We’re eating a simple summer side-dish or crisp green beans and cremini mushrooms deglazed with balsamic vinegar.

Admission: I think I could eat an entire pound of green beans myself! Seriously, I freaking LOVE green beans and have been known to eat entire meals based around them. Doesn’t matter to me if they are crisp and hardly cooked or boiled to death with bacon and onions (country style), or if they are sitting in a lovely sauce or simply tossed with a little butter, salt & pepper. Those long stringy little pods of joy brighten my day. As it happens, this is one of the many great ways I enjoy eating green beans. I hope you guys enjoy them as well!

Recipes in this post:

• Balsamic Glazed Green Beans and Cremini Mushrooms

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1. Citrusy Squash & Kumquat Salad
2. Butternut Squash Succotash w/ Sage Brown Butter
3. Shaved Sunchoke Salad

We’re eating baked rigatoni in a turkey bolognese covered with melted Havarti and mozzarella then garnished with fresh basil.

I realize it’s the middle of summer and most people aren’t in the mood to turn their ovens on to 450 degrees, but what can I say! I wanted some oozing cheesy baked pasta mixed with loads of hearty bolognese, zucchini, creminis and fresh basil! Give a girl a break. Sometimes you have to sweat for what you want…In my case that appears to be Italian food!

I really can’t say enough about the difference that using good canned tomatoes vs. cheap acidy canned tomatoes makes in pretty much any dish. If you can find them, spend the extra dollar and get the San Marzanos. Also, as another side note, heavily salting your pasta water truly makes the difference between bland and flavorful pasta. Aim for nearly sea water levels and you’ll have delicious pasta every time.

Recipes in this post:

• Baked Rigatoni with Turkey Bolognese

Related posts:

1. Turkey Cooking Basics
2. Chipotle Brined Grilled Butterflied Turkey
3. Knorr Homestyle Stock Bad Boy Macaroni and Cheese

We’re eating a wild mushroom and young garlic gratin chock full of crimini, king trumpet, brown beech & oyster mushrooms and topped with a decadent blue cheese, macadamia nut, herb & oat crumb topping.

It was this topping that actually inspired the entire dish. What started out being a topping for a savory pear crisp was just too good to leave alone. Almost immediately after making the crisp, I knew I wanted to eat more of that yummy blue cheesy crumble topping and this time, it would have to be used in a completely savory application. Thus the emergence of this dish. We think that pretty much anyone who tries this and isn’t a freak (freak=one who dislikes mushrooms and blue cheese in this case) is gonna love it! We sure did.

Recipes in this post:

• Wild Mushroom Gratin w/ Macadamia Nut-Blue Cheese Topping

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Now that it’s officially fall let the warm comforting dishes begin! We’re eating a meal of fresh artichoke hearts, herbed turkey meatballs, shitake mushrooms and okra braised with stewed tomatoes and rich beef stock. The dish was served with thick slices of fresh fig-anise bread from Bread & Cie for sopping up all the juices.

A: okay, so i really didn’t mean for this to be a “soup”. it was started as an alternate way to use up the mounds of artichokes in the fridge. (it’s artichoke season here and they are 3 for a dollar at the produce market). In my mind it was going to be braised artichokes and turkey meatballs… which is still pretty much what it was, just kind of like artichoke and meatball soup.
T: I’m glad it was soup… more juice that way! The juice/broth was really tasty too. As were the meatballs and everything else in the… soup. The meatballs were particularly delish. I’m hungry.
A: me too. we should really start having these convo’s right after we eat rather than the next day! i’m starving too! mmm meatball-y, artichoke-y beef and tomato broth-y goodness….
T: yeah. mmm… hunger… must eat. Must eat meatballs. Ok. Focus. I give this meal a rating of 4.59/5. The meatballs were amazing, and what was really amazing is that they were turkey meatballs. Yet they were still moist moist moist.
A: they were braised braised braised in stock stock stock…
T: the artichokes were great too in the soup, although I wonder if it was worth the effort to trim them considering how good artichokes are when they’re eaten leaf-by-leaf. What’s your verdict… was it worth the effort? or, better question, would you do it again?
A: i would definitely do it again. while i really like eating braised whole artichokes leaf-by-leaf, i was ready for a change. we do that so frequently when i get artichokes. it would have been a significantly easier task if i had sharper knives. my knives are dull dull dull and all i can do is hone them. i don’t want to ruin them attempting to sharpen them with no skeeells.
T: awe come on. you have skills. Nun chuck skills, for instance.
A: heheheh but my nun chuck skills can’t help me sharpen my knives! okay, so i’m gonna rate this little ditty a 4.44/5. i really enjoyed it. it was worth the time and effort, even with dull knives. i will definitely be playing around with artichokes more during artichoke season!
T: I’m glad to hear that, especially if we get to eat plenty of artichokes leaf-by-leaf, like God meant for them to be eaten.
A: i’ve got two in the fridge waiting for just that preparation!
T: sweeet. now let’s go eat something.

