Our Own Julie/Julia Project - Redefined

She Said:

Well, we worked on our own Julie/Julia Project for several months and what we discovered is that all of the food started tasting the same, as will sometimes happen even when you eat at the same restaurant repeatedly for a long time. We're not ones to continue something just for the sake of continuing it. If it's not working, we move on. And that's what we're doing now.

We completed 41 recipes (including the one below) from Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman and we will still cook from that book but not exclusively. And we will count the other things we make as part of our Julie/Julia Project and just see how many new recipes we can do in this year.

This recipe we made as accompaniment to a grilling dinner. We had some great grilled salmon and these potatoes, which were fabulous!

Spicy Skillet Potatoes

1½ pounds potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces (we used Yukon gold)
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 onion, diced (from our garden)
1 red or green bell pepper, diced (from our garden)
1 jalapeño or other chile, seeded and diced

1. Put the potatoes in a saucepan and cover with salted water. Bring to a boil over high heat. As soon as the water begins to boil, drain the potatoes.

2. Preheat the oven to 300℉.

3. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add half the potatoes to fit in a single layer in the skillet. Season with ½ teaspoon of the cumin, ½ teaspoon of the paprika, a generous pinch or two of salt, and several grinds of pepper. Cook until the bottom sides of the potatoes are brown, 3 to 5 minutes, the turn the potatoes and brown on another side, without stirring, 3 to 5 minutes. Repeat until all sides are browned. New potatoes will brown more quickly than mature potatoes. Remove the potatoes from the skillet with a slotted spoon and spread out in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Keep warm in the oven.

4. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil in the skillet and cook the second half of the potatoes as you did the first half. Remove from the skillet and add to the potatoes in the oven.

5. Add the onion, bell pepper, and jalapeño to the skillet and sauté until softened, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the potatoes and mix gently. Season with more salt and pepper, if desired, and serve immediately.

The jalapeño really added a kick to this dish but it was so tasty! And I even overcooked both the potatoes and the onion/pepper mixture! This is a good side dish to have in your back pocket for those times when you are tired of mashed potatoes or rice.

Day 115/365:Recipe 41/175

Casserole Time

She Said:

I was looking for something to take to work for lunches last weekend. Casseroles are always wonderful and easy to prep for the week - make them on the weekend and dole them out to individual containers to stick in the fridge. Then each morning, grab 'n' go.

The problem is that we always default to tomato-based casseroles when we think of them, and I can't really eat tomatoes, so I was on the hunt for something that had nothing tomatoey about it and stumbled upon something on Allrecipes.com. It has seen us through this week and there are STILL more leftovers that now need to be frozen or tossed.

The best part of this casserole was the portion size. There is no nutritional information on it and I'm sure it's pretty hefty in the fat and calories, but I stuck to doling out the portions as the recipe stated. It was not a lot of food and I actually lost a few pounds this week. I was hungry, too, but the end result is better. A happy little side-effect!

You can't beat how easy this was to make and we'll be claiming this as one of our own and modifying it to our liking in the years ahead.

Mom's Ground Beef Casserole

2 pounds ground beef (I used one pound 80/20 and one pound 90/10)
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
9 cups cooked wide-egg noodles (I had to do some calculating at the store - the end result is that this is one regular large bag of noodles)
1 pound processed American cheese, cubed (well, we used about 4 ounces of Velveeta, a couple of slices of Muenster cheese, and a couple of slices of Swiss - it's what we had in the house)
1 (15.25 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (10.5 ounce) can condensed chicken and rice soup
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
½ cup milk (we used skim)
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper

(They never remind you to cook the noodles or pasta, so I'm adding it here.) Cook noodles according to package directions. Set aside but do not drain until you're ready to use them. (They'll become one big noodle clump if you drain them ahead of time.)

