Back in the saddle

Work has been busy. Life has been busy. What hasn't been busy is the kitchen. Well I had a day off today and had wanted to make this recipe that had been sitting on my desk for weeks, months even.  It really couldn't be easier: make some guacamole, pan fry a few scallops. I added the sauteed fiddleheads because it's the end of fiddlehead season and I hadn't had any yet. Yumm.

Getting the job done

Mondays really are just the most exhausting days. So often dinner does not get made on Monday nights . . . it more often gets acquired, shall we say. But tonight even though neither of us really felt like cooking, there was some food in the house and we could pull something together. I realized we had some chorizo and a whole whack of potatoes that had come in the past few weeks in our veggie box. Also last week in da box, we got our first jalapenos from the farm.


This is all adding up to something Mexican, as you can well imagine.

I read somewhere about potato-chorizo tacos. I imagine it was Rick Bayliss related but hey, I could just pull these together, I did not need to resort to a recipe. So easy peasy. Took two large potatoes and cut 'em up into tiny squares and tossed them in a pot of boiling water for about 10 minutes until they got soft. Then I took some chorizo and also some onion and chopped them up into little bits. Heated a frying pan and got the chorizo and onions frying up nicely. Once the potatoes were cooked and drained, they got tossed into the frying pan with the other stuff. I added a bit of oil, a sprinkling of salt, a smattering of smokey paprika, and a little bit of garlic and just let it fry for a bit. Kind of mushed up the potato and chorizo, let it brown a bit and that's that for that.

Along with it, made a little avocado-tomatillo salsa. While the potatoes were boiling, just put a couple of fresh tomatillos in the boiling water for a few minutes until they were soft. Then took an avocado, a jalapeno, a dry roasted garlic glove, and the tomatillos and blended it all up together. Presto, you've got some lovely salsa.

If you want, grate a bit of cheese, chop up some onion, some more jalapeno, or some lettuce or whatever. Use them as garnish. We used flour tortillas because it's what we had in the house, so just warmed them in the microwave for a few minutes. Put all the ingredients together in a lovely little hand-holdable package and enjoy : )

Grilled Cheese, if you please.

I absolutely love Grilled Cheese sandwiches. LOVE THEM. As a child, college student, and now adult, I could eat grilled cheese sandwiches at least once a week and not be sad at all.

Feeling a need to use up some of the leftovers in our fridge, I decided to engage my inner Top Chef cook and make a duo of grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner.


Ahhhhh.... gooey cheddar cheese and fillings....

The bottom one is cheese, mayo, salt and pepper and left over roast chicken. The one on top is cheddar cheese and prosciutto. It never occurred to me that people would make grilled cheese in different ways. G makes hers in the oven, two open pieces of bread, no butter, heating into toast, then she smooshes them together to make a sandwich.

Me? I am a bit old school when it comes to grilled cheese. Buttered bread, sandwiching the toppings, put in a hot skillet and fried while constantly smooshing the thing down to get it thinish. I don't know why I have always smooshed it down. As a kid, I was told that I was ruining it and making it horrible. Now with the country's great love of panini's, I just feel like I was a bit of an innovator even in elementary school with my "pressed" sandwiches. (tee hee)

Fast Dinner.

I don't know about you, but when life gets hectic and the summer air gets hot and I get home late and tired, it's not all about fancy food. Heck, it's not even about going out to eat anymore because that just means more time away from home! It's really just about getting some type of not horrid food on the plate that will make me full and happy. I mean, yeah, it still has to taste good, but I am not feeling overly creative.

This dinner arose from that. It's based on a recipe I saw on tv years and years ago and modified to suit my tastes. (I was going to say "palette" but that seems a bit over the top for a girl like me!)


Pasta with Fresh Sauce and Chicken! It's super fast and super easy, I am sure you have a version of it in your own repertoire. Here's how I did it...

Boil pasta until it's to your liking. (I used Tinkyada penne in this one.)
While it's cooking (or when it's done if you want to use the same pan, just let it drain on the side), pour a splash of olive oil in the pan, when slightly heated, toss in diced fresh tomato, red pepper flakes, grated garlic, salt and pepper. Heat through. Add some diced cooked chicken (we had aleftover roast chicken to use up) and then stir in the pasta. Once heated, grate on a ton of fresh parmesan cheese (or use the green shaker can, who am I to judge?). Pour into a bowl and dig in!