Category: Thoughts

This Week’s Cooking Plans

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Disclaimer: This post was started early Thursday afternoon and completed Thursday evening. I kept the “stream of consciousness” style so that you can see how my brain actually works when it comes to deciding what to make each week. Sometimes dealing with over 1000 recipes and a dozen cookbooks gets to be overwhelming.

Well, here we are. Friday….again.

Personally, this week was a little tough for me. The weather didn’t help much either. The lack of sun really starts to get to me after two days.

So, I’m looking forward to spending some time in the kitchen this afternoon preparing a tasty meal. I also decided to give Ina’s dessert recipes a little break. No desserts from her books this week, if any dessert is made at all.

That said, I still want to try to do two or three recipes this week.

I am thinking of branching out of my comfort zone and attempting some elegant and very gourmet.

After reviewing Barefoot in Paris yesterday, I realized that I haven’t made any of those recipes yet. So I’m thinking of doing Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic.

But then, when I looked over the recipe I realized that this chicken dish will feed a small army. We would have too many leftovers. So, it was back to paging through books to find a recipe that would work.

Which proved to be a bit of a challenge. We had fish already this week, chicken, lasagne, and pot pies. We also had a leftovers night which just repeated those dishes again. I am also hesitant to do anything with beef and lamb. The beef because I’m not a huge fan of it and the lamb because, well….the fear of the unknown. I’ve never had lamb.

After paging through Barefoot in Paris, I realized that it wasn’t going to happen this week. Nothing seemed easy and interested me. So, I picked a few books at random and thumbed through those. Soon enough, I found a recipe in How Easy is That?

Weeknight Bolognese for the win!

Bolognese is a meat sauce that is fairly common in Northern Italy. It’s an easy sauce to make and since it has meat (beef) in it, it helps fill you up.

(Disclaimer: I’m not opposed to beef in its ground form. Hamburgers, meatloafs, meatballs, etc are all OK in my book!)

I decided to use De Cecco pasta since it was on sale this week and use the called for pasta shape. I can’t wait to see how it turns out!

Since I’ve settled on this pasta dish, there will be no side dish or salad from Ina’s books to go with it. And as I’ve mentioned earlier, I won’t be making a dessert this weekend…from Ina that is.

I stumbled upon an amazing cake recipe that I just had to try! That review and write-up will be posted as well, however under a different category entitled “Other Recipes.”

Ina’s pasta sauce recipe will drop on Saturday and the cake recipe will be released on Sunday.

Enjoy the weekend!

The Woes of a Cook-Through Blog Part 1

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It’s been about a month since I started this project. So far, I am enjoying it. I have learned some things about cooking and purchasing ingredients. I also got to add a few tools to the kitchen during the process.

However, there have been some downsides.

This is starting to get really expensive! I spend anywhere from $30 to $75 a week on the groceries needed to make the recipes. Yes, sometimes that means more than one recipe, but still.

Also, I am coming to the realization that I am “neglecting” certain categories. Mainly the cocktails and the appetizers. The cocktails always posed a challenge since I am not one who consumes alcohol for pleasure. The appetizers are difficult to make for a meal since they weren’t intended to be a meal. I suppose I could plan a meal of just appetizers, but I feel like that would be more costly than it’s worth.

I feel like if I was having parties or family gatherings, then I could easily mix in some of these recipes, but with the COVID pandemic, that won’t be happening anytime soon.

Eventually, I will have to make both cocktails and appetizers. But for now, I’ll stick to the desserts, dinner, and lunch categories. Luckily, there are hundreds of recipes between those three groups to choose from.

Friday Recipes

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Well, here we are again.

Friday.

And that means I get to (have to?) cook for the family once again. This week was a tricky week when it came to deciding what I wanted to make. Since I only was able to do one recipe last week (read the post), I felt I needed to knock out at least three this weekend.

While I’ve not given myself an “official” timeline, I am trying to do at least 100 recipes over the course of the next year. That comes out to about two recipes per week. Which I think is doable…for now at least.

I was feeling kind of down for most of the week. I’m not sure if it’s the seasonal change or the pandemic. Most likely both. So, I decided I was going to make something sweet to have as a dessert over the weekend!

And I think I found the perfect thing: Apple Pie Bars

This recipe is featured in Cooking For Jeffrey which is one of the books I haven’t made anything out of yet, even before this project began.

I chose this one for a number of reasons. First, it seems pretty easy. Second, apples are in season here in New England this time of year. And finally, because who doesn’t love apple pie? I mean, I know it isn’t truly apple pie. But it’ll give me the feeling of eating apple pie.

At least I hope so!

Now, the next challenge was what would I make for dinner?

After looking through some of the cookbooks I have yet to cook ANYTHNG out of, I decided on something from Foolproof. It is a pasta dish that I’ve wanted to make for a long time: Straw & Hay with Gorgonzola. I then decided to make a a salad to go with it. (I’ll have my three recipes!)

I went Back to Basics and found a tasty-looking autumn salad that I think will complement the pasta nicely. Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Warm Cider Vinaigrette just screams Fall. Doesn’t it?

I can’t wait to try these tonight. Now, off to get the ingredients I don’t have.

So Many Recipes, So Many Decisions!

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Well, it’s Wednesday already! How can that be?

I was lucky enough to get away earlier this week for a mini-vacation. I went to one of the casinos in my state and stayed overnight. Luckily I didn’t lose too much money.

But Wednesday is usually the day when I start thinking about which recipes I want to make for the week. I’m feeling kind of blah this week, despite the little getaway, so I’m thinking something sweet is a requirement.

I am also considering grouping two or three additional recipes together to make a meal again…I’m thinking a pasta dish as the main course?

Thoughts….?

Pasta is usually my go-to when I’m feeling a little off. But if I do pasta, I probably won’t need side dishes with that.

Unless, I make a salad as a “first course” with the pasta. . . .

See what I mean?

So many decisions.

Almost too many.

I’ll be posting my review of Ina’s third cookbook tomorrow afternoon, so keep your eyes peeled for that! Friday you will find out what I will be making that day and over the weekend I’ll post my reviews of the recipes I make.

Stay tuned for more fun!

This Week’s Cooking

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Hello Readers!

I have been busy reading my way through Ina’s newest book, Modern Comfort Food, and I’ve decided that the recipes I make this week will come from that book. I am making dinner for the family tonight and may even squeeze in a dessert recipe over the weekend.

Look out for some recipe reviews coming at you later this weekend!

I can’t wait to try out the new cookbook. It really is beautiful and modern, in more ways than one!

It’s Here!

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I’m so excited!! Ina’s new cookbook arrived today and I can’t wait to sink my teeth into and start looking over the recipes. I have only skimmed it so far, but I can already tell that I think this one will become my new favorite — my previous one was Barefoot in Paris. The photographs are so amazing and Ina looks great!

Look for my extended, full review in a few weeks as part of the cookbook review series that drops every Thursday. Tomorrow, I’m reviewing Barefoot Contessa Parties!

Sorry this is so quick, but I’m too excited to write much. I wanna check out the new book.

Be back soon!

My copy of “Modern Comfort Food”

A Little Disappointed…

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Sadly, even though I pre-ordered Ina’s new cookbook, which comes out TODAY (!!!), it will not be delivered until tomorrow. So….tomorrow’s post will contain my excitement and first-look review.

I’ve had this happen before with Amazon pre-orders….even though they SAY it’ll come on release date, it hasn’t lately. Oh well, life goes on. #firstworldproblems