Some Thoughts on this Blog Concept

Well my friends, I know that I am two weeks behind on the daily dinner blog. To be perfectly honest I think I bit off more than I could chew, so to speak. So I have decided to change the focus of my blog to a more general food/cooking/recipe blog. And I am changing the name to That Girl Cooks.

I think 133 days of dinners is pretty remarkable, but just not something I can keep up with. So, I am going to take a break and think about how I am going to reconceptualize the content and then I will be back!

Friday Night Steak

Big J and I went to the grocery store this afternoon to shop for food for the graduation party on Sunday. little j had asked to have mac and cheese for dinner but Big J and I weren't feeling it. So we walked around the store asking each other what we wanted for dinner. Fish? We could both take it or leave it. Chicken? Nah. Steak? Sounded pretty good. So I chose a steak to grill and Big J got baking potatoes. little j had swimming lessons again today so Big J took charge of dinner. He did a great job on the potatoes and the steak was cooked to perfection. Add to that a side of steamed broccoli and a nice little bottle of red wine and we had ourselves a good Friday night dinner. Dare I say Big J has outdone himself this week.

"Bitten" Recipe

Big J and I were talking about what to make to dinner and I remembered yesterday's post on the Bitten blog for spinach stuffed chicken breasts. Big J agreed to make dinner and said he would be happy to tackle the recipe. Wow! Not that the recipe is difficult, but it takes a little finesse.

So little j and I got home from swimming and the kitchen smelled wonderful! Big J assured me that it probably smelled better than they would look. It's true, they weren't perfectly rolled, but they tasted great! He did a great job and even added to the recipe by squeezing some lemon juice over the spinach. (Genius because on Top Chef they always talk about the importance of adding acid to enhance the flavor.)

He served the chicken with rice, a mixed green salad, and grapes. Good job Big J!

Sausage and Veggies

Big J was in charge of dinner tonight. I went to the store yesterday and bought two proteins: chicken pesto sausage and chicken breasts. So Big J had the run of the kitchen while little j and I were at the pool. He decided to grill the sausages and he made wild rice to go along as well as roasted asparagus, grilled spring onions, and sauteed onion with apples and red peppers. It was a fresh, well-rounded meal. Fortunately our kitchen is nearly done, so we can get back to our regular cooking life!

Big J's Week (Apparently)

I am trying to finish a project so today Big J graciously offered to take little j to her lesson and cook dinner. I'm certainly not going to complain. He made our family stand-by tuna noodles with broccoli.

Kitchen and Swimming Lessons

We are still working on the kitchen and life is slightly more complicated because little j has swimming lessons until 6 p.m. I took little j to her lessons and Big J got pizza from Mellow Mushroom. He also made a great salad. It was simple and delicious for a Monday.

Dinner with New Friends

After a full weekend working on the kitchen Big J and I were totally happy to accept an invitation to have dinner with a family from little j's school. little j spent the afternoon on a playdate at their home and we joined her in the early evening for a delicious dinner of tortellini and pesto, tomato basil salad, and an incredibly yummy eggplant and cheese dish.

We also had great conversation about space, religion, and philosophy -- our new friends are both astrophysicists.

Something Easy

Big J and I are still working on the kitchen. Cooking anything complicated is certainly out of the question and as the Js headed out for an afternoon birthday party I realized we had no protein in the house, so asked them to pick something up on the way home. They chose chicken and also some great looking asparagus. That's easy. I whipped up some barbecue sauce (ketchup, chili sauce, bourbon, molasses, brown sugar, chili powder, a splash of liquid smoke) and grilled the chicken, broiled the asparagus, cooked up some corn, and sliced tomatoes and added olive oil and basil and balsamic. Totally easy and simply delicious.

Anniversary Dinner

Big J and I celebrated our 12th anniversary this weekend and we were fortunate to have Ms. J from next door babysit for the evening. After a full day of painting the kitchen we were looking forward to getting out of the house and having someone else cook for us. We started out at Enoteca, a local wine bar. We each had a really nice glasses of wine and shared a cheese and salumi plate. Then we went to Ten a hip sushi place that is relatively new. We've been there a couple times before and always had a great food, this time was no exception. We had the "chef's choice" sashimi as well as the calamari. The calamari was crisp and spicy and the sashimi was near perfect. We ended our evening at a popular coffee shop, Mudhouse, Big J with a cappuccino and me with a cup of earl grey. But the best part was the time together, thinking about all the good times we've had and our excitement for the future.

International Detour?

I had planned to make Greek this week, but honestly it was just too much work after giving blood. I know, that totally seems unrelated, but I did give blood and I was just too tired afterward to think about making anything in which I would have to carefully roll up grape leaves. So instead we had grilled steak (always a good choice), quinoa with lemon juice and zest and a bit of olive oil, and a yummy grilled eggplant salad with a lemon dressing, pine nuts and basil. Very good spring meal.

Italian Night

We had a parent meeting about little j's upcoming summer camp at 5:30 this evening and since we didn't leave until almost 6:30 we decided to go out and grab a slice of pizza (cheese for little j, Canadian bacon and pineapple for Big J, and spinach and feta with pesto sauce for me) at Christian's Pizza on the Downtown Mall. We followed that up with, of course, gelato -- mint chocolate chip for little j and cucumber (yum!) for Big J and I.

Tomorrow night: Greek!

International Week?

