Scary Dinner

I love Halloween.  The candy, the costumes, the chance to make your food fun.  This year for dinner we had Eyeball Soup, Pumpkin Grilled Cheese, Worms and Dirt, Spiderweb Eggs and Ghastly Ghosts.  Mmmmmm.  The best part?  After dinner we took the toddler trick or treating- and she actually SAID “trick or treat!”

Scary Dinner 2011

Eyeball Soup

Based on this martha stewart recipe.

Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped

3 tablespoons butter

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 cans crushed tomatoes

1 quart chicken broth

salt, pepper, oregano, basil (to taste)

1-2 cups half and half, milk, or cream

small balls of fresh mozzarella

several olives stuffed with pimento

Directions:

Melt the butter in a soup pot over medium heat.  Add the onion and garlic and cook until the onion is soft but not brown.  Don’t let the garlic burn.  Add the tomatoes and then the broth.  Stir and let it warm up.  Add the spices, turn the heat down to a simmer and let it cook for about 45 minutes.  (I did all of this ahead and let it sit in the fridge overnight)

Let it cool a little bit and then run it through the blender in batches until it’s smooth.  Or use a stick blender in the pot (won’t get as smooth but if you’re not Martha Stewart, you might not care).  Return to the heat and slowly whisk in the dairy (milk, cream, whatever). It will lighten it up and you can do this to taste as well.  Let it sit on low heat while you make the eyeballs.

Slice your olives into thirds.  Make sure to keep the pimento intact.

Using a small melon baller- or maybe a tiny spoon?-  scoop out a little bit of the mozzarella ball.

Place the third-ed olive into the dent left in the cheese and you’ll have some eyeballs.

You could even have a whole plate of them, just staring at you.

Float them in the soup after you ladle it into bowls.  Creepy.

We served this with grilled cheese pumpkins- just cut the pumpkin shape out before you grill the bread.

We also had spiderweb eggs, from this Martha Stewart recipe.  It’s a clever idea but since I don’t peel eggs well, I delegated that task to the husband. Who discovered that they don’t peel easily and also look better when you leave on the membrane.  Ick. I couldn’t get a really good photo of these but they were pretty neat.

Finally, we had worms in dirt, again, thanks to Martha Stewart.  It’s basically canned black beans, heated and chopped and then hot dogs boiled and arranged.  Still, sort of fun.  Just make sure you cut your hot dogs thin enough.  Start by cutting them in half.

Then cut them in slices- if you’re really careful, you could probably get about four from each half.  I was not careful and ended up with odd numbers. Mine were also a little thick.

Throw these into a pot of boiling water and when they start to curl, take them out.  Spread your black beans on a plate and then arrange the hot dog worms to look like they’re squirming and moving around all over.

Mmmm.  Dirt.

We ended our dinner with ghastly ghost cookies served in a makeshift chocolate pot de creme- I had to use up the egg yolks left from making the meringues.

And because you can’t have Halloween without a costume, here’s the toddler:

Happy Halloween!

Halloweeeeeeeen…..

Clearly, as it’s Halloween RIGHT NOW, I haven’t yet made my scary dinner.  I did some prep work yesterday but the majority of the food happens tonight.  However, I thought I’d get you in the mood with a dessert recipe, just in case you’re stuck for something tonight.  This one is pretty quick and effective. A few thoughts:

1.  When you’re piping them, don’t use a decorative tip.  Use a smooth one.

2.  Also, make sure your ghosts stand straight up.  Mind tended to lean which, while appropriate for Passover, was less appealing for Halloween.

3.  Mine needed to bake longer than the recommended 75 minutes, more around an hour and thirty or forty minutes.  I’m not sure why.  Perhaps my eggs were really moist.

4.  For the record, I actually hate meringues.  But other people seem to enjoy them.

Ghastly Ghosts (from Food Network)

Ingredients

3 large egg whites

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

3/4 cup white sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In the bowl of an electric mixer with a whip attachment, beat the egg whites, cream of tartar and vanilla until frothy.  Beat in the sugar and increase the speed to high.  Beat until stiff peaks form- it should take six or seven minutes.

