With three hours to go, I managed to pull this week out.  We may have eaten at 8:30pm at night, but I did do it.  Today I wasn’t sure I’d get any cooking done.  Today we applied for Dan’s passport, almost ate lunch at IHOP, ate at Arby’s instead, introduced the Kid to the wonder that is the roast beef sandwitch, and Dan and I both had eye exams and picked out new glasses.  And then when we got home, we sat down to watch the documentary about MMOPRG players, which was very cool, but at that point, I wasn’t sure I’d get any cooking done.  It looked like it might be a Gamer Grub night.

But I’d had a plan and shopped while we were out, and the stuff I’d picked were actually pretty simple to make – nothing crazy.  These recipes came from my ‘alternate’ Alton Brown books:  Feasting on Asphalt, and Alton Brown’s Gear For Your Kitchen.  So this week didn’t use use the Grand Trio, but rather the supporting players.  And for the most part it was a success.

16 recipes down, 192 to go

The Recipe: Curried “Carrot Noodle” Salad; Alton Brown’s Gear For Your Kitchen, page 91
Produce Dish

The Snafus: There really weren’t any, this was an easy dish, one that I’ve wanted to make since I got this book.  The only thing that I think would have made it perfect is if the dressing was thicker.  With salads like this, I like as little liquid as possible, and for it to cling to the salad ingredients.  If I could make it do that, this would be perfect.  And I wish I would have used my dried minced garlic, but I couldn’t find it during preparation.

Cooking Notes:  Not much real cooking here, but most times when making a salad, there’s not heat added.  But this was fun to make.  The carrot ‘noodles’, which are just peelings from the carrot, are awesome, and next time I make chicken soup – I’m so doing this – no more hard pieces of carrot in my food!  It was easy too – the hardest thing was mincing the garlic.  And from the first peel, to putting in the plastic container to keep it till dinner, it was only about 10 minutes.  That’s my kind of dish.

Family Reaction: Dan didn’t eat this, because I knew he didn’t like carrots.  But the kid tried it, and while he didn’t take seconds, I think he liked it.  Me – I’m in love with this salad.  So good, sweet with some mild spice – the curry makes it interesting.  And I love the carrots – the ribbon texture is really the only way I want to eat them ever again, when I’m not purposely eating carrots of the stick variety.  That’s going to be a snack tomorrow.

The Recipe: Loose Meat Sandwich, Feasting on Asphalt, page 148
Protein Dish

Snafus/Cooking Notes: Right before cooking, my hand mixer dropped into the wandering portal to another dimension that lives in my apartment.  So I did not put this mixture through it.  Not that I think it would have done anything.  Also – it was really bland.  And there was no sauce – for something that’s supposed to be almost sloppy joe, I would have expected more sauce.  And I didn’t chop the onion fine enough.  Sigh.  But seriously – I would have stuck a ton more spices in that – including some garlic for sure!

Family Reaction: I was disappointed, but I did get a picture – though I was halfway through my sandwich before I remembered to take it!  Dan thought it was bland, but added A1 to it.  Then for his second helping, he came up with the perfect topping.  There’s a phrase in our house – ‘Everything is better with the Whiz”  And I think in this case it was.  The kid – decided against the traditional bun, and instead, scooped the mixture on to tortillia chips.  And ate most of it – there isn’t anything left over.  Me – I’m meh about it – my recipe is better.  Maybe I’m just missing the charm of the loose meat sandwich.

The Recipe: Mulate’s Homemade Bread Pudding, Feasting on Asphalt, page 19
Starch Dish

Snafus/Cooking notes: Nada, nothing – I’ve made bread pudding before, and this went together with no problems.  I did change it up just a tad – and put Crasins in it in it instead of raisns.  I figured the raisins in the carrot salad were enough.  What I found interesting was that it was all puffed up when it came out of the oven (as in the picture above), but that it fell after it cooled.

Family Reaction: I was alone with this one – the boys aren’t really bread pudding fans.  Me, I thought it was good – a richer flavor than what I made for Christmas.  And I liked the addition of the Crasins, I could just eat those plain.  I ate it right after the cool time – from what I understand, it firms up if allowed to cool for a couple hours, then reheated.  I’m going to try that tomorrow.

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The Recipe: Butter Run Sauce, Feasting on Asphalt, page 19
Dessert Dish

Cooking Notes/Snafus: This went over the bread pudding, and went together simply enough, but it never got thick enough for my taste.  To me, sauces are something that cling, caress and get all up close and personal with the food they are complimenting.  This sauce never got thick enough for my taste.  And for whatever reason, I didn’t taste the butter, and it didn’t typical butter rum flavor I’m used to.  But the complexity that the sauce added to the bread pudding was scrumptious.  Maybe I didn’t do it right, or maybe I did, but not all the alcohol cooked off.

Family Reaction: Being as the alcohol didn’t cook all the way off – the Kid wasn’t going anywhere near this.  And as before – Dan’s not a bread pudding type of guy.  So – I’m sort of Meh about this as well – I guess I was expected something else from Butter Rum Sauce.  But I’m going to save it, and try it with the pudding tomorrow – reheated.  We’ll see how it goes.

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Four Weeks down.  Forty Eight to go.  Hopefully this week was just a symptom of January, and given all the crappiness that happened this month, I think with February on the horizon, things should be looking up.  Tomorrow – I’m going to try for another gold star, and if I do it – I’m two stars away from getting a new waffle maker!  I need a star graphic something fierce.  May have to bug Dan about that.

The podcast is coming soon – also on the to do list for tomorrow – finish that, as well as the Jayne Hat for the Boom Effect. And playing Xbox360 with my new XboxLive Account.