Category: Thoughts

Cooking This Weekend

Published on by RJLeave a comment

The weekend is already upon us! Well, mine is at least — since I don’t work on Fridays.

I will not be cooking tomorrow, Friday, but I do plan to cook on Saturday. But, as usual, I do not know what that will be just yet. I will most likely cook something for dinner, so I may do a full Ina-themed meal and knocked out two or three recipes in one go. That would be an ideal, but I’m not sure if it will happen.

I guess a good place to start would be with the main dish, right?

Once I know what that will be, deciding on the sides will be much easier.

I’m still hoping to do a Night of Appetizers at some point, which will help me tackle the many of the recipes that I’ve been neglecting. But there are soo many good ones in there!

One day, one recipe at a time, right??

This Week

Published on by RJLeave a comment

I can’t believe it’s Wednesday already!!

The week is flying. And now that I’ve finally finished the semester (yay!), I can devote more time and energy to cooking from Ina. I am really looking forward to making a couple of things this weekend. It also helps that Friday is payday!

I will be baking this Sunday and it will be an Ina recipe. However, I have not yet decided if I’ll make a dessert or something from the Breakfast chapters. Scones seem to be calling out to me and Ina has no shortage of scone recipes.

As for dinner, I have no idea what I feel like making. If my records are correct, I have one cookbook in which I haven’t make anything from yet. This is weird to me since I regard this book as my current favorite. Barefoot in Paris is Ina’s French-themed cookbook and I often find some of the recipes overwhelming. Elegant, but a little overwhelming. I will have more time this Friday, so it may be the perfect opportunity to make some fabulous French food!

What I wish my view was right now!
*Sigh*
Photo by Maria Orlova on Pexels.com

This Week’s Cooking: A Teaser

Published on by RJLeave a comment

This week I will be making at least two recipes. One of which will come from either the Dessert or Breakfast chapters in the books. But, I’m really feeling like I want some cookies. Now I just need to pick which ones!

For the regular weekly cooking, I will probably make some sort of soup but I’m also leaning towards something out of the Lunch chapters. I have yet to make something from that section.

I will be deciding on the recipes tonight and I’ll post them tomorrow. I will be making dinner on Saturday this week, but will probably do the shopping tomorrow.

Stay tuned!

Chilly Day!

Published on by RJLeave a comment

We are in the midst of our first truly “cold day” of the season. Usually, at this point in November, we are seeing temperatures in the high 40s and up to the low 60s. However, today the high is supposed to reach only 36! Much too cold for this time of year here in CT.

While I was glad to finally be able to acceptably wear a sweater to work today, all I can think about is wanting to stay home, under blankets and sip warm tea.

I think this week, I’m going to make a soup recipe. Even though by Friday, the weather should return to more seasonable temperatures.

What Am I Making This Week?

Published on by RJLeave a comment

Good question!

A few posts ago, I mentioned that I will be taking the week off from making dinner for my family. But, that doesn’t mean I’m not going to cook anything.

This decision is both good and bad for me. I have the freedom to make whatever I want: an appetizer, a side dish, a lunch recipe, or even something from the Breakfast category. The downside to this is just that: there are still sooo many choices!

After some deep thought, soul searching, snacking, and examining recipes. I settled on a recipe: Chocolate Banana Crumb Cake.

Why?

Cuz why not! It sounds amazing, doesn’t it? I think it does. And I can’t wait to share the final product with you all.

This recipe comes from the Breakfast section of Make it Ahead. The recipe photo in the book looks divine and Ina’s headnotes for the recipe consist of but two sentences. Which is very unlike Ina. I guess she wanted the recipe to speak for itself!

Practically, this recipe will be a rather cheap make. Looking over the ingredients, I see I will only need a small handful of items. I am considering omitting the sliced almonds to help keep the cost down (unless I can steal since from my Grandma). After all, I don’t need very many (3 tablespoons).

I’m not sure yet when I will make this recipe. It will be sometime this weekend (so between today and Sunday afternoon). But since this recipe calls for ripe bananas, I need to do some prep work first: I bought the bananas Thursday evening and I’ll have them sit in a bag overnight or longer so that they get to the proper ripeness, if needed.

But other than that, I’m ready to go!

Also, this is my 50th post on the blog! If you’ve been with me since the beginning: Thank you! Your support and “Likes” mean a lot. Don’t forget that I do welcome comments. So don’t be afraid!

Tired…

Published on by RJLeave a comment

In addition to the three Ina recipes I cooked for dinner, I also made two loaves of bread. These were NOT Ina recipes, so I won’t go into detail. But, all I can say is….I’m exhausted!!

Reviews of the recipes I made tonight will be posting starting tomorrow.

Stay tuned! Happy Halloween!

Saturday Cookin’

Published on by RJLeave a comment

This week I will be making three recipes!

The main course will be Parmesan Chicken from Family Style.

I will be serving it with two side dishes. For a vegetable, I’ll be preparing Orange-Honey Glazed Carrots (At Home) and for a starch, I’ll be making Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes (At Home).

I may modify some of the recipes a little bit to cut down on the ingredients needed to be purchased. For example, I will only be using the amount of buttermilk I have left from last week (about a half cup) and not buying anymore. So I’ll be short a bit for the recipe, but I also plan to not make the full amount the recipe yields.

Pics (hopefully!) and reviews to come!!

Living in a Dreary World

Published on by RJLeave a comment

Today is a rainy, cold, end-of-October day here in Connecticut. We’ve barely seen the sun over the last two weeks and they are expecting snow (!) tomorrow. I’m not really a fan of snow, but thankfully I am off from work that day.

Sadly, the time got away from me this week, so the next cookbook review will be delayed until later this evening.

I am still thinking of things to make this weekend. I am leaning towards a chicken recipe and some type of side…possibly vegetable or maybe risotto! But definitely, no dessert this week! I had to throw out roughly half the cake I made last Friday. No one was eating it and I already had more than my fair share.