May 27th: steamed leeks in vinaigrette

I tried out a couple recipes this week that sounded so strange, I wondered if they must be good? One was; one wasn't. First, I tried, from 101 Cookbooks: Spiced Coconut Spinach. This, I did not like and I'm not recommending. Then, I tried, from in erika's kitchen: Steamed leeks in vinaigrette. What was odd about this one is that you top the leeks with boiled egg. Odd, I thought. Delicious, I discovered. Unfortunately, I was the only one who loved it. Olivia thought it was "picy" (it wasn't) and Greg found it oily (since when is olive oil a problem?). I made the vinaigrette as per the website, so I now have a large jar of it in the fridge. Apparently it needs more lemon juice to satisfy Greg; I thought it was okay as is. We'll try it again. I'll convince them yet.

Olivia hard at work making vinaigrette.

Shake, shake, shake.

Steamed leeks in vinaigrette, topped with a mashed boiled egg.
Who'da thunk?

April 3rd: Double-Pumpkin Streusel Muffins, Lemony Leeks and Braised Potatoes

Double-Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

I discovered a forgotten jar of pumkin in the freezer last week and thought I'd better make use of it. With perfect timing, I came across a recipe I tried last year I'd kept to try again: from April 2010's Chatelaine: Double-Pumpkin Streusel Muffins. These are mighty tasty, and I'll be eating them for breakfast this week.

Lemony Leeks and Braised Potatoes, or, how two sides make a good meal

As we were eating tonight's supper, we were discussing what the two side dishes would go well with: the lemony leeks would work nicely with chicken, and the braised potatoes could hold their own with beef. In fact though, the two together made a surprisingly satisfying meal. The third component to our meal was an orange we split three ways. Simple stuff, and really good. Both recipes from March 2011's Chatelaine.

September 27th: Swiss Chard & Pork Chops

Verdict:
Try Again: pork chops with leeks in mustard
Toss: honeyed swiss chard with plums

Tonight's meal was inspired by leeks leftover from September 19th's supper (vegetable saute). I went searching on Epicurious for a leek recipe and came up with this: Pork Chops with Leeks in Mustard Sauce. This recipe is going in the try again binder, with a few notes to reduce the amounts of salt and Dijon mustard, both of which were overpowering. I should note, I had intended to do the whole rub the meat with herbs and let sit overnight thing, but I completely forgot, so the herbs were rubbed on minutes before the chops went in the pan. No biggie.

With the meat we had Yukon Gold potatoes and, from September 2010's Chatelaine: Honeyed swiss chard with plums. I liked this and was debating trying it again, but Greg gave it a thumbs down and so I'm letting it go.

I should note, tonight's supper was made up of two recipes I had intended to try--separately--on the weekend, and I do not recommend cooking these on a weeknight. It took me a good hour to pull everything together, with a fair amount of slicing and dicing along the way. Lucky for me, Olivia was in a super good mood and patiently awaited her supper, entertaining me along the way with her imaginary trips to the grocery store with 15 bears in tow. And putting babies to bed, of course. It's not a good day if you haven't tucked many babies into bed.