49-4

Over all ingredients

Browning the bison.

Cooking the veggies.



Roux.



Bison, veggies, and roux all mixed.



My 'fake meat'.




Yes I cheated with the mashed potatoes.




Before being put in the oven (his).




SALAD!



After being taken out of the oven (still his).

Finished meal.

My leftovers.

His leftovers.

Alright, I know that last night on Facebook I said that this post was going to be late and possibly on Friday but I was clearly wrong. And that is not a bad thing.  So here is what I got myself into last night, Shepard's Cowboy Pie. I don't feel like I can really call it a "Shepard's Pie" because if bison have any type of shepards they would be cowboys, therefore it is a cowboy pie.

I am very proud of this weeks dinner. I had no real recipe, it all came from my head and, AND I was on time in delivering the nom's. I even had time to do the dishes before I started. Also I had no mishap of any kind. It does garner saying that I was allowed to leave work a little bit early and that means I got home half an hour earlier than usual. So that was a little bit of a leg up in the timing department.

As you can see from the pictures I scrapped the tomatoes and the parmesan for the salad; it just would have been too much. The tomatoes were for me anyway, he really doesn't like them. The parmesan came into play later in the form of garlic parmesan bread. I also totally cheated on the potatoes. Honestly though, mashed potatoes from a box are probably in their best form when on top of shepard's cowboy pie. You don't want one layer to over power the other, you just want them to work with each other and be equally delicious. So to have the super creamy potato top I used potatoes in a box, it worked and I am happy that I didn't waste my time with mashing my own potatoes. The boy even commented that the potatoes were the perfect consistency, so HA!

This meal ranked an 8 on the boy's scale and that makes two meals in a row that are 8's so I think I am doing alright. As for the descriptor phrase he said (and I quote) " it is a meal that anybody who likes food would want to eat". I am pretty sure that that is a good thing. I would agree, It was very yummy and perfect food for the cold snowy night that we had last night.

Next week: Cocoa chili

Not Haggis! 1/26

Menu for 1/26:

• Salad
• Shepard's Pie

Salad:

Baby spinach, arugula, carrots, tomatoes, Parmesan, sesame soy ginger dressing.

I am fairly certain that we have gone through this salad thing before. This one is a little bit different but nothing too extravagant. The Parmesan is is iffy though; I might not put it in. I don't know yet.

Shepard's Pie:

Garlic mashed potatoes, ground bison, hodge podge veggies, mirepoix, roux.

It has been years and years since I have made a Shepard's pie. I used to make them when my little sister and brother were young and I lived at home, neither of which has been the case for a long time. I am predicting this to be rather simple; brown the meat, cook the veggies, mix with roux, cook potatoes, layer, cook the whole thing. I will let you know if there is anything that makes it more difficult. If you are wondering about the bison it is merely because I could and none of the beef looked good enough. Also if you are paying attention and noticed in the last two posts that I mentioned that I am something of a vegetarian and are wondering how I am going to eat this I will tell you. I have 'fake meat' and I plan on making my own little Shepard's pie with that. I'll take a picture so that you can see.

50-3

Waffle ingredients

Waffle Batter.

Hashbrowns pre-cooking

"Shoot gurl... D'you spray?"

Breakfast sausage (ish)

Eggs with milk

Hashbrowns after cooking

Remember, constant stirring on a medium low heat

Finish product (nom nom nom)

So here it is, breakfast for dinner. There was a small hiccup that it was done on Thursday night instead of Wednesday, but hey sometimes you just can not help the fact that life can get in the way of life.

This was all fairly simple and it was a request from my Darling. I started kind of late because I wanted it all to be warm when he came home so dinner really wasn't served until about 9pm. One of these days I will actually serve dinner at the right time, I swear. Anyway, as my (currently) 1 follower will see from the picture I did not spray the waffle iron well enough the first time and there was a bit of waffle carnage there.  WARNING: An inside joke is about to happen: "SHOOT GURL! D'you spray?!". The answer is no, no I did not. That aside all went according to plan and nothing (minus the sacrificed waffle) was ruined. I didn't even set off the smoke detector. I am proud of that fact considering the level of multi-task cooking I was doing.

This whole meal garnered a "solid 8" from the boy, and when asked for the one word descriptor he said "comfort" and then added "food" to it. I am thinking of changing the one word descriptor to a one phrase descriptor; I think that that would be far easier to handle in the scheme of things. In all honesty I find it really amusing that he requested breakfast for dinner because he rarely ever eats breakfast. It needs to be a special occasion and for other people besides he and I to be involved before he will consent to eating before 3pm. It can be very frustrating but I deal.

This was all very delicious and we had left over waffles that I plan to toast up in the toaster oven over the weekend. There are left over hashbrowns too but I think that I might only manage to get one of them. Hashbrowns, especially crispy hashbrowns, are nom nom with two big N's in the eyes of my darling. As for next week, I have no idea yet but you should check in in case I make haggis  or something equally disgusting.  :)

Breakfast for Dinner

Menu for 1/19:

• Scrambled Eggs
• Breakfast Sausage (ish)
• Waffles
• Hash Browns

Scrambled Eggs

Eggs, touch of milk (2%), butter, salt to taste, whatever else you want to put in them (I am thinking perhaps dill and Parmesan cheese).

This is scrambled eggs. If you don't know how to make scrambled eggs or you don't know what they are then you might just be a lost cause and why are you reading this blog? If by any change that has offended those of you who are clueless and hopeless who might be unfamiliar to this delicacy then let me enlighten you. They are fairly simple; crack eggs, whisk them, put in pan, stir, don't burn. Those are the main steps, for those who want to take it up a notch here are my steps. Whisk in about 1/2 a tbsp. of 2% milk per three eggs (I normally use large eggs but I have been known to also used extra large), pour into a pan heated on a medium low heat with at least 2 tbsp. of butter melted in it, stir gently but constantly, when the eggs just start to take form then add whatever fixings you would like, keep stirring, take them off the heat a little before you think that they are done (they continue to cook in the pan off the heat). Boom goes the dynamite you are done.

Breakfast Sausage (ish)

 A box of Morning Star Farms® breakfast sausage patties.

I am planning on following the directions on the back of the box. Simple as that. I should however explain the (ish) at this point. You see my darling boy is very much a meataterian and I am very much not. This, you may have noticed to a degree with my last posting. "His" had bratwurst, "Hers" had a lot of broccoli. I know what you are thinking right now 'but there was so much cheese? and she is making real eggs?!'. I don't stand by any code of terms when it comes to my system of eating; I eat what I like and I happen to not like most meat and love cheese. So there you have it.

Waffles

Just standard waffles from a box, the add an egg and some water type.

I think that that describes it pretty well. I am rather fortunate to live in a Trader Joe's® area and there rendition of Bisquick® is better than the real think in my opinion so I am going to be using that.

Hash Browns

I will be using the pattie type.

See the above 'Waffles' the description is basically the same.

#51/#2 Blizzard Wednesday

Fresh washed tomatoes.

That is how white it was outside.

Large yellow onion.

Yes I cheated with the basil. I couldn't for the life of me find fresh.

Ready to cook!

This is what it looked like all blended up; far less red than I thought it was going to turn out.

Spaghetti and brats.

Cooked spaghetti

The browning of the minced garlic.



The finished Spaghetti Aglio E Olio.



His.

 

Hers.

Well I ended up lucking out with a snow day on Wednesday. That meant that I got to stay home and take nice pictures and take my time. I have to say it was rather lovely; I think that we here in the Northeast should have at least one snow day a week just for the principle of the matter. Anyway, onward to the feast! The sauce was very easy to make, I love the Crock-pot®! I just chopped everything up and put it on low for the day, so simple. Also because I was home all day I was able to enjoy the aroma of the tomatoes and garlic cooking; rather delicious if I do say so myself.

As for the spaghetti aglio e olio, it was rather simple as well, though I did manage to mess it up with my conversions of measurements. In my genius brain I figured that two people did not need an entire pound of spaghetti, I did not however take into account that I should not make the entire amount of sauce for the adjusted amount of pasta. Because of this the meal ended up a little watery; as you can see in the "his" picture.

The watery factor did not affect the boy asking for seconds and saying that I can make this again for him if I liked. Surprisingly though it ranked one peg lower on the 1-10 scale of the overall meal (it was ranked at 6 as last week was a 7). When asked if he could give one word to describe the meal he gave me three; nourishing, savory, hearty. I'll take it.

Next week is still in the air. It will be either breakfast for dinner (which was requested by my darling) or some type of stew that I can make in the Crock-Pot®. Keep checking in to find out!

Gearing up for 1/12

Menu for January 12th

• Spaghetti Aglio E Olio
• Slow Roasted Tomato Garlic Sauce
• Steamed Broccoli
• Bratwurst Sausage

Spaghetti Aglio E Olio:

Dried spaghetti, good olive oil, whole garlic cloves, crushed red pepper flakes, fresh minced parsley, fresh shredded Parmesan and Kosher salt.

This is another of dear Ina Garten's recipes from "How Easy Is That?". I am looking forward to a less intensive entree and I am fairly certain that I know how to cook spaghetti so this should be a snap. Also, for those who want to know, 'Spaghetti aglio E Olio' translates to, spaghetti garlic and oil.

Slow Roasted Tomato Garlic Sauce:

Roma tomatoes, large yellow onion, garlic cloves, fresh basil, dried oregano, good olive oil, sugar, salt & pepper to taste.

As I told you at the end of last weeks post, I have decided to re-introduce myself to my Crock-Pot®. This recipe is how I am going to do that. Now I am sure that the above 'Spaghetti Aglio E Olio' is quite delicious on its own but my darling is on the type that he needs "red sauce" to truly enjoy pasta or pizza. Thus I am trying my hand at creating my own! This seems fairly straight forward so I am not expecting any surprises.

Steamed Broccoli and Bratwurst:

Broccoli, really hot water, bratwurst.

I don't really think that I need to elaborate on these things. I am not going to do anything fancy with anything in this step. Just cook them.

Onwards and upwards to 51/2!

# 52 or #1 which ever you like.

Ingredients for the pilaf. Chopped scallion and curly parsley in the bowl.

Herbed salmon ingredients.

Vinaigrette ingredients.

Finished salad.

Complete meal.

So that was everything. It took a lot longer than I thought and I was exhausted by the end of it. As for how it all came off, I would say that it was fairly smooth sailing. The only real hiccup that I came in contact with was that the fish took about twice as long to cook as the recipe said it would. It all took about 45 minutes of prep work, but in all honesty I think that that was because of the fact that I A) have very limited counter space in my kitchen, B) this was the first time that I was taking pictures while cooking, C) I didn't get home until about half an hour later than I wanted and my darling was held up at work as well. 

Dinner really wasn't served until around 9pm which was about an hour later than I wanted but on the up side of things, nothing was burnt. If you had to describe the meal in one word my darling assures me that it would be 'creamy'. I agree with that. Even the salmon was creamy, though I believe that that was because one of the steps in the recipe was to mix olive oil and lemon juice together, cover the salmon with the mixture and then let stand for 15 minutes at room temperature. Very creamy. The recipe also called for the salmon to be served with lemon wedges, this solved the creamy salmon issue wonderfully.

The boy also enjoyed the dressing for the salad very much. He remarked that it was just the right mixture of sweet and sour and it was not runny. I personally think that the later was because I shook the ingredients together instead of whisking them and I spooned the dressing on the salad instead of pouring it on top. Less dressing and more air bubbles; simple.

The rice was delicious though not what he is used to from his mom. I thought that it was the best part of the meal, but then again I ♥ carbs like a skinny girl loves Diet Coke™. The orzo added a certain chewiness to the dish that was delightful and the garlic added another zing to it. Yummy.

Next week I think that I am going to reintroduce myself to the crock-pot­­­®.

Prep for January 5th

Menu for January 5th:

• Salad with homemade vinaigrette
• Homemade rice pilaf
• Roasted salmon with green herbs

Salad:

Mesclun mix, shredded carrots, thinly sliced red onions, Trader Joe's® "stuffing mix".

This is a pretty standard salad in my eyes, but I am keeping in mind the fact that my darling is (in this way at least) a rather stereotypical male and dislikes at least 90% of all veggies and is turned of by "frou-frou" stuff in his salads. I personally love veggies and nuts and fruits and especially cheese and the inclusion of all in a salad would only better said salad in my opinion. The boy is picky however so I have to keep it safe. The Trader Joe's® stuffing mix contains celery, onions, fennel, rosemary, parsley, and a few other herbs all chopped up and mixed together.

Vinaigrette:

Olive oil, honey, lime juice, apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper to taste.

This is a recipe that I pulled out of my head. Vinaigrette's have to be one of the easiest things to make and I was supremely lucky to have a legitimate chef as a roommate in my early twenties who taught me how to make them. Once you learn the technique you can implement nearly any ingredients that you can think of. He once made one with tequila and avocados that was amazing; now that I am thinking of it I may have to replicate it later on in this experiment.

Rice Pilaf:

Medium grain white rice, orzo, vegetable stock, fresh chopped green onions, fresh minced curly parsley, minced garlic, salt and pepper to taste.

The recipe that I am going to use on for this pilaf  is a variation of one used by the boy's mom. Pilaf is one of his favorite side dishes so when we were out in the mid-west for the holidays she showed me how to make it. I have kept the bones of her recipe but I am going to add a little bit of me into it to make it mine. This will be the first time that I am trying this recipe so I hope all goes well.

Roasted Salmon with Green Herbs:

Salmon fillet, olive oil, lemon juice, minced scallions (both green and white parts), fresh minced dill, fresh minced curly parsley, dry white wine.

This dish is found in the Barefoot Contessa "How easy is that?" cookbook, copyright 2010, published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., New York. There, I do not want to get in any copyright infringement issues. I love Ina Garten, I want to be her when I grow up. My darling knows this and bought me one of her cookbooks for Christmas. This will be the first time that I am trying one of her recipes from a book and I think that I will have to fudge it a little considering the fact that it calls for a skinless salmon fillet and I could only obtain a skin on fillet.

I have decided to not post the recipes unless they are asked for. Alright here I go!