November 20, 2022

After many hills and valleys, things seem to be under control.  Flu season is upon us, and is probably impacting more than Covid right now. 

So, things are relaxing a bit and we were able to have Easter Dinner at our house.  We had a total group of 10.  We did apps (awesome  charcuterie board) outside and lamb/ham as we traditionally do.  Normally, the leg of lamb is from Giant or Acme, but this year we purchased an organic, locally sourced leg.  It was 10.8 lbs.  Our traditional lamb prep uses garlic slices inserted into the meat by "poking" a hole with a knife and inserting, salt/pepper, coating with Dijon mustard, then topping with fresh rosemary.  With the organic leg we purchased, there was a different recipe we tried:  Leg of Lamb.  We changed it up slightly:  We used a bone-in leg (better presentation).  We score the fat side of the lamb in a diagonal pattern first, then apply the fennel/coriander dry rub. Following the directions, the wet rub goes on later.  Also, we changed up the cooking slightly.  We cooked at 425 F (uncovered) first for 15 min, then backed down to 325 for about 2-1/2 hrs.  We started checking the meat temp at about 90 min just to ensure we were on schedule.   The drippings from this made awesome gravy.  We also had a 10 lb spiral ham.  Sides included:  Carrots with an Orange Ginger Glaze. , Grouse Mountain  Crispy Brussel Sprouts, Brazilian Grilled Pineapple Spears, Mashed Potatoes/Gravy, Asparagus with Saffron Aioli.
 

Christmas has come and gone.  Valentine's Day, gone.  St. Pat's is on the way!  Time flies and we're coming up on almost a year since most of us were told to work from home.   We changed things up a bit since the in-laws were not able to visit for Christmas.  We had our lamb ribs after Christmas vs. Christmas Eve.  Our Christmas dinner was the same amazing meal:  Prime rib roast - 10 lbs (Got at Acme for $4.99/lb), Yorkshire pudding, Gravy, Christmas Salad Vinaigrette, carrots with Orange Ginger Glaze.  We still had some carrots from the garden.

Our normal VT ski trip was canceled due to pandemic restrictions.  We always look forward to a meal at American Flatbread in Waitsfield, VT.  That does not mean we didn't enjoy that meal here over a snowy weekend (of which we have had a few).  Their amazing pizzas as available (frozen) at some markets.  We found them at Whole Foods.  That experience is not complete without their amazing Evolution Salad, some VT beverages (Magic Hat, Long Trail, etc), and a roaring fire.  We ad-libbed a little with the salad and added some freshly grated carrots, grated beets and crumbled blue cheese to finish it.  The blue cheese is an option at the restaurant, but it is an absolute for us.   For the salad dressing, we used a strawberry framboise vinegar for the fruit vinegar and grape seed oil (in place of saffron oil) since we had that on hand.  It was awesome.  We store it in a repurposed Grolsch beer bottle (with an airtight swing top) and use it during the week on lunch salads.  Don't be intimidated by the vinegars and oils; amazingly most markets have a wide selection.  We made the dressing a second time and used passion fruit vinegar and saffron oil.  Both were awesome!

We had another Italian slow cooked pork shoulder a few weeks ago.  Always great for several meals.  We did awesome pork tacos on Taco Tuesday.  Corn tortillas are a must.  Simply heat up your cast iron and throw the tortilla on for a few min a side to bring out awesome flavor.  Shred the shoulder and crisp up in cast iron with a little cumin/chili powder.  Later in the week, we did a really nice pork fried rice.   We doubled the recipe and ad-libbed some, using edamame vs. peas, etc. Instead of using ground pork, we used the leftover shoulder (shredded).  We also used leftover rice from Chinese take out that we had.

We've recently delved into the homemade egg/spring roll arena.  One version was deep fried in peanut oil, the other was baked.  It's not has hard as you think and you can experiment.

We've been experimenting some with vegetarian meals.  One of our favorites is this sweet potato/poblano enchilada recipe. It shows up occasionally on Taco Tuesday. 

