Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Not too long ago, I got around to making my second batch of caramel sauce in anticipation of putting it to various uses. The first of those occurred back on September 20th, when I used a portion to help me make caramel-stuffed chocolate chip cookie bars. I don't believe I've done a whole lot with chocolate chip cookie bars, now that I think about it....I'm more of a cookie person myself. But these sure were compelling and temptatious!

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From "Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars," from Michelle, The Brown-Eyed Baker.

"Salted Caramel Sauce," from Maria and Josh of Two Peas and Their Pod.

Meal No. 1923: Meatloaf on a Reading Night

Last Friday was the third round of a Roediger House Reading Night, and with it also being the first official day of autumn, the page-turning occurred in the departing breezes of summer up on the second story balcony, looking out at the skyline of Winston-Salem. On the dinner menu: bacon-wrapped meatloaf, company mashed potatoes, seasoned green beans, and homemade applesauce.

And then more reading!

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"My Favorite Meatloaf," from Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman. Posted 20 September 2010.

"Company Mashed Potatoes," a Jones family favorite.

Meal No. 1922: Chicken with Coronation Sauce

Although I was only on the job for three days this past week, they were wonderfully intense days with the terrific cohort in High Point University's Educational Leadership Academy. By Thursday evening, I was content to fill my agenda with just a Bell's Best Brown Ale on the front porch, followed by an easy one-bowl dish of chicken with coronation sauce. You might've liked it, too.

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"Coronation Sauce for Chicken," from 400 Sauces, by Catherine Atkinson, Christine France, and Maggie Mayhew. Hermes House (2006, 2008), p. 155.

Meal No. 1921: Cheeseburger Pockets

I got a hankering to try out a new recipe last Wednesday night, based on what I had in the fridge so as to avoid a trip to the grocery store. (I preferred using that time in the lovely afternoon breezes, on the front porch, with a cold beer in hand.) On the menu: cheeseburger pockets and thin-cut roasted red potato wedges. It was a good time to whip up a batch of the spot-on burger sauce, too.

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"Cheeseburger Pockets," from Michelle, The Gracious Wife.

Meal No. 1920: Grilled Porterhouse Steaks and Fries

Last Tuesday night, on a gorgeous September evening, I got busy on the grill with porterhouse steaks and tossed a batch of shoestring potatoes into the deep fat fryer. I ate every last bit of that humongous steak and still managed to live to tell about it.

Meal No. 1919: Grilled Bacon Cheese Sandwiches

One week ago tonight, the evening meal was grilled bacon and cheese sandwiches and a tall cold glass of orange juice. I'd made my first-ever trip to the city landfill to get rid of a bunch of junk, and I also cut the grass that day, and I was just wanting something simple.

Meal No. 1918: Sunday Night Pancakes & Sausage

A week ago, it was the end of a weekend of great guests which followed immediately after a one-day trip to Virginia Beach which came after a day of training and before that it was the really big birthday slow roasted beef tenderloin gathering. An easy dinner and a new trial for a pancake recipe seemed called for, along with sausage patties and cold, cold milk.

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"IHOP Pancakes (copycat)," from Life in the Lofthouse.

Sunday Sausage Balls

Last Sunday morning, in anticipation of a bit of morning hunger by the weekend's guests, I whipped up a batch of sausage balls to be ready for them. The plates were complemented by additional slices of the previous morning's French yogurt loaf.

Meal No. 1917: World's Best Lasagna

Once the Wake Forest Homecoming game was all wrapped up and the weekend's guests returned to the house, we gathered again around the table and had some heaping plates of fresh-baked lasagna along with toasted garlic bread. I went ahead and made another batch of sweet and sour vinaigrette to adorn spring mix salads with spiced vanilla-cinnamon glazed walnuts and blue cheese. It all seemed to be well-received by the assembled throng.

I was the only one to add some of my homemade applesauce to the plate.

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"Spiced Pecan and Blue Cheese Salad," inspired by the signature salad at Ryan's Steaks, Chops, & Seafood (an excellent Winston-Salem restaurant). "Sweet and Sour Vinaigrette" from The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook, compiled and edited by Julie Fisher Gunter. Birmingham, AL: Oxmoor House (1999), p. 373. "Cinnamon Vanilla Glazed Walnuts" recipe from McCormick & Company. Thanks as always to Jimmy Randolph for helping me track down those recipes.

"World's Best Lasagna," by John Chandler (Dallas, TX). Found online at AllRecipes.com.

