Well, that's one week of this new year under my belt. As far as resolutions go, I think I did pretty well.
My biggest resolution is about cooking dinner at home as opposed to eating out. Pete loves, and I mean LOVES, to eat dinner out. Doesn't matter where - Wendy's and Taco Bell are favorites, but he also enjoys Moe's, Chili's, Applebee's, Five Guys, and any local Italian, Chinese or Indian places, all of which are very convenient to our home. So, he always suggests we eat out, whenever given the chance.
I, on the other hand, enjoy cooking, and think that it's always healthier and more economical for us to eat in. But, of course, that makes a lot more work for me - planning, shopping, cooking and cleaning up. He was "traumatized" by always having to wash dishes growing up, so he won't help with them now. It's just another aurgument for why we should eat out, in his mind - then we won't have to do any dishes!
So, I must admit, I had gotten a bit lazy about cooking in December - with everything going on, and constant evening shopping for gifts, it was much more convenient to just eat out somewhere.
So, I did some planning and shopping New Year's Day, and launched into my first week back cooking. Friday we had a "good luck" meal of pork chops with sauerkraut to welcome in the New Year. Saturday we had BLT's for dinner (Pete's special request). Sunday I made PW's lasagna for dinner. Monday was a bit of a cheat - I brought in take-out, but it was salad, bread and a pasta dish from a local Italian place for only $20. But, as it wasn't fast food, I was happy with that, plus it was enough for a family of 4, so there were leftovers for my lunches. Tuesday we had leftover lasagna. Wednesday I tried a new recipe - Sesame Pork Rice, which we liked a lot. I even snuck extra veggies into it for us! Thursday we had leftover lasagna again (yes, that recipe makes a huge pan!). Friday I made taco soup. Saturday I made Lazy Stuffed Peppers. Guiness Beef Stew is on the menu for today. More planning and shopping today, and I really feel like I'm on a roll....
I'm looking into "once a month cooking" - a concept that sounds wonderful to me. I'll post about that once I know much more - once a month may not be feasible, but maybe twice a month is. Anything would be a great improvement over once a day cooking!
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Le Creuset in the home
Yes, I know, I am obsessing about this stuff... But anyway, since my kitchen is fairly small, I've been wondering about storage of my pieces - they can't really be stacked, and my cupboards are all already full! I plan to take some of my old T-Fal stuff up to camp this summer, which will make room, but probably still not enough.
Here are some great LC display examples, mostly in pretty small kitchens.
Besides the fact that they show them stored/displayed out in the open, I also find it interesting that most of these people have multiple colors. I really like the one that shows a blue, green and yellow pot - such a lovely cool palette. Maybe, since I already have red, I should look at getting some pieces in orange and yellow in keeping with my warm palette?
Here are some great LC display examples, mostly in pretty small kitchens.
Besides the fact that they show them stored/displayed out in the open, I also find it interesting that most of these people have multiple colors. I really like the one that shows a blue, green and yellow pot - such a lovely cool palette. Maybe, since I already have red, I should look at getting some pieces in orange and yellow in keeping with my warm palette?
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Lasagna!
Great segue from my last post - Saturday afternoon I made us a big pan of lasagna. One of my New Year's resolution is to cook at home as much as possible. Lasagna is a great way to do this, as it makes for lots of yummy leftovers for the rest of the week.
I used my LC large roaster and followed Pioneer Woman's lasagna recipe. Now for those of you who haven't tried it, you just must. It is truly one of the best tasting lasagna recipes in the world. It's amazing how the addition of spicy breakfast sausage and the roasting of the tomatoes adds wonderful flavor to the dish. As a Midwesterner, for years my lasagna was always made with just ground beef and sauce from a jar. But, after living in the Northeast for the past 9 years, with all the Italian influences around (I'm guessing 60% of our all local restaurants are Italian!), my old recipe just seemed too bland. I had started substituting sliced meatballs into my recipe, but that is a costly and time-consuming option. Good yes, but not ideal, as the meatballs came from an Italian grocery in Utica! Maybe someday I'll perfect my own meatball recipe, but that's another post....
