sarah's mac'n'cheese

To go with the astonishingly simple beer can crock pot chicken, Sarah made this relatively complicated mac n cheese. I tried to tell her that I would have been just fine with the box stuff. But she insisted on this, and I am glad that she did.

But, because it does seem like it is a little more complicated than macaroni and cheese needs to be (it's an alton brown macaroni and cheese recipe), I wouldn't recommend making this on a regular basis. But if you need a dressed up side dish, I think this is a good bet.

beer can crock pot chicken

In anticipation of the Great Blizzard of 2011, Sarah had bought a whole chicken. And because I was still at trial, I really didn't have time to cook it. This was a perfect opportunity for Sarah to try out a beer can chicken recipe that she had gotten from her sister. The recipe is remarkably simple. Astonishingly simple, really. And it makes for some really moist and tasty chicken.

Egg Pancakes

At some point during week 2 of the Trial That Would Never End, Sarah was craving egg pancakes. Egg pancakes are something that I had never heard of, growing up in New Jersey. That is because it is an Iowan food.

And, like most Iowan food, people from Iowa are completely unaware of their food's regionality. So, the first time Sarah told me about egg pancakes, I was bewildered. And so was she. She couldn't believe that I hadn't heard of them.

Since then, I have become a fan of this part-crepe/part-pancake dish. The lovely recipe is from Sarah's mom, who I presume got it from her own mother.

Deep Fried Veggies

 It was the playoffs and the Bears were playing. I wanted to make something special. The previous week, I had made a brisket, and the Bears won. So, of course, I was going to make the brisket again. But since this game was against the Packers, I wanted a little something extra. That is how I decided I would make beer batter onion rings and green beans.

Veggie Chili

With how cold and generally unpleasant the weather has been in Chicago this winter, Sarah and I have been making a lot of chili. We've made beef chili, turkey chili, and white chili. So, when I saw this recipe for veggie chili, I couldn' resist. Plus, I generally like Real Simple recipes. So I thought I would give it a shot. It has some ingredients that I was very interested in seeing in a chili, like sweet potato. But it also has some ingredients that I thought were dumb, like cocoa powder.

Shin Ramyun

Last week, Sarah was going out with a friend for dinner, so I was on my own for the evening. And as much as I love eating with my wife, I look forward to the times when she leaves me alone. Because this means I get to eat ramyun. Not ramen. Ramyun.

Ramen is an American thing. Ramen was something I ate in college (and for several years after college due to budgetary constraints). Back in St. Louis at the time, you could find it on sale for 10 for a dollar.

Ramyun, on the other hand, is a Korean thing. It's spelled different because that's how Koreans pronounce it. "myun" is the Korean word for noodles. and the "ra" part of ramyun, I don't know what that means. But its unusual because it's pronounced with almost a rolling R sound.

Eggplant Surprise

I had a ton of leftover eggplant from when I made the eggplant parmesan. Also, looking in the fridge, I noticed that I had a lot of other leftovers that I needed to get rid of. And so I came up with a trio of eggplant pasta dishes: Eggplant Alfredo, Eggplant Pesto, and Eggplant and Gravy. It was super quick and easy. And it cleared out like half my fridge.

eggplant parmesan

One of Sarah's sisters had asked me for a recipe for something to do with eggplant. And I was thinking that, since eggplants aren't really in season, it would take me a while to get to posting a recipe. But, the last time I was at the grocery store, they had a ton of eggplants. And they looked really good. And they were really cheap. So I bought two. Then, I had to figure out what to do with them that didn't involve frying, deep or otherwise. Here is one of two dishes that I came up with.