Tuesday December 9, 2008 Dinner

Sandwiches rule. Easy, tasty, and you can eat them with your hands. Tonight's offering was a central European tour, really. Black forest ham, Hungarian salami, Swiss cheese, German mustard, and all on French bread. With an Oregon Black Butte Porter and some Northwest made black pepper & sea salt potato chips. Oh, well, had something going there for a bit!

Monday December 8, 2008 Dinner

I used to cook a lot with canned goods. There was a time, in fact, when Campbell's cream of mushroom soup was the basis of half my cuisine. That's not the case anymore, of course. Now a days I'm far more likely to start my sauces from scratch, and to rely on fresh produce wherever possible. 

Last night was an interesting exception.

Southwest Chicken Chili Soup (the canned version!)

• 1 can tomatillas (16 oz.)
• 1 can fire-roasted diced tomatos (14 oz.)
• 1 can mild green chilies (8 oz.)
• 1 can black beans (12 oz.)
• 1 can chicken stock (12 oz.)
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1 medium sized chicken breast, diced
• 1 smallish onion
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• olive oil
• 1/4 cup sherry
• ground coriander
• fresh oregano

Saute chicken in olive oil until cooked through. Add onion & garlic, saute until onion gets translucent. Add diced tomatillas, tomatos, chilies, beans, corn, stock,  sherry. Bring to boil. Reduce to low simmer. Add coriander & oregano. Simmer for about 20-30 minutes. Serve with coarse bread. And beer. Lots of beer.

Sunday December 7, 2008 Dinner

Enough of the eating out already! Okay, tonight it was take out. Picked up a chunk of cooked pot roast and a tub of mixed salad at the supermarket deli. Good enough.

Salty dog after and a couple of these wonderful chocolate/tangerine cookies from Dancing Deer.

Saturday December 6, 2008 Dinner

Out again, this time a burger at one of the fancy-pants chain restaurants. It was a "five-alarm" burger with jalapenos and pepperjack cheese and kinda good.

Had a bourbon soda alongside, just for balance. 

Friday December 5, 2008 Dinner

'Tis the season, all right. Much eating in restaurants as we stagger about the city's malls and shops looking for whatever is we're looking for. Friday night was at our standard Mexican place, Chapalas. I had the "Three Amigos" which is a ginormous plate of Chili Verde, Chili Colorado, and Chili Rellano. Whew. Thought I was gonna die of excess. In a good way, naturally. 

Thursday December 4, 2008 Dinner

Stir fry again. It's kind of weird, really. We do stir fry fairly often, but it never comes out the even close to the same twice. Much depends on the type of meat, if any, the amount and proportions of vegetables, and the seasoning choices. This one was pretty tasty:

• Chicken breast
• Bacon
• Onion
• Garlic
• Mushrooms
• Baby bok choy
• Red chard

This was all cooked together with a bundle of fresh herbs fin (which is French for whatever fresh herbs you have laying about—this one was rosemary, oregano, and sage) in steamed in red wine.

Had to have a glass of the red along with it, of course. 

Wednesday December 3, 2008 Dinner

Tonight, we reprised the turkey sandwich from Monday. Differences: country white bread and a little cranberry-port relish on the side. Went quite well alongside a Black Butte Porter.