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Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Meal No. 2918: Grilled Spicy Chicken Wraps

When Amy and Gern came over for dinner and hanging out this past Saturday, I thought I'd like to give myself a spicy chicken wrap do-over. (A few weeks ago, I was less pleased with my results.) I had prepped chicken breasts tucked away in the freezer, so the sous vide took care of them, and then I whipped up all the other ingredients to make for a filling filling. When it was close to time for dinner, I tossed them on the grill. Some slaw on the side and a fresh batch of creamy avocado ranch dressing brought it all together.


"Grilled Spicy Chicken Wrap," a Roediger House original recipe.

"Creamy Avocado Ranch Dressing," by Traci Antonovich of TheKitchenGirl.com.

Monday, August 30, 2021

Chai-Spiced Skillet Sugar Cookie

This past Friday night I was able to get home from a work trip to DC pretty early, and a chai-spiced skillet sugar cookie was a pretty groovy way to celebrate being home.


"Chai-Spiced Snickerdoodle Skillet Cookie," from Heather Baird of SprinkleBakes.com. [Published 06 July 2020]

Sunday, August 29, 2021

Dense, Chewy, and Rich New England-Style Ice Cream

I've avoided this recipe, in part because eight egg yolks has just always seemed like way too much to toss into a basic quart of vanilla ice cream. But I needed to use up some eggs last weekend and I was feeling like I'd put this endeavor asiide long enough. The bottom line is as follows: if you were in search of a dense, chewy, rich New England-style ice cream, you should've been at the Roediger House this past Monday night, when it was enthusiastically enjoyed.


"Dense, Chewy, and Rich New England-Style Ice Cream," from Max Falkowitz, former senior features editor of SeriousEats.com. [Updated 28 February 2019]

Saturday, August 28, 2021

Meal No. 2917: Chicken Tenders on Caesar Salad

Last Monday's early meal at the Roediger House was a happy return to Caesar salad, with pan-seared chicken tenders that I'd pulled from their prepped packages in the freezer and mostly cooked sous vide. The dressing was a keto-diet discovery from 2018: easy lemon Caesar salad dressing. I've tinkered with it a bit over these intervening years and it never comes out quite the same...but it is always quite good. And yes: that protein was chosen by lottery from the random drawing jar that's helping me deal with my overstocked freezer.


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

"Croutons," by Marg CaymanDesigns on GeniusKitchen.com.

Friday, August 27, 2021

Meal No. 2916: Juicy Burgers on the Grill

Over the last three weeks, thanks to the goofy but fun system of drawing slips from a jar, I've been whittling down the contents of the overstocked freezer. A few of those meals have been frozen leftovers that I've not blogged about. This past Sunday night resulted in the first official "repeat" (several freezer items are to be found in multiples!), and it was a repeat of the very first lottery drawing back on August 6th: juicy burgers. They were prepped, patted, and packed away to be ready for dropping into the sous vide, and when I got home late from a rare Sunday evening business meeting, it took all of 10 or 15 minutes to get the grill fired up and to give 'em a decent sear before letting the residual heat melt a couple of slices of cheese on them...and then served up with kettle chips for a fine summer night meal.


Adapted from "Juicy Burgers," originally from Pillsbury Classic Cookbooks recipe magazine, July 2003, p. 52-53. After Pillsbury was purchased in 2001 by General Mills, home of Betty Crocker (founded 100 years ago this year, mind you!), it basically ceased to exist as a company and lives on just as a brand. I guess that's why a Pillsbury cookbook recipe from 2003 is now only found on the Betty Crocker website.

The guidance for cooking the frozen raw burgers at 144°F for 2.5 hours pulled from "How to Make Sous Vide Burgers," from J. Kenji López-Alt, former Culinary Director and current Culinary Consultant of SeriousEats.com. [Updated 24 October 2019]

Thursday, August 26, 2021

Homemade Vanilla Pudding

Last weekend proved to be an opportune moment to bring back delicious, amazing, sweet, creamy homemade vanilla pudding. It did not last very long.


"Vanilla Pudding," from the Food Network Kitchens.

Wednesday, August 25, 2021

Meal No. 2915: Pan-Seared Thick-Cut Pork Chops

This past Saturday night, it was back to the freezer-reduction lottery drawing vase, and out came a slip for thick-cut pork chops. Economy purchasing at Costco has resulted in an abundance of prepped, seasoned, vacuum-sealed chops, begging for a sous vide bath to cook them to a perfect juicy temperature. A quick sear in the cast iron skillet completes their journey to an ideal state for consumption. For now, I remain pleased with a couple of easily-roasted sides: spiced potatoes and garlicky whole green beans.

