Where are the "what we ate" food logs?

In case there are any readers out there wondering why I haven't been posting my weekly food diary of what my family eats (and how we manage to make the same meal/food work for varying tastes), the answer is a little complicated. Read on if you're interested...

It all began the week I posted my essay on the avoiding-cancer diet. One of the suggestions was to avoid smoked meat; another was to avoid beef. The same day it was posted, we had grilled steak for dinner. D. splurged and bought steak and grilled them outside as a last hurrah to summer. So, I put off writing up what we had eaten that week, thinking I'd sneak it in later, when the two posts might not sit next to each other.

As I held off posting my meal log, I wondered what good it is doing anyone. It is sometimes so repetitious that it is not inspiring that many new meal ideas. Then I realized the thing that would help me would be to chart the repeats, to try to see what I am primarily serving the family, notice patterns (too much pizza on Fridays?) and see if I can schedule a little more variation. To do that I would have to cut and paste each entry into something like an Excel database. But that's just too much work at this point, especially for questionable returns.

Then it hit me—-Blogger is essentially a database, with labels that show frequency of post topics. If I create a separate database/blog just for meals, and log each one as a separate post, the labels would start to show the patterns. In one month, I would be able to see that I served foccacia five times, etc. Plus, taking the food log out of Cooking for Four would leave more room for essays on food and the sharing of shopping tips, etc. I can still write a review of the week's offerings with "why this didn't work" posts/comments.

So I've started a very minimal blog just for 2008 meals. It's called What We Ate in 2008. http://cffwhatweate2008.blogspot.com/. It's not really worth your time—I'll be using it as raw material for this blog in the coming weeks. It may evolve into something a little less minimal; if it does, I'll suggest you look at it then.

What We Ate: Aug. 25-29

I am toying with a new format for these meal logs, trying to make them more succinct, with info easier to find. They may continue to evolve over the next few weeks, especially as I get busier with other things...

Monday - smothered chicken leftover from Sunday night's dinner

• recipe from Dori Sanders' Country Cooking

• PE ate plain broiled chicken (1 piece, set aside with no gravy)

Tuesday - chili made with ground turkey, pinto beans and crushed tomatoes, with noodles

• PE ate cheesy noodles

Wednesday - leftover chili with more spices added

Thursday - Chicken Bites with Potato, Sausages and Vinegar (variation)*

• recipe from Lidia's Italian American Kitchen

• PE ate Trader Joe's chicken potstickers

* Why this didn't work: the recipe is fine  and I've made it before but the Whole Foods basil sausages I had on hand, which were marked "Sell by Aug. 30th" smelled bad when I unwrapped them on Aug. 28. So, this was just chicken and potato, with broccoli thrown in. This is my second bad experience in the last 10 days with WF sausage...

Friday - a ripe avocado calls for guacamole, which calls for refried beans (from a can!) in burritos, and rice and corn

• no recipe needed, duh

• PE ate a quesadilla

What We Ate: Aug. 18-22

Monday

(One of our desperation/last minute dinners--see May 15, 2008 posting)

Shared by all: Trader Joes orange chicken with jasmine rice

What PE ate:

TJ chicken with rice, carrot sticks, milk

What parents ate:

some TJ chicken, mixed in with sauteed broccoli and tofu

Tuesday

Merguez (spicy lamb) sausage [made at Whole Foods--a real disappointment]; sauteed potatoes with fresh chives and sour cream; salad

What PE ate:

leftover TJ chicken, buckwheat noodles (leftover from M's lunch), celery sticks with peanut butter

Wednesday

Foccacia - one small pie made with goat/sheep's cheese (for mom); one large pie made with shredded mozzarella.

Additions: sauteed brown mushrooms and green onions (put on all of M's and one-fourth of mozzarella pie); pepperoni (one-fourth of mozz. pie); fresh basil leaves (one-fourth)

PE ate the slices with fresh basil

Thursday

Non-dairy enchilada casserole -- made with layers of corn tortillas, leftover enchilada sauce (see recipe), browned ground turkey with one can of pinto beans--no cheese added so M could eat; corn.

Friday

TA birthday party, sub platter catered by Quiznos. (M ate leftover enchilada casserole).

