My First Pot Roast

I can't believe I'd never made a pot roast before....we had it a lot when i lived at home with my folks.  Mom had a recipe where you added meat, veggies and the cooking liquid to a plastic bag and put it in the microwave.   Unconventional,  I know, but it was delicious.  She always served it with buttered noodles, peas and carrots.   Mmmmmmm childhood.  :)

This was a McCormick recipe, and a simple one at that.  Veggies, meat,  water and spice packet, then "set n forget" on low for eight hours!  I love dinners that kind of take care of themselves like magic.  The meat was fork-tender, and there's plenty of leftovers.  Add my mom's roasted beets plus biscuits on the side and you've got a pretty good way to end a weekend. 

King Ranch Casserole

This recipe is from one of the America's Test Kitchen cookbooks, it's all "country style" food.  And it is so far all very good eats, though not exactly the most slimming choices.  This recipe is by no means an exception to the norm, it boasts cream, cheese, corn tortillas AND fritos on top.  And let me tell you.....it was nothing short of delicious.  Everything in moderation, right?  The only thing that I would change is that I would shred the chicken breasts a little bit instead of cutting them into pieces, that way every bite would have some chicken in it.  A bottle of Sam Light for each of us complements the meal.  Wait a sec....I should clarify.  Kiddos did NOT eat this meal.  There's nothing in there that would interest them, and Will is all abut "separating" his foods.  So they didn't get a bottle of Sam Light, either.  I read how that was written and said "Whoa!!"  They were very satisfied with their hot dogs, leftover mac n cheese and apple slices.

Honey Lime Chicken Skewers

Another pinterest recipe.....and it was good!  The marinade was lime juice, honey, sriracha, garlic, soy sauce, cilantro and vegetable oil.  I omitted the red pepper flakes because I thought that the sriracha would bring enough heat. 

I'd make these again, but with two changes:  it's better suites for a weekend because the chicken marinated for an hour.  Also, skewers only get grilled outside from now on!

Zucchini Feast

What do you do when you have a bumper crop of zucchini?  Well for starters, you share it.  So far my daycare provider and coworkers have both benefitted from the tons of zucchini that I've managed to grow this year, as well as two of my neighbors!  After that, you start to cook with it.  A lot!  Although I love zucchini grilled or sauteed, we need some other ideas.

We had friends over for dinner the other night and I tried something I'd never done before:  fried zucchini.  It was, in a word, awesome!  I never realized how delectable fried zucchini is.  The recipe came from Joy of Cooking  and was very simple.  Flour, club soda, parsley and dill.  Dip the zucchini in the batter and fry for a few minutes.  We dotted it with a little cider vinegar and the four of us polished it off!

Chocolate zucchini bread.  This recipe yielded two delightful loaves of bread, and they smell heavenly!  Plus the boys have been fooled before....can Mama pull it off again?  Only time will tell...

Mark Bittman's Lemony Zucchini Risotto.  Fried eggs this time instead of poached, and it was every bit as good as the first time!  I seriously wanted to lick the bowl.  There's leftover risotto for lunch at work tomorrow, sans eggs.  If only it wasn't messy to bring an egg to fry!

Guess what?  Still have a ton of zucchini.  Some of it is shredded in the fridge, waiting to become Cheddar Zucchini Bread.  The rest?  Not so sure.  I'm still looking for new and exciting recipes.

Sunshine Pie

mmmmmm......pie.

I love pie.  It doesn't matter what kind, I pretty much love it all.  But a summer "peach and cream" pie with fresh peaches?  For breakfast, even?

Yes, please.  I baked this pie on Sunday, and the house smelled heavenly while it was in the oven.  I got the recipe from allrecipes.com,, which I go to often.  I did tweak the recipe a little bit, after reading other pie maker's notes.  I cut the sugar down to half a cup instead of a whole cup (there's six peaches in there, so enough natural sweetness.  I didn't miss the excess)  and instead of baking it for an hour at 300 degrees, I did 15 minutes at 400 degrees and then 45 minutes on 350 degrees.  The top was golden and everything was perfection.

Peaches are perfection in fact, they taste like warm sunshine.  

Fall Preview

I read in the local paper yesterday that apple season in Massachusetts is running about ten days early, due to warmer weather this past Spring.  So I've already made sure to write on the calendar what day in September that we'll go apple picking.  I LOVE the family apple picking trip every year!  The boys love it too, Will's already asked when we are going.

With that said, last night's dinner was Pork Chops with an Apple Pan Sauce, accompanied by Sauteed Apples n' Onions.  I am continually amazed at how good apples and onions taste together, they complement each other nicely.  The pork was cooked perfectly, and there was white rice to sop up the pan sauce.  Recipe courtesy of Cooking Light.  Again, surprised that this was a "light" recipe!  No pictures....the food was gone in the blink of an eye.  Well, mine and Brian's anyway.  Neither kid likes sauteed apples, which I thought for sure would be a hit due to their natural sweetness.  Nope, one or two bites of pork and the rice from the big kid, and total refusal from the little kid.  UGH.  I'm over it.  

Egg Pie

Dinner Monday Night:  Alton Brown's "Refrigerator Pie."  Or as many people call it, quiche.

I'll say it:  this is not a great dinner for a weeknight.  It takes 45 minutes to bake, and without thinking ahead there's a bit of prepwork too.  However, it's a good idea for using up leftovers.  You can add pretty much whatever flavors you want, but we do like to keep it simple in this house.  A little protein, some veggie, and usually some cheese.  Salmon works well, as does ham and chicken.  Asparagus, spinach, peppers, even broccoli works too.  Tonight's was by far the best:  maple bacon, green pepper, onion and cheese.  Brian went back for seconds, and maybe even thirds.  Instead of the usual green salad, he shredded some potato and made a "fried potato cake" and a couple of sliced strawberries for presentation.  Fantastic!  Next time a Friday or Saturday, though.