What's Cooking July 2022

July seems to be a little stalled to me. I missed the last part of June, now it seems it should be later but is not.

Of course I've been cooking. Although I cook almost every night, I sometimes do not feel like it. But I like to eat and going out would mean picking something up, and the quality is just not great.

So I cook. I'm trying to shop about every two weeks and often get sushi when I shop. Husband doesn't like it, he gets wings, not my favorite, we're both happy. This trip I was craving BLTs and we had everything at home, so no sushi.

Pork tenderloin Diane is not photogenic but easy and good. I've made it often. Gnocchi with pomodoro is also hard to photograph but is again easy and tasty. And I had all the herbs in my planters. Made Caesar dressing for salad.

Tried a new pork chop recipe that we enjoyed. I used two pork chops split lengthwise but kept the relish amount the same. Had some rice leftover from earlier in the week so made fried rice. I used this recipe for a base but added carrots, bok choy, scallions. A good way to use leftover rice and small bits of vegetables.

I saw this recipe for tarragon vinaigrette, made it and it is delicious. I already have it on my menu plan for next shopping trip. I used it on a shrimp salad on July 4th. Shrimp, lettuce, red bell pepper, bacon, blue cheese, asparagus, no eggs since we had them for breakfast.

I decided on a shrimp salad because my friend Patti said she was making this recipe. Also looks good!

I did make burgers but not on the fourth. Just wasn't feeling burgers. I had to make buns too, I was out. I sometimes wish recipes weren't good but no, these are good!

I had leftover mashed potatoes from the pork tenderloin dinner so made potato cakes for breakfast. I looked at a few recipes and don't know how many potatoes I had left, but decided to mix the potatoes with one egg, about 3 tablespoons of flour, some green goddess seasoning from Trader Joe's and coated them in panko. Browned them in a skillet, served with eggs. Had enough for two breakfasts!

I refreshed my sour dough starter and made a loaf of sour dough bread. I used this recipe with a change. For the flour I used 400 grams bread flour and 200 grams fresh milled whole wheat flour.

Also some zucchini sticks to go with chicken parmesan. For the zucchini sticks I coated them in flour, dipped in egg and used the same breading as the chicken. I baked them about 30 minutes, until browned and a little soft. But crispy outside.

And I have ice cream chilling in the freezer currently. It looks good and I did a little taste, we'll see later.

This seems like a lot of cooking for the date being July 8th.

What else did I do? I spent time with my lovely cat. Actually I can't avoid her unless I go to the craft room. I am her person. And she's mean to the other cats.

I knit, still working on the sweater but I am making progress. I'm working on the front and then have the sleeves. Annoying that there are two sleeves! Left is the back on a holder, right is the front which has a ways to go.

You can see my lovely vulture picture that Patti's husband Tom took and they gifted to me knowing my love of vultures.

While I was snapping the sweater, I noticed how cute my grapefruit tree is.

I listen to podcasts when I knit and like several. Just listened to this about quitting and found it very interesting. Overall I enjoy this podcast.

I read a fun novel Lessons in Chemistry:A Novel by Bonnie Garmus. I started another book that is very thought provoking and scary - Stolen Focus Why You Can't Pay Attention by Johann Hari. Still reading this.

I made some changes to my website, took off personal cheffing as a service. May make more when I know what I want to do!

I need to do paper work because I agreed to do more after school cooking in September and October. I really enjoy cooking with students. This time we're trying for one session with grades 3 to 6 and one session with grades 4 to 8. Hope people sign up!