Recipes to Go: 507 398
Weeks to Go: 52 40
Recipes Made This Week
Spicy Shrimp
Garden-Fresh Fettuccine
Creamy Lime Sherbet
Creamy Chicken Enchiladas
Hazelnut Pear Tart
Raspberry Coconut Bars
Pacific Rim Salmon
Mixed Bean Salad
Before this week started, The Husband had a conversation with me which reminded me that I have let this experiment overwhelm me too much in the last few weeks. I did sign up for this, I knew what I was getting into, for the most part. And despite having specific goals I wanted to achieve, it was primarily, a bit of fun. So with that in mind, I rethought some of the philosophies and practicalities I have been employing thus far. I decided to start earlier to prepare dinner and have it waiting in the fridge, so that when things go crazy at 4:30, as they always do, I could be almost done, or already have dinner in the oven. Who doesn't want to just be able to stick something from fridge to oven?
So afternoon snack time has become dinner-prep time. Result? = a little too much gusto on my part. I ended up slightly over preparing this week.
Monday was the beginning of a cold front that lasted all week. We had zero prepared foods in the house, which meant there was literally nothing for The Husband to take to work for lunch except three hard-boiled eggs. In this sad state of affairs (brought on mostly because I hadn't be able to go shopping on Saturday), I did the shopping and made beet curry for dinner. Not in the book, sadly, because it was good and lasted all week, but it used up a delicious beet I bought from the farmer's market and warmed us all up.
So Tuesday was really my first day to cook. Luckily so because we were having the missionaries over for dinner and one of them had really set the bar high for me by talking up my cooking to her companion. So the preparation began. We were having Creamy Chicken Enchiladas and a corn salad I made for a funeral and didn't get to taste. A repeat, but I meant it as a surprise since the missionaries loved the leftovers the first time. I also wanted to make Lime Sherbet for to celebrate The Captain's 1/2 birthday. I personally love 1/2 birthdays, but this one is special because it means he gets to go into the nursery class at church instead of wrecking small havoc hanging around with me. I'm sure lots of people will be sad he isn't around, but he will definitely be happier, consequently, I will, too.
Well, that was the plan. Starting a little after 2, I got the ice cream going, made the corn salad and got started on the chicken. It was about 4 o'clock when the missionaries called. Everything was in the fridge ready to go into the oven. But as it turns out, we weren't feeding the missionaries on Tuesday, we were feeding them on Thursday and they were calling to ask if we could have dinner at a specific time and with one more person. (Both of which I said yes to, of course, since dinner was pretty much already done.) Story: I usually feed the missionaries once a month, and always on a Tuesday. When I got the schedule for September, it was full with only one day left, the 30th. So I took it and made a mental note to put it in my calendar when I got home. Only I forgot, so I planned on Tuesday and prematurely made dinner.
But after all that prepping, I didn't really have any time or energy left to make an entirely new large meal, so we had leftover curry that night. We did, however, get to eat yummy sherbet.
And yummy it was. Authentic lime flavor, none of that artificial stuff, which is to be expected when you use lime zest and fresh squeezed lime juice. The Captain liked it, despite what his face says.
Then came Wednesday. I started chopping vegetables for the spicy shrimp and garden fettuccine around 3, while the shrimp was defrosting. I had all the cans I was using for the week set out on the counter already, which sped things up as well. So while the timing of the fettuccine was a little tricky, it all came out nicely and at the same time.
The Spicy Shrimp was very spicy. I didn't skimp on the Louisiana hot sauce. Luckily The Husband loves that stuff.
I love shrimp and it was very refreshing to have a different protein source for a change.
The fettuccine was surprisingly spicy as well. I put in just the tiniest amount of red pepper flakes as per the recipe instructions and it really made a difference. This made a huge amount of pasta. I'm always surprised because the pasta itself never seems like that much, but it goes a long way. I didn't even get to put in all the veggies it called for because I didn't have fresh tomatoes and my pan didn't have enough room.
This is definitely a harvest overload type of recipe--throw in whatever's growing and it will be delicious.
So when Thursday came, you would think it would be easy-breezy, but I decided to make the pear tart. I also decided after reading the recipe before hand, something I don't do often enough, to make the bean salad for Friday's diner a day in advance so it could fully refrigerate. That was easy enough. And the tart was less complicated than I would have thought. It turned out all right.
And the enchiladas look like any enchiladas, this picture was the forth time we had it for leftovers, or something like that.
The recipe made 20, so we ate them with pleasure all weekend.
