Celebration!

Tonight's Menu

• grilled garlicky flank steak
  
• rosemary-onion focaccia
  
• squash and sausage casserole
• steamed broccoli
  

DH arrived home tonight from several days out of town attending to family business, so I went to a bit more trouble than usual for dinner. We are so glad to have him home!

This flank steak is one of our favorites. It's the one I talked about all last summer -- so flavorful WITHOUT a marinade! All you do is mash up a few garlic cloves, some kosher salt, freshly ground pepper, the juice of one lemon and some EVOO. I use my mortar and pestle but you do whatever, as long as the garlic gets mashed up and the whole thing becomes a sort of slurry. Then make diamond cuts on your flank steak (cutting diagonally across the grain) on both sides and rub the slurry into all the cuts and crevices. Then pop it on the grill for 4-5 minutes per side over a fairly high heat. Let it rest for 5 minutes or so, then cut into thin slices across the grain. This is SO yummy and it only takes minutes! As long as the steak isn't frozen, you don't even have to plan ahead with this one!

I made the focaccia the same way as last time, but I used the European Peasant Bread dough that was in the fridge (instead of the "master" recipe dough that I used last time). I know I owe you all a full review of this new bread book and it's coming, I promise! I just want to try a few more base recipes first (we've only done two so far). Everyone LOVES this focaccia, and it's such a nice change from plain old bread (or potatoes, or pasta).

The casserole was kind of an experiment, but I think it turned out really tasty! We had some pattypan squash from the CSA box that I really wanted to use up. So what I did was take about a third of a one-pound chub of bulk breakfast sausage (I used Pederson's because it's local and yummy, but feel free to use whatever you like) and brown it off in a skillet with some chopped onions (red ones, from the CSA). I set that mixture aside while I pulsed a couple of slices of bread, some fresh parsley, sage and thyme, and some kosher salt and freshly ground pepper in the food processor until it turned into fragrant, fluffy crumbs. Then I cut two really big pattypan squash into chunks and tossed them in a 9" x 13" pan with the sausage mixture and the bread crumbs. I drizzled on some EVOO, stirred it through, then stuck it all in the oven at 450 degrees F, uncovered, for I think about 30 minutes (I wasn't really keeping track -- just keep an eye on it and stick a fork into the squash now and then to see if it's tender). It came out really yummy, moist and flavorful. Great way to use up some squash!

The broccoli was just steamed in the microwave. So easy!

I'm totally eating the rest of that squash casserole for lunch tomorrow.

More bread!

Tonight's Menu

• grilled boneless pork chops
  
• European-style peasant bread
  
• grilled zucchini
  

Easy dinner tonight, y'all.

The chops were just sprinkled on both sides with Jane's Krazy Salt and garlic pepper, then grilled for about 4-5 minutes per side. Easy!

The bread was another recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (that's NOT an affiliate link, by the way -- just trying to make it easy to find stuff). This one has a mix of flours -- rye, whole wheat and unbleached all-purpose -- for a slightly more rustic taste and appearance, and I actually prefer it to the master recipe (which only has unbleached all-purpose flour). Will probably try focaccia with it sometime soon, since my family has turned out to be a bunch of focaccia freaks -- who knew?!

Grilling is my new favorite way to cook zucchini. It's a good thing I love it so much, because our CSA shares have been overflowing with zukes! All I do is cut the ends off a large-ish zucchini (you could do it with a small one, too, but the ones we're getting lately aren't small!) and then slice it LENGTHWISE, end to end. I do the slices anywhere from 1/4 to 1/3 inch thick. Brush them on both sides with EVOO (last night I smashed up a garlic clove in the oil for a little added flavor), sprinkle with salt and pepper, and grill them for just a minute or two per side. They're SUPER fast to make -- if you're grilling meat, just slice up the zucchini while the meat is grilling and then slap the zukes on the grill right after you take the meat off. That gives the meat a chance to rest while you're grilling the zucchini, and everything's ready to eat at the same time.

The leftover grilled zucchini, assuming you have any, is even good cold in salads or sandwiches. Or stick it in some lasagna or on a pizza! Mix it into some pasta, rice or quinoa! You could make a meal off these things, I swear! And you vegetarians say I NEVER HAVE ANYTHING FOR YOU. Go grill some zucchini, fer cryin' out loud!

