Recipes
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D is for Dinner
The struggle is real, people. Sometimes, I have an absolute craving and as I cook on week nights, it’s easy to come up with ideas…and sometimes by the time I get off of work, I’m still interested in eating that thing and cooking it even. And sometimes, not. If it weren’t for Ted and Maya, it would be much easier, I would just have nibbles for dinner, which is what I would prefer anyway. Actually, I think Maya would be OK with that too, but it’s hard to do with Ted’s dietary restrictions. Sometimes I think of something I want, and it either doesn’t fit with Ted’s restrictions or Maya’s.…
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B is for Brussels Sprouts, Apple, and Pomegranate Salad
I came across this wonderful recipe vis Smitten Kitchen, whom I follow on Facebook. It’s a light, bright salad, and perfect for Autumn. Our neighbor’s sister has a pomegranate bush, and when she gives them some, he very kindly shares with us. So he stopped by with a couple of pomegranates the other day, and I decided to make this salad to go with our dinner. In her post, Deb (author of Smitten Kitchen) makes it as a salad for Thanksgiving dinner, and I often bring it to our family gatherings as well. Likely I will this year, too. Notes are hers, I just copied and pasted the recipe from…
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A Tale of Two Tarts
August and September are the best months for tomatoes. I can’t grow them, we don’t get enough sunshine in our yard. I’ve tried many times, and it always comes out that I spend far too much money and time on the water for the tiny little crop that we get. It’s pathetic. So I support our local farmers by going to the weekend Farmer’s Markets, and I get some pretty amazing tomatoes. So awhile ago, a cooking blog that I sometimes follow posted a picture of an amazing looking tomato tart on their Facebook page, and I decided that I had to try it. Happily, a few weeks later, we…
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Meme Monday – Salade Niçoise
I like to cook healthy, light meals. I also like to eat a big bag of salt and vinegar chips by myself, in little portions so it doesn’t seem like I’m actually going to finish the bag, but really, whom are we kidding? No one. One meal that I really like when it is summer and the tomatoes are good is Salade Niçoise. My recipe is kind of old school, and I prefer canned tuna to fresh. Ted prefers fresh, so if he is making the salad, he will grill tuna outside. If I’m making it, I find the expensive Italian tuna in a jar. I like to add avocado…
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Wordless Wednesday – Bastille Day dinner
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Friday Randomness
Today’s post is one of those potpourri type posts, where I have some ideas, but haven’t gotten around to putting them in their own blog posts, so I am going to lump them all together. Ted and Maya were away last week. Ted’s aunt, who lives in Salt Lake City, had a stroke last year. His mom wanted to go visit her, but of course she could not, due to COVID restrictions. Earlier this year, his mom fell and fractured her foot. It is mostly healed now, but Ted and his brother weren’t thrilled with the idea of her traveling alone. She is nearing her mid-80s, and is extremely active,…
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J’s Chicken Milanese
Last year, I posted a recipe for avocado and grapefruit salad, which is refreshing and delicious. I’ve messed with the recipe a bit (OK, not the same at all really) and made it into a light meal, basically a Chicken Milanese. I’ve made it with both grapefruit and orange, and both are wonderful. Here’s my version, with oranges. J’s Chicken Milanese Ingredients 4 large navel oranges 2 or 3 avocados, depending on how much you like avocados and how big they are 1 package baby arugula (I don’t know how many oz those little bags are…5?) 1 lb chicken breast, sliced or pounded thin into 4 cutlets. One of our…
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Savory Oatmeal
My grandma used to make me delicious oatmeal, with butter, milk, and brown sugar. Sometimes my mom would make it similarly, and throw raisins in as well. I like oatmeal, but have only had it sweetened, either with brown sugar, or in my middle aged years, seasonal fruit, usually raspberries and blueberries, add a banana if I’m very hungry. I’ve seen people rave about oatmeal with banana and peanut butter, and I tried it once, but it wasn’t really for me. Then Nance posted about eggs in her alphabetical post series, and a discussion ensued about savory oatmeal in the comments. I adore eggs, I like oatmeal, and it seems…