Recipes in this post:

• Artichoke and Meatball Soup

Related posts:

1. Baked Rigatoni with Turkey Bolognese
2. Turkey Cooking Basics
3. Chipotle Brined Grilled Butterflied Turkey

We’re eating sirloin steaks seared to a perfect medium-rare and topped with a sauce of sauteed wild mushrooms, sherry, sherry vinegar, and heavy cream. Braised artichoke halves and roasted brussels sprouts simply seasoned with salt and pepper were served along with the steaks.

One tasty flower

T: it’s not too often that we eat steak, eh?
A: dis is very true! it’s not that i’m against red meat… i just don’t tend to buy it all that often. fortunately for us, as a fabulous christmas present from your uncle johnny, we were given the gift of omaha steaks. damn. i sound like some kind of horrible commercial.
T: It sounds more like you just won the price is right. What does Amanda get today? The fabulous gift of Omaha Steaks!
A: it’s my “lovely parting” gift for those unlucky few contestants that don’t make it in to the actual games.
T: Indeed. It was a funny gift actually. My uncle Johnny, in his bachelor days, was known to stop by the grocery store on the way to the family christmas party, and buy everybody a steak. Whatever the butcher had. It was not the most planned out thing, but it did the job. After years of being made fun of, he has redeemed himself! We received a big box of Omaha steaks and fish in the mail about a week ago.
A: which is a total delight since we are about to be on a mega-budget – what with me quitting my job and all. we definately are thankful, johnny! they were actually quite good, although since i don’t eat red meat too frequently perhaps i’m not the best judge of steak character out there. I really enjoyed the creamy sherry wild mushrooms with the steak! omg, seriously dude. that was rocking.
T: That sauce totally rocked. I enjoyed taking a mushroom with every bite. I can’t believe I’m saying that I enjoyed taking a bite of mushrooms, but it’s true. They were good. Years of forcing myself to eat them is starting to pay off.
A: you sure it has nothing to do with the heavy cream and sherry that was involved?
T: i don’t know why I liked it, but I did. It is quite possible that the sherry and heavy cream had something to do with it.
A: even so, i really thought you could taste the earthiness of the mushrooms through the rest of the sauce. and it really did go fantastically with the medium-rare basically-seasoned sirloins.
T: I’ve been hearing you talk about “earthiness” with every meal we’ve had for the last, i don’t know, 3 weeks.
A: okay, well actually, you’ve only heard me talk about “earthiness” for three meals: mac&cheese, hoppin’ johns, and this steak. it’s actually the mushrooms in the steak and pasta dishes that give them earthiness, and the black eyed peas are nothing if not earthy!
T: i’m all about the earthy kick. It’s been different than your previous “kicks”, and seems appropriate for the freezing weather we’ve been having lately.
A: i don’t know what it is about winter but it reeeeally makes me want to eat all kinds of wonderfully rich foods! for the most part i think my current “earthy” trend has come from the ingredients that i’ve been stocking our fridge with.
T: have you been stocking the fridge with earthy ingredients because that’s what’s available, or have these ingredients just seemed appealing lately?
