Mmmmm, Dinner

I don't bake. This is why.



I have been cooking lately, but it has all been super easy meals that aren't worth posting. Tonight we had salmon, asparagus, and rice. Tasty, but not something you put on a food blog.

I have also been crafting a lot lately, maybe more on that later.

Labels: baking, cake

Sorry for the downtime. I forgot to pay. Then the hosting company decided to move me to a different server. Now I'm back, I hope.

My friend Sareen is part of The Splendid Table Locavore Nation. For one year, she and her family are trying to eat 80% of their foods within 500 miles of her home. Tough, but tougher (in my opinion) because she has a child under 1 and is pregnant.

On Friday, we went over for an appetizer dinner and to sample some homemade beer. Num.

I love challenges. So, I made very midwestern appetizers.

First up, deviled eggs:
The eggs were 100% local and so was the horseradish. Unfortunately, the mayo, mustard, and paprika were not...

Next up, pickles rolls:

The pickles were handmade by me last summer. The cream cheese is from Wisconsin. The pastrami was bought at Farm in the Market, and local also.

Labels: appetizer, cheese, eggs, pickles

This is our new favorite fish recipe, and I swear there is fish under there.

Take some firm white fish (cod, halibut, orange roughy, etc.) and saute in a little olive oil until cooked through. Browning on the outside is good. I use about 1/3 to 1/2 a pound per person.

Remove the fish and deglaze pan with 1/4 cup to 1/2 a cup of white wine. Throw in a couple cups of halved cherry tomatoes. Saute until they start releasing their juices. Add a cup or two of halved kalamata olives to the mix. Season with salt and pepper. Throw in a handful or two of fresh herbs. I've used both parsley and cilantro with good results.

Serve with bread.

I love lamb. Love, love, love lamb. I also happen to love pasta. And red sauces. And fresh herbs. And cheese. So, this was the perfect dish.

First, start by making your own marinara. You can always use a bottle version, but what fun is that?

Start with a mirepoix with garlic. Here we have one large onion, two carrots, 2 celery stalks, and 3 cloves garlic. You need to chop them very finely, or you can throw it in a food processor like I did. Throw it in a pan with 1/4 cup olive oil. Sautee until soft.

Next up is the tomatoes. I used the rest of the canned tomatoes from this summer. If you don't have that, you can use about 32 ounces of crushed canned tomatoes.

Also, add the other stuff. Salt, pepper, sugar, oregano, basil, and bay leafs to taste.

Cook for an hour to two hours. How ever much time you have. Remove from pan.

Now that you have a marinara sauce, you start with the actual dish.

At about this time, have your husband make a raspberry mojito with raspberries from last summer.


First, start by sauteing two shallots and 3 cloves garlic in a bit of olive oil.

After it is soft, add a pound or so of ground lamb.
Brown the lamb.
Add a cup of red wine and reduce by half.

Add four cups of the marinara sauce. Let it all cook together for 10 minutes or so.

When your noodles, which you already started, are about done, add in 1/2 cup torn mint and 1/2 cup ricotta.

After they are stirred in, add in your full pound of rigatoni, which you have cooked.

Stir all together and serve immediately.
This is one of the best things I have ever made. It is very, very good. If you have the time an a weekend I highly suggest taking the time to make this.

Labels: lamb, pasta, ragu

Yeah, so it has been a month almost. Here's some things I made:

First up was boneless pork "ribs" with an Orange Asian Sauce.
This did not turn out well. The ribs were really a cut up pork loin. I was duped by the Whole Foods butcher. They ended up dry and not very good, but the sauce was great.

The broccoli was sauteed in a bottled black bean sauce. CJ said he liked it, so that means it must have been good. He claims to not like vegetables.

Next up is steamed fish. Whole Foods says that this Chilean Sea Bass isn't terrible and it isn't endangered. I really tried to make this pretty, but I failed.

It is cooked with quinoa, sugar snap peas, and a soy sauce reduction. It was very, very good and healthy.


