Meal No. 2142: Brie and Spinach-Stuffed Chicken Breasts

For the return of Kristen and Mookie last Monday night, I thought I'd try out another new dish: brie and spinach-stuffed chicken breasts. I took some liberties with the recipe that was guiding me, hoping in no small way to replicate the item that was on the menu at Fourth Street Filling Station long ago. I let it cook a bit longer than I should but overall this was an excellent meal. I also had feta-stuffed roasted peppers (based on an idea from UVA chum Sheryl Cohen) and broccoli with cheddar sauce. Another new addition to the Roediger House kitchen repertoire was homemade Caesar dressing on spinach leaves, which earned rave reviews.

---

Preparation and cooking times guided, in part, by "Chicken Stuffed with Brie, Spinach, & Cranberries," from ifoodreal.com. [Published 07 December 2015]

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

Meal No. 2141: Chicken-Stuffed Crêpes

I got a little creative on Monday night, finding some inspiration in a handful of recipes that I'd checked out over the last week or so. A pretty amazing dish emerged from those efforts: chicken-stuffed crêpes, with a nice Gruyère sauce on top.

The cheating move on the crêpes was to create them with a thinly-spread scrambled egg, and it really worked out well:

---

"Stuffed Chicken Crêpes," a Roediger House original recipe.

Meal No. 2140: Rotisserie-Style Whole Chicken

I put in a pretty full day doing yard work last Saturday, and as evening came on, I got a little worried about whether there'd be enough time to finish my task goals for the day and also to get dinner made. Guess that's where an Instant Pot comes in handy. The scrumptious dinner was rotisserie-style chicken with Alabama great white sauce along with broccoli and a simple cheese sauce. That was more than enough!

---

"How to Cook Instant Pot Whole Chicken - Rotisserie Style," by Sheena from GlutenFreePressureCooker.com.

"Rotisserie Chicken Seasoning," by Judith Hannemann, The Midnight Baker. [Published 22 March 2017]

"Alabama Great White Sauce" (p. 362), in Smoke & Spice, by Cheryl and Bill Jamison. Boston: The Harvard Common Press, 2003.

Meal No. 2139: Stuffed Pork Tenderloin with Mushroom Sauce

It's been a long 10 days since dear friends Kristen and Mookie were over, so it was great to see them here last Thursday night for dinner. They let me try another new recipe on them: stuffed pork tenderloin with mushroom sauce. I also had a casserole dish of Brussels sprouts gratin and some cheesy riced cauliflower.

(Photo actually from May 2018)

Before coming inside for dinner prep, on that gorgeous afternoon, Sumner and I enjoyed some time on the front lawn, a sitting that turned into nearly an hour-and-a-half. I sat on the front wall, chatting with neighbor Ryan, and then we were joined briefly by Steve, another city dweller who is a fellow UNC alum. In the meantime, there was plenty of exchanged greetings with three other neighbors passing by, longtime friend Clark biking by, two of the guys who work across the street at Quanto Basta, two of the guys who work across the street at Radar Security Alarm, and friendly nods to strangers walking by or heading over to eat at QB. It's a reminder of what a small town feel is present in downtown Winston-Salem. I sure do love where I live.

---

"Stuffed Pork Tenderloin with Mushroom Sauce," from Denise of MyLifeCookbook.com. [Published 06 December 2017]

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

Meal No. 2138: Deviled Chicken Thighs

After a full and active day last Wednesday, it was nice to sit down to a great dinner spread, consisting of deviled chicken thighs, broccoli with cheese sauce, sliced avocado, and spinach salad with more of my homemade blue cheese dressing.

This is a gorgeous weather week in Winston-Salem, a nice change after the long stretch of rainy days, stormy afternoons, overcast skies, and general dreariness that persisted almost interrupted for three weeks. After a vigorous morning walk with Sumner, and a break for morning coffee, I was able to get in the yard for a good part of the day, cutting the grass and spreading mulch and weeding. I finally got around to putting up the hummingbird feeder, its placement this summer inspired by the example of Pat and John Lloyd. This downtown lot is not really a hummingbird haven but I did have one buzz past me once some time ago.

The unexpected twist of the late afternoon was to join in with my neighbor in taking hold of a stray pit bull that was wondering up and down Spring Street. He had a collar and a harness but no tags or identification on him.

It was easy to leash him but not so easy to get his slimy drool off my pants. I checked first with my vet, who told me the best thing was to let the Forsyth Humane Society scan him for a chip and then hold him so the owner can reclaim him.

---

"Deviled Chicken Drumsticks," by Ian Knauer. In Gourmet, August 2008.

