Sunday Brunch for 1: Rum Raisin, Cinnamon Swirled Baked Oatmeal. Sunday morning I was really craving something slightly sweet. Because making pancakes (from scratch) for one is quite difficult, I turned this yummy looking pancake recipe into a baked oatmeal recipe! So, I soaked the raisins in rum, and added them to my standard baked oatmeal (1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup 1% milk, one egg) and then swirled in a mixture of cinnamon, raw sugar, and about a 1/2 teaspoon of water (to make it into a paste). I baked it at 350 for 20 minutes and then devoured it in 20 seconds. Oh-- I poured more milk on it before I ate it too, because I was feeling extra indulgent.
Sunday dinner: (Leftover) Fontina polenta with mushroom saute. For "vampire night" this week, I was on dinner duty. I went to my go-to source for a great meal, the December 2010 issue of Cooking Light magazine. This sounds really odd, but this magazine has given me more "winners" of recipes than most cook books I own! For a $2.95 price tag, that is not half bad. This recipe was no exception. It came together really quickly and was absolutely delicious. The leftovers weren't half bad either! I just changed a few things with the recipe-- for one, I used fontina cheese instead of fontal. Also, I used chicken stock instead of veggie, and my mushrooms were a blend of shitake and white button. Finally, I skipped the whole "put the polenta in the broiler" step and just ate it straight from the pot. And you know what? I got no complaints.
Wednesday dinner: (sideways?) Cauliflower and Kale pasta bake and my go-to spinach salad. Wednesday I tried a recipe that I have on Pinterest. Well, I didn't so much follow the recipe as I did say "oh cauliflower and kale sound good" and made it up as I went along. I don't really know what I did here, but I know it was just okay. The star of the meal was my go-to salad. Some type of green (spinach in this case) + poppyseed dressing + a tangy cheese (gorgonzola) + a bit of bite from an onion (shallot) + some nut or seed (walnut) + dried or fresh fruit (crasin) = instant salad success! Especially when the greens are tossed in the dressing and the toppings are added later. Fool proof!
Friday dinner for two: Kale Caesar Salad and Shrimp Scampi Rice Pilaf. Last week while working on my prospectus over at Tim's, I caught a recorded episode of Symon's Suppers (yes, my boyfriend DVR's cooking shows for me-- that is why he's wonderful!), and was inspired by the one and only Michael Symon to make a Caesar salad with kale instead of romaine. I didn't follow his recipe, but it was still super delicious. To make the dressing, I combined a grated garlic clove, the zest and juice of one lemon, an anchovy, some black pepper, parmesan cheese, and then slowly whisked in olive oil. I then tossed the kale leaves in the dressing and let it sit for close to an hour (while most salads would be ruined from sitting in dressing, the kale gets better as the acid slowly "cooks" it) and topped it with some thinly sliced shallots and tomatoes. YUM.
Cooking dinner for Tim and I during lent is always nice because it lets me stretch my seafood legs a bit. Last Friday I made shrimp scampi rice, which is based off of a dish my mom made probably twice a month when I was growing up. It couldn't be easier, and it's sooo delicious. Basically, I melted about two TBSP of butter with another TBSP of olive oil (this was for four servings, so not much in each) and then sauteed some grated garlic, red pepper flakes, and scallions. Meanwhile I cooked up a pot of brown rice (if it was minute rice I would have just made it in the same pot as the yummy butter mixture, but it was the regular old "cook it for 30 minutes" kind instead). Just before the rice was done, I threw the shrimp in to steam up and then tossed in the yummy sauce. Last but not least, I topped it with the zest of a lemon (Tim proceeded to pick out every little piece of lemon, so next time I'll skip that step) and some more fresh scallions and finely minced parsley. So easy and delish!
Saturday night dinner: Pantry Pasta (aka black squid ink fettucine with artichoke hearts, sundried tomato, spinach, and parmesan). Sometimes I just don't feel like grocery shopping. This is rare, since any food market is basically my heaven. But, Saturday was one of those "I can't bare putting on shoes, let alone real pants" kinds of evenings, so I had to go shopping in my pantry instead! I had half a package of black fettucine left from Valentine's day, so I put on a pot of boiling water, and meanwhile made a quick sauce of chopped canned artichoke hearts, the last couple sundried tomatoes out of a package, and half a bag of spinach (along with garlic, EVOO, red pepper, parm, and that sort of stuff). Tossed it all together and YUM. Not the worst pantry pasta I've ever had.
So, that's what I cooked last week! I'm hoping for some equally delicious meals this week! Maybe some even inspired by the spring weather we will be having??
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