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On 6/21/2021 at 7:45 PM, saf said:

I would be really happy to eat at your house.

Aww. Thanks. Your house sounds like a pretty good destination its own self:).

Sorry about the fridge problems. From my experience last year with the frozen huge amount of romaine, it really does work well in lettuce soup. Now, if you're not looking to make soup, that's not the best outcome, but it does produce respectable soup.

The best thing I made this week was garlic scape pesto. Yowza. I also turned the meat sauce I had previously made into sauce for rigatoni. I just love pasta in all forms.

Monday
Mixed greens + radicchio, hard-boiled eggs, craisins, feta or blue cheese; ranch
Sourdough and Harbison cheese
Pita chips and hummus
Garlic scape pesto sauce with pistachios and corn off the cob over ravioli

Tuesday
Toasted sourdough and hummus or butter
Crispy Tofu With Cashews and Blistered Snap Peas (NYT)
Leftover couscous plus squash, etc.

Wednesday
Leftover tofu, cashews, and snap peas
Rum and orange marinated pork tenderloin
Sautéed kale and cremini mushrooms

Thursday
Salad (mixed lettuces, tomato, radicchio, feta or blue cheese; ranch)
Rigatoni with spicy meat sauce
Steamed broccoli

Friday
Red leaf lettuce, cucumber, radishes, grape tomatoes; feta or blue cheese; vinaigrette
Sourdough and butter
Leftover tofu, cashews, and snap peas
Leftover pork + kale + boiled potato
Leftover broccoli

 

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On 6/25/2021 at 5:51 PM, Pat said:

Sorry about the fridge problems. From my experience last year with the frozen huge amount of romaine, it really does work well in lettuce soup. Now, if you're not looking to make soup, that's not the best outcome, but it does produce respectable soup.

Sadly, I do not like lettuce soup. I have a friend/former boss who loves lettuce soup, and I understand her lettuce soup is good. But I hate it. So, not for me. The frozen lettuce became compost, and maybe more lettuce will grow because of it.

So, tonight - it's Sunday and we were not at a ballgame. So, it's grill night! A porterhouse, rubbed with "butcher's rub" spice mix. Asparagus (the last of the season). Yellow squash. Carrots. Corn (the first of the season!). Salad. Dinner rolls. Later, ice cream. I made the delicious chocolate raspberry ice cream. Subbed in some black cocoa powder for 1/3 of the regular dutch cocoa powder, so I expect it to be extra dark, which is the boy's favorite thing, extra dark chocolate. I don't love dark chocolate, except.... I love oreos, I love "Famous Chocolate Wafers," and I love dark chocolate ice cream. I just don't like dark chocolate bars. So I am looking forward to this.

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I sautéed garlic, onion, and red bell pepper with olive oil, salt and pepper, and then added some broccoli florettes and a couple of chopped up plum tomatoes. Meanwhile, I cooked up some Trader Joe’s refrigerated cheese ravioli, which is a great convenience product that cooks in about five minutes. After I drained the ravioli I tossed it with the vegetables, and added some chili flake. Then I topped it with grated Parmesan cheese. A very colorful dish!

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Another new recipe. I saw this on the NYT cooking app, and we HAD to try it. So we did. Plus salad.  Later, ice cream.

So, "Oven Fries With Tahini Yogurt and Smoky-Sweet Nuts" will get made again. Was quite tasty. We made the full amount of the nut and tahini toppings, and used about 2/3 of it on a half amount of the potatoes. We both like extra glop. Had to do a bit of shopping to make this - lost the tahini, which was getting old anyhow, in the tragedy of the fridge.  So I took kibbehnaya's (I think I have spelled that incorrectly) advice and when we went to Mediterranean  Bakery, we also stopped at Mediterranean Gourmet. Got the peppers and a jar of lovely tahini between the 2 places. No more supermarket tahini from now on!

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I had beef Tinga in the freezer, and as hurricane season worsens, I am trying to trim down what is in the freezer in case we lose power. Therefore, beef Tinga tacos! Plus mango chunks. It’s mango season here. They’re super cheap. 

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So, ran up to see the parents this weekend. Saw them, 1 sister (and her husband and 1 of their kids), and my brother. Didn't get to go out. Helped with the parental cooking. (They are aging.)

But now we are home. And last night, we just ate random snack stuff, because after driving all day, who wants to cook?