Place the mixture into a piping bag with a large, plain tip.  Or use a ziplock bag with the tip cut off.  Either way, roll up your sleeves because this is a messy, sticky project.  Pipe the batter out in swirls that top each other, sort of piling circles on circles.  Sadly, it will look a little bit like white dog poo.  (Not a comparison you want to make with food, but there it is.)   It should make about 8-10.

Bake for an hour to an hour and forty minutes- the cookies will sort of dry out and crack a little bit.  Let them cool completely.

Melt the chocolate chips in a small bowl it  the microwave.  I did it in 30 second intervals and stirred in between.  It took only a  minute.  Pour the chocolate into a small ziplock bag and cut a very tiny hole in the edge.  Pipe on the eyes to make your white mountains/piles of white dog poo into ghastly ghosts.  They’ll actually be kind of cute.

 

Helping

Sometimes it’s worth it to make brownies from a box:

Marriage

This week marks my wedding anniversary.  The husband and I have been together almost 12 years and have been married 4.  It hasn’t always been easy- we’re both very independent, opinionated and stubborn.  This is not always a good combination.- but at the end of the day, I can’t really picture my life without him.

Because it hasn’t been an easy relationship, I’ve spent a lot of time observing, talking with and thinking about other couples I know.  These couples range in age, type of relationship and length of time together.  In the time I’ve known them, some have had children, others have gotten married and others have gotten divorced (and some, re-married, though not to each other).  It’s a pretty diverse group.

One couple I met through a former job.  They had an adorable daughter and eventually I babysat for them and we became friends.  The husband was a large, gregarious fellow and his wife was smaller and quieter. They were both well-educated and well-traveled, leading to some extremely interesting conversations and discussions.  They were open and honest about almost every aspect of their relationship and, at times, somewhat too honest.  Their relationship was also not easy and in the few years I was close with them, they moved to a new state, had a second child and got divorced.  In the three months before they separated, they moved to an island off the coast of Georgia and spent the time figuring out the logistics of the dissolution of their marriage.  It was, well, different.  In the end, it was the best thing for both of them as they are now both re-married.  One half of the couple now has stepchildren and the other half has new biological children.  I’m not close with them anymore- after  their divorce they both moved further away and as more about their relationship was revealed it got…awkward.

I tell you about them because to me they epitomize the struggle that marriage is.  It’s ups and downs, it’s getting along when you don’t want to, it’s making sure your children have what they need, it’s attending to your own needs, all the while trying to remain partners, friends and lovers.  Not everyone can do it.  What’s not coming through here is just how much I adored them, as a family and as individuals.  They were kind, loving and so smart.  They did the best they could with a situation they thought would have a different outcome- no one gets married thinking, “I’ll do this for a while and then move on.”  The two of them handled themselves as well as they could as they realized that the best thing was to break those vows and allow themselves to change.  I admire them for that.

I also tell you about them because it was on the island in Georgia (with which I fell in love and now harbor a secret hope to return someday) that I first had potato leek soup (or Vichyssoise).  I watched the husband make it and was surprised at how easy it was- he didn’t measure, he didn’t really do much prep and then we had this lovely soup.  I think of them whenever I make it now and hope that they are both happy and well (actually, I hope that one partner is well- I happen to know that the other one is, through the magic of facebook).

Potato Leek Soup

Ingredients

1/2-1 stick of butter

1-2 leeks

1 lb of potatoes

4-5 cups chicken broth

1/2-3/4 cup milk or cream

Directions

Slice your leeks thinly (just the while and pale green part, not the leaves) and separate the rings into a bowl.  Cover with water and let them sit so the sand and dirt will fall to the bottom of the bowl.

In a soup pot, melt the butter over medium heat.  Once it’s melted, add the leeks (drain them first) and let them cook until soft.  Don’t let them brown.  Meanwhile, peel your potatoes.  This time around I used small yukon gold potatoes (stopping up the kitchen disposal with the peels.  It’s a good thing my husband loves me because I plungered it and it’s not fixed.  He’s going to have pull out the plumbing tools.).

