Menu for the Week

Again, I can’t believe how long it has been since I’ve consciously thought about blogging. I’m feeling so much better – almost like myself again. Yet, sitting for any length of time is still somewhat difficult and standing in one place without moving around is tiring, too. I am getting a bit bored and wrestless. I can’t do much out of the house without someone driving me, because I am still unable to drive. My head is a bit foggy from the pain medication. All I want to do is go back to my regular life. Cooking is such a big part of that. Feeling needy is definitely not my thing!

Luckily, I’ve been able to help out in the kitchen more and more. And, I’ve been going on errand excursions, too. We bought a lot of delicious fruits and vegetables from the farmers’ market on Saturday: grapes, apples, tomatoes, basil, broccoli, beets and artichokes. All of these need to be incorporated into this week’s dinner plan. We also have leftover steak from Sunday night’s dinner. S suggested steak fried rice. Sounds good to me.

Here is the plan:

Monday: JT’s Sausage and Pasta Soup
Tuesday: Steak Fried Rice, Broccoli with Soy, Garlic and Ginger
Wednesday: Chicken Parmesan Cutlets Milanese, Artichokes, Beets, Beet Greens
Thursday: Pasta with fresh tomatoes, mozzarella & basil
Friday: Boneless Pork Chops, Quinoa, Spinach

Fortuitous Blogging

I have been off-line for so long, it feels so strange to even look at my blog. A little over a month haitus, after only about 7 months on the job, and I am truly missing the writing and cooking. I don’t know whether I’ll be able to get back to the cooking or photography anytime soon, given that I am not able to bend, lift or twist for a while longer. Still, we have been planning menus and having delicious meals at our house BECAUSE of 44dinner.

When I had my surgery, and knew that I’d be laid-up for a while, our former baby-sitter, ML, came back to work for us in the afternoon-evenings to help with shuttling the girls and with dinners. Well, what better way to keep consistency in our lives than with food. ML has been cooking from recipes on the site and we have been eating our old favorites. The girls even tried, and loved, the Cambodian spring rolls that S & I tested this summer.

Here is our menu for this week:
Monday: Burgers, Corn Salad
Tuesday: Filet of Sole Meuniere, Cauliflower, Israeli Couscous
Wednesday: Rotisserie Chicken (farmer’s market), Quinoa, Veggies TBD, Salad
Thursday: Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce
Friday: Brisket with Noodles (my Mom made this while she was here and froze some…Yea!), Carrots, Jewish Apple Cake

Happy New Year!

Get Well Soon Soup

When friends and family have had surgery, my first response has been to make a carrot soup that is like a health tonic. To me, and seemingly to those for whom I’ve made it, it is the first meal that makes them feel better. I even have one friend, for whom I made this, that doesn’t like carrots and still craved a second bowl of this soup.

So, today, I made carrot soup. For me. I’m going to be having some surgery and will have a road to recovery that does not include cooking. I won’t be able to lift more than 5 lbs. for a while. And, I won’t be able to bend my back….so chopping and rolling and bending over to breath in the fragrance of a pot on the stove are all out.

But, I’ll be back and good as new as soon as I can be. Then, there will be menus galore and lots of conversation to report on from our dinner table.

Get Well Soon Carrot Soup
AKA Orange Velvet

1 large onion, sliced thinly
2 tbsp. butter
6 large carrots (about 1 ½ lbs.), peeled and cut into ½ inch slices
1 large russet potato, peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes
1 can low sodium chicken broth (or 2 cups homemade chicken broth)
Approx. 2 ½ cups Water

Pepper, salt, cayenne to taste

Saute onion in butter in a large saucepan over medium high heat until onion is starting to brown. Pour in the broth and heat until boiling. Add carrots and potatoes. Add water to cover the vegetables by about 1/4 inch. Stir and cover the pot. Turn down heat and simmer until all the vegetables are very tender – about 20 minutes.

Puree the soup, in batches, in a blender, until very smooth.

Add seasonings as desired.

Serves 4 generously.

Experimental Entertaining

Generally, when we have friends for dinner, I make something that I’ve made before. I don’t like to treat my guests as guinea pigs. Sometimes, you make dud dinners and I usually don’t like to risk it. Last Wednesday night, however, we decided to have dinner at our house at the last minute (5-4-Dinner) and decided to use completely new recipes.

I neither poisoned our friends nor did I put a strain on our relationships. Yea. In fact, we bonded over Cambodian Summer Rolls , as an appetizer, and Pan Fried Trout with Fresh Herb Salad and Roasted Cauliflower. For dessert, fresh berries with World Peace Cookies (o.k., I’ve made those before).

All three of the recipe links above are, in my opinion, close to flawless.

The first two come from Cooking Light magazine. I know. Light? Generally, I do cook healthy, but I don’t cook “light”. But, in the summer magazine clean-up, I ripped out a few recipes from issues of this magazine. Why did I have any issues of Cooking Light? Well, it all stems from the school fundraiser. Magazine sales. I hate those types of fundraisers and have decided to try to avoid letting our kids sell to friends or family. Instead, I buy myself magazines and send them to people as gifts. I thought I’d give Cooking Light a try, for the sake of the school.