Overnight Oats have become a regular occurrence here.  Just google on it. There are endless combinations.  Experiment. 

Thanksgiving has come and gone, but the leftovers haven't.  More on that in a bit.  Things were different this year.  Just us, no guests.  No Nana to peel the potatoes and clean the brussel sprouts.  No PopPop to monopolize the TV to watch every football game played that day.  No Aunt Nancy's apple/pumpkin pies.  Different, but still nice.

We went and got a 22 lb bird as we usually do.  We had turkey, mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts, carrots, stuffing, creamed spinach/kale (from Whole Foods), cranberry sauce, crescent rolls.  For apps, we had our Cranberry/Jalapeno Cream Cheese Dip, shrimp and a cheese tray.  The Crispy Brussel Sprouts are from a recipe we picked up after eating at the Grouse Mountain Grill in Colorado (Beaver Creek) while skiing in 2015.   We roast with EVOO/salt/pepper vs. blanching.  The stuffing was from a bag, but we added parsley and sage from our garden plus a 1/4 copy of roasted pine nuts, a nice switch.  The carrots were also from our garden and we topped with a Orange Ginger Glaze.

Leftovers are always put to good use.   The first night is basically just the same meal, with a little less prep time. This year we saw a special on GMA that used leftovers to make Stuffing Waffles.  Apparently, Disney does this and shapes them like Mickey Mouse.  These were really easy to make and a nice change.  Your leftover gravy is basically your syrup. 

A few years ago we bought a new GE microwave and it came with a recipe book.  One of the recipes was for a Turkey Curry.   The directions are for microwaving, but you can easily adapt to the stovetop.  The raisins and apples add a great flavor when paired up with the typical curry spices.   We'll be making this in the next few days. 

Not sure how long the leftovers will last, but we will be making turkey soup.  One other recipe we made a few years ago was for a Turkey Quinoa Taco Bake.  We may us this for our next Taco Tuesday!

So, the kids went back to school face-2-face (one started 2 weeks later after a virtual start) in September.  All was going pretty well.  Since then, the wheels have fallen off the bus and we are seeing the highest daily cases ever.  But we keep eating! 

Eagles are back and we've started making wings for the games.  You can't go wrong with Frank's Hot sauce, but we change it up.  We grew some serrano peppers this year.  The two plants were bountiful.  These beautiful red peppers (can use them when green) have great heat and flavor.  They are a great pepper to make Sriracha Hot sauce.

For our Baked Chicken Wings, we use a dry rub, bake the wings, coat with sauce of choice in a plastic container (cover with sauce and shake) and then rebake.  E-A-G-L-E-S!

It has been a while since updating this blog.  Still working from home for me.  Kids are going to head back to school in person in the coming weeks.  We're in yellow phase and many things have re-opened (cautiously).  There were some spikes after Memorial Day and after some states relaxed rules a little early.  With some colleges heading back in person, there have been some spikes there as well.  We will see how it goes.   Over the past few months, the garden came into bloom.  Mostly tomatoes and peppers.  We had some great dishes with tomatoes.  Check out the Orecchiette with Chicken Meatballs and Gaspatcho.  We also had an amazing Avocado Grilled Cheese sandwich.

You can't go wrong with a Broccoli/Feta Pasta Salad with other fresh garden veggies. 

We had a great crop of peppers this year - banana, shishitos, etc.  We used the breading recipe from the Avocado Grilled Cheese sandwich (above) to coat the peppers (after halving/quartering).  We then fry in avocado oil until brown.  These are a keeper.

We didn't grow any zucchini this year, but have used a lot of it for this awesome Grilled Zucchini Hummus Wrap.

It's been a few weeks, but we are still eating (and still in somewhat of a lock-down - still RED for our county).  Some highlights:  Maple Bourbon Dutch Oven Short Ribs, some "power bowls" (just Google "power bowls") with a grain we have never tried (farrow), and a blackberry bourbon smash drink that we discovered last year. 

