What's Been Cooking At Our House

I haven't had a chance to blog, but I have been cooking.  Here are some of the awesome dishes we've been eating the last couple of weeks ...

Ginger chicken with peaches and onions served over rice: Really delicious and easy.  It's made with frozen peaches -- you don't even have to defrost them -- so I will keep the ingredients for this on hand.

Curried Rice with Shrimp: This was okay. I made it with frozen cooked shrimp that I got at BJs.  Next time I'm going to use uncooked shrimp -- I think it would be better.

Lentil soup: Simple and delish. I have a couple different lentil soup recipes that I like and this one gets added to the rotation.

Tomato and olive penne: Really delicious and EZ.  Spicy, which I like.

Cold sesame noodles: I liked this, but more of a summer dish.  I'd add a bit of tofu to it for some extra protein.

Steak with shallot sauce: This was great.  (Unfortunately I can't find a link for it. Argh.) Preston and I have a hard time with steak.  I LOVE it and I like it rare (like, slap it on the butt and send it out).  Preston wants it cooked and he's not a huge fan of it in any event.  Since he doesn't love the taste of meat he wants some kind of sauce.  I generally find sauces distracting and don't love the extra effort.  THIS recipe was therefore perfect.  The sauce is super easy, super yummy and complements the meat without competing.  I'll definitely make this again.

Shrimp, tomato and basil pasta: FreshDirect had cleaned shrimp on sale so I decided to try this new recipe.  I have about half a dozen good, easy shrimp recipes now.  This one is more of a summer dish, but since good-quality grape tomatoes are available year-round now you can really make it anytime.  I subbed penne for the linguine.  Maddie can do spaghetti (she was hysterical with the sesame noodles), but penne or rotini is easier for her and involves less clean up for us.

Beef stew: I wanted to make chili for the Super Bowl, but Preston had a hankering for beef stew.  I'm not going to say no to him cooking.  He wanted something easier than the version in Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  This was really good.  He seemed slightly unsatisfied, but I thought it was yummy.

Madeline, for her part, yummed down all of this.  Every dish.