Impromptu Panzanella and Other Stories

Nibbles

Now that we’ve caught up on the past menus, we can continue on they way we were. Last week was a comfort food sort of week: temperatures continue to drop and the schedule is starting to get heavy with holiday obligations on the horizon. Let’s tuck in to some tasty fuel, shall we?

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We unintentionally played along with Meatless Monday (is that still a thing?) by starting with a Rainbow Vegetarian Pad Thai–I just thought it looked tasty! It was, even though I left off the peanuts and subbed the remaining spinach spaghetti for the more traditional rice noodles (more veggies!). The crunch of the carrots next to the softer chew of the noodles and zoodles was a nice addition to the dish and the sauce was pretty spot-on for Pad Thai. If I were to do it again I’d probably double it to have enough for leftovers, there was the barest of 3rd servings there, but probably only due to my noodle substitution stretching it out farther.

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On Tuesday I made another batch of Cabbage Roll Soup and Beer Bread. I always forget how good this soup really is! Seriously, give it a try. I would normally make this in the Crock Pot but I really didn’t feel like fooling with it the night before or the morning of, so made it on the stove. It took about an hour but that was perfect as that’s how long the beer bread took to bake.

About the bread. I was, of course, making mine gluten free and used gf Bisquick. It required more liquid than the linked recipe called for (not surprising for converted items) but it occurred to me (after about 45 minutes) that, instead of adding more beer, it might have been a good idea to take a page from experience and add a couple of beaten eggs to the dough to give the whole thing a bit more stability. Like you do if you follow the GF Bisquick biscuit directions.

I’ll try that in the future, but it turned out okay enough without it. The bread was difficult to slice (the sugar makes for a nice, chewy crust) so we just tore hunks off the loaf. It was a little dense, but not unpleasantly so. And beer bread is a familiar taste/smell from my childhood–the only time Momma would buy beer is to make beer bread.

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On Wednesday night my plan was to give into a fried shrimp craving with corn on the cobb and a salad. The only hitch was, the salad greens I’d bought went over a little sooner than expected, and I was leafy vegetable-less. But I’d already shaved a couple of carrots and halved a pint of cherry tomatoes–what to do?!

I’d picked up some Pretzel rolls on Sunday at Target (never go shopping hungry or PMSing, right?) so I decided to make a bread salad. I cubed up on roll, make an oil and vinegar dressing with lots of herbs, and tossed it all together. Todd thought I was making something up when I explained the bread salad concept, but it’s actually a real thing and goes by the name panzanella. He called it crouton salad, and I can’t exactly disagree. But it was good, so that’s all that matters.

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Mmmm, Thursday. Who didn’t grow up eating Salisbury steak a few dozen times? This staple of frozen food sections and tv dinners is still damned tasty and the Salisbury Meatballs and Mashed Potatoes were definite nostalgia-fodder. Served with green beans, all it really needed was a little cube of molten apple “crisp” to complete the sensory memory. Except that the sauce, in this recipe, calls for adding a bit of barbecue sauce and I found that it overpowered the rest of the flavors. So if I were to make this again, I’d probably just skip that ingredient.

On Friday we drove down to Tallahassee for dinner out and then went and browsed the bookstore before heading home. It was a proper date night with an unexpected twist that I hope I can share more about soon.

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On Saturday we attended the annual fete at Bradley’s Country Store, with Duncan in tow. It was his biggest crowd to date and while I think he might have been a little overwhelmed at all the people and all the other dogs, he did very well and sat pretty (most of the time) for adults and kids to pet him. That night I made Mongolian Chicken with rice and stir-fry vegetables for supper. This was another instance of being too lazy to set up the slow cooker (I really don’t know what my issue is with it, lately) but, once again, it was no problem to pop the chicken into the oven with the sauce and let it cook while the rice did. Sure, it would have been slightly easier to shred if I’d done the low and slow method, but really it wasn’t an issue.

