Week 35: Off Again

Recipes to Go: 507 194

Weeks to Go: 52 16

Recipes Made This Week

Seafood Angel Hair

Snap Peas 'n' Mushrooms

Nutty Cheese Tortellini

Snow Pea Stir-Fry

Root Vegetable Soup with Sausage

Sunshine Gelatin Mold

After a week by myself, it was my turn to pack up and leave again. Only, I got to take The Captain with me. Which, while it was nice while we were with family in Utah (for a wedding), was not so great on the flights over. I've flown alone with The Captain many times now, and the actual airplanes were totally easy, but keeping hold of him and the bags in the many airports was not. I think it would have been hard for anyone, but being pregnant certainly didn't help any.

But before that whole adventure, I did get to make some food for the family. We had the Seafood Angel Hair, which was delicious. I will have to start keeping and using seafood. It's not usually something I think of for a go-to meal, but shrimp cooks really fast and is very tasty. Well, I have yet to convince The Captain of that, but he'll come around. He already loves fish.

To go with that, we had the Snap Peas 'n' Mushrooms. I bought frozen snap peas because they're so expensive around here, especially out of season. I love peas, and mushrooms, so it was pretty much inevitable that I'd love this.

Along with my snap peas, I also got some frozen tortellini. And the Nutty Cheese Torellini was nothing I would have thought up, but it was great. A fast, one-dish meal and the leftovers were great.

Speaking of leftovers, the Snow Pea Stir Fry earned me a lunch-time, next day email of thanks from The Husband. And it was another really easy one. Basically soy sauce in a skillet with snow peas. Who knew?

One of the things I (and my mom) was looking forward to on my trip to Utah was having time and a baby sitter to cook through a lot of recipes. I was hoping to catch up on some lost time. We started with a trip to the store and a root vegetable soup.

Can't say that I used all the same veggies that the recipe called for, but they were all roots, so it counts. And it was delicious. It was nice to have a little sausage in the soup, though next time, I'd add more. Even though we put in a pound and the recipe called for a 1/4. It seemed like there was barely any sausage in there at all.

Saturday, in addition to the soup, we also put together the Sunshine Gelatin Mold for the family dinner on Sunday.

I don't have any jello molds at my house, and we haven't really been big jello eaters, but my family certainly is, so I made all but one jello recipe while I was there. This one was mixed with ice cream, so it was good, as you may imagine.

Week 34: Home Alone Again

Recipes to Go: 507 200

Weeks to Go: 52 17

Recipes Made This Week

Skillet Beef Stroganoff

Hungarian Stew

Corn 'n' Black Bean Salsa

Reuben Braids

So, after driving almost 12 hours straight and only a few hours sleep, The Husband was off again on a business trip the day we got back from Brazil.

This left me, not only alone, but horribly spoiled after not cooking for two weeks, and entirely unmotivated. Hence the pathetic four recipes.

Despite the fact that The Husband loves it, I made the Skillet Stroganoff without him. And it was wonderful. And I ate it over rice since I didn't have any egg noodles. And of course, I made it without horseradish because that's one of the few things The Husband legitimately doesn't like, so we don't have that in the house, either. I feel like I made it up to him by making the reuben later in the week, and letting him have all the leftovers, too.

Though winter was over for the most part, it was still chilly enough to make the Hungarian Stew. It was hearty, as one would expect from the Hungarians, and the best part, it only made 6 servings, which in our house means a meal and a half. Plus The Captain loved the sauce.

I made the salsa for game night. It tasted very fresh and delicious. And it came together very easily. It would appear that all those years I was intimidated and impressed by homemade salsa were years I probably could have been making my own. Luckily I still think the phrase "homemade" holds some prestige, so there's still a possibility that I could impress people with my throw-together meals.

I made the Reuben Braids specifically for The Husband's return home. He loves reubens and I was so happy to see him again that I probably would have baked a cake. But I didn't, just a yummy and easy sandwich. This recipe was more sandwich-like than the other Reuben bake. It required you to cut the dough and braid it around, which ends up looking impressive and is not only easy, but fun. Braiding dough is also something I've wanted to do for a long time.

Sorry, for the lack of pictures. I was sadly unmotivated to take pictures, either.

Week 33: Missing Summer

Recipes to Go: 507 204

Weeks to Go: 52 19

Our last week in Brazil featured some of the best food. We made it to the beach and had a tour guide for a few days who was not only a friend, but knew about local cuisine. We had to try the official dish of Espirito Santo, and we were not at all disappointed. This is just the appetizer. Crab cakes, essentially.