Grilled chicken

Tonight's Menu

• grilled chicken drumsticks & thighs
  
• rosemary-onion focaccia
• summer squash with bacon & onion
  
• green salad "bar"
  

This is how I make my grilled chicken. I'm not saying this is how YOU should do it, but this is what works for me with my grill setup. All I do is take some bone-in, skin-on thighs and drumsticks, give them a rinse, dry them with paper towels and then sprinkle them with Jane's Krazy Salt and garlic pepper. Then I set up my three-burner gas grill for slightly indirect grilling, turning two burners up to medium-high and leaving the other one off. I put the chicken skin-side-down over the two lit burners for about five minutes or until the skins have picked up some color (sometimes the color they pick up is BLACK, but that's okay). Then I turn them over and move them to the unlit burner, leaving them to cook for about 30 minutes or until done. I have to babysit them quite a bit because I'm still getting used to this new grill, but so far I've managed not to dry them out or undercook them with this method. Feel free to use an instant-read meat thermometer to make sure they're done (around 170 degrees F or so).

I am so excited about this focaccia, because it came from a recent cookbook purchase, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. I can't reproduce the recipe here because of copyright issues, but they also have a blog that, if you scroll down far enough, lists the master recipe (for boule bread). That's the dough I used, for those who have the book. I just whomped off a canteloupe-sized hunk of dough as instructed, stretched it into a focaccia shape on a silpat-covered baking sheet, layered on some red onions (from the CSA) sliced paper-thin along with some snipped fresh rosemary (from my herb garden), kosher salt, freshly ground pepper and a drizzle of EVOO. Then I baked it at 425 degrees F for about 30 minutes or until it turned golden. (In the book, you bake most of the breads over a broiler pan into which you pour some hot tap water, so the bread steams. I TOTALLY forgot that step until the bread had been in the oven for a full 20 minutes. It still came out great, just took a little longer to cook!)

Everyone LOVED this focaccia! So far we give this particular bread cookbook a HUGE thumbs up. I made a loaf of plain boule from it the other day and that was awesome, too. I plan to post a full review of this book pretty soon, so check back for that!

ANYWAY, again with the squash, bacon and onions, I KNOW! I can't help it. I love it like that. This time I made it with crookneck bi-color summer squash from the CSA, a red onion that was NOT from the CSA but from a local farmstand (and did not include the green tops, more's the pity) and some random applewood-smoked bacon I had in the freezer. And I didn't bother with any herbs, just salt and pepper. YUM!

Tonight's salad bar was just there for the people who don't like squash (read: everyone but me) and included purchased mixed lettuce, sliced cukes from the CSA, and chopped baby carrots. BORING. But whatever.

Pilaf for everyone!

Tonight's Menu

• spicy grilled pork tenderloin
  
• quinoa pilaf
  
• green salad "bar"
  

Remember when I made grilled tenderloin the other night? Well, I actually made two and froze one, so that's what we had tonight (reheated very gently in the microwave).

The quinoa pilaf was an attempt to use up some CSA goodies. First I cooked the quinoa the same way I always do (one cup quinoa to two cups water, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes).

Then I diced up a small zucchini and a small red onion (including the green tops), and minced a couple of cloves of garlic -- all from the CSA. I sauteed this lot in a fairly generous amount of EVOO until everything was tender, tossing in some kosher salt, freshly ground pepper, and snipped herbs (parsley and basil from my garden) at the very end. Then I just dumped about half the cooked quinoa in with the veggie mixture (the girl likes her quinoa plain, so I set some aside for her) and voila! Pilaf!

The boy child decided to try some of the pilaf because it smelled so good. He cautiously took a bite and said, "Hey, this is pretty good!" Then he took another bite. "Actually, this is REALLY good!" He basically inhaled two generous helpings. What can I say? The boy does me proud!

(Those of you familiar with how this whole Make Your Own Damn Dinner thing got started may recall that my kids are never required to eat what I cook, but they ARE required to eat a protein and a veggie or fruit at dinner. Since quinoa is a complete protein all on its own and the pilaf had all those yummy veggies in it, the boy was THRILLED to learn that his requirements were fulfilled in that single dish!)

The salad bar tonight was just purchased mixed lettuce, chopped baby carrots, sliced banana peppers (from the CSA), sliced cucumbers (ditto), and a few little pear tomatoes from my garden.

Ribs on the grill

Tonight's Menu

• sweet & spicy grilled pork spareribs
  
• grilled potato-onion packets
  
• coleslaw
  

I've never figured out how to make ribs 100% on the grill without drying them out or undercooking them. So while these ribs were FINISHED on the grill, they were STARTED in the oven.