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We finished the week with Chicken Fried Steak Bites with Country Gravy and baked sweet potatoes. There really isn’t a lot to say about this meal–it was good, of course (hard to argue with breaded and fried cube steak, right?). It goes together pretty quickly and is super satisfying on a cold night.

Of course, it’s Thanksgiving week, now, and I hope you have your turkey all set to defrost. For anyone needing basic brining instructions, head over to our classic Todd’s Turkey post and check out our method. Hope you have a good one!

Month of Menus, Part 4

Nibbles

At last we come to the end of our menu catch-up sessions, to the week that encompassed both Halloween and our 3rd wedding anniversary.

Between Duncan’s protectiveness vibe and general work exhaustion (one of these days I’ll have to get into that), not only did we skip hosting our annual Halloween party, we didn’t even get around to putting up any decorations. Sad state of affairs when we don’t even have the energy to decorate for our favorite holiday!

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We couldn’t let the day go completely unmarked, however, so for supper that night I made our fall-favorite Pumpkin Sloppy Joes and served it with a simple salad. After supper we turned on the porch light and I sat out there with the candy while Todd tried to keep Duncan occupied and distracted from any little ones walking up our sidewalk. It mostly worked, but due to the Monday holiday and our late start (and I’m sure the lack of decorations hurt us, too), we hardly had any trick-or-treaters and have had to work through the enormous vat of candy on our own.

Aw. Shucks.

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On Tuesday I made a recipe I’d pinned a while back, but since I wasn’t together enough to set up the slow cooker, I simply scaled back the liquid called for in the recipe and made the Sweet Chili Chicken in the oven. It took about as long as the brown rice to do its thing in the rice cooker, and this way there was no chance of the chicken getting mealy, the way it can sometimes do over a full-day’s crock. This was a simple enough recipe and I could see making up a large batch one weekend and dividing it up for later use.

Wednesday was our anniversary and while I’d considered staying in and cooking, I decided to save us both the trouble and we went to one of the local Mexican restaurants here in Thomasville (that I still need to write-up!) and had one of the most amazing margaritas of my life. Seriously. The food was good, too, and I took not a single picture of my Shrimp Veracruz or Todd’s Chimichanga. I also did not take pictures of the cupcakes I picked up from Smallcakes. Bad blogger, indeed.

Thursday I’d planned to cook, but the day ended so weirdly at work that I opted for a leftover night. I may or may not have had a leftover cupcake for supper, followed by Halloween candy. I think I also made myself a sandwich at some point. It is what it is…

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Friday night I got back into the kitchen and attempted a pork chop version of a pork loin recipe, but without following the actual recipe (marinating and such). Yeah, it wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t nearly as good as it could have been if I’d remembered to marinate the chops the night before. I didn’t quite care, though, as I could have just as happily eaten the roasted potatoes and nothing else and been fine. Still, I left the Balsamic Roasted Pork Loin recipe on my To Be Tried board because I think it has potential.

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On Saturday I took a break from my frantic last-minute knitting frenzy to make a recipe I spotted on a Facebook video but which hails from Food Network. The Sausage Gravy Breakfast Lasagna gave me the opportunity to try out the Tinkyada lasagna noodles (they worked perfectly, btw) and fill our usual breakfast-for-dinner slot. Which the lasagna was tasty enough, I think the sausage gravy part of the recipe could have stood just as well on its own without the rest of the ingredients. I suppose you could add biscuits. If you really needed to.

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To round out the week I made Spaghetti Squash with Bacon, Spinach, and Goat Cheese and it was phenomenal! First, the tip to roast the squash in slices to avoid the squash steaming and becoming mushy was spot-on! (Though I’d probably still microwave the whole squash for a few minutes to make it easier to slice–that part’s a bit of a beast to do completely raw.) Second, anything with bacon and goat cheese will make me happy. I actually had the thought that so many cream cheese-containing recipes that are big on Pinterest could be elevated by swapping the cream cheese for goat cheese. In fact, the only complaint about this dish is that even with a larger than average spaghetti squash it barely made three portions. So, you know, double the squash if you’re wanting sufficient leftovers to share.