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Resolved
My New Years resolution this year was to eat more pancakes. I didn’t set a goal or a number of pancakes that I had to eat. Just more than last year. In 2020, I probably had pancakes two or three times, so it was not a difficult resolution to keep. I remember when we were first married, and when we lived in Philadelphia, we used to have pancakes every Saturday. It was a fun tradition, aided by Aunt Jemima and Mrs Buttersworth. I remember when I was pregnant, late 2nd trimester, and being so hungry…I gobbled down my pancakes, and then I eyed Ted’s pancakes and he sighed and gave…
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Cauliflower and Chickpea ‘Vitality Bowls’
New blog friend Martha often posts her weekly menu, and as figuring out WHAT to cook is my biggest cooking challenge, I have found myself going to her posts for inspiration. This week’s menu included a recipe for what Ted calls a ‘vitality bowl’, but the recipe is called Cauliflower Shawarma Grain Bowl. I did a search for the recipe name and came up with a lot of different recipes that look to be pretty similar. I’ll stick with this one as it was delicious. I’m posting here so I don’t lose the recipe, along with my notes, such as they are. There are a lot of steps, but none…
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Sheet-Pan Cumin Pork Chops and Brussels Sprouts
I saw this recipe on the NY Times website, in an article about sheet-pan recipes. I am not a huge fan of the sheet-pan recipe, as often it tastes to me like things could have come out better had they been cooked differently, or at least separately. On the other hand, when Ted is trying to report traffic on the radio from 10 feet away, a sheet-pan meal is a much quieter way of cooking than using a frying pan. So I decided to give this one a try. The picture above is from the website, and to me it looked like you should cook it all on one pan,…
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Meme Monday – Random Stuff
Today’s post is not really related to the meme at all. I’m not feeling stupid, except perhaps sometimes when I am playing my wordscapes game on my phone and the word I can’t manage to come up with is something like BANK or HER. In fact, today’s post has no theme, just hey, what’s going on in J’s life. Happy to say that we filed our taxes, and we have finally gotten our withholding just about right. We owe $50 to Federal, and we’re getting $70 back from California, so that’s a gain of $20 for us. Yay! I received a text from my credit card company the other day,…
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White Bean Tuna Salad
Some days, I absoultely know what to make for dinner. Other days, I have no frikken idea. Sometimes when I don’t know what I’m doing, I look through my pantry to see what there is, and take inspiration from there. This recipe is one you can have most of the ingredients on hand, and just get the fresh veggies that week. I’m not going to lie, I love this recipe. It’s really good with some nice sourdough bread. It’s especially good in summer when it’s hot out, when cherry tomatoes are in season, with a nice glass of Sauvignon Blanc. Yum. But it’s still pretty good on a Tuesday in…
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Sage Rubbed Pork Chops with Warm Apple Slaw
I was poking around the internet the other day, trying to find something a little different but still healthy to make for dinner, and I came across this recipe. It looked a little different, and healthy enough, and we had 1/2 a head of cabbage in the fridge that I wanted to use, so I went ahead and made it. The picture above is from Food Network, I didn’t think about taking one until it was too late. I used red cabbage and sherry vinegar, since that is what I had. I made the full recipe of slaw, but only 2 pork chops. I should have made 3 so Ted…
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Salmon Piccata
We eat a lot of chicken around here, and sometimes, we get tired of it. The other night I had some lemon laying around, and thought I might make some chicken piccata. But being tired of chicken, I thought I’d look for a recipe for salmon, and look, I found one! Most of the recipes I find on Food Network are pretty good, though it’s helpful to look at the reviews…sometimes they give you some good pointers, like, “This was great, but too much salt” or “I love this receipe, it’s perfect!” and so on. The recipes on Food Network are mostly based on TV shows. I’m guessing that this…