Happy Thanksgiving

I made two things to bring to Thanksgiving dinner.

1. Apple Cider Jelly Candy - Tasty, but would have been much better had I gotten better cider. I meant to, but forgot, so I had to make do with grocery store brand apple cider, which was scarcely better thank store brand apple juice. It made for pale candies.

2. Hot Jalapeno Popper Dip - Delicious, but add more cheese. I mixed in some Parmesan and I think it could still use more cheese. It was really good just on bread, but it was also good spread on the ham that my sister insisted on bringing (not that I don't love ham, or the ham bone my step-mom was kind enough to let me have, but it definitely was not a family tradition like my sister was convinced it was).

Happy Birthday!

The baby is now one year old, which officially makes her a toddler (though I think the walking precipitated the name change, as she's definitely been toddling around the place for a while now). She got to celebrate her birthday twice. Once with a cake, in a joint party with my dad. He's been doing his best to turn his home into a beach hut, so I thought it would be fun to make a tiki cake. I also made a little tiki cupcake.

Let's talk about the cake briefly. I got the tiki idea while looking at this monkey cake. I didn't really feel like randomly making a monkey-shaped cake, but the shades of brown also work nicely for a tiki. The cake itself... well, it was okay. Part of it was my fault. I put it in the oven, went upstairs, and totally forgot about it. The cupcake, which I removed from the oven on time, was nice and moist. The cake itself was denser, more like a banana bread. The other issue was the frosting. Very delicious, but I found it to be way too sweet for the cake.

Alright, back to the fun stuff. Celebration number two was just the three of us at home, on the baby's actual birthday. R's family would traditionally go to an ice cream parlor, but since there are no longer any within San Diego county (I checked), we decided to make sundaes.

When we gave her the sundae, the baby just dipped her finger in the whipped cream and ate the cherry off the top. We eventually dumped it out of the bowl onto her tray and broke it up a little bit so that she would have an easier time eating it. She doesn't really like getting her hands messy (sometimes), so she decided the best way would be to lick the ice cream off the tray.

Oh, and an update on the first word. Apparently it stands for any food, as a few nights ago I was getting ready to nurse her and she was making hungry noises then said "cheese" before latching on with relish. Silly baby.

26

 Happy birthday to me... a few weeks ago. I had a lovely birthday. My good friend S came down for the weekend (can you believe we've known each other for 20 years?), and on my birthday we all went to the zoo. S took some rather adorable pictures of the baby.

It was the baby's first trip to the zoo, not that she'll remember it. She enjoyed the monkeys and the fish, and seemed to notice a few of the large animals, but mostly she enjoyed looking at the other babies. So many babies! So many strollers. I was totally getting a bit of stroller envy. Our Graco works well enough (and has a nice big basket underneath where I can carry the groceries), but it definitely isn't the lightest, most awesome thing around. We'll have to look for something lighter when we're shopping for a double stroller, as two times the weight of our current one would be a mighty heavy stroller indeed.

Being my birthday, I also made a couple of recipes that I probably wouldn't have made in my everyday cooking, as I knew R wouldn't have liked them. For my birthday dinner I made a zucchini and ricotta galette, which, I'm sorry to say, was definitely more work than it was worth. Mine also leaked butter like mad and make the oven very smokey. We ate it, and the baby snatched a chunk of it off my plate and stuffed it into her mouth, but I wouldn't deem it fantastic. I also made broken jellied wine with summer fruit, which, if you're looking for a mature version of jello shots, is right on the money. Of course, I forgot that anything gelatinous makes S gag, and R doesn't care for wine, so I was faced with the prospect of eating all the wine gelatin myself. Over the course of several nights I made it through about half, but one can only eat so much alcoholic Jello.

4th of July

Well, I know it's been a week since the 4th, but hey! It's only been a week. I feel like I'm practically writing about current events. We had a lovely holiday. We BBQed, had a bonfire (and I, being a large child, toasted many marshmallows), and watched fireworks. We got home later than ideal, as I was teaching the next day (yay!), but I think it was worth it.

When R and I decided to take a friend up on his invitation to celebrate the 4th at his family's beach front house (rather than, say, hanging out at home), I had one though: yakitori! Sure, yakitori probably isn't the most traditional food for the celebration of our nation's founding, but it had been on my mind recently thanks to my favorite food blogger.

