Category: food

Menu for the week of Feb 1st

Starting this week, I’m going to be making a real effort to plan out our dinners. I hate the sinking feeling I get when I look at the clock to realize it’s 9 pm, it’s my turn to cook and I have no idea what to make (Yeah, we eat ridiculously late sometimes.). Plus, I think planning will help us save money and not make as many trips to the grocery store.

I know planning a weekly menus isn’t anything new and that most of you probably already do this already (Check out the yummy menus Citymama posts on Mondays). But I really need to improve my household management skills and this is me taking baby steps in the right direction. I’m planning on posting the menu here to help keep me on track–you know, peer pressure and whatnot.

How are you guys? I always like to see what other people are cooking. Whatcha making?

Soup’s On!

N came home from work last night with an hankering to make some soup. He wanted to use of the last of a ham we had to make a bean soup but we didn’t have any beans so he made an Indian red lentil soup with ham instead.


Recipe: N’s Red Lentil Soup

  • In a large pot chop and sweat one yellow onion in oil
  • Add 2 cups red lentils (masoor dal), washed and picked clean and three diced red potatoes
  • 3 cups water and Indian seasonings to taste (N used garam masala and Madras curry powder).
  • Simmer over low heat for half an hour or until lentils soften and thicken, adding additional water as necessary.
  • Add one cup diced ham (or other protein) and one can diced tomatoes and more water if necessary, simmer some more.
  • Immediately before removing from heat add two handfuls of washed spinach leaves and serve with a dollop of plain yogurt.

Thanksgiving Report

With all the hubbub over our surprise visitor I forgot to mention how Thanksgiving dinner went, which was surprising well. The highlights were the turkey and dessert.

It was my first time cooking a turkey and I used this popular Alton Brown recipe which I hereafter pledge my allegiance to. It turned out fantastic–moist and flavorable.

And I made N’s much-wished-for berry pie, complete with star-shaped vents courtesy of a little cutter that came with a Play-doh set E received for his birthday (Thanks, Gwyn!).

It was very sweet and fun to sit down with N and E and eat our own little Thanksgiving meal.

Turkey Day Countdown! *Gulp*

Up until now I’ve successfully avoided ever having to cook a Thanksgiving dinner. But this year my luck finally ran out/we decided that it would be nice to have our own dinner now that we have our own little family.

But of course I’m horribly unprepared. Work has been really crazy lately, N and I are both coming down with colds, and E’s been feeling under the weather and cranky since he got his flu shot on Friday. Bleh. I wish I had another week to prepare.

But the holidays wait for no one. Since it will just be the three of us I’m planning keeping it as simple as I can: turkey, stuffing, potatoes, a vegetable dish/salad, store-bought rolls, and a homemade pie or two (N has his heart set on a berry pie and has vowed to help with the baking). My sister-in-law Miranda recommended this Alton Brown turkey recipe which seems doable and tasty, but other than that I’m not sure about which recipes to use.

Any specific suggestions? What are you guys going to cook?

Schnappi

My friend Amber came over for dinner last night. She made okonomiyaki and I made ddukboki. It was SO good.

After dinner she showed us this German cartoon that a friend had shared with her. E thought it was great and after a few seconds was clapping along to the beat.

Later today I’m taking E to his annual checkup with his allergist. I don’t know how likely it is, but I’m really hoping that he’s outgrown some of his food allergies. *Crosses fingers*

Have a great weekend!

I heart (in no particular order) pierogi and N

N is amazing and helps out a lot around the house and takes a turn cooking dinner every other night. It’s a huge relief not to be responsible for putting dinner on the table everyday. N’s probably the better cook of the two of us anyway and last night he put together this tasty meal of pierogi and vegetables. I love dumplings of all sorts and pierogi in particular. Dumplings stuffed with mashed potatoes and cheese–what’s not to like? Add some sour cream on the side and you are in heaven, my friend.

On an unrelated note, I’ve updated my URL. This is the new one. Please adjust your bookmarks accordingly. (Hee-hee! Make your own here.)

Have a great weekend.

I made a pie!

A couple of weeks ago I went over to my friend and neighbor Stephanie’s house to be instructed in the art of pie making. And I made my first first from-scratch pie! Well, Stephanie peeled and sliced the apples but I rolled the dough out. (So I’m totally counting it.)


Here’s the recipe we used. I think it’s from the Betty Crocker cookbook. I omitted the butter so the pie would be okay for E’s food allergies. He really loved it and now exclaims “Pie!” whenever he sees one at the store or when we read this book together.

Recipe: Apple Pie

Pastry
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup shortening
4 to 6 tablespoons cold water

Filling
1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon ( if you do not like nutmeg do ¾ teaspoon cinnamon)
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
8 cups thinly sliced peeled tart apples (8 medium)
2 tablespoons butter or margarine

Directions
1. In medium bowl, mix 2 cups flour and 1 teaspoon salt. Sprinkle with cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time. 1 to 2 teaspoons more water can be added if necessary.

