Italian Wedding Soup

My freezer was getting full of chicken carcasses so I had to make some broth.  And oh my, the broth I made was sooooo good, I had to make sure I made something that enhanced the flavor and showed it off.  I decided on this soup - one of my all time favorites when dining out and I see it on a menu.  I've only made a mock one before and I wasn't very impressed with it.  I'm always looking for escarole or curly endive but never find it.  I looked again this time but had to settle on local curly kale.  Here's what I used:

Bocconcini Salad

This doesn't get much easier.  We bought some "mini mini" bocconcini so didn't even need to cube it.  There's nothing amazing or even inspiring about this dish, except that it took me 5 minutes to put together.  It was fresh and perfect in its simplicity for this summer day.

Southern Tea Room Chutney Chicken Salad

This really was a "Waldorf salad" with chutney, and pecans instead of walnuts.  It seemed like a good dinner for this hot weather we've been having and I liked the idea of the chutney.  I bought my rotisserie chicken from Costco and used the whole thing.  Below are the recipe ingredients with my own amounts & spin on them - I added the lime.

Vivian Howard's Blueberry Cobbler with a Cornmeal Sugar-Cookie Crust

So, blueberries are in season and I always try to cook that way -  using those ingredients.  Like every year, I usually try to make some in season fruit dessert for my son - one per year as I do not like to bake.  This year, because I was reading my Vivian Howard cookbook, which I love to pieces, I decided to make him this.  Plus, he said cobblers are one of his favorite desserts.  (I only remember making ONE good cobbler for him,  this one, it was a beauty!)  I love that she (Vivian) worked at elevating something as simple as a cobbler.  Her words are below between the lines and this makes a 9 × 13-inch dish.  I HIGHLY recommend buying this cookbook!!!  I can't say enough good things about it...absolutely enthralling.

Slow Cooker Jamaican Jerk Chicken Recipe

A couple of weeks ago, I bought some bottled "Jerk" stuff and marinated some wings.  The outcome and taste was horrible and didn't taste anything like I had in the Caribbean.  I decided to try making the seasoning myself and found this recipe which looked like it had potential.  I actually wanted to use thighs this time but none were at my grocery store which I have never seen before, so I went with drumsticks like the recipe called for.

Lasagna with Béchamel Sauce

It was cool out today, rained and it's been a rough week.  I thought some comforting lasagna would be a good thing to make.  I love it but rarely make it since it's not good health wise.  The only thing "light" I bought was the mozzarella cheese.  I hoped it melted okay since it was half the fat... The lasagna noodles had eggs in them too, so this was going to be a nightmare for my cholesterol.   And go figure, by the time  I was going home from work, the sun was back out and it was boiling hot again.  I used:

Falafel Pitas with Homemade Hummus

I didn't make the falafels (vegan), another time, perhaps.  I didn't make the Tzatziki either.  I picked up both of these items at Costco.  I bought whole wheat pitas as well.  I mixed up some thinly sliced red onion, halved grape tomatoes and finely chopped parsley.  I mixed it with some extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar and S&P.  I let this sit in the fridge.  For the hummus, I just used a really basic recipe.

Eggs Benedict with Homemade Hollandaise sauce

I made brunch today.  Eggs Benny & Tater Tots.  Sounded perfect.  I haven't made this dish for years now.  I used to make it quite often, like 20 years ago.  I started by doing as much as I could so I could be organized.  I preheated the oven then put the tater tots in.  I chopped a little curly parsley, fine.

Tomahawk Bone-In Rib-Eye Steak

I have eaten very, very little beef or pork in the last 6 months.  Nothing more than a burger here and there for beef.  I've eaten less beef than pork (bacon I still have to do once in a while, even if it's just 2 slices instead of 10).  Being half way through the year, I deemed this cheat weekend.  This was my take on a steakhouse dinner.