Once the leeks have softened, add the potatoes and let them cook for a minute or two.

Pour in enough chicken brother to cover and let it cook until the potatoes are soft.

Take your stick blender and blend until smooth.  Or pour it into a regular blender and blend until smooth.  Or, only blend part of it and leave some of it chunky for texture.  I prefer mine smooth.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Enjoy warm or cool (if it’s cool, it counts as Vichyssoise).  Think of marriage and all its complexities.

*To make this vegetarian, substitute the chicken broth with veggie broth, water or milk.

Grown Up Brunch

When I was little, my family would get together with other families for dinner or brunch or some other meal.  I’d play with the children from that family and the parents would talk. Usually it would separate out by gender but I have distinct memories of looking up and seeing all the adults around the table, chatting, laughing and watching us play.

Today, we became my parents.  It was awesome.

We had friends over for brunch, two couples, one of whom has children.  The adults (though, since it’s us, I use the term loosely) sat at the table, chatting, laughing and eating while the two older kids played.  This is what it looked like when they were done playing:

It was great.  And we had so much food!  Bagels, cream cheese and lox (we’re good Jews), yummy cookies and pastries (thanks to one couple), homemade blueberry muffins (thanks to the other couple) and a mushroom and leek quiche that I threw together so that we’d have some more protein, you know, for balance.

It really was a lovely morning and it was nice to see G. and the other child play together.  He’s the son of a good friend from high school (with whom I’d lost touch but, thanks to facebook, we’ve re-connected) and it was neat to see our children getting along.  Also a bit surreal since most days I still feel like I’m in middle school- it’s hard to believe that high school was over 15 years ago and that many of us now have children of our own.

At any rate, here’s the quiche recipe.  I find quiche quite forgiving and it can take on a number of different flavors.  It’s a great leftovers dish since you can throw almost any veggie in there and have it end up tasty.  Eggs, cream, cheese….  what’s not to like?

Leek and Mushroom Quiche

Ingredients

1/2 recipe of dough (I use the Hippo’s recipe but I add about 1-2 teaspoons of sugar for a bit of sweet)

6-9 eggs, depending on the size of your pie pan

3/4-1 cup of milk, light or heavy cream- use what you have

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1/2 – 3/4 cup leeks (sliced and cleaned)

1/2-1 cup of grated parmesan cheese (other cheeses work well, too)

Directions:

Make your dough and let it firm up in the fridge.  Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Slice and clean your leek.  I make really thin slices and then separate the layers into a bowl, cover them with water and let them sit.  All the sand and dirt will sort of fall out and sink to the bottom. I actually love leeks- they’re milder than onions and sort of sweet.  I saved one leek to make potato leek soup later in the week.  I can’t wait!

Chop up your mushrooms while the leeks are soaking.

Heat a small saute pan on the stove over medium heat.  Add some olive oil and toss in the leeks (take them out of the water first).  Let them cook a bit until they’re soft and sort of translucent but not brown- maybe 5 minutes or so.

Add your mushrooms and let that cook until the mushrooms cook down (i.e. release their liquid and get smaller).  Meanwhile, crack your eggs into a large-ish bowl.

I think there's something really pretty about eggs. I know, I'm weird.

Whip them with a whisk until they’re all blended together well.

Add your cream (or whatever dairy you’re using) and some salt (and pepper if you wish).  Whip again to mix and set aside.  Then it’s time to roll out your dough.

Now, I am NOT a dough expert.  I can not crimp or flute to save my life so my crusts are always asymmetrical and sort of ragged looking.  I only started making my own pie crust in the last year or so when I realized that 1) the Hippo’s recipe was easy and did not involve lard (big debate in the pie crust world about how lard is what makes a really good, flakey, decadent pie crust which is probably true but, ick) and 2) I could make it in my food processor.  I love my food processor.  So take my rolling out advice with a grain or two of salt and find what works for you.

