Valentines Feast

I got my stitches out today. I'm almost back to where I was before this whole debacle started-- toothless for the #29 slot but healthy-- thanks to my diligent periodontist. We try again June 14, giving my jaw plenty of time to heal.

In the meantime, I have a healing hole on the right side of my mouth and a molar that needs repair on the left. Doesn't leave me much options for chewing, but that back left molar is my dentist's project for next Tuesday.

My husband had suggested picking out a cake from Wegmans for Valentine's Day. So, armed with the remaining $37 on the Wegmans gift card from my mom and a $50 gift card I had hanging around I decided to find something to cook for dinner.

What did I get?

Keep in mind, today was a splurge day, and it was cheaper than going out to dinner since we didn't eat all of it tonight.

- 4 of Wegmans perfect portion sirloin steaks, organic and grass fed, 2 per pack, one pack $10.26, the other $9.90
- 90-10 ground beef, $5.15
- club pack of boneless chicken breasts, $11.02
- port salut cheese, $4.20
- medium Brie, $6.37
- 9 croissants: 3 plain, 3 chocolate, 3 almond, $1.25 each
- baguette, $2.25
- Wegmans ultimate white cake (the small one), $6.50
- watermelon chunks, 10 ounces, $3.49
- French blend bagged salad, $2.50
- baby red potatoes, $3.99
- one pound organic carrots, $1.19
- Wegmans raspberry cherry vinaigrette dressing, $3.29

Total $81.36

THE MENU
1st course: watermelon
2nd course: pan-seared sirloin with roasted potatoes and carrots
3rd course: salad with mandarin oranges, dried blueberries, dried strawberries and the cherry raspberry dressing
4th course: cheese platter of baguette with port salut and brie
5th course: ultimate white cake

Sunshine and iced tea!

I'm brewing some tea to ice to go with this lovely sunny day. First day of spring. Haven't been to the backyard yet for a post-winter assessment but I bet my chives are growing.

I have a big mug with four tea bags in it, ready to make 2-3 quarts of iced tea. The mix today is 2 teabags organic green tea (purchased a long time ago from the warehouse club in a big, big pack), 1 tea bag Celestial Seasoning Sugar Plum Spice, and one Celestial Seasonings Wild Berry Zinger.

Corn Lemongrass Soup

A while ago, probably last winter, I was in the mood for a "different" soup and I had in my head I was going to try something corn chowder-ish. I was looking for a soup I could use as a base and I selected Imagine Corn & Lemongrass soup. I brought it home and avoided it for the next six months.

I looked at the package today and it said, "Best if used by 11 Dec 09." Oops.

Guess we're eating it today. Honestly, I'm afraid of it. Hence, why I avoided it for so long. The package says it would go nicely with tofu or shrimp. I read one online review that said to serve it with chicken or add spinach, that it's a good soup but very light.

I'm tempted to warm it now, and taste it, and then decide what to do with it to make a nice hot lunch for my family...

Off to the kitchen... Guess I'm having corn lemongrass soup for breakfast.

Leftover Chicken and Spinach Salad

As I suspected, last night's chicken reheated wonderfully and the basil and ginger flavor really came through after sitting. We served it for dinner with a small side salad of spinach that our daughter picked from the garden. My husband and daughter ate theirs with organic ranch, I used a Wish Bone red wine spritzer. And we still had some vouvray left to wash it down...

Crêpes with strawberry-banana filling

I decided to make crêpes with strawberry filling.

That may sound unremarkable, but somewhere I stumbled off the tried and true path and started experimenting.

Ingredients for Strawberry-Banana Crêpes
Butter
Lots of fresh strawberries, sliced
2 to 3 bananas
powdered sugar (for dusting)
1/2 cup flour
canola oil
1 egg
2 tablespoons Chambord
4 teaspoons organic raspberry jam
4 teaspoons organic sugar
water
sea salt
3/4 cup milk (or in my case, soy milk)

I had my husband slice about a quart of fresh strawberries. While he did that, my daughter and I poured two tablespoons Chambord and the jam into the bottom of a one-cup pyrex measuring glass. We added water so it would hit the one cup mark. We put it in a small saucepan and boiled. Then we added the strawberries and the four teaspoons sugar. We ended up adding some corn starch later to thicken the mix, and we boiled it so long the strawberries were reduced to a lumpy syrup, but oh, well, lesson for next time.

For the crêpe batter, we put the flour and a pinch of salt in the bottom of a mixing bowl. We stirred in the milk and the egg. And then a drizzle of canola oil, about half a teaspoon. We stirred until smooth and then I whisked until my arm got sore. Crêpes cannot be lumpy. This batter ended up my smoothest yet.

I rinsed out the glass measuring cup and poured the batter inside, for two reasons: 1. to make sure there were no lumps and 2. for better control pouring the batter into the pan.

I took a sliver of real butter and heated it in the skillet over medium high. Once the pan was hot, I swirled the butter in the skillet and, preferably with the skillet not on the heat, poured about 1/8 of a cup batter. I eye-balled it, aiming for a pot about the size of my palm and thinner than a pancake. Then I swirl the pan so I can get it as thin as paper. I returned the pan to the heat. It only takes about 30 seconds for the crêpe to cook. It won't exactly bubble like a pancake, but it will solidfy. I have heard that a crêpe that is appropriately thin will not need to be flipped. But mine need to be flipped for about ten seconds.