What I did was mix up some brown sugar, chili powder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, sea salt and my secret ingredient -- garam masala. This is a blend of black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, cumin, coriander and other spices that's used frequently in Indian food, and it gives a nice, sweet-spicy kick to dry rubs and marinades. I rubbed this spice mixture on both sides of a rack of pork spareribs, then put them in a rack in a roasting pan. After adding a bit of water to the bottom of the pan, I covered it tightly with foil and stuck it in the oven at 300 degrees F for about 1.5 to 2 hours.

Then I mixed up a wet sauce -- ketchup, honey, cayenne, sea salt and more garam masala, along with the juice and grated zest of half an orange. I put the meat on the grill over LOW heat for about 10 minutes per side, basting liberally with this mixture. The ribs came out sticky, tender and delicious! And fortunately, they didn't dry out on the grill. I think they would have over a higher heat, though.

The potato packet was my usual -- red potatoes sliced thin, along with a thinly sliced sweet yellow onion, then alternating layers on a sheet of heavy foil with some kosher salt, freshly ground pepper and blobs of butter. Fold it all into a packet, folding the ends in, and place it on the upper rack of your grill (if you have one, otherwise put it over an unlit burner or a pan of water) for about 30 minutes. They come out SO sweet and yummy! This time the potato (one GIANT one) was from our CSA share.

The coleslaw was made with savoy cabbage this time around, just for something different. I still made the dressing from mayo, vinegar and sugar with a bit of celery seed.

It is almost too hot to grill here already, y'all! I can't stand to sit out there and babysit the meat anymore. The back of our house, where the grill is, faces north and gets NO shade in the evenings this time of year. Oh no! What am I going to do?! It's to hot to use the oven much, either. I forsee a lot of salads in our future!

Eating locally some more!

Tonight's Menu

• grilled spicy pork tenderloin
  
• skillet squash with bacon & onions
  
• green salad bar
  

Our CSA share this week was HUGE, y'all! I could barely lift the box! My garden is just sucking so bad this year, which makes me doubly glad we decided to sign up for the CSA.

First the pork tenderloin, which did NOT come from the CSA. I made this recipe, which we all love (except the kids are refusing to eat it all of a sudden -- WHAT IS WRONG WITH THEM?!).

The squash dish was 100% local! And I LOVE this dish, y'all. My dad always grew squash and zucchini in his garden and the smell of it frying up with bacon and onions takes me right back to my childhood.

What I did was cut up a couple of thick slices of bacon (this was local, and my new favorite, bacon -- Pederson's Apple Smoked, from Hamilton, TX -- you could use whatever, even turkey or soy bacon, though you might have to add some olive oil with those) and brown it in a skillet until it was not QUITE crisp. Then I added a small chopped red onion (from the CSA), a small thinly sliced zucchini (ditto), and a yellow crookneck squash (tritto) that had the neck sliced thinly and the body sliced into thin half-moons. I stirred that all around in the skillet, covering it for a few minutes at a time to let the veggies steam through. After several minutes when the veggies were nice and tender, I stirred in some sliced onion tops (from the CSA red onion above -- I'm talking about the green bits here), salt, freshly ground pepper, and assorted minced herbs from my herb garden (flat-leaf parsley, "pesto" basil, thyme, dill and fennel tops).

Oh, it was soooo good. This is seriously one of my favorite things in the world to eat. Even DH tried some and pronounced it "not bad", which is high praise from him where veggies (especially squash) are concerned.

Tonight's salad bar was supermarket mixed lettuce, chopped supermarket baby carrots (we got some carrots in our CSA share but I couldn't be bothered to peel and chop them tonight), sliced cucumber from the CSA, sliced sweet banana peppers from the CSA, and some little pear and cherry tomatoes from my veggie garden. Yum!

Hot damn, I love summer!

Speaking of summer, tomorrow is the Badger children's last day of school! I hope to have much more time/energy to post our dinners over the summer. Also, Operation Make Your Own Damn Dinner is officially two years old! Wow! I hope to bring y0u a few updates on the original "mission" and what the kids are eating these days, as well.

Stay tuned!

Dinner with the folks

Tonight's Menu

• grilled chicken thighs & drumsticks
  
• grilled potato-onion packets
  
• grilled zucchini
• green salad bar
  

Yes, you read that right. Every single element of tonight's dinner was grilled, except the salad. My parents came over for dinner and I was in full-on cookout mode. The 90-degree temperatures helped with that a bit, I think.

Grilling chicken is SO much easier on my new grill than it was on my old one. The old one only had two burners and didn't do indirect heat well AT ALL. But the new one has THREE burners and works a treat for stuff like this!