This never was posted because the condiments are just too much. It obstructs the numminess.

This is a Mexican Pork Stew. It came straight from my Rick Bayless cookbook. It had a very smoky flavor due to chipotle peppers. A little spicy and nicely flavored, this was a hit. The Mexican cheese and avocado made the overall taste wonderful.

Labels: broccoli, fish, mexican, pork

This isn't about food.

This is about a little girl. She has Downs and cancer. She is going through her last round of chemo, which is the hardest. All the family wants is to be together.

For them to be together, mom has to sell 20 mascara tubes for dad to take one day off work so they can make as much as he gets paid. It is Mary Kay mascara, and I hear it is pretty good stuff.

So, go buy some mascara.

A nice vegan meal for us on this Meatless Monday.

The main is roasted butternut squash with toasted walnuts and lentils. It is topped with a squeeze of lime (and cilantro that I forgot for the picture) which really makes the flavors pop. The rice is spiced with saffron, cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon. The spinach is plain sauteed spinach.

Good, easy, and cheap, just how we like it.

Labels: lentils, Meatless Monday, nuts, rice, spinach, squash

I spent the last five days on a Royal Caribbean cruise. While the cruise was fun, the service was great and the ship's workings amazing, the food was medicore at best.

Basically there are two places you can eat on the ship: the main dinning room and a buffet service cafe.

So, let's start with the buffet. Think Old Country Buffet. I ate every breakfast I made it to there and three lunches. While the food there was bad, I did have a couple things there. The eggs and bacon were good and I had a decent lamb curry at lunch. Otherwise the food was pretty bad.

So, the main dinning room. This is where we had all the dinners and two lunches. Blah. Meat was overdone. One night duck was on the menu. I asked if it is medium rare. I got a strange look and was told it was well done. Yeah, of course it is. The waiter still talked me into getting it. It was overcooked and dry. Boo to that.

I did have a very nice escargot appetizer. It was made with a garlic herb butter sauce and were done perfectly. I also had a tasty onion soup with gruyere toast. The desserts were also passable, though not amazing like they should have been.

The best meal we had was off the boat, after the cruise. We had a lot of time to kill in Fort Lauderdale. We stopped by some tourist trap fish place. I got the best fish and chips of my life. Well, the chips weren't that great, but the fish was awesome. Of course, I lost a tooth filling during the meal, but I guess it was worth it to have the first good meal in six days.

Labels: bacon, curry, duck, eggs, fish, onion, seafood, soup, vacation

Last night, CJ and I had one of the most amazing meals ever. It wasn't at a restaurant, and I didn't make it. It was the best kind of meal, the kind made by someone else, for US.

Erica made an amazing beef tenderloin with gorgonzola sauce, creamy polenta with roasted tomatoes, and green beans. It was all served up with an excellent wine.

Thanks Erica, it was awesome.

It was a long weekend of treats and dinners. Did I take lots of pictures? Of course not. Friends were in town, guests had to be fed, and I was absent-minded.

Friday started out with some homemade Mexican. I made a nice meal of tacos, beans and rice. The filling for the tacos was chicken in a green pumpkin seed sauce. It was outstanding, in my opinion, and you can get the recipe here. I tweaked the recipe a bit, but it is close.

Have I mentioned my love of homemade beans? Beans are the easiest things in the world to make from scratch and one of the most satisfying. Bean juice is the greatest tasting substance in the world some days. Everyone should spend time next weekend making beans at home. Pinto beans are a very easy place to start and give you the most bang for your buck.

Saturday dinner was a bit complicated. It had to be a vegan gluten free dinner. Yikes. I ended up with a mushroom ragu (that was way too watery) on polenta. Tisha brought a spinach salad, that was perfect. Dessert was a bizarre concoction of prunes, oranges, and cardamom syrup on ice cream (and soy cream). It was an okay dinner, but not my favorite by any means.

Sunday, my feet hurt from two days of cooking, so dinner was takeout.

