apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I have no idea what is cooking in my kitchen this weekend. I was supposed to be participating in a work training all weekend, but it got canceled at the last minute. I kind of want to go backpacking overnight on Saturday. It would be awesome to be cooking on my little MSR.

I didn't even wait for the weekend to try the butterscotch pudding recipe. I looked at the comments under the recipe and noted that many thought it was too soupy. I also tried the idea of putting actual scotch in it. The bf is lactose intolerant so I had to use soy milk. It came out fabulous and not too soupy (I added just the tiniest bit more corn starch). I would add less scotch next time because it barely comes to a boil and probably doesn't burn off too much alcohol. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed it and could barely wait for it to cool.

My ode to spring (more like prelude to summer):

Black bean and Tomato Quinoa

My Mom's favorite biscotti for her 75th birthday, Heidi's Jamaican veggie patties

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/jamaican-veggie-patties-recipe.html

and may be Meleyna's black bean and tomato quinoa :)

Work travel and a 5 day weekend in Monterey Bay over the next week and a half means we won't be doing much cooking at home this weekend. Instead, we'll use up what we have in the freezer: leftover red lentil and butternut squash soup tonight along with no knead bread for tonight and meatball and spinach soup tomorow night. Despite the glorious upper 70 degree temps the last few days, winter has reasserted itself this weekend so the soups are apropos.

Two pretty tame, though I felt essential, kitchen firsts for me already this weekend (and it's not even noon!) - steel cut oatmeal (eaten with some cinnamon, turbinado sugar, and a few froz. blueberries) and french press coffee. Mmm! Usually the BF makes the coffee, I've always been intimidated - but it was so simple. I'm also an instant-oat packet junkie during the week at work and have been wanting to make steel cut on the weekends or evenings to take to the office instead. I ran out of packets this week and McCann's was on clearance at the grocery store near my mom so it was time to make the switch. Hooray :)

A Spanish tortilla and tapas-style dinner for a few friends last night. We had no meat and it was a pretty incredible meal on the cheap.

STLColleen: I've been eating oatmeal because it is good for me, but I have found a scant handful of Trader Joe's "Dried Wild Blueberries" is an easy way to make it more interesting. They keep well and make the "medicine" go down easier.
Hopefully you are near a TJs.
My two cents.

I went to the farmers market this morning and bought some locally caught pickerel cheeks and some locally grown stewing beef. Tonight I am making pan fried pickerel cheeks and risotto primavera. Tomorrow I am going to try this Beef Goulash with Dumpling recipe.
http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/004187beef_goulash_with_dumplings.php

Looks like I will be recreating a recipe from Fergus Henderson's Nose to Tail Eating:

braised front leg and shoulder of venison.

Tonight I am making a roast chicken, with the three kinds of carrots, and three kinds of potatos:)

It's ribs, baby! We are grilling. Picking the lettuce as it's starting to bolt. So salad and sweet potatoes with the meal tonight.

Tomorrow, it's chicken on the grill, with steak. The chicken will be for Monday. I made a homemade buttermilk dressing for the weekend salads and will have twice baked potatoes with the steaks.

Cauliflower and cabbage for this week's veggie.

@JD523 I AM near TJs and will pick some up next time I'm there, it sounds like a perfect addition! Thanks :)

Dinner tonight - fried rice w/ chicken and homemade spring rolls. Yum!

Wow, may I come to your houses for dinner tonight? We're having nachos. Far inferior to your fabulous sounding dishes!

I thought we'd be going out with family guests this weekend, but the little one is sick so it turned into a clean-out-the-fridge cooking weekend. The what-have-we-here spinach quiche turned out far better than anticipated. I think it will be a Spanish tortilla and maybe a red lentil soup tomorrow? I've got potatoes and eggs, so...

I have so much to cook this weekend! The farmers' markets in Berkeley have such an amazing array of spring produce - cauliflower, asparagus, green garlic, spring onions. For lunch today though, I was craving some smoked salmon, so I made avocado toast with smoked salmon and cumin. So good! Tomorrow - roasted cauliflower with green garlic and sun-dried tomato pesto over wild rice. Actually, I don't know if I can wait til tomorrow!

Oil braised leeks, flank steak sprinkled with sea salt and an Acme baguette to sop up the juices. We had a stressful week -- comfort food was definitely in order.

the best leek recipe I've ever used, highly recommended:
http://eggbeater.typepad.com/shuna/2006/04/leeks.html

Not exactly cooking, but I started some rhubarb vodka today! And I made a rhubarb crumble yesterday, with whole wheat flour and walnuts in the topping. I'm a bit crazy about rhubarb.

Baby lamb chops with mint, cumin and honey; roasted broccoli and the very last drops of a bottle of Avignonesi vin santo for dessert. Molto delicioso.

For me spring means flowers so for celebrating the beginning of spring i made these matcha cupcake with candy flowers.

good stuff.

Rhubarb vodka sounds awesome!

I picture a crisp, rhubarb martini. Icy vodka and a mint sugar rim.