Eating Dinner With My Family

In  response to pleas from my family to have a recipe more than once, and to try and continue having new recipes daily for the blog, I have come up with a compromise.  I repeated a main dish, Pasta With Spicy Almond Pesto ( http://ormonddinners.blogspot.com/2012/03/pasta-with-spicy-almond-pesto.html ) but I made a different salad dressing. This is one of my favorite honey mustard dressings.  I got it from my MIL years ago which she got from one of those "copy cat" recipe books.  I don't know how close it is to the resturant's actual recipe, but I do know at least 10 years ago, they were using Grey Poupon in it.  They may not now.  I made 1/4 of the following recipe and there was plenty for 2 family size salads. I didn't bother with the electric mixer but if you make all 8 servings, it might make your life easier. "Outback"  Honey Mustard Dressing 8 Servings 1 c  Grey Poupon Dijon Mustard 1 c  Honey 2 t  Vegetable oil 1 t  ...

I enjoyed this $9.00 dinner very much.  You will have to stock your pantry with soy and fish sauce, but I use them in so many recipes, it is worth the addition to your pantry.  I bought sirloin cut in to thin steaks and I cut them in to slices.  I think it might be better with buying the whole steak and then cutting slightly thicker slices. (it would also be less expensive to have the meat not pre cut for you)  I made rice for everyone, but (not included in the cost because it was just for me) I splurged on a $3 head of hydroponic butter lettuce to wrap the beef in. (I only used about 1/6 of the head so, add $0.50 to my dinner)   I LOVED it. The meat was a tad chewy, but I attribute that to the fact that it was so thin.  Still not so tough that it was unpleasant.  My son didn't care for the peanuts in the meat, but I really liked the flavor and crunch.  A keeper and possible favorite! Vietnamese-Style Beef With Garlic, Black Peppe...

Much like the souffle, gnocchi has a reputation for being easy to mess up.  This was my first gnocchi and I was a little nervous.  The dish does take a while, mostly because there is an hour of baking before you even begin to make the dough.  Also annoying,  I discovered as I was making it, it was a big sticky mess, and I was kind of hoping it would be the colossal failure I was worried it could be because it was so laborious and messy.  No such luck.  It was unbelievable!!!  The light fluffy pillows of pasta in a nutty, herby sauce.  They didn't look like much but they were yummy!  Another thing I liked about this recipe is that the recipe made enough to freeze half of the gnocchi for a future use.  After I ate some, I realized I could have made the entire recipe and we would probably would have eaten it all.  We may have felt ill after but it just might have been worth it.  If you make the entire recipe and eat...

I figure this dish cost about $14 dollars.  That is a little higher than I figure my cost is because I had several ingredients that I needed to use.  I did use slightly less than a pound of shrimp.  I think our society eats too much meat and I always go a bit light on the amount of meat called for in any recipe. I also try to go heavier on the vegetables.  For instance in this dish I doubled the spinach. This is one that my husband really liked.  The shrimp don't look too pretty because of cooking in the bacon fat, but they taste great. Lemon Barley “risotto” With Shrimp, Bacon & Spinach 6 sl bacon 1 lb large shrimp(21-25 count) peeled and deveined Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 1/2 c  chopped shallots or onions 1 1/3 cups quick-cooking barley 1    Tbs. fresh lemon juice 2 1/2 cups homemade or low-salt chicken broth 1/4 lb (4 cups loosely packed) baby spinach,washed and spun dry 1/3 c  freshly grated Pecorino ...

I liked this dish.  There are a few things I would have done differently.  The salmon was a bit overcooked but the green beans were perfect.  Next time, I would start the green beans 2-3 minutes earlier than the fish; say at the point where you toss the beans in the middle of the cooking, I would then add the fish.  I thought the glaze/marinade was great and loved the method of it. I didn't need a starch, but at least the boy did, so I made some rice and added the rest of of the spicy Korean dipping sauce to it.  It was pretty good. Cost of the meal $4.50 per person and I bought expensive wild salmon and french green beans.  I was a little light on the salmon, but 2 packages would have been way more than I needed.  Farmed salmon and regular green beans would have made this about half price per person. Five-Spice-Glazed Salmon With Sesame Green Beans 1/4 c  honey 4 t  reduced-sodium soy sauce 1-1/2 tsp. five-spice powder 2 ...