2. Gather pastry into a ball. Divide in half; shape into 2 flattened rounds on lightly floured surface.

3. Heat oven to 425°F. With floured rolling pin, roll one pastry round into round 2 inches larger than upside-down 9-inch glass pie plate. Fold pastry into fourths; place in pie plate. Unfold and ease into plate, pressing firmly against bottom and side.

4. In bowl, mix sugar, 1/4 cup flour, the cinnamon, nutmeg and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Sprinkle 1/3 of mixture on the bottom of pie crust, layer with ½ of apples, sprinkle with 1/3 of mixture, layer last ½ of apples and finally use last 1/3 of mixture on top of apples. Cut butter into small pieces; sprinkle over filling. Roll out the other half of pasty crust and placing on top of apple and mixture crust. Cut slits into the top of crust. Trim overhanging edge and press the bottom crust to the top crust to create a seal.

6. Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust. Serve warm if desired.

Best…soul food…EVER!

Bleh…I came down with a nasty cold on Friday afternoon and consequently spent all my free time this weekend slurping chicken noodle soup, downing diet Sprite and cold medicine, and napping. But instead of boring you with the details of my convalescence (I know, too late!) I wanted to share some photos from another restaurant we went to on our trip to Seattle.

While we were in town Ken and Mindy took us to another one of there favorite restaurants, The Kingfish Cafe. It’s known for having the best soul food in Seattle and is a local favorite. Pre-recession, people were known to queue up outside before they even opened up. Mindy said that they once saw a fistfight break out in line over someone cutting!

We started out with some fried green tomatoes and hush puppies.

N ordered the gumbo. He thought it had an excellent blend of flavors.

Ken and Mindy couldn’t praise the yam fries and collard greens enough so I ordered a steak which conveniently came with both. The steak was decent but they were right about the fries and greens: both were AMAZING. The fries were crispy and cinnamony and the greens weren’t bitter at all, only bright and tender. I’ve had collard greens a few times before, but this was the first time that I’ve really enjoyed them on their own. They were SO good. Between them and the fries, the steak was almost an afterthought for me.

…and then the four of us shared this giant strawberry shortcake!

It’s hard to see the scale of it from this picture, but it was actually the size of an adult’s head. It was delicious: creamy and sweet and caramelly (besides the caramel sauce the whipped cream was also caramel-flavored). And all those rich notes were perfectly balanced by the tartness of the berries. Even though we were already stuffed with our entrees the entire shortcake was successfully polished off.

What passes for spontanaity, post-baby

Last night N and I were planning to go see Sonic Youth at the free outdoor concert series that Salt Lake City puts on every summer. But after a long day at the office for him and a long day of wrangling a somewhat cranky E (he’s teething) for me we just couldn’t get excited about driving downtown and standing around in a hot sweaty crowd to listen to a band whom we probably wouldn’t even be able to actually see on the stage (because of the aforementioned hot sweaty crowd). Yep, we’re getting old.

We had already arranged for a babysitter and didn’t want to cancel on her. So we put E to bed and went to dinner at Pizzeria 712, a restaurant that both of us had heard of but never tried. It was really good.

I’ve never been to a restaurant like it in the Orem/Provo area: it’s upscale but casual in the same way Tilth was. Like Tilth, Pizzeria 712 is also devoted to sustainability and sourcing their ingredients from organic/local sources. (I don’t think they take it as far as Tilth does, but then again that would be pretty difficult.)

The atmosphere there was lovely and refined but not stuffy. We sat out on the patio and enjoyed the evening breeze. We started with braised short ribs served on top of polenta with horseradish cream and then shared a pizza topped with speck and soppressata (both are cured meats), shaved garlic, and mozzarella. The crust was hand-tossed and thin and crispy. It was obvious that the flavors had been chosen carefully and they all worked well together. We finished with a vanilla panna cotta served with a cherry sauce. It was SO good: creamy and sweet and cool and perfectly balanced by the tartness of the cherries. Considering the high quality of the food the prices were very decent. Our three course meal (without any alcohol) came to $35 plus tip.

I really had a great time: the food was delicious and N was a perfect date. After knowing each other for ten years he still makes me laugh like no one else does. And to top the evening off I ran into a friend I used to work with and haven’t seen in a year (Hi, T!) and we had the chance to chat and catch up. It was a serendipitous and charming evening.

Pizzeria 712 is located on the bottom floor of now-defunct Midtown Village development and while the pizzeria itself is warm and inviting, it is a little strange to look out at the huge unfinished building across the parking lot. I hope their location doesn’t hurt them: they’re now my favorite restaurant in Utah County and I want them to be around for a long time.