Justin & Meredith Winokur's Kitchen Cooking Notebook
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KitchenKatalog: Blog 328
Sunday, July 24, 2011, 12:03 PM
This was not a good meal. We made sloppy joes starting from the normal recipe. Note that it calls for 1 lbs of beef and we used about 2/3rds of a pound. Then, we did the normal ketchup but we also had leftover sauce from the pizza. I didn't think to lower the ketchup and I threw that in. Oops. It tasted like sweet, extra meaty, tomato sauce. And, it burned on the bottom. Just not great. Serving them on a pretzel roll was, however, delicious.
We tried to make a green been casserole. I do not know what recipe Meredith followed but it was basically a can of condensed cream of mushroom (we use a 96% fat free and low sodium version), some skim milk, and canned green beans. Normally you top it with fried onion but we used toasted multi-grain bread. Besides the fact that the beans were extra cheap and had a bunch of stems, the casserole didn't congeal. Not a great meal :-(
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1305, 2011-07-24_120345
Thursday, July 21, 2011, 06:24 PM
Adam and Steph were over so we did make your own pizza. I made the pizza dough with the recipe from here except I used 1+3/4 cups of whole wheat and regular plus a 1/4 cup bread flour (finished it up). I used 1.5 yeast packets. I also used a bit more olive oil but still less than manyrecipes.Because eof the timing, I made the crust in the morning, let it rise once, punched it down and then refrigerated it. Later I took it out and brought it to room temp. I cut it into 6 then cut two of them into 2 making 4 large and 4 small pieces (1/6 for the large, 1/12th for the small)
For the sauce, I pureed the tomatoes first and then I let them really cook down to get rid of all the moisture. I also used sautéd onions, garlic and olive oil (just a bit)
I do not know what eat and every pizza was but the toppings we had (or at least the ones I remember) were:
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1302, 2011-07-21_182422
Tuesday, July 19, 2011, 03:20 PM
We made empanadas using the normal dough recipe (internal link so not included). The filling was similar to the past but I did some things differently. It was 1/2 an onion, some zucchini, ajalapeopepper, a hot banana pepper, and beans. Then, on top of that, I added some salt, pepper, habanero tabasco, a bit of peanut oil (very little), and a tad of white vinegar for some bite. Also, with the addition of some salt in the dough (updated that page), everything was very, very tasty.
The patatas bravas were also similar to previous attempts. I based the sauce on the recipe used previously which I am also copying below. I pureed the tomatoes mostly (leaving a few chunks) _before_adding it. I forgot the bouillon but it wasn't missed. It probably could/should have simmered a bit more. While I followed their sauce, I did the potatoes the easy way. I just roasted them untouched at 400 for about 45+ minutes. Actually, I added some paprika to them as well for the roast (in addition to the normal salt+pepper). Also, despite making the amount of sauce for 4 lbs, we used fewer potatoes. I didn't weigh it but it was a reasonable amount for two people. (maybe a bit too much)
Patatas Bravas Sauce (from Taste book)
(2014-01-07 Note: Added to "My Recipe Book”)
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1288, 2011-07-19_152019
Sunday, July 17, 2011, 03:13 PM
The tacos were basically made just with the directions on the packet. It was late and we wanted something quick so we didn't do anything special with it.
The cauliflower was made by steaming it for a long time then using a fork to mash it. After the time on 2010-12-12 we did it by hand. I added NF greek yogurt, Molly McButter, onion + garlic powder, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, and some smart balance. I thought it was okay but Meredith didn't seem to like it. It was not baby food but it was no alternative to mashed potatoes.
Oh, also, note the flowers! (unrelated to the meal but we have a changing set of flowers these days and this inadvertently documents them)
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1283, 2011-07-17_151357
Thursday, July 14, 2011, 12:20 PM
We grilled for this meal and it was very good. First we used 98% low fat hot dogs. They are very skinny but only 40 calories each and 1 gram of fat so eating 2-3 is not really bad. However, we were sick of crappy hot dog buns. Instead we bought thin/small baguettes at Trader Joes. They were the ones that needed to cook a bit more. We let them sit in the top rack of the grill. We tore them into thirds, used a knife to hollow out a hole, added mustard and ketchup, and put the hot-dog in them. Not the healthiest of options but really, really good. Real crust and no crappy buns (I have become opposed to crappy, airy bread with no crust since my Germany trip).
The grilled eggplant caprese was based on a recipe Meredith read. We didn't really follow it at all so I am not copying it. It was sliced grape tomatoes,pieces of mozzarella, basic and big pieces of grilled Neon eggplant. She tossed it with a tad of oil and some balsamic vinegar. We used pretty low quality (and low fat) mozzarella. Next time we should buy buffalo mozzarella or any more gourmet kind. Or, make it ourselves. Either way, the dish was still very good. The eggplant got a bit dried out. I have since read that you should soak eggplant before grilling to prevent that. Noted!
The zucchini was thin sliced in the mandoline. I figured this was the best way to do it on 2011-07-05. After pamming them, I added salt, pepper, and garlic powder. They were really good. It was hard to slice them because they were big and the mandoline is a pretty junky one but it did the job. I love zucchini,especially when it is grilled.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1277, 2011-07-14_122050
Wednesday, July 13, 2011, 12:18 PM
We were in a hurry so this meal was fast. It is just salmon burgers with onion marmalade. Basically, the way we always do salmon burgers. We also had a Buffalo Chicken rice side dish thing. That did not taste much like buffalo chicken and we will probably not get it again.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1274, 2011-07-13_121833
Tuesday, July 12, 2011, 12:14 PM
The chicken was thin cut chicken with McCormick Montreal Chicken Seasoning. We grilled it on the griddler. It was think cut so it cooked faster than we expected. I'll have to keep that in mind next time. The peppers were thin sliced and sautéed with a seasoning (pictured below) Meredith got a long time ago in Italy. It is a pretty standard mix of italian seasonings and it works well. Maybe a bit salty but not too bad.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1271, 2011-07-12_121426
Sunday, July 10, 2011, 12:15 PM
This was an interesting meal. Everything we made was the first time we tried it.
First, the Jicaletas. The recipe is below. These are a traditional mexican street food. We did not have the type of chili powder it called for so we just used regular chili powder. Maybe we didn't do it properly, but neither Meredith nor I were overly impressed. I think it was my first time eating jicima. It had a texture not unlike water chestnuts. We may play with this but no hurry.
The roasted asparagus tacos were really good. We basically followed the recipe as stated. We used a caribbean tofu on it which we put in with the cherries. We picked that one simply because it was a firm variety. The thing was, the asparagus got very mushy and springy. I do not know how to really avoid this, but next time we make it, we will chop them first so you do not pull them all out. We meant to top them with some cheese but forgot.
Finally, we made the asparagus salsa as suggested. We really followed this one recipe pretty closely. We added a bit more salt to taste. It was not the most flavorful thing but it wasn't bad. It was a nice addition to the tacos. Maybe next time we will use hotter peppers to give it some zing.
This meal was big and fairly low in calories!
Jicaletas (From The Kitchn)
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Roasted Asparagus and Cherry Tacos (From The Kitchn))
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Asparagus Salsa (From The Kitchn)
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Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1266, 2011-07-10_121513