Broccoli with Cheese Sauce, based on "Keto Cheese Sauce," by Martina Slajerova. [Published 23 December 2014]

Meal No. 2137: Pan-Seared Pork Chops with Sage & Garlic

Pan-seared pork chops bathed in a sage and garlic butter sauce? Sounds like a perfect item for the Tuesday evening plate. I also reached back into the archives to bring back asparagus salad supreme and tried a new recipe for cheesy cauliflower rice that I tinkered a great deal with. It proved to be a pretty fine dinner.

Not all readers will approve of the other relevant Tuesday item, the fact that Sumner managed to score his second squirrel kill in two days (and his third all-time):

We are overrun by them here on this downtown quarter-acre lot, and I've previously noted the problems they've caused (back when I wrote about Sumner's first successful squirrel kill). Sometimes I trap and relocate them but Sumner sure makes it a lot more efficient, if you don't mind the seamy underside of The Circle of Life.

---

"Your New Favorite Pork Chops," by Alison Roman, in Bon Appétit, March 2015, p. 35.

"Asparagus Salad Supreme," from Paula Bass [Washington, NC]. Originally published in Quick Cooking, March/April 2000, p. 37.

"Cheesy Cauliflower Rice," by Lisa of lowcarbyum.com.

Meal No. 2136: Cauliflower Chicken Alfredo

I tried another new recipe on Monday night but tinkered with it enough that I can only claim to have based my concoction on the source of the idea. It proved to be a filling one-bowl meal of goopy goodness in the guise of cauliflower chicken and spinach alfredo. I didn't miss the missing fettuccine!

Also, Sumner has now officially scored his second squirrel kill:

---

Based in part on "Cauliflower Chicken Alfredo," by Anne Aobadia and Emma Shevtzoff.

Meal No. 2135: Steak and Cheesy Scrambled Eggs

I had myself a delicious and easy late breakfast this past Monday morning: cheesy scrambled eggs with the last of my leftover grilled ribeye steak. That was followed by a good long walk with Sumner on a gorgeous early summer day.

Meal No. 2134: Chicken Supreme

My mother was no longer teaching by the time I came along and was mostly a stay-at-home mom. And we always had good food on the table, although she tended toward mostly standard fare. For some reason, a particular "new" recipe that she introduced somewhere along the way has always stood out for me as the exotic choice in her repertoire, even though it was still in many ways a basic dish: chicken supreme. There's not much to it: chicken, broccoli, and a tangy sauce made of sour cream and mayonnaise with lemon juice and parmesan cheese layered in and on top.

It's been over three years since I last made it, and it was another four years before that...and then maybe 20 years even further back for an earlier time I might last have made it...?

Meal No. 2133: Spinach, Bacon, & Gruyère Egg Dish

On a gorgeous early summer Sunday morning at the Roediger House, there was a nice simple egg-bake breakfast, stuffed with bacon, spinach, Gruyère, a bit of goat cheese, and lots of love.

Meal No. 2132: Roasted Salmon

The Saturday night meal at the Roediger House was a chance to bring salmon back to the table, with a light blackening spice and adorned with some chilled rosemary dijon cream sauce. I also sautéed zucchini and roasted some more cauliflower to dunk into a cheesy cream sauce.

---

Chilled Rosemary Dijon Cream Sauce, from "Poached Salmon," in The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook, compiled and edited by Julie Fisher Gunter. Birmingham, AL: Oxmoor House (1999), p. 216.

Meal No. 2131: Spinach Steak Salad with Blue Cheese

Friday night's dinner was based on a value pack of ribeyes and I was left with an extra one, which was perfect for grilling at lunch on Saturday and then topping a spinach and avocado salad with homemade blue cheese dressing.

---

"Chart House Blue Cheese Dressing," by Carl of the 2 Keto Dudes blog. [Published 08 November 2016]

Meal No. 2130: Pan-Seared Ribeyes and Mushroom Sauce

It was quite a feast at the Roediger House on Friday night, featuring pan-seared garlic butter ribeyes with a really terrific mushroom sauce. I also tried my hand at cheesy garlic creamed spinach (which I overcreamed), and also some roasted cauliflower tossed in a simple cheese sauce. What a delicious start to the weekend!

And I put to use my first summer garden item: fresh sprigs of thyme:

---

"Pan-Seared Garlic Butter Steak & Mushroom Cream Sauce," from Karina Carrel of the Cafe Delites blog. [Published 01 November 2017]

"Cheesy Garlic Creamed Spinach," from Kyndra Holley of the Peace, Love, and Low Carb blog. [Published 28 December 2015]

"Low Carb Cauliflower Mac and Cheese," from Maya Krampf of the Wholesome Yum blog. [Published 24 June 2017]

Meal No. 2129: Cheesy Eggs & Broccoli-Mushroom Sauté

When breakfast time rolled around Friday morning, I had a hankering for bacon and eggs and, this time around, also a broccoli and mushroom sauté. It was pretty filling!

