Food, Food, and More Food

Matt and I celebrated my return last night by going out for dinner at Romano's Macaroni Grill, using a gift certificate I got during law school. I showed uncharacteristic restraint by just getting a bowl of soup, but was glad that I did since by the time I finished with the bread and oil I was stuffed. Matt got pasta in vodka sauce, which was very good. For those who have never been to one, the Macaroni Grill is essentially an incarnation of the Olive Garden--and one that's conveniently located less than a mile away.

Today, we celebrated further by embarking on the monthly grocery shop--which was major, since we were out of a lot of things and plus the menu this month (much to our excitement) includes a number of new recipes-- several from cookbooks we received for Christmas. The menu is as follows:

1) Corn chipotle chowder

2) Pizza

3) Pizza

4) Pizza

5) Stir-fry

6) Stir-fry

7) Noodles with Lime-Peanut Sauce

8) Potato Soup

9) Vegetable soup

10) Lentil soup

11) Red curry with winter vegetables and cashews (p. 97 Thai)

12) Garlicky mushroom turnovers (p. 27)

13) Mushroom risotto

14) 44-clove Garlic Soup

15) Cauliflower soup

16) Curried Lentils & Sweet Potatoes

17) Puerco pibil

18) Tamales

19) Mushroom Fettucine

20) Carrot Ginger Soup

21) Broccoli cheese soup

22) Onion soup

23) Butternut squash risotto

24) Macaroni and cheese

25) Grilled cheese

26) Baked spaghetti

27) Gnocchi with olive oil and herbs

Obviously that's not the order in which we plan to make them (three nights in a row of pizza might be a little much, even for us). And obviously, we're on a real soup kick! A number of the recipes are off the Internet; I'll include links and opinions when we make them.

Today, we cheated and used up a "dinner" by making corn chowder today for lunch; tonight, Matt made gnocchi (easier than we thought, and lots of fun) while I made soup to float them in. I loosely based the soup on this recipe. We didn't have zucchini and we substituted the gnocchi for the beans--and it turned out great! (I've gotten addicted to chopping onions in the Cuisinart--the eye-burning factor is so much lower, and they turn out perfectly uniform, almost feathery, which is perfect in a soup.)

Matt working the flour into the potatoes for gnocchi

The soup--we also stirred in some spinach right at the end

I also made a batch of our favorite pizza crust recipe, rolled it out, and sprinkled it with olive oil and rosemary for a quick accompaniment. That recipe is as follows:

Our New Favorite Pizza Crust/Flatbread Recipe

3/4 cup warm water (about 110 degrees Fahrenheit; too hot and you'll kill the yeast, too cool and it won't react)

2 tsp yeast

1/4 tsp sugar

1-3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

Any herbs or spices you'd like to incorporate

Combine the first three ingredients and let sit until yeast is bubbly. Add in the other ingredients and either knead for two minutes, or let a KitchenAid/Cuisinart/bread machine do the work. Stretch or roll out onto a floured pan or pizza stone, gently poke some holes, and brush with olive oil if desired. (If using as a pizza, place toppings.) Bake at 400 degrees for 8-12 minutes.

In addition, we now have a pile of leftover gnocchi that we're planning to have for dinner tomorrow with olive oil and herbs!