In a Dutch oven, cook beef, green pepper, and onion until meat is no longer pink and vegetables are tender; drain. Remove from heat, stir in remaining ingredients. Transfer to two greased 2-½ qt. baking dishes. (We used one 3-qt. and one 2-qt. and did not grease them.) Cover and bake at 350℉ for 45-50 minutes or until bubbly. (It took 45 minutes for us.)

Simple, simple, simple and really delicious. It gets better the longer it sits in the fridge. In my mind, this casserole could benefit nicely by adding some sauteéd mushrooms, some garlic, maybe some peas or some chopped up asparagus, and maybe throw some Parmesan cheese in there somewhere, too. I think it can stand up to mostly any additions. It's a casserole, after all, and isn't that where you should be using up all of your leftovers?

Days Forty-Three and Forty-Six, Or, I Will Never Eat Canned Spinach Again!

She Said:

It's been a busy week but we managed to get some cooking in and we did make two more recipes that count toward our own Julie/Julia Project.

On Tuesday night, we realized that we hadn't marinated the swordfish like we meant to, so we went with Plan B. Sort of. Plan B involved grilling outside but there ended up being a hella storm at dinner time so we kept it inside. Plus, we were supposed to grill asparagus and only at dinner time remembered that they were out of asparagus at the store so we didn't have any. Once we got it all together, we had a delicious and healthy meal.

We marinated a pork tenderloin (from the farmer's market) in a teriyaki marinade and ended up roasting it. It was delicious! I made some organic Yukon gold mashed potatoes, nothing special but we are loving the Yukon gold for the mashed potatoes! That was my choice because I love mashed potatoes with pork tenderloin, regardless of the marinade or rub.

Then instead of that grilled asparagus we were supposed to have, we peeked in the fridge and saw a bag of spinach from the farmer's market and decided on this recipe from Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman.

Creamed Spinach

2 tablespoons butter
1 large shallot, minced
2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1½ pounds spinach, tough stems removed

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

2. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallot and sauté until soft, about 3 minutes. Whisk in the flour until you have a paste. Increase the heat, pour in the milk, and whisk to combine. Continue whisking until the sauce thickens, about 3 minutes. Season with the salt and pepper to taste. Reduce the heat to low.

3. Add the spinach to the boiling water and cook long enough to wilt, about 30 seconds. Drain well. Place the spinach on a cutting board and roughly chop.

4. Add the spinach to the cream sauce and stir to thoroughly combine. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve hot.

I loved, loved, loved this recipe. I am a huge creamed spinach fan anyway but this tasted NOTHING like the creamed spinach I've had in my life. I'm convinced that none of the places I've ever had it made it with fresh spinach. It was like a whole different dish. Wonderful! So wonderful, in fact, that we made it again the next night, but we added some chopped garlic to the cream sauce, making it even better!

Last night, we were using up some of those things we've had around that are not recipe ingredients. We had two frozen salmon pieces in lemon butter so we cooked them up. Then He made roasted baby potatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper, garlic powder and fresh rosemary. Fabulous!!

But, once again, the side dish stole the show. I was afraid of this one for some reason but, oh ho, this will become a staple in our house. It was stellar! This is also from Serving Up the Harvest.

Wilted Spinach Salad with Chickpeas

1½-2 pounds spinach, tough stems removed
1½ cups cooked chickpeas or 1 can (15 ounces) chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 small red onion, halved and sliced
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1½ tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Stir in the spinach and cook until wilted, 30 to 60 seconds. Drain well. Press out the excess moisture. Transfer to a cutting board and chop.

2. Combine the spinach, chickpeas, and onion in a large bowl. Toss to mix.

3. Whisk together the oil, vinegar, garlic, and salt and pepper to taste in a small bowl. Pour over the spinach mixture and toss to mix well. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve at once.

I can't begin to describe how well the flavors of the red wine vinegar, red onion, chickpeas and spinach went together. This could be the best salad I have ever had. (So far.) It was truly fabulous and I can't wait to make it again!

