National Banana Bread Day

Although it was sad to see our neighbors the Pilons move away, a parting gift was a marvelous banana bread recipe that is now the dependable go-to when that's the quick bread of choice. Although I can't quite seem to avoid a still-doughy center, I actually do not mind that. Since last Friday was designated as National Banana Bread Day, that was my late morning endeavor. Fresh and warm from the oven, or stealing a slice later in the day: it's good eating.

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"Carolyn's Banana Bread," a recipe shared by former neighbor Lori Pilon.

Meal No. 3549: Weeknight Chicken Tikka Masala

Last Thursday's dinner occurred a bit early, befitting the age of the Roediger House occupants, perhaps. On a bed of basmati rice was laid an abundance of well-spiced tomato cream sauce and delicious morsels of chicken, all in an easy take on chicken tikka masala. I still had some spiced roasted cauliflower to add, and in this I did not hesitate.

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"Chicken Tikka Masala," from Cook's Country, October/November 2014, centerfold recipe cards.

Meal No. 3548: Grilled Filet Mignon

I will still splurge every once in a while, waiting until a beef tenderloin is on sale, and yet the sale price makes this still an unnerving indulgence. Ah, but I got eight good filet mignon steaks out of it, once I had trimmed it, plus enough smaller morsels salvaged to make the recent round of Mongolian beef and broccoli. Two of those steaks went on the grill Wednesday night and then were joined on the plate by spiced roasted sweet potatoes. Both the beef filets and the potatoes were seriously perfectly on point. It was an awesome dinner.

Now, speaking of splurging: when I finally got around to buying a new car, I found one that hit all the right notes but it was a bit loaded with extra goodies that I would not have otherwise sought out. A daytrip yesterday for work, which took me next door into Guilford County, gave me a chance to capture one feature that was definitely on my wish list, and another feature that I had to accept in the package since it was already installed. Above is a still taken from a short video on an open stretch of interstate, which is how I was finally able to snag a photo of the "heads-up display." There is a small console built into the dash above the instrument panel, and it projects my current speed, my alignment in my lane, and what my cruise control is set at. It also displays what the car's visual sensors last captured when I passed a speed limit sign (how often do we miss this especially when the speed limit increases or we've just merged onto a highway?). I love all of that.

An installed extra on this new 2024 Toyota Camry Hybrid XSE that I wouldn't have voluntarily sought was a dashcam. A close call as I was driving east yesterday morning finally led me to figure out how to download a clip from it. It looks like none of the vehicles made contact but boy was it close. The rearview mirror showed me how much tire-burn smoke floated up but at least for me and my new ride: we were cool.

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

Fluffy Eggnog Cinnamon Rolls

Officially last Wednesday was National Sticky Buns Day, but I had to come in with the close approximation of just cinnamon rolls. But not just any ol' cinnamon rolls, but the dearly loved fluffy eggnog cinnamon rolls.

It was right in the middle of a couple of busy work days, so I prepped them all on Tuesday night and baked them Wednesday morning. Then I was able to take a handful of them with me to share with aspiring administrators on a clinical coaching rounds day over in Greensboro.

My first taste did not come, though, until after dinner that night, heated up just enough in the microwave to bring them back to life, plus more of that ridiculous white chocolate eggnog frosting atop. It was an amazing pile of hardcore sugar, when you get right down to it. (Since this was Batch No. 23 in the era of the blog, I guess it confirms my obsession.)

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"Easy Fluffy Eggnog Cinnamon Rolls," from Tieghan Girard of Half-Baked Harvest. [Published 24 November 2020]

Meal No. 3547: Roasted Vegetables Plate

Late afternoon return home after spending last Tuesday in a middle school in the next county over, and the meal I could put together on time involved roasting a selection of the fresh vegetables I had on hand: broccoli, cauliflower, and Yukon gold potatoes. The broccoli just got salt and pepper, but the cauliflower was spiced with lots of cumin and coriander; the potatoes got blackening spice, salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and a longer roasting time. Somehow it was more overwhelming than a regular meat and two sides.