My darling father is in town tonight, so I decided to pull out a recipe that I thought looked worthy of company, particularly company that was totally coming to my rescue.  It did not meet those expectations.  That being said, the corn puree totally rocked; it looked bad, dirty almost, but tasted wonderful.  My husband and I loved it, my dad said he thought it was good, and I had to practically force feed it to the boy.  The pork tenderloin's wonderful character was ruined by the "poaching"  It was not juicy.  It lacked most flavor.  It was beyond well done, not slightly pink inside after the 20 minutes, but I have to admit I still have a hard time with slightly pink.  The pan sauce was good, but needed to reduce a lot more to be more 'glaze' like and a glaze would have made this a much better dish.  The salad was the star for me.  My husband asked if he made the salad pretty enough, would it earn a place in the blog:). I said ...

     So while I am not trying to do tasty meals for $70 for the week, I am starting to figure what do the meals actually cost.  I figured: rice sticks: 2.55, chicken 5.35, sherry 0.35, hoisin sauce 0.52 , Shiitake 7.00 , spinach 2.25, meal total 18.02.  Almost half of  the cost are the shiitakes which you could sub out regular mushrooms for $4 less.  I still think not too bad for a meat, veg and a starch for 4.  I happen to adore mushrooms and shiitakes are one of my favorites so I totally think they are worth the splurge.  Bonus for me, mushrooms are one of the two items my son is allowed to veto eating, so I get his portion.  YAY!  I would count having hoisin sauce as part of my pantry, but since most wouldn't I have figured it into the cost.      So the good news, you could shave another buck twenty five off because there is no need to make so many rice noodles because there was too much noodle...

     Before I started cooking this, which I did pick because of the leftovers I had from Friday night's meal, I figured the cost of the entire dinner.  Ham 1.65, Scallions .60, Kimchi 2.00, Rice, .51,  Eggs  .42 Total= $5.16 but kimchi and rice was leftover so they would have been wasted if not used so I almost don't want to count them.  Complete the meal with even a fancy bag of mixed salad greens $3.00 and make your own dressing. Oil, vinegar and salt and pepper are considered part of a stocked pantry.  Meal total $8.16.  I have a bit, not much mind you, of the pork left too.  I could have used it in place of the ham.  Instead I thought I would either serve as a lettuce bundle for each of us or mix it into the rice.  I decided to save it and eat it as lunch because it is just too darn good to throw in with something else.      The rice was good.  I had made it once before and didn't r...

I decided to make this to use up the rest of the kale from the lentil stew.  I cooked off the kale when I made the stew because I was afraid that it would get funky in the fridge uncooked.  I was worried about this recipe when I started sauteing the onion and chorizo. They really filled the pan 10" pan called for in the recipe and I didn't see how with the kale and eggs it would fit in an already full skillet.   So I bust out my 11.5" pan and get it ready to cook the frittata in, oil and all.  I test my theory by slowly adding the egg mixture to the 10" pan. It was a perfect fit. Doh!  So I dump out the 10" pan into a bowl and wipe it out.  Add the oil from the 11.5" pan to the 10' one and follow the recipe.  I set the timer for 8 minutes when I was cooking it on low and added one minute at a time until the required 1" border was set.  It took 11 minutes on my stove. I then baked it for about 17 minutes and it was set.  I liked it; the boy re...

My MIL and her husband were passing through town on their way north.  Since my son and his friend are going to stay with them for a week in the summer, we thought we would invite our friends to meet my MIL's husband.  My friend requested the Korean Pork BBQ recipe.  (Gratefully obtained from another friend)  Now my BBQ is a pale approximation of the way it is made by the friend I got the recipe from, but it is still yummy!  Since we were having a large gathering, I decided to try and make more Korean dishes to accompany the pork.  My friend that gave me the BBQ recipe recommended a Korean pancake to go with it,  Boochimga.  I couldn't find anything with that spelling, but I found 2 recipes for a Korean Pancake.  I made both.  The scallion one was the better of the two.  I also make some quick pickles that I LOVED! I didn't use the kirby cukes recommended, and I didn't seed the ones I did use and they were great. I did...

This one was alright.  We weren't hating it but I plan on deleting it.  I thought the meat was a bit tough.  Flavors were ok, but I did add some smoked paprika at the end and some hot sauce in addition to the salsa and sour cream..  Truth be told, we haven't found many fajita recipes that really wowed us.  Generally I have found chicken to be better than the steak also. Beef Fajitas For marinade 2 T  canola oil Juice of 1 lime 1 t  chili powder 1/4 t  garlic powder 1/4 t  salt 1/4 t  pepper 3/4 lb chuck steak or top round sliced into 1/4 inch strips For fajitas 1/2    medium onion,sliced 1    medium sweet red pepper sliced into thin strips 2 T  canola oil,divided 8    flour tortilla shells,warmed Salsa Sour cream Combine marinade ingredients and add beef. Refrigerate for 30 minutes and up to overnight. Remove beef from marinade. In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oi...