First, the Cambodian Summer Rolls. I am a big fan of Vietnamese Shrimp/Pork Salad Rolls and were looked very similar. The recipe includes Shrimp, Rice Noodles, Basil, Mint and Red Leaf Lettuce, wrapped, burrito style, in rice paper (that has been smeared with a smidge of Hoisin Sauce). Then, this roll is dipped in a sauce of low sodium soy sauce, water, lime juice, sugar, garlic, ginger, cilantro and chili paste.

No Measurements, No Recipes

My brother-in-law made an interesting comment to me regarding our divergent cooking styles. It turns out, that because of this blog, he thought that I cooked from recipes whereas he cooks without them. In reality, I use recipes as guidelines, and much of what I have posted (except for breads and sweets) I have measured along the way so that I could post a “recipe”. So, for instance, I generally don’t use measurements for meatballs, or tomato sauce, or even frogs legs chicken (now that I know how to make that by heart!).

On the otherhand, because I have wanted to try new preparations, I have been using more recipes and ideas from magazines and cookbooks than I have in the past – like for the turkey burgers with tomato jam, and the Vietnamese Chicken Salad. I’ve definitely expanded my repetoire of meals because of trying new dishes. Which is a good thing, I think.

When I haven’t been trying out new recipes this summer, I have been cooking with ingredients that we have on hand, or with inspiration from the bounty of the summer months. I’ve been buying most of our food from the Farmer’s Market – everything is so fresh and bright at this time of year. Without the girls at home, S & I have been eating a lot more vegetables as a percentage of the food on our plates – a good thing. Most vegetables have been unadorned, save for a little olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper – if that.

Superfood for Hikers

When S & I went to Acadia National Park, we planned to do some hiking on the small but steep mountains by the ocean. Unfortunately, our view of the ocean was completely obscured by an incredibly dense fog that hung around the entire time we were there. We saw neither sea nor sky, really.

However, we did see a lot of blue. Hiking/climbing/clamboring on fun trails, we snacked on wild blueberries during both the ascents and descents.

No photo taken, but the popovers and lobster stew (cream, sherry, lobster….that’s it) at the Jordan Pond House were very, very memorable. The company of my 88 year old great aunt was the most special part of the visit Down East.

Watermelon Seeds II

My sister sent this link to me. It seems watermelon seed spitting is going prime time! Our fourth grade kids were trend setters.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/08/03/2009-08-03_7thgrader_going_to_seed_watermelon.html

Menu for the 1/2 Week

We’ve been on the road and eating out so much, that all S & I want to do now that we are home is to eat in. With the exception of a delicious home cooked meal in Boston, and a great home – boat, actually – cooked breakfast in Maine, we have had every meal at a restaurant or hotel for the last 10 days. Some of our meals were truly extraordinary. Some of our meals were remarkably lousy (Yellowstone is not a haven for good food).

Here is my plan, subject to change on a whim, for the next few days:

Wednesday: Velvety Carrot Soup, Chicken Sandwiches
Thursday: Pasta with Sauteed Arugula, Garlic and Lemon; Tomato and Green Bean Salad with Shallots
Friday (with Grandma & WG): Lamb Chops, American Ratatouille, Fresh Bread, Berries with Cookies

Simple, fresh, lots of vegetables. Yea.

When Life Gives You Oranges

Living in California, we have the right climate for growing citrus. When we bought our house, we counted up the number of citrus trees and it was an astounding eleven. These aren’t full size commercial production trees, but dwarf trees that reach about 10 feet max. Nonetheless, we have more oranges than we can use and plenty of lemons, too. Some of the fruit is better than others – none are juicing varieties.

So, nine years ago, when we settled into having a “grove”, I looked at the oranges and thought, “Marmalade. I should make marmalade.” I’d never canned anything in my life. I mused, “I can do this.” I looked through my old standby cookbooks, and took the plunge. Ever since then, I have produced at least a dozen jars of marmalade every year – most times it is more like 24 or 36, because I have taught lots of people to make it. And, I give it away as gifts. Either people are being very nice, or there is an unusually large contingent of the population that loves marmalade. Given the plethora of varieties of marmalade at the supermarket, I’m hoping it is the later.

I usually make my marmalade in early February, when the oranges turn orange, but are on still on the sour side. Oranges are green before the rind turns orange – prompting many people to ask if we have lime trees. The sour oranges give the marmalade a nice flavor and combined with the bitterness of the rind, it always turns out pretty well. Since we have multiple varieties of oranges, I use them all: tangelos, navels, valencias, mandarins, calamondins. At least I think those are the varieties that I’m using – our trees aren’t marked.

A Turkey Burger Success!

The last time I tried turkey burgers, I had a total flop of a dinner. I was determined to try again, knowing so many people that love turkey burgers.

In my paring down of the piles of cooking magazines, I ripped a page out of Bon Appetit, from August 2008. Just one year ago. The recipe is called “Turkey Burgers with Tomato Jam, Olives and Feta”. I don’t know whether it would have sparked my interest, normally, but I read through the recipe and the combination of ingredients appealed to me. The recipe says that it is also good made with ground lamb, which I love. Rrrrrrip, in the “keep to try” pile.

The tomato jam wasn’t really a jam. It was a thick sauce. The flavor, when I stuck to the original recipe was a little dull and, well, not very jammy. So, I added more sugar and some crushed red pepper – sweet and heat. I was pretty happy with the result, but not crazy about the texture. I may fiddle with this one, because it was a good complement to the burgers. I think maybe I should puree the “jam” or make it with crushed tomatoes instead of diced tomatoes. Hmmm.