Eggnog Doughnut Muffins

The world sure is a crazy place. When National Muffin Day rolled around last Tuesday, I figured I'd try an untried recipe: eggnog doughnut muffins. I took them with me to the school I was working in and also shared them with folks closer to home. Everybody seemed to love them, like: seriously. They were so popular I didn't even get to try one, except for a small morsel snagged before the rest of that muffin disappeared down somebody else's gullet. So what's the crazy thing? That so many of the reviewers commenting on the recipe's source website were disappointed, or thought they were bland, or didn't like the texture, or... The world is crazy but here in my neck of the woods, these eggnog doughtnut muffins were a platinum hit.

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"Holiday Recipe: Eggnog Doughnut Muffins," by Emma Christensen of TheKitchn.com. [Updated 22 January 2020]

Meal No. 3546: Mongolian Beef & Broccoli Stir-Fry

Monday night was devoted to the trimmings from a recently-purchased beef tenderloin, which is a remarkably rare foodstuff for me any more, frankly. (I love beef, but most of the time I cannot justify its current exorbitant cost!) Anyway: those marvelous morsels I salvaged after cutting up most of the tenderloin for filet mignon were just right for Mongolian beef and broccoli bowls, served over fresh-steamed rice, with plenty of that full-flavored stir-fry sauce. It wasn't a perfect result but that did not keep me from eating every bit and drop of it.

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"Mongolian Beef and Broccoli," from Karina Carrel of CafeDelites.com. [Published 15 April 2016]

Meal No. 3545: Sausage Scramble Strudel

An idea bouncing around in my head the last week or so finally got piloted last Sunday night: a sausage, scallion, mushroom, and cheddar cheese enhancement of scrambled eggs, spread down the center of a sheet of puff pastry, cut and crossed into a lovely braid, baked for just the right amount of time, and then sliced and served as a breakfast strudel (but at dinnertime!). Turned out to be pretty good, actually!

Meal No. 3544: Barbecue Chicken & Bacon Puff Pastry Pizza

Saturday night's dinner had to be thrown together pretty quickly but I had just the thing to fit the bill: barbecue chicken and bacon puff pastry pizza. Once it got dosed with extra mozzarella near the end of the cooking time, it came out steaming and delicious.

That afternoon had a long-overdue treat in the form of a visit with Wake Forest chum Lyn Exum, who's been on faculty down at UNC-Charlotte for almost a quarter century. We first met when I was Hall Director of the Thurman D. Kitchin House, during my master's program, and he was an undergrad. We've kept in contact but this was our first in-person visit since I caught up with him and his wife during his doc studies in Maryland in the late 90s. It's one of the happy delights to make friends at one time of your life who never quite leave it completely...and boy howdy did our hours-long catch-up conversation cover a lot of ground.

Meal No. 3543: Cheddar Potato Soup

The investment both in a food saver vacuum-sealer as well as a sous vide immersion circulator continues to pay off, as for me was once more made clear on Friday night: the abundant leftovers from last month's round of cheddar potato soup were held in place ready to be brought back to life with a good simmer in the sous vide. On that chilly grey day, it was all the goodness without all the work. That's a two-fer in my book.

Girl Scout Cookie Lemon Shortbread Cheesecake

Not quite a decade ago, an issue of Taste of Home included a few recipes for desserts that could be made from Girl Scout cookies. The one that my eye was drawn to was for a lemon shortbread cheesecake, a shortcut simple amalgamation of two different Girl Scout cookies, along with a terrific homemade lemon curd on top, which is what really makes it especially appealing. It's been a hit around here, even though I confess to having mixed feelings about it. That helps me keep my personal slices a tad more modest.

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"Lemon Shortbread Cheesecake," by Rosalia Roger of Lincoln, Nebraska. Originally published in Taste of Home, February/March, 2016, p. 64-65.

Meal No. 3542: Barbecue-Spiced Chicken Thighs

Thursday was when I just needed a meat and two sides, so with the sous vide to help I pulled out barbecue spiced chicken thighs from the freezer, harvested broccoli florets from the crowns I'd bought a few days ago, and added the simplicity of stovetop stuffing. Quite a bit was left on the plate, given that it started out all piled high. Had to leave room for dessert, which will be reported on in tomorrow's blog post.