Tonight, we worked on getting rid of fridge stuff, and so, we ate bruschetta. Well, kinda.  I got a baguette, and we sliced it, and brushed the slices with olive oil, and then topped the slices with sun-dried tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. Then basil leaves, which are going nuts in their pots in the back yard. Also salad.

For dessert, we tried the cake pops that my niece made and sent back with us. I liked the frosting. The boy liked them all. I would have liked them, were it not for the coconut. Oh well. So I had some of the cookies I bought for road snacks on the way back - maple cream sandwiches. They were good.

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Thursday was leftover buffet.

Frittata tonight. Got some very young gouda, fennel, onion, sweet red pepper and had a tasty frittata. Also, salad. Later, raspberry chocolate ice cream with raspberries on top. Oh, and there were black raspberries at the farm market, so there were black raspberries on the salad.

I really love raspberries. REALLY.

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Salad. Grilled cheese. Soup. But... watermelon came in this week at the farm market! So the soup was watermelon gazpacho. The grilled cheese was pimento goat cheese on italian bread. It was tasty. Black raspberries on the salad again. (I am annoyed at the bread. Apparently it is a new recipe this week. Very tasty, but dries out a lot faster than the old recipe. I want the old recipe back.)

Then, raspberry chocolate ice cream with extra raspberries on top again. I like raspberries, and got quite a few this weekend. 

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The boy did not get to grill this weekend. So, tonight was grill night. Chicken thighs, yellow squash, carrots, corn, experimental halloumi (quite tasty). Salad. Later, ice cream with raspberries!

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My neighbor is doing me a huge favor and in return I told her I would cook any dish she desired. She asked for Cuban Picadillo. Easy. Soften some garlic, onions, and bell peppers in oil and then brown up a lot of ground beef. After the beef is browned, add tomato sauce and the seasonings, which for her were cumin, coriander, S&P and smoked paprika (no heat, per request). Let it simmer for about 20 minutes. Near the end add roughly chopped green olives. Some recipes also call for raisins (yuk) and/or diced potatoes. She wanted neither. 
I had a half of a bell pepper in the refrigerator, so I stuffed some of the Picadillo into a bell pepper and wrapped it up and froze it for later. 
 

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Help? I have a basil-plosion in the backyard, and need ideas. I am already making pizza next week, and roasted red pepper soup, so some will go on top of both of those.

I don't love pesto, although he does, so there will be some of that. Anyone got other ideas on a good way to use a LOT of basil?

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So... I have cooked so many things since my last post. BUT this past weekend, I made this salad, I added some pickled onion, a couple wee cherry tomatoes from my garden and green goddess dressing drizzle, it looked as pretty as the picture, I was very proud. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/451556300147029985/

I also made this salmon topping recipe (I rubbed the salmon with something different before grilling on cedar planks).   https://www.pinterest.com/pin/451556300147029982/  I also would highly recommend it, I subbed out the cilantro (I am that person) for some oregano and Thai basil.  

Last night was instant pot carnitas.  The night before was rice bowls with leftover salmon, corn, tomatoes, green goddess.

For lots of basil, what about a modified green goddess dressing with basil and parsley?  Or blending with other herbs and maybe broccoli, garlic and olive oil to make a green sauce for pasta (not pesto although similar)?  You can always dry it/freeze in oil and use it later too.  I have been doing that with my oregano.  I also have just been tossing lots of fresh herbs in my salads.

I accidentally grew shiso (I thought the tag said Shishito, and then it started looking weird and I just didn't have the energy to bother until it was huge) and have a huge amount.  No idea what one does with the amount I have.  It's a very specific taste, might be good to flavor a liquor?

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On 7/29/2021 at 9:00 PM, saf said:

Help? I have a basil-plosion in the backyard, and need ideas. I am already making pizza next week, and roasted red pepper soup, so some will go on top of both of those.

I don't love pesto, although he does, so there will be some of that. Anyone got other ideas on a good way to use a LOT of basil?

Cook it down and put it in a greens layer of lasagna. Most uses are basically going to say make a pesto and do something with it. I still have pesto in my freezer from several years ago.

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On 8/3/2021 at 7:58 PM, Pat said:

Cook it down and put it in a greens layer of lasagna. 

