The quickest supper of all

Sometimes the quickest supper of all is just dialing in that pizza order.

The quickest supper of all

Sometimes the quickest supper of all is just dialing in that pizza order.

Fisherman's Chowder

After rolling through all of tarnation to get the ingredients for this deceptively simple chowder, I was very pleased with the results. A thick flavorful stew with big chunks of firm white fish, yummy veggies, and a creamy tomato base. The cream base was a faux-roux of butter, flour and cream! When added to the initial stock base, the whole stew became a chowdah.

Served with Asiago cheese focaccia made by Safeway, which I've bought and served again with roasted chicken salad this weekend. I just threw together some leftover rotisserie chicken, which I warmed up in the microwave to get that nice chewy texture (just barely heated it), celery, onions, grapes, and mayo. YUM as RR would say.

Honey Garlic Rib Emergency!

These did not go well... First, they were burned. I just kept trusting the recipe and not my own senses that were telling me: burning burning burning! If you can SEE smoke an SMELL smoke, usually that indicates FIRE. I should definitely get my smoke detector batteries changed.

The bottom of the pan (which was POORLY covered in aluminum foil, all my fault), was totally burned, and had to be discarded.

The ribs were actually OK, except for the smaller ribs and of course the parts that were BURNT.

I also made mashed potatoes, but before I could salvage the leftovers, Chris left them out overnight. I was going to make this.

Alas, it was not to be. However, the crab delights were wonderful.

WHAT?

I haven't posted in the entire month of September! Well, I ate out a lot that month as school was starting up again and I immediately caugth the DEATH FLU, the vestiges of which still linger within me. However, I have been 30 minutes or less cooking up a storm. For example, on Tuesday I made Spam Fried Rice, modifying a Mark Bittman fried rice recipe I've been using for years. It was the homeiest comfort food I ever had. I even surprised myself.

Monday, we had Rachel Ray's double stacked quesedillas and tomato soup. Those quesedillas are ridiculously easy to make, yet they taste special. Like moonbeams and unicorns sprinkles were added, but actually, those are just scallions. The recipe for the quesedillas are wedged in this recipe for "Salsa Stoup," which I've also made and I believe is NOT GOOD.

Last week, I made a crock pot Navy Bean Soup, shrimp with Risotto, chicken with asparagus, and these pork chops in a crock pot. That was NOT good, either, but it did use up those frozen pork chops I had. The navy bean soup was very good, and we ALMOST made it through the entire pot, even without Jeff's help. Did you ever try this recipe for sauteed snap peas and asparagus from Ina Garten? I think that's how I'm going to sautee all my vegetables now. It's very fast and makes all vegetables taste better.

Next week I'm going to ambitiously make Fish Chowder, Garlic Honey Ribs, and some spicy coconut shrimp. Hopefully.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

I have always loved cream of mushroom soup. I remember cold winter mornings and my mom heating up one of the dozens of cans of this condensed soup for my dad's breakfast. Tonight, however, I tried my hand at homemade cream of mushroom soup, which was incredibly easy and definitely delicious! Served with rotisserie chicken on spinach greens. Chris loved this meal! And it was healthy and had a lot less sodium. The mushroom soup is a Mark Bittman recipe. Lovely.

Antipasto Salad

This turned out really delicious! All the yummy parts of antipasto and very very easy. I had the deli at the Safeway slice everything quite thick and then I got the red peppers and the olives at the olive bar, so I didn't waste anything. I am sending half of the salad to Chris' work though as we would never be able to finish it!

We had a great time in Curacao!

But now we're back!
On the menu this week:
Antipasto salad (Giada recipe)
Tofu Curry with Rice (just using a simmer sauce here)
Cheesy Broccoli Bake with Chicken (Paula Dean, but I'm going to add some sauteed chicken)
Spicy Shrimp with Risotto (Mark Bittman recipe)

Yumm!

