Week # 39 in Review

The Menu Plan for Week #39 was filled with tried and true family favorites.  I have been promising the ‘Ole Buckeye that I would include more meals that we love and do a little less experimenting.  Week #39 did just that.  It did help that red, yellow, and orange peppers were reasonably priced.  Not only were they less expensive than they have been all winter, but they were big, beautiful, firm, and fresh.  It was an easy decision to incorporate them into a family favorite meal plan.

Week #39 started on Wednesday with our favorite meat loaf thanks to Bobby Flay.  The flavors in this loaf are exceptional.  I served it with roasted fingerling potatoes and brussels sprouts.  For the first time I decided to divide this recipe in half and create two loaves.  We had one for dinner and I popped one into the freezer for a future special comfort food meal.  Cook Once/Eat Twice…I love it!

Roasted Vegetable Meatloaf with Balsamic Glaze

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Heat the oil in a large saute pan over high heat. Add the zucchini, peppers, onion and salt and pepper, to taste, and cook until almost soft, 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and 1/4 teaspoon the red pepper flakes and cook for 30 seconds.

Thursday, as you know by now, is the night that the ‘Ole Buckeye is assigned for meal provision.   In the past when we went out to eat Italian, he would often order Italian Sausage and Peppers.  Over the years I tried to recreate one of his favorite renditions from Harry Caray’s in Chicago.  I never quit matched the flavor or the consistency.  Finally I came across the recipe from Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice.  Although it wasn’t Harry Caray’s, it was the most delicious Italian Roasted Pepper, Potato, and Sausage recipe I have ever made.

Since the ‘Ole Buckeye loves this dinner and the recipe is fairly easy, it was all on him to create his very own dinner with this family favorite.  He served it with some toasty garlic bread.  Delish!

Roasted Sausage, Potatoes and Peppers

Italian sausage, potatoes, bell peppers and onions oven-roasted with fresh rosemary in an olive oil and parmesan cheese dressing. Yes, I’m still on a roasting binge. No, the end is not near. One of the many things I love about roasting is the oven does most of the work!

I had invited my daughter and son-in-law for dinner to celebrate a Happy St Patrick’s Day on Friday.  Last year for the very first time I made corned beef and cabbage using a crock pot recipe from Skinnytaste.  I also used a packaged corned beef from Trader Joe’s.  The dinner was delicious, but I wanted to take it to another level.  I wasn’t a fan of the frozen pearl onions and wanted to add potatoes to the mix.  That lead to my search.

Ok, Ok you may find it a little strange that I included 3 corn beef and cabbage preparations from three different sources.  The first is the Skinnytaste crock pot version that I made last year.  I actually combined its’ best elements with strong elements from a food crush recipe, both in ingredients and preparation.  I used the recipe for horse radish sauce from the chow hound recipe.  By reading all three recipes I came up with my own rendition of Corned Beef and Cabbage.  The corn beef I once again procured from Trader Joes.  I served it as a family dinner and this new rendition received raves all around.  In fact the ‘Ole Buckeye said it was the best corned beef he had ever eaten and my daughter and son in law agreed.

Crock Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage

Since tomorrow is St Patrick’s Day, I’m sure many of you will be enjoying the classic Irish-American dish, corned beef and cabbage, which I am sharing from the archives! This is what we’ll be eating for dinner tomorrow and I can’t wait!

Corned Beef and Cabbage with Horseradish Cream Sauce Recipe

An easy homemade corned beef recipe that’s brined with traditional spices.

Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage | foodiecrush.com

One of the very first “adult” dinner parties I had at the apartment I shared with my boy toy/now husband was a St. Patrick’s Day party with my friends from college. We’d finally all graduated, some of us later than others *wink*, and most had moved from our small agricultural college town to the thriving metropolis of Salt Lake City.

Normally if it was just the two of us, I would forgo a salad since there are so many vegetables included in the meal.  But this was a celebration.  I found this Irish Pub salad, and although I did not have tarragon on hand, I decided to make a go of it.  I googled a substitute for tarragon.  For the dressing I replaced the tarragon with fennel seed.  I did not have high expectations for the salad, but it was really refreshing and quite good.  A perfect preface to the meal.

Irish Pub Salad

This Irish Pub Salad is served with a Tarragon Dressing and perfect for a St. Patrick’s Day Party! Happy March, Friends! I feel blessed to have creative family and friends who can cook and contribute to a meal, bring drinks, ice, or even stop by the store if needed, so I take advantage of this when we host a dinner party.