A: mostly it’s been what’s available but to some extent it’s what calls to me, as well. i’ve seen a lot of different kinds of fresh mushrooms lately and they’ve really been hooking me.
T: I’m glad they’ve hooked you. They’re starting to hook me. Of course, I loved these brussels sprouts, too.
A: what’s not to love with brussels sprouts!…. unless you’re a FREAK
T: They’re just lil’ baby cabbages! I believe if you don’t like them it’s because you haven’t had them done right. Of course, people would say the same to me about eggplant, but eggplant just sucks.
A: hehehe whatever! eggplant does NOT suck! i’m going to have to find ways to sneak it in to your diet without you knowing until you absolutely love it!!!
T: that’s an evil plan! Well, I’m going to play reruns of “my two dads” until you absolutely love it!
A: and I’m going to move out when that happens! so there!
T: well at least I wouldn’t be eating eggplant all the time!
A:
T: ok, then. I am going to rate this meal a 4.54/5. It was great through and through in my opinion. I guess it’s not ranking as high as some other meals because it isn’t as much my kind of meal as some are. You know, I’m a carb monster.
A: oh boy, do i know! while i like carbs, they aren’t necessary for me. I really enjoyed this meal too. I give it a 4.5/5. For me, it doesn’t receive a higher rating because of the simplicity and lack of creativity in this meal. each element was wonderful and simple. it all went well together, it just wasn’t that exciting, you know.
T: Yeah, I heard ya. One thing we have not mentioned at all is the boiled artichoke! I. Love. Boiled Artichoke.
A: um…actually, T… it was a braised artichoke… not a boiled artichoke.
T: ok… um. What’s the difference?
A: when you braise, the cooking liquid isn’t up to a full boil. it was more of a light simmer.
T: is that the only difference?
A: for the most part. braising really is just cooking in liquid at a simmer, boiling is, well, boiling.
T: alright, simple enough. soo… why is that an important difference in this case?
A: well, if it was boiled the outside would be mushy and falling apart before the inside was fully cooked.
T: the outside was a touch undercooked, though
A: actually, the naturally tough leaves were tough. i didn’t remove all the tough outer leaves when i trimmed artichoke so we would have more leaves to scrape and dip in vinaigrette!
T: it just seems like if you cooked it at a slightly higher temperature the tough outer leaves could get tender and the inside would be just right.
A: not really. the stem and heart would become water logged and mushy and the tough outer leaves would be tender. i’m willing to give up the tough outer leaves for a perfect heart!
T: I suppose I just want to have my tender outer leaves and eat the cake too, or something like that.
A: heheh i feel ya. so i’ve been thinking about something you said while we were eating this meal. you said that you felt like you could eat artichokes all day long and never get full off of them.
T: yes, I believe that.
A: well, i would like to challenge you to that! next saturday. i will buy MANY artichokes, braise them, then we will blog how long it takes you to get “full” of artichoke!
T: this is a great idea! I’ll never get full! Can’t wait!
A: oh, it’s on!
T:

Recipes in this post:

• Creamy Wild Mushroom and Sherry Sauce
• Roasted Brussels Sprouts

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1. Chipotle Glazed Meatloaf
2. Baked Rigatoni with Turkey Bolognese
3. Hearty Red Wine Braised Short-Rib Beef Stew

Inspired by the Mac-n-Cheese Off, we’re eating an earthy ode to mac-n-cheese. This dish is made with a bechamel based sauce that’s filled with herb goat cheese, sharp cheddar, parmigiano reggiano, sauteed shitake and crimini mushrooms deglazed with sherry vinegar, truffle oil, fresh rosemary, thyme, and sage. Since the actual macaroni and cheese is extremely rich, we went with a crispy top-layer made from panko and parmigiano reggiano rather than the standard ooey gooey cheesey top layer.

this is not from a box

T: I gotta say, Amanda, this mac and cheese was out of this world. I believe it came from another planet. it was outrageously tasty.
A: why thank ya, mister T! mac and cheese happens to be one of those foods that i find totally decadent and just absolutely love (when it’s made well).
T: you know, i grew up eating boxed mac and cheese like 95% of the time. i never had much real mac and cheese. And when I did, it was not creamy at all. Then along came mandy. Mandy, mandy.
A: hehehe honestly, i grew up with a similar mac-n-cheese experience. On occasion my dad would make mac-n-cheese and throw in some tomatoes and some good cheddar, but it was always dry and kind of gritty. a common outcome when you don’t use the bechamel based cheese sauce and just try to toss the macaroni with some cheese and bake it.
T: yeah that’s the way I would have thought to do it… make some box mac & cheese and throw some cheddar on there. or…. boil some macaroni and then just put cheddar on it. Either way I’d be sucking.
A: i’m sure if you did any research before you made the macaroni and cheese you wouldn’t just do that. there are tons of recipes out there.
T: if I did any research. Chances are if I were doing this it would be 2 in the morning I and would have had a few ice-cold Natural Light beers and I wouldn’t be sensible enough to “do research”.
A: heard that! fortunately you have me. and i tend to make macaroni and cheese out of what ever happens to be left over. it just seems to go with everything. this was an unusual mac and cheese for me because nothing was left-over. it was all made just for this meal.
T: i want more of this mac and cheese.
A: i actually wasn’t sure if you would like this one as much as previous ones, since you still aren’t mushrooms’ biggest fan…and my inspiration for this one was the earthiness found in mushrooms (and truffle oil).
T: I don’t know, I like mushrooms in the right scenario… just don’t want to sit around and eat them raw or something. But I was a massive fan of this mac and cheese. Like, OMG, Mandy. That was the best mac and cheese I’ve had. I give it a 4.9/5. You’ve got mac and cheese nailed.
A: damn, yo! that’s a crazy high score! i was a huge fan of the dish too. maybe not a 4.9/5 fan, but still…. I give this one a 4.75/5, which happens to be a pretty damn high rating.
T: if I’m not mistaken that’s the highest score we’ve ever given anything on this blog.
A: hmmm… i feel like i remember 1 other meal that might have scored higher, but i can’t think of what it was exactly.
T: i don’t remember either. But I’m sure it had plenty of cheese in it. Cheese helps anything get a higher score. Cheeeeese. Back to the Mac n Cheese…
A: yeah, so there is only one thing i would do to this dish if i could afford it – use real truffle and not truffle oil! but… seeing as how i’m currently in search of new employment!!!! that can’t really happen.
T: how much is a truffle, anyway? Or I guess I should say… how much is the amount of truffle that you would need for this dish?
A: well, since you can’t really buy just part of a truffle, i would need to purchase a whole one.
T: ok google-master mandy, what’s that going to run us?
A: well, from mirepoix usa you can get an eighth of a pound for $225 usd. on boots in the oven, they went to a at a truffle festival in italy and they had smaller ones there for about €20 each. and they don’t particularly weigh a lot. i hate money! i wish i could just barter for products in my time off. i’m gonna make a sign and go stand in front of a specialty store that says “Will Work For Truffles… (and/or an aussie rack of lamb)”
T: Dude that is a great idea! You should totally do that! It might just pan out!
A: hehehe you never know. it might just be outrageous enough…
T: maybe you could dress up as a truffle… is that going too far?
A: uh… maybe so and where on earth would we find a truffle costume!
T: we would construct it out of paper mache of course!
A: or maybe i could just wear a chef’s coat or something…
T: ok, yeah… that’s more like it. so where in the San Diego area can we do this?
A: i dunno. i’ve not looked into who carries truffles around these parts. i don’t imagine it would be too terribly hard to find out though. you never know guys. maybe we’ll really do this.
T: quizas, quizas, quizas.

mac-n-cheese-off

Recipes in this post:

• Wild Mushroom Macaroni and Three Cheeses with Truffle Oil

Related posts:

1. Knorr Homestyle Stock Bad Boy Macaroni and Cheese
2. Baked Rigatoni with Turkey Bolognese
3. Wild Mushroom Gratin w/ a Wildly Delicious Topping

Tonight we’re eating homemade soup for dinner. The soup was made with pearled barley, button and oyster mushrooms, mirapoix, and fresh sage, oregano, and parsley. A fresh herb and field greens salad accompanied the meal.