Tuesday, August 24, 2021

Meal No. 2914: Roasted Salmon & Broccoli

It's best not to question whether it was too soon to repeat my roasted salmon and broccoli meal. It was not. Friday night's supper was right up my alley!

Monday, August 23, 2021

Meal No. 2913: Mozzarella, Ricotta, & Pesto Deep Dish Pizza

Once again, the neighbors came through with a great bunch of their overabundant basil, which set me on the path to the two-day process of making amazing pan pizza (the dough rises over 24 hours), plus terrific homemade pesto. That's what the dinner was last Thursday night, and boy howdy was it just about perfect. The eagerness with which I tackled my hot slices left me with light burns to my mouth's interior, but my belly's joy was a glorious counterbalance.


"Easy Basil Pesto," by Adam and Joanne Gallagher of InspiredTaste.net. [Originally Published August 2013]

"Fool-Proof Pan Pizza" [Updated 03 January 2020] and "Pesto Pizza" [Updated 27 February 2019], by J. Kenji López-Alt, former culinary director of SeriousEats.com.

Sunday, August 22, 2021

Center Front Drain Repair


I suppose with any project you've got to start somewhere. Back in the spring of 2020, I blogged about the drain lines I installed to capture water from a side downspout in the kitchen herb garden area, that also includes two new drains to catch some of the driveway run-off, and an improved drainline through The Grove that ties into the already-existing downspout pipes running under the yard up to the front retaining wall.


Given all that I wanted to connect up, it made sense to me to start at the low end, where all the water I wanted to channel needed to exit. Let me explain.


In about the middle of the front retaining wall, just to the right of where the original driveway was, is a drain opening onto the sidewalk. In my digging down behind the wall, I see where there's old collapsed clay pipe that ended up clogged and broken in non-use.


I'm guessing that when the driveway was relocated and the parking area put in, along with the retaining wall and fill-in work that accompanied all that, an attempt was made to tie the southside drainspouts in so that the water would be channeled down and out at that location, using 4-inch PVC pipe instead of the original tile pipes.


An opening was left topside to allow surface water along the front retaining wall to escape as well. One clear problem with its design was that the gutter downspout line hit the vertical plastic corrugated downline (up against the retaining wall) at pretty much a 90-degree angle.


Over the last few years, I've noticed that the retaining wall is getting a lot of over-wash and through-wash, resulting in cracking and a bit of bulging. It's one of the green yard task slips that I included in the quarantine task jar during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic, but I went ahead and tackled it without that task slip actually getting drawn.


So two Y-connections were installed: one into a new PVC vertical pipe so that the end of the line angles down towards the exit at the bottom; the other is at the midway point of the yard portion so that I was able to connect in the line coming through The Grove.


This angle makes much more sense than that old straight-on blaster.


Haven't I mentioned that I get ideas in my head and then just have to go with them, even if they are goofy or impractical? Another yard project of 2020 was the irrigation system, hastened along in part because it made sense to plan and lay water lines as long as I was digging drainpipe trenches. To winterize the system, I wanted to be able to drain it...so as long as I was at it, I added in a connector for the ¾-inch PVC of the sprinkler system. But to get it to work I had to do about a 12-piece assembly for that entire vertical drain line at the front wall! Pictured above is the assembled portion needed to tie in the irrigation line.


I also installed a valve at that end of the irrigation drain as a back-up or fail-safe...but it was a bit low (as shown in the picture below), and I've already reworked the protective housing around it (see the bottom of this blog post for more). Still, for a first-timer blundering his way through it all, I'm pretty pleased with how much this improves the drain situation, even if it still has shortcomings.


Saturday, August 21, 2021

Cinnamon-Chai Oatmeal Cookies

The urge for sweets, and specifically for a nice warm cookie straight from the oven, overtook me last Tuesday afternoon after my simple lunch of a homemade chicken salad sandwich. Cookies have not gotten much attention in my kitchen lately, and it occurs to me that I need to be mindful of the associated pantry staples getting a bit of age on them. Putting together a batch of cinnamon-chai oatmeal cookies was in service to the greater good, then, and to the satisfaction of my own belly, and apparently to the pleasure of neighbors down the street with whom offerings were shared.


