September 2011 Recipe Roundup

I'm a huge fan of the Dinner: A Love Story blog; the recipes, the writing, the loving banter between husband and wife. When I read that the She in DALS had been keeping a log of their dinners for years, I decided that I had to so, as well. I was already deep into weekly meal planning (I have no idea how working families get dinner on the table without it), so it took little effort to commit the logs to a monthly note on my iPhone. I'd always intended to post these logs for my own use, so that I could refer back on a seasonal basis to see what had worked. But look at that, my logs go back to November 2010 and I've yet to regularly post. It seems a bit OCD to go all the way back, so I'm going to start today with September 2011, and hope to make this a regular thing. It was good month, filled with recipes worth making again.

1: Camp Tawonga
2: Camp Tawonga
3: Camp Tawonga
4: Picante w Friends
5: Labor Day: BBQ w Friends
6: Tuesday Recipe halibut w corn, potatoes and cherry tomatoes: A keeper! This dinner was outstanding.
7: BTS Night/Cook's Illustrated lentil and escarole soup: Another keeper
8: A&R out/Spaghetti w marinara and TJs Meatless Meatballs for MZ
9: Shabbat: Roasted skinless, boneless chicken thighs with artichokes, cherry tomatoes, capers and olives (a riff on a Donna Hay recipe, definitely a keeper!), couscous, caprese salad
10: BBQ w Friends: grilled Bi-Rite merguez and chix-apple sausage, lentil-brown rice risotto, smitten braised Romano beans (delicious!), butter lettuce-roasted corn-nectarine-toasted almond salad w mint chutney buttermilk dressing
11: Baked farfalle w ricotta and fresh tomatoes: a riff on this, using ricotta, and adding a pound of roasted roma tomatoes in place of both the broccoli and the chickpeas. Very popular!
12: Maya Kaimal tikka masala simmer sauce with Whole Foods frozen vegetable medley and leftover chicken over basmati rice, w cucumber-scallion raita: This might be MZ's favorite meal right now
13: Mana & Papa grilled tuna, served it with broccolini and roasted potatoes
14: New Chinese place on Monterey is just okay
15: Family dinner w Bubbe: Grilled salmon, soba noodles, stir-fried napa cabbage, bittman's sesame soy tomatoes (outstanding!)
16: Papa's rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes w Cook's Illustrated pan gravy, leftover Romano beans
17: A&R out
18: Dinner with Friends after apple picking
19: shesimmers spicy apple tomato salad w leftover chicken and romaine (great transformation to an entree salad)
20: A&R out/Mana & Papa take MZ to GFC
21: Tri-tip over Food Blogga Warm Quinoa Corn and Arugula salad (added cherry tomatoes, and blue cheese FTW!)
22: TJs veggie burgers and Whole Foos mahi mahi burgers w napa cabbage slaw w apples, carrots, scallions in Penzey's Green Goddess Dressing
23: Shabbat: Dinner Files Manti lamb pasta (over farfalle! this was delicious!), green salad, challah w honey
24: A's Work BBQ
25: Spaghetti dinner at Friends'
26: Indian Slow Cooker Punjabi curried kidney beans w basmati rice, napa cabbage stirfried 5 Spices, 50 Dishes-style -- except I added 1/2 chopped red onion. MZ devoured this dinner!
27: A&R out: Opportunity Fund Taste of Microfinance event
28: Erev Rosh Hashanah family dinner: Paulie's Pickling pickled herring, chopped liver, and Zesty Original dill pickles; Bubbe's brisket, mashed potatoes, string beans, honey cake
29: Rosh Hashanah, SM's birthday dinner: Foreign Cinema
30: Cod Puxa Vida w Vallarta beans and rice: this sauce is incredible!

Other successes:

• wee cranberry bran muffins came out great this way
  
• three many cooks BTS granola bars made nut-free with pepitas and coconut: next time I'd whir the oats in a food processor for a few seconds before assembling
• America's Test Kitchen slow cooker applesauce
• Oven-roasted roma tomatoes roasted by the flat-full and frozen to last the year
  
• Bistro Cooking's Maggie's Peppers (a late summer favorite)