Tuesday, October 26

Seasoned Pork Tenderloin and Fried Potatoes

Yes, I know it has been a long time since I've updated. My excuse, as always, is that I've been too busy. The most complicated thing about blogging is hooking my camera up to the computer to transfer the photos every day. Now, though, I've got this cool card that automatically uploads the pictures to my computer and to the interwebs so it is much easier to blog. So, as always, I'll try to be better.

Tonight was Michael's night to cook. He made pork tenderloin -- it was already seasoned with garlic and a lot of black pepper -- and fried potatoes. The potatoes were delicious! The pork was pretty good -- it was a little peppery, but I got used to it after a little while. I'll be eating the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

The presentation isn't the best -- we'll be working on that in the coming months as well. The last few months have been kind of busy -- with the wedding and our new furniture purchases for the living room -- that cooking has sort of fallen by the wayside. I think we're ready to get back into it, though. So we'll see.

Sunday, October 3

Crab cakes and Homemade Potato Chips

My night to cook.  After we went to a local crab cake place (which, unfortunately, has since closed) last month, Michael commented that we could probably make our own crab cakes at home.  Crab was on sale this week (not the jumbo lump, but the back fin) for only $7.99 a pound at the grocery store, so I decided to try.  I followed a Cook's Illustrated (of course) recipe that uses very little ingredients other than the crab -- just scallions, a little breadcrumbs, a green herb (I used cilantro), egg, and seasonings.  For my first time cooking with crab, they actually turned out pretty good.  (And much cheater than buying crab cakes at a restaurant).  Next time, if I decide to use cilantro as the herb again, I probably won't use as much.  For the potato chips, I used our mandoline to slice the potatoes (the food processor takes too long to clean up), fried them up in the deep fryer, and dusted them with salt and Old Bay.  Yummy.

Saturday, October 2

Ribs and Potato Salad

Ribs were on sale at the grocery story this week.  (Yes, we finally went back to our menu planning and grocery shopping schedule) and Michael was still proud of his ribs cooking ability after his first attempt to grill ribs was so successful over the wedding weekend.  So he decided to try again.  This time he used the Should be Illegal recipe that I've used in the past.  They turned out wonderfully.  (You do have to cook them a little longer than the hour the recipe calls for -- more like 2 hours).

He served the ribs with potato salad which, for some reason, didn't turn out as well.  I forgot to tell him to add onion.  Maybe that was it.  Maybe the proportion of mustard to mayo was off.  Not sure, but it ended up a little vinegary.  Which was weird since there wasn't any vinegar in it.  The ribs more than made up for the potato salad, though.

Friday, October 1

Out to dinner night.

Now that our self-imposed rule of only dining at restaurants we can walk to has ended, we decided to try a fairly new place in Rockville, Againn.  (They also have a location in D.C.).  The restaurant is billed as an upscale British Isles restaurant.  It was fairly crowded when we got there, which was a little surprising for 8 pm at a strip mall type restaurant in the 'burbs.  Our table was near the bar -- Michael and I each ordered Irish drinks -- Michael's was Smithwick's beer (on draft), mine was an Irish cider (also on draft).  We ordered the spinach and artichoke dip for an appetizers, Michael ordered the bangers and mash, which I got fish and chips with mushy peas. 

The drinks were huge -- 20 ounce.  (Yet I still managed to put away 2 of them).  The appetizer (along with a bread basket) came out quickly.  Michael loved the bread and the spinach dip was okay  -- more spinachy than I usually like.  Our dinners were good -- Michael seemed to like the bangers (which are sausages) and mashed potatoes, served with an onion gravy.  The fish was okay -- it was a huge piece of fish (probably about 12 inches long) and fairly thick, so the "fried" to "fish" level wasn't quick right.  It was served with an oniony egg sauce instead of tarter sauce.  The chips (fries) were good and served with ketchup, a garlic aioli sauce (which Michael loved) and malt vinegar.  The mushy peas were mushy and I didn't eat them.

All in all, a fairly good dinner.  I wasn't really hungry for dinner.  (Had a large quiznos lunch), so maybe the next time we go, I'll be more hungry and could try one of their more refined entrees. 