I roll my dough on a cutting board because I’m never sure my counters are clean enough and I am never prepared enough to clean it before I put the dough down.  Lightly flour your surface as well as your dough.

Start rolling from the center out, not from either end. I remember this from my bakery days but I’ll be damned if I can remember why- I think maybe it’s more even this way.

Flip it over and turn it 90 degrees.  Roll again, from the center.

Continue this until it is the thickness and roughly the shape that you want.  Again, mine are never symmetrical and never the correct shape.  Keep in mind that you want to work the dough as little as possible and that the more time it has to heat up the less flakey it will be- has to do with the butter melting and other food science-y stuff.  If you really want to know more, I’m sure Alton Brown can tell you. (I just watched the video link and he actually uses a ziplock bag and two pie pans which, if I had two pie pans, I might try)

I put my pretty red pie pan on top of it partly to measure and partly because it’s easier for me to get the dough into the pan.  You can be all fancy and roll the dough over your rolling-pin and then sort of drape it over the pan but I find that fancy makes holes in the dough (at least for me).

Flip it over so that the dough is on top of the pan.

Peel off your cutting board if necessary and then sort of drape the dough gently into the pan.  I press down gently to kind of tuck it into the sides and bottom.

At this point, you should make the edges look pretty.  I do not, but you should.  I just sort of leave it.

By now, your mushroom/leek mixture should be done (did you forget about it?  I hope not!).  Set it aside to let it cool for a few minutes while you grate your cheese.  I am (as well we all know if we’ve been reading along) lazy so I do mine in the mini-food processor.

Sprinkle about half of your cheese onto your crust.  It will sort of insulate it once you add the other things and make it less soggy as it bakes.

Your mushrooms and leeks should look a bit like this:

Add them on top of the cheese and sort of spread them around as evenly as you can.

Give your egg and dairy mixture another whip and then pour over.

Sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top and toss into your oven.  You may want to put a baking sheet underneath, in case some of it spills over.

Let it bake for about 45 minutes to an hour.  About halfway through, I always need to cover it loosely with a bit of aluminum foil as it will be brown but still jiggley.  You want it to be firm and not wiggley in the middle.  When you take it out of the oven, let it sit for a few minutes before cutting into it, otherwise it won’t set as well.

Around here we’ll eat quiche for any of the our three meals.  It’s good both hot, room temperature and cold.  And it’s generally pretty easy to throw together last minute, too.  I’ll sometimes do a bacon cheddar cheese quiche or a sausage and other kind of cheese.  Sometimes it’s just whatever veggies I have on hand- peppers, broccoli, asparagus you name it, it can probably go into a quiche.

Enjoy with your friends and family (even if you’re not having brunch).

Food Fun

At work this week someone asked me, “So what’s your Halloween menu going to be this year?”

I had no response.  The truth is, I had completely missed the fact that it’s October.  I mean, I’d written the date a zillion times but had not connected it to the actual month, if that makes any sense.  I’ve been spending so much time with my head down, barreling through all that needs to be done that I forgot to remember that it’s October.

You see, October is a month filled with significant dates for my family.  It’s the month in which my mother’s friend was born, the month in which one of my cousins was born and the month in which that same cousin’s father passed away.  October is the month in which, four years ago, I got married and the month in which, twelve years ago, my grandmother passed away.  Needless to say, October always comes with mixed emotions for us.

But October is also Halloween, one of my favorite food holidays.  You can see my past Halloween menus here and here.  I love food that looks like something else or food that creates a mood or setting.  So after my co-worker asked me, I started to wonder what I would do this year.  Last year the baby didn’t really appreciate what I was doing.  This year, she still won’t but she’ll be able to help make it (thanks to my in-laws who just purchased me a version of this).

