You Are What You Eat: October 23 through November 5
1. The " days without eating in a restaurant" counter is now on 243 days and counting. The days without takeout counter is at 74, and if I hadn't counted the unexpected wedding gift food would be at 103. That would be a record, but we're likely going to break the current record anyway.
Restaurant Stats
Just Me and M, or Just Me (non-concert, non-ballgame, non-travel): 11 (+0)
-- Twice in a Week Resolution Breaker: 1 (+0)
With Friends/Family (non-concert, non-ballgame): 7 (+0)
Concert/Ball-game drinks: 5 (+0)
Travel: 15 (+0)
People over for food: 3 (+0)
Longest Streak of no restaurant - 243 and counting.
Longest Streak for no takeout - 98.
2. This two week period featured 10 new recipes, which takes the total for the year to 122.
- My red folder of "recipes I missed the first time around" offered up Herb-Roasted Chicken with Potatoes, Olives & Feta from the April 2020 Eating Well. This was dead simple and delicious. It was in fact so delicious that we've already made it a second time, and I'm sure we'll make it again.
- My experience with meatloaf is that none of the recipes I've tried can match my mother's, but hope springs eternal so I made the Honey-Sesame Turkey Meatloaves with Broccolini from the September 2020 Eating Well. I personally thought it was fine but not worth repeating, but M really liked it and said she wouldn't mind having it again. I'll see if that's enough to sway me.
- The October 2020 Eating Well still has a lot of recipes I mean to try, but I made a dent this time around. First off was the Lamb & Beef Balti, which was delicious even in my turkey-based variant. It's a spin on a traditional Indian dish, and we really enjoyed the spice mix.
- Kadhai Murghi was a second Indian themed dish from the same issue. Even better, it was from the kitchen of Raghavan Iyer, author of one of my favorite cookbooks, 660 Curries. This essentially an Indian stir fry with lots of fresh mint. M gave this an enthusiastic thumbs up.
- The third and final recipe from the October issue was the Winter Salad with Toasted Walnuts. I didn't have walnut oil and substituted olive oil, nor did I have the right kind of endive so I had to punch up the greens mix instead. Despite those ingredient snafus, M really liked this salad, as she is a big fan of fennel and nuts on salads in general. I wasn't quite as big of a fan, but we may keep it around anyway.
- Moving on to the November 2020 Eating Well (aka the Thanksgiving issue), first up was Green Beans with Pistachios & Orange. M enjoyed this one, as she likes both pistachios and green beans. Said green beans being roasted in butter probably didn't hurt. I wasn't quite as a big of a fan, but I don't have terribly many green bean recipes so I may hold on to this one.
- One I won't make again is the Oat Four Crepes with Tomato Pesto & Cheddar from the same November issue. It was a nice way to use up some loose oatmeal, and having some prepared pesto on hand isn't a bad thing, but the crepes themselves came out much smaller than the recipe called for and weren't so fantastic that I need to make them again. However, I did learn that M enjoys crepes.
- We love tacos, and we'll almost always try a new taco recipe. The November taco variant was Chicken Tacos with Brussels Sprouts. Said Brussels Sprouts had been broiled. It actually worked pretty well, although it was undoubtedly helped along by the cream sauce, which was mayo, taijin and lime juice whisked together and was fantastic all by itself. This one forces its way into the taco recipe collection.
- Lastly, I made Parker House Rolls. To be clear, this was the one from the November 2020 Eating Well, not the one from the Bread Bible, which had a totally different recipe. The magazine recipe was as quick and easy as you can get from a recipe that requires a yeast rise. Having melted butter smeared inside the rolls was a genius move. I need to work on making the rolls all be a consistent size, but there was nothing whatsoever wrong with the taste. I may have to try the Bread Bible recipe just for comparison purposes, but this one was so good that it's hard to imagine it will be that much better.
Speaking of the Bread Bible, I took another crack at the Brinna's Pugliese I tried last time around. This time the first rise went better. The overall bread wasn't any bigger, but it was less dense, had a harder crust and generally was an improvement. Obviously, I'm not counting this as a new recipe again, but I wanted to report back.
- And lastly, I made our best ice cream yet. Our fourth batch to come out of the ice cream maker the Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream. It was probably our best batch yet. Imagine that your pumpkin pie was turned into ice cream, and then had gingersnap crumbles spread through out it. It was like M's pumpkin dip but colder. This one is a definite repeat.
