It was a rainy, miserable day that matched my mood. I had defrosted some bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs and this is what I decided on for dinner.
Cooking is my hobby and I love it. It relieves my stress. I use recipes as a base line...I find a few and compare. Then I make my own personal concoction from what I've learned. This blog has become my personal cooking journal. It helps me remember what I've made/liked and didn't. But mostly, this is for my son. I hope he makes some of these dishes one day...One of the nicest things he's said to me is that he's never had a bad meal with me, at home or at a restaurant (research wins!).
Thursday, October 21, 2021
Monday, October 18, 2021
Ras el Hanout Lamb Shanks with Prunes and Pearl Couscous
I have always wanted to try the spice "Ras el Hanout". I picked some up at a local gourmet shop in town. I had some antibiotic/hormone free grass fed lamb shanks in my freezer from a local farm and thought this would be suitable to use with it. This is what I created:
Thursday, October 14, 2021
Japanese Fried Rice
I'm calling this Japanese fried rice because I used a medium grain Japanese rice to make it. I also used Japanese Kewpie Mayonnaise in it. I really like that stuff, probably because it has MSG in it, but I find it really creamy and tasty. The first 2 recipes I looked at for Japanese fried rice both included it. Other than that, this is pretty much the same as I'd make my regular fried rice. I use whatever is in the fridge/house at the time to assemble it together.
Sunday, October 10, 2021
Thanksgiving: Funeral Potatoes
My son requested these for our turkey dinner tonight after I listed the potato options. I have never made or eaten this before but it sounded delicious. I have made similar casserole dishes for breakfast. For me, the Thanksgiving meal should be comforting so this would fit right in with the stretchy pant nosh... I used real potatoes and parboiled them rather than frozen bagged hash browns which I'm not a fan of.
Thursday, October 7, 2021
Honeycrisp Apple and Feta Salad
I saw this salad on social media and I could not stop thinking about it. I tried a Honeycrisp apple first, to see if I liked it enough to make the salad and I did. Wow, extremely yummy apple! Haven't tasted an apple as good in quite some time which is why I'm guessing they're twice the price of all the other apples... What I used is what I had on hand to construct this today:
Friday, October 1, 2021
Lemon Brownies/Blondies
I had company coming and I was making 3 courses. I almost bought dessert but it got tough as I wanted to make sure I served something they'd like. I know lemon is okay with them so came up with this, as it's easy. I decided I could make it the night before as well and if it sucked, I could pick something up the day of...
Friday, September 24, 2021
Pasta alla Formiana
Another summer tomato recipe I decided to try. This was going to be the side with braised short ribs tonight. I really don't like pasta dishes where the pasta goes in raw and comes out cooked but I was curious as it's been a long time since I've done it... I chose pasta that looks like a rooster. I've always wanted to try it and this seemed like the recipe for it.
Sunday, September 19, 2021
Air Fryer: Crab Rangoon
I've always wanted to try making this. An air-fryer made it more attractive as a recipe and now that I have that feature in my oven, it was time to give it a try.
Thursday, September 16, 2021
Saturday, September 4, 2021
Tomato Tart with Corn, Caramelized Onions and Blue Cheese
Every tomato season, I always make Tomato Tarte Tatin. Today, I decided to try a spin on it as there was fresh, local corn at the market so I decided to incorporate it. I ended up making this up as I went along. What I used: