Menu for 3/29:
- Corn and Basil Rice
- Minted Peas
- Sweet-Glazed Salmon with Corn Salsa
Corn and Basil Rice:
Trader Joe's® Thai Jasmine Rice, Butter, Roasted Corn, Organic Basil Leaves, Salt& Pepper.
So we might just corn ourselves out on this one. Corn in the rice and on the salmon. Whatever, it'll be good at the very least, if not downright delicious.
Minted Peas:
Boom goes the dynamite, that's all she wrote.
Minted peas from the bag that I bought them in. I plan on following the directions on the back of the bag. I'll let you know how it goes.
Sweet-Glazed Salmon with Corn Salsa:
Fresh or thawed salmon fillets, organic blue agave sweetener, fresh minced ginger, crushed garlic, rice vinegar, Trader Joe's® Corn and Chile Tomato-less Salsa.
How does that sound for a Nom factor? Pretty darned delicious if you ask me, and since I am the one writing this blog, I did ask me and I said that the Nom Factor seems really high for this dish. All of these recipes come from the 'I ♥ Trader Joe's®' cookbook that I found at the local Urban Outfitters. I knew that store was good for something that wasn't ironic hipster clothes. Anyway, this is a WHOLE BOOK of recipes that are just from the ingredients found at Trader Joe's® stores. I have a feeling that you may find a lot of the upcoming weeks to involve this book. It is just that awesome. I am slightly jealous of the writers though. They clearly live in a part of the country that liquor is allowed to be sold in grocery stores. Here in Massachusetts that type of tomfoolery is frowned upon and you can only find grocery store booze in few and far between places. Even then it is normally only wine and beer, none of the really good stuff. But I digress, I am blessed with a plethora of Trader Joe's-es.
Menu for 3/16:
- Tuna on sourdough with homemade hummus sandwiches
The Sandwiches:
Tuna in olive oil, minced celery, minced yellow onion, lemon juice, "good" mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, salt & pepper, hummus (ingredients to follow), sourdough bread.
The Hummus:
Canned chickpeas, tahini or sesame sauce, minced garlic, lemon juice, Tabasco sauce, salt.
This recipe is from my Ina book. When we (my darling and I, not the royal 'we') first looked through this book we never considered looking at the lunch section. I think that we figured that since this whole project is about making him dinner then we should look at only dinner recipes. HA! We're adults! We could have ice cream for dinner if we want! Therefore we are living on the edge this week with this LUNCH recipe. Daring, I know. If I had an ice cream maker I think that I would make ice cream for dinner one of these nights and he would be over the moon. Alas though, I do not own an ice cream maker. *sigh*
Back to the recipe! This was one of the ones that we both agreed sounded om nom and since I am no stranger to making hummus from scratch, it doesn't seem like it will be all that difficult. I have to say that as of late the ease factor of a given recipe is a large part of whether I pick it or not. On weeks such as 10,8,7, and 4, I was nearly falling asleep while eating. So that fact coupled with the fact that I have been waking up at about ten of five in the morning to go to the gym at least twice a week makes the ease factor a huge deciding point. That and this one is rather healthy compared to some of the others that I have prepared for him *cough cough* steak *cough cough*.
I am planning on trying to stick to the letter of these recipes. I will tell you that I did omit the cornichons from the tuna because pickles give me heartburn like none other. It's weird, I love cucumbers (in my world they are called crunchy water) and I love dill and I love vinegar, but put them together and my body revolts and tries to burn itself from the inside out. Sad in a way. I have already asked him if he wanted them and he said no as well, so it is a mutual thing.Tahini has proved to be a difficult find so I have compensated and bought yogurt as a substitute. From my earlier hummus making experience I know that it is fine to use. I will still go out and look for it but I am not holding out much hope. I have to get Tabasco sauce too, preferably the smoked kind.
For easy shopping I took pictures of the recipe with my camera phone so I could see the ingredients. I might do that from now on and publish them at the end of my 'finished product' posts. I don't know though, what do you guys think?
Menu for 8/9:
- Shrimp Scampi
- Fettuccine Alfredo
Shrimp Scampi:
Shrimp, butter, lemon juice, parsley, salt & pepper, garlic, maybe white wine.
So this week it is back to the books; cookbooks that is. I received two cookbooks for Christmas and have since purchased 3 more so it is about time to put them to use. Both of this week's recipes come from a book that I bought about a week ago from "Used Book Superstore!", and yes that is the real name of the store. Well, I may have added the exclamation point. If you are unfamiliar with this place let me briefly enlighten you. Imagine the book section of your local thrift store, on steroids. That about sums it up; it has the same musty smell and weird selection just tons more of both. The book that the recipes are from is a gem; it is called "Cooking for 1 or 2" and was published in 1978. It is amazingly 70's-riffic and I am convinced that it was for the girls who just got married and had no idea what a kitchen was. It has a recipe for a baked potato. Awesome. My recipe for a baked potato; clean potato, wrap in tinfoil, put in 350° oven for 20 minutes, done. Well, after perusing the book a couple of times I've decided that I am going to try one of the "challenging" recipes with this Shrimp Scampi.
Fettuccine Alfredo:
Egg noodles, heavy cream, shredded Parmesan and Romano cheeses, butter, salt & pepper, a pinch of nutmeg.
This recipe is from the same book as the previous recipe. Again it is from the more "challenging" part of the book. The menu this week was a joint decision and I am going to state ahead of time that I think these recipes will not be too hard to complete and that I think I will finish at a rather normal time. I also think that they are going to taste delicious together, albeit really rich.
The camera that I normally use has been going through hissy fits as of late demanding that there is no memory card when there clearly is one. Hence I have been using the camera on my phone, so I apologize for the poor quality. I am hoping to replace the temperamental one soon but you, my dear readers, may have to put up with lesser quality photographs for a little while.
