Meal No. 2451: Savory Garlic Beef and Broccoli Turnovers

For the Friday dinner meal, I reached into the archives and brought out a dish that I hadn't made since last December, but one that never fails to satisfy and often also impresses: savory garlic beef and broccoli turnovers, with a homemade garlic creme to top it all off with. I added roasted broccoli as a side and was more than pleased with how it all came together.

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"Savory Garlic Beef & Broccoli Turnovers," by Kirsten Renee Shabaz of Minneapolis, MN. Taste of Home, November 2011, p. 31. (Go to food.com for a copy of the original recipe.)

"DIY Cooking Creme," from Finding Joy in My Kitchen, 25 May 2011.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

I did a bit of baking on Friday afternoon, resulting in a healthy batch of unhealthy white chocolate-macadamia nut cookies. So good were they!

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"Premier White Chocolate and Macadamia Pieces Cookies," from Hershey's Mauna Loa. Found online at https://www.maunaloa.com/recipes/premier-white-chips-and-macadamia-pieces-cookies/.

Meal No. 2450: Roasted Salmon over Caesar-Topped Greens

I try to make salmon a regular part of my diet, and this week's opportunity presented itself last night when I put a roasted slab of it atop power greens, dressed with my homemade creamy Caesar dressing. I ate it like it was going out of style, and then Sumner and I took a humid walk around downtown in the late evening hours.

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Based on "Easy Lemon Caesar Salad Dressing," by Kim of lowcarbmaven.com.

Meal No. 2449: BBQ Chicken Soup

On Tuesday night, I used some baked barbecue chicken thighs that I'd already prepped and cooked, incorporating them in a scaled-back version of the amazing BBQ chicken soup that normally gets made with beer can chicken from the kamado grill. It was still really amazingly good, with enough leftovers to share with the neighbors across the street.

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"BBQ Chicken Soup," from the folks at the Big Green Egg website.

Pimento Cheese Sausage Balls

With a package of hot Neese's sausage nearing the end of its shelf life and no immediate plans for doing anything with it, I made the smart choice of cooking a batch of pimento cheese sausage balls, destined for the freezer, waiting there until needed for easy snacking or quick breakfasting.

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"Pimento Cheese Sausage Balls," by Kate Robertson Parrish of the ScratchMade Southern blog. [Published 20 March 2019]

"South Carolina-Style Pimento Cheese." Recipe worked out by me, based on Sharon's Palmetto Pimento Cheese.

Butter Toffee Cookies

Following our Sunday night dinner of lamb tacos, I managed to also offer up a simple dessert treat that might be considered tough to beat: fresh and hot-out-of-the-oven butter toffee cookies! These marvelous concoctions are in a class unto themselves and are a unique and delicious combination of ingredients that always gets a terrific response, it seems.

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"Butter Toffee Cookies," originally from King Arthur Flour. The catalog that comes periodically from KAF has recipes in it, which is where I originally got this. But, as sometimes happens, it is not available on their website. I'm glad someone posted it to Food.com.

Meal No. 2448: Spiced Lamb Tacos

The Sunday dinner for four was lamb tacos, topped with caramelized onions, roasted red peppers, goat cheese, cheddar cheese, and a lemon tahini yogurt sauce. I take my inspiration from the lamb köfte that has been one of the more interesting and delicious dinner offerings that draws from an international playbook. We seemed to think they were pretty good that night!

A Loaf of Banana Bread

Well, it's been pretty much exactly a year since I made this banana nut bread recipe, which is almost always so very good. We had just been battered by the rains of Hurricane Florence that last time; as of this writing, we sure could use any rain, whether hurricane-induced or otherwise.

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"Starbucks Copycat Banana Nut Bread," from Liz of LifeLoveLiz.com. [Published 25 March 2015]

Meal No. 2447: Simple Blackened Pork Chops

At dinnertime last night, I didn't feel like I needed much, but I did want some protein and I liked the idea of grilling out on a beautiful September Saturday evening. No need to crowd up the plate: a single perfectly-cooked chop with some homemade barbecue sauce was just what I needed.

Meal No. 2446: French Yogurt Cake for the Huneycutts

With a return overnight visit by dear friends the Huneycutts from Crozet, VA, it seemed fitting to have us a small breakfast snack this morning, to go with our steaming cups of coffee. I find the French yogurt cake from Andrew Knowlton to be so easy and dependable and delicious that it was a no-brainer to whip one up and toss it in the oven. Together with the fresh fruit I'd already cut up, we had us a solid starter for our day.

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

Chai-Spiced Sugar Cookies

I remembered these as being better when I made them last fall, but they were still reasonably decent: chai-spiced sugar cookies. That's what got baked up in the midst of making dinner on Thursday afternoon.

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"Chai-Spiced Sugar Cookies," by Jamie of MyBakingAddiction.com. [Published 05 January 2012]

Meal No. 2445: Supper-Sized Baked Beans

On one of my earliest trips up to Winchester, VA, to visit dear friends Cindy Coulson and Harley Knowles, Cindy served up some super supper-sized baked beans, perhaps with grilled burgers. I liked them then as a vast improvement over plain old baked beans, which are fine but not something I'm especially drawn to. I remember making them for a gathering at Jim and Barbara Huneycutt's house back in my UVA days, and perhaps once in the old kitchen here at the Roediger House in the early 2000s.

