The Sweet Smell of Success (and of food cooking in the kitchen)

Picture it - Friday night.  The dishes are done.  The satisfaction is huge.  I have accomplished my goal this week - to make delicious, quality meals at home, even though my days were sure to be hectic and my nights harried.  I've already given you the rundown on Tuesday and Wednesday's dinners, so here's the skinny on Thursday and Friday at mi casa:

Thursday was a day for the history books.  I haven't really told you much about my poor, unsuspecting husband.  Let's refer to him as "Mr. T."  Mr. T is one of the pickiest grown-ups I have ever met.  Ultimately, he is the is yin to my yang, but in the kitchen, it really frosts my cookies when his dietary preferences reach a stalemate with my culinary escapades.  You see, I will eat almost anything.  Almost.  But I will at least give it a good old-fashioned college try before it is deemed inedible.  Mr. T is still holding grudges against food that wronged him from his childhood.  And one of the biggest offenders in his book is the tomato.  Now, he loves Italian food, and red sauce is fine, but if he can SEE an actual tomato in his food - fugeddaboutit.  This takes us to Thursday.  On the menu for the evening was Quick Crisp Ravioli with Roasted Tomato Sauce.  I had shown Mr. T the picture on the recipe before I included it in our week's menu, just to make sure that I had his buy-in.  The sauce is made from halved grape tomatoes.  You can SEE the tomatoes in the sauce.  But Mr. T said he would give it a whirl (a victory in itself!), and so it was added to the menu.  Now, I used heirloom cherry tomatoes that I got from Trader Joe's market, so the mix was very colorful.  Red, orange, yellow, even a few dark purple ones.  Beautiful if you ask me.  Scary if you ask Mr. T.  But with enough gentle coaxing (ok, forceful pushing) he tried it.  And he liked it.  Mr. T LIKED it.  Granted, he ate about three-quarters of his tomatoes, but all of his ravioli were gone.  His quote was, "If I got this in a restaurant, I wouldn't be upset."  High praise indeed.  A quick note for the recipe - I modified it slightly.  I used Buittoni's Spicy Beef and Sausage Ravioli, and I added more salt than the recipe called for.  I may have used between a teaspoon and a teaspoon and a half of salt - just add slowly and to taste.  Also, I cooked the tomatoes for 4 minutes instead of 2.  This helped break down the tomato-y appearance a bit more, and made it more sauce-like.  After I plated the food, I sliced some thin ribbons of basil and sprinkled them on top for garnish, but it really packed some good flavor in there.  Mangia!

Friday's meal brought a few twists and turns, but I was prepared.  On the menu was Roasted Lemon-Garlic Chicken with Potatoes.  Thursday night, Mr. T tells me that he invited 2 friends to dinner for Friday.  OK.  No worries.  I have a whole chicken!  That can definitely feed 4 people.  I got up Friday morning, read my recipe, and discovered that I was supposed to let the chicken rest in the fridge with the homemade rub overnight.  $hit.  Oh well.  I figure it's like when you have to give a presentation at work.  Nobody knows what you planned to say, so if you forget a part, the only person who knows is you.  And maybe your boss.  And besides, your coworkers stopped paying attention 2 minutes into the speech, and now they are all emailing and facebooking on their blackberries anyway.  Back to my morning.  I take the bird out of the fridge, make the rub, and schmear the mixture under the skin.  I put the chicken back in the fridge and go to work.  Fast forward 10 hours - I come home, preheat the oven and put the bird in by 7.  Guests are coming at 8.  Whew - so far I'm on track.  I decide to make a salad to go with the chicken and potatoes because I have an irrational fear of people leaving my house hungry.  I make a quick vinagrette of lemon juice (to go with the chicken), deli mustard, honey, and olive oil, and I toss it with some organic mixed greens that we already have on hand and add a few cucumber slices.  Still on track - sweet.  I decide to celebrate by pouring myself a glass of Chardonnay.  I start on the potatoes.  Sip.  I boil the water.  Sip.  I read the recipe.  Double sip.  I was supposed to put the potatoes in cold water and bring to a boil?  Sip.  Oh well.  I add the potatoes to the boiling water and set the timer for 8 minutes.  Sip, sip, sip.  The guests arrived and everything turned out just fine.  At least I didn't hear any complaints, nor were there any leftovers to have for lunch on Saturday.  Again, I modified the recipe slightly here too.  I misted the chicken with olive oil and liberally sprinkled the skin with Livia's seasoning salt.  If you can't find Livia's, you can use kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper.  The recipe also calls to remove the skin before serving, but it was extremely tasty with all that seasoning going on, so I kept it.