Days 43 and 46/365:Recipes 26 and 27/175

Day Forty-Two

She Said:

And we're back! It's been a while since we did any cooking that counts toward our own Julie/Julia Project, but we did a little last night. We were supposed to have this dinner on Sunday for Mother's Day but we ran around alllllll day long and we were exhausted by the time we got home so we had wine for dinner on Sunday instead! :)

We had a little more energy last night and He pan-grilled some organic grass-fed filet mignon steaks, we baked up some pre-made crab cakes from Wegmans, and made this side dish from Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1-1½ pounds Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved (6 cups)
Coarse sea salt or kosher salt

1. Preheat the oven to 425℉. Lightly grease a baking pan with oil.

2. Drizzle the oil over the Brussels sprouts in a large bowl and toss gently to coat. Arrange the sprouts in a single, uncrowded layer on the prepared pan.

3. Roast for about 15 minutes, or until the sprouts are tender and lightly browned, shaking the pan occasionally for even cooking.

4. Transfer the sprouts to a serving bowl and sprinkle with salt. Serve immediately.

In our normal fashion, we overcooked the vegetables. But they were still delicious. And we added some freshly ground black pepper to them as well as a little dollop of butter.

Day 42/365:Recipe 25/175

Day Thirty-Five

She Said:

We had a nice dinner last night but it wasn't knock-your-socks-off, like I'd hoped. We had filet mignon, which is always great, but we made a shallot-anchovy-butter sauce for it and that was sort of meh. We also had roasted potatoes (a little olive oil, salt and pepper) and they were also just meh. The star of the show was the vegetable. And it also counts toward our own Julie/Julia Project, which is sweet!

This is from Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman.

Sauteéd Broccoli

3 head broccoli (2-3½ pounds), trimmed and cut into long spears
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the broccoli and boil until just tender, about 4 minutes. Drain and plunge into cold water to stop the cooking process. (I didn't plunge.)

2. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant and pale gold, about 1 minute. Add the broccoli and parsley and sauté just until the broccoli is heated through, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve at once.

Simple and really delicious! I will make this again and again. (Plus, I really love broccoli so it's special to find yet another way to prepare it.)

Day 35/365:Recipe 24/175

Day Twenty-Five

She Said:

We made a side dish with our dinner with friends on Friday and it counts toward our own Julie/Julia Project. This is from Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman.

Scalloped Green Beans

3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1½ cups milke
1½ cups grated sharp Cheddar
2 pounds green or wax beans, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces (7 to 8 cups)
1 onion, halved and sliced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup dried bread crumbs, or ½ cup fresh (we used fresh)

1. Preheat the oven to 350℉. Grease a 9- by 13-inch baking dish with butter.

2. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the flour with a wooden spoon to make a smooth paste. Stir in the milk and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and stir in the cheese. Cook, stirring constantly, until the cheese is melted and the sauce is smooth, about 3 minutes.

3. Layer the beans and onion in the baking dish, generously sprinkling with the salt and pepper as you layer. Cover with the cheese sauce. Sprinkle the bread crumbs over the dish.

4. Bake for 60 minutes.

5. Serve hot.

This was a pretty easy and tasty side dish. However, given the choice, I think I'd just go with plain old oven-roasted green beans. You just can't go wrong with that.

Oh, and in the course of looking through the cookbook, we discovered that we had inadvertently made another recipe back on Day Nineteen. It is this:

Herbed New Potatoes

2 pounds new potatoes, scrubbed
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs (dill, oregano, chives, savory, chervil, tarragon, parsley, marjoram, alone or in any combination)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Bring about an inch of water to a boil in a saucepan. Add the potatoes in a steaming basket, cover, and steam for 25 to 35 minutes, until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife.

2. Transfer the potatoes to a warmed serving bowl. Pour in the butter, and sprinkle the herbs and salt and pepper over the butter. Toss gently. Serve immediately.

The only difference between this recipe and what we did on Day Nineteen was that we didn't melt the butter. Pretty good for making it up on the fly! Anyway, this way of making new potatoes is divine. I heartily recommend it!

