New Week, Old Food

This past weekend was interesting.  Saturday I repeated the broccoli casserole and Blackened Tilapia with Secret Hobo Spices.  The casserole was much better.   The tilapia was our only new recipe for the week.  Everyone liked the fish, but no one cared for the seasoning.  It was WAY too spicy, even for me. 

I did make it to Williams Sonoma and bought a new slicer.  I'm not sure I would have bought it if not for the 20% off one item sale they were having.  This one slices in four thicknesses, as well as julienne cuts and french fry cuts. 

Sunday I made lunch for my crew with a batch of Twice Baked Potatoes and Fried Round Steak.  The cubed steak (round) wasn't as good this time, not sure what I did.  I then used my new slicer and did up four cucumbers and an onion for a Cool Cucumber Salad to take to the Youth Kickoff Picnic at church.  Cutting the onion was a dream.  The cucumber was ok -- the food holder didn't work as well with a tall item.  I am so ready to try dicing an onion.

I also subscribed to a new service this week, Backyard Produce.  I keep running out of an item here, an item there, especially produce.  This is a weekly delivery from local farms.  I started with their "Flying Solo" package.  This week I chose zucchini, squash, onion, and red potatoes.  I'm not sure which day of Tues - Thurs I'll get my delivery.

Today I pulled out the huge back of frozen spaghetti sauce from my freezer.  I made baked spaghetti for dinner; the boys practically licked the pan clean.  After I returned from scouts, I cooked another batch of noodles and made a second one and put it in the freezer for another day.  YAY me.  I purchased some aluminum serving pans (10x12) and lids at Sam's Club so I had the perfect pan to put it in the freezer.  Then I can just wash the sauce pot, and add the ingredients for the next batch of sauce to the shopping list. 

Tomorrow I am cooking one of the two Boston Butt pieces I purchased at Sam's Club ($1.58 / lb) with the Crock Pot Pulled Pork recipe everyone liked so much.  It will give me dinner tomorrow, and a batch to freeze for later. 

Sorry for the ramblings.  At the Youth picnic, someone brought what was basically a Tabouli recipe, but they used Quinoa instead of bulgar wheat.  It was positively delicious.  That's made my to-do list for the week.  1)  Finding a Tabouli recipe, and 2)  Looking for Quinoa recipes.

Redemption Repeats and Gadgets

How's that for a title?

After the disappointment earlier, I have swung back to good food.  We repeated the Chicken Cacciatore.  Oh my stars but that chicken was DELICIOUS!  Even better than last time.  I also used a pepper mix this time.  YUM.  Last night we went shoe shopping with the difficult child, and then headed to Olive Garden for another shot at their Never Ending Pasta Bowl.  I didn't get my money's worth, but Connor sure did.  FIVE bowls, and he's only 12.

Tonite I repeated Mom's Shrimp Creole, but switched from salad sized shrimp to Medium (60-80 ct).  Very, VERY tasty.  I also went ahead and used my new vegetable peeler on two cucumbers for tomorrow's Cool Cucumber Salad.

I tell you, these new/replaced tools are making a world of difference.  It took half the time to peel the cucumbers compared to using a paring knife.  Unfortunately my list of tools to get is growing.   I am looking for my chopper (the kind you slap) but so far no luck.  I am also trying to decide if I need a new slicer.  I currently have a Pampered Chef Slicer similar to this one

but I wish it would be both thinner and thicker slices.  Anyone got a slicer they love?  Someone at work showed me his new Garlic Dicer -- it looks like a Moon Rover or something.  I am almost afraid to keep looking into tools!

Labor Day Food

Today's dinner was a disappointment.   I made Oven Fry chicken, which I've made several times before, as well as a new recipe, Creamy Herb Potatoes.  The potatoes had to sit for 15 minutes after they came out of the oven, so I cooked them first and then the chicken.  Both dishes came out a bit undercooked.  The potatoes was more of an alfredo sauce, and I really am not a cream sauce fan.  Charles complained that the herbs in the recipe made him think he kept hitting twigs.  Connor ate seconds though.    I had high hopes for the potatoes, so I was pretty disappointed.   At least I can say I've tried a new recipe this week, right?

In better news, I have arrived firmly in the 21st century with an iPhone 4!  My old Huawei Ascend was almost 30 months old, and had terrible battery life.  We went to the mall today to pick up an Otterbox Defender case for it.  I feel... spoiled. 

