Weekly Gourmet

  Today is Sunday. Tonight I was ZONKED due to the fact that I went sledding with my kids for OVER one hour today, hung up soggy coats and gloves for the next hour, and wiped little puddles of water off my floor for the next 17 hours. All worth it to hear the little squeals of joy escaping from their rosy-cheeked faces as we whizzed down the hill together. And then to be able to let them watch TV for the rest of the day without even feeling bad about it. Back to my exhaustion. I was exhausted! So I wanted just a quickie Sunday pasta dinner. What I made took almost no time at all. Shrimp defrost so fast. Run some cold water on them and they are ready to go. They cook even faster - just two minutes here. The angel hair cooks in three minutes. The sauce took maybe five minutes. I feel bad even making it sound like I did something fancy because of the shrimp. It took me longer to beg someone to set the table than it did to make the dinner. This one comes from epicurious. Shrimp Scampi ...

  Today is Sunday. I made a Greek-inspired pasta today. Greece is my favorite place on earth. Well, my favorite place that I have seen. There could be other good ones out there, but thus far in my research, Greece is the best. Don't tell Italy I said that. Sorry Countrymen, but you can't beat their amazing food, sunny weather, and incredibly friendly people. That's how I judge places. Is their food good? Italy- yes. London- no. México- yes. The South- no. Can I get tan there? Greece- YES. Various islands- yes. The Midwest- yes. Are the people nice? London- no. Spain- no. Costco- no. And so forth. Greece wins. Italy next, then México. Oopa. This recipe is a big, fat, Greek party for your mouth. The flavors really come together nicely. It is also pretty easy to make and very customizable. You can omit the chicken, omit whatever veggies make your kids' scream, add in different veggies, etc. You can sauté shrimp with the same oil and seasonings used for the chicken and toss...

  Today is Monday. The inlaws are coming! The inlaws are coming! Quick, clean the house and the children! Steve, go jump in the shower four minutes before their arrival time!  ...Pulled out all the stops for a lil MLK cele with my inlaws tonight. Meaning we had carbs on a Monday and set the table with knives and everything. I chose tonight's dinner very carefully, as my mother-in-law is quite the picky eater (see my dissertation on picky eaters posted below). She doesn't eat fruit or veggies or seeds or nuts or carbs or bones in chicken or cheese or stinky foods or spice. SO, I used two of the requests I got this week: one for Chicken Piccata and one for recipes with <10 ingredients and came up with this feast we all went to TOWN on. We had Chicken Piccata, lemony orzo, Caesar salads, and chocolate cupcakes 4ways (more on those another day). Nom nom nom...she even ate carbs. And garlic. And anchovies! Don't tell her.                Au...

 Today is Sunday. Meatless January, anyone? I try to do a vegetarian night once a week or so. OK actually, I forget to take something out of the freezer at least once every five days, so poof- weekly vegetarian meal. With added bonus of annoying Steve. He inevitably looks at each veggie meal with a raised eyebrow and says, "You know what would be good with this? Some chunks of chicken." Well, today was his lucky day because we were having Sunday dinner at my parents' house, and my mom was making a meat-centric feast of penne with meatballs, Italian sausage AND lamb neck bones. And my mom almost never eats meat! All that work and she doesn't even taste a ball of meat! So I thought I would be a dear and make her a new dish I had been wanting to try: eggplant meatballs. Sounds good, right? Why not make a ball out of the world's best emoji? My dad said, "What are these things? Brussels sprouts?" Sigh. Reprinted with permission from Food Network Kitchen .  Eg...

Today is Sunday. Blah blah cold, gray Sunday. My highlight of the day was going to our favorite bakery after church because the kids were only mildly horrendous. And then they were out of my favorite donuts! Argh! So, dinner had to become the highlight. I decided to make my husband’s favorite pasta dish. Not that he deserves it for any adorable deed he performed for me, but because I have some heavy whipping cream leftover that probably hasn’t expired yet. Whipping cream = tomato CREAM sauce = happiness. And of course, his favorite pasta dish isn’t even my recipe at all. My neighbor brought this over when we had just moved into our house and had no appliances. Why someone with a 5 year-old, two 3 year-olds, a 2 year-old, and a 1 year-old is making anything for anyone else is beyond me, but if I could cook this well, I would be dragging baked zitis all over town. I better see an adorable deed happen for this.  Reprinted with permission from Jenn Segal's Onceuponachef.com ....