Portents of Spring

This week so far has included some of my favorite portents of spring. First was weather warm enough to start tapping the maple trees for sap. Last year Donald and I tapped our trees for the first time and even when imperfect the joy of having home-made waffles with syrup that you boiled down yourself is so special. Second was Fat Tuesday and the beginning of Lent. Though neither of us were raised Catholic both sides of my family have strong Catholic roots and so over the years it just kind of slipped into my personal traditions of observing the period of Lent as a time for reflection and restraint. This year once again I have given up frivolous spending. It means no eating out for the entire 40 days of lent and no big indulgences. The basics of food and bills and such will still get paid for but the rest is set aside in savings. The nice thing is that my new years resolution fits nicely with the "fiscal fast" concept. This week's menu is:

Monday: Roast Salmon with Green Salad and Carrot-Fennel Rice
Tuesday: Spanish Mushrooms with Rice and Lentils
Wednesday: Pot Pies
Thursday: Roast Chicken with Asparagus and Mashed Potatoes
Friday: Chili
Saturday: Ash will fend for herself
Sunday: Leftovers

A Weird One

The weather is supposed to get better this week. I hope. But we won't be home much to enjoy dinners together this week so I guess I better make the ones I am home for count!

Monday: Sweet Potato & Chickpea Stew
Tuesday: No One Home
Wednesday: Venison Stew with Dessert Custards
Thursday: No One Home
Friday: Moroccan Glazed Lamb with Green Beans & Mashed Potatoes
Saturday: Pancakes & Bacon for Breakfast
Sunday: Leftovers

The Weather Lies

So after a couple of days of above 40 degree days with sunshine Mother Nature decided that was enough of spring for the moment. Over a foot of snow later we are digging out again, but that was a really cruel trick. But other then that this should be a good week. Ash got us tickets to see the Kodo Drummers at Hill Auditorium this Wednesday and I am super excited. When I was in Osaka in 2002 I had a chance to see a traditional drumming performance as part of the musical culture exchange trip that I was on and this should be just as awesome.

Monday: Pasta with Tomato Sauce
Tuesday: Spanish Braised Lentils with Sausage and Chard
Wednesday: Venison Burgers and Oven Fries
Thursday: Polenta with Taleggio Cheese
Friday: Chickpea and Tomato Stew
Saturday: Corned Beef Hash with Backyard Eggs
Sunday: Leftovers

The Sun Came Out!

If you do or ever have lived in Michigan you know how precious the sun can be in the months of January and February. And in a winter where the sun has not been much in evidence two whole days where the sun came out and the air outside wasn't quite as frigid might just mean that winter will end eventually. Not that this cook is holding her breath. So with a shred of hope I am starting to incorporate more veg and greens into the menu. Just a little bit here and there, but it may be time to come out of the brown food days.

Monday: White Beans with Sausage and Kale
Tuesday: Beer Braised Venison Chops with Smashed Potatoes
Wednesday: Maple/Ginger Squash
Thursday: Carrot & Fennel Rice Pilaf
Friday: Slumgullion
Saturday: Homemade Corned Beef Hash with Backyard Eggs
Sunday: Leftovers

Saturday has become a bit of a non-day around here. Donald and I usually work closes that night and Ash has game nights out usually so I've been planning bigger brunches for us at home and we all eat packed dinners or eat out that night.

Things I Love #1

This week is going to be interesting... It looks like Tuesday night we are expecting the latest in the litany of snow storms this winter which has been dubbed #SnowofDOOM on Twitter. I'm not too worried at this point, I work early on Tuesday so I should be home before it really gets bad and then mid-day on Wednesday where I can depend on the bus system here in town to do the icky driving for me. As a result the food this week defiantly skewed towards cold weather comfort food.

Monday: Split Pea Soup
Tuesday: Risotto with Sun-dried Tomatoes & Smoked Mozzarella
Wednesday: Crockpot Gumbo with Cornbread
Thursday: No Dinner Planned (no one will be home this night)
Friday: Falafel w/ fixings
Saturday: Ash or Donald to decide (I won't be home)
Sunday: Leftovers

Previous to this I have been just writing out the week's menu on a divided sheet of white paper. But this past Saturday I got a chance to hang out with Donald downtown for a bit and visited the new(ish) kitchen and home section of Hollander's in the Kerrytown Shops. When I was there I found this awesome Weekly Menu Notepad that I just couldn't say no to! If you follow that link you'll get to the website of Knock Knock, a company that I have just fallen in love with. Their paper products are fun and functional and do it all with a charmingly dry wit. I already loved doing a weekly menu, but this makes it even better!

Still going..