More French Yogurt Cake? Yes, Please

This past Saturday morning, I wanted to have something for the weekend guests to nibble on with their coffee, and since the French yogurt cake I've made a couple of times lately has been so very tasty, I had to bring forth another loaf of it from the hard-working Roediger House oven.

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"French Yogurt Cake," by Andrew Knowlton. In Bon Appétit, May 2012, p. 30.

Meal No. 1916: One-Pan Pork Tenderloin and Roasted Vegetables

When I finished up a Project CRISS training in nearby Walkertown this past Thursday afternoon, I didn't get to come back home. Instead I pointed the car east and a bit north and drove to Virginia Beach, because I had a training with high school administrators there to look forward to on Friday. (Another bonus: stopping at Smithfield's Chicken 'N Barbecue at dinnertime on the route!) It was a great and full day to finish out last week, and then I turned around and drove back to Winston-Salem and was greeted by the weekend's guests who were staying here for Wake Forest University's Homecoming. That meant a dinner needed to show up on the table, and the easy choice based on what I had on hand was one-pan pork tenderloin with green beans and roasted red potato wedges. It might have been 9 o'clock at night when we sat down to it, but we tackled it all enthusiastically!

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"One-Pan Pork Tenderloin with Green Beans and Potatoes," by Christie Morrison. In Cook's Country, October/November 2015, p. 27.

Red Velvet Cake & Chocolate Decadence Ice Cream

For the fantastic dinner gathering for six of us this past Wednesday night, I also managed to get desserts made. Both recipes were new trials for me, and the response was very encouraging from the crew.

The centerpiece was a four-layer red velvet cake, using the recipe from that most expert of food bloggers, Barry C. Parsons. The other "velvet" cake recipes I've made from his website (lemon velvet and chocolate velvet) have been absolutely outstanding, and this red velvet cake was right there with the rest of them.

The chocolate decadence ice cream was a novelty, both for its intense chocolate-y-ness as well as for its thick consistency. It might have even have been just a bit much, but then again, there are plenty of fans of chocolate around here.

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"The Best Red Velvet Cake," from Barry C. Parsons of RockRecipes.com.

"Chocolate Decadence Ice Cream," from KingArthurFlour.com.

Meal No. 1915: Slow-Roasted Beef Tenderloin

In the marking of a special occasion this past Wednesday night at the Roediger House, a special dinner menu was fitting: slow-roasted beef tenderloin with spicy horseradish sauce; Brussels sprouts gratin; twice-baked stuffed potatoes; and, for those who were so inclined, some homemade cinnamon applesauce.

There was a special salad to start it off as well: spring mix with blue cheese and cinnamon-vanilla-glazed walnuts and a sweet and sour vinaigrette.

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"Spiced Pecan and Blue Cheese Salad," inspired by the signature salad at Ryan's Steaks, Chops, & Seafood (an excellent Winston-Salem restaurant). "Sweet and Sour Vinaigrette" from The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook, compiled and edited by Julie Fisher Gunter. Birmingham, AL: Oxmoor House (1999), p. 373. "Cinnamon Vanilla Glazed Walnuts" recipe from McCormick & Company. Thanks as always to Jimmy Randolph for helping me track down those recipes.

"Slow-Roasted Beef Tenderloin," from J. Kenji López-Alt, Managing Culinary Director of SeriousEats.com.

"Spicy Horseradish Sauce" from "Beef Tenderloin in Wine Sauce," from The All-New Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook. Compiled and Edited by Julie Fisher Gunter. Oxmoor Press (2006), p. 295, 296.

"Brussels Sprouts Gratin," by Alison Roman. From Cooking on newyorktimes.com.

"Stuffed Potatoes: Good/Better/Best," a recipe clipping saved from Cuisine at Home, Issue 60 [December 2006], p. 23-25. Reminder about crispier potato skins from "Crispy Baked Potato," from The Kitchen on foodnetwork.com.

Inspiration for Homemade Applesauce came from Evelyn Coulson of Cana, VA. Guidance for Homemade Applesauce came from:

• "Spiced Country Applesauce," from Finding Joy in My Kitchen. Published 11 September 2009.
• "Homemade Applesauce," from Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman. Published 16 October 2013.
• "Sarah's Applesauce," from PHATCAT on AllRecipes.com.

Meal No. 1914: Glorious Beef & Mushroom Stir Fry

With the welcome and unplanned addition of new neighbor Jordan to the dinner table last Tuesday night, I stretched the cubes of beef tenderloin into three bowls of glorious beef and mushroom stir fry. It was tasty, with just enough kick to make it interesting.