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

Friday, August 20, 2021

Meal No. 2912: Roasted Salmon and Broccoli

It was an unimpeachable joy to return to a nice slab of roasted salmon with a pile of roasted broccoli florets this past Monday night. Cooked to a perfect temp, nicely spiced with Pearl River rub from Savory Spice, and suitably partnered with the crisp-tender vexatious veggies...'twas a wonderful weeknight supper.

Thursday, August 19, 2021

Old Fashioned Banana Pudding

With a plan for a table full of guests last Saturday night and a nice bunch of perfect bananas on the counter, old fashioned banana pudding seemed a wise choice for the dessert. Light and delicious after a filling comfort meal, it also had the advantage of being made in advance and tucked away to be easily retrieved after our dinners had settled just a bit.

While I often take the easy shortcut permitted by a tub of Cool Whip, I enjoyed using the leftover egg whites from the pudding in order to have a toasted meringue topping. That meringue was just a bit heavenly, if I may indeed say so.

Today is also the anniversary of the 1977 passing of Groucho Marx. As a kid, I could not understand why Elvis's death a few days before generated emergency bulletins but hardly a peep was heard about dear Groucho.


"Murray's Old Fashioned Nana Puddin'," from the Murray Vanilla Wafers package. Also found online at http://melissaannbrook.blogspot.com/2011/04/banana-and-vanilla-wafer-with-pudding.html.

Quick reference on meringue topping credited to "Banana Pudding with Meringue," from Christin Mahrlig of SpicySouthernKithchen.com. [Published 16 August 2019]

Wednesday, August 18, 2021

Meal No. 2911: New Year's Day Meatballs

A long-ago made plan for a grand gathering of six this past Saturday night presented a terrific opportunity for busting out my sister's recipe for what we call New Year's Day meatballs. She gets credit as well for the recipes behind the delicious sides: company mashed potatoes and layered green bean casserole.

Just before heavy storms with lots of lightning rolled across the city this past Saturday afternoon, temps had really climbed into their oppressive unpleasant tier. Not hot enough for me to pine away for winter, but it sure inspired gratitude that this latest front brought a welcome break in the steamy August summertime. Ah, but one cost we bore was losing two of the dinner guests, who had to stay home and tackle clean-up from a clogged gutter at their condo...and the resulting water that came into their downstairs as a result. But at least the evening still offered quite a few rounds of pool up in the 3rd floor man cave.


"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).

Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Meal No. 2910: Peruvian-Spiced Chicken Breasts

Friday night's dinner: sous vide Peruvian-spiced chicken breasts, because that was the slip drawn that morning from the freezer-item-reduction jar. I also roasted Brussels sprouts and had a pan of roasted spiced sweet potatoes, as a small variation on my usual starch theme. After dinner, though, I realized that it was getting pretty stuffy up in the attic and found that the temp had climbed to 83°F. So I had to make an after-hours call to the folks at Webb Heating and Air Conditioning and was delighted when our regular technician John was on call. He came about 8:45 pm, and it looks like there's a leak in the coils of the air handler up there. It was still 92°F outside at 9 pm that night, so I guess it isn't too surprising that the attic reached 85°F before he got it up and running again.

It reminds me of yet another one of the issues that I ended up with when the horrible Barnette Heating & Air Conditioning folks from Mocksville, NC, installed the first coil unit in the attic...and it was so beat up and busted with leaks (that I guess they did not check for) we ended up with mold in the walls and floors from leaks around the cooling lines.


"Roasted Sweet Potatoes," from Chelsea Lords of ChelseasMessyApron.com. [Published 04 March 2019]

Monday, August 16, 2021

Meal No. 2909: Filet Mignon

Yet another lottery slip was drawn to determine what the next freezer-reduction menu item would be, and it came up with the glorious two words: "filet mignon." So the sous vide bath was set up and the prepped packages of steaks were tossed in and cooked to a perfect 125°F. I then pan-seared them in the hot cast iron skillet to finish them off. Alongside were garlicked olive oil asparagus spears and roasted spiced potatoes. 'Twas a fine Thursday night feast.

