What we're eating this week

OK, so I thought I'd try out posts telling you what my menu is for the week ahead? Why? One: so I can look back at it myself for meal ideas I sometimes forget about, and two: give you ideas for your menu. I love knowing what other people eat. I'm so indecisive and sometimes recipes are no help in telling you how pallatable or easy to prepare it is. Here are two things you should know about what I cook: I go for uncomplicated recipes, and most meals have meat. 

Sunday: Rotissorie chicken, mashed potatoes with brown gravy, and green beans

Monday: Hamburgers, Tator tots, and baked beans

Tuesday: Crock-pot beef and whole wheat egg noodles, steamed carrots

Wednesday: Breaded chicken, spaghetti, and mixed veggies

Thursday: Chicken stirfry and fried rice

Friday: Hot dogs and corn

Saturday: Flounder, brown rice, and asparagus 

Lunches this week: chicken salad on croissants, soups, and leftovers

Happy eating! 

Summer means pesto

What are you cooking this summer? We live in an open concept front-to-back ranch {I think that's what it's called, don't quote me}, so although all the light that floods our house colors me happy, cooking in it can become a hot affair. So I've been in search of recipes that don't require the oven and either are made on the stove top, crock pot, or of course grilled {it's hot out there anyways}. Since we're growing a few things this year, namely basil, mint, and tomatoes, I've been making pesto {with stinky cheese}. I love pesto {with my whole heart}, but I've always bought it at the store. I'm learning I can make it just as good and it's so easy and simple. Throw it on a bed of whole wheat pasta and top with some fresh cut tomatoes and pair with grilled fish or chicken, and you're set {and your house stays cool}. Now I just need to work on my wine pairings. Any thoughts?

{from this}

{to that}

Yum!

Pie tip

Forget smearing your work surface and rolling pin with messy flour. Just tear off two sheets of wax paper wide enough to roll out your pie dough to the necessary size. Your dough won't get those tears that seem to just keep tearing no matter how hard you try. For the dismount (this seriously is the hardest part of making a pie: getting your crust to your pie pan. I opt to wind my dough around my rolling pin), you can either peel your disc of dough from the wax paper, fold in quarters or wind it around your rolling pin. And then just unfolding or unwinding in your pie dish. Or do what I call the pop and drop. With this method, you only peel of one side of the wax dough and then flip it over (wax paper side up) and drop it on to your pie pan, and then peel off the remaining sheet of wax paper. Which ever method you choose, move quickly and efficiently. It takes some practice and patience.

When work takes over, have a picnic

We didn't get anywhere near our plans of going to the arboretum yesterday. I was stuck on the computer much of the day proofing PDFs of the latest issue of Urban Times. But by the end of the day, I was needing to get out. Must. get. out.

It was too late to go to the movies, unless we wanted to go to the really late one, where teeny boppers rule the roost and annoy the heck out of you. It was also too late to go to the bookstore and browse if we wanted to go grocery shopping as well. So after I put together our menu for the week, looking over cookbooks and checking out the Chicken Chicken Mole and Mexican Red Rice (we watched Simply Delicioso's Ingrid Hoffman earlier that day) for our Memorial Day feast, we headed to Super Target to get our weekly shopping done and grant me a little get-out-of-the-house sanity and give my eyes a rest.

We also decided that this weekend should be really fun when I wasn't working. And one of the things we wanted to do was a wine, fancy cheese, strawberries, grapes, bread, pound cake, and melted chocolate for dipping smorgasbord. After returning from our shopping trip, I laid out a blanket on our living room floor and we had an indoor picnic. It was so fun! We talked about work (bleh, I know!) and what kind parents we would be. It was great just to have that time with the TV off, the computer powered down, and just enjoy each other's company—and yum yum food.

Here's what made up our indoor picnic:

Havarti cheese (This is a wonderful soft cheese to eat with fruit. It's really rich, so I recommend a lighter fare cheese to go with it.)

Gouda cheese (This one paired nicely with the Havarti, but I'm sure there's a better match out there.)