On that tasty note, we’re all caught up. I really do hope this glimpse of our supper plans over the last month encourage you to try something new or maybe revisit an old favorite sometime soon.

And, hey, if you have a cupcake for dinner one night? No judgement here!

A Month of Menus, Part 3

Nibbles

So, moving right along, we’re up to mid-month October, starting with the 17th.

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We started with a simple oven meal of Sesame Salmon with green beans–the beans were roasted on the same sheet pan so they got the benefit of the sesame and soy dressing on the fish. Waste not, want not, right? A pot of rice in the rice cooker was all that was needed to round out the plate.

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Remember my “we need more sandwich nights” thought from the previous menu? Here we go. Grilled cheese is a staple in our home but tonight’s version was an Italian grilled cheese, featuring both Cheddar and mozzarella cheeses and tomato sauce inside. So gooey, so good. Instead of the usual soup accompaniment, I opted for a Caesar salad with homemade dressing.

We had a leftovers night interlude towards the beginning of the week. It happens. Work or life interferes, you know the drill.

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But when I did get back into the kitchen, it was to make these Sweet Potato Corn Cakes with Garlic Dipping Sauce These will definitely be made again. The corn nibblets on the outside edges get a little chewy from the frying, but I think they could be baked or griddled with no problem, instead. To go with them I went simple with some seasoned chicken thighs that baked in the oven while I tended to the more involved cakes.

Friday we met up with some friends at the Greek Food Festival for gyros, spanikopita, and way too much baklava (if there can be such a thing).

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I generally ask Todd, before I make up the next menu, if there’s anything he’s been craving or would like for the following week. Very seldom does he actually take me up on a request, but this week he requested wings and I was happy to oblige. I baked a family pack of chicken wings drizzled in olive oil and dusted with salt and pepper and then tossed them into a sauce made of Parmesan cheese, garlic olive oil, and butter. So much better than most of the wing places we’ve tried. To go along with it I tossed a bag of rosemary fries onto a second baking sheet and they cooked at the same time.

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Finally, the week finished out with a simple pasta dish: gluten free penne with sausage, peppers, and creamy (from coconut milk) tomato sauce.

And that’s another week of menu-spiration. Hope it sparks something tasty from your own kitchen sometime soon!

A Month of Menus, Part 2

Nibbles

The reason I wanted to include the iHerb review in this week’s series of posts is that this week (October 3-9) was when I finally got to use some of the goodies I’d bought in our dinners.

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First up were these konaberry and kelp noodles that just looked and sounded interesting enough to give a whirl. Of course, I didn’t exactly know what would be the best recipe to use them in so a quick search led me to Coconut Soup with Kelp Noodles & Shrimp. Oh, man, this was good. The kelp noodles were nice in that they didin’t overpower anything (raw they remind me a lot of seaweed salad, no surprise there, but in hot foods they fade into the background in a good way) but added a nice texture to this very yummy soup.

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The next night I made a somewhat deconstructed spinach artichoke dip pasta using the spinach spaghetti from Tinkyada, a white sauce, chopped artichokes, and parmesan cheese. I even saved some of the artichoke hearts to sizzle in a small pan to put on top. Now, unfortunately, I didn’t write down everything I did, so I’ll have to try and recreate it later, but it was a tasty experiemnt. The chicken I breaded much like I would the Oven “Fried” Chicken Nuggets in my cookbook, using crushed corn flakes for crunch and whatever seasonings sounded good.

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Some nights, simple is the name of the game. A staple option in our house are grilled pork chops (on the George Foreman, in this case), baked sweet potatoes, and a vegetable of some sort (I had okra & tomatoes in the pantry from that time I stocked up on canned goods for the storm, so figured I’d use them). Sage is always good with pork, along with salt, pepper, and garlic. No muss, no fuss, no recipes.