Out of control hamburger combos

The simple turkey burger can be so much more when you add:
jalepeno, cheddar, and horseradish sauce

Sausages and Rice

Have you ever tried breakfast sausages with plain white rice? It is delicious. Try it, you'll like it. I won't force you to eat them in a box or with a fox. Just try it.

Also made curry. I know for stew meat you're supposed to cook it low and slow, but the instructions on the curry box say BOIL and SIMMER for 15 minutes. The stew meat was very tough. This is the Japanese style curry, not the Indian curry. Koreans love Japanese style "Golden" curry. I love all kinds of curry, but I only cook this kind because it comes in a box and it tastes good.

I also made some busy day chicken, using a Jamaican Rum bbq sauce that came from the Hot Sauce Emporium. The chicken was very tender, and I think I found a sauce that can give it some oomph! I'm ready to try out different sauces from the Emporium, however. How exciting.

At some point this week, I'm hoping to make: Jambalaya, Spicy shrimp, and Lemon Chicken.

Dynamic!! Analyst!! Duh!!!

Dynamic Analyst

Steamed Mussels in Thai Curry Sauce

Let me just take this moment to say that I hate Sandra Lee. For some reason I just think she is a crazy lady. Nothing personal.

So I made the mussels from sara's Weeknight secrets. It was very easy but for some reason not very tasty. One reason being that I am scared of cooking shellfish by myself. You have to pull the bears off and then there's my perpetual fear of food poisoning, and we ate most of the mussels but many went into the trash. It was fun to cook it though. I think I may stick to shrimp from now on.

Baked Cheesy Goodness

Lately, all I have wanted to do was bake cheesy pasta things and eat them. They seem so easy, the perfect weeknight food. But how can I make night after night of what is basically baked pasta casserole?

For instance, I was flipping through FoodNetwork and see Giada DiLaurentis, whom I don't even like! making this baked tortellini dish that looked incredibly yummy and totally easy. It was topped with smoked mozarella and the tortellini? Is store bought.

Then there's the easy creamy mac and cheese that Chris and I have both been obsessed with since Christmas. I have been making it at least once a month, because, goshdarnit, it is delicious. This month I am adding broccoli, because frankly, we need to eat something green.

Now I'm seeing all these baked orzo recipes, which all sound incredibly delicious. I have to try it soon. I'm just going to have to prioritize which recipe I will try first and I will let you know how this works out.

Cherry Blossom Festival

 

Meatloaf burgers

Today because of an ill timed movie screening (Mad Hot Ballroom--soo funny and good) and an extremely necessary trip to Trader Joe's (for fair trade coffee, of course), we ate dinner at 9:05.

What did we have?

Meatloaf bugers, courtesy of Sara Moulton, curly fries and the kidney bean salad mix again. I'm quite proud we had salad two days in a row.

But the meatloaf burgers, you ask. They were OK. We got this three meat meatloaf mixture from Whole Foods (veal, pork, beef), with sour cream, celery, onion, garlic, and dijon mustard. It tasted a little bland, but then the chili sauce Sara recommends OVER it were overpowering. Chris thought it was great until he found some undercooked meat, at which point he freaked out.

Tomorrow we finally get to try the potato cake mixture, but unfortunately in angela's teeny kitchen. I don't know what this is going to look like...

Remiss

I started this blog as a personal log for myself, to keep track of the recipes I was using. I have been remiss!

No longer!

Yesterday: Tuna noodle casserole-a perpetual favorite. This time enlivened by the addition of a salad (crisp romaine with kidney beans and cauliflower). Always trying to keep up with the fiber. Do you know what has a lot of fiber? Blackberries.

The day before we went to my mom's house where she made these amazing soy braised pork spare ribs. I wish I knew how she did it!!

Saturday we went out to dinner with my mom--I know!! I know!! We were setting up the computer at her house. And she took us to eat soondubu (tofu hot pot) at VitGoel tofu house in rockville. I had some gal bi (beef ribs).

Tonight I am planning on making a recipe from Sara Moulton's Weeknight secrets book. I'll post about how it goes.