A French baguette (Crusty bread cut into .5in-thick slices—perfect size for the cheese slices.)

Hershey's Bliss chocolate pieces melted fondue-style. I normally use Dove chocolates, but they're hard to find when it's not a holiday. These were just the same. Good find. (We didn't break out the big fondue pot just for a few pieces of chocolate, instead we used our little Fondue au chocolat pot that heats with a tea light. Thanks Sis for getting that for us. You're right, it's very useful.)

Strawberries and green grapes

Blackberry Mead from the Pirtle Winery in Weston, Mo.

One blanket

Candles (make it romantic!)

Time flies when you're having fun

The apartment is empty of our great guests. The only evidence that remains that Andy, Chance, and AJ were ever here is the water bottle they forgot. I miss AJ's little voice and giggle, and my listening to my sister's oh-so-exciting conversations in person.

The trip was fun, crazy, and at sometimes a little challenging. It rained everyday we were in Missouri. We drove, and drove, and drove, and drove. Poor AJ probably can't stand the site of his car seat anymore—or Black Beauty for that matter. We ate lots of food (including some evil fast food!), but I did manage to get in homemade chicken pot pie, asian lettuce wraps, and roast, Crock Pot mac 'n' cheese, and mashed potatoes. I've been declared a fabulous cook! I'd say the trip was a success just from that compliment alone.

Got to see M.O.M., who got to see AJ for the first time. It was such a sight to behold watching her take him in and snuggling him up. We also fed the rainbow trout at Bennett Springs State Park hatchery. It was too cute watching AJ throw in fish food pebble at a time. We would have been there all day if Chance and I hadn't throw in a few handfuls ourselves. The upside to the rain was everything was lush and green. My most favorite parts of the trip was holding AJ's hand (it's so tiny, it's almost hard to hold) and watching him give me a sleepy grin.

Apparently the trip is on for next year as well, only this time camping out at Bennett Springs. Bugs, mud, spiders#&151;I think I might have to be busy next year. But for that cute grin of AJ's, I'd get bit by spider. It's worth it.

Ready for a vacation

In about two and half weeks, I'll be departing for the dirt roads of southern Missouri. That may not sound as pleasant as it sounds to me right now. Just the word vacation is foreign to me because I'm working so much. Urban Times production is in full swing, and as the sole editor, I'm very tired of reading. And work work, well, that's hellaciously busy as usual. They have me interviewing, transcribing, and writing until my body just wants to lie down for awhile. Missouri. It beckons me.

My sister is bringing the apple of my eye of a nephew and we're going to have some fun...and sleep! Oh, yes, sleep. But the first stop will be to visit my aunt (a.k.a my other mother), because she has yet to see the cuter than bunny nephew of mine. Then maybe a somber stop over to Mom's grave. And then, just to sleep, visit, maybe dive into some recipes I've been wanting to try, get some fresh air and sun (I haven't seen the sun in months because I'm always holed up with my MacDaddy), and eat the grand-daddy of all subs: Cornerstone. Yum yum as my nephew would say. I know it's just a sandwich, but it's also artistry.

I'm thinking this is going to be a good vacation, but somebody better keep my laptop away from me.

Wishy washy

Cars are nothing but trouble. Might need to capitalize the 'T' on that. Trouble. Yesterday, Jonathan called me saying his check-engine light came on.

His car is 11 years old, so it shouldn't be a surprise, but really? You have to start breaking down right now? When we're back on the We're-going-to-buy-a-house-this-summer kick, something we have been saying on and off for at least a year. We take the car in Monday, so fingers crossed that it's nothing major to deplete our savings. Where's public transportation when you need it?

If we have to pay a lot, we once again will be sitting tight to buy a house, which to us means putting the rest of our lives on hold: the real cooking I want to do (I've dreamed of making croissants), the card-making, the decorating, the having kids, the possible gardening, the having friends and family over that won't come visit me because my apartment is too small (or so Melissa says), the everything!

Oh, and did I mention that I'm not getting a raise?!