Please do give PW's (or P-Dub as she calls herself!) recipe a try - you won't be sorry. I make a few modifications when I make it - I cut the ground beef back to just a pound, and I don't pre-cook my noodles, but do add about 12 oz. of water to my sauce to make more liquid to cook the noodles while baking in the oven. No-boil noodles are a bit too wimpy for this recipe - all this meatiness calls for the robustness of a regular lasagna noodle. Red wine might actually be a nice addition to the sauce as well - I think I'll try that the next time I make this. I also increase the amount of the cottage cheese layer to 4 cups, to balance out the meatiness. If you are a purist, by all means use ricotta cheese instead - it's not my favorite, so I stick with small curd cottage cheese.
My LC pan is extra large, so this full recipe fits well. I found it to be too much volume for a regular 'ole 13x9" pan, so if that is what you have, save some of your sauce for another baked dish. The wonderful flavor of this dish comes from the roasting of the tomatoes in the sauce, so you'll be disappointed if you just try using the sauce over pasta - it tastes totally different if not baked.
Mmm, the lasagna leftovers are so yummy!
I used my LC large roaster and followed Pioneer Woman's lasagna recipe. Now for those of you who haven't tried it, you just must. It is truly one of the best tasting lasagna recipes in the world. It's amazing how the addition of spicy breakfast sausage and the roasting of the tomatoes adds wonderful flavor to the dish. As a Midwesterner, for years my lasagna was always made with just ground beef and sauce from a jar. But, after living in the Northeast for the past 9 years, with all the Italian influences around (I'm guessing 60% of our all local restaurants are Italian!), my old recipe just seemed too bland. I had started substituting sliced meatballs into my recipe, but that is a costly and time-consuming option. Good yes, but not ideal, as the meatballs came from an Italian grocery in Utica! Maybe someday I'll perfect my own meatball recipe, but that's another post....
Please do give PW's (or P-Dub as she calls herself!) recipe a try - you won't be sorry. I make a few modifications when I make it - I cut the ground beef back to just a pound, and I don't pre-cook my noodles, but do add about 12 oz. of water to my sauce to make more liquid to cook the noodles while baking in the oven. No-boil noodles are a bit too wimpy for this recipe - all this meatiness calls for the robustness of a regular lasagna noodle. Red wine might actually be a nice addition to the sauce as well - I think I'll try that the next time I make this. I also increase the amount of the cottage cheese layer to 4 cups, to balance out the meatiness. If you are a purist, by all means use ricotta cheese instead - it's not my favorite, so I stick with small curd cottage cheese.
My LC pan is extra large, so this full recipe fits well. I found it to be too much volume for a regular 'ole 13x9" pan, so if that is what you have, save some of your sauce for another baked dish. The wonderful flavor of this dish comes from the roasting of the tomatoes in the sauce, so you'll be disappointed if you just try using the sauce over pasta - it tastes totally different if not baked.
Mmm, the lasagna leftovers are so yummy!
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Marmitout
Well, apparently my latest Le Creuset piece is known as a Marmitout- who knew! I don't know exactly how to pronounce it, but it's basically a cooking pot with a frying pan lid. Alton Brown would love these, as he is so against the single-purpose kitchen item, or uni-taskers as he calls them!
Apparently these pots are most popular in England and France, and are an ideal solution for a tiny kitchen with little storage space. The LC one I got is only available at the outlet stores as it has been discontinued here in the States. It comes in two sizes, 2.25 qt and 3.5 qt. I got the 3.5 qt size, in cherry. Here's a few photos of the LC one:
Here's one I found online by Nigella Lawson, which is only available in England:
And another by Lodge, still currently available, which they call the Logic Combo Cooker :
I picked this LC piece up as it seemed to be a great value for money - two pans for the price of one. On the 3.5 qt pot, the skillet lid is just the perfect size for scrambling eggs or a grilled cheese sandwich, and the cooking pot itself is quite roomy - I made the meat sauce for my lasagna in it last night, and had plenty of room in it, even using 2# of meat!
Apparently these pots are most popular in England and France, and are an ideal solution for a tiny kitchen with little storage space. The LC one I got is only available at the outlet stores as it has been discontinued here in the States. It comes in two sizes, 2.25 qt and 3.5 qt. I got the 3.5 qt size, in cherry. Here's a few photos of the LC one:
Here's one I found online by Nigella Lawson, which is only available in England:
And another by Lodge, still currently available, which they call the Logic Combo Cooker :
I picked this LC piece up as it seemed to be a great value for money - two pans for the price of one. On the 3.5 qt pot, the skillet lid is just the perfect size for scrambling eggs or a grilled cheese sandwich, and the cooking pot itself is quite roomy - I made the meat sauce for my lasagna in it last night, and had plenty of room in it, even using 2# of meat!