What We Ate: Aug. 11-15

Out of town all week, so we ate with family and in restaurants. When in North Carolina, eat... sushi?

What we ate: Aug. 4-8

We were out of town Aug. 7-8 and ate out a lot. So this is an abbreviated week...

Monday

PE and D not here

TA ate: chicken garlic sausage, tomato sauce, penne, shredded cheese (leftover from Sat. night dinner)

M ate: omelet with goat cheese, chives, a little ham

Tuesday

PE and D not here again

TA and M invented a tortilla layer cake:

In a pan, saute lots of garlic cloves (we chopped up 10), add 1 can pinto beans, some salsa

We took 3 medium sized tortillas

First layer: tortilla, sauteed beans, cheese (we used slices of Swiss since it's the only cow's cheese M can eat, but shredded cheddar would taste better)

Second layer: tortilla, cream cheese, beans, more salsa

Third layer: guacamole

Tip:

We should have reheated the whole thing in the oven or microwave so the cheese would melt, then added the guacamole.

Wednesday

(Eating what's left in the fridge before our trip)

broiled salmon marinated in lime juice and olive oil; leftover rice (salad served but too mooshy to eat)

Thursday

On the road...

Friday

TA's birthday; we all at Applebees in M's hometown in NC.

What we ate: July 28-Aug 1

Our fridge was still on the fritz (see last week's post), through Tuesday evening. We were still eating mostly out of the downstairs freezer until Wednesday.

Monday
This and that pasta.

I took a cup of frozen bay scallops from the fridge and sauteed in butter for 5 min. or so. In a separate dish, I made quick/microwave tomato sauce from chunky tomatoes. Served with pecorino (for M.) and parmesan, on pasta. Also served small servings of stuffed grapes leaves, mushrooms and tossed salad, which I purchased a few minutes before from deli section of the grocery store (since we couldn't keep leftovers, we only bought small portions).

What PE ate:
Refusing any kind of fish, PE ate cheesy noodles, a slice of ham, and apple slices.

Tuesday
D at work dinner, the rest of us went to McDonalds.

Wednesday
2 pizzas (M's made with sheep/goat cheese), salad

Thursday
spinach/tomato and fresh herb frittata, salad, hot raisin bread

What TA ate:

2 pieces of leftover pizza (TA hates eggs)

What PE ate:

scrambled eggs, raisin bread (PE won't eat eggs unless scrambled)

Friday
Swedish meatballs with cream/sour cream sauce, served with pasta.

Why this didn't work:

I made these with ground turkey breast instead of ground pork/beef, which already made them a little drier than beef.  I had no bread crumbs, so I used a cup of quick oatmeal. Then, instead of sauteeing in butter, I put on an oiled baking sheet in the oven at 350 degrees for around 10 min. The result: they were a little dry. The sauce was a little stingy to make up for it since I only used a cup of chicken broth in the sauce.

What PE ate:

meatballs, pasta with cheese, carrots

What we ate: July 21-25

Our two-year-old GE Profile refrigerator went nuts on Thursday and elevated the interior temperature to 64 degrees top/34 degrees bottom, while making a horrible clicking noise. I salvaged what I could by stuffing anything that would fit (and could be frozen) into the small downstairs freezer, putting stuff that had to be refrigerated into a big cooler in the floor of my kitchen. The repairman can't come until Tuesday. So, since then, we've mostly been eating frozen food from the freezer and anything else we can find, in and out of the house.

Also this week, TA was at away-camp until Thursday night.

Monday

Leftover quiche, broccoli

What PE ate:

scrambled eggs (suddenly hated quiche)

Tuesday

hamburgers on the grill, corn

Wednesday

Mexican lasagna (for D.), vegan enchiladas (for M.) [recipe in separate posting]

What PE ate:

(PE had a friend over and they ate an hour earlier than D and M)

chicken nuggets, apple slices, toast

Thursday

pesto (using fresh basil from deck garden, frozen pine nuts, frozen pecorino)

What PE ate:

cheesy noodles, carrots

Friday

desperation setting in...still no fridge

M. ate enchiladas, which had been frozen after Thursday night

D. and TA ate some frozen cheesy dinner from the freezer downstairs

PE ate cheese and some other stuff

What We Ate: July 14-18

It's been hot here all week, so when I've cooked, I've tried to make short-cuts to recipes, to get out of the kitchen faster.

