Easter

We had a very pleasant Easter – egg dyeing using thrift-store ties on Saturday, church on Sunday morning, neighbors over for Easter dinner, and a very non-Eastery James Bond Skyfall viewing in the evening after a movie and TV-free Lent. For Easter dinner we had:

• Glazed ham with homemade mustard sauce
• Cream cheese mashed potatoes
• Asparagus broiled with butter and parmesan cheese
• Shredded carrots in vinaigrette
• Salad with olive oil and balsamic dressing
• Hot rolls with butter (I made my life simpler by using frozen Sister Schubert’s yeast rolls)
• Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting (this recipe was fantastic – I doubled the batter, substituted raisins for nuts, and used 1/4 cup applesauce instead of pineapple. I poured the batter into two round cake pans and baked about 25 minutes. The frosting does not need to be doubled)
• Chocolates
• Drink options of wine, water, milk, and apple juice (for the kids), followed by coffee with dessert

This was by far the largest number of dishes I’ve ever made for guests. My mother loves to set a beautiful formal table and create elaborate special meals for guests. It’s a gift that she’s perfected into both a hobby and a skill. It took me a few years to realize that following the Biblical command to practice hospitality doesn’t mean I have to follow it in exactly the same way. Everyone has their own hosting style, and what’s fun for her is stressful for me. I love to cook, but the key difference between cooking a meal just for our household vs. for guests is that I’m an introvert. Having guests saps a lot of energy. Having them arrive when I’m already drained from two frenzied hours in the kitchen means I dread their arrival and have a hard time summoning social energy to make them welcome.

Eventually I realized that I needed to create my own style of hospitality – something that would enable us to freely and frequently welcome guests with bounty but simplicity.  We set a goal for the number of times we’d like to welcome guests into our home each month, and went from there. Usually I cook a simple but homemade meal that works no matter how crazy the day. Often that means a big pot of soup, a salad, and bread, along with a quick tidy of the kitchen. Sometimes I mentally plan what to serve, then deliberately cut out one dish. More often than not dessert is just chocolates, if anything. The nice thing about a generation raised with terrible fast food and frozen dinners is that guests are delighted to have plentiful home-cooked meals. Once, we knew we wanted to invite a large group of neighbors over. However, the house badly needed a cleaning after busy work weeks for both of us, nd I didn’t have time to cook for that many. Instead, we had an after-dinner ice-cream social on the back porch: I whipped up a pan of brownies, brewed a pot of coffee, and guests made themselves sundaes with brownies, ice cream, and a few no-prep toppings like berries, nuts, and fudge sauce. It was fun and relaxing for guests and hosts alike.

All that to say, a meal like this is not the norm when hosting guests, but it worked. Our neighbors graciously had us over for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners when Carl worked both holidays this year. We wanted to create something truly special, both for Easter and in thanks to them. We prepped everything we could the night before and I wrote out a quick timetable since three different foods needed three different oven temperatures. Once the cold foods were prepared and everything else was boiling and baking I still had time to sit and read with the kids on the couch before guests arrived. After doing the dishes, I think Carl prefers the simpler three-dish dinners though!

What hosting tactics work for your household and personality?

Edited to add: learning to feed guests hasn’t been a perfectly smooth process. There was the episode of greasy ham and too-dry cornbread, the burned soup where we should’ve just ordered a pizza, and a few meals where I didn’t make enough and had to scramble. Practice makes progress.

Cooking Notes – January 2013

Throughout the month of December kind church members, local friends, and neighbors provided us with a steady stream of meals on the days Carl had to work. Theoretically he was on paternity leave, but practically speaking there were weeks where he had to go in every day, and days when he had to work until 8:00 or 10:00 at night. Having dinner taken care of was incredibly helpful in the twins’ early days before they had a nap schedule and were still screaming little babies adjusting to some huge transitions. We simply didn’t have ten predictable minutes when one baby (if not both) didn’t need to be held. Between donated meals and  a few frozen dishes, I cooked (if you can call it that – brats and canned sauerkraut) exactly once before Christmas. God bless the lovely people that surround us! A month ago I couldn’t imagine how exactly I was going to get meals on the table with two babies in my arms. However, by the week before Christmas nap schedules really began to shape up and these days we have a long predictable nap in the morning and another in the afternoon. In fact, my first several days back to cooking involved not just us but three additional houseguests – we ate simply, but getting meals on the table felt easy and manageable again.

As a caveat to this glowing picture, I should add that earlier this week I made our favorite Leek and Potato Soup from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. It was coming along perfectly, and I turned it up to finish simmering before pureeing it. Then I went upstairs to put a baby down for bed, forgot about it, and came down to a smoky house and a burned mush of vegetables stuck to the pot. Now I know why my mother always burned the lima beans when she had young kids .

BAKING/DESSERTS

- Cream Scones I made these with one of Carl’s sisters when they visited right after New Years. We used my favorite cream scones recipe from The Joy of Cooking and added chopped apricots. I made them a second time when a friend came to tea. With only a handful of ingredients and 15 minutes in the oven this is about as complex as baking gets these days. We skipped our usual Christmas cookie baking throughout Advent this year and instead picked up a few packages of cookie dough for the occasional afternoon or evening of fresh-baked cookies. This Christmas I was very grateful for many items in the frozen food aisle at which I’d previously turned up my nose.

