With Christmas almost here, I did a little cooking…okay, maybe a lot of cooking.
Thursday (12/17) – We had take out. I felt like it had been a while and was in the mood for something new. However, it was very cold and wet out, so we didn’t want to have to go too far to get the food. So we decided to try a restaurant just up the . It was Turkish. Sadly, it was somewhat disappointing. The meats were dry and the falafel was cold. I’ll likely give them another chance, as I know that many places are struggling during pandemic, and this may not be the best example of their food. Still, it was very disappointing.
Friday (12/18) – I made cinnamon rolls. Okay, I know that isn’t dinner. We actually did a refrigerator clean out and had leftovers for dinner. I did make a nice yogurt dip for the leftover falafel and dolma. But these cinnamon rolls were fantastic. I made up the recipe using a dinner roll recipe I love as the base, and I made a maple glaze.
Saturday (12/19) – I made a broccoli and cheddar quiche, using part of the leftover broccoli and cheese soup for the liquid component. I used the crust recipe from Ree Drummond because it is just awesome. For dinner, I made eggplant parmesan using some of the homemade marinara I had in the freezer. I served it over linguine with garlic butter sautéed green beans on the side.
Sunday (12/20) – I made up a batch of “goldfish” crackers. I’ve been experimenting with this one lately. I have not yet perfected them, but I had to give it another try. They came out okay. I think I have one tweak left to get them just right. For dinner, the husband and I went totally healthy. I cooked up some shoe string fries, reheated some chili from the freezer, and voila! We had chili cheese fries for dinner, complete with fresh scallions.
Monday (12/21) – I made vegetarian southwest eggrolls. They were filled with black beans, corn, diced red peppers, onions, jalapenos, and chihuahua cheese. After I figured out I needed toothpicks to keep them together, they came out pretty nice. I also made an avocado ranch dip for them that was simple but delicious. It probably wasn’t the healthiest dinner once it was deep fried, but it had veggies and protein!
Tuesday (12/22) – I made another attempt at a cauliflower “roast” using za’atar seasoning. We decided we really like the cauliflower better cut up and roasted with garlic and salt instead. I also made creamed kale which came out fantastic. Not only did the kid love it, my husband, the self-professed kale hater, has officially changed his position on kale. We’ve decided it really matters who is preparing the food.
Wednesday (12/23) – I officially began the Christmas cooking. Well, I made a pumpkin pie for my vegan daughter and a loaf of brioche for our Christmas day breakfast. The pumpkin pie may have had the prettiest crust I’ve made yet. I watched several YouTube videos on rolling out pie crust because I felt my technique needed some work. It definitely paid off. We’d traded Tuesday and Wednesday night with the kid, so this was a no kid night. I made chicken fried chicken with gravy and garlic parmesan smashed potatoes. It was very satisfying.
With no “leftover” nights this week, my fridge was getting a bit full. I had to freeze a few leftovers from the prior week to keep up, but so far, no major food waste. We also generally have the leftovers for lunches.
Foodie's Delimma 