I am kind of working on my menu for this week.  I have boneless chicken breasts thawed, it is just a matter of whether to do Chicken Casserole or Chicken Cacciatore with them.  I have the ingredients for Shrimp Creole, broccoli casserole, and a repeated potato dish.  This week will be light on activities, with just two nights of TKD required.  I want to try and put up at least a meal or two for busier weeks.  Right now the only frozen meal I have is spaghetti sauce.  We ate the leftover BBQ pulled pork on buns last week.  I need to pick up another boston butt and do another batch of that to freeze.  I also need to get baking potatoes and make another batch of twice baked potatoes.

Yesterday evening I made Bisquick Sausage and Cheese balls.  I had been craving them and could not remember the last time I made them.  I don't remember them being quite that doughy, but they were good.  When I reheated some for breakfast today, they seemed better.  Is it possible I used to fry them?

Monday's Dinner & Catch Up Thoughts

I hope everyone reading realizes this is kind of a "public" diary for me.  I really enjoy going back and reading old posts, and a blog is the best kind of girlfriend -- it listens to whatever you have to say.

I also wanted to put down a few more thoughts about Pepper Plate.  I am really enjoying have an electronic cookbook.  I don't have to print or copy down recipes I want to try.  It's much easier to keep sticky finger prints off the recipe "cards", and with these 48 year old eyes, I can set the type so I can read it.  There is also a notes section, where I can comment on how the recipe went for me.    On the negative or wish list, I wish it auto-imported from more sites.  I wish it would auto grab the yield and time so I didn't have to enter it.  I'm also not sure I like active time and total time for fields.  Prep time, cook time... I am still undecided.

I also figured I needed to record what some of my tools looked like new, so I will recognize when the time to replace them comes around again.

Here is my new skillet, my prep bowls, my knife and some dishtowels.

On to tonite's dinner -- Easy Roast Pork Tenderloin and Apples!  I have some serious pork lovers in my house.  This recipe called for one pound of pork, so I pulled out my purchase and discovered I had 3.87 lbs.  Hmm, I thought 1 lb was too small, so I sliced the piece in half, and vacuum sealed the other half and put it back in the freezer.   Then I doubled the recipe.  As a fairly newbie cook, I have a complaint.  Don't cooking experts realize how broadly "a large, shallow pan" can be interpreted?  I got the shallow part ok, but define large?  Would it be so hard to tell me a 9x13 or an 8x8??  Rant over.  I didn't double the apples & onion the recipe called for, but I did have difficulty getting everything into the pan.   I put it in for the maximum recommended time, 30 minutes.  For sides I cooked Steamfresh Asparagus and Minute Rice.  Your house will smell WONDERFUL while this is cooking.   The loin came out a little pink in the middle, so I put it back in for 10 more minutes.  Juicy, flavorful, tender... YUMM.  All four family members enjoyed dinner, and I had a serving of pork and apples to put in the fridge for leftovers.  For reference later, I paid $2.99/lb for the loin.

Not sure what we are having for dinner tomorrow, it's Open House for middle school, so it won't be a good night to cook.  Charles & Connor are asking for the Broccoli Casserole again, so that means I need a main dish that doesn't use the stove -- this planning part is hard!  We have high school open house on Wednesday.   I could make the sour cream noodle bake fairly easy, but I just don't want that.  I have a frozen gallon ziplock of my spaghetti sauce.  But I don't want that either. 

If I can get off the computer, and run to the store, I could pick up the mozzarella cheese I am missing for a brunch casserole.  Does this happen to anyone else?  You do a good deed and start to cook more, only to find you are constantly missing an ingredient and heading to the store?

Sunday Supper

After my conversation with mom yesterday, I headed out to Ollie's Outlet to shop for a new skillet.  Once I got to the cookware aisle, I was overwhelmed at the piled up pans.  I found two that I thought might be similar to the one mom mentioned, but finally gave in and called her to confirm the brand of the one she has (Faberware).  With that piece of information, I selected a 12" skillet with rounded sides, also useable in the oven to 400 degrees.  I also picked up 5 stainless steel prep bowls for 0.79 each. 

Tonite's dinner plan was to use another McCormick spice card for Chicken Cacciatore.  I'm getting smarter... I actually CAREFULLY read the whole recipe and did my prep before I turned the stove top on.  Diced my chicken into cubes, chopped my onion, my celery (a substitution for the green peppers), made my breading flour mixture, and opened all the pre-measured spices.  I goofed though, and put the pepper in the spice mix, instead of in the breading flour.  Charles commented that it was a little more peppery than he liked.  Ooops.  Then I put two tablespoons of olive oil into my new skillet, and quickly discovered that I should have replaced my skillet YEARS ago.  What a huge difference cooking.  Last night's cube steak could have used the new skillet.   I also had discovered during prep that I didn't have diced tomatoes, so I made use of some rotel and the last half of a tomato in our fridge, along with my new knife and cutting board.  Again, (are you sensing a theme) I need to stop being cheap and replace my tools sooner.

