Week 23: 20 minutes or less

For week 23, our challenge was to create a full meal from prep to finish in under 20 minutes.  I found that the time limit made me a little less inspired than usual, I don't particularly like to be rushed.  At any rate, I went looking for simple recipes that wouldn't require an extra trip to the grocery store this week.

This is what I found:

It's a quick and easy curry tuna on rice.  It's flavored with yellow curry powder, cumin, paprika, salt, and pepper.  I didn't eat the salad because I'm pretty sure Ben is saving the greens for lunch tomorrow, but I'm sure he won't mind that I borrowed them to give the plate a little color!

Week 22: Tarts

For this week's sweet or savory tart challenge, I immediately knew I wanted to do something with fresh berries.  I also knew that I wanted to make  my own crust, unlike last week's challenge where I used the frozen store bought variety.  These criteria led me to a Rustic Blueberry and Blackberry Tart with a cornmeal crust.  

Here it is just before going into the oven:

And after coming out, cooling on a rack, and being placed on another of my Aunt Maggie's stellar serving dishes:

And finally, sliced and ready to serve:

It sliced up more neatly than I thought it would, and was the perfect end to our new Saturday sweet corn feast tradition! 

Week 21: French

I've never been especially interested in French food.  I realize that I probably use many French inspired techniques and recipes when cooking, but this challenge might be the first time I've ever sought out a specifically French recipe.  I'm not sure how authentic it is, but according to the website I found it on, it's a traditional dish, titled French Leek Pie.

It's very simple to put together, it's mostly leeks and gruyere cheese.  Unfortunately it didn't slice up very well, because it was absolutely delicious! I served it with a simple green arugula salad with a homemade dijon dressing.  It was the perfect Saturday brunch after a long bike ride.  

Week 20: Rice

Rice! Considering how much rice I eat, I figured the real challenge this week should be to cook something that really included rice as an ingredient rather than just a side dish.  I first planned to do a rice pudding, and then found an intriguing recipe for rice pudding muffins. Yes, that's right.  This week I made almond rice pudding muffins.

A few pictures of the process (and proof there's rice in it!):

Following the addition of cream, milk, butter, almonds, dried cranberries, and other ingredients I'm sure I'm forgetting:

Here's a shot of the filled muffin pan, each muffin is garnished with toasted sliced almonds: 

And finally the finished product:

The muffins are certainly tasty, I love the almond and cranberry flavor together.  I can definitely taste the rice, though it's subtle.  My only minor complaint is the result of my own error, instead of using slivered almonds I used sliced, and the slices are just a little bit big on the inside.  Oh well, I'm sure we'll have no trouble polishing them off. 

Week 19: 5 ingredients or less

This week, our challenge was "5 ingredients or less".  It was left pretty open aside from that, and I saw submissions ranging from basic french bread to salads and full meals.  I chose to do a complete meal. According to the rules oil, butter, salt, pepper, and water don't count towards the ingredient total, so with that in mind I made it in with exactly 5 ingredients!

I made a peppered loin steak with a pan sauce, garnished with shaved paremsan cheese and served with fresh spinach and rice.

My 5 ingredients were:

• White Rice
• Loin steak
• Spinach
• Parmesan cheese
• Beef broth

I also used salt, pepper, and olive oil.   

Week 18: Salad

My original intention for this week was to replicate a delicious dish that they recently took off the dinner menu at my Grandma's retirement community: a cherry tomato and fresh mozzarella salad with basil and a balsamic reduction.

Unfortunately, that was before I inherited 1.5 pounds of french green beans.  So I searched the internet until I found a recipe that used most of the ingredients I'd bought for my tomato salad, plus green beans and minus anything I didn't already have in the house.

The result is an Asian Green Bean salad courtesy of the Food Network with cherry tomatoes, basil, toasted peanuts, and a homemade sesame vinaigrette.

  

Week 17: Something from childhood

When I saw this week's theme, I had to laugh thinking back to my most memorable childhood meals. It's well known among my family that my dad wasn't a particularly involved cook, and my favorite dinners were probably the ones I ate on the designated "picnic towel" in front of a movie about seals, eating cheese, crackers, nuts, and raw broccoli dipped in french dressing.

I do however have some nostalgic childhood food memories, and the recipe I chose to recreate this week was always a favorite from summertime visits to upstate New York. It is a traditional chicken and rice casserole, courtesy of my Grandfather's Aunt Bess.  I learned this week that it's considered a "true casserole" straight from the 1950s, distinguished by the fact that the rice goes in raw and it all cooks together.  

Be warned though, there's nothing particularly photogenic about raw chicken on floating rice slathered with cream of chicken.  Here goes anyway...

Right before the casserole goes into the oven, after the addition of Lipton's onion soup mix, Campbell's Cream of Chicken soup, and the curry (the purported secret ingredient):

And last but not least, dinner is served... Complete with a side of frozen peas on vintage dinnerware!