With all this time outside of work, one would think I’d be working on all sorts of projects. Instead, I find myself motivated to be productive in only one area: the kitchen.
Which is all fine and good, for we all have to eat and my boyfriend has a particularly ravenous appetite after work. Even better is that he washes the dishes.
I’ve been obsessing over cooking multiple course meals and recreating old recipes, like my Many Vegetable soup, with an added single habanera pepper and cilantro for that perfect touch to warm you up on chilly days. When Devin’s parents came over, I prepared a Stewed Lentils and Tomato soup (cut the broth next time, as it makes it a tad too salty), and a Creamy Baked Mac-and-Cheese (you *NEED* aluminum foil; trust me) and an Articoke and Goat Cheese bake that I found at the local Italian restaurant, La Rocca’s, down the street.
I’m going to have to invite Madee and Ech over for a dinner soon before they pound down my door, and perhaps throw in Jillian and Sandra just to get it all over with. And after that dinner? Then I’ll start planning another for New Year’s, I suppose, when Claire is in town.
Mac-and-Cheese, with no pre-baking necessary! It boils in the milk while it bakes. But you can always prepare the dish the night before, stick it in the fridge and the next day you’ll find that all the noodles have softened. Taste-wise made no difference to me. Definitely made cooking the day of quite a bit easier.
Good wine need not be expensive. Both these are my favorite reds. Alamos has a great Malbec for $8.99, and the Cabernant-Sauvignon from Trapiche is pretty dang good too, even drier, even smoother, for only $9.99. When in doubt, always go for Argentine / Chilian reds — they’re the best!
I’m a big fan of good dairy, and not just because I live in Wisconsin. You can taste the difference, and they put milk through so much crap just to make it skim that I feel confident in saying that whole is a lot more wholesome. Organic Valley is the state pride, and I’ve found that Weyauwega isn’t too bad themselves. Whole milk, super sharp cheddar and 4% cottage cheese… that’s what I’m talking about.
Yes, there’s a lot of cheese in there. I won’t tell you how much, but clearly, it looks delicious. Right? Right!?
Good knives, unfortunately, are not so cheap. Totally a good investment, if you cook often. I bought Victorinox, the same makers of Swiss Armys, which are reputedly sharp and not as expensive as the super high-end stuff, like Mac Knives. Suddenly, cutting carrots doesn’t seem like such a chore.
This meal took 5 minutes to make. I pulled tenderloins out of the fridge, sprinkled salt, saw a couple of tomatoes that needed using, chopped those up and threw in some garlic. Roasted ‘em suckers ’til delicious. The trick is not to overcook meats. Also, don’t use baking trays to broil unless you want them to warp.
Serve with a swirl of spaghetti. I’m also a big fan of good serving dishes and cookware. Good and reasonably priced cookware can be found at Marshall’s sometimes, but you can always find awesome plates and fun mugs and glasses at thrift stores for less than a dollar.
Stewed Lentils and Tomatoes, posing with typewriter. Yummy goodness as I write letters to far away friends. This recipe is from SmittenKitchen. Her recipes tend to be saltier or sweeter than I like, so I tend to go easy on her suggested amounts.
The French have it right to leave the salad till the end. The greens cut through all the grease you injested, leaving you feeling a little less guilty at having eaten so much.