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"Glorious Beef with Mushrooms," in Wok Fast by Hugh Carpenter and Teri Sandison. Ten Speed Press, 2002, p. 87 (recipe) and p. 26-27 (marinade and sauce).

Meal No. 1913: Miso Chicken

As the winds began to gust outside and the rain picked up with the west-of-us passage of the remnants of Hurricane Irma on Monday night, it was all pretty cozy inside the Roediger House, with good tunes on the Sonos and Sumner sleeping in my old man's chair with his chin perched on the arm. In the oven for the evening's meal: miso chicken, a new recipe that I'd had saved in my file for quite a while. To go with it, rice and broccoli.

I'm glad I tried it, but it's not likely to get repeated. I've got much better recipes for chicken thighs!

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"Miso Chicken," by Sam Sifton. In New York Times Cooking.

Meal No. 1912: Glazed Grilled Pork Chops

Before the far-reaching effects of Hurricane Irma could fully invade Winston-Salem on Sunday night, I thought I'd get some grilling in. Some thick center-cut pork chops were awaiting me in the meat drawer, and it all turned into a gracious and filling meal. To go with it, peas and a rice-vermicelli mix, and I couldn't resist adding some of the leftover sweet potato souffle from a dinner earlier in the week.

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"Glazed Pork Chops," in Cuisine's Celebrate the Seasons: Summertime Menus, Issue 10 (June/July 2016), p. 36-38.

Meal No. 1911: Light and Fluffy Waffles

Sunday morning allowed for the rare treat of waffles, this time with a new recipe that will definitely bear repeating: light and fluffy waffles, together with thick maple syrup and a tall glass of whole milk. It set me up well to then go catch an afternoon showing of Stephen King's It.

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"Light and Fluffy Waffles," by James Schend, Food Editor of Taste of Home, September/October 2017, p. 26.

Emeril's Chocolate Pie

When Deborah and Alaina were here on Saturday night, the dessert I served up was the always-delicious Chocolate Cream Pie from Emeril Lagasse. In the past, I've had a tendency to use a pre-made chocolate crust to save myself a few steps in making it; that night, though, I also made the chocolate cookie crust and really liked its chocolate-y punch.

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"Emeril's Chocolate Cream Pie," by Emeril Lagasse (2007). Featured on The FoodNetwork.com website.

Meal No. 1910: Cast-Iron Skillet Calzone

Saturday night was another opportunity to have a delightful evening with neighbors Alaina and Deborah, and when dinnertime rolled around, I served up cast-iron skillet sausage and beef calzone that was pretty tasty. We had some Caesar salad to go with it but I think the calzone took center stage.

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"Cast-Iron Skillet Calzone," by Russell Selander. In Cook's Country, December/January 2017, p. 12.

Meal No. 1909: Honey Mustard Chicken

Friday was well-spent with a group of teachers at Walkertown Middle School, as we completed a second day of our Project CRISS training. When I got back to the Roediger House, it was a pretty glorious and sunny and breezy late afternoon, which compelled me to enjoy front porch time with a beer (or two). The evening finished up with a perfect plate of honey mustard baked chicken thighs, with stuffing and steamed broccoli. I'd say it was a night that was hard to beat.

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"Honey Mustard Chicken," by Elise Bauer of SimplyRecipes.com.

Meal No. 1908: Sausage & Beef Manicotti with Homemade Marinara

On the menu this past Thursday night: sausage and beef manicotti with a homemade marinara sauce. This seems to be a twice-a-year recipe, having first shown up with the fall arrival of an "Autumn Classics" issue from Cuisine at Home back in 2015. For the five of us present that evening, it filled our bellies well.

To add to the fun, I figured it was about time to take a stab at some homemade bread, which ended up being rosemary and garlic flatbread based on a really accessible focaccia recipe that I'd recently stumbled across. It sure had a great flavor!

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"Sausage & Beef Manicotti with Homemade Marinara," from Celebrate the Seasons: Autumn Classics from Cuisine at Home. Issue No. 6, October/November 2015, p. 18.

"Easy Focaccia Bread with Garlic and Herbs," from Adam at InspiredTaste.net.[Published 24 August 2017]

Meal No. 1907: Monie's Carbonara

House projects have consumed a lot of energy and attention these last few days. When Wednesday's approaching dinnertime pulled me from the labors of the moment, the quick but delicious meal that I went with was Monie's carbonara, and it sure satisfied.

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"Pasta Carbonara," a recipe shared by Monie Lawrence of Raleigh, NC.