Oh, that's a good idea. Thank you! I would also have pesto for YEARS if I did the pesto thing. We use a ton of garlic scape pesto when they are in season, and if I freeze it, we have it forever. Basil pesto, well.... we would really have it forever.

So, not going to try to catch up on missed cooking posting, even though there are things I wish I could remember that we have cooked. But...

Tonight was experimental pizza, and it was quite good. The boy saw the recipe as he was working through a backlog of NYT magazines. I didn't realize how far behind he was. This was from a year ago! It was quite good though, so I will do it again. The crust was very light, the cheese was delicious. We did not use any of the oreganoplosion, but we did use some of the basilplosion for garnish. Also, salad.

Dessert will be the delicious apricot/cherry cake I made the other day. I was pleased there were still apricots at the farm market last week, because I hadn't had any yet this year. I used the last few sweet cherries I had in the fridge. Now to wait another year for more cherries. (Mt Pleasant farm market for the apricots. None left at my usual Columbia Heights market, but I had to go to Mt P anyhow, because they have 2 farms there that have lettuce when nobody else does!) Vanilla ice cream next to it.

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So, he got to grill twice this weekend. 

Saturday, we had folks over. Hanger steak (Rubbed with a "Butcher's Mix" spice mix), carrots, wax beans, corn on the cob, summer squash. And, of course, salad. A lemon blueberry tart for dessert.

Sunday was just us. Pork chops, again, dry rubbed but with a pork-centric rub. Carrots. Summer Squash. Shishitos. And mashed potatoes. And salad. The end of the apricot cherry cake for dessert, with peach ice cream. I do love summer fruit.

Tonight will be salad, leftover roasted red pepper soup, grilled cheese on raisin pecan bread (swiss for me, gouda, with fried pork roll for him). And the end of the lemon blueberry tart. (4 people at that dinner, only 2 small slices left!)

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I was inspired by the food that I had in Portugal during my recent vacation. So last night, I made a very unseasonal Caldo Verde, which is a potato soup with very thinly sliced kale or collards and spicy sausage. I bought some tiny little olives from the Portuguese grocery store here, and had a few slices of baguette dipped in Portuguese olive oil. 

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7 hours ago, dcandohio said:

I was inspired by the food that I had in Portugal during my recent vacation. So last night, I made a very unseasonal Caldo Verde

Oooh I love Portuguese food. Wish we had a Portuguese grocery here.

Caldo Verde is my solution to "crap, I have kale. I hate kale." Caldo Verde or Italian wedding soup.

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I was in Aldi‘s yesterday, where I saw beautiful huge jalapeño peppers for $.79 a pack. I halved them, and took out the seeds and the membrane. I filled the peppers with a mixture of chopped up shrimp, a bit of cream cheese, cilantro, cayenne, and a generic Mexican cheese blend (from Aldi’s). I baked them till the cheese was bubbling, and served them as a light entrée with a big salad. 

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Had neighbors over tonight, and I cooked steelhead trout brushed with chipotle mayo and then sprinkled with salt, pepper, and coriander. I made chipotle lime rice, a la chipotle restaurant. I thought mine was pretty good. I also made a classic Caesar dressing that I served on a kind of a mixed salad. It was a pretty simple meal, but it seemed to make everyone very happy.  

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So, I had some figs. They were perfectly ripe and ready to make into dinner when I left for work on Monday. They were gross and green and fuzzy when I got home. So all dinner plans had to change.

So yesterday, rather than making pork with figs, I made pork with dried cherries. Also, dinner rolls and salad. It was good, but I was sad about the figs.

Tonight, rather than chicken with figs, we had chicken with potatoes. Also salad. Again, it was good, but I was sad about the figs.

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Sorry about your figs. Were they on the counter or in the fridge?

 I picked up a large container of figs from Trader Joe’s and was keeping them on the counter and enjoying them as they ripened. One morning I found four fuzzy figs that had to be thrown away. I examined the rest carefully, they were fine, and put them in the fridge. So far, no more figs lost to mold.

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I ended up cooking the shiso down with some ginger and garlic, and I used it in some sichuanese cold noodles with chili oil, carrots, green onion, peppers.

Red beans and rice with some nice Stachowski andouille.  

Lamb burgers with a side of melon.

Chicken, green lentils, eggplant and cherry tomatoes to use up some of my cherry tomatoes.