Today, was sort-of-meatless Monday. See, CJ gave me these great crocks for my birthday and Valentine's Day.
I also had a lot of chicken stock left over from making chicken Friday night and no room in the freezer for it.

What could I do? I made super nummy, super tasty, super awesome French Onion Soup.

I used the recipe from Cook's Illustrated. It took over four hours to make; 2 1/2 half were inactive. It was very good and well worth it. While very few ingredients are used in the recipe, it would be too much work to paraphrase, so I suggest you get to the library and get the recipe yourself for your collection.

You do have a collection, don't you?

Labels: beans, chicken, mexican, mushroom, onion, rice, soup, vegan

Today, for Meatless Monday, we have roasted veggies and rice. Lots of fresh veggies and herbs were used. Pretty boring, but an easy meal.

I'm beginning to realize that Meatless Monday is tougher than I ever imagined. Not because it is hard to eat veggies or come up with food ideas. It is hard because it follows Meatful Sunday. We always have leftover meat in our fridge on Mondays, and I think it is a waste not to eat it on Monday. Why cook a completely new meal when we have more than enough tasty leftovers? Seems wasteful.

Anyway, click here to hear how CJ feels about the whole thing.

Labels: Meatless Monday, rice, veggie

Macaroni and Cheese. So good. So gooey. So cheesey.

I love macaroni and cheese, but I can't seem to make it well.

In the past month, I've made mac and cheese twice. The first time I followed this recipe from Alton Brown. I substituted half of the cheddar cheese for fontina. It was good, but it wasn't the ooey gooey goodness I had hoped for. It did have a very nice and crunchy crust which I really liked.

Last night, I tried this recipe from Paula Deen. I only used three eggs, not six, because that would be weird. I also used slightly different cheeses (medium cheddar, sharp cheddar, a colby jack mix, and velveeta). And, I actually added some spices, since this called for none (mustard and chili). It was fine, but it wasn't good. The eggs did weird things and you would end up biting into an egg chunk. It wasn't creamy. The crust on the top was just hard and gross.

So, what should I do next time? First, I really liked the sour cream in Paula's. I think I want to keep that up. I also really like Alton's panko crust. But what else? Without using a whole brick of velveeta, how do you make it gooey?

Please help.

Labels: cheese, help, macaroni, pasta

I don't like Hillary. I really hope her pro-death penalty, pro-using force in Iran, pro-Patriot Act, anti-gay marriage, more of the same butt loses tomorrow.

But, she inspired a good chicken.

I started with a very large chicken because mom and dad were coming over and we like leftovers. 24 hours in advance I salt and peppered the chicken and put rosemary under the skin and in the cavity.

1 hour before cooking take it out and bring it to room temperature. I then stuffed garlic under the skin and put garlic all around it and in the cavity. I also squeezed lemons all around and put them in the pan too.


The preheated oven was at 400. Put the chicken in breast up for 20 minutes. Then flip the whole thing over, which takes some skill. Cook breast down for 20 minutes and cook breast up until done. USE A THERMOMETER. Take out when it reaches 175 or so.

My skin split open, so it wasn't beautiful, but it was tasty.

Labels: chicken, garlic, lemon

Yeah, I'll say it. Barak Obama is barely better than Hillary Clinton. But he inspires a really nice soup.

Start with 2 Tablespoons of butter. This was adapted from an Anthony Bourdain recipe, by the way.
Melt it and sautee half an onion in it until translucent.

Then add 4 more Tablespoons of butter and a bunch of mushrooms. Sweat it all for 10 minutes.

Add 4 cups of chicken stock. I use Swanson's Organic because it was tested best by America's Test Kitchen.

Also add some parsley.

Bring to a boil and let simmer for 1 hour.
Then, take out your hand blender and blend.

Bring it back to a simmer and add 2 ounces sherry.

It is really good. Much better than Barak Obama.

Labels: mushroom, sherry, soup

With possibly the exception of Huckabee, anyone would be a better president than Bush.
So, while at the grocery store, thinking about my political meal, I found these massive beans in the bulk foods section.
So big, so beautiful, so pure, everything Bush isn't.