Wish list: Dinner parties

Maybe it's because the new year is upon us, but I'm in a plannerly mood. Dreaming up dinners for guests I don't have, decorations I don't have room for (ditto on space for a party more than five), and cooking chops I don't even possess.

Tonight I'm flipping through my Good Friends Great Tastes cookbook in preparation for my sister to come visit me (something I'm trying to make into a monthly ritual because she too loves to cook, even when she can't eat most of what she does cook because of food allergies; plus, she's on the closer side: 3.5-hour car ride away). This cookbook makes me wish for weekly dinner parties; its the perfect cookbook for such a thing. It has menus that list attainable ingredients and minimal directions. One of my other sisters purchased the cookbook for me when I was in college, and I have yet to make anything out of it some three or four years later. I guess I just assumed it's a dinner-parties-only kind of cookbook, and if that's the case, well, who wants to come over for dinner? My door is open and my oven is preheating.

Thanksgiving (is) past

I did it! I made homemade pies! Besides burning my thumb on the oven door (It's pretty nasty looking now because I didn't have time to cool it down.), my cheery cherry pie and toasty pumpkin pie came out of the oven beautifully (Thanks sis for your tutelage). I felt like a proud mama. It seems I no longer have a black thumb when it comes to baking. I even got hubby's stamp of approval and a "When you making me another cherry pie?" So all is well. My faith in baking is restored.

To finish out the traditional Thanksgiving holiday, we put up our tree. I jokingly refer to it as our Charlie Brown tree, because it's a bit on the sparse side, but the lights and an ornament on just about every limb (another story) make it sparkle.

Should you want to see our tree (I don't think anyone even saw it last year), I invite you to come to our home...it'll give me an excuse to bake another pie.

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Looking for a wreath for my front door. This one from Fiori Belli looks inviting.

Oh sweet edamame

I've been eating a lot of edamame recently (a.k.a soybeans). I love the flavor, the crunch, and the vibrant green color.

This is a new veggie for me. I was first introduced to the green beans in their pod form as an appetizer to sushi. It wasn't love at first sight, but when I spied the shelled frozen version in my supermarket, I figured I should try em (a girl can only eat so many carrots). I was hooked.

This super bean got me to thinking...what meals could use a little dolling up with edamama?

My next quest is to take recipes I think could use a bit of crunch and flavor of the soybean. My first thought is a salad, so I'm starting there. I'll let you know what I cook up.

The reluctant hostess

I've never "entertained" before. The mere word frightens me. How can I, a homebody, book-reading, card-making, TV-aholic knitter, entertain anyone? I look to be entertained. So, when I came across Amy Sedaris' book, I was intrigued. Maybe that's the exact approach I need to take to entertaining.

The In Laws keep asking when I'm going to have them over for dinner. Maybe a slight alcohol buzz would make the whole ordeal easier to bear if I didn't take it so seriously. I'm buying this book. I hope it gives me the courage (liquid or otherwise) I need. What could go wrong? Well, they could always remark on my dingy, stained carpet...

In my 25th year

It's official. I'm 25. Well, as of March 13th.

My mother-in-law gifted me with another great cookbook: Fix-it and Forget-it cookbook for my crock pot. I haven't used my crock pot, well, since the first time I used it after buying it some four or five years ago. I'll have to get the dusty pot from the top of my kitchen cabinets, and find some place with room and a plug in...hmmm, maybe the laundry room? I'm a huge fan of roast, so this is sure to provide my fill of juicy meat and tender veggie recipes.

One of my sisters also sent me magazine boxes from seejanework.com. I've had my eye on them for quite some time. Now I have the perfect spot for Yoga Journal, Self, and my collection of must-keep mags.

Maybe in my 25th year I'll be organized and my crock pot will make a comeback. Maybe.

On a roll again

Last weekend granted me three whole days to whip up some recipes I've been itching to try.