So I have to call my 4-day work week a success.  Not only did I manage to stay on track with my recipes and avoid the budgetary and caloric pitfalls of takeout, I taught myself how to use a pressure cooker and I got Mr. T to almost make nice with a 30-something year old adversary.  I may have rocked his world and elevated his everyday.  Happy Cooking! -B

Under Pressure

So I'm half-way through my 4-day work week, and everything's as to be expected. Last night I got home at 8pm and tonight was slightly earlier at 7. But -- having my meal plan in place before the week began has really helped, and I am sticking to it. Even though I started the dinner prep at 8pm last night, dinner was on the table by 8:30. If I really think about it, by the time I would have called in my order to my favorite take-out place, picked it up, and brought it home, it probably would have been 8:25. So for an extra 5 minutes, I got a delicious home-cooked meal that didn't break the bank or crash the calorie count for the day.

What I am really proud of though, was tonight's meal. Tonight I conquered my fear of --- the pressure cooker. I've had my pressure cooker now for almost 6 months, bought in a moment of, "Oh, that would be a GREAT addition to the kitchen!" I brought my beautiful, shiny new 5 quart Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker home and then started to hear the old wives tales. They blow up, it'll burn you, you'll have food on the ceiling... So it was relegated to the garage, and I've been a pressure cooker chicken until this week. I found a recipe for Prosecco and Parmesan Risotto from Cooking Light, promising amazing results, start to finish, in less than 20 minutes. NO WAY. YES freakin' WAY. It worked. It always blows my mind when I try something new and it turns out right. Not only right, but GOOD. I had dinner on the table tonight by 7:25! And it was de-lish-us and better than any of my "traditional" risotto recipes have ever turned out, which take 20-30 minutes of just stirring and incorporating stock. So tonight, I saved time and elevated my everyday. I love it when it all comes together... especially with a little bit of the bubbly.  Happy Cooking, -B

"No Labor" Day - Quick & Easy Ideas for Meals in Minutes

Ahhhh, 3-day weekend, how I love thee... Waking up on the morning of the "bonus" day of the weekend and remembering that I can hit the snooze button 2 more times is always a great feeling. However, the next four days of the week S-T-R-E-S-S me out. My shoulders immediately tense up with the thought of cramming 5 days of email, meetings and phone calls into 4. Inevitably, I wind up working a 40 hour week anyway. And when that happens, it seems as if all of my favorite take-out places call out to my subconscious and my stomach --- Fast. Easy. Tasty. But it all adds up and before I know it, I've spent way too much money on not-so-spectacular food. But not this week, my friends. Nope, I am taking charge ahead of time. Tonight, I have pored through all of my torn-out recipes to load up my arsenal with four easy, make-after-work meals. I have taken stock of my pantry, made a grocery list and am going to the market tomorrow during my lunch hour. The meals for the week will be:

Tuesday - Tuna, Arugula, and Egg Salad with Pita Chips
Wednesday - Prosecco and Parmesan Risotto
Thursday - Quick Crisp Ravioli with Roasted Tomato Sauce
Friday - Roasted Lemon-Garlic Chicken with Potatoes

All my recipes this week are coming from Cooking Light magazine. Wish me luck with sticking to the plan, and I'll keep you posted on my progress. Happy Cooking! -B