Thursday, September 30

Pork Chops and scalloped potatoes

Another from the freezer and pantry dinner night.  I pulled the pork chops out of the freezer this morning and had Michael check they were defrosting during the day.  We bought the pork chops (which are huge -- I cut them in 2 so they aren't so thick) in bulk at Costco so we always have a huge selection of chicken, hamburger, pork chops, and sometimes steak in the freezer. 

I sliced the chop down the middle to make 2 thin cut (I've found that one chop is enough for both of us), seasoned it with Penzey's Pork Chop Seasoning, which has a really nice smokey flavor and threw it on the George Forman grill.  I also made a prepared box of Scalloped Potatoes.  (Cheese and pork chops is a bit of an unusual combination, but we just had rice on Tuesday).  The chops were cooked in ablout five minutes, but I left them on a little longer to brown and surprisingly, they didn't end up dry and overcooked.  Michael isn't a huge fan of pork, but he even liked the flavor tonight.  And asked that I always grill pork chops in the future.

I served dinner with a tomato, lettuce, and cheese salad.  Using up the lettuce and tomatoes from last night's burger night and the cheese still leftover from the wedding.

Wednesday, September 29

Hamburgers and chips

It was my night to cook.  No pictures because we were too hungry.  Today was Baxter's daycare day for the week and Michael picked me up at the Metro station closer to Baxter's daycare so that we could pick him up together.  Traffic was a nightmare because of a bad bus accident and we had to stop at the grocery store to get buns for the hamburgers.  By the time we got home, it was about an hour late and we were both starved.  So, no pictures. 

I did the hamburgers (1/5 pound each) on the George Forman grill with a little bit of seasoning.  Served them with chips left over from the wedding.

Tuesday, September 28

Chicken quesadilla and spiced rice

Michael's night to cook.  Again since we haven't gone grocery shopping since the wedding, we're been relying on what's in our freezer and pantry.  So it's been a challenge.  No sour cream with dinner (even though I love it with quesadillas) because, according to Michael, what was remaining in the refrigerator was a little too sour.  Michael added some diced jalapenos to the chicken and it kicked up the flavor profile a little bit.  The cheese was cheddar, leftover from the wedding.

Monday, September 27

Pasta with meat sauce and garlic bread

Michael's night to cook.  He said he was making meat balls, but I'm not sure what happened.  It ended up as meat sauce.  I thought dinner was pretty good, but Michael wasn't happy with the sauce since it was from a jar. 

The garlic bread (made from the tons of bread we have leftover from the wedding weekend) was good.  Although I think he made it in the oven (rather than the toaster over) since it was only toasted on one side. 

Sunday, September 26

I know, I know.  I've been a horrible food blogger.  It's been a month since I've updated.  But I can explain.  We've been busy -- getting married.  Now that things have settled down a bit, I'm back to blogging.

Grilled Chicken and Mashed Potatoes

We haven't been grocery shopping for non-wedding food for two weeks now, so we're trying to use up stuff in the freezer and pantry.  Sunday was my night to cook.  (The potatoes were left over from the wedding weekend -- I had planned to make potato salad one night, but since we had so much food, I didn't.)  I seasoned the chicken with Penzey's Bicentennial Rub on the George Forman grill, and served it with mashed potatoes.  Not the best dinner ever.

Monday, August 30

Sloppy joes and peas?

I thought he was kidding about the peas thing.  He made a comment about how we were having peas for dinner.  I laughed, thinking it was a joke.  Because everyone knows that peas don't go with sloppy joes.  Turns out Michael didn't get that memo.  The sloppy joes were excellent.  I don't know about the peas because I didn't try them.  There's just something wrong with serving peas with sloppy joes.  Kind of like having milk with pizza.

Sunday, August 29

Salad, (then later) McDonald's

Technically my night to cook.  Michael was at his friend's house for a Star Wars role-playing game-a-thon.  (Lasting over 12 hours).  Since Michel wasn't home, I made myself salad for dinner.

Michael got home later and was "starved", so we decided to go to the 24 hour McDonald's.  Michael got a couple of burgers and some fries.  I couldn't resist a cheeseburger and Baxter got a happy meal, which he unwillingly shared with Ferb and me.   

 

Saturday, August 28

Cheese Fondue

Yes, another "cheese as dinner" night.  We had to eat fast (and early) because we were going to a performance at Strathmore tonight, so Michael decided to go with a quick option.  The cheese, as usual was excellent.  (The performance was also excellent!)