Day 25:365/Recipes 17 and 18:175

Day Twenty

She Said:

We had a fabulous dinner tonight! Excellent all the way around. He wanted to continue his venture into cast iron cooking and so the main meal came from Cast Iron Cooking by Dwayne Ridgaway.

Blackened Beef Tenderloin with Gorgonzola-Chive Potatoes

6 6-8 ounce beef center-cut tenderloin steaks
½ cup teriyaki sauce
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
¼ cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon coarse ground black pepper
2 tablespoons blackening seasoning
¼ cup vegetable oil

For the Potatoes:
2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, cut into large chunks
4 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
⅓ cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese (we went with Buttermilk Blue on the advice of the cheese expert at Wegmans)
¼ cup chopped fresh chives

In a large bowl combine the teriyaki sauce with the Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, soy sauce, and black pepper. Place the tenderloin steaks fully submerged in the marinade; cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
Place the potatoes in a large pot filled with water. Bring to a boil, then cook potatoes until tender when pierced with a fork, about 20 minutes. Drain the potatoes, leaving them behind in the pot, and add the butter, heavy cream, salt, and pepper. Using a potato masher, mash to a thick puree. Add Gorgonzola cheese and chives, stirring to combine and melt the cheese, cover, and set aside, keeping warm.
Remove the steaks from the marinade and pat dry. Coat evenly and generously with blackened seasoning. Heat vegetable oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the steaks in one even layer, searing for 7 minutes per side (for medium rare), 10 minutes per side for medium and 12 minutes per side for well done. If you like your steaks medium or well done, reduce the heat to medium so as not to burn them. Transfer to serving plates with the mashed potatoes.

Please don't eat your steaks well-done!!

On the side, we had another recipe from Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman, adding another notch in our lipstick case in our own Julie/Julia project!

Lemony Grilled Asparagus

1½ pounds asparagus (about 30 medium-thick spears), bottoms trimmed
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ lemon

1. Prepare a medium fire in a gas or charcoal grill.

2. Place the asparagus in a shallow dish. Drizzle the oil over the spears and toss to coat.

3. Grill the asparagus, turning occasionally, until tender, about 8 minutes.

4. Arrange the asparagus on a serving platter. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper to taste, squeeze the lemon over the spears, and serve.

Simple and delicious! I even did some of the grilling - asparagus I can handle!

Day 20/365:Recipe 16/175

Day Nineteen

She Said:

Much cooking and prep work was done today. Mostly by He. I was sort of a slug. I did the shopping this morning and then I had to run around to a few other places (including a butcher) to get the things I couldn't find at Wegman's.

Did you know that beef shoulder is bolar roast? I didn't but I learnt that at the butcher today. Interesting!

So, Day Nineteen of our own Julie/Julia Project consisted of two recipes from Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman and one from Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics by Ina Garten. All were delicious!

First, the ones that count toward our project.

Tzatziki

6 cups quartered and thinly sliced cucumbers (peeled and seeded if desired) - we actually diced them, as we expect for tzatziki
1 teaspoon salt, or more as needed
2 cups Greek yogurt or sour cream (we went with the Greek yogurt)
2 garlic cloves, minced
Freshly ground black pepper

1. Combine the cucumbers and 1 teaspoon of the salt in a colander and toss to mix. Let drain for 30 to 60 minutes. Transfer the cucumbers to a clean kitchen towel and pat dry.

2. Combine the cucumbers, yogurt, and garlic in a large bowl. Season generously with the pepper and more salt, if desired.

3. Set aside at room temperature to allow the flavors to develop for at least 30 minutes before serving.

That last step is essential. You truly need to marry these flavors to get the full enjoyment of this dish. We sampled it today but plan on snacking on it tomorrow with some fresh naan. We LOVE naan!!

And now the second recipe from Serving Up the Harvest.

Roasted Green Beans

2 pounds green beans, trimmed
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Coarse-grained sea salt or kosher salt

1. Preheat the oven to 450℉. Lightly grease a large sheet pan or shallow roasting pan with oil.

2. Arrange the green beans in a single, uncrowded layer on the prepared pan. Drizzle the oil over the beans and roll the beans until they are evenly coated.