Another good one!  It was quick (except for the hour of simmering) and easy.  My biggest issue with this recipe is that the point of these meals is that they are inexpensive, and they are, but many of the ingredients come in much bigger packages, and what isn't used will go to waste unless there is some planning.  For example, the kale comes in a 10 cup bag, but the recipe only needs 2 cups.  I cooked off the rest and am making a kale and chorizo fritatta next week.  The kielbasa comes in 14 ounce portions but I only needed 8 for the recipe.  These are parts of the ingredients that had to have money spent on, but they have no use in the week and they are not figured in to the cost.  If they go to waste, then the cost of the meals goes up.  I suppose there are markets out there that you can by a different size, but not my grocery store and I think it's a fairly good one. Ok enough complaining.  My darling and wonderful friend who recommended t...

Yay!!!  This recipe was good!  I am so glad this one was tasty as we had friends over for dinner.  I did deviate a bit from the original recipe.  I thought it looked a bit small for the 5 of us so I used my second bag of ravioli I had but this one was beef.  I also used the really good marinara (the $8 kind I only buy when it is bogo, so that makes it about the same as the other marinara).  I "thawed" the ravioli for a few minutes in boiling water.  It was quick, easy and could be made ahead of time.  We all agreed it was the best thing we had all week. Baked Spinach And Cheese Ravioli 1 1/2 lb frozen cheese ravioli,thawed 1    Ten ounce package frozen chopped spinach,thawed and squeezed dry 1    24 ounce jar marinara sauce 1 1/2 c  shredded mozzarella 1/4 c  Parmesan Preheat oven to 350F. Use nonstick cooking spray to grease a 2 quart baking dish. In a large bowl, combine ravioli, spinach, and m...

Well of all the recipes of the week, we had the highest hopes for this one, but it was a total failure.  I even had about half a small tub of ricotta that was going to be thrown out soon and I put it in there too.  The ricotta helped but it was not good.  My family feels like they are on some kind of weird punishment detail.  There wasn't even salt or pepper in the calzone mixture.  I am determined to come up with a menu that will feed my family for a week for $70.  I would say $50, but I figured I would start with an easier goal in mind.  Not next week; I promised my family we would have a regular week, but I am going to just buy the meal stuff and not paper towels, soap etc in that trip to the store.  That way I can see how much a regular week of just dinners cost. (just for a frame of reference) I really don't think it is that much more.  I was averaging $150 but that included paper towels, cleaning supplies, breakfasts and lunches and bee...

Well another meh for the week of $50 for dinner.  The issue began as soon as I opened the can of salmon.  One would assume that canned salmon was boneless and skinless.  WRONG!  On the can is a teeny tiny asterisk with the note that soft bones and skin are completely edible and a great source of omega -3's  Now, while that is true Chicken of the Sea, I would appreciate that your company put that in larger letters in the future.  At least the can was full of fillets that had been pressed in to a tube shape.  I was able to remove the skin and most of the bones including a rather large spine!  Ewww.  I think I wasted about 1/3 of each can. Ok that being said, the salmon cake was probably the tastiest thing in the recipe.  I love beet greens and these were not so good.  Orzo was ok but pretty bland. I reheated the beets from last night and they were good.  I love roasted beets, but I also think they could have u...

Another underwhelming meal from the week of under $50. ( http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-500172_162-6910676.html  )  Not bad really, but not a wow either.  The chicken was pretty good.  The beets never made it to the plate; Forty minutes to cook my foot!  After the 40 minutes, they were still very hard, so we kept cooking them until they were fork tender, which was an hour after we had finished eating.  I will eat them with lunch or add them to dinner tomorrow.  I added a salad instead.  I made the mistake of using a bottled dressing,  I bought a bottle in what can only be a fit of madness.  I saw green goddess dressing and thought yum and that is a bit of work to make, why not.  I will tell you why not; it will make a great salad taste flat.  We all ate the salad, but it lost something in the process of dressing rather than gaining.  I couldn't find instant polenta at the store so I made the basic polenta recipe I found ...