And not since then! I guess when I think about them it's often in connection with a cookout, but since these beans have browned ground beef in them, it almost seems like a conflict if I serve them with burgers. Tonight I decided: What The Heck! And made 'em as a dinner portion all to themselves, which was really pretty perfect, I'd say.

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"Baked Beans," from Redith Mozelle Newman Quesenberry (1927-2019) of Carroll County, Virginia, via Cindy Coulson of Cana, VA.

A Shivering Stray that Didn't Get Away

Tonight, I walked home from a/perture cinema (the independent arthouse theatre just up from the house on Fourth Street), after catching their special screening of "The Hottest August." As is the custom, I let Sumner out for his potty break but we were immediately derailed from our mission by the lightning-fast dash of a terrified small pooch, emerging from the dark of the back corner of the parking lot, spooked I'm sure by Sumner picking up his scent. It was a repeat of what had occurred first thing this morning, except on that earlier encounter the escapee took off for Fourth Street and I could get no where close to him. I was surprised to find he was back in the yard this evening.

Fortunately, when he fled tonight with Sumner close on his heels, he ran around the northwest corner of the house, straight into the walled-and-fenced dead-end where the HVAC units are. There he froze and cowered. I spent about 15 minutes talking and wooing and coaxing him but he would not let me pick him up. With Sumner left to stand guard, I got my work gloves (I didn't want him to draw any more blood) and Hav-A-Hart cage and managed to scoop him up and safely deposit him there.

UPDATE. I had messaged Erin Turner, who arranged for the adoption of Cyprus back in 2011, and who now runs Stepping Stones Canine Rescue. She hooked me up with her vet and I took this cutie in on Thursday morning. They scanned for a chip and were able to contact the owner for pickup. So, a happy ending for a pooch named Theo, who was lost but now is found!

Triple-Chocolate Cookies

I carved out a little time on Monday evening to bring back a delicious cookie recipe that I hadn't made since July 2013: triple chocolate cookies. It's dependably good and yet it is rarely made...that blog entry from six years ago was lamenting the fact that it was probably back to 2008 or 2009 for the time prior to that! I wanted to tinker and get a little more spread out of them, but by the final batch to come out of the oven, I found they had spread too much. But good they still were, and well worth sharing, which I tried to do.

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"Triple-Chocolate Cookies," by Stephanie Alleyne. In Cook's Country, June/July 2005, p 17. Recipe can also be found here.

Meal No. 2444: Clam Chowder

The Monday evening meal was the easy take on clam chowder shared with me by dear friends Laura and Tim Thomas of Harrisonburg, VA. Laura was also the source of my most delicious and heavily favorited zucchini bread recipe.

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"Clam Chowder," shared by Laura Sheridan Thomas on 16 March 2000 in Woodstock, Virginia.

Woodpecker Meditation?

As though deep in a meditative trance or enthralled by the euphoria of a hot yoga session, this downy woodpecker seemed completely unfazed by my quiet approach in order to capture this photo with my cell phone...but once I made a noise, off he scampered. Normally his flitting around the feeders is too fast for me to immortalize his presence on film (er, or via bits and bytes). So I was glad he was up for this quick photo session.

Meal No. 2443: Mexican Chicken and Rice

A long, long overdue first visit with the across-the-street neighbors finally happened tonight. Featured at dinnertime for Meal No. 2443: Mexican chicken and rice with white cheese dip and, as a starter, southwestern dip and tortilla chips. It was a super fun evening and the good food was a bonus.

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"Mexican Chicken & Rice," in  Cuisine at Home, Issue No. 115 (January/February 2016), p. 10-11.

"The Best Mexican White Cheese Dip," from EatingonaDime.com.

"Southwestern Dip," in Betty Crocker Monthly Recipes, December 2001.

Meal No. 2442: Pecan-Crusted Salmon with Bourbon-Brown Sugar Glaze

On Friday night, the 13th of September, under a full harvest moon (well, micromoon, as this was an apogee event), I tried a new recipe for roasting a nice slab of salmon. This time it was first marinated in a bourbon-soy-garlic-brown sugar-maple mixture. I roasted it in my usual fashion in the oven but topped it with some roasted pecans and a nice glaze made from the unused portion of the marinade mixture. I also roasted broccoli florets that came out succulent and richly flavored.

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"Bourbon Brown Sugar Salmon," by Becky Hardin of TheCookieRookie.com. [Published 06 August 2019]

Meal No. 2441: Bacon Cheeseburger Soup

When it was time to think about the meal to make yesterday evening, the hankering I had led me to seek out a new recipe: bacon cheeseburger soup. And it was wonderfully fantastic, so much so that yet again I ate beyond reason and common sense and found myself going to bed in a most uncomfortable state.

