Cookstory: January 7-8, 2013

January 7, 2013


Morning

Grilled Ham and Cheese Sandwich.
For Piper's school lunch. Wrapped in foil. She reheats it in the cafeteria microwave.

Evening

Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce and Ricotta Cheese.
I had to knock out dinner dinner in 15 minutes to get Piper to swim practice. Nothing special here: a strictly utilitarian meal. (Though the sauce has a nice backstory I'll share another time.) I ate standing up.



January 8, 2013

Evening

Sautéd Broccoli with Parmesan. 

This is a standard of mine, which I think I got from the Deborah Madison vegetarian cookbook. It's so simple: cut up a head of broccoli, steam it for 3-4 minutes, then toss it into a sauté pan preheated with olive oil, sliced garlic, and some red pepper flakes. Toss it around in that pan for about 4-5 minutes, and then straight into a serving dish, where you thinly slice parmesan cheese over the broccoli and let it melt a bit before serving.

Near East Pasta.
Another standard. The girls love this, so I often include it when I'm serving a main course that they may not be so crazy about. A delicious quickie on a weeknight.

Both of these items were paired with a roast chicken, which we pick up on a semi-regular basis from Whole Foods on Tuesday nights, when they run a special. We always get the "Oak Street" flavor, made only at this one Whole Foods location and named after the Oak Street Market, the long-departed-but-still-first-in-Evanston health food market. This chicken is the last remaining vestige of that small but venerable establishment that used to live across from the downtown Evanston post office.