Food

I've finally gotten my taste buds back to normal.  Did I tell y'all that my sense of taste got all screwed up after I had Piper?  For the first 2 months or so, food tasted WEIRD to me.  I loathed the taste of vegetables, and I usually love them.  Things tasted bitter, things that shouldn't--like bananas and cucumbers. 

Anyway-things taste like they should again, thank goodness.  Cooking and eating weren't as much fun.  Like, none.  I'm glad to want to make healthy meals again.  Here's a week or so worth of food:

• Roast chicken with onions, garlic, potatoes, and mushrooms 
• Salad with beets and walnuts, creamy dijon dressing
• Bread made from spent grains (left over from home brewing)

• Chicago Style Hot Dog Quiche 

I just made it up.  I took a basic quiche recipe, and added upgraded versions of the classic Chicago style hot dog ingredients.  The hot dog became pecan smoked sausage, instead of pickles I used capers,  and tomatoes stayed tomatoes.  I used onions, celery salt, and I didn't have sport peppers, so I chopped up a few pickled jalapenos really fine. 

It came out all right, but it was too salty.  Between the capers and the sausage the jalapenos and the celery salt, I should have skipped the salt in the basic quiche recipe.  I might like this with a creamy soup in the winter.

• Flounder
• Beets
• Spaghetti Squash
• Broccoli

Our local grocery store has started carrying a few new kinds of frozen fish.  This flounder has been our favorite so far.  I made it very simply---just butter, garlic, and lemon.  It was mild and unfishy.  I don't like my fish super fishy, if you know what I mean.  Is that cheating?

• Pizza Soup

I was in the mood for pizza, but thought I'd go for something slightly healthier.  I made a tomato soup base (use your favorite recipe), added 3/4 cup of parmesan, and added hamburger, mushrooms, black olives, onion, garlic, and pepperoni.  And lots of oregano.  Towards the end, I stirred in half a box of radiatore pasta. 
This was probably my favorite of these meals.  I am a soup gal.  And a half.  I think I could just about live on soup.  If I didn't live somewhere that was 100 degrees plus for months at a time, I might not make anything else.  In colder months, this would be great with a batch of cheesy breadsticks.  We just had a green salad with it, though.

• Swai Fillets with butter, lemon, and capers
• Broccoli
• Tomatoes
• Boston baked beans

The swai fillets were good, but they shrunk up a lot while baking.  I think they might be good in a seafood gumbo-type dish.  However, I tend to not like fishy soups.  I don't typically like the taste of fish in a broth.

Comments

[Charlotte]

Ohhh, goody. A menu post. I am on a bit of a cooking strike at the moment so it's helpful to get ideas from a home cook. You know, real recipes for real people? I did make tomato soup one night (without the meat or noodles), BLT sandwiches another night, and CostCo chicken enchiladas for 2 nights. We like fish, too, but not the stinky kitchen part. Therefore we grill or bake salmon, sole, halibut, prawns, scallops. We are able to get everything fresh, except the frozen Gulf prawns. Beware of From China product! Hugs, Doll. Happy Labor Day to you and your adorble gang.

[Jill James]

The roast chicken looks Julia Child-like! How yummy with all the onions......I LOVE soup! I tried the easiest potato soup out of Penzey's catalog. and it was delicious. There is also a smoked paprika, roast, onion & potato one I cooked ALL winter last year. My husband & I were seriously addicted.....another Penzey's recipe from a grandma (those grandma recipes are always perfect ~ no adjusting necessary)

How annoying that must have been to not taste food!

Charlotte ~ why oh why is our fish coming from China? I looked on the back of my smoky peppercorn salmon fillet & it said
CHINA!!!!!!!! and what are they feeding them if they're farmed ~