Friday, August 27

Out to dinner night.

In our continuing effort to eat at restaurants within walking distance, this time we venture out to Bobby's Crabcakes, a restaurant a couple of blocks from our house.  Last week I managed to score a Groupon for the restaurant, so we got a discount.  Michael and I both ordered the crabcake platter, which was two crabcakes served with fries.  They were excellent!  I was a little apprehensive because I had read some of the reviews on the place which said the fries were soggy, but everything was fabulous!  We both enjoyed dinner immensely.  It is a little expensive (even with groupon), but the crabcake quality was top-notch.

Thursday, August 26

No dinner.  We were supposed to have pulled pork from the freezer for dinner, but we just weren't hungry.  We drove up to Deep Creek Lake today to see the place where we are having our wedding next month, meet with our caterer, and meet with our officiant.  We had lunch up there and just didn't feel hungry at dinner time.  So no dinner.

There was, however, a later snack of Kraft Mac 'n Cheese.  Yes, the box kind.  And it isn't as good as I remember.

Wednesday, August 25

Burgers and fries

I decided that I've been working way to hard the last couple of weeks trying to come up with creative menu ideas, so I decided to go with burgers tonight.  I served them with two kinds of fries -- waffle cut (leftover frozen ones from a couple of months ago) and sweet potato fries (an impulse purchase from Trader Joe's -- I can't help myself when I'm there, I have to buy something because everything looks so interesting).

The burgers were good -- I did them on the George Forman grill and melted the cheese and served them with bacon (and buns, which are not pictured).  The waffle fries I assume were okay -- I didn't get any because Michael claimed them.  The sweet potato fries were okay.  Again, it's the savor and the sweet mix that I guess I just don't like.  We won't be buying them again.

Tuesday, August 24

Jerk Chicken, Bitchy Pineapple

Michael's night to cook.  The chicken and potatoes were excellent.  The pineapple (which was served grilled) was okay.  Michael liked it, but I guess I'm just not a huge fan of sweet with savory.  The sauce/dip he served with the roasted potatoes were excellent -- dill mixed with sour cream.  All in all, a good meal.

Monday, August 23

Braised lamb shoulders

It may look pretty, but the "lamb" tasted an awful lot like liver.  So my dinner was a peanut butter sandwich.  Michael managed to eat some of it, but I noticed he didn't save the leftovers for lunch the next day. 

Sunday, August 22

Salad with garlic toast

My night to "cook".  And by cook, I mean assemble.  We had a package of those pre-cooked chicken strips in the fridge and I figured we should probably use them up.  So I created grilled chicken salad for dinner.  Using a cucumber and tomato from my "garden".  I served it with garlic bread (from the freezer).  The weird little shavings you see on the bowl is cheese.  We didn't have any shredded cheese and don't have a cheese shredded, so I microplaned some into the salad.  Not my best idea every because you really don't get that great cheesiness with microplaned cheddar cheese.

Saturday, August 21

You see on the calendar how it says "Chicken Kiev"?  That was a joke.  Because to me, Chicken Kiev = Barf.  You see, back when I was in high school, I went to a band banquet with my mom and we were served Chicken Kiev.  I got really sick the next day (not sure if it was related to the Chicken Kiev or not) and ever since that day, Chicken Kiev = Barf.  So Michael thought it would be funny to put Chicken Kiev on the menu.

I showed him, though.  We didn't have dinner tonight.  We spent the entire (and I mean entire) day cleaning out our office closet and didn't feel like eating.  So no dinner.  I think Michael probably made himself sometime, though.

Friday, August 20

So if you notice on the calendar, we were supposed to go to a place called Apollo for dinner tonight.  We didn't.  Guess why.  Give up?  Because it's not actually open for dinner.  Michael didn't check the hours before deciding that's where he wanted to go.  Instead, we went to the Ixtapa, the Mexican restaurant we visited last month.  We had the queso again and Michael (trying to establish a "usual" for the restaurant) again ordered the seafood enchilada.  This time I ordered the chicken quesadilla.  Michael was (again) happy with his choice.  My quesadilla wasn't great -- not a whole lot of flavor -- but dipped in the queso it turned out to be okay. 