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"Bacon Cheeseburger Soup," from Catalina Castravet and Holly Nilsson of SpendwithPennies.com. [Published 01 March 2018]

Caramel-Chai Oatmeal Cookies

After returning home from a mid-day movie this afternoon, I took advantage of the softened state of two sticks of butter I had set out beforehand...and produced in short order a particularly well-spiced version of caramel-chai oatmeal cookies. I had three of them.

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Based on: "Caramel-Chai Oatmeal Cookies," in Cuisine at Home, September/October 2013, p. 47.

Dog Bowl Disasters

August 2019

The Roediger House does have its own logo'd stoneware, mostly coffee mugs but also pitchers and creamers and cereal bowls and coasters. And we used to have four beautiful Carolina blue dog food bowls...but thanks to loose grips and careless handling, only two remain!

January 2018

Meal No. 2440: Roasted Pork Tenderloin

The Sunday dinner foursome sat down to hoisin-roasted pork tenderloin, together with particularly pleasing peas and more of that super creamy mac-n-cheese.

Meal No. 2439: Baby Back Pork Ribs

It's perfectly all right to make a rack of ribs even if it's for a lonesome meal all by oneself on a September Saturday night, isn't it? And to go so far as to make a creamy brie four-cheese mac and cheese, to boot?

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"How to Make Great Ribs in the Oven," by Emma Christensen. From The Kitchn. [Published 01 July 2017]

Barbecue Sauce adapted from "Crock Pot Ribs," from Christin Mahrlig of the Spicy Southern Kitchen blog. [Published 17 January 2019]

"Creamy Brie Four-Cheese Mac and Cheese," from Tieghan Girard of the Half-Baked Harvest blog. [Published 21 November 2013]

Cap'n Crunch Cookies

There was just enough time on Thursday afternoon to whip up a quick double batch of Cap'n Crunch cookies, and they were really kind of remarkably on point.

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"Cap'n Crunch Cookies," found online at The Capitol Baker, with credit going to The Sugar Plum Blog for inspiration and the source of the adapted recipe.

Meal No. 2438: Sweet Pork Pan Nachos Redux

Those delicious sweet pork pan nachos from Sunday night left me with some leftovers from the prep: a container of sweet Cafe Rio shredded pork, creamy queso, diced red onion, corn and black beans, and sour cream sauce. Seemed only logical that I should make up a fresh sheet pan of nachos, then, to save the aggravation of inspiration or creativity. That was the main meal on Wednesday.

Meal No. 2437: Baked Chicken Thighs

It seemed time for a fuller plate on Tuesday night, so I baked up some delicious seasoned chicken thighs, roasted broccoli, and added the easy finisher of stovetop stuffing. I scarfed that stuff down like it was going out of style.

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Generally based on: "Baked Tender Chicken Thighs," from Valentina's Corner.

Fudgy Brownie with Vanilla Ice Cream and Hot Fudge Sauce

Lord have mercy! That's how I felt both in the moment of and for several hours after the Sunday night dessert at the Roediger House: a fresh-made fudgy brownie, hot out of the oven, topped with homemade vanilla bean ice cream and a just-cooked hot fudge sauce. Mercy, I say...mercy!

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"The Best Fudgy Brownies," from MarshasBakingAddiction.com. [Published 20 July 2018]

"Vanilla Ice Cream," from Bi-Rite Creamery's Sweet Cream and Sugar Cones, by Kris Hoogerhyde, Anne Walker, and Dabney Gough. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press (2012), p. 35-36.

"Hot Fudge Sauce," a recipe shared with me by former neighbor Jessica Atkinson.

Meal No. 2436: Sweet Pork Sheet Pan Nachos

Was it too soon to have sheet pan nachos again? Not when it's a flavorful alternative take on them, featuring Cafe Rio sweet pork and loaded with a different mix of toppers. For the four of us coming together for dinner on Sunday night, this was a batch of Mexican goodness.

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Shredded Pork based on "Cafe Rio Sweet Pork," from Holly of Life in the Lofthouse. [Published 30 October 2014] See also "Sweet Pork Nachos," from Holly as well. [Published 01 August 2017]

Sheet Pan Nachos based on "Loaded Sweet Pork Sheet Pan Nachos," from Elyse of Six Sisters Stuff. [Published 14 March 2018]

"The Best Mexican White Cheese Dip," from EatingonaDime.com.

"Lime Crema," also based on "Cilantro Cream Recipe" by Joshua Bousel of SeriousEats.com. [Published 30 August 2018]

Meal No. 2435: Roasted Salmon over Greens

With more of my homemade creamy Caesar dressing still in the fridge, and trying to keep it light for Saturday night, I roasted another fillet of salmon to go on top of power greens. This healthier choice is good every time, even though at some point I worry I'll weary of it.

Meal No. 2434: Sheet Pan Beef Nachos

I was just kind of starving by Friday late afternoon and had to put together something to eat in about an hour. With a pound of ground beef in the fridge and not much imagination or inspiration, I reverted to an easy stand-by: sheet pan beef nachos. Don't misunderstand: they always hit the spot. Even when they're not my wisest meal choice.

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Taco-Style Meat Based on "Crispy Beef Tacos," by Hilah Johnson. From HilahCooking.com.