with Jamie Stachowski weisswurst and knackwurst, eco-friendly smoked ham and leftover smoked pork tenderloin

roasted, smashed small yukon gold potatoes

dijon mustard and cornichons

rustic bosc pear tart with B&J's vanilla ice cream

2009 Tittarelli torrontes

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Mushrooms, carrots, and brown rice cakes (the Korean kind, not the puffy Quaker kind) in a gochuchang sauce

Soy bean sprout salad with sesame dressing

You can get gf soy sauce from Kikkoman, and there are a couple of gochuchang pastes at H Mart that are made with rice instead of wheat or barley.

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Tuna and potato galette

Meh. I think the biggest problem was that my tuna (Starkist packed in veg oil) was inordinately fishy. I love tuna, but when I opened this can, wow, it was something else. I used shallots instead of scallions, which turned out really nice, and the texture of the filling was good. But they specifically said to use a prepared pie crust, and I think it was just too sweet.

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Romaine with plum tomatoes and Caesar dressing

Wholegrain bread with soy spread

Franks and beans

I was having a craving for childhood comfort food, so I doctored up some canned Bush's baked beans with ketchup, mustard, and Worcestershire. Then I added a few chopped strips of parcooked bacon and a 12 oz. package of cocktail franks (Wellshire uncured), and simmered for a bit before serving.

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chips and guacamole

tacos al carbon made with marinated eco-friendly flatiron steak

salsa verde (cooked salsa with roasted tomatillos, poblano and jalapeño chiles)

rajas

La Costeña refried beans

more home made chocolate cake

he: cerveza Pacifico/me: Sierra Nevada glissade

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