You Are What You Eat: November 6 through November 18
1. The " days without eating in a restaurant" counter is now on 256 days and counting. The "days without takeout" counter is at 87. Our increasingly ridiculously irrelevant stats block is:
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 - 256 and counting.
Longest Streak for no takeout - 98.
2. The time period logged in this post saw the debut of nine new recipes, which gets us to 131 on the year. I passed last year's total with six weeks to go. Of course, given how many meals I ate out in 2019 versus this year, last year's 123 new recipes was probably more impressive, but it's not my intention to get sabermatic on my cooking so I won't break it down further. Anyway, in six of the nine new recipes were from the October or November Eating Wells, so we will start there.
- I love anchovies, but M really doesn't care for them so I don't use them in my cooking too often. The Pasta cui Vruccoli Ariminata (Lina's Pasta & Broccoli) from the October 2020 Eating Well (aka, the 30th anniversary issue) looked good enough to tempt me. I carefully only put the 4 anchovy fillets in it. On the plus side, M couldn't take them. On the down side, neither could I. The dish as a whole was solidly in the "fine but not worth making again" category. I ate the remaining anchovies from the can on a salad, and that was frankly much better.
- The other new recipe from the October 2020 Eating Well was the Chicken Sausage with Quick Sauerkraut. M loves sauerkraut so it seemed like it was worth trying. I misread the recipe and didn't have apple cider on hand, so I had to substitute broth for the apple cider. That probably made the recipe a little less sweet, but it was still enjoyable. M said she liked it but wasn't actually a big fan of having the apple in the kraut, which seemed like the whole point of the recipe. I don't know that this will be made again.
- Moving on to the November 2020 Eating Well, I made the Cauliflower & White Bean Soup with Herb Croutons. So the good news is that the improvised croutons using regular bread were really successful, and I'll use that method again. The bad news is that the soup was bland and unexciting. This would be a strong contender for worst new recipe of the year if it weren't for the Herby White Gazpacho in July where I actually dumped out the leftovers uneaten. Instead, it's the meh recipe of the year.
- A few years ago I made Chicken Fesenjan, so when I saw the Spiced Pomegranate Molasses Chicken Thighs in the November 2020 Eating Well used a lot of the same ingredients, I had to try it. I did omit the pomegranate arils since I didn't feel like working with them, but I had the pomegranate molasses. The dish was interesting; you bake potatoes and chicken with a thick glaze and then toss it with spinach until the spinach wilts. Then you add walnuts and feta. It wasn't bad, but the fesenjan is definitely better, and I don't know that I'd make it again.
- M really loves spiced nuts, and unsurprisingly the Thanksgiving issue had a spiced nut recipe. I tried out the Spiced Pecans. I wasn't impressed, but M impressed up on me that I needed to make this again. She's pretty easy going most of the time, so anything that inspires this level of positive comment will get made again.
- For all that, the Spiced Pecans weren't even her favorite new recipe. For her birthday, I made her a Chocolate Chess Pie using the Yogurt Pie Crust, which for bookkeeping purposes I'm counting as one recipe. The pie crust makes two pie crusts. I was planning to freeze one, but M informed me that it would make her very happy if I made a second Chocolate Chess Pie, so I did. This was my first experience making a pie. For the first iteration I used rice as a pie weight as the recipe recommended. For the second time around, I used a smaller pie tin, which worked much better. I need to experiment with a foil wrap to keep the crust from burning late in the baking, but I'm quibbling. We both loved this pie and it will be made again. I had some extra filling that I baked in a ramekin, and that was delicious enough that if I can't get the crust right I can go crustless.
- While we're talking about dessert, the fifth batch of ice cream in our wedding present ice cream maker was Chocolate Mint Ice Cream. It wasn't as green as the classic Mint Chocolate Chip, but was pretty tasty.
- M made a pumpkin dessert dip a while back. We liked it, but she thought she could do better, so she ended up making Skinny Pumpkin Pie Dip. This one used instant vanilla pudding mix instead of sugar, and we agreed that the resulting dip had a more enjoyable texture and taste.
- After all those desserts, we need to end on a salad. Our last recipe was one I missed from the July 2020 Eating Well for a Poached Chicken & Arugula Salad with Tomatoes & Chili Crisp, which is basically a really, really tasty chicken salad. Seriously, we both loved the dressing on this salad, and it will be made again as soon as I have more chili crisp available.
