Week #4: March 30-April 1, 2010

This week was much, much better.

I'm still tired tonight, but I feel like every night this week was a success. I even got to watch my goofy vampire show tonight, because I was on time with everything! Win.

Night #10: Tuesday, March 30. Minestrone, garlic bread and a salad. The minestrone turned out AWESOME...but it definitely required a little effort. The beans had to soak for at least 8 hours, then drained...then cooked for 15 minutes, and drained again...add vegetable stock, red wine, tomatoes, and parsley, and cook for 2 hours...add potatoes, turnips, carrots, celery and tomato paste, and cook for 15 minutes...then add green beans, zucchini, and macaroni and cook for another 15 minutes. Whew! It tasted SO good, though...totally worth the effort. The garlic bread also turned out perfectly...I bought a Tuscan roasted garlic loaf from Publix, cut thick slices almost all the way through it, and slathered each side with a mixture of Smart Balance, minced garlic, and garlic salt. Mmm. Garlic makes everything better. Also...salad. Bleh.

Night #11: Wednesday, March 31. Black-eyed peas, turnip greens, and cornmeal breaded catfish. Ha...you know you're cooking Southern food when the smoke alarm goes off! Fun times. But yeah...the catfish was a lot thicker than the rainbow trout recommended by the recipe, so I shouldn't have tried cooking it at medium-high heat. The breading was really done on that first piece, but the inside was still raw. It ended up being ok...I rebreaded part of it, and cooked it for longer, and then I ate that piece. : ) I made turnip greens instead of collards because I had leftover turnips from the minestrone, and I just cut those up and cooked them with the greens. The black-eyed peas I made according to package directions, but with vegetable stock instead of water, and with onions and garlic added. Turned out pretty good...beans were a little soupy, but whatever. Nomnom.

Night #12: Thursday, April 1. Polenta-stuffed peppers, refried beans. I was wondering how this would go, and it worked! The only thing that really took a long time was soaking the pinto beans for 24 hours (!) beforehand. Once they had been soaked and drained, I cooked them with some onions and green and jalapeno peppers for a few hours, and then mashed them a little to get that good "refried" texture. They taste just the same as regular refried beans, but they're better for you! Rad-tastic. The peppers were absolutely divine...I made the polenta in a pot, and added a can of corn, chopped olives, and some cheese. I had roasted some pepper halves, and when the polenta was done I filled them with the mixture. I did half of them without meat, and then added some cooked ground beef to the rest of the mixture and filled the rest with that. A little cheese on top, and perfection. Whoever came up with that recipe is an absolute genius...I now know what I'm making for parties from now on.

So, that's this week. I'm really happy with how everything turned out...I was a tad discouraged last Thursday, because I felt like I spent a whole lot of effort to come up with a mediocre product. This week, I feel just the opposite...I put in just a little effort, and got something amazing in return. My step-father has apparently devoured everything I made this week...at least he's a fan. : ) I'm recreating the frittata for my grandmother this weekend...we'll see how that goes.

Later! : )