This week I've already tried a few of the new recipes I posted for this week's meal plan. They have been awesome!
I don't have photos because I forgot. Whoops!
Anyway, the Macheesmo fried chicken recipe is great. I would emphasize that you should go waaaay heavier than you think you need to on the spices in the flour mixture for the breading. But it is yum! I had fun making it. I ended up only sort of following the Macheesmo twice-baked sweet potato recipe and just roasting two sweet potatoes, scooping out the middles, mashing that with some butter and cheddar and herbs, and putting it back in the skins and then back in the oven until bubbly.
The biggest hit of this high-calorie meal, oddly, was the mayo. I tried making homemade mayo for the first time and it was awesome. Seriously. I don't even like mayo, but this stuff is the major major yum. It is pretty easy to make, but it takes patience and willingness to whisk your wrist to death. The basic technique is thusly: take an egg yolk and a tiny amount of water and whisk them together in a bowl. Add a few drops of oil and whisk. Add a few more drops. Whisk. Guess what comes next? Add a few more drops. Whisk. At some point in this adding and whisking process the mixture will lighten up, and then you can add the oil more quickly. Keep adding and whisking until all the oil is combined, and the mixture is thick and creamy. Then you add a teaspoon or two of fresh lemon juice or white wine vinegar and a few pinches of sugar.
And then, you reevaluate ever eating store-bought mayo again. Yum!
Tonight, I made Eggs in Purgatory, which is a simple spicy tomato soup that you poach eggs in and serve the poached eggs and soup over a thick slab of toast. I used a homemade whole wheat bread for the toast, and the whole thing was a big hit. It's a 20-minute dinner, and definitely going into the regular rotation.
Yay!
Sour cream pancakes!
I woke up this morning HUNGRY, and I decided to make a yummy weekend morning breakfast for myself and The Husband. I was rooting around in the fridge and realized we had a bunch of leftover sour cream that wouldn't be used in this week's meal plan, so I decided to search for sour cream pancake recipes. Thankfully, I found a great one. These are the fluffiest pancakes ever! So fluffy!
I used the Smitten Kitchen recipe found here.
There is very little flour in this recipe compared with traditional pancake recipes, but don't worry. It all works out!
I won't retype the whole recipe, because the Smitten Kitchen instructions are clear and for once I didn't make any changes. Here's the basic process, though, featuring my Big Bowl of Self Esteem and less amazing photography.
This recipe, sadly, does require two bowls. One for the dry ingredients plus the sour cream, and one for whisking the eggs and vanilla. Those two mixtures will look something like this:
Combining those two elements is difficult. They really don't want to go together, and it's important not to overmix. I tried folding them in, but that was resulting in big globs of the sour cream mixture swimming in a soup of eggs, so I ended up stirring very quickly for about 10 strokes just to get them combined, and then stopping. The mixture doesn't need to be completely uniform.
But then, a minute or so before they were ready to flip, the pancakes expanded and fluffed up hugely! Once flipped, they were big, golden and perfect.
I used the Smitten Kitchen recipe found here.
There is very little flour in this recipe compared with traditional pancake recipes, but don't worry. It all works out!
I won't retype the whole recipe, because the Smitten Kitchen instructions are clear and for once I didn't make any changes. Here's the basic process, though, featuring my Big Bowl of Self Esteem and less amazing photography.
This recipe, sadly, does require two bowls. One for the dry ingredients plus the sour cream, and one for whisking the eggs and vanilla. Those two mixtures will look something like this:
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| Whisked Eggs with Vanilla- my whisk is shaped like a squid, but that is optional. |
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| Dry Ingredients folded into Sour Cream. |
Then I scooped the batter onto my buttered griddle, and at first, the dollops of batter from my 1/4 cup scoop looked sad and small.
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| We are going to be such wee little pancakes! |
But then, a minute or so before they were ready to flip, the pancakes expanded and fluffed up hugely! Once flipped, they were big, golden and perfect.
We ate them with butter and a variety of yummy pancake toppings. We had some pear butter as a Christmas gift from some friends, some homemade plum syrup from my mom, some apple butter I made this winter, and of course some real maple syrup. Perfect way to start the day.
