You Are What You Eat: May 27 through June 3
On the plus side, I made six new recipes since last time. On the downside, I ate out three nights in a row, all of which were repeated restaurants, and only one of which was planned.
Monday, May 27 - With Memorial Day off, it was easy to make a two part dinner. The main entree was Sweet and Sour Chicken with Broccoli from the June 2019 Eating Well. This was quick and easy to make, and M really enjoyed the flavor, so it's probably going to be added to the rotation.
As a side, I pulled another new recipe from the same issue, the Creamy Cucumber, Radish & Tomato Chopped Salad. This was also fast to make and was a pleasant mayo-dressing based salad. All in all, the two dishes made a great dinner.
Tuesday, May 28 - I went to the Moosewood Favorites for the Risotto Milanese, which I've made before, but instead of taking it straight I made the spinach and feta variant. It was a little outside the normal risotto flavoring, but M liked it more than the original recipe. I'm not quite as keen on the variant, but there was certainly nothing wrong with it.
Wednesday, May 29 - It turns out there are still a few recipes in the Moosewood Favorites that I haven't made yet. One of them was the Southwestern Sweet Potato-Corn Soup. This was a serviceable thick vegetable soup that wasn't too thick and hearty for a spring day, but I've got better sweet potato soups in my repertoire.
Thursday, May 30 - Somehow I had gone all year without making hummus. It was clearly time to correct that. For year's I've been using the Double-Tahini Hummus featured in the March/April 2015 Eating Well in a section on Michael Solomonov. When I make it perfectly, it's better than any restaurant hummus I've ever had. This batch, which was made over three days, was a little too heavy on the oil so it wasn't as thick as it should have been. We (including M and her friend Kris) ate it with crackers and carrots.
We also had the Olive Oil-Braised Summer Squash from the June 2019 Eating Well, but we agreed that it really wasn't very good. Oh well.
Friday, May 31 - The one planned night out was Deagan's for the fifth time this year. It did not disappoint. Unfortunately, it appears that the chocolate malt (and ice cream in general) is starting to bother my stomach, so I'm going to have to watch that. Otherwise my duck meatballs and fries were very nice. Certainly it was a good way to celebrate my first paycheck with the new raise.
Saturday, June 1 - After an exhausting day of yard work, M really wanted to go out so we returned to Buckeye Beer Engine for the third time (second meal). I had a wrap with chicken, falafel and hummus. M had her "grilling holiday" hamburger. Beer was consumed.
I also went a concert on Saturday night, but since I only had pop (mostly for the caffeine since it was a tiring day) I'm not counting it as a night out drinking.
Sunday, June 2 - M's friend Katie was in town for a concert with her friend Syd, so we took them to Barroco in Lakewood. Technically I hadn't been there this year, but I have been to Barrocco in Westlake just a few weeks back and they're fundamentally the same, so I'm calling that a repeat.
Monday, June 3 - I went back to the May 2019 Eating Well to try out the Asparagus Salad with Smoked Salmon & Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette. I even used the Meyer Lemon infused olive oil I'd bought previously. Basically it was "here, have some greens with an oil dressing topped with an egg based dressing with smoked salmon and roasted asparagus on top." There's nothing wrong with that, but it was a lot of work to get something that could have been approximated by having a bagel with lox on it and a green salad. M liked it so we might have it again.
Totals For This Post
Days Covered: 8
Meals / Dishes Cooked: 5 / 7
New Recipes: 6
Leftover Nights: 0
Eating Out / Take Out Meals: 3
Eating Out Drinks/Dessert Only: 0
New To Me Restaurants: 0
Repeated Restaurants in 2019: 3
Parties / Friends / Family Cooked: 0
Repeated Recipes: 0
Overall Totals 2019 (less January 1)
Days Covered: 153
Meals / Dishes Cooked: 102 / 134
New Recipes: 57
Leftover Nights: 6
Eating Out / Take Out Meals: 61
Eating Out Drinks/Dessert Only: 23
New To Me Restaurants: 25
Repeated Restaurants in 2019: 14
Parties / Friends / Family Cooked: 12
Repeated Recipes: 4
Monday, May 27 - With Memorial Day off, it was easy to make a two part dinner. The main entree was Sweet and Sour Chicken with Broccoli from the June 2019 Eating Well. This was quick and easy to make, and M really enjoyed the flavor, so it's probably going to be added to the rotation.