 

 

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It's peach season, so I wanted peach salsa. So I made a version of this chicken with peach salsa. Used the salsa recipe. Used the rub. But made chicken thighs, roasted for about 35 minutes at 425. It was delicious. Also salad. And used Pat's brilliant idea of English muffins for side bread. And it was tasty.

Dessert was leftovers. Over the weekend I made chocolate caramel tart. Served it with raspberries and whipped cream. There were 2 slices left. We are very sad that it is all gone now.

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It’s hot and humid here, and we are having Saharan dust which makes it hard to breathe. Friend coming for dinner means minimal cooking but big flavors. 

I made shrimp ceviche with a lime and orange juice dressing, lots of cilantro, mango, cucumber, red pepper, red onion. I made a salad dressing from a recipe that I got on the river boat which is the “Uniworld famous Mrs. Tolman’s Dressing.” It’s really a basic Caesar dressing with soy sauce instead of Worcestershire and no anchovy. My neighbor loved it, but I would’ve just prefered regular Cesar dressing. I served a side of deviled eggs with the salad  

We had store-bought brownies with praline ice cream for dessert. Plus port. 

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Last night, I was ambitious and made homemade fettuccine and Turkey meatballs. It took awhile but it helped to break it up and prep the meatballs earlier in the day so I could mostly focus on pasta making when cooking everything.  Turned out great. 

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Grilled bratwurst and half smokes with pesto pasta salad with: zucchini, corn, tomatoes, wax pepper, green beans.  Aka all the stuff from the garden.

Roast beef sandwiches with pepper mustard, swiss, tomato on really good rye bread.

72 hour sous vide short ribs, leftover pesto pasta salad.

 

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Tonight we had corn carbonara. It was delicious. I know we are coming down to the end of corn season, so we had to have as much as possible this week. Also salad. And English muffins.

The boy had a good weekend - he got to grill twice!

So Saturday we had some folks over, and grilled saffron chicken. It was quite good. And in shopping for ingredients, I learned that the Columbia Heights Giant actually carries lavash. Also grilled carrots. Also salad. And peach pie with vanilla ice cream for dessert (I departed from the recipe a bit, and made the top a lattice rather than a full lid. Since we had a nut disliker at dinner, I left out the almond extract, replacing it with some cardamom and some vanilla paste.

Sunday he just grilled for us. Pork chops with sour cherry sauce, corn, summer squash, more carrots. Also salad. And more peach pie.

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And tonight was pork chops with gingered plum sauce. The important thing - it cooks MUCH faster than the recipe says. Also, this time we replaced using star anise with adding 5 spice powder to the rubbing of the chops. Also salad, and more english muffins. The boy read the recipe when it was in Gourmet, or maybe another magazine, many years ago. Every year as soon as the prune plums come in, he NEEDS this for dinner. Later, ice cream floats - found some birch beer in the cabinet and have some vanilla ice cream left.

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I'm continuing to work my way through Eric Ripert's Vegetable Simple - last night was Sauteed Broccolini with Garlic and Red Pepper Flakes and Potato Rosti (along with my addition - grilled filet mignon).  Dessert was pineapple with a spiced rum glaze and vanilla bean ice cream.  All prep was done in <30 min (the pineapple had to bake for an additional 30) and was delicious, though a plastic spatula didn't survive the caramel process...

Penfolds Shiraz would have been better with a ribeye but was fine with the filet.  And just because, Chateau d'Yquem was delicious with the pineapple (but would also have been delicious with anything else).

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So yesterday was a grill day. Had a friend over, and the boy grilled corn, carrots, squash, and a porterhouse steak. I made corn muffins and potato salad. Also salad. Plum and apple olive oil cake with mascarpone ice cream (David Lebovitz's creme fraiche ice cream, with mascarpone in place of the creme fraiche)for dessert. Very tasty.

Tonight was peach meatballs. Very good, although I left the second round of cumin off, as last time it was a little too much. Served over brown basmati rice cooked in coconut milk. Very tasty. I forgot about that recipe from last peach season. Glad HE remembered! Also salad. Later, more of last night's dessert.

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Last night was Ina Garten's Company Pot Roast.  This was flat out delicious, even with me forgetting a few of the ingredients.  I typically do pot roast in the crock pot but more often than not it ends up dry - this was moist and tender with a flavorful sauce.  I did boil some potatoes to add at the end, and served with some broccolini.  Paired well with a Orin Swift Mercury Head (at 16.1%, this is a delicious blend that, in my opinion, is flattened by being too boozy) and a Phelps Insignia (more complex).