Sooo, here is how dinner came together:

First I cut some small red potatoes into quarter-inch slices, then did the same with a small sweet yellow onion. I alternated layers of potato and onion on a big sheet of heavy-duty foil, adding little dabs of butter along with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, then folded the whole thing into a big foil packet.

I lit TWO of the grill burners, leaving the third burner unlit, and put the foil packet on the bread shelf of the grill over the unlit side. I left it there while the other stuff was cooking and it came out perfect -- nice tender potatoes and sweet, soft onions. Yum!

While the grill was heating up (with the foil packet of potatoes and onions already on it), I rinsed the chicken thighs and drumsticks, dried them on paper towels, then sprinkled them with Jane's Krazy Salt and garlic pepper. I stuck them skin-side down on the lit burners of the grill over medium-high heat for maybe 4-5 minutes just to crisp up the skins, then flipped them to skin-side up and moved them over to the unlit burner. Then I turned the other two burners to low and let the chicken cook, undisturbed, for about 30 minutes (I was making a LOT of chicken).

About 10 minutes before the chicken was done, I sliced a couple of zucchinis (from the CSA share) lengthwise, brushed them with EVOO, sprinkled with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, then cranked one of the lit grill burners up to medium-high and grilled them for just a couple of minutes per side (same way I made them the other night). Yum!

Tonight's salad bar was just mixed lettuces (from the grocery store, because my garden lettuces suck right now), sliced cucumber (ditto), sliced baby carrots (tritto), quartered tomatoes (er, quitto?), and rings of green bell and yellow banana peppers, both from the CSA share.

A perfect summer dinner, and actually pretty easy once the small amount of prep was done.

Shrimps on sticks! Again!

Tonight's Menu

• grilled marinated shrimp
  
• multi-grain tortilla chips
  
• sliced beefsteak tomatoes
  

Yes! More grilling! Yay!

I think I have confessed in the past my inability to grill a decent steak. I can do it fine indoors, on my IKEA grill pan, but steaks + me + outdoor grills do not mix. Sadly, I have the same handicap when it comes to grilling shrimp. I DO it, but I have never done it WELL. The shrimp always end up dried out and kind of flavorless.

Until tonight.

I finally bought a clue and googled for recipes and settled on this one. I only made a couple of changes: I cut the hot pepper sauce in half (because I live with spice wimps) and substituted ketchup for the tomato paste. Also, I used sea salt and forgot to reduce the amount -- sea salt is a bit "saltier" than table salt, so you don't need as much. So, it was just a TAD too salty for my taste. But other than that, it was STUPENDOUS. Even the kids loved it, and the girl has demanded that I never use another recipe but this one when grilling shrimp. Okay by me!

The chips were our favorite Tostitos Multi-Grain Tortilla Chips. These taste SO much better than regular tortilla chips, even the blue corn ones! (They aren't paying me to say that, by the way -- we just really love these chips.)

The tomato was from the CSA, as was the garlic for the shrimp marinade (and the parsley was from my own herb garden, woo!).

This was a totally lazy dinner -- no effort involved at all, beyond mixing up the marinade and threading the shrimps on skewers. SO easy!

Slow-cooked comfort food

Tonight's Menu

• beef short ribs in the slow-cooker
  
• mashed potatoes
  
• sauteed cabbage
  

We had some wicked thunder and hail storms roll through here last night, leaving us with mostly overcast skies and slightly cooler temperatures today. As luck would have it, I had bought some beef short ribs this week and decided to fire up the ol' crockpot for some comfort food!

We love our usual short rib recipe (found here) so much that I couldn't bring myself to deviate from it. Except I sort of did anyway. I didn't bother to dredge the ribs in seasoned flour before browning -- I just sprinkled both sides with salt and pepper and browned 'em off naked. And I was out of chili sauce, so I substituted ketchup. I also laid the sliced onions on top of the ribs and poured the rest of the mixed-together sauce ingredients on top, instead of adding the onions to the sauce. But other than that, it was the same as usual, and every bit as delicious!

The mashed potatoes were frozen Ore-Ida, doctored up with some butter, salt and pepper. Shut up.

For the cabbage, all I did was take half a head of plain old green cabbage, core it, chop it into chunks, then saute in a mixture of EVOO and butter until it was tender. I let it get a bit of caramelization for extra flavor. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and dump into a serving bowl. Easy!

Tomorrow it's back to grilling. Oh yes, best beloveds.

More grilling! I know!