Meal No. 3541: Mexican Street Taco Pork Nachos

When I couldn't find what I was hoping for at the grocery, I had to default to a simple dinner choice last Tuesday evening. Not especially well-suited to it being the official Mardi Gras night but it was well-suited to my tummy and tastes: Mexican street taco pork converted into cheesy sheet pan nachos, with black beans and corn kernels, a generous smattering of onion, and lots of that delicious shredded pork. It was mostly filled with Mexican cheese but I did shake out some sharp cheddar on top, given that it was National Cheddar Day. All that and lime crema too? You betcha.

February 13: also the date I saw the earliest of the yard's daffodils beginning to bloom, as shown above.

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

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

Meal No. 3540: Weeknight Chicken Tikka Masala

Monday night was a bowl of goodness, a shortcut version of chicken tikka masala with pre-prepped spiced diced chicken first cooked via sous vide; then, a well-simmered tomato sauce with extra attention to its own collection of spices, smoothed out with a bit of heavy cream, was the luscious cover so that it all might sink into fresh-steamed brown rice. I had low expectations for it, frankly, right up until the moment I tasted how good it was.

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"Chicken Tikka Masala," from Cook's Country, October/November 2014, centerfold recipe cards.

Mardi Gras King Cake

For the third time now, I've indulged in the passionate mystery of making a Mardi Gras King Cake. The version I made last year had a lot of promise even if I didn't have a lot of skill, so it was an inviting challenge to take up again. That's how I spent some of the rainy Sunday as last weekend was wrapping up.

I'm still not great with technique and styling but I must say that the oversized slice I ate instead of having any dinner that night more than satisfied.

Once I get better at this, I'll make better seals and won't lose quite so much of the brown sugar-cinnamon filling. Nonetheless, the beatiful risen dough and the colorful ham-handed decorating and the spirit of Mardi Gras here on Spring Street: it was an abundance of gifts.

I'm also a bit torn on what we really ought to call this. I mean, "King Cake" is what's known as and yet it is very much a sweet enriched yeast-risen bread, no? I'm glad for the warm spirit and glorious scents, though, as a most essential salve to the drear of that day.

Scarlett still found her window seat time on the new cushion to be a joy.

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"Mardi Gras King Cake," from Amy Nash of HouseofNashEats.com. [Published 22 January 2022 / Modified 19 January 2023]

Meal No. 3539: Brioche French Toast

Keeping it straight and simple and syrupy at the Roediger House last Saturday night: brioche French toast, with a tried-and-true recipe that suits us just fine.

It was uncharacteristically warm—mid-60s, before rain showers moved in early evening—so it was a pretty pleasant four-mile walk mid-day. But it sure is nice to return and be enthusiastically greeted by pooches like these (pictured above, from morning hang-out time that day).

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"French Toast," by PJ Hamel of King Arthur Baking online.

Meal No. 3538: Skillet Pan Pizza

As the fullness of a grey Friday played out to wrap up last week in downtown Winston-Salem, the chance to observe National Pizza Day was enticing enough to make an accommodating supper menu. This is one of three of these days devoted to pizza: both cheese pizza and pepperoni pizza have their own days at other times of the year. For my tastes the other night, I did like the sound of pepperoni with a homemade NY-style pizza sauce, all on that thick and tasty pan pizza crust, with no shortage of both cheddar and mozzarella cheeses (and perhaps some grated parmesan snuck in there as well).

I might at last have worked up a good appetite with the chores of the day. It took me far too long to address it, but I finally got the shop vac out and also set up my pump and hose so that I could get rid of most of the standing water in the cellar. That was a huge task.

I also found time for yard work, too, doing a bit of mid-winter weeding from the kitchen garden plot, cleaning up around the daylilies, and getting up a lot of the remaining leaves. Then I fired up the older lawn mower so that I could knock down all the monkey grass, almost too late in the winter but it was needed. Then it was time to break out the blower and clear off the driveway before the coming rains arrived. It was enough to tucker me out...and to wolf down that pizza pronto.

