Going to Be a Crazy One

This week is going to be crazy. Passover and Easter are in the same week so there will be all sorts of stuff going on at work around both. But I do get a couple of nights where I'm home to make dinner so that's a plus! I just about finished the baby sweater that I started last week and I'm still working on the bag for Ash's Taiko sticks. But there should be some good family/car time to work on those and get them off the needles. See you on the flip side!

Sunday: Leftovers
Monday: Pastrami Ruben
Tuesday: Moroccan Lentil Soup
Wednesday: Grilled Chicken & Potato Salad
Thursday: No one is home.
Friday: Pierogi with family
Saturday: Free For All

Seeing Green

It's one of my favorite weeks. It's the week of St. Patrick's Day and I get to break out some of my most loved foods. Plus I got the Feb/Mar issue of Fine Cooking the other day and after drooling a little bit I picked out a couple of things to add to the menu this week.

Monday: Stout & Cheese Meatloaf
Tuesday: no one will be home
Wednesday: Corned Beef with all the fixin's
Thursday: Quinoa Salad
Friday: Potato Leek soup
Saturday: Moroccan Lentil Soup
Sunday: Leftovers

We'll see if Friday's meal plan actually happens. We now have a funeral to attend that morning so I might not get a chance to get everything put together. Something will happen, I'm just not guaranteeing that it will be what I said will happen! So with that I leave you with some lovely pictures of the meat loaf that was dinner tonight before I cooked it and after it came out of the oven. Enjoy!

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

Changing up my habits

So as part of my goals to have a menu and do more cooking another goal has emerged. Over the last year I got into the habit of just doing my grocery shopping at the local Kroger. It was easy to get into the habit and I only had to go to one store. Part of this was due to the fact that Donald was out of work and so money was tight, but it was also just me not taking the time to use my local food-shed and it's resources. During the summer we get a full CSA share from Valley Family Farm, and so we are usually pretty good in the summer, but during the winter I don't always make as much of an effort to support my local farmers. But this weekend Donald and I undertook a household improvement project of building a new pantry. It was an exercise in repurposing badly used space. When we moved in to the house the space was a hallway/coat closet. Over time it just became a junk closet where everything and anything could be put. So armed with a tape measure, hammer, circular saw, and power drill we set out to turn a junk closet into the pantry of my dreams. And a strange thing happened while we were doing the construction project. I realized that I was spending more money outside of my local food-shed then I was in it. And so I decided to change. This week was week one of my shopping local sources personal challenge. As the person who does the shopping and menu planning most weeks I figure if anyone is going to make a noticeable difference in this area, it's going to be me. So I made my list and got most of my shopping done at the Co-Op (where everyone in my house has a membership), with the exception of a couple pieces of meat. Those I will be getting later this week - fresh chorizo from Dos Hermanos market in downtown Ypsilanti, and pork chops from Sparrow Market. So with all that local foodie goodness what's on the menu this week?

Monday: Bacon-Asparagus Quiche with Green Salad
Tuesday: Minestrone Soup
Wednesday: Black Beans & Rice
Thursday: Eating out, going to see Battlefield Band at the Ark
Friday: Falafel
Saturday: Brown Rice Pilaf and Pork Chops
Sunday: Leftovers

And so I leave you with a view of my new pantry, as I go off to re-organize said pantry and run the dishwasher and laundry.

It's definatly Fall in Michigan

We have had our first frost and the weather has been chilly the last couple of days. I had to find my sweaters and I'm packing up the shorts and tank tops in recognition of the fact that it will not be warm enough to wear them again for a while. So in honor of that change I made some delicious soup :) Squash soup is one of those things that I never remember having until I was in high school, but hooboy is it one of my favorite things about seeing the winter squash showing up at the Farmer's Markets. This was kind of an experiment and to my great delight it turned out so delicious!!

You'll Need
8 cups stock (chicken or veggie work best)
2 medium butternut squash, seeded and peeled, in 1" chunks
1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 tablespoon harissa*
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon fresh sage
pinch of salt
sour cream to serve with

In a large (7 qt) slow cooker mix the squash, sweet potato, and onion. Add the harissa, sage, thyme, salt, and the stock. If the liquid is not enough to cover all of the squash, add water to top off. Cook on high for 6 hours or low for 8-10 hours. Use a blender or food mill to puree the soup until smooth. Top with a dollop of sour cream to cut the heat slightly. Eat and enjoy!

*Harissa is a North African hot pepper condiment. I really like the one from Moulins De Majoub, but if you can't find one here's a simple one you can whip up for your fridge.

12 dried red chiles
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
2 cloves garlic peeled
1/2 teaspoon salt
4-6 tablespoons olive oil

Discard the stems and seeds from the chiles, then place in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave to soak 30 minutes until softened. In a heavy skillet heat the coriander and cumin seeds until they smell aromatic. Grind to a powder in a grinder. Drain the chiles and place in a blender with the garlic coriander mixture and salt. Blend together, trickling in the olive oil until the sauce has a mayonnaise-like consistency. To store, put in an airtight container and cover with olive oil and refrigerate.

Split Pea Soup

Most of my kitchen adventures start with something on sale. In this case it was yellow split peas that were on sale at the Co-op. Don't ask me what my brain was intending to do with 2 pounds of split peas at the time, but I bought them and in digging around for something to do for dinner the other day, I found the bone from a ham that I did last week. Bingo! Pea soup in the crock pot, so it could cook all day while I was at work so when we all got home around 6 we could sit down to dinner. This is a recipe that is pretty open to interpretation and can be made vegetarian/vegan pretty easily.

You'll need:
18 ounces split peas
1 ham bone (optional)
1 cup frozen or fresh veggies (I usually opt for corn and carrots to sweeten the soup up)
2 quarts chicken or veggie stock (you can dilute this with water if needed)

Add all ingredients to a 3 1/2 or 4 quart crock pot. Set to Low. Go to work, play in the yard, or whatever else you have more pressing in your life for around 6 hours. If you are going to be gone longer, don't worry... this isn't really a dish that you can "overcook". Fish out the ham bone and dispose of (or give to the dog). If you want, you can run through a blender or food mill to give it a smooth texture, but I don't really find this necessary.

Now I'm off to ponder a goat curry obsession that I have recently come across...