Meal No. 2907: Baby Back Pork Ribs / Meal No. 2908: Brunswick Stew

The lottery-selected dinner menus are continuing, as I seek to winnow down the contents of my too-well-stocked freezer. Last Tuesday night, that meant my first attempt at using the sous vide to do most of the cooking of some prepped and vacuum-sealed baby back pork ribs. That cooking, by the way, was a 24-hour process in the hot water bath, set precisely at 152°F.

I then finished them on the grill with some delicious homemade barbecue sauce.

The meat is so tender and juicy and pulls easily from the rib bones. I'd scarfed down two just in extracting them from the vacuum bags once the cooking time was up. Then the entirety of my dinner was an additional 9 or 10 ribs, I kid you not. But I saved out a few to finely dice for the next evening:

Meal No. 2908....Brunswick Stew! I made up a fresh batch sort of going on memory plus some hints from a variety of recipes I've got. In addition to the extra pork rib meat, I also diced up the remaining chicken breast from Meal No. 2905, plus added in a small portion of a previous batch of Brunswick stew that had been frozen and vacuum-sealed. (I reheated that leftover stew in the sous vide Wednesday afternoon.) This multi-sourced pot of deliciousness served well the evening's appetites!


Guidance for Pork Ribs from "Sous Vide Barbecue Pork Ribs," from J. Kenji López-Alt, former Culinary Director and current Culinary Consultant of SeriousEats.com. [Updated 27 May 2021]

Brunswick Stew derived some inspiration from the following:

Sunday, August 15, 2021

Meal No. 2906: Sheet Pan Beef Nachos

A while back, when I had some ground beef that could not be immediately used, I went ahead and whipped up a batch of seasoned browned taco meat so that, when the occasion came, I'd be able to easily bring it out of the freezer and have an easy time producing sheet pan beef nachos. That's the lottery slip that was drawn last Monday morning and therefore what was served up when Mookie came over that night. Lime crema made it extra good. Ice cream for dessert was just the incredible added bonus.


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

Seasoning was based on "Taco Seasoning I," from Bill Echols on AllRecipes.com.

"Easy Lime Crema," from Lisa Bryan of DownShiftology.com. [Published 22 April 2020]

Saturday, August 14, 2021

Meal No. 2905: Sous Vide Chicken Breasts

Now that I have begun lottery-style drawings to help me whittle away at the overstocked freezer, the morning drawing is kind of a fun and exciting moment. What slip will appear to determine the evening's menu? Last Sunday, it was salt-and-pepper chicken breasts that were prepped and vacuum-sealed after I'd bought them on a good sale. Mid-afternoon, I dropped them into the sous vide bath so that by dinnertime, they were ready to be served. The usual suspect of roasted broccoli was included, but the special treat of potatoes from the Pilons' garden was especially welcome.

Friday, August 13, 2021

Two Kinds of Banana Bread

As if it was not already a terrific and enjoyable visit the other weekend from Virginia friends, an unexpected bonus showed up in the form of an Amazon delivery containing the wonderful Claire Saffitz's new cookbook: Dessert Person. With bananas at a past-ready stage lingering on the counter last Friday, I set to work to try my first recipe, for almond butter banana bread. It proved to be a tasty alternative take on a classic, warm and tender and with a balanced flavor and sweetness. As you might notice in the picture above, it paired nicely with some of the vanilla ice milk I had tucked away in the overstuffed freezer.

I was left still with a few bananas and figured I'd go ahead with another untried recipe the next day, this one from fellow Wake Forest University grad student and fellow hall director, Laura Brogden: Wanda's Banana Bread. It was the more traditional take on it and also came out pretty awesome.


"Almond Butter Banana Bread," from Claire Saffitz. In Dessert Person: Recipes and Guidance for Baking with Confidence, New York: Clarkson Potter / Publishers (2020), pp. 38-39.

"Wanda's Banana Bread," from Laura Brogden.

Thursday, August 12, 2021

An Abundance of August Ice Creams and Puddings

The super epic rainbow cake from the previous weekend required 19 egg whites. That's a lot of unassigned egg yolks that ought to be destined for some great and glorious use. In addition to the Blue Moon ice cream that went perfectly with that colorful cake, a handful of the yolks found their way into a double chocolate liqueur ice cream that I churned on the first day of August, as well as a vanilla pudding (that required some reworking after it initially failed on me).

But wait: there's more! Also on that Sunday, I made a base for vanilla ice milk (no yolks but plenty of delicious grass-fed whole milk), which I churned on Monday. Then, that Monday night, I made a second batch of it, that was churned on the following day and tucked away in the freezer.