And the main attraction--Moqueca Capixaba

Normally I don't recommend tomato sauce with fish, but this was amazing. Clearly, as a state dish, they know what they're doing.

And to finish off the trip, well almost, we needed a street hot dog. Which had corn, of course (everything has corn), shredded carrots, peas, cheese, potato skins, eggs, olives, tempura mayo. To be honest, it almost made me hurl, but that was not because of any of the above, but rather, the actual hot dog, which was boiled instead of grilled or just heated through. It was disgusting, but the rest of the toppings were awesome.

Week 32: Summer in Brazil

Recipes to Go: 507 204

Weeks to Go: 52 20

So I took two weeks off of cooking to go to Brazil. I'm still trying to finish on time, but I may have to give myself the extra two weeks anyway. We'll see how good I feel this summer.

Speaking of summer, it was glorious to escape the harsh winter that seemed to go on forever for some 90 degree sunshine. However, food was still a very important part of this trip. It was a good thing I needed to eat all the time because The Husband basically planned the entire trip around what and where we should eat.

This was our first planned stop, an expensive Rodezio that we both agreed in the end was a big waste of money. It was not authentic, just like he complains about with rodezios in the states, and it was ridiculously expensive. Here was my dessert.

I did learn however, that $4 a bottle for water actually does make a difference. That was the best water I had all trip.

Our entire trip was based around food. The Husband has been planning this for years, so at the first opportunity, he picked up Goiabada and Queijo Mineiro, which you can't get in the states,

and washing it down with Mate Couro, which he wasn't allowed to drink last time he was here.

One of his apartments when he lived here was right above this burger joint. He was happy to see it was still here, and still serving ridiculously large burgers. This one is stuffed with steak, cheese, egg, ham, pineapple, corn, and potato skins. On a double bun like the Big Mac, of course. I'm still not sure how I got my mouth around it.

We went to a huge Farmer's Market while we were here. The piles of spices were amazing. I wish I could have brought some home. But we did buy two jars of beans soaked in either oil or alcohol. Probably alcohol. They were beautiful.

One of the stops on our list was a pizza rodezio. It's a great idea, I think, and they only do it during certain hours of the night. I ate way too much pizza, but I did try to save some room for the dessert pizzas that come around. A girl can only take so much cheese, though.

Week 31: Ready to Leave

Recipes to Go: 507 204

Weeks to Go: 52 21

Recipes Made This Week

Leek Soup with Brie Toasts

African Beef Curry

Pot de Creme

Tropical Lime Chicken

Walnut-Filled Coffee Cakes

Ranger Cookies

Honey-Glazed Snack Mix

Coming off the high of last week's recipe binge, I started the week with some leek soup. I came across a little financial trouble with this one. It called for tarragon, which as it turns out is ridiculously expensive. Since I wasn't sure how often I'd be using it, I couldn't justify the expense, especially after already buying the leeks ($$$) and the brie ($$$). Apparently this is an expensive soup. Luckily, it tastes that way.

(Also luckily, there's a decent blend of spices that can get you close to tarragon. Thanks Internet.) The Husband doesn't like brie normally, but this toast was fabulous. I think the next time I see some on sale, I'll grab some day old Italian bread and make this again. Because it has such a wonderful buttery taste when it's toasted. And it goes so well with leeks.

I fed the missionaries on Tuesday. The problem was, I was going to be out of the house most of the afternoon and they had requested to come earlier than usual. Well, this would have been a problem had it not been for this lovely recipe. We are huge fans of curry at our house. I have made it several times and it's one of my favorite go-to meals, but I didn't know what would be different about African style curry.

As it turns out, not much, mostly the toppings. So it was delicious, and I got to leave it on the stove, have rice cooking in the rice cooker and open my door to people waiting on the porch and be greeted by a delicious smell. I only have to set the table and we could eat. It was fabulous. And it tasted fabulous too.

For dessert, I tried the Pot de Creme. Unfortunately, I made it at noon, rather than the night before, so when we ate it hadn't quite set up yet. That didn't stop it from being delicious. Nothing like drinking thick chocolate yumminess out of wine glasses . . .

Since we were going to Brazil for two weeks, and leaving on Friday, I was trying to get through all the food in the house. So Wednesday was leftover night.

Thursday I made the Chicken with tropical salsa. The salsa would have been much better if I could have let it settle all together longer, but alas, time is usually not on my side when it comes to dinner.