- Lemon Sour Cream Cookies from an old sample copy of Cook’s Country. The New Year just seems to call for lemon…

MAIN MEALS/SIDES

- Beef Soup with Bread When my parents visited right after Christmas, I asked my mother to help with meal planning as I didn’t have much time to prep for my Dad’s special dietary needs (no gluten, onion, garlic, or beans). She graciously jumped in and did most of the cooking as well – not restful for her, but a huge blessing to us. Carl had to work on Christmas, so we had our big Christmas feast two days later after my parents had arrived – a big prime rib with mouth-watering gravy was the centerpiece. After they left, I cooked the leftover rib meat down and made a stew with onions, garlic, celery, carrots, rice, beef broth, and herbs/spices. It felt so good to be experimenting in the kitchen again! We ate the soup with rye bread sent by my grandmother – a good hot winter meal.

- Indian Curry Chicken Salad Piggybacking, once again, on a meal my mother made, I cut up the leftover meat from two roast chickens and tossed it with halved grapes, chopped celery, diced apricots, mayo, cumin, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and LOTS of curry (hot and sweet). It makes a delicious cold chicken salad when you have leftover meat or don’t want to heat up the kitchen. Served with fruit and bread for an easy lunch.

- Steak with Salsa and Black Beans and Salad A group effort – Carl cooked up the steaks. I made the black beans in advance using a recipe from Not Your Mother’s Slow Cooker Cookbook. The beans were fairly bland and uninteresting, so the hunt is on for a good slow cooker black bean recipe. I served the steak with several topping options – chopped tomatoes, tomatillas chopped and mixed into salsa verde, sour cream, and shredded mexican cheeses. Served with a salad dressed with olive oil and balsamic by my mother in law to round out the meal. As a nice leftovers dish, I heated a scoop of black beans, and topped with a fried egg, more salsa verde, and a bit more mexican cheese.

- Ham with Mashed Potatoes and Wilted Greens My sister-in-law helped out by putting the ham in the oven, and after that it pretty much took care of itself until I added the glaze near the end. I mashed the potatoes with cream cheese, butter, salt, pepper, and a splash of cream (a caloric Christmas treat!), and my mother-in-law infused a bit of olive oil with garlic on the stove, then poured it over the spinach greens with a little balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper.

- Ham, Tomato, and Cheese Omelette With leftover ham. I diced up five extra baggies worth of ham and put them in the freezer for soups, quiches, and omelettes this winter.

- Spinach Soup I used this recipe, with significant tweaks after realizing that A) a pint of half & half is a LOT, and B) the soup really had no seasoning other than one clove of garlic and a pinch of nutmeg. I used 12 oz. of fresh spinach, three cloves of garlic, significantly less half & half, and added salt, pepper, tabasco, and a few other odds and ends from the spice cupboard. While nothing out of this world, if you cut the half and half it whips up a reasonably healthy dinner in ten minutes. Served with rye bread.

- Korean Steak with veggies and bread The Korean Steak recipe came from a cookbook my grandmother sent for Christmas: Food & Wine’s Best of the Best. It was delicious. Tweaks for next time: low-sodium soy sauce so the salt doesn’t overshadow the other flavors, more meat (the marinade made a lot), and a shorter cooking time (the recommended time resulted in well-done beef – tender, thanks to the marinade, but not what I was hoping for).

- Bratwurst with Warm Leek and White Bean Salad The recipe for Warm Leeks and White Beans also came from Food & Wine’s Best of the Best. A great, very simple recipe – flavorful, without overwhelming the other tastes on the plate. We will definitely make this one again. Served with raw veggies.

- Baked Eggs with Diced Ham - a quick, hot after church meal.

- Thai Ground Pork Wraps From a booklet that came with the food and wine cookbook – Best Healthy Recipes. Ground pork (in this case I had to use a pork/beef/veal mix b/c the grocery store didn’t have straight ground pork), mixed with spices, fried, stirred up with a savory sauce and herbs, and served with lettuce for making rolls, and peanuts and sriracha chile sauce for topping. Tasty, though not quite the flavor I was shooting for.

- Orechietta with N’Duja and Aragula except not because our little hick grocery store had neither orechietta nor n’duja nor aragula, so we substituted and had Farfalle with hot Italian sausage and spinach. It was very tasty. Also from Food & Wine’s Best of the Best, served with salad.

- Baked ham with tomatoes and onions, and crisp-roasted brussels sprouts My Mom’s old easy baked ham dish, plus a very easy, very tasty side of brussels sprouts using a method my friend taught me. You’d never have convinced 12 year old me that I’d one day love brussels sprouts (at least ones cooked in a healthy way vs. soaked in bacon grease…). Sprouts with the stem cut off, quartered, tossed with pepper, olive oil, and lots of salt, and roasted at 350-400 around half an hour until the outer leaves are crispy. Like potato chips but better.

- Pesto Prosciutto Sandwiches Pesto frozen from our garden this summer, whipped up with mayonnaise and diced sun-dried tomatoes, spread on bread, then layered up with prosciutto, turkey, and tomatoes. Lots of flavor in one simple sandwich.

- Soy Sauce Broccoli A quick side whipped up to go with a casserole someone from church dropped off. I’ve never made broccoli in the microwave before, but this actually turned out a very tasty, simple recipe for fresh veggies in minutes – a handy trick to fall back on for busy nights. Place broccoli in a microwave-safe dish. Add 2 Tbsp. water. Drizzle lightly with soy sauce (I used Tamari), and light sprinkles of garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Cover and micrwave 3-4 minutes until cooked but not soft.

