I tend to not get super creative with cooking when it's only for myself, but when Sayer has been here, I've been experimenting a bit more :). Here are a few of the new things I've made in the last few weeks:
These are some stuffed peppers. I've made them before with some spiced sausage I got from the farmer's market. This time, I used bison meat we bought at the local farmer's market. I love that place! I spiced it up with a variety of things and then cooked it with some sauteed onions and garlic. After that, I cooked some quinoa. I combined all of that together with some chopped tomato, Rotel, and shredded cheese. I threw them in some green peppers I had blanched, and then put them in a pan with some water in the bottom to continue steaming them. I topped it with a bit more shredded cheese and cooked them for around 20 minutes. Voila!
My Southern gentleman and I had a sweet tooth on this night, so I whipped out a quick (I'm talking twenty-five minutes total) monkey bread for dessert. I just grabbed a can of buttermilk biscuits, melted some butter and syrup with some cinnamon and sugar, and put some nuts in there. Yum yum.
My guy's mom came over on Wednesday night for dinner and church :). I made blackened salmon with a salad and some croissant rolls. The salmon rub was a mixture of brown sugar, cayenne, cumin, chili powder, garlic, and some other stuff. The salad I made was one that I had had at a wedding a few years ago--I haven't stopped thinking about it since! It was a mixture of baby spinach and arugula, blue cheese crumbles, pear slices, cashews, and a strawberry poppyseed vinaigrette. The croissants were just canned--ain't nobody got time for making those by hand! Anyways, we got some good girl time in, and it was a fun night :).
For Thursday night, I wanted to make Sayer a treat. I feel like I get in a rut cooking fish and chicken the same ways, so I have been researching new things to do (hence, the blackened salmon haha)! I generally keep a couple different kinds of fish, chicken, and some other kind of meat (most recently, bison) in the freezer. I like to mix it up.
For this, I took some frozen salmon fillets and thawed them out. After chopping them up, I mixed them with some bread crumbs, some homemade Cajun seasoning (thanks, Pinterest!), some green onions, and some mayo. Then, I formed them into patties and started to fry them up in some coconut oil. To put on top of it, I made some lemon garlic aoili. It was super simple! Just some mayo (I added sour cream), some lemon juice, and some minced garlic.
Saysay likes a hearty meal, so I made some homemade steak fries to go with it. I just cut up some potatoes and rubbed them down with some olive oil, paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper and stuck them in the oven.
I took the extra potatoes and diced them up. Then I sauteed them with some onions and green peppers so that he could use them for breakfast in the morning! Since Sayer's been working away during the week, I have been loving the time I get to spend with him over the weekends.
Cooking calms me. Cooking for others makes me happy. To quote one of my favorite movies--Julie and Julia--this resonates with me: "I love that after a day when nothing is sure, and when I say 'nothing' I mean nothing, you can come home and absolutely know that if you add egg yolks to chocolate and sugar and milk, it will get thick. It's such a comfort."
Well, I suppose that's enough for now. My guy and I are having a nice chat about church and God while he is on the road, and I don't want to be distracted (even though I'm not the one driving lol). I think if I'm going to keep cooking, I should probably get some new (nicer) plates. I only have ones with shamrocks on them, and I kind of feel like it detracts from the food (or how I want it to look). Luckily, my guy got me a Bed, Bath, and Beyond gift card for my birthday. New plates and wine glasses for me! Woo woo! Am I too domestic for a *gulp* twenty-five year old? C'est la vie. ;)
Love, y'all!
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