This also meant that I got to try out a recipe that I probably wouldn't have otherwise made from one of my new cookbooks. I hadn't marked it when I did my initial pass though the book, due either to my lack of a BBQ or a feeling of "grilled chicken, so what?" and so nearly missed out on something delicious. The yakitori sauce, slowly caramelized on the grill into an umber glaze, really does something magical to the chunks of chicken thigh. It was delicious and everyone was much impressed.

As I wasn't going to make a giant mountain of yakitori, I wound up halving the recipe, which was the perfect amount for the eight chicken skewers (five or six thighs) and five vegetable skewers (plus a smidge left over that was subsequently brushed onto some grilled pineapple). I didn't have any kombu, but while I'm sure the kelp would have added some nice umami notes to the sauce, it's presence wasn't missed in the final product. I also substituted shichimi togarashi (Japanese 7 spice blend, including red pepper) for ichimi togarashi (Japanese red pepper flakes) and lime juice for lemon juice. Bonus: this can be made a day ahead of time.

Chicken Yakitori
Adapted from Takashi's Noodles
 

• 1 c soy sauce
• 1/6 c sake
• 1/6 c water
• 2 t ginger juice (grate ginger into plastic wrap, poke a hole in the bottom and squeeze out the juice)
• 1 T sesame oil
• 1/8 c lime juice
• 1 c sugar
• 1/2 t shichimi togarashi 

• chicken thighs, cut into 1" cubes
• scallions, cut into 1/2" pieces
• veggies, if you would like (I had red bell pepper, eggplant, and summer squash)
• bamboo skewers

Combine sauce ingredients in a saucepan over high heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves and bring to a boil. Decrease heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Set aside.

Skewer chicken, threading on a piece of green onion every few pieces. Make sure to leave room at the end for use as a handle. Skewer veggies, if using (you can also mix them on the skewers, but I preferred having them separate).

Heat grill to medium. Place skewers on grill so that uncovered ends are hanging over the edge. Sear on each side (~2 minutes per side), then baste with sauce and flip skewers every minute or so until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce is caramelized (8-10 min). Cook the veggies the same way.

"Oh, hi, Mom. I'm up."

The baby has learned how to stand, which means that I've often open the door at the end of nap time to a little person standing up to greet me. Of course, I also get to come in during the middle of the night to a little person holding on to the edge of her crib rails and crying, because she's woken up and can't figure out how to get herself back to sleep. So, there's a trade-off. For a while there, she was napping for longer periods and getting up earlier, a nice trade-off, but now she's just getting up earlier.

Recent cooking
Mac and cheese - I declare a winner in my search for the best macaroni and cheese recipe. The roux-based recipe from The Pioneer Woman (made with the delightful cheese combination of Swiss, Parmesan, and blue from the CIA macaroni and cheese recipe) is creamy and cheesy, but not so rich that it makes you sick. The leftovers are also good, something I find important in family-sized recipes. The the copious quantities of butter in the CIA mac and cheese separated from the sauce when the dish cooled, leaving the leftovers greasy.
Red rice - I know red rice is an actual dish, but this just seems like a jambalaya hack. I only recently discovered They Draw and Cook, and while it is a very pretty format for displaying a recipe, the quality of instructions for actual cooking was not great with this particular recipe. It's hard to read and the rice needed several cups more water in order to cook properly (one can of tomato sauce and a half can of water just doesn't cut it for two cups of rice). Still, tasty.

Sally Hansen 02 - Green With Envy

After having sworn off nail polish a year or so ago, I found myself unable to resist a summery green bottle of the stuff last time I was in Target. I painted my nails today and the baby was fascinated by my foot for the rest of the afternoon.

Recent cooking
Rice noodles with chicken and oyster sauce - After so many mediocre or just acceptable recipes, it's so nice to finally find one that is really tasty. Here it is several hours later and I'm still thinking about it. Definitely going into the regular rotation.

I've entered that period in life that is defined by the omnipresence of Cheerios. They cover the floor under the high chair and there are a fair number in the kitchen, but they've also traveled into the living room and I've even found a few upstairs. Cheerios are so useful, though, that I'm willing to live with the mess. The fat cat eats a few off the floor, but he's nowhere near as useful as a dog.

The baby baby likes to eat Cheerios and will spend long periods of time happily feeding herself. She learned to recognize the box fairly quickly and jumps up and down in her high chair when she sees it, something that is adorable and also a little frightening. Brand recognition already?

