Creamy Polenta and Chorizo

I love planning out my meals, but sometimes it slips my mind and I need to work with what I have in the fridge. This meal was one of those occasions. What do you do with mushrooms, onions, and chorizo that you haven't done a million times? Polenta.

There's really not much of a recipe for this one, since it's so simple. The mushrooms and onions were already cooked in the fridge, so it was just a matter of heating them up, and cooking the polenta and chorizo.

I used this recipe as a starting point, but used nearly half cream instead of water to get a rich, silky, creamy taste to the polenta. I also found myself using a bit more water. Then I let the polenta chill in the refrigerator, then fried spoonsfuls of it in bacon grease. I'm pretty sure the bacon grease was what made the dish so amazing.

Then I topped the fried polenta with the mushrooms and onions, as well as a little chili sauce.

Then some shredded cheese.

Then the cooked chorizo and some sliced scallions.

A delicious way to welcome the coming of summer!

A.S.S. Sandwich (Avocado, Salami, Spinach)

I don't eat sandwiches that often anymore. Not many lunch meats agree with my stomach. Plus, there's something sad about sandwiches you bring to work - the lettuce wilts, the cheese melts into the sandwich, and you can only have so many toppings. Plus, there's nothing worse than stale or soggy bread.

But occasionally I like to have a real sandwich with all the fixings. Mayo all around. Cooked onions on one side, cheese and salami on the other. Sprinkle on some chili powder, salt and pepper. Toast. 

Add some sliced avocado, then some spinach.

Put it all together, and then hang on tight to slice it in half.

 Enjoy in the sunshine.

Ribs & BBQ & Such

Last weekend, Mike and I went to Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse for lunch. There are two locations here in Utah, although it is a Texas-based company.

It's a fast-food sort of place where you order right when you walk in the door. One thing I really liked was that the main menu had stars next to every item that contained gluten. We went while they were fairly slow, but the guy who took our order was great about taking down that we didn't want any rolls, as well as making sure that Mike's macaroni and cheese was separate from everything else.

We split a 3/4 pound plate of pulled pork, pulled beef, and jalapeno sausage. It was just the right amount of food for two. The plate also came with two sides, so I had coleslaw and Mike had macaroni and cheese. All their barbecue sauces are gluten-free too. The pork was definitely better than the beef, but the jalapeno sausage was also excellent. The  coleslaw was so-so. While I know I can make better BBQ at home, it's nice to have an option to eat it out on the town every now and then, and we're looking forward to eating there again.

The worst part of the whole thing was that I was planning on making ribs and macaroni and cheese that very night. I'm pretty sure Mike wouldn't have minded eating the same thing two meals in a row - especially when it involved macaroni and cheese - but I decided to put it off until the next night.

And it was a good thing, too. I made this recipe for the ribs, more or less (less hot sauce, water to make up the difference), and my macaroni and cheese recipe, which was premade in the freezer. While I'm always disappointed about how hard ribs are to eat, these were tender, juicy, and pretty flavorful. Worth the seven-hour wait, and definitely a good option for later on.

Hot and Sour

Even though it's solidly spring now and the weather's getting better by leaps and bounds, we still have chilly days where there's nothing better than a hot soup. And boy, is this soup hot - in a good way.

I bet it could be hotter if you like it like that, but it was plenty hot for me. I used leftover pork and beef stock instead of chicken broth (it was in the freezer, and it's pretty light anyways). No tofu because I didn't have it, and for the Thai chile sauce I used the totally inauthentic chipotle and crushed red peppers in my spice drawer. 

It was both delicious and filling, and good the next day too.

Gluten-Free Dinner at Log Haven

Log Haven has been on our list of restaurants to try for quite some time. It's in Millcreek Canyon, where we often hike in the summer and fall, so we pass by it often.

I don't think it turns up in any of the places I usually go to find gluten-free restaurants, but they do have a gluten-free menu. In fact, it's one of the best laid-out gluten-free menus I've ever seen. At first it's a little confusing, but what they've done is highlight everything that isn't gluten-free. From there, you can pick something that is completely gluten-free, or check to see if substitutions are available. Either way, there are plenty of choices, and the staff is very careful with cross-contamination.

