I’m almost sure I cooked something this week.

Let’s see…

Monday:  Flatbread with caramelized onions, Honeycrisp apples, and bleu cheese (served with salad)

Tuesday:  Chicken and cashew stir-fry.

Wednesday:  I was going to make quiche, but we had a weird spate of hot weather and I didn’t want to turn on the oven.  We ordered pizza.

Thursday:  The weather turned cold, so we had that quiche.  It included zucchini, bacon, red bell pepper, onion, and cheese.

Friday:  Leftovers.

Tobin loves quiche.  He calls it teesh.

Denny and Miles were playing a game, and Denny lost.

M:  Haw, haw.  Your dream came false.

We were all in the bathroom, because for some reason we always congregate in the smallest room in the house.

M:  (looking at his hand) Why do I have a mole?

A:  Everybody has moles.

M:  Does Daddy?

Denny was leaning over, trying to keep Tobin alive.

A:  Sure.  (Pulling up Denny’s shirt and exposed his back) Here’s one.

M:  That’s not a mole.  That’s his nipple.

This week’s dinners were comprised of two easy ones and a more complicated one.  We went out on Monday (we’d been out of town and just rolled in around dinner time) and Fridays are generally leftovers or scrounging.

Tuesday: Panini with roast beef, this cranberry chipotle cheese I found, red onion, and green pepper.

Wednesday:  Squash soup.  This was the more complicated one.  I basically followed this recipe, except I used frozen organic squash and garnished it with crumbled maple bacon.  I also made a compound butter to go on bread we ate with the soup.  The butter was made of toasted pecans and sage from the garden, all smooshed up together.  I dehydrated the sage using the oven’s convection setting, and it just crumbled into a velvety powder with almost no effort.  It was fun.

Thursday:  This was a punter—tater tot casserole.  Tobin liked it, and Miles used to like it, but he refused to try it tonight.  He even decided to give up rights to any treats tonight rather than taste a single bite.  He’s not going to do well in the dorms.

Apropos of nothing:

M:  When you’re having a good day, it’s best to look on the dark side.

We have a little chipmunk that lives under our front porch.

M:  I wish the chipmunk lived in our house.

A:  I don’t know.  He might crawl into your bed at night and tickle you.

M:  Well, I am a heavy sleeper.

I’m not feeling creative enough to cook anything new and exciting for dinner, but it is nice to get back into the hot foods rotation.  This week we’ve had black bean soup (I doubled the recipe because there are never enough leftovers with the original quantities) and a Zuni roast chicken.

This time I found myself flavoring the chicken with fresh parsley, sage, and rosemary.  I couldn’t help myself from throwing in some dried thyme, just to make it full-on Scarborough fair.  I served it with mixed veggies and roasted organic potatoes.

I try to buy organic when I can—I’d say probably 75% of our produce is organic.  Potatoes are one I haven’t traditionally bought organic, because there are so many varieties available only in conventional form.  Then I listened to the audiobook of The Botany of Desire.  Aside:  I listen to a lot of audiobooks because Miles likes me to lie with him until he falls asleep, and it gets so boring if I don’t have something to listen to.

Anyway, in that book, the author interviews a potato farmer who uses conventional chemical pesticides.  Apparently the stuff is so toxic that, in the days after applying it, the farmer won’t let any of his staff into the field.  Even if part of the irrigation system breaks and it means losing a whole section of the crop, he go out there or let anyone else do it either.  He also keeps a small organic patch of potatoes for his family.  It’s just an anecdote, I know.  There are probably a lot of potato farmers out there who are happy to eat their pesticided crops.  I’m sure I do it every time I eat a potato in a restaurant.  But it stuck with me.

So, yeah, I picked up some organic potatoes.  All they had were redskins, and I typically like Yukon Gold or similar, but they turned out tastily anyway.  I cut them into 1-inch chunks and soaked them in water for half an hour or so, then dried well, tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roasted them along with the chicken.

Back on the black bean soup, I served that with cornbread.  The cornbread I make is just a variation on the recipe from the side of the cornmeal container.  From what I understand, it’s a Northern-style cornbread; that is, it’s light-textured and sweet.  It’s good with honey butter.

Northern Cornbread

• 3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 1/2 cups AP flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup water

Preheat oven to 400F.  Mix first six ingredients (through salt) in a medium bowl, then stir in wet ingredients until well-moistened, but don’t over-stir.  Bake for 25-30 minutes in a cooking-sprayed 8″ or 9″ baking dish.  I’ve also done this in an oven-proof skillet, and that’s good too.

A friend (hi, Rachel!) recently told us about a doctor who accidentally cut her little boy’s ear during an exam.  It has been troubling Miles for a week.  I’m trying to reduce his anxiety about it.

M:  Why did he make him get cut?

A:  He just wasn’t being as careful as he should have.  I guess [T] doesn’t have as good a doctor as you.

M:  I’m not a doctor.

This is a recipe I adapted from one I found online for quail with grapes and onions.  I made it as indicated, but I found that the quail were the least interesting part of the dish, and kind of a pain to deal with, so I have adapted it.  This is easy to double; measurements below serve 2.  I generally serve it with couscous and some sort of vegetable.

• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 2 tsp bouquet garni blend, divided
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 1/2 pound pork loin
• 1 yellow onion, sliced
• 1 1/2 cups red seedless grapes
• 1 Tbsp butter
• S&P
• olive oil

In a small saucepan, combine vinegars, 1 tsp bouquet garni, and honey.  Boil until reduced to about 1/4 cup, about 5 minutes.  Set aside.

Heat oven to 475F.  In an oven-proof pan (I like cast iron), sear the pork over medium-high heat in a little olive oil until browned on all sides.  Set aside.  Remove pan from heat, and add sliced onions, remaining tsp bouquet garni, butter, S&P.  Stir to combine.  Roast in oven for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven drizzle vinegar mixture over onions.  Add grapes and pork, stirring to coat.  Return to oven and cook until pork is to temperature, 145F-150F.  Let pork rest a few minutes before thinly slicing.  Top with grape/onion mixture.

The kids and I were at the grocery store picking up a few things.

A:  Let’s see…we need apples, tea for Daddy…

M:  No, D for Daddy.  Listen:  duh, duh, duh, Daddy.