I should not forget that another joyful endeavor Sunday a week ago was making an extra chocolatey and sizable batch of hot chocolate pudding, and that's where the balance of all those reserved egg yolks went.

Too much expensive grass-fed whole milk that was about to expire figured into my figuring, and the very last of it was employed with a new recipe: French Silk Pie Ice Cream. It proved to be a whole 'nother heavily chocolated concoction, for sure, still silky but not especially French silky. In fact, I'd say it was much more like a frozen pudding, perhaps more suited to being perched on a popsicle stick. Also: I'm gonna be as big as a house before the end of August if I keep this up.


"Double Chocolate Liqueur Ice Cream," by Kita Roberts. From her Pass the Sushi blog.

"Classic Vanilla Ice Milk," by Stella Parks, Pastry Wizard of SeriousEats.com. [Published 22 August 2018 / Updated 15 April 2020]

"Vanilla Pudding," from the Food Network Kitchens.

"Hot Chocolate Pudding," from the Food Network Kitchens.

"French Silk Pie Ice Cream," from Kaleb Wyse of WyseGuide.com. [Published 14 July 2021]

Wednesday, August 11, 2021

Meal No. 2904: Juicy Sous Vide Burgers

Well, I've finally reached the end of my rope where the overstocked freezer is concerned. Near the end of last week, I went through and catalogued all the contents, and then I set up a document to print off that I could then cut into slips to go into a lottery drawing vase. Starting Friday, August 6th, most suppers are now going to be randomly chosen each morning so that I can hope to finally get the oversupply back down to a manageable level.

The first slip to be drawn out of the dinner option vase was for juicy burgers on the grill. I tossed them into the sous vide set-up around 3 pm last Friday and then finished them on the grill, with some cheddar slices on top. Kettle chips were a yummy side feature.


Adapted from "Juicy Burgers," originally from Pillsbury Classic Cookbooks recipe magazine, July 2003, p. 52-53. After Pillsbury was purchased in 2001 by General Mills, home of Betty Crocker (founded 100 years ago this year, mind you!), it basically ceased to exist as a company and lives on just as a brand. I guess that's why a Pillsbury cookbook recipe from 2003 is now only found on the Betty Crocker website.

Tuesday, August 10, 2021

Meal No. 2903: Peruvian-Spiced Chicken Thighs

Something is going to have to be done about the overstocked freezer. That's why I keep trying to whittle down the proteins that I've already seasoned and vacuum-sealed in anticipation of the ease of sous vide dinner prep. Last Thursday night, the bag I reached for had a couple of spiced chicken thighs, and they were pretty tasty along with roasted spiced potatoes and roasted broccoli florets.

Monday, August 9, 2021

Best of Breed Dog Biscuits

For this latest round of homemade dog biscuits (made with homemade peanut butter, too!), I had an extra trick up my sleeve, and it's all thanks to Etsy: a Roediger House cookie stamp. It's not a perfectly clear imprint, which I chalk up to the cookie dough being oats and whole wheat flour, but I'm still excited about putting our mark on special future cookies. In the meantime, Sumner is all about these treats...he loves 'em something fierce!


"Best of Breed Dog Biscuits," from KingArthurBaking.com.

Sunday, August 8, 2021

Meal No. 2902: Sausage, Potato, and Onion Hash

Not so long ago, I tried a new recipe that incorporated ground lamb with potatoes and onions into a delicious seasoned hash. When I found myself with country breakfast sausage that needed to be used up, I figured I'd adapt it and see how that worked. That was the mid-day lunch last Tuesday before I hit the road for an overnight work trip in Virginia. Not as good as the lamb, methinks, but still a filling and satisfying meal.


Based on "Rosemary Garlic Ground Lamb and Potatoes," by Ashley Singh Thomas, founder of the food blog My Heart Beets.

Saturday, August 7, 2021

Meal No. 2901: Supper-Sized Baked Beans

The Sunday night supper saw a delightful return of supper-sized baked beans, which I had not made in over a year, and which always proves to be filling and good. It's a hearty meal that requires nothing additional...it is a one-bowl feast of goodness. I have so many fantastic recipes from my friend Cindy, who now lives in Tennessee, and it is a treat to draw from that treasure trove of treats and to let my thoughts turn to all the good times I have enjoyed with her and her husband.


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