Year: 2010

So … whassup in the kitchen? I had the kids all on my own last week, which isn't really conducive to cooking and such, but I did OK. I made the crustless broccoli cheese quiche (did it in a pie plate instead of the ramekins – they're had to clean) and it turned out very well. The kids were huge fans, though they loved the blueberry muffins even more. I also finally got a nice loaf of bread made and two balls of pizza dough.

This week Matt and I locked horns over the conspicuous lack of meat in his diet, but that was when he was hungry and he was in a better mood after he'd eaten. We had super-veggie spaghetti for dinner on Sunday. Tonight, it was a fish recipe (lightly breaded with flour and a simple sauce made of lemon juice, herbs and a teensy bit of butter, plus Matt roasted carrots with dill and balsamic.

On deck there's Polenta Lasagna, Black Bean Quesadillas and a plain ol' beef stirfry. I also got a bunch more blueberries this week (relatively good price for this time of year) so I need to bake up a bunch of muffins to stock up the freezer. We've also been roasting veggies (sweet potatoes and squash) to have on hand as an easy side dish or to serve to Ben, who is a squash connoisseur (and blueberries, too, it turns out).

My goal for this week is to slowly plan a menu for next when I see this or that recipe so I don't have to scramble come Sunday morning. I'd also like to take out the camera and capture some of these yummy creations. Dare to dream.

I am hard at work on making our family's food less processed and more food-like. It is amazing how much junk had slowly crept into what I fancied to be a fairly healthy diet. Luckily, I like … no, love, to cook, so I am enjoying working on this. To this end, I thought it might be fun to have a reoccurring feature about what I'm doing in the kitchen. We'll see how long this lasts.

• Made butter yesterday … that worked like a charm and was really cool to behold. There was no real health-reason to do it. We don't use a ton and we can get good stuff pretty easily, but it wasn't any more expensive to do it this way and I froze what we won't eat relatively soon.
• Still trying to create good bread (have made about 4 loaves now). I have come to the conclusion that my yeast may be too old since my bread is all dense and doesn't seem to rise enough. We'll see if that does the trick … if not, I'll just sign on at a bakery as an apprentice.
• Made *awesome* stuffed squash for dinner Sunday night. Tabby wouldn't eat it (or anything else), but Matt and Ben liked it. Made great leftovers too.
• Also cooked up a pot of lentil soup, sans sausage, Sunday night. Turned out great and I have a ton to freeze and eat this week (some homemade bread would be nice to go with it .. grrr).
• Did mostly recipes out of Clean Eating magazine last week. The stuffed cabbage rolls were great, but some of the other offerings were so-so. Guess you gotta break a few eggs for omelets or whatever.
• I am also making one of my most favorite dishes this week, Salmon with Lemon Relish.
• The rest of the week we'll be eating crustless broccoli cheese quiches, muffins and PB&J sandwiches (if I can ever make some decent bread).