The running joke in my house is that you better enjoy your meal ’cause you might never have it again! And that includes meals that were wonderful. There’s a restlessness in me when it comes to cooking, and while I have favorites that I repeat, I love trying new recipes. When company comes, a wise piece of advice is to serve something that you’re comfortable cooking and will taste good. But what did I do when my parents were over for the weekend? Try new recipes every dinner, of course! Thankfully they tasted great!
While cooking this past month, I snapped some pics of a few things that have been gracing our table: both woes and wonders.
Woes:
I love this recipe for brussel sprouts, but in the past, I made it with a different topping (a squeeze of lemon, salt, and grated parmesan). But this new topping (fish sauce/soy sauce/oil, chopped peanuts, a chile, and mint) was gross. Thankfully the sausages from Tanglewood Ranch were delicious!
I tried making sauerkraut. While the recipe turned out (my sauerkraut didn’t mold as it aged), it was just too sour for me. Needless to say, it went down the drain. I don’t think I’ll be making sauerkraut again!
Wonders:
I had to use up the leftover mushrooms from my science experiment at school and this was the result: breaded and fried portabella mushrooms on homemade sub rolls, with a pesto/mayo spread and baby arugula to add a little bite. Delish!
Making a birthday treat for a crowd resulted in these: Cherry bars (made with a homemade cherry sauce). An excellent recipe to feed to a crowd!
Avocado and grapefruit “salad”. Includes mint, cilantro, toasted hazelnuts, scallions, and an oil vinaigrette. So good in the winter when avocadoes and grapefruit are both in season!
I’ve been messing around with sourdough (making a starter and keeping it fed) and have tried a few recipes for bread, pancakes, and flatbread.
The sourdough pancakes were pretty good, but I’m going to tweak the recipe a bit next time.
Sourdough herbed flatbread. Super easy and had a nice tang to it.
But don’t expect to see these if you come for a visit…
I’ll be cooking up something new by then!