So I sat on the sofa last night and browsed Martha Stewart.  Full disclosure, I dislike Martha because she makes me feel inadequate.  Nonetheless, I found some great recipes to try this year and the husband got in on the act as well.  He was sitting next to me on the sofa and got sucked into the pictures.  This year we’ll be trying Eyeball Soup, Spiderweb Eggs, and worms in dirt.  I’m not sure about dessert yet.  These Zombie Rising Cupcakes look cool but seem to be an awful lot of work.  Maybe we’ll try some eyeball cookies or cupcakes.

At any rate, expect a post sometime after Halloween to discuss how this all went down.  Here’s hoping for spooky, fun and delicious!

Fresh Fish Fast

As I’ve stated before, my grandmother often made fish.  Surprisingly, I don’t think she ever made it the way I’m about to explain.  I’m not sure why- this was possibly the fastest recipe I’ve ever used and it was totally delicious!  Also, quite healthy.  It’s a technique I’ve read about and I think it can be used with chicken as well.  I got this one from the Legal’s Seafood Cookbook but it does seem like a flexible recipe.  Give it a try and let me know how it goes.

Oven-Steamed Cod with Vegetables

Based on a recipe from the New Legal Sea foods Cookbook

Ingredients

1 1/2- 2 lbs cod fillets (but will work with just about any mild white fish)

6 ounces broccoli

4 ounces mushrooms

1/4 cup chopped onion

1 tablespoon minced sweet marjoram, basil or parsley

salt

pepper

1 tablespoon butter

aluminum foil

Directions

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Tear off a large sheet of aluminum foil, large enough to hold the fish and veggies in a packet.

Place the fish in the middle of the foil.  Season with salt and pepper.  Chop up your veggies and cover the fish with them.  Really pile them on.  I started with the broccoli.

I added a few halved cherry tomatoes as well as some garlic. I really just threw them all on top, sort of willy-nilly.

Season this with salt and pepper as well as the spices you’re using.  I’ll be honest, I forgot the marjoram and it was still good!  Fold the foil over to start creating a packet for the fish. Fold the left side over and then the right.

Continue by folding the bottom up and over the two sides. I did it sort of like wrapping a gift.

Pull it up and sort of seal it.

Repeat with the top so that you end up with a fully wrapped package of fish and vegetables.

Place on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes.  I had a bit more fish than the recipe called for so it took longer for mine to cook.  The veggies will be crisp-tender and the fish will be succulent and, well, just plain yummy.

Be careful when you unwrap your fishy present, the steam will be very hot (duh) and will come rushing out.  I served mine over rice but it would be equally good over couscous or maybe small pasta.

Verdicts

So, thanks for voting!  We ended up eating squash soup, homemade challah and a yummy pear-feta-balsamic salad that K. brought with her.  We also had this pumpkin spice cake.  More about that in a moment.  As our after-lunch activity, we took G. to the park.  G. was delighted with K’s funny faces and driving of her car/stroller thing.

I also made everything I was supposed to this week, according to my plan, and have some thoughts.  It’ll be a mix of quick recipes, links and opinions today….  My grandmother would write her notes on the recipes in her cookbooks.  Think of this as my way of doing that, just using technology.    But, starting from most recent, let’s talk about lunch yesterday.

The soup was good, as always.  As was the challah, which I’d heated up on Friday night since I’d forgotten to defrost it the day before.  It was good.  Must make more today as I am now out of loaves in the freezer.

The salad was delicious.  It’s K’s recipe and this particular day’s salad came with an amusing story which involved a second trip to the grocery store, an abundance of feta and an analysis of the cleanliness of her kitchen floor (result?  Far, far cleaner than mine!).  But I’ll let her tell that either on one of her blogs or in the comments.  Anyway, it’s lettuce, a sliced pear, feta cheese and balsamic dressing.  A combination I’d never put together on my own, but when she did, the results were wonderful.  The crunch and sweetness of the pear, along with the sweetness of the balsamic were offset nicely by the tang and creaminess of the feta.  Mmmm.