So far this is going pretty well. And the dinners have been pretty darn delicious too! I haven't gotten a whole lot of knitting done this week, but I did get all of my laundry taken care of and got to some spinning! I have 4oz of superwash merino singles from The Ranches on Etsy. Unfortunately it looks like they may not be on Etsy anymore, sad as I liked their eye for color. Not sure how I'm going to ply the singles but they'll tell me what they want to be eventually. On the menu this week:

Monday: Polenta with Tomato Sauce & Sunny-side Up Eggs
Tuesday: Chickpea and Lentil Stew
Wednesday: Chicken Curry
Thursday: Roasted Vegetable Couscous
Friday: Kielbasa with Sauerkraut
Saturday: Falafel
Sunday: Leftovers

The Polenta tonight went over fantastically well. It only took about 20 minutes from start to finish and was incredibly delicious. I think it helps that the eggs that we used were less then 24 hours old and out of my backyard. Yum!

What's For Dinner?

So week two of my endeavor to record my menu every week and so far so good. Our weeks start on Monday around here at the Rose & Thistle and so tonight was the first night of a new week. We had a lovely dinner tonight of potato pancakes with a green salad. Last week overall was pretty good but the menu broke down over the weekend when I was at work during dinner time. Anyone who is paying attention will note that the potato pancakes were originally on the menu for last night (Sunday), but were indeed made and consumed today. Such is life, but it's ok - they were still delicious! So this week's menu is as follows:

Monday: Potato Pancakes (from the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook
Tuesday: Ham & Bean Soup (from Low-Carb Slow Cooker Recipes
Wednesday: Rotini with Home-made Pasta Sauce
Thursday: Falafel with Lavash and Tabbouli Salad
Friday: Hosting a Party so Dinner will be Party Food!
Saturday: Split-Pea Soup
Sunday: Sloppy Joes (from Low-Carb Slow Cooker Recipes

In knitting, I got a pair of mittens done for my brother's girlfriend. They turned out pretty fab and she really loved them. I posted about them on Ravelry, with pictures. I am almost done with my brother's sweater but I broke a needle and I'm currently waiting on the superglue to dry so that I can finish. In an effort to be calm about the broken needle I started a pair of kilt hose for Donald. I'm almost through the calf shaping on the first one and it's going along swimmingly. In general I'm fighting a huge case of startitist (I blame the Yarn Harlot for spreading this pernicious disease via the internet!) I have all sorts of things that I want to start for myself, now that I'm not needing to knit for others for the holidays, but I am trying to limit myself to a reasonable number of projects.

I'm still here

The last quarter of last year was a doozy. There wasn't much time for me to take for myself and the little that was, was spent recharging for the next day or the next event. But I made it to the other side of the year and it's a brand spanking new year. For now I'm going to try and post each week's menu that I write here on the blog and I'll pepper in some knitting and such when I get the chance. So in the spirit of starting as I mean to go on here's the menu for the first full week of the year:

Monday: Lamb and Lentil Soup (adapted from the Better Homes and Gardens Low-Carb Slow Cooker book)
Tuesday: Pasta with Tuna & Tomato Sauce (sauce from the summer canning and ortiz tinned tuna)
Wednesday: Lasagna with Chard & Eggplant (from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison)
Thursday: Leftovers from the Fridge
Friday: 7 Bean & Barley Soup with Beef (mix from our local co-op)
Saturday: Falafel with Hummus
Sunday: Latkes with sour cream (from the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook)

My New Year's "resolution" is to take advantage of my prodigious cookbook library and to cook at least one recipe out of a cookbook that I own at least once a week. So here is where I hope to keep track of my progress on that goal.

Pesto Love

My basil in the front garden is going crazy. I thinned it out, but it still looks nice and bushy. I made a fresh pesto pasta with chicken and tomatoes for a most delicious dinner. I always have a bag of boneless skinless chicken thighs in the freezer, it's one of my few quick-fix meal solutions these days. They add a kick of protein and they are done in about 1/2 an hour on my countertop grill. Minimum of heat added to the house, or this can be made at night when it's cooler and just heated up or eaten cold.

Fresh Pesto

2 cups packed fresh basil
1/4 cup parsley
1-2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup toasted walnuts
1/4 cup parmigano reggiano
3/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Put all ingredients except olive oil into a food processor or blender. Pulse briefly to chop the basil and then run on low as you drizzle the olive oil in until you get a smooth sauce.

Chicken Pesto Pasta

1# short pasta (penne or rotini work well)
1 recipe fresh pesto (about 1 cup)
1# cooked chicken, chopped
1/2 cup toasted walnut pieces
1 pint cherry tomatoes halved
Parmigano reggiano to taste

Toss all the ingredients in a large bowl. Eat, enjoy.

