Fish Packets

I think I'm in heaven. I emailed Nick the rice pilaf recipe for him to make while I went to Pilates, and showed him the recipe for the fish packets on the computer. When I got back from the gym, everything was almost ready!!! He better watch out, this might become a regular expectation :)

I got the recipe for the fish from the Pink Parsley blog. It was delicious!




A black bean and corn 'salsa' (I put sliced squash under there too) topped with a piece of cod coated with a spicy butter mixture.

Nick grilled the packets since there was no way we were turning on the oven in this 95 degree heat!!





I got this rice pilaf from the bulk bins at Hy-Vee, our local grocery store. It was a little liquidy (apparently that isn't a word), but still yummy!

Sunday Project

I had two projects today: clean out the fridge and freezer and organize my spices. I won't show you a pic of the fridge because it's embarrassing how many full fat items we have in there (whole milk, butter, sour cream, bacon grease, etc...)

I am quite proud, however, of how I decided to arrange my spices! We buy most of then in bulk from a spice store, Penzey's. Yesterday we bought 10 empty jars from them to help us organize. Today I pulled every spice I have from the pantry, above the stove, and other various cupboards:





The funniest part was when Nick said 'where's the rest of them?'!! Thankfully this is it. As I pondered how to organize them, Nick suggested that he take his saw and cut one of the drawers to make it a little higher so we could spices in there standing up. I had a better idea that didn't involve any tools (sorry honey):




An organized spice drawer means that I can do more of this:





Ok, I was just looking for an excuse to post a picture of my incredibly cute dog, Kimber.

Fajitas

We had leftover margarita mix in the fridge, so I thought, why not have fajitas for dinner?!? You can see the way my mind works :)

Steak was on sale at the grocery store, so steak fajitas it was! I bought an avocado to make homemade guacamole and lots of peppers and red onion. I decided to try a new salsa from our local specialty sauce company Don Juan...it was hot!! Nick grilled the steak and the peppers, and with the help of whole wheat tortillas they quickly disappeared!

Fresh Tomato Sauce

We got four huge tomatoes in our CSA this week from a hot house in Nebraska. It's great to have local tomatoes this early, but after a conversation with my Aunt who lives in Nebraska, I have mixed feelings about these guys due to the amount of energy needed to run the hot house.

Kimber apparently didn't like the way the tomatoes were grown either; when Nick left to take me to the bus one morning, she took a couple bites out of two of them!! With the two we had left, I made a fresh tomato sauce with basil also from our CSA bag. It's easy to make a simple sauce by sautéing garlic and onions in olive oil, then addding roughly chopped tomatoes and salt to the pot. I added some crushed red pepper as well. As soon as the pasta was done, I took it out of the pot and added it right to the sauce, making sure to drip in some starchy pasta water along with it. The starch helps the sauce cling to the noodles. I chopped fresh basil and added that to the pasta. Once I put the portions into bowls, I grated fresh Parmesan cheese on top! It was a simple pasta meal that we enjoyed on the back deck with a glass of red wine :)

Weekend Breakfast

My favorite meal of the day on my favorite days of the week :)

Saturday:
Homemade everything bagels with egg and cheese




Sunday:
Pancakes (Mark Bittman's recipe from How to Cook Everything) with real maple syrup and strawberries from the garden




These strawberries just keep on coming! I love it!!

Nick Makes Dinner

My husband is amazing! Twice this week he made dinner! The first time was Wednesday night when I got home late. He picked up our CSA (community supported agriculture) from the grocery store, and decided to make hamburgers and potato chips! It was an incredibly delicious (and fatty) meal! (those are his homemade hamburger buns from the freezer and lettuce from our garden)




Our arteries recovered somewhat when I made chicken fiesta salad for dinner the next night! By Friday, I was ready for another husband meal - it was day 1 of my Z-pack for a sinus infection and I took a three hour nap :)
Nick made Chicago style deep dish pizza with a recipe from Cooks Illustrated. It was delicious!! He used turkey Italian sausage from Werners, our favorite sausage making German food store:

Brisket!

Nick smoked a small brisket on the grill for a few hours, and it was amazing!

I made French fries to go with it, using this awesome method from Cooks Illustrated. You actually start the shoestring-cut potatoes in cold oil on the stove. As the oil comes to a boil (imagine Paula Deen saying that...hehe), the potatoes cook on the inside. Once the oil is hot, it gets the fries all crispy and brown on the outside! Yummy!