Post Category → food

new favorite: pot roast, ina-style

A couple of weeks ago, I made Ina’s Company Pot Roast for dinner. It was delicious. Amazing. The best cold-weather dinner.

It got even better in my book when leftovers the next night were tastier than the night before. (Note to self: PERFECT recipe for when company’s coming on a busy day!)

The last bit of leftovers got popped in the freezer. Two nights ago I pulled them out, added some extra carrots and a few diced potatoes, topped it with biscuits, and ta-da: awesome beef potpie.

If you do make this, make extra sauce. I used half the amount of beef, but didn’t cut back on the sauce, and boy was I glad. It’s just too delicious to not have as much as possible on your plate.

ratatouille + pizza =

last night’s dinner! And boy, was it good!

I started with a take on their ratatouille:

1 onion
2 small eggplants
4 small bell peppers
4 small tomatoes
6 cloves of garlic
1/4 olive oil
salt and pepper
basil

Chop veggies into 1″ chunks. Roughly chop garlic. Mix all together with oil, salt, and pepper, and spread on rimmed baking sheet/roasting pan. Pop it in a 450* oven for 45 minutes (or so), stirring now and then, until it’s all juicy and tender. Add fresh basil.

Then a triple batch of this pizza dough, made with half whole wheat flour, to make two hefty pizzas (to hold up under a hefty topping!)

To finish it off, garlic-infused olive oil for brushing the crust (mince a few cloves, stir it into the oil, and pop it into the microwave for a few seconds), and 10 oz. provolone cheese sliced into matchsticks.

But don’t bake it. Grill it!! (Oh, yes. I’m addicted to grilled pizza now!)

parmesan crusted chicken

I was getting ready to start work on a recipe for dinner that I made several months ago, but when I pulled up the bookmarked page, I discovered that the recipe was gone. Ugh! [Paper and ink cookbooks get one point.]

So I’m going to jot it down here, and once again, bookmark it. Feel free to do the same, should you want to.

Parmesan Crusted Chicken Breasts

(for four:)

— four boneless skinless breasts, pounded to even thickness*
— 1/2 cup mayonnaise
— 1 T dijon (or Gulden’s Spicy Brown!) mustard
— 1 T lemon juice
— 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
— 4-6 T bread crumbs
— 1 t Italian herbs (basil, oregano, whatever)
— salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425.

Lay chicken breasts in a rimmed, greased baking sheet (or an oiled 9×13).

Mix mayo-parmesan cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. Spread the mixture evenly between the breasts.

Combine bread crumbs, herbs, and salt and pepper to taste. Cover the breasts evenly.

Bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes or until chicken is done.

*At the risk of sounding ridiculously cheap, I usually pound my breasts, decide they look HUGE, and then cut them all in half. People end up eating one half and seldom ask for more. So, you know, your penny goes a bit farther. Or further. Whatever. It lasts longer.

recent events

This is the last week of the girls’ visit.

I can’t decide if I’m sad or glad, since the end of their visit means the beginning of my visit back home. That should just make me glad all around, but I’d be gladder (yes, gladder) if they were also coming back here with me at the end of my NY trip. But they’re not. When we fly out of JFK in August, it will just be the four of us, me and my three boys, and when we land on this Opposite Coast, we’ll be on our own. Walks and errands and chores and life will be all on my lonesome again. And I just like it all a bit better when there are these lovely girls in the picture.

It’s been fun.

This last week has also been a bit of a sleeper, since more often than not, someone has been a tad under the weather. And on the days when we are feeling well, the temperatures have been ridiculously high, leaving us all wilted, sitting in front of fans, willing the day and its intense sun away. So not so many crazy events.

Just a few, like:

:: taking the girls to Carmel-By-The-Sea, and then on the drive of a lifetime. I speak, of course, of Highway 1 to Big Sur. Incredible. Windy, whippy, and awe-inspiring.


Aren’t they cute?

:: finally going out for dinner, just Ryan and me, for our anniversary. (Four years!) It was oo-la-la fancy. Two whole hours just disappeared as we ate beautiful food and talked. (I know, I know. I’m such a girl. Wives and their talking.) Just in case anyone’s interested, the scallops were the best I’ve ever tasted, I ordered squab because I watch too much Top Chef and had to grab this prime opportunity to taste something I never even see on a menu, and the chocolate souffle is as decadent as it looks on their website. (Don’t you wish that was your spoon, dipping into that chocolatey goodness?) We tried taking a picture of ourselves, but I guess this is the only one we ended up with:

(Thanks, girls, for our special night out alone!)