- Brussels Sprouts with Avocado, Bacon and Lime, and Polenta with Goat Cheese Delicious dishes, both. Go ahead and click the link – the page of recipes is great! I’m becoming a brussels sprouts convert. These were quartered, sauteed with just a bit of bacon/grease (two pieces for a large pan), and tossed with avocado to warm, with a squeeze of lime over all and salt and pepper. A really delicious, flavorful, and filling plate of vegetables. I make polenta in the microwave – 1/2 cup of polenta, 2.5 cups of water, a dash of salt and pepper. Microwave 4 minutes, stir, microwave another 4, stir, microwave another 2-4 minutes to desired thickness. I like to stir in crumbled goat cheese at the end, but you can also serve plain or with other add-ins or herbs.

- Steak with Mashed Turnips and Garlicky wilted Spinach - When I asked Carl what he wanted to eat this week he said “steak” very firmly. Luckily the grocery store had a great sale on. This was my first time cooking turnips. Peeled, quartered, boiled ~25 minutes until tender, mashed with salt, pepper, and sour cream. I meant to add horseradish (per a recipe) but realized we were out at the last minute. For the spinach I sauteed a couple of crushed garlic cloves in olive oil, then fished out the cloves and poured the hot oil over the spinach, tossing to coat. A little drizzle of balsamic, and just a pinch of salt and pepper.

- Pasta with Mushrooms, plus sauteed Kale The pasta recipe is a favorite from Lidia’s Italian Table (found at a library sale). This was my first time making kale. On the recommendation of a friend I sauteed it in a bit of olive oil and garlic. Delicious! I love how much more body/texture it has than spinach.

What’s cooking in your house?

Stocking the Freezer

When you’re adopting newborns, your hands are tied on most advance preparation. Because a birthmother can revoke her consent to adoption up until a week after the birth, our agency warns against stocking baby supplies, clothing, or furniture in advance. When you can’t work on the nursery or prepare in “traditional” ways, what can you do? Stock the freezer. If babies don’t come, we can still enjoy the convenient meals on busy nights. If they do come, we’ll have dinners prepped to cover several weeks after our church stops dropping suppers off. I’ve been making meals in big batches and freezing the extras. Carl usually goes through a large container of yogurt each week. Those containers (plus large cottage cheese or sour cream containers) are perfect for freezing meals; each container holds enough soup or stew for one dinner for two adults. So far we’ve got:

DINNERS (each meal is enough for two adults)

• Curry Chicken Stew, 2 meals (I always tweak the Silver Palate recipe, but this is close)
• Silvia’s Stew, 2 meals
• Lasagna, 3 meals
• Shredded pork for tacos or quesadillas, 2 meals
• Homemade pesto, 3 meals (more to come – our basil plants are exploding)
• Chunky meaty spaghetti sauce, 2 nights’ worth (making more today)
• Buttermilk Biscuits, 3 meals ‘ worth of sides
• Still to make and freeze: Ham and Mushroom Quiche, 3 meals
• Still to make and freeze: Shredded chicken or turkey

BREAKFASTS

• Cream Scones, 2 meals (Joy of Cooking)
• Chocolate Chip Banana Bread, 4-5 meals (Joy of Cooking)
• Still to make and freeze: Egg and Cheese Burritos
• Still to make and freeze: Sausage Biscuit breakfast sandwiches

I’m still planning ahead and making more as I go. Do you have any favorite meals that you think freeze beautifully? I’m all ears/eyes/potholders.

 

 

 

Cooking Notes – Late July and August 2012

July was not a stellar food month. We spent most non-working hours hunkered down at the table filling out forms, sitting in meetings, reviewing records, assembling documentation, and staring at computer screens until our eyes crossed. Our meals were homemade but basic and quick – lots of sausage, raw vegetables, omellettes, and the like. We’re finally settling back into a normal pace and returning to invention in the kitchen. These notes pick up in late July when the food finally started getting interesting. As usual, most meals have some kind of a vegetable as a side, even if it’s not listed.

BAKING AND DESSERTS

Mini Fruit Tarts I made these with nectarines and raspberries for a potluck supper at church, and they flew off the platter – lucky I saved two at home for us! Carl and I both thought this was a good base (easy to work with crust), but a few tweaks are in order next time. There was too much sugar, which distracted from the fruit flavors. It could use a little zing, too – lemon zest, perhaps? I found 1/2 cup of fruit was about right for each tart. I upped the recipe by 50% and got about 15 tarts of varying sizes out of it.

Chocolate Chip Cookies Nestle’s basic cookie recipe is my go-to favorite. Nestle itself, well…meh. I stopped buying their products when I found out they use aborted fetal cell lines to test food additives. Anyhow, a batch of cookies is more than the two of us can eat on a Sunday (our designated dessert day each week), but the extras freeze nicely.

MAIN DISHES AND SIDES

Pasta with Tomatoes and AsparagusFresh tomatoes from our garden, sauteed in olive oil with garlic, a shallot, asparagus, salt, and pepper. A splash of red wine, a splash of chicken bouillion, a couple of pats of butter, and simmered to thicken with an optional dabble of cornstarch. Mix with cooked pasta, and top with shredded parmesan.

Stir-Fried Spicy Mushroomsfrom At Home with Madhur Jaffrey, an Indian cookbook. Served on toasted bread, with a side salad of tomatoes and avocadoes in yogurt. I loved this flavorful dish. Carl hated it, the first time he’s had that reaction to anything I cooked. So much the better for me – I got the leftovers for lunch .