For the short ribs, we realized we did not have any Honey Bourbon as the recipe calls for but we did have some Knob Creek Maple Bourbon.  We switched that out and left the rest of the recipe the same.  We also couldn't find bone-in short ribs and used boneless from Costco.  They were big, so we cut in half.  We did learn a little about Dutch Ovens.  Many have a ceramic like coating which is awesome, but it doesn't clean easily if you brown meat on it.  Lesson learned is to brown your meat in a cast iron and transfer over to the Dutch Oven.  If you do need to clean the Dutch Oven, an overnight baking powder soak and a Scrub Daddy will do the trick.

Memorial Day is almost upon us, so it is time for our garlic, basil, sun-dried tomato burgers.  For those, just eyeball how much of each additive you want, chop/mix it all together with a pound or two of ground beef, a beaten egg, some Worcestershire and some bread crumbs to hold it all together and grill 'em up (best on a grill toasted Kaiser with a cheese of your choice).   We'll also be cooking up some pork ribs with a homemade smoky rhubarb BBQ sauce.  The ribs get dry rubbed with a special blend of spices, baked slowly for about 3 hours, then slathered with sauce and thrown back on the grill until that caramelizes.  Pair that with some Ranchero Beans and corn on the cob and you'll be very happy!

Various meals this week.  Favorite was the Sriracha/Pineapple Chicken with Grilled Brazilian Pineapple and Cauliflower Rice (Trader Joe's).  We have been on a pineapple run for a while.  We thought is was only a summer fruit but have been able to get it all year.  After "peeling" the pineapple and cubing for the kids, we are amazed at the waste.  Typically, it ends up in the composter.  This time, instead of pitching, we took the scraps, threw them in a large pot (covered + 1" with water), brought it to a boil for 10 min or so, then simmered until the liquid had a dark golden tone (90 min +).  It's a watered down pineapple juice, but good for cooking and smoothies.  We took 1/2 of the pineapple and made "spears" for the grilled pineapple.  If you check out the recipe, it is for a whole pineapple -- adjust accordingly.

We did have Delco Steaks tonight.  Just opened 6 weeks ago (tough time to open).  It was the old Jeans on West Chester Pike in Broomall.  Take out order had a 2 hour wait!  We got two (2), two foot cheese steaks.  Beef steak had mushies and onions and cooper cheddar, the chicken steam just had cooper.  Two milk shakes and a side of fries completed a nice dinner (with some leftovers for Saturday lunches).  We'll be back. 

Awesome Rachael Ray Tuscan Pot roast yesterday!  The house smelled amazing.  Tons of root veggies, garlic, herbs, and beef.

Since the kids were told to participate in virtual schooling and we were all told to stay home, we've had a bunch of really cool meals.   We've had time to plan.  We're starting our 8th week of social-distancing.  We've tried to keep it healthy and use leftovers in some creative ways.  One of my favorites is the slow cooked pork shoulder.  At 1.29/lb (or less), this meat is the "meal that keeps on giving." After an initial meal centered on the shoulder, mashed potatoes, gravy and roasted brussel sprouts, we used the leftover meat a few days later for pork tacos (reheated on cast iron with cumin, chili powder) on corn tortillas.  We had some rib eyes for dinner one night and used the leftovers for Philly cheese steaks by slicing very thin and sauteing with onions/mushrooms and topping with cheese of your choice on still available Conshohocken Bakery rolls.  The decorated Easter eggs have been transformed in to amazing egg salad sandwiches for lunch.  We've cooked up quinoa and added healthy veggies and grilled chicken, topped with a avocado based dressing for amazing "power bowls" packed with protein and vitamins.  The spring onions in the garden are doing well and we've been able to create some Asian cuisine - General Tso's inspired cauliflower with green onions and ginger (roasted, not fried).  We have revived kitchen tools that have been stowed away for years -- the BIG food processor, the mandolin, and the immersion blender.  We've had take out a few times to support the local businesses, but enjoy cooking at home. The kids are starting to notice what/how we cook and are helping out.  I realize we are fortunate that we are still able to purchase/locate fresh food, but we are definitely focused on using things wisely and not wasting anything.  More to follow.