What We Ate: a seasonal reminder of dinner at our house.

Hi there - it's been a couple... The quarantine (excuse me, #saferathome orders) sort of took over our lives in March as we began to deal with the very real threat of COVID -19, a novel coronavirus. But we haven't stopped cooking, in fact, if anything we're probably cooking more than ever so I'll try to get back into the blogging habit too. First up - Frittata This is an excellent (you guessed it) clean out the fridge meal. You can put darn near anything into a frittata and it will be delicious. I usually make two because our family has, ahem, differing tastes. So the first one has potato, onion, mushroom, yellow pepper, cauliflower, kale and then salt, pepper and red pepper flakes.  (cooked in that order - longest cooking time to shortest - lots of olive oil for those potatoes so they don't stick). Do NOT skimp on the salt. It look like this before the egg  Then I added a generous pat of butter (a tablespoon or more) into the middle to coat the bottom...

Sometimes, like on a rainy, cold, March night when the snow isn't yet gone but the day has been gray and gloomy and everything is wet and cold, comfort food is the only option. Enter mac and cheese. We ate this a lot when the kids were little and it's still a favorite but I make it once or twice a year now since we have dairy free human in the house. It's nearly never the same recipe but it looks something like this: equal tablespoons of butter and flour (3 is a good place to start) 1/2 c whole milk per tablespoon of butter (I mean, I just poured some in and let's be clear, the sell by date on that carton is nearly 30 days ago but it smelled fined). So I might have poured a cup and half but it also might have been 2 cups. cheese - whatever is around - tonight I used 1.5 to 2 cubic inches (roughly) of each of the following: cheddar, swiss, havarti but you could also use mozzarella, gouda, parmesean, whatever... Salt to taste (at least a teaspoon and half - mayb...

We eat a lot of tacos. A lot. But really, what's not to love. They can be customized to each individual's peculiar tastes and they make great left overs. We have several regular 'go to' taco recipes but I thought I'd try a new one . This one was attractive because of the "throw it all in the slow cooker and let it cook for five hours" nature of the directions. I followed the directions- mostly- but used chicken breast instead of thighs because that's what I had in the freezer. And I left the black beans on the side. Served with all the sides: cilantro, avocado, sour cream, salsa verde, chopped purple cabbage and pickled red onion. The general consensus was they were good but not awesome and at least 2/3 of the rest of the family thought they were too sweet. Our regular tacos have no sweet, only spice and, apparently, we've grown rather fond of them.

It's as good as it sounds. It's so good that I never got around to taking a picture of it (photo below from my stock kitchen photos). Ingredients: 4 or 5 slices of bacon 1 onion chopped (I used a sweet onion but I've also used a yellow onion) 2 cloves of garlic (in the picture below it's two heads but they are very, very small) 14 oz of some sort of processed tomato 8-12 oz of linguine 1/2 t dried basil 1/2 dried oregano a glug (1/4 c?) of the red wine that's turning to vinegar in the fridge (or actual red wine vinegar that you bought in the store) salt and pepper to taste fresh parsley to taste parmesean to taste Cook the bacon till crispy, take out of the pan and chop into tiny pieces Add the chopped onion and minced garlic to the bacon fat (remove some bacon fat if it's too much - I'll let you decide how much is too much). Cook until tender. Add the tomatoes and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes (or until you've finished the wo...

We're dying for spring around here. While the snow is melting, the ground is still overwhelmingly white. The longer sunny days though have has longing for crispy, fresh greens. I found this recipe earlier this year when I had extra snap peas left over from something or other. I made it pretty much followed the recipe (shocking. I know.) Served it with jasmine rice and boom - dinner in less than 45 minutes. I forgot to take a picture until half way through dinner.