Also on Thursday, I decided to make a treat for my early morning class instead of waiting for Game Night on Friday, since we weren't sure if we were having a Game Night or not. So I made the Raspberry Coconut Bars. But since I used strawberry preserves instead of raspberry, so I guess they were technically Strawberry Coconut Bars, but regardless of what you call them, they were wonderful.
Remember how I said I didn't love bars, just chocolate. I might take that back. These were simple, easy and yummy. The teenagers agreed. Also, we discovered the secret to drizzling chocolate is momentum. Also, don't put vanilla chips in the microwave for too long, they burn very quickly.
So on Friday,I started out ahead of the game with half of dinner all ready in the fridge, but as it turned out, I didn't prepare the other half since we didn't eat dinner at home on Friday. We were out with the youth, cooking hot dogs and stuff. Okay, confession, we did eat leftovers before we left because, they're hot dogs. They're pretty gross. And even though every once in awhile the idea of a hot dog is appealing to be, usually halfway through I wonder why and vow to never eat one again. These ones weren't as bad as some I've had because they were properly burned before eating. That's the only way to get the idea of leftover meat parts out of my mouth when eating one. So all my preparation was in vain again, since the salad now had two days to marinate.
But unlike the corn salad which has avocado in it and thus suffered somewhat from excessive fridge exposure, the bean salad did not.
It might have made it more yummy. Here's another salad like the Tim Salad we used to make. Delicious. And all that marinating got The Captain to eat celery and green peppers. It was like a Christmas miracle without all the snow and stuff.
So we didn't get to eat it on Friday, and Saturday morning was a little rushed getting shopping in before our two day conference, so breakfast was neglected. Don't worry, I made up for it on Sunday, but I did finally make the other half of what was planned to be Friday's dinner--salmon to go with the bean salad. Remember way back when I bought the salmon and I said it was too fishy, well it was a little fishy with this recipe, but in a good way, if that's possible. It must have just been the tomato sauce that first time because the last two times have been delicious.
This one was supposed to be grilled, and we still haven't bought a proper grill yet, so I pan grilled it, with a lid on, so I half grilled, half steamed it. The marinade was lovely and the fishy flaky and light. A very light, summer meal. Too bad it was very cold outside.
Does it seam as though something is missing on this plate?
Well, I was supposed to make dinner rolls to go with this meal, but it was so cold outside and consequently inside, that the dough wouldn't rise. I had to take it downstairs and put it on top of our receiver that controls our whole television set up. It gets very warm when on and it had been on all day thanks to the conference which we were able to view via the internet on our giant tv thanks to our laptop. I love technology. So that worked really well, actually, but it was time for bed by the time the dough had doubled. So there was something else that got postponed until Sunday.
So my original ten recipe plan dwindled down to 8, despite my uber preparedness. Prematurity strikes again, I suppose. But on the bright side, I squeezed the two recipes into next week, so I haven't really lost any ground.
So afternoon snack time has become dinner-prep time. Result? = a little too much gusto on my part. I ended up slightly over preparing this week.
Monday was the beginning of a cold front that lasted all week. We had zero prepared foods in the house, which meant there was literally nothing for The Husband to take to work for lunch except three hard-boiled eggs. In this sad state of affairs (brought on mostly because I hadn't be able to go shopping on Saturday), I did the shopping and made beet curry for dinner. Not in the book, sadly, because it was good and lasted all week, but it used up a delicious beet I bought from the farmer's market and warmed us all up.
So Tuesday was really my first day to cook. Luckily so because we were having the missionaries over for dinner and one of them had really set the bar high for me by talking up my cooking to her companion. So the preparation began. We were having Creamy Chicken Enchiladas and a corn salad I made for a funeral and didn't get to taste. A repeat, but I meant it as a surprise since the missionaries loved the leftovers the first time. I also wanted to make Lime Sherbet for to celebrate The Captain's 1/2 birthday. I personally love 1/2 birthdays, but this one is special because it means he gets to go into the nursery class at church instead of wrecking small havoc hanging around with me. I'm sure lots of people will be sad he isn't around, but he will definitely be happier, consequently, I will, too.
Well, that was the plan. Starting a little after 2, I got the ice cream going, made the corn salad and got started on the chicken. It was about 4 o'clock when the missionaries called. Everything was in the fridge ready to go into the oven. But as it turns out, we weren't feeding the missionaries on Tuesday, we were feeding them on Thursday and they were calling to ask if we could have dinner at a specific time and with one more person. (Both of which I said yes to, of course, since dinner was pretty much already done.) Story: I usually feed the missionaries once a month, and always on a Tuesday. When I got the schedule for September, it was full with only one day left, the 30th. So I took it and made a mental note to put it in my calendar when I got home. Only I forgot, so I planned on Tuesday and prematurely made dinner.