Since it was a special night, we split a half-bottle of pinot noir that was slightly above our normal price range for a full-size bottle at a restaurant (making it doubly nice). And since it was a half-bottle, there wasn't too much wine.

Mike and I shared the Alpine Nachos, which is the restaurant's signature appetizer.They were amazing, although the portion was a little big - we we should have gone with the "taste" portion, which was available for all the appetizers.  Instead of your typical nacho chips, the chips were potato chips, topped with forest mushrooms, smoked proscuitto, and Raclette cheese. Let's just say that if the meal had ended there, I would have been completely satisfied.

But the meal went on, and I wasn't disappointed. Next we had the Baby Romaine salad, dressed with the creamy poblano-lime vinaigrette and shaved parmesan. We had them leave off the almonds since I'm allergic to them. I thought the salad was perfect - the dressing really was spot-on - but Mike wasn't that impressed.

Our main course was taking a little while, so the waiter whose name I have shamefully forgotten brought out little scoops of cherry sorbet in frosted martini glasses. Even though I don't eat cherries (I think I'm allergic), I hadn't told the waiter that and it was a kind gesture just the same. For the record, Mike gobbled up both his and my sorbet in no time, so it must have tasted good.

For the main course, Mike had the steak with aligot potatoes, broccoli, onion marmalade, and Shiraz reduction. It was all wonderfully cooked. I had the smoked duck, which came with poblanos, Beehive Habanero Cheddar, mango salsa, and chipotle butter. It was also supposed to come with hand-cut serrano chile pasta, which I had asked to be left off so the dish would be gluten-free. But the culinary staff thought it wouldn't be enough food to count as a main course and rustled up some gluten-free pasta for me! The dish was just a touch too spicy for me, but still quite delicious. And there were enough leftovers for me to have the next day (with some plain cheese to temper the spice):

We didn't save room for dessert, but all in all ,we were very pleased with our experience at Log Haven and can't wait to go back again!


P.S.  Did I mention that the dining room overlooks a waterfall? And that they had a live pianist the night we were there? And that our waiter was awesome? All contributed wonderfully to the ambiance.

Fancypants Lamb, Acts One and Two

Remember that lamb that cost me the contents of my piggy bank? Well here it is, the star of two meals. 

First Act: A Dinner's Dinner

The first go-round, I just panfried it all in some bacon fat. That's salt, pepper, and some herbs on plain-ol lambchops. 

 Seared on medium-high heat until they were just right. Deglazed the pan with some red wine, added in some cooked shallots, and served with baked mac-and-cheese and broccoli.

Definitely worth the price.

Second Act: Salad. 

I used to eat this dish made with couscous, spinach, lemon, chicken, and feta cheese. It was one of my favorites. No more couscous for me (at least not wheat couscous), and for some reason I can't really digest chicken anymore either. No worries. 

This is a rice couscous, cooked up with some onions and red pepper flakes. And butter, there's always butter. Throw in some shredded cheese (or feta would be amazing with this) and lemon zest when you fluff the couscous, and then top with more cheese. 

Slice and reheat the lamb in a skillet over low heat. Be careful not to overcook, you just want it reheated.

Spoon the rice couscous over a bed of lettuce, then top with the lamb. Drizzle everything with a tiny bit of olive oil and some lemon juice.

Again, definitely worth the price.

Save Your Pennies, Folks

 Every now and then, my coin jar gets full, and I take it to the Coinstar. Now, I know I should probably be putting that money in a savings account, or putting it towards debt, or at the very least getting a gift card instead of cash (because of the fees). But what I usually do is take it to go splurge. My coin jar only holds about twenty bucks, so this is generally a little splurge.

But this one feels extravagant. Folks, this splurge took up almost the entire contents of my coin jar. That's right, almost twenty bucks for 1.25 pounds of meat. I know they'll be amazing, and I didn't bat an eye when the guy rang me up. After all, it's local (local farmer and local independent shop), and it's way more natural than the crap at most supermarkets. But while I refused to bat my eye, my heart might just have skipped a beat...