Ham with Tomatoes and OnionsAn easy-as-pie one-pot dish I learned from my Mom as a kid – very satisfying on a busy night. Preheat the oven to 350. Lay a 1 to 2 pound ham steak in a pan. Thinly slice an onion and spread on top of the ham. Pour a 28 oz can of diced tomatoes into a bowl, and stir together with a few tbsp. dijon mustard, a little salt, onion, a little garlic powder, and, if you like, a splash of worcestershire. Pour over ham and bake for half an hour. Nice with potatoes as a side.

Thai Pork Kabobs with Peanut Sauce and Onion Cakes These were a huge hit – flavorful, rich, and juicy, yet quick and easy. I don’t stock Thai seasoning, but used these guidelines to make some. I substituted fresh lime zest for dried, ground red pepper for fresh, skipped the lemongrass, and rubbed the mix into the meat rather than sprinkling. I also reduced the water in the peanut sauce to 1/4 cup. The onion cakes were great as well – I sauteed a thinly-sliced regular onion and added it to the batter since we didn’t have any green onions. Four minutes on one side, five minutes on the other and the pork was done.

Curry Chicken Salad An old standby from my childhood. Cook two or three chicken breasts by boiling them (roasted is fine as well – your choice). Shred or chop. Stir together with some combination of sliced celery, grapes, dried apricots, raisins, walnuts, or similar foods. Stir up with mayonnaise, significant amounts of curry and cumin, and a little salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika. Adjust to taste, and enjoy on a hot summer day.

Indian Chicken Stew Better Homes & Gardens had a $5 sale on yearly subscriptions. When we signed up, they sent a 2012 favorite recipes collection as a bonus. Carl actually made this one up while I worked – his first encounter with a crockpot, and he came off victorious. It’s not exactly Indian food, but this is a flavorful stew (especially if you throw in extra spices) and made the house smell delicious all day as it simmered. Next time we might try adding cumin, a bit more salt, coconut milk, or cubed potatoes.

Found While Looking Around

 

• This list of the 44 Most Common Cooking Mistakes is a great compilation of common cooking errors. I’ve seen a lot of them before, but this summary gives good explanations of the ”why” of errors, and how to avoid the problem in future. Even my been-feeding-households-for-thirty-five-years Mom found new ideas in here. Next time I make blueberry muffins I’m dusting the berries in flour.
• A Fortnight for Freedom is a 14 day period of prayer, education, and action leading up to Independence Day, focused on religious freedom. I’m excited, and also curious to see if there’s anything organized locally. Love that it’s tied to Thomas More, too, since I just finished reading A Man for All Seasons.
• How do you connect Europe, Africa, North America, and South America? A dozen or so really really really long wires through the ocean. This article on running fiber-optic cables across the Atlantic is full of interesting tidbits I’d never thought of: Ships plotting cable routes around underwater mountains, the trade-off between longer routes and shorter shallower routes menaced by ships anchors, or just how much quicker the New York-London internet connection will be after shaving 310 miles off the cable route (5.2 milliseconds).
• Half a dozen at-home circuit workouts, all of which are sounding pleasantly safe after twisting around my belay line while at the rock climbing gym this week. They don’t call it rope burn for nothing.
• Military families can now get the $80 National Parks annual pass for free with a military ID.
• Fettuccine Gazpacho Salad - we haven’t tried it, but it looks delicious and fresh, perfect for hot summer days.
• 25 Handy Words That Simply Don’t Exist in English, in case you need a laugh today. I really do need a word for ”Pena ajena (Mexican Spanish): The embarrassment you feel watching someone else’s humiliation.” You know when someone acts stupidly in a movie and you’re squirming out of your seat on their behalf?

Potlucking

Several years ago, the dads at our church set out to solve the problem of Mothers Day: Moms shouldn’t have to cook, but restaurants are packed for the holiday. Solution: a Mothers Day luncheon hosted by the church.

In theory, it’s a fantastic idea. The church provides ham and fried chicken (this is the South, y’all). Nobody fights restaurant crowds. Mothers are properly fêted. The men get away with not cooking.

In reality, it leaves a few women in a huff each year. Each family must bring a side dish and dessert for ten. No self-respecting competitive woman is willing to stake her household’s culinary reputation on chips and Oreos her husband grabbed from the store. A good church potluck is an Olympic event, with empty pans for prizes. Someone begging “you must send me this recipe!” is a higher honor than hearing your national anthem from the podium. So, while the bewildered men scratch their heads, the moms stomp off to their kitchens. They arrive in high dudgeon on Sunday morning toting a screaming toddler under one arm and a leaking pyrex under the other.

Thankfully, by the closing Gloria Patri (sung, alas, in English – these are Reformed Presbyterians) the delicious smells wafting from the church kitchen have done a lot to smooth ruffled feathers. And really? It’s hard to be cranky when facing a dessert table holding ten feet of trifles, cobblers, brownies, cookies, tarts, scones, bars, cakes, berries, and muffins:

This photo was taken by a friend and posted to the church facebook page (sorry – I can’t properly credit her while maintaining her anonymity). I think that’s her eldest son’s hand sneaking in for an early raid on the sugar-fest.

Cooking Notes – May 2012

In this month’s cooking, I’m thinking about two goals: experimenting with more international food options after settling into a bit of a rut in last month’s busyness, and experimenting with more vegetarian or meat-as-a-seasoning dishes (per this discussion). As usual, recipes that don’t mention a side still have at least one kind of vegetable, salad, or fruit served with them. You can view notes from previous months here.