The pumpkin spice cake was also good.  I did realize, as I made it, while talking on the phone with the hippo, that I probably should have just made my pumpkin bread recipe and baked it in a cake pan, since I left out the pineapple, currants, and coconuts that the recipe wanted.  I just  couldn’t get behind fruit in my pumpkin cake.  All the reviews of the cake admitted that most felt it was an odd addition to the cake but that it worked.  I don’t trust these people and I don’t like coconut.  At any rate, my cake was yummy.

As for last week?  Well, if you recall, I had planned lettuce wraps and fried rice, a ricotta frittata, avgolemono, broccoli and cheddar soup, and crockpot pasta and beef.  The verdicts?   The lettuce wraps were great, as expected.  The ricotta frittata was also a big hit- the ricotta added a nice tang and depth to the eggs.  The avgolemono was not as well received.  I’m not sure if I made it wrong or if it’s just tastes that I don’t like together.  I’d try it again, but probably only in a restaurant or made by someone’s Greek grandmother.  That way I can see if it was me or the recipe.  The broccoli soup was good but I now have a ton left.  I may freeze some and see if I can turn the rest into a pasta/chicken casserole.  Stay tuned for that experiment.

The pasta-beef recipe made everyone but my daughter happy.  My husband and in-laws loved it, I thought it was tolerable and G…..refused it  Vehemently.  I may be raising a bit of a semi-vegetarian, which is fine with me but makes my husband nervous (he’s a steak and more steak guy).    It wasn’t bad- if I make it again, I’ll likely make it with chicken or turkey.  To me it was a cross between a chili and a pasta sauce.  It was good with cheddar cheese on it.

So, consider my cookbook notes updated.  Up this week?  Recipes from Crockery Cookbook, Legal Sea Foods Cookbook and America’s Test Kitchen….  I’ll keep you posted.

 

Decisions, Decisions

I’m having a friend over for lunch and general merriment tomorrow.  She’s my friend with the garden.  She’ll be bringing a pear and feta salad with balsamic dressing.  What should I make for lunch to go with it?  Vote here:

We’re also debating cooking.  We were thinking about croissants but without a sheeter, it’s more work and time than we’re willing to devote.  So what should we make/do instead?

A Week of Meals

“So, what do you eat all week?”

This is a question that’s been asked of me by people who don’t cook.  For many people, the idea of creating dinner/lunch/breakfast seven days a week is daunting.  As I’ve mentioned before, I plan out a week in advance, shop for that week and do as much prep as I can motivate to do over the weekends.  As far as I can remember, my grandmother worked a different way- she decided on the day of or perhaps a day before, what she would make.  Then she’d shop that day and see what was available.  I know from reading, experience and talking with others, that in places where fresh produce and farmer’s markets are widely available, people tend to cook dinner based on what’s there that day.  When I’m on vacation or over the summer, I tend to do more of that since I have the time.  Grandma, when I cooked with her, had retired, had no children in the house (well, except me and my cousins when it was summer) and had many options for fresh meat, vegetables, baked goods and fish.  The neighborhood has changed a bit since then and many of the Jewish bakeries, produce and meat stores have closed.  There’s still a fishmongers, a farmer’s market once a week and a Jewish grocery which has a meat counter.  I use them sometimes and feel like I’m back with Grandma.

Anyway, rather than a long story and recipe today, I thought I’d let you in on what it is we eat all week.  Just in case you were curious or wanted some menu ideas.

Breakfast around here tends to be a hurried affair on work days.  I’ll give the toddler some toast and a scrambled egg or just a banana, depending on what she wants.  Hey, sometimes it’s “ack-ers”.  I figure she eats well at daycare and at dinner so I can afford being  more lax around breakfast.  We eat early- maybe her stomach just isn’t ready.  I tend to have an egg white omelette with Munster cheese.  Protein, baby.  The husband eats cold cereal (the same one.  Every day.  Which always makes me think of this scene in City Slickers).

Today, however, I didn’t have to work  so breakfast wasn’t rushed.  We had french toast made with the challah I’d taken out of the freezer for Friday night.