Meal No. 1906: Moravian Chicken Pie

With some isolated storms rolling through and making it a dark and dreary Tuesday night, the meal I served up for three of us seemed fittingly comforting: Moravian chicken pie, sweet potato souffle, and seasoned green beans. Thomas, the evening's guest, made the evening with a contribution of baklava that was darned delicious.

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"Moravian Chicken Pie," adapted from a recipe by Mimi Patterson and published in Cooking with Grace: A Collection of Favorite Recipes from Our Congregation to Your Home, by the Women's Fellowship of Grace Moravian Church in Mount Airy, NC (2001), p. 47.

"Sweet Potato Soufflé," by Eudell F. Smith of Clayton, NC. Published in Foundation Family Favorites. Cary, NC: North Carolina Baptist Foundation (1993), p. 205.

Meal No. 1905: Bistro BBQ Chicken, Feta, Onion, and Bacon Pizza

After a stunningly gorgeous Sunday here in Winston-Salem, dinner took place in two distinct stages, beginning with Caesar salads on the upstairs balcony:

Then closer to the usual Roediger House dinnertime, I served up a bistro-style barbecue chicken, feta, onion, and bacon pizza that was delicious:

It was with a full belly indeed that I finally pushed away from the table that night.

Tile Backsplash in the Kitchen

Yet another project on the house to-do list has now been completed: adding tile backsplash above the countertops in the kitchen. That's been on my list as long as the new kitchen has been in place...or, in other words, since spring 2009.

With the great craftsmanship of Mr. Todd Sink of Amazing Tile by Todd, this long overdue upgrade to the beautiful Roediger House kitchen happened in the waning days of August.

I wasn't interested in anything ridiculous or over-the-top: just a solid classic look with enough style to compliment what's already in place.

I'm pretty pleased with the final result.

Meal No. 1904: Ultimate Cream of Tomato Soup

As the remnants of Hurricane Harvey passed over Winston-Salem this past weekend, it brought cooler temps and an overall dreariness that made one want to stay inside. When Saturday night's meal time arrived, I was drawn to something warm and comforting and settled on ultimate cream of tomato soup along with grilled cheese sandwiches. I was uncomfortably comfortable after all that.

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"Ultimate Cream of Tomato Soup," from Cook's Illustrated, November 1999. Recipe can also be found online at Cookography.com.

Friday Night Boston Cream Pie

To go with Friday night's latest Roediger House Reading Party, I also wanted to have some dessert that could be prepared in advance. I'd also wanted to try out a new recipe for Boston cream pie, and that's what happened.

There's no doubt that it was pretty, and pretty good. It's hard to serve up a neat slice with that pastry cream clogging up the middle, though! I'd like to do some tinkering with this recipe but it was well-received by the gathered six that night.

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"Boston Cream Pie," by Michelle, who blogs at the BrownEyedBaker.com. [Published 19 April 2017]

Meal No. 1903: New Year's Day Meatballs

Friday night was the latest gathering for a Roediger House reading party, up in the comfy confines of the third floor entertainment space. To have a decent dinner that mostly cooked without me, I went with New Year's Day meatballs, company mashed potatoes, and layered green bean casserole. All those recipes are from the Jones family archives and were thoughtfully provided to me by my sister Allison in Indiana. Any shortcomings with the final products, though, are my own to own.

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"New Year's Day Meatballs," from Carol Fultz and shared with me by my sister Allison Jones Holden of Rossville, IN (2001).

"Company Mashed Potatoes," a Jones family favorite.

"Layered Green Bean Casserole," shared with me by my sister Allison Jones Holden of Rossville, IN (December 2001).

Meal No. 1902: Breakfast for Dinner

On the final night of August 2017, I was feeling like breakfast for dinner: sausage patties, fried sunny-side-up eggs (farm-fresh, from Clarke County VA!), creamy homemade grits, and hot buttered toast with an abundance of mixed fruit jelly...all washed down with a very tall cold glass of orange juice.

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"Creamy Grits," from Luquire Family Stone Ground Grits, milled in Greenwood, SC.

Meal No. 1901: Chicken with Tomato and Basil Cream Sauce

Occasionally I'll actually look at the emails I receive from Yummly, and recently upon doing so I found myself looking at a new recipe worth trying: chicken with tomato and basil cream sauce. That's what I served up on Tuesday night, and it really was amazingly delicious. It's a keeper and a repeater, that's for sure.

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"Chicken with Tomato and Basil Cream Sauce," from Sally of GoodDinnerMom.com. [Published 27 March 2015]