Last night we had our pseudo-Mexican. Tonight it was pseudo-Asian. Once again, I used the All-Natural Diabetes Cookbook (can you tell we're liking the recipes?). We had an Asian noodle dish with snow peas, red peppers, and edamame. The sauce was made with rice vinegar, honey, green onions, soy sauce, and hot pepper sauce. little j had hers deconstructed, but it was really good all together, plus we have leftovers for tomorrow's lunch!

Cinco de Mayo

Imagine if the Mexican forces had not defeated the French in in 1862 we may be enjoying cassoulet and champagne instead of tacos and cervaza! But Mexican food it is, and our household is never one to shun a holiday that involves a celebration with food. I must admit, however, that I didn't do my all-out Mexican dinner because Mondays just aren't conducive to major cooking projects and we are in the midst of painting our kitchen.

Big J really, really likes tacos made with ground beef. I really, really dislike tacos made with ground beef. I found a recipe that allows some compromise. It's not really Mexican, but it's delicious and makes really good leftovers for lunch. Here it is:

Beef and Spinach Tacos

1 lb ground beef
1 Tbs chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
10 oz. frozen chopped spinach
1 cup salsa (your choice, I like fresh)

Brown ground beef in a non-stick pan over medium heat. Halfway through browning, add the spices and salt to taste. When beef is cooked transfer to a colander to drain off fat. Without wiping the pan add the spinach and about 1 tablespoon of water and cook spinach. Add the beef back in and then add the salsa. Cook 2 to 5 minutes or until warmed through.

Serve with tortillas and toppings of your choice. (I generally choose avocado, grated cheese such as habanero jack, tomatoes, green onion, and whatever else looks good.) I also served rancho beans on the side (365 brand...yum!)

Brunch Leftovers

We had a great brunch with good friends today, but we had some leftovers. I wanted to made a "southern" brunch and I remembered an article in Gourmet about southern brunch early in the year. Sure enough I found some great recipes, and one in particular for Eggs with Cream, Spinach, and Country Ham. Any recipe that calls for steeping ham in heavy cream is potentially delicious in my book. And this one was no exception. Although it was delicious, I broke the cardinal rule of hostessing which was assuming that everyone enjoys a runny egg yolk. One of our guests did not like runny yolks and the other is pregnant and due on Wednesday. So I ended up cooking theirs longer, and it probably wasn't as good. Oh well...

Along with it I served buttermilk biscuits, slow-roasted tomatoes (surprisingly yummy and totally easy), and fresh fruit with rosewater syrup. A word about the fruit: the recipe called for "Using small sharp knife, cut off peel and white pith from oranges. Working over large bowl, cut between membranes to release segments into bowl." Okay, I really, really need to work on my knife skills. It took me two oranges to get the hang of it and my last two didn't turn out that well either. But at the very least I figured out how to do it correctly.

Anyway...what does brunch have to do with dinner? The egg recipe served 8 and instead of cutting it in half I saved the leftovers and put them in a small dish to have for dinner. I also chopped up the leftover 4 tomatoes to add to it. A good addition.

Believe me, this is not typical

We ate out for the third night in a row tonight. I can't remember the last time we did that. But after working on painting the kitchen for most of the day, we decided to head to our favorite local winery, Cardinal Point, for their 5th anniversary. They had a great band, Cashmere Mafia, and, of course great wine. Big J and I shared a bottle of 2006 Cabernet Franc, we listened to the band, ate some snacks and flew our kite.

By the time we rolled back into C'ville it was 6:00 and we had to run by the store to pick up a few things for a brunch we are hosting tomorrow morning. We talked a bit about dinner in the car and decided to try out China King Buffet. Now about a week ago I said that we aren't really fans of buffets, but we'd heard good things so we thought we would give it a shot. It was pretty not to bad. There were tons of choices including lots of fresh seafood and sushi. little j also had a lot to choose from. And I have to admit that the Chinese donuts were a little piece of deep-fried, rolled in sugar heaven.

Harrisonburg Dinner

We had to drive over to Harrisonburg (about an hour away) to pick up our car from the "car doctor" (as we described it to little j). So we left about 5 p.m., picked up the car and had dinner. Nothing special. We ate at the Texas Steakhouse and Saloon. Big J and I both had the 7 oz. sirloin, which was okay except the outside was a little too done for our taste. The inside, however, was medium rare, which is good since we both ordered rare. I had a wedge salad and Big J had a ceasar salad. little j (and don't be shocked by this) had mac and cheese and applesauce.

A Bit of A Celebration

I turned in my dissertation to be bound today. It is finally out of my hands. I was feeling a bit down -- a sort of empty nest thing -- so Big J suggested we go out and celebrate. At first I said no, but after a 20 minute nap I was up for it.

We chose to go to Zinc, a restuarant that's been on the C'ville scene for about a year and one that we enjoy. It has French bistro fare with a great bar. little j started celebration off with lemonade with a splash of cranberry juice. Big J chose the ever-popular gin and tonic, while I went with the Lillet Blanc, a classic aperitif which I highly recommend.

We began our meal with the cheese plate which included three generously sized selections of cheese, crostini and apple slices, and the laitue--bibb lettuce with mustard vinaigrette and chevre. For the main course the Js shared the fish and chips, which, I might add, are hands down the best fish and chips in C'ville, and I had the moules au blue (mussels in a Maytag blue cheese sauce), a decadent and incredibly delightful treat. I had a nice glass of Pinot Noir to accompany the mussels.

All in all, it was a wonderful outdoor dinner celebration with excellent food and even better company.