What's Cooking May 2023 Part 2

Food

Still menu planning, still cooking, still copying recipes but not feeling like baking. I really want to make this. I have all the ingredients, just not wanting to bake.

I made this puff pastry quiche and used Cabot habenero cheese. The cheese is spicy! I'd make it with pepper jack next time. Sour cream was our friend to tone it down. Yes, it was huge, yes it heated well.

Merguez patties with noodles and a cabbage/tomato side. Delicious!

I've been cooking a lot. I've been trying to make fewer leftovers since my freezer space is limited and I've been doing pretty well.

Thai chicken salad was excellent. I pan sauteed chicken breast for the chicken. Rotisserie would work very well. I also used snow peas instead of sugar snaps. Trader Joe's scallion pancake on the side.

Pasta with longer cooked broccoli and pan sauteed mahi mahi. Very good!

Spicy pork with vegetables and soba noodles. So good. Forgot a picture.

The perfect spaghetti carbonara was pretty tasty. Sticky salmon with sushi rice and pickled vegetables, great.

Chicken Korma was very good, I halved the recipe and used less cayenne and less salt.

Bacon, Egg and Leek Risotto was wonderful. We had it for dinner but good anytime. Picture not exquisite, but the recipe was. Used the leftover risotto to make arancini.

Green chile chicken and dumplings - delicious. I cubed chicken and cooked it with the peppers and potatoes but rotisserie would work well too. Planned leftovers, stored the dumplings separate from the filling.

Fun

I went to the Dunwoody Arts Festival for some fun. The show was great. Since it was the day before mother's day, the cats suggested I look for gifts from them. I found some earrings at Talia Serinese Jewelry. I liked most of her work but got paper clip and hoop styles.

I think I still need the stacking rings.

I also bought a vase at Flora and Function. I need to pick up some of her other items. Favorites - bats, carrots, owl.

Went to ramen lunch with my friend Cathy. She was the first personal chef in Atlanta and when I decided to start my business in 1998, I called her with many questions. Many. And she answered, had also left a big job in the corporate world and we've been friends since.

I am always recharged when we lunch and chat.

Lunch out with husband at Cafe Sababa which is one of my favorite places. Everything is good.

Floral and Fauna

I cut some celery because it was starting to flower and I used it in a salad. So pretty! I can see it wilting quickly with the warmer weather. I'll see how it does this summer.

Husband planted some of my giant potato eyes on the side of the house so another wait and see. Husband does not laugh much now at my weird planting tries.

Craft room plants are doing very well! I am watering them and the cats are not eating them. My peace lily has three flowers now and the African violet is very fluffy.

Replanted the avocado. Again. Seems happy.

I bought porch farm plants. I tried to be sensible and not over purchase - tomatoes, peppers, calla lily, begonias, lavender, rosemary, green and purple basil. The rosemary is for the front yard but I'm afraid something - deer, chipmunks, will eat anything else in the front so am wary.

Front yard does have an onion that I planted when it sprouted, and a cabbage from fall planting. I guess none of our wildlife likes them. And they are so pretty!

And a pileated woodpecker friend. It is tough to get a picture!

Busy month that seemed to go by quickly, but I got a lot done!

What's Cooking May 2023

Wonderful start to the month because my friend Patti came to visit. Her husband Tom too. They arrived May 1, I spent the weekend prior doing some cleaning. Husband was on a retreat so I had all weekend to clean. It wasn't too bad since I had several days.

I even had time for a little fun! I visited a new yarn shop on April 29th for Local Yarn Shop Day and then went out to eat with Shari from knitting group at The Black Diamond Grill . A fun day, good meal, with a new friend.

I didn't grocery shop before Tom and Patti arrived and really needed to but we survived. They arrived later than they thought on Monday, I75 had serious issues. We immediately went to eat at Northern China Eatery. We loaded up on dumplings, soup and fried rice. So good!

Tuesday I made breakfast, Patti said Tom would love cinnamon rolls so of course I made them. Guests after all. No pictures, we just forgot as we talked and ate. I've made these many times and they are pretty much perfect.

With the cinnamon rolls I had sausage from the freezer and a scramble with fridge foraging. Patti and I then headed out to a yarn shop (she knits too), she bought yarn to knit a chicken.

After yarn, on to BreadBeckers. Yes, she bakes bread too. Luckily they drove so she could stock up on kamut and spelt grains. I got the same along with some hard white wheat.

No cooking after our journey. We met with our friend Tracy at Rumi's in Sandy Springs. Patti is also a personal chef and was friends with Rosemary and Tracy. Dinner was wonderful! I had the lamb kabobs and the lamb was tender and tasty.