Monday

sauteed scallops tossed in with rice noodle-veggie dish leftover from Sunday night

What PE ate:

Trader Joes chicken pot stickers, noodles, carrot

Tuesday

I made a sort-of version of the Greek dish Pastitsio, but without the cream sauce since I didn't want to add another step and since I was under the impression that TA didn't like cream sauce. TA had a friend over for dinner, who ate 5 servings of it.

• Sort-of Pastitsio (recipe follows)

• frozen spinach sauteed with garlic and pine nuts

• (TA's friend is allergic to nuts, so we also had last-minute frozen French green beans with butter, lemon juice and dill).

RECIPE

Sort-of (Stream-lined) Pastitsio

• Prepare 8 oz. of pasta--like penne, elbows, or the squiggly one. Cook until al dente, rinse, set aside.

•Preheat oven to 350.

• Meanwhile, saute 1/2 lb. (or up to a lb.) of ground beef. (If you're using one chopped-up onion, add with beef, and forget the green onions, etc., later. Drain most of the fat; add 4-5 chopped cloves of garlic, saute for 2 minutes; (add chives, green onions); then add small can of diced tomatoes.

• In a large casserole dish, add pasta, then stir in still-warm sauce from pan. You may add shredded cheese or feta (I didn't, and it still tasted fine). Sprinkle top with pecarino or parmesan.

• Put in oven until top cheese looks melted.

What PE ate:

she was at sleepover

Wednesday

With 1/2 lb. of gr. beef leftover, we made tacos, with shredded cheese, tomato and lettuce. TA put it in tortilla and made a burrito. No alternatives, everyone ate it. Vegetables: leftover spinach or beans.

Thursday

I thought I was thawing out a whole, cut-up chicken until too late--and saw that it was just 4 scrawny chicken backs, purchased to make chicken broth. Since I recently over-bought cans of garbanzo beans (and no other), I decided to make this Mediterranean night. I searched on Internet and found a Mediterranean soup at www.realsimple.com, which called for a whole chicken, but I just used chicken backs.

• hummus (1 can of garbanzo beans, tahini, lemon juice)

• falafel (1 can of garbanzo beans, flour, baking soda, garlic, chives, parsley) with pita bread, tomatoes and tahini sauce (tahini, yogurt, lemon juice).

• Mediterranean chicken soup (I thought this was a little bland... it really needs more garlic and/or spices like cumin, but the couscous was a nice touch).

• green salad

Friday

sauteed boneless chicken breasts and thighs (basic recipe in New Joy of Cooking, p. 587, my edition) with Tomatoes and basil (recipe on next page of same cookbook), pasta. Vegies: leftovers or salad.

Reactions: Again, I thought this recipe was too bland. It only called for 1 tbsp. of garlic. Maybe it would have been better with the capers, but my family doesn't like them. It was better with hot sauce and powdered cheese added.

What PE ate:

plain sauteed chicken (set aside) with plum sauce and peanuts she crushed at the table (she didn't like it that much, though)

What We Ate: July 7-11

Monday

M. sick (with PE's virus from last week). D and TA ate leftovers from Sunday's barbecue (smoked pork loin, sausage, cole slaw. M ate pretzel crackers. 

What PE ate: 

I don't know what PE ate since I couldn't stomach the smell of dinner and stayed in my room... She survived.

Tuesday

Everyone still ate leftovers (M had chicken broth and toasted bread).

Wednesday

pesto (from small basil plants thinned out), linguine, green beans

What PE ate:

linguine with shredded cheese, carrot sticks

Thursday

• leftover pesto on store-bought polenta (sliced and heated in casserole dish with olive oil and dried basil); 

• [made-up dish] cannelli beans cooked in a pot with paprika, chives, garlic and sour cream, covered with whole-wheat bread crumbs and put in pan under broiler until bread crumbs toasted

• garlic bread

• green salad

• (later) fruit salad with yogurt dressing

What PE ate:

Neither TA or PE will eat polenta. TA ate pesto on leftover noodles and everything else; PE ate small omelet with cheese and ham, fruit salad later. 