CSA Goodness

It's that time of year again! The abundance of fresh veggies and other surprises in a big box every week. Last year we got a 1/2 share from Valley Family Farm in Milan. This year we decided to upgrade to a full share so that we had more to play with for preserving and putting up in addition to the weekly numnums (yes, that is a technical term people.). At the very beginning of the season our box is heavy with greens. The first week we had a couple of kinds of lettuce, green onions, garlic scapes, and assorted herbs. This week the box was overflowing with even more goodness. We added broccoli, red potatoes, collard greens, lemon balm, garlic chives, and kale to the list from the first week. With the abundance of lettuces it seemed like a good time to turn to the "salads" section of my cookbook (my preferred book is the America's Test Kitchen Cookbook as it has great technique sections in addition to pretty fail-proof recipes). Last week it was pretty straightforward with Caesar salads (we had a whole head of romaine). And this week it was Cobb salads. Nothing dramatic, nothing too in depth. Just simple, wonderful salads. I can't wait until next week to find another one I love!

A tired cheesemonger eats dinner.

I know, it doesn't seem that exciting to hear. But I get asked every day that I'm at work how on earth I work behind the cheese counter and not be flipping huge!? It generally boggles my mind that these people think so little of their own self control that they think I just gorge myself everyday. Truth be told, I eat very little cheese outside of work. When it comes to eating, it's almost work overload to have cheese at home, because I do eat a fair bit as a part of my job (how else would I know what fab suggestions to make when you people come in, pick out a cheese to taste and then hate what you picked?). But I do find ways to sneak it in here and there.



Pasta with Tuna and Veggies

1# small pasta (I used a Sardinian pasta that looks like little grubs, avoid spaghetti unless it is the only pasta you can find at the store. Rigatoni work well)
1 can San Marzano tomatoes diced
1/2# fire-roasted artichokes, chopped (regular will work, but the fire-roasted give a nice depth of flavor)
6 oz jar Spanish Tuna in olive oil
1/4 cup capers
1/4# feta cheese, crumbled
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup agradolche or muscatel vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Start the pasta in a large pot with plenty of salted boiling water. In a bowl large enough to contain the finished pasta mix the garlic, capers, artichokes, tomatoes, and the vinegar in the bottom of the bowl, mixing so the vinegar coats all of the veggies. When the pasta is done cooking, add to the vegetables and mix well. Add in the tuna, feta, and olive oil, tossing to coat. Crack fresh pepper over the top and enjoy!

Sloppy Jalopy

Everyone should have an easy dinner now and then to fall back on. I actually tend to use the easy ones on my days off of work, so that I have more time to get things done around the house or out in the world. I can't unfortunately take all the credit, but the original recipe is posted in a private forum, and I've heavily modified to make use of ingredients I generally have on hand. If you don't like things really spicy, cut the paprika by half, an omit the jalapenos all together. You could also replace the jalapenos with sweet bell peppers (I'm not a fan of the sweet, so I don't use them almost ever). Pair this with a great onion roll or kaiser roll from a local bakery if you can get them (I used the New Yorker rolls from Zingerman's Deli). I also pulled a package of corn on the cob that I froze last summer from our CSA and heated that up for along side. Expect around 15 minutes for prep (including browning the meat).

Venison Joe:

3 lb ground venison, cooked
2 c. onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1 1/2 c. ketchup (about 16-18 oz)
1/2 c. water
3 med. jalapenos, minced
1/2 T. horseradish
4 T. brown sugar
4 T. mustard
4 T. cider vinegar
4 T. worcestershire
4 T. spicy paprika (if you can't find spicy, use chili powder instead, but don't just use the bland red powder most grocery stores stock as "paprika")

Put all ingredients in crock pot, stir and forget about it (6-8 hours on low or 3-4 hours on high).

A few final notes: the sauce is rather liquid when it first goes in, but cooks down to a great thick consistency. If you are pressed for time or don't want to use the crockpot, omit the water in the recipe to achieve similar results and mix together in a regular sauce pot on the stove. Add the venison, and cook for 10 minutes or so until everything is heated through.
Alternately if you are going to be gone longer then 8 hours, add more water to the sauce so that it does not burn. Another 1/4 cup should give you about 2 to 3 more hours.

Green Beans Even Kids Love

Tonight's dinner was so typical of the dinners that happen around here on weeknights. Meat, potatoes, and something green. I have a pretty all purpose way of cooking the something green, but tonight it was green beans and turned out kind of awesome. So when you read this keep in mind that the "green" part of this is pretty flexible. I like it with beans or mixed greens (collards & mustard usually), but you could use it with a range of vegetables as long as they have a little heft to them. This is not what you want to do with your delicate greens. Save those for the salads and such people!

