Wednesday, June 19, 2024

I mentioned this week that I am disappointed some of the time when I go out to eat lately. The prices are high and the quality is low. I do want to support my locally owned restaurants, though, and I need a break and want to go out for the experience sometimes.

But, I feel lucky that I enjoy the act of cooking. It’s relaxing to me to get in the kitchen and chop and create!

Sometimes I play the game “if I were in a restaurant, what would I order?” and then try to re-create it.

In the summer, I still keep that same routine of starting dinner around 5:00 (I also talked about routine this week and that I keep many of the same rhythms whether it be summer or the school year). But, one thing I do in the summer is prep things in the morning. I know that I have my energy in the morning and making a plan and doing whatever I can to help that 5:00 hour is great for me.

My bestie goes to Kroger almost everyday and hates it everyday! She goes around 5:00 and often calls me on the way. Girl! I keep trying to help her but she doesn’t want to think about dinner until 5:00 and then it’s a vicious cycle. She hates cooking and has some really picky eaters so that makes it harder.

I have been on a quiche kick! My second one turned out way better. I bought a two pack of frozen Marie Callender crusts. You set them out for 10 minutes and then poke a few fork holes in the bottom and the sides and pre-bake for 10 minutes at 425.

In the meantime, I whipped up a mixture of already cooked bacon chopped up (already cooked was way better!), 1/2 cup heavy cream, 1/2 cup skim milk, salt, pepper, some freshly grated parmesan cheese, and 4 eggs beaten. I served it with a salad. This would be great if you are having company for a light meal.

Mason told me I’ve been doing this a lot (too much) but it’s really good! It’s a riff off of the viral Tik Tok feta pasta. I love feta, but it feels too harsh here, so I switched out Boursin original. You can get this at Trader Joe’s, Kroger, or wherever really. I needed double the tomatoes, but I worked with what I had. I only use half of the Boursin. So, put your grape tomatoes in a dish, add olive oil, salt, pepper, and minced garlic. My garlic got a little too dark, so you may want to wait a bit on that. Bake in the oven at 350 until the tomatoes soften and burst open with a spoon. I did 20 minutes I think. Add in the Boursin. You can also cook the Boursin the whole time, but I didn’t.

Boil your pasta while this is cooking and then pour in some of the valuable pasta water. Do you know how many chefs use the pasta water? It’s liquid gold in cooking, apparently.

Then, you simply add in your hot pasta. You can add cooked chicken, sausage, or really anything else you want. It’s more a method that can give you an idea!

Trying to have lots of cut up veg and these can also go in salads with a bit more chopping:

I found out the “snackle box” also works for a family make your own salad bar.

We use salad kits sometimes, but I don’t think they are as good as when we make our own.

Our favorite dressing right now:

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One night I made a new and super easy French potato recipe that I read about in my novel! I added rotisserie chicken that was a special at Fresh Market, my homemade bread, and roasted vegetables to go along with it.

Here is the potato recipe:

I got carried away with the fresh parsley! Do you have a mandolin? It’s really fun to slice your vegetables for roasting. I got mine at TJ Maxx for under $10.

This recipe caused me to buy ghee. I had never cooked with it!

Potatoes Daphinoise:

2 T. Ghee in a pan on the stove

slice up 5-6 yukon gold potatoes on your mandolin

Add to the pan

Cook until soft and tender

Add salt and pepper

Add fresh parsley

I couldn’t find the exact recipe I used. Mine only called for stovetop cooking. Many are calling for oven baking and seem more like an au gratin. I will say that my potatoes fell apart so if that bothers you, the oven might be better for keeping them intact.

What are you cooking lately?

Cheers!

Amy

26 thoughts on “Cooking Lately”

  2. I almost always prep for dinner in the morning too. Last night we had huli huli chicken with broccoli and I made the rest of the family some egg noodles– quick and simple! I love making quiche but tend to be the only one to eat it but I did buy all the ingredients to make one this week so perhaps I’ll get around to that this morning. Yours looks yummy!

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  3. I would have an anxiety attack if I went to the grocery store at 5pm – all the stores here are crazy busy at that time of day! I love a good quiche, that’s such a great dinner idea for summer!

    xo,

    Kellyann

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  5. My favorite recipe: get the hell out of the way and let the husband do it.

    I do, however, enjoy baking a mean cake.

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    1. Yeah, that’s not going to happen with mine. He doesn’t get home until close to 6:00 and then goes to bed at 8:30 – He’s a lot of fun during the week! Ha! Also, he is so slow and not that great at cooking.
      Love cake! Too much! So happy you got to visit Kate!

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  6. We had quiche last night but I was lazy and bought it from fresh market 🤣I have not found a cooking groove this summer. I feel like that’s my motto lately 😵‍💫

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  7. That tomato and boursin cheese combo looks/sounds amazing. Other than sourdough and making eggs and bacon last Saturday morning, I can’t tell you the last time I cooked. Brook and I seem to have different schedules at night or if one of us go out to eat for lunch, we just snack at home for dinner. I have a lot of frozen meat in the freezer we will pull out to warm up, but I haven’t cooked from a recipe in probably 5 months. I do miss it from time to time though.

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    1. I think the pasta would be a great thing to jump back into cooking! If you want to! It’s a great “girl dinner”. Do you have a sourdough starter recipe too or just the bread you make? I want a blog post on your Friday night with Jennifer! From both of you!

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      1. I just have the starter someone gave me, which is what I gave Jennifer. I am writing this down to blog more about sourdough soon!

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  10. I have been on a meatball kick lately. I think I may try the boursin/tomato sauce and put it over spaghetti squash. But, it’s been so hot, I hate to fire up the oven. We like cucumber/tomato salad with feta cheese in the summer. Next year, I need to remember to figure out a way to plant my own cucumbers.

    https://marshainthemiddle.com/

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    1. What a great idea! Or Zoocles – zucchini noodles. I’m still using the oven but I get that. Yum! I love all things with cucumber, tomato, feta. That would be cool! I tried a garden and I failed. I realized I didn’t enjoy gardening!

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  11. Your meals look delicious! I’ve been eating very simply lately since it’s just me most nights. Tonight I had cucumber salad and quiche that was leftover. It was delicious! Cucumber salad is a fresh cucumber, with Newman’s Own Classic Oil and Vinegar dressing. It’s my favorite summer salad!

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  12. Oh I love that Boursin pasta – sometimes I add grilled chicken for my boys. I’ve recently been converted to the precooked grilled chicken strips from Costco – my Italian mama is horrified but makes it so easy to add protein to salads, pasta etc. 😉

    My absolute favorite summer salad is Chrissy Teigan’s Peach, Arugula and fresh Mozzarella salad (if you google it I think she calls it Stone fruit/ Arugula but peaches or nectarines are the only things I’ll use. SO good and so easy – at the beginning of every summer all the friends I’ve given it to send me photos of their first of the season! Highly recommend

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    1. I need to do that! I also thought about sausage. They are good! I was on a big kick with those. They took away my fave brand so I need to look there again.
      That sounds so good!

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