Restaurant Stats
Just Me and M, or Just Me (non-concert, non-ballgame, non-travel): 11 (+0)
-- Twice in a Week Resolution Breaker: 1 (+0)
With Friends/Family (non-concert, non-ballgame): 7 (+0)
Concert/Ball-game drinks: 5 (+0)
Travel: 15 (+0)
People over for food: 3 (+0)
Longest Streak of no restaurant - 243 and counting.
Longest Streak for no takeout - 98.
2. This two week period featured 10 new recipes, which takes the total for the year to 122.
- My red folder of "recipes I missed the first time around" offered up Herb-Roasted Chicken with Potatoes, Olives & Feta from the April 2020 Eating Well. This was dead simple and delicious. It was in fact so delicious that we've already made it a second time, and I'm sure we'll make it again.
- My experience with meatloaf is that none of the recipes I've tried can match my mother's, but hope springs eternal so I made the Honey-Sesame Turkey Meatloaves with Broccolini from the September 2020 Eating Well. I personally thought it was fine but not worth repeating, but M really liked it and said she wouldn't mind having it again. I'll see if that's enough to sway me.
- The October 2020 Eating Well still has a lot of recipes I mean to try, but I made a dent this time around. First off was the Lamb & Beef Balti, which was delicious even in my turkey-based variant. It's a spin on a traditional Indian dish, and we really enjoyed the spice mix.
- Kadhai Murghi was a second Indian themed dish from the same issue. Even better, it was from the kitchen of Raghavan Iyer, author of one of my favorite cookbooks, 660 Curries. This essentially an Indian stir fry with lots of fresh mint. M gave this an enthusiastic thumbs up.
- The third and final recipe from the October issue was the Winter Salad with Toasted Walnuts. I didn't have walnut oil and substituted olive oil, nor did I have the right kind of endive so I had to punch up the greens mix instead. Despite those ingredient snafus, M really liked this salad, as she is a big fan of fennel and nuts on salads in general. I wasn't quite as big of a fan, but we may keep it around anyway.
- Moving on to the November 2020 Eating Well (aka the Thanksgiving issue), first up was Green Beans with Pistachios & Orange. M enjoyed this one, as she likes both pistachios and green beans. Said green beans being roasted in butter probably didn't hurt. I wasn't quite as a big of a fan, but I don't have terribly many green bean recipes so I may hold on to this one.
- One I won't make again is the Oat Four Crepes with Tomato Pesto & Cheddar from the same November issue. It was a nice way to use up some loose oatmeal, and having some prepared pesto on hand isn't a bad thing, but the crepes themselves came out much smaller than the recipe called for and weren't so fantastic that I need to make them again. However, I did learn that M enjoys crepes.
- We love tacos, and we'll almost always try a new taco recipe. The November taco variant was Chicken Tacos with Brussels Sprouts. Said Brussels Sprouts had been broiled. It actually worked pretty well, although it was undoubtedly helped along by the cream sauce, which was mayo, taijin and lime juice whisked together and was fantastic all by itself. This one forces its way into the taco recipe collection.
- Lastly, I made Parker House Rolls. To be clear, this was the one from the November 2020 Eating Well, not the one from the Bread Bible, which had a totally different recipe. The magazine recipe was as quick and easy as you can get from a recipe that requires a yeast rise. Having melted butter smeared inside the rolls was a genius move. I need to work on making the rolls all be a consistent size, but there was nothing whatsoever wrong with the taste. I may have to try the Bread Bible recipe just for comparison purposes, but this one was so good that it's hard to imagine it will be that much better.
Speaking of the Bread Bible, I took another crack at the Brinna's Pugliese I tried last time around. This time the first rise went better. The overall bread wasn't any bigger, but it was less dense, had a harder crust and generally was an improvement. Obviously, I'm not counting this as a new recipe again, but I wanted to report back.
- And lastly, I made our best ice cream yet. Our fourth batch to come out of the ice cream maker the Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream. It was probably our best batch yet. Imagine that your pumpkin pie was turned into ice cream, and then had gingersnap crumbles spread through out it. It was like M's pumpkin dip but colder. This one is a definite repeat.