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 - 256 and counting.
Longest Streak for no takeout - 98.
2. The time period logged in this post saw the debut of nine new recipes, which gets us to 131 on the year. I passed last year's total with six weeks to go. Of course, given how many meals I ate out in 2019 versus this year, last year's 123 new recipes was probably more impressive, but it's not my intention to get sabermatic on my cooking so I won't break it down further. Anyway, in six of the nine new recipes were from the October or November Eating Wells, so we will start there.
- I love anchovies, but M really doesn't care for them so I don't use them in my cooking too often. The Pasta cui Vruccoli Ariminata (Lina's Pasta & Broccoli) from the October 2020 Eating Well (aka, the 30th anniversary issue) looked good enough to tempt me. I carefully only put the 4 anchovy fillets in it. On the plus side, M couldn't take them. On the down side, neither could I. The dish as a whole was solidly in the "fine but not worth making again" category. I ate the remaining anchovies from the can on a salad, and that was frankly much better.
- The other new recipe from the October 2020 Eating Well was the Chicken Sausage with Quick Sauerkraut. M loves sauerkraut so it seemed like it was worth trying. I misread the recipe and didn't have apple cider on hand, so I had to substitute broth for the apple cider. That probably made the recipe a little less sweet, but it was still enjoyable. M said she liked it but wasn't actually a big fan of having the apple in the kraut, which seemed like the whole point of the recipe. I don't know that this will be made again.
- Moving on to the November 2020 Eating Well, I made the Cauliflower & White Bean Soup with Herb Croutons. So the good news is that the improvised croutons using regular bread were really successful, and I'll use that method again. The bad news is that the soup was bland and unexciting. This would be a strong contender for worst new recipe of the year if it weren't for the Herby White Gazpacho in July where I actually dumped out the leftovers uneaten. Instead, it's the meh recipe of the year.
- A few years ago I made Chicken Fesenjan, so when I saw the Spiced Pomegranate Molasses Chicken Thighs in the November 2020 Eating Well used a lot of the same ingredients, I had to try it. I did omit the pomegranate arils since I didn't feel like working with them, but I had the pomegranate molasses. The dish was interesting; you bake potatoes and chicken with a thick glaze and then toss it with spinach until the spinach wilts. Then you add walnuts and feta. It wasn't bad, but the fesenjan is definitely better, and I don't know that I'd make it again.
- M really loves spiced nuts, and unsurprisingly the Thanksgiving issue had a spiced nut recipe. I tried out the Spiced Pecans. I wasn't impressed, but M impressed up on me that I needed to make this again. She's pretty easy going most of the time, so anything that inspires this level of positive comment will get made again.
- For all that, the Spiced Pecans weren't even her favorite new recipe. For her birthday, I made her a Chocolate Chess Pie using the Yogurt Pie Crust, which for bookkeeping purposes I'm counting as one recipe. The pie crust makes two pie crusts. I was planning to freeze one, but M informed me that it would make her very happy if I made a second Chocolate Chess Pie, so I did. This was my first experience making a pie. For the first iteration I used rice as a pie weight as the recipe recommended. For the second time around, I used a smaller pie tin, which worked much better. I need to experiment with a foil wrap to keep the crust from burning late in the baking, but I'm quibbling. We both loved this pie and it will be made again. I had some extra filling that I baked in a ramekin, and that was delicious enough that if I can't get the crust right I can go crustless.
- While we're talking about dessert, the fifth batch of ice cream in our wedding present ice cream maker was Chocolate Mint Ice Cream. It wasn't as green as the classic Mint Chocolate Chip, but was pretty tasty.
- M made a pumpkin dessert dip a while back. We liked it, but she thought she could do better, so she ended up making Skinny Pumpkin Pie Dip. This one used instant vanilla pudding mix instead of sugar, and we agreed that the resulting dip had a more enjoyable texture and taste.
- After all those desserts, we need to end on a salad. Our last recipe was one I missed from the July 2020 Eating Well for a Poached Chicken & Arugula Salad with Tomatoes & Chili Crisp, which is basically a really, really tasty chicken salad. Seriously, we both loved the dressing on this salad, and it will be made again as soon as I have more chili crisp available.