Meal Plan-- For Next Week!
I got so excited reading new food blogs that I went ahead and did next week's meal plan. I can't wait to make this stuff. The Thai fried rice is an old favorite recipe I haven't made in ages and ages, but landed on the plan because we have tons of extra rice left over from a craft project. The next three items are new recipes never tried before and I hope they go well! The ragu is going to be interesting; I felt my mouth watering reading the Macheesmo's recipe for short rib ragu, but of course, I don't eat beef. Soooo, my plan is to use turkey thighs and a crockpot and see whether I can't come up with something similar and delicious. If I am a super rock star, I'll make my own pasta, but if not, then Trader Joe's has very good Pappardelle pasta. I'll try to be good about updating with the success of all these new recipes, and whatever modifications I inevitably make.
Yummm!
Thai Pineapple Fried Rice
Baked "Fried" Chicken and Twice-baked Sweet Potatoes, with slaw on the side
Eggs in Purgatory
Indian-Spiced Vegetable Fritters with Curry-Lime Yogurt
Crockpot Turkey Ragu and Pappardelle
Yummm!
Thai Pineapple Fried Rice
Baked "Fried" Chicken and Twice-baked Sweet Potatoes, with slaw on the side
Eggs in Purgatory
Indian-Spiced Vegetable Fritters with Curry-Lime Yogurt
Crockpot Turkey Ragu and Pappardelle
Sandwich Bread
Some bread for The Husband, who doesn't like the stone-baked boule-shaped bread for sammiches.
Meal Plan
The husband came up with this meal plan last week and we've gotten through about half of it. Sorry it's late!
Asian Lettuce Wraps
Stroganoff
Mediterranean Quinoa Salad
Spaghetti Squash
Falafel Pita Sammiches
Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup
Asian Lettuce Wraps
Stroganoff
Mediterranean Quinoa Salad
Spaghetti Squash
Falafel Pita Sammiches
Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup
Zoo Lights
Tonight we went to see Zoo Lights at the Oregon Zoo, and it was a delightful evening of beautiful lights, chill air, and hot cocoa. We had a great time walking around taking in the sights and drinking our chocolate, but by far my favorite part of the evening was watching the penguins.
Yes, penguins.
The penguin enclosure was unlit, so at first it seemed we would see only darkness in the water beyond the glass. But suddenly, a flash of white came out of the blackness; one small penguin zoomed by the window, only to disappear again into the dark. I watched, mesmerized, as a dozen or so penguins, only their white bellies visible, came close enough for me to see and then winked out again as they sped off into their nighttime pool. It was a little creepy at first, giving me that thrill of fear that dark water inspires in the oldest part of our brains, the part that wants to know for sure whether danger is lurking under the surface. But gradually that faded and I came to enjoy the almost magical glimpses of penguins, and to wonder at them. They swam as penguins do, rocketing through the water like streamlined little submarines, heedless of the dark or of their observers. It was a hopeful moment in which I really appreciated that sometimes the dark is hiding beautiful, joyful creatures, and sometimes what we cannot see is not a fearsome unknown, but a simple dance of happy penguins.
Happy New Year, everyone!
Yes, penguins.
The penguin enclosure was unlit, so at first it seemed we would see only darkness in the water beyond the glass. But suddenly, a flash of white came out of the blackness; one small penguin zoomed by the window, only to disappear again into the dark. I watched, mesmerized, as a dozen or so penguins, only their white bellies visible, came close enough for me to see and then winked out again as they sped off into their nighttime pool. It was a little creepy at first, giving me that thrill of fear that dark water inspires in the oldest part of our brains, the part that wants to know for sure whether danger is lurking under the surface. But gradually that faded and I came to enjoy the almost magical glimpses of penguins, and to wonder at them. They swam as penguins do, rocketing through the water like streamlined little submarines, heedless of the dark or of their observers. It was a hopeful moment in which I really appreciated that sometimes the dark is hiding beautiful, joyful creatures, and sometimes what we cannot see is not a fearsome unknown, but a simple dance of happy penguins.
Happy New Year, everyone!
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