Tonight's Menu

• grilled garlicky pork tenderloin
  
• grilled zucchini
  
• leftover coleslaw
• leftover fruit salad
  

I know. I KNOW. We had pork two nights in a row, and it wasn't even leftovers. I don't usually do that, but ... well, there is a long, involved story behind why this happened. It basically boiled down to the fact that it rained/stormed off and on all day, so I had to plan something that could be cooked in the oven if need be, and ALL of the beef in our freezer was the "grill or slow-cook ONLY" variety. And it was a busy day, so slow-cooking in the oven was out. I don't know what to tell you, dudes. WE HAD PORK TWICE, OKAY?

Anyhoo.

What I did was take my huge mortar and pestle, smash up some garlic cloves (about four) with some kosher salt, add some olive oil, freshly ground pepper, and the juice of one lemon, then smear that all over the tenderloin and stick it in a plastic zipper bag in the fridge for about 4 hours. I grilled it over medium-high heat for a total of about 25 minutes, turning it maybe four times (to get all the sides). Then I let it rest for about five minutes before slicing diagonally into medallions. It was delicious and perfectly cooked.

The zucchini was from this week's CSA share. I'm the only one who likes it, so I only did ONE zucchini, but you could do as much as you want. All I did with that was cut the stem end off the zucchini, slice it lengthwise (the long way) into maybe quarter-inch slices, brush both sides with EVOO, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Then I grilled them for a total of about 5-6 minutes, turning halfway through. They were tender and delicious, and I am perfectly happy with being the only one who will eat them because MORE FOR ME.

Breaking in the new grill!

Tonight's Menu

• grilled boneless pork chops w/mango salsa
  
• whole-grain tortilla chips
  
• coleslaw
• fruit salad
  

Oh, dudes. I keep meaning to post, I SWEAR I do, but lately by the time I've dealt with all the end-of-school frenzy, the homework, the making/eating/cleaning up of dinner, and the NIGHTLY COCKTAIL, HELLO, I am just too darn pooped.

HOWEVER. We have been eating some swell stuff lately, including lots of CSA goodies, and for Mother's Day DH and the kids gifted me with a new gas grill! So I will try REALLY HARD to start posting more from now on. Swearsies!

Anyhoo, tonight I broke in the new grill with some boneless pork chops. I just sprinkled them on both sides with Jane's Krazy Salt and garlic pepper, then whomped them on the grill for about 4-5 minutes per side. The new grill leaves MUCH sexier grill marks on meat than the old one, and it has about twice the surface area. LOVE! The chops were excellent.

I have previously discussed mango salsa, coleslaw and fruit salad.

Oh, and the girl child TOTALLY eats coleslaw now! I KNOW! It only took TWO YEARS of having to Make (Her) Own Damn Dinner for her to start eating the food I cook. I thought it would never happen. Look for an update on the original purpose of this blog soon, along with tips for using up all that CSA produce!

Oven spare ribs

Tonight's Menu

• oven-cooked pork spare ribs
  
• crusty French bread
  
• carrot & beet salad
  

I know! Again with the not posting! I'm so sorry. Our dinners have been REALLY boring lately. Think lots of pasta and hamburgers and stuff like that. Ugh.

Today the weather was really windy and weird -- not at all conducive to grilling. So, I made spare ribs in the oven. Did you know that pork spare ribs are relatively cheap? I didn't, until I went shopping for meat the other day and noticed that holy crap, meat has gotten really expensive!

I get a lot of comments about the amount of meat we eat here in the Badger household, and it's true that we eat a lot of it, but we have our reasons, yo. For one, I've been told by doctors (after a lifetime of anemia) that my body is unable to process/utilize non-heme iron. I can ONLY use heme iron, and that ONLY comes from animal flesh -- you won't find it in eggs, dairy, beans, greens or grains. In addition, both DH and my daughter are allergic to soy, legumes and tree nuts. I do try to load up our family diet with high-protein grains (like quinoa) and other foods as much as I can, but the easiest way for all of us to get iron AND protein is through meat and fish.

So. Anyway. On to the recipes!

I bought pork spare ribs with the chine bone removed. That isn't 100% necessary, but it does make it easier to carve them once they're cooked. I made a dry rub of brown sugar, powdered ginger, ancho chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, dry mustard, oregano, cayenne, salt and pepper and rubbed it over both sides of the ribs. Then I placed them on a rack in a roasting pan, poured about a half inch of water in the bottom of the pan, covered it VERY tightly with heavy-duty foil, and put it in the oven at 200 degrees F for about five hours. Then I removed the foil, boosted the heat up to 400 degrees F, and cooked the ribs for another 20 minutes or so, basting with bottled barbecue sauce during the last 10 minutes. After letting them rest for about five minutes I carved them into individual riblets. They were SO deliciously tender and flavorful, y'all.