Lunch is usually salad- I make a big one on Sunday and use it all week.  I’ll cook some chicken breasts as well and slice them, leaving them in the fridge for the week.  If there are good leftovers from dinners, I’ll take that to work as well  Packing your lunch definitely saves money and makes good use of the leftovers.  Plus, as I am “eating for two”, I am constantly either hungry or dissatisfied with what I have.  Good times.

Dinner is where the money is, so to speak.  I plan Saturday or Sunday through Friday.  By Friday I’m often beat and if it’s a paycheck week, might treat us to Chinese or Thai or some other easy take-out.  If it’s not, it might be leftovers or sort of a catch-as-catch can kind of thing.  In a perfect world, I’d cook a good, special, sit-down meal to celebrate Shabbat but I’m not there yet.  Challah and candles are the best I can do right now.

So, our meal plan for the week:

Sunday:  Lettuce Wraps(so good, check out the Hippo for the recipe) and Vegetable Fried Rice.  I don’t really have a recipe for fried rice.  I use leftover rice and whatever veggies I can find in the house.

garlic, celery, onion, carrots, green pepper, red pepper and broccoli

I’ll also throw in chicken or other meat if I have it.And sometimes, for decadence, cashew nuts.  If they’re on hand.  I saute all the veggies in some sesame oil, add the rice, add some soy sauce, siracha or whatever else seems tasty at the time.  I stir it all together and then throw in the nuts at the last minute. If you can find the dark soy sauce, that’s what makes it take like “real” fried rice.  What comes out is different every time, not always pretty but generally pretty tasty.Monday- Tonight I’m going to make a ricotta frittata and salad.  We’ll have been home all day and nibbling on leftovers and snacks so I won’t be that hungry and I’ll want something easy.  Plus, I have some ricotta to use up.  If I were doing it “right”- I’d make the ricotta itself.  But not today.  Today is for catching up on work, spending time outside with my daughter and napping.

Tuesday- It’s just me and the toddler as the husband is in class so we’ll try this soup I’ve read about but have never made, Avgolemono.  I’ll add some chicken for more protein and call it a day.

Wednesday- It’s supposed to be a bit more chilly so I’m making broccoli and cheddar soup, based on this recipe, and will serve it with salad or good bread (If I can remember the night before to throw it in the bowl).

Thursday- Is my night to work so on Wednesday night, I’ll do some prep work (browning meat and onions) and Thursday morning before I leave, I’ll throw everything into the crock pot for this pasta and beef recipe.  Pasta and meat are never turned down in my house and since I won’t be eating it, I’ll even use real beef (Recently I’ve developed a revulsion to ground beef).

Friday- I’m planning dinner with a good friend/adopted brother and so will probably go with take-out of some sort.  Asian probably, ’cause that’s how we roll.

Meanwhile, in the fridge, along with the leftovers from Sunday night, I also have a yummy carrot and parsnip soup that I created on Saturday.  A friend of mine mentioned it a few weeks ago and I’ve been dying to try it.  Again, I didn’t really have a recipe but here’s how I made it:

I peeled some carrots and parsnips and chopped them into chunks.  I chunked up  half and onion and a few tomatoes I had to use up.  I throw in a handful of peeled garlic as well.  It all went into a roasting pan and was salted and tossed in some olive oil.  They roasted at 425 for about 40 minutes- until things were tender and roast-y, if you know what I mean.

I put all of them into a pot, including all the veggie juices from the pan, and added enough chicken broth to cover.  I let it simmer for a while probably about an hour- I was busy!

I used my stick blender to puree all of it and added some chicken broth to thin it out a bit.

Then, because I needed to use it up and because I’m decadent like that, I added some heavy cream.

A little salt and pepper to taste and it was done.  It was really quite good and didn’t really need the cream.  I’m not sure I’d have missed it.  The carrots and parsnips were just sweet enough and the tomato gave it a nice little bit of acid.  I’m looking forward to eating it for lunch today and a few more days this week.

So, there you have it.  The answer to, “So what do you eat all week?”