I like stuff.

Sunday, October 16, 2005

Dinner

So here goes:

"Turkey Mignons"
Oversized turkey medallions wrapped in uncured bacon. Picked up prefab from
Trader Joe's for under 5 bucks. Mixed up some shoyu, cayenne, garlic salt,
garlic powder, and worcestershire sauce in a bowl and dipped each on one
side. Threw 'em on the countertop grill for ~10 minutes. Verdict: Probably
could've scaled back the time a bit, and probably should've hit both sides
with the seasoning mix.

Spinach
Picked up a couple bags of prewashed baby spinach for $1.79 each. Probably
could've got it cheaper, but it wasn't a bad price. Washed it anyway. Wilted
it with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Verdict: A bit wet. I really
ought buy a salad spinner or something of that ilk.

Risotto
A couple tablespoons olive oil, a heaping spoon of minced garlic. Saute.
Throw in a cup of arborio rice and toast for a couple minutes. Add some
chicken stock. Stir. Cook. Add more chicken stock. Stir. Cook. Repeat (up to
about a quart of stock total) Finish with salt, pepper, 1/2 cup grated
parmesan, 1 cup frozen peas (there's still enough heat left to not bother
thawing them first) Verdict: Amanda didn't like the peas so much. I didn't
think they added that much, so I'll probably just leave them out next time.

Cheese Toast
Take six slices of white sandwich bread and cut in half diagonally. Arrange
on baking sheet (I threw our silpat mat on first), drizzle melted butter
over each slice, cover with a mix of grated parmesan, cheddar and mizithra.
Bake at 350 until brown. Verdict: This was an afterthought and I threw
together what I had. Sourdough might've been nicer, and I'd consider
mozerella or fontina for the cheese. Maybe some crushed garlic hidden under
the cheese as well. (although I'd already had two garlic-seasoned dishes) A
bit dry, but wasn't too bad, considering.

Overall
Not the cheapest meal I've made, but at about $10-15, hardly the most
expensive, either. Came together pretty quickly, but I need to get better at
timing what gets started when. The turkey finished first, which wasn't too
bad because it gave it a good amount of resting time, but the risotto came
in last. I think I'd rather let the bread item finish last so it's still
nice and hot, because dried-out cold toast is less than ideal.

My kingdom for real food!

I've been living on soups and generic spaghetti-o's for the last few weeks.

The good:
Turns out corn chowder is pretty tasty.

The bad:
I miss real food. I've done a couple forays into more textured dishes, but
every time I expend so much effort thinking about how to eat it, I rarely
get to enjoy it much.

The ugly:
I've got a bit of jawbone (edge of a former socket) poking through my gums
that I fear at tomorrow's checkup is going to have to be "clipped off" Which
might restart the "no chewing diet" once again in earnest. I've got stuff to
make up a decent meal this evening, if the GF gets home in time. Who cares
if I need to concentrate too much.

The potential menu:
Turkey Medallions wrapped in uncured bacon. (grilled)
Risotto (at least a simple one. I already picked up some chicken broth and
arborio rice. already got garlic, parmesan and peas)
Spinach. (probably my usual method of wilting with garlic and olive oil.)

I confess that I got the idea from a television food program in which I
dislike the host, but hey, it sounds tasty.