I soaked them overnight. I covered them with water and added half an onion and three cloves of garlic. I brought them to a boil, and simmered them for an hour and a half.

Then I added a bunch of Mexican oregano, two slices of bacon, and a beer.
You know, a real American beer. The Champagne of Beers. This beer would never deny anyone their rights. It would never detain someone at Guantanamo. It isn't shifty or creepy.

After another 45 minutes or so, I seasoned with salt and served.

They were tasty, but be warned, take a Beano with the beans or suffer the consequences.

Labels: beans, beer

The day before Meatless Monday is Meatfull Sunday, I guess.

Last night I made a boneless leg of lamb with a berbere rub.
Served medium rare.

I also made a really great rice dish.
Basmati rice with dill and pistachios. It turned out really good.

Labels: ethiopian, lamb, nuts, rice

I love pate. Oh, so tasty. But it is also so easy. Even you can make it (for the next time I come over).

Start with half a stick of butter, half an onion and a clove of garlic. Saute until soft.

Take one pound of chicken livers. Trim, rinse and pat dry.
Chicken livers are great. We get high end, organic, free range, local livers for $2.50 a pound. That makes pate a super cheap high end appetizer.

The chicken livers go in with the onions and are sauteed to a light pink inside.

Then add 1/4 cup of cognac or other brandy.

Cook for two minutes to remove most of the alcohol.

The whole mixture goes into a food processor along with 1/4 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg, a pinch of allspice and salt and pepper.

Puree until smooth.

Meanwhile, take 1/3 cup of currents and reconstitute them with boiling water. Drain and add to pate mixture.

Mix together and put in a crock.

Put in the fridge for a few hours to firm it up. Then bring to room temp before serving.

Labels: chicken, liver, pate

BBQ Pork Sandwich with Coleslaw and Homemade Baked Chips.

This is so easy, it takes a long time, but it is easy.

Cut a pork shoulder into chunks, it doesn't matter what size really. I cut them about 1 inch by 3 inches. Place them in a very wide pan and cover with water. I also added about a half of a chopped onion and a couple teaspoons of salt.

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Simmer for an hour.

After simmering, take off lid and bring back to a full boil. Boil off the liquid. When it gets down to where the pork is starting to fry a little (most of the water gone), drain off the remaining liquid.

Here's the tricky part. Go to your fridge, grab a bottle of barbecue sauce and dump about half in. Simmer on low for about 5 minutes and break apart the pork.

Serve on buns with coleslaw.

Labels: bbq, coleslaw, pork, potatoes

African Peanut Stew with Chicken and Potatoes

I got this recipe from The Soul of a New Cuisine by Marcus Samuelsson. It is the most beautiful cookbook I've ever seen. It is beautifully written with lots of information about Africa, its food, and its people.

The stew was good. The recipe called for one teaspoon of salt, but it needed at least two tablespoons. It also called for half white meat, but I only did one quarter white meat and next time, if I make it again, it will be all dark meat.

The cookbook has lots of interesting recipes. I'm looking forward to trying the Ethiopian recipes most. It has too many high end recipes, I think, but it is a great table book none-the-less.

Labels: african, chicken, peanuts, stew

CJ really liked this dish, I liked it a lot too. The recipe came from Cooking Light, which I have newly subscribed to. The lamb was very tender and the bean mixture was tangy and tasty. Unfortunately it takes 3 hours to make, mostly inactive time, but not a weeknight meal.

Labels: beans, lamb, slow cook

My New Year's Resolution is to eat less meat. Specifically, I want to stick to a vegetarian diet once a week. Therefore, in comes Meatless Monday.
Meatless Monday is a "nation health campaign to help Americans prevent heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer..." According to wikipedia, it dates back to a government movement during WWI for families to eat less meat to save money for war bonds.