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Pizza Crust based on "Fool-Proof Pan Pizza," by J. Kenji López-Alt, culinary consultant for SeriousEats.com. [Updated 30 March 2023]

"Homemade NY-Style Pizza Sauce," by J. Kenji López-Alt, culinary consultant for SeriousEats.com. [Updated 17 February 2023]

Meal No. 3537: Roast Beef Cheddar Melts

It was mostly simple Thursday night for dinner at the Roediger House. Onions slowly caramelized, a special sauce whipped up, and the remainder of a peasant loaf ready for buttering and griddling...the final strips of deli roast beef, some hearty slices of cheddar, and two hands to hold it all: roast beef cheddar melts on homemade bread with a specialty sauce to boot. It was good enough to blog about!

I'd also made some dessert: Vietnamese coffee ice cream. A tad icy this time but still very much a sweet treat!

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"Beef & Cheddar Melts Sauce," a Roediger House creation.

"Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream," by David Lebovitz. In The Perfect Scoop. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press (2007), p. 35.

Meal No. 3536: Fettuccine Alfredo

I try on occasion to get direction for meal planning by playing along with the "National Day of" calendar, so my menu on Wednesday evening was set by the grand observance of National Fettuccine Alfredo Day. Not a pasta dish that I make all that often any more, so its reappearance as the central feature was more special for its rarity. And as long as I was blowing through the guardrails of my weight maintenance efforts, why not also whip up ridiculous garlic breadsticks? I'm just glad Bradley Phillis wasn't here to do a running count of the number consumed.

Speaking of counting, I'm still counting myself pretty lucky that I was able to track down this fine new automobile that I found myself stopping to admire again as I was returning from rolling the trash cart to the curb that night.

There's something new for the pooches to enjoy as well, also in a fine shade of blue: a new long window cushion that allows both of them to sit up in the pool table area's huge window and watch the world go by.

Or just soak up the sun. Or nap up on high (it is on the third floor, after all!).

In the last couple of days, I've noticed the earliest push of the forthcoming tulips by the back door, which means that the trials of winter may not be so great as to make me utterly nuts. But that doesn't mean Winston-Salem was entirely free of other kinds of nuts:

The great man struck down by an assassin's bullet in 1968 is a far cry from the loon who inherited his name and none of his good sense!

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"The Best Homemade Alfredo Sauce Ever!" by Alyssa Rivers of The Recipe Critic. [Published 18 February 2016 / Updated 02 May 2023]

"Copycat Olive Garden Breadsticks," from Tessa Arias of HandletheHeat.com. [Published 13 December 2013 / Updated 18 January 2023]

Meal No. 3535: Chicken Fried Rice with Broccoli

Last Monday I was lost in my own dinner-planning fog and could not settle on what should be made. I had chicken breast and some leftover rice, and that sealed the deal: chicken fried rice with crisp broccoli florets, plus a sexy stir-fry sauce to bring it all to another level. Turned out to be a tad heavy in my stomach but it sure tasted good!

I still had one dessert surprise up my sleeve, thanks to the scraps I'd saved when making croissants the week before. Rolled up like a pinwheel, brushed with a bit of whipped egg white, and coated thoroughly with cinnamon and sugar: this unique take on a croissant really impressed...and was helpfully boosted by a couple of dollops of eggnog frosting alongside!

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Based on "Classic Chicken Fried Rice" [Published 26 October 2015 / Updated 04 May 2023] and "How to Velvet Chicken for Stir-Fry" [Published 24 March 2020 / Updated 27 June 2022], from Bill Leung of TheWoksofLife.com.

Supplemental Stir-Fry Sauce inspired by "5 Easy Sauce Recipes that Will Make Everything You Eat Taste Way Better," by Sophia Roe on Well + Good. [Published 09 January 2019]

Meal No. 3534: Cream of Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

National Homemade Soup Day was last Sunday, and I celebrated with one of my all-time favorites: ultimate cream of tomato soup, along with grilled cheese sandwiches on homemade peasant bread.

Roasted tomatoes are the centerpiece of this pot of goodness, but when the peasant bread comes out very nearly perfect, one might find the sandwiches to be more centerstage than the soup.

And let's not overlook how nice it is to still have peasant bread to help out the late afternoon hungries (as happened last Tuesday), when nice thin slices are turned into cinnamon toast:

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

"Easy Same-Day Peasant Bread," from Jenny Rosenstrach of the CupofJo.com blog. [Published 02 February 2022] Adapted from Alexandra Stafford of AlexandraCooks.com. [07 November 2012 / Updated 06 January 2022]