Meal No. 2128: Pioneer Woman Meatloaf

This past Monday night, with four at the table, the menu was again by special request: bacon-wrapped meatloaf, another batch of company mashed potatoes, some fresh-steamed broccoli, and homemade applesauce.

---

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

"Company Mashed Potatoes," a Jones family favorite.

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. 2127: Thanksgiving on the Half-Year

Since the Thanksgiving meal is too good to be limited only to Thanksgiving (and, at the Roediger House, at Christmas, too!), we all decided back in 2010 to also celebrate that meal over the Memorial Day Holiday. We cheekily call it Thanksgiving on the Half-Year, and this year that involved eleven folks around the dining room table, plates high with all the usual goodies we've come to love:

Roasted Beef Tenderloin / Herb-Roasted Turkey Breast

Exceptionally Tasty Turkey

Turkey Gravy / Apple & Bacon Stuffing

Beef Tenderloin

Sweet Potato Casserole / Layered Green Bean Casserole

---

"Oven-Roasted Turkey Breast," Betty Crocker: Holiday Entrées, Sides, Brunches, & More, November 2001, p. 22-23.

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

"Layered Green Bean Casserole," a long-time Jones family favorite.

"Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Topping," from Southern Living Slow-Cooker Cookbook,  (Oxmoor House, 2006), p. 234-235.

"Cornbread Stuffing with Apples and Bacon," from David Venable. Found online.

Meal No. 2126: Monie's Pasta Carbonara

I kept it simple on a rainy Saturday night over Memorial Day weekend: pasta carbonara. That represents the 2,126th meal made in the kitchen addition that was completed back in Spring 2009.

---

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

Meal No. 2125: Pulled Pork Barbecue Sandwiches

So that the evening could be devoted to the long-running film time of Blade Runner 2049, which was the featured entertainment at the Roediger House on Friday night, I opted for a simple meal that could mostly cook without me and then be easily consumed up on the third floor. I'd picked up ciabatta sandwich rolls, which intended to make this a fun take on pulled pork-and-slaw barbecue sandwiches.

Also, as a first-time tomato grower this year, pardon my giddy excitement to see the first emerging tomatoes on my two plants:

---

"Instant Pot BBQ Pulled Pork" and "Homemade BBQ Sauce," from Ali of Gimme Some Oven.

Homemade Coleslaw was based on my mother's recipe.

Meal No. 2124: Pork Medallions with Ginger-Soy-Shiitake Sauce

By special birthday request, I served up pan-seared pork medallions with the very special ginger-soy-shiitake mushroom cream sauce on Thursday night. And you can't serve that main dish without the also-quite-special company mashed potatoes. I did try to fancy it up a bit with Brussels sprouts gratin, and it all came together pretty terrifically.

And there was also a well-intentioned dessert that didn't come out quite like I wanted. I used to make white wine coffee cake all the time with no or few hitches. Now I can't get it right to save my neck. So I dumped the mess into a Rubbermaid container and stuck a celebratory birthday candle into the pile.

---

Cream Sauce based on "Pan-Seared Tuna with Ginger-Shiitake Cream Sauce," from The Bon Appétit Cookbook by Barbara Fairchild, 2006, p. 398-399.

"Company Mashed Potatoes," a Jones family favorite.

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

Meal No. 2123: Baked Spaghetti

On Wednesday night, I knew I was possibly going to have seven at the table (it ended up being six), so I went to my known storehouse of big-dish recipes and pulled out baked spaghetti as our meal choice. There was also salad and garlic bread to go with it.

And there was dessert: Scotch chocolate cake, and folks seemed happy when that was what showed up on their little dessert plates.

---

"Baked Spaghetti," by Margaret Coalson via Stick Coulson, 13 July 1997.

"Scotch Chocolate Cake," [in my world, also known as Texas sheet cake]. Credited to Susie Timmons. From "Popular: Cake Request Gets 22 Responses," by Michael Hastings, Food Editor of the Winston-Salem Journal. Published October 6, 2010.

Meal No. 2122: Creole-Spiced Fried Chicken

It might not have been my wisest plan for myself last Monday night to pull off a major fried chicken dinner after spending three hours up at The Grand Theatre for Avengers: Infinity War. It left me a bit stressed when I tried to throw everything together in an hour, but fortunately I'd done a good bit of advanced prep work. And it helped that I was cooking the chicken thighs sous vide while we were at the film, before coming home and adding buttermilk and breading for a short fry on the Paragon induction plate.