Thursday, August 19

So we were supposed to have a Greek-style shrimp dinner.  We didn't.  Mostly because it was my night to cook and I really didn't feel like cooking.  So instead we got pizza.  Again.  Sorry.  Instead of Papa Johns, though, we went to a local place near us.  A little better, I guess.

Wednesday, August 18

Penne pasta with mushrooms and asparagus in a cream "sauce"



My night to cook. I tried a pasta dish which smelled pretty good as it was cooking thanks to the garlic and shallots. Unfortunately, the "sauce" failed to thicken and so the pasta didn't really have that great of a flavor.



Although I packaged up the leftovers for lunch tomorrow, Michael asked me to strain it so the pasta juice wasn't included. Oops.

Tuesday, August 17

Steak mashed potatoes, mushrooms, and (for some) creamed spinach


Michael's night to cook. We haven't had steak for a while and it was on sale at the grocery store this week. Michael served it with mashed potatoes (my make-ahead recipe), lots of mushrooms, and some creamed spinach for himself. The spinach was frozen and pretty disgusting, so I didn't have any. The rest of the dinner was excellent, though.

Monday, August 16

Fish Tacos


Michael's night to cook. He decided to switch things up and make the fish tacos rather than the steak that was originally scheduled for tonight. He fried up the tilapia with panko bread crumbs. He served it with lettuce (instead of the traditional cabbage), quasi blanco cheese, and sauce made with buttermilk, sour cream, and some peppers-in-a-jar stuff that he spent an incredibly long time picking out in Harris Tetter. He also made his own guacamole.


Despite the non-traditional ingredients, the tacos turned out pretty good. I took the leftovers to work the next day and broke the universal "no fish in the microwave at work" rule.

Sunday, August 15

Chicken Pot Pie

A recipe from the latest issue of Cook's Illustrated.  It was supposed to be a "quicker" version of chicken pot pie, yet it took over 2 hours to make.  Combined with the cherry pie I also made, I spent pretty much all of Sunday afternoon/evening cooking.  Totally not worth it.  The chicken pot pie was okay, but not spectacular.  Michael pointed out that you can buy them frozen for under $1 at the grocery store. 

Saturday, August 14

Dinner.  Hot dogs and chips.

We had the hot dogs and chips that were planned for last night for dinner tonight.  Michael cooked them on the George Forman grill.  Not quite the same as cooking on a stick over a camp fire, but still tasty. 

We had the s'mores for dessert.  I microwaved my marshmallows to heat them.  Michael decided to toast his over the gas burner.  Baxter, our puggle, is normally underfoot while all cooking is going on (the better to catch crumbs, I guess), but even he sensed the danger in Michael cooking over an open flame and moved to another room during the process.

Saturday, August 14

Breakfast.  We had more luck with the fire in the morning and I was able to cook breakfast. 

I did a breakfast sandwich with eggs, cheese, and bacon on a toasted English muffin.  Served with coffee (not shown).

Cast iron works really well for cooking over a camp fire, even though it weighs a ton.

Friday, August 13

Out to dinner night.

We went camping.  So we were supposed to have hot dogs, chips and s'mores.  Unfortunately because of the wet fire wood, the camp fire looked like this:

Since Michael didn't think cold hot dogs constituted "dinner", he made an emergency run for more suitable provisions.

Kind of a bummer since I was really looking forward to the s'mores.

Thursday, August 12

Bread, cheese, olives

My night to "cook".  I had planned to have bread, cheese, olives, and wine on the balcony as a nice light dinner.  The weather did not cooperate.  We got a storm that started at about 6 pm.  This was after the morning rush hour storm.  Not a good day for a picnic.  So we ate in front of the TV instead.  Dinner was simple, but okay.  We had cheddar, Irish, and Fontina cheeses, summer sausage and pepperoni, and a couple of different kinds of olives.  Served with wine.

Wednesday, August 11

Fried chicken and mashed potatoes

I made real fried chicken, using a recipe in this month's Cook's Illustrated.  It took a really, really, really long time.  Especially for a weeknight.  The chicken turned out okay.  (Except for the thighs which I apparently didn't cook long enough because they were still pink inside).  Pink chicken is never a good thing.

I served the chicken with instant mashed potatoes and a salad.

The salad had cucumbers and tomatoes from my "garden".  The first cucumber harvest of the season!