Friday

(I thought there was enough leftover polenta to make another dish with it, but after preparing stuff to put on it, I pulled out of fridge and discovered only 5 small slices left--so I had to improvise)

• polenta, white rice, leftover beans in a casserole dish with leftover/frozen pizza sauce, pecorino cheese and sliced sausage

• baked acorn squash

What TA ate:

baked potato, sausage, bread, squash

What PE ate:

rice, sausage, squash

What we ate: June 30-July 4

I got busy this week, with D out of town and PE getting a stomach virus mid-week, so I didn't write down what we ate every day. I vaguely remember leftovers on Monday and turkey meatloaf in the middle of the week (not a hit), then on to D. grilling chicken on Friday. So, I'll use this space to talk about the only memorable thing I made:

3 Things From the Same Dough

(This was on the same night as the turkey meatloaf; PE will not eat meatloaf, even when disguised as a hamburger in a bun; creativity ensued...)

Since I was making bread in the bread machine anyway, I put it on the dough cycle. When done, I took out and divided into 3 balls on a wooden board dusted with flour.

• The first ball was pushed into a small greased loaf pan, left to rise in the oven, set to "breadproofing" (100 degrees).

• The second ball was rolled out into a rectangle, then spread with butter and sprinkled with a little sugar and cinnamon, with a small handful of raisins pushed into dough. It was then rolled back up into a log and put in a small, greased loaf pan into the oven to rise.

• The third ball was rolled into a mini pizza, very thin crust, and set aside to rise a little while the the others were rising, until I could make the sauce for it.

After I rolled out the mini pizza, I made some quick tomato sauce in the microwave (see Recipe in previous posts). I took the two loaves out of the oven to rise some more and set the oven to 375. I added the sauce and shredded cheese to the pizza dough and put it in when oven was hot enough. I then added the 2 bread loaves when they had risen enough.

Lessons learned:

• Bread dough is not the same as pizza dough--it's less moist and thus less flexible. So, it was not a perfect pizza, but PE didn't seem to mind. She liked having her own little pizza. An adult might notice the difference.

• I've never figured out how to get raisins to stick to raisin bread. Once sliced, a few of the raisins always manage to fall out. Maybe I should add the raisins to the dough cycle in the machine, so they'll be more integrated, then add cinnamon and sugar as an afterthought? I don't know how Pepperidge Farm gets their raisins to stick...

What we ate: June 23-27

Monday

leftover-from-Sunday Thai-barbecued chicken and pork loin, salad, bread

(PE ate at a friend's house.)

Tuesday

TA had braces tightened that afternoon, so we ate soft food.

refried beans (pintos mushed up with oil and fried garlic), guacamole, soft (pressure cooked) white rice

What PE ate:

soft rice with raisins and pecans, slice of provolone cheese, fresh peas, strawberry keifer

Wednesday

PE had a friend over for dinner who is as picky as she is, but who will eat any kind of breakfast food.

Two main dishes: 

• For girls, M and friend's mom: omelets with sausage, fresh chives and Swiss cheese, garlic bread

•For D (who had eggs that a.m.): sausages with sauteed broccoli and garlic, thin spaghetti, garlic bread

vegetable side for omelet: broccoli (some set aside from other dish) with sauteed celery

Thursday

leftover spaghetti turned into Asian-peanut noodles (adding mushrooms, matchstick carrots, chopped zucchini and tofu, and served with soy sauce-peanut sauce)

What PE ate:

matchstick carrots (set aside, uncooked), noodles with shredded cheese, fresh tofu 

Friday

cheese foccacia with basil, calzone (with mozzarella and salame), sauteed spinach with pine nuts

What PE ate:

calzone, peas

What We Ate: June 16-20

Monday

leftover (from Sunday night's dinner) Mexican pork tenderloin, refried beans, tortillas, frozen spinach sauteed in olive oil with pine nuts

What PE ate:

quesadilla, peas

Tuesday

multi-pizzas: 1 small foccacia; 2 ham-swiss cheese calzone; medium 2-cheese pizza with homemade tomato sauce; frozen green beans

What M ate:

PE ate 2-cheese pizza but M. couldn't eat any without any goat cheese handy, so she stir-fried some broccoli and chicken breast with garlic and soy sauce

Wednesday

We went camping...and ended up eating out when the campfire went out

Thursday

(after getting home late and tired...)

