This Week's Episode

Tonight I made one of my favorite comfort foods. Well at least it's one of my favorites...and it's nutritious...and it's easy. I never ever had it growing up so I feel odd calling it a comfort food of mine. Anyway, it's so easy to make, I wonder why I don't make it more often. Just cook up a pot of rice (tonight I used brown rice), saute some peppers and onions, open a can of beans (I prefer black beans), and throw everything together and heat. I've found that adding some or all of the "bean juice" from the can seems to add flavor and improve the consistency of the finished dish. It's so simple and so filling that I eat off of it for days. I'll dip into the leftovers for burritos on Thursday night when I use the beans and rice with some chicken and put it inside corn tortillas.

For tomorrow night, I'm trying out a recipe for breaded fish filets that I found in Runner's World. They suggest using sole, halibut, or flounder, but since I have some catfish in the fridge I'll use it. My girlfriend is afraid the catfish will be too fishy tasting for her but I think I can make it work - especially since it will be breaded with Italian breadcrumbs and seasoned with Old Bay. If the fish doesn't turn out, I'll still have the rice pilaf and mixed vegetables to fall back on.

Well that's really about it. My chai reached the bottom of the cup so I'll take that as a sign to stop writing for now.

Oh Deer

The successful planning and execution of my first homemade soup now behind me, I decided to soldier on with more home cooking this week. I have some venison loins from my parents that always sit in my freezer just waiting to have some grand meal planned around them. My plan? Venison loin cutlets, baked red potatoes, and cooked spinach, finished off with a mushroom cream sauce/gravy to top the venison and potatoes. I will say though, that if I had my way I would exchange the spinach for my family's watercress salad. That would make the the meal perfect.

I'm thinking the meal shouldn't be that hard either. Simply cut 1/2 inch thick slices off the full venison loin and sear them. Add milk and dried mushrooms to the stuck on meat remnants in the pan and you have a simple mushroom cream sauce. Plate up the meat, baked potatoes (from the oven), and spinach (from the stove). Drizzle the sauce over the potatoes and venison and you have one fine dish.

I must admit that I've even gone one step farther and planned ahead for the leftover venison. Fajitas anyone? Although I'm disappointed that I couldn't find any reasonably priced queso fresco at the supermarket, the sharp cheddar cheese, peppers, onions, salsa, and corn tortillas should do just fine. After all it is technically just a meal from leftovers, and plus, I can't out do myself every night.

Soups On

Well at least it was on. There is now a copious amount of soup in my freezer. Three full 32 oz containers to be exact. To be honest, I don't even know what to call the soup or even what kind of soup it is exactly. It started with a homemade stock from bacon and beef soup bones. Then I added the ingredients - bean/barley/lentil mixes, onions, carrots, celery, garlic, sausage, beef stew meat, and canned tomatoes. Originally I simply planned on making soup just to rid myself of the bean mixes. However, finding myself getting caught up in soup making madness, the soup came together to be quite good, a huge dutch oven of flavor. The few changes I would make for next time is to use ham hocks instead of bacon (or maybe all beef soup bones) and to take out the stew meat and use all sausage. Though, with all the soup in the freezer right now, it might be awhile before I venture to make another pot of soup.