3. Roast for about 15 minutes, or until the beans are well browned, shaking the pan occasionally for even cooking.

4. Transfer the beans to a shallow serving bowl or platter and sprinkle with the salt. Serve immediately.

These beans were a side dish to the recipe that we made from Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics, which was this recipe.

Mustard-Roasted Fish

4 8-ounce fish fillets such as red snapper (we halved this recipe and used the two halibut fillets we had in the freezer)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 ounces crème fraîche
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard
2 tablespoons minced shallots
2 teaspoons drained capers

Preheat the oven to 425℉. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. (You can also use an ovenproof baking dish.) Place the fish fillets skin side down on the sheet pan. Sprinkle generously with the salt and pepper.
Combine the crème fraîche, two mustards, shallots, capers, 1 teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoons pepper in a small bowl. Spoon the sauce evenly over the fish fillets, making sure the fish is completely covered. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish, until it's barely done. (The fish will flake easily at the thickest part when it's done.) Be sure not to overcook it! Serve hot or at room temperature with the sauce from the pan spooned over the top.

This was delicious! A wonderful sauce for any kind of fish or even chicken. And, following Ina's suggestion, we served the fish with steamed new potatoes and the above green beans. We tossed the potatoes with a little butter, kosher salt, and chopped fresh chives. Excellent meal!

Day 19/365:Recipes 14 and 15/175

Days Seven through Eleven - Hiatus

She Said:

As predicted, we didn't make any new recipes for our own Julie/Julia Project while we were in the process of using up Easter and the first week's leftovers. (Plus, we wanted to have our normal Thursday pizza-and-a-movie night this week. We like them.) We're gearing up to get back in the game today, though, so we'll be back with more of what we are doing as we cook our way through Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman (and a surprise entry, too!).

I will share one recipe with you, though, that we made on Easter and then again last night.

This came from the November 2008 issue of Family Circle and it's a definite keeper! (Don't make this if you're on a diet, though. It's high in calories and you won't be able to stop eating it.)

Whipped-Potato Casserole

5 pounds all-purpose potatoes, peeled and quartered
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1¼ cups half-and-half
1 tub (8 ounces) whipped cream cheese with chives (or 1 tub plain mixed with 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives)
1 teaspoon garlic salt
¼ teaspoon grouns nutmeg (we omitted this)
1 cup sliced almonds (we omitted these, too)
Fresh chives for garnish, optional

1. Heat oven to 350℉. Coat 13 x 9 x 2-inch glass baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Place potatoes in a large pot with enough water to cover. Lightly salt and bring to a boil. Lower to simmering; cook for 15 to 20 minutes or until fork-tender. Drain.

3. In large bowl, mash potatoes with hand mixer. Add butter, half-and-half, cream cheese, garlic salt and nutmeg. With mixer, beat potatoes on medium-high speed until very smooth. Spoon into prepared dish.

4. Bake at 350℉, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Sprinkle sliced almonds over casserole; bake an additional 15 minutes, uncovered, until lightly browned.

5. Let stand 15 minutes before serving. Garnish with chopped chives, if desired.

Do-ahead: Proceed through step 3 and allow to cool. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 2 days. When ready to serve, unwrap and allow to stand at room temperature for at least 30 minutes. Begin with step 4 and bake until internal temperature registers 140℉ on an instant-read thermometer.

These are sooooo good! For Easter, we took the do-ahead tip and made them the day before. They baked up perfectly the next day. I can really recommend these.

But make sure you have a full 5 pounds of potatoes or else they'll be runny. (We found that out the hard way last night when I had to sacrifice a lot of my potatoes because they were not particularly nice. And I had just bought them that day! Not cool. I can't wait until we can start harvesting the potatoes from our garden - yeah, baby!!

