Husband in the Kitchen

I do most of the cooking in our household- husband is great at the meats/fish/lobster dishes, and I do pretty much everything else. This week though, he dominated the kitchen!

He started out the week with a tomato/egg/bagel stack...I bought this tiny egg pan that fits just one egg and cooks a perfectly round fried egg. The pan is so cute, the checkout ladies were actually cooing over it when I bought it. He sliced up a couple bagels very thin, toasted them, then stacked with fried eggs and tomatoes...a perfect summer dinner.

Monday was another light meal...I had baked bread during the day and we ate that with tomato, the most perfect avocado, and a very nice bottle of wine.

Tuesday he made a meal I am still thinking about! We had found some veal at a nice price, which he breaded and pan fried while roasting some vegetables...baby red potatoes, brussels sprouts, garlic, and onions, topped with rosemary. He made a white onion sauce that was amazing!

The vegetables were so perfect they were melting in our mouths!

Wednesday we went out to dinner for a friend's birthday...company was great but the food was a bit disappointing.

Thursday husband made tacos...a while ago we bought a tortilla press, and he has become a master of making fresh tortillas. I have tried (using his recipe) and it turned out to be a disaster. So he is our official tortilla maker. We served them with seasoned turkey, avocados, tomato, and cilantro. I don't think there is anything better than a fresh bread of any kind!

Friday we had cheese ravioli with "Amy's Cilantro Cream Sauce" to use up our cilantro. This is the best sauce for everything! I also roasted some onions and tomatoes and served them on top.

Saturday I tried my hand at veggie springrolls...have been craving them but haven't been able to find the rice paper until yesterday. I matchsticked carrots, apples, cucumbers, avocado, and picked some chives and lettuce from our container garden.

The last time I used our lettuce, it seemed a bit bitter to both of us, so I did some research trying to find a sweet lettuce. Didn't find anything, but did run across a tip that in temps over 65 degrees, lettuce does turn bitter (I am growing mine with an average temp of 85 degrees!) but if you pick it and put it in the fridge for a day it will sweeten up...and it sure did!

I also ran across a tip for making springrolls- I assumed you just pile up the ingredients and roll. Well, that doesn't work so well since the rice paper is so thin. So what you do is place your first ingredient along the edge, roll the paper over it, then place the next parallel, roll it all over that, and continue til the end when you tuck the ends in and make the final roll. Worked great! I served these with leftover cilantro cream sauce. Husband has actually never had rolls that were not baked or fried, but he said he loved them!

These were appetizers. For dinner I tried out a recipe from my last issue of "Vegetarian Times" called Asparagus and Mushroom Tartines.

These are made in foil packets. Place 2 pieces of bread on the bottom (I used leftover homemade bread from the other day), then add sliced mushrooms and asparagus that have been tossed in a bit of broth with salt and pepper. Mix an egg into a little more broth and pour on top. Seal the packets, bake 30 minutes at 350. Serve with a bit of goat cheese on top. Sooo good! And no pan to clean up!

This is the before photo...we ate too fast for an after photo!

Hope everyone has a great week!

Thanks Mr. Lettuce!

For the best salad ever! Our lettuce was finally ready to eat this week...it only took 3 months! I wasn't sure we could grow lettuce here in the Caribbean, and I had a hard time keeping him cool and damp, but he grew up beautiful! We used one bunch and added some spinach, tomatoes from the neighbors, strawberries, red onions, goat cheese, and cashews, and topped it all with a raspberry vinaigrette. Delicious!

We did ok on the budget this week ($105 for breakfast and dinner, food and drink), and this is what we ate:

Sunday: Leftover pizza and pasta

Monday: Tamale Casserole in the slow cooker

Tuesday: Leftover tamale casserole

Wednesday: Tapas- three kinds of cheese, strawberries, tomatoes, olives, sausages, bread

Thursday: Salad

Friday: BBQ ribs with corn and coleslaw. We have been cat/tomato sitting a friend's house so were able to use their grill...no grilling on the boat! This is a photo of the view with a sailboat race going on.

Saturday: Chef's salad with all our leftovers

We had lots of leftovers and easy meals this week because we were both very busy...husband does charters on our power boat in addition to his diving job and was booked solid! And the artists' garden where I keep my studio had an Art Fair where all the artists open their studios and lots more artists come and set up tables. This happens a few times a year and is always lots of fun. I am normally a glass artist (jewelry, mosaics, etc) but I have been obsessed with making paper lamps, so that is what I showed. It was a great success, but very tiring days, so... easy meals!

Check them out here

http://www.etsy.com/listing/47454036/waer-candy-paper-lamp

Husband is making home made tortillas for dinner tonight, and we are having tostadas with more of the neighbor's delicious tomatoes and hot sauce made from our cayenne peppers...sounds like a great start to the menu week!

Hope everyone has a great week!