Recent cooking
Apple-cinnamon upside-down cake - I was expecting something with a gooey, sugary syrup on top, but you wind up with just a moist sweetness. The cake not touched by the sauce is mild in flavor and somewhat dry. This could work as a breakfast cake, possibly with some yogurt, but it definitely wasn't the dessert I was looking for.
Red velvet cake - When R expressed interest in a red velvet cake, I turned first to smitten kitchen, as the recipes there are always so carefully vetted. I wound up reducing this recipe by a third, as I only have two round cake pans, and I think somewhere in the process the cake became a little dry. Maybe it was my oven, as I cooked it for the minimum time and it came out crispy around the edges. Still, good flavor. Also, best recipe for cream cheese frosting.

Roast chicken failure

Note to self: Roasting a chicken in a Bundt pan according to normal roasting times does not work. The lower half of the pan shields the legs. So, while the juices run clear, the bottom half of the chicken is still semi-raw. Cooking longer would probably dry out the top half, plus the skin on the legs doesn't get all brown and crispy.

Recent cooking
Yakisoba - Not bad, but missing something. Worcestershire sauce isn't an exact substitute for tonkatsu sauce, and since we've got plenty of Asian supermarkets in the area, we've decided not to settle.
Chili - Made a delicious pot of chili. I really like the idea of having a "chili formula," though I'd like mine a bit more spicy (did ground ancho chili and cumin, but definitely needed cayenne). Also, I'm fairly sure cumin isn't optional if you want it to actually taste like chili.
Lime yogurt cake - Recipe calls for blackberry sauce, I made mango, and I really just preferred the cake on its own. Very tasty.
Orange-scented olive oil cake - Used one of my failed jars of uber-chunky marmalade from ever so long ago. My family liked the cake, but, as it turns out, I was scarred by the marmalade-making experience and the smell of it just turns my stomach.

Egg on top

Back when I was a kid, the running joke in my family was that my dad would eat anything leftover the next morning with an egg on top. Pasta? Egg on top. Pizza? Egg on top. Salad? Egg on top.

Thinking back, I never actually saw him eat anything with an egg on top. The man was a leftover eating machine, but he preferred them straight. My breakfast this morning? Leftover black bean patties, crumbled and re-fried, with salsa and an egg on top.

Recent recipes
Beef-fee bean burgers - I made these with black beans and sunflower seeds, but otherwise according to the recipe. I think next time I'd tone down the seasoning, as it overpowered the bean flavor, and fry in just a little oil, as the outside was dry and chewy. Still, not bad.
Beef stew in spicy berbere sauce - You know how most of the times recipes are really conservative about heat? This one is not. It claims to have "a lively heat," but I think it might be inedible for those who are less accustomed to spicy food. Certainly surprised me and my guests. (Note to self: Remember what Mom said about experimenting with new recipes on guests? Don't do it!)
Pesto-chicken calzones - Leaked pesto-oil everywhere!

TMI

I'd been noticing an oddly familiar smell coming from the trash bin in the nursery of late. After several days of thought, I realized that the smell was yogurt-like. Why would the baby's poop smell like yogurt? Oh, right. Brought her with me to Pinkberry and consequently had to share my frozen yogurt. I've colonized her intestines with probiotics.

We were all headed to bed a couple of night ago, when R got the hiccups. The baby was up having a meal, but she stopped and started laughing hysterically ever time R hiccuped. That, in turn, made us laugh and made it all the more difficult for R to control his hiccups.

Recent cooking
Honey oatmeal bread - Didn't rise nicely like the loaf in the picture. I don't know why I make whole wheat bread, as R isn't a fan. Still, I've been enjoying it for breakfast.
Moroccan chicken stew with sweet potatoes - R was expecting it to be worse, I was hoping it would be better. Not bad, but I was expecting a little stronger flavor.
Chipotle chocolate chunk brownie bites - Admittedly, I did substitute chocolate chips for unsweetened chocolate, but I was hoping these would be more chocolaty and spicy. They mostly tasted of cinnamon.
Chana masala - Tasty, easy to make, healthy, and inexpensive, so of course they make me smell bad. No luck!

April fools?