He Said:

Yes, I agree. These were great. Really great. But I'm not sure that they weren't even better the next morning. Just pat some of these leftover babies (if there are any) into 5" pancakes and cook in a cast iron skillet coated with Olive Oil and Butter. Fry them up at medium high heat for about 8 minutes/side or until they are nicely browned. No, nicer and browner than that. Patience is key here. Eat with a few fried eggs with nice runny yolks and you, my friend, are in breakfast heaven.

You're welcome.

Day Six - Easter Dinner!

She Said:

I will not go into details about what we had for Easter dinner - suffice it to say that we had 16 people and lots of food (except we did run out of potatoes - note for future - 5 pounds of potatoes is not enough for 16 people!)

But, we did do one recipe (multiplied by seven) from Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman and that counts toward our own Julie/Julia Project.

Day Six

Maple-Roasted Carrots

1 pound carrots, cut into thin 3-inch spears
1 tablespoon canola oil
Salt
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
Chopped fresh parsley or cilantro, for garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 425℉. Lightly grease with oil a baking sheet just large enough to hold the carrots in a single layer.

2. Put the carrots on the prepared baking sheet. Drizzle with the oil and toss to coat. Arrange in a single layer.

3. Roast for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, melt the butter in the maple syrup on top of the stove or in a microwave.

4. Drizzle the maple syrup mixture over the carrots. With a metal spatula, turn the carrots over. Roast for another 5 to 10 minutes, until the carrots are lightly browned and easily pierced with a fork. Stir with the spatula to coat the carrots with the glaze on the bottom of the pan and transfer to a serving dish.

5. Garnish with the parsley. Serve hot.

I thought these were delicious. Nicely sweet and rich-tasting. I did forget about the garnish, though, so ours were parsley-free. I didn't miss it.

Day 6/365:Recipe 7/175.

Oh, we will be taking a break from our own Julie/Julia Project while we endeavor to put a hurtin' on all of the leftovers we have in the refrigerator from the last six days plus Easter. We'll be eating well for a while!

Day Five

She Said:

Proceeding on with our own Julie/Julia Project, we again were cleaning out the freezer and pantry to use up some of those "non-recipe-ingredient" things we have. So we opted for a side dish from Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman.

Day Five

Garlic-and-Cheese-Crumbed Cauliflower

1 large head cauliflower, broken into florets
¼ cup butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1 cup fresh bread crumbs (see Note)
½ cup grated Gruyère
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the cauliflower and boil until tender, about 6 minutes. Drain well.

2. Preheat the oven to 375℉. Grease a 1½-quart baking dish with butter.

3. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and parsley and simmer just until fragrant, about 2 minutes.

4. Toss together the bread crumbs, cheese, and salt and pepper to taste in a small bowl.

5. Arrange the cauliflower in the prepared baking dish. Top with the crumb mixture. Drizzle the butter and garlic mixture over the top. Bake for about 15 minutes, until the cauliflower is hot and the crumbs are golden. Serve hot.

NOTE: Two to three slices of whole wheat sandwich bread whirled in a food processor will make 1 cup of fresh bread crumbs, perfect for this dish.

This dish was, in a word, sensational. The flavors worked so well together and even worked really well with our "store-bought" rest of the meal - a box of Nature's Way Long Grain and Wild Rice Rice-a-Roni and frozen grilled salmon fillets with lemon butter.

Absolutely delicious. This one is definitely a keeper!

He Said:

At first sniff, I had my doubts about this side dish. It smelled an awful lot like feet. She said that I shouldn't worry and that feet smell was a good thing. Well, as usual, She was right. The flavors married perfectly and it tasted nothing like feet after all. Whew!

I really loved the texture of this dish, too. The soft cauliflower juxtaposed against the crunchy-ness of the cheese crumble was wonderful. I forget sometimes that texture can make or break a dish. This was a good reminder of that.

This is a dish that I wouldn't hesitate to make again. And again. And then, after that? Again.