BAKING AND DESSERTS

Raspberry Streusel Bars – Regular favorites, for a farewell party for a lovely family from our church that’s PCSing to the Pentagon.

French Raspberry Almond Tart - For a church potluck.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie - Yum. recipe for filling from my mother, use 1/8 cup more corn starch next time. Recipe for crust the basic flaky pastry crust fromJoy of Cooking made with all butter (vs. half shortening) and mixed in the food processor.

MAIN DISHES AND SIDES

Pasta with Mushrooms - I used the recipe for Tagliatelle with Porcini Mushrooms from Lidia’s Italian Table, a used Italian cookbook I bought off the library sale table for $2. Despite making it with neither tagliatelle nor porcinis, it was delicious. The sauce is simple but perfect: garlic and lots of mushrooms (I used two varieties) sautéed in olive oil, then simmered with chicken stock and a bit of butter until slightly reduced and thickened, seasoned with pepper, and tossed with cooked pasta and some parmesan. This will be made many times in the future, and is a perfect base sauce to mix up with other vegetables. Italian. Vegetarian except for the chicken stock.

Stir-fried Broccoli with Beef - The best and most authentic beef and broccoli I’ve ever made at home. The recipe came from a cookbook called Yan-Kit’s Classic Chinese Cookbook, given by my grandparents about five years ago. At the time, I was intimidated by the new-to-me techniques and ingredients (“…cloud ears” ?). As a more experienced cook it’s accessable and very good. Broccoli, scallions, garlic, ginger, beef, sesame oil, tamari soy sauce, pepper, sherry, oyster sauce, a little cornstarch and just a tiny pinch of brown sugar (this dish is not sweet at all) make a perfect dish served over rice. Don’t be skeptical of the cornstarch – I learned from Carl’s step-mother (a talented cook whose mother owned a restaurant in San Fransisco’s Chinatown) that it’s very standard in “real” Chinese cooking to toss the meat with a little cornstarch before marinating and cooking; it helps develop the meat texture and flavors unique to stir-frys. Chinese. Not remotely vegetarian, though I supposed the real amount of beef in a serving is pretty low given all the veggies and rice thinning out the dish.

Eggs Benedict - Served with fresh spring asparagus. I love Eggs Benedict, but have a love-hate relationship with hollandaise. It’s so prone to misbehaving on the stovetop. This time I gave The Pioneer Woman’s blender hollandaise recipe a shot. Good flavor, but the sauce was thin and runny – not sure what went wrong. Incidentally, I learned from irate comments on the PWs recipe that Canadian bacon is called peameal or back bacon in Canada. My ex-Canadian husband was too busy going “mmm…MMMM….yummmmm” around a mouthful of it to comment on naming conventions. One of the rare dishes that supposedly originated in America – so much for international cooking. More of a meat-as-a-seasoning dish since each serving only has a thin slice of bacon to it.

Pasta with Asparagus and Tomatoes - Tossed together with ingredients from the fridge for a quick weekend lunch – halved grape tomatoes and spring asparagus sautéed with a bit of olive oil and garlic, simmered with a splash of white wine, and stirred with a final tablespoon of butter before tossing with cooked pasta and parmesan. Can’t go wrong with that. Italian. Vegetarian.

Deviled Eggs - A nice simple meal. Served with….I can’t remember. Biscuits, maybe? Salad of some sort? Vegetarian.

Colombian Chicken, Potato, and Corn Stew – A very tasty new-to-us stew from Splendid Soups by James Peterson. I thought we had chicken in the freezer, but it turned out all we had were two lonely chicken breasts. Good thing a little can stretch a long way in a flavorful giant pot of soup. Colombian. Meat as seasoning.

Spicy Pasta - Carl has had an imagined vision of “the perfect pasta” in his head for years – something that’s tomatoey yet creamy, flavorful but spicy, rich but not too heavy. Lots of trial and error and I finally hit it – olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes, sun-dried tomatoes, chicken bouillion, a basic tomato sauce, and cream, marched through various steps of sauteeing and simmering, then tossed with chopped up chicken sauteed with salt, pepper, olive oil, and red pepper flakes. A little more experimenting and tweaking is in order on this one but we’re finally getting there. Italian. Meat as a seasoning.

Fried Rice - Comfort food, and perfect for using up odds and ends of veggies from the fridge, plus that one stray piece of chicken. Chinese. Meat as a seasoning.

Steak with Cauliflower Gratin and Vegetables - The generic “vegetables” statement is because I really can’t remember. The steak was delicious. The cauliflower gratin from Joy of Cooking was only mediocre – still on the hunt for “my” cauliflower recipe. Most emphatically not vegetarian.

Variations on Tacos – We’ve eaten several versions this month: black beans with tomatoes (vegetarian), refried beans with cheese (vegetarian), spinach quesadillas (vegetarian), and chorizo, egg, and potato tortillas (meat as a seasoning) with salad. Most of these were items from the pantry or freezer – tortillas are perfect fast “backup” meals. Mexican.

Spinach Puff Pastry with seasoned tomatoes and carrots - The first vegetarian meal I’ve cooked that was actually for a vegetarian. When it’s a visiting senior officer from your husband’s work that you need to feed well, this one is reliable: garlic, walnuts, spinach, onions, eggs, ricotta, feta, and parmesan in a golden-brown crust. Like spanikopita, but my own twist. Greek-ish. Vegetarian.

Pesto Pasta - Pesto made with fresh basil from the garden. Carrots as a side. Italian. Vegetarian.

