Foodie Nesting

The stork is circling the house... any day now and our life as a family of four will be changed forever.  How exciting and scary at the same time.  You would think by our third child I would be used to this but I'm not.  Maybe it has to do with how many years there were in between Kylie and Michael, so that having Michael was like having a first baby all over again.  No one else to run around after.  In fact after Michael Kylie was able to run around for us being that she could drive already.

And with that mini-anxiety attack...welcome to our first post of the new subtopic blog... This and That... today it means... this is what I should be doing (homework, work-work, and studying), and that is what I did (laundry, cooking, cooking, grocery shopping, and more cooking).  I've been making an average of 2 to 3 things a day, which is helping with that freezer of food for post-baby dinners that I never got around to doing because I was doing the other stuff that I should be doing now.  Here were a few of the highlights and the links to their recipes.  I'm not sure if everything is just tasting really, really fantastic or if I'm savoring the last few days I will be able to eat warm food.  I think after Michael was born I did not eat a warm meal until my mother came to visit when he was 6 weeks old.  She bounced him through the whole meal so the husband and I could actually eat at the same time, and eat something that was not either cold because it came that way, as in cold cereal, or room temperature because the little monkey just knew when it was dinner time and he always wanted to eat with us bless his little heart.

Simple Roast Chicken by Thomas Keller.  So easy, so salty, so divine.  I stole this picture from Almost Bourdain because as soon as it came out of the oven people started ripping pieces off of it, and that didn't leave a very appetizing looking bird, although when it came out it was almost this gorgeous... allll-most.... scout's honor.

Garlic Butter Roasted Mushrooms by Smitten Kitchen.  These were FANTASTIC.  I am a mushroom junkie... well if they are cooked I'm not much for raw mushrooms, but these are drowning in butter, garlic, and capers, with a squeeze of lemon juice.  I wish these could be frozen (then again they are so fast they don't need to be) as I believe they would go with anything or as a meal with a loaf of baguette and a chunk of really good cheese... ahhh good cheese, I can eat that again very soon... so excited.  To make my case I made these as a side for spaghetti.  Yes I realize that is odd but I thought they might not last another day forgotten in the back of the fridge and I really wanted to try out this recipe, being that I love mushrooms... and now we're looping.... moving onward.

Swiss Chard and White Bean Stew again by Smitten Kitchen... which you all know I'm in love with. It's very rare that everything you make from someone is exactly as you were  hoping... minus that one chocolate cake that seemed to cause a lot of people problems from her site, but that's one ONE teeny little recipe out of dozens... I love her.... I'm sure if we were to meet I would gush about  how we are foodie soul mates, how i love her site, and how wonderful her recipes are and she would say... "Seriously lady get your own damn recipes." 

Now that I think of how many I make maybe I am co-dependent on her site... naaaah.  This was rich and creamy, and fantastic, and finally made me learn to poach an egg.  Only took me about 9 eggs to get 4 right, and that was after my 19 year old walked in and said.... what are you doing?  You go like this.... and proceeded to show me the simplest form of poached egg I have ever seen and it worked like a charm.  It goes like this... boil water until really boil-y..... drop in egg.  DON'T TOUCH.  Remove egg... ta daaaa.  Why didn't I think of that?  Oh and I used spinach instead of chard because... well I live in Lincoln, Nebraska you can't always get Chard when you want it, however you can normally get Kale so that will be the green of choice when I make it again.

I also made "The World's Best Meatloaf" according to my husband which is his childhood friend's mother's recipe that he scored a few months back, but I forgot to take an after picture before I sliced it up and froze it for post-baby.  I was thinking of doing a post on it then when I make it into "The World's Best Meatloaf Sandwich!"

Enjoy your week.  PS... all of these take NO work so you have NO excuse not to make them.