Saturday, August 28, 2021

Perhaps it is Time to Repave the Driveway

Last Friday I walked to the mailbox before leaving for work. There was a piece of asphalt that was askew, and I tripped on it. I fell. While descending to the ground I cursed more than I have ever cursed at that hour of the morning. I was falling and I knew it would not end well. The whole day was going to be shot to hell and it was not even 7am.

Fortunately, Chris happened to look out the window and saw me reeling in pain. He runs out and helps me to my feet, looks at my elbow, and says you have to go to the emergency room Now!

Four and a half hours later I leave the ER with 12 stitches on my elbow. I had cut through to the bone. Nice work.

It has been, so far a week of antibiotics and Tylenol. 

On the plus side, it was my left elbow. But still, I have had limited movement. This past week at work has been such a bundle of fun. I will leave it at that.

Tonight, finally finished with the antibiotics I am enjoying a lovely and large glass of wine.

So What Did We Have For Dinner?

Enter Stage Right - Chef Chris.

Chris has done an amazing job of doing everything that I cannot do. Meal prep, feeding cats, doing laundry, dishes, changing dressings, making the bed, fixing coffee, grocery shopping, I could go on…  



Last week Chris surprised me with not one, but 2 deliveries from Goldbelly. Zuppardi's Pizza and Pat's Steak Sandwiches. Talk about planning!


We started out last Friday night with Zuppardi's Pizza. Just the best damn pie around!




Saturday night, Chris took to the grill with two porterhouse steaks. Delicious but I had to have him cut my steak. This whole limited mobility really sucks. We had a pasta side that my sister Lenore dropped off. Pasta with Zucchini! Delicious. Looks like that will be lunch for next week.


Sunday Chris went to the grocery store. He came home with a prepared meal. Porketta. Wow! Really tasty and the seasoning was perfect for us. We also had some string beans from my sister's garden.

Monday was a summer classic. Lettuce, Tomato, and Cheese Sandwiches. 

Tuesday was burgers and Green Bean Salad, thank you, Lenore. Sorry, not photos.

Wednesday, Chris stopped at the Big Y on the way home and picked up 2 servings of Chicken Parmesan with Pasta. Again, no photos, but I gotta tell you, it was delicious. The breading was nice and a little crunch to it. The sauce, yeah, as good as homemade. There was a bit too much pasta in the serving, but why get upset about that.

Now around here, we have a Fresh Market store. Thursday is $5.00 Roasted Chicken day. On the way home, I stopped off at the curbside pick-up and picked up our $5.00 chicken and a container of $9.00 mashed potatoes. Yeah, $9 for potatoes. WTF. But in their defense, they were damn good potatoes and we had leftovers. And I was so sure I took photos…

Friday, could this be a new house tradition, Zuppardi's again!

Saturday we picked up Pork Chops at Fresh Market and put them in our house marinade which consists of 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp brown sugar, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, 1 tbsp soy sauce, Salt, and Pepper. On the grill, until the temp was at 140˚. We also had the leftovers of those $9 mashed potatoes.

Well, that was week one of Lucia not cooking. Let's see what next week will bring.




Sunday, August 15, 2021

The Weber Grill and BBQ Ribs

mmmmmmmm

mmmmmmmmmmm

Baby Back Ribs.

Chris made dinner.


He researched the best technique and 
the results were finger licking good. 

First, he seasoned.


On the grill for 2 hours.


More seasoning and wrapped in foil, and back on the grill. 



Wow. New favorite BBQ Sauce!!!



I think it was an hour back on the grill.


The aroma was intoxicating!




This is a text book example of a Smoke Ring.
A smoke ring refers to the pink-colored meat that remains after
the meat has been cooked, just between the crust and the
Interior brown-colored meat.

Delicious!


Monday, August 9, 2021

Spicy Pork with Zucchini and More

It's that time of year. My sister will stop by with quite a few zucchini. Chris will call and say he stopped by Cole's Farm stand to get corn, the best around, and also picked up some zucchini. There is no where to hide. It is Zucchini Time.





Sunday I spend a good part of the day making zucchini things.  Zucchini Patties, Zucchini and Corn Pie with Phyllo Dough Crust, Zucchini and Tomato Mini Tarts, Asian Tofu and Eggplant, the eggplant was from my sister.

Tonight we again used zucchini. Spicy Pork and Zucchini. This was something different for us. We loved it. Quick to prepare. One pan and one bowl to wash. 

We loved the spice. Just enough heat. And I didn't hear any groans about the zucchini

Sunday, August 8, 2021

Beef Kebobs


Delicious! Meat grilled perfectly. The veggies were perfectly tender. Marinate was excellent.

I picked a boneless sirloin steak at Robert's. Cut the meat it into 1 1/ inch cubes and put it in a ziplock bag with the marinade for about 4 hours.

I google Beef Kebob Marinate and this one popped up. I did make one small edit.
This is my version of the recipe-

Ingredients-
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 1/2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp honey
2 tsp Dijon
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Next, I cubed a red pepper, green pepper, sliced zucchini, and quartered a red onion.
Alternated everything on the skewers and handed it off to Chris.


Did I mention how delicious this was?

Saturday, August 7, 2021

Grilled Pork Chops, and a Tasty Mac & Cheese


Picked up these Pork Chops on sale at Robert's. About an inch thick with the bone in. Marinated the center cut, bone-in pork chops in a mixture of 2 tbsp. Olive oil, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, 1 tsp brown sugar, 1 tbsp soy sauce, salt, and pepper. Chris grilled them to perfection.


The Mac and Cheese side was purchased from Chapter One in Guilford. We had a delicious dinner there last night.



 

Thursday, August 5, 2021

This is my favorite summer dinner


Do you remember the Meat Pies I made at Easter? Well, we had 1/2 a pie in the freezer.  It was as delicious now as it was at Easter. We ate the whole 1/2! We had a Caesar Salad too. We were hungry! The dressing recipe is further down the page.





The dressing recipe we use is from Lidia Italian-American Kitchen.

I do make a couple of edits to the original recipe.

Ingredients-
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
4 cloves of garlic
4 anchovy fillets
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 hard-boiled egg yolk
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
fresh ground black pepper
Romaine lettuce, or anything you prefer

Method-
Combine the vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, and anchovies in a blender or work bowl of a food processor. Blend until smooth, adding some of the 1/3 cup olive oil if there is not enough liquid to move the mixture around the blender jar. Add the mustard, hard-boiled egg yolk, salt, Worcestershire sauce, pepper, and remaining olive oil if any.  Blend until smooth and creamy. Taste the dressing; if it's a little too tangy, pour in a splash or two of olive oil and blend until it's incorporated. Pour over greens and toss to cover the lettuce.