First off: peach-glazed pork chops (Thanks for the recipe Amanda!). I never knew that pork chops could be so rich, but when you have the syrup from a can of sliced peaches and peach preserves mixed with Dijion mustard, well, you get the idea. They were so good that dear husband wants me to make them again. That's what I call a hit!

To accompany the pork chops, we had sea salt and lime fries. These are by far the best, tastiest fries I've ever eaten. Did I mention they were easy too? Just slice up a pototoe into wedges (pick desired number of pototoes), coat with olive oil, season with sea salt and fresh ground pepper, and bake. After that, season to taste (the more pepper, the better). I put my fries in a cute square Pampered Chef dish. I wedged a lime and squeezed the juice over the top and sprinkled with parmasan cheese. I used the two remaining lime wedges as garnish. The were very sophisicated, scrummptious fries. I owe 101cookbooks.com a large thank you for sharing such a treat.

Last, but most important of all: I finally made chocolate ganache. What did this rich topping top? Peanut butter-filled chocolate cupcakes of course! (You can find the recipe here, but I warn you: It's not for the faint baker heart.) I baked all day on Monday (my poor aching feet). I was determined to get these right and share with my coworkers, especially after the cake catastrophe. They turned out perfect. At least they did when I remade the entire batch because I added just a touch too much baking power to the first bit of batter. It was good practice, but I have to say, I don't think I'll be baking anytime soon this month. Next month, I'll be making dessert for my mother-in-law's birthday. Hmmm, what to make, what to make?

I'm not a Foodie

The cake was a bust. Actually, only the creamy mocha frosting was a bust. The cakes were beautiful...as you always hope your first homemade cake would be (maybe somewhat lopsided), but I think the frosting gods were pitted against me. What did I do wrong? Maybe a foodie reading this can tell me:

I heated my heavy whipping cream to a boil and added my chopped chocolate, bit by bit, letting it melt into the frothy cream. The recipe said to cover it and place in the fridge for at least two hours. After at least two hours (I'm sure it was longer because I fell asleep on the couch with baking exhaustion), I placed the mixture into my electric stand mixer. This is where I think my skills, or lack of, failed me.

The recipe said to mix it until thick. Well, I love my stand mixer. I love recipes that call for using the said appliance, so I was overjoyed thinking I'd be making frosting in it. But, I think in my overexcitement, I overmixed my creamy mocha frosting. Combine that with the fact that I think my chocolate wasn't melted enough (Nestle you be damned!), and you get a lumpy, glumpy mess.

What a letdown. But I will not give up. I will try again (maybe not creamy mocha layer cake) until I have succeeded, and I can bring it to work, where I will be heralded as the next Foodie. (Actually, I know this will happen because my work loves a cook, especially one who shares the fruit of her labor.)

In the end, though, I didn't make it to the New Year's party. I let my food frustration get the best of me, but I learned, and I think I grew. Now I want to rewind time and bring my cake to the party.

Christmas Past

Christmas. It's officially over. I did get in some cooking, and what tasty cooking it was! I made a spankopita with feta cheese. Having never worked with phyllo dough, I was a little scared it would require actual skill. Nope! This just might be my favorite dish. Let's hope dear husband likes it as much as he says he does because I think we'll be eating plenty more of it in the future.

I also made vodka lasagne. Sounds potent, doesn't it? Actually, the recipe only called for 1/4 cup of vodka, so I'm not quite sure what the liquor brings to the flavor. The lasagne was good, but not divine. I think I'm going to mix up the recipe a bit and add more tomatoes. All in all, not bad, and it was easy to cook since I used oven-ready noodles. Who knew?

And to top if off, our Christmas Eve dinner (yeah, the spankopita and lasagne weren't even Christmas meals!), we had cornish game hens stuffed with onions, garlic, mushrooms, basil, and oregano. It was mouth-watering good! Of course, I love poultry. The succulent meat plucked from the bone. To accompany the birds, we made mashed potatoes, corn, and crescent rolls. We were stuffed very much like our dear friends afterwards.

For New Year's, I'm heading to a dessert party. I'm going to try my hand at a creamy mocha layer cake. Wish me luck!