Tuesday, August 10

Kielbasa and Fried Potatoes

Ironically enough, I received my new camera in the mail today (gotta love amazon) and was playing with it before dinner.  Despite this, I forgot to take a picture of dinner.  Dinner was fried.  Michael cut up the Kielbasa and fried it.  He cut up the potates and fried them.  An excellent meal.

Monday, August 9

Teriyaki stir fry with green beans and mushrooms

Normally Monday is Michael's night to cook, but he wouldn't let me get away with not cooking on Sunday.  Or last Thursday.  He blabbered something about "not holding up my end of the bargain".  So I kind of made the stir fry I had originally planned for Thursday, and then for Sunday.  I say "kind of" because the steak had been sitting in the refrigerator for a few too many days and after the great chicken fried steak incident of 2009, I didn't want to risk it.  At Michael's suggestion, I subbed the remaining roast beef for the steak.

Not the greatest, but it was edible.  The picture is at a weird angle because I broke the screen on the camera on Sunday. 

Sunday, August 8

So, it was supposed to be my night to cook.  It didn't happen.  Michael had his friends over to play Star Wars (I've described it before).  So we had pizza for lunch.  And had lots of leftovers.  So I decided there really was no reason to cook dinner.  I think Michael might have made himself another cheesesteak. 

BTW -- having Michael's friends over to play Star Wars is like living in an episode of The Big Bang Theory. 

Saturday, August 7

Philly cheesesteaks

Totally forgot to take a picture.  Michael's night to cook.  He used rare, thin sliced roast beef from the deli counter, onions, and provolone cheese.  He liked it a lot.  I was indifferent.

Friday, August 6

In our continuing quest to visit all restaurants within walking distance of our house, we tried Taste of Saigon, a Vietnamese place a few blocks from our house.  I had the lime steak, whih was topped with a fried egg.  Good flavor on the steak -- it definately had the Asian-style flavor.  (I opted not to try to eat the steak with chopsticks, which just seemed a bit odd).  Michael ordered the Seafood Combination, which was a bunch of various seafoods in a broth, served on noddles.  He wasn't a huge fan of it -- he thinks it was cooked in a fish stock, so the end result was very fishy.  We declined dessert.  Although my steak was okay, it wasn't a great place and I don't think we'll be back.

Thursday, August 5

Dinner failure.

I was supposed to cook, but I just didn't feel like it.  We ended up ordering pizza.

Oops.

Wednesday, August 4

Lobster rolls with homemade chips





My night to cook. I turned to an old standby that's great on a hot summer night. I used a little too much tarragon in the lobster salad, but all in all, a good meal.

Tuesday, August 3

Fried chicken salad

Michael's night to cook.  The menu says chef's salad, but the chef decided to add chicken to the salad.  He used up the other chicken breast from last night's dinner.  Michael breaded the chicken with panko crumbs, which added an amazing crunch.  He served it with garlic bread made from leftover sandwich rolls.

Monday, August 2

Michael's night to cook.

No pictures.  As my regular readers know, I've been very, very, very far behind on actually posting our dinners.  So far behind that I completely forgot to take a picture of Monday night's dinner.  We had meat fondue.  (Which means that even though it was Michael's night to cook, we each ended up cooking our own food).  We had chicken, shrimp, and steak (although the steak didn't taste quite right, so we avoided eating it).  Michael used beef broth as the cooking liquid (instead of our normal chicken broth) and I don't think we'll do that again.  It gave the chicken too much of a beef flavor -- is it Chickef or Beecken?  Michael served the meats with potatoes and mushrooms and four dipping sauces (dijonaise, dill and sour cream, teriyaki, and horseradish).  A good dinner.  Sorry you weren't able to see it.

Sunday, August 1

I'm a slacker.  I was supposed to make pork chops for dinner, but we had a busy day.  I did a lot of cleaning of the house and revamped our TV and other electronics, straightening out the cords and reprogramming the remotes, and was exhausted when it came time to cook dinner.  I approached Michael, explained that I wasn't really feeling like cooking the pork chop and suggested the we order pizza instead.  He said he wasn't looking forward to pork chops and that he was about to suggest the same thing.  So we ordered the usual from Papa Johns. 

Saturday, July 31

Homemade pizza.

Michael's night to cook.  He made his world famous white pizza.  Excellent, as usual.