So here's the great southern feast to start off the Roediger House week: creole-spiced fried chicken thighs, ultra-gooey mac and cheese, and fluffy biscuit hoecakes.

---

Fried Chicken, with ideas and help from:

• Brine and Buttermilk Soak from "Creole-Spiced Fried Chicken," from Chef Josh Galliano. In Food and Wine, March 2015, p. 70, 72.
• Sous Vide and Frying Guide from "Can't F***-It-Up Fried Chicken," from the folks at ChefSteps.
• Breading/Seasoning based on "KFC Secret Fried Chicken Recipe," from Chef Joel Mielle of Recipe30.com.

"The Food Lab's Ultra-Gooey Stovetop Mac and Cheese Recipe," from J. Kenji López-Alt, Managing Culinary Director of SeriousEats.com.

"Fluffy Southern-Style Hoecakes," by Erica of My Busy Bees and Me. Recipe first encountered through her YouTube video.

Meal No. 2121: Not So Cajun Chicken

By special request this past Sunday night, I made the Roediger House favorite known as Not So Cajun Chicken, which was then happily consumed while the crew and I finished binge-watching Altered Carbon from Netflix.

---

"Not So Cajun Chicken," a dish I regularly enjoyed at Crowley's Old Time Favorites restaurant and bar on Medlin Drive in Raleigh, NC. Credit to Jimmy Randolph for helping track the recipe down. (Another version of the recipe can be found here.)

Meal No. 2120: Beef Bulgogi Bowls

The Saturday night meal at the Roediger House was meant to be one-bowled and quick, so that binge-watching of the Netflix series Altered Carbon could proceed uninterrupted. A tasty meal and an intriguing, provocative show...all that helped make it a great hang up on the third floor.

Also, to have another item for snacking besides the current delicious offering of homemade pimento cheese, that morning I whipped up a batch of creamy stuffed eggs, and they hit the spot.

---

"Beef Bulgogi Bowls, A Korean Favorite," by Kaitlin of The Woks of Life blog. [Published 23 January 2016]

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

"Creamy Stuffed Eggs," a recipe shared with me by Barbara Huneycutt of Crozet, VA.

Meal No. 2119: World's Best Lasagna

It's pretty clear that the Friday night meal at the Roediger House tends to be a crowd-pleasing favorite. It's a big ol' casserole dish of what its author calls the "World's Best Lasagna," and we all think it is awfully darned good. Between the amount, so that it's easy to please six or more bellies, and the welcome reception once the crew learns this is on the menu, I find it hard to resist making this delicious goop.

Perhaps that's why this is already the third time in 2018 I've made it, and why I made it six times in 2017 (and five times in 2016...).

The crew of six didn't seem to mind that there was still an ample amount of cinnamon roll ice cream waiting to finish us off.

---

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

Meal No. 2118: Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole

Last Thursday night, I wasn't sure I really wanted to cook, but I pressed ahead anyway. With a rotisserie chicken already deboned and waiting for hopeful inclusion in some good dish, I decided to bring back poppy seed chicken casserole...which is always incredibly tasty. No need to trouble myself with making sides for a meal like this: it can stand fine on its own.

Also, that morning (May 17) was my first sighting of a goldfinch for the season:

---

"Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole," by Ashley Moore in Cook's Country, February/March 2015, p. 20.

Cinnamon Roll Cookies 'N Cream Ice Cream

This past week, I tried out a new ice cream recipe, that's sort of based on cookies and cream, perhaps, but with a focus on cinnamon rolls as the intended flavor. It was the rare non-churned version of a frozen dairy treat, and it proved to be a decent coda to meals for a couple of nights.

---

Based on "Cinnamon Roll Ice Cream," by Jillian of A Bajillian Recipes.

Meal No. 2117: Chicken & Pesto Aioli Ciabatta Sandwiches

Last Wednesday night I was struck with a hankering to pilot a ciabatta and pesto aioli sandwich, featuring chicken, smoked provolone, and roasted red pepper strips. If I try this again, I'll need to go with smaller/thinner individual ciabatta rolls rather than using a whole loaf: it was a lot of bread! But overall it was a tasty variation that I didn't hate.

---

Ideas to help me along came from:

• "Tomato Pesto and Chicken Ciabatta Sandwiches," from Favorite Family Recipes. [Published 28 April 2009]
• "Costco Turkey Provolone Pesto Sandwich Melt," from Jamie Cooks It Up! [Published 05 July 2012]