So I decided to try the feed a family of four dinners for a week for under $50 menu I got from a friend.  http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-500172_162-6910676.html   I left my husband in charge of finishing up the dinner while I went out to the monthly wine tasting at my home away from home, The Ormond Wine Co.  I'm kinda glad I missed this one.  The boy liked the pork, my husband not so much and they both agreed that the salad was just way too lemony.  I plan on deleting it. Oh and they had some of the leftover bulgur as a starch. Pork Milanese 4  Four ounce boneless pork chops,trimmed of fat 3/4 c  dry bread crumbs 2 T  grated Parmesan 1/4 t  garlic powder 1    egg,lightly beaten 3 T  extra-virgin olive oil 4 c  baby arugula 2 T  lemon juice Preheat oven to 350F. Place each pork chop between two pieces of plastic wrap. Using a meat mallet, pound to about 1/4-inch thickness. Season each side with s...

Still on my mission to clean out what we have rather than shop, I have decided to cook the steaks we cut off the tenderloin we were using for the Beef Wellington.  They were vacuum sealed so no freezer burn. (yay)  I guess this is a bit of a rift on my steak salad in that the salad is pretty much the steak salad without the steak on top of it and with a starch.  I opted for bulgar.  Bulgar is such a neglected side dish.  It works like rice but it has this wonderful nutty and chewy texture that makes rice just seem sad.  (sorry to rice but you know it's true;)  It cooks quickly (about 15 min) and just like rice, you sub out the water for broth and some butter and MAGIC.  I added some raw finely chopped onion.  Yes I was lazy; I should have sauteed it first but I'm tired and wanted tonight's dinner to be quick and easy.  No recipe here, just a recommendation for eating bulgar:) I am also happy to report that those yellow tomatoes came out ...

It happens from time to time; there are too many remnants in the fridge to justify going out and cooking a nice new tasty meal.  Soup can be a tasty way to clean all those remnants because lends itself to so many ingredients.  I have no recipe.  I wasn't even going to try but figured I would use this post to advocate the occasional leftover soup to help prevent waste and clean out that fridge.  What did I use that was lurking in my fridge?  Well I had some: pancetta, prosciutto, clam juice, chicken broth, v8, the dregs of a jar of marinara, parsnips, red cabbage, red onion, carrots,celery, pimentos, mushrooms, Parmesan rind and heaping tablespoon of jarred pesto sauce.  I just sauteed the pancetta in some olive oil and added the rest of the non liquid ingredients and sauteed them a bit.  Added the liquid ingredients and some water and the rind and let it cook about a half an hour on low.  It was pretty good.  Not 5 st...

I was looking for a scallop recipe because I had some in the freezer and I desperately need to clean out the clutter from the fridge and freezer.  I am repeating the mantra, do not go shopping for new food, yet!  The only thing I didn't have on hand was the butter lettuce, so I thought that was pretty good.  I have to say, while bacon and scallops are amazing, I still was as excited as you would think for this dish.  I really loved it.  I did mess up the scallops, but I tried to cook them all at once to save time and get us all eating together.  They were edible, but hardly my best.  I took the leftover white rice and salsa verde from last night and mixed them for the starch.  Meh.  It was no where near as good as the previous night.  And of course a salad.  The boy didn't like mixture under the scallops, but my husband and I really did. Sea Scallops With Peas, Bacon And Carrots 4 sl of thick-cut bacon,cut into 1/4-in...

Well we have family in town for Easter.  We roasted chicken legs and breasts for the picky eater visiting.  To go with it, I made the second of the recipes for salsa verde I have collected.  I think this one might be a bit better, but that is hard to say since it has been a while since we made the first recipe.   To go with it, I cooked white rice with chicken stock and butter, salad and a Tuscan roasted garlic loaf from the Publix bakery.  Salsa Verde   2    garlic cloves,finely chopped 1/2 c  tightly packed fresh basil   -leaves 1/2 c  tightly packed flat-leaf parsley leaves 3 sl of white bread,such as Pepperidge Farm, crusts removed 1/4 c  white wine vinegar or sherry vinegar 1 T  Dijon mustard 3 T  drained capers 6    cornichons 1/2 c  extra-virgin olive oil Salt and pepper Combine the garlic with the basil and parsley leaves, the bread slices, and the vinegar in t...

I was apprehensive about the mint in the pea puree but other than that I was excited to try this dish.  The pea puree blew me away.  I couldn't believe that I liked it as much as I did.  My husband thought it was a bit sweet on its own.  However, when you put it all together it was, incredible.  Each bite that had some salmon, puree and lemon sauce was better than the sum of its parts.  If I were to make any criticisms of the dish, it would be that I thought the sauce was a bit thin, like broth.  The consensus is that it was DELICIOUS! Salmon In Lemon Brodetto With Pea Puree Lemon Brodetto 2 T  olive oil 1    shallot,diced 2    lemons,juiced 1    lemon,zested 2 c  chicken broth 1 T  chopped fresh mint leaves Pea Puree 2 c  frozen peas,thawed (about 10 ounces) 1/4 c  fresh mint leaves 1 ea garlic 1/2 t  kosher salt 1/2 t  freshly ground black p...

