We are the point where a woman could have gotten pregnant and given birth, or be about to give birth, during this pandemic. Sorry, the count of weeks just brought this to mind. I almost feel like we are all feeling like a pregnant woman in her last trimester, hopeful and yet still totally terrified. The difference is that I think we are going to experience a gestation period closer to that of an elephant than a human. Yes, there are vaccines now, and that is fantastic news. But based on everything the health officials are saying, it could still be a while before we can go back to “normal,” whatever that is going to look like. Okay, out of the black hole of spiraling darkness and onto something happier, food!
Thursday (12/10) – Leftover night again! Sorry, nothing exciting to see here.
Friday (12/11) – I made homemade jambalaya with shrimp, andouille and chicken! I only had chicken legs thawed, so this involved deboning again, which was a pain but so worth it. I did this one stove top, but I definitely feel I could adapt it to the instant pot. When it’s cold out, I am a little more fond of cooking stovetop for the most part.
Saturday (12/12) – I had the bread pudding and whiskey butter sauce. It was yummy. The hubby had more jambalaya, since I made a ton of it.
Sunday (12/13) – I did some cooking on Sunday. I started by making homemade biscuits, breakfast sausage and gravy. Yes, I actually made the sausage in patties, then used the fat to make the gravy, but didn’t actually put sausage in the gravy. I did this so that my husband could have sausage patties later in the week, but I couldn’t resist still making the gravy. For dinner, I made broiled hamburgers with caramelized onions on homemade buns and served with French fries. The fries were from the freezer, not fresh cut. I adapted the Parker House roll recipe to bun size. It was pretty decent!
Monday (12/14) – I made French Onion Macaroni and Cheese from a recipe from NYT. Ya’ll, this had so much dairy. There were like 7 cups of cheese and 4 cups of milk! But it is an excellent recipe, and I’d definitely make it again. I varied up the bread they call for on top, using homemade sourdough cut into crouton sized pieces, which I think makes it a little easier to serve and eat. But the kiddo ate it up and said she would love to see it again.
Tuesday (12/15) – In what I can only describe as a healthy binge, the husband and I had French fries for dinner. I know, so good for us. I didn’t feel like cooking after we got done with our curbside pick ups and yes, we had leftovers, but I had a nostalgia for my teen years when I would fry up a plate of fries after school…and yes, I did once set a fire while doing this. I was a teenager with a pot of frying oil!
Wednesday (12/16) – I made another attempt at broccoli and cheese soup. We’d had it the week before, and I wasn’t thrilled with how it came out. This time, I cooked it stovetop instead of in the instant pot. And I used a milk base with a roux instead of broth. I think the soup texture came out much better. However, I should have cut the broccoli pieces smaller and blanched it since I was using fresh and not using the power of the instant pot. Still, it was pretty decent. I also had some bacon I’d fried up for the husband and I to throw into ours along with scallions.
I also attempted to make homemade goldfish twice this week. I burned them both times. The first time was Monday, and I just got caught up in online grocery shopping. Tried again, cooked a little less and then felt that were undercooked, so decided to cook a little longer and again…got caught up in something else, though this time it was cooking our actual dinner. The second time I may have uttered quite a few expletives. I’m going to try again, but I had to order more cheese powder. I’ll let you know how that goes next week.
Foodie's Delimma 