So last week’s “I guess I’ll just not have pasta or bread!” was awful…to the point where I was having dreams at night about stuffing my face full of bread. On top of that, I also started to cut back our portion sizes, along with actually exercising. I was so hungry all week, and it didn’t do much for our mood…we were both pretty cranky all week. This week I’m giving myself a small cookie allowance and tomorrow I’m cooking a pasta dinner and cake for my mom’s birthday, so that will be nice. I don’t have much else planned as far as noodles/bread goes, but not knowing much of what’s on the menu for the Superbowl, as well as a long day of traipsing around Fort Collins for Vivian’s birthday…I’m sure something will come up. I’m hoping to keep the portion sizes down. I still don’t feel ready to go a week without creamy stuff, but maybe in a couple of weeks I’ll give it ago.
The Old:
Pork Saltimbocca –
Evan (usually) cooks about once a week. Before I go grocery shopping I ask “what are you making this week?” and he goes “bring me The Book!” The Book happens to be Michael Symon’s 5 in 5, which has been an awesome book to have. The recipes do take a little more than 5 minutes (maybe about half an hour) depending on how much prep work is involved, but compared to some meals I make, that’s still pretty quick. Everything’s been really tasty so far too. Evan’s made this dish once before, and it was really yummy, but he had expressed interest in revisiting the recipe after having experience in cooking it a first time (and trying it out with a little less help from me). It’s really nice just letting him do his thing in the kitchen and eating a hot meal I didn’t have to cook myself.
So, Monday night I tried to make a chicken curry-esque thing in my newish rice cooker (that I got for Christmas). I’ve made this same dish and a few variations on it in the last few weeks…yet SOMEHOW this time around it simply did NOT work. I can only assume it was the brown rice’s fault. I also had some cashews in the pan, which I’ve done before, but this time they drank up all the extra liquid. After about 4 hours of waiting for it to be ready and adding more and more water each time I checked it, the rice STILL wasn’t cooked. I finally just gave up and cooked us some bacon and eggs, and boiled the rice on the stovetop with a whole can of coconut milk for dinner on Tuesday instead.
And the New:
We tried out a new restaurant that opened up in Longmont last weekend. It was horrible.
Chicken Cordon Bleu –
I’ve never actually made Cordon Bleu before…I used this recipe (though I wasn’t really feeling the breading so I left it out). I also had some leftover prosciutto which I used instead of ham. Comment from Evan before he dug in: “So…BLUE CHEESE? <look of horror>” No, there’s not. He didn’t have many complaints after that.
Chicken Marsala –
I’ve also never made this dish before. I really liked it, but Evan refused to comment. I couldn’t find the actual recipe (because I got it from a book) but here’s a 5-minute video of Michael Symon making it. Who’s adorable.