marinated chicken breasts (which didn't get cooked Wed. night), broiled; sliced zucchini dipped in cornmeal and fried; gnochi

What PE ate:

Trader Joe's chicken potstickers; peas, tofu chunks

Friday

Double-duty dinner: PE had a friend over--they wanted a "breakfast supper." They had:

scrambled eggs, toast, baked sausage, orange juice; later, for dessert, fruit salad

The rest of us had:

sausages sliced up, linguine with tomato sauce (leftover and frozen from Tuesday's dinner), salad, fruit salad and cookies for dessert

What We Ate: June 9-13

Monday

This is the first day we can't remember what we had--we know it had something to do with plain sausage and spicy sausage... PE ate the plain

Tuesday 
Another power outage... dinner started on the stove and then left unfinished as we scrambled to find a restaurant with power

Wednesday
pasta primavera with leftover, cut-up chicken breast (and any vegetable hanging out in the fridge, including broccoli) -- this was going to be dinner on Tuesday

What PE ate:
noodles with cheese, chicken, green peas

Thursday

foccacia - one pie with shredded mozzarella (half with sausage and fresh tomato, other half plain); one pie with goat cheese, tomato, dried basil; tomato-vegetable soup with sour cream; green beans.

What PE ate:

part of half-pie without tomato, carrots

Friday

frozen/thawed out/frozen spaghetti sauce with black olives, on thin spaghetti; leftover foccacia; leftover green beans

What PE ate:

foccacia

What We Ate: June 2-6 (Power outage dinners)

This was an unusual week for us. D. went out of town on Wed. and that evening we had massive storms and the power went out, leaving us to hightail it to a restaurant with electricity. When the power came back 19 hours later, we had to throw food out and started to eat whatever was semi-thawed in the freezer. So, we didn't make a lot of fresh food this week.

Monday
leftover chicken pot pie from Sunday night (which D. had made), salad

Tuesday
bay scallops with potatoes (adapted from "Scallops Oreganata" in Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen), no time to make a vegetable, orange juice

Why this didn't work:
This is not a dish to make when it is nearly 6:30, everyone is hungry and you've got scallops that can be easily sauteed in 5 min. Even with microwaving the potatoes in water to speed up their boiling, it took nearly an hour (labor-intensive hour) from start to table and no one was wild about it. Far happier were they with scallops sauteed with cream, sherry and mushrooms, which I made a few weeks ago, but alas, I had no cream or mushrooms on hand and thought this would be a good way to use up some potatoes. I also didn't have all the ingredients Lidia had listed, such as onions and tomatoes and the chives I substituted for onions just didn't do the trick.

Moral of the story: When you've splurged on scallops, part of the cost is convenience, so it's silly to waste them on labor-intensive cooking.

Wednesday
dinner at Panera, during the storm

Thursday
a half-thawed frozen pizza with melted-ice cream shakes

Friday
omelets with goat cheese, chives and ham (TA and D gone), garlic toast (from thawed out bread), fresh carrots and peas or salad
(PE actually ate this without adaptation)

What We Ate: May 26-30

Monday
big old roasted chicken, sweet potatoes, steamed broccoli, bread

What PE ate: 

chicken and sweet potatoes

Tuesday

leftover chicken, cranberry sauce, rice, leftover broccoli sauteed with celery and zucchini; pumpkin pie (with homemade crust--made two, froze one*)

Wednesday

spaghetti sauce with meat, linguine, salad

What PE ate:

linguine with melted shredded cheese, sweet potato, bread

Thursday

leftover spaghetti with meat sauce and black olive meatless tomato sauce

Friday

quiche (bacon, goat cheese, fresh tomatoes, fresh herbs, chives) with homemade crust*, green beans, bread

(PE was at a sleepover...)

What We Ate: May 19-23

This was an unusual week for us. D. was away, for work. On such occasions, we usually go out to eat once (one of four reasons we go out to eat). This week, we had a gift certificate to a restaurant, so we went out to eat twice--a first in the history of our household.

Monday

Leftovers (Mexican pork loin, red beans, guacamole--made on Sunday night).

What PE ate:

quesadilla and fruit

Tuesday

We went to McDonalds. M. ate a $1 fruit salad and came home and ate yogurt since she doesn't like McDonalds. TA came home hungry, despite having eaten 2 burgers. PE was happy.