If you know me, you know that this is not why I'm doing it. I'm doing it because Americans eat too much meat. Meat, produced under most circumstances (including organic), is much worse for the environment than how most veggies (especially organic) are produced. Also, meat takes a lot more inputs of energy and water than veggies. And we all know that our next war will be over water, we are already fighting over energy.
Plus, veggies, grains, and beans are tasty. It helps expand my collection of recipes. And, it is good for our health.

So, today was my first Meatless Monday of the year. Or, should I say, our first Meatless Monday.

These chickpeas were great. Spicy, a little tart, and a bit tangy, they really hit the spot on a cold Minnesota evening. They were also super low fat and have lots of fiber. Served on rice, they make a complete protein. Even CJ liked them.

Labels: chickpeas, Indian, Meatless Monday, rice

I love greens. I love kale, mustard greens, chard, and collard greens. CJ likes greens, but they don't like him.

I love curry. Vietnamese curries, Thai curries, Indian curries, Malaysian curries, all types. CJ likes curries, but they don't like him.

I love dairy. Ice cream, cream soups, custards, gratins, everything. CJ loves dairy, but dairy doesn't like him.

I love spicy food. Vindaloo, hot peppers, chilies, hot wings, hot sauce in general. CJ likes spicy food, but it doesn't like him.

You get the picture.

It drives me crazy, but it also gives me a challenge: how do I come up with interesting and tasty foods that we can both eat?

I love a challenge in the kitchen. Bring me your vegans allergic to soy and wheat, I'll make a great meal. Give me your picky eater, your onion hater, your allergic to garlic neighbor, and I'll come up with something. I love it.

But sometimes I have to have my greens. So CJ and I compromise. I make foods that don't like CJ on Fridays and Saturdays, and pair it with something CJ really likes, like pork.

It works out pretty well.

Labels: greens, pork

Well, we brought in the New Year with a bang. Aside from the leaking dining room, I had two accidents in the kitchen in two hours. The first, I was peeling a squash and jammed the veggie peeler into my finger. That was the first time I drew blood in the kitchen. It hurt, it was bloody, it sucked.

Two hours later, while chopping an onion, I slipped with the knife and took off a large part of my left middle finger. While there was A LOT of blood, I didn't need stitches. I did get very gun shy around the knives and didn't finish my last dish.

But, New Year's Eve went well. We had a small gathering at our house. We thought CJ was to work the next day, but find out at the last minute that he didn't have. That was great news.

I started with a couple apps, Chicken Liver Pate and Fingerling Potatoes with Caviar.



The pate came from the new Martha Stewart New Classics cookbook. The cookbook is totally messed up and so was the recipe. I had to improvise because the recipe doesn't make sense, but it came out really well. We have been eating it since (it made a lot).

I stole the idea for the potatoes from Emily at a birthday party she threw. Thank God for Ikea and Asian supermarkets for low cost caviar.

Well, in all the excitement, I forgot to take pictures of the rest of what I made. We had a carrot soup that was very good, but like all carrot soups, reminded me of baby food. I made a large batch of roasted veggies, always easy and delicious. Finally, I made goulash. I base it on this recipe. Usually it is very good, but served on egg noodles, it just wasn't that great.

In addition to this, our fine guest brought delicious and awesome food. We had a red pepper spread to die for and an awesome chocolate and peanut butter pie. CJ made Kir Royales and there was lots of wine and champagne.

...

One more thing, CJ and I finally finished the living room. That means for the first time in almost a year we are eating dinner at a table, a dining room table.

Tonight it was trout and risotto. Tasty.

Labels: appetizer, caviar, fish, pate, potatoes, risotto, trout

Freakin' four hours for pretty good lasagna.

Start with 1 lbs meat. I used veal and Sweet Italian sausage. Add onions, celery, carrots, salt and pepper.
Add two cans tomato (I used Muir Glen Roasted Tomatoes, the best), a can tomato paste, garlic, beef stock, and some spices.

Cook for multiple hours, like two.

Meanwhile, mix ricotta, and egg, some milk, basil, garlic, and a bunch of other cheeses together. I used nice cheeses, which may have been a mistake, cheaper may have been better.
Then, start layering.