Add new butter every third crêpe or so.

When all the crêpes are done, arranged those to serve on plates. Arrange sliced bananas in a line down the center. Add some syrup (because that's what the strawberries became). Roll. Add more syrup and sprinkled powdered sugar.

PB&J Taster's Platter

My daughter has enjoyed a lengthy repetition of PB&J for lunch lately. To spice things up, I made a peanut butter taster's platter for lunch (with a side of corn). I sliced the baguette my husband bought into thin slices and prepared three mini peanut butter sandwiches: JIF Natural Peanut Butter and honey, PB and the American classic of grape Smucker's jelly, and PB and organic raspberry fruit spread (that shockingly has vitamin A & C). The preschooler selected PB & honey as her favorite and has eaten two PB & honey sandwiches, the two others, the corn, and a glass of chocolate soy milk and is now on a glass of water.

Brought to you by the letter P: Pork with raspberry sauce

I didn't intend it, but dinner became "brought to you by the letter P."

I got home from work and prepped some peas by thawing them in the microwave. Then I sliced about two tablespoons of fresh spearmint from my garden and added it to the peas. I stirred it up, covered it, and set it in the fridge. (Great picnic item, originally from Eileen Breslin's vegan cooking class at Northampton Community College.) Serve the peas chilled.

Then I made some green tea, also with loads of spearmint and poured it over ice in my Princess House glasses. I also got out a bottle of Italian sparkling raspberry wine. I even allowed by daughter to have a small taste for a special post-birthday toast. That was our apéritif.

First course was canned pears (packed in juice, juice reserved for recipe) with some of the sauce from the meat, served over yogurt. (See below for recipe.)

The pork recipe is a variation of Pork Chops with Raspberry Sauce from Allrecipes.com.

Pork with Raspberry Sauce, Angel-style

4 thin pork chops
Mysterious herb seasoning packet from Aldi spinach rigatoni

pinch of fresh ground course sea salt

pinch four-color peppercorns

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 tablespoons juice, reserved from a can of pears

4 tablespoons champagne vinegar, a gift from my mom at Christmas

3.5 tablespoons Chambord

almost 1/4 cup organic raspberry jam from Wegmans

1. Preheat oven to 200. In a skillet, melt butter and olive oil.

2. Combine seasonings, salt and pepper. Rub on pork.

3. Cook pork in skillet on medium, about four minutes per side.

4. Place on plate and keep warm in oven.

5. In warm skillet, with meat juices still present, combine the juice, jam, vinegar and Chambord. Cook until the sauce reduces significantly. It will thicken when it cools. I put about have the sauce on the meat right away and left in in the oven as I served the first course. Then when I served, the sauce had thickened and I placed more on each.

My daughter ate TWO.

For dessert, we had some pumpkin roll. I didn't make that, Gayle brought it for my birthday. Her friend makes it.

Bacon wraps

I made bacon/salad wraps for lunch. I think this is a good example of how I stretch the food budget. Remember all that cheese for the dinner party and the croque monsieur? We still have a fairly nice chunk of gruyère left. And since I bought about $12 worth of gruyère, that makes me happy.

So, I started with some real smoke flavored bacon (not vegetarian, how odd is that?). I fried it in an ungreased skillet. Two slices for each wrap. Then, I heated each tortilla shell in the drippings. I placed each heated shell on a plate, and arranged the bacon inside it. I used salad leftover from Wednesday's dinner party for some vegetable matter. Next I grated some gruyère, sprinkling less than two tablespoons of cheese in each wrap. For dressing, I used a hair more than one teaspoon organic ranch for each. I rolled them up and served with a side of canned peaches (using up the can from the other day) and some potato chips which actually came free with some takeout sandwiches a while ago.

Turkey and Brie sandwiches

The flood has turned our regular eating habits upside down. Subway, boxed mac and cheese, pie for breakfast. Nutrition has fallen to the wayside.

Today for lunch I packed potato chips from Aldi. Cheap-o lunchmeat my inlaws bought on white bread... Which I dressed up...

How does this sound?

White Italian Bread, with soy mayonnaise. Cheap turkey, some brie, some organic spring mix and a thin layer of organic raspberry jam from Wegmans.

Daddy's Turkey Ranch Salad

Today we're going to the theatre to see our first live performance as a family. We're going to see James & The Giant Peach. We read the book. We watched the movie. And today the play! It's very exciting.

After the play, my friend Gayle is joining us for chicken paprika. My husband prepared lunch while I prepped dinner to be heated later...

He reheated the leftover peanut butter noodles. He cut the fresh mango. Then, he engineered this salad of red leaf lettuce, carrot peels, bits of turkey breast and bites of wisconsin cheddar. He added Annie's Organic Cowgirl Ranch dressing and served as his "Turkey Ranch Salad."

I never use regular ranch dressing because it usually has MSG. Organic ranch dressings do not. And since my child adores ranch, I figure it's better to go organic on this one.

The child devours the mango, as she usually does, and so does the tortoise.