Bruschetta - Garlic, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, basil from the garden, prosciutto, olive oil, a splash of prosciutto, and a bit of salt and pepper marinated together. Tried a new trick this time and microwaved cream cheese, stirred it with a bit of garlic powder (herbs would work well too), spread it on the bread, and toasted it just til golden brown under the broiler. Adds a nice protein-rich base for something that’s normally light and snacky. Italian. Meat as a seasoning.

Tagine - A North African stew from James Peterson’s Splendid Soups. This one was a huge hit, both with us and with guests. Chicken, broth, lots of flavorful middle eastern seasonings, apricots, raisins, toasted almonds, garlic, onions, etc., served over rice (I didn’t have couscous). I didn’t make harissa for a topping since I couldn’t find all the ingredients, but will try it next time. Moroccan.

Cooking Notes – April 2012

You can view previous months’ cooking notes here. Most meals provide leftovers for a day or two.

BAKING/DESSERTS

• Potato-Garlic Peasant Loaf - From Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. This is a nice variation on the basic boule loaf – adding in roasted garlic gave flavor, while a bit of mashed potato makes this loaf stay moist and soft. It was good, though I’m not sure we’ll be making it again.
• Blueberry Streusel Muffins - Our favorite standby for holiday breakfasts, served on Easter. The combination of the streusel topping, a little bite from the lemon zest, and blueberries picked and frozen from our own bushes make these a favorite treat. Extras went to the neighbors as a thank you for hosting Easter dinner.
• French Apple Almond Tart - Carl’s favorite treat on this Earth, made for Easter dessert. A basic Pâte Sucrée crust combines with flavorful homemade almond paste and a fruit topping. We love apples or raspberries.
• Raspberry Streusel Bars – Carl’s good buddy/roommate from deployment visited our town this weekend, and came over for Sunday lunch with his lovely wife. Carl had a blast catching up with his friend, I enjoyed meeting them both for the first time, and we all enjoyed these tangy, buttery, delicious creations for dessert. And then we enjoyed some more for dinner after the guests left. And some more at breakfast this morning. There’s a good reason I only make these two or three times a year…something to do with avoiding clogged arteries.

MAIN DISHES/SIDES

• Pasta Primavera-ish - The neighbors shared fresh asparagus from their garden. I wanted to try something new with it besides my normal standbys: steamed/broiled with some kind of topping, or soup. A friend suggested Pasta Primavera, which worked out really well with odds and ends from the fridge. For the two of us, we cooked half a pound of pasta (rotini, in this case). I heated olive oil in a saucepan, and added asparagus cut in one inch lengths, plus halved grape tomatoes, and sprinkled with salt and pepper. I sauteed them for a couple of minutes, then threw in half a shallot and three large cloves of garlic, diced. I let those cook for about two minutes, then poured in a splash of white wine. In another minute or two, the wine was mostly cooked off. I added a large pat of butter, drained the pasta, then stirred the veggie-wine-butter goodness into the pasta in a large bowl. You want vegetables that are cooked but still crisp (asparagus) or holding their form (tomatoes). It’s good by itself or with a little parmesan grated on top, and could easily be mixed up with other vegetables depending on what’s in the fridge or in season. This was a hit. There were no leftovers.
• Mexican Black Bean Soup - Adapted from Williams Sonoma’s Bride & Groom Cookbook, a wedding gift. Black beans (I used canned beans, well-rinsed), onions, carrots, celery, garlic, ham, cilantro, chili powder, and cumin are simmered together and blended to make a hearty, flavorful base. A dollop of sour cream and some salsa verde provide the perfect sharp, fresh contrast. Served with potato-garlic bread. I doubled the chili powder, slightly reduced the stock, used a bit of leftover ham from the freezer, and would significantly increase the cilantro and add it at the end rather than cooking a sprig with the soup. Cooked cilantro loses its flavor, and a small amount has little effect.
• Marinated Goat Cheese with Fresh Bread and Tomatoes - Carl loved this marinated goat cheese, but the overall result was a little overwhelming for me. The marinated cheese idea (cheese + olive oil + thyme + red chili flakes, marinated for a couple days) came from the Bride & Groom Cookbook. I may try again with a less powerful cheese. Tomatoes were lightly seasoned  and drizzled with olive oil. Bread was potato-garlic bread.
• Feta, Spinach, and Mushroom Pizza - an impromptu meal thrown together with odds and ends from the pantry and fridge. I made my tomato sauce with lots of dried basil from our garden and we both thought it turned out very well. Pizza is one area where I’ll use a mix – packets of pizza dough mix cost 80 or 90 cents at the grocery store, and only need to be stirred with warm water, kneaded a tad, and left to rise smeared with olive oil for 15 minutes. Very manageable when you want an easy dinner.
• Slow Cooker French Dip - The first time I tried this recipe over the winter, I changed 8 hours on low to 3 hours on high in the slow cooker, and it was a disaster with tough, chewy meat. I gave it another shot this month with the proper time, and the result was absolutely delicious. Finally, I’ve found a slow cooker meat recipe I like. The sauce is quite salty, just like the French Dips/Italian Beefs we got for occasional treats growing up – not healthy, and it even uses a pre-made packet of onion soup powder (the shame!) but the tender beef was delicious tucked into buns and dipped in the sauce. In other words, this recipe perfectly recreates a favorite junk food . I reduced the onion powder amount and substituted in some fresh chopped onions. The only thing I’d change next time would be to use homemade rolls baked with steam for extra crustiness. The drippings and moist meat make ordinary rolls soggy quickly. Served with cut up apples for a fresh contrast to the savories.
• Julia Child’s Saute of Beef for Two - Can’t go wrong with this deliciously rich special-occasions dish. Beef, mushrooms (I used half regular, half baby bellas), shallots, herbs, mini-onions, and potatoes, prepared individually and simmered in a delicious wine and cream sauce.  I have the cookbook, but the recipe I’ve linked to looks correct. We always increase the proportion of mushrooms and onions. This is one recipe where it’s worth investing in a good cut of beef. I never seem to have fresh parsley, but sprinkle on a little dried parsley at the end for color.
• Bacon, Mushroom, and Cheddar Quiche I came home from my business trip to a mostly empty fridge since Carl worked late hours over the weekend. Luckily, there was plenty of flour, butter, and salt in the house to whip up a pie crust, a few eggs close to expiration, milk, some leftover mushrooms, a stray shallot, bacon, and a few slabs of cheddar to put together. Served with a side salad of tomatoes and avocados stirred up with a sprinkle of salt, pepper, and garlic powder and a little dab of mayonnaise.
• Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Pasta - Made by Carl in my absence, using canned pesto found in an Aldi sale. I love Aldi’s surprise imported treats.  Surely it must’ve cost $1.50 just to ship that from Italy?
• Steak Tips au Poivre with potatoes and salad – Served for Sunday lunch with guests.
• Stroganoff – from Rachel Ray’s 30 Minute Get Real Meals. A favorite dish, and always tasty. I substituted yogurt for part of the sour cream, and potatoes for noodles. Rather a lot of red meat this month as we use up food from the fridge…