I suppose posting is practically an April Fools' Day prank, as it has been so long. Most of the writing energy (and procrastination) last month was spent writing an article for the familial computer magazine. The baby has also learned that the keyboard is a fun toy, which my mom insists is only fair, as she remembers me at 2 years old, reaching up my little hands over my head and pushing any keys I could find, yelling "'Puter! 'Puter!" Cute, but known to make one's computer do odd things.

Recent cooking
Chicken with forty cloves of garlic - Two things wrong with this recipe. One, the chicken winds up rather plain. Not at all garlicky. Two, it results in delicious roast garlic cloves, which I can't resist eating, causing me to stink for several days.
Braised pork with pears and chiles - I'm sorry to say, but the pork turns out kind of plain. The pears are delicious, so if I was feeling industrious perhaps I'd try tinkering with the recipe. Maybe a spice rub to get a little of that chili flavor into the pork.
Wasabi egg salad - Very nice. I haven't had too many egg salad sandwiches, so I hadn't realized that they're basically deviled egg sandwiches. Mmmm. Deviled eggs.
Yogurt-marinated chicken kebabs with Israeli couscous - We did the kebabs in the broiler, but they probably would have been better if we had a grill to grill them on. Still, they were tasy. The yogurt-feta sauce was too oniony for our taste.
Creamy dreamy clam chowder - Not as creamy as one would expect from the name (or the picture), this was still the tastiest homemade clam chowder I've had.
Magical butter sauce - We made ours with pepper jelly and it turned out quite nice over mahi-mahi.
Cara cara orange curd - I used a couple of exceptionally juicy tangerines and had to stop myself from eating the whole batch warm out of the pot. So good! Totally kicked the ass of the jarred lemon curd I inherited when my in-laws moved.

March 4th

March already? Madness.

How did that happen? The little one will be 5 months old on Saturday.

Ah, yes. That is how it happened. Babies, they are time consuming.

I'm dreaming about gardens, but there likely won't be much of that this year. We're looking for a place to buy. but since nearly everything is short sales the going is slow. Even putting in an offer now wouldn't get us an agreement for 4-6 months, plus then a month in escrow... Yeah. There goes the summer. I'm trying to satisfy my urges with FarmVille, but it really isn't the same.

Recent cooking:
Smokey beef stew with blue cheese and chives - Not bad, but very basic. The blue cheese is supposed to be the twist, but I wasn't impressed.
Tunisian lamb tagine with toasted almonds and couscous - Delicious. The baby ate some of the sauce and agrees with me.
Mini corn dogs - The batter for these was just lovely. Crisp on the outside, light and fluffy on the inside. We made a mountain of mini corn dogs with cheddar little smokies on the inside. We could not eat them all, but I doubt they will go to waste.
Cinnamon bun pancakes - As R put it, better than regular pancakes, not as good as actual cinnamon buns. Much easier to make, though.
Potato pancakes - Billed as dinner in the recipe, these are a nice alternative to hash browns.
Roast pear & banana puree - I know most of you aren't interested in baby food, but I have to tell you, roast bananas are delicious. I wound up making separate fruit purees of the two ingredients and I couldn't stop eating the banana one.

Squeak squeak

Wow. I'm not sure how people with new babies and jobs get anything done. I had substitute teacher training for the first three days of the week and we were pretty much in survival mode the whole time. Food was made, the little one was bathed regularly, and not quite enough sleep was had. The baby was so pissed off on Wednesday that she cried herself hoarse. My dad maintains she was a perfect angel Monday and Tuesday, with only a little squeaking, but we think he just has a greater tolerance for crying since he doesn't see his precious granddaughter every day.

As I made the appointment prior to finding this new subbing job, R wound up taking the little one to her 4 month checkup. She's still all well and healthy, but she's slipping down the growth charts. Previously she'd been in the 45th percentile for height, now she's in the 19th. I suppose, being an October baby, she'll probably wind up starting school the year after she's eligible (though that is only because they've pushed eligibility back so far) and so won't be quite so tiny compared to her classmates.

R has been doing that P90X workout, so I decided to pop in the pliometrics (jumping) DVD... and made it through the warm up. Yeah, I know I haven't done anything more strenuous than walking for the past year and the workout is particularly intense. Still, I feel like a total weakling.

Having been steadily moving east for the past several years in pursuit of better housing deals, we have all of the sudden turned our eyes north in our search for a permanent home. We'd been looking further and further away from R's work, only to realize that if he's going to have an hour commute, it might as well be on the train. We'd be closer to the beach, which would make R taking up surfing make a lot more sense. Plus, my family lives in that area, which would make babysitting much easier. As R so succinctly put it, "I've never been so excited about Oceanside."