Details of Mushroom and Barley Soup

A: damn that mozilla bug! I said damn you mozilla!
T: yeah, damn you mozilla.
A: seriously guys, when i went to write the recipe for the barley salad in the last post, I was going to use the pesto recipe from a previous post. I looked up recipes on our site, clicked on the post containing the recipe, and much to my dismay HALF THE POST WAS MISSING! dudes! this sucks! nearly half of all the recipes i’ve written have been munched away by the mozilla wordpress bug that causes the loss of data!
T: Public Service Announcement: Don’t be idiots like us, back up your data. It takes like 2 seconds.
A: two seconds to save and if you don’t, it’s impossible to get it back! Woah. I’ve just been so down at losing all this content. I know this is a stretch, but if anyone has made any of the recipes from this site, or saved them, or remembers them!!!! anything! You would be doing us an extreme favor to send them our way. I’m going to try to rewrite as many as i can, but if you’ve ever written recipes (and are like me) you don’t remember exactly what you did four months later.
T: maybe the recipes will be better now that you’ve had more experiences. It’s a thought.
A: it is that! the problem for me comes in because i try not to make the same meal twice. ever. (although i do fail at that sometimes) so i don’t really get more experience with the specific recipes. i don’t think it will be a problem to write the sauce recipes or anything. we’ll see!
T: we’ll see. and I’d like to be the test-chef for one of these recipes.
A: right on, dude! we’ll run the t&a test kicthen. I’ll rewrite recipes and you’ll test them as a layman.
T: yes. an incredibly lay man. I’m one of the layest men out there when it comes to cooking.
A: oh, c’mon now! i’ve seen you make spaghetti and meatballs… and homemade bread! you can totally cook.
T: with you standing by myside I can cook. Without you standing by my side… uhh I’m having trouble picturing myself trying to cook without you standing there… wait, I remember this one time hazily… I think I’ve repressed those memories… It’s coming back to me- oh, that’s bad. No, make it go away.
A: what? what is it T? it can’t be that bad.
T: There were eggs. I remember that. I fed them to my friend… Burt. It was bad, they were spicy. very spicy. I didn’t know how spicy, I thought burt was just a sissy. Then I ate my portion. O god it was not edible. But he suffered through them and told me they were ok. They were bad. Not suitable for consumption by anyone. …
A: uh, how old were you when you made said eggs?
T: that happened this june.
A: for real?
T: no. We were like 14.
A: yeah, and i tried to make a cherry pie with cherries from our tree out front when i was 7 and it sucked too! i didn’t make a pie again till i was in college. you can’t let your experience ten years ago stop you from cooking today!
T: that isn’t what keeps me from cooking.
A: what is then?
T: well, for starters, if I do anything it will detract from the quality of food. Imagine living in a house with Jimmy Paige or Slash or Bob Saggett. If we’re trying to record a song, I’m not going to participate. I’m not a musician. I will listen and enjoy, but I will only dirty the music. In a bad way.
A: whatever. i think everyone, myself included, would love to have you cook a meal for this here bloggity bliznog.
T: i will, with you by my side, cook a recipe of yours, with no other instruction other than stuff like, how do I cut up that? We need to remember that I am testing the recipe, not your verbal instructions.
A: absolutely. that’s all the people who read the site get…. you know what i just realized??? we haven’t even mentioned the mushroom and barley soup we ate for dinner.
T: true. It was good. I definately enjoyed it. I enjoyed the salad too. I know it was all prepackaged stuff, but it wasn’t too bad. I give the soup a 4.4/5. It was tasty. The barley was great in it, and I liked the mushrooms. My only issue was that I could have used some mouth-burn or something. I know not everything needs spicy heat, but, I was wanting it.
A: i feel ya. i actually thought about putting a pinch of cayenne in, but i made the soup at work last night and didn’t think to bring any with me. so, thus soup with no heat. I give the soup a 4/5. It was good. I have eaten it for two of my last three meals, and would be willing to eat it again. That says something. I don’t know that i will crave this all the time, but i would definately be willing to eat it again. Maybe when it’s cold out.
T: yeah, I could see this one again. The barley reminded me of sugar smacks/honey smacks/smacks/the cereal formerly know as smacks. The little barley grains looked like little smacks floating around. Good times.
A: silly! i wonder if they make smacks out of puffed barley? could be. they puff rice and quinoa, why not barley?
T: are there any commercially-available breakfast cereals made of puffed quinoa?
A: no… i’m pretty sure not here in the usa. I’ve read about puffed quinoa and chocolate bars before though. i think that sounds fantastic. nutritious and delicious.
T: I’d like to try some. I’d also like to try a puffed-quinoa cake, like a puffed rice cake. You know?
A: uh… like a rice crispy treat?
T: yes. exactly like a rice crispy treat. I was actually talking about those dry puffed rice cakes that you get… from like quaker. Now I’m talking about rice crispy treats though. Yes. Quinoa crispy treats.
A: all we have to do now is figure out how we can “puff” the quinoa in the kitchen, then it’s freakin’ on! quinoa crispy treats, here we come!
T: Alright… I’m going to leave that up to you. (although I’m going to eat it)

Kwaherini mabibi na mabwana.

Recipes in this post:

• Mushroom and Barley Soup

No related posts.