That day I also made the coffee cakes to take to class with me in the morning. They were huge. I guess I let the yeast get away from me. Consequently, they tasted yeasty to me, but no one else said anything, so I might have just been crazy hormone taste buds.

Friday, despite our mid-day departure time, I managed to make the Ranger cookies. I halved the recipe and it only made a little over a dozen, perfect for a car ride. And they were very tasty. More interesting flavors than regular oatmeal cookies. The Captain enjoyed them, as did the rest of us.

Also for the car ride, I made the Honey-Glazed Snack Mix. I didn't add nuts, for The Captain's sake. Unfortunately, these just tasted burnt to me, but everyone else, including my niece loved them. So I guess again it was just me.

Week 30: Making up for lost time

Recipes to Go: 507 211

Weeks to Go: 52 22

Recipes Made This Week

Creamy Vegetable Bow Tie Toss

Brownie Sundaes

Sweet 'n' Salty Popcorn

Saucy Apricot Chicken

Shrimp Pasta Salad

Chocolate Braids

Bean Quesadillas

Meatless Mexican Lasagna

Barbecued Meatballs

Pecan Vegetable-Rice Medley

Turkey Potpies

Caramel-Coated Spiced Nuts

Tiramisu Brownies

Strawberry Marscapone Crepes

Hot Cocoa

Prosciutto Tortellini

As you can see scrolling down forever to get to this, I made up for some weak weeks this week. In January I just couldn't seem to make 10 recipes a week. This is mostly due to the fact that I'm pregnant with baby #2 and was most sick this time than last. But clearly the worst is over, so I took advantage of feeling good for more than one day in a row.

On Sunday I made the Creamy Vegetable Bow-Tie Toss. I had been planning on making this for awhile, so I already had the ingredients ready. It was fast, and pretty much what I've come to expect from a cream sauce pasta recipe.

I also really wanted some homemade brownies, and we had some slightly freezer-burned ice cream in the freezer, so I made the Brownie Sundaes.

The brownie portion was disappointing. It definitely needed the ice cream to help. Sadly, the ice cream wasn't that great either, so I'm still on the lookout for some yummy brownies in the book.

Because I was disappointed, I decided to make some popcorn and watch a movie with the fam. We did this all the time on Sundays growing up. Since I don't have an air popper (The Husband says we'll probably get one, and it'll probably be after I'm done with all this), I used microwave. The recipe was delicious and highly addictive, but the aftertaste was weird. It felt like my mouth was coated with a dry, flavorless film. Since The Husband experienced it too, I blame the microwave, pre-buttered popcorn.

The "Meals-in-Minutes" section is not joking. I will definitely be looking here when the year is over and I need something fast for dinner. These recipes mostly use cans that I'm planning on keeping stalked up in the pantry. This one got great reviews from The Husband. It was fast, easy and delicious. What more could you ask for?

I love a good pasta salad, so a shrimp pasta salad was right up my alley. And it lived up to expectations. I guess between recipes like this and the gumbo I'm going to have to keep shrimp in the freezer.

I made the Chocolate Braids for my class. After commenting that they looked like elephant poop, they ate the whole thing. I guess that's not a deterrent to teenagers.

Though I can't say it stopped me either. This wasn't overly chocolatey, it just tasted like a yeast bread with cocoa in it. Which is not to imply that it wasn't good.

I had been wanted to try the Bean Quesadillas every time I passed them in the book, so I finally got around to it. Why don't I ever think of quesadillas when I'm out of dinner ideas?

We go to burritos so often, you'd think I'd figured it out by now. Anyway, these were delicious, like all quesadillas are.

Sticking with the Mexican theme, I made the Meatless Mexican Lasagna. I've made this at least twice before, but not this year, so I was kind of getting it out of the way.

I'm not a huge fan of corn tortillas, but in this instance they work.

Again, the meatballs are something I've had my eye on doing for awhile. For some reason, I thought they were more work than they were. I guess I assumed they'd be in the slow cooker, since most of the other meatballs I've made have been. But they were easy, as far as rolling raw beef goes, and they were tasty.

They went very nicely with the pecan veggie rice. The rice spiced up nicely with just a little fresh parsley. Who knew? And even without the pecans the veggies were delicious. There was very little put in to flavor them, either. This was definitely a light meal that tasted fresh and light rather than low-fat and bland.

My last potpies suffered from a case of bad-smelling thyme, so luckily for me this one didn't call for thyme at all. (Though I did replace my thyme, for the record.) This recipe made two pies, so one to freeze for later. It even came with freezing and thawing instructions, conveniently. And if all my childhood potpies could have crusts like this, I would have wanted to eat them much more often.