Recent cooking:
Coconut braised beef - I thought it was nice, R thought it was so-so. R, however, suffers from PTSD (Post-Tequila Stress Disorder), so anything with too much lime gets a thumbs down from him.
Sweet potato ricotta gnocchi - I bought the ingredients for this and then found myself with too many leftovers for lunches (one of those embarrassing mishaps of cooking for two), so I wound up making them and freezing them. I'll report back once I actually eat them.

February 4th

The wee one got her first taste of food yesterday. I had been planning on waiting (why rush into stinky poop?), but she seemed ready. Watching me eat has been good entertainment this past week, and yesterday she was following each segment of mandarin orange as it traveled to my mouth. At that point I thought what the heck, chewed off the end of one of the segments, and let her suck out the juices. I was expecting a grimace, but she actually seemed to like it and even opened her mouth for another taste. So, I guess we're trying out foods now.

Recent cooking:
Morning couscous with almonds, coconut, and honey - Finally, a use for the pearl couscous I've got sitting in my pantry (R finds it slightly disturbing, so I can't really use it as a side with dinner).A note about the portion sizes, though. The author adamantly maintains that this recipe serves 4, however I can tell you that if a fourth of the recipe is all you have for breakfast, you're going to be hungry in a couple of hours.
Creamy cabbage and potatoes - Okay, so I didn't exactly make this according to the recipe, but the final product was fairly similar. Creamy mashed potatoes, soft cabbage with a drop of vinegar, a puck of caramelized onions from the freezer. Not bad, but if your husband is Irish you might run into a bit of resistance, since his mom always colcannon with curly kale (I think hers turned out better than this, though if I do recall, there may have been a bit of cheese mixed in. Everything is better with cheese).

Now and later

Several years after lugging the family videos down from NorCal, we've finally purchased a tape adapter to allow us to watch the tiny tapes, so R and I have been spending time watching moments of my past. It has been interesting seeing how much things have changed, but also how many things have stayed the same.

My mom and dad, already being adults, are pretty similar (R says it feels like present day people walking around in the past), though you can chart the downfall of their marriage over the 5 year span of the tapes. In the later ones, whenever my dad does anything silly my mom moves the camera or tells him to cut it out. In the earliest tapes you get to see some friendly banter between the two of them. My mom even cracks a few jokes.

Recent cooking:
Toscana soup - I had been waiting for kale to arrive in my CSA basket so that I could make this soup. It didn't disappoint, and I plan on making it again next week with the remainder of the kale.
Sardine and avocado sandwiches - Saw this on an episode of Good Eats and, while I'm not into the whole "diet" thing or regimented food consumption (daily carrot?), this is a pretty tasty sandwich.

Friday night could only be described as kitchen failure night. Made too much stock, brownies that were leaking butter (apparently these puppies are close to the saturation point, so don't be lazy when measuring), and a lasagna that was in no way moist enough.

Saturday night was my cooking redemption, as I made a delicious Buffalo chicken pizza. I marinated cooked chicken pieces in Buffalo sauce while the crust was rising. I then topped the crust with pizza sauce mixed with the Buffalo sauce marinade, mozzarella cheese, the marinated chicken, and chunks of blue cheese. It was awesome.

Three odd tidbits

It was raining pretty heavily last night, here in San Diego. This morning I peeked outside to discover that half of our row of condos hadn't put their trash cans out. Apparently they all took a look outside and decided it wasn't worth it.

In celebration of National Popcorn Day, I made peanut butter popcorn. R and I both found the recipe a little uninteresting (and regretted not making the crunchy version), but I couldn't seem to stop nibbling on it. I suppose that could be a recommendation of sorts, though I wound up throwing the rest of the batch away, as I didn't want to mindlessly eat it.

We've discovered a use for those smoked meat logs one tends to acquire around the holidays: fried rice. No, it's not what one would consider a traditional ingredient, but it's not bad.