I served dessert only because it was a family dinner and celebration.  I came across this Bailey’s Parfait.  What is more Irish than Baileys?  I did make one change however.  The recipe called for crushed oreos.  My quick grocery run to pick up the dessert ingredients presented an exciting alternative …mint oreos!  And so the new dessert was born.

One serving was enough for two.  2 spoons and one parfait on either side of the table.

 

Baileys Cookies and Cream Parfaits

BY Chrisy Happy Friday! I don’t know about you, but I’m beyond exhausted. I’m so ready to do absolutely nothing have some fun this weekend doing all the things that don’t qualify as w-o-r-k, and I’m kicking things off in the best way I know how: with a Baileys parfait that’s swirled cookies and cream!

 

Saturday night was the East Beach St Patrick’s Day Party complete with music, beer and ruben sandwiches.  It was Party Hardy in East Beach.  One couple did an amazing Irish Jig!  A fun night.

On Sunday we left Ireland and went straight to the southern border for fajitas.  This oven roasted version served along with the ‘Ole Buckeye’s guacamole is a family favorite and much enjoyed on a cold Sunday evening.   I roast my fajitas on a cookie sheet with sides and spread out the meat and vegetables so that they roast evenly.  I find that baking in a 9 x 13 keeps them too moist.

OVEN ROASTED FAJITAS

Recently it surfaced that our dear family pals have a fond place in their hearts for the restaurant Chili’s. Upon hearing this, I, of course, very much wanted to go to Chili’s with them (although my normal desire for Chili’s hovers around zero).

On Monday a new recipe from Looks Good Enough to Try was on the menu.  I had a busy day planned and a slow cooker offering was perfect.

Slow Cooker Orange Chicken – Kirbie’s Cravings

Slow cooker orange chicken is an easy weeknight dinner. Add all your ingredients to your crock pot and let it do the work. I’ve made a lot of versions of orange chicken over the years as it’s one of Mr. K’s favorite dishes. I’ve done classic orange chicken, baked orange chicken, orange chicken pasta, and …

This orange chicken recipe was good as a basic recipe and easy to make on a busy day that required relief from heavy kitchen duties.  I repeat “basic”.  After the allotted cooking time I tasted it and decided on additions.  I prepared the rice as I have learned to do from Blue Apron.  The brown rice was prepared using chicken stock rather than water.  When the rice was ready I folded in 3 sliced green onions for texture and additional flavor.

As a compliment to the orange chicken, I rough chopped raw cashews and when plating the meal sprinkled the nuts over the chicken and sauce.  The meal turned out quite tasty, but the “Ole Buckeye and I agreed that if it had not been for the last minute additions the flavors would have been greatly lacking.  Serving  it the way I did puts it in a “repeat” category.  In fact I think my grand girls would love it.

Tuesday’s menu called for Cook once/Eat Twice Fajitas, but the Blue Apron Box arrived early in the day and I had time available to experiment with one of the Blue Apron meals.  Since I like to prepare the fish as soon as possible when the box arrives, I elected to make the catfish dinner.

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We elected not to use the furikake (seaweed blend) as a garnish on the rice after reading the reviews and taking a whiff.  Aside from that, I made the meal as directed.  My fish didn’t stick Yeah!! and was very good.  The cabbage was a complete surprise…so simple, yet so good as a side with the catfish.  I will make this again on my own, as well as adding mirin to my pantry.

As I have mentioned before Blue Apron has taught me something new each time I have prepared an entree.  I had never heard of black garlic and the black garlic mayonnaise that I made to accompany the fish was perfect and a complete surprise.  It lead me to explore a new food and flavor once again.   Yet another lesson learned.  In fact I may just try making some on my own!

HOW TO MAKE BLACK GARLIC

Black garlic. It’s basically fresh garlic that are kept around at 140f for 2 weeks. The low temperature cause a chemical reaction that convert the sugar in the garlic and make it turn black. it s s sweet, savory, soft, chewy and molasses-like richness, .

So there you have it.  Week #39 was a complete success.  I will move a cook once/eat twice meal into a slot in week #40 since I invaded the Blue Apron box early.  But that simply allows for a free day to do whatever I like without kitchen duty.

I am ready for another week of great eating!