If by chance you made too much of this lovely winter bruschetta  when you were eating with your vegetarian friends and threw a quart of it in the freezer, and now you are looking for a dinner for two that is savory on a still too cold (for March) winter night, then you might cook a couple of sweet Italian sausages in a heavy bottom pan and add the thawed bruschetta and a couple of cups of freshly chopped kale for a nearly perfect meal. The only thing that might make it more perfect is a baguette on the side with lots of butter. (I divide this into two smaller loaves instead of one big one.)

of the homemade variety. We love Chipotle (and I know, lots of people hate it) but for quick-could-be-healthy fast food option, it really is great. A few years ago I decided that on the nights when we didn't need quick, I could probably do a reasonably good version of burrito bowls for a fraction of the price. And let me tell you, I am killing it! These pictures are awful because I didn't even bother with the fancy lights but the bowls were fan. tas. tic. I started by making black beans in the instant pot. I came late to the instant pot cult but I am a full fledged member now and I can convert you too. Here's how I cook beans. Throw some beans in the pot. Enough to generously cover the bottom. Cover with water. Add a teaspoon of salt (you know you're not measuring that), a couple of small bay leaves, some chopped yellow onion (1/4 cup-ish). Set on high pressure (normal) for 20 minutes. Let release naturally for 10 minutes. (Store extra in a mason jar with th...

Noodle bowls came into our repertoire a year or two ago, probably about this time of year because we're all longing for something crisp and fresh and the egg rolls (which are crisp) and the herbs (which are as fresh as it gets in February) really hit the spot. While I have a recipe card for this (note to self, it's an actual CARD in the recipe box), I follow about half of it so here's the more accurate version.  Ingredients: (all of the vegetables are optional but you'll want at least two) -- Chop these into tiny pieces one carrot one cucumber one green onion 1/3 or a red or orange pepper two bok choy leaves with stems Roughly chop these --  an handful of each: mint, parsley, cilantro, basil Mix this all together: 1 T brown sugar or cane sugar 1/2 T red chili paste 4 T of water 1 T soy sauce (for your non meat eating friends) OR  1 T of fish sauce (or a little of both if you forgot to read this recipe all the way thro...

Well, actually there were about 7: spaghetti, meatloaf, shake and bake chicken, lasagna, mac and cheese and, the infamous, Baked Potato. As a meal. With steamed broccoli, butter and shredded cheddar. We had this meal so often that my siblings and I still comment on it. And, to the best of my knowledge, none of us make baked potatoes on a regular basis, however,  every once in a while, in the winter, we'll do baked potatoes with all the veg on the side. It's kind of perfect if you'd prefer to spend Sunday afternoon hiking in the state park rather than going to the grocery store and all you have left is a lot of slightly past their prime vegetables (I know this description is showing up in this blog with alarming regularity, please don't judge. I buy a lot of vegetables. More than we can usually eat in a week which means that 'clean out the fridge' means stir fry, roasted veg, veg lasagna... you get the idea. And who am I kidding - judge all you want. I would!) ...

It happened again. I planned meals, I wrote them down and when I went to make tonight's meal, I COULD NOT FIND THE RECIPE. Seriously. This is making me feel like I'm crazy. So I made THIS . I know it's not the recipe I planned but for the life of me, I don't know where that other one is. Here's what it looked like. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "did she get better lights?" And the answer is, "yes, yes she did." Here's how I'd modify this if I were making it again (and I'll probably make it again but only if I'm desperate and only have 30 minutes.) More black pepper More red pepper flakes Better pasta to sauce ratio (I used a large yellow onion, a half a pound of bacon and 15 oz of crushed tomatoes) ~ less pasta, more other stuff. I steamed broccoli to go along with this. Remarkably, there's hardly any left...  

We had dinner with our regular crew on Sunday. We've been eating dinner with them for 5 or 6 years on the 3rd Sunday of the month and they are among our very favorite people in all the world. The theme for Sunday was soup and bread. I brought Spicy Chickpeas  as a "winter salad" and potato leek soup... I know it's not much to look at but it tastes wonderful especially if you chop some chives or parsley for the top and add some hot butter bread on the side. Best of all, it really only has 5 ingredients - including seasoning - (which is the requirement for my mom to make it. And she's one of my three readers - Hi mom!) This recipe is adapted from Simply Vegetarian Pleasures . The original is called Leek and Potato Chowder and includes both milk and sour cream. My dairy free version is as follows: a leek or two depending on size (it really doesn't matter - whatever you have on hand) sauted in olive oil until it looks like this: A ...