This sounds like a lot of work, but it REALLY isn't hard to do at all. Most of the "work" time is spent in the oven with no interference from the cook. You can mix up the spice rub the night before, come home for lunch to rub the ribs and stick them in the oven, then boost up the heat and baste them with sauce when you get home from work in the evening. If you're going to be away from them for longer than about six hours, just cook them on a lower heat. As long as you add water to the pan and cover them tightly, they aren't going to burn.

The French bread was bought already made and just warmed through in the oven while the meat rested. Again, you can do this in minutes after work.

The beet & carrot salad can easily be made the day before. In fact, it might be better to do it that way so the flavors can meld for a bit. I made this salad in an effort to use up some of our most recent CSA share -- fresh beets, lovely fresh carrots, and green garlic.

All I did was wash and peel the carrots and beets and then shred them in my food processor. I would guess that the amount I had yielded about two cups of shredded veggies altogether. In a non-reactive bowl, whisk the juice of one lemon (or you could use lime juice, or vinegar) with an equal amount of oil -- I used some pistachio oil that's been lurking in my fridge since DH brought it back from a business trip to the south of France, waiting for the perfect salad opportunity. You could easily use EVOO or some sort of nut oil, whatever you like! I grated in one clove of "green" garlic (you could use a regular garlic clove, and just mince it if you don't have a microplane grater) and added a bit of sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Then I dumped in the shredded veggies and tossed them to coat. Because I can't leave well enough alone, I also snipped in some fresh mint and flat-leaf parsley.

I have never been a big fan of beets, I think because the only kind my mom ever served were the pickled ones from a jar, which are an abomination (sorry, Mom!). This salad was deliciously earthy and a bit tart, which made a nice complement to the rich pork ribs. Very yummy, and I would definitely make this again!

Sausages on the grill

Tonight's Menu

• grilled sausages & onions
  
• "pizza" pasta salad
• green salad "bar"
  

Gorgeous weather today. I grilled. Big surprise, eh?

I had some nice, fresh (non-cured/dried) sweet Italian sausages which I simmered in a big pot of water for about 15-20 minutes, then slapped on the grill to crisp and brown the skins. SO easy. Then I just cut a sweet onion (Texas 1015, in this case) into wedges, tossed them with a bit of EVOO, and grilled them on a grill screen for a few minutes until they'd softened and picked up a bit of color. I don't know why, but I HAVE to have onions with my sausage. I just do. It's some kind of law.

The pasta salad was something different for us, because I just never make it. In our family, pasta and salad are pretty much two completely different dishes, you know? But I got a wild hair and decided to make something with Italian-ish flavors that the kids might like. It was really easy to do, too!

All I did was cook and drain some pasta (wagon wheels -- it's what I had), then rinse it in cold water to chill it down. That went into a bowl along with cubes of mozzarella (not FRESH mozzarella -- the kind you can shred for pizza), slices of pepperoni, some sun-dried tomatoes (not the kind in oil, though you could use those if you wanted), and a bunch of shredded parmesan cheese (NOT the powdery stuff in the green can). I poured a little bottled Italian dressing on top, tossed it all together, and stuck it in the fridge until dinner was ready. It was really tasty! From a visual standpoint, it really needed something green, though. If I made this again I might add a little flat-leaf parsley, fresh basil, or a chopped green pepper.

Green salad bar was the same as on Tuesday.

Crappy weather = chili for dinner

Tonight's Menu

• chili con carne
  
• beer bread
  

You know, I was never conscious of how much the weather affects my cooking mood until I started keeping this blog. Today it was rainy and just kind of gross, so I made chili. It was a chili sort of day, I guess.

Once again, I riffed off of Martha Stewart's chili con carne recipe. This time I actually followed the thing pretty closely for a change, except that I used all beef for the meat and I didn't add any salt at all until the very end. Oh and I used my favorite Muir Glen fire-roasted tomatoes, which are so awesome in chili because of the added smokiness.

Beer bread was the usual also, using only 1/4 cup butter instead of 1/2. Because it makes me feel all virtuous, that's why. We LOVE this bread, y'all. We don't drink that much beer around here, but I've taken to buying it just so I can make this bread. Is that wrong?

Apart from the sliced green onions we used to top the chili, I couldn't be bothered to make a vegetable tonight. Some nights are like that!