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a joyous holiday season. I know I did - I've been off of work since the Wednesday before Christmas, and it has been sooo nice! We went home to MI for Christmas, and as usual, it's always a whirlwind visit. We never have enough time for everything we want to do, yet we are always anxious to get back home to the cats and to do some relaxing.
This year, our trip to the outlet mall at Birch Run resulted in a detour to the wonderful town of Frankenmuth, MI. I had completely forgotten that Frankenmuth was at the same exit as Birch Run, and since we had only a few stores on our itinerary, we headed first to Frankenmuth. It's probably been a good 15 years since I've been there, and my has it changed. There are now several new hotels, including one with a water park! Bronner's has expanded immensely, and there are many more shops than there used to be. We only had a couple hours to spend, so we first headed to Zehnder's for their famous chicken dinner (well, lunch). We were lucky enough to get in before the crowds, so we didn't have to wait for a table. Lunch was wonderful, and I was able to pick up some of their chicken seasoning that I so enjoy.
After lunch we headed to the Frankenmuth Woolen Mill. I've had a wool comforter from there for most of my life, and I love them! I have been wanting to get another one for a while now, as I have multiple bedrooms to outfit. So, I got a new queen-sized comforter (on sale for 20% off!), as well as a great Donna Sharp pinecone quilt set for camp for 40% off! (now I wish I had bought a second one!). Time was running short, so we didn't go to Bronner's, but agreed we'd like to come back for another visit some time this year.
The trip to Birch Run was productive as well, as the Le Creuset outlet store was still having a 35% off sale, and I got a 3.5 qt multi-purpose pan - the lid is actually a small frying pan!
We drove back on Tuesday - the trip was fairly uneventful, with the exception of a bit of lake-effect snow in Canada and around Syracuse. The kitties were so glad to see us!
The rest of this week has been dedicated to unpacking, organizing, undecorating and resolution preparation. I really do plan to work on my health and fitness this year - I need to start exercising again, in order to get back into shape. Even if I just start out with my Wii Fit, it will be a step in the right direction. I got both Wii Fit Plus software as well as the EA Wii Active for Christmas and will be giving them a go. I've got the Wii set up in our bedroom and will get started with it tomorrow.
Best of luck to all of you with your resolutions!
This year, our trip to the outlet mall at Birch Run resulted in a detour to the wonderful town of Frankenmuth, MI. I had completely forgotten that Frankenmuth was at the same exit as Birch Run, and since we had only a few stores on our itinerary, we headed first to Frankenmuth. It's probably been a good 15 years since I've been there, and my has it changed. There are now several new hotels, including one with a water park! Bronner's has expanded immensely, and there are many more shops than there used to be. We only had a couple hours to spend, so we first headed to Zehnder's for their famous chicken dinner (well, lunch). We were lucky enough to get in before the crowds, so we didn't have to wait for a table. Lunch was wonderful, and I was able to pick up some of their chicken seasoning that I so enjoy.
After lunch we headed to the Frankenmuth Woolen Mill. I've had a wool comforter from there for most of my life, and I love them! I have been wanting to get another one for a while now, as I have multiple bedrooms to outfit. So, I got a new queen-sized comforter (on sale for 20% off!), as well as a great Donna Sharp pinecone quilt set for camp for 40% off! (now I wish I had bought a second one!). Time was running short, so we didn't go to Bronner's, but agreed we'd like to come back for another visit some time this year.
The trip to Birch Run was productive as well, as the Le Creuset outlet store was still having a 35% off sale, and I got a 3.5 qt multi-purpose pan - the lid is actually a small frying pan!
We drove back on Tuesday - the trip was fairly uneventful, with the exception of a bit of lake-effect snow in Canada and around Syracuse. The kitties were so glad to see us!
The rest of this week has been dedicated to unpacking, organizing, undecorating and resolution preparation. I really do plan to work on my health and fitness this year - I need to start exercising again, in order to get back into shape. Even if I just start out with my Wii Fit, it will be a step in the right direction. I got both Wii Fit Plus software as well as the EA Wii Active for Christmas and will be giving them a go. I've got the Wii set up in our bedroom and will get started with it tomorrow.
Best of luck to all of you with your resolutions!
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