Well I was so happy to have a mushroom extravaganza, I may be overlooking some flaws, but I loved it.  I would have liked it better if I had spent $$$ and had all shiitake and other fancier mushrooms but it just wasn't in the budget.  Not bad with the button mushrooms but, all of the more expensive variety would have been stellar.  It was very rich and creamy.  I cut the mushrooms smaller than indicated so my son wouldn't have big pieces of mushroom to make him gag.  He ate it all but he wasn't very happy about it. Spaghetti With Mushroom Cream Sauce 12 oz dried spaghetti Kosher salt 1    Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil 1    Tbs. unsalted butter 1    large shallot,finely chopped 1 lb mixed mushrooms,cleaned, trimmed, and sliced 1/4 inch th Freshly ground black pepper 2    Tbs. tawny port 1/2 c  heavy cream 1/2 c  sour cream 3    Tbs. chopped fresh parsley or 2 Tbs. chop...

I had such hopes for this one.  Meh...  Even the boy couldn't really find something nice to say.  He did like the meat part, which I thought was just alright, but we all really disliked the "tamale" part.  It was so not tasty.  So another deleted recipe unless someone out there tries this and finds the magic bullet that makes this one tasty.  Oh added bonus, it was a total pain cleaning the pampered chef stoneware muffin pan. I made a quick salad dressing by seasoning some sour cream and adding some medium salsa.  And damn if I didn't just realize as I'm typing the dressing recipe, I forgot to top them with sour cream and cilantro.  While that would have helped a lot, I don't think it would erase the crust travesty. Mini Tamale Pies  For the crust 1/2 c  masa harina 1/2 c  low-sodium chicken broth 1/3 c  vegetable oil For the filling 1 T  vegetable oil 1 lb ground beef 1    medium yellow...

Another installment in my burgers for the boy quest.  I know how much he loves burgers.  It might be genetic since I craved them when I was pregnant with him.  Since I want to try to not repeat recipes for a year, this has made for some interesting burgers.  I think the lamb one from 3/1/12 has been my favorite so far, but there has been some heavy competition!  This one was really good and should have been "light", but I used full fat mayo and added the Swiss cheese that the original recipe said the chef does when serving it in his restaurant.  I loved it, the boy wolfed his down so fast, I was amazed, but my husband (who I expected to fall in love with it) was not that impressed.  He kept saying there was an odd smell he couldn't get past.  Being a bit stuffy still, I couldn't smell it, but that is a good thing since I don't like the smell of raw, cooking or cooked poultry. I loved the smokiness the chipotle lent it. ( I did go a little...

This was a fairly easy recipe.  There was the prep work which involved chopping a lot of veggies, but it wasn't too bad.  The cooking time is like three hours, but largely unattended so that it nice.  We all weren't sure what we would think of it.  My husband and I were pleasantly surprised, my son was not a fan.  The liquid part he was ok with but the rest... He even didn't like the cheese toast.  Most likely he didn't like the soggy bottom nor the Swiss; I happened to love it.  It makes a huge portion; next time I will be halving the recipe. I had a large bit of ham on hand so I used it rather than go out and buy the ham hocks.  As a result, I think the broth was a little watery tasting, so I put a spoonful of ham bouillon in the stew at the beginning of the third hour. I think this dish would lend itself to using up all kinds of leftovers. White Bean and Ham Stew   4    meaty smoked ham hocks (about 3 1/2 pound...

Well tonight we ordered pizza.  It was a long day and I wasn't feeling well.  I actually made this on April second, so April fools!  I just wanted to have each recipe have it's own post as often as possible, so I figured it would be better to but Galette recipe for the day before I made it.  It was my personal least favorite of all the desserts I have made so far, but that in no way means I didn't enjoy it. The slightly alcoholic taste to the sauce was nice and different, but hardly strong.  The residual heat from the sauce cooked some of it out.  I couldn't find sanding sugar so just used regular sugar;  you can't see it but I figured there would be some flavor.  The sanding sugar would be better.  I forgot to take the picture until after I had my one small piece and my husband had his two large ones, so it's only half there:) Spiked Apple Galette For the crust 2 1/2 c  all-purpose flour,plus more for rolling out the dough 1/4 c...