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Stirfried vegetables (zucchini, red onion, mushrooms, carrots, jalapeños) with shrimp. Flavored with sesame oil, hot chili oil, five spice powder, white pepper, soy sauce. I completely forgot to add garlic, but in the end I didn’t miss it. I ground some Szechuan peppercorns into the hot oil before the stirfry, and the dish was pleasantly hot, but not overly so. 

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Another 2 grilling night weekend - he was so happy! (Also, the Nats won today.)

Last night was hot dogs (I made meat sauce too!) And corn. Also, lettuce salad and potato salad. Brownies and rice krispie treats for dessert.

Today was grill every damn thing day. Our pepper plants went a little wild. So he grilled a LOT of peppers. Then I gutted and chopped them. So now we have a lot of chopped green chilis freezing. (1 pound 6 ounces specifically.) Then he grilled some chicken for a recipe later this week. Then tonight's dinner - pork and peaches, more corn, squash (he has moved to winter squashes now and boy do I hate chopping those up) and carrots. Also made salad. Later, leftovers from last night's dessert.

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I've been on an Ina Garten kick lately, and last night made her take on Roast Chicken.  I consider myself an above average home cook and try a lot of different things, but this was unanimously declared at dinner to be the best main dish I've ever made.  Prep was easy, chicken was moist and tender, vegetables were fantastic.  Dessert was Eric Ripert's Baked Candied Apples with some vanilla ice cream.  Served with a Jadot Puilly-Fuisse and a Mersault.  Just a marvelous meal.

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Tonight was chicken salad with fennel and dates. Was really tasty, but a bit odd. Will do it again. Also, got a South Mountain delivery last night, so ice cream for dessert. I had "birthday cake" and it was BLUE but quite tasty. The boy and the friend who is staying with us at the moment had "snappy pumpkin." I do not like pumpkin. They said it was quite good.

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Portuguese shellfish rice, with fresh clams from Whole Foods, and a frozen seafood mixture (scallops, shrimp and calamari) from Trader Joe’s. I was really surprised at the quality of the Trader Joe’s frozen product - The seafood tasted fresh, the calamari were tender, and everything held together beautifully. 
Since I had out the mini processor to buzz up a shallot for the salad dressing, I also threw in a bunch of celery leaves to my basic lemon and olive oil dressing. Very nice addition and great for a simple green salad. 

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Wednesday was leftover pork turned into quesadillas. Also, salad. Thursday was leftover buffet.

Then on Saturday, we grilled. Company, so dinner was followed by games. The boy was happy, because he got to make a beer can chicken, along with corn, squash, and carrots. Also salad, and a baguette. A delicious peach pound cake for dessert, with vanilla ice cream. I used leftover grilled peaches in the cake, along with a few leftover, not-grilled, plums. Vanilla ice cream on top. I will make this again!

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Monday was a Vegetable Lasagna and salad.  The lasagna was great, but I'm not sure how one would cook zucchini and spinach in a baking dish for an hour and NOT have it swimming in liquid.  I salted the zucchini and sweat it out, rang out the spinach, etc.  That being said, it was still delicious.  Served with salad.

Last night was Vegetarian Enchiladas from Delish.  Tasty and delicious, though in the future I'll be more careful with my choice of enchilada sauce - I used Frontera which was a salt bomb.  Side of roasted pepper salad that was good but would have been better if served at room temperature rather than cold.  

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It's been a mix of cooking and repurposing here this week. 

Went to the Nats game on Sunday, so simple that night - Italian Wedding soup from the freezer with grilled cheese sandwiches.  (Harvest grain bread and Jersey Gold Cheese from Spring Gap. Note the website there is VERY out of date. They are only at SS and Mt P farm markets these days.)

Monday was stir fry night - chicken, broccoli, peppers, peanuts. Also, salad (not stir fried).

Tuesday we reaped the benefits of the grilling night, with chicken taquitos. Lots of guacamole. Also, salad.

And tonight was a kind of modified sate. The only difference from the recipe - didn't skewer it. Cooked in the grill pan and served over brown rice with shredded Thai basil. Also, salad.

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