Friday, July 30

Out to dinner night.

It's restaurant week in Bethesda and so we decided to bend the rules about only eating out at places within walking distance.  We also broke the rule about not going to the same place twice.  We went to Redwood in Bethesda (where Michael had the fabled scallop dish that he talked about for weeks afterward).  We ordered from their Restaurant Week Menu.  For starters, I had the tomato salad (who knew that watermelon and tomatoes would taste so good together?), while Michael ordered the Arugula and Beet Salad.  Michael described his salad as "earthy", which I interpreted as meaning that it tasted like dirt.

For our entrees, I ordered the chicken with macaroni and cheese while Michael ordered the market fish, which turned out to be steel head trout.  My entree was amazing -- the mac and cheese is on their regular menu as a side and I'm going to have to go back there again just to have it.  It was absolutely amazing.  Michael enjoyed his fish dish and I tasted a tiny bit of it and it seemed okay.  (I'm not a huge fan of fish).  For desert, we ordered the chocolate pudding cake (me) and the almond cake (Michael).  We received the chocolate pudding cake (me) and the sorbet of the day (Michael).  Since our waitress seemed pretty busy, we decided not to bring the mistake to her attention.  The sorbet was cantaloupe seasoned with tarragon and it wasn't so good.  Michael was pretty luck that I wasn't so hungry after devouring my mac and cheese and chicken, so he ate most of my dessert, which was really, really, really good.  All in all, Redwood is an excellent place and I hope that we'll make another exception to our self imposed rules of dining out to go back there again soon.

Thursday, July 29

Enchiladas Verdes

My night to cook.  I had the day off from work, which is the only reason I was able to complete this 5 hour long recipe on a weeknight.  It's not so complicated to make, just takes a long time.  First I poached the chicken in a broth made with chicken broth, garlic, onion, and cumin.  Then I charred the tomatillos and peppers under the broiler while the chicken was cooling.  I blended the tomatillos and peppers in the food processor to make a sauce, heated the corn tortillas (so they would roll without breaking) and filled them with the chicken and some Monterey Jack cheese.  Then I poured the sauce over the top and baked the whole thing.  I served it with radishes (turns out Michael love radishes) and sour cream.  I gotta tell you, it was absolutely worth all the work.  This is one of the best dishes I've ever made. 

Wednesday, July 28

Cuban Ham Quesadillas.

My night to cook (and yes, I know things are really messed up from the calendar.  Blame it on the power outage on Sunday).  I'll be honest, Michael gagged when he heard we were having Ham Quesadillas for dinner.  He said that it just sounded gross.  But they turned out really good.  I used deli ham, Gruyere cheese, chopped pickles, red onions, and a dijon mustard sauce.  Surprisingly good.  And fast to make.

Tuesday, July 27

Pork chops with a mustard and caper sauce, served with mashed potatoes and green beans

Michael's night to cook.  He followed a Cook's Illustrated recipe and I discovered I'm not really a fan of onions, capers, and mustard mixed together.  He serve the pork with mashed potatoes (instant) and green beans (frozen).  Oh well -- at least there's always ice cream.

Monday, July 26

Fried  Grilled chicken salad

It was supposed to be fried chicken, but the frozen breaded chicken we purchased at the grocery story on Saturday had some sort of blackish substance on it.  I have pictures (and will be writing a letter to Tyson's about it), but since it's pretty disgusting, I'm not going to post them here.  Luckily I had defrosted a chicken breast for over the weekend, so I just grilled it up (using the handy-dandy George Foreman grill) and served the salad with grilled chicken instead.  Served with very well done garlic toast (Michael made that, not me).

Sunday, July 25

Fish tacos.

While Sunday is normally Michael's night to cook, he was concerned that the fish that he was scheduled to make last night wasn't going to keep very long.  So we traded -- I'm making dinner tomorrow night instead.  The weather, however, threw a bit of a wrench in our plans.  We got hit with a huge thunderstorm (with lots of rain) in the afternoon, which caused the power to go out for several hours.  During dinnertime.  Since our cooktop is gas, Michael managed to light the burners and went ahead with making dinner by flashlight in our very dark kitchen.

The tacos were good.  He made the dressing with sour cream and lime juice and served the fish with red cabbage.  Pretty good for a made-up recipe cooked in the dark.