Game Night got two treats this week because I thought we'd have someone coming who didn't like chocolate. So I made the spicy nuts. And thanks to my poor mixing skills, they were very spicy. Well, technically some were very spicy and some not spicy at all.

And they were outshown by the tiramisu brownies. Because, well it's tiramisu. And brownies. The only problem was that I couldn't find any marscapone, not even for ready money. So I used a substitute (thank you Internet). The frustrating thing was the recipe called to make it in layers (tiramisu) and marble things around with a knife. Sadly, the density of the layers was vastly different making this impossible. So we stirred it all together. These ended up very cakey, which I normally don't look for in a brownie, but they were also very rich, so they made up for it. They were very good.

I used up the rest of the fake marscapone the next morning with the crepes. They were yummy, as one would expect with crepes, strawberries, and crepes.

But they didn't make very good leftovers.

It was cold enough on Saturday to let me finally make the hot chocolate. It was very rich thanks to the almond extract, but not chocolatey enough for The Husband's taste.

For a fast dinner that night, I made the proscutto tortellini.

It was fast and delicious, but not cheap. Mmm, but did I mention it was delicious?

Week 29: Alone Again

Recipes to Go: 507 227

Weeks to Go: 52 23

Recipes Made This Week

Super Sausage Dip

Turkey and Squash Lasagna

Sweet-and-Sour Brussels Sprouts

Pumpkin Cupcakes

Curried Carrot Soup

Chicken Pot Pie

So while The Husband was away, there was a small crisis at work, which required extra hours from everyone. For convenience, The Husband volunteered for the night shift. It was only supposed to be for a few days, but ended up being pretty much all week. So, essentially, I was alone again. As you can see, this greatly diminished my ambition to cook.

Since I knew that lunch would essentially become breakfast and dinner, I made the sausage dip for lunch on Tuesday. It was good, but not tomato based like I was expecting, so it was not as yummy as I thought it would be.

Yet somehow, it was very addictive, I just had to wait 10 minutes or so between eating fests.

Since I was feeding the missionaries that night, I made turkey and squash lasagna. This was only half as yummy as it could have been, since I somehow missed spaghetti squash in my shopping list and couldn't find any in the local stores. I think the squash would be a great flavor. Not that you can ever really go wrong with lasagna.

It kept us in leftovers for most of the week. And it just kept getting better, as is usually the case in my lasagna experience.

To go with the lasagna, I made brussels sprouts. I can only recall trying brussels sprouts once in my childhood and it was a bitter experience. Just taste-bud wise, it didn't make me resent my mother or anything. But I remember thinking all the rumors and jokes were true, brussels sprouts were horrible. And I decided I didn't like them.

I will now officially redact that statement and say that clearly I just didn't have the right recipe, because now I have tried two that were equally wonderful. I actually found myself craving these all week long.

For dessert I made the pumpkin cupcakes. I had wanted to make these last week, but didn't, obviously. With the pineapple in them, they had a unique taste, more like apple cake than pumpkin cupcakes. And they really needed the frosting, which isn't always the case with cupcakes. Oh, and they stuck to the liners something horrible. I haven't ever had a problem with that before.

But don't let all this talk convince you that they aren't delicious, because they are. And pretty darn healthy, considering.

It's a little sad that I got more than half my cooking for the week done in one day, but that's how it goes sometimes, I guess. It didn't help that I didn't have class Wednesday through Friday, either. Everyone slept in, except The Captain, and our schedules were all over the place. However, we still needed a quick dinner on Wednesday since The Husband went into work earlier in the day so he could lead the church youth activity that night and still get his hours in. So I made the Curried Carrot Soup.

Last time I made a creamy soup, it seemed a little weird to The Husband, but this got rave reviews and inquiries into the ease of construction, which usually means he would like it to be a staple when the year is out. This was a pretty easy recipe, and so perfectly spicy that I won't have a problem making it again.

By Thursday, they had moved The Husband's work schedule from 12 hours at night, to 8 hours ending at 11. So it was slightly more normal and The Captain learned that Daddy hadn't moved away or disappeared. We didn't have Game Night on Friday since I had a meeting and The Husband was working. Saturday, by some miracle, The Husband didn't have to go into work, so I made a chicken pot pie after a family trip to the grocery store. It's been a really long time since we've done that. This is a recipe I feel deserves another chance, since the only problem we had with it was my thyme, which tasted moldy. Unfortunately, that was the base of the gravy, so the whole pie tasted somewhat moldy. Not the pie's fault.