The verdict?  I managed to dish out Duncan's so he didn't get mushrooms, and he at least ate a serving.  Charles liked it, and Connor had a HUGE second helping.  I served it over broad egg noodles.    One I will repeat with tweaks, just not immediately.  In researching for this blog entry, I finally found the recipe cards on the McCormick website, along with a bunch of cool looking recipes.  I think I have found a new place to look for recipes!

The only thing I didn't like about McCormick is that the site isn't terribly compatible with the recipe app I am using, Pepper Plate.  So far I am really liking PP.  It has a widget like Pinterest that can grab recipes, allows me to add recipes to a shopping list, and in general is easy to navigate.  Does anyone else have a recipe app for their phone/tablet that they like?

Up next... Pork Loin!!

Saturday Shoppin' and Cookin'

Well, it has been a good culinary day for a rainy Saturday.  I decided to skip my trip to Charlotte for the CK Convention due to the rain.  I opted instead to go to Sam's Club and check out my options.  I saw some cookware options that I'll keep in mind, and picked up a pair of 7" Santoku knives.  I also grabbed a stack of 30 aluminum 12x10 pans to support some future freezer cooking for less than $6.  I found a good priced bag of boneless skinless chicken thighs, some sliced mushrooms for an upcoming recipe, noted ground beef prices ($3.19 /lb) and pondered, but passed on whole pork and beef loins.   Grabbed some Minute Rice (I was out after the Shrimp Creole), some Pam cooking spray, and garlic powder and onion powder.  I saw some good prices/quantities on things like baking potatoes, cheese, chicken breasts, milk, garlic (I almost bought the fresh garlic, but decided I couldn't use up 3 lbs worth by 9/23!), diced tomatoes, as well as various oils and spices.

I need to clean and reorganize my food cabinets if I keep stocking up like this!  I am starting to run out of room.  I bought yet more spices at Food Lion this week (rosemary, thyme, cayenne pepper, poultry spice, parsley) as well as a 1/2 pork loin, a pork butt roast, pork chops, cubed steak...

Today I repeated the Twice Baked Potatoes that were such a hit.  And they improved!  We made eight potatoes and froze four for later.  I also tried a new recipe, Fried Round Steak.  The steak was ok, but I think my pan-frying judgment needs some improvement. 

I really am feeling energized by this rebirth of home cooking at our house.  I still have a ways to go, and I need to start putting some stuff in the freezer for nights when I just don't feel like it.  I also think an investment in a better skillet is needed sooner than later.  The replacement cookware can wait, but the skillet not so much.  Mom pointed me in the direction of Ollie's Outlet so I am headed there tomorrow to look at one she's had for a while.  Pampered Chef and Tupperware are calling my name too to improve my tools.  We shall see!

Adventures in Cooking with Carolyn

Long time no write, right?

I have a new obsession... trying to cook again.  We have been really awful about eating at home in the last year or so.  If we eat at home, it's more heating food than cooking, unless it's straight out of a box and follow the 5-or-less steps.  I was also inspired by one of Charles' cousins.  She's a newlywed, and is trying out Once A Month Cooking.  Don't we all want company when we try something new?

Lately things seem to be breaking like crazy around our house.  TV, dishwasher... the list is getting LONG!  And where is the fluff in our budget?  In our eating out.  Hence the OCD.

So we are on week two of me trying to do something about that.  Yesterday I finally called it "Adventures in Cooking with Carolyn" and thought, hmmm, I need to blog about this.

My initial goal was to eat at home more consistently (5+ nights a week, I'd really like 6), and to try a new-to-me recipe at least once a week.  To catch you up, last week I tried a Sour Cream Noodle bake, Chicken Crescent rolls, and Twice Baked Potatoes.  If you don't count Duncan (my picky eater), all three were a hit.  All need tweaks due to user error, but definitely good!

Yesterday we tried a "spice card" I found in the store from McCormick, for Apple & Sage pork chops, and a broccoli casserole.  The pork chops were TO DIE FOR.  Juicy, flavorful... YUM. 

Tonite I tried a Chicken Casserole from the Food Network.  Meh.  I had accidentally dumped too much pepper in last night's broccoli casserole, so I was over cautious about salt and pepper tonite.  Even with that, none of us thought this one was a keeper.   It was quite a bit of work for nothing special.  I also didn't care for the bread crumb topping.  I also like precision in my recipes; "salt and pepper to taste" makes me nervous.  Ah well.

I have just one more package of chicken in my freezer, and a couple of mystery meats, and then I should have room to start fresh.  I really am stocked to start on a road to better eating!!