Then, cook for another hour.

Labels: lasagne

Jeff ate a whole fruitcake today, cheesecloth and all. One cup rum and a quarter bottle of brandy in Jeff's tummy. He also took a couple nips of the second one, so it will not be a gift to anyone.

Jeff is drunk and not so much into eating his dinner.

Dumb dog.

****Update: Jeff puked on my leg. Just a little, but it still sucked.

Labels: fruitcake, Jeff

First- Be sure to read all 5 of today's posts. I have been very busy.

So, how can one call themselves a cook and not have something fermenting in the basement? I figure you can't, so I started some sauerkraut.

One only needs three things to make sauerkraut. First, salt and cabbage:
Second, limoncello:

Start by shredding the cabbage very thinly:

For every five pounds of cabbage you need 3 Tablespoons of salt. But, you want to salt it a little at a time.

You want to mix it up and really rub the salt into the cabbage, causing the cabbage to release liquid.

Once you get it all mixed, you pack it into your fermenting vessel very tightly. You really want to pack it down.

The vessel:

The packed down cabbage:

After it is all tightly packed, place a cloth over the cabbage. On top of that goes a tight fitting plate to keep it all under its juices. On top of that is a bag of water to weigh it all down.

Then you put it in the basement for three weeks. I will have to scrape off any scum every couple days and make sure it doesn't get nasty. Then I will be able to can it for enjoyment all year long. Exciting.

Labels: cabbage, canning, sauerkraut

The famous bar food pickled eggs... Do they make good Christmas gifts? I think so.

Start with two dozen eggs and boil them.

After they are done, peel and rinse them.
CJ and I both suck at peeling eggs. Some were lost. Some are misshapen. Sadness.

Prepare the pickling liquid.
There are tons of recipes out there. Some with beets, some with balsamic vinegar, some needing to sit a day, some a month, it is sort of crazy. I made up my own recipe.
4 cups white vinegar
1 cup water
A few cloves garlic
Some slices of ginger
A small handful of pickling spices.
Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes.

Pack the eggs into the sterilized jars.

Process with your normal canning procedures.

Labels: canning, eggs, pickles

Clearly, I've been busy lately. I'm giving food for Christmas gifts this year to friends, so I have to have a lot to hand out. Plus, I want it for me!

I love good fruitcake. We were at Lunds today, they had tiny fruitcakes, without alcohol, with nasty candied fruits for $9.99. OUTRAGEOUS. So, I made my own
I mostly used Alton Brown's Free Range Fruitcake. I love Alton. If anyone is looking for a gift for me, an Alton Brown book would be perfect.

To start, take all the dried fruit, the fruit peels, and your rum, mix it, and stick it in the fridge for at least 24 hours. Stir from time to time.

Next, put it all in a pot with sugar and apple juice.

Add butter


Grind up your spices
and throw them in to the pot.

At this time, it needs to come to a boil, so, I opened a bottle of wine.

After it does the boiling thing, it has to cool for a while. I started another project, which we will get to in the next post.

Once cooled, stir in the dry ingredients

And eggs


Your batter looks like this
I added nuts to it too.

Put in a pan and cook.

Once it comes out, you immediately douse with brandy.

Once completely cool, I covered them (I doubled the recipe) with cheese cloth and doused again with brandy. They are stored in Tupperware containers and will be doused with brandy every few days until Christmas. Nummy.

Labels: fruit, fruitcake, rum

I made Rum Cranberries for a couple Thanksgivings. They are fantastic. I was able to can a few jars, so we still have some around the house. I may make more.

Start by making a simple syrup and infusing spices in it.

Chop, peel, and core a couple apples.

A couple cups of cranberries need to be rinsed.

All go into the syrup and are cooked for about 15 minutes.

Add a cup of rum, bring to a boil, and you have deliciousness.

Of course, I failed to get a final pic, but we all know what cranberries look like.

Labels: apples, canning, cranberries, rum