Day 5/365:Recipe 6/175

Day Two

She Said:

Day Two of our own Julie/Julia Project. We made something completely different for us and we really liked it! The star ingredient was spinach, a spring recipe from Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman.

Curried Spinach and Shrimp

1 1/2-2 pounds spinach, washed and trimmed (we used 22 oz. of baby spinach)
2 tablespoons canola oil
3 onions, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1-2 fresh or canned green chiles, minced (we used 3 tablespoons of canned mild chiles)
1 piece fresh ginger (1 1/2 inches long), peeled and minced
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon fenugreek seeds (I couldn't find whole seeds so we used ground)
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1 1/2 pounds medium shrimp, shelled and deveined (I could only find large shrimp - which was fine!)
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
Salt
Cayenne (optional)
Hot cooked rice

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the spinach and cook about 30 seconds. Drain well and roughly chop. (Since we used baby spinach, we didn't chop it.)

2. Heat the oil over medium-low heat in a large saucepan. Add the onions, garlic, chiles, ginger, curry powder, cumin, fenugreek, and coriander. Sauté until the onions are golden, about 10 minutes. Do not let the mixture burn, or you might as well start over.

3. Stir in the shrimp, increase the heat to medium-high and cook until the shrimp are just white and firm, about 5 minutes.

4. Reduce the heat to low. Stir in the buttermilk and spinach. Season with salt. Add cayenne to taste. Cook over low heat until the spinach is heated through. Serve hot over rice.

We didn't add enough salt at the end, or maybe we should have added some to the rice, I don't know. But either way, it needed salt but it was delicious!! Plus, the house smelled incredible from the curry and cumin and coriander. These are not standard scents we get from our cooking.

Really, really good dinner!

Day 2/365:Recipe 2/175

Starting something new...

She Said:

Taking a page from the "Julie/Julia Project" and its inspiring and delightful movie version, "Julie and Julia", we have launched into a project to cook our way through someone else's cookbook in one year. This was a tough decision for us. Seeing as we both have truly exhausting full-time jobs, neither one of us is inspired to do a lot of hard cooking at day's end, certainly nothing approaching Julia Child's cookbook!

So we settled on a fairly easy cookbook for our daily meals (and we'll probably go with something more complex for our weekend meals) and last night was the first try. So exciting!!

We chose Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman for our weeknight meals. There are 175 recipes in this cookbook and I think we can handle that in one year. The really great part of this book is that it is a book that takes you, season-by-season, through various recipes based on what's in season at that time. We're sort of still borderline between winter and spring, but we started with a spring recipe.

Away we go!

Day One

Roasted Asparagus Vinaigrette

1 1/2 pounds asparagus (about 30 medium-thick spears), bottoms trimmed
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 450℉. Lightly grease a large shallow roasting pan or half sheet pan with oil.

2. Arrange the asparagus in a single uncrowded layer in the prepared pan. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of the oil over the asparagus and roll to coat evenly.

3. Roast the asparagus for about 15 minutes, until the asparagus is lightly browned, shaking the pan occasionally for even cooking.

4. Meanwhile, combine the garlic and vinegar in a small bowl. Whisk in the remaining 3 tablespoons oil until it is fully incorporated. Season to taste with the salt and pepper.

5. When the asparagus is done, transfer to a serving platter. Drizzle with the vinaigrette. Sprinkle with additional salt and pepper, if desired. Set aside for at least 30 minutes to blend the flavors.

6. Serve at room temperature.

Our goal is to follow these recipes exactly and not put our own spin on them, like we normally do. Thank goodness we did stick to the real recipe. This was really, really delicious and addictive. We used pencil-thin asparagus which really should have cooked for less time but it was still fab.

Trying to use up everything on hand that is not a recipe ingredient, we served this with two almond-crusted flounder filets that we had in the freezer and prepared a box of Whole Grain Roasted Garlic Italiano Rice-a-Roni. It's not a meal that tasted like something we normally make but that's OK. We're trying to get out of our rut!

I can't wait for tonight's dinner!