Wednesday Patti and I met up with two other friends (Peg and Lana) at Buford Highway Farmers Market to shop a little. We're not totally sure what our husbands were doing either day, but they seemed to be fine. And then off to lunch at Lanzhou Ramen. We did ask a very nice total stranger man to take our picture. It was a little windy!

We didn't buy groceries while shopping, the main goal was to meet up with friends and eat lunch. So at home we foraged for food. Pizza for the win! I made my favorite dough, divided it into three and Patti and I made choices.

I had feta, spinach, ricotta, pepperoni, roasted red peppers, banana peppers, artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, grape tomatoes, roasted red onion, sauteed zucchini, mozzarella, parmesan. I was glad I hadn't shopped, I had lots in the fridge!

Patti took pictures! Gold medal for picture taking.

They left early Thursday morning to drive back to New Hampshire. A short but wonderful visit. Thursday was soup night at home since grocery shopping was Friday.

Soup - chicken broth from the freezer, green onions, snow pea pods, napa cabbage, hot sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, frozen dumplings. No recipe, just foraging but so good.

I follow The Woks of Life on Instagram and a lot of the recipes look good. The website is nice too. The orange chicken was very good. Served over rice with sauteed bok choy on the side.

I repotted my avocado seed/tree and I hope it likes the new pot.

Couple more meals with leftovers to reduce having to cook and reduce wasting food.

Hatch chile pork empanadas, fried chicken cutlets with cream gravy, big fat Greek quinoa salad .

I found empanada wrappers at Buford Highway Farmers Market in the freezer section. The sauce is excellent, the emapanadas reheat well and think they'll freeze well too.

I did not make the chicken gluten free but Jane is gluten free and her recipes are always good. I've met her at conferences. I used panko for the crumbs and all purpose flour.

I used yellow bell peppers for the salad, grape tomatoes and added some feta. It was excellent and keeps well through the week.

I'm back to yoga, missed a week during Patti prep. Need to get back to walking and have been staying up too late! Work in process.

What's Cooking April 2023 Part 2

Food

Still cooking but doing more foraging so I can use up some freezer things. And not remembering to take pictures often.

Made cumin beef stir fry and we both liked it. I had a couple flank steaks in the freezer (yes constantly organizing) so needed to use. I follow this site on Instagram and the pictures always look good. Taste good too.

I've organized the freezer using plastic bins. I have a bin for each type of protein - beef, pork, chicken, seafood so I can see at a glance what needs to be used. My bottom basket has ground beef.

Burgers one night, always good, last Butcher Box I got a bundle of ground beef so I have plenty. I still get Butcher Box quarterly.

Husband went to Greenville for a weekend so I foraged for myself. I found eggplant parmesan, and I splurged with lobster pasta. Delicious! I do cook for myself when husband isn't home.

I took a picture of chicken spinach alfredo! I had spinach I needed to use and this was quick, easy and delicious.

Cornmeal crusted pork chops and potatoes are delicious! I cut the recipe to make 4 chops (leftovers) and they were great heated too. Very juicy and tender. I'm trying to keep every Thursday as a forage for yourself day.

Green Chile Chicken Soup was delicious! I had roasted green chiles in the freezer to use up, a bag of Marcella beans to use, frozen whole chicken. I love soup. Now of course I have more for the freezer but it's cooked and ready to heat. I used rainbow chard, no pheasants were involved.

Leftover soup later in the week with honey cornbread muffins. These are muffins, not cornbread, good with soup and for breakfast.

And made bulgogi meatballs, recipe from Washington Post and may be behind a paywall. Wrapped in butter leaves and used furikake in the rice. I get the seasoning at Buford Highway Farmer's Market (they have many flavors), I think Trader Joes carries it too.

Fun

I'm embracing my senior advantage and went on a field trip to Oakland Cemetery. Bus trip down, guided tour, lunch after at Six Feet Under. Perfect!

The tour was very good. It lasted about 1 1/2 hours. The day was sunny and warm. I took pictures. Lots of history at the cemetery.

Flora and Fauna

No animals have been visiting, lots of birds. Some new visitors - cowbirds, rose breasted grosbeak, lots of goldfinches.

No new porch plants but my craft room plants are doing well. I'm getting quite greenhousy downstairs.

My citrus plant, peace lily and some kind of fern.

My window plants - African violets, peace lily baby, orchid, grapefruit tree, snake plant in front, my not a Christmas or Easter cactus.

Closeups of violet (blooming!), three year old grapefruit and orchid doing something, maybe a bloom?

Oh and avocado seed update. It took so long to prove it was alive but now it is thriving. May need to feed it something. Maybe even repot.

Now I have to go clean because my friend Patti is coming to visit! She will be a big part of May fun! It has been more than 3 years since we have gotten together because of Covid.