A's Fried Rice

• 1 carrot, peeled and finely diced
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 2 eggs
• 3 or 4 cups day-old rice
• 1 hunk of meat log, diced
  
• soy sauce
• oyster sauce
• oil
  
• Sriracha (optional)
• green onions, chopped (optional)
  

1. Cook carrot and onion in a little oil until nice and soft. Set aside.

2. Scramble eggs and cook, chopping, so that you wind up with smallish chunks of egg. Set aside with veggies.

3. Cook meat log until the chunks have a little color. Set aside with eggs and veggies.

4. Cook rice, adding oil as needed, until grains have separated and look a bit more transparent. Add soy sauce and oyster sauce to taste (rice should wind up fairly uniformly brown). Stir in meat, eggs, and veggies. Stir in a little Sriracha and some green onions. Serve.

The fat one

The Litter-Robot breaks, and only now does the fat cat start using it again. Hopefully we'll get it back from the company soon (thank goodness it was still under warranty and the company has been helpful), but he'll still be using a regular litter box for a while. Maybe I should manually cycle the machine when we get it back. He did start using it again after it broke...

Target has apparently found a weak spot. I can't resist the baby socks they have in the cheapie bins by the front door. They get new patterns for each holiday. Luckily, their $1 price tag makes them a cheap thrill.

Recent cooking:
Chicken and bacon pasta in garlic cream sauce - Simple, quick, delicious.
Roasted cabbage with lemon - Did you know that slightly charred cabbage tastes just like the outside of a toasted marshmallow? The resemblance is uncanny.
Inspirational eggs - Eggs baked in potato skins. Not bad, but the general consensus was the recipe would be improved by cooking the constituent parts separately and then assembling. Or, you know, frying up some potatoes and eggs. Ah, well. Trying new breakfast items keeps us from getting bored of the old standards.

January 9th

Need to figure out what to do tomorrow, as they're shutting down our power for 4 hours in the middle of the day. Freaking city. Why are you doing this on the weekend?

Also need to figure out how to keep the baby from turning into a bipolar mess in the evenings. She hasn't been napping so well lately, leading to horror and chaos in the hours before bedtime. Do we need to become rigid schedule people? Her natural rhythms are pretty regular. She goes to bed easily. Just need to figure out how to get her down for naps.

Recent cooking:
Pasta with white sausage sauce - Tried the red wine variation. Tasted like wine.
Cream-braised Brussels sprouts - Tasty, though R thinks it lacked bacon. I'm sure that can be rectified next time.

January: You start the year off fine

My sister came over today to get a little auntie-niece time. We ate some of the coconut curried chicken soup I'd put in the freezer to prepare for the baby, but never got used thanks to the outpouring of love (and food) from our friends and relatives. As I just quit my old job and the new job is still in the prospective phase, I've been playing the "How little food can we buy this month?" game and have been eating previously frozen soups for lunch. My sister was here on a good day - I've got a couple of containers of bean soup in the chest freezer that she probably wouldn't have wanted to be a party to. Anyway, my sister brought a letter from my mom with her. We both noted that she says mean things, but uses such beautiful handwriting. The letter is practically a piece of art.

We got a new vacuum for Christmas and, thanks to the little one actually taking a nap in her crib (yay), I finally got to try it out. Our old vacuum only made the place look less dirty; this new vacuum makes it look clean. R remarked that he would even feel comfortable putting the little one down on the carpet (precisely the reason we wanted a new vacuum in the first place). Now I just need to do the upstairs. And the stairs. Which have drifts of cat hair (eww).

Recent kitchen exploits:
Slow cooker black bean soup - Meh.
Coffee toffee - So good!
Chicken thighs with balsamic vinegar - A surprise hit, as R isn't a vinegar fan.

Veggies!

We got our first shipment from the CSA this week. As I thought it would be, it has already been an interesting experience. Since we're not going to be eating many meals in the house the next week (bad timing on my part), I've had to get creative with some of the produce.

I pickled the beets (and ate the greens sauteed with a little garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper) and have a jar of hot peppers in vinegar aging in the fridge. The three cute potatoes from the shipment (R ridiculed this a bit, and rightly so) became hash browns, which are about a million times better when made with fresh potatoes than with dehydrated ones. I suppose that should have been obvious, but we'd never tried it before. I'm also pretty sure they cooked faster.

I also made a rather tasty cauliflower soup inspired by a recipe I forgot to bookmark on foodgawker (saute onion & carrot, add cauliflower and a little broth, puree, add cream and cheese, season). All in all, a lot of fun. I look forward to the next box (and eating more meals at home so that we're not in such a rush to use up the contents).