My daughter told me recently that she thought she liked lasagna but she realized that actually what she likes is my lasagna which is, in a lot of ways, not like other people's lasagna but still mostly fits the definition of what lasagna is. I looked it up. Lasagna:  noun - pasta in the form of wide strips. A baked Italian dish consisting of wide strips of pasta cooked and layered with meat or vegetables, cheese, and tomato. You'll recall, if you've been hanging around here at all, that for a good portion of last year we had one veg kid and one dairy free kid which basically meant we ate vegan meals when we were all together. That is no longer the case, but some of the recipes have stuck or been updated to meet current eating preferences. This is one of them. It takes a bit of time so sometimes I make this over two days. And, it's a great way to use up veg that is ever so slightly past it's prime Ingredients suggestions: 9 lasagna noodles a large yellow...

I want to be an Alison Roman fan but she and I just don't connect in the kitchen. I tried her much raved about Caramelized Shallot Pasta  which tasted so so. I probably could have opened up a jar of tomato sauce, added some red pepper, fresh herbs and parmesean cheese and had a better tasting dish. It was pretty though (I added the kale)

Because who doesn't love wings , coleslaw and mashed potatoes alongside their football? We've been making this slaw for sometime now - probably years. Secret ingredient has to be the pickle juice which is why, if you look in my fridge on any given day of the year, you'll see at least one, possibly two, pickle jars with no pickles in them. Don't you dare throw them out!  If you know us IRL then you know that we deal in chicken. Seriously, we're chicken dealers. A friend knows a farmer and places and order on a regular basis and we in turn make that order available to our friends and family which is why on the night after Thanksgiving last year, I found myself in the parking lot of a hair salon waiting to pick up 5 rogue, whole, frozen chickens so that I could deliver them to their respective freezers. But really that's a story for another post. Annnnnyyyyyway, we get chicken in bulk which means we get backs and wings and livers and all the parts. S...

As happens nearly once a week, I discovered that the thing I had planned to make for dinner wasn't going to work. It's usually one of two things that lands me in this situation: a missing ingredient (for which I can often compensate) or not enough time/poor planning. Tonight it was neither of those, instead, I found myself staring at the list of options on the white board (which is silver in our house) and thinking that none of it was quite right to accommodate the evening activity. The activity in question is a district-wide band concert whereby dedicated parents sit in bleachers at the field house and watch every band in the district plan one, two or three pieces. There are eight bands. Eight. And tonight was our fourth round of this (it only happens every other year). So dinner needed to be something that could be ready by 5:30, eaten on the fly for one or two or three and still good four hours later when hungry musicians would again appear ready for "real dinner....

Tonight is a repeat of Crispy Spiced Chickpeas with Peppers and Tomatoes  mostly because of all the fresh herbs that were still hanging around in the fridge and need to be used: mint, basil (okay, it wasn't really that fresh), parsley, and dill. Here are the sheet pans that went into the oven just minutes ago And because it's a "sit in front of the TV" sort of night," I made a simple syrup with rosemary to try this Rosemary Gin Fizz from the  The Fabulous Ellie Kempton ! (Seriously, you should check her out) ROSEMARY GIN FIZZ [serves 1]: 2 oz gin 1/2 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice 1/2 oz rosemary simple syrup [heat your simple syrup up with 2 sprigs of rosemary] 3 oz club soda 1 rosemary sprig Place gin, lemon juice, and rosemary simple syrup in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a highball glass with ice and top with club soda. Garnish with rosemary sprig. We'll probably nibble on popcorn and chips and salsa a...

It's still January. It's cold but the light is coming back and spring WILL come again even though it's hard to imagine right now. Thankfully, will still have remnants of summer in the freezer and on the canning shelves. If you don't have cooked chicken in the fridge, pop a frozen breast in the instant pot for 25 minutes with a half a cup of water. Make sure to salt and pepper liberally. Open a two cans of navy beans (or pull some cooked beans from the fringe - instant pot recipe guidance here ) Find a half pint of salsa verde (on the canning shelf or from the store). Open a box/jar/can of chicken stock. Mix it all together in a pan and let it simmer for 10 minutes or an hour. Serve with avocado, cilantro, tomato, and/or sour cream. Add rice, tortilla chips, biscuits or corn bread on the side for more heft.