Sucky steaks

Tonight's Menu

• grilled NY strip steaks
  
• potato-onion packets
  
• green salad "bar"
  

Oh dudes. I hate it when a good idea goes all wrong in the execution.

It started out okay. I brought a couple of thick, gorgeous NY strip steaks to room temperature. I mashed up a large garlic clove in my mortar and pestle with a little EVOO and let it steep for several minutes, then smeared the resulting garlicky goodness over both sides of the steaks. I sprinkled them with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. I slapped them on the grill. I wasn't happy with the lack of color they picked up on the outside, and so ... I overcooked them. OH THE HUMANITY. Or bovine-osity, or whatever. They came out medium-well. DH was perfectly happy and thought they were delicious, because he likes his steaks grey in the middle. But y'all know me -- I like mine STILL MOOING. So I was not happy. Argh. I just do NOT have the hang of grilling steaks outdoors. From now on, I'm sticking with my IKEA grill pan on the stovetop. That lets me sear them and still keep them nice and rare-ish in the middle. Lesson learned.

Somehow, in the course of overcooking the steaks, I managed to UNDERcook the potato-onion packets. I sliced up some red-skinned potatoes and a nice sweet onion as usual, then layered them with bits of real butter, salt and pepper in a piece of heavy-duty foil before folding it into a packet. I slapped that sucker on the grill as soon as I lit it, like I always do, letting it cook while the grill warmed up for the steaks and removing it after the steaks were done. The potatoes were STILL crunchy in the middle, and the onions did not get as tender as I like. I ended up having to finish this dish in the microwave. ARGH!

At least the salad was good! Mixed greens from the CSA (including baby arugula, which I am LOVING), sliced baby carrots and mixed cherry/grape tomatoes from the supermarket, and raw baby peas FROM THE GARDEN! This was my first actual produce harvest of the year. SO exciting! Raw peas are SO sweet and yummy. They're like candy, I swear. Okay, maybe not like candy. But they're REALLY good!

Spring grilling

Tonight's Menu

• grilled ham steak
  
• ciabatta
  
• grilled asparagus
• fruit salad
  

After a week of really crappy weather, it was GORGEOUS today. Perfect for grilling!

Grilled ham steak is the easiest thing ever. You don't even have to DO anything to it. Just take it out of the package, give it a rinse if you're not into all that brining liquid (I LOVE brine, so I don't rinse mine), and slap it on the grill for 3-5 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of the steak. SO yummy. You will never fry your ham steaks again, y'all.

The ciabatta was store-bought, warmed up in the oven while everything grilled. Easy.

The asparagus was likewise easy. I had a bunch of really skinny spears so they didn't take long to cook at all. Just give them a rinse, snap off the woody ends (this is the most difficult/time-consuming part of the process, which tells you how easy this is), then layer them on a grilling screen (mine is a flat metal sheet with holes in it -- you could also use heavy-duty foil with some holes punched through). Drizzle with EVOO, sprinkle with a little bit of sea salt and freshly ground pepper, toss them on the grill and just stir them around every few minutes with some tongs until they're crisp-tender. This is officially my favorite way to eat asparagus. It's kind of the summer version of oven-roasting, which I also love.

The fruit salad was STUPID easy. All I did was drain some canned mandarin orange segments, toss them in a bowl, then add green grapes and quartered strawberries. No sugar, no dressing, just fruit. We really like this combination -- the flavors and textures compliment each other well.

I don't know if it's because I'm such a die-hard minimalist or what, but I swear my easiest dinners are the most tasty. Simple ingredients plus simple preparation equals YUM.

Brisket

Tonight's Menu

• spice-rubbed beef brisket
• steamed potatoes
• leftover coleslaw from last night
  

This was really easy, though it does take a wee bit of advance planning because of the cooking time. All I did was mix together some brown sugar, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, dry mustard, dried oregano, salt and pepper. Then I rubbed it on both sides of the brisket, whomped it into a roasting pan, added a bit of water, covered it tightly with foil, and stuck it in the oven at 325 degrees F for about two and a half hours. Slice thinly across the grain, and Bob's your uncle!

This brisket makes the house smell AMAZING while it cooks, and it comes out fork-tender. I usually cook it longer at a lower temperature, but the day got away from me and I didn't remember to stick it in the oven until after I'd picked up the boy child from school. It still came out just fine.

For the potatoes, I just quartered some red-skinned potatoes (without peeling them) and steamed them in the microwave. Drain, toss with some real butter (or margarine, if you insist), salt and pepper. Done!