Spinach Pastry

We try to eat meatless dinners a few times a week, both for health and because it forces me to be creative with vegetables in the kitchen. I came up with this spinach pastry over the weekend by combining a few online recipes, my own ideas, and whatever ingredients we had in the fridge. We both loved it.

Spinach Pastry

Serves 4 as a stand-alone dish, or 6 with sides

- 1 pkg. Puff Pastry (two sheets), thawed according to instructions on box.

- ~3 Tbsp. Olive Oil

- 1/2 Yellow Onion, finely chopped

- 4 Garlic Cloves, minced

- 1/3 cup Walnuts, finely chopped

- 6 cups/~9 oz. fresh Spinach, washed and well drained

- 2 Eggs, beaten

- ~ 1/3 cup Feta Cheese, crumbled, or a similar goat cheese

- ~ 1/8 cup Parmesan Cheese, shredded

- ~ 1/8 cup Ricotta Cheese

- Salt and Pepper, to taste

- 1 Egg, beaten (for pastry wash)

Pre-heat oven to 375. Grease a large cookie/baking sheet.

Heat olive oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat, add onions. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and translucent. Add garlic and walnuts and cook another minute or two to soften garlic and toast walnuts.

Make sure spinach is well drained, then hold it on a cutting board by large fistfuls and slice into 1/4 inch-wide strips. Add to frying pan, reduce heat to medium, and continue to stir and turn regularly until all spinach is wilted. If spinach begins to stick or smoke, reduce heat further and add another splash of olive oil. Once all spinach is wilted, remove the pan from the heat.

Place a mesh sieve over the sink or a bowl, scrape spinach mixture into sieve, and drain. Push down on the spinach with the back of a spoon to force out as much moisture as you can. A drippy vegetable mixture will make your pastry soggy. If you don’t have a fine mesh sieve for this step, line a regular colander with a clean loosely woven cloth or dish towel to keep the vegetable mixture from squeezing out the colander holes.

In a medium bowl mix two beaten eggs, crumbled Feta, shredded Parmesan, and Ricotta.* Once spinach has drained as much as possible and cooled for a few minutes, add to egg mixture and stir.  Sprinkle mixture generously with salt and pepper.

Place a sheet of Puff Pastry on a sheet of parchment paper to prevent sticking, and roll it out an extra two inches or so in all directions. Peel the pastry off the parchment paper, and lay on the greased baking sheet. Spread the spinach mixture evenly over the pastry, leaving a 1 inch border around all edges. Beat an egg in a small bowl and brush beaten egg around the 1 inch border of the pastry.

Roll the second sheet of puff pastry out to match the first. Lay it evenly over the bottom sheet/spinach, lining up the edges. Press down gently around the edges to seal the top sheet against the egg wash on the bottom sheet, then gently fold over the outside edges by about 1/4 inch to seal in any juices. Brush the top of the pastry with egg wash. With a sharp knife, cut a few slits into the top of the pastry to allow steam to escape. Place in oven and bake 25 – 30 minutes until golden brown. Serve hot.  

Notes

I was using up ingredients in the fridge. You could easily make this with all Feta (about 1/2 cup) or a similar cheese, but I didn’t have enough. I thought the Ricotta added a nice creamy consistency. You could also substitute pine nuts for walnuts. I assume you could use Filo dough instead of puff pastry, but I prefer the texture of puff pastry, and like how easy it is to work with. Well-thawed and drained frozen spinach could probably be substituted for fresh. Leftovers reheat nicely – just place on a baking sheet in a 450 degree oven until hot to the touch.

Even though I disliked some vegetables as a kid, this is the kind of thing I probably would have eaten thanks to the flaky crust and a flavorful but not overwhelming blend between the cheese and the spinach.

Cooking Notes – February 2012

To be updated throughout the month, as usual. I usually don’t mention sides, but some sort of vegetable or fruit goes with most meals.

