First Week of the Resolution!

I committed myself in the form of a New Year's resolution to only fixing old recipes for the entire month of January! Well, I know (and knew it at the time probably) that no way could I go a whole month without trying a new dish - so I'm modifying my resolution. Two nites a week I can have fun with new recipes and the rest of the week I'll have fun with oldies that I'd forgotten about.This really is fun. Especially because I use my recipes as kind of a diary - I always write the date (YES, even in my coffee table type up-scale books!!) and if we're doing a project, or someone's here, just things that are going on in our lives that particular day.

So today is the 9th of January, the second week of the new year. I’ve tried to keep the resolution, but I really have not listed every dinner I’ve made, so now I’ll look over what I have done.

January 1st’s menu is listed in previous blog – all old recipes and ate this food on Monday (1st) and Tuesday. Wednesday, had ham/cheese grilled with ham and beans (old recipe); Thursday – Confetti Pasta (old, healthy recipe) – fettuccine, ham, peas, milk, cottage cheese, Parm, s&p&nutmeg.

Also on Thursday fixed the first of two versions of Sex on the Beach drinks. (thanks to dollop and Jan)
Dollops first –
1 ½ oz. each:Peach Schnapps & Vodka
2 oz. each: Cranberry, Orange and Pineapple juices.

Very good, but…

Next day we tried Jan’s offering –
¾ oz. each: Peach Schnapps, Vodka, Pineapple juice
3 oz. Cranberry juice
Splash of o.j

This was the best I think because of the larger amount of the cranberry juice. Love that flavor.
Well, love this drink. We’ll take the makings for this drink every time we go to a ‘warm’ state.

Also on Thursday, I started the 18 hour bread and finished it on Friday afternoon. Damn near ate the whole loaf before dinner.

Friday, old recipe again!! ‘Baked Beans’ which we really liked the first time around and ‘Tar-Heel Ribs’ with a marinade:
2 cups cider vinegar
2 T. brown sugar
1 T. molasses
1 ¼ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
Black pepper & salt

Marinated ~8 hours, drained & brushed with a combination of ½ Huckleberry BBQ sauce & ½ Heinz Chili Sauce (I didn’t have the ingredients for the sauce called for in the recipe). Roasted for a couple hours and had planned on grilling on the Barbie later with more sauce. BUT…we encountered Seattle weather in Port Angeles that nite and I stuck the buggers under the broiler instead.

While this is an old recipe, I made it Aug. 3, ’04, I really, really like the combination of the Berry bbq sauce and chili sauce mixture. Will definitely do this again.

Saturday – a brunch morning. Friday nite we saw Ina Garten in her ‘Barefoot in Paris’ and got a real yearning for the ‘Herbed Baked Eggs’ – added some minced ham to help disguise the egg a little ( ;) ) and it was a very nice dish. Will do this for company.
No Champagne tho, had Bloody Marys instead.

Sunday, the 7th – Had Emeril’s ‘Steamed Baby Bok Choy with Broiled Salmon & a Warm Roasted Tomato & Lemon Vinaigrette’ – what a nice light, fast dinner this was.

The standout of the dinner was the Roasted Tomato & Lemon Vinaigrette –
2 c cherry tomatoes, halved
¼ c plus 1 T. extra-virgin olive oil
1 T. fresh marjoram leaves
The zest from 1 lemon
Salt & pepper
¼ c lemon juice
2 T. basil leaves

Saute quickly the tomatoes in ¼ c. of the olive oil, marjoram, lemon zest, s&p and lemon juice. Move to the oven and broil till well caramelized, 8-10 min. let rest while roasting the salmon, then add the julliened basil leaves – season again with s&p.

Love this ‘vinaigrette’ – will use it on lots of things, bet it would be good just over a bowl of pasta!

The second week will be much easier not to want to experiment – Roy will be in Portland Tues thru Thurs., but I may cook up something old that I especially liked…..hmmmm.

And for dessert we had frozen yogurt with Ina Garten’s chocolate sauce – yum!! (but didn’t make the profiteroles – maybe next time)

So, that’s the first week of the year – did I do O.K.??
Yes!! Five nights – old; two nights – new. There were some extras (drinks, brunch eggs, 18-hour bread, but also old meatloaf for sandwiches and herb/Kalamata/sun-dried tomato bread)