Thursday night was one of those nights where I just couldn’t be bothered to do anything in the kitchen, so we ended up going to IHOP for supper. I have to say, that BLT I had really hit the spot and made me think I need to do sandwich suppers more often.

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Friday night was like a taste of Thanksgiving a month or so early. The Chicken Caruso recipe from the previous menu had called for a pineapple-cranberry relish (I’m really not sure how that would have gone) but I completely forgot about it. Instead, since I had the ingredients, I decided to roast some turkey cutlets, top with the relish, and serve with some yellow rice and green beans.

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On Saturday I had to go in to my old job for a bit and then run some other errands on town (didn’t want to “waste” that quarter tank of gas and, oh, twist my arm to go shopping) so by the time I got home I wanted something simple and quick. Thank goodness we still have a few freezer meals left and I could quickly defrost and cook up this Taco Soup. Topped with a bit of cheese, some sour cream, and some avocado salsa Verde it was just perfect.

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Finally, the meal I’d really been looking forward to: Sunday night’s Beef Ramen Noodle Soup.

This is not the cup of noodles you rehydrate and microwave. The homemade broth, the fresh vegetables, the thinly sliced grilled steak, and the gluten free ramen noodles I ordered from iHerb just made me incredibly happy. Sure, it had a few more moving parts than a lot of dinners, but it was absolutely worth it.

Month of Menus, Part 1

Nibbles

It’s been a while since I shared a menu on the blog, but it wasn’t because I wasn’t cooking, my hands were just busy with other things. It’s been so long, in fact, that I have enough menus to share to cover an entire week’s worth of posts and give you a month’s worth of menu ideas! And with the holidays and their related shenanigans about to kick into high gear, I figured these ideas might help you jazz up your usual weekday fare.

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Rewinding way on back to September 19th, we were in the final week of the Retro Recipes throw-back. Monday sounded like a perfect time for some Mexican Midnight Fondue, with a side of refried sweet potatoes, guacamole salad, corn bread and tortillas for dipping, and a bit of a flan for dessert. Thankfully it didn’t take until midnight to make it, though it was a bit more time-intensive than I would normally done on a Monday, but it was also damned tasty and worth the effort!

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Tuesday turned out to be a leftovers night (what is it about Tuesday’s sapping someone’s will to cook?) but Wednesday saw us back on track with some Waikiki Meatballs over rice, served with steamed green beans. Polynesian sweet and sour, this one is worth having again. The sauce was the best version of a sweet and sour sauce I’ve had in a while, certainly the best homemade version to date.

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Next up was Chicken Caruso and it was… interesting. The best way I can describe it is a slightly grown-up version of mac and cheese with a few veggies tossed in and a shot of sherry in the sauce. Not bad, but not my favorite, either. The BLT salad, on the other hand, was quite tasty. I’ll keep it in the rotation as it’ll easily work year-round.

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Friday night we went out to the local Chinese buffet and Saturday brought forth an Autumn Soup–very simple with carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, celery and a rich beef broth. The leftover cornbread from Monday made a good match for the soup and saved some time–always a good thing as the week gets longer and my patience gets shorter. I’d gone into the old office earlier that day and spent the afternoon and evening working on design team projects.Simple and hearty was meant for days like this.

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We ended the week with a rich lamb curry over basmati rice and served with a light fruit salad. There was nothing overwhelmingly remarkable about this curry, but each time we have lamb its always a bit of a treat, so what surrounds it doesn’t have to be amazing, just good. The coolness of the chilled fruit is a nice counterpoint to rich, heady sauce.

After this week I was itching to go a bit more modern and try out some new-to-me products I’d ordered from iHerb.com (more on that tomorrow). So stay tuned for more menus as the week goes on!