Baking/Desserts

Almond Cookies - This recipe from Heirloom Baking with the Brass Sisters was a huge hit and will definitely go on our favorites list. As an added bonus, it’s the simplest cookie recipe I’ve ever whipped up, with just a handful of ingredients. We liked them best warm.

Cheddar Cornbread -  I used The Joy of Cooking’s Northern Cornbread recipe with about 3/4 cup of shredded cheddar thrown in. The cheddar did a great job keeping it moist and non-crumby. Served with Mexican burracho beans.

Chocolate Chip Cookies - These are from the basic Nestle’s recipe. I was a little short on vanilla extract, and had to substitute bitterwseet chips for half of the semi-sweet chips, but warm cookies with milk are warm cookies with milk.

Easy Bars – Also known as “Magic Cookie Bars”, these easy treats can be whipped up in five minutes, and never fail to please. At any rate, they certainly pleased the teenagers who scarfed an entire pan of them.

Artisan Bread - The usual recipe fromArtisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day- 3 loaves.

Main Meals/Sides

Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches - As mentioned in an earlier post, this recipe had mixed results. The au jus/dip was perfect, but the meat turned out extremely dry. That’s probably my fault for cooking it on high for 3 hours instead of on low for 8 hours. I’m willing to give this one another shot at some point given the high ratings it received from people who cooked it the proper way.

Buffalo Wings with Carrots and Dip - Carl decided he would take care of all meals on Saturday. Much as I like to cook, a day off was a great gift. This is a simple recipe: cook wings at 500 for 20 minutes, then toss in Buffalo sauce. He cut up carrots and mixed a sour-cream onion dip to go with it and we enjoyed a lazy Saturday evening watching Jeeves and Wooster together.

Burracho Beans with Cheddar Cornbread - A second attempt at slow cooker cooking. I soaked dried pinto beans overnight in beer and water, then started them in the crockpot Sunday morning for an easy dinner. This recipe (from a coworker) was a good base but needs a little work. It was a lifesaver on this weekend, though, since a car crashed into a telephone pole mid-afternoon, knocking out power to our neighborhood. The beans were already cooked at that point, so a cozy home dinner by the fire was assured, power or no power.

Spinach Pastry - A big hit that’s going in the keeper files. I made this one up based on a few spinach recipes found on epicurious, and wrote up the recipe for future reference.  It wasn’t properly spanikopita or any other dish, but it was good.

Omellette - Always a safe bet for a fast hospital call night dinner. Bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes, and cheddar this time.

Tomato & Avocado Salad - I don’t normally list lunches, but I’ve eaten this one three or four times in the last week. The avocado makes it very filling. Peel and cube an avocado. Quarter a handful of grape tomatoes (sweeter than regular tomatoes). Toss everything in a bowl, sprinkle with a little salt, pepper, and garlic powder, then stir together with about a rounded teaspoon of mayonnaise. We’re hooked on olive oil mayonaise lately. With a piece of fruit or a few carrots it’s a filling and tasty meal.

Balsamic Chicken - High hopes for this recipe were dashed, so I’m not linking to it. I like strong flavors, I like balsamic vinegar, and the ingredients looked very promising, but this was just overwhelming – like gulping vinegar. I converted a crockpot recipe to a stovetop-to-oven  recipe, which may have prevented some of the vinegar taste from cooking off. Carl got home from the hospital at 10:00 that night, so on the bright side any food at all seemed amazing to him after his long wait for supper.

Indian Potatoes with Black Bean, Tomato, and Avocado Salad - By “Indian Potatoes” I really mean “Carl was stuck at the hospital until 10:00 and nothing’s ready for dinner, oh look! potatoes…sliced thin, fried with curry, cumin, paprika, salt, pepper, and a sprinkle of garlic powder.” I love potatoes. Simple. Easy. Filling. Delicious. Inexpensive. For the side I just made the Tomato & Avocado Salad listed above, with a can of drained and rinsed black beans from the cupboard mixed in.

Chicken and Sausage Gumbo with White Rice - Another oddly timed late-night dinner after hospital call, and I wasn’t feeling well. When I make big pots of soup I always freeze a couple meals worth in the freezer for just such emergencies. This gumbo I made in the fall reheats nicely, though it’s slightly less spicy after being frozen. That makes Carl very happy, and me a little dissapointed.

Spinach Pastry - A second time in two weeks, this time around as we hit the Lenten vegetarian cycle.

Ravioli with Spicy Tomato Sauce – Frozen ravioli from Aldi, tomato sauce following a modified version of the tomato sauce in the Pioneer Woman’s lasagna. Repeated a week later with Ravioli with Pesto .

Cabbage, Carrot and Bacon Cheddar Soup – An old favorite  my mother used to make in winter. Some time I might get around to posting the recipe. Served with fresh homemade bread. A perfect “meat as a seasoning vs. a centerpiece” dish.

Pork Lo Mein - From an online recipe, but I saved the link on the other computer – oops. It was good, though too salty even with low-sodium soy sauce and chicken broth. We both thought the recipe was a great base though. Another “meat as a seasoning” dish.

Leek and Potato Soup - An incredibly easy and tasty vegetarian meal from Julia Childs’ Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Who knew five ingredients could taste so good? Served with fresh bread and salad.

London Broil with Sauce Chasseur - A favorite French dish from The Sixty Minute Gourmet. I love making London Broil because a) it goes on sale frequently at our grocery store for $1.99 or so a pound, and b) it’s highly versatile and goes a long way. Served with fresh bread and a salad.