Green Beans for Everyone

2# fresh green beans - trimmed and cut to about 1" lenght (you can use frozen here if you are in a hurry)
8oz bacon - diced
1 medium onion - chopped

In a large skillet (I use my wok so there is enough room for everything) cook the bacon until it has given up most of it's fat and is starting to crisp up. Add the onion and cook until slightly soft. Add the beans, stir to coat with the bacon fat and saute until the beans are slightly soft and warmed through. Be careful not to overcook, if they start to turn "army green" they are close to being over done. Take out of the pan with a slotted spoon so you leave most of the fat in the pan (you can pour this into a container and put in the fridge for later use). Serve warm.

Holidays Interruptus

I have neglected this blog for the last couple of months, largely because I didn't have any time! I have been cooking and of course eating and I might get a chance to go back and catch up on some of those, but probably not.

Tonight for dinner was one of my favorites though. It's so dead simple I'm not even going to really write out the recipe, and feel free to riff on it to your hearts desire. In a cast iron skillet (a regular baking dish will work if you don't have cast iron, but everyone should really have some and know how to keep it happy!) set out some pierogi (thawed if they were frozen) and bratwurst (also thawed if frozen). Brush a little bit of olive oil over the top of the pierogi so they brown up nicely. Add around a pound of sauerkraut and bake in the oven until the sausages are cooked through and the pierogi browned on top. I usually flip the sausage half way through(ish) so they also brown on both sides. Serve with a little bit of sour cream on the side and enjoy!

Pizza in Pictures

If Found, Please...

Soo.. This is what my stovetop usually looks like when I'm in full on kitchen diva mode:


Notice the lack of access to the timer and such on the back panel, but do note (and yes, through text and over the internet) the note of pure glee when I point to my stove. I love my stove so much and on days like this, when it is in workhorse mode, I love it even more...

Firery Shrimp Pasta

As I was cleaning my freezer out last week I found one of those shrimp rings that you buy to set out at a party that I'm sure I bought with that very intention but for whatever reason never did. So I put it in my fridge to thaw and figured if I didn't figure out something better to do with it, I would just eat shrimp cocktail for dinner at some point this weekend. Then when I was at work earlier I thought about what I was going to do for dinner and the feta looked really good. From there I thought that those two things would go really well with some pasta and this dish was born out of it.


What You'll Need:
# frozen shrimp, thawed
1/4# feta cheese
handful of cherry tomatoes cut in half or 2 regular tomatoes, diced
2 jalapenos, chopped
1/2 red onion, minced
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (I used marash pepper and regular red pepper mixed together)
chopped fresh herbs (I used basil and cilantro)
olive oil
pasta (I just used regular spaghetti)

In a big pot on one burner start your pasta. In a skillet on another burner use a couple of tablespoons of oil and lightly saute the shrimp, the onion, and the jalapenos. After everything is warmed through add the tomatoes, pepper flakes, and herbs. Keep all of that warm in the skillet. Drain the pasta when it is al dente and add to the shrimp mix in the skillet. Top off with the feta cheese (crumbled) and a generous drizzle of good olive oil. Serve with warm bread and enjoy!

Summer Veggie Dinner

Belonging to a CSA brings many wonderful and delicious vegetables into my life. But it also brings with it the quandary of what the crap to do with all of these veggies (including any number that I have never cooked with before!). It also includes a surplus of those late summer curse, zucchini. Now I haven't ever resorted to trying sneak boxes of the stuff onto my neighbor's porches, but they do demand some creativity in the kitchen to avoid boredom. You can of course do the obligatory variations on zucchini bread, but you don't always see good recipes that celebrate the zucchini itself. So I went in search of something different and then tweaked it to make it all my own.

Zucchini Summer Bake:

You'll Need -
2 zucchini, sliced thinly
1/2 cup Jiffy (or other buttermilk baking) mix
1 small onion diced
1/2 cup Parmigano Reggiano, grated
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup olive oil
2 eggs
hot sauce to taste

Preheat oven to 350 f

In a medium mixing bowl mix the Jiffy mix, olive oil, eggs, salt, a couple good shakes of the hot sauce, and half the Parmigano and mix until you get a smooth texture. Mix in the diced onion and sliced zucchini until everything is coated. Spread evenly in a baking dish (I used a 9x9) and top with the remaining 1/4 cup of Parmigano. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until the top and edges are brown and the middle doesn't jiggle. Serve warm as a main dish or side dish.