As a side, I pulled another new recipe from the same issue, the Creamy Cucumber, Radish & Tomato Chopped Salad. This was also fast to make and was a pleasant mayo-dressing based salad. All in all, the two dishes made a great dinner.
Tuesday, May 28 - I went to the Moosewood Favorites for the Risotto Milanese, which I've made before, but instead of taking it straight I made the spinach and feta variant. It was a little outside the normal risotto flavoring, but M liked it more than the original recipe. I'm not quite as keen on the variant, but there was certainly nothing wrong with it.
Wednesday, May 29 - It turns out there are still a few recipes in the Moosewood Favorites that I haven't made yet. One of them was the Southwestern Sweet Potato-Corn Soup. This was a serviceable thick vegetable soup that wasn't too thick and hearty for a spring day, but I've got better sweet potato soups in my repertoire.
Thursday, May 30 - Somehow I had gone all year without making hummus. It was clearly time to correct that. For year's I've been using the Double-Tahini Hummus featured in the March/April 2015 Eating Well in a section on Michael Solomonov. When I make it perfectly, it's better than any restaurant hummus I've ever had. This batch, which was made over three days, was a little too heavy on the oil so it wasn't as thick as it should have been. We (including M and her friend Kris) ate it with crackers and carrots.
We also had the Olive Oil-Braised Summer Squash from the June 2019 Eating Well, but we agreed that it really wasn't very good. Oh well.
Friday, May 31 - The one planned night out was Deagan's for the fifth time this year. It did not disappoint. Unfortunately, it appears that the chocolate malt (and ice cream in general) is starting to bother my stomach, so I'm going to have to watch that. Otherwise my duck meatballs and fries were very nice. Certainly it was a good way to celebrate my first paycheck with the new raise.
Saturday, June 1 - After an exhausting day of yard work, M really wanted to go out so we returned to Buckeye Beer Engine for the third time (second meal). I had a wrap with chicken, falafel and hummus. M had her "grilling holiday" hamburger. Beer was consumed.
I also went a concert on Saturday night, but since I only had pop (mostly for the caffeine since it was a tiring day) I'm not counting it as a night out drinking.
Sunday, June 2 - M's friend Katie was in town for a concert with her friend Syd, so we took them to Barroco in Lakewood. Technically I hadn't been there this year, but I have been to Barrocco in Westlake just a few weeks back and they're fundamentally the same, so I'm calling that a repeat.
Monday, June 3 - I went back to the May 2019 Eating Well to try out the Asparagus Salad with Smoked Salmon & Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette. I even used the Meyer Lemon infused olive oil I'd bought previously. Basically it was "here, have some greens with an oil dressing topped with an egg based dressing with smoked salmon and roasted asparagus on top." There's nothing wrong with that, but it was a lot of work to get something that could have been approximated by having a bagel with lox on it and a green salad. M liked it so we might have it again.
Totals For This Post
Days Covered: 8
Meals / Dishes Cooked: 5 / 7
New Recipes: 6
Leftover Nights: 0
Eating Out / Take Out Meals: 3
Eating Out Drinks/Dessert Only: 0
New To Me Restaurants: 0
Repeated Restaurants in 2019: 3
Parties / Friends / Family Cooked: 0
Repeated Recipes: 0
Overall Totals 2019 (less January 1)
Days Covered: 153
Meals / Dishes Cooked: 102 / 134
New Recipes: 57
Leftover Nights: 6
Eating Out / Take Out Meals: 61
Eating Out Drinks/Dessert Only: 23
New To Me Restaurants: 25
Repeated Restaurants in 2019: 14
Parties / Friends / Family Cooked: 12
Repeated Recipes: 4