Beans On Toast

Today's lunch - beans on toast.  Sourdough bread, Heinz Beans (imported from England, natch), Tillamook cheddar cheese, Worcestershire sauce & Sriracha sauce.

My mom teases me for making a hot lunch most days, so I'm tagging this Hot Lunch Holly

Chicken Tenders

Dinner tonight was baked chicken tenders with (optional) buffalo sauce, carrots & celery and baked potatoes.  Hot sauce was optional because of my four year old. Recipe here.  Really solid recipe, the only change I made was to double the sauce (because I love it).

Cottage Pie

Dinner tonight was Cottage Pie. Cottage Pie is a lot like Shepherd's Pie, but using beef instead of lamb.  I used this recipe because I was intrigued by the addition of cheddar cheese to the mashed potato topping but.....I didn't really care for it.  

First problem (and this is not the recipe's fault): I forgot that I don't really like ground beef except for in hamburgers, meatloaf and picadillo.  Secondly, the recipe, as written, would have come out grossly under-seasoned.  It never states to season the beef / veggie mixture (which, of course I did....I even added my favorite hot pepper sauce sambal oelek because it was bland, bland, bland).  Third problem: I used lean ground beef and it still came out greasy.  It'd be better to cook the vegetables and beef separately and then drain the beef, but the recipe says to cook the vegetables first and then add the beef to the pan and cook it for another 6-8 minutes.  Also, I thought it needed more potato topping, like it shows in the recipe photo.  I used one more potato than the recipe stated and it still wasn't enough.  

So I'll be looking for a new recipe and I'll definitely switch to Shepherd's Pie because I like lamb way more than ground beef.  It's sometimes hard to find lamb here in regular (read: affordable) grocery stores, but it's worth the effort to seek it out.  I will definitely add cheddar cheese to the mashed potato topping because that was the best part.

Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeño Popper Stuffed Chicken

Last night I made +Closet Cooking's Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Popper Stuffed Chicken.  It was quick, easy and adaptable to suit different people's tastes....one person doesn't like spicy food (he gets a pass, he's 4).  One doesn't eat bacon (not going to justify this one).  I simply assembled them according to people's needs and cooked them in the oven on separate pie plates to ensure that the bacon grease didn't get on the non-bacon-eater's portion.  I think next time I may par-cook the bacon a bit because I like really crispy bacon and that's hard to achieve here without totally drying out the chicken breast in my super-hot convection oven.  Also my chicken breasts were monstrously large & therefore hard to pound to the correct thinness.  Next time I will look for thinner breasts & put more yummy stuffing inside.  I served with a rice pilaf on the side & it was definitely a hit with my peeps.  Note to self: sharpen your knives!

Challah!

Here is a picture of my first ever loaf of challah that I made for Hanukkah.  

The entire menu was this:

Crostini with 3 spreads - chicken liver pâté, white beans & red onion or mushroom medley
Brisket with onion gravy
Latkes with apple sauce or sour cream
Brown sugar & ginger glazed carrots
Challah
Raspberry sorbet & chocolate cake

Everything was homemade except the desserts (I don't do desserts)











But I thought the challah was the prettiest thing I photographed that night.  It was hard to braid, so I called up a how-to video on YouTube and braided right along with the gal.

Lamb Tacos

Catching up....braised lamb tacos with rice & refried beans. Accompaniments: pickled red onions, radishes, avocado, scallions, tomatillo salsa & red salsa.

Minestrone

Catching up...here is a pic of some minestrone that I made on 11/10/12.  This is the first time I was happy with a food photo I took.  My recipe was based on Giada De Laurentiis' recipe for Winter Minestrone. I added pasta and a 2nd bean (kidney beans) and omitted the chard (because I had none - I like chard).  It was really yummy.

Borscht

Catching up....originally from October 20, 2012:





















First time making borscht....it was delicious.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil
6 red potatoes, quartered
2 ½ cups chopped green cabbage (about 1/4 of head)
1 large onion, chopped
8 cups (or more) canned vegetable broth
8 2-inch-diameter beets, peeled, chopped
2 carrots, peeled, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Low-fat sour cream
Chopped fresh dill
Lemon wedges

Method
1. Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add potatoes, carrots and onion and sauté until onions are soft, about 5 minutes.
2. Add 6 cups broth and beets. Add apple cider vinegar & lemon juice; season with lots of salt and pepper. Bring soup to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes. Add cabbage 1/2 way through.
3. Ladle soup into bowls. Top with dollop of sour cream; sprinkle with dill. Serve, passing lemon wedges separately.


Adapted from the Bon Appétit recipe Beet and Cabbage Borscht.

Peanut Butter, Bacon & Banana Sandwich

Catching up....originally from Oct 14, 2012: My favorite sandwich: peanut butter, bacon & banana.

Picklepalooza

Catching up...originally from August 5, 2012: The day after attending the Pickle Fest in Wallace Park (in Portland, Oregon) I was inspired to make my own pickles.  I used Ted Allen's recipe for everything except the pickled jalapeños.  I had some leftover brine so I made a small batch of radish pickles, which smells weird and tastes, well....not like radishes.  More like kimchi.  But all the other pickles turned out great!  The jalapeños en escabeche are shelf stable, and the rest are in the fridge, taking up precious shelf space.