Easy dinner. I was feeling lazy.

Fish tacos

Tonight's Menu

• fish tacos, deconstructed or not according to taste
  

Okay, so here's the deal. I made panko-breaded tilapia in the usual way, and also coleslaw (ditto). Then I warmed some flour tortillas in the microwave and set out a bowl of shredded cheese. Diners had the option of filling their tortillas with crispy fish fillets, cheese and coleslaw, or eating any combination of those items separately.

I was surprised to see the kids really going for it, loading up their tacos! The girl ended up not liking hers and took it apart to eat piece-by-piece. The boy opted for just a fish and cheese taco with coleslaw on the side, and didn't eat much, but he's been sick for the past few days so he doesn't have much of an appetite anyway.

I, of course, thought they were delicious.

Spicy!

Tonight's Menu

• spiced pork tenderloin w/mango salsa
  
• whipped chipotle-orange sweet potatoes
• whole-grain tortilla chips
  
• green salad "bar" w/homemade ranch-style dressing
  

Dudes! I know, I have not posted in forever. Sorry about that. We've had a stressful couple of weeks here in the Badger household, and for simplicity's sake I reverted to a lot of old standby meals that I've already told you about ad nauseum.

Tonight's spiced pork tenderloin was this recipe, broiled in the oven for 10 minutes per side (for a total of 20 minutes). I actually made this and the mango salsa (this recipe but without the peaches) a couple of days ago and just warmed up the pork tonight.

In last week's CSA box we got three tiny little sweet potatoes, not enough to make fries with, and I've been trying to think of a way to use them. I ended up chopping them into chunks (without peeling) and simmering them in water until they were tender, then peeling them and dumping them into the food processor with a canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (I didn't add any extra sauce, though), some salt, and about a teaspoon or so of orange zest (the oranges were also from the CSA box, whee!). This made a nice, slightly spicy puree which I dumped into a serving bowl and drizzled with a teeny bit of really good EVOO. I thought it was fabulous but DH didn't care for it because he doesn't like chipotle. More for me!

Tonight's salad bar was just mixed greens from the CSA along with grape tomatoes, sliced cucumber, and sliced baby carrots. However, we were nearly out of ranch dressing and I haven't had a chance to get out to the store to buy more (did I mention STRESSFUL WEEK?) so I made my own. It was so easy, too! I don't have measurements because I just kind of winged it, but basically I took some mayo and whisked in enough buttermilk to get it to the consistency I wanted it. Most of the recipes I saw online called for sour cream, but we were pretty much out of that too (I KNOW! I'm going shopping tomorrow, I swear) so I added a little bit of plain yogurt for extra tang. Then I whisked in some garlic powder, onion powder, dried dill, dried parsley, salt and pepper. I'm really happy with how it came out, except that I added a little too much dill.

Alrighty! Tomorrow, grocery shopping! And Wednesday, another CSA box!

Eating locally (at least partially)

Tonight's Menu

• sauteed tilapia fillets
  
• red quinoa
  
• green salad "bar"
  

Okay, this was pretty easy. The tilapia fillets were just seasoned with salt and pepper and sauteed in a pan with EVOO. My family has come to prefer the panko-breaded version but it was a long day and I couldn't be arsed. The sauteed version is delicious too, so bite me. (Did I mention it was a long day? Yeah. A REALLY long day.)

The red quinoa is Ancient Harvest brand. It's supposed to be just like regular quinoa, I think, but it tastes different to me and has a slightly different texture (crunchier and a wee bit bitter, to my palate). Frankly, I prefer the traditional ("blonde") version. But this one was okay, too. I tossed my individual portion with a bit of EVOO, salt and pepper and that made it a bit more palatable.

Tonight's salad bar was quite an exciting affair, owing to the fact that we picked up our first CSA share today! I've been wanting to get involved with a CSA for ages, but most of the ones in my area have long waiting lists and/or no distribution points that are convenient to my house (I mean, saving fuel IS part of the point, right?). We finally found one with no waiting list and a relatively close pickup point, so YAY! Fresh, local, organic produce! Can you tell I'm excited about this? (Incidentally, if you're in the Austin area and want the scoop on this particular CSA, feel free to email me at makeyourowndinner AT gmail DOT com.)

Anyway, so tonight's salad bar was mixed salad greens (from the CSA) and diced raw kohlrabi (ditto), along with cucumber, baby carrots, and mixed cherry/pear tomatoes, all of which were from the supermarket. It won't be long until we have lettuce and veggies from our own backyard salad garden, though! Hooray for spring!