:: and last, but most definitely not least, there are the events of yesterday and today — days that were supposed to be restful, quiet, and cool. But oh, no, Jameson made sure there were Events. Like yesterday — when he woke up from his nap ridiculously early, crept into the girls’ bed, smeared an entire tube of lipstick all over their bags, clothes, sheets, and the wall, ransacked the closet of their suitcases, my fabric, and the wrapping paper, and was about to start cutting into that wrapping paper with my incredibly sharp embroidery scissors just as Camilla walked by. Oh, I loved that Event!! And today, when it seemed far too quiet, I sent Liana to check on my sweet little boy, and she found him lounging outside on our patio furniture, with a jar of peanut butter, happily eating that peanut butter by plunging his entire hand into the jar. Oh, and we’re not talking the nice creamy Peter Pan stuff. Oh, no, this is the all-natural, runny, drippy, globs all over the place peanut butter.

Is anyone interested in a 2-year-old Events Coordinator? I think my life needs a little break from his Events!

in which i share many random details


*****

I’m putting the rest of my spring cleaning on pause. Bathroom and bedrooms are what’s left for me, and I know I can muscle through them on my own (they’re not so big and bad.) I just knew I couldn’t manage two weeks of hardcore agenda and two little babes who need their mama — in so many ways.

(By the way, those few days of cleaning made such a difference. Just in my head (and soul) they made a difference. Isn’t it nice to walk into the kitchen and not be absolutely overwhelmed by the undone tasks? But I guess it wasn’t just in my head; Ryan let me know that he couldn’t believe what a difference it all made. Sunlight + sparkling clean = beautiful. Love it.)

So yesterday, I cleaned the bathroom (which always makes me feel like the whole house is sparkling), and then spent most of the day playing “baseball” (wherein Jameson pretends he’s Kevin Youkilis, hits the ball on the ground as though it’s a game of golf, flings his bat and runs to a point he’s apparently determined should be 1st base, and then slides across the bricks), doing errands, and walking to see Daddy at work.

As much as I love projects and tasks, I was glad to feel like I made the right decision. Maybe I’ll have another gung-ho week soon — or maybe just a few gung-ho days here and there. The main purpose of all that effort was to help me feel like I could start a regular housekeeping routine and not be starting way behind.

*****

Meanwhile, I’ve gotten excited again about my yard and gardens. After planting several things and having them die my first summer, I was feeling pretty discouraged and inept. But a new spring season, another year of studying neighboring gardens under my belt, and some advice from Andrea, and I’m back in the game.

Jameson has loved helping me dig and water and plant seeds. We’ve got herbs in pots, and flowers in the beds — mostly. A few little plants made their way into our backyard, but mostly seeds. Cheaper, and hey. I live in Northern California. If it doesn’t work here, it doesn’t work anywhere, right?

At first, I had all this hankering for a veggie patch. Then reality: I don’t have space in the current gardens, you can’t just go turning sod around here (sod that cost the landlord an arm and a leg, since grass doesn’t just grow), and I don’t have a clue how to grow vegetables.

So we have herbs, and…

I’m finally joining a CSA! Yay!

I’m so excited and can’t wait to go pick up my first box of goodies. I know that it’s much more expensive than having your own garden, but see above: it wasn’t an option. And it’s not much more expensive than shopping at the grocery store (and it’s cheaper than the Farmer’s Market.) I have visions of eating sauteed veggies on brown rice or qinuoa all summer long. Yum.

Because, oh, by the way, I have got to get serious about the last lingering effects of pregnancy, if you know what I mean. White flour and sugar have got to go. I figure if I’m going to be inhaling food all day (thank you very much, my 25 pound baby), I can at least eat calories that will count.

Wish me luck on that. I can’t fathom life without fresh muffins, rice pudding, brownies, and Italian bread.

*****

Oh, right, you’re wondering about the gash on his face. Well, remember that baseball bat? …Yeah. Not such a lovely moment.