Wednesday

Pizza/foccacia extravaganza. One ball of dough, four kinds of pizzas--mini foccacias with shredded mozzarella and basil; small Mediterranean pizza with  goat and feta; calzone with ham and swiss cheese; Mediterranean pizza with mozzarella.

What PE ate:

foccacia and half a ham and cheese calzone; carrots; orange juice smoothie

Thursday

(We used a gift certificate to a Mexican/El Salvadoran restaurant. Only M. loved the food.)

Friday

(Homecoming dinner)

Leg of lamb, rice, salad, green beans, white/wheat homemade bread

What PE ate:

PE refuses to eat lamb because it is a young animal (she'll eat ham and beef just fine, but doesn't see this as a discrepancy). She ate leftover foccacia.

What We Ate May 12-16: Turkey meatballs, desperation chicken

Monday 

Leftover pasta with tomato sauce and sausage; leftover corn

Tuesday

Desperation dinner (for more on desperation dinners in general, see 5/15/08 posting). Trader Joe's Orange Chicken, served with basmati rice. (To make it more palatable for the adults, we threw small portions of it into stir-fried celery/mushrooms/garlic along with the white rice). Mixed salad greens with ginger salad dressing.

Recipe: Ginger/soy dressing

(I made this up at the last minute)

Throw into a blender 1/4 cup oil (canola), 1/4 cup vinegar (rice if you have it), 1 tbsp. or more soy sauce, fresh garlic and fresh ginger. Add a couple of spoonfuls of tahini if you have it and blend again.

Wednesday

(I made yogurt that morning...)

Ground turkey meatballs with lime-yogurt sauce (adapted a recipe from Cooks.com, found with Google recipe search); basmati rice; broccoli. Dessert: homemade blueberry frozen yogurt with fresh strawberries.

What PE ate:

leftover TJ chicken, celery sticks with peanut butter

Thursday

Leftover meatballs with yogurt sauce; corn; rice. Later: fruit salad (strawberries, apples, bananas, raisins with a lemon-yogurt-maple sauce).

What PE ate:

(She was hungry when we walked in the door late, so she had fruit salad with lots of yogurt. Later, she ate rice and chicken, with a milk-banana smoothie).

Friday

Twisty noodles with skinless chicken breasts and broccoli in a sour cream sauce; salad. (Recipe from Google recipes... About.com).

What PE ate:

One small piece of chicken set aside after only sauted, with sesame seeds and honey added; corn; buckwheat noodles (leftover from M's lunch) with peanuts and soy sauce; corn.

What We Ate May 5-9: Salmon, Chicken, and Quesadillas

Monday

Russian beef/pork pierogies (frozen, from Russian grocery), served as soup -- cooked in homemade broth (including water leftover from boiling potatoes); garlic potatoes; zuccini and celery with tomatoes and dill

Cookbooks used: Please to the Table (for garlic potatoes); zuccini recipe was improvised--I cooked in olive oil and butter threw in chives, half a small tomato and dill to make it seem Russian.

What Picky Eater (PE) ate: small omelet with cheese, carrots

Tuesday

Alaskan salmon sauteed in butter, lemon juice and sake; buttered penne; salad (prewashed salad greens with herbs)

What PE ate: penne with powdered cheese, celery slices with cream cheese

Wednesday

Quesadillas (made with Swiss and cream cheese), browned in butter in a cast iron pan, served with homemade guacamole, fresh tomatoes and spiced-up pinto beans; salad

What PE ate: plain quesadillas, sliced apples

Thursday

chicken breasts with cream/sherry sauce, served with leftover penne; french whole green beans (frozen)

Cookbooks used: Joy of Cooking (main boneless chicken recipe)

What PE ate: chicken nuggets (we forgot to set aside some chicken before the cream sauce went on top), carrots

Friday

(Confession: OK, we were supposed to go camping, but it rained, so this was the fastest stuff we could come up with, from what we already had in the cupboards and fridge)

basmati white rice; black beans (from a can) cooked with garlic, oil and cumin; guacamole (from last ripe avocado in fridge); salad

What PE ate: a small quesadilla and maybe an apple?