This meal is a go to in every season. It works especially well when: ~one has limp greens in the fridge that aren't yet ready for the compost ~there is an odd assortment of veggies that would not otherwise work well together ~time is limited and you still want to have some sort of meal It only requires pasta, butter, capers and veg. If you happen to have lemon or leftover chicken or a tomato on hand, all the better. Wilt and season (kale, spinach, chard, and/or bok choy) and/or sauté and season (broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, green beans... whatever). Make more than you think you'll ever eat. Might look like this I'll often do this in two frying pans but there isn't any reason to - you can do it in batches. One of the lovely things about this mean is that it can be served hot, cold, or room temp. It can be refrigerated for later or warmed up in the oven. While the greens are doing their thing, cook a pound of pasta in well salted water. (I cam...

I've been traveling a couple of days and it's January in Wisconsin. This combination can be brutal. Imagine my surprise when I arrived home to Lentil Soup with Sausage  made in the instant pot and ready to go! I found this recipe earlier this year because I'm still looking for instant pot recipes that make dinner easy. This once was a hit ~ easy to make, so satisfying, not overly heavy and perfect for cold, dark and snowy days.

We are not, for the most part, eaters of red meat. We have a great source for chicken (free range, anti-biotic free, rocked to sleep nightly with chicken lull-a-byes - you know the type), but have had a harder time finding a consistent and convenient source for beef. And also we were vegan last year for 7 months whenever we ate together as a family. But that's for a different post. All this means, I make chili twice a year. This recipe is just mine, based only on years of experimenting with lots of different recipes and figuring out what we like and what we don't. It's also highly dependent on what we have in the pantry. One whole sweet onion, chopped. One pound of grass fed, organic beef. 4 cloves garlic, minced 2 zucchinis - partially skinned - and chopped 1 can (or two cups) kidney beans, drained (haphazardly) 28 oz can of crushed plum tomatoes with juices. 2 t cumin 2 t chili powder 1 t salt (more to taste) 1/4 t black pepper freshly ground (more to taste...

This is a standard at our house. It often happens once a week and on weeks when things are really unwieldy, we might eat it twice. Here's how it goes. 1 package of extra firm tofu with the fluid pressed out (I do this by wrapping the tofu in a tea towel and put a cast iron pan on top of it for 10 minutes) diced into small pieces and fried in peanut oil with salt and pepper. All the veg in the fridge that is just on the edge of fresh. (Okay, it's beyond the edge. The cauliflower is turning brown - scrape it off. The broccoli has questionable spots on it - cut them off. The peppers are shriveling - slice them up anyway. The cabbage is dry - no worries. The last of the bag of peas. You get the idea.) also include onions (yellow, red, green it doesn't matter) ginger (diced, shredded, chopped, whatever) 1.5 cups of Jasmine rice in the rice cooker with 2.75 cups of water, a glug of oil and a pinch of salt. Saute in the wok in batches (onions first, then cruciferous b...

only Chipotle will do.

I'm sick. My throat feels like it's been roughed up by a nail file. And when that happens, there really isn't anything better than chicken noodle soup - good thing it was on the menu for tonight. I love this version by Nigella Lawson. The recipe is for one but I make the following modifications for the whole family. It's way more interesting than regular chicken noodle Chicken bone broth from the fridge (the better part of a half gallon jar), chicken in the instant pot (cause no one defrosted anything. again.) Throw 4x soy sauce and sherry in with the broth (instead of reducing it with the chicken). Add 4x the ginger.  Skip the corn and the spinach. Two Fresno chilis diced and whatever green onion is around. Dice the chicken and add it too. Because Roo had a concert tonight I put everything in the pot except the noodles and peas and let it sit for a couple of hours while we were gone. Ten minutes to bring it back up to a boil to add the noodles (I used rame...