Day 1/365:Recipe 1/175

Heavenly Twice-Baked Potatoes

She Said:

I wrote in my last post about these heavenly twice-baked potatoes that we had on Valentine's Day. Well, He made them again and we had them plus steamed broccoli and red peppers for dinner last night. Oh, good grief! These things are SOOO good! (And almost vegetarian - you can tweak as you wish.)

Twice-Baked Potatoes

2 medium baking potatoes
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 tablespoon milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 oz. cream cheese, cubed
3 tablespoons sour cream
6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
4 green onions, sliced

1. Pierce potatoes and bake at 375℉ for 1 hour or until tender. Cool.
2. Cut a thin slice off the top of each potato. Scoop out the pulp and place in a mixing bowl. Add butter, milk and salt. Beat until fluffy. Beat in cream cheese and sour cream. Add crumbled bacon, cheddar cheese, and green onions and mix well.
3. Spoon mixture back into potato shells. Place potatoes on a baking sheet. Bake at 350℉ for 20-25 minutes or until tops are golden brown.

We actually made three potatoes last night and split the leftover one for lunch today. We chopped it up and reheated in the microwave. Still really, really delicious! I can really recommend these!

Almost a New Year

She Said:

Well, hello! It was my intention to pick up on 12/27, seeming like I hadn't missed a day since 12/26 (of last year!) but that didn't happen. The cooking hasn't been plentiful around here, owing largely to the busyness of the holiday season and our various physical ailments.

Yesterday, however, I did make a good beef stew. It's the one I've been making for 25 years or more and it's still great. It's largely based on a Betty Crocker recipe with just a few tweaks to make it all my own.

Betty's and My Beef Stew

1 lb. stew beef, trimmed of the outside fat
1 tbsp. vegetable shortening
1 1/2 tsp. salt, divided
1/4 tsp. pepper
3 cups hot water
2 large potatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 medium carrots, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 rib of celery, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped (although, I had a half of a green and half of a red leftover so that's what I used)
1 beef bouillon cube
1 bay leaf

Cook and stir beef in shortening in a Dutch oven until the beef is brown, about 15 minutes. Drain off the fat. Add 3 cups of hot water, 1/2 tsp. salt and the pepper. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer until beef is almost tender, 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

Stir in potatoes, carrots, onion, celery, green pepper, 1 tsp. salt, the bouillon cube and the bay leaf. Cover and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.

Serve with a fresh, crusty bread.

Delish!

----------------------------------------

He Said:

This meal was actually prepared at my request. I don't actually request specific meals very often but, seriously, a man should only have to go so long without eating this stew. It is, in a word, fantabulous! Wait, I'm not sure that's actually a word. Anyway, you get my drift.

If you find yourself hunkered down at home and it's just too cold to venture out, do yourself a large and make this stew. You can hug me later.

OLS Wrap-Up

I have really been remiss!  I missed three postings for the One Local Summer Challenge.  And now it's over.  So, without further ado, these are the things that we made for the last three weeks.

Week 11 - Sausage, Peppers and Onions

Week 12 - Meatballs and Beets

Week 13 - Bison and Pepper Rice

That last one was one of my absolute favorites this whole summer - and one of the easiest to make!  It's a crock-pot meal, for goodness sake!  It definitely goes into the permanent rotation.

One Local Summer, Week 8

I forgot to post either of the meals from last week, so here they are.

Minute Steak Sandwiches with some very pink Beet and Potato Salad

Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, and Green Beans

One Local Summer, Week 6

This is our first entry for Week 6 of the One Local Summer Challenge.  It is pot roast with roasted vegetables.  

Simple and quite delicious!

One Local Summer, Week 5

I realized that I never posted this meal we had this week. This is grilled London broil with sauteed zucchini and smashed potatoes. The veggies were delicious!!

One Local Summer, Week 4 Wrap-Up

This was the last of our dishes for Week 4 of the One Local Summer Challenge.  This was really quite delicious!

Broccoli with Cheesy Mushroom Sauce