Cook Once, Eat Twice

This was from last week, so I'm playing catch-up.

Friday night's dinner:  fried chicken with honey sauce from Mark Bittman's Kitchen Express.  Only it was minus the sauce...in the middle of cooking it was discovered that there was no honey in the house.  Ah well, it was good anyway.  And fried chicken at home tastes so much better than KFC, less greasy.

However, the chicken breasts were so big.  (AND how big were they, Ginny?  :))  that we ended up putting one in the fridge for later.  On Monday I was looking to put together lunch for three people.  (Me, Brian and my friend Tracy.)  Eureka!  Sliced fried chicken breasts, on a flour tortilla with light honey mustard dressing, chopped tomato and  a little shredded Monterey Jack cheese.  (my favorite kind of cheese)

 mmmmmmm.....tasted like a restaurant for no extra $$$.  Gotta love meals like those!

Pork Tacos with Apple-Fennel Slaw

Another one from Mark Bittman's "Kitchen Express" cookbook.  This book is very different in the sense that the recipes don't really have a lot of measurements for their ingredients.  So it's more of an advanced cookbook, you have to have an inkling of what you're doing when cooking from it.  (Which is why many times it's Brian doing the cooking from "Kitchen Express" and not me! Ha!)

This recipe called for treating the pork with a dry rub, though for tacos I think that a sauce or marinade would be better.  We served 'em on corn tortillas and put the slaw on the side.   The slaw was delightful and very fresh, with granny smith apples and a bulb of fennel.  Two tastes that I wouldn't have put together but it really works! Corn tortillas are um....drier than flour tortillas.  I think that perhaps if they were warmed in a skillet first, they might be a little better.  Just "as is" was a big disappointment.

The next taco experience I'd like to have are fish tacos.  I love fish tacos!  And I know that Brian would too if he'd just give them a try.

Valentines Day Dinner

Mmmm....nothing says "I Love You" like sushi, soup and crab rangoon at home!  No, I mean it...we haven't been out to dinner for Valentine's Day since......2003?  The last experience was so crowded and horrible we made the joint decision to skip it and do something special at home.  So this year is tuna and salmon maki rolls, crab rangoon and Tom Yum Seafood Soup from our favorite takeout place.  We'd never had the latter, and well, we never will again.  At first, one can't decide if they like it or not.  It tasted kind of like a hot and spicy margarita.  Limes and tomatoes should never go in soup together, that was the final judgement.

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Steak Night

Right around Christmas, Brian got a big roast for our dinner.  We waited to hear how many people we were expecting for dinner, and then Brian trimmed the roast to include not only Christmas dinner, but ten steaks.  And folks, it's some of the best steak this house has ever made!

Tonight's Steak and Potato Night:  Rio Grande Steaks by Rachael Ray.  Lots of spice...chili powder, cumin, coriander and cayenne.  (not a kid-friendly night, they had cheese omelettes, fruit and English muffin.)

And you know something?  The onions were "almost" as delicious as the steak!  The only thing on 'em was salt, pepper and olive oil.  Who knew such simple ingredients could dress up an onion?

Beans and Greens

Upon seeing a photo in a magazine of a broccoli, bean and pasta dish, inspiration struck.  I could do that!

  Or something like that....I have a head of broccoli on its way out, but definitely salvageable.  I parboiled that for five minutes, then tossed it with a can of small white beans, some penne, a bit of lemon juice, a package of sliced refrigerated chicken breast, a little minced garlic, dried basil  and a dash  of crushed red pepper.  The result that was yielded from my labor was a light, fresh pasta dish with just enough bite.  And, since I made a whole pot of it and I'm certainly the only one in this house that will eat it, I'm going to send some over to my parent's house this week.  Enjoy, Mom!    And Dad, don't worry, I didn't forget you, I have some sausage lasagna to go with it.  :)

Thatsa Spicy

It's Game Day, but since this house is full of Eagles and Patriots fans, we're not super-into the Big Game.  Yeah, of course we're going to watch it.  Gotta see the commercials  :)

I made some Chili, but it's not really for the game, either.  It's Tuesday night's dinner!  I made it with some extra kick--serrano peppers, crushed red and garlic, and a bit of cayenne.  Brian just has to make some rice when he gets home on Tuesday and we'll top it with the chili and some cheese.  mmmm....love it!

Tonight's dinner is a Spicy Sausage lasagna.  Lasagna is always good for leftovers, and sausage instead of ground beef makes it a bit of a surprise from the usual.  The grocery store doesn't usually have bulk sausage, so let's celebrate!  Can't wait to slice into it!  (and that's what I'm going to go do right now.)

"Stuff" on Bread

The last couple of days has found me putting some sort of meal on some sort of bread.  Yesterday's breakfast was a dropped egg on toast.  That way the yolk just soaks into the bread, which I think is delicious.  Last night at the Ninety-Nine, I got one of their new "craveworthy" deals for $9.99.  It was Angus Chopped Sirloin over Toast.  It essentially was a hamburger patty over toast with mushrooms, a little red wine sauce and blue cheese crumbles.  Today, we had a very late lunch, so for a late Saturday supper it was Creamed Chicken over Biscuits.  Oh, and with a diet pepsi, to achieve balance.  :)  So there you have it, the trend this weekend has been "stuff on bread."

 Tomorrow night's dinner will break the cycle:  lasagna!  It's good for a Sunday night, and fabulous as far as leftovers go.

Super Strawberry

Seriously, check out this freaky strawberry!  I've never seen two fused together like that.

Now that Sean's eating (read:  MOWING) through all sorts of fruits and veggies, we can start buying our produce at the wholesale store.  When it was just the two of us, it went bad rather quickly because we just couldn't finish ten pounds of bananas in time.  Not without making a whole lot of banana bread!  Now we have a rather large box of large strawberries (where the Freak lives) and blueberries too.  Those are Sean's favorite, right after banana slices.