But after all that prepping, I didn't really have any time or energy left to make an entirely new large meal, so we had leftover curry that night. We did, however, get to eat yummy sherbet.
And yummy it was. Authentic lime flavor, none of that artificial stuff, which is to be expected when you use lime zest and fresh squeezed lime juice. The Captain liked it, despite what his face says.
Then came Wednesday. I started chopping vegetables for the spicy shrimp and garden fettuccine around 3, while the shrimp was defrosting. I had all the cans I was using for the week set out on the counter already, which sped things up as well. So while the timing of the fettuccine was a little tricky, it all came out nicely and at the same time.
The Spicy Shrimp was very spicy. I didn't skimp on the Louisiana hot sauce. Luckily The Husband loves that stuff.
I love shrimp and it was very refreshing to have a different protein source for a change.The fettuccine was surprisingly spicy as well. I put in just the tiniest amount of red pepper flakes as per the recipe instructions and it really made a difference. This made a huge amount of pasta. I'm always surprised because the pasta itself never seems like that much, but it goes a long way. I didn't even get to put in all the veggies it called for because I didn't have fresh tomatoes and my pan didn't have enough room.
This is definitely a harvest overload type of recipe--throw in whatever's growing and it will be delicious.So when Thursday came, you would think it would be easy-breezy, but I decided to make the pear tart. I also decided after reading the recipe before hand, something I don't do often enough, to make the bean salad for Friday's diner a day in advance so it could fully refrigerate. That was easy enough. And the tart was less complicated than I would have thought. It turned out all right.
And the enchiladas look like any enchiladas, this picture was the forth time we had it for leftovers, or something like that.
The recipe made 20, so we ate them with pleasure all weekend.Also on Thursday, I decided to make a treat for my early morning class instead of waiting for Game Night on Friday, since we weren't sure if we were having a Game Night or not. So I made the Raspberry Coconut Bars. But since I used strawberry preserves instead of raspberry, so I guess they were technically Strawberry Coconut Bars, but regardless of what you call them, they were wonderful.
Remember how I said I didn't love bars, just chocolate. I might take that back. These were simple, easy and yummy. The teenagers agreed. Also, we discovered the secret to drizzling chocolate is momentum. Also, don't put vanilla chips in the microwave for too long, they burn very quickly.So on Friday,I started out ahead of the game with half of dinner all ready in the fridge, but as it turned out, I didn't prepare the other half since we didn't eat dinner at home on Friday. We were out with the youth, cooking hot dogs and stuff. Okay, confession, we did eat leftovers before we left because, they're hot dogs. They're pretty gross. And even though every once in awhile the idea of a hot dog is appealing to be, usually halfway through I wonder why and vow to never eat one again. These ones weren't as bad as some I've had because they were properly burned before eating. That's the only way to get the idea of leftover meat parts out of my mouth when eating one. So all my preparation was in vain again, since the salad now had two days to marinate.
But unlike the corn salad which has avocado in it and thus suffered somewhat from excessive fridge exposure, the bean salad did not.
It might have made it more yummy. Here's another salad like the Tim Salad we used to make. Delicious. And all that marinating got The Captain to eat celery and green peppers. It was like a Christmas miracle without all the snow and stuff.So we didn't get to eat it on Friday, and Saturday morning was a little rushed getting shopping in before our two day conference, so breakfast was neglected. Don't worry, I made up for it on Sunday, but I did finally make the other half of what was planned to be Friday's dinner--salmon to go with the bean salad. Remember way back when I bought the salmon and I said it was too fishy, well it was a little fishy with this recipe, but in a good way, if that's possible. It must have just been the tomato sauce that first time because the last two times have been delicious.
This one was supposed to be grilled, and we still haven't bought a proper grill yet, so I pan grilled it, with a lid on, so I half grilled, half steamed it. The marinade was lovely and the fishy flaky and light. A very light, summer meal. Too bad it was very cold outside.Does it seam as though something is missing on this plate?
Well, I was supposed to make dinner rolls to go with this meal, but it was so cold outside and consequently inside, that the dough wouldn't rise. I had to take it downstairs and put it on top of our receiver that controls our whole television set up. It gets very warm when on and it had been on all day thanks to the conference which we were able to view via the internet on our giant tv thanks to our laptop. I love technology. So that worked really well, actually, but it was time for bed by the time the dough had doubled. So there was something else that got postponed until Sunday.So my original ten recipe plan dwindled down to 8, despite my uber preparedness. Prematurity strikes again, I suppose. But on the bright side, I squeezed the two recipes into next week, so I haven't really lost any ground.
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