Weekly Menu 2/6+

Last week I intended to wow everyone with all the great foods we ate on the cruise, but unfortunately I couldn't seem to get the blogspot website to cooperate with my laptop while I was traveling.

I tried escargot (pretty good) and they were already out of the shells so there was no Pretty Woman replay.

One of my favorite soups was strawberry soup.  There were indeed minced strawberries, and then Ivan, our waiter, poured a luscious cream sauce over the top that truly tasted like melted strawberry ice cream.  It was divine, thankfully I was on vacation so there were no calories.

The fish tacos I ate on the beach in Cozumel were the very best I've ever had, super fresh fish and as a bonus they were even in flour tortillas.  Combine that with a Coca Light (diet coke) on the side; yum!

Back to the real world when we got off the ship it was a balmy 61 degrees.  When we got out of the car at home a few hours later it was 39 and falling.  I cooked a sausage and potato soup with a little of this and that from the freezer, including some stock from a roast that I had saved.  Then the freezing rain came.

We've also had beef barley soup which after it sits for a day or two turns more into stew than soup.  Which suits L just fine, he prefers a thicker, heartier meal than any soup which he thinks of as mostly water.

Thursday night we had beer brine chicken breasts.  I mixed 1 bottle of Shiner Bock with 1/2 c brown sugar and 1/2 c salt and poured all of that into a ziploc bag, dropped in my chicken and threw it all in the freezer.  The brine made the chicken nice and tender and gave it a good flavor as well.  J was thrilled when I brought brussel sprouts to be served with it.

The sprouts are best cut in half vertically and placed cut side down in a hot skillet coated in olive oil.  After the sprout cooks for a few min and begins to caramelize, flip them over and cook a few min more.  Add 1-2 T of butter in the skillet and stir around to coat; serve.

Then I headed out of town again, so L and J were left to fend for themselves.  I know they had waffles because the waffle iron was still out when I got home.