Menu Monday

Hello friends! Did you think that I had forgotten about you? I promise I didn't. But between a crazy week at work and the Jewish holidays and Steve getting an outpatient spine procedure (he's fine!), last week went off the rails a little bit.

But I'm back and ready to share my culinary highs and lows of the past couple weeks with you:

Highs:

*Crab-stuffed Portabellas*

These were super simple to make and fast: crab from the seafood counter at Harris Teeter, panko, egg, seasonings, mixed together and packed into a portabello. Baked until they were set and sprinkled with Old Bay on top. Easy peasy!

*Tomato Soup and "Fancy" Grilled Cheese*

This was one of my lazier meals, but the perfect way to welcome in fall. (The grilled cheese is "fancy" because we got the cheese at Whole Foods. I'm nothing if not classy.) We usually vary what kind we get but this time we went with a blend of mozzarella and pepperjack. I made a faux aioli (garlic and mayo mixed together) to grill the sandwiches with, and served it with Whole Foods tomato soup from the prepared foods bar.

*Black Bean and Zucchini Chili*

This recipe was courtesy of Real Simple. We doctored it with a serrano chili, two jalapenos, and almost triple the amount of garlic/chili powder/cayenne to turn up the heat. Served with avocado, tortilla chips, greek yogurt (subbed for sour cream) and cilantro, this was the perfect thing to cozy up to a night of ABC Television with (p.s. OMG REVENGE.I am so happy you are back.)

Lows:

*Pumpkin Peanut Curry Noodles with Shrimp and Scallops*

Technically I didn't really consider this a low. I've made it before and I find it pretty tasty, although this time I used way too much Chinese Five-Spice powder as a crust on the seafood. It's made its way down to the 'lows' column, however, because Steve would not touch it with a ten-foot pole and proclaimed it "the worst thing I have ever cooked." Apparently he had way too much of the five-spice powder on his recent trip to Asia and was looking forward to never smelling it again, only to walk in the front door and find my entire apartment smelling like a Taipei night market. Whoops.

*Quesadillas, black beans, cheesy broiled avocado*

Again, not necessarily a low, especially since this was something that I could throw together in between coming home from work and heading to class. It was just sort of meh. I've written about my love of quesadillas before and if I had more time (or ambition) I could have dressed them up further. These were just an easy way to get my Taco Tuesday fix.

So...what have you been cooking lately?

xoxo,
b